//------------------------------// // The Will of Fire 06: Fear the Medic // Story: The Many Destinies of Sunset Shimmer // by ratedoni //------------------------------// “In what way am I going to have fun today?” there was a swagger in the movements of Sunset Shimmer that always surprised the blonde boy and that came from a brat that surprised every single shinobi and civilian in the city. Naruto was unpredictable, due not only to his bombastic and impish nature, but also because he was trained by a master in the art of deception and manipulation, so in turn, it made his way of living and fighting that more wild, almost leaving it up to luck sometimes with the way in which he jumped into chaos and rumbles. Naruto was weird, sure, but he wasn’t careless and, while many people in the academy may thought so, he wasn’t an idiot; he had grown since those days in which he just ran everywhere doing pranks and bothering every single person he could find, making everyone turn around and look at him; sure, they saw him as a nuisance and a bother, but it was better than the sea of countless citizens ignoring him at every step; he existed even if he was the number one problem in Konoha. Those days had been gone thanks to the woman walking in front of him and the way in which she went through life never caring what others thought of her. He had understood about life and what it meant to be a family thanks to Sunset Shimmer, which according to the redhead, it was merely by accident. He had a home, he had food, and he had people that will not only look at him, but take their time to listen to him and offer him tips and help from time to time. He finally understood that what he desired the most wasn’t the attention of everyone, it was to be part of a family, which he had been able to get in the end. But this time, watching the way in which Sunset walked, how she was whistling to herself and the small smile that had found its place on her lips, well, he was starting to fear for his life. Naruto was brave, but like I said, he wasn’t stupid; many times across the years he had been living with Sunset he understood the dangerous parts of Sunset’s mind and how much of a sadist she could be when there was something interesting in front of her, and being his team’s teacher would probably allow her to do stuff that wasn’t sanctioned by most treaties in the outside world. One look at his pink haired teammate made him realize that he wasn’t the only one that was worried about their immediate fate. If there was one shinobi that he never thought he would get to know that well would be Haruno Sakura; pink traces of fine silk as hair and the mind of a genius, Sakura was as much of an oddity as Naruto himself, with almost no aptitude for big and flashy techniques, but the subtlety to use small illusions and tricks in ways many shinobi never thought possible. If there was one ninja he could trust in the battlefield it would be Sakura. Sure, in terms of tactics and ruthlessness there was Ino, for crowd control and devastation there was TenTen and finesse and healing was more Hinata’s gift, but Sakura could keep up with them. So to see Sakura as nervous as he was, well, it just made every single alarm bell just go off inside his blonde head; of course he knew that Sunset wouldn’t kill them, but that still left a long list of things that she COULD do to them. While most shinobi will gladly show off their power in flashy jutsus, as Sunset told them many times, she was much more subtle, with a lot of finesse in the way of ‘How to Fuck Up your Opponent in the Most Horrible Way’ type of fighting, so seeing her so merry was not how he wanted to start his career as a cool ninja. Seeing his other companion in this torture, well, he just couldn’t feel guilty about it, I mean, it was Uchiha Sasuke so there was no way in which he could feel guilty about the future torture that will fall upon him. So he was the last of the Uchiha, well, that was sad, but the way in which he just went everywhere with such a huge cloud of gloom and doom following him, well, it left a bad taste on his mouth, not to mention the way in which he talked about everyone that wasn’t him; it was as if he was reading some bad stereotypical novels about dark and moody heroes; for all Naruto knew he could be taking ideas from them to look even gloomier. “So, my tender and expendable minions, you may be wondering what are you three delicious morsels doing in this place at this time of the day; well, the answer to that question is, well, the last step to become genin,” no person should be that cheery saying those words. “Okay, question, aren’t we supposed to be already genin?” Of course it was Sakura the one who was brave enough to ask that one. “Wrong, that’s only you getting your diplomas and all that thing from kiddy school, you aren’t yet ninjas of Konoha,” Sunset kept saying with that smile that just spelled great danger to them, but apparently Sasuke wasn’t that familiar with the redhead’s behavior because he was still as approachable as a porcupine. “So what kind of test are you proposing? Some kind of challenge?” it happened so fast, even to the blonde boy who was the most familiar with Sunset’s ability and techniques, it was too fast; one moment she was standing there by the river, the next Sasuke was flying through the air before crashing down with blood erupting form his nose. As the body flew through the air, Naruto and Sakura were rooted in their places. They felt as if their bodies had been turned into stone, their heart pumping and their minds short-circuiting by what they were seeing. Right there, standing in the place where Sasuke was standing a second ago, was the Red Nightmare of Konoha, a face smiling like a demon straight out of hell. Naruto wasn’t a fool, he knew that his older sister was as human as him, but it was killing intent that was oozing out of Sunset’s body powerful enough to make the young genin stay paralyzed in fear. “The challenge is to stay away from me, because if I catch you, well, I will get test dummies for my new serums,” looking at the several needles in Sunset’s hands and the liquid present inside of them gave Naruto all the motivation he needed to disappear from the clearing alongside the other two genin.