A new team Rises

Sneak Peak at the Power Rangers cross I'm working on. Little sumthin' sumthin' for you guys.

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“So...This was his last project before fleeing the village, huh?”

“Yes.” The simple reply was all Danzo needed to say to catch the Sannin's glare.

“It should have been destroyed. Or at the very least, I should have been told!” As he snapped at the village elder, who didn't even bat an eye, he absently moved his hand over it. The sleekness. The simplicity. Yet the untold power...The door cracked open, revealing an Anbu, carrying a metal case over to the two men. Opening it, Jiraiya's eyebrow went up in curiosity. He hadn't felt something like this in a while. “If it wasn't for those colors, I'd swear I was looking at-”

The case snapped shut before he could touch the items within, and the Anbu ran towards the window and leapt out, hopping rooftop to rooftop around the village. “I'm going on record that I feel like this is a bad idea,” Jiraiya announced. “Is it a good idea to be unleashing something of Orochimaru's, even if you feel like it's under control?” Frowning, Danzo turned to the Toad Sage.

“No...but at times like this...with Sarutobi dead, and you leaving to search for Tsunade...we need to have some sort of advanced fighting force,” he replied. “When we took over this project, as I've told you, Sarutobi was the one who had insisted upon it. He believed that despite Orochimaru, this project could be used for the good of our village and the betterment of our Shinobi.” Jiraiya was silent, but only for a moment.

“Explain to me again...how does this work?”

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“You were correct. Those crystals you just saw have near identical composition to the crystal on the Shodaime's necklace. After the deaths of Tsunade's Fiance and Brother, Orochimaru became curious as to what went wrong that caused the deaths. It was indeed the crystal, but it isn't cursed...at least, not in the mystical sense...”

Due to the sound of hammering nails, the young woman nearly missed the sound of the soft 'thunk' as a Kunai embedded itself into the wall she was repairing. Alarmed, Tenten whipped around, but was surprised to see an Anbu, who gave her a quick nod before leaping away. Turning to the kunai, she noticed now a strange, dark blue crystal hanging by a wire from the ring of the throwing knife. Something about it felt strange, and yet she was compelled to take hold of it.

Grabbing it, taking it in her hand, she felt it vibrate and heat up. She prepared to let go, but a burst of chakra and smoke erupted around her arm, as though a summoning jutsu had been performed. Looking to her wrist as the smoke cleared, she saw the jem was now embedded into an arm-guard, right above the hand. She stared at it confused for a moment, before looking back up toward the Anbu, who was long gone.

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“The crystals react to chakra. Harmonizing and amplifying it. However, what Orochimaru got wrong is that you can't harmonize a crystal to a chakra that doesn't match. His attempt to force that led to many deaths. The crystals only harmonize with a specific, matching chakra signature. The crystal chooses its shinobi, so to speak...”

As the two combatants neared for their clash, they were forced apart by two kunai knives stabbing into the earth between them. Neji and Lee stopped their spar, looking to the already retreating ANBU, before they each turned their attention to the kunai, a small gem attached to the ring of each. Kneeling to the green gem, the one that landed nearer to him, Lee reached out and took it in his hand. The green crystal was warm to the touch and pulsed a little, before the Taijutsu user's hand was engulfed in smoke. Shaking it in shock, he and Neji took note of the arm-guard on his hand, the jem sitting neatly over Lee's hand.

Following suit, Neji gripped the black gem given to him tightly, his fist too burst into smoke, the arm-guard resting over his forearm as well. The Hyuuga noted with interest that the bracer was covered in seals of some kind. He hoped that they'd be given some explanation on what these things were. And why he felt so good right then. He and Lee shared a look.

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“So, find shinobi capable of harmonizing with the Crystals...”

“And the gems amplify the user's chakra by an enormous factor. Though to be fair, we haven't yet tested it, so there might be some side-effects. All we know for certain is the massive increase in chakra when the gems become active is dangerous. That's what the suits are for. They contain the chakra, keep it localized and focused, regulating the flow until the shinobi 'power down,' so-to-speak.

Ino turned, smiling brightly as she placed the arrangement on the counter. She was helping her family with the shop today. Business was booming. Shame it had to be because of the losses suffered in the sand-sound invasion. And there was the chime of the bell, signaling yet another customer. “Welcome to Yamanaka's...” she ceased speaking as she looked into the porcelain mask of an ANBU. The ANBU agent said nothing, merely held out a purple crystal. The platinum blonde blinked owlishly, but reached out still. The crystal radiated a soft warmth that felt good in her hand. She yelped when the gem suddenly erupted in smoke. As she shook it off, Ino looked to the ANBU for answers, but the shinobi had already vanished.

Ino turned her attention to her new accessory. An arm guard, the jewel from the ANBU glistening in the center of the back of her hand. She gently stroked it with the fingers of her opposite hand, feeling the warmth, and a slight pulsation too. “Huh...” she mused, confused by the whole ordeal.

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Naruto let loose a howl as he slammed his fist into the tree at the training ground. While the others had put on a smile, tried to move past it, the blonde was hit harder than anyone knew. The old man was dead. They won the battle. The leaf won. So why did the old man Hokage have to die? Naruto wasn't fool enough to think war had no casualties. But the Hokage had always seemed so...invincible. To be Hokage was to be the strongest...wasn't it? The blonde Ninja didn't know anymore.

The bark had been completely stripped from the tree, and he was beginning to tear chunks from the trunk itself. He pulled his fist back yet again, ready to rip another piece of wood free. “Naruto Uzumaki?” His flying fist halted inches from the wood, Naruto turned to face the ANBU black ops agent with a confused look. The masked ninja merely held out his hand. Still confused, Naruto likewise held out his hand, and a tiny, bright-red jewel was deposited within it. The orange-clad genin had no time to contemplate what the tiny crystal was, it engulfed his entire forearm in smoke, before he felt something clamp over his arm.

“He-HEY!” Naruto shouted, his previous seething all-but forgotten. “What gives!” The ANBU had left, however, leaving Naruto to stare in confusion at the new arm-brace, the gem almost glowing with an ethereal flame within. And indeed, it was warm to the touch. The blonde stood, blinking, staring at the new object stuck to his arm. “What the hell?” he asked himself. Trying, and failing, to remove the arm-guard, Naruto just sighed before returning to his training

Weapon X almost ready for an update

Almost finished with the new Weapon X. Here's a preview for you all.

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Naruto crept through the trees, claws extended, as he sniffed the air. The trick wasn't to decipher the scents all at once. Merely separate them into their individual smells and work from there. The musty tree bark. It had rained. The wet fur of animals. He attempted to use his heightened hearing, but his target was a much more highly trained shinobi, and could mask themselves far too easily. It didn't help that he was blindfolded.

There! He heard it. The sound of feet stepping down on wet grass, before he registered a claw swiping his face. Naruto lashed out with a roar, but hit nothing but air. The flesh healed easily, but it still stung for the few moments before then. “Damn it, Hana!” he shouted. A female laugh met his ear, and he took off in that direction. Slamming into a tree in the process. With a snarl, he slashed at the trunk. Unlike his previous exercises in the last few weeks, he cleaved through the entire tree in two strikes.

Naruto took a deep breath, reaching deep inside to try and tap into that rage he felt burning now, every moment of everyday since returning to the village. Instinctively, he dropped to all fours, his claws returning to their sheathed position within his forearms. Crouching low, he picked out the scent of his training partner in the grass beneath his feet. Taking off in the direction of that scent, he knew he had to hurry. He was being timed.

Hearing a creak of a branch, and knowing his time was running out, Naruto let loose a howl as in one mighty slash he cleaved through the nearest tree. Kicking the sliced tree down, he nabbed the circular pieces hurling one in the direction the sound came from, like a massive, blunt shuriken. Hana leapt, brushing several leaves along the way...leaves that Naruto heard. Taking the other piece, he threw it to where he was sure she would land, and his lips curled into a smirk as he heard the Inuzuka let out a pained grunt, as though the wind had been knocked from her lungs. He had likely hit her in the gut. He watched as the girl tumbled from the tree she was in.

Hana was actually surprised, and a little impressed. Naruto was improving by leaps and bounds. Sure, he continued to hesitate when it came to releasing his primal nature, but his time with the two Inuzuka women had allowed him to grow a bit more comfortable. When that chunk of wood slammed into her, it sent the air from her body, disorienting her enough to put her off balance and causing her to fall from the branch, falling on her back to the hard ground below.

Groaning, she tried to sit up, but was forced back to the ground, a foot pressing into her body to hold her. She opened her eyes as she heard the metallic 'snikt' sound she had come to know as Naruto's claws. She felt the tips of his claws tickle her neck and knew the training session was over. Sure enough, her mother appeared, a ringing alarm in her hand, and unlike her daughter, her canine companion stood loyal at her side. She was smiling brightly, pleased with her apprentice's progress.

“Very impressive,” Tsume announced, as Naruto helped Hana off the ground. “I think it might be time to get you started on actual missions.”

“Finally,” Naruto replied, leaning against a tree. “Please tell me we don't have to go after that damn Tora the Cat? Sounds too annoying, and besides, why take the mission from Kiba's team?” Tsume snorted at the thought and Hana giggled slightly. She had chased after that demon cat enough times to know exactly what her little brother was going through, and was amused by his tales of Tora outmaneuvering them.

“Given your...condition...” Tsume began, clearing her throat when Naruto growled. “I've convinced the Hokage to allow you to take on C-rank missions through and including B-rank missions, and provided there are at least two jonin, you may come along on A-rank missions, pending the Hokage's approval.” Naruto actually widened his eyes at that one.

“How did you get the old man to agree to that?” he asked, thinking that the Hokage would never let a genin on such advanced missions, no matter how strong or invulnerable they were. Tsune coughed a bit, rocking from her toes to her heels, and refused to make eye contact. Looking for all intents and purposes like a kid who did something naughty and got caught.

“Well, I knew he would never willingly agree,” she said, smiling, rather ironically, like a cat who swallowed a canary. “So, I kind of let it...slip in the last council meeting about your progress.” Hana, realizing what that meant, covered her mouth in amusement.

“Mom, you didn't...” she said. Tsume just nodded.

“The downside is that your enemies on the council now know you could be a threat. The upside is that your supporters on the council know you could be a threat to the enemies of Konoha. And it's the supporters who put pressure on the Hokage.” Naruto snorted at this declaration.

“I have supporters on the council?” he asked, incredulously, almost amused at the very idea. Tsume nodded.

“Most of the shinobi council, and possibly the elders, but they're so old and irate it's hard to tell at all,” she responded. Naruto actually seemed surprised by this. A bird cried out, causing the three to look at the flying animal. “Damn. We'll have to cut this session short. The Old man wants to see me.” Reaching into a pouch on her hip, Tsume tossed some money over to student. “Head on over to the Ramen stand. I'll meet you over there when I'm finished. Won't take long.” She didn't have to tell Naruto twice. He practically took off on all fours. Hana shook her head.

“I'd better be going too. Duty calls, and I have to make sure the Triplets are prepped for the mission.” Tsume nodded in understanding. The two shared a look for a moment before they and Kuromaru vanished in a swirl of leaves.

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Have the day off for Saturday. I expect to have the full thing out by tomorrow (Sunday) at the latest.

Naruto/Evolve crossover prototype

Opening his eyes, Naruto took a deep breath as his eyes took in the dull, flashing red of the warning lights. They were approaching the surface of the planet. The young blonde looked to his companions with a smirk. For a few moments, he lamented the fact that at the moment he was here, about to leap into the unknown, instead of back home, working toward becoming the Hokage. But that only lasted about ten seconds before he remembered just why he wasn't. “Hey Tin-Man, you ready for a fight?” he asked, turning toward the yellow robot, who was at the moment placing his head upon his shoulders.

“Naruto, please refrain from referring to the robot as 'Tin-man,” the mechanical figure replied. Naruto wasn't sure how a machine could sound annoyed, but being from the world his new companions called 'Legend,' the blonde ninja wasn't well versed in the technology of the off-worlders. “I am neither made of Tin, nor am I a 'man' in any biological sense.”

“Relax, Bucket,” Val said. Naruto looked at the team medic as she spoke. Valerie 'Val' Wolski. Word among the rest of the hunters was that she was a spy. However, all the ninja had learned so far was that the young woman was a great fighter, and a great healer as well. She knew her way around a medgun. Good thing too. The training simulations were brutal, and if what the colony records stated were true, these...things they were going after were just as brutal, if not more. “It's just a nickname,” She continued as she ran a last minute check on her medgun. She'd need it. Naruto had refused to wear a jet-pack...or a parachute. She had never been to Legend. Nobody had for nearly a century. Just going there to recruit meant Cabot had broken nearly a dozen galactic laws. The place was called Legend for a reason. It was a forbidden world. No records. Only rumors. But if Naruto was an example of the people there, she thought she might know why it was forbidden. The people there were totally insane.

“I'm aware of the implications,” came the robotic rebuttal. Bucket was the ship's computer, placed within a modified repair-drone chassis to act as a support fighter for the team. He was one of the first off-worlders Naruto had met when Cabot had come to his planet, and thus the blonde was more comfortable speaking with him than the others, despite his coldness at times. “I was merely remarking upon the inaccuracies of it. Nothing more.” Naruto rolled his eyes. If the robot would have had an ass, the blonde shinobi was sure there would have been a massive stick shoved up it. Despite his disdain for their reliance on tech, Naruto still slipped an emergency pistol into the holster on his hip, before strapping a Combat Shotgun, generously given to him by Parnell, to his back. He would have shrugged off the personal shield generator, as he was told he would have to use it sparingly anyway due to it needing to recharge periodically. However, he figured he should at least make some concessions. After all, Cabot was his boss for the time being, and had made him the first shinobi ever to leave the planet.

Turning to the final two members of the current drop squad, Naruto began to furiously pet the trained Trapjaw companion owned by the Trapper, Maggie. “What do you think, Daisy?” Naruto asked, chuckling when the dog-like animal began to lick his face affectionately. “Should Bucket lighten up?” Cocking her head and letting out a small whine, the Trapjaw just went back to licking the shinobi. “I'll take that as a yes.”

“You sure you don't want a parachute, at least?” Maggie asked, beginning to ready herself for the jump and subsequent drop. “It's a long way down.” Naruto just smiled, before gripping the rail near him, preparing to make the leap himself. Maggie was a woman of few words. She came off as cold, and abrasive. But Naruto knew it was an act. Beneath that rock hard exterior was a kind, compassionate person. There had to be, with the way she doted on that Trapjaw of hers.

“I'll manage,” he replied. Val just shook her head and sighed.

“I get the feeling you're going to make my job more difficult than that monster down there,” she said as the locks disengaged on the bay doors, which opened up revealing what was indeed a very high drop. Naruto just made a face, sticking his tongue out at the combat medic, before taking a flying leap, turning backwards in midair to give the others a quick, cocky salute before gravity took hold. The other hunters wasted no time in exiting the drop-ship as well.

They watched as the blonde plummeted, nothing to slow his fall. Val flinched as she watched him grow nearer and nearer to the ground. Even Daisy averted her gaze so as not to watch the splat. Naruto though began to channel chakra into his arms and legs, using it to strengthen his muscles and bones and absorb the shock. His landing on all fours shattered the platform beneath his feet, putting a dent and numerous cracks in the structure as he slammed down with great force. He was standing by the time the others gently descended to his level.

“Holy shit, Blondie,” exclaimed Maggie, taken aback by the casual way Naruto had shaken off the impact. “When Cabot said he got us a ringer, I was a bit skeptical...especially considering your age...I just hope you're capable of taking a hit from this Goliath like you took hitting the ground.” Naruto just rubbed the back of his head.  

My Mortal Kombat remake Fancast

Mortal Kombat Fancast!!!!!!!!!

Part 1

With Mortal Kombat X being released recently, I figured an interesting thing to do for my first blog post would be a Mortal Kombat Fancast for if they would ever remake or reboot the original movie. I would like to point out simply that these are simply my opinions of who I would like to see in the roles, based on both looks, personality either on-screen or off. If you don't like my suggestions, please do not get all prissy about it. Just shake your head, chuckle, and move on. Let's get started. ROUND ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FIGHT!!!!!!!!

1. Raiden - Liam Neeson

Ok, hear me out. Some people think that Liam is overused these days, and in a way, it is true to an extent. Liam Neeson has become a memetic badass. And that is exactly why he is perfect to play Raiden, Mortal Kombat's God of Thunder, and Defender of Earthrealm. Every role he has had in recent years have prepared him immensely for such a pivotal part in what would be an incredibly violent and stylized film.

We know he can play a total badass, which is emphasized by just how many times he has played the action star. Taken, the Gray, and more recently, Run All Night. We know he can play the wise old mentor, as evidenced by his roles as Qui-gon Jinn and Ra's Al Ghul. And more important, we know he can play an imposing god. As Raiden, he might not be releasing the krakken, but he very well can release a can of whoop-ass. He's not quite as buff as the Thunder God, but neither was Christopher Lambert. Even without the visible muscle, Liam is fiercely imposing, standing at a towering 6' 4", and commands a powerful presence on screen. He's the only one I can see taking over the role.

2. Johnny Cage - Chris Evans

Chris Evans. Dear Elder Gods, Chris Evans. He has the look. That Johnny Cage, super-sexy super-star look. He can do action, he can do intensity, he can do funny, he can do awkward. But most importantly, we know he can play that self-centered, arrogant, egotistical douche with a heart of gold, and we know this because he absolutely rocked a role we know and love. Another famous Johnny. Johnny Storm, aka, the Human Torch.

But what we must ask ourselves, is can we really get past the idea of Captain America slamming his fist in someone's nuts instead of Hitler's face?

...

Actually, hitting someone in the nuts is practically an American pastime. Ok, he's in.

3. Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion - Ian Anthony Dale

Not much to say about this one actually. It's a rather hard sell unless you've seen Mortal Kombat : Legacy. His performance as Scorpion was amazing. And with a multi-million dollar budget, the fight-scenes can get bigger, the effects (such as his hellfire and teleporting) can be amazing. He has this great screen presence, and unlike the original film, in Legacy, he uses an actual chain whip, rather than the...whatever it is that came out of his hand in the original.

4. Sonya Blade - AJ Cook

This was a difficult one for me. I had to define Sonya Blade. I needed to do so in a way that really speaks to her character, but vague enough to at least keep some options in. I decided to define her as a bad-ass blonde who is tough as nails, who is also very disciplined and well trained. And in the end, AJ Cook won out. Fans of Criminal Minds know her best as Jennifer "JJ" Jereau, the BAU's Press liaison, and the one who selects which cases the team takes on in each episode.

Another facet of Sonya is that she is a member of Special Forces, while JJ is a member of the FBI. Perhaps some don't see how those are comparable, but it's a role similar enough in my eyes that I feel Cook could do Sonya Blade justice. She isn't as muscular as Sonya, but as stated before, neither is Liam Neeson as bulky as Raiden. Muscles are only half the fight, and we all know that Sonya is skilled, and I think AJ Cook can properly portray this character.

5. Liu Kang - Rain

I'm not gonna lie...I did not see Ninja Assassin. However, I do remember thinking the trailer looked amazing. From that trailer, you see that Rain has the look. He has the intensity. And he has the build. Sure, he's not Chinese, but I really don't care. I didn't freak out about a black Human Torch, why would this give me any pause?

6. Sub-Zero - Andy Lau

Andy Lau is no stranger to martial arts, and fantasy. The House of Flying Daggers and Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom Flame respectively. Who better than to star as the icy Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei, Kuai Liang. Better known as Sub-Zero.