Vetrax

Twin Demons. Chapter 35

Team Eleven was leaving their training grounds in full force. This time they were heading for the center of Konoha. Today was an important day—their first official mission. For all three, it sounded almost as momentous as entering the Academy.

Karin walked a little behind, stealing glances at the noisy streets, until she finally gathered the courage to ask:

“Yamato-sensei… what exactly are D-rank missions?”

Menma turned his head toward her and gave her a look as if s...

Twin Demons. Chapter 34

At exactly eight in the morning, the freshly formed Team Eleven gathered at their assigned training ground. The air still carried the coolness of night, but the sun was already climbing steadily over the horizon, painting the clouds with gentle gold. The grass beneath their feet was wet with dew, and silence reigned around them—only the distant rustling of treetops broke it.

"Looks like my genin are punctual," Yamato chuckled with satisfaction, glancing at his pocket watch. "Good. Pun...

Twin Demons. Chapter 33

In the modest kitchen of the Shinigami shrine, three redheads sat around a wooden table — the Uzumaki twins and their newly found relative, Karin. Sunlight filtered through the paper partitions, illuminating a plate of cookies and simple clay cups. The air smelled of herbal tea, but the atmosphere was far from homely.

Menma sat straight, fingers interlocked, staring at Karin the way an interrogator studies a suspect with a long criminal record. His gaze was far too sharp for casual co...

Twin Demons. Chapter 32

The academy was unusually quiet. Empty hallways, locked classrooms, and the smell of freshly washed floors all reminded that the school year had ended. Teachers and students had left for summer break, and the building itself seemed to exhale after a long, tense year.

Almost the whole building—except for one classroom. There, chaos reigned. Freshly graduated genin, still not used to their new forehead, shoulder, and arm protectors, had gathered for the most important announcement of al...

Twin Demons. Chapter 31

The last two years at the Academy passed surprisingly peacefully for the Uzumaki twins, without any major upheavals. Orochimaru never answered their request. Menma concluded that even for a “genius scientist,” the task had turned out to be too much. Or the White Snake had simply decided to slip away quietly, leaving them without explanations.

[Fine. We’re doing just fine without him.]

The animal-like enhancements from his experiments had long since become a natural part of t...

Twin Demons. Chapter 30

Menma slowly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. White. Clean, sterile, a little gray from old paint. A familiar sight. He had seen this place before—the very same hospital ward where he’d stayed three years ago, when they layered more fuinjutsu into his seal to keep the Kyuubi from throwing a fireworks show.

The same walls, flat and dull, with peeling paint near the door. The same first-floor window letting in the morning light. The same feeling of a foreign place, where the...

Twin Demons. Chapter 29

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in his office, surrounded by silence broken only by the crackle of burning tobacco in his pipe. Bitter smoke coiled upward, lazily drifting to the ceiling before dissolving in the heavy air. The desk was buried under scrolls and reports, but the Hokage didn’t so much as glance at them: his attention was fixed entirely on the figure kneeling before him.

Kakashi Hatake — gray ANBU vest, face bare of its mask. His ash-blond hair was disheveled, his gaze stubbornly ...

Twin Demons. Chapter 28

Menma returned from the academy alone. Today, the boys had regular lessons, while the girls were sent off to the so-called “kunoichi courses.” There, future kunoichi weren’t taught how to mix poisons or kill silently — but how to care for their hair, paint their nails, and bat their eyelashes at boys. For Naruko, this was worse than torture. She’d been left among giggling girls sharing secrets on “how to make a boy like you.”

Of course, she rebelled, grumbled, protested �...

Twin Demons. Chapter 27

Five months had passed since Maito Gai decided to devote himself to secret training sessions with Lee. For Menma and Naruko, that meant only one thing: now they had to build muscles without a fanatical overseer who shouted about the Power of Youth every minute.

And, funnily enough, training without a personal coach turned out to be not only manageable — but actually much more pleasant. Nobody yelled in their ears that “a true warrior must carry five pine trunks on his shoulders.” ...

Twin Demons. Chapter 26

Menma, Naruko, and Rock Lee, under the tireless command of Maito Gai, were running single file around the training field, each lap turning into pure torture. On their shoulders — a log as thick as their own bodies. Above their heads — the merciless sun. In their ears — the sensei’s shouts, always a mix of enthusiasm and madness.

Back then, just looking at this kind of abuse would’ve made Menma’s eye twitch. He’d never have believed a sane person could willingly sprint arou...

Twin Demons. Chapter 25

By the fourth year, the Academy stopped resembling an ordinary school. The curriculum grew heavier and darker. Geography was joined by the politics of major hidden villages, with emphasis on their alliances and betrayals. General history expanded into detailed chronicles of wars, with dry reports on battles, losses, and commanders’ tactics. Even chemistry gained a new section — the making of poisons and antidotes.

Menma listened with quiet satisfaction. At last, the lessons were beg...

Twin Demons. Chapter 24

In their third year at the Academy, the fateful day finally arrived: the children were given the leaf exercise. Famous, legendary and… unbearably primitive. Pluck a leaf from a tree, press it to your forehead, send chakra to hold it there. And do that for an entire year.

[How can anyone doubt that the growth of future shinobi is deliberately slowed down after this?]

Mizuki-sensei hadn’t changed a bit since their first year: sprawled lazily at the teacher’s desk, nose buried ...

Twin Demons. Chapter 23

A fresh building had recently sprung up beside the Shinigami shrine — a white one-story structure with a bright red roof. On top, the whirlpool emblem gleamed proudly above a large sign: “Fuinjutsu Shop.”

The store was open only two hours a day — not as a marketing trick, but as a harsh reality. One hour in the morning was Naruко’s shift — loud, cheerful, pulling in customers with sheer pressure and charisma. One hour in the evening was Menma’s — quiet, laid-back, and ...

Twin Demons. Chapter 22

Summer in Konoha came suddenly. The sun generously bathed the rooftops, shadows grew short and dense, and the Academy kids lost their last excuse for suffering. Exams were over, and once again the Uzumaki twins managed to pull off results the teachers were already calling “almost indecent.” Top marks in every subject, again.

Now Naruko no longer needed to be coaxed into poring over scrolls or cramming kanji late into the night. She’d caught the fire herself: the desire to catch up...

Twin Demons. Chapter 21

Naruko sat at the low table, her nose buried in a geography notebook. The sun blazed through the window so brightly the pages nearly gleamed white. Outside was the kind of day that made even the village itself feel like an invitation to adventure: birds chirped, clouds drifted lazily across the sky, and the distant chirr of cicadas carried through the air. All of it only deepened the gloom in her eyes.

She sighed—long, resigned, like a prisoner in a tower. For the fifth time in under ...

Twin Demons. Chapter 20

After another murderous “wellness run” under the guidance of the Green Beast of Konoha, Menma sprawled out on the grass, opening and closing his mouth in silence like a fish thrown ashore. Each breath tore out in a wheeze, as if he’d just tried to outrun a tornado.

[So this is what hell looks like. No—worse. At least in hell you can lie down without someone yelling “Power of youth!” in your ear.]

He barely managed to twitch his fingers; anything more was far beyond his...

Twin Demons. Chapter 19

The Uzumaki twins pushed aside the white curtain—familiar scents of noodles, broth, and boiled eggs hit their noses. In perfect sync, they took their “honored seats” at the counter.

“Ah, my dearest customers!” Teuchi turned to them, smiling as though he’d just seen his own children. Behind him, a huge pot of broth bubbled cheerfully, sending out an aroma that made any stomach growl with joy. “The usual? A big bowl of ramen with extra pork?”

“Not this time,” Nar...

Twin Demons. Chapter 18

Three long months had passed since the day they began their experiments with sensory training. Day after day, clone after clone, the same dull, exhausting routine: sitting in a cramped cell, “listening” to the void and hoping that something—anything—would stir beyond the darkness. Three months, and finally the first breakthrough. One of Menma’s shadow clones caught two tiny sparks of chakra beyond the wall. It wasn’t a vision, not a clear picture—more like a vague impression, a ...

Twin Demons. Chapter 17

The next morning, Hiruzen came to the Uzumaki house—or rather, his shadow clone did. The old man looked as if he were simply out for a casual walk, but his steps were heavy and deliberate, like someone carrying not just two children, but an entire destiny. The twins exchanged a silent glance and followed him.

The road led them to an unremarkable building deep within Konoha. On the outside, it was just another administrative structure: gray stone walls, windows tightly sealed with curt...

Twin Demons. Chapter 16

Menma didn’t wake from bright light or noise — it was the smell. A sharp, biting mix of medicine and acrid tobacco smoke. He frowned and, for a second, thought he’d ended up in Orochimaru’s lab. But when he opened his eyes, he saw plain white walls and a ceiling with a tiny crack above him. A hospital.

Warm summer wind drifted freely into the room — the curtains swayed gently, sunlight spilling across the sheets. Off to the side, on the neighboring bed, his sister slept peacef...

Twin Demons. Chapter 15

“The school year has come to an end,” Mizuki announced, leaning against the edge of the teacher’s desk. His smile was soft, almost fatherly, but carried that familiar note of condescension. “Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with long speeches about how you’re ‘the future of the village’ and all that. The Academy principal will handle that at the ceremony.” He winked at the class, earning a wave of chuckles and whispers. “So relax. All that’s left is the chakra control tes...

Twin Demons. Chapter 14

The time before the first lesson always felt like a mini-market. No teacher, no discipline—every kid rushed to toss in a joke, share the latest news, or brag about a find before the bell rang. Voices buzzed, laughter echoed, papers rustled, and Choji’s chips crackled, filling the classroom so thickly it seemed the walls themselves were vibrating.

“Guys, check this out!” Kiba, without a hint of shame, climbed right up on his desk like he was about to lead a clan meeting. A smug g...

Twin Demons. Chapter 13

Uchiha Itachi knelt before the Hokage, eyes lowered as if he had already cut himself off from this world. His face remained expressionless, but the shadow of resolve lingered in every movement.

"Uchiha Itachi," Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke with that deliberate softness behind which steel always hid. "From this day on, you will be declared a nukenin and will never be allowed to return to Konoha. Do you understand the consequences?"

The old man’s gaze tested not the decision but the boy...

Twin Demons. Chapter 12

Menma carefully set down two bowls of porridge on the table, generously sprinkled with fruit pieces. Steam rose slowly from the hot dish, and sunlight from the window fell right onto the table, making the morning almost cozy—if not for one ramen-obsessed girl.

“Bon appétit,” he drawled lazily, spearing a soft peach slice with his spoon and sending it into his mouth with exaggerated leisure.

“But it’s our day off…” Naruko dragged out, smearing porridge along the rim ...

Twin Demons. Chapter 11

“Just a little more left!” roared the green sadist, flashing a perfect white smile. “Only five hundred squats to go!”

At the edge of the training field, far away from the normal residents of Konoha—who wouldn’t survive even a tenth of the so-called “power of youth”—Might Guy was drilling his students. On the grass stood three kids, each holding a boulder over their heads, each stone easily three times the child’s own weight. The Uzumaki twins and Rock Lee squatted in...

Twin Demons. Chapter 10

After class, Menma wasn’t in a hurry to go home. Instead, he turned toward the academy library, sending a shadow clone ahead to make lunch.

The speed at which he devoured knowledge was frightening. Clones gave him a monstrous boost—after just a month his chakra flow had loosened so much it surprised even him. Before, the energy crawled sluggishly through his channels, thick and sticky, like molasses. Now it surged like a spring river after the thaw. On one hand, progress. On the oth...

Twin Demons. Chapter 9

Menma sat on the temple roof, one leg bent, his elbow resting on his knee. The night was quiet and damp—after the evening rain the air was thick with the smell of wet grass and stone. Somewhere below, in the dark clearing, a thousand of his clones sat with closed eyes, lost in the same monotonous rhythm: breathing, focusing, pushing chakra through their channels.

A little further off, on the opposite side of the clearing, a thousand of his sister’s clones were doing exactly the same...

Twin Demons. Chapter 8

The first week at the academy flew by unnoticed, and the twins decided to celebrate it with a little family holiday. Their kitchen smelled of freshly brewed tea, sweet cream, and a slightly burnt sponge cake. The cake turned out a bit lopsided, but it was homemade.

Menma poured the fragrant tea into cups with the same measured precision that always drove his sister crazy.

“What do you think of the academy?” he drawled lazily, as if asking casually, though he watched her reacti...

Twin Demons. Chapter 7

Classes at the Academy moved at a steady, almost sleepy pace—if not for one little detail.

Every day the Uzumaki twins generously seasoned the routine with their trademark trolling, and the show was wildly popular. Classmates laughed until they cried, even the grumpiest began to smile, and the teachers… well, they tried to keep a straight face, but sometimes the corners of their mouths betrayed them.

"I swear I’ll find a way to tell you apart!" Iruka sighed yet again, when t...

Twin Demons. Chapter 6

The Uzumaki twins stood in front of a large mirror. Their new looks matched surprisingly well—identical hairstyles, just like Minato’s. A universal cut: loose enough for rooftop chases or brawls in the dirt, neat enough to suit both a boy and a girl.

Green jackets with a bright red Uzumaki crest on the back fit perfectly—custom made. Black pants gave off a battle-ready vibe. And most importantly, their feet were now in boots. Real ones. Sturdy, closed-toe boots, not those ridiculo...