This is my first story I'm publishing, ever. I appreciate any constructive criticism as I attempt to improve my writing skills. Short summary: Realizing that Naruto had no knowledge of his own clan, Jiriya made the first stop in their training trip the ruins of Naruto's ancestral home.
Things change from this point onward, with a more skilled, mature Naruto coming back through the looking glass.
I don't own Naruto or Diablo.
Fu, a girl whose most striking features were her orange eyes and mint greed hair, was not having a very good day. After surviving one attempt at having her biju, the Nanabi, known to her as "Luck Seven," a week earlier, she had been traveling home to her minor village home when the unexpected occurred. Two missing ninja, one she recognized as Kakuzu, wearing black cloaks with red clouds on them had attacked her. The resulting battle was one of desperation on her side, especially after her jounin protectors fell to Hidan's triple-bladed scythe. Despite being outclassed, she had put up a surprisingly good fight, breaking off the top-most and largest blade of Hidan's oversized weapon and taking out one of Kakuzu hearts, and tearing up impressive sections of the countryside. But still she had lost, badly.
Once her bodyguards had died Fu had attempted to flee, but was unsuccessful. Now, she was floating between consciousness and unconsciousness, beaten and bloody, and Hidan was whispering into her ear all the horrible things he was going to do to her body, before and after her biju was removed. Tears leaked out of her one eye, the other swollen shut. She had no strength left to her, it felt like her bones were mostly broken, blood was caking into her hair and clothes, and a sealing tag, meant to prevent a rampage in the odd case she tried to let her biju out was anchored to her skin, just over her heart. An odd thought struck her as she realized these were the people Naruto and his teacher, hero of her home and legendary ninja and spymaster, respectively had warned of. Her life had not been easy, but she had always wanted to meet him, if for no other reason than to see what kind of person had inspired her pseudo-brother, Shibuki.
As Hidan began to carry her off, something happened that she did not expect. Long arrows with vicious barbs imbedded themselves into the hearts, livers, and spleens of both missing nins. (Or, in Kakuzu's case, where his liver and spleen would have been.) A wave of relief washed through her, followed by one of fear for whoever had hoped to intervene. These two did not die so easily, and she was sure her rescuer had signed his or her own death warrant. Fu wished she could move, but her body was so broken that she was barely managing to stay awake. When Hidan dropped her, she lost that battle.
When she woke again, one eye coming open once more, she found herself carried in a bridal fashion, strong arms supporting her head as they moved swiftly away from what seemed to be a very strange battle. Instead of one Hidan and one Kakuzu, there were hundreds of each, and they were fighting with what she assumed were the originals. "That doesn't seem to make sense, but then I did get hit in the head, repeatedly… Clones!" Fu realized; "I can see some of them popping into nothing but poofs of smoke, so they're not illusions or elemental clones. What technique is that?"
Just when the battle was getting good, it ended. The clones had managed to trick Hidan into hitting his real partner, as they had been getting progressively better at impersonating their foes, almost to the point where Fu believed they could successfully impersonate them to their own organization, Akatatski. That had been the last straw for Kakuzu, and he had sent two of creatures made of threads into the air and unleashed a combination attack of lightning and wind, hitting everything including the real Hidan. Distant swearing could be heard as Hidan was not happy about being concussed by wind and then zapped by a wave of lightning. All of a sudden, Hidan's head snapped around, staring right at them, and Fu knew she'd been seen.
Trying to become more aware of her surroundings, she realized her rescuer was wearing bright white and silver heavily adorned armor. Instead of a helmet, he wore a white cowl, but his face, no, his head was not visible within. Along his belt were a set of pouches, no doubt containing ninja tools of some kind, as well as two pouches behind each hip. Strapped to his back was a bow, but not like any she had ever seen before.
It was massive compared to others she had seen, even those used by samurai. It was a recurve, about six feet from the ends of the prongs, and the string was missing. But what truly set it apart was that this bow was bladed. On both ends, the arms ended in blades, sharp but dulled gray. In the middle, three prongs on three sides jutted out of a metal plate that protected the holder's hand, arrows fired would pass through the three blades. In effect, this was a fist weapon or glaive as well as a bow. It was in fact so large compared to the one carrying it that it needed to be attached horizontally and care was apparently being taken to keep her from touching anything sharp. As the both of them landed from a leap, something hard impacted her rear, causing a wince even through all the other pain. Foggy from a concussion, it took her a moment to realize she'd "found" the dull end of some kind of sheathed sword.
The man carrying her looked back, then spoke as he refocused on the landscape ahead of him. "Don't worry, I won't let them hurt you anymore. That's a promise, and I never go back on my word." Shifting her in his grasp he pulled the cowl back, revealing lightly tanned skin, brilliant blue eyes, blond hair and six whisker marks on the man's cheeks. Naruto Uzumaki gave her a blinding smile before very gently setting her down, leaning her up against a tree. Now seated, she noticed that there was both a quiver strapped to the man's back and a rapier fastened to his belt as well as a number of scrolls fastened to his back and thighs.
Naruto's rapier rested in a pure white sheath trimmed with silver that gleamed in the daylight, the dimensions suggesting that the blade was stouter than many similar weapons. The grip was wrapped in blue dyed leather, with a blue and white tassel hanging off the end of the grip. But, it was the guard of the weapon that truly made it unique. This weapon's guard was incredibly intricate, gold wrapping along the grip shining so bright in the noon sun that it was almost painful to look at. Arrayed around the grip, protecting the user's hand there were three symbols at the bottom, one was a spiral design she recognized, from konohanan flak jackets, most prominent in the middle was a symbol of the Leaf village, and on the other side was a set lines that may have been writing, but not in any language she could recognize. Each symbol trailed three lines that gradually became thicker as they rose, becoming trails that trailed into the cross guard, with the guard taking the shape a fox's head with oversized ears. As Naruto drew the blade out of its sheath just a little in thought, all of the blade she could see was bright orange.
Seemingly finished thinking, Naruto drew out a storage scroll, and opened it. Now lying on the ground were a stack of filled quivers, choked with viscously tipped arrows and three large piles of explosive notes, at least three hundred arrows and explosives total. Showing a strained smile, Naruto summoned a dozen clones that began quickly attaching the notes to the arrows, while a new batch of clones began placing notes on the ground around them, buried under small amounts of dirt.
"This is going to be rough, but I will get you through it if you can hold on, little sister. Once we get away, I'll get you a medic." Now that comment sent Fu for a loop. She was sure she was an orphan with no living family, and had been living on the streets for a time before Shibuki's father had all the children of the village tested first for chakra levels, and those with the highest tested for compatibility with ol' Lucky Seven. All the children with high levels of chakra were highly encouraged to enter Waterfall's ninja Academy and she got stuck with becoming the next host of the Nanbi. On the positive side she was adopted into the Leader's family and made a friend, but on the other… Well, the cold indifference that came with being a street rat was replaced with the animosity that came with the existence of a Jinchuriki. Half starving was replaced by almost as much food as she could possibly eat, which was a definite plus. (Jinchuriki have fast metabolisms, especially when they're first created.) She became hated by many, but she truly felt loved by at least a few people.
"I'm missing something," Fu thought. She was still having trouble understanding why a stranger would put his life in great jeopardy for her. Perhaps he had a hero complex or was desperate for a girlfriend? "Well, if he wants to date me after this I certainly won't turn him down, assuming we survive, of course. Probably not the best time to be thinking of this, but I can't make my body move yet, so I'm useless in this battle. I hope this guy at least makes it through."
As the clones finished their tasks, Naruto stood, strapping a quiver to his back while two clones did the same. Naruto formed a single seal with his hands in front of him, and suddenly there were 200 additional clones. As one, they detached the strap that held their bows and placed their left arms into the seeming mess of armor and blades that surrounded the grip. On each bow, a drawstring ignited out of nothing, a bright blue that was barely visible in the early afternoon light. Following that, each one notched an arrow onto the string and drew, just as two figures in black cloaks entered a large ditch in pursuit of their prize. Suddenly, for Hidan and Kazuku, the sky went dark when arrows came at them from every direction, clones having stealthily flanked the two.
"They're shadow clones! That's a Konohana kinjutsu because of the chakra requirements! This guy must have huge reserves to make twenty, and much more to make hundreds. The only way he could that much chakra would be if… he's a Jinchuriki! That makes the sister comment make sense. I wonder which Biju he holds? I wonder if he'll be my friend after this."
While Fu was thinking, Naruto had unleashed arrows by the thousand into the two missing nin. Kakuzu had activated his defensive ninjustsu, skin turning dark as arrows simply bounced off him harmlessly. His partner however, was only managing to deflect about ninety-percent of what came at him, leaving him looking a bit like a pincushion. Looking up at the Naruto-horde that was up on a hill, Kakuzu laughed at him. Finishing up a chuckle, he spoke. "Kid, you're not bad. In a few years you could clear whole columns of samurai with attacks like that. But you aren't on my level yet. Arrows will never work against me."
Laughing right back, Naruto held his right hand up with his middle and index fingers pointing straight up and yelled back a single word: "Katsu." Three pairs of eyes widened as some of the arrows began to glow. (Shadow clones can copy a lot of things, in fact, almost everything on one's person. Sadly, they cannot copy storage seals or explosive tags, so only those arrows with physical, original exploding tags went off.) Hidan managed to pull an arrow out of his chest just before it exploded in his face, saving him from being splattered in pieces. Kakuzu had many tags go off around him, as Naruto perceived him as the greater threat. His defensive technique failed, not killing or maiming, but leaving him bloody. The concussive force cost him his earth heart that had been powering the technique, leaving him with two, having lost one to Fu and one to Naruto's initial barrage.
Immediately after the smoke obscured their vision, Naruto's clones began using henge to create pairs of Fus and Narutos, then picking each other up, and began to flee in every direction. Fu found herself again held gently in strong arms and racing away. Naruto suddenly lurched to the side, almost losing his grip when a bolt of lightning made him jump out of the way.
Standing on the rise where Fu had rested against a tree, Hidan and Kakuzu looked down on the two jinchuriki with dark smiles. "I'm gonna %# $ing kill you both! I'm gonna gut you slowly in the name of Jashin! I'm gonna… # ^%!"
Smiling, Naruto again held his hand up with two fingers pointing skyward and a very fox like grin and yelled back. "You're going to explode! Dattetboyo! Katsu!" Three dozen explosive tags went off, and suddenly the hill was ten feet shorter.
Scratching the back of his head, Naruto looked down at Fu, still held in his arms, and grumbled. "I thought I got rid of that tick, guess explosives still set me off." Giving a bright, genuine smile he turned his attention back to the hill. "I'd love to go up to what's left of that hill and finish them and/or collect their bounties, but no way am I going to risk both of us for that."
"Smart, kid, but not smart enough." From on the smoking crater on top of the hill, the brains of the corpse duo spoke condescendingly. His partner was still trying to get to his feet behind him. "You got involved when you shouldn't have. Now we're going to kill you and see if you're worth anything after we take care of the half-dead jinchuriki in your arms. However, if you leave her to us you may be able to outrun the two of us, seeing as we are not the fastest in Akatsuki. You have until we get close to choose."
Once again the Uzumaki looked down at Fu, once again he smiled, though this time it was more strained. "I… went away for a while Fu, farther than you've ever dreamed, and I learned that I can't always keep my promises, sometimes the people I try to save die." Fu's only useful eye began to water, and she was sure he was going to leave. "But, I will still fight to the death for my friends." At this point, Fu's mind was awash in fears for herself and her newest friend as she saw the grim determination on his face, though she allowed herself a small hope that he would be a match for two S-rank ninja. "But, two more things I learned on my journey; always hold onto hope and…" The Jinchuriki of the strongest living creature in the world pitched himself to be heard by the two shinobi making their way down the hill. "You always have a choice: hunted, or Hunter."
Feeling him make a seal beneath her, Fu felt herself handed off to a clone that backed up twenty feet as the blond made five more, and they and the original immediately began flying into handseals, a forty seal long sequence. On completion, Naruto called out a jutsu Fu had never heard before. "Sanctuary Style: Ray of Frost!"
Each Naruto not holding her thrust out their right palm in a manner reminiscent of the Gentle Fist style, and from the palms came beams of glacier blue, arcing out a considerable distance. Only two hit Kakuzu, which caused him to laugh loudly, mocking the technique that did nothing but make his out skin cold. A few seconds later, the other four beams had zeroed in on him and Kakuzu was figuring out just what this jutsu did. It was low damage initially, but the damage ramped up quickly and froze the target solid. Already he was slowing down, his kinjutsu failing him as he lost mobility and fell behind his partner. Now very irritated, he almost growled, "Hidan, get a move on and stop this jutsu before he freezes me solid! I can't move anymore!"
At that point, Hidan had reached the clones and swept his scythe through all five of the blond body-doubles, the original having fallen back and drawn his sword. Fu thought it was truly a beautiful weapon, the golden intertwined basket gleaming in the light and she could have sworn the eyes in the guard glowed deep red for a second when his hand clasped the grip. Holding the blade in his right hand, his left held in a large pouch behind him, Naruto Uzumaki charged.
A rapier is not normally built for clashing with larger weapons, the blade being too thing and brittle. Even though Naruto's rapier was not ordinary, he still played to his blade's strengths by parrying Hidan's strikes to the side rather than blocking them directly. "I'm gonna kill you, you piece of $% &. You know you can't kill me, you turned me into a $ !*&$% pincushion and I walked away without a problem. I'm immortal! Unstoppable!"
"You pulled that explosive arrow out of your chest in a panic." Naruto returned in a cold voice. "You're no more immortal than I am. You're just tricky to kill. And I will kill you, if I have to shred you into tiny pieces first."
Howling in rage, Hidan made a horizontal slash with his scythe which Naruto parried, catching the scythe with his rapier held out to his side with the blade parallel to bit body. Catching the opposing blade, Naruto then angled his blade towards him and crouched, altering the arc of Hidan's attack to sail uselessly over his own head. However, during this swing his other hand had not been idle, when the blade passed over his head, the blond pressed a normal, timed exploding tag close enough to the scythe that adhesive chakra charge attached the tag to the scythe and began counting down. Leaping away, both Naruto and the clone holding Fu exited the blast radius just as the explosive went off.
Both jinchuriki thought that Naruto had finally killed Hidan, right up until a hand shot out of the smoke and grabbed Naruto by the throat, lifting him off the ground as Hidan's hidden spike shot out and caught in the rapier's basket, tossing it away. Hidan stared into Naruto's eyes as he slowly choked the whiskered teen to death. "Any last words?" sneered the insane cultist.
"…ancu… Sty… Spectral… Blad…" Hidan's eyes went as he felt Naruto's palms touch his chest. Before he could blink, a dozen blades, each one visible only briefly as thin, translucent sickly yellow light. Released point blank, the blades removed Hidan's right arm, and punched a hole where his heart once was. Naruto fell to the ground, gasping for breath through his bruised and outwardly bleeding neck. He was, however, already starting the thirty seal sequence to activate another attack. Regaining his feet, he ducked and rolled another swipe from Hidan's pike, coming out of the roll on his feet, still holding his hand in the final seal of a jutsu. With some distance attained, Naruto Uzumaki charged Hidan until there was only about three feet of distance between them. "Sanctuary Style: Spectral Blades!" the blond called out as he held his palms out in front of him, ending the battle as his attack fired off, now at full power and optimal range. Hidan, from the waist up was now chunks of meat, only his head and neck having survived the blast pattern.
Fu was completely shocked at the display of power, even as she saw Naruto gasp for air and fall to one knee. As a technique that was still raw and unrefined, Spectral Blades was a huge chakra drain, even for Naruto. Speaking of, the man with the whiskers was just thinking of finishing Hidan off for good when Kakuzu made his presence known. The blond was just raising his head when a viscous kick connected with his jaw.
One jinchuriki collided with another, dispelling the clone holding the girl with orange eyes. In a heap, they saw Kakuzu standing over his partner. "I let you fight him to teach you to understand who you're fighting, moron. That's the Kyubi Jinchuriki you're up against, and he beat you without using his biju's strength. That you are even still alive is a surprise with what that jutsu did. As for you," Kakuzu rounded on Naruto and Fu, "I am more than enough to handle both of you as you are now. Surrender and make this easy on yourself. You are out of chakra."
Suddenly with a childish smirk on his lips, Naruto answered with a giggle. "Am not. I actually have more control of my biju than the average jinchuriki, even if he's tried to eat me a few times. You know me by my face, but you haven't felt any demonic chakra from me because I wanted to save the beautiful young lady on my own." A small smile graced Fu's face, a compliment to an insecurity welcome even though she was sure she was about to die, convinced her big brother was only bluffing. Kakuzu was more dangerous by far out of the two.
"Sadly, I am now convinced that she needs a medic more than you need to die. So, if Imperious wasn't feeling vindictive and didn't lie to me, I'm out." That said, he sheathed the blade they had landed near and then picked up Fu in a bridal carry.
"What are you going to do, #$ ^&*!? Sprout wings and fly away? We're back to square one, you can't escape with the #$^# in your arms." Hidan spat, head rolling around on the ground.
Shifting Fu, the heroic blond tossed his white cowl back onto his head, completely obscuring his face and head, once again shadowing his face completely. Again, Fu was losing consciousness, but fought hard to keep it as eighteen energy tendrils shot out the back of Naruto's armor. A solid shade of orange, each was about 7 feet long and waved lazily.
Making a face of concentration, Naruto's feet slowly left the ground as he began to rise. As soon as he was off the ground, the blonde and his new tan friend shot off into the air like a rocket. Their enemy launched a hail of kunai, the throwing implements mostly hitting only air, but the airborne Uzumaki had blades lodged in his thigh, rear, and lower back.
In retaliation, Naruto almost dropped Fu as he rooted in his packs for all of his remaining paper bombs, rolled them into a ball and dropped it straight down. As she passed out, her adrenaline finally gave out and she smiled. "I made a new friend and he saved me…" was her last thought before she passed out.
And that's chapter one, will try to get two out soon with some exposition I was originally going to lead with, but I thought it might be more fun to start with an action sequence.
