Loudmouthed
–
Chapter 1: Sonata of the Red Haired Witch
–
It was hard to notice for the ninjas that were involved in life or death battles, but in times when such horrifying chakra and killing intent is thrown around in the forests of the Fire Country, the woods normally bustling with life become eerily quiet. The ninja don't notice because they are too intently focused on their enemies, the threats on their lives, and the sound of their own pulse thumping impossibly loud in their ears. The sound of the opponent's every move mixed with the beat of your own heart; this was the melody of shinobi combat.
Even when everyone present was entirely still one could still hear the beat of their own heart like a drum solo. The killing intent radiating through the forest from that one person, the new arrival, the Fifth Sound Kimimaro, was enough to change the rhythm of her heartbeat to a frantic tempo, the quick beating one would expect from a finale.
Perhaps out of the four of them present only Tayuya and Kimimaro knew how deathly afraid she was of her own comrade, no… he couldn't even be called a comrade. He was nothing less than her executioner. She was sure, she could feel his indiscriminate killing intent and it spoke no lies.
Shikamaru had already bitten his lip to calm himself and regain the use of his calculating mind. He could see the red haired Sound Ninja trembling in the presence of the last Kaguya. However, Naruto beside him seemed oblivious to the threat on his life and was even more angry than anything. So close yet so far away.
"Why…" Tayuya whispered under her breath. "Why are you-?" Why are you here, Kimimaro? She was terrified, unable to truly move, and barely managing to speak. "Your body… your body isn't…" Your body shouldn't be able to move anymore! Speaking in the presence of Kimimaro was impossibly hard. It was like she was staring at a shinigami. Shit.
Kimimaro, for all things considered, appeared completely calm and indifferent. However that was his way. He had no feelings to express for himself, so he acted on Orochimaru's. Right now Tayuya could tell that Orochimaru was pissed. "I'm not moving with my body anymore. This is the power of my will." Kimimaro merely stated facts as he saw them, not skewed by any sort of conjecture.
When he says things like that, then it becomes even more terrifying. "Damn… with one foot in the fucking grave…" Tayuya mumbled. It wasn't loud enough for Kimimaro to hear, but loud enough for the Konoha ninja to pick up.
"I can understand it better now… this is the perception of an anthology life form that is no longer bound by a prison that is our body. It is as if I am touching the border of Orochimaru-sama's dream." Kimimaro's apathetic scowl deepened as he rested a hand on the barrel by his side. "This is an important vessel for that dream… but… you were a bit too late." His eyes narrowed as he focused on the red haired Sound Ninja and the message was loud and clear. Orochimaru wasn't just pissed, he was fucking pissed.
The fact alone more than any of Kimimaro's words is what made Tayuya flinch.
"Quit babbling things that don't make sense!" Naruto couldn't take it anymore and launched himself straight at the Fifth Sound with his hands curled to fists and a punch at the ready. "Give Sasuke back!"
Ultimately the maneuver could be classified as recklessly retarded. To Kimimaro it appeared as though Tayuya leaped between him and the charging blond because she wanted to protect her pride by refusing to show him that she was held up by such a stupid and weak opponent. To Shikamaru and Naruto it appeared as though she was protecting Kimimaro as her superior officer. Neither of these perceptions was true.
Tayuya punched Naruto with all her might because had he continued on his trajectory… he would have died. However she did not save his life because she wanted him to live, but rather because she wanted to kill him herself. She was going to die, but she was at least going to take these two shit-heads with her to hell. They had ruined everything, and now her death had come to her in the form of that bone white shinigami.
Kimimaro was then dangerously close, suddenly behind her and whispering in her ear. "The reason I have yet to kill you is because you still have a mission to complete in this life. Take out those two pieces of trash…" And he was gone as quickly as he had come, taking the barrel containing the Uchiha with him.
It took a recollection of all her experiences to force down an emotional response to that threat on her life. Once this mission was over she would be killed and there was no question about it. She drew her flute and glared at the Konoha ninja in front of her. If she was going to die she'd at least enjoy this. The blond idiot was swearing as the Chuunin tried to calm him down with a few words. It should be easy to finish them off.
The blond kid was your stereotypical close-ranged idiot that could only use Shadow Clones, while the other one was a shadow user that could disable an enemy at mid-range and a rather cunning team leader based on their previous gambits. Yeah… this wouldn't be too hard.
Then they used a tactic she did not really expect. They charged.
"It's two on one! We're more than able to handle this! Let's go Naruto!" The shadow user yelled as they charged.
"Alright!" The blonde yelled as he charged as well, kicking off harder than his companion.
Tayuya laughed. They really were a pair of stupid rookies! "You two shitheads won't make a difference no matter how many of you there are!"
"Don't underestimate our teamwork!" The shadow user's kunai collided with her flute as she parried, but the blond idiot continued to sail at her like a torpedo. In some manner she did not expect, his fist collided with her face hard enough that she actually lost consciousness for several seconds.
When her vision returned the shadow user was cursing to himself as he ran on ahead while the blond idiot had his fingers wrapped around her collar.
Then he hit his head on a tree branch and was peeled off of her, crashing into further tree branches. Tayuya found herself landing on the ground hard enough to knock the wind from her lungs. That was embarrassing. Perhaps not as much as the blond idiot who was now hanging upside down by his clothes in a tree, but almost as much because she was put into her current situation by said idiot.
Tayuya picked herself up and spat out some blood. She did have to give the ungraceful shitstain credit for one thing though. Fucker sure could punch. She cast a glance around the small clearing and spotted her flute not even two feet away. "You're a stupid fuck, you know that?"
Naruto finally freed himself from the tree and crashed into the ground, and groaned and rolled over before standing properly again. "Ow…" He had tried to leap over her, but he had misjudged the distance and realized a moment too late that he was actually going to hit her, so he hit her with everything he had. Well… at least Shikamaru got through, as was the contingency in case he fucked up, although to be honest they had more expected her to make him fuck up than for him to actually fuck up.
"Your dipshit of a team leader just left you to die, just like all your fuck up teammates. That Sasuke kid must really be the shit for all of you to act like a bunch of stupid fags." Tayuya half-yelled as she picked up her flute. One of them got by her, which means if she wasn't considered dead to Orochimaru already then the last nail was just hammered into her coffin. She could even picture Kabuto writing her name on the lid. I'm going to enjoy spending my last few precious hours of life beating yours out of you.
Naruto looked at her with a scowl. "You don't know anything. To them… Sasuke is a comrade and a fellow shinobi of Konoha, and none of them would ever abandon a comrade, ya know!"
Tayuya's lip twitched slightly in irritation, this blonde fucker was loud. She had no idea that Konoha was letting god damned raid sirens become ninja, how fucking pathetic. "What about you?"
The boy seemed to smile slightly. "To me… Sasuke is… a complete asshole who does nothing but talk down to me… but despite that… he's my closest friend, and I'll save him no matter what! I'll beat you, join Shikamaru, and save Sasuke, ya know!"
Tayuya's right eye joined her lip in twitching. "Is everyone in Konoha fucking retarded?" She hissed. "You have no hope of beating me!" She bit her thumb and swiftly flashed through a set of hand seals Naruto found quite familiar.
That's-! Naruto leaped backwards while drawing a kunai, preparing himself for anything as she slammed her palm onto the ground.
Kuchiyose no Jutsu [Summoning Technique]! The burst of smoke was enormous, but cleared quickly. Naruto's expression was one of comically over-exaggerated horror and surprise as three giant, hulking, brutish monstrosities appeared surrounding Tayuya. "You should be more worried about staying alive!"
The blonde Jinchuuriki's eyes were wide with astonished horror and he raised an accusatory finger pointing directly at the middle beast. "W-what the hell are those?"
Tayuya's twitch returned. I am definitely going to enjoy the last few hours of my fucking life killing this idiot. "You'll have to find that out the hard way… how about I play you a requiem and you forget about saving anybody but yourself for a little while? Not that it'll do you much good anyway you stupid shit..."
Naruto watched as she raised her flute to her mouth, sweat beading on his forehead in anticipation. I guess I can afford to forget about the mission for a little bit… and have some fun here. He couldn't help but notice as she began to play that the melody that escaped her flute was actually quite beautiful. However, he also noticed her monstrous summons were very fast, and the moment he was distracted by the music was the moment the middle one with the giant club decided to smash him into the ground. Shit!
The crash kicked up a lot of dust, and visibly broke the ground. Tayuya halted her playing and her mouth hung open slightly. Over already? What the fucking shit?
"Ow…" Tayuya's eyes widened as the dust cleared… revealing the blonde idiot to have shielded his head with his arms, which had prevented his skull from being cracked open like an egg but didn't stop him from getting knocked clean off his feet and onto his back in the center of the small crater made by her minion's attack.
"You're still alive?" Tayuya mumbled. "How the fuck did that happen?" She put her flute back to her lips and resumed her melody of death, the club wielding doki lifted its club and brought it back down in another spectacular crash, but she watched as the boy rolled sideways out of the dust… and as she had planned right into the path of her second demonic summon as it struck downward with its wrist-mounted spikes. He seemed to notice this as well and gave an undignified 'eep' as he pushed off the ground in mid-roll, just barely clearing the strike, the weapon taking only a small slice into his side instead of disemboweling him entirely.
Airborne, perfect. The third doki flew at him with its spike covered, upside down head aimed to collide with Naruto's frail human body. Tayuya couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. She had hoped he'd at least last long enough that she'd be able to get some fun out of this. As it stood, she didn't even need her Juin.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu [Shadow Clone Technique]!" Naruto yelled as he made his signature hand sign, a clone appearing to throw him out of the way of the monster's charge, before the clone itself was struck by the beast, leaving the real Naruto unharmed and landing rather ungracefully stumbling closer to Tayuya.
Tayuya's eyes narrowed and the club wielding doki landed between her and the close ranged idiot, giving her cover but also allowing her to see him. "You're not half bad for somebody whose arms should have been snapped like twigs."
Naruto just grinned. "Don't underestimate me. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the next Hokage, ya know!"
There was a stagnant pause before Tayuya ultimately burst out laughing, her flute held at her side as she clutched her abdomen in uncontrollable mirth. "You? Hokage? You're hilarious! Somebody like you could never become Hokage!"
Naruto's grin turned into a scowl again. "I said, don't underestimate me! I'll show you… I'll show everyone what I can really do, ya know!"
Tayuya's laughter died down rather suddenly, and she met Naruto's gaze. He was dead fucking serious. Her lip twitched slightly and she lifted her flute back to her lips once more. "Fine… if you're in such a hurry to die, I guess I'll humor you." She began her song again, calling all three of her doki in front of her, and between them Naruto could see Orochimaru's curse mark spreading over her body like black lightning. "You shouldn't underestimate me either…"
Naruto formed his hand seal again. "Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu [Multiple Shadow Clone Technique]!" Suddenly the field was filled with what could only be described as a small army of blonde haired, orange garbed, loud mouthed future Hokages. "Now it's one thousand against four… I think I just tipped the odds in my favor, ya know." He had the balls to smirk at her.
Tayuya's eyes were wide. How could a little shit like him summon that many shadow clones? She shook her head and forced herself to calm the fuck down. No… even if he has a lot of chakra… even if he can summon this many shadow clones, they all still have the same shit for brains. I still hold the advantage. There's no way he can coordinate that many shadow clones! Her requiem began again, a new verse, and a new formation.
The doki struck forward, such a large number of shadow clones packed into such a dense wooded area made it almost impossible for them to dodge effectively. Tayuya herself jumped back away from the brawl, as he club wielding doki swung horizontally, its weapon cleaving out a whole section of the army, as well as one of the gigantic trees, which the wrist-spike wielding doki shoved so that it landed on even more clones, and the armless one simply charged into the group head first, the needles on its head impaling every clone in its way. In a matter of seconds, over half of Naruto's clones were destroyed, and the club wielder was about to make a repeat performance.
Tayuya's only oversight, perhaps, was allowing the doki to stand directly between her and her enemy, for despite her obvious advantages, she could not see in time to have her doki dodge a counterattack. As her club wielding doki swung, a lone shadow clone shot from the crowd holding a blue ball of chakra in its right hand. "Rasengan [Spiraling Sphere]!" Tayuya was left shocked as he once again surprised her, this time, by hitting her doki with an attack that sent it flying backwards straight at her. She was forced to drop down onto her stomach in order to dodge it and then she heard a small explosion from behind.
Naruto merely grinned in triumph. "Hehe… I told you not to underestimate me."
Tayuya could only glance at him as she stood up before she gave a brief look over her shoulder. Her doki was all but split in half with a large crater gouged out of its gut. Additionally, its spine was probably broken from where it crashed into the tree a good five yards behind her. "No fucking way…" She looked back at Naruto with a glare that would have possibly put Gaara to shame. "How the fuck… did a faggot like you get a technique like that?"
Naruto pumped his arm. "I've got way more where that came from! You're going down, ya know!"
Tayuya growled before bringing her flute back to her lips.
Naruto tensed immediately. Just as I thought… those things only move when she's playing her flute! His eyes widened as a great shadow hung over him. He looked up of course and saw the armless one falling down on him. That means… He leaped sideways to dodge the giant, but the other one with the weapons on its arms was ready and waiting with a colossal punch. Naruto gagged as he was impaled by the two spikes, piercing his right lung and his stomach. Can't dodge… His momentum continued as he slid down the spikes until the base of his sternum made brutal contact with the beast's fist, he was sent flying off the creature's arm and into a tree with a crash. His shadow clones all dispelled themselves from his indescribably agony.
"Finally dead, you stupid fucking shitstain?" Tayuya asked irritably.
In response, through the wood splinters and dust he laughed. Not one of those annoying childish laughs either, like a fucking… maniac Orochimaru laugh, only less gay. It was actually kind of hot when she thought about it. "You're one tough bitch…" He pulled himself out of the tree, as if his back wasn't broken from that impact, like he had bones like fucking Kimimaro! "I haven't been this hurt since I fought Kabuto!" She saw him clearly; red eyes staring at her, a wide feral grin, and those strange whiskers on his cheeks were much more noticeable now too.
Tayuya shivered. That chakra… it was… evil as fuck. The hell is he? She was no chakra sensor, so the mere fact that she could feel it wrapping around the entire clearing spoke volumes for its intensity.
His bleeding wounds healed right before her eyes as a vile crimson chakra swirled around him. "Come on! Hit me with your best shot, ya know!"
Tayuya narrowed her eyes at him, her hands were trembling. "Were you faking this whole time? Were you just pretending to be as stupid as fuck?"
Naruto shook his head. "Enough talking! Let's do this, there's nobody else here! Just you, me, and a pair of fucked up oni monsters."
Tayuya couldn't help but grin back at him. "Fine…" Let's see just how much you can bleed before you run out of that evil chakra! She began her song again, slightly modified for a little extra brutality. The armless one charged straight at him and Naruto effortlessly leaped over its head, but as usual Tayuya had her other doki more than ready for him when he was open right after dodging. The brute punched at Naruto again, this time it impaled his right arm and pinned him to the side of the tree, using the buried spike to keep itself up as well.
Naruto grit his teeth through the pain, so much as biting his lower lip and drawing blood with his sharpened canines. Shit… can't move…
The giant punched him in the chest with its other arm, both spikes burrowing into his flesh with the same searing pain as before. Needless to say he screamed, and if Tayuya wasn't playing her flute she would have grinned savagely. The blonde fucker had a nice pair of lungs, emphasis on 'had'. But she reprimanded herself. He healed from a similar injury mere moments ago. It would take much more than a repeat performance to kill him. Time for a little overkill.
The doki pulled one arm free of the tree, letting the Jinchuuriki's arm fall to his side. Then it jumped from the side of the tree, pulling its other arm free and bringing Naruto with it. It spun in midair, swinging its arm around so hard Naruto went flying right off of its spiked bracer. Not even giving him time to scream, let alone recover, the armless doki slammed into him head first, the needle-like spikes on its head tearing into Naruto's back before smashing him into a tree. Somewhere along the way his forehead protector fell off and landed right in the dead center of the clearing.
Tayuya had her doki leap away before she halted her song. "You dead yet you blonde fuck?"
A moment of silence pervaded the forest before she saw his body twitch. She squinted her eyes in disbelief, as if her vision was faulty and needed correcting, but then he twitched again, this time his good arm burst free from where it had been, no doubt painfully, wedged into the tree, loosing several rather large wooden shards in the process. He then used said arm to push himself free from the tree, falling to the ground. Tayuya couldn't help but wince as his bloodied back landed on a rather nasty wedge of broken tree. He seemed to notice too as his whole body stiffened and his back arched to try and keep itself away from the source of its anguish. "Pain!" He grunted rather loudly, his eyes wide and watery.
Is this fucker crying? Tayuya gave him nothing more than a deadpanned expression. She could not even fathom the way this kid's brain worked.
She watched as he slowly rolled himself over, despite all appearances Naruto was not angry, could not be angry. The Kyuubi's chakra flowed through him, not in rage, but because he had gone to the fox and told it pay rent. Now he needed a refill because he damn near exhausted his first dose just keeping his heart beating after being stabbed in what was likely a couple of vitals. Keep it comin… you damn fox… I'm not gunna… give up yet…
As if in response to his mental demand, the red chakra once again enveloped him, in a quantity far surpassing any he'd really ever received before. Granted he felt a lot of it vanish into his swiftly mending wounds, but there was still enough for the usual power burst and then some. It was certainly more than the last batch, and that last jolt had been way more than he called on to fight Neji or Gaara. I can't tell if you're getting more generous… or if I'm just getting better at this. Naruto grinned as he stood up slowly, showing her exactly how unhurt he was as he dusted off his pants and glared at his badly torn jacket.
The last stab had punctured the zipper, breaking it a good deal. There was no coming back from this… no amount of tailoring could ever restore his jacket from this amount of damage. "Damn it… this was my favorite jacket…" He unzipped what was left of the zipper, the slider came off and he threw it with potentially deadly force at the flute user, but she easily deflected it with her instrument. The collision sent a jarring impact down her arm, an unexpected one for such a small projectile.
He can't be hurt… Tayuya was suddenly struck with this realization. I'm fighting… an endlessly regenerating juggernaut. She switched her flute to her left hand and shook her right to revitalize it. I'll need to get rid of that chakra of his… if I'm going to have any hope of killing him. "We'll move on then… to my final song, Makyo no Ran [Revolt of the Demon World]. Nobody has ever listened to my requiem and lived."
Naruto entered his more feral fighting stance. "Sounds exciting."
The two doki charged as Tayuya's tune changed drastically, Naruto dodged with lightning speed, practically vanishing in a crimson-orange blur and reappearing behind the beasts. The monsters opened their mouths with a tearing sound, seeing as they had been sewn shut and all, and two worm-like things billowed out, covered along their lengths with pointy toothed mouths.
They darted towards Naruto none so swiftly, so he side-stepped them, but he let one bite his right arm full on just to see what would happen. Needless to say he was surprised when it tore off a purple chakra-replica of his arm and ate it. "Youch!" He jumped out of the way of their second strike. They eat chakra… even the Kyuubi's chakra… scary. He kicked off a tree to dodge their third strike. But boring. It was understandable though. In the face of somebody with a chakra like his, the first instinct is to wear the target down until it more of a fair fight. Too bad for her the Kyuubi's chakra was inexhaustible. As he bounced off the ground while dodging their fourth pass he summoned another shadow clone and held up his right hand, the clone setting to work on another Rasengan.
Tayuya felt sweat saturating the rim of her hat as she played as fast as she could to have her ghosts keep up with Naruto's unnatural speed. That technique again!
Naruto bounced off a tree, diving right through the ghosts, the mouths biting into his chakra but with its sheer volume he escaped out the other side unharmed. His red tinted attack aimed right at the armless doki. "Rasengan!" With a crash the doki was sent flying into the other and both crashed stupendously into a tree, sending it toppling down on their heads with a massive crunch of broken wood. Tayuya's melody halted abruptly, and she could do nothing but stare at him with her eyes as wide as they've ever been, biting her lower lip as she tried so very hard to rationalize exactly what the fuck just happened.
He dove through her chakra eating ghost with a feat of speed that should have been impossible for a jounin.
He defeated all three of her doki in what could only be considered two hits with an insanely powerful jutsu.
He was a reckless idiot who relied on his insane stamina and fucking evil ass chakra to simply overpower his opponents.
She was losing… because he was one strong son of a bitch, and no amount of strategy could ever overcome the immeasurable gap in power. For the first time since Kimimaro… the second time since meeting Orochimaru… she felt completely and utterly helpless.
"It's just you and me now." He spoke softly, coyly more like. Fucking smug son of a bitch. "Oh come on, don't give me that look! You just gunna give up because I beat up your stupid pets? Punch me like you did earlier! Fight me! Don't give up!"
Tayuya growled again, this time no amount of self control could stop her curse mark from spreading even farther. Not that she cared, she needed level two anyway. "To think… I'd have to use level two… on a fucking stereotypical, brainless, close range, third rate ninja like you… it's a joke! A big fucking joke!" Her skin darkened, her hair grew longer and her eyes black with yellow irises. Her skull cap was torn to shreds as her head sprouted five horns. "A moron like you… do you have a death wish? Huh? Who the fuck cheers on their enemy?"
Naruto grinned at her, some strange feral grin that had a very mischievous feel about it. "Why're you fighting me? For Orochimaru? I don't think so! You're fighting me because you want to defeat me! Well the same goes for me! There's no Sasuke here, and no Orochimaru either! I'm fighting to defeat you! In this kind of fight there's no victory unless I beat you when you're giving it a hundred and ten percent!"
Tayuya's anger left her entirely and instead she laughed. She laughed long and hard at the expense of this poor naïve sap… who was absolutely fucking right. "Alright dipshit! Let's do this then! I'll give it my all, my true power!" She brought her flute to her lips. "Mateki… Mugen Onsa [Demon Flute: Phantom Sound Chains]."
Naruto's eyes grew extra wide as he uttered one syllable. "Fuck." He felt chains on his arms and legs holding him still, arms splayed out at his sides. He could no longer see the red haired demoness through the red fog a barren wasteland of sand and skulls. Is this… genjutsu?
Tayuya stopped played and just stood there staring in a mix of awe and disappointment. "No fucking way…" She laughed wickedly at the absurdity of it all. She just stood there laughing for whole minutes and the whole time Naruto just stood there hissing and screaming in the false pain of her genjutsu. "You… you really are a dipshit." She choked out between laughing. "I'm even being sporting and gave you five fucking minutes to break out but you can't! Genjutsu… is your weakest link!" She walked toward him, truly a wonder alright, a fucking god of war who could only be killed and crippled by the most ridiculous means. Granted Mugen Onsa was a powerful as fuck genjutsu, it didn't change the fact that he was completely fucking helpless to it.
Naruto couldn't see her, but he could hear her. "So… this is it… you gunna kill me now?" He rasped through the phantom pain of his flesh melting off his bones.
Tayuya frowned as she approached him, inches from him and she just looked into his eyes. "Yeah. I'm gunna fucking kill you now. Any last words before you die, you blond idiot."
Naruto smiled as best he could through the mind blowing pain. "Yeah… I got a few of em… I've never… in my entire fucking life… met a girl quite like you…" He could not see her but he heard her respond to it audibly, some kind of snort he figured. "Just… make sure you yell it loud… that you beat Konohagakure's next Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto! Yell it loud… and make sure everybody hears you, and everybody looks at you… that everybody remembers... because that's all people like us want." She was silent still. "We're a lot alike you and me…"
The genjutsu faded immediately. The pain vanished, and he could see the real world again. The red haired demon girl standing over him as he fell to his knees in surprise just looked down at him with tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She scowled angrily at him, her teeth clenched. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
Naruto looked up at her and smiled. "When you are ignored entirely even when you say the right thing, you start to say the wrong thing just to be noticed… because being yelled at is better than not being spoken to at all." He stood up again and they stood there face to face. "Nobody ever looked at me… so I yelled loud and pulled pranks… at least when they told me to shut up and behave they were talking to me… looking at me."
Naruto watched as she transformed back from her cursed form, back into the red haired girl he had met, the black lightning-like marks receding onto the back of her neck. The tears were actually flowing now and it was all she could do to fall into his arms and rest her head on his shoulder to cry. He did nothing to stop her. "Fucking idiot… I can't kill you now… shithead." They were kindred spirits, and she could never bring herself to kill this person, the first person she'd even seen that actually understood her.
"I know..."
AN: And so the oneshot was no longer. Edited for grammar, spelling, and to flesh out the story.