Reviews
Biginferno: Yeah, I guess it shows that although Tayuya may be violent and crazy half the time at least she has some ability to control herself when faced with her best friend, and she really should act quickly before someone really does snap Naruto up.
Peskypinch: Thank you, it's an era in time and setting that gives space for a lot of worldbuilding and character development, which I will definitely do.
XXX
WASTELANDS
Chapter Seven: What It Means to Be A Jinchuuriki
XXX
Smoke rippled outwards in a wave as one of the Rain Sanction's tallest hotels creaked, moaned and cried. Poor civilians and resting mercenaries alike scrambled as the skyscraper threatened to come down on them. As they sprinted, they all rushed past a group of mercenaries who seemed set on breaking the most important rule of Rain Sanction. No fighting. A single curly-haired man stood nonchalantly in his skin-tight white shirt and pants with a large blue sash holding them together at the midriff. He lowered his goggles over his brown eyes and grinned. A blonde man in a large black coat leapt off a giant white dragon and landed on the damp concrete as puddles formed around him.
"I'll search for the girl, keep this one busy," Hiruko demanded.
"No, you don't!" Hoshiko charged. Deidara tossed something.
"KATSU!" an explosion blew Hoshiko through the hotel's large windows and into the lobby. He slid through a potted plant, was flung over a chair and banged his head against the receptionist desk. The dragon flew away. Deidara entered the building. People paused by the stairway to avoid joining the battlefield, "I don't want to cause too much damage so, it would save me a lot of trouble if you just died, un. It's inevitable, why drag all these people down with you?" he shrugged.
Hoshiko rushed. Deidara dodged.
"I was hoping you'd resist, un!" Deidara revealed a pair of mouths on his hands.
"What the fuck?" the speedster paused. The mouths were chewing on something… "Is this…" they spat at him. The white balls of clay lit up, "A Kekkei Genkai?"
Explosions shook the building's foundation, "A mixture of earth release and lightning release to form a gorgeous ball of beauty, un," screams echoed around the lobby as the building moaned, "Is it just me, un, or is there no piece of art more beautiful than that fleeting second of light caused by a volatile explosion?" Deidara cackled.
"How's this for a volatile explosion!" someone leapt through the smoke and landed a powerful kick to the side of Deidara's face. The blonde was thrown over the receptionist desk. The deadly mercenary looked up at his assailant. They both grinned. Sasuke dusted his shoulder off before activating his Sharingan, "You seem very proud of your Kekkei Genkai, well prepare to experience the most powerful dojutsu in the world."
"An Uchiha," Deidara chuckled, "How magnificent, un!" Hoshiko vanished. Sasuke charged forth. Sasuke reached out and grabbed Hoshiko by the neck. Deidara vaulted over the duo and casually strolled towards the door, "I hope you don't mind if we take this outside."
"Get out of my way!" Sasuke yelled.
"You grabbed me," Hoshiko whined.
Sasuke threw him off and chased the Oumagatoki member outside. He was greeted by a plague of white insects swarming around his feet. His sandals turned the bugs to mush as he stepped on them.
"Watch out!" Deidara yelled as he flew overhead. Sasuke tried to dodge, but the bugs combined to form a rising mound of clay around Sasuke's legs. The Uchiha struggled as Deidara formed the ram hand sign, "Katsu!"
XXX
"What's going on out there?" Kin cried as an Itachi clone entered the room with Naruto on his shoulder and Sakura at his side. The Uchiha rushed to Tayuya's side and laid the hyperactive mercenary down before turning to the onyx-haired Jinchuuriki.
"From what I can gather, someone attacked one of the skyscrapers near the centre of the Sanction," Itachi explained before turning his attention to the pink-head and two unconscious characters, "Sakura, will you be able to heal them?"
"Of course, but who do I start with?"
"Does it matter?" Itachi questioned.
"Yes! Yes, it does, these aren't scraped knees I'm dealing with; it'll take me at least thirty minutes to do either of them," Sakura explained.
"Tayuya," Itachi insisted.
"Why Tayuya?" Kin asked, "Naruto is a Jinchuuriki."
"This bitch?" Tayuya grunted, but her body was so incapacitated that not even her grunts were audible. The temporary shelter shuddered as another explosion rippled through the Sanction.
"They both are, but the fact that Tayuya has more than one jutsu in her arsenal makes her more valuable to us at the moment," Itachi said.
"Are these people after us?" Kin questioned as Sakura knelt over her best friend.
"We don't know, but why else would someone break the number one rule of Sanctions, other than for a prize as valuable as a Hyuuga?" Itachi thought aloud.
"What are we gonna do then, huh? I mean, the main team is currently split up across the entire Sanction in search of Hinata. If they go after Hanabi, how will Hoshiko hold them off by himself? How will we hold off these attackers and find the three bastards who've been pursuing us since the Land of Fire?" Itachi had to cover Kin's mouth to shut her up.
Sakura began working on Tayuya's bite mark.
"True, our team is currently stretched out, but we're not stretched thin just yet. If we all do our jobs perfectly, then we can escape without causing much more stress," Itachi tried to calm the Jinchuuriki down.
"And what are our jobs, might I ask?" Kin was sceptical.
"Sasuke already went off to see what the attackers are after, so if they do go after Hoshiko and Hanabi, I'm sure they have enough cover. Those two can be our Hanabi Protection Division. We will have to be the Healing Division considering how we've got two downed members who need assistance. Our job is simply to make sure Naruto and Tayuya make a speedy recovery, nothing more, nothing less. Fuu and the real me had to stop searching for Hinata to visit an old friend, a friend who can help us have a smooth journey from here on out. Asuna, another one of my clones, and Ino are currently searching for Hinata, they've been given orders to not engage, but to simply follow the princess until we've all regrouped. We each have a job, and I have a plan… so there's no need to stress," Itachi succeeded in de-stressing the woman's nerves. Kin's breathing began to regulate.
"Okay… well then, how can I help?" Kin turned to Sakura.
XXX
"How anti-climactic," Deidara sighed as he sat on his one-man bird, "I'd never faced a member of the Uchiha Clan, un. I expected so much more from someone with the fabled Sharingan."
Hoshiko rushed out of the building and burst through the dust cloud to reveal nothing but a badly burnt log, "Damn, even I didn't expect that one," the speedster scanned the area.
"Chidori!" Deidara looked over his shoulder. The Uchiha pulled his arm back.
"Katsu, motherfucker," the blonde effortlessly tossed a bug over his shoulder. Sasuke caught it with his right hand as it went bright yellow. The explosion almost knocked the Oumagatoki member off his bird. Sasuke, who'd thrown the bomb away at the last possible second, flew into a neighbouring building.
"This is fun and all, but the last thing I need is Lord Pain on my back for destroying one of his precious Sanction blocks. I should either move this battle outside or finish this quickly using C1," Deidara thought. Hoshiko leapt through a seventh storey window and landed on Deidara's clay bird. The speedster kicked. The blonde caught his foot and threw him off. Hoshiko grabbed onto a tailfeather and jumped back on. Hoshiko jumped into the air. Sasuke shunshined in.
Miraculously, Deidara blocked Sasuke's kick with his right hand and blocked Hoshiko's kick with his left forearm. He spun them both mid-air. They landed on the bird's wings as Deidara leapt off and created another bird to land on. Sasuke tried to chase, but his leg dug into the falling bird.
"No way you can survive this one," Deidara assured himself, "Katsu!"
Another explosion. At the last second, Hoshiko propelled himself away and into a building, through the window. Sasuke threw his burning shirt off as he landed on his feet. A pitch-black flame-like pattern had spread itself across his face, neck and torso as he breathed heavily.
"Damn it! They're both extremely quick, I'll admit," Deidara made sure Hoshiko was still inside the building before digging his hands into his coat, "Maybe I'll have to take this battle outside after all… but how will I lure them through the gates, un?"
.
.
.
An explosion went off, followed by another, and another, and another. They all ran in a straight line through the Sanction streets. Sasuke and Hoshiko sprinted, side-by-side, through the wet streets of Rain Sanction. A large bird dived in to shit out a rolling ball of clay. Hoshiko sped up and left Sasuke behind. The explosion caught the Uchiha, but he used the momentum to launch himself over the speedster.
The Rain Sanction was surrounded by a large moat. The only way a normal person could get from the gate to the Sanction relatively dry was using the pathway. A long straight path of concrete between the city outskirts and the large wooden gate on the southernmost tip of Rain Sanction. To try and escape the torrent of bombs, Hoshiko embarked on the, roughly, five hundred metre dash from the Sanction's outskirts to its silent gate.
"Wait, slow down!" the gate guard yelled as he saw the speedster cutting through the air.
"No fucking way!" he sped past the man.
"Public use of Ninj-," the man was cut off by an explosion's shockwave. It pushed him to the floor before enveloping him in an intense wave of heat no normal man could survive. Hoshiko came to a halt and looked back as the fireball dissipated.
"Where's Sasuke?"
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" a section of the water behind the large wooden gate rose into the air as steam in an instant.
"There he is," Hoshiko prepared to run in, but he realised that the Sanction's confiscated weapons were stored in the gate guard's box in front of the big entryway. He slowly made his way into the room in search of his weapons' pouch. He searched through the knocked over cabinets. Luckily, they had dates on them, "October 10th, October 11th, October 12th!" he found the date on which he'd arrived.
Before he could retrieve the pouch though, he'd have to lift the cabinet to upright it. He placed his hands under the cold metal. An explosion shook the room, "Yeah, yeah… I'm… coming!" he growled as the cabinet went from horizontal to vertical, "Hoshiko," he smirked as he unboxed his pouch… there was a long box labelled 'Sasuke Uchiha' in there too.
XXX
"So… what brings you to my humble adobe?" Shisui sat on a comfortable leather chair as dust and sand were shaken off the ceiling by vibrations. Fuu raised an eyebrow and turned to Itachi. The Uchiha had halted a mission as important as finding a princess in a dying Sanction just so he could speak to this guy, but Fuu saw nothing impressive about the man.
Shisui was probably a year or two older than Itachi with short curly black hair and a pair of soft onyx eyes. Even though he was supposed to be 'in hiding', Fuu found the man dressed in the iconic Uchiha high-collar dark shirt with baggy black pants and a tanto blade holster strapped to his shoulder, wrapped around his torso.
"Fuu, allow me to introduce you to Shisui Uchiha, also known as Shunshin no Shisui or Shisui of the Teleportation Jutsu. He apparently went against the orders of Uchiha Clan Council two years ago, so he was banished, never allowed to bear the name Uchiha ever again."
"Not like I actually cared about that title in the first place," Shisui shrugged it off before raising a steaming cup of tea to his lips for a sip. The soft-spoken man invited both Itachi and Fuu to take a seat, "Now once again, why are you here?"
Before they could start Itachi had to ask, "Who's Hidoi Unmei?"
"It was an alias I picked up on my journeys, do we really have time to discuss things like that?" Shisui wondered.
"No, um, we're looking for a white-haired man," Itachi allowed Fuu to speak first, "I tried asking the bartenders around the Sanction, but they're useless, ssu."
The house sighed.
"A white-haired man?" Shisui placed his tea on the table. He used his hand to cover it from the dust as it rained onto the table, "I can understand why they were unsuccessful. You'll have to be a lot more specific, the Rain Sanction's full of even crazier people than that."
"He goes by Jiraiya," Itachi said.
"You knew his name all along and never bothered to tell me, ssu?"
Shisui chuckled upon hearing the name, "Oh okay, I see who you're looking for. You want to take the Hyuuga Princess from him."
"Take it from him!" Fuu erupted, "He took her from us, that little shit!"
"You were chosen for the suicide mission?" Shisui asked.
"Suicide mission?"
"That fucker followed us from the Land of Fire to the Land of Rain's border just so he could steal one girl, is it just me or do I sense some paedophilia vibes? The next time I see him, I'm gonna, I'm gonna!" Fuu's foot hit the table as she climbed onto her chair and raised her fist to the sky, "Suicide mission?"
Shisui got up. Instinctually, Itachi threw his hand over the man's cup to stop more dust from getting in. The older Uchiha walked over to a bookshelf, "Yeah, I guess I can understand since you weren't much for myths and legends when we were growing up but," the curly-haired Uchiha pulled out a thin navy book with only six or seven pages in it. He had to activate the Sharingan to decipher the strange symbols on the first page, "it's believed that the deaths of Hamura and Hagoromo actually kick-started one of the myths and legends in the old Uchiha files."
Shisui shot a glance at Itachi, who wasn't taking Shisui seriously at all. "What are you trying to tell me, Shisui-san?"
"I'm not saying anything," the young man smirked, "this book though, it's saying that the gods are coming to earth for that princess specifically."
"Why would gods be in an uproar over an engaged woman?" Itachi stood up.
"Now listen to me," said Shisui, "According to this myth, before the gods had the chance to make life, the god of death chose to make monsters to be the epitome of death. Angered by how the god of death tainted his world, the god of creation, Izanagi, made humans. He gave humans this thing called chakra and gave humans the ability to destroy the Death God's monsters. In defeat, the Death God stored his monsters away and slowly but surely, each generation of humans became stronger and stronger and yet, more and more violent at the same time. Seeing that there was no point in having them use chakra anymore Izanagi dropped the God Tree on earth while he was tending to a heavenly garden-."
"How do you drop a tree?" Itachi squinted.
"Listen!" Shisui pointed to his ear. The room shook.
"Do we have time for this?" Fuu watched cracks appear along the walls.
"The tree sucked all the chakra out of the humans and forced man to worship it. Generations passed until a being, who was already not earthly in nature, took a bite of that God Tree's fruit directly against the gods' permission, thus turning that being into a Rabbit Deity," Itachi resisted the urge to ask why the deity would have to be rabbit based, "The creation of the Rabbit Goddess restarted the cycle of chakra usage amongst humans to the point where Izanagi knew that another God Tree would do nothing but make them more resistant to love, so he bargained with the Death God to release some of his monsters to scare the humans. But, after generations of living without the fear of monsters, humans lost the knowledge they needed to seal those same monsters, so the monsters killed and killed until less than five per cent of humanity remained. The King of the Uchiha Family went up to the top of Mount Fuji and asked the gods what he could possibly do to save the remnants of humanity. The gods, mostly Izanagi, seeking to protect what he worked so hard to create, decided that a sacrifice was the best option. He stated that not just any sacrifice would do, only sacrificing the most powerful land's most powerful family's most precious female. That would serve as proof that the humans have not forsaken the gods, whilst also showing that the gods are still merciful but can be merciless if crossed. But… the King realised that that would mean having to sacrifice his own wife. He pleaded for the gods to give him another option, but Izanagi stated that unless the humans were willing to challenge the Death God himself, there was no way to stop this plague. They added that he needed to be quick, because the Death God had probably heard their condition and if he killed the queen before she was sacrificed then there would be no way to stop the Death God."
"And you think that that myth could be in effect now?" Itachi asked.
"Oh, I know it is," Shisui explained as the room shuddered.
"Perhaps the monsters in the bedtime stories are the ones causing all this destruction," Itachi looked at the floor.
"Bedtime… I'm sorry did you say 'bedtime stories'?" Fuu stuttered, "What kind of bedtime stories were you guys told as children?"
"Now you know why the Uchiha Clan is so fucked up," Shisui shrugged.
"So… the Land of Lightning is simply planning on sacrificing Hinata-hime," Itachi thought aloud.
"Or Hanabi."
"Or both…" the curly-haired Uchiha shrugged again.
"What's our plan of action?" Fuu turned to Itachi.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm assuming the reason those three stole Hinata was so they could deliver her to the Land of Lightning for the bounty… at first, I thought this task was some happy-go-lucky marriage mission… I can't send another girl to her death," Fuu stated.
"I have so many questions," Itachi sighed.
"Do we let them leave with the Hyuuga Princess or do we save them?" Fuu asked.
Itachi stared into Shisui's eyes, "What do I do, brother?" he pleaded for an answer.
XXX
"There you are!"
A wooden scorpion tail wrapped itself around Hanabi's arm and carelessly flung her into a wall. The Hyuuga heiress had chosen to hide in an alleyway as Rain Sanction civilians rushed past her. She couldn't handle the constant pushing and shoving, so she took refuge there thinking Hoshiko was handling the two mercenaries. Surprise, surprise, the speedster let her down again. The semi-spherical man in his black hooded coat jumped off the giant white clay bird-dragon and slowly slid towards the princess.
"Who the hell are you?" Hanabi pressed her back against the cold wooden wall.
"Does it even matter? I just want you to come along quietly," he lifted his tail to his ragged face, "Please don't make me sting you with this, your body will suffer from painful paralysis in seconds and that's not a nice feeling… for you, of course."
Sasori sensed a sudden increase in chakra behind him, "Rasengan!"
Hiruko leapt out of his cloak as a ball of chakra tore his coat apart with rotation and cracked the earth he once stood on. The wooden puppet clung to the wall before turning to judge the idiot who had just tried to kill him.
When the dust cleared, seven figures were crowded into the alleyway, which was, at most, four people wide. A white-haired man, a pale snake-like man, a blonde woman, a woman with white eyes, a woman with long black hair, a much younger blonde woman, and an older redheaded man.
"Onee-san!" Hanabi's face lit up when she saw Hinata standing there. She tried to get up off the wall and rush to the woman, but the puppet's stinger drilled into the concrete in front of her. Hiruko looked back at the group. Jiraiya smirked. He raised an eyebrow.
"You look familiar," the sage folded his arms, "Have I fought you before? Highly doubt it considering how most people that face me don't try to fight me again."
"I know who you are Jiraiya of the Fire Country, Legendary Toad Sage. And of course, you have to have heard of me, or at least you've probably heard of my achievements," the man on the wall growled in his harsh raspy voice, "Like when I… conquered an entire country with 100 puppets."
Jiraiya's eyes widened, Orochimaru grunted, Tsunade gasped. She said what they were all thinking with fear in her voice, "S… Sasori of the Red Sand? What are you doing all the way up in the Land of Rain?"
"I'm collecting some very precious items, and spreading bloodshed… you can be my next victims," Hiruko chuckled lifting his left hand to his face. Wooden cylinders burst out of his gauntlet. Jiraiya shrugged. Tsunade and Orochimaru turned to each other.
XXX
"Tayuya! The Curse Mark has chosen you to lead it into the light!"
"Why the fuck are you telling me this!" Tayuya cried as she jumped from branch to branch trying to escape whatever was chasing her. She'd been hopping through the trees for the past ten minutes, but the landscape wasn't transforming in any way. She grabbed her ears as the voices grew louder, "What am I supposed to do with that information?"
"DEFEAT US!" three figures appeared up ahead, "And gain our strength!"
One tried to skewer her with a pair of bone-like claws. Tayuya hopped away. A second attempted to headbutt her but ran into a tree trunk as it spun. Tayuya leapt up. The third figure swung its huge metal club in her direction. Tayuya grabbed her flute and blew. She was still smacked into next week. She bounced off a tree and was smacked into the earth by the first creature.
When she landed, she took a second to look up at the three entities coming down from above. The first two had bandages around their eyes and ears, the last one had hair covering its face. All three had mouths sealed with stitches and were thrice Tayuya's size. They roared nasally as they came down. She rolled away to avoid sure-fire death.
"Five Tails!" Tayuya threw her arm out. Nothing.
The headbutting creature caught her, sending her into a tree. She managed to barrel roll as the club-wielding member of the trio levelled the tree in seconds. Tayuya looked at her right hand and saw the flute, ready to be played. She lifted it to her lips.
"That won't work," Naruto's voice told her. She looked around.
"ARGH!" she dodged a skewering again. Tayuya hopped onto a tree and performed a few flips to end up on a branch.
"Naruto? Where are you?" Tayuya looked around. The blonde's mysterious voice had disappeared. The only sound flowing through the forest's thick shrubbery was the sound of disgruntled breathing. The redhead looked down.
The three creatures, in their full grotesqueness, stared up at the Jinchuuriki before vanishing into the forest. Tayuya placed the flute in front of her lips and scanned the area.
"You need to use that thing on your neck," Naruto's voice explained.
"What?"
"ARGH!" the huge metal club broke through the tree and destroyed Tayuya, launching her into a vertical chop from the clawed creature, she fell into a headbutt and landed on the damp grass.
"Shit!" Tayuya cried before rolling away. All three creatures hit the ground at the same time, throwing her into some bushes. Tayuya grabbed her abdomen before tapping at her lip to feel the blood gushing out, "Get up, bitch! No time to die in this weird place!" Tayuya yelled. She spat the blood out into a nearby bush before grabbing a kunai knife and charging in.
"You've got this!" Naruto yelled.
"Dattebayo!" Tayuya rushed in and stood between the three beasts.
She countered all their hits with that single kunai knife as black geometric lines formed across her face. The long-haired creature stopped fighting to leap back into the forest. The other two attacked Tayuya from both sides.
"Summon more of its power!" Naruto demanded.
"Fuck yeah I will!" Tayuya yelled, deflecting a giant club with a tiny knife. She turned and kicked the clawed creature into a tree before headbutting the club-wielder into another tree, "Come at me!" she smacked her chest as the lines went all the way up to her hands.
"ARGH!" the third one came flying in. Instincts told Tayuya to play her flute. She blew hard enough to slow the beast down, but it still hit her. She didn't stop playing. The redhead landed on the tree and dashed up into a tree branch to continue playing her sweet melodies.
The clawed creature rushed up the stairs. Tayuya played the flute with so much energy her hair grew longer and darker. The headbutting creature bit into the tree trunk to try and break it apart, but Tayuya's flute dropped the monster. Horns sprouted from her head. The club-wielding beast didn't bother attacking. It took a step back and knelt. The other two slowly followed.
"There you go, Tayuya. I'm impressed at how quickly, you learned to control your inner demons, you must have a lot of experience, kukukuku," Naruto's voice died away leaving a hissing voice in its place.
"What are you talking about?" Tayuya asked. When she stopped playing the flute, the three creatures dispelled and turned to clouds.
"My Curse Mark has given you a special gift! I just needed to see if you could handle that gift, kukuku!"
"Tayuya!" Kin shouted. The redhead almost threw Sakura off as she got up.
"What's going on?!"
"Are you experiencing any pain?" Kin wondered. Tayuya paused to just stare at her fellow Jinchuuriki and grinned. Her breathing steadied and she rambunctiously dropped her hand on Kin's shoulder.
"Fuck no! I'm ready to conquer bitches."
"Then let's get to Naruto," Sakura turned… Naruto's body was gone.
"What the-?" Kin searched the room quickly, before turning to Itachi, who shrugged, "Where'd he go?" the room shook. A section of the ceiling came down, barely missing them.
"He'll meet us on the battlefield," Itachi said before opening the door for the ladies to run out.
XXX
"Sasuke! Catch!" Hoshiko yelled prior to tossing two objects at the Uchiha. Sasuke looked back as two swords dug into the mud behind him. He did a quick spin and grabbed both blades before analysing them. It didn't take him long to notice the first blade, it was his original sword. His classic Uchiha blade, decorated with an Uchiha emblem and the navy blue Uchiha colour scheme, but then he turned to the second one. This one was new to him. It was thinner, lighter and blacker. It was, overall, better.
"Katsu!"
Sasuke shunshined away to dodge the explosive, "Whose sword is this?" Sasuke asked.
"Does it matter?"
"Hell no!" Sasuke double stabbed the next huge blob of clay. Electricity surged through his new blade cancelling out the explosion, Sasuke spun and flung the clay allowing it to explode, "I… I… can channel chakra through it. Beautiful! It gives me an idea!" he slid his Uchiha sword into his belt and sprinted. Hoshiko sprinted too.
"What, un?" Deidara flew a little higher, unaware of what the duo was planning.
Hoshiko pulled a scroll out of his weapons' pouch, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke flew by, missing Deidara. Hoshiko threw a pair of demon wind shuriken. They missed. Sasuke flipped mid-air. The shuriken shifted too.
"Shit!" Deidara finally spotted them.
He got caught by six thin strings. Sasuke tugged. Deidara was trapped. "Full Burst!" Hoshiko kicked Deidara. His foot got stuck inside the man, "The fuck?!" Deidara twirled to reel Sasuke in.
The blonde leapt out of the white bird's stomach and formed the ram seal, "Explosive Clone! Katsu!" the Earth mercenary landed with a smirk as smoke came down from above after the explosion dissipated, "No way you could survive that. Kills confirmed!"
One figure fell down from above. Deidara's eyes widened when Sasuke's Sharingan stared into the young man's blue eyes. Sasuke landed with Hoshiko in his arms. His single wing smouldered as heat radiated off it.
"A wing?" Hoshiko raised an eyebrow.
"Stay out of my way!" the black flames on the right side of Sasuke's face had merged together to form pale grey skin with a single Sharingan surrounded by a sea of black. He threw the speedster away and commented, "I can't protect you in this form!"
"C1!" Deidara tossed a swarm of flying white clay insects.
"Chidori… Senbon!" Sasuke made a new jutsu on the spot, tossing the Chidori as needles, nailing the insects to the wooden gate. Deidara rammed his hands into his pouches. Hoshiko opened another scroll. Sasuke grabbed his new sword.
"Nice try!" he tossed some clay over his shoulder to form a giant bird. Deidara flipped onto his creation and flew away.
"Don't run away!" Sasuke chased after him.
Hoshiko threw three shuriken. One barely caught Sasuke's sandal to stop the emo in his tracks. The other two hit the earth in front of the Uchiha, setting off and explosion. Sasuke leapt into the air.
"Minefield!" the speedster warned. Sasuke grabbed his Uchiha blade and tossed it downwards, before landing on it.
The sword dug into the earth. Sasuke stood, single-footed, on the sword's hilt.
.
.
.
Deidara floated over the battlefield, "Shit, un! That was close!"
Sasuke was breathing heavily. Hoshiko looked across the battlefield to Sasuke almost to ask, what now. Sasuke shrugged before looking back up to Deidara.
"Fire Style: Double Grand Fireball Jutsu!" two voices yelled in unison.
XXX
"All I need to kill you is my Hiruko puppet and just a drop my p-," Sasori's bragging was halted by a ball of bright light behind him.
"Rasengan!" the white-haired shadow clone barely missed the puppet. Hiruko swung across the alleyway and landed behind the group. The deadly mercenary wrapped his tail around Asuna's waist. The feral mercenary was flung into a building.
"Don't get hit!" Tsunade warned.
"That's always the plan, isn't it?" Jiraiya clapped his hands together to ruffle his hair. Hiruko opened his mouth, "Ninja Art: Needle Jizo!"
Silver needles vs white needles. A hail of sharpened blades clashed mid-air. Sparks flew as both participants refused to lose out, but Hiruko decided to hop into the air to fire a wooden cylinder from his left arm. Jiraiya protected everyone with his mane, irritating the puppet. The cylinder exploded to unleash more needles which bounced off the spiky coat.
"Go! Orochimaru!"
Jiraiya had created enough of a distraction for Sasori to jump right into the Snake Sage as he exploded out of a wall to grab Hiruko. The puppet launched a kunai knife at the snake who slithered around it. He grabbed the puppet's tail.
"Tsunade-hime!"
"I've got this!" she flew.
"Poison Gas!" Hiruko's mouth opened to slow the female mercenary down.
"Shit!" Tsunade paused mid-jump. Sasori slapped her out of the air with his right hand, before flipping around to fire a needle into Orochimaru's neck. The snake collapsed. Sasori landed gracefully and began chuckling.
"If you know about me then you've probably heard of my gruesome killing methods," Sasori slowed the battle down to cackle, "My Poison Gas Technique and my Poison Needles can't kill instantly, but they can paralyse anything in seconds and will slowly and painfully kill you over a three-day pe-!"
"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu!"
The Frog Sage's fireball towered over the puppet, "Pathetic!" Sasori jumped back, "Fuck no!" he spun around upon sensing Asuna's chakra behind him. His mouth opened to fire a set of needles. The black-haired woman was saved by a lava shield that solidified and caught the needles.
"Ninja Art: Floral Poison!" Ino yelled. She nailed Sasori in his mouth with a beautiful dart shaped like a rose. The puppet flipped again and landed on the wall. Asuna distanced herself.
"It's useless, no matter how many of you there are, I will cut you down in seconds with my poison," Hiruko spat the dart out, unaffected by its poisons.
"Tsunade-hime, you good?" Jiraiya smirked.
"Of course I am, you old man," Tsunade did a push-up to lift her body off the ground.
"What about you, Orochimaru?"
The disgusting Snake Sage vomited to reveal a poison-free version of himself, "I'm perfectly healthy, kukukuku," the man licked his fingers seductively, "Oh, Tsunade, did you get the 'information' you needed?"
The buxom blonde knelt over the pale man's rotting corpse, "Yeah, I just need a sample of this poison, and I can make an antidote," she chuckled.
"An antidote? Blasphemy!" Sasori fired another set of needles. Tsunade hopped away in time. Jiraiya dashed left. Orochimaru dashed right.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Jiraiya roared.
"Wind Style: Lost in Tornado Jutsu!" Orochimaru yelled.
The perfect balance of wind and fire release created a deadly firestorm. Hiruko's mouth opened mechanically, "Water Style: Water Trumpet!" the wooden marionette fired a jet of water through the hole he'd usually use to fire needles. The water cancelled out the firestorm.
"Summoning!" a voice yelled.
"A Summoning Jutsu?" Sasori's eyes widened.
"Triple Rashomon!" three gates rose out of the ground around the confused Oumagatoki member. The gates met and sealed the puppet inside. Tsunade began sprinting.
"On my shoulders!" Jiraiya dropped onto his knee. Tsunade stepped on his back as her diamond began glowing, "Needle Jizo!" the needles flung the blonde into the air. Her Hundreds Healing kept her relatively safe as she rose up.
"ARGH!" Tsunade's fist doubled in size as chakra swarmed around it. She clenched, releasing the hairy needles. Gravity did its thing to pull the mercenary down at an incredible speed.
"Not on my watch!" Sasori yelled looking up.
Tsunade screamed. The impact sounded painful, but for who? Orochimaru quickly lowered the three gates to release the dust cloud that'd welled up. Jiraiya rushed to the scene. Ino, Asuna, Hinata and Hanabi rushed over to see what was left of the puppet. The smoke cleared quickly. Tsunade's body went limp. She'd landed on the murderer's large poison-tipped tail. Hiruko's scorpion stinger threw the blonde off.
"Next?"
"This battle might drag on for longer than I expected. You two, run for the gate, we'll catch up to you!" Jiraiya ushered the two valuable Hyuuga Princesses away. Ten needles drilled into his side, "Shit! My nerves… run!" he stared into Hinata's eyes as he fell.
"I AM SASORI OF THE RED SAND!" the aggressive puppet's eyes widened. Orochimaru attacked.
"Let's go!" without second-guessing it, Hinata chose to grab Hanabi's hand and drag her towards the southern gate. Unfortunately, an explosion went off around the corner. Sasuke rushed around the corner. Hoshiko almost slipped as he ran.
"Run the other way!" Hoshiko pleaded, "Other way, other way, other way!"
"Art is an explosion!" someone threw down another explosive. Hoshiko rushed to cover the duo.
Hanabi still flew into a nearby wall. Hinata was tossed into a dumpster. Hoshiko hit the ground, rolled and jumped to his feet. Deidara flew overhead. Itachi landed and rolled away. Fuu flew past. Shisui turned just in time to dodge a C1 spider. The explosion caught the back of his shirt. Tayuya and Kin were the last to join.
Sasuke whipped out his sword. Sasori's tail met Sasuke's sword to save Orochimaru from getting stabbed in the neck. The Snake Sage watched in amazement as the Uchiha effortlessly used both his sword and his Curse Mark to block an attack that would've done a lot of damage. Sasuke dashed away. He had to come back to stand between Sasori and Deidara.
"Anyone got any ideas?" Jiraiya chuckled before coughing up some blood. He groggily got up, but the poison was working its way through his body in an excruciating fashion… he wasn't going to last long without Tsunade.
"I have one!" Hiruko's tail pulled back, "DEATH!"
Blood splattered on the white-haired mercenary's face. The old man closed one eye before muttering, "… Shit."
.
.
.
Naruto tried to hold onto the poison-soaked tail as it drilled deeper into his stomach, mixing deep crimson blood with dark purple poison.
"NARUTO-KUN!" Tayuya's eyes watered. She'd literally just woken up from a dream in which she thought she'd lost the blonde and now the dream seemed more real than she wanted to believe. Kin's heart rate increased. Asuna looked back. Fuu's eyes widened. Hoshiko grunted. Sakura raised an eyebrow. Itachi growled. Shisui was unbothered.
"Idiot," Sasuke commented, "It was only a matter of time."
"Where'd this kid come from?" Jiraiya wondered.
"My thoughts exactly… but it doesn't matter," Sasori cackled.
The blonde had literally come down from above. He magically appeared on the battlefield only to get himself stabbed. Hiruko tried to throw the blonde off his stinger, but something was holding the wooden weapon down. The blonde's breathing slowed as his muscles grew weaker. Sasuke grunted. For a second, the battle froze.
Fuu sensed it. Kin sensed it. Tayuya sensed it. Roshi sensed it.
And in unison, they all whispered, "Shit!"
Naruto's eyes opened to reveal a pair of scarlet irises. The blonde began sweating profusely, "No…" he groaned. His fingers and toes clenched as he coughed up more blood, "I'd rather die than use your chakra."
Hiruko's eyes widened.
"Kurama."
No one, except Sasori, could see it, but the giant fox had grabbed the redhead's tail and was holding onto it with a menacing grin on his face. Hiruko couldn't pull it back. The fox's eyes thinned into slits. His exhaling drenched the puppet in steam. Sasori swallowed hard.
"Guess what though… you don't have a choice in life… this is what it means to be a Jinchuuriki," Kurama bellowed before destroying Hiruko's tail with his claws, "Now roar," he demanded.
Something built up from Naruto's stomach. He felt it run effortlessly up his chest into his throat, "Fuck," his mouth opened to release a roar. The simple act of roaring unleashed an invisible wave of chakra that circulated outwards like a deadly ripple. Buildings were dismantled. Bodies were thrown around. Trees were uprooted. Hiruko broke apart. Hell was let loose on the battlefield.
A redheaded figure landed casually on the earth a couple of metres away. The wooden pieces of Hiruko rain down around him, "A demon? I've dealt with demons before," the handsome young man commented with a straight face.
Energy was still being released from the blonde. The eighteen-year-old bent his knees a little and lifted his arms to cover his face as rocks and splinters vortexed around his body. The stab wound healed instantly. His whiskers grew more feral. His beautiful blue eyes turned to scarlet slits. His hair ruffled. Canines turned to fangs. Fingernails turned to claws.
"What the hell am I looking at?" Sasuke's eyes widened, "Is… is this the same usuratonkachi that I beat half to death an hour ago?" he asked himself. Naruto's eyeball shifted to stare into Sasuke's eyes. Never had the Uchiha felt so inferior before in his life. Sasuke was immobilised by the dense chakra. It was drowning him. He couldn't breathe. He looked over to his brother. Itachi was in a worse state. The chakra had brought him to his knees. Sasuke had to ask, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!"
Naruto looked to the skies, "RAWR!" his roar opened up a hole in the clouds. The red chakra circulating him stood over the battlefield, choosing to take the form of a giant fox with nine large tails swaying in the wind. Sasori's cloak was barely clinging to his body. If it weren't for chakra being channelled to his feet, the man would've been thrown into a building… at least, he would have if there were any buildings still standing in the vicinity.
Sasori whispered, "Come at me…"
XXX
That's Chapter Seven over and done with. A quick by-the-way, this Naruto has the full Nine Tails sealed inside him, so he's able to tap into more of the Tailed Beast than he could in the original when he had half the Tailed Beast.
A quick summary of the chapter. Deidara and Sasori are called into the Rain Sanction by Lord Pain to retrieve Hanabi, but all hell breaks loose in the process. Itachi calls upon his blood brother, Shisui, for assistance. Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Tsunade and Roshi decide to help the mercenaries take on the duo, and it's revealed that the Escorting Mission might be more of a death sentence than the group thought. Let me know if you're enjoying the story by favouriting it and following it, and let me know if you're not by leaving a review that I'll comment on or answer in the next chapter.
