Author's Note: Merry Christmas Eve to you all! It seems I was a bit late with this chapter too…I had actually finished a few pages of this within a few days of the last chapter, but writer's block struck and I didn't finish this until a few days ago. It's a bit longer, so I hope that makes it up to you all.
However, as I was writing this, I realized that I've been listing the techniques in Japanese, which makes it very difficult for the moves I've made up on my own. However, using English-Japanese translators along with my meager understanding of Japanese grammar, I've done my best. Although it's really only the English translation that's important, fell free to message me with mistakes I've made.
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Before Jirobou could reply to Naruto's words, Naruto swiftly punched him in the stomach, twisting his fist as he pushed it inward. Jirobou gave an audible grunt, his eyes wide with surprise and pain. Naruto watched his foe's face intently, visibly enjoying the pained expressions. This first assault seemed to last for an eternity; the other members of the Sound Four merely watched, stunned.
But suddenly, the fist withdrew, soon followed by a flurry of punches that could only be perceived by the normal eye as a blur. It was Jirobou's turn to stagger backwards, but even as he stumbled, the relentless assault continued. There was blood now – not just Jirobou's, but from Naruto's hands, which were clenched so hard that his claw-like nails dug into his palm.
The brutal attack finally culminated in a single punch to the face, one that sent Jirobou flying past his comrades. He landed with a thud that echoed through the now-silent arena.
"He's even stronger than Jirobou in terms of physical strength." Kidoumaru commented, alarmed. However, Sakon laughed.
"At least now this morning won't be a total waste." He started to sprint right for Naruto. As he ran, his silver hair moved out of his face, revealing a terrible grin: his interest was piqued. But when Sakon reached a point a few feet away from Naruto's standing form, there came a quick blur of motion from behind him. However, with Sakon so near, Naruto chose to concentrate on the obvious attacker. But then it was too late.
Before Naruto could land could even move to attack, two arms slipped under his from behind him and interlocked its hands at the nape of Naruto's neck, temporarily preventing Naruto's arms from moving.
"I'm sorry about that. It seems I forgot to mention somebody during our previous introduction." Sakon gloated happily after he struck Naruto across the face. The one holding Naruto spoke.
"I'm Ukon…Sakon's twin brother…" Ukon held his face close to Naruto's ear, whispering in a voice deeper and more serious than Sakon's. Suddenly he released Naruto from his grip, but swept Naruto off his feet with a swift kick at his ankles. Coordinating this attack with his brother's, Sakon kicked Naruto's midsection for the split second he was in mid-air. Naruto landed a few feet away.
"There's a reason why we're the strongest of the Sound Four, you know." Sakon said nonchalantly, brushing hair out of his eyes. Naruto growled as he rose to his feet, barely lucid. His eyes were wild, feral.
"Sakon, I want to kill him. Now." Ukon rumbled, speaking to his brother.
"Hm? So soon? He had just gotten fun." Sakon looked at his brother with mock perturbation. "Let me have fun for a little longer, at least." At this, both brothers seemed to share an inaudible agreement. Simultaneously, they started for Naruto at breakneck speed, fists raised.
Naruto reacted with speed and precision that his old self never could have. An instant before the fists made contact, Naruto grabbed forward with both his hands. Clutching the two opposing fists in his hands, he pushed the two together, causing Sakon's and Ukon's bodies to collide as well and stumble.
Naruto leapt over Sakon and Ukon, and landed nimbly behind them. Throwing back his head, he gave a roar. Although it was far from animal-like, it being in Naruto's voice, there was still some deep undertone within it, making it seem loud and savage.
By the time he stopped, the Sound Four had recovered and surrounded him, although they still made sure to keep a safe distance. Jirobou seemed a bit shaky, but he was on firm legs; his eyes stared intently at Naruto. Sakon and Ukon were on their feet as well, more angry than injured. Ukon placed his hands onto his brother's back, and began to merge with his body.
"Kidoumaru, restrain him!" Sakon shouted out. His six-armed companion reacted. His jaw began to move slightly, as if he were chewing something. His cheeks suddenly bulged.
"Ninpou: Kumo Shibari! (Ninja Art: Spider Bind)"
A spider web, several times larger than anything that could be found in nature, flew from Kidoumaru's mouth, spread out and ready to ensnare. However, with Naruto's continually enhancing abilities, he easily leapt out of way.
"Do you think I'm that easy to escape?" Naruto was in mid-air from the jump, but Kidoumaru had just appeared above him. He had no time to react.
With a ball of spider thread perfectly molded in his hands, Kidoumaru pointed it at Naruto. The sphere instantly unfolded and became a massive spider web, much larger than the previous one.
"Ninpou: Kumo Soukai! (Ninja Art: Spider Web Unfold)"
Naruto gritted his teeth and snarled – his muscles weren't strong enough e to break through the giant spider web. Kidoumaru laughed.
"Well, that was disappointingly easy. But then again, you just are just a dumb animal, aren't you?" His mouth made chewing motions similar to before and placed all six of his arms near his mouth. He began to pull more spider thread from it, but this thread had an unusual golden color. "Ninpou: Kumo Nenkin! (Ninja Art: Spider Sticky Gold)"
Biting the stretched gold webbing, it separated into six hook-like pieces. They made a crackling noise as they began to harden. Sharp-looking spines began to grow. However, as they began to harden, Naruto closed his eyes and began to tremble.
"Scared, are we? Pathetic." Tayuya spat. But then her look of contempt changed to one of surprise.
A red aura, similar to before, appeared around Naruto. Like the tongues of a flame, the edges dance and flickered. The began to grow in intensity.
"Kidoumaru, do it now!" Tayuya shouted as Naruto became completely encompassed in the blaze. Kidoumaru threw two of the golden weapons.
But it was too late. In a final flare of pure energy, the web trapping Naruto sizzled and disintegrated into nothingness. Naruto's hands flew together and formed a hand seal.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Shadow Replication Technique)"
Two replications appeared in front of Naruto, just in time to absorb the hits from Kidoumaru's technique. A cloud of gray smoke came with each replication's disappearance, drifting softly.
Suddenly, Naruto leapt through the cloud, causing it to disperse. With tremendous speed, he dashed right for Kidoumaru. Kidoumaru threw his remaining four weapons at Naruto while taking a few tentative steps backwards, completely caught off-guard.
Naruto sidestepped to avoid all four projectiles, but didn't lose a fraction of his speed as he did so. With fully built-up momentum, he shoulder-checked Kidoumaru, knocking the six-armed member of the Sound Four backwards and to the ground. He failed to get up. Naruto turned around and looked at his three remaining foes. His hand formed a familiar hand sign.
"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Mass Shadow Replication Technique)"
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Orochimaru smiled wickedly. Raiu and Kabuto, however, were more surprised. Kabuto fumbled with his glasses, which had slipped precariously low on his nose due to his shock.
"There…there are quite a few replications there." Kabuto quickly regained his composure. "It's a valuable technique for him, considering his substantial chakra reserves."
Orochimaru said nothing, but continued to grin. Naruto could now be used.
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"What the Hell?!" Sakon gaped.
There were hundreds. All emanating the same vile aura, hundreds of replications scowled. Jirobou gulped. Everything was still for a brief moment as both sides stared at each other.
But simultaneously, both sides sprung into motion. In a straightforward charge, the Naruto replications burst forward. But the conscious members of the Sound Four were less obvious in their attacks.
"Doton: Doryuu Dango! (Earth Release: Earth Mausoleum Dumpling)" As his two teammates leapt away from his side, Jirobou buried both his hands in the ground. Exhaling audibly in a roar-like voice, Jirobou lifted a massive chunk of earth and held it above his head, leaving a sizable hole in the ground. Arms shaking from the exertion, he threw the dumpling-shaped mass at the advancing force of Naruto replications. Once it made contact with the ground, the chunk of earth began to roll, crushing and destroying all of the replications that failed to get out of the way in time.
After leaping from Jirobou's side, Sakon landed on a Naruto replication, destroying it as his legs pushed to the ground. He was surrounded now, but was completely calm and eyed the enemies, calculating.
Sakon gave a battle cry and ran straight into a particularly dense grouping of replications. However, as he approached them, the arms and legs of his brother branched from his own limbs and struck out in an unpredictable manner as Sakon ran. From an overhead view, an ever-increasing line of smoke indicated where Sakon and his brother were demonstrating their mastery over hand-to-hand combat.
While Jirobou and Sakon attacked, Tayuya whipped out a simple-looking metal flute. She concentrated her chakra before speaking.
"Get back." Although she spoke softly, Jirobou and Sakon heard her voice over the din of battle. They quickly retreated behind her, although Jirobou made sure to carry an unconscious Kidoumaru with him. Holding the flute to her delicate lips, Tayuya inhaled.
"Mateki: Aigou no Chitenma! (Demonic Flute: Wailing of 1000 Demons)"
Mixing chakra in with the breath she exhaled, the flute emitted a horrible high-pitched noise. Even though the sound waves of the attack were directed in front of her, Jirobou and Sakon still cringed.
But Naruto received the worst of the attack. Clamping his hands over his ears in a vain attempt to block out the noise, his concentration broke, and the remaining replications vanished in a massive poof of smoke.
Naruto was on his knees now, trembling as the unworldly noise refused to be blocked out. Tayuya smirked as she played the single note on her flute, with no intention of stopping. She had used the technique several times. On weaker opponents, it usually made them pass out and left permanent ear damage. However, on stronger opponents, which Tayuya expected Naruto to be one of, the noise often made them go insane. Of course, all this depended on Tayuya's chakra. Even using that one technique would leave her vulnerable and weak.
But then there was a change.
The red aura, which had diminished severely with Tayuya's attack, exploded with new strength as Naruto gave an agonized roar. And as a spike in the chakra output occurred, the arena shook. The ground around Naruto fragmented into large pieces and flew off into the air in all directions. Tayuya's eyes widened.
"What the Hell?!" She started to collect chakra in her feet so that she could quickly bound away from the flying chunks of earth, but it was impossible – there wasn't enough chakra left. But luckily for her, only a particularly large piece landed just in front of her, serving only to knock her backwards. The flute flew from her hands and landed out of her reach. Sakon and Jirobou looked anxiously at their comrade, but she too was unconscious and unable to fight.
Jirobou looked away from Tayuya's body, and to where Naruto had previously stood. But he was gone.
"What?" Jirobou's head darted around, but Naruto had seemingly vanished. "Where-?" He was stopped mid-sentence, as the demonic blonde appeared directly before him, standing completely still, as if he had been there all along.
"So fast!" Jirobou could do nothing but stare at red – terrible red eyes. Naruto, being shorter than Jirobou, swung his fist upward, catching him directly under the chin. Jirobou cried out as he flew up several feet before landing with a dull thud. Sakon bit his lower lip. Despite the brutal beating he had received earlier that morning, Jirobou was, by some miracle, still alive. However, he had joined the other two in unconsciousness, leaving Sakon alone.
"You shouldn't play around any longer. At the first sign of trouble, you should have squashed him like a bug." Ukon's head sprouted from his twin brother's shoulder and spoke in a scolding tone.
"I suppose we should activate it, eh, Ukon?" Sakon nodded as he muttered. When he had finished speaking, red marks, glowing like lively embers danced across his skin before 'cooling' off and leaving irregular circle-like black marks.
Naruto watched this warily, panting like a wild creature, but did nothing else.
"I'll admit: I was wrong to underestimate you, Naruto – or whatever you have now become." Sakon called out, settling into a fighting pose. "But…it ends now. I didn't want to use my Cursed Seal against weaklings, but it seems you have some strength in you. Prepare for death."
They charged.
Crimson chakra swirled around Naruto's fist as he raised it, gritting his teeth and bearing fox-like fangs. Sakon matched Naruto's speed and raised his own right fist. Two other ones began to branch out from it at the wrist and began to move around rapidly, creating a blur with a single stationary fist at the center. It was an attack many times mightier than an ordinary punch.
"Tarenken! (Multiple Connecting Punches)"
Hearing nothing but the sounds of their beating hearts and the air whistling around them, the two fighters sprinted, until only a couple feet remained between them. The distance quickly shrunk.
But, in the exact instant before contact would be made, both were thrown off their feet and knocked away.
"You two should really be careful. You could really kill each other, you know?" Kabuto smiled as the dazed Naruto and Sakon scrambled to get to their feet. Raiu was beside him, black hair forming a veil around his face in the usual manner. His head moved, observing the fact that the two were preparing to go at each other once more. He leapt into the air and pulled out a scroll from one of his sleeves.
He was half-way to the high ceiling when she stopped his ascent. Raiu opened the scroll. As he activated the symbols on the parchment, he was surrounded by a cloud of white smoke. His monotone voice spoke quietly, but all in the room could hear his words.
"Raiton: Raifuu Kekkai! (Lightning Release: Lightning Seal Barrier)" Sixteen kunai flew from the cloud of smoke, eight at Naruto, eight at Sakon. They landed in a perfect circle surrounding both.
At first glance, they may have seemed to be ordinary kunai, but at the end of the weapon where a small ring usually existed, a small metal cube had taken its place, with strange symbols engraved into them. When they all landed, these cubes crackled with sapphire sparks.
Suddenly, a blue dome formed around both Naruto and Sakon, the edges running through the grounded kunai. Sakon saw this barrier and seemed to understand. He sat down and crossed his arms, looking away from the general direction of the action.
However, Naruto, in his feral state, was completely ferocious. Jumping to his feet, he banged both his fists on the dome, obviously angry about being trapped. But the instant that his hands touched the barrier, his body twitched and jerked as visible cerulean electricity ran through his body. After a few seconds, his hands bounced away from the barrier. He fell backwards, eyes closed. Deepened whisker marks, claws, fangs – they all began to fade.
Raiu landed softly. He looked at the senseless Naruto; black strands of hair fell away from his face. Azure eyes stared, watchfully.
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Author's Note: Well, I hope you enjoyed the battle scene; I found it a bit more interesting to write. I've made two original moves:
Mateki: Aigou no Chitenma(Demonic Flute: Wailing of 1000 Demons)
Raiton: Raifuu Kekkai (Lightning Release: Lightning Seal Barrier)
Raiu's move is a pretty standard entrapment move; its only weakness is that the kunai must be thrown from above in order to make the perfect circle.
Tayuya's move is supposed to be pretty powerful, since only those with strong willpower can move, let alone attack her. However, the drawback is that it requires a massive amount of chakra to keep up, to the point that she can barely move while using it. (That's my little excuse why it was never used against Shikamaru)
