A/N: Hello all my lovely readers out there, RivalsToLovers is back here once more, and this time, with, hopefully, my greatest chapter yet. I'm sorry that I seemed to have gone inactive for a while, I was thinking some things over and trying to expand on the stories so far that it's not constantly showing Ameyuri and Tao, get other characters included into the story more. That, and I've been feeling a bit of writer's block. Now, time to address some reviews.
FlameFox1 - Thank you very much for the positive feedback, man, I deeply appreciate it. I hope I continue to impress you, and everyone else. :3 One of the main reasons I had chosen Ameyuri, besides her Personality and strength, was because of the fact that she has long flowing red hair like Kushina, and I thought it would be kinda interesting for the two of them to pair up. I thought it would be a tad bit ironic if he was like Minato and had a taste for redheads.
plums - There is a reason I included Pakura in the list of people to kill for Tao. I didn't just add her in for the sake of adding in a body count, and while that may seem like it is the case, there is a reason I am doing this. She isn't dead yet, so just relax, and just wait and see what it is that I plan to do.
Guest - "Are you going to at least show a flashback how Naruto became the way he is? Will Naruto kill Jiraiya and his family. Does Naruto at at least care for Tsunade. After all you wrote her as the only one actually caring for him." - I won't answer most of what you asked, because I feel that would be spoiling the stuff I have saved up for the future. However, for your first question, the answer is yes, I will be delivering flashbacks to show how Naruto became the way he is. Those will come in the future, don't you worry about that. My only issue with showing them, is trying to figure out how much I should reveal at a time, and at what moments I should reveal them. :3
thewhitedragon1993 - LOL Yes, it would be utterly hilarious if I did that, no doubt. Whether or not that happens, though, you'll just have to wait and see.
With all of that said and done, let me see if I can create another good three fights. I think you might be surprised by how one of the fights goes down. :3
"Talking"
'Mental Speech'
*Thinking*
"Bijuu/Inner Personality/Cursed Seal Talking"
'Bijuu/Inner Personality Mental Speech'
*Bijuu/Inner Personality Thinking*
Jutsu/Technique Names
Chapter 6: Mercenary Tao VS Chiyo
"Would you care to run that by me again?" Minato Namikaze asked his Daughter in a baffled tone of voice, who was currently in front of his desk with her team. Minato, Kushina, and Jiraiya all looked at Team 7 in a shocked manner once they had been told of the details regarding their failed mission to Nami no Kuni. Every member of Team 7, except for Kakashi, shuffled their feet nervously and looked amongst each other. The guilt on their faces was obvious to everyone in the room that they didn't really feel particularly great about the path they chose to take by abandoning Tazuna to his fate. Sure, there was the fact that the client had lied and nearly got them into a situation they weren't prepared for. They had no idea just what they had been going into, and they were lucky they got out, but they still felt like they had condemned Nami no Kuni to death.
Kakashi, being the team leader, closed his Icha Icha with a sigh, and stepped forward to deliver his report. He was the team leader, after all, and believed that the guilt his students felt would effect their ability to give a proper report. While he understood the guilt they were feeling, he couldn't risk their lives by walking into a situation with unknown enemy Ninja. While they were quite well-trained, and stronger than most Rookie Genin that enter the Ninja Ranks, they were still only Genin. Up against at least 1 Jounin-level Nuke-Nin, and who knows who else had been working with Demon Brothers, he couldn't have continued the mission. While he was very confident in his own abilities, his students still weren't on the level necessary to risk going on an A-Ranked Mission. Besides, Kushina would have murdered him for going on such a dangerous mission with her Daughter.
"We escorted the VIP out of Hi no Kuni as was required of us, but along the way, we came along a puddle on the road that shouldn't have been there, and two Chuunin Kirigakure Nuke-Nin called the Demon Brothers emerged from it so as to try and ambush Tazuna-San. However, due to quick thinking at the hands of Sasuke and Mito, they were quickly dispatched via utilizing a Gokakyu/Daitoppa combination Jutsu, resulting in them being turned to ashes. Turns out he had lied about the mission details, and that Gato of Gato Kanpani had seized control of the country, and was bleeding it dry. When Tazuna-San and the people of Nami no Kuni had tried to build a bridge to the mainland, Gato sent assassins after his life. While I fully trusted in my own beliefs, I felt it unwise to continue the mission with my Genin Team, and luckily for me, they agreed with me" Kakashi said, going over the details of the mission with a critical gaze.
Minato sighed quietly to himself and rubbed his nose a bit. He had mixed feelings about the decision to just abandon Tazuna like they did. He understood that it was protocol for the Teams to abandon a Mission if the client had falsified the details of their mission request, but there was still the fact that by doing so, they were leaving a country in the hands of a tyrant who had enough money to hire multiple ninja to do his dirty work for him. He closed his eyes, and thought very deeply about what he should do. As much as he would like to just let Nami no Kuni stay in Gato's hands for Tazuna putting his daughter's life in danger, he knew that he couldn't just leave them to their fates. Everyone in Nami didn't deserve to suffer just because one of their countrymen had decided it was a wise idea to commit fraud against a Ninja Village.
An idea suddenly came to him, and he straightened up. He would send another team to Nami no Kuni to help with the liberation of Nami no Kuni, but he would entrust this mission with a team that was more than capable of handling the job. This mission would get upgraded to an A-Rank mission, potentially an S-Rank because of the unknown factor involving how many Nuke-Nin were involved, and what rank they were. With this in mind, he had decided to summon a team that he felt could truly get the job done, and considering which team it was, he was sure that they could handle any complications that might come up in the mission.
"ANBU Bat, summon me Yugao's ANBU Team, I have an emergency mission for them" Minato called out to one of the ANBU Guards hidden throughout the room. The ANBU in question bowed to the Yondaime, and disappeared in a Shunshin. As he waited for Yugao and her team to get here so he could send them out, he turned to watch the interaction between his Daughter and Kushina.
Kushina hugged Mito in a protective, motherly manner. Unlike Minato, she didn't care that Team 7's decision might have lead to the death of an entire country, she was just glad that her precious daughter was safe and sound, not a single hair on her head having been touched. Her only solace was that Tazuna was probably dead by now, because if he wasn't, she would have charged straight to Nami no Kuni and killed the drunken old codger herself for putting her daughter in danger when he had a chance to come clean about the true details of the mission. As far as she was concerned, he deserved everything Gato did to him. As long as her daughter was safe, she didn't care.
"I swear I'm not letting you out of my sight, any of you. You're some of my precious people, and I won't allow anyone to hurt you, Dattebane!" she said to Team 7 excitedly, hugging all three of the teenagers tightly. Sighing in relief, she proceeded to turn her attention to Kakashi and smiled at him. "You did the right thing, Kakashi. I'm glad you made the decision to come back instead of continuing on, because even if everyone had survived, I promise you that your name would have been on the KIA Stone" she said to him in a proud manner, her eyes flashing with anger. Kakashi, in response, gulped nervously and started sweating, only calming down when Kushina's pleasant demeanor came back.
Mito eagerly hugged her Mother back, deciding that she really needed some comfort right about now, what with the tears streaming down her face. It was bad enough that they had left Tazuna behind, even though they were obliged to do so due to the client lying about the mission details, but on top of that, she had wasted her first genuine opportunity to find any clues to Naruto's whereabouts because she had been forced to go back home. As much as she didn't want to go back, she knew that it was only protocol to go back should a client happen to be deceptive with mission details or try to betray their guards. She had to make that decision, as much as she didn't want to, so she had decided, against her feelings, to be logical and smart about it.
Sasuke felt a little uncomfortable in the embrace of the hyperactive redhead. While he was very grateful for her taking him in, and getting to hear so many stories about his Mother back when she was a Genin, he was still hesitant to get close to Kushina and anyone in the Hokage's Family. He felt a bit awkward in the presence of the close-knit, loving family, but eventually, he had warmed up to them a bit. It helped that the Yondaime Hokage had told him stories of Uchiha, Obito, the Uchiha who had done the unthinkable and given up their clan's most prized possession, the Sharingan, on his deathbed purely so Kakashi-Sensei could protect the love of his life in his stead. The stories of Obito had amused Sasuke, but had eventually caused him to loosen up and try to live up to his ideals, without any of the more amusing downsides.
Sakura was the first one to get vocal. "I just can't believe we decided to leave Nami no Kuni to it's fate" she said in a downtrodden manner, which had resulted in the other members of Team 7 to bow their heads, before Kushina quickly distracted them by more positive things. Minato, upon seeing the mood they were in, quickly cleared his throat to get their attention, and pulled out another mission scroll, this one also a C-Rank.
"I have another C-Rank for you, right here in Hi no Kuni. According to our Daimyo, his caravans have had a bit of an issue with bandits attacking them, and he has hired a team from Konoha to wipe out the bandit camps in the area. It should take you quite a bit, and unlike Tazuna, the mission details have been confirmed as C-Rank Level. Good luck to you Team 7" he explained to them in his 'Hokage tone', which caused the members of Team 7 to bow in gratitude, before quickly being dismissed, Kushina following after them.
Once they had left, Minato turned to Jiraiya, looking at him with a critical gaze. "I want you to follow them and make sure that, in the very unlikely event that this mission isn't as it seems, you jump in and protect them should they need it. I don't want anything to happen to any of them. Is that understood, Sensei?" Minato asked Jiraiya with a serious inflection in his tone of voice, causing Jiraiya to nod his head in understanding, giving him an easygoing grin.
"No problem Minato, I'll ensure that they all come back safe and sound should things turn out wrong. You can count on me" Jiraiya said, before quickly disappearing out of the window to follow after Team 7, right at the moment where Yugao's ANBU team had come in.
Upon seeing his trusted ANBU team, Minato let out a sigh of relief, and turned to them. "Your mission is to go to Nami no Kuni, and ensure that their country is freed from the tyranny of Gato, by any means necessary. Expect at least an A-Ranked Nuke-Nin, maybe even an S-Rank, so prepare to fight with your lives should that happen. Dismissed" Minato said, giving them a short summary of their mission, and what to expect, which caused the ANBU to bow and then depart with Shunshins. Once that was done, he turned back to the paperwork on his desk, and grinned as he summoned up some Kage Bunshin to take care of it, while he went back to working on the sealing array he had on his desk. He had no idea that what the ANBU found in Nami no Kuni, would bring him a blast from the past.
-Mercenary Tao VS Chiyo-
Mercenary Tao squared off with Chiyo, making sure to evade the most-likely poison-tipped senbon she shot at him with the help of her puppets. His eyes were focused on Chiyo right now, not even bothering to turn in Ameyuri's direction. She was deemed an S-Ranked Ninja for a reason, after all, and as a result of that, had made sure to maintain his focus on the accursed Poisons Mistress of Sunagakure. The blonde narrowed his eyes in thought as he continued to skillfully bob and weave around the various weapons that Chiyo happened to have been launching from her puppets at him, deflecting those he couldn't avoid with a swipe of his bone sword. Chiyo, upon seeing this, proceeded to do something that would have taken most people off-guard. While using her puppets to continue to harass him, she quickly exhaled a purple cloud of smoke at him, showcasing her mastery of the Dokugiri no Jutsu on such a level that she didn't even need to use hand seals for it.
Upon noticing what had just been sent at him, he quickly utilized some incredible speed by pointing his arms out forwards, and spinning them at such a rate that it had caused miniature tornadoes to form on them, which then shot at the cloud of poison gas and blew it away with such force, that it had actually caused Chiyo to blink in surprise for a moment. That surprise was enough for Tao launch a throwing knife at her just enough that it would graze her shoulder, but nothing more than that, as Chiyo, despite being so old, still had finely honed physical skills, and as such, she was able to slide out of the way well enough to avoid getting any critical injuries. Seeing this made Tao narrow his eyes, knowing that he didn't poison his own weapons, since he preferred beating an enemy at their best just to prove how utterly inferior they were to him.
Chiyo temporarily disabled the puppets she guided with her right hand, so she could fire a number of kunai at him, and Tao quickly zigzagged through each one she threw. Chiyo's face gave nothing away, but it was this lack of any emotion that made Mercenary Tao suspect something was up. Before his mind could comprehend what was going on, he caught the distinct sound of blades cutting through air, and only managed to duck and cover out of the way of the blades, the kunai missing him by a single inch. Scowling in irritation, he noticed that the kunai she threw had strings of Chakra attached to them, indicating she used the Chakura no Ito in order to manipulate the blades into coming back at him, thus using her own form of the Soshujin. Scowling to himself in irritation, he retaliated by gathering Ki into his eyes, and firing a pair of Soumasen at her, which Chiyo retaliated by bringing one of her puppets up in front of her and brought it's arm up to summon a Puppetry-based Chakra Shield to block his attack.
Narrowing his eyes in annoyance, he was about to go on the attack once more, but unfortunately for Tao, Chiyo was no slouch, and as such, she quickly launched her kunai at Tao, before ending their manipulation and activating her other five puppets once more. The fabled Mercenary quickly deflected them with well-timed hits of his bone sword, but this was just a distraction, as before he knew it, Chiyo had him surrounded with all ten of her puppets. Before he could realize what it was that she had done, he was quickly assaulted with a barrage of various throwing weapons, and considering the sheer number of them, he would be unable to dodge them all. Realizing her game, he let out a scream and summoned up an Explosive Wave with a mighty scream, the minor explosion he summoned up causing the blades be blown harshly back towards Chiyo and her puppets, which she quickly dodged herself, and had her puppets launch them away by backhanding them away with her puppets.
Tao tried to go on the attack once more, but yet again, Sunagakure's Poison Mistress had him covered, as she quickly lashed out with one of the puppets behind him, who moved in at him with blades poking out of it's body like a porcupine, and spinning wildly. Mercenary Tao, though, had a keen awareness of his surroundings, and responded by jumping in the air to avoid the attack, making sure not to jump too high and result in him hitting the ceiling of the bunker, and fired a well-placed Dodonpa at the puppet. Normally, the damage dealt with the Dodonpa would have put a target down, but as this was a puppet, the only thing his most prized technique did was cut off the functions to the left side of it's body, which was enough to cripple it.
The blonde assassin didn't have time to celebrate though, as Chiyo took advantage of his airtime, and manipulated one of her puppets to lash out at him with a barrage of chains that wrapped around him, and then proceeded to chain him to the ceiling. Tao struggled to get out of the grasp of the chains, but they were holding together, even when he tapped into his full strength. Chiyo wasted no time in taking advantage, and used her Lion-Headed Kannon, one of her Chikamatsu Puppets firing a small ball that quickly morphed into a large, white-headed lion head that raced towards him and slammed into him, further trapping him up against the ceilings by increasing the strength of his bindings. The Second Great Shinobi War veteran smirked to herself, and decided to try and finish him off, by quickly having her puppets lunge at him, swords extending out of their mouths, which gave Tao plenty of indication as to what she had planned.
Just as they did their dog pile on him and were about to impale him, he summoned up an Energy Shield that expelled out from his body and launched not only the puppets back, but forcefully expelled his bindings off of him, but only barely. As he descended to the ground, his eyes caught sight of one of the Chikamatsu Puppets, and used his Ki to force him downwards like a rocket, where he then thrusted out with his sword, and managed to cut the targeted puppet in half, which meant the elimination of two of her ten puppets. Great, only eight more to go, then. Just as Tao was about to go on the attack once more, he suddenly felt something grab a hold of him, and he felt a sword go between his ribs. Coughing up a bit of blood, he looked behind him to find that the puppet he thought he disabled earlier in the fight had, miraculously, been manipulated by Chiyo reasonably enough to attack him. Growling in irritation, but relieved that the poor state of the puppet had resulted in anything vital being missed, he let out a scream as he summoned up another Explosive Wave, causing the puppet and the sword to be vaporized, this time putting that puppet out of commission.
He landed on the ground feet-first, but unfortunately for him, Chiyo was on the attack once more, and four of her puppets came at him from every cardinal direction, attempt to use them as battering rams of sorts. Or at least, that's what it seemed like she was doing. In reality, they had stopped short, and and wrapped him up in chains once more. The four of them then started circling him at high speeds, wanting to crush him to death in the chains by wrapping them as tightly around him as they could. Already, Tao could feel his body feeling the effects of the ever growing tightness. Grunting in pain, he slowly started to spin with the chains, only barely managing to summon up a Hyper Tornado that managed to shred through the chains, though the Puppet Mistress reacted quickly enough to get her puppets out of the way. Unfortunately for her, though, he seemed to anticipate that she would do that, and quickly reacted by rapid firing his Dodonpa at them one-by-one, something that caught her off-guard enough that resulted in two more of her puppets being taken out of commission, though the other two managed to escape unscathed. Chiyo, in another display of experience, quickly inhaled, and fired a compressed ball of Wind at Mercenary in the form of a non-explosive Futon: Renkudan, causing his ribs to be cracked from the force of the ball hitting him.
Using his ability to block out pain, he continued on with his fight, and hurled a barrage of throwing knives at two of her puppets in a way that they would be forced into a wall, and bound there, or so it seemed. Chiyo had them deflect the kunai, but Tao was already on the move, winding up behind one of the puppets, and swiftly cutting it up into pieces with his sword. He was about to turn his attention to one of the puppets, when the two puppets that he had hit with his Dodonpa had tried to come up behind him again. Learning from his mistake last time, however, he had heard them coming, and back-flipped over the two of them, landing on the floor with his feet, and then lunging forward at them and firing a pair of basic Energy Waves at them. Needless to say, the two were vaporized, bringing the puppets down to five. Noticing this for herself, Chiyo was quick to move the control of the remaining five puppets to her right hand, leaving the left free for whatever purpose she had in mind for it.
She then directed three of her puppets into a triangular formation, having them perform her Sanbo Kyukai, the three puppets summoning up a powerful vortex of air that started sucking Tao towards them. Tao made use of the Flight ability to keep himself from being sucked in, and he saw all of the puppet pieces get sucked in and them crushed and ground up through the back of the puppets. Narrowing his eyes as he smirked, he quickly fired a small Energy Wave into the vortex, causing it to get sucked up and lead right to the puppets, causing them to be vaporized. Now there was only two more puppets left to go, and Tao was going to try and be quick to dispose of them, but unfortunately for him, Chiyo was quick to go on the attack, but what surprised him was that she didn't do it with her puppets. No, instead, she summoned a sword from a sealing scroll, and quickly lunged at him with it using her free hand, causing him to be locked into a clashing of blades.
Smirking in amusement over her foolish attempt, he easily tossed her back using his incredible strength, and was about to run right through her, when she expertly directed one of her last two remaining puppets to take the blow, but in exchange for having the puppet to wrap it's limbs around the blonde Mercenary to keep him there. Chiyo acted quickly, and quickly threw her sword through the puppet, making sure to aim for places that wouldn't cripple it, causing the sword to go through the puppet and impale itself through Tao, missing his heart by only a few inches. Coughing up another glob of blood, he let out a scream and summoned up another Explosive Wave to destroy the puppet, but the sword she used on him mysterious only came flying back to her, somehow surviving the explosion.
Not bothering to waste brain power on thinking how that happened, he did something to surprise Chiyo, and belched out a Mouth Energy Wave at her last puppet, and due to the surprise factor, she was thus unable to direct it away from the blast, resulting in the destruction of her last Chikamatsu Puppet. Smirking in pride over disarming the Puppet Mistress of her strongest attacks, the bounty hunter then lunged at her to try and finish her off, but Chiyo was showing surprising spryness and actually managing to block, dodge, and deflect his blows. He had to grudgingly give her credit, while she was old, she was showing why she was considered a Kage-level Shinobi.
The two danced a deadly dance, but then Chiyo surprised him by getting within his guard and making use of Chakra Flow via her Wind Chakra in order to make a deep slash across his chest, which only added to the damage done to him so far. Clapping his hands mockingly as he jumped away from her, he proceeded to mock her.
"Not bad, old woman, not bad. However, your greatest weapons are gone, and you'll quickly join the rest of your wretched family in the abyss that is Hell" he said to her in a snide manner, before freezing up when he started noticing that his movements started getting sluggish, and he was feeling some sluggishness take over him. His heart even started beating irregularly, and his breathing was getting heavier. Chiyo, upon noticing this, smirked at him quietly, and that was when Tao realized that she must have poisoned the blades her puppets used to pierce through him. Since all poisons used by Ninja had some Chakra properties, the poison in his system was acting very slowly, but it was starting to kick in now, even with his lack of chakra dulling some of the effect. Tao glared at her angrily, and was about to finish her off, when she quickly attached some Chakura no Ito to him and started directing his blows away from her, stringing him along this way and that so she could hold him off for as long as possible until her poison finally did him in.
Eventually, the poison was so strong, that he felt paralysis overcome him, and he slowly collapsed to the floor, developing a cold sweat. Chiyo stood over him victoriously with a smirk on her face, and reared her sword up over her head, before she suddenly felt pain in her chest, collapsing to the floor, before darkness overcame her.
A/N: BOOM, ANOTHER CHAPTER FINISHED! Sorry this one took so long, but I finally got it up. I know that it seems like I left it on a cliffhanger, but I promise you that the story still has a LONG way to go. I hope you all enjoyed this newest chapter, and I apologize if the wait didn't seem worth it. :(
