Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
-A Testament of Things that Never Will-
A calm came over Yuri as he started a slow, confident walk toward the thick mist that covered the bridge. He was a fighter, always had been and he had always thought the clearest in the thick of battle. It would take Naruto, Ino, and Tazuna about seven minutes to get to the house if they weren't interrupted. The Jonin would get to the bridge three minutes after that so, in total, he would be alone in this fight for ten minutes.
A black figure exited the mist and Yuri recognized the man as the swordsman that Naruto had fought before. As they got closer to each other, Yuri knew that he couldn't afford to attack the man. It would have been a simple thing to end the man's life but the moments distraction would be enough of an opening for Zabuza to attack. As it was, he preferred Naruto's chances with this man then with any of the other enemies present.
They passed and the swordsman nodded his head slightly at Yuri. A sign of respect or something else, Yuri didn't know but he nodded back and entered the mist. It was thick and made eye sight useless but Yuri had other senses and he took the chance that Zabuza was the only one of the enemy that could fight to his full capacity in it.
-A Testament of Things that Never Will-
Zabuza swung his blade and felt it slice through the Konoha shinobi's body. He smirked. The man had been a fool to enter the mist so carelessly. Where others couldn't see anything in the thick mist, he could see all. His sight was just as limited as everyone else but his senses were trained for this style of combat. It could be a mist or a pitch black room and Zabuza would still know where to strike.
He glanced down at the body and frowned slightly when it turned into water. A water clone? That was odd, as the clones typically splashed into water the moment they were destroyed. He took a step back into thick mist that hadn't been disturbed by his attack and reached out with his senses. At the moment, he was the only one that was in the mist. Having been one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, he knew what he was doing without sight but the rest of the shinobi in his group weren't as skilled. Tsuyo, perhaps, but it was more likely the man would swing his hammer clumsily around until the Konoha shinobi was forced to act.
The sound of air whispering around an object alerted him to danger and he twisted his blade around his body to intercept a kunai. The Konoha shinobi pressed the attack as he dropped the kunai and grabbed the dull side of Zabuza's blade. He pushed it down, the same direction that Zabuza had spun it, and it dug into the ground. The man came over the now harmless blade with a kunai in his other hand and Zabuza only just ducked under the attack. He punched up toward the enemies gut but missed by a hair's width as the man expertly swung his arms and twisted in the air.
Zabuza took a step toward the man and ripped his blade from the ground. The man, however, had already retreated into the mist and, to Zabuza's astonishment, he couldn't keep track of him. A thrill went down his spine as he considered the skill of his opponent but it was short lived when he noticed some black markings on his blade. His eyes widened and he threw the blade into the mist, away from the side of the bridge that his allies waited. The seal that he saw on the blade was recognizable to any shinobi, Genin to Jonin, and he was proven right when the seal glowed a light blue and exploded in a deafening roar of smoke and fire.
Zabuza wasn't worried about his blade as it had suffer such abuse before and remained unbroken but his heart did start pounding a bit harder at the position he was in. The only other shinobi that he had ever heard of doing what that Konoha shinobi had just done was the Yondaime Hokage. To leave a seal in the mere moment that the man had been touching the blade was terrifying proof that the man was far stronger than he had first thought.
The blast cleared the mist in the area and Zabuza felt very exposed. The howling of a kunai turned his attention to the mist to his left and he moved to block three kunai that came ripping from the water vapor. As he moved to his left, however, the man came rushing at him from his right. Zabuza's eyes widened at the speed the man possessed and he knew that there was no way he would be able to maneuver out of the attack without sustaining a severe injury.
The man came close, his face a blank mask, and in his hand was a kunai that swung at him with deadly determination. A roar bellowed from above and Zabuza was relieved to see Tsuyo come crashing down on top of the Konoha shinobi. The armored man crashed his hammer onto the man and the bridge buckled under his might. To the swordsman's complete amazement and respect, the Konoha shinobi had managed to dodge the attack with a quick bending of his body so that the hammer just missed his fragile ribs.
The enemy shinobi latched his hand onto the hammer and pulled himself up. Tsuyo slammed his leg onto the shaft of the hammer that the man gripped, causing the hammer to swing around and back onto the large man's shoulder. The shinobi changed his grip just at Tsuyo hit the shaft and came up off the ground with the gigantic hammer. He twisted in mid-air and his feet landed on the head of the hammer, his hand raised in the air, and the kuni that was clenched in it flashed in the sunlight.
Tsuyo would have been killed if not for Zabuza slashing at the man before he could attack. The Konoha shinobi leap from the hammer and landed a good distance off.
"Zabuza," Tsuyo breathed in relief, "who the hell is this guy?"
"Someone that we can't afford to go easy on," he returned.
Tsuyo locked his eyes on the man and growled, "Why didn't you tell me that one of the Konoha shinobi was this strong? It would have been nice to know."
"I didn't think he was," the bandaged swordsman answered. "From what Haku and Nise reported he had only just been able to handle those two and he had the Copycat Shinobi, Kakashi Hatake, with him when I fought him. He must have been holding back, just in case we fought again."
"Well, it almost, Kami damned, worked," the large man grunted. "He just about killed both of us with our carelessness." The man tilted his head slightly and asked, "Why hasn't he attacked yet?"
"Because you are now aware of my skills and to attack now would be foolish," the man answered.
Tsuyo grinned and fire back, "We are having a private conversation here, thank you."
"Tsuyo," Zabuza snapped, "now is not the time for jokes." He studied the man and asked, "What do you want?"
"I am Yuri Karasu, Jonin of Konoha," the man said. "I am here to protect the bridge builder. Why not make this easier and just leave this land. You will find no money here, only death."
The swordsmen frowned under his bandage mask. He analysed his situation and didn't like what he found. True, it was Tsuyo, Haku, Nise, Akako, and himself against this guy and they would win if they fought but it would take time and energy that they couldn't afford to expend. Not only that but the longer they took against him the more time the Genin had to get back to the other Konoha shinobi and alert them to the situation. He knew that Katsutoshi would catch up to them but he couldn't be sure that the man would take out both the Genin and the bridge builder. If even one of them stalled him while the others ran he would fail and the Jonin would he alerted.
He nodded slowly. His only option was to all out attack this Yuri Karasu and end his life as fast as possible.
-A Testament of Things that Never Will-
Naruto ran as fast as his legs would carry him and his senses were extended to their limit behind him. A few clones carried the bridge builder and Ino lead the way in their desperate run back to the other shinobi. His heart pounded in his chest and he pushed his worry for Yuri to the back of his mind. He willed himself to go faster as the sooner he got to the house the sooner Yuri would get aid.
Naruto sensed someone coming up behind him quickly and he turned in the air to throw several shuriken. He spotted the trench coat wearing swordsman a little ways off and he yelled to Ino. "Keep going, I'll hold him off."
Ino looked back and her face was filled with fear. She made to argue but Naruto snapped, "The faster you get back, the faster I and Yuri will get help."
She didn't seem convinced and he barked, "Go, Ino! If we both stay and fight we might both die and word will never reach Kakashi-sensei. If you go we have a better chance."
"But you might die!" she yelled back.
"This is bigger than you or me," he yelled back. "Now go!"
She sent him a worried look and ran away with his clones and Tazuna behind her.
Naruto turned his back to the two and watched Katsutoshi walk out of the thick brush of the forest. The man had his katana unsheathed and the blond could almost feel a burning sensation on his chest where he had sustained his largest injury in his previous fight. Naruto had pushed himself to his limit since their last fight and had used his clones to work on his taijutsu to the point of perfection or as close as he could get without Yuri's guidance.
"You would block my path?" the man asked slowly and a hint of confusion was in his voice.
Naruto smirked. "We just keep running into each other, don't we?"
"Why?" the man asked. "Why stand in the way of death?"
"Because if I don't then you'll kill Tazuna-san and I happen to like the old man," Naruto answered.
Katsutoshi stared at him from behind his tall collar. If the man wanted to think about something, that was fine with Naruto as the longer the man took to attack the longer Ino had to get back to the others.
Naruto's instinct screamed and he ripped a kunai from his pouch. He took a step forward and twisted just in time to catch the katana of the man. Naruto cursed at his carelessness as the man that he had been speaking too vanished from view. A genjutsu. If he survived this, Naruto noted, he would have to ask Yuri or Kakashi to teach him how to detect and dispel those illusions.
He blocked two more swipes and sent a kick to the man's chest. It was easily dodged but the point wasn't to hit the man. When Katsutoshi landed on the ground arms erupted from beneath him and grabbed hold of his legs. Naruto sent several kunai at the man and his hands flashed through seals.
"Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" the blonde called and the few kunai split into dozens.
Katsutoshi's sword seemed to turn into liquid silver as he maneuvered it around his feet and destroyed the clones that held him. He turned his attention to the coming kunai and swatted at them with his katana as he stepped out of the way.
In a flash of speed, the man was in front of Naruto, his blade already in mid swing. Naruto's instinct yelled at him to jump away but he ignored them and stepped in closer to the man. He reached up and caught the man's wrist and moved to strike his gut.
Katsutoshi and the blonde Genin were locked in a tight taijutsu combat but no matter how much speed, strength, and skill Naruto put into the conflict his enemy always seemed to be a step ahead. A few times he had almost hit the man but for each close call Naruto suffered twice as much. Seeing the folly in staying in the locked combat, Naruto concentrated as best he could in the situation and summoned several clones around him. When the clones appeared he had several of them dispel right away, creating a smoke screen that envelope the two.
He let go of the man's hand and performed sealless Kawarimi no Jutsu with one of his remaining clones but was a bit slower than he wanted when he felt the blade of the katana rip through his left bicep. He stifled a grunt and stepped deeper into the smoke. He stopped himself from clenching his arm and allowed his natural healing ability take its course. The injury wouldn't kill him, obviously, but it would limit his combat abilities slightly.
Naruto's blue eyes widened when he saw Katsutoshi appear in the weaning smoke, his blade cleaning cutting the head off of a clone and then turn to him. His blade screeched through the air and Naruto ducked, lest he suffer the same fate as his clone. The blade passed overhead and Naruto had only a moment to regret his lack of observation. The blade passed overhead and did make a sound, but the smoke didn't move around it. Genjutsu.
Pain sliced into Naruto's mind when cold steel pierced his side. He felt it cut through internal organs, pass through a kidney, and come out his other side. The blade dug into the ground and the smoke dissipated completely to reveal that Naruto had been pierced to the ground. The blonde coughed up blood as he turned his head slightly to see the trench coated man standing over him.
-A Testament of Things that Never Will-
Yuri kicked at Haku, who's mask was cracked from a previous taijutsu encounter, and ducked an attack from the armored shinobi. Using the wind the hammer created in its passing, he molded his chakra and threw a hand toward the man. A maelstrom of wind exploded from his palm and the man leaned forward and applied chakra to his feet as to not get thrown away. Focusing wind chakra in his fingers as he forced his chakra to continue the movement of the wind from his palm, Yuri twitched his fingers and knifes of chakra entered the maelstrom.
Metal was gouged from the enemy shinobi's armor but before Yuri could push the attack an increase of chakra and heat behind him alerted him to the presence of the red woman. He looked in time to see fire come toward him and he slide his foot slightly. A wall of earth rose and the fire collided with a solid wall of stone. Instincts screamed, and Yuri aborted any type of counter-attack that he was planning as he maneuvered his hand under him and jumped with the wind before cutting off its flow. In the place he had been, Zabuza's large blade took his place stabbing into thin air.
Yuri noted quickly that it wasn't Zabuza but the Smiling Man who held the sword and he glanced behind him in time to see a dragon made of water come roaring over the side of the stone bridge. The jaws of the monster opened and Yuri took a breath before he was consumed. Turbulent tides and strong currents worked against Yuri and he was acutely aware that the temperature of the water was decreasing quickly.
Thinking quickly, he formed two balls of air in the palms of his hands and clapped them together with all his strength. The two balls formed together and the pressure of the water caved down upon the single orb. With the drastic change in pressure into a centralized point, Yuri forced his chakra into the current and ripped control of the water from Zabuza. Spikes formed along the creature and the man was forced to jump away from the beast.
Yuri continued forcing his control into the water and increased the pressure into the coldest spots of the water. Ice formed and he used the water that was left to shoot it out of the disfigured beast and toward his enemy. He watched as tiny ice shards were spit out of the water at high speeds and in completely random directions, distracting the enemy long enough for him to shoot himself out of the water and to the end of the unfinished bridge.
Crouching, Yuri placed his hands on the bridge, whispered a quick apology to Tazuna, and called out, "Doton: Asudoragon no Hoko!"
The end of the bridge buckled and pulled away from its supports as the stone construction rose from its resting place. The stone collided together and rolled over itself and the end of the bridge took on a more dragon like appearance as it rocketed toward the enemy that stood on the bridge. Yuri ran along the dragon as it rolled, allowing more and more stone to separate him and his opponents and relinquished control of the beast when it made it halfway back to the shore. Just before all his chakra exited the stone construct, he formed a hole in it leading to its gaping mouth. Placing his hands at his end of the hole he roared loudly, "Katon: Hi no Koseki!"
Fire erupted from his hands, was channeled down the tunnel, and exploded out of the jaws of the dragon making it look like the stone monster was the one breathing fire. Yuri placed a seal next to the hole with his free hand and sprinted along the stone dragon when it was completed. He watched as the fire continued, a genjutsu powered by the seal and made all the more convincing by the fake heat that came from it and the loud bestial roar that rattle in the stone dragon's throat.
Clenching his teeth, Yuri jumped into the fire, allowing it to act as a smoke screen, and pulled a kunai from his pouch. The black-haired shinobi threw his hand in front of him and threw out several explosive tags. He added a small amount of wind chakra into the air and a gale blew the tags out of the fire. The tags sailed in the air and exploded, tearing into the ground and echoing in the air. He exited the fire and found the smiling man's back toward him. His plan was loose and was only based on chance but it paid off and his kunai found a home in the man's heart.
The Smiling Man didn't make a sound when he died. He didn't make any threats or stagger long enough to warn his allies of his demise. This was a real shinobi battle and that type of stuff never really happened. The man dropped to the ground and Yuri felt his genjutsu stop. The flames vanished in an instant and the smoke from the explosive tags dispersed with the wind.
Suddenly, something gripped his leg and Yuri looked down to see the Smiling Man give him one last smile as he clenched his leg with all the strength he had left. Metal scraping against metal was the only warning he had and he managed to tighten his muscles when a hammer smashed into his side and threw him to the side. He hit the stone railing of the bridge but it did little to stop him as he went through it and plummeted toward the water.
Yuri pushed the pain he suffered from out of his mind and took stock of his injuries as he landed on the water. His right arm was broken badly and his difficulty breathing spoke of the damage his ribs had done to his internal organs. He had managed to kill one of the enemy but the two most dangerous ones were alive and that wasn't acceptable.
Water rose around Yuri like dogs jumping up to bite at his arms and head and he closed his eyes. "Katon: Nesutingu Fenikkusu!" Fire came to life around him and rotated around his entire body in a giant protective shell. Water hissed and Yuri worked out a counter to what his enemy was doing. In the second his jutsu provided him, Yuri analysed the attack. No doubt, Zabuza was the one who used the water jutsu and the Konoha Jonin figured that it was the one that would hold him in place but the man would have to know that he would be able to get out of it so that meant that it was only a diversion. With the water of the river, it only made sense that the ice jutsu that Haku used would be put into play and Yuri suspected that it was going to be the same one that was used on him and Sasuke when he was a kid.
With that jutsu in use, the red woman would have to get into a position that she could attack if he managed to get out of the cage of ice and he guessed that she would be above him with a fire jutsu ready to go. The armored shinobi would be on the opposite side of Zabuza but which, Yuri couldn't know for certain. With the enemy in those places that meant that their weakest point was above him where the red woman waited. He looked up and a plan came to him.
With the fire of his jutsu still raging, he moved it down into the water of the river, creating steam. As the fire moved down in the water and was extinguished he caught a glimpse of ice mirrors that confirmed his suspicions about what Haku was doing. He spotted the masked shinobi in one of the mirrors and swatted some ice senbon away that were thrown at him. The steam rose and block his view of Haku and he quickly created several kage bunshin. The clones rushed the edges of the cage and he nodded in satisfaction that Haku focused on them. He nodded to the two that stayed behind and they sunk into the water. He could imagine them gliding under the water and under the cage. They would rise out of the water in a flurry of motion, drawing the attention of both Zabuza and the armored shinobi. He waited until he was sure they rose from the water and jumped out of the mist. He flew up and out of the cage, catching a glimpse of a hand reaching out of one of the mirrors in an attempt to stop his escape but it was all for not.
He saw the red woman standing of the side of the bridge and smirked when she moved her hands to her mouth and blew out a stream of fire. Most shinobi would avoid the fire but Yuri knew better. Sometime you get more burned avoiding the fire than going at it head on. The woman's aim was a bit off and the fire engulfed his left shoulder and arm. He ignored the pain and stench of burning flesh as he touched down on the side of the bridge and pushed against it to increase his speed toward the red woman. She only had time to call a short warning before a kunai flashed past her neck and her head rolled to far to the side. Her body fell toward the water but was caught by Haku before it hit.
Yuri flexed his left arm, the burns stung and the areas of black flesh were oddly numb. He clenched his fingers and was satisfied that he could still make use of the arm. He had taken two of his enemy out and had made the three that were left waste precious chakra in the process. He had done all the good he was going to do and he concerned himself with surviving their onslaught until the others came. At least, he hoped they came.
-A Testament of Things that Never Will-
Naruto's breath rushed in and out of him and his body shook from exhaustion. Blood seeped from the many wounds that he had sustained from his battle but he held a fair bit of pride in the fact that his opponent was also bleeding from a few wounds as well. He had fallen back into a defensive strategy and his paranoid like caution was the only reason he had managed to survive as long as he had.
Katsutoshi stood across the clearing from him, his sword held in front of him. It frustrated Naruto to no end that the only reason the man was so dangerous, or at least partly so, was the stupid sword he wielded. If he could think of a way to get the sword away from the man than he would be able to even the playing field. His thoughts stopped at that. He focused on it and a plan formed. Crossing his fingers, Naruto summoned dozens of clones around him.
The swordsman sighed and said, "It doesn't matter how many you bring forth, they will never touch me."
Naruto smirked. "We'll see about that."
His clones charged and the blade of the swordsman danced. Clones died in droves but still they pushed forward. One by one and two by two they were destroyed, with none getting close to the man. Katsutoshi quickly stabbed another clone and Naruto unleashed his plan. Instead of disappearing, the clone froze and his color changed to that of brown and black earth. Naruto, positioned behind the stabbed clone, snatched the exposed blade of the sword and punched his hand through the head of the earth clone. He opened his hand to display an explosive tag to the world. It hissed loudly and just before it exploded, Naruto let go of the tag and pulled it back through the clone's head.
He felt the concussive force first and then the sound and heat. The earth clone did much in taking the majority of the brute force of the blast but Naruto was still thrown to the other side of the clearing. His hand burned and he looked at it to see Katsutoshi's katana still clenched in his fingers. It had torn into his palm but he still had it. He summoned several clones, gave one the sword, and watched them take off into the forest.
He got to his knees and saw that the blast had dug a small crater where it had blown. The grass was charred around the rim and a few small fires burned duly. The swordsman rose from his side of the clearing, his trench coat was a tattered mess, and he looked around quickly for something. Naruto suspected what he was looking for and, with the evening of the battle field, he felt a fair bit more confident about the outcome of the fight.
Pushing with his legs, he rose slowly and he became acutely aware of every injury that he had suffered in the battle. Both his arms were covered in cuts ranging from minor to major and he even had a few wounds on his chest and back. He quickly glanced at himself and saw that his clothes were covered in blood, mostly his, and with how exhausted he felt he knew that the battle had taken far more out of him than he wanted to admit. If this guy was as good in taijutsu as he was in swordplay then Naruto knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he wouldn't survive their next engagement.
Steeling himself, Naruto started a determined walk toward the man. He forced his hands to relax and focused his senses to create a shell behind him. Typically this was done in Tetsu Sheru, his defensive style of taijutsu, but Naruto didn't have the choice in being defensive any more. If Katsutoshi was better at taijutsu than him then he would be dead in minutes if he took the defensive route. That meant that the only option that contained survival was going on the offensive but he couldn't afford to give up his shell that Tetsu Sheru had. So, he developed his shell and enter the starting position for the third kata of Odayakana Kaze, his offensive style.
He rushed his opponent and entered into the realm of battle. Fists and kicks flew everywhere and Naruto pushed his aching body and burning muscles to move faster and hit harder. His hands moved unconsciously to block incoming attacks and he brutally attacked any openings that he could find. Minutes passed in the battle and neither gained any advantage and that was when Naruto saw something. Whenever he attack the man's right side his left leg took a step back. He wasn't sure if it was part of his taijutsu style or if it was done as an unconscious action taken from all his training in kenjutsu.
He explored the movement and focused some of his attacks on the man's right. The foot came out but he did nothing with it. Naruto took a chance and performed a sweeping kick and noticed that the man jumped back with the very foot he took a step back with.
Using that information, Naruto decided to finish the battle. He sent a wave of attacks at the man and with a slight focus on his right. The foot went back and Naruto kicked high at Katsutoshi's face, leaning his body down, close to the ground. The swordsman leaned back slightly in order to jump and Naruto snatched the ankle of the planted foot with his hand. He pulled, getting the man unbalanced, and struck out with his foot that had just missed the man's face. It connected with Katsutoshi's neck and Naruto slammed it into the ground as he pulled on the ankle. His free hand reached into his kunai pouch and pulled one the blades out.
In a swift movement, Naruto plunged the kunai into Katsutoshi's chest and the man let out a soft gasp when his heart was pierced. Naruto didn't move for some time. He had never killed someone before and it was strange that he didn't really feel anything. His mind was blank, maybe in shock that he had survived the battle or it was that he was finally succumbing to blood loss, he didn't know but he had won.
He had survived.
-A Testament of Things that Never Will-
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