Chapter 8
"Scatter!" Sakurako shouted, her tone almost sounding fearful. Her underlings wasted no time, and moved out of the way as Naruto hit the ground with a boom, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.
"Don't just stand there, gawking! Make him eat steel!" she ordered loudly. The battalion hurled a large volley of shuriken at the dust cloud, the sound of steel hitting flesh rewarding their efforts. They stopped the assault and waited to see if they had killed the person. A tense silence settled in, before it was shattered when a sudden blast of chakra blew away the dust, and the shuriken that were stuck in the boy's body. The weapons flew right back to their original owners, with some of them having enough force behind them to punch right through a few of the Iwa nin. Whilst his enemies were distracted, Naruto thrust his arm out, in which a red claw shot out at one hapless Iwa shinobi. Once the large chakra construct clamped down onto him, Naruto pulled his arm back, reeling the unfortunate bastard towards him like a fish from a river. Naruto waited until the shinobi was close enough before he reared his free arm back and brought it down, decapitating the man effortlessly. As he threw the headless body to the ground, the enraged teen launched himself at the remaining ninja.
Sakurako looked on in absolute horror. She didn't know that the blond was a frickin' jinchūriki. She had witnessed one of Iwa's in action, and those horrid images were forever burned into her mind to this very day. It was one of the most brutal things she had ever seen in her entire life. The sounds of her men screaming brought her out of her thoughts in time to see another hapless chūnin get beheaded. She watched as Naruto literally tore her men apart. Blood and guts were strewn everywhere, and she wasn't about to have her own innards be added to the gore that was before her. She gathered her chakra to perform the Shunshin no Jutsu to escape.
Naruto's head snapped to Sakurako, having sensed her sudden increase of chakra. He wasn't about to let her escape, not after what she and her forces had done. With an enraged snarl, he charged at her and was over her in an instant. Sakurako cursed and used the Kawarimi no Jutsu instead to escape. Naruto looked away from the destroyed log, and faced towards the man-made cliff to see Sakurako. He dashed forward, intent on killing her. Unfortunately, in his haste to kill the kunoichi, he did not see her hands finishing the last hand seal for her jutsu.
"Doton: Dochūbaku!" Sakurako shouted. Instantly, Naruto was caught in an avalanche of dirt and stone. Sakurako wasted no time and began to make her way out of the area. She made it about halfway up the muddy hillside, when she was suddenly struck from behind. She dropped to her knees and almost bit her tongue as the burning would not stop. She turned around and saw Naruto burst through the mountain side. He was on all fours and glaring at her. She returned the glare and got to her feet.
"You damn beast! Why won't you die?" she roared. She performed another chain of hand seals and faced Naruto. "Doton: Dosekiryū!" A dragon of earth and stone charged at Naruto. The blonde narrowed his eyes at the attack and went through a chain of hand seals of his own.
"Kekkai: Dankū!" Naruto called out. The dragon hit something invisible and fell to the ground in a rain of dirt and stone. With that annoyance dealt with, he vanished from view in a burst of speed and reappeared behind Sakurako. In his hand was a dark purple colored Rasengan. Without a word, he shoved it into her back, making Sakurako scream in agony as the attack tore into her. The Rasengan drilled into her mercilessly, splashing blood, bone, and guts all over Naruto. It continued to tear into her until his clawed, red chakra covered hand broke through her chest. Blood dripped from the corners of her mouth as life left her eyes. Naruto merely tossed her lifeless body to the ground, not sparing it a single glance.
With all of the enemies finally dead, he took a few deep breaths before calming himself down. The chakra of the Kyūbi receded back into him, his lust for revenge sated. Naruto looked back at the village, dismayed at the devastation that he saw. His focus changed to finding survivors, as he summoned a vast amount of clones and lead them back to the village.
X-X-X
"Aisha! Aisha, where are you?" Naruto shouted, hoping that she would call back. He and his clones were running around the ruins, desperately searching for her. He had already found Musashi dead at the bunker, and then Tetsuo merely minutes later. He was getting more and more frantic as he searched for her like crazy. He had already found a lot of bodies, but no Aisha. His worry only increased as the clones he left with the survivors could not find her either. He made his way to the fishing huts where many were situated on the river, as they were the only place he hadn't looked yet. He searched them all until he finally found her in the very last hut, but what he saw shocked him to his core. Aisha was laying on the floor in a pool of her own blood, with her eyes closed.
"Aisha!" Naruto exclaimed. He carefully took her into his arms, and shook her gently. "Come on Aisha, open your eyes." Amazingly, Aisha slowly opened her eyes. She looked at Naruto and smiled, in which Naruto smiled back. "Hey, how are you doing?" he asked, a slight tremble in his voice.
"You're late Naruto. That's not how you start a relationship." Aisha joked.
"I'm sorry about that, I came as fast as I could. You need to hold onto me, I'm going to get you to some help. They'll be able to treat your wounds a lot better than I could." Naruto said.
"I don't think that it would matter anyways." Aisha said, quietly.
"Don't say that! " Naruto shouted vehemently. "I'm going to get you to the healers! You're going to be alright, Aisha, you'll see! You just have to hold on!"
"Naruto, look with your eyes. You know that I don't have much longer." Aisha explained softly. Naruto didn't want to believe what she was saying, but he knew that she was right. Yet, it didn't lessen any of the pain that he was feeling. Why did these things always happen to him? Why was everything taken away from him? He had lost everything in Konoha, but was able to create new bonds in this village; bonds that he sorely lacked back in his former home. And now, those bonds were severed and that same pain returned, only a hundred times worst. He couldn't stop the tears trailing down his cheek as he cried while he held Aisha close to him. The girl said nothing, but just melted into his embrace, a few tears traveling down her face as well. She took his hand and entwined her fingers with his.
"The only regret I have is that I never got to explore these new feelings with you. We haven't even kissed." She said, remorsefully.
"We can do that right now. You know, just to see if it could have worked." Naruto said, as he tried to give her one last smile, despite the tears freely falling from his eyes.
"I would like that." was all she said. Naruto lowered his head and helped Aisha move closer to his lips until they met in a soft kiss. Naruto poured all his feelings into the kiss and Aisha returned it with just as much passion. Regrettably, it only lasted for a short while as Naruto felt Aisha's life end. The tears started flowing from the blondes' eyes with renewed vigor as he hugged her close to his chest. Outside the hut, rain began to fall over the village.
X-X-X
The rain continued into the morning. Naruto's hair was weighed down by the falling water as he sat on a rock and stared at the hundred graves he and his clones had made throughout the night. He placed Aisha beside her brother, father, and Ibarra, figuring that they would want to be together even after death. In his hand he held the necklace that he found on Aisha's body. It was a simple stone that was greenish-blue in color; it was something that her mother made for her when she was younger. He wanted to put it on the stake, but then decided to keep it as a memento of all the good memories he shared with her.
He just sat there, staring at the graves of the dead. His thoughts were jumbled, and his emotions were a wreck. The world around him didn't matter to him right now. Emptiness was all he knew and he embraced it. He figured that was what he deserved. Everything and everyone he held dear kept on getting taken away from him. But then, maybe that was just Kami's way of telling him that he didn't deserve to be happy. If that was the case, then who was he to fight it? He suddenly got a feeling in the back of his mind and released a sigh. His clones that were traveling with the survivors had gotten them to a neighboring country. The person who was made leader said that he would follow his advice and go toward Kaze no Kuni. He knew that Gaara would help them.
Now that he knew the surviving villagers had made it to safety, he stood up; and made his way into the forest. He continued to walk for about three hours when he reached the training grounds that Ibarra had told him about. He entered the cave and made his way straight to the hut. Inside the building was one of Berugu's men, strung up by his wrists. He was beaten and bloody to the point where he was almost unrecognizable. Hearing Naruto's footsteps, he opened his one good eye and shook with fear. Naruto didn't say a word, and ripped the sleeve off his arm.
"Please, I told you what you wanted to know! The base is at Mt. Raikyou! The person who paid us was Tōsen!" the man said. "Please, just let me go! I won't tell anyone about you or about the survivors! Please,"
"How many innocents asked you for mercy, and yet you killed them anyways? Why should I show you any when you've denied it to countless others?" Naruto snarled. He then placed two fingers on the prisoner's arm and began to channel the Kyūbi's chakra, before he pushed the foul chakra into the arm, making the guy scream in pain. After a second, Naruto removed his fingers and began to pack his things. The ninja looked at his arm and saw that it was turning red.
"What have you done to me?" he asked frantically.
"I was told that a biju's chakra is very poisonous to humans. I just wanted to see if it was true." Naruto said, in an eerily calm tone. After packing his weapons, Naruto left the hut. He ignored the screams of the captive shinobi, and began his trek toward Mt. Raikyou.
X-X-X
"I say we send a message to Berugu. It's been two and a half days since we heard from Sakurako." said one guard.
"Look, if she was having any trouble, we would have gotten word about it by now. She's probably checking out the area. Didn't Berugu want to set up a port base near the river?" the other guard asked. His fellow guard shrugged and looked back at the road. He was very surprised to see someone in front of the gates.
"Who the hell is that?" the guard asked. His comrade looked to see a haggard looking blond haired teen.
"I have no idea." was his answer, as he looked down at the blond. "Hey, you there, stop where you are!" he shouted. The teen did not answer him. He was about to shout again but his voice got caught in his throat. His fellow guard was also in a similar state as a malevolent chakra burst out of the blond. It circled and enshrouded him, with two tails waving behind him. The teen raised his head and glared at them with evil red eyes. They watched as he did some hand seals and inhaled deeply.
"Fūton: Atsugai!" He unleashed a huge amount of compressed air at the gate. The gate and guard towers were completely blown away by the attack. Shinobi who were on and near the gate were sent flying into and through walls. Those who weren't a bloody smear on the ground were trying to shake the cobwebs out. From out of the debris, Naruto stepped in view of the confused shinobi. He unleashed a might, ear-splitting roar before charging at them. The first three of Berugu's men were cut down in an instant. Two more were skewered by his tails.
Now alert, Berugu's men began to counter-attack. They threw projectiles at him, but Naruto retaliated by unleashing a chakra wave that deflected all of their throwing weapons and threw the attackers back. With those shinobi down, Naruto got on all fours and ran throughout the courtyard, striking every Iwa nin that got in his way. They could barely keep up with him as he unmercifully slashed through them. After a short passage of time, Naruto was standing in a courtyard filled with dead bodies and blood. He paid no attention to the destruction he caused, but just simply stalked into the base as the sirens began to ring.
X-X-X
Tōsen was scared out of his mind. He wanted to get the hell out, but was held in the damned base against his will by Sakurako. He had sworn to her that he would pay her, but she didn't trust his word. She told her men to keep him in this room and never let him out until she said otherwise. She even told her subordinates to kill him should he attempt to escape. So now, he was stuck in a dingy cell, without a clue as to how long they would keep him. As he waited in his cell, the sirens began to ring. Curious and somewhat frightened as to what was going on, he moved toward the door and listened to what the shouting shinobi were saying as they ran past his door. He didn't know what a jinchūriki was, but it didn't sound good. He looked around the room for an exit, as his anxiety began to worsen. He wasn't about to die in this place.
X-X-X
Another Iwa nin fell to Naruto in bloody geyser. He threw the corpse to the side and faced down a group of shinobi that was standing across the hallway. One of them did some hand seals and placed his hands on the wall.
"Doton: Doryūsō!" he shouted. Several stone spears shot at Naruto from his left. Naruto raked his hand across and destroyed the spears with ease. Another Iwa nin stepped forward in the middle of his seals, before he slammed his hands on the ground.
"Doton: Iwayado Kuzushi!" The hallway crumbled and fell onto Naruto. Everyone held their breath as they waited to see if he was truly dead. Almost instantly the rubble exploded, blinding them with dust. When they could see again, they saw that they were overshadowed by a huge, red claw. The doomed fools only had enough time to scream in fright before the claw slammed down, creating a spatting sound that echoed throughout the hall. As quickly as it appeared, it quickly disappeared, leaving a large bloody stain on the ground. Naruto stepped out of the rubble and looked at the remained of the Iwa nin, before he turned away and continued his search of the base. He saw two more men ahead of him and charged at them. They attempted to flee, but were quickly caught. Naruto ripped one's throat before facing the remaining one.
"Where is he?" he demanded.
"W-where's who?" the trembling shinobi said with fright.
"Tōsen! Where! Is! He!" Naruto asked again.
"T-Top of the stairs, third door on your right." Before he could plead for his life, Naruto took the trembling shinobi's head and slammed it into the wall with all of his strength. He released the squashed head and hurried up the stairs. He reached the locked door and kicked it open. He growled as he caught his scent, but didn't see him anywhere. He searched the room, but he couldn't find the son of a bitch anywhere. That is, until he noticed a sheet tied to a stake that was hammered into the wall. He raced to the window and snarled at what he saw. The enraged blond watched as Tōsen looked up at him and go white with fear. He immediately took off as fast as the corrupt politician could. Naruto wanted to go after him, but he had something else to do first.
Naruto left the room and rushed up to the roof. He looked down to see a few shinobi attempting to flee. Well, he wasn't about to allow that to happen. He created a clone, which was also shrouded with the Kyubi's chakra, before they both began to go through hand seals.
"Fūton: Atsugai!" the original shouted.
"Katon: Karyū Endan!" the clone shouted. The two jutsu combined to create a raging firestorm in the shape of a large dragon. The flame construct crashed onto the ground with a mighty roar, burning many ninja to a crisp, including the others that were trapped within the base. The clone dispelled after it exhausted its own chakra reserves, and Naruto dropped the Kyubi's shroud. He looked at the flames with dark, cold eyes for one last time, before he turned away and ran down the side of the base. There was still some last minute revenge to be had.
X-X-X
Tōsen was out of breath, but kept on running. The huge explosion he had heard and felt behind him only served to push him on. He had seen what had attacked the base and it terrified him. It was only for an instant, but he could feel the cold hands of death reaching to grab him when the beast looked at him with nothing but rage and blood lust. He didn't know why it seemed so focused on him, but he didn't want to find out. He needed to get away from the area, and fast.
But suddenly, without a sound, Tōsen was cut off by someone that landed directly in front of him. He was so scared that he dropped his money. He looked to see who had appeared before him, and was shocked once he had gotten a good look at the person's face.
"No. No, you're supposed to be dead!" Tōsen gasped out.
"Is that so? Was I supposed to die with Ibarra? With Aisha?" Naruto growled. He advanced towards the sniveling Tōsen, who merely cowered away from the blond. When he heard the scrunch his sandal made against something, Naruto glanced down and noticed the money on the ground. "So, that's how much those lives were worth to you? This is how much a village of innocent lives amounts to?"
Naruto's words were the final push for Tōsen's, as his anger finally emerged. "Don't you judge me, ninja! You're the reason that all of this happened! If Aisha had loved me like she was supposed to, no one would have died!" he spat.
"Supposed to? She was supposed to love you?" Naruto roared with pure, unadulterated rage. Tōsen suddenly realized his mistake as Naruto slowly pulled out a kunai. The blonde's eyes turned red as he glared at the coward with white hot fury.
"W-What the hell are you?" stuttered Tōsen, his entire body convulsing in fear.
"Your executioner!" roared Naruto, before he charged. Tōsen's screams rang throughout the forest as metal ripped into flesh.
X-X-X
Naruto just kept walking. He didn't know how long he had been walking; it could have been a few days or a whole week. Yet, it didn't matter to him. He didn't care that his clothes were stained with blood and dirt, nor that he hadn't eaten, slept or showered. All he cared about now was walking, with no clue as to where he was going.
"Hey, who are you?" said a voice. Naruto stopped and looked to see a couple of kids. He looked at them with his dead eyes, which frightened the group a little. One small girl decided to be brave and walked up to the blond.
"Are you okay mister?" she asked him. Naruto didn't answer her. He just stood there and looked at them until his vision finally began to get blurry, in which he pitched forward and hit the ground with a thud. The children screamed in fright, alerting a man and woman from inside the house. The man was dressed like a monk and had very large beads hanging from his neck. The woman wore a simple cream dress with a white apron on top of it. The monk quickly made his way to the fallen Naruto, whilst the woman gathered the children and ushered them back into the house. After checking his vitals, he lifted the blond off the ground and rushed him into one of the house's spare rooms. As he worked to save him, the man couldn't help but wonder what the hell the poor boy had been through.
X-X-X-X-X
Authors' Notes: I love my beta reader so much. Toa Naruto did for me again. The chapter is just how I had it with a few additions that made this chapter so much better. Thanks to him for this amazing job. Well, Naruto is once again in a dark place. Will he be able to come out of it this time? Find out in the next chapter.
As I have said before, I plan to complete revamp my Mizukage story. I've read it over and over again and I saw that some choices I made were really bad. Don't get me wrong, I think that I did a really good job and the beta readers who helped me did a very good job as well. Still I feel that I owe it to everyone who loves the story to revamp it and make much better. I hope that Toa Naruto sticks with me on this and I hope to improve the story greatly.
So to those who have used the idea that I created, continue to do so. Just ask for permission first please.
Techniques
Fūton: Atsugai – Wind Release: Pressure Damage - A tornado-like mass is compressed until it has a very high density and is then released. The wind pressure is raised to its highest limit, and once the technique hits the target, the resulting blast sweeps everyone off their feet. If the technique is used by someone who has mastered wind nature transformation, the blast can hit a vast range, inflicting massive damage on both the target and their surroundings. This technique can be combined with Katon jutsu, to increase the flame's potency in a great scale, causing a massive fire-storm.
Doton: Iwayado Kuzushi – Earth Release: Rock Lodging Destruction - This technique causes a cave-in by destroying the equilibrium that holds the cave together. Just removing a single vital stone throws off the balance of the cave, making it unexpectedly fragile and causing a domino effect that destroys the entire cave. The shinobi from Iwagakure use this technique in their pride tactic, luring several enemies into a cave to kill them all at once.
Doton: Doryūsō – Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears - This technique lets the user condense mud or stone, from the ground, and shape them into spikes that will protrude from the ground in order to skewer the target. The spikes cannot penetrate targets of greater density.
Kekkai: Dankū – Barrier: Splitting Void - The practitioner creates a translucent barrier in the form of a large rectangular wall. This barrier is capable of stopping very high level ninjutsu.
Doton: Dosekiryū – Earth Release: Earth and Stone Dragon - The user creates a dragon made from the ground to attack the opponent.
Doton: Dochūbaku – Earth Release: Landslide - The user sends a landslide of earth towards the target.
