Miles below the Leaf Village in an unfinished new Evangelion Unit launch platform tunnel, SEELE-05, the Dragon, was marching.
He was almost at the military base's EVA hanger. Soon, he would destroy them and be rid of the biggest threat to his and his brother's plans. Before him was the doorway. One more attack and he would be at his goal.
But, the door opened and out charged Tailed Beast Control Mode Shinji and Naruto using a giant sized tag team Big Ball Elemental Rasengan.
Shinji, who was on the right was adding Water Release chakra. Naruto, who was on the left, was adding Wind Release chakra! The Rasengan had a peace of ice in it from the water being cooled by the wind, making its temperature drop quickly.
The SEELE was caught off guard. He was underground, so he couldn't fly, and the size of the ball was so massive that he had no room to dodge down there, so it hit him right in the chest, sending the dragon man back down the tunnel.
The SEELE roared from the coldness of the attack as it made his scales soft, removing their armor-like proprieties so it hurt like hell.
The dragon man held his chest in pain.
Shinji smirked. "Thank goodness I copied how to mould Water Release chakra or our Arctic Big Ball Tag Team Rasengan plan wouldn't have worked!"
Naruto smirked as he tapped his staff on the ground. "It looks like Shikamaru was right. Our dragon fiend's armor scales won't protect him from the cold!"
The dragon crawled and ran. He was smart enough to know that, if he stayed underground, he wouldn't be able to avoid their arctic attack plan. He needed to get above ground where he had the advantage of flight on his side to allow him to avoid their attacks easily.
The SEELE was as fast as it was strong, taking off with so much speed that the dirt in the unfinished tunnel was kicked up, making a makeshift smokescreen.
Naruto raised his hand and sent out a burst of Wind Release chakra, pushing all of the dust and airborne dirt down the tunnel towards the SEELE and out of his and Shinji's eyes.
Shinji looked to his brother-in-all-but-blood, Naruto. "Naruto, buddy. Tell the pilots to get here. Someone has to protect the EVA's. Help them to get a launch platform working so that we can use them as bait to get this dragon thing away from the village."
Naruto looked at his staff. "As I am the only one of us who can use Ice Release on his own, it makes sense for me to go off to do battle while you get our EVA bait plan working."
Shinji nodded and went into the military base to get a launch platform working again.
Naruto then dashed off after the SEELE.
The SEELE finally made it back above ground, the dust and airborne dirt around him. He was coughing from breathing it in. He blindly took to the air to get out of the dust cloud so that he would stop and he could refocus on the battle before him.
Once he was airborne and breathing easily, the SEELE growled as he thought that everything over. He was so close to the EVA's, but those boys stopped him. He had underestimated them. He wouldn't make that mistake again. The boys had grown and changed over the years that he and his brothers were locked away.
He knew that they had gotten stronger and come up with new forms of attack, but he didn't believe that they their strong enough or smart enough to harm him the way that they did.
He then growled as he recalled them say a name. "Shikamaru. He didn't come with them to Tokyo-3, so we have no data on him, but he said that he came up with the plan to use ice. This Shikamaru has to be their brain. I'll have to alter my plans to destroy the three boys. That's more important than the EVA's. First, I must defeat one of them and get them to point out this Shikamaru so that I can kill him. That will make defeating the other fox and the then destroying the EVA's so much more easy."
Unknown to him, down on the ground, Shikamaru was on the ground in his shadow form. The streets were pretty empty. Everyone had moved to safety in one of the shelters.
The only ones who were out were the shinobi who were trying to reopen the EVA launch pads, protecting the shelters or the stupid ones who were trying to attack the dragon.
But, he was too high in the air for the shinobi's attacks to hit him. Shikamaru was watching the dragon's shadow on the ground. Thanks to the angle of the Sun, the shadow was cast in just the right position, allowing Shikamaru to see its lips move.
This would seem like pointless information, but not to someone like Shikamaru who understood shadows so well and was a shadow, himself, at that moment.
Shikamaru, by watching the movements of the shadow's lips, was able to read them. Not enough to get every word, but just enough for him to get the basic idea of what lizard lips was saying.
Shikamaru muttered, "Troublesome…" before speaking aloud to himself. "So, he wants to kill me. Easier said than done. As long as I'm in shadow form, I can't be hurt. I can't attack either, but I'm smart enough to know that no jutsu that I can perform is capable of harming this dragon-like demon."
Shikamaru then put a hand to his shadow form's lip as he saw Naruto coming out of the opening "Dude. He changed his plans in order to kill you, Shinji and me first and then destroy the EVA's."
Naruto smirked and said, "So, a monster wants to kill me. What else is new?" The last part was spoken sarcastically. He then slammed his hand on the ground and used the power of his Animal Path to Summon out a giant-sized bird with a beak that, when closed, looked like a super long four point spear head.
He Summoned it because Tailed Beast Mode in the middle of the Village wasn't an option. So, if he wanted to be giant-sized and reach him, he would need a pair of wings.
Naruto got on its back and summoned and held his staff out. As the bird took to the air, he swung his staff sending out, releasing a wave of Ice Release mist. "Ice Release: Arctic Mist!"
The super cold mist filled the air, reaching the SEELE. Ice start to form on his scales, so the SEELE built up Fire Release chakra within his own body, heating himself up, melting the ice and making his scales stronger from the heat.
But, the dragon was so focused on melting the ice so that his wings wouldn't freeze, making him fall to the ground, that he didn't see Naruto coming up on his bird until he was only a foot away. The Dragon quickly moved out of the way with a flap, but the bird changed course.
The right side of the bird's blade beak cut into the SEELE's right arm, cutting off the bandages that he wore.
The SEELE looked at the cut. The rapid cooling and heating had damaged some of his scales, weakening his armor.
The SEELE was smart enough to know that he need to get away from the Rinnegan user, so he opened his mouth and fired off a mountain-sized purple fireball. The force of its launch sent him flying back to edge of the Leaf's airspace.
Naruto, out of reflex, went into Tailed Beast Control Mode and summoned a Truth Seeking Ball Shield before him and his bird. The fireball was nullified and dissipated upon contact.
Naruto panted for a moment. He didn't think that he would have the time for it. His bird was unable to fly at the speeds that needed to avoid attacks. Also, something of that size which was filled with inhuman chakra would be enough to overwhelm his Blocking Technique Absorption Seal.
He was in a dogfight with a winged flyer and someone who had the edge. After all, he was only riding a large bird.
Back in the Leaf military hanger, Shinji had just covered his Kusangai in black fire to cut open one of the launch pads when Shikamaru in shadow form appeared.
"Shinji, there's been a change of plan. The SEELE is now focusing on you, Naruto and me. He won't follow the Evas until the three of us are dead."
Toji, who was dressed in a zipped-up white jacket with a Leaf headband on his head, black pants, a knife holder on his left leg and blue shinobi sandals on his feet with a katana sheathed on his back, spoke. "What does that mean for us?" The jock pilot asked.
Kensuke, who was dressed in a green short sleeved shirt, camouflage pants, green shinobi sandals with a knife holder on each side and his headband tied around his waist, stated, "It means that we simply need a new plan."
Hikari, who was dressed in black shorts, black ninja boots, an orange skirt over her shorts held on by her headband and an orange tank top with her knife holder tied to her left boot, spoke up. "If he won't follow the EVA's, then there is no need for us to get into them, let alone put on plug suits."
Asuka, who was dressed in yellow shinobi boots, orange pants and a sleeveless red top with her headband around her neck and her knife holder tied on to her right hip stated, "Why not just have shadow boy use Shadow Possession?"
Shikamaru returned to his normal form to speak better. "I would need a large shadow to connect with the SEELE's and more chakra than I have."
Rei spoke. "Why not just ride on EVA-01's shoulder? That way, Shinji can make the large shadow that you need and transfer chakra to you to power your jutsu long enough for Naruto to deal a killing blow."
Shikamaru faced palmed. "If It wasn't for the fact that we were all thrown off guard by fighting a dragon, I would have thought of that."
Shinji then chimed in. "One small problem. My ability to summon EVA-01 only works if I'm very far away from it."
Toji sighed. "Then, we'll just have to manually launch your mom, Shinji."
Shikamaru spoke. "I hope that Naruto can hold off lizard lips while we deal with this troublesome turn of events."
Meanwhile, high above the Leaf Village…
Naruto in Tailed Beast Chakra Control Mode let loose a large number of mini Truth Seeking Balls which were shaped like throwing stars just for the dragon to avoid them at great speeds and counter with a large stream of purple flames which it fired from its mouth.
Naruto, once more, summoned a Truth Seeking Ball Shield to block it as he thought, 'I can keep this up for a long time, but not forever. Tailed Beast Chakra Control Mode will tire me out sooner or later, leaving me a sitting duck, and if I leave, the Leaf I will have no defence from this monster's odd chakra. I mean, what is with the SEELE's chakra? It's so strange that my Preta Path doesn't even believe that its chakra at all!'
To be continued…
Next time: End of the Dragon – Blazing Leaf! The Elder and Younger the Oni Brothers Appear!
