A brilliant stroke of inspiration hit me yesterday, so you have that to thank for the back to back updates :D Now we get to see someone beat the stuffing out of someone else.
[Konoha Forests]
What amounted to essentially a strike team raced through the forest, each of them running hot thanks to running at half speed. Well, Sakura and Shikamaru's half speed.
In record time they arrived at the Bridge of Earth and Fire. They knew they had a few days until Orochimaru met them, so they set up camp a mile or two away, all of them comfortably settling in, all but Naruto, who made them, and Kakashi unaware of the swarm of clones outside their senses, as his own stretched farther than the others.
[The Next Morning]
Naruto sat with Shikamaru, listening to his former classmate's instructions. "…so then, Naruto, you distract Orochimaru, and I'll snare him, and we can get Kakashi-sensei and Asuma-sensei to kill him. Agreed?"
Naruto shook his head minutely. The Nara blanked for a second, then angrily demanded why Naruto would not agree. "Sorry, Shika, it's nothing against you. The problem is that you could never snare Orochimaru for long enough to Kaka-sensei and Asuma-sensei to kill him. You would need to be of comparable power, and you're not S-rank, last I checked." A wry grin flitted over Naruto's face, easing Shikamaru's mood slightly.
The strategist snapped irritably, knowing he was being a bit irrational and heated against the other teen, but this was Orochi-freaking-maru. A man feared enough that, like Itachi, efforts had never been made to retrieve him. Normal Genin and Chunin like him and Naruto did not belong on such a battlefield. Privately, Shikamaru wasn't even sure if Kakashi and Asuma would even be capable of taking on the Snake Sannin. "Fine then, what do you suggest?"
Naruto raised his voice slightly, instinctually channeling a little chakra into his words. Each syllable suddenly reverberated with a quiet power. His voice easily carried to the other members of his team, who had been politely ignoring the conversation between the two. Neji instinctually snapped to attention, Kakashi and Asuma following out of sheer habit. Both older Jonin had served under three Hokage, and such a response was unconscious. Neji had long ago accepted Naruto as his leader, the response surprised even him with how natural it was. Sakura started slightly, not being used to such commanding words coming from anyone but Tsunade or high level medic-nin.
Shikamaru stared, slightly open-mouthed, feeling like a rug had been pulled out from under him. Gone was the brash, pig-headed and loud ninja that he remembered, and now truly Shikamaru saw Naruto in a new light. This was no ordinary Genin, heck, Naruto didn't even act like a Jonin.
He acted like a Kage. A Kage equitable enough that he would listen to advice, but knowing his own power better than anyone else, he was quick to point out flaws in the Nara teen's plan. In other words, the best kind of Kage.
"Very well. This is how it will go down. I will face Orochimaru. Alone." The young Uzumaki's voice brooked no argument, the chakra lacing his words and his tone of command preventing his teammates from even attempting to speak. "Sakura is the Emergency Medic. Should I be taken down, Neji and Shikamaru will cover her while she heals me. In the meantime, Kakashi and Asuma will hold off Orochimaru. The instant I return to fighting form, all of you will retreat again. This will not be a place for Chunin, or even Jonin. Orochimaru is a Sannin, aka he is on par with Tsunade-sama, our current Hokage, as well as Jiraiya, my mentor. I am a Jinchuriki, and I alone of the six of us can fight him on an even keel.
In the event of me going under the Kyubi's influence, you are only cleared to approach my body so long as less than three tails of chakra are present. None of you have the training that Jiraiya has to deal with my rampaging self three tails and onwards, nor the special cream that resist the corrosive effects of the Kyubi's chakra. I cannot state in dire enough terms. Approaching me while I am in Three Tails chakra mode or above with anything less than the power of a Kage is a sure-fire way to die."
Naruto's gaze burned into each of them in turn, impressing upon them the severity of such a situation. "In the event I go Four Tails, run. Run back to Konoha. Jiraiya and Itachi Uchiha are the only two ninja that have faced my Four Tails form and lived to tell of it, and even then they did not defeat me in either situation. Itachi was rescued from the brink of death, and Jiraiya managed to surprise my berserk form and tamp the Kyubi's chakra down again. With Four Tails of the Kyubi's chakra, my will is superseded by the Kyubi's own, I am only capable of passing on vague instructions, such as 'Kill Itachi'. If you are in the area and I no longer have a target, you will die."
Naruto's matter of fact tone shocked the younger ninjas. However, they couldn't argue, for a multitude of reasons. Sakura had seen the aftermath of such a bout, the two vast craters, destroyed landscape and huge trenches rent in the earth. She knew how good of a healer she was, but hearing of how Jiraiya had witnessed the end of the battle, she knew that she could never stand against such a force.
Neji knew without a shadow of a doubt that he didn't hold a candle to the slightly younger ninja. Naruto had only barely tapped into the Kyubi's power when the Uzumaki had defeated him, Neji had no wish to experience Four Tails of chakra personally. He would be happy to watch Orochimaru or Sasuke get hit by that inhuman force, but not himself.
Shikamaru had balked originally, when Naruto spelled out their certain doom, even to the Jonin sensei, but Shikamaru's brain reminded him of when he had found out about Naruto's Jinchuriki status, and was reminded by his father that Gaara, now the Fifth Kazekage of Sunagakure, was only the container for the Ichibi. Shikamaru had even had the honor of speaking with the young Kage, getting a detailed account of the Ichibi container's battle with the Kyubi's.
Gaara spoke of how Naruto, with only the dregs of his chakra, already exhausted from fighting Neji, had honestly beaten the crap out of him. And then summoned the Toad Boss Summon, Gamabunta, with the Kyubi's chakra, which had then put Naruto on par with the released Ichibi.
Shikamaru twitched. At the age of twelve, Naruto had beaten a rampaging Jinchuriki at less than half power. If only hints of the Kyubi's chakra could do that, he was in no hurry to be introduced to Four Tails mode.
Asuma watched his student fondly, knowing that Shikamaru would find it hardest to accept that his sensei would be talked down to in such a respectful manner. But Asuma knew his own limits. He was not quite on par with Kakashi, only Gai was of equal power, and Kakashi had confided in him the sheer despair he had felt upon feeling just the backwash of the Kyubi's power when Naruto had gone Four Tails in his bout against four members of the Akatsuki.
Asuma also looked back on his brief bout with the teen, when Naruto had decided to fight completely limited, for some reason. Even then, when he had struck a critical blow, the half dead teenager had nearly ended his life. Asuma wanted no part in engaging a Naruto possessed with even Four Tails of the beasts power. As Naruto himself had stated, it would be as foolish as asking Jiraiya to attack him at full power.
Kakashi chuckled quietly. He, out of everyone present, knew first-hand the terror Naruto's Four Tails form caused. Jiraiya-sama himself had turned white with shock. In Kakashi's book, anything that could make his sensei's sensei panic was not worth fighting, unless he was 100% forced to. Kakashi doubted than even the Mangekyou Sharingan, his newest technique, would not even the playing field in the slightest.
"So, everyone is agreed?" Naruto didn't even wait for their agreement, forging on, "Good. We rest for the rest of the day, and tomorrow we face Orochimaru." Naruto promptly slipped into his tent, instantly falling asleep. He had no way of knowing the stupor that had seized a hold on his team, keeping them pondering his words long into the day before they finally broke camp and went to sleep.
[Late Afternoon the Next Day – The Bridge of Earth and Fire]
The recently dubbed Team Havoc arranged themselves in the bushes as Naruto stepped from the shelter of the trees to stride over to the bridge. He stopped at the edge, seeing Orochimaru on the other side. Naruto scowled across the bridge. Orochimaru was standing across from him, hints of a grin playing across the older man's lips, both ninjas separated by a mere steel bridge. Naruto's team hung back, waiting to jump in if the need arose, no matter how much Naruto assured them that it would be unnecessary. He only had a single sword on his person, and it worried them. They had no way of knowing that Naruto could never be separated from his swords, as if he really needed them, he could call them from his heart itself.
Orochimaru grinned privately to himself. The brat in front of him might be powerful, even having succeeded in driving him off once, but Jiraiya was not in the child's back up team. None of these fools would leave here alive, save for the Jinchuriki himself.
The teen called out to the man standing before him. "Surrender Sasuke, Orochimaru, and I might let you leave here with all of your limbs." His scowl deepened as the rouge Sannin simply cackled in response. Disdain dripped from Orochimaru's voice as he replied. "You? Do any significant damage to me!? Impossible. You may be capable of fighting the Akatsuki when using the Kyubi's power, but without it you are as weak as ever."
The air that had been blowing suddenly stilled. Everyone in the area felt as if the world had come to a standstill. Orochimaru arched an eyebrow, knowing that his words had hit home, and wondering what Naruto's answer would be. This stillness was classical of powerful ninjas, when they flexed their chakra, the air itself seemed to follow their direction instead of that of the forces of nature. Orochimaru kept his face inscrutable as he always did, save for the eyebrow. He twitched, however, when chakra suddenly seemed to explode off of Naruto's body, the air weighed down on him.
But miraculously, Naruto's expression didn't shift in the slightest. In actuality, Zabimaru was stridently trying to make Naruto calm down, but the recent awakening of Ryujin Jakka's full power left Naruto extremely prone to high tempers. His efforts would have been in vain if not for Naruto's own foresight. He had left the physical forms of all of his swords but Hyorinmaru with his team, thus muting the fire swords influence and strengthening the ice swords influence instead.
A steely calm settled over Naruto as he fully embraced Hyorinmaru's power, preferring to strike with ice cold anger than a burning rage. His eyes shifted from their customary bright, deep blue to a pale shadow of their former beauty, becoming as flat and as cold as Haku's ice mirrors once were. A whisper of wind seemed to spin a leaf in the wind. It gradually drifted to a halt at Naruto's feet, and then promptly cracked, covered in frost. Orochimaru looked on in complete indifference as a circle of frost crackled outwards from Naruto's feet, but was unable to resist sucking in a sharp breath like the teen's own back-up as the temperature dropped straight to zero, then kept plunging, the bridge nearest the Jinchuriki letting out ominous creaks as weather it had never been built to resist bloomed to life next to it.
"Sit Upon the Frozen Heavens, Hyorinmaru." Naruto uttered his Shikai activation phrase as he drew and lifted his sword into the air, the tip shining briefly as a sudden blaze of power coated Naruto, the sudden force of bone chillingly cold reiatsu, laced with just enough chakra for the ninjas to feel it, forced the weaker ninjas to their knees and even stilled the breath in Orochimaru's lungs for a brief second as the cold brought him back to the Second Ninja World War in Mizu against Hyoton users.
The Sannin then exploded into action, if the idiot boy had somehow gained Hyoton at an adult age, he needed to know how. Such a discovery would massively jump-start Orochimaru's own research. Normally the man stored Kusanagi in a special compartment in his throat. But the need for this new experimental subject plus the very real threat it produced now meant that the Snake Sannin instead simply summoned it to his hand. Leaping at the still stock still boy, he brought the full might of his own chakra pressure to bear.
The Rookies in the bushes thought they might die. The sheer pressure exerted on them, just from the two S-rank ninjas flexing their figurative muscles had them gasping for breath. They realized now why Naruto had told them to stand back. They would be as useless as a Genin team was in a battle between Jonin. Seasoned Jonin and ANBU may as well be civilians for all the threat they presented to truly strong Kage level ninja, and the two clashing in the clearing doubtlessly held that amount of power.
Naruto shrieked at Orochimaru, the sound sounding inhuman to everyone's ears, even Orochimaru, who recoiled slightly. The teen smirked in his mind, an expression mirrored by Hyorinmaru, the sound that he had just emitted similar to the ice dragon's own cry. The wave of sound physically pushed the Sannin back, who then had his hands full as the two titans clashed again and again, soul blade versus blade from legend. Old against young. The clearing resounded with the clang of steel on steel as the bridge shook under the force of the blows that were transmitted into it from the dueling ninjas.
Naruto screamed, ice cold chakra flowing around him as he swept his sword at Orochimaru. A wave of ice leapt out at the older ninja, who cursed lightly before jumping out of the way. It crashed into the bridge, damaging it further, the bridge now sagging lightly under the extreme forces it was being subjected to. The battle between the two shinobi cranked up a notch as they started trading Jutsu, Orochimaru steadily losing ground as ice started creep all over the teen, coating him in armor and protecting him from most of the Jutsu, especially as a simple slash of the idiot's sword could dissipate even A-rank ninjutsu.
On the other hand, Naruto could flick out 5 elemental dragons at a whim, all five of which were considered A-rank, though the Lightning and Wind ones pushed the envelope to S-rank. The two moved across the bridge now, barely noticing the way it creaked ominously underfoot, the vast majority of their focus going into unleashing mass destruction on each other.
Orochimaru grinned internally even as he scowled externally. This boy was actually giving him a run for his money! Jiraiya had for once not slacked off, which surprised the Snake Sannin immensely. Nonetheless, this was only basics, even if the boy did know how to throw his chakra around, would he be able to take it to another level?
As if Naruto could read Orochimaru's mind, he sent out a pulse of reiatsu, ice starting to shift on his left shoulder, gradually forming a wing made of ice. Naruto shrieked again, slashing his sword at a much higher speed, a dragon made of ice leaping from the tip, nearly impaling Orochimaru who paled drastically. His last encounter with someone who could make dragons of ice was an incredibly skilled Hyoton user. For the Kyubi Jinchuriki to already have such control over his acquired bloodlimit was uncanny and prodigious. Naruto cranked his chakra pressure up a notch, roaring at Orochimaru, the sound again acting like a push, sending the Sannin skidding back onto the opposite side of the crevasse and off the bridge.
Unfortunately, that was also the last bit of punishment that the bridge could take, and it promptly crumpled. With Naruto standing halfway along it. Orochimaru wondered how the boy would take it when he noticed not only the wing of ice, but the way it gently flapped, and lastly, that the teen had not moved from his spot. Except there was now a yawning chasm under him, no long a bridge. 'To have mastered that bloodline to such a degree…He can even make it keep him in the sky! Flying ninjas! No, I must know how he did it!'
Naruto grumbled, he hadn't wanted to reveal that he could "fly" yet, but it would have to do. He exploded into action, soaring across the gap, ice now coating his whole body except his head as the most unconventional armor ever. As he closed the gap he let fly with a stream of elemental dragons, pumping his hand full of chakra so they would continue to stream out long after he had stopped paying attention. Orochimaru boggled slightly at the sight of a river of 5 different elements approached him. This was getting less and less fun. As much as he would normally deny it, Jiraiya was as strong as he was, and he enjoyed testing himself against his fellow Sannin.
But this was progressively starting to look like the teen had the upper hand. The power of Flight, Hyoton, and with Kyubi the child would be unstoppable. It was time to change the game. Orochimaru dashed to the side, then revealed the second best power of Kusanagi. Its ability to change its length according to its wielders whims.
Naruto heard a scream in his head as the newly formed ice wing suddenly interposed in his vision, covering his entire left side. He put an identity to the scream when he realized it was Hyorinmaru. Apparently he had been a split second from being skewered by the Kusanagi.
Naruto's eyes seemed to glow as he let forth all of his tightly leashed chakra. If the air had seemed a choking hazard before, it was nothing compared to the storm of chakra pressure now. Orochimaru paused, aware that somehow, he had royally pissed off the teen, but literally unable to move, feeling like he was trying to move while wrapped in steel.
Orochimaru had felt terror like this only once in his life. When he, Tsunade and Jiraiya had attacked Hanzo, and the man had absorbed their best, and defeated them like they were nothing. They had been miles from the front line. Back-up would never get there in time, and there had only been one other person who had the power to match Hanzo, being their sensei. Absolute despair sunk into Orochimaru. Staring into young Naruto Uzumaki's eyes right now felt just like when he had looked up at Hanzo in despair, knowing there was nothing he could combat this with. Even when facing the Kyubi sixteen years ago he had not been this scared. Then he had been older, more powerful, and secure in the knowledge they had one current Hokage, one retired Hokage and all three Sannin in the village at once, not to mention the full might of the strongest of the ninja villages backing them.
Here, gazing into the implacable pools of frozen water that Uzumaki's eyes had become, Orochimaru felt raw, unfiltered fear. The sky darkened as if foretelling the destruction that was about to be unleashed, but instead of a lightning storm, the clouds seemed full of snow.
The Snake Sannin's brief confusion turned back into terror as the snow melted as soon as it got within ten feet of the younger ninja that he faced. Somehow, someway, the Jinchuriki could control the weather. And the Sannin knew that the full force of that wrath was going to be turned on him.
Naruto breathed deeply. Somehow Hyorinmaru had been injured trying to shield him. His bonded sword was injured. Hyorinmaru. Injured. Because of Orochimaru. Orochimaru. The teen's eyes seemed to glow even more intensely as he abandoned all pretense, letting his chakra mix with his reiatsu, letting loose with the Kyubi's chakra as well, the fiery rage boiling in his blood more than sufficient to call the Kyubi.
The very air seemed to groan under the pressure suddenly put on it. The Kyubi cackled in his cage. His jailer was furious, practically seething with anger, anger that he was more than happy to fuel, pumping his cage full of chakra, and watching it rush out with relish as the teen dropped his Shikai form in the hopes that it would let Hyorinmaru recover. And then Naruto looked inward, and called out to the Kyubi.
"Kyubi. I need some of that rent again." Naruto was unaware, but his eyes were blazing with blue light, which swiftly transitioned to red as a tide of the Kyubi's chakra swept into him. Kyubi's grin matched Naruto's now feral smirk as the teen let his mindscape fall away, leaving him in the real world. No time had passed, and he enjoyed seeing the fear in Orochimaru's eyes as his body practically glowed with chakra now, winds whipped around him, the vast power increase cracking the ground around his feat. Naruto crouched onto all fours, two tails of chakra streaming behind him as he shot forward.
Orochimaru never stood a chance.
[End Chapter]
In case you were wondering how Hyorinmaru could be injured, it will be explained in the next chapter. Naruto's bond with his swords is similar to how closely bonded Eragon and Saphira are in the Inheritance Cycle. Injuring any of the parties leave the rest ticked off, which is why Ryujin Jakka tore Itachi's Tsukuyomi apart when it was used on Naruto.
Orochimaru is about to get the beating of a lifetime, believe it!
As always, please rate and review!
