Unwanted Travelling
Chapter Fourteen: Don't leave it out.
Naruto was always one to seek fun and thrills in his life. In his younger days, his adventurous streak would continue from the first hour of his awakening, to the last hour just before going home. He lived in the ideal that he revelled in his curiosity about things that interest him. Like how he used to prank people simply because it amused him. That and it made him forget about the loneliness.
So it was no surprise that he would carry this particular trait as he grew into what he was today. He loved adventure; he loved thrills and anything that would set his gears running (mental or otherwise). But now, it looked like his curiosity and thrill seeking would kill him.
"Hey, the hell izzz zis?" Negi slurred as he then smiled before chugging more from the bottle.
"Dis isss goooo (hic) oood!"
"You had a fruit juice flavoured alcoholic beverage in your person? Why am I not surprised?" Konohamaru asked in a rather calm manner.
"Hey, I wanted you to take your first day of drinking with something easier to swallow! It's like, the training bra of drinking!" Naruto commented. Konohamaru scratched the back of his head at this, not getting the idea behind the analogy at all.
"What?" He flatly asked, to which Naruto simply shrugged, hey, it just popped in his head.
"Nevermind, the bigger issue here is Negi. We need to keep him here before Asuna or any of the paedophile squad finds out that we've accidentally got him smashed and skin us alive for this." Naruto mentioned. Konohamaru looked around finding the child teacher no where near in sight.
To this both of them paled. Like how before they were transported to this world, like how that bubble of unstable time and space vacuum had botched, at the last second, both of them looked towards what seemed to be their impending doom. With such dread and thoughts of their imminent death approaching, the only phrase that seemed appropriate to escape their lips was one thing.
"Uh oh."
In some different plane of existence, a high ranking deity howled in laughter all across the improbably huge land.
"HOLY SHIT! WE NEED TO GET NEGI HERE, PRONTO!" Naruto shouted panicking as he felt his heart pounding out of fear.
"THANK YOU FOR THAT COMMENT, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS! THIS WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU JUST DIDN'T BRING THOSE ITEMS IN THE FIRST PLACE!"
"OH, SO NOW IT'S MY FAULT? HOW COME IT'S ALWAYS MY FAULT?"
"THAT'S BECAUSE IT IS!"
As they gave chase, their concern for the child teacher (and inadvertently their lives) turned to a set of shouting matches at one after another. Their panic increasing tenfold at this as they made a beeline towards the resort at breakneck speeds, passing by the actual Negi who stumbled as he walked to find Asuna.
Once they were at the resort, they were met with Yuna and Sakurako who had just finished playing another round of beach volleyball saw the duo making their way back into the lodgings.
"Hey, sensei!" Both of them greeted their teachers who went past them as they continued to argue with each other.
"I'VE NEVER SEEN SOMEONE SO COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE BY BRINGING THOSE THINGS HERE!"
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME? I'M DOING YOU A FAVOR, YOU STUPID APPRENTICE, AT LEAST APPRECIATE THE FACT THAT I'VE HAD HALF A MIND TO CARE ABOUT HOW YOU LIVE!"
Once they made it to the lodges, Naruto and Konohamaru separated and looked all over for Negi, with dread written all over their faces. As each minute was passing by, the duo was losing hope more and more.
Konohamaru just hoped that Ayaka or any of the other members of the shota brigade would skin him alive. Then again, Ayaka was the first person to try to give Negi an alcohol beverage, so he thought it couldn't be THAT bad.
Let us not forget that the first to successfully give alcohol to a minor was in fact, Naruto and to an extent, Konohamaru.
With Negi:
Ooh, everything was moving in circles, of it, he was sure, and he felt hot. As in, the heat in the sun had me sweating hot. He was also red as a tomato, not as red as his hair, but his flushed cheeks gave him a nice shade.
Anyway, what he was feeling now was beside the point, he needed to get his priorities straight! After getting some of the contents in his stomach, of course, he didn't know why, he just felt like throwing up.
After hurtling his soul out to the ground, Negi dazedly stood up and walked rather wobbly towards the resort with one thing in mind.
"ASUNAA-SHHHAAAAAAANNNNN!"
To which, the red head turned around and saw from quite a distance the red headed teacher wobbling towards her, he looked like he was ready to keel over and die.
Back at the lodgings, Naruto and Konohamaru had suddenly stopped and felt a shiver run down their spines.
To which, Naruto looked at his apprentice for a second and said, "I think now is a good time to go back into the forest and into hiding."
"WHHHHHAAAAAATTT?"
A loud thunderous voice echoed throughout the whole island as Naruto shouted to Konohamaru.
"Double time! Hustle, hustle, hustle!" Naruto shouted in a severe panic as they ran from the resort back into the woods.
Konohamaru hoped they wouldn't have to fall for a stupid trap such as the girls offering Naruto some Ramen.
Ten minutes later:
Naruto and Konohamaru sat under the palm tree bound by rope very tightly as Asuna was standing to their front with her arms crossed. An annoyed look etched on her face.
Though Konohamaru sported the same look as well albeit for different reasons as the brunette commented on why they were caught. "I can't believe you got bribed with ramen. No wait, that's actually pretty believable if it's you."
To this, the blonde laughed nervously at this as he said in a shameful tone, "W-well, it seemed like a good idea at the time."
"Fuck you."
"Both of you shut up!" Asuna shouted as she held her Harisen in hand and first pointed it to Naruto.
"You packed alcohol in the trip! Now look at what you did to the brat!" Asuna pointed to Negi as he was sprawled on the ground and mumbling.
"Asuna-shaaann, I'm shhooorrrryyy."
"I'm sorry?" Naruto said hesitantly to which it angered Asuna more.
"SORRY DOESN'T CUT IT, BLONDIE!" Asuna shouted with more ferocity this time. Naruto flinched at the voice that Asuna had projected earlier.
"In our defence, Negi took the chance of going on a drinking binge when he was thinking about apologizing to you on his own. No joke." Naruto mentioned as he tried to guilt trip Asuna.
Hoping that it'd work as Asuna flinched a little, Naruto then continued, "I mean he's such a sweet kid. Feeling guilty about what he said, it's kind of nice to have someone like that, heh, he'd be a great little brother."
Asuna then hit Naruto with the Harisen.
Naruto's head bent down with the brunt force of the Harisen as the blonde deadpanned, "Ow."
To this, Asuna once again pointed her finger at the blonde, "You trying to guilt trip me or something, blondie? Well, I've got bad news for you, what you did was worse than what Negi said to me!"
"Why is it you're concerned more for Negi's wellbeing now? I thought you didn't want to speak with him." Konohamaru mentioned in his usual unconvinced voice, as Asuna pointed at him with the fan.
"You aren't allowed to talk, damn it!" Asuna mentioned this with a blush as Konohamaru somewhat smirked at this, "Well, whatever you say, Asuna."
Konohamaru didn't know what happened next as all he could remember at that part was pain, agonizing and excruciating pain.
And then… Darkness.
A few hours later:
Konohamaru woke up and groaned as his body felt a dull and aching pain coming from his back and his side. He looked around and found out he was on the plane heading back to the mainland.
To his side, Naruto was fast asleep, his wounds already recovering, closing up as if his punishment never happened. The brunette scowled at this.
Lucky Bastard.
Once they got back and Naruto's consciousness returned, they had walked back towards their apartment, only to be met with a scowling Eva standing on their doorstep with Chachamaru and a small doll being held in the cybernetic girl's arms.
The vampire then pointed her finger at the taller blonde while wearing that scowl on her face as she said to the blonde, "Fix my seal. Set me free from here."
"What are you talking about?" Naruto questioned as Eva walked closer to him and reached for his collar. The vampire looked at him at the eye and said, "Don't try to hide the fact. Even though you're a Class-A moron, you're actually a pretty good Seals master."
Naruto looked as though he was unfazed at the whole thing.
"Where did you ever get that idea?" Naruto asked, obviously not liking where this was going. To this Eva smirked, "Oh, a little slip up with the School Head does wonders, you know, which reminds me…"
Eva then began shaking Naruto's collar furiously, "You've been holding out on me when I could have gotten free earlier!"
"Why would I want to do that?"
"Because I want to be free of this goddamn seal! Now stop playing ten questions and do it!" Eva shouted, frustration reigning inside of the vampire. Naruto gave off a small life.
"I'm sorry, Eva-chan, but if you want to be free, you're going to have to try better than that. Demanding something from me won't let me give you a ride to freedom more than I should."
"What do you propose then? I grovel on my knees in front of you and beg you to release me from my curse?" Eva asked, growing irritated as the blonde kept toying with her.
"Hmm… That does sound tempting… I'll think about it." Naruto mused, as he heard Evangeline growled and was on her knees and bowing in front of the blonde.
"Please release me from my curse, Naruto-sama, oh great and benevolent Seals Master from another world." Evangeline mumbled in gritted teeth. Naruto couldn't exactly hear what the vampire was saying and leaned closer. Unbeknownst to the Lolita vampire, a small click was heard as Naruto grinned wickedly.
"What's that, Eva-chan? I can't hear you!" The blonde mentioned as Evangeline gave a different answer…
… In the form of an uppercut hitting the blonde squarely on the chin. "I said, free me from my curse! Why do you have to humiliate me so, Uzumaki? You got some form of fetish that involves my suffering?"
Naruto, who fell flat on the ground, recovered and rubbed his chin with a grimace, "Damn punch almost dislocated my jaw…"
"Well?" Eva asked expectantly, standing before him with her arms crossed, Chachamaru not far behind, a look of apathy strewn on her face and a doll smiling at the top of her head.
Naruto simply grinned wickedly.
"Well, no. I just like to mess with you since you're so fun to tease. Other than that, you're powerless against me right now. So you're at my mercy at this moment." Naruto mentioned with a smile, as Eva growled further at this.
The taller blonde turned back toward his apprentice who gave him a thumb up, Konohamaru gestured for one of his own as he said, "Got that on camera, Naruto-nii, now we have leverage!"
Eva looked puzzled at this as she looked at the interaction between the two. Chachamaru answered for her, "Master, to answer that confused look on your face; Konohamaru-sensei had taken a picture of you with his Mobile phone while you were prostrating in front of Naruto-sensei."
"Oh, Chachamaru, you make it seem like I'm some god or something, Eva-chan wasn't prostrating, she was grovelling." Naruto corrected, to which Chachamaru replied, "I apologize for my choice of words then, Naruto-sensei."
The little vampire just had about enough of the blonde's antics.
"I've just had about enough of your antics, you plebeian!" Evangeline was about to grab one of her vials when Naruto chastised her, well, more like blackmailed her with that sly grin, "Now, now, Eva-chan, temper, temper. It wouldn't do any good if I 'accidentally' spread this photo around the school, think of how people will see you after this!"
Konohamaru simply retorted for their student at this, "You're evil."
To this, Naruto shrugged while Evangeline twitched uncomfortably.
"You WOULDN'T dare!" Evangeline shook in utter furry as she started seeing red. To this, Naruto gave that wry smile, "I don't know about that."
"You would!" Evangeline mentioned as she walked towards the blonde and kicked him in the shin. Naruto cradled his chin as the vampire said, "You will erase that photo this instant, or face the consequences!"
The small puppet looked on in glee as it shouted, "Oh, now it's getting good! Rip his head off master!"
Naruto didn't look threatened no; in fact, he looked amused, "Well now, this feisty little girl is showing her fangs even though they're broken. I can set you free Eva, but give me one good reason why I should do it."
"Because I'm tired of being stuck here, I want my freedom; I want my chance of going out once more. But that idiot Nagi forgot to undo the spell, and now I'm perpetually stuck in this place with the body of a ten year old! ARRGGH! It frustrates me just thinking about it! I'm roughly past half a millennia old and my body is still pre-pubescent? I want my adult body back!" She ranted as she talked about more than she should. Naruto shook his head in amusement.
"Eva-chan, why don't we sit down inside our apartment and talk about this over a cup of tea?" The blonde suggested, Evangeline felt somewhat unconvinced at this as Naruto and an obviously careful Konohamaru entered into their apartment as the brunette began boiling some dried leaves for tea. While waiting for their cup, the two powerhouses sat down in front of each other with Naruto talking first.
"Care to tell me why you were sealed in the first place then, Eva-chan?" Naruto asked as he grabbed a scroll from his bag and began stroking his pen on it. Eva didn't want to give out on any details of her rather embarrassing reason to be sealed.
"Does it matter? Nagi Springfield imprisoned me in this place. He left me here to teach me a lesson, he forgot to release me, now I'm stuck here, end of story."
"It does matter, Eva-chan. It's because I know what it's like to have a seal placed on you unwillingly." Naruto stopped his writing and dropped his pen on the table. This time, the atmosphere around the two became serious.
"What are you talking about, Naruto? It couldn't possibly be anything worse than being sealed in this place."
"You'd be surprised." Naruto said this with a melancholic smile. He averted his gaze from the vampire as Konohamaru, with Chachamaru's help, served tea while the two were discussing.
"Have you ever heard of the term, 'Jinchuuriki', Eva-chan?" Naruto said this as he played with his teacup while Evangeline drank with hers.
"The term is usually very rarely heard in these parts, but it was believed that Jinchuuriki are people who are chosen as a sacrificial container for a malevolent beast, deserving its name as 'the power of a human sacrifice.' But I don't understand what that has got to do with this conversation."
"Everything, Eva-chan, everything." Naruto then downed his tea and continued, "That's a fairly accurate term at it. Though there's another term that I would have never discussed this to anyone, not even to the Dean. Jinchuuriki are trump cards in a war, Eva-chan, they are super weapons."
Eva looked absolutely shocked at this; did Naruto's world have forces who are actually containers of demons whose powers can be harnessed?
"What?"
"That's right. In my world, there exist nine beasts that are considered as monsters or even demons here. These nine beasts are called the Bijuu and are the sources of near limitless chakra. They rank in hierarchy according to how many tails they each have ranging from the One-Tailed Shukaku to the Nine-Tailed youko. For years, people have been trying to harness the power of the tailed beasts to turn them into weapons for their respective villages. To which, the term 'Jinchuuriki' was born. Nine people chosen to seal these beasts away into these people, and these nine were then called by that term. From then on, the Jinchuuriki were considered even more precious than the clan names, they were considered as the final weapon of any village that had them. They would only be deployed if they didn't have much of a choice left." Naruto then explained in detail the bijuu that were separated in each of the nations that had them.
"So these Jinchuuriki would be like the Nuclear weapons that a few select countries have?" Evangeline asked and the other blonde answered, "In a way, yes, though I don't know shit about Nucular weapons. But I guess any Weapon of Mass Destruction would be the general term for them though I don't like it one bit."
To this, Evangeline raised an eyebrow, "You're one of them, aren't you, Uzumaki?"
Naruto simply nodded, "I'm surprised you caught on this late, into the conversation."
"Well, there were certain doubts that made me want to reconsider you as one. For example, you're too damn upbeat. You're too positive. Because from what I know about humans as a whole is that they fear what they don't understand. From my guess, they didn't even consider you as humans, did they? By the way, it's nuclear." Evangeline asked while Naruto gave a solemn nod.
"Nuclear, nucular, whatever and yeah, they would consider us as something worse than a plague. That's because it's difficult to harness the power of a bijuu as a whole, and as such, we're loose canons when we go out on missions. It's so difficult in just even trying to harness one tail's worth of power. Even with a seal, it can't guarantee a safe way to stop one of us from going on a random rampage." Naruto answered at this truthfully, as he took another sip.
"All the more reason that you should free me from this accursed seal." Evangeline said this as she finished her cup and Chachamaru offered another. To which the vampire wordlessly accepts.
"That's where we differ in paths, Eva-chan." To this Naruto stood up and put his hands in his pockets.
"We're the same yet two different people with the same situation but different circumstances. I'm the container, you're a prisoner. So I don't know exactly how I would deal with you. If you want advice, go ask the Kyuubi on it. I'm the warden you're the convict, as such, I have a job of trying to keep you from going out of my prison. You see the point, Eva-chan?"
"But that doesn't take away the fact that you had a seal unwillingly placed on you!" Eva stopped drinking her tea and stood up herself facing Naruto with that scowl of hers. Naruto merely gave an understanding smile.
"Our circumstances differ. My seal was placed in order to prevent a disaster. Yours on the other hand, seems to be placed on you to teach you a lesson. Besides, we have a different energy source, the best that I could do probably is to tweak the seal for few seconds or minutes if I'm lucky." Naruto hated to admit it, but compared to his former master and possibly his mom and dad, he was still an upstart.
Evangeline grumbled at this as she sat down. "So the most you could do is extending my leash?"
"I wouldn't call it a leash, Eva-chan. That would mean that you're an animal, and I don't like it one bit. Jinchuuriki are human, they eat, they drink and sleep like one, they have the same flesh, the same desires, the same in everything a human does. Just like you, you eat, you sleep and you drink like a human, well, as much as a human probably should. But the point stands, Eva-chan. I would like to help you, really I would. But unless you can fix yourself, then how can you fix your seal?" Naruto then finished the tea in his table and escorted the three out of their apartment. Evangeline looked like she needed to contemplate on what the blonde said to her.
Before they could leave, the vampire looked back at the blonde that was waving at her and said, "You may be a moron, but you're a pretty deep person once you settle down. My apprentice and I are going to have some training tomorrow. We'll discuss some of the sealing techniques of this world there. Maybe train your own apprentice some more."
With that, Evangeline left as Chachamaru followed while holding a doll in her hands that sounded disappointed at something. "Aww… There's no blood."
The blonde couldn't help but shiver at the statement before going back inside. His apprentice glaring at him for a second as he said, "Is it alright that you mention something about the jinchuuriki here? Didn't you say that the least you could do right now is to not let the existence of the bijuu be known to anyone on this world?"
Naruto then looked out to the window as he said, "I know. But if I had to keep a secret with someone here, I can trust Eva-chan to let it remain a secret."
Konohamaru shrugged at this and went back to his room.
Whatever. It didn't seem like a big deal here anyway.
The next day:
"So this little thing will be our training ground for a sum of three days, huh?" A voice mentioned as it then added, "I think you may have gone on the deep end with what I said last night, Eva-chan."
"Shut up, you! The only reason why I invited you to come along was because of your expertise in seals!" Another voice shouted.
"This Villa was created by master many years ago. It has a different time perception. Whereas one day will pass there, it would only be an hour outside." The other mentioned her voice in monotone.
"We'll be using this as a training session and a discussion about what to do with Eva's seal? This is pretty good." Said another one and looking closely to the crystal ball with a gigantic structure in the middle.
"What, you two never had any of your hyperbolic time chambers in your world?"
"Well, we never had any of those back home. Though we did have different kinds of training, I'm sure you wouldn't want the Maito Gai treatment."
"What is the Maito Gai treatment nii-san?" Another voice mentioned as the first one shouted.
"All of you aspiring to excel in life come and join me as we aim high for our goals and train! Let us celebrate with the wondrous springtime of y-"
"Finish that sentence and I'll tell Sakura just who it is that kept publishing Jiraiya-sama's books despite that particular news."
"Killjoy."
"As much as I would like sitting here and doing nothing, let's get into the resort people! We don't have all day!"
"All right, all right, geez. Has it ever occurred to you that you need to stop and smell the flowers once in a while?"
"Yes but I'm a no non-sense person, unlike you."
And with that, a white light surrounded the dark room as not a whisper was heard.
The first thing that they saw when they entered was a large spire, roughly about the size of the World Tree or something close to that. Everything was white and evenly flat. A bridge with no rails was their only route that led to the large, ivory spire.
Once they were at the other side, Naruto, Negi and Konohamaru marvelled at the large structure as they looked around. The feeling that came from this place was both calming and regal. A few more minutes of admiration, and Eva had ended their sightseeing with a small cough.
"Now that I've got your attention, I'd like to proceed with the training at hand." To this, Evangeline grabbed a small piece of paper and showed a small pie chart that listed Negi's training for the day.
"So, bouya, have you decided on what type of mage you'll be?"
Negi shook his head, the vampire grinned wickedly at this as she said, "No matter, I have the perfect solution to this dilemma."
With that, the vampire instructed Chachazero to walk over to Negi's side and have Naruto go to theirs much to the begrudging knowledge of the vampire; she knew putting Naruto on the other side would just mean less of a struggle on their part.
Konohamaru instantly scowled at this as he said, "This is going to be a team battle isn't it?"
"That's right and I have two ways on how to do it." This time, Evangeline turned to Negi and instructed him, "Bouya, I want you to go to the back of those two. This is one of the styles that I was talking about. These two will act as guards and interceptors, as mine will as well."
Seemingly getting the idea to where this was going, the red haired mage went back and held his staff with both his hands. To his front, he could see the backs of Konohamaru and Chachazero that were facing against Naruto, Chachamaru and Evangeline.
This was the wizard style.
"Ready or not, Bouya, here I come!" Evangeline shouted as she raised her right hand, palm opening towards the skies above her as Chachamaru and Naruto dashing forward and then arching to the side once Konohamaru performed a simple Doryuuheki.
In that moment of set back, a barrage of seventeen arrows of ice came and shattered the slab of earth erected on the ground.
All of the said barrage's worth of arrows then immediately went after Negi as the brunette cursed his luck and crouched down, performing Shunshin no jutsu before being hit with the spell. The resulting action was a near hit coming from Eva to Negi and the red head retaliating with his Thunder Tempest spell while being carried by Konohamaru. Evangeline simply grinned at this as she managed to escape his line of attack. The small puppet was already on the offensive but was immediately stopped when Evangeline pushed her away with a simple spell. The doll recovered and was back on to Negi's side of the field. Konohamaru was in the middle and Chachazero up front while Negi was way back.
It was then that Konohamaru noticed that Chachamaru and Naruto were already on a pincer move while Negi was already casting a spell and aimed it towards Naruto.
"SHIT! Negi, whatever you do, don't go after Naruto-nii! He's especially dangerous when he reacts because his technique…"
Too late, Negi had delivered another magical barrage at the blonde who simply performed his minor Hiraishin appearing closely to Negi and delivering a clothesline straight to his chest while Konohamaru continued in a more mellowed out tone, "… Is essentially teleportation."
Negi was sent flying and tumbling on the ground as Naruto remained standing up with Evangeline shouting, "Six seconds, brat, you only lasted, six seconds! Get up! This time, I expect you to last at least a minute!"
Negi stood up and looked very determined. His eyes were burning with grit and strength as he held his staff like a base for support.
"Yes, I'll do everything I can!"
The two teachers smiled at this, well, the vampire gave that smirk while the other one grinned with his hands at the back of his head.
"Care for upping up the ante, Uzumaki?"
To this the blonde's grin turned from pleased to mischievous, "I thought you'd never ask."
Konohamaru and Negi each had a gulp of their own, obviously growing nervous as to what was about to happen.
Later that day:
It was a surprise that Naruto-sensei was late today, or in this case, extremely late, two hours late to be exact! The blonde teacher was wearing that sheepish smile today as he scratched his head out of embarrassment.
"Sorry, I'm late class, but there was this black cat crossing my path so I had to take a long route before I got here."
The girls had huge beads of sweat at the back of their heads as they taught it was the lamest excuse they had ever heard. One would think that someone of Naruto's calibre would be giving a simple excuse as having a terrible stomach ache, but this?
As if that oddball behaviour wasn't enough, Negi had walked in all wobbly and looked like his legs were about to give, he was pale and continuously slurred and accidentally banged his head on the chalkboard throughout the entire lesson.
Then there was Konohamaru-sensei who was as stiff as a board. Well, not really, it was more like his body was impossible to move. Everything that Konohamaru did just even raising his hand was painful.
"Okochi…" Konohamaru started as the swimmer looked at their PE teacher with a curious look.
"Please lend me a hand and put this whistle in my mouth. My hands are kind of in pain right now."
Once the day was almost over, most of the girls from 3-A were discussing just what it was that made their teachers weird that day. By then, many of those who knew of Negi's tutelage under Evangeline already knew what was happening and all agreed to meet up to where Evangeline used to live.
Instead of waiting for the mage, they all decided to explore the house and look for their teachers.
Thy looked around, finally one of them had managed to find something akin to a storehouse where countless marionettes with stilled, emotions were present; their dull eyes were open, staring at them in complete apathy. Asuna's spine unknowingly shivered.
This place was giving her the creeps, not only that but most of her companions just upped and vanished like that.
When she got close to the giant snow globe, a white light suddenly enveloped her before vanishing, just like the others did earlier.
A few seconds later, Asuna materialized right on a rather small pillar compared to what she was seeing right in front of her. Yue was with her as she waited, Asuna looked at the girl that was holding her knees. She noticed that Yue was breathing harder than usual today as she stared at the bridge with no rails.
"How come this has to be a bridge with no rails?" Asuna asked to no one in particular as she stared at Yue who was trying to walk steadfastly, aside from the shaking legs that was trying to take her over.
Once they did make it to the other side much to her relief, they saw the remaining girls leaning against the wall, listening intently.
"What are you doing?" Asuna asked with a raised eyebrow, Konoka motioned for her to keep quiet and phantom mimed with her index finger leaning on her lips.
"He he, it's alright, just a little more." The voice mentioned. Asuna stopped dead in her tracks and leaned in closer to the wall immediately.
"You're already at the limit, rest and you'll recover, you're young after all."
"Eva-chan, I don't mean to intrude and all, but that seems terribly euphemistic. And that's coming from me."
The voice growled at this as it then said, "Come on, hurry up and let it out! I'm getting impatient here!"
A grunt and a moan later, many of them were already blushing.
"You know what's even worse, here? It's the fact that Negi moaned."
"Ow, damn it, Eva-chan! You have to be so rough with that hand of yours, I mean- HNGGH! OW!"
To this, Asuna just had to barge in and saw Evangeline biting Negi's arm with Naruto on the ground doubling over in pain as he held his stomach.
"What do you people want?" Evangeline asked in a manner that was unwelcoming.
Asuna resisted the urge to slap her own forehead with her palm for being so suspicious of the child teacher and his two friends.
Explaining some of the stuff that was currently happening in the villa, Naruto proceeded outside and saw his own apprentice reading some of his scrolls.
"Don't you two ever get tired of training?"
"If we did then we wouldn't come out this strong." Naruto mentioned with a grin. A feeling of exhilaration was racing through the girls once more as Naruto shouted to Konohamaru.
"Oi, Konohamaru, break's over, we're going for a full on match this time!" Naruto shouted, everyone looked out and saw Naruto and Konohamaru standing before each other. Naruto was wearing a smile while Konohamaru frowned.
"All out battle this time, if you feel the need to use the higher level techs; then go ahead. Remember Konohamaru, from this point on, you should come at me with the intent to kill." Naruto mentioned, to this many of the girls paled at the sound of this.
"Sarutobi is being tested if he could ascend in his rank." Evangeline mentioned this as the girls all looked at her; Asuna was the one to protest this time, "What are you saying? Both of them could seriously die here! With the intent to kill? On a spar?"
"Kagurazaka." The girl was silenced when Eva mentioned her name as she said, "Don't blink."
And with that, she turned her head towards the soon to be battle, as Konohamaru and Naruto charged at each other with fists drawn out.
Konohamaru was the first to act, delivering a straight punch to Naruto, the blonde avoided the attack by slipping to the right very quickly. The brunette's back was fully exposed to Naruto as the blonde was about to deliver a swift chop. Konohamaru thought this through and rolled away from the chop. While he was rolling, the brunette used a series of handseals as he ended it in the seal of the tiger.
Gaining his footing, Konohamaru faced Naruto with one knee on the ground and shouted, "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Mythical Fire Flower Technique)"
The fireballs flew like bullets as Konohamaru fired in rapid succession, like a vicious machine gun. The blonde evaded each and every one of it as Konohamaru quickly grabbed a kunai from his pocket and threw it at the blonde. Naruto then flicked his right hand and a kunai of his own appeared from his sleeve, blocking the said object with his own blade. A loud clang and a spark of flame later, Naruto heard a sudden fizzling sound, like how a match was just lit. The smell of burning paper and sulphur invaded his nose and turned back towards the kunai that he parried. It was armed with an explosive.
It was all so slow for him in that moment, as the kunai was twirling in mid air in that instant before it gave off a flash of light.
BOOM!
"Naruto!" Asuna suddenly shouted as she paled. That type of attack was enough to kill anyone! What the hell was Konohamaru-sensei thinking?
But a loud clash of metals later, Naruto was once more facing Konohamaru with a kunai of his own. The blonde was grinning from ear to ear as he held Konohamaru by the arm and pulled the brunette towards him.
With a powerful tug, Konohamaru staggered forward before being met with Naruto's fist straight to his face. But Konohamaru wouldn't let that happen as he surrounded himself with earth chakra as it began to turn his skin to pitch black. Naruto stopped his onslaught and saw Konohamaru suddenly turned dark and let go while the said Brunette swung his free hand towards the blonde who dodged and jumped back as the floor shook below him with a mighty show of force. He would have destroyed it too if it weren't for the fact that it was made of magic. Naruto grinned at this gesture while he clasped his hand together for a middle index cross seal.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!" Naruto's favourite technique took effect as four clones popped into existence. With a simple flick of the original's hand they all broke out with Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique).
They scattered all around as streaks of orange while Konohamaru braced himself.
"This is almost the same as last time…" Asuna mentioned as the rest nodded.
"Not quite." Mentioned Eva, as she looked around the orange streaks; she could tell the blonde was setting up for something.
She counted them very well, there were supposed to be five of them. The four clones plus the original, so where is the last one?
Konohamaru carefully looked around; he saw Naruto suddenly appear beneath him, his leg was outstretched upwards and aimed at his chin…
Crap!
To both his side, two more clones had appeared and kicked Konohamaru upwards, borrowing from a rather crude method of the Konoha Shoufu, the Leaf Rising Wind.
Konohamaru was sent hurtling upwards and although it reduced a good amount of pain from the blow, it was still far, far too strong that sent him flying. He looked up and saw the blonde had suddenly created an additional clone! This time, two of them were beginning to pump chakra to both the originals hands, forming an orb that contained so much power in it. He was suddenly alerted that he had to react, but not before seeing the two clones earlier that had jumped to his side, holding him in place before he can counter.
The blonde knew this technique was deadly, he knew just how fatal this technique was. Hell, the first time he used this, he had almost killed someone, so he knew that if wanted to use this technique, he was going to power this down.
A level two Rasengan would be enough.
As Konohamaru plummeted like a rock to the floor below, Naruto had then used his clones as platforms to get above him.
Konohamaru felt Naruto driving one of those things against him, and although it was weakened it was still painful as a shit! Delivering it twice made Konohamaru wince in pain as they crashed on the ground, it was absolutely agonizing!
Naruto then jumped back as Konohamaru recovered. The Domu technique was already receding. His skin was returning to normal the moment he lost concentration, that and the damage it took meant he had to renew the technique.
He got up and bit his thumb.
"What the hell was that?" Asuna asked, as she looked absolutely amazed at Naruto's technique.
"It's a barely completed version of the Rasengan (Spiralling Sphere), a technique that uses the full shape manipulation of chakra." Naruto said this without even looking at the girl as he prepared himself for what was to come.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)"
The brunette slammed his blood laden hand on the ground and the runic spells of the summoning technique appeared once more. A plume of smoke twice the size of the brunette suddenly emerged with a loud pop. It was then that the monkey king made his appearance once more.
Konohamaru spoke to Enma, "Enma-sama, please lend me your power!"
The monkey king wordlessly nodded and jumped up front and with a single hand seal, the monkey king transformed into non-other than the Adamantine staff.
Naruto then watched as Konohamaru started pending off some of his clones with the said staff, deflecting them by twirling the said weapon around. Kuu Fei who was watching the whole scene couldn't help but be impressed with the brunette's skill in wielding such a staff, not only that, the said staff could stretch its length and width! Could it be? No, it was impossible, legendary staff that was said to change size was within her sights! She had bore witness to the mythical weapon said to have been used by Sun Wu Kong!
"The Jingu Staff!" She shouted, in awe at the presence of the said weapon.
"The what staff?"
"The Jingu staff-aru, the legendary weapon wielded by Sun Wu Kong, the monkey king… I never knew Konohamaru-sensei held that weapon in his possession! Many skilled martial artists could only dream of possessing such-aru!" She elaborated with stars on her eyes, watching Konohamaru fend off Naruto and his clones.
As the brunette backed closer and closer to the edge, Konohamaru knew the position he was in. Once he was on the edge, he frowned and then looked back to Naruto who was walking towards him; his clones were reduced to four this time. One of the clones had met its end when Konohamaru swung the staff when the clone's back was turned.
"Konohamaru, I gave you the chance to go all out this time, to find out just how much you've improved. Don't try to waste my time with these things, I told you to come with the intent to kill, yet you've been on the defensive since you summoned Enma. Not even once you tried to go the original, only using defence tactics. Because of it, you're having a hard time just maintaining your ground."
Konohamaru's scowl remained at this as he looked back at the blonde. His feet were now at the very edge of the spire. With Enma still in hand, Konohamaru did the only thing he could do, try to run away and use sneak attacks to finish off either the original or the clones and reduce Naruto's fighting ability.
With that in mind, the brunette jumped.
And he fell, straight down.
Everyone except Naruto all grew horrified at what happened at first, until Naruto and his clones jumped as well.
They all ran over to the edge only to find Naruto and Konohamaru were scaling the walls and chasing each other around the spire wall.
"How do they do that?" Asuna asked, seemingly impressed at this. Watching the two in such unbelievable speed feats while remaining on the vertically inclined surface would do that to anyone.
Everyone remained silent as they watched the two of them fight like warriors meant to kill each other.
"But master, with the 'intent to kill'? That's a little overboard, don't you think?" Negi pleaded to Eva who remained quiet as she said to Negi, never meeting his gaze and watching the fight intently said this to the red head.
"Students who do not show their killing intent in a fight against their masters are arrogant, Bouya, they should know that holding back isn't in the options given to the apprentice for if they did, they would accidentally die. Masters can be wise, but they aren't perfect, one wrong move against them made by the student would guarantee death for the student that doesn't show their all. Remember this well, Bouya, if the master says to fight with the intent to kill, then obey, for he shall come to you like a hungry lion." Eva mentioned this as Konohamaru ran desperately, trying to come up with a solution against the oncoming clones. The brunette jumped over the flight of stairs and used his Kongo Nyoi to help him before latching his feet on to the wall once again. He threw the staff straight upwards, hitting one of the clones square in the face and dispelling it quickly while the staff suddenly had an arm and choking another clone with its large hands before crushing it, thus the plume of smoke.
The staff turned to Enma and landed on the wall before kicking again and back flipping back towards the brunette who had by then finished sequencing his seals and ending it with Tiger.
The remaining two clones took the offensive and charged at Konohamaru straight on. The brunette had opened his eyes and inhaled deeply.
This was the technique listed in his grandfather's scrolls; it was his strongest Katon Jutsu, capable of incinerating and liquefying metal itself.
"Katon: Karyu Endan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Napalm)!" Konohamaru shouted this as he began to breathe out the jet stream of flames from his mouth with the very tip the image of a dragon's head. The flame had made its way towards the clones that were completely incinerated before dispersing by the staircase. The wild hot flames danced as the two clones were gone.
The original then had the memories of his clones come back to him. His grin escaping his lips at Konohamaru's skill, the boy was improving very fast.
It was then that amidst the dancing, high temperature flames, Konohamaru had appeared, a fully Rasengan in hand with the flames dancing along its wake.
Naruto then formed a Rasengan of his own, this time in its third stage. The sound of grinding can be heard as both fighters stared at each other down while the flames danced around them; flickers of ember and smoke were present around them as the people from the top spire watched.
"Wow, this is intense…" Konoka watched as the two charged at each other, with orb in hand.
Eva scowled.
"I've already foreseen this ending, the apprentice will lose."
Everyone turned to look at Evangeline and then back down, their breaths holding in anticipation.
"RASENGAN!" Both of them followed through, as jutsu met with jutsu, clashing against each other in a proverbial firestorm, the dancing of the flames grew even wilder, as the force of the techniques caused a tumultuous shockwave of power where one is trying conquer the other. Just as the flames were dancing the two remained in their unbending wills and their sheer stubbornness to win. Konohamaru's eyes showed forth something Naruto hadn't seen in a while.
Determination.
"Don't falter." Konohamaru mumbled as he pushed forward
"Don't hesitate." He said once more.
"Don't give up!" He shouted as he continued to push his way, trying so hard to do so. Just as when Konohamaru had budged Naruto's arm slightly, just as he had reached that peak, the Rasengan that Konohamaru had made, quickly dispersed. With that surprise, the brunette's eyes widened, as quick as how his jutsu had dispersed.
Naruto's hand, with Rasengan still in hand, dispersed a fraction of a second later, and with his palm, turned into a closed fist and finally hitting Konohamaru square in the jaw.
The brunette flinched as his cheek was felt the full brunt of the impact before plummeting straight to the water below.
He had lost.
"You're still not there, stupid apprentice."
Outside of Mahora:
The rain was quick to appear, pelting the ground fast. Its effect changed the sunny disposition of the beautiful academy to dark and gray, like pastel with dew drops around. The dark clouds, clad in thunder, shook the heavens as a stray dog managed to wind up inside the academy, unconscious and unresponsive. Two students had managed to find the stray dog in its midst. Worried for the said creature, the two students took it home, intent on putting it back to good health.
To another side of the academy, another student came upon something much different. It was a piece of paper, drawn with multiple characters in Kanji and driven in two co-centric circles. A girl with blue hair, with an old form of the school uniform happened to pick it up amidst the rain, at its middle circle; she noticed the numerical character of 'Ichi' or one placed on it. She noticed that the writings and symbols in the piece of paper were very similar or familiar to what her friend usually does in his spare time. Intrigued by this, she peeled off the paper from the ground and tried to show it to the blonde.
"I wonder how one of Naruto-sensei's seals got here… He should be living on the other side of the campus, if I remember."
With that, the ghost girl flew towards Naruto's house, intent on showing him her discovery.
Back in the Villa:
Once Konohamaru was salvaged and was sleeping inside the cottage, Naruto turned towards Evangeline and watched as the girls trained after she gave some instructions while Negi was reading a book.
"Alright, time to start something on your seal, be warned, Eva-chan, the best that I can give is a temporary freedom."
"Any freedom is worth it."
"Any freedom with responsibility, that is." Naruto corrected.
"This coming from the guy who successfully managed to get a child drunk." Eva rolled her eyes as Naruto retorted.
"Keep in mind that I hold the key to your freedom, Eva-chan, and although it got me uneasy, a part of me simply wants to see this through."
"And why is that?" Eva asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's because I feel I need to know more about you."
To this the vampire blushed a little as Naruto grinned, what? She didn't expect that one to come out of his mouth!
Naruto hoped though, that he was making the right choice. They still have three days though, but to Naruto, a temporary solution would be enough for now. He after all, had the power of Kage Bunshin on his side!
To be continued…