Naruto knew that he has gone through a lot the last day or so. First, he gets mistaken for one of the greatest hunters to have ever lived, Yellow Flash, so he gets recruited to join a pirate crew… Sure, that he could handle, no problem. Though it was when he was attacked by those beasts that he started to hate it. He had been slashed at, tossed around when the ship had crashed landed; his body almost destroyed itself from that Crimson Energy…
Again, he could deal with that… Hinata had managed to save him from himself… Literally…
Shaking his head, the young man growled as he remembered what the shadow man had told him. About how the Crimson Energy could easily destroy him… Though because of that, his body had changed in some way and now he was no longer a normal human man. Though that wasn't the end of it no… far from it. His body had been proven to be going through some changes that he hadn't been able to fully comprehend. Sure, as a child, he could get over the fact that he could sense things that no one else really could understand… now though, he had strength that strongmen in circuses would dream to have. A weird sense of smell that animals would never be able to have and some kind of immunity to toxins that isn't so possible.
That was one of the things that had him worried about… worried that everyone would think of him as nothing but a monster, that had him scared, scared to be seen as an outcast. A monster… that was something that he never wanted but he knew that he couldn't stop the changes… Though Naruto also wasn't sure what was worse, this transformation or puberty.
Though what really pissed him off though? No, it wasn't about the strength, the transformation, Sai's creepy smile, Kakashi's weird and creepy calm personality… or the fact that they had to go up a water fall, or having Hinata and him to use all of their energy just to freeze the water fall and his wind energy to create platforms for them to jump on just for them to get to the damn shrine.
"I'm going to kill Sasuke! How the hell can he just ditch us?! We're trying to save someone and he just ups and leaves us to fend for ourselves!" shouted Naruto, slamming his fist into the stone wall that created a small path for him and Hinata to walk through. As soon as his fist made contact with the stone, it created a crater that went all the way up to his elbow.
"Naruto, we'll be fine." Said a tired Hinata, giving him her radiant smile only for him to growl a little more. Seeing how tired Hinata was made Naruto even more irritated, for all of the time for Sasuke to ditch it had to be when Hinata was worn out from freezing a waterfall! Breathing deeply, Hinata placed a hand on his shoulder as she gazed at Naruto, seeing her smile made him relax a little though it wasn't enough… He was still angry and wanted to stop this from happening. Taking a deep breath, the young man sighed softly as he turned away from Hinata. "Naruto, there is nothing we can do about it… let's just go and stop Sakura and Ino before it's too late."
Yeah, he started to feel a little better. They had to be careful; they had to stop the ritual before it killed Ino. The way Choji looked at the thought of losing Ino made Naruto feel for him. If he was in his situation, it made him know that he would have done whatever was in his disposal for him to save the woman he loved. Turning to Hinata for a moment, Naruto blushed softly before looking away and started to walk down the path with Hinata.
It was going to be one hell of a day that was for sure though… now that he thought about it the scent of death was close. Whatever was the source of this terrible scent was near and it had to be here for something. Maybe it sensed Sakura and Ino, he didn't know nor, did he care. All he wanted was to get those two girls out of here before the beast attacked. At least, that was assuming that it was a beast.
Narrowing his eyes, Naruto moved aside some tree branches that covered the end of the pathway and blinked at the area. It was a large area that was for sure. There weren't many trees here, though maybe that was because it had been cleared out for the shrine. Looking further ahead, there was old stone steps covered in moss and had some roots coming up along the edges. It was rather odd for a shrine to look like this, he was sure that it would have been better taken care of. Looking further up the stairs, there was a giant stone statue of a head. The face looked a little demonic, a crown that resembled spikes, though a few of the spikes were broken.
Surrounding the stone platform that rested the giant stone head, were claw-like structures that had chains criss-crossed around the tips. To be honest, this place looked more like an altar than a shrine but he wasn't going to complain about it. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto saw Ino sitting on her knees, hands held together, her head bowed and her eyes closed. It almost looked like she was praying to her so called 'god' that would never come… but something would, and take her life. Just as he was about to rush forward, an arrow landed, embedding itself in the ground by Naruto's feet.
"Leave monster. This is a sacred ritual and it does not concern you outsiders." Growled out Sakura as she glared at Naruto. So, she was still going to claim him as a monster? Fine, but he wasn't going to just stand around and watch as innocent women get killed for something that wouldn't even help anyone. Sakura truly believed in the Star God, as did everyone else but even he could see her doubt. It was easy to read in her aura, she was scared, and doubted that this would solve anything.
"Sakura… you can call me a monster all you want but I don't give a shit. This won't stop the Dark Fruit, in fact, it'll just keep happening until you're all wiped out. Whatever is causing the fruit to increase in power has to be caused by something and it won't stop. Killing Ino will do you nothing." Growled Naruto, his eyes narrowed into slits as his eyes flashed red for a brief moment as he added "now tell me this Ino… who is the real monster? A man that you don't know that you have yet, to see hurt someone… or someone who will kill your best friend just to save a village when it will do nothing."
Sakura's green eyes just glared at Naruto for a moment. As if she was trying to prove that what he said was false… that he was the real monster but no matter she couldn't prove it. It just seemed that no matter what his words had finally clicked in her head.
Suddenly, the ground started to shake, causing everyone to look around. Naruto could smell it; the scent of death was getting stronger and stronger. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto looked up at Ino; he saw the fear in her pale eyes and knew that he had to save her before it was too late. Rushing forward, Naruto shouted "hold on Ino, I'm gonna save you and get you back to Choji no matter what!" Though before Naruto could reach her, the ground shook more, causing Naruto to yelp and fall over. No!
Turning around, Naruto just stared in horror…
Marching into the area was a giant spider that looks like it's made out of slime. Its six legs were long, yet thin, almost looked like that it couldn't support its own weight yet it was strong enough to do just that. Its head looked like it was stitched together, six glowing red eyes shined with its desire to kill, and two of its eyes were closer to the front on the left side while the other two were further to the right, when its head had bowed low enough Naruto could make out the other two eyes. One resided right above its head, while the one next to it resided in the ripped and town skin.
What he also couldn't help to notice was the weird webbing that resided on the back of its legs, high above its body. To be honest, Naruto had never seen anything more disgusting…
The beast let out a loud roar, its mouth flapping out in four flaps. It was rather weird that it would look like this, though at the moment, Naruto couldn't really give a damn. The beast had to go down though… he couldn't help but cover his mouth and nose so he wouldn't inhale that terrible scent. It was disgusting… "Naruto, this is the source. This beast is the scent that we've smelt since we got here." said the shadow man with a hint of a growl lacing his words. Hm… if that was the case, why hasn't anyone stopped this thing unless… "That's right; the skin is coated in toxin like the Dark Fruit. I believe that this is the source of the beast. We'll have to be careful… the body is made of slime so you won't be able to attack it unless you and Hinata combine your energy again." declared the man.
Nodding to himself, Naruto narrowed his eyes as he turned to Hinata as he said "we'll have to be careful Hinata. This beast is bad news; I know you're still tired from using your energy earlier with the waterfall but we'll have to freeze it…" Giving Hinata a soft and gentle smile, he calmly said "just hold onto me and we'll use my gun to freeze this beast and take it down once and for all." Hinata stared at Naruto for a brief moment only to nod and smile at him.
Turning back, Naruto grabbed his gun and tightly held onto the handle of his gun and got ready to pull the trigger. Hinata grabbed a hold of Naruto's shoulder, channelling her energy through Naruto's body and into his gun. The familiar cold energy washed over Naruto like a wave of cold water. It was enough for him to smile, though would it be enough for him to take down this beast? He didn't know, and at the moment he didn't really care. All he knew was that he had to slow down this beast, or in this case freeze it in its tracks so it couldn't get away and hurt anyone.
The beast snarled at Naruto and swung one of its legs at him, causing Naruto to yelp in shock and shove Hinata as quickly as he could and narrow his eyes. "Fucker!" shouted the blonde haired man as he pointed his gun at the beast and shot. The bullet wasn't complete sadly, and only froze part of the beast's body. Though for now, it would have to do for the beast couldn't move. "Let's go Hinata!" shouted Naruto as they rushed forward, slashing at the beast. Naruto used his sword, while Hinata used her twin daggers to attack the beast.
To be honest, he had thought that Sakura would have joined in on the fight so that they could take down the beast and so he could talk some sense into the pink haired woman. Though he figured that she didn't join in because she was too afraid to do anything other than just stand there and watch the battle unfold itself and wait for her choice then.
"Be careful Naruto… this beast is full of tricks…" said the shadow man.
"I know, don't worry… I'll have to beat it though it'll be tough since it's just me and Hinata fighting this thing. Damn it, where is Sasuke when you need him?!" growled Naruto as he kept on hacking away at the beast. Down side, to this though, was that because of the ice holding the beast still, and with them hacking away, it's breaking the ice in the progress, causing the beast to slowly start to break free of its bindings.
"Just keep doing that Naruto, Hinata made sure that your gun would produce ice bullets… though it will be hard since the bullets aren't complete."
Narrowing his eyes, Naruto knew that this was going to be difficult. If the bullets were complete, maybe they could just shatter the beast in a strong enough blast, but he couldn't be sure of that. It would only make it harder for him though he also knew that he couldn't use his attack… at least not like he did with the salamander. This thing was like hitting water; his sword would only go through it and causes no damage to it.
Damn it, this thing didn't want to go down easy… though he would have to make sure that he kept on firing at the stupid thing when the ice finally broke free.
Growling, Naruto saw that the ice was already starting to break… damn it, he had to shoot it again! Quickly, he pulled out his gun and shot at the beast, not wanting it to attack anyone, not when its body can easily poison them and kill them within moments. Okay, by them he means the girls but he had to pretend that he could die as easily as them. Being immune to this would have scared the hell out of them then he really would be seen as a monster.
"Hinata, as soon as I shoot, go for the head!" shouted Naruto as he shot the bullet, causing Hinata to rush forward. Dodging the beast's arms as it tried to slam into her. Though before it could even get inches from the blue haired woman, the beast froze and Hinata just jumped up and threw one of her daggers at the beast's head. Naruto smirked, in a way, he found that to be awesome and… well, kinda hot.
Blushing darkly at his thoughts, Naruto shook his head, knowing that he would have to control himself. "Just admit it Naruto, you love her. Not just because she has a beautiful voice, soul and body but because she can also handle herself just fine." said the shadow man, causing Naruto to blush even more.
"There is a time and place for many things and that isn't right for the battle right now damn it!" growled Naruto before he rushed forward and swung his sword at the beast, not wanting to listen to the shadow man, honestly he still needed a name for that guy, he couldn't keep calling him shadow man. Shaking his head, Naruto jumped back when a chunk of ice fell off the beast, showing its glowing eyes as it glared at him. This beast really did smell terrible; he almost wanted to puke though he couldn't do that… not now anyway. That distraction may get him killed.
The beast let out a loud roar as it glared at Naruto and threw its unfrozen leg at Naruto; he acted quickly and blocked it with his sword, not causing any kind of contact to him before he was thrown away by the sheer force. Rolling around on the hard ground, Naruto rolled over onto his feet as he narrowed is blue eyes at the beast. Damn it all, this thing didn't know when to quit did it?!
Shaking his head, Naruto pushed himself back up onto his feet, only to freeze in place himself. The beast turned its sights on Hinata, the girl had been tossed aside in a way, maybe she had tried to move away from the beast when the ice had crumbled away. She was laying on the ground, possible that Hinata had slipped and was trying to get back up though that wasn't what scared Naruto… no, it was the beast opened its mouth and started to launch a bunch of Dark Fruit at the blue haired woman.
Time seemed to have slowed down as he stared at the Dark Fruit heading toward Hinata. He couldn't let her die, but if he went in to save her… he would be exposed. The only thing he had time to do was throw Hinata out of the way that was all he could do even with his speed.
The thought of losing Hinata just to save himself ran through his mind. Sure, he would be safe from being called a freak, a monster if you will. But at what cost? To let Hinata die just so he would be safe himself from being exposed? Could he even do that? If he did wouldn't he be just like all of the greedy people in the world who were the true monsters? If he did that, then he really would be the monster that Sakura claimed him to be, and he would never allow that to happen. No… he didn't care what anyone would think of him… all he cared about was to save her, to save Hinata…
"Hinata!" shouted Naruto.
"Stop it you idiot you'll die!" shouted Sakura.
"I won't die!" shouted Naruto, his voice laced with anger and the desire to protect Hinata. He rushed forward as fast as he could, his long blonde hair whipping behind him though what he had failed to notice, was that the red strands at the end of his ponytail had started to trail up an inch, becoming more noticeable to those who didn't need to look close to see.
"Hinata!" shouted Naruto, he reached out and wrapped his hand around Hinata, twisting his body and threw the blue haired woman away from the Dark Fruit. Once she was far enough, Naruto looked over and stared in horror as the fruit hit him, exploding in a burst of purple smoke.
"Naruto!" shouted Hinata.
"I can't believe… he sacrificed himself…" said Sakura in shock.
"Don't count me out yet!" shouted Naruto's voice, causing both women to stare at him in shock. The purple smoke started to clear, and standing within it, was Naruto. His eyes narrowed into slits, a gust of wind blowing around him to clear the smoke and cause it to go upward so it wouldn't move to Hinata, Sakura or Ino. The girls stared at him in shock, not sure how he could still be standing right now… "Come on Hinata, let's take this fucker down once and for all." Growled Naruto as he pointed his gun at the beast and smirked. The beast just growled at him, as if it was angry yet at the same time surprised that Naruto was still alive.
"Awe, what's the matter? Mad that I'm immune to your Dark Fruit? I knew it… there was something creating the Dark Fruit… If I destroy you… everyone will be saved…" Turning to Hinata, he saw the fear in her eyes that caused him to wince deep in his mind, though right now… he had to remain serious and ignore his own emotional pain. "Hinata… let's take this thing down once and for all…"
"Yes…" Hinata said her eyes serious… and filled with questions. Questions that he knew that he would have to answer… later anyway.