A/N: This is my second story, as some of you may already know English isn't my native language so don't hesitate to point out grammar or spelling mistakes to me, I am always eager to learn and improve my English skills.
I know it's been a while since I last updated my story, I'm quite sorry about this. I won't bore you with the details of my personal life and how it affects my writing so let's move on with the story.
Previous chapter introduced Tayuya's forced entry into Naruto's group with the appearance of Guren and her discovery of the red head's betrayal. Some of you were surprised at how easily Naruto was outdone by Guren, letting Tayuya take the hit for him. Let's hope this chapter pleases you then …
There were some questions and demands for more flashbacks as well, to describe more of Naruto's past. I feared the readers would be bored with too much of those so I only limited it to the part that explains his current jinchuriki status. I'll take these demands into consideration if this is really what you want but keep in mind that it slows down the pace of the story.
It would seem my decision to 'censor' myself and take out the lime I wrote for Kaze no Kami was a good decision. Some said it would pass and that the risk was reduced but a story I had been reading for quite some time now has just been axed by the admins, it had something like 2K reviews. Such a waste …
Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Umi no Haoshoku.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any other manga I may inspire myself from, for that matter.
Chapter 14 : The Enemy of my Enemy
Wave Country – Tazuna's hometown
Tazuna watched with regret the destroyed bridge that used to connect his hometown to Fire country. They had paid a heavy tribute for its construction after his son in law Kaiza was murdered upon its completion by Gato, the local Yakuza Lord. The village had then faced dark times before its citizens found the courage to step up against the villain's oppression and got rid of him with some help from the mysterious Kuro no Kitsune.
"Are you alright, Tazuna-san ?" A familiar voice disturbed Tazuna in his thoughts.
"I'm fine, Sarutobi-sama. Once again I'd like to thank you for your help." The bridge builder replied as he bowed down before Sarutobi Hiruzen. The former Sandaime Hokage of Konoha chuckled at the gesture.
"Please, just call me Hiruzen. You don't have to thank me either, your village is an important partner of ours after all. This was perfectly normal for us to protect our economic assets by defending your land against those invaders." The veteran replied.
"Nevertheless, I have to say I'm impressed by your skills. We're both old men but you can still wipe the floor with those young men." Tazuna said with a sigh while he saw the multiple bodies laying on the floor or in the water before them.
"I was born, raised and lived like a warrior all my life, that's all. It's a shame we had to destroy that bridge though, I had hoped it wouldn't come to that but I guess I was wrong, damn them." Hiruzen said, cursing Danzo for his recklessness.
"Don't worry about that, better lose the bridge than our village or lives. It's true that in the first years after its completion, our connection to the continent greatly improved our economic status. Ever since we overthrew Gato with your help, our economy relied more on the trades we do with you and all the merchants from the sea than on the income the bridge used to bring. That's why it's not such a big deal, the bridge only held a sentimental value to some of us but we'll be fine even without it." Tazuna assured him.
After that both men made their way back toward the village, each of them had important things to do. Tazuna for his part had to set up a meeting with all the villagers and inform them on how they would survive from now on without the bridge. Hiruzen needed to report back to Naruto about the battle they just went through, for behind them laid the bodies of fifty dead ROOT operatives, sent by Danzo to raze another trading post that did business with Naruto to the ground.
Frost Country
Naruto and the girls were traveling with moderate speed toward their next destination, Lightning Country. They were currently crossing through Frost Country, a land covered in snow and whose temperature was always freezing cold. As a consequence, not many people could survive in those desolate parts of the Elemental Nations. There was however one huge village in the center of the territory, Shimogakure.
It was still far away from their current position though, since their pace was greatly slowed down by the extra package they had picked up in Hot Spring Country. Tayuya was currently in Naruto's arms, still asleep and recovering from the injury Guren gave her. Miya and the other girls had offered to switch with him and carry her but Naruto declined, saying that he had the highest stamina pool and also that Tayuya was his responsibility.
"Responsibility … I failed again, I just let my concentration slip for a second and the enemy took advantage of it. I have to get her out of this mess, she covered the fact that she knew me and was punished for it. This is my fault once again ..." Naruto thought as flashes of his past assaulted him. The memory of his last moments with Natsuki as well as the sacrifice she made in order for him to survive, he was reminded of those as he held onto Tayuya's body whose long red hair reminded him of his first love.
The other girls could see Naruto's distress but chose to not disturb him for the moment and traveled in silence, a amazing feat considering how rowdy Stella and Rana usually are on the road. Galatea was the one to break the silence though, as her sensory skills picked up something from their rear.
"We've got company, the leaf is on our tail with the same group that attacked in Hot Spring Country. At our current pace, they will catch up to us in less than one hour." She announced to the group. It was obvious they would have been able to shake the pursuers off if it wasn't for Tayuya's condition but Naruto was not about to risk her life. The blond suddenly stopped in his track as he landed on a tall tree, surprising the group.
"Miya, you will lead the girls and our guest toward the next extraction point. You all know the way, it should take you approximately two days to reach it from here. If I'm not there in three days, you will proceed with the plan and rejoin the fleet at our alpha site. This is a direct ..." He was about to go on when he fell a surge of energy from around him. His eyes widened as he saw his wives take position all around him.
"Do not finish that sentence, Naruto-kun." Kazehana said first, her voice was lacking its usual jovial tone.
"She's right, even if we can understand your reasons, we will not leave you behind. There is nothing you can say to make us change our mind." Miria added.
"It is our duty as well as our right to stand by your side, in sickness and in health." Galatea spoke her mind too.
"Rana, Stella, take Tayuya with you and do as Naruto-kun said. I know you want to stay as well but now is not the time to argue about that." The purple haired woman announced to the youngest ones in their group.
True to Miya's words Rana and Stella both wanted to stay back and fight but chose to comply with the older woman. Seeing Naruto's worried state was enough for them to put their pride aside and do what they were asked to. They retrieved Tayuya's body from Naruto and immediately left the area. Naruto had stayed silent the entire time, knowing that he would not win this argument with his four wives.
"I'm sorry girls, I know it was a selfish decision to ask you all to leave me behind." Naruto said as soon as the younger girls had left.
"Yes it was, but we all know that your intentions are pure so there is no need for you to apologize." Kazehana said as she stepped closer and hugged him from behind. They were soon joined by Miya, Miria and Galatea as Naruto let his wives comfort him in this moment of doubt.
"How many of them can you count, Galatea-chan ?" Naruto asked the sensor.
"Hmm around fifty plus. It seems that none of them stayed behind in Hot Spring Country, though I wonder if I made a miscalculation back then, there are more of them than I previously counted." She replied, her head was turned toward the South where she knew the enemies were coming from.
"Most likely a hit-and-run operation. Their goal was not to occupy the village, they were trying to cripple it. Danzo is hitting a place known for doing business with us, I hope the folks in Wave are fine." Miria analyzed.
"How did they find out about us though ? We left shortly before their arrival and made sure to not let any trace of our presence behind." Kazehana wondered. Miya's eyes widened as she seemed to realize something from her friend's last assessment.
"Galatea, please concentrate on their group again. Can you feel the presence of that Crystal user among them ?" She asked in a hurry, showing in her eyes that she already knew the answer to her question. Galatea closed her eyes in order to increase her concentration and frowned at what she found out.
"You are correct, it's faint but I can feel it now that they are a bit closer to us. I don't really know why someone from Orochimaru's elite forces would side with Danzo's lackeys though." Galatea reported to the group as she reopened her eyes.
"We will worry about this later, let's prepare to meet them for the moment. I was caught off guard last time, it won't happen again." Naruto spoke out, stopping their conversation as he started to let his chakra out.
"What's the strategy, Naruto-kun ?" Miria asked, as she and the girls all took out their respective swords.
"You will show them no quarters, only that woman and the one leading the Leaf's troops are to be spared if you end up fighting them. The rest of them is fair game, it is time we send a message to those leaders or theirs ..." Naruto replied, completely focused.
With the pursuers
Not far from Naruto's group, a disturbing yet intriguing scene took place. Moving almost side by side, Sonido and Root's operatives were making their way toward their common objective. There were about forty Root members leaping from tree to tree while twenty Sonido men moved below them on the ground without making any sound.
Leading the ground troops was Guren, left hand of Orochimaru and Head of the Black Ops division. In front of the Konoha troops was none other than Uchiha Sasuke, making no attempt to hide his ID contrary to the men under his command. The black haired commander was the only one not wearing the white mask that symbolized his organization.
Looking toward the ground Sasuke observed his new temporary "allies" and thought about how that particular situation came to be. The memories of his first meeting with that woman commanding the equivalent of Roots in Oto still fresh in his mind …
Flashback: Port Town, a few hours ago.
The mission was far too easy, the people in this town did not even try to resist when his men started to slaughter them. It felt as if they knew something like that was going to happen to them and chose to not struggle against their fate.
Roots operatives were trained to show no emotion, they performed their tasks without any restrain or afterthought. Sasuke was an exception among them, smirking like a madman as he killed people on his way.
The Leaf task force continued to advance unchallenged toward its true objective, the town's docks. Their goal was to destroy every ship they could find and then burn the Port to the ground, leaving no spot for the Kuro no Kitsune to park his ships. Hot Spring and Wave countries were the only two neutral territories that had the infrastructure to accommodate large ships like the ones their sworn enemy was seen riding.
Sasuke, newly promoted to the rank of Commander among Danzo's forces, had chosen the Northern Path and Hot Spring. The second platoon that departed with them took the direction of East, toward Wave, under the command of another Root commander. The Uchiha heir knew that North would be more dangerous since it was closer to the enemies' lines, he was looking for some action ever since his promotion and this mission presented the perfect challenge for him to prove his worth.
There were rumors about Hot Spring being under the control of the Alliance but so far they had seen no trace of either Kumo or Oto shinobi. Sasuke had been pretty disappointed so far to not have any resistance from the locals but this suddenly changed when a salve of kunai stopped them. There was no casualty since the projectiles had been fired at their feet, most likely as a warning shot.
In front of them stood a group of Oto shinobi, all wearing masks like his own men, most likely the infamous Sonido division, a perfect match for Root. Sasuke estimated that they had fewer men than him, not by much though and some of them were injured. They must have been in another fight not that long ago, by the look of the wounds some of them had.
Nevertheless, Sasuke knew this was a fight neither side would come out unscathed. He was an elite Uchiha and the current Hokage's apprentice, but his men were not and he knew he would lose a lot of them in a direct confrontation with Sonido Troops. This was his first mission with this rank and he was not too thrilled about going home after that to report that he lost a bunch of his men.
Both sides were about to engage the other when a wall of crystal suddenly appeared between them.
"Stand down, Sonido." A woman yelled as she appeared on top of the crystal wall that had just been erected between the two groups. Both commanding officers seemed to recognize the other one and a staring contest started between the two of them. Analyzing their options, they stayed silent for quite some time before Guren started the "negotiations".
"You are quite far from home, Uchiha Sasuke. What is the Hokage's apprentice doing in this part of the world ?" She asked, studying his every move.
"I'm here to destroy the port, step aside or die, woman." Sasuke replied, ignoring the Oto nin taking out their kunai as he had just threatened their leader.
"Oh, so this was a retaliation against the Kuro No Kitsune for what he did to you back there in your village. I guess destroying all of his trading posts could count as an effective way to cripple him and his economy. Too bad you just missed the show though ..." Guren announced, waiting for a reaction
to the bait she just threw out.
"What are you talking about, speak if you don't want to die !" He yelled. The Oto kunoichi smirked when she saw how the young and inexperienced commander had fallen right into her trap. She had doubt on whether she could take on Tayuya's mysterious savior. However with the cooperation from that idiot, she now had more than enough firepower at her disposal.
"Well you see, we're here to track down a traitor and she might just know the whereabouts of the man you seek to destroy ..." Guren replied, not knowing how close from the truth her bluff was.
End of Flashback
Thus was born the temporary alliance between two supposedly mortal enemies who shared the same objective. Well, not exactly the same, since Guren was after Tayuya while Sasuke was chasing after Naruto's ghost. Neither of them worried about the means to reach their goal, as long at it got the job done.
Timeskip, Two hours after that
True to Galatea's predictions, the Leaf & Sound joint forces reached Naruto's previous position in two hours. Upon their arrival, sensors from each side picked up several disturbances in the chakra flow around them and immediately stopped in order to investigate.
"What's the hold up ?" Guren asked her subordinate. She was mirrored by Sasuke as he questioned his own sensor about their sudden stop. The two shinobi simultaneously recognized the signs from the aftereffects of a wide range genjutsu, unfortunately for them quite too late.
"Authorization to unlock level one abilities temporary granted, target A and B confirmed." A distorted voice boomed all around them, most likely resulting form the genjutsu trap they had just walked into.
The pursuers tensed when they heard the voice, more so from its tone than from the contents. They all jumped into a circular formation both on the ground and in the trees, with Sasuke and Guren in the middle.
Four distinctive sounds which all the shinobi on the field recognized as the dispelling of a shadow clone were heard. Not even a second passed after that when four pillars of light emerged from the four corners of the zone around them, forming a perfect square.
From the North and the South positions, appeared Miya and Kazehana. Gone were Miya's neutral face or Kazehana's joyful expression, they both showed the faces of veteran warriors that had both taken part in countless battles.
As impressive as this was, the most noticeable feat about their appearances were those two wings of light that appeared from their backs. Every shinobi around, sensor or not, could feel that those were made of and irradiated chakra, or at least something close and it.
From the East and West corners, Miria and Galatea slowly walked out. Not as obvious as Miya's or Kazehana's forms but they also had some sort of aura around their body that expelled godly amount of chakra in all directions.
As the first two, they both displayed another physical trait that caught the attention of their trapped audience. Both woman's eyes had turned into a shade of deep gold. Those could have almost been perceived as beautiful by the entrapped young men, if it wasn't for the fact that they projected such condensed dose of Killing Intent that it made Orochimaru's glare seem insignificant in comparison.
Their gaze sent chills down the spine of every single member from the Oto and Leaf squads, their commanders included. It was as if they were staring right at a demon or bijuu, there was something inhumane in those eyes.
Guren was the first to snap out of it and immediately took charge by reorganizing the troops around her and Sasuke. Four groups of ten shinobi were sent to the corners in order to deal with the women from Naruto's team. A core of twenty men remained behind, to ensure the safety of the commanders from the two groups.
With Galatea
"Kori no Sekai." Galatea called out as she leaped right into the group of ten enemies that moved in her sector. With an instant burst of energy, her opponents' movements were stopped, unable to even lift one finger against her. However, contrary to the version of that jutsu she had used on the island of Water Country, this time she gathered a lot more chakra.
"G-Get away from me, I can't control my body !" One of the trapped shinobi yelled out as his right hand took out several kunai from his pouch.
"We can't, she did something to us, my body won't respond either !" Another one shouted.
Guren, Sasuke and their bodyguards watched helplessly as Galatea manipulated the men under her control to kill each other. One by one they fell, moved by invisible hands that made them attack the closest ally. Soon enough there was only one of them left, terrorized by what had just transpired all around him.
"Please, don't kill me, I surrender !" He pleaded. Galatea looked at him through her golden irises as she once again used her jutsu to take over his body. The guy saw his own hand move backward and fish out a katana from his back. His voice died down soon after that as he cut off his own head with that katana.
"Your wish is granted, I didn't kill you, you did." Galatea spoke out as she watched his body fall to the ground.
"What the hell ? Was that Kugutsu, no, I couldn't see any chakra threads with my Sharingan. That wasn't the Yamanaka nor the Nara possession techniques either, there was no shadow and she had more than one body under her spell." Sasuke mused, unable to comprehend how that woman had just killed off ten highly trained warriors so easily.
With Kazehana
As soon as her wings of light dissipated, Kazehana took out her katana and started what looked like a strange ritual to those in front of her as she mumbled some words to herself. All the men in front of her could hear were those two words, as the blade of her sword glowed before it disappeared.
"Chire, Senbonzakura." She said as the blade of her katana turned into hundreds pink petals, all smaller than a shuriken. The wind picked up after that and the petals made their way toward their targets.
Contrary to the pirates in Water Country, the men from Sonido and Roots reacted quickly and put their guards up, not knowing what to expect from that weird attack. They knew they made a good choice when the projectiles started to shred everything around them and small cuts appeared all over their bodies.
Clothes were quickly torn away, that much was already surprising enough for people who had never seen the technique. However, what really caught the audience off guard was that weapons and all kind of armor pieces were also destroyed as they came in contact with the pink sparks. Soon enough the wind died down and the petals made their way back to Kazehana to become a single entity once more.
"Huh, if that's all you have girl, you're as good as dead." One of them told her as they started to run toward her.
"Your little trick may have surprised us but you'll need to do more than this to take us down, now die !" Another one yelled as they were now in striking range. Kazehana's only response was a sigh as they prepared their weapons against her.
However, a split second before the first of them could lay a finger on her, they all fell to their knees and coughed out blood. Not even five seconds after that had passed when the last of them died from some massive internal bleeding.
This time Sasuke managed to see a little bit of what had happened to his and Guren's men. Part of the explanation came from focusing his attention on the pink petals that she used in her move. For each cut they inflicted against an enemy, they released microscopic shards of chakra on impact in the supposedly superficial wounds.
"That was unreal, even with my Sharingan I wasn't able to count the precise amount of shards that were released for a single wound. Those fools were dead meat the moment they let those particles scratch their skin." The Uchiha captain analyzed in his mind again. He was starting to worry about the outcome of the fight as his men and 'allies' were falling one after another like flies.
With Miria
Miria moved toward her opponents, slowly taking out her huge sword as she went. Just like Galatea she had some kind of a white aura surrounding her whole body, almost giving her the appearance of an angel. The golden eyes were there too of course, a sign that she had unlocked the first level from her powers.
"Kamikakushi." She said as a burst of chakra erupted from her feet. The blonde disappeared from her spot, only to reappear right after that in front of the group of soldiers that had been sent to deal with her.
A strange phenomenon happened right then in front of a stunned audience. Instead of surrounding her body the halo of light seemed to recede at first, but it then concentrated toward her right hand, the one holding her sword ...
The Oto and Leaf shinobi had seen what happened against Galatea or Kazehana and did not wish to share their defeated comrades' fate. They all sprung into action and launched everything they could against her. Since Miria was already in close range to them, thanks to her godlike speed, they could only use weapons against her. Ninjutsu would have caused inevitable collateral damage.
Katana, swords, ninjato, shuriken and kunai were drawn against her. It didn't seem to worry the woman as she still pressed forward, stoic as ever. Once she came at sword range from her first target the man immediately attacked, aiming for her neck with a powerful swing from his own sword.
All they heard was a 'clang' sound as the blade was somehow deflected by an invisible force. Soon after that a strange sound was heard, it was as if someone was relentlessly swinging a sword in the air. By that time Miria had already gone ahead of the first one when his body suddenly exploded in a shower of blood and torn organs.
The distorted sound was amplified as she continued forward, toward the rest of the group. The nine remaining shinobi all jumped her at the same time, hoping to increase their chance of success. They surrounded her from all side, some of them were also attacking from the air. A desperate move from them that didn't pay as the same thing happened and they all perished against that invisible swing of hers.
When Miria finally stopped her course, she was a mere feet away from the central group. The thing that stood out the most when looking at her was that her uniform and clothes had remained spotless despite all the blood and gore that fell around her due to that fighting style.
Once more the others and more specifically Sasuke had been stunned by the display of power from another woman in Naruto's team. The Sharingan could only spot a mere fraction of what had really happened, a godlike speed that far surpassed what he thought as humanly possible with individuals like Gai or Lee when opening their Eight Celestial Gates.
With Miya
The last woman in Naruto's group to take action was Miya. If what the reports said about her was true, then Sasuke and Guren were going to witness yet another display of power since that purple haired beauty was supposedly acting as the blond's second in command.
Similarly to the one who attacked with the petals, the Leaf and Oto forces saw that Miya also had wings of light in her back. No one really knew what those were but they could all feel the density from the chakra they expelled, it was as potent as the one a bijuu would release.
Miya did not even feel the need to move from her spot as she took a weird stance while holding out her katana. She seemed to concentrate for a moment as the wings of light slowly faded away. When they did, she started gathering chakra and prepared her next move.
The opposition had already lost all hope of winning this battle, seeing how merciless the three other women had been against their allies. Half of the fools standing before Miya panicked and tried to run away while she had yet to complete her preparations.
"Traitors ! I command you to hold your positions, cowards." Sasuke yelled out as he saw his agents falling back. Guren was also trying to prevent her men from deserting their positions, with no better luck than Sasuke. They were already far away from the scene, fleeing in all directions.
"Ikorose, Shinso." Miya announced during the confusion, always focused on her targets no matter how far they had gone. The blade of her katana glowed white for a mere second before it instantly expanded towards her targets.
The blade disappeared in the trees during what felt like an eternity to those who watched the scene from afar when it actually lasted a couple of seconds. Tall trees were cut down a fell in the process but five distinctive shouts were heard throughout the forest covered in snow. As fast as it expanded the blade then retracted back, a small trail of blood leaking from it. It left not much wondering as to the fates of those five who had previously escaped.
Those who had remained behind somehow managed to overcome their fear long enough to put up their guards in anticipation of Miya's next attack. The purple haired lieutenant paid them no mind and slowly approached their position, keeping the length of her katana to its usual sealed state. A single swing of her sword was enough to cut through her five remaining opponents, regardless of what they used to try and counter her. Steel, iron, armored clothes and flesh … everything split in half as she completed her swing.
During all this, Guren even tried to deploy a crystal wall around them from her position, a useless move seeing how the structure crumbled under the sharpness of Miya's attack.
"Those monsters ... A swing that cannot be blocked right after the other one and that swing that could not be seen. The two blondes also used some strange techniques. This is bad we are sitting ducks right here, now that they've destroyed the outer guards." Sasuke tried to think of a plan before the enemy could finish them off.
With the central group
Miya, Galatea, Miria and Kazehana stood at the corners in a cardinal position around Sasuke's and Guren's last troops. From their original sixty soldiers, only twenty remained now, after Naruto's wives had evened the odds. They were about to charge in to finish the job when they heard Guren ordering something to her last four men.
They immediately jumped in front of Naruto's lieutenants in a square formation and called out some kind of jutsu upon their leader's commands.
"Shishienjin !" They all yelled in sync as a purple barrier appeared all around them. Miya leaped forward and attempted to cut down the defensive structure when Naruto finally made his presence known to the Konoha and Oto members.
"Hold !" He yelled, standing up from his position on the tallest tree around. No one had seen him so far from the pursuers' group, so it came as a surprise when the blond suddenly appeared, absolutely out of nowhere. Guren immediately recognized him, he was the same man that Tayuya defended a while ago in that village. An Uzumaki, if her information and what she overheard was true and also someone extremely powerful.
There was one person in their group however who knew who the man that had just joined them was, Sasuke's Sharingan eyes widened as he saw the shadows of Kuro no Kitsune and the man in front of him perfectly overlapping with each other, minus the mask.
"Hmm, a kekkai powered by chakra with permanent frequency modulation and a perfect balance between the four casters. Quite a strong one at that ..." Naruto mused out loud as he threw a large piece of wood against the barrier, only to see it instantly burn out on contact.
"Y-You are the Kuro no Kitsune ! I'll kill you for what you've done to our village." Sasuke yelled from inside their protection field, greatly surprising his men and allies. Guren was shocked too as she heard the news. Only now does she measure the extend of her actions, Orochimaru may think again before seeking an alliance with the man now, and it was her fault.
Nevertheless, taking into account her observations and Tayuya's betrayal, nothing more could have been done to prevent such a development. All she could think about for now, was how they could get out of this mess before the barrier that stands between them and those monsters breaks. Guren knew she still add an ace up her sleeve and started to analyze how she would take advantage of it.
Meanwhile, Naruto was testing the fortitude of the chakra wall by throwing diverse items against it such as small and larger rock or weapons of all kind and material. In the end the wall had remained spotless through all his attempts.
"You're not getting inside no matter how hard you try, this is a jutsu developed by Orochimaru-sama for such occasions and it will hold as long as it needs to, we do have all the time in the world but do you ?" Guren said as Naruto failed again to breach into the perimeter.
"What do you mean ? You're the one trapped like rats." Naruto asked, genuinely surprised by her assessment.
"Did you really think I would let that little traitor get away like this while we walk right into you ?" Guren said as Naruto's eyes widened, realizing what the crystal user meant. He immediately turned toward Galatea who silently nodded, understanding what was expected from her.
"She's telling the truth, I sense ten … no, wait … fifteen chakra signatures making their way toward Rana and Stella's group. They are about to make contact with them as we speak." Galatea reported.
As he heard his wife's report, Naruto's grip on a particularly large rock intensified, shattering it into pieces. That woman was right, he didn't have time for this anymore. The blond nodded to his wives who immediately got the message and disappeared in four bursts of speed toward the other group.
"I guess you do have a point, I can't waste any more time with you grunts right here. I will however leave you with a parting gift from mine. Orochimaru's jutsu is nothing to me, I was barely curious about it." Naruto announced as he bit his thumb and applied some blood to a seal on his left wrist.
The temperature seemed to drop a bit and the wind picked up as a long golden staff materialized in Naruto's hands. The blond gracefully swung it around his body in a circle, effortlessly switching its holding hand from left to right before he suddenly stopped, taking a stance and pointing one end of his weapon toward Sasuke and Guren.
"If swords or kunai could not get through, how is that going to help you ? Is that a Bo staff like our Sandaime used to wield, are you trying to copy his style or something ?" Sasuke smirked, believing that Naruto would make a fool out of himself.
"Hmm, not quite … as for how … let me show you why they call me a ruler of the Seas ..." Naruto replied as he channeled chakra throughout his body. The air became even colder than it already was and Naruto's weapon suddenly made a strange soothing sound. It glowed and suddenly three blades of chakra appeared from its end, revealing Naruto's weapon true form as a trident and not a staff.
"Uzumaki Hijutsu : Tenso Jurin !" Naruto called out as a beautiful yet terrifying vision appeared in front of Guren and Sasuke. From as far as their eyes could see, water was forcibly pulled out of the trees, ground, snow and air to travel from all directions toward a single point in space, Naruto's trident.
There was no need for a Sharingan to see what was happening, everything was visible to the naked human eye. First there was only drops of water but soon enough the pull transformed the drops into large tendrils as they all met into a single focal point. The water concentrated and was compressed into a singularity where the internal pressure must have been tremendous.
As the phenomenon stabilized and water stopped being pulled into Naruto's jutsu, bystanders saw the result, a spherical ball of water that floated at the end of his trident. The blond jumped high in the air and attached himself to the tallest tree with chakra before swinging his weapon one last time.
"Let's see you deal with this !" He yelled, as hell was unleashed above the square that was formed by the Shishienjin.
An extremely powerful and uninterrupted wave of water crashed against the barrier, producing high amounts of stream from the contact of the freezing water and the burning power of the chakra wall. The four shinobi keeping the wall up were sweating as it kept getting harder and harder to maintain their concentration.
The Shishienjin was perfect against focused attacks, like a sword cut or a kunai thrown at it. Even ninjutsu were supposedly ineffective against it, since nothing powerful would last long enough to really disturb the four casters inside. However, Naruto's current attack was the worst case scenario against it. Large area of effect and highly powerful, the use of the Suiton element, something that perfectly countered the burning powers of the wall. Finally, the fact that Naruto could keep up this assault for as long as he wanted with no trouble, as far as the water source was concerned, was also something no one would think possible, unless you are the reincarnation of the Nidaime Hokage.
They stood like this for a minute or two before the first man inside the formation released his hold on the jutsu, having spent all of his chakra reserves. This in turn started a chain reaction that ended with the other three casters also losing their focus before the wall finally cracked.
The torrent of freezing water washed all the remaining members of the task force away, including Sasuke and Guren. Said two were the only ones left alive after that, barely but still alive. Naruto slowly made his way toward them.
"I will let you two live so you can relay this to your masters. I will come for them next, tell Danzo that he'd better come himself with all his best fighters the next time he tries to take me down, not some newbie captain that can barely look after himself. Tell Orochimaru I would have declined the offer, had he come himself or had you not harmed Tayuya. As for the two of you, the next time we meet will be your last day on earth." He said before disappearing in a burst of chakra in the same direction his wives had gone off to.
With Tayuya
Rana and Stella stood next to each other on a battlefield where nine Oto and Leaf shinobi laid dead. There was only one of them left, however, the situation was not in favor of the two women from Naruto's crew.
"Drop your weapons or she dies !" Yelled the last shinobi, holding a captive Tayuya from behind with a kunai near her throat. The red head had just regained consciousness when she found herself in that situation.
"What the fuck, who the hell are you all and where the fuck am I ?" Came out of her mouth. She tried to free herself from the man but was still too weak to do so. In the confusion, the ninja was about to stab her when he felt something warm falling down his face. He died before he reaching the ground, a kunai lodged in the back of his head.
"What took you guys so long ?"
A/N : Cliffhanger power … Chapter is twice the size of what I usually release, as an apology for the delay since my last update. Please read and review.
I hope this pleases those of you who felt that Naruto got owned a little bit too fast by Guren in the previous chapter. We also had a peek into his wives' released powers, yes, he used Norito on Miya and Kazehana while the claymore, well this will be better described in another chapter but you can try to guess what he did :)
Who saved Tayuya ? Shouldn't be too hard to find out, I left enough hint as it is.
We finally see Naruto's weapon, as some of you guessed it is a Trident, something that fits for the Conqueror of the Seas, don't you think ?
Next time, they finally arrive in Kumo … See you there !
New Jutsu :
Uzumaki Hijutsu : Tenso Jurin, translates as Uzumaki Secret Arts : Subjugation of the Heavens. This is a complex jutsu that allows Naruto, with the use of his Trident, to pull toward him all the water in his immediate surroundings. The water is then compressed into a single ball, just like a Rasengan, before it is launched again against his enemies in a continuous stream of highly chakra charged water.