Breaking Limits
I'm going to rant a little. Hear me out.
This fic I read recently started reading, called 'Roku Naruto', has a lot of similarities to mine. It came out years before B.L. and I don't want to be accused of stealing, copying, or any of that.
Naruto gives off a military vibe.
The clones are created with Kurama's youki.
Clones are named and develop different personalities.
Clones 'specialize'.
Clones are used heavily to learn, for example, reading in Libraries.
Naruto uses a 'counter stance.'
Clones and Naruto communicate with telepathy.
That's what I found so far that's near identical to mine. Given the fact that the fic came out before mine, one could say that I'm… (Blows raspberry)
I take inspiration from several things.
For my slight military vibe, I took a slight military feel because… well… I've always admired 'get shit done right the first time' kind of attitude. I mainly like solidarity and team efforts. Guess I got influence from playing team games in Call of Duty, Halo, and Battlefield.
I knew that creating clones from Kurama's chakra was done already so I extended into the 'yin and yang' theory. I want credit for that.
I encounter thousands of different gamers with different personalities and playing styles. You have people who 'run and gun' and those who 'camp', 'grenade happy' and so on. I like to work with different people on teams. That inspired The Tenacious Thirteen.
Using clones to learn… not unique- that's done all the time. I merely believed that Naruto should try to attain knowledge. After all, a dumb ninja is a dead one. Naruto has merely been lucky with his accelerated healing to not get killed before shippuden, along with getting in some lucky hits from time to time.
The 'counter stance' for taijutsu and kenjutsu… I got that from Assassin's Creed. Just wait for your foe to make a move, and then suddenly, he's bleeding out on the ground.
The first I've read of Naruto and telepathy mixing together was Kyuubi Goku. He used it in 'Demons of Konohagakure.' My hat's off to yah!
(Just in case) The hood of his clothing was inspired by Assassin's Creed, his bandana mask and Tactical baton by Watch Dogs. Yep! I play more video games than what is healthy but who doesn't? If I'm gonna stare at a screen, it might as well be… (Cough) interactive entertainment. Besides, I'm thinking that 'Anthurak' got similar inspirations from the same places.
This whole thing was bothering me all of last week. I really made it an aim of mine to create unique fics on the site and to find out that a lot of ideas were null…god-damn it.
Sorry for ranting so much. If you read it, it means you're human and you have a heart.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But I'm going to be adamant about this. I own The Tenacious Thirteen!
21.
He drew the kanji delicately on the patch at the waist delicately, taking care to not make any mistakes. A fly buzzed close to his ear but he ignored it; the pesky insect's death could wait until he was finished.
Narburei sat nearby in the shade of a large tree, reading a manuscript he had procured recently. It was titled 'How to get the info from his head: Asking for it or cracking it'. Beside him was a small stack of books and the one on top said- 'How to liberate information as painfully as possible.'
His companion finally gave a huge sigh of relief and swatted a fly in the same action with his palm. "Done!"
The torture clone looked up from his reading. "Really?"
"Yeah!" Naruso held up the patch that had his most recently drawn storage seal. "I'm willing to bet this one holds three hundred kunai just like its twin."
"Impressive! Where are you putting it?"
"I'm putting it just below the hip. That way I can just throw them easier. I also put two more storage seals just below my shoulders on my arms, one each. Those will have just shuriken…two hundred each! All I gotta do is just alternate my arms and I can throw shuriken rapidly. And since I can't miss…"
Narburei whistled. "That is…wow. I'm reading about how you to read people perfectly. I think I'm becoming a perfect lie detector. Everything from eye movement, changes in standing stances, breathing, tiny muscle spasms…I shall become a man of the truth!"
"You're not a man. We're…teenagers…?"
"Yeah. Can we grow, though? Hey Kurama, can we grow?"
"Hai. Now leave me be. I'm trying to watch Narkasai fail."
The two clones sweat dropped. "Sadistic bastard."
They stood up and stretched before they organized their things and put them where they were supposed to go. Naruso, the 'trap' clone, carefully put up his seals for later while Narburei sealed away his literature.
The Tenacious Thirteen were currently living in three 'family sized' tents, each of which could house five adults comfortably for sleeping. There were a couple of lean-to's that was erected for other living purposes like eating, cooking or just taking a nap under cover. Occasionally, a member or two would abandon their tent at night just to sleep in the cool night atmosphere.
They were well out of the way, a full thirty-five miles from Takigakure in the area they had had planned for two weeks before. In order not to leave anytime soon, over fifty storage seals were created and the T13 were practically carrying everthing they needed to live for a year, as well as fight a major shinobi war or two.
Copious amounts of shinobi weapons, food, camping supplies, reading and shinobi literature, axes, shovels, all of their gold and of course, toilet paper. As for the toilet, they already dug a pit latrine that worked just fine, along with a substantial amount of deodorizing salts that was conveniently placed inside.
They had all that they needed; it had now been six weeks since Naruto had his ninja status temporarily revoked.
The two brotherly bunshin strolled off to the river to watch as Narkasai failed for the umpteenth time to produce a perfected version of his designated 'A' rank jutsu but failing, nearly burning himself to a crisp. Narmizu and 'Doc' stood close by, ready to douse any flames and heal any burns that would occur on his person, knowing that they were needed for the next time he failed.
Which would probably be the next time he tried.
He went through the handseals quickly, ending on tiger. "Katon: Kaen Kami Jōshō!" (Fire release:flame god rising.)
Narkasai sharply turned sideways and swept his right hand in a sweeping arc. In the same action, he begun molding pure fire chakra in his feet and his arm, and a violent twister of nearly white-hot flames came into being, surrounding him.
He was the eye of a fire tornado.
Everyone else looked on in awe as a thirty-foot fire tornado surrounded him, the heat making all of them starting to sweat profusely. Naruto wiped off the sweat off his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Oi! Narkasai! HOW ARE YOU HOLDING UP IN THERE?!"
"Gah… I'm trying to maintain it! It's…it's…Gaaaah!"
"QUICK! CUT YOUR CHAKRA FLOW!" Naruto yelled to the fire bunshin that was trying to keep his jutsu from swirling the flames from his control and keeping rotation stability.
"GAAAHHH!"
Narmizu had heard enough. He molded his chakra while using a little extra yang release. "Suiton: Mizu kasukēdo!" (Water release: Water cascade)
The water from the nearby river rose up and washed over the foot of the twister, steam rising up immediately. The other non elemental bunshins and Naruto started using a slightly less potent version of the same water technique, finally dousing the flames.
Nariwa went through handseals speedily. "Doton: Yoroi iwa kokera!" (Earth release: Protective rock scales) Different rocks and stones sprang to his person like an earthen armor. He moved into the scorching steam slowly, being hampered by the chitinous armor. He came out a minute later, carrying Narkasai over his shoulder. Narishi rushed over to them as Nariwa placed his groaning fire counterpart on the ground.
The medic clone started running the mystical palm over the ka-bunshin's burns, trying his best to soothe them as quickly and efficiently as possible. The injuries started to heal as the bunshin sighed in relief, the youki in his body accelerating the healing progress. "(Cough), thanks doc."
"Kami. This is the worst testing yet. I'm getting tired of this shit." Medic said, getting the last of the burns to heal. "If we didn't have Kurama's youki in us, that fire would have burnt you to ashes."
"Damn right. Even I think that testing was horrible. Horrible for you that is- but funny to watch."
Naruto shook his head as he looked on. "Narkasai, you better take the afternoon off. Go take a nap or something. Read a book, play catch… just go do something else!"
Narkasai looked to his creator. "I nearly had it this time. I should try again."
"That's the third time you nearly killed yourself. Maybe you should just read up on Katon chakra theory. Or maybe learn a B rank jutsu for the time being. When you have that, you can come back to this technique. It's still beyond you," the Uzumaki scolded.
The fire clone sighed. "Fine. I'm gonna go take a nap. But I'm trying again soon."
"We all know. Besides, who else is gonna put you out when you catch fire?" Narmizu joked.
"…" He smiled a little before he walked off to the tent area.
The remaining twelve looked to one another. "What do we do now?" Naruto asked.
"Meh. We should all separate for the rest of the afternoon and work on our separate stuff." Narkaze recommended.
"Alright. Let's do that. So long as no one tries to learn a forbidden technique without assistance." Naruto agreed.
They all looked to one another tersely before they all walked off, in separate directions.
She took a bite of her sandwich and slowly chewed it, trying to make it last. It had been a long time since she had some food in her stomach and she reasoned that it would be even longer before her next one. All too soon, she had consumed it and her stomach rumbled, pining for more.
But she had none.
She got up off the rock, dusted off her butt and stretched before walking to the top of the knoll. She considered going to the plaza to see if she could 'procure' some more food but she decided against it. She would most certainly be cited for creating a 'disturbance' as was the case last time. She growled a little in her throat, feeling like some despondent animal. Why was she singled out to be the most hated and scorned person in the village? She didn't ask for this.
Her unique orange eyes looked over the little glade in which she lived. A small hut that was barely standing, the bamboo structure dry rotting. She rarely slept in it nowadays, its tumbledown characteristics made her fear that it could collapse on her at anytime. She only kept what few dilapidated furniture she owned in there to protect them from the elements.
The fourteen year old caramel-complexioned kunoichi wore a white tank top that showed off her midriff that was starting to show signs of the early stages of emaciation. She wore a white apron-like skirt that stopped around three inches short of reaching her knees. Her mesh armor was clearly visible through her clothing, either by being longer than her blouse or peeking through the side-slits in her skirt. She also wore white sandals that matched her general outfit as well as white arm-warmers, along with her Takigakure hitai-ate on her upper arm. She had short mint green hair that was adorned by a single orange clip that complimented her eyes by means of being a similar color.
While at first glance, one could say that perhaps she was on an extended mission and missed a few meals during it; her eyes told a completely different story.
Her eyes told the world that she was stricken with emotional pain but to look beyond that; all one would see was a growing determination, like an ember doused with fuel. The fierce emotion soon came to the fore, eclipsing the sadness she normally felt.
She ran to her hut and sealed what little she had in a cheap storage scroll and placed it in small pocket inside her red 'companion sack' and hurriedly cleaned her weapons and placed them in their holsters. She looked around at the hut for one last time before she left it, fully prepared.
She stood on the knoll again and watched the sun set before night fell suddenly. She watched as the lights of the village came on in an effort to stave off the darkness, only succeeding in providing a small halo of light for their designated areas. All too soon, the lights were turned off by their owners who were retiring to bed.
She stepped forward off the little hill, her first movement in hours since the sunset. She placed her foot down, almost as if she had expected something tempestuous to happen.
None did.
She took another slow step, then another, then another. They soon came rapidly, the girl's speed increasing from a slow deliberate walk to a trot, then a sprint. The more she ran, the more her confidence grew.
She finally came upon the centre of the village, overshadowed by a massive tree that was the pride of the village she lived in. She paid it no mind as she flickered from shadow to shadow. The full moon soon made itself clear from behind a cloud, bathing the land in a luminous glow.
The silvery light of the moon made the white of her outfit appear like some sort of fleeting specter, abandoning its hell.
Which was precisely what she was doing now.
She finally came upon a large pool of water which was the secret entrance/exit of the village and she dived in, swimming underwater.
As soon as the ripples in the water were dissipated, a large burly figure emerged from behind a corner and squinted his eyes. His form was that of a rounded stock with muscle and fat in equal amounts everywhere.
"So she's running away, huh?"
He looked around, up and down the street; no one could be seen.
He sighed before he quickly strode over to the pool. "Fuckin' bitch… I'm gonna have teach her a lesson about running away. Again."
He dived in, his ripples and bubbles soon disappeared as well.
In Konoha, next morning.
She went through the five handseals at a steady pace before she placed a now green-glowing hand on the injured dog. The deep cut on the dog's paw slowly closed itself up and the blood which was flowing in a trickle stopped altogether when it did. With her task completed, she stepped back and admired her work.
Her companion strode forward and looked at the paw for himself. "A job well done if I say so myself. However, while you have learnt the jutsu, you need to learn how to go through the required handseals faster and heal the injury quicker. Sometimes, just plain proficiency is not enough. Speed is also important."
"Hai, Naruto-kun." She made a slight bow, elated that he congratulated her efforts while giving her constructive criticism.
Naruto looked to Hinata and smiled. "Alright, let's get this stray to the Inuzuka's and then, we'll go get some lunch."
"Your treat?"
"Nah." Naruto sighed as he looked to his forehead. "If anything, you should be treating me, rich girl."
She chuckled as she took off the plastic gloves before throwing them in the bin. "True. I suppose it would be my turn." She finally turned around and placed the dog in a pet carrier before she started following Naruto out the door with the dog.
"Hold up, hold up. Besides, if you paid for me, it would have been really emasculating."
"Hmm…"
They exited the shed and started walking up the road to the Inuzuka compound. Of late, Hinata had practiced her newly found medical technique on injured strays that she and Naruto found wandering around the Hyuuga-owned soup kitchen, looking for scraps. They usually treated them before carrying them to the animal shelter of sorts that the Inu clan had for dogs.
Hinata's confidence ad all-around self esteem was gradually increasing, nearly making Naruto drop to his knees in thanking Kami for small favors. At least now he didn't have to deal with her fainting around him anymore, inconveniencing himself. Her blushes have also died down in intensity.
The dog was soon delivered to Hana, Kiba's sister and without any further issues, the pair walked to a dango place just a street away. It was mostly Hinata who was a step or two ahead of Naruto, a good sign that indicated her rising confidence. Naruto merely looked around, keeping a cool façade while he kept up his usual henge on his head.
They walked into the establishment through half-hinged double doors that swung back into place by springs. The place was close to empty, given the fact that it was a Sunday at midday. Granted, while Ninjas didn't have any 'rest-day', it could be argued that Sunday was the day they could kick back in their own houses and relax. Right now, most of them were probably sleeping in to make up for lost rest.
They walked up to the counter and each ordered half-dozen skewers of the treat, each having around twenty four of the small, sweet dumplings. They were about to leave when they noticed someone beckoning to them.
Naruto, for his part felt a severe case of déjà-vu and was seriously considering leaving in a shunshin when he saw that it was Iruka.
'Nah. It's gonna make things too awkward. I'm not ready to talk to him yet.' "Hinata-chan, I have to go…"
He didn't even give her a chance to respond as he left in a body flicker of smoke, leaving her with the chunin who was confused about the boy's behavior.
The trees rushed up to him as he leapt from branch to branch, pursuing his quarry. He was in no hurry; he wasn't even moving at his best speed.
His prey was, and he had derived morbid satisfaction of being in full control. He could just move forward at a better speed and the bitch would be dead. Let her go a little further first. That way, no one would ever find her body, and he could just go back home and tell a little sob story about how he was 'too late to save her' from sort of mutilating animal.
And when he caught up with her, she was going to wish she was dead. And he would be only too happy to grant that wish.
Late afternoon
The mint haired kunoichi leapt down to a lower branch, nearly tripping on it in her weariness. She had been fleeing her pursuer for most of the night and all day. She was low on energy and her usual stamina and willpower could only get her so far.
She had no idea where she was going but she had been running there for nearly eighteen hours in an effort to get away from…him.
He was the worst one where she lived, mocking her at best, bludgeoning her at worst. From day one, her life never really belonged to her, knowing that he could have killed her at anytime because he was an influential member of the village. Getting away with her murder would be like a cakewalk.
Her upper torso drooped in exhaustion and she mistepped on the next branch, crashing down through the low level foliage, snapping through brittle boughs and tearing the leaves. She tried to muster enough of her will and strength to correct her center of gravity to land on her feet and only succeeded in landing on only one foot and pushing off forward. While most of her falling force was negated, she had nowhere to redirect the momentum and was about to strike her upper torso, mainly her head.
She put out both hands in front of her on instinct and she grunted as she felt a searing pain in her wrist, going through it like electricity.
She got to one knee weakly while bracing herself up on her relatively uninjured arm, her hurt one hung a bit limply at her side as she hissed in pain. She was covered in scratches and bruises from the fall that was healing rapidly but she paid them no mind.
Her eyes became a little moist as she was just about to give up. Why should she continue? There was nothing pain in this pathetic life of hers. Why prolong her existence?
Her vision started to blur more and more as more tears leaked in their waterworks. She looked forward and saw daylight peeking through the walls of the forest. She hastily wiped her eyes with her left arm-warmer, only to be reminded of the pain still inhabiting her hand.
The green haired girl got to her feet gingerly, standing erect. She had no idea why but she just got the feeling that she had to continue.
'After all, things always get a lot worse before they get better. Maybe it's going to get better now.'
She inhaled deeply, scenting smoke in the air for the first time. Someone else was out there, maybe someone who could help.
She dashed off again before leaping to a high tree branch to continue tree hopping. She was damn well going to leave her village's territory. And if she had to die, she wasn't going to let someone else kill her.
If worst came to worst, she would do it herself. Perhaps it would deny the man the satisfaction of doing so.
With T13
"Smells good, Narsensa."
"Arigato. I tell ya, I just saw those geese and I threw four kunai and all of a sudden, I decided to cook geese for dinner." The sensor clone finally took the geese off the roaring spit and placed them on four large platters on the unsealed table. "This way, we won't even have to unseal and use our meat resources."
Narkaze smirked before he cracked a joke. "Just like Narkasai's goose got fuckin' cooked again this morning!"
"Just shut the hell up! That jutsu is really painful and I'm the caster. When I perfect it, you're the first one I'm gonna…"
The water clone put out the fire while the sensor clone suddenly stopped setting the table.
Naruto noticed the action. "What's wrong?"
The clone held a finger to its lips before pointing to his forehead. Naruto got the hint and thought mentally. 'What is it?'
'I hear something. Coming from the forest.'
They all temporarily held their breath as they listened. They started to hear what sounded like a faint 'thud', becoming increasing louder.
'Is that a wild animal coming? Bear?'
'I dunno,' Naruto thought back, a slight hint of nervousness evident even through the mental connection.
They were all staring at the part of the forest where the noise was definitely coming from. Someone was about to volunteer to investigate when they all saw a girl with green hair flying headlong out of the forest into the meadow where they were.
She landed on the ground a little akimbo and slid to a stop when she saw the group of boys sitting and standing here and there. Who all in one accord, as if by instinct or some silent order pulled a hood over their heads as they watched her. The group and she were thirty yards apart from each other.
She hesitated as they all tensed visibly. Her eyes scanned the area and saw the tents and other camping supplies. This is the hope she ran to? Thirteen boys who were camping out in the wild who were dressed like they could have been a cult? How were they supposed to help her against him? She had to admit, at best, she was skeptic. At the worst, she was disappointed. Perhaps fearful too.
"Hello? I'm…lost." She called to them rather uneasily, trying to get a response.
All she got were silent stares.
"Hello?"
They all looked to each other as if having a silent discussion before one of them strode to the fore, as if he was their speaker. "Who are you?"
"My name's Fu."
"What's your business here?"
"I told you already. I'm lost."
The speaker looked back to his fellows before he looked back again to the girl. "We'll direct you to where you want to go. Where is it?"
She wracked her brain for a suitable place she could say. She couldn't say Takigakure. It would be fairly obvious that she was coming from that place, given her direction from whence she came. "I'm going to…Suna."
"Suna, huh?" The boy said.
"Hai."
"You're quite a bit out of the way. Its seventy miles west of here." He pointed to where the sun was setting to his right.
'Well, he bought it. But what about my un-'
"Since you're not going to get there tonight, want to eat with us?" The boy suggested.
"Well…" She felt dreadfully hungry, and her stomach was suddenly alive, pleading with her to accept the invitation.
She had dealt with poison in the past and the last thing she needed right now were killer toxins in her body. To stick around with someone she hadn't even spoken to for five minutes, much less eat from them-
*Growl*
She gave in to her stomach's demands. "Sure."
The hooded boy stood sideways and held out a hand backwards, as if to say 'welcome.' She walked closer and eventually past him to the dinner table. She was unsure of proper etiquette for this situation so she took a place where she could keep all of them in view as well watch the forest she entered. She was unsure of what he was doing… he could be watching her right now and might be waiting for a chance to strike.
She took off her companion-sack and took her seat at the foot of the table and placed her sprained arm in her lap with her other one on the table. Wordlessly, all of them came and sat at the table sans one who continued placing food on the table. When everything was set, she marveled at the spread of food. She noted the roasted water fowl especially, and the sight of them made her salivate in anticipation; the smell of them even more so.
The final one sat at the table just as the one at the head of the table got up. With a few words, he graced the table and sat again. She was about to reach hungrily when the action drew the attention of all thirteen of them. She hesitated before she did it more slowly and in a more polite manner. They all then refocused on taking their portions.
She quickly took a portion similar in size as to the rest of them and then started eating, all done with her right hand. She stabbed her chopsticks into the meat, not bothering to use it correctly and brought a large piece of duck to her mouth, eating voraciously. Her stomach's hunger had to be assuaged and yet… she felt their eyes on her and stopped altogether.
"Hai?" She asked, a bit irritated and intimidated.
"If you're that hungry, you may have the rest of the duck you carved."
She looked back to the duck and sweat dropped slightly when she realized she had cut away most of it. "Pardon my hunger…?"
The one who had spoken to her gave off the vibe that he was smiling. "We noticed. There is no need to apologize."
She finished eating the food in her plate along with the rice before she testily took up the rest of the duck, watching her hosts. When they did not stop her, she shrugged and starting eating it as well. Her hunger was mostly satisfied; she now ate at a languid pace.
She actually finished along with the rest of them at the same time and sat there, as if waiting for something to happen. All she felt were their eyes.
"Do you have to keep on your hoods?"
"No. It's more of a precaution more that anything else."
"Can you remove them please? It's really bugging me not seeing your faces."
They sat there for a full minute without acknowledging her request. She was considering repeating it when one of them removed his hood. The boy had close cropped spiky blond hair and azure eyes with what appeared to be whisker birthmarks on his cheeks, three each.
She studied his features briefly before she turned to the rest of them. They all removed their hoods as well and all of them looked the same.
"Wha…?"
"Happy?"
She rubbed her eyes as if to make sure she wasn't seeing doubles. "Did you put something in my food?"
"Yeah. Seasoning. You're welcome." The one closest to her said.
She brought her left hand up and gritted through the pain as she performed genjutsu kai. When nothing happened, she gave up. "What's going on?"
The on at the head of the table spoke up. "My name's Naruto and these guys here are my…identical brothers."
"You all look the same, that's true! But you all can't be identical brothers… how can thirteen of you be the same size, being born at the same time?" She pointed at each of them as she spoke, only getting raised eyebrows.
'I told you we should have kept on the hoods,' Narkaze griped.
'We should have just used henges on our faces too.' That one came from the torture and interrogation clone.
'Weeeellll, why didn't you say something? We should have just done that!' The taijutsu user yelled in thought, although his outward countenance was completely calm.
'She would have found out soon anyway. It's close to impossible to maintain henges while asleep,' Naruto argued.
'Narburei, you dumbass, why didn't you mention henges sooner?' Narkaze bawled.
'Enough. What's done is done.' "You needn't concern yourself with that. In any case, you're leaving in the morning. Where will you sleep?"
"I can just sleep on the ground. If I can get a blanket, I'd be perfect." As she spoke, a chilly wind blew across them, raising goose bumps that were plainly visible on her arms.
She suppressed a shiver that ran down her spine. "Make that two blankets."
".." The thirteen hosts looked to one another for another minute before one answered. "Nonsense. You can sleep in a tent. Besides, your left arm appears injured, judging from how you've taken great care to avoid using the limb."
A kunai embedded itself into their dining table right in front of Fu, splitting through and smashing her plate. In that same moment, all of them leapt away backwards from the table and turned to the presumed place the kunai came from, knocking their chairs back in the process.
Fu kept a stoic appearance but her heart sank when she saw the man. As if noticing her internal emotions, one of them turned to her.
"Do you know this man?" Narburei looked at the stocky man with brown hair and black eyes with a flak jacket curiously.
"H-hai. His name is-"
"You. Shut your mouth," the man interrupted. "Good evening."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Good evening…?"
"It seems that you found my runaway niece, Fu."
"It was more like she found us." Naruto chuckled, trying to defuse a potentially horrid situation.
"Hey, look. I'm real sorry about interrupting your dinner…" He trailed off, hinting to get his name.
"Naruto."
"Naruto. But that's my way of letting her know she's in trouble. She's run away from home, again I might add, and she needs to return. Now." The man looked to Fu forcefully, making her flinch a little.
"Fu," Naruto turned and looked to the girl. "Is this true?"
"I did run away. But I only did so 'cause-"
"That's enough. Come with me now!" The man nearly yelled.
"I only did it because the village treats me like shit!" She shouted back, refusing to be cowed. Somewhere along the line, she drew strength in the form of courage from the boys present; particularly Naruto himself.
"I don't do that!"
"You're right! You've treated me even worse, Fukira!"
"Get over here now! Don't make me have to come get you!" He yelled threateningly.
"No!"
Naruto looked between the shouting people. "Is she really mistreated where she lives?"
"She's just a demon spawn, kid! Trust me; you don't want to have anything to do with her! If I were you, I'd probably vomit all the food I ate at the same table with her!" The man sneered in disgust, as if talking about her made him sick to his stomach.
The original Uzumaki looked to the girl, more specifically her eyes. Her orange eyes in the dying daylight spoke volumes of sadness and misery. He looked to the man's dark eyes whose face looked shaded by his unkempt hair. They told stories of a man who probably believed everthing he said and that informed Naruto that everything was as clear as the difference between black and white. Fu was probably right about the abuse and he didn't try to answer in the negative if she was really mistreated.
He came to a decision.
"Well, in that case, she can just stay with me. That way, you needn't trouble yourself with her any longer."
The kunoichi turned to him, eyes wide in a mixture of amazement and shock.
"No can do, boy. It's my job to make sure she remains in the village. Whether or not people might mistreat her, if she doesn't return, she'll be dubbed as a missing Nin. So send her over."
Her eyes let the boy know that she was pleading for him to help her. "No can do." He parroted back to the man.
"Excuse me?!" Fukira growled.
"You heard me. Leave. If she wants to, she'll go back when ready. Not before, and most certainly not with you."
"…" The man took out a kunai out of his kunai holster and held it in a forward grip in front of him threateningly. "So that's your final say?"
The Tenacious Thirteen plus the girl tensed. Fu stepped back to her sack and put it on while the boys all performed Transformation Release and in a puff of smoke, all thirteen of them were revealed to be wearing upper torsal outfits. In one accord, they all drew on their hoods and pulled up their feral bandanna masks. The man readied his stance, feeling slightly daunted by the savage-looking mask and professional outfit.
They all stared off for a minute before the man threw all caution to the wind and charged at them, or more specifically, Fu.
She leapt backwards while releasing insects from her sack and removing a kunai as well. His kunai clashed with hers for a brief second, using brute strength to force his kunai inside her guard. Before their blades could reach her person, the insect swarmed the man, many of them landing on his face and started their assault.
Naruso, having seen enough used his right hand and unsealed three shuriken from his left bicep and hurled them at the man. The second they set into the man's flesh, he collapsed apart into water, indicating his use of a water clone.
Naruso turned back to his colleagues. "Don't just stand there. Let's get this guy!"
'We won't be able to use our stronger techniques if he's close to any one of us. If he's at a distance, let loose.' Naruto spoke mentally.
They answered with a nod before Narsensa spoke up. 'I can sense chakra being molded from yang energy coming from the forest. Get ready.'
"Suiton: Jūsei!" (Water release: Gunshot) A rapid incoming barrage of globs of water flew out of the tree line, heading for them. They all dodged them before four Fukiras came out, three of them obviously clones.
Naruto inched over to the mint haired kunoichi. "Fu. We're going to work in groups to take him on. You, me, Narshokku and Narken will be fighting the real one. The others will be fighting the clones." He whispered.
"Which one's real? They all look the same." She whispered back, her eyes wandering from one to another.
"He's probably the one nearest the back." 'Naruso. Separate them.'
The trap clone removed a kunai already pre-tagged from one of his weapon pouches and threw it at the feet of the men. They all leapt away from ground zero and in a split second after the explosion, a melee began.
With Fu, Naruto, Narshokku, Narken
Four pairs of eyes followed the presumed original as he landed forty feet away from the others. The lightning clone wasted no time.
'Ox, boar, horse, dog.' "Raiton: Jibashi!" (Lightning release: Electromagnetic murder) He held his palms to the ground, releasing visible electricity that danced along the ground to its target. Said man merely jumped to one side, going through a small set of handseals.
"Suiton: Jūsei!" He spat out three rapid water bullets at Narshokku, who was too slow to react. They took him in the chest, knocking him off his feet.
Fukira gave a grim smile, knowing that the jutsu had enough to punch holes in human tissue. He was shocked to hear the boy merely groan, trying to get back onto his feet. "What?!"
The boy coughed. "Wow. Really knocks the wind outta me."
The man adopted a thoughtful expression. 'Perhaps they're wearing under-armor. That's why it only buffeted him. I'll just have to use blades.' He pulled out a second kunai and held both out in forward grips, dashing to the group of four. Narken wasted no time and removed his chokuto from his back sheathe and parried the man's knives while holding to the end of his own blade with his steel-band gloves. Realizing that the boy had successfully blocked the kunais, he pulled back one and stabbed it forward.
Narken released the point of his blade and grabbed the kunai with his left hand before the offending knife could stake him in the heart. The man wrenched back the knife from the boy's grip with a grunt and substituted himself with a log, just as Fu's kunai caught him in the chest.
"Damn it!"
Naruto's reflexes kicked in as he fell flat to dodge a savage arced slice of a kunai that swept at the spot his neck previously occupied. He quickly rolled sideways to dodge a stomp and quickly got to his feet, already reaching for his baton.
"Just leave us alone!" He whipped it out, swing it down to release it's catch. It came sliding out, reaching full length.
"Hand over the bitch or I'll kill you all!" He hurled his kunai at the boy who sidestepped to dodge it. He smirked a little before he tugged on something. Naruto saw some kind of string glint in the increasingly bright moonlight and leapt high in the air using chakra, avoiding the kunai that was being held by ninja wire.
Fu threw most of her shuriken at the man but he easily dodged around them as he calculated the blond's falling time and area. Finishing that by instinct, he ran to the place and readied himself to get rid of one of his current problems.
Seeing what the man was about to do. Naruto let go of his baton and sped through handseals. "Futon: Daitoppa." (Wind release: Great breakthrough) He blew a strong wind that increased drastically as he used more and more chakra, right at the man. The man subsequently started to feel like gravity had increased over him but persevered through it, still getting ready to stab Naruto for when he landed.
Narshokku pulled his wits together and ran at the man, channeling lightening natured chakra into his tanto. Just before he carved the blade into the man's back, he abandoned his plan temporarily of killing the apparent leader to focus on the boy who seemingly had electricity crackling on his short blade.
He used his kunai to stop the diagonal slash of the boy's blade. As he blocked the weapon, he felt a harsh jolting sensation that ran through his body and started to numb his arm. He quickly pulled away from the boy, but he felt a kick to the crown of his head, making it crumple on his neck. Bearing through the pain, he grabbed Naruto's foot that was still connected against his head and swung him in a circle twice, hurling the boy into the other with the tanto, knocking them both backwards to the ground.
With Nartai, Narburei, Narmizu, Narkira
The man held Nartai's stare for a second before he had to sidestep a drop tanto slash from a boy who kept up his attack, continuing his slashing at all angles rapidly. He kept dodging as needs be before he kicked him in the gut away from him with a thrust. In the same instant, he elbowed another in the nose that tried to sneak up on him, drawing a nosebleed.
"Kira! Burei! Shit. Suiton: Mizu kasukēdo!" (Water release: Water cascade) A strong and steady torrent shot from his mouth at the man who smirked, just before the jutsu hit him.
Narmizu kept up the technique for another five seconds before he ceased. The water seeped away rapidly before the man stood up again, flexing his arms with a laugh.
"Pathetic."
'What the hell?! He took it like it's nothing! He's a clone, why didn't he dispel when it hurt him? Didn't it hurt him?'
The taijutsu using clone must have sensed his brother's thoughts. 'Cover me. I'm going to go in closer.' Without even waiting for an answer, he ran to the man in a half circle, trying to flank him. The man backpedaled, trying to keep in view but had to abandon when one who used the jutsu used it again on him. For some reason, he actually seemed to embrace going against Narmizu's water technique.
Nartai caught up to his side and started letting loose a barrage of punches. The man stopped most of them successfully and shrugged off others. And all of that changed when Nartai stepped in closer to him.
Nartai started one inch punching the man's blocking arms rapidly and just as the combo ended, it restarted with a pointing toe kick to the man's shin. The Taijutsu member started one-hit kicking the man with his knee, then shin, then forward toe kicks to the man's side. In slight desperation, he brought up his arms to block in a 'v', only for Nartai to leave an audible breaking sound in the 'radius' bone in his left arm.
'Nartai! Duck!'
Tai ducked into a crouch, allowing for three kunai to nail the man/clone in the chest and neck, knocking him back a step or two. But instead of bleeding blood, water gushed out of the man's wounds.
"What? Water clone?"
The clone fell on it's back, water pouring from his injuries. However, instead of dispersing, the water stopped flowing and the clone got back to its feet, as if nothing happened.
Narkira, a few meters away clutching his stomach could have sworn he saw something go into the clone, like tiny globules of something but he tried to ignore it. 'Whatever it was, we still need to kill it. Him? Aww fuck it.' He readied his tanto in a forward grip and charged the clone again.
He crashed into the clone's back with the tanto, sending both of them to the ground in a tumble of flaying limbs. Narkira leaned up first and started stabbing the clone all over in his back, drawing rivulets of water. The clone bucked him off of him like a horse and got up as if nothing was wrong. Narkira rolled to his feet and sliced at the man's wrists as he sent a straight punch to his face.
Getting it's wrist slashed did not deter the clone from slamming his fist in the boy's face powerfully, making his vision blur into doubles momentarily. Utilizing his enemy's preoccupation, Nartai began one inch punching the man again in the small of his back. But he would find out that he was undeterreable.
With Narkaze, Nariwa, Narishi
Doc ran his mystical palm technique over a bleeding gash in the wind clone's hand while Nariwa was busy trying to create dents in his opponent with rock covered fists, courtesy of a partial protective rock armor technique.
"It's closing up."
"Hurry up, Doc! Iwa boy over there's getting his ass kicked!" Narkaze ranted in frustration.
Nariwa paused in his assault. "I'm not the one who took a kunai in the arm, y'now!" He leapt to one side as the clone/man stabbed a kunai in the area he previously occupied. He dropped one of his rock-fists onto the man's wrist, making him drop his weapon. Nariwa sent a straight punch to the man's exposed gut, making him cough up…water?
Nariwa tried to ignore it as he punched the man again in the gut, making him double over. As soon as he did, he clapped both of his rock covered fists together over his head and did a double drop axe attack to the back of the man's head. Instead of hitting the bone of a skull, the head caved in on itself as if it were malleable. The doton bunshin slightly gasped in shock and withdrew from him as he toppled. He rejoined his fellow clones and watched the man fall to the ground gracelessly with morbid fascination.
"Is he dead?"
"I dunno, Kaze."
Narishi strode to the assumed dead man and touched his jugular to feel for a pulse. His hand came away wet and he withdrew his hand to look at the bloo…water? He gazed at the man who heaved himself up, completely in one piece and was seemingly covered in perspiration.
The man went through several hand signs in a blur before calling out his technique. "Ninpo: Moisture saber."
A water sword swirled into being into the man's right hand before he assumed a stance with it, holding it diagonally in a forward grip. Seeing this, Narkaze cursed under his breath.
"Tch. Water swords are where I draw the line. He went through three brief hand signs, ending on dog. Futon: Daitoppa!" He started blowing a strong wind at the clone who merely turned sideways with his sword to the wind, cutting it so it didn't affect him. Becoming increasingly pissed, he started channeling youki and pure yang energy in the technique. Whereas it was a gale strength before, it could now be classified as a category five hurricane or higher, if such a phenomenon existed.
"Son of a BITCH!" Narishi yelled as he fell flat to the ground, trying to stay there to avoid getting blown away. The clone started to get blown back and the technique started drawing eyes from the others who were fighting.
"That all you got, kid?!" The clone shouted the taunt.
Narkaze closed his mouth from full open to pursed, limiting the jutsu from expansive blast to concentrated stream. That final effort took off the clone's head, making it explode in a mini geyser of water. The clone fell to its knees and collapsed apart into water.
Narkaze stopped blowing altogether before hyperventilating to get back some of his air. "Hah! (Pant) You got broke (pant) you l'il bitch!"
The puddle on the ground did not answer… but it did started coming together to reform the clone that stood once more, glaring at the three boys.
"Aww, fuck me!" Narkaze vented in a yell of exasperation.
Nariwa rolled his eyes before taking out his tanto, an action currently mirrored by his two brothers. "No thanks…I'm straight."
With Narkasai, Naruso, Narsensa
"Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!" (Fire release: Great fireball technique)
The ka-bunshin blew said ball of flames that raced to its target who dodged it easily. Narkasai blew two more which the clone gave wide berths before he formed two water swords and dashed towards the three members of T13.
Inside of a second, he amongst them, slashing wildly, which the boys narrowly escaped injury. Narsensa whipped out his baton and started channeling chakra into it before blocking a water sword. The man dropped his other sword savagely unto the baton, making the sensor clone buckle his knees under the force and weight. Before he could lose the confrontation as well as his life, the man took a dozen shuriken to the chest and gut, thrown by Naruso.
The throwing stars fell out of him, wet with water and refocused his attention on Narsensa, who was smirking.
"Bang."
'Narsensa' blew up in a Bunshin Daibakuha, blowing the man to into droplets of water due to the chakra explosion. The sensor clone rejoined his companions via a shunshin of quick steps and closed his baton with a click. "That takes care of that problem." He sighed.
Narkasai tapped his shoulder and pointed behind him to take a look. He did, only to see the a puddle coming together from the water droplets and reforming the man.
The sensor clone sighed. "Really?"
Naruso set his face before limbering his arms. "Uso Ninpo: Shuriken josu!" (Lies ninja art: Shuriken multiplier)
His hands became like blurs to his shuriken seals, throwing eight of the weapon stars at once, sending a rapid fire barrage into the water clone. All of them hit their mark, or more specifically, the clones upper torso, including its neck and face. Naruso kept up the attack but soon gradually stopped altogether when his arms grew tired.
'I must've thrown about two hundred shuriken into that guy.' He watched as the shurikens started falling out of the man's body like a steel torrent, falling into a growing pile that made metallic noises. Water seeped over the clone's 'wounds' and soon, it was as good as new.
That is, until a kunai with a paper bomb tied to it attached itself in the clone's left eye.
Naruso snapped his fingers to trigger the chakra detonation and the tag exploded, creating a deluge of water everywhere. Some of the water splashed Narkasai in the face. He angrily swiped it away, using fire chakra to dry it rapidly in annoyance and watched the pesky water clone reform itself yet again.
"Damn it! What does it take to kill these things?!"
Narsensa was about to assume a defensive stance when he saw the clone make a fist, giving off an offensive vibe. 'Great. We can't even beat a clone, much less-' He squinted as he observed the clone's fist, noticing that it's index finger was missing. "What the… hey! Its finger is missing!"
His two compatriots looked at the man's hand, noting the mishap. "Would yah look at that…" Narkasai's mind back-tracked to when he evaporated the water from his face. 'I wonder if… Hey Naruso!'
'What?' The trapping clone asked irritably.
'I dried some of the water that splashed my face. It could be the reason it's missing some. I need you to distract him while take him out with a fireball.'
Naruso stroked his chin. 'Interesting theory. Let's do it then. Start flanking it from the right while I stay here and throw kunai. Narsensa will try to keep him better occupied at close range and kawarimi when the fireball hits.'
Narsensa, overhearing the plan dashed to the water clone, baton at the ready. The man merely intercepted the baton swing at his neck with a kunai and suddenly, each of the two were fighting for the upper hand in the jabs tradeoff. In the meantime, Narkasai ran as planned to the right of the clone, heading to it's nearest blind spot while readying some of it's yang energy and youki. Naruso started chucking kunai with remarkable precision, the knives taking root in the clone while at the same time missing Narsensa.
"Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!" He blew a larger fireball than normal at the clone that scorched the ground as it traveled. He the sidestepped a meter right and blew another one and then two meters left and blew another.
In a sense of alarm, the water clone turned his head sharply to see the three fire balls coming straight for him. In his error, he failed to stop the next attack from Narsensa that struck his left clavicle and broke it, clean fracture. Not yet done, Narsensa started beating the water clone to it's knees and kawarimied at the last second, leaving the hapless water clone to a well deserved fate.
A searing twenty seconds later, the fireballs dissipated at ground zero where the clone previously occupied. The three T13 members came wearily to the spot, eyeing the burning grass and the lack of any water forming.
Narkasai started coughing some smoke. "(Cough) Well, now we know how to beat 'em. Let's go-"
Narsensa glared at him. "Before you make some stupid ass comment, let's just go. Period."
Thirty minutes later
Sparks gashed from clashing steel before Fukira leapt away. All fifteen people were growing weary from the conflict and the last of Fukira's special water clones were already dispersed, thanks to the blasted boy who was practically spitting out dozens of fireballs.
"Give up, Fukira. You're leaving here, empty handed." Naruto shouted.
"If he leaves at all," Narkira said. "If he does leave, it'll be in a body bag."
Fukira smirked. "You have no fuckin' idea who you're dealing with!" He formed a unique hand sign, forming a snake hand seal but the pinky finger stuck straight out. "Precipitation clones no jutsu!"
Thirteen more water clones swirled into being at his sides, making the fourteen teens groan in frustration. "God-damnit! I can't keep using the fireball technique so much! My throat's suffering burns right now!" Narkasai wheezed.
"I have no experience with that. That's out of my realm of expertise." Narishi said. "You will have to heal naturally from the youki."
Narmizu coughed. "I'm the worst person for a fight like this. Even now with the air getting really dry."
Naruto looked to the water clone with his peripherals. "The air's getting dry?"
"Hai."
Fu gained a thoughtful look. "I feel it too. Like the moisture's gone." She snapped her fingers in revelation. "He must be using the humidity to create the clones! That's why they could reform so easily! The water reassembles the clones through the air, by manipulating the chakra!"
Fukira grinned before he chuckled. "Well. And here I thought that you had no brains, Fu."
"Don't call my name in your disgusting mouth!" She growled out. "Especially after all you've done to me! You've made my life hell to live, each waking moment a nightmare there is no release from!"
"You think I'm making your life…hell? Everyday I see your fuckin' face is a reminder of what I've lost, seven tails bitch!" He waved his hand at the teens. "Kill them all!" He yelled to his clones.
All of the water clones sneered at the teens before they started flickering with high chunin speeds towards the group.
"Everyone! Release the seals!" Naruto yelled, slapping his own chest and channeled chakra in his seal. "Ichi!"
"Ichi!" (x 12)
It became clear in a moment that everyone was fighting their own separate opponent, whether by trading jutsu, fighting with taijutsu, weapons or ninja art.
It was also apparent that several people were at a significant disadvantage.
Narmizu was one, using water manipulated techniques on his opponent would only make it stronger and possibly raise the humidity in the air, making things worse for everyone else. He was limited to bukijutsu and taijutsu; even using a daibakuha would certainly affect comrades fighting nearby. Narkasai was another, no longer being able to create fireball jutsus. The water clone enemy was close to beating him down into the ground.
Fu was the worst off. Her current speed could not compete with her uncle's or his clones. She also had a water and sub wind affinity, having only a small experience, even with her first. Her insects could not properly fight for either, not being able to keep up with the clone that was turning her into his personal punching bag.
Narmizu took a powerful sweep kick to the head, nearly knocking him out and making him see doubles. In the same second, Narkasai took a haymaker to the gut, getting all of wind forced out of him, coughing up blood droplets. Almost immediately following, Narkira lost a battle of clashing weapons, getting a savage cut in his arm, right to the bone.
"Gah!" the killer clone yelled uncharacteristically before he dashed off to clash again before the loss of blood weakened him too much. He stabbed forward into the clone's gut and left it there. Still screaming, he started buffeting the clone with rapid fire jab punches to it's face, disfiguring it and making it bleed water.
"Suiton: Jūsei!" A water clone spat more water bullets at Nariwa, who sunk in the earth to dodge it, using a chika hira. The water clone formed a water saber and started stabbing into the ground with it, trying to injure his foe, but to no avail. Suddenly, the water clone was pulled into the ground.
"Doton: Daburu danto jisatsu." (Earth release: Double decapitation suicide) Nariwa leapt out of the ground close by and created rock covered fists, before proceeding to decimate the clone's exposed head.
"Doc! Give me some help over here! I'm bleeding freely!" Narkira yelled to the doctor, currently trying to beat the cervical vertebrae in the clone's neck into mush with his baton. He leapt backwards while creating a clone that tackled the injured water clone to the ground before going off in a small level daibakuha. Without pausing to see if the clone was dead or not, he ran to his fellow clone before trying to heal it.
He was close to sealing the wound closed and gave him a blood pill. While taking the pill, Narkira's eyes widened, staring behind him. Narishi turned and looked to see the clone he had 'defeated' reassemble itself from the very air. All around him, he could see others getting injured while the oppressors appeared to be winning.
Naruto could see the same out of the corner of his eyes, seeing his brothers losing the fight. But Fu…
She was close to losing her life.
Her water clone foe grabbed her mouth before it held her up off of her feet, clutching her face tightly. In that same moment, Water ran all over her face and around her head, making a large bubble of water. The Takigakure kunoichi started to scream bubbles, beating weakly at her about-to-be killer, trying to free herself. But the water clone, not one to draw things out, created a water saber with it's free hand to stab her.
Which it did, right through her exposed midriff. The water sword made it's entry and exited through her back, water and blood mixing together and dripping off the blade on the other side.
What the actual f*****ccckkkk! Did I write that scene? Am I f*ckin' crazy? Insane?!
No I'm not! At least, that's what I believe. Right now, I feel really bad about writing this, no lie. I mean, Fu is a favorite character of mine, despite her extremely limited screentime. Return in a fortnight, everyone. That's all folks.
Sayonara.