Hola Folks!
Wow, summer break is awesome; another chapter! Wanted to quickly reply to Guest and your review: Thank you very much, I appreciate constructive criticism like yours and it helped a lot. I'm sorry you will no longer be joining me in my journey but I thank you none the less for trying it out. I will say however, that I do slightly disagree w/you on your comment on literature not being visual media; although not literally a visual presentation, the purpose of literature is to give you details so you can mentally paint a visual of what the story is telling you. If that cannot be achieved, then that might mean either the writer has failed or the reader did not comprehend. In this case, I might have failed you and I am sorry for that. As for my story dragging, I actually 50% agree (imagine writing it lol); the other 50% is due to the fact that this is not a regularly scheduled story. Because of that, the story feels like it's dragging when actually, those 5-6 chps can be read quickly as a whole. I wish I could update regularly, but I can't and I'm sorry for that as well. But the climax of the action is coming up, so for the other readers who agreed with this issue, I promise the pace is picking up because I'm tired too! _
I am still learning as a writer so I hope you guys can stick with me even though I'm not the best—yet ;).
Furthermore, if you've liked this story so far, maybe you'll like my other ones on my page, especially the one that I am currently writing, Not the Same as Them. Please read and review, enjoy!
Eggs and Bacon,
CrimsonNi
*~NUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNU~*
Just what the fuck…?
She couldn't believe her eyes. There before her, in his more demonic form, was Tetsu-sama. What was he doing here? She thought he had escaped to safety; that was the whole point of the plan, of all this fighting! Perhaps Kurama-sama wanted to outnumber the enemy…? But that didn't make any sense, he was supposed to have escaped! Realizing that there was no point in questioning everything, Mama wrapped her hair around a couple of nearby branches and used the momentum to leap forward.
"Kurama-sama, we have everything under control. You should continue on escaping."
"They have sent reinforcements," he replied with the shake of his head.
Mama was now even more confused. "Even more reason to run! We can hold them off—"
She was suddenly cut off when Kurama wrapped one human-like claw around Mama's neck. She coughed and choke, trying to pry his prickling fingers off of her, but to no avail. Tetsu, mentally witnessing the scene, thrashed against Kurama, snarling at his whimsical behavior.
"What are you doing? Stop it! Have you gone mad?!"
Kurama forced Mama to face him until her gasping breath was only an inch away from his face. She looked right at him with a mixture of fear and confusion. "Do you understand now?" He asked.
After letting go of her throat, he gave her a few moments to catch her breath. "Y-Yes, Kurama-sama. Forgive me."
"Then see to it."
Still trembling, she nodded and resumed focus to her primary objective; fighting alongside Squirt against the other two shinobi. Tetsu was beyond vexed.
"Kurama, what the fuck are you playing at? What did you tell her?! Tell me something, Goddammit!"
Remain quiet, you child
Leave this battle to me
A victor will soon be decided
And it will be in thanks to me
"You narcissistic fuck! Fuck you! I hate you!"
Kurama laughed at the vulgarity being thrown at him. Of course Tetsu did not agree to his plans, that was to be expected. In any other circumstance, it would have riled him up and given him a headache, but today, he was enjoying it. Eventually, the kid would see it his way. Until then, he had to wait it out.
Kiba and Sai, witnesses to the whole scene, were beyond baffled. They didn't know who the original was, but by the looks and the reactions from the female clone, that was evidence enough that this new being was higher ranked. Clearly, the very Tetsu they were looking for. It was understood that the female was holding them off so that the original could escape…then why was he here? They were already having trouble with the duo they were dealing with now; how could they deal with him too? Not to mention that he didn't even look human, but like some distorted canine-hybrid of sorts.
"Sai, what the fuck do we do now?" Kiba whispered.
Sai took a short look at Kiba, aware that he was battered from holding off when the female had attacked him. He was littered with cuts around the torso area, bruises from being thrown around, and his skin was spotted with bloody patches that dried in numerous places. His fellow comrade was near or already at his limit. He wasn't fairing any better; as cunning as he personally was, the brute strength of that child-like demon on top of the female toying with him was exhausting. Looking at all of these circumstances, what could they do differently now that they couldn't do before? However, Sai hated giving up and most of all, he only did all of this not only as a shinobi obeying his Hokage, but as a son proving his father wrong.
"We are going to fight, Kiba-kun," he replied matter-of-factly.
Kiba looked at him as if he had lost his mind. "Are you awake? The problem is we can't fight them—"
"I disagree. We can fight them. We might not win, but we can fight them."
So Sai has lost his mind…Then again, he wasn't entirely wrong. Before being recently interrupted by the new arrival, they were just fighting off the two opponents despite coming to terms that they weren't any closer to winning. A long groan escaped Kiba, realizing that this was it. He was going to die in some muggy forest with the worst circus act as his final gig. "Oh, fuck you, Sai!"
"I've thought about it too, Kiba-kun. I am saddened I hadn't gotten the chance to let you try."
A dark blush burned Kiba's face when he saw the sincerity on Sai's face. "BAKA! How can you think about that kind of stuff at a time like this?!"
"I've read in a book somewhere that your life and thoughts flash before your eyes in a critical situation, does it not?"
"That's only when you experience a near-death experience! You haven't been hit yet!"
"Oh my God, will you two just bang already?!" A female voice shouted.
Both Sai and Kiba looked to see the female facing them, expecting to see her trademark smirk. Instead, she was standing a few feet away with a scowl on her face. She looked peeved and generally unhappy, in comparison to before, at least.
"What's it to you? Weren't you too busy getting chocked by your pimp over there?" Kiba's inner coward screeched at his own stupidity for actually saying that out loud. You dumb piece of shit! She's going to kill you now! Either her or that THING over there that's glaring at you for saying that! WHY DID YOU SAY THAT?!
Mama's scowl deepened. "You'll regret that. Squirt, rip him in two!" Just as Squirt roared in acknowledgement, another disturbance interrupted them. Coming now from the northern side, four men busted through another wall of bushes. They were all tall but two were more rounded compared to their lanky counterparts. One man had long, white spikey hair and red robing, another with similarly long black hair, although his was more like black silk. He was pale, almost greyish like with some thin common clothing. The third male had his brown hair up into a ponytail; he was more on the thin side but his fishnet attire gave him more of a bulkier look. The final male was the biggest in width more than in height, but he looked solid and more compact. His hair was as wild as the painted patterns on his face and his armor gave him a more threatening look.
"Who the fuck are you people?" Mama questioned.
Jiraiya, who had stepped up upon seeing the beautiful women, glared at her as darkly as he could. Which wasn't much since Jiraiya could never stay angry too long at a woman…
"Don't play your games! We all know it's you disguising yourself as a woman!"
"Jiraiya, you idiot, the real Tetsu is standing over there," Orochimaru pointed out. All three men followed his line of vision and saw the same person they fought before at the town but noticed some major differences.
"Then who's this beauty?! You mean…she's real?!" Jiraiya smiled with drool leaking out from the side of his mouth upon giving a lengthier look at Mama. He eyed her from the bottom up, loving every inch of her tan, sweaty, lustful body.
"Keep staring at me like that, old man, and I'll make sure you won't live to see your next birthday."
"Ooh, feisty, I love that. C'mon baby, show me what you got!"
Mama turned to look at Kurama and he—not so subtly—nodded at her. Whatever they silently conveyed to each other, Mama knew the message and nodded in return. She then pumped chakra into her hair and expanded it until it was a massive mass of blonde hair. Many of the ends twisted together and formed needle-like pillars, hovering in the air until Mama waved them down to strike at Jiraiya. As those two fought, Squirt seemed unable to decide on whether to help or fight off the rest of the enemies. He felt a sense of duty come over him at seeing Mama struggle and he wanted nothing more than to protect her.
"Squirt," a heavy voice called. But he couldn't. That voice didn't need to yell to get his attention; he knew it far too well. "Fight the fat one."
Chouji balked but then puffed up in anger. His face was turning as red as his armor. Shikamaru groaned but it wasn't sure whether at his friend's overreaction or at Kurama's mistake in saying the 'F' word.
"Chouji, don't get so riled up."
"Shikamaru…I'm not fat. I'm just big-boned.
"I know that, so then don't let it get to you. He's just trying to mess with you." Man, how troublesome.
Chouji paid little mind and stepped forward to face this second beast. He took a look at his opponent and wasn't too excited upon seeing the scarred and boiled skin. Even from how far they stood from one another, Chouji could smell the monster's burning skin. Despite that, he was ready to fight. He had to; for his honor and his family's; because they weren't fat, dammit, they were big-boned. The two stared for a couple seconds longer before Squirt unleased an animalistic growl and Chouji his own personal man-howl. They then charged at one another, colliding in a vicious manner that left the remaining observers flinching.
"Now that leaves you remaining four." Orochimaru, Shikamaru, Sai, and Kiba all looked at Tetsu. From the way he spoke, it sounded as if he were standing right next to them, but in fact, he was still across the field a long ways from them. They all secretly wondered how he could sound so clear in all of the chaos. "Those two," pointing to Sai and Kiba."Are to remain where they are. I'll allow them rest. As for you," now pointing to Shikamaru. "I sense little chakra reserves so you will act as fighter B; you will only jump in when needed. That leaves you," now looking at Orochimaru. "You will be my fighter A. Any questions?"
Surprisingly, no one objected. Kiba was relieved that he didn't have to lift a finger and Sai, although not too happy with being told what to do, was happy to get a breather. Shikamaru didn't really care because to be quite frank, he was going to do that anyway. Orochimaru was the only one who seemed deterred by how cocky Tetsu was talking to him. Something didn't seem quite right.
"Who exactly are you?"
"You ask now? But you were so familiar with my body last night…"
"No, I recall being more acquainted with the howling bitch. I was nowhere near intoxicated enough to confuse that person with you."
Kurama did not like to be one-upped in any category, especially in wits. He was going to slowly kill this fool, or at least he wanted to but that didn't coincide with time by this point. For that alone, this man lucked out. Meanwhile, however, Tetsu was FURIOUS. Not only was Kurama secretly dictating shit with the clones, but he was deciding his own matches, forgetting that they were supposed to be escaping! But no matter how loud or hard he screamed, it all went to deaf ears. Kurama was now focused on Orochimaru and for some reason, that didn't sit well with Tetsu.
He witnessed Orochimaru get into his own fighting stance while Kurama flexed his chakra, causing it to leak out through his skin, forming a familiar fox-shaped cloak. The three other shinobi that weren't fighting looked in awe, but Tetsu could also see their bodies slightly trembling from the evil feel of the red chakra.
"Forgive me, you clearly witnessed my more vulnerable side. I can assure you, you will never see that side of me again," Kurama growled.
"You shouldn't make such rash decisions," Orochimaru said while chuckling. "Since you were clearly enjoying it."
Kurama let his anger get the better of him as he let out some inhuman growl before he pounced forward. The cloak forced his body to run like that of a fox as opposed to a human, which gave him unimaginable speed. Orochimaru didn't let their last encounter deter him from pulling his arms into his sleeves to allow the horde of snakes to come pouring out. Perhaps their speed couldn't match the fox, but they still managed to slither quickly enough to cover the entire area between them.
Same tricks, huh? Kurama thought. He envisioned himself landing right in the middle of the snake pit, smashing some of their skulls and using his chakra to kill off the rest. However, he was not expecting for Orochimaru to wordlessly raise his arms and have all of the snakes open their mouths to unveil arrows in each one. Clever. The first wave of snakes fired simultaneously, unleashing a flood of arrows. How they fired with enough force and accuracy was something Kurama had to wonder for another time. Not that it mattered; Kurama simply swished his tail and unleashed his own wave of ammunition—fire. The unfortunate thing about big techniques like that is that it creates a lot of smoke and debris, making it harder to detect any immediate form of retaliation. Orochimaru knew this. He immediately ordered his second wave of snakes to fire. Kurama had little difficulty in dodging or protecting himself however, that was with the assumption that these were ordinary arrows. Some of them were, but the rest were some specialized material that pierced through his chakra cloak! What was worse was that their tips were soaked in poisonous venom. Kurama grunted as one of the arrows hit him in the arm.
"That type of poison usually takes a couple minutes to settle in before it numbs your whole system. Of course, if you move around too much, it'll travel all the quicker. Don't worry, though, that amount of dosage won't kill you."
Kurama looked at Orochimaru, noting how immensely smug he was. He couldn't wait to wipe it off. He began to chortle but containing his laughter in for too long only made him want to laugh louder. Orochimaru's smile was now gone. "That's a cute attempt, dumbass, but you assume too much. Poison has no effect on me." As if to prove his point, Kurama pulled out the arrow from his arm and discarded it as if it really were just a cheap trinket.
"I should rephrase my first question; what exactly are you?"
"Lesser than a god, greater than a human."
Kurama wasted no more time in lunging forward, this time lowering his body closer to the ground to gain more speed. He wanted to latch his mouth onto this man, anywhere, it didn't matter, as long as he caught him. He wanted to reenact how he killed that lowly guard back at the village.
"No! Stop, Kurama, stop killing people!" Tetsu screamed. Kurama paid no heed.
He closed in on Orochimaru, his mouth already wide open ready to catch any bout of flesh he could. But just as he wrapped one claw around Orochimaru's forearm, he was suddenly stopped. He couldn't move. The sensation suddenly felt extremely familiar.
"Fighter B!" Kurama snarled.
"I thought it was time to jump in," Shikamaru replied, smirking as he witnessed the furious look on Kurama's face.
"When I break free, I will rip your insides out from your mouth and make sure you are conscious for it!"
He struggled against the hold, knowing that Shikamaru wasn't strong enough to hold him for long. He wasn't completely wrong as Shikamaru began sweating from trying to keep his fingers locked for the seal.
"Orochimaru-sama, this would be a great time to do something before he gets out and rips my insides out from my mouth!" Shikamaru said through gritted teeth.
Orochimaru, who was impressed by Shikamaru's impressive timing, snapped out of his momentary pause and readied his fingers for a Five Finger Seal. As all tips of his fingers began glowing a bright blue, he approached Kurama, apt to slam them into his abdomen. Unfortunately, the timing was a bit too late; Kurama shook free, thwarting Shikamaru back a couple steps.
"I thought you had him," Orochimaru chided.
"Well I thought you'd be faster than that!" Fucking old man.
Just as Shikamaru was planning on repeating his clever attack, he was suddenly tackled onto the ground with a very angry beast on top of him. The demonic red eyes were enough to tell him he was going to die. Kurama opened his mouth and positioned his head so he could rip Shikamaru's neck off, but he couldn't get the chance when a slimy snake wrapped its way around his own neck. Shikamaru could see Orochimaru holding on the one end of the snake, pulling hard enough to get Kurama's weight off of him. He didn't have to be told twice, he immediately began shuffling away.
"Shikamaru-san, now would be a great time to do something before he pulls away and kills us both."
"How does Jiraiya-sama put up with you?!" The normally quiet man screamed. He was fed up with this troublesome shit.
All of a sudden, Shikamaru heard Kiba's dog, Akumaru barking incessantly. The dog sounded as if it were being poked by some hot iron rod. Chancing a look, Shikamaru saw the dog barking at some random direction with his tail and ears pointed straight up. At a time like this, he shouldn't be distracted but something told him that this was pretty important.
"Akumaru, what's wrong? What's over there?" Kiba demanded, trying to calm his dog.
It suddenly clicked and a smile was Shikamaru's only reaction. "Let him go, Orochimaru-sama."
Still struggling with trying to keep Kurama contained, Orochimaru was puzzled. "Have you hit your head…?
"No, I'm still coherent but regardless, you should let him go. He won't kill us."
"The…fuck I won't," Kurama struggled to say.
"What makes you so certain?"
Shikamaru smiled again and just pointed in the direction Akumaru was still barking at. Just as Orochimaru was about to ask, an obnoxiously green figure sprouted forward.
"YOSH!" He screamed and zeroed in on the scary looking person that was being choked by a snake…? Just what the hell happened? Nevertheless, Lee wasn't one to ask those kinds of questions and simply charged ahead. Orochimaru didn't have to be told a third time; he let go of the snake and allowed Rock Lee to handle the rest.
Lee landed a solid kick into Kurama's rib cage, causing several major cracks and breaks. Kurama couldn't help but keel over and spit out blood from the violent attack. Due to his brief moment of discombobulation, Tetsu found that to be the perfect moment to take his body back; so he did. Kurama was mentally thrown back into his cage while Tetsu regained awareness of his body, feeling the horrible sensations that his body just endured. Everyone immediately noticed the cloak and general appearance vanish into thin air, leaving a normal looking person behind.
"Yo!" One voice greeted, now passing over through the same direction that Lee had come from.
"Kakashi-sensei, could you have been any slower?" Shikamaru said with a relieved sigh.
"Maa, my bad. We…got a little lost."
Orochimaru, Shikamaru, Sai, Kiba, and even Akumaru all looked at the three shinobi that just arrived in shock. Neji, who was right behind Kakashi, looked down in what appeared to be utter shame.
"Lee ran in the wrong direction; we had to catch him before turning back to here." No longer being able to stand the dumbfounded stares, Neji approached Lee, who was holding Tetsu down. The person was struggling to stand, still coughing up blood every time he moved. Perhaps I should block his chakra channels before taking him back. "Lee, get a better hold of him."
"It would be better to use a Five Finger Seal mark to disable him from accessing the demon's chakra," Orochimaru added.
Neji nodded, agreeing that that technique would be very appropriate to use. "Yes, I should corrupt some chakra points and then you can use your seal; it should hold him off until we get back to the village."
Lee held Tetsu's upper body, leaving his legs to weakly kick out as he continued to struggle free. Neji hovered over him, using his infamous Byakugan to learn of what points were best to hit. Before he landed his first hit, both Lee and Neji could faintly hear the person below them say something. Looking at Tetsu's face, they could see pure fear in his eyes, making Lee and Neji confused.
"Maybe he's afraid you're going to kill him?" Lee inquired. "Ssh, don't worry, Criminal-san, we won't kill you. Just arrest you."
But Tetsu still looked frightened as Neji neared. He mumbled again, this time having Neji and Lee lean in closer for a better listen. "A…A-Akat..suki."
"Akatsuki?"
"Yeah, that's what I heard." Lee agreed.
"We'll investigate it later, just get on with it," Orochimaru ordered.
Even though Neji didn't appreciate the rudeness, he agreed to hurry and tackled several points within seconds. The process was painless, but Tetsu grunted anyway, feeling each hit as if it were asphyxiating him. Orochimaru then approached and readied his fingers once again for the seal. As he stabbed his fingers into Tetsu's stomach, he felt a hand weakly grab a hold of his own; the owner was Tetsu with a pleading look.
"Lesser than a god and now lesser than a human."
Whatever Tetsu was going to say—if he could say it—died on his lips right as he passed out. Once his head slumped to the side, both Mama and Squirt poofed into thin air.
"NOOO! I was still researching her!" Jiraiya screamed from afar. Orochimaru shook his head at his friend's stupidity.
"They got him, you idiot!" kiba yelled. He then processed his own words and grinned as if he were just told it was his birthday. "THEY GOT HIM"
Meanwhile…
Napo straddled Sasuke with a sword in his hand, struggling to plunge it through his neck. Sasuke was still so strong even after all he went through and survived.
"I'm going to kill you-pane!"
"Fuck…you!"
They grunted trying to one up the other but at the moment, they were of equal strength. Somehow, Napo managed to loosen one hand to punch Sasuke in the face and lower the sword by a couple centimeters. The point was now just poking Sasuke's neck, needing only a little push to plunge downward, when suddenly, Napo stopped.
"No…," he whispered.
Before Sasuke could process what was going on, Napo disappeared, leaving a cloud of white smoke that vanished into the air.
~*SUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSU*~
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