Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the manga or the anime. Shippuuden's back soon! They left us hanging a little… grr. I'm doing my best not to leave you hanging though. Enjoy!
Chapter 21: From Bad to Worse
The tranquil peace that had surrounded the bridge of heaven and earth less than half an hour ago was now truly destroyed by the fighting that had broken out. Already the very earth had been shaken by the power of the assorted ninja, the ground cracked and broken and a number of trees felled.
Kabuto smiled to himself as yet another tree collapsed a little way away, its thick trunk sporting a large hole in the middle. He could feel its impact on the ground quite clearly.
"I wonder how long I should keep this going" the grey blue haired ninja thought disinterestedly, activating his large chakra scalpels he used as weapons at the approach of the dog and boy. It wouldn't be long until he was found, even with the scent distractions he had set. He reviewed his wounds.
"I used quite a bit of chakra to heal myself after that punch" he considered, remembering the combination Kakashi and Sakura had pulled on him with a rueful grin.
"I should avoid using too much energy on this one" he thought to himself. The decision made, he stopped channelling chakra to his hands and whipped out a small scroll from his pocket, unfurling it away from himself with a flourish. On it were hundreds of symbols written in black ink, which never seemed to repeat themselves.
"Ninpo: Angunahitobito (1)" Kabuto murmured.
As the words left his lips the symbols on the scroll began to coalesce into a number of black shapes. In a few short seconds the shapes had started to expand on the paper, and Kabuto stepped back as a jet black foot emerged from the scroll. The first foot was soon followed by another, before a second and then third set of legs emerged from the white parchment in the sound ninja's hands. The first set of legs bent at the knees, allowing an equally dark torso to slip out, soon followed by arms and a bald, black head.
As the other bodies copied the movements of the first, the now fully formed dark person seemed to shape shift, as if something was writhing underneath its skin. At the same time its shadowy skin seemed to brighten and gain texture, filling out in certain places. Clothes seemed to warp from it, and the colour of the entire body seemed to start to resemble something human. Its skin was getting pinker, its hair was growing out of its scalp and that too was changing colour. As it finished its transformation, its four companions were halfway through each of theirs, each morphing from the original dark template and into completely different looking people.
However, they all currently had three things in common. They were all ninja, evident from the faded hitai-ate on each of their foreheads, though not all of them held the same village symbol. All five were also still crouched down on their haunches, their heads bowed and their arms hanging limply by their sides. The third similarity was the trick to Kabuto's technique. They were all dead. Their skin was a pale hue resulting from the fact that blood no longer ran through their veins. Their clothing was also ripped in certain places, and those places had bloodstains ringing them, marking the entry of some sort of sharp implement into the skin of the long dead cadaver. But it was the eyes that most obviously revealed their soulless state. Unseeing, faded to a disturbing milky white, and in one case entirely removed, the eyes of the five summoned bodies informed the beholder that some ungodly act had taken place to re-animate these walking corpses. Kabuto smiled, adjusting his glasses.
"With luck I won't have to fight at all" he thought to himself.
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Now less than fifty metres away, Kiba had finally located the sound ninja, his blood still boiling. But by now, though he was still angry and in his more animalistic state, he was beginning to think again. He knew he had been distracted…
"But why?" he asked himself. His question was answered immediately, by both his eyes and nose. The stench of death hit him immediately and strongly, and affected him more that the ungodly sight that was approaching. But there was no time for revulsion, even if it did make him physically sick.
Leaping forwards and beginning his spin, Kiba took the initiative back, causing the un-dead ninja to scatter. As he came out of his spin he landed perfectly, but was now surrounded by the five summoned ninja. Kiba weighed up his options.
"Should I send Akamaru after that glasses freak?" he wondered, a split second before another attack was launched. This time, he wasn't able to start his spin fast enough and so had to resort to his backup plan to avoid the attacks, his nose.
In an instant he knew he had made a mistake, as the first corpse ninja swung a sword at him. He dodged to the left, but barely made it, and a split second later he had to duck to avoid the second attack as three battered but sharp kunai sped at him. The third attack seemed to be synchronised with the rest, an eyeless ninja aiming a kick at his face which he was only able to parry.
"They're dead!" he screamed to himself in frustration as he did so "…of course their movements will be different to living people!" but he didn't have time to think for much longer than that.
Kiba had left himself open to the fourth member of the group, and despite its sightless eyes this attacker was perfectly aimed to scratch him across the face with its blackened fingernails. Using the momentum given him by the parry, Kiba attempted to shift his head out of the way. But the attack was too fast and too well organised, and the blow glanced him across the left cheek, throwing him backward and opening a deep cut on his face, bisecting the usual trademark red slash that was there. Kiba winced in pain, and flying through the air he spied the final member of the soulless group, coming in for the kill. Kiba closed his eyes; there was nothing he could do but hope…
His faith was rewarded by the roar of a spinning white animal that threw itself into the last of the charging bodies. In a futile attempt at self preservation, the figure raised an arm only to have it torn off, the rest of the body being thrown to the floor like a rag doll.
Kiba landed, albeit slightly heavily, onto the forest floor and gave a grin.
"Thanks buddy" he murmured to his white companion.
Akamaru planted himself in front of Kiba protectively and gave a roar of defiance to anyone attempting to harm his friend, whether living or dead. Kiba nodded, getting fired up again, and he wiped the blood from his cheek with the back of his hand.
"Screw any other plans, I need Akamaru alongside me" he told himself with grim determination. He noted the now one armed ninja rise to its feet and Akamaru growled to him. Kiba nodded.
"Take out the legs if possible, got it" he acknowledged, readying himself for another attack. He wouldn't be caught off guard again, the Tsuuga was the best form of attack and defence, and while he was spinning they were both incredibly difficult to harm. They would also cover each other the way they always did, in this situation, it was stick with what you know.
"Here we go Akamaru!" Kiba shouted as he dropped down to all fours and started running forward, his team mate right beside him. In an unspoken agreement, both of them headed for the fifth un-dead ninja missing an arm, then immediately found themselves surrounded, shuriken thrown at them from five different directions. Kiba smiled to himself as he used his increased speed to weave his way around the projectiles and continued his charge towards the injured enemy which was now moving backwards. He was leaving Akamaru behind, but Kiba knew exactly what his companion would do.
"Akamaru! Dynamic Marking!" Kiba called backwards, the very moment the dog leapt into the air. Dodging most of the shuriken thrown at him, the rest were flung away by Akamaru's metallic hide as he span in the air. Simultaneously, the white furred team eight member marked four of the five corpses with his acidic discharge, the areas that he hit beginning to smoke as the rotten flesh of the soulless creatures began to dissolve.
But Akamaru hadn't finished yet. Again exhibiting a move that Kakashi and Sakura had previously been privy to, the large dog now chose to release some of the spiky fur that lined his hide. His still spinning body threw the needle like hairs at incredible speeds and Akamaru released as many of them as possible towards the points that had just been hit by the acidic urine, allowing the corrosive liquid to penetrate the insides of the corpses. As the white dog stopped his spin and dropped to the ground the corpse that had been nearest collapsed from the inside, falling into a mushy pile filled with needles. It had absorbed far too much punishment to allow it to continue fighting. Again Akamaru roared his defiance at the ones left standing, before jumping away to join his team mate.
Now way out in front of Akamaru, Kiba was now concentrating on his task. He dimly realised he was moving towards the outskirts of the forest again, and then heard the strangely comforting roar of his friend.
"Tsuuga!" he shouted, throwing himself into a spin. As he did so the corpse raised a weapon with its one good arm but Kiba was too quick for it, using two trees to change his direction and attack from behind. This time he came closer, and knocked the deceased ninja off balance.
"Now!" Kiba yelled inwardly. Coming out of his spin, he allowed his right hand to smoothly draw an explosive kunai. Releasing it as his arm extended, his aim turned out to be perfect and the carcass detonated as the kunai buried itself deeply in the decomposed tissue of the dead ninja's chest. Revelling in his victory, Kiba twisted in the air and at the same moment, Akamaru burst from the trees, Kiba landing on his back in a perfectly synchronised movement.
"How many did you get Akamaru!?" Kiba shouted, adrenalin still pumping through his body. The dog gave an equally excited bark back and Kiba patted him proudly on the head.
The moment was broken within seconds, as a blinding blue light penetrated the trees, followed by a large explosion. Akamaru sped up; he didn't need to be told. A moment later, they burst through the trees and into the clearing.
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Sensing movement Sakura's head whipped around, her gaze shifting from Kakashi's injured form. To her relief Kiba was safe and well, though to her surprise riding on the back of his dog and as the two of them landed, skidding slightly due to their combined weight and speed, she turned back to the snake Sannin and the injured Kakashi in front of her.
Something didn't seem right…
"Kakashi-sensei…" she thought worriedly, looking at his bloody hand.
Kiba was also shocked by the state Kakashi was in, though admittedly less so than Sakura. In fact, he was more angry than anything else.
"I knew he was too tired!" he raged. And Kiba knew that Kakashi was still pulling off an amazing feat by looking only as bad as he did. His nose was telling him that the Jounin was one small step from collapse.
So when the silver haired man gave the signal to attack, Kiba almost disobeyed.
What stopped him was the ultimate faith Sakura put in her long-time sensei, throwing herself forward without question. Kiba followed behind, catching up a second later due to his sheer speed. For his part, Akamaru leapt into the air, before returning back down to earth and tunnelling underneath the ground, toward the still standing figure of Orochimaru.
Unfortunately for them all, Orochimaru had become bored, and that very feeling was written all over his pale face. Kiba was the first to reach the snake eyed man, but was met by the flashing blade of Kusanagi and though he managed to avoid the deadly thrust that had been almost lazily directed at him the sword still managed to catch his left leg, eliciting a spurt of blood from the wound it opened.
Sakura arrived next, using the fact that Kiba had already directed the deadly blade away from her. Her blow however, was dodged by the pale man who knew first hand the sheer power of a Tsunade punch. With surprising grace he span around, his sword following in an arc and Sakura was forced to leap to safety to avoid Orochimaru's retaliation.
As she did so the sword wielding man casually bent onto one knee and bit his thumb, before placing his left hand to the floor. The earth shook, and leaves fell from the trees, which were then captured by the wind. Moments later Akamaru burst from the ground and landed next to the bleeding Kiba, his burrowing somehow stopped by the powerful Sannin. With a grin, Orochimaru looked into the eyes of Kakashi.
Who stared straight back.
"Mangekyo Sharingan!" Kakashi murmured to himself, revealing the black shape within his blood red eye.
As he did so, a black hole seemed to appear to Orochimaru's left, warping the space around it and causing the wind that had been blowing across the now damaged bridge to flow into the dimensional rift caused by the copy ninja's Sharingan.
To the shock of the snake Sannin, his entire left arm was being sucked into the vortex. He had no doubt what would happen should his entire body be targeted by Kakashi's new technique. With lightning speed and his earlier bored expression now completely gone, Orochimaru released snakes from his right-hand sleeve which instantly wrapped themselves around the nearest tree and began to pull the pale man away.
Meanwhile, Kakashi was desperately trying to keep his technique active long enough to do at least some damage to the ex-Konoha ninja. Redirecting the technique was out of the question, and he raged at his body to allow him to continue.
Observing the tug of war, both Sakura and Kiba realised that this was Kakashi's last throw of the dice and acted accordingly, both throwing every explosive kunai they could at the struggling figure caught in the dimensional rift, aiming to destroy the snakes pulling the pale man to safety, as well as the man himself.
As they did so, to their horror, two figures burst out of the forest and intercepted each and every one of the kunai, not only with weapons of their own but with their own bodies, blowing themselves apart in the process. The ensuing smoke obscured their view of the action, and both Kiba and Sakura waited with baited breath as the two figures came back into view.
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"Now that is more like what I expected of you Kakashi-kun" Orochimaru grinned, now standing next to the tree his snake had been anchored to.
But the Konoha ninja couldn't believe what they were seeing. Despite having his left arm torn off at the shoulder, Orochimaru was still smiling. Beside Kiba, Akamaru gave a warning growl and Kiba looked into the trees.
Kabuto smiled as he stepped out.
"Impressive Kakashi-sempai. Your mastery of the Sharingan is growing" he observed good naturedly. Kakashi didn't say a word, his Sharingan eye was now firmly closed and his body was reaching the point where even standing would be a problem within the next few minutes. Kabuto shrugged at the copy ninja's lack of response and turned to Kiba.
"I'd be careful of those cuts, getting an infection from a corpse wouldn't be good would it?" he asked.
"Who knows what they could be carrying?" the medical ninja observed, adjusting his glasses dispassionately. Suddenly Kiba felt a lot more worried about the cut on his cheek than he had been before. Evidently Kabuto wasn't in the least fazed by the fact that all of his corpse ninja, including the one he had replaced himself with, had been destroyed. But what came next diverted his attention away from even that.
Standing next to the tree, Orochimaru had suddenly made a loud choking noise and for a moment it looked as if Kakashi's technique had done more damage than it appeared. That was, until the snake Sannin's teeth seemed to prise open, and he looked straight into the air, his eyes oddly sightless. The Konoha ninja were now transfixed by this disgusting sight, and stayed frozen in place as two hands reached out of the gaping maw and stretched the opening even wider. Sakura and Kiba had to suppress a shiver, and Akamaru whined, as out of the yawning mouth rose Orochimaru, covered in a sticky, translucent slime, as if he had simply shed his body like a snake.
"Unfortunately, Kakashi-kun…" Orochimaru started as he stepped out of the used husk "…that wasn't quite enough" he finished.
It was at that time Kakashi's body finally gave up. The Jounin silently crumbled, falling first to his knees, and then backwards to the floor in exhaustion, the dark veil of unconsciousness ensnaring him before he reached the ground.
With a shout, Sakura ran to the aid of the Jounin, followed closely by Kiba and Akamaru. Both the team eight members were wary of any attacks from the two sound ninja standing a little way off, but were surprised as well as relieved when no such attack came.
Sakura bent down to the prostrate Kakashi and examined him quickly. She swore under her breath and turned to Kiba.
"He's not getting up. Not for ages" she murmured, swearing again and checking over Kakashi. Beside her Kiba brushed the still bleeding cut on his face. It was really beginning to sting. He was surprised; his next few words seemed to come from far away, as if they didn't come from his own mouth.
"Get out of here" he stated flatly, looking at Orochimaru and Kabuto who had still not moved. Sakura's head whipped around.
"What do you mean 'get out of here'?" she asked angrily.
"Get Kakashi out of here! We'll cover the two of you" he insisted. Sakura shook her head.
"Against those two? I'm not just leaving you behind!" she told him heatedly.
"Don't be stupid!" he snapped back "How would you rate our chances if we both took them on?" he asked. Sakura stopped, taking a quick look at the two still stationary sound ninja.
"Besides…" Kiba went on "…I have a backup plan" he confided, his eyes flickering over to the gorge. Sakura guessed what he meant instantly and her eyes widened.
But her protests were cut short as Kabuto launched himself toward them, activating the chakra scalpels on his hands. Kiba and Akamaru threw themselves forward at the same time, each going into a spin trying to ward off the attacking sound ninja.
Sakura was left with no choice; tragically, she knew he was right and she had to run. Cursing herself, the pink haired girl hoisted the unconscious Jounin onto her shoulder and began running back across the bridge, watching her back to guard against possible attacks from the pale man still standing next to the tree. Once across, she turned back around and willed the other two to cross the bridge as well.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kiba noticed Sakura had made it across the bridge, mercifully unmolested. But by now Kabuto had worked out when the two of them were vulnerable, and he finally found an opening. As Akamaru and Kiba came out of their respective spins for yet another time, Kabuto struck, hitting each of them in the calves and severing the muscle, causing them to drop to the floor heavily with pain shooting through their legs.
Kabuto stepped forwards with a smile and at that moment Kiba knew what he had to do. Leaping onto Akamaru's back before Kabuto could react he flashed through a few hand signs.
"Jinjū Konbi Henge: Sōtōrō (2)" he shouted, before the two of them were engulfed in a cloud of white smoke.
To his surprise, Kabuto was forced to step back as a huge two headed wolf appeared out of the smoke. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't quick enough and a giant paw batted him away before he could retreat to a safe distance. Now seeing the opportunity, the Kiba/Akamaru combination took its chance, leaping towards the bridge and at that moment Sakura's heart leapt. The snake Sannin still hadn't moved from his spot and was observing the battle with lazy amusement.
"He's going to make it!" she said to herself, hope rising in her chest.
But at that moment, there was a massive crash.
Right in front of the two headed wolf that was Kiba and Akamaru, a gigantic snake burst out of the side wall of the gorge and landed on the other side of the bridge with a menacing thud, preventing their passage.
Unfortunately, again unbeknownst to all of the fighting ninja, the fault line that had been running for over half the length of the bridge now increased to span its entire length. Even worse, the steel cables running through the bridge's structure had now been snapped on both sides by the snakes landing, and only friction was keeping the heavy bridge from falling into the ravine below.
The head that was Akamaru growled at Kiba mid-flight.
"This is what stopped you burrowing earlier? It was waiting all this time!" Kiba realised. They landed on the bridge heavily, stopping themselves just in front of the giant snake's mouth.
And that was all that it took.
The already damaged bridge couldn't take any more. Now split for its entire length by the various attacks that had bombarded it earlier, the combined weight of the two headed wolf and the huge snake caused the bridge to begin its inevitable slide downward.
Desperately, Kiba tried to jump from the falling structure, but found his path blocked by the snake now thrusting its head down and into the area he and Akamaru were standing on. Once again feeling the effects of Kabuto's technique and the sword slash from earlier, the only thing that saved the two of them from being crushed was the fact that at that moment the bridge tipped sideways, causing the snake to smash into the falling bridge rather than the two companions. Sakura watched in horror as they were both knocked unconscious, and then deposited over the edge and down towards the water below.
There was a dull thump, and the girl recognised the sound of muted explosions.
"Kakashi's traps!" she realised, in shock. She glanced at the unconscious Jounin and realised what Kiba and Akamaru had just done for the two of them. Quickly wiping her now streaming eyes, Sakura lifted Kakashi to her shoulder, and fled the scene.
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Kabuto looked over the edge of the ravine as the last of the bridge fell into the water. He felt Orochimaru's presence by him.
"Interesting" the grey blue haired ninja observed with a small smile. He turned away from the edge and towards his pale master.
"Should we follow them?" he asked. The snake Sannin laughed.
"No…They will bring back Naruto-kun…" he answered. He continued looking down into the ravine as Kabuto asked a question.
"You want them to find us?" he inquired with a frown.
"I want to see how my Sasuke-kun has improved" the snake eyed man replied with a smile.
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(1) Ninja technique: Dark Souls. As far as I know this is a literal translation. Go me. Hehe.
(2) Man Beast Combination Transformation: Double-Headed Wolf. As seen before in the manga and anime.
Bring it on huh? Take this! If you're wondering what the hell I'm on about I'm speaking directly to Behan who gives me wonderfully long reviews. I didn't think I'd get this out tonight cos I was struggling but now… Well anyways, thank her for this.
Either way, what did you guys think?
There'll be a little break now; I've got stuff coming up, my brother's birthday for one. However, now that I've finished this part of the story it means we're back to the Chuunin exams! This is what I've been waiting to write for AGES, but I wanted to get this stuff down first, obviously. I'm fired up as hell for the next bit, don't worry about that. Oh, and if you don't like cliff-hangers like the one I've just left… errr… tough? Like I've said a number of times, all will eventually be revealed. Hehe (not much of an evil laugh I know).
Later.