Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I own Negima.
Frozen Souls of Eternity
Chapter24: The Challenge
Elemental Countries: Konoha
A month passed since the destruction of Amegakure and everyone managed to recover from their wounds. It wasn't long before a funeral was held for Gai to which every Shinobi in the village attended; it had rained heavily all day continued to do so until around midnight. Lee had taken everything pretty hard though he pulled back from his depression and was talking about 'Youth' again a week after the funeral.
As for Sasuke…he was thrown in jail…again. This time though his sentence was life imprisonment; the Hokage tried to deliver the death sentence but…the council wouldn't have any of it. Sakura was the only one who went to visit him anymore but even that was rare; she had completely moved on from the Uchiha. A few days ago though Sasuke was discovered missing from his cell; physically this was impossible because Jiraiya had put up hundreds of seals to suppress his chakra so the only way he had escaped would be if someone broke him out.
Again it seemed like everything had quieted down until…
Naruto bolted awake in bed panting heavily; it was night and he shook himself after realising he was in his room 'just a dream, thank Kami-sama'.
"You were having a nightmare again" he heard and looked down at the person who was sharing his bed. "You've been having a lot of them lately" Yugito said with worry evident in her eyes.
"I'm not a full Biju so I'm finding it hard to shutout Kyuubi's memories" the Thousand Army rested back in bed as she cuddled into him.
"They're becoming more frequent Naruto" the Female Biju said and rested her head on his shoulder "I'm getting worried".
Naruto nodded sadly "don't worry; you won't lose me".
He kissed her head before sliding away from her and out of the bed "where are you going?" she curled up in a ball to keep warm.
The Thousand Army headed for the bathroom calling over his shoulder "I need some fresh air to clear my head".
She sighed softly before pulling the bedcovers over her "alright; see you when you get back".
He took a shower before putting on some cloths and exiting the house. Tsunade and Jiraiya had showed him his mother and father's old house which they had lived in before the Kyuubi attack sixteen years ago. The two had given it too him saying it was his inheritance which is what they had told the council. The Thousand Army had spent an entire week in the house cleaning it up and going through his parent's things. He had found a photo of his parents in the main bedroom which he moved into once he brought his stuff over from his old apartment.
Naruto walked through the empty streets of Konoha Central Plaza before he suddenly sensed something. He spun round to find a bird he identified as a hawk sitting on the ground with a miniature postman bag around its neck.
"Follow me" it said before ascending into the air and flying away.
Naruto's eyes narrowed 'that's very odd; it's clearly a summon but what's it doing here?' He chased it to the Hokage Mountain, right on top of the Fourth's head 'why has it stopped here? Is it messing with me?'
"Message from master" the Hawk removed the bag from his neck "master says message is important".
The Thousand Army stared at the Summon for a moment before picking up the bag. He examined it and after he was satisfied that it wasn't a trap he opened it to reveal its contents. Inside was a rolled up scroll which he removed and unwrapped to see what this was all about.
He found his answer.
'Greetings Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto
If you are reading this it means you have met my summon and I do hope you haven't destroyed him yet. Tobi wouldn't like that. I'll get right to the point; I want you dead. You and that infernal jutsu of yours is a direct threat to me and my very existence. I'm offering you an invitation, to continue what we started back in Ame. I challenge you to a duel; one on one with no' one you interfere this time.
Meet me at the designated location by midday.
I'll be waiting.
You're sincerely Uchiha Madara
P.S. Tobi's a Good Boy'
The Thousand Army scanned down at the bottom of the page where a map was drawn. More specifically where the map was marked…the place where everything started…
…And everything changed.
Elemental Countries: Konoha
"Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto get out here right now or I'm gonna come in there and drag you out myself!" the Pink Haired Chunin banged on the door.
"I do believe he is asleep" she heard Sai state and she turned to glare at him.
"I do not give a damn" she growled "that boy has been late for just about everything lately I refuse to let him turn into another Kakashi-sensei".
"Calm down Sakura-san" Yamato gestured with his hand for her to quiet "it wouldn't do any good if he was to have had company over and you woke them up".
"Yeah right who would-" the opened to reveal a sleepy Yugito standing in the doorway in her night time attire.
"Would you shut up pinky? Some of us are trying to get some sleep you know" the teenage Raikage said rubbing her eyes.
"I-I'm so sorry Raikage-sama, I didn't think you'd be…" the Chunin trailed off.
"Drop the Raikage-sama crap, I get enough of that from my villagers and my council so I don't want my friends calling me that" Yugito moved to allow them all entry to which they stepped into the house and she closed the door behind them. "I'll be back in a minute, I just need to get changed first" she vanished upstairs as they all sat down on the various assortment of sitting arrangements.
Sai examined the living room; it appeared to them all that the house was larger on the inside then the out, it was...spacious to say the least. There was a fireplace and a table in the center of the room where the sofas and chairs were placed around. They could see the kitchen from where they sat and it seemed completely clean as if it hadn't been collecting dust since Naruto had moved in.
Yugito returned a few minutes later fully clothed in her Raikage robes "okay so why are you here and why did you have to wake me up?"
Before Sakura could say anything to the grumpy Yugito (she is clearly not a morning person) Yamato spoke up "we were looking for Naruto, he was supposed to meet up with us for a team meeting but he didn't show".
The teenage Raikage stared at him in confusion for a moment "last I saw of him he said he was going out for a walk to clear his head".
"Clear his head? Why?" Sai asked showing actual emotion for once.
"He's been having dreams lately…nightmares actually; he's been waking up in the middle of the night for the passed week visibly shaking and I've had to calm him down several times" Yugito said looking down. She shook her head "he told me that they were all the same, that he was at the Valley of the End with the Shodaime's necklace glowing in his hand and he was facing off against Uchiha Madara and Kyuubi no Kitsune. He's been passing it off saying that its probably one of the memories Kyuubi has of when he fought alongside Madara when they fought the Shodaime Hokage but…I am getting worried about him".
"Do you know where he is now?" Sakura asked with concern in her voice.
"He's probably just straitening out his memories" the Raikage answered.
"What's this?" they looked over at Sai who picked up some kind of letter off the table "it's for Naruto-san".
He handed it to each and they all read it line-for-line. They all shared a look before dashing out the door to inform the Hokage.
Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto had gone off to fight Madara by himself at the place where Madara had chosen to fight…
…The Valley of the End.
Elemental Countries: Valley of the End
"I'm here Madara-Teme, where in the seven hells are you?" the Thousand Army called out from the Shodaime's head.
He spotted the Masked Man waving at him comically from the other statue where he sat on its head "Tobi's over here, can you see Tobi?!"
"Would you drop the personality shit just this once? It's really getting annoying" Naruto said and suddenly in a flash of yellow appeared on the others statue's head though it was a fare ways away from his opponent.
"Alright, if that's the case" Madara stood up and looked down at the valley. "We should relocate to a more…open environment" he immediately appeared on top the water in the center of the valet.
Naruto followed a moment later in a flash of yellow "why'd you call me out here Madara? You said that you wanted to challenge me but I don't buy it; why now? Why not right after Ame was destroyed?"
The Masked Man chuckled at that before shaking his head "you still don't get it do you?" He reached up one hand towards his mask "I needed time among other things such as this". He removed his mask slowly and the eyes of his opponent widened upon seeing the face "this is something I needed time for".
That face…
"Sasuke" the word escaped Naruto's lips and he glared at the man in front of him who held the face of his once best friend "what have you done Madara?"
"Simple" he tucked the mask away on his belt and shot the Thousand Army an Uchiha smirk (you know the arrogant ones) "I merely transferred bodies from my old one into his".
"You bastard" Naruto snarled and readied himself to fight at a moments notice "what'd you do? Copy Orochimaru's immortality jutsu or something you sick freak?!"
"No, no, no, nothing of the sort" the Uchiha smirked "I invented that jutsu; Orochimaru was the one who tried to copy it off me though he was never able to complete like I did".
"You…" the Thousand Army tightened his hands into fists "…you're a monster even worse then the Kyuubi; at least he has some sense of respect for those he encounters but you…your…nothing but a heartless monster who thirsts for power".
The Uchiha seemed to glare as his Sharingan activated but not the Mangekyo "just for that I'll make sure my first target for destruction after here is Konoha or maybe I should go after Kumo after all I can think of a few interesting things to do with their Raikage".
Naruto's eyes turned red at that "I'm not gonna let that happen; I'll make sure you pay for the atrocities you've committed; that's a promise of a lifetime".
"Promise all you want; it won't help you" Madara smirk twisted slightly into a sneer "you father wasn't able to kill me so what makes you think you can?"
"Because if I don't then who will?" he shot back not taking his eyes off his opponent's "beside, I have a knack for beating the odds".
"We'll see about that boy but I must say it did take some work to actually get a hold of this body and wipe Sasuke-kun clean of his soul though I do get his memories and I have to say most of them of you were actually quite interesting" the Uchiha stated with a bit of humor that turned into disgust "the things that were in this body were full of so much taint it was terrible beyond measure though I have erased most of it".
"Yeah well don't get comfortable; I'm sending you on a one-way trip to meet the Shinigami" Naruto narrowed his eyes and assumed a Taijutsu stance "talking is over; we don't need words to understand each other".
"Very well" Madara nodded and his smirk vanished as he started going through hand-seals "Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!" Naruto Hiraishin away to avoid the blast and Madara pursued dotting along the water "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!"
Naruto dodged each of the fireballs and the flung himself at Madara "Rasengan!" The attack phased right through him and the Thousand Army had to spin in midair before landing again on the water growling lowly 'it didn't even touch him, it was almost as if he wasn't even there'.
"That won't work on me boy" the Uchiha appeared behind him with what appeared to be the Kusenagi Sword in hand. He swung only for Naruto to narrowly dodge and throw a punch which again phased right through him. Madara turned and swung down "hold still".
Naruto disappeared into the water before the blade could touch him and burst out a moment later two shadow clones "Futon: Rasengan!"
Ka-Boom
The valley shook under the impact as steam seemed to be coming off of the water "it appears some attack do get through your defences". That was when he saw it…Madara was standing up seemingly unharmed 'impossible, that was a direct hit at point-blank range'.
"You almost had me with that one boy but it won't be quite that easy" the Uchiha smirked and lunged again with his sword in hand.
'What the hell, none of my attacks are having any effect but they were doing so well the last time I fought him' he evaded and shot forward using a Rasengan to block the Kusenagi Sword from hitting him 'wait I've seen something like this before; during my fight with Ku Nel-sensei a few years ago. Damn it, what's the weakness of this thing?!'
"Too easy" the Uchiha said appearing above him while going through hand-seals "you're such a child". He finished the hand-seal and jumped away "Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!"
A dragon made of pure fire appeared from seemingly no' where and shot towards him at freighting speeds. He tried to dodge but knew he was going to be able to with normal speed. The dragon closed in, readying for the kill and slammed itself headfirst into the rock where he stood.
Flashback no Jutsu Begin
"There are only three ways to pierce this type of defence; one is causing fast-paced damage which would mean hundred of hits a second on one target, another would be to overload the defence by hitting it with one concentrated blast of energy. The last is probably the easiest to use but the hardest to exploit and that's to use a Transcended Weapon of some kind; those can't be blocked" Kun Nel stated.
Flashback no Jutsu End
"I got him" Madara said with a smirk "finally I can be rid of that man and his legacy".
"I wouldn't count on it" he heard and turned only for his eyes to widen at the sight in front of him. A Four-Tailed Fox priming his most destructive attack "Tailed-Jutsu:…"
Madara's Sharingan morphed into the Mangekyo and his eyes shot open "Amaterasu!"
"…Kitsune Cannon!"
The two attacks connected.
One as hot as the sun and the other made out of both Chakra and Youki.
They had met halfway.
And the turned grey.
Ka-Boom
The valley shook under the impact. For a moment it looked like the whole valley was about to fall to pieces from the blast as the water seemed to splash along the canyon walls like some rapids and the cliffs themselves seemed to be straining to hold themselves together. After the smoke cleared Naruto and Madara were on one knee on top the water on opposite ends of the valley. Naruto no' longer had his 'Fox Shroud' activated and Madara seemed to have deactivated his Mangekyo Sharingan. Both were breathing heavy and seemed to come to a mutual understanding to allow each other to catch their breath.
Madara started going through hand-seals once more and held out his hand towards the Thousand Army "let's see you survive this Namikaze! "Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu!"
A massive dragon of fire appeared from the Uchiha's hand and shot towards Naruto at full speed "that's not good". He made a familiar seal "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" two clones appeared at his side and he held out a hand. A moment later the clones started spinning chakra and inserting the wind element into the ball he was forming "Futon:…" he shot forward once it was finished, intercepting the dragon head on "…Rasenshuriken!"
The two connected resulting in the dragon scattering as the Jutsu tore it apart and he continued on ahead towards Madara "you annoying little brat; what does it take to kill you?!" the Uchiha started going through hand-seals again as Naruto drew near "no' more playing around; Kuchiyose no Jutsu:…" A burst of smoke forced Naruto to cancel the Rasenshuriken as he was blown back only to be caught by the clones he had made before "…Kyuubi no Kitsune!"
The Thousand Army gulped audibly as he gazed up at the creature Madara had summoned…at the thing that had fought his father "Kyuubi…"
It let out a roar which shook the valley and it lowered its gaze to Naruto "hello Kit, long time no' see".
"Kyuubi…now, now, you shouldn't play with your food" the Uchiha said in that cheerful voice of Tobi like way he had before his voice darkened back to normal "kill him and get this over with".
"With pleasure" the Giant Fox let a smirk cross its features as it brought its jaw down to eat the boy "I'm going to enjoy this".
Not even thinking Naruto Hiraishin away while going through hand-seals and finally touching his hand down to the water "Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Bunta no Gama!"
There he stood; on top of the Toad King's head with his jumpsuit open and his clear blue eyes staring directly into the eyes of the Nine-Tailed Fox.
Author's Notes: Well what do you think? Any good? Now the real battle begins from here. Next time on Naruto: Magister Magi Chronicles…the fight we've all been waiting for (or at least I have) Naruto and Gamabunta VS Madara and Kyuubi. Please Read and Review…heh heh heh…
…See Ya Later…