36 The Hunt Is On
Author's Notes: Sorry this is late. I have two partly good reasons and one not so good. Not so good was I just got caught up reading again. First partly good reason was that I was not sure how to finish what happens next. Next one is I'm not sure how to do the next step. So I have a question. Should I kill all four sound nin or have one of the last two fighters be captured for interrogation? Anyway, R&Rs welcome as always. Let's get started.
Team 7 caught up to Naruto's clones after a few minutes and joined them on the hunt. Ten minutes later, they had their targets in Naruto's sensor range.
Slowing down to maintain the distance between the two groups, Naruto turned around to face the rest of the group and said "All right, listen up. Judging from what happened last time, we aren't going to be able to take these guys out with one hit kills. The last guy only fell due to leaving himself open and these guys are sure to be on edge since they never found the clones. I'm going to hit them with a long range wind jutsu as a battle opener and then we're going to hit them hard with the big guns. Use the Rasengan and Chidori only if you are one hundred percent sure that it will connect. We can't waste chakra on a fight that we don't know how long will last. Clones, you're our backup. I want you guys to hang back until I give you the command to give us a hand. When I do, use the strongest attacks you can. Remember that it's going to be danger close so you're going to have to be as accurate as possible."
Matto and Heza nodded as the clones gave abbreviated salutes. Naruto nodded as well before turning back around and increased his speed back to pursuit levels. The group increased their speed as well and were in range thirty seconds later. Naruto concentrated and everyone felt the wind shifting around them.
Meanwhile, the three sound nin were getting anxious from the fact that their teammate hadn't regrouped with them yet.
Tayuya looked back and said "Where the hell is that fatso? He should have been here by now."
The six armed man looked back as well and said "Maybe he ran into that other group that tried to ambush us. By the way Sakon, what do we do about Sasuke if Jirobo doesn't return? We can't do the procedure without four people."
The two headed man considered for a moment before he said "If Jirobo does not return by the time we have him we shall simply escort Sasuke to Lord Orochimaru as he is. The procedure can wait until we reach the Sound. Right now getting him there is more important."
The others nodded before they heard a shout behind them that warned them that they had more to worry about than just where their teammate was.
"Wind Style: Grand Wind Dragon Jutsu!"
A massive dragon made out of air with yellow eyes tore itself through the forest before rising up and slamming right on top of the three sound nin at a forty five degree angle . The three nin crashed into the ground before rolling a good thirty feet through the forest floor before stopping when their bodies slammed into a couple of tree trunks. Sakon and Tayuya had landed together against one tree while their teammate was against the closest tree on their right.
The three nin shook their heads trying to clear them. But before they could get to their feet, they heard three more jutsu being called.
"Wind Style: Wind Dragon Jutsu!"
"Lightning Style: Lightning Dragon Jutsu!"
"Earth Style: Earth Dragon Jutsu!"
A smaller but no less fierce wind dragon shot at the trio with a lightning and earth dragons right on its tail. The three sound nin barely got clear before the three dragons slammed right where they had been a second ago. The ground shook as the three attacks converged at a single point throwing dirt and rock into the air while the trees the trio landed against fell from having their roots and trunks destroyed.
The three sound were looking around trying to spot their attackers when a yellow blur slammed itself into the six armed man sending him into another tree. Before Sakon and Tayuya could attack the now visible Naruto, a giant boulder tore through the underbrush right towards their location. The two jumped to either side of it before two dogs made out of lightning rushed at them in a zigzag pattern and slammed into the two throwing them against trees of their own.
Matto and Heza appeared at Naruto's side as the smoke from the Sound nins' second introduction to the tree trunks began fading. All three leaf nins' eyes narrowed as symbols etched on each of the three sound nins' bodies could be seen retracting into seals on their necks.
The three sound nins stood up while their curse marks finished receding. Tayuya took one look at the three in front of them and her eyes widened.
"How the fuck did they get out?"
Sakon and their teammate looked at them with slightly wide eyes as well before Sakon said "That other group must have ambushed Jirobo."
The six armed man cracked his neck and knuckles before saying "Doesn't matter. What does is that they're here now. You two get going. I'll deal with these flies."
Naruto rose and eyebrow and said "And what makes you think you'll do any better than your friend did?"
The man smirked and said "Jirobo was the weakest one of us. I think you'll find that I'm a much stronger opponent than him."
Sakon frowned and said "Don't get cocky Kidomaru. We still don't know where that other group is."
The now introduced Kidomaru scoffed and said "Oh don't worry, I'll find them and destroy them as well."
Tayuya scowled and said "You better not mess this up you shit head."
Kidomaru simply waved one of his arms at her and said "Yeah, yeah. Keep your skirt on woman."
Before Tayuya could reply, Sakon turned and left and Tayuya decided not to waste her breath and followed.
Naruto frowned at this before sending a mental message to his clones at the halfway point to get ready just in case they didn't catch up with the two fast enough.
"So how do you want to do this Naruto?" Matto asked as he settled into a defensive stance with Heza sliding into one as well.
Naruto analyzed his opponent and said "Stay out of that guy's reach. With that many arms he could tear you to pieces in a Taijutsu match. We're going to have to work at range on this one."
The two nodded while Kidomaru smirked and said "How do you plan to do that when your caught in my web?"
Right after he said this, Kidomaru spat out a web from his mouth right at the trio who scattered to avoid the shot. The three took to the trees as Kidomaru began shooting more webs out of his mouth and from his arms as well. Naruto and his teammates kept moving through the trees trying to get enough space to launch a jutsu at Kidomaru but the six armed nin kept them moving. Naruto finally had enough and as another web was shot at him decided to test something. Just before the web hit him, he created a shadow clone in front of him who activated his wind palms technique and shredded the web apart when it reached them.
As Naruto's shadow clone dispelled itself, Kidomaru's eyes widened as Naruto grinned and said "Time to take this up a notch."
Naruto sheathed himself in a wind shield before launching himself down from the tree branch he was standing on. As soon as he hit the ground, he rushed towards Kidomaru who was frantically shooting webs trying to stop the blond while backpedaling. Naruto sliced through each web as he got closer before swinging out an arm to cut off the spider like nin's head. Matto and Heza watched expecting the fight to be over right then and there, but were surprised when Kidomaru raised one of his arms and blocked the blow.
Naruto's own eyes widened as he saw the golden armor that had seemed to appear out of no where while Kidomaru's curse seal activated to stage one. Kidomaru took advantage of Naruto's shock by launching a punch at Naruto which sent him flying into a tree trunk causing a crack to run up the trunk.
Hidden Leaf Village Outside of Hokage Tower
Naruto's shadow clone flinched and said "Ow, that had to hurt." The Anbu escorting him looked over but he just waved her off saying that it had to do with the original's fight. The Anbu nodded before the two entered the tower and headed to the Hokage's office.
Tsunade looked up from her desk when she heard knocking at her door and said "Enter."
Her eyes widened seeing her blond student being escorted in beside an Anbu and said "Naruto? What are you doing here? Your team shouldn't be back for another four days."
The clone shook his head and said "Their not, I'm a shadow clone. The original and his teammates are taking care of a group of four sound nin that crossed the border and are trying to get to the village for some reason. They've already taken out one of the nin and are currently fighting another while the other two our on their way here. Their going to be in for a real surprise though when they run into the traps he had the other clones set up halfway between the border and here. I was sent here to get some backup incase they need help."
Tsunade's face took a hard look as she said "I see. Does Naruto know what they are after?"
The clone shook his head and said "I'm afraid not. The only thing he knows right now is that they are Orochimaru's body guard and that they have curse mark seals. Do you wish them to take one alive for interrogation?"
Tsunade considered before nodding and said "If at all possible then yes. Try to see if they can learn what they're after before then though."
The clone nodded and sent the message before cocking his head and said "Naruto says he'll do his best but right now he's got to squash a really big bug."
Tsunade rose an eyebrow and the clone decided to elaborate.
"He's fighting against a summoned spider."
Tsunade got an "oh" look before saying "I'll send Osprey here to get a backup team for you. Meet them at the gate and explain to them what's going on along the way. Can you leave another clone here to keep me updated?"
The clone took stock of his chakra and nodded saying "Since it's just going to act as a radio then yes."
Right after he said it, another clone appeared before the original clone gave a quick salute and took off towards the gate.
Tsunade turned to Osprey and said "Find Team 9 and tell them to get to the main gate ASAP."
The Anbu nodded before saluting and leaving as well.
Forest In The Land Of Fire
Matto and Heza winced when they saw their teammate hit the tree and the crack that formed afterwards. Naruto stood up and shook his head before he said "What the hell was that? He took my attack on his arm like it was an academy student's."
Kidomaru smirked and said "It's my special ability. You see my spider's silk has two versions. The regular kind that you're so fond of and my specialty. I can make it harder than steel and send it through the pores on my body. It's the ultimate defense!"
Matto rose an eyebrow from his perch on a nearby tree and said "Gotta hand it to the guy, that may be disgusting but it does sound handy."
Heza just smirked and said "Yeah well, we're just going to have to see how handy it really is."
Before anyone could ask what she meant, she dropped down from her branch going through hand signs on the way down. Finishing just as she landed she called out "Earth Style: Rock Skin Jutsu!" Heza's skin darkened before she rushed Kidomaru. As she drew close, the spider nin grinned and formed armor over his entire body. But to his shock, when Heza punched him it sent him flying with cracks appearing over his chest where she had punched him. (No it was not Tsunade's attack. It was more like Kakuzu's defense jutsu mixed in with Heza's normal strength from wearing so much weight.)
Kidomaru slammed into and then through a tree while Matto punched the air and said "Ha! Not much of a defense against earth style moves is it?"
Before Heza or Naruto could say anything to that, odd shaped throwing knives that were gold colored were launched at the trio who dodged the storm of weird kunai. The kunai kept coming boxing the three in until they were standing together.
Sudden laughter drew the three leaf nins' attention above them where they saw the spider nin standing over them on a tree. When they saw Kidomaru, he grinned before biting one of his thumbs and ran through hand signs while saying "Let's see your earth style jutsu do something about this! Summoning Jutsu!"
A poof of smoke later, the trio were looking up at a humongous spider that had three shivering in disgust at how ugly the giant arachnid was. They didn't have time to comment on it though when the spider opened a sack behind its legs and smaller spiders began falling towards the trio.
Naruto suddenly got the message from his clone talking to Tsunade and sent a quick reply before running through hand signs that he hadn't used in battle since the Chunnin exams.
"Wind Style: Grand Tornado Jutsu!"
A tornado appeared around Naruto and his teammates causing the two to raise their arms to shield their eyes from the wind before shooting up and out to swallow the spiders. The tornado began shredding into the spiders and the smaller ones began disappearing in clouds of smoke while the larger one began screeching in pain from all of the large cuts that were appearing all over its body. The summon finally couldn't take anymore thirty seconds later and vanished in a poof of smoke while Kidomaru cursed to himself and pulled back to get some distance for his next plan of attack.
As the winds from Naruto's jutsu died down, Matto and Heza lowered their arms and began looking for their target. Naruto meanwhile was doing the same by coordinating the five clones that had hung back into a search grid. Something told him it could take a while. Unfortunately, right now time was one thing that was not on their side.
Author's Notes: All right guys, I'm going to stop this here and give you guys the option of choosing the next step like one of those Goosebumps books. I have come up with two ways of squashing this spider. First option is like what Neji did and channeling chakra through a thread attached to the arrow. That was my original idea but to me sounds a little too much like what happened to Jirobo. Second option is that Naruto's clones locate Kidomaru and act as spotters for a long range archery attack by Heza where she uses a jutsu called Earth Style: Longbow Jutsu. Really unoriginal sounding I know but that is exactly what the jutsu is, a long bow that is highly accurate and shoots out arrows that are diamond tipped. Which ever gets the most 'votes' by Sunday night is the one I will go for. Until then see you later and again sorry for the wait. Only thing I can do as apology is finish this little 'arch' in the next one so expect closure next chapter.