Naruto ran alongside the fox as they could hear the sounds of battle continuing from behind them. 'Just hold on a bit longer my kin, we will return to help' Kurama thought as they pushed through the forests to find somewhere safe.
Ritsuko and a Kurama controlled Naruto arrived at a small clearing nearby. The large white fox dropped the group onto the ground. Naruto walked over to Hinata and began channeling his chakra into her. She immediately woke up from the genjutsu and jumped to her feet. She looked ready to strike until she noticed who it was standing in front of her.
"Relax girl, I was able to get you all out of there in time." Kurama said through Naruto's body. Seeing Naruto like this still made her uncomfortable.
"What happened to us?" She asked.
"That girl with the flute cast some pretty strong genjutsu on you all. I'll have you all back up soon." Kurama explained as he began infusing some chakra into Haku, waking the boy up. Haku, just like Hinata, immediately jumped to his feet in a battle stance until he looked around himself and relaxed slightly.
"Where are those sound ninja?" Haku asked.
"They are fighting my foxes back where they ambushed you." He replied as he moved on to wake up Sasuke. Some more chakra channeling and Sasuke woke up as well. "Now that you are all awake listen carefully. You need to destroy that flute that the girl has, and you need to do it quickly." He scolded before Naruto's eye's turned back to their normal shade of blue.
Everyone looked at each other. "So what do we do now?" Sasuke asked.
"We should leave this place. Do we have any reason to fight them?" Haku asked. To which Sasuke shook his head.
"If we leave they are going to come after us anyway." Sasuke answered.
"And those foxes are risking their lives for us, we should at least back them up." Naruto answered as well. Haku looked down thoughtfully for a moment before nodding, what they said made sense.
"So what is it we should do? Naruto-san?" Haku asked. Naruto thought for a moment, then an idea struck him, he smirked.
"Ok listen up…"
Jirobo pushed a fox away as he jumped back, holding onto his shoulder. He had suffered a large bite wound. He regrouped and stood next to his team. Kidomaru was missing an arm, Sakon had a large gash on his chest and Jirobo had his bite wound. They were all covered with minor cuts and scratches from their battles.
The fox fighting Kidomaru eventually got stuck in some web and had to dispel itself and return back to it's realm. The orange fox with the scar received a heavy wound from Sakon and had to retreat as well, there were only two foxes left now, but they both looked worse for the wear. While on the contrary, the sound four appeared to have sustained minor injuries, that seemed to be healing on their own at a fairly rapid rate. The group of four was about to strike again when Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke and Haku all jumped out of the trees and landed in front of the two foxes.
"You can rest easy now, we can take care of it from here." Naruto said, standing in a battle position.
"What's your name kit?" Another white fox asked with a soft male voice.
"Naruto Uzumaki. Kurama says his thanks for helping out earlier." He replied, without turning to face the animal.
The white fox did what resembled a smile. "Tell the old fool he better have some food for us next time." He said as both foxes disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Back for more are you?" Sakon asked with a grin on his face as Tayuya readied her ocarina. She played the same tune as before and again, the group of ninja's began to fall asleep.
Kidomaru prepared some arrows, "No more screw ups, we end this quickly."
"Don't kill Sasuke-sama." Sakon warned.
"Yeah, yeah." Kidomaru replied as he let four arrows loose, the one aimed at Sasuke just enough to wound him slightly. All four arrows struck their mark only for them to disappear into puffs of smoke.
Sakon looked in surprise, "Tayuya! Watch out!" He cried but was a moment too slow, Sasuke dropped down from the skies with his sword, cutting straight through the ocarina and landing a large gash to the left side of Tayuya's face, cutting her eye.
"Argh, Fuck!" She yelled, clutching her face.
Kidomaru barely had time to react as he felt several senbon needles enter the back of his neck and spine, he fell to the ground on one knee.
Jirobo turned just in time to receive a jyuuken strike to the stomach from Hinata, covered in her water armor. He doubled over in pain as he felt his chakra system take a passive hit.
"You're damn right we're back!" Naruto yelled just as Sakon turned around to receive a rasengan to the chest. He was sent flying backwards as Naruto let a fireball from his mouth loose followed by a punch full of wind towards Sakon. The boy flipped in the air just in time to see the ball of flame coming towards him.
"Brother, come on, help me out here."
"Tch, looks like I don't have a choice." A deeper voice was heard from behind Sakon. The boy quickly separated into two bodies. They both slammed their hands on the ground.
"Kuchiyose: Rashomon!" A large gate like structure with a demonic face appeared between them. The fireball collided with the door and stopped in it's tracks, it disappeared soon after. The two bodies of Sakon quickly merged back together.
Everyone stood before their opponents. Hinata was standing above Jirobo with her Byakugan fully active and water armor flowing. Haku was keeping an eye on Kidomaru, holding senbon needles in hand. Sasuke had his Sharingan fully active and his curse mark covering half his body as he stood in front of Tayuya, sword in hand. Naruto stared down Sakon.
"You guys can't win as you are now. Give up, and we'll let you go." Naruto said only to receive a chuckling in response from the entire sound four.
"You think we would lose to trash like you?" Sakon asked, "Looks like we have to go all out guys." Sakon lifted his hair up and looked oddly at Naruto as black markings began to cover his body. Jirobo smirked as black triangles started to go around his body. Sasuke looked in shock as Tayuya pulled another flute out of her bag and some black lines began to cross her body. They continued to flow changing her skin tone to a dark red. Her hair erupted from her head wrappings and four white horns protruded from her head.
"Kuchiyose: Doki" She exclaimed, slamming her hands on the ground. Three enormous figures appeared. One of them had it's upper torso completely wrapped in wrappings and was seemingly walking backwards, only it's sewn shut mouth could be seen. Another had a blindfold over it's face and it's mouth sewn shut. Attached to it's arms were thorn like weapons. The third was wearing a green shirt, it's long waist length hair drooping down over it's face. A large club clutched in its hands. She began playing her flute and the three figures began charging at Sasuke. He began jumping around, trying to avoid their swipes.
All of their skin turned into a darker shade. Jirobo's skin became red with warts all over him, his hair growing out extremely long. He slammed his head upwards into Hinata's chin, causing her to cry out, he then used both his fists and smashed them against her chest, sending her flying away. Her water armor had protected her from most of the impact but it still caused her immense pain. She flipped up and readied herself again.
Kidomaru's skin became darker, he grew fangs in his mouth and a third eye opened up on his forehead. Haku stood there in surprise as Kidomaru chuckled as the senbon that Haku had thrown were pushed off of his now golden skin. He quickly jumped into the air, twisting around and spitting some webs at Haku, which landed on the boy's feet before disappearing into the trees.
Sakon's body split in two, both people were identical. The right half of one body and the left half of the other seemed to be coated in metal. Their skin turned red and they each had their white hair grow longer, fangs began to grow out of their mouths and each had a horn on their head.
They could all only look in shock and horror at what they were seeing. They could all feel their chakra climb through the roof. Were they even human? They behaved more like demons. Sakon and Ukon began to charge Naruto. He quickly summoned some shadow clones and began fighting back. Each clone throwing a different element into the fray. Stones, water, lightning, fire and wind was being thrown in each which direction until the clones started to get destroyed, one by one. They were starting to gain ground against Naruto, he wasn't sure how much longer he could last.
Sasuke dodged a great slam from the studded club wield by the large Doki. He ducked just in time to avoid another one, charging at him with the blades attached to his arms. Sasuke attempted to deliver some quick sword jabs to it's stomach but knocked flying by the third Doki slamming into him. He flipped in the air and landed on a nearby tree branch. He looked over to see Tayuya still playing her flute.
'I see now…' He thought, 'She's controlling them with her music. I need to try and stop her from playing, but those creatures won't let me get anywhere near her…' He went through some hand signs and ran his finger along the side of the blade. The symbol for "Fire" appeared all along the blade. He went through another series and it erupted into flames.
"I'm going to pay you back for my eye you bastard." Tayuya said and then resumed playing her flute. All three doki stopped moving and their mouths began to pull against the stitchings. They eventually snapped under the strain and their mouths all opened wide. White, transparent snake like spirits began to float out of their mouths. Several mouths could be seen, with jagged sharp teeth in each mouth, running along the spirits.
Sasuke studied them with his Sharingan. They were not quite chakra, as if they were made out of spiritual energy. Without warning, the spirits began to launch themselves at Sasuke. He quickly dodged out of the way as they passed through the tree next to him. Tayuya started playing a different tune with her flute and the spirits began to go into a frenzy, gaining speed and rushing towards Sasuke. He began dodging around and jumping from tree to tree. Every so often, he would stop and slash his blade into the tree, leaving behind a burning "fire" symbol. He continued in this fashion until he had made a full circle around Tayuya. Sasuke landed on one final branch, branding the symbol into the wood before sending a crescent wave of fire hurtling towards Tayuya. She played a tune and brought all her doki in front of her to block the attack. It collided with the three of them and only barely singed their armor.
"That all you got shit head?" Tayuya yelled. Only to see Sasuke smirking, his hands molded into the "Tiger" hand seal.
"You're done." Sasuke said as five glowing red symbols appeared in a circle around Tayuya and her doki. She looked around for a moment before her eyes went wide.
"Fuc-" She began as Sasuke channeled his chakra.
"Katon: Gōka bakuhatsu (Fire style: Hellfire Explosion)" He called out. The symbols exploded in a round pillar of searing hot flame, going straight up into the sky. Sasuke smirked at the pillar as it died down, until he looked in shock. Standing in in the center of the scorched earth was Tayuya, her arms in front of her face and her body badly burned, clothes, burning in places. Her Doki were all on the ground, burned completely black.
"You piece of shit." She scowled at him. "I'm going to pay you back for that." She began to play her flute again. Sasuke tried to run up to stop her but suddenly felt like he couldn't move, as if some invisible ropes were tying him in place. He looked over to his arm and watched in horror as his skin and muscle began to melt away, revealing his bone. She continued to play as Sasuke watched his skin fall away. This continued for some time until Tayuya noticed something was not right, he was not reacting, not screaming. She frowned and glared at him before she looked down and noticed her own legs were starting to melt. She immediately stopped playing her flute and yelled out in pain.
"You should pay more attention to who you use your genjutsu on. Putting me to sleep is one thing, but making me see things is entirely another. I have the Sharingan, you cannot beat me with genjutsu." Tayuya looked up in surprise as she heard Sasuke speak to her from very close by. She bit her lip to remove the genjutsu just in time to see Sasuke's sword coming for her neck. She ducked down and punched him with all her might. The hit landed and sent him flying backwards into a tree that was outside the blast area.
"Fuck you." She spat before putting her flute back to her lips. She began playing again and the three burnt husks of the doki rose up again, barely able to move. She pushed them forward, moving them as fast as she could towards Sasuke.
"Hmph." He said before running through a few hand signs and crouching down on one knee. He held his hand out, palm open, lightning slowly began to crackle in his hand, like the sound of birds chirping.
"Chidori" he said as he stood up, the lightning still crackling.
Tayuya glared at him and ordered her doki to advance on him. With great speed they launched themselves at Sasuke. He pulled his sword out with his other hand and charged forward.
He approached the first doki with blinding speed. It lurched forward, attempting to strike him with it's head. Sasuke pierced it's chest with the chidori then spun and did a swipe, cutting off it's head.
Tayuya flared her chakra further and played the tune faster. The next doki approached, punching it's arms at Sasuke, attempting to strike him with it's claw like weapons. Sasuke sliced upwards, removing one of it's arms before crashing the chidori into it's head, obliterating it. He continued his advance towards Tayuya. She was getting angry now. She changed the tune, it became much more aggressive and loud. The final doki jumped at Sasuke, swinging its massive club. Sasuke avoided the club and used it as a stepping ground to kick the beast in the head, it lurched backwards as Sasuke drove his sword into the top of it's head. He placed his other hand on top of the sword, sending a current of electricity through the doki, electrocuting it. He jumped and ran towards Tayuya.
"What the fuck is up with you?!" She yelled as she started to wield her flute like a weapon. As Sasuke approached he ran the hand holding the chidori across his blade. It became electrified, crackling with the same intensity as the chidori. Before Tayuya could react Sasuke had past her in one fast sword sweep. She stood there in shock, not quite processing what had just happened. Sasuke spun his sword around and sheathed it. As he did Tayuya was suddenly violently struck with a bolt of lightning before her upper body started to slide off of her waist and land on the ground as her legs fell forward.
Sasuke walked over as Tayuya's body color returned to normal and her horns receded into her head. He looked down at her, she was still breathing. She looked up at him with hatred in her eyes.
"Fuck...you…" she choked out, tears running down her face as her vision faded and the light from her eyes vanished. Sasuke knelt down and closed her eyes before he sat back down. He had been drained from that fight, she was truly a strong opponent. He looked off into the forest, not at anything in particular, wondering how his friends were faring against their opponents. He laid down as his eyes began to shut, the genjutsu she had previously used had taken a toll on his mind. 'You guys better be ok without me…' he thought as he lost consciousness.
A/N: See everyone on Monday :)