Chapter 37: Uzumaki Versus Uchiha: Feud Renewed
"Wait, you mean the Sasuke Uchiha?" Noburo asked.
"In the flesh." The enemy in front of him said. "Though Sasuke Uchiha is a thing of the past. My name now is Getsu-kyu."
"But how is this possible? He died four years ago. And he was eighteen years old at the time. You look the same age we do." Noburo countered.
As strange as it was, this Sasuke indeed looked no older than twelve years old, rather than the twenty-two he would be if he was indeed still alive.
"You don't need to know how I'm alive. All you need to know is I am and I'm going to take down the Kyuubi." Getsu-kyu stated with a superior grin.
"Big mistake. I've killed an Uchiha before, I can do it again." Akane flexed her claws, coming close to creating a chakra cloak but not quite yet.
"Oh little fox, you're far too young and inexperienced to face the likes of me. Maybe after you make chuunin, but not before." Getsu-kyu said, but then he grabbed a kunai. "But I suppose if you really want to fight me I'll see how strong you really are. After all, I came here specifically to fight you."
Getsu-kyu jumped towards Akane who responded the same but with no kunai, only claws. Noburo could only watch.
When Getsu-kyu and Akane clashed, sparks literally flew. Akane glared right into his eyes in this brief moment. 'His eyes are red but I see no sharingan. Is it a cover or did something happen to his eyes?'
No damage done to either, the two had to get away from each other to land on a branch. Akane looked to her teammate. "Noburo-kun, go on without me. Find my cousins and tell them everything."
"What about you?" He asked.
"This is my fight. You can either watch or do what we were planning originally. I'm sorry, but this is something I need to do myself." Akane told him.
The blue-haired boy was reluctant to obey her wishes, but he knew full well why she had them. He had been there when the original Sasuke had thrown a kunai at her in his trial, and he had heard from several others enough to know Sasuke wasn't everyone's favorite person. Seeing the guy back from the dead somehow must have stirred up something in Akane she really needed to work out herself rather than ignore.
"You going to be okay?" He asked.
"More okay than I will be if I have to worry about you being dragged into this." She answered, looking away to face Getsu-kyu who was preparing a jutsu. "Go. Now!"
Without waiting for more, Noburo left.
"Fire Style Fireball Jutsu." Getsu-kyu declared, launching a large fireball at the fox girl.
"Fire Style Fireball Jutsu." Akane proclaimed, launching an identical attack at the duck-haired boy.
The two fireballs collided and fought but ultimately fizzled out leaving just smoke and steam.
"Impressive. Not many genin can pull off that maneuver." Getsu-kyu commented.
"Not many genin have my chakra levels or senseis." Akane replied.
"Oh yeah, it must be nice to have so many people at the beck and call of your current father." The enemy nin stated.
'Current father?' Akane asked, not seeing a meaning there, but she did get an idea. "Yeah, especially when one of them is Sakura."
Getsu-kyu's firm expression faltered. "Who?"
Akane perked up. "Oh you don't know her? Then you're not the real Sasuke Uchiha, not even a resurrected one. You're just an impostor."
"I only said this was Sasuke Uchiha's flesh, I never said I was the real him."
"Then what the hell are you?"
"You'll find out in due time. I'm just here to see how good you and your so-called cousins have gotten. Good luck on reaching chuunin, though you're going to need to be jounin level to beat me Kyuubi."
"I can beat you now even without my clones." Akane stated.
Getsu-kyu raised an eyebrow then smirked. "Hmm... wanna put your money where your mouth is?"
"How about my claws where your heart is instead?" Akane retorted.
"My, such a bloodthirsty attitude for one who claims to be so nice to others. Guess you're still just a demon after all."
"Only to my enemies."
"Not good enough I'm afraid." Getsu-kyu said as he took out a demon wind shuriken then threw it. Akane jumped over it and towards him, keeping an eye for anything attached to the giant throwing star. "You'd be no match for a real demon, and I don't mean your pathetic cousins either."
"When I meet such a demon I'll find out for myself." She replied, throwing a few kunai.
Getsu-kyu substituted with a log. "You just did."
Noburo was racing thru the swamp, sticking to the trees like most Konoha nin do in a hurry. 'I just hope I get to them before anyone else does. Maybe there's another of these Getsu-guys after them. There's no way this is a random event; someone knew all nine bijuu would be here at once and wanted to do something about it. But what are these guys up to?'
In no time he found his target, the team from Iwa with two bijuu girls. He couldn't see what exactly they were doing, since they all had their backs to him running as well. Not wanting to spook them, he dropped out of the trees and walked up to them. "Kyouko-sam? Fuzei-san?"
The two named girls and their male teammate stopped and turned towards him. "You're Akane-chan's teammate, Noburo-san right?" Kyouko asked.
"Yes, and Akane-chan needs your help."
"Akane? Needs our help?" Fuzei asked. "Why?"
"Right now she's fighting someone who knows her secret, and he's the third guy we've seen who knows about all of you." The blue-haired boy told them.
Kyouko and Fuzei stiffened, well warned of the risks of their secret identity being compromised. "Other than that, what makes these people so dangerous?" Fuzei asked.
"The guy Akane-chan's fighting right now bears a striking resemblance to one of Konoha's deceased criminals." Noburo added. "I don't know where these guys come from or what they want, but they know something they shouldn't and are attacking my teammate and that's all I need to know. Are you going to help your cousin or not?"
"We will, but you can't blame us for wanting to know how dangerous this threat is." Kyouko told him.
"Especially considering we just had to fight off a Suna team a few minutes ago." Fuzeio mentioned.
"Does this have something to do with that secret you two have?" Their teammate Isato asked.
"Sort of." Fuzei told him. "But that's not important. Let's go."
"What's the crisis Naruto?" Sakura asked as she, Lee, and a Hyuuga jounin named Seito stood in Naruto's office before him.
"Everyone, surveillance footage shows three people sneaking into Training Ground 43 at the time the genin began the second part of the chuunin exams. We don't know why or who they are given they were covered up and moving fast in the footage, but we suspect they're not interested in passing the exam here. Neji Hyuuga has also told me at least one of these three possesses a chakra very similar to the type Orochimaru's cursed seal created."
The three got rigid, understanding the implications. "You think someone's trying to replicate his old experiments?" Sakura asked.
"At the moment I have no clue, but the only way to get some answers if for someone to go inside the swamp and try to find them. You three have no relatives in the exams and thus your presence in the swamps won't risk any confliciting interference for the most part. Track down these three extras, subdue to the best of your abilities, and bring back to T&I. Any questions?"
"Is it possible for us to see the footage so we may have a better idea who to look for Hokage-sama?" Seito asked.
Naruto nodded and turned on the tv in his office, usually kept there to keep himself and Hinata from getting bored being in the office all day long. The screen showed some black-and-white footage of one of the gates to the Swamp of Nightmares opened automatically despite the fact no genin team was there. "This is when the other genin teams were allowed entry. All gates open simultaneously." Naruto explained and everyone nodded.
Next thing they saw was three quick black blurs dash inside the gate before it closed. Naruto rewound the tape and replayed it in slow motion until he paused on a frame that showed three cloaked figures. "Right there is the best image we have of them."
"If I didn't know better, I'd say it was Akatsuki." Sakura noted.
"That was my first thought too, but we should keep ourselves open to other possibilities."
Lee leaned in closer to see the image better. "They're not wearing hoods but at this angle we can't see their faces. Their hair is just a blur too and there's nothing on their cloaks to... wait, what's that?" He pointed to the screen, making everyone lean closer too. "Is that a trick of the light, or someone on their backs?"
"You're right, there's a white circle on the back of all their cloaks." Sakura said.
"Symbol of their group maybe?" Seito asked.
"Could very well be. Try looking for that and any signs of black chakra used. That's where you'll come in Seito." Naruto told him.
"I'll do my best." The Hyuuga told the hokage. Being a former branch member now freed of his seal, Seito had no intention of being a rude subordinate to Naruto. The same could be said of virtually all the released Hyuuga.
"One thing concerns me, why did they wait until the gate opened to get inside? And why didn't they destroy the camera?" Sakura asked. "Whatever it is they want, they obviously didn't want us to learn of it so why didn't they cover themselves better?"
"They probably thought doing otherwise would trigger alarms and draw even more attention to themselves." Seito offered.
Please you guys, go find them and bring them in. And remember, don't interact with any of the genin if you can help it. Dismissed." Naruto told them, starting to get a bit impatient.
"Roger!" Sakura, Lee, and Seito declared before vacating the office.
Akane was currently in a taijutsu match with Getsu-kyu, if it could be called that. A more accurate description was two peopple simply trying to beat the crap out of each other. Ninjutsu wasn't working for either and weapons were being wasted, so a brawl became the only thing that looked effective.
"Sad, I expected more from the strongest of the bijuu." Getsu-kyu said after blocking a punch.
Akane followed with a kick he didn't block in time. "If I was honestly trying to kill you, you wouldn't be here mocking me now."
"Oh, so I'm alive because you're not yet ready to slay me?" Getsu-kyu mockingly asked, managing to connect a punch to her jaw knocking her back a few feet until she spun and landed back on her feet. "What are you waiting for then?"
"Just a sign, is all." She answered before running towards him at her usual speed, hitting him firmly in the breastbone thus knocking the wind right out of him.
"So you're waiting for me to do something first." Getsu-kyu replied, getting up and looking towards her. "Could it be... this?" He activated his sharingan upon the word 'this'.
Akane froze upon seeing the dreadest doujutsu, and reacted the same way she always did. She pounced with claws out as if ready to rip the eyes from their sockets. Too bad Getsu-kyu was prepared for this and hit her with a baton he had with him. The club hit the redhead girl square in the jaw and she disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"A clone?" He asked, unaware she had a chance to switch with one. 'Must have been when I was off my feet.'
He looked around and saw several dozen Akane's ring around him, on the ground and in the trees. "Nice trick, but numbers won't help you here."
"They won't hurt either." A random Akane said as they all tried to swarm him. Most of the clones ended up attacking themselves due to Getsu-kyu substituting with a log to escape the assault.
"On the contrary." He said as he appeared from behind one-fourth of the remaining clones. "Fire Style Phoenix Flower Jutsu." He shot out multiple fireballs, hitting all of them and destroying them, but not the real Akane. Roughly thirty Akane's remained now, and none of them looked happy. He didn't look intimidated. "I'm noticing something about you. When you see a sharingan you throw caution to the wind and attack wildly, a trait I can easily take advantage of in our next encounter. However, that reaction only lasts for a minute at most, by then the shock and adrenaline rush wears off and after that you can be rational about it."
"I'll seen other sharingans, I've been working on not overreacting to them for years." Akane told him, remembering how Kakashi and recently Sayo tried helping her not lose herself in the shock of these eyes.
'All an enemy has to do is henge a sharingan, and you go crazy. If they realize that, then you may play right into their hands Akane.' Kakashi once told her during one of the times he taught her, before teams were assigned of course.
"Four years and you still get panicked by these eyes. Wow, I wonder what kind of trauma happened to all the other kyuubi's because of the sharingan to have this kind of impact on you as well." Getsu-kyu commented.
Akane arched an eyebrow, though with all her clones doing the same it didn't give away her location. "What do you mean all the other kyuubis?"
"You know about phoenixification right? How do you think anyone else knew, even those demon foxes you distrust? It's happened before several times. You're not the second incarnation of the kyuubi. Heck, you're not even the third. By my count, you're the fifth."
'He's been keeping track? Just who the hell is this guy?' Akane asked herself. She then dispelled her clones, standing in front of him by herself. "Just what are you after? What do you want with me or my cousins?"
"Oh, my long term goal is none of your business, but for today I just wanted to see how strong the nine of you currently are. You yourself are not as strong as I expected, but on the other hand my sharingan has failed to take control of your mind. So maybe there's more to you and the other eight that I'm not seeing. My interest in you nine is clearly not wasted."
"Too bad you're interested in the wrong thing." Akane said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Getsu-kyu was alarmed for a moment. 'A shadow clone? Where's the real one?'
As soon as he turned around he got his answer, when he saw two Akanes and a red rasengan heading right for him. Unable to dodge in time, the Sasuke-lookalike took the hit right in his left shoulder, the chakra orb shredding right thru his flesh and into his bones.
The attack knocked Getsu-kyu off his feet and he fell right into the mud of the swamp, getting covered in the wet earth. Before he could get up, both Akane's continued their attack by jumping right on his back, effectively stomping him back into the murky ground. Angered, Getsu-kyu uses his uninjured arm to grab a kunai and stabs one of the Akanes in the ankle.
By sheer luck, he hits the real one and not the clone.
Akane yells in pain and backs away to get the weapon out of her ankle. Getsu-kyu manages to get back on his feet and destroy the clone before glaring at the original, but then he smirks. "You're better than I gave you credit for. This wound's going to keep me out of commission for a while. Next time we meet, I'll be better prepared though."
"There won't be a next time." Akane said, having taken out the kunai and trying not to put any weight on her foot while it healed.
"Oh, yes there will be. We wil meet again Kyuubi." Getsu-kyu said before shunshining out of sight.
'Dammit, if he wasn't going to finish me off, why did he come here in the first place?' The redhead angrily asked herself.
"Akane-chan!" Noburo called out to her as he and the Iwa team arrived. "Where is that guy?"
"You just missed him. He ran off, saying he saw what he wanted to." She told him.
"You mean he was just testing you?" Fuzei asked.
"I don't know what he was doing, but I didn't like it." She answered as she got back on her feet and started sniffing the air.
"No Akane-chan, don't go looking for him now." Noburo told her.
"Why? Shouldn't we go after him?" Akane asked.
"Akane, we still have a test to pass. Try to worry about that now." Fuzei told her.
The young Uzumaki sighed. "I know. I already found several boxes. Want one for your trouble?"
Kyouko, Fuzei, and Isato looked at each other and huddles together whispering before separating. "Thanks for the offer, but we'd prefer to do this ourselves. It'll prove more about our skills if we do." Isato told her.
Akane nodded. "I understand. Best of luck you guys."
The Iwa nin then left.
"Should we go find Ichi then?" Noburo asked.
Akane nodded. "Not a bad idea. I've kind of had enough of this swamp. Just give me a second." She tested her ankle by placing weight on it and hissed. "Still tender, but I'll manage if I don't rush."
"You got hurt?"
"He stabbed me. Second time an Uchiha hit me with a kunai. I'm really starting to hate that family."
Noburo knelt down in front of her. "Here, let me try carrying you so you don't have to hurt yourself further."
Akane blushed and shook her head. "No thanks, I can manage. Let's just focus on finding Ichi-kun." She closed her eyes and tried to sniff her other teammate out. "He's not upwind, so let's try the other way."
"What did you find out about that guy anyway?" Noburo asked as he got back on his feet. Akane started walking downwind and he followed. As they moved, Akane gradually became better able to run.
"Somehow he does have a sharingan, making me think he's a genetic Uchiha if nothing else. Maybe he's like Sayo. But what really concerns me is I was trying to kill him but he wasn't trying to kill me. It was like he was just testing me."
"Why would he do that if he knows what you are?" The blue-haired boy asked.
"I don't have the slightest idea. But my gut tells me I haven't seen the last of him."
After five minutes of searching, Akane's nose caught a new scent. 'Fire? Is Yugiko burning something?' Yugiko was the only genin other than herself that knew fire jutsu so it was safe to assume she was responsible for the scent. "Let's try this way." Akane suggested, veering to her left. Noburo saw no reason to object.
The fire Akane smelled turned out to be a lot larger than she expected. In fact it was walling up the path in front of her when she reached it. But it was blue and black so she knew it belonged to Yugiko, but she couldn't hear anything on the other side.
"Wait here Noburo-kun, I'll go see what she's doing on the other side." Akane told her teammate. "Earth Style Hidden in the Earth Jutsu." She then sank into the ground and moved under it to avoid the fire entirely, as to avoid wasting chakra eliminating it or triggering something worse.
Akane came back up, looking like a swimmer emerging from water more than anything else, and saw Yugiko sitting by a tree carefree. Or to be more exact, she was sitting in Ichi's lap purring like a cat. With her lips on his.
"What the heck?"
Team Iwa (1)
-Kyouko Yotsuya
Appearance: Red hair with yellow bangs, black eyes, beige hest, pink floral kimono top with left sleeve only, mesh armor on right forearm, maroon shorts, hiking shoes, steel pole strapped to back.
Family: Bijuu cousin
Likes: Flowers, bright colors, climbing, bananas, desserts
Dislikes: Water, pickles, dogs, storms, messy places
Hobbies: Mountain climbing, cooking
Dreams: Become Tsuchikage
-Fuzei Kusaka
Appearance: Pale blue hair, orange eyes, tan haori and hakama with black edges, lavender under-kimono, red obi, golden horseshoe necklace, pale blue shoes, red rings under eyes
Family: Bijuu cousin
Likes: Open areas, hot springs, carrots, technology, chick flicks
Dislikes: Makeup, crowded places, loud noises, sharks, pornography
Hobbies: Working with machinery, jogging
Dreams: To be able to travel
-Isato Soraue
Appearance: Brown hair, brown eyes, green tank top, red vest with metal plates on chest, yellow metal bands on upper arms and wrists, metal belt, brown cargo shorts, brown shoes with metal plates on toes, dog tags.
Family: Father and older brother
Likes: Hearing true stories, gambling, weaponry, surprising others, dango
Dislikes: Those that butt into his business, drugs, squash, not having any ideas, mice
Hobbies: Target practice, card games
Dreams: Experience something worth telling
-Kizan (Sensei of team)
Appearance: Silver hair, green eyes, black mask over mouth, red shirt and pants, beige flak jacket, blue pack, black boots
Family: Unclear, orphan
Likes: His friends, dogs, calming music, barbecued food, rivers
Dislikes: Genjutsus, bathing in public, insects, ice cream, time-consuming tasks
Hobbies: Playing with dogs, watching movies
Dreams: Become tsuchikage or have student become tsuchikage