Underlined speech is thought.
Italicized speech signifies emphasis put on words or a change in tone. You should be able to figure it out from the choice of words and the character.
CAPITALIZED SPEECH IS YELLING.
These are … interruptions in …speech caused … by things …like laughing,…crying, thought,.. and…others.
Words-with-dashes-between-them-consistently-signify-when-a-character-is-talking-too-fast-to-understand.
Words with tildes~ after them are spoken for longer~ periods of time.
Bold words are author notes.
(Previously on "The Ultimate Shinobi." With the summoning jutsu, Hinata summoned a member of the owl summons. It was quickly agreed that Arashi would work with the owl in fighting Deidara as Hinata went after Sasori. It didn't take Arashi long to turn the fight into a conversation. From there, he went into a speech about the different attributes that applies to the chakra natures. When he got to earth, some of the descriptions of Deidara's jutsu were spot on and infuriating for the bomb user. He then launched an all out attack that resulted in Arashi easily getting behind him. As this happened, Hinata and Dokuyoke were having an easy time holding Sasori off. The other Arashi came in and told his summon to scare away Sasori after he whispered something into Hinata's ear. With the puppet user gone, Hinata started up her strongest jutsu. All that remained of this attack was pure carnage.)
10-4-09
I wonder how many of you bothered to read the note saying that the update rate has been cut in half. Unfortunately for my story, the long absence put a dent into how many readers I get with each chapter. I may never get those numbers back.
"Snake Hunt"
Arashi leapt through the trees while making sure not to loose sight of Orochimaru and Kabuto. "I let myself be a bit too relaxed this time. I thought that I had a good hold on this situation."
Flashback.
The clang of metal echoed in a constant stream within the forest. An emotionless gaze met with an expression of amusement. "Kukuku, it has been a while since someone has crossed swords with me for this long. It hasn't happened since that old fool Hokage."
"You place too much confidence upon the simple quality of your sword. When faced with a weapon able to face your blade and a swordsman able to match your speed, it is obvious how unpolished your kenjutsu skills truly are." Reacting to a twitch in Orochimaru's eye and a small spike in chakra, Arashi caught a snake head coming from his hidden hand. "You will need to do better than that."
"Kukuku, apparently so. Perhaps this." Arashi tilted his head just enough to dodge another snake out of the Sannin's mouth. Before the serpent could circle around for another strike, Arashi grabbed this one by its neck with the same hand that was still holding the first. Because of the connection, this pulled Orochimaru off balance. He took advantage with a solid punch in the face with his sword wielding hand. Using this momentum and the snakes, Arashi swung Orochimaru through a large tree before letting him fly. The Sannin landed against another tree and released a bit of red spit before glaring at Arashi. "Now~ I am mad."
"Becoming enraged will not help you in this fight." The snake snarled and charged with speed far beyond most jonin. Arashi stopped the strike without budging an inch.
"You are too confident child."
"I am in my thirties for your information. Twenty or more years of extra experience isn't quite enough here; especially with how your attempts to extend your lifespan are weakening you."
Orochimaru's eyes widened. "How do you know that?"
"From Jiraiya."
The Sannin glared at Arashi's cold eyes more fiercely. "How~ irritating. This must mean you are with Konoha."
Arashi blocked a strike to his neck. "Not yet, but I will be." In his first true show of offense, Arashi unleashed an overhead slash that sent Orochimaru through the thick branch, even though the blow was blocked. "You are a sad being Orochimaru. You searched for ways to extend your life, and you failed miserably."
The snake user smiled. "Kukuku; you talk as if you understand a different way to obtain eternal life."
"I do not." The serpent's grin grew. "But I know of someone who has come closer than you have without having to sacrifice other lives for more years."
The single moment of victory that was felt was instantly squashed. Orochimaru clenched his teeth tightly. "Explain yourself."
"It is rather simple. You appear to think that the secret to an extended life is within ninjutsu or fūinjutsu. In truth, it lies within taijutsu. More specifically, complete understanding on how the human body works."
"DON'T FOOL WITH ME!"
Arashi had no reaction in his emotionless state. "I agree. It's time to stop fooling around now." A massive wall of snakes spread out from Orochimaru's hand. Arashi held his sword at the ready as it started humming. With one powerful swing, all of them were blown back. Arashi managed to catch a glimpse of his foe running away under the cover of the large group of snakes. The limb under his feet cracked as Arashi gave chase. Sensing killer intent, Arashi looked left and saw a net pulled along with kunai at the edges. Just as he sliced this to pieces, he had to do the same to more kunai pulling explosive tags. Although the explosion missed him greatly, it did well in giving Orochimaru more cover. Frustrated, Arashi let his Streaming Seikūken fade. "Where did all that come from? Certainly he didn't have enough time to set all that up. He must have been more prepared than I expected."
Flashback End.
"I can't believe that I let someone get away from me so easily. Orochimaru certainly isn't the strongest person I've fought, but he is the trickiest. I still find it difficult to believe that he was able to pull that off all by himself. Either Kabuto was able to recover from that blow I gave him faster than I expected, or I was focused to the point that my sense of time was off." He sighed. "Well~, all I have to do is catch up to them. Everything else is still going according to plan.."
Another thick tree limb shattered under Arashi's feet. As he ran, he noticed a teenaged girl on the ground with kunai in places that would quickly kill her if she doesn't get help. The girl reached up to Arashi with a desperate plea. Arashi ignored this and continued chasing after Orochimaru at full speed. "Three reasons I won't fall for that. I know that body has been dead if the chakra decay is something to go by. Also, the only chakra there is Kabuto's and residue from a sealing. Finally, that girl didn't have any form of life in her eyes. That foolish attempt to buy time merely gave me a chance to catch up."
The chase continued with Arashi continuously gaining ground of the fleeing pair. Kabuto adjusted his glasses and smirked. "It appears that my little decoy was not able to hold him for very long."
"Kuku, it's more like he ignored it completely. I have to admire someone who can toss away a life to obtain his final goal. I am starting to actually like~ him."
Kabuto chuckled. "That's good Orochimaru-sama. I was afraid that you found my skills lacking in some way."
"No need to worry about that~ Kabuto-kun. If I hadn't seen you set her up yourself, I would have used one of my kunai to send her out of her misery."
"I thank you for your praise Orochimaru-sama. I've had a lot of practice."
Just as they reached a river bank, they had to dodge a large fireball coming up from behind them. In this chance, Arashi jumped off of the center of a tree with enough force to shatter it to wood chips. This put him a short distance away from those two. Both of them faced Arashi, ready to fight. "You two are a pretty annoying pair. It took me a bit longer to catch up with you then it usually would for me."
"Kukuku. I have to say that you intrigue me. Even though you say you will join that weak village, you didn't hesitate to through away that girl's life just for obtaining your goal."
Arashi shook his head in dismay. "You must be kidding me. I knew the instant I laid eyes on that decoy that she was simply a dead body that was animated with a jutsu. One of the advantages of having a doujutsu. I just found it irritating that you would kill an innocent girl just for the purpose of being a decoy. There is no reason for any innocent person to be killed."
Kabuto adjusted his glasses once again. "It's too bad that you feel that way. I was planning to get a replacement for her as soon as we get to our next base. I may get lucky enough to run into a good one by chance."
Arashi started to glare at Kabuto fiercely. "Now that makes me mad. I wonder if your medical skills are enough to counter an attack made fore people like you. Your death won't make up for those lives if those skills aren't enough to counter my attack.."
"Kukuku; speaking of death, you don't seem to care if that Hyuga girl of your's dies."
Just before he could talk, Arashi's eyes widened a bit. His expression then changed to a smirk. "Looks like the fight Hinata-chan is in is going according to plan. She should be unleashing her most powerful jutsu right now. You can see it if you look over the trees. Let's have a short truce to watch." With that, Arashi jumped up to the trees and turned his back to the missing-nin pair.
Out of pure curiosity, Orochimaru used his specialized jutsu to extend his neck so that his head was over the tree line. Not even a second after he got a full view of the gorge area, a massive barely brown light began to shine. As quickly as it showed, the light just disappeared as if it were collapsing in on itself. He was then able to see the level of carnage that light caused. "Fabulous~~. That was absolutely fabulous~." He grinned widely and went into a fit of hysterical laughter. "WHAT AN ABSOLUTLY MARVELOUS~ JUTSU! I WOULD HAVE NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT INCONSPICUOUS HYUGA HAVING SUCH AMAZING~ POTENTIAL! I HAVE~ TO HAVE HER! That jutsu could be at the same level as Sasuke-kun's Karin jutsu."
Arashi turned his eyes towards the Sannin. "Aren't you getting ahead of yourself Orochimaru? In case you forgot, she is my disciple. You would have to get past me before you could ever think about getting to her since we are never too far apart. Not only that, but my mission with her ends in half a year, after which she will be back in Konoha. Last of all, she will never want to go to you. You haven't a chance."
"THEN YOU MUST DIE!" The sword sticking out of Orochimaru's mouth was immediately stopped by the flat of Arashi's blade.
"You will certainly have to do better than that Orochimaru. I have avoided far~ more deadly attacks with ease." Arashi spun and swatted away a snake coming out of Orochimaru's sleeve. "That's a bit better. You were pretty fast at getting the rest of your body up here." Arashi placed his hand on his foe's shoulder and smiled. "Lightning Style; Taser." The electricity traveled down the Sannin's body and forced him to start convulsing. A powerful kick sent Orochimaru into the ground on the other side of the river. With that, Arashi charged straight for Kabuto. The master smirked as he connected the back of his blade to Kabuto's scalpel. "Isn't this how the fight between you two and I began.
Kabuto also smirked as light glinted on his glasses, even though he was obviously having trouble holding off Arashi's strength despite the better leverage his smaller weapon naturally provided. "Don't expect to get as much time from Orochimaru-sama as you got with me."
"Ten seconds is more than enough."
Without any form of explanation or reasoning, Kabuto suddenly found himself turned around and falling backwards. "How did he~?"
"Lightning Style; Taser." Kabuto's body convulsed with the half second Arashi's hand was on him. "Shockwave of Forgetfulness." With precise timing, Arashi slammed the sides of Kabuto's head with the palms of his hands. The young shinobi with skills beyond most jonin fell.
In the high skies not too far away.
Tsukura soared through the skies while keeping an eye on the events the true Arashi was creating. Even as she tried to focus on the fight against Kabuto and Orochimaru, she was still deep in thought about what just recently happened with the girl she was holding carefully within her talons. "That was the most unbelievable thing I have experienced in my life. I doubt that even our queen could manage such a powerful attack without using up nearly all her chakra. This girl is one to watch." She turned her attention back to the ground. "Her shishō is one to watch too. I could hear everything he said, and he planned all of that too perfectly. That clone was able to write a message telling me to take Hinata to the sky and keep her there until she wakes. It's almost like he knew ahead of time that that man would want to take Hinata for himself. He has her safety in mind at all times." Tsukura's warning signals went off as her senses of sight and hearing picked up some movement in the air. A single flap moved her out of the way of a ridiculously long sword that was growing even longer. The sword started moving towards her suddenly. With no way to dodge, she awaited the blow. Luckily, the blade stopped just before touching her beak. Tsukura looked down to see the real Arashi holding off the base of Orochimaru's sword with his own. "He truly is impressive."
"You don't seem to have a very good memory Orochimaru. Did you forget that I will not let you get to Hinata-chan? It's foolish of you to think I won't hold true to my words."
Orochimaru smirked widely despite the sword sticking out of his mouth. "It's only fair. You took someone from me~. I should do the same to you."
"You really are a fool if you think what I just did warrants true retribution. You have taken countless numbers of people from those who care about them. Kabuto just happens to be just a very important pawn to you. The people you take tend to be the types of pieces no one wants to lose."
The expression on his white face turned sour. "It appears that the two of use could never come to any form of agreement."
Arashi's smirk grew. "That's not entirely true. We both believe that power is a very important thing to have. For someone who is constantly fighting to protect others, they have to make sure that they are strong enough for themselves and~ for the one they are protecting. I guess that is why Konoha shinobi tend to be stronger than some others. Others like you."
"I AM FAR MORE POWERFUL THAN ANY OF THOSE WEAKLINGS!"
"Perhaps the ones who are younger than you and lack your experience; or the ones who are too old to be very strong anymore." These words only added fuel to the fire of Orochimaru's growing frustration and anger.
"I WILL~ DESTROY THAT VILLAGE!"
"Before any of that, I would like to ask you why Kabuto even chose to join you. Was it because of all the medical opportunities you gave him, or was it something else."
The Sannin glared and growled. "Why should you care?"
"I am curious. I really want to know the primary reason Kabuto came to take a liking to you. It can't be because of your strength."
"Humph, that's exactly it. Those with power are attracted to those with even more power."
Arashi developed a small smile. "That's good to know."
"Enough of this dribble. It is time for you to die." Out of the corner of his eye, Orochimaru saw Kabuto starting to stand up. "It appears this man doesn't have the guts to kill someone who can't defend himself. How~ foolish." Orochimaru quickly shortened his sword to normal length and pushed Arashi back, thinking of nothing but giving Kabuto a good chance to eliminate the annoying man.
Just as Kabuto looked at them, Arashi smirked widely. "Aren't you forgetting one very important thing Orochimaru as you pushed me back? … In terms of physical strength, I far surpass you." Orochimaru tried to back away, realizing how he fell into a trap. "Naïve." The Sannin found himself flying backwards with no control over his fall. After rolling to his feet, Orochimaru looked to see that Arashi's eyes seemed to be glazed over in a way resembling a wise blind man. "Only the man who can realize the differences between himself and his foe can turn out victorious in the end."
Orochimaru glared at Kabuto with anger. "What do you think you are doing? ATTACK HIM!"
Kabuto merely looked at him with eyes showing no form of recognition and acknowledgement. "Who… are you?"
Those three words struck Orochimaru with the force similar to the fists heading straight for him. "CHEST!" Like Arashi yelled, the powerful fist struck Orochimaru's chest. "APAPAPAPAPAPAPA~!" Arashi charged forward like a wild beast and grabbed Orochimaru's head and slammed the snake's face into his knee. This was followed with a stable punch that doubled the white shinobi over rather than sending him flying. This was followed by a series of rapid punches that struck many vital points. "CHOWA~ CHOWA-CHOWA-CHOWA!" The final blow struck Orochimaru's back and sent him face first into the water. The man stopped with just his feet sticking out at the shore.
Kabuto watched this take place with wide eyes. "This man is amazing."
Arashi smiled his normal way as he looked at his work. "It sure has been a while since I had fun like that. I really do wonder how this man managed to keep causing so much trouble all over." Arashi's eyes widened as something changed. "The chakra in his feet is disappearing." Arashi ran over to the body and pulled the feet. What he found was an empty husk that used to be Orochimaru. "I guess that this answers my question. This is probably his way of shedding his skin like a snake. Since the water was hiding his body, I couldn't see much." Arashi tossed the body back into the water and looked at Kabuto. "I guess that I have to deal with him real quick."
And there goes yet another chapter. This was mostly just set up for the next chapter.
Next Chapter: Snake's Den.
