Welcome back to Chapter 18 of Naruto: Eternal Triumph. This chapter will not only explain the sudden disappearance of Gekkō, but also showcase the Finals of the Chūnin Exams. Now, on with the chapter!
Disclaimer: I Own Nothing. If you don't like the story, please don't torture yourself and read it
Summary: Despite now feeling loved from the Hokage's family, darkness emerges from within, questioning how much Naruto is loved. Will Naruto overcome these feelings, or let them consume him?
Legend
"Human talking"
'Human thinking'
"Tailed Beast/Summon/KI talking"
'Tailed Beast/Summon/KI thinking'
Jutsu
Chapter 18: A Test of Skill, Part 3
Ino had been well rested, and was ready for her newest challenge, while Temari was still confident coming off her last win. As Genma signaled for the battle to begin, Ino made the first move by tossing a handful of kunai and shuriken at Temari. "Is this the best the Hidden Leaf has to offer?" asked Temari, casually using her fan to blow the weapons back towards Ino. "Mind Transfer Jutsu" shouted Ino, hoping she could take over Temari's body and force her to forfeit. What Ino wasn't expecting was for Temari to leap out of the way, leaving Ino wide open for an attack.
Fully unfurling her fan. Temari prepared to end the fight. "Wind Style: Sea Dragon" shouted Temari, swinging her fan, creating a massive tornado in the battlefield. As Ino was swept into the tornado, Naruto instantly grew worried for Ino's safety. As the tornado disappeared, Ino was seen high in the sky, free falling towards Temari's now closed fan. Leaping into action, Naruto darted from his seat and summoned two Shadow Clone. As the Clones launched their master into the air, Naruto grabbed Ino, and landed away from Temari's fan. "Proctor, call the match" shouted Naruto. Genma nodded, and looked at Temari in disgust, while announcing her the winner.
Naruto carefully walked towards the medical area with Ino in his arms. "I'm sorry, Ino-hime. I should've jumped in sooner" whispered Naruto, a lone tear falling from his face. "It's not your fault, Naruto" said an unknown figure. Naruto grew tense, slowly placing Ino on a bed. Turning towards the voice, he was greeted by Inoichi. "It's not your fault, Naruto" repeated Inoichi. Naruto said nothing as Inoichi hugged the boy. Naruto couldn't hold it in any longer, and held on to Inoichi, letting the tears fall freely from his face. "You did everything you could to save my little girl. I wouldn't ask you to do anything else" said Inoichi.
Konoha Hospital
While the Finals began, Kakashi had been called along with several other Jōnin and ANBU to Konoha's morgue. "Doctor, why exactly are we here?" asked Kurenai. "I had the Hokage summon you all here because we recently had a casualty" said the doctor, pulling back the white sheet, revealing a familiar face. "Gekkō…" whispered Neko. "I'm sorry for your loss, Neko-sama. I recently completed my autopsy of Hayate Gekkō. I believe with the evidence I have gathered that the Hidden Sand Village is guilty of this murder" said the doctor.
"How can you be so sure?" asked Kakashi. "First of all, the wounds on the body had traces of Wind Chakra in them. The Hidden Leaf Village has so few Wind Style users, while practically everyone in the Hidden Sand Village has an affinity for Wind Style. Second of all, I found fibers on Hayate-san's sword. Considering only Iwa and Suna use flak jackets with a darker hue, and Iwa wasn't invited to the Chūnin Exams, then the only option left is the Hidden Sand Village. Are there any Hidden Sand Shinobi currently in the village that are capable of using this Jutsu?" asked the doctor. "Only one. The sensei of the Kazekage's children" said Asuma. Knowing what this sensei looked like, Kakashi followed his gut feeling and began looking through his Bingo Book.
"I knew he looked familiar. His name is Baki. A-rank Jōnin from the Hidden Sand Village, known for his Blade of Wind Jutsu. According to the Bingo Book, he's wanted by Kumo for killing their Jōnin Commander" said Kakashi. This shocked almost everyone in the room, including the Hokage. "Leave him for now. If the invasion still commences, I want Kakashi and Guy to subdue Baki. Once that happens, they will then transport him to Kumo, where he will face trial" said the Hokage. All the Jōnin present nodded in agreement, and left in a collective Shunshin.
Konoha Arena
The Jōnin and Hokage all returned to the Arena. "It's nice of you to return, Hokage-sama. I was wondering where you had gone" said the Kazekage. "I had an urgent matter that I needed to take care of" said the Hokage simply. Accepting the reasoning, the Kazekage nodded his head and went back to focusing on the current battle. Temari was currently facing Shikamaru, and the battle was a stalemate. Dodging kunai and shuriken, Shikamaru was trying to use his shadow to possess Temari, yet she kept breaking his control by forcing him to move. Eventually, Temari was caught in Shikamaru's Shadow Possession Jutsu. "I already have several different strategies to win this battle, though I will have to forfeit. I'm almost out of chakra, and I know I wouldn't be able to last much longer" said Shikamaru, releasing Temari from his control. "The winner of the battle is Temari" shouted Genma, to a chorus of boo's from the audience.
"The next battle will be Gaara vs. Zaku Abumi" shouted Genma. As both shinobi made their way towards the arena, Zaku decided to attempt a surprise attack before the battle began. Firing a sound wave at Gaara, Zaku charged towards his opponent, but Gaara had used his sand to not only block the attack, but subdue Zaku. As Genma attempted to restore order, he was stopped by the sound of bones breaking, and the sight of blood dripping from the mass of sand. All that was visible was the head of Zaku, his organs crushed from the pressure of the sand. "Proctor, I believe I win this battle by default" Gaara said coldly. Before Genma could react, Dosu leapt into the battlefield.
"Proctor, let me fight the boy" said Dosu. 'The kid wants to fight the monster, fine by me. It's his funeral' thought Genma as he looked to the Hokage for his decision. With a nod of his head, Genma signaled for the impromptu fight to begin. Gaara made the first move, sending several sand shuriken towards Dosu. Moving out of the way, Dosu fired several Decapitating Air Waves towards Gaara, hoping one of them would hit. Dosu's hopes were shattered, as Gaara's sand went in several different directions to block the attacks. Without saying a word, Gaara's sand began wrapping around Dosu's legs.
"You wished to avenge your friend, yet you have both met the same fate. Goodbye" said Gaara coldly, as he formed a spear made of sand, and plunged it into Dosu's heart. Death was immediate for Dosu, but his corpse would not rest yet, as Gaara used the rest of his sand to envelop Dosu, and crush him, leaving him in a similar state to Zaku. Before Genma could declare Gaara the winner, Gaara stopped moving, and fell to the ground, as if he were sleeping.
Many individuals in the stands began falling asleep as well. Noticing this, Kurenai and Naruto broke the Genjutsu around them, waking up many of the other shinobi and civilians. "The invasion has begun. We are under attack. Team 8, escort the civilians to the shelters. Team 9, get to the front lines and help the ANBU dispatch of the enemy shinobi" said Kurenai, with everyone around her moving to their positions.
"Mom, I'll take care of Gaara" said Naruto. Before he left, he summoned a Shadow Clone to watch over Ino while she recovered. "Be safe, Naruto-kun" said Kurenai, giving her son one last hug and kiss before they left to defend the village. 'It's time to end this. The Leaf has been attacked enough. Time to show everyone the Leaf is not to be messed with' thought Naruto, as he raced after Gaara.
With Team 8
Hinata and Shino were currently leading civilians to the nearest shelter, which just happened to be the Academy. Kiba had originally been helping them, before they were ambushed by shinobi from the Hidden Sound Village. Kiba had told his teammates to keep going, while he would stay behind and fend their attackers off. This was over an hour ago, and Kiba was still nowhere to be seen. "Kiba should've been back by now" said Shino. "I hate to say it, but Kiba probably is still out their finding more enemy shinobi to fight" said Iruka. "K-Kiba-kun would n-never betray an o-order from Kurenai-sensei" said Hinata.
"Maybe not, but Kiba's not here, even though he said he would be. Let's hope for his sake he's on his way here, perhaps with more civilians" said Shino. Hinata remained silent, but continued to hold out hope for her teammate.
With Kiba
Three Sound Shinobi laid motionless at Kiba's feet, having been killed by the Inuzuka boy. Kiba and Akamaru were prepared to head to the Academy and meet with Hinata and Shino, but he was conflicted on what he should do. 'I know Kurenai-sensei told us to get the civilians to the shelter, but there's still so many enemies around. Maybe I should stay and fend more of them off?' thought Kiba. As if he could read his mind, Akamaru barked in dissatisfaction of Kiba going against a direct order.
"I know, boy, but we could still help the Village out by defeating more enemies" said Kiba, hoping to reason with his partner. Barking in disapproval once again, Kiba finally made up his mind. "I'm staying out here to help. If you don't like it, then head to the Academy" said Kiba. Making up his mind, Akamaru ran off towards the Academy. Before Kiba could take off towards the enemy, he felt himself being knocked unconscious. "Idiot" muttered his attacker, a clone of Naruto, who had watched the entirety of the event. Hoisting Kiba onto his shoulder, the Naruto Clone left to head to the Academy.
With Naruto
Naruto was currently in a battle against Temari, who was trying to prevent Naruto from hurting Gaara. As he was engaged in a Taijutsu battle with her, he suddenly got a wave of memories from his clone. Flashing through handsigns, Naruto used his Wind Style: Great Breakthrough to create some space. 'So Kiba decided to go against Mom's orders. She'll find out eventually' thought Naruto, as he dodged several shuriken thrown at him.
'I can't keep wasting time. I'll need to summon Katipo' thought Naruto. Biting his thumb, Naruto flashed through handsigns as fast as he could. "Summoning Jutsu" shouted Naruto. As the smoke cleared, Katipo appeared. "How may I be of assistance to you, Naruto-san?" "I need you to help me immobilize this girl. Her brother has released the One Tailed Tanuki, though I'm confused on how that happened" said Naruto. Katipo nodded, and charged towards Temari. "Wind Style: Cast Net" shouted Temari, hoping to slow Naruto's summon down.
"I don't think so, kid" said Katipo, as he effortlessly dodged Temari's Jutsu. Before she had time to react, Katipo sent a strand of web toward Temari's fan, and yanked it out of her hands. Naruto leapt off the back of Katipo, and moved in to strike down Temari. As he was preparing to do so, he was struck in the side by a puppet. Appearing next to Temari was her brother, Kankurō. "I thank you for saving Gaara, but we can't let you hurt him" said Kankurō, sending another puppet towards Naruto's prone body.
"Wind Style: Silk Ripcord" shouted Katipo, firing a web at Naruto's leg, and using Wind chakra to pull his summoner out of harms way faster than normal. "Go, Naruto-san. Save this village from the jinchūriki. I will hold these two off" shouted Katipo. "Thank you Katipo" said Naruto, as he ran off to face Gaara. 'I won't be able to help him against Shukaku, but I know father will' thought Katipo, as he dodged several shuriken thrown by both Kankurō and Temari.
With the Hokage
Hiruzen and Rasa were currently on top of the Hokage Monument, engaged in a Taijutsu battle. "Why do this, Lord Rasa? I personally requested the Wind Daimyo send more missions to the Hidden Sand Village" shouted Hiruzen, enraged at the Kazekage. "First of all, I could care less about that damn village. Second of all, perhaps you would like to refer to me by my real name, sensei" said Rasa, making Hiruzen go wide-eyed, noticing the body of Rasa had dropped to the ground, piled around the feet of Hiruzen's real adversary. "Orochimaru…" said the Hokage, refusing to hide the venom in his voice.
With Naruto
Naruto arrived at the scene before him, shocked at what he saw. Several ANBU, the village's most dangerous shinobi were dead. Some were on the ground, having bled out from their wounds. Some were found in trees, no doubt from a Wind Jutsu, while the rest were covered in sand, possibly due to Gaara's Sand Prison. "Oooh, a new toy, and it just so happens to be that Uzumaki brat. I'm gonna kill you for sealing me away. Now let me taste your blood!" shouted Shukaku, as the insanity Naruto once saw had returned, forcing Naruto to dodge multiple Bullets of Chaos from the tanuki.
'I'll need all the chakra I can use. Here's hoping this works' thought Naruto, as he bit his thumb once more. "Summoning Jutsu" shouted Naruto, pumping more chakra into the Jutsu. As the smoke cleared, a massive horned spider appeared, with Naruto on its head. "Who the fuck summoned me?! It better be for a good goddamn reason" shouted the quite vulgar spider. "I did" shouted Naruto, leaping onto one of the spiders legs. "Who are you, brat?! Last I checked, there hasn't been a shinobi capable of Summoning me" shouted the large spider.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, now can we just get to beating a Tailed Beast please?!" asked Naruto, trying to stop wasting time. "What Tailed Beast are we… Holy shit! Out of all the fucking Tailed Beasts you need me to face, you had to choose the psycho!" shouted the spider. "Fine, brat. I'll help you with this one, but you better show me why you're worthy of Summoning me" said the spider as he prepared for an intense battle.
That's a wrap for Chapter 18. Now, don't worry, all the potential confusion will be revealed next chapter, including who this massive spider is. I wanted to add something a little unique to Naruto's first time Summoning a Boss, so I decided to give the spider some Tayuya-esque writing. Hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'll see you in January.