A/N: Sorry for the longer wait. I had some stuff to take care of some stuff IRL. Either way, we've got a story to continue.
Time for chapter 37
Enjoy!
A cold wind blew across the rooftops of Konohagakure as Naruto attempted to stare a hole in Orochimaru's skull. It was approaching six o'clock by this point, and the sun was beginning to set. Darkness would descend upon the village soon, both figuratively, and, if the conflict at hand swung in a certain direction, very literally. Unfortunately for the residents of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, their current line of defense against the dying of the metaphorical and literal sun was nearly spent, and his battle had not even begun,
'Now that I'm here looking at him, I'm not all that sure why I thought this was a good idea' Naruto admitted mentally as he ran several stratagems through his mind, none of which were safe or entirely logical given the entirely different dimensions of strength the Jinchuuriki and the Sanin possessed.
'Then again, most of what I do is kind of suicidal. Guess this isn't much different' the blonde thought with a sigh as he assumed a combat stance. He then charged across the rooftop to attack his foe, who grinned at the action and folded his arms across his chest. To Naruto's surprise, Orochimaru made no move to defend himself, instead opting to simply allow the genin to slam his fist into the left side of his jaw.
"For a half-pint, you're quite a forceful puncher. I actually felt that" the pale man said with a laugh while seizing the Jinchuuriki's wrist and yanking him forward. He then drove his knee into Naruto's solar plexus, causing him to fold in on himself and drop to his knees to flounder for air. Before he could recover, Orochimaru grabbed hold of his hair and hoisted him up to his feet.
"One shot, and you're down on your knees. Come now, you can't be that foldable" he goaded. He then let go of Naruto's hair and snapped his head back with a hard punch that sent him reeling to the edge of the rooftop. The genin managed to regain his footing before he could tumble over the edge.
"Don't you worry. I'm not" he growled as his eyes' red color deepened further. He then blitzed forward with another punch. Unlike the first time, Orochimaru raised an arm to absorb the impact of the strike. Once the punch made contact with his limb, the Sanin swung back with a left-handed punch that Naruto ducked under. The Jinchuuriki then extended the exchange further by launching a pair of hooking punches one after the other, aimed for opposite sides of Orochimaru's head. The first punch, which was aimed for the left side of the pale man's jaw, missed by a mile, drawing a grin from the Sanin.
A moment later, however, Naruto's left hand sailed into his jaw, bruising his cheek and sending him back a step. The blonde attempted to follow up with more strikes, but had his legs swept out from under him before he could advance any further.
"Throwing away the first punch to land the second. Crafty, but that's about as hard as I'm going to let you hit me" Orochimaru said with a mocking clap of his hands while Naruto climbed to his feet to continue fighting. Before he could respond, the blonde was crushed by a cruel punch to the stomach. As blood splattered from his mouth, the pale man grabbed the back of Naruto's head and pulled it down into a knee that reopened the cut on the boy's cheek.
Staggering and disoriented, Naruto tripped over his own feet and fell to his back roughly ten feet from Orochimaru, who was reveling in the damage he had inflicted upon his young adversary. The Jinchuuriki made an attempt to stand, but found that his balance was still severely compromised by the concussion he had been dealt. On top of his lack of equilibrium, Orochimaru's knee had cracked his orbital bone, resulting in a brutal ache in the side of his face.
"I still can't wrap my head around your thought process. Gaara asked you the same question, if memory serves. Why would you abandon a perfectly reasonable opponent in favor of one that you have no hope of even troubling? Even if we were to ignore her attempted indiscretion against you, the life of Hinata Hyuga could not possibly be valuable enough to commit willing suicide for the sake of" the Snake Sanin said as he made his way over to the compromised blonde.
"Unlike you, I think human life is precious, no matter what they've done wrong. And while we're on that topic, why do you keep bringing up something Hinata didn't do? It doesn't mean jack to me. You're a dick, but you don't seem all that dumb. Why keep beating a dead horse?" Naruto asked as he slowly rose to his feet. Orochimaru responded back kicking him in the chest and launching him down into the streets of Konoha.
"It doesn't mean anything to you? Really? The look of unadulterated horror that graced your bloodstained face begs to differ. Even beyond the physical proof, there's the logical end of things. You have nothing but your dignity. You have no material attachments in the world. To be robbed of your only possession would shake you, no matter what you say" the Sanin said as he looked down on Naruto from the roof. The blonde scowled and lept back up to the rooftop, attempting to remove Orochimaru's head with his now-serrated nails on the way up, to no avail.
"Have you ever heard of the concept 'forgiveness'?" he asked as he assumed a taijutsu stance. The pale man tilted his head to one side and studied the Jinchuuriki for a moment.
"In recent years, I have gained a keen interest in human psychology. Namely the effects an environment has on the development of a person's thought process. Your case is one of the more fascinating I've seen, and I think I finally understand it a bit" he said as he effortlessly evaded a charge from the blonde.
"You're essentially teetering on the edge of collapse perpetually. Your friendships are brittle at best, with the most committed of them being built on mutual loneliness rather than shared interests, and you willingly take monumental risks because, deep down, you wish to cut your life short. A sad existence, but a fitting one for a demon" Orochimaru said coldly. Naruto bared his fangs and attacked once more, only to be countered hard and knocked to his rear end.
"You don't know a damn thing about me or what I've been through. Keep your mouth shut" he snapped while standing to his feet. The pale man gave him a patronizing look.
"I don't need backstory to understand what I'm looking at. A child adrift in a cruel world with no support and no insurance against human sadism" he said as he knocked Naruto back with a punch that snapped his head around and buckled his knees. The blonde winced as he dropped to a knee and heaved a deep breath, his lungs burning and his face aching.
"Why don't you hate them, Naruto? Why do you insist on allowing them to walk over you? Are you really so lacking in self-respect?" the pale man asked, a trace of disgust in his voice. Naruto sighed and slowly straightened to his feet.
"Who said that I don't hate them? I do hate them. I wish that they would just disappear. That doesn't mean that I have the right to get rid of them, though. They're still people. They deserve a second chance. People can change, and I'm willing to wait for that to happen. Even if that means suffering" he replied tiredly. He then raised his glare from the roof to Orochimaru.
"Because of that, I'm willing to do things like this. I'm willing to struggle for them. And hey, maybe they won't come around during my lifetime, which might not be all that long anyways" he said solemnly as the air around him heated up.
'I know you and I aren't on the best of terms, but I need you to give me all you've got. Give me, and by extension, you a fighting chance. Please…' he begged the demon within his mind. After a moment of silence, the beast spoke two simple words.
'Good luck'
A second later, a blood-red charka began to seep from the blonde's body, enveloping his form and meshing into a pair of tail-esque structures behind him with a layer of chakra covering the rest of his body. Alongside the cloak of demonic energy, Naruto's nails and fangs grew to be even more feral and serrated than they had been before.
'I feel like I'm burning to death. I've...never been in this much pain before…' he thought to himself as he dropped into an animalistic taijutsu stance. Orochimaru grinned and regurgitated a sword from his gullet.
"The demon of Konohagakure is finally awake. A valiant stand for the sake of what little you hold dear. Glorified suicide" he said as he directed the point of the blade at the Jinchuuriki. It was at this moment that the sun finally hid itself behind the Hokage monument completely.
"There's no glory in something that you won't be remembered for" Naruto replied, his voice deeper and rougher than before. Orochimaru chuckled and took a step forward.
"A fair point, but don't worry yourself too much. They were never going to remember you" he said coldly. The Jinchuuriki remained silent at the comment.
A moment later, under the shadow of the monument, Naruto charged towards his foe, not a thought being spared for his own well being.
Neji heaved a deep breath as he reset for the umpteenth time. He was tired, battered, and beginning to question his own decision making. Despite having been engaged in a battle for nearly twenty minutes, Gaara was showing no signs of fatigue or frustration. He wore the same calm smirk that always seemed to be glued to his face. No effort had been exerted on his end, that much was clear.
'I'm not fast enough. Not even close. Every time I try to close in, I'm repelled, and from what he showed against Naruto, there are at least two more layers of defense beyond the sand cloud. This is hopeless' the Hyuga thought to himself frustratedly. His thoughts were then rudely interrupted by a sudden wave of murderous tension. The pulse prompted both Gaara and Neji to glance north, the direction that Naruto and Orochimaru had fled.
"So, he was holding out on me after all. If only I'd been more convincing during his departure. I could be sharing that experience with him. Another time, I suppose" the redhead said as he returned his gaze to Neji, who scoffed at his comment.
"If that really is Uzumaki-san, you should count yourself lucky that he didn't listen to you. You'd be drowning in a pool of your own blood if he had" he snapped. Gaara chuckled a bit at the retort.
"As I am now, yes. Keep in mind, however, that I held a fairly significant advantage over Naruto while I was actually trying, and even then, I never got the opportunity to show him my upper limits" he said. The Hyuga boy clenched his jaw.
"Even if you're telling the truth, I strongly doubt that you could have contended with what he's become in your absence" he said firmly. The grin vanished from the sand shinobi's face. Gaara then extended an arm towards Neji and opened his palm.
"In that case, let's put those doubts to rest" he said as his eyes flashed gold. Suddenly, the cold wind that had been blowing over the stadium ceased, leaving an unnerving silence. Gaara's body then became outlined in red as a set of markings appeared all across his body. Neji shuddered at the Jinchuuriki's presence. Despite his fear, the Hyuga boy found the gall to look his foe in the eyes, which now contained diamond-shaped irises.
"So, yours is the One-Tailed Tanuki. Those eyes and tattoos are unmistakable. They match the illustrations" Neji said shakily as he scrambled to regain his composure. Gaara nodded and let his arm drop.
"Indeed. I'm likely one of the few Jinchuuriki to have more or less total control of my beast's chakra. It does come at a price, as I am no longer capable of sleeping more than a few minutes at a time, but I find that the pros far outweigh the cons" he said, reveling in the strained body language of his adversary. Neji sighed and let his posture relax.
"I have a request" he said, earning a raised eyebrow from the sand shinobi, who motioned for the Hyuga boy to continue. Neji then pointed to the seating area.
"Spare Hinata-sama. Please. For all her faults, she doesn't deserve to die" he said quietly. Gaara laughed out loud.
"Even if I were to swear to you that her life would not be compromised, you have no way to know whether or not I keep that promise. The fact that you're asking at all suggests that you've resigned yourself to dying" he pointed out. The konoha genin curled his hands into fists.
"Does human life mean nothing to you? Is murder really just a passtime in your eyes?" he demanded. Gaara gave him a hard look.
"A long life is not a right, my unfortunate friend. You must earn that privilege. And if you or the girl aren't strong enough to preserve yourselves in my wake, then you have no right to survive" he said coldly as his sand slowly stalked towards Neji, who lowered his eyes to the ground. Just as the bloody sediment began to consume Neji, a voice cut through the arena.
"That's enough, Gaara. We don't have the time for this"
Gaara glanced over his shoulder to the seating area behind him. Standing atop the railing was none other than Temari, who had a body slung over her shoulder. The redhead narrowed his eyes at his sister.
"What makes you say that? Things are going quite smoothly" he asked skeptically. The fan wielder jammed a thumb toward the southern border of Konoha.
"Our forces are getting thrashed. Baki-sensei has ordered a retreat. Which is our cue to leave. Kankuro is already with him at the border" she explained. Gaara sighed and called his sand back to its gourd, much to Neji's surprise. The Hyuga boy then looked to Temari, his eyes widening when he spotted the body she was carrying.
"Nara-san!" he exclaimed loudly. Gaara instantly recognized the name and gave his sister a questioning look as he leapt up to the railing alongside her.
"I figured you had killed him. Or at least maimed him. Would you mind explaining yourself?" he asked skeptically. Temari leaned into his ear and whispered a few words, eliciting a grin from the redhead. Gaara then returned his attention to Neji.
"Consider yourself lucky. Under any other set of circumstances, you'd be dead. Now, I'd like you to pass on a message to Naruto for me. Tell him that if he wants his teammate back, he'll have to come retrieve him himself" he said as he and his sister turned to leave. Before Neji could respond, the pair vanished into a cloud of smoke. After a moment of shocked silence, the Hyuga boy's anger bubbled to the surface. He let out a yell of frustration and slammed his fist into the side of the arena.
"Damn it all. First, he toys with me, then he breaks my will without even touching me, and then he whisks away my comrade right in front of me" he hissed to himself as he shook out the hand he had punched the wall with. Neji then let out a sigh and lept up to the seating area and then to the roof of the stadium. Once he reached the top, he looked out towards the southern gate, where a distant band of ninja could be seen disappearing into the forest.
'From the sounds of it, you're a hostage now, Nara-san, and if what Hinata-sama told me is true, your capture is likely the thing that saved Hanabi-sama's life' he thought to himself. He then turned his gaze north.
'You had better survive, Uzumaki-san. There's more at stake than just your life now'
A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Some fairly serious stuff came up, and I'm sorry if the quality suffered for it. Hope you all enjoyed it either way.
See you next chapter! Read and Review!
