A few days before Naruto's capture…
Kirigakure's habitants had already grown accustomed to the thick mist that ruled over their islands. It was bothersome and made fishing exceptionally harder in many regions, but they unfortunately had much bigger issues to worry about than the weather. Indeed, Kiri hadn't made contact with any other nation in a long time, which meant almost no one else in the entire world knew just how dire their... situation was.
A small group of men, working on a pier in an island that had been deserted a long, long time ago, had learned how to profit off of said situation. They carried crates out of decrepit buildings and took them to the nearby pier, where they were carefully placed into open sealing scrolls after examining their merchandise and let their seal arrays do the rest.
Some might have called them criminals. Weapon dealers that profited off of other's misfortunes, traitors even. To Mizubichi, their leader, it was all business. Just because Kirigakure was poor didn't mean he had to be desolate too.
Despite making a living out of sailing for decades at that point, there was no one that loathed the waters more than he did. Or maybe that was the precise reason why merely hearing the waves gently clashing against his vessels was enough to make his heart freeze. There were things only he knew about Kirigakure. Creatures dwelled on those waters, and he would rather not face them, ever.
"Faster!" He reprimanded his men, pacing around the docks. They had been there for two hours already, carefully examining each and every part of their contraband to make sure they weren't being tricked. "We need to be out of here by midnight!"
"What's the hurry, boss?" One of them asked, lifting a crate over his shoulder. "We still got plenty of time."
"Just get it done, for fuck's sake!"
No one said anything, but Mizubichi knew what they were thinking. They thought his affinity for drink was clouding his judgement, and that he had lived long enough to fear his own shadow. There were twenty of them there, all armed, and half of their numbers were hardened veterans who defected from Kiri's army to make a better living. Men who weren't above doing anything for the right paycheck. Their competitors would have to be downright stupid for attacking them while all of them were around.
But Mizubichi hadn't survived in that business for as long as he did without learning a thing or two about instinct. When his gut told him they needed to get out while they could, it meant they really needed to get out while they could.
"Hey!" One of them said, standing by the pier and looking off into the ocean. "The fuck's that?"
They all turned to see a most peculiar sight.
A single row boat cut its way through the waters, although they could neither hear nor see any actual rowing. The lone sailor on top of it was covered by the fog, although there was a lone object hanging off of his back. Mizubichi estimated it was taller than its wielder, which wasn't an easy feat. He got the impression that just as they had seen the man, he had seen them.
"Looks like it's just one man, boss," His spotter said. "Should we blow 'im?"
Mizubichi walked to the pier's edge, then shouted into the distance. "You there! Turn around, now!"
No response. Some of his men repeated his warning, others already shouting out threats. Finally, the figure moved, putting one of his feet on the boat's front-tip and leaning toward them, as if to get a better look.
"Dumb bastard should have listened." Mizubichi said, shaking his head. "Tag him. And finish up the sealing, now."
The soldiers immediately moved to follow his orders while the dock workers hurried their process. Each of them grabbed two Kunai with tags already tied to their hilts, pulling their arms back in anticipation. A word from him was all they needed.
Now, Mizubichi had no particular apprehension about taking other's lives. He couldn't have lived as long as he did otherwise. But there was something about the man encroaching them that made him have second thoughts about attacking.
It felt like that 'something' should have been obvious, but the particularities of it escaped him.
"This is your last warning, stranger!"
Nothing, not a single sound. He scowled and shook his head.
"Fuck's sake, go!"
They threw their weapons, blazing steel forming a wide arc in the air, heading straight toward the rowboat, cutting through the fog and showing what lurked behind it. Everyone in the port heard the satisfying sound of steel cutting into wood, and they knew the stranger was dead, regardless of what he tried to do afterward.
"Goodbye, you deaf bastard." Mizubichi said to himself, clasping his hands together in a quick prayer for the man's soul. Not three seconds later, every tag exploded at once. Water exploded as high as fifteen feet into the air as twenty tags all went out at once. Fire coated its surface, forming a sight none of them could ever forget.
His workers hollered at the spectacle, leaning in to try and see their victim's body among the mess. The soldiers he had hired kept their composure, merely staring dead ahead with a strong sense of satisfaction.
"Right, right," Mizubichi said, and the man couldn't help but laugh along with them. "I know what we just saw, boys, but don't let it distract you! There's no way a lone bastard could find its way here by accident. We should assume there are more of them coming, so finish loading that up and let's get outta here, now! I'll pay for rounds... when we get...back?"
Halfway through his speech, Mizubichi saw the men's faces go from swift celebration to petrified horror.
One of them, a sailor, raised a shaky finger and pointed at him. Or, to be more precise, at something behind him. He slowly turned around, dread clenching his heart in a vicious grip, and the sight that graced him made Mizubichi stagger and fall on his back.
A man, undoubtedly the sailor they had just tried to murder, sat on top of a wooden post, perfectly balancing his gigantic body on one foot. Finally, Mizubichi got to see what the object strapped to his back was; a sword.
Now he knew it was definitely bigger than he was, and covered almost entirely in bandages. As for the man himself, he wore a dark yellow raincoat that covered almost all of his body, with dark-blue sandals protecting his feet.
Blue hair was held back by a Kirigakure forehead protector, perfectly complimented by the man's blue skin. Marks graced both of his cheeks, and they resembled a fish's gills. Small, almost entirely white eyes stared straight at Mizubichi, with pupils the size of a grain of sand.
He knew who the man was at a first glance. And so did every other man in the port. Suddenly, he knew why attacking him felt like such a bad idea. They had just opened fire on one of Kiri's legendary seven swordsmen. "K-Ki-Kis-!" He stuttered, trying to crawl away from him. His face opened in a cruel grin, composed entirely of sharp, animal-like teeth.
"Oh, please," Their owner said with a surprisingly amicable voice. "Don't let me interrupt."
"IT'S KISAME-!" Mizubichi yelled, trying to turn around to crawl for his life. Overwhelming pain suddenly took both of his legs, leaving him lying on the mud, bloodied and paralyzed.
He was forced to look on as Kisame Hoshigaki tore his way through his employees. His sword didn't cut through their flesh. It crushed their bones under its weight, and while it might have been his delirious mind's attempt at coping with the pain, he could swear their mangled bodies were being devoured by the weapon as well.
Even the former soldiers didn't stand a chance, being overwhelmed by the man before they could even try to attack him. Kisame cackled maniacally the entire time. His formerly yellow coat quickly turned red, together with most of the ground around them.
By the end of the massacre, which couldn't have lasted more than five minutes at the most, Kisame was standing in the middle of the now dead-silent port, supporting his weight on his sword with a decidedly bored look in his face. "That was it?" He turned to look at the still-frozen Mizubichi, disappointment fresh all over his face. "That's what you people got? I swear, this world's really gone to shit."
"Pl-ple-please-!" He begged, holding both hands up in a vain attempt to defend himself. Kisame dug his sword out of the ground and made his way toward him. "You could have at least tried to put up a fight. Christ." He shook his head.
"M-money! I can give you-!"
Mizubichi's plea was cut short as Kisame swung his blade down, crushing the smuggler's skull like an egg on a frying pan.
Kisame sat on the ground afterward, wiping some drops of sweat off of his brow. His sword squirmed against his grip. "I know, I know," He told it. "I was expecting more too, the hell do you want me to do about it?"
"Brutal as ever, I see," A familiar voice said from the water behind him.
Kisame turned with another wide grin. "Ao!"
The one-eyed man stared back at him, decidedly unamused. "Your orders were to bring their leader back alive, Hoshigaki. Remember? So we could know the pretender's supply lines?"
"Please, it's not like the Mizukage-"
"He is NOT the Mizukage!" Ao shouted in rage.
"Whatever," Kisame shrugged dismissively, accidentally flinging some blood off of it. "If you didn't wanna flatten a nail, you shouldn't have used a hammer. Couldn't you have asked good ol' Zabby to do this bullshit?"
"He's busy." Ao shook his head. "That doesn't matter, we'll track one of Mizubichi's associates down. I have new orders for you. Orders which you are to obey, immediately."
Kisame whistled. "Well, that was quick. It better be good, Ao. I'm getting bored."
"As you're well aware, Suna tried to invade our ally a few months ago."
"Bored." He said, looking under his fingernails.
"And as you're also aware, we couldn't offer our support until our matters here are finished."
"Which is why I don't get why you're telling me any of this."
"Kisame," He looked over at his 'commander' with a raised eyebrow. It was rare for the man to use such a dead-serious tone when addressing him. That's one of the things he appreciated about him, though.
Most were too afraid to look him in the eye.
"How fast can you make it to Amegakure?"
Naruto desperately needed to blink. His eyes had been forced open for the last couple of minutes, observing Bokuden's bodies with every last ounce of focus he had in him. That dilligence was the only reason he was still alive.
Bokuden - or his clone - was moving so fast that it was impossible for Naruto to block or dodge a blow after it had been thrown. Naruto therefore had to rely on predicting an attack before it actually happened. A twitch on Bokuden's neck, a step, even the movements of his pupils, those are what saved his life. And even then, not by much.
Suddenly his claims of surviving a fight against the Fourth Hokage seemed a lot more reasonable, although Naruto still refused to believe the two of them were anywhere near the same league. Chances were the Fourth was simply too busy to finish Bokuden off.
But that didn't make it any less of a monstrous feat, or the exchange of blows between them any less painful.
The tensing on Bokuden's neck gave away that he was about to throw a left hook, which Naruto promptly countered with a jab that'd cut through the blow. Only his opponent had read through the counter, and pulled his hand back to grab at his wrist. Naruto, in turn, had seen through that deception before it was completed, pulling his left arm back altogether and attacking the officer with a kick instead.
The kick was blocked with one of Bokuden's own, which Naruto tried to use to make him lose his balance. A futile effort. The sudden sharpening of Bokuden's gaze gave away his intention to stab at Naruto's chest with his right hand. The boy swiftly pivoted around his lead foot, causing Bokuden's hand to hit air instead.
That was the level of their exchanges, and they happened over, and over, and over again, with neither fighter gaining or losing any significant ground. A deadly stalemate that could be broken at any second to disastrous consequences for either party.
Yugao, meanwhile, was dealing with her own issues. Naruto tried his best to keep an eye on the woman, to help her if she needed him, and she did the same to him. They both must have had already saved each other's lives hundreds of times by that point.
Jutsu were out of the question, obviously. Bokuden would never give Naruto enough time to prepare anything of note. No, he'd need to create, or exploit, a significant enough gap on the man's attacks.
Which wouldn't be that difficult if he didn't have the stamina of a dosed-up racehorse. Not only did his attacks never stopped, but their speed and frequency had ramped up throughout the course of their fight.
Suddenly, an idea popped up in his head. It was risky, and could easily result in both his and Yugao's deaths, but what other choice did he have? If things continued as they were, they'd both die there anyway.
"Yugao!" He suddenly yelled out, the first word exchanged between the four of them in a long while. "Cover my back!"
It was a wild bet. Asking for either of them to handle both men at once was near impossible. She knew just as well as he did that the situation was dire, though, and Yugao was more than willing to help him. She stepped in front of him, blocking two attacks at once with her sword. At the same time, Naruto jumped back and went through the needed seals, ending with forming the 'Rat' gesture with both hands.
Both Bokudens engaged in a combined assault against Yugao at the same time. Several of his attacks blew through her guard, and they all looked decidedly painful. Naruto was finally finished.
"JUMP BACK!" He ordered, bringing the seal up to his mouth. She complied immediately, opening the path for his attack.
"Suiton: Suiryuuben!"
It was one of the techniques used against Naruto on the same night Asuma recruited him. That made it almost… nostalgic in a way.
Water from his earlier attacks grouped around his feet, rising up to his hip before taking the form of a large, dragon-shaped whip. It appropriately lashed out at the two clones attacking them, who promptly dodged out of the way with next to no trouble.
That was totally fine. Naruto wasn't aiming to take such dexterous fighters with such a telegraphed and clumsy true target was the Bokuden glued to the sixth floor's ceiling, out of their sight.
That clone launched a silent Futon Jutsu at them at the exact same time. A large, curved blade that closely resembled a guillotine. Water and wind clashed in the middle of the room.
Naruto's chakra overpowered Bokuden's, causing an explosion and stopping both of their attacks before they could cause any real damage.
"NARUTO, DOWN!" He heard from behind him. He didn't even turn around to see what Yugao was up to, immediately crouching while the two clones ran up to attack them. Out of his sight, the woman spun her sword around, the air whirling above his head. "FUTON: MIKAZUKI NO MAI!"
The technique's result looked like the aftermath of a large and particularly destructive tornado. Both clones, combined with the entire room, and a good portion of the fifth floor as a whole, were cut in half. Bokuden's bodies exploded into smoke, just as when they had appeared, but Naruto was more concerned with the rumbling that surrounded them.
He turned to face Yugao, raised his left hand high into the air, concentrated two layers of chakra on his knuckles, and punched the ground underneath them. It cracked easily under the pressure, forming a hole that took them to the fourth floor.
She jumped in after him. Knowing that wouldn't be enough to escape from her attack's aftermath, Naruto used his momentum to repeat the attack on the third floor, and both of their bodies were thrown through yet another hole.
The rumbling reached its loudest right before a tremendous crash. It wasn't hard to guess that a good portion of the sixth floor had collapsed onto the fifth, and that the fifth then collapsed onto the fourth. Thankfully, it seemed like the third had been somewhat spared for the time being. So much for trying to be discrete.
Yugao tackled him away from where they landed when some massive stone blocks fell where they had just been standing. "Are you alright?" She asked, pushing herself off of him. He nodded his head shakily, looking up. "Did that kill the bastard?"
As if on cue, the man himself burst out from the collapsed ceiling. Their impromptu demolition had done quite a bit of damage on him, at least.
Half of the skin in his face had been peeled off, live flesh that bled around his now useless left eye. One of his arms seemed to have been broken as well, together with an incredible number of injuries covering his back.
Naruto didn't have any time to examine them, because Bokuden didn't just break through the ceiling, he launched himself straight at them.
"UUZZUUMMAAAKIII!" He roared, reaching for Naruto's throat for the second time. He tried to fight him off, and Yugao was already on the way to assist him by cutting the man's arm off, but the third floor didn't fare well against the impact of his fall. All three of them were, once again, punched through the ground.
Any structural stability left in the building was destroyed altogether after that.
The prior rumbling they had all heard grew tenfold, and there was now an incessant shaking that surrounded them. It felt like being in the epicenter of an earthquake.
Naruto's concern for getting out before the entire thing came crashing down upon them came second to getting Bokuden's hand off of his throat. He pushed the fingers on his right hand together and, taking use of their extra sharpness, stabbed them straight into the officer's side.
By all accounts, Naruto's attack should have pierced Bokuden's liver. And that type of injury should at the very least had slowed him down.
Neither happened. Bokuden pulled his arm back and smashed it on Naruto's head. Blood spurted out of his now-broken nose, and his vision blurred. He cursed over and over again in his mind. 'Not this-!' He yelled at himself. 'Not again!'
Thankfully, Yugao was there to save his brain from taking any more damage. "Futon: Suiyaku Kengan!"
Displaced air waves took the form of a massive fist which collided with Bokuden's body, simultaneously punching him off of Naruto and cutting into his skin. The force behind it carried the man into the room's wall before hammering him into it.
Naruto figured that'd be the best chance they had to kill him, but the building's shaking prevented him from finding his footing.
That's when he had a stray thought. How come none of Bokuden's agents had run in to intervene in their fight yet? After blowing through most of the building, there's no way they wouldn't have noticed them.
Unless…
Something, or someone, had caught their attention before they did.
Kaoru Hanayama stood in front of the mountain-turned-base and stared at its peak. It was tall, imposing, and more-than-likely fortified and manned with all sorts of dangerous traps and enemies alike.
But his search for the Uzumaki's prodigal son had taken him there, so what other choice did he have?
Besides, it wasn't his first time barging into a fortress with nothing but his bare hands anyway.
Far from it.
So he walked up to one of the hidden entrances, a 'door' carved into the mountainside which led to a tunnel covered by a seal-maintained transformation technique, and ripped it open with his bare hands.
An alarm was more than likely triggered by his intrusion. Hanayama fearlessly crossed the tunnel, not pausing to aknowledge their presence until finding a relatively open place covered from top to bottom with enemies.
It was most likely supposed to be a 'lobby' of sorts. He saw the entrances for several other tunnels on the far edges of the room, but the area itself was rather expansive. It was probably why they waited for him to appear before attacking, since ambushing a single target would be far easier when they actually had the space to move.
Their eyes were hidden behind masks, but he could still see the recognition behind them. Those soldiers knew who they were dealing with, and that made them hesitant to engage him. Wether that hesitation was because of who he was, or because their villages were supposed to be allies, he didn't know. Either way, he wished they didn't have to fight.
The tension between them reached a breaking point, and the scouts finally moved before he did. Jutsu were thrown from the higher floors, while the rest either attacked him with projectiles or ran up to restrain his movements. Some of them had to be aware their lives were going to be lost, but still attacked him head-on, ready to sacrifice themselves to complete their mission.
Hanayama found them admirable. He really did.
But that wouldn't save them.
The first thing people learned when fighting Kaoru Hanayama for the first time was that appearances were easily deceiving. 'A man that size can't move too quickly,' They thought. 'And not with enough dexterity to surprise me.'
That was a mistake he often punished them for making, severely. It was no different that day, when he ran across the room and pushed a closed fist through one of the scout's skull.
The sensibility of Hanayama's mission unfortunately meant none of the scouts could live to tell their superiors about it. Of course, they tried all sorts of tricks to take him down. Poison, weapons, Jutsu... They didn't do much. Hanayama went through their forces like a rock being thrown into a river. His boulder-like hands cut through armor, blades, and flesh alike.
Some tried to escape. They weren't successfull. By the time the battle was finished, bodies were spread all over the room, some of them having been buried into the walls until only their legs were exposed.
He left one of them alive, of course. Hanayama grabbed him by the throat and lifted him to his eye-level. He had no intention or inclination to torture him, but information was scarcely needed. And, again, he was following orders.
"Naruto Uzumaki." He said. "Tell me how to find him, and I'll kill him for you."
Gargles answered him. Then something caught Hanayama's eye. His captive's eyes darted back and forth, and then focused onto him. No, onto something behind him.
Hanayama dropped the already dead man to the ground and turned to face the newcomer, expecting another Suna operative. What he found instead was one of the most infamous figures in shinobi history.
Kisame Hoshigaki whistled while looking around them. "Nice job," He complimented, genuine admiration in his voice. "Stupid of 'em to think they could take on a Jinchuuriki such as yourself without back-up, of course, but you can't say they didn't try."
Tension was already brewing in the air. "What are you doing here?"
"Could ask the same of you." Kiri's butcher said, pointing the tip of his weapon at him. It seemed to squirm in anticipation. "Last I checked, you and these morons here," He jerked his head at the bodies. "Are supposed to be friends."
"It's complicated. Are you going to try and kill me, Mr. Hoshigaki?"
"That depends on you." Kisame revealed his teeth. "Are you here to kill the Uzumaki brat, Mr. Hanayama?"
A beat of silence enveloped the room.
"And if I am?"
"Then I'd be very disappointed," Kisame slung the sword over his shoulders. "Because I was really looking forward to fighting against, rather than with you."
"...If it makes you feel any better, I have no intention to work with you."
"No, I thought you wouldn't. But I have my "orders" to follow, and you have yours. So how about this?" He raised a blue finger to the air. "We kill him, together, and then hash out who takes credit for it afterward?"
"I could hardly work with you by my side without looking over my shoulder."
"That's what makes it fun!"
"Fine." Hanayama half-turned away from him. "In that case, we'll-"
He immediately turned around with a punch that perfectly intercepted Kisame's swing. Wrappings met flesh, and neither conceded an inch. Hanayama felt some of his chakra being drained, and Kisame felt his sword strain under the pressure of the blow.
An unstoppable force met an immovable object. Both men stayed in that position for a few seconds before being launched away from each other. Hanayama's fist had some bruising on it, and Kisame's sword lost a few inches of bandages.
"I don't suppose you'll resent me for this." Kisame said cheerfully, readjusting his grip on the blade.
"Not at all," Hanayama cracked his knuckles for the second time that evening. Despite the circumstances that had led them to that duel, he couldn't deny the brimming excitement rising in his chest. Facing a man like Hoshigaki was to him, someone who was always seeking a new challenge, another way to test his strength, a dream come true. "It's just business."
Just as they were about to leap at each other's throats, both men, vastly experienced, felt something was off and jumped back.
Just in time too, as a slash of concentrated, wind-fueled chakra erupted into the hall. Both men would be dead had their instincts not warned them in time. "Sorry," A voice said from the tunnel Hanayama had barged in from. "But I can't just let you both murder my protege now, could I?"
"Well well well," Kisame said. "This just keeps getting better and better!"
Hanayama was silent as they both observed the newly arrived legend. Asuma Sarutobi, one of Konoha's finest generals. The man following closely behind him, though, was a new face to both of them.
"Seems like Naruto's making a name for himself," Yoshimitsu said. Both men saw a curious lizard sitting on the man's shoulder before it disappeared in a burst of smoke. A summon, then. "Two different countries sending assassins after him?"
"One of them from our supposed allies too." Asuma said, locking eyes with Kisame.
"It's a complicated situation." He said with a shrug.
"I'm sure." Asuma spun his weapon around on a finger. "The solution to it won't be, though."
"I don't think this place would handle our little match." Kisame said, looking at the ceiling. "Should we move before playtime?"
"Tell you what, how about you two go right on ahead and we'll go after you?"
"We're at an deadlock then." Hanayama observed.
"Sure looks like it. And we have someone to rescue here," He adjusted his gloves. "So we'll need to take care of it quickly, if you two don't mind."
Then, just as they were about to move, the entire mountain trembled.
The four men stood still for half a second after that, waiting to see if the mountain would collapse on them.
Then their battle erupted. It was a shame all four met in such a desolate location. Had there been any witnesses, it would be recorded into the annals of history.
Asuma and Kisame went on a crash course with each other, their weapons loudly meeting in the middle of the room. A mixture of dust and chakra exploded out as they struggled to gain the upper hand.
Hanayama went for Yoshimitsu at the same time. The latter knew he'd never manage to overwhelm a Jinchuuriki with brute strength, so he didn't even try. As soon as Hanayama's fist was about touch him, Yoshimitsu's body disappeared and six Kunai flew from halfway across the room.
He blocked them all with his forearm, the metal tips not even getting close to piercing through his skin. At the same time, Asuma closed the distance between himself and Kisame before his opponent could even think of jumping back.
Kisame was, well...
He was in heaven. He had heard about Asuma's skills for years and had a rather high opinion of him, but the man still surpassed all of his expectations. His mere trench knives, not exceptionally crafted in any way, were enough to send him and his sword reeling back with every strike. It was like walking into a cage with a tiger.
That tension, that fear of failure! How long had it been since he tasted it?! How long had it been since Kisame got himself in a real death match?!
One of Asuma's slashes came impossibly close to splitting his neck. He leaned back to avoid the blade and kicked at Asuma's chest to distance them. The general grabbed him by the ankle with one hand and moved to cut it off with the other. Kisame threw Samehada at him, finally forcing the man to let go.
All of the sudden, Hanayama decided to intervene in their match, swinging at Kisame's skull from behind. Not letting an opportunity go by, Asuma jumped back and, in the blink of an eye, fired a Jutsu at both of them. "Futon: Shinkuu Gyoku!"
Kisame held Hanyama's fist with one hand, holding Samehada with the other. Asuma spat out several people-sized air bullets that crashed against Kisame's sword and destroyed much of the floor and walls around them. "Son of a bitch!" He yelled out in joy, holding the Jinchuuriki back all the while. "That's an S-Ranker!"
That's when Yoshimitsu decided to intervene. Asuma's deputy pulled his gloved hands back. Both Kisame and Hanayama saw a clear line of Ninja Wire hanging off of his fingers. Kisame let go of Hanayama's body and flicked Samehada, jumping off of the way before either of them got garroted by the chakra-powered tool.
Of course, both Hanayama and Kisame attacked each other in mid-air while trying to flee from Yoshimitsu and Asuma's assault.
The mountain shook again, and the vibrations were both harder and lasted longer. None of them so much as glanced at the ceiling before continuing with their battle.
Kisame couldn't hold back the laughter surging from inside his throat. How could he have seen that situation coming?! Two Konoha powerhouses, albeit in different ways, and two different Jinchuurikis, one of which was Kushina Uzumaki's son, all in the same day?!
He was having the time of his life!
Granted, the chances of his survival were quickly diminishing…
Or they would be, if he wasn't THE Kisame Hoshigaki.
He reversed his grip on Samehada and nearly threw it toward Hanayama. The tip of his sword grazed the man's leg, sapping his special chakra right away. His friend was thoroughly satisfied, and if Samehada was happy, Kisame was happy.
He formed a half-seal before hitting the ground. "Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu!"
Three puddles quickly formed on the ground, and three titanic sharks made entirely of water leaped out of them, heading straight for each one of his enemies.
They all deal with the creatures differently. Hanayama, in his brutish but quite respectable way, grabbed at the shark's nose with one hand and punched through its skull with the other, dispelling a great deal of damage in the purpose.
Yoshimitsu was the least likely to escape unharmed, but unfortunately Asuma Sarutobi leapt ahead of his comrade, splitting two sharks in half with the same swing.
Kisame didn't let that go to waste, cackling as he traversed across the room in the blink of an eye, swinging Samehada at them with one hand.
Asuma abruptly swept his foot on the stone ground, but there must have been some sort of technique imbued in it, because it kicked up a disproportionate amount of dust at both Kisame and Hanayama. When the shark-faced man jumped back to avoid any following attacks, he heard quite a disturbing sound right behind him.
The sound of previously planted explosive tags being activated.
It was in that split moment that he realized why the other man had been taken along on their mission, and why Asuma put so much faith on him. He wasn't that strong on his own merits. Either Kisame himself or Hanayama could easily kill him, given enough time to side-step his tricks.
He simply synergized perfectly with the general. There couldn't be a better example of Konoha's so-called 'cooperative spirit' than the pair they were fighting against.
It almost brought a tear to his eye. It really did.
But he still needed to worry about the explosion he had just been launched into. Thinking quickly, he took note of Hanayama's approaching body, who had jumped just a second after Kisame did. He grabbed the significantly sturdier man by his clothing and threw him over his shoulder.
Thus it was Hanayama, not him, that took most of the impact. The mountain was shaken again by the explosion, this time with chunks of rock falling from the ceiling and landing dangerously close to them.
He landed and slid on the ground for a few feet. Hanayama stepped out of the crater on the wall created by the explosion. Only his clothing had taken actual damage from the blast, which meant all four of them were just as undamaged then as they were when the fight began.
"Phew," Kisame exhaled as they all returned to looking at each other. "Ain't that a kick in the head? By this point your kid's gonna be dead before we even make it to him."
"Please," Asuma lowered his hips, ready to pounce at the slightest hint of weakness from either of them. "You're underestimating him."
"Or you're overestimating him." Hanayama countered. "We'll see."
"You won't." Asuma countered, brandishing his knife.
Finally, the mountain shook for one last time, and every single one of them could feel the base's top floors collapsing onto each other.
Soon enough, it would reach them.
The three-way battle between Bokuden, Naruto, and Yugao continued even as all three fell to the second floor. Naruto wondered if the man didn't have a tailed beast inside of him as well.
All of his wounds, including the now dysfunctional eye, did nothing to make him any less of a threat. Currently, he was slowly but surely overpowering Naruto in a grappling match.
Yugao came from behind them with a quick slash to the back of Bokuden's leg. His reactions had been delayed at least. The cut seemed to sever Bokuden's tendons, which allowed for him to kick the man off of him as he recoiled in pain. Naruto felt the satisfying impact against his boots as both of his feet cracked the officer's ribs.
And yet, he still managed to evade Yugao's subsequent killing stroke. Bokuden put both hands on the floor and flipped out of the way of an attempted decapitation. Naruto attacked the man while his teammate recovered, a flicker jab that hit him right on the nose.
They were working together for less than an hour total, but the teamwork and compatibility between Naruto and Yugao reached a level that could only be normally acquired after years of working together. Naruto had a pretty good idea of what the woman was capable of by that point, and the same went to her.
Bokuden moved to grab Naruto's arm while he pulled it back after the blow, but Yugao intercepted the attempt, once again, with her sword, stabbing its tip through Bokuden's forearm from below and surging to her feet.
Bokuden staggered, but found his balance shortly afterward, tensing his muscles to entrap the sword in his arm. Yugao couldn't move it anymore. Naruto immediately moved to help her.
"Why can't you fucking-" Naruto hit him with a furious barrage, hooks, straights, uppers, elbows, all hitting Bokuden squarely on his exposed chest. Each hit forced him to take a step back, crushed bones, and tore muscles apart. "-DIE?!"
The officer found his footing and grabbed Naruto's hand while he was in the middle of punching him. He smiled at them, exploding bloodied gums.
He moved to kick at Naruto, but he quickly pivoted his way around the officer's back and grabbed both of his arms from under his armpits, pulling both hands to a lock that held his head back. "Yugao, now!"
She grabbed her sword's hilt with both hands as Naruto held him back and pulled it toward her. The result was a cut that ran from just below Bokuden's elbow all the way to his wrist. Then she ripped it off of him, stepped back, and pushed its tip into the officer's stomach.
Of course, she couldn't push the sword all the way through him to avoid hitting Naruto, and aiming a better attack would be hard, considering the immeasurable shaking happening all around them. Soon the second floor would be the next to collapse.
The damage seemed to be getting to Bokuden as he spat blood all over her while screaming in pain, but he still kicked her off of him and flipped Naruto over his shoulder, breaking the boy's hold.
Naruto smoothly broke his fall, chaining it with a spinning kick from below aimed at his enemies' chin.
Bokuden blocked it by biting his ankle, hard. Now it was Naruto's turn to scream and squirm on the floor as blood erupted out of his wound. Yugao immediately moved in to break them apart, kicking at Bokuden's chest, and it worked.
Though Bokuden refused to open his mouth while being kicked away, so he took some of Naruto's flesh with him.
As Naruto tried to get to his feet, the mountain's structure seemed to have received its final blow. The ceiling, walls, and floor all broke around them. All three of them had to use chakra to stay upright as the 'building' began to sink.
Yet, a literal mountain fighting on top of their heads was not enough to pause the fight. Bokuden had done more than enough damage to both Naruto and Yugao to merit their revenge, and they had dismantled his entire operation, killed several of his subordinates, and were now on the way to invade his country.
Regardless of how the fight went, only one party was walking out of there alive. Eliminating each other was far more important than assuring their own survival.
Bokuden stumbled upright, glaring at both of them. In other circumstances, Naruto might have been intimidated by it.
At the present situation, it only served to piss him off. The same went for Yugao.
All three rushed at each other. Yugao started with a swing, Bokuden dodged under it. He moved to tackle her, Naruto interrupted with a kick that caught his side and halted his movement.
Bokuden, in turn, moved to retaliate by elbowing Naruto's nose with his still-intact arm. Naruto blocked it, then applied enough pressure to dislocate Bokuden's radius.
The battle was slow, like climbing a mountain during a snowstorm, but Yugao and Naruto were slowly gaining the upper hand. Then, before either of them could finish Bokuden, they were all separated by their arena breaking apart.
"YUGAO!" He shouted, extending a hand at the woman. She turned to face Naruto, then Bokuden, who was taking a second to compose himself. For a moment, he thought she'd attack him instead of taking Naruto's help.
She didn't. Yugao jumped across to Naruto's side as they fell to the first floor, the mountain's entrance. Naruto gathered as much chakra as he could, and even in their battered state, that was a lot.
Worryingly, there was a good bit of red chakra mixed in with the blue. Not that he was particularly worried about the Kyubi at that moment, too concerned with keeping himself and his new, very dear friend alive. He closed his eyes, pouring every bit of focus into his next Jutsu. He heard Bokuden say something, and then movement heading toward them just as the stone was about to fall on top of their heads.
"DOTON: DOROKU GAESHI!"
Being disoriented wasn't normal for Kisame. He wasn't as old as say, Asuma, but he still had seen more battlefields in his time than most men ever would, and killed enough talented ninja to make an entire bingo book out of it.
But that's exactly how he felt after being spirited away from the collapsing mountain. One second the rocks were falling on their heads, together with what sounded suspiciously like a Jutsu's name being called, and in the next he was standing in a large, moist, and dark… area.
Samehada was going nuts though. He hadn't seen his sword react that strongly since summoning an entire swarm of sharks during a fight a few months ago…
So that was it.
His suspicions were confirmed when the environment around him disappeared in a puff of smoke, and he found himself, Hanayama, Asuma, and Yoshimitsu all standing in a clearing.
On the Horizon, not even a mile away from where they stood, the visage of a collapsed mountain was clearly apparent. The sheer dust cloud it provoked, combined with the destruction of the environment around it, would be visible for miles and miles.
That clever little Konoha officer used a summoning technique to carry them out inside of an animal. Maybe he had even gone as far as to use a reverse summoning technique, transporting them all to another realm altogether, before returning to the 'real' world.
Well, regardless of how they had gotten there, all of them were on edge.
All except Hanayama. He took one long look at the destroyed landscape, turned back to face them, and then turned around and began to leave. Completely forsaking any attempt at defense from their attacks.
Kisame wasn't the only one baffled by his actions.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Sarutobi shouted. Hanayama paused and turned back to them.
"There's no reason for us to fight. I was sent here to kill Naruto Uzumaki. He's dead." He pointed at the destruction. "Mission accomplished."
"And you think we'll just let you go?"
"Can you afford to be fighting me here? What just happened surely must have hurried up your plans for invasion."
"Kid might not be dead, though." Kisame rolled his neck. "How can you be so sure?"
"I've been engaged by Kisame Hoshigaki and a Konoha general. Couldn't confirm the kill after that. No violation of orders." Hanayama took his glasses, a surprisingly meek accessory for such an imposing man, and put them on. "And that's that."
All three of them watched as the Jinchuuriki walked into the tree-line before disappearing from sight altogether. Asuma and Yoshimitsu wasted no time on turning to look at Kisame.
They all understood the situation quite well. Kisame was notorious for being a Suiton user, one of the best ever in fact. And there they were, surrounded by neverending rain. "And you?" Asuma asked, dead serious. "I have a feeling you won't leave that quietly."
He stared at them, getting ready to move...
And then cursed. A lot.
"Fucking orders," He grumbled, putting Samehada on his back.
"Weren't you ordered here to kill Naruto?" Yoshimitsu asked with narrowed eyes.
"I was ordered to check him out." Kisame replied. "See how strong the brat really was. Course, there's only one way to do that, and I think you both know how that would turn out. Now I've gotta haul ass back home. Especially considering your friends will be here soon."
Asuma seemed genuinely surprised by that statement. "That's perceptive of you."
"I got my moments."
"Why does Kiri want to know how strong Naruto is?" Yoshimitsu asked before Kisame could leave. He turned back to him with a grin.
"You know, a lot of people think the only way to kill one fully grown Jinchuuriki is by using another fully grown Jinchuuriki."
"The only Jinchuuriki in Kiri is the Mizukage." Asuma said with narrowed eyes.
"That he is. But again, that's just how my superiors think." Kisame shrugged. "I just wanted to have some fun. You three satisfied me enough for that. I don't think the kid would have been up to par anyway, having that much trouble to run out after we killed everyone there."
He was just about gone when Asuma called out one last time. "One year!"
Kisame turned back with a raised eyebrow. The general grinned. "One year, and you'll be the one too weak to handle Naruto Uzumaki."
He laughed hartily. "I'll hold you to that, general."
And with that, he was gone. Asuma and Yoshimitsu shared a look, making sure that both of their enemies were gone. They would have much to discuss about what had just happened, especially Kisame's involvement in it all.
But that could come after rescuing Naruto.
Naruto thought he had lost his consciousness again when he was surrounded by darkness, but thankfully he could still feel quite a bit of pain. Including his right hand, unfortunately, which had been painfully reconstructed to the point where skin now enveloped its digits.
He could hear Yugao's breathing from underneath him. She had been wounded, some blood pooling from the side of her head and touching his shoes. Unfortunately, he wasn't really in the position to help at the moment.
Both hands were still tightly locked, maintaining the Horse seal. He had used a Doton Jutsu out of panic when the world collapsed around them, forming a 'tent' made out of stone that miraculously managed to block the entire mountain's weight.
The absurd amount of power he put behind the Jutsu probably had something to do with that. He was tired, and hurt. It felt like he was holding it all up himself.
Muttering a small prayer, he put the last remnants of his energy into pushing the rocks away from them. It seemed like they'd be crushed several times during the process, but Naruto finally managed to free them.
His makeshift barrier gave way to the ever dowry skies of Amegakure. They were lucky enough to be standing by the edge of the mountain when the collapse happened, which made moling their way out significantly easier. After letting himself be flooded in relief, Naruto quickly crouched by Yugao's side to examine her injuries.
It seemed like her wounds weren't harsh enough to be fatal, thankfully. The most concerning was the large blunt force that hit the side of her head after he summoned his barrier, probably some debris hitting her before Naruto could complete it.
He let out a sigh of relief and sat down by her side.
He could barely believe they had actually defeated Bokuden. The thought filled him with a good deal of joy, of course. Both Yugao and himself had to suffer a lot because of the officer's whims.
But there was also a layer of regret under the surface. Bokuden had fought against the Fourth Hokage, if the dialogue between him and Yugao was to be believed.
He was the strongest person Naruto had ever faced by a wide margin, and yet it was unlikely anyone would remember his name after that day.
Like a relic of the past being erased from history.
'No time to be getting sappy about this now,' Naruto thought to himself. 'Gotta find Asuma and Yoshi, make sure they're okay.'
Despite thinking that, it was rather hard to stand up from Yugao's side. He tried to stifle it at first, but soon, Naruto burst out into a fit of laughter. "Gods, we did it," He shook his head. "I can't believe we actually fucking did it."
The conversation he had after his protective seal was activated was still fresh in his mind, but Naruto didn't think it was too unsightly to take joy in their victories. There was an intense sense of catharsis that invigorated him, stronger than any drug on earth. He and Yugao had gone through hell itself and survived to tell the tale.
"Ayame won't believe this…" He said, before pausing and thinking about it. Should he even tell his sister? Sure, she deserved to know what Naruto was getting into, and they were long overdue for a proper conversation about his state of mind, but…
He raised his decidedly asymmetrical right hand up to the sky as the rain washed over him and Yugao. Could she really handle the truth? Was she still going to think of Naruto as the brother she had always had, or…
He slapped himself. "She deserves to know, and that's that." He shakily stood. "I'll tell her as soon as we make it back home."
That's when he heard it. Footsteps coming from out of his sight. Naruto, knowing there couldn't be any more Suna scouts around, was hit by another wave of relief. "You two really… took your…. time…."
His voice trailed off upon seeing Bokuden standing mere feet away from him and Yugao, on the precipice of the destroyed mountain.
If the damage before made him seem inhuman, Naruto didn't have the words to describe his current state. A good part of his skin had been outright flayed by the falling rocks, though he must have used a similar technique to Naruto's in order to survive. His left arm now hung off of a stump, and a well-cut one. He realized the officer had probably severed it himself to make his escape.
His already-damaged left eye, together with most of his left side in general, was gone, crushed beyond repair. He should be dead, Naruto was well aware of that. Something was compelling him to stand, the last few sparks of his life.
An incurable rage washed over him.
"JUST DIE ALREADY!" He shouted at him, the force of his own words making the boy stumble. "FOR FUCK' SAKE, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?!"
Bokuden's mouth, or what was left of it, twisted into what was most likely supposed to be a smile. His jaw hadn't escaped the damage, of course.
"You…" The word was hard to decipher, almost unintelligible with the state of his tongue, combined with the damage to his lungs. "Don't know… what being a soldier… means."
He took a step toward Naruto and Yugao. As ashamed as the boy was to admit, he stumbled back. Bokuden's visage, as powerless as it seemed, inspired some sort of irrational terror in him. It didn't feel like he was fighting a human being anymore.
"Losing an arm…." Another step. "Losing my men…" Another. "Losing everything... I couldn't care less."
Naruto put up a fighting stance, as well as his body could manage, anyway. Every fiber of his being was telling him to run away, but he couldn't. Not when Yugao was right there. Bokuden's 'smile' widened. "As long… as Suna still stands… I will give my all… to protect it."
They were less than ten steps away from each other now. Naruto hardened his features, clenching his fists. Bokuden did the same. The time for words was gone.
Both men ran up to each other, throwing a wide swing at each other's faces without a semblance of tactics or strategy behind them. They were both too exhausted to fight any other way.
Both punches narrowily missed their target, flying by each other's faces as they locked shoulders.
That was the precise moment Naruto knew, deep in his soul...
It was finally time to end it.
They separated from each other immediately, then jumped right back into it.
Bokuden started things off with a rudimentary uppercut to Naruto's stomach. It was hard to tell if the man's strength caused it, or if Naruto was just that exhausted, but it felt like being hit by a bowling ball. His entire body curled around the man's fist.
Not one to lie down and take it, Naruto quickly retaliated with a left hook that hit the destroyed part of Bokuden's skull, caving his already destroyed bones in even further.
Bokuden kicked Naruto's ribs. Naruto headbutted his shattered nose. Naruto elbowed Bokuden in the chin, and he countered by poking at his throat with fingers hard enough to be confused for steel.
That's how a good part of their duel went. Both men planted their feet on the ground, refused to budge, and struck each other until their opponent died. Blood flew everywhere as their speed and power ramped up. Naruto knew what was happening, their very last reserves of energy were kicking in. Both men were burning what little remained of their lives to finish each other off.
After almost getting knocked out by a jab, Naruto charged at Bokuden, grabbing his back as he tackled him. The officer struck him half a dozen times, desperately trying to pry the youth off of him, but Naruto satisfyingly rammed his back straight into a nearby tree, sending them both through it.
His satisfaction didn't last. Bokuden grabbed Naruto's head with his free hand and whirled their bodies around, smashing him into another tree, which also promptly broke under the weight of their blows.
Naruto rolled on his back to recover, and as Bokuden tried to kick at his fallen chest, he reached out and grabbed him by the ankle, swinging him like a baseball bat right into a boulder.
He roared as Bokuden struggled to recover, hitting him with a right swing, right on the face, before the man even had time to realize what happened. Naruto had no intention of letting him get away that time, sinking his fingers onto Bokuden's left shoulder as he pulled his hand and pummeled him over, and over, and over again.
Bokuden answered in kind with a beast-like scream, trying to poke one of Naruto's eyes out with his remaining arm. Naruto blocked it with his left forearm, struggling against his strength for a second before launching it off.
Blood coated both of them. It was hard to tell who it belonged to. Naruto continued to punch Bokuden's near-defenseless face into the stone, finding more and more strength he didn't know existed as the fight continued.
Finally, he lifted Bokuden's body off of the air with his right hand and whirled him around, hitting him with a full-on haymaker that spun his body in mid-air.
But he still wasn't done. Bokuden managed to fix his landing and tackled Naruto. The boy was more than ready to meet him halfway, and the two clashed head to head. Their sweat exploded into the rain as their hands grasped at each other.
Naruto thought it was a foolish move on Bokuden's part. Trying to grapple against him with only one arm was a death sentence. But Bokuden's hand still wrapped itself around Naruto's back as the officer bit into Naruto's shoulder.
Naruto threw his head back and yelled in agony as the mangled teeth sunk into his flesh. Bokuden used the bite as a launching point, lifting Naruto's entire body up in the air and slamming him back-first into the ground.
Bokuden mounted him, once again wrapped his hand around Naruto's throat, and squeezed.
Only this time, he didn't have Yugao there to save him.
Naruto pulled his right hand back, took one last look at Bokuden's face, and rammed one of his fingers into Bokuden's right eye, all the way into his brain. "DIE!"
His body spasmed on top of Naruto's. Blood rained all over him. Bokuden's body spasmed around Naruto's finger, and he pulled it back and rammed it into his ear, attacking his brain from two different angles.
It was finally over. Bokuden was, undoubtedly, dead.
But his grip on Naruto's throat didn't ease up. His hand tightened, if anything. He didn't even have time to be incredulous about it, struggling with everything he had to get off of his final trap. All he had, though, wasn't enough. He kicked Bokuden's chest, struck at his arm, even tried to crush his fingers, but none of it was enough.
The edges of Naruto's vision began to go dark…
Then something hit the Suna's officer side with such force and violence that he was literally ripped off of Naruto, arm and all. His bloodied bottom half knelt on the ground for a second.
Naruto could swear his disembodied legs would try to kick at him too, but thankfully it simply staggered and fell to the floor.
Naruto's head hit the wet ground. Finally, the adrenaline pumping into his veins subsided. He heard footsteps coming toward him, and looked up to see a familiar all-white coat of fur. It took him a good few seconds to finally recognize who it belonged to.
"...Akamaru?"
Jutsu Translation List:
"Suiton: Suiryuuben! (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!)
"FUTON: MIKAZUKI NO MAI!(Wind Release: Dance of the Crescent Moon!)
"Futon: Kaze no Kengan! (Wind Release: Fist of Wind!)
"Futon: Shinkuu Gyoku! (Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!)
"Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu! (Water Release: Water Shark Projectile Technique!)
"DOTON: DOROKU GAESHI! (Earth Release: Earth Shore Return!)
A/N: This one was a bit faster to come out, huh?
Bokuden's dead, everyone's favorite dog is back, and the Amegakure arc is finally finished!
Once again, I want to thank everyone who has been supporting this fic so far. I was worried the change to an M-rating might have drawn some people away, but the story actually got more followers and favorites after chapter 9. Thanks for proving me wrong!
To answer a question by Archamenid; I haven't read a lot of fics in a pretty long time, so I don't think I'd be able to recommend anything besides the typical 'big ones' like Team 8 that everyone has already read.
I've actually been avoiding looking at too much stuff while writing PWA and TBS because I didn't want to let myself be too influenced by other people's work (besides the standard which every fic is, lol) and appropriate their ideas too much.
(Thanks for noticing the Kingdom references, by the way, I'm really glad someone did)
See you all next time when the Invasion arc finally begins!