The Wanderers
Chapter 59 – The Seven Swordsmen
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the Seven Swordsmen would have gotten some screen time.
***Previously-On***
The attack and defence of Kirigakure began. Gaara and Utakata committed themselves to fighting off the Quiraji invasion, and after destroying a scouting force without taking a hit they didn't encounter any trouble. However the battle turned on its head as the main fleet of the Quiraji came towards them and a new foe emerged in the Black Robes, able to use spiritual energy to attack. As the battle began to move in the Quiraji's favour, Utakata dived under the water, stating he was going to transform to help them win the battle. On the ground, Yagura led Hinata, Fu and Yugito into a tunnel that ended in an underground complex where they ambushed and defeated a team of ANBU shinobi, taking their clothes and masks so they could infiltrate the village. At the front of the Kirigakure village, Naruto, Killer Bee, Roshi and Han found themselves confronted with a giant wall around Kirigakure. In a rather interesting attempt to coax the enemy shinobi out of the village, they finally saw the gate swing open to reveal their approaching foes.
***End Summary***
It was difficult to contain his excitement in front of such fascinating opponents, but Naruto held himself back as the seven Kirigakure shinobi slowly walked towards them.
"Is that going to be enough?" he asked, wary of what they were actually there to do. "I mean it isn't as if they brought out everyone."
"You know who they are, right? Do you really want any more to come out?" Roshi didn't mean to sound frustrated at the blonde's question, but he had fought the previous generation of the shinobi in front of them over a decade ago, and they weren't people that should be underestimated.
Killer Bee decided it was wiser to not keep writing in his notepad, putting it in his pack and cracking his neck loudly. "They don't have their weapons out yet, we should attack before they get the chance to."
All three of them turned to the Kumogakure shinobi with concern; if he wasn't rapping or talking in rhymes then it must be quite serious.
"I don't think all of us needed to come with," said Jinin, crossing his arms over his chest to match his heavy frown. "There are only four of them. Kushimaru and I could handle them ourselves."
Kushimaru nodded in agreement, "Yeah, this feels like overkill boss."
The only female in the group scoffed loudly in response, "Please, the two of you are the worst team ever. You'd be more likely to kill each other than the enemy."
"Enough bitching you lot, I'll be more than enough for these people," said Jinpachi, placing a hand on his large blade's hilt.
"Guys…we shouldn't be fighting each other…" said a meek Chojuro behind the taller group members.
The newest member of the group laughed loudly and put his hands behind his head leisurely, "Listen to him. One battle at the summit and he thinks he runs the group."
The group continued to argue until their leader took a step forward and stared through purple eyes at the blonde shinobi that had forced their hand. He wasn't sure what to make of the enemy composition considering the three different villages being represented, but he wasn't about to let them dishonour his home without some kind of retribution.
"Quiet, all of you. They are about to make a move," said Mangetsu, wary that he couldn't control his group from attacking for much longer. They had no sense of teamwork unless they were given the right cause; they were the type that was unleashed, like a plague.
"What about the Mizukage?" asked Ameyuri, looking back at the closing village gate. "They are probably trying to draw us out of the village."
"That woman can handle herself," said Mangetsu with a hint of anger in his voice. "And if not, it won't matter much longer."
The other group members all spoke their approval and prepared themselves to fight against the foes that had been gifted to their doorstep.
It would be a welcome distraction.
Before the other Tailed Beast containers moved to attack their opponents, Naruto stood in front of his group and put his hands together in a handseal.
"Hang back for a second, I have an idea."
The three of them took a step back and watched as over thirty shadow clones appeared in front of him. They were surprised that he could make so many, but kept it to themselves as the shadow clones charged forward towards their seven opponents.
The Kirigakure shinobi all looked at each other for a moment before pulling out their respective weapons to combat the shadow clones.
The only female in the group grasped two long swords with prongs along the blades in her hands, swinging them widely at the three clones that moved against her. One was taken out immediately by a parry and thrust manoeuvre that caught the shadow clone by surprise, while the other two moved around to flank her. With kunai in hand they dived at her, but were cut down as she spun around on the spot and ran bolts of lightning through her swords to disperse them.
The tall masked Kirigakure shinobi didn't waste any time in destroying his attackers, flicking his hands to send a long sword attached to a razor wire that he manipulated with expertise, pulling his blade back and forth to destroy them without them being able to come within close combat range.
As the clones of Naruto moved towards the angle-faced shinobi he pulled off the two weapons from his back and prepared to receive their attacks. They moved around him but he leapt forward and with a speed Naruto hadn't expected from the large man he struck his large axe at the first clone. The shadow clone was able to get his kunai up to defend, but it didn't last at all as the blade went straight through the metal and into his chest, dispersing the clone into a cloud of smoke. His other clones were able to avoid similar strikes, but the Kirigakure shinobi was able to avoid nothing worse than a bruise as the hammer part of his weapon came around in a circle and collect both of them in a violent swing.
The Kirigakure shinobi with an eye-patch charged forward into the clones that were trying to attack him, slamming his strangely wide sword into the decoy clone, causing a large explosion that took out all three in that single blow. He quickly fell back in line with his companions, aware that it was only the start and he was under the glare of his commanding officer.
Initially Chojuro was hesitant about defending himself against the clones charging towards him, as he wasn't the best defensive fighter in the group, but as he felt the cold stare of his companions around him and for reasons he couldn't comprehend he could feel his anger boiling within. Grabbing at the double-hilted sword at his back, Chojuro dodged two kunai strikes by shadow clones and yanked off the bandages of his blade. It revealed a long chakra-covered whip that cracked loudly and made short work of his attackers before slowly forming into a fish-shaped sword that he held with both hands.
The pair of brother Kirigakure shinobi that received more clones than the others wasted no time in leaping forward with hands shaped like claws, not bothering to draw any weapons like their companions. The younger-looking shinobi seemed to expand his legs into large muscles before pouncing on his opponents and doing enough damage to make them disappear without taking any in return.
His older brother was less hot-headed, easily dodging the kunai strikes as if they hadn't even happened. He struck out with his hands straight into the clone's chests and made them disappear into puffs of smoke, glaring at the original Naruto for a moment before standing just in front of the rest of the Kirigakure defence as the clear leader of the group.
"What was the point of that?" asked Roshi, as Naruto had a hand to his chin deep in thought.
Han slowly turned his head to regard his Iwagakure compatriot, "If you cannot recognise his strategy, Roshi, perhaps you are no longer suited for battle."
The Four-Tails container shot the tall shinobi a glare that could have melted ice, but he didn't get the chance to retort fully as Naruto turned to face their small attacking group.
"They have a lot of speed and experience on their side, but they are overconfident. We should split them up and take them on according to our own strengths."
Roshi didn't hide his surprise at all; the blonde Tailed Beast container sounded more like a shinobi than any of their earlier interactions. It was also clear he knew how to use his shadow clone technique to its fullest ability, having gained experience fighting their opponents so as to better combat them.
"Not bad kiddo, but they ain't gonna let us do what we feel," said Bee, looking over at the patiently waiting Kirigakure defenders. "Are they waiting for us to fly or what?"
Naruto turned around and cracked his knuckles loudly, "I'll confuse them with a large group of clones, and we'll attack, try to separate them. They all seem to have unique weapons, so be careful."
"Well they are the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist," said Roshi. "But that's a good plan."
Naruto frowned and turned slightly, "They are? You mean like Zabuza?"
His three companions nodded and Naruto turned back to their opponents with a newfound respect in his eyes. He knew that two of their opponents hadn't brought out weapons, but if what he and Hinata had seen was any indication, he already knew who his opponents were going to be.
However before he could create the clones to attack the Swordsmen, he saw the leader of the group place his hands together in a handseal that was quite familiar to the Konoha Tailed Beast container.
"Everyone get ready, he's going to create a mist in this area," warned Naruto, preparing himself for the same style of attack he had faced all those years ago.
Without saying a word Han stepped forward and forced Naruto back as steam began to bellow out of the furnace on his back. Before the Kirigakure shinobi could create a mist for his companions to attack them through, Han blasted a large wave of steam at the seven of them, forcing them to scatter to avoid being struck.
As they split up exactly as Naruto had wanted them to, the four attackers jumped forward to intercept them. Han had specifically designed his steam to disperse quickly, but it had the desired effect as the Swordsmen's battle lines were decided.
With two figures charging towards him, Naruto summoned up a sword from his belt and stood in a guard position. The steam was slowly dissipating as the battlelines were drawn, but Naruto was still at a disadvantage as one of the pair seemed to pull a giant sword out of nowhere and leap at him. The blonde shinobi took a step back to receive the blow, but he was lucky that he had because the massive sword cleaved through his blade like it wasn't even there.
The large blade slammed into the ground as Naruto jumped back with surprise, recognising the blade that had attacked him with a frown. It was in the hand of the younger brother of the pair that had destroyed his clones without even needing weapons.
Naruto looked down at his broken sword with a pout. "That took a lot of effort to make, I'll have you know. It was custom-made."
Suigetsu hefted the Executioner's Blade with his enhanced arm from the ground to his other hand with his characteristic grin, "It's pretty pathetic compared to ours."
"Well aren't we modest," said Naruto, putting his broken blade back into its sheath. He turned to the taller brother with a raised eyebrow, "Do you not have a sword?"
Mangetsu made no comment in response, while his younger brother laughed in amusement.
"I'll be plenty for you. Bring out your real weapon and let's get it on."
Naruto frowned at the brazen declaration by the Kirigakure shinobi, it was clear that he enjoyed battle more than the average shinobi. He'd seen it a number of times before; those were the truly dangerous ones, as they didn't care whether their opponents were fought with honour or not and collateral damage was almost a guarantee.
It appeared that Mangetsu was satisfied to let his brother fight on his own, though judging by the look in his eyes Naruto could tell that he wouldn't hesitate to jump in and finish him if he was given the opportunity.
Naruto took a long breath to calm down his nerves and clapped his hands together before standing in a bring-it-on pose. "Come on then, little man. I'll break Zabuza's sword in two."
Suigetsu lowered his sword slightly upon hearing the previous owner's name, "How do you know his name?"
"I was there when he died."
The younger brother looked at Mangetsu for a second before his arm grew large as he jumped forward and swung the Executioner's Blade at Naruto, who easily jumped away from the slow attack.
"You'll die for that, blondie. Zabuza might have been a rebel, but he was my teacher."
Naruto knew there was no way he could explain that he had respected Zabuza and hadn't been the cause of his death, but if he kept swinging like that then Naruto didn't think the battle would be too difficult.
Suigetsu jumped over his blade and swung it over his head at Naruto, who sidestepped the blow and jumped forward with a balled fist. The Swordsman used the handle to pivot on the spot to dodge his punch and collect him in the side of the head with his feet before picking up his blade and slashing through his stomach in a single motion.
"Well that was easy," he said, shoving his sword into the ground and grinning at his brother.
Mangetsu didn't say anything in response, but he pointed to behind Suigetsu with a tired expression.
The younger Houzuki turned around to look at what his brother was pointing to, but couldn't defend himself as Naruto slammed a fist into his face, sending him flying backwards. He'd covered his arm in wind chakra with his Kattoken, but it didn't have any visible damage as Suigetsu fell into the ground in a large puddle of water with the Executioner's Blade stuck in the middle.
Naruto cancelled his Kattoken, thankful that he'd learnt to use the technique with chakra as well as with spiritual energy. When used with chakra it was nowhere near as powerful, though the rotation of the wind was much faster. It also didn't injure his arms as much either.
"You shouldn't underestimate him," warned Mangetsu as his younger brother's face appeared in the puddle of water.
"How was I meant to know that was a shadow clone? He never made a handseal."
Yes he did, you just didn't see it, thought Mangetsu. He kept that observation to himself though, since it was clear that his brother wasn't going to be able to defeat him on his own.
Suigetsu slowly formed back into his normal form as Naruto leapt back a short distance to assess the situation. He wasn't as hot-blooded as he used to be, but Naruto was extremely frustrated that he wasn't able to damage him properly.
Wind chakra doesn't work, and neither would spiritual energy. Damnit, this is annoying…
Remembering what Hinata had told him about the elements, he knew that to defeat their water forms he would need to use Earth-based techniques, but unfortunately he didn't know any.
Watching Suigetsu pump up his sword arm to a large scale so he could swing around Zabuza's sword with ease, an idea popped into Naruto's head.
If I can't defeat them traditionally, I'll do it my way.
Without needing to form a handseal, a shadow clone appeared at his side, with the pair of them pulling out identical kunai. Suigetsu seemed unimpressed, though when the clone disappeared without a sound his eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"Got some surprises up your sleeve? Doesn't matter, it won't help you."
He hefted the Executioner's Blade up with one arm and moved to charge at the original Naruto, while his opponent shoved his kunai into the ground in front of himself and clapped his hands together to run through a rapid set of handseals.
Unlike his impatient brother, Mangetsu could see what Naruto was planning, though he knew he couldn't get there in time to help.
"Suigetsu! Get out of there!"
The younger Houzuki brother turned to his brother with a confused look on his face, and out of the corner of his eyes he saw where the clone of Naruto had teleported to, holding its kunai between its hands as it ran through the same handseals as the original Naruto.
Before he could react, Naruto activated his trap.
"Raiton: Hekirekimori!" (Lightning Element: Thunder Lance)
A single massive bolt of lightning struck between the two kunai of the Narutos, dispersing the clone holding one in an instant, but the effect was instantaneous. The bolt had struck straight through Suigetsu's chest, too fast for him to avoid or defend himself against. His arm slowly returned to its normal state as smoke poured out of his mouth and ears as he dropped to the ground with a dull thud.
From his outward position Mangetsu was furious at what had happened, but he wasn't about to run to his brother's defence. He knew Suigetsu wasn't weak enough to be killed by something like that, though he wouldn't be participating in the fight any further.
He turned his purple eyes to his blonde opponent, figuring he had underestimated the Konoha shinobi more than he should have.
"One down," stated Naruto as he picked his burning hot kunai off the ground. He held it for only a second before juggling it and dropping it back to the ground, grabbing at his fingers gingerly.
It wasn't the best standoff in his career, but judging by the stare the Seven Swordsmen leader was giving him, Naruto wasn't going to hold back whatsoever.
Mangetsu took a step forward with his hands in the shape of claws, causing Naruto to frown as he saw him leave Zabuza's blade next to his brother's unconscious body.
"You aren't going to draw a sword?"
"Not unless you demonstrate a reason why I should," said Mangetsu, slowly walking towards his opponent as water started to drip from his arms.
"This one is dangerous, boy," warned the Kyuubi, but Naruto was already preparing himself for an attack.
As he approached Naruto, the Swordsman swung his arms like he was scratching off his opponent from a canvas, causing two massive claws of water to appear from the ground and slam into Naruto's position.
Unable to jump away in time, Naruto used his spiritual energy teleport to appear behind his opponent, coughing as some of the water had gotten into his throat.
Mangetsu spun around as he heard Naruto appear and slammed a clawed hand into his chest, sending a ripple of pain through the Nine-Tails container's body. Naruto clutched at his arm as his breath escaped through his mouth, but even as he grabbed his skin it began to liquefy and entirely encompass Naruto's body.
After only a few short seconds, the blonde's face was completely covered and he stopped struggling as Mangetsu drowned him in a small sphere of water.
Half a minute later his body fell to the ground with Mangetsu pulling out his water and reforming it back into his arm, looking down at the orange and black clad shinobi with surprise. "I thought it would've been harder than that."
He heard a rustling of ground behind him and turned around to see Naruto slowly walking towards him with a frown on his face.
"Well that one didn't last too long. I'm a bit disappointed to be truthful."
Mangetsu watched as his opponent walked towards him without a scratch, even though he had felt the life leave him through his own liquefied state. The body was still lying on the ground behind him.
"You can use more than shadow clones it would seem."
"The years have taught me to be a cautious fighter," said Naruto, flexing his hands slowly. "Besides, that looked pretty dangerous."
I won't be able to tell if this is the original or not. He's smarter than he looks.
Deciding to test his opponent one more time, Mangetsu pumped water through his arm and increased it in the same manner as his brother, charging towards Naruto with cold determination.
Not one to back down from a fight without a reason, the Nine-Tails container charged forward as well, curious to feel how strong the leader of the Seven Swordsmen was with his own two hands.
Naruto and Mangetsu's arms clashed at the same time and neither gave any ground as they tried to overpower each other in a single strike.
"You know the Mizukage is a fake, right?" said Naruto during their exchange.
Mangetsu stared him down, but wasn't able to contain a short sigh. "Of course we know. The Swordsmen are not stupid."
"Then why are you fighting us? We are trying to help you!"
The Swordsmen leader beat back Naruto and snarled at him, "By attacking our village?! By insulting our honour and invading our home?!"
"Nobody said it was a perfect plan…"
Mangetsu looked at his opponent with contempt for a moment before closing his eyes and concentrating. Naruto wasn't sure what to make of this, but when he opened his eyes the look he gave him sent a shiver up his spine. It wasn't the cold calculating stare that he had been giving before; this was something far more dangerous.
While glaring at his opponent, Mangetsu slowly pulled out a metal hilt from his small pack that had no blade attached to it, taking a moment before flicking his grip and fuelling a small amount of chakra into it, causing a long bolt of energy to appear from the hilt upwards. It sparked with electricity as he held it in a backwards grip.
"What is that?" exclaimed Naruto, fascinated by the golden yellow blade.
Mangetsu flipped his grip back held it tightly with one hand in front of him, while the other hand moved along the blade, feeling the prickly sensation as lightning flew off it.
"A blade from your home village, Konoha boy. It is called the Raijin no Ken."
Naruto's eyes widened, he hadn't heard anything about such a weapon, but it looked stronger than any weapon he had seen before. He swallowed slowly and clenched his fists stubbornly. "Then I think it belongs in the hands of someone of its origin."
Mangetsu bared his teeth with a slight amusement, "You'll have to pry it out of my hands then, Tailed Beast container."
Naruto began warming up his Kattoken around his arms and stared at his opponent, "That's the plan."
"So I've got the dark guy, huh?" observed the only female Swordsmen with a smirk. "Just how I like it."
Killer Bee slowly reached back to pull one of his swords from his back, but with his opponent's twin swords by her side he changed his mind and instead moved his hand back to his chest. In that seemingly innocuous movement he flicked a pen at Ameyuri at an unimaginable speed.
Charging with lightning chakra, the pen aimed to cut through her throat, but Ameyuri simply turned her body to the side and let it fly past her.
"Now that's more interesting. You use lightning chakra, huh?"
Bee indicated to his forehead protector with a thumb, "Of course ya fool; I'm from the village with all the power. I ain't one for hitting little kids, but I'm gonna make an exception for ya."
Ameyuri stared at him for a good few seconds before placing a hand on her stomach and laughing boisterously. "Oh my god, that was absolutely priceless. I was thinking of just messing around with you for a bit, but now you've got my blood thundering."
Killer Bee pointed at his red haired opponent with a wide grin, "That's the spirit, we gonna take it to the limit. Prepare yourself little girl, for my killer rhymes!"
"Every time you get worse and worse. Would it kill you to talk like a normal person, Bee?"
Seeing that there was no point in talking any further, Ameyuri brought up her twin swords and tapped the edges together to create spark of lightning that ran through the metal up and down the blades. She leapt at Killer Bee with a wild look of glee on her face, slashing at his large form with one of her swords.
The Kumogakure Tailed Beast container didn't take a step back, pulling out one of his swords at his belt and blocking her strike with the blade.
Ameyuri seemed amused by his strike and pressed down on her blow, letting lightning crackle between the two of them loudly. After a few moments she realised that she wasn't breaking through his guard, causing a confused look to come across her face.
"You aren't the only one who can run lightning through a sword," said Bee, letting a crack of lightning run along his blade to demonstrate what he meant.
The female Swordsmen shrugged her shoulders in response, "Fair enough. Bet you can't do this though."
She moved her tongue around the inside of her mouth for a moment before grinning up at her opponent through jagged teeth. "Mizutama."
Before Bee could react she spat a small ball of water at his face, slamming straight into his forehead. He was propelled backwards several feet, which allowed his opponent to withdraw her attack and point both her swords up towards the sky.
Lightning began to collect at the tips of her swords as Bee stumbled on his feet, clutching at his head in pain.
Ameyuri wasn't one to let her opponent recover though, as the lightning from her swords formed into a sphere that she wasted no time in hurling at her opponent.
"Raiton: Raikyu!" (Lightning Element: Lightning Ball)
The sphere of lightning flew towards Bee at a quick pace, but the Eight-Tails container was able to get up a hand in time to block it, letting the sphere hit his palm directly. It appeared that the lightning was going to run up his arm and damage him directly, but Ameyuri saw that the lightning seemed to withdraw into his palm as the sound began to dissipate.
Eventually the sphere disappeared altogether without any visible damage and Killer Bee stood up with a huff. He patted himself down and picked up the sword he had dropped from the ground.
"That was too close; you almost shocked me into a killer rhyme."
Ameyuri tsked and lowered her swords, "You might be a more interesting meal than I had anticipated."
"Watch out Bee, this girl is dangerous."
Don't be complaining, fool ya fool, this girl ain't that cool.
The Eight-Tails groaned loudly within Bee's head.
"It's really sad that I understand what you mean through that drivel you always spew. She's holding back her strengths, Bee. Go at her full charge."
Killer Bee frowned and cracked his neck slowly, he wasn't about to let the Eight-Tails tell him how to fight without seeing the evidence for himself. He saw that the red haired woman hesitating in attacking him again, she seemed aware that her lightning strikes wouldn't be effective from range.
He wasn't going to show her that he was funnelling the lightning into the ground by a mechanic under his clothing, something he had only added recently after Yugito had pointed out that in a colder place like the Land of Water wearing nothing but the lower half of his armour was impractical.
I guess the precautions I took against brother are helping me now. Time to fight for real.
He reached back with his free hand and tossed up his swords two at a time, catching them with his arms and legs in his traditional seven-sword style. If she was surprised by his one-legged stance she gave no reaction, though she did clutch her Kiba swords tightly and held herself in a defensive stance.
"Float like a butterfly, sting like a Killer Bee!"
Bee leapt towards her while spinning like a ball, his swords glinting in the sun. His swords crashed down onto his opponent, who was able to block his initial strike with both of her blades.
However against his style, just blocking wasn't nearly enough.
Spinning around like a top, Bee began slashing at her with his unique style of combat, trying to break through her guard to slash at her arms and legs. He designed the style to defeat swordsmen exactly like his opponent, but he was impressed that Ameyuri wasn't panicking.
Bee was faster than her by a small margin, but he wasn't aware that she had a far superior talent when it came to swordplay, and that an expert swordsman doesn't rely on their eyes to follow an opponent's movements.
Ameyuri initially blocked and parried his strikes, until she saw a tiny opening as Bee flipped around like a dancer and his swords jumped into the air. Striking dead straight with her Kiba blades, she caught two of Bee's swords with the uppermost prongs of her swords and with expert skill buried them in the ground before spinning in a similar manner to her opponent and kicking him in the face.
Killer Bee jumped backwards in surprise, it was the first time someone had seen through his sword-play. He recovered his composure as he saw Ameyuri reach down and pick up his blades before snapping them with a surprising show of strength.
"You got skills better than most, kid."
Ameyuri grinned through jagged teeth, "If terminal leukaemia couldn't take me down, you've got no shot old man."
Bee collected his swords into his hands as he raised an eyebrow, "Doesn't terminal mean it should have killed you?"
His red haired opponent got a strange look in her eyes as she started to run lightning through her swords like it was a defence mechanism. "Some leaders are more generous than others. The Mizukage knows techniques you couldn't even dream about."
Despite his sunglasses, Bee's expression darkened slightly. "I'll bet she does."
Ameyuri brought up one of her Kiba blades and pointed it directly at his face, "Don't you dare disrespect the Mizukage in front of me. She was a good woman. I'll cut your head off and wear you like a hat."
The Eight-Tails container sheathed three of his blades and held the other two in each hand, running lightning through them in the same manner that his opponent was. If he couldn't defeat her with skill, he would have to fight with strength.
Something he was a specialist in.
His opponent seemed to respond positively to his standoff declaration, as she held her twin blades in a similar fashion to when they started the fight.
They had only just begun.
Han stared at the two Swordsmen that had come over to face him with his usual stoic expression. The young man who seemed to be more interested in his feet than his opponent was of no concern to him; he would dispatch him at his pleasure. However the tall masked one he recognised from the last war and that intrigued him infinitely more than anything else on the battlefield. He hadn't fought in the war, of course, but he had been given much to study during that time.
"Do we really have to fight?" asked an apprehensive Chojuro, holding his double-hilted Hiramekarei lightly.
Kushimaru tilted his head slightly and spun his long blade in his hand, "Stop embarrassing yourself, Chojuro. Don't make the boss regret keeping you in the Swordsmen."
The smaller shinobi shirked under his companion's comment, but he knew that the ANBU shinobi was right. Since he came back from the Kage summit he had been unsure of himself and delving deeper into his own depression.
Han waited patiently for his opponents to make a move, his style of fighting was counter-attack based and he already had a plan on how to take out his two opponents.
"Stay back if you don't want to fight, it doesn't matter to me." Kushimaru tightened his grip on his long sword and pulled back his arm.
With deadly accuracy he threw Nuibari straight at Han's chest, but the Five-Tails container simply side-stepped the blow, making judgements on the masked Swordsman's range and attack capabilities.
However Kushimaru's attack wasn't over with just that as a long wire ran from the sword hilt to his gloved hands. With an experienced grip that he had learnt through the fires of war, Kushimaru manipulated the wire and brought the sword back into Han's blind spot.
The tall Tailed Beast container saw the wire reflecting a piece of sunlight and leapt high into the air on instinct, with the long sword scrapping at the side of his red armour and causing sparks to fly as it returned to its wielder.
Shooting out steam from the bottom of his feet to maintain his height, Han stared down at his opponents with a morbid fascination.
His technique is effective. A worthy shinobi for his cause.
Removing his hand from his vest, Han began to pour steam out of the furnace on his back. It was lighter than the steam he had used to counter their Mist technique earlier, so much lighter than it was barely noticeable as he slowly floated to the ground.
Looking at his opponents, he noticed that the tall Swordsman was standing on his own, spinning his long sword in a circle in front of himself by the wire attached, seemingly waiting for the right moment to strike.
Han wasn't a fool; he could already work out what their plan was. It was almost insultingly simple.
Turning around in the air, Han saw the stammering Swordsman jumping to attack him with what looked like a glowing blue shark with a massive hammer attached to the front.
"Hiramekarei Kaihou!"
Han watched him attack with morbid fascination, not even bothering to move out of the way. The hammer slammed into his chest and passed straight through as he appeared on the ground watching Chojuro jump through the steam clone he created.
Bringing up a single hand from his ground-level position, Han put his fingers together and summoned up a small amount of chakra.
"Jouki Shinkan." (Steam Fuse)
A spark flew out of his fingers as he snapped them, igniting the steam he had created earlier, which Chojuro was conveniently in the centre of. The explosion was quiet and contained; Han didn't like to make a fuss with his abilities, though it didn't depreciate its power whatsoever.
Han didn't waste any effort observing the effect of his technique, turning his attention to his second opponent who was readying himself to throw Nuibari at him again.
"Don't count me out yet!" came a voice from above the Five-Tails container.
Looking up without a change in his expression, Han saw a descending Chojuro hefting a massive blue-covered axe. He had to resist letting out a sigh, some people just refuse to die when they should.
"Hiramekarei Sai!"
He names his attacks as well? Such a child.
Han stamped a foot on the ground, "Doton: Ganban Kyuu." (Earth Element: Bedrock Coffin)
Four large rock stones shot out of the ground and encompassed Han completely. Within his stone barrier, Han watched as Chojuro's blade came slamming down and cut straight through the rocks. Reaching up with his hands, Han caught the blade and held it with a slight show of effort.
As he felt himself being pushed down by the sheer power of the attack, Han turned his head slightly as Kushimaru's long sword came flying through the remaining rocks in his barrier and cut through the side of his red armour. Han grimaced slightly as his occupant started to heal the damage, feeling his sensibilities insulted at the fact that he was a momentary disadvantage.
Enough of this charade.
Bellowing steam out of the furnace on his back, Han twisted his grip on Hiramekarei and pushed it so that it crashed into the ground beside him. He dissipated his rock barriers to see Chojuro staring at his with an interesting look of confidence on his face.
Han had to change that.
Ignoring the long sword of Kushimaru flying nearby, Han leapt forward with steam-powered speed and placed a hand on Chojuro's chest through his defences. The Kirigakure shinobi appeared surprised at his agility, though it wasn't long before he was screaming out in pain as Han melted through his clothing into his chest.
It generally didn't take long for Han to destroy skin and bone alike with his technique, but he wasn't able to complete the transaction as Kushimaru appeared nearby the two of them and twirled his sword's wire around Han's throat.
The Five-Tails was forced to replace himself with a nearby boulder, which was neatly cut where his throat would have been. Chojuro fell to the ground and continued to scream in pain as his companion gathered up his long sword and wire in his hands.
Seemingly unconcerned for his partner's safety, Kushimaru took a moment to turn around and kick Chojuro in the face to knock him out, silencing the young man's screams and leaving him to suffer unconsciously on the ground.
"Finally he shuts up. That kid is such a pain in the ass; I don't know why he's even part of our group. Weakest one by far."
Han said nothing in return, eyeing his remaining opponent cautiously. He agreed with his decision to knock his companion out, but the Swordsman was quite adept at using his weapon to its full advantage, and if it could cut through his red armour than he would need to fight cautiously.
Kushimaru shoved his long sword into the ground in front of himself and ran through a handseal sequence so fast that Han could barely follow them, though he wasn't going to let some Kirigakure shinobi get the jump on him again.
Slowly a white tail began to appear from his rear, causing his Swordsman opponent to hesitate for a moment, which was all Han needed. Using the extra chakra that came with going into his first tail form, Han exploded towards his opponent and unleashed a flying side kick that was just barely dodged by the tall masked shinobi.
Kushimaru wasted no time in picking up his blade and counterattacking at Han's chest, but the Five-Tails container was too fast for the strike and jumped around to collect the Swordsman in the face, causing a small crack to appear in his mask.
Not one to let his opponent rest, Han continued a torrent of rapid high-powered close combat strikes each fuelled by the giant reservoirs of strength that his occupant provided him. To his credit Kushimaru was able to keep up with his speed and continued to try and counterattack with his Nuibari, but Han's particularly angular close combat fighting style didn't allow him more than the very occasional side strike as they continued their bout.
Underneath his mask Kushimaru clenched his teeth and flicked his wrist to bring his long sword back to his hand after his previous failed throw and used it to block a powerful punch that aimed to take his head off his shoulders. He was used to being the aggressor; it was to his disadvantage to be in such a close quarter encounter.
Taking advantage of a partially wide sweeping kick, Kushimaru kicked off the ground and created distance between himself and his opponent before finishing off the last two handseals in the sequence.
Appearing out of the ground were nine clones of himself, each wielding the same Nuibari that he had, but that wasn't why the technique required such a large amount of handseals.
Han pulled back his assault and reassessed the situation, if the original was mixed in with the clones it would be nearly impossible for him to track where the attack was coming from.
But Han wasn't a fool; he knew that his opponent wouldn't bother for such a low grade technique. It was extremely obvious what he had to do.
As each clone of Kushimaru pulled back their weapons to attack him, Han turned around and reached out to grab at thin air. Each clone of the Swordsman froze in place as he slowly appeared in front of Han, with the Five-Tails hand firmly around his throat.
He had no interest in informing the Kirigakure shinobi that an invisibility technique had no effect on someone who was in control of their Tailed Beast, nor that he was impressed at the execution of such a technique despite its ineffectiveness.
Kushimaru couldn't struggle under his iron grip as Han slowly crushed his windpipe, though he had no interest in killing his opponent in such a manner.
He instead pulled away the long sword that the Kirigakure shinobi adored so much and let his throat go before spinning around in a circle and removing his head from his shoulders in a single slash.
The tall body sank to its knees before dropping onto its chest, while Han reached out and grasped the head firmly in his free hand. He let go of the Nuibari, feeling violated that he had used such a blunt instrument to remove the threat, before reaching up and removing the cracked mask from Kushimaru's face.
He took in the Kirigakure's agonised expression for a moment before using a small ball of steam to melt away his face. He hadn't performed his signature for a long time, and Han breathed in the mixture of steam and blood through his mask with widened eyes.
It was good to be free.
Even after seeing them destroy some of Naruto's clones, Roshi wasn't going to make any assumptions on their abilities as he stared at his two opponents. The one with the large sword and hammer seemed obviously an offensive type, but the one with the wide sword was a wild card.
They are both close range fighters. I should create some distance and attack at range.
Jinin hefted his hammer onto his shoulder and looked over at his companion, "You taking wages today?"
The wide-sword wielder scoffed as he flicked off the excess scroll from his sword and refilled it with chakra. "On this old guy? I'll give you twenty to one."
"I'll take those odds," said the wielder of Kabutowari, switching his grip on his hammer. "You clearly don't recognise him."
"Should I?" asked Jinpachi, looked Roshi up and down with a suspicious look. "He doesn't look like much."
While the two of them were speaking the Four-Tails container created some distance between the two of them and placed his hands together into a basic handseal before putting them to his mouth.
"Youton: Shakugaryuugan no Jutsu!" (Lava Element: Scorching Stream Rock Technique)
He spat a large collection of molten rocks at the two Kirigakure shinobi which glowed a fiery red as they screamed towards their position. The Swordsman looked at each other for a moment despite their situation and both put up single handed handseal.
At once a large wave of water appeared at their feet and crashed into the rocks, cooling them rapidly and sending them into the ground uselessly.
Roshi bit at his lip in frustration, he hadn't thought the Swordsmen would do anything expect fight with their weapons, and if that was how they could fight then he was at a significant disadvantage.
As the water fell away from the battlefield he looked up to see Jinpachi charging towards him with his wide scroll-like sword swinging towards his chest. He initially put up his arms to block it, planning to cover himself with lava to prevent any damage, but just at the last second he noticed a large number of explosion notes rolling out towards the edge of the blade.
Holy shit…
Deciding that blocking such a blade was a horrible idea Roshi replaced himself instantly with a rock clone and leapt backwards to see Jinpachi's sword slam into it and explode violently, sending chunks of rock flying everywhere. Roshi was able to dodge from the debris, though he noticed that his attacker had taken a blow to his leg from a flying rock.
What a violent technique. He risks just as much damage to himself as he does to his opponent.
Before Roshi could catch his breath, he glanced up to see Jinin flying towards him with his axe aiming to slash him in two. Unable to dodge in time, Roshi put up his hands in defence, creating a large amount of rock on his arms to increase his defence.
As the axe bit into his rock-enhanced arms, Roshi could have sworn he saw his opponent smirk as it failed to reach his skin. His eyes widened as he saw Jinin pull back his other hand and slam the hammer part of his weapon into the back of his axe, causing his rock defence to fall apart and the axe to slice partially into his arms.
It was only quick reflexes and a willingness to keep breathing that kept Roshi's arms attached to his body as he rolled to the side and clutched them painfully. The damage wasn't too bad, but considering the combination between the two of them he was on the back foot worse than he could have feared.
"Let me at them, old man. I'll burn them to a crisp."
Roshi shook his head to the lava monkey's request, he couldn't risk them discovering that they were Tailed Beast containers unless he had no choice.
I'm not out of options yet. These guys just surprised me is all.
"Uhuh. Sure."
Shut up you stupid monkey.
Jinpachi slowly walked towards his companion with his explosive sword on his shoulder, watching him pull his axe out of the ground with an annoyed look on his face.
"That should have killed him," said Jinin.
"Oh please, it is hardly the first time someone has dodged your 'certain-kill' strike."
"Doesn't mean it doesn't piss me off."
Jinpachi scoffed and turned his gaze to the other battles around them. "Hmm. Looks like Ringo is having a bit of trouble with that Kumo guy. You got this?"
"Ringo? Since when were you so familiar with Ameyuri?"
"You never know your luck in a big city. She'll come around at some point."
Jinin laughed and scratched off a piece of rubble from his axe, "Yeah, and put a blade through your chest. You know how she is, she's as lucky to gut you as sleep with you."
"And it would be worth it," said Jinpachi before starting to walk towards his female companion who was locked in a furious duel with Killer Bee.
However he only took two steps before massive rock spikes shot out of the ground and formed a large ring around the two of them, trapping them in place.
"Don't you dare ignore me!" said Roshi as he jumped on top of one of rocks and clapped his hands together. "Youton: Garandou Yougan!" (Lava Element: Lava Void)
A large stream of lava began pouring into the hole he had created, after a few seconds it was completely covered in boiling liquid with no sign of his two opponents. Roshi took a long breath of relief before frowning as he noticed that the lava level was slowly decreasing. After a few seconds he noticed a large hole in the side of his rock formation, giving him a fairly clear picture of what had happened.
He turned around to see Jinin jumping towards him with his axe swinging high, the same attack pattern as before. However this time Roshi had enough time to react, and he could see all the gaps in his opponent's style.
He's leaving himself wide open to attack. He's way too cocky.
Pulling back a fist, Roshi moulded a reasonable amount of chakra and waited until Jinin was close enough not to dodge before punching the air between the two of them, sending a spike of rock straight at his opponent's chest.
Jinin was experienced enough to get his axe over in time to block the spike, but that exposed his face as Roshi slammed into him with a fast kick that sent him crashing into the ground. Not one to let his opponent recover, Roshi placed his hands together and sent a single ball of molten rock straight at Jinin's fallen body, though it was intercepted mid-air as Jinpachi slammed his explosive sword into it and sent it shattering into pieces like he striking a baseball.
Roshi landed on the ground and took several jumps backwards to create some distance between them as chunks of burning rock fell to the ground like a tiny meteor shower. Jinin groaned as he picked himself up from the ground, while Jinpachi stood in front of him with an annoyed look on his face.
"That's the last time I cover for you, Jinin. You're on your own now."
"Nobody…asked for your…" The Swordsman clutched at his face in pain, Roshi's kick had broken his nose into several places. "Bloody hell that hurts."
"Useless," muttered Jinpachi under his breath, flicking his hand to move more explosion notes to the edge of his sword. "What is he doing now?"
The two of them watched as lava appeared to completely encase Roshi's body, large globules falling onto the rocky ground and making loud sizzling sounds as they burnt away rock and stone alike.
Jinpachi went to run towards him, but his companion held him back with his hammer arm. "We should attack together. He's not the type we should underestimate."
"Don't you tell me what to do, you useless piece of crap. I'll kill you first if I have to!"
"No, you'll try and fail. Let's just do this and then help the others."
Jinpachi snarled through jagged teeth but relented and pulled back his wide sword. "What do you suggest?"
Placing his axe on his back, Jinin went through a quick set of handseals before adopting a position that his companion was quite familiar with. Nodding his approval, he performed the same technique as their lava-covered opponent went to run towards them.
Before he could get within attacking distance, Roshi skidded to a halt and stared through lava-covered eyes as a mist began to appear on his chosen battlefield, obscuring his opponents as they appeared to meld into the grey of the air.
That's going to make this difficult.
From the previous wars he had fought in, Roshi was well aware of the properties of the Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hiding in the Mist Technique), but he had no means of countering it, unlike his companions.
He couldn't hear anything beyond the clashing of metal from the other Tailed Beast containers' battles, but Roshi had never really been a sensory type to begin with so that didn't bother him so much.
"On your right! Duck!"
Trusting in his Tailed Beast's warning, Roshi ducked and rolled away just in time to avoid being decapitated by a sweeping blow of Jinin's axe. He moved to strike back in retaliation, but Jinin spun around on the spot and slammed his hammer straight through Roshi's guard and into his lava-covered chest.
Roshi gasped in pain and coughed up a small amount of blood as he fell to his knees. Even with his lava armour it had probably broken several ribs, the impact alone was enough to nearly knock him out.
As Jinin jumped back for reasons Roshi couldn't understand, his Swordsman companion appeared behind the Four-Tails container and raised his Shibuki to attack the seemingly defenceless Roshi.
Just as it looked like the battle had reached its conclusion, a hand of chakra shot out of Roshi's back and clutched at both of Jinpachi's arms to stop his blow from falling.
"What the hell?" exclaimed the Swordsman, though he could do nothing as the chakra arms wrenched the explosion sword out of his grip and held it above the fallen Tailed Beast container.
What are you doing? demanded Roshi in his head, not wanting to give his occupant credit for saving his life.
"Well you weren't going to do anything."
Roshi groaned in pain and struggled to his feet before grabbing the wide sword from the chakra arms that the Tailed Beast had provided him. It felt heavy in his arms, but that didn't compare at all to the death glare that he got from Jinpachi before he faded back into the mist.
Well things have turned slightly to my favour.
Standing in a defensive position with Jinpachi's sword in hand, Roshi slowly dissipated his lava armour; there was no point in being defensive anymore. He knew that one more strike to his chest and he'd likely be bleeding internally and that wasn't so easily fixed.
For a few seconds it seemed like his opponents weren't going to attack him for fear that he had the advantage, but Roshi wasn't naïve enough to lower his guard in impatience.
"Swing left!"
Gripping the Shibuki with both hands, Roshi swung it in a wide arc to the place his occupant had told him to, feeling a satisfying thud as the wide sword crashed into the side of an attacking Jinin, who once again had left his side open as he had attacked.
As the connection was made, Jinin knew he was already dead, but nothing could have prepared him as the explosion notes ignited and exploded with a massive roar. His Kabutowari went flying through the air as he had released his grip on the 'sword' at the last moment, though he had no chance of escaping as his body disintegrated in the explosion.
Not used to wielding the strange weapon, Roshi had no way of knowing that there was a specific movement he had to make to avoid the recoil from the blast, meaning he suffered damage to both his arms and body as he went flying backwards at the same time. The blade smoked as it sat on the ground ruined by his inability to use it properly, while Roshi groaned in pain on the ground.
The mist around him slowly dissipated, but Roshi had time to rest as he saw the extremely agitated Jinpachi running towards him. In a fluid motion he picked up his dead companion's Kabutowari and swung in a large motion to slam the hammer into Roshi's chest and finish him off.
However the Four-Tails wasn't going to let that happen, stretching out an arm of chakra to beat away the hammer and force the Kirigakure Swordsman to fall towards Roshi's body.
Using what little strength he had left to stretch out an arm, the Four-Tails container covered it in lava and the motion of attacking Roshi caused Jinpachi to fall straight into his strike.
His arm went through his side and out his back, knocking Jinpachi out immediately due to the shock to his system, causing his body to fall limp on top of Roshi's injured form.
"Ah…" grimaced Roshi as he saw the chakra arm disappear and he clutched at his side with a hand.
He pushed off the large man's unconscious body and groaned in pain. Even as he had beaten away the hammer, when he had fallen he had shoved a kunai into Roshi's chest past his defences.
Can you heal that? he asked to his occupant, though he could feel the seriousness of the damage already.
"Man up, it's only a scratch."
Says the one without a knife in his chest.
The battle appeared to have swung in their favour as most of the Seven Swordsmen were already down for the count. Naruto still fought against Mangetsu at a speed that his eyes could barely follow, and Killer Bee was pressing his advantage against his female opponent.
Where is…
"Having a touch of trouble are we?" came a deep voice beside him. The blow to his head was still affecting his vision, but Roshi would never forget that image.
He turned his head slightly and looked up at his tall companion, "Han…help me…to my feet."
The Five-Tails container looked down at the older Iwagakure shinobi, making a quick assessment of his injuries at a glance. He didn't say a word, staring at Roshi's eyes intently.
After nearly a minute of staring, Han eventually reached down with a hand towards Roshi's chest. The Iwagakure container grinned through bloody teeth and struggled to bring up a hand for his companion to help him up. "For a second there I thought you were just going to leave me here."
"You thought wrong."
Roshi's eyes widened as Han drove his hand into his chest through his wound. Steam immediately began to emerge from the connection, but before he could react Han's hand gripped tight on his spine. The steam around Han's hand melted away Roshi's chest with little resistance, leaving a giant hole in his chest to the ground beneath.
The other two Tailed Beast containers were too wrapped up in their individual battles to notice what was going on, while Roshi's hand fell back to the ground and his eyes began to fade.
Han leaned down so that his face was barely a foot away from his old companion's, his eyes glaring straight at his victim's.
"This is not for revenge. I would not stoop to such a petty reason for my actions."
He slowly pulled his hand out of the wide hole in Roshi's chest and patted him on what little clothing was left on his neck.
"I cannot have you impeding my progress any further. Hindrances cannot be tolerated."
Roshi's eyes glazed over as the strength finally left him and the Four-Tails within him flailed uselessly as it perished with him.
Placing his hand over his former companion's face, Han performed his signature as he had with Kushimaru before standing back up and placing his hand back into his vest.
He recognised the fact that the Tailed Beast would likely be at least a decade from re-entering the picture, so there was little chance of the lava monkey coming to get him for revenge any time soon.
If my calculations are correct, I could probably capture the beast when it reappears. An interesting thought for another time.
Before either of his companions could notice what had happened, Han used the frantic battlefield to disappear in a small puff of steam, leaving no trace of his actions. The battle continued to rage on, with both Naruto and Killer Bee none the wiser.
Exactly how Han planned it.
Author's Note:
Watching the anime to get ideas for how the Seven Swordsmen fight was like rubbing sandpaper on my face. There is so much filler my brain hurts, and even then they hardly show them fighting as well as they probably should be. How the mighty have fallen or something like that.
There will be an explanation as to why the Seven Swordsmen were still alive; I'm not going to leave it just as is. But that is in the next few chapters.
I might have taken a cue from One Piece in one of the fights in this chapter. See if you can recognise it.
I wasn't too sure what sword to give to Mangetsu considering the fact that Samehada was gone, but I figured that it would be a weapon appropriate for the Swordsmen, though I plan on giving the blade some justice, despite being part of anime filler. Filler can sometimes be useful. Sometimes.
I'll admit Han is sort of an excuse to explore some of the darker sides of shinobi battles that I feel isn't explored in the manga/anime at all. All those 'killers' don't seem portray the cruelty that they really could.
Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.