Clenching his eyes slightly, Minato stared at the creature ahead.
Its huge body stood out in the darkness, its yellow eyes seeming to glow like golden flames, menacing and intense. Its long, sharp claws gave a dangerous look to its appearance, along with the large, multiple horns on its lion head.
- I never thought I would see one with my own eyes.
He whispered, and though he didn't answer, Minato agreed.
The Behemoth's large, sharp teeth moved some stones to a specific location, in which there were some human and other animal bodies in a circle shape. Even pieces of the already decomposing body of a huge snake were apparently circling the Behemoth's nest.
In the center, a mutilated body, larger than the others of similar appearance to the Behemoth, but in smaller proportions and with many pieces missing.
Some kind of ritual... perhaps.
"So that thing has some degree of intelligence..."
- That thing is pretty strong... are we really going to do this?
Kakashi asked softly, drawing Obito's attention.
- Look, I know you're scared, I'm scared too, but with the sensei here...
- I'm not scared.
- Neither am I.
- -...-
- *...*
- I just... you know, I was trying to give a... err... a moral support.
Minato moved quietly to the side, observing the surroundings. With a predator that size in the area, there weren't any other creatures around within a kilometer radius.
"The nest is in a large crater, probably made by the creature itself, since some parts are jagged and there are signs of explosion... which means, that the Behemoth came from that cave... piles of bodies, too mutilated... there are also destroyed sites, and the body of that snake is mutilated, but... I need to get closer."
Snapping his tongue, he glares coldly at the Behemoth, who seemed to hear the small noise once in his mouth and raised his head.
- Try to avoid a conflict as much as you can, analyze this thing. Get ready.
He said, this time much louder, not caring to be detected.
The other three got into battle position and faced the Behemoth, which roared aggressively and began to concentrate chakra in its mouth.
The Behemoth attacked, spitting out a constant burst of chakra, which obliterated the trees through which it struck. An amount of chakra so strong and dense that it caused that beam of energy to glow, decimating everything it touched.
Minato faced the attack after dodging it. It was made mostly of chakra. But, there was something there, a strange energy in its composition, similar to senjutsu.
The Behemoth seemed a little irritated when he realized that he had missed his attack, and soon, he began to concentrate chakra all over his body.
Its body became shrouded in a layer of purple chakra, and four legs of chakra quickly advanced towards the four ninjas.
It was a fast attack, and both Minato and his team could see the massive amount of power it had. If that attack touched them, it would practically melt their bodies.
Minato deftly dodged the attacks, curious about the speed.
Kakashi and Obito seemed to have a hard time dodging so many movements that that chakra paw was making at such a great speed. Trees and the ground itself were destroyed by the mere approach of that thing.
Minato made a clone, and both quickly threw six three-pointed kunais in all around the Behemoth.
Minato sighed as he undid the clone, and soon, his irises turned yellow with an orange pigmentation around his eyes.
Raising his hand slightly, he makes a rasengan of wind mixed with natural chakra, and at incredible speed, teleports to the kunai.
With each kunai he teleported, he would hit the Behemoth's body with a rasengan, creating the spinning sphere a total of six times in less than seconds and hitting the creature's huge, robust body.
Six large explosions took place all over its body, and a large cloud of smoke covered it up. The jutsus were not very powerful, purposely to just scan the Behemoth's body.
Before the cloud of smoke could dissipate, a powerful chakra sphere was launched towards Minato, who jumped away.
The wall of the lair exploded, and the man was thrown far away by the impact, but recovered while still in the air.
He stared at the explosion ahead. An attack similar to a Bijuu dama, but clearly less powerful... although whatever that explosion touched was disintegrated, making it on equal dangerous footing compared to an actual Bijuu dama.
Clenching his eyes shut, Minato sidesteps again as the Behemoth suddenly hurtles toward him.
The impact of its body sent up a huge cloud of dust as it destroyed the ground, and the man swerved once more as he saw the behemoth's tail rapidly advancing toward him. So hard and fast that the sound barrier broke, and he heard a loud blast, almost like a concentrated explosion.
The blast of air itself was powerful enough to cause destruction.
Minato straightened his posture, and stared coldly into the Behemoth's eyes. An intense yellow, against a blue just as intense.
But there was something strange about the creature's gaze, it lowered its head slightly and closed its mouth, as if analyzing Minato.
Soon, a grunt echoed from its throat, and the beast's eyes widened, slightly turning away, showing surprise, and especially, anger. Minato looked at it slightly confused.
It was almost as if the behemoth recognized him.
The creature roared again, and soon its whole body glowed purple. Its muscles became more visible and its horns, as well as its claws and teeth, seemed to grow.
Minato's eyes widened slightly as he felt the sudden increase in power, and he quickly threw himself backwards, throwing a kunai still in the air.
The Behemoth advanced towards him, even faster than before, but before it could attack the blond, it disappeared, reappearing a few meters ahead.
"... He got faster..."
As if as a confirmation of his thoughts, the Behemoth appeared behind him again in the blink of an eye.
Minato was surprised by the increase in speed, but before he could dodge, a greenish arm attacked the creature.
However, it deflected the giant arm and moved away.
- Minato-san.
Shisui and his team appeared right beside him, all staring at the Behemoth that was overflowing with purple energy.
- This thing is... different...
- Different?! That's all you have to say? Man, I attacked that huge chakra paw and didn't even make a scratch!
- That thing sucks chakra... normal attacks don't work.
- Senjutsu seemed to work, but... it didn't seem very effective.
He moved into position as he watched the Behemoth move. The creature now stared at Shisui, before shifting its gaze again to Minato.
- Hm... if that thing absorbs chakra... then why did it move away from Susano'o?
Minato and Shisui looked at each other.
- I think we found a weakness.
- Let's not be hasty, there's a lot we haven't tested... but I think we actually found something promising.
They stood in battle position. Kakashi picking up his sword while Obito activated his sharingan.
Gritting his teeth, Naruto once again dodges a sword attack from the man, who stared at him with a simple smile as he viciously attacked him.
Ducking, he dodges a sharp sword strike and counters with a powerful punch imbued with chakra to his stomach. However, he is surprised to feel water splashing in his face.
As he looks at his hand, his eye widens as he sees that his fist was literally inside the man's body, with water surrounding it.
- Hahaha, surprised? It's a technique from my clan, isn't it fucking amazing?
He asked cynically, pointing his finger at Naruto.
The boy gritted his teeth as he felt a certain amount of chakra on his finger, and tried to jump away, but couldn't, his hand seemed to be stuck in his body.
Tayuya then spits a fireball at the man, which liquefies his body and deflects, but without lowering his arm or canceling his jutsu.
- Mizude-
He was interrupted by Naruto's sudden burst of chakra, which destroyed part of the interior of the ship and practically blew the man's body of water away, but which soon, began to crawl through the gaps in the boat until it fell back into the sea.
Naruto looked around, observing all those people who were still on the boat.
"We can't fight here!"
- Out!
He shouted to Tayuya, who nodded and ran to the bottom of the boat, jumping into the sea soon after and concentrating chakra on her feet.
As soon as they got out of the boat, however, the surrounding water began to move, and small waves began to form. The waves became more and more violent, until they were too violent for them to stand still, almost capsizing the boat.
Jumping away, they both faced the huge wave that was coming towards them, and all that water began to take on a fish-like shape.
- I don't usually do this technique, it takes too much water... oh, but look at that? Aren't we in the sea? Hahaha, what a-
- Shut up!
The boy jumped towards the huge demon fish and allowed himself to be swallowed by it while Tayuya spat fireballs into the sky. Inside, the water freely moved the man's sword, which was trying to attack Naruto.
However, Naruto created a barrier of clones with chakra in his hands, and soon, began to concentrate chakra in his own hand.
A massive chakra sphere formed.
Concentrating more and more chakra, the sphere spun even faster and harder, its size increased, and the surrounding water began to be sucked towards the sphere.
- Whoa, fuck, it's sucking my guts out!
he shouted, and soon, his body returned to its original form with his sword already in his hands, still in the air.
He was planning to attack Naruto, however, he was forced to dodge the huge, powerful fireballs raining down from the sky.
"We're at sea, he can keep doing that until we get tired... it's a shame, for him, that I'm an Uzumaki."
"Hah, but he's strong, if you underestimate him, you might lose. You guys aren't too far from the beach, lure him there."
Naruto looked at the man, who was dodging Tayuya's fireballs and merging back into the sea.
Looking down, he tilts his body to the side and dodges a piercing attack with his sword, followed by a few more slashing blows.
Concentrating chakra in his hands, he throws a strong gust of wind against the water, throwing the sword away and approaching Tayuya.
- The beach!
She nodded, starting to run quickly towards the beach.
However, they were considerably far away, considering they were in a fight.
The water beneath their feet began to move, and despite their concentrated chakra, they began to stumble, and eventually, to sink.
Both were carried away by a strong spiraling current, like a strong whirlpool that was sucking them both deeper and deeper into the sea.
A pillar of water formed all the way to the sky, the boat that was nearby was sucked up by the force of the jutsu, and the people were sucked into the whirlpool.
Naruto and Tayuya were thrown violently from side to side into the water, becoming increasingly difficult to hold their breath.
While spinning, Naruto's eye widened as he saw a sword advancing precisely towards him at incredible speed, and concentrating chakra in his hand, he throws a strong gust of wind, which prevents the sword from hitting him.
However, the force of the water increased, and he lost control of his chakra, being pulled down again.
The darkness became even more intense as he was pulled down, to the point that if it weren't for Tayuya holding onto his clothes, he wouldn't even know she was near him.
The air began to shorten, and even though he didn't want it to, the boy began to get more and more worried.
"Calm down. You humans get stupid when you let your emotions control you."
Kurama's calm voice caught his attention, being enough to make him a little more relieved, though not so much.
"What do I do?!"
"Kami, I said he was strong based on the standards of strength you humans use, but he's nothing. He's just a small fish. His greatest strength is water, so take that advantage of him and make him fight on terms that are beneficial to you. You have my chakra merged with yours, for crying out loud. Just get it over with."
"Easy to say, dammit!"
Frowning at Kurama's account, he embraces Tayuya and begins to concentrate chakra throughout his body, basking in that brief release of red chakra he had when he was tortured.
Concentrating to use only his red chakra, he grits his teeth as he feels his body burn.
Opening his eye, he can see the water around him begin to evaporate, and his body seemed to glow with the strong red energy that slowly spread through his body.
They were again sucked down into the strong whirlpool. However, that man's jutsu was interrupted by Naruto's layer of chakra, which was becoming stronger and stronger.
A great red chakra explosion occurred, being strong enough to dissipate the entire whirlpool. The water around them began to move violently, and a sphere of energy formed.
Another chakra explosion happened, creating a huge wave on the surface, and making the man look somewhat confused and surprised at this.
Feeling his body much lighter than before, he propelled himself out of the water towards the beach, hurtling down like a missile, until a large amount of sand was hurled heavily in all directions as he finally reached dry land.
He let go of the girl in his arms and Tayuya took several strong breaths, falling to the ground and placing a hand on her chest.
As she regained some of her breath, she looked at Naruto, intently watching that strong, intense red energy emanating from his body.
Naruto, in turn, looked out to sea. The whirlpool was dissipated, which left what was left of the boat floating in the water, along with some already dead bodies.
Among them, the body of the boat's owner, in which he was leading them into the land of fire.
He clicked his tongue in frustration at the sight of those bodies, feeling the chakra of that man approaching.
- Wow, who knew a child would do something like that... maaaaan, you really are a demi-human, and I thought Juugo was lying, a lame excuse for losing to a child, hahahah.
The man walked calmly through the sand after getting out of the water, laughing as he returned to normal.
However, his smile died as he saw Naruto's gaze upon him. That intense red seemed to stare deep into his soul.
The man didn't even have much time.
He saw a powerful burst of energy shoot through the boy's body.
A layer of red chakra wrapped around his body, his nails became claws, his fangs became fangs, and three animal-like scratches appeared on his cheeks.
That was all he saw before he felt his body being hurled violently toward the forest.