Welcome to chapter 10. This is going to be the first Hunter vs jinchuriki fight and I hope it meats everyone's expectations.
Enjoy.
Chapter 10
"You want me to what!?" exclaimed Jiriya.
It had been two days since the Sand and Sound invasion and the Hidden leaf was still reeling from devastation. Despite the valiant attempts of the village's defenders, which surprisingly included a wanted criminal, many lives had still been lost including the village leader, the Third Hokage. Jiriya hadn't been surprised when the village council had sent for him, nor when they told him that they had a successor in mind.
He had been surprised when they told him that they wanted him to be the next Hokage. He supposed that in their minds it made sense, he had been one of Sarutobi's students when he was young and he was a powerful and (sometimes) wise ninja. Still, Jiriya knew that he could never be the Hokage, he was far too impatient and unreliable. Plus he'd be too tempted to use that crystal ball in the Hokage's office to spy on the women in the hot springs.
He explained this to the council, minus the peeping part of course. They were less than pleased.
"If you're so set on having a Sanin as Hokage, there is another. You're forgetting Tsunade." Jiriya added.
"She would make a capable Hokage." admitted an elderly woman "But no one knows where she is."
"I'm sure I could dig her up. What do you say?"
Perched up above them all a small Creeper sifted it's body to a bird like form and took flight. It had just passed over the edge of the building when something slammed into it and grabbed hold.
"Gotcha!" proclaimed Hunter as both he and the Nobody tumbled down to the ground. Hunter had timed this manoeuvre so that they would both end up in the alley behind the building. The less people knew of the Nobodies, the better.
The instant they landed the Creeper managed to wiggle free of his grip. It morphed it's body into a sword and took a swing at Hunter, forcing him to jump back. The now sword-like Creeper hovered in mid air, aiming itself at Hunter in a threatening manner.
"Think you can take me? You and what army!"
Three Dusks appeared behind the Creeper along with a Dancer. One of the Dusks reached out and grabbed the Creeper-sword, giving it a few exaggerated twirls, then taking up an offensive stance.
"Me and my big mouth."
The sword wielding Dusk came at him, swinging its blade in powerful arcs that took large chunks out of the floor and walls. Hunter was forced back under the onslaught, then one of the other Dusks quickly slithered round behind him and rapidly expanding its head, smashing into Hunter's back. He was propelled forward straight into the sword wielder who knocked him high into the air with an upwards slash.
Hunter spun in mid air and summoned his chains, throwing them at the Dusks and destroying two of them. He fell back down to the ground and ran at the last Dusk, ducking under a sword swing and then blasting it point blank from behind with a Dark Bolt. The Creeper morphed back into its flying form and tried to escape but Hunter destroyed it with an upward chain swing.
The only Nobody left now was the Dancer, which hadn't moved from its original position. Hunter charged right at it, pulling back his arm ready to punch it. It nimbly side stepped him and tripped him up, then while he was falling it spun on the spot and smashed it's leg into his back. Hunter was thrust forwards and eventually came to a skidding halt out on the main street.
"Ouch" he muttered as he spat out some dirt. Looking over his shoulder he caught a glimpse of the Dancer blowing him a kiss as it teleported away. "Snap." that was when Hunter noticed people staring at him. At first they were all just startled by his sudden appearance, then they started to recognise him. Two nearby Chunin drew some kunai out of their pockets and threw them at Hunter.
"Double snap!" he yelled as he dodged the knives and started running. Wanting to lose them before more ninjas showed up Hunter ran straight at a wall and opened a dark portal at the last moment. As soon as he was through it closed and the two perusing ninjas ran straight into the unforgiving surface.
Hunter reappeared in a lightly wooded area that seemed to serve as some sort of training ground. Looking back he couldn't resist gloating. "Ha! Morons." He turned round, then froze.
Three genin were standing just a few feet away to his left. It took him a second to recognise them as Hinata, Shino and Kiba.
"Triple snap." he groaned.
"What the...hey, isn't that that Hunter guy?" asked Kiba.
"Yes, he matches the description" confirmed Shino "We should-"
"Alright!" Kiba yelled, cutting off Shino "When we bring him in we'll be village heroes!"
Akamaru barked in agreement.
"Don't be foolish." scolded Shino. "He took on four Jōnin level ninja at once, and he wasn't even trying."
Kiba looked like he was going to listen to reason for once, but Hunter just couldn't resist baiting him.
"Hey...Kiba was it. Your Tsume's son right?"
Kiba gave him his best feral grin "Yeah, she told me about her run in with you. I'm surprised you're still breathing. I wouldn't want to be you when she gets her hands on you."
"She'll have to get her hands on me first. Still, that woman scares the life out of me. Your sister on the other hand..."
Kiba stopped grinning and his left eyebrow began twitching.
"...now she is just perfect. Gorgeous, strong, likes animals. Do you know if she's single?"
By now Kiba was snarling at him while clenching and unclenching his fists.
"Grrrrr! That's enough out of you! Let's go Akamaru!" the genin and his dog charged at Hunter, ignoring a warning cry from Shino and Hinata. Just as they both leapt at him Hunter ducked and they both crashed into each other.
"I don't see why you're getting so worked up." said Hunter as Kiba and Akamaru got back on their feet. "It was an honest question. There a reason I couldn't date her?"
"Keep dreaming! You're not exactly her type anyway!"
Hunter shrugged "You never know, she might be into insane monster boys."
"Arrgh! That's it!" Kiba yelled angrily "Fang over Fang!" both he and Akamaru spun through the air towards Hunter who simply side stepped their attack and let them crash into the ground.
"Owww." groaned Kiba. He looked up at his team mates "Did I get him?"
"Um...no, you missed." said Hinata.
Hunter clapped his hands together, drawing everyone's gaze to him "Well, you guys have been fun, but I must make like a tree and Hidden Leaf!" then he turned and ran off into the woods.
"That was the worst joke ever! Well don't just stand there you two. After him!" Kiba ran after Hunter with Akamaru following on his heels.
"Kiba, stop!" yelled Shino but he didn't listen.
"W-what do we do S-shino?" asked Hinata.
"We go after Kiba, and make sure he doesn't get himself killed."
The two caught up with Kiba a few moments later as he was jumping through the tree tops.
"You guys came along after all. Didn't want me and Akamaru hogging all the glory huh?"
"Kiba, we have to stop now!" demanded Shino. "We're no match for Hunter. We need to go back to the village and inform the-"
"Bark!"
Kiba came to a halt on a large tree branch. "Are you sure?"
Akamaru sniffed the air and barked again.
"He says that Hunter's scent trail ends right here." The all looked around, expecting to be attacked at any moment.
"Could he be camouflaging his scent somehow?" asked Shino.
"Well, yeah it's possible but he can't have had the time to- wait!" a rustling noise came from the canopy of leaves above them. Kiba instinctively threw a kunai up into the leaves. Something small and black darted down at him and went straight for his face.
"MEEOOWW!"
"ARRGH! What the!? Get off!" Kiba grabbed hold of the thing and threw it away. It landed on a smaller branch nearby. It was a black cat.
"Just a cat." muttered Shino.
"A vicious rabid evil cat." growled Kiba as he rubbed the scratch marks on his face.
The cat arched it's back and hissed at them.
"Hunter's not here" said Shino "He probably used that teleport jutsu to escape. We need to report this, let's go."
Shino headed back towards the village, with Kiba and Hinata following close behind him.
"Humph. If I ever see that guy again I'll show him just what an Inuzuka can do. Right Akamaru!"
The cat stayed where it was, licking its left paw for a moment. When it was sure they were gone it stopped licking and smiled to itself.
"Suckers." it said in Hunters voice.
After giving the three genin a long enough head start he graceful leapt down to ground level and, still in his new cat form, began opening a black portal back to the village.
"Who's a pretty kitty? I'm a pretty kitty. Hehehe." he giggled as he disappeared. Naturally he felt very pleased with himself for having out foxed the three young ninjas and he imagined that right now they were heading back to their village to report on their failure.
That's not exactly what happened to them though.
With team 8. One their way back to Konoha.
"I still say we could have taken him if you two would have just backed me up." said Kiba.
"S-sorry Kiba but-"
"Don't apologise Hinata." said Shino. "Kiba, Hunter has taken on some of the best ninja in our village, he's even evaded the Hokage. It wouldn't have mattered if we'd worked together. We're simply no match for him."
"Alright, alright already! Seesh Shino, you really need to lighten-Whoa!" the group stopped in their tracks on some tree branches.
Standing on a branch in front of them was Hunter. Well, it looked like Hunter.
'Was he wearing a blue scarf before?' thought Hinata.
"Well, we found you after all!" declared Kiba.
'Hunter' ignored him and just continued starting at them all. "You should not be here." he finally said.
'He sounds different. Colder.' thought Shino.
"What do you mean 'we should not be here'!?" said Kiba, angrily. "You're the intruder in OUR village. You're the one who's not supposed to be here!" When 'Hunter' didn't respond it made Kiba even angrier. "Are you even listening man!"
"Um. Kiba. M-maybe we should go." stammered Hinata. Something about 'Hunter's' demeanour was unsettling.
"What!? Are you really going to take orders from him? It's four against one. We can probably strangle him with that dorky scarf!"
'Hunter' tilted his head to one side. "Two corrections. First, I am not Hunter. My name is Thorn." that earned a confused look from every member of team eight. "Second. This is not a scarf."
The four ends of Thorn's 'scarf' sprang to life and shot towards the genin. They barely had enough time to get out of the way, each point smashing into the tree branch where they'd just been. Thorn raised his arms and said "Fira". Four balls of fire, each one the size of a beach ball, appeared around him, then they flew towards the genin.
"Incoming!" yelled Kiba as they all avoided this second attack, the fire balls exploding where they had just been.
'He seems to specialise in ranged ninjutsu' though Shino.
"Let's go Akamaru!" yelled Kiba. "Fang over Fang!" the young Inuzuka and his dog spun through the air towards Thorn. They were just about to hit him when he muttered "Reflectra." instantly a transparent shield made of hexagons appeared around him, which Kiba and Akamaru slammed into. On impact the shield exploded, sending the pair flying backwards, crashing through several tree branches.
"Kiba! Akamaru!" Hinata cried.
'This is bad' thought Shino. Then the smoke around where Thorn was dispersed. He was gone.
"Where'd he-"
"Here." before Shino could turn round Thorn landed a chop on his neck that paralysed him. Shino lost his balance and fell to the ground.
Thorn jumped down after him and landed close by. He looked down at Shino, who was still paralysed, and then over to Kiba and Akamaru, who were trying to get back up. The only one left now was Hinata, who was standing a few feet away in her clans signature 'gentle fist' stance.
"Two choices." said Thorn "You can fight. You'll lose and will be hurt. Or. You can help your friends. And I will leave."
It didn't take long for Hinata to weigh up her options. Thorn had taken down her teammates without even breaking a sweat, he wouldn't have any more trouble defeating her. She ran over to Kiba and helped him up, supporting him on her shoulder.
"Good choice." Thorn was about to leave when something occurred to him.
"Hinata." the girl looked up at him nervously "It's strange. But you and I have something in common. I want to be like Naruto to." then he disappeared into a black portal, leaving behind a very confused and battered team eight.
Back in the hidden Leaf
'Yeah. This is my best disguise yet.' thought Hunter as he walked through the streets of Konoha, still in his cat form. Since he'd got back to the village no one had so much as looked twice at him, he could scour the whole village for Nobodies and no one would be any the wiser.
'No more running and hiding. No more getting chased by ninjas. Why didn't I think of this sooner?'
Hunter was currently walking through an empty side street, heading in the direction of the Hokage monument. He was about to step out onto the main street when another cat came tearing round the corner and crashed into him.
"Meeeeoowww!" yelled the other cat.
"Hey! You're the one who ran into me, furball." that was when Hunter saw the purple ribbon tied around the cat's ear. He realised he'd seen this cat before, the one that had been running from that rich looking lady. Tora was what she'd called it.
Tora was a little surprised when she heard this other cat talking like a human, but she'd lived in or around ninja villages for most of her life, and was well used to the idea of people turning into animals.
Tora gave a few more meows that roughly translated "Hello. I am Tora. Cat of the Fire Daimyo."
"Hi Tora. I'm Hunter. Listen, I don't suppose you've seen anything strange going on around this village lately?"
"Meow maow meow." 'This is an ninja village. There's always something strange going on.'
"I mean stranger than normal."
Tora sighed to herself "Meow." 'I can't stay here chatting all day, I've got to-"
That's when they both heard someone yelling "TOOOORRRRAAAA!?" off in the distance.
Tora winced "Meow." 'Ugh. That woman.'
That gave Hunter an idea. "Ok Tora, here's the deal. You help me and I'll get crazy lady off your case for a while."
Tora needed no further encouragement and she quickly began meowing everything she knew. 'Well, I have seen some strange people about town. They look like people anyway but there's always something off about them. They don't seem to go anywhere they just walk around town for a while then disappear. Oh and something else. Two shinobi arrived today. Powerful, dangerous, scary looking. I don't know where they are now.'
Hunter soaked in all this information and nodded. "Thanks. Now, Time for me to uphold my end." with that he changed his shape so he now looked exactly like Tora. After recovering from the initial shock the real Tora started admiring her doppelgangers appearance.
"Hey." hissed Hunter "You can admire your reflection later. Hide!"
Tora ducked into a small gap between two houses just as her 'owner', the fire daimyos wife, came round the corner.
"Oh, there you are my precious kitty kitty!" she declared in her annoyingly shrill voice.
Hunter turned and bolted, with the daimyos wife in hot pursuit. As soon as they were both gone Tora emerged from her hiding place and nimbly jumped up onto the roof tops, intending to take a very long cat nap.
Hunter meanwhile lead the daimyos wife on a merry chase through the village. Somehow the plump woman was able to keep pace with him no matter where he went. It was almost impressive. Eventually he managed to lose her by changing back into a black cat when she wasn't looking. All Hunter had to do was stand around and act like a regular cat and she ran right past him, still yelling "Tooorrra!?" at the top of her lungs.
'Well that should buy Tora a well earned rest' he thought. 'Now let's see if I can find those two ninjas she talked about.' he jumped up onto a nearby roof in a single bound, then he sat down, closed his eyes and focused all his senses. His cat ears twitched as he listened to events happening all over the village.
"Two beef ramens. Here you go." that was Ayame's voice. Not what he was after.
"Careful with that! A little to the left now! I said left!" he didn't recognise the voice but it was coming from the area where the giant snakes went on the rampage. Hunter reasoned that whoever it was was part of a construction team trying to repair the damage done in the invasion.
"Kakashi! What is it? Can we open our eyes now?" that was Kureni's voice, and she sounded nervous. Maybe even a little afraid. Hunter focused his hearing on her location.
"No...not yet..." Hunter barely recognised that voice as Kakashi's. It sounded ragged and he was breathing heavily like he was in pain.
"What just happened!?" that voice Hunter knew belonged to Asuma "One second the guy's talking and the next second you hit the ground!"
Hunter opened his eyes and zoomed in on their location. He could see Kakashi, Kureni and Asuma all standing in a river the flowed through some kind of storm drain. Facing them were two others that could only be the two shinobi Tora had told him about.
Hunter changed back to his Human form and jumped through a black portal. In the second it took him to appear Might Guy had shown up as well and was now standing with the other three Leaf jōnin. Hunter had appeared on the bank to their left and so far no one had seen him.
"I don't believe it!" he yelled causing everyone too look at him in surprise. "You four are fighting someone else. On the side! I thought we had something special. What do those guys have that I don't?" Hunter got his first good look at the two mystery ninajs. One was an ordinary enough looking man with black hair, but he had strange red eyes with three black dots around each pupil. The other one was a million miles from ordinary. He was a tall man and looked like a human-shark hybrid. He was carrying a large sword that was partially covered in bandages. The part that was showing wasn't a blade, instead it was made up of sharp metal scales.
"This one looks familiar Itachi." said the fish man.
"Yes. He matches the description we were given." agreed Itachi "You. You are Hunter. Correct?"
"The one and only. I see my reputation precedes me."
The shark man laughed at that "Hahah. Hey, he's a 'target of opportunity' right? I'd call this a good opportunity, right Itachi?"
"Very well. But finish him quickly Kisame."
Kisame dashed towards Hunter, swinging his massive sword round to cleave him in half. Hunter blocked it with his arm, sparks flying at the point of impact. Everyone was surprised to say the least. They'd all expected that Kisame's sword would slice through Hunter like butter.
'He must be using a jutsu to harden his skin' thought Kureni.
Hunter jumped to avoid another sword swing, then he spun in mid air as his tail emerged from his back. Kisame had to jump back to avoid getting impaled by the spikes.
"Huh!? A tail!" Kisame's surprise passed quickly and he went back to smiling menacingly "Well well, so you are a jinchuriki after all."
"I still don't know what that word means but, yeah sure. Let's go with that." Hunter dodged another sword swipe, then he broke away from Kisame and ran at Itachi.
"No Hunter wait! Don't look into his eyes!" warned Kakashi.
Too late.
Hunter abruptly came to a halt a short distance from the renegade Uchiha.
'Blast' thought Guy. 'Itachi has him in a genjutsu. This could get ugly.'
"Fool." muttered Itachi.
That was when Hunter shot forwards and punched Itachi in the gut, lifting him off his feet. Before he could follow this attack up Itachi burst into a flock of crows that flew a few feet away and then reformed into Itachi.
'He resisted the genjutsu' realised Itachi.
"Ha! Your jedi mind tricks won't work on me!" declared Hunter, triumphantly.
"This annoying brat resisted your sharingan? You must be losing you touch Itachi." taunted Kisame.
"Sharingan? You mean those red eyes." remarked Hunter, almost absent mindedly. "Hmm. Hey, that Sasuke kid has the same eyes!" Itachi twitched slightly "Are you two related?"
"Itachi is Sasuke's older brother." it was Asuma who answered. "He's also an S rank criminal, responsible for wiping out his entire clan."
"Lovely. I'm guessing that you and the fish stick aren't here for a family visit."
"Correct. And we've wasted enough time here already."
Kisame looked over at his partner "Seriously?"
"Oh no, you're not going anywhere!" said Hunter as he charged at Itachi again. The renegade Uchiha didn't move but Hunter saw his eyes change, the three black dots around his pupil grew, becoming scythe-like shapes that connected his pupils to his outer iris.
"Amaterasu."
Hunter stopped in his tracks as his left arm suddenly burst into black flames. He started waving it around in a vain attempt to put the flames out while yelling "Ouch ouch ouch ouch! Magic fire! Magic fire! Yeaoow!" eventually he dived into the river, vanishing beneath the surface.
"Something tells me that won't help." said Asuma. Then he noticed something strange happening on the water where Hunter had gone under. It was turning to ice, slowly at first but the ice was starting to spread and it was picking up speed.
"Move!" yelled Guy.
Everyone jumped off the water, the leaf jonin leaping backwards onto the right bank, while Kisame and Itachi landed on the left. Moments later the entire section of the river they'd been fighting on was solid ice.
"Is this Hunter's doing?" asked Kurenai.
That was when Hunter chose to re-emerge, punching his way out of the ice and pulling himself up onto the froze surface of the river. The first thing everyone noticed was that his arm was no longer wreathed in the black flames and apart from being soaking wet he didn't seem harmed.
"How did you extinguish the Amaterasu?" asked Itachi, genuinely interested for once.
"Magic fire." Hunter got up and pointed down at the river. "Magic ice. You do the math."
"Hmm. You certainly are...curious. We'll met again soon. Kisame. Come on."
The man-shark looked disappointed "Shame. This was just starting to get interesting."
Both of them body flickered away, leaving Hunter more than a little annoyed that his fun had been spoiled.
"Well, that's just plain rude. What happened to 'fighting to the bitter end'?"
While Hunter carried on ranting he failed to notice what was going on right behind him. Kakashi was being propped up by Kureni, only holding on to consciousness by sheer willpower. 'This...may be...our only chance.' With what little energy he had left Kakashi forced himself to stand on his own, then he charged at Hunter, creating a lightning cutter in his left hand.
"Kakashi don't!" yelled Guy. 'What is he thinking! He barely has enough energy to stand, using a chidori now could kill him!'
Hearing the commotion Hunter turned round just in time to see Kakashi slam a chidori into his chest. Apart from Hunter everyone present had seen the effects of the chidori before. It was a high level assassination jutsu that could cut through a person like a hot knife through butter. So it came as quite the surprise when the chidori didn't pass right through Hunter but it simply dispersed, the lightning covering his body.
Guy dashed forwards and pulled Kakashi away just as Hunter yelled out "THUNDRA!"
Hunter's body exploded with electricity. Rough bolts lanced out, shattering trees and blasting chunks out of the ground. The storm soon dissipated but flickers of lightning still played across Hunter body.
"Thanks for the power boost Kakashi." he said as he vanished into a black portal.
Kakashi finally lost consciousness and slumped forwards.
"This does not bode well." muttered Guy.
A few miles away
Hunter stepped out of his portal, still crackling with energy.
"Thunder magic...Shocking. Ha!" eventually the electricity died down and Hunter set off after Kisame and Itachi, in what he hoped was the right direction. He also made a mental note to get back at Kakashi for the attempted electrocution.
"Something involving makeup? Yes...and paint. Hehehe."
Hunter continued running in the direction he'd chosen but after a while he became aware that he was being followed. He could hear them moving through the trees, there were seven of them in total. Curiously they weren't trying to catch up with him, they were just keeping pace.
'Could be more leaf ninja. I'd better go faster.'
Hunter boosted his speed to supernatural levels, instantly he heard his unknown pursuers speed up too. Now they really were trying to catch up with him, having figure out he knew they were there.
Not being in the mood for a fight Hunter's plan was to continue running until they gave up. The plan kind of fell apart when he sensed another ninja team, this one ten strong, coming at him from the direction he was heading.
"Oh this is ridiculous!" he declared.
He came to a complete stop in the middle of the dirt road and stood there, arms crossed and drumming his fingers. Both teams soon caught up with him, but instead of jumping out at him they stayed hidden in the trees. Whether or not they were aware of each other he didn't know.
"Alright folks!" he announced loudly. "Hide and seek's over. All of you get down here now!"
Both teams complied, dropping down in front and behind him, apart from two who stayed hidden up in the branches. "I said 'all of you'!" realising they been spotted the last two ninjas joined their comrades on the ground.
Hunter looked between the two groups. The first thing he noted was that, according to their head bands, none of them were from the leaf, in fact both teams were from different villages. They all looked normal enough by ninja standards. Powerful, but nothing he hadn't faced before. The only oddity was one ninja in the squad behind him. From her position at the front of the group he guessed she was the leader. She had straight blond hair, a slim, angular face and dark eyes. Her cloths consisted of a short sleeved purple and black blouse, black pants with a red belt around her waist. She also wore purple fingerless gloves and had bandages wrapped around her forearms, along with a set of blue beads around her left forearm. And just like Gaara and Naruto, she had a second heart inside her, belonging to something much more powerful.
"You are the rouge nin known as Hunter." she said. It was a statement, not a question.
"Nah, my names Larry and I'm a rouge long distance sprinter."
"We know who you are!" this time it was someone from the opposing team that spoke. "Hunter's going with us. You Kumo guys already have two jinchuriki, this one's ours!"
"Dream on." said a male Kumo ninja "We've got our own jinchuriki here. Yugito Nii. Host of the Two Tails. You Iwa idiots are all just outclassed."
At the mention of Yugito's name several of the Iwa ninjas became very fearful. They hadn't been expecting another jinchuriki. The woman herself rolled her eyes and looked over at the man who'd revealed her identity.
"Well, there goes the element of surprise."
"'Scuse me?" said Hunter. "Do I get a say in proceedings here?"
Yugito gave Hunter a once over. He didn't look like a threat but part of being a ninja was to appear to be something you're not. In need of a better evaluation she decided to contact her resident tailed beast.
'Matatabi.'
'I'm here kitten' replied the two tails 'Need something?'
'Yes. Can you tell which tailed beast Hunter has inside him. I want to know what we're up against if this gets out of hand.'
Matatabi said nothing for a moment. 'Hmmmm. It's strange. I can't sense any chakra, at all. Not from him or a tailed beast. He must be using some powerful suppressive seals.'
'Can't you make contact with his tailed beast then?'
'I've tried but there's been no answer. If one of my siblings is in there he doesn't want to be found.'
What neither Yugito or the Two Tails knew was that Hunter could listen in on their telepathic conversation. 'So now everyone thinks I'm one of these...Gin-and-tonic-y...whatever. I could just cast stop and keep on going but...this lot went through so much trouble to find me. I should give them something. A real fright.'
"You're all idiots." he said loudly enough for them, all to hear.
"What did you just say?" asked an Iwa ninja, threateningly.
"I called you idiots. I've run rings around the best guys the Hidden Leaf's got. I even gave their Hokage the slip more than once. And you lot think that you, you can match up to me? This is the only warning you're gunna get. Stand up to the best and you'll fall like the rest."
The entire Iwa squad burst out laughing.
"Haha! If a loser like you can get the better of the Leaf's best ninja then their standards must have really dropped!"
Hunter crossed his arms in annoyance "Everyone's a critic. But you should really be scared." He turned to face Yugito "Just ask your 'tennant'."
Hunters eyes changed to glowing yellow. At first Yugito, and the other Kumo ninjas, believed this was some kind of kekkei genkai, then she heard something she thought she'd never hear: The Two Tails screaming in fright.
'T-that's not possible...he can't be one of THEM! They're not supposed to be real! They're just a story!'
Yugito was starting to panic a little now. If something could scare a Tailed Beast like this then it was way out of their league.
'Matatabi what is it? What's wrong!?'
'Get out of there now Yugito! You and your team need to run now or you're all going to die!'
'I don't understand, he's just one man. We can-'
'That thing is not a man! It isn't even remotely human!'
"Well then what am I Matatabi!" yelled Hunter.
Yugito was shocked 'How does he know your name?'
'He..he can hear us! Kami, the stories are true.'
"What stories!" Hunter was genuinely getting angry now. "What do you know about me!? Tell me. Tell me NOW!"
While Hunter and the Kumo nin were distracted the Iwa squad leader had silently signalled to his team mates to prepare to attack. Two of them charged in ahead of the main group, planning to draw Hunter's attention so he'd be open to attacks from their comrades. They got within a few centimetres of him he spun on the spot, grabbing one ninjas head and slamming him into the dirt and batting the other away with his tail that had suddenly grown out of his lower back.
More changes followed. Hunter's mouth morphed into a jagged black line, his right arm became jet black and dark purple and his hand morphed into a claw.
'It's like a jinchuriki transformation' thought Yugito. "Pull back, we're leaving. Now!"
The Kumo ninja squad turned and ran, but Hunter wasn't willing to let them go that easily.
"GET BACK HERE COWARDS!" he quickly gave chase, running on all fours.
One of the Iwa ninjas got in his path and made a few rapid hand signs. "You're not leaving! Earth style, Earth wall Jutsu!" A large section of the ground rose up forming a ten foot high, six foot thick wall. Hunter didn't stop, he smashed right through it like it was paper, knocking aside the Iwa ninja as he continued to chase after Yugito.
"Is he still after us!?" asked one of the Kumo ninjas.
As if to answer his question a dark bolt shot past them, obliterating a tree.
"Yugito! Shouldn't we turn and fight!? We have the sealing team with us, we can-"
"That won't work!" Yugito yelled back at him "I don't know what he is but he's not a jinchuriki!"
The rest of the Kumo squad looked confused, they were all thinking the same thing 'If he's not a jinchuriki then what is he?'
Another dark bolt flew by, blasting a large crater in the ground where it landed.
"He's not giving up!" said one of the Kumo sealing team.
"It looks like what's left of the Iwa squad is still on his tail. With any luck they might slow him down."
No soon than he'd spoken, Hunter spun round mid leap and yelled out "DARK AERORA!"
A massive burst of air erupted towards the remaining Iwa ninjas. It wasn't a solid wall like a regular air spell, it was a mass of spinning, slicing air blades that slashed at their limbs, causing serious injuries. The ninjas all fell to the ground too wounded to continue their pursuit. Now it was just the Kumo squad left. And Hunter was getting closer.
"YUGITO! GET BACK HERE!" he roared.
'He's catching up fast!' Yugito realised. 'I may have to-'
"DARK AERORA!"
Hunter launched another surge of air blades that rushed towards the fleeing Kumo ninjas.
"Take cover!" Yugito yelled. The squad obeyed instantly, ducking behind several of the forests massive trees. The wind hit a second later with the force of a concentrated hurricane, snapping branches and slicing chunks out of the wood. That was when Hunter caught up with them. He smashed through the tree that two ninjas were using as cover, grabbing hold of them and smashing them both into the ground.
Yugito jumped down from the trees and landed a short way from Hunter, who turned to face her. She could still sense her comrades chakra so they were just unconscious, not dead. Hunter seemed to lose interest in them and took a few steps towards her. While his attention was elsewhere two other Kumo ninjas swooped in and pulled out their friends.
Yugito looked over at her squad. They couldn't run anymore, not while carrying two unconscious bodies. That left her with just one option. 'Looks like we'll have to fight him after all. Are you with me Matatabi?'
'I'm ready Kitten.' said the Two Tails. She sounded a lot more confidant now having overcome the shock of encountering something she'd never thought was real. 'I'll give you free access to my chakra so you can go straight into version two.'
Yugito could already feel the demonic chakra surging through her. She'd only gone into this state a handful of times and she still wasn't used to the feeling. Dark red, almost black chakra began to form around her, obscuring her features completely and turning her into a miniature version of her tailed best, complete with two large chakra tails that rose up behind her. The sheer weight of all this solid energy caused the ground beneath her to break.
'We take him down hard and fast, before he has time to fight back. GO!'
Yugito shot forwards at blinding speed, punching Hunter right in the gut. He was lifted off his feet and would have been sent flying away through the forest if Yugito hadn't wrapped one of her tails around his leg and used it to smash him into the ground. She followed this up by punching Hunter repeatedly as hard as she could, creating a large crater in the earth as she did so. She was on about the fifth punch when Hunter flung out his claw arm and dug into her right shoulder, passing right through her chakra cloak and into her flesh.
Yugito let out a cry of pain and surprise. 'Arrrghh! H-he went right through the cloak, like it wasn't even there!'
'I can't heal you while his claws still there. You need to get him off you!'
'Tell me something I don't know!' Yugito grabbed hold of Hunter's arm and, with enormous effort, managed to pull his claw out of her shoulder. Her wound healed instantly. Yugito delivered several punches to Hunter's head, then she brought both her fist slamming down onto his chest. The crater they were in got even deeper, and the shockwave from the impact was so strong it nearly blew over the other Kumo ninjas, who were still taking cover up in the trees.
Yugito jumped out of the crater and landed between it and her team. As the dust settled Hunter became visible, he was standing in the centre of the crater and despite everything he'd been hit with he didn't look damaged or dazed in the slightest.
"Alright, time to finish this!" declared Yugito. She got down on all fours and brought her tails round above her so the tips were just above her mouth. Once she was in position the Two Tails began channelling a monstrous amount of chakra, creating a solid black ball right in front of Yugito's face.
"What is that?" asked one of the Kumo ninjas.
"It's a called a Tailed Beast ball." replied another.
Yugito opened her mouth wide and swallowed the ball whole. The weight of that extra compressed chakra caused the ground to brake and crack beneath her.
"That's...incredible!" declared a Kumo ninja.
"How it she going to move with all that chakra weighing her down?"
"She's not. Cover your ears and brace yourselves!"
'It's ready Kitten. Let him have it!"
'Right! We'll blast this freak back to hell!'
Yugito opened her mouth and fired off a massive blast of energy that decimated everything in front of her. When it was over a large chunk of forest had been obliterated.
"Looks like she got him!" yelled a Kumo ninja, triumphantly.
'It's over. The Rikage will be disappointed that we couldn't retrieve a body but I think he'll be happy that...wait...'
Through the smoke and dust she could see something. Hunter was still standing, still staring right at her with those unblinking yellow eyes. There were cracks visible all over his body and a black and purple substance that was somewhere between smoke and oil was leaking out. A black aura started burning around his body, steadily growing in size and becoming more violent.
'He...he survived!?'
Suddenly Hunter dropped down on all fours so his body was close to the ground. His left arm changed to become the same black and dark purple claw that the other had, then he began arching his back. Slowly three dark purple fleshy spines began to rise up out of his spine. The middle one was the largest, about as long as an arm and twice as thick, the other two were only slightly smaller.
"Kill...you...DESTROYYYYYYYYYYRAWWWWWWGHHH!"
Hunter darted forwards and before Yugito had a chance to defend herself he slammed into her, punching her in the gut. Hunter didn't stop he kept running forwards, dragging Yugito with him smashing her through a number of large trees before he final came to a halt and slammed her into the ground. Hunter slashed at her with his claws, each sweep went right through the chakra cloak and hit Yugito. The Two Tails healed her wounds as quickly as she could but between the failed tailed beast ball, sustaining version two and healing Yugito she was running out of chakra fast.
Hunter sank his claws into Yugito's shoulders, holding her down. Matatabi got a horrible feeling that Hunter was looking right past her host and directly at her.
"I see You."he growled.
He pulled back his left arm and opened his claw, then he drove it right into Yugito's chest. Instantly she felt a cold sensation, time seemed to slow down and the colour began to drain out of the world. Hunter's claws wrapped around the glowing light he could see inside her. He felt sooooo hungry. Hungry for the dark inside. It looked just so delicious. He began to pull his arm back.
Matatabi was panicking. She could sense her host fading away, everything around her was growing dark. She'd never been more afraid.
Hunter continued pulling. Almost there. His mind was a jumble, only the most basic instincts could make themselves heard.
'Kill her. Feed. Destroy her. Eat the light. Kill her kill her kill her killherkillherkillherkillkillkillkill...Wait...why...am...I...'
Hunter shook his head. He wasn't sure how he'd gotten here. First he was chasing that blond woman then...
Hunter suddenly saw what he was doing. All at once the memories came rushing back. Instantly he let go of her Heart. Yugito was unconscious and her tailed beast hadn't fully healed all her wounds yet but she was alive.
Three members of the Kumo team arrived a second later. They found their jinchuriki lying out cold and injured and Hunter slowly reverting back to normal. Seizing the opportunity they darted forwards, grabbing Yugito and jumping back to a safe distance. One of them tended to her while the other two kept their attention focused on Hunter.
"Is she ok?" asked one.
"I think so. But she's in no shape to fight."
"Good" said Hunter "cause I'm in no mood to." He got up and took a few steps towards the Kumo ninjas, who readied their weapons. "Don't come after me again. I might really lose control next time."
"Not gunna happen!" declared the ninja to Hunter's left. "Hunter, I don't know what you are and I don't care. But know that you have made an enemy of the Hidden Cloud Village. The next team we send." he paused for dramatic effect "Is coming for your head."
That gave Hunter a wicked idea. He thought it over for a second and couldn't come up with a reason why it wouldn't work.
He gave the Kumo ninjas his best evil grin, then he placed his hands on either side of his head and lifted. The ninjas watched in horror as Hunter's head detached from his body. The one on the right thought he was under some kind of genjutsu and tried to dispel it, only to realise that what he was seeing was real.
That was when Yugito woke up. The first thing she saw was Hunter's body, her eyes were drawn to where his head used to be. At first she thought that one of her squad had decapitated him, then she heard "Watch it sailor, my eyes are up here!" she looked up at his head, which he was still holding in his hands. The look on her face was one of utter shock mixed with disgust and fear.
"Well, this had been a learning experience for us all." remarked Hunter. "And I've gotten one step closer to my new dream. Buying a house in Sleepy Hollow and taking up horse riding." With that he started walking away, reattaching his head by screwing it back on as he went.
Hunter had to admit he was very pleased with himself. Technically he'd never been separate from his head, he'd just used his shape shifting to merge it with his hands while separating it from his neck, then reversing the process when he was done. It was a trick, but it was effective.
'Now, what was I doing before they showed up...Oh, that's right. Itchy and the Man-fish. I am back on your trail.'
And so ends another chapter. Hope you all liked it. Next entry will be the Christmas Special that I will hopefully release on December 24th. Chapter eleven will be out in the new year and it will include a fight between Kisame and Itachi, the arrival of a familiar enemy and Hunters most ridiculous attack yet.
On a side note here, I'm wondering if I should have kept Danzo alive and used him to add some more political intrigue, you know, him wanting to capture Hunter for his ROOT division. If anyone thinks that's a good idea then please let me know.
That's all folks!
