Previous Translations: Yorokobi - Pleasure/Delight/Joy
Yokubo - Desire/Lust
Kajo - Excess
Shifuku no Kurushimi - Blissful Throes/Blissful Suffering
Tatakainouta - Song of Battle
Zeitakuna Kutsu - Luxurious Torment
Hentai-ryu: Erokenho - Pervert Style: Erotic Fist Art
Konton - Chaos
Kanzen - Perfect
Henka - Change
Harakainokeru - Dispel
Aka-en - Red Flame
Aoi-en - Blue Flame
Kiiro-en - Yellow Flame
Orenji-en - Orange Flame
Tankoshoku-en - Pink Flame
Maho - Magic
Chishiki - Knowledge
Unmei - Fate
Nozomu - Hope
Hoho no Chenja - honestly this one is a mess, but roughly means Changer of Ways
Ryuketsu - Bloodshed
Chikara - Strength
Meiyo - Honor
Budo - Martial Arts
Ikari - Rage
Jumon - Incantation
Himitsu no Sewanin - Secret Caretaker(Keeper of Secrets)
Sento - Combat
Same no On'na - Shark-Woman
Maebure - Harbinger
Shibari no Ashikase - Binding Fetters
Kanpeki - Perfection
Reikan - the closest English word would be Inspiration, but it specifically refers to 'a divine creative impulse'
Sekkyo-sha - Preacher
Aijin - Lover
Kaen Hosha-ki - Flame Radiator (Flamer of Tzeentch)
Himeiwoageru - Which Screams (Screamer of Tzeentch)
Shikkan - Disease
Ai - Love
Zetsubo - Despair
Mi Haito - Undivided/Not Divided
Shibo - Aspiring
Koki - Exalted
Chakra no Bato - Coruscating Chakra/Chakra of Coruscation
Gyokai - Industry
In case someone somehow doesn't know, Hi - Fire
Don'yoku - Greed/Avarice
Yokuatsu - Tyranny/Oppression
Yami no Chichi - Father of Darkness/Dark Father
Raimeiton - Thunder Release, what Naruto has decided to name his mix of wind and lightning chakra
Shuryoju - Hunting Beasts (same word for plural or singular), an alternate name for Fiends of Slaanesh, best word I could find for them
Konton no Omo - Lord of Chaos
Kemonojin - a very jank way of translating Beastmen into Japanese, basically would mean Animal-Human
Gyumao - Ox Demon King
Eiyu - Hero
Gyumahime - Ox Demon Princess
Kajomahime - Excessive Demon Princess
Renkinjutsu - Alchemy
Tsunade sighed, "It's cute that you three arrived in my office together," she acknowledged, "however, I'm sending you on different missions." she informed bluntly.
Naruto pouted at the news, "Aw, come on Tsuna-baachan we should go back up the others in Taki right?" he asked, Hinata nodded in agreement.
"I need Yukimaru in the village for an extra concealed gate guard and Hinata for a Kontonnin patrol mission with Kurenai, according to her the situation in Taki is under control but Orochimaru is applying pressure." Tsunade answered, "You're going to take Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee, and Tenten to Oto no Kuni, deliver a missive to Jiraiya, and help him in finding Otogakure bases near Taki's borders." she explained, figuring that knowledge of the situation would at least make the younger blonde cooperative.
Naruto continued to pout but didn't argue further, instead he gave a contrite nod of understanding.
Neji, Lee, and Tenten followed Naruto, "Shouldn't we be stealthier than this?" the Hyuga asked, they were supposed to be ninja.
"My magnificent self can't hear or smell any enemies nearby, and the second someone spots us and directs killing intent, even a small amount, then they'd give away their position." Naruto retorted as he practically pranced towards Oto no Kuni at high speed, "We could try going in as cavalry, but uh, to be honest you guys might not be able to ride Daemons." he said with a frown, not sure entirely why he had the thought.
"Riding a Daemon summoned by someone else is a surefire way to anger that Daemon, even a steed or serpent." Maemi confirmed, her small form clung to Naruto's back as she carried his back pack of scrolls on her own back.
"How far does your hearing even extend?" Tenten asked curiously.
Naruto pointed off in the distance, "How far away is that chirping bird?" he asked Neji, indicating he couldn't accurately judge distance with his hearing.
Neji activated his Byakugan before he frowned in confusion, "Uh, I don't see a bird..." he muttered.
"So, further than Byakugan can see at least." Naruto assumed with a shrug, the other three chunin were all stunned by that information.
"I can see up to a kilometer away." Neji muttered, baffled that Naruto's hearing was basically on the level of being an actual Kekkei Genkai. He supposed if ocular Kekkei Genkai existed then other senses were possible, but it still surprised him to have exactly how heightened Naruto's senses were revealed to him.
Sasuke was pretty sure he was supposed to run, he didn't have any legendary Raiton channeling blades this time, but he'd dealt with Deidara well enough last time and he'd read up on the man. It was strange that Iwa was hiring one of their own nukenin now that he thought about it, but as he flew through the air guiding the blonde young man away from Takigakure forces he wondered if others were around.
Mostly he was worried Itachi was around again, he hadn't been able to break Tsukiyomi that time but he'd learned disturbing things regardless. But he still had no idea what Itachi's true motive was, he knew the man was after Naruto for the Kyubi, and probably Fu too. Actually now that he thought about it, Han sounded like the man should have been one of their targets. He dodged a clay pidgeon, tossed a red bolt of flame to detonate it, and figured that Akatsuki probably decided to put capturing Iwa's Biju for later.
The young Uchiha wasn't sure exactly how many Biju there were, or what they actually were, he knew they were immensely powerful Chakra no Bakemono, he knew the Shodai Hokage had practically given about seven of them away, and he knew that Madara Uchiha was said to be able to control the Kyubi no Yoko. That last thought bothered him as he weaved away from another explosion and lazily tossed a bolt of red flame at Deidara.
"Hey!" Sasuke called at as he ascended higher into the sky, "You Akatsuki, the hell do you even want with the Biju? World domination, destruction, or something even dumber?" he asked mockingly, hoping to taunt an angry loose lipped reply.
"Like I care, I just wanna spread my art, yeah!" Deidara laughed as he launched more explosive up after the Uchiha, despite his annoyance at the detonations being out of his control he couldn't help but enjoy the fireworks display he and Sasuke were causing.
Sasuke sighed and shook his head, "Why are the strongest ninja always insane." he muttered to himself, then his eyes narrowed, "Wait, no..." he added once he realized he'd insulted himself too, mostly due to his own ego but it was the thought that counted.
Deidara ignored him and tossed more clay pigeons, attempting to flank Sasuke from multiple wide angles to avoid chain explosions. Sasuke frowned and made the sign of confrontation with his left hand, readying his naginata as if to thrust. In a burst of violet flames Sasuke teleported across the distance and thrust his naginata at his opponent, Deidara leaped back as a glancing blow scored against his right shoulder.
Sasuke winced, reaching up and yanking a Fury, unmarked, from his back. The base Daemon had bitten his right wing, then he had to pulse his chakra as he activated his Juin to try dispelling the resulting explosion of the avian clay mount Deidara had fallen from and activated. His efforts saved his own life, leaving the Fury to be incinerated and sent screaming back to whence it came, but couldn't completely stop the explosion from sending him soaring and burnt, "Ouch." he grumbled as he managed to angle his wings and flap them to correct himself in mid air and spin to avoid crashing into a tree.
The young Uchiha landed hard on a branch and looked around for Deidara, but it seemed the nukenin had used the explosion to take cover. Sasuke wasn't entirely sure how the man had managed that in free fall, but supposed he must have created another flying mount to take cover with. Which likely meant the enemy S rank nukenin knew exactly where he was but was completely hidden, so he activated the yellow flame to emerge from his golden left eye.
The ability to glimpse moments into the future was a fascinating one, although Sasuke didn't like to overuse it since it gave him a headache because there were so many possible futures flitting through his mind's eye when he used it. He supposed scholars or philosophers might be interested in just how many possible futures there were, at least he confirmed free will could affect the way things happened. As far as the Uchiha could tell, time as he previously understood it was an abstraction, and the way most people experienced it they'd likely assume it was akin to a river that only ran one way.
Sasuke thought it seemed more like an ocean in a storm as he tossed a red bolt of fire to intercept a crawling clay centipede and leaped high to avoid the resulting explosion, he then spread his wings with a wince at the torn flesh in his right wing protesting as he caught the updraft of the blast to soar higher and glide over the tree line. The Mahojutsu that let him teleport was dangerous, but he knew the Sharingan could track Shunshin no Jutsu so he'd tried to focus on developing it despite the inherent dangers in traveling through the realm of Daemons.
The Uchiha paused, his train of thought screeching to a halt as he realized his current opponent didn't have Sharingan or a predictive ability like Naruto's supernatural ability to hear music that somehow predicted how people were about to attack, with that thought he focused on his yellow flame, closing his right eye to focus on his mind's eye. Then he made a seal of confrontation and flapped his wings, his wings combined with shunshin gave him unparalleled mobility and he was on Deidara in moments, tracking where his attacks would come from with his precognition Mahojutsu.
The blonde nukenin was alarmed, and Sasuke opened his right eye, Sharingan active, and used an ocular genjutsu before slicing the blade of his naginata at the throat of his opponent. To the Uchiha's surprise the dilating pupil of the blonde young man's visible eye contracted and he leaned back to limbo under the attempted attack. Sasuke was alarmed by this then his Sharingan saw his opponent switch with a bunshin made of the same explosive clay and his precognition warned him of how dangerous the explosion would be if he cut the leg kicking at his head.
So Sasuke used kawarimi, leaving a log with a kibaku fuda behind as he made to retreat further towards Hi no Kuni and away from his allies. The young Uchiha was starting to run low on stamina so he pulled out a hyorogan as he leaped high and soared above the tree line to keep his opponent chasing him and not returning towards Takigakure's fronts against Iwa or Oto. He'd thought Deidara wasn't too hard to deal with before, but it seemed the hypothesis that those strange bunshin weren't as dangerous as the real ones was accurate.
Still, the young Uchiha had not expected the nukenin to be so adept at breaking genjutsu, "So this is S rank, huh?" he muttered to himself, as much as the nukenin seemed to rely on aerial superiority and long ranged explosions, cornering him in close range combat while armed and using genjutsu still hadn't been enough. He supposed it was impressive he was able to match such an opponent, but Sasuke was no fool and could tell his stamina was draining faster than his opponent and he was clearly taking more damage as the fight progressed.
Sakura panted breathlessly, Kiba was already down and Akamaru was standing guard over the sweating Inuzuka but clearly shivering with fear, the metal armed shinobi was writhing in pain from the senbon sneak attack. She assumed they were poisoned, the burning pain in her left arm spoke to that much, "Impressive that you can still stand." Sasori said as he lumbered into view, "You must be far sturdier than a normal person, your teammates are obvious but what manner of bakemono are you? You almost seem like some kind of brass inugami, an akuma sent by inugami I've never heard of perhaps?" he wondered dryly.
Molten blood dripped down Sakura's left arm as she tried to focus her anger, "I'm Khorne-sama's chosen ninso." she growled angrily, for a moment the reference to lesser deities that took canine forms was confusing until she remembered her tail was a lot like a canine. It certainly wasn't feline or reptilian, at best it helped her balance but it seemed so minor compared to the prehensile barb-tipped tail Naruto had or the metal replica of a scorpion tail Sasori was brandishing.
"Wait, your name is Sasori and you use a fake scorpion tail as a weapon?" Genkei asked, "I didn't think ningen had such meaningful names." he muttered.
"Who the fuck names their kid scorpion anyway?" Sakura asked, realizing only because her Imp pointed it out that it was weird.
"Who names their daughter cherry blossom?" Sasori retorted in kind, the young kunoichi felt that wasn't a fair comparison but needed to focus on using her oversized axe to defend herself from the odd choice of weapon the nukenin used. Genkei attempted to help but even with the damaged shield, which he insisted retained some power and use as it hadn't been completely destroyed, he was knocked around by the metal tail Sasori attacked them with.
Sakura scowled, she knew she wasn't even close to S rank yet and it infuriated her. She tried to focus that rage and mount a counterattack but Sasori was too fast, whenever she pulled off the defense to attempt an attack a hail of senbon from his mouth went at her eyes or left arm. The fact he already figured out not to bother with her brass skin was irritating the kunoichi, and as her momentum was thrown off she gasped in pain as the bladed metal tail of her opponent cut open her left leg.
"Fuck, Tenten took your bunshin out in one hit!" Sakura snapped angrily, trying to motivate her own rage to boil over as the pain receptors in her left leg screamed at her in protest of the poison. She assumed the only reason she wasn't completely disabled like Kiba was her molten blood neutralizing the poison to a degree, but she could tell she wasn't immune. However her words only seemed to anger Sasori, who revealed a gauntlet-clad left arm to backhand Genkei before an omni-directional blast of senbon caught Sakura by surprise as she narrowly parried the bladed tail away from her heart to sever her clavicle in a spray of molten blood.
Sasori pulled back and inspected the glowing metal of his bladed tail, "Your biology is strange, I can see when the blood cools it's like metal, but it runs at molten levels within your body making bladed attacks against you dangerous." he stated gruffly, "Likely this is why you've resisted the effects of my poison so well, the toxins lose potency at such temperatures, I wonder if you'll still die within three days like that one." he mused, "No matter, if you're on this front then Itachi and Kisame are wasting their time messing with Kusa, but I don't mind taking their target. So where is the Kyubi Jinchuriki?" he demanded to know.
Sakura frowned, she'd heard that word before, "What the fuck is a Jinchuriki?" she asked bluntly, despite having heard it she had no idea what it actually meant, and how could something like the power of human sacrifice be a noun anyway? Sakura was confused but pretty sure the guy meant Naruto somehow, she'd picked up enough context cues to know that, but she was curious.
"You really don't know?" Sasori asked, baffled, "I mean your teammate, the blonde one." he clarified, "Were you seriously unaware that one carries the power of the Kyubi no Yoko? A Jinchuriki is one whose normal life as a human has been sacrificed to contain the power of one of the Densetsu no Biju." he explained plainly, "So, where is Naruto Uzumaki, genin?" he asked threateningly.
Sakura scowled at the reminder of her actual rank, she knew she couldn't match Sasuke or Naruto for threat ranking, but she also knew she'd kept up with Han somehow, if she could tap into that she might have the speed and power required to at least hold Sasori off until back up arrived, "I think I sort of knew, a Chakra no Bakemono somehow being killed? Even Yondaime-sama wasn't a god, he was renowned as a master of Fuinjutsu, of course the bakegitsune was just locked away somewhere." she confirmed, "I just never wanted to think about the fact it was probably in a person, I didn't want to think Yondaime-sama would do that to a baby, I tried to convince myself that some powerful respected jonin was guarding the power." she rambled as she took a defensive stance, "But with the truth out, I'm kind of relieved." she sighed.
"Ah, helps explain why you just can't keep up, doesn't it?" Sasori asked rhetorically, "Enough rambling though, I'm getting impatient." he snapped as his tail reared up and he approached her, "Tell me or I'll just kill you, from what I've heard that should get Naruto to come right to me." he threatened.
Sakura grit her teeth and reached up to her left shoulder with her right hand, barely holding her axe up with her monstrous left arm, "Fuck you," she retorted as she pulsed chakra to her feet and leaped back to avoid more senbon, a wild swing of her left arm that caused her even more pain managed to parry the striking metal tail with her axe, "I'm fed up with you!" she snarled as she made one handed signs, "I'm Khorne-sama's Koki Ninso!" she roared as she performed a Kuchiyose with as much chakra as she could muster.
Even with all the chakra she could afford a Juggernaut with a Bloodletter charged from the smoke, then Sakura realized something was different when the flaming sword of the humanoid Daemon parried the metal scorpion tail as the biomechanical Daemonic mount crashed axe-horn first into Sasori, splintering his form. The genin who had called the Daemons frowned as she realized splintering and catching fire was not a normal response and despite the damage the metal bladed tail whipped out to strike again and nearly dispelled the Daemon rider with a blow to the chest the clashed against iron breastplate in a shower of sparks.
"I was quite fond of Hiruko." Sasori said from behind Sakura, but his voice was completely different, lighter, more airy and far less gruff. The Haruno turned in time for a puppet to swing a scythe at her neck, the girl barely managed to twist away from the weapon in time to interpose the haft of her oversized axe between herself and the weapon, only for a kunai-tipped cable to launch from under the cloak of the puppet and sink into her stomach.
"What the fuck!?" Sakura snapped as her Daemons moved to assist, Genkei leaped to swing her smaller axe at the pupped to force it to back off and the Juggernaut charged to deliver the clearly skilled and important Bloodletter towards where Sasori's voice had come from. However another puppet met its charge by soaring through the air and swung a pair of long, bladed staves at the rider, the Bloodletter managed to parry one and ignored a cut on it's left arm that released a constant but short jet of flames instead of bleeding, the Daemon swiftly initiated a counter attack but the puppet was yanked upward by chakra strings to evade.
"I'm a puppeteer without peer," Sasori's voice spoke from a new direction, "an S rank master of my chosen art." he continued from a different direction, "Your survival against me so far is impressive, and if you can destroy Hiruko, you're at least an A rank threat, even if most of your abilities are B rank at best." he praised backhandedly, "However, if you won't reveal the location of my targets, you're useless to me, and wasting my time, if you survive my poison then I'll deal with you next time." he finished before his puppets finally pulled back.
Sakura scowled, she wasn't certain what had prompted the man to back off but it sounded like Kiba didn't have much time. She heard three days mentioned, but he already looked bad so she made her way over to him, her blood coagulating quickly into glowing molten scabs. She was pretty sure she would need medical attention too, "Sakura!" Kakashi called out as he landed nearby and dashed to her and Kiba quickly, "What happened?" he asked.
"Sasori, that Akatsuki guy," Sakura began, "poisoned, we need iryoninjutsu." she warned quickly, keeping the report brief as the Daemons she'd called snorted and dispelled now that the fighting was over.
Kakashi nodded and picked up Kiba, Akamaru whined as he followed the shinobi back to camp, "Don't collapse if you can help it, follow me back to Taki's encampment." he ordered, worried about his student but seeing that the Inuzuka needed medical assistance far more.
Sasuke winced as he managed to avoid being killed by an explosion only to take a hit to his backbone against a tree to do so, "Dumb bastard," he grumbled, "Naruto isn't even here!" he taunted before he used shunshin to get away from the tree as more clay spiders caused it to explode.
"I've used enough clay that it's a blow to my pride to let you live, yeah!" Deidara snapped angrily as a clay wyvern carried him to chase Sasuke above the tree line, "You're not so tough without borrowing your teammates weapon, so give it up already!" he demanded as he tossed more clay birds to fly at him, these ones shaped like swallows. Something about that bothered the Uchiha but he focused orange flames to his naginata, forming it into a yari before he turned the flames red and tossed the weapon, correcting the trajectory to where Deidara would dodge with chakra strings and speeding it up with a flap of his wings.
As expected the nukenin managed another kawarimi before the flaming red spear detonated his clay mount, but the blast chained into the attacks Deidara threw and gave Sasuke more hot air updraft to soar higher still as he reached up to wipe some of the blood from his still injured right wing, "Raiton counters Bakuton it seems," he muttered as he quickly wiped the drying blood on the runic array of his right arm and began hand seals, "so I just need something that can hit you with Kaminari." he mused as he forced more chakra than Aoki said was safe into his Juin and performed Kuchiyose with as much chakra as he could muster.
Sasuke pulled back, gliding backwards out of the smoke as he tried to figure out what he'd actually called. It was big, almost humanoid but it seemed like even more of a karasu tengu than him. The avian Daemon carried a staff with a strange rune he didn't recognize on top, it's bird-like head on the end of a long neck swiveled around as calculating eyes scanned the sky it had been called to, analyzing the tree line with a scrutinizing gaze.
The Uchiha got the impression that whatever he'd called was significantly more dangerous than anything he'd summoned previously with Kuchiyose, and Aoki reminded him of the Himitsu no Seiwanin Naruto had summoned against Gaara what felt like ages ago. Henka no Omo, a Lord of Change, masters of magic and greatest among the Daemons he could potentially summon, "Hm, an impressive little ningen you've been fighting." the giant avian acknowledged as its own wings kept it aloft, and with a wave of its staff the clouds started to gather overhead.
Sasuke was glad that it wasn't turning on him, and it seemed it had found Deidara somewhere down below as with a chop of its staff a bolt of lightning hit the trees below, igniting a forest fire. The young Uchiha was stunned by the display of power over the elements, it seemed to be the similar to the Renkinjutsu he'd learned recently but instead of transmuting chakra or matter into gold or lead it controlled the heavens themselves.
"A slippery little ningen, seems to have realized how well I counter him." The Greater Daemon muttered thoughtfully, "No matter, you must be the chosen champion of ours in this realm I've heard of? Not doing a good job spreading worship are you?" it asked, directing its gaze to the Uchiha who had called it.
Sasuke felt his heart race and a lump in his throat had to be swallowed before he answered, "I'm not a very charismatic preacher, sorry, I've been trying to let my results speak for themselves." he excused.
The avian gave a disappointed clucking sound, "Results is it? I'll give you a loan then." he mused, and in a display of Renkinjutsu conjured a golden kris dagger, the wavy shape of the blade strange to the Uchiha, then lightning struck the weapon and blue glowing runes flashed before sinking into the metal as engravings, "There, next time you call the likes of me you'd better have nine hundred and ninety nine souls to offer or I'll pluck that Fearling out of you and rip away your boons, boy." it warned threateningly before the swiftly made magical dagger floated at the Uchiha and the Greater Daemon disappeared in a burst of smoke.
Sasuke caught the weapon by the handle and flowed some chakra to it, finding that to his surprise it was a lot like wielding one of the Raito in a new form. In a way it was like he had his own Raito now, albeit a dagger instead of a pair of short swords that could be linked at the pommels. The Uchiha realized then that he had spent most of his chakra and had gotten very far from the safety of Taki's encampment.
Aoki informed him he may have overestimated himself, "Shut up, Daemon." Sasuke snapped, irritated by the condescending attitude of his Imp. For some reason the Fearling thought that line was amusing, apparently something about that line combined with the idea that hating Itachi gave him strength reminded Aoki of someone he'd heard of. The Uchiha decided to ignore his Familiar as he started to fly back towards Taki, he needed medical assistance and somewhere safe to rest after that fight.
Shino frowned under his special rebreather, he felt a little left out since his choke point had only been attacked by C rank opponents from what he could tell. He wasn't particularly less injured than Sakura or Kiba, but he also wasn't poisoned. Still, it seemed the only one of them who got something new was Sasuke, and for all the Aburame knew that was just his naginata in a condensed new form.
Kakashi decided not to question the golden kris, "Ino, Shikamaru, I need you two to get back to Konoha and inform Hokage-sama of the situation, Taki's iryonin can't deal with this poison in Kiba, and Sakura's still in pain but she's doing better than he is." he ordered and informed quickly, "We may need Hokage-sama herself to come out here at this rate, tell her I said that actually." he added quickly.
Shikamaru nodded, already able to understand how serious the situation was, "Yes sir." he confirmed the order before turning to leave, Ino moved to follow with a frown, similar to Shino she felt like she wasn't accomplishing as much as Sakura or Sasuke had.
Shibuki frowned with concern but didn't speak up until they were gone, "This is getting dangerous, Kakashi-san I'd like to ask you and Shino-san to work as a team with one of my genin, Fu. I think you probably remember her, but-" he began.
"I don't think you should let her leave Takigakure." Kakashi interrupted, "If I understood you right back in Mokuno-gai, she contains the Biju that Shodai-sama gave to your village, and if Jiraiya-sama is right then she's probably one of Akatsuki's targets." he explained to the surprise Shino, but Sasuke gave the impression he already guessed that much.
Shibuki turned pale, "Those S rank mercenaries?" he asked and the silver haired jonin nodded, "Fuck, it's a miracle they haven't caught her already then. I'll try to keep her in the village from now on." he agreed, "Damn it, even a single S rank really can change the front lines of war, those two basically cut our defenses down." he grumbled, wondering if he should get the Eiyu no Mizu from Takigakure.
Naruto heard humanoid forms ahead, lacking in stealth, and decided to just rush in to deal with them. They seemed like Otonin going from their outfits and hitai-ate once he made visual contact, but he could see they'd been given Juin with Daemons inside and their bodies had been blessed with boons already. However they seemed oddly mindless, he recalled seeing something similar with less boons and no Juin coming from Oto no Kuni before.
The Uzumaki was on the first one before any of them could react, landing in his personal space and placing a Rasengan firmly in the center of the scaled shinobi's chest. The spiraling orb of chakra elicited a roar of pain as it ground the front of the altered man's shirt before a cough of blood interrupted the dying man, lungs pulped by the internal damage and the corpse-to-be flew back to roll limply across the ground.
Naruto followed up by hopping into a spin towards the second his tail lashing out to stab down and into the clavicle under his left shoulder, the young ninso used that to leverage himself further and deliver a snap kick with his right hoof into the jaw of a third before, with a flex of an internal leg muscle, his right bone spur extended swiftly and smoothly into the neck of his unfortunate opponent. The fourth managed to draw a ninjato and swing with an arm that was unnaturally double jointed enough to act as a biological whip, but Naruto twisted to deflect the attack off his golden mantle over his left shoulder and stepped into a high side kick with his left leg that seemed to miss at first but delivered his other bone spur through the throat of the final shinobi that had managed to attack him.
The blonde looked around as he tried to listen for any more, but he couldn't hear anything else and frowned in disappointment. There was supposed to be a village not much further north that Jiraiya was supposed to be near according to Tsunade, and he thought he could hear the sounds of a small town at the edge of his hearing barely, so they were getting close.
Neji was surprised to see the result of Naruto's fight when the rest of the squad caught up, he knew the blonde was fast but it seemed like the Uzumaki had brutally killed four older Juin marked Otonin without even drawing any of his swords. Tenten was similarly impressed but also annoyed she didn't get to fight, while Lee just looked impressed, "Naruto-san, you've gotten very fast!" he praised, "I will run laps around Konohagakure no Sato until I can keep up with you when we return!" he promised eagerly.
Naruto didn't respond, looking pensive as he glanced between their destination to the north and Taki's border to the west, "There's something over there..." he muttered with a frown as he tried to focus on the west where he'd heard a distant roar, "Ah, an Otogakure outpost!" he realized before leaping away, startling the other chunin he was supposed to be teamed up with.
Neji sighed, "We better follow him," he muttered, "for all we know Jiraiya-sama is over there." he pointed out as he moved to try and keep up with Lee who chased eagerly after the blonde who had naturally fallen into the roll of squad leader, mostly by making decisions and rushing ahead at full speed. Tenten didn't mind following Naruto, she just wished she could keep up a bit better.
Naruto heard a familiar roar and grinned as it confirmed he was near the entrance to one of Orochimaru's bases, then he saw the familiar shape of the monster that had terrorized the Nara clan forest. He could tell it was different, subtle differences in scent and appearance telling him they were not identical but merely the same species of monster. Maemi hadn't even been sure how to translate the name of such a beast into the native tongue of the elemental nations, but she knew a name for it, "Preyton." she muttered.
The blonde pulled on his Hoshi chakra, activated his Kujaku Myoho, and leaped at the beast as it ascended above the tree line. He flew at the Preyton head first and clashed his crown of horns against its larger serrated antlers, knocking its head to the side with the impact before he thrust a Rasengan into its neck. The Chaos Beast roared in pain as its furred flesh tore up into bloody chunks to reveal a chakra resistant, mottled scaled hide beneath.
With a flap of its wings the Preyton reared back and swung its almost feline spiked tail at the blonde, who responded by blocking with his sheathed nodachi by swinging it with his left hand across his body to guard his right side, although the scabbard splintered at the point of impact. The Preyton tried to then slam its antlers into the young hermaphrodite by whipping its head at him as he flapped his Hoshi chakra wings to match its altitude.
Naruto responded by swinging his still sheathed blade back to the left, knocking its attacking head to the side as his scabbard sustained further damage before he delivered a kick with a burst of chakra to its right shoulder with his right hoof. His chakra was dense, heavy and slow to mould, lagging an instant behind the initial impact of his kick but delivering a vicious burst of purple chakra tinged with bright pink Hoshi energies that tore open the back of the monstrous beasts shoulder to send it careening down to the ground and crashing through branches.
Naruto landed on an undamaged branch with a proud smirk, unsheathing his weapon to finish the job but as he tossed the broken scabbard aside Maemi spoke up, "Naruto-sama, I think Bakkus might be able to tame this beast for your purposes." she informed. The horned ninso blinked, and immediately wished he'd been informed of that ages ago before he reached for his hunting horn.
After a deep sound from the imbued horn Bakkus emerged from the undergrowth with a pair of Slaangor, one armed with a kusarigama and the other holding a naginata. The next moment four Otonin attempted to ambush them, Naruto cut his attacker down with a quick horizontal cut across the throat of the shinobi before his ninjato was in range, which halted forward momentum and sent the scabbard of the nodachi careening into a tree. The cut itself was only possible due to the damage dealt to the scabbard, the blonde decided he should probably get a new one as the dying form of his assailant fell to the ground.
One of the Slaangor blocked a tanto against his naginata haft as the other narrowly managed to do similar with the chain of his own weapon, although the chain did a poor job as a shield and the other Otonin scored a glancing cut against the Slaanesh marked Beastman. Bakkus blocked the attempted katana strike of his assailant with his staff, surprising the man with how sturdy it was but too slow to completely avoid a follow up swing that slashed a horizontal line across his chest through his thick hide.
Lee arrived first as back up, his left arm swinging up like an uppercut to disarm the shinobi attacking the Slaangor with the kusarigama, the clawed left appendage nearly took the hands off the Otonin and the chunin followed up with a high round kick, as he hopped up around an attempted guard, to the back of his opponents head with his right leg that floored the man and knocked him unconscious. Tenten followed up with a kunai to the throat of the one who had attacked the naginata wielding Slaangor, landing on a branch a moment after her kunai sunk deep into the side of her targets neck.
Neji was a moment later, arriving with shunshin before he delivered a Juken palm strike to the back of the skull of the final Otonin, seeing as Lee had knocked his opponent unconscious he didn't waste effort to do the same and with blood pooling from his eyes, and nose, the shinobi who had attacked Bakkus fell limply to the ground. The Shaman appraised the three chunin for a moment before figuring out they were with Naruto and gave an approving nod and a huff that prompted his Slaangor to hold back from attacking.
Maemi swiftly explained the situation to Bakkus in the guttural Dark Speech that Naruto had an increasingly easy time understanding, but the blonde wasn't fluent and grinned at his Konoha allies instead, "Bakkus there is going to tame this Kemono no Konton for my magnificent self." he explained, "Come on, it came from an Otogakure base somewhere around here." he added as he hopped down to ground level to start looking for where the Preyton emerged from, sniffing the air as he looked.
Tenten frowned, "Uh, Naruto-kun, shouldn't we meet up with Jiraiya-sama first?" she asked, concerned about charging into a base of enemy ninja like the blonde was implying.
Naruto frowned in return at the question, but he considered it for a moment, "No, from what's been said it sounds like Orochimaru abandons bases quickly, they're all disposable labs to him. Our best bet is to find this one before it's completely abandoned." he explained his reasoning, Neji couldn't fault that logic but was still almost as worried as Tenten, although Lee looked eager to go.
As the four chunin moved to look for the entrance to the base the Slaangor with the kusarigama used it to subdue the Preyton, and the naginata wielder stayed on guard as Bakkus began chanting in his own bestial tongue as he waved and thrust his staff towards the wounded Preyton, casting enchantments over it for when Naruto returned to claim his prize.