Hello everyone,
Follow me on instagram at wtmcdonaldauthor! If you are feeling generous, and wish to donate to my writing career, you can find me at (P) (A) (T) (R) (E) (O) (N) under Twubs for early access to chapters of The Ladder, Defiant, and Tsunami of the South!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
The Sound Four and their leader Kimimaro. This is not good.
I landed next to Lee on the docks during one of the brief pauses he had with his opponent. We were at a clearing just outside of the docks, to be honest. There was a forest on the side opposite of the ocean, about a hundred yards away from our position.
Lee was breathing hard, and the curse seal-powered Jirobo was just standing there with a cocky smirk on his face. He wasn't sweating or breathing hard at all.
On the other side of the massive red-skinned fat man stood his teammates. Tayuya, Sakon and Udon, and Kidomaru were all watching calmly. They held themselves with the same confidence that only talented killers could. The confidence instilled in them by the curse mark adorning their necks.
Kimimaro looked the most indifferent. His eyes were clouded, and looked unfocused on anything. Beside him was a white coffin that I knew he would stuff Sasuke into soon and unlock the second stage of the curse mark.
"Sasuke, don't do this." I called out to the other side of the docks, where the youngest Uchiha stood next to Kimimaro.
There was no need to hide it or act like I didn't know what he was doing. It was obvious, after the multiple debriefings I had on his behavior. Hell I had been warned multiple times that he would run on this exact mission. I just didn't believe them.
"I'm sorry Naruto, but I have to get stronger. Konoha was holding me back." He replied.
I thought I had more time with him. He wasn't supposed to defect until after this mission!
I pondered my options then. If Jirobo was any indication, then the five people I was staring at were much stronger than the anime showed. This life that I lived continued to prove that fact over and over again. My enemies are more competent than my memories tell me.
Five jonin strength ninja's, with access to curse marks to bolster their strength.
As much as it pained my pride to admit, I was hesitant to try and fight these five. Not for myself, but for my teammate Lee. He was already winded and well into the second gate. He would have to go further in the fight, no doubt.
Not to mention that I have a mission to consider, and it does not involve this.
"I didn't believe them when they told me you would flee the village Sasuke. I still don't! You're being influenced by Orochimaru! You have to realize this!" Lee yelled out, interrupting my thoughts.
"I'm not, Lee. I'm making the best decision for my future." Sasuke responded before he turned away from us and looked towards Kimimaro. The white haired ninja opened the coffin quickly, and yet his eyes didn't move from the spot on the ground he was staring at.
I watched, indecisively, as Sasuke entered into the coffin of his own free will. Kimimaro handed him what looked like a pill. Sasuke swallowed it without hesitation. Kimimaro formed a couple of hand seals and slapped Sasuke on the chest. He muttered something that was too quiet for me to make out. But the effect was immediate and Sasuke's head slumped in the coffin, definitely unconscious. Kimimaro closed the coffin and his chakra flared slightly to activate the fuinjutsu on the outside of it. The coffin sealed, and then black ink started to spread all around the outside of the coffin.
They are activating the second stage of the curse mark.
I made my decision at that moment.
"Lee." I said quietly, as the Sound Four continued to stare at us. I knew they could hear us but I didn't care. "We need to disengage. This isn't a part of our mission." I told him seriously.
He looked towards me and frowned. "What? You mean just let them take Sasuke?" Lee asked.
"They aren't taking him. He's choosing to leave." I corrected him. I already knew where he was going with his line of thinking. He thought it was his duty to save Sasuke from the big bad Sannin.
"He's being influenced, we cannot allow them to take him." Lee said. This was the first time he was being so outspoken about one of my decisions. Normally he fell in line, because of my rank. "I will not allow them."
"These are jonin level ninja Lee!" I hissed at him. "The odds are against us!"
"If it makes you feel better, you will be coming with us as well."
I frowned as I heard the voice of the giant in front of us. I turned to Jirobo to see that he was staring straight at me. What did he mean that we will be coming with him as well? Did they have another mission outside of escorting Sasuke to Orochimaru?
An anxious feeling swelled inside of my gut.
No it wasn't anxiety.
It was fear.
"Not the green one." Jirobo said as he waved dismissively at Lee. "But you, little Uzumaki!"
What the fuck does Orochimaru want with me?
"What does Orochimaru want with me?" I asked, trying to distract the big man as I panicked a little on the inside.
It's not going to be as easy as just allowing them to leave, is it?
"Don't know, don't care." He said as he unfolded his arms and swung them around a few times as if he was stretching or getting them warm. "Easy way or hard way? I think you know which way I would prefer."
Before I could answer, I felt the chakra of Tayuya, Sakon and Ukon, and Kidomaru start to move around their coils. The fear that I was feeling increased for a split second before I took a deep breath and steeled myself. I knew this life was dangerous, and I had continued on because I had made a choice to try and influence this world with my power.
So what, it's a difficult battle. I only have one choice here… Win!
I leapt into battle mode, now that I knew they were here for me too. I didn't know why he wanted me, but I knew that I did not want to become a plaything of Orochimaru. Nor would I go quietly.
"The hard way!" Lee was the one to answer and he rocketed towards Jirobo.
Before they engaged in another round of taijutsu, I was already through a lengthy amount of hand seals. When I slapped my hand on the ground and applied my blood to the jutsu, I heard Lee's leg connect with Jirobo's forearm.
Macao fazed into existence with a mean look on his face and a puff of smoke. How he knew that I had called him for battle, I did not know but I was happy that he had answered my call. He leapt onto my shoulder as I felt my opponents begin to move towards me.
My eyes widened and I ducked, allowing my newest opponent's leg to pass through the air above me. It was Sakon, and he was faster than I anticipated. But he was not faster than Gai, very few in this world were. My perception slowed as I channeled more chakra to the appropriate places.
My sword lashed out at his hip. He turned gracefully and avoided it before sending another kick at my face. I easily dodged, and with a quick twirl of my sword I left a cut on his ankle. He tried to avoid it by jumping backwards and gaining distance, but I still connected.
My senses told me that there was now someone underneath me.
He allowed me to strike him, so that I wouldn't see his brother exiting his body and entering the ground.
I imagined fighting Sakon and Ukon would be extremely difficult for anyone who didn't already know of their unique Kekkei-Genkai. With a touch, they could enter your body and start to break it down from within.
But if you knew that information, and simply didn't allow them to touch you, how effective would they be? Without knowing where his vitals were underneath me, I decided that my sword was not the best weapon for the situation. It was sealed into my wristband with that thought.
Macao howled at the world, and his chakra raced throughout the clearing. I ignored it, and formed a rasengan in my right hand. However, by the time that I tried to shove it into the ground underneath me, it had blossomed into a much larger version of the rasengan.
The ground at my feet cracked before the spinning mass of chakra began slinging dirt, mud, and grass in all directions like a tornado. There was almost no resistance as I shoved the rasengan further into the ground another six feet. Once I was satisfied with the damage, I let the jutsu dissipate.
I fell into a small crater that my rasengan had dug out.
"Ahhhh!"
The first thing I saw was a leg, towards the edge of the crater. That leg was still attached to Ukon, whose torso was sticking out of the ground, but the leg was mangled beyond use. The other leg was also sticking out of the crater, and was broken in only two places that I could see.
"Ukon!" Sakon raced towards his screaming, possibly crippled, brother.
I turned to my left, and a brown object that was shaped like a kunai ripped through the air where my heart used to stand.
"And here I thought you would fight me one on one." I called out, recognizing Kidomaru's unique projectile.
Ukon seemed to dissolve into his brother's body once they touched skin. The screams dissipated immediately as he fled from the battlefield. I couldn't help but wonder if Sakon was feeling the same pain now. If he was, he wasn't showing it.
"Do we have to bring this fucker back alive?" Tayuya, the redhead with folded arms, asked from her position next to Kidomaru.
"Unfortunately." Sakon answered her. "He's a sensor, if you idiots haven't figured it out by now." He added at the end. I wanted to call out 'no shit sherlock' but I held it in. They hadn't taken me seriously, or they would have read my file before the mission.
"Are these guys serious, Naruto? Are you sure you even need me? That guy didn't even feel my genjutsu before you hit him with the Rasengan." Macao asked as he pointed to Sakon. I had wondered what he did when he began screaming. "Guess the pain knocked it out of him." Macao added with a chuckle.
"That's it…"
Macao whistled, and his chakra laced the air again.
I ignored what was being said, because my senses were telling me that Jirobo had kicked Lee away before charging towards me with my back turned. I didn't react, until it was too late for him to avoid my counterattack.
I spun to avoid his fist and summoned my katana to my left hand, in a reverse grip. With the momentum, I shoved it towards his temple and coated it in lightning chakra for good measure.
It was a blind, but calculated, strike. It looked like a spinning back fist, only I held a katana and was crazy accurate with the strike.
Jirobo's body went limp in mid-air, and then spasmed as the lighting chakra spread throughout his body. He landed so hard that he shook the ground. I felt a bit dramatic at the moment, so I waited until the dust settled to allow Jirobo's teammates to see that he was well and truly dead.
A cruel world… One day everything might go black for me and I could never see it coming…
Kimimaro stood up quickly in shock, and finally his eyes focused on something. That something was Jirobo's body.
I put my foot on his forehead before using it as leverage to yank out my katana.
"You know Lee… I love taijutsu. But it lacks the lethality that a blade holds." I said as I held my sword cockily and turned towards my teammate. "Wouldn't you agree, Macao?"
"Man these guys have no hope. That's two in a row they failed to stop." Macao said as he put his hands behind his head. He was going along with my cocky attitude.
I was impressed with our teamwork so far into the mission. He was proving to be an extremely competent teammate. His genjutsu had allowed me to land two fatal blows within only a couple of seconds. Which was weird, considering Tayuya used the same method to ensnare her opponents. You would assume that her teammates would be able to counter sound based genjutsu.
Kimimaro raced across the distance between us. I was expecting it, however. I had been goading Jirobo's teammates intentionally. Anger makes one's opponent sloppy, just as arrogance did. And I wanted to capitalize on it.
Only Lee beat me to it.
Kimimaro was forced to abandon his attack and block the Dynamic Entry headed towards his face. I saw Kidomaru make a throwing motion, aimed towards my teammate, who was still in mid-air. I pushed off of the ground with a burst of chakra and slid underneath the airborne Lee. In one motion, I deflected the projectile and spun into another swipe towards Kimimaro's leg.
He didn't even look at the Katana I swung but he lifted his leg just enough to avoid the blade. He used the same foot to kick at Lee. Finally, Lee's legs touched the ground, and then the two of them started a dance of beautiful taijutsu. I could have sat there and admired it, if it wasn't for my newest opponents.
Kidomaru and Sakon both leapt into action. I was forced to jump away from Lee and Kimimaro's fight, which was exactly what my opponents wanted. Divide and conquer was a universally known and abused tactic in any world.
Kidomaru inhaled, before he spit at me. A white material, shaped exactly like a spider web, flew through the air towards me. Sakon raced after it with a kunai in his hands. He wanted to finish me, after Kidomaru's web ensnared me.
Guess he doesn't care about the capture order too much…
Wind chakra coated the sword in my hands. The webbing was no match for the cutting power of the wind chakra sword and split right down the middle when I cut it. Despite this, Sakon still pursued me.
He launched the kunai in his hand at me, and continued forward. I was forced to use my sword to deflect it. I could tell that was what he wanted, because his hand reached out to my leg. It wasn't even a punch, or a kick. He wanted to touch me, and enter my body with his creepy ass kekkei-genkai. I simply refused to allow that to happen.
So I broke out my trump card. My ultimate defense.
My partial susanoo.
Red ribs covered my body once again.
When Sakon touched the red barrier fuinjutsu, he did so with three hands. That was a common tactic of his when his brother was inside his body. Sakon could attack with multiple limbs, and if you blocked one of them, another 1 or 2 could smack the shit out of you without you knowing.
Unfortunately for him. I knew all of his tricks.
Sakon frowned once he realized he wasn't touching skin and couldn't activate his kekkei-genkai. He jumped back quickly, and countless projectiles flew over his shoulder from Kidomaru. I didn't even bother to move. The brown chakra projectiles bounced off of the susanoo armor and fell to the ground pitifully.
"You are one of the most frustrating opponents I have ever faced." Sakon growled at me. His face was contorted in rage. "I suppose it's time to stop fucking around then…" He commented as a creepy grin started to form on his face.
Eerie chakra flooded the battlefield we were on, on almost all sides of me.
"MOTHER FUCKER!"
My eyes locked onto the form of Tayuya, further in the distance. Her skin was now a darker shade of brown while her hair had elongated and reached her thighs. She even had horns poking out of her long hair.
That wasn't the most interesting part, however. No, the most interesting part was the small tanto stabbing into her right shoulder, and the shadows that had crawled up her body and were wrapped around her limbs.
She was back to back with a figure with spiky black hair pulled into a ponytail, and an ANBU mask on their face. They also wore the typical Konoha ANBU gear on their person.
One quick feel of their chakra, which was surprisingly hard to sense actually, told me that Shikamaru had arrived on the battlefield and had wasted no time in trying to take out an opponent. I could also see the shadows connecting their two forms.
"Let me go you cunt!" Tayuya roared at Shikamaru. I could feel her chakra spiking and see her muscles straining to get out of the hold he had her in.
I quickly deduced what had happened. Shikamaru had snuck up behind her, and turned his back to hers before activating his family's jutsu and tying her shadow to his. With her immobilized, he would draw his tanto off his back. Tayuya, not having the same weapon, would mimic the motion.
Then he stabbed down to where her head would have been. Only Tayuya activated her curse seal and managed to surprise Shikamaru by moving her head slightly, causing the blade to pierce her shoulder, instead of her head. She would survive the wound easily.
What is he doing here? Is his ANBU team also here?
"She has a dirty mouth, doesn't she?" Macao whispered in my ear as he watched on to the developments with boredom. He was not impressed with our opponents at the moment.
"Quit messing around Tayuya!" Kidomaru called out to his only female teammate.
I snuck a glance to see that Lee and Kimimaro had disengaged. Bones were sticking out of Kimimaro's body. He reached around and slowly took off the loose top he had on his torso. He was about to get serious and I was worried for Lee. He had been holding the Second Gate for a while now. How much longer could he go?
I need to finish this soon.
"I'm not, I need help fucker!" Tayuya responded, before yelling in pain as Shikamaru pulled his tanto out of her shoulder. "Ah!"
His tanto swiftly came back down, this time where she had moved her head to avoid the first blow. Her face panicked, and I felt her chakra spike again, as she tried to move and break out of the hold Shikamaru had on her. It was obvious to everyone present that she wouldn't, including Kidomaru.
So he tried to help her, and threw one of his projectiles at Shikamaru's Tanto, to knock it out of his hands, or deflect it from something vital.
Shikamaru moved his head to his right as if he was expecting Kidomaru's intervention. Because of his Shadow Possession Jutsu, Tayuya mimicked him.
'Thunk!'
The brown kunai-like projectile of Kidomaru's sunk up to the hilt in Tayuya's right eye socket. Kidomaru had killed his teammate, without realizing what he was going up against. And because he was in his second level of the curse seal, it was thrown with more force than normal.
Shikamaru cut off his jutsu, and Tayuya's lifeless body fell to the ground immediately. Her skin faded back to its normal pale color, and her hair returned to its bright red. I had always wondered if she was an Uzumaki or not. I would never know, now.
Shikamaru turned to face the battlefield now. Sakon and Kidomaru were staring at him with rage and shock. Especially Kidomaru, because it had been his projectile that had done the job. I couldn't help but think that he should have known better. Orochimaru had insider knowledge on the Konoha clans. Hell the entire world knew of the abilities of a Nara. Why would he have intervened with a projectile of all things?
"You fucking idiot!" Sakon screamed at Kidomaru, breaking the silence.
It's even numbers, time for Offense.
I poured more chakra into the susanoo and a left skeletal arm extended from the rib-cage still surrounding me. I reached forward and tried to grab my nearest opponent. Unfortunately, Sakon was more competent, and faster than Aoi. He jumped closer to Kidomaru to avoid it.
I summoned two clones next to me and they blurred through hand seals before inhaling and releasing the same jutsu. A blazing trail of fire with the face of a dragon leapt out of their mouths and towards both Sakon and Kidomaru.
One might ask why I chose this particular jutsu. Well it was really simple, I was positive that it would connect with them. Because I had a Nara on my side, and when someone threw more light in an immediate area, it also provided more shadow. I was banking on Shikamaru capitalizing with the new shadows in the area.
"What the…"
I was correct.
"AAAHHH!"
"GAAAHHH!"
My clones did not release the jutsu, if anything, they poured more chakra into it to make it hotter. I was reminded of the last time I used this jutsu in a spar against Lee. I hadn't wanted to hurt him so I cut the jutsu off before it could do any real damage. That was not the situation here however. This time, it was lethal.
The screams stopped, and only then did my clone release the twin jutsu's they were using. My clones dispelled at the same time as I could see the charred corpses of two of the Sound Four.
My confidence with the rest of the battle rose to the sky. The three of us could take down Kimimaro and return Sasuke to the village. I would succeed where Anime Naruto failed. I smiled.
Something foreign touched my sense of smell, and I frowned. I sniffed a couple of times, confused as to what it was I was smelling. I had expected to smell burnt flesh, which was awful, but this was something else.
Smoke filled my vision, originating from my right shoulder. Did Macao go back home?
"Naruto!"
My control on my chakra slipped.
The world blurred for a moment before I realized that I was looking at the sky, instead of a battlefield. Why was I looking at the sky?
"I suppose that fancy armor of yours doesn't filter the air around you after all, hmm? A shame."
A man in purple stood above me talking down at me. He had round glasses, and white hair that he kept in a ponytail and fell to his shoulder blades. I recognized him instantly. My brain gave my body the command to get up and get away from the now revealed Kabuto.
When did he get here?
Nothing happened.
I tried to summon my chakra and dispel the genjutsu on me.
Nothing happened.
"Nnllggkk." The words I tried to form didn't come out properly. They didn't come out at all. I couldn't move my mouth or body.
Panic raced through my body.
What the fuck is happening!? I can't move!
"Oh my, you're still awake…" Kabuto said as he squatted next to my body. "That was enough gas to knock out a horse. You should be proud."
His hand raised, and he caught the blade heading towards his neck. He fucking caught it between his fingers. Shikamaru had closed the distance to try and save me. Unfortunately, from that brief interaction I could tell that he was outmatched.
When Shikamaru pulled back, he did so calmly. It became obvious as to why, when Kabuto shakily started to stand and mimic Shikamaru's stance. He had been caught with the Shadow Possession Jutsu.
Kabuto chuckled. "I forget those masks do have filters don't they? Whatever am I to do, now that you have caught me?"
Kabuto's tone of voice made it clear that Shikamaru did not threaten him at all, and it threw me off. I could only see Kabuto's body. His right arm raised in front of him like he was holding a tanto. Then he began to move forward.
Shikamaru was going to make him walk into the tanto that Shikamaru held.
Relief filled my body. Shikamaru would get us out of here and this gas could wear off of my body. We would survive today. I watched the tip of the tanto get to within a centimeter of Kabuto's body, and I sighed.
Kabuto's hand moved unhindered to Shikamaru's wrist and caught it. The smile on Kabuto's face, and the surprised body language that Shikamaru displayed caused confusion to wrack my paralyzed body.
A blue sheen covered the hand that Kabuto was using to grab Shikamaru's wrist. Shikamaru grunted in obvious pain, and his fingers went limp. But he didn't move or retreat like I expected.
"Most people don't know that you need just a dash of yang chakra to complete the Shadow Possession Jutsu you know. But once you understand that, it becomes remarkably easy to… turn the jutsu around on itself and even modify it. Wouldn't you say so, ANBU?" The entire time Kabuto was talking, he walked around Shikamaru's body unhindered, while Shikamaru was still frozen. The grin on Kabuto's face was euphoric. He was so happy that he got to show off how smart and powerful he was.
"Nothing to say?" Kabuto asked with his ear next to Shikamaru's mouth. "Disappointing."
Despite my paralyzed state, I could still feel Lee's chakra racing around and fighting the only other chakra source in our general vicinity. And then I felt him racing towards us.
Once again, I felt relief that we would be able to survive this encounter and escape. Lee had many more gates he could open if he wanted to. Not even Kabuto could stand up to a fourth or fifth gate from Lee. I just hated what would happen to his body afterwards. We would need to return to Konoha extremely quickly.
I saw a blur of green impact Kabuto. I had no access to my chakra though, so I couldn't perceive the swift taijutsu match that he had. All I knew was that they traveled out of my sight line for a moment.
There were grunts here and there as I felt the two chakra signatures engage.
And then there was a pause.
"What did you do to my arm?" I recognized Lee's voice.
But it sounded odd. It had something that I never expected to hear in his voice. It was shaky, and not confident.
Lee's chakra fluctuated.
"Oh it wasn't only your arm. Tell me, how does your chest feel?" Kabuto's voice was calm, and smug. It was the deadliest thing I had ever heard.
A hand gripped my heart and squeezed it relentlessly. Worry, fear, and panic flooded my body. I tried to get up and summon my chakra again but it was for naught. I strained against my invisible bonds, but my body wouldn't obey.
No it's not true. Don't tell me he touched you on your chest?!
"…It doesn't feel right…"
Lee's voice was weak and more scared than I had ever heard it before. It broke my heart and confirmed my worst fear.
I felt Lee's chakra approach me, very very slowly. I wanted to reach out and grab him to stop whatever was happening. But my arms wouldn't move and I couldn't see him.
"…Naruto…?"
I couldn't take the way he said my name. His voice was so fragile, so shaky.
Oh God no! Please anyone but Lee!
"Gllrrkgllrkk!" I roared, trying to get Kabuto to spare Lee. I would do whatever it took. I would give him my life in exchange for Lee's. I would beg and kiss his feet. I would slit my own throat if he healed whatever he did to Lee.
Lee's chakra disappeared.
'Thump!'
No!
I heard something hit the ground. I also felt it, because it was so close to me. But it wasn't my hearing, or sense of touch that confirmed my worst nightmares.
Because when Lee fell, he fell right beside my head. His face was right beside my face. His right cheek was resting on the ground and he was facing me. My heart broke when my eyes confirmed what my chakra sense was telling me.
Lee's jaw was slack.
His eyes were unfocused.
God no please.
The invisible hand squeezing my heart pulled back and ripped it out of my chest.
"NNNGGGLLRRRKKK!"
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
A/N: …
Well there isn't much to say here is there? I realize that you all may hate me for that and I accept it. I kind of hate that the story took his turn. I tried to avoid it, I really did.
So anyway… review and comment and let's talk about it!
