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

Hankami - Demigod/Half-God

Yuki no Yoroi - Armor of Ice/Snow

Hyoton no Fuin: Yuki no Haka - Seal of Ice Release: Tomb of Ice/Snow


Shino was not having a good time, Iwa had indeed found their encampment and was attacking with a regiment of Bakuha Butai. The Aburame would probably be able to deal with the C ranks if he could spread himself out, but one opponent in particular had apparently fought Aburame before and developed methods for dealing with him. A sensor type who could keep track of his main body was his worst match up, and he couldn't lose his rebreather or his allies would be in danger.

A pair of Iwa shinobi managed to toss kunai into the medical tent and a pair of explosions shook Shino's body and mentality, he hadn't thought the enemy would attack the injured and medics like that. He knew it was war but that seemed wrong to him, even from a purely pragmatic standpoint caring for the injured was a drain on resources so such senseless killing only served to anger ones opposition.

A scream of rage from the tent alerted him that some were still fine as Akamaru, Shino could tell it wasn't Kiba even with the bandage over the left arm, leaped from the burning tent to land on all fours and twist to kick at one of the shinobi. The two hopped up and tossed kunai down as Akamaru leaped away from the primed explosives, then Sakura's smaller axe came flying out of the rubble to slam into the skull of one of them.

Shino was pretty sure he'd seen the axe change trajectory, chakra threads really did combo well with shurikenjutsu for someone like Sakura, but he doubted he had the control or focus to pull it off. Next a kunai struck the other who had attacked the medical tent before it glowed red and exploded into a blast of shrapnel and fire, the Aburame was glad his Konoha allies were alive at least, that meant some of the Taki within should have survived as well.

Shino's opponent was using Katon chakra nagashi and wielding a kusarigama, his kikaichu couldn't land on the man and he spun his chain to deflect attacks even in the midst of throwing the sickle blade around like it was an extension of his body. The Aburame guessed his current opponent to be roughly A rank, if he wasn't overestimating his abilities due to it being a bad match up for him. He decided he would refuse assistance regardless, from what he'd heard Kakashi's cell became like they did from constantly overcoming enemies above their power.

Shino believed quantity had a quality all on its own, every bit added up, but he could tell that proving he was capable of evolving in the middle of a fight to overcome a powerful opponent was worth far more glory than dealing with some C ranks. Shibuki and his remaining chunin and jonin who could still fight were enough for the rest of the enemy shinobi, the only genin who hadn't been evacuated was Sakura and Shino found no shame in thinking she was stronger than him despite his military rank of chunin being higher, he had a jonin to deal with.

Sasuke flew up from the burning tent in a corkscrew, nine shuriken tossed from him went at a different Iwa shinobi each as beneath him Sakura charged from the wreckage already spinning her massive greataxe in her hands like it was a baton. With a flick of his wrists, Sasuke's shuriken altered direction from the chakra threads he'd adhered, sinking into arteries with alarming precision. The Uchiha spread his wings and the updraft from the burning tent kept him aloft, Taki iryonin evacuating who they could and Shino was relieved Kiba was one of them even if the person looked like it was getting worse.

Sakura had been poisoned as well but seemed fine, she spun in a circle to her right and twirled her axe into the stone armored head of an Iwa shinobi that charged her. The flat of the axe blade shattered his stone helmet as the man was sent stumbling to the side, Sakura continued her momentum to bring the axe down then up as she continued to spin and she hopped at the man to swing downwards into his right shoulder.

The stone armored man raised his arms to guard, trying to focus his chakra, but he only slowed the attack enough to step back with his life in exchange for losing his right arm. When Sakura landed she was still spinning to her right and she hopped towards her opponent again, her momentum carried the axe right through his neck and she shifted to slam her axe into the ground to halt her momentum. She developed the fighting style by recalling how Zabuza had used Kubikiribocho, but she had difficulty doing anything but spin and it made her dizzy to keep it up for too long.

Akamaru picked out individual Iwa shinobi who attempted to outnumber or flank the remaining Taki shinobi, the hound was angry about what had happened to Kiba and seeing enemies continuing to fight dishonorably incensed the Kami altered instincts of the Khorne marked ninken. With Kiba's shape and a hyorogan in his system Akamaru used the Inuzuka clan's bestial taijutsu to shred C rank chunin, Shibuki wasn't aware Inuzuka ninken could match shinobi without their ninja partner but he was glad for the help.

The head of Takigakure looked up to see how Sasuke was holding up and his eyes widened in alarm at the large rock heading for the chunin who was still supposed to be on bed rest, the Uchiha noticed the rock and considered how best to deal with it. Kawarimi would work but he didn't have the time, he flapped his wings but didn't perform shunshin as it would cost too much chakra. His Sharingan was still red to conserve what little chakra he'd managed to recover, he lifted his left leg and focused chakra to his right foot.

Sasuke caught the flying rock, adhered to it, and flapped his wings in a display of aerial maneuverability that would make actual birds jealous. He flipped forward, it felt like his leg might come off from the strain but he endured long enough to release the attack flying back where it came from before he flapped again to regain lost altitude. The rock was caught by a short old man, with white hair, what was left of the balding hair anyway, with a triangulare beard and mustache combo, large eyebrows, and a big red nose.

The old man was flying without the use of wings, Sasuke guessed some kind of ninjutsu, his Sharingan analyzed what he was seeing but without seeing the hand signs he couldn't figure out how to reverse engineer it unless he evolved his Sharingan to its golden form. The other concern was how easily the old man was carrying such a big rock, from the chakra his eye could see the Uchiha could tell it was likely ninjutsu and definitely not strength.

The old man considered Sasuke carefully, "So you're the genius Uchiha?" he asked gruffly, prepared to throw the stone again. He was not prepared for the young Uchiha to start chuckling, his beak clacked together as he tried to compose himself.

"Genius?" Sasuke asked, "No, I'm an average Uchiha," he denied, "I suppose it's understandable a commoner would think me a genius." he mocked, "An Uchiha genius is a different level, so I suppose I shouldn't mock you too much since I evolved my limits in an attempt to surpass a real genius of my blood." he mused dryly, "If you want geniuses, you want the rest of my team." he added as off handed praise.

Shino had recalled his insects back to his body, the smoke in the air was messing with them and his opponent had perfectly countered them. A normal Aburame would be defeated and even he was cornered in a way, but Shino palmed a kunai in each hand and shifted into a lower stance as kikaichu swarmed over his arms to layer them in black chitinous gauntlets as he figured ninso of the Konton Gundan were supposed to be more dangerous when pushed to the edge.

Sakura began her routine of spinning the axe and herself at the next enemy to approach her, but as she tore into the torso under the guard of another stone armored shinobi a shirtless man in black pants, with black hair in a braided ponytail, kicked the man she was attacking in his raised guard, cracking the stone gauntlets but it saved the man from being disemboweled. The kunoichi spun to try swinging her axe into the newcomer as she saw the Iwa hitai-ate wrapped lazily sideways on his head.

Unfortunately for the pink haired girl the man landed on his left foot as he raised his right leg in time to slam her axe into the ground with an axe kick before it could hit him, Sakura realized she might have a problem as the left foot of the man smacked her in the face under her horns and rocked her head back, she was pretty sure her nose was broken and she tasted hot blood. As she was still blinking the stars out of her eyes the man hopped up and swung his right shin into the left side of her head behind the horn on that side of her head, she managed to lift her guard on muscle memory and reflex but the kick still sent the brass kunoichi careening to go through the canvas side of an already burning tent.

The shirtless taijutsu specialist checked his leg, chakra nagashi had allowed him to withstand the heat of her brass skin, but it seemed Sakura's red left arm had a more intense heat as his shin felt like it had touched a stove unprotected for a moment. Hardly crippling, but noteworthy given how dangerous it could be. He was impressed such a small kunoichi could wield such an axe too, even he would have difficulty wielding the size and weight of the weapon she had been twirling like a baton.

Sasuke kept a neutral expression as the old man glanced down then back up with a raised eyebrow, he'd just called Sakura a genius and of course she immediately got kicked the face and smacked aside by a plain looking guy like that. He was sure it was divine punishment for fraternizing with rival champions and not bothering to preach about hope and fate, but hoping for things seemed natural and fate was subject to change at the whims of the strong, such things were obvious to him.

"You're trying to avenge the honor of your clan by personally killing Itachi then." The old man guessed, Sasuke supposed it was a predictable goal but he didn't think it needed to be complicated, "He's S rank, that genius Uchiha you're talking about, where do you stand now then?" he wondered.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "A rank, easily." he bragged plainly, "I'll break through and become S rank soon though." he added arrogantly.

"A rank?" The old man asked with a smirk, "So you should know you stand no chance against a Kage?" he asked rhetorically.

Sasuke realized immediately that he was across from the Tsuchikage and threw caution to the wind, his Sharingan turned gold and the false eye in his left socket ignited with yellow flames. The Tsuchikage became serious again as he saw the transformation, and that Sasuke was pulling out a hyorogan so he threw the large stone at the winged boy again. With a flap of his wings Sasuke used shunshin, he appeared above the Tsuchikage and popped the hyorogan in his beak to swallow it with a loud gulp.

Shino charged his opponent, dodging what he could and protecting his vital but rushing through the chain weapon spinning at him to thrust both his kunai, but his opponent managed to wrap them up in chain as the sickle bladed end of the chain flew at him. He removed his arms from his biological gauntlets, the insects buzzing as they collectingly pushed the kunai against the guard of the Iwa shinobi. The Aburame made a hand sign and crouched as the blade of his enemies weapon dug into his back.

Purple chakra glowed on the tip of Shino's horn, the Iwa shinobi shoved the kunai held against his guard by the insects of his young opponent and wrestled with the Aburame as the chunin tried to gore him. The Iwa shinobi's flak vest was pierced, but Shino didn't pull back until he saw a blood drop run down his horn. He was kicked in the face as he disengaged, the chain of the kusarigama linked the two still as they panted from the brief but intense close combat engagement.

Sakura popped her nose back into place as she growled and stood up, stomped out of the burning tent at the man who had knocked her aside, and raised her guard as her enemy moved to kick her again. She planted her feet and focused her chakra as she lifted her right arm against the coming left round kick before it shifted to become a downward chop, delivering her shirtless opponents left shin into the side of her armored guts.

The Haruno coughed and molten blood already in her mouth from the broken nose sprayed, forcing the man to hop back or be burnt. Sakura's altered biology made pressing an aggressive advantage against her in close quarters difficult, but the Iwa shinobi seemed interested in the challenge. Sakura had withstood the blow without being moved that time, but had taken far more damage and hadn't been able to counter attack.

The Tsuchikage looked up incredulously at the young Uchiha he'd picked a fight with, he thought the expression of realization was one of clarity, that Sasuke understood that running away was his best option. Instead it had been one of focus and commitment, the Uchiha spread his wings and unleashed a volley of eighteen shuriken with a flap. The Tsuchikage could acknowledge it was impressive chakra control and shurikenjutsu, but it seemed pointless until he saw the steel wire glinting in the moonlight.

Sasuke saw his Kage level opponent use kawarimi thanks to his Sharingan and saw his own death in his mind's eye thanks to his use of Kiiro-en, so he made the ram sign instead of the string of signs he'd been planning as he dropped his ninja wire. A large stone broadsword slammed into the Uchiha's back, held by the Tsuchikage, but in a puff of smoke it was revealed to the old man that the winged young ninso had used kawarimi with a piece of burning debris from below.

Shino could tell the sickle in his back had perforated his right lung, that was a problem. However he considered it a bigger problem to feel it being tugged from his back, as his lungs contained a virulent airborne toxin, so he grabbed the chain with his left hand as he directed his kikaichu to hold the blade in place, "You're not a normal Aburame, are you?" his opponent asked as the man recognized the young chunin was intentionally keeping the blade inside himself.

"It matters not, I have already won." Shino responded calmly, "Why you ask?" he began before his opponent could verbally ask, "Because I've poisoned you already, the damage you have dealt to me is nothing compared to what that poison will be doing to you right about now." he explained and the eyes of the Iwa shinobi widened in alarm, the man could indeed feel his muscles cramping and a nauseous feeling welling up in the pit of his stomach, his mouth watering as he struggled not to vomit.

Sakura tried to think of a way to beat her current opponent, the Iwa taijutsu specialist mostly used kicks. It reminded her of the taijutsu Naruto had developed after graduation but there were key differences, she recognized the kicks her current opponent used as basic while Naruto had used kicks she'd never seen before. It took her a moment of taking blows and struggling to land one in turn for the young kunoichi to realize the biggest difference though, like every other taijutsu she'd seen her current opponent had normal squared footwork that was the basis of all taijutsu, Naruto had stepped in a triangle.

Sakura wasn't sure the significance of this, but she tried to mimic it as she stepped in to meet the next kick and almost landed a right straight punch to the face of her opponent before she was knocked off balance and kicked away, "That was strange," the taijutsu specialist commented, "your footwork changed and almost caught me off guard, who taught you that?" he wondered, "I recognize some of your taijutsu, Konoha's most basic style with some recent teachings from Tsunade Senju, right?" he asked and the brass kunoichi was surprised her opponent could recognize so much already, she didn't know her fighting style was so predictable.

Sasuke focused himself, he took a deep breath and held it as he folded his wings around himself and descended from the sky. He'd used a shunshin right after his kawarimi to evade the notice of his opponent and thankfully it seemed the Tsuchikage was not a sensor, so as long as he masked his killing intent he should be able to land a sneak attack. He readied his kris dagger in his right hand as he swooped, his wings aided in making his decent silent as he extended his arm to place his weapon where it would cut into the neck of the Sandaime Tsuchikage as he swooped past.

The old man felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as he detected the trace killing intent, he turned to see Sasuke descending on him far faster than expected and narrowly dodged with the kris leaving a deep gash down his right shoulder and back. The Tsuchikage was visibly surprised, he hadn't expected the young Uchiha to pull off the hunting tactics of a bird of prey while masking his killing intent so well, even if it hadn't worked it had been alarmingly close.


Maemi grinned as she came out from hiding, she watched Haku and Karin set Naruto's form down as his body fell unconscious, the red haired girl on his left removed her oinin mask and the dark haired boy on his right set the Raito aside. Kin and Tayuya hesitated a moment, the two former servants of Orochimaru were still terrified of the serpentine Sannin, the idea he might be lurking still gave both of them chills. The Muse moved next to Haku, kneeling down to let Naruto's head rest in her lap as the others let her.

"Chest compressions!" Karin exclaimed desperately as she fumbled with some scrolls in her equipment pouch, Tayuya snapped out of her stunned state and leaped to action, she tore the lion hide cloak aside and pressed her hands to Naruto's chest before she pushed down with a cracking sound that made her hesitate, "Ignore the ribs, broken ribs are better than dead!" Karin lectured as she retrieved medical supplies from one of her scrolls and Tayuya continued.

Haku placed a hand to Naruto's right arm, "His heartbeat is so erratic..." he muttered as he checked the pulse, he noticed that the unconscious blonde still had a grip on his nodachi despite his current state but made no comment on that. Kin noticed the Imp seemed surprisingly calm, and she recalled Karin had some natural ability to sense chakra so she tried to calm down.

Karin pulled out a syringe and vial, "This should oxygenate his blood." she muttered as she carefully filled the syringe with a clear fluid from the vial, careful to avoid any air bubbles inside the syringe itself and hesitating as she double checked to ensure she hadn't made a mistake. Haku retrieved a cloth and wiped blood from Naruto's face, he noticed that despite a good amount of blood being around the mouth the tanned blonde who was turning paler by the second had no injuries there that he could see.

Karin injected the contents of the syringe into Naruto's neck, she noticed Maemi seemed calm and pleased so she assumed she was doing well and moved to give her blonde relative and lover mouth to mouth. Tayuya halted the chest compressions, "Alright, spill it." she directed at the Muse with a glare, "Why the fuck are you and my own Muse so pleased about this shit?" she demanded to know in an accusing tone as the conscious Uzumaki tried to breathe life into the unconscious blonde.

"Because Naruto-sama is ascending." Maemi answered as her grin widened to an unnatural face splitting degree and revealed teeth that didn't belong on anything humanoid, Karin didn't let herself be distracted as she continued her attempts to save Naruto's life, "I should congratulate Haku too," the Muse continued, "not all boons are flashy, but you got a good one." she finished, leaving the boy confused as to what he'd actually gained and he as well as the three kunoichi noticed the Imp was steadily growing in size as well.


Kakashi had led Hidan away from the crater battlefield, having presumed that he was best for keeping the man busy while Jiraiya dealt with the other S rank. From what he could tell Hidan's skills and power alone were merely A rank, indicating the nukenin was only S rank because of his apparent immortality, so he figured stalling the immortal scythe wielder was perfect for him with his Sharingan. However the power of the Eiyu no Mizu had run out in doing so, leaving him fighting on the defensive with his Sharingan draining his stamina.

Both of them noticed when those Daemons that Orochimaru had called disappeared, "Hah! That stupid traitorous heathen betrayed even his own falsely immortal minions for those things, and they still didn't last!" Hidan laughed, clearly amused by the situation as he made a strange symbol on the ground, "You'll die next, finally I can give a good kill to Jashin-sama!" he declared proudly before he licked the blood from his scythe.

Kakashi hadn't thought much of the glancing blow, but as Hidan's appearance changed, as if he'd painted himself black with some white pain to point out the bone beneath his flesh, he got a feeling of ill omen and worried that he may have underestimated his opponent as the man pulled out a telescoping spear. As far as the jonin was aware such a weapon would be fragile, ill fit for combat and better used as a disposable tool unless it was made of a very high quality metal.


Jiraiya and Kakuzu could both tell when the second Daemon had left, the two were cautious of each other. The Sennin could tell his opponent was hard to deal with and had some monstrously powerful ninjutsu, but he could tell the supposedly immortal man who didn't bleed was wary of him likely due to his reputation as a master of Fuinjutsu. He saw the green eyes of his opponent glance towards where Fu had been left and quickly began hand signs, however Kakuzu noticed and made a single hand sign in response.

The Gama Sennin had gotten a brief look at the ninjutsu of his opponent when they had attempted to attack one of the Daemons summoned by Orochimaru, given the power of the Futon no Jutsu and how much it enhanced his basic Endan the Sannin decided that Katon no Jutsu was too risky to use as he could tell that the power behind that Futon no Jutsu would be more than enough to make up for the fact that Katon was supposed to beat Futon.

Instead of a Futon no Jutsu however, Kakuzu launched a small red bead of flame at Jiraiya, not taking chances the Sennin swiftly raised a Doryuheki and leaped to change his position in time to witness the force of the blast destroying his hastily constructed defense with a surprisingly massive conflagration given the apparent size of the initial bead of fire. On top of that Kakuzu had apparently used that as cover to escape, because Jiraiya lost sight of him.

The white haired Sennin wondered just what kind of monsters worked for Akatsuki, Hidan didn't seem overly threatening on ability alone but even if Kakuzu's immortality was somehow fake it was real enough to multiply his already S rank threat ranking, and it seemed he was an S rank ninjutsu specialist. Jiraiya used shunshin to get where Fu had been but both he and Kakuzu were surprised to note she was already missing.

The two aged shinobi glanced at each other before leaping away from each other into defensive stances, both cautious of the power of the other and both worried about the location of the green haired Jinchuriki.


Shino was surprised by a couple of things happening at once, Sasuke spread his wings and pulled out of a steep dive with enough speed and force to release a blast of wind that stirred up the flames just from spreading his wings, and his opponent abandoned their weapon to make an escape. He knew Tsuchi no Kuni had probably more iron mines than any other nation, with Tetsu no Kuni notably having higher quality iron but less actual mines, but he hadn't expected his opponent to abandon a weapon. The Aburame realized he was too used to people with high quality and expensive weaponry, even a kusarigama was throw away to a shinobi so it only made sense to leave it behind if locked in a tug of war with the blade in the lung of your enemy.

Shino decided he wasn't having that and leaped after the man, he took note that the Iwa shinobi forces were indeed starting to retreat, although one of them was fending off Akamaru with a staff to let the others do so. The Aburame ignored that, he had an opponent who he had challenged, so with his left hand he threw the chain of the weapon lodged in his lung and caught the man by the leg to throw him off balance as he palmed a kunai in his right hand.

Sakura was concerned about Sasuke and what he was doing above but didn't take her eyes off her opponent, she couldn't afford to since he was so much faster than her. Her only silver lining with her current match up that the man was unwilling to press his advantage as he tested her and she noticed he was favoring attacking her right side, she tried to focus and time a good counter. With a burst of chakra the bronze thorns growing out of Sakura's upper right arm burst out in a multi-directional shot as soon as she saw her opponent move, this forced him to hesitate on his attack by disrupting his momentum and she threw a right jab as she prepared to follow up with a left straight.

The Iwa taijutsu specialist leaned back and lifted his left leg up into Sakura's ribs under her right arm, his shin impact against her armor hard and even lifted the kunoichi up as it knocked her aside, "Good kit, clever too, and surprisingly strong and sturdy for your age." the man praised, "I was confused at first, but that killing intent you're radiating isn't even really yours is it?" he asked, Sakura blinked owlishly in response as she'd forgotten that she technically radiated malicious intent from Khorne's realm.

Sasuke gripped his right shoulder with his left hand as he ascended back up into the sky, in his mind's eye he could see the Tsuchikage moving towards him already and his right shoulder was still tender from when a Daemon had bitten him when he'd fought Deidara so after a stunt like that it ached. The Uchiha considered that an Uzumaki like Naruto would have recovered from such an injury that day, probably in the middle of the fight in Naruto's case.

The Uchiha flapped and took his body into a spin as he dived to avoid the stone broadsword and tossed a red bolt of flame from his left hand at the Tsuchikage, the look of surprise on the old man's face was amusing and he wondered if that was how Naruto felt using that song to avoid attacks he shouldn't be able to see. He was confident the yellow flame in his left eye was superior, and as he readjusted himself to ascend again he caught a glimpse of hand signs and turned to watch with his Sharingan.


Karin lifted herself up and with a push on the diaphragm Naruto coughed, but then she was struggling to hold him in place as he started gasping while unconsciously thrashing. Haku held down his right arm with some difficulty to ensure he didn't hurt anyone by accident, Tayuya did the same with his tail barely in time to avoid being stabbed herself. Kin stepped back nervously as Karin struggled to figure out what was wrong, pink marks glowing to life along Naruto's body as his Hoshi chakra ran wild.

Maemi continued to smile as if nothing was wrong but to Karin the horned blonde seemed to be dying, "What's going on?" she asked.

"Naruto-sama ascending." Maemi repeated herself, "Neverborne are not truly physical, and those who become Daemons but were once material beings have a hard time of adjusting." she explained, "His body will probably be torn apart as his soul leaps free to become truly immortal." she finished, having decided it didn't matter if they knew anymore.

To everyone else it just sounded like Naruto was dying so they were horrified, Karin looked down in concern and saw the glowing pink markings were snaking across Naruto's flesh as if they were serpents. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the chakra, something about Tayuya felt strange too but she ignored that to focus on Naruto. His chakra was being forcefully expelled, slowly but surely, from nearly every tenketsu, and the Hoshi chakra was just strangely snaking around his body without fully surfacing.

Everything about it was strange, then it disappeared, for a moment Karin panicked at the thought his chakra had suddenly just run out but it was more than that, there would be residual chakra, instead it was as if Naruto had become a void of chakra. In her panic the red haired kunoichi lifted her left arm to Naruto's mouth, but the Muse grabbed her arm and she realized the Imp was the same size as her now with a surprisingly strong grip.

"Your heart is in the right place, but Naruto-sama wouldn't want you to traumatize yourself further for him." Maemi explained calmly, her tone helping to soothe the other kunoichi and Haku but all four of them were still nervous. The blonde stopped breathing again and Tayuya moved to resuscitate, Karin grint her teeth and on the second press she put her hands over the older kunoichi's, ignoring the strange feel of her chakra and pushed with her own chakra.

It was pure frustration and impulse, but Tayuya assumed the younger kunoichi knew what to do thanks to her actual iryoninjutsu training and pushed her own chakra without considering her Juin being active in the second state still. Naruto gasped again but his thrashing calmed as he panted with wide eyes, the glowing chakra snaking across his body faded into bright pink markings, some visible under his mesh going along his torso on the right side as two lines that curved around the outside of his breast and went up over his shoulder likely to continue down his back. His face had two markings on each cheek over where his whisker marks had previously been, and his right arm had two pink bands around his upper arm.

Karin sighed in relief as she felt Naruto's massive chakra calm down, she wondered if it felt even brighter and more powerful than before or if she was imagining things. It definitely felt stronger than when she'd last seen him at one hundred percent so she guessed he must have gotten stronger, then she realized there was no way he should be recovered enough to feel so powerful after the state he'd been in and the next moment she noticed Maemi seemed surprised.

Naruto blinked at the moonlight, the last thing he remembered he'd been collapsing from a lack of oxygen. He lifted his left hand to Karin's butt, "Is now the time for that!?" the Uzumaki snapped, she loved him but she was rather distressed after watching him nearly die.

Naruto grinned, "My magnificent self feels better than ever!" he laughed and his Kujaku Myoho formed arms to push himself up to his hooves in a smooth motion of unnatural grace. Haku was alarmed since he'd just had a grip on Naruto's arm and the girls were surprised by how boisterous he was.

"Well," Maemi began, pursing her lips, "I'm not sure what just happened." she confessed, "Your soul is Mao, but your body withstood it somehow?" she wondered, from what she could tell he was basically possessing himself, which wasn't a thing she was aware was even possible for a Daemon Prince to do. She wondered if it was something of a cocoon phase, but she'd never heard of that either.

Naruto just laughed, "Whatever my magnificent self is, it was obvious the title of Kajo no Mao was deserved, so it should be obvious it's now claimed y'know!" he said in an almost lyrical manner, "Oh, where is Orochimaru? Did that bastard get away again?" he grumbled, he couldn't hear Orochimaru, but he could hear Jiraiya and Kakashi fighting, the former closer by than the latter.

Haku stood up, "Um, I think he escaped after he sacrificed the one I'd captured to summon that blue Mao." he pointed out as he offered up the Kiba to the blonde. Naruto nodded as he considered what he should do, his Hoshi chakra reaching out to retrieve the Raito and return them to the holsters on his lion hide coat.


Kakashi couldn't decipher whatever jutsu Hidan was using with Sharingan, but some things were obvious, feeling a stabbing pain as his right leg was torn open in the same place that Hidan had stabbed himself, alarmingly close to the femoral artery. The jonin wondered if his opponent missed on purpose to drag the fight out or simply missed such a large target due to a lack of training, his wild fighting style, religious fervor, and apparent limited training really did make it seem like the man was in a similar place Naruto could have if not for good guidance.

Kakashi mentally praised himself for that as he tried to figure out a way to deal with his opponent, the connection had obviously begun when his opponent had changed and while the Sharingan couldn't tell exactly how it worked he could guess the symbol on the ground had something to do with it thanks to his own experiences with religious zealot ninja. So Kakashi charged, he leaped forward with a burst of chakra to his left foot, but before he could cross the distance Hidan stabbed himself in the heart.


AN: Sorry for leaving such a cliffhanger then taking a few days to update, I've been a bit busy unfortunately.