Chapter 15:

"H-he was only doing what he was being told to do… he didn't have any grudge against anyone, he didn't want to kill me... he gave me advice, training, and helped Hinata-chan and I get together… killing him… you went too far, Kankuro."

"Hey! I was the one that did it! Praise me!" Iruka pouted.

"Um… I was complaining."

"I don't care."

Kankuro rolled his eyes. "He chose to fight, if he let himself be bought off, it was his own fault."

"He's right." Neji agreed, closing his eyes. "You should go to Hinata-sama now."


The seal exposed on the bunshin began glowing a bright red and orange, surprising Temari because of the sudden change from its normal somber black.

Gaara stared at it without too much surprise. "The demon is becoming active."


As the team attempted to cheer up Naruto and convince him to see his precious, one of Aiyoru's hands twitched as burning charka flowed from his navel and reanimated him.

Returning to his feet, he reached to his neck and quickly worked the kunai from it. Lines of charka moved into the wound; knitting the flesh and mending bone.

"The contract is still active. Naruto is still attempting to visit Hinata-chan, use as much force as necessary." He muttered out loud, drawing the attention of the four.

"Th-this is impossible! No one can survive a wound like that!" Neji cried. "Not the Akatsuki, not a Kage, no one can survive a destroyed throat!"

Aiyoru laughed and reached for his mask. "Then there could be only three possibilities. One, I am a corpse moving by unknown means. Two, Iruka's attack miraculously missed and I have been able to recover. Three, I've recuperative skills beyond your wildest dreams."

Dropping the mask to the ground, Aiyoru continued to laugh. Glowing, curling red lines began to appear over his body in a way that reminded them of the Sound's four cursed seals.

"Your chances of winning are poor, I advise you to retreat. If you refuse, I'll take care of you one at a time. Neji, even if you think you have some sort of debt to me for removing you from the curse, think again. As one of their allies, you are my enemy and will be treated as such should the group continue to fight. Besides, I want to fight you."

Grinning, Neji looked to Naruto for orders. "If you're going to continue, I'll follow you."

Kankuro gave a nod. "Running away now would mean accepting that I'm weaker than him." He said, pointing to Iruka.

"I can't let one of my students get hurt when I know I can help." Iruka stated, moving to the front of the group. "I took him down once, I can do it again."

Tears coming to his eyes, Naruto thanked them and agreed to continue on.

"You've got some good friends, Naruto-sama." Aiyoru sighed, moving his hand to his katana's hilt momentarily before leaving it alone. "Who shall I fight first?"

Iruka motioned for everyone to back away, drew a kunai, and cautiously ran in to make another fatal strike.

Disappearing in a reddish-orange blur, Aiyoru reappeared in front of Iruka and brought a fist up into his jaw. As the blow connected, his body was replaced with a log. Spinning around, he brought his hand up and caught Iruka by the face as he dropped to deliver a blow to Aiyoru's head.

Despite the catch, Iruka's arms were long enough to drive his weapon into Aiyoru's jaw, shattering bone and dislocating it so that only flesh left it attached to the rest of the head.

Falling backwards, snakes poured out of Aiyoru's sleeve and drove their fangs into Iruka's face and neck.

Their poison began sapping his strength and removing him from the conscious realm; Iruka quickly drew another weapon and slid it between his opponent's ribs and into his heart.

Both of them hit the ground, but only Aiyoru returned to his feet. After he pulled out the kunai, his wounds healed and even more of his body was covered in the glowing lines.

"First time anyone outside of the Akatsuki that has dealt me two fatal blows in a fight. Of course with them I was smart enough just to stay down and wait for them to leave. That aside, who's wants the next fight?"


"So who's this 'Kaiho'?" Gaara asked.

"Well, compared to the other well-known demons, she's pretty weak. Her charka is probably on par with a regular chuunin."

"Kaiho is no threat?"

"Far from it, she's the incarnation of flames, the immortal firebird known as the phoenix. Whenever it is killed, it revives itself; restoring all of its lost charka. Alone, she's not a big threat because of so little chakra, but Aiyoru is some kind of genius to be able to have such an immense store of it. The two combined make a perfect team; the almost indestructible combine with the sheer beauty and strength that is Aiyoru." She finished, partially groping the bunshin.

"'Almost indestructible'? So how can you stop him?"

"I'm working on it. There's not much to work with. Most of the demon's abilities I discovered from studying the seal."


Kankuro stepped up with his one good puppet and prepared himself mentally for the battle. Despite his loss of two-thirds his forces, he was in no way less effective because now he could concentrate all his efforts on the one instead of three at a time.

"A simple hit in a vital area won't get things done; I'll have to try something less conventional. Whatever the method, I won't lose."

Once more, Aiyoru's hand moved over the hilt of his katana, but ultimately decided against using it. "I look forward to round two." He smiled.


Aiyoru the immortal? He goes down fairly easy, but keeps getting back up; how will this fight end? Stay tuned.

Review time:

KunochiDreamer: I suppose for your question, the answer would have to be 'yes and no...'.