Congratulations to LuVmYkItTy375 for having the 100th review. Yes, I understand that UzumakiSean should have it, but he is simply a friend who gives random reviews, and if you read the content of the four reviews of his, then you'll see my point. So technically, UzumakiSean won, but by my terms, his reviews aren't real per se. Meh!
Key
"words" characters talking
words characters thinking or simply italics
(words) author's notes/my thoughts
look at the bottom
January 2. Outskirts of Konoha. 3:08 P.M. Reign of the 3rd Hokage (2nd Term)
Miruden frowned. The white-eyed kid saved his friend. Oh well, that only made things easier for Shintaro. Miruden looked at Shintaro. His face was a face of pity. Miruden was confused at first, he wasn't exactly sure what Shintaro meant by pity. He shrugged it off and looked at the boy he had skewered.
His eyes were beginning to glaze over. His mouth was hanging half open as if the scream didn't quite have the guts to escape it. Soon, Neji's legs could no longer support his weight, and he fell to his knees. Miruden gripped the sword with both hands and tugged. It was then that Neji screamed.
The scream shook Naruto and electrified his hate for Miruden. Naruto fought the fatigue and brought himself onto one knee. He watched as Miruden stepped behind Neji and placed the blade of his sword to Neji's throat. Naruto would not let Neji die; not after he had saved his life.
"Your friend is lucky…" Miruden said. "He is lucky that this sword is not the Ritoren sword. Yes, my companion and I both have Ritoren swords, however his is a simple copy of mine, but just as deadly."
"Don't do it." Shintaro said. "You don't want to turn this into an execution. This is a battle. Let the boy go."
"No," Miruden said, turning to face Shintaro.
"Miruden, do you dare defy me?" Shintaro growled. He gripped his sword tighter.
As the two teammates had their minor disagreement, Naruto was slowly building up his energy. He could feel his chest tighten and the skin on his hands tingle. He witnessed his nails growing longer and his muscles grow taut. Naruto bared his teeth as they elongated and sharpened. The ground beneath him began to shake. He was growing angry and the Kyubi wanted to play.
Miruden heard something from behind him. Turning, he saw that the yellow-haired boy now had the white-eyed in his lap, and was almost cradling him. Miruden smiled devilishly. "Aww, look at those two."
He heard the red one say something. Miruden leaned in and perked up and ear. "What was that little one?"
"I said…" Naruto raised his head. Miruden had to struggle not to scream in fear of those red eyes. "I said that you are truly a fool to have fucked with my friends."
"We'll just see about that!" Miruden pulled out his Ritoren sword and raised it to strike. Naruto grabbed Neji and jumped out of range. Turning on his heel, Naruto sped off to the spectators.
He called out to them. "Hinata! Hinata!" He looked around madly. Turning again, he saw her. She was on the opposite side, waving her arms at him. That meant that he had to go through Miruden. It was only a small setback. Naruto shifted Neji onto his shoulder and pulled out a kunai. Then he started to dogtrot towards Hinata.
Miruden stepped in his way and swung his sword at Naruto's unprotected belly. Naruto didn't stop moving forward. Instead, he stopped the sword with his kunai and ran it down toward the hilt, moving in on Miruden. When he was close enough, Naruto dropped the kunai and smashed his elbow into his opponent's face.
Without missing a beat, Naruto ran through him and reached Hinata unscathed. He gently handed Neji over. When Neji was securely in Hinata's hold, Naruto brushed away a stand of her hair and patted her shoulder. "Go get him to Hokage or Tsunade. Please."
"I won't let you down, sir." Hinata said with a smile, but even the smile didn't hide her anxiety.
"Don't worry about it Hinata. Neji will be safe and I'll be done with this kid in no time."
"I was stupid to have doubted you." She smiled again, but truly this time, and disappeared into the crowd.
Miruden spat out a tooth and clambered to his feet. Picking up the Ritoren sword; which fell out of his grasp when Naruto collided; and entered his basic sword technique stance. He shook off the feeling of helplessness that was ebbing into his mind, and yelled at Naruto. "Of course you have to be the hero. Don't you know that nice guys always finish last in this world?"
Naruto remained motionless. His breathing was heavier now and the Kyubi was stirring again. The ground resumed shaking under Naruto's feet, but Miruden was too far away to feel it. Balling his hands into fists, he punctured his palms with his fingernails: the smell of blood always riled him up. He smiled at the fact that Miruden was too stupid to see the small stream of blue chakra heading into Naruto's left hand. To draw attention away from it as it collected chakra, Naruto grabbed a three-pronged claw in his right hand.
"Stop the psychological lecture and fight. I'm getting bored over here." Naruto licked his lips in anxiety. He hoped that Miruden was as smart as he looked.
"No way! You come get me." Miruden smiled, feeling that he successfully dodged a trap set up by Naruto.
Naruto smiled inwardly. "If you insist. At least you aren't stupid enough to attack me, like your late master." He knew he hit a weak spot. The connection between master and apprentice was forbidden grounds for jibes and mocks.
"You will pay for your remarks." Miruden took a step forward. "Now come accept your punishment like a man."
Naruto snorted and ran at him. "Like you would know anything about being a man…," he whispered.
Kakashi leaned in for a straight kick at Takarashi. He was about to deliver it when Takarashi spun around and used the nodachi's previous momentum to swing it around for a second time. Kakashi silently cursed his bad luck. He'd have to be quicker to get to him. Gai was standing on the side watching the battle. The fact that he wasn't doing anything positive ticked Kakashi off.
Quickly, he held his hands up and asked his opponent a question. "Do you wish for honorable combat?"
Takarashi chuckled. "It matters not. Two of you will make no difference to my victory."
Kakashi gestured to Gai. "Get in here Gai, I need your help."
When they were standing together, Kakashi had a whispered conversation. "Gai, you and I may easily beat this man in a few minutes, but it will take your assistance…"
Sakura and Kiba had finished off the two midgets without much difficulty, and Zanha and Kigatsu were just finishing off their last man. The only enemy victory so far was the battle with Rashi and Ryu. However, the day was not an official victory until the battle between Shintaro and Miruden, and Naruto was concluded. As everyone knew from past experience with Naruto, this battle would be no ordinary one.
Of course Shintaro already knew this, and was planning on it. He wanted a good warm-up before his assassination of the Shogun. How much trouble could a little boy be?
Miruden was currently experiencing that trouble first-hand. Naruto was either very skilled with that claw weapon, or he was very lucky. When push came to shove, there was very little difference between them.
Miruden tried an impaling maneuver. Naruto caught the sword between two claws and twisted his wrist. Miruden was thrown off his feet and onto the ground. He rolled onto his knees before Naruto could stab him with the claws. Miruden punched at Naruto's ankle, giving him time to recover.
When he was back on his feet, Naruto resumed attacking. Now Miruden was on the defensive. He found himself dodging one attack and ending up in the open for another. It kept him on his toes, to say the least.
Itachi's teammate was a master at Shukokai style Karate… or at least he thought he was. Rock Lee and Uchiha Sasuke proved him wrong. It all started when Jiruko (Itachi's teammate) mistook Lee for an amateur. So, when Lee brought his fist up, Jiruko saw it as a punch, when Lee was just feigning, and then came around with a side kick. Sasuke took an open spot and crushed his fist into Jiruko's ribs. In his peripheral vision, Jiruko spied Lee's foot shooting towards the sky, poised for an axe kick. Before it came down, Jiruko grasped Lee's calf and, shifting his weight, pile-drove him to the ground.
Now Jiruko wasn't going to be a fool about this fight. He grabbed Sasuke's forearm and dealt him a blow to the back with his foot. Lee rose to his feet and drop kicked Jiruko in the lower back. This sent him involuntarily stumbling forward. Sasuke grabbed Jiruko's arm, turned and started to roll forward. Halfway through the roll, Sasuke let go, and kicked up as hard as he could into Jiruko's jaw.
Jiruko literally flew straight up, very much like Lee's shadow leaf dance. In fact, that's exactly what Sasuke wanted. He hoped that Lee saw what he was trying to do, and Lee did. Taking to the air, Sasuke hovered directly below Jiruko. Then the first hit came: a clothesline, then the straight punch followed.
They were 8 feet above the ground when Lee appeared just underneath the two fighters. Sasuke stopped mid-combo, and let Jiruko fall to Lee. Lee grabbed Jiruko, and spun completely around, then let go of him. The result was another air trip for Jiruko. It was Lee's turn.
He didn't even bother taking off the bandages, Jiruko was too weak to fight back now. Lee leapt into the air, and grappled Jiruko about the waist. Turning, so that both their heads were facing the earth, Lee began to spin like a drill. The two of them came to the ground in a crash. Dust flew up and dirt assaulted both Uchihas' eyes and mouths.
After the dust cleared Lee emerged, seemingly unscathed. He pumped his arm in the air furiously; a sign that he was satisfied. He was walking over to Sasuke when both Konoha Genin made a mistake. During their fight with Jiruko, they had forgotten all about Itachi. Itachi, however, had not forgotten about them.
Like lightning, Itachi appeared at Lee's side and grabbed his neck with both hands. In one swift motion, he wrenched then opposite directions. Sasuke stomach fell as he heard the snap of Lee's spinal cord. Lee's eyes were empty of all joy that was just in them not two seconds ago. They stared into Sasuke's eyes before going dark.
Itachi waited a second before hurling Lee over his shoulder as if he was a rag doll. Sasuke acted quickly and darted after Lee, and caught him just before he hit the ground. Sasuke checked for a pulse, it was there, but fading quickly.
Sasuke called for a timeout, but was sure that he would not receive one. He just wanted to let the audience know that they would not receive a fight from him now.
Naruto felt that the chakra flow was large enough by now. Grunting, he shot his hand down and focused his chakra on his palm. The blue ball nearly exploded, and would have if Naruto didn't control the flow. The shockwave set off a spider-web of cracks in the dirt.
Miruden had no idea what the ball was, but he knew it was hostile. He would put an end to it before Naruto had the chance to use it. Miruden aimed at Naruto's neck and swung a horizontal slash. Naruto bobbed beneath it, but was met with a vertical cut before he could counter. He spun away from this, and let the claws rip at Miruden's back flesh.
Miruden seethed in agony. He blindly spun and swung. That was his mistake. Unintentionally, the inertia of the attack buried the sword in the earth, point first. As he busied himself trying to yank it out. Naruto took the opening as an invitation. He booted Miruden in the face, cracking his nose and cutting his lip. Miruden's hands abandoned the sword; which was still in the ground.
Before Miruden could blink, Naruto plunged the Raikiri into Miruden's chest. There was a crunching sound as it snapped through the bone and it was followed by a squelching noise that… well, you know. Miruden looked into the sky as his heart slowed its beating. He grabbed Naruto's forearm, as if to pull it out of himself and continue fighting. But Naruto's Raikiri had him in the lungs. If he didn't die from hemorrhage, he'd die from blood in his lungs or blood loss. None of the above were fun deaths.
The hands stop struggling and fell limp to his sides. Miruden's head lolled to the left, his eyes still open, staring into space. Naruto dropped the claws and closed Miruden's eyes with his free hand. "You were a fair opponent, and easily surpassed your master. However, you tried to kill my friend. It was no more than a mistake you made in your young haste, but it was unforgivable."
Sasuke turned to face Itachi and said very simply, "I resign."
Itachi looked like he didn't care. "Go ahead, quit if you want. But know this, you will come back to me, ready to fight again. And when that time comes, I'll be waiting for you little brother."
On that note, both of them turned on their heels and strode to their respective sides, one taller than the other who was carrying the prostrate figure of Rock Lee.
Mustering up a large amount of energy, Naruto wrenched his hand from Miruden's body with one great pull. Taking one look at the once-alive boy was moving for Naruto. He picked up the carcass and carried it to the center of the battlefield. He spoke to one and all.
"All of you hear me: This boy could not have been more than eleven years old. I want you all to take a good look at this." He lifted the body above his head for all to see. "This boy was never meant to fight. He could have had a much better life. But no, the ambitions of another man brought him to his death." He lowered the body. "His love for his master blinded him from the truth. He would have followed that man to the end of the world. It is sad that a person like Kaine should have such responsibility. I doubt he could've taken care of himself easily, much less another person.
"What sort of life do you think this boy had in mind. What do you think he said when someone asked him 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' Do any of you think that this is what he had in mind?" Naruto pointed at the ground to accentuate his point. The crowd looked back in silence. Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs. "DO YOU!"
When they did not respond, Naruto chose the nearest enemy soldier. "You," he motioned to him. "Please take this child to his mother or father, or whoever is taking care of him, and make sure he is given a proper burial."
Sasuke had stopped fighting, and was now watching the man in black carry the body away. Kakashi and Gai were doing the same. Naruto took a deep breath as if to cleanse himself. Then he addressed the crowd for the last time. "I don't know about any of you…" he took a pause, "but I am going back to my village's encampment. I refuse to kill another person, orders or not."
Naruto strode directly into the heart of the onlookers where he met Sasuke who seemed to be crying. Naruto was surprised, but he didn't openly show it. When he noticed the absence of Lee, he understood in a heartbeat.
"What happened to him?" Naruto asked, with a crushed look in his face.
Sasuke remained silent and turned away. Naruto decided to pursue no further. He'd find out the details from Tsunade or Hokage.
Naruto's departure signaled the end of the battle that day. Soldiers turned their backs to their enemies and walked home, thankful for the fact that they were still alive.