A/N: Before this chapter takes off, I'd love to take this moment to express a great deal of gratitude to the people who have reviewed the story so far. I hope ShinobiFighter101 won't mind me kissing his butt, but I've noticed he's been a real loyal and encouraging reader/reviewer- so kudos to you, man! Another kind reviewer, Djazgu is his name, managed to express exactly how I wanted this story to be presented to you, the readers. So thanks for the kind words, dude! Okay, where was this story…
Now, Naruto has only been in Konoha for a few nights and he's already beginning to reach a new level of recognition and fame (infamy?). As a result, from here on in, his fight scenes will become more heart-stoppingly intense and his romance scenes will add a whole new meaning to the word: 'passion'. Keep reading! It gets better!
Sorry for the delays and without anymore, I present to you…
Chapter Six – Precision Strike! Rock Lee!
(Need To Be Strongby: Toshiro Masuda)
When I woke up in Hinata's room, the next morning, Hinata was no longer there. When it had occurred to me that I had slept through all the next morning and into the late afternoon, I got some idea of just how exhausted I was feeling after having received no solid rest after arriving at Konoha. I had no idea how much trouble coming back would be. When I asked myself if it could get any worse, I noticed something strange.
Since I had awoken, I had been waiting for Hinata to come back. I looked around the room for any notes she may have left me, but I found none. When I realized that the skies above were already beginning to darken and that there was still no sign of Hinata, I began to worry. I promptly got dressed and left my room. That's when I noticed the mailbox.
A long, blue wisp of angelic hair was dangling in the breeze, one of its ends taped to an envelope that hung inside the small, metal box. It was undoubtedly Hinata's hair.
When I pulled out the envelope I noticed that it was blank all over, except for the long strands of hair that were attached too it. I opened the suspicious letter and read what it had to say inside. I had an awful feeling, as letters always seemed to bring me bad luck I had recently noticed. I gazed upon the words with anxious and then angry eyes.
She is alive.
Come to the tower in the Forest of Death if you want to see her again.
The letter didn't say much, but it told me enough. I had to rescue Hinata.
I crumpled the piece of paper into a tight ball and threw it down on the ground, at the same time noticing a newspaper that had been discarded in the dirt. The headline read: 'Super- Dangerous Missing-Nin, Naruto, Back In Konoha! Two In Hospital!'
I was becoming more and more pissed off at this village.
The Forest of Death wasn't really as bad as it's name sounded. It was a training ground built outside the village walls and was the site of my Chuunin exam, years ago. It was an hour's hike from the village and I would be walking to get there in the dark. The tower itself was huge as far as most towers go, spiraling up at some dizzying height people could not dare to measure. I had only ever seen the ground floor though, so I had no idea what was housed in the floors above.
When I did finally arrive there, stalking cautiously into the tower, I was surprised to find the same stone arena where I had fought Kiba many years ago. Little had changed- just a few wire dangling all over the walls as if they were abandoned electronics.
And that, my friends, was when the party really started.
"Ah, Naruto, you've finally come!" A yell echoed against the dark, dimly lit room.
Now I really could not recall how I had got here, face to face with one of Konoha's greatest Taijutsu experts. He looked at me with confident eyes and I saw determination burning in them. I had hoped it would not have turned out like this but I somehow knew it would be inevitable. I'd have to fight for the people I love.
"You don't have to do this…" I replied quietly, then I paused to gain breath and tried not to look worried as I ordered him to, "Let the girl go."
"But I do, Naruto! But I do! I'm eager to see how much more powerful you've become!" He laughed manically. "I want to see how much powerful I've becometoo!"
The kidnapper stood on an observation platform that was raised all around the sides of the room. The very same floor the Jounin and my teammates had been watching my past duel from, back in the exams.
He seemed excited and bloodthirsty. I hadn't seen him this charged up since the Chuunin exams. He was so eager to brush with death to win so long ago. How much would he be dying to win now? I wondered. The lamplights' flames around the room wavered angrily.
"Humph," I conceded, " But what does Hinata have to do with this exactly?"
The bastard had tied my girl up and now had her suspended from one of the raised, stone fingers of the crumbling rock guardian that had been carved into the wall. Years ago it had looked magnificent and pristine, now it was just an ageing shadow of it's former self.
I tried to look as close as I could at Hinata's face, trying to make out her eyes beneath her fallen hair. Her head bobbed up in alarm when I shouted her name to her captor. I could see her jerking around, and trying to scream, but it was no use. As well as being tied down, she was also gagged. I noticed that she was still dressed in her pajamas.
I also noticed something else strange. Some sort of projection screen, or something similar, was inconspicuously hung up behind Hinata's swinging body.
"She's pretty, Naruto. I have to agree with your tastes. I stole her last night… well, actually, no; I can't have all the credit…" the sinister, young man replied.
Suddenly, a girl stepped from behind the shadows. She stood by the other end of the rope that was keeping Hinata in the air. It was tied down with a metal ring in the wall, and she now held this important, life-saving string in her hands.
I immediately recognized her, beneath her long, free-flowing brunette hair. She had the same tight, sleeveless top and loose pants that she had always worn.
"TenTen? You helped him…?" I asked and I could hear the pain in my own voice.
She remained silent. A stern, expressionless look stared back at me.
"Naruto-kun," she muttered, loud enough for me to hear.
"That's right, Naruto. TenTen and I were outside the window as the two of you played with each other's bodies last night. From the sounds Hinata was making, you must've had some fun, eh? I knew that stupid, foolish bitch was harboring you the moment I saw her at the hospital last night. I asked TenTen to come with me and we took her, knowing full well you would come to her rescue- like the pathetic knight in shining armor you've set yourself up to believe. Didn't you recognize her handwriting on the letter?"
She wrote that letter…"You kidnapped her last night?" I asked, failing to hide my horror.
"Yes, and after that, TenTen here injected you with a toxin that would take you days longer to wake up. Looks like you came through it a bit early though."
I looked at TenTen again. She stood on an elevated platform, protected by a handrail. She inched up closer towards the edge to look down on me standing at the bottom.
"Bitch! When I get my hands on you…!" I began to mutter.
"Don't be so rude, Naruto, I needed the extra time to spice up our old arena! Although you came a bit earlier than I expected, I had just finished the new adjustments."
I knew that the demon inside me had something to do with my quick recovery.
I looked around. "What do you mean? There's nothing different!"
A large, unused screen behind Hinata and some strange wires…
I looked at Hinata. She had been here in his clutches since last night. I felt my rage building underneath my tongue, underneath my knuckles.
"Naruto, I've planted hidden bombs all over this entire tower. This room, and everything else within this abandoned tower, is rigged to blow up twenty minutes after I push this small red button," He smiled that insane smile that only insane people do.
I saw him raise his arm to reveal a small remote control in his palm. It only had two big buttons on it- a red one and a blue one.
"I said you could see her alive again, but I didn't say you could leave, Naruto-kun."
I paused to understand what he had just said.
"Are you completely out of your f-g mind? What the hell has happened to you over the years? You've become insane!" I yelled at him.
"Shut-up, Naruto! Don't pretend you care about what I've gone through! It's come down to this: you have to fight me," He commanded, pointing to his chest, then pointing at Hinata, high above the both of us, " Or your girlfriend can watch me make you cry!"
He brought the small remote control up and shot me an awful, threatening glare.
"So it's come down to this?" I gritted my teeth.
"It has. Time to die, Naruto-kun!" He yelled out, preparing to jump down to meet me.
But before he did that, he pressed the red button.
And then he threw the remote control to the ground, shattering it into a hundred pieces. The big electronic, projector screen I had seen hanging behind Hinata earlier suddenly came to life. Displayed on it was a giant digital clock- a countdown timer, to be exact.
"We have twenty minutes left to live! Let's make them special!" He cried out jubilantly.
"I'll kill you, Rock Lee! I'll kill you for what you did to Hinata!"
I looked at the giant clock, Hinata dangling like a fly in between the huge digits. The giant timer read: 19:59 Min Remaining. And it suddenly became a fight against time.
And so one of the biggest battles of my life had begun.
At that moment, I couldn't help but remember the headlines I had seen on the newspapers all over Konoha that day…'Insane Genin Wreaking Havoc'
'Escaped Nin On The Loose! Hokage Has No Comment!'
'Two In Hospital After Vicious Criminal Attacks Konoha!'
Then I thought about what they would put after this day was over.
'Third In Hospital' or, and I smiled inside at this one:
'Rock Lee Found Dead.'
As soon as he had landed, he charged up at me like a bull, running like fire, his arms flailing at his sides. He screamed as he went, threatening to tear me into pieces.
"F-k you, Lee!" I cried, as I tensed my body and leaned back to prepare a response for his coming attack. I could not predict what it was until it came.
He bent low to the ground during his crazy charge and yelled out, "Leaf Gale (Konoha Reppu)!"
I watched as he began scooping great amounts of air with swinging, crazily sweeping feet, meaning to tear my ankles right from where I was standing. He built up a great a breeze with his kicking legs alone, surprising me at once with the amount of physical strength he had developed over the time we had been apart.
"I'm like a meat saw, Naruto! I'll eat you whole!"
I made a quick step to my left side and missed the low, spinning boy, who resembled a human-sized shuriken spinning close to the ground, by mere inches. Immediately, I charged up a Rasengan and threw it towards him with all my might.
To my surprise, as soon as my ball of chakra had come within a yard of his body, it was blown clean off and deflected, sending my Rasengan into a nearby wall. The speed with which he was spinning was so great that it had actually managed to blow my attack away!
"New dog! Old tricks!" I heard him yell in the eye of the personal storm he was brewing.
"How the F-K?" I swore at him.
"You got to have some new moves, Naruto, if you want to stand a chance. Check out this new taijutsu I created as an example: Burning Leaf Firestorm!"
And with that, Rock Lee's spinning kicks became so much more intensely faster, that his entire body began to glow an eerie red. Soon, small wisps of smoke began to plume up from his trousers. It was almost as if…
"I'm on fire, baby!" Lee suddenly cried out.
Apparently, he also meant to be taken literally.
His spinning became so much more faster that his legs were actually beginning to ignite and soon, it wasn't hard to see the flames starting to lap around his legs as they spun around at dizzying speeds. The localized gale he had created turned into a fury of jumping flames- a great firestorm, as he had warned.
He sped up towards me, still spinning at an impossible rate.
He must have put his body through some damn incredible training, for him to be able to bring that shit on, let alone sustain it for this long. The flames are incredible!
And clearly he was very proud of his new 'Burning Leaf' flames.
I could feel him closer than he actually was- that was because of the fiery heat that radiated outwards from his body, first dipping me in a searing heat, then engulfing me in a sun-hot inferno. I turned around and saw the red-hot heat waves of the sun surround me, before he was only a few feet away from knocking me solidly in the face with his boot. I took the moment to jump up and over him this time, feeling my clothes heat up to an absurd amount.
When I came down, I saw small patches where my top had been burnt right through. Thankfully, the fox lent me some skin protection from the burns, but I knew I wouldn't be able to depend on it forever.
To buy time to think, I molded three Rasengan spheres, and chucked all of them at the spinning firestorm and watched as they all dissipated under the great swirling heat of Lee's new attack.
I took his standing-still time as a chance to evade and put some distance between the both of us to buy me time to think. I checked the giant timer: 13:34 Min. Remaining.
I've got to find a way to penetrate the great storm he's built all around himself. Well, they say that the calmest place during a tornado is in the eye of the storm, right?
I looked up and saw the answer to my problems. Directly above Lee's spinning body, there seemed to be a small pipe made of the flames that licked around his body.
That must be the eye of Lee's storm. If I can find a way to get into it and pass through it down towards Lee, I can beat him!
I jumped up onto the observation deck behind me, the same place Lee had been standing on previously. I would need a great distance to jump higher than the flames, up and into the small safe hole over his head.
"Running away, you SPINELESS coward?" He replied to my retreat.
"No- I'm coming in for a closer look, a-e!" I called back to him.
Then I jumped, high up towards the ceiling. Amazingly, the room seemed to be almost as high as the cliffs in Konoha, because at once I remembered my fight with Shikamaru and the familiar feeling of flying was definitely there.
I steered my body towards the center of the great spirally shaped flame walls, and dove into it like a diver, hands outstretched in front.
Lee noticed my strategy too late and looked up in time to see me grabbing him by both of his shoulders and then landing on both of my feet right in front of him. With my forward momentum, I managed to pick him up and hurl him out of his own fiery barrier.
He passed through the walls of flame he himself had made by cutting the air incredibly. As he broke through each line, he cried in searing pain and cursed words of revenge. I stood and waited inside the rolling flames until they died down around me.
After Lee had passed through the flames, his burning body hit the floor ahead of me, skidding along it for a small time and then stopping in a great flurry of smoke and dirt. Soon afterward I saw him cough and then pick himself up off the floor.
He turned around and faced me.
"That wasn't so special Naruto! You'll have to do better!" He cried angrily.
I watched him solidly, eager to see what he would have next. I'd be a fool to think a little throw like that would be enough to actually slow him down.
"Leaf GreatWhirlwind (Leaf Daisenpu)!" He announced.
It was a familiar move: I saw Lee start to perform his standing, as opposed to crouching, spinning kicks. It looked exactly the same as the 'Leaf Gale', except this time he stood on one foot. Though, this time, he decided to kick things up a notch without asking first.
"BURNING Leaf Great Whirlwind!"
And again, his kicks became so much more infinitely faster that his legs caught fire.
At first, I thought it'd be the same deal as his last attack. His legs would become so fast with every sweep that all he'd do was create walls of flame. This time, I was very wrong. Apparently, crouching and standing had two different effects on the flames from his feet entirely: While crouching, he could create centric walls of fire.
While standing, he could throw fireballs.
With each fearsome, downward swoop of his long, powerful legs, I heard the fire's roar grow louder and more defined. Soon, small spits of fire began to run out from the trail of kick until the spits became larger and formed fireballs the size of tennis balls.
Before I knew it, his legs were catapulting great balls of fire at me!
I ducked down and sidestepped whatever I could, but his kicks were becoming faster and faster, and soon the rate at which he launched fireballs would be fast enough to overcome me. Soon, his ego had returned to haunt me.
"Can't handle the heat, can you, Naruto? This is me laughing at all those people who said I'd never become a great ninja because I can't mold chakra! Well? Look at what I can do now! Ha-ha-ha-ha!" He cried, with every fireball, laughing as he did in between.
I turned around and saw TenTen, standing at her balcony, watching the battle unfold. Occasionally, she would duck down in response to the explosion of a fireball against a nearby wall. I was more worried about the rope next to her catching fire and weakening.
The giant timer read: 06:19 Min. Remaining.
I needed an idea, fast. Suddenly, I began performing the seals needed and:
"Mass Shadow Clone Technique (Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu)!"
Hundreds of my clones formed once more and were draped over every nook and cranny of the humongous room. Immediately after they had appeared though, they had already begun disappearing in puffs of smoke due to Lee's fireballs. If they all stood still, there'd been no question that Lee's flames would eat them all eventually. If we were to charge at the same time, who knew whether Lee could take them all out on his own at closer range?
No, I had another idea.
"Spiraling Sphere Barrage!" I called out again.
It was as if all the clones in the room had understood my order at the same time. Everyone that was Naruto nodded their heads and began forming Rasengan after Rasengan. As they all molded in their hands, the room suddenly became bright with chakra. When everyone was ready, all the balls were released at the same time.
It was like watching the world end: the great, bright balls of chakra came down on Lee at the same time and from all directions.
At first, he tried as best as he could to dodge them, then when he realized he could not, he tried hard to increase his spinning speed in an effort to deflect most of the Rasengan spheres. Some were being deflected, but soon that strategy had also reached its end and he was overcome by the might of one of my new jutsu.
"Suck my balls, Lee."
"Argh!" He cried out in horrified surprise.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
But it still wasn't over.
Suddenly, clumps of the clones began to disappear, but it wasn't because they were being struck. It was because I was using the chakra needed to power their bodies to mold the final Rasengan. It grew fatter and larger, until it was nearly as large as the one I had defeated Shikamaru with- nearly as large as my own standing body, except it was blue.
"This is for Hinata, you dirty little f-k!"
Then, from out of the sky, I plunged through the air and body-dropped my biggest, bluest Rasengan, directly onto his already-battered body as it laid still and injured amongst a hundred tiny Rasengan-craters.
"No, Naruto! No! F-K YOU, NARUTO! F-K YOU TO HELL, B-H! AHHH!"
BOOM! BANG!
"SUCK IT, LEE! SUCK-IT-GOOD!"
"AHHH!"
By the time the ball had dissipated, the timer said: 02:17 Min. Remaining.
When the smoke cleared, I strained my ears, but didn't expect to hear anything. I got up and began walking to the outer circle of the crater and then…
"I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU, NARUTO!"
I turned around and Lee, his face puckered with small craters and trails of blood, already a yard away from me, lifting his long legs up.
"Leaf Hurricane (Konoha Senpu)!"
His foot connected and I felt the awesome, painful blow drive me into the air, bordering me on unconscious and buckling in pain. Then he said:
"Burning Leaf Lava Burst!"
And as he continued to kick me higher towards the ceiling in mid-air, the legs took on the same fiery appearance and I could feel the tongues of heat whipping into my back with every kick he made. Despite the fox's healing powers working overtime to protect my most sensitive parts, I could feel the burns becoming deeper and more numbing with every blow. The pain that racked my body then would've been impossible to survive again and again- but I did so.
Suddenly, there was a large crack: it was the ceiling above giving way to the force of my body as Lee kicked me through it with great power. Soon, we were crashing through floor after floor, going directly upwards- and I was Lee's personal battering ram.
He continued to juggle me for a few more kicks, as my world became darker and darker until…
I caught a glimpse of Hinata in my mind.
01:30 Min. Remaining.
I bit my lip and forced my eyes shut and remembered what she had told me while she was treating my injuries and how I had felt her body last night.
01:22 Min. Remaining.
The ways we had connected and how we had made love.
1:04 Min. Remaining.
How she said she had always believed in me and my abilities…
CRACK!
Suddenly we broke through the roof of the tower! I felt the moonlight kiss my skin and saw the sleeping forest all around us, full of monsters and memories…
Okay!
It's about time, kid!
"NINE-TAILED NARUTO (Kyuubi no Naruto), FIRST FORM!"
Then, there was an explosion mid-air, as Lee's foot collided with my raw power.
"I'LL… GET… YOU!" I cried.
I struggled to control the demon fox's chakra, to keep it confined and on my side. It was difficult because I could feel the fox's rage come out too and mix in with my own.
We both landed together on the roof. I felt the red chakra coursing through my system.
We stared at each other for a second, the great, gaping hole to the floors underneath in between us, like some animals' mouth waiting to return us back down.
59 Seconds.
Lee was momentarily stunned, staring at my new form: the tails that flew out and around my body, the awesome red glow that my body made.
"Naruto, you've changed…" He gasped in amazed terror.
We paused for a few moments, staring each other down.
"I'm going to punish you," I said calmly.
Then his face twisted again in anger.
He quickly snapped out of his awe and yelled:
"Gates released! REVERSE LOTUS (Ura Renge)!"
HERE COMES THE FLYING FOX!
He latched onto my body and I held onto his. Both of us spun together, held close to each other at unworldly speeds, gaining enough velocity to knock any one of us out cold.
But the rage of the demon kept me centered. Lee had gambled all of his chips by opening the celestial limiter gates inside his chakra system, so it was close to assume that he wasn't about to black out on this fight either.
34 Seconds.
Both of us finally began to fall downwards and dropped through the gigantic hole we had made in the roof of the tower. We soon began to plummet, headfirst, to the ground, either one of us very likely to die. The tower seemed a lot shorter on the way down, but damn, it was still pretty huge as most towers go.
29 Seconds.
He held on to me tighter. The flames continued to build up, as we fell through floor after floor of the great tower. Soon, the sight of the ground floor was clear beneath us, and I saw the darkness open up to engulf us.
28 Seconds.
If I hadn't transformed there was no way I'd be able to remain conscious through the speeds we were being thrown through, let alone barely survive the impact. Lee had his limiters released to support him, but they were as unreliable as a demon fox.
"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The Fox inside me cried out of it's own accord.
Suddenly, the clones returned, though this time, all of them seemed to blaze red, although not as much as I was glowing. All of them went to work, forming a long, human tower underneath Lee and I, each individual clone stretching his hand high up into the air above them and tensing their strong, taut bodies.
Such a useless technique, what are you planning to do now, stupid fox?
POOF! POOF! POOF! POOF!
And all the clones began to disappear one by one as Lee and I crashed into them, crushing them all into the ground. Gradually I noticed that our fall was becoming slightly slower and slower with each puffy disappearance of the clones.
Then it hit me: the fox was summoning the clones to slow down our fall.
It would rather both of us lived, than both of us died.
POOF! POOF!
25 Seconds.
POOF! POOF! POOF!
21 Seconds.
The rate of our fall was just taking too long to absorb as tens of hundreds of clones disappeared within several blinks of an eye as our bullet-path down was slowed down.
We suddenly hit the ground with a bang of smoke and dirt, landing squarely on a pile of rubble that had been created when we were breaking through the ceilings above.
I was fine and couldn't feel even a hint of a scratch on me. I wasn't surprised: the fox's healing powers had improved rapidly over the years. Lee, on the other hand, looked terrible and had already blacked out from all the stress on his body. It was a miracle his body wasn't eaten away by his own energy costs.
I was still huffing when I said, "You've been punished enough, Lee."
That's when I finally landed on both feet and looked up at TenTen.
18 Seconds.
"TenTen, disarm those F-G BOMBS!"
TenTen paused for a moment, paralyzed in fear. I began reverting back to my original form; it would take several seconds for that to finish.
"Are you even listening to me you dumb B-H? DISARM THEM OR WE'LL ALL DIE!"
"I CAN'T! It's…it's impossible! The Remote…!"
15 Seconds.
I suddenly remembered how Lee had destroyed the remote after he had activated the timer.
That F-G idiot just got us all killed, I thought bitterly. Not even this stupid fox is going to get me out of a bomb situation, let alone all of us, alive.
I still held the comatose Lee in my arms, reluctant to let him die, even after everything he had done to me. Hinata was still dangling in front of the timer, presumably passed out from all she had been watching and TenTen was still on her platform, knocking her knees and about to ruin her underwear.
How the f-k am I going to get all of us out of here alive?
10 Seconds.
"TENTEN! STOP SHAKING AND RUN YOUR ASS OUT OF THIS TOWER NOW!"
I strapped Lee to my back and piggybacked him out towards the center of the room, instead of turning around and running out of it, which I should have been doing.
I drew a kunai from my pouch and threw it at the rope holding Hinata.
Her unconscious body began to fall towards the floor.
I dashed harder to the other side of the room to meet her before she touched the ground.
7 Seconds.
Hinata came down lower. I charged towards the ruined statue on her side of the floor, running as hard as I could. I had to snatch her and then escape. If only I could just…
4 Seconds.
Build up enough speed…
3 Seconds.
Got ya!
I caught Hinata in my arms, still using one of my hands to keep Lee strapped around my shoulders like an animal fur scarf.
2 Seconds.
"Arrrrrr!" I yelled mustering whatever strength I still had in my body.
And I tackled through the wall in an explosion of dust and rubble, charging through the cracked statue's belly and forcing my way through to the other side. That's where I met the fresh grass and air- the welcoming world outside the doomed tower.
I saw TenTen standing there, gazing upwards at the tower as the explosions began, rocking the upper floors first, sending them reeling down to crush towards the ground.
I fell down under the weight of Lee and Hinata, crashing into the soft grass in front of TenTen's feet. I landed with a thump, panting for my life. The very force and the heat of the bombs going off behind me made it hard for me to remain standing.
The explosions just kept coming afterwards, rocking the entire forest, sending birds and bats into the sky in fright. Smoke arched high up into the sky, turning the tower into a giant smoke signal, where no doubt people back at Konoha would have already begun to panic at it's sight and sound.
When the explosions began to slow down, I saw how the mighty tower had been reduced to a monstrous pile of rubble and wreckage in less than fifteen seconds.
That's when I laid Hinata and Lee down on the grass and drew another kunai from my pouch and placed it against TenTen's throat and said to her:
"You have a lot of explaining to do."