Downfall of the Light 3
Chapter 8: Atrocious Dawn
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I've said it more than enough times in my life already.
AN: Yes, another chapter done because of your continuous support! Arigato, arigato! Despite that this series is not that great or popular, I suppose I will still finish it regardless since I have come this far. I know this chapter is like a month late, well, it's getting difficult to write 2 stories. The next update will more than likely to be in June or July or some shit within that category –I got to work on my Seed fic now, people are getting a tad bit too impatient, nor do I have the intentions to keep them waiting for too long. Regardless of whatever my problem is, I am glad to have finished this chapter for you guys.
Thanks to the following people for motivating me to continue and endure: Arurisonu Akane, Dragon Man 180, jasx316, violinmana, FluteMaster, warprince2000, Oris, nonegel, thelaterreader, Metacarius, naruto-fanfic, AnimeFanAngel, D.D Designator, Forbidden, FlamingChronicles, LightHope, and DaveBoo1378!
And those who hope to see a perverted scene (not necessarily a lemon) between Shani and Tayuya, let's just say I saved it for the next chapter. Sorry, gomen! I know I can be a pervert, so I know that scene will be here soon. Probably it would be up in a month or 3 weeks.
Additional AN: You are still here? What are you doing? Read already!
(At the Konoha Encampment)
Kagari was worried sick. She didn't want to believe what really happened last night, but she knew better than to doubt what Chaos and Umi told her. She should've been there with him despite that the marriage issue was private. Kagari should not have left her oni-chan alone. Now this mess erupted and Shani was now assumed to be killed. No, that could not be, Shani was too strong to be killed, he just couldn't leave this world like that.
Without knowing, she was mumbling Shani's name over and over again while she was having breakfast with Asuran. The young Uchiha rushed to her side before embracing her, and when she felt the close comfort, the Uzumaki girl wept out loud. It crushed the boy's heart to see his admirer (or possibly lover) like this, it didn't suit her at all. Kagari should be delightful and happy; cheering on other people despite they fail or succeed; be the light of the crowd… but now, she was down, very down.
"Kagari…" whispered Asuran to her ear while her head was down. "Kagari…"
She finally raised her head from her slouching. The girl was somewhat taken aback when she suddenly found him beside her. "Asuran?" The Uchiha was glad that he had a response from her; he thought he had killed herself from her own melancholy. Then again, Kagari was never the type to dwell in her own sadness and then pointlessly wasting herself before she could truly enjoy life.
"You okay, Kagari?" he asked her holding her closely.
"I'm fine…" she told him as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Asuran… is Shani back yet?"
The golden eyed Uchiha coughed immediately; he wasn't expecting such a question this quickly. What could he tell her? To the very least, it was better than to lie. "Your oni-chan…" he said sadly, he didn't have the face to tell her this –nor did he want to. "He hasn't returned…" Kagari didn't seem too stunned to hear it though.
"Is that so?"
"Yeah…"
"Then where were you last night, Asuran? I woke up for a bit last night and didn't find you here." Asuran was somewhat amazed that she was actually awake. On the other hand, with her so depressed and absorbed it was not a major stun to see her having sleeping problems.
"Searching for information on the Sound," said the prodigy of Uchiha Itachi.
"Like what?"
"Hacking through their largest secrets, that's what."
This news had caught her attention. To Asuran's surprise, Kagari's reaction was to topple on top of him. The young Uchiha's face flushed up when he saw hers ever so closely. He could nearly kiss her.
"Hacking into their biggest secrets?" she repeated in a form of a question, "What are you saying? How did you do it?"
"I have my ways," said Asuran before squirming his way out of their ungraceful position, "Tsunade-sama is looking at it right now and she told me to look for you. Despite that Shani-bastard going crazy on us, I think it's wise to take a look at what I discovered. I think it may be beneficial to us."
Seeing that Asuran was quite eager to lighten up her mood, the Uzumaki Paladin lady could not simply refuse his offer. Needless to say, Asuran had been working quite hard to see Kagari grin again, and she was utmost certain that he barely slept for her sake. She needed to get out of this deep melancholy; she wanted something to get her mind off Shani for a while although he was still missing. If she knew her precious big brother, he should be fine. She just hoped that nothing drastic had happened during his absence, and soon she followed Asuran to Tsunade's temporary office.
(At Tsunade's office a several minutes later)
"Grandmother," called Kagari as she knocked on the door as a polite act of respect, "Are you in there?"
"I came out of this room just moments before," Asuran told her in a whisper, "Of course she would be in there."
"Checking is better than not checking."
The Uchiha just slapped himself on the forehead exasperatedly.
Only one girl in this entire village called Tsunade grandmother; that would be Naruto's daughter. Hearing her sweet, gentle voice, Tsunade smiled before responding. "Kagari, come on in." Given the permission, the two adolescents swiftly entered the room. Kagari was surprised to see her grandmother today -this was the first time that she had seen the 5th Hokage in front of a computer. It wasn't like it was wrong to see someone working using a PC, it was just strange to see someone at the age of 65 or 67 in front of it.
Kagari didn't know why though –not like she was being mean or anything within those lines.
Asuran hurried himself before standing next to the Hokage -who was watching the computer screen. "So," he began with an inaudible deep breath, "Where are you now?"
"Not too far off before you went and picked up Kagari-chan," answered Tsunade to the Uchiha as she moved down the page. She didn't even notice that Kagari was beside her as well until a second later, "This is truly amazing…"
"Amazing?" questioned Asuran, cocking a brow.
"Not amazing in a good way… I would say it's more of fascinating, fascinating how the Sound has done so much for the sake of defeating us."
Kagari became curious. "Then what is the Sound planning?"
"From what I can gather here… the Sound took over the Wave for the sole reason to muster more men for their own cause. Of course, that cause is hopefully to outnumber us. At the same time, there was another reason." Asuran and Kagari listened with extreme vigilance and alert. "Their second objective was to test out their Enhanced's power."
"Enhanced?"
"Enhanced, that's right. Or rather… biological armaments."
Asuran was deeply disgusted. "Are you saying that the Wave no longer exists due to an experiment the Sound wanted to test out? This is ridiculous! Hundred, thousands of lives were wasted… and then thousands of them were forced to join the Sound… and this is all for a goddamn experiment! Tsunade-sama, what the hell are these biological armaments?"
The Hokage ignored his question for now wisely, but not before turning to the next page. When the two teens saw this, they kept their mouths shut and read along with Tsunade. "The Sound was developed out of vengeance and hate, and their leader Orochimaru is someone who despises Konoha until the day he dies. Not only that, he would do anything to influence his inhabitants to hate us as well. You can even say that this is their motto." Motto, what a bizarre word it was on this sort of logic. "With this belief in the back of people's heads, it's no doubt that everyone hates Konoha with all their heart… also, as long as Orochimaru –because he gave those people a home and life- spurns us, they would serve him loyally. Due to this hate that he has, Orochimaru tries to do everything to have the ideal warriors on his side so when the day he commences his attack on us victory would be at his hand.
"He knows well that this village has Naruto, Kagari's father, who is a demon, and Gaara of the Sand, who is also another demon. Orochimaru could tell that Konoha is one village that is hard to defeat. Not only that, Konoha has plenty of noble clans such as the Hyuga, and other clans that contain one of the most mysterious ninjutsus that other villages may not have. With these defenses and power, Orochimaru must gather more people who show more promise than our people. Sadly enough, he would do all sorts of means to have these people on his side."
"You seem to know this Orochimaru guy well, Tsunade-sama," commented Asuran, catching everything that had been given to him.
"Yeah, do you really know another?" asked Kagari with exuberant curiosity.
Once more, the Hokage avoided her question as she scrolled down further, "In order to compete against us, Orochimaru and their doctors developed a very special drug called the Grypheptan. The purpose of these things is –in theory- to increase a certain individual's strength, stamina, chakra, and agility. However, these kinds of steroids do have their drawbacks when the effects wear off… and judging from this it says that the body of the user would suffer from immense pain before their logic is lost. There is no telling what the users may do if an antidote isn't given to them after their torment."
"What a sick bastard…"
Tsunade only continued despite being sickened herself. "The Grypheptan is actually a newly developed drug when you two were born… and this drug was only safe to be used on people that have incredible amount of chakra and training… and this report says that only Orochimaru's elites had that kind of ability to withstand it properly. Later on the years, Orochimaru had enough skill to improve it so it could even preserve the user youth… so it means that those who take this medicine would be able to be young forever so they could battle for the Sound for as long as they could. When I say that, I mean when those living weapons are either killed in battle or commit suicide themselves."
"Who would do such a thing!" objected Asuran with anger flaring up inside, "This-this… bastard… and is he actually using this on humans so they could be his slaves forever?" Tsunade had no other option but to nod. This was reality, and these were the facts that she couldn't deny. Kagari felt herself shaking with moral outrage.
"I'm not done yet… the Enhanced –which are the biological weapons- are also referred to as elite soldiers of Orochimaru. There were four of them… but one of them had died during an accident many years ago. I don't know if your parents have told you before, but Itachi-kun had witnessed the Enhanced during the assault on the Wave. Although your parents may not truly know how they even look like, these files that we are hacking should have them. If you encounter them one day, I want you to take extreme caution and run away as fast as you can." Tsunade was shocked to see Kagari actually smirking.
"Don't fight them?" the Uzumaki angel inquired, scoffing slightly, "You wish. If they are part of the Sound, I will kill them."
"I don't want you risking your own life against these monstrosities, Kagari-chan," Tsunade explained for the sake of her granddaughter, "This is not some game that you can gamble on… this is your life that we are talking about. Kagari-chan, promise me that you would run away." Kagari might have nodded but her heart had no means to escape if she ever encountered these elites. For Tsunade's sake, she agreed for the time being.
"Do you think that those Enhanced freaks are present in this invasion?"
"They may be… but your father and mother said that they did not meet anyone that was extraordinarily powerful or special."
If Father and Mother did not fight them at the West Gate… where could they be?
"Tsunade-sama," said Asuran who had been quiet for a while, "Do you happen to have pictures on the Enhanced? I mean, it's better for us to know their faces just in case we do run into them." The Uchiha certainly brought up a valid point. In all honesty, Tsunade was quite curious to know what their appearances were like.
The Hokage then clicked at a few random places, "It should be right here… the profiles on these Enhanced…" When Tsunade made way to the profiles, Asuran and Kagari gasped audibly when 4 photos showed up on the screen. Despite that they did not know who the hell that boy was with gray hair that covered his right eye; they clearly knew who the other three were.
Kidoumaru, Jiroubo, and Tayuya, these were three damn faces that Kagari and Asuran could not forget. Tsunade watched the teens closely, and she was completely bewildered to see them this shocked and frightened. All she could do now was to find out if they were feeling fine. "Kagari-chan… Asuran, are you two okay?"
"This… this…" the dark haired girl pointed out as her finger twitched while pointing.
"These three are the Enhanced?" the Uchiha added with utter disbelief. What trickery was this? "Weren't these three the guys that we fought at the South Gate?" Kidoumaru's face made his blood boil.
The Godaime noticed their angered expressions but chose to not make a sound. Even if inquisitiveness was a powerful urge inside her at the moment, she knew when to ask questions. Obviously, this was not the time. "It says that these Enhanced elites became elite soldiers ever since they were children… and the report says that the new developed Grypheptan stopped them from ever aging again. Although they may be in their adult ages, their appearances look no different from their adolescent years."
Tsunade's explanations matched Tayuya, Jiroubo, and Kidoumaru perfectly.
"No way…" Kagari whispered to herself, "I can't believe we have been battling the Sound's top soldiers."
"What did you say, Kagari-chan?"
"Nothing, grandmother," the Uzumaki girl quickly changed the subject, "What time is it right now?"
"It's only 6:30AM," the Hokage told her granddaughter, "Where do you need to go?"
"I want to see if Yamase-chan is feeling okay about oni-chan's absence," Kagari said with her usual charming, happy smile, "Besides, I think she needs to grieve. Grandmother, may I leave now?" Tsunade looked at her for a second before her own lips curved an understanding smile. Unlike Kagari, Tsunade did not have too many relatives –and it was best to dismiss her granddaughter if she needed to attend to someone else. When the Hokage granted her permission, Kagari quickly gave a small bow before exiting the room.
What Asuran and Tsunade detected was that she left a tad too rushed. She was in safe grounds; she would have no means to fear.
The Godaime turned to the only other person in this room. "You think she is hiding something?"
"Definitely," replied Asuran speaking no false words.
"Do you know what she is hiding then?"
"I think I do."
"Mind telling me what it may be?"
"Sure thing, Tsunade-sama, I'll tell you everything. In truth… these Three Sound members that are on this screen… they are the same Three that we battled yesterday afternoon."
"Is that so?" she inquired wisely as she lifted her cup of coffee to take a sip. "What else do you know about them, Asuran?"
The Uchiha prodigy of Itachi was more than willing to elaborate. The Hokage just absorbed everything that was given to her within the next six minutes –it was not much of a stun when she displayed nothing delightful.
(Meanwhile, at the West Side of the Fire Country)
"Do you smell that, Hinata?" asked Naruto to his wife who was 2 meters behind him in flight.
"Smell what?" the Hyuga heiress asked back confusedly as she followed his lead to glide down lower. "I don't smell anything… what do you smell, Naruto?"
"Decay."
"I don't smell anything though…"
"Part of this forest is decaying," he told her with utmost vigilance. "Something is amiss…"
"What is causing it to decay? Are the forests being destroyed by dark energies?" Hinata questioned worriedly. With Shani missing, she was deeply paranoid by things despite whether it was big or small. Of course Naruto didn't neglect her disturbance. In fact, he could be even more concerned than her at this point. Having Shani gone was very unfortunate, but seeing his wife in such a fragile state was equally frustrating.
"The forests are contaminated or corrupted, Hinata-chan," said the Death Knight, "They are okay. However, what puzzles me is why only one section is decaying… especially with a dark chakra smearing all over it."
"Are you saying that a battle went through there?"
"More or less… I got a strong feeling that Shani was the one who was out here…"
That stunned Hinata to the core that words could not express. However, it was not the time to choke; she had to pull herself back together. "Shani-chan… how can that be? This is at least 20km away from Konoha… this is insane! Why would he come out here?"
"You got me…" That was not the most helpful answer that the Hyuga heiress was expecting. Moreover, she knew Naruto was not in the best mood to talk sweetly.
"I want a better answer than that, Naruto."
The Death Knight was forced to try again although he was suppressing his own concerns. "Judging from what Chaos said, Shani practically went nuts," Naruto stated as-a-matter-of-factly. Again, Hinata noticed that it was one of his usual cold, passive replies before she dated him long ago. "I seriously doubt that logic was running through his sharp head…"
"Do you think my news pressured him too much?" Hinata asked, feeling extremely guilty for last night, "Oh, I was such an idiot…" The Death Knight groaned to himself inwardly. Yhis was at least the hundredth time that Hinata blamed herself for this. And like all the other times, he kept telling her that it wasn't her fault.
"Hinata," Naruto told her, "It was nothing that you could've done about this… we had to tell Shani that anyway… and I am sure that Yamase would've spilled out the news regardless. If he didn't hear it from us… I am sure he would've been sad."
The Hyuga girl quickly argued. "But to sacrifice his sanity to achieve trust… which is more worth it?" Given such a question, both answers sounded pretty bad. If he chose one, Hinata would cry, and if he picked the other… Hinata would weep. Damn, why must it be so damn hard?
Coincidentally, something got him off the hook when his eyes detected something from a far distance. However, that meant trouble for his teal eyes never spoke lies to him.
"Worry about your question later, Hinata," said the demon hunter as he gained more speed in his flight, "You sense that?"
"Sense what?" she questioned as she achieved more agility by focusing more chakra, "I don't really…"
"South West from here… I can detect three massive chakra signatures…" That statement made Hinata's eyes narrow cautiously. "One of them is Temari… but who the hell are the other two? They are strong… very dark… Use your eyes, Hinata." By the time he told her the instructions, Hinata already had her Byakugan activated with her unique seal formed. From what he gathered from Hinata's expression, his wife was shocked to see what it was. "What is it, Hinata?"
"It's them…" she told him in a terrified whisper, "It's them…"
"Them? Who is this them that you speak of?" Hinata didn't make any sense to him. What in blazes was she talking about?
"Those two that Shani-chan and Kagari-chan fought with… but there is only two of them… I don't see the girl…" Naruto did not know whether if this was fortunate or not, but he had no intention to care right now when his eyes clearly told him that Temari and those two guys are bunched together at this moment. Most likely they were already engaging another in combat. His intelligence suddenly kicked in, why was Temari out in the middle of nowhere? Wasn't she supposed to be in the Sand? Nonetheless, she was obviously in danger.
"Who cares about that last bitch," commented Naruto rudely –which took Hinata off guard since he never used a rude comment so unpredictably, "Temari-san is in trouble… Hinata, what else did you see? Is Temari-san fighting?"
"Yes, the Sand army is there, too…"
"Then let's make haste."
Giving a nod, the duo forced their bodies to generate more chakra before soaring through the skies like lightning. If they knew the Sound's cunning style of game planning, they guaranteed that the Sand would not be able to maintain their ground for too long. If Konoha lost hundreds in two days, then these reinforcements without a good leader were a joke –not like Temari wasn't great though but it was more than likely that her troops would not be sufficient.
(Moments before)
"Temari-sama," said a Sand chunnin, walking away from the Sand army of 600 men to approach Temari, "How long do we have before we reach Konoha? We have been traveling for a several days already and still not one town in sight."
"This path is supposed to be the express route," explained the Kazekage, Temari, "In other words, the most direct route from Sand to Konoha. Anyway, we have been walking for 90 minutes already; I think this area should be a good place for us to rest up and have breakfast."
"Should I scout around for water or enemies?"
"Do we need to?" asked Temari, wondering if that was necessary. "We are in Fire Country territory after all."
"To the very least, I think we should look for water… like a river or lake or something."
"I suppose you're right, but come back in half an hour at most, okay? I don't want you to grow hungry."
The Sand Chunnin immediately bowed with respect, "I understand, Temari-sama. I will be back soon."
"I don't think you'll be going anywhere, fool." A voice came from nowhere before a spiked cannonball attached on a wire was launched out before striking the poor chunnin's head –hard. As of result, his head was knocked off the body, and obviously he was killed in an instant. Temari, along with the Sand army, gasped with terror.
"Who's there!" demanded the Kazekage angrily, "Show yourself!"
Instead of getting a response, she only heard one scream. "Destroy!" To the very least, Temari recognized that was the same voice, but she wanted to scream when a red plasma beam coated with a blue energy was fired from the forests before disintegrating three more of her men like shreds. Luckily, she leaped to the left quickly before the plasma shaved her liver area off. No doubt she was enraged.
"You missed her, baka," another voice was heard that was different from the first one.
"Whatever," the first mystery person said back casually, "Look, Jiroubo, it's exactly what Akira-sama said… there are so many of them…" This crap talk ticked Temari even more, and she was not somebody who would just stand still and listen to all this garbage. Her emotions dominated suddenly before she fully opened her fan fiercely.
"Bastards!" the Kazekage yelled harshly as she pulled her primary weapon back in a stance, "I don't care who you are, but this ends here! Ninpou Kamatachi!" Giving one intense swing, a massive chakra gust –which turned into a rushing tornado in a second- was blasted towards the forests. Temari smirked as the winds plowed through the trees devastatingly, but she didn't fail to notice two significant shadows escaped her winds by leaping out. They were faster than she imagined –much faster.
"Did you get them, Temari-sama?" asked another Sand member worriedly. When she shook her head while grimacing, that certain individual safely assumed the terror was not over yet. Barely anyone could fight head on against Temari's winds, and this must be very serious. "Above us!" he quickly alerted by pointing upward when he saw an arachnid-freak and a chubby adolescent in the air diving downwards.
Temari flinched. "Ninpou-"
"Not so fast, bitch!" announced Kidoumaru loudly as he gathered chakra into his mouth for a initial attack. "Eliminate!" Without warning he fired his mouth plasma right at her. Fortunately, she didn't waste any chakra just yet, and taking defensive measures Temari quickly took her fan before herself as she defended against this unknown attack. As far as she concerned, she never fought against such an attack, and once the beam struck her fan Temari felt herself being forcefully pushed back by the incredible force.
What in the heck was this?
This was unreal, and she believed that entirely when the metal rims of her fan were starting to melt. Even with a special coating Kidoumaru's beam destroyed it with just one blast. She had no choice but to demand her body to get out of this situation, and with one evasive shift she found an opening before slipping out of it. As for the plasma beam… it shaved a several trees out of their systems.
"You're good," commented Kidoumaru impudently, "You're definitely not a nobody."
"Damn you!" cursed Temari as she opened her fan and stood in a special stance, "Who the hell are you? Why are you attacking my men and comrades?" That question got Kidoumaru laughing, and of course this did not please the Kazekage a little bit. "What is so funny?"
The arachnid archer pointed to his forehead, "Why don't you take a look for yourself?" Temari's eyes simply widened afterwards. She truly did not believe this until her eyes sent the images into her mind.
"A Sound member! What the hell…"
"That's right, lady. Looks like you aren't that much of an idiot after all." He had quite a potty mouth; she would give him that much to the least. "Wherever you are going, I think I have to end your precious journey before you go on any further."
"Why would a bunch of Sound members give a fuck about where we are heading?" Temari questioned, giving a cold glare, "Don't you know how to mind your own business?"
"If you are associating with Konoha, then you are in our way. We can't have that worthless village getting stronger after all the efforts we have given to keep them this weak." To make it more intimidating, Kidoumaru chuckled darkly again before giving a cackle. "It was fun when you pathetic idiots weren't there to save them, and it's funny how you call yourselves allies. Where was the precious Sand when your friends needed you most? Oh right, they were crying… crying because I already pummeled them to the ground while they desperately wanted help."
Temari gritted her teeth with maximum rage, "Damn you… how dare you do that to Konoha!"
"Sorry, lady," he said with thick sarcasm covering his words, "Orders are orders. Besides, I had fun."
"You took so many lives… and now you are proudly boasting what you have done, bloody bastard!" she soon positioned her fan behind her to strike. "I won't forgive you!"
"I won't attack like that if I were you," the Sound sharpshooter suddenly told her before she swung, "If you care about your weapon that is." Of course, his words did not make any sense whatsoever to Temari.
"What?"
"Why don't you take a look at your fan?" Seeing there was no problem to steal a glimpse at her own weapon, she carefully trailed her eyes to look at it. Despite that the fan was still in tact, something was definitely missing. Being someone who knew this weapon all her life, Temari quickly believed something was wrong, yet, she didn't fully catch what it was. However, her wits took over when she no longer detected the shine in her black metal rims. At last she finally found out what was the matter. "You see it now?"
His smirk was making her blood boil.
The Kazekage did not find this to be amusing in any possible way. "You burned off my anti-chakra coating… how did you know? Damn it!" Kidoumaru was as confident as ever.
"I noticed the shines, and besides, your tornado attack certainly uses up a lot of chakra. A normal weapon would not be able to sustain that sort of energy -not even metal like titanium or whatnot. Also, you need your chakra to bounce off the weapon to form the gust, and which is why the coating was perfect to serve that purpose. I am sure you double your fan as a shield."
This was very bad. A stranger discovered her entire weapon information after one attack. Being a shinobi who learned that element of surprise was the most crucial in combat, she knew better than anyone to allow her personal strengths and weakness to be revealed so easily. She didn't know who to blame -his sharpness or her own carelessness.
"Damn you!" she shouted with rage plastering every feature she was displaying, "You know nothing!"
"Oh, don't I?" he countered back quickly, "If you unleash your tornado now the charka irregularities would completely overload the fan due to the fact that the anti-chakra coating was burned off by me. You wouldn't want that to happen now, would you, lady?" Temari winced when he reminded her about this, "At the same time, you can no longer use this as a shield for it won't survive another one of my blast. Speaking of which," He opened his mouth to reveal a spark from his opening, and Temari clearly recognized that was a beam.
"Oh, fuck…"
"Obliterate!"
Talk about her unfriendly surprises, one moment he was talking, and now he was attacking without giving any signs. He seriously had a talent to amaze people. Actually, that was what made him an elite in the first place. As the mouth plasma swept the ground clean, it left plenty of deep dents behind to show off its power and might. One hit of that and she would be a goner. At the same time, with her weapon at a useless state she was nearly defenseless. Of course, there was always the option of taijutsu but seeing how Kidoumaru had a spherical breaker, six arms, and a mouth plasma cannon, she was at a disadvantage.
Moreover, he had techniques that she may not even know.
Not knowing what was best, Temari had to fall back.
"Yukachi!" Temari yelled to a chunnin despite that she was disgusted at herself for saying this, "I need to fall back for a moment! Defend me for as long as you can!" She then leaped back to where their tents were although her subordinate was clearly panicking. The present situation was horrible, and now the Kazekage was retreating? This was an outrage! However, if Temari gave this order, it must be an emergency.
"That bitch is running away?" questioned Kidoumaru to himself with a smirk as he took out his bow. "Not on my watch." After mustering enough strength in his pull, the archer released his arrow at mach2 speed aiming to kill. There was no way she could escape this.
"Temari-sama!" shouted Yukachi in a dead panic as he leaped into the line of fire. As a result of his so-called bravery, his head was penetrated –which was not the most ideal reward for someone this courageous. Undoubtedly he was killed in an instant, and Kidoumaru cursed having his target get away momentarily. At the same time, more and more of the Sand were advancing towards his direction. How foolish of them to pointlessly waste themselves -did those idiotic fools finally figured out that he had been messing with their precious Kazekage while they tried to get their asses here?
If that Yukachi bastard did not interfere, he may have succeeded in eliminating her. It didn't matter now; these fools would serve ideally for a good appetizer before the real meal came.
As far as he was concerned, they were asking for their death sentences.
Lengthening the wire of the spherical breaker, Kidoumaru yelled threateningly before lashing his weapon out to the first batch of fools that wanted some of his wrath. "Take this! Terminate!" The cannon ball struck a Sand ninja before he turned into pieces by an explosion, and Kidoumaru swiftly tilted his head before discharging another plasma beam at a cluster of idiots. The onslaught practically disintegrated them into dust and a rain of blood; it greatly intrigued him as he took flight.
Kidoumaru was having a satisfyingly dark laugh. "I'm sorry…" said the archer, coming down and smashed one man's head with his breaker, "For being so strong!" A Sand member gasped when he saw Kidoumaru was actually flying, and he screamed as the Sound freak went past him –but not without an arrow jamming into his throat. At the same time, a storm of ninja explosive tags were thrown at his direction –from Kidoumaru's perspective it seemed to be a very effective covering fire.
The arachnid sharpshooter simply sneered.
Did they seriously expect to get him just like that? He wasn't a Sound elite for nothing. They carried this name although the doctors and the sannin treated him like trash. Not hesitating to react, Kidoumaru quickly whirled his spherical breaker repeatedly to make the wire into a thin invisible shield, and the outcome of those explosives tags were nothing but a bad memory when they ignited on the anti-chakra coated wire.
Long story short, it did absolutely nothing.
Forcing himself to counter attack, Kidoumaru practically whipped his left arm from his right to the left while dragging the spherical breaker with it to smash and crush. Noticing that deadly unpredictable strike, all the Sand chunnins leaped high to the air to evade, but one unfortunate victim was struck by the waist before the breaker rushed itself out from the other side.
"Die!" an angry voice came from behind. When Kidoumaru turned his head around, he found out there was actually a brave soul coming down from above with a kunai ready to stab his head. What a pity, the archer thought as he ruthlessly blasted a mouth plasma upward. All the Sand members nearby saw a magnificent display of fireworks at that moment, and what made their hearts sank was when their comrade was the reason of that explosion.
He wanted more, Kidoumaru just loved fireworks -and these pathetic weaklings were ever so perfect to become his source of entertainment. Kidoumaru lashed out his cannon ball again and it struck someone in the head as it knocked it off. The outcome was a headless body spewing blood like a waterfall. The next man was hit by three chakra generated arrows at the heart -his body ignited into pieces due to chakra irregularities. At last, a several bunched up ninjas were literally cracked to death when Kidoumaru unleashed his webs to form a capturing net. After catching a number of them, he twirled to the skies –obviously taking the captives with him- spinning and whirling before slamming them on their heads after giving all his additional thrust and power.
The victims' heads were all cracked open after that throw, and Kidoumaru found so much fun pulling off that sort of stunt. These men were even worse than those Konoha fools were! They were considering having these weaklings as reinforcements? Why bother looking for people who showed less promise? What, was it because they had numbers? Despite their numbers, Kidoumaru was confident that he could destroy any one of them who stood in his way.
"You insolent bastard!" a chunnin sneered as he unsheathed his katana before leveling it above his head, "Don't take the Sand this lightly!" Just as he slashed downward (it was already a miracle that the chunnin actually got close) his sword struck nothing but fresh air when Kidoumaru shifted his body to the right. At this point, there was a very clear opening for the archer to fight back.
Kidoumaru sneered confidently as one of his right arms reached for his back pouch, "Watch this," he told the man when he took out his own special kunai, "Sayonara!" However, the chunnin showed more resistance. Instead of standing there all shocked with fear, he struck back with a slash. Much to his surprise, Kidoumaru moved his spherical breaker in front of him as a shield. Therefore, the katana strike became defective. The arachnid sharpshooter was kind enough to allow the first opening to slide but he wasn't that lenient on the second one though. "Kill!" With one jam and rushing blow, Kidoumaru's arm came out (at the other end) of the man's body with his hand gripping on some internal organs.
No one recalled being able to survive while lacking their intestines –especially when they were perfect for a jump rope.
At the same time, another wave of ninja weapons was thrown right at him again. Didn't they know how to use jutsus? Correction, didn't they know when to quit? Generating more chakra into his mouth, he ruthlessly blasted his mouth plasma once more as the weapons were a yard away from striking him. One blast was all that was required to counter, and the beam continued to travel towards where the attack initially came from. No doubt, some of the opposing forces that were closer were wiped out in swiping cleanses; and those who were further back fortunately had more time to escape.
However, some of them had parts of their limbs burned off during the process. With their bodies in pain and partially out of commission, they resorted to crawling or hopeless retreating. Being an elite, Kidoumaru wouldn't allow this to happen around him. He quickly leaped high to the skies before pulling back his bow, and with one small release he launched three arrows at top speed while piercing off three morons' heads. As for the rest of them, he spun his spherical breaker wildly before lashing it out at one of the retreating idiot. As the condensed spike web ball hit his spine, the chunnin was crushed before turning into pieces before an explosion took place.
It was a great privilege to see another slow moron. This time around, Kidoumaru shot his arrow and struck through the weakling's chest before his entire body was pinned to the ground. He would've made a great decorative art if his body would not decay.
"These baka yaros are hardly worth the fight," said Kidoumaru watching more fools gathering around him despite they had seen him totaling their other friends easier than swatting flies, "Too slow…" Performing the same stance and movements, Kidoumaru gathered energy into his mouth, "Again!" Not hesitating for the hundredth time this morning, he swept the field clean before the Sand could start their counter assault.
Suddenly, he sensed two massive chakra signatures coming from the skies. Skies, attackers were coming in from the air? The only enemies that had flight ability were Shani, Kagari, and Asuran, who the hell were these two? If it were that Uchiha and Uzumaki girl, that would make sense. However, this source of chakra weren't identical. He needed some time to ponder, but that was not given to him when he sensed a crushing wave of abnormal jutsus was launched at him from the left -quickly.
(At that instant)
He once more lengthened the wire attached to his spherical breaker before whirling it in a circular motion to create a powerful reflective shield. All the chakra projectiles that touched the shield were deflected cleanly without leaving a mark whatsoever, but during that period of defending Kidoumaru picked up a dangerously dark chakra presence coming in from the rear.
Forcing himself to move, the arachnid archer immediately jolted before gliding to the left. He felt his forehead getting wet when he saw a dark forged blade stabbing at the spot he was less than a second ago, Kidoumaru had an idea of what might have happened to him if he didn't move. Moreover, he truly needed to speed up when the mysterious attacker rushed the weapon towards him again. What amazing cooldown that man had, thought Kidoumaru worriedly to himself, he had to put an end before he got himself into any more trouble.
"Teme!" the archer screamed despite he did not fully see who the attacker was, "Obliterate!" Not giving any sort of warning, Kidoumaru recklessly fired from his mouth as he unleashed a deadly beam. His eyes widened when the body turned into smoke.
It didn't take anyone intelligent to know the Replacement Technique.
"You bastard…" a voice came from above with a death-like sword above his head. What shocked Kidoumaru further was how this mysterious stranger also had devil wings and silver hair. "Perish." Giving no hesitation or reluctance of any kind, Naruto performed a cleansing swipe using one hand in the process of launching a pitch-dark swarm of deadly chakra. Oblivious to the Death Knight, Kidoumaru was smirking.
Using more chakra into his thrust, Kidoumaru zoomed backwards to evade while making the incoming onslaught a dead miss. In addition to his swiftness, he quickly pulled back before lashing out his spherical breaker aiming at the face. Naruto jerked back slightly as the web ball rushed by missing him by an inch, the Death Knight had to admit that this bastard was incredibly skilled. Seeing that the breaker was launched too far off and the wire was completely opened to any sort of attack, Naruto held his blade in an attacking fashion as he slashed the cable with burning energies.
However, he felt a reflecting force as he struck it, and by that time, Kidoumaru already retracted the weapon back into his hand before he blasted Naruto with his mouth cannon.
This spider malformation was dangerous, that was obvious. Naruto had never seen such a thing, if this was a Fire Element Technique he would understand why Kidoumaru could blast an attack of that sort. He didn't form seals, and yet he fired so quickly. His firing rate was better than the Rasengan or Chidori, and most importantly the charging rate was significantly lower. If Naruto was not careful now, that beam could easy drill through his arm before breaking it off his body.
"Crap…" cursed the Death Knight as he flew back just in time before the plasma hacked off his legs. It was most impressive indeed how Naruto reacted in these circumstances. Kidoumaru was amazed how his opponent actually managed to escape all of his attacks despite this was the first time they met another. Nonetheless, although he was strong it only meant he must try harder to take him down.
That was exactly what he was going to do.
"There!" shouted the Sound nin zealously while he charged up a considerable amount of chakra. "Kill!"
He fired at exactly where Naruto was after constant attempts to evade.
Having no choice whatsoever, the demon hunter immediately blocked it using the back of his sword. Once the beam struck his weapon, Naruto couldn't help but wince at the strength being put into the assault. If it wasn't for the runeblade, his arms would be burning. However, it didn't mean the rest of his body wasn't feeling the massive heat. Without actually knowing after he looked over to the side, he finally realized how badly Kidoumaru was pushing him back. To his shock, the beam suddenly fizzled into auras of chakra.
In all honesty, Naruto experienced a great deal of pain when a dense spiked ball smashed itself into his ribs. In addition, falling down disabled was no laughing matter.
"Ha!" taunted the Sound elite as he pulled back his secondary armament.
Naruto was not in a state of rejoicing. "Death Coil!" yelled the Death Knight as he swung and lashed out a green coil of death and decay. Kidoumaru immediately attempted to counter by firing his webs, but it proved him no good as the Death Coil continued to rush at him. In other words, his webs dissolved as it made contact. Not ever wanting to find out what the goddamn effects of the coil were, Kidoumaru tilted to the side as the Death Coil zoomed by like the winds –a wind that carried the sensations of dreaded death.
He shivered momentarily helplessly.
In less than an instant, Naruto charged back up at Kidoumaru –his eyes only displayed a will to kill. As if he would let Naruto get any closer. Stretching out his 3 right hands, the crossbow archer quickly glided back while giving off his own suppressing fire of web strings. The strings then moved into three different directions like a capturing net with no possibly to escape; one from above; one from the left; and lastly from the right. Naruto did not fully detect the capturing technique until he ventured too deep. The strings suddenly entangled him in an unbelievably tight bind, and the Death Knight never fully realized how these thin webs could provide such a crushing force. Despite how fragile these things might be, he couldn't break free if his hands were tied. He didn't have the time to just struggle, if he didn't move out of this spot now, he didn't know how much his body could take.
In truth, by the time he found out when it was too dangerous Naruto was certain that his life would be in jeopardy already. In simpler terms, he did not want to discover more about himself with his life on the line.
"I don't know who you are," Kidoumaru told Naruto from a fair distance while giving more strength in his binding, "But you are definitely interesting." Naruto grunted somewhat painfully as the tightness increased abruptly.
"Save it for someone who actually gives a damn about your fake sincerity…"
"My, oh my, aren't you rude," the archer replied casually, "You must be one of them."
"What the hell are you talking about, freak?"
"You are one of those demons in Konoha that Orochimaru-sama ordered us to capture or kill. I can't believe you look exactly like that kid but much weaker."
Is he referring to Shani?
"Is that so?" questioned Naruto, raising his voice uncaringly.
"'Tis so, demon," Kidoumaru assured, "Now, tell me, what do you prefer? Be killed or be captured? I feel kind today to give my enemies options." Naruto was more than willing to award his opposing enemy with a medallion for his sarcasm.
"As if I would let myself be captured. Do what you must, spider freak."
"Don't worry; I'll finish this off quickly."
Astonishingly, Naruto was laughing out loud despite his situation. Kidoumaru immediately stopped all chatting to charge his mouth cannon, but he wasn't that dumb to completely stop binding Naruto. In fact, he was increasing the strength. "Don't take me lightly." Immediately, Kidoumaru could read a deadly dark energy around the Death Knight. If his eyes weren't lying to him, the chakra was green, "Immolation!" In a mere instant, the web net melted away as Naruto activated one of his close range combat moves. What a magnificent display of power, his body was surrounded by a green sea of flames that could burn anyone around him, and the chakra appeared to be moving on its own like a real fire. Kidoumaru stared at it with awe –and a lot of anger.
"What on earth is happening over there?" questioned Jiroubo to himself rhetorically as his hands crushed a Sand chunnin's throat. Something felt uneasy, and there obviously were two incredibly powerful sources of chakra clashing. One of them was Kidoumaru, and the other one felt incredibly dark and demonic. It was similar to Chaos, but that was many years ago. However, this sort of unique power could not be forgotten that quickly –this didn't look good.
At the same time, he needed to worry about himself when he detected a presence from behind him. It was then he truly needed to be alert when his own senses picked up three negatively dark chakra beams were fired. Needless to say, Jiroubo instantly leaped out of the way before rolling a several times, yet he didn't fail to see what those beams were. His eyes widened with shock when he discovered it were Mana Burns. One of them was a Shadow Strike.
Who the heck was attacking?
"Why do I always get the ugly ones?" a voice was heard from above. Jiroubo of course noticed this was a woman, and her voice was so beautiful but spoke poison. When the squad leader heard this cold sound, he quickly looked up just to see an adult angel diving down with her palm filled with chakra. Taking his arm defensively, Jiroubo instantly blocked Hinata's 'slap' –but not without feeling a slight strange disturbance in his used arm. He desperately wanted to know what was that attack, yet he had no time to find out when he noticed Hinata's eyes –they were identical to a specific Death Knight's. More importantly, why was he pondering when Hinata was still striking him with the Gentle Fist?
Who was this bitch?
"I don't even know who the hell you are, bitch," yelled the chubby Sound elite, "Get out of my way!" Ducking forcefully to avoid Hinata's blows, Jiroubo knew he needed to react, and fast. Stretching out his palm angrily Jiroubo fired –but having the Hyuga heiress performing a back flip to evade. Much to his discomfort after the third strike, Hinata was as swift as ever. Her evasion was amazing; he would give her that much if she ever needed a compliment. The fourth time around, Hinata shattered it with one simple slap –this bitch was strong.
"If the Sound only has these nobodies," announced the Hyuga girl while smirking a dark grin, "Then I have nothing to worry about." After making that declarative statement, Hinata took a deadly sprint before plowing her hand into Jiroubo's chest. The Sound leader gasped at the initial blow given to him, bit even more so when a spin kick was delivered right to his face making him soar into the skies helplessly.
Despite his awkward situation, he managed to see Hinata form a set of unique hand seals, and he clearly did not want to find out although she was already finished it.
Hinata forwarded her hand with a black chakra surrounding her entire palm. "Gentle Fist: Hand of Divinity." Sounds like a beautiful name, but it was nothing close to beautiful when the beam was a crimson crippling bolt that appeared to be extremely devastating, as if it could cut through anything. Some divinity this was; all he wanted to do now was get out of the way! Luckily, the beam barely missed him but it struck plenty of trees in a line. Although they didn't collapse, Jiroubo was frightened when the trees had one concentrated hole in each of them. If that hit him… he would've been killed with no means to return.
"Bitch…"
"Hello." Her voice came from behind again, and it was already too late for him to react when Hinata jammed her palm into his back with a Jyuuken. Jiroubo coughed out blood in an instant, and he soon cried when the heiress mercilessly fired a streak of Mana Burns right at his chakra organ. At this point, all his energies were drained in a second before he started to fall helplessly to the ground.
Did Hinata believe that she won? Definitely not. This was all too easy, as if it was child's play –if she knew better, that was only a clone. She proved herself right when her face was struck from the side with a deadly punch. Although she prepared herself to take the blow to see how powerful her enemy truly was, her eyes widened at the strength he gave. It was massive, and Hinata could not help but to blame herself for taking him this lightly. She had no power whatsoever to stop herself from crashing down until her back slammed into a tree –along with a several corpses that had been killed moments before she arrived.
She seriously overlooked his strength; Hinata just knew something was wrong when her opponent didn't seem to be doing a thing. At the same time, if all Jiroubo had was strength, then she would merely keep her distance -advance conservatively, as she would prefer.
However, all her previous logic was lost when she saw a visible chakra ball forming in between her enemy's hands. She knew how dangerously concentrated it might be –especially when she witnessed Kakashi and Sasuke's Chidori plenty of times in her life. The Hyuga heiress had to be on her guard.
"Let's go!" the real Jiroubo shouted as he charged up for his own plasma, "Fire!" In an unexpected turn of events, the plasma he unleashed was much more deadly than Hinata first expected. Without pondering about other possibilities, Hinata jumped to the skies before the blue coated crimson plasma beam shaved the earth –along with a several innocent trees. Bad came to worse was when Jiroubo redirected his attack upward to chase the heiress down. Hinata immediately opened her angel wings and flew, yet the squad leader refused to allow her to escape. His attack nearly shaved her but it was then when she suddenly Blinked.
Too close…
Jiroubo was all too familiar was this sneaky move. Doing what was best, he commanded his body to move backwards –he only did that since he safely assumed Hinata would suddenly appear right before him, and more than likely to blast a several Mana Burns at his heart. At this crucial atmosphere, one careless move meant defeat. Just as he thought; Hinata did appear right in front of him. Fortunately, he was already at least 8 meters away, and that was an ideal distance to fire.
Once more, Hinata forced herself to shift away before any drastic damages were dealt to her. As the second one came in a chain, the Hyuga heiress swiftly glided downward before the beam missed her by an inch in a swiping manner. Although it was a close call, Jiroubo clearly figured out that Hinata had no trouble when she moved away defensively, and it was no surprise when the Hyuga girl rapidly returned the favour by firing back a Mana Burn –this time it struck him in the arm.
"Shit!" he cursed out loud as his chakra was burned away and jolted his system painfully. After numerous of times of getting hit from it, he was still not used to burning sensation.
Actually, who would enjoy having their stamina and spiritual strength to be used against them? What ticked Jiroubo further was the fact that she drained a significant amount –coincidentally, it was nothing to dangerous yet.
Key word: yet.
Hinata cleverly seized this chance to use it to her advantage. After gathering enough chakra at critical spots of her body, she soared in a raiding fashion (which Jiroubo could not detect) until she was in front of him with a kunai in her right hand. He didn't know what to do –even if he did evade now it would not do him any good. Firstly, he was not quick enough, and if he moved back the heiress would jab the weapon into his heart. Secondly, if he reacted irrationally, Hinata would obvious take the advantage and attack him during his confused state. Lastly, he could just blast her right now.
If he didn't react, he could be killed. If he did do something; both shinobis would suffer. The logic of "You win some and lose a lot" miraculously repeated itself in his head, and soon he smiled inwardly. Eternity was only milliseconds in reality, and it was not too difficult for Jiroubo to charge up a critical blast despite the lack of time. He was an elite; and elites in Sound were abnormal –miracle workers even (in combat)! Hinata did not notice his chakra until it was a tad bit too late.
"Bitch!" shouted Jiroubo frenziedly while he unleashed a half-powered discharge. Even if the detonation was premature, at this range it was more than enough to cause significant amount of damage. However, much to his disbelief, he saw Hinata having a glowing chakra shield in her left palm. Even in an awkward position she managed to pull off a defensive attack!
"Something wrong?" taunted the heiress as she gave a snicker.
One question continued to roam around in his head –who the hell was this bitch?
"Fan of Knives!" declared Hinata solemnly before she ordered her body to whirl rapidly as she formed a 360 degree barrier. She obviously smashed Jiroubo in the face before her powerful force forced him to falter in a farfetched way. Just when he thought the Fan of Knives was a protective jutsu, his eyes wanted to cry bloody murder when Hinata's barrier shot out beam blades like rain. He had no strength whatsoever to dodge any of this, and his tried his best to save himself from most of the agony with his hands serving as a minor barrier. Jiroubo truly prayed to Kami-sama that his arms did more, but all he did was scream as the blades seared through his flesh by cutting or piercing. The pain was excruciating, as if his muscle cells were exploding and being exterminated. As long as the chakra blades were still stuck into his flesh, the agonizing burn continued to linger. However, it was that moment he knew real pain when the dozens of knives ignited at once –causing him in engulf in smoke.
Needless to say, Jiroubo's chances of winning decreased dramatically. Not only was he Mana Burned, this Fan of Knives was equally devastating –although it didn't drain any chakra, it compensated that weakness by able to inflict massive damage. In both cases, it was dreadful.
"Shit…" Jiroubo grunted before his eyes flared up with hatred. "Don't underestimate me!" After that courageous statement, the chubby Sound nin pulled his arms back before blasting one destructive beam with full force. Hinata's lavender eyes opened with shock as the beam literally crushed her before she felt herself disintegrating. In a washing swarm, Hinata ignited –but not without the body turning into clouds of smoke and fog.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what just happened –but what Jiroubo was worried about was how Hinata formed a Bunshin without any seals. To be more specific, what sort of abnormal speed was it? His instincts told him the heiress was one cunning bitch, and in less than an instant the squad leader violently jammed his right elbow behind him. His winced noticeably when he felt someone caught it gracefully. So, Hinata was behind him, and caught him in a small hold. Jiroubo only tried again with his left, but again it was caught.
Now, Hinata had both his arms, and she started to press her foot on his spine –giving pressure as each moment passed on. All he knew was he needed to get out of this, and he had to do it with any means necessary. Next, Jiroubo smashed his skull on hers, and this time Hinata was not prepared. As a result of that dirty move, the Hyuga girl abruptly released her grip on him, and at the same time, Jiroubo grinned before generating a great deal of chakra into his hands.
"Damn you!" he cursed angrily, as if Hinata was his long arch enemy, "Fire!" At last, he unleashed it.
Much to his disbelief, Hinata regained her composure after the incredibly powerful counter he gave previously. With her Byakugan activated, she clearly knew his assault was considerably strong. Despite that she needed to evade, she couldn't use Blink –especially when Jiroubo could even redirect his blow to the ground where a number of Sand members were. Hinata wanted to curse for failing to notice that she dragged the battle back to an area where she didn't want to fight at -but it was too late to complain for obvious reasons. There was only one move that she knew that could save herself from this.
Hinata didn't waste any more time to prepare her jutsu. "Divination Kaiten!" she declared loudly when her body began to whirl 360 degrees around in a manner that was even quicker than the Fan of Knives. The beam made contact with the Kaiten a second later, and the mixtures of chakra was definitely intense. The Kaiten was actually standing even with the plasma; that defensive technique was actually destroying the beam into twos as it approaches. However, the only weakness to the Kaiten was how long the user could hold the rotating action. As far as anyone was concerned, the Kaiten required plenty of chakra to keep its effect. The next problem would be if the user could keep twirling continuously without faltering. With these weaknesses in check all Jiroubo had to do was keep up his blasting until Hinata's stamina or chakra diminishes.
Sadly enough, he forgot to calculate one issue -his own amount of chakra.
Hinata –being a versatile and extremely skilled shinobi- caught the fact her opponent's blast was weakening as time when by. Oblivious to Jiroubo, Hinata knew her own weaknesses more than he knew hers. It was true that she might not be able to keep up with the dizziness; it was also a given fact that the Kaiten uses up great amounts of chakra; but what amused Hinata was how he didn't know that she knew how to compensate it. She was utmost amused, and she fought hard to hold back a snicker. The answer was simple actually –don't overdo it.
Hinata had fooled around for long enough as it is; it was time to end it. She stopped her Kaiten immediately –but not without confidently discharging a Mana Burn back as a small token of appreciation. The negative bolt of energy divided the crimson plasma into two when the energies clashed, and Jiroubo was obviously not ready for this sort of interception. As Hinata first expected, her attack struck her target in the chest area. Of course, the negatively charged beam combusted a large portion of his chakra before his entire system felt a critical burn and energy drainage. After that attack, Jiroubo felt defenseless.
The Hyuga heiress' attack didn't simply end there.
She stretched her wings to the fullest before she charged right at him with her twin chakra generated short swords in hand.
"I got you!" Hinata shouted before she slashed upward with her right weapon. Jiroubo desired to yell in torment, yet that was cut short when Hinata swiped him at the chest with her left one. To finish it off the first part of chaos, she leveled her foot angrily before rushing brutally to his chin. A loud smacking sound was heard as Hinata wrapped herself with her angel wings, and twirled herself upward to keep up with her victim (A movement similar to Abyss Gundam). As soon as she was in the same altitude with the helpless Sound elite, Hinata opened her wings again before gathering chakra into her feathers.
"Shadow Strike!" During that profound declaration to kill, 20 feathers were fired (not all at once) like missiles from one wing after another. The Shadow Strikes not only plowed themselves through Jiroubo, it also gave him deep, slow, and poisonous venoms. To indirectly increase the damage during these initial blasts, Jiroubo was actually hitting a tree as each impact was given. The recoils from the tree were causing damage to his back, and of course the pain became more evident after each strike. When the Shadow Strikes were over, the Sound elite vomited plenty of blood –and his wounds were dripping a great deal of it as well.
He knew he was defeated.
At the same time –just when he believed her onslaught was done- Hinata cried with killing intent when she forcefully crushed her palm into a critical spot in a mad rush with her Gentle Fist engaged. The spot she attacked specifically was his heart.
"A shinobi doesn't fight to look classy!" Kidoumaru yelled in a roar before pulling back on his bow fiercely. "Die!" His aim was perfect but Naruto seemed to have vanished just as the arrows zoomed by. He knew this trick -that was what Shani frequently did when they fought before. Was this the Phase Shift or Blink? Where was Naruto, he looked around madly trying to detect his signature. He was nowhere to be found! Angrily –due to paranoid- Kidoumaru spun around, and to his dismay Naruto immediately jammed his knee into the arachnid nin's gut.
He went behind him like that without any sort of signs? Who the hell was this Death Knight? In addition, the Sound nin thought his body was burning –it must be those blasted green flames that was surrounding Naruto. At this point, he knew he shouldn't get close.
"Teme!" cried Kidoumaru as he glided backwards in a reckless rush and charging his bow with beam arrows, "Exterminate!" Naruto then pushed his runeblade forward before it acted as a shield favorably. Kidoumaru flinched seeing his attack deflected but the Death Knight was concerned as well. If his eyes didn't lie to him a moment before, Naruto was sure that Kidoumaru's aim was perfect for the three arrows struck his blade in a straight line. Naruto might have prevented himself from getting shot this time around, but he knew better than to place his fate with simply luck. At the same time, the spider freak gasped when his opponent charged at him with great speed.
Kidoumaru would not allow Naruto to get close.
Noticing that the Death Knight was increasing his agility within milliseconds, Kidoumaru whirled to gain more thrust before launching his spherical breaker in a whipping fashion. Naruto immediately tilted to avoid the smashing force, but to his surprise the Sound nin was smirking his trademark grin. When the Kyubi carrier noticed that facial expression he was already a second too late for his legs was wrapped by a web string.
Crap.
Naruto didn't manage to gasp properly and he was already being swung, as if he was a stuffed animal that was created for the sole purpose of being thrashed. With the force Kidoumaru gave, he slammed the Death Knight into a several trees before forcefully making them timber. Needless to say, it wasn't the most pleasant experiences that Naruto dealt with in his 29 years of living, but it would take much more to make him declare forfeit. Before he could cut off the string, he was yanked back to the skies –that nearly ripped off the muscles near his crotch.
I can't allow him to do this for long…
Lacking all sorts of possibilities, Naruto directed his blade accurately –or he assumed to be- at Kidoumaru and blasted two series of lightning blasts –Chained and Forked. Kidoumaru was no idiot, and to avoid such beams all he needed to do was to whirl Naruto around wildly. Therefore, the Death Knight's attacks did nothing –perhaps it fried a several birds that were flying by ever so conveniently. Obviously Naruto was ticked off by this, and even more so when his spine smashed onto a thick tree branch.
"Ha! That demon with one eye was more of a challenge than you!" announced Kidoumaru as Naruto vomited due to blood clogging his throat, "Don't tell me you're getting old already." Without giving any warning, Kidoumaru then slammed Naruto to the ground headfirst hoping to crack his skull open like he did with all the others. He laughed when he saw Naruto flat on the ground, so helpless, so useless. Useless people shouldn't even be on the battlefield; they should be eliminated. He smirked cockily before his mouth flared a spark of energy. Whatever he was doing, it sure made Naruto's skin crawl. "Kill!"
The Death Knight knew that was a deathblow of his –he had to evade despite being upside down. Once a ferocious blast came forth, he immediately flipped right side up before leaping to the left to escape. Kidoumaru flinched at the swiftness that was displayed, however, he couldn't just leave the job half done –so he fired again and again. Naruto flinched as the plasma almost scraped off his left wing, and more so when Kidoumaru nearly shaved off his other one. Amongst all the chaos and affliction, Naruto did manage to notice one thing.
Kidoumaru was not a good close range fighter.
Unexpectedly, the winged demon descended down to the ground abruptly before Kidoumaru could protest. In all honesty, the archer did do something about it; he fired from his mouth. Unfortunately for the Sound elite, Naruto did get his way when his initial blast was destroyed in one simple gash by the blade. What was Naruto doing, why was he running towards the opposite direction? Despite the fact that Kidoumaru didn't fully know how Naruto fought, it was quite obvious that it was the Death Knight's style to escape cowardly. Was this a trap or was Naruto truly retreating. He didn't know, but all he knew was that he wouldn't allow this to happen as long as his body was drawing air.
"Eliminate!" the arachnid freak roared before lashing out the spherical breaker hopefully to hit Naruto's back. As expected, the Death Knight jumped up as the breaker zoomed by striking nothing but air. Kidoumaru grimaced immediately; if Naruto had the strength to evade like this, why the hell was he running away? If he wanted to run so badly, he would've been doing so right from the start! He seriously didn't give a fuck now, and if he wanted to play cowardly, then Kidoumaru would be glad to take his life. Naruto was definitely someone that would serve as a nuisance later on in the Konoha invasion, and demons had to be taken out for the betterment of the Sound.
Just when he believed Naruto had his back turned, the Death Knight suddenly disappeared. Where did he go? Kidoumaru couldn't detect his chakra or presence; this was bad –very bad. Although his vision was playing tricks on him, he assumed the Death Knight was nearby. If he wouldn't come out, Kidoumaru could always flush him out! He took in a deep breath without making any sort of noticeable movements while collecting a great amount of energy into his hands. He didn't want to use it so soon, but if he couldn't sense or see Naruto he could always trap him.
"Summoning…" hissed Kidoumaru to nobody in particular, "Techniq-"
"I don't think so," a voice came before him in a deadly cold whisper. That murmuring made Kidoumaru halt, but most importantly, it made his skin shiver. In addition, his eyes widened when he saw the Death Knight suddenly appearing without warning. All his gathered chakra was wasted due to the fact that he couldn't finish his jutsu, but that wasn't the time to curse about it when Naruto swiftly gave a clean upward sword slash using one hand. Kidoumaru felt his chest burn with an unexplainable sensation; it was similar to an iron making a print onto his skin. The only difference would be this chakra seemed to be corruptive and corrosive.
Maybe he should've been worried about his own defense because he was completely wide open.
It was time for Naruto to show off a trademark technique. Forming a set of designated seals, he prepared himself for combat. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." As the smoke cleared, Naruto made two duplicates of himself –each of them had one third of his original strength- and all this happened in less than one second. The Bunshins soared around the unprotected Kidoumaru (with Naruto below him) before blasting him with Mana Burns in a cross-firing fashion. With the Kage Bunshins surrounding him, there was no possible way for the archer to escape when the negative bolts were fired dually. It hit the crotch; the arms; the chest; the heart; the feet; his skull; and the only reason why Kidoumaru was still alive was due to the clones' power were only a fraction of the original Death Knight.
Nevertheless, the arachnid elite felt no chakra within him after 16 consecutive shots.
"Owari," said Naruto stoically as he pointed his runeblade above him. He narrowed his eyes to increase his aim despite his Kage Bunshins were doing a fine job at keeping his victim still. Naruto would make him understand the real fears of death. "Death Coil-"
Miraculously, something –or rather someone- interfered.
"What?" the Death Knight heard himself gasp slightly when he saw a thick white, spiky whip was launched out from nowhere as it struck one of the Kage Bunshins. With that one effective hit, the first clone vanished in a cloud of smoke, therefore weakening his advantageous assault. As for the second one, the unknown whip entangled it tightly in a bind. Naruto witnessed that his Bunshin was trying to retaliate, but soon the crushing force was too powerful for it to handle. The outcome of that scenario was a gruesome death.
Kidoumaru –during that abrupt confusion- fell defenselessly onto the ground front first before making an audible thump. After all those Mana Burns, he was glad that he was alive –somewhat. Although he was still surviving, he knew his chakra capacity was extremely low, and that was the sole reason why he was still flat, as if he adored Mother Earth. However, disgracefulness wasn't an important matter at the moment; he sure wanted to know who the hell saved him from Naruto's onslaught. Fortunately for him, Kidoumaru managed to visualize the intruding weapon.
White, long, and spiky… there was only one answer.
"Orochimaru-sama left you three to deal with the Sand alone expecting that you can do it… I am surprised that you are on the ground, Kidoumaru." The sharpshooter grimaced angrily at this voice where as Naruto felt his spine stiffening. Who was this cold bastard? Moreover, what sort of whip was this person using? "Weakling, I should've dealt with you sooner."
"Shut up!" roared Kidoumaru with rage before gripping his stomach due to the extreme pain. "Shit…"
"You are supposed to kill the demon, weakling, not get killed by him."
From the Death Knight's perspective, it looked like Kidoumaru was speaking a spiritual guardian.
"I know that, bastard!" Suddenly, a white blade was pointed at his throat. This blade user was not Naruto.
"You better watch your mouth when you talk to me, Kidoumaru," he told the spider look-alike as he poked his neck a little bit threateningly.
"Kimimaro… fuck you…"
"You should lie still if you know what is good for you."
Kidoumaru felt useless. "Shit…"
This confusion had to come to an end. "Who the hell are you?" questioned the Death Knight as he landed to the ground before pointing his blade carefully at the newcomer. What sickened Naruto was the fact this guy looked exactly like him in a way. White-silverish hair; he was tall; he had teal eyes; extremely stoic and passive; a blade-user; and this guy was unlike anyone he had fought before. Victory seemed to be slipping away when Naruto's eyes saw the intense amount of chakra Kimimaro had. Compared to this stoic freak, Kidoumaru was a joke. Although the Death Knight was more than certain that Kimimaro had skills to wield a sword, but just what the hell was that whip he saw earlier? He could drop the problem aside for the time being, yet his mind refused to be flexible. If he just find out a little more, Naruto could be able to have intelligence as his advantage.
Unfortunately, all he could remember was that the whip looked like a spine of a human being. That was impossible though, how could anyone use their own bones as a weapon? As a matter of fact, what kind of blade was Kimimaro using? The winged demon did not believe his eyes when he paid closer attention –his sword was actually a bone. To be precise, it appeared to be a wrist bone, yet his left arm was still functioning properly.
This really looked like one sick joke. Naruto commanded himself to approach this newcomer cautiously –one mistake would cost him everything.
"So," Kimimaro finally responded after a long period of silence. If the two were competing in a competition of being passive, Naruto just found a good challenger. At the same time, the Death Knight was disgusted at himself for losing his cool. Even if his exterior was showing nothing, he knew he was raging up inwardly. "Looks like you are one of those Death Knights that Orochimaru-sama warned me about. I expected to find two, but one would be just fine."
"You sound like you assume you could just get rid of me," replied the demon hunter as he gathered a bit of chakra to charge up his runeblade, "Don't get so ahead of yourself."
"I don't need to be."
"You are no ordinary shinobi, I know that. Who the hell are you?"
Kimimaro's face was just as unreadable as ever. However, the Death Knight knew why for he was trying to hide all sorts of weakness that could be beneficial to the opponent. "Kaguya Kimimaro," he stated in a cold, stoic voice before standing in his own preferred stance, "The last member of the Kaguya clan." This name shocked Naruto to the deep core. He finally had some knowledge of where he heard it from.
"Then I will wipe out the last one of your bastard clan," declared Naruto with his seriousness dominating everything else, "Your merciless slaughter on the Mist will never be forgiven -not even if you offer your life." The bone-user could not help but to smirk slightly.
"Looks like you've been doing your homework, Death Knight," said Kimimaro with sinister sarcasm, "You should feel honoured to be able to fight someone who is supposed to be extinct."
"Of course I am," Naruto told him with equal amount of insincere delight, "I wonder how pathetic you would look when you get killed. Look what you have done, you got me excited."
Kimimaro drew out his left hand before making a signal for Naruto to advance, "Come then, Death Knight."
AN: It has become official that I would be in Hong Kong in the beginning of July until the beginning of August. Therefore, not only would I be missing like a month of anime, more importantly I would not be able to update. I really do hope that I could make a new chapter at the end of June or something so I don't have to delay it any further than I should be. To the very least, I can go ANIME SHOPPING SPREE! Hong Kong is a natural gold mine! Anyway, I hope you all liked, appreciated, and enjoyed this chapter like you always have in the past. Thank you all so much, you guys.