Another attempt at action.
I
The trees flicker past, and Naruto quickly detected the presence of a trailing group of hunter-nins. A month again has passed, and this time, he will eradicate this nagging bunch of stalkers. Time to end them, and finally establish the organization, as planned.
In a second, he stopped on a branch and promptly turned to throw a chain of kunais at the estimated location of the hunters.
Thud.
His ear buzzed, and the presence of them speeding behind him again motioned his fingers to flicker, and more projectiles slashed through the forest air.
Thud, thud, thud. Naruto knew it missed, and he again concentrated his mind on his hearing.
Six hunters, two medics. Outnumbered, but Naruto knew better.
'Kyubi, can you send out those chakra foxes again?'
'No. Your fight.'
'Damn you.' The air again screeched, as the shurikens and an impressive array of weapons all fly towards Naruto.
'Well, this better works.'
He concentrated his chakra again, and the weapons kept moving closer.
'5.3.1.'
Then, a sudden burst of chakra totally deflected all weapons, and more of these shadows closed in.
A chain of kicks came towards Naruto, and he diverted them aside with his hand, then lunged forward to strike.
Poof, the ninja in front of him vanished into a wooden log, and he realized a shower of shurikens and fireballs were flying towards him. Clank, clank, and more clanks, as the weapons converged to hit air, and a seemingly confused ninja was soon pummeled from the back. 'Shit. Another clone.'
'Kyubi. I need those bloody foxes. I am outnumbered here.'
'Foxes, emergency uses only. Please consult your nearest reborn before usage.' Kyubi replied flatly.
'This is no time for your stupid jokes. I want these group stopped, so we can go on with our plans.'
'You can beat them. Use what we taught you, idiot.' Kyubi replied. 'Besides, practicing all the while in the monastery, with us and your constant practice of that rasengan trick isn't a waste, you know.'
Naruto dodged the swiping motion of a spear, before jumping again to avoid the downward attack of the bo staff from another hunter. 'Fine, rasengan seems awfully nice to use now.'
'Just don't miss, idiot.'
Naruto jumped, while he gathered his chakra on his right hand without the help of a bunshin, all the result of constant training. 'Now... Come on, wake up you bloody combat instinct...'
'That's not the way, idiot. Don't tell me you don't remember the method.'
Naruto closed his eyes, and purged all thought from his mind...
'Good.'
The charging motion of a ninja was sidestepped, and a sudden spin slammed the rasengan in his right hand straight at the attacker's chest. The expansion of rasengan sent the poor and doomed ninja into a tree, before exploding.
'One down.'
Three ninjas came at him, and he ducked, but a fourth attacker launched a barrage of fire jutsus at him. All those, met only a burnt wooden log full with exploding tags.
"Damn!"
And the ninja closest to the log was flung away, and crashed into a branch. For assurance, Naruto inserted a kunai through his ankle, then exploded into a poof to avoid a spear attack.
"Damn, that blonde is tricky." A ninja, who seemed to be the leader, spoke. His hands moved quickly to form a set of seals, and he began chanting strangely.
Then, he slammed his hands to the floor. "Kuchiyose no jutsu" A medium sized lizard appeared, and it waited for Naruto's reaction.
'Spirits are tough. Kill it first, just a moderate level summoning, not a boss.'
In response, Naruto's fingers also flickered to execute a set of seals, and the poisonous tentacles began emerging from the trees in the area, reaching out for their target.
'Stupid idiot. You know you can't move when you do this. You're sitting duck... unless that is what you plan to do... Maybe your not so much of an idiot...'
The six ninjas remaining realized Naruto's immobility, and charged forth in unison, but the lizard continued to wait.
When all of them were about two meters away, a sudden release of chakra quickly burnt the trees, the plants and damaged all of them.
'A crude and wasteful method of using chakra, but at least it pretty much locked their tenketsu points.'
Naruto slowly walked to the leader, and inserted the leader's own kunais into his knees, thus paralyzing him, and probably meant certain death by starvation in the woods. The ordeal was repeated on all the others, and knowing that they will never interfere anymore, he walked away. With the leader down, the lizard disappeared before making an offensive assault.
'Not bad, Naruto.'
'Yeah, thanks. But still, I think it is cruel of me.'
'Trust me, your opponents will be worst on you. But it is still a big waste, not as clean or efficient as you should be. Really crude, barbaric method. More practice, idiot, and they are only chuunins. Still far from targetted goal.'
(in total, Naruto left Konoha for about a year already, but eight months since the monastery)
II
With the hunters gone, Naruto proceeded slowly, offering short glances to the forest around him, and the beauty of sunlight filtering through the leaves.
"I have a question to ask. Why is it necessary to restore the balance?"
"When there is an imbalance, rifts between this world and the spirit world opens, thus, allowing spirits to enter the world.
"But spirits are good, if I remember correctly."
"Yes. No doubt that they are the seeds to a habitable world, but when there is imbalance in the world, the spirits actually attempt to clean it up. The spirits absorb the forces that are in excess, but in doing so, it also produces more imbalance. In addition, when spirits absorb these powers, they take phsyical form, and as they attempt to absorb more and more of these forces, they grow stronger. But they cannot sit still, since the powers need to be used to restore the balance, and usually, it will end up going on destroying pretty much everything."
"How powerful can they get?"
"Small ones, can be as powerful as a dog, a small puppy. Powerful ones, can reach beyond the might of Gamabunta, but never exceeds us. Because when spirits reach a certain point of power, it explodes, and thus kills poeple. But when it explodes, fragments of this powers can travel to other worlds, therefore also causing imbalance in other worlds. It's like a disease that spreads. That is why we are there to put a stop to this things, so others can live happily."
"So, they absorb, but thus it makes themselves dangerous for everyone?"
"Yeah." Kagizume answered.
"But why Gaara?"
"We aren't sure of that yet. But let's imagine these imbalances as another thing."
"What thing?"
"The imbalance, is wood in a forest, easily combustible. The fire, is the damage they bring. But to have a fire, we need a spark, and the sparks are these spirits. To prevent the entire forest from burning, we need to get rid of the wood, the things that can burn. In order to prevent the whole forest from burning, firefighters can sometimes start their own fire, so the real fire don't have anything to burn, and therefore, it cannot spread, and the forest is saved."
"Still doesn't answer, why Gaara?"
"Gaara and his kind, can be considered as underground peat. They burn easily, and can be easy catalyst to the fires, thus, accelerating the forest's demise. If we remove the peat, the fire will have one less method to spread."
"I see. But there are other ways, right?"
"Perhaps... Orochimaru might be one. He can be compared to some oily vegatations that spread throughout the forest, and killing him, might also mean the forest's survival."
-End chap-
Quick update, because I have free time.
I
The trees flicker past, and Naruto quickly detected the presence of a trailing group of hunter-nins. A month again has passed, and this time, he will eradicate this nagging bunch of stalkers. Time to end them, and finally establish the organization, as planned.
In a second, he stopped on a branch and promptly turned to throw a chain of kunais at the estimated location of the hunters.
Thud.
His ear buzzed, and the presence of them speeding behind him again motioned his fingers to flicker, and more projectiles slashed through the forest air.
Thud, thud, thud. Naruto knew it missed, and he again concentrated his mind on his hearing.
Six hunters, two medics. Outnumbered, but Naruto knew better.
'Kyubi, can you send out those chakra foxes again?'
'No. Your fight.'
'Damn you.' The air again screeched, as the shurikens and an impressive array of weapons all fly towards Naruto.
'Well, this better works.'
He concentrated his chakra again, and the weapons kept moving closer.
'5.3.1.'
Then, a sudden burst of chakra totally deflected all weapons, and more of these shadows closed in.
A chain of kicks came towards Naruto, and he diverted them aside with his hand, then lunged forward to strike.
Poof, the ninja in front of him vanished into a wooden log, and he realized a shower of shurikens and fireballs were flying towards him. Clank, clank, and more clanks, as the weapons converged to hit air, and a seemingly confused ninja was soon pummeled from the back. 'Shit. Another clone.'
'Kyubi. I need those bloody foxes. I am outnumbered here.'
'Foxes, emergency uses only. Please consult your nearest reborn before usage.' Kyubi replied flatly.
'This is no time for your stupid jokes. I want these group stopped, so we can go on with our plans.'
'You can beat them. Use what we taught you, idiot.' Kyubi replied. 'Besides, practicing all the while in the monastery, with us and your constant practice of that rasengan trick isn't a waste, you know.'
Naruto dodged the swiping motion of a spear, before jumping again to avoid the downward attack of the bo staff from another hunter. 'Fine, rasengan seems awfully nice to use now.'
'Just don't miss, idiot.'
Naruto jumped, while he gathered his chakra on his right hand without the help of a bunshin, all the result of constant training. 'Now... Come on, wake up you bloody combat instinct...'
'That's not the way, idiot. Don't tell me you don't remember the method.'
Naruto closed his eyes, and purged all thought from his mind...
'Good.'
The charging motion of a ninja was sidestepped, and a sudden spin slammed the rasengan in his right hand straight at the attacker's chest. The expansion of rasengan sent the poor and doomed ninja into a tree, before exploding.
'One down.'
Three ninjas came at him, and he ducked, but a fourth attacker launched a barrage of fire jutsus at him. All those, met only a burnt wooden log full with exploding tags.
"Damn!"
And the ninja closest to the log was flung away, and crashed into a branch. For assurance, Naruto inserted a kunai through his ankle, then exploded into a poof to avoid a spear attack.
"Damn, that blonde is tricky." A ninja, who seemed to be the leader, spoke. His hands moved quickly to form a set of seals, and he began chanting strangely.
Then, he slammed his hands to the floor. "Kuchiyose no jutsu" A medium sized lizard appeared, and it waited for Naruto's reaction.
'Spirits are tough. Kill it first, just a moderate level summoning, not a boss.'
In response, Naruto's fingers also flickered to execute a set of seals, and the poisonous tentacles began emerging from the trees in the area, reaching out for their target.
'Stupid idiot. You know you can't move when you do this. You're sitting duck... unless that is what you plan to do... Maybe your not so much of an idiot...'
The six ninjas remaining realized Naruto's immobility, and charged forth in unison, but the lizard continued to wait.
When all of them were about two meters away, a sudden release of chakra quickly burnt the trees, the plants and damaged all of them.
'A crude and wasteful method of using chakra, but at least it pretty much locked their tenketsu points.'
Naruto slowly walked to the leader, and inserted the leader's own kunais into his knees, thus paralyzing him, and probably meant certain death by starvation in the woods. The ordeal was repeated on all the others, and knowing that they will never interfere anymore, he walked away. With the leader down, the lizard disappeared before making an offensive assault.
'Not bad, Naruto.'
'Yeah, thanks. But still, I think it is cruel of me.'
'Trust me, your opponents will be worst on you. But it is still a big waste, not as clean or efficient as you should be. Really crude, barbaric method. More practice, idiot, and they are only chuunins. Still far from targetted goal.'
(in total, Naruto left Konoha for about a year already, but eight months since the monastery)
II
With the hunters gone, Naruto proceeded slowly, offering short glances to the forest around him, and the beauty of sunlight filtering through the leaves.
"I have a question to ask. Why is it necessary to restore the balance?"
"When there is an imbalance, rifts between this world and the spirit world opens, thus, allowing spirits to enter the world.
"But spirits are good, if I remember correctly."
"Yes. No doubt that they are the seeds to a habitable world, but when there is imbalance in the world, the spirits actually attempt to clean it up. The spirits absorb the forces that are in excess, but in doing so, it also produces more imbalance. In addition, when spirits absorb these powers, they take phsyical form, and as they attempt to absorb more and more of these forces, they grow stronger. But they cannot sit still, since the powers need to be used to restore the balance, and usually, it will end up going on destroying pretty much everything."
"How powerful can they get?"
"Small ones, can be as powerful as a dog, a small puppy. Powerful ones, can reach beyond the might of Gamabunta, but never exceeds us. Because when spirits reach a certain point of power, it explodes, and thus kills poeple. But when it explodes, fragments of this powers can travel to other worlds, therefore also causing imbalance in other worlds. It's like a disease that spreads. That is why we are there to put a stop to this things, so others can live happily."
"So, they absorb, but thus it makes themselves dangerous for everyone?"
"Yeah." Kagizume answered.
"But why Gaara?"
"We aren't sure of that yet. But let's imagine these imbalances as another thing."
"What thing?"
"The imbalance, is wood in a forest, easily combustible. The fire, is the damage they bring. But to have a fire, we need a spark, and the sparks are these spirits. To prevent the entire forest from burning, we need to get rid of the wood, the things that can burn. In order to prevent the whole forest from burning, firefighters can sometimes start their own fire, so the real fire don't have anything to burn, and therefore, it cannot spread, and the forest is saved."
"Still doesn't answer, why Gaara?"
"Gaara and his kind, can be considered as underground peat. They burn easily, and can be easy catalyst to the fires, thus, accelerating the forest's demise. If we remove the peat, the fire will have one less method to spread."
"I see. But there are other ways, right?"
"Perhaps... Orochimaru might be one. He can be compared to some oily vegatations that spread throughout the forest, and killing him, might also mean the forest's survival."
-End chap-
Quick update, because I have free time.