Welcome to the next chapter!
joharasbel; Thanks!
shephawk; I'm glad you liked Izumi and what she was doing! Yeah, Ryouta and Konan's fight is gonna come up, we'll see what happens there~ Konan and Jiraiya could meet up with one another yeah. Konan might find it pretty funny.
Morregen; Thanks! They are yeah, and you never know what will happen. They could meet up. Ryouta could meet up with Naruko and Jiraiya pretty soon. Tsunade and Ryouta shall be meeting soon, and yeah, Orochimaru and Ryouta's meeting is going to be quite interesting to see, considering that he's being haunted right now by Yukine. Garaga could be summoned for that part, would be cool to see Ryouta and Garaga combining their abilities for that time. Thanks very much!
danielsnow; Right now, they couldn't, but in the future, they might be able to meet up with one another, and be casual with one another. Yeah, she could be~
ShadowUzumaki55; Izumi has yeah, she's improved quite a bit during her time away from the village. Kurenai will be fine, Izumi made sure that the poisons easily detected, and treatable. Yeah, Konan vs Ryouta is gonna be fun to see~ Yeah, in the future they will be able to do that.
GuoYaohui; Not really, he saw that she was an enemy, and after she said she'd take him by force, plus with the situation regarding Sugaru, he pointed his sword at her body, not her neck. Thanks! Yeah, Ryouta will discover who's really behind it in the future, and when he does, it's going to be quite emotional for him.
Silver crow; Yeah, we'll see how it goes. Izumi's quite strong and can hold her own in quite a few battles. Glad you liked the stuff between Ryouta and Konan. We'll see how it goes with Sugaru. Satsuki has yeah. Ryouta does find her quite beautiful yeah. Yeah, seems that's how it is when it comes to Ameyuri. Yeah, he still wishes to get justice for Shisui, but he isn't going to lose himself or those he loves along the way. No, it wasn't Yahiko that Konan was reminded of. Itachi wouldn't allow Izumi to go through such things, and will drop stuff soon to show why Izumi doesn't have a choice. Maybe it is Obito yeah. Anko did yeah~ She was having her own fun. Izumi did yeah, she beat Kurenai with relative ease. We'll see how it goes, Sugaru's been training too. Yeah, they'd be cool Devil/Dragon Slayer abilities. He could save Lisanna yeah. He could have some other types of Magic yeah. They'd be cool to have in a team. Laxus could do yeah. Jenny's cool yeah. The Phenex Oc could do. He wont need a Longinus yeah. The Red Dragon Oc could do yeah. Would be cool if Akira had a bit of that blood in him. Agares could do. Haruki would do yeah. That would be cool for Tsunade to have yeah. Ryouta could have some snakes around yeah. Thanks for the harem suggestions. Yeah, he could be like that.
Ragna; Thanks for the harem suggestions!
Hinata fan; Izumi has yeah. They tried at least, Konan's more curious about him yeah. We will yeah, we'll see their fight. We'll see how that goes~
Skull Flame; It could be Tobi's doing yeah, he's trying many angles to get his desired results. Konan will be yeah~
Sara Macchiavelli; Thanks.
Eavise; Thanks for the harem suggestion.
TheGreatGodzilla; There's some stuff going on during this arc yeah. We'll see how it goes this chapter between Konan and Ryouta. Sugaru is one of the people responsible for Shisui's death, one of the only people Ryouta knows about right now. Thanks for the harem suggestions, Kin's there. Maybe she'll come back sooner or later. I can't say about that arc yet, all I can say is that it's going to be quite surprising. Yeah, she could do. I don't know either who destroyed that village. Maybe Hiruzen does. Maybe he could do yeah.
Guest 1; Thanks very much! Thanks for the votes, and harem suggestions.
CodeEarth; Thanks for the votes.
Guest 2; We'll see.
Guest 3; I'm glad you liked the stuff with Satsuki. Yeah, in this story, Mikoto's a very respectable swordswoman. Izumi did yeah, she showed how much stronger she's become over the years. Hehe, it is fun when Kurenai did that in the series, so I thought it would be fun here. Konan vs Ryouta's quite fun yeah. Maybe Ryouta's actions or words, maybe even both, could cause something to begin stirring within Konan, so we'll see how that goes pretty soon. Thanks very much! Yeah, Izumi's able to manifest Susanoo, and we might get to see her skills with it soon enough. Thanks for the harem suggestions!
Guest 4; Thanks for the votes.
Guest 5; Thanks for voting.
War Sage; Thanks! Glad you liked the stuff with Satsuki. Kurenai surely did~ Konan and Ryouta's stuff is going to be fun to explore. Thanks for the harem suggestions.
Guest 6; Yeah, he could do that for Koneko. His flames would be like that yeah. We'll see what happens.
Guestforce; Thanks! Yeah, it's gonna be fun to see~ Yeah, it's a bit odd she'd try it.
Wavelord; Thanks. Satsuki did yeah. Thanks for the harem suggestions.
Justafan; Thanks. Yeah, Satsuki did. Kurenai is yeah. It's going to be fun to see. Thanks for the harem suggestions.
Guest 7; We'll see.
Andrew123456; Not for the foreseeable future.
Guest 8; Yeah, check bottom of chapter for the results.
makotoxvalerie; Check bottom of the chapter for the results.
With those reviews out of the way, it's time to start the chapter!
Konan vs Ryouta
Ryouta and Konan stared one another done, neither made the first move. Ryouta was currently trying to work out what Konan's paper Jutsu, and mechanics behind that.
Konan herself raised her hand, and from it, Ryouta was surprised to see what was happening before his eyes.
What looked like a thin piece of paper gathered at the tip of her finger.
It then began to spin rapidly, more and more.
"I'll ask you this last time, before I begin. Come with me peacefully."
"Not even gonna offer me anything enticing? You know, so I'd actually want to go with you."
Ryouta wondered to the older woman.
Konan tilted her head.
"Is there anything that would actually work?"
Ryouta didn't expect her to say that, and made him wonder all the more what she was thinking about.
"Well, maybe make offers, and I'll see if there's anything that I'd want."
Ryouta thought that buying time might be the best thing he could do.
He didn't know this woman's capabilities, nor did he know what type of fighter she was.
While she, probably knew a good deal about him.
Considering that she had come to contact him directly.
"Offers...I am unaccustomed to making such offers. Though I do have some ideas that might work. Would you like power?"
"Eh...I'm working on gaining power myself thank you."
"Wealth?"
"I'm pretty okay with money with the steady income that I have."
"Women?"
Ryouta raised a brow.
"Erm...I'm pretty sure Satsuki-chan would have something to say about that..."
He whispered to himself, Konan tilting her neck side to side.
"What did you say?"
Ryouta waves a hand in front of his face, a faux carefree expression on said face.
"Oh, nothing at all. I was just thinking aloud, that's all. So, I'm gonna have to say no to your suggestion about women. What about-"
"I do realize that you're trying to stall me."
Ryouta laughed awkwardly.
"Can't blame me for trying, right?"
Konan shook her head.
"No, I cannot. As you cannot blame me for doing this either."
Konan with a flick of her finger, sent off the fast moving paper.
Konan bowed her head as she watched Ryouta dodge the shuriken of paper.
She then formed another one at the tip of her finger, and turned it towards the young man.
"As they say, do not say I did not warn you."
Ryouta grit his teeth as she launched the shuriken.
Only this time, it travelled at a much faster speed.
Ryouta keenly watched with his Sharingan and predicted the best way to counter the attack.
It span like a shuriken and Ryouta avoided it, but saw the tree that it stabbed into really did lose some of the bark that it had, indicating the striking power that they paper had.
So he turned back to see that Konan was already closing in the distance, and swung a fist for his body, so he blocked and took his Kusanagi blade, and tried to stab towards Konan's shoulder to disable her.
In the moments before the sword got towards her, she had paper form around the area, and blocked the strike, but only for a moment, as the swords piercing power matched that of the slicing power, and got through.
Konan retreated a good distance, with the young woman's papers flying all around Ryouta's form.
He saw them scattering around like snow, which began to turn towards him.
The sharp pieces of paper tried to cut him down, though Ryouta reacted with incredible speed, and slashes through several of the papers that tried to come close towards his body, Konan put distance between them and saw the speed that he was moving.
The way that he managed to stop the pieces of paper, and cut through them with the sword that he had, Konan watched with half intrigue, and half curiosity at the same time.
"This boys sword could be a problem. No, even more than that, this boy is quite fast, and I have to fight him without going in for the kill. If I could, then I could have mixed in some paper bombs close up, and blasted him out of existence. Failing that, I have to be prepared for what was to come next. This boy truly could be a tricky opponent to fight."
Konan's thoughts came together as Ryouta finished off her attacking pieces of papers.
He then turned his sword onto her, with Konan showing that despite having the sword pointed at her, she remained calm and relaxed at the same time.
Kakashi was in disbelief when he first saw Itachi before his eyes. Followed with Izumi and Kisame. The downed Kurenai didn't help situations either. Asuma was frantic with worry over her, though he was hiding it to the best of his abilities.
Izumi looked at Kakashi's Sharingan eye, and then towards Itachi, who looked back with a calmness that instilled that within her as well.
"Itachi Uchiha, one of the prodigies of the Uchiha Clan. And Izumi Uchiha, his girlfriend."
"She's actually a lot more than that. She's actually very strong, don't underestimate her again Kakashi of the Sharingan."
Kisame interrupted, in an odd way Izumi thanked him for such a thing and found it cute that Kisame would say that.
"Yes, I am aware. So, are you going to be my opponent, Izumi Uchiha?"
Izumi went to nod, when she felt a presence move from behind.
It was Itachi, who held a stoic expression on his face.
Itachi pulled forward.
Getting to the side of Izumi, Itachi showed his Sharingan with Kakashi's grip of his hands became tighter and tighter.
"As I said, your opponent is me, Kakashi Hatake."
When saying that, Izumi became slightly worried.
Not because she thought that Kakashi would beat Itachi.
She was more concerned for his health and hoping that it wouldn't affect him in this fight.
So the young girl looked at him with her eyes, and cast a communicating Genjutsu on him.
"Itachi-kun, are you really going to be fighting him? I can do it for you if you want me to, it isn't an issue at all."
"While I am sure you can handle this, I also have to get involved. I'm sure this will also reach Danzo's ears as well. While doing this, do me a favour, and keep your eyes peeled for anything that could be happening, we still are unsure of what Konan is doing."
"Okay, I'll do that for you. However Itachi-kun, don't forget your condition. It could flare up at any moment, especially if you're considering using the Mangekyou Sharingan."
"I know, do not worry, I shall be fine."
The pair ended their conversation as Kakashi whipped out a kunai and pointed it at the pair of them. The male Uchiha gave a passive look, Izumi herself didn't show anything on her face other than a normal expression.
Kisame on the other hand took his large sword, and aimed it towards Kakashi.
"Say Itachi, you don't mind if I take this one, do you? Fighting another Sharingan wielder, even if he isn't an Uchiha, would be rather fun. So what do you say?"
"No, I shall fight him. You can fight Asuma Sarutobi."
Kisame clicks his tongue, and huffs ever so slightly.
"If that's what I am to work with, I suppose it wouldn't be so bad. Though this fight is going to be over quickly. If my best friend can take down one Konoha Jonin in a flash, then I'll take down another one just as quickly."
Asuma looked worried about the upcoming fight with Kisame.
Itachi pulled closer towards Kakashi who in turn readied himself.
"Itachi Uchiha, I'll have to take you down."
Itachi waved a hand through the right hand side of his long bang. His other arm rested comfortably at his side, before he made a single movement, Kakashi was surprised by ths speed as he saw shurikens launched at him.
Managing to pull away, he blocked the attacks, as he leapt onto the water, only to see that the water was shooting out of the ground like drills, and briefly heard Itachi speaking a Jutsu, but was shocked by the speed.
"Water Release, Water Wall!"
Kakashi summoned a wall of water all around him by using the pre existing water around, blocking the drills of water at the last moment.
However, from behind, he felt the presence of Itachi stood there, with a kunai stabbing through the wall.
Piercing Kakashi's body, Asuma widened his eyes in horror at the tremendous speed that Itachi had.
However, he also saw that there was another Itachi stood close by to Izumi, so Kakashi wondered which was the clone.
As the kunai dug into the flesh of Kakashi...the Jonin himself suddenly turned into water, with Kisame gritting his teeth.
"A Water Clone huh."
As Kisame said it, Kakashi came out from the water below Itachi, and tried to pierce through Itachi's body.
Itachi turned towards Kakashi, and grabbed his wrist, and flung him up into the air, where Itachi nailed his foot deep within Kakashi's face, the force of the kick sent Kakashi flying across the large body of water.
In mid flight however, Kakashi's body evaporated into particles of water.
"Another one it seems."
Itachi near Izumi said as Kakashi came out of the earth below him.
Itachi turned to see the kunai that he wielded was aimed for his chest, Izumi glanced at Itachi who bowed his head, before something caught Kakashi's eye.
Something wasn't right about this.
That something soon became quite apparent as the body of Itachi suddenly was swelling and within a moment, exploded in a huge blast.
Kakashi tried to evade, but the devastating explosion caught him up and blasted him into the water.
Blood leaked from his hand while Kakashi looked for where Izumi was.
Then he saw her stood right beside the Itachi that was on the water, indicating that was the real one.
"So the one on the ground was the fake, he had Izumi Uchiha stand beside him to make it seem like it was the real one. That's very smart and yet how simple it was. Most would naturally assume that would be how the opponent would fight, because the trick would be obvious, so obvious that others wouldn't assume that someone of Itachi's calibre would even attempt such things. But he simply changed it up, and had Izumi play bait to me essentially, and did a switch quickly enough."
Kakashi was in awe at the way they played such a simple, yet effective technique.
He glanced at Asuma and saw that he, and Kurenai were safe.
But Kisame was stood before them, and held his sword tightly towards them.
Then Kakashi's eyes shifted back to Itachi and Izumi, seeing the pair simply standing next to one another, neither giving away anything of their true intentions.
"Still, the fact that she was able to also evade the explosion, tells me that she really has increased in speed and strength since when she was in the village. And with Itachi beside her who I presume is even more powerful, this fight isn't going to go well in my favour. And I doubt backup is going to come either since while not my specialty, I can't really sense them despite them being so close. Whatever they've done, they've made it so help wont come until it is too late..."
Kakashi panted and thought about the best move to make now.
If he should go for a full out assault.
Or should he be more calculating?
But even that seemed to be very difficult.
As even if he tried, then Itachi who was a genius would counter it he thought.
As that was going on, Konan and Ryouta stared off at one another. The former seemed to be compiled of many pieces of paper, all of them were floating before Ryouta's eyes, and he couldn't tell what it was that he was looking at.
"This kind of Jutsu, I haven't heard of a Kekkei Genkai that can do this. But maybe it is...though, I don't think that it is..."
Ryouta thought about it, and tried to come to some kind of solution about what it was before his eyes, though that proved to be difficult due to the way that Konan was being so secretive about everything.
However, as he thought she raised her hands up into the air. It seemed that her entire body was composed of paper, and it didn't make much sense to him, he watched as the floating pieces of paper began to harden in the air.
They turned towards Ryouta, and became like shurikens from what his eyes could see.
"Paper Shuriken."
She moved her arms, and the hardened pieces of paper rained down towards Ryouta.
The young man didn't bat an eyelid, as he took out a single shuriken himself, and prepared his own Jutsu.
"Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!"
Matching the paper shurikens with his own, they clashed in the air, as Ryouta turned on the Body Flicker. Using that, he disappeared from sight, even Konan was slightly surprised to see that happen.
But she saw on the ground a shadow moving, so she turned her hand towards it, and fired off several shurikens.
However, as she did, the paper shurikens simply pierced the ground, yet the shadow she saw was still moving towards her, so she grit her teeth, and caused all of the paper around her to become harder and harder.
She formed what looked like a shield out of her paper, and placed it all around her.
In the instance that she did, she heard the sound of cutting.
Her eyes widened and turned to see that the Kusanagi wielding Ryouta was coming towards her. The paper shield she had made had been cleaved down and the sword kept going for her body, so she caused her body to shoot up into the air.
Ryouta watched on as she flew into the air.
On her back, it looked like paper wings had formed.
But in the light of day, the whiteness of the paper and the way the wings were shaped, gave Ryouta another thought instead, and that was…
"An Angel..."
Ryouta let slip, but didn't regret as she did look rather beautiful.
She looked rather caught off guard from that.
But at the same time, she thought it was nice that he thought she looked like that.
"No, I'm not an Angel. But thank you for the words."
"No problem. So, you seem to be rather quick Konan-san, if that is your real name."
"It is, I wasn't deceitful about that, nor what I said about you joining us either."
"Why did you go through all of the trouble to meet me like this? You couldn't have just come to meet me, and use your words about Sugaru. I know there has to be other reasons why you're here beyond trying to seemingly recruit me, so if you'd like to share them with me, then I'd appreciate it. If not, then I'll have to capture you."
"Are you confident that you can capture me?"
Konan asked curiously.
Ryouta responded with a half smile.
"I don't know your full capabilities yet. However, what I do know is that you're skilled, and strong, but that doesn't mean that I will go down so easily either."
"Those are good words to have. However, I'll allow you to know the name of this technique. The Dance of the Shikigami, this fight shall come to an end."
Ryouta grit his teeth as she raised her hands into the air.
From doing that, she formed what looked like spears of paper, that she casually tossed down with a wave of her hand.
Ryouta used his natural speed to avoid the paper spears, which pierced the ground and looked rather deadly. Ryouta noticed the chakra running through the papers, and how much of there was in it, and was taken by surprise that she was using less chakra than he thought she would do.
But it didn't stop him from weaving through some hand signs, before aiming his mouth upwards.
"Fire Release, Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Unleashing a massive flaming sphere from his mouth, the giant flaming sphere shot right for Konan, who turned into paper form, and scattered.
However, while doing so, Ryouta's flames burned through some of the paper that tried to escape.
Even then, the paper slid around the area, and appeared behind Ryouta's form.
Widening his eyes, he saw the paper beginning to merge around him.
"One way or the other, you shall becoming with me. Even if I have to suffocate you unconscious."
Her cold words accompanied her cold paper form that was rapidly beginning to form all the way around his body…
As that was going on, the trio of Anko, Karin and Haku made their way towards Ryouta's location as rapidly as they could do. Anko had sent some snakes towards the village in case this was an emergency.
At first, they weren't entirely sure anything was actually happening.
They only knew that Karin thought that someone could be there.
"Say Karin, anything now? We're a bit closer."
Anko asked with some anticipation.
If this was another attack, this one was even more crafty due to the enemies not even being detected by the likes of Karin.
Karin furrowed her brows, and thought deeply about it.
She tried her best.
Though all she picked up was hints that something could be there.
But she couldn't paint a full picture with her sensing abilities.
"This is truly odd. I feel like there's something's going on here that simply aren't adding up. Like, I feel as if Ryou-kun is fighting and using chakra. However, whatever opponent that he has, it dips in for brief moments and then disappears. And keeps going like that."
Karin revealed, Haku gave a troubled look.
"It seems like they're using some kind of chakra hiding technique Karin-san, as we theorized beforehand."
"But that would be impossible. At least, to the ones that I know of. The ones I know, means that while suppressing your chakra, you can't use it either, or it would become visible for people like me to sense. But this is something entirely different. I can't explain it, but it's like someone's there, but not there at the same time. And the more time that passes, they become more there, and stay there, with their chakra dipping out at small, few and far between points."
Anko did find that odd.
She also wondered who would come.
Anko suspected Orochimaru, but wondered if he had the talent to hide his chakra this well.
She didn't doubt he was smart enough, but it didn't add up that he'd try something now, after such a short time.
"If this is a dangerous foe, then we have to make sure that we're ready. Haku, Karin, this could be a situation where we will have to fight someone that is Sannin level. I know that's a worrying thought, but I'm struggling to think of who else can make it so we can't sense them."
"Even if it is a Sannin level shinobi, our teammate needs us and we shall not let him down."
Haku expresses with conviction.
Anko was glad to hear her say that.
It was clear that Haku wouldn't allow the fact that the potential enemy being a Sannin to stop her now.
Karin gulped at the thought of Orochimaru being back.
But she also wouldn't allow the enemy to get their hands on someone that she cared for.
Anko felt the same and they did their best to make it to the area that Ryouta was in.
Then they saw the giant flaming sphere go up into the air, and caused the surrounding area to become hot.
They felt the levels of heat even from a good distance away.
"It almost feels like a flare."
Karin murmured, Anko nods.
"Yes, he wants people to know his location. Because we're in Konoha, this kind of tactic makes sense. Double time everyone! Lets do it!"
""Yeah!""
Karin and Haku replied with vigour and shot off with high speeds forward, towards their destination.
Back with Ryouta and Konan, with the paper successfully forming a Ryouta shape, the paper version of Konan who was missing half of her body slowly appeared.
When fully materializing in a half form state with her lower half missing, she moved to the front of the paper form before her, and stared at it intensely.
"Now that you've been captured, don't struggle..."
As she said it, she realized something.
He wasn't struggling at all.
In fact, he wasn't even moving.
So she moved the papers...and felt no mass.
Her face turned white as she heard the slightest sound behind her, so she turned to see Ryouta's form coming down her with his sword twirling around towards her form, and tried to cleave the young woman down enough so that he'd be able to capture her.
But she scattered like the paper she was, vanishing from sight.
She reformed herself in the air, a safe distance away.
"That technique you're using, it isn't a Kekkei Genkai, is it?"
"You think that's true?"
Konan asked coldly, and methodically.
Ryouta wondered what her angle was as she spoke.
He felt something wasn't entirely right with this situation and the fact that she was able to use her powers without having to come in close, she was a very good definition of a long ranged fighter, but he also wondered because of that, how was her close range fighting?
If he could figure that out, and find out that was a weakness, then he could turn this into a strength for him, who has good close range fighting abilities.
"Yes, I think that I've seen a similar technique to this before. With Gaara-san, who uses chakra infused sand. You're the same, only with paper. Though turning into paper such as you can, and even floating in the air is quite the amazing skill to have. If you weren't my enemy, I'd definitely want to know more about this technique."
Ryouta deduced that based on what he could see, and what knowledge he had.
Of course, he didn't discount the idea of this being a Kekkei Genkai, but he was leaning more towards this not being a Kekkei Genkai, and this being a technique that she had created, though he was still amazed by the fact that she could turn into paper and how she used such a material that technically shouldn't be that strong in the first place when it came to paper.
"If you come with me, then I'd share the secrets of this technique with you."
Konan expressed.
But Ryouta highly doubted that to be true.
"Would you really?"
Konan didn't answer, and instead raised her hands, forming sharp spear like objects out of paper, and shot them towards Ryouta.
The young man flew through several hand signs.
"Fire Release, Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Releasing a large sphere of flames, the paper and flames came into contact with one another.
The flames clashed devilishly with the paper, with Ryouta noting that the papers were cutting through the flames. Even though fire should have an advantage against paper, Ryouta could see these types of paper didn't have any disadvantages right now and was clashing evenly with his flames.
Stopping the fire, the spears of paper came towards Ryouta who dodged out of the way with his incredible speed, and got behind Konan, with him aiming the sword of Kusanagi upwards, and commanded it with his will to elongate towards the flying woman.
She took off with her wings, and flew high, but noted the speed of the sword, which managed to cut across her right hand side. Albeit it was a small wound, she raised her body high into the air, where she clasped her hands together.
From doing that, she caused the papers to surge, and form giant shurikens in the air made from said paper.
Ryouta didn't back down and as the papers came towards him, he released two kunai, with paper bombs attached to them.
"Fire Release, Dragon Fire Jutsu!"
Releasing flames in thin beam like lines, Konan saw that attached to the kunai, were wires.
The flames travelled rapidly up the wires, and towards the launching shurikens, creating another explosive force that the shurikens were diverted away with Ryouta pushing his chakra into his legs, in order to give him a burst of power and speed.
"Hah!"
Ryouta blasted off at the speed of light almost it seemed to Konan, as the boy travelled from the ground to her location within a split second, and his sword was already coming down towards her, so she summoned a spear of paper, and clashed with the sword.
Using quick movements of his feet, he rapidly moved his sword underneath his feet to give him a platform to kick off from, and got above the flying Konan, and slashed towards her from such an angle, which she blocked, though saw that her paper spear simply got sliced through.
He got behind her, where she turned and rocketed off back as Ryouta swung the sword for her.
The area before her face got in the firing line of the slice, with a few strands of her hair being cut as a result.
However, it saved her from receiving the damage directly, as she fired off small deadly sharp pieces of paper towards the in air Ryouta.
"Fire Release, Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Ryouta unleashed a massive wave of fire that ripped through the papers that came for him, as he did the same technique he did beforehand, using his sword to give him a moments footstep, and blasted off right after her.
Konan was caught in surprise as he got in close, clashing with her again as they came into contact with one another's weapons. Konan made a spear, which she used to block but had to dodge when the paper got cut in half.
She then watched him do the same technique as before, and created a footpath for himself in the air, and then move rapidly through said air, appearing before her, and sent a series of stabs towards her body.
She used her incredible speed to avoid it again and again but the rapid movements were something that caught her attention, and then she saw that from his sleeves, snakes came shooting around in two, and tried to bind down Konan.
"No."
Konan summoned her papers around, and this time she did mix in some paper bombs, and had them attach themselves to the snakes, which she detonated, exploding them out of existence, only to see Ryouta close the distance, and came at her with a swinging kick.
She didn't have time to fully convert herself to paper, so she took the kick to the right hand side of her body which she blocked with her arm.
"Haaaaaaah!"
Ryouta pushed chakra through his leg, and sent her flying down towards the ground.
Konan had to follow due to him using his leg in a way that she couldn't escape.
But she extended her paper wings, and fired off paper shurikens from said wings.
She thought with Ryouta in the air, that she'd be able to catch him out.
But like before, he used his sword as a footpath and avoided the wave of paper shurikens, shocking Konan that he was moving so elegantly through the air.
She watched as he again and again used his own sword as a footpath and moved through the air gracefully.
"That sword, if I remember right, used to belong to Orochimaru. The way that it elongates tells me that it is the same. However, how he is using it, is simply ingenious. Using the elongating ability of it to turn the blade into a makeshift footpath, and using that to move through the air. It is almost simulating flight in a sense, and he's able to keep up with me when he isn't able to fly unlike I can. I can see why he said that this boy was a rather dangerous opponent, he uses his speed and movements to fight evenly with me while in the air. He is strong."
Konan thought that she might have had the advantage while being in the air.
But this was showing her that wasn't the case.
Though she was confident enough to be able to fight him.
She was also unsure of how much her flying ability would give her any advantage now that he essentially was dashing through the air.
As the fight was going on, Anko and the others arrived, with Konan pulling away as Ryouta landed on the ground.
"Ryouta! Who's this?!"
Anko yelled, Ryouta didn't truly have an answer as he returned to the ground.
"A girl named Konan, that's all I know."
Ryouta revealed, with Anko furrowing her brows.
"You paper girl! What are you trying to do with this Uchiha huh?!"
"That's for me to know, and for you not to know."
Anko's right eyebrow twitched.
"So, it's gonna be like that? Not even gonna say between us girls?"
"As I said, I cannot tell you. So, allow me to use my paper to suffocate you. This is between me and the Uchiha, stay out of it."
Anko took that as a personal attack.
She wasn't going to have any of this.
Targeting her student, and having the ability to back chat her, it wasn't what she wished to happen.
"Ryouta, Haku, lets get to work! Karin, you keep back, and make sure you keep your senses on this woman, if she tries anything shifty, you let us know immediately! Team Anko is about shred this paper!"
Konan looked on, seeing all four Ninja banding together.
She didn't know the battle strength of all four together, but knew that this wasn't what she had wished for, so she extended her paper wings high into the air.
"It seems that our fight will have to be put on hold."
"Gonna run away now that we've come, have you?"
Anko said as she pulled out her senbons to fight the enemy before her.
Konan stared on towards Anko, and the others.
Seeing that Haku, Ryouta and Anko were banding together, she thought it would be best if she didn't confront the enemy directly, at least right now, as she had finished what she had come to say and do.
"A Ninja knows when and when not to engage an enemy in combat. Besides, I have learned everything that I wish to learn for today. So if you'll excuse me, then I'm going to be leaving. Though think about what I said boy."
Ryouta watched with half lidded eyes as Karin felt chakra swirling around.
"She's got some kind of Jutsu around us..."
Ryouta looked and saw with his heightened eyesight what it was.
"Paper bombs!"
"Get back now!"
Anko yelled, and retreated back away from the newly releasing explosions going on around them.
Moving quickly, they put distance between them, as the explosions fully went off before their eyes.
When they died down, Ryouta saw that Konan was a good distance away.
He also saw floating down from the sky, was an origami rose, falling so it would land very close to him.
He caught it, and stared at it.
It looked rather beautiful in his eyes.
"Smart, she hid them within her papers as we fought. She must have laid them out while we were fighting."
Ryouta murmured, examining the rose to make sure nothing was wrong with it.
When he didn't find anything, he held the rose close, and wondered if this was, in some way, some kind of gift from Konan.
Though he wouldn't have a clue as to why she'd leave such a thing for him in the first place.
"Tricky girl, she couldn't have gotten far. Karin, can you sense her?"
Anko asked.
But Karin wasn't responsive.
Instead, her eyes shifted towards a different part of the area.
"Karin-san?"
Haku tried speaking to her.
But Karin looked to be in shock.
"No way...I just felt them..."
"Felt what?"
Anko wondered, Karin hugged her upper body, turning to Ryouta.
"Ryou-kun, I just felt Itachi and Izumi Uchiha within this village."
Ryouta's face dropped.
After all this time…
They had returned.
Itachi was back, and so was Izumi.
"D-Did you just say Itachi and Izumi?"
Haku stuttered out, she wasn't even sure how Ryouta felt about all of this at that moment in time.
Ryouta himself was feeling rather conflicted on what to feel.
He had always wanted to see Izumi again.
Now she was in arms reach.
But they had Konan to deal with.
Anko saw the conflicting emotions that was on Ryouta's face, so she quickly pulled closer.
"If Itachi is in this village, Ryouta you need to get going."
"But Sensei, what about Konan-san?"
"Reinforcements are going to come, Haku, Karin and I will go after her. If Itachi Uchiha is back, then those that are gonna confront him need someone that understands his Jutsu's, and someone that has the Sharingan to counter his Sharingan shenanigans."
Ryouta could get that.
If Itachi did try and use his Mangekyou, then he could see how troubling that truly would be for others.
"Okay Anko-sensei, I'll go. Karin-san…"
Karin nodded, and explained where Itachi was.
So Ryouta turned, and rocketed himself off rapidly towards Itachi and Izumi.
Back with Kakashi and the others, Kisame charged for Asuma and began clashing with him.
Izumi watched on and saw that Asuma was struggling to keep up with Kisame, who's speedy movements were pressuring him more and more, to the point that Asuma was pushing pushed back, plus with the power of Samehada, she didn't know how long Asuma was going to last in this fight.
Then her eyes shifted to Kakashi who was carefully looking between the two of them.
Itachi remained calm and composed towards the deadly looking Kakashi, who equally thought the same about Itachi, and how deadly he was, their eyes catching one another's for the briefest of instants.
"I have to remember my chakra levels, if I use the Sharingan for too long, then my stamina will deplete. And Itachi is fast, I have to keep that in mind...this is going to be tricky. But, I might be able to pull a victory off if I use Lightning Blade."
Kakashi thought and watched Itachi intently.
Itachi himself seemed to be standing still, and his hands rested at his side.
With a small movement of his hand, Kakashi witnessed that two clones emerged, and shot off towards Kakashi.
Seeing the incredible speed of the clones, Kakashi didn't have the chance to stop, and weaved through some hand signs.
"Water Release, Water Dragon Jutsu!"
From the water beneath his feet, Kakashi manipulated it and rose it higher and higher into the air.
The Dragon formed from the water was a skinny yet tough looking Dragon that swept across the area one of the clones leapt up, and grasped the Dragon's face.
Digging his fingers into the Dragon, the clone exploded, Kakashi was highly impressed to see a single exploding clone was enough to cause the water Dragon to lose its stability, disappearing from Kakashi's eyes.
Then the other clone came in for Kakashi, so he jumped right, and threw a kunai towards the clone, but said clone caught the kunai, and launched it right back with enough speed that Kakashi barely had chance to dodge out of the way.
But as he did, Itachi's clone got close, moving across the water so elegantly that even Kakashi was stunned by how quick Itachi was, and saw that the clone erupted in a powerful explosion, with enough force to cause the surrounding area to scatter around, the waters flow disturbed even those like Izumi and Itachi from a good distance away.
Itachi and Izumi watched as the smoke surrounded the area, giving Kakashi a smoke screen at that.
But it seemed more than Itachi suspected, with the young man knowing what had happened.
"Using the smoke of the explosion to cover your own smoke bombs. You are as smart as always, Kakashi."
Itachi mused within his mind, and turned his eyes around to see Kakashi stood there.
In his hand, was the Lightning Blade itself.
He was coming in close towards Itachi, the sound of the lightning crackled within Itachi's ears.
"That is a nice Jutsu Kakashi."
"I'll end you with this!"
Kakashi thrusted the fist of lightning right for Itachi.
Izumi remained unconcerned as Itachi simply stared at the lightning blade coming towards him.
The lightning rammed right through Itachi's chest, Kakashi held a small smile of victory.
However, something didn't feel right.
He then widened his eyes.
"Genjutsu...but when..."
Kakashi thought as he used his own Sharingan to break the Genjutsu, only to see Itachi close by.
Widening his eyes, Kakashi tried pulling back, when seeing Itachi's movements, albeit with the speed Itachi possessed it was something difficult.
"Damn-"
Before the words came out of his mouth, Itachi slammed his foot deep within Kakashi's torso, with Kakashi wincing at the feeling, only to see his foot coming in from the right, so Kakashi used his arm to block the kick.
Even then, the kick was strong and pushed Kakashi back a good few centimetres, with the silver haired Ninja gazing at Itachi who did the same thing.
"Before we even exchanged the first blow, you already had me under your Genjutsu."
"Correct."
Itachi's cold single word sent shivers down Kakashi's spine.
This was no ordinary Ninja.
This Ninja had exceptional Genjutsu skills.
If they weren't careful, then they'd be beaten before being able to do anything against him.
"Gwaaah!"
Kakashi's eyes widened and whizzed around.
What he saw was a deep gash on Asuma's chest.
Kisame stood close by, waving his sword back and forward.
"Got his blood on my sword best friend. See, I told you that I wouldn't be long, didn't I?"
"That you did Kisame-kun."
Izumi replied, seeing Asuma grimacing as he falls to the floor.
His blood began dripping onto the ground.
Kisame held a bloodthirsty expression on his face.
Kakashi looked between the three people that were around.
Itachi, Izumi and Kisame.
Izumi and Kisame had finished two Jonin off within a few minutes.
Now only he was left.
He wasn't aware if any backup was coming.
Itachi pulled closer, with Izumi looking on with curiosity.
"Kakashi, it seems that your allies have lost this battle."
"Even if they have, I wont back down and let you leave."
Itachi's eyes shifted towards the Mangekyou.
Kakashi was aware of the Mangekyou.
He recalled that Ryouta also had the power of Mangekyou.
Izumi watched on, seeing Itachi's eyes going towards Kakashi's eyes.
"We'll finish this off quickly."
"You wont..."
Itachi moves with immense speed, and got before Kakashi.
His eyes and Kakashi's own lock onto one another, with Itachi's eye began to bleed.
"Tsukuyomi."
When Itachi said that, Kakashi's eyes widened…
At the instance that his eyes widened, they were suddenly covered.
Itachi's own eyes widened as he saw a sword coming in for his upper body to cut him down.
Itachi dodged out of the way, but saw the blade cut his cloak, before he put distance between them.
Izumi looked on and saw that with his hand over Kakashi's eyes, the person that had come, was Ryouta himself.
"Ryou-kun..."
Izumi thought as she gazed at the young man that he had become.
Ryouta took his hand off of Kakashi's eyes, and the older man gave him a curious gaze.
"Ryouta..."
"Sensei, whatever you do, don't look in his eyes when he has his Mangekyou Sharingan on. It is a Genjutsu that can do immense damage, and from what I heard, he even killed people with the Genjutsu."
"So that's the Genjutsu after all...I suppose I have to thank you for that, if it happened, then I could have been killed."
"That's okay Sensei, I didn't want Itachi to have another victim within Konoha."
Kakashi watched Ryouta's fist tighten.
It was quite understandable why.
This was the man that wiped out the Uchiha, the one that had also attacked him.
He knew if it was Satsuki, she'd not be able to keep her composure.
But for Ryouta to be able to stay as calm as he was right now, he thought that in of itself was quite the achievement.
The young man aimed his sword towards Itachi, while taking a glance at Izumi.
When seeing her and her seeing him, emotions came flooding back, on both sides.
Happiness after so long.
Pain that they were on opposite sides.
Confusion on Ryouta's part.
Guilt on Izumi's part.
Itachi on the other hand knew this could be an eventuality, however he wished that it wasn't so.
Kisame also looked on, and showcased a half smirk on his lips.
"Now things are getting interesting. Haha, Itachi, I'll fight this one for you. You can keep battling that damn Kakashi."
Kakashi took exception to that.
Itachi placed his hand out, and stopped him.
"No, this one is mine."
"No, that one is mine. Kakashi can be yours, I'll fight the boy. Didn't I say already that no one would be getting in my way for this fight? He fought Kushimaru and killed him, so step back Itachi, this boy is my enemy and mine alone to fight."
Kisame argued, with Izumi becoming surprised that Kisame seemed so intent on fighting Ryouta.
However, Itachi shook his head, and flashed his Sharingan to Kisame.
"No, this one is mine Kisame."
When he did that, Kisame knew that he was serious, so he laughed it off.
"Then I want to fight him later, make sure you don't kill him. Or maybe he'll even kill you. He has strong eyes, I am excited to see where he goes now. Hey kid, stay alive for a little while longer, alright?"
Kisame's words made Ryouta not understand exactly what was going on when it came to Kisame.
However, he then saw Itachi's deadly sharp eyes on his form, so he knew he'd have to get serious as well.
"I'll finish what I started those years ago, Ryouta Uchiha."
Ryouta turned his sword onto Itachi, who looked back with the same stoic expression that Ryouta remembered.
But this was also filled with the same coldness that he had on the same day as the Uchiha Massacre.
"Itachi Uchiha. I'm different to the child that I was back then. You will tell me more about what happened with my brother, what happened with the Uchiha, and you will tell me more about Tobi, I know you know stuff about him."
Itachi raised an eyebrow.
"i see, so even after all these years, hatred didn't fill your heart?"
"Hatred would gain me nothing. I seek justice, rather than vengeance. And by doing that right now, Itachi Uchiha, I shall be returning Izumi-chan back to this village!"
Itachi couldn't reveal it.
But he was rather happy to hear that.
Itachi stared on, seeing the stance Ryouta had, he couldn't see any flaws that he could exploit immediately, so he was glad to see the young man had grown stronger.
Though Izumi herself felt her heart beat increasing, and not in a good way.
"Ryou-kun...he's really here. Wow, he's really grown, and he's so handsome as well. I wish I could just go over to you, and give you a hug. I want to...be there for you, Ryou-kun. I'm so sorry that this is what has happened. I want to change this reality, but I can't right now. Be safe...please."
Izumi didn't say anything, but felt pain within her.
Kisame was becoming more excited, when he noticed something.
Samehada, was also becoming excited, and seemed to be drawing itself towards Ryouta's form.
"What's this Samehada? Are you attracted to that boys chakra? Hah, I was right to believe this boy might be a good choice for me after all. Come on kid, make sure you get away from Itachi, so I can have a fight with you. Haha, am I really thinking against Itachi? I suppose that I am. Someone that defeats members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen do excite me a good deal. And now that Samehada is attracted to the young Uchiha's chakra, now I have to see what kind of true power this boy really has."
Kisame was intrigued to see what was to become of this.
Itachi himself remained calm, before he moved closer and closer.
Ryouta watched him move several feet closer, before stopping and showed a strong look.
"Have you mastered the power inside of you? Because if you haven't, then you wont be able to come close to killing me."
"I don't want you dead, that rights reserved for your sister and Mother. But if you leave me no choice, then I will kill you. I am a Ninja of this village, and now that you've returned, I will defend it, so be prepared, because I wont hold back."
Those words made Itachi feel rather good.
Despite the threat, it was clear that this boy was still the same that he remembered.
One that would protect his little sister.
But to keep up the charade, the fight between last surviving male Uchiha's was about to begin...
Meanwhile, as that was going on, Mikoto (who had left Satsuki but still made sure she was training by leaving a clone behind to assist her) and Hiruzen were in further discussion about what was going on with the Chunin Exam participants. Because of what Izumi gave herself, and the other members of the Akatsuki currently within the village, the day felt like any other to those unaware of the fighting going on.
Even Hiruzen and Mikoto weren't currently aware that anything was amiss, and were speaking about the currently events of what to do with the Chunin Exams, Mikoto also wondered how Naruko was getting on, she was sure that Naruko and Jiraiya would have left the village by now.
As they finished discussing a certain person within the Chunin Exams, they stopped when receiving word that Naruko and Jiraiya had already left the area, and were on their journey towards finding Tsunade.
"I wonder if Tsunade-sama is going to return? I do hope Jiraiya-sama is able to convince her that it would be best to come back to the village. But, I also wouldn't be surprised if she said no either, this place must hold a lot of bad memories for her."
"I also wonder the same thing Mikoto and can see why she might not wish to return." Hiruzen began, his eyes shifting before him. "Though Tsunade might have some apprehension about coming back to this village. I do hope that Jiraiya is able to convince her. Even if she chooses not to become Hokage, she is still a Ninja that we could really need now that situations with Orochimaru has arose."
Mikoto nodded to herself.
"You're right, we could really use her. So, now who are we going to discuss about when it comes to those within the Chunin Exams?"
Hiruzen pondered it for a few moments, then turned his eyes to a certain young girl.
"So, now that we've discussed Shikamaru, next we should be discussing your daughter. Satsuki-san. I'd like to know your thoughts on this matter as well, and to go from there."
Mikoto didn't have a problem with it, and went to speak, when they both heard a mysterious noise.
A crow.
Mikoto's eyes cast out of the window, and looked at the birds eyes.
She then looked towards Hiruzen who furrowed his brows.
"It has to be him sir."
"Yes, only he would use such a calling card. Please let the crow inside. We're alone right now, so it is fine."
Mikoto nodded, and beckoned the crow closer.
Flying to the young woman, she allowed it to perch on her shoulder, then looked towards Mikoto's eyes, the young woman and Hiruzen then watched as the crow transforms from being a crow, into the son that she hadn't seen for so long.
"Itachi..."
Mikoto whispers with both love and surprise, watching as the clone of Itachi looks towards his Mother.
"Mother, it's been a long time."
Mikoto couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by seeing her son return before her eyes. She felt tears beginning to form at the base of her eyes, while Hiruzen was stuck in surprise by what was going on with Itachi suddenly appearing now, wondering what the young man could truly want.
End chapter!
So this chapter dealt with Ryouta vs Konan briefly, with them understanding the other more, even Konan gifted Ryouta with one of her origami flowers, after Anko and the others arrived and Konan knew that she didn't have the luxury of a waiting. Kakashi fought against Itachi, who managed to overcome Kakashi, But as he was going to have Tsukuyomi cast on him, Ryouta managed to come between them, and launched an attack on Itachi! So, we'll be seeing what happens between them next time!
Finally, thanks to everyone that's voted on the poll! It was a pretty close one, with only a few votes separating the top three.
But the one that won out in the end is...
Rewrite of Half Breed Warrior!
Sorry to those that voted for others, but that's the end result. The story should be out sometime next week from the release of this chapter, again thanks to everyone that voted.
Well, until next time, thanks for reading!
Ryouta; Satsuki, Sakura, Naruko, Hinata, Gaara (fem), Ino, Haku (fem), Kurotsuchi, Karin, Konan, Mei, Anko, Samui, Hanabi, Mabui, Temari, Pakura,