Chapter Six: Facing Demons

Author's note: As always, I'd like to start out by thanking everyone who's left a like, follow, review or sent me a message.

As for the Konoha poll, I'll keep it up for a few more chapters. I've got ideas for how to include all of the girls listed, though one person messaged me and suggested that I tweak the poll so you can select two candidates since I'm going to have a minimum of two girls from Konoha (Thank Darkmaster10000000 for the suggestion.)

Otherwise, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Bold: Technique name (Translation)

Italics: Thoughts

Horizontal Line: Flashback

(Scene change): You know what it is

"I need to enter Sennin Mōdo (Sage Mode)," Jiraiya requested, his coal eyes burning fiercely.

"What?!" Both toad sages croaked out at the same time. Shima looked stunned while Fukasaku decided to take a glance at their surroundings; they were on a dirt road in front of a building that looked like an old fishing inn, with two other people around them. One person was Hatake Kakashi, someone that Fukasaku had met before, while the other one was a blond boy that nearly made Fukasaku's eyes leave his skull because he looked like the spitting image of one of their previous summoners; Namikaze Minato. He just about gasped out Minato's name, but was able to catch himself in time; it was up to the boy's godfather or the Sandaime to tell him of his heritage.

Fukasaku noted that, while both Kakashi and the boy looked tense, they didn't appear to be in any immediate danger. Nor did they appear to be any immediate threat to their summoner, and certainly not threatening enough to warrant Jiraiya summoning he and his wife, Fukasaku commented as such:

"Jiraiya-boyo, I think summoning us to deal with Kakashi-boyo and this tadpole might be a bit…excessive, don't 'cha think?" Fukasaku's comments finally broke Shima out of her stupor, and made her aware of the two other people surrounding them and, unlike her husband, she had no such control over her mental filter when she laid eyes on Naruto.

"Honey, look," Shima gasped as she placed a hand on her husband's shoulder and pointed at the blond boy-a blond boy who was looking quite confused by the conversation- "It's Minato-chan's tadpole."

Fukasaku palmed his face, producing a meaty smack; Jiraiya and Kakashi were stunned stupid, not expecting Shima to reveal state's secrets; Naruto, well Naruto just looked confused. The gears of his mind grinding as they tried to process what the old lady toad said.

"Minato's…tadpole?" Naruto muttered, "A tadpole's a baby toad…baby toad…baby," Naruto eyes bugged out as he gasped out a question he hadn't asked in years, "Do you know who my father is?" Jiraiya recovered from his shock and sent Kakashi an Anbu hand signal and gestured towards the clone; terminate.

Shima nodded her head, "Of course I do, silly. He was…" before the Naruto-clone could hear her answer he was dispelled by a chop to the back of the neck.

Fukasaku turned on his wife, and began grinding his forehead into her own, "Damn it, woman! You know the boy isn't supposed to know about his heritage yet!"

Shima pushed back, her eyes fierce as they rehashed an argument the couple has had off and on for the past thirteen years. "Well, ya ol' coot, forgive me for forgetting such a stupid rule! A tadpole should know where he came from!"

Both toads were releasing growls that would make a tiger envious, as they glared one another down. Before their argument could come to blows, Jiraiya knelt down and separated the two, while shouting, "Enough! We don't have time for this. The 'tadpole' you're arguing about is in danger, and I need to get to him yesterday!"

Both toads gasped, turned to each other, nodded-they would be discussing this later-and hopped on Jiraiya's shoulders. "Lead on," Fukasaku commanded, as he and his wife began gathering nature chakra, expanding their senses as they did so.

Jiraiya nodded, charged chakra to his legs, and shot off towards the west, cratering the ground from his push off. Jiraiya was a blur of white as he rushed through the forest, leaping from branch to branch. He was confident that with sage mode he would utterly annihilate anything in his path, though his plan hit a snag a few minutes into his journey when a wave of malevolence hit the two toad's senses and made them lose their concentration; "Kyūbi."

"What?!" Jiraiya nearly lost his footing, but recovered in time as he stopped on a branch. "Has the seal broken?"

"No," Fukasaku said, "Though you will want to have a chakra-suppressing seal handy, just in case he draws on more of the beast's chakra."

"We don't have time for that," Jiraiya argued, "It takes me five minutes to draw one of those seals. I'll just use the Gogyō Fūin (Five-Pronged Seal) to cut off his access to its chakra."

"But what if…" Fukasaku was going to continue the argument when his wife cut him off and hopped off Jiraiya's shoulder and onto the tree trunk in front of them; "Jiraiya-chan, make the seal; Pa, gather nature chakra. I'll go watch over the tadpole." Before either man could argue Shima shot off, a purple blur to their eyes.

Fukasaku let out a sigh, a fond smile on his face, "Make the seal. I pity anyone who gets in between Ma and a tadpole in danger."

(Scene Change)

When Zabuza was defenestrated, and his back made contact with the ground outside his base, only one thought went through his mind; "Damn, if Kushimaru had come a day later I could be using chakra right now." Indeed, the medicine that Haku had given him to accelerate his healing was still in his system. He knows this because as he was falling, he instinctively channeled chakra to his back to cushion his fall-something all shinobi are taught to do-unfortunately for Zabuza, when he did so he felt lances of pain running up and down his spine, feeling as if Haku had decided to use his back as target practice for her senbon. Suffice to say he did not have the most pleasant of landings, but he still had the presence of mind to curl himself into a ball and roll along the ground to disperse the force of his fall.

As Zabuza got to his feet, he felt that the ground was softer than he remembered, as if it had been recently dug up. Before his mind could even process this information, his body reacted; Zabuza jumped into the air, while simultaneously stabbing Kubikiribōchō straight into the dirt so he could stand on its cross guard, just as a web of wires rose from the ground and sought to chop off his legs. The wires tried to constrict Kubikiribōchō, but were severed when they came into contact with its edge.

"Is that the best you've got?!" Zabuza yelled into the mist with more confidence than he felt. He reached for his right hip only to curse, as he realized that he left his hip pouch in the base. "No other weapons. No chakra. This is setting up for a grand ol' time," Zabuza mentally snarked as he was coming to the realization that he was, in scientific terms; fucked. But he would be damned if he went down before making Kushimaru bleed!

Zabuza closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart that was pounding in his ears, and waited. He waited, and he listened…a rustle of leaves to his left was all the warning Zabuza needed to hop off his sword, grabbing the handle as he did so, and not a moment too soon as Nuibari came shooting through the mist, passing through where Zabuza's head had just been-missing his head by inches-as it disappeared into the mist behind him. But Zabuza wasn't out of the woods yet.

Landing on the ground, Zabuza hefted his blade and held it behind his back as he spun to the right just as Nuibari returned from where it disappeared and dug a furrow into the flat of Kubikiribōchō's blade, leaving a trail of blue sparks and the sound of screeching metal in its wake as it once again vanished into the surrounding mist and into the hands of its owner.

Zabuza turned to where Nuibari vanished, drawing his blade from his back and holding it in front of him as he took a quick step to his left as Nuibari came screaming at him again. Zabuza was able to bat the sewing needle to his right and send it flying into a tree, but it came at a cost; Nuibari hit the scar it left previously and was able to snap the blade, leaving Zabuza standing there with a third of his blade left in his hand and the other two thirds on falling to the ground with a big thunk.

"Aw, did poor Zabu-chan bweak his bwade?" Kushimaru taunted, his voice surrounding Zabuza.

"Don't worry, she'll be just fine, after I feed her your blood," Zabuza snarled as he gave his shortened cleaver a few practice swings.

Kushimaru ignored the comment, as he observed his prey; Zabuza had finished readjusting to the new weight of his blade and had decided to stand in a defensive stance behind the broken piece of his blade. Kushimaru had never fought Zabuza personally, though he had seen him fight and he knew that Zabuza was usually more…aggressive. Kushimaru narrowed his eyes; was Zabuza trying to lure him into a trap? Kushimaru decided to test this theory using his favorite method; taunting.

Kushimaru cackled, "Feed her my blood?' And how are you going to do that standing over there?" Kushimaru watched Zabuza's body language for any sort of tell; a sudden tenseness, a witty retort, an angry outburst, anything at all! But Zabuza simply maintained his stance.

"Hmm," Kushimaru drummed his fingers on the tree limb he was sitting on, his right hand still holding onto Nuibari's wire. "Zabu-chan could still be luring me into a trap, or maybe…" Kushimaru stopped drumming his fingers as a dark chuckle left his lips, "The little imp was right, Zabu-chan was injured in his fight with Kakashi." Kushimaru tightened his grip on Nuibari's wire; he was going to have so much fun!

Zabuza took a deep breath as he heard Kushimaru begin cackling like a hyena and the mist around him thickened.

(Scene Change)

When Haku saw Zabuza get kicked out the window, she was already rushing towards Naruto, her hands glowing white with trails of white fog leaking from them. She was thankful that dispelling the water-clone of Kushimaru also dispelled the razor wire in Naruto's shoulder, because she didn't want to seal his wound with the wire still in there.

"Naruto-kun," she gasped, as she stepped closer to him and looked at his wound; Nuibari had torn straight through his right shoulder, muscle and bone, and had left Naruto's right arm limp. Haku's eyes moistened, with that kind of damage it's entirely possible that Naruto would lose function in his right arm. "I'm so sorry."

"It's ok, Haku-chan," Naruto assured her as his eyes began to lighten and his whiskers returned to normal. Though he could still feel something bubbling beneath the surface of his skin, waiting to be unleashed. "I heal fast. I'm just glad you're ok."

"It's not ok," Haku shook her head as she placed her hands on Naruto's shoulder and began sealing it, slowly, as to ensure that the ice wouldn't have any cracks or faults. "You shouldn't have gotten hurt."

Naruto hissed as he felt the ice begin to form around his entry wound. Through gritted teeth he asked, "Who was the sewing freak?"

"Kuriarare Kushimaru, one of the seven swordsmen of the mist, and the Mizukage's loyal dog!" Haku spat with such venom that Naruto was glad that Anko had helped train his immune system with her summons.

"And why do you hate him, other than the obvious reasons?" Naruto gestured towards his shoulder that Haku was still sealing; the ice had covered the entry wound and was now creeping around and over his shoulder to the exit wound. Naruto felt like he would never look at a sewing needle the same way after today.

"Other than him and his master wanting to exterminate people like me? Nothing in particular," Haku snarked, "Now be quiet, I need to make sure this ice is solid so you don't bleed out." Though Haku soon regretted her outburst when she saw the hurt look in Naruto's eyes.

Sighing, Haku, temporarily, cut off the flow of chakra to her hands as she snaked her arms around Naruto's torso and drew him into a hug. "I'm sorry for snapping, Naruto-kun," she whispered. "It's just…Zabuza-sama is precious to me, just like you are precious to me. And the same…monster…that wants to see me destroyed, hurt you and might be hurting Zabuza right now." The next few minutes were quiet as Haku rested her hands on Naruto's exit wound and finished sealing it. She hoped it would hold for long enough for Naruto to get back to his sensei and team.

When she was done, Haku drew Naruto closer to herself, whispering in his ear, "Naruto, I need you to take your sensei's advice; run. Run, and don't look back." Before Naruto could respond, she silenced him with a kiss. The kiss was sweet, and all too short; it was a goodbye. Haku released Naruto, spun on her heel and rushed towards the window, making sure to pick up a pack filled with senbon on her way; she needed to help Zabuza!

"Wait!" Naruto reached out with his left hand, running after Haku when he was struck by a wave of memories from the clone he left with Kakashi; the onslaught of memories bringing him to his knees as he held his head pain. It took him a moment to process the memories, but when he did, he was pissed.

"What the hell…Jiraiya…old toads; old toads who know who my father is?!" The feeling Naruto had felt earlier, the one bubbling underneath his skin, started to grow. It felt like liquid fire was running through his veins as a storm of emotions raged inside his mind; confusion about his relationship with Haku-was any of it real-and how some old toads seemed to know who his dad was; sadness about Haku's goodbye kiss; and finally, anger. Lots of anger. Anger about how the people close to him have been keeping secrets from him; Haku, Kakashi, the Hokage-who else knew about his heritage? And anger about the fucker who put a god damn hole in his shoulder!

Naruto felt his canines begin to grow, his nails lengthen and sharpen; the ice on his shoulder steaming and cracking; the mangled flesh that was his shoulder sizzling and itching, as red chakra began to push out bloody pieces of bone, all the while a red haze overtook Naruto's vision; he wanted to hurt something. He wanted to kill something. And he had just the target in mind.

The ice on Naruto's shoulder shattered into millions of pieces as he rushed out the window, his violet eyes teeming with bloodlust. So consumed by his rage, Naruto did not notice the dark chuckles that echoed out from the back of his mind.

(Scene Change)

When Haku leapt out of the window, the first thing she noticed was the thick mist surrounding the area; a mist that was heavily laced with chakra. Under normal circumstances, such a sight would put her at ease, because it meant that Zabuza was alive and was maintaining his Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist Technique), but these were far from normal circumstances; her master was fighting one of the seven swordsmen of the mist, without his chakra.

Haku landed on the ground and immediately felt something was off; the ground was upturned, like something buried had been dragged to the surface. Taking a deep breath, while channeling a bit of wind chakra to her lungs, Haku exhaled and dispersed a bit of the surrounding mist so she could see clearly, and she did not like what she found; broken razor wire, punctured trees, and a broken slab of Kubikiribōchō missing its handle and a third of its blade. The signs of battle went deeper into the woods.

Remembering her training, Haku took a deep breath to calm herself and then leapt into the trees, making sure to maintain her stealth, as well as keeping an eye out for any traps. Mainly wires. Haku traveled for a couple hundred meters before she heard grunts of pain, followed by crazed laughter; a bad sign.

Haku leapt down to the forest floor and ghosted in between the trees, the sounds of laughter growing more manic and the grunts of pain softening as she crept closer to their source. Peeking out from behind a tree, Haku had to bite her lip from screaming out in rage, and giving away her position; Zabuza was strung up to a tree, arms outstretched, Kubikiribōchō's remaining third laying by his feet; his clothes tattered and stained with blood, all the while Kushimaru stood in front of him, cackling.

"Come on Zabu-chan, is this the best you've got?" Kushimaru twitched the finger of his right hand to tighten the wires wrapped around Zabuza's right bicep, drawing blood and a weak grunt from his prey. "I thought you were going to feed Kubikiribōchō my blood, though it looks like only Nuibari is feasting tonight."

Haku reached into her pack and grabbed four senbon; she placed three senbon in between the digits of her right hand, acting as makeshift claws, while she held the last senbon in her left hand in a throwing position. Ready, she threw her single senbon at Kushimaru, aiming for his right elbow joint; the six inches of steel seeking to bury itself deep into the madman's bone and, hopefully, sever the arm's ligament. Yet Haku wasn't finished, for as her senbon was flying she used her now free hand, to form the "bird" seal as she inhaled and channeled chakra to her lungs. The senbon pierced Kushimaru's elbow, eliciting a yelp of pain that was soon cut off by that Kushimaru dispelling into a puddle of water; a Mizu Bunshin (Water-clone).

Sensing a presence behind her, Haku spun on heel, "Wind release: Air Bullets," and spat multiple bullets of air at Kushimaru who had Nuibari pulled back in his right hand, poised to thrust through Haku's spine. The air bullets ripped through Kushimaru like paper, and continued on to tear chunks out of the trees surrounding them. Sadly, instead of dripping blood, this Kushimaru dripped water; another water-clone. Having sustained enough damage, this clone also dispelled into a puddle of water, this one near her feet; just what Haku needed as she rapidly went through one handed seals.

"Kekeke! Die, mutant!" Kushimaru cackled from above Haku as he dove towards her; Nuibari held right between his legs, seeking to impale her skull! Though he quickly had to scrunch into a ball to protect his vitals when Haku finished her hand seals, stomped on the puddle with her left foot and sent thousands of water needles rocketing towards him; "Sensatsu Suishō (A Thousand Needles of Death)."

Kushimaru's forearms and shins were peppered by razor sharp, blue needles. He didn't know whether to be grateful or angered that the bloodline freak leapt away before his falling body could crush hers. Though the two extra senbon she threw into his left elbow as he was rolling away quickly made his mind up for him.

"You bitch!" Kushimaru snarled as he stood up, his left arm limp. "Gatō will be getting you with less limbs." Kushimaru flexed his left arm to see if he could move it, only to hiss in pain when he felt the metal needles grinding against his bones. If the girl wasn't a mutant he would have been impressed; deadly accuracy with senbon, seamless use of two different releases and capable of using one-handed seals! Zabuza had trained his little pet well, and now Kushimaru's only chance was to stall, hoping that the single water-clone he left to maintain his Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist Technique) heard his yell of pain and was moving to intercept. What he wouldn't give for some divine intervention right about now.

"When I'm finished with you, I will have Gatō's head," Haku stated coldly, tightening her grip on her senbon claws, as she channeled some wind chakra through them, increasing their cutting power, and their reach by four inches. More than enough to separate Kushimaru's head from his shoulders.

Kushimaru mentally cursed. From the look in the girl's eyes, she wasn't in the mood for talking. "That remains to be seen," Kushimaru held Nuibari by its wire and began twirling the blade as he channeled his chakra through it; the sewing needle quickly becoming a blur as it kicked up dirt, grass, small rocks and branches; the mist surrounding them being blown away.

Just as both shinobi were going to launch themselves at one another, a wave of malevolence overwhelmed them, freezing them both.

Haku had never felt such a thing before; the suffocating bloodlust that constricted your throat, making it hard to breathe. Not even Zabuza-sama on his worst day could match such an output. She lost focus for a second, and that second cost her. Because, unfortunately for her, Kushimaru was familiar with this type of bloodlust; the bloodlust that only a bijū or their jinchūriki could produce. Kushimaru prayed to the heavens and got a demon instead, though he could work with that.

Kushimaru seized on Haku's lapse of focus and threw Nuibari just over her left shoulder, the wind pressure cutting Haku's cheek and severing strands of her raven hair. The pain brought Haku back to her current situation, yet before she could retaliate Kushimaru had already begun to weave his web; Nuibari was caught by Kushimaru's water clone, who promptly threw it by Haku's right and to his original, who caught it and threw it right back to his clone. The two Kushimaru were blurs of motion as they threw Nuibari back and forth over a dozen times to one another, wrapping up Haku in a cocoon of razor wire, causing her to lose her balance and fall, face first, to the ground. Haku knew better than to struggle, otherwise the wire would slice her to ribbons, though that didn't stop her from sending the most vicious glare she could muster at the sewing-sadist.

"Kekeke," Kushimaru walked up to the captured Haku, handing Nuibari to his water-clone and giving him a hand signal that meant; provide overwatch. The clone nodded, and leapt up into the trees above them, disappearing. Kushimaru looked down at his prize, and proceeded to grind Haku's face into the dirt with his foot. "Nice try, freak. But the only 'head' from Gatō you'll be getting is his lower one. Now…" Kushimaru turned towards the source of malevolence which had just appeared from behind a tree; the blonde, Konoha genin from Zabuza's hideout. "…What's Konoha doing with a jinchūriki? I thought your Yondaime killed your bijū."

"Let go of her!" Naruto barked, his voice gravelly and rough; his eyes a red tinged violet, rather than their usual blue; Naruto looked positively feral. A sight that surprised Haku.

"Naruto?" She whispered, her eyes wide with shock at the boy's current appearance. Then, what Kushimaru said finally registered in her mind; "Jinchūriki? Is Naruto like the Mizukage?" A flower of doubt began to bloom within Haku's chest at that thought, one that she quickly smothered; Naruto was not the Mizukage. He was the boy she fell in love with.

"And why would I do that, brat? And why do you care anyway? Didn't Zabuza and this…" Kushimaru stamped his foot on Haku's head, drawing a growl from the boy, "…thing, trick you into meeting with them?"

"I don't care, just let her go!" Naruto's eyes flickered red and gained a slit for a split second before returning to their violet state, though they also flickered with something else; doubt. It happened so fast that most would have missed it, but Kushimaru was one of the most accomplished shinobi alive, and you didn't live as long as he did without being observant, and by seizing on those observations. And Kushimaru did just that:

"Are you not a jinchūriki? Are you not used to being used, boy?" Kushimaru tilted his head as he observed the boy; the boy's eyes held anger, but the doubt Kushimaru saw had returned, this time stronger.

"…What do you mean?" Naruto's eyes flicked between Kushimaru and Haku. Haku, the girl he had met in the forest, the girl who teased him, brought him lunch, and always smiled when she saw him. The girl whose eyes brightened when she saw him…the girl who was Zabuza's apprentice. The girl who tricked him.

Haku struggled against the wire, knocking off Kushimaru's foot and earning cuts over her body in the process, but she didn't care. "Don't listen to him! We never wanted to hurt you, I never wanted to hurt you! I…"

"Then why lure him to your hideout, away from his sensei? Why not meet in a neutral location? Why the secrecy?" Kushimaru cut off Haku, with cold hard logic, as he observed the boy, watching as more doubt crept into his eyes. "You're a jinchūriki. Holder of the Kyūbi, correct?" Kushimaru stated bluntly, as he watched for the boy's reaction, and he wasn't disappointed; Naruto flinched and gave a reluctant nod, a reflex that told Kushimaru more about the boy's insecurities than his words ever could. Kushimaru knew how he would attack the boy; his humanity. "Then you, more than any other shinobi, should understand; you are a tool."

"That's not true!" Naruto denied as he swiped furiously at the air, as if he could knock down Kushimaru's words, "I am Uzumaki Naruto, I'm…"

"…the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Yoko," Kushimaru finished for the boy, watching as the boy flinched again, his eyes slowly turning from violet to blue, the malevolent aura he produced slowly fading as the anger that fueled it was banked by sadness. "You house one of the greatest masses of destruction the world has ever seen; you are a weapon; a deterrent; a tool, and that is all the world will see you as."

Naruto had tears in his eyes, which had returned to their normal blue. "That's not true, Jiji…"

"I don't know who your 'Jiji' is, kid," Kushimaru cut him off, "But I wouldn't put it past your Hokage to pay someone to make you happy and love your village." Kushimaru smirked behind his mask as he saw the boy drop his fighting stance and begin to shrink into himself. Just a little more and the boy would be completely broken. Kushimaru sent a discrete hand signal to his water-clone to be ready to go. Kushimaru wanted to bask in the boy's growing despair. Nothing was sweeter to him than breaking a prey down to the point that they welcomed death.

"That's not true he…" Naruto began but was cut off by Kushimaru once again:

"…he loves me.' Is that what you were going to say?" Kushimaru shook his head as he gave the boy a resigned sigh, "You are valued for what you are; a jinchūriki. You are your village's greatest weapon; a jinchūriki. That is all you are and all you ever will be, and no one could ever love a tool."

Naruto fell to his knees, his eyes blank as tears streamed down his face. The world seemed to be getting darker. Was that all he was: a weapon, a tool? Did his Jiji only love him because of what he held? Is that why they wouldn't tell him who his father was? To keep him reliant on them? Just when Naruto's world was about to sink into the darkness of despair, a single voice pierced through the veil of his depression; it was warm and soft as silk:

"You are Uzumaki Naruto! Future Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, and I love you!" Haku cried out.

"You love me?" Light began returning to Naruto's world as he turned towards its source and saw Haku. Haku who, even under the heel of Kushimaru, was sending him the same smile that never failed to set his heart at ease and make him feel warm inside. Naruto looked into her eyes, those warm chocolate brown orbs that shone with love.

"Yes, I love you, Uzumaki Naruto, and that's why I want you to run! Please, save yourself!" Haku begged, as she ignored the feeling of her warm blood soaking into her kimono.

"Kekeke," Kushimaru cackled, "I'm afraid I can't let that happen. It's not every day you've got the opportunity to cripple one of the big five." Kushimaru gave the signal to his clone.

Haku's eyes were filled with fear as she watched Kushimaru's clone descend from on high; Nuibari poised to drive through Naruto's skull. Just when all hope seemed lost, a pink, bumpy whip lashed out from the trees above the water-clone, wrapping it up and stopping its murderous descent.

"What?!" Naruto fell on his ass and crawled backwards from under the trapped water-clone.

"What?!" Haku stopped her struggling and stared at the pink whip that had saved her boyfriend. She shuddered when she realized that the "whip" was actually a tongue. A tongue with a mouth on it.

"…" Kushimaru was silent. Though if one could see behind his mask, they would find a face that was a rictus of fury. An expression which deepened as he watched the tongue secrete a white liquid that made his water-clone's skin bubble and roil until finally causing it to explode into a shower of boiling water, leaving Nuibari to fall and stab itself into the ground.

The tongue retracted into the canopy with a wet slurp, causing the leaves to rustle. "Needles are for sewing, not for stabbing," the voice of an elderly woman chided. A black blur jumped down from the canopy, landing in front of Naruto and right next to Nuibari; Shima, one of the two great toad sages of Mount Myōboku, had entered the battle. "I'll be hanging onto this for ya," she said as she picked up Nuibari and rested it on her shoulder, "This'll help me make a new vest for Bunta-chan."