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Chapter 3: one year later, the results of training. Naruto vs the Celestial Symbols.
A year flew by as Naruto trained with his family.
The training was brutal and long, but the effects were astounding.
Naruto's previous brawling style had improved leaps and bounds under his father's tutelage. Instead of brawling, Naruto had learned his father's hummingbird style. He was also starting to learn how to combine with the gentle fist used by the hyuuga. The combination of the two was a brutal style that could shatter bones and tear joints apart.
The Otsutsuki family also taught him their own fighting style, the Yōso no ken (the Element Fist). The fighting style was a fast and brutal style with various stances that were based on the five elements. Fire was overpowering and aggressive, water involved countering and striking, wind was brutal and fast, lighting was accurate and fast, and earth was mainly for defense. Naruto had managed to learn the first four due to his own natural affinities.
His chakra control shot through the roof under his mother's bizarre and very effective way of training. Naruto could stand on water for hours while reading and could do the same while tree walking. Naruto was currently learning how to suppress his chakra to make himself seem less visible if he was hiding. This would come in handy if he needed to vanish quickly as well as help him when it came to stealth training. On top of all that, Naruto learned a special skill most ninja didn't have. It turns out Naruto is a sensor type. This allowed Naruto to sense someone by directly sensing their chakra.
Naruto's ninjutsu expanded several times over. During his training with Ashura Naruto learned he had five affinities. Wind from his father, water and lightning from his mother, and fire and yang from Kyuubi. Naruto managed to grasp the basics of the elements but yang chakra was trickier. He couldn't use it in battle because brining things to life didn't have a good use. While, he didn't have an earth affinity, they did help him learn some of the low-level earth techniques he had inserted into his brain.
Naruto was currently learning techniques from the sub elements scorch, explosion, lava, boil, radiation, swift, sand, ice, typhoon, storm, light, and wave. He was even learning techniques for the Kekkai Tota (bloodline selection) maelstrom and plasma. Despite the use of shadow clones, the training was still difficult as he had to get the chakra proportions of the jutsu right or they would blow up in his face. And we meant that very literally
Naruto's training in genjutsu was also coming along nicely. Thanks to the enhanced chakra control, Naruto could now cast minor genjutsu, but still nothing too big because his control wasn't completely perfect. He could also sense genjutsu before he was caught in it. However, he was still unable to break the Tsukiyomi technique that Indra used.
The slowest thing going around was Naruto's fuuinjutsu training. The art of sealing was incredibly complex and gave the blonde headaches sometimes. Shadow cones were proving useless as Naruto's head nearly exploded the first time he used it in his training. The training was coming slowly, but he was improving bit by bit each day.
Aside from all of that, the goddesses would sometimes come down to help Naruto train with the gifts that they gave him. Tozi's gift came easiest, being able to speak to all kinds of animals. It was kind of fun, to get someone else's point of view and he could see how using normal animals as spies could be useful. However, they tended to give out a little too much information...in other words TMI. Kami and Shinigami's gifts were a bit harder for Naruto to understand, mostly because Naruto had a bad feeling about the whole playing god thing. He had seen plenty of movies and read a few stories where that kind of power always went wrong. He was getting a good grasp of it at least. He could heal and cause all kinds of wounds, though he mostly stuck with lacerations and large bruises...instant death touch was not something he was fond of.
Unknown to the blonde, he would have a chance to test out his newly formed skills sooner than he thought.
Meanwhile on earth in a small village in River Country…
"So, are we all aware of the plan?" a figure asked as he looked over the group of four standing around.
Four people, three men and one woman stood around each other.
The one who spoke was a man with a slim face, a prominent jawline, a black line visible around his eyes and brown swept back hair. On his back he had a white sword strapped to his back. On his forehead was a beige headband with a symbol on it that didn't belong to any of the five hidden villages. He wore a purple jacket over a black shirt and ninja pants and sandals.
The only woman among the group had pale skin, dark green jaw length hair with yellow framing her face and brown eyes that lacked pupils. He had red lipstick on her lips, and wore a light grey jacket with a furry tuft around her neck with a light brown sleeveless shirt over a red sleeveless dress. She had a long light grey sleeveless leather glove on her right arm, a long light brown stocking that covered her left arm, with a single pitch-black leather glove covering her right hand and a forehead protector with the same symbol as the man who spoke with a white cloth. On her feet were two light grey calf length high heel stocking sandals. On the left side of her jacket were two swords. Both of which had light blue handles, light blue blades, and gold guards and pommels. The only difference between the two was a green gem in the guard of one of the swords.
The second male looked a little feminine. He was slender with green eyes that were outlined by blue eye shadow. His blue hair popped out from his white forehead protector and was neatly combed throughout his head. He had a white scarf around his neck that reached won to his pants. He wore a tight purple sleeveless shirt which revealed his abdomen. On his arms were purple arm warmers with brown straps that secured them onto his arms. His pants were baggy, grey, fastened by a brown belt, and tucked into his sandals. On his back was a strange sword. It had a white handle with a yellow square shaped guard. The blade itself was a dark blue color and was tri-pronged like a trident. The three blades also seemed to be segmented.
The final man was by far the largest of the group. He was broadly built, indicating his strength. He had a purple coat under armor which was designed with a silver tiger like head breastplate and a pair of dark pauldrons on his shoulders. His eyes had small black pupils and wavy brown hair with a small beard. In his hands he carried a mace with a square shaped head that had spikes coming out of each side.
In order, they were Hoki, Kujaku, Ryugan, and Suiko. They were members of Takumi no sato, the village of artisans. To be more specific they were known as the four celestial symbols. The village of artisans had gone unknown, under the notice of the bigger villages. They had long since grown tired of being in the shadow of the five great villages, and they had a plan to rise up to the occasion.
"We know the plan," Kujaku said annoyed, "When the jinchuuriki goes out of the village for the training issue we attack, drain his chakra, and use it to revive Seimei. I don't know why you're so worried. With our weapons we can get this done easy."
Suiko rolled his beady eyes and said, "Don't get full of yourself Kujaku, just because you were chosen to wield those swords of yours. My armor far exceeds your little knives."
Kujaku laughed and said, "Oh really Suiko? Shall we test that?"
The two were about to go at it when Hoki pulled the sword from his back and swung it down sending an arc of fire from the blade slashing between the two. Once the flames cleared, the sword was revealed. It resembled a long sword. The blade was pitch black and rectangular shape. Like the blade the hilt and handle were black as pitch with white bandages wrapped around the handle and a green orb on the end of the blade.
"Enough!" he yelled, "All four these great weapons will be needed to contain the one tails. Now get some sleep all of you. We'll need to be at our best for our coming mission."
Kujaku and Suiko glared at each other before parting ways.
Ryugan simply scoffed and started to walk away.
Hoki sighed and rubbed his temples.
"Just one more day," he muttered, "just one more day before you are revived Seimei-sama. Just one more day."
He smirked as he glanced up at the moon. Soon the village of Artisans will be given the respect it deserved.
In a place between worlds…
Shinigami, Tozi, and Kami both crossed their arms under their busts as they watched the incident through their all-seeing orb.
"What is it with humans wanting to bring people back to life?" Shinigami complained, "I mean enough people die as it is and I have enough paperwork."
Kami answered, "Hey, you think it doesn't affect me? I deal with the person coming to life unnaturally! Do you have any idea how confusing that is to certain departments? Why do you think we got rid of the reincarnation idea?"
Tozi said, "I think we have bigger problems the effects of people getting brought back to life on the departments of life and death."
Kami nodded and said, "Yes, again the humans wish to use the biju for their own purposes. Plus, let's face it they could become a problem in the future with their weapons especially if Shukaku's chakra has a lasting effect on them."
Shinigami asked, "Do you think Naruto is ready?"
Tozi nodded and said, "Let's use this as a test. Our future husband needs to test his skills against people who aren't holding back. Plus, I think if he stays in the training area any longer he'll get some serious cabin fever."
The trio of goddesses nodded. The teleported away. A few seconds later, they reappeared in the training hall where Naruto, his family, and teachers were staying.
It seems they arrived at a good time as apparently the group had just sat down for lunch.
"Hey girls," Naruto said with a smile at the goddesses, "What's shaking?"
The trio then explained the situation to the group.
"So, they intend to kidnap Gaara and use the power of Shukaku to revive their master?"
Kami nodded and said, "Yes, and not only will a dangerous person be brought back to life, but the process will also kill your friend Gaara."
Naruto narrowed his eyes in anger.
"So, when do I go?"
Back on Earth…
Suiko, Ryugan, Kujaku, and Hoki all stood just outside of the training area where Gaara, his siblings and the group of young ninja hopefuls were training. Thankfully, for them, the trees kept them hidden, that along with some nice chakra suppression techniques kept them hidden as well. Hoki noted that Gaara seemed to be getting a little close to one of the students, a brunette girl, who was practicing with a rope dart.
Hoki grinned and said, "Okay, it looks like the Jinchuuriki is getting close to that girl there. We grab her and then we'll draw the jinchuuriki to us."
He nodded at Ryugan who pulled his sword off his back. With a smirk on his face he threw his sword out. The blue weapon shot out for several feet like a whip. The weapon wrapped around the brunette's ankle and dragged her off into the trees.
"Gaara!"
This got the groups attention. Gaara reached out with his sand, but the weapon tied around the girl's leg sped up dragging her faster. The weapon then slithered up her body and wrapped around her tightly, preventing her escape.
Kankuro, Gaara, and Temari launched forward after her.
Gaara launched his sand forward to grab her, but Suiko leapt in the way, charging his mace with as much water chakra he could spare. He smirked and his flail swung at Gaara in an overhead arc. Gaara's sand acted immediately rose up and blocked the massive weapon. The wave of sand cracked under the force, but it didn't break. However, because of the water charka, the sand became saturated with water. Now clumpy and hard to move, a portion of Gaara's sand was useless.
Suiko smirked at the reaction as he jumped back, just in time to avoid a barrage of kunai launched at him from Kankuro, who glared angrily at the man who attacked his brother.
Kankuro sent out his puppet again, but this time it was intercepted by a massive blast of water. The blast launched the three-eyed puppet a tree just to the left of its puppeteer. Before Kankuro could reattach the chakra strings, he had to perform a substitution to avoid getting skewered by dark blue blade. He was glad he did as the tree that was behind him got torn in half.
As the blade retracted he found himself staring a rather pleased looking Ryugan, the capture genin behind him, tired in ropes. Ryugan then turned towards Gaara, who sent out his sand to crush his opponent. The feminine looking man's blade became segmented and water came gushing out, stopping the sad. Now soaked, the sand became heavy and Gaara found difficulty using it.
"Get off my brother!"
The group turned towards the sound to see Temari with her fan drawn and opened.
"Wind Release: Wind Cutter!"
The blond swung her battle fan as hard as she could, unleashing a wave of wind towards the effeminate male who just attacked her brother.
Immediately, Kujaku appeared with her swords.
"Wind Return!"
As the woman swung her swords, the wind warped around it, much to the shock of the wind mistress in training. The bond quickly realized that her own technique was being used against her, closed her fan, and did her best to hold up against the skin cutting winds as it slammed into her. The eldest of the Subaku siblings was knocked backwards into a tree.
Gaara growled as he rose up. Unknown to the four criminals, he had a small amount of sand grinding up the dirt around them to create more sand. When he felt he had enough, the sand erupted from the ground and smashed into Ryugan and Suiko knocking them away.
The red-haired sacrifice then grabbed the female genin and used his sand to propel them upwards, attempting toget some distance between them, and to keep her out of the
Off to the side, Hoki, who had kept a good distance, nodded and knew that this was their chance.
He stabbed his sword into the ground. Kujaku and Ryugan did the same thing.
"Ninja Tools Barrier: Reverse Fish Scales Formation!"
Moments later, a massive wave of water erupted from the ground, via the underground waterways. The water formed a dragon that slammed into the Gaara and Matsuri were soaked to the bone. Worse yet, the force of the water was enough to tear off his gourd.
Suiko jumped up and grabbed the boy and threw a chakra infused punch. With his sand armor loose, and with his sand unable to protect him, the impact knocked the air from his lungs, and nearly had enough force to knock him out. He proceeded to do the same to Matsuri before launching them both towards the hidden Hoki. His grinned down at the two before he vanished via shushin.
Temari got up with a groan of pain.
"Where are they?" she asked angrily, "What have you done with my brother?"
Kankuro got up and pulled out another one of his puppets.
"Who are you and what do you want?" he asked with a growl, as his puppet was brandished menacingly.
Suiko just chuckled and said, "Who we are and what we want are interesting stories. Too bad you'll be too dead to hear it."
The three got ready to finish off the two genin when something unexpected happened.
"I don't think so."
Turning towards the sound of the new voice.
They were also slightly confused as to who this person was.
Judging by height he wasn't very old, maybe fourteen or so. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest. He wore a black shirt underneath that had a collar that covered his entire neck with a short white jacket. Long black pants covered his legs and he wore white boots on his feet. His face was covered by a pure white mask that covered his face. His hair was bright red and spiked out in multiple directions. On his hands were white gloves with studded knuckles.
Behind his mask, Naruto smirked at their shocked expressions.
'Okay,' Naruto thought, 'Now I just need to think of something really cool to say.'
"Afternoon gentlemen, ladies," he said politely, his voice distorted by his mask as if he wasn't in front of a group of A-Rank criminals.
There was a moment of silence, save for a gust of wind blowing through the area.
'Damn it! Afternoon? Really? That's all I could think of?! I'm a pranking genius, I should be able to come up with a more memorable introduction."
However, this wasn't what the three criminals were thinking. This guy had just snuck up on them and was just talking to them like he was speaking about the weather. This guy was either very arrogant, or he was that sure of his skills.
Ryugan drew his sword and said, "Who are you supposed to be?"
The masked boy simply answered, "My name…isn't really your business, now is it?"
Kujaku scoffed and said, "Well, that's too bad. Now we won't have anything to write on your tombstone!"
She drew her swords back and prepare to swing, only for a sudden gust of wind to shot right in front of her. She turned just in time to dodge Temari's now closed battle fan. The metal weapon struck the ground with enough force to crack it.
"Back off hag," Temari growled, "Your fight is with me!"
Kujaku just smirked and she jumped back and ran off in one direction, Temari following. Ryugan launched his sword at the disguised blonde, only for a puppet to intercept it and knock it off course. The man growled as he turned towards Kankuro, who unleashed another puppet.
The man jumped back and charged off into a different part of the forest, with Kankuro in hot pursuit.
The disguised Naruto cracked his knuckles and he glared at Suiko.
"If you won't give your name," he said, "I'll tell you mine. I am Suiko, the white tiger of the west. At least when you die, they'll know the name of the man who killed you."
Naruto said, "Really? Because I think it would be more fitting on your tombstone than a eulogy."
Suiko sent a blank look towards Naruto before launching forward, swinging his mace. The disguised blonde dodged and threw out a hook punch, aiming for his face. Suiko blocked the attack and countered with a punch to the ribs.
Naruto blocked the punch, grabbing Suiko's arm and pushed, knocking the man slightly off balance. Naruto then threw out a charka infused punch, striking the armored ninja right in the chest. To Naruto's shock the impact didn't knock him back. Instead, his fist stopped against the armor. Naruto quickly felt like his chakra was being drained and leapt back.
Suiko smirked and immediately blurred through hand signs.
"Water Release: Surging Fangs!"
Suiko fired a blast of water from his mouth which, surprisingly, took the form of a large tiger.
Naruto quickly performed a substitution. The tiger tore through the log like it was made of paper, as water splashed around, moistening the nearby dirt into mud.
Suiko growled as he realized that he didn't know where his masked adversary went.
Off to the side, Naruto was hiding behind a tree, suppressing his chakra to avoid being detected. He glanced out from behind the tree. He saw Suiko looking around for him.
'What the hell was that? I felt like my chakra was being drained when I punched him. I'm not familiar with that tiger jutsu either. It must be something they made themselves. This must have been what Sasuke dealt with when he fought that guy back in the chuunin exams. How does he do that? The only physical contact we had was from when I punched him.'
Naruto then leapt up from the tree branch and unleashed a barrage of kunai and shuriken. Each one was lined with wind chakra, increasing their cutting power and the blade length.
Suiko seemed to realize this. He went through hand signs as a fast as possible.
"Water Release: Water Wall!"
The wall of water didn't stop the wind chakra enhanced projectiles didn't stop when they hit the water, but they did slow down enough for Suiko to react. Focusing chakra through is weapon he spun the weapon like a propeller in front of him. The dense, chakra enhanced metal, managed to deflect the projectiles, but left a few nicks in the staff.
A mere second after the last one was deflected, Naruto shot forward through the wall of water with his fist drawn back. He sent his fist crashing into Suiko's jaw, knocking him backwards. The man was sent flying back, rolling across the ground and kicking up dirt, and splashing through some mud, as well as losing his grip on his weapon.
Suiko stopped only when he crashed into a tree, the impact rattling his brain, sending pain shooting up his spine, and knocking the air from his lungs. Before the man could even realize, what was happening, Naruto appeared in front of him, unleashing a barrage of short range, fast paced punches. The barrage kept him stunned and added damage, as well as causing damage to the tree behind him, the bark being chipped away at.
Each one struck at his unarmored stomach and a few to the chest, shoulders, and his face. Naruto noticed that he felt small amounts of his chakra drain with each punch, but only when he punched the armored chest.
'So, the armor does drain chakra, but I have to come into physical contact with the armor. Good to know. Everything else is fair game.'
Naruto was ripped from his thoughts as Suiko disappeared in a puff of smoke, replaced by his mace. Naruto's final punch tore a chunk out of the innocent tree that was behind the armored man.
Naruto ducked to avoid a wild haymaker aimed at his head. Suiko's punch tore a huge chunk out of the tree, causing it to fall to the ground. Naruto leapt away as Suiko grabbed his mace which shifted into a flail form. With a battle cry, Suiko swung the weapon. The chained weight, came within inches from caving in Naruto's nose.
The masked blond slid back and dodged another swing, before performing a round house that Suikio managed to block, but he winced under the force of the blow.
Suiko smirked as he grabbed Naruto's leg, which made the blonde smirk under his mask. The blond then flipped up and then swung his legs up, using his chakra to enhance his strength throwing the man into the air. The blonde then slammed Suiko on the ground with enough force to make him bounce. He then grabbed Suiko's mace/flail and, using his fire affinity, and reduced it to bits of melted metal.
Suiko got up with a groan of pain. He glanced and saw that his weapon was melted. He growled and turned towards the masked adversary who was interfering in their plans. As that happened, a massive explosion went off a few feet away. A massive wave of wind shoots up into the air, no doubt from the fight going on between Kujaku and Temari. Another sound rang out, as several trees were knocked over.
'Sounds like they're having a better time than me,' Suiko thought, as he stood up slowly.
'I can't waste any more time,' Naruto thought, 'I have to end this now.'
Naruto turned to his opponent and said, "Listen, tiger man, you don't have your weapon, and I've figure out your armor absorbs chakra when someone comes into physical contact with it. You can't beat me just give up."
Suiko groaned as he stood up. Suddenly, he grinned.
"Yeah, you figured out may armor and its flaw…but you don't know what I can do with the chakra once I have it."
Naruto raised an eyebrow behind his mask. Then he felt it. A massive amount of chakra buildup. A bright green glow came from the head decorating his armor and glowing brightly.
"This is the true power of my infinite armor!" Suiko said as the glow got brighter, "Now die! Tiger Scream!"
A large blast of pure chakra fired out of Suiko's chest, pushing him back a bit as it raced towards Naruto. The bright light blinded the man, and prevented him from seeing his target be destroyed.
When the blast faded, Suiko fell to one knee. He let out a breath of relief as he stared at the resulting destruction of his ultimate attack. Several trees had been reduced to splinters other had massive burns on them. He let out a tired sigh and slowly started to rise. He stumbled slightly. The Tiger Scream took a lot of chakra to perform. Usually, most people would attack him over and over, without realizing their chakra was being drained, sometimes confusing it with natural use of chakra in battle. However, this guy figured it out quickly, which made him dangerous. It was because of that that Suiko resort to the Tiger Scream, a powerful charka projectile that used the charka stolen from the victim. However, he could use his own chakra to power it if necessary, but as stated earlier, it took a lot of charka to perform.
The man reached into his secret pouch in one of the leather straps and pulled out a few chakra pills and downed them. Feeling his strength return he stood up, a bit straighter.
"One down, two more to go."
He turned to head off in the direction Kujaku had gone in when suddenly, the ground behind him exploded outwards like someone had thrown a paper bomb. He spun towards the sound, and froze when he saw Naruto high in the air. Suiko was confused until he glanced and saw that there was a hole in the ground, starting where all the brought on by his earlier technique. He had dug underground to get away.
He growled angrily as he began to focus chakra in his chest, for another Tiger Scream. With his target in the air, he couldn't miss. Naruto however, wasn't going to give him that chance. With a puff of smoke, Naruto performed a substitution with a shuriken that was discarded, right in front of Suiko. The symbol man gasped in horror as he saw a ball of chakra forming in Naruto's hand, releasing a small screaming noise as he drew it back
"Wind Release: Rasengan!"
The wind chakra enhanced spiraling sphere slammed into Suiko's armor, right into the tiger's mouth. The buildup of chakra was suddenly force fed a huge load of chakra, and with the amount of charka, Naruto was putting into the Rasengan, it became unstable and exploded. The blast engulfed them both.
When the smoke cleared it showed Suiko had been launched a good couple of feet away. His armor shattered beyond use, and his chest had a nasty looking grind mark from where the Rasengan had managed to get to him, though it wasn't as bad a regular wind infused Rasengan.
Naruto himself was relatively unharmed, but his arm had taken some of the blast, but the wounds and burns from it were healing already.
Suiko laid on the ground in phenomenal pain and feeling the life drain from him.
"H-How?" he asked, as a bit of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
Naruto simply scoffed and said, "That armor of yours is formidable. However, it is not perfect. You might be able to absorb charka, but you thought that I wouldn't catch on to what you were doing. As for your, ultimate technique, that kind of chakra build up can be unstable, which is why my technique was able to overload it and destroy your armor."
Suiko felt his life fading as he heard the boy's words. Did his armor truly have such a glaring weakness. That wasn't right. He then took a shaky breath, wondering how he had been bested by a masked nobody.
It took a moment for Naruto to realize that Suiko was dead. The blonde felt surprised, a small wave of guilt and disgust ran over him. The blonde gulped as he felt a small amount of bile begin to rise in his throat. After a moment, he managed to swallow the gunk building up and returned to his work. He approached the dead man and prepared to take his armor.
However, before he could it disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Damn it," Naruto said out loud, "A reverse summoning. At least with the armor busted it should be useless to whoever has it."
Naruto then closed his eyes, unseen behind his mask, before he unleashed a small chakra pulse to sense where everyone was. He could feel the fight between Kujaku and Temari, judging by how low her chakra was she was running out and was not going to last much longer. Kankuro seemed to be faring a bit better than his sister, so Naruto decided it would be best to go to Temari first.
With that in mind he shot off towards them.
With Temari…
Temari panted hard as she held up her battle fan. Her clothes and skin were covered in multiple cuts. None of them were too deep, but they were painful. Around them trees had been uprooted by powerful winds or cut into pieces.
This fight was proving to be much more difficult than the young wind user had originally thought it would be. The woman, who introduced herself as Kujaku, the vermillion bird of the south, turned out to be incredibly skilled with her swords to the point that she could keep Temari on the edge. If that wasn't bad enough her swords, called the Fujaku Hishō Shōken (Weaknessless Soaring Short Swords), as she called them, could redirect the wind jutsu she used. So far none of her techniques had worked so far.
Kujaku laughed mockingly at Temari, clearly gloating over the fact that she didn't have a scratch on her as opposed to Temari's injured form.
"It's been entertaining fighting you," she said with a smile, "but I've been fooling around long enough. I think it's time that I just killed you."
With that, she drew her swords back and laced them with chakra and swung her swords.
"Tempest Wind!"
An enormous gust of wind went flying from the swords and went flying towards the young chuunin hopeful. Before the technique could hit, Naruto leaped out from the tree line burning through hand signs.
"Earth Release: Great Stone Corner!"
The boy landed in front of Temari and slammed his hands down on the ground. A stone slab, that looked like the corner on a building erupted from the ground. The gust was split in half by the corner, protecting the two. The gust was still powerful enough to make a few of the surrounding trees bend with their force.
She looked up and was surprised to see that the masked man from earlier.
"I take it you took down one of their own," she said, letting a small amount of relief fill her, but remaining slightly suspicious of the unknown man.
"Yeah," Naruto answered, "the one with the armor. What can you tell me about little miss windy?"
Temari looked at him and answered, "Those swords of hers can freely manipulate wind, apparently with little chakra. She's even redirected my own techniques back at me."
Naruto contemplated this and thought, 'Okay, that means lightning jutsu is clearly out. Any water and fire, techniques would be launched back at us more powerful than ever. On top of that I don't know any very effective offensive earth techniques. Come on think.'
Suddenly, one of the swords slashed through the stone slab with ease. The two blondes launched away from one another, while avoiding another barrage of slashes from the sword wielding kunoichi.
The woman smirked and said, "Hmph, so you beat Suiko, right? That braindead fool. It looks like I'll have to make up for his failure! While his armor may have been the ultimate defense, I wield the ultimate offense!"
She launched forward swinging her weapons. The blades laced with wind chakra. The swords were extended with wind chakra, making the reach much farther. Naruto knew this as he realized the slash had left an impressive sized nick in his mask.
The secret blond grabbed the woman's forearm to stop her from swinging. She tried to stab him with her other sword, only for Naruto to grab that one two. He then threw out his leg, his knee impacting her stomach, knocking the air from her lungs. A second knee slam knocked her way and a round house, sent her stumbling towards Temari.
The pigtailed woman saw her chance and swung her closed fan, slamming it right into the woman's head. The impact knocked her backwards. Unfortunately, Kujaku recovered quickly, and prepared a technique.
"Wind Release: Phoenix Breath!"
She swung her weapons, launching a projectile of wind charka, that resembled a bird. Temari jumped on her fan and leapt upwards avoiding the attack, which fell several trees.
Temari still in midair was a prime target, as Kujaku drew her swords back to finish the girl, but in her haste to win, she had made a rookie mistake, and completely forgot about her other opponent.
"Pay attention, will you?!" Naruto said as he charged forward and hitting Kujaku in the throat with a light jab.
Kujaku stumbled back, dropping her swords and clutching her throat. Naruto wasn't done as he shot forward with his pointer fingers extended and filed with lighting chakra.
"Lightning Release: Paralyzing Touch!"
Naruto then proceeded to unleash a volley of highspeed pokes. While this would seem like a joke to some, the pokes came with enough electricity to rival a stun gun. The electric charged numbed her body, and strikes to her arms rendered them inoperable.
Naruto then turned towards the sky and yelled, "Finish it!"
Temari jumped off her fan, biting her thumb and running some over the fan before swinging her weapon, calling out the ending move.
"Summoning Technique: Quick Beheading Dance!"
In a puff of smoke, a giant white weasel wearing a black and red trimmed vest, with a dark green eyepatch going over one eye, holding a giant scythe, with smaller sickles surrounding him as well a Chinese lantern with the symbol for "scythe" written on it.
The weasel then began moved faster than the eye could track, slashing increasingly faster and faster with each passing second. Trees that weren't slashed down were cut down and pieces of the earth and downed trees were slashed to pieces.
Kujaku got the worst of it as she was right in the middle of the whirlwind. She was knocked upwards her skin being cut up like paper. He screams of fear and pain drowned out by the fierce winds. As a particularly nasty slash mark appeared, she stopped screaming.
The woman was suspended in the air for a few more moments before falling. The woman fell into the nearby river and was washed away.
Temari smirked as the weasel she summoned vanished in a puff of smoke.
Naruto turned towards her and offered her a soldier pill. The blonde woman looked at the masked man with a look of suspicion, but after a moment she took the pill and put it in her mouth. After a moment, she swallowed, not tasting anything bitter, which would indicate poison.
Naruto glanced at the two swords on the ground as Temari recharged and saw them vanish in a puff of smoke, just like with the remains of Suiko's armor.
'Given that there weren't any pieces of metal around, it looks like she didn't get the big guy's armor,' Naruto thought, 'Which means either the blue haired guy has it, or the big boss…with my luck, the big boss.'
"Who are you?"
Naruto turned to see Temari looking at him with suspicion.
"I said who are you?" she repeated, "What are you doing here, and why are you so interested in my brother?"
Naruto asked, "Is that any way to treat the person who just saved your life? Seems kind of ungrateful."
Temari said, "I'm not saying I'm not grateful, but don't' exactly trust you. How do we know that you won't just stab us in the back and kidnap my little brother when we're done fighting?"
Naruto sighed. He had expected this. Given that many had tried to take her brother and use him as a weapon, she would be mistrusting of strangers, or those who seemed to be helping them out of the goodness of their hearts, without an ulterior motive.
Naruto said, "Look, I don't expect you to trust me, but can you at least fight with me. At least until you and your brothers are safe."
Temari simply cocked an eyebrow and asked, "Why are you helping us?"
Naruto answered, "Call me a concerned third party in this little conflict. Now do you want to keep questioning me, or do you want to find your brothers?"
Temari simply scowled at the boy, but was cut off from her contemplating when the sound of an explosion reached her ears, as well as the sound of trees being uprooted. That made her make up her mind almost instantly.
Meanwhile…
Kankuro stood out with on one of his puppets out. You would recognize the puppet at Karasu (Crow). One the ground, a few feet away, were the busted remains of his other main puppet, Kuroari (Black Ant).
Kankuro had learned quickly that this guy, who introduced himself as Ryugan the Azure dragon of East, was a master with his unique sword and he lived up to his name of the dragon. The trident-like sword could grow and extend and move on its own like a puppet and be used to tear through targets. It was that very same move that lead to be nearly destroyed.
Ryugan yawned and said, "This has gotten boring. I think I'll just kill you now."
He held out his sword and the blades extended in special segments. Water flooded out of the blades and formed a dragon head, one for each of the blade segments. Ryugan smirked as he declared the name of his attack.
"Hydra."
The three draconic heads launched forwards, all three of them ready to tear into Kankuro and stain their light blue teeth red.
"Wind Release: Wind Bullets!"
A trio of wind bullets shot out from the forest behind the puppet master in training, impacting the three dragon heads causing them to burst into water.
Kankuro turned and was shocked to see his sister and their masked ally.
Ryugan scowled and said, "So you managed to defeat Kujaku and Suiko. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to make sure those two learn what happens to failures later. I'll just have to take care of you three myself. Hydra!"
The water dragons reformed and launched forward the three ninjas. Kankuro and Temari jumped to the left and right, respectively, while Naruto jumped up. Landing on the back of the head of the left most water dragon and rushed forward, running on the back of the dragon.
Ryugan looked shocked and slightly angry. Manipulating his chakra, the dragon head turned and charged at Naruto.
Naruto, in response, launched forward even faster. Realizing what his opponent was doing, Ryugan simply smirked. He quickly went through some one-sided hand signs and slammed his hand on the ground.
"Water Release: Geyser Wall!"
Naruto smirked as a large blast of water shot up from the ground, most likely from the underwater rivers. Normally, a person would be upset when someone did something like this. Naruto was smirking because this provided him with something that he needed.
Cover.
In a sudden puff of smoke, Naruto was gone and the water dragons splashed to the ground. The dry earth becoming a thick mud, as water gushed through the trees. Temari and Kankuro both jumped up, Kankuro taking his still damaged puppet.
Ryugan stared in shock, not believing what had happened, as the garian sword fell with a splat down in the mud. The masked ninja…had just performed a substitution with his weapon.
The green-eyed weapon specialist was drawn from his shocked moment when a fist slammed into his chin with enough force to send him flying upwards and making him fall to the ground. He got up, now splattered with mud, and quickly engaged the disguised Naruto in hand to hand combat.
Temari stared in shock, not believing that such a risky maneuver had been shown. Doing so brought you into close range of your opponent and could leave you open to attack if you weren't ready. However, this guy used the shock value of the maneuver to his advantage.
She glanced at her brother to see that he was still repairing his puppets, and by look of it, he was almost done. Getting an idea, she opened her fan and swung it. With a powerful blast of air, a good amount of mud, shot out and towards the fighting pair.
Naruto, who was now grappling with the man, saw the incoming projectile and quickly disengaged, throwing the effeminate male towards the incoming muck.
The moistened earth splashed against the man's face, blinding him. To add to his disorientation, Naruto moved behind him and clapped his hands over his ears.
With a smirk, Kankuro finished his repairs and launched his two puppets.
The boy launched Karasu, which opened up and trapped the disoriented ninja. As he banged at the wooden interior, Kuroami broke into pieces it's arms and head floating above the middle of the bird named puppet, with points aimed at the holes in the puppets hull.
Kankuro smirked before he made a motion with his hand.
"Secret Black Technique: Iron Maiden!"
The separated limbs and head of kuroami shot into the holes in Karasu. The sound of beating stopped as a familiar red liquid began to drip out of the holes.
Naruto held a small amount of bile down, still not entirely used to the idea of death. However, he managed to swallow it and handed another soldier pill to the puppeteer who, after getting the okay from his sister, took and ate it. Glancing over at the garian sword, Naruto saw it vanish in a small puff of smoke.
'So now the boss has the two weapons we've seen so far, a busted piece of armor, and whatever weapon he may have. This is going to be a problem I can tell.'
"That's three out of four," Temari said, "Now we just need to find Gaara and their leader."
Naruto discreetly sent out a pulse. Immediately, he felt the chakra signatures of Temari and Kankuro, even the small amount of fading chakra from Ryugan and Kankuro's puppets. After a few moments of searching he managed to find what he was looking for. He managed to find them. He couldn't make out Gaara, but he could make out the forms of the capture Suna kunoichi, whose name he didn't know, and the unnamed leader. However, what got his attention was the dome structure nearby. He could feel a familiar chakra. He could also feel that the one tails' chakra was steadily growing stronger as Gaara's chakra slowly diminished.
As Naruto was trying to figure out where they were, Kankuro began to talk to his sister.
"So, who is this guy anyway," he whispered, trying to avoid being heard.
"I'm still not sure," she said, "It's pretty clear that he's here to stop these four psychos. He managed to take down one of these goons singlehandedly. Not to mention, he saved me from one of that hag. I think he is on our side, but we should keep our guard up, just in case."
The puppeteer nodded. As he has saved them, they were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. If it looked like he was going to turn on them, then they would act.
"I found them," Naruto said, gaining the attention of the two siblings.
Before they could ask, the disguised blond shot off. Immediately, the siblings launched forward and ran after him.
The path they followed lead them to the edge of the forest, at the base of a cliff near a canyon.
They found the final member standing there. As true to Naruto's sensing abilities Matsuri was tied up a few feet to the right, while to the left there was a large metal dome a few feet away. Kankuro and Temari were quickly able to deduce where Gaara was.
And judging by how the dome was starting to glow, they didn't have a lot of time.
The man just glared at them as frustration started to fill him. The three pests had completely messed up their plans. His three teammates were dead and the infinite armor had been completely busted. He would be lucky if he could scavenge some of the remains. Not to mention when Seimei was revived, he would be displeased to see that one of his greatest creations had been completely ruined.
"You pests have gotten in the way of our plans," Hoki said, in an eerily calm tone as he reached behind him.
Out from behind his back he pulled out his sword. However, it had changed dramatically.
The large rectangular black blade had apparently been combined with the garian sword and the Fujaku Hishō Shōken. The handles had all fused. The blue, three pronged bladed of the garian sword had fused into the blade of Hoki's sword, the middle tip ending just under the green orb at the top. The blades of the Fujaku Hishō Shōken had merged into the sides of the blade.
"With this I will end your interference with my plans," he declared, a glint of madness appearing in his eyes, "I am Hoki, the black tortoise of the north, and I am going to be your destruction!"
He swung the sword, releasing a wave of white, red tipped flames right at them. The group leapt upwards, landing in the higher branches of the trees. The flames blackened the earth, burned the grass, and reduced a few tree trucks into firewood.
In the trees, the three ninjas quickly moved from tree to tree to avoid the potentially rising flames, the falling trees, and potential smoke inhalation.
Temari quickly leapt backwards to avoid the flames and swung her fan. The powerful gust that picked up dirt, dust, ash, and fire. The burning cloud was launched towards sword wielding maniac. The man simply smirked at the assault and swung his sword. This time, it was a massive wave of water that smashed into the cloud, busting through it, cooling it down, and sending it straight towards the blonde kunoichi.
The blonde quickly performed a substitution, replacing herself with a log, to avoid the wave of water.
Kankuro unleashed karasu and kuroami upon the swordsman. He smirked as the two weaponized puppets closed in on the man.
Hoki simply raised his sword and stabbed it into the ground.
"Peacock Whirlwind!"
A twister formed around the man leader of the fallen group. The puppets were struck with the massive wind, inflicting massive amount of damage. Kankuro managed to pull back his puppets before they were reduced to splinters, but he was quick to notice just how badly they were damaged.
Naruto saw this and realized that with all the weapons combined, Hoki could manipulate water, wind, and fire. It also made him very glad that he made sure to smash the armor the Suiko was wearing. He glanced over to the dome, and could feel that Gaara was about to run out of enough chakra to keep the one tails at bay. He had to make a move and now.
Thinking quickly, the disguised blond went through various hand signs.
"Water Release: Hidden Mist."
Almost immediately, a thick mist began to form. The mist became so thick it was hard for anyone to see. Naruto quickly began to suppress his chakra to help hide himself. It also helped that the mist was laced with chakra. After a quick familiar hand sign two shadow clones appeared and ran off into two different parts of the mist. One clone was to provide support, while another was to maintain the mist.
Temari and Kankuro were both on edge. They knew that in the mist they were nearly helpless. The two siblings were now back to back, ready in case their mysterious ally decided it would be a good idea to betray them.
Hoki laughed, "You think your little parlor trick will be able to stop me?!"
He performed the Peacock Whirlwind again, only for the mist to come back in full force a moment later. He tried again, adding more chakra, for the same effect. He was now really starting to get frustrated.
In his frustration, he didn't notice the original Naruto go towards the dome and focus a mix of fire and wind chakra into his pointer and middle finger. He placed it against the metal dome and slowly began to move it. He was slowly burning through the metal, using the fused chakra like a blowtorch, or a welding iron.
Inside of the dome, Gaara saw the light and could feel the chakra. He started to move towards it. Right now, he could feel the chakra of the one tailed beast rising, and he could hear the beast ranting and raving at him in his mind.
Meanwhile, Hoki was mentally ranting and raving about how the sand siblings and the others wouldn't get in the way of his plans. How Seimei would be revived and the Takumi village would be revived as the strongest in the elemental nations. As he was ranting, he didn't notice Naruto, in stealth mode, sneak up behind him and grab Matsuri. The girl looked about ready to scream, but a quick motion silenced her. She was pulled away from the madman and hidden in the mist.
As the hostage was taken away, the madman snapped.
"THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU FOOLS!"
Taking his sword, the man focused as much chakra as he safely could, and swung it as hard as he could. The massive wave of wind chakra pushed away a good portion of the mist, revealing those hidden within it.
Hoki's eyes widened as he saw that his hostage was now gone, and became enraged when he saw that Naruto was about to break through the dome.
"No….NO! Get away from there!"
Hoki swung his sword, this time launching blades of ice at the original Naruto, who had almost gotten through the dome.
Kankuro and Temari both acted. Kankuro threw out his hands launching chakra strings laced with wind chakra, slicing through a few of the ice blades, while a blast of wind from Temari's fan knocked back the remaining blades.
Hoki was about to swing again, only this time, the shadow clone that saved Matsuri intervened. He launched forward and slammed a kick into the still raised sword, knocking Hoki off balance. A swift barrage of impacts to the solar plexus, stomach, temples, and jaw, incapacitated the madman.
To add on, the clone that had been holding the mist quickly went through hand signs for a technique of his own.
"Boil Release: White Snake."
The remains of the mist went together and began to heat up, turning into steam. The hot steam then launched forward and slammed into sword wielding maniac. A loud scream of agony was ripped from Hoki's throat as a massive amount of pain ran through is body, as the hot steam burned his skin, leaving bright red marks.
The clone that engaged Hoki in combat turned towards his brother and gave him a thumbs-up before vanishing in a puff of white smoke. The clone crossed his arms with a smirk under his mask, and vanished as well.
Naruto lifted Gaara up and smiled at his old friend from behind his mask. He quickly took out an enhanced soldier pill and gave it to the exhausted red head.
Gaara looked at the masked Naruto, then at his siblings who nodded. He swallowed the pill, and felt some of his strength return. He nodded gratefully at the man who had saved the lives of him, his siblings, and of his student.
"Gaara!"
Gaara soon found himself embraced by Matsuri.
Over to the side, Hoki glared angrily at the group. All his plans, all that work, all for nothing. He snarled angrily as he fought the pain of the is steam burned skin and slowly reached for his sword.
'I…I won't let it end like this! Lord Seimei will be revived! If I can't do it here, I'll find some other way! But first, I'll have to take care of these meddlesome pests!'
With a roar, that was a combination of anger and pain, Hoki raised his sword and prepared to swing.
Naruto, however, acted quickly.
"Swift Release: Shadowless Flight!"
Naruto disappeared and reappeared in front of Hoki, almost instantaneously. Hoki froze as he what happened. Naruto acted quickly and unleashed the finishing blow.
"And…Sightless Impacts!"
A barrage of instantaneous punches slammed into the sword wielding maniac with bone shattering force. Hoki screamed in pain, as bit of blood came out of his mouth, the pain of his burns now multiplied by his now shattered ribs. The barrage was so powerful, Hoki was launched into the cliff, letting go of his sword, which fell to ground and separated into separate swords again.
Hoki impacted the canyon wall with an insane amount of force. A large crack formed in the wall, making it crumble. Hoki's dying screams were all that was heard before he was crushed beneath the falling rock.
Naruto glanced at the cliff and felt a small amount of bile, rise in his throat for the second time during the mission. He had felt the ribs shatter under his fists and immediately felt sick, like when he had killed Suiko. He managed to swallow his bile after a moment or so before turning to the swords.
Reaching into his coat, he pulled out a sealing scroll and sealed the weapons, he even sealed away the remains of the infinite armor, figuring that they might be able to get something out of the armor.
Naruto then turned to take his leave.
"Wait!"
Naruto turned towards Temari who had shouted. The suna ninja had just fought through four maniacs and nearly gotten killed, only to be saved by the timely arrival of some mysterious masked ninja. None of them believed in divine intervention, and they wanted answers.
"Who are you?"
Naruto turned towards his old friends and answered, "I'm just someone who was passing through."
With that, Naruto vanished in a blur of speed, leaving four very confused ninjas in his wake.
Temari's eye twitched as she didn't get any answers. Kankuro, Gaara, and Matsuri both scooted away from the blond girl before she let her displeasure known.
"THAT JUST RAISES MORE QUESTIONS!"
A few hours later, at Naruto's training home…
When Naruto returned home, he found everyone there, ready to congratulate him. Kushina even went so far as to make her own super ramen for Naruto, which consisted of chicken, pork, and beef, all mixed together with specifically made veggies, thick noodles, and a specially made, secret recipe broth.
Despite this, Naruto didn't seem to be at the top of his game all night. He tried to put on a happy face, but he wasn't fooling anybody.
When it was time for bed, Minato and Kushina decided it was best that they have a talk with their son.
As Naruto was getting into bed, he was surprised to find that his father and mother entering his room.
"Naruto is there something bothering you?" Kushina asked as she took a seat on her son's bed.
Naruto looked at her and his father, both having concerned looks on their faces.
Naruto sighed and said, "Is it always like that? Killing people?"
Minato answered, "Naruto…the first kills are always the same. You feel sick and you think yourself a kind of monster. While it's not pleasant, it is necessary in certain situations. If you hadn't Hoki and his associates would have tried again, and it might not have gone so well. Not to mention, if they did manage to resurrect that Seimei guy, we don't know what would have happened."
Kushina nodded at her husband and said, "Like he said, killing isn't pleasant, but it is necessary in our line of work."
Kushina embraced her son. Naruto was surprised, but embraced his mother. Minato got in on the action, embracing his wife and son. As the family held each other a sense of relief filled Naruto.
Naruto had just grown up some…and was glad that he had his parents back.
Cut! Okay, that chapter is out of the way. We saw Naruto's skills and we got to see a little bit of family bonding over their chosen careers.
Anyway, now for the unique techniques.
Surging Fangs – an original jutsu of his own make, Seimei uses this technique to create a large tiger out of water to attack his enemies. Depending on the amount of chakra he uses, the size varies.
Tiger Scream – based on the attack used by Byakko from Yu Yu Hakusho. The Tiger Scream in a powerful surge of chakra, formed in the mouth of the Unlimited Armor, used by Suiko. It is primarily charged with the chakra absorbed by his enemies, but he can charge it with his own chakra. However, it takes a lot of chakra to use, so it is mainly saved as a last resort.
Great Stone Corner – this earth technique creates a stone blockade that forms a sharp corner around the user and those he's trying to protect. Naruto made this technique special to block wind jutsu, however, it is more effective against wide spread wind jutsu as more focused versions can break through it.
Phoenix Breath – based on the Victorious Bird used by Rob Lucci from One Piece. Kujaku uses this technique to launch a powerful bird shaped projectile strong enough to slash through trees.
Paralyzing Touch – a lightning technique of Naruto's own making. This technique combines lightning chakra with the precision of the gentle fist and the humming bird style. By striking areas ont eh body, nerves are thrown out of whack and can result in temporary paralysis.
Hydra – based on the Hydra used by Magellan from One Piece. This is not an original technique, however Ryugan can in fact use the garian sword to create dragon shaped water constructs. I just gave it the name Hydra because it fit since the techniques are so similar.
Geyser Wall – a powerful version of the water wall technique, the geyser wall jettisons waters from the ground below, the blast causing damage to the attacker, as well as knocking them back. This is most likely best used in areas where there is plenty of water underground.
White Snake – A bo release technique that launches a white stream of boiling hot steam at the target. The stream can be easily manipulated with chakra, for near pinpoint accuracy. This technique can be used in conjunction with the hidden mist technique to drop the amount of chakra. This is mainly used to disable a target as the wounds make it hard to move and fight.
Shadowless Flight – a swift release technique that allows a user to move at speeds invisible to the naked eye. It was based of the shushin technique, but is more combat oriented.
Sightless Impacts – another swift release technique. This is more combat oriented as the user uses the enhanced speed to rain blows down on his opponent. The result is massive injuries and broken bones and can even send people flying.
