Naruto ripped through the destruction of Konoha at an incredible pace, looking around at the destroyed buildings with little emotion. He did grimace however as he laid his blue eyes on a few bodies that were unlucky enough to be crushed by falling debri and were not splattered in the open canyon of the once mightiest village. It was a tough sight to stomach, but it was nothing that the blonde boy couldn't handle after everything he had been through.
And with Danzo's use of Kotoamatsukami on him. Even though the memories were in fact fake, and created just to spite the blonde, they still felt real enough to make him believe that he had done those horrid events. And if he didn't have Isobu with him then he would have lost that fight the second Danzo used the jutsu.
Naruto wanted nothing more than to just reverse time and kill Danzo all over again. Maybe even this time he could somehow manage to trap Dazno into Kotoamatsukami so he could suffer like he had.
The thought was definitely a good one.
Overall however jumping over yet another set of broken houses Naruto couldn't help but feel like he was walking on cloud nine. His plan was going perfectly and he was sure nothing could stop the momentum in his achievements today. The biggest deal was the recovery of Shisui's other sharingan and the death of that old war hawk. He was told of Danzo's previous schemes through the shinobi world. Like the elimination of the Uchiha clan for one example.
But Naruto didn't care about that, he only cared that that old bastard was the one who killed Shisui, everything else that man did meant nothing to him.
Raising his hand up he grazed the skin under his right eye, grinning happily as he felt the pulse of power from his now golden sharingan eye. It now felt like he had Shisui with him permanently, that the older Uchiha was guiding him down his own path like a protector. It was a great feeling, borderline euphoric that it pumped his adrenaline through his body at a rapid rate.
Naruto's eyes glinted once he finally saw his destination drawing near. With a wide grin he picked up his pace. He felt the ground shake under him a bit and he looked up to the right after feeling the shaking once again. Looking off into the distance he could see a faint figure jumping through the air, accompanied by flashes of bright yellow that reflected off the shining sun. No doubt his father was fighting hard trying to save the village from anymore harm.
Naruto did idly wonder what was going through his fathers head as he was fighting for his life, and the life of the village. He must have felt weighed down that the village he swore to protect was already half destroyed and on the verge of collapsing completely. And no doubt if word got out about Konoha's fall, Kumo and or Iwa would come knocking with all the forces they could to wipe away the village. So Minato was in a sticky situation, probably shaking in his boots to crush his enemy and make sure he had enough time to mask the village's broken state.
Naruto wiped his thoughts clean away from his father as he landed in the dense forest that had survived any destruction. Wiping away some dirt on his pants he activated his sharingan, glancing over to a lump of trees with his golden mangekyou.
"Did you get what I asked you to retrieve?"
"Geeze who the fuck do you think I am anyway?"
Naruto chuckled as he leaned against the tree closest to him, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched a shadowy figure walk through the trees. Naruto could hear faint squirming coming from behind the figure and he felt his grin widen ever so slightly.
"Well done, this plan is now almost complete." Naruto said, waiting patiently against the large oak tree as the figure started to come out from the shadow, revealing his slicked back purple hair for Naruto to see with a heavily bound woman slung over his shoulder.
"Tch, whatever, I did what you wanted me to do. So here." he retorted. Throwing the woman onto the floor right at Naruto's feet.
"Even better, good work Hidan." Naruto muttered, feeling a small tinge in his chest as he looked at the bound woman at his feet.
True to his word Hidan completed the mission Naruto had given him perfectly and without any questions. Silently looking over her body Naruto could see that she had several wounds going down her legs and was still currently bleeding from her arms as it pooled in the grass under them. The woman's whimpering seemed to stall for a moment as she looked up slightly, giving Naruto a perfect view of the tied Konoha headband that was wrapped securely around her eyes totally obscuring her vision.
As she looked up her lips began to tremble a bit, like she was trying to fight back the urge to cry. Naruto kept his face impassive even though he knew she could not see anything from her bindings, his sharingan spinning in his eye as he looked through the woman.
"Hidan, leave us alone for a few minutes." Naruto said, his voice void of any emotion as the woman tensed her whole body at his words. "I'll be finished with her quickly, then I want you to watch over her until I return."
Hidan just shrugged his shoulders at the boy's words. He didn't give any more fucks about what Naruto was planning on doing. As long as the blonde keeps his end of the bargain then Hidan would play along until then.
"Yeah yeah whatever." Hidan said before disappearing from his spot without another word.
Naruto internally sighed as he continued to stare down at the woman. Silently watching her as she struggled to escape her bindings. He knelt down until he was at her level, tracing his eyes over her body until he finally found what he was looking for.
"Struggling would get you nowhere, there's a chakra bindning seal already placed on you. You can't escape no matter how hard you try." Naruto said bluntly, voice as empty like endless abyss.
The woman under him seemed to tense even further as she stopped her struggling, raising her head a tab bit higher as she tried to imagine where her captor's eyes were. Her lips started to tremble again but this time at a much faster pace. A whimper escaped her mouth as she shook her head, saddened as the familiar voice ricochet through her mind before stabbing itself deep into her heart. Shaking her head even faster she started to undo the knot holding the headband around her eyes. Naruto did nothing to stop her as she continued to shake, letting the accessory fall down her face and for her fiery red hair to fall down her face.
"I didn't want to think that voice belonged to you…" she whispered, face as fragile as an antique vase.
Naruto hesitantly nodded his head, staring deep into violet eyes that had refused to show him any love and companionship in the past.
"Sorry to ruin any expectations, Kaa-san."
Both mother and son stared at each other for what felt like years, neither speaking as they let their eyes do the talking for them. Kushina had a hard time forcing her eyes away from the multi colored sharingan eyes that bored into her with little to no emotion. Once the shock died off she allowed herself to finally look at her youngest son, her baby boy.
His hair was certainly longer than it used to be, falling down just a tad on his forehead, resembling Minato much more now than he did as a child. His face was even starting to lose a majority of its baby fat, though she could see that some still remained. Kushina had to fight back the urge to cry again as she finally got a good look at the son she had abandoned, a living embodiment of her failure as a parent.
Despite herself she could feel a warm smile forming on her chapped lips.
"You really grew up, didn't you Naruto-kun?"
Kushina said, her eyes shining with warmth that never used to be there before. She refused to take her eyes off her son, it was like she was trying to make up for lost time even if she knew that that time was unreachable.
Naruto felt his stomach churn at her words, the honestly reflecting in her eyes was enough to make him nauseous. He felt his hands clench around the beads of grass under him, trying his best to fight back the urge to scowl at his mothers tender look. He wasn't expecting such a look. He was more prepared for her to scream at him, to yell and struggle for her life and get away to safety. He wasn't expecting her to look at him like...like-
Like a mother.
"You look so handsome, you must be quite the lady killer wherever you went."
"I only ever had my eyes on one woman. But she probably hates me now, after all of this anyway."
"Well if she truly did love you then she would be able to look past something like this."
Naruto fingers dug themselves into the soft soil as a scowl finally formed on his lips. He glared darkly at his mother, and he grew even angrily once he realized that she did not even flinch a muscle at the glare.
He hated this. He wanted her to be scared or at least, look at him with just as much anger as he felt looking at her. But instead he got a normal conversation, like she wasn't even trying to understand why he was doing what he was doing.
She didn't even look phased that her own son had ordered an Akatsuki member to kidnap her.
And that look. That damned look she was giving him was starting to piss him off.
"Why…" Naruto whispered, his voice lowering so low that Kushina had to strain her ears to even hear. "You-"
Without even thinking he raised his hand at her, the back of his palm impacting with her roughed up cheek with a loud smack as she tumbled to the ground. Her head bouncing off the earth as she grimaced in obvious pain.
"You have no right to look at me like that. You have absolutely no right to look at me like a son after everything you put me through!"
Naruto yelled angrily, his voice oozing with venom. Hoping his words would burn away at her skin by their toxicity. Naruto felt the back of his palm start to sting from the impact as he looked down at the pathetic form of his chakra sealed mother. Grabbing her by the hair he pulled her upwards until their faces were once again at eye level, as he pulled her he was prepared with a heated glare that would melt any ice in the near vicinity.
But just like before, her look came off just as motherly.
He tightened his grip on her hair making Kushina wince just a bit, but she refused to fight back against him.
Naruto felt his breathing start to get heavier as he pulled away a few strands of her beautiful hair. Kushina just smiled warmly at him again, leaning forward as much as Naruto's grip would allow her too and leaned her head against his shoulder blade. Naruto's body then turned into a statue, freezing in place at the contact as her body started to tremble softly.
"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry for everything Naruto-kun. I know I have no right, that I don't even have the right to speak to you like this. But...but-" she said. Her body started to tremble even further as she leaned more into his body.
Naruto stared at his mother as she started to shake against him. His mouth fell agape as his mind tried to process if what exactly he was looking at was in fact real or not. The contrast between her and his father was too much to bear. While Minato has been cold and rude to him (with good reason), he never did try to really apologize to him once. It was always half assed or stemming from another one of Naruto's problems that he banked off of. It never came off as genuine, like he never wanted Naruto back into the family.
Somewhere in Naruto he would say that was a blessing in disguise. That Minato truly didn't see him as a son anymore and now only looked at Naruto like he was an enemy, an equal that could even rival his real children.
If anything this is exactly what Naruto had wanted from the start.
"I'm so happy that I got to see you again."
"Shut up!"
Naruto yelled as he jumped back from her and got to his feet. Forcing her head away from his shoulder making her bounce with nothing to keep her up anymore. Still having a strong grip wrapped tightly around her hair he pulled her away. Throwing her down to the ground forcefully, Kushina felt a yelp leave her throat as her head smacked against the ground once again.
Naruto started to grow restless as he toyed with his mother. A part of him wanted to stomp the pathetic body of a mother into the ground, however something stopped him. He wasn't sure why he did stop. But it just felt wrong. He clenched his fists tightly, trying to regain any control of his rapidly beating heartbeat as it thumped in his chest.
"I don't have time for this 'oh woe is me' bullshit. I only need you for one reason. And I plan on doing it right now."
Kushina physically flinched at her son's dark tone of voice. His words felt like small daggers as they swiped across her skin, almost drawing blood by their sharpness. Peeking through her hair dangling in her face she fought back the urge to cry again once they made eye contact. He looked so far away. He looked exactly like her baby boy, but also a complete and utter stranger.
The red headed mother, no matter how hard she tried, couldn't hear herself away from his eyes. Almost like she was being forced to look at them by an unknown force. She watched through glossy eyes as his mangekyou spun in his eye sockets. A sad small plastered on her lips.
"I hope whatever it is you're doing...that you end up being happy by the end of it."
Naruto's eyes darkened, lowering his head so that the long blonde bangs covered his eyes. The air around them grew tense. Like they had over 1000 tons worth of weight tied around their ankles. Just waiting to be pushed over at any moment. What Kushina couldn't see, was in his shadowed eyes was the soft glimpse of apprehension in his sharingan. It was faint, and it vanished as soon as it made an appearance. But it was there nothing less.
And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop the small tremble he felt in his lips.
"Why do you think after all of this, you get to decide whether I am happy or not?"
Kushina smiled a bittersweet smile. Not even trying to fight back as she felt her hair get grabbed again. "I don't. But like I said before, if you truly love someone then you would look past things exactly like this."
"...keep that nonsense to yourself." Naruto whispered back, forcing eye contact once again and Kushina started to feel drowsy. Like she was being hypnotized but the spinning tomoe of his mangekyou. Her eyes then started to flutter shut, blinking several times as she felt her head start to pulse in sudden pain. All muscles in her body had started to fail one by one. Naruto loosened his grip on her hair as she started to fall back down to the floor, the last thing she heard before fading away in unconsciousness was the emotionless words of her youngest son.
Her baby boy.
"From this moment on, you have forgotten how to use chakra chains."
And just like that Kushina Namikaze was unconscious. And Naruto was nowhere to be found.
With Kurenai and Narumi
"W-why are you telling me, no, why are telling us this?"
Kurenai said as she took a hesitant step backwards from Yuno, her heart dropping slightly in her chest by the deadly calm expression on his face as he recalled the discussion he had with Naruto. She took a hesitant glance towards Narumi trying to gauge the younger girl's reaction. Her eyes were wide in shock which was understandable. From Kurenai's position she could faintly see a few beads of sweat drip down her pale features and drop to the ground, her body slowly tensing as the female jinchuuriki stood rooted in place.
Kurenai could not even begin to fathom what kind of thoughts were currently flying inside the girl's mind. This revelation was massive and not only affected her, but also Natsu. And it must have hurt twice as bad since it was her very own younger brother that devised this plan.
"I am only telling you this because I deemed it necessary. Naruto is head over heels in love with you Kurenai." Yuno said, making the older woman blush and Narumi to frown even further. "And you Narumi, Naruto feels somewhat grateful for you as well."
Narumi shook her head angrily, glaring over at Yuno as she channeled some of the Kyuubi's chakra into her coils. Her canines enlarged drastically and her crimson red slitted eyes were burning with an anger she had never felt before. Angrier than anything she had felt before, this was unaltered animosity and she didn't know what part of the man's crazy story had affected her the most. From the devastating revelation about how sinister her own brother's plan was, or the mere idea that said brother felt grateful for her, grateful enough to ruin her life.
"Grateful? Grateful my ass! If that bastard was grateful then he wouldn't be here right now!"
"You're wrong he is grateful. He owes this plan to you Narumi."
Narumi gritted her teeth, her canines rubbing away at the plaque as she scowled. Her sharpened nails twitching, waiting for the time to pounce and eagerly rip the man's throat out.
"Bullshit!" Narumi seethed.
"It's true. It's because you kept your mouth shut all these years about Naruto's jinchuriki status and his sharingan." Yuno said evenly.
Narumi stifled a scoff and growled angrily as the man continued to point out her growing mistakes.
"If you had told Hokage-sama about Naruto then he would have been forced to go on the Bingo book, and that would have definitely drawn the Akatsuki's attention onto him. He most likely would have died. But because his secret was kept he was able to meet us in Atarashi, form an alliance with us and a bond with Kise-chan. Infiltrate Konoha under a false pretense to finally make his plan come to fruition."
Yuno stood up from the bed he was sitting on and looked down at Narumi, feeling a small amount of sadness as her face started to pale considerably. He really felt for the girl, he really did. It must have been hard that so far in her life when it came to Naruto she had made every wrong decision possible and was now putting her whole family, and the entire village of Konoha, in danger.
Yuno didn't stop there however.
"Even though Kurenai knew all of these secrets as well, he wasn't scared of her revealing them to anyone. Naruto trusted Kurenai more than anyone, he believed in her. But he didn't believe in you, Narumi." he then chuckled as he looked away from the girl.
"But don't worry Narumi, Kurenai here is also to blame. If you had never given that scroll that you received from Kakuzu then this whole plan would have failed. He would have never got his hands on those seal breaking arrays I prepared for him."
Yuno shrugged his shoulders in disinterest, ignoring the look of utter disbelief Kurenai was sending his way. The sight of the genjutsu mistress caused him to freeze for a fraction of a second. He wasn't sure if what he was seeing was real or in fact, a genjutsu.
Kurenai looked just as, if not more pale then Narumi as this exact moment. He watched her eyes fly through a myriad of emotions. Shock, understanding, anger, flattery before finally ending on uncertainty. Her blood red eyes pulsated as the pupils dilated into the size of a pin, the air dying in her throat, looking like she forgot how to breathe for a few seconds.
This confused Yuno however as he stared for a second longer than he thought was appropriate for someone in his position. His mind pushed all thoughts about Narumi and her growing anger away as he tried to dissect exactly what Kurenai's eyes were showing him. From all the stories Naruto briefly mentioned in passing and from what he heard from Sasori and Kise he expected that the feelings he heard so much about would have been reciprocated by both parties.
But the dark look of uncertainty was painting a whole different picture for Yuno, the mural was definealty tainted from the beginning without either of them aware of it. Paint was spilled over the canvas of their relationship and coated it in a different color than both of them wanted.
Thinking and looking at her now, it would be a miracle if Naruto walked away from today with Kurenai on his arm.
"And why did you deem this necessary?" Narumi growled. Her hand shook and she had to actively fight the urge to send her claws deep into Yuno's gut the longer she was in his presence. "I got have gone my whole life without knowing this was my fucking fault!"
Narumi's harsh words seemed to draw Yuno's attention back onto her. The longer he looked at her the pity he felt only grew inside his stomach, not that he showed it to her in the first place. Giving his best smile he responded, his voice still incredibly calm.
"Honestly I wanted to give you and Kurenai a chance. More you than her of course. " cracking his neck he looked down at the female jinchuuriki, his eyes flashing with honesty that almost blinded Narumi. She had never seen such an honest expression on anyone's face before. It was starting to throw her for a loop.
"I am offering you, and Kurenai a chance to leave Konoha after this is over and come live with us, in the Village that Naruto-kun and I have been creating for these past five months." Yuno smiled, gesturing to Kurenai.
Despite her better judgment Narumi followed and her crimson slitted eyes met Kurenai's matching irises. Just the sight of Kurenai sent Narumi's heart into a frenzy, completely submissive to her pale and beautiful features and was drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Her body ached for the jounin and she knew that she wanted nothing more than to finally hold the girl, like she did when Kurenai was upset about Naruto last night.
"You both can live in peace over there. The both of you...together." Yuno continued, whispering the end of his words so only Narumi could hear him.
Naruto stillfied a groan as the words travelled down her body in excitement. She knew it was stupid of her to have these thougths pulsing through her mind, but she couldn't help it. The idea of them together was just too enticing for her not to think anything of it, it's what she wanted for the past few years after all. Her crimson eye's then started to fade away, pushing the bright blue hue back into her iris as she watched Kurenai's pillowy lips open ever so slightly. Narumi licked her lips subconsciously, feeling the familiar heat rise in her body that she fought to push down so many times in the past.
"Wait, you said that Naruto-kun didn't believe in Narumi, does that mean he has no idea of you coming to speak to us?" Kurenai asked, trying her best to ignore Narumi's intense stare as she focused her attention on Yuno.
The man merely nodded his head.
"You're quite perceptive, but yes you're correct. I'm doing this on my own volition."
"But why? I-i can understand why he offered it to me." Kurenai said, after all Naruto had already told her about his plan to make a new ninja village back in his hospital room. He had just failed to tell her everything in between.
Like the attack on Konoha, and the...she couldn't even bring herself to say it.
"But if he's- doing what he's doing, then why are you offering this to Narumi?"
That seemed to break Narumi out of her intense gaze on Kurenai as she turned back to Yuno, her eyes asking the same question. Yuno shrugged, a grin playing on his lips. Tapping his foot on the ground several times he put more distance between him and Narumi.
"Lets just say that I was curious on what her reaction would be and leave it at that."
Narumi growled, her eyes instantly switching back to crimson in a heated fury. He was starting to piss her off and she was tired of holding back her anger. She scoffed loudly and swung her arm outwards to show off her sharpened nails as the wood beneath her feet started to crack from the intense pressure Narumi was emitting. Her growl was so loud that it made Kurenai take a step back in surprise.
Yuno on the other hand wasn't phased in the slightest. Not even blinking at the claws that were just waiting to tear him apart at any given second.
"You really think that I would take you up on this absurd offer?" Narumi seethed, taking a dangerous step closer towards the unmoving Atarashi member. "While the idea of living with Kurenai in peace is appealing, you are asking me to abandon my family. To leave my mother and father and allow Naruto to go and kill Natsu-nii!" she screamed so loud that spit flew from her mouth and landed on Yuno's cheek.
Still unmoving Yuno just grinned wider, reaching into his cloak pocket. Both could hear Kurenai's growing protest at them but they didn't hear her, or chose to ignore her in Yuno's case.
"Yes, I did think you would."
The next thing Yuno saw was a blur pass by his peripheral vision. With speeds that even the most experienced jounin would have trouble following, Yuno spun on his heel, raising his hand up and caught the first that tried to take his head off. In one solid motion he spun again, flipping his attacker away from him as he sent her soaring towards Kurenai.
Kurenai braced herself for the impact as she caught the fast approaching Narumi effortlessly. One she felt the body smack into her own Kurenai gave a low grunt, holding the girl by the waist while Narumi's head came to rest near her shoulder. Both females locked eyes for a split second and Narumi felt the anger in her body subside by a significant amount. Her face exploded into a blush that matched her crimson eyes and she felt her mouth go dry. The close proximity was enough to stall Narumi enough that she momentarily forgot all about Yuno, getting lost into her favorite set of eyes on the planet. Her breath hitching as she watched a stray strand of her raven locks slowly fall down her pale features. Sliding almost seductively across the smooth skin and resting comfortable between her eyes that was looking at her in embarrassment. On impulse Narumi licked her lips again as her eyes glanced between Kurenai's lips and her eyes with a fever that would make any grown man/woman squirm in place, and it was exactly what Kurenai was doing.
It felt like hours to Narumi but in reality it only was a couple seconds and Kurenai pushed her away. Her entire face red in embarrassment looking away from Narumi trying to calm the excessive beating of her heart.
Narumi seemed to come down from whatever high she was feeling and was brought back to reality. Not bothering to mutter an apology as both looked towards Yuno who was looking at them with a mixture of enjoyment and curiosity, even though the situation was a rather unpleasant one for all three of them he definitely did find enjoyment in these small moments.
"Sorry to break up the moment but if you attack me again then we will have a big problem on your hands."
"What are you talking about?" Narumi growled again. Finally getting her feelings under control as she took a protective stance in front of Kurenai and started to channel a mixture of her and the Kyuubi's chakra.
Yuno stayed silent and instead took out something that was in his cloak pocket. Both females raised their eyebrows as he pulled out a small sized urn from his cloak. Keeping it still in his hand as he schooled his face from any emotion. His eyes growing dull.
"If you made even a sudden movement, then I will unleash this upon Konoha."
"Tch, what kind of shit are you plotting here?" Narumi said, cracking her neck as she swiped her claws together making them spark dangerously. "You better answer quickly and tell me what's in that dumbass urn of yours."
Yuno internally grimaced, he wasn't too fond of this sort of plan but it was the only thing he could think of doing to minimize confrontation between him and the two Konoha shinobi in front of him. Naruto had only told him to use this if things looked like they were looking bleak, a contingency plan in case he failed. Sure he hadn't failed in his own personal mission, but he wanted to avoid fighting with the Namikaze jinchuuriki and the genjutsu mistress if he could. Taking a deep breath he started to spin the urn in his palm, his features going dark. The lid opened up slightly and a thick chakra signature flooded the broken apartment they were in. The chakra was so thick that it was almost visible to the naked eye without even trying. Kurenai had to shield her eyes from the potency of the vile chakra that leaked out, her breath dying in her throat as it grew heavier.
Narumi on the other hand felt her face go pale once again. Inside her body she could feel and hear the Kyuubi smashing himself against his cage as he roared loudly. Sending tremors down her body and subsequently making her head throb in pain.
Yunio just tilted his head back, staring dead into the eyes of Narumi Namikaze with his lips pursed in indifference.
"If you even try to go and help Natsu, if you even try to leave here without agreeing to my demands. And if you even try to attack me." He stopped. Flipping the urn open a little more to allow the chakra to seep out even further. The wood of the walls started to crack from the pressure around them. Drowning them in the repulsive feeling of animosity like a large tsunami. The room then grew eerie as the dark feeling latched onto their skins, a feeling that Narumi was all too familiar with. And one Kurenai dreaded feeling ever since the Kyuubi attack 16 years ago.
Yuno smirked as both females went paler than any ghost. He had to hand it to Naruto, his ability to come up with genius strategies were far beyond that of a normal shinobi. He truly was something special.
"You have a choice Narumi. You can either leave here now and go help your brother Natsu, but if you do then you would be the reason as to why every innocent civilian in Konoha dies. Or you can stay here with me, and we can come to a friendly agreement."
"So please, make your choice."
Somewhere In Konoha
"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Jutsu!"
Natsu yelled as he flipped himself around a tree with practiced ease. Using his foot he jumped further into the forest, not bothering to bring his hand to his mouth he inhaled deeply. Breathing out a large dragon made of pure fire and sent it flying towards his enemy with a frightening display of speed.
Unluckily for Natsu his opponent wasn't an easy one, he easily dodged the mythical beast made of flames with a high jump into the air. His enemy grinned from the sky, his sharp shark like teeth glinting dangerously in the sun, like a predator chasing his prey. Natsu actually had to squint his eyes in order to catch sight of his opponent, having trouble making out where he was as his bright blue skin camouflaged itself into the equally bright sky. With a loud yell the man swung down his shark like weapon onto Natsu with a rush, the swords teeth grinning themselves, attempting to take a bite from the male Namikaze.
Natsu could see the attack coming however and leaned backwards, bending back until his hands gripped themselves into the grass and kicked upwards and smacked the sword directly in the mouth. The sentient weapon whimpered in sudden pain as his wielder groaned in dismay at missing his target, but not one to back down from a challenge he continued his fall towards the earth. Internally he gave his sword a small apology as he slammed the weapon into the ground, spinning around the hilt with speeds that a seasoned jounin would have trouble following and swung his leg out. Natsu barely managed to escape the sweep as he bent all the way down to the floor, his attacker's leg missing him by mere inches as he breathed in another round of air.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Trap!"
Four small birds made from his fire chakra escaped from his mouth, each flying at the blue skinned man before they latched themselves onto each of his limbs. One on each leg and arm. He didn't have the time to shake them off before they exploded. The loud explosion rocked the ground around them, tearing into the earth making a large dust of dirt fly into the air. Natsu was forced to cover his eyes from the debri as the wind from his explosion sent him skidding back against the floor, tearing up any grass that was unlucky enough to be behind him.
Once the smoke cleared Natsu took notice of the disappearance of his enemy. He didn't frown however, instead he just got to his feet and turned around. His face showed no sign of interest as he looked into the deep pale white eyes of the human shark.
"You're better than I thought you would be, Kisame."
The man just grinned like a shark, lifting up samehada and resting him on his broad shoulder. "Should I be flattered that someone of your stature complimented someone like me? A real S class criminal?" he mocked. His tone dripped with sarcasm that made it entirely clear that he himself wasn't too impressed by Natsu so far. He heard stories of the red headed jinchuriki, hearing first hand at how incredibly gifted the young shinobi was since birth. Graduating the academy early, promoted to chunin even earlier and finally a proud owner of being a jounin.
All before he was 14.
He was a prodigy in a league of his own, similar to the likes of Minato Namikaze and Itachi Uchiha. Just saying the boy's name was enough to strike fear into an ordinary man's heart.
But Kisame was no ordinary man.
Without even giving Natsu enough time to respond Kisame vanished from his spot, reappearing directly behind the red-head and swung samehada down. Natsu sensed the attack coming and jumped to the side, narrowly dodging the sword and sent his elbow into the man's oncoming stomach. Natsu's eyes widened ever so slightly when his hit did nothing to the taller man. Kisame just grinned, taking the hit head and switched his grip on samehada so he was holding the sword in a reverse grip and slashed it across Natsu's chest. Natsu winced as the sword's sharp scales tore the skin across his midriff. Kisame laughed happily as he applied more pressure onto the sword and samehada responded in kind, its own mouth opening wider to take a bite of the intoxicating smell of chakra that radiated from the boy.
The second samehada's teeth pierced flesh, Natsu's body popped into a cloud of smoke, Kisame growled in dismay as he brought samehada back to his body and rolled out of the way to avoid a fireball that soared after him. He had to continue dodging as more and more came after him, each ball of condensed fire growing in speed after him almost making him drop samehada from the increasing onslaught.
Getting tired of being on the defensive he clicked his tongue in annoyance, offensive was more his style anyway.
Wordlessly he rolled again, swinging samehada forward and he started to channel his chakra into it. Samehada then started to increase in size until he was big enough to swallow the balls of fire whole.
Natsu watched in annoyance as his next few jutsu were eaten without any trouble. Going for a new strategy he shunshined a couple of feet away from Kisame, kunai in hand and swiped across the Akatsuki members torso. Wordlessly again, samehada's hilt started to bend and stretched itself in front of Kisame, like it was protecting the man.
Surprisingly to Kisame, Natsu seemed unaffected by the amount of pressure the abnormally sized sword was pushing against his smaller steel weapon. He didn't show his surprise however, instead he just smirked. Showing off his sharp teeth like they were a prized possession.
"I applaud your bravery, but do you really think you stand a chance against me?"
Once again his tone was laced with mockery, and this time, Natsu narrowed his eyes slightly. Channeling a small amount of the Kyuubi's chakra into his body he surprised Kisame by letting go of his kunai. Kisame had no time to react to the quick maneuver and couldn't help but tumble forward as samehada smashed into the ground thanks to the disappearance of pressure.
During this Natsu sidestepped with an overwhelming sense of confidence and brought his hand out and stuck his finger through the pommel of the kuani he dropped before it hit the floor. Spinning it back into his grip as he sent the dagger-like weapon straight into Kisame's gut earning a gasp of pain from the man. It all happened so fast that even Kisame wasn't sure if Itachi would have been able to track it.
The sudden jolt of pain made him falter just enough for Natsu to continue his attack, grabbing another kunai from his pouch. This time the weapon was much skinnier, about a quarter of the size of a regular kunai as he jabbed the weapon inside the pommel of the kunai currently in Kisame. With a flick of his wrist he used his palm and slammed the hilt of the kunai down deeper inside of Kisame. A loud shockwave erupted from Kisame's body, the second Natsu's hand made contact. Kisame gasped loudly as he felt the kunai go hilt deep into his chest, the blow had so much force behind it that he was sent flying back.
The second Kisame's body was a good enough distance away from Natsu he grinned. His eyes flashing red for a quick moment as he pulled his arm back in one solid motion.
As he was flying back Kisame could faintly hear a soft sizzling sound echo throughout his body. Glancing down he saw the smaller kunai that was plunged through the hole of the one in his chest, eyes going wide as he saw the source of the sizzling.
An explosive tag.
The tag then exploded in a loud bang. Bringing samehada closer to his body to shield himself from the explosion as he was sent flying further into the woods.
Natsu watched his body go soaring and stood frozen in place, staring at the large gust with a large amount of indifference. A part of him wondered if he had actually succeeded in killing the Akatsuki member with that attack. No regular shinobi would be able to escape from that basic combo of his, it took an insane amount of speed and precision to get it off.
But again, Kisame was no ordinary shinobi.
So the more rational side of him assumed that he was still alive but at least injured greatly. Even if he was an S class shinobi, it was still impossible to go every fight without sustaining an injury. Natsu however was too preoccupied in wondering if this was truly all there was to Kisame, he managed to steal a tailed beast from his brother Naruto.
Was his brother just that weak, or was Kisame that strong?
Because as of right now, all signs pointed to his brother being weak.
"Speaking of."
Natsu thought as he felt an incredible familiar chakra signature closing in on him. As it grew closer Natsu couldn't help but internally frown as he sensed the chakra source. It was familiar and it definitely belonged to his brother, but something was off. It was giving off a darker vibe and it felt even thinner than it had before.
And it was larger, much much larger.
It shouldn't have been possible for someone's chakra to expand so rapidly in such a short amount of time. The body just couldn't handle the influxion and you would lose the ability to mold chakra by frying your coils altogether, or simply dying by chakra inflammation.
An alternative was of course, fuinjutsu. Chakra suppression seals existed of course and it was possible to store a small to large body of chakra in your body in order to release it later when you needed to use it. Similar to Tsunade Senju's 100 Healing Jutsu. But that seal was always temporary since the expended chakra would be all used up making the seal vanish and would have to be reapplied.
Though Natsu had looked over his entire body and didn't see anything close to a seal that stored chakra within his body, and even if he had one so well hidden it would still be used all up minutes before he made it to his designated destination.
And what Natsu was feeling was definitely a permanent increase in chakra, and he didn't understand how.
Natsu had no time to dwell on his brother's chakra closing in on him as a large chakra burst erupted from the forest, no doubt from that blue skinned Akatsuki member. Natsu scowled and internally started to curse his foolishness at being distracted, especially by his brother Naruto.
It had started to happen a lot more lately, and begrudgingly, he didn't understand why.
Pushing Naruto out of his thoughts momentarily he focused on the task at hand. Deciding to stay rooted in place and see what his attacker would do, sliding his foot back he took a defensive stance. One that would counter most jutsu's and even taijutsu technique, a stance that was created by both his mother and father.
Another loud bang tore through the clearing and right before Natsu's eyes he watched several trees start falling down, hitting other large oaks and making them tumble to the floor.
Not even a second later Kisame lunged out from the fallen trees with a deep scowl on his face. His pale white eyes were glistening menacingly with an equally pissed off samehada in his grip.
"You fucking bastard!"
The Akatsuki member screamed as Samehada slammed down next to Natsu, forcing the red head to dodge the new few swings from the shark. The swings were much easier to see now then they were before, they were much slower and didn't have as much power behind them.
No doubt thanks to Kisame's growing anger, even samehada looked particularly smaller than he did before.
With another loud roar Kisame ripped off his Akatsuki cloak that was in tatters thanks to Natsu's previous attack. And without earning the shake like man threw the remaining cloth towards Natsu.
Natsu scowled as he stared head first into the black and red pattern of the man's cloak as it fell into his field of vision, obscuring his vision by a tremendous amount.
Straining his ears to the extreme he tried to hear where Kisame was coming from, he tilted his head to look past the flying cloth and his eyes almost widened as he saw the shark-like sword coming at him.
But something happened in that exact moment, something that didn't even surprise Natsu one bit.
A loud bang went off in the clearing and the sword vanished from Natsu's view. The cloth that was previously thrown at him has also looked to be cut in two, floating down to the ground as the body of Kisame had gone flying back by a strong force.
A strong familiar force.
Kisame's body impacted with a tree, a sickening crack echoing into the forest as his head smacked against the bar, and his body went limp.
Natsu turned away from Kisame and looked towards where the attack came from. His purple eyes meet familiar blue.
"That felt amazing, I hope I killed the bastard."
Naruto said, grinning wildly as he looked over in Natsu's direction. Natsu showed no outward reaction to his brother's entrance, but internally he was confused at why Naruto was here of all places. His suspicion of his brother only seemed to grow as he started to walk to Natsu.
"Natsu-nii, thank God you're alright!" Naruto said taking a few large steps towards him and went in for a hug.
Natsu immediately smacked his brothers hands away, not feeling an ounce of guilt at the hurt look that washed over Naruto's face
The red head scowled, taking a large step back putting a good amount of distance between them. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Naruto just frowned, rubbing his arm awkwardly as he limply gestures towards Kisame. "Tou-san asked me to come and find you and help out if possible. And it seems I got here just in time."
Natsu wanted to scoff at his brother's explanation.
So he did.
Without even a single warning Natsu grabbed Naruto's hands faster than any jounin in the village could react. Twisting his arms painfully as he pulled them behind his back holding his brother in a tight grip and pushed him to the floor. In a very similar position just like in the council meeting.
Naruto tried to get Natsu to stop but he wouldn't even comprehend what Naruto was saying. Instead he pushed the blonde's face into the grass, making sure that the blonde had no way to escape like last time.
"Cut the bullshit for one goddamn minute. Do you really believe that I would buy your sudden shift in attitude? That I would be fooled by your lame ass acting?"
"N-natsu w-what are you-ACK!"
Naruto yelled as he felt the pressure increase on his arms making them bend in a way that arms weren't supposed to. Naruto's feet started to curl themselves around the grass as he ate a face full of dirt. Trying his best to move his vision from the grass and into Natsu he tilted his head, only for it to be pushed back down by his assaulter.
"If you're going to talk back at least do it in person."
Naruto scoffed, his teeth clacking in annoyance as he spat at a clump of dirt. And right before Natsu's eyes he watched the body of Naruto puff into a body of smoke.
"You really think your hot stuff don't you? That look of superiority in your eyes is almost nauseating."
Naruto's voice ran through the clearing forcing Natsu to turn around. Natsu looked across the field to see his brother with his arms across his chest, a blank expression on his face as they stared deeply at each other.
"I'm not the one playing with lies and clones. At least I have the balls to tell the truth."
Naruto laughed loudly at Natsu's words. His hand came up to wipe away an invisible tear away from his eye. "Aren't we shinobi taught to trick and deceive our enemies in any way possible? Who has time for such a high ego."
"It's nice to hear that you think of us as enemies. It'll make kicking your ass even more worthwhile."
"Have we ever been anything but enemies?"
"We were brothers."
"Barely." Naruto said plainly. "And the sooner you get that through that thick skull of yours the better off you'll be."
"Just cause we weren't brothers to you doesn't mean the same for me." Natsu replied just as plainly.
The declaration made Naruto falter slightly. He blinked in surprise and he didn't try and hide the emotion as it ran across his blue irises.
"It's hard to believe something like that coming from your mouth."
"Believe it or not, i'm being honest here." the red head moved his hand up to scratch the back of his head. It must be hereditary.
"I've always seen you as my little brother. I know I was mean to you but I didn't know any other way to show you how much I cared for you. I don't even know how many times I went to kaa-san and tou-san and ask them to include you in training."
"H-huh?"
Natsu gingerly nodded his head, looking away from Naruto and onto the slightly swaying grass under their feet. He played with the greenery under his foot, trying to find the next words he wanted to speak.
"They never listened to me though. I tried for years and they even threatened to take away my training if I continued to ask them. So I gave up...something I deeply regret."
Naruto internally flinched as he looked at his brother. He felt his hands tighten into firsts, and his blood begin to boil under his skin. Natsu refused to meet his gaze, instead he looked from the trees and the grass. Finding anything else to be more interesting. Naruto bite the inside of his cheek to stop from frowning, biting hard enough to draw a few beads of blood and give his mouth the familiar copper taste.
"So please otouto," Natsu said, taking a few hesitant steps towards Naruto. Closing the distance between them ever so slowly as he held his hand out, offering it to his brother in a sign of forgiveness. "I promise i'm not-"
Naruto quicker then he had ever moved before turned his body 90 degrees, his eyes now blazing his duel colored mangekyou sharingan as he spat out the blood that was in his mouth, Conjuring a small blade from the liquid and stopping a kunai that came just inches away from his face. Naruto this time scoffed, looking at his brother who had just attacked him. Natsu just grinned darkly, putting more pressure behind the blade as he spoke. His words oozed with mockery and venom.
"Lying!"
Natsu then flipped around his blade, pushing off the hilt and jumped into the air above Naruto and attempted to smash his foot down onto the blondes skull. Naruto dispelled his blood jutsu and rolled away from the kick. Dodging it easily and putting more distance between Natsu and him.
Natsu's grin only winded as he landed back onto his feet and took off towards Naruto again, engaging in a taijutsu battle. "You almost believed me didn't you?" he mocked, throwing another punch that was easily blocked by Naruto. "That I would do something like that, deep down you wanted that to be true didn't you?"
Naruto laughed, biting the inside of his cheek again as he leaned back as a kick almost wiped itself across his nose. "Oh please, I've been lying my whole life. It's easy to tell when someone is spitting bullshit to me. Especially when that someone is you."
"Blood Style: Spitting Rocks!"
Jumping away, Naruto once again spit out the blood in his mouth towards Natsu. The blood turned dense as it traveled through the air at insane speed. Natsu was forced to dodge the incoming attack, ducking and weaving out of harm's way as more distance was put between them. Using his kunia he swiped itr across one of the blood rocks coming his way, the force behind the attack had much more than he anticipated and he slid across the grass, almost losing his footing as he was forced to swipe across another one.
The little distraction was all Naruto needed as he pushed forward, forming a single seal as he stretched his hand outwards towards a fallen tree.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
Natsu watched the tree shrivel up as Naruto sucked the moisture from the large oak. He didn't falter however, instead he stayed his ground as the large beast made of water roared in his direction. Just as the dragon was about to make contact it got split in two, a clean cut went through the dragon's mouth and sliced it's way all the way down to the tail before bursting into small plums around the redhead. Not even a single drop of water landed on Natsu. Natsu started to chuckle as he looked over at the two different colored eyes of Naruto. Dropping his kunai back into his pouch he wiped off a bit of dirt that landed on his shoulder with a bored expression.
Naruto jumped back as he eyed the change in Natsu's chakra, it seemed to grow to an absurd amount that it was almost palpable to the naked eye. Natsu's laughter started to die down as he raised his head high forcing Naruto to look up to meet his own newly designed eyes. His eyelids were now stained bright orange, drawing the attention to his own golden eyes with a dash for a pupil. Both brothers looked at each other's new eyes with a calculating gaze, gold meeting red in an intense battle of will. Both could now see the increase in chakra as it flowed through the clearing like water. Glossing over them with it's soft and powerful touch. Natsu smirked again, cracking his neck as he opened his eyes wide, his sharp canine's coming to life as he stood tall.
"Try not to disappoint me now."
Naruto met his smirk head on, straightening his back up as his mangekyou spun dangerously in his socket.
"With pleasure."