It had been two weeks since he had entered the mountain ranges of northern lightning country. To say the least, he was disappointed.
Running a hand through his unruly black hair while traversing an intimidatingly narrow path, terminating to his left in what could only be the deepest gorge he had ever seen, Naruto sighed. For a place that was being tormented by an oni, there were none of the usual indicators that such a being was present. And that made for a boring experience.
Naruto was not a person that tolerated boredom in any manner considered well.
Pausing he looked down to his left into the gorge and from there slowly scanned the rest of the mountain range that was visible to him. Usually when one of these creatures occupied an area it would warp and distort, the world bending to the tainted presence. This was just a normal mountain range though.
I'll tear em a fucking new one when I get back to that village. Wasting my god damn time.
Continuing his leisurely pace up the steep incline of the path he decided that maybe now, during mundane walk that he might put his time to better use by getting some studying done. Reaching behind him, underneath his waist length jacket and into the satchel there, he retrieved the seal that he obtained on his last little task.
Inscribed onto the scroll in dirt and viscous sludge lay the heart of the beast he had slain.
Every chakra anomaly that he had ever encountered had eft behind one of these scrumptious little trinkets of lost knowledge. If you were good enough at reading seals, it wasn't the most arduous task to convert the written seals into hands signs and how to mould one's chakra to make whatever was written there work without the need for the seal itself.
He looked down at the seal.
Squinted.
Growled in frustration.
Then punched the cliff face to his right exclaiming loudly.
"I can't fucking read this, its all just squiggly lines and numbers."
Once again pocketing the scroll he continued at his dawdling pace.
"I'll have to wait till i see Kakashi again. Kind of sick of always going to him just so I can learn what's on these things though" he grumbled softly to himself. He should really try and get better at the sealing arts soon.
"You know I could always read it for you, some would say I'm an expert on the spiritual seals that lay within all true existences." Sang a sweet voice along with a pitch shifting clacking into his left ear.
Glancing over, he was graced with the sight of a slender eloquent woman draped in what appeared to be banners. She was lazily floating over the edge of the gorge on a cloud of shifting ephemeral human skulls, constantly rising into the air from under her only to evaporate into nothing as they journeyed to far from their source.
Not exactly the most unusual sight a ninja could witness on a daily basis. Her head which appeared to also be just a porcelain white human skull, surrounded by a miasma of shifting hair, dancing and floating on an imaginary breeze, was.
"I'm sorry miss, but you have no eyes, how could you possibly read this" he drawled back.
Sweat had started to accumulate on his brow. How could he not have felt her, it's, presence. And where were the signs that it even occupied this space. There were still no distortions of any kind. This wasn't like that beast a week ago, frightening because of the potential for power that existed within it.
This was honestly terrifying, for the power was already there and so refined too. The power and skill to rend destruction on those around it, the ability and confidence to wield that power for the satisfaction of whatever whim it may have.
He had not encountered something of this thing's ilk. Staring into the inky black of the sockets that had maybe never truly held eyes, he was instilled with the knowledge that she could see more than just what was in front of her. She could see everything that made him who he was. his desires, fears, thoughts, and soul were all stripped bare before her to be scrutinized as she deemed fit.
Naruto for the first time since his first time in this occupation felt truly helpless and scared. So he did the only thing he thought intelligent to do in this moment.
Flooding his limbs with more chakra than was strictly wise, he leapt down the mountain the way he had came as fast as he could. The leap took him halfway down in matter of seconds.
He wasn't fast enough.
With a crunch drowned by the sound of the roaring wind whipping past him, his head perfectly nestled in her gangly and sinuous palm, was shoved violently into the cliff face and dragged the remaining distance that his jump would have taken him and further. After they came to a standstill she proceeded to, what he could assume with his head buried in the earth, kick him farther into the stone. The rock surrounding him groaned as he was deposited into its uncomfortable embrace. He mimicked it with a groan of his own.
"You enjoy hunting my kind do you, I thought most of you scum had succumbed to time" she cackled mirthlessly.
With creaking, stiff bones he turned slowly to look in the demon's direction. She was still floating, almost relaxedly, as if she had not just cursed him to being sore and almost bed ridden for the following week. Though under the façade he could see the pure hatred she held toward either him or those that preceded him.
Probably both.
"You would be right to assume that" he swallowed thickly. The taste of blood was thick in his mouth. Good. "As far as I know there are only a dozen left on the whole continent that still do this shit, even if it does seem like a particularly stupid thing to do considering my current circumstance." He couldn't help but laugh, this was the worst situation he had been in since he and Kakashi had made their escape from Konoha.
Clasping his hands together in a quick seal sequence. He spat the blood in his mouth toward the foul thing in front of him, the life liquid glowing faintly before igniting in a bright flash that left their shadows imprinted on the stones behind them and scorching the unobscured rock white. More seals followed, and with a quick whisper of the techniques name, 14 orbs of light bled from his skin to surround him.
"Look I'd love to stay here with you, but I have to go meet with Kakashi sensei later, and id rather do that than die hear." He chirped while sprinting further down the hill.
Recalling a few of the orbs back into himself, he felt the familiar snapping and popping of his limbs tracing thousands of different vectors simultaneously before reasserting themselves. Peripherally he could see the glow of his limbs, significantly brighter than the last time he had done this. He must have been more panicked than he previously asserted.
With a burst of speed so great that it splintered the ground where he previously stood into person sized chunks of rock, light stretching behind him in a stream of effervescent explosions, he continued to a lower altitude. Every step he took warped and twisted the landscape under him. Rocks pulverised by the pressure of his steps, the air in his immediate vicinity would ignite in tiny fires before extinguishing themselves from lack of any real substance. This was the fastest he had ever travelled and it was taking its toll.
His legs screamed for reprieve and it hadn't even been more than a couple seconds travel yet. His shoulders felt like they were going to tear themselves from the sockets and his heart was beating desperately and heavy, begged him for mercy by palpitating irregularly. He wasn't sure how long he could keep this up, but he had to last long enough to escape. And because running was his only real option here lest he had to do something he would truly regret.
With a breath of relief, he emerged through the gates of the small mountain village only to inhale sharply in a gasp as he registered exactly what was in front of him.
The whole village, with its active little community, pristine little homes and friendly denizens, was gone reduced to rubble and not a soul insight. How could this have happened in the time he was gone.
No, this didn't happen recently. Those buildings have moss growing over where wood rot has clearly set in.
On closer inspection he could see that there were absolutely no signs of recent activity on the top soil other than the markings left behind by his own shoes from his previous travel through the town.
"I see you now have an inkling of just how much trouble you're in, my fast little shinobi." The sickly-sweet lilt was still present when she spoke.
"I killed the population hear close to a decade ago." She said slowly, almost nostalgic. "it was a real shame though, they seemed like good people too."
"Your disappointed they were 'good' souls." He asked, tone incredulous. He reached over head and palmed two of the orbs, crushing them as he brought his fist back down toward his side.
"Of course! Rotten souls are the tastiest, they have the most experience." She sang. "They almost have what one would describe as a 'cooked' quality about them." She licked her lips and quivered.
With a rapid advance from her, and a flinch from him, she whispered conspiratorially into his left ear
"that's why shinobi are the tastiest." Her voice dripped like honey as she traced her clawed finger up his chest and across his throat. "and those shinobi that hunt us, for there crimes against the world herself, garner the tastiest souls of all. Its why I built this little illusion after all."
She grasped his jaw firmly, lifting him into the air.
"you weren't hunting me, boy." The last word was saturated in derision.
With a quick jerk, Naruto buried an incredibly bright fist directly into her stomach and with a grunt of effort, launched her at blinding speeds away from his person. A bright ring of light spreading perpendicular from the point of impact and an ephemeral glowing beam tracing from her back to his closed fist and extended arm, the only left as indication that something had occurred, as she was jettisoned at ridiculous speeds toward the edge of town. Her claws had raked across the flesh of his face, through his mask as she was forcibly separated from him, spilling precious red fluids across the soil, and down his body. If someone were to look attentively, they would notice a faint red glow emerging from below his broken mask.
She rocketed into the face of a nearby cliff, borrowing into its depths and upon impact destabilizing the face so much that it triggered a landslide that buried half the town and kicked up enough dust that the valley was filled to capacity.
In a fluid motion Naruto drew his hand up and behind him self and grasped another of the orbs. Channeling some of his stored light into it, it grew brighter and began to vibrate, exuding small pulses from its surface.
With effort chiseled on his features, he tossed the orb, his arm multiplying and flying through the air in a thousand differing directions at once. Suddenly with a sharp crack that descended onto their dusty arena, the many limbs converged onto one point at the apex of the throw, when his arm was fully extended and he was ready to send the orb flying.
Another ring burst forth from the point of separation, followed by many more, a laser tracing the point of disembarkment, trailing all the way to the cliff face, or what was left of it.
The beam penetrated the face.
The earth grumbled its displeasure.
The mountain vanished.
Well to say the mountain vanished would not be entirely correct. It just happened to separate into thousands of house sized pieces that journeyed in all directions from the epicenter of the impact. As this was the front of the cliff face, the mountain exploded in the opposite direction from where Naruto was standing, spreading its desiccated remains over its brethren in and almost apoplectic display.
"fuck yeah, that was AWESOME!" was Naruto jubilant cry. Almost forgetting that he had already ascertained that such an attack would not be enough to slay this monster that had decided to hunt him and his.
"YOU LITTLE SHIT, LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"
Peering through what remained of the dust after the explosion, he bore witness to a sight that had him both quivering in fear and shaking with joy and excitement.
Quivering because she was mad, truly unabashedly furious. Impressive for someone whose face was merely a skull.
The joy and excitement?
Well that was because he, in his opinion, had just rendered a serious amount of damage unto her.
Her skull was cracked in multiple places, left arm bent to a point that it would make a collection of acute angles jealous. Her right leg was missing entirely, and she was covered head to toe in what he could only assume were at least second-degree burns. Truly a minor, or potentially major, victory worth celebrating.
Only issue was, he was spent. He still had a number of orbs surrounding him but he hadn't the energy to absorb them to be utilized without breaking. He was effectively defeated. It was just a matter of time before she realized this too.
Gradually floating toward him she ranted and raved.
"Looking at you, it seems like a lot, but I'm spent so can we just get this over with." He said
Looking down at himself, he could see that from the outside, other than his clothing, he looked no worse for wear than he did at the beginning of his journey into the mountains. It made it so much worse then, that he just couldn't bring himself to continue on.
Why was he so pessimistic this whole time though, as far as he was concerned that was not his M.O. he was the rambunctious, confident and bombastic knuckle head that did everything with gumption and sweat on his brow.
So why was he giving up.
Fuck me I'm dumb.
Slapping his forehead briefly and proceeding to clasp his hands together in what was becoming his most overly used hand seal in these encounters.
"KAI!" came his frustrated call.
And with his cry came the instant relief from the cold dwelling at his stomach, the fog that had settled over his mind since entering the village dissipated in the morning sunlight that was his chakra flooding his system, purging the invading force that had settled within him.
He could see it now.
She was powerful, yes. But no more powerful than any of the others he had encountered so far. Weaker even than that anomaly that he tussled with back in that forest. And right now, she was probably weaker than a fresh out of the academy genin.
"You got some real nerve casting a genjutsu that subtle on me, I'm pretty damn bad at detecting them." He said an edge to his tone that hadn't been there earlier.
He got to his feet gradually, one agonizing movement at a time, from a distance his silhouette would have cast the image of a decrepit old man to all those that may have seen. Drawing the remaining orbs into himself, he did not let them reside inside himself for long, no need to experience the strain caused from containing them for more than a couple of seconds anyway.
Opening his mouth narrowly, as if to whistle, he projected a thin line of bright light from his mouth and dragging his head to the left in one swift motion, bisected his opponent at the waist. With a thud the bisected halves hit the ground dispassionately before fading into nothingness, no trace of the being that once was, except the destruction she had left in her wake.
Clapping the dust from his hands and brushing more from his clothing he let out a series of shallow breaths. He sat back down resting against one of the ancient, dilapidated houses. Glancing down to his left he saw a skull, peeking out from beneath the ground.
"You've got to tell me how you get your skin so smooth." He slurred. Resting his hand gently atop it and stroking affectionately. Inspecting the sky, he got to witness the sun sink behind one of the peaks, past the destroyed mountain.
"Hey mister skull, I think I might rest here tonight, what do you say."
Not too happy with this but couldn't be bothered editing.