AN: Hello faithful readers. I'm back!
For the explanation…I had exams throughout the month of April. I used previous months to prepare for these exams.
You're bound to see some errors I just hope they aren't too bad.
I think I lost my mojo. I had to read previous chapters to jog my memory of where the story is going and at what pace. I have to say, my previous chapters were good, but the sketches of chapter nine aren't looking too good. Not dark and powerful enough. So if there's a problem with this chapter that's just too bad, pm me or better yet review and I'll try my best to edit it out unless it serves a part in the story's growth. For now….enjoy chapter nine!
Chapter Nine
The pursuit
Atop the Kage tower in the village of Konohagakure, stood a shady figure. A blond-haired man with red eyes dressed in an over-sized, high-collared black coat wrapped with three leather straps. Behind this man, kneeling were three other black coated figures, donned with white animal masks.
One stood up.
The man's ears perked. "Report".
The one standing began to speak "Its Uchiha Sasuke…he's escaped, there's no one but us and a few Genin. Your interim messed up"
The Anbu operative nodded in agreement. Then another decided to pitch in his two cents. "Uchiha Sasuke is unstable, she sent Genin after him…not to mention that Orochimaru is responsible for his escape. Sending Genin to their inevitable deaths isn't the way to go…though she may be stalling for time, it's still wrong"
The man heaved a sigh and nodded "Yes, yes she did…spreading our forces thin like that…what was she thinking? Sunagakure may be weakened, but they still have Shinobi capable of injuring me. Uchiha is a threat but he still is an asset. He can be useful...if you come across him take it easy until I give the go ahead. Neko lead the way"
The Anbu operative nodded and promptly fell off the roof, sprinting towards their target with the others in tow. "You've grown well Godaime-sama, seven months earlier I wouldn't believe you'd be this capable of leading" the feminine voice of Neko echoed through her white porcelain mask. She was proud.
Naruto blushed behind his high collar and sputtered a thanks. Neko only shook her head "No need thanking me for stating the obvious. I think Frog and Panther think the same of you"
Naruto only smiled. They had reached the forestry now he remembered the forest of death looking like this…except, more intimidating. He remembered being scared out of his mind despite putting on a brave face in front of Orochimaru. He remembered being forced to let go of fear, being forced to grow even stronger, being forced to lead. He remembered growing strong.
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A month after meeting with Suna.
Naruto stood in front of Jiraiya, Scythe in hand and ready to go. His main focus had been Bukijutsu over the month, Jiraiya was still as stingy as always with jutsu. He had done remarkably well learning how to handle different weapons, though his best was still his scythe/kusarigama.
"Let's begin Naruto. Here's the scenario, Your Anbu squad is disabled and you must protect them, you are out of chakra, one of your arms is broken and you are too far away to call for help, you are in a box, do you give up or do you use your tools?"
Naruto had to sigh. Jiraiya always sets a scenario for him to play by, he shouldn't have expected less from an author, even a perverted one. This time though Jiraiya may have taken it too far.
"I only get one hand?! How do you expect me to win?" Naruto stared at him incredulously, he hand to reason with him here.
Jiraiya hummed. "I don't really know…but I know a Kage would be able to do it without problems…" he smirked. That was his trump card against Naruto. 'Though. I may have taken it too far, A normal Kage would have trouble against me with chakra and a healthy body…I guess I'll give him the right to use his chakra then' Jiraiya opened his mouth to tell Naruto the good news but..
"I accept…If that's what it takes to protect, I accept" Jiraiya sighed and stared at his student, his eyes were fierce and strong, ready, his jaw closed tightly as his teeth grinded against each other. He smiled. Maybe his trump card worked a bit too well.
"Okay then. You get to choose which arm is broken" Naruto nodded and raised his right hand. No way was he choosing his dominant hand.
"Okay…let's begin" an unnatural wind blew across the clearing as Jiraiya got ready to tap into his chakra. He knew what Naruto could do, he wasn't underestimating him again…
"Kakashi?" the man who had been in the sidelines all this while looked up and saw the two ready to burst if he didn't give the signal to begin. He sighed and tucked his book away he'll have no choice but to watch their fight now.
"Go!"
The two Shinobi shot against each other, kicking up dirt as they neared each other. Naruto tightened his grip on his scythe, waiting for the right moment when Jiraiya would close in.
'There!'
He swung, hard. Jiraiya immediately parried with a kunai, the two metals grinding against each other, he grunted and pulled the scythe backwards. Naruto let his grip loosen until his hand slid against a button, not hesitating he pushed it and a chain and weight burst out the scythes end, pushing it above and behind Jiraiya. The scythe about to land several feet behind Jiraiya was then sharply pulled backwards towards Jiraiya's open back with the chain. It sailed and divided the air with its jet black blade.
Jiraiya's eyes widened as he sensed impending danger, gathering his bearings he performed a daring back flip over the sailing blade that was meant to take his head. The scythe flew back into Naruto's left hand and he twirled it and pushed the button again, the chain and weight were then pulled back into the scythe. Using a kusarigama with one hand was suicidal.
Jiraiya smirked at his student "Nice start…Godaime"
Naruto frowned. 'He's up to something' A bead of sweat traced down Naruto's face, it really isn't easy facing a Sannin with one hand.
At that moment Jiraiya smirked ferociously. His fingers flew through hand seals and at the last seal he slapped his hands on the ground. All this while Naruto had already turn tail and began to run, but alas, Jiraiya was too fast, the jutsu was already taking effect
"Doton: Doryuu Katsu (Earth Release: Earth Style Split)!"
The earth began to rumble even as Naruto ran away from the Sannin, from where Jiraiya stood, the earth began to split and widen, the crack widened each second as it raced towards Naruto.
He had no other choice, he couldn't out run it and he couldn't use his chakra. He had to jump.
Leaping into the air with all he had, he inevitably fell into Jiraiya's trap.
"Doton: Doryuu Taiga (Earth Release: Earth Flow River)!" Jiraiya said with a smirk. He begun transforming the broken earth into a hot flowing river of mud. The boiling mud immediately filled up the crack of earth Jiraiya formed.
Naruto groaned at the marvelous inconvenience he found himself in. He sighed…Jiraiya really hindered him this time, he would have been able to cool the mud with a well-placed wind jutsu if Jiraiya hadn't taken his chakra away. He could already feel gravity pulling him down to earth, and by earth he meant boiling mud.
"Tch! Jiraiya!" he could only groan and complain at this point, he had no idea what to do. He groaned and sighed as the only plan that came to mind was suicidal. He'll have to go with it.
Tightening his grip on his scythe he got ready. "I'm not going down alone, Jiraiya!" he swung the scythe towards Jiraiya's head, planning to take it off. He pushed the button on the scythe, letting the chain and weight burst out again, hence giving the arching blade enough length and force to slice Jiraiya open. At this moment he'd already begun to feel the heat of the mud on his skin, then...
"Doton: Doryuu Heki (Earth Release: Earth Style Wall)!" as commanded, a sturdy wall flew up from the ground blocking the scythe's slash, in the process giving the blade something to get stuck in.
Naruto didn't hesitate. He pulled on the chain and sailed toward Jiraiya.
As he drew closer, Naruto could hear the eerie familiar sound of…the rasengan. Naruto's eyes widened considerably, he stared at Jiraiya as he let his earth wall collapse. Jiraiya held his scythes handle and grinned maliciously, there was no escape now, the rasengan in his hand spun wildly as it grew bigger. It was then he realized…Jiraiya wasn't going easy on him because he thought he had a plan to get out of the precarious situation he found himself in.
Alarm bells rang in Naruto's head as he realized he had no counter plan, he had to cheat.
Swiftly going through one handed seals of the only jutsu he could do with one hand. He didn't bother naming the jutsu as there wasn't time.
"Endan (Fireball)!" Naruto began to spew a jet of white hot flames from his mouth. Jiraiya's rasengan spiraled through the fire but it dispersed before hitting Naruto due to his surprise. And that very surprise almost cost Jiraiya his life at the hands of Naruto.
"Doton: Doryuu Heki (Earth Release: Earth Style Wall)!"
"Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Release: Water Trumpet)!"
A wall of earth immediately rose up between Naruto and Jiraiya, it had four stone dog heads on it. Immediately after the wall was erected, a jet of water shot at Naruto's B-rank fire jutsu.
All this happened in seconds. Both Naruto and Jiraiya fell on their asses in exhaustion and surprise respectively. Naruto looked over to where the last two jutsu came from, just in time for to see Kakashi's clone dispel while he strutted his way towards them.
"You two almost killed each other…or rather, you almost killed one of the Sannin, Hokage-sama" Kakashi spoke in a slothful manner, almost as if he was reading a book aloud. In truth he was truly impressed with their battle.(AN: Really…I'm not sure the real Kakashi would be impressed with this battle, I'm not really good with fight scenes…I'm not satisfied with myself. FYI I don't do AN's in the middle of chapters soooo….this will be the last)
"I thought he could handle it…the pressure. Didn't know he'd resort to breaking my rules" Jiraiya said, placing his hand on his head as he did so.
"You had a rasengan in my face! What did you think I would resort to? Suicide?" Naruto was outraged, how the hell could he speak such to his face "You used B-ranks all throughout the fight, how could you not expect me to not have such a hard time against you?!"
Jiraiya and Kakashi both cringed at the volume. "Hey, at least you won… you got a hit on Jiraiya-sama so stop whining"
"Ah da dat! Hold it right there, he got a hit illegally so I'm the winner by default. You really have to play by the rules in our spars…Naruto"
Naruto could only sigh. He smiled inwardly though. He knew the chances of him being in a battle situation like that was pretty low. After all not many people had the capacity to seal a person chakra during battle.
He got to his feet and dusted himself off again. Now he had to spar Kakashi. He reached for his scythe, grasping the cold metal in his hand he prepared himself.
Taking a breath, he looked up to Kakashi, he opened his mouth to call out his name, only to be interrupted when an Anbu called out his title.
"Godaime-sama!" they all turned their attention to the Anbu that had just made an appearance. Being the one called out, Naruto took initiative and addressed him
"Any problem, panther? Why aren't you at you're post?" Naruto frowned slightly at the Anbu. His post was the farthest away from them.
Panther took some time to catch his breath before producing a scroll from his pouch and handing it over to Naruto. Naruto's eyes widened as identified the seal on the scroll. "A message from Sunagakure, Hokage-sama"
Naruto grabbed the scroll from panther, about to rip off the seal and read the letter before summoning a clone and handing the scroll over and backing away from it. The clone carefully opened the letter and made sure it wasn't booby trapped. After that Naruto dispelled the clone and began to take a look at the letter.
He looked over to Jiraiya and Kakashi's, their eyes expectant. He gave them the news with all seriousness. "We're going to Sunagakure"
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Flying through the woodworks near the Valley of end, Naruto, the Godaime, and his team of Anbu Operative kept a quick and stead pace in a diamond formation, with the most important person in the middle of it all of course.
Slowly but surely the crew found themselves nearing a battlefield. An amateur one at best.
Konoha-Ryū Taijutsu: Nikudan Sensha (Human Bullet Tank)!
Naruto smiled to himself as he remembered the voice, an old friend from an old time. He wondered if Choji still considered him a friend. He shared a look with Neko who in turn shared a look with the rest of the team. They went down.
They all landed beside Choji safely. Though, before Naruto could question Choji, his opponent had already begun talking
"Huh?! What's this now, too chicken to fight your own battles? Huuh?! Fatso!" The mohawked boy exuded arrogance. Naruto could only shake his head. Neko looked at him for further instructions, her body posture asking whether to feed the orange haired boy his tongue.
Naruto held back a chuckle at her intent, but still stopped her by looking over to Choji. The boy had a fierce look in his eyes that said "Don't interfere, I'll kill you and this bitch if you do" But despite the look, he still knew fatigue. The battle could easily be read.
Naruto looked down at Choji behind his fox mask and asked "Are you okay?" Choji only nodded, eyes still trailing his opponent. Naruto gave up, he wouldn't stop now, the orange haired boy called him fat and probably did even worse "I'll go help your friends, but one of us will stay back and keep watch over you, just so you won't do something crazy, like say, pop all three pills on the same day" His response this time was to tighten his fist, as if wanting to rebel against the decision made, but he let up eventually.
"Panda! You're sitting. Let's go!" And like that Naruto and his team minus one jumped into the woodworks, leaving Panda mask to run damage control
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Naruto and his entourage walked the dunes of the Desert country, wind whipping hot sand in their faces every now and then. His feet seemed to sink into the sand with every step he took, he struggled to keep up with the team really. His Anbu had nowhere to hide so they took up the guise of a simple Jounin.
They were on their way to meet the Sunagakure elders to discuss the terms he placed once more. Just he, Kakashi, Panda, and Panther. Jiraiya said having him there would automatically put the elders on edge, after all, three supposedly Kage level Shinobi in the same place would only mean an ambush.
Over the horizon Naruto could easily make out what seemed to be a camp site. An expensive one too, it had to be them. He silently thanked Kami for cutting the tedious journey short.
They made it to the camp site which happened to be a large portable wooden house. Naruto seriously wondered how it was made. The look outs had gone in to inform its residents of their visitors, not too long after the guard came to usher them in.
Naruto took in the new environment. It wasn't the expected house atmosphere he had expected, but more of a bunker. Not too long Panda had worded his thoughts to which they received a reply
"Oh yess it is surely a bunker." A man said, voicing his thoughts "But for whom or what you ask." The bodied voice came closer and revealed the speaker to be the Wind Daimyo. "I finally get to meet Konoha's Godaime Hokage! How delightful!" Naruto could only sweat drop at the man's accent
"Daimyo-sama. Please don't approach Shinobi without caution. Especially the Godaime Hokage" Naruto recognized the owner of the voice. He remembered scaring the man shitless a month before. He held back a chuckle and decided to play the man
"And you know me how?" the man's eyes widen, as if not believing that he was forgotten
Before the man could burst out in outrage, the daimyo interrupted "Hahah! I doubt the Hokage would want to cause an incident especially now that we haven't settled the little squabble that happened a month ago" despite the mirth the man held in his words, they were laced with an underlined message, like an ice cream with a ring in it.
Things are getting serious it seems. Naruto smiled along with the man. His smile although hidden behind his signature white scarf, reached his eyes "If I were to wipe out the wind country, it would be with due cause. Do not assume you have any say in this current situation, if you do not comply with the terms I laid out, I doubt your allies would be allies. After all…the Sandaime Hokage is gone and with him his mercy" Guess I'll get serious too.
The daimyo seemed to have lost his mirth as he began to sweat. "I am not to blame! Sunagakure went into war with you without my consent! My court will never allow me to give out a quarter of the wind to Konoha! Please reconsider, Hokage-sama!" at this point he had bowed to Naruto and had begun to shed tears. Apparently he thought he could scare me with that façade from before, pitiful.
"My advisors will not let me come back empty handed too you know. I have to either wipe you out or get a quarter of the wind…or do you have something else as significant?" seeing the man shake his bowed head. Naruto sighed "Then I hope you told your family goodbye" as much as it pained him, Naruto knew this had to be done. This is what a Kage was…fear, hope, shelter, love, war.
Naruto turned his back on them and began walking out. He hardened his heart and gave the order.
"Kill them"
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Sensing the dire situation the Genin may have found themselves in, Naruto and his team picked up the pace. Orochimaru's goons aren't mere goons it seemed. The one they faced now took on a spiders form. He still looked humanoid but with six arms. It was scary what a monster Orochimaru really was.
Panther stayed back to run damage control too. It seemed all this Genin had to have something to prove. He sighed and moved on to the next monster Orochimaru had created, this time with only Neko by his side. He came to a stop seeing Shikamaru battling a battle of the mind against some red haired girl. Compared to what he had seen this night, she was pretty normal looking. Suddenly out of somewhere another man appeared, he too seemed to be one of Orochimaru's men. Except the way the others reacted to him lead Naruto to believe that the man that had just appeared was a superior in some way.
The man scolded the girl he called Tayuya and picked up the barrel they all seem to be fighting over and left with it. The Shikamaru called out in desperation "Goddamnit! Sasuke!" Just then realization swooped over Naruto. Sasuke is in the barrel! Tch! He was about to order Neko to take care of the battle -Shikamaru wouldn't really mind-when he heard an unpleasantly familiar voice.
"Fūsajin no Jutsu!"
Immediately after the words were uttered a great wind enveloped the field. Naruto grunted and tried his best to shield his eyes from debris while not being pushed away by the wind.
Seconds later the wind ceased to be and fighting could be heard again. A pair of feet then landed softly beside him. It was just who he thought and dreaded it would be. Sabaku Temari.
"Temari…What are you-" She cut him off. As always she was a rude bitch to him "We came to Konoha on a diplomatic mission on behave of Suna, your interim then asked for our help to clean up her fuck up. We came as fast as we could, you should be thanking us not glaring at me" Her face was in that of disgust. As if she couldn't stand talking to him.
Naruto straightened up and calmed himself "I obviously have this under control. There is no need for you to intervene. And did you say WE? Gaara is here?" Naruto was suddenly beginning to regret putting Tsunade in that seat. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. He needed to finish this up fast.
He looked up at Temari, his blue eyes still narrowed. "Let's finish this. I'll need you and Kankuro to finish up here. I and Neko will resume pursuit" Not waiting for an obviously snide reply, he and Neko took off.
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Naruto braced himself for the undoubtedly painful screams he would hear as he uttered the two word order. His eyes shut tight and his fists clenched. Suddenly the interruption he prayed for came alas.
"Stop! Don't do it!"
Naruto could barely make out the four human shaped hazy figures running towards him. Kakashi went into the bunker and called out the two Anbu supposed to take care of two unfortunate men to witness the scene about to unfold.
Slowly but surely Naruto could properly make out Gaara's form in the haze of the heat. Along with him were the remaining two elders and his sister Temari.
"Gaara…Chiyo…Ebizu…Temari" Naruto narrowed his eyes at each one of them as he spoke their names. Chiyo stepped forward and opened her mouth to speak, but not before Naruto silenced her. He looked up to the scorching sun and sighed "How about we speak inside?" Not waiting for an answer he went on into the bunker, took a seat crossed his legs and sipped a little of the tea in the cup that laid on the table beside him. It was cold. The rest followed him in and took the seats only Temari, Kota, Ebizu, Panda, and Panther stood.
Chiyo cleared her throat and made to speak. Only, seeing Naruto raise an empty tea cup to his side, clearly beckoning for more, discouraged her. Steeling herself she cleared her throat and spoke "As I was about to say, we have an alternative, Hokage-sama" She kept silent waiting for his reply. She wasn't the only one.
Silence…
Naruto quietly sipped from his tea, the porcelain tenderly held by the handle between his fingers. He made no move to acknowledge what the old woman had said. Chiyo, Ebizu and Temari collectively looked towards each of Naruto's entourage. Their eyes pleading for them to do some intervention. Kakashi being the only one to understand their predicament fully and care, sighed.
Kakashi moved towards Naruto and bent to whisper into his ear. "Trying to keep your cool huh? You've frozen up, Naruto. Wake up, face them, hear their plea and then make your decision." Naruto was in cold sweat. Barely keeping it together.
He'd ordered the murder of his friends Daimyo. His nervousness to see said friend appear immediately after is justified. It made Kakashi happy that his Hokage wasn't letting power come over friendship. But, he still IS Hokage. These situations are not uncommon, he must adapt. With that Kakashi pulled back.
Naruto gave a curt nod toward Kakashi and steeled himself. He had to do this right.
"Tell me"
The words uttered broke the silence and Chiyo's head whipped up to face his. She readied herself and spoke
"Hokage-sama. Instead of the quarter of the wind country like you asked for, let us give you Sabaku Temari's hand in marriage, she is the first born and first daughter of the deceased Yondaime Kazekage. Her children with you would belong to Konoha and so would she. We also offer many wind jutsu scrolls and puppeteering materials. Surely this will-"
Sigh
Naruto let out a sigh. An exhausted sigh. He had regained his cool and steeled his nerves with the help of Kyuubi talking to him. He looked up at Chiyo who had ceased to speak and then to Temari who was looking gravely sad.
"You think…that one woman and a few scrolls would make up for a quarter of this land?"
Ebizu decided this was his moment to speak "No, it's just that we couldn't persuade the Wind Daimyo to forfeit that land to us, even though we explained our predicament he still didn't resign to our will." His eyes strayed to the man who looked ready to enter a bottle and stay there
Naruto sipped from his tea and narrowed his eyes at Ebizu. "I see…so, instead you offer me a wife. Why not give me Gaara instead?" At his words they all bristled up at him. It was obvious they were nowhere comfortable with that suggestion.
Temari sprung up, anger marking her face as she swung her arm out at Naruto "Absolutely not! That will never happen. Take me instead! Please!" Her eyes filled up with tears but she battled against them
Naruto sighed again. His job was hard "I don't think taking either one of you would be possible. You aren't my type anyway, Ju-" Before Naruto could finish his sentence Temari jumped at him pushing him and the chair he was sitting on to the ground. Wrapping her hands around his neck she squeezed hard and screamed non-intelligible things, even as Kakashi and Naruto's Anbu tried prying her off him she used chakra to pin herself to the ground
Kakashi turned towards the docile Wind country indigenes "Call her off now!" His Sharingan flaring to life but they all avoided eye contact. It would be good for them if the Hokage died even if it cost Temari's life. He looked back at Panda and screamed "Kill her now!"
Panda nodded and unsheathed his Katana then made a sharp thrust at her heart.
BOOM
Sand…everywhere. There was sand. Gaara's sand reached out and slammed every Konoha Shinobi with the exception of Naruto into the wall.
Naruto seeing this under Temari resigned to really fighting back. His eyes glowed red. He wrapped his hand around Temari's wrists and broke them…harshly. She let out a scream as she lost control over her hands.
Gaara laid his eyes on Naruto his face filled with rage as he sent his sand to destroy Naruto. Naruto seeing the sand flying towards him and Temari who sat on his body, he had no choice. He wrapped his left arm around Temari's waist and held her close then performed a shunshin to escape the sand.
"Gaara! Kill him now!" Temari screamed as she clung to Naruto, her legs wrapped around Naruto's waist and her arms around his neck.
Cursing out like a sailor Naruto realized he was cornered and pinned down.
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Soon Naruto and Neko made it to a clearing. The wind blew over the grass as he and Neko searched for hostiles. He soon found one.
Running across the clearing was a pale skinned man holding a barrel. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the barrel and took off at it with Neko following his lead. Closing in on the man, Naruto could tell he was aware of their presence, he frowned. He must be really strong to ignore us. And that barrel has Sasuke in it. He may just be the leader of this attack. I can't underestimate him. Naruto's eyes focused on his target, he placed his right hand on the wrist of his left and summoned a sai into his right hand, securing his grip on it, his left hand formed a rasengan and he jumped.
As he thought. The man reacted with grace and speed. Above the man Naruto slashed against the straps of the barrel and it fell to the ground. At that moment two things happened. Naruto's rasengan collided with something other than flesh and Neko who was to secure the barrel was kicked away swiftly
Naruto's eyes widened as he saw what his rasengan was grinding against. White bone. He poured more chakra in and the bone broke under the pressure of the rasengan. He fell forward and landed on his back. Seeing a chance the man lunged forward with a bone protruding his left forearm. Naruto swiftly raised his sai above his nose and blocked the strike he got a look at the man's face. It was calm…but not for long. Two rasengans smashed into his sides. His face contorted with pain and surprise as he looked behind him to find two Naruto's glaring at him.
Naruto the original took the chance he had created to rise up and grab the barrel and rendezvous with Neko. Kneeling next to her coughing form and places a firm hand around her shoulder to help her up "Are you okay, Neko?" she shook her head clear and lets out a few more coughs "I'm fine now. He just knocked the air out of me…He hits hard" Naruto nodded in response and looked over to the man who had already popped his clones and was also presently kneeling. It seems the sandwich ambush had done something. Taking a good look at the man now Naruto could see he was dressed up similarly to all of the other sound Shinobi. His skin was pale and he had two red dots on his for head. A Kaguya…that explains the bones. He had quite the muscular figure and that meant he was going to hit really hard.
"Hand over the coffin to me and get out of my way" The Kaguya was surprisingly the first one to speak. Naruto smirked at that. It seemed time was running out for their little operation.
Naruto looked back to Neko and back to the Kaguya "What's your name?" he said pointing at the muscular man. Said man looked down at Naruto with his chin up "Kimimaro and yours?"
Naruto's eyes shimmered crimson and a scowl formed on his face. He strengthened his grasped on his sai and whispered one word "Mercy…" With that the two Shinobi dashed forward.
With his sai in hand Naruto entered a heated battle of kenjutsu against whatever bone users were called. Naruto had a hard time keeping up with the malleable man. He moved as if he were… "Are you dancing?" Naruto huffed out while ducking under a bone and thrusting with his sai. "I see you've noticed" the man dodged and spun around in a similar way to the Kaiten Neji uses, pushing Naruto away.
"This is my form Shikotsumyaku. You cannot hope to lay a hand on me with that feeble blade of yours" his eyes landed on the sai Naruto grasped in his hand.
Naruto looked at said blade turning it over, inspecting it. It had been chipped in several places. Naruto sighed and threw the blade to the ground "Well there's no helping that. You have strong bones, do-" "Stronger than tempered steel" "-Yeah okay…does it hurt? Having them poke out of you like that?" Kimimaro frowned but didn't answer. "I'll take that as a maybe then"
Naruto bit on his right thumb and smeared it over the seal wrapped around his left wrist. In a poof of smoke his jet black scythe appeared. Grabbing it at the center he twirled it around and took a stance. Looking behind him he saw his only remaining Anbu companion still tense and ready to jump into battle when needed. He cracked a smile "Neko! Take Sasuke back to the village I'll fini-" "No!" She cut him off. He was getting cut off a lot today "What?" He questioned, puzzled as to why that wasn't the better idea.
She slid her katana out of its sheath and took a stance beside the barrel "I'm not leaving another Hokage's side! In this situation even your orders won't move me" Her resolve was unshakable Naruto realized. He shook his head and let out a sigh "Have it your way"
Again Naruto dashed off. Scythe in hand and eyes on his target he slashed down diagonally at Kimimaro-Kimimaro stepped backwards gaining a hairs breath distance from the arcing blade- the scythes blade burrowed into the dirt and with Naruto's feet pushing him forward against the ground with his right arm outstretched to the clone who had just materialized-Kimimaro's eyes widened and prepared himself for the follow up attack- the clone grabbed onto Naruto's arm and threw him over his head and into the air where Naruto slashed at Kimimaro's torso with the scythe, this time it hit, with considerable force the blade pushed its enemy sideways-Kimimaro held onto the weapon burrowed deep inside him and lashed out with long bones at his opponent in the air- Naruto, barely having enough time to move, narrowly dodged fatalities, instead he got stabbed in the right clavicle and fell to the ground, letting go of his scythe. Rolling with the fall, his clone intercepted a follow up attack, allowing him to roll forward and crouch beneath Kimimaro's protruding rib cage. Chakra materialized in the palm of his hand, spinning and growing rapidly to form…
"Ōdama Rasengan!"
At the moment of contact Kimimaro was grinded and blown away and his scythe fell to the ground. Naruto could see blood spilling out of his mouth as he flew away.
But.
Turning back immediately he saw Sasuke, out of his coffin and Neko on the ground. The two stared at each other. Eye to eye. Sasuke's eyes held great animosity for Naruto. Naruto's only held pity.
They dashed at each other's general direction. But Naruto was heading for Neko and Sasuke, for power.
Naruto crouched down beside Neko. She wasn't hurt, just unconscious she had hit her head hard. He turned her over to take a look at her head. It was bleeding. He placed his hand over it and began applying healing chakra. The wound slowly closed itself with the help of his chakra. He could hear her moan as she began to awaken. "Take it easy, I'm almost done" She nodded and murmured an apology.
Once done he set her down to rest the turned around to face the lizard looking thing before him "Still not dead eh?" His sarcastic remark got him no response "Well…I need to end this fast. The little scamp has already taken off. I need to go get him now. It would be helpful if you surrendered but…Seeing as you are still standing...I know that won't happen"
Picking up his scythe with his left hand and forming a half tiger seal with his right. The wind picked up and formed around the blade. Next he formed a half dragon seal and white fire leaked up towards the blade, merging with the wind.
"This is my strongest technique Bukijutsu wise so far. No name yet." The scythe was glowing a blinding white. The flame enshrouded the blade completely and the heat scald and slowly melted the earth.
Naruto raised his head up and locked eyes with Kimimaro. Killing intent leaking out of his crimson eyes.
"Fear me!
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AN: YAYAYAYA! Sorry for being a horrible person and making you all wait for almost a year. I truly am sorry.
I've made some changes and they will be apparent in the coming chapters which I will try as much as possible to update and post.
Here is the awaited chapter nine Merchant of blue death! I'm sorry for taking too long. I cannot abandon this story.
Genocideshinobi~