Chapter 4,
A Black Dawn, IV
Land of Fire
A deafening 'bang!' rang out through the air as Jackdaw's cloak whipped out in front of Naruto, the fabric stretching taut with an explosive force of its own as it blocked the rain of kunai that would have skewered the icy-eyed ANBU.
Barely missing a beat, Naruto vaulted over the barrier of cloth, left hand clutching a spear of pure white electricity.
A thunderous 'crack!' followed, and in turn, a tower of rock fell. The Weepers that had been perched upon it were forced to relocate as their vantage point was reduced to rubble.
Shaking his tingling hand, the Black ANBU drew his fuma shuriken as he hopped back, holding his position over the downed guardian. Behind him, Jackdaw circled slowly. The defensive specialist was living up to his title, and his 'unique' barrier technique was coming in incredibly useful.
However, Naruto could see that the other ANBU was getting tired.
It was to be expected.
They had cut a monstrous pace across the countryside, only to delve into a full-scale battle completely outnumbered. Jackdaw was running on something close to fumes.
A wave of nausea struck Naruto as he engaged a Weeper in hand-to-hand, and a fist slipped through his defences moments before he stuck the Iwa-nin with a flash tag. Rubbing his jaw as the disoriented shinobi retreated, Naruto came to the sour realisation that he wasn't exactly at one-hundred percent himself.
"W-where's-"
The guardian was silenced by Naruto's raised hand, which fluidly shifted to snatch a kunai out of the air and toss it back from whence it came. "You have a collapsed lung. Stop talking."
A fit of coughing answered him, and Naruto's brows furrowed in irritation. Could have guessed she would do the opposite almost immediately…
He was offered no more time to ponder the stubborn woman as both he and his sole teammate were dragged back into what could only be described as a blender of blood, dust and violence.
The earth around them exploded, only to then come alive as the Weepers issued their dominance over it. Deep in the middle of it all, the raging, shirtless combatant was kicking up a frenzy. He had seemingly snapped out of whatever spell he had been under. The befuddled laughter that had overcome him earlier had stopped, and he now seemed to be seething in anger.
Something about a 'filthy bitch' and her 'genjutsu'.
Naruto could hazard a guess as to what had happened…
The implication of a triple agent was alarming.
The notion was impressive, as much as it was unbelievable. To slide under the noses of the Fire Court and the Wind Court…
He didn't have time to ponder it as a series of earthen spikes sought to impale him from below. He jumped upwards, charging up another spear of lightning and sending it flying to the ground in order to neutralise the earth technique.
Rubbing at the shallow graze across the back of his thigh as he touched down beside Jackdaw, Naruto snapped a glance over to their wounded charge. She was becoming an anchor of sorts on them both.
She needed to be moved away from the commotion, or…
His hands fingered at his kunai pouch.
Or… put out of her misery. She would be ripped apart by wayward ninjutsu if they abandoned her here. A quick death would be a mercy.
Conflicted, he drew breath to speak. "Jackdaw."
The command had the bird-masked ANBU grunting in attention.
Naruto bit down on his lip as a kunai slipped into his fingers… Fuck's sake.
There was no point in asking himself what Jaguar would do, as the answer to that was quite obvious.
"Assigning new directives, how copy?"
"Solid copy."
The kunai twirled slowly in his bloodstained hands. "Prepare to move out," he said grimly, flicking the projectile up and sending it flying towards a distracted rōnin. "-with the wounded in tow." Jackdaw's head snapped to him in blatant surprise. "The Princess is now confirmed within her range. She is our only lifeline if Weasel fails," Naruto explained, more to himself than his teammate. "Keep her alive, and keep her awake."
The word hung ominously in the air.
The mummified guardian was staring up at him with wide, pained eyes. Her chest rattled with each breath, as if there was no structure within her ribcage left… She looked on the verge of collapse.
Naruto's eyes bored into hers, even as he spoke to Jackdaw. "Do whatever it takes, but keep her sensory abilities active."
Jackdaw nodded, before the phrasing had him pausing. He turned back to his commanding officer, brows furrowing. "You're staying behind?"
"Affirmative."
Jackdaw didn't get a chance to reply, forced instead to set up another barrier as a wave of smoking hot mud and tar splashed towards them. Hissing from the strain, he shook his head. "Well either way, I won't make it to the trees without cover!"
Storing the fuma shuriken on his back once more, the hissing crackle of static energy began to spark through the air as Naruto's hands came together.
"Then you'll have it."
Jackdaw paused, his eyes drinking in the hand seals that the Black ANBU was blurring through. "Just a couple won't cut it," he warned.
The pressure around them intensified, the noises growing louder as white electricity began to cascade up the Black ANBU's suited arms.
Almost immediately, the attention turned towards them as the Weepers caught onto the large chakra spike that was growing at an astronomical rate.
Jackdaw blanched at the sight, "Damn, kid… what the hell are they feeding you?" Despite the words, he stepped in front of the Black ANBU protectively, cloak whipping wildly and a kunai in each of his hands.
Naruto didn't reply, gritting his teeth as bone white electricity began to spark across his form. Rogue tendrils went wild, scorching holes into his bodysuit and searing the flesh beneath as he struggled to contain it.
Absently, he could hear the sounds of combat around him as Jackdaw put in work. He trusted the man to do his job, focusing instead on the high-pitched whining of the white electricity.
His eyes shattered, and his fingers came to a halt.
Ghost was standing before him, watching dryly as he shook his head. "This is gonna sting in the morning…"
"Lightning Release: Mass Lightning Clone Technique"
The world turned white for but a moment.
The smell of burning ozone filled the air as the explosions and rumbles of earth and stone were drowned in static. The air was charged, with streaks of white zapping across points indicating the new existence of electrical fields.
Suddenly, around them, dozens upon dozens of Black ANBU appeared like wraiths in the night. Their forms were warped and unstable, crackling wildly with electricity.
Standing as still as stone and surrounded by a ring of scorched earth, a faintly smoking Naruto turned his stiff head to glare at a stunned Jackdaw.
"Go."
The command was punctuated as one of the lightning clones suddenly sprinted forwards of its own volition, ramming itself into one of the stone pillars and exploding.
Jackdaw was jerked into motion, just as the army of suicide clones charged. The man blurred forwards and snatched the wounded guardian away, ignoring her resulting scream of pain as her broken body was jostled harshly.
Behind them, the battlefield was churned once again into carnage as the flood of lightning clones covered their escape with their explosive deaths.
People were dying, some fried into smoking husks, others shocked into a paralysis before being swallowed by the chaos around them as they lay helpless. The Weeper units quickly pulled back after seeing two of their own scorched into oblivion, through the domes of earth they had erected to protect themselves.
Even as the last clone delivered its monstrous payload, Naruto stood still and watched.
Partly because he wanted to make sure nothing slipped by him…
…though mostly because he couldn't actually move.
His muscles were spasming, each wriggling individually in excruciating agony as the abundance of white electricity slowly ground out through his feet and into the dirt.
It was also why he couldn't rightly avoid the wayward chunk of flaming stone that sailed through the dust to explode mere feet behind him.
A strangled gasp escaped the Black ANBU as he was sent propelled forwards into the middle of the battlefield, stone shrapnel embedded into his back like the thickest of needles.
Skipping across the ground like a tossed pebble, Naruto slowly came to a rolling stop. His head thudded dully off something hollow, and dazed, the ANBU glanced up to the now disfigured caravan he was slumped against.
The red paint had been scratched into slivers, and the door was torn clean off its hinges.
There was nothing inside, save a pair of dead samurai and a nobleman with his throat slit from ear to ear.
The Princess and the traitor Kizuki was nowhere to be seen, and nor was Weasel…
The game was on.
'I'm counting on you.'
The words echoed unbidden into his mind. Was it ironic that he truly was counting on her now?
"I didn't know it was nappy time already."
Snapping back to reality, Naruto found Ghost's upside-down 'face' peering at him from above. Offering the spectre an annoyed glare, the Black ANBU struggled to his feet, suppressing the urge to groan as sections of his entire body began to cramp up.
"Heads up," Ghost made a show of peering into the distance. "The angry gigolo is coming this way."
Naruto tilted his head to look down the way he had been sent flying.
"OI! Leaf!"
Cursing inwardly, the Black ANBU took stock of his situation quickly even as he picked bits of shrapnel out of his lower back. He absently tuned out the shinobi shouting at him.
"OI!"
In hindsight, his situation was obvious.
He was in quite the conundrum.
"Don't ignore me you fucking kid!"
That blast had picked him up by the scruff of his neck and dropped him into the middle of the warzone. Weepers were pushing in from all sides, Mbeki had been driven closer to the centre, and the berserker of a shinobi was actively moving towards him, shouting like a madman.
Reaching up, Naruto drew the now scratched and dinged fuma shuriken from his back.
'Abandon us-
-we'll tie down as many as we can.'
That's right, he had made that claim hadn't he?
The shuriken began to spin his hands, whipping itself up into a frenzy of darkened metal.
If that was the case… then so be it.
He turned to face the shirtless shinobi, who had just entered his range. The man's face was twisted into a scowl as he spat distastefully into the dirt. "Are you stupid, or just deaf?"
Naruto blinked, taken aback by the annoyed query. His chance to reply was taken as a huge shadow suddenly fell over them both. Glancing up, the Black ANBU recoiled at the sight of the meteor shower looming eerily above them.
The other nin followed his gaze, his shoulder slumping as he finally saw it. "You've gotta be fuckin' kidding me."
Naruto met the other man's eyes for a split moment, before vanishing in a scatter of cinders just as the rain of boulders fell upon the earth.
He reappeared a ways a way, stumbling as the ground shook from the monstrous technique.
After a moment, his eyes found the four-man Weeper team behind the impressive combination jutsu sat up on one of the few intact spires. Each bore a red bandana across their bicep, the kanji for 'Terra' stamped in black ink.
He cocked his head at that. Were they some kind of special team? Naruto imprinted their forms into his memory. It doesn't matter. They need to be disposed of.
Naruto wasn't keen on dodging any more meteors. More importantly, he could not let them reinforce the genjutsu mistress.
The flutter of silken fabric had Naruto observing as Mbeki snagged one of the Terra shinobi in his clutches.
Well, that's one down… but that ape can't be allowed to go anywhere either.
His teeth worried over his lips, the canines coming perilously close to breaking the skin. No matter what he did, one side would be free to extract from the battlefield the moment he engaged the other.
He needed to hit them both at once. Maybe I shouldn't have sent Jackdaw away just yet, he thought dryly.
The tinkling chimes of bells filled Naruto's ears, and the Black ANBU looked up to see a rusted hunk of steel flying towards the spire of stone the earth jutsu had come from. The chain it was attached to was wrapped around the hands of a man taken completely by bloodlust.
Naruto's brow perked in surprise, eyeing the flail-wielder's battered form. He survived that?
The spire fell, and whilst two of the Terra Weepers vanished in puffs of smoke, one was caught in the rubble. The Iwa nin screamed as he fell, unable to escape as the creation of his own making crushed him into the dirt.
Two.
Almost immediately the rampaging shinobi turned on a dime as an arrow lodged itself shallowly into the muscle of his shoulder. Like a wild bull, his booted feet pounded across the hard-packed earth as he launched himself towards Mbeki's men in a one-track frenzy.
He had seemingly forgotten about Naruto entirely.
The Black ANBU's head cocked to the side inquisitively. Hmm… that'll do.
The man was a third party, a wild dog, hostile to all and lashing out at the nearest provocation.
He would be Naruto's salvation… willing, or otherwise.
The ground beneath the Black ANBU suddenly cracked as he launched himself towards the fray with a renewed vigour, the fuma spinning like the devil's buzzsaw in his hand.
Step one…
A boulder was sent hurtling towards him, half in an attempt to kill him and half to slow him down as a Weeper seemingly appeared out of the air before him. It did neither as Naruto jumped, using the huge projectile as a stepping-stone to vault into the air. His arm reared back-
Set the bait.
-and sent the monstrous weapon tearing towards the raging shinobi…
An onlooker would have called him mad.
Drawing and throwing all the shuriken he had had left at every combatant he could see, Naruto figured that they would probably be right. There was no deliberation, nor thought behind his aim. Weepers, mercenaries, Mbeki… he knocked at the doors of all.
Step two…
He barely landed from his aerial assault before the hollow 'whoosh!' of something heavy flying through the air forced him to duck.
Survive.
The head of the berserker's flail came sailing a scant inch above Naruto's head as he dodged, and it crashed directly into the Weeper that he had leapt over from earlier.
Bones crunched and flesh was mashed into gristle, the damage left behind far surpassing the realm of 'fatal' as the brutish weapon was yanked back towards its equally brutish owner. Naruto idly noticed the flash of red fabric on the man's arm as he fell.
That's three.
The sound of steel hitting the dirt had Naruto glancing over as the berserker tossed the bloodied fuma shuriken to the side. "Oh, you little shit." He wrapped the chain tighter around his arms. "And to think I was gonna cut you a deal."
The Black ANBU wasn't offered a chance to comprehend the words as a freezing chill spiked to his right…
Time seemed to almost slow to a crawl as Naruto turned and immediately threw his arms up as a blade came crashing against the guards. His fists crackled white, and the assaulting rōnin fell back as his shattered jaw dangled limply from its tendons.
Another pinprick of cold tickled at the back of his neck, and unbidden, Naruto took up the mercenary's blade as he spun on his heel.
His pupils shattered, and the world drained into a cadaverous black and white as foreign memories assaulted the Black ANBU's mind.
Hours upon hours of sweat, and frustration.
Years of struggling and raging at the world, wishing desperately that he could be someone else.
Naruto's hand moved, the blade in his grasp flowing as if it was an extension of his own arm. Incredibly, the steel flashed in the air in a picture perfect parry as the kunai that was coming for his heart was sent spinning to the side.
The distinct ringing of steel filled Naruto's ears as his eyes shot down to stare at the sword in his hands.
What… the hell?
The pallid spectre of ghost walked up from beside him, his gaze also locked on the blade. "I didn't know you could use a sword." The playful teasing in his tone was ominously absent.
"I can't," was all Naruto managed to say before his legs were suddenly taken out from beneath him as a river of mud came splattering down from behind one of the spires.
Ironically, it saved him from the second swing of the flail as it sailed over his head once again.
The blade was wrenched from his grasp by the sticky current, and Naruto was forced to abandon it as he body flickered out of the dangerous jutsu.
Reappearing a dozen paces away, Naruto's mind attempted to pull itself back together as he found himself under assault once more. He was offered no respite, no chance to clear his clouded head as he suddenly found himself ducking and dipping beneath a war club fashioned from foreign wood.
The sight of Mbeki's wrapped up visage elicited a low breath from Naruto.
"Give up, little warrior."
The face of black ceramic stared in reply.
The large man exhaled softly. "This is no place for children."
The Black ANBU's fists crackled a sparkling white-
-just in time to deflect a blow that came from his side like a crack of thunder…
The strength behind the sudden left hook was incredible, enough to send the smaller shinobi tumbling into the dirt that suddenly began to roil and rumble beneath him. Another strained body flicker saved the ANBU from a painful skewering, and left him emerging behind the Weeper currently in control of the jutsu.
His hands wrapped around the kneeling Iwa nin's head and jaws and twisted.
'Crunch!'
He felt the vertebrae dislocate, the nervous system severing and the arteries jamming shut as bone and cartilage pressed unnaturally into them.
The morbid wailing of a woman echoed through Naruto's mind as the Weeper fell forwards, the whistling holes in his mask screaming out its final, fabricated cry of anguish. Naruto snatched the red fabric from his arm as he fell.
"And that's all of them," he muttered to himself, stowing away the piece of cloth. The Terra squadron was dismantle-
"No!"
Naruto turned to regard another Iwa shinobi staring at him in shock, a fifth red band across his arm. His eyes narrowed predatorily.
"How dare y-"
Whatever the foreigner was about to say was cut off as a blur of skin and metal slammed into him from the side.
Two bodies scattered into the dirt, and unfortunately for one of them, a roar of manic rage sounded from the other. As the Iwa nin's freshly made corpse was tossed away like a limp doll, Naruto glanced to the side to see Mbeki with his club still raised from the blow that had sent the berserker flying.
A deep breath of steam filtered out of the blackened mask, and Naruto used the momentary standstill to glance across the battlefield.
The mercenary force was gone, their corpses scattered the area like macabre flowers.
The Weepers' numbers had suddenly dwindled after the rapid death of the Terra squad. Troops had broken off from the fight, much to Naruto's dismay.
Mbeki was still in the fight, although he looked uncertain. He too was surveying the scene, his hands wringing at the haft of his club. He's going to make a run for it, Naruto realised. In hindsight, it would have been foolish not to flee. Staying would net the traitor nothing, his only option now was to recapture the princess and flee to Wind Country.
And the berserker-
"I'm about sick of this." Naruto turned, watching as the shirtless fighter ripped one of the many bells from his waist and held it to his ear. His flaming gaze was locked on Mbeki. "I knew there was a reason I didn't like you, ya' big sack of shit."
Mbeki stiffened at the insult. "Can you not see that Iwa attacks me also? This was Kizuki's doi-"
"I. Don't. Care." The words were accompanied by spit as the man spoke through clenched teeth. His infuriated glare turned to Naruto, who was observing the exchange with keen ears. The enraged shinobi's lips shifted, mouthing the word: 'Run'
He flicked the bell, and his eyes suddenly rolled back in his head as he slumped to his knees.
"First Gate of Opening…"
Naruto's eyes widened behind his mask as a colossal chakra spike surged through the battlefield.
The Black ANBU watched as the seemingly entranced shinobi shivered, his skin rapidly reddening. Veins began to bulge all across the man's muscular body as his flaming red hair stood on end.
Froth tracked slow rivers down his chin as a monstrous, bloodthirsty grin spread across his features…
Two Weepers charged, seeking to halt the process-
The bell fell silent.
"OPEN!"
Crimson eyes watched from the shadows, locked onto the form below. The glimmering porcelain of a weasel mask shifted in between the trees, the painted lines almost scowling.
Below, a kunoichi hopped through the trees. Her flowing attire fluttered in her wake as she moved at a furious pace through the lands, heading north. Around her, a contingent of Weeper units held a steady perimeter, moving in tandem.
They made for Earth Country.
Weasel studiously ignored what the presence of the Weepers meant in regards to the status of her team.
It would be a tough fight, gruelling, even. However, she had no choice. She had been given orders, and…
'I'm counting on you.'
…and, someone had placed his faith in her. Or rather, whatever he had left to place. Weasel had read what files of his that were permissible to be read, and as ordered, had watched him carefully since the moment they had left Konoha's gates.
She hadn't thought there to be any human left behind the black mask, and yet to think that such a thing would come from his mouth…
Well, Weasel had never been one to disappoint.
Her Sharingan began to spin-
-before snapping to the side in surprise. She watched as a fluttering mass of black fabric came in from her periphery, hopping from tree to tree. Its movement was erratic, like a hummingbird flitting between flowers, or perhaps…
Her eyes widened as she caught sight of a savaged Jackdaw mask turning to look at her.
How and why is he here?
The ANBU looked battered. She could sense that he was on the verge of exhaustion, and yet, he moved with a purpose. A half-dead guardian was slung over his shoulders, whispering directions into his ear. The woman was kept awake solely by the virtue of pain as Jackdaw periodically dug a senbon into one of her wounds.
Her bandages were slack, her skin glowing ever so faintly.
Jackdaw too had been given orders, it seemed.
'Abandon us…'
Her red eyes narrowed.
What a foolish boy.
Her hands came together to flash through ANBU code, and in response, Jackdaw tossed the guardian aside and readied himself for one more fight.
The woman passed out the moment she hit the branch, her skin losing its divine glow as her abuse finally ended. Weasel didn't offer her a second glance. Her thoughts were instead filled with the image of ice-blue eyes.
You'd best stay alive until I return, Nix.
With that, she suddenly dropped directly behind the party below. Her fingers blurred as several kunai were hurled in her direction, the Weepers having reacted to her presence almost instantly.
'Crack!'
The whipping snap of black cloth saw the projectiles neutered, and the air grew dense with moisture as Weasel's chakra flared.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet"
Naruto's eyes widened minutely as the gaping maw of an artificial dragon emerged from the earth beneath his feet. His hands slapped together, just as he disappeared within its gullet.
"Lightning Release: Storm Giant's Thunderclap!"
The throat of the mud dragon bulged incredibly, before erupting like a popped boil. A wave of electricity and force slammed its way through the walls of its earthen flesh, allowing Naruto crawl his way out of the opening.
Mid-air, something barrelled into him from the side, sending him plummeting to the ground.
"SHOULD HAVE RUN!" The manic, crazed words spilled into each other as foamy drool dripped across Naruto's bodysuit.
A gasp left Naruto's throat as a fist dug itself into his stomach.
"RUN!"
-and again…
"RUNRUNRUN!"
-something cracked in his torso as the crazed Gates user hammered into him over and over, raining blows from above like comets. His looping screams never stopped, the same word flying from his bloodied mouth like clockwork.
Darkness began to cloud on the edge of Naruto's vision, and as his head was snapped to the side by a fist, he foggilyregistered the dragon from earlier about to pass over top of them. Its jaws were wide open.
Whether it was desperation or something else entirely that fuelled him, Naruto's hand snapped up, electricity sparking across the digits as he let loose a weak beesting.
The deranged shinobi froze, stunned just long enough for Naruto to kick his feet up and into his opponent's midsection.
"R-RUN-"
"Shut up."
With that, the Black ANBU pushed with everything he had, mule-kicking the man up and into the jaws of the earth dragon bullet technique.
'Crunch!'
Naruto's hands fell limply to his sides as stomach bile leaked from the sides of his mask. His chest heaved, rattling with aching pains from the horrendous blows it had taken. His ribs were definitely fractured, if not outright broken.
As first missions went… this had turned out to be a rather rough one.
His world shattered around him, and he blinked to see Ghost slapping ineffectually at him with a freezing hand.
"Get up."
Naruto coughed, pulling his mask aside and spitting out the sour taste in his mouth. "O-one moment."
Ghost was shaking his head, looking off to the side in growing alarm. "You don't have a moment, get up NOW!"
Naruto's swimming eyes refocused, just in time to see a shadow fall over his form. His hand sparked with lightning chakra, just as a giant club came for his skull.
'Boom!'
A wheeze tore from Naruto as the recoil from the second beesting technique crushed his battered body even further into the ground, spreading a spider web of cracks through the dirt he was laying on.
Mbeki too flinched as his scorched club was blast from his hands, the unsteady electrical bomb sending him stumbling backwards. The large foreigner wasn't offered a moment to recover as the earth dragon suddenly slammed into the ground next to him, its head in the process of being obliterated by the rampaging nin trapped in its stone jaws.
Naruto shook his head the sight.
What the hell is that guy made of?
The Black ANBU clawed his way up, staggering onto numb feet. He caught sight of movement in his periphery, and nodded tiredly as a chill spiked through his side.
"I know, I know…" Naruto groaned.
Turning, he sunk into the Black Paw Procedure once more, only abandon it immediately and flicker to the side in desperation. A mangled Weeper corpse, stuck with an explosive tag, flew through the space he had just occupied before detonating.
Naruto materialised in a scatter of ash and cinders, screaming through gritted teeth as he felt the cells in his body committing suicide.
Collapsing to his knees once more, he decided that he could no longer risk that particular technique.
The bread and butter mobility jutsu had been his saving grace during the entire fight. Coupled with guerrilla tactics and lightning clones, it was truly the only reason he had managed to survive for so long.
He may bear the black mask; but against guardians, Gates users, and Weepers…
A shinobi just a decade old was out of his league here. If only he had completed the last five years of his training with Jaguar… then maybe I wouldn't be having my guts punched out by a psychopath.
"You need to retreat."
Drawn from his thoughts, Naruto glanced up at Ghost.
"You need to get out of here," the spectre repeated. "If he opens a second Gate, you won't be able to survive, or run from him." There was no humour in his voice, no idle insult.
Ghost was deadly serious.
The notion threw Naruto for a moment. Ghost was barely ever serious…
Nevertheless, the Black ANBU shook his head as he dug into his empty weapon pouches. "Not yet," he muttered. Surely he had something left? Blood dripped from the inside of his mask, staining the ground with splotches of red. Surely there was something else he could do?
Ghost watched in disapproval, but said nothing further.
He was out of supplies.
Sucking in a shaky breath, Naruto straightened up, wincing as his body creaked in protes-
A massive column of flame suddenly rose from the North. A murder of crows fled from the location, soaring into the sky before returning and angling back down like black arrows.
Weasel, Naruto realised.
He wasn't the only one to notice, as he watched Mbeki turn towards the distant commotion. Naruto grimaced. Don't you dare…
Mbeki took one look at him, before suddenly vanishing in a plume of smoke.
For the love of- Naruto took off sprinting, ignoring his wounds as he blitzed his way through the battlefield. In the corner of his eye, he could see a red blur hurtling towards him.
Sighing in damnation, Naruto prepared to meet the psychotic shinobi, when a sudden barrier of flame came in between them both. Kunai and shuriken rained in from the forest, and Naruto whipped his head to the side in shock to find a Konoha squad entering the fray.
A patrol team? He could scarcely believe his eyes.
"I was wondering how long it would take a team to show up!" Ghost exclaimed, pumping a fist.
Naruto nodded in relief, before abruptly pausing as one of the four Konoha nin was immediately dismantled, a shower of sharpened rocks skewering him into pieces. The squad tried to pull back, but were trapped as the Weepers immediately began to take control of the earth once again now that the Gates user was distracted.
"Oh boy…"
Naruto agreed.
"They're not gonna make it, you've gotta turn back."
The Black ANBU only picked up his pace. His frosted eyes turned hard as he broke into the forest, leaving the battlefield proper. He ignored the screams of his allies behind him.
"Not an option," Naruto replied quietly. "Priority targets come first."
Ghost looked at him. "But they're dying…"
"They're serving their purpose."
Author's Notes: No, the story isn't dropped, I just ran out of steam. It happens, sometimes you find yourself on a roll, sometimes you slip and tumble down a knoll.
Yikes, that was fucking terrible…
Anyway, let's see if I can pull my socks up and get a move on with this story once more.
Questions/Review Responses:
OmegaRealism: where fuck are you are where the fuck are those updates you bitch
I'm fucking here, and here is the fucking update. You bitch.
Humn: I like how you throw in the details like the little manipulation Naruto uses on Weasel. It helped to immerse me that much more. Also the show not tell method of writing is helping with immersion too.
Lesson #3 is pretty heart rending, you are quite the mind-fucker at times.
Anyway thank you for another update
Appreciate the kind words, and I'm glad to hear I'm hitting you where it hurts ;)
Lessons with Rabbit #1
Naruto stood, bared to the skin. His pale skin and ashen hair shone beneath the ceiling light that swung overhead. The scarring across his juvenile body was plain to see, rough and pink against the snowy flesh.
He was offered no modesty, asides from his face which was hidden beneath a henge.
He said nothing. Simply stood, waiting as the ANBU across from him hummed a gentle tune as she slowly organised her tools on a table. Naruto recognised her, from her build, her straw blonde hair, and more importantly, the white rabbit mask on her face.
Rabbit 1-4, Stealth and Reconnaissance, age twenty, B-ranked chūnin of ANBU platoon 'Alpha' attached to squadron 'four'.
She was also a Yamanaka, evident by-
Name?
The question echoed through the surface of his thoughts. It was as far as she could pierce, for any deeper and… well, it wouldn't end well for anyone.
"Itsuki," Naruto replied.
She nodded, approaching with a brush. Age?
"I don't know-"
Smack!
The harsh slap had Naruto's head snapping to the side.
What did I say about answering too quickly? Delicate fingers pulled him by his chin, and the painted face of a rabbit stared into his disguised eyes. Age? she asked again, softly.
Naruto fumbled this time, his expression growing embarrassed as he looked away. "I… I don't know," he mumbled.
Her thumb rubbed at his stinging cheeks, easing away the pain. Where are your parents?
Naruto shook his head, ignoring the ticklish end of Rabbit's brush as she began to paint scuffs and marks into his body. Deepening the shade of his scars and darkening his oddly pale skin tone.
"-Do you have any food?"
A flash of thunder sparked overhead, and an overweight, mature man smiled at the soaked, wounded looking boy on his porch. There was something rancid in his stare… a foul glint in his eyes that roamed over the wounded Itsuki's body.
He licked his lips, nodding as he reached out a hand and waved off the Kumo shinobi who were poised to strike. "Of course, Itsuki." The impoverished child took his hand. "Come inside, I'll take care of you."
Itsuki stumbled in, still holding the large man's hand. The door slid shut behind them. "Give me a moment, would you?" The man suddenly said, seemingly to no one.
The atmosphere of the room shifted as the hidden guard detail vacated the premises.
Splatters of paint and makeup began to slaw onto the polished wooden floor as Itsuki pulled a senbon out of the skin on his palm. "S-sir?" he called, stepping forwards.
The man turned around, the lecherous grin on his face faltering as he took in the glacial eyes of hoarfrost that stared at him, devoid of emotion.
Jutsu/Techniques:
- Lightning Release: Mass Lightning Clone Technique - Ninjutsu, Supplementary, A-rank
A variation of the regular lightning clone technique, utilised by the Black ANBU operative 'Nix'. It is simply a gross overcasting, wild and unstable. Dangerous for both the user and everything else nearby.
- Earth Release: Meteor shower - Combination Ninjutsu, Offensive, A-rank
A monstrous combination technique native to prominent shinobi clans from Earth Country. Chunks of earth and stone are propelled upwards into the sky and held there before all casters simultaneously release. The immense weight behind the projectiles and the natural force of gravity makes for catastrophic results.
- Eight Inner Gates Technique: First Gate of Opening - Kinjutsu, Supplementary, S-rank
A forbidden, dangerous and extremely rare technique, mastered by none and accessed by very few. The eight gates are a series of limiters and blocks on one's chakra pathways, the removal of which allows for wildly increased output in all physical categories.
- Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet - Ninjutsu, Offensive, B-rank
The user manipulates water into the shape of a dragon, which they then direct at a target. The water crashes upon the target, dealing significant physical damage. Ideally, users will use pre-existing bodies of water for this technique, but sufficiently skilled users can instead create the water themselves, spitting the dragon from their mouths. The more talented the user, the greater the amount of water that the dragon can be made from.
- Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet - Ninjutsu, Offensive, B-rank
The user manipulates earth and slate into the shape of a dragon, which they then direct towards a target. The weight and complexity between the different densities of material make this technique incredibly difficult to control effectively. The more talented the user, the denser and harder the materials the dragon may be made from.