Challenge by: pain17ification
Bestia Carmesí de Konoha: Crimson Beast of Konoha
Chapter 6
Once they were inside and seated in Kukaku's rather large living room it didn't take long before Yachiru and Naru were running around and playing together in their line of sight. "So I guess we are both heading towards the same person" Kenpachi said with a sigh as Tier nodded.
"If Kisame Hoshigaki truly is a part of the Akatsuki and your sensing of him in the direction of the Land of Stone was and is correct then yes we are" Tier said as she opened up the map Onoki gave to them. "Our mission is to ensure the safety of the four tailed jinchuriki Roshi and send the Akatsuki out of the Land of Stone. Above all else though while we are on this mission we have to keep Naru safe, hence why Mei sent you" she added as Kenpachi nodded and looked over towards the two kids who were dancing around in sync, making various members of the group raise a brow in confusion.
"Seems like it, I'm more surprised she agreed to send the little guy out here but seeing everyone here I guess it makes sense. Oh and Yachiru stop using your kekkai genkai to make him dance with you" Kenpachi said with a smirk before a giggling Yachiru stopped and saluted, an action Naru copied before he stepped back with a large smile.
"Whoa! That was so cool Yachiru-chan! How'd you make Naru dance like that?" Naru asked before he looked over towards everyone else. "Tier-chan! Yoru-chan! Kari and Tayu-neechan! Did you see Naru when Naru danced?" he asked as he hurried over to them, looking up at them with large eyes that made even Tier chuckle at and pet his head.
"Yes you were amazing but what did you mean by telling Yachiru to stop using her kekkai on Naru?" Tier asked as Kenpachi ruffled Yachiru's hair with a slight smirk.
"She has a kekkai genkai that lets her make people move either before her, with her, or after her. Outside of battle it isn't too dangerous as it's like a mix of Nara's shadow possession and chakra puppetry, makes sense given its name is Kage no Ningyo Geki*" he said as Yachiru giggled under Kenpachi's hand.
"Ken-chan can me and Naru go play around some more?" Yachiru asked as Kenpachi looked out to see the sun starting to set before he shook his head.
"You two need to settle down as its getting late and dinner should be soon" Yoruichi said as Kukaku nodded and held her fingers up to her lips before letting out a loud whistle, causing two muscular men to almost instantly arrive in the room.
"Koganehiko, Shiroganehiko, ready a feast for everybody," she said before she picked up Naru with her sole arm, making the boy giggle as she nuzzled her cheek against his "and put this little one's meal next to mine for sure" she added as the two men nodded and quickly left.
"Wait don't just smother our little brother, we're his sisters so he needs to stay near us" Tayuya argued as Kukaku shrugged her shoulders.
"Fine, he'll sit on my lap to free up space for you all to be closer. You're okay with that aren't you little guy?" she asked as Naru looked from Kukaku to Tayuya and then back in confusion and a bit worried what to pick.
"It'll be okay Tayuya, it is Kukaku's house and he'll be fine on her lap as we will all be around" Tier said as she understood Tayuya's worry about Naru being not by one of their sides but they were all allies here so she felt Naru would be fine.
Dinner was made and set up surprisingly fast as before they really noticed the food was all laid out on the tatami mats with trays for them all around like you'd fine in a hot springs resort. Even Kenpachi had sat down and joined them with his daughter happily eating alongside him.
"So what is the plan for our start tomorrow?" Kenpachi asked as he very lightly bopped Yachiru's hand as she tried to steal a piece of food off his tray.
"We are going to leave tomorrow morning after breakfast and you and Karin will help track down Kisame as where he is Roshi might be nearby" Yoruichi said, Tier nodding along as Yoruichi had the same start in mind as her. "Plus getting him and whoever he is with out of the way will make several jinchuriki safer" she added as Kenpachi nodded before looking over to Naru as he sat on Kukaku's lap, his child-like innocence making him unaffected by the woman's breasts against his back.
"So is the kid coming along as well or are we leaving him behind?" Kenpachi asked as while he brought Yachiru along into somewhat dangerous situations he knew she could handle herself somewhat with her kekkai genkai.
"Kukaku will be our guide through the Land of Stone so we can't have anyone stay behind here in case others know of our presence here" Tier said as the others nodded.
"So for now eat up as we leave tomorrow morning, which means we can unwind a bit" Kukaku said as she looked towards Yoruichi before she snapped her fingers and one of the two men from earlier entered the room again, carrying a large pitcher of sake and a stack of saucers.
"Really Kukaku? You want to drink?" Yoruichi asked with a chuckle as she knew her friend wanted to unwind a bit and while it wasn't the best time it was also her way of making them not worry.
"Come on relaxing before a mission is always best as if you are too tense things can get bad on the day of the mission" Kukaku said with a smirk as she looked towards Yoruichi, holding out an empty saucer towards her before the Kumo jonin could only groan and accept it.
"Fine but I'm only lightly drinking since we need to be up tomorrow morning to start" Yoruichi said while Kukaku smirked victoriously and poured some sake into their saucers.
No one was really sure what happened after, as once Kenpachi left to put Yachiru down for bed and Suigetsu had left to avoid any possible 'angry drunks' that he guessed Tayuya was, but once the drinks had gotten around to everyone the end result was quite odd.
Karin had ended up the first passing out, having gotten drunk on the fumes alone while Tayuya and Sui-Feng both got into a bit of a fight that ended with them falling asleep on one another. The others, Tier included, stayed up a bit late until they all passed out drunk with Naru having fallen asleep early a bit after the drinking started on Kukaku's lap. By the end of the night the little hooded kid ended up stuck in the middle of Tier and Yoruichi as both older women held Naru close to them, a position Suigetsu would jealous that a little kid was in.
Though thankfully, with some motivation from a little Naru that didn't understand the concept of a hangover, they were up and beginning their mission to find Roshi.
Their searches in the beginning came up with nothing as neither Karin nor Kenpachi felt any large chakra signatures nearby. Though as the sun slowly started to set and they were further into the Land of Stone they both started to pick up on something large in the distance, prompting them to hurry along.
Naru though was all smiles as he hung onto Kenpachi's back, the larger swordsmen being the only non-hungover person in the beginning of their journey available besides Suigetsu to carry Naru. Unlike Suigetsu though Kenpachi had experience carrying kids on his back with Yachiru constantly hanging off him.
"Ken-chan! Who are we going to see again?" Naru asked as Kenpachi chuckled, looking over at Yachiru who whistled innocently at the nickname, before looking over at Naru.
"You all are looking for a man named Roshi while I am looking for a fight with another man who is also looking for Roshi" Kenpachi said, being use to explaining things to kids with his daughter always by his side.
"When we find the man Kenpachi wants to fight, who is also going after Roshi, you will stay back with your sisters, Sui-Feng, and I" Kukaku said as she ruffled Naru's hair, making the kid smile. She had the first to recover from her hangover due to her experience drinking and the medicine Karin had given all of them to make sure they would be fine by the time they reached the direction where both Karin and Kenpachi had felt the large chakra sources coming from. And thankfully by the looks of the others everyone was fully recovered.
"Is the person scary Ken-chan?" Naru asked as Kenpachi laughed and shook his head.
"Nothing that I can't handle but things might get bad if you all get in the crossfire. Which is why you and Yachiru will be staying back where it's safe" Kenpachi said as he knew he was rather destructive and uncaring for his surroundings when in the middle of heated combat.
"Where do we go next by the way?" Kenpachi asked, looking towards Karin, the better sensor, and Kukaku, the one who knew the landscape best as he had no idea where to go next.
Karin frowned as she stopped in place and closed her eyes. Her sensory technique, being able to heal by others biting into her, and her chakra chains all made up the main reasons why Orochimaru had taken interest in her to bring her. Her sensory technique, according to the snake Sannin, was the most detailed and allowed her to see up to ten kilometers away or even further if she focused her chakra even more. It also allowed her to detect lies and if others were under genjutsus.
As she scoured the distance, honing in on any abnormally large chakra signatures considering she was searching for a jinchuriki and Bijuu as well as Kisame, it didn't take her too long. "I found them, they are only about seven kilometers away at the top of a mountain's flat ledge in the direction we are heading currently" she said as she could easily make out the jinchuriki and Bijuu that was fighting two sizeable chakra signatures, one undoubtedly being Kisame with the sword shaped chakra of the living sword in one of their hands. "That and the jinchuriki and Kisame are fighting so we need to hurry" Karin said, making Kenpachi frown and narrow his eyes as he cracked his neck.
"Well guide? Hurry and show us the way" he said with a smirk, his bloodlust growing with the promise of a fight in the distance.
-Kisame and Itachi's Location-
Kisame smirked as he watched the four tailed jinchuriki fall to the ground, beaten and unconscious. Truthfully he had hoped things would have been a bit more exciting but with how Kakuzu and Hidan had failed his leader wanted things done fast, hence why they sent him and Itachi to get the Yonbi.
"Come on Itachi, this was a disappointing compared to how I thought thing would go" Kisame grumbled out, lifting up the Yonbi jinchuriki onto the top of Samehada before his partner walked out from the shadows of the nearby tree line.
"Nice to see he's still alive at least" Itachi said, looking up at the body hoisted on top of the bandaged sword before tensing up just as a line of earth started to glow between the both of them, causing both him and Kisame to jump back just before the ground exploded.
"Guess it was too much hoping things would end that quickly" Kukaku said with a sigh, picking up her hand off the ground as Yachiru and Naru hid behind her with Sui-Feng, Tayuya, and Suigetsu standing by her sides with their weapons drawn.
"Hmm, this isn't looking good. Seems the locals have arrived" Kisame joked with a chuckle before he quickly tossed Roshi over to Itachi and held up Samehada to block a sudden strike from a sword that caused the ground under them to crack from the force of the strike.
"Not just locals" Kenpachi growled out before launching a strong kick into Kisame's jaw, sending him flying backwards before the Akatsuki swordsmen slowed himself down by stabbing Samehada into the ground.
"Great, who the hell are you" Kisame growled out as he stood back up, glaring towards the man that had attacked him while Itachi kept an eye on the others and ready to attack should the others try and take Roshi back.
"Oh, you don't recognize me? Makes sense given I became what I am after you defected. The name is Kenpachi Zaraki and I'm here for Samehada" Kenpachi said as he flared his chakra, causing more cracks in the ground around him before he dashed off towards Kisame.
Kisame, for the first real time in his life was feeling fear. He might have gone missing-nin with Kiri but even he knew the power behind the title of a Kenpachi, especially since he had seen the last one massacre a group of 200 plus ninja on their own during an assault on Kiri like it was nothing.
Itachi chose not to interfere with his partner's fight as he kept his eyes trained on the single armed woman and her group. "So are you going to be the one to fight me for the jinchuriki?" Itachi asked, his Sharingan slowly spinning as they came to life in his eyes.
"No actually, that would be them" Kukaku said with a smirk before the forest behind her glowed a bright yellow.
"Storm Style: Ola Azul" Tier yelled as a blade of Storm release chakra fired out of the forest, going faster than Itachi could dodge fully from, causing it to send him flying upwards, his coat slightly burnt before a gust of wind out of the forest and him to be sent flying backwards at a breakneck speed as two feet collided with chest.
"Try and follow me with your Sharingan if you can Uchiha, you wouldn't be the first to try and fail" Yoruichi said with narrowed eyes as she landed a few yards away from the crater Itachi had made when he crashed down before Tier appeared beside her.
This had been the first time any of them had gotten to see Tier's sword drawn, revealing just how unique it was. The sword itself wasn't long but unusually wide, which was already known given her sheathe, but it was hollow in the middle, consisting of nothing more than the edges of what would be a normal sword.
"Yoruichi Shion and Tier Harribel, if you two are here then that means…" Itachi said, trailing off as he looked towards the children hiding behind the one armed woman and frowning at the red haired boy looking their way. It wasn't that far of a leap for him to figure that boy was the same boy that interrupted Kakuzu and Hidan's capture of the Nibi from the description Kakuzu had been able to give of his kid and adult forms.
"You even move an inch towards them I will use my full speed to shatter your spine" Yoruichi said with a furious glare as she unclasped the belts around her arm warmers. As they fell to the ground with a loud thud she kept her eyes on him, making sure to avoid his eyes as she already feeling lighter due to how they were heavy enough to break the ground around so much from such a short height due to their weight.
"Both of us won't let you get to him, either give us Roshi or the two of us will be your opponents" Tier said, her sword Tiburon, glowed from the storm release chakra she was now charging and storing in the hollow portion of her blade.
-Kisame and Kenpachi-
Kisame was thankful for Samehada's size and width as it allowed him to block most of his opponent's strikes only to notice the nicks his shark skinned sword was being dealt, causing him to jump back and send chakra into his sword to heal the wounds.
"I don't quite recognize that trashed sword of yours, you'd think a Kenpachi would have a more respectable sword like the last" Kisame taunted, hoping for some time to find some way to survive this fight or escape with at least his life.
"It's called Nozarashi and I guess it makes sense you don't know about it as no one has been able to actually use it with the amount of chakra it needs to use" Kenpachi said he held his seemingly 'trashed sword' up for Kisame to see. "The more chakra I feed it the sharper and stronger it gets and it isn't fed like yours as it's more of a constant drain" he said before Kisame chuckled.
"Even if you have reserves the same size of mine like you do it doesn't seem to make that long of a fight if I can just outlast you" Kisame mocked as he saw his way out to survive this fight. If he could make the man use up more chakra then he had then he could possibly survive, only downside was that it was against a Kenpachi, a swordsmen whose title meant he had no equal.
"Well let's see if I can make you eat those words" Kenpachi shot back before charged towards Kisame, flaring his chakra even more so and causing his sword to glow blue a bit from how much he was feeding it.
He was quick to launch a flurry of strikes at the Akatsuki swordsmen, causing the man to either dodge as best as he could or block with Samehada. Both options though resulted in either the blue skinned man or his sword to suffer cuts due to a lack of speed and lack of durability in the bandaged sword.
"Come on! Where is the fight! I thought you were going to wear me out! You aren't even fighting back!" Kenpachi yelled as more and more cuts appeared on both Kisame and his sword as the swordsmen before he jumped back to create some distance.
"Water Style: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!" Kisame yelled as he clapped his hands together and spewed out a massive torrent of water that rose him up into the sky as the water roared underneath him.
Kisame right now didn't care for Itachi or even the jinchuriki's safety as his survival became top priority against this man that seemingly could not slow down, even after the amount of chakra Samehada had been leeching from Kenpachi with each hit.
"Finally! Now you are showing me something! Come on! Show me more!" Kenpachi yelled as he put his other hand onto his sword, which only increased the glow around it until he swung down.
The others had to brace themselves as the ground shook under them as Kisame's massive wave was torn through by a blade of chakra created by Kenpachi's dual handed swing of his sword. "Dammit Kenpachi! Don't go too crazy with children around!" Kukaku yelled as Kenpachi turned, not caring for Kisame as his body fell from the top of the wave seemingly injured, and frowned at her.
"I swung for the children since if I didn't you'd all be washed away!" Kenpachi yelled before he turned back towards Kisame who now was using Samehada as a crutch to stand with. "Oh you're still alive? I swore I meant to cut clean through you" Kenpachi said before Kisame laughed as the wound started to heal.
"You live up to your name Kenpachi but so do I. Do you know why they call me the Tailless Tailed Beast other than my amount of chakra?" Kisame asked as Samehada tore its bandages. "It's because I am a beast!" he yelled as Samehada quickly flung its mouth around and started to swallow up Kisame.
Kenpachi watched in fascination as the sword mutated into a man-shark hybrid form of Kisame become the final result. Though the fascination quickly ended as Kisame disappeared in a blur of speed and he felt a sharp pain in his side only to look down and see a deep gash on his hip.
The gashes didn't stop as more and more appeared as Kenpachi could feel the air whipping around him. Slashes and cuts even started to appear on his head, his eye patch easily being torn off as the eye it covered remained closed.
By then Kenpachi's patience had run dry as he quickly opened his formerly eyepatch covered eye and shot his left hand out, catching Kisame's just as it was inches of piercing his chest directly over his heart. "This is quickly getting boring and you removed my eyepatch which is really bothersome" Kenpachi said in a dry tone before a heavy suffocating and weighted aura crashed down on everyone.
It instantly reminded Karin and Tayuya of the aura Naru gave out when he first became what he was now and Yoruichi swore it was almost as heavy as how it was when Naru became Naruto.
Kisame was even having troubles not collapsing onto all fours under the weight, the only thing keeping only on one knee was the fact Kenpachi still was holding his wrist in an iron like grasp. "W-What was that eyepatch" Kisame choked out as he instantly knew it wasn't any normal eyepatch.
"It was a seal, I have too much chakra so to keep me from breaking Nozarashi by letting it feed it helped reduce my chakra down to your level when in is normally the size of, interesting enough, the Yonbi" Kenpachi said before he looked down at Kisame with a frown.
"If this is seriously all you've got then let's end this" Kenpachi added and, before Kisame could even try to pull away, sliced off the arm of Kisame's that had in his grasp, allowing Kisame to fall back onto the ground.
Itachi, as he watched Kisame try and crawl backwards away from Kenpachi who slowly lurked towards him, decided it was enough and was about to make his way towards him to help. Though the second he tensed his muscles to dash off he quickly had to change direction and jump back to dodge a blast from Tier's sword.
"Stop watching your partner as there is nothing you can do to save him. Now give us the jinchuriki or your fate will follow suit with your partner" Tier said as Itachi narrowed his eyes.
"I cannot allow you all to delay the Akatsuki's plans anymore. I won't allow you to save another jinchuriki and if I have to I will take him back as well" Itachi said, looking over at Naru who hid behind Kukaku's back before Itachi's head violently turned to the side, a powerful kick colliding with it as a furious Yoruichi appeared at an instant. The force was easily enough to send him flying back, skipping along the ground before he righted himself and slowed himself down and used a tree for support.
Though he had no time to rest near it as it suddenly started to glow, causing him to jump back barely in time to avoid it exploding, although the force of it still rattled him a bit. It quickly reminded him that Kukaku the Spontaneous Bomber was also one of his opponents. Her ability to turn anything she injected her chakra with into a bomb she could explode at the slightest twitch of her chakra or if you stepped on it like a landmine was incredibly dangerous.
"You leave me no choice then" Itachi said with a sigh as the design of his Sharingan changed and he erupted in an orangish-red flaming aura. "Susanoo" Itachi said as the others widened their eyes as a massive skeleton started to form around Itachi.
"Well this doesn't spell anything good for us" Yoruichi said with a frown as she quickly removed her leg warmers as Tier nodded.
"It cannot be invincible. If we deal enough damage it could break as it seems to only be a skeleton" Tier added before another explosion rang out under Itachi's feet as Kukaku was determined not to give him any time to attack.
"Yoruichi! Secure Roshi and bring him back to me! I'll keep Itachi busy and with Roshi safe I can pull out more stops" Kukaku yelled, catching her friend's attention before Yoruichi nodded and picked up the unconscious jinchuriki. Yoruichi though had to quickly use her speed to avoid a skeletal fist that tried to squash her before she set Roshi down behind Kukaku and the kids.
"Yoruichi-sama, we have the jinchuriki and Kenpachi is just about finished with Kisame. We need to leave now and ensure our safety" Sui-Feng said as she watched Tier fire more of her Ola Azul techniques at the skeleton only for Itachi to summon a tanto looking sword for his skeleton to wield.
"We leave either when Itachi retreats or is dead as we cannot have this man chasing us and endangering Naru. Please just stay here and keep them safe, it allows Tier and I to fight unleashed knowing he is safe" Yoruichi said as she softly pet Naru's head before her student nodded, allowing her to disappear in a burst of speed before appearing above Itachi now wearing a pair of large metal gloves and boots.
(Anti-Hierro Armor)
"Let's see how well you handle this! Raioken!" she yelled as she started launching a series of ultra-high speed punches with both of her arms, even going as far as to infuse lightning chakra into her fists which made each hit have a powerful explosion of lightning.
Itachi widened his eyes as he had no time to reinforce his Susanoo as the hits were all too fast and powerful, which were too much for his skeletal Susanoo. As it shattered around him, Yoruichi's fist flying down towards him and another blast from Tier's sword flying towards him, he felt his vision start to strain more from going so far as to summon a Susanoo but it was either push it further or possibly die or become gravely injured.
"Susanoo!" Itachi yelled as he forced his eyes to summon another Susanoo, this time pushing it to a Humanoid level to hopefully absorb the damage. As the attacks hit his still forming Susanoo it was barely enough to absorb the damage and allow him to rush off in the commotion of the explosion of the attacks.
Yoruichi quickly stopped her barrage of punches the second she saw the Uchiha run off, frowning that she didn't get to kill him and rid another Akatsuki member but glad he was gone and no longer a danger to Naru for the time being.
"I-Is the scary skeleton gone?" Naru asked as he peeked his head out from behind Kukaku, making Tayuya and Karin gently hug him and nod, easing his fears as they somewhat found him being scared adorable.
"Yes the scary skeleton is gone" Yoruichi said as she took off and resealed her armor before looking towards Kenpachi only to see him holding Samehada with its spikes going through his hand with a dead and decapitated Kisame at his feet. "Good to see you finished Kisame off as well" she added as he tossed the sword over at them.
"Seal that annoyance up and can you get me another scroll for this bastard's head" Kenpachi said as Yachiru happily ran over to her dad and pat the hand Samehada had poked its spikes through in an attempt to make it feel better which made the scary swordsman chuckle and pat her head with his non-bleeding hand.
"Do you think this will slow down the Akatsuki for a while or maybe make things worse?" Karin asked as she slapped Suigetsu's hand to stop him from trying to pick up the visibly angry sentient sword.
"We'll figure that out later, right now we need to get Roshi back and contact our Kage to tell them what happened" Tier said as she picked up Naru, who cuddled his head into the crook of her neck, still a bit afraid.
"Plus it is getting late and looks like it might storm so its best we hurry a bit and get back to Iwa before it starts" Kukaku said as Karin had sealed up Kisame's sword, body, and head all into one scroll and offered to heal Kenpachi only for him to tell her he was fine.
"I'll carry the jinchuriki but that means you got to walk Yachiru" Kenpachi said while his daughter pouted but nodded with a salute before he picked up the still unconscious jinchuriki and draped him over his shoulder.
"Well? Shall we get going?" Kenpachi asked as the others nodded, glad this fight wasn't nearly as difficult as they thought it was going to be and that everyone had come out alive.
-Chapter End-
I hope everyone had amazing holidays and a great New Years Eve and everything. I was originally going to post this January 1st but the exhaustion of Christmas, travelling and New Years had drained me to completely empty.
I really like how this chapter went in terms of interactions with characters (aka the drinking scene which I might make into a future Omake possibly) and the fights. Mainly Kenpachi vs Kisame and Yoruichi, Tier, and Kukaku vs Itachi as I felt all the fights were realistic in terms of victors as Kenpachi is an absolute beast and even Itachi wouldn't be able to handle Yoruichi's speed in conjuncture with Tier's sword's powers and Kukaku's release.
Kukaku's explosion release is something I loved creating as it is basically like Kimblee's alchemy from FMA: Brotherhood where anything she sends Explosion Release chakra into through the ground becomes a bomb that she controls when it detonates and can make into landmines. She can even make herself a bomb if she wanted to (and is how she lost her arm in this fic).
* = Kage no Ningyo Geki means Shadow Puppetry. Yachiru's kekkai genkai is a mix between Nara's shadow possession and Suna's puppetry strings. They are invisible and intangible strings that she can attach to those around her and make them move either before, in unison, or after her depending on if the strings come from her right side, chest/center, or left side (before, unison, and after respectively)
I was going to originally finish the chapter off with them returning to Kiri but I felt this would be better without having them go back to Kiri in a rush while hurriedly explaining why everyone is going back with them. Plus when they arrive in Kiri I have an adorable and interesting scene in mind.
Also I'm not sure if I'll need another time skip or something to allow them to age up a bit to Shippuden ages as well as hone some skills. Plus it might allow me to show off some of the other swordsmen in recaps.
Also as of this chapter I have removed Sui-Feng from the pairing option for Naru as I have something better in mind for her that I feel can be interesting. Plus Sui-Feng isn't too good with kids so I don't see her getting all that close with Naru to be affected when she sees his transformation.
Girls in the running as Naruto's protector/pairing:
Yoruichi Shihoin – Kumo jonin and pseudo-sister/teacher of Killer Bee
Kukaku Shiba – Iwa jonin bomb expert and inventor
Tier Harribel – Kiri jonin new member of the 7 swordsmen with a new set of 7 swords
Nanao Ise – Suna chunin and member of Suna's Intelligence Division
Nemu Kurotsuchi – Ex-Root member that escaped
I hope you all liked it
Until Next Time
Rate and Review!
Buh-Bye!