Naruto: Hi, you all! So glad that you dropped by! The second chappie of "Love, Demons and Bloodlines" in finally ready and I'd love to go on with the story right away, but that freak wants to answer your reviews first, so let's just get this over with quick. First of: some of the readers were annoyed that Hinata wasn't her usual self around me... why's that?
Shang: I actually wanted to changed that a bit, but since it bothers some I made some changes in this chapters. It's not exacly the Hinata you all know (and love), but I have a reason for this, which will be displayed later on... also, I promise that from chapter three she'll be more like her usual self.
Naruto: Moving on: why wasn't there too much interaction between the charas?
Shang: The previous chapter was, practically, only an introduction. But I can promise that every character will have his/hers five minutes and their relations will be shown as the story continue.
Naruto: Lastly: why is this fic moving at such a speed?
Shang: Well, as I decleared in my other fic: I dislike making filler-ups. It was it's minuses, but thanks to that you won't suffer meaningless chapters. With every event the story will move on. Some of you may not like it, but that's just how I write.
More romance in the next chapter, sorry. This part took longer then I expected.
Chapter #2: Improvements
They found a small glade in the middle of the forest with a big rock on the border of it. They did so mostly due to Naruto's pushing and Hinata, being her usual self, was too weak to refuse him (A/N: come on, he's Naruto and she's Hinata after all).
During the walk the blonde began telling her stories about his journeys and what he learned. Practically the glade was his idea. Being the show-off that he was, he couldn't help himself but to show some of his new jutsus.
Of course, as they walk side by side, Hinata was blushing slightly, but during the time he was away she gain some courage. It still wasn't enough to confess to him or anything, but she felt more confident while being around him now then she used to be.
"I see you stopped wearing that wide, brown coat…" announced the blonde, looking at her. "Good thing. Yellow suits you way better… and you don't seem so gloomy anymore either…"
"T-thank you…" she replied, blushing a bit more. "S-so, Naruto-kun…" she began. "What exactly did that man from the Hidden Grass wanted you to do? After all, I doubt he'd give you that scroll for nothing…"
"Of course" replied the blonde. "There was this missing-nin he wanted me to catch…"
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"You think he's ready?" asked Tsunade, looking out the window.
"Hard to say…" replied Jiraiya. "He became stronger… much stronger then he was, but…"
"I get the point…" interrupted the slug sennin. There was a short silence before she spoken again: "From what you told me, it seems that HE left his hideout, hasn't HE?" Jiraiya simply nodded. "Why would HE do that now, after ten years? You think HE is up to something?"
"I'm afraid so…" responded the toad sennin. "But whether HE is up to something or not, it can't be good for us. But it'd seem HE is not aware of Naruto…"
"That's the only good news about it… We need to make preparations… and find out what is HIS objective… is HE working alone?"
"Hard to say… but even if HE is, it won't help us much…"
"I know…" replied Tsunade, finally turning to her former teammate. "I'll take care of Naruto for now. I'm counting on you to get as much information as you can about HIM."
"I'll do what I can…" insured Jiraiya before disappearing.
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"And then I awesomely kicked his ass!" Naruto concluded his story.
Hinata couldn't help but smile, as she observed her crush trying to perform every move he described in his story. "You really became strong, haven't you, Naruto-kun?" she thought to herself, blushing slightly.
"Well, it seems you're having a good time, aren't you… Kyuubi?" came a voice from the bushes. Both Hinata and Naruto instantly turned around to see two man dressed in dark cloaks with red clouds on them.
The smaller one had long, black hair that was partly falling on his face. The face itself had two lines running under the red eyes. The face showed absolutely no emotions. On the forehead they spotted a Konoha headband, but the symbol of the Leaf was crossed by a single scratch mark that came across the whole hitae-ate.
The taller one had blue skin and the hair of the same color. His face gave an impression of a shark. He carried a huge sword, wrapped in bandages and his headband, also scratched, had the Hidden Mist symbol on it.
"You two…" said Naruto with anger in his voice. "I thought that after kicking that guy's ass in the Rain Country, you'd leave me alone for a longer while…"
"That weakling wasn't even a real, Akatsuki member" announced the taller one with a smile, that shown sharp teeth. "We just hired him to check your strength… and thanks to the fact he got killed, we didn't even had to pay him… thanks for the favor…"
"Naruto-kun, who are they?" asked Hinata looking at both figures.
"How rude of us…" the swordsman smiled again and took a step closer. "My name is Hoshigaki Kisame and this is my partner, Uchiha Itachi…"
"Uchiha?" Hyuuga heiress's eyes widen at hearing that.
"We came here for the blonde brat…" announced the one called Kisame. "Stay out of our way and you won't get hurt… try to stop us and you'll find death…" with those words he pointed the top of his sword at her.
"Leave her out of this!" ordered Naruto. "It's me that you want… come then!"
"Itachi, what do you think?" Kisame turned to his partner.
"You may have this…" replied the former leaf-nin. "But don't take too long… staying in this village longer then it's need is risky… we don't want to repeat the same mistake twice… this time go all out from the very beginning…"
"As you wish…" hearing that the shark-face smiled once more and turned to face the loud mouth. "Now, since we failed finishing this that time…" and with that he charged right at the blonde, with his blade aimed at his head.
Naruto avoided the attack by simply lowering his head and in a fracture of a second performed his primary technique: "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Suddenly four Naruto's were charging right at the former mist-nin, who seems totally unprepared for that.
But as soon as the first Naruto's kick reached the shark-face, his body exploded with water, thus sending the clones flying at the tree and making it disappear in the cloud of white smoke.
"A higher level of mizu bushin, eh?" Naruto thought to himself as he looked around the area. "He made a clone at the very beginning and send it to the glade, leaving the original safe… this isn't going to be as easy as I thought…" and with that he began performing a new set of hand seals. "If you're not gonna get out here, I'll make you" as he finished that statement, he slammed his hands to the ground, calling out: "Doton: Ishi Tomurai no Jutsu!" and hundreds of stone spikes shot from the ground, damaging the whole area. The only spot they avoided was the one Hinata was standing.
"What a technique…" the white-eyed girl just stood there amazed.
Itachi was standing on the top of one of the stone spikes, looking down on the two leaf-nins. It was then that Naruto heard a noise coming from behind and jumped back, merely avoiding Kisame's blade, which, cutting through some of the spikes, was aimed at his stomach.
"What the hell is his sword made of?" Naruto wondered as he was still in mid-air, performing a new set of hand seals: "Well, as long as he has it, he's dangerous… better finish this soon…"
Meanwhile Naruto's clones were already attacking the shark-face with a storm of kicks and punches, but the former mist-nin was able to block all of them. Finally, seeing an opening, he elbowed the clone on his right, thus causing it to disappear in the cloud of white smoke. With one clone gone, the other two weren't able to keep up with the swordsman and were easily destroyed by Kisame. Unluckily for the fishman, at the same moment Naruto finished his chain of hand seals.
The blonde took a deep breath and as he released the air, he called out: "Katon: Karyuudan no Jutsu!". Instantly a dragon formed from circling flames came right at the former mist-nin.
Having no way to dodge, Kisame performed a quick set of hand seals and he too took a deep breath. As he let the air out, water came out of his mouth and formed a barrier that stopped the fire dragon just before it reached the shark-face, lifting up a ton of steam.
As Naruto's feet were getting closer to the ground, Kisame launched himself towards him, preparing his sword. But before he was able to make a cut, he received a powerful blow in the stomach, which caused him to slid back a little. As he raised his head, he noticed a white-eyed girl standing in front of him in her battle stance.
"Hinata…" Naruto whispered as he stared at the Hyuuga heiress.
"Don't forget that Naruto-kun isn't your only opponent" reminded the white-eyed girl. "I'm still here…"
"You little…" began the shark-face, but his words were silenced by Itachi:
"She's a Hyuuga, Kisame… you should watch out. Her clan is known for their unique and powerful taijutsu style… even with a weak hit she can damage your internal organs…"
"Well, it's not like I'll allow her to get close to me anyway" replied the former mist-nin and threw several shurikens at the girl.
But to his surprise, Hinata was instantly surrounded with a sphere of chakra that stopped the shinobi stars in their tracks. Then she began spinning and shark-face eyes widen as he observed his shurikens being blown away.
"Don't take me lightly" advised the white-eyed girl. "I'm not as weak as you think…"
"I see… so you have some skills as well, eh?" Kisame smiled again. "But it's you brats that take me lightly…" and before she even noticed the former mist-nin became a puddle of water and the really shark-face was coming at her from behind with his sword ready to cut her head of.
But before the blade reached the girl, Naruto kicked it from its flat side, thus throwing it out of the shark-face hand, and then gave the large man a punch in the face, which send him flying back few meters.
"And how about if we check how good you are with that sword of yours?" asked Naruto as he stabbed the blade deep into the ground, performed a quick chain of hand seals and with the last symbol he called out: "Kage Bushin no Jutsu…" and instantly tens of him surrounded the former mist-nin. "Let's do this!" yelled the blonde as all the clones jumped right at the swordsman with kunai's in their hands and stabbed the Akatsuki member in various places.
But it was at the very same time that the sword was covered with white smoke and before it cleared a blue-skin hand grabbed the blonde's throat and lifted him up.
"Do you really expect me to fall for your lame tricks?" asked Kisame a bit irritated. "I'm not a rookie like you…"
Hinata turned in the direction the shark-face filled with Naruto's kunai's was standing just to see him turn into the water. "He created two mizu bushins when the steam that appeared after Naruto-kun's fire attack collided with his water barrier… he's skilled…"
"I know you're not a rookie…" announced the blonde. "But, you know… neither am I…" and with that he disappeared in the cloud of white smoke and a second later Kisame felt a kunai near his throat. "Check-mate…"
"So the kage bushin just now was a diversion, eh?" figured the former mist-nin. "He had to figure out I used the henge and left one clone behind on purpose so that the original could get me from behind… nice, Kyuubi brat, but that's still far too early for you to celebrate…" and with that though a smirk appeared on his face. "You're stronger then you were, I'll admit that… but making mistakes like the one you did just now… you're still just a rookie…"
"And just what do you mean by that?"
"Didn't it bothered you?" replied Kisame. "That fact that I don't have my Somehada?"
At hearing that Naruto's eyes widen as he jumped into the air instantly and only thanks to that avoiding a cut from behind that splitted another mizu bushin in half.
"A double diversion!" cursed Naruto, as his hands began making new seals. "This guy is way better then the ones I fought so far…" and with that he took a deep breath, but before he could perform the jutsu, he found Kisame reaching him and cutting his stomach, thus causing him to dispel the jutsu he was about to execute.
With blood escaping he landed hard on the ground and observed as the former mist-nin charged at him once more with his sword ready to attack, but he once more received a hit with an opened palm from the white-eyed girl.
"That little hag is beginning to work on my nerves…" Kisame thought to himself as he blocked another palm with the flat side of his blade. Before he knew it, he was force to dodge a storm of attacks.
As he backed away, the former mist-nin perform a quick set of hand seals and before Hinata could react in any way, she was trapped within a huge bubble of water.
"Suirou no Jutsu" announced Kisame. "Never fails… Now, what should I do with you? You caused me some trouble, little girl… And now I have to punish you…"
"Leave her alone!" yelled the blonde as he slowly began to get back on his feet. The wound Kisame left him just a while ago was already healing. "I won't let anyone suffer because of me…" and with that thought Naruto raised his head.
His eyes turned red and teeth became sharp as he held out his right hand in front of his body. In an instant chakra began to concentrate in the palm of his hand… only this time it was red.
"What the hell?" Kisame's eyes widen at the sight. "It's not the same technique he used against Haizaki! Could it be that…?" but he couldn't finish his thought as the blonde charged right at him, pushing the hand that was carrying the red orb out front.
With rage in his voice, Naruto called out: "Kitsune Rasengan!" and was closing in on the former mist-nin with an incredible speed.
Hinata's eyes widen, both with amazement, but also with fear. "Is… that Naruto-kun?"
Kisame, not able to move due to using of the water prison, raised his sword and then cut Naruto's stomach as soon as the blonde came into his range. But to his surprise that didn't stop the loud mouth. The red orb hit him right in the gut and send him flying back, spinning wildly and finally crashing hard to the ground.
Naruto was breathing heavily and after giving Itachi an evil look he collapsed, loosing consciousness in the process. The Sharingan user stared at him for a moment in amazement.
"He was actually able to release Kyuubi's chakra…" he thought to himself. "That ability makes him hard to get… best if we just take him now and leave immediately…"
Kisame slowly got back to his feet, propping himself with the sword. He breathed heavily, even more then Naruto just did, but except a visible wound on his stomach, which didn't seem to be fatal, he was okay.
"You were pretty luck" announced Itachi, not even turning to his partner. "If you wouldn't weaken that attack with your Somehada, it'd kill you. How convenient that Rasengan is all chakra…"
"Yeah, but still it was extremely painful" replied the shark-face as he slowly moved forwards the unconscious Naruto. "Well, we were ordered to bring him alive, but after what that brat did to me, I think it's only fair if I'd chop off his leg, right?"
"Do as you wish…" responded the former leaf-nin. "Just do it quickly… we should get out of here, otherwise we're risking running into ANBU…"
"Shouldn't take too long" replied Kisame as he raised his sword up and bring it down in order to cut of Naruto's left leg.
But before the blade connected with the body, the former mist-nin heard "Konoha Renpuu!" and felt a powerful kick in the face, which send him flying back a few meters. He stopped, using his sword as a break.
As he raised his sight, he saw a certain boy with black, helmet-like hair, huge eye-brows, wearing green. Kisame also noticed that the boy's hands were wrapped in bandages.
"This brat…" shark-face eyes narrowed. "He looks just like that freak... he even uses the same technique… I wonder…" but he could finish his thought as a shuriken flew right at him from his left.
Kisame prepared his sword in attempt to deflect the shinobi star, but before he even got a chance to do that, a voice came to his ears, yelling: "Shuriken Kage Bushin no Jutsu" and suddenly in the place of one shuriken appeared tens.
The former mist-nin instantly perform a quick set of hand seals and with the final symbol he called out: "Suiton: Arai Uzumaki!" In a fracture of a second water began spinning around him and as soon as the shurikens reached the water tornado they were thrown of course and went with the flow.
It was only then that the shark-face turned in the direction that the shinobi star came from and spotted a kunoichi with brown hair, clipped into two buns, wearing pink shirt and black pants.
"Hinata-sama, please take care of Naruto" the white-eyed girl heard a voice and right before her eyes appear a boy with long, black and white eyes just like hers. He was wearing a grey dress with wide sleeves. "We'll handle those two…"
"Neji-niisan…"
"More annoying brats…" snarled shark-face, preparing his sword. "This is beginning to…"
"Kisame, stop!" ordered Itachi, drawing everyone's attention. "At this rate this will never end… we should retreat… for now…"
"What are you saying, Itachi? You're scared of those brats? Killing them all shouldn't take longer then a minute…"
"Unfortunately we do not have even a minute" announced the Sharingan user. "Since they show up, it means that the whole village is alarmed… it's only a matter of time for ANBU to appear. With you wounded it'd be troublesome to fight them… and pointless, for that matter."
Kisame looked at the new arrivals with anger in his eyes, but after a short moment he calmed down and began walking towards his partner. "Fine, but remember: it was you who wanted to leave without the Kyuubi…"
"Fear not, we'll get it another day" replied Itachi. "It's not the end… this is merely the beginning" and with that both of them were gone.
Hinata let out a sign of relief and smile to Naruto: "They're gone, Naruto-kun…" but the blonde didn't even moved.
"Naruto-kun?" she repeated with a weak voice. "Naruto-kun!"
And this concludes the second chapter. Hope you liked it. Please leave a review with your opinion once you're done reading.
Now something like a trade mark from me: here's the jutsu encyklopedia with the techniques used in this chappie. I left out Kage and Mizu bushin, coz everyone knows those two far to well. So, without further to do:
Doton: Ishi Tomurai no Jutsu (Earth Element: Stone Funeral Skill) – in order for this jutsu to work, the user must release his chakra into the ground. The same chakra pushes up the stones from underground up in the form of spikes. Performed correctly, this technique is extremely devastating (it was also used by Kataki in my other fic).
Katon: Karyuudan no Jutsu (Fire Element: Fire Dragon Blast Skill) – a technique similar to the Hidden Mist's Water Dragon Blast (Zabuza used it in his first fight with Kakashi). The user first gathers chakra in his lungs and then, with the help of the right seals, releases it from his mouth in the form of a flame that looks like a dragon. This is probably one of the most powerful, fire-based attacks.
Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Element: Water Barrier Wall) – a technique originally used by the 2nd Hokage. The user must concentrate chakra in his lungs and then, performing the right hand seals, release it from his mouth in the form of a water blast. It's mostly used to stop fire-based attacks.
Kitsune Rasengan (Fox Rasengan) – a higher level of Rasengan, invented by Naruto. It can be performed only with the use of Kyuubi's chakra. The way of creating the orb stays the same as in the case of the normal Rasengan, but this attack is way more devastating and practically no-one can block it completely.
Konoha Renpuu (Konoha's Violent Wind) – a strong, spinning kick. Quite similar to Konoha's Spinning Wind (Konoha Senpuu), but more powerful. It's used by both Gai and Lee.
Shuriken Kage Bushin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Skill) – technique first used by the 3rd Hokage during his fight with Orochimaru. This technique multiplies a thrown object into many, exact replications that all can do damage. It can be performed only if the user will give the object he wishes to multiply his chakra.
Suiton: Arai Uzumaki (Water Element: Wild Whirlpool) – technique used by Kisame. The user must first gather chakra in his feet and then, with the use of the right hand seals, release it. If performed correctly, the chakra will take the form of water and will beginning spinning around the user, creating a barrier for most, physical attacks.
Suirou no Jutsu (Water Prison Skill) – creates a large sphere of water, that holds the opponent inside it. The prison is hard to escape from, but the user must keep contact with it, otherwise it'll be dispelled.
And this seriously concludes this chapter. Hope you enjoyed reading it. Please let me know what you think.
Take care and hopefully till the next chapter.