The torrent of water tore through the small valley roaring as loud as thunder. It scraped the walls picking up loose boulders, tossing them like pebbles. There was nowhere to run. Naruto only had enough time to raise his hands in an ineffectual defense before it was upon him.
When the water smashed into him it felt like he had run into a cement wall. It knocked the wind out of him and lifted him up before slamming him hard against something else. The world almost went black but, he fought to remain conscious. A second later he slammed into the cliff again but, this time he was able to use his chakra to grip it.
He poked his head above the water in time to see Sakura being swept away in the middle of the stream unable to grab onto anything. Letting go of the rock with his hands he was almost ripped away by the current but, he did have enough time to form the hand seals he needed. Clones stretched across the width of the valley, each one of them grabbing and holding onto the ankles of the one in front of them forming a chain.
They caught Sakura and both of them held on for their lives. Naruto's head remained underwater. His lungs burned for oxygen they couldn't have. The darkness crept in and his world was starting to turn black again.
An uprooted tree slammed into the center of his chain taking out several clones. More importantly it severed the chain and Sakura was on the far side. The remaining clones on her side held onto her even as they were battered against the cliff like a flag in the breeze.
As suddenly as the wall of water hit him it disappeared. Sliding to the ground Naruto gulped lungs full of life-giving oxygen and looked over for Sakura. She was a little further downstream soaked to the bone but climbing to her feet. He started to run over towards her when she shouted, "Don't take your eyes off the enemy."
The blonde turned halfway across the river and looked up. On top of either of the mammoth statues stood two men cloaked in all-too-familiar garb. The growl that emanated from Naruto's throat was almost animalistic. Sensing his teammates approach he snapped, "Where is Sasuke?"
"I don't think the wave hit him." She paused for a heartbeat, "Naruto do you know who those two are?"
He nodded then remembering her rebuke from earlier said, "Yeah, one of them is Kisame Hoshigaki a.k.a. Fish Face. Ranmaru told me about him. The other guy is Sasuke's brother."
The medic inhaled sharply and was silent for a second. "Well, Sasuke is going to go after his brother which means we have to take out the other guy." As she spoke one of the figures descended the statue in several jumps. "Anything more you know about this Fish Face guy?"
Naruto scoured his memory for a half forgotten conversation he had with the strange boy. "He was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and has a huge chakra capacity."
Sakura cracked her knuckles as the man began to approach them at a leisurely pace. "So, this is what, the third guy we've run into from that group. Did any of them stay loyal to the Mist?"
Before Naruto could respond the blue man shouted from maybe fifty yards away, "I knew that wouldn't kill you. Although, I did think it would take her out." He laughed a harsh loud thing as Naruto created twenty clones, "Lord Jiraiya won't be saving you this time."
The doppelgangers attacked in what appeared to be a disorderly mob. A single clone held back and transformed into a large shuriken showing that the genin did have a plan. The enemy was obscured from his vision for a second as the clones attempted to pile on. A second later they were ripped apart when Kisame swung his Samehada.
For a second as the tall man brought the sword across his chest there was an opening. Naruto flung the oversized shuriken aiming for the center of his chest. Off-balance the target either had to let go of his sword or dive to the side.
He chose the latter and the blonde jumped above him throwing three kunai. The target twisted around in an impressive display of strength deflecting them with his sword but, that left him open to Sakura's attack. She threw a single kunai at his side. With her enhanced strength the simple weapon would've gone in one end and out the other but, he sunk below the surface the weapon colliding harmlessly with the sword.
Naruto had landed on the cliffs face and from his perch scoured the area for the missing Akatsuki member. Sakura was still standing on the river and jumped just before the water exploded from beneath her. A column of water shot into the air as high as the cliffs before collapsing back down revealing Kisame examining his sword. He held it up revealing that Sakura's kunai was partially embedded in the blade, "Do you know how hard this is to get repaired?"
The genin gritted his teeth as he realized that this man was just playing with them, "You won't have to because I am not letting you get away."
"Naruto wait," his teammates shouted before he could jump down. "We need to lure this guy away from the water. Retreat into the woods."
Instinctively he didn't like the idea of retreat but even after they finished off this guy, there was still Sasuke's brother to deal with. Itachi was dangerous. Jiraiya had made sure to drive that into his head pretty thoroughly, "Fine."
They were almost about to crest the ridge when there was a roar of water from behind them and a column of water cut them off. Naruto was shoved to the side by Sakura just as another column of water cut through the air where he would have been. Then the blonde noticed the shape of the water as one of the columns turned revealing a distinct dragon's head.
Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique he had seen it before but, it had been years and never had he seen someone controlled two of them at the same time. The first dragon bore down on him as he fell to the river below. It would have overtaken him but, in a desperate attempt to avoid being hit he summoned a clone at his feet. Using it as a springboard he changed the direction of his fall.
As the water dragon turned to follow him part of its body scraped a rocky outcropping gouging chunks of granite free. Naruto landed on almost the opposite side of the river dodging immediately allowing the dragon's head to smash into the river before rising again. From where he was he could see the second column of water twisting around presumably chasing Sakura.
Naruto started to run up stream crouched keeping an eye on the deadly column of water chasing him. He was about to create another horde of clones to either confuse the dragon or hopefully circle back and attack the one controlling it when for the second time that day he was unexpectedly surrounded by water. After a second of confusion he looked around frantically. Through the blurry vision of a fish he saw Kisame standing over him.
He lashed out but the edge of the water was like cement. A part of his mind that still had enough oxygen realized that he had been caught in the same technique that had captured his sensei on his first real mission all those years ago. His insides felt like they were crawling as his body demanded to breathe. Naruto's legs kicked out uselessly hitting the edge of the invisible sphere. It was then a very strange thought occurred to him.
Biting his thumb he went through the necessary hand seals before slamming his hand against the invisible surface. Naruto still wasn't good at summoning a particular toad for a particular purpose but he put all his chakra into it aiming for a big one and that's exactly what he got.
The water prison disintegrated unable to hold the massive toad that had suddenly appeared. If the water clone had been a real person it would've been smeared against the walls. The boss toad shouted, "Naruto, why the hell would you summon me in such a tight space?"
Gamabunta shifted his weight his massive shoulders scraping against the cliffs. The young summoner shouted breathlessly from the top of the reddish-brown toads head, "Sorry boss but, these two Akatsuki guys are giving me a lot of trouble."
"Akatsuki," the giant toad gave a long exhale of smoke from his pipe, tingeing the air with the smell of tobacco for a mile around, "what do you want me to do about it."
The blonde stomped his foot forgetting where he was for a moment, "I don't know. Step on them for all I care."
"Watch your tongue boy, you still can't drink."
"What does that have to do with anything right now?" Gamabunta only response was to shift his weight again before jumping. As Naruto was pressed against the toad's body he remembered how difficult it was working with this toad.
Kisame Hoshigaki had been asked by his partner if he could keep the two genin occupied while he had his second family reunion. That meant he had to deal with the Jinchuriki alone. Ordinarily this would have been annoying but, when he saw the ambush spot he was confident that he would be able to capture the nine tails without much trouble. A few seconds ago he had, leaving only the girl to cause trouble.
Then there was a loud crack from upstream as air was suddenly and violently displaced. A large quantity of smoke was slowly dissipating and before it could finish a large wave swept beneath him. The missing-nin allowed his second Water Dragon to collapse having already chased the kunoichi a half a mile downstream. The summons was large and that meant this battle was going to be fun.
Without warning the toad jumped high into the air and he followed it with his eyes. When it started coming back down he had to run. The massive beast landed on its front legs paralleling the cliff. It weighed many tons and as a result a portion of the cliff collapsed sending tons of debris crashing into the river.
Kisame was halfway up the opposite cliff when he suddenly jumped into the river diving below the surface. The action was out of instinct honed from decades of battles and they were proven right. A giant sphere of water slammed into the cliff where he would've been. If that had connected with the shark like man he would've been like a fly being swatted.
Beneath the surface of the water he was safe, it was almost natural to him he could even breathe. These few seconds of calm allowed him to realize his mistake. The creature that had been summoned was huge and powerful but, one of those advantages could be easily turned against him.
The first jutsu he performed was a simple Hidden Mist Technique. However, it was on a massive scale and it obscured the entire bottom of the valley. The toad fired his technique several more times and Kisame could feel the impact of it around him. Ignoring it he prepared for his second technique opening his mouth he disgorged an impossible amount of water. His chakra capacity made this easy to do even though it was the second time today.
Creating the water was simple enough but, keeping it from going down stream required a little more concentration. Within a minute he was ready. He rode the sudden swell of water emerging from the mist, cresting and then crashing over the top of the cliff. Continuing to ride the water he was carried over the ground until he could jump onto the toad's leg. Landing on the toad's knee he flipped onto its back.
The fleshy ground bucked and shook beneath him but, all the Akatsuki member had to do was channel chakra to his feet. When the beast stopped shaking an avalanche of doppelgangers came down its back led by the pink haired teen. He didn't remember her jumping onto the toad but she must've done it while he was under water.
The former member of the Seven Swordsmen created two water clones of his own and met them halfway. He brought his sword up to block a blow from the kunoichi as she jumped over head slashing down at him. The move was simply design to get behind him so that he would be caught between the two of them but, he had one of his clones go after her negating their pincher movement.
Kisame and his other remaining clone slashed through the horde of orange. There was something distinctly unsatisfying about destroying mindless doppelgangers and as he traveled upwards he started to notice something. There was no variety to the attacks. True they were attacking from all angles but, no weapons or any Ninjutsu. It was strange. The ground shifted under him slightly and he thought little of it until it was literally ripped away from beneath him.
Like many summoned creatures Gamabunta wore clothes. As the former Mist ninja had battled his way up the toad's back he had without thinking stepped upon his kimono. The shift he had felt earlier was the toad shrugging out of one of his sleeves and then he had jerked it off. He threw it to the ground along with about twenty clones.
The Akatsuki member flew through the air caught up in the folds of the kimono. Slicing himself free hardly helped the situation as he was still plummeting to a ground at a dangerous speed. Throwing his sword in front of him, it cut a path through the trees. When Samehada hit the ground it also softened it allowing him to land safely.
Before he could pull himself out of the knee-high dirt the toad spat something. The foul-smelling liquid coated him and the ground around him. He had to use his sword to pull himself free. A second later there was an explosion behind him that ignited an inferno. The fire was putting out enough heat that there was a real possibility that the oil on his clothes would spontaneously combust.
Kisame was now thoroughly pissed. He was just about to disgorged another thousand gallons of water when he had to jump back to avoid a hail of shuriken. Glancing in the direction the projectiles had come from he froze as a man in an ANBU mask stared back at him. The former Mist ninja did a quick calculation in his head. He was now facing a Jinchuriki, a giant summoned creature and now ANBU all while he was coated in a flammable liquid. Three out of four he could handle but, he had not lived this long without knowing when to withdraw from a fight.
Sasuke's three tomoe gave him the ability to read the movements of the wave as it came tearing down the valley. Something that Kakashi had once told him came back to him at that moment, "If you're falling off of a cliff, you might as well try and fly." At the time the Uchiha had filed it away under useless quotes that his sensei had said but, with several tons of water rushing down at him he finally thought he understood.
Using the gift from his ancestors he searched the water for calm patches that could support him. They existed for only a fraction of a second which meant he would have to anticipate them. Channeling chakra he jumped towards the center of the valley connecting with a wave just as it started to crash. He jumped again over another wave and then again. Within a few jumps he was on top of the raging water and almost immediately started to sink.
Using the Body Replacement Technique he was able to cling on to the cliff just above the water. He paused for a second looking for the bobbing heads of his teammates but, the water was churning too violently. Despite the situation he wasn't overly concerned for them. Naruto was too stubborn to drown and Sakura had improved by leaps and bounds since their early days. They would be washed downstream where an enemy was probably waiting for them.
He climbed the rest of the way up the cliff before ducking into the trees and heading upstream. Somebody had attacked them from that direction and they would know what was going to happen downstream. These were probably some diehards from Sound attacking the first Konoha ninjas they had come across. Then he saw the two figures appear on the top of the statues and he abandoned his former plan. His brother was here.
A part of the prodigies mind wondered why he was here now but, that was completely irrelevant. Sasuke had never given much thought to why his brother had been after Naruto the last time he had seen him. Kado had shown up shortly thereafter which had caused numerous problems and then the samurai uprising had started after that. It had been easy to put that fact to the site and forget about it. Now it didn't matter he would kill him.
Racing through the trees he kept his eyes on the shorter man. When Itachi's partner jumped down to the valley he increased his speed wanting to catch him while he was alone. Mentally he prepared to use the Shadow Step the only technique that could confuse the Sharingan. Unfortunately, he still had not mastered it but, his spar with Ino had made him realize something.
Part of what made the Sharingan fearsome was its ability to read movements. In truth anyone could develop that skill with enough time and patience but, his family's Kekkei Genkai was like a shortcut. To counter this ability somebody had discovered a way to threw off the eye.
Ordinarily when he had his eyes activated there was something like an aura surrounding an arm before a punch. When used properly the Shadow Step increased the size of this aura making it almost impossible to predict. Among non-Sharingan users the effect was more subtle but, it still tricked the mind if only on a subconscious level.
Ino had used this on him once to devastating effect but, she had only mastered one small movement. Still she had manipulated him in to a position where she could use it. He was going to do something similar.
Circling around his target he paused and resisted rolling his eyes. It was a simple trap but, recognizing it as one made it easy to use it. Pulling out a kunai from his pouch he quietly drew his sword concealing the smaller weapon with the hilt of the other. The clone kept his back to him and he crept along until he was within a reasonable striking distance. Springing forward he slashed through the insubstantial clone.
"Apparently you've only grown in height and not skill my little brother," Itachi's all-too-familiar voice came from behind him.
Not turning around Sasuke allowed his blade to drop to one side loosely holding it in one hand. Before he did that he palmed the kunai into his other hand concealing the entire motion from his brother, "I've grown."
"No, you have not. I told you, until you have eyes like mine there is no chance of you defeating me." His opponent paused for a brief, but noticeable second. "I've remove one of the obstacles in your way."
For a brief second the younger of the two brothers worried for Kado but, he kept his voice calm. "And what obstacle was that?"
"He was unworthy of the family name. He died alone in the exact same place as our parents," Itachi answered.
The younger brother smiled noticing the needless drama, "You're lying. The chances of Kado not having any of his friends over while I'm gone are about as good as your chances of walking away from this battle."
The battle had been unfolding beneath them this entire time and Sasuke had been watching it with his eyes, allowing his other senses to pinpoint his opponent. As he watched an orange figure disappeared into a sphere of water and for a second he was about to jump down to help out but, then there was a crack and a huge cloud of smoke. Leave it to Naruto to provide the perfect distraction even if it was unintentional.
Spinning he concentrated on the movements in his arm trying to confuse any visual clues in his muscle tension. Letting the kunai fly he followed behind it raising his sword to cut his brother down. Itachi blocked the flying projectile with his own kunai and then attempted to block the sword with the same weapon and for the first time in over a decade he misjudged.
Sasuke brought the sword down intending to sever the hand but, instead of a clean-cut it felt like he had hit an armor plate. Rolling with the blow his opponent lashed out with a kick to his back that knocked the younger several feet away. They spun to face each other again having only exchanged places.
The mass murder raised his arm allowing his sleeve to fall back revealing a small shuriken holster on his wrist. There was a small cut where his younger brother's blade had drawn blood. In the distance the ground shook as the other battle continued. "The Shadow Step, impressive but, like your Sharingan it's not fully developed. Are you capable of accomplishing anything?"
The younger teen didn't rise to the bait and for the first time realized how odd it was that his brother would play such a mind game. Now that he thought about it he had been too talkative. There was something not right here and it was not a Genjutsu. He took a step back followed by another. Pushing those thoughts to the side he prepared to use a Chidori.
His brother just stared back at him his eyes reflecting the lightning crackling around Sasuke's hand. When he started his charge small vortexes of water shot out from the river screwing up his approach allowing his older brother to jump over him. The young avenger was forced to dodge and ground his attack into the stone creating significant cracks.
Pulling his hand free he flipped onto the statue not wanting his opponent to see his back. Almost simultaneously a voice called out, "Finish this up. We have to withdraw."
Itachi's eyes narrowed in anger something the younger had only seen once before. "Sasuke if you have not acquired the same eyes as I have by the next time we meet, you will die." Before his brother could even respond black flames raced across the cracks in the statue. Almost instantly the stone became superheated and cracked under the stress of its own weight sending most of the head tumbling down the cliff.
The ground slipped away from beneath Sasuke's feet so fast that he slipped into freefall without warning. For a second he flailed his arms his sword flying out of his hand. Then he hit the water on his back and the wind was forced out of him. The statues' head splashed into the water only a few feet away. At first the water pushed him away, but then he was pulled back as the water filled the void. He flowed with the current kicking off the stone as it sank.
His head broke the surface of the water and he channeled chakra to his hands and feet climbing onto the surface of the water. When he tried to stand pain shot up and down his back and the slight pain in his head turned into a pounding although that could have been due to the waterfall.
"Sasuke," his name was elongated in the annoying fashion only Naruto could produce. Looking down stream he saw both of his teammates running towards him. Turning away he craned his neck upwards to where his brother had been. The decapitated statue still burned with black flames.
"I'm going to do a quick diagnosis to see if you were injured in that fall."
Pulling away from his pink haired teammate he demanded, "Why did they withdraw?"
Naruto didn't pick up on his tone and smiled as he answered, "It was Sakura's idea. I created a bunch of clones and sent most of them after Fish Face. A few of them slipped away into the woods and transformed themselves into ANBU. Once he saw them he turned tail and ran. Of course, he was also soaked in oil and near an open flame."
"I had him," Sasuke snapped. He tried to stand to walk away and pain shot through him. It was strong enough that he lost control of his chakra for a second and sank below the surface again.
A hand pulled him to the surface and Sakura snapped, "You need medical attention, stay still."