Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Kekkaishi. It is the propriety of Kishimoto and ? respectively.
Hello everyone. I present you the second chapter of Naruto the true ninja. I hope you like it.
Edited: 05/12/2013
Chapter 1: Orochimaru's shock
Team 9 stood in front of their assigned gate, one of the entrances that led to the forest of death. They were waiting for the signal that would announce the start of the second part of the chuunin exam. Silence reigned there as they kept their mouth shut. But that was to be expected. After all, they weren't hailed as the strongest genin team of konoha for nothing. They knew when to joke around and when to be serious. And in this case they had to be serious.
The first part of the exams was interesting to say the least, despite being uneventful. Nothing worth mentioning happened. Unless you were named Naruto. He was after all, an information gathering specialist. During the test, he gathered much information that would prove useful in the near future.
The test consisted in displaying your ability to retrieve secret information from an enemy without being caught or detected. Said enemy could be anything, ranging from a civilian to a ninja. Of course, the chuunin examinee needed to understand the goal of the test in the first place, before even trying anything. Only then was he required to design a ploy to acquire said information by any means necessary, like stealing or cheating.
In this case, the information was the answers to the written test given to them.
During the test, Naruto had observed the methods used by foreign and local ninjas to cheat, and was sorely disappointed. None of them used a completely undetectable method. The most disappointing though, was the fact that the Uchiha and the Hyuga weren't disqualified for using their dojutsu, which was clearly visible for anyone to see. But it was to be expected with a village favoring those with bloodline limit. It was a little ironic considering the fact that he himself had been and still was favored because he had a bloodline.
Anyway, before the start of the exam, a genin by the name of Yakushi Kabuto, which Naruto recognized as the one who tried to spy on him and his team in the past, gave the other konoha genins, information about the ninjas taking part in this exam. More specifically Sabaku no Gaara from Suna and Rock Lee from the leaf.
When the Uchiha pried for information about Naruto, the latter immediately used a modified Kawarimi to vanish the card containing information about him, thoroughly disappointing more than one person in the room. The action went unnoticed and in the end, no one was able to find anything on him.
And finally, during the written exam, he noticed two ninjas spying on him. The first was the female ninja on the sand team. While the other was a grass kunoichi. Using his bunsekiganor analytic eye, he learned that the grass kunoichi wasn't who she appeared to be, but someone else because he could see behind her face, the face of Orochimaru the snake sannin.
That disgusted him thoroughly. He almost lost his lunch there because of it. Nevertheless, he used this great opportunity to analyze the snake sannin, hoping to find any weakness or something about him that could help should he be forced to fight against him. He also took care of memorizing his chakra signature, so he could track him easily or be aware of his presence in the vicinity.
Team 9 regained their awareness when they heard a high-pitched sound that seemed to come from everywhere. It signaled the start of the second part of the exam. Around the same time, the gate in front of them was swung sideway, giving them a clear view of the forest of death.
"Ok guys let's go!" Lee yelled enthusiastically, before the group jumped on the trees in front of them, to quickly move through he forest. They had already come up with a strategy, which consisted in following Naruto as he guided them to one of the closest team, so that they could steal their scroll.
The three were jumping from trees to trees rather quickly, and for anyone who happened to look at them, only a blur would be discernible. They moved like that for a little over 20 minutes before Naruto abruptly stopped, forcing the others followsuit and look around for any threats. When they found none, they stared at Naruto who was still looking ahead with a frown on his face.
"Why have you stopped?" Tenten asked Naruto with a questioning look on her face. Still looking ahead, he replied.
"There is a ninjas team approximately one hundred meters from here."
"Then why have we stopped that far away?" Lee asked in surprise. Naruto thought for a moment on the way he should answer before making his mind.
"Simple, one of them has some talent as a sensor. If we kept moving toward them like we did, he would have sensed us and immediately alerted the others of our presence. Or rather both of your presence, considering you two lack the necessary skill to hide your energy."
At first, the two nodded their head in understanding, but when Naruto mentioned their shortcomings, they clenched their fists a little in silent anger. 'That bastard.' Were their thoughts.
"Then what are we supposed to do then, oh great one." The sarcastic tone wasn't lost by anyone, prompting Tenten to muffle her giggles. Naruto didn't pay any mind to it, and calmly moved forward.
"Simple oh lower one, I will take care of that." Just before he disappeared, leaving no trace at all, not even a smoke, simply nothing. That shocked the two to silence.
'He is improving every day. At this rate, I won't ever catch up to him.' Thought a frustrated Lee. Tenten also thought something close to it, but let it go.
With the foreign team
Takeshi was a very practical and underhanded ninja. He used everything at his disposal, to reach his goals. One of those was to become the leader of Ame country. He knew that to reach such position, he'd have to become not only very powerful, but somehow acquire several supporters. Unfortunately for him, his plans went down the drain for one simple reason: PEIN.
He hated that name so much. To him that name was the worst thing in the whole world. Oh he had hated many things in his life. He had despised his parents for not being members of a great clan. He had despised his father for being a weak hearted fool who couldn't stomach war and abandoned the ninja force. He had despised ninjas from clans who looked down on him. Most of all, he had hated himself for his lack of bloodline.
Yet nothing compared to the hate he held for the name Pein, although hearing that name brought him a feeling of fear and many more. But he was right to fear that name or rather the owner of that name.
He had been disgusted at first, by Hanzo the salamander's defeat at the hand of the supposed 'God' of Ame Pein. What disgusted him was the fact that someone as legendary as Hanzo couldn't even beat a rookie upstart as he had thought Pein to be. But those thoughts were quickly dismissed after witnessing said upstart murder in cold blood anyone related to the late Hanzo. Be they children, or women, he killed them all, leaving no one alive. If you were among Hanzo folds, you were immediately executed.
The ruthlessness of that event brought him back to the reality, and he immediately switched side as many others did, as they knew they had little to no chance of beating someone that could level their village instantly. No matter, he still kept his training as if nothing happened. After all, his motto was and still is The strong dominate the weak. So when he was given the mission to gather any available information about the newly revealed heir of the Namikaze clan, he jumped at the chance to prove himself and further advance in rank.
His team and he were calmly walking in the forest without a care in the world. After all, they may be genin officially, but truthfully each of them was at least mid chuunin. They were walking in a triangle formation, with Takeshi in the front and the other two behind.
Suddenly, he heard a rattling coming from the bushes on his left. Listening to their hard gained reflex, the three turned their heads towards the sound to see… a squirrel.
Unfortunately for them, by turning their head, they completely opened their right side, and it was with no surprise that 3 senbons flew to their exposed neck. They noticed the sound too late, because senbons didn't make as much sound as kunais.
The senbons pierced their neck in a specific pressure point, immediately putting them in a false state of death. But because of the poison coated on the weapons, they quickly suffocated to death. They died not even knowing why, how or who killed them. The only thing they had in mind at that time being 'What is a squirrel doing in a forest like this?'
And then, a shadow fell just beside the bodies, before going through their belonging, finding the Heaven scroll. The shadow, also quickly took every weapons they had, which disappeared in a puff of smoke. Then it quickly did hand seals before a stream of fire erupted from his mouth, burning the bodies to ash.
And as if it wasn't even there, the shadow disappeared again, having removed any traces of a fight in the area.
With team 9
Naruto was gone for a little over twenty minutes and Tenten and Lee were still waiting for him to come back. They were about to move toward the foreign team, when a shadow fell from a tree, just behind them. They whirled around, kunai in hands, before they sighed when they recognized the shadow as Naruto.
"What the hell? I told you to stop doing that!" yelled Tenten as silently as she could, not wanting to reveal their position to anyone.
Naruto just looked at her apathetically, before he removed a rather large scroll from his back.
"It was a Heaven Scroll unfortunately."
His teammates seeing he wouldn't elaborate further just nodded with a shake of the head. "Ok, let's move to the next target then. Maybe next time we'll get lucky." Tenten said before jumping to a branch, quickly followed by her two companions.
Outside, Lee appeared calm while following his teammates, but inside he was in turmoil. He still couldn't wrap his mind on the way Naruto fought. 'Not even a sound or anything signaling that a battle was taking place.' Were his thoughts. He had always known that Naruto was dangerous, very much so, but until now, he hadn't realized just how much. He decided to let it go for now, focusing on finding an earth scroll to pass this exam, first.
Hokage tower
Walking casually in the hallway of the hokage tower was a man easily recognizable. He was of average height and had the right part of his face wrapped in medical bandages. The left part of his face was unblemished, showing a hardened face. And the look in his eyes could freeze even a dead man. It was the look of someone who had witnessed everything possible, especially the dark side of humanity.
He also had his right arm encased in a cast, showing that he either had a fractured arm or an unusable one. All in all, he looked quite like an actor in a horror movie.
He was walking steadily toward his destination. Before long he stopped in front of a rather beautiful door, decorated with different jewels. Beside the door stood another office, where a woman was positioned. He looked at her and said without preamble.
"The hokage is expecting me."
The secretary looked from her documents, taking a short time to recognize the person and quickly replied.
"Of course Danzo — sama, you can go ahead."
Absentmindedly nodding, he knocked upon the door. Once he heard the permission to enter, he wasted no time in pushing it open, and moving inside, the door closing behind him.
Inside the office, Sarutobi was speaking with his advisors when he heard the knock at the door. Knowing who was behind it, considering they had an appointment, he allowed the visitor to come inside. Upon seeing the person in question, he couldn't help but be reminded of the reason why everything went to hell 7 years ago.
Homura and Koharu didn't miss the sad look on Sarutobi's face, but chose to stay silent, considering the meeting they were about to have.
"Greetings hokage—dono, Koharu—dono, Homura—dono. It has been a long time since we convened together." Begun Danzo.
"Indeed it has Danzo—dono. Indeed it has." Answered Koharu for the three.
"So what can I do for you? After all there must be a very important reason for the three of you to organize such a meeting!" continued Danzo opting to put any banter aside as he was a very busy man.
The three were silent at that, not having expected Danzo to go straight to the point. Usually, the latter would try to get around the topic to distract his opponents. Opponents because they all knew that any kind of conversation between them was the closest thing to a ninja battle.
They still regained their composure though, before Sarutobi took charge of the meeting.
"I'm sure you already know what this meeting is about."
Danzo sighed at that, having expected such a thing. "You still blame me for what happened between you and the Namikaze, don't you?"
"Are we wrong to do so?" answered Homura this time, the frustration clearly visible on his face.
"Need I remind you all that it was the three of you who used that seal on him in the first place?" said Danzo still as calm as ever. "Or maybe you forgot just how happy you were to have another Namikaze in your clutch, to the point of showing off in my face?"
At this the three stayed silent, contemplating his words. Oh they knew it was their fault for everything that happened, but they simply didn't want to admit their mistake. Especially when it had such aftereffect.
"Regardless of what happened in the past, we'd like for you to distance yourself from Namikaze—san." This time it was Sarutobi who talked, frostily gazing at Danzo, hoping to make him lose composure or at least his tight control over his emotions. But he was having no such luck.
"You seem to think that I am forcing him to do whatever it is you are thinking. Last time I remember, it was him who sought me out and not the other way around. I didn't try to approach him. He came to me. And for a simple reason." At this Danzo smirked a little, which caused those present in the room to narrow their eyes.
"And what possible reason would a child like him have to seek you out?" Sarutobi shot.
Danzo took his sweet time to answer this. He liked to play around with his former teammates. It made him feel in control of everything. Be in control. That is what he strived for. He wanted to be in control of everything. He didn't like surprise, one of the reason he created a spying network that almost rivaled Jiraiya's own. Seeing the restless look on the hokage's advisors and knowing they were at the limit of their patience, he finally answered.
"The reason he came to me is that Namikaze and I are alike!" Seeing the confused look in Sarutobi's eyes, he proceeded to elaborate.
"Namikaze, like myself, thinks that there cannot exist peace in this world. That no matter what, wars will always exist. The only thing we can do is push back the inevitable. He, like myself, saw the way your policy was weakening our village. To take action against this, he did the only thing sensible at the time, he sought after someone, in the higher echelons, who shared his outlook of the world. That is how he came to me. Not because of any manipulations I did, but because of your lack of an adequate policy." He finished looking at the three in front of him with a small smile.
The three were stunned to hear this. They had always wondered why Naruto, the son of the yondaime hokage, a man who strongly advocated against wars of any kind, was doing with a man like Danzo. A man well known for his love of wars and struggles. And to hear that it was simply because of the same outlook they had on how to run the village was mind blowing. The three looked at each other, having a silent conversation just with their eyes. If someone understood them, they would sum their conversation with a 'We'll convene about this later'.
"Unlike you, there are others who don't like to go to war. War takes many lives, too many. And for what, a simple struggle between two countries or even two persons. Is it not because of this policy that our economy bloomed? You are talking about it as if this policy hasn't showed its worth." Countered Sarutobi, to which Danzo answered by…
"You mean, like the incident between the Hyuga clan and Kumo? Need I remind you just how you choose to sacrifice one of our own even though Kumo was clearly in the wrong?"
"At least, it allowed us to escape a war that we had little chance of winning in our state." Sarutobi fired back.
"Don't kid yourself. You very well know that if it had come to war, we'd have won, simply because their Jinchuuriki Killer Bee, wasn't yet as powerful as nowadays, same with their Kage. That is just a reason for you to justify your inactions. Speaking of which, remind me what were the consequences of your decisions again?" said Danzo with a sneer.
Seeing that none of the three were willing to answer, he answered his own question.
"We lost a good chunk of our customers, because they thought we were just all talk but no actions whatsoever. Because of this, several minor villages increased their attacks on us thinking our village was weak and trying to take us out. And as always who got us out of this situation? Root" said Danzo snarling at the end. Having lost any kind of control over his emotions.
Just like before, the three stayed silent. What could they said? After all, everything Danzo said was the truth. The consequences of his decision had been dire. The only reason they had recovered from this was because of what happened with Kusagakure. After that event, not only they got their customers back, but also no one wanted to mess with them anymore.
"Anyway, unlike you I have other things to do. So if you will excuse me now." Said Danzo rising from his chair, before walking toward the exit when Sarutobi said.
"If you are manipulating Namikaze-san, I will find out and make you pay dearly for this!"
Danzo hearing this didn't even looked back at Sarutobi but answered anyway.
"You are so focused on finding a way to take back Namikaze. Always thinking that I'm the one manipulating him. Did it ever occur to you that you might be wrong? Do you know which question I'm always asking myself?" He looked at Sarutobi from the corner of his eye and said in an ominous voice.
"Which one is manipulating the other?" he finished just before he closed the door, signaling his departure.
Inside the room, Sarutobi and his advisors were still in a meeting. Having regained their senses after everything Danzo told them, they were talking in hushed tone.
"You think it will be enough to distract him?" asked Homura.
"I do. He seemed quite pleased to hear that we're trying to retrieve the Namikaze. He'll be busy with this for a while, giving us ample time to move without his notice." Said Sarutobi smirking.
"That is good to hear. But still, what he said at the end have me thinking. I have a bad feeling about this." Said Koharu softly.
"You worry too much. Once everything is in place, he won't be able to do a thing. Now this meeting is adjourned." Finished Sarutobi with the advisors nodding.
Forest of death
A day had gone by since team 9 went inside the forest of death, and they still hadn't found the scroll they were looking for. They had encountered three other teams after the first one Naruto dispatched. But as if the gods were against them, none of those teams possessed an earth scroll. So now they had a total of five heaven scrolls. Having stopped to rest the night before, they were now moving or rather jumping from trees to trees, looking for another prey.
"I hope we find an earth scroll soon. I'm getting tired of this forest." Tenten grumbled while jumping over a branch.
"Tell me about it! It's like we're cursed or something." Lee fired back, before looking at Naruto to his left. "Nothing to say, hot shot?"
Naruto, deep in thoughts, was a little surprised by the question, but quickly steeled his gaze.
"Instead of questioning me, you should focus on the objective, overgrown eyebrow"
Tenten stifled a giggle at that, while Lee's eyebrow twitched. He opened his mouth to reply… when a violent gust of wind slammed on him, making him fly far away from his team. Recognizing the wind for what it was, Naruto and Tenten came to a stop, before looking around them, trying to spot the attacker.
A few seconds later, Naruto angled his face to look on his left, just in time to see a kunoichi appear on branch. Tenten seeing Naruto's reaction, followed suit, gazing at their would be attacker. Naruto immediately narrowed his eyes to slit when he recognized the stranger.
'What does he want? He has no reason to be after Tenten, and he blew Lee away, so he must be after me!' he adopted a defensive stance.
The kunoichi looked amused at the two, as she noticed the shifting in stance from Naruto, quickly followed by Tenten. 'Maybe they aren't called the strongest genin team of konoha for nothing.' she thought smiling creepily.
"Kukukuku … I have heard so much about you Namikaze—san. So much that I'm eager to see what you are made off." The way she phrased it seemed so… wrong to the genins.
Still, not one to be outdone, Naruto fired back. "I didn't know my fame had reached even a village like Kusagakure. I'm honored"
"No the pleasure is all mine, kukuku"
"Unfortunately, I would be more inclined to show you my might if you were to have an earth scroll miss … sorry I didn't catch your name, kunoichi—san?" continued Naruto.
The kunoichi smiled at that. 'Smartass'.
"That's because I didn't gave you my name, but nice try"
"Whatever you say girl." He emphasized with a mock bow, all the while keeping an eye on his opponent.
On the sidelines, Tenten was looking at the exchange with barely concealed annoyance. 'How can someone be so bipolar? One moment he's cold toward anyone, and the next he's smiling with an obvious enemy' she thought with a scowl.
Finally, Naruto looked seriously at the kunoichi, every hint of a smile having disappeared from his face.
"Now, why would a sannin like you seek me, a mere genin? And not just any sannin, but one rumored to be the strongest of the 3, Orochimaru the snake summoner?" he questioned the kunoichi.
Hearing this, Tenten gasped in surprise. She looked at the kunoichi once more to confirm it, just in time to see said kunoichi clapping and smiling appreciatively.
"Well done Namikaze-san, well done. I should've known you would recognize me. But I am a little curious, how did you manage such feat?"
The newly revealed Orochimaru said, before adding a little killing intent at the end, to prompt his targets to answer. He was satisfied to see Tenten shake under the KI in despair. When he looked at Naruto though, he was surprised to see him standing, clearly unaffected.
'Oh, he can shrug this amount of KI already. Interesting!' he thought.
Naruto, seeing the state Tenten was in, couldn't help but sigh in frustration. 'If I was alone I could easily flee from this place, but with her around, it will be more difficult.' He thought before raising his head just in time to see Orochimaru retrieve a kunai from his pouch. 'Damn'.
Acting quickly, he took a kunai with a note attached to it, and threw it at Orochimaru. The latter was surprised to see Naruto throw his weapon at the same time he did, despite having gone for it first. Wasting no time, Naruto put his hand on Tenten's shoulder while holding a ram seal with his other hand.
'Shunshin no jutsu.' He thought just before he disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Meanwhile, the kunai he launched exploded in front of Orochimaru, destroying a good chunk of the tree he was standing on.
When the smoke was cleared, there was nothing left behind.
Naruto appeared a hundred meter away from his last location, and quickly went to work. He put his hand on Tenten's forehead, before sending healing chakra to her. The effect was immediate, as she quickly regained her senses back from the shock she endured when she felt orochimaru's KI. She quickly looked at Naruto alarmed
"Oh my god! Naruto we have to flee now. This is Orochimaru" she yelled hysterically prompting her teammate to slap her, hard enough to calm her down. He waited a few seconds before speaking.
"Calmed now? I know we have to escape. But you forgot he is a sannin. He will follow us easily, or rather you. Right now, I need to …" he said as calmly as possible under such conditions but was interrupted by Tenten's widening eyes.
"LOOK OUT!" she yelled, just in time for Naruto to grab her and jump high in the air, doing a back flip at the same time. While upside down, he saw a huge snake pass through where they stood earlier. But he also noticed Orochimaru hiding several meters away from their position.
Thinking quickly, he came up with a plan. Once he touched a branch, he set Tenten down, quickly taking a bunch of kunai with notes on them, and handing them to his teammate.
"Listen well Tenten. I want you to use those kunais to kill the snake summon. Aim for any weak parts like the eyes or the inside of its mouth. Understood?" Tenten slowly nodded, frightened by the situation but willing to survive.
Meanwhile, the snake twisted his body until he faced them again. Then he charged again at its targets, moving quickly between the trees and increasing the difficulty for Tenten to aim properly. But she wasn't known and nicknamed as bullseye for nothing. While she carefully took aim, Naruto closed his eye in concentration. 'He is moving.' he thought, feeling Orochimaru's chakra coming toward them.
"Now would be a good time Tenten!"
"Don't rush me. Try aiming for a snake moving like that and you will see just how hard it is!" she yelled in frustration.
Naruto sighed, knowing it was difficult. He didn't use those kunais himself because he knew that Tenten was way better than him when it came to handling weapons. It was then that he sensed Orochimaru a few meters away from them going through hand seals.
"TENTEN!" he yelled.
"Done!" she yelled in response, having finally locked onto her target's weak point: his eyes. She launched two of the kunais, which moved quickly towards their target, perfectly hitting the beast's eyes just before they exploded violently, forcing the snake to dispel, having taken too much damage.
At the same time, Naruto quickly went through 4 hand seals, before slamming his right foot on the ground violently.
'Doton : Dust embrace'. He muttered under his breath, too low for anyone to understand.
From the impact, a huge amount of dust was lifted, and rose to around 5 meters in height. It covered a good part of the area too. The jutsu was a creation of Naruto. It meant to replace the kirigakure no jutsu, as he didn't have a water affinity and it would take too much chakra due to perform it.
Because of the dust, Orochimaru was forced to stop his charge, not wanting to be taken off guard. He immediately went through hand seals and summoned a violent gust of wind to repel the dust, but was stunned to find that it did nothing more than push it a little. 'It's like the kirigakure no jutsu. That means I won't remove it easily. A smart move, as I cannot seem to sense his chakra. But he forgot one crucial detail for his plan' he thought smirking.
For his part, Naruto quickly handed Tenten a mask, while he put another one himself. Those masks were prepared specifically for this jutsu. Because of the dust, it was difficult to breath, and even dangerous for the health. So he designed a mask that worked like anbu's ones. One of its ability was to filter the air.
'Now, how can I escape with Tenten? Shunshin is out of question because it leaves too big a trail for someone as skilled as Orochimaru. I could use my special jutsu that allow me to melt with the earth, but I never tried to use it with someone in tow. What about a modified Shunshin?' he thought furiously.
He was interrupted though, when he sensed Orochimaru charging toward their exact position, alarming he. 'How does he know where I am? I'm sure he cannot sense my chakra, and I didn't make any sound. He cannot follow me by smell because of the dust, so how?'
He tapped Tenten shoulder urging her to move. She quickly executed herself and took off in a random direction, with Naruto not far behind. 'That's it! He must be following us because of Tenten's chakra. Damn seem like I don't have a choice.'
He quickly stopped Tenten who looked at him with a questioning look. Then he did 7 hand seals very quickly. Tsuchi bunshin. He muttered, and a clone took shape on his left. The clone wasted no time in grabbing Tenten's hand and moving through one-handed seals quickly. A dozen or so seals later, he finished with a one handed ram seal and muttered.
"Futon : Fuujin"
Almost immediately after, the clone's and Tenten's body were transformed in wind, before they disappeared, leaving no trail of chakra behind, as it was completely different from Shunshin. Instead of turning into chakra, which was why everyone could sense someone using Shunshin, the user turned every parts of his body into the element wind. He thought of this jutsu just now and was happy that it worked.
Meanwhile, Orochimaru who was moving in the dust by locking on Tenten's chakra was stunned to feel it suddenly vanish. 'What happened? How could she disappear so suddenly?' he thought frustrated.
On the other hands, Naruto finally smiled in glee. 'Now that she's not here anymore, I can finally fight the way I like. First thing first, I must stop this dust. It's consuming my chakra way too fast.' He thought while slowly sinking into the ground, his body gradually transforming into earth.
This was currently his most dangerous jutsu, one he created himself. Like the technique Fuujin he just created, it was based on a single principle. Normally when ninjas used jutsu, they manipulated chakra outside the body to affect the nature around them. But thanks to his bunsekigan, he was able to design specific one-handed seals that manipulated the chakra inside the user's body. It was very dangerous, so he thoroughly tested each jutsu he created by using this principle. He made an exception earlier, because of the situation they were in.
Anyway, this particular jutsu allowed him to turn his body into earth, thus allowing him to fuse with every physical material, and move around very quickly. It had the side effect of completely erasing his existence, as he became nothing more than a part of the nature.
Just before he was completely swallowed by the ground, two Tsuchi bunshin formed and then moved toward their target. While the original stayed inside the earth observing calmly the whole fight in a safe place. 'Now let me see your secrets, snake sannin'.
A few meters away from Naruto, Orochimaru was looking for his target in frustration, as he couldn't sense Naruto at all. 'Kabuto wasn't kidding when he said the boy was a demon in stealth. To think that a sannin wouldn't even sense a mere genin.' He was quickly losing his patience as time went by.
Suddenly he sensed a barrage of flying weapons coming toward his position, fast. He moved to the side, escaping the senbons he saw pass by him. Another barrage came from behind this time, so he quickly jumped to a branch to take higher ground.
BOOM!
The branch he jumped on exploded, severely damaging him, as he never noticed the exploding note on it, thanks to the reduced visibility. Once the smoke was lifted, only mud was left behind, indicating that Orochimaru was only a clone.
One of Naruto's clones, standing upside down on a branch, sighed. He had expected such thing anyway, so he looked for the real Orochimaru, only having to stop feeding chakra to his feet to fall on the ground. Just in time to escape a flamethrower that incinerated the tree he was previously standing on.
But it did allow him to find his target position, and quickly moved toward his prey. It wasn't long before he came to the position, only to stop just before an exploding note detonated almost taking him out too. 'Shit, that was too close for comfort' He quickly hid himself again.
Orochimaru on the other hand, moved quickly through branches, having come to the conclusion that staying put would be dangerous for his health. He came to a halt when he noticed something wrong with his surrounding. 'KAI' he yelled, just in time to dodge a senbon that flew by his neck.
'Damn, I didn't even notice he put me in a genjutsu. He almost had me there.' he thought before throwing shurikens toward the clone he located while moving through hand seals.
"Shuriken kage bunshin." He muttered, just before the shurikens transformed in a black rain of weapons.
It was then that he heard something that sounded like Doton : earth's dome. He saw the way the earth moved to form a dome of solid earth, protecting the clone from the rain of shurikens. Not deterred, he went through hand seals again before muttering Katon : Karyu Endan. Before releasing a huge stream of fire on the dome, heating it, before it disintegrated, incinerating anything inside.
Unfortunately, he was forced to stop the jutsu when another Naruto appeared behind him and slammed several times, his palms on his torso. He was propelled toward a tree, and slammed on it. And like before, it turned into mud. The clone seeing this, said out loud.
"Shit! I am dead!"
"Indeed" said a voice behind him, before he was violently punched in the face. But Orochimaru was surprised when the Naruto turned in mud also. 'Mud clone too?' he thought just before he went through several hand seals. 'I think I have played long enough.'
"Suiton : Suiryuudan no jutsu" The moment he uttered those words, water surged from the ground, before taking the shape of a huge water dragon and moving through all the dust, rendering it heavier, before it felt on the ground, thus ending Naruto's jutsu.
Naruto, seeing this, appeared in front of Orochimaru and sighed in exasperation. 'At least, he is allowing me to study him thoroughly, without even taking notice of it.' he thought smirking at the end.
Orochimaru, seeing the smirk, went through some hand seals quickly, before slamming his palms on the ground yelling.
"Kuchiyose No Jutsu"
A giant puff of smoke covered him entirely, masking him from Naruto. The latter tensed after recognizing the jutsu 'a summoning jutsu Tch! I gambled on the fact that he wouldn't use high costing jutsu considering he could easily be sensed by anbu because of this.' he thought more surprised than worried.
When the smoke was lifted, Orochimaru was standing on a rather large snake with huge scales that appeared to be very strong. He looked at his target licking his lips in glee "Show me Namikaze, show me what your blood is capable of." Yelled Orochimaru insanely before giving the signal for his snake to charge his target.
The snake obeyed quickly by sliding towards Naruto, like a predator after his prey. Unfortunately for it, in this case, no one could safely say who was the predator and who was the prey.
Naruto not wanting to waste energy dodging the snake quickly, slammed a smoke bomb on the ground hiding him. When the smoke was cleared, he was gone completely. Much to the ire of the snake sannin, who was looking everywhere for him. It was only thanks to his many years of experience and hard gained reflex that he was able to dodge a rain of senbons that slammed on the scales of the snake, but fortunately, didn't affect it.
Using the direction in which the weapons came from, he looked up, just in time to see Naruto about 50 meter in the sky, going through hand seals at an unprecedented speed even for him.
Naruto finished his hand seals for a jutsu he just thought, before extending his right palm in front of him, directed at Orochimaru and his snake. He whispered to himself "Futon : Buddha's Palm". And just like that, the pressure of the air above his target multiplied tenfold and slammed on Orochimaru and his snake with such force that it left a giant handprint on the ground.
The snake was completely obliterated and dispelled itself, while at the last second, Orochimaru pulled a Kawarimi, escaping the attack, but not without suffering a little from the sudden change in pressure.
'What the fuck was that? I've never seen such jutsu before. Kukukuku you interest me even more Namikaze Naruto.'thought the traitor sannin before looking at the still airborne Naruto.
Not wasting anytime, he launched 3 kunais at him, after enhancing them with wind chakra. But he was disappointed when instead of hitting their target, Naruto dodged them easily by maneuvering in mid air using wind manipulation. He couldn't help but be in awe at what a genin was capable of, but quickly got back to the matter at hand, and used a burst of speed to jump in the sky and appear above Naruto who had his back on him. 'Perfect kukukuku'
Everyone looking at the sight would have automatically assumed that it was the end for the boy as he couldn't see the incoming Orochimaru, but they wouldn't take into account the fact that Naruto improved his tsuchi bunshin so much that now, he could easily share his senses — sight, hearing and the likes — with his clones. So it wasn't surprising when the free falling Naruto saw Orochimaru above him, thanks to the sight of the real naruto still fused with the ground and watching the fight.
So when Orochimaru was about to drop kick him to the ground, he rotated on himself so fast that an after image of the rotation was still visible. That was the application of the Piercing Dragon style. Instead of Orochimaru slamming his kick on naruto, the later kicked the offending leg to the side, before rotating again and then slamming the same leg straight in orochimaru's face.
He wasn't surprised when Orochimaru disappeared in the form of crumbling dirt. 'Tsuchi bunshin !' he thought before he finally touched ground. 'I think I learned enough about him, and all those techniques are taking a toll on the original. Note to myself : find a way to increase my reserves quickly.'
At the same time, another Orochimaru appeared behind him and pierced him through his gut.
"Ghuuhh …" naruto coughed violently while looking at Orochimaru who was smirking at him.
"Kukukuku Naruto—kun, you are strong indeed, for someone your age. But after seeing this, I just simply cannot allow you to live and reach the level of your late father."
"If only you had accepted my offer." finished Orochimaru removing his sword from naruto's gut quite roughly. He was surprised though when naruto didn't even flinch and looked at him in the eyes.
"Orochimaru of the sannin. I had assumed that someone of your standing would be able to see through the thin veil of reality. But it seems that I overestimated you." He said still coughing, while Orochimaru snarled.
"You said that, yet you're the one who is dying." The smugness in his tone was missed by Naruto.
To which naruto just smirked. "Don't you see it? Since the beginning of this fight I knew that I couldn't beat you. So I did the next best thing."
Orochimaru leaned in anticipation, and a bit unnerved. "I goaded you into revealing more about you and your fighting style to me. While, of me, you learned nothing. After all, what would you learn after fighting only clones ?" Finished naruto before crumbling in dust, completely stunning the sannin to silence.
He had never felt so humiliated before now. The last time was when he tried to steal Itachi's body, only to be defeated rather easily by the Uchiha prodigy. But this took the cake. He just noticed right now that he never fought against the real naruto, not even once. And what stunned him the most was that he came close to death several time while just fighting clones. Granted in a fair fight, he knew that he could easily defeat naruto, but from the way he saw naruto fight, a fair fight didn't exist in his vocabulary. So that was how the snake sannin, one of the most powerful ninja in the world was thoroughly shocked and humiliated by a mere genin.
Not very far, merged with a tree, naruto observed the sannin sink into the ground with his special Shunshin jutsu. He sighed before quickly using his newly created jutsu Fuujin to convert his whole body into air molecule, to move where his clone took Tenten. All the while smiling at all the information he gained from his fight with the sannin. 'I can't wait to use this for my training.' he thought smiling, before he disappeared in a gust of wind, leaving behind, a devastated forest.
Author's Note:
I hope you liked it. Tell me what you think. Now I will work on my other story and hopefully I will update it tomorrow.
Next time everybody.