We'll Get Home, I Promise

by Takeshi1225

A lot can change in the little moments creating a vastly different future. A lot more can happen when two worlds collide. Shinachiku, the son of Naruto and Sakura, and Arata, the son of Sasuke and Hinata, are transported to the world of Boruto where the problems of their own world is now shared. This isn't the same Konoha, but they will defend it all the same. That they promise.

15. Skill vs Power

We'll Get Home, I Promise

Chapter 15: Skill vs. Power

Within the village of Konohagakure, to those none the wiser to the events going on out in the world currents with new visitors from another plane of existence, all seemed peaceful.

The same could not be said at the Hokage Tower at this moment in time.

"WHAT?!" Sakura's voice was heard screaming out from the Hokage's office. Said pinkette slammed her hands hard on Naruto's desk, creating fissures upon impact. "You sent my daughter, your son and the rest of their friends on a mission against a dead bastard that nearly got Shinachiku and his friends killed?! What the hell, Naruto?!" Sakura screamed at the Hokage, who kept a calm, straightforward demeanor.

The blonde just simply extended a letter to Sakura, who snatched it out of his hands and read through it.

"This guy specifically wanted all those who had left on the mission as a demand, otherwise he would kill Team 5, with the only ones not included being Sumire Kakei, who is currently in Ryūtan City. They all took part in their own mission to Iwa, and he wanted those people in particular to face. I believe Mitsuki was also involved, but for some reason he wasn't mentioned in the letter." Naruto explained.

"And Boruto and Sarada went anyway because they wanted to save their friends as well." Sakura stated with her eyes closed.

"We raised them to well." Naruto said with a small smile and shrug.

"Don't say it like that." Sakura said with her hands against her hips.

"Uh… sorry." Naruto apologized, realizing that how he worded it made it seem like… well, you know.

Sakura sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Why not send back-up? People to keep track of them from a distance?" Sakura asked.

"The same reason you are so worried. We don't know anything about this Iwagoro. Only Shinachiku and Arata do. Any shinobi we send, even to track them from afar, might only result in more captives… or casualties. I've never met this man, but from what I've seen… well, he definitely isn't someone you want to come across, especially without knowing what to expect." Naruto said with a frown.

"I… can kind of guess this next one, but I'll just ask anyway. Why didn't you just go to help handle this? You're strong enough to take this guy down on your own." Sakura 'wondered', causing Naruto to sigh as he stood up and faced the window.

"Thanks to the efforts of Team 7 and Shinki's team, Konoha now is in possession of two scrolls that the Cult of Jashin is after. Any time they want they could just show up and attack the village just to gain it, and from what I learned from just the Nana Deshi alone… I can't risk not being here when just one of them shows up." Naruto said.

"I know." Sakura said in defeat as she looked down with a somber expression. "Did you warn Iwagakure and Kumogakure about them?"

"The second we got news that Suna was hit. They're preparing for the coming storm." Naruto answered.

"… Did you think they'll be able to defend against them?" Sakura asked, looking to her friend. He didn't turn to her but she could see his unsure expression from the window's reflection. She sighed as she looked down to the side. "I hate this." Sakura confessed with a frustrated frown.

"You and me both. These guys are a real pain, 'ttebayo." Naruto replied.

"No. I mean, being forced to stay here while our own kids have to go out there and fight for their lives in a fight that we should be handling!" Sakura clarified.

"It was no different when it came to us." Naruto retorted, turning to her.

"I know! Trust me… I know." Sakura said as she hung her head as Naruto stared at her with somber eyes. "The world's supposed to be different now, but it all feels the same… actually, I take that back. The world is different. Now thanks to those things out there, and I'm not just talking about the cult." Sakura said with clear worry and frustration.

"How are the shinobi at the hospital doing?" Naruto asked.

"It's getting bad, Naruto. Those things… the Oni Zetsu… they're everywhere. Every time a shinobi comes into the hospital, it's been the same for what feels like forever now. 'Monster. Yōkai everywhere. Aiming to eat people. The horror.' It's all been the same, and what's worse is that not only do I have to let my only daughter go out there in a world now being populated by those creatures, but that this is something that Shinachiku has to live with in his own world. Beast that suck the chakra right from your bodies, creatures that can use jutsu only found within Kekkei Genkai and towering monsters that can destroy an entire battalion on highly trained shinobi with just a swing of their arm." Sakura sighed as she walked over towards the side of the desk and gently sat on it, covering her face with her hands. "It's all getting to me. It's all tearing me apart… seeing so many people getting hurt and coming home lucky to at least still have their lives, even when discharged… the fear… of my own child… of Sarada or even Shina being in that condition… and I can't do anything about it… because if I try and go out there, more people will come in begging to be treated and I won't be there to ease there pain… it's getting to be too much." Sakura lamented, uncovering her face to reveal a tired and distraught expression.

Naruto gently placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder, causing her to turn to him to his somber yet sympathetic expression.

"I'm getting scared too. Not just for the safety of the kids, especially Boruto and Shina, but all of them who took up the mantle of shinobi. Given the report sightings and the reports you've sent for the injured shinobi, I decided to recall all the genin outside the village and postpone missions for them until we get a better grip on the situation." Naruto shared.

"That's gonna rub some people the wrong way." Sakura informed.

"I don't care. It's better than the alternative. I made a promise to change this world for the better, and one of those ways is to make sure the children don't lose their lives when they just got started living it." Naruto said with a stern expression.

Sakura couldn't help but smile at this. Naruto's resolve to always do best by those of the village always puts a smile on her face, no matter what.

"Glad to see age hasn't dwindled that spirit of yours." Sakura said, causing Naruto to smile back at her.

They both suddenly heard a creaking noise, alerting them before Naruto's desk gave way from the damage Sakura unintentionally had down to it.

Before the pinkette could fall on her rear, Naruto managed to grab her by wrapping an arm around her waist.

The two blinked in surprise at the this, before hearing someone clearing their throat, making them turn to see Shikamaru at the door with a dull expression.

Once Sakura took in all what happened and what it now looked like, her face turned red with embarrassment as she quickly slapped Naruto away, getting out of his grasp.

"Ow!" Naruto cried out as he slammed into the office wall.

"It's Not What It Looks Like!" Sakura screamed out upon instinct in embarrassment.

"I know." Shikamaru said, still never losing his dull expression as he entered the office and face the down Naruto. "I came to tell you that everything's been arranged. We've gotten word from Ryūtan City that they're sending over some professionals from the Advanced Technology Research Institute, all prepared to bring Scientific Ninja Tools to assist. We've also started distributing the copies of new booklets out to the shinobi villages of the Five Great Nations." Shikamaru informed Naruto, who was shaking off his minor headache.

"Good work, Konohamaru." Naruto said, sitting up as he held the side of his head.

"I'm Shikamaru."

"Oh, sorry. I'm still trying to find out where I am and stuff." Naruto said, clearly still disoriented thanks to Sakura, who looked to the side in embarrassment.

"That makes two of us!" Kyoto shouted as she crawled out of Naruto's jacket and ended up on his shoulder. "You! Woman with strength that can make a bijū blush! Watch it with how much power you put behind those slaps of yours! This numbskull is holding precious cargo now!" Kyoto reprimanded the pink haired medic.

"S-Sorry." Sakura apologized to the cosmic powered amphibian, before recalled what Shikamaru had just said. "Wait, what booklets?" Sakura asked, looking to the Nara.

"Because of the new threat known as the Oni Zetsu an increase of injured shinobi has happened throughout the world, so thanks to the guidebook Shinachiku and Arata provided, we managed to make our own and are going to be distributing it throughout the Five Nations to help inform them on this threat and how to handle these creatures. We've also created a second guidebook, this one of Fūinjutsu, ones both documented and ones Shinachiku had created for us. Fūinjutsu is the go to technique that works on these things, and helps keep them from invading a village." Shikamaru explained.

"I see. And the Scientific Ninja Tools are going to assist in that, I'm assume." Sakura deduced with her arms crossed.

"That's right." Naruto said as he finally got to his feet. "In Shinachiku's world, Scientific Ninja Tools had gained a purpose to be used on the Oni Zetsu. Not only in providing a shinobi jutsu to use once they have exhausted almost all of their reserves or for a licensed civilian with no skills in ninjutsu a way to defend themselves, but also by utilizing the technology with fūinjutsu, they can now wrangle up and detain these creatures."

"Licensed civilians? Even people who aren't shinobi are being issued these?" Sakura questioned in surprise.

"Within legal reasoning, of course. It's gotten bad in that world, and our world looks to be heading in that same route where we might have to implement those same routines." Shikamaru said with a frown.

"O-Oh." Sakura looked down with a worried frown.

"Yeah. This whole scene has gotten way too troublesome, all thanks to those cultist bastards." Shikamaru said with clear frustration underneath his calm façade as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Is there anyway to go back from this?" Sakura asked.

"I don't think so. Given how these creatures work, being born from spores that fuse with the lingering chakra and being released upon the death of one of them to spread and create more, I don't see how we can eliminate this threat complete. They're like a never-ending disease." Shikamaru said with an annoyed frown.

"Actually… there's a way." Kyoto said, catching everyone's attention.

"Wait, seriously? Why didn't you say so before?" Shikamaru questioned with shock and a hint of anger.

"Because I can't do it alone." Kyoto said, confusing the three shinobi. "Once my sister is back to full health and these cultists are kicked out of this world, then we can do a cooperation shinjutsu (Divine Technique) that will put both worlds as they were meant to be before the disruption of the walls of both realities had occurred. Those cretins and their spores will all be sent back to their own reality, leaving this world cleansed of whatever presence they had." Kyoto explained.

"So we're stuck with them until then. That's just great." Shikamaru said with a disappointed frown.

"Wait, what did you call that just now? Shinjutsu?" Sakura asked with confusion.

"Don't worry about that. Just know that one my sister is all healed up and those bastards and kicked straight back to where they belong, then she and I can set everything back to what it was before they showed up." Kyoto said.

"Hold on, does that also include the lives of those lost by the results of the cults?" Shikamaru asked as now he, Sakura and Naruto were hopeful.

"What part of 'set everything back to what it was' did I not make clear? The walls separating realities are fragile. If more influences from one reality seep in, then this will result in cracks, and the more things get through to those cracks the larger they become, which soon makes more cracks. My sister and I do not only work as doors from one reality to the next, but we are also carpenters who must fix these cracks as well. The problem though is that the cracks exist on both sides, so without one, unfortunately we'd just be delaying things instead of properly fixing them." Kyoto explained.

"Are you saying that the Oni Zetsu are actually coming through these cracks?" Naruto asked with surprise.

"It's quite possible. While I can never detect when something from my sister's reality enters ours, I can sense when there are distortions, or as I had put them, cracks. These immortal bastards must have been dragging some Oni Zetsu of their own with what little of the power they had syphoned from my sister that the insignificant cracks they've already created from before have expanded enough for not just those things to crawl through, but their own spores as well, spreading throughout the rest of the world at a much faster rate than they were able to do alone." Kyoto speculated.

"That would explain why there has been a rapid increase between when they started their assault and now, and given that so far from what we know they only have a finite supply, so using what they have to spread these things throughout the rest of the world in not even a week's time is unfeasible." Shikamaru deduced.

"So, did this all start when Shinachiku-kun and Arata-kun arrived?" Sakura asked.

"No. See, when a single entity or group enters another reality, it does not do any real damage at all. If the boys wanted to, they could have arrived and immediately went back, no harm, no foul. Repeated visits are also possible, so long as entry points are spaced out. It's when done constantly where the problem starts to occur. Recall how I referred to the jewel on my back as a door. Like a door, if someone were to keep opening one up and slam it shut again repeatedly does damage start to show. Cracks within the door's frame start to show allowing little insects of all kinds to squeeze on through, which can also lead to more cracks the more start going in through as too many squeezing through and living within those cracks start to spread them out more." Kyoto explained for the group.

"And these guys are just carelessly making more. How troublesome." Shikamaru said with a sigh as he rubbed the top of this head.

"It's also why I tried to keep myself out of that bastard, Saisei's hands. His damage would have been greater. His plan was to use me to get him into other universes that I am not immediately connected to like my sister, and in doing so required a lot of force to rip right through the wall separating us from them, but in doing so leaves an even bigger and more damaging hole that the rest of the reality with start to react to, and what's worse is that by hopping from universe to universe, he would create a chain, linking all the realities he went into together which not only causes their influence to leak into the others, but also connecting the damage done to each, piling atop of one another, with the gravity of each universe pushing on top of one another, until all of it could not hold over any longer and all connected universes would collapse atop of one another, unleashing a cosmic destruction on a multi-universal scale!" Kyoto complained, causing Naruto, Sakura and Shikamaru to have looks of shock and fear with their eyes greatly widened by this news.

"It's a good thing Shinachiku and Arata showed up then." Naruto said.

"Them showing up is what brought the bastard out of his slumber, but considering that they got rid of him for me, I let it slide." Kyoto said.

"So, you can go into other realities?" Sakura asked.

"No. I am merely a doorway. Each one of my kind is tied to the reality they exist in. My sister and I were birthed around the same time from another source, which makes us more connected to one another than the other doorways. It's not to say we can't open doors to those other realities, but it would require a massive amount of energy to do so. Even for one doorway." Kyoto answered.

"All this new information is making me more tense. So far, we don't even know the end goal of the cult. The only information we've ever had regarding the name Jashin was that it was a mysterious cult of unclear origin that follows the belief in killing as a great service to their god. To go through the trouble of arriving at another world just to kill more seems rather illogical, even for them." Shikamaru said.

"They're bloodthirsty cultist. Does that really surprise you that much?" Kyoto said with a frown and frontal legs crossed like arms.

"Normally not, but from what little we know of the Nana Deshi, they're different from the cultist that Konoha has encountered before: Hidan and Ryūki. Those two were fanatics of their religion, but the original seven come off nowhere near as unstable as they are, at least not when it comes to their beliefs." Shikamaru rebutted. "That also leaves the question on what they want with the scrolls."

"Did our intelligence corps get into looking in on those?" Naruto asked.

"They did, but what they witnessed inside, they couldn't make heads or tails of it."

"What's in them?" Sakura asked.

"We believe it might be a sealing formula, but if it is, it is highly advanced. They've never seen anything like it before. To the outside eye it would looks like a whole mess of scribbles, but our professionals could tell that it's like a networking system that's been separated from completion with both scrolls being two pieces of a whole puzzle not yet complete. That's all we've got so far." Shikamaru explained.

"What would they want with that?" Sakura questioned.

"We don't know. The answer would lie with the origin of why these separate scrolls were entrusted to the Five Great Villages. Until we get any new info or a better grasp on the scroll's contents, I'm afraid we'll be left in the dark." Shikamaru said with a minor annoyed frown.

"What about Shinachiku? Maybe he can help decipher the formula." Sakura suggested.

"If he manages to come back, then we'll probably have to. Won't be a guarantee he'll manage to decipher it without the rest of pieces though."

"Hey! What's with this 'if'?! He is coming back! They all are!" Sakura shouted, gritting her teeth in annoyance before looking down with a troubled expression. "They have to." Sakura said in a low, worried tone as she then felt a hand on her shoulder, knowing who it came from.

"They will. We just have to trust they'll get this job done. All of them." Naruto said with a serious expression that showed his strong sense of trust for the genin in Kusa.

Sakura sighed as she looked down, thinking of the kids, mainly her own daughter and Shinachiku.

'Come back, you guys. Stay strong, Shinachiku… you too, Sarada.' Sakura thought, hoping for the best.

.

.

Sarada gritted her teeth as she glared at the Wanyūdō (Wheel Monk) before her, Boruto and Team 10.

The area surrounding them had patches of fire scattered with the genin having slight burns, scratches and soot on them.

The Oni Zetsu growled at the children before it, baring its fangs as the fire surrounding it crackled and danced with the wind.

"Man, how troublesome." Shikadai complained with an annoyed frown.

"Oi, Sarada… you think we should finally take these things off?" Boruto asked his teammate, bring up his arm to refer to the sealing formula around his wrist.

"Nah. We're not in that bad a shape. We can still take him." Sarada answered.

"Yeah, speak for yourselves! We don't have that same luxury of some hidden power we got locked away at the moment!" Inojin complained as he ripped off a Iyashi-satsu (Healing Tag) off his pant leg where he had been struck earlier.

"Would you quit complain, Inojin. All we got to do is keep this guy down for long enough for Sarada to land a finishing blow on it. Simple enough." Chocho said with a shrug.

"It's not that simple!" Inojin argued.

"No… but she is right. I'm calling it. That's going to be our goal right now." Shikadai said.

"Huh?!" Inojin looked to him in confusion.

"Look out!" Boruto called out as the Wanyūdō rushed over, tearing a path through the ground and creating a burning trail and large dust cloud as it almost rammed the genin, who managed to leap away in time. "It's better than jumping around like grasp hoppers to avoid this thing!" Boruto called out.

"It's coming back!" Chocho called out as the Wanyūdō had made a U-turn, coming back towards the group with it aims squarely on Inojin, forcing the artist to jump away, but since it was towards the side, the Wanyūdō fired out diamond-like projectiles at him.

Inojin brought his arms up to block, but luckily Shikadai came in with a save by creating a long shadow hand that grabbed and tossed Inojin away.

"Thanks Shikadai!" Inojin called out as he landed on his feet, only to notice the Wanyūdō charging towards him. 'Oh come on! Why me?!' Inojin thought with a look of fear.

Before the Wanyūdō could strike, Chocho charged in and punched the Oni Zetsu in the face, sending it back and hitting the ground onto its side.

"Man, that thing is way too predictable." Chocho said with a smirk.

"Thanks, Chubs." Inojin thanked his teammate with an appreciative smile.

"You can pay me back with a bag of potato chips when we get home." Chocho said with a nonchalant smile and eye smiles.

"So~, is that it?" Boruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm~… not sure." Sarada said, not ready to let her guard down just yet.

"Well, we can't let it be left alive. Boruto, make some clones to finish that thing off." Shikadai ordered.

"Gotcha." Boruto said with a nod, getting the Nara's idea, as he made three clones to go over towards the down Oni Zetsu.

The clones carefully made their way over towards the Wanyūdō with their kunais ready, expecting any sort of resistance from the creature.

They were right to be cautious as the Wanyūdō's wheel started spinning fast, alerting everyone, as it slide against the ground, charging right through the clones, slicing and tearing right through them.

"Jump away!" Shikadai ordered as they were all forced to leap away from the Wanyūdō. However, the creature stopped underneath them with its head spinning in place as then a tornado of fire erupted from the Oni Zetsu's center. 'Oh no!' Shikadai thought with worry as he and the others brought their arms up to block as they were all hit by the fire tornado.

They all screamed in pain as they were sent flying away, scattering apart from one another. The genin rolled against the ground with new burns and scorch marks around their clothes with some lingering fire on them.

Sarada groaned as she tried getting to get back up. On her arms and kneels, she looked around to find her friends, only to look in shock at the large tornado of fire. It then burst, unleashing a shockwave of fire, forcing Sarada to bring up an arm to block her face from the heat. Her Sharingan was active as she peeked through the cracks between her fingers, only to gasp upon noticing the Wanyūdō sliding towards her, ready to shred her to bits. Sarada's eyes widened in shock as electricity sparked around her arms and legs.

Right before collision, Sarada managed to shoot up from off the ground, dodging by the skin of her teeth.

Now over the Wanyūdō, the Oni Zetsu stopped and glared at her, with Sarada glaring at it back with her eyes shining red.

Sarada brought her right fist back as it burst with lightning and more coursing around her body, especially the lower part.

The Wanyūdō puffed its cheeks out with more crystallized chakra as its head started spinning around creating a new fire tornado under Sarada.

Sarada was not deterred by this or the incoming ranged threat. She surrounded lightning around her legs, giving them enough strength to kick the air hard enough to unleash a shockwave that had her rocketing down towards the Wanyūdō.

The Wanyūdō fired a spiraling storm of diamond-like projectiles at Sarada, but with her Sharingan and thanks to her training with her father and Arata, she actually managed to dodge a good chunk of them, only earning a few grazes on her shoulder, torso and one across her right cheek.

"CHANARA!" Sarada screamed around as she closed in on the Oni Zetsu, causing its eyes to widen in surprise before collision.

The Wanyūdō managed to slide away enough to not be hit face-first, but a chunk of its wheel was smashed to bits along with a hefty amount of the ground when Sarada's fist met. The Wanyūdō went flying as Sarada shattered apart the ground into large chunks. The Wanyūdō managed to land on the ground wheel-first thanks to its spikes. It moved to look towards Sarada, glaring at the girl, who was still hunched over with her fist in the ground, glaring back with her blazing red Sharingan. The Wanyūdō growled at her before it noticed an eighth of its wheel was broken off, causing it to let out a noise of surprise with widened eyes, before glaring and growling at Sarada with more intensity.

The Uchiha stood up straight, never taking its glare off of the creature, before bringing her hand up, gesturing for it to come at her, surprising the Wanyūdō.

"Bring it." Sarada spoke, causing the Oni Zetsu to growl and glare with even greater anger.

The beast's cheeks puffed out greatly as it fired a huge flurry of projectiles at her.

Sarada grabbed a sizeable chunk of the ground she had broken off and ran with it, using it as a shield.

The Wanyūdō turned and fired several one in front of Sarada's path, forcing her to stop in place to stop being pierced. The Oni Zetsu rushed towards her the best it could with a chunk of its wheel missing.

Hearing the oncoming attack, she slammed the chunk of earth down, using it as a literal stepping stone and leaped up high, avoiding collision as the Wanyūdō broke right through the stone, scattering it to pieces.

The Wanyūdō narrowed its eyes as its missing piece to interrupt its moments and spun around, thanks to a spike stabbed in the ground, to face Sarada with its cheeks puffed once more and fired at her.

Sarada noticed it was ready to unleash hell upon her. Without time to dodge again before impact, Sarada surrounded her arms in lightning chakra, and once landing, start sending a flurry of punches that parried and shattered the diamond-like projectiles coming her way.

The Wanyūdō started spinning its head in place, delivering its projectiles in a spiraling formation.

Sarada sweated as she was forced to swing her arms faster and was actually stepping back from keeping herself from being pierced at the legs. Sarada growled, glaring at the Oni Zetsu with shining red eyes, earning a few grazes here and there from the few projectiles that got by her.

'Dammit! I got to do something!' Sarada thought with gritted teeth.

The Oni Zetsu suddenly burst with fire as it was now unleashing a fire tornado towards Sarada.

Sarada's eyes widened in shock before glaring again, ready to fight through the pain.

"Boruto Sutorīmu~…" (Boruto Stream) A voice was heard, causing Sarada to gasp as four Borutos appeared overhead with two forming a large Rasengan in their hands. "Ōdama Rasengan!" (Big Ball Spiraling Sphere) Two Borutos launched the two creating the big ball jutsu with a wind jutsu from their palms, sending them rocketing towards the Wanyūdō.

Thanks to Boruto, his Ōdama Rasengan was colliding with the projectiles, protecting Sarada in the process. The jutsu went right through the fire tornado with its flames actually being absorbed into the jutsu, creating a flaming Ōdama Rasengan.

The Wanyūdō's eyes widened in shock before it was met face first with the flaming Ōdama Rasengan.

Boruto and his clone let out an audible battle cry as their jutsu burst with wind and fire, sending the Wanyūdō flying back away, slamming it straight into a nearby boulder.

"Yatta!" Boruto and his clone cheered with a hop, a grin on their faces and their fist thrust into the air before the clone dispersed. "Hell yeah! Managed to land a decisive blow! All that training really did pay off, dattebasa!" Boruto cheered with a pair of fist pumps. "You okay, Sarada?" Boruto asked his teammate, turning towards her.

"Yeah. Thanks for that." Sarada thanked Boruto with an appreciative smile.

"So~… is it over?" Boruto asked as he and Sarada looked towards the rubble the hid the Wanyūdō.

Fire erupted from the rubble, unleashing an explosion as the Wanyūdō, now super pissed and scarred, growled with an angry glare towards the boy that sent it flying.

Its face had cracks throughout it with fissures around its wheel.

"You managed to really damage it!" Sarada said with surprise and amazement.

"Hell yeah I did!" Boruto cheered with a victorious grin and another fist pump.

'And with a ninjutsu. It can't absorb chakra so long as it's firing those projectiles. Which means it might be the same the other way around to. That's how I can land a hit!' Sarada thought to herself as she readied her arm up in a guard with lightning chakra sparking around them.

The Wanyūdō roared as it charged towards the pair at high speed and blazing with fire.

Boruto formed a Kieru Rasengan (Vanishing Rasengan) and leaped towards the side and tossed it towards the face, only for his eyes to widen to see its head spinning and unleashing another fire tornado.

Luckily, Sarada, fueled by lightning release, managed to bullet over and tackle Boruto away before contact.

Both rolled against the ground to a halt, with the blonde groaning.

"Now we're even." Sarada said as she got on her knees. 'Thank you, Raiton: Ōbādoraibu.' (Lightning Release: Overdrive) Sarada thought to herself, looking to her hands that sparked with lightning.

"It's coming back!" Boruto shouted, noticing the Wanyūdō making a U-turn, while still unleashing a blazing tornado from its face, lighting up the area more.

Suddenly, shadow tendrils shot from the ground and stabbed into the Oni Zetsu's wheel and face, causing it to cease its actions, shocking Boruto and Sarada.

"Hey!" A voice called out, making them turn to see Shikadai. "Don't just lay there! Hit this thing before it eats my shadows!" Shikadai called out, only for the Wanyūdō to already start devouring the shadows.

Sarada quickly got to her feet and readied some shuriken in her hand that she surrounded in lightning chakra. She threw them towards the Wanyūdō as the curved around and struck it in the face, managing to nail it in the left eye.

'Nice!' Sarada thought with a grin and fist pump.

The Wanyūdō growled with anger before roaring as a large fireball was unleashing from its mouth.

'A fireball!' Boruto thought with shock.

'Dammit! Of course it could do that!' Shikadai thought with irritation as he was forced to release his jutsu and leaped away to the side. He hit the ground, managing to dodge the blast in time, but with his jutsu released, the Oni Zetsu quickly rushed towards him. Shikadai's eyes widened in shock to see that the Wanyūdō was still able to move so fast and about to strike him. 'Crap!' Shikadai thought with a look of horror.

"Chō Baika no Jutsu!" (Super Multi-Size Technique) Chocho screamed out as she dived towards her teammate from behind, growing many times big and using her arms to block the Wanyūdō from hitting Shikadai, but it still hit the back of her right forearm.

Chocho screamed in pain as the Wanyūdō tore into her arm like a saw blade, leaving a wound that spurted out a massive size spurt of blood.

"Chocho!" Shikadai called out his teammates name with worry.

"You Jerk!" Chocho screamed out as she grabbed the Wanyūdō, causing her left hand to bleed as she tossed it away. Chocho got on one knee and groaning in pain as she looked to her arm to see the large, bleeding gash.

"Chocho! Are you alright?" Shikadai asked with worry for his enlarged teammate.

"Yeah, but it ruined my perfect skin! I'm going to kill that thing!" Chocho complained with annoyance. The sound of laughing children were heard as Akateko from nearby trees stretched towards the now super-sized kunoichi, grasping her in several places around her back. "Get Off!" Chocho shouted out as she turned and swung at the many hands, swatting them away.

The Wanyūdō came charging back and delivered a long gash up along Chocho's left leg, causing her to scream in pain as it flew right off of her, leaving a long, deep gash with burns around it thanks to the Wanyūdō's flames.

Chocho groaned in pain as she started shrinking in size as she pain consumed her mentally, causing her to release her jutsu.

Inojin came flying in on a large red and yellow hawk from his Chōjū Giga (Super Beast Imitating Drawing) and caught the now normal sized Chocho before she hit the ground.

"Don't pass out on me yet, Chubs!" Inojin said to her teammate. He heard more child laughter, causing him to quickly take out his tanto and start slicing at the Akatekos. "Would you get lost!" Inojin shouted, ignoring the screaming cries of children the best he could as he sliced at the red-handed Oni Zetsu.

"Inojin… watch out!" Chocho managed to shout out, catching her blonde friend's attention to notice the Wanyūdō started firing projectiles at them.

Inojin willed his bird painting to fly around, dodging the diamond-esque projectiles.

As the Wanyūdō focused its fire power on the flying targets that it gave Sarada the chance to rush over to attack it from behind.

"Chanara!" Sarada screamed out, only to be surprised to see the Wanyūdō's face had actually formed along the other end and fired projectiles at her. "Dammit!" Sarada exclaimed as she was forced to parry the projectiles as she did before.

Luckily, thanks to Sarada's actions, Inojin and Chocho were no longer being shot at as the Wanyūdō was only able to switch places on its head.

Inojin tossed a kunai with bomb tag at the back of the Wanyūdō's head, causing it to roar in pain, allowing Sarada to charge in and slam her fist into its face. She tried to transfer as much lightning chakra into the Wanyūdō before sending it flying away into trees from afara.

"Dammit… that was too shallow." Sarada cursed her luck as she panted.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Shadow Clone Technique) Boruto shouted out as he rushed over, creating five clones with him. They all let out battle cries as they started tossing kunai with bomb tags towards where the Wanyūdō was, creating several explosions atop of each other.

The Wanyūdō roared out in anger, creating a shockwave that dispersed the explosions. It was cracked everywhere with damage and was actually panting, but it still had enough fight in it.

"Dammit, just die already!" Boruto shouted with annoyance. The Wanyūdō puffed out its cheeks and fired its projectiles into a spread shot, striking the clones and nailing Boruto across the shoulder. "Crap." Boruto cursed as he held his wounded shoulder.

The Wanyūdō panted, looking pretty exhausted from all the battle damage.

"It's almost down!" Inojin called out.

"Guy! Give me an opening! I'll finish this with one more hit!" Sarada called out towards the rest.

"Inojin! Can you make anything that can dig? I need some holes!" Shikadai called out.

"Uh, yeah, sure!" Inojin called out as he quickly made several paintings in the shape of moles to dive down towards the ground and start digging into the ground.

"I'll help out!" Boruto said as he created several clones and started digging into the ground.

The Wanyūdō panted a bit, before gritting what was left of its fangs as it started to roll around the area, unleashing fire along the way. It fired more projectiles as it circled around Shikadai and Sarada.

Inojin flew down towards Shikadai, grabbing him and saving him from being hit, while Sarada was dodging the best she could thanks to her reflexes, dojutsu and lightning enhancing technique.

Borutos shot out from the ground and tossed kunai with bomb tags at the Wanyūdō, forcing it to stop firing and weave around the best it could to avoid damage, as the Borutos quickly went back to digging to make more holes.

Both Sarada and the Wanyūdō stopped and faced one another.

The Uchiha and Oni Zetsu glared at one another, one with red gleaming eyes and the other with an angered one eyes glare.

The Wanyūdō fired a scatter shot towards Sarada, who leaped away. The Wanyūdō sped after where she was about to land, but shadows suddenly came out of the nearby holes and trapped the Oni Zetsu in place. It managed to notice Shikadai back on the ground with his shadow extending into a hole in front of him, which assisted in his Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique), to restrain the Wanyūdō. The creature growled as it focused on sucking up the shadows into its mouth, but suddenly the Borutos came out of the ground and tossed more kunai with bomb tags at it, causing another cluster of explosions, making the beast roar in pain.

"Sarada! End this now!" Shikadai ordered.

Sarada quickly dashed over to be across from the Wanyūdō's face. She flipped back and landed upon the surface of a nearby tree. She focused lightning chakra around her body, ready to unleash her final move on the beast that was now covered in a dust cloud. A diamond-esque projectile fired from towards her, grazing Sarada across her cheek.

The clouds of soot managed to clear a bit to reveal the Wanyūdō panting with its whole force now cracked. It puffed up its fractured cheeks, ready to fire again, only to be hit in the side of the face, interrupting its attack.

The original Boruto had managed to launch another Kieru Rasengan that he prepared to stop it from retaliating again.

"Go For It!" Boruto and his clones called out.

Lightning burst and coursed around Sarada with the bark of the tree cracking from the pressure.

"Raiton~… HARUNO DANGAN!" (Lightning Release: Haruno Bullet) Sarada rocketed forward, destroying the tree she used for support.

Before the Wanyūdō knew what hit it, Sarada slammed her forehead straight into the Oni Zetsu's face. The Wanyūdō's eyes bulged as in an instant Sarada's forehead caved right into its face as she then broke right through it, completely destroying its head and scattering many pieces of its wheel flying scattering away.

Sarada rolled against the ground a bit before being caught into one of the Boruto clones' arms. Sarada grunted a bit with her eyes scrunched up, before looking up to see the Boruto clone smiling down at her before giving her a grin and thumbs up. Sarada blinked her eyes before returning the gesture with a grin and thumbs up of her own.

Shikadai let out an exhausted sigh as his shadow receded and returned to normal.

"Man… that was a drag." Shikadai said, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked around to see the area filled with flames thanks to the Oni Zetsu, along with surrounding trees. 'What a mess.' Shikadai thought with a frown.

"Hey guys! Look at what's left!" Inojin called out, making the group on the ground notice that the pieces of the Oni Zetsu were dispersing into spores.

"Oh, shit! That's right! We have to stop those spores!" Sarada called out, quickly getting out of the Boruto clone's arms.

"Not a problem. We got this." The Boruto clone that caught her said with a smirk.

The rest of the Borutos hurried over, taking out scrolls and opened them up to reveal sealing formulas.

"Fūin!" (Seal) The Borutos called out as they sent chakra into their sealing formulas, causing them to start sucking in the spores into them. Once sealed away, the Borutos grinned as they tossed the scrolls towards Sarada's feet.

"Mind doing the honors?" The Boruto clone gestured for Sarada to destroy the scrolls, earning a nod from the Uchiha who prepared a jutsu.

"Katon:Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique) Sarada blew out fire onto the scrolls, incinerating the scrolls into ashes. "Not bad with the fūinjutsu." Sarada complimented the Boruto beside her.

"All thanks to Shinachiku-onii-chan!" The Boruto clone said with a grin and flexing his biceps before dispersing along with the rest of the Boruto clones.

'Yeah… thanks to Shinachiku-onii-chan.' Sarada thought with a smile, then looking to her hand as it sparked with a little bit of electricity before dispersing. 'And Arata-onii-chan.' Sarada's smile widened. She noticed Inojin's hawk fly down with its user hopping down with a still injured and slightly dazed Chocho in his arms. "Chocho!" Sarada called out her friend's name as she rushed over with worry.

"Don't worry. I used those healing tags on her. Two of hers on her leg and one of mine on her arm." Inojin said as he laid Chocho down against the ground and started applying medical ninjutsu on her arm to speed up recovery.

"Let me help." Sarada said as she started healing Chocho's leg.

"Man, there's so much fire. And all caused by that little thing." Boruto said with surprise at the fire dancing around the area.

"Little?" Shikadai questioned with surprise at such a claim.

"Well, little compared to that giant spider one we fought last time." Boruto added.

"Wait, you mean they can be bigger?" Inojin questioned with shock.

"Yeah, they can. In fact, there's a chance there are bigger Wanyūdōs than the one we just fought." Sarada said with a serious frown, recalling facing a larger version of the Jinmenken on their last mission.

"So, we just took out a small fry." Shikadai said with a serious and worried frown.

Boruto suddenly felt a tug within his pouch. He reached in and took out the kunai that had Denki's name on it. He felt a small pulling sensation from it, making him raise an eyebrow. It almost felt like it was trying to guide him somewhere. He decided to kneel down and place the kunai on the ground, noticing it spin towards a certain direction, pointing towards an open path from across the area.

"Hey guys! Look!" Boruto gestured down towards the kunai, causing everyone to look down to it.

"A kunai on the ground… how earth shattering." Inojin said with a dull expression.

"No! Look!" Boruto moved the kunai to face the other side, before it moved on its own once more to point towards the path again, surprising the others.

"It's like a compass." Sarada said with surprise.

"Huh? Say what?" Chocho questioned, finally regaining herself.

"It's leading us towards Denki!" Boruto exclaimed with a glad grin.

"So that's why he tossed those kunai. Each one leads to whoever's name is on it." Shikadai pointed out, recalling Iwagoro tossing four separate kunai towards them.

"If I recall correctly, Shinachiku-onii-chan had Iwabe, Arata-onii-chan had Metal, and Konohamaru-sensei had Udon-sensei. We were all separated for more than just dividing and conquering." Sarada deduced.

"Which means each group has their own obstacle between them and their target. We just handled ours, but there's no telling if there's more." Shikadai added.

"If there is any more, we'll just kick the crap out of them until we all get back home together, 'ttebasa!" Boruto said with gusto. "Now let's go save Denki!" Boruto shouted as he thrust his arm up, only to flinch and grab it by the shoulder. "Ow." Boruto said, holding onto his shoulder wound from earlier.

"Baka. You got wounded earlier, remember? Don't put any more strain on that shoulder of yours." Sarada said with a frown.

"You can go help him. I think I'm healed good enough, Sarada." Chocho said, gesturing for her friend to go ahead and heal her teammate.

Sarada nodded and headed for Boruto and focused on healing his shoulder.

"Can you walk, Chubs? Because I don't want to have to carry you the rest of the way." Inojin said as he helped Chocho to her feet.

"And it's an attitude like that, that will never get a girl interested in you, Inojin. You really should start taking lessons from someone like Arata-kun." Chocho said with her head held high.

"Pfft. Yeah, good luck with that." Boruto said with a smirk, recalling Arata's discomfort regarding certain affections.

"What was that?" Chocho questioned with a steely anime glare.

"Nothing." Boruto said, focusing his light of sight forward with a cheeky little smile on his face, making Sarada sigh.

"Hey, Boruto. You and Sarada are still holding some power back, right?" Shikadai asked, just to be sure.

"Yeah, we are. And we still managed to take that Oni Zetsu down!" Boruto said with a grin and fist pump with his free arm.

"Still, it was a tough battle we just went through." Sarada said as she was finishing up on healing Boruto.

"Good thing you didn't unleash your full strength. Considering what's up ahead, we'll need it for later." Shikadai said.

"Trust us… we know." Sarada said with a frown as she pulled her hands back from Boruto's now healed shoulder.

They all flinched and turned when they heard the noise of trees falling down to notice the flames were spreading fast.

"Damn, this whole place is turning into a raging inferno." Inojin said with surprise and a bit of worry.

"Last thing we need is to get caught up in it." Shikadai said.

"Then let's go and save Denki!" Boruto said as he quickly grabbed the kunai and hurried off.

"Boruto, wait!" Sarada called out as she and the others hurried after him. "Damn that idiot!"

"Well, it's not like staying here is the better option. Although, it does worry me that we're just letting this part of the forest burn." Inojin said.

"Who cares? Those icky red hand things are living in them! Let them burn for all I care!" Chocho complained with great annoyance.

"Good point. Still, not a big fan of letting some trees burn down." Inojin replied.

"Boruto's the only one with a water jutsu, and even that won't be enough to put these flames out, even if he does go all out. Better he saves that strength for later." Shikadai reasoned.

'I just hope these flames don't cause too much of a problem.' Sarada thought feeling complicated with a frown as she and rest headed for the only path available to them.

.

.

Back within the section of the forest Team 15 had been fighting in, Wasabi and Namida finally started to stir. They groaned as they regained consciousness and managed to sit up.

"Wasabi?" Namida looked to her friend to see she was okay.

"Namida?" Wasabi looked to her pigtailed friend, before gasping as her previous memories flooded back to her. "Tsubaki!" She quickly turned to see her samurai friend near them with her back facing them. "Tsubaki, where's that…" Wasabi stopped speaking when she noticed in the distance was Arata, standing across from Kisame. "Arata's here?"

"He is?!" Namida turned to see the blue-haired shinobi across from them. "Oh thank goodness! Arata! Be careful! There's this scary shark guy with a weird sword!" Namida called out.

"He's well-aware." Tsubaki answered, not facing her team.

"Have… have they just been standing there?" Wasabi asked, noticing that neither swordsman were budging from their spot.

"Why aren't they?" Namida asked.

"They can't. Not without giving the other an opening." Tsubaki answered, surprising her teammates.

Arata stared calmly at Kisame, who stared back but with an unsure gaze.

'This kid's pretty good. He doesn't have his sword out, but I can sense that his isn't unguarded. I go in, and he'll retaliate immediately. My instincts are telling me that isn't a good idea.' Kisame thought as he slightly gritted his teeth.

Arata continued to stare at Kisame for a moment, before reaching into his pouch and taking out a kunai, catching everyone's attention.

"Wasabi." Arata spoke the cat enthusiast's name as he tossed over the kunai without turning away from Kisame.

"Huh?" Wasabi managed to catch the kunai that she noticed had Metal's named on it.

"That kunai works as a compass. It's tracked onto Metal's chakra signature. Take your team and go rescue him while I handle this." Arata ordered, not taking his eyes off Kisame.

"And leave you here?! Are you crazy?! Do you know who this is?!" Wasabi shouted out.

"Kisame Hoshigaki. The Monster of the Hidden Mist. S-ranked missing-nin from Kirigakure. Has been dead for fifteen years within this reality I am to assume. Crimes involve assassinations on officials and a daimyo, and for attempting to overthrow Mizu no Kuni's government. Weapon of choice, Samehada (Shark Skin). A sword that devours chakra and shaves a person's body upon contact, scraping away their chakra in the process. It is symbiotic, feeding off of its wielder's chakra constantly, making it the hardest of the Seven Mystic Swords of the Mist to wield. Because of his immense pools that allow him to wield the sword for days, Kisame has been known as the Motanai Bijū (Tailed Beast with a Tail)." Arata listed off.

"Well, someone has done their homework." Kisame said with a grin.

"You were partnered with my uncle once and I fought your kin before. Couldn't help but be curious." Arata said.

"My kin?" Kisame questioned.

"Shizuma Hoshigaki." Arata replied.

"Oh, I recall him. Bloody thirsty to the core, but had trouble keeping his head straight." Kisame said with a grin, recalling the little brat who couldn't get enough of slicing things to bits, especially things that bleed. "I'm willing to bet he lost to you."

"Hn." Arata responded. "You three better go." Arata said to Team 15.

"You can't be serious! Did you even-" Wasabi stopped shouting when she noticed Tsubaki raised a hand up.

"You both go. I'll stay behind in case anything happens." Tsubaki said, keeping her eyes on Arata and Kisame.

"What? But Tsubaki-"

"The more time you spend here, the more is being wasted on recovering our ally. I'll be fine. This way, in case anything happens, I'll be there to assist in any way, so you'll have nothing to worry about." Tsubaki explained. 'No way am I going to miss this duel.'

Wasabi still didn't like this. She didn't want to leave her comrades behind.

"We should go." Namida said, shocking Wasabi. "They'll be fine. Let's just have faith in our comrades, like they do in us." Namida said to Wasabi with a serious expression on her face, radiating with determination.

"Namida…" Wasabi was surprised by her best friend's bold behavior. She then looked to Tsubaki and then Arata, who looked to her and gave her a subtle nod. After a moment of silence, Wasabi gained a serious expression and nodded back. "Alright. Let's go Namida."

"Right." Namida nodded.

Wasabi brought up the kunai, feeling it tugging in her hand. She opened up her hand, allowing it to move to face the path towards the side of the area. She and Namida hurried off towards the direction of the path.

Kisame's grin widened a smidge, causing Arata to furrow his brow and Tsubaki to tense as her instincts were kicking in. The shark man rocketed towards the retreating brunettes with Samehada reared back, alerting everyone.

'Namida! Wasabi!' Tsubaki quickly readied herself to defend her friends.

All of sudden, a large pure white skeletal arm made of chakra stretched out getting in between Kisame and his targets, shocking everyone. The skeletal hand attempted to grab him, but Kisame swung Samehada, tearing right through it and devouring its chakra. His instincts suddenly screamed at him that trouble was coming at him on the right. He leapt away to the side just as Arata appeared at his right and sent a horizontal slash.

Kisame skidded back in a kneeling position until he came to a halt. He held his right side, gritting his teeth in pain. He looked down and uncovered his hand from his side to see there was no blood, not even an open wound or any injury whatsoever… and yet he felt that certain pain there.

'I don't understand it. I know it's not there, but I can feel it. The sensation of my skin being cut, and muscles being shredded into… and yet there is no wound at all.' Kisame looked to Arata to see him re-sheathing his chokuto. 'So, it really wasn't an exaggeration. His striking power is so intense that it feels like you've been dealt a serious wound from a bladed end when he uses the blunt side. This might be a good fight after all.' Kisame thought with an excited jagged tooth grin.

"This guy is seriously creepy." Namida said with a worried look.

"You guys go on ahead. He won't try that again." Arata said as he kept his eyes on Kisame.

"R-Right. We'll take your word on it. Let's go, Namida!" Wasabi said turning to her shorter friend, earning a nod as they hurried off towards the path that led out of the area that they were in.

None of the others moved until both girls finally made it out.

Kisame and Arata kept their eyes on one another, making sure not to give the other a moment they could take advantage of.

Kisame started to rise to his feet, only to flinch as he felt his side aching as if it was still freshly cut. His eyes widened when he noticed Arata already in front of him with his chokuto ready. Kisame managed to block the downward diagonal strike with Samehada brought up in front of him, but he felt the top of his forehead was hit and he was forced to close his left eye as the outer side of that was struck as well.

Kisame was forced to step back and gain some distance from Arata as he placed a hand over the left side of his face. He pulled it away and looked to find no blood on his hand, despite feeling like he was cut down his face.

"Tch." Kisame started opening his left eye with a grin on his face. He suddenly laughed with excitement, while Arata stared at him with a stoic gaze that hid intensity behind them. 'This Really Will Be Fun!' Kisame thought as he let out a roar and swung Samehada, which stretch out far, forcing Arata to leap back.

Kisame rocketed forward and went for a bite with his sharp teeth, causing Arata to move to the side, only to then notice Samehada curving around to bite him like a snake.

Arata easily leaped back, but it bought Kisame time to form one-handed seals.

"Suiton:Suiton: Bakusui Shōha!" (Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave) Kisame's cheeks puffed out as he then spat out a high volume of water, creating gargantuan waves that overshadow Arata and Tsubaki, forcing them to leap high into the air to avoid being hit.

Kisame broke through one of the waves, firing his way towards Arata and swung Samehada, now normal size, at the Uchiha-Hyūga, which was met with a slash from his chokuto.

The collision of swords made sparks and created a force of wind.

The shark man grinned with maniacal excitement while the blue-haired shinobi gave him a stoic glare with his brow furrowed.

The waves consumed the entire open area, resulting in a flood that covered it all.

Tsubaki landed atop a nearby stone structure that managed to have its deep not be consumed by the body of water. She remained silent and watched intensively of the duel between the ex-Kiri and trans-dimensional Konoha shinobis.

Kisame and Arata now fought on the water, speeding around and clashing their swords against one another, aiming for a clean strike to the other's body.

Kisame was actually having a tough time keeping up with Arata. He managed to block his strikes, but he had to actually put in a lot of effort to keep his eyes on the boy. Arata was moving so fast, that every time Kisame's eyes managed to land on him, he moved out of sight the next second. Kisame growled as he sent chakra to his legs to increase his speed to match Arata.

Tsubaki tried keeping up the best she could, but to her it looked like they were just appearing from place to place.

Arata and Kisame clashed in the center of the water, creating a shockwave when their swords met, causing the water beneath to ripple and make waves.

Arata had his scabbard brought to the side and sheathed his chokuto, ready for an iaijuts slash. Kisame fired a shot of water from his mouth, forcing Arata to leap back. The shark man shot forward and was about to swing Samehada, but Arata's chokuto fired out of the scabbard, almost striking Kisame in the right eyes, forcing him to move his head to the side and screwing up his momentum. Arata disappeared and reappeared behind Kisame overhead, grabbing the hilt of his chokuto, and spinning it in hand.

"Kenpō: Kurosu!" (Sword Art: Cross) Arata delivered an upward slash with his chokuto and a horizontal swing with his scabbard.

Kisame managed to turn in time and blocked the blade with Samehada, only for the sentient sword to growl in pain from the power behind the strike as Arata's chokuto cut right into it, while Kisame quickly leaned back and was forced to close his eyes feeling the force behind the scabbard. Kisame took steps back and leaped away to get some distance from Arata.

Arata quickly assumed an iaijutsu stance as he glared at Kisame, who was trying to open his eyes, then dashed forward.

Kisame's instincts kicked in as he brought Samehada up to block again as Arata delivered nine slashes faster than the eye could see, followed by one final powerful slash that sent him skidding back. Kisame roared, finally snapping his eyes open as he sped over.

The two entered a meeting of slashes, both pushing the other back between each exchange. Kisame growled as he tried fighting the kid with his raw power, but Arata stoically glared at him as he met every swing with one of his own.

Kisame delivered a downward slash that Arata blocked with his sheathed chokuto. The shark man grinned as he forced Samehada to elongate its spikes, but right before it did, Arata quickly unsheathed his chokuto and delivered a horizontal slash to Kisame's stomach just as the spikes shot out.

Arata grunted as he felt himself being pierced at the shoulder and arm with a graze across his right temple, while Kisame gritted his teeth in pain as it felt like his stomach was cut open, despite no wound present.

Arata sent lightning chakra to his arm muscles, giving him the boost to push away Kisame, who stumbled back, holding his stomach.

"Kenpō: Tobu Taka!" (Sword Art: Flying Hawk) Arata delivered an iaijutsu strike so quickly and strong that it created a blade of raw force flying towards Kisame, forcing him to block with Samehada, leading to it screeching in pain from being cut into by the force as Kisame was sent skidding back again.

Arata re-sheathed his chokuto and dashed towards his target at high speed.

Kisame growled as he decided to release hold of Samehada and make hand seals with both hands.

"Suiton: Goshokuzame!" (Water Release: Five Feeding Sharks) Kisame slammed his hands into the water, creating five large sharks made of water that bombarded Arata.

Arata dodged two of the sharks, then performed two slashes that cut two others. He backflipped over the fifth and threw his scabbard right through it with enough force to make it explode, and once landing, he turned and sent an upward slash that killed the fourth. He prepared to delivered a horizontal slash to the fifth, but Samehada burst right through it with its maws wide open. Arata furrowed his brow and delivered his slash, which collided with Samehada's teeth, chipping them a bit.

Arata started running backwards and slashed at Samehada, who chased after him to try and take a bite. Arata sensed a disturbance in the water beneath him, as he leapt away from Kisame, who tried attack him from behind within the water.

The ex-Kiri-nin grabbed Samehada by the hilt and spun, delivering as wide slash that was about to collide with Arata as he started descending.

"Kenpō: Rasen!" Arata rapidly spun in the air in a spiraling motion as his chokuto repeatedly met Samehada, screwing up its momentum, and allowing Arata the opportunity to land to the side. Arata charged electricity around himself as he went for a stab, but Kisame blocked it with Samehada, who growled with anger as the chokuto was stabbed into itself. Arata brought up a ram seal as his scabbard fired from out of the water and struck Kisame right in the spine, making him groan in pain.

Kisame growled with aggravation as he then unleashed a roar with his body unleashing a burst of chakra that sent Arata back. Kisame rushed at him and delivered swings, each one Arata avoided. He delivered a strong downward slash that Arata hopped back from, creating a plume of water from collision.

Arata thrusted his palm forward, delivering a Hakke Kūshō (Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm) through the eruption of water, forcing Kisame to sink into the water at the last second. Arata quickly rushed over towards the side and went around to grab his scabbard.

Kisame erupted from the water, delivering a rising strike that Arata dodged, then a downward strike.

Arata blocked with his scabbard and quickly took out his chokuto that was still stabbed into Samehada, pushed the sword away and leapt back, re-sheathing his blade.

"Suiton:Suikōdan no Jutsu!" (Water Release: Water Shark Bullet Technique) Kisame shouted, slamming his hand down onto the water as a large shark made of water shot up from beneath Arata.

Arata managed to use his legs to keep the shark's mouth apart so he wouldn't get bit, then delivered another Hakke Kūshō downward, destroying the water shark and giving himself some leverage.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Arata blew out a vast volume of fire towards Kisame. The shark man grinned as he sent a strong swing with Samehada, negating the jutsu and devouring the chakra used to make it, but when he did, he noticed Arata facing downward towards him while in midair. "Kenpō…" (Sword Art) Arata spoke as he tightened the grip of his hilt just as Kisame's instincts were screaming approaching danger. "Kuni Kizuato!" (Land Scar) Arata delivered a lighting fast swing that created an invisible force that rocketed down towards Kisame.

Kisame's eyes widened with his teeth grit as he instinctively brought up Samehada to block the attack. In the instant, he felt an intense, powerful force strike into him and his sword. Samehada screamed in pain as bits of it were being cut off, while Kisame felt an immense weight pushing him down, causing him to sink more into the water.

In a second, a long thin gap formed within the body of water, separating the body underneath Kisame into two, going on for a quarter mile.

Kisame's eyes widened greatly as he fell in between the cracks before it closed up, consuming him in the process.

Arata landed back upon the ground with his knees bent and chokuto re-sheath as he was in a iaijutsu stance. After a moment, Arata let out an exhale he had been holding for a moment, before standing up straight.

On the side, Tsubaki stared in awe at the exchange of powers she had just witnessed. Never in her life did she expect to experience such a duel between two masters of the blade. They may not have been samurai and relied on jutsu within their battle, but they truly are deserving to be called swordsman.

This battle felt like one for the ages and she was grateful to witness it with her own two eyes.

Though it was clear to her as the battle raged on that Kisame was more of a man who relied on power above all else. Granted, he was a master of the blade, as he should be, but it was clear that his go to in combat was his immense strength and power that he'd use to overwhelm his opponents. Arata on the other hand, though had power and strength of his own with his blade, relied more on technique and the speed to use it. He had refined his abilities with his sword to such a degree that no normal swordsman could match him. Only a monster or powerhouse like Kisame could ever meet him head on, and even then, Arata showed that he was gaining the upper hand because of the craft he mastered.

Such as his last attack, which, as the name implied, could scar the land itself. In this case it was the water, leaving it with an open would that lasted open for a solid couple of seconds. What really amazed her was the fact that the technique he showed used no chakra whatsoever. Thanks to her years of training the art of kenjutsu, she was able to tell when a sword strike had chakra to amplify it.

There was no chakra used for Arata's technique. It was pure kenjutsu. Relying on the strength of the wielder and their use of the blade. She couldn't imagine how long it had to have taken him to achieve such a feat. How many training sessions he went through to reach such a level. How much pain he had to endure to build his body up to accomplish even an iota of what he had done.

She desires to one day achieve such a level and use a technique just as immaculate as she had just witnessed this day.

'Shishou… you were right. There is much I can learn from shinobi.' Tsubaki thought as her eyes were focused squarely on Arata.

Arata stared at the spot where Kisame once stood with his glare being slightly more intense. Despite not being in a stance, he still kept his guard up. He could feel it. A storm. The clouds started to form for some time, and now they came together as a whole, readying to unleash what was within. He gripped the hilt of his chokuto tighter as he felt his nerves rattled a bit. He listened to his instincts well.

What came next will test him greatly.

That duel truly begins with the next move.

Kisame slowly started rise from the water where her had fallen. He was hunched over while ascending but when his face arose, Arata could see the clear excitement on his face. Despite the pressure that was put on him, Kisame could not help but grin with his eyes focused on the younger swordsman, reflecting joy. He felt himself rejuvenated from the experience. What was locked inside was now bubbling towards the surface.

The thrill of a real battle with the looming shadow of death hovering over.

It was a feeling the fanged swordsman had missed for so long.

The ex-Akatuski member finally rose above the water, now in a kneeling position with a gurgling Samehada, twitching in both anger and pain as its spike-like scales moved around.

Kisame let out a chuckled that strained with pain.

"Now this is something. I haven't had a fight like this before in my life. A battle against a true swordsman. No over-reliance on jutsu. Just pure skill. I never thought I'd be so blessed." Kisame said to Arata with a grin, with the Uchiha-Hyūga remaining silent. "Normally, the stronger my opponent is, the stronger I become, but this is a whole different league. A new territory I've yet to explore. Unfortunately, it's not a territory I am confident I can overcome. At least not on even level as a fellow master of the blade. I have power and stamina, but sadly I don't have the same kind of speed you do. The most important factor in a sword battle is who can strike first, speed is crucial. It's like I'm a swordsman ready to unsheathe my blade and before I can you already have struck me with five consecutive strikes. It doesn't matter how much punishment I can take, and I can take a lot. Sooner or later all those decisive strikes you'd land on me will catch up, and I can't really feast on much of it since you don't rely on chakra with your bladework. Fighting you on even level like that would just prolong an inevitable defeat for me." Kisame's grin suddenly widened. "Unfortunately for you, I didn't become known as the Monster of the Hidden Mist for my way around a sword."

Arata readied his chokuto with a stern expression on his face, while Tsubaki gasped as she felt a cold shiver run down her spine.

Out of nowhere, Samehada suddenly bit into Kisame, shocking the two genin while Kisame's grin widened a smidge.

Spikes just like Samehada were appearing all over Kisame's body.

'This again.' Arata thought with narrowed eyes.

'What is happening?' Tsubaki thought with a trouble look.

Samehada was fusing into Kisame's body, causing it morph into something else. The shark-like man grew a pair of fins that stuck out of the back of his arms, and a long dorsal fin sticking out of both his back and the back of his head which smoothed out and elongated forward, losing its human features such as his ears, nose and hair, leaving only his teeth which became sharper and his round beady eyes. His skin gained scales and his neck was no longer human but looking like that of a shark's neck complete with large girls. His hands and feet became webbed with sharp nails sticking out and finally he grew a long tail, almost akin to a reptile.

Tsubaki gasped in shock while Arata groaned with annoyance.

"Barely anyone has seen me like this. The true essence of a wielder with Samehada, both sword and user one and the same. A true monster!" Kisame said with a shark-like grin.

'Ba-Bakemono!' (Monster) Tsubaki thought with a new sense of fear, while Arata got ready for round 2.

"Ultimate Violence against Ultimate Technique! I wonder which of our natures will come out on top now!" Kisame announced with ravenous excitement.

.

.

Wasabi and Namida rushed down the path they had went for with the cat enthusiast leading with the kunai with Metal's name engraved in hand.

Namida heard splashing, making her look down to find the path was now being covered in water.

"Where's all this water coming from?" Namida wondered as she noticed it was flowing from behind them. "Is this coming from-"

"No time for that. Let's just trust that they can handle this! We got a friend to save!" Wasabi said.

The continued on down the path until they noticed an opening up ahead. They picked up the pace until they arrived into a small open area with a dead end.

"There… there's nowhere to go." Namida said with shock.

"No! That can't be!" Wasabi argued as she looked around to find anything resembling a passageway. "No, no! Dammit! Not like this!" Wasabi cursed their luck as she rushed around to find anything.

Wasabi halted when she felt the kunai in her hand started to move on its own. She remembered it's purpose, and quickly started moving it around to find something. When she faced it in a certain direction, she noticed it tugging differently. Downward. Wasabi opened up her hand to notice the kunai tilting downward then falling to the ground.

"Wasabi?" Namida looked to her friend in confusion as the cat girl knelt and picked up the kunai, only to feel the tug downward again.

Wasabi walked forward as she felt the tug getting stronger. She stopped when she felt a powerful pull downwards, enough to move her arm. She noticed on the ground in front of her were shrubs. She knelt and pushed them away, only to notice an opening that led to a flight of stairs made of stone.

"Ah-ha!" Wasabi cheered with a cat-like grin. "Namida, come here!" Wasabi ushed her friend over.

"Is it safe to go down there?" Namida asked, feeling a little nervous about going underground.

"I can't say… but we don't really have a choice. Metal's waiting for us." Wasabi said with a frown.

Namida nodded understandingly as she psyched herself up to go below for her friend.

The two brunettes went down the flight of stairs. The continued for a bit until they reached the bottom to find themselves before a long and wide passageway.

"Wasabi… I don't like this." Namida said, feeling more nervous.

"Me either. Stay on your toes." Wasabi said as she and Namida started traveling down the passageway. The pair kept looking around, preparing for any trap that might be waiting. After a bit, they pair heard a sound, like something moving within the earth. Namida suddenly screamed out in pain as she felt something cut her across the leg. "Namida!" Wasabi turned towards her friend to see her kneeling with a nasty cut on her leg and a spike protruding from the ground below.

"My leg!" Namida exclaimed in pain, holding her bleeding leg.

"Oh no." Wasabi said, as she then heard the same sound underneath her. She quickly leaped to the side in time to avoid another spike. "Dammit! Namida, hop on!" Wasabi ordered as she knelt in front of Namida, allowing her to climb upon her back. "Nekokaburi!" (Cat Covering) Wasabi put her hood on as cat-like chakra ears formed.

They twitched as they heard more rumbling beneath.

Wasabi quickly leaped forward, avoiding new spikes. She hurried down the hall as a row of them followed her.

"Wasabi! Above you!" Namida called out as a giant spike shot from the ceiling, forcing Wasabi to leap towards the side, but when she did, another spike came out of the wall with the tip stabbing her in the arm.

Wasabi let out a pain scream as she jumped away, continuing forward as she ignored her injury the best she could. The further she got, the more spikes were coming out of everywhere, from the ground, ceiling and walls.

"Dammit all!" Wasabi screamed out in aggravation.

"They're coming from everywhere!" Namida screamed out.

Wasabi growled in annoyance. She refused to give up. She ran, dash, leaped and dodged the best she could while making sure Namida didn't get hurt. She earned a few cuts here and there, but she fought onward. Never stopping until she got to the end.

Namida was getting worried for her friend. She was running fast and trying to keep them both alive the best she could. Namida wished she could help, but there was no way for her to do anything at the moment, especially regarding her jutsu which could cave them in if she's not careful. Just then she noticed something up ahead.

A door.

"Wasabi, look!"

"I see it!" Wasabi said as she covered her free hand in chakra, creating a large cat's claw. She gave out a battle cry and leaped forward, striking the door, breaking it to pieces as they got into the next room. She skidded to a halt and fell upon one knee, feeling exhausted.

"Wasabi!" Namida quickly got off of her teammate's back, flinching from the pain of her wounded leg but tolerated it as she checked on Wasabi. "Are you okay?" Namida asked with worry for her friend's safety.

"Yeah." Wasabi panted out. "That was scary… but better than handling that Kisame guy." Wasabi then felt the kunai in her hand move. The pull she sensed was strong as her arm stretched forward thanks to it. Both her and Namida noticed someone lying on the floor, tied up with rope. "Metal!" Wasabi shouted out, noticing it was their bowl-cut friend lying on his side.

The two girls hurried over the best they could and knelt in front of him.

"Is he alive?" Namida asked with worry as Wasabi checked his pulse.

"He is. Thank goodness." Wasabi said as she gently moved Metal, only for them to flinch when they saw how badly he was beat up, with a swollen eye and blood along his face. "Crap. Metal!"

"How could he?" Namida questioned, feeling sick from the brutality Iwagoro delivered upon Metal. She looked around to find something, anything, only to notice and open hole high up above the room. "Wasabi, look!" Namida said, pointing towards the opening.

"Good eye, Namida." Wasabi said with a smile.

"It's pretty high. Are we going to be able to carry him out of here?" Namida wondered.

Wasabi had a bit of a troubled expression, until she recalled something from earlier.

"Maybe we don't have to." Wasabi said as she reached into her pouch and took out the Chō Iyashi-satsu (Super Healing Tag) that she was trusted with by her team. After using the kunai to cut Metal's restraints, she placed the golden colored tag upon him.

The pair watched as Metal was surrounded by a golden light, illuminating his form, and taking Wasabi and Namida's breath away.

"Look, his wounds are healing!" Namida noticed as Metal's body was healing almost instantly with his swollen eye receding.

After a few moments, the light faded as Metal then started to stir. He opened his eyes, only to gasp and leap to his feet.

"What happened?! Where am I?! Where is the enemy?!" Metal questioned, now in alert mode.

"Metal! You're awake!" Namida cheered with a relieved smile.

"Whoa. Those tags really are super." Wasabi commented with amazement.

"Huh? Wasabi? Namida? What happened? Why are you here? And where is here?" Metal questioned as he looked around, noticing they were in a dark cave.

"Long story short, you guys were attacked by some creep from the dead and he took you hostage. We managed to save you while the others are recovering the rest of your team." Wasabi answered.

"Some creep? Oh, yes, now I remember! That unfriendly man! I believe he was from Iwa!" Metal said, recalling the tall, dark-haired man who ambushed his team. "Wait, did you say, 'from the dead'?" Metal asked with wide eyes.

"No time for questions. The sooner we're out of here, the better." Wasabi said as she got up from the ground, only for them all to stumble from a sudden earthquake. "Oh, what now?!" Wasabi shouted.

"It's a cave in!" Namida said in alarm. The cave shook, leading to debris starting to fall from above. "Look out!" Namida called out, noticing a large chunk of debris falling down towards them.

"Konoha Senpū!" (Leaf Whirlwind) Metal shouted as he leaped and delivered a flying roundhouse kick, destroying the debris to pieces. "We must escape!" Metal said as he landed beside the girls.

"The only way out is up there!" Namida pointed up towards the hole she noticed.

"It's way too small for all of us to fit." Wasabi noticed. She then noticed Namida fall to a knee again and holding her injured leg. "And you're in no condition to climb that high." Wasabi pointed out with a frown.

"I can carry her!" Metal proclaimed as he assisted Namida onto his back. "As for the hole, I can create a larger one!"

"That'll make the cave in even worse!" Namida pointed out as some debris fell beside them.

"Then we just got to be fast about it." Wasabi said. "Namida, you got one last scream left in you?" Wasabi asked.

"A-Are you sure?" Namida questioned with a nervous frown.

"You're the only one who's powerful enough to make a big enough hole. We're counting you. Just leave the rest to us." Wasabi said with a confident smile on her face.

"We promise not to fail you!" Metal said, giving Namida a smile and thumbs up.

Namida blinked her eyes before gaining a determined look.

'And I promise, I won't fail either of you!' Namida mentally swore as she faced upward and took a deep breath, forming a megaphone with wings from her chakra. 'Namida Sanjō no Jutsu!' (Calling on Tears Technique) Namida unleashed a scream right through the chakra megaphone, unleashing a blast of sound waves towards the hole above.

.

.

Shinachiku, still in the fifth gate activation, leapt back off his hands to gain some distance when he heard the sound of a loud rumbling noise, followed by some echoing screaming from the distance.

"What the hell?" The blonde turned his head towards the direction in confusion.

"Best Pay Attention, Hokage's Boy!" Iwagoro screamed out as he slammed his giant round, spiked iron armored arm down at Shinachiku, with the boy vanishing before impact.

'I hate it when he calls me that.' Shinachiku thought with annoyance as he appeared in the air.

Upon landing, Shinachiku was forced to dodge Iwagoro swinging his massive, armored arms at him. Swerving and leaping away from each blow, ending with a back flip and bouncing of his hands again, before leaping high to avoid a spike of iron that shot out of the ground.

'Guy may be bigger and tougher, but he isn't any faster.' Shinachiku thought as he pulled out a Hiraishin kunai from his jacket and threw it towards Iwagoro, grazing his helmet/upper body as it flew by. He flashed to it, delivering a midair back roundhouse kick to the back of Iwagoro's 'head', sending him flying forward and skidding face first.

"Little shit!" Iwagoro cursed as he quickly pushed off the ground and turned towards the blonde, who quickly made ten clones.

'Let's see how well he does in numbers then.' Shinachiku thought as he and his clones threw more Hiraishin kunai towards Iwagoro.

A pair of clones appeared and delivered a pair of Konoha Senpūs, sending him flying back where he was hit with a right by another clone that flashed by, then another kick by another teleporting one. He was practically being used like a pinball for a bit, before letting out a roar as iron spikes shot out all around his iron hide, just as all the clones appeared for simultaneous attack, nailing them all.

Shinachiku wasn't one of them as he created more clones who all threw kunai with bomb tags at Iwagoro, causing an explosion around him.

The armored ex-Iwa-nin rushing out and tried slammed his arms at the clones, with them dodging, until he hunched over into a ball and fires iron spikes out like scattering missiles towards the clones.

The clones tried dodging the best they could with some being nailed by the spike projectiles. As more projectiles were fired, his armor decreased in mass.

From afar, a Rasengan was thrown his way, nailing Iwagoro in the side as it then burst, causing him to lose balance and focus as his feet were off the ground for a moment.

'Success!' A clone hidden behind one of the pillars Iwagoro created earlier, mentally cheered with a fist pump.

'Konoyaro~!' Iwagoro mentally cursed as he was still feeling the effects of being struck.

A Hiraishin kunai sped towards Iwagoro's torso, where a pair of clones teleported and delivered dual rising kicks to the chin, sending Iwagoro rocketing up.

Clouds surrounded the entire area as then many, many more Hiraishin kunai sped over towards the midair Iwagoro as sixty Shinachiku clones appeared and started delivering strikes, sending Iwagoro flying all over like a pinball once again while chanting.

"U-ZU-MA-KI!" The clones repeatedly teleported and strike Iwagoro for a good thirty seconds. "Uzumaki Nisen Senkō Rendan!" (Uzumaki Two Thousand Combo/Barrage) A pair of clones finished it off by delivering a pair of hard uppercuts into Iwagoro's stomach sending him flying upwards, where another kunai flew as another clone appeared above him with his heel raised up and burning with fire. "Nenshō Tsūtenkyaku!" (Burning Heavenly Foot of Pain) The Shinachiku above slammed his fire covered heel right atop of the back of Iwagoro's head, sending him rocketing downward, only to be grabbed by an elongated arm of orange chakra that reeled him back up towards the Shinachiku that just hit him. "Ura Renge!" (Reverse Lotus) The Shinachiku above slammed both his fist and leg right into Iwagoro's armored back, actually creating fissures before he was sent rocketing back into the ground.

A wide radius of the ground beneath broke into pieces with large chunks elevating higher from original ground level and a large dust cloud was formed, covering a good chunk of the area.

Iwagoro groaned as he tried getting to his armored hands and knees, groaning as more cracks formed with small pieces of iron chipping off. He turned and fell onto his back, releasing a long-pained groan as he felt agony throughout his back.

'Damn. If it weren't for this armor I made that would have done it. I probably would have been killed again, or likely be crippled. Kid has gotten stronger. Even with this more advanced covering, I still feel the blows he unleashes. This blows.' Iwagoro thought with gritted teeth. He noticed a blue light from above. He gasped with his eyes widened as he saw a whole lot of Shinachikus high above him with Chōōdama Rasengan (Ultra Big-Ball Spiraling Sphere) in their hands.

"Ryūsei-gun Rasengan!" (Meteor Shower Spiraling Sphere) All the Shinachikus screamed out as they rained down upon Iwagoro with their jutsus ready.

"Little Shit!" Iwagoro screamed out as he unleashed an audible battle cry as sizeable, sharp projectiles towards the clones.

Big-Ball Rasengans met iron, sharp projectiles, unleashing a collective explosion of power. The exploding Rasengans expanded, forming large blue spheres of chakra creating continuous shockwaves that unleashed forces of wind and spawning dust clouds below.

As they started to subside, Iwagoro stood up from the ground, panting as he focused on reforming his armor to its original state. As the cracks on his back were forming, Shinachiku came rocketing at him from behind.

"Dainamikku Entorī!" (Dynamic Entry) Shinachiku came flying in delivering a hard kick into Iwagoro's back, shattering it more with pieces of iron flying off, launching the ex-Iwa-nin forward.

Iwagoro rolled against the ground, quickly turned and started firing projectiles from his large armored arms, nailing Shinachiku, only for it to turn out to be a clone.

"Cha!" A Shinachiku came in and slammed down his interlocked hands into the back of Iwagoro, only to then be stabbed by spikes extending out from his back.

A pair of Hiraishin kunai came at his side as a pair of Shinachiku appeared, no longer in using gates, as they slammed a Rasengans into Iwagoro's sides.

"Tomon!" (Gate of Limit) Both clones shouted as their Rasengans grew to the size of Chōōdama Rasengans that sandwiched Iwagoro in between them.

Iwagoro let out a scream of agony as he felt the jutsu grind against him at intense speeds, digging away at his armor like a pair of shredders, before they exploded. Iwagoro was still on his feet, shaking as he stood in place with his armored shattered and blood dripping from his skin.

More Shinachikus suddenly appeared as they all charged towards him with battle cries.

Iwagoro gritted his teeth as he let out an angered battle cry with his skin hardening to black. He slammed his hands down into the ground, causing giant spikes of iron to fire around the area towards the clones.

The clones were dodging the best they could with some being stabbed and grazed. They managed to make it close to Iwagoro, who then created a large iron wall.

"Chanaro!" The clones all shouted as they slammed right the wall, only for Iwagoro to be waiting with a large claw made of iron and slashed at them all.

He grinned with satisfaction, only for Shinachiku, in his tailed beast chakra cloak form, to appear right in front of him, shocking the iron bodied shinobi, as the blonde cocked a fist pack and replaced his chakra cloak with the fifth gate.

"Cha!" Shinachiku slammed his fist into Iwagoro's stomach, making him spit up a bit. Shinachiku started delivering punch after punch into Iwagoro. "Asa Kujaku!" (Morning Peacock) Shinachiku announced as he slammed a consecutive blow of punches that ignited with each thrust. Shinachiku punched so fast that he built up a strong amount of momentum that he finished off into a dual blow, a morote-tsuki (pair of hands punch). "PEKKU!" (Peck) Shinachiku screamed, unleashing a tunnel of force right through Iwagoro, shattering his armor apart.

Iwagoro's mouth with wide open and eyes bulged as his body showed cracks everywhere, only for his whole body to crumble apart like shatter stone.

In fact, that's what it was.

Shinachiku's body suddenly sparked with orange chakra flames as he vanished in time to avoid being stabbed by an elongated spiked arm from within the ground.

The real Iwagoro, now back in his Hiden Kuro-Jutsu: Kuronoō: Bōkun (Secret Black Technique: Black King: Tyrant) form in its entirety once again, broke out of the ground and looked around for the boy, only to quickly raise and arm to block something that left a dent in it. He brought his arm over and looked to see it was a stone, indented deep within his armor. He turned and looked up to see Shinachiku on the surface of a pillar, looking down at him with a glare. Iwagoro suddenly started to laugh.

"Warukunai, warukunai (Not bad, not bad)! Guess you weren't blowing smoke about how much stronger you've gotten, Hokage's boy!" Iwagoro called out from within his armor in a taunting manner. However, on the inside, he was gritting his teeth in anger as he glared at the boy, staring down at him in heated silence. 'That last move was new. An Iwa Bunshin (Rock Clone) doesn't work like a regular one with transferring information, just from the little I sensed a second ago and the after math right before more, if I get hit with that move it's not going to end well. Even with his armor on, there's no guarantee that I won't feel a shit ton of pain.' Iwagoro thought as he gritted his teeth more. 'And those flames… that color… I remember those orange flames… how annoying.' Iwagoro's glare became darker and gleaming with pure hatred.

"You weren't kidding about making sure he pays for what he had done a few moments ago." Mamoru said within Shinachiku's mind, with his host remaining silent and continuing to glare at the armored shinobi below. "Anyway, your body's still fine, but even that instant activation caused a number of aches that I got to focus on healing."

'Don't worry. I don't think I need it for this battle. I can break him down all on my own.' Shinachiku mentally responded.

"Even still, I'll charge up my chakra in the meantime." Mamoru said in response. "From the looks of it, he took advantage of that explosion both your jutsus made a bit ago and made a clone of himself."

'Good thing I did too.'

.

.

Away from the battle between Shinachiku and Iwagoro was a clone of Shinachiku, holding onto a Hiraishin kunai in one hand and the kunai with Iwabe's name in the other, rushing towards the direction said Konoha-nin was being held at.

'That stupid bastard. I knew he'd be to damn focused on killing me to notice a clone flashing away.' Clone Shinachiku thought with a stern expression. He noticed a mountain up ahead of him, causing him to stop and open up the hand that was holding the kunai with Iwabe's name, seeing it move and pointing towards the mountain. 'Hold on, Iwabe. I'm on the way!' Clone Shinachiku thought with a look of determination as he dashed his way towards the mountain before him.

.

.

Arata stared at the now fused form of Kisame/Samehada, keeping a stern glare, prepared for what was to come next.

Kisame continued to grin with his eyes squarely on Arata, ready to unleash his now increased raging, bloodthirsty instincts upon the boy before him.

Tsubaki remained still on her little perch upon the stone structure. Her heart still beating, though felt still to the girl. She held her breath as she stared at both combatants. One a warrior, one a monster. One with speed and skill, and the other with power and bloodlust. Her eyes were wide, and brow furrowed with her lips tightened. Her look was intense yet anxious, unable to predict what would come next.

This was no longer a battle between swordsmen. It was one between man and beast found in folklore, and Tsubaki was about to witness it all unfold right before her eyes.

Kisame's grin widened as he let out a small chuckle. His both then immediately sank into the water, making Tsubaki gasp in surprise.

Arata stayed silent as he then closed his eyes. He got into a kneeling position with his chokuto held out in front of him with the hilt lightly resting against the fingers of his open hand.

Tsubaki blinked her eyes, surprised by the stance Arata was taking.

The Uchiha-Hyūga remained still and silent, remaining calm as he did not move a single muscle.

A bit away from him, a fin had risen from the water and sank back in, followed by another across on the other end.

Arata remained still, not reacting unless needed to. He eased his breathing as he focused his sense on his surroundings. He felt the ripples within the water. He could see it all. He could see all of them.

Kisame shot out from the water and was about to clamp his jaws onto Arata's body, only for the blunette to vanished and appear behind him, sheathing his slightly exposed blade into the scabbard, causing water to splash from a long gash before 'Kisame' reverted into a mass of water.

Arata let out an exhale from his nose, before taking in another through his nose as more Kisames came swimming towards him with their maws ready to bite into him, along with their sharp claws. Arata reacted at the last second, moving at high speeds, slashing at the water clones faster than the eye could see. He ducked under some claw strikes and countered with slashes, flipped over one that tried to bite him and slashed him in the back, then slashed at the teeth of another charging at him, causing a kickback to the clone with its teeth now shattered to pieces, surprising it before Arata kicked it through the torso, destroying it, and returned to slashing the rest of the clones.

Deep below, Kisame stared up at Arata, unable to keep up with his fancy foot work, but had a grin upon his face at seeing such skill.

Arata returned to a kneeling position as ten clones came at him in all directions, but faster than they could react, Arata slashed at them all, creating streams of blue light as the clones burst into water.

Arta let out an exhale from his mouth, as he then rose to his feet.

Tsubaki was amazed by Arata's speed and skill with the blade, but above all else, his reflexes. All that training he put himself through was finally bearing fruit, and she was here to witness it. She noticed the water in the area beginning to stir, putting her on high alert.

Arata remained calm as the water rumbled, almost like an earthquake. Suddenly, a gigantic geyser fire from where he was standing. However, this geyser was not made up of ordinary water. It was a collective of sharks made of water.

"Suiton: Senshokukō!" (Water Release: A Thousand Feeding Sharks) Kisame shouted from beneath the water as he created a grandioso amount of water sharks that all fell back towards the water below.

Tsubaki stared in shock and, begrudgingly, awe at the jutsu she was witnessing. She quickly scanned her eyes around to find Arata, who seemed to have vanished right before the shiver of sharks emerged.

Arata had skidded back on the water a good distance from the plume of sharks, but when they felt back towards the water, some rained down on him, ready to bite, only to be slashed into oblivion.

Kisame noticed Arata's position and willed his water sharks to attack the Uchiha-Hyūga.

The sharks started swimming around the water similar to a whirlpool, with a good number of them swimming towards Arata to take a bite out of the blue-haired shinobi.

Arata slashed at a few, dispersing them, but was forced to hop back a few times from several sharks trying to take a bite out of him. He slashed two more, before leaping atop one that tried biting him. He then started using the attacking sharks as steppingstones while slicing a few that leaped at him.

Kisame willed his sharks to start swirling around in the spot Arata was in, causing them to start forming a tornado of water sharks that started to rise up into the air.

Arata leaped from shark to shark, slicing attacking ones as he focused on getting back closer towards the water's surface. He took one last leaped and spun in the air, creating a sphere of chakra, none other than the Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven), creating a hole through the makeshift tornado and landing back onto the water, only to be forced to dodge several plumes of water. Arata skidded back on the water as he noticed the water shark tornado break apart with the aqua-made creatures falling into the water, as the surrounding sharks that weren't part of it sank into the water.

Arata remained on guard for whatever Kisame was planning, which clearly was not going to be good.

His answer came in the form of a giant wave made of the countless remaining sharks that charged right at him.

Arata took in a deep breath as he closed his eyes. Standing up straight, he brought her arms into chamber and readied his palms.

Right before the wave of water sharks hit, Arata snapped open his eyes as he unleashed his jutsu.

'Hakke Kūhekishō!' (Eight Trigrams Vacuum Wall Palm) Arata mentally announced as he thrust both palms forward, delivering a vacuum tunnel that broke a hole right through the wave, creating a small passageway that Arata quickly went through while sending lightning release to his muscles to increase speed. 'Kenpō: Rasen!' (Sword Art: Spiral) Arata spun in the air at a rapid pace, creating a gleaming tornado from the speed and force of the technique as he tore right through any remaining water sharks that blocked his way, making it to the other side.

The water sharks crashed back into the giant flood of water below, resided within it with none on the surface.

Arata looked around with narrowed eyes, not like this one bit.

'Tōmeigan.' (Transparent Eye) Arata activated his dōjutsu to scan the water below, only to for his eyes to widen as he noticed Kisame was expelling a vast amount of chakra that was expanding throughout the entire flood of water, meaning that he was preparing to transform the whole thing into one giant jutsu. "Tsubaki! Get away from the water!" Arata called out to the samurai, shocking her.

Just then the edges of the water shot up into the air, creating a barrier of water.

Tsubaki quickly rushed over towards the edge as fast as she could.

Arata tried to follow, but water sharks suddenly burst from the water around him, attacking the shinobi, forcing him to dodge and counter.

Tsubaki managed to make it to the edge and cut through the water barrier, making it out as she quickly started climbing up the cliff her team stood atop before to get as far away from the water as she could.

She made it just in time too. Arata, unfortunately, did not. Thanks to the water sharks constantly bombarding him and occupying his time, the barrier formed into a perfect ginormous dome as the water within immediately rose up at high speed, consuming the Uchiha-Hyūga.

Tsubaki managed to make it to the top, but when she turned back towards the barrier, she gasped to notice it became a dome completely filled with water.

"What in the world?" Tsubaki was in utter shock.

"Suirō Sameodori no Jutsu!" (Water Prison Shark Dance Technique) Kisame announced within the water dome.

Tsubaki focused on looking for Arata, or at least the best she could. After a second, she finally noticed a spec upper to the center of the water dome.

'That has to be him! He's stuck in the middle of it!' Tsubaki thought with worry.

Arata gritted his teeth as he floated in the center of the water. He looked around with his Tōmeigan to notice Tsubaki managed to make it out of the dome's range. Now he just needed to focus on a way out. His eyes quickly darted downward to see Kisame coming at him at high speed with his maws wide open. Arata quickly brought his chokuto to block the charge. He managed to push Kisame away a bit, but he got cut across his side by Kisame's claws. Arata gritted his teeth more in pain as he held his side with some of his blood swimming in the water.

Kisame chuckled with a big jagged grin, staring at Arata.

"Nice blocking there, but it won't matter. Not here at least. Here, your body's movements are slowed significantly. Even with your immense speed and reaction time, you are still like any other human when in water. Cut in half. Like you will be soon." Kisame said, tauntingly.

'Tch.' Arata furrowed his brow as he glared at Kisame.

"Now die!" Kisame shouted out as he dived at high speed down towards Arata, but just before he could make contact, the boy vanished from sight, shocking the shark man.

Kisame stopped and looked around, surprised and confused on how the young swordsman was able to move even faster than him just now. He sensed a source of chakra speeding towards him, causing him to quickly move to the side, but not quick enough to avoid being grazed on the arm. Kisame growled and quickly held his arm as he felt burning, searing pain combined with the feeling of being cut. He looked behind him to find Arata, now covered in a coating of lightning release surrounding his body, causing Kisame to blink his eyes in surprise.

"I see. You've surrounded yourself in a sort of armor of lightning release that increases your movement speed and reaction time, along with strengthening your muscles. Not a bad idea. Still though…" Kisame faced Arata as he brought up his arm to reveal the burn scar on it was now healing at a fast rate. "It's made of chakra. Sure, it may hurt me, but Samehada can still devour it. Remember, the stronger my opponent is, the stronger I become. That armor still requires chakra to keep it going. It also doesn't change the fact that you still need air to survive. I can breathe in here and stay in the form much longer as a result, but sooner or later, your lungs will give out and that armor soon after. I just need to wait out that time!" Kisame said with a cocky, jagged grin.

Arata narrowed his eyes. He already knew that fact. He needed to get out of the water. Taking out a few shuriken, he encased them in lighting chakra and threw them towards Kisame at high speed, forcing him to swim around them, allowing Arata enough time to speed towards the top.

Kisame's grin widened as he went through several hand seals and thrust his arms upward.

Arata noticed a tunnel of chakra rocketing upwards, passing him by and stopping at the top where several sharks made of water charged down towards him. Arata quickly slashed at them, destroying them, but this bought Kisame enough time to rocket upwards with his jaws wide open. Arata quickly dodged towards the side, avoiding Kisame's chompers, but the shark man actually bit off a piece of his lightning armor.

Kisame chuckled darkly as he stopped and faced Arata again.

"Spicy~." Kisame said with a grin. "A new strategy, but this whole water prison is made of my chakra. I can will it any way that I want to. It doesn't matter how fast you are in that form if I can just immediately surround you anywhere you go!"

Arata growled in response as he immediately charged at Kisame, slashing at him with his chokuto.

Kisame used his claws to block two slashes, then bit into Arata's lightning covered blade, only for his eyes to widen as Arata's tomoe swirled around. Kisame suddenly felt himself bitten all around by water snakes that coiled all around him, keeping him in place.

'Genjutsu, eh? You definitely are Itachi's nephew! But still!' Kisame's body gained several bulges and moved around as spikes shot out, stabbing the snakes, before the jaws of Samehada came out of his shoulder and bit into his neck. Kisame blinked his eyes as he was no longer in a genjutsu, with no snakes constricting him, and Samehada's spikes and jaws nowhere to be seen. He quickly looked around for Arata to then find him swimming downward towards the side, close to then cliff where Tsubaki was. 'Goctha!' Kisame mentally shouted as he sped towards Arata at high speed with his jaw wide open.

Arata noticed Kisame charging over and quickly dodged towards the side. The lightning covered shinobi was forced to move around to dodge the incoming bites.

Tsubaki watched as Arata was dodging Kisame's teeth, only to then notice the water starting to engulf the cliff. She gasped and quickly jumped back so as not to be trapped.

Arata noticed this with widened eyes. He quickly dodged Kisame's bit and sped pass him, causing the shark man to growl and chase after him. Thanks to Arata's near 360 degree vision, he noticed that the water consuming the cliff started moving away from it, and therefore, from Tsubaki. Looking around, he finally noticed that the dome of water was moving as well, as if it were alive. Arata quickly spun around with his arm cocked back, alerting Kisame.

'Raiton: Hakke Kūshō!' (Lightning Release: Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm) Arata delivered a vacuum tunnel towards Kisame, forcing him to dodge upwards and then dive down towards him with his jaws wide open. 'Raiton: Hakkeshō Kaiten!' (Lightning Release: Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven) Arata surrounded spun at high speed, creating a sphere of lightning release that spun at 1200 km/h.

Kisame gave a gargling scream of pain as his teeth were shredded upon contact, forcing the shark man to quickly move back and a good distance away from bolts of lightning that were emanating from the sphere. Kisame growled in rage as forced his chakra to his mouth, creating a new pair of teeth to replace the demolished ones.

Arata stopped spin in place, returning to normal as he noticed that dome of water stopped moving around like before.

'I see. This dome stopped moving when he did. Which means it corresponds to Kisame's position. Wherever he moves, the water does as well, keeping him in the center of it at all times. It doesn't matter where I go, so long as he manages to stay close to me, I'm going nowhere.' Arata deduced as he narrowed his eyes at a now grinning Kisame. 'Yare yare. Guess I got no other option, but to stay and fight.'

.

.

Boruto led the charge as he, Sarada and Team 10 rushed down a path. It felt like it's been going on for a while. The blonde was getting impatient, and he wasn't the only one. They all want to save their comrade and get out of this hellhole as soon as possible. The longer they were in this makeshift area, the higher the chance they would come across another Oni Zetsu, or worse, Iwagoro.

"I see an opening!" Sarada called out.

They all ran through the opening only to find that they made it to an large ravine with high cliffsides on both ends of it.

"What a drag." Shikadai said with a frown.

"Yeah. This just reeks 'trap'." Inojin said with a frown.

"Hey, what's that up ahead?" Chocho asked, noticing something hovering in the distance.

Sarada used her Sharingan to notice whatever was hovering, it had a chakra signature and was next to a long branch off the cliffside.

"That's a person. They've been tied up and hanging!" Sarada informed, alerting everyone.

Boruto quickly placed the kunai with Denki's name written on it onto the floor on its side, as it then spun and pointed towards the hanging individual.

"That's Denki!" Boruto shouted as he grabbed the kunai and quickly hurried over.

"Boruto, wait!" Sarada called out as she and the others ran after him. A moment later, Sarada noticed a chakra signature at the side and coming face. "Boruto, watch out!" Sarada called out as she pushed herself and Boruto to the ground, just in time to dodge a large spike that shot out and almost pierced them.

"Holy crap!" Boruto exclaimed with shock.

"This isn't good." Shikadai said, now worried.

"You guys, below you!" Sarada called out to Team 10.

Thanks to the Uchiha, Team 10 leaped away in time to avoid being pierced by a giant stone spike that shot out from the ground.

"Man, that was close." Inojin said, sweating a bit nervously.

"Sarada! You guide us!" Shikadai ordered, earning a nod from said Uchiha.

They all hurried down the ravine, aiming to save Denki.

"Move right!" Sarada ordered, with everyone doing so in time to avoid a large stone spike from the left cliffside. "From below!" Everyone quickly leaped and ran along the walls, avoiding being stabbed by several small one from below. "Both sides! Stay low!" Sarada warned as they all jumped back down to the ground and kept their heads down from being pierced by rows of long, thinner spikes. "Slide!" They all slid, avoiding more launching from the walls, leaving only a small gap that the crew managed to slide right through.

"He's right there!" Shikadai pointed out as they all noticed Denki up above ahead of them.

They noticed how beat up her was, which churned their stomachs with anger at what Iwagoro had done.

Sarada gasped as she quickly took out a kunai from her pouch.

"Boruto, catch!" Sarada said, alerting her teammate as she tossed her kunai, cutting the rope holding Denki, causing his body to fall right before a pair of spikes shot out and almost stabbed him in the body.

"Denki!" Boruto called out his friend's name with worry as he quickly created a clone and tossed it up high. The clone managed to grab Denki and toss him back towards his creator, just before more spikes shot out and stabbed the clone. "Gotcha!" Boruto said as he caught Denki in his arms.

"Everyone, follow my lead!" Sarada ordered as every followed her movement, managing to avoid more spikes. Sarada skidded to a halt, alerting everyone as they stopped as well.

"What's wrong, Sarada?" Chocho asked.

"I don't sense anymore spikes." Sarada informed. "Well, actually that's not entirely trye." Sarada looked up, making the rest do so. "This whole ravine is timed to detect chakra signatures and react accordingly with those spikes. Unfortunately, I sense more up above. If we try to jump out of this, we'll become pincushions."

"Well, that's just great." Inojin said with a frown.

"Whatever! Sarada, Inojin, help Denki out!" Boruto ordered as he laid the bespectacled shinobi down onto the ground.

The poor boy had a left black eye, his bottom lip swollen and purple, with bruises all over his body, a cut across the bridge of his nose and trails of blood going down his nose and under his right eye where another cut was.

Sarada and Inojin scanned Denki, only to flinch when noticing how much more badly damaged he really is.

"This isn't good. He's got fractures and break throughout his body and several arteries are swollen. It's a miracle he still has a pulse. Though its weak." Inojin informed, causing the others, minus Sarada, to flinch.

"Just fix him!" Boruto demanded out of worry.

"We're trying, but this is really severe!" Inojin shouted back with slight irritation.

"Hold on. I have an idea." Sarada said as she reached into her pouch and took out the Chō Iyashi-satsu she was trusted with.

"That super golden tag thing… I forgot all about it." Boruto said with widened eyes.

"Let's hope this does a damn good job." Sarada said as she placed the tag onto Denki. They all watched in awe as Denki was surrounded in golden light encompassed Denki's body, causing everyone to look in awe, as they watched Denki's body beginning to heal at a rapid rate.

"Look! It's working!" Chocho said with a relieved smile.

"Hell yeah it is! Thank you, Shinachiku-onii-chan!" Boruto cheered with a grin and fist pump.

After a few moments, the light vanished, and a majority of Denki's wounds were healed. The young Kaminarimon grunted as he scrunched his eyes before opening them to see his friends.

"Guys?" Denki was surprised to see Team 7, along with Boruto and Sarada over him.

"Denki!" Boruto knelt and grabbed his friend. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Easy with him, Boruto. We don't know how much that tag healed. He might still have some lingering pain." Sarada said to her teammate.

"No. I'm fine. A little sore, but I'm almost back to a hundred percent." Denki informed as he started getting back up to his feet with some help from Boruto.

"You remember anything?" Shikadai asked.

"Let me think." Denki tried recalling what had happened, only to gasp when it all came flooding back to him. "Wait, that's right! There was someone who attacked us!" Denki shouted with urgency.

"Iwagoro. Yeah, we know." Boruto said with an annoyed frown.

"You know of him?" Denki asked with surprise.

"Shinachiku and Arata know who he is. Unfortunately, we've all been dragged into this little revenge trap of his." Shikadai said with an annoyed frown of his own.

"Not like we could avoid it considering his demands." Inojin added.

"Wait, Shinachiku and Arata know him? You mean he caused trouble for their tribe in the past?" Denki asked, recalling the story of Shinachiku and Arata coming from a tribe of nomads.

"Actually… there's something we need to tell you about that." Boruto said, rubbing the back of his head, causing Denki to blink his eyes in confusion.

"We can talk on the way. Unfortunately, the only way out is forward." Sarada said, gesturing to the path ahead. The only way that didn't have spikes blocking the way or ready to pierce them upon detection.

"Hold on. What about my team?" Denki asked with concern for his teammates.

"Don't worry, Denki. Shinachiku-onii-chan and Arata-onii-chan are going to save them along with our senseis." Boruto assured his spectacled friend.

"Yeah! There's nothing that could stand in their way! Especially for Arata-kun!" Chocho declared with pride and trust in the others, especially her crush.

.

.

Arata glared at Kisame, who continued to grin at the boy. The Uchiha-Hyūga was trying to think up a strategy on how to get out of this predicament. The only thing he could think of was increasing the voltage of Raiton Chakura Mōdo (Lightning Release Chakra Mode), but that won't do much. It'll just be a repeat of before with Kisame making more sharks to stall his movements, and he couldn't use Raiton Chakra Mōdo: Ka Fuka (Lightning Release Chakra Mode: Overload), considering the major drawback that would leave him open for a good few minutes. Enough time for Kisame to kill him several times over.

'Come on. Think. You're technically surrounded, you can't use an excessive amount of chakra without it being devoured so the Susano'o is out of the question, and wherever he goes the dome will follow making sure he is at the epicenter. Not to mention if I'm not careful, Tsubaki could be dragged into this. The only though that's coming to mind is to somehow keep him in one place and land a decisive blow. The question is: how?' Arata thought to himself with gritted teeth. He immediately noticed Kisame's eyes darting towards Tsubaki, alerting him as the fishman sped towards her. 'Dammit!' Arata thought as he quickly sped over.

Tsubaki gasped as she noticed Kisame rocketing towards her, but even worse, the dome of water was inching closer as well.

'The water moves with him! I should have guess!' Tsubaki thought, mentally berating herself for not noticing why the dome of water was moving earlier. She quickly leaped back several times but noticed Arata managing to intercept Kisame.

Arata quickly brought his chokuto out to block Kisame's open jaws, but right before impact, Kisame's upper body separated from Samehada, with the sword biting into Arata's electrified blade, allowing the ex-Kiri-nin to land a hard punch right into Arata's gut. Arata's cheeks puffed up as he spat out air from his lungs, causing Kisame to grin. Arata grunted as he pushed Samehada, and by extension Kisame, back, and then spun in place, unleashing a Raiton: Hakkeshō Kaiten, forcing the pair to swim back, causing the edge of the water dome to back away from Tsubaki.

Kisame chuckled as he and Samehada refused into their hybrid form as Arata ceased his jutsu.

Arata groaned in pain as he held his gut. The air was literally knocked right out of him, which meant he had even less time to think of a plan.

"Feeling a little light-headed yet? With that blow you have even less time now. If I were to guess, I'd say you probably have a minute left at max." Kisame said as he continued to chuckle.

Arata's eye twitched in pain. Unfortunately, Kisame's assessment was accurate. He had no time whatsoever. An idea came to mind, which was drastic, but it's the only chance he has for now. At least, to delay things. Arata sheathed his chokuto, catching Kisame's attention, as the blue-haired boy brought a fist up. He extended his thumb and then suddenly struck himself with it in the chest, followed by jabs from his index and rest of his fingers before slamming his palm as a finisher.

"Huh?" Kisame blinked his eyes in confusion at this. However, what really surprised him more was that now Arata was no longer flinching or twitching with pain, or even holding his gut. He looked to be back to fighting condition. 'What's this? By his posture it's like I never managed to hit him. What exactly did he do?' Kisame wondered, before a thought came to mind. 'Wait, that's right. His taijutsu… it's the Jūken (Gentle Fist). He's a Hyūga, and they have extensive knowledge on tenketsu and the chakra pathway system. Is it possible… that he used it to cease his lung's normal functions, and is using his chakra to control them manually?' Kisame theorized with a newly excited grin.

And his theory was sound. That is exactly what Arata was doing.

'I just bought myself a few minutes, but that's still not much. I have to keep focus and use the proper amount of chakra control. If I screw up in anyway, I'll use up every ounce of air I have left.' Arata thought, furrowing his brow as he focused chakra around his lungs, making them work at a pace he demanded on his own.

Kisame laughed at this.

"Quite the ballsy move there! Using your own chakra to control the consumption of oxygen your lungs transfer straight into your blood. Making sure they go at a much slower yet balanced pace that doesn't allow you to use up what's left. However, that still has some major drawbacks. Without the proper transfer of oxygen to run your blood flow properly, you might not be able to move as efficiently as before, and if I land one more good hit, it's game over for you! You bought yourself more time, but I'm still one move away from turning you into shark bait!" Kisame said with a widened grin. "Now the question is how many more minutes you have left, and how fast that time drops with every movement you make."

'Well, I'll give him this. He may come off as a bloodthirsty animal, but he does have brains, and he knows how to use them well.' Arata thought, as he readied his body for the next assault.

Tsubaki gritted her teeth as she glared up at where Arata and Kisame were. It was so irritating. She wished that there was a way to assist, but there was no way for her to do so. Even if she was at one hundred percent again, she didn't have anything in her arsenal to handle this. She thought so long as she kept her distance that she would not be a liability, but distance didn't matter thanks to the jutsu before her. Tsubaki tightened her hold on her katana, wishing to use it somehow, but only to constantly be reminded that she could not do anything to help. All she could do is hope Arata would come out of this alive, but things were now looking very bleak. She felt so useless. It infuriated her to no end!

'Dammit. What kind of samurai am I? Standing here, doing nothing but to watch a friend die!' Tsubaki's body shook with anger and frustration at her predicament. She just wished… she just wishes… suddenly, Tsubaki noticed something. She smelled something… something burning… and smoke! She turned around, only to gasp at what she saw. 'You have got to be kidding me.'

Arata glared at Kisame as he had now choice but to ready his chokuto.

Kisame rocketed downward, ready to attack.

"One hit and that's it! Time to die!" Kisame shouted out with bloodthirsty delight, but suddenly noticed something, causing him to stop.

Arata noticed this, as his Tōmeigan noticed something behind him.

'That might work.'

"A forest fire?" Kisame said, surprised to see trees ablaze and coming closer towards them. "How the hell did that happen?" Kisame was confused, but then sensed something, causing him to quickly swim to the side in time to avoid a large vacuum that almost struck him head on. "What in the-?!" Kisame turned to see Arata, now with his Mangekyō Tōmeigan, surrounded by a white ethereal ribcage with a long skeletal arm extended out in front.

Muscle started to form around them as a skull and second arm appeared, both being spawning muscle, followed by what one would consider skin for this new form, as now surrounding Arata was the upper half of a humanoid with long hair and a pair of narrow horns with one longer than the other and seemed to be sliced in half as it was now in a Jūken stance.

Tsubaki stared at the being with shock and awe at the being within the water. She had never seen such a thing before. She didn't even believe such a thing could exist or was possible. She suddenly sensed something from afar. Somehow, she was able to hear something within her. Telling her to move. Staring at the white figure, she could somehow see Arata, and he looked to be looking to her with those special eyes of him. She was somehow able to see him, and telling by his expression he was telling her to do something. In an instant, she got a message. One that she listened to closely. Gaining a serious expression, she gave a nod and hurried off to the side, away from the water and the growing fire on both ends.

Arata focused his attention back on Kisame, who stayed swimming in place, now being cautious of this new threat. Arata narrowed his eyes as he willed his Susano'o to start delivering a Susano'o sized barrage of Hakke Kūshō.

Kisame was forced to swim away from the oversized projectile attacks. Kisame actually had a few close calls, which made him grit his teeth as he could just feel the power behind those attacks.

'Dammit. I can tell one hit and I'm done. From what it looks like that thing works as both an offense and defense. Even if it's made of chakra if I somehow manage strike it head on without getting hit by these things, it will still buy him a split second to attack himself, and that split second is all he needs.' Kisame thought with an irritated expression as he quickly swam around the last few strikes as he noticed the Susano'o rearing both its palms back. 'Alright then! One big shot it is! But this one won't end in your favor!' Kisame thought as he clasped his hand together and released a gargantuan amount of chakra from his body as the water around him started to shift around him. "Try This!" Kisame shouted as he made a snake seal.

'Susano'o: Hakke Kūhekishō!' (Susano'o: Eight Trigrams Vacuum Wall Palm) Arata mentally shouted as his Susano'o thrusted its palms forward, creating a gargantuan vacuum tunnel towards Kisame.

"Suiton: Daikōdan no Jutsu!" (Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique) Kisame shouted as he thrust his own hands forward as an equally ginormous shark was launched forward. 'This isn't just some oversized form of my previous jutsu! It's one that grows stronger by devouring the chakra of my opponent's jutsu!' Kisame mentally shouted as both his jutsu and Arata's collided, only for Arata's own to be overpowered and devoured as the shark headed for the Susano'o. "You're Finished!" Kisame shouted out.

Arata's Susano'o quickly spun, using a Hakkeshō Kaiten right before collision, but despite holding it back for a moment, the giant shark bomb devoured the chakra used for the jutsu and overpowered it and the Susano'o, completely devouring it and launching right out of the water dome, resulting in a gargantuan flood of water that consumed the forest fire on the other end.

The flood of water went far across the entire area Iwagoro created, dousing the entire

Kisame grinned as the being that was before him was gone, along with the boy. He was nowhere in front of him.

'Using up that much chakra all at once required a lot of energy and a lot of blood flow to make it work. He sacrificed so much oxygen, and used up so much of what was left of his chakra. Such a waste. At least the fire is out.' Kisame thought with a grin as he stared ahead at his handiwork, seeing smoke rising into the air from the fire being put out. "Heh." Kisame gave a grinning smirk. He suddenly felt the water change as the sound of crackling lightning reached his ears. Kisame's eyes widened in shock as he quickly turned around to see Arata was behind him.

Arata had reformed the ribcage and a pair of skeletal arms with a large sword made of lightning raised up high, firing lightning up above, with the young shinobi glaring at him with his Mangekyō Tōmeigan shining brightly.

'Bakana (Impossible)! Did he…' Kisame's eyes widened as his mind played back the moments prior. 'He exited that thing right before my jutsu hit! That technique of his was meant to distract me from noticing him getting out of the way!' Kisame mentally berated his carelessness.

The large sword fired more lightning as Arata willed his skeletal Susano'o, now shrouded in lightning, to swing the large sword down at high speed.

Kisame's eyes widened as he quickly swam to the wide, and though managing to dodge, he was struck by several bolts of lightning shooting out from the sword. Kisame let out a pained scream as he was struck in several places, hitting him in several chakra points. Kisame felt his body twitching and even failing.

'Did he just nail some of my tenketsu?!' Kisame thought with gritted teeth.

He noticed Arata flinch and put a hand over his left eye which was bleeding a bit. Kisame growled as he used what strength he had left to rocket towards Arata. Kisame let out a roar as he opened his maws wide, causing Arata to flinch with his eyes widened.

'Raiton: Taron!' (Lightning Release: Talons) Arata surrounded his right hand in lightning chakra, creating three long, sharp talons made of lightning, just before Kisame broke through his skeletal Susano'o.

Arata thrust his 'talons' forward and Kisame bit down, both nailing their foe with Arata's lightning talons stabbed into Kisame's side, and Kisame's teeth bit into Arata's trapezius muscle, both holding the other in place. Arata grunted in pain as his Raiton Chakura Mōdo dispersed while Kisame growled as he dug his own claws into Arata's shoulders.

"It's done, kid. You did well, but it's over. You're running out of air and you're wasting your chakra, giving it all to me." Kisame said with his voice slightly muffled thanks to his jaws bitten into Arata.

Arata grunted as he raised his left arm with lightning encasing his hand.

'Chi… Chidori!' (One Thousand Birds) Arata mentally exclaimed as his body was flinching in pain.

"Is this an act of desperation? I'm surprised at you. I thought you learned already that in this form I can devour any source of chakra, and from any type of jutsu." Kisame said.

"I'm aware." Arata's voice echoed in Kisame's head, causing his eyes to widen.

'What in the-?!' Kisame noticed that Arata was staring at him with his normal Tōmeigan active. 'Genjutsu communication?!'

"I'm aware of what you have against me. I'm surprised that you didn't expect me to be several steps ahead of you already." Arata's voice echoed as the roar of a beast was heard up above, catching Kisame's attention.

Kisame looked upward to see storm cloud above his giant water prison. He saw something within, dancing within the cloud as lightning flashed and its roar was heard.

"What?! When did you-?!" Kisame's eyes widened as all the events played out in his head. "That thing you made… it wasn't meant to defeat me! You were luring me into using my strongest jutsu!" Kisame exclaimed as he stared into Arata's Tōmeigan.

"I noticed with my eyes that it devoured chakra just like you do, which worked to my benefit. The moment that forest fire entered our vicinity, it all played out in my head and it's all coming together as I envisioned." Arata's voice echoed within Kisame's mind.

"But how?! I get the science with the clouds, using the smoke to help manipulate the particles in the air, but how did they form this quickly?!" Kisame questioned, only to gasp as he recalled the lightning sword. "That sword of yours!"

"Murakumo (Gathering Clouds). A good offensive weapon, but just as the name implies, it helps me form storm clouds for this particular technique."

"What technique?! I devour chakra from even jutsus, remember?!" Kisame argued.

"I only used chakra to finish forming the clouds. Up there is pure lightning. The only form of chakra used in this jutsu… is what I'm using to guide it straight to my hand!" Arata's voice exclaimed within Kisame's mind, causing the shark man's eyes to widen as he realized the purpose for the Chidori now.

'Dammit! I have to move!' Kisame mentally shouted, but he could not budge as he felt electricity coursing into him from Arata's lightning talons. 'Crap! These talons of his… they're stabbed into my tenketsu and keeping me in place. Samehada! Do something!'

'Too late.' Arata thought, furrowing his brow. 'Now go… with the thunderclap.' Arata brought down his left arm. 'Kirin.' (Giraffe)

Up above a chimeric dragon creature made of pure lightning shot down towards the gargantuan water prison, striking it head on as lightning coursed within it, with more of it traveling down deep and striking the epicenter where Arata and Kisame were. The whole dome was filled with lighting bolts traveling all around with the center glowing the brightest with a core of lightning.

Tsubaki, now on a tree branch, looked on with a look of shock and awe. She felt like she was witnessing something otherworldly, and she could not look away.

Kisame screamed out in pure agony as he and Samehada were being fried with lightning and because there was no chakra infused into it, they could not absorb any of it, feeling it's absolute force. Both and his sentient sword felt their whole fused body being burned and charged with lightning coursing within them, destroying them from the inside out.

They both couldn't take it.

Samehada immediately shot out of its user's body, un-fusing the two as the giant water prison exploded, scattering water everywhere.

Tsubaki leaped away from water that almost hit her. Once she was sure it was safe, she hurried over on land towards the edge of the cliff to find the water within the area they were in was scattered around in large puddles. She looked around for any signs of Arata, or even Kisame, only to find two figures in the center. She leaped down and hurried her way over.

.

.

Team 10 and half of 7 with Denki continued their trek through the ravine, with everyone telling Denki the truth about Arata and Shinachiku.

"EH?! You mean… They're Your Brothers?!" Denki questioned in shock, looking to both Boruto and Sarada.

"And from another world parallel to ours." Sarada added.

"S-So… that's why they felt so familiar. Every time I saw Shinachiku-kun, he kind of reminded me of you guys." Denki said, now feeling everything coming together.

"Honestly, I see more of you both in Shinachiku than I do in Arata." Inojin stated.

"No, I see some of Sarada in Arata-kun too. Boruto on the other hand, can't say the same." Chocho put in her two cents.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Point is, they're here and their enemies followed. This Iwagoro guys is actually dead, but one guy brought him back to life to cause trouble for us. We just don't know why though." Boruto said.

"So, who is this Iwagoro then? Did they at least tell you that much?" Denki asked.

"He's Iwabe's uncle." Boruto answered.

"Nani?!" Denki shouted with shock.

"He's the uncle of their version of Iwabe. Apparently, there are both minor and stark differences between us and our counterparts, but it seems like none are more different than the Iwabes." Shikadai said.

"So… he's the uncle of their world's Iwabe, not ours?" Denki asked, earning a nod from Shikadai. "Then why did he target us? Why call all of you here? Why any of this when we technically have nothing to do with him or what's happened?"

"Because he's a sore loser and a dick! He jumped at the chance because Shinachiku-onii-chan kicked his ass and he wants to hurt him in the worst way possible! Through us!" Boruto exclaimed with aggravation.

"So, he targeted us to get to Shinachiku and Arata?"

"Mostly Shinachiku." Shikadai said. "From what little we've noticed back in Konoha, Shinachiku seems to have a close connection with Iwabe. They're really close."

"So, his main goal was Iwabe, and we were just extras." Denki said, hanging his head with a frown. He then gained a serious expression and tightened his fists. "The next time I see that guy, I'm going to make him pay for hurting my team!" Denki declared surprising the others.

"That's the spirit, Denki!" Boruto said with a grin as he smacked the spectacled shinobi on the back, making him flinch in pain.

"Careful with him, Boruto! He's still not completely healed, remember?!" Sarada reprimanded her teammate. They all suddenly heard the something, causing them all to stop. "What is that?" Sarada asked with worry.

They all turned towards the other way as the sound was getting louder and was following them. Their eyes all widened when they saw a flood of water rushing towards them.

"It's a flood! Everyone move!" Shikadai shouted as they all started running as fast as they could.

"Where did all this water come from?!" Chocho screamed out.

"We got to jump!" Inojin shouted.

"We can't! Those spike traps are still active, and they go for about a mile!" Sarada alerted.

"Then just run faster!" Boruto shouted as they all picked up the pace, but it was useless as soon enough, they were all caught by the tides and swept away all the way down further into the ravine.

.

.

Back with Tsubaki, she travelled closer towards the center of the area, now littered with giant puddle, hurrying closer to where she found a figure. When she arrived, she stopped and gasped.

There laid Kisame, unfused with Samehada right by his side, giving cries of pain as both it and its master were fried.

Kisame's mouth was wide and eyes blank as his whole body was charred, no longer a green, almost light bluish hue, but charred black. He looked like an overgrown fried fish that spent too much time in the fryer.

Samehada tried to inch closer to Kisame, but it flinched in pain as electricity coursed through its body. It could not continue without feeling the lingering effects of being struck by millions of volts of lightning.

Tsubaki blinked her eyes, standing still in shock and awe at seeing the legendary Monster of the Hidden Mist, now a fried filet. She heard groaning, making her turn to see Arata, on his knees and jabbing his fingers into his chest.

Arata took a deep breath into his mouth as he reactivated his lungs original working capacity. He fell on his hands and knee as he panted with his head hanging.

"Arata!" Tsubaki called out only to see him bring a hand up to halt her.

"Don't… move…" Arata managed to speak out.

Tsubaki was confused by this, before she sensed movement causing her to turn, only to gasp when she saw Kisame back onto his feet.

His head hanging and body charred, and yet the ex-Kiri-nin managed to find the strength to get back onto his feet.

No normal human could pull of such a feat. He truly is a monster.

Kisame let out an exhale. His eyes still blank as he hunched over a bit. He turned his head to notice Samehada on the ground, but in pain. Currently, it was useless. He then noticed Arata's chokuto nearby. It and the scabbard looked to have come off and separated from Arata when the dome exploded. He started making his way over.

Tsubaki quickly rushed towards him and sent a slash, only from Kisame to bring up an arm coated in chakra to block it. Tsubaki's katana managed to dig deep into Kisame, making contact with the bone in the arm. Kisame fought against Tsubaki's strength, managing to raise his arm high enough to deliver a punch to Tsubaki's gut with his other arm, sending him stumbling back with her katana slipping out of Kisame's now wounded and bleeding arm.

The Monster of the Hidden Mist did not care for his new wound. He focused his remaining energy and making his way towards Arata's chokuto. Stopping front of it, he knelt and grabbed it into his hand.

Tsubaki groaned, holding her stomach in pain but managing to get back to her feet. She rushed back over towards Kisame with her katana held up high for a downward strike, but once she brought it down upon him, he blocked it with Arata's scabbard, then quickly took out the sword to deliver a slash to her stomach. Tsubaki managed to leap back in time, but she received a bit of a graze across her stomach. Tsubaki grunted with pain and closed an eye upon reflex, but managed to get in a kendo stance, ready to fight.

Kisame panted as he held the chokuto to the side, before tossing the scabbard to the side.

Tsubaki gritted her teeth as she was ready to charge forward again.

"Tsubaki… wait…" Arata said, stopping the samurai who turned to him. The blue-haired shinobi rose to his feet and took a deep breath in through his nose. "This… is still my fight…" Arata said with a stoic glare.

Tsubaki blinked her eyes in surprise. She nodded understandingly as she sheathed her katana and stepped back from the two battle damaged shinobi.

Kisame continued to pant, only to stop moments later as he gritted his jagged teeth slightly.

"I haven't felt like this… in quite some time…" Kisame finally spoke. "I've been dead for a while… but it only feels like yesterday… since I've been dealt a deadly blow… and from a technique with no chakra used in it… at least, not that size and in the shape of a beast…" Kisame said, as he recalled his battle with the Odd Beast of Konoha. "I can barely stand… so much of my stamina and chakra has been used up… what little is left is what's keeping me standing… I'm at the edge of my limit… and so are you… you used up so much chakra in the end… just for that payoff…" Kisame panted again. "Well then… with us being so drained… and just about ready to keel over… why not end this… like real swordsmen?" Kisame suggested as he looked up, raising Arata's chokuto.

"… Hn… so be it…" Arata said in agreement as his eyes twitched a bit from pain.

Tsubaki eyes widened as she silently gasped. She quickly undid the knot that tied her katana to her side.

"Arata, please, use my sword!" Tsubaki offered, but right when she was about to throw Arata her katana, she stopped when she noticed him assuming a stance.

Arata now had his knees bent and got into an iaijutsu stance, but instead of having a sword in hand, her brought his left hand to his right side and extended out.

'He… is he… planning to…' Tsubaki blinked her eyes in shock at this bold move.

"Huh?" Kisame noticed this posture as well, causing him to then let out a painful chuckle before coughing as he hunched over a bit in pain. "Interesting… you truly are… interesting…" Kisame said, regaining the light in his eyes again as he grinned to Arata. "Alright then… whenever you're ready." Kisame said as he gripped chokuto with both hands and readied it at his side.

Silence encompassed the entire area. Arata and Kisame held their positions strongly, while Tsubaki stared in anticipation and anxiousness, taking in what could be a legendary final clash before her.

The area around them was damp with the trees wet from being doused with water.

A single drop fell from a nearby tree and struck the ground.

Kisame and Arata dashed at high speed and in a flash, they appeared where the other stood with the fishman having the chokuto raised high, and the Uchiha-Hyūga having his left arm extended out and upwards behind him.

Blood soaked Arata's left side as a cut was formed from the chokuto strike.

Arata simply ignored it as he brought slowly his left arm back to his right side, pausing for a moment before pushing it downward below the waistline, as what sounded like a blade cutting the wind was heard, as Kisame dropped the chokuto from his grasp and lurched back, as if a blade had struck him with blood spraying out.

The wound and blood were in his mind, but the pain was true to that feeling. The Monster of the Hidden Mist fell back, his back hitting the ground for quite possibly the last time.

Tsubaki gasped in shock at the scene that had just played out before her. A sight she wound never forget for the rest of her life.

"Sugoi…" (Amazing) The young samurai spoke breathlessly.

Arata stood back up straight and made his way over to Kisame, who was breathing heavily, almost sounding like he was on life support.

"With a hand alone…" Kisame spoke weakly.

"Anything… can be used as a blade… in the hands of a swordsman. Even their own hand." Arata explained, looking down to Kisame.

"Why the hand though? Why… did you reject a sword?" Kisame asked.

"I was raised… to show respect when deserved… and to honor the dead… showing my full prowess… was something I could not ignore…" Arata answered.

Kisame stayed silent for a moment as he thought over Arata's words. He slowly started to grin, but not a sadistic one of any kind. It was one of sincerity and gratitude. He suddenly started to laugh. Quite jovially. He laughed for a while before he had to take a deep breath to regain lost air.

"You really are… quite remarkable." Kisame admitted as his body suddenly glowed white as bits and pieces of him started scattering in the form of specs of light. "I'll be sure to tell your uncle… what a hell of a shinobi his nephew is… if I ever get the chance to see him." Kisame said to Arata, giving him one last grin before his body completely dispersed into specs of light. "Thanks, kid. It was fun." Kisame's voice echoed before specs of light rose into the sky and faded away.

Arata stared up at the sky for a moment before speaking.

"Hn. It sure was." Arata admitted. After a moment or two he fell onto a knee and gasped. Now he was panting from pain and exhaustion. He had pushed himself to the limit, but he attained victory. Arata gulped a bit as he tried to catch his breath again. He then noticed his chokuto, re-sheathed and extended to him by Tsubaki, who was kneeling beside him. "Thank you." Arata thanked the samurai as he took back his weapon.

"Hn." Tsubaki nodded in response.

Arata couldn't help but faintly smile at this. He then reached into his jacket and pulled out his special eyedrops. He poured two drops into each eye, and sighed with relief as he started feeling the healing sensation from them. He noticed Tsubaki taking out the Chō Iyashi-satsu he handed her earlier, only to be stopped by Arata.

"Let's save that for later. You never know." Arata said, earning a nod from Tsubaki.

"I hope these will suffice then." Tsubaki said as she took out her remaining Iyashi-satsu.

"Hn." Arata nodded in response.

.

.

Shinachiku and Iwagoro slid back from one another after clashing head on.

The armored up ex-Iwa-nin panted a bit while Shinachiku continued to glare ahead at him, seemingly unfatigued by their recent exchange.

Iwagoro growled with anger at the fact that despite being a reanimated being, he's the one who seemed to be out of breath for the moment. Which considering the dead part… it's not important. He had to come up with a way to nail the kid with one good blow and maybe then he won't be able to get back up.

'Once I take you down, I'll drain you of your blood and write an obituary with it describing how much of a prick you are!' Iwagoro mentally threatened as he growled in frustration and anger. Iwagoro gave out a battle cry as he slammed his spiky, black armored arms into the ground, causing the ground to rumble as fists of black iron shot all throughout the ground.

Shinachiku quickly started leaping and dodging around the fists of iron that were scattering throughout the area. Several fists shot towards Shinachiku in all directions, except up which is where he went with help from his Bijū Chakura Mōdo (Tailed-Beast Chakra Mode).

"Got you!" Iwagoro shouted as he caused more fists to fire up and stretch over to Shinachiku, who threw a Hiraishin kunai towards his way. 'Ha! Saw it coming!' Iwagoro thought with a hidden grin as the kunai whizzed pass him, but once he turned to what he expected would be Shinachiku teleporting, there was nothing.

Shinachiku had created a clone right after tossing the kunai, with the clone quickly tossing him up higher and taking the hit for him.

"Dainamikku~…" Shinachiku started as he prepared himself.

"Entorī!" Another voice screamed out with Shinachiku as the blonde rocketed downward, striking Iwagoro in the back with a flying kick, with none other than Metal appeared and delivering one right beside him, both sending Iwagoro flying away and rolling against the ground.

"Metal?" Shinachiku looked to his bowl-cut haired friend in surprise to see him as they landed upon the ground.

"Ohayo, Shinachiku-kun!" Metal greeted the blonde with a small salute. "Oh! You are on fire!" Metal exclaimed, noticing Shinachiku's cloaked state.

Iwagoro let out a roar as he shot up from the ground, now pissed as he turned towards the pair.

"You Knuckleheads!" Iwagoro screamed out as he snapped his arms out, before suddenly a soundwave bullet shot pass Shinachiku and Metal and struck him head on, sending the ex-Iwa-nin skidding back from the shock. Her let out a pained grunt as he felt to one knee and instinctively placed his 'hands' on the side of his spherical helmet. 'Dammit! I think my ears are bleeding!' Iwagoro mentally complained.

The two Gōken users turned to see Namida with Wasabi by her side.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. Did we miss much?" Wasabi said with a grinning smirk.

"No not really." Shinachiku said with smile, happy to see them.

They all suddenly heard the sound of rumbling, causing them all to turn towards a nearby cliff where then a large flood of water came rushing out like a waterfall, and after hitting the ground, it lost its volume to reveal Boruto, Sarada, Denki and Team 10.

"You guys!" Namida was relieved to see them.

"Man… that sucked." Shikadai said as he and the others coughed some to get the water out of their lungs.

Iwagoro grinned from within his armor as he quickly raised his arms towards the group of since, causing Shinachiku to gasp, as he then fired spikes of iron their way.

Boruto and the others noticed the projectiles speeding their way, but a golden flash appeared before them as Shinachiku stood before them, swatting away the projectiles with a large golden chakra arm.

Shinachiku quickly created several clones that grabbed Boruto and the gang as Iwagoro slammed his hands into the ground again, creating rows of spikes to pierce the group, only for Shinachiku and the clones to speed away before contact. Shinachiku and his clones laid Boruto, Sarada, Denki and Team 10 beside Metal as Wasabi and Namida rushed over towards them.

"Thank, onii-chan." Sarada thanked her maternal half-brother.

"Don't mention it." Shinachiku said as he and his clones turned off their chakra cloaks.

"Whoa… what is that?" Boruto asked, noticing the super armored up being in front of them.

"That's Iwagoro." Shinachiku answered with a glare.

"That's him?! What happened to him?!" Boruto questioned in shock.

"You like it? Took burying and juicing about a hundred people to make this bad boy. And, of course, all the blood in the ground, giving me full range of the battle field." Iwagoro said with a hidden grin as he chuckled.

"A hundred people?" Sarada questioned with shock.

"Buried and juice?" Shikadai's eyes widened as he looked around and noticed blood seeping from cracks in the ground. "You mean… he didn't…"

"Oh, but I did. Buried about a hundred people and used a jutsu to crush their bodies. I can control blood itself and harden it into iron. Never had this much before though, but I'm glad this time I prepared." Iwagoro said, causing everyone to gain shocked and horrified expressions, while Shinachiku gave an angered glare. "Still feeling blue over it? Or are you ready to see literal red right now?" Iwagoro joked sadistically as he lifted his arm, conjuring blood to come from the cracks in the ground, waved his hand making them morph into many senbon-shaped projectiles and then with a thrust of his arm, he sent them all heading toward the group.

"Doton: Doryūheki." (Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall) Shinachiku slammed his hands into the ground, creating a wall of earth that blocked the blood senbon. Iwagoro had actually rushed over following the senbon to break on through and attack Shinachiku, but the blonde was already ahead of him. "Asa Kujaku!" Shinachiku screamed out as he delivered a barrage of punches to the earth wall, breaking the wall apart and sending pieces of debris shooting towards Iwagoro like bullets from the force of Shina's punches.

Iwagoro tried to block, but he was too slow as his hole armored body was being littered with stones that were sending him skidding back upon rapid succession.

Everyone stared in awe at Shinachiku's power and ingenuity, but none more than Metal considering what he was pulling off at the moment.

'That's… tou-chan and Gai-sensei's jutsu! He knows the Hachimon!' (Eight Gates) Metal thought with shock and awe as he stared at the sunshine blonde, currently using the fifth gate, before the boy suddenly vanished from sight, shocking everyone even further.

Iwagoro grunted in pain as his entire armor was littered with dents, before noticing Shinachiku appearing in front of him, causing him to flinch in shock.

"Pekku!" Shinachiku thrust his fists forward, morote-tsuki style.

Iwagoro quickly willed the back of the armor to melt in a bloody mess, allowing him to leap back with his skin hardened into iron and crossing his arms into an X-block, just before Shinachiku's fists made impact.

The forced behind the punches shot through the front of the armor, leaving a large dent with it coming out the other end, hitting Iwagoro with a tunnel of force and wind that sent him flying away and striking the ground hard, creating a dust cloud.

The armor fell back immediately afterwards, as Shinachiku deactivated his gates, letting out a sigh as he brought his arms back to chamber.

"Whoa~. So that's how strong he is." Wasabi said with awe.

"H-How does he know the Hachimon and the Asa Kujaku?! Only my father and Gai-sensei know these techniques!" Metal questioned, trying to make sense of what he had just witnessed.

"You didn't tell him?" Boruto asked.

"We didn't even really had time to consider it since we were almost buried alive!" Wasabi exclaimed.

They all heard Iwagoro chuckling, making them all turned towards him, except Shinachiku who had been keeping his eyes on the man within the dust cloud.

"Almost buried alive… kind of like your friend there. Or at least, the one I know of." Iwagoro said within the dust cloud.

"What is he talking about?" Metal asked with confusion.

"He's talking about Namida's fight back at Iwa." Shinachiku answered.

"You fought in Iwa?" Metal asked Namida.

"Not me. The other me." Namida answered.

"Other you?" Metal was now very confused.

"Shinachiku and Arata are Boruto and Sarada's half-siblings from another dimension, and that's where this guy came from." Denki briefed his teammate.

"NANI?!" Metal screamed out in utter shock with an anime look of disbelief.

Shinachiku groaned, narrowing his eyes as he got ready for the next round.

"I wish this girl was buried alive right now. I wish you all were. I need more blood." Iwagoro said.

"Like You Don't Have Enough?!" Shinachiku screamed out in anger.

"Enough… Is Never Enough!" Iwagoro screamed out as a large and long appendage riddled with spikes shot up from the dust cloud into the air and came down on Shinachiku and the rest.

"Move!" Shinachiku shouted out as he and the other leaped out of the way. Suddenly, a second appendage shot out from the dust cloud and came charging towards Shinachiku, who quickly tossed a Hiraishin kunai up and flashed above to dodge the hit. "Fūton: Shinkū Taigyoku!" (Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere) Shinachiku spewed out a massive vacuum the took the shape of a large sphere and shot it at the dust cloud, striking something within which created an audible ringing sound.

Everyone looked to see the dust cloud had been dispersed by the wind jutsu and something inside skidded back a bit.

"Hiden Kuro-Jutsu: Kuronoō:Oran'ūtan!" (Secret Black Technique: Black King: Orangutan) Iwagoro was now surrounded in a new form of black armor that was reinforced with a bulky torso that looked like a round black gut with hardened pectorals, a helmet with a pair of eyes for eyes, a spherical shaped iron over the mouth area, a pair of round plates framing the sides of the facial area, and, of course, a very large, long pair of arms made of black iron and riddled with spikes all over and massive hands.

"Great. So he can make any kind of armor he wants to fit his preference. What a drag." Shikadai said with annoyance and a new sense of worry.

"The rest of you stand back. I'll handle this bastard." Shinachiku said.

"Screw that!" Boruto shouted.

"I agree with Whiskers. The more the merrier. I made this armor specifically for all of you anyway." Iwagoro said with a hidden grin.

"We're staying and fighting!" Boruto said to Shinachiku.

"I've faced him before. I know all his tricks. I can handle this." Shinachiku said.

"You think I care about that?" Boruto questioned as he walked up to Shinachiku. "I'm staying here and fighting right beside you. Nothing you say or do is going to stop me otherwise, dattebasa!" Boruto said with an expression of determination as he got into a fighting stance.

"Why do I get the feeling teleporting you away is only going to delay that?" Shinachiku rhetorically questioned.

"Go ahead. I'll just keep running back every time you do." Boruto said with a serious expression.

Shinachiku groaned with annoyance, but then gained a faint smile.

"Fine." Shinachiku relented as he got into his own fighting stance. "Just don't get in my way, Boruto." Shinachiku said with a smirk.

"Oi! I was planning on saying that! You don't get in my way!" Boruto shouted.

Iwagoro laughed as he sent a punch with his long arms directed towards the pair.

"Out of the way!" Sarada shouted out as Shinachiku and Boruto turned and leap away in time as Sarada charged ahead with her body sparking lightning. "CHANARA!" Sarada screamed out as she sent a punch that slammed against Iwagoro's oversized armored fist, causing a shockwave to erupt from collision.

Iwagoro grinned for a moment, but sensed his 'fist' earned a chip, catching him off guard.

Sarada let out a battle cry as she pushed the armored fist back, forcing Iwagoro to retracted his elongated 'arm' back.

"Whoa. Nice." Shinachiku said, impressed with Sarada's progress in power.

"You guys are so selfish. You're so focused on what power you have to offer that you're not seeing the strength the rest of us can offer. After all, this isn't a one or two-man show." Sarada said to the Uzumaki boys with a smirk on her face.

"That's right! Don't expect us to stay on the sidelines!" Wasabi agreed as they all got into a fighting stance.

"We are all joining in and coming at our enemy with the full power of youth!" Metal declared as he was in a tight Gōken stance.

"Care to try convincing them not to help?" Boruto 'asked' Shinachiku with a smirk.

"Nah. You people are way to stubborn, 'ttebaro." Shinachiku said with a smile and shrug.

"Speak for yourself!" Everyone shouted at him, making Shinachiku silently chuckle with a grin.

"I hope you cherished those moments of being buddy-buddy. Those are going to become your last." Iwagoro said as he readied his armor arms.

"Cover yourself in as much armor as you want, but your words will never hold any weight. It's just the same song and dance all over again." Shinachiku said with a smirk, irritating Iwagoro. "Alright then… I think it's about time we show this creep the real strength-"

"Don't you say it." Iwagoro growled with anger.

"Of the Will of Fire!" Shinachiku exclaimed with a grin as he slammed his fist into his hand.

"Yosh!" Everyone agreed with vigor.

'I can't wait to bleed you all dry.' Iwagoro thought with gritted teeth and narrowed eyes.

End of Chapter 15

Boy this was a fun one! Won't lie, I intended to make this a bit longer to end it at a certain point further down the line of this arc, but I think ending it here is just as good, if not better. Anyway, I really loved writing this chapter because of the fight between Arata and Kisame. I actually wanted to try it out, to see how interesting it would be to write the battle, and boy was it more fun than I thought it would be!

I really was invested in making this fight good, but also believable in how both parties fought with each strategy they had in mind. I know Kisame is usually seen as the tough shark guy who pretty much tries to cut you up, bleed you dry and eat away at your chakra, but he is pretty strategical. I mean look at his fight with Killer B, and how he planned to get the information on Naruto's whereabouts back to the Akatsuki in the middle of his battle with Gai.

I really hoped I not only conveyed Kisame's way of combat and strategy, but also made the battle he was in believable. I am honestly really proud of it because I didn't just have it be a battle about whose stronger, but who could take advantage of each situation both Kisame and Arata were presented with and working around their disadvantages. It was so much fun to work on, I cannot say that enough.

I also have to admit, I love writing Arata. Between his personality, how he acts with his mannerisms and the responses he gives in his usual calm tone, even in situations where you wouldn't normally be calm, he's just fun to write. I wonder if this is the same kind of feeling Kishimoto had when it came to writing about Sasuke. I mean, love him or hate him, Sasuke did have possibly the most well-written character arc in the entire series. I mean, yeah, he was a dick, but he was a dick that you understood why he went to the dark place he went to.

I'm not boasting or anything, I just genuinely love to write about Arata. I love Shinachiku so much, but there are different types of enjoyments I get from writing either one of them. I guess it makes sense since, aside from his appearance which I got inspired by xCluBearx's OC design, Arata is my own character. It's just fun to write a character that not only you made, but one you feel is an actual good character. You just feel proud and excited when you see them interact with the world around them, you know?

Anyway, enough of my gushing. It's kind of embarrassing.

Thanks again for reading another chapter you guys! I am so happy you all stuck around, especially considering that this story is now a little over a year old. Just, wow. A year and a month old and we're not on chapter 15. Which is possibly the halfway mark since I originally thought this story would end at 25 chapters, but now I feel like it'll end at or a little over 30 chapters. You know, with all the need to cut down what would have been all put into one chapter into two or more. I think it was necessary, especially with this arc we're currently in right now.

I really hope you're enjoying the progress of this story and where it's all going to lead up to! I'm glad you all stick around for more, and I can't wait to continue forward! I just get excited writing these and posting them up for your enjoyment! It brings me much joy, you know?

Anyway, have a good day and thanks again! Until next time!

Takeshi1225, Out!