Naruto: Acolyte of Jashin
Draknal: Well hey there! Another update has arrived, and I apologize for taking as long as I did to get it out. At this rate I'll be apologizing to my readers every chapter. I'm happy to see that more and more people are beginning to read and enjoy my story. Just kick back now and, for your entertainment, read my latest chapter.
Oh, but before that I need to answer a few questions. To start, many of the characters will be using techniques that they did not have or show in the anime and manga. This is my decision as an author, so please respect it. Hidan is not going to be a one trick ninja. There will be time skips! (Over the course of many chapters that is.) I will not time skip more than once per chapter. Hopefully, I'll keep skips to a minimum.
Next, how will the matters of Jashin and the fox be resolved? In any way I see fit. They are two separate entities, and as such I will exploit them and their powers in whatever fashion I desire. Next, please don't make suggestions for weapons and abilities and whatnot. While I appreciate your efforts, I'd like to stick to my own ideas, and have for the most part already decided on what is going to happen, how, and for what reasons.
I've seen too many stories where ideas for weapons, powers, and abilities are far too outlandish for my liking, and I am trying to avoid that at all costs in my fic. The fact that authors have done such things are the results of their own decisions and I respect that. This story, anime, manga, whatever takes place in a non-existent world, so the idea of some things being unreasonable or outlandish is stupid, I know. People are entitled to their own ideas and creativity. This is my own story, and my own ideas, so I'd like it if my readers would respect that and not criticize me or my opinions. Thank you.
Whew… that took a bit to do. Anywho, on to what you are really here for!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, just the plot of this story.
Chapter 3
Three years. It was hard to believe that three years had already passed. So much time had gone by from when Hidan had first encountered the young jinchuuriki known as Naruto.
In those three years, he had gone from being a blonde brat who didn't know the first thing about being a shinobi, to a competent and rather deadly accomplice to a nukenin.
The two often found themselves in dangerous situations, being on the road and having to watch out for hunter-nin or bounty hunters who were after the reward on Hidan's head. Sometimes however, they were involved in said predicaments because of their own actions. Take now for instance.
"He's heading your way brat!"
Looking around, the blonde pulled out a few shuriken, preparing to launch them at a moments notice. His attention was turned skyward when the person they had been after leapt into the tree above him, then continued on.
Taking to the branches above, the shinobi began his pursuit of the target. He was fast, that was for sure. But it just didn't seem natural, seeing as how he should have been weighted down by his oversized weapon.
Launching his handful of shuriken, he began flashing through various hand seals. The projectiles clattered against the weapon strapped to the fleeing man's back and fell to the ground. He had expected as much.
He called out his attack as he finished the last seal. "Futon: Daittopa!"
Gale force winds proceeded to shred the trees in their way, the target receiving a few open wounds from the attack. Yet he continued to run.
'He must have used chakra in his feet to keep from flying off somewhere,' the Kyuubi container mused. "Can't you just stop running so I can kill you?" he shouted to the person ahead of him.
A coarse laugh was the only response he received.
With one more leap, the man descended from the thick forest of trees to the ground below. Naruto followed the nin's action, falling to the ground. Looking out, he found that they were now standing at the edge of an enormous river, which a few yards later turned into a waterfall.
Turning to face his pursuer, the bandaged nin drew his massive zanbato. "You've got guts kid, coming to face me like this," he stated, letting off some of his killer intent.
He took a moment to observe his pursuer. Judging his height, he'd say the boy was around 4'5". He wore a mostly black jacket, which had several areas that were instead red. He could see that under the partly unzipped piece of clothing was a fishnet shirt. Black pants and black shinobi sandals finished off his appearance.
The kid's blonde unruly hair was slightly long for someone his age, and the whisker marks on his face almost made him look like some sort of animal. It was what was holding the boy's hair back that caught his attention. A hitai-ate, with a slash running through its leaf symbol.
'A missing nin, this kid? He doesn't even look like he could be a genin. Oh well, shame I'm gonna have to kill him,' the man thought with a grin.
The blonde before him shrugged. "Hey, you were the one running from me. By the way, was that really necessary?" he inquired, irritated at having to run so far just to abruptly come to a stop.
"I'm no coward, if that's what you were insinuating. I just needed to get to where I could use my trump card."
Naruto couldn't be sure, but the man was probably smiling underneath his face bandages. His eyes held the same gleeful anticipation of killing that Hidan's did.
"And what might that be, Zabuza?" the blonde asked, as he drew a kunai and began twirling it on his finger.
The Mist nukenin let out a cackle as he went through hand signs, before replying, "This! Kirigakure no Jutsu!"
Not more than a second later a thick fog rolled in, obscuring the boy's view of his target. "Come on! You said you weren't a coward, yet you resort to hiding in the fucking mist!"
Dark laughter seemed to echo from all around him. "I'm a master of silent killing, boy. This just happens to make it that much easier."
Naruto ground his teeth in annoyance. Where was Hidan in all of this? There was no way he could have gotten lost. They were pursuing the same damn target for Jashin's sake!
Deciding to deal with that later, the whisker marked boy made a cross shaped sign. "Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"
Nine other Narutos poofed into existence. The doppelgangers each closed in around the original, creating a defensive circle. If the Mist nukenin hoped to make a successful kill, he'd have to deal with all of them. In the shinobi world, numbers weren't everything, but they sure as hell helped.
Watching for any hint of movement in the mist, the jinchuuriki found himself straining to see anything. Without warning one of his clones popped and disappeared. He hadn't even seen anyone…
"Ah, and I thought I had you. How disappointing," chuckled the Demon of the Mist, his voice echoing all around. "Kage Bunshin? Impressive. I didn't think a kid like you could use such an advanced technique."
Naruto knew better than to simply wait around for this man to kill off his clones. He would have to take to the offensive, and he'd need to be quick about it. The only problem was that he had no way of finding the sword wielder.
Charging forward with his group of clones, the blonde drew a few kunai. Pop! Another one vanished in smoke. At least that time he caught a glimpse of the attacker. Ordering his clones to keep going, he separated himself from the group, opting to fall back slightly.
He watched as a shadow launched itself into the group of clones, a Poof sounding a second later. Grinning with satisfaction, he took off after the fleeing figure of the nukenin.
He threw his barrage of kunai, hoping to nail him in the back. "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The few projectiles then became several dozen, all of which were dodged, when Zabuza veered quickly to the side. Spinning around, the man took a swing at his young opponent.
Dodging under the attack, Naruto attempted to catch the man with a left hook to the jaw. This proved futile, however, when he received a kick to the chest, sending him flying away from his target. Skidding on the ground, he drew another kunai, and waited for the large man to charge at him from within the mist.
A moment later, that is exactly what happened. Launching his kunai, he watched as it was deflected with a swing from the monstrous zanbato. Zabuza continued straight at the boy, performing several slashes, hoping to cleave him in two.
Being so small provided a slight advantage for the Kyuubi container. He was hard to hit, and coupled with his speed and agility, he was able to adapt a fast fighting style which most larger opponents couldn't keep up with. In the area of physical strength, he was severely lacking, which meant that if he were to become deadlocked with this man, he'd be in a real tight spot.
Dodging around the man's attacks, Naruto reached into his coat and drew two items. One was a scroll, the other a small silver orb. Hurling the device at the ground, it detonated with an explosion of smoke, making it impossible to see anything in a fifteen foot radius.
Finding an opponent in the mist was one thing, but that was only because it was his element. Leaping out of the smoke, the nukenin growled as he awaited the return of the blonde brat. When a few seconds had passed and the kid was still nowhere in sight, he found his ire growing and his patience rapidly dwindling.
Strapping his weapon to his back, he quickly went through a few hand signs. "Suiton: Daibakufu!"
Drawing on the large nearby source of water, Zabuza was able to turn it into a deadly swirling pillar of destruction, which launched itself at the still clearing smoke. Great deposits of earth were launched skyward, along with several unfortunate trees. Grinning at his handiwork, the Demon of the Mist couldn't help but wonder if he had over done it… nah!
Turning around he grimaced when he came face to face with the brat he thought he had destroyed. A shit eating grin was plastered on his face, and in one hand he held a rather nasty looking weapon of his own.
The weapon had a long shaft, made of black metal, which was about as tall as the boy holding it was. On the end, a finely sharpened blade gleamed at him. The weapon's blade was thinner near the shaft, but widened until it reached the tip, where it became smaller again and ended in a deadly upward point. Even the back of the blade looked intimidating, with four saw-like teeth running down it. The weapon was covered with gripping wraps in two locations, for the wielder's hands obviously. The butt of the weapon was dangerous as well, as it was adorned with a silver blade whose shape was not unlike that of a kunai.
"Well, you're certainly full of surprises," the man deadpanned.
Jumping back to avoid a slash from the naginata, Zabuza couldn't help but curse his luck. Perhaps this kid really was worthy of the title of nukenin. Of course, against a nin such as himself, he had no chance in hell of surviving.
Naruto knew that his naginata had a much farther reach than Zabuza's zanbato, but in the area of power he'd have to be careful. He would have to rely on his reach rather than straight on assaults.
Testing the waters, the blonde nukenin made several jabs at the Demon of the Mist. The attacks were either dodged or blocked by the massive weapon that his opponent was wielding. He soon found himself on the defensive, however, as Zabuza was not one to sit back and let his opponent do all the attacking.
Charging forward, the bandaged man batted away a thrust from his opponent's weapon using the back of his sword, then followed with a downward slash. The blade of Kubikiri Houcho met the shaft of Naruto's naginata with a metallic clang.
This is exactly what the jinchuuriki had been hoping to avoid, a direct deadlock. He could feel his arms tiring under the strain of holding back Zabuza's superior strength. The man's eyes seemed to take on an evil glint, as he knew victory was near.
Suddenly the larger nukenin whirled away from the struggling boy, just in time to dodge several shuriken and kunai. Naruto, who seemed to have been expecting the attack, jumped out of the way of the deadly projectiles.
Looking over his shoulder, the Demon of the Mist spotted several other Narutos, each with a determined look on their face. More Kage Bunshin?
'I knew they'd come in handy later,' the original blonde grinned. 'It was a good thing Zabuza didn't destroy all of the clones from earlier.'
"All of these clones of yours are really starting to piss me off kid!" shouted the Mist nukenin as he charged into the mass of remaining clones, sword raised high.
Naruto simply took this moment to sit back and watch the man off his clones. After all, it helped to study your opponent's various styles of combat.
A few seconds later all that remained of the clones were a few smoke clouds; leftover remnants from the recently popped doppelgangers. Zabuza himself didn't even seem to have broken a sweat. Turning around he fixed his gaze on his foe, who was standing with his naginata planted in the ground next to him. He just stood there with his arms crossed, as if he didn't even care about how quickly his clones had just been dispatched.
A lot of things irritated the Mist nin, but nothing did the trick like an opponent who didn't seem to take him seriously. And here was this kid, acting like he had nothing to worry about! Well, he'd just have to fix that, now wouldn't he? He was called the Demon of the Mist for a reason, and he'd have to show this kid just how scary demons could be.
Taking off at a run, he went straight for the river. Not wanting his target to get away, Naruto set off after him, his naginata in hand. Walking out on the water, Zabuza awaited his unsuspecting foe.
Water walking had been one of the more difficult techniques for Naruto to get a hang of, mostly due to his lousy chakra control. After a few years of practice though, he now had no problem with staying above the water for long periods of time.
Walking out after the man he had been trying to kill, the blonde turned and faced him. Getting into a fighting stance, his weapon at his side, he waited for the opposing nukenin to make the first move. Not surprisingly, it didn't take long for him to do just that.
It looked at first like he had snapped to attention, much like a ninja would do when a superior was around. However, most ninja didn't start going through hand signs at that point. Zabuza simply stood, keeping to his task of going through a long chain of several complex hand signs. Whatever this technique was, Naruto thought, it was going to be destructive…
"Suiton: Suiryuudan!"
No sooner than the words had left his mouth, a great geyser of water shot up from the river, before taking shape. Naruto could swear that it almost looked like a living creature, by the way it writhed and twisted around in the air. The water beast soon set its sights on the blonde, then launched itself at its target.
"Wow! That's pretty cool. I don't think I've ever seen a technique like that before," Naruto called out, his voice barely distinguishable over the roaring water.
'Too bad it has a major flaw,' he grinned. With that he began running straight at the summoned water.
'Either this kid's suicidal, or he's up to something…' the bandaged man mused, all the while keeping himself in control of the water dragon.
Right before the dragon and blonde met, Naruto channeled some of his chakra into his weapon, before slamming it tip first into the water below him. Much like water walking, the weapon acted as though it had hit solid ground, and pole-vaulted the boy into the air, over and past the dragon.
The Demon of the Mist had no time to be surprised, as the blonde descended on him, driving the blade of his weapon straight into his upper chest.
"Too bad the user of the technique is left unprotected while they focus on controlling it," the jinchuuriki chuckled darkly.
The man's eyes were wide open in shock, unable to believe that this kid had bested him… until he burst into water and dissipated.
It was Naruto's turn to be surprised now. 'A damned clone!' he thought frantically, as he looked around for the real Zabuza.
Unfortunately he failed to notice his foe as he slowly rose out of the water behind him. "Game over kid."
Whirling around, Naruto had just enough time to cry out as the Demon of the Mist ran him through with his oversized weapon. His naginata dropped from his hand into the river, most likely to be swept away. The man watched with grim satisfaction, as the blonde wasn't acting so cocky now. He began hacking, blood pouring out of both his wound and his mouth.
Hefting his weapon up, the blonde still skewered on it, Zabuza laughed. He pulled him closer so that they could talk face to face, for what little time the kid had left. "No matter how good you may think you are, there is always someone better, brat. I don't know why you thought you could take me on. I was kind of insulted at first. You almost gave me a run for my money though."
He was interrupted by more coughing. "Now, before you go and die, any last words?" he inquired with a bemused tone.
The blonde's response was to weakly lift one of his arms, stick up his middle finger, and then spat a glob of blood at the man.
"Ha ha ha! I like you kid. Too bad you don't have much longer in this world. I'll see you in hell I'm sure," he laughed, watching as the boy then went limp and ceased moving after that.
"Ah, I almost feel bad about doing that. Almost…" the man muttered to himself. Walking back on to solid ground, he held out his sword, then jerked it back, the boy's body sliding off of it. It crumpled to the ground in a heap.
Resting his blade on his shoulder, he was vaguely aware of another person present in the area. Looking off towards the woods he spotted a silver-haired man leaning against a tree, arms crossed. It was the same one from earlier that had been chasing him.
Pushing away from his support, Hidan approached the man who had fought Naruto. Looking down at the blonde's body he let out a 'tsk,' before returning his gaze to the Demon of the Mist.
"Too bad about the kid," Zabuza remarked, starting up conversation. "Not a bad fighter, just a bit reckless."
"Feh, he's too quick to get shit done. Does he listen to me though? Fuck no. Serves him right this time I suppose," Hidan shrugged.
"That's a pretty bleak way to look at it. Wasn't he your partner? What good is a dead tool to you?" asked the blonde's killer.
Hidan laughed. "Partner? Friend? Hell no. I'm stuck with that brat. He's getting slightly more bearable though. I just hope he's learned something from this," the scythe user answered, directing the last part at the boy's body.
'This guy is a little off…' Zabuza thought with agitation. 'Why do I always get stuck with the whack jobs?'
"I'm pretty sure he can't hear you," the zanbato wielder commented. "But you can tell him all of that when I end your life and send you to meet him."
The silver-haired man looked over at him, his annoyance quite obvious. "Shut up. You can spout your shit later."
Walking over to the blonde's body, he nudged it with his foot. "Get up and quit the shit already. I hope you're proud of how badly you got your ass handed to you."
When he received no response he kicked the boy with more force. "Move it," he growled.
The action elicited a yelp from the body. It quickly curled up into the fetal position, before shouting, "Okay! Okay! I'll get up! Geez, stop fucking kicking me!"
Zabuza could only stand stock still, not believing what he was seeing. Had he killed something else instead? Was it an illusion? A genjutsu perhaps? Or had he switched out at the last second with kawarimi?
Looking at his blade, he found that it was still coated in the boy's blood. Nope, he had gotten him. He then looked over at the now rising boy, noting how his jacket had been torn exactly where he had been stabbed. However, instead of him bleeding profusely, all that remained of the wound was a newly developed scar, where it had been healed up as though he had never been impaled in the first place! What the hell?!
"You got careless brat," said Hidan, amusement in his voice. "Do I have to do everything?"
"Hey, I was doing just fine!" the blonde protested. "If you had bothered to show up earlier like you were supposed to, then that wouldn't have happened! That hurt ya know!"
The scythe wielder merely shrugged, not caring in the least. "You were the one who told me that you wanted to handle an A-rank nukenin on your own, because you were "ready" to move up from C and B-class ones. How right you were," he mused.
"Hey! How was I supposed to know the bastard could use a clone technique? I wouldn't have been stabbed if you didn't leave out that fucking tidbit of information!" he growled, pissed that his partner had purposely "forgotten" to mention such a thing.
Over the past three years, one of the more obvious things that Naruto had picked up from Hidan, along with shinobi skills, was his wide variety of coarse language. For his part, the older nukenin didn't particularly care. Sometimes it was funny to get into an argument with the kid, just to listen to him swear like no tomorrow.
"You heal fast, so stop bitching already, and quit with the damned yelling, you're gonna give me a headache."
When they had first discovered the presence of Naruto's remarkable healing properties, it had yielded some interesting results.
-Flashback-
"Come on, just do it already," the nukenin ordered. "It won't hurt that bad."
"If you're sure…" a seven year old Naruto mumbled uncertainly. Taking the kunai in his hand, he made a small cut on the back of his hand. He grimaced as the pain made itself known.
If he was going to be a shinobi, he was going to have to get used to dealing with pain. Self-infliction was one of the best ways to practice such a thing. Hidan himself had done it so much that he was now able to simply brush off most flesh wounds, ignoring the pain. When you kill you enemies by stabbing or maiming yourself, pain is something you need to get used to.
Hidan raised an eyebrow. "That's it? Oh come on you fucking wimp. Here, like this."
Grabbing the kunai from the Naruto he rammed it into the back of the boy's hand so that the tip was protruding from his palm. His hand was now thoroughly impaled.
"OOOOWWWWW! OW! OW! OW! Why would you do that?! It HURTS!!" the blonde cried, waving his hand around in pain.
Seizing the boy's wrist with one hand, he grabbed the kunai with the other, before unceremoniously ripping it out. That definitely didn't help the situation any more…
Now the blonde was on the ground, in the fetal position, openly sobbing. "W-Why did you do that?" he cried. "It hurts so much…"
Hidan let out a sigh, rolling his eyes at the boy's act. "The pain will pass. Now get up, before I do it again, only it'll be your leg this time."
Eyes still brimming with tears, the Kyuubi container got back to his feet.
"Now, let me see your hand. It probably only went through one or two bones," the scythe wielder remarked.
Looking down at the recently injured hand, both persons were surprised to see that the wound was no longer pouring out blood, and it was now healing itself. Red chakra was gushing forth from the injury, much like the blood from earlier was. Skin was being healed, bones mended, and muscle repaired.
"What the fuck…?" Hidan inquired ever so eloquently, his eyebrows both raised in surprise.
Taking the kunai, he dragged it along the back of the boy's hand, then watched with curiosity as it instantly began healing itself, more of the crimson chakra coming out from wherever injury had occurred.
"Ow! Stop it Hidan!" the blonde shouted. "That hurts you know!"
The addressed man sat back and watched as the chakra finished up healing the gash. "Looks like the fox gave you more than just extra chakra," he observed. "You have some pretty quick healing now too."
'Lucky little bastard, it takes me days to heal up injuries like that,' he groused in his mind.
Letting his previous words sink in, Hidan grinned, his eyes taking on a mischievous gleam. He now not only had a punching bag, but one that could heal itself after every attack!
"Oh, this is gonna be fun…" he chuckled.
Naruto could only gulp as the man continued to look at him in the same way that he would look at ramen.
"Training time," the nukenin called out in a disturbingly happy tone.
-End Flashback-
The ten year-old pouted, before looking around the area. "Hey, where'd my naginata go? Ah shit…"
Running over to the river, he looked down into the rushing water, before extending his hand towards it. Concentrating hard, he was rewarded for his efforts when his weapon flew from the water and into his waiting hand. 'Score one for chakra strings,' the blonde mentally laughed.
He grinned at his work, thankful that Hidan had taught him about using his chakra in such a way. The older nukenin had told him a while ago that throwing a weapon can help in some situations, but if you miss, you're basically shit outta luck.
As such, Naruto worked hard to develop his chakra control so that he, liked Hidan, could use chakra strings to manipulate his weapon. His control was vastly improved from what it once was, but still sucked in combat, as he was too busy focusing on the invisible threads of chakra that linked him to his weapon, allowing him some degree of indirect control over it.
Hidan had shown Naruto this ability when he first received his naginata, and the blonde instantly began begging him to show him how it was done.
Re-sealing his weapon, Naruto walked back over to Hidan, taking his place at his side. "Well since I'm so incapable of handling this situation, why don't you do some work for a change," Naruto challenged.
The silver-haired nukenin promptly whacked him on the back of his head. "For a change? I'm pretty damn sure I handled the last four missing nin we came across," he reminded his fellow Jashin-worshiper.
"Yeah, after I incapacitated them!" Naruto roared, angered that his ally was taking credit for his work.
Zabuza took this time to remind the two nukenin that he was still there. "What the hell are you…? And for that matter, why the hell are you killing off other nukenin?" he asked, keeping his weapon at the ready, just in case.
The two arguing shinobi looked over at the Demon of the Mist. "Oh, I forgot you were there," Naruto remarked offhandedly. Zabuza felt a tick of annoyance building after that comment.
"He," Hidan started, hoping to answer the man's questions, "Is a brat. And an annoying one at that." He ignored the boy's indignant yell. "As for why we're killing off nukenin… well, we gotta make money somehow. That just happens to be the quickest, and most amusing way. Sacrifices for Jashin-sama, and cash for us. Everyone wins," he elaborated.
"You happened to be in the area, so we figured we could just cash in on the reward on your head," Naruto added.
"I'm surprised no shinobi have tried to do the same to you," the bandaged man replied.
"They have, and I'm sure Jashin-sama was pleased with them as sacrifices," said the blonde, in a way that made chills run down the sword user's spine. It was clear that this kid was no ordinary shinobi…
"Well, enough with the fucking pleasantries. I'd like to get the hell out of here and on with my life, if you don't mind," said Hidan as he began walking at a leisurely pace towards Zabuza. Drawing his scythe from the strap on his back, he twirled the weapon around a few times, as if warming up.
Cautiously, the Kiri-nin backed up further into the mist that he had brought upon the area. He was feeling more and more uncomfortable about fighting these two. The kid had survived a killing blow, and now he was stuck fighting the silver-haired guy, whose abilities were unknown. It was a good thing he had one more trick up his sleeve, just in case things got really bad.
Breaking into a sprint, Hidan launched himself into the mist after his target. Naruto, who was still back where his partner had originally been, listened for the sounds of combat; clangs of metal, shouts of anger, cries of pain, anything…
The silver-haired nin attacked with a vertical slash, which Zabuza parried with his massive weapon. Pushing on the back of his sword, he managed to force the other nukenin away from himself.
With a shout of "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" several copies of the Demon of the Mist formed , each with their own zanbato.
The opposing missing nin brought up his scythe and began looking from one copy to the next. 'So many copies, so little time. The question is… which one will bleed?'
All at once the group of clones threw themselves at their enemy, weapons at the ready. Leaping over the first clone's attack, Hidan brought the blades of his scythe down into the being's skull, forcing it to dissipate. Using the momentum from his attack, he spun his weapon once and brought it up to block a strike from another clone.
A glancing blow caught the nukenin in the back, but he recovered quickly and broke the offending clone's neck with a powerful roundhouse kick, ending its existence.
Two more clones attempted to catch him off guard. Both brought their weapons down upon the man, only to have their attacks blocked, each cleaver landing between two of the three blades on Hidan's scythe. With a quick twist of his wrist he turned his scythe and forced the clones to break hold of their weapons. The disarmed doppelgangers were then easily destroyed.
It wasn't a fight, it was a slaughter; granted, Mizu Bunshin only possessed a fraction of the original's strength. "I hope that wasn't all you had to offer," the silver-haired man called out into the mist. "If so that's pretty fucking disappointing."
"I only needed them to buy me some time," came the voice of Zabuza. "They did their job."
The mist suddenly became a bit thinner, making it easy for Hidan to find his target. What caught his attention was the position the man's hands were in. It looked as though he had just finished a jutsu.
"Suiton: Suishouha!"
The very earth seemed to shake. It was clear why that was, when a moment later a massive wall of water came into view, heading straight at the scythe user at high speeds.
"Fuck me…" mumbled Hidan. This was going to hurt and he knew it. Before the water could reach him, he launched his weapon at the Demon of the Mist.
If he moved to dodge it, the jutsu would be cancelled and all would be for naught. Gritting his teeth, he let the weapon hit its mark. Fortunately for him, it simply grazed his shoulder, drawing only a small amount of blood, before lodging itself in the tree behind him.
Hidan let a maniacal grin form on his face, right before the wall of water slammed into him, and began using him as a battering ram of sorts on any object that got in the wave's path. Trees, earth, rocks, and so on.
Naruto, who was far enough away, barely made it up into a tree in time to avoid getting hit by the jutsu. He could have sworn he heard Hidan as he passed by, screaming something along the lines of "Fuck that hurts!" Perhaps it was just his imagination though.
When the wave had passed, and died down, he began searching the area for his ally. He found him, wedged against a few trees in a very uncomfortable looking position. Kneeling down in front of him, he tilted his head to one side, before saying, "I'll bet that hurts. Are you okay?"
Glancing up at his student of sorts, Hidan managed a feeble, "Up yours, brat."
Getting to his feet, the man snapped his dislocated shoulder back into place with a sickening pop!
Rolling the newly fixed shoulder a few times, the scythe wielder looked around for his opponent, who was probably low on chakra by now. Two fights, and several high-ranked jutsu will do that to you.
Zabuza, who was busy catching his breath, looked up and grimaced. 'He's back on his feet? How the hell? This could be trouble…' he thought, the possibility of death beginning to rear its ugly head. The opposing nukenin was coming his way, and he looked a little pissed.
Extending his hand towards his scythe, Hidan pulled on the chakra strings that linked him to his weapon. With a bit of effort, the weapon dislodged itself from the tree and sailed back towards its owner.
Catching the airborne weapon, the follower of Jashin ran a finger across the blade of his weapon, collecting blood from its most recent victim. The blood was quickly absorbed into his skin.
Grinning, Hidan threw off his cloak. He began chanting, which a moment later resulted in a ritualistic rune circle appearing beneath him. His skin, as before when he used the technique, turned a black as dark as night, except for the outline of his bone structure, which made him look as fiendish as he normally acted in a fight.
"I hope you've said you prayers, 'cause this fight is over now," he called out to his exhausted opponent. "Jashin-sama, this nin is powerful, and will make an excellent tribute to you!"
Naruto envied Hidan for this ability. He had a technique that allowed him to mirror the pain and injury that he underwent, to his opponent. This ability, courtesy of Jashin, coupled extremely well with his immortality. The blonde had tried to replicate the technique, but to no avail. It seemed that every follower of Jashin received a unique ability to call their own, along with immortality. He only wished that he could figure out what his was.
Aware of the change his enemy had gone through, Zabuza knew that this could only mean trouble. He watched as the missing nin proceeded to stab himself in the left shoulder with his scythe. Before the Demon of the Mist could begin performing a jutsu, pain lanced through his own shoulder. It felt like he had been stabbed by that scythe…
"Now, I don't want you using any more of those damned jutsu, so we can't have you using that arm. I'm gonna be feeling that last technique for a while," Hidan commented, before driving his weapon through his leg. "And I don't want you running after we've done all this work."
With a cry of pain, the bandaged nin fell to a knee, his other leg now useless. This man… his abilities… it was like he was a living voodoo doll!
Bringing up his weapon, Hidan made a move to end the pointless torment and finish his opponent. Before he could, several senbon became lodged in the scythe using nukenin's neck. Gritting his teeth in irritation, he could see his vision starting to fade. 'Fuck… I'm gonna pass out…' was his last thought before darkness claimed him, and he collapsed.
Zabuza, who was still under the effects of the technique Hidan had used, was also knocked unconscious.
Naruto, who watched the attack occur, began searching for the source of the senbon. In a tree near Hidan's now unconscious body was a boy that looked about his age, but with black hair and brown eyes. In a swirl of leaves, he disappeared, then reappeared next to Zabuza's downed body.
"Hold it right there!" Naruto shouted as he took off at top speed towards the intruder. While running, he pulled out his scroll from earlier and unsealed his naginata once again.
After the boy flashed through a few hand signs, the mist in the area began to converge on him and his friend's body. Soon they were covered in a large sphere of the substance, blocking them from view.
Just as he reached them, Naruto sliced through the cloud of vapor with his weapon's blade. The mist promptly turned into droplets of water, which fell to the ground, their masters were nowhere to be seen.
"Son of a bitch!" the blonde cried out. "For Jashin-sama's sake, we were so close! ARGH!"
He was pissed, and he wanted to work off his anger on something, anything. Even a tree would do at this point in time. He was rewarded however, when several shinobi landed in the immediate area.
They didn't look like any nin he had ever encountered before though. Each of them looked ridiculous, what with their camouflage scarves and outfits. They reminded him slightly of the leg and arm warmers that Zabuza had been wearing.
The lead shinobi, or so he assumed, due to the ridiculous looking vest he wore, turned to face his subordinates. "You see! I told you I heard something in this area."
Looking around, he noticed the varying amounts of destruction and collateral damage. How the hell? Glancing at the boy in front of him, then to the unmoving body of the other person, he couldn't help but wonder if they were responsible for this.
Naruto looked from one shinobi to the next. There were seven total, including the leader. He couldn't see their faces, as each of them wore a black mask. Well, all but one did, anyway. The only oddball in the group was a redheaded girl who instead opted to wear a skull cap. Why that was the case, he had no idea. She too wore the camouflage equipment, and didn't seem the least bit happy about it.
He noticed that they each wore a hitae-ate with a music note on it. He'd never seen that symbol before, and as such figured that it must be the symbol for a new village that he had yet to hear of or visit.
The Chuunin noticed the slash through the boy's headband, symbolizing that he had no loyalty to a village. Glancing over at the unconscious body, he saw a slash on that's one's hitae-ate as well. His first instinct was to deal with them and remove them from the ninja world, however…
'Lord Orochimaru did say he was taking in missing nin. If I bring them in, maybe I'll get a reward for my services and my success,' he thought greedily. 'And since the kid hasn't killed the other guy yet, they must be acquaintances… perfect.'
"Hey kid, any chance you and your friend would want to join the ranks of Otogakure?" he inquired, hoping that the boy would be easily coerced into agreeing. After all, he was just a kid. Surely the older guy was in charge of making decisions and whatnot.
Naruto, who wanted to just slaughter them on the spot, decided to play the "I'm just an innocent kid" routine. "Otogakure? I've never heard of that village before."
Oh, this was going to be easy. "We're a recently founded village, and have been around for about two months now. We're looking for shinobi to bolster out ranks. Interested?"
The blonde tilted his head to the side, feigning innocence. "You mean, we can have a village to call home? And we won't have to run from hunter-nin anymore?"
The Chuunin nodded, reeling the line in even more. "And on top of that, you'll even be enlisted right away as a genin. You don't have to attend an academy."
The Kyuubi container tapped on his chin a few times with his index finger. "Hmm…"
'Now for the fun part,' he grinned. "Nah. Not interested."
The man nearly face-faulted. "What? What do you mean 'no'?"
Walking over to Hidan, Naruto began removing the senbon from his neck. On a normal person, he'd have to be careful, as it could kill the person if removed without the utmost care and precision. Hidan however, couldn't die, so that meant… payback for all the times the silver-haired man had made his life hell!
He made sure to yank them out in as painful a manner as he could. The nukenin probably couldn't feel it, being unconscious and all, but it made the blonde feel better. Ah, payback certainly was a bitch.
The jinchuuriki then returned his attention to the camo-clad man. "I said no, as in, 'fuck off.'"
Even though he couldn't see their faces, he was sure that each of the sound ninjas' eyebrows were raised. Such language, coming from a brat no less!
The redhead seemed to find this amusing. "Well he certainly told you. What now, oh fucking brilliant leader?"
Naruto grinned, noting the girl's attitude. 'Note to self, kill her last.'
After all, things could prove amusing with her alive for a bit longer. The other's though… he was looking for an excuse to kill them.
"You should reconsider my offer boy. It would be a shame if something were to happen to you and your friend here," the man reasserted, drawing a kunai.
Ah, the excuse had just presented itself. Whirling around, Naruto thrust his still unsealed naginata blade first up into the man's neck. He watched with amusement as he sputtered and grabbed at his throat.
"What was that?" the blonde inquired. "I'm sorry, but it's hard to hear you with that blade stuck through your throat like that. Let me help."
With the flick of his wrist, he decapitated the man in one swift stroke.
He looked to the other sound nin for their reactions. One of them turned and wretched, the contents of his stomach being emptied onto the ground. The redhead seemed slightly surprised, but for the most part really didn't seem to care. The four others were most likely enraged, as they were now drawing their weapons.
"Oh please, like you can kill me," he remarked snidely. "You think I'm just playing shinobi here? I earned this," he said while pointing to the slash going through his hitae-ate.
If they had even heard him, he didn't know. They all charged him, save the redhead, who had elected to pull out a flute and begin playing.
The very world around Naruto seemed to distort, becoming warped and dark. The nin that had been charging at him disappeared, and no matter where he looked, he couldn't see them.
"Huh… a genjutsu. And a good one too," the blonde commented aloud. "Kai!" he shouted, concentrating on creating a chakra fluctuation in his head. The illusion remained.
"Damn, this is really good." Either it was double layered or it was simply more advanced than your average genjutsu.
Closing his eyes, he spun his weapon around so the blade was facing towards him, then proceeded to ram it through his own chest. Opening his eyes, he was met with the real world once again.
Apparently in that short time span, he had received several injuries. Some gashes on his arms, cuts on his legs. Ducking under a slash from a kunai he rammed his weapon into his opponent's back as he passed by.
Shoving his weapon in the direction of an attacker behind him, the sharpened butt of his weapon dug deep into his would-be attacker's chest, ending his life.
The three others, now hesitant, became more cautious and gave the blonde some space. The redhead began playing another melody, but Naruto would have none of that. Whipping a kunai out of a jacket pocket, he tossed the weapon at the genjutsu mistress. Impacting with the flute, it was sent flying away from the girl.
The two other shinobi, who had watched the kunai, rather than their opponent, were caught off guard by the lightning fast attack the blonde had followed up with. Stabbing one with the rear end of his weapon, he took down the other by plunging the main blade of his naginata into the center of the man's chest.
With a nasty grin he pulled back on the weapon, making the saw-like teeth on the back of the naginata's blade rip out most of the man's chest cavity. Needless to say, he died almost instantly.
Now only the girl remained. Turning his attention to her, the jinchuuriki found her scrambling to retrieve her flute. Using kawarimi, he switched places with the corpse of a sound shinobi that was near the musical instrument.
Bending down to grab her flute, the girl soon found a set of teeth like blades by her neck. "Sorry, but I can't let you start using genjutsu on me again, can I?" Naruto inquired, amused by the girl's futile efforts.
She stared up at her enemy. Brown eyes met cerulean blue. "If you're gonna fucking kill me then just get it over with."
Bitter to the very end! This kunoichi was definitely a feisty one. "Excuse me?" the boy asked. "Now what gives you the idea that I'd kill you?"
"You're joking, right?" the sound-nin deadpanned. "Just do it already you sadistic fuckwad."
Naruto couldn't help but laugh. "Tell me, what's your name?" he asked.
"Why the fuck does that matter? I'm gonna be dead in a minute," she replied bitterly, her hate for the short blonde growing immensely.
"I'm Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet you. And you are?" he asked, his manner seeming deceitfully cheerful. He followed on this by moving the back of his weapon even closer to her neck.
Was this guy serious? "Tayuya," she ground out.
"Nice name," he mused. "Well Tayuya-chan, I'll see you later. Play nice!" the Kyuubi container laughed, as he withdrew his weapon, then re-sealed it.
In the short time span that he had met the redhead, he had developed a bit or respect for her. She didn't beg for her life, or break down and cry like some girls might. Plus, she had an attitude to boot. He'd spare her… this time anyway.
Walking over to Hidan's body, he sealed the man's scythe away in a storage scroll. With a great deal of effort, he hefted the man on to one of his shoulders. The blonde looked over at the bewildered redhead, then winked. That would be sure to screw with her mind.
A second later, the boy and his silver-haired partner disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
After a few moments of utter silence, mostly due to shock and confusion, the redhead seemed to gain her bearings. Out of all the emotions, such as relief, or gratefulness, or even happiness, only one seemed to fit the situation.
"That bastard!" she roared. Obviously anger was at the top of her list. She began imagining painful ways to torture the blonde before killing him slowly the next time she saw him. She would get stronger just to kill him.
With a sigh of frustration, Tayuya looked around at the bodies of her fallen comrades. Well… maybe co-workers was a better term. After all, it's not like she gave a flying fuck about what happened to them, right?
But wait… if she was the only one left, that meant that she would have to be the one to report this to Orochimaru. And that meant…
One word seemed to summarize the situation perfectly.
"Fuck…"
-End Chapter-
Draknal: There. I started off the post time-skip chapter with a heated battle! And now you can stop bitching about when Tayuya will show up. There she is. Hopefully you all enjoyed this little segment I have provided.
Now, as to why they were fighting Zabuza. As missing nin, Naruto and Hidan can't take village missions and whatnot to gain cash, so they resorted instead to killing fellow nukenin. The bounties keep them sustained for a while. As far as turning in the heads for the rewards, how do they do it without being targeted themselves? Henge.
Now, as for why Zabuza. I figure that in the manga, team seven fights him as genin, each being the age of twelve. Since Naruto is now ten, I figure that Zabuza could have just begun his career as a nukenin. Being on the run from hunter-nin, and seeing as the newly formed Otogakure was taking in missing-nin, it seemed like a decent location. And because of the location I was able to incorporate Tayuya, if only a little bit. My reasons are my own! And they are explained! AUTHOR POWER!
Any time periods or chronologically incorrect events that might have occurred… just ignore them. Because once more, author power. So have I written, so it became.
Anywho, thanks again to all my readers. And thanks times two to all those who decide to review. I love and appreciate you for it. I work for my reviewers! Hopefully you will all come back to enjoy the next chapter of this story. Later!
Oh, and thanks once again to my beta reader, B!