Chapter 4: Third Circle - Gluttony
Synopsis: Things have been well thus far for Naruto and his rescue team. But alas with the master of hell knowing of their continued success, the mission will not be so simple anymore. With all of hell now against them how will team Naruto fare?
However that is not their only problem. As Naruto ventures further down the circles he will come to understand the folly of his rashness.
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise or characters associated with it. I also do not own any part of the 14th century Italian divine comedy Dante's Inferno.
"talking"
thoughts
~9th Circle – Treachery~
Hinata screamed in agony as hell's master burned her soul with a flame similar to that of Amaterasu. This torture was not to destroy Hinata existence, but to show the master's distaste of the events that have happened thus far. By defeating two of the guardians of hell, the humans of the living world were now able to come and go from the circles as they pleased. But what really enticed the master's rage was why they were here. Agents learned in the first two circles that the male leader of these mortals had dared to barge into Yomi in order to recue 'this' pathetic soul.
The master continued to burn Hinata relishing in hearing her screams. For what really angered the master was not the fact that mortals had dare to transverse its territory, but the cause of it. In the hearts and souls of those mortals was an abundance of love they had for Hinata. For reasons long ago, the master detested the very concept of love with every fiber of its being.
But eventually the master did stop its torture since the Hyuga girl had already passed out from the pain. So in that moment the dark one swiftly turned around and warped a mirror like portal in front of it. This portal showed the circles of lust, gluttony, and violence. It then reflected within its mirror five souls. One soul each reflected from both lust and gluttony while the three other souls came from violence.
"Listen well souls of the damned" bellowed the master. "Enemies of your past have entered this domain, and if you are to defeat these intruders I shall grant you all asylum into limbo"
The offer too tempting to pass up was immediately accepted. However, the soul from lust wanted a different reward.
"If we are to defeat these intruders I do not wish to go to limbo. Instead I would like to be sent to the 9th circle" said the white haired male
The master finding this request odd didn't find any reason to refuse. "Very well, but if any of you are to fail me you shall be punished with an eternity of pain which like you have never experienced before"
Faint gulping can be heard from them but none of them refused the offer. With that the master restored those souls to their original bodies with all their previous powers and skills attached before the time they died.
"Now go" and with that command the five souls were instantly transported on an interception course with team Naruto.
~Stairway to the 3rd Circle – Gluttony~
As team Naruto progressed further down the weapons mistress of the group had something she wanted to give to her teammates.
"Here" said Tenten as she started to hand out special scrolls to each of her comrades
"What's this?" asked Lee as he examined the parchment
Tenten then had a bemused expression on her face. "These scrolls hold something special in them. I kind of felt they were a must for our journey here"
Now as Tenten was giving a thorough explanation about her special scrolls, a certain blond began to feel unease build up inside of him. Naruto clenched his stomach area unsure of it was. But for now he decided to ignore it as saving Hinata was far more important than his own health. However the pain was still very apparent.
"Uhh, what is this" thought Naruto as he cringed slightly at the growing pressure
Kiba who noticed this action decided to speak up. "Oi Naruto, you OK?"
"I'm fine I'm fine" responded Naruto in his usual personality as he quickly waved off Kiba concern, but then he noticed Sakura seeming down as well. "Sakura-chan, are you alright?"
Sakura was then knocked out of her stupor. "Yes I'm fine" she quickly said, but then started looking down again. "I'm sorry Naruto"
"About what?" he asked
"Not only did I need to be rescued again but I made you use up another clone" she pointed out
Naruto immediately waved this off. "It's fine, and besides anyone of us could have ended in that state it was just unlucky in your case. Plus don't worry about the clone as long as I don't do anything extreme I should be able to maintain sage form without too much trouble"
Sakura cheered up a bit, but she still felt depressed about almost compromising the team. Shikamaru then looked back to see Choji on his fourth power bar. However Choji didn't seem so interested in eating the bar but simply to stare at it.
"Something wrong?" asked Shikamaru
Choji looked up with a confused look on his face. He then looked back to the bar in his hand. "For some reason this bar doesn't taste right"
"Well you probably just lost your appetite for where we are. But as soon as we get out of here I'll buy the first round of dinner" said the shadow nin
The husky ninja liked that idea, but something definitely didn't seem right. Since when did he ever leave a snack unfinished? But soon enough he bought into his friend's explanation and continued onward.
Now after a little while longer the group eventually reached the third circle. However . . . .
"What did I just step in" said Tenten as she picked her foot up to see what was on it
Kiba then went to plug his nose while Akamaru went down to cover his nose with his paws. "Aww, that stinks! What is that smell?" said Kiba with Akamaru whimpering in agreement.
Sakura then took a look at the ground and went slightly wide eyed at her discovery. "I think what we are stepping on is alive"
Shino then placed one of his chakra bugs on the floor for further analysis. "Hmm, it's definitely alive. If I'm listening correctly this seems to be some sort of digestive tract"
"Eww, that is gross" commented Naruto
"Wait, are you saying this circle is alive?" asked Choji
Neji then turned on his Byakugan and viewed the current area. To his observations it seemed as if the entire area was a giant conduit of chakra channels. "Interesting" was all he could say.
On that end statement everyone proceeded into the circle. However Shikamaru then noticed an immediate problem about the terrain.
"Wait!" called the shadow ninja. He then pulled out a shuriken and tossed it onto the ground. After a few seconds of exposure the metal star was immediately reduced to sludge. At that everyone gave a shocked look to what happened.
"It seems something acidic has been lined all over the area" to which everyone nodded to this observation
However Naruto without a second thought then proceeded to walk out onto the acidic land. "What are you doing you idiot?!" exclaimed Shikamaru. But then to everyone's observation Naruto didn't seem to be in any pain, agony, or melting what so ever.
"If we treat it like water walking then it should be fine" said Naruto in a kind of well duh manner. At that everyone had a face smack urge since it should have been obvious to use chakra to safely transverse the land.
One by one as they entered the circle something unusual started to happen. Hundreds of bubbles of acid started to form around the Konoha ninjas. Within a window of a few seconds the convulsions erupted violently in which very grotesque human figures began to take their place.
"What the heck are they?!" said Naruto
"They must be the souls of this circle! Be careful everyone don't let them touch you!" said Sakura
As the twisted figures made their way closer to the leaf ninjas green drops can be seen falling from them. As the drops hit the ground a sizzling sound can be seen. All the corpses that were beginning to close on them were covered with acid that could reduce bones into mush.
"Why did they decide to attack now?" asked Shino as he got into a defensive stance
"That's not important, we need to get rid of them without expending too much of our power" said Shikamaru
"I'll clear the way!" called Naruto as he created two shadow clones
"Don't waste chakra like that!" shouted Shikamaru
"I know this is dumb!" retorted the blond as his two clones helped him prepare his rasenshuriken. "But I'm the only one here with a technique that can open a path"
Soon enough the technique was done and ready for deployment. "Alright here I go, futon: rasenshuriken" called Naruto as he threw the heavy chakra mass. Upon cutting through the first few souls the chakra mass then exploded into an incredible sphere of wind destroying the backing of the flank group in front of them. Although this attack seemed successful at first it was short lived as hundreds of those acid monstrosities replaced them in a blink of an eye. This was hell so it is to be expected that the army size here was infinite and staying any longer would force them into a battle of attrition which was a fight they could not win.
Neji then had an interesting idea how to get away from this hopeless situation, but doing so could prove detrimental if any one made one false move. "Everyone! Brace yourselves!" he called as he sent a payload of his own chakra into the ground with one of his gentle fist strikes. At that moment the ground began to convulse violently in which the organ they were standing on exploded sending the leaf ninjas away with the aftershock. In that simultaneous moment Naruto summoned a massive number of bushins to form a giant ball around the group in order to act as a cushion and shield to the explosion and the resulting acid that would have shot out. Plus in regards to that extreme move, Neji made a crater which ended up swallowing any of the souls who were too close to the blast site. "Huh" was the only sound Neji made during the course of that insane move.
After a few seconds of mid air flight the Naruto ball came crashing down onto ground below instantly dispelling all the clones.
"That was so f**king crazy!" shouted Kiba at the disbelief of what Neji had done
"What did you do Neji?" asked Tenten
Neji gave a slight smirk. "Since this place is alive with its own chakra coil system I simply exploited this fact with my techniques. Although it wasn't exactly ideal on how I wanted to escape"
"Yeah you could have killed us all like that!" Kiba said irritated with Neji coolness about the situation
Now the team was safe during the landing with a few minor complaints of Naruto clones touching places they shouldn't. However Naruto began to breath heavily afterwards. As he got up to face his fellow comrades it was well noticed that his sage mode was over.
"The hell?" said Naruto as he began to feel himself kneel to the ground. But soon enough found himself aided by Lee shoulder
"What's wrong Naruto-kun?" asked Lee
After taking some relieved breaths Naruto corrected himself to answer. "I'm fine now, but something was weird about my sage mode"
"What is?" then asked Sakura
"I'm not sure, but I know I should have been able to maintain that form for far much longer" Naruto mused
"Hell is hungry . . . ." said Choji
Everyone then looked to Choji for what he meant, but something seemed odd about Choji now that everyone was looking at him. The thing was for some reason as he was speaking his eyes seemed to have been shadowed. Now usually this wasn't such a big deal, but something definitely didn't seem right about him.
"Hell is hungry, for there is no amount of meat or grain that can quench this appetite. For hell is hungry . . . . for life!" and at that moment Choji lunged at Naruto instantly sinking his teeth into his arm. Naruto cringed in pain as he wrestled with the Akamichi to release his jaws. Immediately the rest of the team jumped in to force Choji back to his senses. But reason did not reach Choji ears as he swatted each of his friends away while closing his teeth tighter on Naruto. Then Sakura who was getting angry with the situation decided to force some sense into her friend.
"Snap out of it!" yelled Sakura as she used a chakra infused punch to force the chunnin back to his senses. Upon impact Choji's jaw released in which he was safely caught in Shikamaru's shadow mimic to keep his body from falling on the acid terrain. A few seconds later Choji regained his senses.
"What happened?" asked Choji as he rubbed his head on the spot he was hit on
Naruto who was being healed up by Sakura answered that question. "You tried to take a bite out of me! What's wrong with you?!"
Everyone waited for that explanation to which Choji felt himself cornered. However Shikamaru immediately stepped in to defend his close friend.
"Hold up, I know Choji has a good reason for this. Besides remember what that Kiri nin said, hell can play tricks on the heart"
Choji internally thanked his friend for his patience. He then thought for a good moment what had happened during the time of his insanity.
"I remember during the walk down here I was starting to feel really hungry. But the more I ate the hungrier I got. On my last snack I started to feel a starvation for something more. When I saw Naruto I suddenly wanted to take a bite out of him. Although at that point I don't remember much afterwards" explained Choji
"But why Naruto?" asked Shino
Sakura then stepped forward with a possible theory. "Well I suppose it must be the characteristics of sage mode"
"What do you mean?" asked Naruto
"If I understand sage mode correctly it takes in natural energy which is essentially life energy, right Naruto?"
"Yeah that's right, so what about it?"
"Well if that is the case then the will of this world wishes for life and through Choji-kun sin, it acted on taking the life energy from you"
"You better not be saying anything about me being fat!" grumbled Choji
Sakura gave a half-chuckle at this. "No, of course not Choji-kun" she said while continuing to give choked laughs
"Hmm, if that is the case then that is probably why you weren't able to hold onto sage mode and also probably why those souls attacked us earlier" said Shikamaru
"Then I believe it would be best if you didn't use that power for the remainder of this mission" then said Neji
"But it isn't conclusive" complained Naruto. "How do we even know that my sage chakra even attracted them?"
"Just to be safe for now refrain from using it. We want to get through each circle without too much commotion, alright Naruto " said Shikamaru
But before Naruto could give his agreement a low rumbling earthquake was felt beneath their feet. At that instant everyone looked to Neji with accusation.
Neji looked back annoyed, "this isn't me"
In instinctual nature the Konoha ninjas all jumped away as multiple sharp pillars and fountains of acid appeared all over the area. However the bursting organ beneath them created extra force pushing everyone away from each other. Although it wasn't far, it was far enough for them to be attacked more easily.
"This is starting to get really troublesome" complained Shikamaru as he helped his blond companion back onto his feet. But soon enough Shikamaru was going to realize that if he considered this troublesome then who he is going to meet now is going to be rather problematic.
"Good to see you again a**hole. You don't have that b**ch to hide behind again. So I'm going to make sure I kill you this time" said Tayuya
Shikamaru then looked to the new comer and only had one thing to say. "God must really hate me"
"We should really regroup with the others" suggested Tenten. "We don't know who is going to jump out and attack us at any moment"
However Lee was busy examining the pillar that shot up from the ground moments ago. As he touched the pillar, Lee could not help but feel nostalgia about it. "This pillar . . . . something seems very familiar about it"
"Watch out!" shouted Tenten
Lee turned his head to see something fast and small coming right for him. But before he could dodge out of the way Tenten had already weapon summoned one of her riot clubs to deflect the hit. However instead of the attack being deflected it was imbedded into the wooden weapon. Lee took the projectile out of the club for close examination and soon realized what it meant. But immediately more of those attacks came as both Lee and Tenten dodged and deflected the projectiles by any means they could.
Soon enough the white haired attacker revealed himself. As he walked out to his opponents, both of his arms were raised with his fingers pointed at them.
"So it was you!" said Lee with some shock in his voice
Tenten then looked to Lee. "You know this guy?"
"Yeah we fought before, but I'm glad to meet him again so that I can have that rematch" said Lee as he got into fighting stance
"When I kill you I'll get to be with my precious one again" said Kimimaro
"We meet again" smiled Sakon
"We are going to enjoy our reunion together" said Ukon as he appeared out of his brother's shoulder
Kiba felt a slight chill at the memory of being fused to the twins before. Even after so many years it still felt rather disgusting to have them be a part of his body for that short time. But then he saw his bug ninja companion step forward in order to have their attention.
"So you are the one who fought Kiba that many years ago", Shino then took out his hands as hundreds of bugs began to pour out to take the shape of a weapon. "I'll be sure to defeat you where my teammate could not"
Kiba could only look to his partner with a sour face. Not only did he make it seem like he was a loser but also that Shino had some unresolved issues. "He still hasn't gotten over it" thought Kiba as the bug ninja began his attack.
"So it's you again" said Neji as he activated his Byakugan.
The six armed man slowly walked up to him while giving his neck a bit a stretch while giving off a chuckle. "I'm going to make sure I kill you this time" smiled the spider ninja. "I still owe you for taking my head off that last time"
The Hyuga shinobi didn't waste any more time with talk. As soon his enemy was close enough to strike he immediately went for the chakra coils on his heart. Upon impact the six-armed ninja reacted to the damage as blood was spilled from his mouth. Although he must have been clearly defeated with that kill shot the enemy could only smirk with delight as blood still continued to pour out his mouth. Neji then looked back to where he had struck and only could become wide eyed to what he saw. For as he peeled his hand back he saw as his chakra coils began to rewind themselves around his heart.
"As I was saying this fight won't be as easy as the last time" he smirked
Choji came flying back after taking a massive hit from his opponent. Sakura using her ninja speed caught Choji before he could land on his back. She looked up to see a large ninja change colors from his usual human skin tone to a more monstrous red and purple look.
The fat ninja laughed as huge amounts of evil chakra poured out of him. Soon enough he started to look bigger and bigger by the moment as his chakra grew.
Choji immediately straightened himself out looking back at the fat ninja for what was so amusing. "Don't worry, that move takes up a lot of power to maintain. If we keep pressing he'll be out of chakra in no time"
"That's what you think!" he called as he continued to grow bigger and bigger
The husky ninja then chose to answer back with his own trash talk. "It won't be any different from the last time I defeated you, and I have become a lot stronger since then"
However the monstrous man continued to laugh. "There are three reasons why you can't beat me. First you're still the little weakling from before" Jirobo was now four times as big as before. "Second, the energy of this world fuels me with infinite chakra as my disposal" the monstrous man then swung his fist down destroying approximately twenty feet of the area he had hit. "and third, in this world we are immortal" he sneered.
"You've got one hell of a price on your head for a shit piece of trash like yourself" said Tayuya as she started to shift to her level one seal
"But the master has pretty much placed a sizable bounty for any worthless soul here to take. If anyone of us can at least kill one of you f**kers then we would be granted passage into limbo"
Naruto then elbowed his partner. "See, I told you it wasn't my sage mode that attracted them from earlier"
But like how most irony goes. "and if it weren't for that funky energy a while ago, we wouldn't have been able to have first dibbs on your a**es". The blond ninja then gave a comedic sweat drop as Shikamaru could only look at his friend with contempt. Now immediately a good sizeable force of gluttonous souls popped out of the ground ready to feast on them and receive their reward of ascension from this circle.
"These fat a**es should provide good entertainment. But I'll be the one to kill you and get the f**k out of this place" and with that she began her attack by blowing out her "allies" in front of her attempting to kill the two Konoha ninjas.
Now both Naruto and Shikamaru were on the defensive since neither of them had any jutsu designed to counter Tayuya sound attacks. Plus they were also trying to avoid being flanked by the corrupted around them. Although the sound ninja did make it easy for them as she was annihilating some of her competition with her indiscriminate attacks. But immediately at the start of their fight Tayuya went directly to her level two seal transformation. The shadow ninja then looked to his blond compatriot.
"Her attacks are vulnerable to wind affinity. So you're wind right, do something!" said Shikamaru as he dodged another sound blade coming for his head
"My only wind attack is the rasenshuriken. So there isn't much I can do!" exclaimed Naruto as he used a replacement jutsu in conjunction with his kage bushin to take the sound projectile
Now Tayuya was just having her fun by using her attacks to keep them on edge. Of course her body was immortal like the other members of her team. Just like them, the evil of hell continuously fed her with infinite chakra to use. But what made her really dangerous was how she was far stronger then she was when she was alive. For it seemed that her horns had grown bigger. As for her body, her skin seemed to have a darker shade to it now with her hair becoming more hot pink. Furthermore her flute seemed to be alive as it looked partly organic in the shape of that instrument.
Naruto who noticed that last fact blurted out what was on his mind. "What is that thing? Is it alive?" The blond ninja then noticed the drool from the flute "is it, is it giving her tongue?!"
Tayuya having heard that comment became extremely pissed. "You f**king blond! Are you blind or stupid?! Do you think I'd be frenching this?!"
Shikamaru then decided to take advantage of this situation by coming up with a plan. As the blond and the red head squabbled over indecency Shikamaru came to a possible strategy which could get them the win. He then told a viable clone his plan before dispelling him to allow Naruto in on what he was thinking. Upon Naruto signal Shikamaru counterattack began as he pulled out a scroll Tenten had handed to him earlier.
Kiba was watching dumbfounded as Shino was taking on the twins by himself. Of course the dog ninja wanted to help out his teammate. However, not only were direct physical attacks a bad idea but Shino wanted these guys all to himself.
"He definitely hasn't gotten over being left behind" thought Kiba as he saw Shino send out swarms of his insect to take on his opponent.
Now Sakon and Ukon were relatively the same as before, but they definitely looked a hell of a lot uglier than the last time. For looking at them now one could swear they were the spitting image of a certain fallen angel from a certain religion. But what made them stronger now was how they were able to fuse their bodies with the surroundings souls of the area in order to heighten their overall physical parameters.
Shino having previous intel on his opponent used his bugs to counteract the absorbing effect the twins had. Of course the twins noticed this and did what they could to compensate for how indirect the fight was. But eventually Shino did manage to capture Ukon by modifying his bugs to produce a chakra resonance to keep them from being absorbed and nullified. However this was only a distraction put on by the brothers.
"Now brother" called Ukon, and from the acidic ground below Sakon emerged in front of the bug ninja with the appearance of a skeleton. But right before Shino eyes Sakon bodily tissues instantly regenerated with organs, soft tissue, skin, and cloths being reformed. At that immediate moment Sakon grasped his arm.
"Gotcha" was all he said as his arm began to try to merge with him, but to his expectation the bugs within Shino tried to repel him from the fusion. However the acid bath that he had taken earlier was still very apparent which made the chakra bugs not completely able to repel their master's attacker.
Shino then had no choice but to loosen his focus on Ukon in order to repel the current threat. But that was precisely what the twin brother was hoping for as now both brothers had the bug ninja flanked. Shino then instantly erected a bug barrier around him but then found it under distress as the twins began to apply incredible pressure on it as they squeezed it on both sides like a garbage compactor.
"Shino!" yelled Kiba as he was running in to save his friend. But then he noticed an unusual glint in his companion's shades as he reached into his side pocket to pull out a certain scroll.
Neji in his fight with Kidomaru was for the most part a stalemate. For the spider ninja couldn't hurt Neji while in return he couldn't get close enough to attack him either. Kidomaru was definitely a lot faster than before with an extra set of arms to fire off two of his arrows consecutively. But what made him trickier to fight now was how he was able to multitask between jutsu to counter each of the Hyuga techniques. For Kidomaru kept moving from bone pillar to bone pillar in order to achieve a better sniping position on the Hyuga while he was busy trying to defend himself from the spider summoning as well as the tormented souls of this circle. During the course of the battle some souls managed to pull Neji into the terrain in order to melt in legs off. As Hyuga's are known for their incredible ability to control chakra, Neji managed to keep his limbs attached. But now it was becoming rather taxing to constantly use chakra as a barrier between him and the acid.
At this point he didn't like how things were going. For not only did he have to deal with a skilled sniper, but also a bunch of spider summons as well as an infinite army of desperate souls. These factors forced him to use up massive amounts of energy to keep at bay. So with this in mind he knew this was going to be an uphill battle that he would lose if he didn't make a decisive move now. Neji then pulled out a scroll he had tucked away within his sleeve.
Choji and Sakura were having one hell of a time dealing with Jirobo. For this battle was a clear test of strength between the three of them. With the combined physical power of both Konoha ninjas they managed to stand their ground against the giant who stood three stories high. However the battle was getting increasingly difficult as Jirobo grew larger and the army of corrupted grew vaster. Although it was taxing to terminate the corrupted it was better than allowing them to continuously grow which would eventually outnumber them in the matter of seconds. But at this point in time both Choji and Sakura believed if they could get rid of the main enemy then the small fries would dissipate as they were clearly no match for the two in the first place.
"Were going to have to use the scroll" said Sakura as she pulled it from her item pack
"Will it work?" asked Choji as he repelled another wave of corrupted
"We're about to find out" replied Sakura as she unraveled the parchment
Tenten came flying in with her staff jousting it to her opponent. But the attacks proved ineffective. Even though Kimimaro was immortal, his Kekkei Genkai made it damn well impossible to pierce his chest cavity not to mention he was in his level two stage which made him a whole lot harder to fight. With the weapons mistress latest attack the bone ninja scoffed at this as he threw his enormous bone drill at her. Luckily Tenten managed to parry the attack, but not completely as the rotational force of the drill clipped her side. Tenten winced at this as she was flung back by the attack.
"My turn!" declared Lee as he came in swinging his highly dense metal nun-chucks which made up most of his leg training
Meanwhile Tenten slowly recovered to her feet. As she watched the exchange between Kimimaro and Lee, she brought out a familiar scroll to which she had handed everyone in her team earlier before entering this circle.
"I've had enough of this" said Tenten as she rolled out the scroll. On this paper was a very complex set of seals with multiple sutras inscribed on it. She then wrapped the scroll around her staff and after a few hand seals the sutras were then imprinted onto her weapon of choice.
Back to Lee's fight, the taijutsu expert swung both of his nun-chucks down only to be broken by his opponents bone claws.
"Impossible! His bones are stronger then my nun-chucks!" said Lee
He then saw his imminent end approach as Kimimaro bone drill came swinging right for his head. On instinct, Lee shut his eyes to better endure the painful attack. However it did not come, and as he opened his eyes, Lee could only stare as the drill was only a few centimeters away from putting a new hole in his head. Lee then looked to the base of the drill to see it was completely smashed apart and the sole reason to its current condition was due to . . . . a wooden staff?
Tenten could only display a smirk on her lips at how successful her attack was. But Kimimaro was at a loss for words as he didn't understand what going on. He then took a step back to better analyze the situation.
"I don't know what you did, but you won't get lucky a second time" he said
The weapon mistress still kept of smirk as she stared down her opponent. "We'll see about that" She then looked to her comrade and handed him her weapon. "You wanted the honor of finishing this right"
At that trade off, Kimimaro fired off several of his bone bullets, but were easily destroyed by Lee staff. He then created two of his bone drills planning on steam rolling right through him. However that proved ineffective as they were not only stopped but broken upon impact with the wooden rod. With the latest attack the bone ninja couldn't understand how that weapon was superior to his.
But now it was Lee turn to hit back as he swung his staff down hard and fast at Kimimaro head. Upon seeing the attack, he immediately created a super dense bone shield. Then like paper, Lee's staff easily ripped right through his defenses and smashed right into his head. Lee then continued his barrage of hits to which Kimimaro tried but failed to stop. After a short beating the albino man could swear his body was burning hotter than he has ever felt before.
The albino ninja then looked to his adversary in disbelief. "How? How can a wooden rod overcome my dense bone weapon?! How?!"
Without answering, Lee raced forward shooting the staff right at his opponent's chest. However this time it easily shot right through the undead man's body skewering his heart in the process.
Kimimaro could only look down at the damage as he felt his insides burn like crazy. It was then he understood why his attacks had become so powerful.
"So you've finally noticed. The scroll I just used had Buddhist sutras written on them and with the proper hand seals they were inscribed onto whatever the user had in mind, and due to the fact of your impure nature the attacks may have at first seemed stronger. But in actuality they were just purifying your body" explained Tenten
"Hmm, I see" was all the he could say as he felt his body crumble away. "I suppose it is back to my circle for me" and with that he turned to dust as Lee and Tenten watched as his body crumbled into nothing.
"It was a good fight, but not the one I wanted. But for now may you rest in peace" prayed Lee as he clasped his hands in front of him.
Jirobo sensed his comrade's fall but then redirected his attention back to his fight as he dodged another flying uppercut done by Sakura. For moments ago in this fight Sakura had inscribed weird sutras onto her gloves. As the giant aimed his fist at her with crushing speed the pink haired kunoichi launched her own punch which not only stopped his attack but completely obliterated his entire arm. The added bonus was that he couldn't regenerate his arm due to the purifying effects of the sutras. Choji then came with sutras inscribed all over his body then began his attack.
"Human Bullet Tank no jutsu!" called Choji as he formed into a giant ball shooting forward mowing down the corrupted in his path. He then managed to attain enough leverage to bounce himself up to fly right at him. But at the last moment Jirobo side stepped avoiding a cataclysmic attack but losing his other arm at the elbow during the process. Sakura who was still in the air behind him spiked Choji like a volley ball back at the opponent. This time it knocked out one his legs. Choji then rebounded off the ground and shot forward again which took out Jirobo other leg. Now with Sakura and Choji in mid air, the giant could only stare up at his inevitable doom.
"Please! Spare me!" he begged however the two Konoha ninjas knew better, for if left unchecked he could somehow regenerate and come back for them later. Sakura then took Choji hand and began swing him around. After attaining a good amount of centripetal force Sakura released him towards the ground below.
"Go!" shouted Sakura as Choji once again used one of his family's signature techniques.
Now with the added speed Sakura gave him his attack was going to be devastating. As his attack landed with the effect of the sutra still in place it not only defeated Jirobo, but it left nothing behind as an enormous thirty meter crater in radius was formed. Choji immediately got out as he didn't want to test how the sutra would stand up to a pool of acid.
And with that the battle was finished.
Neji having used the scroll imprinted the sacred words to his chakra channels. In that moment of time, several of Kidomaru's arrows were coming right at him along with the numerous amounts of spiders and corrupted wanting to take his head. It was then Neji knew the one technique he needed to end this fight.
"Kaiten!" shouted Neji as he released a large amount of chakra while going into a spin. Now his normal kaiten was small to defend his immediate area as well as conserve chakra. But in this case he needed to strike the entire field in order to purify the combat zone to prevent anymore corrupted from coming out. So with that in mind he jumped rather high in the air and released a kaiten as big as he could manage. After a few moments he stopped while heaving over the large amount of chakra he had to expend. But it was well worth it as there were now no enemies in sight and Kidomaru had lost two of his arms.
In that instant he killed Kidomaru the exact same way he had done before by popping off his heads chakra coils.
"Stay dead this time" said Neji as he slowly walked away from the scene
Sakon and Ukon screamed in pain as they were forced apart and away from Shino.
"What was that you trash!" demanded Sakon as he could still feel the burns of that attack
Shino during his critical moment endowed his insects with the sutras giving them a mystic aura instantly repelling his attackers. But as Sakon demanded answer from him, the bug ninja only had one thing to say.
"Your end" he replied and with that sent his insect swarm to finish off the brothers like a plague as they screamed in pain from the numerous boils that were created
Kiba flinched at the sight at how cruel and scary Shino could be. "Note to self, don't ever piss an Aburame off"
"Shadow mimic no jutsu" called Shikamaru as he began to control as many corrupted as he could sending them towards Tayuya.
The sound ninja scoffed at this pathetic attack. "You must have become desperate if you think this will save you!" She then began to play her flute to which Shikamaru knew too well
"Damn, it's that genjutsu again" thought Shikamaru. "Naruto now!
"I'm on it" said Naruto as he flung several explosive tag kunai towards the enemy. But Tayuya laughed at the feeble attempt.
"Do you think weak attacks like that can hit me" but to her surprise they cut right through her sound barrier and right through a few of the souls behind her which then exploded. She knew then that they had wind chakra on them but also saw that some of the bomb tags were duds that were now stuck to some of the gluttonous souls.
"You stupid d**k head, you should have your friend work better at his shitty aim" criticized the sound kunoichi
However Shikamaru displayed a grin at this. "No, I'm afraid it's checkmate now"
"What?" but before Tayuya could comprehend what he had meant she realized not only was her flute gone but her hand as well. She then turned to see some of the corrupted with bomb duds on them turn into Naruto. In that instant the clones grabbed the sound kunoichi wherever they could as they themselves were the sutras. As they grabbed a hold of her Tayuya began to violently struggle as she began to notice her body beginning to turn to dust.
"Get off me you f**king perverts!" she yelled as she attempted to beat them off. However doing so made the degeneration go by faster.
Shikamaru could only look on with pity to this poor girl. "You were careless, you were too far drunk with power and immortality that you failed to notice what was going on. For this reason you have lost"
Tayuya looked at the shadow ninja with absolute hate on her face. "I'll get you one day! It may not be in this life. But I'll sure as hell kill you in my next life! You f**king hear me! I'll kill you then!" and with that she was gone.
"Yeah, you and a hundred other people. So get in line" said Shikamaru. As soon she disappeared the corrupted soon followed as they now knew they couldn't possibly win or at least hope they were weakened enough to be killed at that time.
Naruto then walked up behind his friend with a curious expression on his face. "Hey Shikamaru, what is with you and enemy kunoichi?"
Shikamaru could only think of one reply. "God just hates me sometimes like that" and with that they began to regroup with everyone else.
As the team slowly got themselves back together they thanked Tenten for the scrolls and how effective they were in their fight. However the scrolls effectiveness was limited as they could only appear on the subject for a certain time limit before dissipating back to the paper. Also the fact was it would lose its purifying properties over time with overuse.
Eventually the group then made their way towards the next gate. Of course they ran into some obstacles such as some desperate souls wanting freedom. Although they weren't as bountiful as before due to their recent show of strength, but there were some desperate ones here and there that would pop out from nowhere from time to time. However they were too weak to pose much of a threat to them.
Now as they wondered around looking for the gate they saw many horrid sites before them. At one point the young eyes have seen souls being chewed into multiple bloody pieces and digested continuously in an infinite cycle. Other times the group saw the tormented being forced to bathe in a seemingly endless sea of rot, wastes, and feces. Another grotesque site was to see some of the tormented forced to continuously eat past there limit even when they were begging to stop. Some of these atrocious occurrences a few of them gagged from the sight, sound, or smell that entered their senses. But what kept them strong and moving forward was the need to finish what they came here to do, and that was to save their precious person.
But eventually the group had seen the gate within the distance. As they raced towards it they were wary of what guardian they were forced to face this time. As they ran Kiba picked up on a scent which seemed kind of odd to be here.
"That's strange, it seems . . . . familiar?" thought Kiba
Finally the group managed to make it to the gate to which it had appeared to be defenseless as if the gate was just waiting for them to cross. However the Konoha ninjas knew this was too good to be true. For if hell really had it out for them there was no chance that a gate guardian would miss out on trying to kill them. However they couldn't miss their opportunity to cross the gate without too much trouble.
Kiba then sniffed the air once again and found it stronger this time and instantly he knew what must be here. "Everyone get back!" and in that instant a giant creature came crashing down above them at incredible speed. If a moment later had passed without Kiba warning, half of the team would have been killed on the spot.
Now as team Naruto recovered from the shaking ground and the near death experience they stared upon the creature which stood between them and the gate to the next circle. In front of them was a giant wolf like creature. Although parts of it seemed rather elegant it was well noted that certain section of this great wolf was rotting.
"It is good you humans have come here" snickered the giant creature. "If I kill you here I will most certainly be rewarded beyond measure" the wolf then leaned back while bearing its fangs. "With your death I shall ascend Yomi and reclaim my rightful place in grace"
"What the heck is it talking about?" asked Naruto as he could understand the creature was trying to kill them, but didn't understand what it would gain from it.
"That thing is an Okami" explained Sakura. "Once a proud noble wolf god, but became a fallen one as it was consumed by its own gluttony as it would appear"
Naruto then looked to the Okami once again "move aside mutt, we have business with the master in the last circle" as he pointed towards the gate
The Okami laughed at this statement but then became dead serious. "You foolish meat bags don't understand what you have done! You have caused a bleeding effect to occur between the gates as now there is no distinction or force to keep souls in their circle. But you mortals have been lucky thus far as our presence as guardians maintains the order within our domain. However the minions of the guardians you have defeated now may follow you here and kill you themselves"
The blond's eyes immediately shot open at the prospect of what that meant "Ino! Sai!"
The Okami snickered at this, "Don't worry about those two for the master is far more interested in getting rid of the group trying to make their way down to its level." The canine then looked down to the group with glee "You humans don't seem to understand that things like substance and form for us don't matter. Now that the gates have been opened their minions may now appear before you at any time they can. But unfortunately for them I will have the pleasure of ending your journey here"
"But then I don't get it! How would you benefit from killing us?" then asked Naruto
The Okami then displayed a wide smile, "If I were to defeat the intruders who were causing this distortion in hell my celestial title could then be restored and I could then shed my bonds here and take my place up in heavens once again"
"You really need to shut up"
Everyone then turned to see Kiba approach the wolf in a cool steady manner. "I bet you give canines in all three worlds a bad name at how much you b**ch about your problems" Akamaru barked in agreement. "So to uphold the honor of the Inuzuka clan and what we stand for I'll be sure to kick you're a**!"
The Okami laughed at this, "Do you really think you can defeat a god such as myself!"
"A god?" the dog nin placed his hands on his waist while showing a face as if the guardian of gluttony had just told a joke. "You're nothing more than a demon now with his tail between his legs. It's for this reason that makes you vulnerable to defeat"
"We'll see about that mortal" and with that the great wolf began his attack with pouncing on Kiba.
In that moment of hang time Kiba began to plan his strategy of attack. "That thing is definitely an over glorified dog. If that's the case I need to take out its greatest asset." The dog nin then threw several explosive tag kunai at the head of the beast. But it appeared to have had no effect.
"Weak attacks won't work on me" yelled the wolf as he landed and had captured Kiba beneath his paw. However the wolf felt something was off about the human but was too late to react as he turned back into Akamaru. "What?!" in that moment the real Kiba appeared sending several projectiles into the nostrils of the beast. The Okami screamed in agony, "what have you done?!"
As Kiba landed to the ground he appeared to have been tossing a bunch of pellets he had in his hand up and down. "High dosage garlic, I didn't think it would come in handy, but luck favors the prepared." The dog ninja knew that this wolf had to have pretty high tolerance to bad odor by now after spending god knows how long in this stinking hell hole. But getting rid of his smell was but one part of what he needed to do.
At this point everyone could see each hair on the demons fur stand in rage for being made a fool of. "You're dead!" it screamed as it opened its jaws wide to consume the boy and his little dog too.
However Kiba's attack was not done yet. "Akamaru, beast human clone transformation, again!" The dog then ran to his master's side and became his twin once more. As the fallen gods jaw drew closer, the twins jumped away from the attack. The demon wolf unsure of which the dog was and which the man was decided to attack the closest one.
Due to Kiba and Akamaru close proximity they literally had the Okami chasing its own tail in circles. When the opportunity arrived Kiba took out his next target with his dog's assistance. For as they were both now on the opposite sides of the wolf's head they both threw explosive tag kunai into the sensitive ears of the fallen one and at that moment took away another one of the wolf's abilities.
The Okami screamed in agony, but it was far from over. For the wolf god's eyes were now red with anger as a violent storm of wind surrounded it. As the huge twister engulfed him he raced towards the unprepared Kiba and Akamaru blowing them away like trash in the wind.
"I should have done this from the beginning" sneered the wolf.
Kiba slowly got up shaking a bit at how powerful that attack was even after having the side of its head blown in. Akamaru quickly recovered and aided his master back to his feet. Now he knew a head on attack with an opponent this big and powerful was just downright stupid. But at this point he can't risk taking another hit while attempting to disable his legs.
"Well boy we can't fail now" said Kiba as he petted Akamaru head. "This is where we bet all or nothing!"
With that declaration the two did their man-beast transformation once again and had become this time the double-headed wolf. It was then with the new union that the pair did their strongest attack.
"Dual wolf fang!" Kiba called as a drill of wind appeared lancing towards the fallen god
"A battle of fangs is it, interesting" and in response the Okami resumed his twister attack where in mere moments crashed right into the piercing fang. The clash generated sparks of electricity as the friction of the two attacks could be seen. After that exchange the two were averted from each only to collide again moments later. For this exchange was made several times with neither backing down nor giving in. However . . . .
"Ahhh" yelped Kiba as the now the two-headed wolf had to cancel his attack, and unable to maintain the stress of the technique Kiba and Akamaru were forced to separate into their individual forms.
"You're done for!" screamed the fallen god as he initiated his attack once more sucking his enemies into the eye of the storm. Unfortunately due to his previous technique, Kiba and Akamaru still had not recovered enough from the backlash and could only tumble about helplessly inside the storm.
Shino then began to move at the first sign of struggle, but was immediately stopped by his teammate. "Just wait! Allow Kiba more time with this." However Choji had already left the group.
"Multi-size no jutsu" called Choji as he grew to the equivalent size of the Okami, and with exact timing caught the wolf by the tail and threw him to the solid surface of the gate. The giant ninja then caught his two comrades softly as they came falling from high up. But the action wasn't over as the wolf then pounced onto Choji wanting to take a bite out of his neck. Luckily he did manage to catch the oversized canine by the jaw before it could reach. Irritated the guardian then pulled back and sharply went back in landing a bite on his shoulder. Choji cringed as he could feel each of the razor sharp teeth sink into his flesh. He then attempted to pry the wolf's jaws off, but soon realized it had far too much leverage over him to do so. The husky ninja was now desperate to remove the creature as his jutsu was soon to end. For if he failed his entire arm and shoulder was going to be popped off like a twig. But luckily for him Kiba was not completely out yet.
"Dual wolf fang!" for this attack was aimed at the belly of the beast. At Kiba last push of chakra with Akamaru they gave it everything they had. In result their attack not only hurt the Okami but drilled right through him severing his spine in the process. The demon screamed in pain to which Choji then made the flip around forcing the beast into a headlock. After enough pressure the guardian was soundly defeated.
At exhausting his technique Choji returned to his normal size with Kiba walking up right behind him. His face at first held a serious expression which soon cracked a smirk. "Awesome job" and with that gave him a high five.
The rest of the team immediately got to the exhausted combatants as Sakura got to work on their injuries. Shikamaru to say the least was not too pleased about the reckless action. But worst of all, they were now down by two more.
"Sorry we screwed up" said Kiba with Akamaru sitting next to him keeping one side of the gate opened. For both their bodies and chakra were now too dangerously weak to venture further down into the void.
Shikamaru scratched the back of his head "It's fine, it couldn't be helped in the end"
"You guys better get going. Things are about to get more wild soon. So you can't afford to waste anymore time like this" said Choji as he too was in the same position and state as Kiba
Naruto looked back between his two fallen friends at the gate and closed his eyes for a moment. He then reopened them "We'll be back soon. So just hang on until then"
"Just don't fail" smirked Kiba and with that team Naruto raced towards the next circle
The dog ninja then looked to his fellow gate companion to see him looking back at him. But unusually enough there was a sour look on Choji face.
The husky ninja then looked to his comrade with a single question in mind. "Do you have something to eat? That battle took quite a bit out of me"
Kiba at first felt a slight shock thinking he was going to be attacked like how Naruto was. But after analyzing his friend's expression he knew it was just in good humor. "Jeez" said Kiba as he reached into his pouch and threw him a milk bone while taking one for himself and Akamaru.
~9th Circle – Treachery~
The master was none too pleased to hear of another success made by the humans. But as it was thinking of a far better plan to kill them a very interesting idea came about. The master then looked to Hinata with a scary smile on its face.
"ku ku ku, If it's this soul they want, then it is this soul they shall have"
~Exact Location is Unconfirmed~
Two spirits trailed quietly behind Naruto's group as they made progress through the first three circles. But as they quietly watched from the shadows they could only smirk at how much perseverance and strength those kids had. These two entities did not allow themselves to be known until the time has come to reveal themselves.
Author's notes: Well this will be chapter 4 for ya. I hope this was an OK read for everyone. But yeah hell is going to be one hell of a party zone very soon. As for the two mystery spirits anyone is free to guess who they might be. But now for Hinata, if anyone has played the Dante's Inferno game then it should be apparent what the master is going to do to her.
So I thank you for your time in reading this fic and further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.