Not as long as the last chapter, but I ain't aimin' for length! Go ahead and read on!
I don't own Naruto and, since y'all know how my mind works by now, I'm not posting any more language warnings. Just expect it from here on out.
Kisame casually leaned against the roof access on a nearby building. He was watching the events unfold below as the Uchiha brothers began their sibling quarrel before Itachi could make a move on the weakened Uzumaki. His scaly sword sat to his side against the wall as he sighed in the overall frustration of his westward mission.
"Looks like the Nine-tailed container and the younger Uchiha are weaker than usual…" he observed. "Well, we've been stayin' outta this fight, so there won't be anymore problems…" His train of thought was interrupted upon the arrival of a younger man wielding a large blade standard to the swordsmen of his former village.
"Kisame Hoshigaki," the man smiled, revealing his sharpened teeth. "I've been lookin' for you."
"Oh?" the fish man responded nonchalantly. "And you would be…?"
"Suigetsu Hozuki," he answered while bringing his sword to bear. "Whaddya say we party a bit while we wait?"
The former Mist swordsman grinned as he grasped the Samehada and started toward the challenger. "Sure thing," he replied. Truthfully, he was itching for a fight. He had been denied this simple pleasure for too long.
The foreigners stood tall and ready, each anticipating their opponent's move before attempting to strike. Their muscles tensed ever so slightly as their minds told them to move before registering a new event. The roof suddenly shook, diverting their attention to the side. A man rose from the small crater his landing had created. Apparently, he had been several hundred feet above them on the adjacent building before deciding to join them.
They glanced at the man, giving him the once-over with curious eyes. The newcomer wore long, shaft like armor from the neck down, every inch of it scratched, burned, and slightly melted. The man's red eyes flashed brightly as the wind blew against his dry brown hair and he raised a long, smooth sword that curved into a wide arc at the tip.
"I see you both fancy yourselves swordsmen," he remarked with impassive features. "How about we test your skills?"
"And who are you?" Kisame demanded, face scrunched up with mild annoyance.
A smile cracked on the red-eye's lips. "Daemon Laven, ruler of the demon slayers of the North. Shall we dance?" With that, all three blade masters began their complicated three-way fight.
"These guys aren't hacks," Daemon thought. "But if this is all they got, I'm disappointed." He easily ducked under a wild swing of the Samehada and lurched forward to stab Suigetsu. "Looks like this blue guy's partner is targeting Naruto and Hinata." He peered at his comrades out of the corner of his eye before sensing a sudden rise in energy from Hoshigaki. "Damn! Looks like there's no one to help them out at the moment! I can't finish off this fish guy until he's used up all his energy. Sorry guys…"
The red-eyed demon slayer charged his body and blades with heated energy and the battle only escalated from there.
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The eastern duo gazed in amazement at the skirmish before their eyes. At first, the Uchiha brothers merely stared at each other with Sharingan eyes, each of them performing completely unnecessary and somewhat comical moves. They would jab at the air or debris as if fighting invisible opponents.
"What in the hell?" Naruto voiced his confusion.
"I think that's their bloodline at work," Hinata informed. She wasn't certain of the details herself, but what she heard from Karin suggested that the performance before her eyes was the work of extensive genjutsu. "Wait," she realized, "Where's Karin?!" she called out to Sasuke.
"Got caught by a soldier!" he shouted back in a rush before clashing blades with his older sibling. "Now get out of here!"
"Like hell we will…" Uzumaki commented while slamming his foot down on a protruding stock, jolting a firearm up into his arms. He analyzed it for a few seconds to determine if it had any ammunition left then aimed it at the warring twosome. He let loose a salvo of unadulterated bullets at Itachi…
And was forced to dodge a spear of energy that suddenly extended towards him. "Stay out of this!!" the avenging easterner screamed. "This is my fight!!"
"Look at you!" the blonde continued the argument. "You're a mess!"
"So are you!" he retorted.
"Look at him!" Uzi pointed at the elder brother. "He's fresh! You can't hope to beat him!"
The younger Sharingan user glared at him for a second. "This is my fight, Uzumaki!!" he shrieked like a madman. "And you will not interfere!!"
"Tch!" the red-eyed easterner grimaced to no one. "Damn fool…" he muttered before turning to the Hyuuga. "Hey Hinata, can you still use your ability?"
She urged her eyes to enhance but felt no response. She ran her hands through the proper seals, an action she had no need to perform for many years, and still nothing happened. Shaking her head, she replied, "I can't. There's just no chakra left."
"Oh damn." He went silent for a moment to think. "Well, we gotta help him out any way we can. There's no way in hell Sasuke's takin' down that other guy in the shape he's in."
She nodded. "But if we help him he'll attack us, and if he does we won't have any chakra left to counter anything."
"Then… we hide," he concluded. "Take potshots while under cover. Doesn't matter how pissed Sasuke gets, but he needs our help to have a prayer in hell."
"Sounds like a plan," she agreed while shouldering a dead dark soldier's long rifle. "You lead the way."
Naruto nodded and took off towards a damaged building with Hinata in tow. They scaled the exposed stairway, ducking behind a support along the way to avoid being showered by a hail of shuriken. As soon as they made it to the fifth floor, they stopped behind an impromptu barricade in the form of a fallen concrete column before being skewered by another slew of ninja stars.
"Hold on!" Uzi exclaimed. "I got an idea. You keep watch." He pulled his torn jacket off and laid it on the floor as the blue-haired woman edged her weapon over the pillar. The blonde began scooping up the shuriken and dumping a few into the center of his garment before disassembling his weapon with his remaining chakra. After unwinding the spring and freeing the firing mechanism, he started pulling the rounds from their casings and dumping the gunpowder into his jacket. After covering up the mound of explosive material with more shuriken and wrapping his shirt around the firing apparatus, he had constructed a simple shrapnel bomb.
"How's it look?" he asked as his attention turned back to the battle.
"Hasn't changed," she replied. "Fight's moving towards us."
"Perfect." After waiting for an eternity of seconds, Uzi charged towards the edge of the hollow floor and tossed the cloth and steel bomb at Itachi. He darted behind an outer support and yanked back on the fully extended wire. The looped metal string squeezed the trigger and the firing pin slammed into an empty cartridge, igniting the fist sized ball of gunpowder and sending the older opponent's weapons flying in every direction.
However, the red-eyed easterner had no time to revel in his actions. As soon as he turned his head back to Hinata, Itachi was on him. The blonde fell to his knees and narrowly avoided a kunai slashing his throat.
The Hyuuga saw her crush's situation and opened fire on the Uchiha. The man simply burst into a gaggle of crows and disappeared. The instant afterward brought a crackling of electricity upon the ground under the white-eyed easterner. She rolled back and reduced the amount of current running through her body.
"I said to stay out of it!" Sasuke was standing near Uzi's weary body. "Do I have to kill you too?!"
The white-eyed woman merely regarded him with tired eyes. She didn't have it in her to argue. The hate-consumed easterner leapt off the level to continue the battle with his brother while Naruto shambled over to a recovering Hyuuga.
"Shit! Are you okay, Hinata?!"
"Yeah," she coughed as she forced herself to her feet. "Yeah, just got the wind knocked outta me…" She looked pleadingly into his azure and crimson eyes before speaking again. "I… I don't think we can do this. We need help."
"I know," he replied, resignation in his voice. "But there's no one available right now. We're stuck. Besides, they don't even know we're here…"
"I wouldn't count on that!" called a raspy voice from the other end of the desecrated floor. "You never know who's listening…"
The eastern duo glanced back to find a familiar face. "Sanvatas!" Naruto exclaimed. "Wh- what are you doing here?!"
"Felt a strong presence here." The older Agende Vhansin leader hung his arms casually with his hands in his pockets. "Figured I'd check it out."
"Why are you alone? Where's the rest of your family?"
"Still fighting," he replied with an unwavering calm. "Or eating. Took a lot out of us fighting those black troops."
"We need your help," Hinata intervened. "We've got no energy left and that guy dressed in black out there wants us dead."
"That's why I'm here," he smiled to reveal sharp teeth and a bloodstained smile. It was unnerving. His eyes suddenly burned brightly along with the blonde's. "Looks like you're needed elsewhere, Uzi."
Naruto's crimson eyes returned to their normal luminosity with a mixture of shock and sadness. "Yeah… yeah." He stood and hoisted his companion onto his back. "I'll see you later."
"I'll hold 'em off for ya," Sanvatas replied as he strolled to the nonexistent window.
"I owe you one," Uzi calmly said to the bloodline specialist before charging back down the ruined stairs and away from the Uchiha battle.
"Oh… this outta be fun!" the Agende Vhansin exclaimed to himself as his energy clamped him to the side of the building. He began casually walking down on his vertical plane towards the sibling skirmish with a bloody smile etched on his wide-eyed face. "So much fun!"
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"Where are we going?" the Hyuuga inquired of the blonde as he carried her to a destination unknown to her.
"Master Sünden called," he replied sullenly.
"For what?"
He took a deep breath and sighed. "He called all the apprentices together. His seal's about to give and he needs to transfer his power now."
Hinata's eyes looked into the infinite distance as she recalled her crush's duty. She had been dreading this day out of sheer worry for her beloved, and now it was here. Closing her eyes, she uttered the quietest of prayers. "Please," she muttered to whoever was listening, "Let him be safe…"
Du Du Duuuuuuuu!
What will happen to our hero as a new power is instilled within him?!
What is the fate of the leader of the Agende Vhansin as he takes on the surviving Uchihas??!
And just how long will my whisky last before this story comes to an end???!
Tune in next time to find out the answer to at least one of these! Only on 'Lost'!!
Sorry, couldn't resist. Well, only a few chapters left! Enjoy 'em while they last.
