Disclaimer: I don't own anything
Recap- After splitting up with Kuwabara and Kurama, the remaining members of the detective squad plunged headlong into Maze Castle. They eventually squared off with the first Saint Beast, Genbu the rock monster. The stone beast employed his entire body as a weapon and working together the trio managed to quickly overcome the monster, thanks to Naruto's new demonically enhanced version of the Rasengan. With one beast down, the trio now heads deeper into horrors of Maze Castle.
All Saints Day II
Despite the fall of Genbu, the remaining Saint Beasts were not troubled by the progress of their intruders.
"It's seems that Genbu has gone and gotten himself killed Master Suzaku."
"You shouldn't be so troubled Seiryu, Genbu was the weakest among us. His only usefulness was his ability to communicate to the demons of the city through the walls."
"His defeat has tarnished the name of the saint beasts. The intruders cannot be allowed to progress any further Master."
"Their end is near, I'll tear them to shreds! These intruders will not escape the hunt of Byakko!"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
As the two redheads and grim reaper arrived at Urahara-Shoten, they found another redhead making a ruckus right outside the shop, "Hanakari breaks free with the ball! He's one on one with goalie, he shoots, GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL! Jinta Hanakari with an amazing shot!"
Jinta's celebratory dance and play-by-play call was interrupted by a fit of giggles. A scowl formed on his face as he turned to face the giggling Botan and snickering Kuwabara and Kurama.
"What the hell do you want?" snapped Jinta.
"Jinta, you're not supposed to be rude to customers." reminded Ururu as she poked her head out the door.
"They're not customers, they're a bunch of freeloaders!" exclaimed Jinta as he started shooing them away with his broom. "Now go on! Get out of here!"
Out of nowhere Tessai appeared, picking up the boy by the scruff of his neck, "You're supposed to be sweeping up the shop, not sweeping away customers. You can help me stock the new inventory."
"Ah, man..." groaned Jinta as he was dragged away.
"Come on in!" called out Urahara from inside the shop.
The three strolled inside the shop to find Urahara sitting on the counter next to the register, a video game in hand.
"Urahara-san." greeted Kurama.
"Who's the weird guy in the funny looking hat?" asked Kuwabara.
Botan rolled her eyes, "You're just as bad as Yusuke. That is Lord Kisuke, Lord Koenma's brother."
"You don't work for me, none of that lord stuff." chided Kisuke.
"But he's baby, and this guy is so old..." muttered a confused Kuwabara.
"I'm assuming your here about that pesky little problem with the Makai insects across town." said Urahara, not looking up from his game.
"We've sent Yusuke, Hiei, and Naruto to Maze Castle to destroy the Makai whistle, but we still need to do something to contain people already infected in the city. From their activities it appears the saint beasts have someone in the Human world aiding them in infecting as many people as possible before they make their move. Once the beasts realize that Hiei, Naruto, and Yusuke are a significant threat, they will unleash a counter-strike here in the Human World using the infected. This is why myself and Kuwabara have stayed behind." explained Kurama.
"So what's your plan?" asked Kisuke.
"I was hoping to acquire some viconite, use it to lure all the infected and the roaming Makai insects into one area where could keep them contained until the beasts are neutralized."
"Viconite, huh?" muttered Kisuke, finally putting his game down. "I don't have any, but you've just given me an idea of where you can get some. Let's head down to the lab."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Yusuke, Naruto, and Hiei continued their monotonous trek up the tower, making small talk and battle plans along the way.
"So, how are we going to play this going forward?" asked Yusuke.
"What do you mean?" replied Naruto.
"Well, there are three of us and three Saint Beasts left. Should we each take one?" suggested Yusuke.
Naruto shrugged uncertainly, "It depends on how they come after us. If they're going to keep facing us one by one instead of all at once, then no. We have a time limit, so the three on one fights work to our advantage."
"I doubt they attempt to face it all at once. Their arrogance wouldn't allow it and going forward I doubt the others will be as easy as Genbu. One on one fights are to their advantage. We use our numbers to our advantage until we can't anymore." added Hiei.
Suddenly a deep grumbling roar shook the tower.
"GGGRRAAAAAAHHHHH!"
"What the hell was that!" exclaimed Naruto.
Hiei's eyes narrowed, "Byakko."
"GGGRRAAAHHHHHH!"
Cracks started to form in the stone walls and the ceiling tiles began to crumble sending debris to the floor.
Naruto eyes darted around, watching the passageway begin to come apart the seems, "This place doesn't look like it can take to much more of this."
"Let's go." commanded Yusuke as the three streaked up the last bit of the passageway, the ceiling quickly collapsing behind them. They turned up the final set of stairs and out the final opening of the tower to an outdoor platform. A wide elevated stone path way led from the tower, looking down from the sides you couldn't even see the ground it was so far down below. On the shorter pathway leading from the platform to the main portion of the compound stood the gargutaun white tiger, Byakko in all his glory.
"Byakko." muttered Hiei again at the sight of him. The second saint beast was a huge humanoid white tiger with teal stripes, standing several meters tall. Two large fangs jutted out from the bottom of his mouth and his green mane extended down to his upper back. He sported a green and red fur tunic with legwarmers. He let out a low growl as his tail thwacked against the ground behind him, creating a small crater.
"Pests will pay for coming this far into my territory." sneered Byakko before he let out another roar, this one not quite as intense as his previous ones, but still enough to put the group on edge.
"Just great, this guy can use the sound from his voice as weapon." complained Yusuke.
"Wish I'd brought some earplugs." grumbled Naruto.
"I can't believe you insignificant weaklings have forced me to come all the way out here!" snarled Byakko. "Don't be fooled by your victory over that weakling Genbu. This is the end of the line for you. Genbu was nothing! The only reason we didn't kill him ourselves is because he could communicate with the demons in the city by growling through the castle walls."
"Are they all this fucking huge?" muttered Yusuke, ignoring Byakko.
"He's got good size, but I've battled with and against beasts bigger than the size of a house." said Naruto. "More importantly he looks like he can still move pretty good despite all that size, he is a tiger after all."
Byakko continued building up a head of steam as he ranted, "I am a real beast! It's maddening enough that I've been locked up in this compound for all this time without the taste of human flesh. No prey, no bones, no blood! Then they have the nerve to send a human and a pair of betrayers in hope of destroying us!"
"I could really go those ear plugs right about now." grumbled Naruto again.
"Human trash! I will tear you apart and eat you myself!" bellowed Byakko. "Hiei! I will rip you and this other fool to shreds and feed you to the fugaki!"
"This other fool has a name you know..." complained Naruto.
"GGGRRAAAHHHHHH!"
Byakko unleashed another stone shattered roar, this one reducing the wide open platform to a narrow pathway leading out to a circular area.
"Not just any weapon, his voice can shatter solid rock, just perfect." groaned Naruto.
Yusuke asked the question floating at the top of their heads, "So, how are we going to kick this guy's ass?"
"Someone will have to occupy his attention while the others send him down." stated Hiei.
Naruto grinned as caught on to what Hiei was thinking, "Giant tiger beast sitting on a tiny platform."
"They're almost making this one too easy for us." added a smirking Yusuke.
"Byakko's roar is no joke. It's going to take something that really packs a punch to take this thing down." advised Hiei.
Naruto pulled short stack of explosive tags out of his pocket and handed half of them to Hiei, "Urahara's special brand of Spirit World high grade explosive notes. Never leave home without at least fifty."
"I'll keep him busy, while you guys get this place ready to blow." stated Yusuke as he started walking forward.
"You'll know when." called out Naruto.
"What are you doing over there? Chanting a few prayers before you die! Hahahaha!" mocked Byakko.
"No, we were deciding who gets to fight you." replied a smug Yusuke. "None of us wanted to chance ruining our reputations by letting it be known that we would fight with such a weakling. I drew the short straw."
Byakko gave him a puzzled stare, "You couldn't possibly believe a single human can defeat me?"
"Those two would be overkill on a guy like you." retorted Yusuke as he walked across the narrow pathway and stopped on the larger side of the platform.
Byakko glared at him and his facials muscles twitched as if he was about to explode with another roar until he suddenly broke out in laughter, "Please! Enough! I can't stay angry if you make me laugh!"
"Hey! Stop laughing and get down here so I can kick your ass!" yelled Yusuke.
Byakko disregarded his challenge, "Please, I don't even need to move from this spot to defeat you."
Yusuke snorted in disbelief, "Yeah right."
Byakko plucked some hairs from his mane, started blowing on them. His breath infused them with spirit has energy as they suddenly shot out his hand and into the air where they transformed into four, green furred four-legged beasts. The four beasts all landed with a thud in front of Yusuke.
"Kuwabara's really missing out, he'd love to play with all these kittens." joked Yusuke.
Byakko was not amused, "You will learn to fear me prey! Beasts attack!"
"No! Decepticons Attack!" called out Yusuke as he kicked it into gear. He ducked under a beast trying to pounce on top of him before unleashing a flying kick at another. The blow nailed the beast in the side, but only sent it skidding back a few meters.
"Damn these things are tough." grunted Yusuke, as he leaned back to dodge a claw swipe. Tapping into more of his spirit energy he leaped behind one of the beasts, grabbed it by its tail, and started spinning around in a circles for several rotations before flinging the beast into two others. He then barely dodged an attack from the fourth beast, receiving a gash in the front of his shirt as a result. The beasts quickly regrouped and started trying to circle around Yusuke.
"Do you really thing those pathetic moves will save you! You should have your friends join you and attack all at once if you want to have a hope of surviving!" taunted Byakko.
"We're fine right here." replied Hiei.
"Yusuke's got it covered." added Naruto. "You're beasts haven't even done any damage."
"Yeah, but with four of them it's hard to get on the attack." muttered Yusuke.
Not wanting to get stuck being attacked from all sides, Yusuke slipped his hand behind his back as he drifted towards the left edge of the platform.
"There's no where to run trash! A few more steps and you plummet to your death!" mocked Byakko. "Beasts attack!"
The snarling beasts all tried to pounce the dark haired spirit detective, but he was ready for them. Yusuke thrust forward the hand from behind his back that was now glowing with spirit energy.
"Shotgun!" The beasts couldn't stand up to the attack. All were vaporized by short ranged bursts of spirit energy bullets.
"I wasn't running, I was lining them up." said a smirking Yusuke. "Your move Tigger."
Byakko growled in frustration, "You will not make a mockery me, you are my prey! You make me so angry! I'll kill you myself!"
Yusuke rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, just bounce your big ass right down here, Tigger."
"Fool!" yelled Byakko as he leaped from his position and landed down on the platform with a massive thud.
Yusuke let of a whistle of amusement, "Would you look at that. You're even bigger up close, but you could stand to cut back on the cold cuts though."
"You're little spirit pistol is no match for me! If that's all you've got going for you, you're done for!" bellowed Byakko.
"Oh, he's got lot more than that!" called Naruto from behind Byakko.
As the second Saint Beast turned around to face him, the blond flung a stone with a tag wrapped around it at Byakko's chest. The minute the stone hit his chest, the tag glowed and tons of massive coils of ninja wire erupted from it, wrapping around the white tiger. The bound beast fell face first to the platform with a massive thud. The Naruto and Hiei standing on the other platform vanished in puffs of smoke, revealing themselves to have been shadow clones. Yusuke made sure to step on the back of Byakko's head on his way across the platform, "It's been fun Tigger, but we're on a bit of time limit here, so we're going to have to cut this short."
He leaped up to the part of the passageway leading to the main compound, joining Naruto and Hiei. They all started towards the doorway when Naruto turned back that the last second.
"Oh, yeah! Almost forgot the best part! The name's Naruto Uzumaki, you overgrown furball! Kai!" The connections to the platform exploded, sending Byakko and the large slab of stone hurtling down to the ground below.
"And another one bites the dust." said Yusuke.
Hiei snorted, "How fools like these have evaded capture for so long, I'll never know."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Back at Kisuke's lab, the bucket hat wearing scientist sat down at the main console and starting punching in some commands. Kuwabara drifted off the side away from everyone, amazed by all the high tech gadgetry. He turned to wander off even farther when suddenly the hologram of Sara, the computer AI, phased into existence in front of him.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"Ahhhh! Freaky Computer Ghost girl!" shrieked Kuwabara as he dove for cover.
"Hello, Kisuke." greeted Sara, her tone showing how thoroughly pleased she was with scaring the crap out of Kuwabara.
Kisuke chuckled, "Never gets old."
"A little warning would have been nice." mumbled Kuwabara as he stood up, dusting off his pants.
"Sara, please bring up a map of the city and then overlay it with the movement patterns of the Makai insect energy signatures." ordered Kisuke.
The screen rotated and shifted, pulling up the desired map as Sara shifted another layer on top of it that marked the insects movements.
"What are you looking for?" asked Kurama.
"I'm almost positive that if the entry point for the Makai insects is where I think it is, then I know both who is working with the Saint Beasts and where you can get your hands on the viconite." answered Kisuke.
Kurama caught on quickly, "You believe this person used the viconite to attract and manipulate the swarms of the Makai insects once they came through the barrier. Instead of having to haphazardly search through random people for ideal infection candidates, this person has been herding them into areas where there were the ideal humans ripe for the picking. It's why they've been able to accumulate so many infected people. Furthermore he's been using the plants to manipulate those who've already been the infected. It's why there's been a minimal amount of chaos and haphazard violence around town."
"This guy is a low level demon who was able to slip back and forth across the barrier unnoticed. He's taking orders in exchange for something valuable." added Botan.
"It's looks like I was right. Sara zoom in on 1342 West 42nd Street." commanded Kisuke.
"Zooming in on location, establishment known as 'Jacques' Pawn Shop'." she replied.
"What the hell! You're telling me the hub of all the demon bugs is a Pawn Shop!"exclaimed Kuwabara.
Kisuke chuckled, "This is no ordinary pawnshop."
"He must have been hiding out in France previously. He forgot to switch to a local name." added a snickering Kurama.
"Oh, you know him too?" asked Kisuke, a hint of mirth in his voice.
"Well, when I just a low level thief back in the demon world, he was an easy means to quick sale. Could get him to buy goods a double price when he first started out." replied Kurama.
Kisuke grinned, "Oh, he hasn't changed much!"
"Who the hell are you guys talking about!" yelled an irritated Kuwabara.
Kurama merely waved a hand at him, "You'll meet him soon enough."
"Always leaving me out of the loop..." grumbled Kuwabara.
"Botan, could you stay here with Sara monitoring their movements?" asked Kisuke. "Once Naruto and the other make some serious headway at Maze Castle, the infected will receive their marching orders for a counter assault."
Botan nodded her head in agreement, "Sure, I can handle that. I'll check in with the boys soon, to see how far they've gotten."
"Excellent! Now let's go shopping! Tessai, pull the van around front!" exclaimed Kisuke.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
A short time later the Urahara Shoten company van pulled up at a nondescript building on the other side of town. A banner saying 'Jacques Pawn Shop' hand been hung across the front, covering the old Kanji marking the place as a thrift store.
"Remind me again, why we are at a pawn shop?" questioned Kuwabara, as he hopped out of the van.
Kurama patted him on the shoulder, "The owner's a strange fellow, always loosing his head."
"You can say that again." muttered Kisuke as walked up to the front door. He clamped one hand over his hat as he strolled up to the door with his cane and kicked it wide open. "Jeebs! How's business!"
A ratty looking, dark haired man emerged from the back and only one thing came to mind as he saw the grinning faces of Kurama, Kisuke, and Tessai, "Well...shit."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
"Well, it looks like things are all quiet on this end for the moment. Those three should have made enough of a ruckus by now to cause some sort of response..." contemplated Botan. "I should see what's going on."
When she went to pull out the compact mirror communicator, she found she still had two of them, "Oh no! I forgot to give the other to Yusuke!"
"Kisuke has a direct line to Detective Uzumaki's communicator." offered Sara.
Botan narrowed her eyes at this, "Why? He doesn't work for him."
"Detective Uzumaki has been running background checks on students and faculty members at his school." replied Sara.
Botan rolled her eyes, "I told Lord Koenma not to order him to watch 'real cop' shows as training. Go ahead and make the call."
"Hey baby." said Naruto as he appeared on the screen.
"Hey baby? Do I look like Lord Koenma to you!" yelled Botan.
"Hey babe?" replied Naruto, hesitantly.
Botan's glared intensified, "That's all you have to say?"
Naruto gave her an even more confused look before responding, "Hey babe, you're looking especially fine today?"
"Give me that, Casanova!" yelled Yusuke as he snatched the communicator from Naruto. "What do you need, Botan?"
"How about, I don't know, a status report?" snapped an annoyed Botan.
"We've beaten two Saint Beasts already. They both actually went down pretty easy." replied Yusuke with a chuckle.
Botan raised an eyebrow at this, "That's surprising."
Yusuke snorted, "Yeah, maybe these guys aren't as dangerous as you made them out to be. All the years of be locked up in the attic made them go soft."
"No, I meant that they haven't made any sort of counter move with you guys making such good time." A loud rumbling sound in the background interrupted her train of thought, "What's going on there?"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
"We're gonna have to call you back, Botan. The beast we thought we just killed ain't actually dead." said Naruto as he snatched back his communicator and shut it down.
"GRRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
Byakko's booming laughter echoed throughout the passageway the stood in, as the room quaked violently.
"Oh come on! Why isn't he dead yet!" yelled Yusuke.
"I'm not that easy to dispose of human. You three are proving to be very interesting prey!" bellowed Byakko.
Naruto snorted, "Yeah, and you are proving to not know how annoying the sound of your own voice is."
"Silly fool. As reward for your battle prowess, I'm inviting you into my lair, a room of hell!" declared Byakko.
"I seriously doubt that." contested Hiei. "Let's go."
The three made their way to and through a large iron double door that lead to rocky tunnel. The tunnel ended at a massive cavern, the bottom filled with lava and several small stone platforms shooting up out of the lava littered the room. In the center of it all was Byakko.
Yusuke raised an eyebrow at the setup of Byakko's lair, "Looks like they're channeling their inner Mario Bros again. A lava pit complete with a Bowser wanna be."
Byakko let out a booming laugh, "So, who's going to face me? Will it be you again human? Or perhaps you Hiei! Uzumaki, you look like you're spoiling for a fight! Maybe, you should all engage me at once again, it worked well for you last time."
Naruto gave Hiei a questioning look, "Are you getting this?"
"Yes, I'm picking up some sort of deception from him..." replied Hiei.
"This guy fell I don't how many stories and he's no worse for wear. We're going to need some major thump to get the kill shot." said Yusuke.
"The two of us should be able to navigate this pit sufficiently and your shotgun technique worked well on those monsters of his." stated Hiei.
"Alright, Yusuke you hang back, we'll set up him up for the kill shot." affirmed Naruto, before he remembered something. "Please tell me you can do more than one shot a day now?"
"What the hell do you think all that torture that old hag put me through was for!" snapped Yusuke.
Naruto raised his hands in a placating manner, "Easy! Easy! I didn't know! Either way, don't waste too much ammo, we've got two more of these bastards after this one is cooked."
"Make sure you don't miss either." added Hiei.
Yusuke smirked, "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"And here I was thinking you were actually starting to like him." chided Naruto.
Hiei let out an indignant snort, "Yeah right. I'll probably be the one having to drag both your unconscious bodies out of this dump."
"Well, I guess I'll just go ahead and thank you in advance. I'm quite sure if the Kuwabara guy was with us, you'd leave us all behind." repliec Naruto.
Hiei smirked, "I'd be doing the world a favor. Your sacrifice in the matter would be duly noted."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Back at Jacques pawn shop, intense negotiations were underway.
"We know you have information and product Jeebs. Now spill." commanded Kisuke.
"Now hold on a minute. Even, if I did know something or have something, it's going to cost you." demanded Jeebs.
"You want something in return?" replied Kisuke as he gave a look to Tessai. "Tessai and I are part of a crosstown tandem dance troup. Should we should him the new routine?"
"Certainly!" responded Tessai.
"Now wait a minute, I didn't want-" started Jeebs, but it was too late as Kisuke started dancing.
"Mmm! Yeah!" said Kisuke as he glided over to the counter in front of Jeebs, twirling his cane along the way. He started rocking back and forth before suddenly bringing the cane high above his head and slamming it down into the glass display cases, shattering them all. He then spun around slammed his cane into a tall display of electronic devices.
"Stop it! Stop that!" yelled Jeebs, but it was to no avail as Tessai started doing the funky chicken, before picking up a wooden pole and slamming into the wall on the left side of the room, bringing down several shelves of merchandise.
"Hey!" shouted Jeebs as Tessai picked up the pole, shimmied to the other side of the room and took down the shelves on that wall as well. "Stop! Just Stop! The Saint Beasts are trying to move in on the Human World. Using Makai insects to try and demand a ransom from spirit world!"
Kisuke let out a sigh, "Come on Jeebs we know that already. You'll have to do better than that."
"I swear that's all I know. Now get out of my shop!" yelled Jeebs.
Urahara gave a nod toward Kurama, "Kurama, go ahead."
"With pleasure." replied Kurama as he pulled a rose from his pocket and summoned forth his rose whip. With a flick of his wrist, the whip was coiled around Jeebs' head, just lose enough to barely break the skin.
"Kurama, old pal! I've told you everything! Why would I lie to such a loyal client like you-" Kurama yanked his arm, Jeebs head became nothing more than a green splotch on the front window.
Kuwabara couldn't stay silent anymore, "What the hell! You just beheaded that guy!"
Kisuke gave him a blank look, "So?"
Kuwabara nearly exploded, "So! You just walk into stores tearing guys heads off! What the hell is wrong with you people!"
Kurama directed his attention back towards the headless form of Jeebs, "Look."
The irate look on Kuwabara's face soon morphed into one of confusion before settling on a combination of shock and disgust as Jeebs head grew back into the place.
"Don't you know how much that stings!" grunted Jeebs as he shook the excess slime from his face. The slight twitch in Kurama's hand and the rose whip barely moving an inch was all the extra motivation he needed.
"Alright! Alright!" pleaded Jeebs. "What do you need me to do!"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Naruto decided to kick thing of with a bang back at Byakko's lair.
"Now let's play with the cute and cuddly kitty!" announced Naruto.
Before Byakko could retort at the insult, Naruto leaped forward, flinging a pair of kunai wrapped with explosive tags at the second Saint Beast. Byakko responded by clasping his throat with both hands, starting the beginning of what appeared to be another stone shattering roar. However, a surge of energy pulsed around his body and he fired a green energy blast laced with black lightning from his mouth. The blast vaporized the the two blades and forced Naruto to quickly jump to another platform, as the one he landed on was also destroyed by the blast. The odd thing they all noticed was that the platform didn't blow up, it simply disintegrated into ashes like the two kunai.
Byakko was amused by their stunned looks, "Hahaha! You like it? That's my Tiger Scream blast, it turns everything it touches into a pile of ashes!"
"Well shit." muttered Naruto as the tiger guffawed.
"This guy is really starting to piss me off..." grumbled Yusuke.
"For years, I'd heard rumors there was a demon with the ability to shatter molecular bonds with the vibrations of his voice." spoke a slightly awed Hiei. "I'd never thought they'd prove to be more than rumors, let alone that I'd actually get to meet him."
"Even better, you will actually die by his hand as well!" exclaimed Byakko as he started rapid firing blasts at them.
"What the hell can we do about this!" yelled Naruto he dodged by jumping between platforms.
"We can't do anything except for dodge it. I'd recommend avoiding using that shadow clone technique of yours. If one of them managed to be hit the technique, the chain reaction might destroy you as well." advised Hiei as he quick-jumped around the platforms.
"That is going to be a pain in the ass." growled Naruto.
"This is such a rip off from Mario Bros that it's not even funny. This asshole is a total Bowser wanna be." muttered Yusuke with his glowing right index finger pointed at the ground.
"You can only run now!" bellowed Byakko.
Hiei withdrew his sword from beneath his cloak, deciding to take the offensive with Byakko aiming most of his attacks in Naruto's direction. The dark haired demon sped across the left side of the room, while Naruto kept to the right. The blond unleashed a continuous stream of kunai and shuriken at Byakko, his aim scatter shot at best due to his dodging acrobatics. The weapons drew the tiger's attention more towards Naruto than Hiei, but Byakko still managed to fire off enough blasts to keep Hiei at a reasonable distance.
'We need to get to the other side of the room, so Yusuke can be in his blind spot.' thought Hiei. 'As it is now, Byakko can just fire off his own attack to cancel out his spirit gun.'
"Looks like your having a little trouble aiming there. Let me show you how it's done, Tiger Claw!" Byakko lifted his left hand from his throat and formed a fist. Four small blades of energy formed in cracks of his fingers and he swiped his fist, firing them off at Naruto. Hiei tried to capitalize by making a move towards Byakko, but the tiger quickly unleashed four of the blades in his direction. The attacks forced him off course when he moved to avoid them. Naruto applied a different tactic. His side of the room was already becoming limited in the number of remaining platforms, and he needed to reverse field to give himself more maneuverability. Opting to hold his ground, the blond threw four shuriken out to cancel out the attacks. Unluckily for him the Tiger Claws cut right through his weapons, resulting in him getting gashed in the side and the left arm from the attack.
"Fuck! I should have known better." growled Naruto as he held an arm over the wound at his side.
"Before, you caught me by surprise, but now that I know what's coming you're nothing!" bellowed Byakko.
Hiei re-sheathed his sword and took advantage of Byakko taking time to gloat. Utilizing his speed, he quickly flashed across several platforms getting close enough to leap directly at the platform Byakko was standing on. The tiger managed to turn and shield his head with his arms as he Hiei came at him, fists engulfed in dark fire.
"Fists of the Mortal Flame!" The fire demon unleashed an assault of vicious flame enhanced punches, driving Byakko to the edge of his platform, but no further. Yusuke thought he hand an opening and was about to pull the trigger until Hiei suddenly retreated, darting across platforms to the other side of the room.
Naruto was completely befuddled, "What the fuck just happened?"
"Why'd you back off? You were kicking his ass!" yelled Yusuke.
"Just look at him! He wasn't taking any damage!" snarled Hiei.
The dark haired demon was right, outside of some singed fur, Byakko had taken no damage whatsoever.
Byakko chuckled as he brought his arms down, "Thanks for the hot meal! A little spicy, but still good nonetheless!"
"I repeat: What the fuck just happened?" yelled Naruto.
Hiei glared at the blond, "He absorbed my energy through my attacks. The thief was feeding off of every punch, it's why I was unable to drive him off the platform."
"Even if you manage to get close enough to me to deal some damage, I'll simply feast away on your spirit energy!"
'Well at least Hiei got to the other side. The logical thing to do would be to join him on the other side of the room, allowing Yusuke to get off shot in his blind spot. But fuck that, I'm doing this the fun way!' thought Naruto.
"Alright, no more messing around. Take a good look, because the real fight is about to begin!" declared Naruto. "A classic move, straight for the Naruto Uzumaki Guide to Kicking Ass!"
Yusuke and Hiei both gave him looks that said, 'What the fuck!'
Byakko raised an eyebrow at this, "Real fight? Hahahaha! I've got you on the ropes! But, I'll humor you. Let's see what you've got!"
"Yo! Fuzz-face! With your little fingernail attacks and your banshee screams, I have to say it: You fight like a girl! And not just any girl, a fangirl!" shouted Naruto.
Hiei was still looking at Naruto as if he was insane. Yusuke's laughter echoed across the chamber. Byakko looked as if he was trying to make Naruto explode with his mind. Naruto stood there with pointing an accusing finger at Byakko with a cocky grin and an all to familiar gleam in his eye.
"YOU FOOL-" Naruto cut off Byakko's outburst.
"Byakko the huntress!" taunted Naruto. "I mean come on, who but a woman would wear a skin tight outfit like that?"
Byakko exploded with a roar so powerful, he nearly brought the roof down, "GGGRRAAAAAAHHHHH!"
"Are you trying to get us all killed!" yelled Hiei.
Naruto blew a raspberry at the erupting Byakko, "Come on Bya-chan! Take your best shot!"
Byakko fired a massive tiger scream blast at Naruto, but the blond didn't move to dodge. He just stood their blowing a raspberry at him.
"MOVE YOU MORON!" yelled Hiei.
"GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!" screamed Yusuke.
The two stared in horror as the attack connected, only for Naruto to vanish at the last second with a log reappearing in his place taking the hit instead.
"You're going to have to do better than that Bya-chan!" shouted Naruto.
The stunned tiger turned to find Naruto in the back left corner on the opposite side of the room.
"WHAT IT IS THIS TRICKERY!" shouted Byakko as he fired off a barrage of blasts, only for the same thing to happen again. This time Naruto reappearing near the far right wall.
Hiei figured out the trick as he watched it happen a second time, 'So, that's why he was so errant with all his weapons before. The one's that missed Byakko almost all ended up landing on platforms. He did it on purpose and now he's using the weapons to switch places. They're all over the room now...'
Byakko unleashed unholy hell on the blond, firing off Tiger Scream Attacks like a semi-automatic pistol with an unlimited clip. The blond managed to substitute himself out of harms way every single time, taunting the beast all the while.
"Missed me!"
"Can't you do any better than that?"
"Over hear!"
"My Grandma has better aim that that!"
"It must be that time of month for you."
Hiei distanced himself from the pure chaos, dodging the occasional errant attack as Naruto worked his magic in driving their opponent absolutely insane. Not content with the substitution technique for evasion, Naruto mixed thing up by taking the occasional run up, down, and around the walls the of the lava dungeon. He even spiced up his insults by calling Byakko random girls names.
"Almost got me Fuki-chan!"
"Not even close Mika-chan!"
"Yuki-chan, I thought we we're friends!"
"Uh-oh, looks like Rina-chan wants to come out and play!"
"What the hell is he doing..." muttered a befuddled Hiei as Naruto now danced his his way across the ceiling, shaking his ass at Byakko. He continued to avoid Tiger Scream attacks easily until suddenly, he dropped down from the roof heading right for Byakko.
"I'VE GOT YOU NOW!" exploded Byakko, powering up a massive blast as Naruto descended down from the ceiling.
"It's done." announced Naruto with an air of finality.
"Huh?" Byakko gave Naruto a puzzled looked when out of nowhere his head was vaporized by a blast of spirit energy.
"Spirit gun." Yusuke's barely audible whisper somehow echoed across the entire lair. Hiei and Naruto followed the trail of the blast to find Yusuke still standing in the firing position with his trigger finger outstretched. The dark haired spirit detective cocked his thumb back, "Bang!"
Naruto nudged the headless body of Byakko with his foot, "He ain't coming back from that one."
"Two down, two to go!" declared Yusuke as he moved across the room to join Hiei and Naruto.
The dark haired demon slipped his cloak back on while giving off a snort, "I doubt the next two will be this easy. Byakko was certainly a much tougher opponent than Genbu, but he was just as foolish. After observing our first two battles, I doubt they'll continue to take us so lightly."
Naruto raised an eyebrow at him, "That may be true, but we've still got plenty of tricks up our sleeves. Don't think I haven't noticed you holding back. You've been saving up your best for the last the two fights. Plus that last fight, all I did was run around. Yusuke's clip might be empty though."
"I'm just fine!" declared Yusuke. "Although, I do have one question."
"What's that?" responded Naruto.
"Where the hell did you get those damn logs!" exclaimed Yusuke.
Naruto shrugged, "Seals."
At Yusuke's blank look he elaborated, "The log is sealed inside the kunai. The kunai is sealed inside the log. What's with the look? I didn't invent the shit."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
"Byakko, has fallen Master."
"I know Seiryu, it appears our intruders are more troublesome than we first expected."
"That may be true, but Byakko's battle edge had weakened from our years of captivity."
"We can no longer sit back and let them dictate the action."
"Very well, Master Suzaku. They will not survive the encounter with me."
"I have much faith in your abilities Seiryu, but it also would be prudent of me to began a counter-assault. Let's see how deal with the threat of both facing you in our compound, and the first all out assault by the makai infected in the human world. It should provide for a most excellent source of entertainment."
"Indeed Master, indeed."
With the fall of Byakko, Naruto, Hiei, and Yusuke have now caught the full attention of the remaining Saint Beasts. How will the split detective squad now handle facing battle on two fronts? Find out next time on Naruto Uzumaki: The Youkai Files!