Kumogakure Ninja
Posted: 23-03-11
Updated: 28-06-11
CH19: Yugito VS Gaara
(Forest of Death – Team Kirabi Hideout)
Naruto observed the fire before him with unfocused eyes, poking at the flames with a stick. It was late at night. The moon was sparklingly beautifully and bathed the Forest of Death in its brilliant rays of light. In a slope-like cavern in the eastern section of the forest was team Kirabi's new hideout. Naruto was deep in thought of what happened in the past twelve hours. His injuries suffered by the hands of the Iwa kunoichi who had stabbed him in the back with his own ninja-to when he had thrown the strongest Shūrai he had been able to perform. His teammates had left him to rest in their hideout as they went hunting for another scroll. Hours later had heard a feminine scream and had left the hideout to come to her aid, only to find out it was an ambush that had nearly gotten him killed and their scroll stolen. The kunoichi had successfully seduced him and even gone so far as breaking his neck during. The thought of it made Naruto frown deeply and hate himself even more. While he was busy getting seduced and his neck broken, Yugito and Hari had been ambushed while fighting a team from Iwagakure, so they had told him. They had rushed back to the hideout in case Naruto was being attacked but instead he ended up saving them. Although in the spur of the moment he had unleashed his entire chakra reserves and must have alerted the entire Forest of Death which was why they had to move camp to another tree nearly two miles away from their first hideout. It was smaller, poorly lit, cramped and the ground was uneven but they had managed to set up a secure and moderately comfortable hideout.
Though at the time he was hard pressed, Naruto realized he was actually happy to have fought the genin coalition. It was an exhilarating experience to put his life on the line and the fact he had saved his teammates because of it made it even better. He had developed two ninjutsu derived from his trademark techniques and it still astonished him (and his teammates) to no end how he managed to do so in the heat of battle. The Yagura was a killing machine and his Dai Giri addition for his Shippū Shūren was so sharp he had managed to cut through the monstrous Grass Dragon and save the Kusagakure genin who had sacrificed himself to create it.
Naruto almost shuddered remembering how he had taken it head on with his chakra reserves fully released for the first time in a long time. It was an exciting experience to say the least.
"Kusa Ninpō Ōgi! Kamisori Kusaryū!"
Naruto wondered for hours what the genin must have been thinking when he had lost himself to desperation to defeat him. The Kusagakure genin had died shortly after he had rescued him from the beast that had consumed his entire chakra reservoir. Hari was beating himself up over not being able to save the youth that had poured all of his chakra and willpower into the beast.
… Flashback
Hari was pouring his chakra into the youth's chest desperately, despite being absolutely spent himself. His usually vibrantly green chakra had turned to a weak sputter of chakra. "Come on, fucking breathe!" The pseudo medic slammed his fist on the Kusagakure genin's chest repeatedly. "COME ON!" He shouted in desperation as he switched to heart massages, knowing he had insufficient chakra to help the Kusa genin's heart to beat.
"Hari," Yugito called out to him. Her voice was filled with worry for her teammate. Though neither had said it out loud, they both knew the genin was gone.
The rain began to pour even harder in the Shi no Mori. The clouds were once again grey and moving towards each other, indicating an imminent storm.
Hari ignored her and continued his futile attempts. Desperation did not allow him to stop trying. "Come on… Come on…"
"Hari," Yugito repeated worriedly. Naruto's chakra had dropped significantly by now but the other teams were still likely to have noticed and could be on their way to pick off the survivors for their scrolls any minute now. She could not bring herself to chide her teammate for wanting to safe an enemy but at the same time he was putting them at risk. "Hari," she repeated forcibly and took a step forward, only to be grabbed on to by the shoulder by Naruto.
Naruto shook his head firmly and pulled her closer to him under the thick leaves as they watched their teammate continue his attempts at saving the genin. Yugito stood still next to her fellow jinchūriki, wondering why he had stopped her but made no move to stop Hari. She looked at Naruto and saw him gritting his teeth as if he could experience the pain his best friend was feeling. Yugito sighed and move her elbow out of his grasp and crossed her arms over chest, leaning against the tree for additional leaf coverage against the cold drops of rain.
"I don't like it either, Yugito," Naruto said through gritted teeth, his clenched fist shook with frustration. Naruto turned to look at her, for a moment his own pain seemed nothing compared to that what Hari was feeling, the pain of loss and powerlessness. "If I stop him now he'll never forgive himself for not trying harder."
Yugito nearly did a double take. "It's not our fault he attacked us. They came after us, fully intending to kill us because we are from one of the Great Five." The kunoichi shook her head in disagreement with what she had just heard. "These exams are ruthless. We can't keep affording to help those we defeat or pull punches to avoid killing them for that matter. It's foolish. They won't extend the same mercy to us, so why would we?"
As she said this, Naruto reached out to her face and cupped her bruised cheek. Yugito's breath hitched, completely taken off guard by the sudden movement and the touch of his hand on her cheek and his kind smile. "I'm sorry for hitting you before," Naruto told her rubbing the bruise soothingly with his thumb. "But to be fair you had it coming. You took a swing at me first."
"Wh- what are you doing?" She asked him, yet she didn't move his hand.
"I'm apologizing," Naruto answered simplistically with an apologetic smile.
"For what? Like you said, I struck you first."
Naruto continued to smile at her whilst lowering his hand. "Exactly," he told her, "I'm being compassionate even when I don't have to be. I'm doing it because being nice to you makes me feel good because it makes you feel good- or it should do," he chuckled as he turned to Hari, his expression switching back to his frown, gritting teeth. "It's why Hari is having such a hard time. He's a medic and he's a fool for thinking he can save everyone but I guess it can't be helped. As his teammates and friends we-"
"He's dead," Hari announced crouching in front of the body of the Kusagakure genin. His hands were shaking uncontrollably as was his entire body with rage and a profound sense of powerlessness he couldn't quite fathom. The medic reached over to the respirator attached to the genin and disconnected it along with the pair of goggles. Hari's breath hitched as he looked at the genin who looked so peaceful in death with softer features than he had thought possible for the genin that had gone insane shortly before his demise. A painful jolt shook his heart. The genin resembled his younger brother Daichi.
"Hari!" Naruto reached forward to catch his teammate who fell backwards and was about to slip of the thick branch they had been standing on. Hari had fainted in his arms by the time Naruto looked down to his friend with an angry expression. "You idiot…"
Yugito's eyes snapped open as she looked to the east. "Naruto we're about to have company. We need to get out of her quickly," she looked back to her teammate and shared nods. "Forget about the scroll, he probably doesn't even have it on him. Follow my lead," she ordered, jumping forward and aggregating lightning around her body, "Raikō Jōshō!" The kunoichi shot forward with Naruto on her tail with Hari hoisted over his shoulder. Yugito decreased her speed for Naruto to keep up; the Raikō Jōshō wasn't his best technique, despite it being taught in the Kumogakure academy. Admittedly Naruto wasn't too bright when it came to lightning based jutsu.
As they travelled the chakra signature was closing in on them at incredible speeds. Naruto shouted out to Yugito, "Catch!" as he threw Hari to her and shot forward to the source of the chakra signature that rivaled his own, although he had lowered it significant to hide his full reserves. Naruto's eyes narrowed as a giant fireball the size of a small house shot his way, tearing down trees and burning them to crisp as his hands snapped into action and he took a deep breath, "Mizurappa!" The Violent Water Wave expelled from his mouth clashed with the fireball and cancelled each other out. Naruto threw a shuriken to deflect a kunai projectile aimed for him. That proved to be a mistake. Naruto realized it was a mere distract as Uchiha Sasuke appeared behind him with his sword reared back and poised for a decapitating attack. Naruto jumped to his hands to use his metal shin guards to clash with the Uchiha's blade. This particular technique was something he had learned from Kirabi in their taijutsu practices. It was highly effective against most people that wielded blades– including Sasuke who was hard pressed by the sudden assault and jumped back pointlessly throwing his kusarigama at Naruto who kicked it back instantly, cutting a handful strands of hair as it shot past Sasuke's head.
Sasuke smirked, apparently satisfied and sheathed his blade as he spun his kusarigama. "You're strong," Sasuke told him with an even bigger smile. "Very strong. But I won't fight you now. Not yet."
Naruto slid into a stance and delivered a powerful palm strike. "Akkai Genshuku!" The blast soared at Sasuke who coated his kusarigama in chakra and sliced through the air, effectively cancelling the technique almost effortlessly. "Get out of my way or we're going to have a big problem," Naruto growled at him through gritted teeth. He was bluffing right now and he had a feeling Sasuke could tell. His wounds were starting to agitate and his back had yet to stop bleeding since the Kusaryū he had fought earlier.
Sasuke raised his chin with the same smirk, almost goading him to attack. "Like I said I'm not going to fight you right now, Uzumaki," the Uchiha repeated whilst swinging his kusarigama. "You're injured. You won't be able to face me with all you got."
"Sure," Naruto shot back a grin of his own that hid his discomfort, clenching and unclenching his fists. "We'll settle this soon enough, Sasuke," Naruto gathered some lightning chakra around him and darted to the right with another Raikō Jōshō leaving Sasuke to grin excitedly to himself with Sharingan eyes spinning wildly.
… End Flashback
Naruto snapped the stick in his hand at the sheer thought of Sasuke, who he could now honestly regard as a rival. A deadly rival who wanted to kill him to prove his own strength, but a rival nonetheless. A dark thought came to mind. Sasuke valued power greatly, perhaps even more than life. Naruto wondered if he had set his aims for vengeance. To say Uchiha Sasuke was unstable would be a tad excessive, but Naruto could feel there was something wrong with him. The Uchiha gave him a bad vibe.
Yugito stirred to his right causing him to shift his weight to look at her, chucking his pieces of stick for additional firewood. Sure enough the kunoichi opened her eyes and looked into his. For the first time in a long while they locked their eyes, convincing themselves it was merely a staring contest like they always used to have and that there were no other reasons. Yugito's eyes narrowed for a second and blinked. Naruto was about to comment it was the first time he had ever won their starring contests but noticed she looked both annoyed and concerned.
"You're bleeding again," Yugito sat up out of her sleeping bag and wiggled out of it. She stood up and walked towards him, picking up Hari's discarded pouch and retrieving the sleeping genin's medical supplies scrolls from it. "Take off your shirt."
"There lays an inappropriate joke in there," Naruto deadpanned, complying once he spot the look she was giving him. The discarded green shirt had stuck to his back and was by now soaked in it. "The Kyūbi's a real dick for not healing me lately," Naruto said to no one in particular. "He's been forcing my body to produce blood as quick as I'm losing it. I can drink as much water as I want but I'm still getting dehydrated," Naruto indicating the fallen barrel that had been full with gallons of water mere hours before. "I'm not even bothering now. He'll have to heal me eventually- aichii!" His back arched with the sudden stinging pain. "That stings."
Yugito pinched a few more droplets of disinfectant on his open wounds. "We need to keep those wounds clean. We don't know how long the Kyūbi's going to keep ignoring you. And unless you want to meditate and have a word with him, we need to keep you healthy ourselves," she put down the bottle of disinfectant and grabbed a few cotton balls and began to dap them in the wounds, soaking up ridiculous amount of blood as he cleaned them.
Naruto gritted his teeth and focused on the fire in front of him to tune out on the stinging sensations. They sat in complete silence for a few minutes, Naruto stared into the flames deep in thought, and Yugito simply cleaned his wounds. It wasn't until she unsealed the gauze that they spoke.
"I'm going to bandage your wounds," she told him sitting in a crouch next to him. "Hold up your arm," she instructed. And he did, clearly straining himself as he grunted in pain. Yugito leaned and wrapped gauze around his midriff, involuntarily resting her head against his warm chest. With some adequacy she managed to cover his ribs with the gauze before applying medical bandages to keep them tightly secured. "How does that feel?"
"Feels great, thank you," he absentmindedly replied, still in deep thought.
Yugito made an indignant scoffing noise but proceeded to wrap Naruto's right forearm in gauze where had been hit by a barrage of razor sharp grass. "What are you thinking about?" Yugito nudged him whilst carefully tightening the gauze across his forearm.
Naruto turned to her and lowered his shoulders in a hopeless shrug, "This exam is out of control," he voiced his concerns for the first time. An imaginary weight instantly was lift off his shoulders. "I'm having fun fighting all these people but at the same time I'm actually trying to kill them just to get a bump to chūnin and test my limits. It just feels so selfish and stupid. I'm beginning to doubt whether I'm determined enough to do this."
Yugito laughed softly. It was a very feminine laugh he noted as she spoke, "Of course you've got what it takes," she told him, her voice uncharacteristically gentle. "All you've been talking about since we got entered is this exam. You've got more than enough resolve," she assured him. "If being selfish is all that you're afraid of, you've got nothing to be concerned over. You're human. You're supposed to be selfish from time to time."
"Thanks," Naruto muttered, "But that's not all I'm worried about... It's been what, three days and I've had a collapsed lung and got cut up so badly I've lost more blood than humanly possible? Hari's shattered his right arm and now he's out of commission thanks to chakra exhaustion. Who knows how many days it'll take him for him to get back on his feet? And you... you're constantly in danger because one of us is a liability to you. I hate it! Then there's that Sasuke bastard who's just waiting for a shot to kill me and with all these injuries we're getting, he's going to have an easy time!"
Yugito then said something that shook his very core. "It's okay. We'll make it," the smiled at him, "I believe in Hari and I believe in you."
Naruto turned to her with an almost awed expression. They locked eyes once again and Naruto cupped her cheek as he leant in closer to her. She was blushing, he could clearly see it in the poorly lit hideout, and figured he probably was too but he didn't care. His lips smooched against her as he kissed her tenderly for the briefest of moments. Yugito's breath hitched, leaning into the kiss and as she did his, they were both suddenly very much aware who they were in lip lock with.
"I'm sorry," Naruto said instantly with a furious blush, distancing himself to give her space. "I didn't know what I was doing. I wasn't thinking." He hadn't had the faintest idea why he was vehemently making excuses but he went along with. "I'm sorry," he repeated sincerely.
Yugito was blushing herself but merely nodded. "Of- of course, you were in emotional distress and you merely sought out comfort. It's no big deal, Uzumaki." Her voice had switched back from tender and understanding to impassive and rigid.
"Yeah..." Naruto went along with it. What had just happened was something he would never in his entire life have been able to foresee. Yugito was right; his emotions were out of whack. That's why he kissed her and for no other reason aside from that.
If only he could really believe that.
"You should get some sleep," Yugito told him, hardly looking him in the eye. "It's almost four. I'll wake you up at ten?"
Naruto nodded and crawled into his sleeping bag, facing the other way and hating himself. Not for kissing her but for enjoying it. It wasn't right, he told himself. It couldn't be right.
-ooo-
The following morning Naruto was convinced what had happened the night before was a dream (which in more than one way made it even worse) but he was in for a rude surprise when he noticed how tense Yugito was when handing him a can of baked beans; not to mention his bandages.
"We ran out of fish," Yugito explained needlessly as Naruto began to eat, munching away hungrily on a piece of bread dipped into the sauce. The silence was too uncomfortable. "I'll go wake up Hari," Yugito got up and walked over to Hari and shook the sleeping genin. "Hari, wake up."
"Nhnm... I'm tired, kaa-chan. Can't I cut school jus' for today- ack!" Hari's hands lazily held on to his head. "Okay, I'm up. Jeez, kaa-c- Yugito," he quickly corrected himself, rolling onto his other side to face his teammates. "I'm suffering from chakra exhaustion and you just hit me? You'd make an even worse medic than I do!"
"Shut the fuck up, Hari," Naruto said with annoyance. Hari had been beating himself up over the Kusa genin's death all night and he could tell he wasn't over it yet. "You know you did all you could with that kid. It's not your fault he died. If anything, it's his own fault."
"Of course you'd say that," Hari spat back at him with venom, moving to his side in flustered movement. "You always overlook the negativity, don't you? You don't really care when you fucked up, do you? Of course you wouldn't."
"What's that supposed to mean," Naruto demanded getting up aggressively. He was certainly not above beating the stupidity out of a bedridden Hari. "Wanna repeat that?"
"Sure!" Hari shouted at him, "You-"
Yugito forced a piece of bread down the kenjutsu specialist's throat and made him chew on it rather than choke. "We're not going to argue amongst ourselves just because we had a rough time," Yugito said without unquestionable authority. "Eat your fucking food and shut the fuck up." The kunoichi chided herself for swearing. She had always found it a vulgar habit but Naruto must have rubbed off on her. A bad thought came to her mind with Naruto and 'rubbing off on her' and so she shook her head. "Eat up and get rested. We need to heal our injuries and rejuvenate ourselves. Don't lose focus."
"Aye, taichō!" Naruto and Hari said simultaneously, silently forgiving each other as only best friends could do.
"Good." Yugito for once didn't comment on them for referring to her as the captain. "Naruto you're going to stay here and help Hari recover quicker by chakra transplant," Yugito ordered, reaching for Hari's medical equipment storage scroll as Naruto raised an eyebrow. Yugito unfurled the scroll and made a hand seal to unseal the equipment she was looking for.
"What's that?" Naruto asked her, pointing to the tube in her hands.
"It's a chakra transplant tube. All you need to do is attach this between you and Hari and channel your chakra into it. You've got more than enough to spare, so you can take care of that while I go out to scout and pick off some weaklings."
Naruto caught the tube deftly and held it up. It looked like rubber but didn't quite feel like rubber and rubber didn't conduct chakra very well at all. The tube seemed rather small and inconvenient at first but once Naruto tried to stretch it out it easily became seven feet long. On both ends were white attachments that reminded him of the hospital machinery used to monitor the patients. The jinchūriki attached one end to Hari's chest, who made a point out of acting as if he was a cliché female and Naruto was a pervert out to molest her. Naruto swiftly withdrew his fist from Hari's skull and attached the device to his own chest and made a ram hand seal as he begun channeling his chakra.
"Looks like you have got it under control. I'm going out." Yugito held up her headset and put it on. "I'll be on the radio if you need to contact me but try to keep radio communications to a minimum."
"Be back soon, I don't want to be cooped up here with this jerk off all day," Naruto said with a grin. Yugito didn't smile nor did she bother to reply and lowered the Doryūheki on her way out but maintained her genjutsu. A moment later the earth wall rose once again diminishing the light in their hideout.
"Alrighty then," the knucklehead ninja focused on transferring a good portion of chakra to Hari who groaned contently as he felt slightly rejuvenated. "Keep up with the moaning and you'll be screaming next."
"I don't think I'd be a screamer."
"Fine. Crying," Naruto amended, a tick appearing on his temple. Hari was very skilled at pissing him off when he wanted to be.
"No, that would just be wrong."
Naruto felt like banging his head repeatedly into the ground but continued to channel chakra into through the tube, all the while mumbling in annoyance.
"So what's up between you and Yugito?" Hari felt good enough to sit up and finished the remainders of his beans and bread. The pseudo medic reached for his sheathed ninja-to and pouch. He proceeded to unseal cleaning materials for his sword and polished it as he looked at Naruto expectantly. "Well?"
"What do you mean?" For a second Naruto felt a cold sensation in his stomach. Hari couldn't have been awake and seen them kiss, could he? No, he was sure Hari had been sleeping when it happened.
"You seem awkward," Hari said observantly. "More so than usual so there's gotta be something up. What happened?" Hari dripped polishing oil on a cotton ball on a stick and proceeded to clean the remains blade of his ninja-to with practiced ease of a swordsman. The blade had been practically destroyed by his Jouenryū and now resembled jagged shrapnel rather than a sword but Hari considered it to be of sentimental value as he had the blade since early academy days. "What happened, did you two get freaky while I was asleep? If so, that's just sick and you should be ashamed of yourselves."
"Sort off," Naruto finally admitted with a shrug, fully enjoying Hari's double take and dropped jaw. "It wasn't anything like that, thought. It was just a kiss."
"What? Are you fucking serious- you're serious aren't you?" Hari started laughing in a mixture of disbelief and amusement. "So how was it? And who kissed who– I bet you kissed her, right?"
Naruto sighed exasperatedly. "It was just a kiss. I didn't even know why I did it," he told his best friend. How foolish of him to not see this coming. "Of course he would want to know all the damn details."
"So how was it?" Hari sounded like some of the regular village girls that had nothing better do that gossip all day. He was even moving his hands in the same animated fashion. Naruto briefly remembered a flock of them following him a few years ago when he was twelve about a girl's confession. He also remembered he had scared them to death by turning his eyes red and slit with Kyūbi's influence.
"Did you use your tongue? I bet you did, you dirty bastard! Say, did you get to," Hari made odd movements with fingers appearing to be groping invisible breasts. "Did you?"
"Would you please just shut the fuck up about it?" Naruto grew increasingly annoyed with his friend, tempted to break the ninja-to in his hands for the second time. This time there would be no bounty money to fix the damn thing. "It was nothing. It didn't mean anything at all. We were just talking and it got negative and shit- you know how it goes!"
Hari swiftly moved to dodge the empty can of beans aimed for his head and grinned idiotically. "Sure, it meant nothing. If that's what you're saying," Hari trailed off. "I just don't see why you give it a shot," he said eventually.
"Because I don't see her in that way," Naruto said firmly for what felt like the hundredth time. A part of him knew he was trying to convince himself as much as Hari, yet he refused to acknowledge it. "I've known her since I was a kid. Do you really expect me to try and get in her pants now, at this stage after hating each other for years?" It was a sarcastic comment but Hari's eyes lit up,
"I didn't say anything about getting in her pants but while you're on the subject-" Hari's retort died in his throat once he caught Naruto's murderous glare but was stilling grinning so much it looked as if his face as splitting in two.
Naruto changed his hands from a ram hand seal to a serpent hand seal and abruptly raised the earth under Hari sending him flying over a foot in the sky with a yelp. Naruto chuckled loudly to Hari's profound swearing.
…
Yugito hopped branches in swift movements, her chakra suppressed to the lowest point she could get it. She was headed for the site where they had fought the coalition of genin from smaller villages in the hopes of finding a discarded scroll or some other useful information. The kunoichi thought of the battle and frowned, looking out in front of her, sensing around her area. The odds there would actually be anything worthwhile were slim but it was better than nothing. They had two Earth scrolls and one Darkness scroll. She wasn't quite sure how he had managed to secure it, although Naruto said he found a team of Kirigakure genin at their hideout but she knew he was leaving something out that made him act embarrassed.
The battlefield was much like it was hours ago Yugito thought upon arriving closer to the clearing. That was when she felt three strong chakra signatures and three slightly less impressive chakra signals. The kunoichi went through a string of hand seals, "Meisaigakure no Jutsu." The familiar cold sensation as if a bucket of ice water had been dripped over her washed over her body. A moment later Yugito was concealed to the blind eye.
Yugito neared the clearing to see a familiar team from Sunagakure consisting of the attractive blond kunoichi with pigtails dressed in purple garb with fishnet and wielding a giant fan; the lanky genin in a black full-body jumpsuit with a figure wrapped up in gauze on his back and lastly the short of stature leader with teal eyes, dressed in blood red shinobi garb that matched his hair and a giant gourd on his back and purple body armour. They were being confronted by a team from Takigakure from what Yugito could tell.
The Nibi no Bakenekō jinchūriki darted between branches and approached the two teams, leaning against the wall and listening intently. Listening was easier from her new position and Yugito could finally make out what they were saying.
"I suggest you just hand over your scrolls. Tell you what, hand over that woman, too." The Takigaru shinobi motioned to Temari as she was a piece of meat, not even making eye contact with her but looking at Kankurō instead as if he owned her. Yugito figured he had thought the lanky genin was the genin because of his height. "Hand her over along with your scroll and we'll definitely let you two guys live."
In a blink of an eye the Suna kunoichi had raised his fan and slammed it down on the Taki genin, driving him headfirst into the ground with a cracked skull, blooding seeping out the sides of his head. Yugito's eyes narrow, that was much quicker than she had thought the kunoichi could have moved with her fan. The two remaining genin jumped back threw a hail of kunai and shuriken at the kunoichi. "Move! You're fast enough!" Yugito shouted mentally. However the kunoichi didn't have to move as sand had burst out of the gourd on the red haired genin's back and protected his teammate. Yugito's eyes incredibly when the two genin had used some sort of earth canon jutsu that was useless against the sand barrier.
"Sabaku Kyū!" The redhead made a grabbing motion of the hand towards the shorter, plump genin and engulfed him in stand. Yugito heard his blood curling screams and resisted the urge to wince as his eyes began to pop out off his head. Her eyes widened once again knowing what was going to happen next. "Sabaku SōSō!"
A shower of blood blinded her and all she could was the red shade of oxidized blood. The last Taki genin turned on his heel and ran in absolute terror in Yugito's direction causing her to reinforce her camouflage jutsu. To her immense surprise the sand continued to pour out of the gourd and followed the skinny genin through the forest, tearing down trees including that of Yugito, forcing her to jump to another.
The genin was caught in another tight grip and dragged back as he screamed in absolute terror, calling out for help to any person or deity out there. "NO!" he screamed in a futile attempt to claw himself out of the sand.
"Finish him Gaara," the kunoichi shouted to her teammate who didn't even reply to her and merely clenched his fist and caused another blood fountain. Not even a speck of bone was amongst the gory sight. The pressure of the sand must have been so powerful it pulverized bones to dust.
Yugito eyed the redhead known to be Gaara look around the area, apparently sensing another presence. "Impossible," Yugito thought looking up to see sand aggregating above her in to strange cloud-like figures. She knew he had detected her somehow and darted backwards a split second before the tree she was hiding in was bombarded by long sand needles that tore it down with ease. Yugito sensed another attacker to her right and saw the pigtailed kunoichi Temari slam her fan against the wind shouting, "Tatsu no Ōshigoto!" A miniature tornado came crashing towards her, prompting Yugito to activate her Raikō Jōshō and dodge to the right and reach for her wakizashi in time to deflect a hail of kunai and shuriken hurled at her by the lanky genin called Kankurō who had pulled out a puppet that shot projectiles from its mouth. Yugito gracefully flipped through the air and propelled herself backwards by Raikō Jōshō to avoid a wave of sand.
The Nibi jinchūriki stabbed the ground with the wakizashi in her left hand to halt her movements and charged a Raiken in her right to pummel back the sand in front of her. Her eyes widened as her Lightning Fist proved to be useless to stop the sand that engulfed her in tight grip. Gaara appeared before her with an emotionless mask, his teal eyes locking with her dark orbs.
"The Shukaku recognizes you," Gaara stated, folding his arms over his chest as his teammates appeared next to him, sneering at Yugito. Gaara continued to stare at her as if expectant of an answer. "Why does mother know you?"
"W- what?" Yugito managed say under the crushing pressure of the sand. The kunoichi had no idea what was happening and why Gaara was asking her strange questions but she decided to play along to buy herself some time. "I don't know who Shukaku is."
Gaara made a gripping motion with his hand towards Yugito and increased the pressure, making her grit her teeth in pain. "Mother knows you… tell me who you are or I'll kill you." The psychotic look in his eyes even unnerved his teammates who subconsciously stepped back in fear. "Mother knows you… mother wouldn't lie to me… Tell me who you are or I'll kill you!"
Yugito bit down on her lip, piercing it with fang to keep herself from screaming. "I don't know who your mother or this Shukaku person is!" Yugito shouted at him spiking her chakra to tremendous levels. Now wasn't the time to be suppressing her reserves; she was about to get killed. "Kya!" Yugito shouted, exploding in blue chakra flames and effectively breaking the Sand Binding Coffin, sending sand in exploding in all directions. The kunoichi activated her Raikō Jōshō and darted backwards, forming a Shūrai in her hand and throwing the beam of lightning at Gaara.
The sand instantly shot up to block the lightning. An explosion further propelled her back, allowing her time to unsheathe her ninja-to, having dropped her wakizashi. She dropped sidestepped a rush of sand and darted forward with a series of somersaults and Gaara. "Kumo Ryū! Kakū Kibukiri Giri!"
(Jutsu: Kumo Ryū! Kakū Kibukiri Giri - Cloud Style! Overhead Decapitating Slash!)
She shot forward and incredible speeds past the sand, her speed enhanced considerably by her Lightning Climb technique. Yugito's eyes widened in absolutely shock, having slashed downwards the genin's head only to see him still standing with his arms crossed and the skin on his head merely cracked. He smiled at her with psychotic look on his face and his eyes had turned dark yellow with strange markings. Gaara was practically radiating biju chakra. Yugito was so shocked she was caught off guard and propelled backwards and fell to the ground in several painful skids before she ploughed the earth with her ninja-to like she had done with her wakizashi.
"You're a jinchūriki!" Yugito called out, almost questioning rather than stating like she had intended to. "Impossible," she muttered to herself but then soon realized there was nothing improbable about this. Still, to find one of the nine jinchūriki here? It was mind boggling but she paid it no further heed.
Gaara's sand swirled around him but made no further movement to attack. "You are ajinchūriki like me. Like that boy." Gaara stepped forward, his sand dangerous flicking at this teammates as if to warn them what would happen if they interfered. "Neither of you will threatened my existence. I will kill you. Devour your blood. I will allow the Ichibi… Shukaku… my mother to feast on you." The sand massed around Gaara as he began to literally leak yellow chakra, growing a sand tail and claws. Once his transformation was completed he appeared to be a giant tanuki, standing hunchbacked and drooling saliva down his chin.
"If you want to play, come at me!" Yugito said snapping into full battle mode. She was going to go all out against a fellow jinchūriki. It wasn't like she had another choice, as a demon container herself she knew better than to underestimate him. "Prepare yourself, Gaara!" she called out to him shifting into her own pseudo transformed form. Blue and black flames enveloped her, her nails grew to claws, her dark orbs gained blue slits as her gained dark rims similar to Gaara and her hair grew longer.
…
Kankurō and Temari looked at each and nodded, beyond unnerved and took to the trees to get to safety. Monstrous levels emitted from the jinchūriki and neither of them were naïve enough to believe Gaara would hold back to prevent hurting them. He had shown affection towards them on rare occasions, particularly to Temari, but if it came to any battle he wouldn't hold back no matter who he could possibly harm. "Gaara, be careful!" Temari yelled in concern. The desert rose turned to Kankurō and swallowed thickly. "Gaara's the Ichibi. So this girl has to have a stronger biju than him if she's also a jinchūriki…"
"It'll be fine," Kankurō assured her. "This is Gaara we're talking about. Have a little faith, Temari!" He chided her and focused on the battle. A confident smirk crept to his painted visage. "He'll rip her apart."
…
Yugito's chakra spiked to levels triple that of an average jōnin; the ground under her began to crack with the pressure of the biju chakra that began to swirl around her. Going through hand seals she generated a massive amount of electricity around her. In her initial jinchūriki mode she could afford to aggregate as much as she wanted with disregard to the burns the Nibi would heal almost instantaneously. Yugito slid into a wide-legged stance and flared an enormous Raikō Jōshō, knowing the Nibi would prevent muscle strain and chakra exhaustion, and shot forward at Gaara at blinding speeds with both her hands covered in lightning. Gaara's sand shot forward in anticipation but Yugito simply shot through it at amazing speed and ran her right hand through Gaara's chest, "Raikyū!" It turned out to be a sand substitute, Yugito realized as it dropped to the floor and Gaara appeared behind her. The Ichibi jinchūriki slapped his hands together and spat a burst of wind, "Mugen Sajin Daitoppa!" A powerful sand storm blasted Yugito with such velocity she had crashed through a tree and skid over the ground three times before she could regain her bearings.
(Jutsu: Mugen Sajin Daitoppa – Infinite Sand Cloud Great Breakthrough!)
Crouched on one knee, bleeding from a head wound that was already being healed, Yugito held out her palms and shot out lightning she had siphoned from her Raikō Jōshō, forced to act quickly to push back the charging sand wave. Yugito sped forward, running across the remaining sand as nimble as cat, and jumped into the sky and landed a heel drop on Gaara's enormous claw. Yugito grinned in a feral fashion, enjoying Gaara's shocked expression as it down on him, "Tobigeri!" Yugito flared her chakra and fired her jutsu point black on Gaara, kicking the lightning at him and launching herself backwards, her flight strengthened by the explosion. Gaara, who screamed horribly as the lightning used the sand as a current, reached out with another claw at Yugito, lengthening the claws to dangerous sharp proportions to turn Yugito into a pincushion. The kunoichi twirled through the air and pulled off a quick replacement jutsu with a boulder, narrowly avoiding certain death.
'I need to end this quickly before this gets out of hand. He might be able to transform and in that's the case…' Yugito eyed the Suna jinchūriki's sand claw charge at her over a twenty feet distance. She charged towards it in a feint and darted to the right, past the claw and jumped on it, running towards Gaara with her hands aimed like dual revolvers at the redhead as she shot a barrage of her Raigan. The sand shot up and stabbed her in the calf, causing Yugito to fall forward with a shocked expression as the stream of sand formed a cocoon around her. "Shit!" Yugito cursed herself. She should have known better than try the same tactic to land a hit. Her fire like chakra lightened the cocoon that was beginning to close grow spikes and close in on her.
This did not look good.
…
"He's got her!" Kankurō said with an uncharacteristically enthusiastic fist pump. Even he had his doubts about Gaara, but as usual his younger brother had pulled through and emerged victorious. The puppeteer laughed triumphantly, nudging his sister. "See? I told you he'd win. Gaara is invincible!"
Temari merely sighed in utter relief. For a moment she had thought Gaara could possibly have met his end. "I know. What was I thinking?" Temari laughed, smirking confidently and with pride of her younger brother. They were an awkward bunch, but she knew Gaara did care for them, like they cared for them. Temari chided herself ever doubting Gaara and leaned against the tree, crossing her arms.
A sudden burst of colossal chakra stronger burst to the sky like a geyser of brilliant, vibrant bluish-black flames.
…
"KYAH!" Yugito burst free from cocoon and shot thirty feet into the sky. She descended with such force a crater appeared in the earth her feet had touched. Yugito stood hunched backed, her features having intensified in her animalistic transformation. The laces that had kept her hair in a ponytail had been disintegrated, leaving her with a wild mane. A chakra tail sprouted from her spine and stood poised over her shoulder. With a deep growl, an arrow-like attack was shot from the tail and collided with Gaara's sand shield that took a yellow hue as he roared back at her. The masses of chakra collided and glowed a blinding white before erupting.
BOOM!
The giant explosion caused a massive wind blast to tear through the Forest of Death, tearing down trees, dislodged boulders and even sent animals flying past. The epicentre of the explosion had been reduced to nothing but one giant crater that sunk ten feet into the ground.
Yugito leaned against a tree, nursing the deep cut in her shoulder as she peered over the tree into the area. "That couldn't have been strong enough to finish him," Yugito concluded but she took the opportunity to retreat now. In their brief exchange, she could tell Gaara was enslaved by the beast inside him and was ruled by it. She couldn't keep up her jinchūriki form long enough to defeat him without turning into the Nibi. A feat she could keep up for less than twenty minutes before the Nibi would take over. Gaara did not have those handicaps, Yugito knew. He was already under the control of the Ichibi.
-ooo-
Naruto move his hand from left to right unable to decide. In front of him sat Hari with a sinister smile that seemed to increase as Naruto's uncertainty festered. Hari motioned his hands to the jinchūriki to pick a card. They had nothing to do other than play a game of cards. Hari's chakra exhaustion had been treated so far as chakra went but he still had to deal with the torturous body afflictions such as chakra exhaustion, the occasional vomiting and aches as a result of his body having been forced to go in overtime to generate more chakra to keep him alive the night before.
"Ah, fuck this!" Naruto looked at the joker and threw his hand in the air and lay on the floor ignoring Hari's sniggering. "Where the hell is Yugito?" Naruto sat up and pulled on his sandals, noting they had corroded significantly. He would have to buy a new pair when he got out of the forest. "You cheating bastard."
"I didn't cheat." Hari laid down leaning on his elbow shoving his hand down his trousers to scratch his itchy behind whilst yawning like a sloth. The kenjutsu specialist did not have to mind his distasteful habits without Yugito around. "Where are you going?"
"Taking a leak," Naruto replied as he sunk through the ground and disappeared.
Outside of their new hideout, Naruto rushed over to another tree, unzipping trousers hurriedly to empty his bladder. Sighing contently he took his time when he suddenly felt a very familiar chakra signature from a distance. "Yugito!" Naruto said out loud. He reached for his communications set still attached to his neck and pressed the button. "Yugito, are you there? Yugito!"
Bzzzshttt
No reply. Her radio signal was dead. Naruto frowned with worry, making a hand seal and created ten Kage Bunshin. He instructed two to go inside and guard Hari and had the rest transform into boulders, pieces of wood and even animals to blend in with the area.
…
Naruto ran into the direction figuring hoping branches would be an annoyance at this stage. Instead he ran at a considerable speed, faster than most genin could even keep up with. The short of stature genin clenched his fist as he ran so deep in thought as to why Yugito had released the Nibi he almost missed the bolts darting towards him. In one fluid moment, he turned around with a kunai in his hand deflected bolts, instantly recognizing the attack he had encountered before.
Cling! Cling! Cling!
The bolts deflected, Naruto gripped his kunai and slide into a stance simultaneously closing his eyes and depending on his sense of smell and hearing. Snapping his eyes open Naruto delivered a palm strike, delivering an overpowered, "Akkai Genshuku!" The blast was three times its regular size and crashed into a branch covered by low hanging leaves. Naruto's body moved on its own accord as he instinctively bent his knees and leaned back to cleanly avoid to blades coming from his left and right. Naruto squashed his surprise at being so callously attacked by fellow Kumo ninja and jumped back on to his hands and spun his legs in a series of kicks whilst performing a handstand. His attackers quickly withdrew themselves unable effectively block the thick metal shin guards but quickly returned for dual overhead slashes Naruto recognized as part of the Cloud kenjutsu style.
(AN: Naruto's handstand attack is like Sanji's from One Piece.)
Naruto launched himself in the air with sheer physical strength and gripped onto his bare wrist. 'Yadama Fūin!'Naruto activated the tattoo on his wrist and fired and continuous stream of kunai at Tira and Lyra. The sisters got into a practiced position and deflected the incoming projectiles. Much to his dismay Naruto cancelled his Fūinjutsu and created three Kage Bunshin to pull him aside to avoid the incoming streaks of chakra emitting from the sisters' blades. Naruto recognized it to be a technique he had seen samurai make use of in Ritoru Haaku. The last clone that was supposed to grab on to him was dispelled by a hail bolts, reminding Naruto there was a third attacker. He turned and held his arms in a cross in front of him to block the kick that send him crashing into and sliding across the ground with gritting teeth. He had no idea what they were thinking but he couldn't afford to hold back simply because they were his comrades, not that they seemed to have the same reservations for attacking him.
"I'm going to give you three only one chance to get out of my way or I'm going to tear you apart," Naruto stood up straight, facing the trio. If he wasn't so serious, he would have cracked a particularly vulgar sex joke to get on Shira's nerves but now wasn't the time for games. Yugito needed him. "Move."
"Mhm? Oh, you can't possible serious!" Shira giggled in amusement, mocking his warning. "We're not leaving until we got what we came for." Shira looked deadly serious and raised her one-handed crossbow. "Issen Sashijō!" Shira fired her crossbow, shooting off hundreds of crossbow bolts and Naruto in an instant. Having already encountered the technique, Naruto slid through and disappeared, only to appear under the trio with three others clones that gripped the girls by their ankles and pulled them down through the earth.
"Nice panties. Purple suits you, Shira," Naruto commented appearing before the team of kunoichi, whom were all stuck neck deep into the ground. Naruto turned and made a run for the direction he had last felt Yugito's chakra. "I'll let the clones free you when I've gotten out of here!"
A few hundred yards further down the forest, Naruto mentally commanded his clones to release the kunoichi and learned they had been viciously decapitated but not before warning of retribution. Now wasn't the time to wonder what Shira's deal with him was Naruto reminded himself, continuing his pacing.
-ooo-
Sasuke made his way through the forest with his teammates beside him. Sakura was still celebrating her victory over two kunoichi from Sound she had singlehandedly killed, although had it not been for the fact the entire genin coalition sent from Otogakure had been killed in front of her by Sasuke they wouldn't have fallen into hysteria and become easy pickings. Regardless, Sasuke was somewhat impressed the rosette had gone ahead with it and killed the kunoichi and even more so that she was proud of the achievement. The Uchiha ruled it out as his and Sai's influence over her, yet didn't see that in an particularly positive light.
"So, Sakura-san how does it feel to know out of all the kunoichi from our generation you have the smallest cup size?" Sai asked her with his perpetual smile. "A36's are quite modest."
"Sai!" Sakura took a swing at the ink user with a raging blush. "It's one thing to insult people but it's a whole other thing to comment on girl's breasts! How do you know my size anyway?"
"You see, Ino appears to have C38's," Sai ignored her question, sidestepping another swing to the face. "Doesn't just make want to... kill yourself to know you can easily be mistaken for a man?"
"S- Sai!" Sakura covered her chest with a red hot blush, feeling a wave of insecurities plague her mind. Her celebrative mood had been completely ruined.
"As to how I know your size, I saw you bathing in the like and noticed you had left your garments by the side," Sai pressed on with his perpetual smile, "Don't worry. I didn't peek on you. It's not like your slim hips and flat chest could arouse any man."
Sasuke looked over his shoulder at Sai, silencing him with just one look. The ink user knew better than to provoke an Uchiha, Sasuke mused, letting go of his chikutō's hilt. Once Sai had started raining down the insults, he wouldn't stop. Out of experience, Sasuke knew it was best to stop the emotionless genin before it got out of hand and he got involved in Sakura's never ending rants. It still boggled his mind how much she could speak continuously.
Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks; his teammates eyed him with confusion, wondering why he stopped. Sakura opened her mouth but was silenced with a wave of Sasuke's hand. The Uchiha turned around, Sharingan eyes spinning wildly in his eyes. "Come out. You cannot hide from these eyes."
Three individuals appeared before team Kakashi. The first one to appear in the middle was a tall muscular teenager greyish coloured skin. The teenager had white, needle like hair that him look rather odd and was dressed in blood red shinobi styled pants with black shinobi sandals and bandages wrapped around his ankles and shins. Most notably, he had a large tattoo of a manticore on his chest, easily spotted through his white, long-sleeved open shirt. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, noticing the genin had no pouches or holsters or anything else remotely shinobi like other than his Kiri headband.
"Look what we have here, Tetsuya-chan. This kid is an Uchiha. He's even flashing the Sharingan!" The second individual was a young kunoichi dressed in blood red kakis and a matching hood that stopped slightly above her naval, showing over her lean and curvy figure. The kunoichi had carried a beige coloured utility belt that had dozens of pouches that went along her hips. The carried two scrolls on the small of her back suspend by wire attached to her collar. "Lou, which one do you want?"
Lou was a freakishly tall genin who appeared to be around sixteen like his teammates. Lou sported a buzz cut (similar to Zabuza, Sasuke noted) and had brass knuckles and several windmill shuriken strapped to his back, secured by utility belt he wore his shoulder. Sasuke noticed Lou carried four pouches on his hips. They were similar to the medical supply pouches Sakura carried.
Sasuke rested his hand on his blade with supreme confidence as his teammates got into fighting stances of their own. Sai pulled out his tantō while Sakura withdrew her custom made, long kunai. "What do you want?" Sasuke assumed they were after his scroll, but surely they would have taken a more ninja like instead of approaching them. "Unless they're confident we're not a threat to them," Sasuke mused with a faint smile as if amused by the situation and deactivated the Uchiha sight.
Tetsuya stepped forward with an outstretched hand, locking eyes with Sasuke and move curled his fingers. "Your scrolls. Hand them over and we will let you live," he said with supreme confidence.
"Oh?" Sasuke chuckled bemused, waving a hand for Sakura and Sai to stand down. "What makes you so confident you can approve us out in the open and demand our scroll?"
"Just hand over your fucking scrolls or yer dead!" Megumi stepped forward and went to grab Sasuke by his shirt. Her eyes widened when Sasuke seemed to glide past her and come to a halt behind her with his blade three-quarters sheathed.
"How foolish," Sasuke spat, sliding the blade fully into the sheath with click! A rain of blood erupted from the kunoichi, causing her to fall face forward in pool of blood.
The kunoichi's teammates attacked. Tetsuya shot towards Sasuke with an outstretched hand as if to grab him. Sasuke narrowly avoid a hidden blade that shot out to impale his head. "No, that's not a blade," Sasuke corrected himself as Tetsuya recreated the greyish coloured bone into his forearm. "A bloodline limit? How interesting."
Tetsuya looked him in the eye in a daring manner and reached to his collarbone. "I am one of the remaining descendants of the Kaguya clan of Kiri. My name is Tetsuya and I am a wielder of the Shikotsumyaku. Prepare to meet your demise, Uchiha. You may well have lived if you had simply surrendered your scrolls!"
(Kekkei Genkai: Shikotsumyaku – Dead Bone Pulse!)
Sasuke shot forward, unsheathing his chitukō in a blink on an eye and shot past Tetsuya, landing a clean cut on the teenager two years his senior. Sasuke turned around swiftly and raised his blade. "No blood? Yet I had a clean strike on him."
"I gave you that opening to illustrate the power of the Shikotsumyaku," Tetsuya turned face Sasuke, his torso not so much as scratched by the powerful swipe. "The Shikotsumyaku grants us Kaguya clan members full control of our bone growth. Our bones are harder than steel," Tetsuya reached to his shoulder and withdrew an upper arm bone the size of a regular katana. "I am different from most clan members however. I was born with a rare strain of the Shikotsumyaku that has made my bones actual steel. Tsubaki no Mai!"
(Jutsu: Tsubaki no Mai - Dance of the Camelia!)
"Oh?" Sasuke smirked at the Dead Bone Pulse user with delight at encountering a strong opponent. "Then I suppose I owe you my best. I will not hold back, Kaguya!" Sasuke's eyes spun wildly with the three tomoe Uchiha sight. Sasuke speedily shot forward at and clashed with the Kaguya descendant, engaging him in a duel.
Meanwhile the kunoichi that supposedly died had gotten on her feet and attacked Sai, who had stood by as Sakura engaged Lou in a close combat fight. Sasuke's Sharingan picked up a usual chakra from the kunoichi, it was blood red in colour and it simply felt foul. Sasuke's distraction cost him a swift, shallow cut across the cheek but he parried the next blow and got Tetsuya on the defensive, striking him twice on the chest although it did not appear to cause any harm. "Another kekkei genkai?" Sasuke dashed backwards and deflected a hail of bone projectiles Tetsuya shot with his left hand.
"No," Tetsuya answered just as casual. "She comes from the Akagai clan. They are skilled shinobi that make use of a special ninjutsu known as a Chiton. Due to their specialized Blood Release ninjutsu, their bodies can sustain blood loss injuries much longer than the average person."
"You are awfully forthcoming with your answers," Sasuke pointed out as they entered another stalemate. "Why is that?" He found it remarkably curious why the Kiri genin gave away his teammate's secret without so much batting an eye.
"You will die regardless. That is why I answer the questions you ask, Uchiha!" Tetsuya pushed Sasuke back with such force he sent him skidding backwards across the ground. "Teshi Sendan!" Tetsuya aimed his left hand at Sasuke once again and shot off a barrage of metal bullets.
(Jutsu: Teshi Sendan – Drilling Finger Bullets!)
"I'll teach you to look down on the Uchiha!" Sasuke darted forward, deflecting the Drilling Finger Bullets and ducked under swipe directed to his head and spun around with a counter of his own, "Shishimai!" Sasuke twirled his blade, moving his wrists in odd angles and delivered powerful, vicious attacks to Tetsuya. The Kaguya's eyes widened briefly, thinking his eyes were deceiving him as he saw lions charging at him. Sasuke's flurry lived up its name, forcing Tetsuya on the retreat and nearly blinding the Kaguya clan member who managed to dodge a strike to his eyes with only a few hairs sacrificed.
(Jutsu: Shishimai – Lion Dance!)
While Sasuke and Tetsuya continued their duel, Sai and Sakura had engaged Megumi and Lou respectively. The ink user had so far been dodging every kick and punch Megumi had thrown at him, his perpetual smile never leaving his expression. Although he seemed to be taking it easy, Sai had eaves dropped on the conversation between the Kaguya and Uchiha and was now merely waiting for the Chiton jutsu.
"May I ask you a question?" Sai asked politely, jumping backward to avoid a high kick to the head. He was close enough to Sakura and Lou who were exchanging blows, the metal kunai clanged loudly against the brass knuckles.
"What's that, coward?" Megumi slid into a stationary stance to catch her breath and pulled her hood down. Her high cheek bones, brilliant green orbs and fully lips were an attractive sight. Megumi was the kind of woman that unarguably could go through life depending merely on her looks.
"What is your cup size?" Sai stuck himself to a tree, tilting his head in a confused manner. "Your breasts seem rather large. I'd like to show my kohai what she should strive for."
"Eh?" Megumi sounded like some Yakuza member. It was unsightly, yet did nothing to diminish her attractiveness. "These?" She held on to her breast, shaking them up and down. "These are D cups!" The vulgar tomboy said turning to look at Sakura. "Is your kohai even a woman? I can't tell if she's got any tits! Meh, I would've gladly traded with her, these bastards will gimme lower back problems at some point and they're a hassle in a fight." Megumi shook her breasts once more for emphasis to show how much they jiggled. "Tried using feckin' bandages but those are jus' uncomfortable!"
"S- Sai!" Sakura called to him with annoyance. Her distraction cost her a rock hard punch to the face that sent her to ground in a sprawl. Lou was on to her with, pressing one with a range of kicks and punches. Sakura got in a one-knee crouch, held up her arm to block a kick but it came with more force than she had counted for and rolled across the ground, making her drop her kunai in process. Lou ran towards her attempted another vicious kick Sakura ducked under and countered with a chakra enhanced punch. Lou caught her fist and crushed her hand, his spare hand caught on to her wrist. Sakura dropped her knees under the pressure and gasped in pain. "Ungh!" Lou head butted Sakura with such force she started to bleed.
Megumi reached into one of her pouches and took out a handful of pills Sai recognized as blood replenishing pills. The busty kunoichi went through a string of seals and reared back her head, biting down on cheeks and spat an acidic wave of blood, "Chikemuri!"
(Jutsu: Chikemuri - Spurt of Blood!)
The blood wave washed over Sai who drooped down in ink, turning out to be an ink clone. Megumi turned to her left and grabbed on to Sai's hands, attempting to force the tantō out of his hand. Gritting her teeth, she was unable to stop Sai's stab at her, growling in pain as the blade sliced her chest, ruining her hooded garment and revealing a considerable portion of her bust. Megumi spat another blast of Chikemuri at Sai to distract him and popped a few more afterwards.
"I see, so your body can handle far more blood replenish pills than the average person. What else is interesting about your body?" Sai asked, dodging the acidic blood. It collided with a boulder behind it and practically melted it like butter.
"I shave!" Megumi said with a ridiculous sense of pride. The red-clad kunoichi went through another string of hand seals. "Chimidoro!" she shouted as her chakra spiked briefly.
(Jutsu: Chimidoro – Blood Stained Struggle!)
Sai narrowed his eyes; he spotted the blood around him pooled to together and seeped towards him at an alarming rate. The ink user jumped flipped backwards and stuck himself to a tree. Withdrawing his scroll and brush, Sai seemed to be finally taking her serious. "What are you going to do?" Sai drew a pack of lions just in the meanwhile, observing the masses of blood pool around Megumi.
Megumi's playful smile disappeared, replaced by a serious expression filled with concentration. She went through a string of seals and spiked her chakra considerably, "Akuchi! Chirappa!" The blood raised and sped towards Sai like a miniature tsunami of blood. The detached genin jumped backwards and called forth two ink lions to buy him sometime. As expected, his creatures didn't have a chance, but Sai continued to draw many more animals at a rapid pace; he was drawing so fast his hand was but a blur in his vision. The ink creatures shot forward and collided with the acidic blood, holding their own for no longer than three seconds on average. Sai flashed his fake smile as ink mixed with the blood in front of him.
(Jutsu: Akuchi! Chirappa - Impure Blood! Violent Blood Wave!)
The impassive genin launched himself and Megumi at an incredible speed, shooting past her acidic blood that nicked but a small piece of his sandals. Sai rounded on her with a flurry of precise slashes aimed for her veins. The more she bled the better. He made quick work of her defenses as he pressed on her, slashing her wrist and neck. The Akagai kunoichi had an impressive threshold to pain, Sai admitted, but she eventually screamed in pain and retreated, popping a few blood pills with shaking hands from severe blood loss. They weren't working quickly enough so she made a ram hand seal and shouted, "Yuketsu!" in a hurry. The blood shot towards her and entered in her wounds, restoring her blood. It was a sickening sight to say the least but the impassionate genin maintained his smile. The fight had already been concluded and victory was his.
"What are ye smilin' about ye bastard?" Megumi shouted at him going through another string of hand seals.
"I have already won and you have failed to notice," Sai didn't even bother to move. "This battle has already concluded."
"Yeah?" Megumi shouted, "I'll show you!" Her chakra spiked considerably for a moment but instantly plummeted as she fell forward with wide eyes. Her blood had turned black once she had tried to withdraw blood from her open wounds. "Yo- you poisoned me with your ink!"
"That's correct!" Sai told her with his perpetual smile, stepping towards her with his tantō raised and poised for a mercy blow. "And now you die."
"Lou!" Megumi called out to her teammate who was in the process of beating Sakura to a pulp. The genin turned around, swiftly kicking Sakura in the ribs hard enough to send her crashing through a tree and ran towards his teammate, throwing a hail of kunai towards Sai who deflected them with ease. Lou jumped forward and blocked the downwards slash Sai had intended for Megumi. The taijutsu specialist had superior physical strength and a weight advantage to begin with and so easily pushed back Sai with enough force to make him skid across the ground with his feet an inch into the earth.
"Tetsuya!" Lou called out, looking to his right. His eyes widened once he saw Tetsuya being pushed back by Sasuke whose blade was now cackling with lightning.
The Uchiha dominated his Kaguya adversary, using his lightning affinity to severely injure Tetsuya by using his opponent's metal bones for a conduct. "So this is why you are genetic defect? Being made from actual steel is not a blessing, it's a curse," Sasuke stated as he held his blade aloft to his side, stepping back from a kneeling Tetsuya.
"Tetsuya!"
Sasuke sheathed his katana with one fluid moment and turned to leave, deactivating his Sharingan as he did so. "This battle is over, Tetsuya. Come face me when you have become stronger," Sasuke moved over to Sakura who quickly got on her feet in a hurry, sporting cuts and bruises as a result from the thrashing she got of Lou. "You," Sasuke addressed Lou who held onto Megumi. "Hand over your scroll before I kill you. The Kaguya is the only one of you that interests me. You are expendable."
Lou did not waste any time and reached into his pouch and withdrew another Light scroll and chucked it over to Sasuke, "Here!" Lou gripped on tighter to Megumi, picking her up and ran over to Tetsuya. "We won't forget this Uchiha!"
"Good," was Sasuke's reply, chucking the Light scroll to Sai. Without a word they left the team of Kirigakure.
"I will come for you one day, Uchiha! Then we will settle this!" Tetsuya shouted.
Sasuke merely smiled. "I look forward to it. Become stronger, seek vengeance and come for me. I will gladly face you, Kaguya Tetsuya."
-ooo-
"Yugito, come in!" Naruto tapped the radio once more, hoping to get a good signal. Yugito had yet to reply and her chakra signature had diminished once again. There was something definitely wrong.
Bzzzzsht
Naruto swore loudly. He closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings, hoping to catch a noise or her scent. His nose began to twitch, sniffing lilacs in the air. Yugito smelled of lilacs, it was her shampoo fragrant. He knew this because he had helped her pack her things. With a sigh of relief Naruto speedily ran into the source of the smell. He ran for a minute when he felt something was wrong. As he ran he had stepped on an oddly stray twig where there hardly any trees. A person bodily tackled him from the side, however Naruto's body moved on its own thanks Kirabi's drills. He took the brunt of the tackle on his shoulder, raising his leg to turn the momentum in his favour and deliver an effective hip throw. He quickly jumped on to his attacker with a kunai appearing in his hand.
"Y- Yugito?" Naruto's eyes widened in realization of who he was straddling. Naruto locked eyes with Yugito, noticing her enraged look as if she was about to kill him. He met her eyes with confusion and followed her gaze down. Naruto hand gripped onto something soft and fleshy. For good measures he squeezed again. His heart stopped once he saw the blush on Yugito's face intensify.
No.
"N- No! No, no, no!"
He did not just do what he thought he had done.
"Yu- Yugito I'm so- sorry!"
Yugito's knee shot up, followed by ear-splitting screams and repeated blows to flesh.
-ooo-
"What happened to you?" Hari shouted once he saw Naruto's appearance. He had been in the middle of adding another privacy seal tag, having won a few games of cards against one of Naruto's clones when the original came stumbling with a swollen face, a black eye, broken nose and a swollen lip.
"He fell," Yugito cast the Kyūbi's jinchūriki to the ground where he fell with a sound thud and a painful groan. The red tinge still visible on her cheeks, she crossed her arms with a look of annoyance, looking away as if avoiding making eye contact with either of teammates.
Hari merely laughed drawing his own conclusion. "Sure."
Yugito paused a moment for her teammates to settle and then eyed them with an serious expression. "We've got another jinchūriki out there and he's bad news."
Author's Notes
Heya, guys! I'm in a good mood today; no college tomorrow and I had a ton of reviews for chapter eighteen and today Kumo Nin has hit 200k HITS! This all put a massive grin on my face! So, much love to you guys and thank you for your support!
Easter eggs: in the last chapter Naruto shouted "JUST COME AT ME BRO" - this is an internet meme of the hit MTV show Jersey Shore. I think the show is crap but if you don't know what this line refers to and you want to, just Youtube it and have a laugh. Interestingly enough though, Sgt. Mehoff spotted it, so well done, Sarge.
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Jutsu Used:
(Jutsu: Kumo Ryū! Kakū Kibukiri Giri - Cloud Style! Overhead Decapitating Slash!) - C rank, offensive, short range. This is one of the higher class techniques taught in Kumogakure academy derived from the ruthless and brutal Cloud Style kenjutsu. The user will propel him or herself and spin downwards in a forward flip and slash downwards at an sharp angle to decapitate their opponent. Parents jutsu: Kumo Ryū (Cloud Style).
(Jutsu: Tobigeri – Dropkick!) - B rank, offensive, short range. Yugito will prepare a Raitoppa (Lightning Breakthrough) and channel the aggregated lightning to her feet to dropkick her opponent and distance herself; if her opponent wears or makes use of any material that conducts lightning the damage will most likely result in either certain death or incapacitation. This technique's full potential has yet to be realized. Parent jutsu: Raitoppa (Lightning Breakthrough).