Kumogakure Ninja
Posted: 16-04-11
Updated: 28-06-11
CH21: Ants & Dragons Part I
(Hokage Tower)
It was late and the sun had gone down hours ago, leaving the village hidden amongst the leaves under a blanket of indigo-blue skies and sparking stars. Konoha was lively at night almost as it was during the day; the villagers and shinobi alike indulged themselves in night time activities. The night time indulgences would cease at some point during the early hours when the village fell silent. The Hokage Tower however was never asleep, always awake. Every hour new reports would come in; news from corners all over the continent submitted by informant brokers and spies. The tower was never vacant, its staff systematically switching shifts every eight hours to preserve optimal efficiency. In the shinobi world information was more valuable than any jutsu. Even the tiniest pieces of data could lead to or perhaps prevent catastrophic incidents; hence the staff was always cautioned to be on vigilant, always, for their actions in the great Hokage Tower played a great influence in the affairs for their shinobi out in the battlefields.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, sat in his comfy velvet chair behind his desk, knew all too well how important the tower was. During the long years of his tenure there had been only a few incidents, but the incidents that did happen. His firstborn had lost his life due to snowball effect of information slip-ups. Years ago, only three months before Konohamaru's birth, Sarutobi Kaen had died on the battlefield in a skirmish with rogue shinobi. To this day Sarutobi could not bring himself to forgive the chūnin staffer whom had, through his omission, failed to pass on an update on the rogue shinobi group Kaen's unit had been tasked with eliminating.
As a deep frown etched unto the Hokage's features a presence alerted him, prompting him to look up from the empty glass of alcoholic beverage and the picture of a man that resembled the Hokage in his late twenties.
An ANBU officer appeared, phasing upwards from the wooden floor as though intangible, and knelt before the Sandaime of Konoha. The operative bowed his head in respect and spoke with a cool, monotone voice. "Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen got out of his seat at leisurely pace and walked over to the front of his desk, tucking the picture away as he loomed over the kneeling ANBU. The Sandaime placed his arms behind his back and eyed the ANBU officer with a blank expression. "What is it, Inu?" The ANBU officer seemed perturbed. In his over fifty years of service to Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen had rarely seen an ANBU as disturbed before him. Knowing something was wrong Hiruzen nodded. "Speak."
"It appears we have a problem, Hokage-sama," the ANBU operative reported. "ANBU officer 478 of squad seven has been killed in action on his S-ranked mission to the newly established Otogakure." The ANBU seemed not to be bothered by the loss of a comrade but rather by the botched mission. Understandably, the Hokage thought. Officer 478 had been a triple-digit, too much of a rookie or simply not good enough to have climbed the ranks and acquire an animal codename. Those were reserved for the captains and lieutenants of the ANBU department that answered exclusively to the Hokage. They were the silent guardians of Konoha, the vanguards that risked their lives for their village and country for nothing in return.
"Before 478's death, he managed to send a messenger hawk."
"ANBU officer 478… Kama, A-ranked ANBU operative of squad seven. Three years of service and twenty-three missions completed," the Sandaime stated; his voice was laced with a faint disappointment as if he had hoped to make use of the deceased ANBU for a few more years. "How unfortunate." It was his job to know every detail of his ANBU officers as it was the Hokage's, not Konoha's, private department. The Hokage was the only one who could pass judgment on carefully selected prospects and it depended on the Hokage who could and who couldn't enter the hundred-twenty million ryō per annual project.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was the nicest person anyone would ever meet. He was the doting grandfather, the loving husband, the great teacher, the beloved Hokage and so much more. Those of all generations looked up to him in reverence for his compassion and wisdom as he was the Professor. The Sandaime however was the God of all Shinobi and he was the cold and cut-throat leader of Konoha. He was the man who would make the important decisions that had to be made, regardless of what horrible consequences those entailed. Be it the assassination of a Daimyō's daughter to send a message or to send his shinobi on suicide missions vital for the sake of Konoha and Hi no Kuni (Fire Country). Such was the duty of the Hokage, to sacrifice some of his humanity for the greater good of the village.
"His last message, what was it, Inu?"
"'I have found the village of Otogakure. Gama's suspicions were correct. The village is indeed run by none other than S-ranked rogue shinobi and former Konoha jōnin Orochimaru, the Snake Sannin. The village appears to be in the middle of preparations for something big. I fear they are planning to launch an attack, their target is unknown as of yet. From my observations, I believe they have roughly a hundred jōnin classed shinobi, roughly double the amount of chūnin but oddly enough hardly any genin. The few genin here may simply be used as agents to infiltrate the Chūnin Exams… I finish this reporting stating I have spotted several internationally wanted shinobi. I must express the belief Otogakure may pose a bigger threat that reports had initially estimated.'" The ANBU captain recited the message word-for-word with a monotone tone.
The Sandaime nodded with a heavy sigh. "Jiraiya was correct. I had hoped he was not," he then admitted. Even his on and off switch between the compassionate Hiruzen and the heartless Sandaime was imperfect. Years ago he had allowed his former student, Orochimaru, defected after having committed countless atrocities upon humanity, including amongst other things: unsanctioned experiments on citizens and shinobi he had kidnapped. Back then Hiruzen had hesitated. Unable to kill the man he thought of as a son, who would replace him one day. He had truly hoped Orochimaru would become his successor, his legacy for Konoha. The Hokage, neither Hiruzen nor the Sandaime, wondered how it would have been if he had not spotted Orochimaru's obsession with experiments and jutsu. Had he not supported Minato, would Konoha have thrived under Orochimaru's reign or would it have forsaken the Will of Fire?
The Sandaime balled his hands into fists within his sleeves and curtly nodded to the ANBU operative. "You are dismissed, Inu. I will take over from here."
"That is not all, Hokage-sama." Inu waited momentarily for a nod and continued once he the Sandaime did so. "Orochimaru may have already infiltrated Konohagakure."
"What?" The Sandaime demanded. "What has prompted this train of thought, Inu? Orochimaru would not be such a fool to come personally." The Sandaime almost gritted his teeth, regretting the council's decision of allowing Otogakure entrance into the exams. He made a note to have the intelligence department launch investigations upon each councillor, this was simply too big of a coincidence.
"Previous reports from Gama stated Orochimaru had joined the S-ranked criminal organization Akatsuki. Weeks after rogue ANBU operative Uchiha Itachi joined the same organization, Orochimaru had left it. Gama hazarded a guess, and I think it is a good one, Orochimaru made attempts to steal the Sharingan and failed, prompting him to leave."
"Uchiha Sasuke," the Sandaime caught on immediately. Of course, why he hadn't he foreseen this? Anger began to build up in the Hokage as neither the Sandaime or Hiruzen would ever allow the young generations to be sacrificed for the selfish desires of older generations. As the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha, he would protect the next generation at all costs. Even if the cost was his own life.
"Yes, we have reason to believe he has set his sights on Uchiha Itachi's younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke. The younger Uchiha may be a prodigy but he is no match for Orochimaru. If he would fall into Orochimaru's hands… we could face catastrophic incidents. You know better than anyone else what Orochimaru's ambitions entail, Hokage-sama."
"That I do," the Sandaime nodded.
"What will you have me do, Hokage-sama? The entire ANBU department is at your disposal as always."
"I am well aware, thank you," the Sandaime nodded again. "I want squad one and two at the Forest of Death. Squads three to six are to be in civilian clothes to check the entrances at all cardinal points," the Sandaime paused for a moment and then nodded not to Inu but himself. "Squads seven to ten on indefinite border patrol. Squads eleven and twelve are to find Jiraiya."
"Understood, Hokage-sama." The ANBU operative remained kneeled.
"Dismissed."
The Hokage watched Inu phase downwards through the wooden floor and asked himself when the time came… would he be the Sandaime or Hiruzen?
-ooo-
(Forest of Death)
"CHIDORI!" Sasuke screamed at the top of his lungs as he lunged at the kunoichi before him. The young Uchiha's eyes widened once his brain registered his wrist had been caught by the Oto kunoichi. "Im- impossible!" He shouted. Foreign chakra entered his pathways and destabilized the Chidori in his hand and making it spin in a volatile manner as though about to explode. "No!"
BOOM!
Sasuke hurtled towards a boulder, bounced off it and continued to skid over the ground before coming to a painful stop in a riverbed. He coughed blood, pain coursing through his body as he crawled to his feet. In addition to his broken collar bone, he had now bruised at least two ribs when he had bounded of the boulder.
"Kukuku…" the kunoichi slowly walked towards him in a serpentine fashion, swaying from left to right and dodging his hail of projectiles. "Resistance is futile, Sasuke-kun." The kunoichi cackled as she neared him with her hands stretched before her. "Sen'eijashu!" Half a dozen serpents shot out of her sleeves and wrapped around Sasuke, constricting his movements fully as they tightened like ninja wire.
"Get away from me!" Sasuke shouted; the snakes coiled around him and flicker their forked tongues at his face. The entire battle had been one-sided. None of his attacks had been even remotely effective. The kunoichi before him made him feel like he was some insignificant bug. It was as if he was an ant fighting a fearsome dragon. "You freak!" Sasuke made an attempt to move his hands but was foiled by the snakes that instantly coiled around his wrists and jerked them away from each other so fast it nearly broke both his wrists.
"My, you are the complete opposite of your brother," the kunoichi cackled. A predatorily smile crept to her face; her neck began to grow to unsightly lengths and she regurgitated her blade once again. "Fortunately, I have no need for you alive. You have already fully matured your Sharingan and your body will flourish to great heights under my control."
"Ita- Itachi?" Sasuke's eyes bulged, his attempts to form a hand seal ceased. "What do you mean, you will take my body? How do you know my brother?" Sasuke screamed at her. There were so many questions unanswered and the kunoichi before him simply cackled in glee. "Answer me!"
"I know Itachi quite well, Sasuke-kun." Even with her tongue tied around her blade's hilt she could speak clearly. "He was admittedly my first target. So young yet so powerful- I was no match for him. I watched him as a child, waited for him to grow into a fine young man so I could take his body for myself. I failed… because unlike you, Uchiha Itachi is a true prodigy. A genius of unrivalled talents. At the tender age of four he had fought in Third Shinobi World War. After the war he returned to the academy and graduated within months. At age eight he had already become a chūnin and fully mastered the Sharingan. By thirteen he had become a jōnin and not long after he joined the ANBU. Within a couple of months he had ascended from a triple digit to become an ANBU captain commanding his own squad! It was unheard of... and all of these feats by the age of thirteen!"
Sasuke's eyes were still bulging, not an utter left his throat despite the burning desire to scream at her. It shocked him to no end how much the Oto kunoichi knew about his brother. Painful memories he had long since buried deep into his subconscious were beginning to resurface.
"And what of you, Sasuke-kun? At the age of fourteen you are yet a genin! What happened to the potential in you that allowed you to unlock the Sharingan at seven years old?" The kunoichi turned angry, as though disappointed for reasons he did not comprehend. "Yes, I know much of you, too, Uchiha Sasuke. Unlocked your Sharingan at the age of seven, trained in private by none other than Sharingan no Kakashi, the son of Hatake Sakumo, Konoha's White Fang. You were given years to train undisturbed, you could have made a name for yourself! Instead, what do you have after all these years? A fully matured Sharingan yet no wit to use it properly. You are undeserving of the Uchiha sight… I will therefore take it for myself," the kunoichi spoke with finality and slowly began to approach him. "I will make this quick."
"Fuck you!" Sasuke screamed with fury. In his panic he did not even think to demand how the kunoichi knew of his Sharingan or so much about Itachi. With a desperate scream Sasuke flared his lightning chakra and called forth a shroud of electricity, electrocuting himself and the snakes coiled around him. A horrible scream came from his mouth but he did not hear it. He focused himself on the lightning rather than the pain. The snakes died quickly, some with a screech, and Sasuke was on his feet in a blink of an eye and shouted, "Katon! Gōkakyū!" The enormous fireball the size of a small house came crashing down towards the Oto kunoichi, leaving a trail of fire.
The kunoichi smiled approvingly. "Yes, claw your way to survival! Face me, Uchiha Sasuke, your life depends on it!" She cackled as she sliced the air, effectively cutting the fireball in half dissipating it. "Will you run or fight? You'll die either way."
There was no way in hell he stood a chance against her, and Sasuke knew this. He hated himself for it but he knew he had to escape. If he died here and now who would take over his ambition and avenge the House of Uchiha? Grateful for his Sharingan's copying abilities and Sharingan eyes spinning wildly, he went through a string of hand seals, slapped his hands together and entangled his fingers to form the final hand seal: the serpent. An earth platform rose before him and began to hail an onslaught of spikes.
The raven-haired genin then turned on his heels and dashed towards the denser area of the forest. The serpentine kunoichi was right behind him, having bypassed the earth jutsu with ease.
'She's a monster!' Sasuke decided as he ran up the thickest and tallest tree in the forest around him. The sixty feet ascend was a difficult task whilst avoiding a sword-brandishing tongue with a twenty feet long reach. The Uchiha banked to the left and ran across its circumference, going through another string of hand seals. "Katon! Hōsenka no Jutsu!" Sasuke pinned a kunai with a length of ninja wire attached it, turning around and spat a haze of fireballs.
As expected the kunoichi zigzagged past them out of sheer reflex and shot forward a hand stretched out for his throat. Once again grateful for his Uchiha sight, Sasuke leaned backwards a split second before the kunoichi could grab onto him and began his counterattack. The Uchiha wrapped the kunai around her wrist, stepped past her lunge and lodged another kunai in the tree bark. They proceeded to enter a dance in an oddly elegant manner: Sasuke would step closer, step back, step aside; the kunoichi would continue to swipe and lunge at him. With every dodge Sasuke lodged another kunai in the bark and further restricted the kunoichi's movement.
Thonk! Thonk! Thonk!
"ARGH!" The kunoichi found herself trapped in an elaborate bind of ninja wire. At first she had been restricted in movement, then she had been confined to a smaller range and now she had been successfully incapacitated by the young Uchiha scion.
Sasuke smirked confidently and jumped backwards. He touched down on another branch of the freakishly large trees in the Forest of Death.
Thonk!
A final kunai embedded itself in the bark below. If lightning did not work, he would burn her and render her to crisps. "Uchiha Honoo Ōgi!" Sasuke began to go through a long string of hand seals and focused his chakra. This jutsu was a coveted technique developed many generations ago by the founders of the Uchiha clan. This jutsu was extremely complicated and required a perfect string of two-hundred-thirty-two hand seals. He had yet to master this technique and he knew it was a difficult jutsu, even with his Sharingan. He had not even had opportunity to use it battle and he knew this was risky; he was perfectly aware this could go wrong and he knew the possible consequences. Yet, he also knew if he did not take this opportunity and fled, she would soon be after him and she would not be likely to fall for the same trick twice. "JŌKA!"
(Jutsu: Uchiha Honoo Ōgi! Jōka – Uchiha Fire Secret! Sacred Fire!)
A powerful stream of chakra erupted from the pit of his stomach, travelled through his chest and burst out in a brilliant golden-red-and-blue wave of fire. The heat was so powerful it wrinkled the air and set leafs on fire as it surged towards the tied up kunoichi of Otagakure. As the fire surged forward like an ethereal being, Sasuke could hear the kunoichi's fearful screams.
BOOM!
An earth-shattering explosion followed.
Fire spread everywhere. The animals around them in area screeched and roared in terror. A stampede shook the earth below and reverberated through the tree branches. Those that could took to the skies flapping their wings frantically and those that couldn't took part in the panicked stampede consisting of animals ranging from giant centipedes to enormous bears.
Sasuke fell to a knee, his chakra reserves had plummeted tremendously.
And it was all to no avail.
As the smoke cleared and the walls of fire had settled, an enormous silhouette became visibly behind the walls of flames. The silhouette continued its approach, swaying in a serpentine fashion, and passed past the fire slowly, as if unaffected by them.
Sasuke's eyes bulged incredibly as he softly muttered, "N- no… Im- impossible."
An enormous serpent hissed at him, its ten foot long forked tongue flickered erratically. The scales on its crown contorted and eventually the kunoichi sprout out of its heads at hip length. Half of her visage was burned off and along with her hair and that was when the young Uchiha's heart skipped a few beats: half of her visage was that of a young woman, the other that of a grey-skinned man, with slanted yellow slit eyes.
"Perhaps I was wrong," the creature announced with a cackle. "Allow me to formally introduce myself, Sasuke-kun. I am Orochimaru the Snake Sannin."
Sasuke could barely breathe. Everyone in Konoha knew who Orochimaru the Snake Sannin was. It all made sense to him now. No wonder he had been unable to land a single hit on him. He had been fighting one of Konoha's war heroes, one of the legendary Sannin. A once widely celebrated shinobi legend of Konohagakure known for his mastery of over a thousand ninjutsu, holder of the serpent summoning contract and revered for his scientific exploits. A mere genin fresh from the academy had no business challenging the great Orochimaru, even if he was an Uchiha.
As it all dawned upon him, Sasuke realized how true his analogy had been. He was truly facing a dragon.
"From that absolutely delightful expression I can tell you know who you're up against, Sasuke-kun." Orchimaru reached to his face and ripped of the drooping skin that had once belonged to a kunoichi of Kusagakure. In another swift movement Orochimaru changed to his own grey shinobi garb, black pants and purple bow. "Now then, I'll be taking what I came for," Orochimaru said with a wicked expression. 'Shikumi!'
Sasuke screamed in absolute horror as images of himself and those that he cared for went through his mind. He saw Sakura's naked, bruised and battered body, stained by fluids of men she did not love, laid down on the grass, her expression set into that of horror from which she was blissfully released by a slit throat, continuing to ooze blood. Sai was hung of a tree by a rope with a perpetual smile carved in his face by knife and a giant gaping hole the size of a watermelon in his chest. Kakashi was decimated in a gory sight, quartered; his limbs symbolically rearranged into a fully matured Sharingan. "AAAHH!" Sasuke held onto his head as he screamed his throat hoarse. More and more images went through his minds; those of his murdered family, his teammates and his peers. Everyone he had ever remotely cared for appeared in images that depicted their gruesome murders.
All the while Orochimaru cackled in glee, fully emerged from the snake. Orochimaru jumped off the snake and stuck to a tree. By silent instruction the giant serpent reared its green scaled body and shot forward with a hiss, intending to kill the defenseless Uchiha.
Sasuke's eyes widened. The snake's mouth had parted to such extent he could see the saliva drip of its fangs.
He couldn't move.
He was going to die.
CRACK!
A sudden blur of black and yellow shot down in front of him.
"Sasuke, MOVE!"
-ooo-
Naruto's heel dropped into the giant serpent's skull with a CRACK! He pressed onwards with his heel and drove it deeper down the serpent's scales, sinking through the beast's skull. The summon slumped and fell to its death. As it died, Naruto ran down its head and jumped forward and landed next to his teammates as they stood before Sasuke with weapons drawn.
"Sasuke what the fuck are you doing?" Naruto shouted at him. There was no reply so he nudged Hari instead. "Check on him."
Orochimaru chuckled without mirth. "What do we have here? Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyūbi no Yokō." Orochimaru slithered across the tree's circumference, saliva dripping down his tongue and eyes fixated hungrily on his raven-haired prey.
The remark had its obvious effect as the Kumo genin tensed and looked at each other, exchanging dark and knowing looks. Naruto gritted his teeth and looked over his shoulder at Hari. "What's up with him?" According to Yugito they were facing none other than S-ranked rogue ninja Orochimaru. There was no way they stood a chance the way they were now. "Hari!"
"He's gone into shock," Hari concluded. "He's not banged up enough for it, but I think he's under some genjutsu or the pure killing intent could have put him in this state." Hari looked to Naruto and exchanged nods.
SLAP!
Sasuke's eyes fluttered. He instantly took a deep breath, desperate for air. He had forgotten to breathe while in his shocked state. In his panic he reached out to strangle Hari but he pseudo medic ninja batted his arms aside and grabbed him by the collar, shaking him.
"Snap out of it!" Hari went to strike Sasuke once more.
The Uchiha caught his wrist, having snapped out of his daze and held it a tight grip. "What are you doing?" Sasuke demanded with a scowl through gritted teeth. Letting go of the Kumo genin's wrist Sasuke held onto his own bruised cheek with a frustrated glare. "What are you doing here?"
"Looks like he's back," Hari ignored him. Eyeing Naruto he exchanged another nod before rounding on as Sasuke, green chakra sparked from his hands to heal his wounds. "Hold still," Hari commanded.
Sasuke made no move to resist, recognizing the familiar shade of chakra his female teammate Sakura made use of- "Sakura! Sai!" Sasuke shouted suddenly. "My team, they're back at our camp and they're in bad shape."
"They'll have to wait, Sasuke," Naruto spoke up as he eyed the Snake Sannin. Clenching his fists and frowning Naruto's mind raced through various tactics and strategies they could use against Orochimaru. None came to mind. Then again, how could they possibly have prepared for an S-ranked ninja to get involved with the exam? A sudden movement on his right caught his eyes.
Yugito aimed at Orochimaru with her right arm, gripping her elbow with her left. "Shūrai!" A thick beam of lightning speedily surged towards the Snake Sannin. Orochimaru dodged at an incredible speed, his entire body gaining length, shifting into a white-scaled serpent. Like the serpent he was, Orochimaru dodged the following Lightning Gun barrage with ease.
"Naruto, we don't have tactics to deal with a foe like him. We need to retreat!" Yugito yelled, jumping forwards onto another branch to continue her barrage. "I'll try to hold him off. You get Hari and your friend out of here!"
"No!" Naruto declined, feeling angry she could think he could abandon her.
His shout fell on deaf ears as Yugito pressed on her attack, cart wheeling midair as she jumped from branch to branch. The serpent zigzagged between the fat bolts of lightning in fluid motions, it was for too easy in his serpentine mode, and spat out his blade and held it horizontally between his teeth. Naruto darted forward with two kunai drawn blocked the downwards slash Yugito was too slow to intercept.
CLING!
"Yugito!"
He didn't need to say more. The Nibi jinchūriki understood him perfectly and went through a few hand seals. A flower-shaped fireball flew towards the jinchūriki and Sannin in stalemate. Naruto flipped backwards midair, sticking himself to the blade in Orochimaru's mouth and propelled off it as the Hōenka collided with the Sannin. Naruto touched down on another branch and went through another string of hand seals. "Akkai Genshuku!" The wind blast added to the small inferno caused it to expand three times its original size before exploding with an ear-splitting bang!
Naruto stood a few a feet away from Yugito, his eyes and nostrils wide and his ears piqued for any sign of Orochimaru. There was no way in hell that was even remotely enough to actually harm the serpent, or any shinobi of his caliber for that matter. It did, however, buy them some time to think.
"Come on you snake bastard, come on out!" Naruto shouted, looking from his right to his left, attempting to determine his foe's position.
A rustle of leaves caught his attention and he quickly turned around to see Orochimaru dash towards him, reverted to his regular form and his blade now in his hand, poised for an attack. The Sannin raised his blade for a downward slash and was disappointed as the 'Naruto' he cut down turned out to be a Kage Bunshin. A second later, the Sannin was forced to turn around as the real Naruto flew at him from the behind Orochimaru with a vortex of air covering his right arm.
"DAI GIRI!"
The monstrous gravity that came with the impact held Orochimaru at bay and the Snake Sannin was forced to hold his blade held out in front of him horizontally and push it by its tip and hilt to hold off the Shippū Shūren. Caught by surprise once he noticed his wind blade did not pass through the metal as usual, Naruto faltered. Orochimaru took the opening with a feral grin and sliced at him only to once again being disappointed as it turned out to be another Kage Bunshin.
Naruto counted himself lucky for having spawned clones to Substitute himself with prior and delivered palm strike. "Akkai Genshuku!" The blast shot at Orochimaru who simply sliced it in half with ease before turning to bat away the incoming Raiken Yugito threw his way. "What the-"
Orochimaru did not even budge, almost ignoring Yugito slamming down the Lightning Fist on to his blade. "Kukuku… the Kusanagi is a long sought Shinken. It is impervious to chakra and will simply absorb it and all other substances to increase its sharpness and strengthen its metal." With a sudden movement, Orochimaru sliced at Yugito, digging the blade in her skin over her stomach. The Sannin followed up with a vicious kick to her side and sent her flying.
Yugito screamed, painfully crashing into a branch with her back and dropped to the ground with a painful crunch. Naruto shouted out to her and surged forward and caught her midair, dashing between branches and jumped onto another branch. She was bleeding profusely and there was too much blood for him to see where to clamp the wound down.
Rage coursed through his body and gripped his heart.
"This is too dangerous, Yugi," it was a nickname he never dared to use, "You need to get out of here. Try and get help if you can… I'm going to hold him off for as long as possible!" Naruto didn't pay her protests heed and charged off a second later.
…
Naruto dashed towards Orochimaru, running across the giant tree's bark and engaged him in a furious taijutsu battle. They were moving so fast they were blurs and they crumpled the air each time their fists connected.
Naruto ducked to avoid the Snake Sannin's tongue stroke and swiped at his legs. Orochimaru jumped over his leg and held up his arms to guard against the roundhouse Naruto followed up with, noting the genin carried quite a punch despite his short stature. Naruto pressed on and dashed after the flying Sannin and charged chakra to his fists as he began to pummel at his enemy's defenses. Orochimaru seemed unperturbed by the strikes, content with blocking them rather than dodging them. It was almost insulting- it was insulting, Naruto thought as he distanced himself from the Sannin and punched an Akkai Genshuku as he did so.
Orochimaru elbowed the blast aside with ease, leaned forward and moved at such a speed it was like he teleported next to the genin. In a blink of an eye the serpent had travelled over thirty yards and punched him with such force saliva and blood spat out of Naruto's mouth as he flew into another tree. They had to stop fighting up in the trees! It was crazy how much damage he took from smashing into trees alone. Naruto overloaded his soles with chakra to literally fly at the Sannin, performing a front flip midair as he did so to land a heel drop. Orochimaru took the heel drop without so much as a grunt and gripped on to his slim frame, gripping Naruto's shoulders and began to repeatedly head butt him. Blood ran down Naruto nose, lips and chin under the onslaught of skull on skull impact.
"Ack!" Naruto reared back his head in soaring pain but screamed in absolutely fury and returned the last head butt with such force Orochimaru involuntarily let go. "WHO THE FUCK HAS A STRONGER HEAD NOW?" Naruto dashed forward, not wanting to give up the momentum and launched a furry of kicks and punches with a vengeance. Swirling midair he finished his barrage of attacks with a crushing roundhouse kick that made Orochimaru crashed into a tree and bound of it with such impact he left the bark cracked.
As he fell down, Orochimaru aimed his arm below him and shouted, "Kuchiyose no Jutu!"
POOF!
A giant snake appeared below Orochimaru with a tremendous pillar of spoke. Touching down on its head Orochimaru wiped the saliva off his chin. "Impressive taijutsu, Uzumaki Naruto!" Despite the young jinchūriki's efforts, he was still unscathed. His skin may seem smooth to the blind eye but in actual fact it was infused with the toughest of scales cultivated from his experiments, causing him to rarely bleed. Still, Orochimaru commended the genin for his high level taijutsu, it was perhaps even at the level of a jōnin.
The serpent following Orochimaru's mental commands charged towards the genin with a screeching hiss. Naruto's chakra flared to tremendous levels as he unleashed his full reserves. He couldn't care less if he once again alerted the entire forest. He could very well die this time. "TAJUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Five hundred clones burst into existence with pillars of smoke, attaching themselves to trees and all shouting excited, some even pumping their fists. "Prepare to die, asshole!" They all shouted simultaneously, jumping forward to meet the engorged serpent head on.
Orochimaru was hard pressed, dodging between projectiles, Fūton jutsu and taijutsu moves. Still, he was the Snake Sannin for a reason and so clapped his hands together. Naruto didn't catch the name of the jutsu but it was like an extremely high powered version of his Daitoppa that pushed his clones away with such force many of them burst in pillars of smoke before even hitting their surroundings. Branches and the occasional tree were being ripped out and flung about!
Naruto darted forward and formed two Shippū Shūren, shooting into the columns of smoke that hid his position.
"DAI GIRI!" Naruto unleashed a power slash of his twenty foot long Shippū Shūren sliced through the smoke and decapitated the snake summon as well as sliced Orochimaru's cheek, cutting a shallow wound in the Sannin's tough scales and drawing blood in the process.
Angered at the prospect of being bled by a wet-behind-the-ears genin, Orochimaru disappeared instantly by the use of a Shunshin and appeared next to Naruto and punched him with such force the genin couldn't even move his finger tips as he was sent hurtling towards a tree. A split second before he crashed Naruto flipped midair with a burst of chakra emitting from his soles and crashed in the tree with such force he left a crater behind that cracked another ten inches further into core of the tree. His breathing was getting laboured whilst Orochimaru seemed to still be at top form, licking his cheek with a twisted grin. The Sannin hadn't even broken a sweat.
"Damn it," Naruto exclaimed frustrated. With a fluid movement he took of what remained of his shin guards and jacket but not before retrieving a few scrolls from them. They landed with a loud thud on the forest floor over thirty feet below him. 'I might actually die.'
Orochimaru eyed his movements. "Oh, weighted clothing? Interesting," he noted. "It is too late for any of your triumph cards, Kyūbi," Orochimaru goaded.
It worked.
"What did you call me?" Naruto's voice was filled with rage as he made eye contact with the Sannin. "What the fuck did you just call me?" Anger. It was starting to effect his judgment as right now he had to restrain himself from attacking the Sannin.
"Oh?" Orochimaru licked his lips. "You don't truly believe you aren't the Kyūbi, do you? 'Jinchūriki'… don't make me laugh you pitiful creature. You are nothing but a beast trapped into the body of talentless fool. You sicken me."
Naruto's eyes turned into red with slits as he held out the red scroll before him. "Ninjutsu Fūshi Hōin! Karyūdan no Jutsu!" Fire erupted from the scroll and towards the Sannin, shaping up to be one of Hari's Fire Dragons. Naruto dropped the scroll, catching in the pivot of his foot and went through a string of seals to make this particular jutsu stronger. "Fūton Daitoppa!"
As the jutsu collided, they fused into a much larger Karyūdan that swept over the Snake Sannin. Orochimaru went through a string of hand seals of his own and spewed a blast of water, as though some piston that easily extinguish the overgrown Fire Dragon.
Powerlessness crept over Naruto as he for the time in the battle clearly comprehended how much of a difference there was in power. Orochimaru had years of experience and jutsu under his belt, and what did he have? Nothing, he hadn't even officially been a ninja for a year whist Orochimaru had been a shinobi for well over forty years!
'I've got no other choice,' he finally gave in. He had been slipping into it anyway, now he had no choice but to do it. It was either making use of the fox or certain death. Naruto chose to live. "UAARGH!"
Orochimaru's eyes widened momentarily with the explosion of crimson coloured chakra that swept in a spiral around the youth.
(Jutsu: Ninjutsu Fūshi Hōin! – Ninjutsu Sealing Method!)
-ooo-
Yugito held her stomach, hissing at the stinging pain but bit her lip and made a hand seal, focusing on her seal and on the Nibi. In her bout of concentration, she unintentionally screamed down on her wound. It took all of willpower to not to scream in pain. Ignoring the fact that she could touch her intestines Yugito took deep, laboured breaths. 'Focus,' she repeated time after time as a mantra. 'Focus on healing yourself. Naruto needs you. Focus!'
Bluish-black chakra came to life in her hand. Staring at it and her life threatening wound, Yugito knew what she would have to do. The Nibi was being held up by the half a dozen enforcement seals she and Naruto had put on them regularly by Kirabi. With some time, the Nibi's chakra would have seeped through and the wounds would have healed.
There was no time now.
A colossal chakra Yugito had gotten familiar with as a child alerted her. Looking up in the sky she saw the crimson chakra overflowing. Naruto was in trouble. He needed her.
'Naruto…' Yugito said grimly. Her finger tips burned with the Nibi's chakra. 'I'm coming.'
A horrible scream rang throughout the forest.
-ooo-
Hari raised his hand from Sai with a tired sigh, the green chakra died in his hand. He got up and turned to Sasuke and nodded to him reassuringly. "He's going to make it. He's pretty banged up but he will make it. He's got some pretty bad chakra burns on his back I can't treat, but if you get him to see a real doctor soon he should be fine."
Sasuke sighed in relief. It was uncharacteristically of him but right he couldn't care less about appearances' sake. Having the deaths of his family plague him was more than enough. He did not want the deaths of his teammates haunt him like it did to Kakashi, as his jōnin instructor had confided with him. "Good," Sasuke finished up fixing the kusarigama on his hip. "Thank you," he added begrudgingly once he saw Hari's furious expression.
"That's a chokutō," Hari pointed out, indicating the blade on Sasuke's hip. "I'll be taking that in exchange for saving your teammates," Hari made beckoning motion with his hand. He had discarded is own ninja-to a few days ago after he had attempted his Jōen-Ryū and was now making use of Naruto's blade instead. Neither was made of chakra tempering steel required for his Jōen-Ryū though, and by the looks of it, the chikutō on Sasuke's hip was of fine quality.
"Take it," Sasuke complied easily, gripping onto the scabbard. This was not his only blade anyway. He had taken precautions and stored another in a scroll before the Chūnin Exam, Kakashi had taught him how to. "We're even now," Sasuke said throwing the scabbard to Hari.
Hari caught it deftly, withdrew the blade and examined it. "Not quite," Hari told him. "You repaid you debt to me for healing your teammates. This has nothing to do with Yugito and Naruto who are fighting Orochimaru to hold him off as we speak."
"Hn," Sasuke refused to acknowledge that truth. "The blade is made of metal tempered with chakra," Sasuke pointed out as he reached to his pouch and withdrew another scroll. "It's valuable enough. And I never asked you people to help me."
"No, you didn't, but did you think Naruto would let you die?" Hari channeled chakra into the blade through the hilt and noted how pricy this blade must have been. Then again, the Uchiha Clan was extremely wealthy and being the sole lawful heir, this probably did not even begin to dent Sasuke's bank account. "He's too much of a fool to let you die."
Poof!
"Why does he care anyway?" Sasuke asked through gritted teeth, gripping onto the spare chikutō he had unsealed. He could clearly remember having made his intentions towards Naruto only a few hours ago. "Even when he still lived in Konoha as a child, we never spoke. We weren't friends."
"Of course you weren't," Hari said easily. "That has nothing to do with why he wants to keep an eye on you, Sasuke."
"Then why?"
Hari frowned deeply.
…Flasback
Team Kirabi were hopping branches as fast as they could with Naruto in the lead, closely followed by Yugito and Hari. Mere minutes after they had defeated the Hyūga and his teammates and not even an hour after assembling all four scrolls.
"Naruto, why are we heading towards that chakra?" Yugito demanded, trying to catch up with her fellow blonde.
Naruto did not turn as he spoke. "I can feel Sasuke's chakra. It's faint compared to the other guy, but it's there. And I thought I told you two to wait, why are you following me?" Now Naruto did turn with a serious expression on his face. "This is going to be dangerous."
"Exactly!" Yugito snapped at him. "Why would you want to risk your life for him? I thought you said these people weren't your friends. Answer me, Naruto!" Yugito added forcefully, grabbing onto Naruto midair and forcing him to a halt on a thick branch.
Hari landed on another branch and eyed Naruto with similar confusion as Yugito. It was frustrating how vague and unresponsive Naruto was being. Why did he care for this Uchiha Sasuke? Why did he care enough to rush out and save him against an enemy with such tremendous chakra levels? Whoever the Uchiha was facing, it couldn't be a genin, or a chūnin for that matter. The chakra was simply too vast and powerful for anyone but a jōnin at the very least. 'Then again,' Hari though dryly, 'These two have more chakra than most jōnin. Especially Naruto, he's like fucking Kenpachi only real.' Perhaps it was little childish to compare his friend to an anime figure but it was a valid comparison nonetheless and here they were, off to fight someone who was most likely out of their league.
"Naruto, why do you care for this guy?" Hari asked with a more empathic tone than Yugito, who simply seemed annoyed. As Naruto's best friend he was more likely to get a straight answer, he hoped. "You know we're not going to let you go on your own, so at least tell us what this is about."
Yugito shot Hari a look and nodded, acknowledging she wasn't going to get anything of Naruto by grilling him and instead fell silent, waiting for an answer.
"I don't care for him, Hari, Yugito," Naruto's tone was surprisingly cold and detached. "Not in the way you think. He's not my friend or anything, I hardly know the guy."
Hari almost lost it and raised his voice. "Then why-"
"Because, he and I are the very same," Naruto answered before the question could be asked. "Sasuke's a lot like me in more than one way and the only reason I care about what happens to him is because I want to see for myself."
"See what?" Yugito asked softly. Naruto was for once without a smile or a cheerful disposition. No, instead he spoke quietly and softly. It reminded her of the night he gave her one of his temporary tattoos; he had been surprisingly mature that night and now he was displaying the same level-headed air.
Naruto looked his teammates in the eyes. "What I could have become had I never let go of the anger… I've only spoken to him two times, before the first stage and a few days ago but it was enough to see. He's got a lot of pent up hate and I'm the only one he'll acknowledge to understand him."
"That's got nothing to do with us or you," Yugito said coldly. "This is reckless, Naruto. It's not your burden to bare."
Naruto chuckled. "It is because I want it to be. I'm the only one that understands him and I'm not going to abandon him. Kirabi taught me better than that, Yugito. He taught you better than that too." Yugito flinched at this. "Remember what he told us about his best friend Motoi trying to kill him? This is something like that, Yugito. Even if Sasuke's not a Kumo shinobi, he's someone I'm connected to whether I want to or not. I can't say I like it but I won't turn away from it."
Yugito opened her mouth to give an angry retort but Hari cut her off.
"That's enough, Yugito. He's made up his mind, you know how he gets."
Naruto winked at Hari and set off once again, jumping tree branches with his teammates close behind him.
End Flasback…
"Answer me," Sasuke demanded.
As Hari opened his mouth to retort, a wave of monstrous chakra swept over them.
"That's Naruto!" Hari had only experienced the feel of the demonic chakra once back in Kumo. He would never forget its distinct feel. "If you want to repay your debts, follow me. If not, take your teammates and leave!"
Hari took to the trees and headed to the tornado of crimson chakra.
-ooo-
Naruto stood hunchbacked on the branch as his features grew more animalistic. His hair grew long enough for his headband to come lose, his nails grew into claws and his teeth grew into fangs. Tucking the Kumogakure headband in his pouch, he cracked his neck and clenched his fists. Ten minutes, that was all he could allow himself before he would lose control. At top form he could have pulled at least twenty in his initial jinchūriki mode, ten with one tail and less than five with two tails but even now in his initial jinchūriki mode he had a hard time to manage focus. Ten minutes would have to do.
"Kukuku… how interesting," Orochimaru said as though he was a specimen. "Once I have dealt with you, I'll make sure to take you with me. A fine specimen indeed. I wonder what I will find when I dissect you, Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto moved faster than most shinobi could without the use of Shunshin. In fact, he was a blur as he speedily moved towards his opponent. Before Orochimaru could register it, Naruto stood before him, unmoving as though daring him to make a move. The Snake Sannin shot a few snakes out of his sleeves. His eyed when he had apparently missed. In actual fact Naruto had moved out of the way and moved back in front of the Sannin in a split second.
Orochimaru raised his arm just in time to block a sudden kick. It carried enough impact to render his right arm trembling uncontrollably. The serpent summoner lashed out with his sword-brandishing tongue, regurgitating the blade in an instant. His downward slash was put to a halt as Naruto gripped onto the sword with one hand and shot forward with his neck, head butting the Sannin. Orochimaru stumbled ever so slightly but retaliated with a venomous spatter. His muddy-green saliva corroded the boy's skin and clothes, leaving him in a howling mess as he covered his eyes.
The Sannin grabbed him by the back of the neck and kneed him twice in the face and followed up with bone crushing smash on the back. Naruto fell down face first with a pained growl, however he was quick to react and swiped at the Sannin's feet. Orochimaru distanced himself and withdrew his blade to clash with him once again. The Kusanagi clashed with Naruto's iron hard claws, resulting in a stalemate Orochimaru happily made use of to mock the jinchūriki.
"Such a fine specimen, indeed!" Orochimaru's neck shot forward and his mouth opened as wide his enormous serpent summons, his fangs dripped with saliva as he bit Naruto in the shoulder.
Naruto screamed, letting his stance falter. A move Orochimaru immediately took advantage of by driving his Kusanagi down the youngster's chest.
As the boy stumbled, dropping to his knee, Orochimaru's tongue wrapped itself around his neck tightly and suspended him a feet of above the floor.
"Urk!" Naruto gasped for air as the tongue constricted tightly and deprived him of air. Gasping for air the blonde kicked wildly, sinking his finger tips into the squishy flesh to no avail. 'Can't… breathe…'
Orochimaru deliberately went through a string of hand seals slowly and snarled wickedly as Naruto's eyes widened in shock. Purple fire surrounded Orochimaru's fingertips on his right-hand with kanji for 'metal', 'wood', 'water', 'fire' and 'earth'. Few people in the world knew of this Fūinjutsu, including Kirabi and Naruto, the latter of which had felt its effects more than he had ever wanted.
In one final desperate move, Naruto lashed out with his leg with all his might and landed a solid kick in the side of Orochimaru's head but it was futile. The attack merely prompted Orochimaru to tighten his tongue around Naruto's neck.
With a wicked grin Orochimaru reared back his arm and slammed down on Naruto's bare chest. "Gogyō Fūin!"
A blood-curdling scream emitted from Naruto as he arched and convulsed violently. The sensation going through his body caused him such pain he had only felt a few times before in his life. The Gogyō Fūin was a particularly nasty jutsu that not only sealed one's chakra away; it temporarily overloaded the chakra coils with the foreign chakra needed to perform the jutsu. Essentially, it was like taking a hammer to every nerve in the body or taking a bath in lava. As soon as Orochimaru's fingertips touched Naruto's skin, so much of his foul chakra crashed into Naruto's tenketsu system like a tsunami of incredible magnitude.
Had Naruto been lucid of thought, he would have noted Orochimaru's chakra was so foul it caused such imaginable pain, far more than when Kirabi used the jutsu, as he had done occasionally over the years during his jinchūriki training. Naruto would likely hypothesized the reason why it was far more painful by the Sannin's hands was because Orochimaru posses a dark, and foul chakra that was the complete opposite of that of his own, which was pure if Karin was right.
'So much for ten minutes' was the last coherent thought that went through Naruto's mind as his eyes rolled back into his skull and he blissfully embraced unconsciousness.
-ooo-
(Other Side of the Forest)
"Shikamaru why are we headed for those enormous chakra signatures?" Ino demanded as they ran in a triangle formation towards the tornado of crimson chakra roughly half a mile away. Ino had no idea what Shikamaru was doing, what he was thinking by leading them towards the clash of titans.
The shadow user gritted his teeth and frowned. "We first felt a strong chakra we hadn't felt before, then we felt Naruto's and now we're feeling another. I got the feeling Naruto's flaring his chakra as a signal to everyone else in the forest to stay away."
"Then, why are we going towards the signatures?" Ino demanded with frustration. She absolutely hated when Shikamaru got so damn vague with her. Of course Chōji didn't mind because he was just some fat simpleton content with following as long as he could eat. Ino needed more than that to simply rush into danger.
"We owe him," Shikamaru told his teammates. "He could have killed us back there and he didn't because of our past friendship. We're going to repay that debt now if we can, if it's too late we'll do our best to notify whoever needs to be notified."
"Damn it, Shikamaru, if Naruto can't stop whoever he's fighting, why would we go there?"
"Stop it, Ino!" Chōji commanded uncharacteristically. "Naruto was our friend and he spared us because of that. I won't let him die when we haven't repaid our debt to him!" Chōji being an Akimichi was honour bound in his conduct.
"Besides," Shikamaru added, "Can't you feel Sasuke's signature? It's significantly smaller but I can feel him."
"Y- you're right!" Ino's eyes widened. "You think he's attacking Sasuke? Remember how he was asking about him the first day he came back?"
"Who, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked rhetorically. "Of course not. He's not that kind of guy… I think."
-ooo-
(With Orochimaru)
Orochimaru loomed over the unconscious form of Uzumaki Naruto and snarled. 'This is where you die, Uzumaki Naruto.' A pair white-scaled cobra emerged from Orochimaru's sleeves widened their mouth and brought forth a canon like appendage from the depths of their throats.
Initially he had planned to keep the boy's corpse for scientific purposes but he knew better than kidnapping Kumo's jinchūriki for many reasons. The most obvious one would be the people he would offend by depriving Kumo of another weapon. Those he held an ear and favour with within the council would likely drop their support for him and support the motions of sending a taskforce to retrieve the jinchūriki. Then there was another likely – no, guaranteed consequence of killing the protégé of Yotsuki Kirabi, the jinchūriki of the Hachibi and one of the very few shinobi Orochimaru would go out of his way to avoid. Orochimaru very much doubted he could defeat the Hachibi, not at this stage of his disease. He would first need to obtain a new body, a stronger body: the body of Uchiha Sasuke. Then he would have to obtain all jutsu with the Uchiha sight and become the Ultimate Being.
'Yes,' Orochimaru decided. 'My allies in Kumo could not possible fault me for killing the beast. If I simply steal the Kyūbi they will come for me with a great vengeance. Killing this creature will have far less repercussions.'
The serpent summoner distanced himself from the unconscious jinchūriki; the cobra's rested their heads on his shoulders. A second later a gush of green fluid gushed out of the canon-like appendages. As the acid neared the genin another voice called out.
"Mizurappa!"
A gush of water rushed before Naruto, shielding him from the acidic saliva. A second later a new genin with brown hair and dressed in a kimono robe crouched next to Naruto and grabbed onto him and carried of higher into the trees.
Orochimaru merely raised an eyebrow. Where did these cockroaches come from?
-ooo-
Naruto groaned as he regained consciousness. "Hari? Get out of here…"
"Stay awake, Naruto!" Hari continued his pace, willing himself not to look back. The only reason Orochimaru hadn't caught them yet was because the serpent liked to play with his food. Hari prayed he could exploit that particular habit to escape. S-ranked shinobi were notorious for their god-complexes and quite a few tales went around depicting their death having being a result of arrogance, not weakness. Hopefully Orochimaru would meet the same fate one day.
Naruto felt numbness take him. The Kusanagi must have been poisoned. "I'm going to go two tails on him, Hari." There was no other way he told himself. As fast as Hari was going by the use of chakra, he didn't need to have to be a sensory ninja to know Orochimaru was right behind him. "Find Yugito and leave."
"Shut up!" Hari told him through gritted teeth. His back was soaked already with the amount of blood Naruto had bled over him. Hari hadn't taken a look at the wound yet but judging from the amount of blood he had caught on him in the span of one minute, he knew it was bad. "We need to stop the bleeding quick."
Naruto moved suddenly and ignored the jolts of pain to shift his body. "Where's Yugito?" There was desperation and profound worry in voice. "She's still back there."
"I don't know Naruto- hey!" Hari nearly plummeted midair as Naruto jumped of his back. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, Naruto? I'm sure Yugito's safe, otherwise… we'd just know, okay?"
"Shut up!" Naruto shouted at him. He leaned against a tree, kneeling on a thick branch as blood continued to pour out of his body. "Yugito's still back there," he repeated through gritted teeth. "We're not leaving without her, Hari. I'd rather die than leave her on her own." The pain came back with a vengeance and Naruto struggled move his legs. His entire body was shaking uncontrollably. He could probably be knocked with a flick of a finger at this point.
Hari glared at him. "I know that, which is why we're going to stop the bleeding before we go back there. What's the point if we go back now and you collapse? We'll have to carry you while that snake bastard is on to us. Is that what you want?"
Naruto's retort died in his throat as he turned around to face a giant purple viper ridden by Orochimaru.
"I grow tired of this cat-and-mouse game, jinchūriki. We'll have to finish this here and now," Orochimaru announced with a twisted smile as the viper reared back its enormous head. "Goodbye, Uzumaki Naruto!" The snake launched forward instantly with its fangs wide open to devour the genin.
"Naruto!" Hari shot forward to protect Naruto, withdrawing his new chikutō and set it alight on pure instinct. Naruto wasn't moving to protect himself, so Hari convinced he would. "Kenbu Ōgi! Joen-Ryū no Ken!" The next three seconds went almost in slow motion.
One: as the chikutō glowed blue with chakra Hari set himself in a stance.
Two: Hari raised his blade as it glowed white.
Three: by the time the blade was covered in a thick pillar of fire from the hilt up, Hari shouted as loud as he could, as if shouting to the heavens.
"ZANGEKI!"
A pillar of fire slashed towards the serpent and met it head on, resulting in an powerful explosion that launched Naruto and his teammate hurtling through the tree tops, skidding of branches and bouncing off trees in their flight before they painfully came to stop with a twelve foot fall.
Naruto's eyes fluttered briefly as he looked into yellow slit eyes.
The world went dark.
Author's Note
Wazzaa?
Not a whole lot to say other than the usual: please review. Negative or positive doesn't matter as long as you express in a none-douchebaggery way. The last chapter was ridiculously long, at sixteen thousand words in total. Yeah, I know right? I kept this chapter short, since the long chapters never seem to get a lot of reviews which make me depressed and want to strangle puppies... not really; I'm just crazy like that.
…
Jutsu Used:
(Jutsu: Sen'eijashu – Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!) - C rank, offensive, short range. This jutsu allows the user to eject snakes from their wrist or sleeve, usually after a punching motion. The snakes are used primarily to attack from a distance and, being snakes, can inflict multiple poisonous wounds on the victim's body or hold them in place.
(Jutsu: Uchiha Honoo Ōgi! Jōka – Uchiha Fire Secret! Sacred Fire!) – A ranked, offensive, long range. A coveted fire ninjutsu developed by the founders of the Uchiha clan that calls forth on the Uchiha's natural high affinity to fire to create a sacred fire that burns hotter than any other ordinary flame. Amongst others, this one of the jutsu Sasuke discovered in the Uchiha clan's hidden shrine located underground shortly after Uchiha Itachi's defection. Not much is known about this jutsu as of yet other than it is highly dangerous.
(Jutsu: Ninjutsu Fūshi Hōin! – Ninjutsu Sealing Method!) - B ranked, supplementary, all ranges. An Fūinjutsu developed by Naruto in the months of preparation for the Chūnin Exam. This seal's set up requires the user to 'program' a pre-set path of manipulating chakra that has been stored within the seal.
(Jutsu: Kenbu Ōgi! Jōuen-Ryū no Ken – Secret Sword Dance! Flaming Desires of the Blade Style!) - ? rank, offensive, short range. Hari's never before seen sword dance he developed secretly for months without his teammates knowing. As of yet, nothing is known of the technique or its derived jutsu, other than Hari channels his Katon chakra through the blade to set it alight. Derived jutsu: Zangeki (Slashing Attack).
(Jutsu: Zangeki – Slashing Attack!) - ? rank, offensive, short to mid range. The first jutsu Hari developed that derives from his original Jouen no Ken kenjutsu style. Upon lighting the blade with flames, Hari will perform the Zangeki in either a vertical or horizontal or even a combination of slashes to expel fire pillars. Parent jutsu: Kenbu Ōgi! Jōuen-Ryū no Ken (Secret Sword Dance! Flaming Desires of the Blade Style).
(Jutsu: Shippū Shūren! Dai Giri – Hurricane Drill! Great Slash!) - B rank, offensive, short to mid range. This jutsu is derived from Naruto´s Shippū Shūren and was made up on the spot. Naruto will channel additional chakra into his Shippū Shūren to temporarily increase its length and sharpness tremendously for a swift cut. Parent jutsu: Fūton: Shippū Shūren (Hurricane Drill).