My computer was bugged with viruses, so I couldn't update this as fast as I wanted it too.
Don't worry, though; it's been fixed.

I am HORRIBLE with fight scenes. You may be disappointed in this chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 16: Naruto vs. Ryu

Ryu was surprised to see all the Naruto clones disappear.

They all disappeared right before his eyes, all in a puff of smoke.

When the mist cleared, only one Naruto was left.

He had a light orange glow around him. His blonde gair was a little messier, his nails were longer, his canine teeth were longer, his three marks on his face were bolder, and his eyes were red.

He had let the fox chakra flow as his normal chakra, but not enough to let him become the One-tailed.

"Get ready, old man!" he said. He dashed forward with a fist already in the air. Ryu barely had time to dodge it. He jumped back and to the right. He had to put more effort than usual.

Naruto knew he was going to dodge, so still in the air he brought his left foot around and swung it so it made contact with the side of his body. Ryu went crashing into the trees.

His old bones couldn't take that. He couldn't suffer another hit like that. He didn't imagine a scrawny teenager like him have a powerful kick like that. And there was something different about him. He seemed angrier, and have more chakra. Ryu can't hold back on him; he'd have to give it his all.

Naruto was already preparing an attack. He was already creating a dark blue Rasengan on his right hand, powered by the fox chakra. While it was swirling on his hand, he looked around for his opponent. He seemed to have gone. Wanting to save his chakra, he discharged the Rasengan. He walked over to where he should have landed. He wasn't there anymore. The broken trees were there, but the ground where it showed an imprint of something landing on it was empty. Suddenly, he heard something behind him. He turned around to see black spikes coming at him at 500km an hour. (Exaggeration) He dodged to the side where he landed in the darkness of the forest.

Ryu came out of the bushes he was hiding in. So he's managed to dodge them, he thought. He looked at all of the spikes he'd shot. 1...2...3...4...5...6...20...

One was missing. He looked around for the last one, but it wasn't anywhere. He then saw a red spot on the ground. He crouched down to speculate it. Yes, it was blood. Hmm, not all.

"Rasengan!"

Ryu turned around to see Naruto coming at him from the air with a ball of powerful chakra ready on his hand. Just before he landed on what would've been his heart, he jumped back.

For Naruto, this was bad. He had missed, and he had given most of his chakra on that Rasengan. He would need time to recover. Aware of his opponent's close presence, Naruto walked back to the clearing he and Ryu first fought in. He was holding his wounded shoulder, the shoulder where he was hit by one of this black spikes. He didn't know why, but he felt a hot pain there. It was spreading through his body, and he was more weak than usual.

"Feeling odd, my friend?" Ryu asked as he, too, stepped out of the shadows.

"Shut up! You and I aren't friends!" Naruto replied harshly.

The old man ignored the comment and continued, "That's because those black spikes were coated with poison. It's a type of poison that weakens your whole body if you use it for anything. Basically if you do anything, pretty soon, you won't be able to move at all. And you'll have a slow and painful death." He smiled cruelly as he said this.

Naruto panted hard. So that means the stronger his physical attacks, the weaker he'll be after the attack. Now this was bad.

Ryu made more hand signs. When he finished with tiger, he pointed his palm toward the sky. "Now, my friend, I'll make that slow and painful death go away. Ninja Art: Raining Black Needles!"

Naruto looked at the sky above him. He could just make out tiny dots forming. Soon those tiny dots became larger. They were longer, and sharper. They fell towards earth at an alarmingly fast rate.

Would this be the end of him?

Gloo couldn't fight his master anymore. He had to find a way to fully control this body.

Neji and Hanabi were panting hard from the attacks they made. All of their close combat were useless.

Tenten tried to do long range attacks, but that failed also. Gloo would either put a barrier of goo to stop it, or turn into goo himself and melt to the floor to avoid the hits.

Gloo knew that soon his master and his friends would be exhausted and not fight anymore. His uncontrolable body with a mind of its own would then take advantage of that and finish them off.

He was right, as he saw the young girl who looked like his master fall on her hands and knees.

"Lady Hanabi!" Neji crouched down next to her to see if his young cousing was all right. Tenten walked over to her also, examining her whole body, for she had some medical ninja knowledge of her own.

"She's very tired and almost out of chakra. She must've been fighting really hard," the tool-master commented.

Neji nodded without looking at her. Instead, he helped Hanabi to stand. "You need to rest, Hanabi," he comforted her. "Don't worry, we'll take care of this."

After a few coughs, Tenten helped the Hyuga girl walk over to a nearby tree. Meanwhile, Neji was watching Gloo, who was staying very still in the middle of the field. With his Byakugan, he could see that his chakra was, too, was being depleted.

This had to end now.

When Tenten was by his side, he leaned over to her. He whispered in her ear, "Do you see it, Tenten? He's kind of holding back."

The girl nodded, then whispered back, "I noticed he doesn't attack us very much, but just dodges our attack."

Neji had to think about his next information. If he told her, she'd think he's crazy; on the other hand, if he didn't tell her, they might never defeat him. He chose to tell her. "Tenten, this might sound weird but that boy over there is, I think, my pet."

Tenten gave him a look of pure confusion. "While on the mission, I met a small friend," he explained. "He kept following us, so we just decided to keep him and name him Gloo."

"So that boy followed you?"

"No! The thing that followed us was some kind of gooey substance."

"Then how come you said he was that boy?"

"He seems to have a body now, for some reason."

While Neji and Tenten were having this conversation, Gloo was trying to take control of his system. He's able to see, think, and feel. Now he needed to move on his own. He saw that his master and one of his friends were distracted, and the young girl was resting on a tree. He soon felt himself melt to the ground. When he was fully on the ground, he started seeping through the soil. What was his body doing? He traveled through the earth, past his master by going under him for some reason, and stopped near the girl resting on the tree. Still confused, he morphed back into his own body. Slowly, he was taking out a kunai knife from his bag.

Hanabi had fallen asleep, so she didn't know what was happening. Neji and Tenten had their backs to her, but they seemed to be in such deep conversation that they didn't notice Gloo disappearing.

Gloo raised the hand with the kunai knife high into the air. He was going to kill the Hyuga girl. No! He didn't want to do this!

"Master, help!" he cried. Neji turned around and his eyes widened in terror. How could he, second master of the Byakugan, miss something like this?! He stepped over, and found himself stuck to the ground. He looked at Tenten, but she was in the same condition. They both looked back at the fate of Hanabi.

Gloo still had the kunai knife in the air. He didn't want to strike down, but he didn't know how to stop it. His worst fear came when his arm was brought down.

Everything was in slow motion, as Neji cried, "Gloo! No! Don't do this! You're not like this! My pet is better than that!"

That cry. Just hearing his name shouted in a worried tone like that, gave him the strength to stop time. Well, to him it seemed as though time stopped, but in reality he had stopped his hand, which was centimeters from the Hanabi's heart.

"Protective Eight Trigrams 64 Palms!"

Naruto opened his eyes after closing them as tightly as he could. He briefly saw midnight blue hair on a lavender background before he was dragged away by someone. The someone had strong arms that picked him up and made his arm go around their neck. They were helping him walk. With Naruto still weakened, his eyes were blurry. He did see pink hair, though. The hair seemed familiar, and he thought of a girl, but this person had strong arms.

When he was being set down and leaned back against a tree, he felt the same strong hands covered in chakra gently placed over his wound. He started to feel much better. He turned to his helper. "Thanks Mister!" he smiled.

That thanks suddenly gave him a hard blow on the head. "What'd you call me, Naruto?!"

Uh-oh, that voice. It's usually from the someone who when he says something that's supposed to be funny, he'd get a hard punch.

"Oh, Sakura. Sorry."

Please Review!

Hmm, there wasn't really a lot of fight in this chapter, was there?
Hm, oh well.
I did nothing to look over/revise this chapter, so there may be a few (or a lot) of mistakes.
Please let me know!