Chapter 5
Following an experienced chunin through a forest as dense as this one without getting detected was extremely hard for the blond.
He started on the forest floor but after numerous run-ins with leaches the size of Inuzuka hounds trying to get the drop on him from the branches above, the wolves, and the tigers roaming about looking for their next meal, he decided traversing the forest through the tree branches was safer.
leaping from one tree to another in smooth secession, Naruto kept his eyes forward. His eyes locked onto the red glowing dot aways in front of him, the blond quietly kept his pace quick but quiet.
He had followed the man into the forest earlier this morning and they had been traveling for a few hours now. It was around one or two in the afternoon and mizuki showed no signs of stopping. Naruto was extremely thankful for his excessive stamina.
Naruto held no false expectations of the coming events. He knew that Mizuki would fight him with every breath and he wasn't quite sure he could win, but he would try none the less.
He had sharpened the ten kunai and shuriken he owned and neatly packed the roll of ninja wire in the small pouch on his lower back last night.
'Maybe if I win this fight the hokage will give me a medal or something.' The teen thought with a wistful smile as he hopped from branch to branch.
The glowing red dot ahead of him came to a sudden halt, forcing Naruto to do the same. For a moment the blond thought he had been caught but that fear quickly faded as he heard Mizuki speak.
"Fucking finally!" Mizuki sighed out as he walked up to the base of a massive tree. The large tree wouldn't have caught Naruto's attention as every tree around them looked exactly the same, size and all.
The only difference was that this tree had a small, almost non noticeable circle etched into the bark of the tree trunk right above a hole in the ground only big enough to fit maybe a rabbit, a fox if it was small enough.
Naruto settle down on the branch he had stopped on, making sure that he had the tree between him and Mizuki. The boy watched as Mizuki knelt down, pulled a kunai from his thigh pouch and began to enlarge the rabbit hole at the base of the tree.
He only stabbed the dirt three or four times before the ground under him suddenly gave way and the chunin found himself falling and loosing his grip on his kunai.
"Shit!" Mizuki cried out as he slammed into the cold hard ground with a thud. He growled as he pushed himself up to his feet." Goddamn it." He mumbled out as he brushed the dirt off himself.
He took a moment to look around at his new surroundings. He would've called it a cave if the grey stone floor, ceiling and walls weren't perfectly smooth. It was clear to anyone that this was a man made passage.
Mizuki looked up at the oval shaped entrance he had fallen through and shrugged. It was only about eight feet above him. Nothing a bit of wall walking couldn't get him to.
With that in mind, the chunin reached into his waist pouch and brought out a small flash light. Clicking it on and pointing it down the long dark hallway, the man started walking.
About a minute later, Naruto dropped down from the surface. Landing in a crouched position, the teen quickly stood up and ran down the dark passage after his target.
He deactivated his eyes as he breezed down the hall. His eyes locked onto the little dot of light a few yards in front of him. It was a warm orangish glow that only got bigger the closer he got to it.
He ignored the way the walls on either side of him began to glow an orangish-gold as he ran, his eyes locked firmly onto the large entrance way ahead of him.
He suddenly stopped running and his momentum sent him skidding past the entrance and into the room. It was huge.
Ten enormous obsidian square pillars, five on each side of the room, were littered with intricate glowing lines that intersected with hexagons and circles in a seemingly random design on all four sides.
The ten pillars bordered a pathway that led up to a rectangular obsidian altar. Resting on the altar was a bronze colored sphere that had the same lines, hexagons and circles etched into it. The only difference being it wasn't glowing like the pillars around it.
Standing in front of the altar was Mizuki, his right hand reaching towards the object when he suddenly heard rushed footsteps coming up behind him.
Spinning around, Mizuki didn't even have time to get a kunai in hand before a white blur jumped at him.
Sandaled feet slammed into both of his shoulders, then a thin line of red hot pain shot diagonally across his face.
There was a grunt as the weight pushed off him and he fell onto his back.
"Gah!"
Mizuki quickly jumped up to his feet and turned towards the altar, one hand pulling a kunai out and the other cradled the new bleeding gash on his face.
The wound was gnarly looking, starting from the bottom of his left cheek and ending just above his right eyebrow. Thankfully his eyes didn't seem to take any damage.
"What the hell? Who even are you?" The chunin growled out as he tried to ignore the pain radiating from his entire face.
Naruto stood up from his squat on top of the obsidian altar and reached his hand up to push his hood down. His cold blue eyes watched the surprise appear in the man's eyes.
"Naruto…" Mizuki stopped holding his face, allowing the gash to bleed freely." I don't understand?" His confused voice was laced with fury.
"Turn yourself in Mizuki." Naruto lifted his right hand which was wrapped tightly around the handle of a blood soaked kunai. He pointed the weapon directly at the traitor." I won't allow you to fulfill your masters goals." While naruto sounded calm and collected, he was anything but on the inside.
Inside the teens chest was a storm of emotion. His veins were flushed full of adrenaline, his heart drummed in a mixture of fear and nerves simply because he knew that no matter how many times he told the chunin to turn himself in, he knew the man wouldn't.
Mizuki would fight.
A lot.
Naruto wasn't a hundred percent sure he could win.
Naruto was an academy student. He wasn't even a genin yet. What possible hope did he have against a chunin? A chunin that had seen combat, a man with more then just the academy three under his belt.
"Turn myself in?" Mizuki suddenly asked, a confused look on his bleeding face.
'So the wounds not too deep… damnit.' Naruto thought to himself.
"Listen Naruto." Mizuki began, taking a single step towards the blond and raising his hands up in a peaceful gesture." I don't know what you think is going on here but I'm currently on an assignment for Hokage-sama."
"Is that right?" Naruto replied with a glare as he continued to point the tip of his kunai at the man.
"Yeah." Mizuki nodded." Look, I'm happy to know that if I was a traitor then you'd do your duty to the village and stop me and the whole stabbing me in the face thing? Nothing a medic nin can't fix." The chunin shrugged and tried to send the boy a reassuring smile.
It only served to annoy the blond.
"I gotta wonder, Mizuki… did Kabuto teach you to lie like that?"
Naruto watched as the man's face tightened, his jaw clenched and his blood smeared eyes narrowed.
"Or was it that snake Orochimaru?" The blond asked with a smirk on his face.
"You don't wanna do this Naruto." Mizuki breathed out." Get off the damn altar and I promise I'll make it quick." He flipped the kunai he had in hand, glaring daggers at the teen.
"Turn yourself in Mizuki… it's your last chance."
"No."
Naruto rocketed forward, his kunai swiped at the man's face once more but Mizuki blocked the blade with his own. The force of Naruto's lunge caused Mizuki to lean back a bit but he quickly regained his strength and pushed the boy back.
Naruto sailed back towards the altar. With a neat backflip, his feet landed on the altars edge. With a snarl he shot himself forward once more, only this time he went low.
His knees hit the ground and he slid towards the chunins legs. Mizuki front flipped over him, slashing his own blade at the blonds head but Naruto deflected it with his own.
Spinning around the blond got his feet under him and ran forward while pulling out a second kunai.
Traitor and teen met in a flash of sparks, their blades bouncing off one another before their movements began to blur.
Naruto swiped at the chunins stomach but mizuki moved back, spun and set a kick towards the boy head. Naruto ducked and stepped forward inside of the man's guard and attempted to stab him once more but mizuki was faster.
Catching the boys wrist with his free hand, he brought his elbow up and slammed it down into the blonds wrist.
Naruto cried out in pain as he instinctively dropped the kunai. Acting quickly, the blond swung his foot, kicking the kunai directly in the ring and sending the blade towards Mizukis left shin.
The man jumped over it and suddenly Naruto was upside down, his body cratered in one of the obsidian pillars.
With a hacking cough he fell out of the pillar and onto his front. He let out a groan as he pushed himself up to his hands and knees. He shakily turned around to face the chunin.
Mizuki stood there with a sneer on his face as he watched the boy shakily get to his feet.
"Son'va bitch." Naruto coughed out as he rested a hand over the ribs on the left side of his chest.
'Didn't even see the kick coming.' He thought.
"Not bad for an academy student." Mizuki called out." Before I kill you kid, just want you to know that our time together has really left a mark on me." He joked, motioning towards the still bleeding cut on his face.
"You should be thanking me for that by the way." Naruto huffed out." It's an improvement." Mizuki sneered.
"Any last words?" The chunin asked.
"Yeah, I got you too." Naruto waved a hand forward and Mizuki blinked in confusion, slowly looking down at the kunai sticking out of his right side.
"Shi-"
Naruto ran forward and jumped, pulling his knees up to his chest, his blue eyes locked with surprised brown ones before the teen lashed out with a drop kick directly to the man's upper chest.
Mizuki felt every bit of oxygen leave him as he was flung backwards, his back slamming into the obsidian altar with enough force to crack it.
Naruto groaned in pain as he laid on the cold hard ground. Now it wasn't just his ribs that hurt but the back of his head as well.
"Dropkicks… seem way cooler… in the comics…" he gasped out in pain.
"I'm gonna kill you." Mizuki breathed out as he regained the ability to breath." Slowly…" he slowly pushed himself up." And I'm gonna enjoy it." He wrapped his hand around the kunai sticking out of him and yanked it out, throwing it to the side as he rested against the altar behind him.
Naruto lifted his head to stare at the man just in time to see him finish a set of hand signs.
"Fire style: Phoenix fire jutsu!"
Mizuki leaned his head back, his chest expanding as he took a deep breath and then he exhaled, firing three basketball sized fireballs directly at the blond.
"Shit!" Naruto rolled to the left, narrowly dodging the first fireball that impacted his previous location and exploded with enough force to throw Naruto out of the way of the other two balls of fire.
The blond landed behind a pillar, thankfully out of the chunins line of sight.
He quickly sat up and leaned his back against the pillar, his hands forming a single hand sign.
"Clone jutsu." He muttered under his breath and four academy level clones appeared kneeling around him with a single collective purpose instilled into the weak chakra constructs.
Distract the enemy.
The four clones dashed out of hiding, each one taking off in a different direction and hiding behind their own pillars.
"You think the clone jutsu will help you here brat?" Mizukis voice rang out.
Naruto leaned his head back and rested it against the pillar behind him.
"They're nothing more then a genjutsu, you cant hurt me with them."
His blue eyes closed and he began to take slow calming breaths, hoping to settle his own nerves.
One of his clones came out of hiding and ran towards the chunin. Mizuki threw a kunai at it and it was destroyed.
"One down, three more to go." Mizuki taunted as he stood near the altar, his eyes moving from one pillar to another, ready to strike at the smallest of movements." After that, it'll be just us again." He called out.
Naruto's drumming heart began to slow and his adrenaline began to subside, the world around him fell away and he suddenly felt a sort of peace settle over his being, even as another clone rushed the chunin and died.
'Is this where I'm gonna die?' Naruto asked himself.' Inside of some tomb?' He wondered.
'So long as I can stop Mizuki, maybe then, if I die, my sacrifice will mean something… or maybe they'll never find our bodies… even so…'
Naruto slowly opened his eyes and the world around him was grey, his eyes had activated on their own and surprisingly, he couldn't feel any of his chakra being drained.
'I can't let him get that artifact to Orochimaru. There's no telling what it is and what it can do… but if it's a weapon then it can't get out… I won't let it.'
Naruto stood up and walked towards the edge of the pillar he was hiding behind. He reached down to his thigh pouch and pulled another kunai out.
He watched his last clone rush the chunin as he spun the kunai around his finger. The moment his clone was taken out by a shuriken, the blonds fingers wrapped around the handle of his weapon and he stepped out.
Time seemed to slow around the blond as Mizuki chucked a kunai at him but it was so slow that Naruto had no trouble deflecting it away from himself.
One step forward.
Mizuki threw a shuriken that was quickly deflected by the boy.
Another step forward.
Mizuki flashed through hand signs.
"Fire style: fireball jutsu!"
Naruto stared unblinkingly at the ball of fire heading directly towards him.
'No one knows what's happening right now.' The blond though as he suddenly sidestepped the fireball at what seemed to be the last second. It exploded against a pillar somewhere behind him.
One more step forward.
'The innocents don't know their in danger… but I do, I know…'
"-great fireball jutsu!"
Another ball of fire, though this one was absolutely massive and heading directly for him.
'I could walk away, play dead and hide… I could let him get away and save myself…' the blond thought as he took another step forward, heading towards the massive ball of fire that seemed to slowly move towards him.
His blue eyes widened slightly as the heat from the approaching fire hit him.
'But I won't do that… I won't run.' He pulled his right arm back, his hand tightened around the grip of his knife.' Even if it kills me!'
His arm swung forward and he loosened his hold on his kunai.
"I'll protect them!" He suddenly cried out loudly, blue eyes full of nothing but determination.
Naruto watched his kunai hit the ball of fire causing it to detonate prematurely.
The explosion rocked the entire room, a shockwave so strong the blond felt it in his chest. The heat was barely bearable but he didn't falter, not even as thick black smoke blanketed him and the room around him.
Mizuki was breathing hard as he stood at the altar. His eyes were narrowed, trying to see through the black smoke around him. He was exhausted, maybe because of the blood loss or because of the powerful jutsu he just used, he wasn't quite sure.
"Did I get him?" He wondered quietly.
The look in the blonds eyes was scary. Not to mention the way the blond had suddenly began to deflect his kunai and shuriken like they were nothing.
But he was dead now right? Nothing more then a burnt husk a the very least. He had seen the fireball hit the boy, explode directly on top of him.
"No way he lived." He muttered out, idly waving the smoke around him away.
As the room began to clear, Mizuki turned around and faced his prize at last. That bronze looking orb just resting there on the altar.
"Next time kabuto can do the scavenger hunts!" He sneered at the mere mention of the white haired teenager.
He reached forward and picked the orb up, looking over it with a raised brow.
"Nothing special about this except the weird marking-Gah!"
Mizuki felt a sudden pinch to the back of his neck, quickly he spun around and lost his balance as the world around him shifted. He fell to his knees as the bronze orb faded away.
The smoky interior of the strange tomb like room had turned completely black, like a cloudy moonless night. Then there was the water that he was suddenly in. The endless ocean was shallow, coming to a stop at his waist.
"What the hell?!?" He cried out as he looked at the nothing around him.
He suddenly heard soft splashes behind him and he slowly turned around, his brown eyes widened as he stared at the blond fourteen year old slowly walking towards him.
The blond looked rough. The right side of his spiky blond hair was singed nearly to the scalp though the hair on top of his head seemed nearly untouched. His white hoodie was torn and burnt in multiple locations. He was missing a pant leg, it was most likely burnt away and black soot colored the boys left cheek.
"How are you alive?" Mizuki seethed. He tried to stand but found he couldn't. His limbs felt like they were made of lead.
Naruto came to a stop about a foot away. His icy blue eyes stared down at the kneeling man.
"You should have listened." Naruto spoke, his voice was soft and Mizuki heard something akin to regret in his tone." I told you to turn yourself in… this didn't have to end this way." He said.
"End this way?" Mizuki wondered." This isn't even over!" He tried to stand but failed once more. He suddenly realized that it was getting harder to breath." What did you do to me?" He growled out, glaring at the boy.
"You're dying." Naruto replied before shaking his head slowly." No, you're already dead."
"No I'm not I'm-" Mizuki gasped." I'm still here-" he was struggling to get up to his feet, to breath yet he couldn't." I'm not dying, your wro-wrong!"
Mizuki felt his entire body go numb before he slumped forward, his eyes slowly glazed over as the life left them.
"No… I was supposed to win… to rule at Orochimaru-samas side… I was gonna be powerful…" Mizukis voice was full of disbelief." I… was gonna be… a god…"
"I told you I wouldn't let you complete your mission." Naruto voice was faint, as if the boy was miles away and not directly in front of him.
The last thing Mizuki saw before all life left him was Naruto's icy blue eyes staring into his own.
Naruto eyes snapped open with a gasp and he stepped back.
Mizuki who was standing in front of him with his back towards the boy was still. The chunin had a kunai sticking out of the back of his neck, blood pouring down the back of his chunin vest.
The man slowly tilted to the side until he slumped to the ground, lifeless. The bronze sphere hit the ground with a loud *Clank!* before rolling a few feet away from the man's body.
Naruto slowly stepped towards the object and kneeled down. His hands coming forward to gently grasp the sphere. Bringing the strange ball to eye level, he frowned.
"What are you?" Naruto asked out loud though he wasn't expecting the ball to suddenly light up and speak.
"Isu DNA confirmed." The light airy female voice rang out from the golden glowing sphere, naruto almost dropped the damn thing in his surprise.
He made to speak but instead the blonds head snapped up as a loud *crack!* echoed throughout the room around him.
Naruto watched in horror as spiderweb like cracks began to form on not only the ten obsidian pillars around him, but every single wall surrounding him.
"Shit!" The boy cried out as he quickly stood up, bronze ball in hand, and dashed towards the exit.
The moment he exited the room and entered the long hallway, he heard the walls crumble and an unholy amount of water rush towards him. The ground started shaking under his feet until it got to the point of him losing his balance.
The blond fell to his knees, desperately trying to scamper to his feet but it was to late.
"What the fu-" the blond couldn't finish his sentence before a huge wave of water slammed into him from behind.