Hello readers and welcome to my new chapter. Sorry I took so long, but I was a bit stuck. I hope the chapter makes up for the long wait. Here, we're gonna continue the fight between Naruto's group and B's group, then go to Annabeth and her team at the Labyrinth. So, enjoy.
P.S. DragonKingDragneel has made a reading story for this series. Go check it out, if you want to. It's pretty good so far.
Chapter 12: Cloud Shinobi vs Demigods
(Thalia vs. Yugito)
Thalia was breathing heavily as she looked at the former two tailed Jinchuriki. She had a couple of scratches on her face, as well as her jacket from Yugito's claws.
"I can see you had training." Yugito said to her, still in cat-like stance. Unlike Thalia, she doesn't any noticeable scratches on her. If she had got any cuts, it had been healed quickly due to the leftover chakra from the two-tailed cat.
Even though none of them were Jinchuriki anymore, they still have some leftover chakra from the tailed-beasts to heal them quickly.
"But it isn't enough to defeat me." Yugito told her before running at her. Thalia cursed before ducking under one swing and then back flipping from another. She blocked the next scratch with her spear and pushed her hands to the side with it before charging her free hand with electricity. But before she could strike, Yugito kicked her on the side of the cheek, scratching her face in the process and sending flying.
Thalia ended up with her back on the road, with her right cheek having three scratches on it, and her spear a few feet away from her. She slowly opened her eyes, and sit her upper body up, seeing Yugito walk up to her.
"I'm sorry about this, but I have orders." Yugito said sincerely. Yugito lift her foot to knock the daughter of Zeus out, but before she could, a fireball was suddenly launched at her. Eyes' widening, Yugito was forced to jump back to dodge the ball of fire.
Leo and Piper quickly got in front of Thalia, their weapons in hand. "You okay chica?" Leo asked Thalia, not taking her eyes off Yugito. One thing Naruto drill in his trainees/apprentices is to never take your eyes off the enemy.
Thalia stood up, getting her spear, and standing beside Leo and Piper. "First of all, don't call me that again." Thalia said with a glare aimed at him. Leo only responded with a cheeky grin. "Second, I'm alright enough to fight. It would take a lot more than scratches to stop me."
Yugito resist the urge to groan in annoyance. She guessed that the other shinobi were knocked out, or possible dead. This will make things a lot tougher for her.
(Naruto vs Bee)
Naruto dodged a punch from Bee, the Cloud ninja forming a crater underneath him. Naruto did a series of backflips before performing series of hand signs. "Fire Style: Phoenix flower jutsu."
As Naruto started spewing out balls of fire from his mouth, Bee perform series of flips, twists, and spins to dodge the fireballs as he move towards Naruto. The blonde cursed before lifting up his staff to block two swords.
He pushed him back before Naruto transformed his staff back into a cylinder and attach it to his clip. "Well, if it's a swordfight you want." Naruto began before pulling out his elemental sword. He put chakra into it before a red hot blade came out. "It's a swordfight you get."
B whistled, swinging his sword around. "That looks like a mighty fine sword. I'm guessing you had some time in a forge?"
"A lot of time." Was all Naruto said before he ran at Bee. The giant man started running towards him as well and as he swung his sword, Naruto slid under the swing. He twisted around and swung his elemental sword, but Bee was quick and blocked it.
The two traded blows for a bit, doing several flips and tricks, before they pushed each other back. The two stared at one another for a while before Bee grabbed more of his swords, throwing them up and catching between his left armpit, both elbows, right leg, stomach, the right side of his neck, and in his mouth.
'...Well, shit.' This had suddenly gotten a lot harder. As strange as Bee is looking right now, the form he took is deadly. He's going to need to put up all of his defenses to fight that.
When Bee charged at him, Naruto charged right back. And what is being shown is a very exciting swordfight between the two former Jinchuriki. While Naruto had no other choice but to defend, he's doing very well at it. Whenever Bee aimed for a weak spot, he discreetly used his devastation, performing small cracks of the air to block.
The two finally got caught a sword lock, with Naruto's elemental sword and the sword in B's mouth. "Heh, you really have gotten better Uzumaki. But it not gonna help you with the wrath of the Killer Bee!"
Naruto didn't have time to retort to the rap. Cause Bee threw all his swords at him, skewering most of his body. That caused Naruto to slide onto the ground, and land on his side. The swords wouldn't kill him, but it looked like it injured him badly.
"Heh, so do you give up now Mr. Nine?" Bee asked with a smirk. Naruto didn't respond. Only look up and smirk with red eyes. Bee's eyes widen from underneath his sunglasses when Naruto started turning red and jumped back just as the lava clone exploded.
He heard a battle cry above and look up to see Naruto coming at him, fist cocked back. Bee prepared himself to dodge, but something surprising happened.
When Naruto launch his fist forward, the air seemed to crack before slamming Bee into the ground, creating a crater and forming a lot of dust around.
Naruto back flipped from the cloud of dust, holding his sword at the ready. It was a moment before Bee slowly came out of it, slightly limping. There were a few bruises on the man from the unexpected attack, but he seemed alright.
Yugito suddenly crashed beside B, a few burns on her. The girl slowly got up as Leo, Thalia, and Piper went to Naruto's side. Yugito huffed. "Okay, you guys are good." Yugito admitted.
"Are you ready to give up now Bee? Yugito?" Naruto asked them. With the other Cloud shinobi dealt with, it will be easier to fight both of them.
Yugito grimaced. "Bee, we need to go." B turned to his fellow former Jinchuriki. "We both can see that Naruto has gotten stronger and with those kids at his side, we might not be able to hold out."
Bee nodded, making Naruto narrow his eyes. "Well, it's been fun, but we gotta go. Until next time my boy Naruto." With that, Bee suddenly threw a smoke bomb, causing Naruto and Leo to quickly throw fireballs at the area. When the smoke and fire cleared, it showed that they've disappeared.
Thalia groaned in frustration while Naruto sighed. He can't really say that he's annoyed by them escaping. Really, he was a bit relieved. Bee was one of the strongest people he knows of, and can fight all four of them by himself. Even without the eight-tailed beast inside him, Bee is a shinobi to be reckoned with. And he doesn't need his squad majorly injured while on this mission.
Which made him wonder. Why did Bee just ran like that? Was it because of an order by the Raikage? Or is it something else entirely?
'Well,' Naruto thought in his head. 'No need to waste time thinking about it too much.' He turned to his group. "Okay, let's get back on the road. We've wasted enough time already."
"What about the-?" Piper was about to point out the knocked out shinobi, only to see that they've disappeared. Piper sighed. "Figures."
Naruto chuckled. "Most shinobi don't leave their own people no matter what." He said to her. With that, the four went back into the group and ignored the amount of rubble they made. The mist will handle that.
"So, who the heck were those guys?" Thalia asked Naruto. "I know they aren't the same ninjas we faced before. Those headbands are different."
Naruto sighed. "They're Cloud ninjas." Naruto told them. "Two of them used to hold tailed beast, like I did. They were probably sent here to capture me, and interrogate me."
"For what?" Piper asked from the back.
Naruto tightened his grip on the wheel. "Information on where the tailed beasts are at. So they can have their weapons back again."
(Labyrinth)
"We're lost, aren't we?" Percy deadpanned as they found another dead end. Great. As soon as they got into the Labyrinth, there has been nothing but dead ends after dead ends. And the area constantly changes, so they couldn't retrace their steps and get back to camp.
Annabeth grimaced, but ignore Percy. "Let see if another pathway is open." Annabeth told the group. The group retrace their path back to where they were at, only to end up in another dead end.
Percy threw his hands up. "Is this place alive or something?" As he said that, a groaning noise came into their ears.
"Let's not talk about it being alive." Grover said, shuffling nervously. "Please."
Annabeth led the others to another hall in a deductive reasoning, aka guessing, and this time, they didn't end up in a dead end brick wall.
They ended up in a dead end empty room.
Percy and Grover hung their heads with a groan while Tyson looked at the room in worry. Annabeth huffed in frustration before going to the side of the room and pressed her back on the wall. She slowly slid down the wall before crossing her arms over her knee and then resting on them.
While Percy went to calm his frantic brother, Grover sat down beside Annabeth. "You okay?"
Annabeth took a deep breath before speaking. "I really thought that this will be my chance to prove myself." She mumbled. "To prove that I'm a hero and a leader."
Under her breath, Annabeth added, "Just like Naruto and Percy."
Through the silence of the room, Percy and Grover heard her. Grover rubbed her shoulder reassuringly while Annabeth continued, looking at Percy. "Percy, you manage to have more than three people on your team twice and manage to get all of them alive. And the first time was your first quest."
"You've shown leadership qualities in those quests, even if one of them wasn't yours, and you're skilled in battle, despite only just knowing about being a demigod at that time. And also show selflessness that most demigods don't have" Percy blushed and rubbed the back of his head. He doesn't really see the big deal about it.
"As for Naruto," Annabeth continued once more. "Well, he's many things. An experienced warrior, for one. A teacher as well. A protector. A leader. A friend. A brother, all those things and more." Percy and Grover couldn't argue with that. They've both known Naruto well enough to agree with Annabeth.
"When I was young, when he first saved me, I have seen him do things that seemed impossible to me." Annabeth told them. "He fought the toughest monsters, and humans as well. Taught me, Thalia, and Luke more on fighting. And saved us more times than I can count."
She then let out a bitter laugh. "And all I did was run and hide."
"Annabeth, you were seven at that time!" Grover interjected before she could say anything else bad about herself. "The fact that you survived from California to New York is a miracle by itself!"
"Yeah Wise Girl." Percy put in his own opinion. "I doubt any other demigod in your shoes would've done any different than you did."
"I not do well on my own." Tyson admitted, adding his own two cents. "Hid a lot, too. Annie very brave."
"You don't understand!" Annabeth frowned at the three boys before looking at the hallway. "Naruto never showed any fear, and when he fought, it like he planned his move from the beginning to end. His fight was calculated, but unpredictable. He doesn't hesitate to fight, especially when somebody is in danger. And could get the best out of any situation."
"I just wanted to prove I could live up to both of you." Annabeth finished, leaving the room in silence.
Percy could understand why Annabeth looked up to Naruto. He has seen Naruto fight, and how strong he is. The blonde managed to do things that seemed impossible, even in demigod standards, and face off against one of the toughest immortals.
But he can't help but wonder, how strong does Annabeth think Percy himself is compared to Naruto? Where did he rank? Does he even have a rank compared to the son of Hephaestus?
Percy shook his head. Now's not the time to think about that. Right now, he needed to help his best friend gain back her spirit. And then find a way out of this freaky maze. With that in mind, he walked over to Annabeth and held his hand out for her to get. "Well, you can't do that by sitting here and moping Wise Girl. Let's find that workshop and stopped the monster army from having our friends for dinner."
Annabeth looked at Percy for a moment before she smiled and nodded, grabbing his hand. Grover stood up as well and the two demigods, the satyr, and the Cyclops walked out of the room.
(With Team Kakashi)
"How on earth does this place keep changing?" Sakura asked in disbelief. She, Kakashi, Sai, and Yamato were following the group of children, only for the area to shift and change around them. Now, they were trying to track them down again, with little to no success.
Yamato narrowed his eyes. "I don't know if it some kind of ninja technique or the technology this country uses. Whatever it is though, it's stopping us from completing our mission."
"Maybe Kakashi can summon one of the hounds?" Sai suggested. "And I can have several rats travel around this maze. If they spot them, we can go to them immediately."
"I don't know if either of those plans will work Sai." Kakashi sighed. "Not only do we not have anything that Pakkun or the others can smell to track their scent, but this maze will keep moving. And while the rats might be able to find him, but it's highly unlikely. We'll need to rely on luck for this."
Said nodded, and with that, the group continued on running. As they did, Sakura was thinking to herself.
She wondered if Naruto would ever forgive her for what she did. Especially for her last words before she left. And she sometimes questioned whether she should leave Naruto alone and just give up.
But she couldn't. She wanted to make up for all the abuse she gave him. Pay back all those times he saved her or been kind to her, when he didn't have to. From giving her his food to saving her from Gaara, he showed more kindness than Sasuke did, despite the two of them butting heads.
And she wouldn't, no, couldn't give up until she successfully makes it up to Naruto and pay him back for all things he done for her and the things she did to him.
And that's the end. I hope you guys like this chapter. As you can see, Kakashi and his team are lost in the labyrinth, just like Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson is. So the two groups won't meet up with one another for a while. As for how the shinobi pass through the barrier, well, that something that will be saved for another time. Review, favorite, and follow this and I will see you guys later.