Chapter 43-Hold My Hand, Walk With Me!
"Just another shinobi with big words. Pathetic hypocrite, aren't you gaki? You say big and heroic words that you want to protect your 'precious people', but for their sake, their safety...you don't have the guts to put your life on the line, do you kid?" the blonde Iwa shinobi verbalized while the whiskered blonde shook his head, that old stubborn look of determination briefly crossing his eyes.
"You're wrong. If I die, my precious people will get hurt because I'm precious to them too. So to make sure they don't get hurt emotionally, I'll fight you bastards for them," this made Deidara's eyes widen as he stared at Naruto in surprise.
"I do not live only for myself or my dreams, I also live for my precious people! That's why I'll NEVER give up, remember that you asshole!"
A slight breeze crossed the area as Naruto and Deidara stood there, facing each other while sparks of lightning continued to crackle around the blonde's fist.
"Fine then...I guess I'll just have to force you," Deidara uttered with a smirk, the clay jellyfishes being held while the blonde clenched his fists.
'If I just had those advanced shadow clones sealed up in a scroll with me...I could've easily created a diversion and all of us would've gotten out of here. But I used that scroll during the invasions and since after that didn't get any time to store more shadow clones,' he pondered when Deidara crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Let's see if you can diffuse these!" he exclaimed with a grin, flinging his arms outwards as he threw the claw jellyfishes towards the whiskered blonde. Naruto narrowed his eyes when the ground just in front of him cracked as a shadow clone jumped out making Deidara's eyes widen a bit.
"Doton: Doryuu Heki! (Earth Release: Earth Style Wall)," it exclaimed before slamming his hands on the ground. Earth cracked in front of the clone as a large chunk of it rose in front of him vertically just in time when the jellyfishes landed on it.
"Hn...you think such weak ninjutsu can stop my art," Deidara spoke as he formed the half ram seal while Naruto's eyes widened at hearing him as he crouched a bit, preparing to jump back.
"Katsu!"
BOOM!
"Grh!"
The explosion took place just as the whiskered blonde was about to leap, the earth wall shattering instantly while he was sent flying due to the impulsive force.
'Such explosive power...' Naruto thought, his one eye open while blood started to leak down his forehead due to a sharp chunk of blown up earth hitting him.
KHHDRHHH!
Having flipped himself in midair, he skidded back, shocked at the destructive force of the attack due to just those small jellyfishes.
'Naruto, please listen to me and do it! You wouldn't survive like this against an opponent like him!' Ayumi yelled making him grit his teeth.
"Will you stop it Ayumi-chan! I've never fought him before! Even with the Rinnegan I wouldn't be able to fight him instantly with his unique abilities. I have to observe the pattern of his attacks,' he spoke inwardly making her growl in frustration, he was just making excuses!
"Bakuton: Ganshou Hassha! (Explosion Release: Bedrock Projectiles)"
The blonde blinked when he heard Deidara. His eyes widened as several human sized chunks of earth flew towards him at blazing speeds.
'Explosion Release?' Naruto thought reflexively, his eyes further widening in realization as the human sized rocks neared him.
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Meanwhile, Tsunade was just sitting, watching all the battles, her heart constricting with despair. The shadow clone Naruto had left with her, she had assured it that she would be alright and that the original Naruto needed all the chakra he could get- hence he had dispelled itself.
Now here she was, sitting, trembling like a kid while Naruto and others were desperately trying to defend themselves.
Currently she was watching Naruto intently, extremely worried for him. She knew Jiraiya in his sage mode and Shizune would be able to take care of themselves but Naruto, he was fighting an S-rank missing nin one on one. And Tayuya and Hinata looked nervous too there, currently facing that puppet user.
Her eyes though widened when she saw that blonde Akatsuki throw large rock pieces at him.
'Damn it Tsunade, get a grip of yourself! I have to do something!' she thought, clutching the shodaime's necklace tightly, her hands and pupils still trembling.
Putting her shivering hands down on the ground, she tried to stand up when...
BHOOM!
She snapped her head upon hearing an explosion, her eyebrows lifting when she saw smoke arising from where Naruto was previously standing.
"N-Naruto!" she exclaimed, gritting her teeth as the medic sanin somehow found the strength to lift herself up, now standing on her wobbly knees while her green jacket fell off her shoulders.
'I have to help him...I can't lose him again! Kushina-chan would never forgive me, I promised her...' she thought, now standing on her wobbly knees as she tried to walk.
"N-Naruto...h-hold on...," she stuttered, having taken a few steps when her shaky knees suddenly gave out.
Thud!
Her one eye was closed, pain coursing through her body due to her not being able to completely heal her wound after Shizune had left.
'Dammit...please...please...just this once...' she thought, her eyes getting getting glossy as the smoke had just cleared to reveal a large crater, no signs of him. Her heart was beating like crazy, she had never felt so helpless in her life.
She was a sanin! But just...just because of her stupid fear of blood, she was practically useless right now. She hated it! Tsunade hated being useless, her godson's life was on the line and she just wasn't able to do anything!
CRACK!
Her eyes widened a bit when she heard a crack several feet in front of her before a head burst out of it, her eyebrows lifting in pleasant surprise...
"Dammit! They didn't tell me this guy could use this explosion release."
"Naruto!" she exclaimed in relief as the blonde jumped out of the ground. Turning his head, a look of surprise took birth on his face upon seeing his godmother laying there like that, her eyes glossy.
"Kaa-chan!" he spoke, rushing to her side as he made her sit, frowning at her condition.
"N-Naru-chan...I'm sorry...I j-just can't...," Tsunade spoke in a quivering voice, a desperate expression on her face while Naruto's lips curled down at this. He hated seeing her like this.
"Don't worry Kaa-chan, nobody's going to get hurt. You just rest here," he spoke softly, creating a shadow clone with a half ram seal.
"Pretty evasive aren't you kid hmm?" he snapped his head back, staring into the sky to notice Deidara standing on a large floating clay bird, a smirk on the Iwa nin's face. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he hugged Tsunade's trembling form.
'He's a long range fighter, and while using lightning fist I wouldn't be able to perform any type of ninjutsu. Damn, taijutsu is just not possible when he keeps throwing explosive things on me from such distance. My only option is ninjutsu here. But I don't know much defensive jutsus, most of them are attacking in nature,' he thought when he noticed small clay spiders falling towards them making him curse.
'He's using Kaa-chan to get me,' he thought with a frown, mentally ordering the clone who quickly walked around to stand in front of them. Taking out a shuriken, he covered it with a layer of lightning natured chakra before jerking his arm rapidly, hurling the shuriken towards the spiders at blundering speeds.
'What's he gonna do with a shuriken?' Deidara thought with an amused look on his face when the clones went through a few hand seals, putting quite the amount of chakra in it.
"Raiton: Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Lightning Release: Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique)"
Deidara's eyes widened when about hundreds of shuriken phased into existence as they neared the spiders. Due to such overwhelming numbers, all the spiders were hit by the lightning shuriken, getting cut in half as they were immediately short circuited.
Naruto frowned when the clay bird was able to dodge those shuriken, displaying impressive speed. Tsunade however was surprised too. During the week, all Naruto had done was spar with Jiraiya, so she didn't know of his talent in ninjutsu at all.
"So, you have some talent in ninjutsu huh?" Deidara verbalized, standing on the bird making the blonde sigh. Though his eyes widened upon noticing some small clay centipedes coming out from the ground, the clone being unaware of it as it glared at Deidara.
'Shit!' he thought as he completely hugged Tsunade protectively, his back facing the spiders.
"Katsu!" Deidara exclaimed as the centipedes exploded, instantly dispelling the clone. Naruto, still clutching Tsunade to himself tightly was propelled back at blistering speeds.
He rotated himself in mid air so that Tsunade was on top of him, both of them skidding on the ground while Naruto grit his teeth in excruciating pain, now skidding to a halt.
"N-Naru-chan, you alright?" the medic asked, a concerned expression on her face as she laid on top of him with the jinchuriki hugging her protectively.
"Y-Yeah..." he muttered painfully, his one eye opened as he offered his godmother a weak smile. Both of them stayed on the ground as she continued to tremble, turning her head to notice Deidara smirking at them in amusement.
"You really weren't kidding about protecting your precious people huh? I thought you would leave her to die or something," he spoke from above as Naruto shifted sideways, slowly sitting up while gritting his teeth in pain.
'Damn it...my back...'
"Naruto-kun, you alright? Don't worry, I'll heal you right away!' Ayumi spoke frantically while Tsunade was now facing him as cupped his cheek in concern when her eyes widened as she remembered the explosion, knowing that his back was facing it.
Immediately scurrying around him, much to Naruto's hesitancy, her breathing hitched in horror upon noticing his bloody back.
'Oh no...' her right hand now covering her mouth as she gazed at the injury. His trenchcoat, jounin vest as well as the dark blue sweat shirt were completely torn while his skin was sporting several cuts with severe deep-second degree burns while blood was dripping down his back. Her phobia for blood made it even worse as she started to tremble even more while Naruto cursed inwardly. He could feel the injury being healed at extremely fast rates, but he didn't want to show her and make her blame herself even more.
Tears started to stream down Tsunade's face as she realized that this was all happening because of her. First taking such a devastating blast then followed by him skidding on the rough ground on his already injured back, she knew this was a serious injury.
Shifting his eyes, she noticed that he was also panting and sweating a bit.
'He can't fight them, he's not read to. They'll crush him,' Tsunade thought, clenching her fists in desperation.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" she snapped her head upon hearing him as four shadow clones poofed into existence around them.
Her expression morphed into a confused one when the clones started to draw something around her in a circle, their index fingers covered in white chakra, surprising her greatly.
'Fuinjutsu?'
"Stay here Kaa-chan, don't worry, I wouldn't let anything happen to anyone of us," Naruto said as he stood up, smiling at her.
"But what about-"
POOF!
"...you?" she finished as he vanished in a shunshin, the clones still drawing an intricate pattern of seals around her.
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"Kuso! My genjutsu isn't having effect on this fucker! What's going on here?" Tayuya cursed, currently standing in front of Hinata.
"I've been standing here for fifty seven seconds and all you've done is played that flute of yours. Are you even a kunoichi?" Sasori uttered making the red head grit her teeth in anger.
"Tayuya, it seems he has no chakra network at all. J-Just a small chakra core at the center of his body. Everywhere else, chakra strings are present," Hinata spoke, her Toyotama Byakugan activated while a vein popped on Tayuya's head.
"THEN WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS BEFORE?" she yelled after turning back making the Hyuga heiress lower her head.
"Gomen, I just noticed now. Earlier I was..." she trailed when the former Oto kunoichi turned back, waving her hand.
"Yeah yeah, you were too scared to do anything before," she muttered before grumbling about 'having made a fool of myself'.
"Now its my turn you pests. I've waited long enough," Sasori spoke making Tayuya narrow her eyes.
'He keeps saying he hates waiting and now he says he's waited long enough? What was he waiting for anyway?' she thought, her lips curling down.
'My fighting style is just useless against him in this fight. Genjutsu just wouldn't affect him...the only thing I can do is dodge,' she thought with a sigh while Hinata, still was too terrified to do anything, being intimidated by the bloodthirsty look in Sasori's eyes.
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"You know kid, I'm pretty surprised that you have been able to last even this long against me," Deidara verbalized, gazing at Naruto who was now standing several meters away from Tsunade.
"Whoever trained you must be good. You do seem to have the experience and instincts of fighting against an S-rank ninja, any other kid of your age should've been dead, even if they were as strong as you. So tell me, who gave you this...experience to survive?" Deidara asked in curiosity when Naruto instantly thought of his mother.
'Kaa-san...' he thought as a small smile tugged his lips, remembering what she had said the first day of his survival training with her after punching him in the gut as he writhed in pain, just after she had jumped to this timeline-
"This...is what an S-rank shinobi is Naruto, this is how much strong your so called old hokage is, this is how much strong each member of Akatsuki would be...and some of them maybe stronger even than me. Get up Naruto...because your enemies wouldn't wait for Ayumi to heal you."
'Well, here they are actually taking their time, really odd for these two,' the blonde thought as he chose to ignore Deidara's question, keeping quiet as he glared at the Iwa's missing nin.
"You know, it's odd that you haven't gone offensive yet against me. Being a jinchuriki, you're supposed to be violent and wild ne? Or is it that you're too scared to make a move hmm?" Deidara asked with his patented smirk.
"Taunting me won't get you anywhere," the whiskered blonde spoke making the clay user sigh.
"Guess...I'll do more exploding then?" he exclaimed with a crazy grin, releasing several clays of deformed shapes making the blonde crouch a bit on guard as he took out a shuriken.
His eyes however widened when those deformed clay shapes started to increase in size in mid air.
Thud! Thud! Thud!...Thud!
Several of them landed on the ground, now human sized as Naruto put back the shuriken, narrowing his eyes.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he exclaimed as several shadow clones formed beside him. All of them opened their arms a bit wide as lightning started to crackle around their clenched fists. Upon Naruto's mental command, the clones dashed towards the approaching human-like creatures at impressive speeds while Deidara's eyes widened as he noticed something.
'These shadow clones are moving faster than the original one. Was he holding back on me? Or maybe that lightning around his fists increases his speed...but that's just not possible. No...wait...' he thought, parting the bangs in front of his left eye to reveal his eyescope as he zoomed in on the shadow clones.
'Yup, he's using a small amount of lightning natured chakra beneath his feet...'
Reaching the clay creatures, they punched them in the middle at blurry speeds, piercing the clay while the original Naruto stood at some distance, an impassive look on his face.
Electric sparks coursed through the clay creatures as they fell to the ground.
KRKHH!
"Surprise!" the original Naruto's eyes widened when two hands gripped his legs as another Deidara's head popped out from the earth. Naruto snapped his head back to see Deidara standing on the bird with a smirk on his face.
'A clone? When did he have the chance to create it?' he pondered before his eyes widened in realization.
'It must've been back then, when he threw those explosive earth boulders on me. I was distracted at that moment, and he must have made a clay clone before taking off with his bird. So this clone was hiding in the ground all along?'
"Aww, that was easy hmm. Well, we need to keep you alive, though its not like you'll be dead with your legs chopped off huh?" Deidara, who was standing on the bird uttered with a cold smirk as he formed the half ram seal.
"Katsu!"
Boom!
Surprisingly, this resulted in a smaller explosion, indicating Deidara only intended to blast off his legs.
'Naruto!' both Tsunade and Hinata thought in worry, glancing at the explosion.
Deidara scrunched his eyes a bit as he tried to pierce the dust screen that had settled upon the area of impact. He sighed when he noticed that the blonde's shadow clones were still standing.
'So it was another clone huh?' he thought, turning his eyes to the clones.
Poof! Poof!...Poof!
They all dispelled themselves while only one Naruto stood, his hands encased in sparks of lightning which slowly died down, the whiskered blonde wanting to conserve his chakra.
"Oh, so you mixed yourselves with your clones huh? Not bad kyuubi jinchuriki," Deidara verbalized with a smirk while Naruto's eyes widened when he noticed something off about the bird.
'It's tail...where is its tail? I can swear I sa-'
His thoughts were abruptly interrupted when something white wrapped around his upper body tightly, also locking his arms. The blonde snapped his head, his pupils zooming out when he noticed the said tail wrapped around him.
"I'm an S-rank criminal kid, don't think you can get away with naive tricks hmm," Deidara articulated with a dark smile as Naruto struggled to get out of the iron grip the tail seemed to have.
"No use brat, the more you struggle the more it will tighten," the blonde Iwa's missing nin said as he formed his patented half ram seal while Naruto started to panic, his eyes widening.
"Naruto! Give me control quickly!" Ayumi yelled from his mindscape as he closed his eyes, waiting for the impending blast, knowing that he didn't have any time.
'No!' Tsunade thought in horror, now sitting in a barrier created by Naruto's clones.
"Katsu!"
Whoom!
A small explosion took place while Deidara snorted to himself, dust covering the area where Naruto was standing with chunks of earth flying in all directions.
"Man that was easy. Oi!" he called in the direction of Sasori, noticing his partner standing in front of a gravely injured red head who was barely standing on her feet while a Hyuga was sitting there terrified.
"What is it?" Sasori spoke in irritation.
"I think we're done here, the jinchuriki is down!" he yelled when the puppet user looked to his right, where Jiraiya was standing along with Orochimaru and Kabuto while Hinata seemed to stiffen at that.
"Are you blind Deidara?" Suna's missing nin spoke making the said blonde look where Sasori was staring for his eyes to get widen in surprise.
'What the...'
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"Phew, that was a close call now huh?" Jiraiya spoke currently standing with Fukasaku on his shoulders, Shima standing behind behind him as she stared at the terrified blonde in front of her.
"I'm...w-what happened?" Naruto asked, sitting on the ground unharmed as he tried to calm himself. His heart was beating rapidly, beads of sweat pouring down the side of his face in anxiety.
'Thank Kami you're alright...I almost had a heart attack there!" Ayumi exclaimed with a huff while the whiskered blonde took deep breaths as he slowly stood up.
"I told you toad summons would come in handy one day, didn't I?" Jiraiya said with a smirk, glancing at his godson from the corner of his eyes.
Tsunade however, sitting away from them in a barrier released a shaky breath, wiping her eyes.
'Thank Kami...Naru-chan...' she hadn't hated herself this much for being helpless her entire life now.
"W-What happened? How did I get here?" he asked, narrowing his eyes upon noticing a panting Orochimaru and a mildly injured Kabuto staring at them.
"I reverse summoned ya of course," Shima replied making his eyes widen.
"Reverse...summoned?" he asked in confusion.
"I'll explain later," the toad sanin muttered, now staring at the duo in front of him.
"With this transformation giving you so much power, I'm surprised you haven't been able to defeat these two," Naruto verbalized in confusion making Jiraiya sigh in irritation.
"I've already killed Orochimaru three times but he just keeps popping out of his own mouth while Kabuto just uses him as a shield. It seems my teammate here is using his chakra solely for the process of regeneration," he muttered making Naruto remember his fight with the snake sanin in the forest of death a month ago, where he had regenerated the same way after being poisoned by his Demonic Fox Claw taijutsu.
"Well well...looks like these frogs saved you hmm?" Deidara spoke from above with a smirk, currently standing on his bird hovering above them.
Naruto turned his head to glare at the Akatsuki nin before turning back to Orochimaru, his eyes narrowing when he realized something. He had made a promise to someone after all. Walking forward, he calmly asked...
"Orochimaru, where is Sasuke?" this made Jiraiya frown while the snake sanin, who was glaring at Naruto was surprised at the question.
"Oh? Now what would you want with Sasuke-kun?" he asked with a smirk making the blonde grit his teeth.
"It doesn't concern you! .Sasuke?" he asked heatedly when Jiraiya put a hand on Naruto's shoulder whereas Shima was keeping an eye on Deidara for any sneak attack, her sage mode activated.
'Hm...they must be wanting him due to Uchiha Mikoto, Sasuke's mother being recently revived by Kushina,' Orochimaru mused as he stayed quiet, not saying anything.
"Naruto, leave it," Jiraiya said making the blonde clench his fists in anger.
"Why haven't you used the Rinnegan yet?" this made Naruto stiffen. The blonde started to walk back, staring at Deidara when Jiraiya grabbed the back of his cloak collar roughly, which had a large hole in the middle due to his earlier injury, now completely healed.
"I asked you a question gaki," he spoke seriously making the blonde sigh.
"I...well..."
"Senpou Fuuton: Daitoppa! (Sage Art Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)" Naruto shifted his eyes while Jiraiya glanced at Shima who had just blew a destructive wave of wind from her mouth.
Dozens of clay spiders, which were approaching the group from high above in the sky were blown away in the opposite direction while the bird, on which Deidara was standing had trouble maintaining its balance.
'What crazy power? How can a summon hold such power? I'm fighting at a long rage and still her wind jutsu was this strong at such distance,' Deidara thought in awe, using chakra beneath his feet to stick to the bird as it struggled under the force of the wind attack.
Naruto's pupils were already zoomed out in shock as he stared at the effects of the jutsu. Did this little toad...just fire that wind technique?
"I don't have time to hear your reasons for this idiocity, but just look where Tayuya and Hinata are fighting Sasori of the Red Sand," Jiraiya verbalized seriously making the jinchuriki's eyes widen, he had completely forgotten about them. Turning his head quickly, his breathing hitched when he noticed Tayuya's condition.
The red head had several senbon stabbing her body, blood was leaking down her chin indicating she had suffered a critical injury. She seemed to be panting heavily, sitting on her knees as she held her rib region, a look of pain on her face while she was staring at the puppet user with half lidded eyes.
Hinata however seemed to be trembling, a look of terror on her face as she was bent down to the former Oto's kunoichi level.
'Tayuya!' he exclaimed with wide eyes, anger starting to flood his system as he clenched his fists.
"They are putting their life on the line just for you gaki while you stand here, still debating if you should use your strength to its fullest or not. Kushina would be disappointed in you Naruto," Jiraiya uttered in a solemn tone making the blonde stiffen at that.
"I wouldn't ever disappoint you Kaa-san! I will make you proud!"
"I know that you're going through a tough phase Naruto, but you you are getting selfish here. Because of your own insecurities, you're letting your precious people suffer," he continued as the whiskered blonde stood there frozen while Fukasaku and Shima were on full alert for any attacks, using sage mode to keep check of their surroundings.
"You got all depressed up after what happened with Itachi, but what about others, what about Hinata, Tsunade and Shizune? What if something happens to them? If you keep this up Naruto, your life is going to revolve around regret, hate and revenge. Eventually you'll be captured by Akatsuki and that is ultimately going to lead to Konoha's destruction. Think what you're doing now kid. I know you're not this weak hearted Naruto, or maybe that Itachi hurt you really bad. Maybe its because you never experienced the pain of forming bonds before those bonds being broken?" Jiraiya muttered, staring at his ex-teammate with somewhat soft eyes, who strangely hadn't gone in for an attack. However, not even Deidara was attacking as he stood on his bird, content on giving them their time.
Jiraiya's eyes began to get cold as he glared at Orochimaru.
"But snap out of it Naruto! This week, all I have observed is a burdened boy with dull eyes, faking his happiness just for the sake of others. The real Naruto is in there somewhere and I want him back, not some depressed scaredy cat crying over his fate!" the sanin exclaimed loudly with gritted teeth, somewhat surprising Orochimaru and Deidara while Naruto's head was currently lowered, his bangs shadowing his eyes as he stood frozen there, his fists tightly clenched at his sides.
"Hey Naruto."
"Y-Yeah"
"Are you alright, scaredy cat?"
A vision of Sasuke mocking him during the wave mission and how he had taken an oath on his blood flashed through his mind.
"It's in your fate to be weak and soft hearted. So just quit and save me some time"
Images of Neji mocking Hinata flashed through his mind.
"Ero-sennin..." Naruto choked while Ayumi stayed silent in his mind.
"I'm...confused. I...just don't know," he spoke in a low tone making Jiraiya smirk.
"You idiot, its just so simple. Have you forgotten your nindo?" he said making Naruto lift his head in surprise.
"What do you fight for? Why did you train so hard before?"
'Nindo?' the word felt so foreign for him, he had completely forgotten about it. His ninja way? Something he yelled about never giving up?
"What awakened your Rinnegan? What gave you the second level of Rinnegan? What pushed you so hard during the invasions?" the toad sage asked with a serious expression, the blonde's eyes widening as he remembered all the major events in his life since he had entered Forest of Death a month ago.
Itachi killing his precious people awakened his doujutsu.
"Don't c-cry N-Naru-kun…..I-I'm ha-happy….I-I'm dying…'cough' while p-protecting you."
It took Anko to be stabbed in the gut by Sasuke's katana for him to awaken the second level of Rinnegan. Even with all of his reserves exhausted, he had still somehow pushed himself beyond his limits to save a dying Hiruzen.
"When you have someone precious you want to protect, only then will you get strong."
'Haku...' the blonde jinchuriki thought as his eyes widened in realization before they returned to their normal size, his lips tugging upwards as he released a shaky breath.
"Don't worry, you'll get strong...very strong."
"Arigatou...Jiraiya-sensei," he muttered making the toad sage glance at him in surprise when the blonde glanced towards his left, where Shizune and Guren were fighting.
Both Shizune and Guren seemed to be panting, the crystal user having already been low on chakra after almost going all out on Tsunade. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he began to build up some chakra.
"Shima-sama, would you mind assisting Naruto here in his fight? Fukasaku-sama can keep me long enough in sage mode," Jiraiya verbalized making her nod as she jumped to land on Naruto's shoulder making the blonde glance at her.
"See ya Pa! Lets go Naruto-chan!" Shima exclaimed making him nod with a serious expression, though he looked a bit uncomfortable with a toad on his shoulder.
"You know, you should worry for that red haired friend of yours. Sasori-sama is stronger than me after all," Deidara said with a smirk, still not having launched an attack making Naruto glance at him in surprise.
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"I suggest you two run away while you can. Though the redhead one is going to die anyway. She's been lethally affected by my poison and will last at a maximum of a day now," Sasori uttered, currently standing without his Akatsuki cloak, his puppet Hiruku on full display.
"T-Tayuya...please don't push yourself like this," Hinata said shakily, her quivering hands on the red head's shoulder who was panting rather heavily, her breathing ragged. It seemed one of Sasori's poisoned senbon had damaged one or both of her lungs.
"I'm a-alright...just s-stay the fuck beh-behind me," Tayuya breathed out, but it was no use she knew that. Her world was spinning while her whole body was going numb now due to the poison.
'I...I have to do something. I can't Tayuya die, she has risked her life for us!' the Hyuga heiress thought frantically as she turned her head, her eyes widening upon looking into the eyes of the scorpion, exuding crazy amounts of killer intent.
"Now lets see what your Byakugan can do little Hyuga," Sasori verbalized roughly, narrowing his eyes while Hinata's body was currently gripped in fear.
'I-Its really no use. I wouldn't last ten seconds against an S-rank shinobi like him. He doesn't even have any sort of chakra network. All I see are several chakra strings attached to a core, my gentle fist wouldn't be any match for him. We have to retreat!' she thought when Tayuya began to fall back.
"Tayuya!" Hinata exclaimed in worry as she caught Tayuya's falling form in her arms. The red head was breathing heavily, sweat pouring down her skin as Hinata wiped the blood off her forehead.
"Fine then...if you wouldn't do anything, I will!" Sasori exclaimed as he opened his mouth, firing a barrage of poisoned needles again at her.
Hinata sat there, too terrified to do anything while the extremely fast senbon approached them as she closed her eyes shut, waiting for the impact.
Squelch! Squelch!...Squelch!
"Naruto-chan!"
...
"Oh?"
Upon hearing Sasori's surprised grunt, Hinata opened her eyes to notice Naruto standing in front of her, a small toad on his left shoulder.
"N-Naruto-kun?" she voiced in a low tone, her eyes widening in horror. The blonde slowly slid to one knee as he turned his head slightly, a thin line of blood streaming down his chin.
"You o-okay Hinata-chan?" he asked, his one eye closed as she stared at him wide eyed.
"I'm okay, but, why did you do that?" she asked barely above a whisper in a bit of desperation. Putting Tayuya's head gently on the ground, she quickly rushed to his side, her heart constricting upon noticing the whole of his upper body stabbed with senbon.
"O-Oh Kami..." she muttered, putting a hand on her mouth as tears gathered in her eyes.
"I told ya to wait and let me fire a wind jutsu!" Shima exclaimed making the blonde shake his head.
"We didn't have much time...the attack was extremely fast, besides we were...out of r-range," he spoke while stuttering whereas tears were freely leaking Hinata's face as she glanced at Tayuya before turning to him.
'It's all my fault...they are fighting like true shinobi, without any fear while I'm...just too scared to lift even a single finger,' she inwardly thought as her hands began to tremble.
"Do you have a death wish kyuubi jinchuriki? You have been hit twice by my poison now," Sasori commented, somewhat impressed that the blonde had taken the barrage of senbon on himself.
"Nah, that's just what he calls protecting his precious people. And whoa...that's quite the pin cushion we've got hmm?" Deidara spoke from above casually, sitting on his clay bird cross-legged with a smirk on his face. Hinata stiffened as she heard him. The phrase 'protecting his precious people' ringing in her ears.
"Gama b-baa-chan, can you hop off my sh-shoulder for a bit," Naruto uttered, his eyes half lidded as he could feel the poison acting. Shima was about to object when she noticed his eyes, despite in so much pain, they were full of determination, icy cold as he stared at Sasori. Holding her tongue, she jumped off his shoulder to land beside Hinata.
"Ayumi-chan, can you lend me some chakra?" he asked before getting an immediate reply.
"Of course Naruto-kun!" she exclaimed, wanting to help her lover in any way she could. A small smile tugged the blonde's lips as he closed his eyes.
'This feeling...' Sasori and Deidara were immediately on alert while Shima had her eyes widened in shock.
'He's deliberately using kyuubi's chakra?'
Hinata too had her eyes widened as she watched his features getting feral, a look of deep concentration on his face.
"You've got to throw more than j-just some senbon and bombs you bastards!" he exclaimed with a smirk, his hair getting spikier, whiskers getting deepened while his eyes turned red with a black slit in them.
Hinata though was shocked, she hadn't seen that look on his face since the invasion. Suddenly brief flashback of him loudly proclaiming his dream in the academy entered her mind.
"Yeah laugh all you want! Someday I'm gonna be the Hokage!"
That stubborn determination...
"No way I never go back on my word, that's my way of the ninja!"
That will to never give up...
"Even if I can't change the views of the villagers who have witnessed what happened twelve years ago, but I can definitely shape the views of younger generation towards me and I'll do it!"
That positive look in his eyes...
"I no longer sought to become the Hokage just because of acknowledgement Hinata-chan, its because I want to protect this village, the upcoming generation. I know I have the power to do it!"
That attitude...even in this situation, it all was coming back.
She lowered her head as wind began to rustle their hair due to Ayumi's youki when the stabbed senbon were pushed out from his body with a jerk as they flew in random directions making Sasori's eyes widen a bit.
'I've always watched you from afar, as you loudly and so confidently stated your dream, wanting to walk with you, stand with you,' Hinata thought, her eyes shadowed as she wiped her tears.
'Then I started to stand beside you, watching you mature. I first promised myself to walk in your footsteps, but that slowly changed as I wanted to walk with you. There were many times you fell, and several times I wasn't there to pick you up, but you were always there for me. Even in your weak moments, you always had a smile for me. I... I then started to walk with you, impressing you and everyone else with my skills, my developments. I finally had a dream- I want to remove the cage bird seal and be with you for the rest of my life,' she pondered as all the cuts of Naruto's body were now healed.
"That demonic chakra wouldn't be able to destroy my poison if that's what you're thinking," Sasori uttered while Shima stared at Naruto in curiosity, still on alert in her sage mode for any possible sneak attacks.
"Ayumi-chan, block all of your chakra now," Naruto inwardly spoke making the bijuu nod as she stopped the leaking of her chakra from the seal.
'But now...its just like before. Here you are, again protecting me, following your nindo when you're the one who's in most danger here. Everytime I catch upto you to stand with you, to walk with you, I somehow get left behind as you walk past me. It just keeps happening, I keep chasing you,' the Hyuga heiress thought, clenching her fists while Naruto had his eyes closed in concentration- already knowing that Shima would take care of any attacks.
'To counter the poison, I have to increase the flow of chakra in my coils,' he thought with a serious expression, trusting the healing properties of his chakra while he could feel his body going numb due to the poison.
THUP!
Slamming his palms into one another, Naruto began to build up his chakra, tapping into his Uzumaki level reserves as his chakra levels began to sky rocket.
'What's he doing?' Shima thought while Sasori narrowed his eyes as he noticed the white glowing layer of chakra which was currently surrounding Naruto.
"Kugutsu no Jutsu: Gishu Senbon (Puppet Technique: Prosthetic Arm Needles)" Sasori muttered as he fired his torpedo-shaped left arm towards Naruto. Shima's eyes widened upon sensing the attack as she snapped her head, her eyes widening as the speed was much higher than his previous attack. She started to go through some handseals as the torpedo arm, which was currently rotating at blurry speeds launched the wooden cylinders attached to it. The cylinders immediately opened, further firing a rapid rain of poisoned senbon, increasing its speed in the process as they were nothing but a blur, even to Shima's eyes.
'Kuso! I wouldn't be able to make it in time!' the mother of toads thought as she continued to do handseals while the blurred senbon approached them.
Naruto, opening his icy cerulean blue eyes, lifted his right arm.
"Shinr-" he abruptly stopped when Hinata appeared in front of him, his eyes widening in surprise upon noticing her body glowing a blue in color, intensifying by the second.
'No more! From now on, I'll walk with you, tightly holding your hand. I will not let you get past me and bear your burdens alone!' Hinata thought with a serious expression as she started to rotate, dispelling chakra from her body all the while.
"Kaiten Mitama! (Megami's Spirit in Revolving Heaven)" he heard her yell as instantly, a large rotating dome of blue chakra formed around them, covering Naruto, Shima as well as Tayuya in its radius.
Sasori's eyes widened in shock not when all the needles were deflected easily, but by the fact as to how large the dome was and that he could spot a rough white glowing figure in the center of the dome.
BOOM!
He shifted his eyes upwards upon noticing something explode on top of the dome.
'So she also was able to see Deidara's sneak attack coming?' he thought in surprise as the chakra dome slowly died down to reveal the group completely unharmed.
'H-How did she saw my clay spiders so early? I swear I'd got them. Even with the Byakugan she shouldn't have been able to see them coming at such a large distance and then jmhave the time to react. Was it just a fluke?' Deidara thought in shock, now standing on the clay bird with a frown on his face.
Naruto and Shima however had expressions of disbelief on their faces.
"H-Hinata..." the blonde trailed as he stood there, watching her back as her shoulder length hair rustled with the wind- his chakra levels still raised to counter the poison.
'I've heard of the technique 'Kaiten' of the Hyuga clan, but this technique...is this an upgraded version?' Shima thought in surprise.
'Kaiten doesn't produce such amount of chakra and it is only meant to protect the user, not the others along with the user itself. This new Kaiten...it has to be the result of her Toyotama Byakugan for sure,' he thought in awe when the said Hyuga heiress turned her head slightly, glancing at the blonde from the corner of her eyes- her Toyotama Byakugan activated.
"Sorry to jump in like that Naruto-kun, but had I not...we would have been hit by the bombs from that clay user above us," she spoke, shocking him greatly while Shima had a serious expression on her face.
'It seems her range of vision has increased since last time. For her to react in time in accordance to Deidara's bombs, she must have had seen them coming from just when he released them, and that's quite the distance,' he pondered with a serious expression before answering her.
"No...its thanks to you that we're alive Hinata-chan," this made her smile a bit as she nodded, her eyes focused on the puppet user in front of her.
He then lifted his head to gaze at Deidara with narrowed eyes.
"Gama baa-chan, can you help Hinata-chan here? I'll be fine by myself," he spoke, still staring upwards making her nod.
"Leave it ta me," she assured as he lowered his head. Forming a shadow clone, he tilted his head towards Tayuya making the clone nod.
"Take care Hinata-chan. Just keep defending, this will soon be over," the whiskered blonde muttered before vanishing into a burst of electric sparks to appear several meters away from them.
Deidara lifted an eyebrow as he noticed Naruto staring at him while his clay bird flew towards the waiting blonde.
Naruto sighed to himself as he clenched his fists.
'Sorry Ero-senin, but sometimes attack is the best defense. Now to get rid of that annoying bird. There has to be a limited amount of clay that guy can use,' Naruto thought with a serious expression as he started to go through a set of familiar hand seals, pouring lightning natured chakra in his right hand before slamming it on the ground.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
POOF!
The smoke cleared to show a red skinned dragon, pale brown scales on its frontal body with a large battle scar on it, two large wings which were larger as compared to his smaller body, eyes dark green with one claw on each limb. Another noticeable characteristic was the insignia of yellow bolts on each of its wings.
"Naruto-sama...," the dragon bowed, its voice being of typical rough nature.
"Feilong, I need your help here. I don't have time to explain much," the jinchuriki muttered as he began to tell the dragon of the basics regarding Deidara's abilities.
'That dragon...I've never heard of a dragon summoning contract before,' Deidara thought, using his eye scope as he took out several clay fireflies from his pouch.
'Idiots...they gave me enough time to prepare. Lets see if you see these minute fireflies coming kid,' he thought with a smirk when Naruto created several shadow clones making him curious as to what the blonde was planning.
'His battle tactics seem to have taken a complete one-eighty turn,' the ex-terrorist bomber mused, curious as to what had brought the sudden change.
"Alright guys, you know what to do," Naruto spoke as he climbed onto Feilong's back while they nodded.
"Here we go," the blonde muttered as the lightning dragon took off with impressive speeds, its large wings giving them more speed as Naruto approached Deidara into the sky.
'Well this is getting interesting,' Deidara thought as the bird opened its mouth, shooting off several clay shuriken making the blonde narrow his eyes, currently grabbing onto the dragons shoulder with his knees set on its back using chakra while his trenchcoat was flapping wildly due to their speed.
"Shoot Feilong!" he exclaimed as the lightning dragon opened his mouth in its flight. Lightning started to gather in his mouth in the form of a purple ball, electric sparks shooting off in random directions before he fired it towards the oncoming shuriken.
The lightning ball sailed towards the shuriken at blistering speeds. Just when the lightning ball reached the shuriken, Feilong's eyes glowed purple when...
CRRRKKHH!
The ball exploded into uncountable sparks of electricity as all the clay shuriken were hit several times, rendering them useless.
The duo continued to dash towards Deidara while Naruto started to go through some handseals, wind ruffling his hair wildly. Feilong again opened its mouth, this time firing the same attack towards the bird on which Deidara was standing.
The blonde Akatsuki nin smirked as the bird easily dodged the attack by flying sideways, getting out of its range as Naruto along with Feilong neared them.
'Yeah, come on kid...' Deidara thought with a smirk, the fireflies clenched in his hands while the bird stayed in its position.
'Now!' Naruto thought as he jumped off from Feilong in midair. Having used a chakra enhanced jump, he sailed higher into the sky leaving Deidara below before descending on them.
'He really does charges head on...' Deidara thought with a smirk as the approaching blonde reared his right fist while the clay bird again shot several clay shuriken towards an approaching Feilong.
"Take...this!" Naruto exclaimed as he brought his fist towards Deidara's face...
Whoosh!
'Too slow...' the blonde Iwa nin thought, all the while smirking as he dodged Naruto's punch. Forced to go with his momentum, the blonde continued to descend as he passed the bird when Feilong flew to below him as he again landed on the lightning dragon's back.
Deidara smirked as he stared at the fireflies crawling on Naruto's trenchcoat.
'Art is a'
"Blast!"
Boom!
"Argh!" Naruto exclaimed in pain as he was sent flying towards the ground, having lost his balance on Feilong while smoke was arising from his back.
'This should teach that cocky brat a lesson,' Deidara thought when his eyes widened upon noticing Naruto's body fade into nothing, along with Feilong.
'What the...genjutsu?' he pondered, his eyes widening in realization as he quickly formed the ram seal.
"Kai!"
His eyes widened in slow motion when the next thing he saw was Naruto, several inches away as the blonde flew towards him with a white glowing ball of spiraling chakra in his right hand.
'Too late!' Naruto exclaimed inwardly, his narrowed eyes blazing with Rinnegan as he brought the glowing sphere towards where Deidara's heart was.
"RASENGAN!" the blonde yelled as he slammed the attack into Deidara's flesh, gritting his teeth as the ball of chakra rotated into the flesh.
"Nrghh!" the blonde Iwa nin exclaimed in pain when...
Boom!
The Rasengan exploded a bit sending him spiraling down from the bird, on a crashing course towards the ground.
Naruto landed on Feilong's back while the bird too started to descend towards the ground, having been electrocuted by Feilong's attack.
Deidara's one eye was closed as he sailed towards the ground, his shoulder bleeding after having deflected the attack at the last second.
He then released a small clay bird from his hand as it enlarged quickly, catching him in midair before he could crash into the ground.
Naruto landed on the ground along with Feilong, staring into Deidara's eyes with his Rinnegan, the latter of whom was crouched on the bird, holding his right bleeding shoulder as he glared at the whiskered blonde.
'Damn it! Kisame told me this jinchuriki's genjutsu was non-existent,' Deidara thought with gritted teeth as he lifted his left hand to remove the eye scope from his left eye.
"Why you...fine brat! I was going easy on you but no more games!" Deidara exclaimed as he stood up, an angry expression on his face while Naruto stared at him with his somewhat glowing Rinnegan, his eyes icy cold.
"Bring it on."
Wow...this was 8K+ long chapter. Lol
Okay, now coming to this issue of FF following its policy on fiction ratings and deleting some fics. I don't know really...but really, this news did disturb me pretty badly. I mean, so many authors have worked so hard, gaining reviews and hits and they're just gonna delete all that in an instant? Now, coming to my fics, for the first time, I'm happy that my lemon content has been down...lol. The first lemon in this fic comes in ch 21 whereas TBD and TJN don't have any lemons at all, so yeah...looking positively, the chances of my main stories being deleted are very slim. Don't know about my one shots though. But that doesn't mean I'll stop writing lemons. ! Now in response to the shit these guys have pulled, I'm gonna pull even more lemons than planned...so when Naruto returns Konoha, prepare yourself! I'm especially going to explore the girls who haven't had much screen time, but the main ones wouldn't be ignored too lol. I still believe that romance can't be complete in a fic without lemons and I'll write lemons as much as I want to. ' . .shit! And I guess most of you are already aware of the petition on , so for those who haven't yet, go and sign it.
Now coming to this very low probability scenario of my fics being deleted or me being banned from this site, in that case...'rubbing my head'...'sigh'...really, I don't know what to do. I guess I'll stop writing or something...or just make another account on this site to continue. I don't think I'll post on other sites like AdultFF cause...c'mon, lets face it, has the best response for Naruto fics...or any other stories I guess. So if I post, it has to be this site. Or I can go to dA too, but seriously...that site isn't for stories mainly, only about 10% or so people there I think read fanfics on that site. But really...if my fics get deleted...'sniff'...my precious reviews...'hugs them tightly'. But hey, at least I want to reach 3K mark before anything possibly happens. :)
Enough of my ramblings though, lets not get sad and enjoy ourselves...while we can...lol jk. So the usual, review, next chapter's been written, and prepare for some lemons! XD
See you guys in the next chapter! It should be up around coming 16th though :D
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