Naruto: Konoha's Arrancar Shinobi
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Bleach; if I did I wouldn't be poor, and I would have legions of fans outside my home.
Please read the author's note at the bottom.
"I'm Batman" Regular Speech
"I'm Batman" Inner Thought
"I'm Batman" Jutsu/ technique
"I'm Batman" Demonic Speech
Chapter 2: Showdown
Last time:
Iruka swallowing lump in his throat, cleared his throat to get the figure's attention. "Naruto?" he asked hesitantly, praying that this person was still the Naruto he knew.
The figure turned to him and smiled revealing his incredibly sharp looking canine teeth. "You bet sensei… I'm back and better than ever…believe it" Naruto said with a smirk with light chuckle at the end, his hands shoved in his jacket's pockets. Turning his attention to Mizuki, Naruto narrowed his eyes and cracked his neck before hoping out of the crater, landing right in front of Iruka. "Now where were we?
Now here we go the big fight Naruto the Arrancar vs. Tony the Ti… whoops I mean Mizuki the Human Fur Ball…fight.
(Forests outside Konoha: Random Clearing)
Iruka could only stare in absolute awe, his brain trying to come up with some rational explanation as to how the lovable goofball he knew, was in fact the same person standing protectively in front of him. 'Naruto…is that still you? Are you still the same kid who dreams of being Hokage? Or have you changed completely?' Iruka thought, his mind flip-flopping between images of the old Naruto and images of the individual claiming to be him.
Mizuki glared hatefully at Naruto, realizing that little light show just announced their current position to every ANBU and jonin in the village. "Nice trick Gaki, but it doesn't matter what you do…there is no way you can possibly defeat me" Mizuki growled out, trying to keep up his tough façade.
Naruto stared at him intensely for a few moments, his head cocked to the side, before lowering his gaze. Mizuki smirked at this, thinking that the Demon-Gaki finally realized he was utterly outmatched and lowered his head in defeat. That ridiculous sentiment was shattered, when the Naruto's shoulders started moving up and down. Not from crying as Mizuki would have liked, but in laughter. A cold, mocking chuckle escaped from Naruto's mouth, which gradually increased in volume before he erupted into hysterical laughter.
"WHATS SO FUNNY DEMON?" Mizuki bellowed out in rage, his face contorted into a feral sneer. 'How dare this…abomination laugh at me' Mizuki thought, clenching his fists tightly in anger.
Naruto, after a few moments, finally managed to a get a hold of his laughter, with that he lifted his head up and stared Mizuki right in the eyes. "I'm laughing at you and at your supposed invincibility. You believe just because you got a power boost from a cursed hikey, that you can beat me. You're a sad little man Tora-Teme, with delusions of grandeur that you couldn't possibly achieve. Let's not forget, thanks to the actions of our 'esteemed' village elders I wasn't even a tenth of my real strength when we started this. So congratulations Mizuki, you succeed in beating around a thirteen year old child with a record setting amount of seals on him. Does that make you feel like big man? Huh, Mizuki." Naruto taunted, his eyes not once leaving Mizuki. His posture was totally relaxed, as if he didn't even consider him threat at all.
With each word that came from Naruto's mouth, Mizuki only grew angrier and angrier until he could take no more. With a bestial roar he launched himself at Naruto with the intent to utterly crush him, his feet leaving spider web cracks on the ground. Mizuki threw a punch straight at Naruto's torso; aiming to crack all of his ribs in one go and send them into his lungs. Only for Naruto to lazily throw up one of his hands and catch his punch at full impact, seeing as how the ground beneath Naruto cracked under the force.
"Is that the best you can do? Pity, and here I was hoping to get an exciting fight. Oh well, I guess you always get what you want?" Naruto drawled out with a yawn, a look of absolute boredom and disappointment adorning his face. Before Mizuki could even blink, Naruto struck out with a palm strike with his unoccupied hand, hitting Mizuki square in the chest.
Mizuki barely had time to breathe before he was shot backwards about thirty feet or so, until his back collided with a tree. 'What the hell was that? It felt like I just got hit with a freaking sledge hammer. How strong has this brat become? This isn't going to be as easy as I thought' Mizuki wondered, rubbing his sore chest, before getting up and assuming a combat stance. Not wasting a moment, Mizuki charged forward with his elbow on a collision course with Naruto' face.
At the very last second, Naruto ducked low to avoid the blow while leaping slightly aside, before delivering multiple vicious uppercuts to Mizuki's unguarded kidney. Before he could even consider grabbing is injured side, Mizuki was suddenly assaulted from behind via a roundhouse kick to the back of his head. Mizuki stumbled forward a bit before lashing out behind him with a back handed strike. Said strike was blocked by Naruto's forearm, unfortunately for our hero Mizuki capitalized on this. Turning on his heel slightly he quickly withdrew his arm and rushed forward, his shoulder successfully making contact.
After ramming Naruto into one the few remaining trees in the clearing, Mizuki brutally kneed Naruto in the stomach. Naruto let out a pain filled gasp as he folded over; seemingly shocked by Mizuki's surprisingly painful blow, though thankful it wasn't nearly as painful as it could have been. Grinning evilly, Mizuki unleashed a powerful uppercut that sent our hero's head snapping upwards, his body lifted off the ground a few feet. Mizuki, however, was far from finished wailing on Naruto. With a mightily yell, Mizuki delivered a palm strike of his own, directly into our disorientated hero's chest, sending him flying out of the clearing.
"NARUTO" Iruka shouted in panic, trying to get up and help his student only for him to clutch his broken ribs. 'Damn it all' Iruka thought, as he watched on helplessly, cursing himself not for being stronger.
"Well that was easier than expected, looks like the demon was all talk after all. Now that it's dead, it's your turn now Iruka. Don't worry, on account of our past friendship I'll make it quick" Mizuki said with an insane gleam in his eyes, making it clear to Iruka that Mizuki didn't give any semblance of a fuck about killing him.
A nervous sweat went down Iruka's body, which only got worse with every step Mizuki took towards him. As Mizuki got closer and closer, Iruka's heart started beating faster. The worst part of this entire cluster-fuck of a situation, Iruka surmised, was all he could do was sit there and wait for Mizuki to kill him.
However Kami seemed fit to cut Iruka a break, when a yellow and white streak appeared out of no where and set Mizuki backwards. Said streak turned out to be a pissed off looking Naruto, who glared at Mizuki with such contempt.
"I thought I made it clear the first time. If you touched Iruka-sensei again, I said I would kill you and I intend to keep my word" Naruto said angrily, before turning his head slightly and flashed the shocked Iruka a small grin. Without wasting a single moment, Naruto launched himself towards Mizuki. Kicking off the ground, Naruto maneuvered his body in midair and delivered a perfect double kick to Mizuki's face. Using Mizuki's face as a spring board, Naruto back flipped onto the ground, before delivering a barrage of punches that sent Mizuki out of the clearing.
'Damn it. Naruto please be alright' Iruka thought, mulling over his uselessness at this moment time, unable to help his student in any way. Resolving to himself that if he made it out of this situation alive, he would train his ass off to make sure this never happened again.
(Random Clearing)
After crashing through countless trees and shrubs, Mizuki wound up in another clearing about fifty or so feet away from Iruka's position. Finally coming to a halt, Mizuki took a series of pain filled breaths, each intake of air igniting pain throughout his upper body. Numerous bruises littered Mizuki's torso, each one correlating with one of Naruto's punches. Blood trickled down from his busted lip, before falling to the ground below. 'Fucking hell…if I waste anymore time here, I'm guaranteed to be caught by the ANBU. They'll send me to Ibiki for sure' Mizuki thought, before involuntarily shivering at the thought of meeting the head of the Torture and Interrogation Department.
His inner thoughts were interrupted by the sound of…a sonic boom. He didn't have much time to ponder this before a sent flying again by a kick to the face. Rubbing his sore jaw, Mizuki raised his head and glared hatefully at Naruto, who returned it in full. Ignoring the agonizing pain sweeping through his body, Mizuki shakily stood up, his chest heaving with labored breaths. A white hot rage flowed through Mizuki's veins at seeing the small smirk that was plastered on Naruto's face.
"Don't you dare mock me DEMON" Mizuki roared out in anger, while more dark, vile chakra swirled around his form once more, obscuring Mizuki from view. It continued to grow until Mizuki was little more than a twisted silhouette to Naruto's perspective. Gritting his teeth, Mizuki forced more and more chakra from the seal, his overwhelming rage taking over his common sense. The sound of cloth ripping and tearing echoed through out the clearing, as Mizuki's muscles expanded to ridiculous proportions. Mizuki's pain filled grunts were easily audible to Naruto, whom stood there watching with keen interest. Finally the vile chakra subsided, slowly revealing the newly transformed Mizuki in all his monstrous glory.
He now stood at roughly 7'4", his entire body bulging with insane amounts muscle, which had grown about to twice the size they were from the last transformation. Mizuki's body was now covered in short orange and white fur with black stripes littering his form, making him look more like a tiger than ever. All that remained of his clothes were his now tattered pants that barley hung on to his body and a few pouches attached to his belt that somehow survived. His face was now twisted in an animalistic scowl, befitting his new appearance Mizuki's ears lengthened considerably, the tips of his ears almost reaching the top his head. Steam shrouded Mizuki's hands and feet for a moment, before revealing the clawed appendages.
Mizuki's body shook for a moment, before throwing his head back and laughing manically. 'I can feel the power coursing through my veins…this is more than I ever could have imagined. No one can match my power now, Orochimaru-sama actually delivered on his promise' Mizuki thought inwardly, basking in the glow of his artificial power.
"Can you feel it demon? This is what real power feels like, and with it…, he he, I will kill you for the humiliation you put me through." Mizuki gloated, his voice full of arrogance, looked down at his hands as he studied his newly acquired claws with a sick fascination. This went on for a few seconds before Mizuki let a bloodcurdling war cry and rushed towards Naruto with the force of a stampede. So, mid-stride, Mizuki clocked his arm back and, with a mighty yell, jumped up in the air brought his arm down into a furious punch downwards towards Naruto's body.
Naruto, in turn, jumped backwards just in time to avoid Mizuki's punch which got imbedded deep in the ground. Snarling in rage Mizuki violently tore his arm out of the cold, unforgiving ground and charged at Naruto like a angry bull, with his arms spread out and claws at the ready. Mizuki lashed out with a powerful claw strike, which Naruto dodged easily; further pissing off Mizuki. Forgoing any sense of form or technique, Mizuki just started swiping at Naruto, hoping to claw out his throat, who continued to dodge Mizuki's attacks. This went on for a few moments before Naruto decided that enough was enough.
Instead of dodging Mizuki's feral strike, Naruto threw his arm up and knocked Mizuki's arm astray, leaving him open. Quickly getting inside Mizuki's guard, Naruto delivered a picture perfect uppercut to Mizuki's chin, forcing his head back as he let out a grunt of pain. Pressing his advantage, Naruto quickly kneed Mizuki in the stomach, the force of which caused Mizuki to almost fold in half.
'What…the…hell? How the hell is this abomination so strong' Mizuki thought, as blood escaped from his gaping mouth and falling to the ground, staining the earth red. Mizuki's body temporarily stopped moving on its own, only standing up thanks to Naruto's fist firmly planted in Mizuki's gut.
"So this is the peak of your tainted power, hm? This is what you were boasting about like an arrogant blow hard. Simply pathetic! Though, I should have expected this from trash such as yourself" Naruto said in a dull monotone, his voice void of emotion and as cold as the never ending winters of Yuki no Kuni. Naruto finally dislodged his fist from Mizuki's stomach, allowing the overgrown fur ball to fall to the ground. Or at least he would have, had Naruto not kicked him square in the chest, sending him flying fifteen feet.
Mizuki, who finally could feel his limbs again, quickly threw his arms down and used his massive claws to anchor himself to the ground. Clutching his battered torso, Mizuki heaved as he struggled to take even the smallest of breaths. Mizuki shakily raised his head, and glared at Naruto with every ounce of hate he could muster. This was soon replaced by a slight look of confusion, as Mizuki looked at Naruto closely and seemingly his new appearance.
The first thing Mizuki noticed was the shift in Naruto's posture; previously he was relaxed and partially slouching over. But now his body was ramrod straight, his posture was rigid and machine-like, thus without any noticeable flaw. His skin was lightly paler than it before, going from a deep tan to a lighter skin tone. His normally spiky hair seemingly lost its life, as it was now completely straightened and a little darker than normal. His eyes were cold and void of all emotion, which reminded a lot of the Hyuuga Clan's Byakugan. To Mizuki, the worst thing about Naruto's eyes was the feeling that he was peering into your very soul.
Before Mizuki could ponder any more on whether or not Naruto was fucking with him, Naruto formed a cross hand-seal and exclaimed "Kage Bushin no Jutsu". Within a fraction of a second two puffs of smoke appeared on either side of him. When the smoke cleared it revealed two clones of Naruto standing next to him, both of which had the same emotionless mask on their faces.
"Let's start round two shall we" Naruto said coldly, nodding to his clones, they nodded before rushing Mizuki. Mizuki grit his teeth and willed his body up, and in a flash was charging the clones head on.
(Meanwhile with Iruka)
'Come on already, move dammit' Iruka thought angrily as he once again attempted to get up and help Naruto. Alas for poor Iruka, his busted ribs prevented him from even getting up due to the massive amounts of pain that shot through his body when he tried. His inner thoughts were cut off by the sound of leaves rustling, and not the kind caused by the wind. Oh no, this was the kind of rustling caused by someone or something making there way thru it.
Mentally praying that the sound he was hearing wasn't Mizuki coming back to kill him, Iruka kept his eyes locked on to the direction the sound was originating from. Iruka's worries were alleviated when two ANBU operatives burst from the sea of leaves surrounding Konoha.
The first ANBU was obviously female, she had long purple hair that ended somewhere around her ass and her lower back. On her face she wore a porcelain neko mask with three red stripes adorning it. She wore standard ANBU armor, which consisted of a light grey padded flak jacket that covered her entire torso. On the left of her back, was a long black katana, ready at a moment's notice to be unsheathed. On her arms she wore black gloves which went all the way to her mid bicep, with grey forearm bracers on top. An ANBU tattoo was easily visible on her right shoulder. She wore light black pants, with bandages wrapped around her right thigh and to top it all off she wore standard black shinobi sandals.
The second ANBU was a tall male, with spiky brown hair, easily visible behind his porcelain tora mask with green and red markings adorning it. His attire was the same standard uniform as his compatriot though his ANBU tattoo was on his left shoulder and his sword was on the right side of his back instead of the left.
"Are you alright Umino-san?" Neko asked Iruka, as another ANBU arrived on the scene and proceeded to begin healing his wounds. Iruka sighed in relief when the medical chakra made contact with his ribs, which he could feel already mending themselves back together.
"Much better now thank you…but that's not important now! You have to go and help Naruto before something terrible happens" Iruka replied frantically, his tone panicky and with each word only got more and more worried.
"Uzumaki-san? Why should we assist him, seeing as how he stole the Sacred Scroll of Sealing?" Neko replied, confusion evident in her voice. She spared a look at her fellow ANBU hoping to see if they could shine some light on the subject. Alas they just as confused as she was. Seeing as they were any help Neko turned her attention back to Iruka and said "Please elaborate Umino-san, what exactly happened here?" After securing the scroll the ANBU in the tora mask made his way over to where Iruka was, intend on getting to the bottom of the debacle.
Sighing to himself, Iruka took a deep breath and recalled the events leading up to this point. He told them everything, from failing Naruto earlier than day to Naruto tackling Mizuki out of the clearing. By the end of the tale, every ANBU there was up to speed on what really happened.
"I see…so Mizuki is the traitor and Uzumaki-san was simply a pawn in his scheme" Neko summed up aloud, resisting the urge to remove her mask and rub her temples to get rid of the headache that brewing in her head. Turning head towards her fellow ANBU, she went through several ANBU handsigns, relaying their new orders without ever saying a word. Nodding in return the tora ANBU formed a ram seal and disappeared in a flurry of leaves.
"Umino-san I have done all can for now, your ribs should be back to full strength in about a week. But for now I need to take you hospital to rest" said the tori masked ANBU who healed him, as he helped Iruka up and slid an arm over his shoulder.
"No, don't take me to the hospital yet! I have to make sure Naruto is safe and sound" Iruka pleaded desperately. Tori sighed, before glancing at Neko who begrudgingly nodded. Neko calmly walked over to Tori and Iruka and placed her hand on Tori's shoulder and with a simple hand sign they were gone. The last thought that went through Iruka's mind was 'please be safe Naruto'
(Naruto's position)
"Dammit stay still you little DEMON" Mizuki snarled out, as he once again failed to make contact with Naruto's clones. As this was going on in the real Naruto observed with a critical eye, steadily taking in every bit to of information he could glean from Mizuki's fighting style.
Deciding he had seen enough Naruto rushed forward with a quick Sonido, and prepared to fire off a haymaker to the side of Mizuki's face. However this did not work out well a Naruto's favor, but he failed to take into account was Mizuki's now enhanced hearing. It was only thanks to his advanced hearing that barely allowed Mizuki to turn in time to avoid Naruto's fist from firmly planting itself in his face. Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, Mizuki quickly pivoted on his heel and delivered a devastating backhand to Naruto's midsection which sent him flying.
Following this up a Mizuki managed to grab one of the clones head, and with a quick jerk of his arm broke its neck, making it disappear in to a puff of smoke. The other clone having seen this, it quickly jumped back to avoid its clone brethren's fate. At least it would have, unfortunately Mizuki leapt forward in a burst of speed before it could jump back and with a mighty roar slit its throat, and like its brethren it to disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Mizuki smirked confidently, his ego increasing having successfully killing both of Naruto's clones. "No more playing around you little bastard! Doton: Underground Projection Fish Jutsu" Mizuki shouted arrogantly, as he went to a number of hand-seals. Suddenly his form started to sink into the ground, Mizuki smirked before he completely disappeared into the earth, seemingly leaving Naruto alone in the clearing.
'This is… problematic' Naruto thought to himself, as he kept an ever vigilant eye out for Mizuki. The clearing was almost perfectly silent, the only sounds that were heard were that of the grass crunching under Naruto sandals. Every second that passed by only served to increase Naruto's unease, his eyes constantly shifting, looking from place to place trying to even the smallest trace of Mizuki's whereabouts. After what felt like hours of tension filled waiting, Mizuki finally made his move against Naruto.
Almost as quickly as Mizuki disappeared, an entire platoon of Mizuki's emerged from the ground, each with a bloodthirsty grin on their faces. Naruto narrowed his eyes at this development; his brain running through multiple possibilities on how to proceed. His inner planning was put on hold for a moment, seeing as how with a war cry, the Mizuki platoon sprinted towards him.
With his hand grasping his katana's handle firmly, Naruto rushed into battle against the feline behemoth horde. Unsheathing his katana in less than a second, Naruto twisted out of the way of the way of a hammer blow by one of the Mizuki's. Not wasting anytime, Naruto swung outwards and promptly cut through Mizuki's side; exactly where his kidneys would be. However, instead of getting a pained yell from Mizuki and blood cascading to the ground, Mizuki simply dissipated, revealing it to be nothing more than a standard Bushin (Clone).
Scowling slightly, Naruto pressed on with his counterattack, slicing at clones left and right in hopes of striking the original. Ducking under a swipe from another Mizuki, Naruto stabbed 'Mizuki' in the gut, only for it to vanish into nothingness as well. With each felled clone, Naruto only grew more and more agitated. The horde of Mizuki's circled around Naruto, all of which were grinning maliciously at him. A single Mizuki stepped forward, as if the chosen speaker for his clone brethren.
"Give up demon, you'll never defeat us at this rate" 'Mizuki' taunted before he and two other 'Mizuki's' launched themselves at our hero.
"We'll see" Naruto replied emotionlessly, his grip on his katana tightening slightly in agitation. Taking a calming breath through his nose; Naruto used Sonido to quickly tear thru rampaging Mizuki's clones, which all disappeared at the same time. Moving on quickly Naruto dodged a kick aimed at his head, he quickly swung his sword through 'Mizuki's' leg, which caused it to disappear. Ducking to avoid simultaneous attacks, Naruto jumped over one 'Mizuki', his sword cutting through its head, causing it to dissipate. Naruto kept moving, never slowing down for a moment as he decimated the feline behemoth horde. Soon enough Naruto was all alone in the clearing once more, his sword drawn and body tensed, as he panted slightly. However it was at this moment, the real Mizuki decided to strike.
Appearing almost out of nowhere in front of Naruto, the real Mizuki partially emerged from the ground and delivered a lightning quick knife strike through Naruto's stomach. Mizuki smiled sadistically as he watched a look of complete and utter shock appear on Naruto's face. Naruto's sword clattered to the ground, its wielder no longer able to hold it. Naruto for his part could only look at Mizuki's arm going through his torso in horror. Well at least for a few seconds, the look of utter horror shifting into one of amusement as a smirk made its way onto Naruto's face.
And with that, Naruto disappeared in a puff of white smoke leaving a gaping Mizuki behind. And its place was left a completely demolished log, the remains of which collapsed to the ground. Mizuki simply starred at the broken remnants of what used to be a perfectly good log, with a dumbfounded look on his face.
He was shaken out of his momentary disbelief by an incredible amount pain on the side of his face. The source of said pain turned out to be the real Naruto, who wasted no time and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to the side of Mizuki's face. 'What the...?' Mizuki thought before his body was forced out the earth, and sent flying backwards.
Naruto dashed after the temporally stunned Mizuki, a look of steely determination on his face. In no time flat, Naruto caught up to battered and bloodied Mizuki and began his assault. A left cross from Naruto sent Mizuki's head veering to the side, blood and spittle spewing from Mizuki's mouth. Naruto continued on beating in Mizuki's face, a right hook forced Mizuki to take a couple steps backwards as he clutched his aching face. A well placed uppercut to Mizuki's stomach knocked the breath out him, his body slumping forward as he heaved. Naruto followed this up with a spinning roundhouse kick that knocked Mizuki flat on his ass, groaning in pain.
"This is the end Mizuki, if it's any consolation…you put a better fight than I thought you would" Naruto said as he calmly walked towards the downed Mizuki, his sword griped firmly in his hand. Naruto's footsteps echoed in Mizuki's ears, who in turn, eyed Naruto's sword with a healthy amount of terror. Naruto raised his arm above his head, his sword gleaming, somewhat, ominously in the moonlight. Mizuki's eyes followed the downward arc of Naruto's sword, as it descended towards his neck, ready to decapitate him. The world slowed down in Mizuki's perspective, the blade seemed to move in slow motion as it got ever closer to slicing open his jugular vein. Mizuki scrunched up his face and turned it to the side, as he waited to the blade to make contact. Just as Naruto's blade was going to connect with Mizuki's throat a miracle, for Mizuki anyway, occurred.
The very moment Naruto was about to cut Mizuki's head off, he exploded in an enormous cloud of organish smoke. Mizuki, not questioning this, quickly scooted away from the smoke, relief easily visible on his face. Mizuki shakily stood up, his hands planted on his knees for support, as he watched the smoke cover with an intense glare.
A soft breeze swept through the clearing, dissipating the smoke cloud slowly until it completely vanished; the sight that Mizuki was greeted both shocked and infuriated him. Instead of the blond demon that he had been fighting against a few moments ago, in his place was…a confused five year old boy. 'What the hell is going on? Where the hell did the demon go? ' Mizuki thought angrily, looking around for any clue to where Naruto has disappeared to. 'Wait a minute…no, it could be' Mizuki pondered mentally, as he look a closer look at the five year old in question. To his shock, and somewhat irritation for not figuring it out sooner, the five year old boy was in fact Uzumaki Naruto.
Speaking of our favorite blond protagonist, he was indeed now in the form of a five year old. Unlike with his previous transformations, both his physical appearance and his clothes went through major changes. First was his height, which had considerably decreased, Naruto now stood roughly 3'9", a little bit taller than the average five year old. In terms of physical appearance, Naruto actually looked remarkably like he did before when he was the class dobe. His face had regained his baby fat, making it rounder than before, though not too much. His hair was back to being almost blindingly yellow, as well as back to its old style, albeit slightly longer than before. His eyes were wider now and were filled to the brim with childlike innocence and wonder. His nose was somewhat tiny in proportion to the rest of his face, and slightly red, giving it a button look to it.
In the clothing department, Naruto no longer wore his open white haori or, thank Kami, his trademark orange jumpsuit. He now wore a white hoodie, which was about two or three sizes too big for him. The sleeves of which completely covered his arms and hands, the ends actually dragged on the ground. The main body of the hoodie went down to about his knees. Adorning the front of the hoodie was a large black number nine, broken up the zipper going down the middle of the hoodie. The hood itself was pulled down and the end of it rested near the middle of his back. In terms of footwear, Naruto neither wore shinobi sandals or the samurai sandals he wore earlier. No, instead he wore shiny black boots that squeaked whenever he took a step.
As if this wasn't weird enough, Mizuki noticed two things that freaked him out, however hypocritical it may be considering his recent…acquisitions. For you see a top of Naruto's head were to blood red fox ears, and a medium-sized bushy fox tail, of the same color, coming out from underneath the jacket. If Mizuki didn't hate Naruto with every fiber of his being, he would be jealous of them for one simple reason. If any kunoichi saw Naruto as he was at that particular moment, they would glomp him to their chests while screaming "KAWAII".
The newly transformed Naruto looked around at his environment, his sparkling with child like wonder. Eventually his gaze fell on, the still shocked, Mizuki, who starred at him with his mouth agape. "Hi! I'm Naru, wanna pway?" the newly dubbed Naru said, with his eyes full of joy and a big, innocent smile on his face, revealing that he was missing a few of his teeth. Blinking owlishly, Naru leaned his head closer and really took a good look at Mizuki. Under normal circumstances, when he looked at Mizuki, his mind would have associated him with 'enemy'. However to Naru's childlike mentality, he took in Mizuki's feline features a little differently than a normal person would. With an even wider smile on his face and his arms stretched out to his sides, as if he was asking for a hug, Naru exclaimed one simple word that disturbed Mizuki on multiple levels.
"KITTY"
With that said Naru seemingly disappeared into thin air, Mizuki stared at the spot Naru had previously stood. 'Where the hell did he go?' Mizuki thought, as he looked everywhere around him trying to find where that little bastard disappeared to. This stopped rather quickly when felt a sudden weight rest upon his shoulders. He didn't have time question this, before he felt an ungodly amount of pain originating from his feline ears. Mizuki thrashed about wildly, the pain making him slightly delirious as he screamed in agony.
This went on for a minute or two, until Mizuki heard, as best as he could at the moment, the sound of a child's laughter. Putting two and two together, Mizuki finally figured out what was causing him agonizing pain. With his teeth gnashed together, Mizuki forcefully ripped Naru from his shoulders and tossed him towards a tree. Naru, in turn, simply giggled and exclaimed a loud "WHEE!" as he flew towards a tree trunk. Twisting slightly in midair Naru, instead of crashing into the tree like Mizuki wanted, grabbed the tree trunk, like he was giving it a hug, and slid safely to the ground.
"Dammit it you fucking demon, quit screwing with me. That's it have had enough of your tricks, I'm going to kill you" Mizuki bellowed in rage, as he rubbed his aching ears for a moment before clenching his fists tightly.
Naru starred at Mizuki with a confused look on his face, his head titled to the side in such a way that would cause any women in the area to start cooing at him. "Silly kitty Trix are for kids (1)" Naru giggled out, further pissing Mizuki off, if the twitch in his left eye was any indication.
Without saying a word, Mizuki charged toward the ever happy Naru, who stood there rooted in place, his tail wagging happily behind him. In no time flat, Mizuki was standing right in front of Naru, a knife strike already being sent towards the adorable chibi of an arrancar. Like last time, his attack failed to hit, arm once again imbedded in the ground, though no as deep as last time. Easily ripping his arm out of the ground, Mizuki swiped at Naru, who quickly jumped back about ten feet away, waving at Mizuki happily when he landed. Reaching into one of his few remaining pouches, Mizuki grabbed two smoke bombs and flung them at Naru's feet obscuring his view.
Taking advantage of Naru's lack of sight and his enhanced senses, Mizuki dashed towards Naru's exact position in the smoke cloud. Mizuki lashed out with a kick that successfully made contact with Naru's face, sending him flying out of the smoke cloud about twenty feet in the air.
'Why is the kitty being so mean to me? I just want'a pet him, I snuck up on him so he wouldn't wun away. What I do wong?' Naru thought despairingly as he floated in midair, a stinging pain coursing through his cheek where Mizuki kicked him. Naru's inner dilemma was interrupted by Mizuki, who used Chakra Threads (2) to grab Naru from the air and pull him towards him with all his might.
Mizuki grinned sadistically as he watched Naru get closer and closer, until he was right were he wanted him. Launching his arm out, Mizuki grabbed Naru by the front of his hoodie and with sick delight, kneed him in the stomach. Throwing Naru slightly in the air, Mizuki reared his fist back and punches Naru as hard as he could, sending him flying backwards. At least until Mizuki once again used Chakra Threads to pull him back, where he proceeded to punch him again. This went on a few more times; to an outside observer this scene would look like a sadistic version of paddleball.
Finally Mizuki had enough of this, so with a mighty tug he sent the slightly crying Naru towards him again. Instead of punching him away, Mizuki grabbed Naru by his head and slammed him into the ground. Mizuki let go of Naru's head and moved his hand to his throat, where he began to choke the life out of our pint sized hero.
"This is it demon, this is where I finally kill you for the humiliation you put me thru. I can't tell you how long I've wanted to do this, everyday having to resist the urge to snap your neck in class. But it's been worth it, all of it, leading up to this point now, any last words Kyuubi?" Mizuki screamed directly in Naru's face, a look of utter insanity on his face, with drool running down from his lips and madness in his eyes.
Naru coughed and sputtered, as he tried to get even the smallest breath of air into his lungs. Naru's lungs burned, as they valiantly fought to keep him, but were slowly losing that particular battle. His little heart bas beating, what felt like, a hundred miles an hour. His arms and legs flailed about, trying anything to escape the vice like grip Mizuki had on his throat. Tears poured from his eyes, his vision blurring in and out as all light seemed to give way to blackness, the only sight visible was Mizuki's mad grin. "…d…ki" Naru coughed out, his voice hoarse, which was music to Mizuki's ears.
"What was that demon? I CAN'T HEAR YOU" Mizuki laughed, relaxing his grip on Naru's throat slightly as he moved closer to Naru to hear the demon's final words. A cruel grin nearly split Mizuki's face in half; as he listened to Naru suffer at his hands.
Naru greedily took in as much air as he could, his vision returned almost to normal, though the corners of his eyes were still a little blurry. Unknown to Mizuki the look of sadness and pain that was on his face earlier was replaced by a new one. A look of absolute rage made its way onto, so much so that Naru's normally kind blue eyes shifted into crimson pools of anger. "Bad…KITTY" Naru yelled in Mizuki's ear, as he kicked Mizuki square in the chest, sending him rocketing towards the end of the clearing.
'What the hell It felt like I just got hit by Tsunade' Mizuki thought as his body bounced periodically on the ground, like a skipping stone against a calm pond. Mizuki also thanked Kami that Animal Curse Seal made his bones a lot stronger, or his spine would have snapped like an Akamichi on Weight Watchers. His thought process was interrupted by Naru who appeared underneath him and delivered an almost bone breaking kick to his back, which send him flying towards the heavens. Naru glared at Mizuki's rapidly ascending form, before he exploded in a familiar cloud of organish smoke.
Bursting from the smoke, Naruto quickly jumped up as high as he could, using a Sonido or two Naruto finally achieved Mizuki's current altitude. Naruto appeared right above the rapidly descending Mizuki, a bloodthirsty smirk plastered on his face.
"Well Tora-Teme I hope you enjoyed that, because that was your last chance. Now it's my turn…oh, and when you arrived in hell, tell them Uzumaki Naruto send you. Because by the time I kick the bucket, hell is going to be overflowing with arrogant assholes like you." Naruto said darkly, his fist already reared back ready to go. Having said his due, Naruto shot out his fist and like that Naruto's barrage of blows begun.
Punch after punch, kick after kick, the blows never ended, when one attack connected two more were already in the works. Pain…pain filled every pore of Mizuki's body, that only seemed to get worse with every vicious blow that was struck. Bruises formed, blood splattered and hell, even a few bones broken under Naruto's assault. Naruto's arms and legs were little more than blurs in the eyes of Mizuki, who could do nothing but take it. With every blow Naruto struck, it only accelerated their descent towards the rapidly approaching ground. Mizuki and Naruto stared hatefully at each other, their hair twisting and constantly flowing as the air rushed past them. The only sounds really audible at that moment were that of wind rushing past them and Naruto's coat flapping in the wind. As the ground drew near Naruto quickly charging chakra into leg, he performed a brutal axe kick which sent Mizuki plummeting towards the ground below.
Mizuki crashed into the nearby forest with explosive velocity, his body tearing entire trees from the ground and a dust cloud to appear, shrouding him from view. Naruto landed on the ground, the epicenter of which had spider web cracks coming from it, as he watched the smoke cloud intently. The sound of pained grunting and lumber being moved, confirmed to Naruto that Mizuki, unfortunately, was still among the living. Though when the smoke cleared, it revealed he was, by far, in no way shape or form in perfect condition.
Mizuki was leaning on one of the few remaining trees left standing from his crash, clutching his stomach/ribs as he took labored pain filled breaths. Blood cascaded down the left side of his face, continuous dripping on the ground as he made even the smallest head movements. Mizuki's right eye was glaring daggers at him, seeing as how his left one was closed, from either injury or to prevent the blood running down his face from blinding him, Naruto couldn't say. Blood trickled down from the sides of Mizuki's mouth as well as his busted lip, all of which either dribbled on him or splattered on the ground. Numerous bruises and cuts littered Mizuki's body, his chest and face taking the brunt of the damage.
Numerous shards of wood were imbedded into Mizuki's body, like wooden shrapnel, ranging from tiny splinters to huge pieces of bark stabbing into his flesh. His body looked like an acupuncturist with access to Mokuton (Wood Release) went to town on his body. However the worst injury, from what Naruto could see, that Mizuki acquired from his crash landing was a huge shard of wood lodged deep in his right calf. Warm blood trickled down Mizuki's leg, staining his pants a dark red in the process, as it made its way towards the ground. Mizuki let out a pained yell as he tried to take a step, only for him to fall on his hands and knees, breathing heavily.
Mizuki glanced back at the source of his crippling pain, the shard of wood almost mocking him with how deep the wound was. Gritting his teeth, Mizuki reached back, grimacing as he did so, and grasped the shard firmly. The nerves in his leg ignited as soon as his hand made contact, the pain was so immense he almost let go. With an agonizing yell, Mizuki ripped with shard from his calf, blood spewing from the gaping hole left behind.
Mizuki panted from exertion, as he slowly stood up, though taking as much pressure off his right leg as possible. Raising his head, Mizuki's gaze once again fell on Naruto, who glanced at him like he was nothing. "Damn you…DAMN YOU, YOU FILLY MONSTER! I will not be treated like third class trash" Mizuki bellowed out, his claws tearing groves into the tree he was leaning against.
Letting go of the tree, Mizuki stumbled forward, barely managing to stay standing. But through sheer forcing of will, Mizuki forced his body forward into a berserker charge, as well as one could charge with a limp anyway. Mizuki's leg protested this, but he ignored the pain sweeping over his body, his rage blinding him to the pain. Which was unfortunate for Mizuki, had he been paying attention, he would have noticed the searing pain emanating from his chakra coils.
Sighing at Mizuki's pitiful attempt at charging him, Naruto decided to put and end to this once and for all. Dashing towards the, somewhat, charging Mizuki, Naruto ducked under a weak punch aimed at his head. Quickly unsheathing his sword, Naruto expertly sliced through Mizuki's hamstrings; causing him to fall to his knees with a yell of pain. Jumping over Mizuki's backhand, Naruto simultaneously, in the air, sheathed his sword and gathered reiatsu into his fist, which was coated in dark red energy. Finally when he felt he gathered enough, he blisted the immobile Mizuki. Clocking his glowing fist backwards, Naruto stopped about five to ten feet away from Mizuki's unprotected back. Throwing his arm forward, Naruto yelled one word that spelled the end for Mizuki.
"BALA"
And with that, he released the pent up reiatsu and fired the glowing bullet of death directly at Mizuki's spine. Mizuki only had time to blink before the Bala made contact. A massive explosion of red energy temporarily illuminated the clearing, as Mizuki yelled in agony, his entire world being replaced with pain. With his eyes wide open and blood/spittle cascading from his mouth, Mizuki toppled forward, his body spent.
Naruto calmly walked towards Mizuki's prone and defenseless body, his hands nestled in his pockets. Naruto grimaced slightly, the smell of the flesh on Mizuki's back cooking assaulting his nose. He looked over Mizuki's broken body and examined the damage done by his Bala. The smoke finally cleared from Mizuki's back, a large, slightly steaming, red scar could be seen as it encompassed a good portion of his back.
"Hey, are you dead yet Tora-Teme?" Naruto asked, kicking Mizuki in the side. To which he received a pained groan in response from Mizuki. With a sign escaping his lips, Naruto used his foot to flip Mizuki onto his back, grinning slightly at the yell that escaped from Mizuki as his back made contact with the ground. Naruto slowly unsheathed his sword, the sound of which diverted Mizuki's attention away from the pain.
Before Naruto could even consider using his sword to kill Mizuki, something…unexpected happened. Out of no where, Mizuki started screaming in pain, as steam started coming off his body, his arms and legs thrashing on the ground in agony. 'What…is THIS?' Mizuki thought, every cell in his body screaming like they were being submerged in acid. His muscles contracted and pulsated, like a bag full of worms trying to escape. This went on for a few moments, before his body started to regress. His muscles slowly but surely started to collapse and destroy themselves. His claws and fangs shrunk down to normal human proportions. With each passing second more steam came off Mizuki, as he gradually shrunk and withered.
By the time the transformation wore off, Mizuki resembled a mummified corpse or that of an extremely old man. His skin had a purplish tint to it, wrinkles and cracks seemed to cover almost his entire body. The area around his eyes sunk slightly, giving the impression that his bloodshot eyes were bulging out his skull. The muscles around his body had all but disintegrated, leaving him nothing but skin and bones, metaphorically. His hair went from a light gray to pure white.
Mizuki could barely breathe; his body was wracked with so much agony that he could hardly stand it. Blood spewed from his mouth as he broke into a coughing fit, which stopped after a few moments. 'What…is the meaning of this? I don't understand, Orochimaru-Sama said that this was the ultimate physical jutsu, that with it I would be unstoppable. Did he betray me…no, this has to be some mistake. I have to find him and get him to fix this' Mizuki thought to himself, as he barely raised his head in order to examine his now frail body.
"This is new! Just when I thought you couldn't weaker, you go and prove me wrong" Naruto said, his voice somewhat condescending, as he looked at the now helpless Mizuki.
Mizuki's gaze shifted from his frail form, to that of the smirking Naruto, who stood looking down at him with amusement and curiosity. "This…this is all YOUR FAULT! You're the reason I'm like this you monster, why couldn't you just lay down and die?" Mizuki ranted; his voice full of as much rage as he could muster at that point in time.
"No Mizuki, this is on you head. You did this to yourself in some pitiful pursuit of power. And for what? To kill me? To kill Iruka-sensei? I don't know whether to hate you with every fiber of by being or to simply pity you." Naruto replied in a serious tone, his voice was without a single trace of mocking or sadism. Having said his due, Naruto threw his arm forward and stabbed Mizuki right in the chest.
Mizuki gaped in horror at the blade currently lodged into his chest cavity, the cold steel blade slowly killing him. Blood poured forth from the wound, as Naruto pulled his blade out of Mizuki's chest. Mizuki quickly lifted his arms and put his hands on the wound, trying in vein to stop the bleeding.
Naruto stared at Mizuki trying to save himself, a small sneer taking place on his face. Shaking his head at Mizuki, Naruto spun on his heel, while sheathing his sword, and started walking away from the dying Mizuki. He made it about two steps before Mizuki noticed him leaving.
"Don't you walk away from me demon, were not done here" Mizuki yelled, his ego taking a heavy blow at seeing Naruto walk away from him like he was finished. Fury washed through Mizuki's body at audacity the demon had. Walking away like he had already won, as long Mizuki still drew breath he wasn't finished.
"Oh were done here, you're going to bleed soon enough, face Teme…I won, you lost" Naruto replied looking over his shoulder, as he stopped dead in his tracks. He was about to keep walking when heard Mizuki… laughing.
Indeed Mizuki was laughing, not a HA-HA kind of laugh, but more along the lines of someone losing their mind kind of laugh. Mizuki stopped laughing after a minute or two; his face had a huge insane grin on it. Only made eerier by the fact his teeth were stained red, by all of the blood that had spewed from his mouth during the duration of their brawl.
"He…he…you may beaten me…today, but they'll be others…just like me, who won't rest…until your dead and rotting. You know the village…will never accept you demon….no matter what you do. They will always hate you, just…as much…as I do. It's only a matter of…time until one of them kills you… so in the end I'll always win." Mizuki said, periodically having to take breaths or hold back vomiting bile and blood. The twisted grin on Mizuki's face never left, as he stared at Naruto while spouting off the "truth" of the matter.
Naruto, having heard enough of Mizuki flapping his lips, decided to put an end to this blow hard's speech. Turning around quickly, Naruto unsheathed his katana, while walking towards Mizuki, and with a single swipe, cut off Mizuki's head. Said decapitated head was rolling on the ground, Mizuki's face locked into a horrified expression. Blood dripped down from Naruto's katana onto the ground below.
"They can try" Naruto muttered out, his gaze locked onto Mizuki's head as if replying to his earlier rant. Exhaling out his nose, Naruto wiped the blood off his katana and Mizuki's pant leg before sheathing it once more. He was about to walk off and check on Iruka, when his body froze for a moment before he felt himself being pulled somewhere.
(Naruto's Mindscape)
"Ugh, what the hell just happened" Naruto thought aloud, as he rubbed his arching forehead for a moment before stopping. Shaking his head to clear out the cobwebs, Naruto took one look around and instantly knew where he was. Naruto walked forward down the massive corridors of his mind, before turning down a right corridor, and just like that he arrived at the Kyuubi's cage. Standing in front of the massive gate, the remaining Espada waiting for him with varying expressions. From pride to indifference, they all starred at him for a moment.
"What's up" Naruto said, lazily raising one hand in greeting. Before he could even blink, Nelliel had already caught him in one of her, what he would later call, "Hugs of Pleasant Death". Naruto was at an impasse. On one hand Nelliel was unintentionally crushing him with her hug. And on the other hand, the way she was hugging him, Naruto's face was almost nestled into her plentiful boobs. Quite the dilemma indeed.
"I'm so proud of you Naruto-kun, you beat that guy all by yourself" Nelliel shouted, completely oblivious to the fact that Naruto's face was turning red. From lack of oxygen or the close proximity to her chest, we would never know.
"Nelliel…please release Naruto-san, before he dies from oxygen depravation" Harribel said as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, wonder how Nelliel never seemed to notice she was hugging someone too hard.
Nelliel, for her part, stopped squeezing Naruto for a moment, looked at Harribel blinking in confusion before looking down at Naruto. Whose face was currently a nice shade of blue, barely staying conscious as he tried to inhale precious air. "Naruto, I am so sorry. PLEASE DON'T DIE ON ME" Nelliel worriedly screamed out, accidentally squeezing harder than she did earlier, which got a pained groan from Naruto. Nelliel eventually let go of Naruto, who fell on all fours, desperately breathing in precious oxygen.
After taking in enough oxygen to function again, and receiving numerous apologies from the green hair arrancar, Naruto was finally able to stand. "Okay now that, that's over. What do guys need?" Naruto asked his tenants, his back slumping against one of the walls of the sewer.
"We called here for two things. One, congrats on beating the overgrown housecat, though I could've beaten him a lot quicker" Grimmjow said, muttering the last part, as he pushed himself off the bars of the cage and stood right in front of Naruto. "Secondly, I don't know about fuzzy over there, but I refuse to live a freaking sewer. So brought you here, to fix this into something livable while were stuck in here." Grimmjow continued as ignored the threatening growl that Kyuubi was giving him.
Naruto looked at the other Espada, who all gave nods of confirmation to him, signifying their agreement. Quirking an eyebrow up, Naruto leaned over to the side, looking at Kyuubi straight in the eyes. "Can I actually do that?" Naruto asked which got a face palm from Kyuubi, who muttered to itself about "How a supposed genius can still be so stupid".
"Yes… you hairless ape you can. It just requires a lot of concentration and a mental image of what you want to create. Now hurry up ningen, I've lived in this sewer for thirteen years and I've had enough of it!" Kyuubi replied impatiently, its tolerance for the sewer that was Naruto's mindscape, having finally reached its limit.
"Alright, alright, jeez give me a minute here and I'll see what I can do" Naruto grumbled out, his eyes closed and his brow knitted in concentration. About a minute later, Naruto was engulfed by a dazzling white light, which expanded to encompass the entire room. When the light finally dimmed down into nothingness, the Espada and bijou were shocked by what they saw, to the point that Nelliel and Grimmjow's mouths dropped slightly.
What was once a dark, dank and depressing maze like sewer was now a giant luxurious compound located in a dense, beautiful forest. The compound was enormous, if estimated it would approximately be 3/4th s the size of the Hyuuga compound, though this one had a homier feel to it. The compound had huge limestone walls that surrounded the entire complex. The main door to the compound was astonishing, it was a beautiful gold color, with intricate red interiors. The door knobs were large brass lion heads, both of which held a gold ring in its mouth.
As they opened the doors, or in Kyuubi's case looked over the wall, they were greeted to huge traditional style houses. A huge main house was directly in the middle of the compound, with a dozen or so smaller buildings surrounding it.
"Not bad Gaki, not bad at all" Grimmjow said appraisingly, as he took in everything around him and frankly this place beat Hueco Mundo on even its worse day. 'Hell, anyplace is better than Hueco Mundo' Grimmjow thought to himself.
"I hate to break up your little sight seeing trip, but I sense someone coming this way. Listen Gaki we need to talk later, we'll call back here when you go to sleep. We have much to discuss!" Kyuubi said, as it stretched its legs, glad to finally have some room after thirteen years of being trapped in a cramped cage. Though he could do without with giant collar around his neck, chaining him to a nearby tree, it was better than the alternative.
"Before I go, I want to say thank you. Without your help Iruka-sensei and I would be nothing more than ash in a crater. I hope one day to return the favor" Naruto said, with a rare genuine smile on his face, as his mental avatar faded away. After getting over the initial shock of being thanked by someone, the remaining Espada went off by them selves to explore their new home, or in Starrk's case to find a quiet place to nap.
(Real World: Random Clearing: Two Minutes later)
Shaking his head and blinking a few times, Naruto shook away the remnants of his trance. Quickly remembering what Kyuubi told him, Naruto grasped his katana's handle and looked everywhere for the approaching individuals. He didn't have to wait long, about thirty seconds after he returned to consciousness, numerous swirls of leaves appeared in the middle of the, now destroyed, clearing. Naruto narrowed his eyes at his, as he clenched his sword's handle harder, preparing for the worst.
After the Shunshin no Jutsu died down, Naruto able to clearly see his potential allies, or potential enemies. The individuals Kyuubi senses turn out to be a group of ANBU, all of which were looking at him, or at least it felt like they were. Before either side could make a move, the ANBU were pushed aside by a very relieved looking Iruka.
"NARUTO" Iruka yelled happily, as he ran towards his still, thankfully, breathing student with a big grin on his face. 'Thank Kami, you're alright Naruto' Iruka thought, as he rushed forward.
"Sensei" Naruto muttered in joy, without even thinking, he jogged towards Iruka with an equally big grin on his face. In a manner of seconds, student and teacher embraced in a hug, both relieved that the other was alive.
"Iruka-sensei, you're alive" Naruto said, as he sighed with relief, unintentionally hugging harder than he intended, crushing Iruka slightly. Who grit his teeth in pain, his ribs, while not broken were still incredibly sore and this was making them worse.
"Naruto ease up on the hug, my ribs are still sore" Iruka grunted out, Naruto immediately let go of Iruka and muttered a brief apology. 'He's ready' Iruka thought, as smiled down at Naruto, deciding to do something he had been waiting to do for a long time.
"Naruto close your eyes for a second" Iruka said calmly. Naruto looked apprehensive for a moment, but did so anyway, putting his trust in Iruka. Naruto waited for a few moments, the sound of cloth being unfurled reaching his ears before he felt a cloth being tied around his forehead. "Okay Naruto, open your eyes" Iruka said, happiness and anticipation evident in his voice.
Naruto opened his eyes, Iruka's smiling face the first thing being that he saw, though one thing seemed to be missing. His hitai-ate. 'No way…he didn't' Naruto thought in disbelief, as he reached up to the cloth around his head and felt cold metal against his fingers. Naruto's eyes widened slightly, a conclusion already formed in his mind, one that turned out to be right. Iruka had given him, his hitai-ate.
"Congratulations Naruto, you finally graduate" Iruka said, a beaming smile on his face, his hand proudly placed on Naruto's shoulders. Iruka stopped smiling, when he immediately didn't hear Naruto cheer in celebration, or hug him. Naruto had a look of deep concentration; a million thoughts went through Naruto's mind as he slowly moved his thumb across the metal back and forth.
"Naruto, what's wrong?" Iruka asked in concern, worried why his favorite student wasn't happy, he finally graduated but why did he look torn about it.
"Nothings wrong sensei… thank you" Naruto hastily replied, reaching behind him to tighten the headband around his head. Iruka smiled at this, though was mentally pondering what was going through Naruto's head.
This, now, awkward reunion was cut short by Neko, who decided that it was time to get down to business. Nodding to her fellow ANBU, who secured the perimeter around them, Neko made her way over towards Naruto and Iruka.
Naruto seeing Neko walk up to them, slowly grasped his sword, unsure of her intentions at that moment. Neko noticed this immediately, thinking quickly she quickly brought her arms up to show that she was unarmed, at least not any that she was willing to use on him. Naruto narrowed his eyes, still not lowering his guard in the slightest, his grip on his katana increasing. Neko and Naruto stared at each other unflinchingly; at least Naruto assumed she was it was kind of hard to tell with the mask. Their stare off was cut short, by Iruka putting his hand on Naruto's shoulders, getting his attention.
"Naruto stop, you can trust her, without their help I doubt I would even be alive right now" Iruka said, his tone firm. Naruto looked deep into his eyes, trying to find any hint of apprehension or lies. Thankfully find none, Naruto let go of his sword and, with a sigh, relaxed his body somewhat.
"You do not need to worry Uzumaki-san, my men and I are fully aware of Mizuki's deception. The other ANBU are being informed as we speak, soon everyone will know that you are innocent in this matter" Neko assured our protagonist, whilst, unknown to them, surveying the damage done to the clearing with slight amazement.
Her eyes drifted every little piece of damage done to the battle field, before her gaze landed on Mizuki's headless, shriveled up corpse. "I assume you're the reason Mizuki no longer has a head?" Neko asked, subtly nodding to her fellow ANBU to seal up Mizuki's corpse. Neko's eyes roamed over what was left of Mizuki, using her limited medical knowledge she realized that Mizuki took a hell of a beating before being decapitated.
"He wasn't so tough" Naruto replied, a small, confident smirk plastered on his face, as he stared down at Mizuki's severed head.
"I see…congratulations are in order, but for now Hokage-sama has requested both of your presence right now, to get your official mission statements" Neko exclaimed as she finished sealing Mizuki's remains in a scroll, and strapping it to her belt holster.
Naruto's expression darkened considerably at this, the mere mention of the man who ruined his life, sent liquid hot anger coursing through his veins. The same man, who was too weak to prevent him from being trained into Konoha's loyal little attack dog. Unknown to Naruto, but easily visible to Neko and Iruka, he changed forms once again during his mental dilemma. Both Iruka and Neko shared a look with each other for a brief second, as if to ask "Do you know what's happening?" Naruto opened his eyes, which could be compared to a cold, empty void, and nodded to Neko. Without saying a word, Iruka and Naruto placed one hand on each of Neko's shoulders. Nodding to herself, Neko then formed a ram seal and with a muttered "Shunshin no Jutsu" they were gone.
Author's Note:
Alright people here it is, the revised and rewritten version of chapter 2 I hope you like. Personally I think this is not my best work, but I'm happy with it all the same.
Now there are a few things I need to clear up about this chapter. Firstly I tried to make the fight more exciting; when I reread the original chapter I realized it was really repetitive. So I tried to spice things up, I made Mizuki a bit smarter than he was in cannon. I had him actually use strategy, however limited it may be.
A big problem some of you might have with this chapter is when Naruto is fighting Mizuki's clone platoon. Some of you might be wondering why he is dodging the clone's attacks if their simply illusions. Well, I thought of it like this. Naruto doesn't know if the real Mizuki is mixed in with the rest of the clones. Because of this, he has to treat every clone like it's the real Mizuki, which includes dodging their attacks. Even though he can handle an attack from Mizuki, no body wants to get hit in battle like that…unless you're Hidan.
As to why Naruto simply didn't spam some clones of his own to take down Mizuki's, well its simple. I tried writing that, but it just didn't flow well with what I had planned. I wanted to get this to you guys as soon as possible, so I decided to just move on.
I'm sorry, I couldn't resist that joke.
Before some of you call bullshit, Mizuki actually can use chakra threads. He used them in the Mizuki Strikes Back arc; I wanted to incorporate them here. If you want to know where he learned it, just say Orochimaru taught him that.
Well, that's it for now. Please vote in the poll, you only have a few more weeks before it's closed and the pairings are final. I might add more pairings as the story goes on, but I will no longer take requests for pairings after the poll shuts down.