NARUTO
Nox Noctis Ingredior
The Leaf Under Seige
"Hikita!" Ryoko shouted, appearing right beside Naruto, sword drawn and thrust in the towering man's direction. Aries seemed to hum with energy on its draw.
The blonde Genin looked between the two former members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist cautiously, easily able to spot the fires of anger and rage burning in his friend's eyes, as well as the evil radiating off of her bigger counterpart. It was at this sight, he backed off a bit more, giving them some space.
It was at the sight of the Kiri Jonin on the arena floor that had everybody in the stadium rise to their feet, the Genin in the crowd rushing up to the railings overlooking the battlefield, and straight down towards the wall where the two sides confronted each other. The Jonin also jogged down the steps to the frontlines, Anko, Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai and Gai stopping by the railings and glaring down towards the big, hooded shinobi standing at the aid of his student.
Even the Kage up in their seats were caught by surprise, Hiruzen rising to a standing position with Jiraiya stepping forward to get a better look. However, out of the three of them, it was Mei who was looking the most startled. She rose from her seat at the very sight of the big Jonin, with Ao and Chojuro moving forward, stepping in front of her as bodyguard should.
"That chakra!" Ao choked, gritting his teeth as he glared down at the new face standing in the light far below. "I'd recognize it anywhere!"
"That's Hikita-sensei!" Chojuro stammered, adjusting his glasses. "No doubt…"
"But…w-what on earth is he doing in this village?" Mei stammered.
In truth, the Mizukage was incredibly surprised when she recognized the Kiri Genin as her village's former Kage, Yagura, having not expected Takagura to throw off his low profile robe and unveil a face that looked exactly like him. However, she had said nothing throughout the entire battle, choosing to watch to see what events unfolded, and it wasn't until she noticed the strange shield that appeared on the boy's body to reflect Naruto's attack that she confirmed her suspicions that Takagura was indeed Yagura in the flesh, alive and well.
"Your village has been deceived, Mizukage-sama," Sarutobi said, glancing over at the woman, who looked back at him, her face reflecting her disbelief. "A group of rogue shinobi led by Hikita must have killed your team on their route over, and took their places…"
"But… why?" Mei asked, blinking.
"I think we're about to find out…"
All eyes focused on the arena floor, where the two sides of Rogue Ninja from Kirigakure and official shinobi from Konohagakure faced each other down. Ryoko encouraged confrontation by baring her sword at her former comrade, knowing full well that she was capable of taking the man down if she really wanted to.
Little did she know though, was that surprises were held in store for the entire village…
"You don't look too surprised to see me, Ryoko-baka?" Hikita sneered in a husky, rough voice from underneath his hood (imagine of Vergil's tone of voice from DMC3), his eyes burning brightly with pure malice. "I guess I may have unveiled my presence here a little too prematurely. If that Mitarashi woman hadn't spotted me all those nights ago…I probably wouldn't have spoiled the bash…"
Ryoko's sneer transformed into a smirk, and she furrowed her brow at the man. "Well, if this is supposed to be a surprise party; where are the cakes and snacks?"
"Right here…" Hikita grinned, grabbing the scruff of his collar and ripping off his cloak.
Now, when he did, everybody was expecting to see a man of Kisame's height standing under that cloak, as given by his stature when wearing it. However, as soon as he ripped off his covering, Ryoko, Naruto, Anko, Kakashi, and pretty much everybody else present in the arena saw the man rise about another half-a-person, and tower over his student and the two Konoha shinobi with the height of two average males standing on each other's shoulders.
In short, Hikita was a giant, which best summed up some of his more definite features.
Ryoko swore her old comrade was much skinner and shorter the last time they met, around Zabuza's height and build. However, she immediately noticed that Hikita had been extremely busy the past few years, based on his present outlook. Not only had he grown several feet, he was also totally ripped and buff. He had the build of a pro wrestler, crossed with a martial artist's and athletic build, meaning he wasn't just buff, but also lean. He wore no shirt, had his Kiri headband, which was slashed across the plate, positioned proudly on his head, and had a shoulder pauldron on his right arm, which was covered in ninja mesh and steel armor, right down to his hand, where he wore a fingerless fighting glove with a protective metal guard. He also wore a pair of black Jonin pants with two pouches or… more accurately, bags, around the back on his waist, held up by a thick, leather belt. He also wore thick combat boot sandals, customized for his newly acquired size.
Furthermore, the gauntlet he wore was encrusted with strange gems and stones, including sealing tags, as well as crammed with a whole range of other mystical looking stuff. He also wore his trademark sword on his back, the Deity, its long blade flashing in the sun and donned with rings and everything.
He chuckled as he looked at his former companion's face, which was a combination of shock and disbelief.
"How do you like these treats?" Hikita laughed, holding his right gauntlet arm up, flashing his bling.
"As impressive as your new look is, I'm not at all swayed by it, shithead," Ryoko replied, sweating a little and continuing to hold her sword up. "Do you think a little bit of jewelry you've stolen from here and there will win a fight against me?"
"Oh no… I won't need my… new toys… to beat you," Hikita replied, grabbing the sword on his back and drawing it. Spinning it in his gauntlet arm's grip, he then thrust it into the ground, where it became impaled and stood solidly fixed. After which, he then flexed out his arm and shoulders. "All I need are my own two hands…"
Yagura continued to stand lifelessly beside his master, the shell on his chest and stomach vanishing, being replaced by his own flesh. Naruto glared at the grey haired Genin, more eager to continue on with his fight with the jinchuriki then anything else, his adrenaline soaring at the prospects of defeating one of his own to strengthen his position amongst the nine others out there. However, as long as the big, dumb brute stood in his way, then he couldn't touch him. Instead, he just took to standing on the sidelines for now, and watching on cautiously.
"Enough!" Ryoko roared sprinting forward faster then Naruto could track. In the blink of an eye, the red haired woman leapt through the air and descended upon her former ally, his arms folded while he smirked at her. She literally flew at him, and slashed down with her massive sword in a firm, two handed grip, putting as much power behind the strike as she could muster. In an instantaneous, fluent move, her blade struck her opponent, with the clear intention of slicing him clean in half.
However, that was not to be.
There was a loud clang when her sword slashed right across his shoulder, right down his chest, and past his mid-section, an attack that should have cleaved him in two. The ninja in the stands watched on in astonishment as the huge swordsman just stood there and took the blow headlong, unfazed.
Hikita chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, basically shrugging off the woman's attack, before bringing his gauntlet arm around and swiping out at the woman in a back-handed slap. Ryoko barely managed to see his blurred, super-sonic movements and back-flipped away, barely avoiding the strike and the shockwave that rippled out from his attempted strike seconds later.
The swordswoman spun through the air and landed some distance away, taking a stance and bringing her sword back around. Her expression showed how stunned she actually was.
"WHAT?"
"Oh… surprised much?" Hikita chuckled, grabbing his sword standing right next to him and yanking it out of the ground. "Then try this…" Suddenly, an afterimage of the swordsman flew off of him, and charged at Ryoko, while the real one remained where he was. That transparent copy of him sprinted right past Naruto faster then a kunai, and straight for the red head, suddenly becoming a solid copy just feet from his target. The moment it became solid, the copy of the massive warrior slammed his left fist into its target's stomach. The woman had all but a second to choke up spit, before she was sent flying to the other side of the arena, and straight into a wall, which exploded outwards and crumbled under the impact of her collision.
The manifestation of Hikita that took down Ryoko faded away, the original cackling his head off in pure amusement.
"Man… what a rush! I love it!" He burst out laughing, the swordsman's voice echoing over the entire arena. The audience was shocked at the sudden development, with the Jonin up in the stands beyond astounded at the incredible strength Hikita had just displayed. Anko was visibly shaken by the sight of the man's attack, which brought down a shinobi that she and her friends had so much trouble against before. All the Jonin seemed to step back a bit from the railings, fisting their hands and gritting their teeth nervously.
Laughing outright, the man then smirked into silence and looked over at Naruto, who, in the face of everything that had happened, remained stationed where he was, a nervous glare on his face, with sweat trickling down his cheeks and brow. After staring at him momentarily, Hikita grinned and focused attention on his slave.
Yagura was still glaring straight ahead, unresponsive to the events transpiring.
Kneeling beside the grey haired boy, the scarred man grinned and whispered into the former Kage's ear as he laid his hand on his shoulder.
"I know you want to fight the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, Mizukage. Your instincts as your demon's container are screaming at you to do so, the primal blood lust of the Three Tails is just begging you to rip him to pieces!" Hikita exclaimed, at the same time smiling over at the blonde, who stepped back a bit when he saw Yagura's eyes widen at his controller's words. Chuckling, the man nodded his head affirmatively. "You may kill him if you wish… and… be sure to decimate the entire Village of Konohagakure while you're at it…"
Yagura's forehead suddenly lit up with a seal Naruto quickly recognized as the fuinjutsu chaining the young Kage to Hikita's will. In the blink of an eye, the flashing seal plastered to the teen vanished, and the grey haired Genin charged at Naruto. The blonde frowned and leapt straight up into the air, avoiding the punch thrown at him from the lunging jinchuriki. He landed atop of the arena wall, with Yagura skidding to a stop and glaring up towards his target. Forming a single hand sign, the boy sucked in breath then suddenly, fired off a ball of highly compressed water at his opponent, who leapt away just in time as the high velocity sphere exploded against the wall, and bit a huge chunk out of it, rubble and debris flying in all directions.
Naruto descended down into the village streets below, with Yagura in hot pursuit.
The grey haired Genin leapt through the air from atop of the wall and, forming a few more hand seals on his descent, tracked his opponent dashing across the rooftops, and fired off from his mouth a high pressure stream of boiling water. The beam of water struck the building Naruto was on, and sliced straight through it as he followed his target, carving a nice gash across the village. People screamed when buildings just exploded and began collapsing around them.
Men, women, children and bystanders alike all ran for cover as, all of a sudden, hell broke loose.
Laughing and clapping like a child, Hikita turned towards the crowds and bowed mockingly, with everybody in the stands rising to their feet when he turned his attention to them.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome you to this year's Chunin Exams and, by extension, the destruction of the Village Hidden in the Leaves!" Hikita grinned maniacally and raised his sword in the air, before jabbing it into the ground once more. At that moment, Miki seemingly disappeared from the waiting room, and reappeared right next to the towering swordsman, masking her presence from the Mizukage with her parasol. She was soon followed by a black stream of smoke, which jumped over the colossal stone wall of the arena from the other side, before landing on Hikita's right hand side. It twisted and manifested itself into Eclipse, the boy rising to his feet from a kneeling position, and glaring up towards the crowd just as his master was.
"I shall burn this entire village to the ground, and rebuild it in accordance to my own vision of 'the perfect world'!" Hikita declared, pointing up towards the balcony where the Kages sat, with two of them already standing. "I will start by chopping the heads off of these annoying bodies, and kill the three village leaders of Konoha, Kiri and Suna! I can't have their disgusting ideals polluting this earth…"
Hiruzen was about to jump down to face the swordsman, ready to defend the village, only to be grabbed from behind by the Kazekage, kunai held at his throat. The Sunagakure Village leader chuckled and leapt up towards the roof of the arena's main building, Jiraiya unable to respond in time to grab the nimble Suna leader. Instead, the hermit pursued, with the Kazekage's bodyguards also retreating with their master the moment he had secured his prize. Mei was stunned at the actions of Suna's Kage, her double-take preventing Kiri's leader from taking any action for the first few minutes. Instead, she focused on glaring down at the arena floor, where Hikita stood, still grinning in amusement.
"Oh! What an unexpected twist in this tale!" the man laughed, folding his arms. "It appears Orochimaru is here too… and is beating me to Konohagakure's leader!"
"Orochimaru?" Mei blinked, switching her attention from the former ninja swordsman, to where the Kazekage stood and held the Third Hokage hostage in front of Jiraiya.
It was at this time; the Kazekage's bodyguards threw off their disguises, and revealed themselves to be the Sound Four, stacked on top of each other in order to pull off the guise. After some quick thinking, Mei kicked herself into gear, and decided to chase after the Kazekage, pushing her village's former shinobi out of her mind.
Ao and Chojuro were about to follow after her, only to receive a back-handed order from their leader.
"Deal with that scumbag Hikita!" she called as she sprinted up the roof of the arena. "I'll take care of the Kazekage!"
Not in any position to argue, the two of them then turned their attention to the former Swordsman of the Hidden Mist, and jumped down to meet him. The moment they moved into action, Kakashi, Anko, Gai, Asuma and Kurenai also leapt down to the arena floor, meeting the huge shinobi face to face.
Hikita grinned as he watched the onslaught of Kiri and Konoha Jonin jump down to greet him. He mused to himself as he watched the allied shinobi assume stances and surround him.
"Do you think you're a match for me?" Hikita asked, tilting his head and raising an eyebrow. All of a sudden, he broke out into a haunting chant, which had all those in the area tremble at the tone in his voice. "Destiny… fate… death… the chosen warrior defies it all, against the dark, the light shall bring about judgment to all shadows in its wake! Ask of me, the chosen warrior, and I shall give thee thy inheritance… ASSIMILATION with the earth! I am the sum total of your Third Hokage's abilities and more! Do you truly believe dirt like you can bring me down… the God of the Hidden Mist!"
"It's worth a try," Asuma smirked, spitting out his cigarette and drawing his trench knives. Cuffing them, he took his characteristic stance. "You can't beat all of us…"
"You have taken it upon yourself to attack the leader of our great village!" Gai smirked, bobbing a bit in his stance, while glaring the big shinobi down with his best, most youthful stare. "However, you won't be able to reach the top, until you get passed those defending it!"
"Very well then," Hikita replied, unfolding his arms and grabbing the handle of his sword. "I shall have the pleasure of hanging your dead corpses from your beloved Hokage Monument, after I am done with you…" With a nod of his head, he signaled for his two lackeys to move out. Miki vanished in a mist shunshin, whereas Eclipse suddenly rocketed into the air, flying up towards the clouds, with smoke trailing behind him, propelling him upwards.
Once Eclipse reached a suitable altitude, he stopped himself there safely, and slammed his hands together to form a Tiger hand seal. Flipping through several more, he then situated himself atop a black cloud he created from the container on his back, before dispersing huge amounts of his smoke from it, with him at the very center. The black clouds slowly, but surely, began to blanket the entire Village Hidden in the Leaves, blocking out the sun, and bringing about darkness, which startled a lot of the villagers who were out and about.
As the clouds thickened, lightning and thunder began rolling out, the huge amounts of chakra contributing to the technique growing as time ticked by.
"Thou shall tremble at the coming of Armageddon! I… am… Armageddon, the one that will scorch the soil and burn the skies and light this world with my fist as the flame! You are all out of your league here…" Hikita chuckled, raising his left hand towards the sky and clenching his fist. When he did, the smoke and black clouds forming over their heads, suddenly began to cyclone directly over the swordsman. The amount of chakra he was giving off was astounding, and even for the non sensor type ninjas in the group, even they could feel his power pulsating off of him. "If you wish not to fight back I understand, but I'm going to destroy this village no matter what!"
"Do you feel that?" Asuma asked.
"Yeah…" Kurenai nodded, sweating nervously.
"It's like an entire army's worth of chakra is revolving around him!" Anko commented, looking the man up and down. It was worth noting that loose rocks and debris around the big shinobi, began to levitate off of the ground. "Where is he summoning all of that power?"
"I think I know," Kakashi spoke up, glancing over at the man's right arm, the armored limb which also held his sword tightly in its grip. "His incredibly high chakra level may be attributed to that gauntlet he's wearing with all those stones in it. The combination of all those gems is generating quite a high frequency of energy, so combined with his natural strength, ninjutsu and kenjutsu; produces a weapon of unimaginable power…"
"Hikita-sensei was incredibly powerful back when he was a ninja for our village, even on his own," Chojuro said, adjusting his glasses as he glared at the man in front of him. "Without his sword, he had the capabilities of taking down an entire squad of enemy ninja with his bare hands before taking any damage, but even then, killing him was still a long way off…"
"Why is that?" Gai asked, the Jonin watching Hikita lower his arm from the sky and smirk around at them.
"Hikita's method of fighting enemy ninja is 'doggedly pursuing them across the battlefield' without any consideration of the terrain or his own safety, which is stated by his profile. As a result, he constantly committed suicide whenever he ran into a powerful adversary or a trap," Chojuro informed, furrowing his brow as memories of his teachings came back to him. "However, because of his unique Kekkei Genkai, he had this unique ability to reattach missing limbs and reconstitute himself, even when his head is severed from his body. As a result, he is un-killable…"
"He's immortal?" Kurenai blinked, shocked at the news.
"So the reports on him say," Ao stated, glaring over at the raven haired woman. "Whenever any of the Hidden Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist was assigned a mission, they sent him on his own because he always endangered his comrades with his strategies. He was the village's trump card next to Kisame Hoshigaki and the Tailed Beasts. In spite of being weaker then Zabuza and Ryoko, he was basically an unstoppable force…"
"Until he runs out of chakra," Chojuro said out loud so that everyone heard him. "That's his one and only weakness. Deplete his chakra and his reserves, and he will be unable to restructure or repair his body for a whole week…"
"That information on me has reached its expiration date!" Hikita called over, still smiling wildly, which continued to unnerve the Jonin. The man pointed at them with his sword, the blade humming loudly. "My powers have tripled since the last time I was in Kirigakure! In the years I've been gone, I've been gathering strength to help prolong my battles and insure victory each and every time!"
He thrust his gauntlet upwards and held his sword back, so that the enemy surrounding him could get a better glimpse of his gems worn proudly on his arm. The more prominent stones were a large green one welded onto to roof of his palm and a silver one etched in purple markings at the back of the wrist guard, along with red, blue, yellow and a whole lot of other minerals encrusting the rest of the metallic battle-wear.
"While I was in Hoshigakure, I acquired remnants of the meteorite that crashed there over 200 years ago, and inherited its incredible power!" Hikita exclaimed, emphasizing one of his collectables, which seemed to flash in whatever light made it through the blackening clouds. He then moved down his arm and emphasized the green stone on his hand. "This one I stole from a freak and his traveling circus from across the ocean! I killed him, captured his servants for my own pleasure and experiments, and incorporated this into my arsenal: the Stone of Gelel!"
The Jonin were even more shaken up by this news, as shown by their stunned faces and widened eyes. However, the Konoha and Kiri shinobi continued to hold their ground, while the legendary swordsman laughed.
"Oh… that struck a chord!" he laughed, grabbing his head with his free hand. The insane warrior shook with chuckles and fits of rather disturbing giggles for his voice type. "I know I'm just blabbering on about my new found powers… but what good use are they if I don't show them off once in a while… EH!"
It was at the same time Hikita launched his attack, the Sound and Sand armies began launching their assaults on Konohagakure.
A genjutsu was unleashed inside the stadium by Sound sleeper ninja positioned there as part of the strategy, the white noise from the Temple of Nirvana Technique they initiated knocking out the villagers and officials present, effectively calming the rush to the exits that would have taken place. However, the Genin who were seasoned enough to pick up on the genjutsu and were present in the crowds at the time, reflected the technique back, and fought against it, while a small few within their ranks fell victim to it.
Those who were unable to repel it were lulled into a deep sleep.
Tenten was one of those people who nodded out, along with Choji and Shikamaru. Neji, Kin (who was familiar with the technique) and Temari were able to repel it, along with Shino and Sasuke. When the technique died out, they laid low amongst the bodies beginning to keel over, and continued to observe what was going on around them carefully. The Genin still in the waiting area for the exams were able to shake off the effects, with Sakura, Hinata, Kiba, Gaara and Lee hanging in the back of the room, fixing up their wounds, and continuing to watch the confrontation of the allied Jonin standing against Hikita.
Meanwhile, the Konoha Shinobi forces waiting at the outer wall, were assaulted by enormous snakes summoned by Orochimaru, accompanied by columns of Sound and Sand forces, which poured in, and began attacking the outside of the Hidden Leaf.
In that short half-hour the simultaneous attacks began, Konohagakure was thrown into war.
"Hmph…" Hikita grunted, sticking a finger in his ear and rubbing it, now having calmed down from his psychotic episode. "That annoying Sound Village, ruining my party…"
"Don't worry about them! Worry about us!" Anko shouted, about to lunge at the swordsman, having had enough of hearing him talk.
However, before any of them could, Hikita grabbed his sword, and with a quick smirk, slashed it through the air behind him. In that one swift movement, after which he placed his sword back into the ground, about a dozen Sound Ninjas suddenly appeared in the air behind him, suspended in positions of what looked like to be strikes, aimed for his back. In that one move, blood began spraying out of their mid-sections as they were sliced in half, their bodies falling to the floor.
Chuckling, Hikita cracked his neck. "Let's do this…"
Meanwhile…
Inside the Village…
Any Konohagakure Forces or Enemy Forces in the vicinity practically cleared out as Yagura plowed through the village in pursuit of his target. The former Kage, under the full influence of Hikita, unleashed devastating attacks upon Naruto as he continued to hop from building to building, rescuing the occasional person in distress when they unintentionally got in between the grey haired jinchuriki and one of the attacks aimed for his target.
Eventually, the fight took them to the river that crossed through the middle of the village. Once there, Naruto skidded to a stop from his retreat in the middle of one of the streets, and spun around to face his opponent he was certain was not too far behind.
Yagura exploded through a building about a hundred meters down the road, the structure behind him collapsing as he didn't have the good manners or grace to go through any of the doors or windows. Instead, he had just gone straight through the brick walls.
Skidding to a stop, the boy glared at Naruto down the street with a five o'clock shadow and a glare that could knock birds out of the sky if he concentrated hard enough. Naruto smirked as he stared down his opponent, forming a quick hand seal and throwing himself into action. Shadow clones burst up around him, the original one quickly mingling amongst the mass of over a dozen copies, so to throw off his attacker.
Seconds after summoning them, the clones then charged Yagura down, the grey haired boy forming several hand seals the moment he saw them approach, and steadied himself for his next attack. Villagers in the background could be seen vacating the street as quickly as possible, running for cover and diving into the surrounding buildings in an effort to avoid what was to be come.
"Water Release: Exploding Colliding Wave!" Yagura shouted. All of a sudden, the ground about a hundred meters behind him split open and blasted upwards, a wall of water about fifty meters high appearing.
The Naruto clones stopped as soon as they saw the gargantuan wave suddenly come charging down the street, at the same time, fill up and flood the other surrounding roads on its approach. The Shadow Clones turned to run when Yagura started riding the wave down the street towards them, but were caught up in the surging torrents and drowned, the massive tidal wave exploding into the central park area of Konohagakure.
Villagers and shinobi scattered as the wave cascaded down on top of the vicinity, crashing into the beautiful park and flooding it, the buildings becoming subject to relentless, smaller waves and blasts of water, as the attack started to settle. Yagura rode the wave into the park, before it swallowed up and blanketed the entire area in sheen of water, the apex he was riding on setting him down atop of the forming lake.
Glaring around the soaked, now Venice look-a-like of Konohagakure's downtown, Yagura attempted to seek out his opponent and reengage him. However, he was unable to get a fix on him in time when all of a sudden, simultaneous gun shots rang out.
The grey haired Genin cried out in agony when three kunai lodged deeply into the back of his left shoulder and staggered him forward. Spinning around, he was hit again in the right shoulder and chest, seconds before Naruto suddenly appeared out of thin air and rushed at him at incredible speed, right hand raised and hidden blade appearing.
However, just before Naruto could land his hit, Yagura's right arm sprung around and blocked his blow, the two of them skidding to a stop at the opposing forces clashing against one another, and the lake they were standing on rippling violently as a result. When the blonde Genin looked up, he noticed that his hidden blade had struck the side of his opponent's arm, which had transformed into the limb of the Three Tailed Giant Turtle again; only it was human sized and controlled. The grey haired boy glared back at him over the arm as the two grappled against one another.
"Well… that's not fair," Naruto thought, gritting his teeth as he tried, with great effort, to break through his opponent's defense. "What a powerful opponent! He was able to successively unleash two Wave Techniques within a short period of time, which takes insane amounts of chakra to produce. He really is a jinchuriki…"
Growling, Naruto leapt off, choosing not to fight head to head against a jinchuriki who could manipulate his demon to produce itself on different body parts so well. Yagura withdrew his arm and leapt backwards through the air as well, climbing to a considerable height in his jump. Swinging his arm around, he then thrust it down at Naruto, the Three Tails' limb expanding as it shot out. The blonde Genin jumped to the side just in time, as the massive hand crashed down onto the spot he once stood just seconds before. He rolled across the water's surface and resumed a crouched position, glaring over at the arm which ripped a huge chunk of earth from under the shallow water. Noticing the huge slabs of boulders the hand clenched in its grip, the blonde Genin got quite a welcome from it when it suddenly swung at him.
Responding quickly to the oncoming train, Naruto formed a single hand seal and vanished in a yellow flash as the titan of a limb came careering at him, and missing. Instead, it tore a good trench in the water, and smashed a tree into splinters.
Naruto reappeared at a safe distance from his opponent, behind a boulder, his Hirashin seal inscribed in its side. Panting, he subtly glared over the rock, watching as Yagura landed after his enlarged arm attack. There was a good spread of about fifty meters between him and his target now, and he was certain Yagura couldn't see him.
"Dammit… fighting another jinchuriki is a lot harder then I thought," Naruto cursed, breathing out heavily as he sweated nervously. "This guy is much stronger then Gaara…"
He was given only a second to ponder his thoughts, before he leapt away when the Three Tails' arm punched straight through the boulder he was hiding behind, and disintegrated it. Naruto sprinted across the surface of the small lake formed from their battle, before rushing straight for Yagura. The grey haired boy spotted him and frowned, his chakra climbing in response, along with the formation of a pillar of water behind him. Within seconds, the rising water pillar suddenly morphed into a giant water dragon and charged at Naruto.
The blonde Genin acted quickly, throwing his left hand back and forming a Rasengan on his advance on his opponent, and leapt straight at the dragon. With a yell of effort, he thrust his attack right into the dragon's mouth, the forces of wind whipping within the dragon's jaws and forcing the water to part, creating a tunnel in which the blonde flew through. Yagura blinked in surprise when he saw this, but quickly shook out of his shock and responded in kind, thrusting his hands together, and causing water javelins to shoot out of every side of the water tunnel Naruto was abseiling through, impaling the blonde like a bamboo death trap.
However, Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke when he was struck, surprising Yagura even more. All of a sudden, a whole bunch of Naruto clones came rushing at the Kiri shinobi from underneath the water dragon as it fell apart, a rain of water collapsing back down to the lake's surface. The Naruto clones charged at Yagura, one after the other leaping at the grey haired boy, who backed away in response to their newly formed onslaught, his Three-Tailed arm retracting back to normal, human size.
Frowning, Yagura thrust his left arm out instead, which transformed into the Three-Tails arm as well, and shot out, swiping at a cluster of clones and knocking them flat over. The Naruto copies cried out before vanishing, announcing the end of their short lives.
However, a good dozen of them broke through, and began hammering away at the grey haired boy, jumping at him and slamming various punches, kicks and whatever into his body, in an effort to inflict as much damage as possible. Yagura took them all, and staggered back in pain, bleeding from the mouth when several hits broke his ribs and hit vital spots. Gritting his teeth, the jinchuriki rebalanced himself and glared angrily up at the clones still coming at him, this time with kunai.
Five clones jumped up from behind the wall of copies, spinning through the air. They each descended at high speed towards their target, Naruto shouting at the top of his lungs, the name of his technique.
"CLONE SPINNING AXE KICK!" He roared, the clones' legs slamming down on top of Yagura, on his head, shoulders, and his head a second time, who nearly crumbled under the strain of the five simultaneous attacks. After sustaining the hits, the boy stepped back, looking up just in time to see the platoon of shadow clones lunge at him with kunai.
However, just as they were upon him, the water around Yagura detonated with the force of a sea mine going off, sending the clones flying away, yelling out in agony. The blast and shockwave was enough to concussively knock out every single one of Naruto's copies surrounding the Three Tails' jinchuriki, his clones disappearing into puffs of smoke. The real Naruto was far enough away to avoid the sudden wall of water that erupted around and from his opponent, and watched from a distance as it fell around the boy, revealing his attacker to be standing in the middle, barely scathed.
There was but another problem as well.
Yagura had two giant, armored tails whipping around behind him now, with a good half of his body already partially transformed into his Three Tails jinchuriki, including half of his face.
Naruto frowned and reassumed a proper fighting stance. Reaching behind him, he drew from his pouch a cluster of his dad's custom kunai, the tri-cornered knives flashing in the sun.
"If you think I'm going to let you completely transform, you're sorely mistaken!" Naruto shouted.
Yagura however, wasn't listening. Instead, the two giant tails behind him directed their attention to the blonde, and then shot straight at him like spears. Naruto leapt out of the way as the two tails struck at him, caving into the water and ground space he was previously standing on. Sprinting across the lake, the spiky haired boy wonder began throwing his custom kunai in his opponent's direction, watching as Yagura spun around to face him, throwing his arms and tails around him to block the incoming attacks. One after the other, the knives rebounded and flew off in different directions after hitting their target, becoming impaled in separate objects standing around Yagura on all sides, including trees, boulders, poles and alike.
Immediately after seeing a good number of his kunai form a rather messed up hexagon formation around his target after being deflected, Naruto grinned and tipped his hat.
"Flying Thunder God Technique…" He suddenly vanished in a yellow blur.
He zip lined to one of his kunai strategically positioned across the lake area from him. It was by following this path that led him directly through Yagura. The blonde didn't fully transmit himself into the summoning space usually used to perform this technique, but instead, allowed his body to travel at the speed of light, so fast that he could reach his destination in the blink of an eye, while still being visible to the physical world. Moving at this high velocity, meant that his target could not see him, so when he zipped straight past Yagura, Naruto had the time and reflexes to effectively hook his opponent across the face as he shot straight through the middle.
Appearing on the other side, Naruto zip-lined again to another kunai, and again, and again, repeatedly doing this one after another, forming a yellow web in the center of the lake at the consistency of his jumps and his incredible speed. He zapped across faster then lightning; striking at Yagura at all different angles repetitively, with punches and slices aimed at the Kiri Genin's body. As a result of the high velocity assault, the Three Tails' jinchuriki was beaten and smacked about relentlessly, slashes, scars, bruises and fist imprints appearing over his body in random places as he was knocked about.
The speed Naruto was traveling at meant that his punches' strengths were increased many times over, with the protective armor of the Three Tails' protecting Yagura essentially cracking under the strain of the beating.
The grey haired boy cried out when he was slashed across the back and spun around, only to be whammed across the face, and sent spinning in another direction. A split second later, he was slammed in the stomach and sent staggering back into the middle, before being kicked in the back, and sent falling forward. Gritting his teeth, the partially transformed boy glared up, seething with pure anger and frustration.
Naruto reappeared in front of the fallen jinchuriki, immediately stopping his attack the moment he saw Yagura collapse. The blonde walked up to him, a frown on his face as he glared down at the grey haired boy on his knees.
It was worth noting that Naruto's knuckles were bruised and bleeding. His hits, though powerful and enhanced with his high velocity dashes, meant that his fists were unable to sustain the damage of hitting an object that had the strength of a concrete divider. As a result, Naruto was screwing up his knuckles on his attack, but was putting a lot of damage on Yagura.
The blonde Genin was unfazed by his bleeding hands, and glared down at his target with a harsh glare.
"Flying Thunder God Technique: Naruto Version," the blonde stated, raising his head. "Surrender… I don't want to have to kill you…"
Yagura growled as he glared up at his target, blood pouring profusely from his mouth. Shaking his head, the seal on his forehead suddenly lit up again, alerting Naruto to the danger, and forced him to leap back in response. Blinking, he watched as Yagura struggled to his feet as the seal's glow on him grew in intensity, before unexpectedly splintering like glass. The blonde Genin spotted the splinters in the seal, and knew immediately from the cracks that it was beginning to weaken and break.
However, it still managed to hold its influence over the boy, and it faded away once again.
The moment after it vanished, Yagura rose fully to his feet and slammed his hands together into a hand sign, his chakra and his tailed beasts' chakra suddenly molding together, and beginning to transform him.
Before Naruto could take action, a loud clap of thunder caught his attention and he looked up towards the blackened sky. When he did, the blonde shinobi spotted a current of blue electricity course across the clouds, forming around a particular point in the masses of black before a powerful bolt of lightning shot down from the heavens, and struck some of the village's buildings. The explosion that followed consumed an entire block, the structures collapsing under the force of the attack. Naruto shielded his face when he witnessed two more bolts descend from the heavens and bring down four more buildings all at once, the unnatural phenomenon damaging Konohagakure.
"Dammit!" the blonde stepped back and glared up into the sky. All the while he was distracted; Yagura continued his transformation into the Three Tailed Giant Turtle. "Eclipse has begun his attack! I have to stop him before he destroys the village!"
But Naruto wasn't able to worry about that.
What he was most concerned about at that moment, was the growing shadow in front of him.
Looking behind him, Naruto's eyes widened when he saw Yagura's body grow to an outstanding size, and at the same time expand, contract and warp. Within seconds, the limbs on the mass of armor and chakra took shape, and became more prominent in the transformation. This was followed by the appearance of the three armored tails whipping behind the body freely, and finally, the head, which sprouted like a plant growing from the soil. A spiritual, physical and conceptual nightmare of one of the most powerful beings in the shinobi nations became reality right in front of the blonde's very eyes.
Towering above him, dwarfing even the largest building in the village, the Three Tailed Giant Turtle stood several meters in front of Naruto and for all to see, people screaming and crying out at the very sight of it. However, it paid the civilians and other shinobi surrounding him no mind, and instead, its one visible eye glared down at Naruto. It seemed to lean in to him, and breathe a waft of hot steam into the blonde Genin's face.
The low growl that frothed from its mouth had Naruto blink up at it and gulp nervously.
"O-Oh…"
TO BE CONTINUED