"Bijuken Sentai Retsuranger"
"Tailed Beast-Fist Squadron Strike Rangers"
Chapter 3: "Of Trials and Tribulations"
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Viz. Power Rangers belongs to Disney and formerly Saban. Super Sentai belongs to Toei. I am not Masashi Kishimoto, nor am I Haim Saban, nor am I an executive from Viz, Disney, or Toei. Ergo, I do not have any legal claim to any of these properties that I am shamelessly borrowing for the purpose of this story. All in good fun, people, so don't sue!
Author's note: Yeah, things are going to be happening somewhat differently here. For those of you who've been harping on how "obvious" I made it that Sasuke was going to be Dai Shi's host, frankly you only know that because you know the storyline of Naruto so well. The fun part, though, is bending and twisting that storyline, what with the monkey wrench of Naruto being a Power Ranger and Sasuke being the host of Dai Shi. How things are going to change here, I will describe here. Now it's time for us to begin.
"Mother-freaking hell," Karasu mumbled as he stared at the questions on his paper. "I am so screwed."
"You're not the only one," Renge murmured next to him. "I wasn't even aware I was supposed to study for this one."
Yugito rolled her eyes. "Suck it up, you damn pansies. I'm not failing on your accounts."
Karasu and Renge glared at Yugito, whose teal eyes merely flashed a catlike gold. Both of them got the hint and turned to their own papers, trying to figure out just how they were going to answer the questions. Their ruminations were accented, though, with mumbled curses, particularly the repetition of the "F" bomb in its various permutations. Yugito stared contemplatively at her paper, tapping the eraser nub of her pencil against the edge of her desk.
Elsewhere in the lecture hall, Naruto glared at his paper. I barely know the answer to half of these. Damn it. How the . . .
His musings were interrupted by a nudge from the pale-eyed girl in the somewhat unflattering clothes. "N-naruto . . ."
Naruto turned to the girl, finally fully aware of her. She looked familiar to him, but he was having difficulty remembering precisely who she was. "How do you know my name?"
"I . . . I . . . I'm Hi-Hina . . . ta . . ." the girl whispered. "I know . . . the answers."
"No, it's ok, Hinata," Naruto muttered. "I don't want to get you in trouble."
"It's ok, Naruto . . ." Hinata whispered. "I can . . . I won't get caught. I just . . ."
While Hinata was fighting her shyness to get the words she wanted to say out, Haku was using surreptitiously positioned Demonic Crystal Ice Mirrors to read the answers the other genin were writing. She turned to Naruto and smiled confidently at him. "Don't worry. We're not going to get caught. That's the point of this exercise."
Naruto looked at Haku curiously. "The point?"
"To test how well we can gather information without being detected by the enemy," Haku explained.
"Ok . . ." Naruto mumbled. Letting Hinata and Haku show him the answers, Naruto copied them down onto his paper. Around the three genin, the other genin were using their particular abilities to get the answers as well. Ino used her clan's mind transfer techniques to slip into Sakura's mind and read the answers from her, then slipped back into her own body and slipped the answers to her teammates, a large-bodied boy named Choji Akimichi and a boy with his hair in a spiky high ponytail named Shikamaru Nara. Kiba and Shino used Kiba's nin-dog Akamaru and Shino's hive of chakra-eating insects to covertly gather the answers. Gaara formed his sand into an eye that would secretly read information from the other genin's papers, and Sasuke activated his Sharingan to copy the writing of another genin.
Thirty minutes later, Ibiki spoke up. "Time's up, you little pukes. Now it's time for the tenth question."
"Tenth question?" Naruto repeated. "What the hell!? There isn't a tenth question on this paper!"
"You're right, there isn't," Ibiki answered. "The tenth question is verbal. You're welcome to not take it, but that means you automatically fail and you have to wait till the next exam. If you take it and get it wrong, you're stuck as genin for the rest of your miserable lives. You and your teams."
"What the hell?!" Karasu yelled.
"Are you scared, you little puke?" Ibiki sneered.
"Screw you," Karasu retorted grimly. "I'm not scared."
"Really? Because I can smell the fear coming off you. It's a very sweet musk."
Karasu growled. "So what? So freaking what? Even if I am scared of you, I'm not going to run out like a wimp. I don't care what you do to me."
Despite Karasu's brave words, there were plenty of other genin that had chosen to vacate the premises. Naruto looked at Karasu and they shared a secret grin. Upon breaking eye contact, Naruto's grin turned into a wide smirk. "Hey, Ibiki. You know who the real failures are?"
"Who?" Ibiki asked curiously.
"The ones who ran out like pansies. That's not how you get a mission done. Things go wrong, stuff happens that you didn't account for, and sometimes really nasty crap goes down. Does that mean you give up? Does that mean you run out like a coward? No. You see it through to the end, even if it's your end . . . because backing out is not an option."
Ibiki looked out at the remaining genin. "Do all of you agree with this little punk?"
"He's got balls, I'll give him that," Kankuro remarked.
"I was wrong," Sai said. "He has a dick, after all. He's still ugly."
Sasuke smirked as he looked at Naruto out of the corner of his Sharingan. "You and I better be facing each other at the end of this. I'll be disappointed if we don't."
A feral smirk graced Naruto's face, as his eyes shifted from blue to slit-pupil crimson. "Yeah, me, too."
The others did not say very much, but their steadfast refusal to leave said all that they needed to say. Ibiki chuckled. "You pass. All you little punks pass."
"Huh?" Renge asked.
"Uzumaki was right," Ibiki went on. "In the real world of shinobi, you don't get a do-over. You don't get to back out and try again later. The missions you will be going on as chunin will be 'do or die,' emphasis on 'do' and 'die.' There will be things you didn't account for, risks you're forced to take because you don't have enough information. Even more importantly, you'll not just be responsible for yourself, but for the fate of the shinobi with you and possibly your entire village."
He took off his Leaf headband, which he wore like a bandana, revealing a bald head full of frighteningly hideous scars. "This is what can happen to you when you're on a mission. But that doesn't mean you give up. If you do, you were never worthy of being shinobi in the first place and you'll die like the worthless pukes you turned out to be." He smirked slightly. "But you had the courage to stick this question out, so . . ."
Before he could finish, he was interrupted by the sound of a shattering window and a trench-coated figure doing a barrel roll into the room before springing up to reveal . . . a very shapely purple-haired woman using the trench coat to cover a short-sleeved, short-legged fishnet body stocking which was almost her sole article of clothing. The only thing that kept everyone present from seeing her assets was the trench coat and the dark orange miniskirt wrapped around her hips. Her hair was tied in a spiky upward ponytail and she wore the Leaf headband around her forehead.
"Ladies and gentlemen . . . Anko Mitarashi has arrived," the woman greeted with a smirk.
Karasu grinned. "That . . . is officially the coolest woman I have ever seen."
"Cooler than me?" Renge asked. "For shame, Karasu. For shame."
Anko looked at Ibiki. "You let all these punks pass? Getting soft, Ibiki."
"You're early, Anko," Ibiki growled.
"Yeah, I am," Anko answered. "What's it to you?" She turned to the remaining genin. "All right, time for you to come with me!"
As the genin followed Anko out, Ibiki briefly pulled Naruto away from the others. "You know, there are some harmless little betting rings going on about who's going to come out of this exam smelling like roses. Good money's gonna be on you, kid."
"Why's that?" Naruto asked.
"You've got attitude, and I can tell it's not all talk," Ibiki replied. "You're gonna go far, and there are a lot of people who can't wait to see how far you go."
Naruto chuckled. "Thanks for the compliment, but I gotta get back to my team. Besides, Anko'll kill me if I'm not there."
"Sure." Ibiki gave Naruto a hard pat on the back. "Good luck, punk."
Meanwhile, the Beast jonin were mingling with the Leaf jonin in the lounge reserved for jonin-sensei. The jonin-sensei R.J. and Kirabi saw were quite interesting, in their own ways. One was a man with silver-gray hair like a scarecrow and who wore his headband like an eye-patch over his left eye, not to mention a mask that hid everything from the nose down, leaving only a dark gray right eye visible. Another was a dark-bearded man who carried trench knives on his person. The third was a man who wore his hair in a bowl cut, had obscenely thick eyebrows, and wore an obscenely tight green spandex suit with orange leg-warmers and arm-warmers. The fourth was a lovely red-eyed, dark-haired woman who wore a dress made of white wrappings and a red right sleeve.
These four were, respectively, Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi, Might Guy, and Kurenai Yuhi, and they were eyeing the Beast jonin just as intently as the Beast jonin were eyeing them. One was a tall, lithe brunet man dressed in black with a purple vest-jacket and a strange purple bracer shaped like a wolf's head combined with a wrestling bell. The other was an even taller, burlier man with white cornrows for hair, darkly bronzed skin, sunglasses concealing his eyes, and baggy whitish-gray clothes adorning his muscle-bound frame. These two were R.J., short for Robert James, and Kirabi, or Killer Bee, respectively.
"You have . . . some interesting ninja here," R.J. remarked.
"And Daijugakure raises some interesting ninja as well," Kakashi remarked.
"Yo, yo, Kurenai, Crimson Honey," Kirabi rapped. "You mind hanging with me and my bunny?"
"I've never heard it called that before," Kurenai remarked, slightly amused, while Asuma glared metaphorical holes in Kirabi.
"Don't worry, I won't be bringing you harm," Kirabi rhymed. "In no time, you'll be falling for my charm."
Kurenai chuckled slightly. "That'll be the day."
"Is he always like this?" Kakashi asked R.J.
"You learn to live with it," R.J. replied breezily. "And it can be entertaining, depending on your mood."
"You two seem to be possessed of youthful spirits," Guy remarked to R.J. and Kirabi. He looked at R.J. intently. "The wolf is a noble and youthful animal. I am certain that you are a proper wielder of its spirit."
"I am," R.J. answered. "So you think they all passed?"
"I'm sure of it," Kakashi remarked. "Especially Sasuke."
"I would say the same of my most youthful student, Lee!" Guy declared enthusiastically.
"I'm pretty sure of mine, too," Asuma added. "They can be a motivated bunch when it comes down to it."
"Speaking of students, one of yours looks very familiar," Kurenai commented to R.J. "Like what a little boy who disappeared years ago would have grown into by now."
"Would it be the one in the red-and-black jacket?" R.J. asked coyly.
"Yes," Kurenai replied.
"Why do you ask?" R.J. inquired curiously.
"Because . . . one of my students is quite . . . shall we say . . . fixated on him," Kurenai answered. "And if they're both going to be in the Chunin Exams, that could make things interesting."
"Playing matchmaker, huh? Well, I'm game. Naruto needs a good woman in his life."
Kurenai blinked momentarily. "Did you say his name was Naruto?"
"Yeah? What of it?"
"Your Naruto wouldn't be Naruto Uzumaki, would it?"
"The one and only. And if you're wondering how he resurfaced as a Daiju-nin, well . . . frankly, if I'd been treated the way he was when he was here, I'd have said 'screw this' and started taking heads."
The four Leaf jonin looked at R.J. with some degree of surprise, as if it wasn't quite registering that the mellow Wolf jonin had said what he just said. Kakashi finally spoke up. "You're right . . . we should have treated Naruto better. He was given a burden he didn't ask for, and we refused to see him for what he was."
"Don't worry about a thing," Kirabi rapped. "For Naruto, love and friendship, not diamonds, are the greatest bling."
"It sounds like he's turned out all right," Asuma said.
"Yeah," R.J. replied. "And he just might surprise you all with what he's learned from us in Hidden Beast."
"I'm looking forward to seeing him engage my student Neji or my student Lee or my student Tenten in a contest of youthful prowess," Guy remarked. "I wonder . . . will your Beast-Fist style stand up to Lee's Strong Fist or Neji's Gentle Fist or Tenten's array of weapons?"
"I'm looking forward to that, too," R.J. remarked. "I'm sure it'll be fun to watch."
"What's that on your wrist?" Asuma asked, pointing to the purple wolf's-head bracer on R.J.'s left wrist. "Is it some kind of weapon?"
"Yeah, it is," R.J. answered. "It helps me focus my wolf spirit."
"Why do you need help with that?" Asuma wondered. "I thought you were a master of the Wolf-Spirit Beast-Fist."
"I can't always control it," R.J. admitted. "And if it wasn't for this . . ." He held up his bracer. ". . . let's just say it wouldn't be safe to be around me."
"I hope they didn't get Ibiki overseeing the first part of the exam," Kakashi muttered. "They're screwed if they did."
"Why's that?" Kirabi rhymed. "Who's that cat?"
"Ibiki Morino is one of the best from ANBU's Interrogation and Torture Squad," Kakashi explained. "The reason he's one of the best is that he doesn't need to touch you to torture you; it's all about psychological warfare with him. He wears you down with your own fears and anxieties, and then once you're too off-balance to resist . . . he swoops in for the kill."
"He enjoys it, too," Asuma added.
"Sounds like a gnarly dude," R.J. commented. "But my students should be able to handle him."
"What makes you think that?" Kurenai asked.
"A major part of Beast-Fist is overcoming fear," R.J. replied. "As that book said, 'Fear is the mind-killer, the little death that brings total obliteration.' Submit to fear, and you submit to death. Especially in this case . . ."
"What are you talking about?" Guy asked.
"We're here to kick ass and take names," Kirabi replied. "And one of those is Dai Shi, for whom we came."
"Dai Shi?" Kurenai asked. "Who's that?"
"A demonic dragon, even more dangerous than any Tailed Beast, whom our Order trapped several eons ago," R.J. explained. "But the seal weakened over time . . . and he busted loose . . . and we're here because he inhabits someone from this village. Someone who's likely become a shinobi and is in the Chunin Exams."
"Do you have any idea who?" Guy asked.
"No," R.J. admitted. "But we know the personality type Dai Shi goes for. Someone full of rage, lusting for vengeance, living only for the destruction of the object of their hate . . . Their hatred and anger will be wedded to the power and fury of Dai Shi, which will not only make them stronger but also corrupt their thinking, making them into a perfect vessel for Dai Shi's rebirth."
"Someone like that . . . is in our village?" Asuma uttered.
"It's why we're here," R.J. said. "It's why we exist . . . to stop Dai Shi from ravaging this world and erasing humanity."
"Just gotta say, you might want to watch out for your students, okay?" Kirabi rhymed.
"All right," Kakashi said. "We'll just have to watch out, but have you guys told the Hokage?"
"Yeah," R.J. replied. "He's on the alert."
Elsewhere, the prospective chunin were standing at the entrance to a great forest, Anko having led them there. "All right, this is the Forest of Death, so named because a lot of people died here."
"They must have sucked at not dying, then," Naruto muttered. "Forest doesn't look that scary."
Suddenly, a kunai flew past Naruto, grazing his cheek as it flew. Before he knew it, Anko was behind him, her body pressed against his back and her serpentine tongue darting out for a taste of his blood. "Tough guy, huh?" she taunted in his ear. "Yeah, I think I heard about you. Said you were going to kick everyone's asses. Well, it's the tough guys that leave their blood all over this forest."
"Are you trying to frighten me, or is this your rather unusual method of flirting?" Naruto asked. "Because if it's the former, you kind of suck. If it's the latter . . . well, I'm game any time you are."
Anko's hazel eyes widened slightly. "You're a strange one, kid. But I think I'm gonna like you."
There were several girls watching the exchange between Anko and Naruto with no small amount of distaste. One of those girls was a blonde with slanted catlike teal eyes. Another of those girls was black-haired, garbed in a white battle kimono, and toying with a senbon. The third girl had long dark indigo hair and pale eyes that were wide with shock. Those three girls were Yugito Nii, Haku Hyoren, and Hinata Hyuga . . . and none of them were happy that the boy they had all taken an interest in was practically being molested by Anko.
Fortunately for them, a Grass Village ninja wearing a tan robe over black leggings came up to Anko with a kunai being held in her serpentine tongue. "I'm sorry, is this yours?" she asked in a vaguely slithery voice.
"Yeah," Anko replied as she took back the kunai. "Thanks."
"Hmm, your kunai cut my hair . . . and I couldn't help but get excited at the scent of blood in the air," the Grass-nin remarked.
Anko reluctantly released Naruto and went back to addressing the genin. "Anyway, you have five days from now to make it through the Forest of Death and into the tower on the other end. That is your safe zone. Each team will be given one scroll; half will have the kanji for Heaven and the other half will have the kanji for Earth. To win, you must not only be alive, your teammates must be alive, and you have to have both scrolls."
"How are we going to do that?" Ino asked.
"You beat the crap out of some other team and take their scroll," Anko replied.
"And what's this about 'alive'?" Sai asked. "Does that mean death is highly likely?"
"It's the Forest of Death for a reason, kid," Anko replied. "Death is very frigging likely, which is why you're going to go to that booth –" she pointed to a booth some distance away from her at the entrance to the forest "– and sign waivers basically saying that you absolve the village of all responsibility in the event of your ill-timed and horribly gruesome deaths."
There were shivers all around, but not all of those shivers came from fear. Karasu seemed to have a smile on his face. "Like I said, the coolest woman in the world."
"Hey, wait, where are we gonna get food?" Choji asked.
"There's plenty of food in the forest," Anko replied. "You'll just have to hunt and kill for it."
After everyone had signed the prerequisite waivers, Anko gave the prospective chunin a parting instruction. "Try not to die!"
Inside the Forest of Death, Team Arashi gathered. "You know . . ." Naruto said. "If we can take down Sasuke . . . we might just put a crimp in Dai Shi's plans."
"Are you serious?" Haku asked somberly.
"Yeah," Naruto replied. "You heard what Grandpa Zyukage said. Dai Shi's not as strong as he used to be, especially now that he's locked up in a squishy human body. If we take him, the three of us together, we stand a chance."
"Just one problem," Gaara whispered. "He has an Earth scroll. We have an Earth scroll. We do not gain anything related to this contest from fighting him."
"Forget the exam," Naruto snapped. "We're stopping a threat to the survival of humanity itself. That's what we came here to do, and that's what we're going to do. End of story."
"We have to have a plan, if we are to do what you suggest," Haku spoke up. "Charging at Dai Shi and hoping for the best will simply get us killed."
"I've got a plan," Naruto said. "I'll fight Sasuke head on, and you and Gaara will use your ice and sand techniques to form a trap. Then we finish him."
Unbeknownst to them, Sakura had overheard Naruto's last words while on her way back to her team from her bathroom break. Her eyes widened in horror and she took off as fast as her legs could carry her. By the time she returned to Sasuke and Sai, she was panting heavily.
"What's wrong, billboard brow?" Sai asked.
"Sasuke . . . that team . . . those Beast genin . . . they're after you," Sakura got out in between pants.
Sasuke smirked. "They're after me, are they? Hm. Whatever. Let them come."
"Are you serious, Sasuke?!" Sakura exclaimed. "They're going to hurt you! Maybe even kill you!"
"You worry too much, Sakura," Sasuke answered, the deadly smirk still on his face. "If those Beast genin come after me . . . they won't live long enough to regret it." His eyes flashed a deadly Sharingan red on those last eight words.
"If you say so . . ." Sakura murmured, although she couldn't help but worry.
As it turned out, it wasn't Team Arashi Sakura's team had to worry about. Their real troubles came from the mysterious Grass-nin who had given Anko back her kunai . . . and she was emitting a frightful amount of murderous intent, the smile on her face making it clear how much she looked forward to shedding their blood. "What do you want?" Sasuke asked.
"Your Earth scroll," the Grass-nin replied sinisterly. "It'll go well with my Heaven scroll."
"You're not getting it," Sakura declared.
"I think I can change your mind on that," the Grass-nin mused idly, and the wave of murderous intent she emitted was so immense that Sakura, Sasuke, and Sai were overwhelmed with visions of being killed gruesomely at her hands . . . as though it were happening already.
To her surprise, Sasuke began to laugh, a cruel, maniacal sound. "You really think that parlor trick's going to work on me?" he asked, stalking toward the Grass-nin. "You're sorely mistaken."
"It seems to have worked on your teammates," the Grass-nin purred. "But then, they're not you, are they?"
Sasuke smiled a deadly smile, his Sharingan blazing brightly. "I think it's time I showed you my power."
"Thank you for the invitation," the Grass-nin hissed, just before abnormally stretching her body, like plastic or rubber, into an attack on Sasuke, who dodged with incredible agility. The Grass-nin simply twisted and threw a highly elastic punch at Sasuke, who caught it and wrenched her around. Unfortunately for him, she simply used it as an opportunity to literally wrap her body around his. "You're more impressive so far than I thought you'd be."
"Thanks," Sasuke answered, "but this is the least of my power. Here's more."
With a mighty roar and a burst of fiery chakra, Sasuke threw the Grass-nin off him, and when she rose again, she saw that he was now wearing a skintight dark red suit accented with golden armor. The armor came in the form of a chest shield with a diamond-shaped center, a black helmet with a golden faceplate resembling a knight's visor, gold bands around his upper arms, a black belt with a golden buckle shaped like the open maw of a dragon with the Uchiha clan symbol between its jaws, black gauntlets with golden cuffs shaped like dragon heads, and black boots reinforced with greaves also shaped like dragon heads.
"What is this transformation?" the Grass-nin wondered in shock.
The answer to her question came when the armored Sasuke threw a super-fast flying kick that caught her in the chest, sending her flying into a tree trunk with enough force to shatter every bone in a normal person's body. Judging by how she got up after that, she was by no means a normal person, as if the rubbery elasticity she had already demonstrated wasn't proof enough. She wiped blood off her lip, smirking nastily at Sasuke.
"So you got up after that," Sasuke remarked, his voice deeper and rougher. "You might not be entirely a waste of time after all."
The Grass-nin charged at Sasuke, attacking him in close quarters, but Sasuke blocked and dodged every one of her strikes as though he could see her coming seconds before she actually made a move. Technically, with the analytical powers of his Sharingan, that was more fact than conjecture, and even then there was the small matter of those powers being greatly boosted by Dai Shi's residence in his body. Finally growing weary of the fight, Sasuke grabbed the Grass-nin's head and began to pull, tearing away part of her face to reveal paler skin and a lavender-shadowed golden eye beneath.
"Who are you?" Sasuke asked.
"You'll find out . . . soon enough," the Grass-nin replied, "her" voice now rougher and more masculine-sounding. "In the meantime, a parting gift is in order, don't you think?"
The Grass-nin extended "her" neck so as to bring "her" head close enough to Sasuke's for "her" to bite into his neck. To "her" great dismay, Sasuke caught the Grass-nin by "her" obscenely stretched neck and squeezed hard. "I don't bite on the first date. But I will give you a parting gift of my own. Yomiton: Anryu Endan." An inferno in the shape of a black dragon lunged at the Grass-nin from Sasuke's hand and engulfed "her." Sasuke dropped the burning Grass-nin and powered down from his armored state, collapsing to one knee as he did.
Using those powers . . . still takes a toll on my body . . .
It won't do so forever, Sasuke Uchiha, a reverberant dark voice spoke in his mind. The more you advance your strength in the power of the Beast-Fist Confrontation Art and the Underworld Release, the stronger you will become . . . and the closer you will get to destroying that man.
Yes. For that, I can endure anything. Anything!
Good to hear that you're still so determined.
Why shouldn't I be? You've given me an incredible gift, and I will use it to annihilate that bastard. Sasuke began to chuckle crazily. Won't he be surprised, to find that I don't need eyes like his to defeat him!
He finally rose to his feet, looking at his still-dazed teammates. A twinge of sympathy prompted him to pick them up and carry them under his arms to someplace safe. He didn't even know why he bothered with them sometimes; both of them were annoying, but one seemed particularly obsessed with penises and the other fawned over him to the point of complete idiocy. Still, they were his teammates, and if anything from Kakashi's teachings had made an impact, it was that teammates shouldn't be abandoned. Besides, he needed them so he could continue in the Chunin Exams.
Elsewhere in the Forest of Death, chills ran down the spines of Teams Arashi and Raiden. "Did you feel that?" Naruto asked.
"Dai Shi . . ." Yugito murmured.
Karasu smirked. "This is going to be exciting."
"Yeah, assuming you don't get killed," Renge muttered to herself.
"We'd better be careful," Gaara advised. "Dai Shi is not one any of us should take on solo."
"Then the six of us fight him," Haku murmured. "Even his power should not be enough to stand against us all."
Yugito smiled slowly. "You can come out now, songstress, you and your little boy toys."
At that moment, three teenagers stepped out of the shadows of the forest. One was a girl with long black hair and dressed in a gray top and sniper camouflage pants. The other two were boys, one being the practically mummy-like bandaged boy who had assaulted Kabuto with the Melody Arm. The other had spiky dark hair and was garbed in a khaki tunic and white pants. All three wore headbands identifying them as Sound ninja.
The girl smirked cruelly at Teams Arashi and Raiden. "So you're the Hidden Beast genin. You don't look so tough."
"Neither do you," Karasu retorted.
"Hey, pretty boy," the girl called out. "You might want to spend less time on that glossy hair and more on your ninjutsu."
"Look who's talking," Karasu sneered. "You could be a cover model."
"Enough talk!" the spiky-haired boy shouted. "I'll blow these punks away in one shot!" He thrust out his hands, palms facing out to reveal small holes in their centers. "Slicing Sound Wave!"
Immediately, a blast of concentrated sound emanated from the holes in the boy's palms. The wave of sound did more than just make noise; it also generated intense wind that would have knocked over the two Beast genin teams if not for Gaara's Sand Shield. Unfortunately, the Sand Shield's protection did not last too long, and soon sand particles and air molecules were slicing the Beast genin's faces, hands, and other exposed skin.
"Hmm," the mummy-like boy with the Melody Arm remarked. "They weren't that tough after all."
Suddenly, a burning red spectral fox with nine tails lunged at the Melody Arm user, slashing him repeatedly. "Wanna bet?" Naruto snarled.
"Where did that come from?" the Melody Arm wielder gasped out.
Yugito stood next to Naruto, a burning blue aura taking the shape of a two-tailed cat surrounding her. "This is the power of Hidden Beast. The power to fight as the animals do, to be one with the spirits of the beasts."
"You guys are a little tougher than we expected you to be," Renge admitted, "but that doesn't matter. All it gets you is that we actually take you seriously. That's not as good as it sounds." By this point, she'd channeled the chakra of her Seven-Tailed Isonade through twin sword hilts to form blades made of watery energy.
Gaara had transformed his sand into a layer of armor surrounding his body and colored to match what he was wearing and his skin, hair, and eyes. The Sand Armor, while incredibly useful for defense, also weighed him down, as he had compressed so much sand into that armor that it made his body quite heavy. He could still move, but he could not move as fast as he could without the armor. He accepted this sacrifice in speed, because his Shukaku-Spirit Beast-Fist worked best in a defensive pattern.
Haku withdrew a bottle of water strapped to her thigh and opened it. With a mighty throw, she released some water from that bottle and used her Hyoton jutsu to change the falling water into ice needles that flew at the three Sound genin. The spiky-haired boy released another Slicing Sound Wave, and while he succeeded in making the ice needles miss him, they did hit his comrades, much to their very vocal – and profanity-laden – displeasure.
Karasu leaped into the air and, unleashing his raven spirit, performed a graceful dive that culminated in a drop kick to the mummified boy. Unfortunately, the mummified boy unleashed his Melody Arm technique on Karasu, which left him quite disoriented due to the disruption of his inner ear. Seizing upon this opportunity, the mummified boy punched Karasu in the stomach and kneed him in the solar plexus, knocking him to the ground.
"Karasu!" Renge shouted, performing a graceful and deadly dance with her Isonade Swords, cutting through the Slicing Sound Wave and the Melody Arm's attacks. The dark-haired girl threw senbon at Renge, who deflected it with her chakra sabers. "Try harder."
Outside the Forest of Death, one Anko Mitarashi was happily eating her dango and musing about a certain red-clad Beast genin. She was still rather impressed with him for not being scared of her . . . and for even taking her attempts at intimidation as foreplay. She licked her lips, wondering just what sort of games he was into when it came to "playing" with a woman.
Just then, her musings were interrupted by two ANBU. "What is it?" she asked them.
"Mitarashi, you have to see this," one of the ANBU answered grimly.
When she saw what the ANBU were talking about, she nearly threw up. There were three dead ninja . . . with their faces melted off, and judging by their style of dress they were from the Grass Village. The identification the ANBU gave Anko confirmed their village . . . and something else.
"I know that woman . . ." she murmured. "How long have they been dead?"
"Roughly a week," one of the ANBU replied.
"Then . . ." Anko turned and began to head into the Forest of Death. "I'll deal with this."
End Notes: There you have it, the Strike Rangers have started busting out their moves, Sasuke has revealed his Dai Shi-granted powers, and there might be some Anko/Naruto goodness going on! Of course, who has time for romance when you're fighting an evil spirit determined to destroy all of humanity and another conspiracy operating in parallel and possibly opposition to the first? Will anything come of this Kirabi/Kurenai/Asuma triangle? Will Hinata get her man? Will Anko be able to stop whoever has killed those Grass ninja and taken their identities? Will the Strike Rangers triumph over the Sound-nin? For the answers to those questions, read on and thank you for giving me this much time. Just before I go, a little information on the original jutsu used here.
Yomiton: Anryu Endan = Underworld Release: Dark Dragon Blaze Bullet
Rank: S-class
Element: Darkness/Fire
Type: Kinjutsu
Description: The Dark Dragon Blaze Bullet works via the user channeling dark chakra into their hand and igniting it upon releasing it through their hand. The dark chakra, once ignited, takes the shape of a black dragon that engulfs and severely burns the target. It is a kinjutsu precisely because it draws upon dark powers for its use.
Nanabiju Nito = Seven-Tailed Beast Two Swords
Rank: A-class
Element: Water
Type: Supplemental
Description: To use this jutsu, the user must be the Jinchuriki of the Seven-Tailed Beast. As such, the water-element chakra possessed by the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki can be channeled into two sword hilts and projected from those hilts as sword blades as long as 1.5 meters. Once that is accomplished, the Seven-Tailed Beast Two Swords can be wielded much like any regular sword, except with greater cutting power and durability than a regular sword.
Juken Abadan = Beast-Fist Riot Bullet
Rank = A-class
Element: N/A
Type: Summoning
Description: The Beast-Fist Riot Bullet is the technique that Daijugakure ninja are best known for and the ultimate in their array of combat techniques. To use the Beast-Fist Riot Bullet, the user's spirit must coexist with the spirit of a particular animal, which is also how the user can employ the Beast-Fist techniques at all. The Beast-Fist Riot Bullet is a summoning technique in that the user calls forth the full power of the animal spirit residing within them and unleashes it in a tangible spectral form that attacks the user's opponents. This can overwhelm most opponents except for those who also have animal spirits that they can unleash in a similar fashion.
All right, that's enough from me. Hope you enjoyed the little lesson, and hopefully you'll stick around for the next chapter.