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Chapter 08: Oni
Naruto was standing on top of a large boulder on a small hill behind the abandoned village where Aoi was said to use as a base along with the rest of his troops. The masked blonde let his eyes memorize every building and alley of the small village while counting the number of bandits and thugs walking around. From the looks of it, they weren't expecting any form of attack judging from their loud behavior.
"Not really that organized, aren't they?" Naruto commented as he observed a few of the bandits fighting over a bottle of sake.
"What do you expect? They're bandits after all. Sure, this missing nin must have whipped them into shape or something considering that they follow him but deep down, they're still thugs." replied Kurama as he observed the arguing drunks through Naruto's sight. "Aren't you going down there and get the job done?"
"Not yet. I think it's a bit foolish to just go down there with swords blazing without knowing exactly the number of Aoi's troops. I'm sure that he's here somewhere though I'm not a sensor so I can't get a lock on him. Considering his rank, he should be the only one here with the highest chakra reserve in the area. It is quite possible that he has other missing nins with him due to his reputation of having the Raijin no Ken."
"Then stealth is the answer then." Kurama agreed. "Why don't you use some of my kin to stalk the village below? Find out their exact numbers. And I know just the fox to do it."
"Oh?"
"I told you when I let you sign the contract that the foxes are well known for their stealth and infiltration capabilities. Except for me, none of them are fighters. However, there is one fox that is a sensor and can detect any chakra and life signatures with ease. If you want to summon him then I suggest you do the usual summoning hand seals then call out the technique though you need to call out his name to bring out the right one."
"What's the fox's name?"
"Akira."
Naruto gave the fox a mental nod before moving back a few steps to hide himself better since the smoke from the summoning would be easily seen by the sentries below. Judging that he was far enough, he blurred through hand seals and slammed his hand on the ground.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Akira."
When the smoke disappeared, a small brown fox the size of a small pup was sitting on his haunches and looking at him with excitement.
"Hi there. I guess you're our new summoner, huh?" Akira said excitedly. He sniffed the air a bit and tilted his head to the side. "Why do you smell like Kurama-sama?"
"Um…hi. You must be Akira. I smell like Kurama because he is currently sealed inside me. I'm his jinchuuriki. My name is Naruto, by the way." Naruto informed the fox, a grin behind his mask.
"I see. Well, Naruto-sama, what can I do for you?" inquired the fox with an enthusiastic wag of his tail.
"There is a town below that I need you to scout for me. Try to find out how many people there are and try to detect the strength of their chakra signatures to see if there is any shinobi among them. Try to determine the exact location of the strongest chakra signature in the area and report to me after you have all the information."
The fox nodded and shimmered a bit before disappearing. This caught Naruto by surprise.
"What in the world was that?" Naruto asked his tenant.
"That was Akira's special skill. A form of invisibility technique that is unique to my clan and he is the most skilled user of it. In fact, even I have trouble finding him if he doesn't want to be found. He is the best infiltrator among all the foxes which makes him the best in this type of situation. I think you already know that he's a sensor so detecting chakra is quite easy for him."
"I see. Then I guess that all we need to do is wait before we get a full report from Akira when he gets back." said Naruto as he walked back to edge of the hill to continue his vigil of the village below.
It was an hour later that Akira returned to give Naruto a full report of the village below. According to the fox, Aoi had a total of 73 men, 10 of them were missing-nins with chakra signatures ranging from low-Genin to mid-Chuunin. However, the most disturbing report was Aoi's chakra signature which was in mid-Jounin. Naruto wasn't worried about it much considering who he was and what he was capable of but it wouldn't hurt to make a plan of attack just in case.
After half an hour of coming up with a plan; Naruto, Kurama, and Akira decided to do an infiltration-slash-assassination mission. Akira would be tucked inside Naruto's kimono and advice Naruto to the location of the missing nins since they would have to be taken out first. The bandits could be handled last since there were more along the line of cannon fodder if nothing else. After depositing Akira inside his kimono with the fox's head poking out of his chest, he disappeared from the hill using Shunpo to start the operation.
Taking out the relatively weak missing nins were quite easy. Sticking to the shadows, a few Sho's here and there, and they're out like a light. It was at this point that Akira informed him of another skill that the fox would use to help him along. Naruto discovered that Akira could extend his invisibility technique to him if he stood still. It wasn't perfect but it was good if you want to hide and remain undiscovered.
After making sure that the small fries were unconscious and properly bound, Naruto made his way to the building where Aoi and some of the stronger missing nins were holding a conference. He managed to reach the room undetected and Akira cloaked him with his invisibility technique.
"So, Aoi-san, when will the diplomat from Amegakure get here?" asked one of the shinobis in the room.
Aoi, who was twirling the Raijin no Ken in one hand, looked at the shinobi with a smirk on his face.
"He should be here in an hour or two. After all, he would be escorting us to Ame to become official shinobis again. I'm getting tired of operating with bandits and having to hide from shinobis and bounty hunters. Besides, I heard that Ame is taking in missing nins these days and giving them some good jobs to earn some descent cash." Aoi informed them. "This wouldn't have been possible if Hanzo was still in control. I heard that the new leader made the new rules. I guess they needed the extra manpower for all those shinobis that died in the battle."
"Shit." Naruto cursed mentally. "If I want to bring bring in Aoi and get the Raijin no Ken then I better to do it before the Ame diplomat arrives."
"You should. Besides, you can easily take them if you want. He might be an A-rank missing nin but he could never compare to your skills." Kurama pointed out.
"I think you seem to forget that there are still the rest of the missing nins in the room. Sure, I could take them out but I don't think that is possible without them getting a hit or two on me. However…" Naruto trailed off before extending his index finger towards one of the missing nins in the room. Akira said that the invisibility technique would work if he stood still. Moving a finger shouldn't be a problem. Gathering his Reiryoku for a continuous shot, he aimed.
"Sho." He whispered to release the spell. His shot was accurate and hit one of the missing nins at the rear of the ground on the head, knocking him out. His plan was to thin the herd without making any noise, however, he miscalculated. Before he could fire another shot of his spell, the missing nins caught sight of their downed companion and shouted a warning.
"Ginjo!" one of them shouted before pulling out a kunai. The rest of the group followed his example. Aoi, on the other hand, activated the Raijin no Ken, causing the somewhat ornate handle to produce a blade of pure lightning.
"Show yourself." Aoi demanded as he scoured the room for the intruder.
Not having any more choice in the matter, Naruto whispered to Akira to drop the invisibility technique and to return back to the summoning world. The fox gave him a worried look before following his summoner's order and remove the technique before dispelling in a puff of smoke. Considering that he was still hidden in the shadows, Naruto took a deep breath and stepped out causing the people in the room to look at him fearfully.
"Who're you?" one of the missing nins barked. Aoi, on the other hand, was giving masked Naruto a speculative look before a grin stole into his face.
"If I would hazard a guess, you would be a bounty hunter from Konoha judging from the lack of Hitai-ate." Aoi said with a sneer though he was inwardly fearful of the imposing mask that the person was wearing, not to mention the posture which screamed powerful. Despite being in the Konoha ranks before his theft of the Nidaime's relic, he didn't recognize the powerful figure in front of him which made him nervous.
"You don't need to know who I am, Aoi Rokusho, A-rank missing nin from Konohagakure no Sato." said Naruto, thanking Kami for his demon mask giving his voice a deeper tone.
"Is that so?" said Aoi before pointing the Raijin towards the demon-masked individual and barking out an order to attack. "Get him!"
Naruto immediately placed his hand on his Sakabatou and drew it out just in time to block a kunai thrust. Not wanting to stay in one place, he kicked the shinobi to push him away before using Shunpo to disappear and reappear in front of a startled nin from behind the attacking group. With a smooth swing of his blade, he slashed at the neck with all of his strength causing it to break, killing him. He turned to face the other opponents but froze when one of the shinobis just finished his preparation for a jutsu.
"Katon: Grand Fireball!"
A large fireball xame out from the mouth of the nin and flew towards Naruto at amazing speed. Since he didn't have any place to maneuver considering the size of the room, he darted towards the lone window and jumped out, breaking the glass in the process. He didn't bother turning as the room exploded from the power of the attack.
When he landed, he was immediately surrounded by what's left of the missing nin, putting the fight six to one.
"You're going to pay for that." growled one of the nins as he flew through a set of hand seals and slammed his hands on the ground.
"Doton: Mud River Flow"
Naruto immediately jumped when the ground beneath him turned into a torrent of mud. Not wanting to waste his maneuver, he flipped and channeled a burst of Reiryoku to his feet to create a solid platform. With a burst of strength, he launched himself to one of his enemies while flipping Kenshin to put the bladed edge to the fore.
"Ryuutsuisen."
With his speed, the missing nin wasn't able to dodge the attack resulting in him being cleaved in half from head to groin. The rest of the nins saw the attack but their experience allowed them to shrug off the gruesome sight and attack en masse.
Naruto, considering the number of enemies he was facing despite already getting rid of one, decided to dodge and parry the attacks while waiting for the right opening to counter. Thankfully, his mastery of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu allowed him to dodge the various attacks with ease while keeping an eye for a weakness that he could exploit.
One of the nins overextended a kunai thrust which Naruto immediately saw. Not wasting time, he maneuvered Kenshin into an upward slash that removed the man's hand from the elbow. Using the momentum from the swing, Naruto did a 360 spin and did a backward slash which cut the man in two from the waist.
The rest of the nins were shivering in fear as they saw another one of their comrade die a gruesome death from the demon-masked fighter. His speed was uncanny and his sword skill was like a dance of death.
Deciding to end it all, Naruto utilized Shunpo to appear and disappear, removing the nin's arms from the shoulder with ease effectively making them useless in a fight. After all, even if they were shinobis, having no hands made it impossible for them to attack using Ninjutsu or Taijutsu. He continued doing this until only Aoi was left; said nin was looking at him in fear.
"Demon," Aoi whispered fearfully as he brought up Raijin to defend himself. Naruto saw that despite Aoi's status as an A-rank shinobi, the missing-nin was inept in kenjutsu judging from the way he was holding Raijin in a somewhat passable defensive stance.
"Demon?" said Naruto in a cold voice which almost made Aoi pee in his pants. "I guess I'll use that as my name from now on. You may call me Oni."
Managing to get his backbone up, Aoi sneered at him.
"Oni, huh?" said Aoi bravely, using his mental training to push down the fear creeping up on him. "If you're a demon then it is only right for me to kill you."
Aoi launched forward at Jounin-level speed and swung down Raijin, intending to split his opponent in two. Naruto saw the attack as if it was in slow motion thanks to his training with Maito Gai and brought up Kenshin to block it. It was a big mistake, however, considering the composition of the blade he was about to parry. When the metal of his Sakabatou hit the lightning-based blade of Raijin, a powerful current of electricity flowed through the metal and electrocuted him on the spot.
Naruto gritted his teeth to stop himself from screaming and managed to free himself by jumping back. The loss of contact with the famed Raijin stopped the flow of electricity but the newly-named Oni could still feel some of it under his skin.
"As you can see, there is no way for you to defeat me, Oni." Aoi said with a sneer, his courage at its peak considering how his weapon was able to do damage to the powerful swordsman he was facing. "With the Raijin no Ken, I am invincible."
Naruto was able to get rid of the electricity flowing through his body thanks to Kurama's interference. He pulled in a deep breath before straightening up, Kenshin beside him, pointing downwards.
"I see. Considering that my sword is made of metal, it is only logical for it to conduct electricity from the lightning blade of the Raijin no Ken. I underestimated its power and will never do so again." Naruto declared before channeling a burst of Reiryoku into Kenshin, making the blade glow white. He practiced with this skill from time to time during his training and discovered that unlike chakra, Reiryoku on the blade actually made sure that it was protected from elemental attacks. He had to use it a few times during his spar with Kakashi who had a lightning affinity and used it to parry some of the techniques the one-eyed Jounin threw at him.
Not bothering using Shunpo, Naruto launched himself at Aoi and swung his Reiryoku-coated blade at the missing nin. Aoi was surprised at the speed which surpassed his own and was barely able to parry the swing with Raijin. The missing-nin was surprised, however, when his opponent wasn't screaming in pain when the two blades connected. His gaze flew to the locked blades and noticed that the electricity wasn't being conducted by his opponent's sword.
Naruto saw that the Nidaime's sword was effectively neutralized by his Reiryoku; he channeled a bit of Ki to his muscles and pushed the startled missing nin back and launched another swing which Aoi barely dodged. They continued their dance of swords, Sakabatou against Raijin. Despite Aoi's lack of a kenjutsu style, he was still a Jounin and could still follow the trajectory of Naruto's swing to parry or dodge.
Aoi jumped back and did a few one hand seals before shouting out his technique to buy himself some breathing room.
"Fuuton: Air Bullet." Aoi screamed before slamming his free fist to his gut and blew out a bullet of compressed air. Naruto saw the attack and channeled a bit of Reiryoku to the palm of his left hand to produce the right spell.
"Seki." whispered Naruto as he brought his left hand, palm outward, towards the incoming attack. The air bullet impacted Naruto's defense, causing the two to negate each other.
"What kind of jutsu is that?" shouted Aoi when he saw his attack disappear after impacting with the strange ball of energy.
"Nothing that you should know about, Aoi Rokusho." said Naruto before gripping Kenshin in both hands and held it in front of him perpendicular to the ground preparing himself for a technique that he hadn't used before, hoping that it would be enough to bring down his enemy. He placed the blunt edge of his Sakabatou to the fore since he didn't want to kill his opponent.
"Ha! Whatever it is you did, it's useless. You can't defeat me using your pathetic sword." declared Aoi as he flipped through another set of one-handed seals. Naruto didn't give him time to finish the technique and launched his next attack, which were the last words Aoi would hear before succumbing to darkness.
"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu: Kuzuryusen! (Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu: Nine-Headed Dragon Flash)"
Naruto dashed forward using Shunpo and attacked all vital points using the blunt-edge of his Sakabatou. This caused Aoi to scream in pain before being thrown away by the force of the attack before darkness claimed him. Naruto was panting since it was his first time to use the technique. He could already feel the soreness in his muscles disappear as Kurama healed him from the inside.
"Damn, despite being effective, that attack is still out of my reach." Naruto mentally remarked to his tenant as he tried to catch his breath. He wasn't out of breath because of the speed since he utilized Shunpo. What made it difficult was the strain of speeding up his attacks to the point of hitting all vital points at the same time. "What's the damage, Kurama?"
"Nothing much, despite using Ki to improve your muscles, that attack still took a lot out of you, straining some of the muscles in your arms to the point of tearing. You would have been able to pull it off if you took off your weights though." Kurama reported as the bijuu assessed the damage and healed them. "All in all, flawless execution for your first time. I suggest you practice with the technique to get used to it. I'll make sure to modify your muscles to the point that you can do the technique repeatedly without straining your arms to the point of taking damage. I suggest that you train to achieve Shinsoku (godspeed) instead of relying on Shunpo all the time."
"Thanks for the evaluation, Kurama. I guess we can call this mission a success." said Naruto before sheathing Kenshin back into its sheath and approached the downed form of Aoi. He noticed that the missing nin was still breathing though the white in his eyes showed that he was deeply out of it. "Good thing I used the blunt edge or he would be a corpse right now."
Naruto picked up the Raijin no Ken and tucked it inside his kimono before hefting the missing nin over his shoulder. He grunted a bit at the weight but it became bearable when he channeled a bit of Ki to his muscles. He looked around and decided to leave the rest of the missing nins since they weren't part of his mission objective. Casting one last look around, he jumped and created a platform of Reiryoku below him before using Shunpo to return to Konoha at full speed.
It didn't take long for Naruto to reach Konoha since he was taking the high road while carrying his unconscious passenger. He bypassed the gate and made his way to the Hokage's office and entered via the opened window. He saw that the Hokage was still awake despite being 10 in the evening.
"Hiyah, old man. Mission accomplished." Naruto said cheerfully before dumping the unconscious Aoi on the floor causing the Hokage to look at him with looks of awe and pride. He pulled out Raijin no Ken from his kimono and placed it on the table. "There you go. One Raijin no Ken, safe and sound."
"That was fast, Naruto-kun." commented the Hokage before inspecting the Raijin with a keen eye. He nodded and gave the boy a grin. "I would say that this is your first successful A-Rank mission. I commend you for finishing it within 24-hours. A feat if I do say so myself."
"He was quite easy to find since you already gave me his exact position. Besides, one of Kurama's family members was able to help me infiltrate their camp with ease and I took down the missing nins there before taking care of Aoi." remarked Naruto before briefing the Hokage of everything that happened during the mission.
"I see. Congratulations on your success and I am happy to inform you that the position of Kage's Hand is yours to keep until you want to step down from your position." the Hokage informed him before pulling out a payment voucher from his table and handing it to his surrogate grandson. "This is your payment for a successful A-Rank mission. Just present it anytime at the mission hall in the first floor to get your money. You're free until your next mission."
Naruto nodded and took off his mask. He remembered something.
"Old man, while I was fighting Aoi, he gave me a new nickname. So if I wear this mask, I suggest that you call me Oni. Not only would it give me an identity, it would keep my real identity a secret." The blonde informed his surrogate grandfather.
"Oni, huh? I agree with you. I'll make sure to add your new name to my personal file. Just to warn you, it is quite possible that you would be assigned missions along with other shinobis so I would be addressing you as Oni on official meetings. Understood?"
"Understood, Hokage-sama." said Naruto with a bow before giving the old man a cheeky grin. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to my hut for a good night's rest. I still have some personal training to do tomorrow since I discovered that one of my ultimate techniques takes a lot out of me."
With that, Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke and leaves leaving a chuckling Hokage and an unconscious Aoi behind.
End of Chapter 8
Date Uploaded: July 7, 2012
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