Welcome back for another chapter of Team Itachi.
I was in yet another three-day camp, but I'm back (again) so let's kick start this chapter.
Ivyfeather319: We'll see about that ;)
hi1235: We will see. They might not even make an appearance in this story, but yeah, we will see.
itunesaddiction: That's a short yet awesome review right there. Thank you for your appreciation :)
zarethuzumi: That's an idea, isn't it? ;) We will see.
Arch The Ripper: Because I'm afraid I'll mess up if I try to develop her character, Kin might, and it's a big might, only be included in filler chapters I've planned. I'm not good at writing romance, so...
Hachibi8tails: Thanks, glad to see you back with your epic reviews. I'll try to have Itachi play a bigger role, but believe me, it's not the easiest thing :P
Thanks to Ivyfeather319, LONGNodaichi, Guest, JNS1127, hi1235, ObviousEpikness, itunesaddiction, Raistlin99, zarethuzumi, Arch The Ripper and Hachibi8tails for the reviews!
"Rasengan!"
Kabuto's eyes widened.
Naruto withdrew his hand, and his target flew back in a mid-air spinning motion.
Tsunade was in awe. Little things amazed her, but this one did.
He... he learnt the Rasengan... no... he mastered the Rasengan... in one day!
She stared at the boy's back. Naruto then turned back to look at her, and her lips formed a smile as the Chunin's face reminded her, again, of Nawaki.
Nawaki... Dan... Is it true? Do your dreams live on... in this boy?
Then... I will protect your dreams...
She froze, as Naruto stabbed a kunai into his own hand right in front of her face. Blood spurted out, some hitting her cheek.
"There is nothing wrong with blood!" He started to shout, as if giving a lecture. "You're supposed to be some legendary ninja along with the Pervy Sage, right? How can you be some great ninja with this stupid fear of blood?!"
Tsunade looked away, not saying anything.
"Look at it!" Naruto commanded, flashing his bloodstained hand in front of Tsunade. "Blood! It's just blood! It won't kill you!"
She stared at the red liquid oozing out of the wound. "Brat... why are you doing this?"
Naruto smirked. "We can't have a Hokage that's going to be afraid of blood, can we?"
Tsunade stared at him, then to his hand.
From his tool bag, Naruto got out bandages, wrapping his wound with them. He then leaped off, intent on helping Jiraiya. Tsunade made no attempt to move.
"Tsunade-sama!"
She turned at the cry of her name. Shizune rushed towards her, Tonton right behind.
"Tsunade-sama!" Her raven-haired assistant repeated her name, and turned to see Kabuto, lying on the ground with a ripped open hole in his chest. What happened here? "Are you alright?"
The blonde Sannin took a few moments to contemplate her answer.
"Just fine, Shizune... just fine."
Jiraiya and Orochimaru circled around each other, both not taking their eyes off the other.
The Toad Sannin had forced his old friend into a battle of taijutsu. His chakra was still unstable, and a ninjutsu battle would not do him any good.
"You've grown old, Orochimaru!" He commented with a cheeky smile.
Now revealing his Sword of Kusanagi, Orochimaru responded by charging and wildly swinging his blade. Jiraiya managed to dodge every single wounding attempt, and finally jumped away.
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb!"
Jiraiya spewed out fire that took the form of a dragon.
However, with the unstable chakra of the jutsu's user, the dragon soon exploded, throwing both Jiraiya and Orochimaru back.
"Jiraiya..." Orochimaru regarded his opponent with a disapproving look. "... Your idiocy has not changed one bit, has it?" He bit his thumb, and did a few hand seals.
Instantly recognizing the hand seals, Jiraiya bit his thumb and quickly did the same seals.
Both men slammed their palms onto the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Smoke filled the air, and soon Orochimaru was standing on a gigantic snake, towering over the entire Tanzaku Town.
Jiraiya stared at his summoning.
Gamakichi glanced back at him.
Naruto arrived, and stared in horror at the gigantic snake, and Orochimaru on top.
"Good day, Manda," Orochimaru tried to sound cheery. His summoning didn't buy it, though.
"Curse you, Orochimaru..." Manda muttered, loud enough for the pale man to hear. "Summoning me to a place like this... I want a hundred human sacrifices when I am done with this."
Seeing Jiraiya staring in dismay at Gamakichi, Naruto concluded the situation. Pervy Sage is still affected by that thing he drank!
To fight a giant animal like that... we must have a giant on our side as well!
So that's what Pervy Sage was trying to do...!
In that case...
Naruto closed his eyes.
Kyuubi! I need your chakra!
There was no response.
"Do you have no next move, Jiraiya?" Orochimaru's horrid laughter filled the air. "Then I shall make mine! Go, Manda!"
The purple snake dived down, apparently wanting to crush Naruto and Jiraiya with his giant head.
"Ack!" Gamakichi squealed, leaping onto Naruto's shoulder instinctively. The two Leaf shinobi jumped away in time as Manda's head crashed into the ground, sending debris flying everywhere.
Kyuubi! Naruto mentally screamed.
There was still no response.
Although frustrated, Naruto quickly got a fresh new idea.
He took out a kunai, and positioned it at his chest, with the sharp tip pointed straight towards him.
I know your life is linked to mine! If you don't respond... I'll kill myself!
Of course he was scared, but it took guts to be a Chunin. Naruto had them.
Jiraiya and Gamakichi stared at him strangely, their looks silently questioning him on what he was doing.
The smoke cleared, and Manda's head rose back into the air. "Ouch... that gave me a headache."
Kyuubi!
Naruto readied the short weapon, placing it a bit more forward. Next, he thrust it back towards his chest.
"Naruto!" Jiraiya yelled, thoroughly confused and worried with what the boy was attempting.
"Stop!"
The kunai stopped just three centimeters away from puncturing Naruto's heart.
"You have nerve... you little brat. To threaten the great Kyuubi like this..."
Manda hissed, and his tail arose, before crashing down on the three.
Jiraiya uttered out a quick warning to alert his comrades, and the two dodged the nasty-looking tail.
"Fine... but don't think this is going to be a regular occurrence... brat..."
Naruto smiled victoriously, tossing the kunai in his hand aside. As he felt himself becoming stronger and more energized, he bit his thumb, swiped the blood across his palm, and did the required hand seals.
Orange chakra began to pour from the Jinchuriki as he slammed his palm onto the ground.
"Ninja Art Summoning!"
A puff of smoke appeared in the air.
"Bring Down the House!"
Orochimaru frowned.
Just in time, he descended from Manda.
A gigantic red toad appeared from the smoke, landing directly on Manda and rewarded with a pained cry from the snake monster.
"Oh, it's Manda!" The toad expressed his delight, and continued stomping on the snake.
"Get off me, bastard!" Manda hissed in pain, managing to throw him off.
Jiraiya gasped at the familiar toad summoning. "G-Gamabunta!"
Naruto jumped into the air, landing on Gamabunta's head. "Boss!"
"Well, if it isn't Naruto," Gamabunta snorted. "You've summoned me again, haven't you?"
Pervy Sage is in no condition to fight against someone as dangerous as Orochimaru, Naruto looked down at Jiraiya. I don't know how much of a chance I have, but I will fight! Naruto Uzumaki does not back down from anything!
"I don't help little brats like you."
Naruto sighed as he heard Gamabunta speak. "Come on..."
"But since the opposition is Manda and Orochimaru, I will make an exception." Unsheathing his swords, Gamabunta stomped forward. "I've always wanted a snakeskin wallet."
Jiraiya's mouth hung open. I think... I can confirm it... Minato... he's really inherited your shinobi ability...
"Ha!" Orochimaru laughed. "It seems your student has surpassed you after just a few weeks, Jiraiya. An idiot, as always." He leaped back onto the head of the recovering Manda.
"You toad bastard," the giant snake hissed. "You will pay for that."
Gamabunta jumped into the air. "This is going to be quite a ride, kiddo, so try not to throw up!"
Naruto felt a little scared, but nodded.
Landing beside Manda, the Chief Toad proceeded to hack his enemy with his swords.
Dodging, Manda opened, then closed his mouth around one of the swords to pull it away from Gamabunta's grasp.
As the two giant summons fought, Naruto jumped onto Manda and attacked Orochimaru with a punch.
"Oh... so you want to fight me head-on."
Orochimaru raised his arm, and a dozen snakes shot out.
"So be it... hehehe."
In a flash, Naruto had withdrew his sword to behead the dozen snakes, and launched a kick towards the former Konoha nin.
Grabbing his foot, Orochimaru swung him around in the air with amazing strength, then tossing him off Manda.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Two clones appeared behind Naruto in mid-air, pushing the original back up towards Gamabunta, who was fiercely battling against Manda.
"Water Style: Liquid Bullet!" The toad spat a water bullet, hitting Manda straight in the face.
"Gah!"
The giant snake grunted and hissed. "You'll pay for that!"
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Manda shrieked in pain as it was knocked down by a giant newcomer to the battle. Orochimaru jumped off just in time, like he'd done with the summoning of Gamabunta.
On the ground, Tsunade grinned.
"Two times in one day!" Manda complained.
The gigantic thing on him started dividing into smaller clones of itself, and the purple snake instantly recognized the technique, and in turn, the user.
"Katsuyu!"
The small slugs extracted themselves from Manda's body, and joined together again to form the original, giant Katsuyu.
"You know what to do, Katsuyu," Tsunade called out to the giant slug. Katsuyu nodded.
Orochimaru landed on the ground, and immediately, was forced to dodge a kick from Tsunade.
"Why don't we all calm down and discuss over all this with a nice cup of coffee?" He offered.
Tsunade's response was a leap into the air, then landing with her fist angling towards Orochimaru's head. She missed, but just barely.
"After today, there will only be two of the Legendary Sannin left alive," she declared coldly, withdrawing her fist from the ground, which now had dozens of cracks.
Orochimaru licked his sword. "Why are you so adamant about protecting the Hidden Leaf?" It was curiosity on Orochimaru's part. "If Nawaki and Dan had not held this silly dream about protecting their village, they might not have died."
Tsunade froze. Then, she looked up at her former teammate and glared hard at him.
"... Why I am... protecting... the Leaf?"
The pale man waited for his answer.
He was instantly alert as Tsunade charged towards him.
"Because... I am the... Fifth Hokage of Konoha! And as the Godaime, I will stop you!" Her feet left the ground, and she did a somersault gracefully in mid-air. "Heaven Kick of Pain!"
Rolling to the side to avoid Tsunade's heel, Orochimaru frowned. "The Hokage?"
"... And also because... I have the Will of Fire within me!"
She charged again, with all intent to kill the man in front of her.
Orochimaru dodged her punches, and sent her flying with a kick.
"That old man's nonsense?" He laughed. "If there is such a will, I will destroy it!"
The blonde Senju got back up on her feet. "I'll kill you first!"
With a roar, Tsunade punched the ground, pulverizing it into pieces.
Her super strength is rather annoying. Orochimaru jumped into the trees to avoid being affected by the splitting ground. "Wind Style: Vacuum Blast!"
He took a deep breath and started spinning around, before exhaling and releasing air that with Orochimaru's chakra, formed an invisible blade that started circling around his opponent.
Tsunade dodged three strikes, but was quickly hit by the random moving of the blade and fell to the ground as the technique ended, gaining five new scars.
She shed blood, and as she looked at her scars, she shuddered. However, Tsunade didn't find herself freezing, or scared to death. Only the word disgust described her reaction.
Isn't she supposed to be scared to death by blood?
Orochimaru was perplexed.
Nevertheless, he was not distracted.
"You can keep trying to wriggle your way out of this, but you are coming with me, whether you like it or not."
"Like hell she will!"
Jiraiya attacked Orochimaru. "Ninja Art: Needle Jizo!"
The jutsu missed, with Orochimaru dodging, but Jiraiya was undeterred.
"Are you being a busybody as always, Jiraiya?"
Upon being addressed, he simply smiled. "I am a shinobi affiliated with Konoha!" He jabbed a thumb back in the direction of Tsunade. "If you are attacking our Hokage, it gives us Leaf ninja every right to intervene!"
"Tsk." Is Tsunade really going to become the Hokage? That is laughable.
Tsunade's eyes widened, and she smiled.
"Rasengan!"
Swinging around, Orochimaru found a Jiraiya clone charging up towards him with a Rasengan in hand. He tried to move, but as he did, his chest wounds acted up, and Orochimaru ended up throwing himself straight into the attack, and was blasted meters away.
A second later in mid-air and Tsunade was over his body, and dealt a devastating punch to his face that would surely have killed him.
Fortunately for the snake-like man, he shed his body in time and disappeared from the back - just as his skin was destroyed by the blonde lady's fist.
I can't take the both of them at once, he concluded. It would be best to retreat for now... but my wounds... I can't contain them any longer.
"Haaa!"
Orochimaru turned around, swinging his sword to inflict a scar on Tsunade's fist, stopping an attempted punch.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
From Orochimaru's mouth came a strong gust of wind that pushed his attacker away.
Tsunade stared at her fist, which was now dripping blood. She stared long and hard at the red liquid, before wiping it against her shirt.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu."
A lookalike of himself appeared beside Jiraiya. Individual blue spheres appeared in both of their right palms.
"Let's see you dodge this!" The original called, as the duo attacked. "Rasengan!"
Orochimaru side-stepped as the clone raced through, but his wounds soon acted up again, and Jiraiya managed to slam his Rasengan straight into his target's chest, seeing him spinning away like how the Rasengan had spun in his own hand.
Crashing into a tree, he quickly got back up on his feet, although with difficulty.
Best to retreat for now... Curse you Jiraiya...
"It's been fun meeting the two of you again." He commented with a twisted smile. "But goodbye."
"Wait!" Tsunade yelled, but Orochimaru had already disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Seeing this, Manda drew back, covered with wounds and bruises on his scaly skin. "Well, if Orochimaru has retreated, then I will do the same..."
"Not a chance! I want my snakeskin wallet!" Gamabunta roared.
"Shut your trap, you fat toad," was the harsh retort. As Gamabunta attacked again, Manda disappeared.
Naruto descended from Gamabunta, as Katsuyu announced her departure, and left as well.
"Boss Toad!" He called. "Thanks for the help!"
"Don't think this will be a regular occurrence, kid," Bunta grunted. "Let's go, Gamakichi."
Naruto blinked, as Gamakichi jumped off his shoulder. He had forgotten the little toad was there.
Both toads disappeared.
Jiraiya, Tsunade and Naruto stood in silence for a moment, quickly joined by Shizune, who had been spectating the entire battle.
Remembering something, Tsunade looked up.
"That four-eyed guy... What happened to him?"
Meanwhile, an injured Kabuto started to sneeze as he continued on his escape.
Finally done with this one. It was hard for me to write this one, I don't know why - but I'm at least happy I'm finished with it.
Question of the Day: Would you like to see Team Itachi being rewritten from the Introduction Arc to the start of the Chunin Exam Arc? (Chapter 1 to Chapter 12)
In the next chapter, Tsunade returns to the village and assumes office as the Hokage, while Jiraiya lets Naruto in on an impending danger known only as the Akatsuki.
See you all in the next chapter.