Along Came a Symbiote
Author Note: Alright the first thing I need to do is apologize for the long period where I haven't updated this story. Let's just say that in short, life has been kicking my ass. I'm better of than some people but lets face it, an ass kicking is an ass kicking. On a side note my luck is turning around. I entered a Soul Calibur 5 Tournament hosted by the gamestop I live near, expected to lose first round and ended up in third place out of 26 people.
Last chapter got some interesting reviews so I'm going to start placing response to reviews at the end of my author notes in order to answer some questions.
BlackRevenant: I think you're confusing Naruto's personality between him inside and outside of battle. Inside he acts like a ninja should. Puts aside his feelings, analyze the situation, and take advantage of enemy's weak points. Outside, he jokes, laughs, and generally enjoys himself.
Gohan90: It makes no sense for Naruto to have the snake summons. Well Jiraiya summoned a toad that held the contract, why can't Anko do the same with her summons. Aside from that how was Naruto supposed to get the spider summoning contract? A random summon take interest in Naruto, one of the most over used clichés used in Naruto fan fiction. Not happening.
Juopunumies: The problem with that is that I generally liked what happened in the first part of Naruto. It's shippuden that I dislike.
Junky: The nine tails fox isn't gone for good, but Naruto won't be using its power. I think there are too many stories where Naruto goes god mode with the nine tails fox's power. It will make an appearance later on.
Dregus: The name Venom will serve a purpose later on. I know many enjoyed the fact that the symbiote was a clean slate, but to be fair I've been hinting towards this for a while.
LycanRed: Thanks, I really mean it. Several have written symbiote Naruto's and your right they do overpower him. It's this reason that I decided to write this story despite the fact that it's been done before.
Alright now onto the chapter.
Chapter 8: Hunting a Defector
It had been nearly three weeks since Orochimaru's invasion, and Naruto was finding himself with one problem after another. After his grief had dulled, it had occurred to him that he had not seen Haku since the exams. He had tried visiting the mental health ward of the hospital but found that the room Haku had previously occupied was empty. And checking with the front desk clerk showed that he wasn't listed anywhere within the hospital itself.
After searching through the village for several days, Naruto concluded that Haku had used the invasion as a way to escape the village. He felt bad that Haku had left but understood that if Haku did not truly want help then there was nothing more he could do.
Shortly afterwards a tall white haired pervert by the name of Jiraiya had dragged him off to find a new Hokage. This had been a large annoyance to Naruto and had found himself becoming angry when he discovered who would be replacing Hiruzen as Hokage and the spite she carried for her old home land.
But that was in the past, and right now Naruto was relaxing on a tree limb while Anko was sitting on a park bench down bellow enjoying some dango. Naruto began telling Anko about his trip to find Tsunade in order to pass the time and also to make her laugh at how he had troubled Orochimaru during the fight between the Sannin.
"We don't really see what's so great about the Sannin that would garner the respect most ninja give them. After we found Tsunade, days later Jiraiya had a sedative slipped into his drink by Tsunade while she cowered in fear covered in blood that wasn't even her own. Then there is Orochimaru who runs away at every opportunity."
Anko picked up a cup and took a sip of her drink before speaking. "When they were together they made an unbeatable team that had helped us greatly back in the third ninja world war. Add to the fact that they all have contracts with different summons and are some of the Leaf's most powerful ninja, there's where their respect is earned."
Naruto shook his head. "We still would believe that their personality quirks would cause some lost in respect."
Anko began laughing. Naruto had a point there. With Tsunade drinking constantly and an addiction to gambling, Jiraiya being a peeping tom pervert, and Orochimaru being a traitor to Konoha, one would think that the amount of respect they were given would have diminished.
"Well enough about them, let's get back to what happened during the trip. Now where did we leave off?" Naruto said as he began to think.
"You were fighting Kabuto." Anko pointed out.
Naruto gave a feral grin. "Oh yeah, that's right."
One week ago
A grass field some distance from Tanzaku town marked the fight between Orochimaru, Tsunade, and their assistants. Naruto and Jiraiya had arrived in time to turn the tide, but with Jiraiya still suffering from the sedative he had been slipped and Shizune tending to the fear paralyzed Tsunade, the fight had simply been brought back to a stalemate.
Naruto was pushing his limits to keep even with Kabuto. The purple clad spy was proving that he was far stronger than a Genin. He had years of experience against him and was clever as well. Using his chakra scalpel, he was able to sever ligaments and muscle tissue needed in order move limbs. But Naruto wasn't simply standing by and allowing Kabuto to cripple him as he fought back by aiming bone shatter attacks towards Kabuto's joints and vital organs.
The problem the two were running into is that they couldn't kill the other fast enough before they recovered. Kabuto thanks to his self healing jutsu and Naruto thanks to the symbiote repairing the damage done to him.
Shizune had finally wiped off enough blood for Tsunade to fight and Orochimaru noticing this called Kabuto back to him.
It soon became apparent to Naruto what was going to happen when he saw both Tsunade and Jiraiya bite the tip of their thumbs. He quickly pulled up his sleeve to reveal his summoning tattoo and swiped blood along it, acting with the urgency that came with the concept of a race against time.
Four giant clouds of smoke appeared and slowly dissipated. Jiraiya appeared on top of a large red toad wearing a blue vest. Tsunade appeared on top of a giant white slug with a light blue stripe running down its back. Orochimaru stood atop a Bronx colored snake, gawking at the snake below him before turning a rage filled glare to Kabuto.
"You were supposed to summon Manda!"
Kabuto looked down at the snake he and Orochimaru were on in disbelief.
"What's going on? I know for a fact that I had used enough chakra to summon the snake boss."
The three Sannins turned their attention to where the final cloud of smoke had been and had found where the infamous strongest colossal serpent was located under Naruto.
Naruto let out a roaring laugh in success of having summoned Manda before Orochimaru and Kabuto.
The large snake below him finally let its displeasure be known. "Who are you and what makes you believe that I would serve YOU?"
"We are Naruto. And we don't expect you to serve no one. As far as we are concerned you could just go bake on the grass."
Manda's response was instant. "Then why have I been summoned!"
"Because we want you out of Orochimaru's use." Naruto stated proudly.
A few seconds passed as Manda allowed what he had been told to sink in. The Sannins and their summons had begun their fight long ago.
"You're not apart of Orochimaru's group?" Manda asked as he initially believed that he had been summoned to aid Orochimaru against his former teammates.
"No, we summoned you so that you couldn't fight alongside him. As long as we have you summoned, he can't."
The colossal snake began chuckling; the chuckling soon turned into a snicker and eventually grew into a boisterous laughter.
"The snake charmer himself is out summoned by a child three times younger than himself. You realize that he will make you pay for this."
Naruto's face instantly turned to a hate filled scowl. "Then we welcome his anger, for we are only starting to be a thorn in his side!"
Manda sensed the hate within Naruto's voice and the sides of his jaw creased up in a mimic of a devilish smile.
"Hmmm It seems like there is conflict amongst the snake summoners." the malevolence in his voice grew. "Very well, I accept you as one of our summoners, but I cannot assist you in your fight against Orochimaru or any other being that has a contract with us snakes, no matter how much I'd like to devour his cowardly hide. "
"Afterwards Tsunade and Jiraiya had driven Orochimaru away and we began heading back to Konoha." Naruto said while Anko was still laughing.
Apparently she took as much joy in Naruto screwing over Orochimaru as Manda did.
'We love the way she laughs.' His eyes widened as he questioned the choice in words he used in his thought. He shook his head and passed his word choice off as a mere misuse of expression.
Suddenly an Anbu dropped down and appeared before the two. Anko quickly whipped the tears out of her eyes before addressing the masked nin.
"How may I help you?"
"Actually I'm here in order to inform Naruto Uzumaki that the Hokage wants him at her office immediately." the Anbu said before disappearing.
Naruto shook his head. "Sorry Anko, but the old bitch has summoned me."
Anko let out a sigh. "You know, you should really show her more respect."
"If you had seen what we saw Anko, you wouldn't be able to respect her either." He said before heading off towards the Hokage tower.
New Hokage or not, Naruto wasn't going to change his routine of entering the Hokage office. So he once again began crawling his way towards the window. Entering through the window had caused Tsunade to send a glare.
"You sure you're not Jiraiya's student?" she asked.
Naruto ignored the question and made his way towards the front of the desk. "You summoned us….Hokage. He said while forcing the word Hokage.
Naruto understood that Konoha needed a leader and a strong one at that, but he couldn't accept anyone else as the Hokage, not so soon after Hiruzen's demise. The thought of the old man caused the mask on his face to reflect a somber look and he unconsciously gripped the diary located in the inner pocket of his jacket.
"I summoned you here because of a last request written in my deceased sensei's will. He asked that the next Hokage promote a single Genin in the case that he himself was unable to. I don't believe I'll need to mention who that Genin is."
A smile grew on Naruto's face and he nodded to show she was right.
"I'll be honest. After reading the reports concerning the Chunin exams and the notes left by the examiners, I don't feel that you are deserving of a promotion. But the Third had written down on his will several skills and qualities that he felt qualified you to be a Chunin."
Before the new Hokage could continue, a knock on the door was heard.
"Lady Hokage, I've returned with that package you sent me to retrieve." the voice belonging to Shizune explained.
"Come in Shizune." said Tsunade.
The door opened slightly and Shizune walked through and handed over a green scroll to Tsunade. Naruto tried to catch any signs on the scroll that would indicate its purpose, but was distracted from his observation when Tsunade began speaking again.
"He really liked you, you know that." she stated. "My sensei hasn't always done the right thing, but he always meant the best…. And so I'll follow his wishes."
Tsunade unrolled the scroll in her hands and revealed a storage seal. Pumping chakra through it caused a plum of smoke to appear and dissipate shortly afterwards. After the smoke was gone a single custom made Chunin vest was visible. Instead of being green, the vest was midnight black and even had an exact copy of Naruto's spider emblem stitched into it.
Seeing that his attention was glued onto the vest, Tsunade decided to regain his attention. "He paid for this to be custom made out of his own pocket instead of simply giving you one of the mass produced vests. It's rare that a ninja is given such a thing. Cherish it and congratulations on becoming a Chunin, Naruto Uzumaki." she said before handing him the vest along with the scroll that contained the documents of his promotion.
"Thank you." he said in a near whisper before taking the items from her.
He quickly replaced his jacket with the Chunin vest, zipping up the front to keep it closed unlike how he wore his jacket. Afterwards he placed the scroll snug into one of the many pockets in the vest before slinging his jacket over his shoulder.
"You're dismissed Uzumaki." Tsunade stated before preparing to sign a few papers.
Naruto simply nodded and headed out the window.
Tsunade simply shook her head. "At least he closes the window when he leaves."
Two weeks later
Sakura was becoming worried about her team. Ever since the invasion, nothing seemed the same. Naruto had changed, he had stayed mute to them and had completely ignored Sasuke. Originally she believed that it was this simple change that had caused the negative feeling that seemed to float around whenever she was with her team.
But as time passed, Naruto began to seem more like his old self. But Sasuke started to become angrier and distant. It had all started when Naruto had shown up wearing a Chunin vest and Kakashi had verified that Naruto had indeed been promoted along with Shikamaru.
Sasuke had acted like he didn't care about it, but she could tell it had bothered him. Sakura had tried to reason with him that the invasion had prevented Sasuke from showing his full capabilities in front of the judges. Unfortunately this had only seemed to insult the Uchiha and he had snapped at her, telling her not to patronize him.
It only got worse as Naruto continue to ignore Sasuke's presence. Before where Naruto would make an insulting comment, Sasuke had shown irritation and responded with an insult of his own. But now he felt that Naruto considered him as little more than a stray dog on the road. This idea had been cemented further by the fact that Sasuke had challenged Naruto to a fight, trying to antagonize Naruto with various belittling comments.
But Naruto had passed by Sasuke without even a glance back or a word to show he even heard him. It had been a shot to his pride that had left him furious. Sakura feared that Sasuke would have attacked Naruto while his back was turned if their sensei had not been present.
She had gone to Kakashi time and time again trying to find some way to repair the damage that had occurred in the teams ability to work together, but the lazy nin had simply stated that things would settle down and that the two were simply bothered by events during the invasion.
Her sensei's words didn't help her feel any better. And while the team she had been assigned to could hardly be called that it was still her team, and she didn't want to see it break apart.
So here she was, walking towards Naruto's house during the late hours of the night. She was hoping to talk with Naruto and convince him to at least acknowledge her and Sasuke's presence. And that's when she saw him. He stood alone, facing away from her and silent. The look on his face told her that he had just made a decision, one she felt she would be uncomfortable with.
"Sasuke?" she asked, unsure if it was truly him.
He turned to her in response.
The Next Day
Black boots kicked off the ground as Naruto pushed his limits in speed as he pursued the group of sound nin and his teammate. It had been odd waking up to the sound of someone banging on his door. Being jerked from his sleep had put him in a foul mood and the only thing that had stopped him from tearing the person knocking on his door a new asshole was the recognition of Sakura's panicked voice begging him to be home.
It only took her mere seconds to explain between sobs about Sasuke's defection and even less time for Naruto to disappear to his room long enough for his symbiote to form his leather jacket, pants, as well as his spider marked shirt and teeth imprinted mask.
Naruto you have to stop him, but please, I'm begging you, don't kill him.
The thought echoed through his mind just as he caught sight of his target.
Later that day
"This is just too damn troublesome. Why is Sasuke attempting leave us for Oto?" said Shikamaru running through the forest while being followed by the team Tsunade had him form.
The team had been constructed for the sole purpose of tracking Sasuke Uchiha down before he reached the border of Oto. Shikamaru looked back to look over his unit. He had Kiba there as a tracker and Neji so they weren't ambushed. The beauty of this was that Neji and Kiba could work in junction and prove without a doubt where Sasuke was. Then he had Choji with him as, well he just preferred him as a partner. They worked on the same team and trusted each other better than they would others.
There had only been one person that he had wanted on the team but couldn't find.
'Dammit… I wish Sakura would have gone to Tsunade first about Sasuke instead of Naruto. Well at least she had gotten him to promise not to kill the traitor.'
"Shikamaru, there is something up ahead. Looks like a corpse." Neji stated.
Having been warned, Shikamaru gave a sign for them to slow down. Once they arrived at the edge the clearing Shikamaru waited till Kiba and Neji gave the affirmative that no one else was around.
Walking up to the corpse Shikamaru noticed that the orange haired, large built corpse wore a sound head band. Several purple splotches covered his body and blood dripped from his mouth as a thick stain.
Neji activated his Byakugan for a closer inspection. "His skeleton is a mess. Just about all his bones are broken or fractured. Death was most likely internal bleeding but a hard hit to the heart could have caused it to stop as well."
"Geez who could have done this to him and why?" Kiba asked.
"Troublesome. The only person I can think that has this brutality and strength is Naruto, at least on our side. We should move on. Chances are Naruto is still chasing after Sasuke and apparently he has back up as well." Shikamaru said while pointing at the deceased Oto nin.
Naruto leapt upward off the tree branch he stood on and grasped another in time to angle his body out of the way of the bronze like boomerangs thrown at him. Once onto the new branch, Naruto redirected his gaze back towards the sound nin that stood before him. He wore garbs that had matched his previous opponent and had six arms instead of the natural two other humans had. Oddly enough the man looked similar in appearance to Iruka and even held his hair back in a high pony tail.
The man snarled from having missed the black clad spider nin once more. "Stop jumping around and just die already."
Naruto jumped behind a tree and instantly camouflaged himself; forming the mask he had used after the Chunin exams to insure total invisibility.
He let out a dark chuckle while stealthily moving closer to the sound nin. "We would have thought that you would be enjoying yourself. It's not everyday that you would be able to fight a fellow spider." he said while making sure to throw his voice in order to hide his position.
The six armed man scanned the area before jumping into some foliage for cover.
Naruto, who had witnessed the act, had to stifle his laughter. 'The fool believes that he is hidden from us. A poor assumption.' He thought before joining the Oto nin.
The sound of the leaves shuffling were his only clue that he had been found before a black covered fist had collided with his face. Naruto had aimed his punch so the Oto nin would be sent falling down where no tree limbs would break his fall.
'He'll either hit the ground hard enough to break every bone in his body or use a large amount of chakra to save himself. Either way this fight gets easier for me.'
A thick string of webbing had been shot out of the Oto nin's arms only for Naruto to swing by on his own black thread and rip them apart. Having lost his safety lines and seeing Naruto sitting by, preparing to repeat his last action, the Oto nin bit his finger before performing three hand seals.
Naruto watched as a thick cloud of smoke formed around his opponent and his eyes widened when he saw a large black spider with the Oto nin on top. The spider seemed to be a tarantula by the hair on its body and the thickness of its legs compared to the rest of its body. Two thick orange lines ran down all three parts of its body.
Naruto camouflaged himself once more before moving to a new position. Instead of moving towards the Oto nin, he moved a bit further away and behind a group of people waiting in ambush.
"They went that way." Naruto stated while pointing.
Shikamaru and the others instantly turned around.
Neji was the first to speak. "Are you certain?"
Naruto moved his pointed finger into a new direction. "That tree is marked to point out the direction. Before our fight with this guy started, We broke a tree limb pointing in the direction the Oto nin went and covered it with our webbing. "
"He's telling the truth." Neji confirmed.
Shikamaru nodded his head. "Good, then after we finish this guy off we'll continue the chase."
"Not necessary." Naruto objected. He waited till the rest of them had his attention. "We alone can handle him while you continue to chase after Sasuke. We don't know for certain how fast they can travel and if they get too much distance we'll never catch them before they cross the border."
He saw that Neji was about to object. "We've been fighting him ok on our own. There are still two Oto nin escorting Sasuke. If you can catch up with them you'll have them out numbered but if you stay here and fight with us that chance will be smaller and smaller."
He could see that none of them liked the idea and Shikamaru cemented this with his next statement.
"We out number this guy five to one. If you've been doing so well against him on your own then we can quickly finish this up and head out."
Naruto shook his head. "He's too cunning for numbers to work against him. Even if we did attack him all at once he would simply target the slowest of us and take that person hostage. Even if we did manage to free the hostage we'll be too busy trying to cover each other to fight him effectively. And besides, he's a coward but a smart coward. Even now he is setting up traps and setting the stage to his advantage instead of chasing me."
Neji activated his Byakugan. "He's right. The area is covered in chakra."
"Troublesome… Fine we'll do it your way." Shikamaru said before ordering the others to follow him.
Naruto nodded before making his way back towards the Oto nin. It wasn't hard to find him or to be more specific, the battleground he prepared.
The area was covered in webs from the forest floor to the canopy. The large spider had positioned itself above, hanging from one of the new formed webs while baby versions of it descended and crawled around their new territory. The Oto nin was not within sight as far as Naruto or his symbiote could see.
"Done chatting with your friends!" echoed the nin's voice.
Naruto chuckled. "So you knew."
"Of course I knew! You haven't retreated once during this fight! Why else would you do so now?"
He knew there was more to it but that, but Naruto didn't persist and instead veered towards another topic. "So you've set the stage."
"One fitting for our kind!"
Naruto's booming laughter had caused many of the spiders to stop their movement. "Our kind? You're sadly mistaken if you believe to be one of us! You lack the bite!"
The once calm voice turned heated after that remark. "We'll see who lacks bite once you're left paralyzed and fed upon! This game is over!"
Back in Konoha, Interrogation Department
Due to her occupation as an interrogator, Anko Mitarashi had been one of the few people to be warned about Sasuke's defection or his current attempt at defecting. She was looking forward to interrogating the over privileged snot.
Then again she didn't know if there would be anything left to interrogate thanks to the fact that Sakura ran to Naruto first about Sasuke. She still didn't know if that was a stupid decision or smart one. On one hand Naruto was the closest Chunin, knew the target well, and would help reduce how much of a head start Sasuke got from the village.
But then again everyone knew that Naruto was looking for the first chance to kill Sasuke and get away with it, becoming a defecting nin did just that. If Naruto did kill Sasuke, there would be absolutely nothing that the council or the Hokage for that matter could do about it. Even if they did attempt to punish him there would be several fellow Chunin and Jonin that would support his action and speak up for him.
"I wonder if he'll really keep his promise to Sakura." she said aloud.
Ibiki gave his co-worker a curious glance. "What are you mumbling about?"
A few of the other nins nearby perked up and listened in.
Anko chuckled. "You guys know about the Uchiha brat going rouge last night?"
Several nodded or gave a verbal confirmation to show that they did hear about it.
"Well a team had been formed by the Hokage and sent out a couple of hours ago to retrieve our wayward Uchiha…. But before that the one to discover our new missing nin was his teammate Sakura Haruno and she had gone to her other teammate's house and begged him to chase after and bring the Uchiha back. The name of this team mate is…." She paused for suspense. "Naruto Uzumaki!"
"Psssh the Uchihas' fucked!" said one of the nearby nins.
Ibiki nodded his head in agreement.
Anko decided to fill them in on her earlier remark. "I would normally agree …. but Sakura had Naruto promise not to kill him so I'm not so sure if Naruto will keep his promise or not."
"Come ooonnnnnnn. This is a no brainer. The Uzumaki has been using the Uchiha as his anger management crutch since their early years in the academy. Now that the Uchiha has gone and become legitimate rouge, there is nothing stopping Uzumaki from murdering the guy." Another nin stated.
Ibiki decided to cut in. "I don't know. Naruto has shown loyalty to his village and team mates. He had a good chance to kill Sasuke during their A rank mission in Wave. Or at the very least allow the Uchiha to die by the hands of that ice user he brought back."
"Yeah that's true." Anko stated.
The nin from before scoffed. "THE only reason Uzumaki didn't drown the Uchiha in a nearby lake during that mission was because it could still have gotten him in trouble."
The other nin began murmuring with each other on the possibility of the Uchiha dying today.
"All right if you're so confident then why don't you put your money where your mouth is!"
Everyone's attention turned to Ibiki and the wallet he held up. "Sixty dollars says Naruto brings Sasuke back…. alive." he said before pulling out the mentioned amount and placing it on a nearby table.
Anko broke out into feral grin. "I'll add to that. Eighty on Naruto returning with the Uchiha alive." she added onto the table."
The nin from before didn't seem fazed. "Alright… Sixty on the Uzumaki returning with the Uchiha as a bloody corpse."
The other nins began making their own bets and Anko grabbed one of the random clip boards lying around. Ripping off the current page and began scribbling down the bets on the fresh page.
'Come on Naruto! This could be an easy twelve servings of dango!'
Back with Naruto
He had taken care of the miniature spiders, dodged the onslaught of trap triggered kunai that the spider Oto nin kept unleashing, and even succeeded in killing the enormous spider that continued to spawn the miniatures. So how is it that he found himself stuck on a large tree branch, his arms being pulled back by all six arms of the spider Oto nin, and whom had transformed into a demon incarnate like the previous Oto nin?
The man had transformed into a red demon with a third eye. His build had slightly increased and his hair had turned grey and doubled in size.
Pushing his foot down onto the spine of the half kneeled symbiote bonded nin, the Oto nin's grin broadened as he heard Naruto's pain filled grunt.
'We were careless. Should have never allowed ourselves to be lured towards the spot he was shooting from.'
Naruto closed his eyes as he focused, not that his opponent could see this past the mask he wore. Slowly Naruto began putting more and more effort into bending his arms forward. The Oto nin's smile faded as the tide was turning at a painfully slow but definite pace. The muscle of his biceps, triceps, and forearm bulged while his entire upper body violently trembled.
Kidomaru couldn't believe this fight had lasted this long. It was bad enough that one of Konoha's nins had pushed him so far but a kid at that. He thought for sure that once he entered his second cursed seal form that things would have been settled. Creating his bow and readying his arrow, he had been prepared to finish the little spider look alike…. but black clad nin had disappeared once more and he didn't know where the kid was till he got within a few feet of him. It had been sheer luck that he had lured the Leaf nin to one of his sniper spots before ambushing him.
The struggle would have been over in a minute had it not been for the freakish strength the boy possessed. He wouldn't have been able to hold onto the nin had it not been for his additional arms.
'How the hell does he still have more strength!' he couldn't help but shout in his head.
Having felt that enough was enough; Kidomaru gathered chakra in his mouth and used it to form an arrow in his mouth. It slid out a ways before stopping. He knew he wouldn't be able to jam it into the nin with just his mouth.
The black goo as he began to think of it that covered the Leaf nin was similar to leather and wouldn't be penetrated easily. So instead he readied himself to remove one of his hands from the arms they held to jam his weapon into the skull of his enemy.
'Alright. One, two, three, NOW!'
Kidomaru's plan proved to be a mistake for as soon as his one of his left hands removed themselves, Naruto put his full body weight on his left side. This had resulted in Naruto lurching forward with his left shoulder and dragging Kidomaru with him. Just as it seemed like they would both fall over, Naruto jerked back, smashing his head into Kidomaru's bottom jaw.
The sound of metal breaking followed by a guttering scream resounded through the forest. Naruto didn't care about this as he shot a thread of web and swung himself to another tree. As he landed against the bark, he turned back to face Kidomaru but found the man no longer there.
He kept his back to the tree as he thoroughly scanned the forest for any sign of his enemy.
'Can't let him get the drop on us again.' Naruto thought as he slowly blended in with his surroundings.
Just as he finished applying his camoulfage, he heard the sound similar to a whistle. Eyes widened as he recognized the sound far too easily and leapt from the tree. A gold arrow tore through the spot he once occupied, leaving a gnarled hole.
'So he's gone back to using his bow. Better move slowly. Don't know how but he can spot us with that third eye open when we move too fast.'
Naruto was careful to move from tree to tree without disturbing the leaves too much. Several problems were occurring as he searched for Kidomaru. The main problem revolved around the fact that he didn't know where exactly the man was hiding. They were both searching for each other. Both keeping a keen eye constantly observing their surroundings.
Naruto's eyes snapped onto a few leaves that floated slowly to the forest floor. Though this was a sign that Kidomaru was getting either sloppy or impatient, Naruto didn't smile. Last time he had jumped at the chance to take out Kidomaru and it had nearly cost him his life. Now though he would take his time and insure that victory was his before attempting to claim it.
He stayed at what he considered was a safe distance away while moving to a better spot to view the location where the leaves feel from. He stopped once he found Kidomaru and understood how the leaves fell. Kidomaru was suspended midair by five white threads that extended from his hands and attached themselves to various tree limbs. This allowed him easier maneuverability as all he needed to do was let go of one web and form another one to pull himself to another direction. Oddly he had his bow stabled by his hand while he used his mouth and feet to pull the string of the bow back.
Naruto was confident in his ability to sneak up on Kidomaru and kill him in one swift move… Unfortunately if the slightest thing went wrong as he went for the kill, accidently rustling leaves, the bark beneath him giving out, or even Kidomaru's paranoia going off. Then it would take even longer for him to locate him again or worse Kidomaru put an arrow through his heart.
A planned formed in his head and he formed a single hand seal. It wasn't an extravagant plan or even brilliant.
'But it will do.' he thought as a mud clone formed next to him.
Without a single word the clone began moving else where but out of Kidomaru's sight. Naruto on the other hand moving higher though closer to Kidomaru's location. Once he was on the branch several feet above his enemy he stopped and positioned himself upside down and on the lower part of it.
Naruto propelled himself forward the second Kidomaru shot his clone. He intended to simply pounce on the man and snap his neck, a simple plan but as he thought early, it will do. To Naruto's annoyance, Kidomaru's shock didn't last long and he immediately checked his blind spots. His initial two eyes were unable to spot Naruto from above, but he the third demonic eye caught a mere glance of him. Unfortunately this mere glance caused the other two eyes to focus directly onto Naruto.
Kidomaru quickly aimed his bow and formed another arrow in his mouth. Naruto on the other hand quickly thrust his fist forward, sending two globs of his symbiote forward. Having succeeded in blinding his opponent, Naruto smiled though this didn't last long as a searing pain erupted from his left shoulder blade. The hanging spider nins aim had been thrown off thanks to the gunk blocking his vision but not by much.
So instead of bleeding to death from his heart, Naruto found himself with blood dripping down his now limp useless arm. He looked back at Kidomaru to find the man still suspended by his threads of web and quickly reformed his plan. Instead of grabbing his enemy's neck and snapping it, Naruto instead angled himself so that his right arm hooked around Kidomaru's neck. The spider threads were unable to support both of their weight and quickly snapped, sending the two to plummet towards the forest floor. Much like his threads, Kidomaru's neck snapped as soon as they came in contact with one of the many tree branches.
Naruto slowly peeled himself from the bark having unfortunately received little cushion from the Oto nins body. Looking towards his diseased enemy, Naruto was proud to have found the man reverting to his human form only this time his neck hung loose at an odd angle.
Nearly an hour later
After his fight Naruto had located his marked tree and continued the hunt. There was nothing more that he could do about the whole in his shoulder than to have his symbiote fill it, hopefully clotting it long enough for the flesh to heal. His left arm was still useless which prevented him from web swinging through the forest.
As he went, he discovered the others off in their own fight. He chose not to help them due the fact that the sand siblings from Suna were present and even helping them. Naruto wouldn't question it for now, it wasn't important and he was more interested in catching up with Sasuke.
Naruto's sudden stop would have confused any that witnessed it. But his eyes saw clear signs of a fight that had recently happened. Slashes against trees, scorch marches, and obviously used kunai and shurikens. Strangely enough, the signs of battle lead off to the edge of the forest. Following the now man made path, Naruto found himself walking towards two large statues of the first Hokage and Madara Uchiha. Neither the two statues nor the beautiful water fall between them kept Naruto's attention as his eyes instantly darted to the bloody body at the bottom of the statues. He quickly scaled down the cliffs as quickly as possible.
Caution had been thrown to the wind as it was obvious that he had just missed the fight. Once down, Naruto easily identified the body as Neji's due to the long brown hair, pearl like eyes, and beige clothes. Blood dripped from the sides of his mouth and a deep, wide hole located right over his left lung bleed at a steady rate. It was obvious that Neji had attempted to apply pressure to his wound and prevent himself from bleeding to death. Naruto shook his head, not delusional enough to believe that Neji would live.
"You …. You just missed him." Neji suddenly said.
Naruto nodded, but said nothing.
Neji took this as a sign to continue, and at least make his last words worth while.
"I c-caught up with him … a ways back…. Our fight ev-e-eventually lead here... Afterwards…. he transformed… into t-this demon." He took a long drawn out breath in hope of steadying his voice. "Couldn't stop him." he simply said "He's already crossed the border."
…..
…..
…..
"It seems l-like I can't continue to fight fate any-anymore."
Those words caused Naruto's eyes to widen.
"Heh-haha. Just as I start to fight…. this happens."
At this point Naruto felt the need to say something, anything, so long as the Hyuga didn't pass away in silence. "Is there anything you would like us to tell your team?"
Three weeks later
'Three weeks… has it only really been three weeks?'
The thought was one that had repeatedly entered Naruto's head today as he went about packing supplies for the three year training trip.
'Three weeks.' the thought repeated.
It had been three weeks since the failed retrieval mission and since Neji's death. Oddly enough it wasn't Neji's death that bothered him, but Neji's last words to his teammates.
"Tell them….I'm sorry"
He was dying and he was sorry. Naruto just couldn't understand it. Telling the Hyuga's sensei and teammates went as expected. The flames of youth duo cried waterfalls and Tenten excused herself, obviously to go where her grieve could not be seen. After reporting with Shikamaru to the Hokage, both were reprimanded for not only the failure of the mission but the death of Neji Hyuga.
No punishments were given, but Naruto felt like he had been punished. As soon as their reports were over, Tsunade informed Naruto that he would be taking a three year training trip with Jiraiya. He had tried to fight it, bitch about it, and even threaten. Nothing deadly, just promises to annoy her to the point of insanity. In the end Naruto solved nothing and he ended up preparing for the trip.
Closing the door to his house, he began making his way to the village gate. As he walked, Naruto double checked that he had everything taken care of before was outside of the village.
'Bought clothes so Jiraiya doesn't become suspicious, gave Anko and Sakura a key to our apartment, asked Shino to go by and get rid of the bugs that decide to make our home theirs… anything else?'
Naruto had given keys to Sakura and Anko to insure that his apartment could be dusted while he was away, and the only people he could think of that he could trust, other than Shino, were the only women he kept in contact with on a daily basis.
Speaking of the Pink haired team member, Naruto had been surprised by the lack of sadness or anger she showed when he informed her that the mission was a failure. Instead there was a burning resolve.
Anko had been another story. Naruto couldn't get much out of her other than dissapoint in the loss of free dango. He made sure to inform her of his trip at the very least and was some what pleased that she didn't find the idea all that appealing.
Naruto chuckled when he thought back to his last conversation with Shino. The look on the bug users face had been priceless after he had recieved his answer as to why he wasn't given a spare key to Naruto house. Then again Shino's reaction to being told that the reason he didn't recieve a key was due to fact that Naruto thought he could pick the lock with his bugs was understandable. The fact that Naruto was right was beside the point.
"Hey brat good to see your other sensei's sense of punctuality hasn't rubbed off on you." Jiraiya said all too familiarly as far as Naruto was concerned.
"Let's just get this over with." said Naruto as he walked past Jiraiya.
'Get this over? How the hell are we just suppose to get over three years.' Jiraiya thought.
Author's Note: Sorry if this chapter wasn't all that good. And originally I was going to hold back the time skip till next chapter in order to make a chapter for the filler missions, but decided that I just wanted to get onto the shippuden part. On a side note, Manda's title is a freaken mouth full.