Darkon: Running, running, swimming, running, running and more running.
Sir: Let's not forget the battles that take place Darkon.
Darkon: Scuffled taters!
Sir: I'll take that as you remember, right well… let's get it started.
Darkon: Let's, in any case race time and maybe some more Kyan Ubira back plotting she just wants some love and maybe her cuddle toy.
Chapter 6: Dancing Queens, Running Kings.
After Naruto had finished his storm of snake based insults he finally had managed to hear Kyan yelling at him in his mind, in which he replied simply 'what could she possibly want' and thus his life was getting more stranger, because apparently Kyan Ubira's wife was the first wielder of the Thunder God sword before passing it down on to mortals when she was through using it and it has passed hands many a time but Kyan knew of it's true power and form.
It's true form was actually that of a fully formed glaive instead of a hilt in the right hands and that's where its full power came to light however for it to be restored to its former glory Naruto would have to get his hands on it and Kyan would explain rest as she was still trying to make it up to Naruto in the hopes that should she meet her wife sooner than that, that Naruto would forgive her and that her wife wouldn't rip her a new one or leave her to her misery.
Naruto asked who in the world was Kyan's wife and how exactly did it work between them and all he got in response was Kyan stating that he had his chance earlier to learn about her significant other, but she at least explained that the laws of nature could go screw itself for all she cared when it came to powerful beings like her and her wife.
Thus bringing us to the current day events they were all standing at the starting line Fukusuke and Idate had received a lot of bets and Naruto hadn't since he was an unknown and wasn't backed by a clan, he was considered a fool to have entered this race given people have seen how fast the other two competitors were.
By Fukusuke was Aoi Rokusho who was his main bodyguard discreetly looking to Naruto and Idate, both of whom where targets in today's race, Idate didn't say anything about Aoi as he was sure he could out run the guy and hopefully avoid him, Naruto wasn't saying anything as he was more worried about who was going to be attack whom.
Best case scenario they managed to handle the genin; that were probably waiting to attack around the checkpoint or while Idate was on a boat as they had long range weapon tactics, before having to face Aoi so they could fight him in a group… likelier the worst case scenario would happen, Naruto looked to Isaribi who was standing silently next to him with her arms crossed trying to put up a tough image and not looking the part at that.
The worst case scenario is if they went after Idate while he was still on his boat when it came to the crossing the water, because Viper will be stowing away on it to guard Idate and right now said snake was on a nearby roof wearing a small cape that was actually a really small scarlet scarf tightly wrapped around her neck near her head, it had a seal on it carrying her battle parasol which at first seemed to be a little complex for the snake but she managed to work it well enough for Naruto to not complain about how ineffective it was for her to wield it without hands, she didn't like being the one to protect Idate when Naruto was going to be in danger but she relented to this position out of necessity that she was the only person in their group that could.
It didn't matter if Aoi or his team went after Idate while on the sea, Viper would still have a terrible time of having to deal with three opponents or one strong opponent, Naruto himself was a high paying target and his civilian ranking made him seem all the more vulnerable, Isaribi would have a lot of time on her hand to decide whether she would have to double back to help Idate and Viper after getting Naruto across the sea portion of the race or she would continue to cover Naruto as he was going to be open for attack at any time during the race except the sea portion where Isaribi was at her most useful.
The one thing that they agreed on however was that Isaribi should support Viper once she dropped off Naruto, who had the stamina, healing and the fact that he could handle himself under high stress situations was okay, the real problem was if they'd be okay enough to run after the race because they had sent some messages to Konoha one specifically to Ibiki Morino and the other to the ramen stand apologizing for the loss of income, they'd have to continue running after getting whatever money they had acquire for winning if they in fact did, keeping Idate alive was a primary objective the money was secondary as was retrieving the sword since a person's life was worth more than a weapons or monetary gain though it would be helpful to have both after this mess was over with.
Aoi was the biggest danger here at the time, with the thunder god sword he could instantly snuff out Viper with a lucky hit or electrocute her through her metal parasol, Isaribi would be a double edged sword in a fight against him as she could use her water attacks to make him shock himself or she could end up the one being shocked and Naruto was probably the safest for handling Aoi as he could take more damage than either Viper or Isaribi could, of course this was assuming he'd attack them with the sword instead of his ninja parasol which was vibrantly noticeable as it was bigger than Vipers and sheathed on his back.
Viper was staring at the rain ninjas parasol and the state of disrepair it was in, it was like it was crying out to her to be fixed up and made all brand new as it was a poison needle launcher series of ninja made parasols and those were freaking hard to make or find as the poison usually messed up the launching mechanism by getting the senbon inside of it too sticky to fire eventually gumming it up with moisture, said mechanism which wasn't on the tip of the parasol like hers was spread throughout all the tips of the canopy so that you could rotate it to fire another volley of needles, but this type of parasol was a bit more delicate because the canopy arms were not as strong since they had to carry the needles making the arms hollow but the design made it capable to fire a ton of them with little to no finesse, Vipers parasol had a bit more balance in defensive and offensive capability but less ammo but that didn't mean his parasol couldn't be used as a shield in conjunction with the sword thus making it somewhat worthwhile for him to wield.
It was a matter of precision shot senbon versus a large volley that wouldn't do much damage against a person with a defensive jutsu; apparently Aoi had no class or aim if he needed that many senbon to drop a target sure only one needed to hit but that required actually being able to hit something making the volley kind of inefficient if blocked entirely and Viper could actually do that along with hitting her target with a well timed senbon while in motion, she had practiced with her last seven senbon endlessly to get better at shooting them.
It was a good thing she had received pack of twenty needles yesterday when Naruto finally managed to find a shop for assassins, apparently not many ninja came around but there were plenty of weapons to sell for assassin activity like wrist mounted affixtures that could harbor blades or needle launchers which they sold ammo for… apparently they'd sell to ninja too since it didn't matter who they sold their wares to as long as they made a honest profit from it, it's just that they mostly carried assassin gear but then again they never bother to ask questions except about why Naruto wore orange but that wasn't really any business of the shop keepers.
Viper silently thought she might need those senbon today, as she watched Naruto get ready to start and so did the others, she didn't know where Idate's boat was but she knew where the other guy had his, she would have to slither fast and furiously to keep up with Idate as she couldn't miss her ride today for if she did Naruto would have to come back for her and Konoha would be sending ninja in this direction undoubtedly after getting their messages.
It all came down to the silent moment when the guy would announce the start and they'd all go blurring off towards the checkpoint to pick up the orb the need to carry as the first portion of the race was mostly sailing or in Idate's case running then sailing a shorter distance from to the checkpoint to have the minimal time spent on the sea as he was only good on mostly land.
Then with the signal they were all off Naruto and Isaribi run flat out straight ahead past the arch, Idate turned left to run to his boat on the far side of this landmass and Hikayakuya was going to the right to a nearby port to get his boat ready to sail.
In the middle of Tea country there were two main lands that were close to each other one is a curved crescent like shape and the place where Naruto and company were on, by a maps detailing they were on the southern part of this landmass, the islands they were to go to were two mostly straight stretches of land of which situated in the north is the checkpoint that happened to be a shrine where each racer needed to reach to pick up a object and then run it south along the island to the next across a bridge connecting them and into the home stretch to complete the race at the other shrine.
Idate was heading to the north of the starting point on land so he could get to his boat which would require less sailing time to reach land and the checkpoint which would be directly east of where his boat was, he was being followed by two people but didn't have time or place to stop and smell the roses.
Fukusuke was heading slightly to the south to get his boat to sail to the northeast he was taking a standard route with the race and maybe his time as he had a team of ninja out taking care of the other racers he just wish that the guy hadn't threatened him, they were paying these assholes right? So he should listen to the money, IE his client.
Naruto and Isaribi were already far ahead of both the other racers as soon as they dove directly into the sea, Isaribi had quickly switched to her serpent form upon hitting the water and started to swim with Naruto holding on tightly as she was pushing herself to swim at a insane pace pushing a lot more knots then the other racers could never dream of achieving in a dinghy sized boat, if it was anything to go by they were already in first place because of Isaribi giving Naruto the early lead as they expected would happen.
Naruto could only wonder where Aoi's team would pop up as they weren't anywhere to be seen from the start line and that could only mean they were told to attack whoever got to the other island first other than their client and Aoi could possibly try to pick off either him or Idate, given that Aoi wasn't following him or the person he was posed to be guarding, that could only mean… he hoped Viper stayed safe until Isaribi arrives, they knew of Idate's route but not where Idate's boat was so Viper had decided to follow him to it and guard him while she was at it, if she were to be attacked by Aoi she would have to stall until she had backup.
"It's been a long time, IDATE!" Aoi said as he stabbed the ground just behind where Idate was running with a thrown kunai causing him to falter and fall on his face and turn around as he scrabbled backwards got up and started running again he wasn't going to Aoi let get him or get to him.
"You're always running aren't you, you always were a pitiful excuse for a ninja and your even more pitiful then you were before, keep running you'll make this all the more fun" with that said Aoi went to leap after Idate tensing the muscles in his legs, when he flexed his muscles just as he was making his leap before his feet left the ground he went temporarily blind for a split second causing him to misalign his jump and then summarily slam into a tree in a slapstick fashion with his arms and legs straight out and he quickly slid down the tree still conscious but dizzy from the pain of having slammed face first into a tree.
Viper flitted about the branches at an accelerated rate managing to keep up with Idate pretty well, until he took his spill and she saw Aoi was going to toy with him so she launched a quick Blindside genjutsu, the genjutsu was always used at the most inopportune moment and the results caused Viper to giggle evilly as that had a far better reaction then the few times she's done that to Naruto, it was a classic genjutsu that only needed to work for a few seconds to have its intended effect and it was highly cost effective as it hardly used any energy to perform she continued to follow Idate while Aoi was busy gathering his bearings, she didn't think a confrontation with him at the moment was a good idea as trying to steal his sword while he was still conscious was just asking her to be sliced to electrified pieces.
After they made it to the northern port Viper saw the boat that Idate had chosen to sail across the sea to the two islands it was a pitiful boat but it was big enough for four people to be on comfortably but it was a oversized dinghy, she slipped into it as Idate quickly untied the mooring line and set off sailing for the two islands with their shrines, Viper watched behind them as Aoi had arrived shortly after they did at the port and glare angrily at the back of Idate's head basically saying that he was going to die today and he wasn't going to stop until that happened, Viper glared angrily at the man that didn't seriously take care of his ninja equipment that might one day get him killed.
Sure the thunder god sword looked okay to Viper but news from Kyan through Naruto's lips said that was mostly because it was indestructible despite its weak hilt-like appearance but that didn't mean its power wouldn't diminish over time until it was only capable of being a thunder god knife unless someone restored its power to its former glory and only Kyan or apparently her wife had the key knowledge to do that.
The speed at which each racer was traveling was different given Idate was the last to his boat but had less distance to sail in comparison which might take ten or twenty minutes on the sea, Fukusuke would take about an hour give or take some minutes with the wind shear, the weather and other complications and Naruto barely needed fifteen minutes at the most to make it to land because of how fast Isaribi could swim while in a serpentine form which is a record time as it took idate a good amount of time running for his boat which would put him at third from this point of view.
"Okay now go help Viper she'll definitely need it more than me, besides I'm not easily killable so don't worry about me I'll be fine just make sure to be at the finish line to see me come in first" Naruto was saying all this for Isaribi's sake of mind, she nodded and dove back into the sea leaving Naruto to slowly make his way up the hill into the forest to head towards the shrine as his clothes were dripping wet he stopped for a moment pulling out a scroll and walked behind a tree and seconds later he was in freshly dry clothes making for the checkpoint that was located at the first shrine.
However Naruto got sidetracked on the way to the shrine as he came upon a strange sight in the forest that was the rain genin team sitting at a table with fold out chairs sipping tea and eating what looked to be biscuits, but that wasn't what was strange it was the fact that they were all wearing the same kind of beige jumpsuit with rebreathers hanging around there necks and even stranger was the one wearing a top hat and monocle on top of all that, another had clown makeup on his face and a red rubber nose and the last one looked completely normal for his ninja getup except his voice was a few octaves too high like he'd been inhaling helium.
"I do say chaps I know we're always up for a good ninja job and all but it does tend to get a rather bit boring waiting for the target to arrive wouldn't you say" the top hat wearing rain ninja had a seriously strange accent and apparently one eye as he had a bandana mask covering his other eye, he had this along with a crossbow and quiver proving Vipers statement that they preferred long range combat.
"Hey hey, it's all good nothing like clowning around with my two best friends and watch this I've been working on my balloon animal making and juggling act" the rain shinobi was talking in a goofy voice with the clown paint and nose started juggling several wooden balls while at the same time making balloon animals that were frogs, bats and the simple yet effective balloon dog, he had two eye slits in his bandana mask.
"I fucking hate working with you guys and the stupid clown swapped my oxygen tank on my mask with helium, not only that what if someone were to see us right now we'd be the biggest laughing stocks of the rain ninja and just to reiterate a previous statement both of you suck" his high pitched voice almost made Naruto crack up laughing as he sidled his way around the trio who hadn't noticed him yet, this guy had a mask covering both his eyes yet he was eating and drinking like he could actually see which was a tad nerve wracking but they only had three eyes between them so he should be okay.
"I do believe we already are the biggest laughing stocks of the rain village, as they have said that we will never make chunin at this rate given our complete constant failure rate not to mention incompetence in upholding our standing title as what is known as a ninja, just about the only thing we're good for is surviving said failures to bring back important information, it's not much but bugger all if we're still getting bloody well paid for it" this was getting too bizarre for Naruto so he created a clone to circle around and distract them away from him so he could safely get to the checkpoint.
Naruto is certainly living in interesting times with Kyan in his gut currently busting one herself, having a snake enamored with him, nearly getting killed by a living blob of water, fighting a crazy scientist after that, meeting a deer man on random chance with a seal as a nurse and maybe girlfriend, meeting someone who has had the same events happen to him only Aoi; who had gotten Idate to steal the scroll, was more successful in actually getting something out of it and now ninja's that are entirely eccentric beyond belief, of course he wouldn't trade in the awkward experiences for anything because at least it was always something new happening around him.
He quickly made a break for the checkpoint while his clone walked up to them to ask them what they were doing, they all comically fell out of their chairs, the guy with the clown makeup started to furiously wipe it off while hiding the rubber clown nose, the top hat guy slowly stood up remove his hat and monocle and then put on a more discreet looking bit of clothe to cover his head and finally the last guy was too busy choking on a crumpet.
"Quick into character before he notices something is wrong" the clown makeup wearing guy said in a gruff voice that he hadn't been using seconds ago.
"I think it may very well be late for that you ruddy twit" the monocle wearing guy turned his voice gruffer but didn't drop his accent and became very embarrassed he was still talking like that.
"aack… gaackk… iickk" the blind looking one with the helium voice was still choking on the crumpet and crying for help, these guys were the genin team sent to rig the race in that Fukusuke punks favor? The clone started running and it took a moment for all three ninja to give chase to the clone once they finally managed to regain any composure they might have had at one point in their lives which wasn't any time today.
At the time Viper wasn't having as much luck avoiding trouble when Aoi finally managed to catch up with Idate in a boat of his own, on the bright side she didn't think Aoi was stupid enough to activate the thunder god sword while out at sea because he runs the risk of killing himself if he did and fell into the ocean.
Aoi opened up with a standard battle parasol move known very well of rain and grass shinobi, it involved throwing the parasol into the air leaving it in a rapid spinning motion and all the while holding it up there with either a ninjutsu, chakra or wires then the parasol fires a rain of senbon focused on whatever target that is at hand, this was especially useful to wind elemental people as they can direct the fall of the senbon raining down on a group of opponents, Idate wouldn't be able to counter this as he was mostly a civilian now and Aoi was pretty good about getting all his senbon into one general area as he wasn't a wind elemental person he used a wires to do the attack.
"AHhhhhhh" Idate crouched down and put his arms above his head in fright having watched Aoi launch his attack a good fifty or so senbon rained down on his position at the bow of boat however Idate heard a swoop and then some clinking sounds and he opened his eyes and looked up to see a strange sight, it was the snake with a small red clothe wrapped around her neck and it was wielding… a parasol?
Viper was twirling the parasol above her head and she had her eyes closed with her head pointed downward slightly, she smiled and opened her eyes tilting her head up and made puckered her lip at Aoi and gave him what she thought was a sexy wink, Aoi's reaction was to shudder and started thinking about how crazy this situation had turned, such as what was up with the snake and how was it juggling all his senbon on its parasol that thing couldn't have been normal to have deflected all the poisoned senbon that easily.
"Huh… it's YOU… what in the world are you doing here" Idate finally recognized the snake as the one from a few days ago and Viper smiled back at him cheerily and with a quick shift of her tail her mood when from silly to serious as her parasol enclosed around all the senbon when it turned into a spear and she stared at Aoi hold up a tail and flicking it towards herself twice in a 'come on' gesture while still keeping a good grip on her parasol.
"You could say I'm your bodyguard for today, to repay a favor" Viper hissed and because of selective genjutsu use only Idate could understand her as she watched Aoi scrutinized her, he wondered what kind of summon this was as it certainly didn't belong to the meek idiot it seemed to be now defending but no matter he would get Idate even if he had to go through a summon to do so, he had the thunder god sword he was invincible.
Aoi figured that Viper would be able to deflect another wave of senbon so he reeled his parasol in and leapt into the air and used the parasol to glide towards Idate's boat lacing it with chakra to stay aloft that quickly changed when he brought his parasol in front of himself to protect against his own senbon being launched back at him in a large scattered shotgun blast pattern with all the senbon flying and spinning in odd angles at him when Viper violently thrust her parasol open from spear mode.
Aoi dropped straight onto the water with his damaged parasol that he silently thanked for not being entirely useless against his own poisoned senbon that slightly damaged the canopy some even got stuck in it and he shook those loose before getting on the boat and Viper quickly returned her parasol back to being a spear with a stylish twirl while staring down Aoi as he pulled out a kunai and put his parasol away it was ineffective combat weapon at close range and was only a long range battle type parasol, her parasol however was definitely a short range combat model.
He quickly lunged and swung outward with the kunai held in a reverse grip in his right hand and Viper shifted backwards and brought her tail around to slash her spear at chest level causing Aoi to jump back and Viper to take the offensive all the while Idate watched in the background as the snake and Aoi were clashing their weapons, he was quite surprised that the snake was showing as much skill as it had in being able to fight someone with two hands on even ground somewhat as the snake took a nasty backhand to the face but that didn't stop it from slapping him with her spear causing him to have a sharp cut to appear along his face.
Viper stabbed her spear downward missing Aoi's leg and striking the deck of the boat but used this as a opportunity to extend her head while swinging her around the grounded pole and smacked Aoi hard across the face, Viper grunted slightly in pain as Aoi's face was a tad stiff, she quickly pulled her parasol out and flicked it into her mouth and used it to deflect a kunai blow heading for the base of neck and she used her tail to strike a pressure point when she knocked him off balance using her spear that was holding the kunai at bay to push him back.
Aoi was getting angry at how he should have been done with the snake and killed Idate by now and now his left leg was slightly paralyzed and he had a large gash in it from the whip like strike he'd just been hit by but it didn't disable his hips it only stopped all muscle movement from below the knee making it hard to stand, well this snake wouldn't make a fool of him he threw the kunai but it wasn't aimed at Viper.
Idate's eyes widened perceptibly he was too afraid to help the snake, he had been afraid of Aoi ever since his brother was engulfed in a fire started by the guy that was posed to be a his sensei before the betrayal, he watched as the kunai sailed straight for him and the snake appeared in front of him tossing her spear up putting in into a wild spin in the air, all the while the kunai inched closer as she was moving the through the air in mid lung to protect her assignment from Naruto himself.
From Aoi's perspective he watched as what seemed like the snake taking the kunai to the head which turned away from him in mid-air as the kunai came in close and looked to have hit as the snake tumbled through the air, it was what happened next and Aoi's quick reflexes that he managed to dodge when Viper completed her tumble and with a flick of her head sent his kunai right back at him with twice the force while at the same time catching her parasol with her tail gave it another stylish twirl and then pulled it back into a normal closed parasol position which she tended to use like a mace as she did with choji.
After dropping back to the deck from his near straight up jump his mind did a small mental calculation and he surmised that if he hadn't jumped and given the snakes feminine tendencies he concluded that the snake was female, if that was the case then she was pure evil incarnate and would have neutered him, he looked back at his ship when he heard a thud saw that the kunai was buried halfway into the mast of his small ship still surprisingly following them, correction that would have killed him and in a as painful way as possible.
Viper sharply tilted her head to the left and a loud popping sound was heard, she really disliked throwing kunai with her mouth as she tended to get these kinks in her neck from that hard flick motion and Aoi's sweat didn't taste too good either, she was glad she's already tasted worse or else she would have thrown up at this point, she was conserving her strength for later endeavors incase their exit from Tea country didn't go so well, she was doing pretty good so far without using any genjutsu, Aoi certainly knew how to tango though and didn't look like he was going to give up anytime soon after nearly being nailed below the belt in what is considered a kunoichi's favorite finishing move against a male opponent.
Unfortunately Aoi was actually; as Viper hadn't thought he would be earlier, dumb enough to pull out the thunder god sword and activate it in the middle of the sea, not only that he also had to go on a spiel about how invincible he was wielding it, he was only about as invincible as he was skilled and that wasn't saying much but then again he did use to be a Konoha ninja so it stood to reason why she could handle him in a fight and why he seemed so power mad for getting the sword wielded by the shadows of the leaf village, they seriously needed to find some real opponents to earn any combat experience like with Amachi and the living water that nearly drown Naruto, Aoi was actually a good fight but then again she wasn't able to clone the crap out of him so it was understandable why Aoi matched up to her.
Rokusho was basically reading borderline chunin; if Viper were to use the Konoha system scale which wasn't all that impressive, only more powerful then Mizuki with him pulling out the sword that spelled trouble, only bloodline ninja of Konoha were decent fighters and she's proven that once you have a method around their special clan skills they're crappier then the average genin especially the hyuuga who spent seven hours looking for a laughing person that wasn't there, but Aoi was just another gimmick ninja since without that sword he'd be easily comparable to Mizuki in capability all talk and knowledge yet no applicable skills except the ninja parasol which seemed to mirror Mizuki's taste in long range weaponry as a main weapon.
Naruto was still running he had made it to the checkpoint and was on his way toward the other shrine to finish the race which was through the forest, across a bridge spanning between the two islands and then through some more forest into the home stretch, he slowed down when he saw Fukusuke landing on shore he had picked up speed with a lucky bout of wind and was watching as Naruto ran past before heading off to make a stop at the checkpoint himself, Naruto was going to give Idate a sporting chance without realizing it and thus he started creating clones to start laying harmless but highly stalling traps as he had earlier planned, hopefully Viper and Isaribi were having as much luck as he was.
Viper opened her eyes as she had blacked out for a moment after being knocked overboard taking Idate with her and having the mast fall within her proximity when Aoi cut it down she promptly slithered onto it but not without getting mildly electrocuted afterwads when Aoi extended the blade to cut Idate's dinghy in half some of the electricity that dispersed into the water had caused her to faint from her proximity to the boat for a few seconds as that was a seriously painful experience.
Viper was glad she had decided reseal her parasol as it would have sunk into the sea at this point, the thunder god sword was powerful and she could only wonder what it would have been like if it was Naruto's father was wielding it... She'd probably be dead right now but it would have been a sight to behold to see the yellow flash carry out his namesake as the thunder god sword always created a yellow blade of lightning before it degraded to this energy blade forming neglected weapon that used to be a glaive that constantly crackled with electricity as described by Naruto's inner guest, she wondered what it was truly like at its full capabilities if it never stopped flowing with electricity.
Aoi was smiling wickedly from his own boat as he watched Idate to struggle to cling to the mast as he hadn't been close enough to receive the same shock that Viper did so he was more aware of the situation they were in as Aoi had him and the snake over a barrel, all he had to do now was move his boat closer and just stab the sword into the water charge it with enough chakra and they were toast.
Finally recovering from her daze the only thing left of the ship that she noticed still afloat was mast keeping her and Idate afloat, Aoi was grinning wickedly angling the sword toward the water, she shouldn't have gotten careless, before Aoi could stab the glowing blade of energy into the water a powerful spout leapt up at a forty five degree angle slamming him in the face and he fell onto his back stunned temporarily.
Quickly getting up Aoi looked around to see the mast was empty and that there was no sign of life anywhere around him, except for a dark shape flitting through the water making him wonder what the hell that thing was, no matter… if Idate survived it he would catch him later at the bridge, which he swiftly made his way toward since it was connecting two shrine islands he wouldn't miss the runners coming across it.
Scaling the cliff deftly jumping up the rocky surface he started waiting for either the civilian with the forbidden scroll which he hasn't seen all race or Idate who might survive having a sea monster attack him or whatever that thing was that dragged him under, otherwise Fukusuke was going to have an easy win and that thought was quickly squashed by a blur of orange that shot out of the trees and onto the bridge he hadn't been waiting long and already fortune was smiling upon him to meet with the bingo book civilian Naruto Uzimaki, he should have an easier time with him then Idate.
Isaribi flopped Idate onto the sand and with a quick use of rising geyser jutsu a blast of salt water shot out of Idate's mouth causing to sit up hacking and sputtering; hey the jutsu saved on CPR time and embarrassment of blowing air into another person, then she turned to see Viper slapping the side of her head with her tail and a bit of water falling from the snakes head, she looked waterlogged and bedraggled but otherwise was completely okay other then the slight tinge of burnt scales that should be easily shed out given time.
"What now, Naruto's probably already laid out a ton of traps and we don't know how far he is or if he's in danger he told me to meet him at the finish line" Isaribi was looking to Viper as she was the mind of their ragtag team of a snake, a half human girl and a demon carrying pariah.
"Then that's where we'll obviously find him heading, come on" Viper went to slither off with Isaribi moving to follow her only for a crossbow bolt to be fired at her head and be suddenly stopped an inch from her eye which she slowly looked down the shaft to the tail that had snapped around it, she was glad Viper had good reflexes to catch an arrow like that.
"Well if it isn't that kid's bodyguard I have to wonder what a little strumpet like you is doing with a guy like that, as that guy is after all depriving a village of an idiot as he now has quite a huge list of people after him and I'm surprised he's managed to get far with someone like you guarding him he should have been caught first day but there's no accounting for dumb luck aye" Vipers face darkened as she stared at the one eyed crossbow carrying asshole that not only called Isaribi a whore in a funny accent, he also made light of Naruto's great escape… he was going to pay.
Before he knew it the man had started throwing up and was instantly after that being strangled by a snake as Isaribi went after the guy with both his eyes showing under his mask throwing a sharp punch to his face sending him flying backwards, Idate silently crept around the fight but stopped to watch as Isaribi gracefully blasted the guy upward with a pillar of water and then on the way down grabbed him by one of his legs and swung him around slamming his head into the tree with a sharp crack blowing a chunk of wood out of the tree with the guys thick skull.
Idate continued on his merry way taking a mild side glance wondering why the guy with his eyes covered was doing nothing, only to have the guy turn to him freaking him out a bit as if he could hear what he was thinking.
"If you seriously want to know why I'm not helping them it's because I hate them, so why would I bother to lift a finger to help them now, just start running before I think better of it and take you down right now" his high squeaky voice was not what Idate was expecting but he didn't stick around as suggested by the ninja and started running but when he was a good enough distance away he burst out laughing as he continued towards the shrine to see Fuksuke pass him as it was getting later into the evening, he wouldn't be left behind he would win this and he doubled his pace in a blur of speed that Naruto could probably follow as he's been on the Anbu's most hardest to catch person that still resides in Konoha list since Tora, nowadays Tora was highest on the list because of Viper's help the second was Konohamaru the current hokage's grandson who studied up on Naruto's methods for evasion and running for a long while, not to mention prank making as practice for the ninja skills of trap making.
Viper was busy getting the British guy to beat his own skull in with his crossbow, if that wasn't all choking him while he was throwing up was also hurting him a lot more then the blows to the head and he didn't particularly last too long after that, the last guy decided to actually join the fight by launching a genjutsu at the two which instantly failed as soon as it got off the ground and he was hit with a genjutsu himself that caused him to feel as if a tree had suddenly holding him in place stabbing him with its limbs not to mention it also gagged his mouth so he couldn't scream out loud, but then came a different genjutsu that caused the man's mind to shut down and he fell asleep while writhing in pain.
Isaribi watched as the blindfolded guy was knocked unconscious by what she assumed was genjutsu these guys didn't get much time to do anything as Viper was the one to launch a counter surprise attack and she had to admit that Viper was a true friend fighting for her and Naruto's behalf, she just hoped she never got on her bad side as she really messed that one eyed guy up, all that puke was just gross and yet Viper seemed to be studying it with keen interest which was weird and she had to wonder why the snake did that or what could be so fascinating about staring at someone's stomach contents.
It took them both a moment to notice it but Idate was gone, they both shrugged and looted the rain ninja of anything important, the crossbow and arrows were nice if covered slightly in the previous wielders blood, a supply of kunai and some money.
They decided to leave the more odd things behind like the top hat and monocle along with the clown paint, balloons and a rubber nose, why these guys even had this stuff left much to the imagination of the two girls who soundly thrashed them.
Naruto had made it to the bridge and started running across only to stop when a wave of senbon was shot at him from above, one quick replacement later that made Aoi use a substitution to avoid getting nailed by his own senbon twice in one day, leaving a log full of them to start slowly rotting away as they stood on the bridge Aoi was in Naruto's way and he had something that belonged to him.
"So Aoi Rokusho, missing ninja of the hidden leaf that defected to hidden rain…" Naruto's eyes were closed and he had his arms crossed, he opened them and then pointed a finger at Aoi who was getting a sense of de ja vu it was almost like what that snake did.
"You have something that belongs to me and I'm going to kick your ass and get it back, I'll prove to the world that I can be one of the greatest ninja's to ever live starting with you and I'm not going to accomplish my goals alone I'm going to make a lot of friends anywhere I can, so prepare yourself you bastard for Naruto 'The Ninjutsu Howitzer' Uzimaki" Aoi blinked a bit as he didn't think this kid was a ninja but then again being a civilian and managing to get away with the forbidden scroll couldn't have been done by just any normal person so why wasn't he labeled a missing ninja, it was no matter to him he was just curious.
"The ninjutsu howitzer… feh, the only howitzer's I've heard of were in Snow country and I even bet you're just making a pathetic title for yourself to make it seem like you're tougher then you…" Aoi stopped to monologue giving Naruto time to launch a Tornado Cannon to his midsection launching him backwards across the bridge, Naruto learned that his normal cannon attack used only normal chakra to fire a tornado which is why it was an easier attack to perform compared to the harder and more draining to twin version since that version actually uses the wind element which is why it drained so much from him to use but at least it had more application in uses.
Naruto was livid he was going to prove to this guy he had what it takes; not knowing that Viper had already had a run in and gotten careless with the guy leading to a shocking experience and then tussled with his genin team which Aoi never really trained, Naruto was just mad at him for being all talk like Mizuki and putting down the title that his wife… okay he seriously needed a shrink because he was starting to admit that Viper was married to him mentally and was actually beginning to miss her, they haven't really been apart for that long for this to occur but the snake had a long time to rub off on him with her cheery attitude and love of ramen, one of the foods that they could agree was the best ever made next to the stuff Naruto cooked with help from his fresh vegetable garden which no longer existed.
"So you have some skill" Aoi checked his parasol due in part to the fact that he never conserved his ammunition he was usually only capable of launching two volleys and it wasn't to useful in close combat as anything else but a shield, he pulled out the thunder god sword and smirked wickedly as he held his parasol as a shield while wielding the now glowing blade.
"But you won't beat someone who is invinci…" Aoi received a kick to the face knocking him onto his back causing the planks of wood to creak underneath him.
"Bull! You're not unstoppable as you think you are now fight and stop stalling with all the talking, I have a race to win you know" Inside his head Kyan was cheering him on to kick the guys ass and get the sword back to its former 'Celestial Cleaving' glory, which caused Naruto to wonder what she meant by that.
"Don't forget Naruto, the sword is not at its full strength so it's drawing all its energy from the user to stay active if you can absorb enough hits from it or find a way to make Aoi waste all his chakra powering it he should be quickly tired out and easy pickings, I suggest clones even if you don't like to use them in combat but if you're going to wrench that sword from him then that's the way to go… I also want it on record that I'm willing to lend you some of my power to blunt the effects of that sword should it hit you, it'll hurt but you won't be paralyzed by it" Kyan said from inside the seal as her tails waved behind her as she had a amused look on her face, Naruto wasn't quite the ninja his father was but he sure could take a hit which is why she was suggesting it in the first place Naruto was no stranger to pain.
"If that's what it takes Kyan I'll agree to let you help me, but I still don't like you and I won't forget what you've done" Naruto then charged Aoi stopped five feet away on the bridge and suddenly a swarm of clones rained down from above causing Aoi to dodge and swing his sword wildly taking out the first three clones that rushed at him for every clone he slashed four more popped up from the clones making more clones themselves.
"I wouldn't have it any other way kit" Naruto had to wonder why Kyan called him an affectionate title that would make him feel like he actually had a mother for once as he understood what a kit was to a vixen like Kyan, but just wrote it off as a trick of the mind and that Kyan couldn't have meant it.
In the back of his mind Kyan really liked watching Naruto grow up and it reminded her of what she was missing back home, damn it why did she have to go get drunk and stuck in a seal like this, this kind of thing would never happen to her wife as her wife was immune to sealing procedures, she sometimes wished it was the same for her kind as well but apparently that wasn't going to happen as she was stuck inside this seal.
The real Naruto was busy carefully picking up the log full of poisoned senbon and thought of a plan as he prepared it for a special attack by slapping several Isaribi brand exploding tags on to it carefully avoiding any Senbon actually digging into his skin as poison was annoying to deal with and he's been poisoned more times than he could count as his resistance to poison was rather high because of it, but the experiences were still unpleasant.
Now all he had to do was wait for the right moment, he summoned a clone and then popped it giving his rapidly destroyed clones foreknowledge of what he wanted them to do and they all smirked, in Naruto terms this was a 'keep it simple stupid' plan and he put himself into the fight throwing two kunai, that Aoi batted out of the air simply while cutting down more clones and taking another vicious kick to shoulder.
Aoi didn't know what kind of jutsu this was all he knew was that it was a more realistic version of the Haze Clone jutsu those three idiots were always so proud of, these clones were actually solid and real to a point at least as he tore through another four with a simple swing of his sword, he also spun around and threw two kunai into the clones behind him not noticing that the ropes to one side of the bridge were getting somewhat damaged, Naruto added that to his plan and made another clone sending a bit more creative thoughts throughout all the clones which readily agreed it would work and they started to slowly back off while continuing to fight Aoi who thought he was finally making headway with the battle and the kid was retreating.
Only one Naruto was left and they were at the center of the bridge, he rushed Aoi with two kunai Aoi swung the sword vertically and Naruto blocked with both the kunai crossed and made no effort to dodge, the blade hit and almost cut entirely through the kunai before they were engulfed in Naruto's chakra stopping the sword before it could dig deeper, Naruto was being electrocuted violently throughout this process and he started to feel his muscles lock up with all the energy fry the nerves in his body.
"Kyan I don't know long I can keep this up, all my muscles are locking up and I need some help here I'm starting to lose control of my chakra and if that happens" Naruto wasn't listening to Aoi proclaim his victory already as he was too busy focusing on living to really pay attention to the guy that obviously had no training in using a sword with how often a clone would get a blow in on the guy that was labeled Jonin level by Konoha.
"Hold on kit I'm working on it… damn it just give me a little more time, it's messing up the seal something fierce here… that celestial weapon is one piece of work but you're lucky it's being powered by an idiot or else we'd be in more trouble, there that should do it" Naruto was encased in a volatile red energy and it started to fix the damage wrought by all the electricity flowing through the kunai Naruto's chakra only prevented the blade from cutting through his kunai it didn't stop the elemental damage, when Kyan the kyuubi's chakra flowed through them it caused the energy to stop flowing through the kunai, now that he had more control of his chakra he could carry out his plan.
"NOW" Naruto screamed and he was replaced with a rather specific log, but the poisoned senbon were pointing toward Aoi and the already battered ropes holding the bridge up, the sword cut straight the wood and the lightning elemental chakra flowing from the blade set off all the high powered explosive tags and what followed was a brilliant explosion that was heard for far off distance as the sun started to set on this day.
Isaribi and Viper looked to each other in the woods as they approached the bridge at a normal pace not really in any hurry, which was when a particular explosion happened that could have been created only by one person, which had some of Isaribi's special mushroom makers … Naruto.
Viper looked up and saw the mushroom shaped cloud and shook her head, sure Naruto may be a goofball but he was her beloved goofball and he's survived worse but there was a sense of urgency to the situation considering the use of high yield explosives that could drop the hokage monument and the tower at the same time if placed right… Isaribi never saw Viper move so fast before; it looked like she wasn't touching the ground anymore.
He could hear ringing, he felt like he was floating in the air and moving upwards he tried to grab for a parasol that wasn't there anymore as he tossed it aside to grab the thunder god sword with both hands, his vision was weak and he saw the sky, darkening and he started falling he saw the sun setting and behind it the thunder god sword was falling he tried to reach out to it but he couldn't move his arms he was spent by whatever had just happened he had hardly any chakra left when that red energy leapt out draining all the chakra from his body at an insane pace because it was absorbing the energy from the blade which came from Aoi himself, he saw a blur of orange and with a little focus a human chain of the same person grabbing the sword from out of his grasp and the one at the top of the chain was holding onto a freshly snapped rope and they all swung out of his view.
It was around this time that Aoi let out an ear splitting scream, as he finally felt the damage done to his body as he fell the last thing he saw before he died was the setting sun it was beautiful sight as the last thing he ever saw as he landed on a sharp pointed rock that went through his spine instantly killing him, if it hadn't the poison senbon disabling his body or the deadly burns would have done him in, it was a quick and mostly painless death something that most ninja don't come across to often in the line of work.
All the Naruto clones climbed up the snapped rope on the cliff side the one at the end of the chain of clones holding onto the thunder god sword, they had all looked away when they saw what was going to happen to Aoi and didn't want to look.
The original Naruto however was looking and didn't look away; he didn't even notice the thunder god sword absentmindedly being slipped into his right hand by a somber clone, he didn't notice when Viper arrived seeing Naruto's reaction to killing Aoi she just sat there silently behind him not knowing what to say she just cuddled up to him in worry and even Kyan was silent inside his mind desperately wanting to feel the touch of her wife or even Nabi the demon cat plushy at the moment, Isaribi just stopped right next to Viper.
"You do realize that you're still in the middle of a race right, oh and I think you chose the wrong side of the bridge to come back up on" Isaribi lightened the mood but it still didn't make anyone feel better.
Naruto looked to the other side and thought, well how were they going to finish the race then… he saw that two ropes were still miraculously holding up between the two islands but they didn't look all that reliable being slightly burned in the middle from the explosion and there for still a few planks of wood still hanging from the ropes but it would have to do.
Isaribi knew it was her tags that helped killed Aoi, Naruto's tactics were also a factor and Viper had a hand in the design of said tags being so powerful, they were all responsible for the death of a person but he was a ninja he knew what he was getting into and it came with the job, Isaribi just wanted to lighten the mood a bit even if she did end up in the bingo book herself with only a description of what she looked like she still couldn't believe she was ranked so high despite the fact that she only just started getting into all this ninja stuff and she didn't believe the stuff about hiding her emotions but she did take into the fact that hiding ones intentions was probably much better advice, she wanted to be a one of a kind ninja like Naruto and Viper, life wouldn't get her down no matter how hard it tried after Amachi was taken down and she wasn't going to let it happen to Viper or Naruto.
"Yeah well it's been one long day hasn't it, so you'll excuse me for forgetting I swapped positions with Aoi on the bridge once getting me all turned around" As Naruto finished saying that Fukusuke ran up covered in paint, feathers and whole slew of other things some of which suspiciously looks like dog chocolate, apparently from his looks he had tripped a lot of Naruto's traps and Idate came up minutes later to find everyone staring at the sun's final rays, he still didn't know what was up with the snake leaning against the orange wearing guy he had a slight grudge against for the wallet bomb, but he saw that the bridge was out and spotted the body of a man bent backwards and pierced through by a sharp spire… when he finally recognized it as Aoi, he figured his nightmares would soon be over.
"Hmph, now what, we can't finish the race" Fukusuke said with contempt, not really caring all that much about the dead ninja or the fact that the race was posed to be rigged in his favor, but wasn't because someone evened the playing field and he was angry at being covered in so much crap, some figurative and some quite litteral.
"Oh we can, but then it's going to be a test of true speed after I get both of you guys over to the other side of those ropes and to the home stretch, Isaribi could you hold on to this for me while I settle things with these two to see who's the best" Naruto gave a smile as Isaribi took the hilt of the sword Aoi had once wielded poorly into her hands, Naruto must have been feeling better already to have bounced back that fast and he even squatted down to stare Viper eye to eye before kissing her on the nose and before Viper could react to it Naruto had created two clones and was already running with the other two runners across the rope with relative ease.
Viper fumed, Naruto wasn't going to get away with a weak ass peck to the nose like that and she slithered across one of the ropes rapidly as she was going to force a better one out of Naruto when she finally caught up to him, he even had the gall to smirk back at her like he knew he just earned her ire.
Isaribi stayed behind and smiled giving off a sigh of relief, things would be alright in the end and she would catch up to them later the next day with a smiling Naruto who ran his best.
Idate was still fastest only he stopped one foot before the finish line causing Naruto to try to stop and push Idate over it first as he was winning fair and square, but Idate tripped Naruto into the mud over the finish line and said that was for the explosive wallet, incidentally no one was happy that Naruto won or that Idate let him win Fukusuke barely made it to the finish line as he finally tired out from having to get out of all the ridiculous traps Naruto put on the race course.
Nobody would know why Idate let Naruto win as it was for doing him a bunch of favors like sending that snake to protect him and his own bodyguard, then he took out Aoi though the orange wearing nut seemed a little disturbed that he did and looked like he was going to have some nightmares, but oh well.
Elsewhere…
"Damn why do I feel like I've had my head put straight through a tree, oh well looks like Team Oboro is living once again" Aoi's genin team was still slowly recovering as the clown leader of the team; Oboro, sat up rubbing his head that weirdly enough didn't look to have been dented or even bloody at all; maybe because of the rain headband but even that was left undamaged, he slowly patched up his teammates and moved out to find out what had happened while they were out of commission, they survived to fight another day as usual and in the next few they would find out that this is the twelfth sensei they've lost this month.
End chapter.
Justu's listing again-
Blindside – genjutsu – target area: single, multiple or selective targets- effect: causes split second to ten seconds of blindness and is a genin level genjutsu that is effective as it is cheap with chakra usage but it is to easily dispelled to be of any use more than once in long term combat with a highly aware opponent, used to quickly find a hiding spot out of the opponents vision range, used to make a opponent make a mistake with well initiated timing of eyesight needed movements, used to temporarily disable a taijutsu user and used to create comical scene's.
Haze Clone- genjutsu/ninjutsu hybrid- target area: anywhere within a short distance of the user- effect: creates false images of the users and anyone else the user is with while dragging mist into the surrounding area that is able to take physically hits to make the genjutsu clones seem physical in nature when in actuality they can't deal damage, used to attack an enemy while distracted by the mist versions, used to hide the users movements while the user moves in to attack a target or targets, used to create an effect similar to using clones made of water and mist shroud creating jutsu at the same time and finally used in hazing rituals for the fun of it.
Darkon: Well I hope you aren't/are disappointed by the abrupt end of this chapter or how I downplayed the race in general, anyway "Cleaver Clash" next.
Sir: You're really not trying anymore are you?
Darkon: Nope, but I have to say the next chapter is Wave country but it'll be far more different then what anyone would expect, as in Haku doesn't meet Naruto after an intense training session, a team of Konoha genin doesn't appear and finally Zabuza is going to have a bizarre personality quirk after meeting Isaribi, also as I might have stated previously Kaiza lives this time but Inari is still the same emo kid he always was despite that.
Sir: I will have to ask you to add a part where Idate has a reunion with Ibiki as the crowd is going to be curious, is it not so?