Hello, everyone, here's the newest chapter of the "The Demon and the Ghost" story for your entertainment. Enjoy!
* Review response:
Hakkyou no Yami, it's Ino, so who knows what's in her head? And I don't remember whether I had said this or not, but I'd estimate the chances of Sachiko winning a spar against Naruto while they are 'holding back' to be around 60% - she is faster and more agile, plus Naruto doesn't have his stone skin (doton: domu) for additional protection.
eclipseX, Badboyzkg, nobother, Hanzo of the Salamander, fanficreader71, Fayneir, OBSERVER01, RE5 forever, sh8ad8ow, Elemental Dragon Swordman, thank you!
The real leghendary supersayji, I'm not sure about Itachi... Hadn't thought about it... And I might do just that with Orochimaru. Naruto and Sachiko in this story are lower B-rank ninjas, Sai, Temari, Kankuro and Lee are higher C-ranks. All higher ranks' power level are shifted towards 'even more powerful' in this story...
ChaosLord SilverLink310, what happens when you mix Kyuubi's yoki and the earth element in one Naruto Uzumaki will be shown in the next chapter or the one after that (not sure whether I will split the invasion into two chapters or not) And thank about your introducing Jiraya comment. Naginator, this should also answer your 'elemental' question.
Reishin Amara, no, Naruto's 'yoki-powered' element isn't jinton. But it does have the earth element as one of its 'components'.
Still Not Dead Yet, I find this Jiraya to be more believable... And, no, it's not sho:ton.
RPGuy777, no, Sachiko's not 'regaining colors'. She'll be purple-eyed whitehead till the end. And she won't be the next Kyuubi vessel either, though... she'll be exposed to small dosages of yoki quite ofter rather soon (several times a day sometimes ;) )
Tristan76, there won't be true timeskip in this story. More likely I'll write several month-long missions for Jiraya + team 5. Naruto has a very weak lightning element, but it's completely overshadowed by his almost inhuman affinity towards the earth element. Sachiko already has three elements (dust, wind and earth). Do you think she needs another one? And one of your guesses about Naruto's 'yoki-powered' elements was correct. Wait till I get there to find out which one.
* Jutsu list:
Shunshin - (D-rank) Body flicker - 'teleportation' jutsu.
Kawarimi - (E-rank) Change of body stance - substitutes user with nearby object or person.
Fuuton: kaze no yaiba - (A-rank) Wind style: wind sword - A powerful blade of wind.
Hakke kushou - (bloodline jutsu) Eight divination signs air palm - one of the only ranged attacks Hyuuga taijutsu style has. Sends a blast of chakra-laced wind towards the target.
Fuuton: daitoppa - (C-rank) Wind style: great breakthrough - User blows a powerful gust of wind towards the target.
Doton: toge ryudou - (B-rank) Earth style: spiked land - My original ninjutsu. Does exactly what its name suggests: turn a big patch of land in front of the user into stone spikes.
Fuuton: reppushou - (C-rank) Wind style: gale wind palm - strong gust of wind sent towards his target. When acting in conjunction with another thrown weapon, the wind can increase its power and deadliness.
Doton: doryuusou - (C-rank) Earth style: earthen rising spears - Creates rock spears rising from the ground.
Hakke hasangeki - (bloodline jutsu) Eight divination signs destructive mountain fist - A strong wave of chakra released upon contact with the target that throws it away. Also can close tenketsu.
Hakkeshou kaiten - (bloodline jutsu) Eight divination palms heavenly spin - Creates a protective dome of spinning chakra around the user.
Douka: ranji shigumi (Sachiko) & Ranji shigumi (Ino) - (C-rank) Assimilated: Wild lion's mane - Jutsu based on Jiraya's Ranji shigumo technique. Allows user to have control over his/her hair and used it to bind the target if it is close enough. This jutsu lacks the ability to crash the captured target Jiraya's version possesses, but still can pull and throw the target. Sachiko adds 'Assimilated' when using this jutsu to show that she wasn't original creator. Ino does not.
Chouju giga - (B-rank) Super beast imitation drawing - allows to animate ink drawings.
Doton: domu - (B-rank) Earth style: earth spear - 'Stone skin', hardens user's body.
Konoha senpuu - (D-rank) Leaf whirlwind - Flying roundhouse kick.
Omote renge - (B-rank) Front lotus - User after openinf first inner gates kicks the opponent upwards and jumps after him. There he bind the opponent to prevent escaping and starts spinning downwards, driving the oponent head first into the ground.
Ure renge - (A-rank) Reverse lotus - User needs to open five inner gates. Then he kicks the opponent into the air and rains many kicks and strikes onto the opponent while airbound. Then wraps badages around the opponent to pull him close for the endining downwards palm strike to the chest. Strains user's body a lot.
Doton: kyokan no kobushi - (C-rank) Earth style: colossus' fist - My original ninjutsu. Creates a giant stone fist that (tries to) punches the target.
Doton: kyokan no sho osu - (C-rank) Earth style: colossus' crashing palms - My original ninjutsu. Creates two giant stone pals that try to crash anything that happens to be between them. Like Doton: kyokan no kobushi, this jutsu was inspired by the "Fullmetal Alchemist" manga (I don't own it!)
Doton: shi no hashira - (B-rank) Earth style: columns of death - My original ninjutsu. Raises several stone columns from the ground. Then this columns 'attack' the target.
* Important Author's note: I'm currently writing my diploma (or whatever it is called for a bachelor) so the updates for all my stories will be even more ...random.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Naruto" in any shape or form.
"speaking"
'thinking'
"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using yoki / jutsus / Iruka's 'demon head' speaking"
'thinking of higher beings'
chapter 11: Chuunin selection exam, finals
After all eleven genin present walked onto the arena floor, Genma – the new proctor – announced that there will be a small change in the matches: instead of Dosu, who was no longer a part of the exam for some reason, Ino will be fighting Sai.
"Now that we are done with technicalities..." The senbon-chewing jounin said rather quietly, before continuing in his loud, 'announcement', voice. "The first match will be between Sachiko and Hyuuga Hinata, both from Konohagakure no Sato." Then he switched to normal volume. "I'd like the rest of the exam participants to leave the arena." They all nodded and started walking towards the entrance to the competitors' balcony Genma pointed them to, though Naruto stayed on the arena for a moment longer to kiss his girlfriend a good luck... Once there were only two genin left on the arena floor, Genma announced the rules – they were the same with what was in preliminaries, except for killing being allowed now. "Are you two ready?" The proctor asked Sachiko and Hinata. Both girls nodded. "Hajime!" He announced then, before shunshin'ing to the edge of the arena.
"Byakugan!" The Hyuuga heiress made a handseal and veins around her eyes bulged, signifying that she had activated her doujutsu.
"Let's give'em the show." The white-haired girl said, before charging towards Hinata. While it was not a good idea to fight a Hyuuga with taijutsu, Sachiko actually didn't even intend to. This was just a distraction as when she was just several meters away from Hinata, she drew her stilettos and slashed the air with them, firing two crescent-shaped underpowered wind blades towards her opponent. "Fuuton: kaze no yaiba!" Having being attacked almost from the point blank, Hinata had to user kawarimi to 'save' her life. She reappeared next to the trees, but immediately had to dodge another wind blade. While she was concentrating on not getting hit with the wind jutsu, the white-haired kunoichi shunshin'ed closer to her. "Doton: doryuusou!" Sachiko almost succeeded in catching Hinata by surprise, but the white-eyed girl jumped away, onto the tree, not getting even a scratch.
"Hakke kushou!" Hinata whispered, while doing a thrusting motion with her right arm. Sachiko decided to play safe and substituted herself with her opponent, forcing her to dodge her own attack. The Hyuuga heiress seemed to be ready for this turn of the events as she gracefully sidestepped the attack, while again doing thrusting motion towards Sachiko, immediately jumping into the air afterwards.
"Fuuton: daitoppa!" Just as she dodged Hinata's attack the white-haired girl sent a powerful gust of wind towards her airborne opponent. As expected, unable to dodge, Hinata used kawarimi. "Doton: toge ryoudo!" The moment the Hyuuga heiress finished the first substitution, she was forced to do another one to avoid being impaled by a mass of stone spears rising form the ground, some of which managed to wound her legs a bit. Immediately afterwards the second kawarimi she had to dodge several shuriken accelerated by fuuton: reppushou and another fuuton: daitoppa. Sachiko was not giving her any easy time as she charged towards Hinata with her stiletto drawn, making the white-eyed girl smirk. In a perfectly fluid motion the Hyuuga heiress evaded a little sloppy slash and pressed her hands to Sachiko's stomach.
"Hakke hasangeki!" There was a beam of chakra pushing the white-haired kunoichi several steps backwards, before exploding into a cloud of white smoke "Clone..." Hinata muttered under her breathe, reading herself to look for her opponent who was now hiding somewhere. It proved to be unneeded as a pair of hands wrapped around her ankles. Moment later Hinata was pulled under the ground. Sachiko rose from the arena floor in front of her then, pointing her stiletto towards the white-eyed girl.
"Give up." Hinata closed her eyes and started building her chakra up.
"No." She said quietly. "Hakkeshou kaiten!" Her ace in the sleeve for the next round was gone... A blue sphere of chakra surrounded Hinata, freeing her by destroying the earth around her. Also, the kaiten sent unprepared Sachiko flying backwards, but the white-haired kunoichi recovered while still in the air and landed on her feet, skidding across the arena a bit. Just as Hinata got out of the hole her kaiten made, Sachiko sent two successive fuuton: daitoppa almost simultaneously towards her, one a little bit to the right, one – to the left, making sure that the Hyuuga heiress couldn't dodge the next attack by simply moving away.
"Fuuton: reppushou!" The white-haired girl attacked.
"Hakkeshou kaiten!" Hinata started the 'ultimate defense'. Of course, even with evading to the left or right or jumping into the air – this would give the whitehead wind user greater advantage over her – being out of question, the white-eyed girl still could use kawarimi, but this would land her next to trees where she would have less room for evading and less time to react to the threats as Sachiko would be closer to her...
"Fuuton: kaze no yaiba!" Two crescent-shaped wind blades sped towards Hinata from the tips of Sachiko's stilettos. The Hyuuga heiress continued spinning, hoping that her kaiten would protect her from these jutsus. It did, actually, but was weakened severely, so the fuuton: daitoppa that followed the wind blades closely managed to brake through the 'ultimate defense' and knock Hinata onto the ground. Not giving her opponent a chance to recover, Sachiko shunshin'ed next to her and placed her her knee on girl's chest, while putting one of her stiletto to the front of her neck and the other to the back – this way should Hinata try using kaiten, she wound simply get beheaded. "Give up." Seeing that she had no way out of the current situation, other than the offered one, Hinata swallowed loudly, before saying in a false-calm voice – she was scared of her father's displeasure.
"I- I forfeit."
"As Hyuuga Hinata forfeited, the winner of the match is Sachiko." Announced Genma, making the tribunes roar... The white-haired kunoichi put her stilettos back to the holsters and, removing her knee from girl's chest, helped Hinata stand up. Then two girls started walking towards the competitors' boot. They both were sore from the damage they took during the fight and tired from having spent so much chakra – Sachiko had to use almost eighty percent of hers, and hoped that she could regain enough to continue the tournament by the time of her next fight...
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"Our next match is between Yamanaka Ino and Sai, both from Konohagakure no Sato." Genma announced when the next two competitors were down on the arena floor facing each other... From their position on the right end of the competitors' booth's balcony Naruto and Sachiko could see that even though Ino knew she had nearly no chance of winning, she was determined to do her best... "Are you two ready?" Genma asked then. Both Ino and Sai nodded. "Then... Hajime!" And as soon as the last word left his mouth, the proctor shunshin'ed to the edge of the arena.
Knowing that Sai was for the most part a long-range support-oriented fighter, who relied a lot on his animated drawing, Ino immediately charged forward, hoping gain some tactical advantage from this. Unfortunately for the platinum-blond kunoichi, like she discovered the very next moment, Sai was a capable hand-to-hand fighter as well. So for the next minute or so, the two were engaged in a fierce taijutsu fight, but Ino was tiring faster and, at one point, Sai managed to get far enough for her to open one of his many scrolls.
"Chouju giga!" A good dozen of ink snakes turned alive and slithered towards the Yamanaka heiress. The girl tried to put some distance between herself and the animated drawings, but the snakes were faster than she expected them to be, and one of them managed to wrap around Ino's legs, making the girl fall on the ground. Another one quickly bound her arms, while the rest of the snakes dispersed back into an ink. The pale boy walked up to her and drew his ninja-to. "Give up." Ino shook her head.
"Ranji shigumi!" Her long hair turned alive and wrapped around surprised Sai's arm, the one that he held his ninja-to in. Moment later, Ino made pulled his arm, making him slash the snakes that bound her. As soon as she was free, the platinum-blond kunoichi used kawarimi to get as far away from her opponent as possible. She also reminded herself to thank Sachiko for insisting on perfecting the technique to the point where she could use it without handseals... But right now she had a match to fight, and seeing an ink lion approaching, she drew her kunai and took a defensive stance. As soon as the beast was just at the right distance from her, Ino attacked it, he kunai slashing its mug. But it didn't turn into an ink as the platinum-blond kunoichi expected. Instead, it exploded, sending her flying into a tree and knocking the breath out of her. Pressing his advantage, Sai shunshin'ed next to her and pressed a pressure point on her neck, rendering her unconscious.
"As Yamanaka Ino is unable to continue fighting, the winner of the match is Sai." Genma announced, appearing next to the pale boy. He nodded and picked Ino up, caring her towards the competitors' booth, ignoring the cheers from the spectators on the tribunes...
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Up in the competitors' booth, seeing that Naruto's match was next, Sachiko stepped out of her boyfriend's arms she was so comfortable in, and gave him a quick kiss on his lips. For luck. Naruto smiled and gave his white-haired angel a light hug, before jumping on the rail.
"See you down there, Lee." And the Kyuubi jinchuuriki leaped down onto the arena floor. Lee shouted something about flames of youth and jumped down to the arena floor too... Genma just shook his head at genins' antics and waited for them to reach the center of the arena, where he was staying, and face each other. "Ahem... And now to the third match, Uzumaki Naruto versus Rock Lee. Again, both are from Konohagakure no Sato." The proctor announced. "Are you two ready?" He asked then, turning towards the two genin. Naruto and Lee nodded. "Hajime!" Genma announced, before shunshin'ing to the edge of the arena. The spandex-clad genin didn't hesitate a moment, and charged at his opponent the moment the beginning of the match was announced. But Naruto managed to evade Lee's attack and jumped backwards. While in the midair, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki ran through a sequence of handseals and the moment his feet touched the ground, he performed the jutsu.
"Doton: domu!" Almost instantly his skin turned a bit grayish. Seeing this small transformation of his opponent, Lee slowed down a bit, but continued his attack.
"Konoha senpuu!" Naruto managed to block the incoming roundhouse kick and tried to counterattack with a punch to Lee's stomach, but the older genin easily avoided it, and moment later attacked the blond again, with another taijutsu combo. For the next couple of minutes the fight continued like that: Lee was attacking with taijutsu and Naruto was on defensive, counterattacking whenever it was possible. And neither of them managed to land a solid hit on his opponent... Then the spandex-clad genin suddenly jumped back, putting some distance between himself and his blond opponent. "Your flames of youth burn bright, Naruto-san." Lee said. "I believe, I should take them off. Gai-sensei approved it..." And he proceeded to remove his orange leg warmers that turned out to be weights. Very heavy weights...
"Damn!" The Kyuubi jinchuuriki swore as Lee disappeared from his sight. Moment later the blond shinobi felt a tingling sensation coming from his 'field of awareness', alerting him about an incoming attack. He tried to block it, but succeeded only partially as Lee was really really fast. Before he could counterattack, the spandex-clad genin disappeared again... Naruto felt another incoming, and barely managed to dodge it, his opponent's fist almost touching his left ear. Lee disappeared again and started running rather tight circles around him, and judging by the dust, the boy had his first gates opened... The Kyuubi jinchuuriki swore again, already knowing what his opponent was planning. His guess was proved to be correct, when Lee's leg connected with his upper chest, sending him into the air. A second later the spandex-clad boy was behind him, somehow making his bandages wrap around him, restricting his movements.
"Omote renge!" Lee shouted as he turned them upside down – so that their heads were towards the ground – and started spinning them around. At seemingly the last possible moment Lee disconnect, leaving Naruto to fall head first onto the ground, something even the stone skin wouldn't save from... But the blond shinobi wasn't about to let himself being killed so easily. The moment he felt his opponent disconnect, he tried to change the position of his body, so that he won't break his neck when crashing into the ground... ...Falling flat on his back was painful, but at least he was alive, and as the bindings weakened, with a chakra pulse to increase his strength, Naruto ripped them. Standing up was quite a task in his current condition, but Lee didn't seem to fare much better – opening celestial gates was very taxing... Seeing his opponent stand up Lee opened second gates, so that he could continue fighting for some time. He really hopped that he won't have to use ure renge on Naruto, as he had quite a respect for the blond – after all he too was a genius of a hard work – but as Naruto could use ninjutsu and use them very effectively, he might just have no other option...
"Lee-san... I know that your taijutsu is your ...finest weapon..." Naruto said, choosing his words carefully. "...But I think using a killing move on your comrade ...goes a bit too far. Now I will no longer hold back my own powers." He made a small pause, while bringing his hands into a handseal. "Doton: kyokan no kobushi!" He did a step towards Lee and shifted his hands into another handseal. Immediately, large stone fist rose from the ground, almost hitting the spandex-clad genin on his front. Naruto just change handseal again. "Doton: kyokan no sho osu!" Stone fist fell apart while two open palms rose from the ground, trying to crash airborne Lee. The older boy, though, did a roundhouse kick that broke one of the stone palms, so the other one just pushed him to the side harmlessly... Naruto was about to continue his assault, but Lee shot towards him faster than he had seen him ever before, so instead he tried to block the incoming attack. The Kyuubi jinchuuriki actually placed the block in the right place, but it didn't save him from the brute power behind the punch... Naruto winced from pain as he again landed on his back. Quick kawarimi saved him from being knocked unconscious by Lee's next attack. 'I need to do something.'
"Konoha senpuu!" Naruto barely dodged his opponent's kick. Thankfully, it seemed, Lee was on his limit of the second gate and he was slowing down... Deciding to use this to his advantage, the blond jinchuuriki flashed through handseals.
"Doton: shi no hashira!" Several stone columns rose from the ground around Lee and shot at the spandex-clad boy. Yet he managed to escape the attack... Much to his horror, Naruto noticed Lee's eyes turn completely white while his skin was turning red. He opened third gates. Naruto needed to do something, and quickly, or the chances were he'd end in the hospital or, worse, six feet under the ground, should he allow Lee to attack... ...Also Naruto had noticed that while Lee could easily open first gates, he needed several seconds of standing still to open third ones. And as more chakra was bursting from older boy's body, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki guessed the Lee was opening forth gates too. 'Now!' The blond shunshin'ed next to his spandex-clad opponent and punched him on his stomach, making him lose concentration and revert back to all gates closed, while being sent onto the ground. Not giving Lee any chance to recover, Naruto reappeared next to him and knocked him unconscious with a precise hit to his neck.
"As Rock Lee is unable to continue fighting, winner of the match is Uzumaki Naruto!" Genma announced for the crowd.
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"Do you know how much you made me worry, Naruto-kun?" Angry Sachiko yelled as soon as Naruto reached the competitors' booth. Naruto just leaned onto the wall in 'their' corner, wincing slightly from the pain in his back, and tuned his girlfriend's rant out... By the time the whitehead calmed down and started doing something 'productive', like a light massage to ease his pain, Kankuro had defeated Chouji and the fifth match was announced... Shikamaru wasn't in any hurry to either win or lose it seemed, as the match dragged for what seemed to be hours, though, this allowed Sachiko to recover a good deal of her chakra, and Naruto to have Kyuubi's yoki and his girlfriend's tender hands heal his back sufficiently... In the end, Shikamaru managed to outsmart Temari and capture her with his his shadow, only to give up a moment later, claiming that he was out of chakra. Genma then announced a fifteen minute long brake, stating that it was an interval between the first and the second halves of the matches, though anyone with half a brain could see that it was nothing more than an attempt to buy Sasuke some time, so that he wouldn't be disqualified for being late...
That's all, folks. Leave e a review!