A.N.: I've corrected the kodachi/nodachi mistake back in Chapter 3. I thank everyone who reads my story attentively enough to notice it. so please read, enjoy and review, because there can never be too many of them.
A.N.2: Now reposted with less grammar and spelling errors.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I don't know how many more times I'd have to repeat it.
The strange white haired ninja in a long shirt moved slowly closer. Naruto had hoped he'd never encounter common mission mishap number 6: a superior shinobi where there shouldn't be any. He went through his list of options. Fighting was out of the question, he was outnumbered and his opponent appeared to be out of his league. The same went for running. He was trapped inside a house and he doubted he could outrun the older man anyway. That left only trying to talk his way out of it.
"Wait, that's a misunderstanding," he lifted his arms in a defensive gesture. "I didn't lead anybody here, I really wanted to hear about your offer. My team is nasty to me and…"
"You lie," the enemy shinobi simply stated. "You implicated us, so you all have to be eliminated." He lifted his arm and struck the closest target. Daito fell to the ground without a sound. He couldn't comprehend why he wasn't being praised for recruiting a real ninja. The owner of the house soon followed. He simply couldn't believe what was happening. They both sported identical expressions of stunned disbelief on their faces.
By that time Naruto had his sword out and charged with wind chakra. He slashed at the still approaching man. The pale shinobi dodged the blade, but a red line still appeared on his clothes. He looked at it as if not comprehending how it happened. Naruto couldn't resist a small smirk. That heavy smoking jounin who once told him that few people expect a blade of wind was obviously right. He had forgone further gloating and pressed his attack.
This time his enemy was prepared. He avoided Naruto's attack widely and caught the small blond's wrists in his hand. He squeezed hard, causing the genin to drop his weapon, and yanked him of the ground.
Naruto suddenly came face to face with his annoyed adversary. He didn't even thing about his next course of action. He screamed.
The stream of Wind chakra hit the pale stranger right in the face. He dropped his captive with an ear-piercing shriek and covered his head with his arms. Naruto dove for his ninjato, intent on finishing the job.
Before he could make two steps his downed opponent moved. Naruto rushed in, but something struck him in the stomach and threw him into the wall. He struggled to catch his breath.
The stranger rose to his feet. Blood was covering his face and shoulders, but he didn't appear to be wounded. Naruto could swear he saw a strange pattern dancing over his skin, but it soon disappeared.
"It seems I'll have to take you seriously after all," the man stated. Naruto's response was another Slicing Scream, this time with more power behind it. In the enclosed area it had a devastating effect. The walls cracked. Dust was blown into the air and obscured both combatants' vision. A rumbling could barely be heard over the howling of the wind.
Then the roof fell. Naruto barely had the time to throw his arms overhead, before a couple of wooden planks slammed into him. He should be very thankful for whoever had built such a shoddy house, but he had no time to think about such matters. The ninja shaking dust from his hair was a more pressing concern. He quickly put his hands into a cross-like sign and summoned a bunch of Shadow Clones and sent them to attack. He didn't wait for the result of their charge. He turned on his heel and ran for his life.
He never liked turning his back on a battle, but he wasn't a fan of dying either. And there was a huge chance he'll die here, if he cannot escape. He was heading into the town, hoping that the stranger wouldn't want to fight in front of so many witnesses, but he wouldn't put too much money on that. His best chance of survival was in finding his team, namely Tenzo. Too bad they weren't following him closely, but nobody had expected the fish to take the bait so early in the game.
The memories of dispersed clones reached him. That was quick. They haven't bought him more than ten seconds. At least they were able to tell him something about his opponent's abilities. He was fast and precise in his attacks and used some blades protruding from his sleeves. They seemed odd to him, but there was no time to ponder over it. He created another batch of clones and sent them to cover his back.
The clones quickly moved into formation and prepared to fire their most powerful jutsu at the same time. The enemy appeared around the corner.
Fuuton: Great breakthrough, Fuuton: Slicing blast and Katon: Endan sailed towards the approaching man. Naruto was barely able to perform his only Fire technique, but the flames were fanned by the Wind techniques into formidable size and temperature. The stranger had just enough time to look surprised before the flames enveloped him.
Unfortunately the techniques couldn't rage for long. Naruto still didn't have sufficient control over them and the blast ended up hitting some of his own creators. The firestorm died down.
The few doppelgangers who survived were treated to the sight of their opponents encased in some kind of grayish protective cocoon. 'This didn't work?' The thought ran through all their minds immediately followed by 'we're screwed.' They prepared for another attack.
The stranger's cocoon slowly started retreating into his body. 'What in the world is that?' the clones wondered.
"I see that you are intrigued by my ability," the white haired man said slowly making his way toward them. "You see, I can control my bones. I can make them grow at will and withdraw them from any part of my body." To prove his words he pulled one from his upper arm. It had the shape of a short sword. The clones watched in fascination as the gnawing wound on his shoulder closed.
The enemy shinobi walked yet closer. One of the replicas shook off his stupor and charged at him. His ninjato was easily blocked.
"Did I mention that I can control the density of my bones as well? This is harder than steel," the pale ninja continued his monolog. The clone attacked again and once again he was easily blocked. But he forced the enemy to turn his attention away from his fellow doppelgangers.
In the absence of a better plan they tried another combo ninjutsu attack. Their target however noticed it coming and jumped out of the way. One of his arms was signed, but he didn't sustain any considerable damage. He simply seemed pissed. Bone spikes sprouted from his arm joints, then he disappeared in a blur. The clones were quickly dispersed.
The bone user stood and looked around. He only now noticed that the original wasn't there. He retracted the bones into his body, then gave pursuit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Downtown Ugo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Naruto was running like his life depended on it. Correction, his life actually depended on it. He had created another bunch of Shadow Clones and had them spread out. He had to locate his team quickly or he would be done for. So far he had no luck.
He threw a glance over his shoulder. Nothing. He could just hope that it meant his enemy was pursuing one of his doppelgangers or even gave up altogether, not that he was about to spring from behind the nearest corner and cut him into a thousand little pieces before he could say oops.
A rush of memories suddenly assaulted him. One of his clones had been struck down. Where was it? Far enough, but his enemy was fast. He could find him soon. Naruto had thought he couldn't run faster, but he somehow managed.
He felt another clone dispersing. Where was Tenzo? He noticed a gray body. One of Hana's dogs! He changed his course, then realized it was just some random street mutt that didn't even look much like an Inuzuka ninja dog. He suppressed the urge to scream in frustration, he had to spare his breath. Two more of his clones met their end. Then he realized something. There was a flash of purple before the last clone dispersed. Hotaru!
He didn't waste even a fraction of a second considering what he should do. It didn't matter anymore that the enemy was stronger. His teammate was in danger. He headed towards them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~With Hotaru~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She had little warning. One moment she was just walking the street looking for anything significant for their mission, the next there was her young teammate running at top speed. Then another ninja appeared and cut him down with a strange looking blade. She unsheathed her own. Naruto dispersed into smoke. A Shadow Clone, she recognized. Next came the realization that she was now facing alone against an obviously superior shinobi. A string of curses ran through her mind. She was in a bad situation.
What few people were out in the street started running away. She was suddenly alone with only her sword between herself and the enemy. The kodachi in her hands suddenly looked utterly insignificant.
She was reminded of her Chuunin Exams match. Something was telling her that this duel will probably end in just as swift and brutal manner. Unless it would be even swifter and more brutal. Her breath caught in her throat. She had trained so hard, improved so much, yet it seemed like it was all for nothing. She felt utterly defeated and the battle hadn't even started.
She shook her head. She had to get a grip of herself. Such thoughts would only get her killed. She assumed her beginning stance.
The enemy shinobi strode towards her at a leisurely pace. It just strengthened her belief that she was outclassed here. But she was determined not to go down without a fight. She adjusted her grip on the handle. The stranger walked closer. She didn't dare to attack him, but she feared that if she let him have the first strike, she wouldn't be able to block it.
The decision was taken from her. A flash of movement and she instinctively moved. The odd whitish weapon slid along her blade. Her leg shot out, connecting with her opponent's flank. He didn't even flinch, but her foot felt like she just kicked a hard rock. She jumped back and disengaged. He turned towards her and moved in for an attack.
She dodged by a hair's breadth. She stabbed with her sword but hit only thin air. A blow struck her side and threw her into a nearby flower yard. She scrambled to her legs. Strangely enough her opponent allowed her to do so. Yet another sign how he disregarded her skill. She felt insulted even though it meant she would get to live a while longer.
She hated being underestimated, even when it was deserved. She charged her sword with chakra, trying to turn it into her Lightning element. She partially succeeded. She let out a battle cry and charged.
Desperation lent her strength. With a burst of speed she managed to reach her opponent before he could think about dodging. He just blocked with his forearm. The lightning made him jerk, but her blade barely broke his skin. It was even worse than she had thought.
Another fist to her ribs brought her out of her musings. She once again found herself in the flowers. This time she had no time to get back up. Her enemy was upon her, his blade poised to strike. Her own sword was lying discarded in the dirt. She could just close her eyes and wait for the blow to come.
It never did. She heard a crack followed by a thud. She opened her eyes hesitantly. The pale man was sprawled on the ground. A few feet away was Naruto just getting to his feet, one hand reaching for his ninjato. She had a brief flashback to their team test and Naruto saving her from the wooden figurine. She had never felt so relieved to see him.
Naruto was functioning on pure adrenaline. When he saw the pale man just about to kill Hotaru, he just tackled him. He was lucky and managed to blindside the pale man, but now he was going to need all his skills and cunning to pull through. And it might still not be enough.
"It seems I won't have to search the town for you after all," the enemy ninja said. "It's just convenient for me."
The blond didn't bother to answer, instead just pushed chakra to his blade. Then he charged with his ninjato, supporting it with a Slicing Scream. The white-haired shinobi moved away, but he lost one of his long sleeves. Then Naruto had to dodge a strike to his back.
Hotaru used the brief respite to form handseals. Raiton: Lightning blast. A bolt of electricity launched from her hand. The target avoided it.
Naruto let out another Slicing Scream. The white-haired ninja was a bit off-balance from his teammate's attack and he managed to hit. Red lines appeared all over the gray-clad man's body, but unfortunately none of the gashes were more than skin deep.
The blond boy created a bunch of Shadow Clones. His opponent just scowled at them. White spikes grew from his hands.
Half of the clones transformed into perfect copies of the purple-haired kunoichi. They started running around and mingling together. The original grabbed Hotaru's hand and tried to get away in the confusion.
"I won't fall for the same trick twice," the enemy shinobi stated calmly, methodically destroying the doppelgangers. It took him even less time than the last time. The two would-be escapees had barely time to round the corner.
They skidded to an abrupt halt when the stranger appeared in front of them, his bone blades at the ready.
"Now it's time to end the game," he declared, "I'm getting bored of it."
Before he could make his words reality, grey furry tornado attacked him. He jumped to avoid the Tsuuga when another two closed in on him. He twisted his body in the air to prevent a direct hit when a fourth one slammed into him.
"Hana!" Naruto exclaimed relieved.
The pale ninja crashed into a nearby house. The four whirlwinds stopped revealing the Inuzuka girl and her three canine partners.
"In trouble again, Tiny?" she said.
"Quit your joking, he's good," the youngest teammate informed her. As if to prove his words, the downed ninja got up, his injuries gone, his skin covered in strange geometrical pattern.
"What's that?" the dog mistress asked, her eyes widening.
"Not a clue," Naruto shouted.
"It seems like I will have to take you seriously after all," the enemy said. Bone blades sprouted from every joint.
"Time to step it up," Hana decided. "Let's see how he'll handle this. Inuzuka style: Soutou Rou!" Chakra swirled around her and one of her dogs. The opponent tried to prevent her completing the jutsu, but both Naruto and Hotaru jumped in front of him, their swords charged with their elemental chakra.
Hana's jutsu was finished. In her place now stood a huge double headed wolf. The pale ninja's eyes widened in surprise.
"Garouga!" snarled the beast and turned into a furry tornado. It charged forward at much greater speed than the Tsuuga had. He had no time to dodge, he could only brace himself for the impact. The attack slammed him into the house, shattering the walls and coming through on the other side. The two remaining dogs ran to aid their mistress. Naruto and Hotaru followed.
Hana and her dog separated and got to their feet. They looked at their opponent and gasped. Where they had fully expected a mangled corpse, was instead a living monster. They couldn't describe it any other way. It somewhat resembled the ninja they had been facing, but it had brown skin, sinister yellow eyes and bone spikes protruding from its back. There was even a long spiky tail.
"What the hell?" Hana stammered. She summed up the thoughts of the entire team quite nicely.
Than the monster rose to its feet and the team took a step back like one man (and two women). The abomination reached behind its back and pulled something out. It looked like some kind of chain whip. They mutually decided not to think about what it actually was.
"What now?" Hotaru whispered. They all had already fired their strongest attacks and that thing didn't seem to be even wounded.
"Buy time," Naruto suggested. As he saw it, their best chance was still to wait until their sensei arrived and hope that their adversary wasn't stronger than the jounin. He didn't even want to think about what would happen if that wasn't the case.
The monstrosity readied his whip for an attack. Naruto let out another Slicing Scream. It barely had any effect. The brown thing just continued its charge. The three genin scattered. They weren't fast enough. The whip caught Hotaru in the side. Blood sprayed out. The kunoichi fell to her knees and screamed.
Hana saw another teammate being cut down by an enemy. She let out a battle cry and prepared to charge. Naruto beat her to it. He shot forward and slammed into the enemy. The thing actually stumbled back, unprepared for such a vicious assault. The boy pressed his advantage. He struck the now brown-skinned man in the face. It felt like punching a rock, but he paid it no heed.
A familiar red heat was rising inside him. Usually it would scare him, but now he welcomed it, along with the power accompanying it. That abomination in front of him had hurt his teammate. It had to pay.
The strange ninja got over his surprise and threw the feral boy off him. Naruto just flipped in the air and landed on his feet. He charged again, all finesse forgotten. He attacked with his bare fists, intent on inflicting a lot of harm. A voice in the back of his mind cheered him on.
The monster counterattacked. The blond boy evaded the dangerously sharp spikes without really thinking about it. He just knew they were there even though he could see only about a half of them. He punched his enemy again. He noticed that his fingernails changed into claws, but he wasn't surprised. Somehow it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
Another of his strikes was blocked by a shield of bones. Naruto snarled in anger. He put more chakra into his fist. It was enveloped in a red glow. The strange ninja's eyes widened for a split second. But he was an experienced fighter and reacted on instinct. He threw the now red-eyed boy off him before the hit could connect. The jinchuuriki bared his teeth in rage.
The two kunoichi were staring in amazement and fear at the battle taking place in front of them. First the strange pale ninja turned into some brown monstrosity, then their young teammate was enveloped in a sinister red aura, his appearance changing like if he used the Inuzuka Beast imitation. He also improved in both strength and speed. They both itched to aid their comrade, but the enemy left no openings.
The creature with bone spikes swung its whip to Naruto. The genin ducked low, then tried to claw the thing's stomach. He was swiped away by his opponent's left arm. He jumped high and tried to get in a kick. The whip headed for him and he barely got his forearms up in time to prevent a hit to his face. His trajectory was changed and he landed on the street. He rolled to avoid a kick, but a bone suddenly sprouted from the monster's ankle and caught him in the shoulder. He howled in pain.
He swiped at his enemy, but he was too far to hit. But the red chakra enveloping him formed a claw extending further than his arms reach and connected with the enemy's stomach. Four deep gashes appeared in the brown skin and red blood flowed out.
The monstrous shinobi looked at them in surprise, as if he had trouble believing what had just happened to him. But soon his face hardened. Then it melted into surprise again, as he was hit by a Tsuuga from behind. Hana noticed his moment of distraction and capitalized on it.
The spiked monster fell, but he sported only a flesh wound. He swung his grayish claw at the dog mistress. It was too fast to dodge. The Inuzuka could just lift her arm in an attempt to block.
Before the hit could land, Naruto rejoined the fray. He grabbed the spiked arm, halting its descent towards Hana. His shoulder still hurt, but he could already feel the muscle mending. The chakra surrounding him burned the brown skin.
The enemy struck with a speed unseen before. The blond barely had the time to move before the whitish spikes pierced his side. He avoided a lethal hit, but the wound was serious nevertheless. He would have roared, but his ribs hurt too much for that. He struck the offending appendage instead, intent on ripping it off the unnatural body.
The red chakra around his hand intensified, gaining the jagged edges of Wind element. His swipe connected with the elbow. There was a sickening snap. He didn't manage to sever the arm, but the sinew and bones were mangled. He yanked the now useless limb from his chest. He tried to attack again, but his body was instead wracked by sickening cough. Blood flew from his mouth.
A crack of lightning resounded. Hotaru saw her opening and swung her sword at the damaged elbow. The chakra-laced blade cut deep. The appendage now hung only on a thin patch of skin.
The monstrous ninja screamed in rage and disbelief. Then he exploded in a flurry of motion. The threesome suddenly found themselves on the receiving end of a veritable storm of whip strikes. Hotaru was thrown backwards with a deep gash across her ribs. Hana was flung into the wall of a nearby house by a vicious kick to her stomach. One of her dogs was lying on the ground whining, having been hit by the spiked tail. Naruto tried to attack, but a heavy hit forced him back to his knees.
Then the whip was stopped by a tree suddenly sprouting from the ground. Before the brown warrior could blink in surprise, a sword hit the back of his neck. His ultra-dense bones stopped the hit, but he was thrown off balance. Before he could regain it, he was bound by rapidly growing tree branches. He barely had the time to create a bone shield before a stab pierced his skin. He immediately started growing blades to cut down the tree, but new branches quickly replaced those he managed to cut. It was a struggle of endurance.
But it was four people and three dogs against one. While he was preoccupied with Tenzo, Naruto scrambled to his feet and grabbed his sword. The red haze was now gone from his mind and he could think clearly once again. He held his blade in a one-handed grip, his left shoulder not being completely healed yet, and charged it with Wind chakra. His injuries were bothering him, but he was able to move, though with difficulty. He swung with all his might.
The blade cut deep, the sharp Wind chakra cutting even through the reinforced material of the bone-wielder's spine. With the spinal cord severed, his legs sagged bonelessly.
Naruto sunk to the ground as well. His strength left him with the Kyuubi's chakra. He barely had the energy left to crawl away from the battle zone.
The spiked monstrosity opened its mouth in disbelief of what had just occurred. It was unthinkable that somebody would actually be able to cut through his bone armor in his Second stage. But it wasn't a tragedy, his accelerated healing would take care of his severed spine soon. But for the moment he couldn't mve his lower body and his enemies saw it. The Mokuton user wasn't one to let such opportunity pass unexploited. The point of his katana was aimed precisely. The tip entered between the parted lips and pierced through the palate. The bone wielder had reinforced all the bones near the surface of his body, but forgot about those on the inside. The blade entered his brain. Even his regeneration wasn't able to deal with that.
The Konoha shinobi watched in amazement as the beast started changing again. First the skin lost its brown color, a strange pattern appearing instead. Then even that slowly receded, revealing the surprised pale face of the young ninja. Only the bone appendages remained still attached to the corpse being held upright by the tree.
The squad just watched in silence, clutching their wounds, not quite believing that the nightmarish battle was really over. Tenzo cut the throat of the defeated ninja for good measure. The stranger didn't even twitch, no geyser of blood flowed from his jugular. He was indeed dead.
"What the hell was that?" Hana summarized the thoughts of all squad members.
"I don't know," their sensei replied. "Can you tell me what lead to this? But first take care of your wounds." Hana nodded, realizing she was the team's medic, and went to work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hana sagged with tiredness. She had patched the team up the best she could and was proud to declare that nobody would die of their wounds. Unfortunately they were in no shape to continue the mission.
"I wouldn't have allowed you to continue anyway," the former ANBU said. "We already encountered an A-rank enemy and he didn't seem like the boss."
Naruto couldn't decide between feeling disappointed and relieved. On one hand he didn't want to abandon a mission that so far had been mainly his show, on the other he really didn't want to face such a monster again. He would never admit it, but he was secretly glad for the order to retreat.
The townspeople dared to come out of their hiding holes after the street was quiet for long enough. The owner of the destroyed house was in tears, demanding compensation for his demolished dwelling. The three genin tried to blame it on the dead ninja, but it did them little good. It seemed like they would have to pay for it anyway. Then the mayor appeared and wanted to know what had happened. They gave him a brief report.
"I didn't call you here to ruin my town," the official lamented.
"We didn't come here to fight an A-ranked opponent," Tenzo countered. "Such things sometimes happen."
"I hope you'll at least solve the mystery," he said.
"Rest assured that Konoha will do everything to find out where did he come from," the Mokuton wielder pointed to the corpse still supported by the trees.
"I'll hold you to your word," the mayor promised.
"I know," the jounin confirmed. "We'll now go and bring reinforcements."
The three genin breathed a collective sigh of relief. They couldn't wait to leave Ugo behind.
That's it for now.
Next time: Some long-overdue conversation and a beginning of a new arc.
Because I've run into a writing block on the next chapter, it might take a while before it appears. But I'm prewriting the next arc, so once I conquer the next chapter, more should appear soon after.