Chapter 36
Battle of the sea conclusion
Amachi watched smugly as the blond ninja struggle against the constant onslaught of the Sea boss. Nobody escaped from him, least of all in the middle of the sea. The medical nin's red orbs glanced to the side and lazily raised his arm to block a fury of shuriken. "Marvel at my creation! Made up of 99% water. Any physical attacks will go right through him and if it somehow does connect, Umibozu will simply regenerate it. Since we're in the middle of the sea, I don't need to spell it out for you do I?
Mei clenched her teeth. If what he said was true then the Sea Boss could regenerate faster than Naruto could deal damage and judging by the fact it doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon Mei suspected that it wasn't a normal summon that Naruto, even with his boundless stamina wouldn't be able to outlast. But still…
"If you can't take out the summon, take out the summoner!" Mei shouted "Lava style: piercing lance" she shouted and spat out a single line of condensed lava.
Amachi barely dodged the attack and prevented himself from getting impaled on a burning lava lance. "Impressive jutsu. If I was hit with that I doubt even my scales would save me."
"tch" Mei muttered "I had hoped that was enough to finish him off." Truthfully out on the open sea she was at a huge disadvantage. Her best jutsu were lava and steam based. Being on sea meant that she had no place to set up lava puddles for traps and being in the open meant that her steam attacks were weakened considerably by the constant wind and the large area for Amachi to dodge. Her water jutsu were all but useless since they were weak and with Amachi being a sea monster hybrid thing he was probably near immune to all but the strongest ones.
The bloodline wielder took a check on her reserves, even with the chakra pill she took her reserves were just under half full. She sweated. This wasn't going to be an easy fight.
Suddenly a shout of surprise caught her attention. She turned around in time to see Naruto get hit by the Umibozu and stunned long enough for it to grab him. Mei watched in horror as Naruto struggled while the Sea Boss brought him to its mouth.
"Naruto!" she screamed as the ninja was swallowed whole.
Xxxx
With Naruto
Xxxx
Naruto ducked and weaved between the tentacles of the Summon, occasionally cutting a few with his sword to prevent himself from getting trapped. He could feel his strength waning and his movements slowing down. A flash of light caught his attention for a second and he turned around to see Mei spit out a long line of lava and almost hit Amachi. That moment of distraction cost him as a small wave hit him and knocked him off balance. The Umibozu took advantage of this and swung his large arm, knocking Naruto down. He tried to struggle but for a being made up of water it had a surprisingly strong grip. The last thing Naruto heard before he was swallowed was Mei calling his name.
Xxxx
Fu tried to struggle in Yoroi's grip as he sucked all the chakra out of her. Her strength started fading and she could feel the last of her chakra fading. Her vision started going black when the Yoroi's hand was abruptly removed. Fu opened her eyes and blinked to see a hand land on the ground next to her head and Haku standing where Yoroi was"
"AARGGG" Yoroi shouted a distance away "I'll kill you!"
Fu turned her head higher to see Haku staring at Yoroi with Kubikiribocho on his shoulder and blood dripping off the tip. She then looked to where Yoroi was holding the stub of his hand and glaring at them hatefully. Suddenly his chakra spiked and breathed in a large amount of air before exhaling a large wave of fire.
Fu's eyes widened. An unfocused attack with that much chakra, Fu doubted they could survive it in their weakened state. "am I going to die here? Stuck in a beach? CHAKRA EXHUASTED AGAINST A NORMAL NINJA OF ALL THINGS? NO! I REFUSE!" She felt a rush of burning hot chakra and exploded from the sand and swiped her arm in front of her and sent a shockwave that cancelled the wave of fire.
Haku dashed through the opening and bisected Yoroi "no, we'll kill you"
Fu pulled her arm back and took a deep breath and felt the Nanabi's chakra recede back inside the seal and was instantly hit with a wave of exhaustion much stronger than before. The jinchuriki glanced at her fellow container trapped inside the Umibozu "It's all up to you now Naruto"
Xxxx
Darkness. Cold. Alone.
"You are my children" Zabuza, father.
"I'm not a fem-boy!" Haku, brother.
"you two are idiots!" Fu, sister.
Naruto opened his eyes and peered into the darkness "am I dead?" he asked as he floated around. It was a weird sensation, seeing but not seeing. He could feel he was moving, but everything was so dark he could see nothing.
Suddenly a light appeared ahead. Naruto reached for it, anything was better than just floating around. But just reaching for it felt… wrong. Like he wasn't supposed to. Then he felt a spike of chakra. Demonic chakra. Familiar chakra.
"Fu!" Naruto realized. "Fu's in trouble! I can't die yet!" Naruto shouted, pulling his hand back and felt a sensation of falling.
Xxx
Naruto's eyes shot open and tried to gasp for air but only got a lungful of water. He took a look around and realized he was trapped inside the Sea Boss. He tried to swim towards air but no matter how hard he tried he still seemed to be in the same place. He gritted his teeth and tried to calm down and think. It was easier said than done considering that he had his lungs full of water and his vision was going dark again. Somehow he knew that he wouldn't wake up this time.
Naruto closed his eyes, circulated some chakra into his lungs to break down some of the water into oxygen and steadied his heartbeat. He looked over everything he knew. He was running out of air inside a summon made completely out of…. Water.
"Be calm and go with the flow. Do not try to resist it. Water does not stay in a single shape or form. Feel the water to be the water." Mangetsu's voice echoed.
"I am a Hozuki. I should not be afraid of water" Naruto muttered and focused his chakra into his arm, watching in amazement as it started to feel like jelly and turn transparent before completely disappearing into water. He tried to call it back and instantly saw his shoulder stretch like rubber back into the shape of his arm. He flexed his fingers to see they still functioned perfectly. "my turn" Naruto grinned, collapsing his whole body into water.
His liquid body didn't see. Liquid simply didn't have enough complexity to make ocular nerves, Naruto wasn't even sure how he even felt anything. But he did. Even without eyes he could "see" more like feel where everything was. He knew that everything had a weakness and there had to be something giving this summon thought capability and its shape. His whole body was spread out which increased his range and eventually he found the power source. A small orb of chakra located in its stomach area.
Naruto focused on his body (or what he assumed was a part of it) that lied closest to it and within moments he marvelled at the hydrofication technique. Not only did he manage to travel through water, it appears that when he fully formed he was granted a full breath of air meaning he now had air instead of water instead of his lungs now!
Naruto smirked and raised his hands and formed a cross sign. Since it was water, his speed was severely reduced and he could already feel the huge drain on his reserves for trying to stay in liquid state for such a small amount of time. That meant that he was currently running on about 1/10th of his full capacity and he had no doubt that he wouldn't survive turning into water again. Having said that, the five shadow clones he formed slowly floated to where the orb was and placed their hands on the golden katana by their waist. "one-slash"
A bright light flooded the body of the Umibozu before it exploded violently and threw Naruto in the direction of the beach already losing consciousness. "I did it" Naruto thought as he was caught by Haku "you never cease to amaze us Naruto".
Haku glanced in the direction of Mei who took advantage of Amachi's shock in having Naruto just dissolve and appear by the Umibozu's core and systematically destroy it with 5 shadow clones and a sword. The lava user coated her hand in her element and pierced Amachi's heart from the back, melting most of his chest and torso but leaving his head untouched.
Xxxxx
3 days later
The group of five stopped outside of Daisuke's mansion and Mei rang the doorbell. Like last time they came, the same middle-aged man appeared "welcome, Daisuke-sama has been expecting you" he said and lead them to Daisuke's office and knocked on the door "Daisuke-sama. The shinobi you hired have returned"
"show them in" the same deep and smooth answered.
Just like last time, Daisuke sat behind his mahogany table with shoulder length black hair tied into a ponytail. He wore the same small pair of reading glasses and the same trimmed moustache and short triangular beard. "welcome back. Judging by the large explosion I heard 3 days ago I trust the request has been completed?" he greeted.
Haku stepped forward and presented a scroll "it has. We apologise if we disturbed your work. Inside here is the head of Amachi, a jonin-level medical ninja who had worked under Konoha's S-ranked missing ninja Orochimaru of the Sanin. It was either or both who were responsible for the kidnapping of the children three years ago."
"I see," Daisuke said and turned to the bandaged girl "and I believe this must be Isaribi? It's nice to finally meet you"
Isaribi was slightly taken back anyone would say those words to her but managed to quickly recover her composure "nice to meet you too Daisuke-sama." She bowed.
Daisuke nodded and took clapped his hands twice. Within moments a guard walked in with a case "your payment, as promised."
Naruto made a clone who opened the case "clear" he said before dispelling.
Fu bowed "just a precaution Daisuke-sama. It would be such a shame if one of us died from a hidden trap after we've completed out mission." she explained as Haku went about sealing the case into a much smaller and travel-friendly scroll.
The magnet just laughed and waved it off "no worries, it was the smart thing to do"
Haku walked back to join the group and they bowed "thank you for your business. Feel free to contact us again" they said at the same time.
Xxxx
At the rebel camp
"moving around like this is so annoying" Naruto complained while they walked to the debriefing tent. "first go to the last camp site you were at, then look for clues to where the next site is through a special whistle seal that signals a special hawk."
"remember, its not just any whistle seal or hawk. It's Ryuji-sama's special bloodline. He makes corporal objects that can instantly relay information to him. This prevents spies from finding the new position with an army of Loyalists." Mei lectured before stopping in front of the tent. "team Zabuza returning from land of Sea assassination." The guards nodded and let them in.
A long debriefing later (when aren't they long?)
The group exited the tent to find their sensei waiting. Suzuno and Hibiki smiling at their students while Mangetsu had his arms crossed.
Naruto gulped, already knowing that Mangetzu knew what he did. The older man unfolded his arms and walked up to Naruto, looking into his eyes before hitting him on his head "you idiot. I told you not to try it when near a large body of water, and what do you do? You do it anyways! Be glad you have such a large pool of chakra!
Naruto nodded and bowed his head. Before widening his eyes when he felt Mangetsu place his hand on it "I'm glad you're safe. But now I'm going to be even harsher on your training!" he declared.
"Yes Sensei!"
AN: aaaannddd ddooooonnneeeeee! Naruto unlocked his hydrofication jutsu and defeated water by being water. HA. Why fight fire with fire when you can fight water with water?
This demon island arc is officially done. Next will be a small training filler (maybe a chapter or two) followed by the Raiga arc.
The votes:
Should Mei still end up with Naruto- 9 yes, 0 no
Continue snow/spring arc? – 5 yes, 0 no
What arc should be next ( I think I got misinterpreted here, Raiga arc will be next, I just meant after the Raiga arc. Also blood prison will be shuppiden (and that I am still seeing if I can make it flow into the story))
Snow/spring 2
Star: 2
Shion: 2
blood prison (still under debation for later stage) 3
basically the same as last chapter… Still need a beta
Reviews:
Tsukoblue: could be but then there's waaaaay too many changes (them being in/from Mist/Waterfall for one)
Zeus501: woops, it should be fixed now
Thor94: haaaiiii
BlackDragonShinigami: 0.o my memory is a bit foggy but in which way did they copy them again? You mean the part when Ryuzetsu went and sacrificed herself to bring back Naruto?
RH-Excalibur: bro I ain't adding anyone. I wanted Fu and I did Mei cause my original collab writer wanted Mei… I'm still trying to find a personality for Mei.
Jacklvmage12: Amachi isn't exactly OP AF, more like just BS powered up (like all anime bosses…).
Haku was still tired from the previous fights, didn't have insane stamina like the jinchuriki, didn't take a chakra pill like Mei and Yoroi caught him unprepared, basically this was bound to happen.
As you can see in this chapter, Amachi ain't gonna get no character development lol.
Yes I think Haku needs some upgrades too, but he just had so little screentime I'm not sure what else to add until much later.
Fu… is Fu. Gonna need to remember to make her use the sword of thunder god sometime…
Naruto…. Is just Naruto with education and some proper training.
Lol I haven't actually watched the whole Shion arc, I plan to soon though.
(we just degraded from OP god modding to trying to figure out the next level to mod to….)
Lol my internet is…usable. Just my area is near some signal blocking rocks (I think) so it varies between unable to receive messages and streaming HD youtube.
Effectivesage: thank you. I was aiming for a different approach than normal ^.^