Chapter 39
The negotiation
"they're here"
Raiga discretely looked around "very well hidden, must be high-level shinobi." Raiga's eyes darted around the cropping of rocks" 1…2…3…4…5. Didn't you say there were 6 sources of chakra?"
"It appears the last one decided to stay back. In fact it has kept the same distance away from the group the entire time."
"I see, in any case…" Raiga muttered before turning to the other hooded figures standing next to where they buried the coffin "the funeral is over. Return to your posts" he commanded.
The hooded figures bowed and either sunk into the ground or disappeared in a burst of speed.
Raiga turned to where he felt the biggest source of chakra "I know you're there. Come out."
Naruto reformed himself (still in disguise) from between the cracks of the rocks while the other members stepped out from behind trees or stood up from behind large boulders.
Ao stepped forward still in disguise "Raiga Kurosuki. I am-"
Before Ao could continue any further, Raiga interrupted him "drop the disguise. If you are here to attack me I would assume you wouldn't come out this easily, which leads me to the other conclusion that you are here to offer me something, negotiate or join me. Any of which case demands that you show some form of respect and talking in disguise is disrespect I will not tolerate. If you are unwilling to reveal yourself I have no interest in talking with you."
Ao clenched his fists and gritted his teeth for a moment before relaxing and nodding "very well" he said and dropped released his transformation. An action that was quickly followed by the other members of the group. "As I was saying, I am Ao, a member of the Rebel Fraction of Mist. Our leader, Ryuji Sakamoto has tasked us to recruit you to help in our battle against the Loyalists. In this scroll is a list of negotiations I am authorised to give you" Ao said and slowly reached in his pocket to take out the scroll. He opened the scroll and turned it around to show there were no traps before closing it and throwing it to Raiga.
The swordsman opened the scroll again and scanned it "these are some interesting prepositions. A pardon for most of my past "crimes", my name removed from hunter-nin's bingo book, a reduction in the sentence of my heavier crimes…" Raiga snapped the scroll shut "and what will you do if I refuse?"
Naruto turned his body to the side and got ready to summon his sword. Fu took the handle of the Raijin sword from her pouch while internally musing at the irony of using it against Raiga, Haku started moulding his chakra to form his ice gauntlets, Chojuro, after some hesitation, took out a scroll and unsealed a large duel-handed sword, finally Ao placed his hands together in the seal of confrontation and activated his hidden Byakugan "we are ordered to remove any possibility of you being recruited to fight against us"
Raiga laughed loudly "No wonder the Rebels needed me! Sending out 4 kids and an unnamed shinobi to try take me down! That one looks like he is about to wet his pants!" Raiga sneered and pointed at Chojuro. "don't worry, as a reward of entertaining me, I shall give all of you a funeral!"
"Just one question, do the names Zabuza and Mangetsu mean anything to you?" Naruto asked.
"Mangetsu Hozuki, he wasn't too bad. Weak, but he had potential. His bloodlust was comparable to mine and Kisame's. Zabuza on the other hand… Don't you DARE mention Momochi in my presence! That coward started the Rebel fraction and ran away with his tail between his legs as soon as his attack failed." Raiga snarled before calming down again "I've changed my mind, just for that, I won't even give you a funeral. I-"
Raiga was interrupted by a spike of chakra from the trio of Naruto, Haku and Fu.
The ground at Naruto's feet was blasted apart as he rushed to Raiga "DON'T YOU DARE…" Naruto shouted unsheathing his sword and swung it as hard as he could with the intent of bisecting Raiga.
"I like that bloodlust boy" Raiga shouted and unsealed his own Kiba blades and held them crossed in front of him, catching Naruto's golden blade in between his own and locking the blades.
Raiga's eyes widened as he saw Haku running towards Naruto with his gauntlet already in full swing "DISRESPECT FATHER…". He quickly disengaged and jumped back as Haku jumped over Naruto and smashed the ground where Raiga was standing a moment ago. The duel wielder watched in slight surprise as the ground was shattered and ice spikes appearing out of the cracks and headed in his direction. "An ice-user. I thought they all died out" Raiga muttered as he got back into his stance. "Raiga, behind you"
"IN THAT WAY" Raiga turned around just in time to parry away a thrust from the Raijin blade from Fu "tch" Raiga clenched his teeth and coated his blades in lightning chakra while simultaneously removing the numbing effect on his arm.
xxx
From atop a hill not far away Mangetsu observed the fight "Raiga was always cocky" he sighed before turning to the adopted children of Zabuza "And it seems that speaking ill of Zabuza is still a taboo subject for them"
Xxx
Raiga eyed the group of shinobi again before the trio's words clicked "wait, father? You telling me that the Demon of the Hidden Mist has kids? No, your chakras don't feel like his. Adopted then. Momochi adopted three little orphans. He must have gotten softer than I thought. Just then, his eyes landed on Kibikiribocho. "so he's already croaked huh. That why you joined the Rebels?"
The trio clenched their teeth and gripped their weapons harder.
"that's enough. Raiga isn't someone you can take down alone!" Ao shouted.
"That's right. Now that you've realized the futility of fighting against me…ninja art: fangs of lightning" Raiga held his sparkling Kiba Blades up into the air and sent twin tails of lightning into the sky. Instantly storm clouds began to gather and lightning flashed. "Surge!"
The sky roared and lightning flashed down to strike the earth and the Rebel ninja.
"how was that, Ranmaru?"
"that was amazing Raiga"
Raiga chuckled softly before it slowly started to turn into full blown maniacal laughter. "they were blown to pieces! As I thought, it's not sad at all! No point giving them a funeral!
"they're still alive" Ranmaru said.
"impossible. Surviving a hit from my fangs of lightning? No. if you say so then there is no doubt"
"those three are dangerous"
The dust cleared to show the group was being protected by a large dome of ice and water.
"I see. They used the fact that water conducts electricity to send the lightning to the earth and the presence of wind chakra in ice jutsu to nullify my lightning chakra.
"2 shinobi hiding in the rocks 20 meters at 12 degrees east, 3 hiding behind trees 7 meters at 30 degrees south west and 1 hiding 20 meters directly behind us" Ao said with his Byakugan active "but something is weird. I can see them with my Byakugan but I cannot sense them at all. There is no way I can't sense someone 20 meters away even if it is a new-born civilian! In any case, we should just check to make sure. Maybe they are using some sort of genjutsu or seal to avoid sensory detection." Ao ordered. "I will stall Raiga for as long as I can"
The younger shinobi nodded and quickly dashed towards where Ao had detected the enemies. Naruto and Haku to the three in the trees, Chojuro the one behind them and Fu the two by the rocks.
Each arrived at the destination to discover nothing more than rocks and trees.
Just then a flash of lightning drew their attention. The shinobi turned towards where Ao was battling with Raiga to see the unconscious body of the elder ninja flying through the air.
"we're strong, you and I. No. You're strong. I'm only strong when I'm with you, Ranmaru"
"Ranmaru?" Naruto asked himself and glanced back up at Raiga, for the first time noticing that there was a bulge under his cloak. "Raiga is not alone! Aim for the thing on his back!" Naruto shouted.
From afar, the rest of the conscious ninja could see Raiga's eyes widen before a look of slight fear appeared. The look of fear was quickly replaced with pure rage as he held his Kiba blades to the sky "NOBODY TOUCHES RANMARU! Lightning strike!" a bolt of lightning shot out the sky and hit the tip of Raiga's swords. The swordsman swung his lightning charged blades down towards the paralyzed shinobi with a desperate look on his face.
"Aaahhhhh!" Naruto screamed as his body was fried with lightning and had to consciously make an effort to not to subconsciously turn into water.
Finally the lightning passed and Naruto was left panting on the ground.
"you are persistent. Fine. If frying you won't work, I'll just have to crush you!" Raiga shouted and jumped down.
"shadow clone jutsu" Naruto shouted "water clone jutsu" he continued "transformation jutsu Seven Pillars formation!" Naruto laid his hand on the pommel of his sword as his clones formed the same trap he used during his final battle with Mifune. His seven shadow clones transformed themselves into metallic poles that embedded themselves into the ground while four of his water clones used the hydrofication technique to transform into water chains. The remaining seven water clones positioned themselves next to the clone poles and placed their hands on their blades. "twin slash barrage!"
Raiga gritted his teeth and brought his swords together and ran chakra through them making them glow. "lightning armour" he said and started to reabsorb the lightning to create a pseudo version of the Raikage's lightning armour. It was still a technique he hadn't quite gotten the hang of and he could only hold it for 2 minutes maximum.
The water clones almost simultaneously dashed forwards and unsheathed their blades at high speeds. Despite not being as skilled as Mifune, the glowing Raiga still managed to counter a majority of the barrage with his lightning enhanced duel wielding. The clones were knocked off their course and most of them continued their strikes to hit another clone. However, being water clones of a hydrofiation user, the damage meant nothing as they simply reformed the cut as if it never happened. Just like the original concept of the idea, the clones used the water chains to gain more momentum and attack at an even faster speed. This time, even with his enhanced reflexes, Raiga suffered several cuts and the back of his cloak tore open to drop a small zipped up bag.
"Ranmaru!" Raiga shouted.
The swordsman reached down to grab at the bag only to feel for his instincts to scream at him. Being one of the most feared ninja of the Mist and his time as a missing ninja, Raiga learned to listen to them without a second of hesitation. He quickly blasted chakra out of his feet and sent himself flying into the air. He looked down in time to see the bag disappear in a poof of smoke to reveal a surprised clone. Once again, rage overtook his features and his raised his swords into the air "I'LL KILL YOU! LIGHTNING STRIKE ARMOR!" he shouted and brought his swords down. Just as he landed again, Raiga was hit by a bolt of lightning which blasted apart the seven pillars formation and dispelled all the clones. "lightning burial: banquet of-"
"that's enough. D-Drop your weapons or I-I will cleave his bag in two" Chojuro shouted with a slight stutter as he raised his double handed sword above the zipped-up bag. Despite his weak sounding words and nervous behaviour, Naruto could see the determined fire in his eyes and had no doubt Chojuro would follow through on it.
"Ranmaru!" Raiga shouted in alarm.
"I'm ok Raiga" a muffled boy's voice said from within the bag.
Raiga gritted his teeth before slumping his shoulders and dropped his swords. "Fine. Let Ranmaru go and I will join your Rebel forces. You have my word"
"What!?" a voice screamed from the forest "What about us? The Kurosuki Family!"
"Forget him! We don't need a weak head! The Kurosuki Family is eternal!" another shouted.
"shut up you weak fools. I value Ranmaru more than I will ever value you lot! Now die! Lightning burial: banquet of lightning!" Raiga shouted as he grabbed his swords and swung them, sending out arcs of lightning that lit the entire forest up. Moments later, the screams of the Kurosuki Family had vanished and the once green forest was reduced to nothing but charred tree trunks and burnt grass.
Chojuro slowly lifted his blade from above Ranmaru and sealed away before sighing. The mission was a success.
AN: and that pretty much concludes the Raiga arc. Judging by the votes, the next arc is snow/spring. If you have any objections, vote now or forever hold your peace?. Also I took the liberty of deciding to let Raiga live since no one voted for either options (unless someone did and I accidentally missed it)
After this arc will be…? (vote)
1. Snow/Spring 5
2. Star 2
3. Shion 3
PS: thanks to everyone who reviewed. I always appreciate it but this time I decided there needed to be extra thanks for the many long reviews that is a secret guilty pleasure of mine!
Reviews!
: of course
Zeus501: ehehehe… at least there is no cliffhanger or sad end this time? Summons.. well the first summon should be appearing soon...ish. and the Leaf shinobi…. Not that soon
Noahendles: thanks. And it's ok, voting is optional anyways
RinneTaicho: well I took Hashirama's case into account because remember that he is the only one with wood style and that if you took a look at the pictures of him and his family, you would notice the different hair color (namely him being brown and the other two, who I'm assuming are his "brothers" being dull yellow) I'm given the impression that Hashirama may also not be a full Senju but adopted like Tobirama (in my story anyways) since his mother was never revealed. So basically like how Tobirama is secretly part Hozuki, Hashirama may be part Senju and part some other (extinct) clan.
In short: area - body and chakra adapts -kekkei genkai and affinity formed due to surrounding area.
Tobirama = Hozuki/Uzumaki (which are related to Senju). Therefore, strong water chakra (strong chakra from Uzumaki side and water natured from Hozuki side).
Hashirama = Part Senju, part other clan + highly unlikely chance of mixing at perfect ratio = wood style
Hope that help to clear up and not confuse more (I'm writing this at 10:13 pm so my train of thought isn't exactly normal)
As for the Yoroi part… yeah I tried to do what I can to make it believable but I guess you can chalk it up to like a game of rock, paper, scissors where Yoroi just happened to have the right skill set to barely beat Haku.
Specterchilypeper:
1) I don't want to make him too OP because I noticed a large amount of readers do not like OP characters and prefer to see them get stronger without hax bloodlines. And I say too OP because to me there is a slight difference, OP being crazy strong for the wrong reasons (aka how Sasuke kept getting hax powers and stuff.) too OP being godlike (and I too enjoy the occasional godlike Naruto but only if it's written well and not those one shot kills where even a headshot with chidori is just shrugged off). Technically Naruto only has two active bloodline and one passive bloodline. As for the rinnegan, I'm still in slight debate about it. If I do choose to do it, it will only appear maybe last few arcs or so.
2) I know. Cannon Naruto is just winning through dumb luck (actually most of the characters are), take for example the cannon Raiga arc. 4 genin taking down a member of the seven swordsmen of the mist. Wtf?
I try to limit what I write about the story in AN as much as I can. I usually do it to help clarify some events that I couldn't fit in with the story (eg some facts the current characters on a mission won't know such as Orochimaru keeping an eye on him)
Thank you for writing the long review for me to enjoy. I love having constructive critisim and I pride myself in being creative and coming up with ideas nobody has seen before as often as possible.
PS: do you mind putting the name of the story and author who wrote it down? Eg: Naruto of the Blue Sharingan by Jackalope33
Thor94: thanks and here you go
BlackDragonShinigami: yay and vote recorded
Wyrtha: hmm that's an option, but as I've said before, I already have a plan for the tailed beast training.
Oh yeah, the whole revenge thing on the Leaf… let's just say that he is postponing it so he can use Naruto's body and strike an even heavier blow against the Leaf (I mean, what can be worse than fighting the leaf with a resurrected first, second and fourth Hokage while inhabiting the body of the son of the fourth). Also, I'm not exactly avoiding them completely. There are slight mentions (like last chapter where they had to gain a pass through Leaf territory) but it's just that the missions just never really crossed paths (like the chances of meeting another shinobi on an unrelated mission).
Well there's a nice thought on an approach to the snow/spring mission. I'll think about it and probably modify it later.
As for Jiraiya, I can't deny he is a strong shinobi who could be vital in training Naruto but he will only be like a short period (maybe a week or so max). definitely no toads, foxes or dragons for Naruto. Too overused for me. In fact I already have decided on the summons (if you look close enough, I placed it in one of the earlier AN where I asked readers to vote). I do believe I already decided on a summons for Fu, and not yet any for Haku (I'll have to double check on my other computer)
As for my belief on why Zabuza and Raiga wasn't in Akatsuki. If you take a look at the members, most of them were feared for one great crime or another (Hidan killing his entire village, Immortal- probably also so Kakuzu would stop needing partner replacements. Kakuzu- old guy who fought and survived a battle with the first Hokage, Sasori- assassinated third Kazekage, basically started third shinobi war, Deidera…. Probably just cause he's a crazy strong bomber. Kisame- monster of the mist, crazy chakra, think also assassination of daimyos, etc etc, Itachi – killed almost whole of Uchiha clan. Orochimaru- Sanin, strong AF, huge lust for power, human experiments.) while Zabuza and Raiga weren't really known for much or had anything really to contribute (or that Akatsuki didn't have anything to offer)
Knight'sShade: if you're reading this then my response to your review on chapter 2 and 3: yeah that was when I first started writing and it probably could have been much better. I do plan to go back and revise everything after I'm finished.