Chapter 30: Zero's Demise!
(Italics: Thoughts/Flashbacks/Dream sequence. Bold: Title and Kyubi's / Demon's / Inner Naruto's / Inner Sakura's Speech. Underline: Time Skips)
Ino was breathing heavy as her and Zero raced along a long, winding river, exchanging blows and counterattacks with their respective blades. Zero grinned maliciously at his prey and said:
"Not Bad.. But you have yet to see the extent of my power..."
Zero wore a dark cloak and was wrapped in dark bandages with runes made of what appeared to be some form of blood, whether it was Human or something else Ino had no clue. Zero grinned and quickly performed a series of hand signs and said:
"Darkness Style! Demonic Seal Release!"
Zero's eyes glowed a demonic blood red and the runes on his bandages began to glow as the bandages unraveled from his body revealing a black plate of armor beneath. Ino had an extremely serious facial expression as she said out loud:
"My Thoughts Exactly!"
Ino performed a long but lightning quick series oh hand signs, her chakra glowed a neon electric blue as she said:
"Yamanaka Style! Chakra Manipulation Jutsu!"
The misty blue chakra that emitted from Ino began to take the form of blue electricity, manipulating the lengths of chains beneath her sleeves. Ino quickly slid two kunai at the end of each chain before lunging forwards, both chains attacking Ino's target as if they had a will of their own.
Zero merely grinned at the girl's power and a barrier of demonic blood red chakra began to form around Zero, everything the barrier touched including the ground beneath his feet was reduced to smoldering ash, the moment Ino's chains hit the barrier they began to glow a bright red before piercing through the plate of condensed black steel protecting Zero's chest.
Ino retreated a safe distance and kept an eye on her enemy, kunai ready. Zero closed his eyes and began to laugh maniacally as he said:
"You think I'd let you hit me so easily!?"
The form of Darkness on the ground vanished in a cloud of black smoke, Zero appeared before his prey and activated the barrier once more. Zero began to smile very maliciously as he said:
"Do you like my new technique woman? I call it my hell flame armor, it will reduce anything or anyone for that matter into mere ashes in a matter of seconds... So do you really think you stand a chance against me!?"
Ino bit her lip and held her ground as she thought:
Damn I'm out of chakra! Come on Naruto... Anybody! I need help! Come to me!
Naruto was nowhere in sight and had absolutely no way of knowing the current situation but that did not mean her call for help was not answered.
Just when all hope seemed lost a squad of Five ANBU appeared and surrounded Zero, they each drew their blades and proceeded to attack as ordered. Just as they swung their blades Ino called out:
"Watch out!"
But it was too late, two out of five members of the ANBU squad immediately were reduced to ashes due to the power and influence of Zero's protective jutsu.
The other Two looked away from the horror that had just taken place before them, grabbed Ino and took off toward the perimeter of the Hidden Leaf Village.
Zero clenched his fists and roared at the top of his lungs:
"You think I'll just let you escape! I'll make sure you all die here and now! Darkness Clone Jutsu!"
Four replications of shadow's form manifested from absolute oblivion and raced toward Zero's target, right before Zero's clones got within attack range another voice called out:
"Who said I'd let you!"
With those powerful words Naruto and all of his Ego Clones jumped down from the tree branches and immediately intercepted and took out Zero's Darkness Clones.
The ANBU who was grateful for Naruto's intervention, put Ino down and immediately raced toward the Hokage tower to update her on the situation.
Naruto grinned at the exhausted blonde before him and said:
"You alright Ino?"
10 minutes earlier...
"What do you mean Ino went missing last night!? Where did you dispatch those ANBU and why only five!?"
Tsunade sighed at the urgency of the blonde shinobi but due to certain circumstances it couldn't be avoided. Tsunade opened her eyes and said:
"I asked them to due a quick search around the western village perimeter but nobody has yet to report back so there's no update as of yet-"
Tsunade's sentence was left unfinished as she found herself alone, the window to her office opened wide and Naruto already long gone.
Tsunade stared out the window and smiled as she thought proudly: Show him Naruto and Ino... Show this Zero just what you've been training for.
Ten minutes Later... (Present Moment.)
"Are you okay Ino?"
Naruto questioned again as he had yet to receive an answer or any form of response for that matter. Ino snuck a glance at Naruto and looked away and gave a nod. Naruto approached her and said: "Ino is something wrong?"
Naruto was cut off from his conversation suddenly as the form of Zero went speeding toward Naruto at alarming speed as he roared:
"Don't you dare ignore me!!"
Within the blink of an eye Naruto and Zero had their blades unsheathed, holding their own ground as each attacked, blocked, and countered in synchronized form, either Shinobi refusing to go down.
Naruto glared at Zero and said: "Every time you come to fight me you always get Ino involved and that to me is unforgivable!" Naruto released the chakra weights, enhancing his speed, power, and chakra control as he gathered up as much chakra as he could, performed a long sequence of hand signs in a matter of seconds and roared: "Demon Style! Summoning Jutsu!"
Nine pedestals emerged from the earth and on each different pedestal there was a seal, nine seals appeared in total. Naruto pulsated a large amount of chakra and yelled:
"Release!"
All nine seals bursted open and demonic red chakra poured constantly out of every outlet as they came together and formed an enormous gateway, time and space seemed to rip apart as the great Kyubi no Kitsune of legend made his way to the battlefield.
The Kyubi grinned down at the prey his vessel had provided him with and nodded toward Naruto in confirmation of what happened next.
With one wave of the fox's many nine tail sent the form of Zero flying upward, and with one graceful movement the Kyubi impaled Zero to one of his many enormous claws.
Zero looked up at the demonic face of the Kyubi, horror permanently reflecting in his facial expression as he thought:
"Impossible where did Naruto Uzumaki obtain such raw power?!"
The form of Zero grinned as his "Demise" led him toward a seemingly unavoidable death, but immediately vanished in a cloud of black smoke. Naruto's eye widened in shock and he looked around as he thought: Damn! Where did he go!?
Zero vanished behind Naruto and stabbed him straight through the chest. The form of Naruto merely grinned as he too vanished in a cloud of white smoke. Zero looked around desperately for his opponent. His search came to an end however as he heard a voice from behind him call out: "Demon Rasengan!"
Zero's eyes widened from surprise and shock as the entire battlefield was blinded by a seemingly celestial white light, immediately following a large explosion of chakra.
The exhausted and ultimately defeated form of Zero went flying through the air, the form of the Kyubi snuck up behind Zero and caught him in it's enormous mouth.
Just before Zero felt himself black out he yelled out with all the energy he had left: How...? How could I possibly lose!?
And with Zero's final words the great demon then proceeded to devour the body. After the consumption of the body the Kyubi turned to his vessel and said:
"Thank you for the tasty meal my dear vessel... I do have to say you know how to make them tender..."
Naruto grinned and replied: "You know it! The next one will be even tastier..." He finished with a dark look embedded into his facial expression.
The kyubi grinned darkly and replied:
"I look forward to it, let me know when you are in need of my power mortal... until next time..."
And with those words the temporary vessel of the Kyubi was split apart and sealed back into each of the shrines, the shrines receded into the earth and vanished without a trace. And all at once the red chakra recedes back into his chakra coils, back into the seal. From a third person bearing witness to this event it would look as if Naruto was in a critical state, but all that to Naruto felt like a mere blow to the stomach.
Ino was in a state of pure shock, the shock from what she had just witness outweighed any dispute over her relationship with Naruto and Hinata for the moment. She had just witnessed Naruto summon a demon who was supposed to have died many years ago. She knew Naruto had many secrets and was entitled to the ones she had no information on but all she had going through her mind was:
"He's going to have to give one hell of an explanation for this..."
A/N: I decided to go ahead and write this chapter since nobody even cared to review my last chapter. (Excluding King Kakashi and Backyard.) Anyway I tried very hard piecing together a battle scene and did a pretty good job connecting the action from the comic relief chapter with the Sake Drinking Contest. I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! REVIEW if you care!
Peace! - DemonicLove555