Kai: I'm BACK!
Shang: Yeah, my heart overwhelms with joy... just tell me what the readers want to know, will ya?
Kai: Chill... okay, to start of: Fic Slayr want to know is Naruto-sensei stronger then Sasuke... who ever he is...
Shang: Well, I'm not favorizing any of those two (though I won't hide that I like Naruto waaaaaaaaaay more) and in the spirit of this fic they're thought to be equal. Sure, some of you guys will say "But Sasuke's an ANBU"... true, but as you'll find out from a later part of the story, Naruto was an ANBU too (he became one way before Sasuke did). He got back to being a jounin due to... well, you'll see.
Kai: And why doesn't Naruto-sensei use the Kyuubi?
Shang: I have many reasons... for example proving that he can do fine without the help of that damn fox. But, since so many of you guys wish to see him use it, and readers satisfaction is my top priority, I promise he'll use Kyuubi's power before the mission ends. Not in this chapter, but in the next. Hope that suits you.
Kai: Okay, so this concludes the questions I believe... but before we start there's one, last thing that needs to be said... and it's the result of the POPULARITY CONTEST!...
Shang: What are you talking about? That wasn't a popularity contest. I just wanted to find out which one of you guys does the readers like best. The real, popularity contest is planned, but it'll take place when more characters are going to appear... it'll have different rules and the readers will be allowed to chose ANY character they want... that will happen in a rather distant future, so...
Kai: Blah, blah, blah... skip the crap! Here are the results! Fifth place goes to Kumiko... but she's still cute...
Shang: ... Poor girl...
Kai: Fourth place goes to... (dramatic pause)... Kusari. Seems that there are two characters that got the same score, so second place goes to share: Ibuki and... me! That's not possible! How come such an awesome shinobi like me only got second?
Shang: I have a better one: how come such a lame guy as you got that high?
Kai: ... So I guess first place goes to Takaru-teme... What a disapointment... lets just get on with the show...
Lastly, before we start, I just want to say that my access to the internet may disappear at anytime (for few days) so I decided to submit this chapter as soon as I finished it. Please forgive me any grammar mistakes I missed, coz I didn't had time to double check it. Still I hope you'll enjoy it and leave a review with your opinion once you're done.
Chapter #22: Enter the Anbu
Chapter Cover: Naruto and Sasuke are proped on each others back and the whisker-marks is giving a thumbs up
"Uchiha, eh?" repeated Ryu as he looked at the anbu member. "Well, this could be interesting. It's been a while since I killed one of your clan…"
"Yeah, too bad you won't increase your record" replied Sasuke calmly. "Takaru, take care of your teammates and leave those two to me…"
"Huh? He knows me?" Takaru thought to himself surprised but after a moment he got together and started dragging his teammates out of the battlefield. Recca and Deji assisted him in doing so.
"Now…" with those words the red eyes turned to his opponents. "… lets begin" and not waiting for a reply he began performing a set of hand seals.
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"That does it!" Naruto thought to himself as another thorn cut his skin.
The blonde jounin released chakra from his body and began spinning around as the thorns stopped in the chakra sphere he created. In an instant the thorns were blasted away, hitting the incoming ones. That gave Naruto enough time for a short chain of hand seals.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" he called out as fire came out of his mouth and burnt the wall of thorns behind which Kouba and Fugou were hiding.
Before the two could react, five Naruto's came out of the smoke and with a fury launched the storm of punches and kicks at them. As the clones finished and disappeared in the cloud of white smoke, the original Naruto charged in, carrying a ball of spinning chakra (one in every hand). Second after that the balls landed on the two, tree-nins stomachs and send them flying back (of course spinning wildly).
Naruto stood in one place, checking his outfit for damage. After a little while he called out:
"I can sense your chakra, so there's not point in hiding. Come out and lets continue…"
At those words both Kouba and Fugou went through the hole in the wall they made few moments earlier: the kunoichi with a lot of blood on her stomach and the tree-nin breathing deeply.
"I suppose you just collected the chakra in your abdomen and thanks to that lower the damage…" the blonde jounin said to Fugou. "… but how in the world did you survived without any, visual wound?"
"Have you ever heard of the Lizard Flower?" asked Kouba.
"A little" replied Naruto. "Some rare plant that grows only in the North West. I've heard it has some regeneration powers…"
"That flower can regenerate the lost cells in the matter of minutes" interrupted the tree-nin. "The leader of our village figure such ability could be useful to shinobies."
"Genetic engineering!" the blonde jounin's eyes widen at the thought. "What have they done to you?"
"The DNA of the Lizard Flower was combined with mine…" explained Kouba. "My body regenerates itself the moment the damage is done. You see, Fugou and I… we were… created as a perfect, killing weapons…"
"Those guys… they're the same as Gaara!" Naruto thought to himself. "Wait a minute! Both of you were created?"
"Didn't it surprised you that my power charms aren't visible all the time as they should?" asked Fugou. "The answer is simple: the leader of our village sealed the charms on my bones. That's why they're only visible when I use them. That way the opponent usually have no idea of my true strength and isn't prepared to battle a shinobi way faster and stronger then it'd seem at first. Just like it happened to you."
"Creating warriors…" whispered Naruto, lowering his sight. "I thought that when Gaara's father died no-one would even think about creating shinobies. What they've done to you is inhuman…"
"No point in regretting anyway" replied Kouba. "We are not human anymore… nothing can change that" and with those words both of the tree-nins charged at the leaf-nin.
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"What's going on?" asked Kai as he was shaking his head in order to make his sight clearer. "Did we won?"
"Well… not exactly…" replied Takaru, not looking at the blonde. "But for the time being we're free from fighting…" and with that he pointed at the anbu that stood between them and the two missing-nins.
Kai looked in the direction he pointed and with a confused look, asked: "Who's that guy?"
"I don't know…" responded Deji. "But it looks like he's on our side."
"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" called out Sasuke as he finished the chain of hand seals and tens of small fireballs came out of his mouth right at the two, tree-nins.
"See, that's way better then that pitiful meteor shower of yours…" announced Kai, trying to piss Takaru off, but Tsunade's son didn't paid any attention to the blonde. He was just observing the battle closely.
Ryu rather easily dodged all the bullets, but Karuto jumped back in order to avoid the attack. That was a mistake, for before he knew it, Sasuke appeared right behind him and after biting his finger, he perform a quick set of hand seals. Once he was done, he slammed his hand to the ground, yelling: 'Kuchiyose no Jutsu! Come forward… Manda!" and before anyone knew it a large anaconda with brown skin appear from the huge cloud of white smoke.
Being in mid-air, Karuto couldn't do anything more then just pick out his cards and threw them right at the gigantic snake. That attack didn't stopped the anaconda, which simply opened it's mouth and swallowed the card user in an instant.
"This guy…" thought Takaru, as his eyes widen. "We had problems in even laying a finger on that red head and he just finished him off in less then a minute!"
"I see…" Ryu looked at the snake. "Well, he's better then I first thought…guess I'll have to use Mugenda…"
"Your pal is gone…" announced Sasuke and he dispelled Manda and landed safely on the ground. "But I'll act merciful and spare your life, if you surrender that is…"
"You made a bad choice…" replied the swordsman calmly. "You should have killed me first. Now you'll witness what it means to fight with one of the seven swordsmen…" and with those words he raised his blade up.
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Naruto was backing away as Fugou unleashed a storm of punches and kicks at him. He saw many openings, but didn't counterattack.
"What, you heard about our secret and already you decided to surrender?" asked the kunoichi as she tried to break through the leaf-nin's defense. "This is only fun when you're fighting back! Prove yourself and defeat us, just like you intended to just a moment ago! Don't tell me that you lost the will to fight because of something so meaningless like our 'birth'!" and with that she finally landed a punch on Naruto's face, sending him flying at the wall.
Kouba instantly threw his shurikens at the blonde but the Leaf shinobi was able to catch them all with his hands. In stead of throwing them back though, he just dropped them to the floor.
"Why?" asked the blonde jounin, lowering his sight. "I won't believe you really wanted this… so why?"
"Boy, you're weird…" responded Kouba. "But fine, if that will make you fight back, I'll tell how we were created… then we'll finish this…"
"Kouba, this…" Fugou tried to argue, but was immediately silenced by her partner:
"He can do it… this is our chance… and that's the only way to make him fight back, it seems" and with that he turned to the blonde: "Listen carefully, whisker-marks. It all began the moment we became gennins…"
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Ryu aimed the top of his sword at the raven-haired ANBU. The leaf-nin just stood there, his face shown no emotions. Meanwhile Ibuki, Kumiko and Kusari became conscious and began asking Kai and Takaru questions about their savior.
"We don't know, okay?" replied the blonde gennin. "For now let's just say that he is on our side… though he has an unpleasant look…"
"He's kinda cute though…" began Kumiko.
"You realize he's at least twice as old as you, don't you Kumiko-chan?" asked Kusari with a little sadness in his voice. "Better stick to your age…" and with that he made some kind of a macho pose.
"Uchiha…" Ibuki repeated in her head. "So he's the head of that famous clan? I thought the whole clan was wiped out years ago and the only, two survivals abandoned Konoha… so why is he here?"
"You're quite annoying" announced Ryu, not even paying attention to the rookie gennins. "Forgive me, but I have to finish my assignment, so I won't play with you… especially after what you shown…" and before anyone knew it, the blade of the swordsman weapon increased its length.
In a fracture of a second, Sasuke drew a kunai from his porch and tried to block the blade. He manage to do that, but the impact tossed him at the wall behind him. As he smashed into it, dust went into the air. Everybody froze, looking at the dust disappearing and revealing the Konoha ANBU breathing deeply, but unharmed (A/N: at least on the outside, coz the hit did some physical damage that wasn't visible).
"How the hell…?" began Uchiha prodigy, but Ryu instantly interrupted him:
"I'm one of the Seven Swordsmen… our swords aren't simple blades… as far as I know you fought Kisame, so you should know. His blade consumed chakra… mine can lengthen as I desire…"
"I see…" replied Sasuke, as a smirk appeared on his face. "Seems you'll be a little harder to defeat then that red head..."
"No…' responded Ryu. "You won't defeat me, coz I'll end your life…" and once more the blade of his sword launched itself at the leaf-nin.
And this concludes this chappie. Please leave a review once you're done.
Only jutsus used in this one are known from the manga/anime, so I'll skip the jutsu encyklopedia this time.
Before I finish however, there's one thing I'd like to wish you all:
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
And now the best of luck and hopefully I'll see you with the next update.