TADAM! I'm back, here to give you the newest chapter of my "Naruto: Next Generation" fic! For some reason it didn't took my that long to write this (considering I've started yesterday, due to the lack of free time earlier and I could give it that much time after either), but at the same time it worries me, coz the match in this chapter was one of my favorites when I planned it. Hope you'll like it.
As always I wanna thank all of you that took your time to read and review the previous chapter (especially those that reviewed chapter 70 as well). It means a lot. And, since I don't know what else to say, here's the newest chapter of N:NG! But before that, a little reminder: I WON'T UPDATE UNLESS I GET REVIEWS. So there :D
Chapter #72: Absolute Defense?
Title Page: simply Toku walking wit an opened umbrella above his head
"I've never thought I'd see your chain broken!" announced Kai shocked as Kusari slowly returned to them with the remains of his weapon. "I mean, it was filled with chakra, right? How could it break? And more importantly: what are you planning to do now, when you lost your only weapon?"
"I'll think of something" the chain master replied, still looking at the pieces of his weapon he managed to collected before returning. "It's not the end of the world. But what worries me is that Taka guy… he had me right where he wanted me. I surely couldn't won that match. So why all of a sudden would he give up, just like that?"
"Yeah, that's what I'd like to know too" nodded the blonde and just then received a powerful hit on the back of his head from Kumiko, who only yelled: "Could you at least not sound so disappointed about the fact that your teammate made it through eliminations?"
"Ah, Kumiko-chan, I knew you cared!" announced Kusari as he lunged towards the girl, only to have his face crushed against her fist as well. Takaru only sweat dropped at all of this and the glanced over at the team of grass-nin. Now it seemed obvious that becoming chuunin was not the only reason for them to come to Konoha.
"Those grass-nins…" Kakashi seemed to get the same idea the son of Tsunade got. "What is their purpose of being here?"
"Why did you just give up?" demanded Nezumi, once Taka got back to the platform and propped himself against the wall, crossing his arms. "You had that chain guy right there! There was no way he could've escaped! You had a sure victory!"
But Taka didn't reply. Meanwhile Hizoku narrowed his eyes and lowered his head at the realization. Without turning around to face his masked teammate, he only said "Thanks". The chain user didn't seem to care about what the redhead just said and settled his eyes on the arena, where the next fight was about to begin.
"Seventeenth match: Chishio Nobu from Tsuki against Amagasa Toku from Konoha!" Lee announced loudly as the two gennin stood before each other, ready to fight. "BEGIN!" he yelled, getting out of the way as the blonde of the Moon twins reached for his hostel and unleashed several kunai at his opponent.
In a flash Toku picked out his wooden umbrella and opened it, using it as a shield into which struck all the knives. At that very moment Nobu performed a quick set of hand seals, calling out with the last symbol: "Hijutsu: Ketsueki Isshidoujin!" and instantly the moon-nin appeared behind Shikamaru's subordinate. The younger blonde only had enough time to place his umbrella in the way of the incoming kick, making the Tsuki shinobi's leg crush against it.
"Oh, that guy actually managed to react in time even when Nobu was using Blood Brotherhood" noticed Tasuki with a smirk. "But better yet, his umbrella withstood Nobu's strength in that state… it should've been blown to pieces…"
"Come on, Toku, kick his ass!" all the gennin suddenly heard a loud yell and as they turned in the direction it came from, they all saw Hanamaru whose body was mostly covered in bandages, throwing his hands to the sky. Sweat dropping, Kitsune only glanced at his teammate, before he asked: "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in hospital for medical treatment?"
"Well, they closed my wounds, so I figured I'll see how things are going" replied the chubby gennin with a wide smile. "And I see I made it just in time…" and at this point Kogane walked over to him and with a loud 'welcome back' gave the boy a powerful pat on the back, making him scream from pain that suddenly shoot from his wounds. "Sorry…" the kunoichi gave him an apologizing smile, backing away.
Meanwhile Toku suddenly spun on his foot and closing his umbrella, he aimed its tip at Nobu's head, but the moon-nin managed to bend back in time, in order to avoid the assault. In a flash the leaf-nin switched his weapon's position and aimed its tip at his adversary, who now stood with his back parallel to the floor, having the umbrella right above him.
In the last moment Nobu bended to his left and placing his hands on the floor, escaped the incoming assault. But in stead of flipping back to his feet, he stopped on his hands and threw a kick into his opponent's head. Seeing this, Toku immediately ducked under the attack and this time aimed at the moon-nin's hand s with his umbrella.
Having no, other way to avoid the attack, Nobu bounced off the floor and somersaulting in the air, he lengthened the distance between himself and the leaf-nin. To his surprise however, Toku opened his umbrella again and then threw it straight at him, making it come spinning at the Tsuki shinobi.
The instant his feet touched the ground, Nobu jumped back to avoid getting hit by the still spinning umbrella, which just seemed to keep going after him, like it had its own will. As the moon-nin felt the wall behind his back, his eyes narrowed and sensing the right moment, he ducked under the incoming umbrella, making it sunk deep into the wall behind him, creating a pretty large crack.
"What the hell?" was Nobu's first thought as he observed it. "A normal umbrella wouldn't manage to do that? What is that thing made of?" and with that he gazed at his opponent, who remained in the same place he stood the moment he threw his weapon at him.
"My clan call these Furikan…" announced Toku, almost as if he was able to read the moon-nin's mind like Kokoro did. "In our family, every member is trained to use them since early childhood. Upon mastering its usage, one can use it as a shield or a very dangerous weapon…" and at that statement, Kai looked confused at his instructor: "Wait a moment, that thing seemed to be made out of wood! Regardless to everything, shouldn't it get broken when it hit the wall while it spun?"
"Normally that would be the outcome" Naruto nodded calmly at his subordinate, but stopped himself from continuing. Shikamaru, who stood nearby, only glanced at the young blonde and sighing, he decided to explain: "It's chakra. Basically Toku is using his umbrella in a similar way your teammate used his chain, only in this case the purpose is a bit different. Whereas your friend used chakra to help him control his weapon, Toku surrounds his Furikan with it to make it harder. Thanks to that, his umbrella is capable of withstanding much more damage then it should and can inflict greater damage upon hitting its target…"
"That would explain why just now that umbrella kept on chasing that moon-nin" Hitomi cut in, narrowing her eyes. "Since it was surrounded with chakra, that Toku guy kept some control over it… that is also why it managed to make the stone wall crack while it itself remained in one piece…"
"I still don't get it" whined Tsume annoyed. "But I suppose its fine, as long as it works…"
"Well, it was troublesome, but now your umbrella is here" stated Nobu with a smirk as he stood straight up again. "Lets see how good you'll do without it" and with that he went through a set of hand seals at an incredible speed, calling out with the last symbol: "Katon: Arashi no Kasai!" and in an instant the moon-nin breathed out a powerful wave of fire, that came straight at Toku.
Acting on instinct, the leaf-nin charged at his opponent, leaning forward and thus making the flames go right above him. As the heat reached him, the blonde instantly began sweating, but had no time to wipe it off as he realized Nobu lowering his head, which meant only one thing: the fire wave will come crushing down on him.
With no, other way out, the umbrella user rolled to his right, making the flames smash against the floor where he stood just a second ago. He immediately rose back to his feet and kept on charging, this time picking out some of his shuriken out and throwing them at his adversary. As the shinobi stars came closer, the moon-nin jumped into the air in order to avoid the assault, but that also resulted in him dropping the jutsu.
As the fire distinguished, Toku came closer to his opponent in the attempt to grab his umbrella, yet Nobu was quicker and upon landing back on the ground, he aimed a spin kick into the young boy's face. Just barely did the leaf-nin managed to avoid the attack by leaning back and making his opponent's foot came right before his eyes.
In a desperate attempt, Toku reached for his hostel and in a flash dropped a smoke bomb onto the ground, covering the area where he and Nobu stood. The moon-nin cursed under his nose and then stepped on the umbrella that was right next to his feet: "I'm not letting you take it" he stated with annoyance showing on his face.
He then narrowed his eyes in hope to see a little better and upon spotting a figure in the distance, he unleashed several shuriken at it. Before the shinobi stars managed to reach their target however, it disappeared in the smoke, leaving Nobu clueless as to if they hit or not.
And before he knew it, Nobu received a powerful kick in the back of his head, which made him take several steps forward in order to keep his balance. Toku didn't waste that chance and picked up his weapon, immediately launching an attack with its tip at his opponent's head.
The moon-nin only managed to turn around before the umbrella hit him hard in the face, thus making him take few more steps back. Toku however didn't wait until his adversary would regain his senses fully and spinning on his foot, he landed a powerful blow into Nobu's stomach with his umbrella's stick, which send the Tsuki shinobi flying back and coming to a rolling stop few meters away.
"Smoke alters your vision slightly" Toku announced calmly as his opponent was slowly struggling back to his feet. "Kinda like when you look into the water and see a fish beneath its surface… that's why, when caught in a smoke screen, it's better to rely on your ears in stead of eyes…"
"Wow, that girly guy is pretty good…" Ibuki complemented the umbrella user in her mind, without even trying to hid her surprise.
"You little…" Nobu cursed under his nose again as he stood back up, breathing heavily. "I cannot lose here! Not when Kumo lost as well!" and the instant he said so, Teela eyes narrowed slightly, but not with anger. For the first time her face shown emotions and as Tenka glanced at her companion, she could see compassion drawing on it.
"Nobu…" the blue-haired girl thought to herself as a certain event that the twins once told her about suddenly began forming itself in her mind…
---Nine years ago in Hidden Moon Village---
"Kumo, Nobu, could you please join me for a moment?" asked a man in his sixties with long, grey hair, clipped in a ponytail and long mustache, that felt before his chest. A second later two boys, one looking just like the other besides the fact that the first had blonde hair and the other one green, ran towards the man.
"What is it, ojiisan (grandpa)?" asked eight-year-old Kumo, looking at the sitting man.
"I want to talk to you about something, considering you both started the Academy today" the man replied slowly with a husky voice. "It's very important, so please listen carefully. As you know from your father, our clan is known in the Tsuki for its bloodline limit, Ketsueki Isshidoujin, a trait that appears only in children born into our family as twins or triplets. It's a very powerful ability if use properly. However in the entire clan, no twins nor triplets have been born in ages… besides you two. Our clan is growing small and small with every generation. Soon we may be all gone and our greatness is slowly fading away. I do realize that this is a huge burden for someone who's only as old as you, but remember this, my children: you two may be our family's last hope at regaining our former glory…"
The twins just sat there in silence for a moment before suddenly shoot up (almost giving the old man a heart attack), each yelling loud: "We won't fail you, grandpa! We'll train hard and become respectful shinobi! The world will heard of Chishio clan yet!"
The old man only smiled under his nose as he placed his hands on top of the two boys heads: "I know you will… I have faith in you…"
---Flashback end---
"This match ain't over yet!" Nobu yelled from the bottom of his lungs as he went through another set of hand seals: "I can't afford to lose here! Katon: Hiryuu Bakuha!" and in a flash a powerful flame, in the form of a dragon, came out of his mouth, heading straight at the shocked Toku.
---with a desperate move, what future awaits Nobu and Toku?---
And so this chapter ends. Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll leave a review once you're done. As usual there's a jutsu encyclopedia, but just as the reminder, the Hijutsu Nobu used at the beginning was the Blood Brotherhood, the technique Kumo used in his match against Galu. However, before I get to the jutsu encyclopedia itself, I'd like to apologize, coz I got a little lazy, so this time around I'll just give the translation and will place proper descriptions next time around. Sorry guys (well, those that actually read the encyclopedia):
Katon: Arashi no Kasai (Fire Element: Firestorm)
Katon: Hiryuu Bakuha (Fire Element: Flying Dragon Blast)
And before I finish, here's the list of the gennin, as usual:
Konoha #7: Murasakki Kumiko, Tanken Ibuki, Gekido Takaru, Hagane Kusari, Haisha Kai
Konoha #3: Konpaku Rei, Rikoteki Kogane, Amagasa Toku, Debano Kitsune, Gusoku Hanamaru
Konoha #4: Igaku Mikka, Inuzuka Tsume, Benda Kokoro, Hatake Senkou, Kobushi Galu
Konoha: Hamano Taki, Hyuuga Hitomi, Manako Akira, Tanken Funbo, Horohoro
Suna #1: Aoru, Torune, Honemaru, Tarakudo, Takai
Suna #2: Sabaku no Sabure, Hari, Dekai, Horamaru, Karame
Kusa: Hokku Tobane, Kanraku Nezumi, Kuchibashi Taka, Kyohaku Tokame, Wanabi Hizoku
Ame: Kasano Youji, Eshaku Ryo, Furikuzu Tsuino, Hebereke Nazaa
Bakufu: Azarashi Kawa, Abura Tetsu, Makko Shita
Tsuki: Junsei Teela, Tenka, Chishio Nobu, Kihako Tasuki
Hane: Ono Reiji, Sentou
Yuki: Nadare Aisu, Sarumaru Yari
Kumori: Kyuu
And this truly concludes this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. Until next time, you all!