Well, I gotta admit I've managed to finish this chappie way sooner then I've expected. That's probably mostly because most of it was done much earlier, right after I uploaded the previous and all that was required for this were just a few paragraphs at the end.
As always I wanna thank everyone who reviewed the previous chapter and hope this chapter won't disappoint you either. Naturally I wanna encourage everyone to review (say in the spirit of upcoming Christmas XD). Reviews are always welcomed.
With that said, I suppose all that's left to do is simply invite you to read the newest chapter of N:NG!
Chapter #105: First Blade
Title Page: Ibuki is sitting on a pier, gazing into the distance, while in the background Funbo is observing her
"Uzumaki Naruto" Satsu repeated in his mind, narrowing his eyes as he settled them on the new arrival. "The age seems about right… and I'd never forget those whisker-marks. Never have I anticipated that he'll actually show up here… again" but his trail of thoughts got interrupted by a sudden yell of one of the Tanken: "Who the hell do you think you are, breaking in here like that? We're going to…"
"Stay where you are!" Satsu ordered, for the first time rising his voice a little. "Don't you understand anything? Doesn't his name ring any bells for you? This is the Leaf's Golden Fox!" and at that statement several of the gathered Tanken widen their eyes in shock, one even let his weapon go, making it fall to the ground. Some of the shinobi seemed to pale a bit, although they did their best to hide it. The head of the clan still kept his eyes on the blonde, as he spoke again: "There's no point in attacking him, coz even if you'd all do so, you'd most likely still lose. I'll handle him myself…"
"Leaf's Golden Fox?" Kai repeated weakly, trying to get back to his feet, only to discover he was unable to. "What's that all about?" but at this point the chatted of Tanken clansmen reached his ears. Among tens of statements, he managed to catch few of them: "But I thought Leaf Golden Fox was older" said one.
"And an ANBU" added another, turning towards the one to spoke first. Then the third spoke: "He doesn't look all that tuff. There's no way someone like that can be the Crusher of the Akatsuki and the man who led the assault on the Hidden Sound! And I'm sure as hell that this weakling couldn't have defeated Kantetsu-sama!"
"I feel slightly offended" announced Naruto with his eye twitching a bit. "In shinobi world reputation is not exactly what one would want, but if he already has any, it's better when it's at least useful. Don't I look like I could be Golden Fox, dammit?" he snapped, yelling at the gathered, Tanken clansmen, boiling inside. He calmed down instantly however, and once more turned towards the head of the assassin clan: "Anyway, Satsu-dono, I came here to take my students. Ibuki included. Let us leave here peacefully and no more blood will have to be spilled on this ground."
"And if I refuse?" came a cold comeback, while the other still had his eyes set on the blonde jounin. Naruto merely let out a sigh before continuing: "That is why I was so against the idea of you running the Tanken; you can't seem to realize that there are other ways to do things then how it was written by your ancestors. Even with your clan's specialty, it's not said you can't have emotions. Kantetsu understood that. So does Ibuki and I'm not gonna allow myself to make the same mistake I once did. I will take my students, whether you like it or not. Stand in my way and I'm gonna have the blood of another Tanken on my hands!"
"If you're so concerned about your students, why didn't you came here with them right away?" asked Satsu with a playful smirk, making Kumiko, who was helping Kusari get up, realize the same thing: "Yeah, Naruto-sensei. You said you do not want to get involved. Why show up now?"
"All this time, I thought you were the smart one, Kumiko" the whisker-marks threw back at her without taking his eyes off his opponent. "But if you can't figure it out, then I suppose the lesson I hoped you'll get went to waste" and as he said so, the kunoichi's eyes widen upon understanding: "Wait, so you let us go alone, because…" but without letting her finish, the blonde nodded with a wide smile appearing under his nose.
"Well, I still have no idea what reason could you have for doing so" announced the head of the Tanken calmly with a stoned face. The Kyuubi vessel's face quickly turned serious again, as he responded: "I didn't expect someone like you to understand anyway. Now, will you let us leave or will we have to fight?"
"Well, I suppose that will be the latter" replied Satsu right before charging at Naruto.
---That time, Tanken dungeon---
Ibuki used all her strength to pull the chain, but alas they did not broke. Again she lowered her head helplessly as water began gathering in her eyes. Funbo stood there, propped against the cold wall, smirking slightly: "Why bother? Even if you would manage to escape, do you really believe it'd do you any good? There's no way you could defeat our father. You're… friend or whatever you call them will die and you'll soon follow. Best just accept it."
"No!" was the kunoichi's reply as she gazed at him with determination showing in her eyes. "You can do to me whatever you like, but my friends have nothing to do with it! They're not the part of Tanken! I could not bare the fact they'll die because of me! If any of your friends would be in danger, would you really just sit there without even trying to help them?"
"This is why the code was formed" stated Funbo simply without any emotions. "If this was a mission, you wouldn't be able to concentrate on it, because you'd be too afraid for your… 'friends' lives. That is why you'll always be a failure…"
"We have very different points of view" admitted the girl weakling, still looking into her brother's eyes. "Your last statement only proves as much. But regardless to that, we are still siblings. Is… is it really possible for you to hate me so much, to let me endure this?" she asked, lowering her head, incapable of holding her tears back anymore. Hearing this, the boy widen his eyes, but said nothing.
---Back to Naruto---
"What's going on?" asked Takaru, slowly regaining his consciousness as he awoke to the sound of loud, metal clashing. Kumiko was the one to answer his question, without looking away from whatever caught her attention to his left: "Naruto-sensei is fighting that Satsu guy" she said simply, making the son of Tsunade follow her gaze, only to spot the two blurs, jumping around the estate, engaged in battle.
Naruto jumped back from the swing of Satsu's sword, grabbing the tree branch behind him with his free hand while he was still in mid-air, and quickly pulled himself up, to avoid another cut of the katana. As his feet landed of dry wood, he picked out several shuriken and threw them bellow, straight at the head of the Tanken.
Satsu instantly swung his sword, deflecting several of the shinobi stars, sending few of them back at the blonde, while avoiding the rest by flipping back. In the meantime, Naruto jumped back and spinning parallel to the tree branch, he dodged the shuriken, losing his place to land. His opponent didn't care about that however as he appeared on the branch, cutting from above. Acting on instinct, the whisker-marks hit the flat side of the katana with the tip of his kunai knife, thus throwing it off course and using that moment, he quickly placed his foot on the same side of the sword which his knife hit an instant earlier.
Using that moment, he bounced off the katana and still somersaulting a few times, landed safely on a nearby roof, only to jump back once more as Satsu followed, cutting from above again. But as the blonde jumped back, the head of the Tanken stopped his attack halfway and pushed the tip of his blade forward, aiming to pierce through his adversary while he was still in mid-air.
Incapable of dodging, Naruto pushed his kunai forward, making the tips of two weapons clash, thus stopping them both with sparkles raining onto the roof the two men now stood on. Without a second waste, the blonde threw his knife at Satsu, charging right after it while picking two more kunai in the process.
The assassin simply bended to the left, dodging the first assault, blocking the kunai in Naruto's left hand with his katana, while grabbing the wrist of the hand that held the other with his own, free arm. Instantly he spun on his foot, aiming a kick into the whisker-mark's stomach, but the Kyuubi vessel merely jumped into the air, making the attack go beneath his feet, while he threw a double kick into his opponent's face.
Satsu immediately saw this as an opening and swung his sword, making the blade go right between Naruto's legs and straight at his body. The blonde's eyes widen in shock at this, as he quickly bended back and placed his hands on the ground. In a flash he brought his legs together, grabbing the dull sides of the blade between them and stopping the katana merely inches before his… important parts.
The whisker-marks let out a sigh of relief at his success, but Satsu was still far from over, as he let go of his sword and crawling down he picked out shuriken of his own, unleashing them at the blonde, who was less then a two meters before him. Having no time to think, Naruto acted on his instinct, gathering huge among of spinning chakra into his palms, which made the wooden roof underneath them break into bits, making him fall into the estate.
The head of the Tanken immediately jumped forward, grabbing his katana again, while his adversary jumped out of the household with another spinning orb of chakra before him in the place he stood a fraction of a second earlier, making another hole in the roof. Upon rolling on the wooden surface, Satsu came to a stop and spun on his foot, reaching for h\more shuriken.
Naruto quickly did the same while jumping back to avoid getting blasted by an explosive tag left in the place he jumped out by his opponent. As the note went off, both shinobi unleashed their shinobi stars, making them collide with each other, all falling harmlessly onto the battled, wooden cover of the household.
"Never have I seen anyone being able to hold out this long against Satsu-sama" stated Yaiba, the guard with gelled-up hair, as he watched the fight in owe. Surudoi, who stood right next to him, only nodded, incapable of saying a word. None of the Tanken paid any attention to the four gennin anymore, but also them were too stunned to move, almost completely forgetting why they have came here.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Naruto called out, unleashing a powerful fireball from him mouth, that came straight at Satsu, however the other man just quickly performed several hand seals single-handedly, creating strong, wind currently in every direction around him, that put out the flames before any of them could even reach the assassin.
"Same ninjutsu as Ibuki-chan's" noted Kusari, narrowing his eyes slightly. Meanwhile the two men seemed to slow down a bit, neither leaving their guard down however. None broke a sweat, though their breaths quickened slightly as they stood before each other, not taking their eyes off from their adversary.
"You're a troublesome opponent to deal with" stated Satsu, which could be considered a praise if his voice was not as calm and emotionless as always. "But it'd appear the two of us are equally matched… pity, I was expecting more from Leaf's Golden Fox…"
"Hey, cut me some slack, it's not like you're an everyday shinobi" Naruto defended himself, slightly offended. Suddenly the head of Tanken smirked, confusing the blonde: "You're not hoping for the Hokage to come to your rescue, are you? That old hag, Tsunade is no longer among the living after all…"
"Tsunade-sama was one of the greatest shinobi this village ever gave birth to" announced the Kyuubi vessel, surprisingly losing his temper as he pointed at Satsu. "I will not allow anyone, you especially, to disrespect her. Take back what you just said!"
"My, my, such uncontrollable emotions" replied the assassin, smirking even wider. "Anger… I suppose now you'll charge right at me, won't you?" but with that said, surprisingly the blonde seemed to calm down a bit he lowered his hand: "No, because that wouldn't give me anything. But I assure you that you're gonna pay for what you just said. And would you mind stop being such a freaking hypocrite? It drives me crazy. Rid yourself from emotions my butt. Do you take me for a moron or just someone with a memory loss? You can keep such play for your clansmen, but not me. After all, we both know that, in actuality, Funbo is…" yet he didn't managed to finish the sentence as Satsu suddenly charged at him, swinging his sword.
In a flash Naruto jumped back, coming to a sliding stop on the ground with his head lowered: "I'm getting tired of this crap" he announced calmly. "I hate myself every time I do this, but if I won't, this fight could go on forever and that's much longer then I wish it to. Best prepare yourself, Satsu, coz playtime's over" and with that he raised his head to gaze at his opponent with crimson-red eyes.
---unleashing the demon's power… the final clash comes!---
And that's it, for now. Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll leave me a review once you're done. It'd mean a lot. I myself must admit that I'm quite happy with how this chapter turned out. I was hoping that I'll manage to put in a bit more in it, but then I'd probably get crucified if I were to just skip Naruto's first chance to shine in a longer while, so… XD if all goes well, I might be able to finish Tanken Estate Assault arc this year even. There's still quite a bit to take place in it, but one or two chapters should be enough to cover it all. And hopefully I'll managed before Christmas, especially since the lack of time probably won't allow me to make the surprise I mentioned earlier. Oh well, there's always next year, if this story will last that long.
Thanks for reading. Best wishes and until next time.