Chapter 17- Flower Heaven, Crazy Bone
It was early morning in Konoha, at least another hour or more before dawn. And like every day since his re-ascension to Hokage, Sarutobi arrived to work early, hoping to get such a head start on his paperwork that he might be able to have the rest of the day off afterwards. (An extreme rarity, granted, but possible nonetheless.)
Strolling casually into his office, he was pleasantly surprised to find only a small pile of forms stacked neatly to one corner of his desk. Mildly grinning at thoughts of a certain orange book in his near future, Sarutobi almost skipped to his seat. Today looked to be a great day.
…At least until both his office doors suddenly slammed open, rattling the room with such force that those papers spilled out onto the floor, whatever organization they may have had now utterly lost.
The aged Hokage blinked, and then looked up, his sudden irritation well-masked behind a veneer of innocent curiosity. What idiot would actually be foolhardy enough to dare step into his office and so brazenly scatter his pap—
Then Sarutobi's would-be tirade cut off, as soon as his eyes met the insignia on the intruder's headband – not Konoha, that was Hakubo's symbol. He did not immediately recognize the woman herself – red hair, the kind of black dress popular among joint genjutsu/seduction specialists, Hidden Twilight plate tied around her left bicep. Sarutobi realized right away this must be the Tsusuka girl's relative, and probably sensei – even without the insignia, there was simply too much resemblance between them to be anything but related.
Perched on either shoulder was a praying mantis, one twice the size as the other. Sarutobi mentally raised a eyebrow at that; this was the current holder of the Mantis contract? Well, well.
"May I help you?" Sarutobi asked politely yet casually, purposefully ignoring the newfound disarray of his office. Where in the hell were his ANBU, anyway?
"You may," was her equally blithe answer. "My student – my niece – has just been kidnapped."
Ah, so that affirmed that suspicion, the Hokage nodded. A maternal relation, most likely – she hardly resembled the pictures he'd seen of Tsusuka Retsu…Wait, what?
"'Kidnapped'?" echoed Sarutobi incredulously. During the Chūnin Exams, with every country and their summons scrutinizing every last detail? Who on earth would possibly be so brazen as to—
"Yes, kidnapped," the redhead repeated, teeth clenched in an obvious effort to keep from breaking down and screaming. "By Orochimaru."
Sarutobi felt his gut turn to ice, followed by his face twisting into an angry, snarling scowl of his own even as he bit back his own string of curses. Orochimaru. Of course. It figured, the cynical part of himself commented. Bad enough that his traitorous ex-student intended obvious ill for his once-homeland, but to drag other Villages' shinobi into his depravities as well?
I should have killed him when I had had the chance…
Expression sharply focused, Sarutobi leaned back into his chair, mind working to incorporate this new information.
This… didn't make any sense, actually. Why would Orochimaru suddenly take such interest in obscure Bloodline Limits? The last he had ever spoken with his renegade disciple – such as that had been – the snake-master had claimed his ultimate goal simply to be mastery over all of the jutsu in the world. Even his hideous research into immortality was but an extension of that: a means to ensure that he lived long enough that he could learn so many techniques.
Even the attack on Team 7 perfectly fit that context – the Sharingan, with its power to instantly memorize physical movements such as hand seals, and then later the Kyōkagan, once the snake had learned of its existence, were ideal for such a task.
But the Genzōme… what possible good could something like that do? Oh, it was powerful, certainly – one of the Three Great Dōjutsu, no less – but it was genjutsu-based, worthless for Orochimaru's stated purpose. What on earth was the man up to?
"Well?" Jizenka urged, almost hysterically. She could see the Hokage was working furiously to figure this out, but this was her niece, her family! The only family she had left! She needed to know!
Sarutobi tuned her out for the moment, thinking furiously. This was… not pleasant news. And that on top of all the other unpleasant news he already had to deal with.
The latest intelligence reports he had received – Jiraiya's, chief among them – strongly hinted at increased covert operations within the Hidden Villages of Sand and Sound. That was worrisome: such obvious secretiveness was a clear-cut sign that they intended something… big. The kind of "big" that usually tended to start Great Shinobi World Wars.
Somehow, Sarutobi doubted that Orochimaru's sudden reemergence was just a coincidence.
The aged Kage finally sighed, looked up from his slouched posture to meet Jizenka's eyes. "I apologize. As you've probably noticed, we've been having some… difficulties with Orochimaru ourselves, lately."
The Twilight kunoichi snorted, obviously recognizing the old man's weak attempt at levity for what it was. "I've noticed. One of my summons here," she indicated the larger of the two mantises on her shoulder, this one a bright purplish-pink color, "has quite the details of his romp through that forest of yours. One thing in particular kind of stood out, though… what was it again? Oh yes," she mock-wondered, before narrowing her eyes at him again, all playful banter gone completely from her tone. "Something about a pair of silver eyes."
For a half-instant, Sarutobi could have sworn that his heart had stopped. She knows! he realized frantically, barely able to keep any expression from showing on his face. Then the feeling stopped. Outed or not, he still had a part to play.
"Silver… eyes?" he blinked, the picture of innocent confusion; anyone else would have been taken in by his performance.
"Don't play dumb with me, Hokage-san," Jizenka snarled, the less respectful honorific spat out like a curse, patience finally gone. That the man in front of her was one of the most powerful shinobi in recent history didn't matter a damn anymore; all that mattered was her niece, and the obstructionism that this bastard was putting up between them. "I already know for a damned fact this village has one of the Great Dōjutsu! Obviously, you're trying to keep this 'Kyōkagan' of yours secret for as long as possible, and you know what? I don't blame you. But when that puts itself in the way between me, and the only family I have left…?
"Let me explain to you, Hokage, in clear detail, exactly what my summon saw happen yesterday…"
Naruto sighed, not for the last time. How much longer did he have to stay in this damned forest?
He was worried about the teme and Sakura-chan. If anything, their conditions just kept getting worse. They were already both running high fevers, and thrashing around in their sleep. At this rate, he may even have to leave the forest to get them medical attention, and to hell with this exam!
A grimace, and then he put that train of thought to the side, focusing on other matters. He'd needed that training yesterday. Getting control of the Fox's chakra had been anything but easy; as things stood now, his chakra reserves were probably three times the size as normal, which in turn made his already normally crappy chakra control even worse. He'd basically had to start all over again from square one!
Still, the techniques he had at his disposal now – or would, soon enough – were pretty cool. Releasing actual shockwaves through your punches – that kind that left giant craters behind wherever you hit – rocked!
"When we get out of here," he mused, half giddy with the prospect, "I am so gonna kick Kakashi-sensei's ass for giving us those stupid papers!" He almost giggled with the thought.
Pleasant (though unlikely) images completed, Naruto was about to descend back into silence once more, only for an explosion to rip throughout the forest. The blond flinched, surprised, and then whipped around towards it – the first level of his traps had just gone off. The realization was slow in reaching him; if not for the second tier going off as well, back-to-back explosion, he might not have even realized it at all. But it had, and it did, and now it had his undivided attention.
Then the third round detonated, and suddenly Naruto was wondering if all his preparations were going to be enough. Three… four explosions now, back to back to back? And whoever it was, was still ali— FIVE?
(Just as suddenly, Naruto wondered if maybe he needed to write his team some IOUs for all the tags he had, er, borrowed. It was actually kind of scary, how many Sasuke had had on him – who knew the Uchiha was such a pyromaniac?)
Even as he drew a pair of kunai while springing to his feet, Naruto kept his eyes fixed on the farthest edge of the clearing, the most likely spot, going by all the explosions, where his target was going to appear.
The sixth explosion, the last line of defense before the clearing itself, was fully visible through the tree cover. Dust, smoke, and debris flew in, some lone, shrouded figure walking calmly into the clearing. Naruto's grips tightened, wondering; too tall to be Shizuka, and the last he knew, Orochimaru was out an arm.
Then he could see. It was a young man, not that much older than him, but very sickly-looking. The skin was almost corpse-pale (maybe he didn't get out much?), against a pair of piercing green eyes and shoulder-length silver-white hair. In the middle of his forehead were two largish red circles, that same color lining the underneath of his eyes; they kind of reminded Naruto of the tattoos the Inuzukas had, actually. Similar idea?
Still, nothing good could come of this, Naruto just knew it. How the guy was looking him up and down, as if sizing him up, just added to that feeling.
"You are Uzumaki Naruto?" the pale boy spoke finally, his tone as much a statement as a question.
"What? You got some kinda vendetta against me, too?" the blond bit out, pointing threateningly with one kunai as the rest of him shifted into a beginning Kaiken stance.
The boy, whoever he was, was clearly unimpressed, simply standing there with his arms hung loosely at his sides. "I am Kimimaro. I was ordered to find you," was all he said.
Naruto scowled; he was liking this less and less. "Ordered… by whom?"
"Orochimaru-sama," again was his blunt answer, not even bothering to conceal his allegiance. "He desires for you to duplicate my Bloodline Limit, the Shikotsumyaku of the Kaguya clan. It is to be a gift from my master."
Naruto's blood ran cold. That this guy had just openly declared his loyalty to the snake freak was one thing, but to talk so nonchalantly about offering up his own Bloodline Limit, like it wasn't even important…
Coldness turned red-hot, a sick angry tightness in his breast that made him want to vomit at what he was hearing. It was ironic, really. A week ago, he would have probably taken up that offer with a smile on his face. Now however, the merest fact that Orochimaru, sick freak that he is, actually wanted him to do so made him sick to his stomach. Especially now that he didn't even have the Kyōkagan to begin with, suppressed into dormancy as it was so that he could heal form its overuse.
"And if I said 'no'?" the blond snarled, crimson eyes narrowing dangerously.
For a brief moment, nothing happened, Kimimaro merely standing there with an inscrutable gaze. Then…
A sickening, tearing noise, as the Kaguya's arms both spasmed, a violent twitch so intense that the bones in both forearms snapped, the jagged ends literally tearing their way out of the flesh of his underarms. Naruto flinched back in horror, the bile surging to his throat before he could realize: there was no blood. No blood, and even as he watched, those spurs jutting out below his wrists were growing longer, lengthening, changing shape.
A Body Manipulation Limit, the realization flashed across the Jinchūriki's mind. Corpse Bone Pulse, the power to control his own bones, grow them however he wanted. Already in less than a minute, the previous breaks were healed cleanly, not even torn skin left to show for them as the Kaguya now brandished a pair of wicked-looking bone daggers in either hand.
And this guy wanted him to copy that…
No, Orochimaru wanted him to copy it. That thought alone was enough to stop the building desire in him cold. His own blades, the grips loosening as he had watched, he gripped tightly again, the cloth and metal creaking as he squeezed.
"I am afraid you do not have a choice in this matter," was Kimimaro's calm, nay, emotionless reply.
"F%#& you!" Naruto roared, hurling one of those kunai into a cluster of leaves on the ground.
A cluster that held an exploding tag at its bottom, the central trigger for the chain reaction that covered the entire field. Kimimaro did not move, did not have the time to move before the earth below him was consumed in the fireball.
Ino flinched, pulling up short as the sound of an explosion tore throughout the forest.
"What was that?" Chōji started, bag of chips completely forgotten in his surprise.
Team 10 had just finished futilely hiding from Hyūga Neji (whom Ino had proclaimed the creepiest person on the planet). Rather pathetically, they had hoped to escape the Hyūga's line of sight, only to find that the Byakugan wasn't blocked by solid objects.
It wasn't until after they had prepared to flee that the sound reached their ears.
"Troublesome," was Shikamaru's automatic response. "Sounded like an explosion." After all, there weren't that many things that a sound like that could be. And, sure enough, a plume of smoke was rising from the direction the sound had come from.
"I think we need to go check it out," Ino stated.
"Tch," Shikamaru snorted, turning an lazily annoyed look on the blonde. "The last time we decided to 'check it out', we got to watch a good-sized chunk of the forest get blown up. I don't know about you, but I happen to like staying in one piece." As if to punctuate his claim, the lazy Nara turned in the opposite direction as the smoke plume and made to leave. But before he could get more than five steps, he was dragged back by the scruff of his jacket collar, toward the danger zone.
"Oh, hell no!" the shrill Yamanaka practically screeched, the sound almost enough to make the Nara want to cover his ears. "What if we get lucky and get a scroll? Come on, Chōji! We're going!"
Unsurprisingly, the Akimichi obliged. Shikamaru couldn't really blame the boy; Chōji always was too nice for his own good. And combined with Ino's overbearing personality, well…
"Troublesome," was all the Nara was willing to put forth the effort to say.
Kimimaro had been devastated to learn of his fatal illness. With that, his whole purpose for being had been undone – Orochimaru-sama's chosen vessel could not afford to have any flaw or weakness at all, and his was now destroying itself from the inside out. Even Kabuto, the master's right hand, could do nothing for him; his physiology, thanks to his Bloodline Limit, was just too different, too alien. Soon, he would no longer even have the strength to rise from his own bedroll each morning.
More than death, it was the thought of powerlessness, of uselessness to his master that terrified the last remaining Kaguya. Desperately he hoped, prayed, for some mission, some act that he could perform, to one again prove his worth.
Then the message had come, telling him of Orochimaru-sama's need for him. Without hesitation or delay, or even a second thought, he had rushed immediately to Konoha, the pain of his disease outright forgotten in his haste to please the traitor Sannin. Upon his arrival, his master had quickly outlined what he had discovered: a Bloodline Limit capable of duplicating other Limits perfectly. No degradation of capability, no limit on how long it could be used, as though the bearer of this unique super-Limit had been born naturally with all of the Limits he copied.
Kimimaro had known immediately and without being told, why he had been summoned: he was to offer up his Shikotsumyaku to this new intended vessel. Even in his own death, he continue to be of use to Orochimaru-sama. That was enough.
He had to see them. Kimimaro had no desire greater at this moment than see these glorious eyes that Orochimaru-sama had described for him – Kyōkagan, the master had named it.
But for this boy, this insignificant speck to deny the wonderful gift his master have given them both… Such impudence was not to be tolerated.
The last Kaguya could feel the heat of the explosions lashing about him, fragments of debris impacting against his skin and ruined clothing. It did not matter. Beneath that skin was a nigh-impenetrable layer of calcified bone, impervious to such minor damage. Still, he was impressed by the viciousness of the boy's layered defense; if not for that very same subcutaneous protection, it was entirely possible he might not have survived to make it this far.
The smoke cleared, and he could see the blond child's eyes wide with momentary shock. An expression that quickly steeled itself, however, a second kunai already in hand to replace the one thrown. Kimimaro had to give credit where it was due; few were capable of looking at him with such force… though that would change soon enough.
Naruto scowled, glaring. All the time and effort he had put into making those defenses – defenses that had impressed even the Kyūbi, that he didn't think even Hokage-jijii could break! – and they had failed miserably. That pissed him off!
Well, at least it hadn't failed completely – even under the burnt clothing, Naruto could see patches of equally charred skin, and the white bone revealed just underneath. Using his Bloodline Limit to make a hidden layer of armor under his skin, nice touch.
Still, it pissed him off. Even now, he could see the skin healing, the missing patches of it growing smaller as he watched.
"Kyūbi," he whispered with minimal lip movement, not enough for Kimimaro to catch.
In an instant, she was behind him; by now, Naruto knew her presence well enough to not even need to turn his head to look.
"I know what you intend," she said; Naruto could imagine her crossing her arms between her ample chest. "You already know my answer."
Naruto shut his eyes, resigned. "Please."
"Is that all you have to offer?" Kimimaro said dispassionately, eying Naruto analytically. "If so, then I fear for my master. I had been expecting something… more."
Even through his unease, Naruto smiled, as dangerous as he could in the face of his opponent. "Sorry. I just wanted to make sure you were cut out for fighting me." Then his face turned serious as he focused on the vixen behind him. "I'm not good enough with your powers yet," he whispered quietly to her. "He'd wipe the floor with me."
Kimimaro stood there for a moment, then reached to tear away the charred remains of his shirt. The fabric, now only so much blackened ash, crumbled without resistance. The pants, made of much sturdier material, had weathered the explosions much better, but even they were torn as spikes of bone erupted from the points of his knees and elbows, causing Naruto's face to pale slightly with the barest hint of fear.
"Please?" he pleaded, now openly desperate as older boy advanced slowly on him, ready for battle.
"No." Aggravation could almost be felt seeping from the vixen's voice. "Your body is too damaged. I will not allow it." A small smirk tugged at her lips. "But if you don't think you have enough power, you could always call on more of mine."
Then the time for conversation was over as Kimimaro charged. In nearly an instant, the Kaguya had closed the distance between them; Naruto barely had time to flinch before his opponent was upon him. Before Naruto could even register the first attack, twenty-six debilitating (though not fatal) cuts had already been inflicted, from down across his legs up to his face. Then Kimimaro kicked him in the gut, the force of the impact hurling the boy away into the air.
The blond landed roughly, rolling bodily before he came to a stop, coughing up blood as he staggered even to his hands and knees. Glaring angrily, he rose slowly… then almost tripped as he did, his left knee spasming with the onslaught of pain. Only after reaching a full stand did he wipe the blood from his lips.
"I fear for my master," Kimimaro repeated, the blades in his hands dissolving to bone dust as he withdrew his chakra from them. "He spoke so highly of you, yet I am not impressed. You have not even shown me this… Kyōkagan."
Naruto's eyes widened. But even as the realization that Orochimaru was spreading around his precious secrets penetrated, that shock turned into a deep , dark anger, a hideous rage, as a feral snarl bubbled up from the depths of his throat. Black pupils, set into crimson irises, elongated into slits, even as he returned consciously to stance.
Steam rose from his wounds as inhuman chakra filled them. Now it was Kimimaro's turn to be surprised, as those wounds knitted together and closed before his eyes, not even scars left behind to show their passage. The Kaguya's expressed shifted, mildly impressed, but still not yet enough to approve.
Naruto's roared curse was drowned out, as his fist punched the air with enough released chakra to outright warp it, a concussive wave erupting from the punch to race towards the Kaguya.
Kimimaro's eyes widened fractionally at the subtle display of raw power, before he crossed both arms in order to block. It was like being struck by the angry fist of a war god; even through his block he was still lifted up off the ground where a slammed bodily into a tree, hard enough that much the wood exploded into splinters with the impact. Little more than a grunt escaped the Kaguya's lips as he peeled himself free, a new pair of blades already growing from the palms of his hands – this one had much more fight in him than he had given him credit for.
A glance up, and the sight of boiling, bloody-red chakra coiling about the blond, almost physical in the way dust and debris was being gouged out of the ground around him. The spiky blond hair was becoming even messier, the nails and eye-teeth lengthening into claws and fangs; the almost whisker-like birthmarks deepening, darkening into full stripes, only adding to that growing menacing look.
Half-instinctually, Kimimaro raised his blades to ward himself from the sight. This had become… interesting.
"Ino, this is not a good idea!" Shikamaru almost shouted, suddenly feeling the oppressive chakra in the air.
The only redeeming quality of the moment was that it forced the bossy blonde to let go of his vest.
Chōji stopped munching on his chips as he looked about with a fear written on his face. The feeling was nauseating enough for him to warrant a hold on eating until further notice.
Ino looked off to where she felt the source. "What is that?" she asked herself offhandedly.
"Don't know, don't care!" Shikamaru said hurriedly. "Now can we get out of here before it comes to kill us!"
Oh, she was fearful. But there was curiosity. Every fiber of her being screamed for retreat; every nerve almost shattered under the foulness the air carried. Yet, she wondered: What kind of monster could produce this kind of power? Whose side was it on? What if someone needed their help because of it?
Against her better judgment, she ran towards the source.
"What the – Damn it, Ino!" Shikamaru shouted as he gave chase. This entire situation is too damn troublesome! We shouldn't have signed those papers…
Chōji swallowed the lump in his throat as he ran after his teammates.
She cackled, like a madwomen that burned cities for a personal joke. It was so funny to her that she had to lean on her prison's bars for support. The Kyūbi couldn't care less if her container heard the mirth that carried through the sewer that was his mind.
It was too easy! On instinct alone, Naruto drew upon increasingly larger amounts of her chakra. And all she did the day before was teach him the basics of drawing upon her chakra and one stupid attack! By the gods, she wasn't even trying to force herself onto him!
Even after calming down, the massive vixen continued to grin.
"That's right you brainless monkey," she growled. "Let me give you strength. Thirst for my power, and I'll overfill your cup. And then, when you need every drop, I'll claim the reins."
She retreated back into the darkness. Time to play her part…
Kimimaro was the first to charge only to immediately slow as Naruto roared, unleashing an ungodly amount of chakra into the air. Not even a second after the torrent of wind and chakra died away, Naruto reappeared above him, a fist of glowing red chakra pulled back. Kimimaro could feel his jaw crack as the knuckles made contact, easily matching Jirōbō's strength.
But the hit left the blond open. Using what little time he was granted, Kimimaro swung a palm sword downward gashing Naruto across the shoulder. The demon container landed on all fours as the wound healed and then rolled out of the way as a sword stabbed downward. A kick was sent into Kimimaro's head – further cracking his jaw bone – followed by a shockwave that sent the white-haired teen rolling across the ground.
What let-up Kimimaro expected was thrown aside as Naruto jumped after, another chakra charged punch pulled back. The Kaguya flipped backwards in the nick of time as Naruto's attack scattered debris, and countered with a charge. Naruto roared, halting the attack as a concussive wave ripped through the air and stripped the trees of their leaves.
Kimimaro lowered his hands as the sound wave suddenly stopped only to be greeted with the hardest punch yet, one that finally broke his jaw. Orochimaru's servant skipped across the ground until he was abruptly stopped by a large rock.
Naruto roared again, this time in victory.
At the peak of his unleashed anger, Naruto felt a hand wrap around his chest.
"Calm down, Naruto-kun," whispered a sultry voice in his ear. "You don't want to pay the price for my chakra, right?"
The Kyūbi slowed the amount of chakra she was feeding Naruto and felt the boy relaxing. His breathing, although still heavy, slowed as his irises rounded, his hair became neater, and his birthmarks narrowed.
"Wha…" Naruto attempted to say, disoriented from the loss of power.
"You delved too deeply," the Kyūbi answered, leaning even closer to his ear. "It isn't necessary to go that far, not for this… ingrate."
She kissed Naruto's cheek with the softest touch. The emotion that sprung afterwards was sweeter than words could describe – and a part of him wanted more – but he knew better. The bitch was merely playing him again.
Pushing aside his personal – for the lack of a better word – problems, he watched as Kimimaro rose up, looking as if no damage had befallen; even his broken jaw was fixed. Naruto growled. Cockroaches had nothing on this guy's resilience!
"My Bloodline Limit gifts me with absolute control over my skeletal structure," explained Kaguya as the bone swords retracted back into his body. "Not only that, my bones are harder than steel."
"You've got to be kidding me," muttered Naruto, suddenly realizing why it was so arduous to damage the Limit user.
There was an entire armor of harder-than-steel bone just under his skin. And whatever damage he did receive was promptly healed.
Maybe he should've continued using more of the Kyūbi's chakra…
"It would be in your best interest to copy my Limit," Kimimaro calmly suggested.
"Uh, no," Naruto curtly countered.
"Then I see that I still need to convince you."
Kaguya raised up both his hands, giving Naruto a chance to watch as sharpened bones popped out of his fingers – he was at least kind of enough to give Naruto a chance to dodge. Satisfied, he aimed his fingertips at the whiskered-boy.
Naruto had an idea where this was going.
On instinct, Naruto flared his chakra, causing a cloud of red chakra to envelop him. As the bone bullets came near he disappeared in a blur, the area he formerly stood becoming ravaged by Kimimaro's attack.
He reappeared in the air above the Kaguya, engulfed in chakra like a lit match. Forming the ram seal, thirty blonds appeared out of the smoke diving at Kimimaro. The Oto-nin spun around and sniped several that came too close. The others landed even as their brethren were peppered and futilely tried to rain blows upon Kimimaro. His bone bullets easily pounded through the orange wave, occasionally piercing multiple clones. He calmly moved his hands about, attacking from behind, forward, and to the sides simultaneously.
Silence reigned as the last blond took a bone bullet through the head. Looking about, keeping his hands raised in case of a surprise attack, Kimimaro scanned for his target. He spun, only to lightly grimace as he saw a flash of orange retreat into the woods. Knowing it was useless now, he retracted the bones in his fingers. He knew what the blond was doing – Uzumaki wasn't the first. Cover was the best protection from his Teshi Sendan.
Just as he moved to give chase, Kimimaro harshly coughed into his hand. The coppery taste in his mouth wasn't unnoticed. Pulling his hand away, he saw several red droplets in his palm. A grimace traced his face.
Even as the disease ravaged his body, he calmly walked into the thicket of trees.
Anko sighed as she stood outside of Iruka's apartment. She raised a hand to knock on his door, only to pull it back. With a frown, she tried to knock again, only to pull back again.
Gods, why am I being so shy! Anko mentally shouted, pulling her hair and clenching her teeth. Normally, I'd be kicking the door down, demand that he let me in, or something like that. No. Instead, I'M BEING F%#&ING SHY LIKE A STUPID TEENAGE GIRL! If anyone from the T and I Department saw me like this my reputation would be ruined!
She took several calming breaths, though the butterflies in her stomach made it difficult.
Wait… When the hell did she ever get butterflies in her stomach? Damn it! This entire situation was a pain in the ass! When did she become so… lovesick?
Anko came under the pretense of questioning Iruka about his abilities and to distract herself from current happenings. And maybe she'd slip in something about a date somewhere in the conversation. But the longer she stood near the door, the more nervous she became.
"Oh, I give-" she tried to say, only for the door to be opened by Iruka as he rubbed some sleep from his eyes.
"Whassup?" he asked with a yawn, wearing trousers and white shirt.
SHIT! Anko mentally screamed. "How'd you know I was here?" she quickly asked.
"Bioelectricity," he deadpanned.
"Oh, yeah," Anko chuckled nervously. Shouldn't she have known better? Damn those emotions! "Did I, uh, wake you up?"
Iruka shook his head. "Nah, I just barely got up. I feel much better, though. Man, I hate chakra exhaustion… Every time I use that technique I always end up being out of it for a couple days."
The snake mistress knew which jutsu he referred to. That crazy charged-particle-thingy cannon he used. If only it succeeded in frying her ex-sensei…
"I know how it feels," Anko quietly agreed. With a deep breath, she continued. "Hey, uh, I know you're probably hungry. With how much chakra you used up, I imagine you'll probably eat more than Naruto."
As if in agreement, Iruka's stomach went off, eliciting a nervous laugh from the chūnin. "Yeah, food sounds really nice."
"How 'bout Ichiraku's on me?" suggested Anko, feeling famished herself.
"I would like that."
Briefly, the butterflies in Anko's stomach came back with vengeance, but she quickly squashed them. It wasn't like this was a date…
After Iruka changed, the pair walked to Ichiraku's. Unfortunately, it was an uncomfortable and silent walk. The events of the past couple days were too fresh in their minds to forget, a lingering sentiment left unburied. It was a failure that would forever haunt them. Their mission was simple: protect someone precious to them. They failed it miserably. What they needed to do now, where they needed to go from there, was still lost on them.
It was a relief when the ramen stand came into view, allowing a momentary reprieve from their worries.
"Hey, what can I get you two?" Ichiraku greeted his two regulars.
"I'm going to need more than the usual," Iruka jovially told him, taking a seat at the counter. "I'm suffering from chakra exhaustion and I've got quite the appetite."
Ichiraku laughed lightly. "Of course, I've got just the thing for that. How 'bout you Anko?"
"Usual," she answered, taking her own seat near Iruka.
"Alright, I'll get right on it," he happily told them.
The two sat in awkward silence.
Finally, it got on Anko's nerves. "So, about that whole blue… lightning… thing. What was that?"
Iruka smiled as he answered, glad for the distraction. "That's actually somewhat of a peculiarity in my clan. In the Umino clan, only the strongest with the highest electrical capacity can use blue lightning." Anko's continued curiosity urged him to continue. "The difference is simply in the charge. You see, regular purple lightning carries a negative charge, but blue lightning carries a positive charge which helps to increase its power and density."
"Wow, it sounds so… complicated," Anko noted, feeling her brain exploding from what little information he shared.
It only served to make Iruka laugh. "Ah, but I just covered the very basics; we haven't even gotten into electromagnetism."
"Screw that," Anko shot, serving to make Iruka's laughter louder.
"Here you guys go," Ichiraku interrupted, setting down Iruka's incredibly large order of ramen and Anko's usual helping of dango. "Enjoy."
Iruka quickly dug in. Anko, on the other hand, paused as the dumpling came close to her mouth. Suddenly, she didn't feel so hungry. With a deep sigh, she laid her sweet back on the plate, eliciting a worried glance from Iruka.
Her look saddened as the events of the past couple days replayed.
She hadn't been able to sleep. Every time she closed her eyelids, her traitorous sensei's snake-like visage was staring back. Nightmares of the horrible experiments he'd perform on Naruto and the destruction he'd wrought on Konoha made her wake in a cold sweat. The memories of his cold laughter sent chills up her spine, like the touch of a frozen, skeletal hand tracing her back. And she was still too weak fulfill her personal vendetta.
She was snapped out of her thoughts as Iruka gently placed a hand on her shoulder. Anko slowly turned towards him, finding an uncharacteristically serious face on what was only known as a kind-hearted mask.
"We'll protect him," Iruka quietly told her as to not attract attention. "Even if we have to fight the world, we'll protect him."
Anko turned her glazed eyes to her food, but it long lost its appeal. Tears prickled on the edges of her eyes, a sensation she never thought she'd feel again.
Gods, when did she cry last? Didn't she promise herself to stop crying after he left?
"I'm too weak…" she quietly whispered, the words being the bitterest thing to past her lips. "Even when he came back… I… I was so useless. I'm not strong enough…"
Iruka's grip on her shoulder tightened. "Don't say that. You're one of the strongest people I've ever met. You've been through things that would've broken other people; you survived."
"But it's not enough," she quietly countered. "I… Just when I finally have something important to protect, he comes and ruins everything. And it's all because I'm not strong enough. "
Iruka realized hidden deep down where nobody could see it, Anko was more human that she led everyone to believe. She'd tasted the bitterness of loneliness and hid behind a façade, just like Naruto – that's why the two connected so quickly; they understood each other. And when she finally gained acceptance, it was being threatened and now – more than ever before – she wanted the power to protect everything precious to her.
Anko turned to him, a steeled gaze forming. It was a look he was familiar with, one he'd seen only on one face, one fitted with mirror-like eyes and a perpetual grin. Naruto was rubbing off on Anko.
"Train me," she calmly ordered.
Iruka gazed at her, as if looking for any hesitation in Anko's soul. Slowly, his lips turned upwards in a calm smile.
"I thought I was going to have to ask," he told her humorously.
Naruto pressed his back to a tree, the shadows masking his presence and the dark clothes he wore aiding his cause (he reminded himself to thank Iruka and Anko for the change of clothes). The only memento of his presence was his blood-red, slitted eyes.
His sensitive ears picked up the sounds of Kimimaro's feet crunching decaying leaves. With his sensitive nose, Naruto was able to discover his assailant's position. Roughly twenty feet away…
"I'm offering you a gift," Kimimaro told the air, knowing well that Naruto was listening intently. "Why do you not wish to accept it?"
He was curious. If Kimimaro offered his Limit to anyone else, there would've been no hesitation. Yet, this boy, carrying an ultimate power, was using his abilities to not copy his Limit. A part of him was fascinated by this. Naruto stood against everything a shinobi was.
The Kaguya formed a sword from his shoulder, catching the blade as it fell. Although he wasn't trying to damage Naruto, he still needed to defend himself; this one was unpredictable.
Naruto closed his eyes, melding deeper into the shadows.
"Personal reasons," Naruto answered, his feet gliding across the forest floor without a sound.
Standing still was a really bad idea with this white-haired freak. Naruto wasn't aware of how adept Kimimaro was at chakra sensing, but he wasn't about to test it. The farther away he was from the bone-manipulator, the better.
"Humor me," Kimimaro suggested, tracing Naruto's voice.
"I'd prefer not-" Naruto replied, realizing his mistake a second too late.
There! Kimimaro leapt at a tree several meters away and drove his sword through the trunk. Naruto stumbled from his hiding spot, sporting a cut to his arm.
"Dammit!" muttered Naruto, swinging around a charka-charged hand to counter Kimimaro.
But the bone-manipulator abandoned his sword and used his incredible speed to swat away the hand, a shockwave to shooting wildly to the right. He followed up with a series of sword strikes with a hastily grown bone, dealing several shallow cuts to Naruto's chest. The blond stumbled backwards, unable to prep for the hard kick sending him reeling into another tree headfirst.
Naruto's sight swam as he slowly stood, gripping the tree with one hand for support. Pain shot through his shoulder. Looking towards it, he found a bone protruding from the wound. When he moved, the bone kept him pinned to the tree. As his world stopped spinning, the Jinchuuriki felt a sword press against his throat.
"Copy my Shikotsumyaku and I'll leave you in peace, otherwise I'll force you to," came Kimimaro's ultimatum.
Naruto didn't reply.
Kyūbi, on other hand, was almost screaming in his mind.
Use more of my chakra! she urged. With it, you can squash this bug! Quickly, before he does more damage!
If she'd known the battle would've turned out this way, the Kyūbi would've simply kept feeding him more chakra, possibly to the point of creating a chakra cloak.
I… Naruto tried to mentally reply, only for the words to hole up in his throat.
Drawing on her power meant losing his humanity. Haku might be able to save him from completely succumbing to her will, but his body might become even more damaged from the struggle. Only, this time it would come from the Kyūbi's chakra.
But then he remembered his teammates and their current state. Both needed him. And there was no way in Hell, that he'd let Orochimaru have his way!
Al— Naruto mentally stopped mid-word as Kimimaro suddenly stood bone-straight, a look of surprise etched onto his face.
"Naruto!" a female voice shouted in surprise, one said blond recognized.
He looked up, finding the new Ino-Shika-Cho trio standing a distance away, Shikamaru in the same pose as Kimimaro, Ino readying a technique, and Chōji to his friend's side readying his own attack.
"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Naruto asked ever-so sincerely.
"What does it look like?" Ino answered, sounding miffed. "We're here to save your ass!"
"INO!" Shikamaru shouted, his face contorted in concentration and his teeth clenched visibly. "I can't hold him!"
The platinum blond looked to find the lone ninja slowly turning towards them, a hand being raised with what looked like nails growing out of his fingertips.
"RUN!" Naruto screamed.
Team Ten scattered as needles of bone launched from Kimimaro's hand, freeing himself from the Nara's hold. The Oto-nin brought up his other hand, firing from both hands as he followed Team Ten's movement. Ino was barely able to keep ahead of the shots and Chōji ducked behind a rock, but Shikamaru wasn't as lucky, taking several bones to his ankle and causing him trip as he almost reached the cover of a tree.
"Damn it!" the Nara cursed as he quickly turned to meet the superior opponent. Kimimaro had his full attention on him now, both hands poised as spikes of bone jutted out from his fingertips.
"SHIKA!" Ino and Chōji yelled simultaneously as their teammate stared at Death's door.
The moment was interrupted as Naruto ran towards the Kaguya from behind, his wounds healed and his right hand ablaze with red chakra.
Shuenken! Naruto yelled in his mind as he hurled his fist forward, every erg of chakra he could muster poured into this attack.
Kimimaro spun to meet the attack, a foul chakra flaring to life as he instinctively partially activated the seal. His right arm mutated as it met the attack, growing claws and becoming a sickly grey.
The two attacks met, carving a crater into the ground around them from the sheer amount of chakra carried in the two attacks.
Team Ten could only watch in awe from the sheer amount of power being displayed, waiting with bated breaths as the cloud of debris cleared away. Naruto was the first to appear, stumbling out of the cloud with blood dripping from his knuckles and some of his fingers gnarled. Kimimaro was next to follow, clenching his limp arm.
Kimimaro leapt away from his opponents, using his Shikotsumyaku to fix his shoulder when he got enough distance. After the sickening snap, the bone-user experimentally rolled it.
Inwardly, the Kaguya was giving Naruto some credit. Not many people could compete with him, even if he was going easy. Naruto, though, managed to dislocate his arm and break his jaw, feats that the Sound Four could only dream of accomplishing. Not only that, his momentary panic forced him to mutate his arm. Not bad. Not bad at all…
"Good gods," Shikamaru muttered. "That guy is a monster!"
"It's because of his Bloodline Limit," Naruto told them, already feeling his wounded knuckles cracking back into place. "He can control his bones and they're harder than steel. I've been fighting this guy for the past twenty minutes and any damage he gets he can heal."
Inwardly, Shikamaru was running through plans like an indigestion-ridden Akimichi goes through toilet paper as he processed the information Naruto provided. In every way, this guy was superior to them; they had no chance of running as his speed and strength was incredible; his attacks were simply too powerful to counter; the Ino-Shika-Cho trio's attacks would be counterproductive. The odds of them getting out of this alive: not pretty.
"Shika…" Ino interrupted, sounding very on edge.
He looked up to find Kimimaro slowly approaching them, his coat off and bones slowly growing out all of his joints.
"…We're screwed," Shikamaru finally muttered.
Kimimaro knew this needed to end quickly. Already his body was rapidly degrading, especially after the momentary use of the Chi no Juin. This battle was becoming tiring, and if Naruto wasn't going to accept his Limit, then there was no choice but to capture the younger boy for his master.
All parties stopped as a new chakra filled the air, carrying malice and bloodlust. Team Ten filled with dread, all three members instinctively desiring to retreat. Kimimaro, though, instantly recognized it and found himself raising an eyebrow.
"Now what?" Naruto bitingly asked himself, wondering which god's cup of coffee he somehow pissed in.
Everyone turned to the source to find Sasuke slowly rising. Foul chakra spiraled around him as a flame-like tattoo crawled around his body, magnifying the filthy chakra the more it spread.
When the Uchiha looked up, his Sharingan spun wildly in his eyes as he took in the sight of the genin against someone he didn't recognize.
But only one person captured his attention: the ruby-eyed Naruto.
Sasuke grinned evilly.
Kill Joy no Jutsu (A.K.A. Author's Note): I bet none of you were expecting that. Here you were thinking that the Sound Genin team was going to go after Naruto. HAH! I fooled you all! And you got a more epic fight out of it.
Well, I intended for this chapter to be much longer, but I ended up having to cut it for length's sake. The next chapter includes Sasuke's intervention in the fight, and the conclusion of what is about to become a three way battle. After that, Team Seven and Ten decides on the next course of action. It's pretty straightforward.
We'll also find out what Sarutobi plans to do about Jizenka and the incident around Shizuka's kidnapping. And Anko begins her training to reach the Kage level from Iruka.
Forbidden Scroll of Techniques:
Shuenken「朱炎拳– Scarlet Blaze Fist]- Jinchuuriki Ability – Unranked
A basic Jinchūriki move, consisting of little more than channeling as much of the Kyūbi's chakra as possible into one place; in this case, the fist. Despite its simplicity, the power behind the attack is not to be underestimated, as proven by the dislocation of Kimimaro's shoulder after a direct punch-on-punch clash.
There are certain drawbacks to this technique, however. The first is that it requires a certain "charging" period before it can be used; the more energy channeled into the fist, the more powerful it resulting attack becomes. The second is that it is only available in the "Initial Jinchūriki Form" – once Naruto calls upon enough of the Fox's powers that the Demon Fox Shroud forms around him, any chakra that he might normally try to allot to this technique would instead automatically be absorbed into the shroud itself.
Still, for what effectively amounts to a mere entry-level technique, you must admit even then that it packs quite a punch! (Pun intended.)
