Welcome to a new chapter of the Shinobi Hunter! I do not own anything but this story!
Well, I could safely say one thing. I had no idea where I was going. While Anko and Haku strategize the best possible method to approach Konan and her team, I remained silent their entire conversation. I frankly wasn't very interested in what they spoke of, as if Konan or any of her two bit Akatsuki member's alongside her were a challenge to the Red Demon of Konoha. But could I even truly consider myself a demon anymore? With Master's blatant betrayal, would he ever lend me his strength again? I felt pathetic, as if all I could do was rely on this old ass fox's chakra to win my battles. It was infuriating… and yet I felt their was nothing I could do to resolve it. Or maybe there was…
As I began to think deeply on this matter, my train of thought was broken by an incoming kunai that seemed to appear from thin air. My hand trembled as I reached for the sack connected to my belt loop which held all of my shuriken, kunai, paper bomb's and miscellaneous shinobi equipment. I felt disconnected from my former self, my confidence waivering without the influence of Master beside me.
"Naruto, watch out!" Anko roared as she pulled me out the way of the incoming kunai, which almost hit me square in the throat. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"I…" I stammered as Haku and Anko stepped in front of me, scanning the area for the attacker.
"…it must have been just a trap planted by a genin," Anko said after a moment of scanning the area. "The area's clear so I don't think we have anything to worry about…"
As Anko said this, a bird made of clay flew toward Anko's head, my eye's widening as I realized what was about to occur.
"Anko!" I shouted as I threw my body at her, causing her to fall to the ground with me on top of her.
Anko slightly blushed as she looked up at me; both my right and my left hands placed precariously on her right and left breasts.
"I-I don't think this is the time Naruto…" Anko whispered as Haku smacked me in the back of my head.
"N-No, it was a misunderstanding!" I exclaimed as Haku's eye's burned into the back of my skull. "I-It's Deidara! He's somewhere around here!"
"Wait, what?" Anko asked as the bird exploded near us, seemingly swallowing the three of us in its blast.
"That might have been a bit much; don't you think Konan-sempai, hm?" Deidara asked Konan as he, Konan, and Kisame stood in a tree nearby, concealing their presence.
"They were obviously going to attack us Deidara," Konan muttered as her stoic expression remained on her face.
"Are you sure you just weren't jealous?" Kisame asked which earned him a sinister look from Konan. "S-Sorry…"
"So, this is where you were hiding…" a voice stated as me, Anko, and Haku stood behind Konan, Kisame, and Deidara with kunai to the back of each of their necks.
"Look we're all allies here, let's cease this before it gets out of hand," Kisame warned as my hand holding the kunai to his neck trembled gently. I could feel Konan staring into my soul the entire time, which made me even more nervous.
"Snap out of it Naruto-sama," Haku whispered in my ear as I turned to see a concerned look on Haku's face. "Ever since your fight with Kakashi, you've been really slacking. You need to come back to reality, a loss is a loss. But don't let it turn you into something that you're not."
"Human?" I responded meekly as Haku gave me a small smile.
"I was referring to a coward, but call it whatever you like," Haku answered as she turned her attention back to Deidara.
"So, since you're the leader of your little brigade, I'll direct this question to you," Konan stated as she glanced in my direction. "What is your purpose here?"
"We need to join you, we've lost contact with Itachi, who's gone on his own to find the body of Uchiha Madara," I answered as Deidara snickered.
"I say let that Uchiha Madara kill that bastard, hm," Deidara stated. "I can't stand that smug Uchiha prick anyhow."
"It doesn't matter how you feel about him, he's the only one who has the map leading to the location of the Sage and Uchiha Madara," Haku told Deidara, who did not respond.
"We decline your offer, we won't join you," Konan said as my eye's widened in shock. "We have our own business to attend to…"
"Bitch, this isn't an option!" Anko roared ferociously as she dug the kunai into the back of Konan's neck. "You will come with us, or you'll die!"
"Anko, no…" I began to say until Konan's body began to fall apart, meaning that this was just a paper clone. Anko jumped off the tree branch as the Konan clone exploded, taking the whole tree with it. Haku, Kisame, and Deidara managed to escape as well as we all stood underneath on the ground, Konan nowhere to be found.
"Look, how about you two join us?" I pleaded as I looked at Deidara and Kisame. "Konan is being a fool, let's just settle this ourselves."
"Sorry, but we're with Konan-sama on this one," Deidara stated as Kisame nodded in agreement. "We have other interest beside that stupid Sage and Uchiha Madara, hm. If you try to stop us, we'll just have to show you our beautiful art!"
"Explosion's are not art," Haku said as Deidara's eye's narrowed angrily.
"How dare you!" Deidara spit out as he sent several clay bug's squirming their way toward Haku, who went into a defensive fighting position. Anko scanned the area for Konan, Kisame preparing to attack the snake princess with Samehada before I intercepted him with Zabuza's blade.
"You can't even wield that sword boy," Kisame hissed as I smiled nervously, the spark of hope beginning to ignite inside my body. I might not have as much power as I once did, but I'm still the Red Demon of Konoha! I wasn't prepared to let anyone take that title from me!
As me and Kisame crossed swords, Konan was reforming behind Anko without her knowledge, prepared to attack the snake princess from behind.
"You don't really think that'll work right?" Anko asked knowingly as she glanced at Konan.
"So you knew I was behind you, so what?" Konan asked as Anko pointed behind Konan with a huge smile on her face. Konan looked back to see a giant snake almost take her head off, but she managed to take off into the sky in just the nick of time with her paper wing's.
"This is my summon snake, he's been watching you ever since you replaced yourself with that paper clone bomb of yours," Anko explained as she smiled mischievously at the paper kunoichi.
"It doesn't matter, I'll kill you quickly," Konan stated as she gathered a paper spear in her left hand.
As me and Kisame crossed our sword's, I looked him eye to eye, knowing this was going to be one hell of a fight. This was no ordinary swordsman; this was one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, who was infamous for being incredible shinobi. Yes, I did kill one, but compared to the other six, Zabuza was nothing. Now one of them stood before me, awaiting our battle. I began to feel my chakra fade away slightly as my sword crossed with Samehada, a smile forming on Kisame's face.
"You seem to be noticing the effect just now," Kisame stated as he looked at me with intrigue. "Samehada is eating away at your chakra, since it is in range of you. And it seems that it's enjoying it as well…"
I jumped back from Kisame and Samehada, trying to readjust myself as I strategize in my mind what I'd do to stop this chakra absorbing blade.
"In a bind, Naruto?" Master asked as I found myself once again in my mindscape, standing before the demon fox.
"Oh, we're talking again?" I asked sarcastically as Master snickered.
"You little fool, you were never in any real danger," Master informed me. "Even if I decided I wanted you dead, it would mean the end for me as well. I just wanted to give you a taste of what could happen to you if you defy my orders again. I won't let you die, but I'll destroy you another way brat."
"Meaning you'll screw with me mentally?" I asked dryly as the old fox chuckled. "Whatever, all I need to know is if our deal is still legit? Can I use your chakra or not?"
"Do as you please… Naruto-kun," Master answered mysteriously as I began to realize something was going to have to be done about this fox soon. He was becoming a nuisance… and I couldn't afford to let him fuck my life over because I decided not to kill my father. But I just simply nodded for now as I returned from my mindscape back to reality, witnessing Kisame come running at me full speed. As Kisame's Samehada came into my radius, my body unleashed a mighty red aura which covered my entire body from head to toe. The aura even crawled onto my blade, which now matched the aura around my body. I used the blade to block Samehada, which began to feed away at my chakra. But as it did, I continued to feed it more. And more. And even more.
"Are you really that stupid?" Kisame asked as his Samehada continued to be a glutton.
"Not at all, in fact, take more!" I shouted as I unleashed more chakra, which seemed to make Samehada even happier. The sword began to grow in size, coming out of the white cloth it was wrapped in. Kisame seemed to be struggling to keep hold of the blade as it continued to eat more and more chakra, increasing in size.
"W-Why's it becoming so heavy?" Kisame groaned as he let go of the sword, which fell to the ground, quivering in delight.
"It's a glutton for chakra, a regular fat ass," I commented with a grin as I now looked at the sword less Kisame, who seemed to also realize he was not equipped with his sword anymore.
"There's no water around this area, I think you're fucked," I said with a cynical grin as I approached Kisame with my sword resting on my shoulder, Kisame glaring back at me in surprise. As he raised his hand to do a jutsu, I attacked without mercy, prepared to lob his head off his shoulders.
It's a cliffy! Did Naruto defeat the tailless beast Kisame? Will Anko be able to defeat Konan? Will Deidara be able to prove to Haku that is art is an explosion? And what of Itachi and his search for the Sage and Uchiha Madara? Find out the answer to this and more in the next exciting chapter of the Shinobi Hunter!
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