Chapter 45
Battle Of The Strongest
Land of Wind
Scorpions Domain
Naruto watched in awe as Kotetsumaru the Tetsuryu charged forward at Sasori headless of all the kunai, senbon and Shuriken launched at him and bounced off as if he was made of metal. Sasori retreated backwards whipping his arms around controlling hundreds and hundreds of puppets.
Naruto had noticed in the back of his mind that the number of puppets surrounding them had increased and was still doing so as more and more of the wooden creations poured from the holes in the ground. He and Tayuya were currently hiding in a crater as Rasa, Sasori and Kotestumaru fought each other.
"Naruto, Naruto." Tayuya was tugging on his sleeve. "We need to get the fuck outta here!" She whispered frantically.
"What?" He turned to her, he had been far too engrossed in the high-level combat going on.
"We need to get the fuck out of here!" Tayuya repeated tugging harder. "Summon a Toad or something!?"
"If I summon a giant toad that'll just turn us into big targets." Naruto responded putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Then what the fuck do we do!?" She grabbed onto his clothes looking genuinely terrified. It was then looking into her eyes that Naruto was reminded that Tayuya had no one else in the world apart from him. Her entire Clan was wiped out in a brutal battle and it was almost like that event was repeating.
"Wait, there's gonna be an opening sometime." Naruto swallowed his fear. "Look over there." He pointed out Gaara who was defending the Nomads with his impressive control over sand, Temari who was unleashing massive blasts and cyclones of wind at the puppets and Kankuro who was fighting against the army with two of his own.
"We've just got to wait for the right moment, then we can run." Naruto watched the battlefield carefully.
"Mhmm." Tayuya nodded but she didn't let go of Naruto.
Across from them, the battle raged, Kotetsumaru used his body as a battering ram to smash through the puppets with his inhumanly durable body and his only target was Sasori who was slowly being pushed back. Rasa was mainly fighting off the puppet army but he was taking potshots at both Kotetsumaru and Sasori with spikes of Gold Dust.
"To think I'd be pushed this far by you." Sasori commented as Kotetsumaru smashed one of the puppets that Sasori was controlling directly.
"Just how are you controlling this massive army?" Kotetsumaru asked as he brushed wood chips and metal shards off his shoulder. "A maximum that a Puppet user can control should be ten but here you are controlling hundreds."
"Do you think I would tell you?" Sasori retorted as he released all of his Chakra threads on the current puppets he was controlling.
"No, but I did expect a better fight, perhaps Rasa will prove more fun than you." He grinned widely and smacked his fists together making a metallic clang.
"I'll have to get serious then." Sasori pulled out a scroll and unfurled it facing towards his enemy. It was emblazoned with the Kanji 鉄 Iron.
"Ho!" Kotetsumaru made a noise of surprise as white smoke burst from the scroll and revealed a new puppet.
"What!" Rasa was shocked by the puppet's appearance. "Great uncle!"
The smoke cleared to reveal a humanoid puppet with long black hair and dead eyes wearing a black cloak. "Isn't that?" Kotetsumaru's ever-present smirk dipped ever so slightly at the appearance of this particular puppet.
"Hm, indeed this is Saiga your predecessor." Sasori smirked at Rasa who was staring at Sasori and the puppet.
"I always wondered what happened to the man who was considered the strongest in the Land of Wind." Kotetsumaru mused aloud.
"He can no longer be called that because I killed him." Sasori mocked as the puppet hung over his shoulder its dead eyes staring ahead.
"You bastard!" Rasa hissed and he clapped both hands together. "Jiton: Sakin Taiso!"
Rasa's gold dust erupted from the ground like a wave and it swirled around Sasori ready to bury him. But Sasori did not move instead with a minute gesture he made the puppet of Saiga open its mouth and a substance began to come out and it moved and looked very similar to Rasa's Gold Dust and Gaara's sand.
"Satetsu Nami!" Sasori made a Hand Sign and the Iron Sand suddenly shifted and clashed against Rasa's Gold Dust resulting in a stalemate.
"He can use the Jiton perfectly!" Kotetsumaru clapped like a child seeing the puppet perform the Jutsu.
"A Human Puppet." Rasa spat out. "I thought such a thing was a mere theory."
"It was until I created and perfected the process." Sasori informed. There was no boastfulness in his speech, it was spoken plainly as pure fact.
"To think you would sink so low as to desecrate the dead!" Rasa lifted his arms and the Gold Dust rose with it hovering in the air above both Sasori and Kotetsumaru.
"I did not have a reason to kill you before Sasori but now." Rasa's Gold Dust swirled like a storm around all of them. "You will die."
"Hmph, you may try." Sasori was unconcerned as Iron Sand gathered around him and his puppet.
"Koton: Hagane Funka!" Kotetsumaru slammed his hands on the ground. The ground rumbled then giant grey steel spikes erupted from the ground impaling puppets on them, it was radiating outwards from Kotetsumaru in a cone which was aimed out at both Sasori and Rasa. "Don't forget about me! I have far greater ambitions than fighting you two!"
"A foolish one." Sasori commented as Iron Sand gathered under his feet and lifted him into the sky just like Rasa who had moved out of range of the jutsu.
"The Koton!" Naruto exclaimed happily, he knew that this land had people with the Koton Kekkei Genkai but he also knew that they were few and far between.
"What the hell are you so happy about!?" Tayuya asked him like he was insane.
"Huh." Naruto said dumbly as Tayuya shook him.
"I said what the hell are you so happy about!? We need to get out of here!" Tayuya said as the ground rumbled and the battle raged around them.
"Right, right." Naruto shook himself out of the stupor he fell in. 'There are plenty more Kekkei Genkai out there, I don't need this one even if it's right in front of me.' He thought rationally. But even so, there was a part of him which wanted that Kekkei Genkai.
"Look an opening!" Naruto saw it out of the corner of his eye.
While Rasa, Sasori and Kotetsumaru were fighting each other and Gaara was holding back to defend his people a small gap appeared between all the Iron Sand, Gold Dust and Sand. It was small and there was still an army of puppets surrounding them but it was a chance.
"Let's go!" Tayuya jumped from the trench they were hiding in. Naruto quickly followed her and they were running side by side.
Chaos reigned around them as the most powerful men in the land clashed, Gaara unleashed more and more of his Sand to protect his siblings and people which was making everything messier as the Sasori's puppets began using weapons they hadn't before such as spewing fire from their mouths and hands. There was even a crocodile-based Puppet which was using water so compressed it was cutting through the ground and almost everything else it came into contact with.
"Don't look back!" Naruto said as the two of them charged for that slight gap in the army around them.
"Fuck! Shit!" Tayuya was swearing repeatedly as she ran for her life.
"Nearly there!" Naruto could see their exit, Tayuya's Doki had been sacrificed which meant they had been swarmed and unsummoned from the damage they took.
"Satetsu: Sakai!" Sasori unleashed a new Jutsu from the corpse he controlled.
Iron Sand spikes shot up from the ground and created a wall which blocked off Naruto and Tayuya's escape route. "NO!" Tayuya shouted at seeing the blackness surrounding them.
"I will not let either of you two go." Sasori said. "You brought this conflict to my land."
"Fuck off!" Tayuya shouted almost pushing past Naruto who held her back.
"Tayuya!" Naruto grabbed onto her. "Calm down!"
"Quite the mouth on her!" Kotetsumaru laughed as he landed near the two of them. "I like her!"
Rasa silently floated over to Naruto and Tayuya as the Gold Dust gathered around him.
"Are you protecting them, Nomad?" Sasori questioned, he still had that lazy smile on his face as if all the people before him were nothing.
"I do not need to explain myself to you." Rasa replied his voice like ice.
"What do we do know!?" Tayuya whispered frantically. This battle was far above them and both of them knew it.
Naruto looked at Tayuya, deep into her eyes and he saw primal fear. He took a moment to take a deep breath and compose himself then stepped forwards and looked each man in the eye in turn, Kotetsumaru, Sasori and Rasa. He had come to a decision.
"Do you have something to say, kid?" Kotetsumaru asked with a feral grin on his face.
Sasori and Rasa both stared at him silently.
'There's no choice, I have to do the unexpected.' He thought and brought his hands up making his opponents look curiously.
Just what could this thirteen-year-old boy do them, who had survived brutal battles and the harsh environment of the Land of Wind for decades.
"Ranton: Laser Circus!" Naruto unleashed his second Kekkei Genkai. A large sphere of liquid lightning manifested between his hands and then multiple beams shot from the sphere and they were split between Kotetsumari, Sasori and Rasa.
Each man reacted quickly though their shock did dull their reflexes enough that the beams came close to hitting them. Rasa and Sasori used their respective metallic dust to protect while Kotetsumaru activated a Jutsu which turned his skin into steel, the spots where he was hit went red hot but quickly cooled down.
"Damn!" Naruto muttered upon seeing the lack of damage.
"You can use two Kekkei Genkai!?" Tayuya was of course shocked at seeing Naruto use the Ranton.
"The Hyoton and Ranton?" Sasori questioned and for the first time, his everpresent smile had disappeared.
"Not now!" Naruto said weaving through more Hand-Signs. "Ranton: Raiunkūha!" Black storm clouds enveloped Naruto and Tayuya and blue lightning manifested and began lashing out at anything nearby.
All three men backed off as the lightning bent and flowed to chase after anything with Chakra, both Sasori and Rasa floated out of range while Kotetsumaru jumped backwards his skin was still made of that black steel.
"Hah!" He laughed at seeing the cloud and thus the lightning get bigger. "It's absorbing the Chakra from the puppets it's killing!"
He touched his chest where a perfect circle was burned through his clothes and the steel underneath was smouldering orange. "My Koton no Yoroi is impenetrable, the ultimate defence!"
Within the storm cloud, Naruto and Tayuya were having a quick conversation. "Tayuya you need to get outta here while I distract them." Naruto said to her.
"What!? I'm not leaving you to fight those fucking monsters!" She shot back instantly.
"I need you to get outta the fight, this is above our level." Naruto explained frantically. "The only reason I got those hits in was because of my Ranton but now they know about that and the Hyoton!"
"Grgh!" Tayuya growled at him, she wanted to ask about his two Kekkei Genkai but now was not the time.
"Listen take this." Naruto pressed a scroll into her hands. "It's a Gyaku Kuchiyose Fuinjutsu which is linked to me, once you get out of the country you can use that to summon me to you." He explained quickly.
Tayuya looked at the scroll in surprise she didn't know that such a thing was possible. "Wow."
"Yeah me and my Dad came up with it while we were together, this is only the copy and it's a one-time use." Naruto said looking over his shoulder. He could feel anything that the storm clouds came in contact with and he could feel a large mass pressing against it which meant either Sasori or Rasa.
"Got it, got it!" Tayuya stuffed the scroll into her pouch and looked at Naruto who had turned back to face her. "Don't die, Shithead." She said to him before hugging him and giving him a kiss on the cheek which of course made Naruto freeze up.
"We'll both get out of here alive." Tayuya vowed as she stood up and turned her back on the frozen boy.
"Yeah, yeah." Naruto agreed nodding like an idiot.
Tayuya ran and the storm clouds parted for her allowing her through and out of the Jutsu.
Naruto remained frozen for a few moments until he felt a massive Chakra surge behind him which snapped him out of his stupor. "Right!" He stood up and flared his own Chakra as the Jutsu came to an end.
"Satetsu Kesshu!" Sasori made a Hand-Sign and his Iron Sand gathered to form a giant cube and pyramid.
"That Jutsu!" Rasa recognised it right away, it was a signature of Saiga.
"I never would have thought someone would be born into this world with two Kekkei Genkai like that." Sasori said upon seeing Naruto. "You are a valuable research tool and you will make a fine puppet."
"I'm not yours or anyone's puppet!" Naruto shouted at him as he went through more Hand-Signs.
"Enough of that kid!" Kotetsumaru appeared before Naruto with his fist pulled back.
"What!" Naruto could barely comprehend how a man made of steel could move so fast.
Kotetsumaru punched at Naruto which would have shattered his ribs into splinters but Gold Dust appeared between his fist and Naruto's body blocking the punch. Naruto was yanked backwards by the Gold Dust and brought near where Rasa was floating.
"I have many questions for you boy, but they will have to wait." Rasa informed him as he made his own Hand-Sign. "Jiton: Sakin Taisoso!" A huge amount of Gold Dust swirled around Kotetsumaru and buried him under a giant mound. Rasa shifted his hands and made a triangle shape with his fingers. "Die!"
The Gold Dust mound where Kotetsumaru was buried compressed itself and a huge triangle-shaped hole appeared as the Gold Dust crushed upon itself and Kotetsumaru who was buried underneath. Rasa panted after the Jutsu came to an end, this was one of his strongest Ninjutsu and his Chakra had been sapped by its use to the point that he could no longer consistently maintain the Gold Dust underneath his feet to keep him flying.
"Satetsu Taiso!" Sasori unleashed a wave of Iron Sand intending to bury Naruto and Rasa who was now on the ground.
"Ryusa Bakuryu!" Normal sand met the Iron Sand and both Ninjutsu were cancelled out.
"Gaara!" Rasa said shocked. "I told you to..." He began to speak but was cut off by his son who landed next to him.
"Our people are safe, I have sent them back to the camp." Gaara answered as he glared at Sasori who was looking at him curiously.
"You." Sasori said. "You can control and so naturally. Your Chakra is also familiar to me."
Gaara did not speak instead he unleashed another wave of Sand at Sasori intending to bury him.
"Not good enough boy. Satestu: Kaiho!" Sasori combined the pyramid and cube of Iron Sand which formed a giant sphere then hundreds of branches erupted from it moving chaotically and darting everywhere.
"Hmph!" Gaara clapped his hands together and a massive amount of sand gathered to block off the poisoned Iron Sand.
"Damn!" Naruto said as the resultant clash sent the Sand and Iron Sand all over the place.
Sasori was still standing as the Iron Sand regathered into the pyramid and cube. "I see, now I understand what you are."
"But it will not save you." Sasori made another Hand-Sign. "Kyodai Tettsui!" The cube Iron Sand lengthened itself into a rectangle and shot forwards intending to crush Gaara, Rasa and Naruto.
Naruto and Rasa both jumped to avoid the Jutsu while Gaara met it with his own Jutsu.
Naruto landed near the mound of Gold Dust that Rasa had used while the man himself was forced back towards the puppet army which was no longer fighting but instead formed a huge circle around the battlefield making sure no one could interfere but neither could anyone escape.
'Where's Tayuya? Did she make it through that!?' Naruto panicked upon seeing the gigantic army, Naruto couldn't count them all but he estimated it was easily ten thousand strong.
He caught a glimpse of Tayuya's hair among the puppets and she seemed to be manoeuvring through them as a snake would through the grass. 'Good, she's getting away.' Naruto looked over at Sasori and weaved through Hand-Signs. "Hyoton: Hyoryudan!" Naruto pumped a lot of Chakra into this Jutsu.
A huge dragon made of ice formed behind Naruto and the air itself was frozen along with what little moisture was present. It took but a few seconds for the dragon to fully form but once it did it was easily twice the size of the Suiton: Suiryudan that Arashi used against some invading mainland Ninja that he fought against when Naruto was younger.
The dragon roared and it charged forward at Sasori who used a lot of his puppets as a shield on top of using the pyramid-shaped Iron Sand which was his last line of defence. Naruto panted as it ripped through the puppets and froze everything it touched or passed over creating huge patches of frozen ground even the Iron Sand was frozen in place and Sasori attempted to use his Human Puppet to try and break the Iron Sand free from its icy prison but it didn't budge the Hyoryudan had done its job perfectly and now the amount of Iron Sand at Sasori's disposal was halved.
Naruto stood there panting but smiling in triumph. "I think you two should be able to finish him off now." Naruto said to Gaara and Rasa who were both watching.
"You have become an annoyance Uzumaki Naruto." Sasori said with a frown. "I was planning to keep you alive, now however I find you preferable as a corpse than a puppet."
Sasori slammed both hands on the ground and there was a pulse of Chakra which made the ground rumble and Naruto could have sworn he heard a distant scream. "Gaara!" Rasa shouted out catching Naruto's attention, he turned to see Gaara on one knee grabbing at his head in pain.
"What?" Naruto was very confused then he turned back to Sasori and noticed the man's Chakra had tripled in size and intensity, it also had an extremely sinister edge to it that Naruto could detect despite not being a Sensor-Nin.
"Oh no." Naruto felt dread, utter dread when Sasori looked at him with those dead eyes.
"Jiton: Hijutsu: Satetsu Sekai!" Sasori clapped his hands together similar to Gaara and a visible wave of Chakra erupted from the Human Puppet Saiga which was glowing blue.
The Iron Sand which was all over the battlefield began to glow resonating with the Chakra and even the frozen Iron Sand pyramid was glowing underneath the ice. The ice shattered and all of the Iron Sand exploded creating huge craters along with pushing the Iron Sand into the air.
"Ranton Ogi: Rankiryu!" Naruto unleashed another Ranton Jutsu in response. Black storm clouds erupted from Naruto's body and spread out in circular waves with himself as the Centrepoint. This Jutsu leeched Chakra from anything it came into contact with and sent that Chakra back to Naruto it was among the most powerful Ranton Jutsu that he had stolen from the Bofu Clan in the Land of Lightning.
Sasori's Jutsu was weakened by Naruto's but that did not stop it and more and more of the Iron Sand exploded and seemed to consume the area around it. Naruto was forced to abandon his Jutsu and just run away from the attack, Rasa and Gaara were fine as they simply raised themselves high above the battlefield and avoided Sasori's Jutsu completely.
Naruto was caught on the edge of one of the explosions and was smashed into the ground with his left arm burned. "So you survived." Sasori sounded displeased.
"I'm hard to kill." Naruto boasted as he tried to pull himself up onto his feet but all he could manage was a single knee.
"No more than any other Human or Ninja." Sasori gestured with his hands and pulled all of his Iron Sand back to himself. Naruto noticed there was even more than before.
"How?" The Iron Sand blocked out the sun even Rasa and Gaara looked very weary at the sheer amount.
"This land is mine, did you not think that I would not have my greatest weapon prepared and hidden in caches all across it." Sasori said.
"The Wind Daimyo has paid a ransom in Ryo for your head Rasa and that boorish man, though you have taken care of that for me. I will have to take his head for proof." Sasori stood supreme as the Iron Sand formed into numerous shapes.
"You are a fool to believe in that man." Rasa scolded. "He will kill you as well."
"No, her will..." Sasori was about to refute Rasa but out of nowhere, a unique kunai hit the ground just behind him and in a flash a man stood with a kunai held against Sasori's throat.
"Just what do you think you are doing to my son?" Minato stood with ice-cold eyes glaring through Sasori.
"Naruto!" Tayuya shouted at him as she reappeared bursting through the surrounding puppets who had stopped still.
"Tayuya!" Naruto was shocked to see her as he had expected her to run out of the country.
"Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash." Sasori said his name with detached boredom. "I did not know you had a child and one so unique."
Minato remained silent but he pressed the kunai harder against Sasori's neck. "I asked you a question."
"Your Father found me before I hit the border and I guided him here." Tayuya said as she helped Naruto.
"I do not need to answer you. I am..." Sasori was cut off for a final time as Minato cut his throat open and Sasori dropped to the ground. As Sasori dropped so too did his entire puppet army as their strings had been cut.
"Good riddance." Tayuya spat as she wrapped an arm around Naruto pulling him up.
"Rasa of the Sand Nomads, what are you doing?" Minato stepped over Sasori's body as if he was trash.
"It was your son who trespassed upon our land. I was following what our people have done for centuries." Rasa refused to back down.
"ARGH!" A scream interrupted their conversation as Kotetsumaru very much alive burst from the Gold Dust that was left forgotten. He had blood leaking from his mouth, ears and nose but otherwise looked fine. "You cannot kill me with a Jutsu of that level!" He roared like a beast and charged at the nearest person who happened to be Naruto.
Kotetsumaru's iron hand closed around Naruto's throat like a vice and he held the boy up choking him. "To think Namikaze Minato and his son would come here!"
"You bastard!" Tayuya pulled her flute out but Kotetsumaru booted her in the chest sending her flying back.
"I truly am blessed for such strong opponents to appear before me!" He smiled with bloody teeth.
"You are far too stubborn Tetsuryu." Rasa commented. He glared at the man.
"Naruto!" Minato shouted putting all of his attention on Naruto and Kotetsumaru.
"So even you have a weakness." Sasori's voice rang out as he stood back up with no blood leaking from his neck. "Satetsu Kaiho!" Sasori unleashed that deadly Jutsu a second time and Minato disappeared just a moment before the Iron Sand came into contact with him.
He reappeared on the outer edge of the battlefield where he had thrown another kunai at the same time as the first one he threw at Sasori. "You should be dead." Minato glared at the seemingly uninjured man.
"And Sasori too!" Kotetsumaru smiled at seeing him alive.
"Hrgh!" Naruto weaved through seals as Kotetsumaru was distracted and his hands became covered in ice which he then wrapped around the arm and hand which held his neck.
"Ow!" Kotetsumaru instinctively reacted to the extreme cold and he let go of Naruto who used both of his feet to kick off Kotetsumaru's torso and create some distance.
'Was that the Hyoton!' Minato was somewhat alarmed at seeing his son use another Kekkei Genkai he should not have had.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto put his hands together in a unique cross Hand-Sign and two more Naruto's appeared in puffs of smoke.
"Hyoton: Hyoten Hyakkaso!"
"Ranton: Ame no Murakumo!"
Both Naruto's unleashed their Kekkei Genkai Jutsu at full power and the original Naruto nearly collapsed from the Chakra draining out of his body for both of these high-level destructive Ninjutsu.
With the resulting chaos, it was hard to tell which Jutsu was responsible for which damage. What happened to people observing like Rasa and Gaara was that storm clouds gathered above them and lightning began raining down in random but destructive bursts along with the manifestation of a storm was the extremely cold wind which blew ice shaped like flowers that exploded the moment they came into contact with something else. It was a truly monstrously destructive combination of Ninjutsu as all around Naruto had to take cover even Sasori with his Iron Sand, Rasa with Gold Dust and Gaara with Sand even though the latter two were floating above they were buffeted by the strong winds generated by both Ninjutsu.
A good five or so minutes passed after Naruto unleashed his twin Jutsu as a huge amount of ice and snow had been created and buried the entire battlefield while the above storm clouds began to dissipate into the surrounding air which was creating a very moisture-heavy atmosphere.
"Naruto!" Minato was the first to recover as he had teleported out of the Jutsu's range before coming back in. He looked over the snowfield that had been created by his son. 'He has the Hyoton and Ranton how is that possible!?' Minato was extremely unnerved by that revelation.
"Gaara." Rasa grabbed his son who was laying in a cocoon of sand.
"I'm alright Father." Gaara said weakly as he sat up. Rasa had created a huge Gold Dust shield which was partially frozen from the ice and in some places melted from the lightning.
"Good." Rasa stood up and also took in the chaos that Naruto unleashed. 'To think a single child was able to unleash this!'
Sasori's Iron Sand blasted up through the snow and Sasori himself appeared with his Saiga puppet looking extremely angry as the Human Puppet was badly damaged missing an arm, half of the face and a chunk out of the lower torso.
"HAHA!" Kotetsumaru appeared next smiling like a madman, he looked almost entirely untouched except for the missing fingers on his left hand which he had used to shield himself from the Jutsus.
Tayuya had resummoned her Doki to use as shields and she got up and walked over to Minato who was pressing his finger against the snow trying to detect Naruto. "Is he?" She asked him.
"His Chakra makes up most of this snow, I can't tell." Minato responded. He had hoped that Naruto hadn't killed himself using those two A-Ranked Ninjutsu.
"AAAH!" Naruto burst from the snow with a scream. He looked tired but otherwise fine.
'Just how much Chakra does that boy have?' Sasori questioned as he observed Naruto who was looking around taking stock of what he unleashed. 'He has more than me and I have a secret weapon.'
"Well done boy!" Kotetsumaru said smashing his fists together. "That was unexpected!"
"You're still alive!?" Naruto complained at seeing the man standing and shouting.
"It will take much more than that to kill I the Tetsuryu!" He boasted.
"Now let us continue this battle!" Kotetsumaru charged at Naruto.
Before he reached Naruto and before Minato could stop the powerful Ninja from reaching his son the ground rumbled loudly and this time Sasori had nothing to do with it.
"The Ground!" Sasori hissed. 'Those Jutsu weakened the foundation! My tunnels have been compromised!' He was distraught as the ground began to crumble away.
"What the Hell!" Naruto shouted as the ground fell out from underneath him.
"NARUTO!" Both Minato and Tayuya shouted in horror seeing him fall.
The Centrepoint of the collapse was where Naruto was standing but it did not stop there as the ground all around the battlefield began to give way.
"SASORI!" Rasa roared and charged at him as Sasori attempted to flee. Gaara was quickly following his Father despite his fatigue.
Kotetsumaru just laughed as the world fell away but he made a point to continue chasing after Naruto who fell first. Minato grabbed Tayuya and both of them disappeared as he used the Hiraishin to escape the collapsing ground.
"Oh god." Tayuya commented as she saw just how much fell away.
Where once there was a flat plain of rock now there was a gigantic sinkhole easily a kilometre in length and its depths were completely unknown to her, all she could see was blackness.
"Sasori turned this entire area into a base of operations." Minato observed. There was a lot of dust from the collapse but it began to settle and he could see various tunnels branching out deeper into the ground.
"It looks like a damn maze!" Tayuya said. "How are we going to find Naruto?" She turned to him.
Minato didn't answer right away instead he knelt and pressed two fingers into the ground and unleashed a Chakra pulse. He closed his eyes as he took in all the information that returned to him through his Chakra. "He's going east through the tunnels."
"Which one?" Tayuya pointed out that at least four to five tunnels were going in each cardinal direction and that was not including the tunnels which went off randomly.
"Like you said it's a maze." Minato jumped down followed closely by Tayuya.
"When I find that idiot I'm gonna punch what's left of his brains out!" Tayuya growled. "What the hell was he thinking doing that shit!"
'Ah Naruto, it looks like we both have the same taste in women.' Minato thought smiling, he could remember Kushina when she lost her temper. It was a nostalgic thing to see and also heartening as Naruto had someone with him who truly cared about him.
"Come on Tayuya-san, let's go find my son." Minato looked at each of the tunnels and chose the one he felt the most Chakra emanating from.
"Yeah." She nodded and follow him into the darkness.
AN:
Here we go Chapter 45 completed with one day to go.
Yeah, Sasori has viet-cong style tunnels all over his entire domain. He's been alive a long time and has a lot of time on his hands when he's not killing people for the Wind Daimyo.
I would have had this done sooner but I forgot that I pre-ordered Final Fantasy XVI and so I've been playing that nonstop since it came out. Sorry.
Anyways hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to 46 which will be completed sometime next week.
Translation:
Jiton: Sakin Taiso = Magnet Release: Gold Dust Imperial Funeral
Satetsu Nami = Iron Sand Wave
Koton: Hagane Funka = Steel Release: Steel Eruption
Satetsu Sakai = Iron Sand Chain World
Ranton: Laser Circus = Storm Release: Laser Circus
Ranton: Raiunkūha = Storm Release: Thunder Cloud Inner Wave
Koton no Yoroi = Steel Release Armour
Gyaku Kuchiyose Fuinjutsu = Reverse Summoning Sealing Technique
Satetsu Kesshu = Iron Sand Gathering Assault
Jiton: Sakin Taisoso = Magnet Release: Gold Dust Imperial Funeral Sending
Satetsu Taiso = Iron Sand Imperial Funeral
Satetsu Kaiho = Iron Sand World Method
Kyodai Tettsui = Giant Hammer
Hyoton: Hyoryudan = Ice Release: Ice Dragon Bullet
Suiton: Suiryudan = Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet
Jiton: Hijutsu: Satetsu Sekai = Magnet Release: Secret Technique: Iron Sand World
Ranton Ogi: Rankiryu = Storm Release Secret Technique: Demon Dragon Storm
Hyoton: Hyoten Hyakkaso = Ice Release: Frozen Heaven Hundred Flower Funeral
Ranton: Ame no Murakumo = Storm Release: Heavenly Gathering of the Clouds
Hiraishin = Flying Thunder God