Naruto sighed as he looked at the sixty plus enemy Shinobi surrounding them. The easiest thing for him to do would be to use Kurama's Chakra to beat this lot and find Taki and Akari. However Kurama and the Hokage both had made Naruto promise to use the Bijuu's power only when absolutely necessary.
He gritted his teeth together as his gaze swept over the surrounding Shinobi. Most of them had a bingo book listing of 'c' or 'b', thankfully he hadn't seen any 'S' class criminals among them. He sighed again and flicked out two kunai.
"Azuko," He said, snapping the boy out of the trance that he had fallen into. "When I make an opening I'm want you to take Tsugashi and find Taki and Akari."
"What about you Sensei?" The boy asked as he got to his feet, drawing his sickles.
"I'll hold them," He said.
"Given what I've seen of your abilities," Tsugashi said. "I don't doubt that you could, but they don't want you, if we split up then they'll use just enough to keep you tied up as they hunt down the two of us." He said walking over to Naruto's side.
The blond cast him a glance. "We have to find Akari and Taki," He said.
Tsugashi nodded. "I'm sure we do, but you sent three clones after them, they should be fine."
Naruto grunted but agreed. He didn't notice any new memories surfacing, but then again the decent had been quite hectic.
He pulled the blade of his Katana out a little and ran a finger along the blade. "If you ask me, the best plan is for us to take these guys out then find the girls." He said.
Naruto nodded in agreement.
Tsugashi brought his hands together forming five seals. Boar. Dog. Bird. Monkey. Ram.
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
When the smoke cleared Tsugashi had his katana drawn, balanced lightly atop a large black panther.
Naruto smirked as he turned to their aggressors. Bitting his own thumb he followed suite.
Gamakichi looked about himself with a bemused grin, "Yo, Naruto, been a while." He said. Naruto smiled from the toads head.
"Yea, sorry about that, been a bit busy lately." He said apologetically.
Gamakichi rolled his massive shoulders, he had grown up some in the time since the war and was the same size and Bunta now. He reach for the cigarette in his mouth and exhaled a large cloud of smoke. "You really need my help to deal with such a small group?" He asked Naruto. "You've gone soft." He remarked as he looked at the waiting missing Nin.
Naruto hung his head a little at the toad's words. "We've been separated from two of my students." Naruto told him. "I need to deal with this lot so I can find them quickly."
Gamakichi took another drag of his cigarette before he put it out, gripping his tanto in both hands. "All right," He said accepting Naruto's reason for summoning him. He cast a glance to the panther summons next to him and the man riding the beasts' muscular shoulders.
"So who's your friend?" Gamakichi asked as he drew the blade.
"My name is Tsugashi," The man replied.
"And I'm Hyōkan," The panther purred in a soft voice bearing her massive fangs.
The four took readied stances as they prepared to fight. Azuko could only stare on in amazement at the sheer size of the summoned creatures. He knew about animal summoning of course, it had been one of the more universal jutsu Ino had taught them about during their Academy days. But he had never seen one up close before. And he had no idea that they could grow to such tremendous sizes.
He took a deep breath and readied himself for a fight. By the look of the enemy, they were not about to turn tail and run just because some summons had showed up. Naruto cast a glance down to Azuko and after a few quick words to the toad he beckoned for Azuko to join him atop the giant toads head. Naruto gave him a reassuring smile before he turned back to assess the situation. "I'll be taking the frontal assault." He declared. "Azuko I want you to keep close to Tsugashi. Keep him safe and watch his back. They'll be gunning for him." He said.
Azuko nodded and after a quick nod from Tsugashi joined the man on the panthers' massive shoulders.
"Yosh, Gamakichi lets rock this joint." Naruto said with his trade mark mischievous grin, "Start with some fire shall we?" He asked.
Gamakichi was already weaving the necessary signs before Naruto had even asked. The two took a deep breath and exhaled simultaneously.
"Katon: Arekuruu hono taika no jutsu!" As Gamakichi breathed out a large gout of fire while Naruto exhaled an inordinate amount of air, making the fires burn all the brighter.
The shinobi scattered like a cloud of flies as the two swept their combined jutsu in a wide arch.
After the initial volley the fighting began in earnest. As Naruto had thought, sixty enemy shinobi of some skill were a little too much for him to handle on his own easily. With the added assistance of Gamakichi the two managed to hold off nearly fourty of the enemy without too much trouble.
Unfortunately that left just as much of the enemy again for Azuko, Tsugashi and Hyōkan to fight.
Azuko looked at the twenty something oncoming wave of enemy Shinobi and sighed. There was really nothing else for it. He dropped his bag and armed himself with all the Ninja tools he had brought with him. "Tsugashi-san," He said as he stood up again. "I know I'm supposed to guard you, but I'm going to have to disobey orders on this one." He said gripping his sickles tightly.
Tsugashi nodded and dipped his hat.
"Don't worry yourself so much kid," He said with a smile. "I'm not helpless, and you don't have to do everything by yourself. You have comrades and despite what people may say, you're only hindering people if your try to do it alone." He told the boy. "Hyōkan, watch our six we're going in." He said as he held his Katana in both hands.
The two leapt off the panthers shoulders aiming strait for the incoming shinobi. Hyōkan got to them first, bringing both paws down in devastating arches as the Shinobi scattered in all directions.
Quick as it had attacked the panther cleared the mass of Shinobi. As Azuko and Tsugashi landed they struck out left and right dropping two recovering missing Nin as they landed.
The ninja furthest from Hyōkan's assault reacted the swiftest coming in with kunai and shuriken blazing.
Azuko dropped to a knee and punched the ground as hard as he could.
"Doton: Doheki no jutsu." The earthen rampart erupted from the ground and the incoming assault of shuriken and kunai were halted as Azuko ran though his next set of signs. "Doton: Kabe bokuhatsu no jutsu." The wall exploded into the largest concentration of enemy shinobi. Managing to kill three and incapacitate four, the rest were able to shrug off their injuries. Before the dust had cleared Tsugashi and Azuko were once again on the offensive. Striking left and right, covering each other's blind spots as the shinobi swarmed in.
When the concentration became too great Hyōkan came in again swatting at the missing nin with her claws.
Soon enough however a small force was upon the summond beast trying to bring her down. She hissed in rage as she rolled and flexed clawing at any she could reach.
"Hyōkan, I'm sending you back." Tsugashi shouted as he saw her predicament. The panther seemed to nod before jumping as high as she could – some hundred feet – before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Azuko held off two Nin desperately as Tsugashi weaved the summoning signs.
A dozen shinobi fell on him, in an attempt to stop him from summoning again, but the cloud of smoke enveloped him once again and in and instant the attacking shinobi were thrown back.
Using the moment to his advantage Azuko sent a kick into one Nin's head while the other took a solid kick to the gut.
They staggered back and Azuko jumped closer to Tsugashi. The smoke was cleared away by a faint pulse of Chakra and Tsugashi stood flanked by a trio of armoured Panthers. Their coat – what little of it he could see – was a sleek almost glossy black.
Unlike Hyōkan these three panthers were clearly meant for fighting, each one was wearing full battle armour, with leg guards and segmented body hauberks, their tails were armoured at the tip with a slender blade. All along the armour blades and spikes were worked into the plating to make the already deadly creature even more so.
"Hyōna, Hyōka, Hyōya," Tsugashi greeted as the three beasts circled the man slowly observing their new surroundings.
"Where is Hyōkan?" One of them asked, its husky voice practically dripping with contempt.
"She's fine Hyōna," Tsugashi said lightly. "I realised that this would be a situation best suited to the three of you so I sent her back."
Hyōna let out a low growl but lowered his stride as he fanned out with the other two.
"What of this one?" Another asked circling Azuko sniffing his feet and hands.
"He's a friend Hyōya," Tsugashi said, "So is the one on the giant toad, the rest are free game." The three panthers nodded, fanning out as the remaining enemy shinobi moved in.
Azuko felt his heart rate ease now that the three panthers were not going to attack him by mistake as they came up one by one to familiarise themselves with his sent.
The first enemy made his move and the three panthers blurred into action moving through the attacking host in a storm of iron and blood. Azuko and Tsugashi move in shortly after, fighting back to back as the enemy shinobi mobbed them. Even with the added help of the three battle trained panthers, it was still anyone's fight, it was three to one in favour of the enemy and Azuko soon found himself getting sluggish with fatigue. He'd been climbing for a full day before this had happened and was already tired before the fighting had even started, and now that the adrenaline was losing effect he began to make each block with less time to spare, eventually it was all he could do to keep his attackers at bay.
Eventually Naruto joined them. Gamakichi was hit by a rather big Ninjutsu in favour of letting Naruto take the hit, meaning he had to be sent back to Mount Myōboku for treatment.
"So what's the plan?" Tsugashi asked as he undid the summoning on Hyōka and Hyōna to avoid any serious injury, Hyōya quickly followed.
"If I had some time I could activate sage mode, but I can't gather nature energy when I'm fighting like this." Naruto said as he punched one of the enemy out cold.
"Cover me," Azuko said as he fell to his knees running through a series of hand sings.
Naruto and Tsugashi moved to cover him without question as he began working on the signs. He gathered half of his remanning Chakra before punching into the ground.
"Doton: Yama o ageru no jutsu!" His Chakra poured into the earth and forced it up. Naruto watched with some surprise as Azuko managed to raise a fifteen foot miniature mountain despite his lack of Chakra.
"Jump," He ordered as he made a few more hand signs. Naruto and Tsugashi jumped as high as they could off the small mountain as Azuko gathered his remaining Chakra in his arm bringing it down on the miniature mountain as hard as he could. "Doton: Bundan sa reshi yama no jutsu!"
His arm went clean through the rock sending cracks racing across the rocks surface. After another moment the mountain exploded, sending debris every which way, in a near unavoidable shock wave.
Naruto smiled as Azuko as he landed. "Tsugashi, cover him, he's earned a break. I'll handle the clean-up." Naruto said stepping forward.
"I don't think so." Another voice said. The three of them turned to see another man, dressed all in black standing a little while away.
He was a missing Nin form the Land of Night by the looks of his desecrated headband. Naruto eyed the man cautiously. He stood unarmed, a few feet away from them with a look of boredom in his dark eyes.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked. Knowing that of all the other Shinobi he had just faced this man was in an entirely different liege.
The man offered him a smile and bowed sightly, his long blond hair falling over his face as he did so. "My name is Isalla Takuchi." The man said as he stood back up.
Naruto ran though the bingo book he had memorised before he left the village but he couldn't remember anything about this man being in it. "Sorry, never heard of you." Naruto said.
The man smiled again as he took a step forward. "Not surprising, I have been keeping a rather low profile lately. Though now is the time for me to start doing things myself." He said.
Naruto narrowed his eyes and readied himself. "And what exactly would you be doing?" He asked.
Isalla cocked his head to the side as if in though before he spoke. "Well my first port of call would be to kill you and take the Daimyo's son with me." He said in a matter of fact tone.
Naruto allowed a grin to spread across his face as spoke. "And then?" He prompted, hoping the man would spill more details.
However Isalla only offered Naruto a coy smile. "Come know Uzumaki-san, I'm not dumb enough to reveal my plans to you. Nor is my ego so bloated as to let you try." He said tensing his arms.
Naruto nodded and took up his fighting stance. Isalla drew a kunai and the two began.
Naruto came in with a kick to Isalla's head, but the Yoru-nin, countered the blow and sent a kick into Naruto's ribs. Naruto grunted in pain, but moved pasted it, grabbing the man's leg and sending a punch at his face.
He raised his arms to block the punch but Naruto put as much force into the blow as he could and sent the nin sprawling.
Naruto closed the gap between them, coming out of the sky with an axe kick for the man's chest.
Isalla rolled to the side as the ground cracked under the kick. He whipped himself up and around, taking out Naruto's leg in the process. He hammed into Naruto's chest with an impossibly fast flurry of blows before kneeing him in the back.
Naruto gasped in pain and tried to counter before Isalla sent him flying back with a heavy bunch to the gut.
Naruto got to his feet shakily. The guy was good, no doubt about it. He thought to himself as he whipped the blood away from the corner of his mouth.
Naruto gritted his teeth and held out his right hand, gripping his wrist with his left. After a second of centration a Rasengan appeared in his hand. Isalla eyed the jutsu carefully. He was familiar with the jutsu but had never seen it performed in real life.
Naruto charged a moment later aiming for Isalla. Of course such a direct and linear jutsu was child's play for any competent ninja to avoid, and so the man nimbly side stepped the thrust.
But of course Naruto was expecting as much. After nearly a decade of the Rasengan being his signature jutsu Naruto knew its flaws better than anyone, he kicked out with his leg catching him in the chest.
As Isalla staggered back he was hit squarely from behind as Naruto slammed the Rasengan into the man's back.
Isalla let out a cry of pain as the jutsu hit, but a moment later the man exploded in a cloud of darkness.
Naruto looked about himself puzzled. He knew it was some sort of jutsu, possibly a Genjutsu, but he could always count on Kurama to agitate his Chakra if that was the case.
He looked about himself, keeping on high alert, waiting for the man to reappear again.
He came out of Naruto's shadow, kunai aimed for the blonds throat. Naruto rolled to the left and sent a kick into the man's side.
He rolled into the blow, grabbing Naruto's leg and bringing his kunai into his knee. Naruto let out a cry of pain as the kunai bit deeply into his flesh. With a grunt he brought his fist into Isalla's face sending the man reeling backwards.
He pulled the kunai out of his knee and summoned some shadow clones. The three of them charged Isalla again Rasengan at the ready.
Isalla weaved through a series of hand signs and held his hands to his mouth indicative of a fire style Ninjutsu.
"Katon: Yaketsuku yōna honōnonami no jutsu!" The fire washed over the clones dispelling them all.
Isalla grunted and swung around, looking for the real one.
He came from below bursting through the rocky ground, using his Rasengan to dig his way through.
Isalla rolled back, but the jutsu still managed to get him in the shoulder.
He let out another cry of pain as he staggered back from the blast, blood running freely down his shoulder.
His arm hung limply by his side, and he let out a deep grunt, trying to cope with the pain. He gave the three of them a rough smile before he surveyed the scene before him. Most of his forces were either dead or dying. "Perhaps next time," He gasped weakly as he formed a one handed sign.
"Hey wait!" Naruto shouted, running after him. But he was too late. The darkness wrapped around him and the other Shinobi. The wind took them away like piles of ash and Naruto let out a deep sigh. He turned back to the others, just as Akari arrived.
There were three of her, looking a little worse for wear but otherwise fine. It was then that he noticed Taki, pale as a ghost, being carried by two of the clones.
"Taki," He shouted instinctively as Akari's clones put her down gently.
She was cold to the touch and even Naruto could tell she was suffering from a severe case of blood loss.
He looked at the nasty, black scar on her side and turned to Akari. "Akari what happened?" He asked.
"We got attacked," The girl said as she hung her head. A moment later her hand flew to her heart and she let out a choking gasp of pain.
"Akari!" Naruto began. Before he could do anything all three clones vanished. "Damn it!" He shouted as he looked down at Taki. She needed urgent medical treatment, and Naruto knew that when a shadow clone disappeared like that the original was in a lot of pain.
He attuned himself to the natural energy around him and searched for Akari's Chakra signature. After a minute of searching he found her.
"I've found Akari." He said, though mostly to himself.
Tsugashi nodded. "Go I'll take care of Taki," He said.
"She needs a medic." Naruto said.
"I know." Tsugashi said as he ran through the summoning signs. There was a puff of smoke as he cast the jutsu and a small panther, looking more like a cub than anything else appeared underneath his hand, sitting patiently.
"Hyō-Ba-chan," He said tiredly, the jutsu had clearly taken up a lot of his Chakra to summon this particular panther.
"Tsugashi," She said, eyeing the man curiously. "Why have you summoned me?" She asked.
"The girl." He told her. "She needs medical healing, or she'll die."
The tiny panther let out a 'hum' before observing both the girl and the surrounding area. "Very well," She said. She hoped onto Taki's chest lightly, not even drawing a reaction from the girl, before she was enveloped in a greenish glow.
Naruto allowed himself a sigh of relief knowing that one of his students was safe. He turned in the direction of Akari's Chakra signature and drew on Kurama's power.
The orange glow of the nine tails Chakra enveloped his person and he dashed off.
Praying that he wasn't too late.
Yea another beat stick chapter done. Half of the next one will be the same again, then you get to sit though all of that emotional soul searching stuff again. Wont that be fun XD.
Any how hope you guys enjoyed it, this Land of Planes side arch should take another three Chapters tops to wrap up, then you get what I promised you in the begging. But all in all thanks a lot for your continued support. If you have any questions, fell free to ask, I'll probably answer it.
Jutsu in order of appearance were;
"Fire style: Raging flame conflagration."
"Earth style: Earth wall."
"Earth style: Exploding wall."
"Earth style: Raising mountains."
"Earth style: Sundered mountain."
"Fire style: Searing flame wave."
Until next time I wish you all the best
Yours truly.
Nicolai Grey.