I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Three
Naruto landed on the branch above the others and stared at the massive crystal prison before them. Yamato had informed them that there was no way to break it down so Naruto was going to prove him wrong.
"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto shouted Summoning Gamatatsu. "We're going to break this crystal cage Gamatatsu. Ready?"
"Ready," Gamatatsu replied before gathering his chakra and turning it into water, making his cheeks bulge as Naruto set his hand on Gamatatsu's back channeling his Wind Nature chakra into him.
"Wind Style, Toad Water Pistol!" Naruto shouted as Gamatatsu fired a massive stream of wind-powered water that exploded against the crystal shattering it instantly.
"He did it," Yamato gasped blinking in surprise. "Alright, let's...Naruto get back here!"
Naruto had already leapt over the others and was sprinting toward the others. The others followed and understood why he was so anxious when they arrived. Hinata was encased in crystal beside the woman that the others seemed to have been fighting. Naruto's team had already been warned about the fatal effects of the Crystal Style.
"Hinata," Naruto breathed as the woman commended him on breaking her crystal barrier. "Kakashi, is there any way to free her without killing her?"
"It's possible," Kakashi shrugged. "But not when that woman has her and certainly not here."
"I see," Naruto nodded. "I'll handle this."
The woman walked forward promising to release Hinata while explaining all the ways they couldn't beat her. Naruto tapped Gamatatsu to tell him to ready another blast then set his hand on his back.
Got to be careful, Naruto thought.
Yamato stepped forward and the woman's head snapped around toward him.
"Wind Style, Toad Water Pistol!" Naruto shouted firing the blast at Guren.
Just as it reached her, she held her arm out and the water turned to crystal, stopping.
"No way!" Naruto gasped.
"My Crystal Style can crystallize anything," the woman sneered as the crystal began to move forming a massive crystal dragon. "You'll need about ten more years of experience to challenge me boy. Crystal Style, Burst Crystal Falling Dragon!"
"Is that right?" Naruto sneered glancing at the dragon and the teleportation seal he had hidden there then down at the one on Gamatatsu's back.
"Yes," the woman sneered.
Naruto suddenly teleported to the seal on the underside of the dragon's head then leapt off of it to Hinata, picking her up, crystal and all then teleporting back to Gamatatsu just as the woman slashed at him.
"How the hell?" the woman snarled. "Fine. Try this!"
The dragon shot toward them and they all scattered. Gamatatsu leaping into the air with Hinata and Naruto on his back before Naruto dropped to the ground and Gamatatsu landed beside him.
"Do it," Naruto ordered and Gamatatsu used his tongue to pull Hinata into his mouth, swallowing her for safekeeping before returning home. "Shall we Kakashi?"
"Sure," Kakashi nodded.
Naruto created a clone who sprinted out of the trees at the woman who was now standing on the dragon while Kakashi hurled Naruto into the air. Both the clone and Naruto had Rasengans ready and while the dragon destroyed the clone, Naruto fell toward the woman.
"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted at the last second.
He drove it into the woman's face and the explosion destroyed the dragon before the woman fell away as crystal. Just as the real one arrived to fight him, he teleported to the kunai he had Kakashi hold onto and he and the others retreated. They stopped by a massive hollow stump that they could use as cover to hide from the others and Naruto summoned Gamatatsu and Gamakichi.
"Thank you for your help Gamatatsu," Naruto sighed. "You can spit her out now. But be careful. If you break her, I'll stop sending you food."
"Aaww," Gamatatsu whined before regurgitating Hinata and wrapping his tongue around her, slowly lowering her to the ground.
At first, it was fine. Until a fly flew past Gamatatsu and he retracted his tongue so he could eat the fly, allowing Hinata to fall to the ground.
"Hinata!" Kiba gasped.
"You fucking idiot!" Naruto shouted at Gamatatsu who already looked very ashamed and sorry.
Cracks began to run along the crystal, spreading rapidly.
"Stop cracking, stop cracking!" Naruto muttered crossing his fingers, for lack of a better idea.
"Hinata!" Sakura shouted kneeling beside the crystal, apparently thinking her being next to it would make it stop misbehaving.
Finally the cracks stopped and everyone sighed in relief.
"Damn, guess I'm too late," Pakkun spoke up suddenly standing with them.
"Pakkun," Kakashi stated in surprise.
"They finished analyzing that insect of Shino's," Pakkun stated. "There's no mistaking it, the enemy uses some kind of Crystal Style Jutsu."
"Thanks for the heads up," Naruto stated rolling his eyes.
"What Naruto means is, we met the ninja that uses it," Kakashi stated.
"The researchers say the effect on that insect was thorough," Pakkun continued. "That thing was crystallized inside and out."
"You mean," Shino began but stopped his question obvious.
"Yeah," Pakkun sighed. "They found that even the insect's bodily fluids were crystallized."
"What?" Kiba gasped. "But then..."
"There's no way to save Hinata is there?" Naruto questioned.
"We need to get her back to the village, immediately," Yamato spoke up after a moment of silence.
"But how will that-" Naruto stopped when they all heard the crystal begin to crack again. "No!"
He spun around just as it shattered and froze, as did the others. Hinata was unharmed. Sakura instantly bent down to check for a pulse and smiled.
"It's alright, she's alive!" Sakura sighed smiling.
"Thank God," Kiba sighed.
Naruto, on the other hand sat down against a rock and looked up at the sky, sighing as his panic faded.
"What is it Shino?" Kakashi questioned some how able to tell he wasn't smiling.
"I was remembering what happened to one of my insects," Shino stated. "After being captured by the Crystal Style, it shattered in my hand. And yet, Hinata survived."
"Are you complaining?" Naruto asked glaring at Shino.
Just then, Hinata began to stir and everyone turned to her.
"Take it easy Hinata," Sakura ordered.
"How did you survive?" Shino questioned curious.
"When I saw I was going to be hit by her jutsu, I released chakra from all of my chakra points at once," Hinata stated. "I surrounded myself with a barrier."
"I see," Shino said thoughtfully. "So her Crystal Style doesn't work on everything after all. It can't crystallize chakra."
"Hinata, you're a genius," Naruto smiled making her blush and Kakashi grin behind his mask.
"Yeah, that was awesome," Kiba smirked. "Of course, I expected as much, unlike some people."
He threw a dirty look back at Naruto who narrowed his eyes.
"Quit brown nosing Kiba," Naruto growled. "You were just as scared at the rest of us."
"Enough you two," Kakashi sighed.
"What do we do now?" Yamato questioned.
"We have no countermeasures for the jutsu so caution is the best policy," Kakashi stated.
"You go ahead and do that," Naruto growled. "In the mean time, I'm going to find the bitch and I'm probably going to kill her. Although, I would love to learn to use the Crystal Style."
"It's a Kekkei Genkai," Kakashi stated.
"Typical," Naruto sighed. "Alright. Hinata, let's go."
He rested his hand on her shoulder and sent a pulse of chakra through it, healing her then helped her up.
"Wait," Kakashi snapped catching his shoulder. "We don't even know where they are."
"Hinata?" Naruto questioned.
Hinata activated her Byakugan for a moment then deactivated it and looked to Kakashi.
"They're at a lake a ways East of here," Hinata stated. "They're trying to summon something, I think."
"How do you know?" Kakashi questioned.
"Because I can see chakra in the lake that doesn't belong to any of them but the owner isn't there," Hinata stated.
"We should hurry then," Naruto stated.
Hinata nodded and they all began to head to the lake. After an hour, they reached the lake and saw a massive grey turtle with a spiked shell, one eye visible on his head with a spiked face-guard-like extension of his shell wrapped around it. It also had three large craw-fish-like tails.
"Damn," Naruto growled. "The Three-tails. Kakashi, send a message to Tsunade. We'll have to seal it. The Akatsuki cannot have him."
"Right," Kakashi nodded summoning Pakkun and sending him back to Konoha.
"What are those things around him?" Kiba questioned.
"Crystal pillars," Naruto stated. "I'm going out there. I need to keep this from getting out of hand. And keep him out of Orochimaru's."
Yamato nodded and Naruto sprinted out onto the water. The others all fell back, deciding to let Naruto handle it.
As Naruto got onto the water, the Three-tails broke free of whatever jutsu was keeping him calm and began to go on a rampage instantly breaking the five crystal pillars around him before slipping back underwater as a thick fog spread over the lake then the surrounding area. Within seconds, Naruto saw someone dart through the smoke, circling around him and onto the shore and followed. After a few seconds, he stopped as he reached a clearing with the figure standing in the distance, barely a silhouette but clearly there.
"Who are you?" Naruto demanded.
"I would have thought you'd remember me," an unmistakable voice stated calmly as the silhouette moved closer.
"Danzo," Naruto growled. "So the Akatsuki is here already."
"That's right," Danzo nodded. "And you know that you alone can't beat me."
"I know what I promised Sasuke," Naruto sighed. "But it would seem, you're going to die here."
Naruto drew his Double Edged Sword and Temujin's sword then created his Three Clone Squad, as he had begun to call it, and they all attacked the usual way. The problem was, the Garian blades clone was unable to catch him. Every time he tried, Danzo would easily jump over the dragons then land just in time to avoid one of the others. After a few minutes, Danzo landed and drew his own sword, killing the three clones in seconds before leaping at Naruto.
"Naruto!" Kakashi's voice snapped and spun around seeing his captain standing before him.
Naruto spun back around but Danzo was gone.
"What the hell just happened?" Naruto questioned.
"You were fighting a genjutsu," Kakashi stated. "What was it?"
"Danzo," Naruto stated. "I was struggling to fight Danzo."
Kakashi nodded then motioned for Naruto to follow. Naruto nodded and followed Kakashi until they left the fog and suddenly Kakashi was gone. Hinata, on the other hand, was just in front of him.
"N-Naruto," Hinata blinked. "Are you okay?"
"I...I think the Three-tails led me out of the fog after fighting me," Naruto stated. "It was a genjutsu. Weird. Are the others here?"
"Um, yes," Hinata nodded. "They're this way."
She turned and led him through the trees to the others. Once there, he described what had happened.
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