Storm clouds gathered over the height of the house. Lightning penetrated the clouds, driving sharply into the earth and causing flashes of dark light through the clouds. Shadows covered the island.
Naruto lunged upward. He ran along the edge of the house, approaching the highest point in the building.
A single dot of sand rose through the sky, already far-distant enough to be no more than a blob in the heavens.
Naruto rushed upward, his feet pounding along the surface of the old wood. Damn—I can't catch up! His hand tightened on the surface of the kunai. He adjusted his footing.
Sea water washed along the surface of the beach. The white sand darkened with water, glimmering in the light.
I don't have a choice, it seems. Naruto gritted his teeth. Well, it's still incomplete, and I can't replicate it entirely, but there's no time like the present! He drew back his arm. Flying Thunder God Seal! An orange flash of light passed through the air. Naruto's body vanished. The kunai flew through the air. Reforming next to the kunai, Naruto rushed upward. Thanks, Jiraiya-sensei. I don't think I would've made it even an inch further than that! Naruto's foot balanced against the branch of the tree. Having said that, It's not possible for me to disappear so easily. Naruto frowned. If I could teleport anywhere I wanted, this'd be over by now. I can't waste too many kunai; even if I teleport toward the lost ones I might die, depending on where they end up. They said I needed to find Gaara as soon as possible. If he gets sacrificed. No. I'm not going to let that happen. Before that happens, I have to save him. The kunai shot upward in the air once more, the yellow seal glimmering in the light. Under the circumstances, I need to figure out a couple things. First of all, I need to find Gaara in this fog, too. The dot might be him, but probably isn't. Second, I need to figure out how to take down someone that beat Sasuke in a physical fight. He swallowed tightly. No trouble, right?
Sand drifted through the air. A single mote drifted toward Naruto's face.
Naruto looked upward.
Two dark forms became visible through the stormy skies and the fog above the clearing.
Naruto's eyes widened. Gotcha. You were hiding in the chaos of that storm! Naruto's hand extended. The kunai shot through the air. Another orange flash of energy passed through the air. Naruto tensed, his body racing toward the form. Wind blew upward around Naruto's body. "Swirling Wind Bullet!" Naruto grinned.
The woman gritted her teeth. Damn it! How'd he find me so easily? Her eyes narrowed. She glanced toward her passenger. Of course. You used the sand to signal him. In this world, there are very few humans with that kind of self-awareness within my shadows.
Something that closely resembled a smile drifted across Gaara's face.
Naruto lifted his arm. The Whirlwind Bullet glowed. The winds blew upward. Sand isn't such a perfect defense, you know! His eyes widened. Wait, this is stronger than usual. The storms must be enhancing it.
Ugh. Fine. Being that as it may, he's unlikely to be capable of dealing with my techniques. Water spread upward, forming a shield around the woman's body as she gestured rapidly. My techniques were made to deal with idiots like him. That genius Sasuke-san was quite problematic. He won't be like that. Having said that, it isn't out of the question, certainly, that he'll be a problem. The woman scowled. But some idiot like that won't be able to handle this battle, not alone. He can't finish that battle as easily as he'd like.
The Whirlwind Bullet drove toward the woman's side. The woman's white robes burned away. Fragments and scraps of fabric collapsed from the edge of the robe. A faint swirl pattern appeared on the woman's side.
The woman gestured again. Reluctantly, the sand cloud began to rise.
"Are you running?" Naruto demanded.
"You seem to assume I have a concern about 'honor'. I think the truly idiotic shinobi is the one who holds to that above completing their mission." The woman rose through the sky, her mouse mask glimmering in black.
Naruto scowled. "As I thought, I won't be able to finish this battle by myself. Even though I've advanced so far, I still have to depend on you at the end. Genkuro." The silver energy surrounded the body. Naruto screamed. Five tails formed behind Naruto's body.
The woman's eyes widened. This data wasn't included in our information. It was outside our experience. She swallowed.
"Kitsune-Tama-Bi." A ball of energy formed in the air. Pieces of the storm drove together. The storm gathered once again. Winds blew upward around the ball.
It seems that he's capable of producing a Tailed Beast Ball. The woman's eyes narrowed. "But so what? You really think that'll amount to anything? Strength to strength and intellect to intellect, you are my inferior."
Naruto's eyes widened. Silver energy built around the ball. Naruto's five tails whirled in a circle. "What do you mean; I'm stupid?!"
"We don't have time to discuss further, I'm afraid." The woman scowled. "But I will say this. Your understanding of events is far too naïve, boy. Do you really think I'd come here alone?"
The storm rose. Shadows cast through the darkness, indicating patches of deeper darkness in the heart of the storm.
Naruto's eyes widened in shock. "What are you talking about!?" He glanced around. "Who the hell could influence things from here?"
"You are too naïve." The woman sighed. "Techniques are not all the same range as your ability to call up a miniature whirlwind. Some are quite long-range indeed." She gestured briefly. "Please, observe."
Wind blew through the sky. A single lightning bolt gathered in the clouds, electricity sparking and gathering toward a single point.
Naruto swallowed tightly. He hurled a kunai to one side.
The lightning bolt shot downward, piercing toward Naruto's body.
Naruto vanished in a flash of orange energy.
The Tailed Beast Bomb dissipated as Naruto disappeared from the location.
"The Orange Flash." The woman raised an eyebrow. "I regret to inform you that it has no ring to it."
"Shut up." Naruto gritted his teeth. He grasped tightly on to the edge of the cloud of sand. "I'll definitely get you from here."
"Are you really that stupid? My current aide has the gift of controlling storms precisely enough to destroy human bodies without harming others. Storm Release." The woman's eyes narrowed. "If you wanted to survive, you should have gotten out of here. The storm will tear you to pieces!"
The winds accelerated. Pieces of sharp wood tore into Naruto's arms, cutting away parts of his body.
Naruto's body glowed. The pieces of flesh regenerated swiftly.
"Ah, yes. The regeneration of the Nine-Tails. It seems even its subtlest side possesses it." The woman sighed. "But in order to regenerate you can't be dead. That seems a hard limit on even the strongest of the Tailed Beasts."
Naruto's eyes widened. He tightened his grip on the watery sand. "How do you know about that?"
"You didn't seriously think there was no history to the jinchūriki? No. I cannot perceive that as a possibility." The woman knelt. "There is such a history, intimately tied with how the villages are now. And that history intimately records what the Tailed Beasts may do."
Naruto gritted his teeth. "How do you know about that history?"
"I have no interest in discourse of this type. I'm not like my partner." The woman reached downward. She grasped Naruto's arm with deceptive strength, the black energy twisting up his arm. Her hand grasped a kunai, pressing the weapon to Naruto's throat.
Naruto's eyes widened.
"Forgive me." Mizuki. I'm afraid I have no choice in this matter. It was the request of that person to let him live. The woman released Naruto's arm. She gave him a hard shove.
Naruto plummeted toward the sea far below.
The woman watched with satisfaction. I succeeded.
Naruto reached into his bag. He grasped a kunai. Gritting his teeth, he hurled the kunai upward.
The orange flash stabbed upward, returning to the floating kunai.
"What are you doing?" The woman's body shifted to one side. She glanced at the Orange Flash with mild interest.
"He's the same." Naruto spun in midair. His foot aimed toward the cloud of sand.
The woman's eyes widened.
"From beginning to end, my life is the same as his. We live inside the same story. A story about jinchūriki and dead men. A story about overwhelming pride. A story of death. That's the simplest fact ever written in this world." Naruto gritted his teeth. "I know that. And all the time it can't help but sadden me." He lowered his hand. "In a different life, I could've been that red-head." He pointed up at the sand. "So I'm going to save him!" Naruto pointed at the woman, holding the kunai motionless in the air. His body flickered in and out of existence, orange light sparking around his body as he teleported too and from the kunai. "So let me help him!"
The woman scowled.
"I'm going to beat anyone standing in my way!" Naruto drew back his fist. A Whirlwind Bullet glowed on the surface of the palm.
The woman's hand extended. Shadowy tendrils wrapped around the kunai, seizing it from Naruto's hand.
Naruto gasped in shock. Drawing back his arm, he threw several kunai into the air. He teleported between them rapidly.
"You do want to save him? Ah. This must be the charming view of a child." The woman's eyes narrowed.
Shadows laced through the air. The threads laced together the kunai, forcing them into a single point in the sky.
"That won't be possible. Sorry to disappoint you. Shadow Puppeteer Technique: Web of Shadows."
A spider's web of shadows formed in the air. Reappearing in an orange flash of light, Naruto's hand briefly touched the edge of the shadows. His eyes widened in shock. Blood dripped from the hand.
"The end of this particular story. The end of the story for all jinchūriki is death. There's no moral. No particular subtlety. No point at the end of the road." The woman's hand extended. Shadow needles spread from the fingers. "A for effort and all that. But you lose if you try understanding how these things work. At the end of the day everything dies. That's the story. The only thing that stands is the Land. The Land is ours." The woman's arms extended. The woman smirked. "And sorry, but that land needs him to die." He should be provoked by this. If he comes straight at me, he's already lost.
Naruto screamed. He rushed upward, moving away from the woman.
The woman's fingers tensed. Trying to get distance to shoot a Tailed Beast Bomb? If you get too far off you can't see me; if you're too close you're in my range. But that won't do. That won't do at all. You're seriously underestimating me, you know~?
A single thread of the shadow web laced through Naruto's skin, piercing through Naruto's fingernail.
"This probably isn't going to kill you. But it is going to sting for a long, long time." The woman's eyes narrowed. "Well, I can't say I hate your enthusiasm. You have the right attitude for those you consider your comrades. But I'll take you down however I have to."
Naruto gasped loudly. Energy blasted downward. The shadows pierced through Naruto's skin. He bellowed in pain, his hand grasping his heart.
Gaara's hand extended. Sand rushed toward the woman.
The woman smirked. "Hey, hey. You're getting a little ahead of yourself. One little movement and you think you can beat me." Her fingers drove into Gaara's chest. She lowered her fingers. The shadows laced through Gaara's body. "I just needed to clip a fox's wings. That's all there is to it. It's not like I enjoy my work—but you gotta compare the alternative. At least this way he'll stay alive long enough for us to finish our job." The sand gathered beneath the woman's feet. The woman rushed upward, flying through the blustering winds rapidly. Mission complete, second time.
Naruto tumbled downward through the heavens, his body limp as silver light surrounded the edges of his body. He could say nothing as the rain water splashed against his body.
The woman's eyes narrowed. "While we're on the topic, what the hell is Mizuki doing?" She glanced toward the island behind her. "He destroyed the bridge, and he's still having trouble with this kind of battle. Well, to be fair, Mui tired him out, but even so."
The rain splashed heavily against the ocean water.
A/N: Feeling a bit sick, but hopefully this chapter doesn't suffer because of it. Please enjoy!