Legion of Naruto

by DarkWolfy

He knew his clones were solid but someone finally clues him in that he can learn with them. Armed and ready, a simple idea would lead to a child's understanding of what a badass really could be. Cause if you can spam suicide clones, why not make it fun?

50. Chapter 50

-AN-

I wanna bring up that, I'm doing a lot of things in this fic in relation to the world of Naruto from memory, which, considering my age, was a long while ago since I watched it or read the manga. That said, I forget sometimes that technology advancements were above what the world would actually seem like logically. I'll adjust things accordingly and I'm grateful ya'll help point out when stuff actually exists in world or not.

Now then, this is chapter 50! Holy shit I never thought I'd get this far. Thanks to this one my search history has gotten a little more weird, but oh well. That said, this is a special one. Have fun, I hope I hit the mark with this one, and let's get to it.

-Story Start-

Less walking and more shambling, Jirobu has finally made it back to the sound base in the Land of Rivers. Nestled within a canyon under one of the country's many famous bridges, it was as always one of those places one would never find if they didn't know it was there. That said, Jirobu was no less terrified than he had been for his entire trip back. Safe from Wave and his pursuers he may be, but now he had to report to Kabuto and then Orochimaru-sama. He wanted to run. He wanted to hide. But his orders were clear that if there was a failure of the team, he was to return no matter what. His biggest problem however centered around that failure.

Because he didn't remember it.

He remembered reaching the border of Wave with the rest of the Sound Four, camping on the beach while making plans to cross the straight. Then nothing. Memory hazy and broken, he couldn't figure out what happened after that. The next thing he remembers is pain, broken bodies and craters. It had been excruciating just working through his own beaten form in order to escape. He attributes his good fortune to being trapped under what had been Kimimaro's corpse. Most likely having been mistaken for dead, not that he was far from it, his body telling him he had plenty of internal injuries.

Trudging through the halls and pushing his sore body further, Jirobu is met by a quiet Kabuto. Eyes cold and calculating, the medic gave him a once over before frowning and putting his hands on his hips, "I'm assuming it was a disaster then?"

Jirobu nodded, leaning against the rough stone wall while panting and catching his breath. "Ye-yeah. Team was completely destroyed. Never even saw them coming."

"And yet you live…interesting." Kabuto had known it was doomed for failure from the get go and had wanted to make way for Wave himself. But Orochimaru had other plans, instead sending him to Kumo to check on a joint venture there. "Come then. Lord Orochimaru will want to hear what you have to say. I shouldn't have to mention it, but he will not be pleased with you." Turning and leading the way, Kabuto does not slow for the injured boy. His mind is already racing, knowing something is wrong with this. The explosion happy Naruto would never have left enough of the Sound Four alive to fit in a hand bag, much less one of them intact enough to escape and make it all the way to Sound. No. This screamed trap. But in what way?

They walked together in silence for a time before Kabuto decides to update the teen. "We'll be moving soon to the East base in the Land of Lightning. Orochimaru-sama has decided to make closer ties with Kumo in order to continue certain experiments there." Kabuto could admit that for once he didn't want to be involved with those at all. Not for any moral reason of course, but more, the retribution would not be kind to anyone involved.

They continue on through quiet halls and an open gathering hall before they reached Orochimaru's chambers. A wide room bearing nothing more than a throne on which Orochimaru sat, a new bandaged body that gave the appearance of still trying to recover while for a moment, blue eyes flashed in the dim light. "So you return, alone." Orochimaru motions to the floor before him where Jirobu comes forward to kneel. "Explain yourself."

Jirobu does so, explaining everything he can remember, all the way up to waking up covered in soot, dust and blood with his memory broken. Watching Orochimaru's face and watching his frown deepen the more he talks, Jirobu lowers his head fully to the floor. "In short. We failed to even make it into the country and everyone but myself is dead."

Orochimaru puts a hand to his chin as he thinks this over. He knew it was a gamble for the group to even have a chance to hurt the boy. He was skilled enough to make a Sannin sweat after all. But no, something else was bothering him. "You're absolutely sure you can remember nothing else of the battle?"

Jirobu shakes his head, "Lord Uzumaki never found us as far as I can tell."

Kabuto and Orochimaru raise their eyebrows at the honorific. Orochimaru begins to stand, "Say that again." Tone cold, the elder ninja remembers that one of the rumors surrounding the boy was that he had a Yamanaka with him.

Shaking in place violently as he can feel the waves of killing intent coming from his master but keeping his head to the floor, Jirobu shakes his head quickly, "I do not know why I addressed Lord Uzumaki as such snake bastard." Eyes going wide as the words left his mouth before he could help it or stop them, smoke was beginning to rise from his back. "Why?" His back begins to audibly sizzle and burn, but he is unable to scream out in pain. Blissfully for him unconsciousness envelops his mind within moments and his body drops slack to the ground. After a moment and nothing happening, the sizzling stops and the smoke fades away.

On guard but confused, Kabuto first ties and restrains Jirobu with ninja wire before ripping off his tunic, exposing a wide seal array spread across his back. It is clearly damaged, spots burned out from Jirobu's flesh, but what its intention was neither of the remaining ninja knew. "I've never seen something like this before. Why build such an elaborate seal just to kill one ninja?"

Orochimaru is chuckling while shaking his head, having some idea of what might have happened but keeping it to himself for now. "I believe this new body of mine is proving its worth already." Feeling a chakra spike, both Sound ninja back away from Jirobu as in a flash, several ninja join them in his chambers. "Oh ho, of course it was you."

Naruto stands armed with the Kubikiribocho while behind him Hinata, Ino, and Tayuya all cover his flanks as they stand over the nearly dead body of Jirobu. Walking forward without a care in the world, Naruto bounces his sword against his shoulder, "Oh Snake bastard, I hope you're finally ready to face your death."

Behind him Hinata idly checks Jirobu over, "If he isn't dead he will be soon." Serves him right as far as she was concerned.

Shrugging, Naruto smirks at the bandaged Sannin, "They'll be joining him soon, so he won't be alone for long." He does point a lazy finger at the Sannin though in thought, "I am curious about how you disrupted his seal though. I was sure that seals of that level weren't really your thing."

"Oh they aren't." Orochimaru begins to pull his bandages free, blue eyes changing to glowing slitted yellow within moments, "But you aren't the only one who's been working on improving themselves." Not taking his eyes off of the younger blonde, Orochimaru points towards the doorway, "Kabuto, take the girls and go entertain them. I want to personally take the life of this brat."

Behind Naruto the girls all don their various Uzumaki masks, while Ino leans forward just a tad, "Think you'll want some backup?" She knew he wouldn't but they would feel better if they at least asked.

Waving them off with a grin, Naruto shakes his head, "Go on." Eyes beginning to shine, his grin becomes something feral and bloodthirsty, "I've been waiting to kill this bastard for a long time."

Without a word Kabuto races away first, the Riptide girls following after him. Neither group wanted to be caught in the crossfire between two super powered ninja. That'd be a fast way towards a meaningless death.

Stretching back and forth after driving his sword into the ground, Naruto doesn't let his eyes leave the Sannin, "So, not going to slip away into the shadows this time like a little bitch?"

"Oh you wound me Naruto-chan. I've only ever wanted you to join my side was all. I thought you would see reason by now. Just like your father however, you're just to stupid for that."

"Says the guy running from every country in the nations and unable to keep his bases and slaves safe. Thanks for that by the way, really jump started my country's population." Naruto ripped his sword out of the ground, pointing its deadly edge towards the older man.

"Oh I'm happy you're satisfied with my sloppy seconds. I'll be sure to raze your home to the ground when I'm done with you. I have need of more Uzumaki blood anyway." A long serpentine tongue leaves his mouth to flick and taste the air. "No fear, good. It'll taste that much sweeter later."

Naruto's grin never left his face, "How about I make you taste your blood first. Then we'll see who's full of fear."

Orochimaru begins to finally adopt a ready stance, "Tell you what. If you push me enough, I'll tell you a little secret about your clan. You know I'm good for it." Seeing the boy twitch just a bit and no more, he did have to admit that Naruto had improved a great deal since their last meeting. That might be a problem.

Having enough of the banter, Naruto creates a dozen clones before dashing forward through the smoke, sword arcing through the air towards Orochimaru's neck with a vapor trail following its edge. Orochimaru has little problem dodging away, though his throne and a section of the back wall receive a massive gash. Thrusting a hand forward silently, a torrent of snakes lunge for the back of Naruto. One of the clones comes to his rescue, explosive seal making short work of the snakes while Naruto himself is already lunging back into the fight, sword swinging and slashing in ever tightening arcs that the slippery snake Sannin bends and twists away from. Deciding dodging wasn't going to get him anywhere except exhausted, Orochimaru regurgitates the Kusanagi from his throat and begins to parry and return attacks. Blades clashing against one another while clones circled them and looked for openings, while another half of them write seals alone the walls, ceiling, and floor. Seeing the work for what it is, Orochimaru attempts to destroy several of the clones with another snake hand.

Naruto grins and gathers chakra into his sword, "Kaze no yaiba!" A slash from Kubikiri extends out, taking off Orochimaru's hand and shredding his snakes. "Gotta be faster than that bastard!"

With a thought, a new hand grows to replace the old. "Oh don't worry Naruto-chan. There's plenty more to come." Internally he rages as the boy had not only gotten more skilled and increased his speed, but the amount of chakra he held had increased to insane levels. It was like fighting against Sarutobi closer to his prime. "You have to realize by now, Uzumaki seals are no good against me anymore."

Naruto shook his head as they danced back and forth across the floor, swords clashing and sending sparks in every direction, "There are plenty of things that work on everyone." Concerned but undaunted, Naruto could admit to himself that Orochimaru still outclassed him in terms of experience, which wasn't a surprise given their age gap. Even now, the Kusanagi slips in, tears opening up along his arms as he isn't fast enough to dodge back. It does give him an opening to retaliate however, a horizontal swing splitting Orochimaru in half, legs gushing blood while his upper half arcs through the air. "You're getting slow old man."

Retching and mouth opening wide, a new set of hands spreads it open even further and a new Orochimaru climbs free from the husk. "Think you'll be able to kill me completely before that poison catches up to you?" Not that he expected it too, the Kyuubi would most likely be working to burn it out of his system. He dives back in, attacks more aggressive as he hopes to overwhelm the boy's natural healing ability.

Naruto backpedals, sword braced at his front to block and parry the Sannin's attacks and protect as much as himself as possible. Even still he takes a few slashes to his legs for his hesitation. Grunting at the pain, Orochimaru gloats while attacking with a high overhead slash. "You just aren't good enough boy!" Faster than ever, Naruto kicks his own blade up to take off one of Orochimaru's arms. Orochimaru left screaming and backing away, Naruto now takes the offensive, hacking and slashing away with abandon as his opponent's bloody appendage bleeds on the floor. Grimacing and regrowing his arm, Orochimaru tries to stall while he attempts to think up a plan. "You know. After I kill you and raze your little city to the ground, I'm going to take whatever is left of your clan straight to the Raikage. Out of all of the nations beyond myself, Lightning has the most experience experimenting on your clan after all." Bending and twisting away in a manner no other human could hope to achieve, Orochimaru is all grins at the frown that is beginning to grow on the panting blonde's face. "Of course I always was focused on how it could benefit just myself. I am looking to be immortal you know. But Kumo? Oh they became masters of breeding and bloodline mixing. Even this latest Raikage secretly requested whatever Uzumaki women and men he could get his hands on. I wonder how they're doing by now. You know how I treat my breeders. Imagine someone worse than that."

The young leader of Uzushio could imagine such a scenario and it took a lot of effort to keep his emotions under control. Though his attacks sped up minutely. "Keep it up. I'm going to eviscerate you and hang you from the ceiling by your entrails." Checking around the room as they fight, Naruto notes that the clones are nearly finished with their work. "I'm still curious, how did you destroy that seal on Jirobu."

"It's funny actually. I technically had nothing to do with it. It was you." Grinning and giving ground in the hopes Naruto would overextend himself, he internally scoffs when Naruto doesn't take the bait, "See Uzumaki have this quirk. You're almost like gods with seals, but you all do the same thing. You always build a fail-safe into your seals so that other Uzumaki don't get caught in something destructive. Family above all else for you right?" Orochimaru's eyes shifted from baleful yellow to sky blue and back again. "Think you can understand why your seal didn't work?"

Naruto did understand, and the fury that built up in his chest almost undid him, "You fucking monster."

"Oh don't worry, this one was mentally broken long before I received him from Kumo. An exchange for some new stock. The last that I had actually." Orochimaru laughed and danced away from a powerful swing that would have cleaved him from shoulder to hip, but he did add a new line of blood along Naruto's right side. "I wonder, how long did this one hold up? Do you think you could do it, being used for years as nothing more than a breeding stud? Forced to impregnate your fellow clanmates for someone else. What if your partner was your mother? Sisters? Daughters? Kukuku. I wonder just how many Uzumaki bastards are running around Lightning by now."

Around them the clones finish their work, a sinister red barrier coming to life and boxing them in completely from floor to ceiling. With a look Orochimaru could tell that this was a barrier meant to keep things both in and out, and much like his had been used against the third, clones sat protected at the corners, watching them calmly. Naruto however had a snarl on his face, "You know, I was all for giving you a quick death you know. Something merciful for a misguided soul." Purple eye glowing even brighter, the boy finally backed away completely and pointed a finger at the man, "You shouldn't have pissed me off. Cause now…now I've got a reason to try out something that might just kill us both."

Orochimaru laughs and holds his arms out wide, inviting the boy to try, "My cute apprentice thought the same way once. It is truly too bad you're going to meet the same fate. You should have joined me boy."

A third and then fourth ripple surrounding the pupil of his eye, Naruto grinned and showed off sharp canines, "I'm going to rip you apart, limb by screaming limb. Try not to bore me too much!"

"Try it boy! You're already dead!" Brandishing his sword while snakes billowed out from his tunic, Orochimaru gave a wide grin as his tongue tasted the air.

"Let's get flashy!" Eyes shining and murderous grin stretching across his face, Naruto was ready to put Orochimaru down for good. He wouldn't be running away this time.

-b-

Kabuto could say confidently that his life hadn't gone as well as he could have hoped. And in this moment, dodging and weaving through two avenues of attacks while a third member waited in the rafters, he knew he was well and truly outclassed. Hinata was keeping in close, juken a good counter against his chakra scalpels, as they danced and weaved around each other. And while he was attempting to put her down painlessly with his extensive medical knowledge, she had no problems countering him. Most likely she had some medical training of her own. Around them, Ino is circling and trying to harass him with poisoned senbon and the occasional kunai. He has no problems deflecting those and even returning them back to their owner. Showing that while her strength had increased her natural flexibility was nothing to sneeze at as Ino twirled away from the pair and kept out of range from further counter attacks. She waits and keeps moving, looking for an opening, Kabuto keeps eye contact with Hinata, "I would like to talk."

Watching for an opening and summoning her flute, Tayuya scoffs as her doki poof into being. "Fat chance of that you snake. You wanna talk, talk to my friends." She arranges her doki to surround the group while Ino and Hinata continue to harass the silver haired teen and wear him down. They had worked out a while ago that when against a stronger opponent they would turn things into a war of attrition. No unnecessary risks and no heroics. Kabuto would die, one way or another. Watching Hinata and Kabuto weave through support pillars and across the floor space, Tayuya grins as she mentally counts down until she can take the lead.

Sighing as he gains a little ground by jumping back then around a pillar, Kabuto has to leap again back towards the blue haired death machine as a group of senbon nearly skewer him. "I truly do wish to talk this out."

Ino is watching Hinata, knowing she's starting to tire out and ready to pull her away to give Tayuya room to work. "Like she said." Seeing an opening when Hinata faltered just a tad, Ino sweeps in, dragging her friend away as Tayuya's doki rush in on their own mission to pound the man into paste on the floor, "Talk to her friends."

Sucking his teeth as he weaves and dodges between the murderous summons while all three of the kunoichi watch on, Tayuya working her flute somehow through her mask, he takes a moment to focus on the problem immediately in front of him. A club is crashing down towards him and with some acrobatics he sticks himself to it, Kabuto grins before leaping and flipped over that particular doki, giving him a chance to dodge the knives attached to the other's hands. Knowing he can't dodge all three of them, he slinks behind the third and severs its neck with his scalpels, dashing away quickly as its corpse hits the ground with a shudder before dispelling. A little more breathing room now, Kabuto weaves in and out of attacks while addressing the girls in another attempt to entreaty peace. "Who do you think kept security light at all of the Sound bases? Who let the Sound Four go to Wave so ill prepared? Who do you think let Jirobu on base even knowing it was most likely a trap? You don't have to believe my words, but my deeds should speak loudly enough."

Tayuya frowns, adjusting her tempo and song as the Doki become more ferocious in their assault. "You're just like your master, a lair and a snake ready to shed his skin at a moments notice."

"Wait." Hinata comes to her side, a hand gentle on her arm. "Let him speak for a minute."

Tayuya stops her Doki, a club barely a breath away from smashing Kabuto into a wall while the other had its knives at his legs. "You're kidding me right?" Tayuya however sees the firm look in Hinata's eyes and groans, "You've got 60 seconds."

Hinata nods, stepping a few paces forward and turning cold eyes towards the glasses wearing man, "Why do you want to talk so badly?"

Ino snips quickly, "He just wants to save his skin, what else?"

Kabuto shrugs and nods, "I won't refute that. I do wish to live. BUT. Just because I want to save myself doesn't mean that I mean you ill will or harm. I'm not truly evil. Above all things, my search has always been for the truth. Orochimaru has let me do that, but things have changed recently. I've been, re-evaluating my position."

Tayuya growls, fists clenched on her flute causing her doki to twitch in response. "I don't like this. I say we kill him and leave it alone. Nothing good will come from him. He experimented on others just as much as Orochimaru has."

Shaking his head with a heavy sigh, Kabuto holds up his hands in surrender, "I can't fully deny that. Only that my experiments were always towards knowledge. I never killed anyone if I could help it, and I never did anything to someone without gaining their consent in one form or another. Even you should remember that. I will not deny that my hands are stained in blood, but don't compare me to Orochimaru and the literal ocean of blood he has spilled." Kabuto takes the fact that his minute had come and gone as a potential good sign, "I never touched children if I could help it, and mercifully killed any that required it. Kimimaro volunteered on the chance that I could cure him, and I genuinely did try to do so. Jugo's experimentation gave you your curse seal, but that was a bit before my time, I was only there towards the end. Both of those boys volunteered." If he had to give up all of his information in order to live, he'd do so in a heartbeat. He was not willing to die for Orochimaru. Not anymore.

Tayuya is still firmly against letting him live as Ino and Hinata turn to each other. Ino leans in close to the shorter girl, "Why even give him a chance? We could have killed him by now. Still can you know."

Hinata nods, "Except this is a chance to gain knowledge about all of Orochimaru's dealings from his second in command. Think about how important that could be."

"I could still probably pull the information from his corpse." Ino just knew Hinata was giving her a flat look but shrugged it off. It had to be said. Kabuto didn't necessarily need to be alive for them to get what they want. At all. "He's committed so many sins. No matter what, we can't let him go."

Agreeing with her friend and teammate, Hinata turns back to the slowly grinning Kabuto, "Why shouldn't we just cut your head off?"

"I have information that'll be destroyed the second I die for one. Information about what few Uzumaki there are in the world. Experiments done not just by Orochimaru, but by Danzo and Kumo."

That gets Riptide's interests, all three girls lowering their defenses a tad as they all individually think about that. If Naruto learned that there were more Uzumaki out there and they killed potentially the only known source of that information? They didn't want to consider how he would react. He took restoring and protecting his clan very seriously. If Kabuto was telling the truth, that pretty much guaranteed his survival.

Hinata motions to Ino, "You want to live, submit yourself to be mind walked and chakra suppressed. You fight back at all, even a little, you die." Kabuto's smirk grew as he lowered himself to his knees and held his hands in front of him, palms up. Tayuya pulled back her doki as Ino made the necessary seal. "Be careful Ino."

Ino winks at her before she completes her technique, Tayuya having to catch her body as her doki go limp, no orders for them at the moment. Hinata wastes no time in coming forward to block Kabuto's chakra points all along his spine and arms and legs. Additionally she adds in a lesser suppression seal to his back and goes one step further by tying him up with ninja wire. Firmly captured and no longer a threat, Tayuya dispels her doki and seals her flute away. "Ino could just copy his mind and we can kill him afterwards."

Shaking her head, Hinata sighed, "You know it doesn't work that way."

"I know, I just hate the thought of needing this fucking parasite even a little bit." Tayuya did have to consider though, that if he did have information about living Uzumaki, even a few, hell even just one, she would put up with a lot to save them. "I hate this."

"So do I."

Tayuya raises her mask and smirks at the quiet girl, "Do I have to repeat though, that this is a bad idea?"

Hinata returns her smirk while raising her own mask, "There's an emergency explosive on the suppression seal, just in case. I can blow him to bits at any time."

Whistling and much happier about that, Tayuya eyes the downed man, "That one of Naruto's?"

Blushing and looking away, Hinata twiddles her fingers together, "One of mine, actually."

They both share a laugh together before they settle back into the silence. They weren't too concerned about the lack of noise from Naruto's battle, he had explained his plan to use a barrier to keep the Sannin from running away. But it did strike home that this base was all but abandoned. At least it would simplify destroying the place.

Gasping as she returned to her body with a shudder, Ino held onto Tayuya tightly as she tried her hardest to rid her mind of everything she saw in that monster's head. "By the Kami I wish we could kill him. Hell, I'd like Naruto use that fucked up time seal on him, repeatedly."

Hinata raised her eyebrows, surprised and worried as Ino was the last of them to curse, ever. "What did you see?" Ino is pale and looks ready to empty her stomach, but controls herself even though Tayuya and Hinata can tell it is through great effort.

"There are more Uzumaki in Kumo. That he knows of at least, a dozen of them. Eleven women, one man. It's….it's bad. Really fucking bad. But." Here Ino steadies herself finally and stands tall, but still shaking. Whether it was rage or adrenaline, neither of her friends would make the distinction at the moment, "But he's good on his word. He's got weird blockers in place so that, if we do kill him, all of his mind will essentially implode. We need him alive."

"Well shit on a stick, guess the fuckstain gets to live another day." Frowning as she picks him up by his waistband, Tayuya wishes with all her heart things were different. Why was it her clan that kept getting used and abused this way? Why couldn't the rest of the world just leave them alone. She knew Naruto was against it, but razing the rest of the villages to the ground looked better and better ever day. She certainly knew the Uzushio population could get behind such a campaign.

Hinata turned to Ino as she raises her own mask and shakes herself free of the last of the technique, "We need to get back to Naruto then, update him."

Ino nods, "He'll want to know, and we really can't keep this from him." She still wished with all her heart she had a way to copy his mind into a scroll or something so she could kill him. Sure he wasn't as bad as Orochimaru, and maybe he had had a pretty shitty life up to a point, but Kabuto had done some real evil all on his own. He deserved to die. Brutally.

Distracted as they were, they had no problem reacting as the wall in the direction of Naruto and Orochimaru caved in, the ceiling and several support pillars coming down at the same time. Donning their masks, Ino quickly builds a dome of earth around them while Hinata produces a blue barrier above them just in case. Tayuya drags the unconscious Kabuto in between them all, having to keep that bastard alive, at least for now.

-b-

Going back in time a bit, Naruto and Orochimaru have long quit their banter, fighting against each other with everything they have. Orochimaru shows his experience, having little trouble working around and through Naruto's defenses to get minor cuts and hits in while Naruto with his power and stamina can hack and slash the abomination's limbs off and forcing him to regenerate.

Naruto gets the feeling that this is a losing strategy and begins to use his rinnegan to full effect. Chakra waning as Kurama is focused on continually purging poison from his system, he grins as Orochimaru decides to start using jutsu within the enclosed space.

"Phoenix fire!" Trying to hem the boy in so he can slash him to ribbons, he is unprepared as the boy raised one hand to absorb the technique and its chakra before fighting back with a slash of his sword, putting him on the back pedal. Confused for a moment, Orochimaru wonders if Naruto can absorb fire based techniques if it is all jutsu. Deciding to find out, three handsigns produce a low level and low chakra technique. "Static paralysis!"

Absorbing the electrical technique with ease, Naruto changes tactics and pushes Orochimaru towards the wall, "Shinra Tensei!"

Thrown off his feet, Orochimaru knows now that all jutsu were probably out then and he didn't have time to figure out the nuance of what would and wouldn't work. Great. Idly he keeps an eye on the half dozen clones that circle them, staying out of range of any counter attacks he might unleash but not attacking themselves. "I'll admit, you've gotten very good boy."

Naruto smirks and unleashing a wind blade with little effort, watching as Orochimaru folds his spine almost in half to dodge it, "I try. Now, why don't you be a good old man and just die already."

Opening his mouth and spitting forth a poisoned needle, Orochimaru is not surprised that Naruto blocks it with the Kubikiri, "And miss hearing your screams Naruto-chan? Not a chance." Attempting to unleash a snake hand on his right while summoning a lower level snake to his left via one handed seals, he's not surprised that the clones can happily defend themselves. All of the snakes shredded in a combination of razor winds and explosions. "Have I mentioned that I both love and hate Uzumaki chakra? Because I do."

Continuing to grin as sparks flew between them as the Kubikiri and the Kusanagi clashed against each other, Naruto couldn't help himself, "Blame my mom, she was the Uzumaki."

"Oh I remember that welp Kushina. Didn't she die screaming, or maybe my memory is hazy. She did get captured a few times after all. It might have been a different type of screaming."

"You know I'm just going to make your death that much more painful, right?"

Chuckling darkly and avoiding another wind blade, Orochimaru bats away a vertical strike and thrusts his sword into Naruto's side, blood gushes free, but a surprising breath of fire sends him away quickly, "This body is an Uzumaki's after all. Are you sure you can kill him so easily?"

Hacking and spitting blood onto the ground, he trusted Kurama to keep him fighting at the least. "Any real Uzumaki would be happy to die if it meant ending real evil like you."

Kurama grunted and shunted more chakra into the boy's system, 'Don't take to many more hits like that, I'm taxed as it is without the other half of my chakra.'

'Got it, I'll end this quick then.'

'You better.'

Orochimaru dashes in, seeing the boy sway on his feet and assuming that he's finally starting to struggle, "I'll gut you and pin you to the ground, then force you to watch as I tear those girls apart piece by piece." Coming around with a wide swing, he's unprepared as Naruto flashes the Kubikiri up faster than he can follow. But the pain, what was left of his sword arm and shoulder burned from where Naruto cut it free. A clone jumped between them, capturing his arm and sealing it and his sword away before diving back out of range.

Naruto can't help but smirk, "Lose something important there? You're girlfriend perhaps? You look like a rightie."

Grunting and deciding he had enough of this, Orochimaru begins to pull in nature chakra and mentally preparing for the consequences, "You're so confident you can kill me, let's see that hold up when I'm fully immortal!" Body expanding and becoming more and more pale by the second, Naruto looks on in horror as Orochimaru changes. Becoming more snakelike by the second, body growing scales, arms and legs fading as his body lengthens and changes. Chuckling in a raspy hiss, Orochimaru stares down on the horrified Naruto, "Look upon perfection and despair."

"Sooo, you're a snake now?" Naruto gives him a once over before shrugging and bringing his sword to bare, "Does that mean you have two dicks now? Or is it just one? I never really understood you in the end, but you area snake right?"

"I'm going to kill you and the best you can do is joke about my genitals?"

"Just saying man, if this is perfection for you, it has to have some benefits right?" Naruto waited, both men watching each other while Naruto himself recovered a bit of chakra with thanks from Kurama for the breather. "Well, I guess you do you. I'll stick with my human dick thank you very much."

"I'm going to kill you!" Lunging forward, he misses as Naruto jumps away and launches a rasengan into his side. It digs a shallow gash into him before dispersing, but Naruto has no problem launching several more into the much larger and slower target.

"You know, perfection usually means an improvement. This is just a big easy target." Being cheeky, Naruto frowns as the torn and bleeding flesh mends together quickly before his eyes, "Well that just isn't fair."

"Says the boy with the same healing factor and a literal demon in his gut." Lunging forward again in an attempt to either eat the boy or crush him, he misses Naruto substituting with a clone and making his escape. "Coward!"

Naruto launches several more rasengan, there not being enough time to form a rasenshuriken, "I know you aren't talking about cowards." Naruto is a little slow on dodging the next lunge from Orochimaru, teeth tearing into his side and drawing blood. He retaliates with a slash from Kubikiri, but the wound heals nearly instantly. It does at least earn him some breathing room. "What does it take to kill you?"

"Better men than you have tried." Orochimaru lamented that this would normally be the point where he would take over the boy's body, but with the Kyuubi still inside him that was a no go. That thing would eat his soul in an instant no doubt if he tried. Surely though he could at least cripple the boy and leave him near dead in order to escape. Kabuto had to be done with those girls by now and would help him return to normal. Tail swinging around to crush Naruto down into the ground, Orochimaru is there in the next breath to bite down hard into his body to inject lethal poison. He doesn't get to hold him forever, his clones coming to his rescue and violently shoving him away with that strange technique again, but that doesn't stop him from gloating. "The Kusanagi wasn't the only tool I had for poisoning you." Just what did it take to put this boy down? It was more than a little vexing.

Panting and bleeding, Naruto fought to stand, adding his own chakra to Kurama's in order to purge his blood of the poison. "Gonna need more than that to kill me bastard." Spitting blood off to the side, Naruto considered his options. On of his clones sacrifices itself, putting a hand to his back and purging its chakra into his system to fight off the poison. Grateful and more recovered, Naruto stands taller, "Guess I can't keep playing around." Ripping away the remnants of his tattered jacket and undershirt to leave himself in his chainmail, Naruto jumps back into the fight, hacking away at the snake while Orochimaru attempts to capture him in the muscled coils of his body. Watching the snake's flesh heal almost as fast as he can damage it, Naruto begins to frown. Most of his explosives were out, and none of the smaller ones would be any good at this point. Which left him with few options.

Orochimaru begins to feel rage build up inside of him, refusing to believe that this boy is continuing to fight toe to toe with him. "Give it up boy! I'm immortal! You can't kill me! Nothing you do will last against me! I have the world at my fingertips, my dream nearly at hand!" Deciding to end this in a simpler way, his body begins to grow and expand.

It didn't take much to realize that Orochimaru meant to crush him against the barrier, which he could absolutely do. Frowning but sending a mental command to the clones, the barrier drops with a whisper. "Fuck this." Thrusting a hand forward and using more chakra than he felt he should, he screamed out his technique, "Shinra Tensei!" It was satisfying to watching Orochimaru crash through walls, and he was half a second behind him, sword ready to enact more carnage while a rasengan bloomed to life in his other hand.

Walls collapsing as they fall into a storage area with multiple support pillars, ceiling beginning to cave in, Naruto launches the larger than normal rasengan that tears a large rend into Orochrmaru's side. That's followed by Naruto leaping over his striking head, hacking and slashing all down his back before being launched away by a powerful tail. Blood pools on the ground below Orochimaru's large body, but he can't help but chuckle as he again continues to heal. "Is that all you got boy?" Looking up and seeing the blue sky, Orochimaru smirks, "I can escape at any time now."

Naruto waves his sword to the distance, "Go ahead. You're covered in seals by this point, I can track you from here to Sea country at this point. You'll never be free of me." Not that he planned on letting the transformed Sannin run away from here in one piece. He is distracted however by coughing and hacking behind him, turning he sees that they've collided with the other's battleground. Hinata has dropped her barrier while a coughing and wheezing Ino has lost her concentration and her earth barrier crumbles.

Seeing his worry for what it is, Orochimaru dives for the bodies that he can sense but not see at the moment through the dust. Swatting Naruto away with his tail he makes his plan. He doesn't care if he hits them or not, Naruto is as always his real target, and the boy takes the bait hook, line, and sinker.

Flashing back in front of the girls by homing in on their seals, there's a moment of extreme pain as his sword goes flying and Orochimaru rushes past, body coiling around a few of the remaining support pillars with blood dripping from his lips. "And just like that, your boyhood sentiments will be the end of you. I'd say this has been fun, but honestly this end is disappointing."

Dazed and losing blood, Naruto wobbles on his feet as he knows his arm is gone and most of his right side of damaged pretty heavily. "Oh fuck you Orochimaru." Holding out his left arm and forming a larger than normal rasenshuriken, he plans on ending things all at once, now that there's more room.

Orochimaru turns away, goal achieved for now, "Don't be such a sore loser, accept your death with honor."

"Fat chance of that." Naruto stumbles and readjusts his footing at the girls all rush to attack Orochimaru in their own way, no time to ask questions and knowing Naruto wouldn't be interrupted right now. They are however quick to realize how little help they are going to be, Hinata unable to get close to the agile snake, while Ino's senbon bounce uselessly off of his hide. Tayuya's doki are able to do some damage, but his healing factor make that a moot point. Regarding them with contempt, Orochimaru swats them away with ease as he turns to look up at the sun.

"The world is waiting for me. Goodbye, scion of the Uzumaki house." Slithering up towards what's left of the ceiling, he nearly missing Naruto heaving and throwing his attack his way. "More of this? Pitiful!"

Naruto grins through the haze of pain as he keeps his hand outstretched, "Bansho Ten'in!" Pulling the large body of Orochimaru towards him and into the path of the attack, he's satisfied as it hits, the dome of wind blades expanding and enveloping the massive body of the snake summoner. Naruto knew it's deadly work, hundreds of thousands of microscopic wind blades tearing into Orochimaru's flesh and bones until there was little left. But, there would need to be more, and Naruto promised to tear him limb from limb. Blood pooling on the ground and sure that he was dying, Naruto begins to well up the last of his chakra while several clones have finally joined them in the room. Though the haze, his vision swims and something appears before him. A seal, no, something he envisioned. Willing it to be real as the rasenshuriken begins to fade, he smirks as Orochimaru crawls out of his previous large body with a new one. Mouthing something but not having the energy to shout, Naruto starts his next attack.

Orochimaru had had enough. It was time to leave before the brat finally did get lucky and kill him. "Better luck next time Naruto-chan!" Leaping away, or trying to, Orochimaru is locked in place by a large seal inscribed on the ground. How is got there was a mystery, but the black ball hovering at his navel and beginning to pull at him left no doubts about what might be happening. "You cockroach! Why won't you just die!"

Naruto grins, eyes unfocused as he slips Orochimaru the finger while Hinata and the others rush towards him, "Cause you aren't enough to get the job done Orochi."

Body beginning to be dragged into the pea sized ball, pain like nothing he ever felt before filling him, he watches as his literal flesh and blood is torn from his body. "You damned Uzumaki! This will kill you and yours as well! I curse you and all of your descendants! I'LL SEE YOU IN HELL YOU LITTLE MONSTER!"

Dropping to his knees and relaxing back, unseeing but still smiling, Naruto shook his head, "YOU TELL THEM WHO SENT YOU OROCHIMARU!" He doesn't get to see Orochimaru pulled the rest of the way into the void, flesh, blood and bone breaking away before everything within ten meters is sucked in as well including his old body. Task done and no further instructions given, the ball dissipates harmlessly. Spent, Naruto falls to the ground and rolls to his back, barely able to make out the sun and the sky as Hinata drops to his side, glowing hands attempting to heal or seal the bleeding on the ruin on his arm.

"You idiot! That was too reckless! Why….why would you…" Fighting through the tears, Hinata does her best to focus trembling hands on healing the boy. But already she can feel that his heart rate is slowing. Too much blood has been lost. "Tayuya! We're going to do an emergency transfusion! Come here!"

Tayuya nods, hobbling over before being stopped by one of the remaining clones. "What? What the hell?"

The clones don't respond, one coming behind Naruto with its purple eye glowing while the last pulls Hinata away from the main body kicking and screaming, "Let me go! He's dying! We have to….you can't make us watch him die!"

The lead clone shakes its head, "Gotta try something out first." This had only been practiced once or twice, but now was the time to make it work. Reaching deep into their connection with the Rinnegan, the clone summoned something foul. Behind it, a blond head with to many teeth burst from the ground. Rinnegan eyes staring at all of them, the mouth opened and the eyes focused on the shallowly breathing Naruto himself. Tentacles were quick to scoop the boy up and drag him in, mouth closing to chew him up.

Screaming with horror as they were sure they just watched Naruto be eaten by a literal monster from hell, Hinata jukens the clone holding her and makes a dash for the demon head. It's proven moot when, with little fanfare, the head spits the rejuvenated and whole body of Naruto back onto the ground before it and the clone poof away in smoke. Caught off guard but keeping her priorities, Hinata drops and slides to his side, hands glowing and veins bulging around her eyes to check him over from top to bottom.

Ino and Tayuya walk up while supporting each other, frowns on their faces as they try to work out what they just saw. Ino is the most vocal, "Is he…"

Taking a minute before sighing with relief, Hinata collapses onto her rear with relief, "He's fine. Whatever that was healed him completely. It's like nothing happened."

Opening his eyes slowly, vision filled with the tear stained faces of the girls above him, Naruto smiles and reaches up with a hand to softly wipe a tear away from Hinata's face, "Sorry bout that. Wasn't even sure if I could use it to be honest."

It wasn't Hinata or Ino that reacted first, but a sobbing Tayuya who both slaps him across his face before clinching his chain mail and burying her face into his chest. "You absolute asshole!"

Reaching up weakly to wrap an arm around her shoulders, Naruto nods and doesn't deny it. "I'm sorry. I…I know I pushed it a bit."

Hinata gave him a hard look, "To rely on something untested at the end? We should have flashed away and confronted him another day." It would have been the safer option. The more sane option.

Naruto nodded, "I wanted him dead. The things he told me. I couldn't put up with him being alive for even one more day." He accepts Ino and Hinata joining the dog pile, laying on him and reassuring themselves that he was real and alive. "I'll do my best not to be so reckless in the future."

Ino sighed and tightened her hold around his middle, "You just killed a Sannin. I doubt there are many people on this continent that can give you that kind of fight again."

Hinata shook her head, "Let's not jinx it. You know his luck."

Chuckling before groaning as, even though he was healed, his muscles were still sore. "Yeah. Let's not do that again anytime soon." Idly his vision travels over to the bound and sealed Kabuto. "Guess he let slip about the other Uzumaki then?"

Hinata sat up and nodded, only a little confused but figuring Orochimaru tried to taunt him, "Orochimaru say much of the same?" Naruto nodded and she sighed, "Ino mind walked Kabuto. It's…it's bad."

"Yeah, I know. Orochimaru was describing some pretty horrible shit. We'll need to interrogate Kabuto fully to make sure he gives us everything, but I'm happy to execute him the second we find the rest of our clan members."

Tayuya mumbled out from his chest, refusing to let him go, "Burn him alive. It's what he deserves. Or maybe use that time seal on him. I don't care."

Sighing but realizing that they need to finish up and get back, Naruto creates four new clones with some effort, "Raid the rest of the base and return."

"On it boss!" They rush away, leaving the group alone under the crumbling ceiling and blue sky.

Looking down on him, Hinata finally softens her smile and rests a hand on his cheek, "You'll have to relax when we return. A week at least."

"No arguments here, I feel like someone dropped the tower on me." He didn't want to think about the fact that his body was literally just chewed up and rebuilt in whole. Everything that had happened within the last hour was objectively just horrifying. Orochimaru experimenting on himself and turning himself into a snake monster, the revelations about the last Uzumaki, nearly dying not once but twice. Yeah. He'd take a week off after this one. Looking up to the fidgeting Hinata he opens his mouth to say something but receives a soldier pill for his troubles.

"Eat it, don't complain." Seeing him nod, Hinata sighs and looked around the rubble, "So much carnage."

Ino finally sits up, though a hand stays in contact with the man she loves, "Orochimaru is finally dead. It's. Kami. Still overwhelming."

Tayuya chuckled, "Can we bring him back and kill him again?"

Ino swats her in the shoulder, "Let that monster stay dead please and thank you."

Naruto lets the girls bicker and banter above him back and forth. So much would need to happen from here on. 'I'm so fucking tired.'

Kurama chuckled, 'You've just killed a Sannin and the best you can say is that you're tired?'

'Yeah, and I think that's enough honestly.'

Kurama nods, laying down behind his cell bars, 'No complaints here. That was too close for comfort. You really pulled yourself out of the fire forcing your rinnegan at the end there.'

'Hurt like a bitch though.'

'Be happy you didn't damage anything. And any later and you wouldn't have had the chakra to finish your healing. Imagine being spit back out only half finished.'

'I'm pretty sure the girls would have had a fit with my half chewed up corpse.' They laugh together before they sober up and relax together. 'I'm gonna have to raze Kumo to the ground, aren't I?'

Kurama shrugged, 'You have your family. Do you really have to save clan members who may not even be alive?' Kurama saw the determined look enter the boy's eyes and nodded, 'Right, shouldn't question that. Be smart. Orochimaru was strong, but only because he was so focused on living. Other's are powerful in a truly terrifying combat way.'

'I'll keep that in mind. That Kumo jinchuriki, Bee, he didn't seem like a pushover.'

'Time will tell partner.'

Naruto chuckles and nods, chest rumbling as the girls watch on, Tayuya finally sitting up and clearing away her tears. From the corner of his eye, he sees the clones returning with heavy scrolls in their arms. "Think it's time to go home."

Ino clenches her hand at his side, "About…about Kumo. What're you thinking?" Dirty and grimy and ready for a long soak in the bath, she was still worried about the future at the moment. A long cry from the prim and sparkly girl she had been a year and a half ago.

Naruto sighed and returned his gaze to the sky. "I can't just flatten the city outright. We'll have to infiltrate, find our clansmen and extract them. Not sure how to do that yet."

Tayuya frowns and crosses her arms, "I'm all for charging in through the gate and killing them all."

Hinata smiles and shakes her head, "We need to be smart and cautious. This is Kumo, they've been around almost as long as Konoha and were part of the group that destroyed Uzushiogakure originally."

Tayuya snapped her fingers, "All the more reason to raze them to the ground."

"You know we can't. Like Naruto said, we have to find our clansmen first, take them to safety." Hinata's eyes turned cold as a disturbing grin spread on her face, "Then we can rain down fire and death on their village."

Ino nudges the normally peaceful woman, "Oh ho, look at you. Starting to take after Naruto aren't we?"

"You've all corrupted me."

"I'm pretty sure it's the other way around."

Naruto chuckled and shook his head, "It's always the quiet ones." Groaning as his ribs protested, he waved off the girl's concerned looks. "C'mon, help me up so we can go. I'm tired, need a bath, and wanna relax for the rest of the day."

Ino helps him up, Hinata and Tayuya taking the scrolls from the clones as they dispel and return what chakra they can back to Naruto. "Are you okay? Really?" Ino leans in to support him more as he shakes his head slowly, mind still a whirl with thoughts.

"No. But I'm trying not to hyper focus. It's more than family that had been wandering aimlessly only to find us. There's a chance that we have family that's been captured and abused all this time. Tortured. It doesn't sit well with me. And part of me feels like I failed my clan." Naruto doesn't have long to dwell on morbid thoughts, Ino turning his head to lock eyes with her.

"You aren't responsible for everything that happens Naruto. You've done your best to save everyone you can, but you can't be everywhere at once."

Tayuya nudges him from his other side, clamping onto his arm tightly, "You've done better than anyone else has in protecting us and bringing as many of us together as possible. Don't sell yourself short. You aren't Kami after all."

Naruto nods, unsealing a v2 from a hidden seal in his pants and giving it over to one last remaining clone, nodding to it as Hinata joins in on the group hug, they flash away without another word.

Left alone, the clone feeds chakra into the scroll and starts up at the sky, a satisfied smile on it's face. "And so ends the life and horror that was Orochimaru of the Densetsu no Sannin. A man who sought godhood, but was no more than a demon in human form. Farewell."

Not far away, the limp body of Jirobu comes to life. Still broken and weak, Orochimaru thanks the stares that the curse seal had enough of him here in order for him to jump bodies. However, as he rolls over to look up upon the sun, he knows this is the end. Heaving a heavy sigh, Orochimaru reaches out as if to grab the very sun itself. "What a shitty end to a shitty life." Light and fire followed, and a new glassed crater etched itself into being. Nestled into one of the Land of River's many canyon's, it would be attributed to the wandering Maelstrom, though no one would understand the significance of this particular one. None save the man himself. When asked, he was always describe it as a well earned grave marker.

-AN-

This was, honest kind of a hard one to write. I started out going really really dark with it. Considering killing off a character, before deciding I wanted to do that in a different way. Orochimaru, while a sannin, I considered one of the weaker ones. The man got taken out by a younger Itachi after all. But, I wanted to do him and Naruto justice in this fight because, while Naruto has made progress and is pretty much able to curb stomp everyone short of certain jonin and kage, he's had a pretty big false sense of superiority built up that needed to be burst. From here on, we're getting both, the bigger more real threats, and a mix of more minor who gives a shit threats that others besides naruto have to deal with. We now have a whole village of ninja to play with after all, and new tech to play with. I'm gonna take a half week off to relax and catch up on some of my other fics, but I'll be back by the weekend I think. I wouldn't be here without ya'll, you make this super fun and enjoyable. Hope you continue to stick around and have fun with me.