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Virtue and Venom: Chapter 28

Valley of the End: Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara vs Mamushi

Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara were all in a defensive position as Mamushi with her curse mark activated ran towards them with a crazed look in her eyes; Mamushi first charged at Gaara seeing him as the biggest threat.

Gaara sent a wave of sand towards her trying to restrain her; Mamushi seeing this jumped to the side and sent her snake tattoo tendrils towards him. Gaara put up a wall of sand to block the attack; the snakes hit the wall of sand and punched through it stopping only a few inches away from Gaara shocking him.

'She punched though my sand' Gaara thought; Mamushi used her tendrils to pull herself towards Gaara bypassing his sand. Mamushi proceeded to kick Gaara in the face cracking his sand armor and sending him to the ground; Mamushi brought up her leg to axe kick him but Gaara brought up his sand once more.

Mamushi's food hit the sand with a loud thud as Gaara was barely able to keep his sand from collapsing; Mamushi was about to continue her assault but was stopped when Naruto and Sasuke charged in.

Sasuke threw a flying side kick to Mamushi who blocked the kick with her forearm; Sasuke twisted around and threw another kick hitting her in the stomach sending her skidding on the ground. When she stopped Naruto ran forward making a hand sign.

"Shadow clone jutsu" Naruto shouted as 10 clones appeared; Naruto led the charge as he engaged Mamushi first. He sliced at her with his trench knives as she dodged is blades only cutting her cloths and drawing no blood.

"You have the power of the Kyuubi at your beck and call" Mamushi said grabbing Naruto's arm "too weak to use it" she shouted as she drove her fist into his gut knocking the wind out of him. Naruto stumbled back and his clones moved in.

One of Naruto's clones tried to slash Mamushi but was ran through by her tendrils; the clone dispelled as the others moved in and began to circle her. Mamushi used her tendrils to kill the clones as she tore through their numbers easily.

"Naruto" Sasuke shouted as Naruto regained his breath "combo time" he shouted as he went through hand signs and Naruto nodded.

"Right" Naruto said as he went through hand signs; both Naruto and Sasuke stopped on their final hand signs.

'Fire style: Fire ball jutsu' Sasuke thought.

'Wind Style: Gale palm' Naruto thought.

Both Naruto and Sasuke fired their jutsu's at Mamushi both combining to make a stronger jutsu; Mamushi was hit by the fire jutsu and Naruto became worried.

"Hey were trying to save her here" Naruto said and Sasuke looked at him.

"She survived being blown up; I'm sure she can survive a fire jutsu" Sasuke retorted; as soon as he said that both Naruto and Sasuke heard laughing.

"Maybe so Uchiha" Mamushi said as she walked out of the fire with only her cloths slightly singed "but your pathetic jutsu won't be enough" she said with an evil smile.

"You have to be shitting me" Naruto whined as he saw Mamushi begin to walk closer "ok screw it lets just- "Naruto began until Mamushi appeared in front of him in a burst of speed that Sasuke could barely keep up with.

Mamushi kneed Naruto in the gut making him bend over in pain; Mamushi proceeded to do a roll over Naruto's back grabbing him by the back of his pants before picking him up and slamming him onto the ground cracking the stone underneath.

Sasuke charged at Mamushi his sharingan blazing as he threw punches and kicks towards her; Mamushi ducked and dodged as she and Sasuke engaged in a melee.

Sasuke despite using his sharingan was being toyed with by Mamushi; Sasuke threw another punch that connected with Mamushi's jaw. The punch knocked Mamsuhi's head to the side making her spit up blood; however, Mamushi just turned back to Sasuke with a smirk.

"My turn" Mamushi said as she began her assault; Mamushi threw a punch at Sasuke who was barely able to dodge even with his sharingan. Sasuke dodged once more as Mamushi threw a kick towards Sasuke's ribs; upon doing so Sasuke was grabbed by one of Mamushi's tendrils around the waist.

Mamushi pulled Sasuke towards her and she kicked Sasuke in the stomach making him cough up blood; Mamushi was about to hit him again until she was forced to let go as wave of sand came rushing towards her.

Mamushi jumped back and Gaara landed next to Sasuke who was on the ground panting "Uchiha are you ok" Gaara asked and Sasuke nodded.

"Yeah I'm fine" Sasuke said wheezing before looking at Mamushi who was standing a couple dozen yards away; Naruto walked up along side Sasuke and Gaara still dazed from being slammed into the ground.

"Ok guys we need to step it up" Naruto said "lets cripple her and drag her back; granny Tsunade can fix her when we get back to Konoha" he said and Sasuke sighed.

'Not like we have much of a choice' Sasuke thought; Sasuke's curse mark began to spread until it covered half of his body "very well" Sasuke said.

'Ok fox looks like I need you' Naruto thought begrudgingly; the Kyuubi chuckled.

"Very well boy; I'll do it, but only to keep you from being killed by that girl" The Kyuubi said; Naruto began to glow red with the fox's chakra and his trench knives began to glow as well.

Gaara hesitated as he looked at Mamushi 'no… I'll only use Shukaku as a last resort" he thought as he began to use his sand to grind up the stone under his feet to make some more sand. Gaara had his sand swirl around him as both a offensive and defensive stance.

Mamushi seeing this was confident that she could win but decided to have some more fun "ok boys; come at me" Mamushi said as her snake tattoo tendrils began to dance with excitement.

With Ino

Ino was rushing through the woods trying to find Naruto 'Naruto please be safe' she thought as she hopped from tree to tree; as she did so she saw several figures up ahead. Upon getting closer she saw Neji and 2 others.

"Ino" Neji shouted as he stopped a in front of her.

"Neji" Ino said before looking at Temari and Kankuro "hey aren't you 2 the 2 sand ninja that-" Ino began until she saw who Temari was holding; Temari was carrying Shikamaru's corpse. Ino put her hand to her mouth as tears began to fall down her cheeks "oh god what happened" she whimpered out as she touched Shikamaru's cold cheek.

"He gave up his life saving me" Temari said her voice breaking "if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be here" she said. Ino cried for a few seconds until she steeled herself.

"*sniff* where's Naruto" Ino said and Neji responded.

"Him, Gaara and Sasuke ran after Mamushi" Neji explained "they went north; hurry I don't know what's happening but the fact they haven't caught up with us yet can't be good" he said and Ino nodded.

"Thanks" Ino said before turning to Shikamaru; Ino placed a kiss on his cheek "goodbye Shika" she said before running off. As Ino rushed through the woods her thoughts ran back to Shikamaru 'I'm the only one; I'm the last of team 10' she thought sadly 'Choji, Asuma, now Shikamaru' she thought.

Just then a image of a bloody Naruto flashed through her mind 'no I will not lose my Naruto; I won't lose him, or Sasuke or anyone else today' she thought as she rushed on ahead.

With Naruto, Gaara and Sasuke

Mamushi kicked Sasuke into the stone wall of the valley and was about to attack him; but was stopped when Naruto slashed her across the back causing a large cut to form. Mamushi turned around and swung at Naruto with her fist; Naruto ducked and slashed at her two more times cutting her on her leg and stomach.

Naruto went in for another slash but Mamushi caught his hand "that tickled" Mamushi said with a smile; Mamushi brought Naruto in close and head butted him in the face busting his nose. Mamushi then twisted Naruto's arm making him lose his grip on his trench knife; Mamushi grabbed the trench knife and was preparing to stab Naruto but was stopped when she heard chirping.

"Chidori" Sasuke shouted as he sent a half powered Chidori towards Mamushi; Mamushi dodged out of the way still holding the trench knife. Mamushi slashed at Sasuke who dodged out of the way; Sasuke grabbed her arm and kneed it at the elbow breaking it and making her drop the trench knife.

Sasuke was expecting a sign of pain but didn't see any as Mamushi sent her tendrils towards him; Sasuke ducked and dodged out of the way picking up Naruto's trench knife to defend himself and block the tendrils. Sasuke gained some distance and Mamushi was preparing to go after but was stopped by Gaara.

Gaara using his sand was clashing with Mamushi's tendrils and keeping her at a distance; Mamushi sent her tendrils towards Gaara. Gaara made a sand platform in order to dodge the tendrils and take to the air while simultaneously.

Mamushi sent her tendrils into the air trying to knock Gaara out of the sky; Gaara maneuvered his platform in the air to avoid being hit. However, one of Mamushi's tendril hit his platform; the tendril pierced through Gaara's platform and pierced his foot.

Due to the pain of the attack Gaara lost concentration and his platform fell apart and he began to fall to the ground; Gaara was falling towards the ground and Mamushi ran towards him sending another tendril towards him. The tendril smashed Gaara into the ground causing him to cough up blood as a wound opened up on his ribs; Mamushi moved in to finish him off but Naruto and Sasuke rushed in to save him.

Naruto got in front of Mamushi and slashed at her with his trench knives scoring a hit on her chest; Mamushi jumped back only to be kicked from the side by Sasuke making her cough up blood. Sasuke seeing, she was close to the edge of the valley decided to do a move that could knock her out; Sasuke punched her in the face before throwing her over the side.

Mamushi was heading down head first to the bottom of the valley; as she opened her eyes, she felt herself be grabbed by Sasuke. Sasuke grabbed her from behind crossing his legs over her chest and putting his feet around her head to keep it straight; he wrapped his arms around Mamushi's waist and squeezed her tight.

'I'm sorry about this' Sasuke thought; Sasuke drove Mamushi head first into the ground causing it to crack and the earth to shake. Sasuke let go and fell to the ground as Mamushi fell down seemingly unconscious; Sasuke went up and checked her 'I didn't break her neck; maybe a concussion but nothing she couldn't survive' he thought.

Naruto and a wounded Gaara both came down on another sand platform and landed a few yards away "Sasuke what the hell; we aren't supposed to kill her" Naruto shouted in anger. Sasuke walked towards him with a scowl.

"I didn't kill her dope; just knock her out" Sasuke said "she survived an explosion; I'm sure she- "Sasuke began until he and the others felt a surge of power. Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara all turned and saw Mamushi get back up with a strange purple aura surrounding her.

"I may have an enhance body" Mamushi said looking down making the 3 boys freeze "I may have a superior pain tolerance compared to normal humans" she said before looking up. Her face was contorted in an unhinged rage "BUT THAT FUCKING HURT" she shouted as a power wave of chakra began to blow wind and dust around originating from Mamushi "YOU 3 WILL PAY FOR YOUR INSOLENCE" she shouted as her curse marks expanded over her whole body and she began to transform.

Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara all saw Mamushi transform into her final form and none of them even recognized Mamushi except for her eye and hair color.

Mamushi's pants tore away as her lower body was now that of a snake with a tail about 6 feet long; her fingers were elongated where they looked like claws, her mouth looked more serpent like and her skin looked scaley like a snake.

"Oh fuck" Naruto said slightly scared now.

"Mamushi" Sasuke said not believing his eyes.

Mamushi charged at the 3 at an incredible speed; Gaara frantically put up a sand shield in order to protect them. Mamushi spun around using her tail as a whip against the sand shield; her tail ripped through the sand like it was made of paper and hit all 3 boys sending them flying.

Gaara hit the ground before using his sand to stop and cushion him, Naruto smacked into a rock making him cough up blood and Sasuke skipped across the water before stopping and sinking.

Naruto got up breathing heavily and his vision shaking 'this is bad, this is really bad' Naruto thought.

"Boy this is no time to panic" the Kyuubi said to Naruto "I'll give you more power; but finisher her off NOW" it shouted. Naruto's chakra cloak began to morph as he grew a chakra tail and ears; he began to look more feral and his wounds began to heal.

Gaara seeing Naruto transform realized he had to do the same if he wanted to live 'so be it' Gaara thought as he did a hand sign; the seal on his back that Jiraya made so he could control Shukaku began to glow and his sand began to cover him.

After a few seconds Gaara was now in his 1 tail form (the one from when he fought Naruto and Sasuke during the invasion in cannon) and looked at Mamushi.

Both Naruto and Gaara both felt another power as they turned to the river and saw Sasuke shoot out of the water; Sasuke was in his final curse mark stage with his skin a different color, his hair longer and 3 bat like wings popping out of his back.

Mamushi looked at the 2 containers and Sasuke and scoffed "fools; only delaying your deaths, such a meaningless gesture" she said with a scowl "if you wish to die than I will gladly grant you your wishes" she said.

With Kakashi and Anko

Kakashi, Anko and Pakkun both felt 4 large surges of power from ahead of them; none of them were sensors so the fact they could feel it was astounding.

"Damn it; what the hell is that" Anko said.

"I recognize one of them" Kakashi said "one of them is Naruto for sure; he's using the 9 tails… god… this is bad" he said; as they continued to run, they saw a figure up ahead. "Ino" Kakashi shouted gaining her attention.

Ino turned around wide eyed "Kakashi sensei, Anko; you're here" Ino said in surprise before slowing down and running next to them "did you feel that" she said and Kakashi nodded.

"Yeah, and it's a bad sign" Kakashi said "we have to get there NOW" he said.

"We are going as fast as we can Kakashi" Pakkun said "we will be there in 15 minutes" he said.

"Naruto and the others won't be alive in 15 minutes if we don't hurry up" Anko said and the others nodded; Kakashi, Anko, Ino and Pakkun added chakra to their feet to speed up their pursuit.

"Naruto; please hold on" Ino said her worry growing.

With Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara

"Rasengan" Naruto shouted as he rushed towards Mamushi with a rasengan in his hand; Mamsuhi grabbed his hand stopping him before slashing him across the chest with her claws causing a deep wound to from. Mamushi then picked Naruto up and slammed him face first into the ground before picking up her tail; Mamushi brought down her tail and slammed it into Naruto's back repeatedly making him scream in pain and cough up blood as his ribs broke and his spine fractured.

As Mamushi tried to bring her tail down again Sasuke ran in "Chidori" he shouted; Sasuke severed Mamushi's tail making her scream in pain. Sasuke then spun around and kicked Mamushi in the head before following up with a punch to the stomach; Mamushi slashed at Sasuke with her claws but Sasuke used his wings to go above her to avoid the attacks.

Sasuke then saw Mamushi regrow her tail and swing it towards him; Sasuke was smacked out of the air and sent to the ground. Mamushi was about to attack again but had to dodge as a large gust of wind came towards her.

Gaara fired a wind jutsu towards Mamushi in order to get her away from Sasuke and Naruto; he then pointed his arms at her 'Sand Shuriken' Gaara proceeded to fire volleys of sand shuriken at Mamushi. Mamushi used her speed to slither in between the rocks as cover from the sand projectiles; Mamushi rushed towards Gaara until he was in range.

Mamushi opened her mouth as wide as possible 'Venom stream' Mamushi fired a stream of venom from her mouth and hit Gaara dead on; Gaara looked down and saw the venom begin to steam as it burned through his sand.

Gaara began to scream in agony as his sand body crumbled; Gaara appeared as normal with his chest still burning "get it off, get it off me" Gaara screamed as he ripped off his melting cloths. Gaara had a large chemical burn on his chest and he began to feel faint; it wasn't until Mamushi was right in front of him he realized he left himself wide opened.

Mamushi slashed Gaara across his stomach causing his intestines to spill out; Mamushi smacked Gaara with her tail sending him into a rock. Gaara was now on the ground trying to keep his guts inside his body as Mamushi moved to finish him off; however, before she could she was kicked away by Sasuke and they began to fight.

Gaara seeing he was now temporarily out of danger used the last but of his chakra to put his sand on this stomach to staunch the bleeding and keep his guts from falling out. Gaara fought to stay awake as the battle raged on.

Sasuke kneed Mamushi in the face braking her nose before spinning around and kicking her sending her skidding; Sasuke went through hand signs 'Fire Style: Phoenix flower jutsu' Sasuke fired multiple small fire balls towards Mamushi who snarled.

Mamushi dodged and ended up getting on the water using her tail to stay afloat; Mamushi went through hand signs herself 'water style: Water spouts' Mamushi sent several water spouts towards Sasuke who dodged using his wings to increase his speed.

Mamushi was about to attack again until she was attacked by Naruto who got back up; Naruto slashed Mamushi from the side using his trench knives to draw blood. Mamushi slashed back with her claws scoring a hit on Naruto chest; both Naruto and Mamushi slashed at each other for a few seconds causing horrible wounds on each other and turning the water under them red.

Naruto finally stabbed Mamushi in the shoulder but this turned out to be a mistake as Mamushi grabbed onto his arm; Mamushi dug her claws into Naruto's arm and sliced it open tearing veins and tendons. Naruto screamed for a second but was smacked away by Mamushi's tail back to shore.

Sasuke seeing this dodged Naruto who was coming towards him and charged at Mamushi; Mamushi sent her tail towards Sasuke and grabbed him. "Got you Uchiha" Mamushi said with a crazed look in her eyes; Mamushi began to squeeze Sasuke who was trying to break free with all his might "I want to hear her scream while I squeeze the life out of you" she said.

Sasuke struggled as he felt his ribs break and his lungs be squeezed; Sasuke's curse mark began to recede as he began to turn blue from the lack of air. Sasuke was on the verge of passing out when Naruto came in once more; Naruto using his one good arm slashed Mamushi's tail making her drop Sasuke.

Naruto grabbed Sasuke and brought him back to shore while Mamushi stayed on the water cursing from the pain; Naruto put Sasuke down as his 9 tails cloak chakra receded as he was now at his limit.

"N-Naruto" Sasuke mumbled out spitting up blood "p-please… stop her" he begged as he lost consciousness; Naruto seeing Sasuke unconscious stood back up and turned around to face Mamushi.

Naruto's left arm hung limply at his side his enhanced healing at its limit; he gripped his trench knife in his right arm as he looked at Mamushi.

"And then there was one" Mamushi said as she slowly made her way to shore "give up now boy; you have no chance" she said.

Naruto feeling fear, pain, dread, sadness and blood loss raised up his trench knife and spoke "it isn't over yet" Naruto said "I can still do this" he said and Mamushi chuckled.

"Fool" Mamushi said as she charged at Naruto; Naruto got ready as he was going to make his last stand.

However, to both his and Mamushi's surprise the ground under her exploded; multiple ninja dogs came out and bit into Mamushi keeping her still. Mamushi brought up her tail in order to knock them off but was stopped.

"Raikiri" Kakashi shouted as he cut off Mamushi's tail making her scream in pain; Mamushi was then wrapped up by several snakes popping out of the ground and Naruto turned his head and saw Anko with her hands on the ground and snaked coming out of her sleeves.

"Naruto" Ino shouted as she ran up "oh my god" Ino shouted as she looked at Naruto; he had cuts and wounds all over his body and was bleeding heavily.

"Ino" Naruto said weakly "y-you came" he said; Naruto's eyes rolled to the back of his head as he passed out from blood loss. Ino caught him and laid him down.

"Ino get your ass in gear and do it" Anko said struggling to keep Mamsuhi still "I can't hold her much longer" she said as Mamushi thrashed around.

"Right" Ino said as she made her family hand sign 'Mind transfer jutsu' Ino thought; Ino's body went limp and Kakashi caught her and laid her down. Kakashi turned and saw Mamushi standing still with a blank look in her eyes.

"She did it" Anko said releasing her snakes "will this work" Anko said and Kakashi sighed.

"I hope so" Kakashi said "it's all up to Ino now; otherwise, you and me will have to end it" he said with dread in his voice.

With Ino: Mamushi's mind scape

Ino opened her eyes and saw she was in a dark void 'I'm in' Ino thought as she looked around; Ino then saw a glowing glass tube and ran over. She saw Mamushi inside floating in a liquid unconscious; Ino began to bang on the glass.

"Mamushi, Mamushi wake up" Ino shouted.

"She can't hear you" came a voice; Ino spun around and saw another Mamushi with a scowl on her face "she can't see or hear anything in here; but she did see my handiwork with the others" she said walking towards Ino.

Ino tool out a kunai and got into a defensive stance and Mamushi scoffed "please; 2 containers and that Uchiha couldn't stop me, what hope do you have" she said. "You are weak; weak of body and weak of will" she said making Ino freeze "you tried to kill yourself when I killed that girl… Sakura was it; yeah, I remember her, her screams and cries of pain were the first taste of ecstasy I felt in a long time" she said making Ino's skin crawl.

Ino shuddered but then composed herself "I will beat you; I won't let you hurt anyone else" Ino said; Mamushi scoffed and got into a taijutsu stance.

"Very well then" Mamushi said "it's your funeral" she said.

Ok another chapter done; I hope you all enjoyed it. If you did, please like, comment and share with your friends; and until next time bye.