"You... realise that if we spar, I'm not going to hold back this time, right?"

"Don't care!" Naruto grinned. "We've been training non-stop for two months!"

"And we have Sakura." Sasuke noted. "Every other spar, it was just me and Naruto."

"I... would like to see how much stronger I've gotten." Sakura admitted. "A spar is a good way to do that."

"Hmm." Yes. We're doing this. "Well, okay."

"Yes!" Naruto punched the air. "Finally, we're going to get a win!"

"Don't get too cocky, brat." Although the possibility was very real. "I've picked up some new tricks of my own, you know."

His grin stretched wider.

Was that... exasperation I saw in the Kyuubi's Heart?

Heh.

A moment later, he got serious, taking several steps back and settling into a stance- one that I didn't recognize.

Oh goody.

Sasuke and Sakura settled next to him, the former in the Interceptor style, and the latter also in a stance I didn't recognize.

Double goody.

I reached up and touched the pauldron on my shoulder, activating my Armour.

Darkness exploded out of me, temporarily hiding me from their sight while my Armour formed.

It faded quickly, however, revealing me to the world.

To those three and Jiraiya, really, but hey.

Naruto blinked. "Okay, that's new."

"I wasn't kidding, Naruto." I held out my hand, fire blossoming into existence above my palm. "Now, be prepared."

The fire spread over my Armour, coating me in deep, dark flames.

"You... set yourself on fire?" Naruto's head tilted to the side. "Why?"

Could I resist it?

"Simple. Ninjas can't catch you if you're on fire."

Nope. Didn't even stand a chance.

"Huh?"

I rushed forwards, my claws gleaming.

Predictably, all three moved before I reached them, scattering and separating. Not for long, though.

"Oh, I get it! It was a distraction!" Naruto grinned. "I can do those too!" His hands came up.

And here comes the tide of orange.

"Shadow Clone time!"

I saw his Chakra surge, before the entire fucking clearing burst into smoke.

I didn't wait for it to start to clear. I already knew what would be inside, and what he was doing. Smoke and Shadow Clones. Good cover for them while they planned and strategized.

I turned, staring in the direction, ignoring the smoke. All three were already together, all of them running away.

Running away really quickly, actually.

I noted one the clones come to a stop next to me, staying away from the flames that surrounded me.

"You know, that looks really creepy." The clone smiled. "You're covered in weird armour, which is covered in black flames. Real intimidating, but also really cool!"

"That was the idea." The three of them were still running.

They... already had something planned.

"Okay, what's your plan?"

"Oh, nothing fancy." The clone grinned. "Just the Clone Explosion."

"Clone Explosion?"

"Clone Explosion." They spoke.

All of them.

They began to glow.

All of them.

Clone Explosion.

Right.

I shunted all of My Darkness into my Armour.

With a flash of blinding light, and a massive, thunderous boom, they detonated.

All of them.

Heat, light, and force crashed into me from every direction, the energy of the hundreds of simultaneous explosions washing over me.

Under normal circumstances, such a thing would have been more than enough to disperse me.

Under normal circumstances.

This was not normal circumstances, however.

This time, I was wearing my Armour.

Where my normal body of Darkness would have failed and been dispersed, my Armour resisted and withstood.

So, instead of all that force dispersing me into a cloud to reform a few seconds later, it launched me into the sky.

You little bastard.

I glared down at the ground- which was rapidly and increasingly going further away.

I could see Naruto's, Sasuke's, and Sakura's Hearts, noting that all three of them had come to a stop.

This is the first time I'd been launched this far into the air by an explosion.

My Armour was tough. I had to give it that.

Tanking an explosion like that was... well.

I looked myself over, noting that my Armour had sustained... basically no damage at all. It wasn't even scratched.

I... don't remember the Armours as being that tough, actually.

Hmm.

I looked down- and noted that the ground was actually coming closer again.

Ah well. Something to think about later.

I reorientated, point my feet towards the ground, and twisted space, shifting over to the three little brats.

With a crash, I slammed into the ground a moment later, getting yelps from Naruto and Sakura.

Slowly, my Armour still covered with flames, I pulled myself out of the ground, standing up to my full height.

I paused for a moment, and dusted myself off.

"See, told ya. Drich is fine." Naruto grinned. I couldn't help but note that there was no small degree of panic in his Heart, however.

"Naruto-"

From behind me, Sasuke rushed forwards, drawing the sword I had given him months ago and stabbing at me.

I shifted to the side, but I couldn't quite move out of the way in time.

Turns out, I didn't need to.

The blade came into contact with my Armour, and gave of a metallic scraping sound as it was deflected to the side, failing to cut into it despite the impossibly sharp edge.

For a moment, I simply stared at the blade.

This is some real good Armour.

I reached up, grabbing Sasuke's wrist and immediately unleashing a quick Stop on him, freezing him in time.

"You know, I honestly didn't expect that myself."

In an instant, I was behind Naruto and Sakura, taking advantage of their shock to grab hold of them.

Stop.

Both of them froze, and I let them go, satisfied.

"So." Jiraiya spoke up from behind me. "Naruto did the explosion?"

I nodded. "Do you even need to ask?"

He shrugged. "Last time, it was Sakura."

Huh.

"Also, that's a bit of an odd place to have a scratch."

Hmm?

I looked down, examining my Armour.

There was a scratch in it. A scratch where Sasuke's sword had scraped against it.

It had withstood that explosion without a problem, but it gets scratched by Sasuke's sword?

I touched the scratch, returning the Darkness within back to its normal state, undoing the damage.

The explosion was much more powerful. But Sasuke's sword has Darkness.

I sincerely doubted that was a coincidence.

"Hey, Jiraiya, can I borrow a Kunai?"