Note: This takes place after the Anime.
I do not own these series, nor do I make any money off of this.
"talking"
'thinking'
Chapter 86: Infernal Flames
Chaos. Total and utter chaos. The town around them was on fire. 'Again?' Naruto and Sasuke thought. Luckily, it seemed to be just fire. Fire was something that Naruto and Sasuke could easily deal with. Naruto was impervious to fire and Sasuke had Susano and Amaterasu if necessary. It did make Sasuke wonder about some things. With the exception of Sophie's world, all the worlds they have been to seem to have their own conflicts. Even Natsume and Nanami had ongoing issues, Natsume being an Immortal and Nanami being an Earth Deity. Peace seemed to be out of their reach, especially recently with all the fighting. And it looked like they were in for another.
What looked to be a human man on fire walked towards them. It looked to fit in with the area around them. Once its eyes locked onto Naruto and Sasuke, it charged at them. But a kick sends the thing flying. "Are you alright?" A boy wearing black with neon blue stripes stood barefoot in front of them. Smoke was coming from his feet. Naruto and Sasuke had seen the fire coming from them when he kicked the burning man.
"We're fine," Naruto said.
"You need to get out of here," the boy said. "There are a few more Infernals around." The boy jumped towards the Infernal again. Sasuke grabbed Naruto's arm to prevent him from arguing and dragged him away. He wasn't about to get involved with this chaos.
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Two people stood in the darkness of a room only lit by one lamp. The pink haired girl suddenly looked up. The woman with teal hair stepped forward. "Is something wrong, Lady Inca?"
"Ritsu," Inca said. She walked over to a window and looked outside. She felt something strange happening in the distance. "This presence," she began. "Two people, but they don't belong."
"What do you mean?" Ritsu asked, trying to hold back her desire to join the fight.
"It is strange," Inca continued. "The power of flames is strong in them, but it is different from usual. Could they be Fourth Generations?"
Ritsu smiled. "Maybe they are the last two pillars."
"I don't know," Inca said. A grin spread across her mouth. "But I'd like to find out." Ritsu's smile turned into a smirk.
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Some other members of the White-Clad had heard the discussion and had left to go find Naruto and Sasuke. The two were making their way out of town by traveling through the allies. Naruto was still upset that Sasuke had dragged him away. A scream gained Naruto's attention. Before Sasuke could stop him, Naruto jumped into action. He broke into the building that was one fire. Seeing a little girl and her mother cowering in front of one of those Infernals, made Naruto move. There wasn't enough water in the air to just any water style jutsus and his wind would just make things worse. So, Naruto called upon Kurama's power and plowed right into the Infernal, knocking it to the ground.
"Stop!" A voice called. Naruto froze and turned towards the voice. He blushed as he took in the girl that was stepping in through the window. "You have to give the rights." Naruto gave her a look of confusion. She sighed. "The flame is the soul's breath. The black smoke is the soul's release. Ashes thou wert and art. May thy soul return to the great flame of fire. Látom." She nodded.
"Látom," Naruto said, not really knowing why. He then slammed a chakra hand into the Infernal's heart.
As Naruto got off of the Infernal, the girl realized something. "You're not with the Fire Force. Who are you?"
"Just a passerby," Naruto said. He started walking towards the woman and child. "I heard screaming and I just had to help."
"Well, a Third Generation like you should be more careful," the girl said.
"Third Generation?" Naruto asked. He crouched down. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine," the woman said. "Please, my daughter needs help."
Naruto nodded. The woman thought Naruto was going to grab her daughter, but instead, he lifted her up. She let out a squeak as she held her daughter tightly. The three females stared at Naruto, amazed at his strength. Naruto ran towards the window and jumped out of it. The fire soldier followed after him, landing like a cat. Naruto put the mother and daughter down and allowed a medic to look at them. He was about to leave when the mother grabbed his shirt.
"Thank you," the mother said.
Naruto smiled. "You're welcome." Again he tried to leave, but this time the fire soldier stopped him.
"Where do you think you're going?" the girl asked. "You have to be looked at too."
"I'm fine," Naruto assured. "I have to go meet up with my companion."
"I'll go with you," the girl said. She turned towards the medic. "Do you have everything under control?"
"Yes, miss Tamaki," the medic said.
Tamaki nodded and turned back towards Naruto. "Let's go."
Naruto started to run, kind of hoping he'd lose her, but she was able to keep up with him. Debating whether or not to use chakra, he had to stop before he slammed into Sasuke. The raven had jumped out, dodging what looked to be an attack. "Sasuke?"
"After you left, these losers showed up," Sasuke said.
"White-Clad," Tamaki cursed.
"A fire soldier," one of the White-Clad said. "We should get rid of her."
"Right," another one said. "We only need the two boys."
'So they aren't just after me/Sasuke,' Sasuke and Naruto thought. They took their battle stances.
'Are they pillars?' Tamaki wondered. 'That would explain the blonde's power.' She got on all fours, readying for an attack. 'Where is Shinra?'
"You are in the way," a White-Clad member said, charging at Tamaki. Takami jumped, swinging her fire tails around to hit her attacker. As she did this, her clothes somehow began to fall off. The White-Clad members blushed, some even bleeding from their noses. Naruto also blushed, but he had the dignity to look away. Sasuke on the other hand glared at the girl. Tamaki struggled to gather her clothes, trying to keep herself covered. She cried as some of the White-Clad members passed out. Getting annoyed, Sasuke reached over and tugged the ribbon holding back Naruto's hair forward and over his eyes.
"Hey!" Naruto grumbled. He lifted the ribbon up.
"Dobe," Sasuke growled. Naruto pouted as he fixed his hair. He really needed to get it cut. He glanced over at Sasuke. He also needed a haircut, though he could guess as to why Sasuke refused to do so. The members of the White-Clad that were still standing charged at Naruto and Sasuke. The two easily took them down. Suddenly, a roar caught everyone's attention.
"A Demon Infernal," Tamaki said. She had her clothes back on. She looked around, lost as to what to do. Tamaki knew that she wasn't strong enough to beat it. Naruto and Sasuke turned to face the Demon Infernal as it made its way towards them. "Wait! You can't beat it! You need an extremely high amount of firepower!"
"Firepower?" Naruto grinned. "That's something we have." Sasuke used his bangs to hide his Sharingan as he called upon his Amaterasu. It hit the Demon Infernal and the creature screamed as the black flames began to consume it. Tamaki was stunned. Naruto tapped her shoulder. "Shouldn't you be giving it its rights?"
"Right," Tamaki said. She quickly stood up and began her prayer. "The flame is the soul's breath. The black smoke is the soul's release. Ashes thou wert and art. May thy soul return to the great flame of fire. Látom."
"Látom," Naruto said. He nudged his elbow into Sasuke's side.
Sasuke sighed. "Látom."
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Inra whistled. "They are quite strong, and dangerous." Her body was shaking. Ritsu looked at her with a strange expression. She then looked back at Naruto and Sasuke. If they were pillars, they needed to capture them now. But just as Inra had said before, something was off. Something told her that they weren't pillars. This meant that they were enemies, enemies that needed to be taken out. Ritsu pulled out a tube and Inca grinned. With a nod from her, Ristu released the bug inside.
The bug went right at Naruto. It managed to bite Naruto before he swatted at it. "What was that?" Naruto asked. He felt his body suddenly heat up as fire burst forwards and surrounded him.
"Oh no!" Tamaki yelled. "He's turning into an Infernal!"
"No, he isn't," Sasuke said.
"What?" Tamaki asked. Then she saw the flames beginning to vanish.
Naruto stepped through the flames, patting his body down. He frowned. "I really liked these clothes." The tattered clothes fell to the ground and Naruto quickly covered himself with his cloak.
Tamaki took a step back as she eyed the cloak. 'Are they from another organization?'
"Impossible," Inca said. Her voice caught Naruto's attention.
"What's wrong?" Ritsu asked.
"I can see it, the pathways of flames," Inca said. "But when I touch them to set off the explosions, nothing happens. I don't understand." Ritsu saw her move a finger through the air, but there was no reaction from Naruto. "It's like he's able to guard from my ability."
"What about the other one?" Ritsu asked. Inca's eyes moved towards Sasuke. Naruto heard what the two said and when he saw Inca's finger begin to move, he lept into action. He knocked Inca down, stopping whatever she'd been about to do. Ritsu was thrown off by Naruto's ability to jump up to them so fast. Ritsu tried to kick Naruto off of Inca, but he caught her foot, and tossed her into the side of a nearby building. He was ready to rip Inca's arms off when the boy from earlier sent a fire filled kick at Naruto. Naruto backed off of Inca and stared at the boy.
"Are you alright?" the boy asked.
"I don't need your help, Shira," Inca said. She stood up and glared. "I was enjoying that."
"He was going to kill you," Shinra said.
"Exactly!" Inca said. "I've told you before that living peacefully is boring."
"And I told you that even if you are my enemy, I'm going to keep protecting you," Shinra said.
Tamaki used her flames to jump up. When she came to a stop, she looked around. "What's going on?"
"He tried to kill Inca," Shinra said.
"And she tried to kill Sasuke!" Naruto growled. His eyes were red.
"Sasuke must be the name of that pretty boy," Inca said. "And yeah I was trying to kill him." She smiled. "I also tried to kill you. But you have something protecting you. And from the way you acted, Sasuke doesn't have that same protection. Which means, I can kill him."
"I won't let you!" Naruto charged at Inca, but Shinra stepped in, taking the hit instead. He went flying, disappearing into a building. Naruto turned to Inca who didn't move, too ecstatic at the possibility of dying. This time, an Infernal took the hit.
"Lady Inca," Ritsu said. "We need to leave."
"Now why should I?" Inca asked. She spread her arms out. "This is where the danger is." She laughed as the Infernal blocked another of Naruto's attacks. A look of ecstasy appeared on her face as Naruto destroyed the infernal.
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Sasuke stood on the ground below, wondering what was going on on that roof. Naruto had jumped up there in pure rage. He could feel the Kyuubi's chakra. He could also sense another presence, one he had felt earlier. Tamaki must have also felt it as she used her flames to jump onto the roof. Sasuke thought about joining them, but he noticed several Infrenals starting to make their way towards him. He saw Ritsu jumping down from where Naruto had thrown her. An infernal jumped onto the roof, making it clear that someone up there was controlling them. He ruled out Naruto for obvious reasons as well as Shinra and Tamaki. That left the two women as the suspects. To stop the Infernals, the one controlling them would have to be taken out.
Suddenly, four Infernals jumped up onto the roof. Sasuke felt a sudden change in Naruto's chakra. His Mangekyo Sharingan activated as he summoned the arm of Susano. The arm grabbed the roof and Sasuke was able to hoist himself up there. The sight of the purple arm managed to scare Tamaki and Shinra. Ritsu was also caught off guard. Inca on the other hand was too busy enjoying the scene in front of her. Naruto was struggling against the four Infernals that were trying to keep him down. He let out a roar as a tail grew. He used the tail to knock the Infernals off of him. He then stood up. Another Infernal went to attack Naruto, but this time, Sasuke blocked the attack. Seeing Sasuke, Naruto began to calm down.
Inca noticed the sudden change in Naruto and frowned. There was only one thing Inca could do to make Naruto seriously want to kill her. It was the one thing that would allow her to feel the danger that she wanted. When the Infernal made another attempt to kill Naruto, Inca raised her hand.
"Inca! Don't!" Shinra yelled. His yell caught Naruto's attention and his eyes widened when Inca began to move her finger. He tried to push the Infernals away to get to Inca, but it was too late. Inca finished tracing the pathway. She smirked as Naruto called out Sasuke's name.
Sasuke felt the temperature of his body rise as Inca moved her finger. Despite not knowing what she was doing, the fear in Naruto's eyes made it clear that she was trying to kill him. Sasuke called upon his chakra, using it to cover his insides. The burning he felt in his stomach vanished. His Susanoo created a shield, just in case the attack was external as well. Flames suddenly exploded around him. He felt a little pain from inside, but he was otherwise unharmed.
Seeing that Sasuke was fine made those around him face several different emotions. Naruto was relieved, happy, and angry at the same time. Inca was sad, shocked, and disappointed. Ritsu was surprised, annoyed, and a little scared. Shinra and Tamaki were also afraid, but their amazement and relief that Sasuke was alive overshadowed that. Naruto used Ritsu's moment of surprise to free himself from the Infernals. He jumped to Sasuke's side. His eyes roamed over Sasuke's body, checking to make sure he was ok. Sasuke shrugged him off before his eyes found the Infernals. "Amaterasu." Black flames appeared on the Infernals, and quickly spread across their form. Ritsu quickly grabbed Inca, pulling her away from the flames, afraid she would touch them. Something about the black flames was strange and deadly. Inca reached out in an attempt to tough the flames, but luckily for her, Ritsu pulled her away before she could. She pouted and tried to get out of Ritsu's grip, but failed. Inca was about to touch Ritsu's flame pathways just so she could get what she wanted when Sasuke stopped the black flames. Sasuke had unknowingly saved Ritsu and Inca's lives. With a final glance at Sasuke and Naruto, Ritsu dragged Inca away. She sent the last few Infernals that were around towards them to buy time. Shinra tried to go after them, but Tamaki held him back, shaking her head. Sasuke and Naruto took down the remaining Infernals with Tamaki saying her prayers.