Hi there! I apologize for taking much longer than usual to update. There were two reasons for that:
1) I have this weird fetish where I need to read and write and the same time. Lately, I haven't found enough things worth reading
2) This election has been leaving me in a funk. I won't go into too much detail about where I leaned, but right now I'M ECSTATIC (okay, I think you may have figured me out). So, now that I'm in good spirits again, I felt I was able to complete this chapter. For the Obama supporters, I hope this chapter is yet another reason to love November, and to the McCain supporters, I hope despite my political loyalties you will find this chapter enjoyable and as something to help you get through the day. My only request now is no political messages of ANY KIND in my reviews; focus on how I'm doing in the story, please.
evryluvsmisty: You'll get soon, just be patient.
ManiMan: Well, I hope I don't dissapoint
Mrfipp: Everytime a character meets a crazy girl, they wish they were dead. And I think you'll enjoy Deidara's students.
Cecixx19: Okay, how about this!? You happy now!?
spazzgirl: Well, I'm not that cold to prevent either one of those from happening
InaRealPickle: You'll get those war scenes I'm talking about. Also, since Kishi tries to do a lot of foreshadowing, I tried to due the same, and it seems it worked if you saw the marriage coming. And I think you'll like Midirrio more with time too.
Untamable: No, thank YOU
Disclaimer: OBAMA 08!!...I mean, I don't own Naruto (sorry, sorry to my more conservative readers, it's all good humor)
Earth Country. Its habitats varied from alpine forests to wasteland. Currently, a few individuals were making their way through the Meadow of Mushrooms. Little did Naruto know, as an adolescent, his original jonin leader became the man he was today in that same area. Naruto led Iori and Shiguri through the tall grass, keeping an eye out for attackers. His mission was to join up with a group of Konoha soldiers he was very familiar with. When they reached them, they would go over attack plans and objectives. Naruto stopped and held out his arm, signaling for his two students to stop as well. He had a bad feeling they were being watched; no proof, just a hunch. But ninja hunches were quite often correct. Naruto tapped his earpiece and whispered "Yuji, confirm hostilities."
His third student did not follow him from the ground; rather, he followed his team through the trees and cliffs. Yuji, using his spider gauntlets, struck a tree with a sharp wire, and swung from one tree to the next. He circled the entire area within a fifty meter radius, searching for trouble hoping trouble wouldn't attack him. So far, he did not run into anything; if there was anyone waiting to ambush him, he figured he would have been attacked or run into a trap. Finally, he landed on a branch to reply back to his commander. "All clear, sensei." Yuji was about to return to swinging, when he heard something snap. Yuji spun around in shock. Nothing. There were a few small animals, but nothing big enough in the immediate area that could generate the sound he heard. Something wasn't right. He knew he heard something land on a tree, something big. "Wait." He whispered into his earpiece. Yuji scanned some more, his heart racing. And that's when he felt it.
An Iwa nin, using an invisibility jutsu, emerged behind Yuji. He brought his kunai down, intending to stab the back of his neck…and hit tree bark. "What!?" he yelled.
Yuji was right above him, and shot a single wire. The wire wrapped around the ninja's neck, and Yuji threw him over, and Yuji threw him down into the ground. Yuji didn't get a moment to rest though; he was immediately assaulted by shuriken. The chunin managed to get away without a scratch, but he knew he would not be able to handle this alone. "We're surrounded!! Everyone, get ready!!"
When Yuji yelled that, Iwa nin from all around Team 12 emerged. Naruto immediately made Kage Bushins; Not as much as he could have, but he wanted to conserve chakra; there was no telling when one of the Akatsuki might attack. "Shiguri! Shield our back! Iori! You will help me until Yuji gets here!! Go!!"
Shiguri immediately formed his hand signs. "He's not even chunin!! Run him through, men!!" his attackers shouted, their faces showing nothing but the anticipation of ecstasy from a kill.
The Iwa ninjas charged and got ready to throw projectile weapons, but Shiguri was ready for that. "Doton!! Akuma no Fushido!!" Spikes immediately shot through the ground, and too fast for even most jonin to react in time. Some impaled his attackers, others cut them on vital muscles, but most importantly, they all halted in their tracks. Shiguri caught someone yelling, and shot out a dragon tongue wrapped under his sleeve. The edged weapon grabbed another Iwa nin's wrist, and Shiguri pulled, slashing it down to the bone. The genin was then caught off guard when another snuck behind him and kicked him to the ground. While he was stunned, Shiguri's attacker cocked his arms back in a killing blow. However, the Iwa nin was caught off guard in turn, when Iori kicked him in the head. Following through, the red head brought out her two kamas and sliced his arms clean off. Leaving the poor man to fend for himself, Iori helped Shiguri up. Another nin tried to tackle them both, but a Kage Bushin of Iori rammed right into him. Both using their weapons, and watching each others back, the two fended off their attackers. After what seemed to be an eternity, the attacks stopped. The dead and wounded lay everywhere.
Naruto, with his Kage Bushins, subdued most of the attackers. Satisfied, Naruto dispelled them all. "I think it's over . Alright, we need to take someone alive with us…."
Just then, another figure emerged from the grass. It charged right for Iori and Shiguri, who just put their weapons away. There was no time for them to get ready, and it looked as though their fates were sealed. However, before the assailant knew it, Naruto leaped in front of him with his Rasengan, while Yuji simultaneously touched down behind the assailant. Naruto landed his technique in the man's chest, and at the same moment, Yuji punched him in the back; the combination of the Rasengan and Yuji's super strength was too much, and the man coughed up blood and collapsed.
Yuji looked in horror at what he had done. "I should've known what this jutsu…I should've known what I could've done."
While Yuji stared intensely at the body, Naruto walked over to another nin he captured, all tied up. "There are two ways we can do this. I can bring you to the group I'm supposed to meet with, or we can torture you right here. You choose the former, and I promise you it will be much less painless." The Iwa nin agreed almost immediately. "That's pretty pathetic on your part." His captor commented, knowing if their positions were switched, he would've chosen the ladder. After knocking him out, Naruto made a Kage Bushin which carried the nin for him. "Okay everyone. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. It will be nightfall soon, and we need to hide someplace before the enemy spots us first. Move out!!"
Team 12 settled down for the night and hid in a hollow space inside a tree. They could not use a campfire; enemy ninja would've spotted them for sure. Besides, it was raining, so shelter was important. They couldn't sleep on the ground either. At least in the trees, they could easily gain a second or two against attackers by jumping down onto the ground first. The four Konoha ninja huddled together; it was cramped, but they had no other choice. At least Naruto had the foresight to bring some chloroform, hence keeping their captor quiet and manageable. Naruto wasn't asleep; he should have been. One of his toads was on the trunk keeping a look out. When it croaked in alarm, he would hear it no matter how tired he was. But even taking comfort in that, he could not sleep. Something was nagging at him, but what? He didn't know what it was, but he felt…lonely.
Naruto then turned his attention to Yuji. Iori and Shiguri were sound asleep, but not Yuji. He didn't just look like he wasn't tired; he looked greatly disturbed. "What's wrong, Yuji?"
Yuji did not answer him; he was starting to tear up. "Sensei…I don't know if I can do this." Naruto only looked at him in silence.
"Is it about the man you killed earlier?"
"Not just him; the ones who were chasing me…I only crippled most of them, but a couple snapped their necks in one of my wire traps. Another managed to catch me when I was in midair. I managed to break his hold and shoot a wire right into his neck. I…I feel like I'm not human anymore. Just because I had the strength didn't mean I had to use it to kill, did I? My spider gauntlets can be used both lethally and non-lethally. Why couldn't I do the latter?"
Yuji was visually trembling now, and Naruto, upon noticing that, patted him on the shoulder. "I'm going to be honest with you Yuji; this is my first time at war too. But I will tell you this: I have killed before. Not nearly as much as many other ninja, but I've done it. You'll discover that in each of those battles, it is simply kill or be killed. If you hold back, you will die, Yuji. And I can't allow that to happen." Yuji turned his head away, almost in disbelief. "But," Naruto started, "it's a good thing you don't enjoy it."
Yuji, hearing what he needed to hear, faced Naruto. "Ero-senin used to tell me real ninja love the cause, not the fighting. I've met ninjas who actually enjoy doing what we did earlier today. And they abandon everything a real person holds dear. Friends, family, honor…they become something inhuman." Naruto looked at Yuji, with a warm look in his eyes. "Our abilities can be used for something other than violence. After this war, we can think of ways to prevent another…non-violently of course."
Yuji, the silent listener he usually was, seemed a bit skeptical. "You really think so?"
Naruto, realizing his student called his bluff, chuckled nervously. "Okay, so I don't know for sure. But I believe it can be done. And when I become Ho-"Naruto stopped himself. Did he really want to become Hokage anymore? Not a single thought came to mind to give him a clue.
The blonde realized that he was spacing out, and turned to Yuji, who looked as though he was getting impatient. Naruto sighed. "I just don't know. But whatever you do, don't lose yourself and your emotions. It's the worse thing that could happen. And believe me, I know THAT." Naruto turned over to face the outside. "Get some rest, Yuji. You really are going to need it."
Yuji curled up, still feeling uneasy.
Within another part of the continent, a scout of ANBU ninjas raced through the trees. They were not part of Konoha or Iwa. No, they were Kiri ninjas. They inspected both the trees and the ground surrounding them. After a good hour, they finally stopped to report to one another "Did you find any trace of her?"
"No, not yet." The other answered.
"We must find her. We cannot afford to fail Mizukage-sama again, like Niji did."
"And don't forget, Taifuu will see an end to us, whether by the Mizukage's consent or not." His partner shuddered at the thought. To die by Typhoon's hands was like punishment from heaven.
Without saying another word to each other, the two took to the trees again, vanishing from the area. Little did they know, someone was watching them the whole time. "Time to move again." The figure took off in the opposite direction, leaving no traces.
"Uhn." Sasuke grunted as pulled the last of his stitches out. Though he was not a medical ninja, he got hurt many times before and watched how Kabuto treated him, in order to learn to do the conventional methods himself should he have no one else. As he was pulling them out, he made another observation; Midoriiro did a terrible job. But it was good enough to save his life, and Sasuke knew what kind of medicines to get to fight off any infection. His thoughts turned back to the girl and the nights he spent with her. Many times, it was terrifying; she threatened him and beat him over the head with something repeatedly; he tried to bring up the fact that he was still injured, but that just made things worse. Other times, it felt peaceful to be with her, even nice. He especially enjoyed seeing her smile…then he shook that out of his head. He was sharing a residence with a crazy woman, and he knew it. "Even so, I should thank her, crazy as…"
"Sasuke, I'm HOOMMMEE!"
Sasuke covered his ears again, trying to block out the horrible noise. Midoriiro walked in, having kicked open the door as if she was given a very potent stimulant. She talked just fine, but when she raised her voice, he couldn't stand her!! "Oh, so my expert medical skills worked, I take it?" Midoriiro asked, smiling in anticipation.
Sasuke's eyes twitched at her exclamation of her medical skills being "expert". "They did the job good enough."
For a second, Midoriiro's face turned into a frown, knowing damn well what Sasuke meant. Then, she smiled again. "Good! That means you're ready to move out!!"
Neither one moved nor said a word. The only sound heard was the wind. "I beg your pardon?" Sasuke asked, more perplexed then he ever had been.
"We've gotta go. As much as I love this place, that's the way things are!" With that, Midoriiro rushed to the cabinets, grabbing whatever she could fit into a tiny knapsack before Sasuke could even asked. She seemed to be in an extreme hurry too. "Alright, Sasuke-chan!! Get your clothes, cause we're ready to go!!"
In a few minutes the two were outside. Sasuke didn't have a clue what he was doing. But he figured he would follow Midoriiro to find out. "Argh!!" Midoriiro screamed, slapping her forehead. "I forgot!! I need to blow the place up!!"
"WHAT!?"
"I'll be right back!!" Midoriiro rushed to her small hut, and placed explosive tags all over it. "There!! Enough C2 explosive tags to blow that place sky-high!!"
As she carried her knapsack on the tip of her sword like one would with a stick, a couple of unused explosive tags fell out of her shirt. Sasuke bent down and picked one up. "Um…these are C4 explosives…."
Midoriiro snatched a tag and looked at it, her eyes widening and jaw gaping in belief. She looked back to the cabin, and cried "RUUUNNN!!" Just as the two began to sprint, the explosives went off, sending them flying.
The forest rained with shuriken. It was a full battle of ninja troops, and at the moment, neither one had an edge over the other. Soon, all distance attacks, at least for now, were called off, and the two groups engaged in close combat. Finally, the casualties started piling up. Both Konoha and Iwa nin fell from the tree tops, dead from a punctured heart before they hit the ground. But soon, the Konoha nin were becoming outnumbered. "Slaughter them!!!" an Iwa nin cried.
He brought a kunai down on an opponent, who parried it. The two were locked in combat. The Konoha nin managed to get himself in a position where the Iwa nin could not attack without breaking their stalemate, but the downside was that he himself could not counterattack. "A little help here!!" he cried.
Suddenly, the Iwa nin broke off, and ran towards a comrade. However, instead of trying to help him, he stabbed his fellow nin in the stomach. "Why…" The confused nin collapsed on the branch.
His killer dropped his kunai, looking at his own hand, trembling. "What have I done? WHAT HAVE I DONE!!!?"
Before he could take his own life, he was knocked out by a chop to the head. Ino, in her ANBU mask, rushed into the battle field again. Though she was not the most powerful ninja, her mind jutsus could turn the tables on an army in an instant. Before she could join up with other comrades, an enemy nin cut her off. The two slashed at each other with kunai, but Ino was backhanded onto the branch. Before her enemy could deliver a killing blow, something kept him from moving. Hairs, energized by chakra, bound his legs together. Should he have went forward with his blow, he might have killed his opponent…but he would most likely fall flat on his face and be exposed. "Chouji!! Now!!"
The Iwa nin turned his head, and stared in horror as a giant ball rolled towards him. The ball hit him with such force that the Iwa nin never felt it and was out cold. Chouji transformed back into his original form, and ran towards Ino. However, he was caught off guard when wires from four different directions wrapped around him. Four Iwa nins revealed themselves behind the leaves, smirking beneath their masks.
"Konoha must be getting desperate if they're sending the unfit after us!!" Though Chouji had grown to accept his weight and appearance and all the bad things that came with it, their statements still sent him over the edge. The Akimachi screamed, but he could not expand. Instead, the steel cords tightened around him, making it impossible. "HAHAHA! Struggle all you want, fat boy!! You'll never…"
Suddenly, the ninjas felt something odd. Without their consent, they dropped their wires and dumped their weapons. "Wh-What's going on!?"
"You are under my control now." Shikamaru, on the other side of the tree, walked from one branch to the other. The bad news was that it would break his control over his captives. The good news: his captives stepped into nothing but air, and fell. Shikamaru jumped to the other side to meet his friends again. "Chouji, In…I mean, Kin! Are you guys okay!?"
"We're fine, Shikamaru." Ino, aka Kin, answered.
Normally, the ANBU fought separately from the normal chunin and jonin. But things had gotten to the point where some mixing was necessary.
Before they could converse more, Ino sensed something. Quickly, she took to the treetops, and scanned the horizon. If it weren't for her mask, her eyes would have conveyed shock. "Regroup!! Reinforcements!!!!" A whole new battalion of Iwa nins, close to a thousand strong, surrounded the Konoha nins. The odds were bad enough before, but now they had no hope.
The InoShikaChou trio drew their weapons. "Hey isn't this usually the part where Naruto intervenes?" Shikamaru asked a bit jokingly, trying to lighten up the situation. It's not that he was opposed to the idea; Naruto could and would help them if needed. But to rely on one ally all the time was dangerous.
"Tajuu Kage Bushin no Jutsu!!" A thousand versions of a very familiar ninja leaped into the trees, protecting what remained of the Konoha squad, and prepared to face the enemy.
"Then again…" Shikamaru noted with a smile, "…Naruto was the type one could always count on."
Naruto dropped his captor onto the ground with the least bit of concern, if any, for his comfort. Ino stepped forward and extended her hands, preparing her Shintenshin jutsu. She collapsed on the ground as if she fell asleep, but everyone knew Ino's mind was inside of their POW's.
After about five minutes, she finally came to and rose. "They're planning surprise attacks in Grass and Rain, five hundred strong each!! Send a messenger animal to Konoha, quickly! And make sure it's a discreet one!"
Many messenger animals were being attacked, with both sides doing anything they could to ruin communications between troops and their respective villages. Konoha had to find new ones to use, sometimes every other week. For this instance, a duck was chosen; they were the opposite of what most ninja expected, and they could travel great distances non-stop. After it left, Ino went over to Naruto and sat next to him. She knew he knew who she was underneath the mask "So, I hope everything is okay with you and your team."
Naruto sighed a bit. "They're okay, for the most part. Yuji is still a bit traumatized, but he will still able to do his job. How are things holding up here?"
Ino walked to a rock opposite Naruto and sat on it, wanting to face him. "We're managing. But Iwa has the largest army in all of shinobi history. They've won battles by sheer numbers alone, even when the average Iwa nin is weaker than his counterparts from other countries. The previous hokages were incredible, and helped us overcome things like this despite the odds…but even with Tsunade-sama leading us, I don't know how much longer we can hold out…"
Naruto looked away, unsure about how to answer. "Listen, I'm going to set camp out here, if that's alright. We'll wait here for further orders, and I will protect everyone here."
"By the way, Naruto…" Ino got up from her seat and walked towards the jinchuriki, "…what's going on between you and Sakura?" It was normally unwise, and in many cases illegal, to refer to fellow ANBU members by their real names. Doing so implied you were an associate to the named person, and your identity would be jeopardized. But Ino didn't particularly care at the moment.
Naruto stopped in his tracks and cast her a sideways glance. "What are you talking about?" Naruto did not want to get caught up in that again. He just couldn't face her, or even bear the mentioning of her name. He would've attributed it to anger if asked why…but he wasn't so sure.
"Don't play dumb with me, Naruto." Ino hissed dangerously. "You do that naturally quite well. Something's wrong with Sakura. She's not herself. Granted, no one these days can exactly be called happy, but it seems like any hope she had is gone. She does her duties, but that's it. She has no enthusiasm, no motivation…I'm not sure if she even cares whether or not we win."
For some reason, this did bother Naruto, but he tried his best to ignore it. "So long as she does her duties to the best of her ability, I don't see how this is of any concern."
Before Naruto could walk away, Ino threw him backwards onto the ground. "I knew it." She said, barely containing her rage. "It has something to do with you!!" she pointed accusingly at him. Naruto tried his best to counter, but no words came to him. Ino walked off and placed her hands on her hips, a gesture of frustration. "I don't know what's going on. I have no proof it was your fault. But I know you have to fix it!!"
"Forget it!!" In that instant, Naruto realized he blew it.
Ino ran over and punched him in the face, ignoring the fact Naruto didn't even get up yet. "I guess I've got the proof I need!! So, just what is it that got you so upset over Sakura, huh!?"
Naruto finally got up and wiped the blood from his lip. "None of your business." He muttered.
"Fine then. But allow me to take a guess: somehow, the fact that Sakura loved Sasuke before you came up, didn't it? And it came up in such a way that you felt second-rate to Sasuke because of that! You really think that Sakura would have stayed with Sasuke had he not left?"
Deciding to play along, given the truth of the matter, Naruto replied "Well, what do you think?! She was head over heals in love with him, you both were! If he didn't leave, Sakura would still chase him! I wouldn't have had a chance; Jiraya planned to take me away for training whether or not both Orochimaru and Akatsuki became threats." Naruto kicked a pebble into a vacant spot. "Even if I had a chance back then, had Sasuke not left, I just know they would have fallen in love together. Do you think Sakura really would have waited two and a half years to make her decision if one of them stayed?"
Naruto finally walked away, deciding he had enough. Ino made a motion to throw him back again, but Naruto grabbed her wrist and locked it in an Aikido-like grip. It didn't hurt much, but without putting up a real fight, Ino had no way of escape. "Just drop it. It's been done, and it was never meant to be." Naruto released Ino from his hold that instant. "Sakura should just get over it like I have. It'll be less complicated for both of us that way. If you'll excuse me, I need to get my team together."
Ino watched as Naruto walked off to where his students were having some water. "That's not the real reason, is it?" Ino asked.
In southern Grass country, Konoha ninja were making their way through a trench. It was muddy, the air reeked with decay, and the sides were so shallow they practically had to crawl to avoid being spotted. But that was better than being skewered by kunai; the Iwa nins invented some sort of machine that shot kunai at speeds most humans could never hope to match. Fortunately, they were rather expensive to make, so only a few of them existed. But they were still so destructive that many countries would massacre for just two of them. Down in the trench, another ANBU ninja crawled with his comrades, who themselves were not ANBU. In fact, most were chunin. "Man this sucks. Those dogs have got us crawling in this dump like one of them!!"
Another one, a chunin, yelled to their ANBU captain "Hey, you're supposed to be the elite!! Why don't you fucking do something!!?"
The ANBU remained silent, much to the annoyance of his comrades. If only they knew that it was because of his personality, not because of his protocol.
On the other side, the Iwa nins observed their foes crawling in the trench. The commander of the Iwa squad looked at the trenches with a telescope. Just barely, he could make out men crawling in the trenches. Smirking, he put his scope down and yelled to his men "They're out of reach of the Gattlers. Are the mustard pellets ready?"
"Ready, sir!!"
The Iwa nins hurled the pellets into the trenches by the use of both hand and sling, and most of the Konoha nins failed to realize the danger.
"What are these, smoke bombs?"
"Then why is it yello-augh!! Ack!!"
One by one, the Konoha nins fell. It was a new type of poison gas. Due to the healthy bodies of most shinobi, it was difficult to concoct a poison that would kill its victims easily. But this one did just that. It behaved as both a hemo and neurotoxin, making it much more destructive than other poisons as well as something more difficult to counter. Before the yellow cloud could make it to the remaining troops, though, birds that looked like they belonged in a painting flew in front of them and flapped their wings, dispersing the clouds. The ANBU who was with them began drawing on a scroll, and rhino-like beasts jumped out. They charged onto the fields towards the Iwa nins, who tried to counter with kunai but their projectiles were useless against the pieces of art come to life, even with the use of the gattlers. As they struggled to hold them back, they were taken by surprise when another ANBU snuck up behind them and delivered an earth-shattering fist into the middle of their squad, sending their soldiers, equipment, and ground into the air, later to be impaled by the beasts.
Sakura got to work immediately after the battle was over. She tried to extract the poison from the bodies of those who inhaled the gas, but extracting poison in gaseous form was much more difficult. In most cases she didn't have time to diagnose them before they died. Soon, almost all who inhaled the poison died. Never before had Sakura lost so many in need of her help. Normally, she would have been tearing up…but lately nothing came to her. "It's like I've become Sai's twin sister." She thought to herself, acknowledging the fact that she was not herself. The only consolation was that they still had more than 80% of the original squad left. In addition, Sakura found the chemical composition of the poison. She did not have a lab to analyze it, so instead she attached it to a messenger animal for Tsunade. Surely, she would find a cure to prevent more deaths from such a vile weapon.
"Hakume." Sai, in his ANBU outfit, addressed Sakura by her code name. "I recommend that we retreat into the woods for now. The men are too tired to fight anymore, and we need shelter."
"Agreed." Sakura replied to Sai, almost as emotionless as he.
After they had taken shelter, Sakura did something that no ninja in the battlefield, let alone an ANBU agent trying to conceal her identity, should do: she threw off her clothes and gear, and bathed in the stream. The water was freezing cold, but Sakura felt the need to clean herself to be overpowering after fighting for weeks without the most basic rests. She didn't plan on indulging, even if it were possible; she just needed to wipe off all the dirt and mud from her body, and be done with it. After a few minutes, she finished, and rose to grab her clothes.
"You know, bathing here is not a good idea."
Sakura covered her mouth, keeping herself from screaming, and dove into the water. Nervously, she turned her head slightly, and saw Sai right next to her, facing the opposite way. "Sai!!" she hissed, trying to keep her voice down. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Sakura probably figured that Sai still didn't understand the need to separate genders during bathing, but it has been 3 years!!!
"After seeing you in here, I thought the water was warm enough to risk being exposed, but it's too cold. I don't get it; just why are you here?"
"None of your business!"
Sai didn't respond to her statement, but after a second, he began a rant of his own. "You know, I was actually starting to like you a little bit better lately. You have not gotten upset over anything, and from what I've read, these kinds of events bring out the worst in people…whatever that means. But back when we first met, you said that shinobi can't truly cast their emotions aside, and dismissed it as a foolish idea. Yet, that's what you're doing right now. So, were you wrong?"
Sakura nearly screamed "Of course not!! Emotions are what make us human!!" Though she was listening, Sakura figured she counted to 10 that number of times.
"And yet you're becoming as emotionless as I am anyway. I really don't care which you choose to become, but I find people who don't practice what they preach to be bothersome. To be honest, I was here for a good few minutes without you noticing. If killing your emotions means killing your senses as well, I wouldn't recommend such an action for now. The old you may be more annoying, but she was useful at least." With that, Sai rose from the water. Sakura only caught a glimpse, but she could tell he was not wearing a towel. She didn't dare look…although right now she really didn't care how good-looking he was. "You know, Dickless has been acting the same way too. Aside from his students and Kazekage-sama, he's been behaving as though he were a soldier of Root. I never thought an idiot like him would figure it out."
For some reason, this grabbed Sakura's attention. Naruto…cold and emotionless? She could see that after their break-up, but wasn't he with Hinata now? Surely he would be happy now because of that. Something wasn't right…
"By the way, don't perverted girls like you usually lose it in a situation like this?" Sai asked as he pulled on his leotard.
"I beg your pardon!?" Sakura screamed without regards to being heard.
"They explained to me back then when the Sandaime's grandson did those useless transformations, that the one with me and Sasuke-kun excited you. Sexually. I don't understand why; the smoke kept you from seeing what you weren't supposed to. But if that was enough to make you squeal back then, I'd imagine anything from touching yourself to raping me would follow right now, with me being having been completely naked and all."
"Sai, get out of here!!!" Sakura screamed without restraint once more.
"Ah, there's the Sakura I know." Sakura's response to this was a rather large rock to his head.
After he left, Sakura got dressed. It actually felt good to pummel Sai again; he deserved it, after all. But what bothered her was that after finding Hinata's true feelings, Naruto was still mad at everything. "It's a thing of the past, now." she told herself. "Confused as I may be, I have no right to complicate things for either of us any further."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE'RE LOOSING GROUND!?" Mutsugorou screamed at his messenger.
"T-Tsuchikage-sama, it's the truth! We've never had as many jonin or ANBU as the other nations!! Our plan of quantity over quality is an outdated policy!! We need to raise our standards…"
"This would mean taking more time to train our students, and fewer soldiers!! No matter how skilled a shinobi may be, overwhelming numbers are enough to kill them!! So what if the majority of our soldiers are not the best!? A game of shogi requires the sacrifice of worthless pawns in order to win!!" Mutsugorou slammed his fist on his desk to emphasize the point.
Deidara was leaning against the wall, listening to everything. Most of it bored him out of his mind. "Mutsugorou-chan, you realize I've beaten you at every game of shogi we played, right?" Deidara thought to himself.
"Deidara!! Kill this man right now!!" Mutsugorou yelled pointing his finger at the now pale-white chunin.
As the chunin cowered, Deidara sighed "Not in the mood. You do it."
"DEIDARA!! I'M GIVING YOU AN ORDER!!! I allow you to return to the village, as part of the elite once again no less, AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME!? YOUR LAST TEAMMATE!?"
Deidara gave a fake smile and replied "But it's been so long, Tsuchikage-sama. I have not seen your incredible jutsus since Kami knows when. I'd very much like for you to show me a demonstration on this young man, if you would be so kind."
Mutsugorou looked at him, then back at the messenger. He began to sweat, and after what was too long by the young man's standards, the kage finally relaxed and muttered "You're lucky I'm in a good mood. Go and do something that's actually useful." The chunin bowed nervously, and practically ran out of the office.
"Hehe. I wonder just how it is that you convince our humble people you're the most powerful man in Iwagakure, eh?" Deidara mocked.
His teammate simply replied "Humans by nature respect authority. So long as they are unaware of their own strength or potential, they will submit. Fear of punishment, especially when you consider yourself weak, is enough to keep one in line. So long as they're given the message that they can never be strong, smart, and independent, they will trust me like a child does his mother. Only those with unquestionable loyalty do I allow to become stronger."
"And in doing so, you've made our army weaker." Deidara noted as he walked over to the report the chunin left behind.
"What do you think you're doing!? Those are for me alone to look at!!"
Deidara ignored him as he flipped through the pages, and smiled as he stumbled upon what he was looking for. "Ah, here you are, Kyuubi." Deidara threw the papers back on his old teammate's desk and strode towards the door. "Get your best spies to find this blonde-haired ninja. I have business to attend to with him." The Tsuchikage nodded weakly, ignoring the fact that it was Deidara, not himself, who just gave an order. "I'm going to get my team ready." Deidara chimed as he exited the office.
"Tobi!!" Hidan screamed. "I can't believe Kizu-sama would allow someone like you to join us!!"
"Where is it!? I know I put it here somewhere!!" Tobi screeched as he searched the floor everywhere in a manner unbecoming of a member of an S-class organization; crawling on his knees.
Deidara's team just stared in disbelief. "Sensei was actually paired up with this guy?" Koungaseki asked.
"Well, he said he had no say in the matter…" Genkakushoujou replied. "…and that he's more impressive than he appears." The last part emphasized much skepticism.
"Well, we'll see soon enough I suppose." San replied, emotionless as ever.
Finally Deidara walked in, much to the delight of the adolescents. "Alright. I've finally located the person I've been telling you all about. And it has just gotten more exciting. Apparently, the brat has students of his own now! I'd imagine this is going to be pretty fun for all of you, hmm?" The eyes of his own students lit up, but his attention was drawn to his partner, who was crawling on the floor. "Hidan…please don't tell me he lost those things." Deidara groaned pleadingly. Hidan simply gave a slight nod, which caused Deidara to sigh in disbelief. "Okay, okay. I know what to do."
Deidara walked over to Tobi and yelled his name. In response, Tobi stood at attention and nearly screamed "Deidara-sempai!! You have to help me, I can't find the jewels!! Kizu-sama is going to be so mad at me if…."
"Tobi…is that mustard on your shirt?" Deidara asked, placing a finger in Tobi's chest.
"Huh?" Then, Deidara whipped his finger straight up Tobi's mask, knocking it off and a few ruby-like jewels followed.
"I figured." Deidara noted as he gathered them up. "I saw you playing with them last night before dinner, with the same hand you used to stuff food in your mAUUGGGHHH!!" Deidara looked away and put his hands in front of his face, as did everyone else in the room. "Well, that explains the mask and why he eats super-fast!" Deidara thought grimly.
"Deidara-sempai…am I that ugly?" Tobi's tone was one of distress, but no one in the room seemed to make note of it. Deidara, keeping his eyes closed, fumbled for his mask and placed it back on his face.
"To be quite frank, yes." Deidara then turned to his students once more. "Back to the topic at hand. We're going to lure him into Shikyo Ya and separate him from his team. Kill the children if you please, but the jonin we have to leave alive, even though he will die soon anyway."
"But Deidara-sempai, Kizu-sama has something planned for me, I know it! And what about Hidan?"
"Just wait until he orders us to do something. That is all." With that, the Iwa nins departed for battle.
Naruto rolled behind a rock, before kunai could skewer him. The two Iwa nins were far away, but they were not foolish enough to waste their weapons when they could close in on him. Naruto tapped his radio receiver. "Okay, as soon as they're halfway towards me, take them out."
Soon, as he predicted, the Iwa nins began to run towards him. But one was taken by surprise when Iori tackled him to the ground. "You stupid wench!!" Iori got up to run before he could grab her. However, his comrade hurled a kunai and impaled her back. Iori fell down with a thud, and didn't move, not even twitch. "I missed the vital spot on purpose, but it will take an extremely skilled medic just to make her walk again. Still, we could use her as a hostage; these Konoha nins are ridiculously soft." He leaped towards her prone body and lifted her carelessly by the head. "Hey, blonde boy!! If you want this girl to live…" Before he could finish, Iori disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Was that…a kage bushin!?" Before he could react, he felt a wire tighten around his leg, and was pulled back with such force that it had to be a machine that trapped him. He found out at the last second before he was knocked out that he was wrong.
"Nadare!!" his comrade screamed. However, he also found that he could not move. He looked down, and saw that he was buried knee-deep in impossibly thick mud.
As he struggled to pull himself out, Naruto walked towards him, twirling a kunai in his hand. "You guys are real idiots. I know some of you escaped whenever I showed up. Surely, the Tsuchikage would've thought to bring tougher guys then low level chunin like you."
His captive spat the ground. "Hnh. If it weren't for Nezumi's absence, we would have taken you out no problem."
"Oh, really? This rat sounds like a tough customer." Naruto said mockingly.
"With the power of the Yonbi, he can conquer anything!!" Just then, the Iwa nin realized his mistake, and covered his mouth too late.
"The…Yonbi?"
As Yuji came into the field, dragging the other chunin by the ankle, the one stuck in the mud yelled "Yes! The Yonbi was sealed in Nezumi's body as a boy!! He was one of our strongest weapons!! And you would've been dead if those freaks hadn't taken him!!"
A feeling of dread washed over Naruto. He knew Akatsuki formed an alliance with the Tsuchikage, but he had to be sure…"Tell me, did these guys wear black coats with red clouds?"
The chunin looked at him in shock, and Naruto knew it wasn't the answer he was hoping for. "You intend to save him? An enemy?"
"I'll certainly make sure he's in no position to make threats. But yes, I will save him." Naruto walked over to him, and focusing his chakra, he walked over the mud like it was water. "However, there's one thing I don't get: I know your village is in cahoots with Akatsuki. Why would they take him from you? Was it a trade-off? Or did they betray you guys?"
The chunin answered "Don't get the wrong idea. Many times, we fear Nezumi and pray for his death. But he is still a useful weapon if guided properly, and we needed him now more than ever!! Akatsuki kidnapped him under our noses!!"
"You speak of him like you know exactly what I am." Naruto hissed dangerously.
The chunin answered "Yes, they told us all about you, Uzumaki Naruto, the Ky-"
Before he could finish, Naruto grabbed his neck and squeezed, and plunged a kunai into his mouth, the steel edges less than an inch from his flesh. After a tense second, Naruto withdrew, his hidden message sent.
The chunin smirked and said "Fine. We'll just take him from you when you get him back. Northeast from here, about 20 kilometers. They have a base there, behind a boulder with the character of forbidden pasted on it. We can't get in, so all I can say is good luck." Naruto sheathed his kunai and signaled for his team to follow him. When they were out of sight, the chunin who spilled the beans tapped a radio hidden in his wrists. "It's as you said, Deidara-sama. He's heading your way."
As Team 12 ran through the barren wasteland, Yuji and Shiguri conversed. They hadn't spoken much, even after Shiguri apologized. It was more circumstantial than awkwardness. But earlier, something caught their attention that made them break the ice. "What was he about to call sensei?" Shiguri asked. "It was like sensei tried to silence him before we discovered something we weren't supposed to."
"I don't know." Yuji replied. "But I can't imagine it would be anything bad. Hokage-sama seems fond of him; if there was something shameful about him, I doubt she would have even allowed him to teach us."
Little did they know, Iori knew exactly what that shinobi was about to say. She never came forth with her two friends about her secret and Naruto's. After being alone for so long, she did not want to risk loosing her two first and only friends. If she told them, it would be back to when it was just her and her father. To make matters worse, she wouldn't just be isolating herself, but Naruto as well.
"Hey sensei!" Shiguri yelled. "Are we honestly saving another one of those things!? Excuse me, but I recall having a close encounter with someone who had a demon inside of him!! It wasn't exactly an experience I particularly enjoyed!!" Iori felt a pang in her stomach at his remark.
"Not all of them are bad people, Shiguri." Naruto shot that remark with a bit more anger than he intended. "That being said, I'm well aware of the fact that this Nezumi could still be a dangerous adversary. But this organization who took him is the same that Itachi and Kisame belonged to. I don't know why, but they want the power of these demons…something we can't allow a group of S-class criminals to have!! Besides, the jinchuriki will most likely be unconscious and injured. So long as we're alert, we should be okay."
Shiguri looked to the side, and muttered "Fair enough." He wasn't so sure, but some criminal organization obtaining power was enough to convince him to join in on the mission.
Finally, they reached a canyon, and Naruto signaled for his team to halt. "There it is." He pointed towards a rock with the character of Kin on it. Team 12 climbed down towards it, and Naruto explained the situation. "I've been through this before. They use a barrier-type jutsu to protect their extraction points. That seal on the rock is protecting them, plus several others. Which means, to get inside, we will have to split up. Last time, our comrades were forced to fight double versions of themselves. However, let me make it clear: I don't want you to fight whatever enemy you're facing. Get away anyway you can. Iori, summon butterflies, small ones. Tell them to search the area within a 5 km radius to find seals with Kin on them."
Iori did what she was told, and brought forth a dozen insects no bigger than her thumb. Her eyelids flickered, and then they flew off. "That was weird. It was kind of like…explaining through all senses." Her two teammates were curious, but decided it was best that they focus on the mission. After 5 minutes, they landed on her shoulder. For a moment, Iori seemed to go in that same sort of trance, and snapped out of it. "There are three others: one due west 4 km, another northeast 2.5 km, and the last one is due south 1.5 km."
Naruto nodded. "Okay then. To remove the barrier, we must remove the seals at the same time. Yuji, take the one in the west. Iori, you take the one south, and Shiguri gets the last one." As they took off, Naruto turned to his side and said "Sakura, we-" Naruto stopped himself. Smacking his face, he then made a kage bushin which climbed up to the seal and got ready to rip it off while the real Naruto readied his Rasengan. Soon, Naruto heard his team respond on his radio.
"I'm in place, Naruto-sensei."
"I'm there!"
"Ready whenever you are."
"On three, rip them off!! One, two…three!" Naruto's students ripped on his command as did his clone. Naruto charged through the boulder, ripping it apart with the Rasengan.
As the dust settled, an all too familiar laugh rang through the cavern. "Glad to see you again, Kyuubi. An artist like myself would never be able to live with leaving a masterpiece unfinished…which in my case is killing you."
In that instant, Naruto caught sight of the familiar blond hair that burned in his memory. "Deidara." he hissed.
Deidara only chuckled in response. "Don't get too cocky. If it weren't for that copy ninja, you would have never landed a blow on me!! And on top of that, I lost both of my arms! If that was what it took for you to beat me back then, you haven't got a chance now!!"
Naruto simply pulled out a kunai and muttered "I'm not the same from the last time you knew me. Now, hand over Nezumi!"
Deidara broke down laughing this time. "You actually believe that!? You think some cowardly chunin would tell you such a thing without torturing him!? Or that someone as low ranking as he would even know!?" Naruto's eyes widened, realizing too late he was tricked. "Your sympathies for your fellow jinchuriki will be your downfall, Kyuubi. Not only that, but did you think getting in here would be the same as last time?"
Naruto yelled "What difference does it make!? I'm right here in front of you!!"
Deidara waved his finger mockingly. "There never was a barrier on the rock. And you did not have to touch those seals. You could have simply used that technique to bust in here with your team. Nothing you did was necessary." Naruto's mouth gaped open. "Oh, and by the way: that team of yours is not going to face carbon copies of themselves this time around."
Yuji fired a wire. He was stuck in a mini-canyon with a raging river at the bottom. If he was going to fight a double of himself like Naruto said, it would be best to get himself out of an environment where he would be in danger; he really, REALLY did not want to fall into the ravine. He sprang himself from the ground…and was knocked back onto it. Yuji grunted, then chocked when he felt a foot step on his throat.
"It seems I've stumbled upon victim #500." A boy, a bit older than Yuji, with long black hair and unusual scars, stood before him. The scars alone alerted him that this guy was trouble.
In fear, Yuji grabbed the boy's foot, and threw him into the canyon wall, shattering the stone. Yuji then launched again, and almost made it…then was halted by some invisible force, as if he swung into a thick, glass wall that wouldn't break. Yuji fell to the ground, and snagged the edge before he fell into the river. He tried to climb up, but his temples were throbbing in pain.
His opponent then walked towards him calmly, as if the super strong throw did not affect him. "You're about to see why they call me Chishio Koungasenki.
Iori looked around her location in amazement; she already tore off the scroll, and she just couldn't help it. It was almost as if she had stumbled upon Eden itself. "Who would've thought an oasis like this would have existed in such a desolate place?" She was standing in a meadow with tall grass, and deeper into the oasis was a small jungle with a cascading waterfall that gave way to a river. In the middle of admiring the beauty of the area, Iori smacked her head, reminding herself what she came here for and would happen if she lingered around for too long. "No! I have to get out of here!" Reluctantly, Iori turned away and ran. On her way, she snatched a strawberry and placed it in her mouth; she was a bit hungry after all.
"I take it you like my little garden?" Iori stopped in her tracks and spun around. A girl with violet hair stood atop the waterfall. "You must be one of the brats that Deidara-sensei told me about. I think that alone dictates what will happen next." The girl gracefully landed onto the grass and stared at Iori with an intense, evil stare, one that anticipated excitement. "By the way, my name is Genkakushoujou; Naraku Genkakushoujou."
Shiguri's seal was located in a rather unremarkable location. Just an open plain of desert, with the seal located on a rather unremarkable rock. Shiguri began to sprint back towards where Naruto was, and suddenly stopped. "Come out! I can smell you, and my nose isn't even that good!"
A figure began to rise from the ground in front of him, and Shiguri nearly stepped back in shock of the boy's unusual hair. "Ah, yes. My deepest apologies; stealth has never been my strong suit."
"Shall I see what your strong suit is then?" Shiguri asked, whipping out a dragon tongue. It's not that he was itching for a fight; he did take his sensei's orders seriously, and ever since he was thrown into battle, he learned it really was a good idea to get away from an enemy if at all possible. But there was no escape; the environment was a flat plane. No amount of speed or agility could save him. There wasn't even any grass for him to hide in. Fighting was the only option.
"Sure." The boy answered. "You'll see why I'm called San Ame."
"Yes, your students against mine. In the meantime, let us keep each other company. How does that sound?" Deidara taunted.
Naruto's jaw sprouted canines, and his eyes turned red. No red chakra leaked out, but his rage alone would make most people shudder with fear. "You bastard!!!"
Naruto swung his two kunai, which Deidara dodged. The Akatsuki member then prepared two clay bombs and threw them at the real jinchuriki. Naruto created two Kage Bushins in return, and had them transformed into a shield and a spring. The bombs collided with the shield, but it protected Naruto, and the spring held him in place. Naruto then created even more kage bushins, to which Deidara responded by creating dozens of more bombs. None of them ever touched the real Naruto, who finally cornered Deidara and pinned him into the wall, leaving a rather large crack. Naruto attempted a blood choke, but jumped back in pain when he felt a burning sensation on his shoulder. Naruto inspected it, and saw a smoking hole in that part of his uniform. His skin looked as though it was pressed against a campfire.
Turning back to Deidara, he found the cause: the Iwa nin's tongue, the one in the palm of his hand. "I designed my hands to mold clay bombs. The chemical needed for that is produced by these tongues. As a result, it is caustic to human skin, save my own. But…" Deidara flung his hand, and his tongue stretched an extra 3 meters. Naruto rolled out of the way, the tongue leaving a smoking hole in the ground. "…it's very handy as a surprise weapon!!" Deidara continued flicking both artificial tongues, one of which nicked Naruto right above the eye. Deidara tried to take the time and get another clay bomb ready, but Naruto was too fast, and kicked the Akatsuki member back into the wall.
"Itachi put up a better fight than this!!" Naruto continued to pound the Iwa nin into the wall, his knuckles becoming soaked with blood. Finally he let up, panting. To Naruto's regret, Deidara wasn't dead. But his face alone gave him some small feeling of satisfaction. It was swollen to the core. It would be a miracle if Deidara could still see.
"Ugh. I don't even want to know what I look like right now. But no matter how beautiful I can look, the beauty of your corpse will always be superb." The ground shook violently, and Naruto twisted to see what it was. Deidara's clay bird, which he used for transportation, rose from underneath the ground like a monster. "Slaughter him!!" Deidara yelled.
The clay bird opened its mouth, and like the gattlers on the battlefield, fired its bombs at rapid speed. Naruto couldn't stop them, and while they were less powerful than the ones Deidara made with his hands, the impact still burned his skin and sent him to the ground.
Yuji dodged a kick from Koungasenki; with his reflexes aiding him, Yuji so far avoided all of his opponent's strikes. But without them, it was likely that any one of those strikes would hit. Even though this opponent was not as strong as Jaa, his murderous intent alone alerted the new chunin that to be hit was to potentially be trapped in a situation where he would be killed. Something else worried him too. "Ten minutes. That's what Sakura-nechan told me!!" Yuji knew he had to get away; fighting this guy was too risky. Yuji blocked a punch with his gauntlet, and flipped over him. Firing a wire, Yuji wrapped it around the other ninja's neck, and pulled.
Koungasenki tried to pull it off his neck, but struggled. "This guy is freaking strong!! I hate having to use one-handed signs!!" Koungasenki released his right hand while his left kept him from being choked. The ninja went right to work at high speed. "Hariton: Sekiei Crusha!!" The earth around Yuji rose from both his sides, the walls showing off a beautiful crystal hue. Then, both slammed into him, even faster than he could react. Yuji's hold loosened, and Koungasenki broke free.
He rushed into his new captive, and pounded his face. None of them were knockouts, but one of them would do just that if Yuji didn't get away. "Ugh. Got to…break free." Nearly breaking his arm to get it pointed where he needed to go, Yuji fired another wire, and pulled himself free from the prison. Doing so, however, felt like it did more damage than it prevented; the chunin felt his ribs compress. He had no way of knowing if any of them broke unless he let himself get hit there again. Koungasenki followed, and this time Yuji was ready. Springing himself into the air, he aimed both of his arms at Koungasenki. "It's still in its development stage, but I have to try!!"
Naruto, during their chunin exam training, helped Yuji develop a jutsu, but it was incomplete. Right now, though, he had no choice but to try it out. "Kiregumo no Jutsu!!"
Yuji fired more wires, none of which hit Koungasenki, and left scars only in the ground. What the Iwa nin didn't notice was that the wires continued going underground. "Did I hit you so hard I broke your glasses?" the nin mocked. Yuji then ran his chakra through the wires, causing them to glow blue. Koungasenki really did not feel like waiting to see what Yuji was doing (not that such a thing was a smart idea in the first place), so he pulled out a kunai and prepared to attack. Suddenly, the wires shot back from underground at high speed, cutting the Iwa chunin all over. Though most missed his vital points, all of them left deep cuts that covered him in blood, obviously enough to paralyze him with pain for a few seconds.
Yuji touched down and reached into one of his many pockets. "I haven't gotten it to aim right quite yet, but the shock should keep you still long enough…" he pulled out a kunai, "…for me to do this!!" Yuji ran forward, and stabbed his opponent across the shoulder. However, instead of feeling metal cutting flesh, Yuji felt his kunai break altogether.
Quickly, Yuji doubled back, and got a good look at his opponent. As he predicted, Koungasenki had numerous cuts and gashes all over his body. However, instead of blood, a clear, diamond like substance covered his skin. "Like any other person, every time I'm cut, I bleed. However, when my blood makes contact with the atmosphere, it hardens into a diamond like substance. In fact…" Koungasenki pulled out a kunai of his own and slashed each of his knuckles. Red blood covered his fists, which soon became as white as snow. "…you could say I'm one of those depressed bitches who cuts themselves. Except my self-mutilation has a purpose!!"
He rushed his opponent, and punched, Yuji avoided a direct hit, but Koungasenki's fist still grazed him across the ribs with enough force to fracture his ribs. "Damn it! I'm in worse shape than I thought!!" Yuji made a motion to block another incoming fist, but the sudden movement made a terrible pain shoot through his body, forcing him to take the hit in the stomach. Yuji lay sprawled on the ground, and coughed up blood.
"Like it? Such is the power of the Shouka Chishio."
Genkakushoujou jumped towards Iori with a kick. Iori, however, caught her foot and twisted it, sending her spinning in mid air. Genkakushoujou got up, but was immediately assaulted by a barrage of punches; none of which she could block. When the Iwa kunoichi fell on her back, she panted, ready for the worst. But it never came. She didn't know why Iori just stood there, even in though she was on guard. It was a dumb move when one had their opponent on the ground. But given the circumstances, Genkakushoujou couldn't have been happier.
She immediately jumped up and landed on her feet. "Alright. So taijutsu isn't my specialty. But so long as I'm facing a fool, I can't complain!" Suddenly she threw something. Iori stepped out of the way to avoid it, but it still managed to graze her skin.
"No problem! I'll…" She stopped in mid thought when she felt something. Her arm, the one that was cut, itched!! It wasn't like walking through a field of poison ivy, or a mosquito bite. It was much, much worse!! Iori couldn't stop herself from scratching it. It didn't do any good. She kept at it, and she was sweating, making deep cuts into her arm. She should have felt the many blows from her opponent, but the only pain she felt came from the itch!! "Must…concentrate…"
She pulled out her kamas, and swung wildly. But swinging was all do; the itch was interfering with her ability to think coherently. Soon, shuriken nailed her directly in the stomach, and she finally fell, screaming. "I'm going to die, I'm going to die…"
Genkakushoujou walked calmly towards her, smirking and enjoying the sight of her opponent crying in pain. "You want to know what my specialty is? Drugs, my dear. My superiors begged me to make simple poisons which would kill our enemies. But they don't see the point, the beauty of it all. With my concoctions, I could make people do whatever I wanted!! Truth serums that could make them tell us not only practical information, but their deepest, darkest thoughts. I could make them lash out violently against their own infant children, or make them fuck animals as if they were their own lovers. Because physical torture is so ineffective, so boring. It's when people are under your complete control, do they break down."
The cocky girl caught a flash of movement, and dodged in the nick of time to avoid having her intestines spilled out. A quick glance at her opponent revealed a drastic change: hair with silver highlights, cobalt eyes, but most intimidating, fangs and claws. She was too transfixed on Iori's face to notice the self-inflicted wound on Iori's arm healing.
"I think there's been a change in the game." Iori growled.
Genkakushoujou just replied "Indeed."
Shiguri whipped out a dragon tongue, but San was fast, dodging it quickly. Shiguri directed his arm to make the blade double back, aiming for a shot to the back of his opponent's head. But San leaped into the air, and Shiguri had to twirl in order to avoid hitting himself.
"Flexible weapons are good for deception, but the problem is, they are hard to control." San noted to his opponent.
Shiguri spat on the ground. "A small price." Shiguri whipped both, intending to trick him into dodging one only to be cut by the other.
"Doton: Joushou Hashira!!" A pillar suddenly rose from the ground, saving San from Shiguri's weapons.
But instead of frustration, Shiguri showed amusement. "Of course. You're an Iwa nin, from Earth Country. This will fun!!" Shiguri immediately brought his hands together. "Doton: Doryuheki!" A wall from behind San formed, sporting three dog heads. "That Kakashi guy was an asshole, but he sure knew his stuff!!"
The wall was curved; San had nowhere to go but towards Shiguri. He couldn't jump over the wall either; it was too tall, and he could tell just by the feel of it that it would reject his chakra would he have chosen to climb it. Without warning, the dog heads fired energy, destroying the pillar. Though San managed to land perfectly, a dragon tongue caught his shoulder. The tip circled around his head, but he rolled out of the way with his head still attached. Doing so, however, changed the scratch into a laceration.
"I'm really not impressed here." Shiguri said, sounding like he was in the middle of a one-sided sparring session. "You better kick it up a notch."
To this, San replied "What if I said DotonDoroTsunami five times fast?"
Before Shiguri could say "Huh?" a tidal wave of mud and rock rose behind him. The weight of the earth collapsed on him, leaving him helpless. He was lucky his head was mostly untouched; that way he wouldn't suffocate under the dead weight of the mud. The next thing he knew, San's foot crashed into his skull.
"I am a genius; it's not narcissistic to say so, it's simply true. I can do hand signs and actually delay the jutsu they're supposed to trigger." San pressed harder on Shiguri's head, causing him to groan. "Your jutsus were cute, but that's it. Elemental techniques were learned between countries by battle, but the only ones who knew the most dangerous techniques of each element were the ones from the countries that element represented. Did you honestly believe a foreigner like you could beat us with our native techniques!?" San stamped his foot into Shiguri's head again to emphasize the point.
Then, Shiguri just started laughing. "You know what, I did. But that's where the term Plan B came from." San pulled out a kunai, intending to take his head, but stopped when he heard a subtle noise that he couldn't quite place his finger on. Then he dodged to the side when something zipped by him, and soon he was practically dancing trying to avoid Shiguri's wasps. Shiguri shouted "I summoned them way before I got here!! They were high up so you wouldn't be able to see them!!!" While San was distracted, Shiguri got to work; though his hands were impeded by the mud, they were not immobilized. "Doton! Bakuchika no Jutsu!!" The hardened mud exploded, freeing Shiguri.
He ran towards San as he continued to dodge his pests, and aimed for his heart. However, San dodged the kunai, and retaliated with an open palm strike. It glanced his shoulder, but Shiguri wasn't concerned. Until he felt an intense burning sensation. Shiguri rolled back clutching his shoulder, and suddenly his hand started burning as well. Shiguri removed it, and looked at his skin peel off. Taking a chance that his opponent wouldn't kick him while he was down, he took a sniff at his palm. He pulled his face back at the smell of something intense and toxic. Slowly taking a look at his opponent, his eyes widened in fright. Something was dripping from San's hands; the liquid was clear, and could easily be mistaken for sweat. But the drops made the ground sizzle each time they landed. San held up his hands, and revealed two holes within them. San ripped off his sleeves, revealing something that nearly made Shiguri wretch. The tubes that began on San's shoulders went into his arms!
"My sensei has two mouths, one in each hand." San began. "He uses them to make clay bombs. I so badly wanted to model myself after him. But I didn't want to make myself out to be an imitation. No, I wanted to show Deidara-sensei that he inspired me. So, while he makes things go boom…I make things dissolve right before my eyes." Shiguri got up, and spun his dragon tongue once more. "This is going to be tough."
Deidara marveled at each explosion his clay bird brought about, and couldn't stop laughing. "HAHAHA!! How do you like it, Kyuubi!? To be rendered helpless and pummeled mercilessly!? In fact, I'd be surprised if you were still al-i…" Deidara stopped in mid-sentence as he realized what he might be doing; as much as he wanted to, he wasn't supposed to kill him! "Stop it!!" Deidara commanded. "STOP!!"
His clay bird stopped firing, and Deidara waited in anxiety for the smoke to clear. While Akatsuki was essentially killing the jinchuriki…they needed them alive until they could obtain their power. Deidara's eyes widened as he saw nothing in Naruto's place but rocks. "He couldn't have!! Those bombs are not that powerful!!"
Deidara turned his head, and saw too late Naruto coming at him with a Rasengan. The jutsu landed…and revealed a clay clone."Whew!! That was a close one!!" Naruto looked up to see Deidara floating atop a clay bird, looking down on him as always. "Okay, I admit it; you have gotten stronger. If you had Kakashi with you now, I'd probably go straight for a self-destruction move. But you don't, so I've still got one more work of art to show you." Deidara leaped a considerable distance from Naruto, and then vomited some clay-like substance from his mouth. The puddle expanded…and became an exact duplicate of Deidara.
"Another clone?" Naruto wondered. Suddenly, the clone expanded, becoming bigger and bigger. Naruto stood on guard for another explosion. But instead of a fireball, the balloon sized clone dissolved into millions of little pieces. "Wha..?"
"I'd recommend you get moving there, Kyuubi boy!!" Deidara yelled enthusiastically.
Naruto observed a rat crawling across the surface, and the flakes touched its fur. It immediately screamed in agony and collapsed on the ground. Naruto noted that it seemed to break down at a molecular level. Naruto then took notice of a few flakes in front of him…and quickly scampered back, only to find more of them in a different space.
"There are two types of explosions: Big ones, and small ones. Those flakes release microscopic clay bombs into your body, and release a chemical that causes your cells to explode. It truly is a work of art, one so underrated!!"
Naruto dodged the flakes, but they were everywhere! Naruto even flung off his jonin vest and used it as an umbrella to protect him. However, Naruto dropped it and howled as he felt his arm dissolve. "NOOO!!!" After his appendage disappeared, the process stopped.
Naruto fainted, while Deidara laughed at the sight before him. " They don't have to touch you in order to affect you, breathing them in is what causes it to normally kill its victims. I controlled myself; I made sure that you could never fight again, but I had to keep you alive. We've captured 6 jinchuriki so far; you're supposed to have your biju extracted last. To be honest, I find that a bit of a hassle to save one for last, so to make up for that, I think keeping you in this condition will make up for that." Deidara walked over…and stopped, realizing something.
"Wait a minute…" Deidara remembered that Naruto was a master of Kage Bushins. "It shouldn't be one! Bushins of all kinds dissipate once they're hit!! But I can't take that chance, not with this one!!" In order to keep a bushin alive after getting hit, a large amount of chakra was necessary. Naruto had that, but a great deal of control was needed as well, something Naruto didn't have. The supposed Naruto groaned in pain as he was weighing his options. "I better test it, just to be safe; if it is hit again, it should disrupt the chakra flow and make him disappear. If he is the real thing, I better be sure to hit a spot that will not be immediately fatal."
Deidara created another bomb, and flung it on Naruto's leg. The bomb went off, blowing the limb to pieces, and Naruto awoke, howling in pain. Naruto choked on his scream, and croaked "Damn you, damn you to hell…"
Deidara smirked. "So, you're the real thing. Oh don't worry, I feel your pain. I lost both of my limbs too, remember? Then again, I got them back…something I doubt will happen to you, so I guess I should shut up and bring you to base." Deidara hefted the jinchuriki onto his shoulders. "It's a good thing I made the bomb hot enough to fry the stump, otherwise I'd have to worry about you bleeding to death on me. I guess bringing in Tobi and Hidan was a pointless move."
"Yeah, it was, especially since you accomplished nothing!!"
Deidara dropped the Naruto he was carrying, and found the real thing FLYING towards him with chakra wings, and a Fuuton Rasengan in his hand. The bushin Deidara was carrying dissipated, and the Akatsuki criminal knew he had too little time to act. He threw a clay bomb, but Naruto charged right through the explosion. Still, it was enough to slow him down and disrupt some of the flowing chakra. When the jinchuriki landed his attack, Deidara screamed in pain and stumbled backward. Naruto didn't land a knockout like his technique normally should have, but he knew he had won the fight. "I have to admit, it was clever of you to make sure that was a bushin. But trust me, I have more than enough chakra to keep one alive despite my terrible control should the occasion call for it. You're bomb also loosened the swirling chakra and slowed me down too, which is why you aren't dead. This is actually good for me, even worse for you."
Deidara clutched his chest, breathing heavily. "D-damn it!! I'm out of all tricks but one!! Well, if I can't destroy him the good old fashioned way, I'll take him down with me!!"
"I wouldn't be so hasty about that, Deidara."
Deidara recognized Kizu's voice in his head, and noticed time had stopped. Relieved that whatever fate awaited him was stopped, at least temporarily, he yelled "Screw it!! I'm not giving up my life to your cause and not take anyone with me!! Besides, as I'm sure you can see, I really don't have a choice at the moment."
"Like it or not, you are still a servant of Akatsuki. You will either give your life for our cause or not at all. Now, I knew from the start you wouldn't be able to win. This was just an evaluation; I have something else planned. Return to Iwagakure; I will be there shortly. Tobi will come into play, and so will Hidan. Don't worry; I promise you will have some sweet revenge soon."
Deidara growled "Well, that's all nice and everything, but I don't think I can get away."
"You have your students, don't you?"
Deidara's eyes lit up, understanding what his master implied.
Finally, time started again, and Naruto pulled out a kunai. Deidara raised his hands and screamed "Okay, okay!! I can't beat you!" Then, the beaten nin smiled evilly. "But that doesn't really matter right now, does it?" Naruto didn't stop; instead he moved and stabbed the former rouge in the leg.
As Deidara rolled clutching his leg, Naruto grabbed him by the collar and threw him against the wall. "I'd say it does! Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you; I am going to force all of the information on Akatsuki out of you, any way I can! It's not just about what you plan to do to me; I can never forgive what you did to Itachi!!"
Deidara chuckled. "That's quite an unexpected proposition from you, from what I've heard; rumor has it you're reluctant to kill. If you barely have the stomach to kill people, I doubt you have the balls to torture. Besides, you have other priorities at the moment."
Naruto pulled the kunai out, and pressed it into Deidara's side, hissing "I very much doubt that."
Deidara, despite his pain, cackled "Oh, so those brats meant nothing to you in the end?" Naruto stopped dead when Deidara brought it up. "You mean you forgot about them!? The one who treasures his bonds above all else? That's quite cold…even for me."
Naruto didn't hear him; his mind was in turmoil right now, realizing that in fighting Deidara, he abandoned his students. Naruto flung Deidara to the floor, and made the hand sign for Kage Bushins. However, when they were formed, they were ghastly pale and fell to the floor. Naruto panicked, realizing what was wrong. "I used up too much chakra trying to trick Deidara!!" Naruto was so enraged during the fight that it took him until that moment to realize he felt exhausted.
Deidara laughed at the sight before him. "What's this!? Out of tricks!? I almost feel sorry for you! It's bad enough that all of your students are far away, but now you are only able to get to one at a time!! That's got to hurt!!"
Naruto clenched his fist enraged, and turned around, facing Deidara with a dangerous glint in his eye. "We'll finish this." Fast as he could, Naruto ran to rescue his comrades.
Deidara slowly got up, glad to be alive, but frustrated he couldn't take him here. "So, Kizu-sama, just what are we going to do about this?"
"That's where Tobi will come in."
Yuji was slammed to the wall once more, his face sporting a black high. His hyper-reflexes had worn off, and now he was at Koungasenki's mercy. The Iwa chunin himself was covered in the diamond-like substance. His wrists were able to deflect super-strong attacks with ease, and his head became something like a helmet. "Man, this is boring. I do have to give you credit for using some kind of super-strength against me; but it's useless against this." He emphasized, tapping his crystallized skin.
Suddenly, Yuji came to life and yelled "Let's see if you can do that with your intestines rearranged!!" Yuji pulled out a kunai, and slashed Koungasenki's stomach wide-open! Koungasenki coughed up blood, holding his abdomen, and collapsed on the floor. Yuji collapsed on his bottom and panted heavily, relieved it was over. Or so he thought.
Koungasenki jumped back to his feet, and kicked Yuji into the wall. "I forgot to tell you, the Shouka Chishio also repairs any tissue damage I receive. There's not a thing you can do!!" Yuji kicked and punched the nin, but his crystal abdomen was a perfect shield. "Time to wrap this up. Hariton: Harinomushiro no Jutsu!!!"
Crystal spikes shot through the ground, only to disappear into it and relocate elsewhere. Yuji barely managed to dodge them, having lost his reflexes. "At this rate, it will only be a matter of time until…" Suddenly, Yuji felt himself thrust into the air, and only when his ascension stopped did he notice a huge pain in his stomach. Looking down, he saw that a crystal stalactite had got him.
"What a let down." Koungasenki muttered. "Well, there's no point in continuing this. People only get one chance to win, and you lost." The scared young man stabbed his shin, waiting for his blood to crystallize it. Then, with a power angle kick, he shattered the crystal, sending Yuji falling into the river below…
Genkakushoujou was sent flying through the garden, taking down some of the small trees as she landed. As soon as she tried to get up, Iori was upon her.
"How do you like this!?" Iori asked, nearly screaming. "This is the first time I transformed and was aware of it. But I think that just makes it even worse for you!!" Iori grabbed her by the neck, and flung her into a rock, shattering it.
The Iwa kunoichi wiped some blood from her mouth, and grunted. "Don't get so cocky; I have more than a few tricks up my sleeve!!" Genkakushoujou hurled shuriken at the jinchuriki offspring, who dodged every hit that would have been fatal. However, she was still badly cut. Genkakushoujou laughed madly, screaming "How do you like it!? That shuriken is coated in an overpowering aphrodisiac, one that will leave its victims helpless to do nothing but think about the opposite sex, pleasuring themselves furi…furi..f…"
Much to her amazement, Iori was still standing, clearly unaffected. "I'm so glad this is not a book; reading about a girl my age doing that is just wrong!" Iori picked up a kama, and threw it at a speed most ninja couldn't hope for.
The weapon severed Genkakushoujou's left foot, leaving her screaming on the ground. After a while, the scream gave way to whimpers. "Fuck you bitch, fuck you you fucking bitch…"
Iori reverted back to her normal self, and turned around. She was sorry about what she did; she never maimed an opponent like that before; she'd hate to think would she would do if she were in her opponent's position. "This is over; I need to help my teammates, and I don't want to hurt you anymore than I already have. For what it's worth, I hope you will find a good life despite your disability."
As Iori turned to run, Genkakushoujou, yelled "I wouldn't be so sure about that!! That berry you ate coming here is immune to both digestive juices and chakra breakdown!!" She made a hand sign, and Iori froze. The Konoha nin struggled to move, but it was fruitless. Soon, she collapsed.
Genkakushoujou sprayed a chemical on her stump, preventing any further bleeding. But she lost enough blood to make her woozy; she knew she would pass out at any second. "Best make use of my drug before that happens." Calling to Iori, she said "Rise, my slave." Iori got up, and with a blank look on her face, walked towards the debilitated Genkakushoujou. "Normally, I would make you my servant and carry me back to my home village, but right now, I've got bigger fish to fry. I want you to search for any Konoha nins you can, and kill them. Or die trying. Understand?" Iori nodded slowly. Genkakushoujou's vision began to blur, and she realized she could not stay awake. As loud as she could, she commanded "Well, then. Go sick'em!!" Finally, she passed out.
Iori transformed, picked up her discarded kama, and roared. Then, she leapt off into the distance, away from where her teammates would have been.
Shiguri blocked a punch from San, and preformed a spinning flip kick, nailing him in the chin. San slid back, and extended his arms. Sprays of acid shot from the holes, but none of them touched Shiguri. Instead, the clouds they formed on the ground were toxic, and the genin unconsciously breathed them in. Coughing uncontrollably, he stumbled back. San immediately rushed forward, and pummeled him with his fists. As Shiguri was sent sliding back, he recovered and threw some smoke bombs, which covered San in a cloud of smoke. Shiguri shot his dragon tongues…and snagged him, the blade-chains holding his body tightly. One attempt at escape, and he would be separated from the middle of his body. "Your acid may be able to burn flesh and dirt, but I doubt it can do anything against steel!"
San did not seem the least bit concerned, and calmly replied "Very true. But I have other methods"
Suddenly, he spat fireballs from his mouth. In order to dodge them, Shiguri had to release his weapons, and therefore, his opponent. "I forgot how fast he could make jutsus!!"
Soon, the barren ground was covered in flames. Then, the smoke rose to the sky, and became a cloud. "Time to meet your maker. The combination of your smoke bombs and the vapor from my acid is enough to help me create one of my favorite jutsus. I call it 'San Ame no Jutsu'." The clouds then began to rain, and upon contact, Shiguri screamed in response. "It suits my name well, doesn't it?" San asked. "As you can see, I'm immune to the chemicals in the drops, so I don't have to worry about getting out of hAAUUUGHHH!"
San was sent to the ground, due to a kick from Naruto. The jonin bared the pain and ran towards Shiguri, scooping him up and getting him out of the area.
Naruto searched the areas that he sent his other two students to. He couldn't find any trace of them. Deidara was long gone; whoever was fighting his students had vanished. Naruto searched furiously, calling their names, digging the ground. It was well after midnight when Naruto collapsed on his knees, and did the unthinkable: He gave up, and cried.
Well, I hope you enjoyed. And I'll try to update faster.
Next Chapter: Alone with Shiguri, Naruto falls to pieces. Are Yuji and Iori really dead? Akatsuki sets there true plan into motion, and Sasuke meets the last Swordsman of the Mist!
Akuma no Fushido-Devil's Bed
Kin-Gold/Forbidden. Gold is used for Ino's code name, forbidden for the seal. I assume this is due to a difference in characters used.
Shikyo Ya-Death Valley, not the one in California, but based on that.
Nezumi-Rat
Koungasenki Chishio-Diamond of Blood
Genkakushoujou Naraku-Hallucination of Hell
San Ame-Acid Rain
Hariton-Crystal Release
Sekiei Crusha-Quartz Crusher
Kiregumo-Spider Slice
Shouka Chishio-Crysatlizing Blood
Joushou Hashira: Rising Pillar
Doro Tsunami-Mud Tidal Wave
Bakuchika-Underground Burst
Harinomushiro-Bed of Nails