Chapter 27: Redrawing the Maps
From the moment we left our joined mindscape, both Bee and I started drawing on our partners Chakra, giving both of us a three tailed cloak.
I'll admit, as far as Bee's plan goes with causing a international incident… I wasn't a huge fan of it. I felt that there were better ways for our villages to work together, but at the same time, I knew Bee's plan would, at the very least, force our villages to communicate with one another.
There was also the fact that I got to go all out against someone that I knew wouldn't die. Bee was one of the very few people that I could truly let loose with.
Cocking my arm back, I brought my fist down on Bee as fast as I could. There was a loud crack as it shattered the sound barrier and collided with Bee's palm.
"Is that all you've got, little nine?"
I stared blankly at Bee before grinning. That punch was more than enough to kill the average Jonin, but Bee treated it as nothing. "You haven't seen anything yet."
Jumping back, I decided to take a page out of the Raikage's book and use speed to hit harder.
I rushed towards Bee again, but he wasn't idle this time and instead followed my lead and rushed me as well. We collided in the middle with a loud crack, creating a small wave of pressure, before separating.
We collided again and again. Each time moving faster and hitting harder. I began to realize something. Bee was only fighting to match my level of speed and strength. If he wanted to, he likely could have ended the fight at any moment.
That wouldn't do at all.
I was going to hit him faster this time.
Jumping back, I lowered my body and grabbed onto the ground in order to launch myself faster. During this fight, I'd been relying on Kurama's Chakra and my body's natural speed, but this time I was going to go as fast as I possibly could.
The body flicker technique temporarily increased the users speed by a massive amount, but it wasn't often used in combat due to it causing tunnel vision. One would need a doujutsu or massively increased senses to be able to use it properly… Something on the same level as the Raikage's lightning cloak or perhaps a tailed beast Chakra cloak.
The ground broke as I rushed towards Bee. Bee managed to block my fist with his arm, but all the momentum had transferred to him, sending him skidding backwards while I came to a dead stop.
That had been the fastest I'd ever moved. My fingers let off a loud snapping sound as they quickly healed over. It seemed there was a reason why the body flicker wasn't really used for Taijutsu, just because it boosts your speed, doesn't mean it boosts your durability. Luckily, it was a reason that I could ignore.
"Better," Bee smirked as he came to a stop. "You can dish out one powerful punch, but can to take it?"
My eyes widened as Bee disappeared from sight. My arms came up on pure reflex and I felt the second most powerful punch in my life, easily breaking my arm.
The world blurred as I flew through the air. My Chakra tails tried to latch onto the ground, but couldn't find anything strong enough to hold onto with instantly shattering.
Just as I neared the edge of the island, I felt something wrap around me and stop my speed dead. Falling onto my back, I looked down and found a bunch of snakes wrapped around me and extending to a pale looking Anko.
"Can't have you leaving this fight," Anko grunted as her snakes dispelled and her arm fell limply against her body.
I winced when I noticed it was dislocated and again when I tried to push myself up on my currently broken arm.
"Thanks for catching me," I said as I got up. Glancing around, it seemed that Anko and Shizune's fight was over. That Atsui guy was laying on the ground, unconscious and Samui sat next to him looking ill as her arms trembled. Shizune stood over them, Kunai in hand.
"Like I said, you're needed here. From the speed I saw, neither Shizune nor I would be able to keep up with that guy," Anko shrugged and immediately winced. "So this is the power of a Jinchuriki, huh?"
"No, this is just us testing each others' power," I replied. There was a loud click as my bones snapped back into place and my arm rapidly healed itself. "What comes next is the real fight!"
"What?!" Anko stilled.
"Oi, little nine. You done resting?" Bee called out.
"Sure," I replied.
"Good," Bee smirked, before turning to his fellow Kumo Shinobi. "Samui, I'm gonna make an opening. Once I do, take your brother and fall back to Kumo."
"You're not supposed to announce that," Samui deadpanned.
"Anko, Shizune, you two need to leave right now," I said loudly. "Forget about taking them prisoner, if you stay here for this fight, you'll die in the crossfire!"
"We could still help," Anko said, gesturing to my cloak. "If ever there was a time to share that, it'd be now."
I shook my head. "The difference between this cloak and what comes next is like night and day. You need to get off this island while it's still here!"
"It's gonna get that bad, huh?" Anko muttered, seeing I was serious. "Fine, we'll head back to the camp. You better win this, Naruto… I don't want my best friend dying on me, you hear?"
Best friend huh? That didn't sound too bad.
"I'll see you a bit later, Anko," I replied and took a few steps towards Bee.
"You ready to kick this up a notch?" Bee asked.
"Let's do it."
"Ready yourself Naruto. This is going to hurt a lot at first."
I took a shaky deep breath in and readied myself.
A fourth tail sprouted behind me and I began to feel a pain unlike any I'd felt before. There was an intense burning sensation, like I'd stuck my whole body into a fire and then cooled off in a vat of acid. I let out a pained grunt and hunched over which ended up hurting me as well.
Looking down at my hands, I noticed they were stripped of skin and my blood was oozing out and forming a hard shell under the Chakra cloak.
There was a smell of burning blood as I was enveloped in a cloud of smoke and I felt sick. Not just because of the smell, but also because of the feeling of Kurama's potent caustic Chakra pulsing through my veins.
It was poisoning me and at the same time, healing me. My body kept flipping between being completely fine and on the brink of collapsing due to the caustic Chakra.
It was too much. I tilted my head back let out a pained scream which quickly changed into a roar.
"Just a little bit longer," Kurama said.
I wasn't going to last that little bit longer. This was pure torture and the worst part of it was I was unable to lose consciousness. The Chakra that was healing me kept me fully alert at all times.
I felt a clicking sensation as the four tail was finally fully formed and the pain started to disappear… although I still felt a small amount of nausea.
Looking down at my hands, I realized I was now fully in the second state. My body was now a deep blood red, I had claws and I felt powerful. The layer of thick Chakra and blood acted as skin.
"Using this state will dramatically improve the rate at which your body is capable of handling my Chakra, only, if you use it too many times, your lifespan will be decreased."
'How much are we talking here?'
"I'm not too sure. Judging how killer Bee has aged, it's probably somewhere around aging a month each time you use this form. Just don't spam this form and you'll be fine!"
A month, huh? That wasn't too bad. It wasn't like I was planning on spamming this form, so I should be alright… not to mention Tsunade now had enough of Orochimaru's research, it shouldn't be too long until she figures out how to solve the issue of shortened lifespan brought on by rapid healing and aging.
"Oi, little nine, you ready to continue our fight?" Bee asked, his voice distorted by his biju's Chakra.
"In a second," I replied, startling myself with my voice. 'Kurama, are my clones still alive?'
"They are, but they won't be for long," Kurama said. "They're currently experiencing some backlash from my Chakra and will pop soon."
'Alright. Do me a favor and let the clones in the laboratory know that they can let it rip.'
"Fine."
"What's the deal, this the first time you've used this form?" Bee asked.
"Yes actually," I grunted. "But that's not the reason why I'm stalling… oh, by the way, you might want to avoid my next move."
"What next mo–" Bee paused, the ground was rumbling.
Bee and I immediately jumped as a white dome of wind style Chakra tore up the ground. A wave of pressure and air threatened to blow us off the island.
We landed on opposite ends of the island, but I didn't stop there. I launched myself towards Bee at speeds far faster than I'd ever used before.
Our fists collided and the ground exploded underneath us from the force. Bee was pushed back slightly.
"Not bad," Bee began. It was hard to make out the look on his face, but I think he was smirking. "But you gotta use more than just your arms and leg if you're going to fight like a Jinchuriki."
Bee twisted around and his tails came down on me, smashing my body into the ground. It didn't really hurt, but it certainly knocked me off balance.
My tails launched upward and ripped me out of the ground.
"Thanks for the advice."
Our battle began anew.
Each blow we dealt to one another came with a massive wave of force, small chunks of the island were beginning to be blown off. We punched, hit and thrashed each other repeatedly, but I was beginning to notice something.
I'd been using as much force as I possibly could in our fight and yet, Bee was none the worse… in fact, I too was completely fine. Our bodies were too tough to damage in this state and the little damage that managed to slip through was healed pretty much instantly.
If this was a serious fight, the only way either of us would be capable of beating the other is by using more power or a technique that's capable of bypassing the four tailed cloak.
Ducking under a heavy swipe, I was just about to punch Bee in his gut, when a tail wrapped around my leg and flung me backwards.
"Seeing as this is your first time using this state, then you've likely never seen this," Bee said. His tails curved inward as red and blue Chakra began forming in front of him.
'Kurama, a little help please.'
My tails curved in front of my face as I began forming my own mini bijuudama. The process of creating it was almost the exact same as forming a Rasengan, with the exception of the specific ration of positive and negative Chakra.
"In this state, neither of you have enough strength to launch it as a ball, so you'll need to swallow it and launch it as a beam," Kurama explained. "It won't be as powerful, but its range will increase dramatically and it'll be much faster."
'What if I use it as a Rasengan?'
"Once it makes impact it'll explode… and you can't form clones in this state, so you can't use them to do it for you," Kurama deadpanned.
So it could theoretically work.
Bee swallowed his bijuudama and his body began to expand. Steam began to leak from his mouth.
My tails pierced into the ground to help hold me in place as I placed my hand behind my bijuudama and pushed with as much force as my body could generate. The Chakra on my arm extending to carry the bijuudama.
Bee's mouth opened and there was a flash of light as pure destruction left it.
It was moving twice as fast as my own bijuudama, but it was also bleeding off energy like crazy, while mine was perfectly preserved.
Our two techniques collided and I was immediately hit with a massive wave of force. While my bijuudama hadn't lost any power, it didn't have the momentum to easily push through Bee's and I was left having to push through it.
Even with how strong I was now, pushing through Bee's bijuudama was difficult, but I did it. My bijuudama grinded through Bee's and was well on its way to colliding with him.
Bee launched a second bijuudama beam, but this time, aimed at my Chakra arm.
"You were trying to guide the bijuudama like you once saw the original version of Naruto, but you're forgetting that it's much heavier than a Rasenshuriken and you're not as powerful in this form as you are when we merge our Chakra," Kurama explained.
My bijuudama destabilized and exploded, releasing a massive wave of energy that shook the island, blowing a decent sized hole in it.
The blast wave washed over me. Had I not been in the four tailed state, I likely would have been hurt by it, but as I was now, it felt more like a strong gust of wind.
'This is crazy. Is the defense of this form higher than the attack?'
It was an inverse of the Sandaime Raikage. My body was a shield that's capable of withstanding the spear.
"Obviously," Kurama snorted "The process of firing the bijuudama like a beam is swallowing it and then detonating it inside of you. If this form couldn't withstand that, you'd be blown apart."
That was just insane.
There was a flash of light and I looked up just in time to see another bijuudama beam. I barely had time to think, before it impacted me.
I would have been blown far away if I hadn't anchored myself to the ground using my tails. Instead I was violently thrown back before I sprung back up.
That… hadn't felt that bad. It honestly felt like I'd just been punched really hard. A direct hit with the mini bijuudama had more than enough power to kill pretty much anyone alive right now and I'd just shrugged it off. Honestly, the durability of this state was insane. It's a wonder that the Akatsuki are capable of fighting Jinchuriki in this state!
"If Bee was hit by that, it likely would have done a little more damage to him, but not that much. Even with half my Chakra sealed in the Shinigami, my Chakra is still more powerful than Gyuki's!"
'One of these days, you're going to have to tell me how the hell Hagoromo divided the Jubi's Chakra, because that's just bullshit.'
I dodged another one of Bee's bijuudama and rushed towards him. It was fun, being able to launch beam attacks, but they ultimately felt pointless when the person I'd be using them on was capable of just shrugging them off just as easily as I could.
We collided again in a massive shockwave.
'Kurama, you handle the ratio, I'll handle everything else.'
"Got it… we have a problem."
My world turned upside down as Bee flung me into the ground. His tails pinning my arms and legs and a bijuudama was slowly beginning to form in front of his face.
'What problem?'
Several kunai hit Bee and bounced off his body. We both looked to the side to see Anko standing there, panting heavily while holding several shuriken in one hand.
"Your teammate returned!"
Before Bee could move, I slammed the bijuudama I'd formed on my tail into his back, violently throwing him to the other side of the island in a large explosion.
Rushing to Anko's side, I shielded her from the shockwave.
"So this is the form you were talking about," Anko grunted.
"You shouldn't be here, it's not safe."
"I'll take that as a thank you," Anko huffed. "I did after all serve as a distraction for you to get the finishing blow in."
Finishing blow? "That was barely a scratch. He'll be getting up in a second."
"Shit, really?"
"It seems little nine needs help to stand up to the mighty eight!" Bee began. "But make no mistake. In this fight, she'll only be holding you back."
He wasn't wrong. Anko could die just by being too close to us when we hit each other… not to mention how dangerous it would be for her should Bee use a bijuudama.
"I think this fight has come to an end," I called out. "How about this, we go all out and use our strongest attacks."
"Fine by me," Bee smirked. His body began swelling up and growing, bone coated him and then flesh began growing around that "But don't come crying while you're dying because Hachibi is flying."
"What does that even mean?" I asked as I dropped the four tailed cloak.
"Holy shit," Anko gasped, staring at me in shock.
"What?" I asked as I turned to look at her, before realizing what was going on. Leaving the four tailed cloak revealed what my body looked like underneath… extremely bloody and without skin. It was no wonder why everything felt like it was stinging.
"What do you mean what?! You don't have skin!"
"I hadn't realized," I deadpanned. My healing kicked in and my skin began to grow back at a rapid pace.
"That's better," Anko said once my skin had grown back.
"Now despair at the full might of the great Hachibi-sama," Bee boomed in his full biju state as a giant Bijuudama began to form above him. He was on the other side of the island, but the force I was feeling from his Bijuudama was immense.
"Fuck," Anko cursed. "It… It's massive. There's no running from that, it's too big." Anko let out a humorless laugh. "Please tell me you've got something that can match that, or we're going to die!"
I smirked. "You remember how you wanted to see how I killed Orochimaru… Well, now's your chance. Don't blink or you'll miss it."
Golden flames flickered around my body, before exploding out and I was once again in the full Kyuubi Chakra mode.
"Hmmm… It would seem that your body's grown a bit more tolerant of this mode, but you're not going to have long before it fades!"
That was good news. I'd have to look into that in the future, but for now, I had a Hachibi to beat. Placing my hand on Anko's shoulder, we were both engulfed in a giant golden fox avatar.
"What is this?" Anko asked, awed.
"This is the strongest form I have right now," I replied. "Its power dwarfs that of the Kage's."
Uchiha Madara was capable of toying with the five Kage and beat them the moment he got serious. The original Naruto was capable of stalemating a serious Madara in this form. Once I mastered using this form for extended periods of time, there won't be a single Shinobi alive that would pose a threat to me.
Raising my arms. A massive Bijuudama formed in front of the golden fox face. Its size almost instantly equaling the one Bee was busy forming, before growing larger.
Seeing that he was going to be outdone, Bee launched his Bijuudama at us. Its speed tore huge chunks out of the island without even touching it.
If this had been a serious fight, I would have waited for Bee's Bijuudama to get close before knocking it away and launching my own. Instead I met his attack with my own.
The two Bijuudama met in the middle of the island and released a massive amount of force. The Island shook and began to crumble into the sea. Everything was vibrating.
There was a blinding flash of light as the two Bijuudama detonated. The explosion engulfed us almost instantly with enough force to send us flying off the island. We landed in the ocean, Kurama's avatar still active and protecting us. Heavy waves pushed and pulled as chunks of what used to be the Demon Island rained down into the ocean.
"The island…it's gone," Anko gaped.
"Well it wasn't that big to begin with," I muttered. "The maps of this area will have to be redrawn though."
Anko let out a small laugh which quickly grew in volume as she doubled over.
"Hey Anko, you alright?"
Anko waved me off as she breathed deeply. "I'm fine," She gasped. "It's just… been a hell of a day. I started off today learning how to use water to wipe my ass and now the island I've hated for years has been blown up and I'm standing inside a golden glowing Kyuubi!"
"I get it."
Ever since I'd merged with Naruto, I'd been getting involved in bigger and bigger things. From the Chunin exams and the invasion to killing Orochimaru, to dating Tsunade and now to using Biju mode to fight Killer Bee.
Yep. Things had certainly gotten chaotic.
"Instead of reflecting on your life, don't you think you should get a move on?" Kurama suggested, talking through the fox avatar. "In case you've forgotten. This form won't last forever and you're currently standing on the ocean with an injured teammate that won't be able to carry you! You've got a few more seconds at best before this form fades."
"And now the Kyuubi's talking through this golden Chakra thing," Anko chuckled.
Crap, I hadn't thought of that. I could rush towards the shores, but then I'd probably freak out the citizens and any Shinobi nearby that would see a giant glowing Kyuubi. I could always retract Kurama's avatar, but then I'd have to carry Anko at high speeds and she was injured.
"Just leave it to me. At the rate you're going. You'll exhaust this form before you decide anything."
The golden fox avatar stood on its hind legs and crouched low before jumping. The ocean raced underneath us as we were propelled into the clouds. Soon the ocean disappeared and we were hurtling over the land.
"I think you're going to have to handle everything from here by yourself," Kurama said as we began to fall back down to earth.
The Kurama avatar was reabsorbed back into my body and I was left in my base form, falling towards the forest.
"We still have to land, damnit," I cursed as I felt my strength leave me. "Hold onto me," I called out to Anko as I began to come up with a plan. "And hold your breath!"
We were still moving incredibly fast and we were going to hit the ground soon. The impact probably wouldn't kill us, but it would certainly wound us… especially with our current states.
Focusing all the Chakra that I could muster, I exhaled a large amount of water and wrapped it around us, forming a water style prison around us.
Not long after it was formed, the water prison made contact with the tree tops, tearing through their branches. We began to slow down as we collided with several more trees, before finally coming to a stop, just outside of the camp that we'd left this morning.
Releasing my hold on the water prison, Anko and I were roughly dropped to the floor as the water rushed around us, carrying off branches from several trees, some of my blood and mud.
"It seems that being sealed for nearly a hundred years has made my accuracy in jumping rusty!" Kurama noted. "I meant to land in the center of your camp!"
"Well once I can use your Chakra properly, we can work on that," I muttered, lying on my back.
Anko let out a groan as she sat up. "That was an experience!"
"No kidding," I replied, trying to sit up, I found my body too tired to move. "I think I've got a tree up my ass!"
"Huh, it seems like we're having the same day," Anko chuckled.
I stared up at the sky for several moments before letting out a sigh.
"You came back."
"What?"
"I said, you came back," I replied, a bit louder this time. "It was dangerous there! You could have gotten yourself killed."
"Dying for a friend wouldn't be so bad," Anko shrugged before wincing. "It's just one of the many things I would do for those I care about!"
"The problem is, you can only do that one," I sighed. "I don't want my friends to die for me… In fact, I want the opposite. I want my friends to live beside me."
There was a wet splat noise as Anko laid back down beside me in the mud.
"I didn't mean that literally. You don't have to lay in the mud with me," I muttered.
Anko let out a snort of laughter. "Yeah, I know. It's just been a really long day!"
That it had. Part of me wondered what would have happened if we went and completed the mission yesterday, like Anko had initially suggested. Would we have met with Bee's team at all, or would they have ambushed us on our way back to Konoha.
Instead of thinking about what could have happened, I needed to focus on what had happened.
"Hey Anko… Where's Shizune and that other girl?"
"Probably in that port village where we rented the boat," Anko mused. "I'm not too sure, I told her to keep going when I went to check if you were doing alright… It was around the time that I got the memories back from my shadow clone… It remembered seeing that your clones were in pain!"
"Shadow clones are still linked to the user, their bodies weren't able to withstand the amount of the Kyuubi's Chakra I'd been using," I explained tiredly.
"Is that the reason why you haven't gotten out of the mud yet?"
"Yep," I hummed. "I can't exactly move my body right now!"
Reaching up with her good arm, Anko flicked my nose.
"Hey, stop that."
"Make me," She grinned and continued to flick my nose.
I let out an irritated groan and closed my eyes. Anko stopped flicking my nose and I felt my consciousness slowly begin to fade, before a scream sounded through the campsite.
My eyes snapped open and my body jolted as I attempted to get up. "What's going on?" I looked around rapidly, only for my eyes to fall on Shizune who had just arrived, standing next to the girl that we'd taken from Orochimaru's hideout… I'm really going to have to learn her name sometime soon.
"You… You're both alive?!" Shizune breathed a sigh of relief. "When I saw the blood… I assumed the worst!"
"There are other ways to check if someone is dead than screaming!" Anko grumbled.
"But both of you were laying so still and there was so much blood," Shizune replied.
"Shizune," I began, cutting Anko off before she had a chance to talk. We were all a little tired and irritable from the fight, but that was no reason to let an argument break out right now. "Do you think you could heal us? Anko's got a dislocated arm and I'm… well, I can't really move right now. I think it's a case of overexertion!"
"Ah, yes," Shizune muttered softly.
"Do Anko first. I've got a feeling that my wounds are going to take a bit longer to heal than hers." It was better to have Anko at least combat capable in the event of an ambush than having me only partially healed.
"Got it," Shizune replied. Taking a breath to collect herself, she got to work. A green glow overtook her hands as she placed them on Anko's shoulder. Grabbing Anko's disabled arm, Shizune lifted it. There was a loud click as the arm was put back into place. "There's some muscle and ligament damage that will need to be taken care of when we get back to Konoha. Don't use your arm for anything too strenuous or you cold dislocate it again!"
"Yeah, yeah. I know the drill," Anko said, moving her arm slowly in a testing manner. "Girlie, you better not be trying to run away because that would be a very dumb thing to do right now!"
"I… I'm not," The girl stuttered, nervously shifting on the spot. "I… was just giving you three some more space."
"Good. I would have hated having to carry you back to Konoha with how wounded I currently am," Anko replied, giving the girl a vicious smile. "You know… because I would have had to make sure that you can't run!"
"I'll just stay here," The girl squeaked.
"Smart," Anko nodded, before turning back to Shizune who was currently examining me through the use of medical Ninjutsu. "So, what's the prognosis?"
"There are too many things that need fixing for me to do alone," Shizune sighed.
"If you can just get my Chakra system working, that should solve several issues," I replied. "The Kyuubi's Chakra heals will heal my body… well, everything that it can!"
A worried look entered Shizune's eyes. "I would prefer to treat you by myself. Being able to heal rapidly usually comes at the cost of your lifespan. Do it too many times and you'll age prematurely."
"Wait, what's that about shortened lifespan?" Anko asked worriedly.
I guess Shizune would have knowledge about that, what with being Tsunade's apprentice. "Then just heal me enough that I'll be able to travel. The longer we stay here, the greater the chance we run into someone that felt me using the Kyuubi's Chakra!"
And that's chapter 27
That concludes the Demon Island arc.
In other news, this story officially has over 2k followers and has had nearly 50k views in the past month. That's just crazy to me. Like, damn. That's a lot. Thank you all.
Anyways, I'm up to chapter 34 on the spooky P word website.
P
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I go by the name of ThatKircguy. Just copy the name and paste it in the Patty Rio On search bar. It'd help me out immensely, but don't worry if that's not your style. I will be uploading weekly, so it's not going to be stuck there permanently.
Also, I post my original stuff there as well. It's nothing much, just two short stories for now, but I'll post more as I write them.
The next chapter will be posted on the 5th of July.
See you all then dudes and dudettes.