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Chapter Forty One: The Snake's Pupil
"Arise."
Wait a second. Wasn't my maximum number of shadows two? Does that mean shadow extraction won't work?
[Ding!]
[Skill: Shadow Extraction Lvl 2 Activated!]
[Info: Shadow Extraction allows the transformation of dead bodies into shadows which can be recalled at any time into the living world. Greater the difference in level, the lower the success rate. Greater the time taken after the body died, the lower the success rate. Greater the will of the person to stay in the afterlife, the lower the success rate.]
[Current Maximum Shadows: 4]
It leveled up? When? Naruto thought confusedly. I haven't checked every notification from the system when it alerts me, to be fair. It most likely leveled when I was training with Haku and Zabuza in the middle of my Rasengan training a few times. I was probably too tired to even notice. Well, it would have been embarrassing if I thought through all of that and it didn't even work in the end.
[Extracting…]
[Extraction failed!]
[Two more chances remaining.]
She's stubborn even while dead. Naruto thought with a frown.
What did I do last time?
Oh yeah.
Activate Will of Fire!
[Activating… ]
[Skill: Will of Fire- Lvl 1 Activated!]
[Skill: Will of Fire- Lvl 1 has bonus effect of increasing success rate of Extraction by 10%]
"Oi, Tayuya! Orochimaru saved you, didn't he? I don't really understand everything…but you owed it to him to be loyal to his cause. But you're dead now—you don't have to go back. You wanted a fresh start didn't you? Well I'm giving it. It's up to you whether or not you take my offer."
"So I'll say it again…"
"Arise."
[Extracting…]
[Extraction successful!]
Black aura blazed around Naruto in a sudden burst of energy. The foreign energy then sank into the ground and moved to Tayuya's dead body where she absorbed all of the black substance. There was a second of silence. Immediately after, another surge of smoky, inky energy erupted outwards.
The dark shadows began to take shape. They first started with the broader details, creating the general shape of the girl. Slowly but surely. The shadows folded onto itself with precision, forming deeper curves and smaller details.
It worked.
The shadow form of Tayuya stared back at him, her eyes unbelievably wide.
[Shadow Tayuya Lvl 1]
Maybe this could go well.
Naruto nervously smiled. "Yo! How do you feel?"
….
"WHAT THE FUC—"
Dismiss Shadow Tayuya!
He breathed out a sigh of relief.
Naruto really didn't want to go through the hassle of explaining everything to Tayuya. Mainly because of two reasons. Firstly, he really didn't want a headache right now. Second, he couldn't spend more time in this forest. Shizune more than likely needed his help right now. The best case scenario was that Tsunade and Jiraiya dealt with Orochimaru already and were now ganging up on Kabuto.
He knew that wasn't the case, but there was nothing wrong in hoping, right?
[Ding!]
[Skill: Shadow Extraction leveled up!]
[You can currently summon two shadows into the living world at the same time without any repercussions other than MP cost.]
"FINALLY!" Naruto shouted gleefully. "That means I can use both Zabuza and Haku at the same time now. That includes Tayuya as well. Let's see…I'll have to experiment with their combinations."
My maximum shadows are up to four. I'll have to carefully choose my fourth shadow, unless there is a way to delete them permanently from my inventory, I'm stuck with whichever shadow I revive for the rest of my life. So far, Zabuza, Haku, and Tayuya are good pickups.
Naruto looked back as he heard a loud explosion from the clearing where the others were fighting.
I gotta go back.
[—NTLS—]
Shizune panted heavily as she held her torn up right arm in pain. He's winning this fight. And I'm getting tired.
Kabuto stood lazily. His right hand was straight as a rod and covered with glowing chakra. "Give it up. My teammate is probably killing Naruto right now as we fight."
The ground shook as the massive fight in the background consisting of the Saanin continued to asunder the environment.
Shizune clumsily applied some healing ninjutsu to her arm in prevent further damage. He's a lot stronger than I thought he would be considering his age. I'm lucky to be alive even for this long.
She opened her mouth wide and released poisonous fumes in his direction, in a wild attempt to create some distance between the two and stall for time. Right now she required two things for her survival. One, Naruto should have defeated Tayuya. She wasn't sure how strong the boy was, but according to Tsunade he was the child of the Fourth Hokage—that had to account for something. But if Kabuto's claims were to be taken seriously, the boy would probably have lost by now. The fact that neither Tayuya nor Naruto were here meant that the fight had been tough for both of them.
The other factor was the outcome of the fight between the Saanin. They had an advantage in that aspect, as Orochimaru had to somehow contain both Tsunade and Jiraiya for as long as possible. He seemed to be doing a good job at the moment, but who knew how long that would last?
Kabuto went through a series of hand signs. "Wind Release: Scaling Gale!"
The poisonous gas was attacked by an unyielding wind that erupted upwards into the air from the ground beneath them, pushing the gas into the atmosphere and away from the vicinity without the chance to attack anyone.
He rushed forward then, with speed rivaling that of a high-level Jonin. Shizune herself was a well-adversed combatant in her opinion, but she had let go of some of that fighting potential to better learn the intricacies of medical ninjutsu and their specifics. She prided herself in being a well-rounded specialist, a title which came after years of difficult training in several fields.
Currently, however, she regretted not focusing more on her Taijutsu.
A hand swiped through her right shoulder, going scarily deep into her flesh by not reaching the bone. Ignoring the mind numbing pain that lanced across her upper body, she blocked the incoming kick with a raised left knee, launching her own right hook. Her hook was parried effortlessly; the same couldn't be said about the fist that delved into her gut with frightening precision. The air left her lungs as Shizune was knocked back several steps.
Kabuto followed her with a cold expression on his face. Another chakra-cloaked swiped through her raised arm, carving through her from the elbow all the way to the bottom of where her thumb started. So much pain was flowing through her body that she couldn't even speak. Another kick went past her nonexistent defenses with extreme speed, knocking her to the side as she bounced several times before her momentum finally got to zero.
I lost.
Shizune knew she wasn't a prodigy. She was a very good student in the Academy, did well in all of her exams and studied plenty hard. The Chuunin Exams were another tough phase in her life. The first one which was held in Suna was an absolute failure, but she came out of the exam with greater experience and a desire to get stronger. The next time she took the exam, she managed to gather enough attention in the finals to make it to Chuunin.
That was when Lady Tsunade noticed her.
Shizune always knew the woman. Her uncle, Dan, was said to have been very close with her. She recollected seeing Tsunade several times in her childhood, but didn't have much contact with her after the death of her uncle. Tsunade was her idol. A strong woman with both talent in combat and medical ninjutsu, the two fields she always leaned towards. Though that initial call to medical ninjutsu was because of Tsunade herself. The fact that a woman as important and famous as herself was willing to have Shizune as an apprentice was more than shocking. She had quickly made her way to Jonin after that.
Through all of that training and understanding, Shizune knew she wasn't meant to be the strongest. She simply didn't have the drive the others did. But that was okay. Not everyone was striving for greatness. As long as she was able to help the people who came her way, Shizune didn't care about how strong she was.
Kabuto, on the other hand, was a clear prodigy. At his age, (which she was guessing to be around 18-24) she couldn't believe that the boy was already leagues ahead of her in combat and had similar levels of healing ability. The concepts she spent hours trying to understand were chewed up by Kabuto in a matter of minutes.
She wasn't envious, particularly, she was more furious.
How could someone who clearly held such a well of talent use it to support Orochimaru? Did Kabuto even understand the number of people he could save if he applied his abilities to the good of the world?
Well, maybe she shouldn't be so surprised.
Genius attracts genius.
Shizune tried to move her hand but to no avail. Blood flowed down her arm endlessly, drooping onto the ground. She crumpled downwards as the pain took over her system without mercy.
Kabuto had a smirk on his face as he moved forward.
Is this where I die? I don't want to die so soon. Please…please…save me Lady Tsunade! She thought desperately.
I want to live a bit longer.
A flash of blond hair took over her vision as the figure stood protectively in front of her.
Her eyes lit up in joy. Her prayers were heard! "Lady Tsunade, you're—"
Naruto looked back with a raised eyebrow.
"Lady Tsunade? Pshh…you got something better! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, pleasure to be at your service!"
[—NTLS—]
This is bad, this is bad, this is bad. Naruto repeated again and again in his head as he couldn't help but stare at the incredibly low amount of MP he currently had. Keeping up those shadows was expensive as hell, and he had spent an extra twenty MP on the extraction of Tayuya.
His MP stood at a mighty amount of five.
And that was only due to the slow regeneration of said MP that he was able to get back to a non-zero number. He could still use skills like Iron Skin, which had a brief time period of no MP requirement, but everything else was a strict no-go.
I've gotten incredibly dependent on my skills. Naruto thought with a frown. He couldn't really blame himself. Who wouldn't get used to using those skills when they were so efficient and easy to use? The fact that there weren't any hand signs was already a great deal. It saved time and his opponents had no idea what he was doing. But the issue came with longer fights when his MP started to drain rapidly as he fought tougher opponents.
My chakra is gonna have to suffice for now. Good that I got a shit ton of it.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Thirty or so clones were formed beside Naruto as they rushed forward.
"Watch out!" Shizune shouted.
They dived to the side as a giant fireball flew towards them, splitting the group like a shark fin in the ocean. Naruto followed the right side of the group, hoping that they could gang up on Kabuto with numbers. He looked to the left once the fireball passed. What? The clones were gone. In their place was a crouched Kabuto whose hands were covered in thick, pulsating chakra.
He's fast! Faster than Fuu in base form for sure.
Naruto was more interested in the chakra that coated his arms, however. He's able to control that specific amount of chakra over his hands for long periods of time without injuring himself. His chakra control must be perfect to do something like that!
"What happened to Tayuya?" Kabuto asked calmly.
"I beat her," Naruto answered plainly.
"Hmm…you're better than I thought. A shame, Tayuya was shaping up to be a real talent. Don't worry, I'm not one to hold grudges—it was a fight after all. The rest of the Sound Four, however, won't be as fair as me, I'm sure," Kabuto said ominously while chuckling.
He disappeared a second later, appearing next to Naruto a second later.
Naruto attempted to block the sweeping right hand, but quickly moved out of the way instead when he realized that Kabuto's hand would more than likely cleave through his blocking arm with ease. A sidekick went straight over Naruto's forehead, the force of the attack pushing wind into Naruto's hair as he bent his back a near ninety degrees to avoid the attack.
He had no other choice but to drop to the ground as another punch flew straight towards him. Naruto pumped chakra into both hands that were on the ground and pushed upward, launching a kick with both of his feet straight towards Kabuto's midsection.
Kabuto caught the speeding boy by his feet and threw him away to the side with a grunt. Naruto gathered his balance and his spinning vision, landing with his feet attached to the trunk of a thick tree. He crouched his knees to gain as much potential energy as possible, like a coiled spring, before he thrusted himself towards the advancing Kabuto.
Naruto felt elation when he made contact with Kabuto's shoulder, to the point of feeling some deformation in the gray-haired shinobi's body. He leaped away when Kabuto swung a small blade towards his outstretched foot.
I hit him!
Before his very eyes, however, Kabuto moved a hand near his shoulder. The injury went away like it was never there in the first place, almost as if time itself was reversed around where Naruto made contact.
He knows healing as well?! Naruto thought incredulously. I'm finding out more and more how useful healing is. My regeneration is good but not nearly as fast.
Activate Iron Skin!
His MP had finally regenerated to the point of using one of his least consumptive skills.
Once more, Kabuto was next to him in an instant. His chakra was sharp and cutting, as if the chakra took the form of a razor. Naruto's Iron Skin did its best to resist the blade that fell upon it, but wasn't fully successful. A vicious cut moved through his tough skin across his guarding forearms, throwing blood into the sky as he parried Kabuto's hands upwards.
Kabuto's eyes hardened.
Shit.
An untraceable kick blasted through his defense and struck straight at his gut. Naruto choked on the absence of air as his mind went into an automatic instinct of flight or fight, not giving any room for the sensible option of bringing his guard back up. Plans were a good thing, plans were useful, and plans were essential to any fight. But the second someone truly got hit, all of those plans were out of the window. Whoever hit the hardest and fastest would end up winning.
Another fist struck his cheek, causing his head to spin as he fell to the ground.
He clumsily crawled backwards, dodging another hit that cracked the ground. Kabuto was smirking, his glasses shining dangerously as he walked forward.
"Tsk. I'm surprised that Tayuya lost to you. Surely she wasn't that weak?" Kabuto asked rhetorically, slightly puzzled. "Whatever. I'll take off an arm…maybe a leg. Orochimaru can regenerate those back with something, surely."
Fuck, I'm tired as hell right now. Fighting Tayuya and using all of my MP with the extraction and the use of the other shadows did a number on me.
I'm gonna lose here.
It's over.
[Ding!]
[The "?" Wants To Lend You Chakra.]
[Do you accept?]
[Yes/No]
Naruto gritted his teeth.
Yes, goddamn it!
Red chakra erupted from his skin; a strong aura causing gusts of wind emanating from his body. His whiskers darkened in color, and his eyes turned into a crimson red with deep slits representing his pupils. Naruto felt his teeth elongate, poking into his own gums. The rustic taste of blood took over his mouth.
Rage took over.
Kabuto was in awe. "Amazing! That chakra…it's like I can feel it! It's intoxicating, beautiful, and otherworldly! Show me more, Naruto Uzumaki! Show me more, Kyuubi!"
"I'll show you!" Naruto growled, his body taking over his mind.
He surged forward with a burst of power, imprinting his feet into the grassy ground with a boom as his newfound speed surprised Kabuto who had to adapt to the higher tier of speed Naruto now possessed suddenly. Naruto's clawed hand slapped Kabuto strongly, grossly scratching through his face and knocking the man backwards.
Kabuto laughed loudly as he brought his glowing green hand to his face the moment he stabilized his footing. "No wonder Orochimaru wants you…the Kyuubi is more than—"
Naruto pushed forward again without hesitation. This time, however, Kabuto was ready.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Before the flames could truly evolve and become the trampling mass of fire that was now infamous for any shinobi, Naruto roared.
A wave of energy erupted from his open mouth, dismantling the jutsu in the middle of its travel. Through the empty flames, Naruto trudged forward.
Taijutsu was always Naruto's preferred form of fighting.
But in the state of madness that the Nine-Tails' chakra rendered him in, he couldn't truly delve into the beauty of different styles of Taijutsu. Pure brawn and strength, along with unrelenting determination to defeat Kabuto.
Kabuto on the other hand, was merely excited. It had been a while since he fought a truly strong opponent. Acting like the fool in the Chuunin Exams was entertaining—he loved seeing the fumbling Genins fighting out their heart and souls for the chance to prove themselves to their village. But I'm the end, Kabuto wasn't a spectator. Maybe once in the distant past would he have been fine with merely watching events passing by. But the man he now presumed to be was a player. He wanted to be the one manipulating events, making others dance to his tune.
He was destined for more.
And now, finally, Kabuto had a small glimpse of the daunting power the Tailed Beasts held. The power he would have to achieve if he wanted to achieve his goals. He had a glimpse of the power that even Orochimaru of the Saanin obsessed over.
He couldn't particularly blame his master.
Kabuto, with a now newly sparking interest, began to truly fight.
With a grin, he caught the outstretched hand of Naruto Uzumaki that was covered with blazing red chakra. He simultaneously healed his own hand that continued to burn with the sheer heat that was released from the bubbling, bloody chakra.
His left hand moved with greater speed than ever.
He pierced through the stomach of the Jinchuuriki with his chakra-laced hand, before pushing away the boy before he could land his own hit.
Naruto grunted in pain as his chakra healed the small hole in his stomach that was flowing with blood.
Kabuto had a wide grin on his face, and even creepers, his eyes had a manic look that was visible from a mile away.
Naruto felt even greater anger enter his mind. His heartbeat was loud in his ears as blood rushed through his body.
Even more chakra started to enter his body. No, that was wrong to say. The chakra was already in his body—it merely moved from one source to another. The gate between the two sources wasn't lifted, per say. Instead, a small hole where a leakage was willingly allowed to pass through was made.
The hole was growing bigger.
Naruto felt something change.
Emotions…were becoming muted. Like he was being replaced by something else.
Almost as if his humanity itself was leaving.
He heard the distant cries of Shizune, who couldn't move due to her condition, but ignored her completely.
Kabuto watched with wide eyes as the chakra from the boy in front of him continued to grow in size. Amazing! His chakra has completely dwarfed anything I've ever seen. Even ignoring the amount itself, the sheer potency of it is staggering.
Naruto screamed into the sky, releasing another sonic boom that shook their surroundings as his transformation continued.
And then suddenly, everything stopped.
A green crystal shone brightly around his neck as enveloped his sight in a blinding aura of light. Familiar, comforting chakra overtook his own, burning energy. The vile chakra that plagued the world went away, to be sealed back into the beast that was housed in the Jinchuuriki. The hole that connected the two sources was plugged up hastily.
Naruto blinked as he found himself back in his senses. "W-what?"
A new presence was here.
Tsunade Senju sent a bright smile towards him. "Take care of Grandpa's necklace for me." Her smile disappeared entirely as she faced an amused Kabuto. "I've got someone to destroy."
She looked over at the injured Shizune and tightened her fist. Her slugs were already working on her apprentice's injuries, so there wouldn't be any major threats to her life. Regardless, it pained her to see her student in such a state.
Naruto, on the other hand, was facing a completely different predicament. His mind was already jumbled up from the previous altercation, and now, he was getting notifications.
[Ding!]
[Necromancer-Specific Skill Tree Unlocked.]
[Choose between the two skills shown.]
Uh…
[Shadowspawn Lvl 1]
[You are one with the shadows. The shadows are your home and fortress, and while within a dark environment, the user feels increased strength, agility, and stamina. The degree of empowerment is proportional to the darkness of the environment. However, the skill does not function in true darkness.]
[OR]
[Shadow Walk Lvl 1]
[Move between shadows anywhere in your sight at great speeds. The amount of MP used depends on the distance traveled.]
-end-
Yo!
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Hope you liked the chap!
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