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Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto franchise or its characters.
Previously….
Summon Shadow Zabuza.
A menacing figure made its presence known on the battlefield. His shadowy nature blended into the darkness around them, but the giant sword along his shoulder was more than enough to make him stand out.
Naruto smirked.
"Now it's three on three. Let's see how you do, shall we?"
[NtLS]
To the right of Naruto was Sun Wukong, who stood with a smirk on his face as his tail twirled around in excitement. He looked radiant in his shining armor, which reflected the moonlight that shone in them. He kept his staff forward, aiming it at three in front of him.
To the left of Naruto stood Shadow Zabuza, whose expression was masked by the myriad of bandages that covered most of his body.
In the middle was Naruto himself, who simply observed each of the Sound Three in front of him.
Naruto yawned. "Let's get this over with quickly—I want to get a few hours of sleep in."
Jirobo kept a hand up, signaling for the others to listen to him. "Kidomaru! Let's use the cursed seals as fast as possible. It would be pointless to underestimate this guy."
Naruto noticed the interaction with an interested expression. It was clear that Jirobo was the pseudo-leader of the group, as the others nodded in agreement.
Cursed seals? Is that Orochimaru's…
Red flames spread over the bodies of all three like a growing parasite before fading into black. Black tattoos of various shapes and forms rested on the skin of each of the Sound ninja, their chakra growing in presence almost instantly. Naruto immediately recognized the vile aura that emanated from each of them.
Orochimaru.
"I'll take care of Jirobo. Zabuza, you have Kidomaru. Sun, you get that two-headed dude."
"Hn."
"Why do I get the weirdo?" Sun asked with a whine.
Naruto launched forward, aiming his body straight at the larger, orange-haired boy. His vision, however, immediately darkened as a dome of earth rapidly formed around the moving Naruto. It was similar to the jutsu used against him during his second encounter with Orochimaru, which made sense if the inference that the Saanin had maybe taught Jirobo the technique was true.
Naruto gathered chakra in his hand, thrusting it forward in a ball of spiraling energy.
"Rasengan!"
The wall exploded into fragments of earth and dirt that revealed the outer world
through a hole that he immediately leaped through. Jirobo was already in front of him, eager to begin a hand-to-hand fight considering their difference in size—he should have the clear advantage in pure strength.
However, Taijutsu required a lot more than just strength.
Naruto ducked below a hook that had enough strength to knock him out unconscious, and responded with a jab to Jirobo's underarm, paralyzing that appendage for a brief moment. He took advantage and pulled the same arm into a throw. However, lifting Jirobo into the throw was a lot tougher than he expected, so he instead simply tripped the boy into the ground.
"Ugh!"
Jirobo placed his palms on the floor and lifted, bringing a massive plate of earth into the air which had Naruto on top of it.
What the hell is with his strength? Only Tsunade could do something like that!
Jirobo then threw the earthly structure into the air with Naruto on top of it, who quickly gathered chakra into his feet to maintain his footing. The Jinchuriki then began to run forward on the massive disc of rock faster than it was moving so that he could outrun the projectile and jumped at the edge right towards Jirobo. The orange-haired boy readied a fist, so Naruto decided to do the same. He pumped chakra and coiled it continuously into his hand, boosting the density of chakra present in the hand as much as possible.
And their fists collided in the middle with a massive shockwave of strength.
Jirobo had a look of surprise on his face at the fact that someone could match his strength, even though he wasn't trying his best. Naruto looked annoyed, most likely because his attempt at a Black Flash had utterly failed at that moment. He took two leaps backward and kept his hands in his signature sign.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Multiple clones of Naruto appeared out of thin air and began gunning for their target in the middle.
Activate Iron Clones!
[Activating… ]
[Skill: Iron Clones- Lvl 1 Activated!]
[Usage takes 7 MP and lasts for one minute before a skill cooldown of ten minutes applies.]
The first clone made contact with Jirobo…who merely smiled as he caught the fist of his clone. Instantly, blue chakra appeared to enter Jirobo's body from the clone itself, and the clone erupted into a cloud of smoke. The large boy ran forward in a surprising burst of speed before catching one of the other clones by the throat and once again absorbing the chakra of the clone in its entirety.
"Heh," Jirobo chuckled as he took in another gallon of chakra into his system
Seeing that the clones were backfiring entirely, Naruto quickly dispelled the rest of the clones as fast as possible, not wanting to feed the enemy in front of him with more chakra. One of Naruto's clones already contained enough chakra on their own.
He took a brief moment to see how the others were fighting, and to his relief, they were still standing, though the specifics of each fight weren't visible in the darkness.
He looked back at Jirobo and noted how the boy was slowly walking towards him with a confident expression on his face. It seemed as if the Sound shinobi found some newfound confidence in himself after the shadow clones were a major flop on Naruto's part.
The blond nearly laughed out loud.
Strike that—he did laugh out loud.
Activate Shadow Walk!
It was as if Naruto teleported to Jirobo with how fast he managed to close the distance between the two. And once he got there, he began to unleash an onslaught of attacks the slower opponent couldn't even react to.
Activate Observation Haki!
Right punch.
Weave.
Left jab.
Hook.
Deflect.
Low kick.
Dodge again.
"It's too easy!" Naruto said, grinning as he evaded another well-telegraphed strike. "Move a bit faster, will you?"
Jirobo stopped fighting altogether, instead preferring to retreat back a few steps.
What is he doing?
The vile aura from before intensified in nature, to the point where Naruto thought that Orochimaru himself was somehow present on the battlefield as well. But no, Jirobo had merely transformed.
Dust swirled around Jirobo as he stepped forward, his once-human form now swelling with an unnerving surge of cursed energy. His body cracked with the force of his transformation, muscles bulging under his skin, which took on a dark, reddish hue as if the chakra within him had consumed his very essence and changed him into a demon itself. His hair was now a flowing, spiky mane of orange that flowed down his back.
The ground trembled beneath his feet as he let out a deep, guttural growl. His clothes strained against his monstrous form, ripping at the seams, leaving jagged shreds of fabric hanging loosely. His eyes were burning with a sinister, unnatural glow—bright and menacing—pupils narrowed into feral slits. It's as if the darkness of the chakra has consumed his very soul, leaving only a shadow of the man he once was.
His grin stretched wide, cruel and sadistic, revealing sharp teeth that glint with malevolent intent—a far cry from the boy from before.
Naruto could merely watch with disgust. "Using another man's chakra like that and destroying yourself in the process…is it really worth it?"
There was no other way to explain it. Orochimaru's cursed seal clearly gave a massive boost of strength in different stages and with seemingly no cost as far as he knew. The only repercussion was that you had to remain the lapdog of the snake-man, which at that point Naruto would rather die.
Jirobo smiled crookedly. "Orochimaru-sama offers me greater strength than—"
He shook his head in disappointment. "It doesn't matter how much boosts and strength he gives you. It's all for his benefit in the end. And two, you really think you can beat me with a half-ass power-up like that? What, am I supposed to be impressed with your new form? Sure, you've got red skin and all—but it won't do shit in the end once I beat you to a pulp. Although, Orochimaru's chakra sure has a presence doesn't it?"
Naruto tilted his head.
"How about you feel mine?"
And he let go of the floodgates.
Naruto unleashed all the chakra he could into the atmosphere, saturating the area with the thick feeling of his own energy,
Jirobo froze. W-what? What is this presence? Who is this kid? It's like…I can't move—
"Let me tell you what's wrong with your fighting style, Jirobo."
Jirobo froze as he heard a voice from behind him. He swung his hands around, eager to get a strike off with his advanced strength.
He hit nothing.
"It's all strength, strength, strength. Sure, being strong is nice. But there will come a time when you face an opponent with both strength and speed. And you won't be fast enough to dodge their attacks, let alone think about dodging. That time is now."
From above! Jirobo realized with a startled expression.
From the sky, a descending Naruto Uzumaki was rearing his hand back.
Jirobo gritted his teeth. "I'll show you strength!" There's no way he can beat me in a collision of power when I'm in this form!
Naruto pushed his fist forward like he was going to do a repeat of their earlier head-to-head. Of course, he refused to play to his opponent's strengths.
At the very last moment, Naruto withheld his fist.
Sleight of Hand!
He transferred all of the chakra from his right fist to his left, which was outstretched in the approximation of a blade. A technique that he had been using a lot ever since he first utilized it to break open Neji's dome of chakra.
This time, however, it was being used to kill.
"Black Flash!"
A hand plunged into Jirobo's heart, splattering blood everywhere with only the moon as a witness.
[NtLS]
Naruto ignored Zabuza and Kidomaru, who seemed to be the weakest of the three if he was being completely honest.
He headed straight for Sun, who was fighting with Sakon and Ukon at the same time. It was evident that they also achieved a similar stage in Orochimaru's cursed seal, for the red skin that covered them and the flowing, unnatural white hair and horns present on their heads were certainly abnormal. Half of their bodies were covered by some strange dark armor.
"Sun! What's with them?"
"They regenerate very quickly!" The monkey said in between his fighting. He extended the staff straight towards Sakon, who deflected the pole to the side and trudged forward with a manic grin on his face. "They can also attach to you if they…"
Naruto butted into the fight as he kneed Ukon straight in the gut with as much force as he could manage, knocking the clone onto the ground.
Ukon's manic grin only grew wider.
What the—
Naruto felt something, an added weight of some kind, attached to his body as if a foreign chakra were trying to invade his own.
The moment Ukon's consciousness slipped into Naruto's mind, the air around him thickened, turning heavy and oppressive.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Darkness stretched in all directions, vast and endless, yet something lurked within it—something ancient, something watching. A deep, guttural growl rumbled through the void, vibrating through the very fabric of this space like distant thunder heralding an unstoppable storm
Then, the darkness was ripped apart by a monstrous, burning gaze. Two eyes, massive and glowing like molten fire, pierced through the gloom, their slitted pupils locking onto Ukon with an unbearable intensity. A suffocating heat radiated outward, making the air shimmer as though the very walls of this mindscape were warping under the weight of its presence.
Ukon's spectral form trembled. He had possessed countless minds before, twisting souls, bending wills, feeding on fear. But this—this was no ordinary spirit to be overtaken. A form began to emerge from the abyss, its silhouette impossibly large. Shadows peeled away to reveal bristling fur the color of blood, muscles coiled with terrifying strength, and teeth like gleaming daggers. The beast inhaled, and the force of it pulled Ukon forward, as though the very space around him bent to its will.
Then, a voice—deep, ancient, and dripping with malice.
"You dare trespass here?"
The sheer weight of those words crushed into Ukon like a collapsing mountain. He tried to retreat, to pull himself free, but his essence was ensnared, held fast by an unseen force. The beast—the Nine-Tailed Fox—bared its fangs in what might have been a grin, but there was no humor in it.
Only hunger.
Ukon's entire form flickered, his once-solid presence unraveling at the edges. Terror unlike anything he had ever known consumed him, a primal, instinctual fear that clawed at the very core of his being.
He was not the predator here.
He was prey.
"Leave, mongrel."
A head stood paralyzed on Naruto's shoulder.
Seeing an opportunity, he grabbed onto Ukon's horn and pulled with as much force as he could, breaking apart the bony protrusion with a snap. The head screamed in pain, but couldn't do anything but watch as Naruto stabbed the horn back into his forehead.
Ukon's head fell off onto the floor, his eyes wide and disbelieving.
Naruto looked at Sakon, who eyed his brother's death with a startled expression. Using the moment of distraction to his advantage, Sun delivered the killing blow with a fire-infused staff that burned through Sakon's chest.
Their regeneration only worked while both were alive.
"Are you two finally done?"
They looked over at Zabuza, who flicked some blood off of his blade.
Naruto looked at the carnage they had caused.
"This might be a bit tough to explain…"
[end]
Yo!
My Pa tre on is back online for those who want to read THREE chapters or THREE WEEKS ahead (chapters 61, 62, 63) and support my endeavor to become an author. So if you can't wait for the next update–check out:
P a treon . com (slash) PaladinKaladin
5000 Followers! We've come a long way, eh? Thanks for all the support as always! Apologies for the shorter chapter—I was swamped for the entire week with work and managed to squeeze a few hours to write this chapter, though that came with a few consequences as well. Regardless, the weekly schedule continues! FFN continues to be weird…a shame but one we have to live with.
Question of the day: None for today :)
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Chapter 61 is releasing on Tuesday, 25th of March. Around 2 PM Washington DC time.
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