A/N: This story is rated M for mature content not suitable for children.

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Chapter 13: Wins and Loses

Tengen Domian

Naruto and Tengen

"This is not looking good," Tengen stated as she watched the battle progress.

Choso was getting the shit beaten out of him, and Maki, who had rejoined the battle, was of little help, along with Mai, who couldn't get a clear shot at Ella because she kept moving.

Yuki, who had turned the battle with Kenjaku around earlier, was not the one on the defensive. The evil sorcerer had been playing with the blonde woman all this time, but apparently, he got serious and was now using his curse techniques to their full potential.

First, Kenjaku used his anti-gravity curse technique to counter Yuki's use of Garuda as a mini black hole. Then he did the one thing that Yuki thought he would do against her.

The evil sorcerer engaged her in hand-to-hand combat, and this time he used his gravity curse technique to enhance his blows, overwhelming Yuki to the point that half the bones in her body were broken.

Maki and Choso were no better than Yuki; they were being thrown around like rag dolls. The only reason they were still standing was because of Maki's superhuman body and Choso's reverse curse technique.

Mai was unharmed mostly because she was far enough from the battlefield, but Naruto had a feeling that Kenjaku had already come up with a way to deal with her. That's why the Uzumaki had also sent one of his jinchuriki to protect her.

"You are going to have to intervene," Tengen said she knew that with the way the battles were going they were going to lose if the blonde didn't step in soon "but who are you going to fight first."

"I can take down Kenjaku first; he is the mastermind behind this entire thing. Or I can take down that Death Painting, then we can all focus on Kenjaku and overwhelm him with our numbers," Naruto stated, weighing both options in his mind and knowing each had its downsides.

If he deals with Kenjaku first, the Death Painting might go on a rampage, and who knows what failsafe the evil sorcerer might have on himself or his creation.

Then again, if he deals with Death Painting first, who's to say Kenjaku doesn't have one or more of his twisted experiments on him to release if he thinks he's going to lose.

"I made my decision," Naruto said with a determined look "let me out of here."

"Okay, good luck," Tengen replied as a hole opened below the blonde, moving him to the battle in progress.

Yuki vs. Kenjaku

Yuki was not have a good time, she ducked under a punch aimed for her face that might have taken her head clean off.

Kenjaku, that evil mother fucker, was apparently a master of hand-to-hand combat. This made sense, as the bastard had lived in an era where only the strongest survived and the weak died.

"What's the matter, Yuki?" Kenjaku said in a mocking voice. "Do you need to take a break?"

"Fuck you," Yuki exclaimed, and was rewarded with a brutal knee to the stomach. The blonde-haired woman coughed up blood and doubled over.

"There is no need for such language," Kenjaku lectured the young woman as if she were a child, and to him, she was one "now where are you keeping Tengen."

"I will never tell you that you are a son of a bitch," Yuki swore, she called Garuda to cover her by making itself a whip and striking Kenjaku, but it didn't work.

Kenjaku used gravity to force the shikigami to the ground, unable to move. He then pulled Yuki to her feet by her hair and proceeded to beat her mercilessly with his other hand.

Maki, Mai and Choso vs. Ella

"Damn it," Maki cursed, using her superhuman senses and reflexes to try and pin down where the Death Painting would appear next, but it was like she was always a few steps behind them.

Choso was next to her, busy eating a knuckle sandwich, one of many Ella had given him. Maki tried to cut the Death Painting in two, but the creature ducked under her attack and kicked her in the gut.

"What the fuck is her curse technique," Maki asked to no one in particular, it was frustrating to fight an opponent who could seemingly teleport short distances, heal any wounds she took, and somehow predict the future because that was the only way Maki could think of Ella could dodge some of her attacks with a look at her.

Choso had used his reverse curse technique to fix his caved-in face; his skull had been fractured, and if he didn't reinforce his blood, his head would have been popped like a grape.

"Ella is getting stronger the more she fights," Choso stated, he had realized that this was probably her only time fighting someone for real "she is getting a better understanding of herself and how to use her power."

"So where does that leave us? We can barely keep up with her now," Maki exclaimed in frustration. She hated fighting opponents like this who hide behind their curse techniques alone.

"You two are rather resilient," Ella's voice said from between Maki and Choso, as she appeared out of nowhere, as usual "but I think that even you two have a limit on the amount of damage you can take."

Before Maki or Choso could move, Ella decided to get rid of the most annoying one to her. Blood spat soiled the battlefield, and a body hit the ground.

Yuki vs. Kenjaku

Yuki used the last of her strength to glare at Kenjaku, who looked at her condescendingly. The blonde woman looked horrible; her arms were mangled, her face was bloodied, with one eye popping out and the other swollen, but she could still use it.

"I would like to say it's been fun, but we both know you're a boring bitch," Kenjaku said, getting the last insult in on Yuki. His hand was ready to deliver the final blow, but before he could, a fist met his face.

BLACK FLASH

Black lightning filled Kenjaku's vision as his body sailed away. Yuki, in horrible condition, saw Naruto, who had a worried look on his face.

"Holy shit," Naruto exclaimed, "That's much better." Yuki looked like she could die any moment, so he quickly used the reverse curse technique to heal her enough so she would live.

"Naruto Uzumaki, a special grade sorcerer who they say might one day surpass Gojo," Kenjaku stated, looking at the blonde with interest.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that. He had never heard anyone say that he would one day surpass Gojo, even though he knew himself that he would accomplish that one day.

"So you were here too," the evil sorcerer said, not really surprised that someone else had interfered.

Naruto wordlessly summoned Rook 1 (Male) and his Knight 1 (Female) along with Pawn 1 (Female). He was ready to fight Kenjaku, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to support Maki and the rest.

"So that's your corpse technique," Kenjaku examined the beings in front of him.

The evil sorcerer's eyes then turned over to where his newly revealed creation was fighting and sensed someone familiar yet different.

"You made Hanami into a cursed corpse," Kenjaku said with amusement in his voice. "You are more interesting than I thought."

Maki,Mai, and Choso vs. Ella

Maki watched as Queen and Rook 2 (Female, Hanami) attacked Ella. Rook 2 was attacked with plant manipulation, and the Queen was attacked physically.

"This is getting ridiculous," Maki said as she watched Ella disappear and reappear to avoid the attacks from the curse corpses.

"It's like she has infinite curse energy," Choso stated, Ella was using her curse technique non-stop, and yet he couldn't feel her curse energy output drop.

"Maybe we should help," Maki said, but the curse corpses seemed to be slowly getting the hang of Ella's attacks.

"They seem to be getting the pattern of Ella's attacks," Choso stated as he watched that every time Ella disappears, Rook 2 and the Queen seem to attack a random area where Ella reappears.

"They must have figured out what Ella's curse technique is," Maki replied, as she too was clueless about how the two cursed corpses were cornering Ella.

Naruto vs. Kenjaku [Yuki's unconscious]

Naruto glanced over at the other battlefield and hesitated in attacking, so he had Knight launch a barrage of swords at Kenjaku, which was blocked by his gravity curse technique.

Rook attempted to use his newly improved curse technique, he didn't have to use a shield now but instead his curse technique was energy-based, so an energy barrier came at Kenjaku from all sides, trying to crush him.

"That's not going to work on me," Kenjaku stated with a smile, using a combination of blood and gravity manipulation to break the barrier. "Nice try, but you'll have to do better than that to kill me."

"It was worth a try," Naruto said, not at all ashamed of attacking an opponent when his attention was elsewhere.

Kenjaku didn't mind that attack at all; it was actually smart of the blonde to attack him in his distracted state.

"So it seems like you figured out how my daughter's curse technique works," Kenjaku stated, he can see that Ella was being pushed back slowly but surely.

"It wasn't hard to figure out," Naruto replied, not taking his eyes off the evil sorcerer for a second. "At first, I thought she could teleport and had an advanced control of reverse curse techniques, but if she did, why didn't she teleport to Mai and get rid of her constant long-range attacks?"

Kenjaku paid attention to Naruto's explanation; he glanced at Yuki, who was unconscious on Pawns' back; she would be out for the rest of this battle.

"That is how I figured out she was not teleporting and her seemingly high-speed healing is tied to her curse technique," Naruto said while making a plan of attack "she controls time specifically stopping and reversing time for herself."

"Oh, you are a talented one to figure out my daughter's technique with so little to go on," Kenjaku stated with genuine praise. "But knowing what she can do doesn't mean you can stop her."

"That I am, now let me finish this," Naruto announced. He took out his King piece.

Maximum Uzumaki

Kenjaku decided to play it safe and used his second-strongest ability. He used almost all his curse spirits to combine their power into a single point.

The evil sorcerer was tempted to use his domain expansion again, but with so many enemies around, he was not sure it would be wise, especially with Tengen using her power to weaken him. He also wouldn't be able to use his curse techniques after.

"King Piece activate," Naruto exclaimed loudly, a massive amount of curse energy exploded out of the chess piece, then consumed Knight 1 and Rook 1.

When the curse energy cleared, Rook 1 and Knight 1 were changed, or rather, their armor was gone. Rook was bare-chested, with only his armor pants on, but there were purple barriers around him.

Knight 1's armor was also gone, leaving her in a dress with a single katana in her hand. Both were leaking a massive amount of curse energy.

"Let's end this now," Naruto shouted confidently. "The next attack will decide this battle."

"Interesting, did that chess piece increase the power of those cursed corpses?" Kenjaku asked in excitement, not caring that he might die from the next attack.

"Yes, it does, but it does so much more than that," Naruto replied, not caring that the evil sorcerer knew. "Knight attack, Rook back her up."

Maximum Uzumaki

A beam of power exploded from the attack, meeting Knight as she charged forward. It would have been the end for the curse corpse if Rook hadn't created a barrier around her, protecting her from the attack.

"What," Kenjaku shouted in surprise, he was about to break the barrier with his two curse techniques, so the Maximum Uzumaki, which is many times stronger, could go through those barriers easily.

Knight jumped out from the attack and slashed at Kenjaku with blind speed. The evil sorcerer was unable to dodge it and was cut in half from the waist.

"Seal," Naruto said as he touched Kenjaku's head. A mark appeared on the evil sorcerer's head. "There now, you won't be able to use your curse techniques anymore."

Queen and Rook 2 vs. Ella

For the first time in her short life, Ella felt fear—the fear of disappointing her father, like her older brother's failure, and the rest, but that came second to the fear of death she felt when the Queen ripped her right arm off with her bare hands.

"I finally got you, little Death Painting," Queen stated, waving Ella's arm around with a sadistic smile on her face.

"It's time for you to die," Rook 2 stated, surrounded by plants that could defend and attack at a moment's notice.

"Tsk, you insects are annoying. It will be my pleasure to kill you all," Ella said as she tried to use her curse technique to get back her arm, but it failed.

"I guess you are trying to take this back, but it won't work," the Queen stated with a mischievous grin. "We know you can manipulate time around yourself, but my technique cancels out all curse techniques."

Ella's eyes widened at the declaration, but she quickly regained her composure and glared at the queen with a groan. She used a reverse curse technique and slowly regenerated her arm.

"You will pay for that, insects," Ella swore before she disappeared and reappeared behind the queen. She used her curse energy to create an energy blade around her hand. She aimed to cut the queen's head clear off.

"That's not going to work, bitch," Queen exclaimed crazily as she ducked under the attack and grabbed Ella around the neck.

Instantly, the Death Painting felt like she lost all her curse energy, Ella started to panic, but a queen's fist impacting her face made her see stars.

"Time to die," the Queen said in a song-like tone, Rook 2 used her plants to help keep Ella in place.

Naruto, Knight 1 and Rook 1 vs. Kenjaku

"Well done," Kenjaku stated with blood coming out of his mouth. He didn't seem to care that he was going to die.

Naruto looked at the dying man and wondered if he was crazy enough to think he didn't really mind dying or if he had a final trick up his sleeve.

"What the fuck," Naruto exclaimed, taking some time to examine Kenjaku's body, he found only half of a brain in the man's open skull "what did you do?"

"Oh, so I have been found out," the evil sorcerer said in a sly voice. "Well, it's already too late anyway."

"What do you mean by that," Naruto questioned, feeling a sinking sensation in his gut.

"I have survived countless battles in the past against powerful sorcerers," Kenjaku said. "Do you know what one thing made that possible?" "I planned ahead for every possible variable," he added.

"I knew I was walking into a trap, so I made a contingency plan in case I was defeated," Kenjaku said with a menacing look.

Tengen domain began to shatter before Naruto's horror as he realized what was happening, but he knew he wouldn't be able to stop Kenjaku now.

"I slip my brain into two vessels, one to fight all of you and the other to capture Tengen when the opportunity presents itself," Kenjaku exclaimed gleefully "You may have won the battle, but I won the war. The Culling Game will be a reality."

"Damn it," Naruto said, he had enough of Kenjaku, so he smashed his head with a plow filled with curse energy.

Knight 1 and Rook 1, along with Yuki and Pawn who was carrying her, were ejected for Tengen's domain.

Naruto saw Mai, Maki, and a badly injured Choso, along with Queen and Rook 2, appear with the dead body of Ella.

"What happened here," Naruto asked, because from the damage on Choso and the blood on Queen it looked like his curse corpse was the one to beat Choso down.

"Well, this is what happened," Mai said, looking nervously at the queen, who was whistling to herself happily.

"Choso tried to save Ella from the Queen by attacking her, and she didn't take kindly to his stupidity, so she beat him to near death while stopping his curse technique, so he could defend himself or heal," Maki interjected. She knew Mai would take too long explaining, and she just wanted to go home.

"So how is the death painting death if Queen was beating the shit out of Choso," Naruto asked, but he had an idea how it happened.

"I killed her master," Rook 2 answered in a happy yet strict voice "I used my curse technique to drain all her curse energy and sent a seed into her via her mouth, destroying all her organs."

"Well, that answers that," Naruto said with a nod "Let's go home and bring the Curse Mark's body with you."

Naruto gave the order to Rook 2, who did as ordered obediently. The Uzumaki dismissed all his pieces except for the Pawn, who was carrying Yuki, and Rook 2, who had Ella's body.

"Wait, leave my sister's body here," Choso demanded, bloody and broken but his will was strong.

Naruto didn't even look at him and kept walking away, but not before saying some parting words to the man he saw as a bigger fool than he was in his last life.

"It's not a bad thing to care for your siblings, but this thing is not your family; she was just the creation of the same sick man who created you. Nothing more, don't cling to the failure to protect your other siblings. Don't let that past chain you," Naruto said, not even turning to face the blood manipulator. "Don't place the sacred bonds you had with your brothers in this monster."

Naruto left with Yuki before Choso could respond, the blood manipulator knew on some levels that he was right but he couldn't help the tears that spilled out from his eyes on his failure to protect another sibling.

Chapter End

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A/N: The Battle for Tengen is over. The next chapter is the Culling Game and more.

A/N: Don't forget to check out my Pa-treon under SaintGreenz for early access and exclusive content. You can join as a free member to get previews of stories and access to AI artwork.