Kapitel 19: 38 (2)
At the same time outside the fortress, unknown to the Konoha and Ame parties, a large body of Shinobi had gathered, hidden in the nearby tree line opposite the fortress. These Shinobi were remnants of the now decimated Ame Rebels, after hearing that Hanzo had left the village, (the first time in decades), to meet with the new Godaime Hokage. The Rebels gathered what strength they could and journeyed to the meeting spot, seeing this as their one best chance to finally kill the hated tyrant and avenge their comrades who had died fighting him.
"Are they there?" asked one Shinobi.
"Yes" replied the leader of the company, who was staring at the fortress.
"Then shouldn't we attack?" asked the same Shinobi.
"No, there is a reason why Hanzo and the Hokage choose this fort as a meeting place for their talk. According to what I've heard, the original builders of the fort placed a powerful Jutsu around the lake, which made it almost impossible for attackers to cross the Water. The only way to cross the lake safely is to cross one of three narrow bridges, but if we do that we be easily spotted."
"So what, at most Hanzo has only three guards with him, we can easily overwhelm him with our numbers" the younger Shinobi answered.
"Don't be a fool" hissed the Elder Shinobi angrily. "There is a reason why Hanzo has lived as long as he has, if we underestimate him, we will be the ones to die. There's also the chance that Konoha might get involved, and accompanying the Godaime Hokage is her former team-mate, Jiraiya the Toad Sage. That means we would be dealing with not only Hanzo, but also two members of the Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three Ninja),and if that happen we're as good as dead."
"Would Konoha actually side with Hanzo?" the other Shinobi asked.
"It possible, since they did come here to discuss an alliance, regardless, we'll wait till night, that way we'll have the cover of darkness and the element of surprise on our side. If we're lucky we can avoid a full out battle and kill Hanzo and his group before they even know what is happening."
"Hai" the other Shinobi replied.
Shortly after a third Shinobi appeared and saluted the leader. "The men are ready and are waiting for your order."
"How many men were you able to gather?" the leader asked.
"Adding those that came with you, we now have about forty in total."
"That's all!" growled the leader, since this was less than half of what he had hoped for. "What of the others?"
"Given Hanzo's recent attacks on our bases, the other group leaders are hesitant to act without Pain-sama's orders, and believe for the time being, that we should focus on conserving our numbers."
"Idiots!" spat the leader, "Don't they realize the opportunity we're being handed here? Hanzo is more vulnerable now than he has ever been. How can they simply sit back and let this chance slip through our fingertips?"
"I'm sorry" said the Shinobi who bowed his head in shame.
"No it's fine, I'm just ranting" the leader sighed, calming himself down. "Forty should be enough, once night falls we'll attack."
"But what if the talks ends before it gets dark?" asked the second Shinobi.
"Then we'll attack as they make their way back to Ame" the leader replied. "Either way Hanzo will never turn to Ame, alive that is."
Nodding in understanding, the two Shinobi quickly returned to their assigned position, leaving their leader alone to monitor the fort.
-With Hanzo and Tsunade-
"No!" said Tsunade, as she stared coldly at her fellow Shinobi leader. After several hours of long discussion, both Tsunade and Hanzo finally come to an agreement, in the form of a Mutual Defensive Pact.
In the treaty, both leaders agreed that neither side would give any kind of support to their enemies and in times of war, both villages would come to each other's aid, giving either military support or relief, which ever they deemed was necessary.
Although it would take several months to write up the treaty and have the exact wordings for it to be written. Hanzo agreed that he would keep the boarders between Ame no Kuni and Hi no Kuni secure, but like all things it came at a price.
"Are you sure that is your answer Tsunade?" asked Hanzo, staring calmly at the younger woman. "What I suggest is not unreasonable, in fact it could benefit both our villages greatly later on, and form better relations."
Calming herself down, Tsunade stared back at the elderly man. "That may be true, but we do not need to have my son marrying your granddaughter simply to have better relations, there are other ways."
"Perhaps" Hanzo remarked. "But you know better than anyone Hokage-dono that a treaty written on paper only last for so long, and can easily be broken. But an alliance through blood is much harder to break. A union between our two respected Clans would be much stronger than any treaty written and last much longer, not unlike the union between your grandfather, the Shodai Hokage, and your grandmother, Uzumaki Mito. Their union not only strengthen relations with your Clan and the Uzumaki, but it also created an alliance between Konoha and Uzushio (Whirling Tides), which lasted for decades. If you agree, this defensive pact can become the stepping stone to a powerful alliance between our two villages."
When Hanzo finished, Tsunade just stared at the elder man, showing no sign of anger or any other kind of emotion. Hanzo's offer was of course expected, his request that Naruto accompany her to the meeting was a dead giveaway of his intentions. But at the same time it puzzled her, since Hanzo was rarely so obvious, unless of course he had something up his sleeve, which was what worried her.
Pushing her concern aside, Tsunade locked eyes with Hanzo and spoke, choosing her words carefully. "I'm afraid that a marriage between my son and your granddaughter would be impossible Hanzo-sama, my son is already engaged to the daughter of the late Yondaime Kazekage, which is in accordance to our new treaty with them."
"Ohh" Hanzo replied, show no sign of anger or disappoint in his voice. "From my understanding, your new treaty with Suna stipulates that the marriage itself can be annulled once both your son and the late Yondaime Kazekage's daughter reached marrying age, should either of them wish it. Furthermore, if I understand correctly, you village has enacted a law which allows your son to marry multiple times, so he can reproduce more Mokuton users like himself. I believe they call it the Clan Restoration Act?"
When Hanzo finished, both Tsunade and Jiraiya had to fight hard to keep their surprise from showing. The fact that Hanzo knew about the details of their treaty with Suna was concerning in itself, but that he also knew about the Clan Restoration Act. It showed that they had a major leak somewhere, Tsunade had been keeping the news of the Clan Restoration Act and Naruto's arrange marriage with Temari tight lipped, fearing that someone would try and use the situation to their advantage. Only high ranking members in the village knew the full details of the new treaty with Suna and the Clan Restoration Act.
At first Tsunade had wanted to deny both things, stating that they were rumour, but she knew that it would be pointless. The news of Naruto and Temari's arrangement would become public knowledge once Temari came to Konoha to begin her duties as ambassador for Suna, and it was only a matter of time before the Clan Restoration Act became known. Even if she tried denying it, she doubted Hanzo would believe her, the fact he even mentioned it, showed that he believed it.
Calming herself down again, Tsunade spoke, "Where exactly did you hear all this?"
"Like your former team-mate there, I too have my sources" Hanzo answered, giving nothing away, although silently thanked his informant for the information. "So I will ask you again, would you be willing to agree to the proposition of having my granddaughter marrying your son?"
"I'm afraid I must refuse" Tsunade answered, causing Hanzo to frown slightly. "I will not imprison my son in a loveless marriage or a marriage of convenience."
"That's rather hypocritically of you Hokage-sama, given how you agreed to have your son marry the late Yondaime Kazekage's daughter" Amaya remarked, earning a cold glare from the female Hokage.
"My son did that on his own accord, believing that it was the best way to secure peace between Konoha and Suna, and even then that arrangement is only temporary."
"Perhaps" added Hanzo, "But it does not change the fact that what we propose could benefit both our villages. Our village can be a valuable ally, or a dangerous enemy for Konoha."
"Is that a threat?" asked Tsunade, narrowing her eyes in anger, since she didn't take threat well, and would not be bullied around.
"Take it however way you will" Hanzo replied coolly. "But is does not change what I have just said. My granddaughter has enacted the traditions of our Clan and declared your son her future husband."
"Need I remind you Hanzo-sama that my son if from Konoha, not Ame, your Clan's laws and tradition have no value with us" Tsunade retorted coldly.
"True, but to deny my granddaughter like this, could be considered a grave insult, not only to my Clan, but to my village, especially when she declared it during the Chunin exam and in front of several visiting Shinobi."
"Hmph, I believe that would be your problem, not mine, since I am under no obligation to agree to this marriage."
"If that is how you feel, then it seems that our talks were pointless after all."
"You would call off the agreement?!" Tsunade asked in surprise.
"Yes…how can you expect my village to ally with yours when you have no respect for our traditions? Perhaps Iwa would be more respectful to our tradition, recently the Sandaime Tsuchikage has been sending me petitions in allowing his Shinobi to enter our territory, in fact they may welcome an alliance with us."
When he finished, Hanzo was pleased to see Tsunade bit her lip, indicating that this news worried her. The story was of course a lie, since he had received no such offers from the leader of Iwa, but Tsunade did not know this. He had heard of the recent boarder fights between Konoha's forces and Iwa, and knew that if he allowed Iwa forces to travel through his territory or set up a base in Ame no Kuni. It would put Konoha in a difficult situation, especially if war broke out, worse still if his village allied with Iwa against Konoha.
"Tsk traditions…this has nothing to do with your traditions!" thought Tsunade angrily, before speaking "Tell me Hanzo-sama, if I were to agree to this marriage, do you think your granddaughter would still want to go through with the marriage once she learns of my son's status, where he would have to marry multiple times?"
"My granddaughter would accept it..." Hanzo replied without any hesitation. "She is a loyal Kunochi and she would see the value of the marriage and would accept it. In fact she has stated on several occasions that your son is the only person suitable for her."
When Hanzo finished, Tsunade silently scoffed at the sheer audacity of the man, he had just proven what she had already suspected. Naruto and Mai's marriage had nothing to with improving relations with Konoha and Ame, or the traditions of his Clan; he was simply using them so that he could get his granddaughter close to Naruto, for whatever reason.
At the same time, Tsunade noticed that Hanzo's daughter Amaya was frowning when he had finish, indicating that not everyone in his family supported his plans for his granddaughter.
"Well then, it seems that we have nothing more to discuss" Tsunade stated, but before she or Hanzo could get up from their seats, Jiraiya suddenly spoke.
"Wait! Before we end things off on a bad note, maybe we can reach a compromise."
"Jiraiya what are you playing at?" Tsunade hissed angrily. But before she could say anything further, Jiraiya leaned down whispered. "Just play along hime, if we play our cards right, we can still get what we came for, and we can avoid the whole marriage deal."
"What sort of compromise?" asked Hanzo, intrigued with what the Toad Sage was offering.
"I know for a fact that your granddaughter is eager for a rematch with the kid, so how about this, we have the two of them duke it out. If our kid wins you agree to the earlier terms of the pact without the marriage deal, but if your girl wins, we'll agree to have the kid marry her. This way both sides have a fair chance at getting what they want."
When Jiraiya finished, Tsunade quickly turned to Jiraiya and looked like she was about to punch him in the face…again. But stop when she saw the look on Jiraiya face that said, "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."
At the same time, Hanzo considered Jiraiya's offer, although it held some risks, it did have its rewards. Tsunade had proven more stubborn than he had expected, and wasn't imitated by his subtle threats about allying with Iwa, or allowing their Shinobi to enter his territory. If he refused the offer, they would have to end the talks, gaining nothing, and it would be only a matter of time until Jiraiya learned he had been bluffing about allying with Iwa. But if he agreed, they would still have a chance to get what they came for, and even if they should lose, they would at least get something out of it. It wasn't ideal, but it was better than nothing.
"Very well, I agree to the terms" answered Hanzo before looking at Tsunade, "Do you Hokage-dono?"
Against her better judgement, Tsunade decided to trust Jiraiya's decision, and nodded her head in acceptance.
Once both Hanzo and Tsunade had agreed to the compromise, the two Shinobi heads stood up, and made their way outside.
Making their way outside, Tsunade leaned over to Jiraiya and whispered, "I hope you know what you're doing Jiraiya, for your sake."
"So do I?" the Toad Sage said to himself, feeling more than a little nervous should things fail.
Once Hanzo and Tsunade had exited the main building, the remaining other members of the two parties walked over to them, believing that the talks had ended successfully.
"Are the talks done, Hokage-sama?" asked Kushina after she and Naruto had made their way over, to them.
"Yes, the talks are finished" Tsunade answered.
"So did you agree to alliance?" asked Naruto.
"Not exactly" Tsunade replied, getting a confused look from Naruto and the others. "We've agreed to a mutual defensive pack, where we will support one another in times of war. But there's a catch."
"What sort of catch?" asked Naruto, who started having bad feeling.
"I'll let the pervert here explain, since it was "his" idea" Tsunade answered, indicating to Jiraiya, who sighed deeply before speaking.
"When the Hokage and Hanzo set down the terms for the pack, Hanzo made one final demand. He would only agree to the pack if you married his granddaughter" Jiraiya explained, where he then quickly raised his hand up in defence, when he saw that Naruto and Kushina were going to say something, telling them to wait for him to finish. "Naturally, your mother refused to agree to this, and Hanzo was about to walk away from the talks, threatening to ally with Iwa against us. So I came up for a compromise that would settle the matter."
"What sort of compromise?" Kushina asked where several ideas began to pop inside her head.
"You and your girlfri-uff!" began Jiraiya but was interrupted by a sharp elbow to the ribs, courtesy of Tsunade. "I mean…you two are to duke it out, if you win the marriage deal is off the table and Hanzo agrees to the original terms of the pack. If she wins, well Hanzo still agrees to the terms of the pack, only difference being that you two will have to get hitched."
"You got to be joking?!" yelled Naruto, not believing what his godfather had gotten him into.
Tsunade was of course of a similar mind as Naruto, the only reason she even agreed to this idea was because she was confident that Naruto could defeat Mai again, and they could still get the defensive agreement with Ame, without causing insult to Hanzo.
Mai on the other hand couldn't be happier with the compromise, for her this killed two birds with one stone. First she would finally claim Naruto as hers, and second she could regain her pride as a Kunochi.
From the moment she first witnessed Naruto's true power in the finals and learning just how much he had been holding back in their fight. Mai had become even more determined, if not borderline obsessed with not only to making Naruto her husband, but in fighting him again.
She doubled her training regiments and began to form strategies on how to defeat him, now that she knew what he could do.
Smiling at the chance of fighting Naruto again, Mai looked over to her "soon" to be husband, who was busy yelling at his godfather. "This time things will be different, and unlike last time, I know what to expect, and I won't be as restricted as I was in the preliminaries."
Once Naruto finishing telling his godfather about how much of an idiot he was, the blonde boy began to calm himself down, "Well I suppose this could be worse, unlike with Suna, I actually have another option here."
"You should also know Mai…" begun Amaya. "That should you win, Tsunade-san's son will be required to marry other girls as well."
At the mention of Naruto having to marry "other" girls, Mai quickly turned to Naruto, leaking a rather impressive about of killing intent that would have made even the once insane Garaa nervous.
Realizing that he was in trouble, Naruto knew he would have to act fast before Mai tried to kill him…again.
Hoping to calm the young Kunoichi down and not start "another" incident, Naruto quickly raising his hands in denial. "Hold on Mai-chan…just wait, this wasn't my idea, the whole marrying other girls' thing was my great grandfather's idea. He made some law that stats that I have to marry other girls to rebuild my Clan, I have no choice the matter."
After hearing this and seeing her grandfather nod, confirming that what Naruto said was true, the young Ame Kunoichi began to calm down. Although maintained a menacing look, making it easy for everyone else to known what she was thinking, and it wasn't good.
Elsewhere in several other Shinobi villages, numerous different girls suddenly began to sneeze at almost the exactly same time, causing them all to wonder who was talking about them.
Once things calmed down with his granddaughter, Hanzo suggested that they move outside the fort, so that it would not be damaged when Mai and Naruto fought.
-The Ame Rebels-
Hidden in the nearby tree line, the Ame company leader watched as Hanzo, Tsunade and members of their guards made their way out of the fort.
"Have the discussion already ended?" asked one of the leader's lieutenants, who had just arrived to make his hourly report on the condition of their group.
"I don't believe so" the company leader replied, "Look at Hanzo and the Hokage, they are standing atop the fort's wall, while the two younger ones are making their way to the coastal part of the island, right below them."
"What are they doing?"
"I believe they're going to have a fight."
"Who's that boy, that's fighting Hanzo's granddaughter?" asked the lieutenant, recognising Mai."
"I believe that might be Hokage's son" the leader replied, remembering Naruto's description.
"The Senju heir?" the Shinobi asked in surprise, "The one who defeated Hanzo's granddaughter in the Chunin exam?"
"The same."
"But why are they fighting, does she hold some sort of grudge against the boy for beating her?"
"Possible, then again, he might have insulted her in some way" the leader replied. "From what I've heard, the girl is rather hot blooded…But still, this might be to our advantage."
"How so?" asked the young Ame-nin.
"When the boy and the girl start fighting, Hanzo, the Hokage and their guards will focus their attention on the fight. This will give us an opportunity to manoeuvre around fort without them knowing and come up from behind. By the time they realize what is happening, it will be too late for them."
"Hai!" replied the lieutenant, understanding his leader's plan.
"Have everyone get ready, once I give the signal, we'll circle around the fort and cross one of the other bridges, and attack Hanzo and his guard from behind."
With another "Hai!" the younger Shinobi disappeared.
"This is the day your reign will finally come to an end Hanzo…I swear it!" growled the Rebel leader to himself.
-Naruto and Mai-
Once they had made their way down to the coast part of the island, the two young Shinobi stood directly opposite one another. Overlooking them atop the outer wall was their respected families, who waited for them to begin.
-Enter Naruto Shippuden OST - Emergence of Talents-
"I suggest you don't hold back this time Naruto-kun" Mai said as she took a fighting stance
"I wasn't going to" answered Naruto, as took his own fighting stance.
"Good" Mai replied with an excited smirk as she and Naruto waited for the word to start.
The moment Jiraiya shouted the word "Begin!" the two Shinobi raced at one another.
Once they were close enough Naruto attempted to finish the fight with one punch, using his superhuman strength.
Knowing what was coming; Mai gracefully evaded the punch by spinning to her left and then attempted to hit him in the side with a reverse heel kick.
Acting fast, Naruto quickly jumped back and narrowly avoided the kick, "Whoa too close!"
Seeing that she had almost hit Naruto, the granddaughter of Hazno smirked. "Heh, Naruto-kun greatest edge may come from his inhuman strength, but so long as I can avoid his punches and kicks or keep my distance, his strength is useless, leaving him open to attack."
After forcing Naruto back, Mai continued to press her advantage and attacked Naruto with a falling axe kick, following up with a leg swipe and upward punch. But each and every time Naruto avoided them, and after the punch, Naruto tried to knock Mai off her feet with his own leg swipe, but missed when Mai flipped backwards and landed several feet away.
"Not bad, you countered that well" Mai said, smirking.
"Damn, Mai-chan certainly has improved; she's faster than she was at the Chunin exam" Naruto silently remarked, impressed with the older girl's speed and agility. "Guess I was fooling myself, thinking I could finish this quickly."
Deciding to take things up a notch, Mai preformed several hand seals and inhaled deeply before thinking "Katon: Ryū no Hōkō (Fire Style: Dragon's Roar)!" spiting a large stream of Fire from her mouth.
With no time to waste, Naruto narrowly avoided the powerful stream of Fire by jumping to his right, forcing Mai to cut her attack off and move away when she saw him racing towards her.
Unwilling let her escape Naruto chased after the young Hattori Kunoichi. But before he could reach her, Mai drove him back by sending several Shuriken at him, forcing him to fall back.
After evading the projectiles, Naruto was put on the defensive again by Mai, who continued to throw projectiles at him, keeping him from getting close to her.
"Is that all you got Mai!" Naruto shouted dodging several more shuriken. "I'm disappointed; I thought I get more of a challenge this time?!"
"How this then!" retorted Mai, forming the same set of hand seals as before and spitting out another large stream of Fire from her mouth.
Seeing the roaring stream of Fire, Naruto smirked, much to the surprise of those watching the fight. But before any of them could even begin wonder what he was up to, the young Chunin formed three quick hand seals and yelled "Doton: Doryūheki (Earth Style: Earth Wall)!" creating a large wall of Earth in front of him, protecting him from the flames.
Shortly after, Mai halted her Fire jutsu, which was exactly what Naruto was waiting for. He then charged up his fist and used his superhuman strength to destroy the Earth wall, sending large pieces of debris flying straight for the Mai, who's only option, was to jump up into the air to avoid them, which was again exactly what Naruto wanted.
No sooner had Mai jumped up into the air; Naruto jumped into the air after her and tacked her to the ground.
-End Naruto Shippuden OST - Emergence of Talents-
-Tsunade, Hanzo and the Others-
"Damn that was quick" commented Jiraiya, surprised by how easily Naruto had defeated the girl.
"Yosh!" exclaimed Tsunade with a smile, believing that her son had just won.
"Interesting strategy" Hanzo thought unconcerned that Naruto had just tackled his granddaughter to the ground. "He purposely goaded Mai into using her Fire Jutsu again, knowing full well that she would have to stand in a stationary position to use it, which was also why he created the Earth wall. Once Mai had halted her attack, he used his enhanced strength to destroy the wall and send the debris at Mai forcing her to jump into the air, where she would be unable to avoid him."
"If anything, the boy is certainly quick on his feet" Amaya remarked, who was mildly impressed with the blonde boy move. "But if he thinks he has won this fight, he's doesn't know my daughter as well as he thinks."
-Naruto and Mai-
Despite that fact that she was now pinned to the ground by Naruto, Mai remained remarkably calm; in fact she seemed rather pleased with the situation, "That's my Naruto-kun."
Unable to understand why Mai seemed so calm; Naruto gave the brown haired girl a confused look, which made the Kunoichi smile. "My, My Naruto-kun, I had no idea you were so forceful. Normanly I'm the type of person who prefers to be on the top, but I guess this isn't so bad...Given how you've already got me down on the ground, how about we continue where we left off at the hospital?"
"Huh?" was Naruto's only response before fully grasping the position he was in with Mai and what she was referring to, causing his face to immediately heat up.
From an observers view point, one could easily misinterpret the situation of Naruto sitting on top of Mai's pelvis and pinning her arms to the ground over her head, as something else entirely.
But before he could even deny the insinuation, Mai pushed herself up and kissed him hard on the lips. Although the kiss was nowhere near and intense as their first one in the preliminaries, it still proved to be effective, catching Naruto off-guard and causing his brain to temporarily go blank.
After pulling back from the kiss and seeing Naruto dumbstruck look, the Ame Kunoichi smiled. Despite Naruto's natural skill as a Shinobi, he was still rather innocent when it came to being intimate with girls. This was of course another thing Mai liked about the Senju heir, finding it cute.
Smiling at the still stunned blonde, Mai mouthed the word "Sorry" right before she lifted her legs up into the air and in a remarkable feat of flexibility, wrapped them around Naruto's neck and flipped him off of her.
Recovering quickly Naruto flipped himself back up and jumped back several meters, putting some distance between the two of them.
"That was cheap trick Mai!" exclaimed Naruto, glaring at the elder girl, who just smirked back.
"Ah, Ah, Ah" Mai scolded waving her finger. "In case you forgot, "you" were the one top of "me," looking down at me with those lustful eyes of yours. In fact perhaps you should take responsibility for your actions?"
"R…R…R-Respon…Responsibility?" the blonde boy stuttered nervously, having an idea of what Mai was suggesting.
"Oh come now Naruto-kun, you're not telling that you didn't enjoy that even a little?" the young Kunoihci asked with a seductive wink, which caused Naruto to turn red again and subconsciously lick his lips, which was all Mai needed.
Before Naruto could respond, he was suddenly struck hard in the side of the head by a small pebble.
"OW!"
Turning to where the pebble came from, Naruto saw his mother staring down at him with an annoyed look on her face, which Naruto guessed was because Mai had kissed him…again. "Wake up Naruto and stop daydreaming! Don't let her little mind games get to you, because if you lose, I see to it that every Ramen stand in Konoha is shut down!"
"Don't lose Naruto, she's serious!" yelled a now panicking Kushina, realizing that this would affect her as well.
Now facing the threat of a Ramen Free Konoha, Naruto quickly found a new resolve; this was now a life or death battle for him, since a threat from his mother was never to be taken lightly.
At the same time, Hanzo and his party were all staring at the Konoha members wondering if the group was crazy or simply stupid.
Using his Mokuton powers, Naruto created a long wooden sword from his arm and charged at Mai. At the same time Mai took out her foldable fans from her pouch and opened them up and yelled "Futon: Kyōfuu (Wind Style: Strong Wind)!" creating a powerful gust of Wind which blew Naruto back.
She then quickly followed up with another powerful blast of Wind, giving him no time to recover and sending him flying into the air and into the middle of the lake, which was exactly where Mai wanted him.
After crashing into the Water, and losing his wooden sword at the same time, Naruto began to channel Chakra to his feet so that he could walk on the lake's surface. But as soon as he had done this, Naruto saw the Water starting rise up and take the shape of an exact copy of himself.
"A Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu (Water Clone Technique)?" the blonde wondered before hearing his mother shouting, "Naruto! Get out of the Water NOW!"
Before Naruto could respond, the Water clone charged at him, and without thinking Naruto destroyed the clone with a single punch to the face.
"Huh, that was pretty easy…" Naruto muttered to himself, but before he could comment any further, the Water clone reformed itself into two copies.
"What the…?!" Naruto exclaimed before the two clones attacked, and like before Naruto destroyed them without much difficulty. But again the clones simply began to reform doubling again.
"Crap, is Mai somehow behind this?" Naruto wondered, glancing over at older Kunoichi, but to his surprise, the granddaughter of Hanzo was doing nothing and simply watched him from the coast.
"If not her could it be her mom or one of the others?" But as soon as that thought entered his head, Naruto brushed it aside. "No, if they were behind this, Kaa-chan, Kushina-sensei or Ero-sennin would've sensed them, this must be one of those traps that Ero-sennin mentioned earlier."
Once the clones had full reformed they quickly surrounded the blonde boy again and attacked.
Watching from her position on the shore, Mai watched as Naruto destroyed the Water clones, but each time they would simply multiple again and again.
"It useless Naruto-kun, although those clones may not be very strong or durable, they make up for it in their multiplying ability, simple brute force will not be enough to defeat the Mizu Hansha no Jutsu (Water Reflection Technique)." (A)
During their journey to the fort, Hanzo had told her of the history of the fort, including how the Clan defended it. According to her grandfather, the original builders of the fort had placed a powerful Jutsu on the lake, which surrounded the fort. The justu only activated when someone entered or touched the Water, creating an exact copy of the person, which would then attack them.
Individually the clones were not very strong and could easily be destroyed. But for every clone that was destroyed, two more would take its place, where they would eventually overwhelm the person. The fact that there was so much Water around, the number of clones was almost infinite, making it virtually impossible for an invading force to cross the lake unless they used the bridges.
Using this knowledge to her advantage, Mai purposely blew Naruto into the lake so that he would activate the hidden Jutsu. Knowing that in a straight head on battle with Naruto, her chances of beating him were slim. But once he had been successfully worn down by the clones, she would then move in and blow him out of the Water, allowing her to capture him.
At the same time, from the outer fort walls, Tsunade and the others watched as Naruto continued struggle against the clones.
"Damn her" cursed Tsunade as she bit her nail in frustration, "This was her plan all along, she knew she couldn't beat Naruto directly, so she's using the fort defences to do it for her."
"No doubt" Jiraiya replied. "I have to admit, it's a pretty good plan, guess the kid isn't the only one who is quick on their feet."
"It seems your student is in a spot of trouble Tomato-chan?" Amaya mocked.
Knowing that Amaya was just trying to get a rise out of her again, Kushina reigned in her anger and sneered back at her rival. "Don't count him out just yet; he's been in worse situations than this."
"Heh, guess we'll see soon enough" the Ame Kunoichi replied, although was certain that Naruto had already lost the fight.
After fighting for several minutes, a now panting Naruto looked around him to see he was now completely surrounded on all sides, by well over a hundred Water clones. Earlier on in the fight, he had tried to simply get off the lake and race to the fort or the shore, but each time he tried the clones would simply block his path, and even when he destroyed the clones, more would simply take their place.
"This is insane, no matter how many I take out more keep appear!" Naruto mentally screamed. "No wonder nobody was ever able to take this fort. If I want any chance of getting out of this mess, I need to take all this clones out all at once!"
Knowing of only one other way to do this, Naruto deactivated his Shishi Omomizuke Shīru (Four Limbs Weighting Seals) and took out the Raijin no Ken (Sword of the Tunder God) from his utility belt and activated it.
At the same time, those watching from the fort all began to wonder what Naruto was planning after seeing him take out and activating the legendary sword of the Nidaime Hokage.
Once the bright yellow blade had appeared, Naruto jumped into the air and swung the blade down, unleashing a small blast of Lightning from the blade, which hit the Water and destroyed all the clones in seconds. Naruto then landed back on the surface of the lake and raced towards the fort at top speed, before the Water clones could regenerate.
But just as he was nearing the fort's shore, Naruto was suddenly blown back into the middle of the lake by a powerful gust of Wind from Mai.
"Sorry Naruto-kun, but I can't let you escape just yet!"
"Damnit Mai" Naruto growled as he stood back up, and he found himself already surrounded by the Water clones, which now numbered over two hundred. He had been so focused on getting back onto the fort he had completely forgotten the fact that Mai would probably stop him. But what was worse was that he had dropped the Raijin no Ken into the lake after Mai hit him with her Wind attack.
With the Raijin no Ken now gone, Naruto decided to try something else and formed a single hand seal and thought "Time it to fight Fire with Fire."
But no sooner had he yelled "Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique)!" He heard his mother shouting at him, telling him to stop, but by then it was already too late as a hundred Naruto clones appeared around him.
At the same time as the clones appeared, a hundred more Water clones appeared, adding to the number of the clones.
"Shit!" Naruto cried after realizing his mistake, he never considered the possibility that by creating his own clone army; he would also create even more Water clones. Originally he had hoped that he could use his own clones to act as a barrier and hold off the Water clones long enough to allow him to escape to the other side of the lake. But now there were simply too many clones to get by and he couldn't simple destroy them, since they would just multiple even more.
Now outnumber three to one, Naruto tried to think of a new way to get out of the trap, while his clones held off the Water replicas. "Damnit, how the hell do I get out of this…? Think Naruto, think, there has to be a way to get out of this mess. This Jutsu is obviously Water based, since it creates only Water clones and it only activated when I stepped on the Water…." At that moment Naruto suddenly realized something. "Wait! For a Jutsu like this… for it to work on such a large scale, there's only one way for it stay activate on its own for so long without anyone to maintain it."
Having now realized how the Jutsu worked, Naruto knew what he needed to do, where he used the Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique) to summon Gamatatsu and Gamakichi.
When he had finished explaining what he wanted them to do, the two Toads nodded their heads and went underwater to begin their search. After they had left, Naruto then ordered his clones to go on the offensive so to buy some time, making those who were watching him wonder what he was up.
Creating another wooden sword from his arm, Naruto joined his clones in their battle against the Water clones, destroying any that came close to him. This continued for twenty minutes, but as time went on, one by one his clones were overwhelmed by the Water clones and were pulled underwater and disappear.
"What's Naruto-kun thinking? Surely by now he knows that fighting the clones like this is pointless" the Ame Kunoichi remarked silently. She continued to watch Naruto and his clones as they were slowly overwhelmed by the Water clones numbers until only the originally Naruto was left, surrounded by a least five hundred clones.
But just as all the Water clones were about to attack him, they suddenly all reverted back into Water, much to the surprise and confusion of everyone watching.
Shortly after the Water replicas had returned to their original state, Gamatatsu and Gamakichi emerged out of the Water.
"Thanks guys I owe you both big time, although you kind of cut it closed there."
"Sorry about that, but it took a while for us to find it" Gamakichi replied.
Nodding in understanding, Naruto thanked the two Toads again, after which he then took out two small pieces of candy and tossed it to them, as per their agreement, after which the two Toads returned to their home in a puff of smoke.
Back at the shore, everyone was still reeling from the shock that Naruto had somehow negated the Mizu Hansha no Jutsu.
Mai of course was the most surprise out of everyone, she had been certain that the Mizu Hansha no Jutsu wouldwin the fight for her. But just when it looked like Naruto would lose, he somehow found a way to cancel the Jutsu.
"How did he do it?!" ranted the girl insider her head, but before she could even think of how he did it, she saw Naruto racing towards her at high speed.
-Enter Naruto Shippuuden OST 18 Sunspot-
Wasting no time, Mai brought up both her fans and swung them together, yelling "Futon: Nibai Kyōfuu (Wind Style: Double Strong Wind)!" creating a powerful blast of Wind.
But Naruto was ready for this, and as soon as Mai had unleashed her attack, he used his momentum to jump up high into the air, avoiding the powerful Wind attack. After which he then channelled his own Chakra into his wooden sword and converted into Wind, where he swung his sword downward and unleashed a large crescent shape blade of Wind.
Seeing the high speed Wind attack, Mai quickly jumped to her right to avoid it. But as soon as she did, Naruto appeared on her right and swung his wooden sword at her, hitting her hard in the side and sending her skidding across the ground.
Pressing his advantage Naruto sent another high speed blade of Wind at Mai, but like before she was able to avoid it, if only narrowly. She then quickly counterattacked by waving her fans and creating another powerful gust of Wind, which Naruto avoided. He then took out a set of Kuni and threw them at Mai, who dodged them all successful, although lost one of her fans in the process, which now had a large hole in it.
Tossing the now ruined fan away, Mai took out several Kunai from her pouch and threw them at Naruto. At the same time she then channelled her Wind Chakra into her fan, creating a large gust of Wind, greatly increasing the projectiles speed and attacking power.
Knowing he couldn't avoid the projectiles in time, Naruto channelled his Chakra to his feet so that he wouldn't be blown away by the Wind attack and raised his wooden sword. He then used the wooden to block the fist Kuni, while the remaining two cut his right arm and left leg when they flew past him. But thankfully they were only shallow cuts and would not diminish his ability to fight.
Seeing this, Mai the raced forward and activated the spike tips on her fan and attempted to slash him across the chest, but missed when Naruto jumped back. He then countered by channelling his Wind Chakra to his wooden sword, increasing its range and cutting power, forcing Mai to jump back several meters.
After being forced to jump away from Naruto, Mai formed several one handed hand seals and inhaled deeply, expelling a large ball of flames, which was made even bigger when Mai combined it with her Kyōfuu technique.
With only seconds to act, Naruto quickly began to draw the large amounts of Water from the lake around him and used the Senkai no Mizu (Swirling Water) sword technique to create a giant spinning Waterspout around himself, protecting him from the super-heated flames.
When the two techniques had cancelled each other out, a tick cloud of steam covered much of the space around the two young Shinobi, keeping them from seeing each other.
Fearing that Naruto might try to use the steam cloud to his advantage, Mai planned to blow the steam away with her Wind attack. But before she could enact her plan her senses suddenly warned her of danger.
Listing to her senses, Mai moved, allowing her to evade the deadly Water blades which appeared behind her. But no sooner as she had avoided them, a blurry figure appeared on her left and kicked her in her side, cracking at least one rib and sending flying out of the steam cloud and crashing to the ground…hard.
-End Naruto Shippuuden OST 18 Sunspot-
"Damnit!" thought Mai as she slowly picked herself up, holding her side in pain, while picking up her one remaining fan off the ground. At the same Naruto emerged out of the steam cloud with his wooden sword in hand.
Realizing the danger she was in, Mai channelled her Chakra into her fan again and swung it, creating yet another strong gust of Wind, kicking up the sand, temporarily blinding Naruto, thus allowing her to move away.
Once the sand died down, Naruto quickly located Mai, standing several meters away from where he was.
"Heh, not bad Naruto-kun, you got me good there with that last hit" Mai remarked while holding her tender side.
"Not good enough it would seem" Naruto replied with a small smirk.
Smirking back, Mai then folded her fan back up and placed it back in her pouch, which made Naruto curious as to what she was up to. "I've have to admit I didn't think you would escape the lake, how exactly did you do it."
"Simple…" Naruto replied, "A Jutsu like that is basically one big barrier that keeps people from entering or leaving by the lake, and there are only three ways to activate and maintain a Jutsu of that scale and size. The first two are by a single user or a group of users activating the Jutsu and maintaining it with a constant flow of Chakra. Given how this fort is abandoned that would be impossible, so the only other way for that Jutsu to remain working is by placing seal tags around the lake in specific locations."
"I see" said Mai, while beginning to understanding how Naruto did it. "But that still doesn't explain how you cancelled the Jutsu."
"Like I said the Jutsu works by placing seal tags around the lake in specific locations." Naruto answered. "I figured that by removing one of the tags, I would break the connection with the other tags around the lake, causing the Jutsu collapsed."
"But how did you know where the tags were located?"
"I didn't…" Naruto replied, causing Mai to look at him in confusion. "Since the Jutsu involved the lake and making Water clones, it made sense that the tags were hidden at the bottom of the lake, so I summoned some Toads to search the lake for a tag, while I kept those Water clones busy."
When Naruto finished his explanation, most of the Ame entourage, including Hanzo, couldn't help but be impressed with Naruto's resourcefulness, and how he had fingered out the Mizu Hansha no Jutsu, especially when considering the situation he had been in earlier.
Seeing that Naruto was already proving himself worthy to her family, Mai began to smile. "Heh, you never fail to impress Naruto-kun, but then again, that's another thing I like about you, so why don't we take things up a notch." After which she bit her figure and began to form her hands seals.
Recognising the hand set, Naruto immediately realized what Mai was planning and raced over to stop her. But by the time he crossed half the distance between them, Mai finished her hand set and slammed her hand onto the ground and yelled "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!" creating a large cloud of smoke.
-Enter Magi OST Valse Hot-
Realizing he was too late, Naruto immediately jumped back away from the smoke.
When the smoke dissipated, Naruto saw Mai standing atop a large Crimson Red Salamander with yellow stripes on its back, and was easily the size of a large house.
"Holy Shit, that things' huge!" thought Naruto in surprise.
Watching from above, Tsunade and the other members of her group stared at the large summons in disbelief.
"She can summon the Salamanders as well?!" Tsunade explained, surprised by the fact that that Mai not only could summon the Salamanders. But that Hanzo had let her sign the contract to his trademark summons to begin with.
"This could be trouble" Kushina mutter, while Jiraiya simply stared down at the girl with a frown, before glancing at the Ame group, who seemed rather pleased with the turn of events.
Hanzo though remained void of any such emotions and continued to watch his granddaughter, "Now the real battle begins."
"So Naruto-kun what do you think of my summons?" a smiling Mai asked as she looked down at the blonde boy, who looked more than a bit worried.
"Hey wait a minute, since when did you learn how to summon?!" yelled Naruto.
"Since before the Chunin exam" Mai answered, shrugging as if there was nothing wrong with it.
"Then you were holding back at the Chunin exam too!" retorted the Senju heir angrily, since he was more than a little peeved with the news, especially since Mai had given him such grief about him holding back in their fight.
"That is a completely different matter from this!" retorted Mai, huffing, while folding her arms underneath her chest, inadvertently highlighting her breasts. "It's not like I could summon my Salamanders in such a small and confined space like the preliminary arena."
"EEhhh, she got me there" Naruto thought, slightly embarrassed, since he hadn't thought of that. But still it's wasn't like his reasons for holding back on her were any different, since Orochimaru curse seal prevented him from properly moulding and controlling his Chakra. But before he could respond, he suddenly heard Mai shout "Kaen, Okibi (Blazing Fire)!"(B)
"FUCK!" the blonde boy mentally screamed when he saw the large summons take a deep breath and exhale a massive blast of Fire from its large mouth.
Acting fast, Naruto used his Mokuton powers to create a large wooden dome around himself, protecting him from the flames.
"That won't protect you!" shouted Mai, taking out her fan and channelling her Wind Chakra into it yelling "Futon: Kyōfuu (Wind Style: Strong Wind)!" as she swung it, increasing the flames power.
Within seconds the now super-heated flames had reduced the wooden dome to ashes. But when Kaen halted his attack and as the flames around the dome died down, Mai notice that there was no sign of Naruto, only a hole in the ground.
"Shit!" thought Mai, realizing what Naruto was had done and quickly turned around to see him emerge from the ground behind them while raising his sword in preparation of his Surasshu-fū (Wind Slash) technique.
But before he could perform the technique, Mai shouted to her summons, who then slapped the Senju heir into the lake with his long tail. After which he then fired another Wind enhanced Fire attack at the blonde boy, forcing Naruto to duck underneath the Water for safety.
After pulling himself out of the Water, Naruto was surprised to see the large summons moving across the surface of the Water at speed that should've been impossible for something his size.
With only seconds to act, Naruto formed a single hand seal and yelled "Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" creating a small army of clones, which then surrounded the Ame Kunoichi and her summons.
Wanting to finish off the clone army quickly, Mai ordered Kaen to Fire another Fire blast. She then used her Wind technique to manipulate the flames to circle around them, destroying the clone army.
Shortly after the flames began to die down, the real Naruto jumped out of the Water and hit Mai with a strong drop kick to the face. But the moment his kick made contact, "Mai" reverted into Water, revealing that she had replaced herself with a Water clone; while the real one appeared behind him and kicked him in the back, sending him crashing back into the Water.
-End Magi OST Valse Hot-
-Enter Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls OST Arata na Master Samurai-
After kicking Naruto into the Water, Mai maintained her position atop her summon while she searched for any sign of her "fiancé", knowing he would have to resurface sooner or later.
After a minute or so of waiting the Mai started to feel anxious and yelled "Come out Naruto-kun…! Don't tell me your giving up already?!" hoping to draw him out.
Shortly after saying this, the young Ame Kunoichi saw a dozen large wooden tentacles emerge from underneath the Water, surrounding her and her summons.
Moments after the wooden tentacles appeared, Naruto along with a large number of Wood clones, (carrying wooden swords), sprung out from the wooden tentacles and yelled "Giving up...?! We've only just BEGUN to FIGHT!" right before he had his clones attack.
At the same time Naruto had his wooden tentacles attack Mai's summons, wrapping themselves around the large summon, restricting his movements.
"KAEN!" shouted Mai before she saw Naruto's clones racing along the wooden tentacles towards her.
With her summons now restrained, and multiple attackers coming at her from all sides, Mai created several Water clones to support her. After which she then took out her one remaining fan and swung it, creating a strong blast of Wind which blew three wood clones back.
After ordering her clones to hold Naruto's other remaining clones off, Mai jumped off her summons and moved towards the real Naruto, who was keeping his distance from her.
Seeing the elder girl racing towards him, Naruto sent his remaining wooden tentacles to intercept her, which she avoided with remarkable grace, using her acrobatic skill.
But just as she was nearing him, the three clones she had had dealt with earlier appeared out of the Water and blocked her path.
Unwilling to let the clones stop her, Mai attempted to destroy the lead clone with a strong drop kick to the face. But to her surprise, the clone proved more durable than she had expected and blocked her kick with its one arm and then pushed her back. The second clone then attempted finished her off with one blow with an enhanced axe kick when her feet touched the Water's surface.
Seeing the clone, Mai avoided the kick by jumping further back, although as she hung in mid-air the third clone fired several Wood spikes from its hand.
Acting fast Mai brought up her fan and channelled her Chakra into it as she swung it, creating a powerful gust of Wind. Also at the same time she threw a Kunai with an exploding note tied to it, which denoted when it hit the clone, destroying it instantly. But as soon as the clone was destroyed, Mai was put on the defensive again by the two remaining clones.
For the next few minutes Mai continued to fight with the two Wood clones, dodging or blocking their attacks while trying to strike back. But all her attempts failed and she was constantly kept on the defensive. Under most circumstances she could have defeated the clones without too much difficultly, but they were surprising more resilient than most clones and they worked together to support one another, where if one would attack the other defended. Leaving Mai little openings to exploit, it was made even more difficult since she also had to deal with the wooden tentacles that Naruto was controling at the same time.
After a short while Mai noticed that the last of her Water clones had been destroyed by Naruto's other Wood clones and were now converging on her from all directions.
Realizing she that she needed to do something fast, Mai jumped up into the air to avoid another one of Naruto's wooden tentacles and then used said tentacle as a springboard to propel her up higher into the air. After which she then yelled "Kaen Okibi!"
Heading his master's order, the large Salamander took a deep breath and spat out a massive stream of fire, incinerating most of the Wood clones and the Wood tentacles that were in range of his attack.
At the same time, Mai threw several Kunai with exploding notes at the few remaining Wood tentacles that were restraining Kaen and detonated them; freeing her summons from their bind.
When Mai landed back onto the surface of the Water the last of Naruto's clones raced towards her. With little time to waste, the Ame Kunoichi brought up her fan again and used it create a large gust of Wind, which in turn created a large wave of Water.
Using the wave as a distraction, Mai took out the last of her Kunai with exploding notes tied to them and threw them at the Wood clones when they moved to avoid the large wave, hitting one of them. She then activated the exploding notes, causing them to explode, taking out a second clone along with the first.
With two clones now gone, Mai prepared for the remaining three, but before she could do anything, several vines wrapped themselves around her right leg and arm.
Turning, Mai saw the real Naruto standing several meters away from her, smirking as he held his arm out which were connected to the vines that were wrapped around her.
"Damnit, I was careless!" the Ame Kunochi mental berated.
Realizing she couldn't fight off Naruto's approaching clones like this, Mai dropped her fan and bit her finger and started forming one handed hand seals with her one remaining free hand. "If this works it with use up most of my remaining Chakra, but I've got no choice."
Just as the clones were right on top of her, Mai finished her hand seal and slammed her hand onto the surface of the Water shouting "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" and creating a large cloud of smoke, forcing Naruto's clones to move back.
-End Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls OST Arata na Master Samurai-
"What's she summoned this time?" thought Naruto, seeing the smoke and feeling the vines he had created break.
When the smoke cleared Naruto saw Mai standing atop yet another Salamander, just as big as the first but was blue in colour with large black spots on its back.
"I don't believe it; she can summon another summons of that size! Even after all the fighting she has been doing," Tsunade exclaimed in surprise.
"That girl is something else, to be doing something like that at her age" Jiraiya remarked silently, before glancing at Hanzo. "But then again she is his granddaughter after all."
"Heh, looks like your student is in trouble again Tomato-chan" Amaya mocked.
Glaring at her nemesis, Kushina then pointed at the Mai. "That's funny, I was about to say the exact same thing about your daughter, since she doesn't look like she doing too well either."
Turning, Amaya saw her daughter kneeling atop her new summons breathing heavily, indicating that she had used up most of her remaining Chakra in summoning the large Salamander.
"That may be so…" added Hanzo. "But it does not change the fact that Mai now has the advantage with her summons, while your son Tsunade has only three clones to help him."
"Perhaps" Tsunade replied, "But my son has faced far more difficult situations and survived them, so don't count him out just yet."
After Mai had summoned her new summons, Naruto saw the brown haired girl fall to her knees breathing heavily, indicating that she had used up most of her remaining Chakra in summoning the creature and was now reaching her limits.
Seeing an opportunity to end the battle, Naruto had his remaining clones attack. But before the clones could reach her, Mai yelled "Squall, Mizuretsu (Violent Water)!" (C)
Hearing Mai's order, the large summon opened its mouth and spat out a massive stream of Water, hitting two of Naruto's clones with incredible force, destroying them instantly.
The third clone had managed to get away by going underwater and emerged behind the large summon. But as soon as he had emerged out of the Water, the clone was destroyed and reduced to ashes by a Fire blast from Mai's first summon Kaen, who joined Mai and Squall."
Once all of Naruto's clones were detroyed, Mai took out a soldier pill from her pouch to replenish her Chakra reserves. She then ordered Squall to fire another powerful Water blast at the real Naruto, who then tried to block it using Mokujōheki (Wood Locking Wall). But he underestimated the power of the Water attack, which shattered the wooden dome before it could fully form, sending him flying across the lake.
Slowly picking himself up out of the Water, Naruto checked himself for any injuries. Fortunately for him, the partially formed Wood dome had taken the brunt of the attack, where the exception of feeling a little tender all over and his coat being in tatters, he was in relatively decent condition.
"Geez, now I'm going have to replace this…again" Naruto muttered, looking at the state of his coat. Luckily though, ever since the Chunin exam, he had several spare coats made in the event that they were ruined like the original.
After he had finished looking himself over, Naruto immediately jumped to is right, narrowly avoiding a deadly Fire blast from Kaen, followed by another powerful Water blast from Squall, which he again narrowly evaded.
"Shit that was close" Naruto said to himself. "But still what was wrong with me, I suddenly feel heavy and my movements are starting to get sluggish. It must be the after-effects of being hit by that Water attack."
Before Naruto could pounder the matter as to why his movements were getting so sluggish, he noticed a shadow suddenly appear above him.
Looking up, Naruto saw Mai falling down towards him while performing a falling axe kick.
With seconds to act, Naruto barely managed to evade Mai's kick by leaping back, and began to perform hand seals.
When he finished Naruto thought "Suiton: Teppōdama (Water Style: Gunshot)!" but instead of firing football size Water balls, the balls were only the size golf balls.
"What the…?" thought Naruto, right before he was punched hard in the stomach by Mai, who appeared right in front of him and then kicked him in face, sending the blonde skidding across the Water.
By the time Naruto recovered and was back on his feet, he was put on the defensive again by Mai, who engaged him in a fierce Taijutsu battle. Naruto tried his best to hold his own, but was slowly losing as his movements got slower and slower, causing him to take several severe hits.
After being kneed hard in the stomach, Naruto landed a few meters away from Mai, barely managing to keep himself afloat on the lake surface.
At the same time, he also found himself surrounded by Mai's two summonses.
"Poison!" exclaimed Naruto, realizing the reason for his delayed reaction time and why he was unable perform his Jutsu correctly.
Seeing that Naruto had finally realized what was happening to him, Mai smiled and nodded, since there was no point in denying it, since it was obvious.
"When was it…?" Naruto asked, "Was it when you cut me with your Kunai earlier in the fight?"
"Oh no it was it was much earlier than" Mai replied with a knowing wink, causing Naruto eyes to widen.
"The kiss!" said Naruto, while blushing slightly at the memory, where he received another wink from Mai, indicating he was right.
"Correct, I coated my lips with the poison, and as you've already guessed, the poison I have used is a slow acting toxin that not only reducing your movements, but interferes with your Chakra control. I honestly didn't think I would need it, since I was certain that the Mizu Hansha no Jutsu would defeat you. But I learned from past experiences not to underestimate you, and as a friend of your once said, while one ace in the hole is good, two aces are better."
"But how are you not affected by it?"
"Well you're not the only one who can inherit certain traits from their family" Mai answered cryptically.
"You have a bloodline limit?!"
"Not exactly" Mai replied, where after receiving a confused look from Naruto, decided to explain further. "Many years ago, back when my granddaughter was a young boy, there was a Black Salamander which was native to our village and was famous for the deadly poison its body produced. After its death, our village elders had its venom sac implanted into my grandfathers body in the hopes of creating a venomous Shinobi who himself was immune to toxins. It worked; it also granted him the ability to create the same poison from his mouth...It also had unexpected side effect, where my grandfather was able pass some of the traits he received on to my mother and me, although I cannot produce Salamander's poison like him, I am resisted to most poisons and toxins."
When Mai finished, Naruto silently cursed his luck, since if things weren't bad enough, this made things even more difficult for him. Any of the poisons he had considered using against Mai at the moment were now most likely useless.
"Come on Naruto, you can still win, don't give up!" yelled Kushina, cheering him on. Not only because the blonde boy was her student, but because she couldn't stand the idea of her student losing to the daughter of her sworn rival.
"Heh, save your breath Tamato-chan, this battle is over."
Glaring at the Dark haired woman, Kushina retorted, "Don't count my student out yet, he'll turn this thing around and be wiping the floor with your bimbo of daughter before you even know it."
Sneering back at Kushina, Amaya replied, "Heh, Your deluding yourself if you believe that, my Mai-chan has him at her mercy."
"Heh, I seem to remember my student handing your daughter's ass to her when they fought at the preliminaries, and even didn't even have the full use of his Chakra at the time."
Scowling at the mention of Mai's earlier loss, Amaya retorted, "This time is different, Mai-chan was unaware of the full extent of his abilities. Besides, she didn't reveal her true abilities either, and she's a lot stronger than she was back then."
"Sounds like an excuse to me" Kushina sneered, infuriating Amaya further. "Just like the one you gave after I kicked your sorry ass at the Chunin finals!"
"You lucked out and you know it Tomato-chan!" Amaya retorted angrily, since she didn't like being remained of her first fight with Kushina, which she lost. "Besides in case you forgot, I had you begging for mercy at Kojima pass. If it wasn't for your boyfriend saving your sorry ass, you would've been dead."
"GGrrr, I wasn't begging, and you know it, if it wasn't for your poison, I would have finished you!"
"Heh, now who's making excuses!" taunted Amaya
"You want to start something here?" Kushina threatened, taking a step closer to her nemesis.
"Anytime Bitch!" snarled Amaya, as she also took a step closer to the Konoha Kunoichi, where the two of them were once again clashing foreheads with one another, with lightning emanating out of their eyes.
For a moment or two, the two glared at one another. But just when it looked like they were about to go at it again, they suddenly turned to Naruto and Mai's direction and started yelling.
"Come on Naruto, Kick her ass!"
"Slaughter him Mai-chan!"
"If you lose Naruto, the training I have in mind for you will make hell look like a vacation!"
"No Mercy Mai-chan!"
While the two women continued to cheer/threaten their respected students, everyone else that was watching the match shook their heads from embarrassment, wishing they had left the two mad women back home.
"So Naruto-kun, do you surrender?"
Smirking, Naruto responded, "What do you thing?" After which he then took out several smoke bombs and threw them in all directions.
Seeing this, Mai ordered her two summonses to attack, causing a massive explosion of Fire and Water, and creating a thick cloud of red hot steam.
Moving away from the steam cloud, Mai began to search for any sign of Naruto, but found none. "Where is he? He can't have stayed inside the cloud, he be cooked…unless?"
Realizing where Naruto had gone, Mai allowed herself to fall into the Water, quickly locating her "fiancé" who was swimming in the opposite direction of her.
Once she had located Naruto, the granddaughter of Hanzo smirked, since blonde had just made a fatal error. Fighting underwater was a speciality of her village and like all members of her village; Mai was well versed in underwater combat.
At the same time, Naruto was desperately trying to swim to a safer location. Even before Mai had told him of the effects of the poisoned she had used on him. Naruto had already realized that the poison was a paralyzing type toxin, which explained why his movements were slowing down, and why his Chakra control was so screwed up.
Fortunately for Naruto, these types of poisons were what he specialised in, which also meant he had a means to fight it.
After creating the smoke cloud, Naruto also took the antidote to one of his own poisons. Without knowing the exact poison that Mai had used, Naruto knew he could not completely remove the effects of the toxin. But it would at least fight the poison and reduce its effects allowing him to continue fighting until he got a cure, although it would take several minutes for antidote to take effect, which was why he was distancing himself from Mai and her summonses.
Unfortunately before Naruto to get to a safer location, he came under attack from Mai, who seemed to move at almost lightning-like speed underwater.
Naruto of course tried his best to resist, but even without the effects of the poison, his movements were much too slow underwater to even connect with Mai, who was running circles around him.
Knowing he stood no chance of beating Mai underwater, Naruto tried to swim to the surface, but was stopped by the elder girl, who kicked him hard in the face, forcing him further back down.
Once he had recovered from the kick, Naruto attempted to confuse Mai with some Shadow Clones. But when he tried to create the clones, the Jutsu failed and the only thing he managed to create was a small explosion of bubbles around him. "Shit, even with the antidote reducing the effects of the toxin, my Chakra control is still shot, I need more time for it to take effect."
Just when Naruto thought things couldn't get any worse, Mai's two summonses Squall and Kaen appeared and began attacking him, moving the same high speed as Mai.
After moving to avoid Squall's large mouth, (when the large summons attempted to swallow him whole), Naruto made another attempted to reach the surface. But was forced back down by Kaen, where the large summons appeared directly over him, and swung his tail at him.
Shortly after, Mai then appeared in front of him and punched him hard in the stomach, causing Naruto to lose most of his remaining oxygen.
"Damnit, I'm going to lose if I don't do something quick, but how can I fight back when I still can't use my Chakra? I haven't refilled my Chakra storage seals yet."
At that moment, while trying to figure out what he could do, Naruto suddenly heard a familiar voice chuckling from the back of his mind
"Hehehehe, you really are a pitiful creature you know that? Losing to that female like this."
"Kyuubi?!" asked Naruto, recognizing the voice, where he then found himself in the same underground room as before, with the Kyuubi's prison in front of him.
"Who else would it be?" replied the Demon Fox, where his glowing Red eyes and massive mouth, (covered in Red Chakra), appeared before Naruto.
"What do you want? In case you haven't notice, I kind of busy."
"Yes, I can see, your allowing yourself to lose to this worthless female, who you already defeated before."
"Fuck you, you stupid fox, it's not like I'm losing on purpose…and in case you haven't notice I'm at a disadvantage with being underwater and my Chakra control is messed up."
Annoyed by Naruto's words, the Kyuubi began to growl a little, "Watch, your mouth brat, you should be more gratefully especially since am the reason your still alive, and I am about to help you…again."
"What's the catch?" Naruto asked, knowing that the Kyuubi only helped him when it was in his interest, like during in the invasion.
"There's no catch…at least not this time; the fact is I find this little match of your amusing, so I will help you this one time for free and supply you with a limited amount of my Chakra. After that you are on your own, so I suggest you use it wisely and not lose, I will not stand for my container to lose to a female."
Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, Naruto simply nodded and waited to accept the beast's Chakra, knowing exactly what he was going to use it for.
Upon waking back up in the real world, Naruto saw Mai moving toward him again at high speed, intending to finish their battle with one last strike.
With only one option left remaining to him, Naruto bit his right finger and started performing hand seals.
Recognising the hand set, Mai halted her advance, "This could be trouble!," and started to swim away, while signalling her summons to do the same, having an idea of what Naruto was about to do.
-Enter Naruto Shippuuden OST My Name-
When Naruto finished the hand seals, he brought his right hand up and thought "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" creating a massive explosion of bubbles.
Back at the fort, Tsunade, Hanzo and other members of their respected groups watched as a massive explosion erupted in the lake where a gigantic figure emerged from it, causing lake Water to rain down on top.
"What the…?!" cried Kandachi not understanding what was happening, as he covered his face from the falling Water.
He of course was not the only one as both Hanzo and his daughter Amaya looked equally surprised and confused by what was happening.
"Damn kid, you're really holding back nothing this time" Jiraiya silently chuckled, when he got a clear look of the massive figure, revealing that Naruto had summoned Gamabunta.
Tsunade and Kushina on the other hand just grinned at one another, since once again Naruto had turned the tables.
"Impossible…" a shocked Amaya thought when she saw Gamabunta, "Just how much Chakra does that kid have?!"
Recognising the massive Toad Boss, from when he fought the Sannin, the aged leader of Ame frowned. After returning to Ame, Mai had told him everything that had happened during the exam and the invasion, including the story of Naruto being able to summon both the Toad Boss Gamabunta and the Slug Queen Katsuyu.
When Hanzo first heard this, he had naturally been sceptical of that part of the story and chalked it up to the people over exaggerating the boy's abilities. Given how it was unheard of for someone Naruto's age to summon such massive summons, let alone two of them. But upon seeing the massive summons with his own eyes, he quickly realized just how wrong he had been.
"So the stories Mai told were true after all, he really can summon Gamabunta, and if that the case, then it's likely that the rumour of him being able to summon Katsuyu are also true…he's more dangerous than I feared."
-With the Rebel Ame-
"What is that thing?" asked one of the Ame-nins staring at the massive Toad summons that was towering over them.
"I don't believe it, if I'm not mistaken, that's one of Jiraiya-sama Toad summons" the leader replied, sweating a little, as he was just shocked as the rest of his company were.
"But how can a kid like him summon something that huge, it's crazy!" said another Ame Shinobi.
"I don't know, but the boy was trained by two members of the Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three Ninja), and is the first person to be born with Mokuton. The same Bloodline limit of the Legendary Shodai Hokage, we shouldn't be surprised by anything he does."
-With Naruto and Mai-
After being summoned, the Toad Boss Gamabunta took a look around of his surroundings before looking up at Naruto, who looked to be fairly worn out after using the Kyuubi's Chakra, and realized that Naruto had summoned him again.
"Naruto! Why have you summoned me here?!" demanded the Toad Boss.
Before Naruto could answer the massive Toad, Mai and her two summonses appeared out from underneath the Water. She then ordered Kaen and Squall to fire their respected attacks together, combining their two attacks together into a massive superheated Water blast that she enhanced using her fan, which she recovered earlier on in the fight.
Seeing the attack, the large Toad quickly sidestepped the attack to avoid it. After which Naruto spoke, "I'll explain what's going on later Boss Toad, I promise, but right now, I really need you to help me out here?"
"Fine!" grunted the large Toad, accepting Naruto's answer for now, but before he could say anything more. He was forced to jump high up into the air after Mai and her summons fired another combination attack.
After landing back on the lake, causing another massive shower of Water to fall on the spectators, Gamabunta turned around and drew his short sword and swung it down at the two Salamanders.
Acting fast, the two Salamanders split apart from one another and attempted to attack the Toad Boss from opposite sides.
Realizing what they were doing, Gamabunta moved forward to avoid the Fire and Water attacks and then spun around with his sword in an attempt to cut them both in half with one massive swing. But by the time he spun around, the two creatures had already retreated back into the Water again with their master.
For the next few minutes the battle continued like this, where the three summons battle for superiority. Although Gamabunta was superior in size and power, the two Salamanders made up for this by using their smaller size to their advantage. Using their superior speed to avoid Gamabunta's attacks and manoeuvre around him, allowing them to attack him from multiple different directions, while at the same time combining their attacks, making them more powerful.
"Damnit this is getting us nowhere, I need to get out of this lake" Gamabunta mutter as he jumped high up into the air and out of the lake, landing on the surrounding forestry, narrowly avoiding the Rebel Shinobi, whom he was unaware of.
"Naruto, I'm going to need your help with this!" Gamabunta shouted, before he formed a single hand seal and thought "Gamayudan (Toad Oil Bullet)!" spitting out a huge mass of oil which quickly covered much of the lake Water.
"Right!" shouted Naruto where he then took out an exploding note and tossed it into the oil and activated it, causing the oil to ignite.
"Shit!" cursed Mai when she saw the oil covering the surface of the lake where she and Squall were force to dive back underwater to avoid the oil and the flames, which enveloped much of the Water's surface, turning it into a lake of Fire.
Her other summon Kaen however was caught in the oil, and due to its sticky texture was unable to go underwater in time to avoid the flames when they ignited the oil. But just when Gamabunta and Naruto thought they had dealt with one of the Salamanders, a sudden massive blast of Fire erupted from the flaming lake, nearly hitting Gamabunta square in the face.
Upon closer inspection of the flames, the two saw Kaen standing in the middle of the burning inferno, unharmed by the flames. Revealing that due to his nature as a Fire Salamander, Kaen was resistant to Fire attacks. But before Gamabunta or Naruto could do anything about it, the red Salamander went right back underneath the Water.
Shortly after the Fire died down, Kaen reappeared with Mai and Squall, where the red Slamander unleashed another powerful blast of Fire, which Mai enhanced using her Kyōfuu technique, igniting parts of the forest in flames as it flew towards the Toad Boss and Naruto.
Jumping once again into the air, Gamabunta formed a signal hand seal and used Teppōdama (Gunshot) to fire a massive condensed ball of Water from his mouth, extinguishing the forest flames, while at the same time destroying a large number of trees in the process, thanks to the force of the attack.
At the same time, the Rebel Shinobi were moving around through the forestry, trying desperately not to be caught in the crossfire of the three summons, while at the same time remaining hidden.
"This is insane!" yelled one Ame-nin, "What kind of battle is this? They're changing the entire landscape."
"Those kids aren't normal" shouted another Ame Shinobi. "They're monsters!"
"What do you expect…!" said an Ame Kunoichi, "They're the offspring of monsters!"
"Enough all of you" cried the company leader, "We need to get out of here now otherwise we'll be exposed, or worse be caught in their battle and be killed."
"But we can't go by the Northern Bridge, if we go that way we'll be seen and exposed, since the surrounding trees there have been destroyed thanks to that red Salamanders Fire attack, and the Eastern Bridge is right in the line of sight of Hanzo and the others" said one of the other Ame Shinobi.
"Then we'll go around the lake and take the Southern Bridge…" the company leader replied. "It may take longer, but it's safer at least. We can still sneak up on Hanzo and the others, and by the time they have realized what's going on, it will be too late."
Once everyone understood what they were to do, the Rebel Shinobi stealthy made their way around the fort, while making sure to not get caught up in the battle between Mai, Naruto and their summonses.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein