Kapitel 48: Chapter 048

Naruto fell back in shock, using his kunai to block a new series of wild attacks. The sword strikes came in even faster than before, forcing him to dodge more awkwardly and block at unexpected angles. Sparks flew as the katana tore up the ground beneath them from the blind fury of the assault, driving the jinchuriki further and further into the middle of the dam. Though Naruto took advantage of the samurai's anger by landing a few well-aimed kicks into his forward leg to throw him off and striking the body whenever he was open, he was quickly driven off by his enraged opponent.

Crow's anger was truly terrifying. Naruto tried misdirecting him with some flicker jabs at distance, but the sword cutting through the air at unexpected degrees kept the boy from landing them effectively.

There was absolutely no regard shown towards their surroundings, nor was there any concern shown towards his wellbeing.

Crow now had several kunai impaling him, but he wasn't stopping, not even for a moment.

"CRAP!" Naruto shouted when he tried to block a driving blow from the katana. Sparks flashed across his face as he skidded along the ground, trying to hold back the train plowing into him before the samurai pressuring his guard slammed a fist across his face. The jinchuriki was sent spiraling back at the force with blood flying from his mouth, before he was suddenly struck upwards by a blow from the sword. "GAH!" A quick flip through the air followed by a rough landing across the concrete was the jinchuriki's reward.

Clutching the scars bleeding out from his chest, Naruto looked up just in time to block another sword strike from above. The blow drove down on top of him as he attempted to hold it back and recover, his whole body shaking from the effort before he was kicked across the face again and sent crashing into the dam's railing for a second time.

However, instead of being allowed to fall against the wall, Naruto was suddenly picked up and plowed into it by Crow grabbing him by the neck and driving him straight through it. After mercilessly being pushed through several feet of solid wall that shattered like glass against him, Naruto soon found himself being held over the dam's lake on the other side.

The jinchuriki choked out blood as he was throttled by the vice-like grip around his neck, legs dangling uselessly over the side and hands clawing away at the sleeve. Vision blurring from the damage, the child looked towards the masked warrior holding him up, where he could see the anger through the shadow of his mask.

"I… c-can't breathe… damn it!" Naruto managed to squeeze out in his head, gasping desperately as the grip on him was tightened. He looked down towards the raging currents below, where he could see mass amounts of water still emptying itself into the lands beyond the barrier. "It can't end like this… no…" Shaking his head defiantly, Naruto struggled to glare back at Crow to see the menace draw his sword back in preparation to drive it through his stomach, to finish the fight once and for all. "Not here! Not to him! NO WAY!"

Despite the pain, the crushing vice and the hell waiting for him thousands of feet below, Naruto mustered a grin through bloody teeth before forming a familiar hand seal directly in front of his opponent's face.

He was having so much fun having his teeth kicked out of his mouth and bones broken that he almost forgot about the new jutsu he created.

"FOOLED YAH!" Naruto exclaimed before slapping his right against Crow's chest. "Jet Hand!"

The samurai looked a little surprised at the hand seal. But just before he could retaliate with his sword, the assassin was suddenly blasted back by what felt like a herd of charging rhinos running into him. Crow spiraled through the air at breakneck speed across the width of the dam before slamming into a concrete base. The tower of rock exploded in a shower of rubble and debris, choking the entire area with dust.

Naruto managed to latch onto the ledge of the railing Crow had been standing on once he'd freed himself and fell from the killer's grip. Panting heavily from the attempt, as soon as he was up on safe and solid ground, the boy glared up towards the spot his opponent had crashed and stopped mid-flight.

Sure he'd intended to send him packing in one go, but he didn't expect him to stop before he could even take off. Either way, this was great…

A chance was presented to him!

Throwing his right arm out, Naruto cocked back his wrist so that a familiar air tube was able to appear.

By the time the dust settled on the crash site Crow had managed to pull himself out of the pile of debris and back onto the dam's highway. Robes torn, katana missing and looking dazed beyond belief, the samurai attempted to reacquaint himself with his surroundings, only to see the boy he was fighting with charge at him across the way. The assassin was too slow to react to the next attack.

When it looked like the motion for shuriken being thrown just feet from him, a loud crack of air was heard instead before the samurai's vision was blinded by the horrifying sight of red, green and yellow. The warrior staggered backwards in shock when the entire upper portion of his body including his face was splattered with multi-colored paint, which only served as a distraction for Naruto to leap clear at him from in front and ram both his feet into his chest.

Crow staggered even further when Naruto landed against him, the boy driving another kunai straight into his neck and burying it deep to make sure it stuck. Knowing this wouldn't be enough, the blonde then reared his right fist back before slamming it straight into the widened gap of the mask on the individual's face. The gash he managed to land across the basket before helped serve this purpose.

"OPEN WIDE!" Naruto shouted, ripping his hand out just in time to avoid the explosion that followed.

The side of the samurai's cloaked face was blasted open by a shower of gold sparklers from a firework bomb being shoved right into his ugly mug. Though it should have served to piss the enemy off rather than cause any damage, the shrapnel and phosphorous laced with it did more than its fair share. Soon after the pellet detonated, the samurai started screaming out in agony as his face was pretty much melted inside his straw veil.

Naruto sat astride the man's chest as the samurai clawed at his searing face and staggered towards the edge, thrashing about like a mad bull… until the boy realized where they were actually walking, which pretty much had the jinchuriki flip out in panic.

"OH CRAP!" the blonde shouted, at the exact same time another massive tremor rocked the dam they were on as the final causeways for the water were blasted out.

Torrents and torrents of water continued to be let out of the lake, which battered the support beams and whatever sections of Gato's great dam remained. This basically meant the entire structure shook from bottom to top, which resulted in a lot of unintended portions being chipped away. In this particular case: the section Naruto and his opponent were standing on.

Before the jinchuriki could leap clear, the ground beneath the staggering samurai gave way, which meant both of them began to fall over the side. Naruto yelped in shock as they started to cascade with the section of concrete, gravity working its magic and dragging them into the hell of rapids beneath them.

But of course, being known to think well on his feet, just as they were both beginning to plummet, Naruto managed to throw his right arm up and procured the hook from his gauntlet. With it, at the very last second available, he caught onto the jagged edge of the dam that had allowed them to fall and remain fixed to its host, biting hard and holding as other chunks of the monstrosity fell away.

Good thing he managed to grab onto a steel frame.

Just as it seemed the worst was over and he was beginning to breathe easy, Naruto suddenly felt a violent tug on his body and he glared down. There, dangling from his right leg, the boy saw Crow hanging from him and glaring up at him through the smoke lifting off of his messed up face.