章 1446: 37
Naruto: Shifts in Life
Chapter 37: Battle of Youki and Crystal
The three Suna shinobi plus one Konoha shinobi had just passed the borders of Suna and were now traveling through one of the Forests located within Hi No Kuni. As they did the Sabaku siblings were forced to listen to Naruto swear enough that any sailor would have likely died of a heart attack, "That goddamn, motherfucking teme! What the hell does he think he's doing! Did he even fucking think about what would happen if he went to some mother fucking pedo-douche bag like that damn snake and his cock muppet Kabuto! When I get my hands on that shit, I swear by Kami as my fucking witness I'm going to kick his little punk ass from here to Iwa!"
"Naruto, you have been ranting and swearing for nearly four hours, might I suggest you stop and focus on the mission," Gaara suggested in the same monotone voice he always used, not in the least bit affected by the blonde's foul temper and mouth. Unlike the other two who were actually beginning to get a bit disturbed by not only the vulgarity he was spouting but the imagination in some of the ways Naruto planned on torturing Sasuke if they got up to him.
Naruto grunted a bit before acknowledging Gaara's words, "Sorry, I'm just so pissed off that Sasuke-teme would actually do something like this."
"Maybe he didn't," Temari suggested, "He could have been kidnapped."
"Doubtful," Naruto frowned in thought, "while not as secure as it once was Konoha's security was still pretty tight before I left. Sasuke-teme is fairly strong, it would have taken a lot of effort to kidnap him and someone would have been bound to notice the kind of chakra emissions necessary to fight on his level." The whiskered blond shook his head, "No I have a feeling that he left of his own accord. Sasuke has always been power hungry, he wants enough power to destroy his brother Itachi and he doesn't seem to care how he gets it."
He didn't add that Sasuke had likely felt threatened and jealous of Naruto's own increase in ability and power. While the blond shinobi had not seen much of his old team since he was promoted to Chunin, he had spotted them in passing and whenever he was near, Sasuke had given him some of the most hateful glares he had ever seen. Not only that but he had noticed that Sasuke had taken to following him when he had gone out to train, and Naruto had been forced to lose him many times, knowing that the raven haired Genin was likely trying to spy on his training method in order to gain whatever strength Naruto had for himself.
"So you think that this Sasuke kid is actually betraying your village for an S-class traitor who really shouldn't be trusted, given his history of betraying people, for power?" asked Kankuro, who gave a rather constipated looking expression when Naruto nodded. "How stupid can one kid get? He doesn't honestly think Orochimaru will grant him power does he?"
"Obviously he does." Naruto said.
"Quiet you too; I sense several presences up ahead." Gaara warned.
"How many and where are they?" asked Naruto.
Gaara shook his head, "I can't tell. I can only sense the presences vaguely."
'Naruto-kun, if you channel youki to your eyes you should be able to see them.'
'Really?' Naruto asked Kyuubi as she made herself known.
'Yes, it is a unique ability when becoming half - since you've become what you are.' She and Naruto had stopped using the term demon and half demon to describe each other, since Kyuubi was actually just a mass of extremely powerful and inhuman chakra, not a demon. Or at least, Kyuubi didn't consider herself to be a demon. According to her, the term demon is what humans use to place a label on beings that were beyond their power and understanding. It was a name made in ignorance, one that she only used because she did not give herself a label, and had been using terms in order to speak down to Naruto's level. As for Naruto, well, he didn't know what he was, but since Kyuubi didn't consider herself a demon, he wasn't sure if he should call himself a half demon. He just knew that he wasn't fully human anymore. 'Since at least half of your energy comes from nature, you should have gained the ability to sense and see chakra.'
Naruto began channeling youki through his eyes, unaware that they were changing from their original blue, to a royal and deep amethyst color, much like how they were when he transformed into his demon form. Though the others did notice and were slightly freaked out by it, minus Gaara who just raised his eyebrows.
"Dude, what the hell is up with your eyes?" asked Kankuro.
Naruto blinked as he looked over at him, "What? Is something wrong with them?"
"They're purple Naruto-kun," Temari said, "and they look a lot like fox eyes."
"Ah, don't worry about that, it's just an ability I have thanks to Kyuubi-chan," Naruto said. He turned his attention back to where the presences were detected. He saw what he guessed were people outlined in small blue dots that were slowly but steadily getting larger the closer they got. Two of those dots had a sickly purple color mixing in them. "I see seven figures up ahead. Four of them are on our right, close to where if my memory serves is the entrance to the Valley of the End. The other three are to the left, at least several miles away."
'Hey, Kyuubi-chan, is this like some kind of dojutsu?'
'No, that's not a dojutsu. It's just a basic ability I have that I passed on to you. You won't be able to copy moves like the Sharingan, or gain three-hundred-sixty degree X-ray vision like the Byakugan, just the basic ability to see chakra. Because I am just a mass of chakra I am more in tune with the world around me than humans are. Seeing as how you are more or less half of what I am, you have some of my lesser abilities.'
'Ah...still a useful skill to have though.'
'Indeed.'
"Gaara, I want you to go and assist whoever is to the left. I would send the others but I think you're enough to help whoever is there and these two would probably just get in the way of your more destructive techniques." Naruto saw Gaara nod his head before using his sand to float away and towards the area his friend had given.
Naruto then turned back to the others, "We're going in hard, so keep your guard up. I'll be going in first since, no offense, I'm stronger than both of you. While I engage the enemy I want you to assess the situation and if our comrades are wounded, render first aid to them. Depending on how injured some of them are, one of you may need to escort them to Konoha."
"Hai," the two said in unison, causing Naruto to smile before they increased their pace.
Things were not going well for one Nara Shikamaru, or the ninja he had selected for this troublesome mission. From the moment he had been given his orders to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke before he could make his way to Orochimaru, he had known that the mission would not end well. And his theory was proven right, for as soon as they had caught up with the people who had likely kidnapped Sasuke they had been attacked by this weird kid who was able to use his bones as a weapon.
Both Neji and Rock Lee had stayed behind in order to deal with the bone user; however, since they had not caught up Shikamaru was assuming the worst possible scenario.
To make matters worse, the moment they arrived in this clearing they had been assaulted by a woman who could use some weird crystal jutsus to attack. So far they had no luck in retrieving Sasuke, and the Nara heir was almost positive that said Uchiha was already in Orochimaru's clutches. And even if he wasn't they still had to kill this woman, since she had set up some kind of crystal barrier that according to her would only break when she died or released the jutsu.
In other words the entire situation was troublesome.
He, Chouji and Kiba had been fighting this lady for nearly an hour now so far, they've had no luck in even landing so much as a scratch on the woman. Initially he and Chouji had tried to go with their standard strategy, he would trap her in his Kagemane no Jutsu and then Chouji would bulldoze the woman over.
Things had not gone as planned.
Instead the woman had managed to switch herself out with a Suisho Bunshin (Crystal Clone) and when Chouji smashed into it, he had gotten several dozen crystal shards stabbing into him for his troubles. He and Akamaru had been forced to defend the large Genin until Kiba had safely dragged him away since Chouji had already lost consciousness from blood loss by that time.
The three of them had then tried to use teamwork to beat her, but the woman had defeated everything they threw at her. Her crystal attacks had been able to beat back any attack that Kiba and his ninja dog made, and the one time he had been able to get in close, she had merely used a crystal shield to keep from receiving any damage. And now they were on their last rope.
Man, this is mission has gone beyond troublesome… Shikamaru thought. We haven't even been able to lay a hand on this woman, nothing seems to work, and I haven't even been able to come up with a plan to beat her. She's simply too good and powerful for anything we can do to work.
Shikamaru looked over when he heard a jutsu being called and found himself staring at a large, white, two headed wolf-dog. The thing had a baleful expression as it glared at the woman they had been fighting. Drool dripped down its two mouths, hitting the ground and hissing as it ate through the rock and dirt below, showing that it was highly acidic.
It was only a moment later before the large creature jumped into the air and began to spin, barreling towards the woman who merely smirked and went through a few hand seals.
"Shoton: Kouseki Yari (Crystal Release: Crystal spears)!" She slammed her hands onto the ground and several spears made of crystal shot out of the ground, heading straight towards the giant dog.
It was with great shock to the woman however, when the dog smashed through her crystals with relative ease and continued on its way down. She was soon forced to use a Kawarimi and replace herself with a log in order to escape the giant animal, and none too soon as the two headed dog crashed where she had just been, gouging out a huge chunk of earth and creating a large trench.
The creature stopped its spin as it stood at the end of the trench, growling as it began to sniff out the woman. Before it could find her however, a loud shout came from the left.
"Shoton: Kasui (Crystal Release: Spike)!" The giant dog had only enough time to jump to the left as a large, nearly fifty foot spike shot straight out of the ground. Even then, it was not fast enough to get away entirely unscathed. The giant dog howled in both anger and pain as a large gash appeared on its left hind leg from getting cut up against the spike.
"Kesshō: Kyodai Rokkaku Shuriken (Crystal: Giant Hexagonal Shuriken)!" As the voice shouted again, the large dog had just enough time to look over to the left, to see the woman shooting a giant shuriken made of crystal. The giant dog did not even have time to formulate a plan of action before the shuriken impaled it in the shoulder. Before it could even howl in pain, several more stabbed into its flesh, one going through its left shoulder, one through its right front leg, and another that managed to stab into its paw.
The large dog howled in agony before it was covered in a puff of smoke, and when the smoke cleared it revealed a bloody and beaten Kiba and Akamaru. The two looked like they had been through a meat grinder. Kiba aside from the large tears in his clothes and skin also had a large hole that went clear through his shoulder and a cut that ran along his left leg. By that same token Akamaru's fur was splattered with red from all the cuts he had received, and there was an increasingly large red spot that was continuing to expand from the hole that the dog had suffered on his right front leg.
"Akamaru…" Kiba said weakly as he tried to move, only to find that he could not.
"This is pathetic," the woman said as she began to walk over to the pair. However before she could get close a large blast of white flames streaked towards her, forcing the woman to dodge.
Shikamaru turned to finally see a welcome sight as Naruto, Kankuro and Temari appeared with the latter two running towards him.
"Kitsune bi," Naruto said as he placed himself in front of Kiba, white flames burst from his body and surrounded his hands and forearms. "Sorry we're late, I would tell you I got lost on the road of life but then I would be lying."
The woman who was like all of Orochimaru's henchmen, dressed in the off white kimono that was held together by a purple bow, had dark blue hair and black eyes and looked to be two or three years older than Naruto. Guren narrowed her eyes as she looked at the whiskered blond.
"I recognize you," she glared at him, "Your name is Uzumaki Naruto, a B rank ninja who caught Orochimaru's attention during the Chunin Exams."
Naruto shivered, "Great, I've got some pedophiliac snake interested in me, that's really not something I need to hear."
Guren's eyes twitched but she did her best to ignore the blonds' last statement, "Orochimaru-sama said that if I were to ever see you that I was to kill you and bring your corpse to him so he could study it in the future."
"Sorry, but I have no interest in getting my corpse defiled by some pedophile like him," Naruto replied. "Now then, why don't you be a good girl and tell where Sasuke-teme is. If you do I might not hurt you."
The woman narrowed her eyes before smirking, "He's long gone by now, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he's already with Orochimaru-sama." I wouldn't be surprised if Orochimaru-sama has already possessed his body.
Naruto growled, "Fine, I guess I'll just have to kill you and then continue on to drag his ass back."
"You seem confident in yourself," the woman said.
"I have to be. After all, if I don't have confidence in myself then who else will?"
A Kage Bunshin phased into existence next to Naruto and rushed over to Kiba and Akamaru, lifting them as gently as possible and bringing them over to Temari and the others, "Now that they're out of the way, it's time to get started."
As the battle between Naruto and the crystal user began, the Kage Bunshin Naruto set Kiba and Akamaru down before unrolling a scroll that the original had given to him. "Temari, I need you to help me wrap these two up. Do you know basic field medical practices?"
"Of course," Temari said as she kneeled next to him and began to help patch the two up as best she could.
"Shikamaru," Said Genin looked at the Naruto clone who was still working on cleaning Kiba's wound, "I need you to tell me everything you know about this woman the boss is fighting."
Shikamaru sighed, "It's troublesome but I don't have much information to give you. All I can tell you are that her abilities seem to be based on Crystal based jutsu; I believe it is some kind of bloodline, since I have never heard of Shoton jutsu before. Her abilities are also far beyond myself and the others, as you can see we haven't even been able to lay a hand on her. I would assume her skills to be high level Jonin, she's probably around Kakashi's level if not better."
Naruto swore, "Damn…if she's that strong then I'm not entirely sure if I can beat her." Another clone phased into existence before dispelling, sending the information he had learned to the original. "All we can do now is patch up your team as best we can and get them back to the village."
(Half an Hour Earlier…)
Neji and Lee watched as odd black markings began to spread across Kimimaro's body. When the mission had started this man was the first one they had run into, and having read the reports about this particular ninja's strength from the battle others had seen when he had been fighting against the Nibi Jinchuuriki, the two had decided to stay and fight him off while the others went on ahead.
That was nearly two hours ago and both Neji and Lee were near exhaustion. Kimimaro was a taijutsu specialist much like them; however it was clear that he was superior to them. While the battle had started off simple enough, with the two Konoha ninja trading blows with the Oto shinobi, it had only lasted until Kimimaro felt he had learned all he needed to.
Since then, the pale skinned ninja had seemingly turned up the heat and all of his physical attributes had gained a significant increase in both speed and strength. Neji and Lee had done their best to fend off the attacks, and in many cases had managed to give it as good as they had. But no matter how much damage he received, Kimimaro would just get right back up thanks to his bloodline. His bones seemed to protect him, and not even Neji's famed Jyuuken seemed capable of breaking through them.
And now it looked like the fight was about to be picked up even more.
"You two are fairly talented for trash," Kimimaro said, though Neji was unsure whether to call it a compliment or not. "To force me to use my cursed seal is no small feat; however, this is where it ends."
Kimimaro rushed forward, his speed surpassing what it had been by a good margin. In retaliation Lee shot off and clashed with the pale ninja, using his speed to dodge many of the attacks that were coming for him. The bowl cut Genin managed to duck under a swipe from the Oto ninja's odd bone sword, before planting a hand on the ground and launching a kick towards the bone user.
However, Kimimaro was much quicker now and was able to back pedal and dodge the attack rather easily. He was about to move back in when Neji appeared on his left, aiming several jabs at the tenketsu on the left side of his torso. Before the Kaguya had activated his cursed seal, those attacks would have hit. They would not have done anything more than stung, but they would have at least hit him.
Instead of hitting Kimimaro, the attacks flew past him as he dodged to the right by rolling along the ground. He came up and aimed a slash at Neji, one that the Konoha Genin saw coming thanks to his Byakugan, but due to the speed of the attack was unable to dodge all the way, and ended up being spun around as he received a slash on his left arm.
As Neji hit the ground, Kimimaro advanced on him to end the Hyuuga's life. Fortunately for Neji, Rock Lee managed to engage the pale ninja before said ninja could reach him. Lee launched a powerful kick at Kimimaro, one which was dodged by bending backwards and letting it pass over. Rather than be deterred by this, the taijutsu specialized spun on a heel and lashed out with a low kick. This one did manage to connect but Kimimaro merely rolled on his back and kipped back up on his feet. The moment he did Lee was there and managed to kick him in the chest, however several factors prevented it from doing much, if any damage.
The first was that thanks to his bloodline, Kimimaro's bones could be made to be so dense that the weight prevented Lee's attack from moving him more than a couple of inches back. Two Lee was beginning to tire after two hours of battle and another twenty four of running to catch up with Kimimaro and the other Oto ninja. And three, Kimimaro's ribs were protruding from his chest, and had caught the Genin's foot in them as well as stopping it from actually connecting with his body.
Kimimaro looked at the bow cut Genin with a dull expression, "Karamatsu No Mai," he exclaimed in a dead tone.
Lee did not even have time to curse his misfortune, not that he would do such an un-youthful thing, as Kimimaro spun his body around and used his momentum to dislocate Lee's ankle and send him flying back towards Neji.
"You alright, Lee?" asked Neji as said Genin landed next to him with a thud.
"I am fine Neji-san," Lee grimaced as he tried to move his dislocated leg, only to be rewarded with stinging pain. "But I seem to be diminishing in youth."
Were it not for the seriousness of their situation Neji would have rolled his eyes. Even in the face of death, all Lee thinks about is being youthful.
"I commend you two on lasting this long," Kimimaro walked towards them, "As a reward, I will ensure that your deaths are as painless as possible."
"Tsubaki no Mai" Kimimaro called out, as he began the first dance in his repertoire to take care of the pesky shinobi that had been fighting him.
Only to be stopped as a large amount of sand attempted to latch onto him.
"It looks like you two could use some help," A voice spoke up behind them.
Turning, Lee and Neji saw Gaara standing on a pile of sand that was floating several feet off the ground, his arms crossed and a typical blank expression on his face.
"You are Gaara correct?" asked Neji as he drudged up the memory of the boy from the Chunin Exams.
"That is correct," Gaara answered, turning to face the two leaf shinobi, "I along with my two siblings and Naruto were ordered to come here and help you."
"So Naruto-kun is here as well," Lee grinned, "what a most youthful comrade to be helping us despite not having even been in the village!"
Gaara looked at Lee with a raised eyebrow, before turning to the Kaguya. "Since you two seem to be exhausted, I will take care of him," As he spoke, sand came up from under the two and floated them off the ground, taking them away from where the battle would happen so he could use his more destructive techniques.
"You think you can defeat me Suna trash?" asked Kimimaro as he yanked his bone blade towards him, when the sand dispersed back towards Gaara. "I will show you the error of your ways."
"We shall see," Gaara replied in his monotone voice.
"Kesshō: Rokkaku Shuriken: Ranbu (Crystal: Hexagonal Shuriken: Wild Dance)!"
Several dozen shuriken made of crystals shot towards Naruto, who brought his fists to his side and began to channel wind chakra into them. A second later he thrust them out, creating two powerful tornados that shattered the crystal projectiles like they were glass.
A second later Naruto was speeding off to the left, his form blurring as he used his immense speed to dodge several spikes that shot out of the ground when the woman he was fighting cried out, "Shoton: Kasui (Crystal Spike)!" As he moved he flicked one of his wrists, launching several shuriken of his own, and then began doing one handed seals with the other hand.
"Shuriken Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Several shuriken became several dozen, and all of them sailed towards the woman. However Naruto was far from finished as he thrust out his other hand palm first, unleashing a gust of wind that increased the speed at which the projectiles were going.
However, the crystal user was far from surprised or even worried as she went through a set of hand seals far faster than Naruto could do, slamming her hands into the ground when she finished.
"Shoton: Kabe No Kesshou (Crystal Release: Wall of Crystals)!" A large crystal wall shot out of the ground, blocking the shuriken. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he noticed that, even with their enhanced speed, the shuriken didn't even make a scratch on the crystal wall.
"You know that's a pretty powerful ability you have," Naruto commented lightly, "I assume you have some kind of bloodline?"
"That's right," The woman smirked as her shield dispelled, "It's called Shoton, and with it I can combine earth, and lightning to create crystals that are harder than diamonds. It's why I am one of Orochimaru-sama's most powerful ninja."
"Huh, I'm rather surprised he's taken such an interest in you," The whiskered blond commented lightly. "I mean, we all know Oro-teme has a thing for little boys. I guess that's why Kabu-teme is his right hand man and not you; you simply can't play hide the snake in the trousers with him."
The woman gritted her teeth as she began speeding through seals. "How dare you insult Orochimaru-sama? Take this! Shoton: Assai Chuuseki (Crystal Release: Crushing Pillar)!"
Naruto's danger sense had him jumping back just as a larger pillar made of crystal slammed into the ground where he had previously been, generating such force that it sent earth up from the ground and unleashing a shockwave that knocked Naruto off balance.
The crystal user used the blonde's moment of distraction to launch another pillar at him, hoping to turn him into nothing more than a bloody stain on the ground. However, Naruto was able to use Kawarimi to escape at the last second, appearing on her left where he began to charge towards her.
Going through more hand seals the woman thrust out her hands, "Kesshō: Rokkaku Shuriken: Ranbu!"
Several dozen shuriken came at him again. Rather than break them to pieces, Naruto used the enhanced clarity and vision his eyes granted him to weave through the hailstorm of projectiles. Naruto smirked as he continued on, while his eyes were nowhere near the Sharingan's clarity, and did not allow him the ability to predict enemy movement, they did grant him extremely powerful vision and he did not suffer from tunnel vision when he was moving at extreme speeds.
As he closed the distance between him and the woman he reared his fist back, using his power over his Kitsune-bi to engulf said appendage in white flames. "
"Kitsune-bi!" Naruto launched his fist forward, unleashing the powerful white flames upon the woman. The fire blasted from Naruto's fist in what looked like a funnel that expanded the farther from his fist the fire got. When the attack ended the Konoha and Suna ninja were witness to the sight of a large glassed trench, the heat from Naruto's attack having been so high that it had literally turned the ground into glass.
Naruto narrowed his eyes as he looked at the area, knowing that this woman was far too skilled to actually be hit by such an attack. His caution paid off as he felt a slight shift in the air behind, making him duck and roll forward as a crystal blade slashed through where he had been.
Kipping back up on his feet the whiskered blond spun around and saw the woman he was fighting, looking no worse than she had before he launched his attack, not even singed. He also noticed that her wrists had crystallized blades attached to them, no doubt what she had just attacked him with.
"Shōton: Tsuiin Suishō Tō (Crystal Release: Twin Crystal Blades)," The woman stated as she saw the blond eyeing her crystal covered hands.
Naruto smirked as he flicked his left hand and unsealed his katana, "I suppose if you're going to use some form of blades, I should as well. After all, one good turn deserves another."
Getting into a basic stance that Tenten had taught him, the whiskered blond waited to see if his opponent would make the first move. She did, blasting towards him at speeds that rivaled if not surpassed his own.
She's definitely of a higher level than the average Jonin, Naruto thought to himself as the woman came closer. She sent out a slash with her right blade, aiming at his neck and forcing him block the attack. She smirked, her second blade coming to bear from the other side as the whisker marked blond was forced to jump back since his blade had been occupied by the one on her other wrist.
The woman followed him, launching several quick thrusting motions that Naruto was forced to dodge and deflect with his own weapon. The attacks were quick and came one after the other, meaning Naruto had to be careful not to get his blade locked with one of hers since doing so would allow the woman to bring her other blade to bear.
This seemed to go on for a few minutes as Naruto tried to find a weakness in the woman's attacks, and was surprised when he found none. He blocked another attack, using his superior physical strength to push her back. However the woman merely used the momentum his push granted her to spin around and come in with her other blade. Unfortunately Naruto was too slow to block or dodge the attack and ended up getting a cut on his left arm, though it was thankfully not a deep wound.
"Looks like first blood goes to me," the woman said with a satisfied smile.
"So it does," Naruto replied, not at all bothered the blood on his arm since the wound had already healed up nicely. "Though do not think such a small wound means anything."
Naruto charged in, deciding that letting this woman go on the offensive was a bad idea. He came in with a horizontal slash from the left, one which his enemy easily blocked. Pushing off her Naruto spun around and came in with an upwards slash from the other side. His opponent jumped back to avoid it, but her eyes widened when she saw a thin green blade of wind coming at her.
She held up her arms in a cross guard and covered them in crystal, letting them take the brunt of the attack. It was a good thing for her that she did as the wind blade managed to cut a decent sized chunk out of her crystal and would have no doubt taken her arm off had she not reinforced them.
Bringing her arms down the woman was just in time to see Naruto in front of her, coming in with a powerful lunge that would impale her in the chest. However like all powerful ninja she was able to dodge the attack, twisting her body to the side and using one of her blades to redirect the attack, even though it was nearly at point blank. At the same time she used her other bladed hand to lash out at the blond, cutting into his side before he could regain his balance.
Naruto hissed in pain as he tumbled forward before using his momentum to roll along the ground, coming up on his feet. The moment he did however, the blond was forced to spin and bring his blade up to block an attack from the crystal user. Already knowing she would come at him with her other blade; Naruto pushed her away and dodged to the left. He came at her again, swing his blade in a horizontal arch, one that his opponent blocked but due to the angle and force caused her to stumble backwards and become slightly off balance.
Using this opportunity Naruto slashed at her again, enhancing his blade with wind chakra to slice through her. Only for the figure he had sliced through to turn into crystal as it split in half down the center. A Suisho Bunshin!
"Shoton: Kasui!" the moment Naruto heard the jutsu announced he made liberal use of the Shunshin to dodge the incoming crystal spears, which impaled the ground he had been on just moments after he had vacated it.
Turning Naruto found the woman a little ways away, already going through another set of hand seals. "Shoton: Assai Chuuseki!" Another large crystal pillar slammed into the spot he was located on, crushing the area and creating a crater, as well as generating a powerful shockwave as spider web cracks spread out from the center of impact.
"It looks like that got him," The woman said with a smirk.
"Not quite!"
Her eyes widened as several hands burst from the ground and grabbed onto her feet and ankles. Right in front of her Naruto burst up from the ground, a spinning orb of purple youki in his hands.
"Rasengan!" He thrust the orb of violent energy forward, slamming it into the woman's chest. However rather than drill into flesh, blood and bones like normal, the woman shattered into crystalline fragments.
"Damn it!" Naruto growled, he was really beginning to hate those clones. He would have wondered if this was what it felt like for people to battle him when he heard Guren's voice call out another jutsu.
"Shoton: Shakou Okuchou Nemi No Kujo (Darkened Masses, Wave of Destruction)!"
As the jutsu was called a shadow came over Naruto, making him look up to see what appeared to be a wave of crystal bearing down on him. "Kami I hate my life."
Kimimaro was forced to dodge several more sand spears that Gaara had launched his way, weaving between them as he tried to close the distance between him and his enemy. However as soon as he passed through the spears, a large pillar of sand smashed into where he was standing. Or where he had been standing, since the moment he had seen the sand pillar rushing towards he had dodged to the left.
As he came in closer Kimimaro let loose with his sword, lashing at Gaara and making the blade elongate to compensate for the fact that he was not close enough to hit the red head with a standard attack. Before it could get too far, sand shot up from the ground and latched onto it, ceasing its forward movement.
Holding out a hand, Gaara made a 'come here' motion, and in response the sand yanked on the blade, making Kimimaro fly towards him. The Ichibi Jinchuuriki made several more motions with his other hand and caused a wave of sand to slam into the bone user, sending him flying back and skidding along the ground as the sand rend into his flesh.
However that did not deter Kimimaro, who unleashed a sword slash powerful enough to create a shockwave and disperse the sand. As the Kaguya stood up, Gaara could see that his attack had done a lot of damage, rending the flesh off of Kimimaro's face and body. It also revealed that his attack had not been able to penetrate the older teen's bones, which looked almost like armor underneath all of his skin.
"That attack was most impressive, had it been anyone else, I am sure they would have died," Kimimaro stated. "However, an attack like that will not work on me, my bones are so dense that they are harder then steel and weak attacks like what you just used will not work on me."
"Then I suppose I will have to try something more powerful," Gaara proclaimed, his voice not giving away any of his feelings. The red head raised his arms and sent out a powerful wave of sand, one which Kimimaro attempted to dodge. He succeeded but it was a hollow victory, as the moment he did another wave was in front of him, and this one managed to latch onto him.
The sand began to wrap around Kimimaro's form, and no matter how hard he struggled he could not seem to break free. Soon enough even his head was covered up as the sand became a cocoon.
"Sabaku Kyū." Gaara made a clenching motion with his left hand, causing the sand to clench and squeeze, crushing the pale skinned bone user and sending blood flying out of the sand.
Gaara frowned as, rather than feeling the satisfaction he normally got when crushing an opponent with his sand, he felt resistance from the inside. Before he could wonder about what it meant the sand cocoon burst, scattering away in all directions. When it cleared it showed Kimimaro, who had taken on a dinosaur-like appearance complete with a tail. Several large bones also protrude from his now darkened brownish-maroon skin.
"That was impressive," Kimimaro said, his voice not belying the pain he was in. "Very impressive, it seems that I will need more effort to beat you."
Gaara grunted, "And I'll need more sand to crush you."
Guren panted a bit, before regaining her breath as she stood. She looked at the mass of crystallized landscape that her jutsu had caused; it almost looked like a sandy beach, were it not for the fact that A, there was no water and B, the sand was actually thousands of light pink crystals.
"Damn," she cursed as she looked at the clearing, "I forgot Orochimaru-sama wanted his corpse for study."
"Didn't I tell you I have no desire to let that pedophile touch me?" A voice spoke up behind her. Guren's eyes widened as she spun around and they landed on Naruto, though he was not looking as good as he had when the fight started. His whole left arm was bleeding rather profusely; it looked to have been skinned by a hack-saw, if such a thing were possible.
Though that did little to change the fact that the blond brat was still standing defiantly in front of her.
"How did you survive that?" Guren growled in frustration, "That was one of my most powerful jutsu! There is no way you could have survived!"
Naruto clasped his hands in a prayer sign and gave a small bow. "I myself was wondering how I would get out of such a predicament. However then I remembered that if one always holds faithful to it, the good log will provide. And low and behold, as those thoughts came to me I felt the blessed pull as the log answered my plight."
Guren stared at Naruto for a full five minutes as if trying to figure out what the hell the blond male just said, and if he was on any kind of drugs. Finally she replied, "You mean you used Kawarimi right?" Somehow she felt the need to clarify.
"Isn't that what I just said?" asked Naruto, a little irritated that she had actually had to ask something that he felt was stupid. How else could he have escaped the evil crystal wave of doom? Hiraishin?
Guren felt her eyebrows twitch. "No, you made some kind of shitty convoluted speech about logs!"
"Exactly," Naruto replied.
The crystal user growled before speeding through hand seals, "I'm tired of dealing with you; you've been an annoying little flea ever since this battle started! Shoton: Suisho Mori (Crystal Release: Crystal Lance)!" A rather large amount of crystal coalesced around Guren's right arm, forming a large and deadly looking lance. Once the technique was complete she rushed towards Naruto, intent on ending the blonde's life.
"Something tells me a normal katana won't be enough for this," Naruto murmured as he pulled out a scroll. Unrolling the scroll Naruto bit his thumb and smeared some blood along its length, there was a puff of smoke as Guren reared her lanced arm back. She thrust it forward, intent impaling the blond, only to be met with a loud clang.
When the smoke cleared Guren gaped as she saw a rather large cleaving sword blocking her lance.
Naruto chuckled as he saw her expression, "I'd like you to meet Kubikirihoucho." pulling the sword back Naruto grunted as he gave the sword a ferocious swing. Guren jumped back as the large blade passed through where she had been, she could feel the air currents moving as the sword sliced through her previous spot with a loud 'Woosh!'
Thinking that the blond would need time before he could bring such a large sword to bear on her again, Guren came in fast and hard. It was to her great surprise that the large cleaver was there to stop her a second time, coming in from the left and forcing her back.
"Looks like I finally found something I'm better at than you," Naruto grinned as he sent several slashes that were actually very fast considering the size of the sword he was using.
"Don't get cocky!" Guren shouted as she attempted to cut one of his arms, or at least a hand, off. Naruto however, let her arm lance hit the flat end of his sword as he smacked it away like a baseball, at the same time shattering the lance and getting a grunt of pain from Guren.
"Come on!" Naruto shouted as he sent several powerful slashes at her, created huge wind blades to launch themselves from the sword. Guren's eyes widened as she began to jump and dodge out of the way, out of the corner of her eyes she saw the huge gashes in the land that the blades had made. If one of those touched her, she would likely be done for.
Growling she realized that an up close competition against that sword would not end well for her, or at the very least take far too long to win against, Guren released her crystal lance and went through more hand seals so she could try a different approach.
"Shoton: Suisho Senbon (Crystal Release: Crystal Senbon)!" She called out the name of her jutsu before flicking her wrist and sending several dozen senbon needles at Naruto.
Said blond narrowed his eyes as he resealed Kubikirihoucho, and then channeled chakra into the seal on his left hand, creating a puff of smoke as he unsealed his Bo Staff. Naruto bent his legs slightly into one of the defensive stances as the senbon drew closer. When they finally got near him he began to do what many could almost consider a dance, as he spun around and twirled the staff so swiftly that the glint from the sun left a slight after image in its wake. Along with that he channeled wind chakra into his movements, increasing the quality of his defense as he destroyed all of the senbon coming at him.
When the senbon stopped coming Naruto was quick to reseal his staff and looked towards where Guren had been previously, only to see no one there. He narrowed his eyes and was already in motion as his opponent dropped from the sky, landing where he was with impressive force.
"I don't know how you expected such a useless tactic to work on me," Naruto said as he tried to rile his opponent up and get her angry enough to make a mistake. "I've seen better tactics from this one fan girl I know, and she ended up getting blown away literally."
However rather than get angry Guren smirked. "Oh you think so huh? Well then it's a good thing that wasn't all there was to my strategy wasn't it?"
Naruto's eyes widened as a pair of arms wrapped around his arms and chest, locking him in place and leaving him unable to use jutsu. Of course, he was capable of performing a seal less Kawarimi and was just in the process of doing that. However before he could Guren was right in front of him, a rather wicked looking set of crystallized knifes attached to her fore arms. Realizing he did not have the necessary amount of time to use his favorite escape jutsu, he did the only thing he could think of.
He twisted his body ever so slightly so that the attack that had been aimed at his heart merely stabbed into his left lung. Did it hurt worse than an Akimichi using his expansion jutsu and sitting on you? Yes, but at least Naruto was alive and despite the pain, able to react in time for Guren's next attack. As said woman came in with her other arm to finish the job, Naruto channeled some of his youki through two fingers in his left hand, forming a whip. With a quick flick of his wrist he was able to wrap the whip around Guren's leg.
After that three things happened near simultaneously. The first was Naruto smashed his right foot into the knee of what he now identified as a Suisho Bunshin, shattering the knee cap and dispelling the clone. The second thing to happen was him giving a hard yank on the whip, which led into the third thing that happened. Guren, who had not been expecting any kind of attack or retaliation, was yanked off her feet, making the crystal knife she had stabbed into Naruto come out of him rather abruptly, causing a large squirt of blood as she hit the ground hard.
Guren quickly rolled away from the blond shinobi before coming to her feet, and quickly crouching down in a defensive stance. It was largely unnecessary as Naruto was currently in no condition to fight, as evidenced by the fact that he was currently kneeling on the ground with one hand pressed to a rather large, gaping hole in his chest.
"I guess my tactic wasn't so bad if it got you huh?" Guren smirked as she decided to add dirt to his wound, "Or maybe you just suck."
Naruto chuckled a bit, even though it hurt just to breath. "Yeah…maybe, ugh, that'll at least teach me not to open my trap the next time I'm in combat."
'Kyuubi? Can you give me a damage assessment?' asked Naruto as he listened to Guren continue to insult him, knowing that it gave him time to come up with a counter plan.
'It's not as extensive as the damage that was done to you thanks to Gaara in the preliminaries,' Kyuubi started as she fed a small amount of her youki through the seal. 'But it's potentially deadlier, that crystal weapon of hers managed to pierce your lung. Were you still human that attack would have killed you already.'
Naruto grunted a bit, 'How long until it heals?'
There was a moment's pause, 'On its own about four hours. However I doubt that Guren woman you're fighting is going to give you the opportunity.' Naruto could almost feel the smirk on Kyuubi's face as she paused again, 'However that won't be a problem if you use my power. You won't be able to even use one tail due to how injured you are, but it will be more than enough for your wound to heal quickly.'
'Alright then, think you can give me some juice?'
'Of course.'
Naruto smirked as he felt Kyuubi's youki flow through his body, it was only about half a tail but it was an instant relief as he felt his wounds mending themselves. However his increase in power had not gone unnoticed, Guren had felt it too and had stopped her gloating to try and finish him off.
"Shōton: Omiwatari no Jutsu (Crystal Release: The Gods' Crossings Technique)!" A long stream of sharp crystal burst forward and to bind and impale Naruto, only for him to go up in a puff of smoke and a log to take his place.
"Fuuton: Kaze No Yaiba!" Guren rolled to the left as a wind blade passed through the spot she had been standing, leaving a large gouge in the earth. She spun around in time to see Naruto throw another wind blade at her, and was forced to dodge again.
This continued for some time as Naruto began making complicated attack patterns with the wind blades, hoping to coral Guren into a corner so to speak, so she would have nowhere to dodge. However the Shoton user was more than up to the task of dodging as she weaved through the storm of wind blades, jumping, rolling, spinning and flipping out of the way with a dancer's grace. After a few minutes Naruto was forced to stop as he cut through the Guren within his pattern and found out she was a Bunshin.
And just in time to, for almost a second after he had bisected the Suisho Bunshin, Guren appeared in his blind spot and attempted to impale him with a rather large lance. Naruto was fortunate to have already been on the move, rolling to the right as Guren struck out at where he had been.
The blond Konoha shinobi kipped back up on his feet and spun around, aiming his gauntlet at Guren and firing a kunai as well as a barrage of senbon for good measure. However, Guren was not to be outdone as she went through a set of hand seals and slammed her hands on the ground, "Shoton: Kabe No Kesshou!" A large wall came out and blocked the senbon and kunai from hitting her.
A few seconds later it came down, and Guren was forced into battle with three Naruto's who used a good combination of teamwork to try and take her down. Crystal knifes once again appeared on the crystal users forearms, even as she continued dodging strikes from the blonde's clones. Once they were fully formed she let one of the clones come in close and launch a punch at her. However she merely blocked it, using her forearm and more importantly, the knife on it. The clone's hand was split down the middle and before it could scream, it was dispelled.
The other two clones attempted to attack, however it was all wasted as she wove between them and lashed out with simultaneous strikes that took them both out. However the dispelling of his clones had given Naruto a decent smokescreen for cover, as he made liberal use of the Shunshin to appear right next to Guren and launch a kick to her mid-section.
While Guren was surprised by the sudden attack she had no intention of letting Naruto hit her, and jumped back while at the same time kicking out her own leg to knock his off course. The action caused Naruto to stumble off balance, giving the crystal user a chance to lash out with a fist that connected solidly with the blonde's jaw.
However rather than seeing her blade go through Naruto's face, the blond disappeared within a puff of smoke signifying it was a Kage Bunshin.
"Fuuton: Kamikaze Seiken!" the attack came from directly behind her and smashed into Guren, making the crystal user shatter into crystal.
"Shoton: Kasui!" Naruto swore as he jumped into the air, just in time to dodge the large spike that jutted up from the ground. He landed on the ground some feet away, panting from the amount of effort he had exerted to keep up with the purple haired woman.
Before either of them could attack again, the ground began to rumble. Both Naruto and Guren looked over to the left where a large amount of what looked like bones, but were far too large to be in Naruto's opinion, were jutting up from the ground.
"If Kimimaro's gone that far then whoever is over there must be good," Guren commented to herself, though Naruto heard every word. "However it also means whoever he is fighting is also dead."
Naruto chuckled, "I'll believe that when I see it, Gaara isn't just some half pound weakling who can be taken out just like that."
"We'll see," Guren replied as she began more hand seals. "In any event you've been enough of a thorn in Orochimaru-sama's side and it's time I got rid of you! Shoton: Omiwatari no Jutsu!"
Gaara stared at the now dead Kaguya Kimimaro, who had just been milliseconds away from killing him. A part of him could not believe he had come so close to dying, even in his battle with Naruto he had not been that close to death. The thought that he had just had a brush with death gave him chills. Not that he would allow it to affect his outward demeanor, he may not be a killing machine anymore but he still had a reputation to keep.
"Are you two alright?" He asked, looking at the two other genin he was floating in the air.
"I am alright, my most youthful comrade," Lee somehow managed to do the nice guy pose as he floated there. "Thank you for asking."
"I am fine," Neji said.
Gaara nodded as he began to float them a safe distance away from the bone forest that was now sticking up from the previous battlefield. "Then we should head to Konoha."
"What about our most youthful comrades that went on ahead?" asked Lee, not really comfortable leaving the people he had come within possible danger.
"Naruto is with them," Gaara said, "so they will be fine." He had confidence that his blond friend could handle anything that came his way.
((Separation Line))
'Naruto-kun, you need to end this battle soon,' said Kyuubi worriedly. 'Even with my youki you're almost out of juice.'
'I would love to end this fight, but as you can see this chick obviously doesn't,' Naruto replied tiredly as he dodged another spike of crystal. He looked at the woman who had sent it and was pleased to see she was looking just as exhausted as he was, with several cuts running along her clothes and skin, along with her heavy breathing and slightly slumped posture.
"Looks like neither of us really have the energy to do much," Naruto commented, trying to make her talk so he could gain a breather. He would be fine in a few minutes, but she was only human, so it would take her longer and he would eventually gain the advantage.
Guren scowled. "It seems you're right." It was humiliating to admit that this boy had tired her out; she had not expected this battle to last anywhere near as long as it had. "That doesn't mean I don't still have enough energy to kill you."
"Well then, how about both of us?" A voice spoke up and both of them looked to see Hatake Kakashi appear a little ways from them.
"Kakashi!" said Naruto, surprised to his old sensei.
"Yo," Kakashi replied, "you look like you just got the shit kicked out of you by a woman."
Naruto's eyes twitched, "No shit. Really? Gee thanks for my telling me that, I had no clue I looked that way."
Kakashi just chuckled.
"Hatake Kakashi," Guren said, though inwardly she was infuriated. 'Damn! I don't have enough chakra to deal with both him and the blond; I don't even have enough energy to deal with just him'.
"It looks like this is my cue to leave," She looked over at Naruto, frowning. "You got lucky kid."
Naruto watched as she slowly sank into the ground, and another second later the crystal leading to the Valley of the End shattered. Still cautious, the blond Chunin took a look around, both with his eyes and other senses. 'I don't sense her anymore, Kyuubi, can you?'
'No, she's gone,' Kyuubi replied.
"Thank Kami," Naruto said out loud as he slumped down onto his butt, his exhaustion was finally setting in and he knew he would need a good night's sleep before he was back to normal.
"Tired?" asked Kakashi with his usual eye smile.
Naruto just grunted, "Shut up…"
"Mah, mah, no need for that Naruto."
"Naruto-kun," said Temari, who had walked up to him now that the fight was over. "Now that the battle was over, we should probably get dog-boy and the others back to Konoha."
"Right," Naruto grunted and attempted to stand up, only to fail. Growling he tried again and fell back down, causing Temari to giggle. He looked up at her and pouted, "It's not funny."
"Of course it's funny," she shot back, smiling, "Just look at how beat up you are."
"I fail to see the hilarity of this situation."
"Your loss."
And there you have it. I have to admit, it's been a while since I worked on this story. I am currently beginning the next arch, or at least thinking about what I want my next arch to be. While I have the basics for this story down, there are some archs and chapters in between the main storyline that I have yet to fully decide on.
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