Ino's short, manicured fingernails drummed dully off of the surface of Naruto's kitchen table as she seemed to wait, killing time for something. In all actuality, she was waiting for nothing. Her mind was ill at ease as she remained in Konoha while her… boyfriend(?) was out on a mission to Takigakure.
Was he her boyfriend?
Sure they'd had that moment at the mask temple and everything, and the date before that, but it was hard to tell where she stood with him. She had the key to his home that he'd never asked for back, she never saw him around the village with other girls in a one-on-one setting like the one they'd had, nor had she heard of anything like that either in the village or at the capital.
Meh, all of this deep thinking regarding a relationship with a boy was too much. Why couldn't Naruto have been one of those sorts that just thought she was hot above anything else and tried to impress her or something? That would have made everything so much easier.
"Ugh, I might as well just take a nap in Goldie's room and head on home before dinner." She said to herself, blowing her bang out from in front of her eye.
A knock came to the door, much to Ino's confusion. Either way, she got up from her seat and headed to the door to find out who the guest was. Didn't they know that Naruto wasn't there? It seemed like the kind of thing that Naruto would have told his landlord before heading out and the kind of thing that most people who would have come to see him would have been informed about as well.
Upon opening up for company, Ino raised an eyebrow at the sight of Hinata standing there, "Uh, Naruto still isn't here. He's on a mission to Taki. I could have sworn you knew that already though."
"I know." Hinata said in return, "He asked Neji-niisan if he could go but I told him he was busy. He asked me as well, but I had to decline also." She seemed extremely put out by admitting such.
Really? Hinata turned down a mission with Naruto on it? That didn't sound like something she'd allow to happen if she could help it. Ino herself wasn't allowed to go because the higher-ups were afraid that Team 10 would be too dependent on working with one another to succeed in their missions. Why that was such a bad thing, she didn't understand so long as they won, but orders were orders.
Having stood outside for long enough, Hinata gave a slight bow out of respect before making her request, "May I come in?"
It wasn't really Ino's home to invite anyone into, but in that same vein she probably shouldn't have been there to begin with either. Moving aside to let the elegant young woman inside, Ino closed the door behind her and leaned against it, "So you already know Goldie's not here. Why did you come then?"
"I could see you inside, so I decided to stop by."
"You looked inside of his apartment? Do you do that kind of thing a lot?"
"N-No." In hindsight, Hinata could see how admitting that she'd used Byakugan to look inside of Naruto's apartment could be seen as a bad thing, and it was extremely embarrassing to be put on the spot by Ino's Cheshire grin, "I was just watching over a friend's home while they were away. Why were you here?"
Ino's grin became more of a nervous expression as she had the spotlight shined on her instead, "Ehe… well, I used to come here every few days to take care of the place back when he'd been gone, and I still like coming here when I don't have anything to do or anywhere to be. That's weird right?"
Hinata held up her fingers as if to say a little bit and sighed, "I thought when Naruto-kun came back I'd have the heart to do something about how I feel. But I guess with everything else that I've grown in from having to face it, when it comes to him it's like I'm still twelve years-old and in the Academy again."
"That's not true. Even if you still don't make many moves on him, the old you wouldn't have even done anything to put yourself in a position to be around him." Ino deadpanned, "You definitely don't have that problem now." She was pretty good at getting in the way whenever Ino was around for sure, "Not like me. I don't have a problem showing him how I feel, it's just that with everything that keeps happening I don't have a lot of chances to try and make something happen."
They spent a large amount of time together, but it was always training or doing missions, or her day job. The interrogation force was supposed to be in control of background checks for all of Konoha's visitors and potential residents, even if they were civilians. It was an arduous and boring job, and it was honestly the part she liked least about Konoha T&I, other than the drab grey uniforms.
In between all of the conventional ninja work and how busy she was working her extra job as an interrogation specialist, it seemed like Ino could never get a moment together with Naruto that didn't revolve around work or someone trying to kill one or both of them.
"He loves you. You know that don't you?"
Ino's blue eyes snapped wide open for a split-second before suddenly turning to Hinata who was looking out of the window after saying her alarming statement, "What now?"
"Naruto-kun." Hinata emphasized, "You don't even have to try with him, that's the thing about it. Between you two it's effortless. Hanabi so badly wants me to find a way to be with him, so that she can really call him her big brother, but I'm not sure I have it in me."
No, this couldn't be. She was giving up? Now? That just seemed wrong, "I'm not with him yet. We had one real date, it doesn't mean that much. And oh Kami, why am I telling you things that would keep your from actually giving up on my man?"
Because he was indeed HER man… even if he didn't know it yet.
"I'm not giving up until I hear it from him that you and he are together." Hinata clarified with a wave of her hand, "I'm saying that you have too much of an advantage to ever lose, so when I win you don't have any excuses to throw at me."
"I wouldn't throw any excuses at you to begin with." Ino insisted, looking away and crossing her arms over her chest, "Momma's been barking up this tree for three years, and if you think I'm gonna let off because you came here to talk to me face-to-face you're mistaken." She said, referring to herself in the third person before opening one eye to look over at Hinata, "…We're still friends aren't we? The last thing I wanted was to start another thing like the one I did with Sakura coming out of the Academy."
"I think the fact that we can actually carry on a civil conversation like this without insulting each other or fighting means we are."
"Good. Now, since you can see through things, I want you to tell me what Goldie's packing below the belt these days."
"W-What? What in the world makes you think I'd know that!?"
"Really? You're going to tell me you've never looked? Hanabi's looked. I know you have."
XxX
(Near the Border of Tsuchi no Kuni and Takigakure-held Lands – In the Skies)
"She's a fun one, un." Deidara said to himself as he found himself in a dogfight with the chakra-winged Fuu in the air, "…Never fought a jinchuuriki that could fly before."
And she was tough enough to deal with his lower-leveled explosives without flinching, meaning that he would have to bust out the higher-grade ordinance to put this bad little girl down. She could more than likely deal with it, so he didn't have to worry about killing her by accident. If he did that, the leader would have his balls in a salad shooter.
"I'm so gonna pull your spine out!"
Of course, he had to think about number one first; himself. If that girl got her hands on him he didn't doubt in the slightest that she would indeed try to make good on her threat and reach into his back to pull out his backbone. She was probably strong enough to do it as well from what he'd heard.
She was getting faster and faster, having sprouted four wings instead of the two she'd originally used to fly. Her speed was great, as she constantly managed to make passes at him to try and take his head off with a punch or a kick. This really was a dangerous girl.
"Keshi Gomufera (Eraser Blow)!" One of these deadly punches actually cut straight through Deidara's large clay bird, destroying it and dropping him straight downward. As he fell a smirk came over his face and he made the hand-seal he used to detonate his explosives. Feeling something crawl on her bare midriff, Fuu noticed the clay insects that had stuck to her person after she'd gone through the bird like a hot knife through butter, "Damn it!"
"Katsu!"
Deidara fell as he watched the blasts engulf Fuu up above him in a chain explosion, "That didn't do it, un. If I want to take her down I need to get her off-guard. Otherwise she'll just armor up and endure it." The smoke cleared only for there to be no Nanabi jinchuuriki in sight, "Oh, that can't be good."
Fuu's tanned arms wrapped around the front of Deidara's body, holding him tightly in place while he got a face full of Fuu's madly grinning visage. She took a quick dip up into the air before sending them both on a nosedive down to the ground, adding a spin to it all. As she dove down she squeezed Deidara hard enough to crack and break bones only to find him surprisingly… squishy.
She'd grabbed enough people and given them squeezes to know that they shouldn't have felt like that. Her breath hitched in her throat when Deidara lost all of his color and turned out to be a replacement with a Clay Clone. Her arms sank into its body to better trap her against it.
But when did he ever substitute himself with a clay fake?
"Katsu!"
This time when she was caught in the explosion, Fuu had been in the middle of a fairly elaborate action that she couldn't save herself from, even if she'd been prepared to endure the damage from the detonation, she had been on a crash course with the ground that she hadn't had time to right herself from.
Up above on another creature of flight, Deidara watched Fuu crash and take out several rows of trees down below. It was a pretty nasty collision with the ground, and almost anyone else in the same situation would have most assuredly been dead.
But… since this was a girl that had been entirely willing to take several explosives to the face just to get herself close enough to punch him, and since he could see with the scope on his left eye that she was still conscious and trying to get up again, there was no such thing as overkill in this case.
The mouths in his palms chewed up more clay for a bombardment from the air before Fuu could take flight again, "I've never fought anyone that I could actually show this much of my art to closely before. I really appreciate it!" Talking to himself, he almost missed the dangerously quickly approaching noise of chirping before he heard the tail end of it at the end of his sentence.
"Chidori (One Thousand Birds)!"
A high-speed blur flew through the air with a blue tip at the front of it and almost cut Deidara in half had he not been grossly experienced at aerial combat. He managed to maneuver his clay bird out of the way, but wondered really what the hell that had been. Watching a summoned hawk turn around in the air, Deidara caught sight of Sasuke standing on its back as it flew, "Oh really now? Well I didn't expect her to really be here alone so I guess this fits."
Sasuke had found it complicated to keep up with Deidara and Fuu's midair dance, mostly because of Deidara's actions as Fuu had simply taken the direct path of charging through every explosion he'd set for her.
When Deidara finally stopped in a position that allowed him to use his hawk's speed in a straightforward charge to maximize the surprise factor, he took his shot. Unfortunately his hawks weren't much for maneuverability when it was going as fast as it could, so when he missed he missed hard.
The blond bomber smirked at the sight of his second opponent as they had seemingly stalemated, "Well, well, well. You certainly went for the jugular didn't you?"
"No, I probably wouldn't have killed you with it." Sasuke said, glaring Deidara down with his Sharingan, "I've got a question for you, so having you die wouldn't have been what I really wanted. I just want to know one thing. Where's Itachi?"
The pleasant look on Deidara's face immediately shifted to one of complete distaste. Disgust even, "How should I know and why should I care where that bastard is? Somewhere dead at the bottom of a ditch with a sleeve of shuriken up his ass hopefully, un."
Well that was expressive.
"Why the hell would you even want to know where-?" Deidara asked Sasuke before taking a good hard look at him and ceasing in his question, because it had answered itself, 'Come to think of it, he does look a bit like him… and those damned eyes… it has to be.' It hit him like a bolt of lightning and he wondered why it had taken him so long to get the picture, "…Oh, you're his brother. The only one he didn't kill."
Sasuke's eye twitched out of suppressed rage. He had to refrain from killing this guy. At least until he got something useful out of him, "Just tell me where Itachi is already."
"Yeah, you definitely are." Deidara continued, ignoring Sasuke's question, "The littlest Uchiha that wasn't worth the effort. What are you looking for Itachi for? Do you miss him that bad, or do you just want him to finish the job for you?"
...
With that, Sasuke figured that he could hurt him pretty badly without necessarily killing him. It couldn't have been that difficult to manage, to leave something of Deidara to interrogate.
He was definitely going to try.
From his hands, Deidara spat the explosive barrage that he'd prepared to blast Fuu with at Sasuke instead, "Both of us have something in common with hating Itachi, but more than anything else I hate your eyes!"
The Chidori in Sasuke's hand was used for a different purpose after the chakra's intent was converted, "Chidori Senbon (One Thousand Birds Senbon)!" Letting a spray of electric needles forth, Sasuke hit all of Deidara's explosives mid-flight, allowing him to fly past them without being harmed.
'Damn! He can disarm them!' Deidara thought to himself, diving directly down with his clay bird before Sasuke could reach him, 'A fight like this won't work. I need to play this better.'
It pissed him off that his art was being marginalized into having to be hidden to be effective, but sometimes the best art simply didn't get recognized for its superiority.
Sasuke gave chase down into the trees, turning things into a dangerous dodging game with the trees. It would be an easy matter to find himself trapped by one or more of Deidara's explosives, and he wasn't let down in that regard.
Instead of merely chasing after Deidara's clay bird in front of him, Sasuke found himself and his hawk surrounded on his other three sides by birds that had hidden themselves until he'd passed by them, 'I never even saw him make those things or let them loose.'
"Katsu!"
As Sasuke prepared to defuse the explosives with his electricity, they detonated before closing in on him close enough to do any damage, covering his entire line of sight with smoke.
Exiting the blast smoke he came face-to-face with a large clay dragon with its mouth wide open.
The C2 level of Deidara's explosives. They were stronger than the C1 versions that he'd been using. Bigger too.
Gritting his teeth, Sasuke abruptly jumped off of his hawk as it was snatched up in the dragon's mouth. The high speed they'd been flying at caused him to hurtle forward through the air dangerously, only having that increase in treachery when the dragon exploded behind him and pushed him ahead even faster, "Gaaaah!"
Too fast!
The right side of Sasuke's body hit the side of a tree, sending him spinning and flipping in a heap as he fell the rest of the way to the ground, hitting it hard and rolling until he came to a painful stop. That could have had a worse outcome. He could have hit a tree head-on and gone splat off of it. That didn't happen, so he had that going for him at least.
Admittedly he might have been a little overzealous in his pursuit. He had an elemental advantage and could have played things at a distance despite Deidara's long-range specialization, but since he'd proven that he could neutralize the explosives he figured that he could roll straight through the mad bomber and impose his will in battle.
Apparently a prerequisite for being in Akatsuki was being damn good in a high-stakes battle, even when you were at a natural disadvantage.
Consequently, no one would ever know about this if Sasuke could help it.
"Ohhhh…" Sasuke moaned as he pushed himself up off of the ground, "Killed my hawk… almost killed me. Asshole." Hearing the beating of wings he prepared for another fight when Fuu landed next to him from elsewhere in the forest, "Oh, it's you."
"That looked like it hurt." Fuu commented, having seen Sasuke's rather catastrophic crash while pursuing him and Deidara, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Sasuke said tersely, embarrassed that something like that had been seen by someone else. It didn't look like Deidara was coming back either. Damn. He'd missed his chance to squeeze some Itachi intel out of someone that would have known something recent, "I think he left."
Fuu grinned and grabbed her own bicep showingly, "Hah, he just didn't want any more of this particular jinchuuriki. I don't blame him either."
Oh God, she could be just as bad as Naruto was, "It sure didn't look that way before I got here." Sasuke pointed out.
Her ego-salvaging gesture shot down, Fuu got a touch more vindictive in return, "Really? And you didn't just get ragdolled through the woods off of a blind bluff?" She already knew that Sasuke had a high amount of pride on his own, thus that sort of a conclusion to a battle hurt.
"…"
"…"
"…No one needs to know any more than the fact that we fought the guy and he got away."
"Agreed. Shake on it. And if anyone asks, I didn't trap myself bear hugging an exploding clay doll."
XxX
(Meanwhile – Elsewhere in the Pass of Tranquil Respite)
Genjutsu was a serious Achilles' heel for one member in particular on Team Gai, even more so when it was sound-based genjutsu, which ranked amongst the most dangerous method of application for illusions that existed in the world.
Rock Lee had found himself ensnared in a trap illusion in a forested area, and was incapable of escaping due to his lack of ability in the ninja arts outside of taijutsu. This became a major problem for his female teammate who was a bit more adept at escaping genjutsu.
It had been a rather difficult battle for Tenten as she found herself at a stalemate with a pink-haired Oto kunoichi wearing a hat.
She had managed to get the two Konoha ninjas right off the bat in a genjutsu, but Tenten managed to break it in time to defend them from a killing attack from three large ogres. From there it became a fairly nasty little game of cat-and-mouse between the two enemy women.
Tayuya had grossly underestimated Tenten at first when she'd been presented with her rather unremarkable at first glance ninjutsu skills, but soon found herself worked into a conundrum against the bun-haired girl. She wasn't a very defensive sort of fighter, and Tenten had the kind of attack that could hit her from almost anywhere. Not only that, but Tenten was willing to use excessive force to get the job done.
If she kept her ogres from attacking Tenten and used them to defend herself, Tenten had free range to quickly get to her teammate and break the genjutsu on him. If she used her ogres to attack as a team and overwhelm her, which they could, that would leave Tayuya herself open for an attack from Tenten that she couldn't dodge.
It was mutually assured destruction if they committed to attacking each other in earnest.
Even if she sent one after Lee to take that possibility away, Tenten had managed to repel the one after Lee and continue defending herself. Either way, they couldn't defeat the other, and this had dragged on for far longer than either had ever wanted a conflict to go.
Breathing heavily, eyes searching around a forest littered in weapons, Tenten kneeled on the ground, hand posted on a large scroll standing up next to her, "This is… annoying." She remarked before joking, "Any chance we can just call this whole thing a draw? I'll grab Lee, you can go back to… wherever you came from, and we can just live to fight another day here. You aren't getting to me, and I'm not getting to you."
From where she was at a significant distance, Tayuya's eyes panned over to where Tenten had somehow managed to cover Lee's body with a large metal protective shell. She'd even taken away that avenue of getting to her, of using Lee as leverage.
'I'm not using the Cursed Seal on this little bitch.' Tayuya thought to herself. But she wondered how long she'd have to keep this up before she got some kind of support from Sakon, or Kidomaru. Hell, not even them. There were tons of other Otogakure ninjas inside of the base that should have been there by now, "The day I call it a draw against some kunoichi that can't do anything else but wing weapons all over the place, hah, I'd sooner off myself."
Insult aside, Tenten was frazzled enough as it was. She didn't need to take a snide remark like that to heart since it was clear by now that if Tayuya could have beaten her easily she would have done it already.
As she looked around, she noticed something about her nearby surroundings that she'd neglected to think of due to the cat-and-mouse game she'd been playing the entire time. Upon doing so, she went wide-eyed and looked around, seeing a way to take the edge, "…Last chance to call it a day."
"Fuck you."
"Alright then." Standing back up, Tenten steeled her expression and flexed out her fingers, "I warned you. Mugen Ryuukamu (Infinite Dragon's Bite)!"
Stealing a small portion of Neji's Kaiten by revitalizing her body with chakra as she spun, the wires attached to Tenten's fingers that manipulated her weapons started to whip around and cause a torrent of bladed, studded weapons of all sorts. A horrible storm of weaponry with Tenten at the eye.
Despite dispelling her Doki to ensure that they weren't at risk of being killed by the jutsu, Tayuya felt safe and sound. All it really took was adequate cover to avoid the attack, and she had that in spades behind a tree. Even as weapons on wires flew past her place of cover, she was able to evade them as long as she always kept a solid surface between herself and Tenten.
SHIK!
Feeling a sharp pain in, Tayuya doubled over and felt two blades buried in the side of her torso after getting around her cover, "Ugh… w-what?"
No, the stupid things had been attached to wires. She hadn't seen that from the range that she'd been fighting the girl from. With the method of Tenten sending them spinning around, they would whip around something like a tree trunk, still making them dangerous despite keeping herself behind something.
Dropping to her knees, Tayuya pulled the short sword out of her side and breathed heavily as she forced her Cursed Seal to activate in order to fortify her body and do damage control on her wound. The sound of a heavy metal thud caused Tayuya to curse to herself. It meant that Tenten had gotten to Lee and was in the process of breaking her genjutsu on him.
"This is bullshit." Tayuya muttered to herself, "I've got to go this far just for two worthless chunin? What a joke."
"Konoha Daisenpuu (Leaf Great Whirlwind)!"
Tayuya found the entire tree limb that she'd been resting on shattered by the powerful kick of green-clad Rock Lee. Better it than her however, as she darted off of separate tree trunks to safely come to a rest on the ground to face him.
Wow. That bastard was fast. It was a good thing she had taken him out of the running early in the fight or else she might have had more issues with staying unharmed for as long as she had. From his stance he was a taijutsu specialist. He didn't even have a weapon drawn.
'This dumbass again.' Tayuya thought to herself, placing her lips up to her flute with a smirk, 'He's still just as screwed as he was the first time. A quick melody and I'll focus back on the girl.' She played her tune, but Lee didn't flinch. He barely blinked and his eyes never unfocused from her, "How the hell didn't that work?"
Lee just continued to stare a hole through her until he tilted his head in confusion, "…What? I am sorry, I could not hear you!" He shouted unnecessarily loud.
"I said how the hell didn't that work!"
"What?"
"Damn it I hate you idiot Konoha ninjas!"
"I'm sorry, I said I cannot hear you! Tenten jammed plugs into my ears, and I was never the best at reading lips! My apologies again!"
Ooh. Well that made sense. Economical little bitch. She carried ear plugs? Who did that? Either way, Tayuya's primary weapon of sound was out when it came to fighting Lee, and he was right there in front of her, "…Well I'm right fucked then aren't I?"
"What!?" Lee asked before noticing Tayuya try to move. Not on his watch. Moving in front of her at a blinding speed, Lee kicked her into the air right through her guard and moved behind her midair form, restraining her with the bandages on his hands as he swiftly guided her into the side of a tree headfirst, "Omote Renge (Front Lotus)!"
From where she'd followed Lee and stopped upon seeing him open the first of the Eight Gates, Tenten breathed a sigh of relief. It was risky to do what she did to Lee's hearing, but for the sake of keeping him out of another genjutsu that he wouldn't be able to escape on his own she had to take that risk.
The reason why she actually carried earplugs? Try being on a team with Maito Gai and Rock Lee and see how long you can last hearing every word they say with their normal lack of indoor voices. Everyone didn't have the patience of Neji.
Making it over to Tayuya's flute, Tenten stomped down on it hard and broke it into bits. Teamwork, you just had to love it.
Lee landed back onto the ground and watched Tayuya drop the four stories out of the tree trunk that he'd driven the top of her head into. Rubbing his head, he was still confused about just what she'd been saying before she made a sudden move and prompted an attack on her person, "I wonder what it was she was trying to say." He voiced aloud only to find the earplugs popped out of his ears.
"Nothing nice." Tenten assured him, a bit miffed at how much more rundown she looked after that fight than Lee did. Other than getting caught in a genjutsu, nothing even happened to him. He was still basically fresh, "Well I think we're good here don't you?"
Lee didn't answer and Tenten had wondered if she'd damaged his ears with the plugs until she noticed what he was looking at; Tayuya getting back up off of the ground. There was no way. She should have been dead. There was no excuse for her not to be.
Tayuya's body lifted up from the ground bonelessly despite her pained moans, "K-Kabuto, you bastard." She said in agony. Just moving around in the slightest was tormenting to her body, "Put me down…"
Both Lee and Tenten's eyes went wide until they heard a quick dragging movement coming closer. Both moved in time to avoid a large constrictor snake from devouring them whole by landing on separate tree trunks.
The creature smashed its massive body into one of the trees and managed to shake Lee loose. Tenten stopped him from falling into the snake's open maw with a timely kunai pinning his still loose hand wraps to the tree and without missing a beat Lee kicked the giant serpent in the side of the head as soon as he was temporarily saved.
It let out a horrible hiss as it recoiled sharply, its head almost bouncing off of the ground. Lee pulled himself upright and ripped his bandages free from the kunai before diving down at the snake and landing directly on its neck with a kick.
With Tenten on the tree, Tayuya's body which seemed to be moving independently of her own will got an angle on her, taking a swing at her that she blocked, 'Ugh. So this is the Cursed Seal.' Despite the angry look on her face, Tayuya didn't seem to be putting any effort behind the struggle other than trying to bite back her own pain.
Suddenly her body went limp again, prompting Tenten to jump down with her in order to secure her opening to attack. Behind her as she did this she heard the sound of wood being broken and saw Kabuto after taking a swing at her with glowing blue hands.
Tenten safety rolled through her landing and Tayuya simply hit the ground doing even more damage to her extensively injured body that she cried out because of, "Be a little more careful you fucking-!"
"Now now, you should really watch your language Tayuya." Kabuto said condescendingly as he looked down at her and Tenten, "You don't want to speak that way to the only person in at least thirty miles that can give you medical attention."
Something about the way Kabuto spoke seemed different from the way he'd sounded in Konoha when he had been friends with the Konoha ninjas he'd gone to the chunin exam finals with. His personality seemed nastier, more befitting of someone that could do what he'd done; betraying everyone that had ever befriended him, manipulating people that thought him a comrade, and murdering a schoolteacher.
Having been a member of the task force that had been put together to flush him out, it was Tenten and Lee's greatest failure to date that they hadn't been able to do anything about him. But that was apparently being rectified by fate.
Paying too much attention to Kabuto however took attention off of his summoned snake, that hadn't died from Lee's heavy kick. Finding an easier target in the second human that hadn't almost broken the only bone in its body, the snake abruptly lunged at Tenten this time.
Reflexes fast enough to react accordingly, Lee grabbed the snake by the tail and pushed past physical limits to keep it in place, "Gate of Healing, open!" Digging his heels into the ground, Lee managed to hold it back short of snapping its jaws around his teammate.
Distracted by the snake that almost devoured her, Tenten wasn't prepared for Kabuto to be as fast as he was, as he wound up right in front of her while her head was still somewhat turned. Noting his presence at the very last moment, she managed to move just enough to have Kabuto grab her shoulder instead of touching at her heart with his Chakra Scalpels.
Simply being touched by the jutsu tore every muscle tendon in her shoulder and a few in her chest, effectively rendering an entire limb worthless. This was an extremely painful thing to have happen to you, no matter who you were.
"Tenten!" Lee shouted, finding himself in a bit of a pinch when the snake's body coiled to try and restrict him. With the grip he had on its tail, Lee was able to jump directly up and tie the slithering reptile into a tight knot in order to subdue it.
Meanwhile Tenten fell to the ground holding her useless left arm. That jutsu made Kabuto's taijutsu almost as dangerous as Neji's. They had no idea he was actually that tough a ninja. Being a spy didn't necessarily mean he was good at fighting, but he'd disabled her without a harsh fight.
"Not bad for someone who failed the chunin exams more times than anyone can count eh?" Kabuto taunted as he moved forward to finish her, "At least this time unlike Iruka you'll see this coming."
"KABUTO!"
Jumping in the air to avoid a chain that reaped through the immediate area of the forest around him, Kabuto found himself kicked through the air by a blue and orange blur that sent him into another tree trunk hard enough to crack it.
'Okay, that actually hurt a bit.' Kabuto admitted to himself as he stuck to the tree and stood up against it to regard Naruto who had helped Tenten back up, "Oh, Naruto-kun. Long time no see." He called out with a taunting level of easygoing tone, and with reason because his automatic medical ninjutsu had already healed most of the damage dealt to him, "Kicking people in the chest isn't really how you say hi to old friends though."
"Why not? Lee does it all the time." Tenten replied, wincing at her bad arm, "Ugh. Damn it, I need to handle this Naruto. Are you alright here?"
"Just get a bit out of the way." Naruto told her, reeling in his Chakra Chain to his wrist to grab his machete and resheathe it, "…We really should have brought a medic on this thing."
"I happen to be a medic!"
"Shut the hell up Kabuto! You know nobody was talking about you!"
Kabuto just chuckled to himself as he smirked down at the young chunin. He wanted to get out of the base and far away from Orochimaru and Sasori, but here he stumbled upon a chance to have a bit of fun, 'I guess I can play around for a bit while I wait for Orochimaru-sama to kill Sasori.'
As his attention was on Naruto, he almost missed Lee sneaking up the back end of the tree to attack him until Lee curled around it to attack from underneath, "Hah!" A diving upward kick was his attack of choice that missed when Kabuto jumped off of the tree, "Naruto-kun!"
Spotting where Kabuto was going to land, on another tree, Naruto grabbed his machete and cut straight through the trunk to fell it just before Kabuto could reach it. Running up the fallen tree as Kabuto stuck to it and found his balance compromised, Naruto hurled his machete at him, missing. Kabuto charged down the trunk and took several stabs at him with his Chakra Scalpel hands until Naruto dodged one aimed at his head and grabbed him by the forearm.
"Tch." Kabuto clicked his tongue as they stuck fast and remained on the falling tree. The impact of their surface hitting the ground didn't dislodge them as they took to temporary log-rolling to stay upright, all the while dueling in close with their sole available bare hands.
Naruto kept checking Kabuto's hands at the wrist and below to keep from being injured by a mere touch and Kabuto kept deterring any chance of Naruto forming a Rasengan or using Giga Shintou to turn his insides into an organ slushy. He simply couldn't make Naruto break his grip due to the tricky Nebaiken style he'd learned years ago.
A highly dangerous and skillful close-range fight that Lee could appreciate the nuances of from where he was helping Tenten tend to her shoulder, "Ow! Lee, pay attention to how you're setting the sling! You missed my arm!"
"Sorry Tenten."
"Oh you're so lucky you're right-handed." Kabuto surmised, smirking despite the dangerous situation he found himself in with Naruto.
"You're so lucky I didn't catch you on the way out of Konoha!" Naruto said, sharply pulling his right hand back in order to retract his machete. At the same time he felt a presence suddenly appear behind him and moved out of its way, allowing Kabuto to maneuver himself out of harm's way of Naruto's attack as well.
Using the fingers on his free hand, Kabuto had used a Chakra Strings technique he'd picked up while masquerading as Sasori's spy to control Tayuya's body. The entire time he'd been fighting Naruto he'd been maneuvering her into a position that would give him a chance to get free. Not only did he manage that, he also forced her to take Naruto's round-trip machete straight through the chest due to the distraction she caused.
Naruto couldn't believe that Kabuto did something so callous to someone that had been on his side. It went straight through with no give whatsoever despite her use of the Cursed Seal at the time. He could see the horror in her eyes before the life faded from them.
Even Tenten and Lee couldn't believe that any enemy they had would do such a thing to a comrade. It was positively despicable.
Taking advantage of this, Kabuto slammed Naruto off of the rolling tree trunk they were on down to the ground below. Both had to separate at that moment to keep from being crushed by the multi-ton piece of wood, bringing them to a stalemate.
"What the fuck was that?" Naruto bellowed at Kabuto, still taken aback at what he'd done to Tayuya, "You killed her just like she was nothing!"
"No. Technically, you killed her just like she was nothing." Kabuto specified, "I just gave you the nudge to do it by scaring you into moving with her body. Silver lining; I'm still fine." That did nothing to stop Naruto from growling at him and to keep Tenten and Lee from glaring at him as if he were a demon, "Oh come on. If it wasn't for Lee-kun here basically paralyzing her earlier I wouldn't have had to use her as a living puppet just to get some sort of use out of her. It's your own faults really."
This was the kind of person Kabuto really was.
There was no mistake. There was no misunderstanding or any sort to cause this happen. His actions were deliberate, his intent was malicious, and there was next to no chance that this man had ever seen them as friends. They had been assets. A means to an end to cast any suspicions of spying off of him at best.
Naruto reluctantly retracted his machete from Tayuya, wincing as he did so. Enemy or not, she had been defenseless and nothing more than a tool for Kabuto to get ahead, just like the rest of them to an extent, "Why? Did us being friends even mean anything at all?"
Kabuto sighed and shook his head in pity before smirking again, "I think I should tell you a little bit of a story to explain the situation. You see there was once an old man, walking home from work. He was walking in the snow, and he stumbled upon a snake frozen in the ice."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Lee asked.
"Don't interrupt." Kabuto insisted before continuing, "That old man took that snake, and he brought it home, and he took care of it, and he thawed it out, and he nursed it back to health." His smirk then grew, "And as soon as that snake was well enough, it bit the old man. And as the old man lay there dying he asked the snake, 'Why? I took care of you. I loved you. I saved your life.' And that snake looked that man right in the eye and said, 'You're stupid old man. I'm a snake.'
"You done?" Naruto growled after nothing else came out of Kabuto's mouth, "Was that supposed to actually mean something?"
The white-haired spy/medical ninja just gestured grandly to himself, "It's my nature. It was my nature years before I ever met any of you in-person. Some compassion, some camaraderie… that's not going to make someone like me go against who I am as a person. Snakes bite, scorpions sting, it doesn't matter if what they poison shows them kindness or not. Whether we were supposedly friends or not doesn't matter. If you want to blame anyone for why I exist, blame one man; Shimura Danzo."
What? One of the elders? That was the Hokage's old rival for the seat that still had a high-ranking spot in the village hierarchy. What the hell was he talking about?
It didn't matter at the moment though. Naruto hadn't been expecting a chance to take a shot at Kabuto just weeks after what he'd done to Iruka, but he was more than willing to pick up on that stroke of good fortune, "This for Iruka-sensei and all of the Konoha ninjas you got killed by handing off information to Oto." He said as he started tapping into the Kyuubi's chakra for a boost.
Now this was interesting. Kabuto had always wanted to see how he could measure up to a jinchuuriki that knew what they were doing to an extent with the chakra they had available. The fire had been lit, and now Kabuto gleefully wished to douse it with gasoline.
"Are you sure it's just that?" Kabuto asked with an infuriating expression of ease on his face, "Naruto… you were gone for three years. You're a smarter guy than you get credit for. You know just how many opportunities I had to do the same thing to Ino. I'm the one that taught her medical ninjutsu after all." The younger man froze in place at that, "It would have been so easy to just reach at her chest and give her arteries a little snip like Iruka's."
The machete flew past his head and missed into a tree, but also came with the added threat of Naruto using his chain to reel himself in toward Kabuto with a spinning blue orb of chakra in hand, "Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)!"
Kabuto evaded the blitz and ghosted a hand on Naruto's back as he passed. The immediate sound of pain was like music to him. He had to have torn quite deeply into the muscles in Naruto's back, 'Temper, temper Naruto. It'll get you into trouble.'
Sliding to a stop in the dirt, Naruto felt the chakra running through him begin to knit his muscles that had Kabuto had severed back together. Damn that hurt. He didn't want to let a remark like that get to him, but he truly would have been lying had he not considered that as something that could have happened.
It weighed heavily on his mind every hour since finding out Iruka's fate until after the funeral. It had been where the bulk of his thinking had rested. Over three years. He'd been right there with all of his friends for three years as if he'd been one of them.
Instead of using them for information or as for alibis or reference, he could have done anything to any of his friends whenever he wanted. He really could have killed Ino if Naruto had pissed him off somehow when they were younger, and done it easily. Any time Naruto and the Guardians did serious damage to Oto ninjas on their assignments, Kabuto could have discovered that he was amongst that group and he could have gotten her hurt or framed her for his actions out of retaliation.
The same went for anyone that had been Kabuto's friend.
He could have ruined Chouji, could have killed Sakura just as easily as Ino because he'd been teaching her as well. Kiba and Shino would never have seen him coming. Hinata… she would have trusted him right until she first felt her heart stop beating. Tenten and Lee had been subjected to Kabuto's treachery right here along with him. He might have been the one to set in motion the ambush that occurred on Sasuke's mission that ended with him receiving the Cursed Seal of Heaven.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"
Kabuto brought forth a massive snake that he stood on the head of as it stared Naruto down like dinner. He just stared back unflinchingly, making hand-seals that counted and waiting for the exact moment to make his move.
The snake did not disappoint by making an effort to rapidly seize him in its coils and crush him to death. The Naruto that it grabbed was unfortunately an Ash Clone that broke apart to scorching hot cinders, burning the snake's scaly flesh.
A savvy Kabuto ran off of his snake's head down the length of its body as Naruto pulverized its head with a Rasengan, 'His increase in speed and power is no joke.' He wasn't sure he could aptly heal himself well enough on-contact if Naruto hit him with that jutsu.
Diving off of the snake's body before Naruto could begin attacking him again, Kabuto turned in the air and thrust his right arm forward, "Sen'ie Tajashu (Many Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)!" A swarm of a dozen large snakes appeared from inside Kabuto's sleeve, shooting forward at Naruto in an instant.
Mouths open and ready to attack, Naruto spun his loose machete around on the chain connected to it, cutting them all up as if they were running headlong into a fan blade. Kabuto tried to appear behind him in a Shunshin to take a swipe at his neck with glowing blue hands, but he missed when Naruto moved forward and dropped off of the dead snake's head before kicking it to knock Kabuto off.
What strength, to move the head of a snake that size with a mere back kick. Kabuto jumped off in time, darting directly at Naruto mid-kick and lashing out at him. He grabbed the forearm of Naruto when he turned to protect himself and could see the pain in his face from that defensive action.
Not willing to poke the bear too much and stay in that close to a jinchuuriki with their cloak active, Kabuto immediately dove underground with his tunneling jutsu. Naruto immediately reached right into the ground after him and twisted his hands before pulling up sharply, "Giga Shintou (Giga Impact)!"
Before he crushed the ground directly around him with interior wind pressure, Kabuto appeared behind him again poised to strike. Reaching back with a foot that hardly brushed Kabuto's chest with his toes, it still touched him, which meant that with the principles of Neibaiken taijutsu, Naruto had grabbed him by the front of his shirt with his foot.
Buried up to his wrists in the dirt, Naruto flipped forward on his hands and dragged Kabuto with him in his improvised move, slamming him hard on the ground and stomping on his chest to cave it in, revealing that Kabuto to be a mud clone.
Kabuto had resurfaced a safe distance away, adjusting his glasses on his face as he contemplated how this battle was going. Naruto wasn't caught off-guard with really anything that he did, 'And he didn't have the slightest clue about how I fought until now.'
The entire ground at that moment began to shake before the fight could continue in earnest, much to the confusion of the present Konoha ninjas. It felt like the ground somewhere nearby was tearing itself apart. That was the only way they could describe the feeling and the sound.
And that chakra. Naruto could feel it from where they were and it felt horrible. He didn't know what to compare it to because he'd never felt anything like it in his entire life, from anyone or anything.
"I guess our time is up for today." Kabuto said in fake disappointment with a shrug, "You always could try to go after me, but I doubt you want to risk a fight without knowing what exactly that feeling of dread you've got in your stomach is." Without a moment to spare, Kabuto made himself scarce with an underground jutsu, parting with a few more words, "If I could give you any kind of friendly advice, I would run as far and as fast as I could."
XxX
(Some Time Earlier – Otogakure Hideout)
A fan of the cat-and-mouse approach to battle, Orochimaru allowed himself to be pursued through his lair by Sasori and the man's weapon of choice; the corpse of the Sandaime Kazekage that had been converted into a human puppet for use in combat.
It was a constant scene of the two stopping and dueling with blades; Orochimaru's Kusanagi and Sasori's hidden weapons inside of both himself and the Kazekage puppet. Orochimaru would inevitably find breaking off in the close quarters more amusing and would proceed to do so with gusto, much to Sasori's annoyance as he just wanted to get things over with and take him down.
Killing him was beginning to take over as the more attractive option than capturing him alive, "Satetsu Shigure (Iron Sand Drizzle)."
"Kukukukuku… you and your human puppets Sasori." Orochimaru said before turning around and shooting countless snakes from his sleeves to take the impact from the tiny iron bullets shot his way, "Sen'eijashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)!"
A fine mist of snake blood and gore filled the space between Orochimaru and Sasori as their pursuit continued. Even when his face was stained with the bile and guts of Orochimaru's choice summon creatures, Sasori didn't even blink.
The two of them believed in the beauty that was longevity, but that was where their similarities ended. They had supremely different ideas on immortality, ninjutsu, and philosophies on life and power in general. It had been a stable enough partnership, until Orochimaru screwed the pooch and tried to hijack Uchiha Itachi's body.
Sending the Kazekage puppet Orochimaru's way, he maneuvered it ahead of the man and closed in on him in a pincer movement. Using the iron sand of the puppet, Sasori created a wall of iron bars to trap Orochimaru with him. At the same time he lifted one hand of his own to reveal a metal pipe on his palm that he used to spew flames at his former ally.
Still laughing almost madly, Orochimaru modified his body into something of a snake-like form, allowing him to easily move right through the bars of the wall. His Kusanagi sword emerged from his mouth and slashed at the Kazekage puppet as he moved past and further into the darkness of the hideout.
"Is that all you have Sasori?" Orochimaru taunted, his voice echoing through the corridors, "The years haven't been as kind to you as your puppet body would suggest if you've forgotten who you're dealing with to that extent!"
"You have no idea what kind of hell I can bring you Orochimaru." Sasori stated firmly, breaking down the Iron Sand into a new kind of attack for the Kazekage puppet to use, "You can run and hide in your snake hole anywhere you would like. There is nowhere you can go to escape me."
"Escape you? I simply want to make you believe that you had a chance against me my old friend. Tell me Sasori, do you know how you've found the king of all serpents?"
To his surprise, Orochimaru hadn't run that much farther, stopping in a four-way branch of halls with his back turned to Sasori as he seemed to still be laughing to himself. It was annoying just how amused he was at Sasori's assault on his base.
"Can you pull it in with a fishhook or tie down his tongue with a rope? Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?"
Sasori had killed all of his ninjas stationed there.
"Will he keep you begging for mercy? Will he speak to you with gentle words? Will he make an agreement with you for you to take him as your slave for life? Can you make a pet of him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls?"
Sasori had tracked him down after years of Orochimaru ducking and dodging all over the ninja world.
"Will traders barter for him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?"
Just because he had made himself a jinchuuriki it made him all-powerful? No. Akatsuki had already taken down two jinchuuriki. This didn't make him anything other than a mere man with a boost to his chakra as far as the puppet master was concerned.
Orochimaru's corpse would more than likely be Sasori's newest favorite human puppet after he claimed it for himself and prepared it accordingly. He couldn't wait to add it to his collection.
Dark chakra began to fly off of Orochimaru's body and a large snake barreled down the hallway from another, filling it with its entire body to leave no path to escape as it made to devour Sasori. In return, a pair of propeller blades on Sasori's back cut through his Akatsuki robe and diced up the incoming snake easily, slicing through its entire body as it passed by him. No matter how big and fast they were, disposing of Orochimaru's fool snake summons was child's play.
"You're wasting my time Orochimaru!" Sasori said impatiently.
"If you lay a hand on him you will remember the struggle and never do it again! Mandara no Jin (Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes)!"
Pausing in his speech, Orochimaru regurgitated thousands of large snakes onto the floor that swiftly crawled in Sasori's direction, blades extending from the insides of their mouths as they hissed threateningly. It didn't stop Sasori from blending up these snakes as well once they got close enough. The constant reciting of this rhetoric, the lack of urgency that was in the man's voice, it irked Sasori like nothing else.
"Senju Soubu (Thousand Hands Manipulation Force)!" The left arm of the Kazekage puppet opened up, revealing a compartment with multiple summoning seals inside. From the seals a countless number of puppet arms stretched forward in Orochimaru's direction, holding blades, buzzsaws, and all sorts of weapons, firing gas bombs, kunai, explosives, and anything else he deemed suitable to outfit his creation with.
There was no such thing as overkill when you were an S-rank ninja. There was just being thorough.
So why was that infuriating laughter still present within the smoke and the rumbling of the hideout? That bastard was mocking him!
"Any hope of subduing him is false; the mere sight of him is overpowering! No one is fierce enough to rouse him! Who then is able to stand against ME!" The change in tone from third to first person was not missed by Sasori who felt a horrible expelling of chakra and retreated back down the hall swiftly, "Doton: Iwayado Kuzushi (Earth Release: Rock Lodging Destruction)!"
He really was stronger than ever. The cave-in of the hideout was quicker than any other time in the past where Sasori had seen that jutsu used.
There was no lag time, there was no gradual growth of the jutsu's effect. Everything began collapsing in on itself and he had to make a quick move in order to escape.
Transforming part of his body into a snake, Orochimaru dug his way through to the surface as his entire base, built on the blood and sweat of his now deceased grunts, fell in, all in a bid to show his authoritative power and kill Sasori, "Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me!"
With the chakra of the Sanbi running through him freely and surrounding his body, Orochimaru was faster and stronger than he'd ever been, even in his twenties.
Knowing that something was trailing him, upon emerging from the rubble pit that used to be a ninja stronghold, Orochimaru immediately dodged a giant iron arrowhead that released itself to reveal Sasori and a damaged Sandaime Kazekage puppet, "Satetsu Kesshuu (Iron Sand Gathering Assault)!" The mass of iron sand transformed into the sword of a giant before slicing the snake sannin in half with unstoppable force.
The birfucation was clean. Instead of killing him however, it just forced Orochimaru to reattach his upper and lower body with snakes that comprised his insides, "The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin! Iron he treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood!"
Just die. That was all Sasori wanted him to do. He didn't want to hear another word from the bastard unless it came with a death rattle. Cutting him would do no good. Orochimaru had a penchant for developing immunities to poisons.
Bringing his massive Iron Sand assault sword back around, he broke it down and recomposed it into an unstoppable pyramid-shaped spear. This was the ultimate piercing weapon in Sasori's arsenal. It was large and fast enough to obliterate anything in its path, and with the metal in Orochimaru's sword it would be attracted to him and would not miss due to Magnet Release.
Flipping an ungodly distance away from Sasori as the spear was created and began to spin to pick up drilling power, Orochimaru landed on the ground, slamming his hands down, "Kuchiyose: Sanjuu Rashomon (Summoning: Triple Rashomon)!"
Three giant-sized gates with horrifying faces rose up from the ground in order to defend Orochimaru from the 'unstoppable' piercing power of Sasori's attack. Despite the preparation, the pyramid spearhead only smashed through one gate and dented the second before coming to a stop.
Sasori growled to himself and watched Orochimaru appear in a Shunshin at the top of the first gate, his physical features completely concealed by the intensity of the chakra, "He makes the depths churn like a boiling cauldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment. Behind him he leaves a glistening wake; one would think the deep had white hair." He slowly drew his hands together and blurred through hand-seals, "…Nothing on earth is his equal—a creature without fear. He looks down on all that are haughty; he is king over all that are proud."
Using the propellers on his back, Sasori flew through the air at Orochimaru at a punishing speed the moment he saw a single hand-seal. Orochimaru and his ninjutsu; it would be his downfall.
Opening a plate on the right side of his chest, Sasori simultaneously drew a scroll from his back and brought forth his most feared technique, "Akahigi: Hyakki no Souen (Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets)!"
Orochimaru licked his lips in his dark chakra cloak as he finished his last hand-seal, "Fuuton: Kaikan Joukuu (Wind Release: Open Skies)!"
In the air above them, the clouds quickly rotated forming two rings, one inside of the other. Inside of the first ring and outside of the other, the clouds were snuffed from existence, and everything from the sky above to the ground below was torn asunder in a tumultuous, sudden, lethal windstorm.
Sasori's emotionless face was shredded into chunks of wood along with the rest of his body and those of his one hundred puppets right before Orochimaru's eyes. He hadn't seen anything so satisfying in years.
The power of the Sanbi that facilitated that jutsu was delicious. Had he attempted a jutsu of that scope before taking Yukimaru's body he would have risked putting his health at risk. With such a young body to house his soul, with a biju's power to bolster it all… there was nothing he couldn't do.
He could probably use his Eight Branches Jutsu without any adverse effects in the aftermath. Even more perhaps.
Letting the chakra recede so that he could take his normal form again, Orochimaru pulled the Kusanagi sword from his mouth and held it loosely in his hand as he walked through the graveyard of broken puppet bodies.
So many human bodies mutilated and altered to be used as weapons. Sasori had been an artist in his preparation of these men and women for war. This was something that he had always respected about his former partner. With these bodies he had access to oh so many ninjutsu that had been known by their users in life. He had been jealous honestly.
But now he had no reason to be jealous of anyone. Not of Sasori, because why be jealous of a man that could use any jutsu in such a manner when he could do the same with his own body now? Not of the Uchiha for their eyes, because he could take one of the remaining pairs, or go to a man he knew that had several and liberate one from him. It wasn't like his body couldn't take the strain of the chakra drain now, so he could implant one.
The sky wasn't even the limit for him anymore.
SHIK!
Passing by a particular body with a strange core in its chest with a kanji on it, Orochimaru stabbed right through it, eliciting a harsh reaction from the puppet, "Ejecting to a spare body? A paltry trick. You've let yourself become slave to the puppets that you were supposed to be the one controlling."
Honestly, they had been partners. Orochimaru had closely studied every current member of Akatsuki that he could back when he'd been amongst them. He knew of Sasori's little playing possum trick. A man that created a false puppet body for himself would obviously create extras just in case, or even to just tinker around with upgrades on.
"You…" Sasori said softly before his remaining strength left him. Orochimaru had pierced the only living portion of Sasori that existed, "If you do this-."
Instead of hearing him out, Orochimaru just twisted the sword in the core and pulled out the bloody weapon, smiling casually all the while, "Oops. Muscle spasm. My apologies Sasori."
Whatever the now dead puppet master was going to say in warning was irrelevant. If he was telling Orochimaru that there was no going back from making himself a target of Akatsuki, it was laughable to him. Going back to being a nonfactor to those people had ended after he'd left them and taken their ring along for the ride.
He'd been a target from that day forward and while this would only give them a reason to actively pursue them, he now relished the challenge.
Orochimaru arguably had more resources than them. More underlings. Better underlings that would do anything for him. He had enough money to make Kakuzu sell his soul to him as a result of liquidizing the assets he'd filched from Gato. He had the skill to deal with any ability that any member of the organization could throw at him, and the raw power to overwhelm just about any of them.
Hearing the sound of landing steps nearby, Orochimaru turned to regard his new guests on the mutilated portion of forest and base that had served as his and Sasori's battlefield.
Three Konoha ninjas, one injured fairly badly, and one that stuck out to Orochimaru because of what he was; the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. Well wasn't that interesting? To think that Orochimaru of all people now had something in common with Uzumaki Naruto. It was enough to elicit a chuckle out of him.
"What have we here?" Turning around he could see the look of shock on their faces at the destruction around them, "Have you never seen the sort of devastation that can be wrought by a sannin until now?"
They could honestly say that they had not.
Now, standing before the third member of Konoha's most legendary trio, the one that they had never seen in person before, he felt to be a completely different level from Tsunade and Jiraiya, even from a first impression.
If anyone knew, Naruto would know, as he'd dealt extensively with them both. Something about Orochimaru though, just looking at the man and being in his presence stirred a primal response in him to stay away, "…Did you do it?"
"Do what?" Orochimaru asked, feigning ignorance as the grin across his face spread wider, "I'm certain that I don't know what you mean."
Naruto already knew from his battle with Kimimaro that Yukimaru had been given the Sanbi only so that Orochimaru could have a powerful, healthy body to take over. That chakra that Naruto had been sensing from afar had originated from right there, in that very spot, and Orochimaru was the only person there.
"You really took over Yukimaru's body didn't you?" He'd been told it would happen, but it was the sort of thing you had to face down in person to truly accept.
"Does that really make me such a bad person? He wanted to be useful, the same as Kimimaro, the same as every one of my underlings that have achieved great things. He wanted nothing more than to make a difference to the people that saw something in him. There is no greater way for him to do so than to be a part of me."
The man was sick.
And his grin simply never fell, "…You want to attack me so badly don't you?" He asked Naruto, Tenten, and Lee, "You know who I am. You know the reputation I have as your village's greatest contemporary traitor. But you also know that you simply don't have a chance."
Like hell they didn't have a chance, "Screw you!" Naruto said in reply.
From behind Orochimaru, a Naruto clone attacked him with a Rasengan, only to have the jutsu stopped by Orochimaru blocking the clone at the wrist and turning to deliver a kick that destroyed it. He'd done it so fast there wasn't even a chance to wage an official assault on him as a team.
Lee and Naruto looked at each other and at the injured Tenten. She still had one good arm and could still fight to a degree, but it wasn't going to be to the best of her ability.
Orochimaru just chuckled and held up the Kusanagi in their direction as he wagged his finger, "No, no, no. I don't want to fight you children. Honestly, I want to thank you Naruto-kun. I've learned that there's more than one way to achieve your goals. I don't necessarily need an Uchiha body to use the Sharingan, I just need a body that can endure the strain that would come with a Sharingan transplant. Like Yukimaru or yours. A jinchuuriki body."
For emphasis, the pale-skinned man began radiating the Sanbi's chakra to show for certain that he'd procured himself such coveted power.
"N-Naruto, is he serious?" Tenten asked warily, taking a few steps back, "He's like you?"
"Don't be silly my dear." Orochimaru said, allowing a Version 2 chakra cloak to cover his body again, "I'm better than him. Unlike Naruto-kun here, this body naturally subdues the Sanbi instead of propagating a constant struggle against it. Its entire well of power is at my disposal if I'd like. And with that in mind, I'd like you to send a message to Sarutobi-sensei for me." A sadistic glint of intent lay in his eye.
"Run. Run now and don't turn around!" The Kyuubi howled within Naruto's mind. If he wasn't going to let him out to roam free, they weren't going to survive what was coming next, and he wasn't about to die because his jinchuuriki got squashed, "NOW!"
The Kyuubi rarely spoke with such fervor without self-preservation in mind. Even when Naruto fought powerful enemies, the Kyuubi was never so convinced of his incapability to win that it demanded with no concessions that Naruto retreat. He didn't run, and hadn't for a long, long time.
Until now.
He took off as fast as his legs would carry him in the opposite direction, Lee and Tenten following. No one said anything. Even without being sensors, the Team Gai members could feel the chakra exploding from Orochimaru as the trees behind them were uprooted and felled by what was happening with Orochimaru.
His body had grown to titanic levels and had fully transformed. His body took the appearance of a massive turtle-like creature with a large lower jaw, jagged teeth, spikes all over its armored portions of body, two arms, and three large seafaring tails instead of legs. His right eye was closed while the left was open and red.
Still, the Konoha ninjas didn't turn around. They didn't need to in order to know that there was something terrifying behind them. The shadow that was cast over them that took them twenty seconds to move from underneath was proof enough.
"Why can't you do that!?" Tenten asked Naruto aloud as they continued to flee, "Gaara can do it! Orochimaru can do it! What the hell?
"Because it's supposed to be fucking hard to do without losing control!" Naruto shouted right back, "Fuu can't even do it and if Gaara does it someone has to be around that can force him back to normal!"
"This is not relevant to our escape!" Lee chattered, pulling ahead of the other two as Orochimaru's echoing cackles could be heard in the open air in his warped biju voice, "Is this not what one would call a tactical retreat?"
Message sent.
XxX
At a distance, retreating as well on his clay bird, Deidara could see and hear Orochimaru in his transformed state. While he wanted to turn around and go back to tearing Sasuke a new asshole after gaining the edge in the woods, while he wanted to go back and finish capturing Fuu, he was almost out of clay. Feeling Orochimaru transform simply cemented that leaving was the best option.
He'd killed Sasori. That much was a given.
It wasn't worth risking his own life to take them on with sparse ammunition when there would be ample opportunities later. He'd already shown the upstart Uchiha and the mint-haired jinchuuriki that his art was superior, and he'd proven it to Sasori by outlasting the man's lasting art with his own art of a single moment.
Aside from that, the Leader wouldn't be pleased to lose both members of the team of artists in one fell swoop. There were other members of Akatsuki better suited to taking on Orochimaru, and while Deidara wanted to fight him before, now he could definitely admit that it wasn't him.
He would have risked a C3 attack just for the sake of trying to take Orochimaru out, but he didn't have the sufficient clay to do so, just in case it wasn't enough to fell a fully transformed jinchuuriki and he needed more to make his departure.
"This… is an unfortunate development, un."
Omake: Out of Body Experience (Hours 3 and 4 – Naruto's Side)
Shikamaru was a dick. That was all there was to it. Putting out that 'book' for everyone to read… unforgivable. And it wasn't like he was the only one that had some good dirt on anyone, but since Shikamaru had already gone that route simply copying him wouldn't be enough.
Being embarrassed was simply something that Shikamaru found too troublesome to get riled up over anyway. His reputation meant next to nothing to him. The less people thought of him, the less people would ask him to do anything.
Something else had to be destroyed in order to make this right. And several things had to be put into motion. This was merely the next step in flipping his world upside-down.
Naruto had to be extra careful, as Shikamaru had smartened up and finally decided to use all of his chakra that came with his switched body to keep a constant vigil out for him. Clones were everywhere. They were easy to spot though because Shikamaru hadn't transformed them, and they weren't numerous enough to be a real threat because while Shikamaru knew how to do the regular Shadow Clone Jutsu, he didn't know Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.
So while it took a little bit more wheedling than normal, Naruto was able to slither his way around town to get his sweet vengeance on Shikamaru, 'You send my rep to the hospital, I'll send yours to the morgue Shika.'
No mercy for the merciless.
He'd prepared this routine for a full hour, drawing upon past experiences from a time that he'd rather forget while in the Guardians. Who knew that most unfortunate of times would ever come into play once he was back in Konoha. Life skills; you could never tell which ones would be useful.
Once he felt he was back in practice he headed over to the first home that he was going to try this on.
After a few knocks on her door, it was opened by a curious Kurenai, who wondered why exactly Shikamaru was standing outside of her apartment in a tracksuit carrying a boom box, "Shikamaru? Were you looking for Asuma? He's here if you are."
Asuma was there? Great. That would make this doubly effective if Asuma didn't immediately kill him first.
"Actually I'm here for you." Naruto said with a sigh to play up the illusion that this was Shikamaru and he was doing something that he would rather not, "…I never got you a present after I found out you were pregnant, and I feel bad about that, so if you don't mind I'd like to give it to you now."
Raising an eyebrow in interest, Kurenai wondered what kind of present he was referring to and invited him into the living room to receive it.
Then the boom box went on and the tracksuit came off.
(Hours 3 and 4 – Shikamaru's Side)
With his clones scouring the village looking for Naruto, Shikamaru felt that he didn't need to do anything else until he was found. Thus he retreated to the best place he could think of for a relaxing time; the Team 10 training field.
Naruto wouldn't go there because he knew someone would look for him eventually there and he didn't want them to switch back bodies, so he would avoid obvious places where he would be found. That made it a good place for a nap for Shikamaru.
"Damn it, it's hard to nap in Naruto's body." Shikamaru complained to himself, "He's got too much energy to be lazy with."
Before long he felt four presences join him underneath the tree, with one of them kicking him awake, "Get up Shika, I've got a bone to pick with you." Oh. Ino. He'd forgotten that he'd screwed her to the wall pretty hard with his last stunt. He should have seen her coming on the warpath, "We're going to all find Goldie, and we're switching you two dumbasses back before you two make things so bad no one can fix them."
"I would just like to note for the record that I did not start this." Shikamaru said, barely cracking an eye to look at her, "Naruto was the one that ran out of his apartment laughing like a movie villain."
"Actually you did start it." Shizune said with a very disciplinarian stare leveled on Shikamaru. The kind that told him just how disappointed she was in him for going along with this whole thing, "Naruto-kun might have run away, but you were the first one to do anything to the other."
"Preemptive strike."
"That is not an excuse young man!"
"Either way-." Ino interjected, getting back to the heart of the matter, "-You're coming with us. Now get up. Or-." Ino then threw up the hand-seal to take aim with Shintenshin no Jutsu, "-I can make you get up."
Shikamaru couldn't tell if she was bluffing or not, "You're gonna switch your mind into Naruto's body while my mind isn't even supposed to be in it? What'll that do to me?"
"Nothing. When I take over people's bodies I suppress their consciousness. It doesn't go anywhere."
Sighing in resignation, Shikamaru sat up and brushed grass out of his hair, looking at his friends and figure of authority in Shizune before speaking, "Fine. Whatever. I'm so over this whole thing anyway, I-…" He trailed off and looked behind them with a smirk, "Heh, I knew you'd show up here eventually."
Everyone turned around, thinking he was referring to Naruto only to see nothing. That little opening was all it took for Shikamaru to make himself scarce. Even Kiba had been surprised. Neither he nor Akamaru had seen that one coming, "Did he actually run?" That wasn't a Shikamaru kind of move, "Since when does Shikamaru get up and run?"
"Goddamn it!" Ino cried out, "I fell for that!? Why would Goldie even come here? He'd stay as far away from Shika as he could!"
Kiba gave her a toothy grin and put a hand on her shoulder to cheer her up, "Hey we can still totally catch him. I'm faster than Naruto normally. I know I'm faster than Shikamaru would be in his body. Let's go-."
A crushing amount of killing intent was leveled upon the entire field from out of nowhere. It felt like Asuma, but Ino had never felt Asuma truly in a rage before. She didn't even know he had killing intent, let alone that it could be that powerful.
"WHERE IS SHIKAMARU!?" Asuma bellowed, appearing in the training field with the angriest Shunshin ever recorded, "I'm going to put a cigarette out in that brat's eye!" The sound of his shouting frightened even Shizune and made Kiba and Akamaru cringe in pain at the volume, "Do you know what he just did at Kurenai's place?"
Ino wasn't afraid because he wasn't angry with her, just Shikamaru, "No, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have said that if you weren't going to tell me anyway sensei."
Miming the strangling of a human neck, Asuma's fingers cracked ominously, "He stopped over… and he came in saying something about giving Kurenai a present… AND THEN HE STARTED STRIPPING! IN FRONT OF MY PREGNANT GIRLFRIEND! AND IT LOOKED LEGIT! WHY DOES HE KNOW HOW TO DO THAT!?"
Kiba blanched at the mere thought. Oh, Naruto was ballsy for that one. That could have gone wrong any one of a hundred different ways, some involving Kurenai turning his mind to mush with an illusion, others involving Asuma skinning him alive, the rest combining the two jounin reacting accordingly, "Why didn't you stop him man?"
"That's not the point!" Asuma insisted while Shizune just stammered and blushed at the thought, "He finished and said he was going to make other stops, but that the one for Kurenai was 'on the house'! Where the hell else is he going?"
"…You let him finish?" Ino asked incredulously, "You let him finish and then leave? How many songs did he do?"
Upon receiving that question, Asuma's anger sobered slightly as he felt the need to defend himself, "I…I don't know. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I thought Kurenai was messing with me at first, a genjutsu, but I couldn't dispel it."
Ino was not going to shift the blame from Shikamaru to Naruto, who had actually done the deed, because Shikamaru had earned her ire with his little memoirs stunt and the fact that he'd run away again. So he was going to take Asuma-sensei's wrath in the aftermath of this incident if she had anything to say about it.
Shizune leaned over to Kiba and whispered to him while student and teacher continued to talk about 'Shikamaru's' latest stunt. If Ino wasn't going to tell Asuma who had really done it, neither was she, "I'm just wondering, Asuma said something about Naruto mentioning that he was going to make other stops. Does that mean more stripping?"
Kiba just shrugged, "Who else would he go to? How many more women in this village would he actually be willing to risk pulling that crap on, even in someone else's body?" He asked quietly before getting a deep woof from Akamaru that held a potential answer. A very real answer that caused the male Inuzuka to gasp and lower his jaw, "Hana! Mom! Nooooooo!"
Jutsu List
Mugen Ryuukamu (Infinite Dragon's Bite). Ninjutsu, offensive, defensive, all ranges. A follow-up technique to Twin Rising Dragons, with the countless weapons still connected to Tenten's hands by wire she can use them in a secondary attack that can clear a battlefield area around herself. When aiming before beginning her rotation, Tenten can still aim the weapons with her uncanny ability to analyze distance and defensive capabilities of her enemies, making it a dangerous way to dispose of surrounding forces.
Fuuton: Kaikan Joukuu (Wind Release: Open Skies). A-rank ninjutsu, offensive, mid-to-long range. A powerful ninjutsu, it allows the user to manipulate the air currents directly around them, the area of coverage dependent on the control and sheer power of one's chakra. The only guaranteed safe place during this jutsu is in the center where the user must remain for its duration, or else they risk being subjected to the indiscriminately destructive force of the winds as well.