ASN Chapter 7

Advent of the Spiraling Ninja

Chapter 7: Arrival of the Sannin

With Isaribi

Isaribi’s head peeked out of the water, as she observed a boat heading towards the Land of Fire. It was a good distance from the islands this time, and while there were plenty of rocky outcrops, there were no other boats around either. The crew was a small number, and there didn’t appear to be any shinobi on board to stop her, but she couldn’t see inside the ship itself.

This was the perfect spot to sink the ship, but in the process the crew on board would probably drown.

It was unfortunate, but at this point she had come too far to go back.

A little further, a little more time, and she could be completely human again. It was all she had left now, a simple dream of having a normal body without these patches of scales. To accomplish one’s own dreams, they must crush the dreams of others, and if necessary, their lives.

“I’m sorry…” she muttered, knowing her actions were selfish and had cost the lives of dozens of others already. Her hands were stained with blood, and it wouldn’t wash out.

Was that why she saved the blonde-haired boy then? Some form of atonement? A hope that he wouldn’t treat her like a monster if she saved him?

Yes, he treated her kindly, and his mother defended her from the kids, but they didn’t know what she was. She was the Kaima, merely wearing a human skin at the time. She couldn’t go back from what she was before; she could only swim in the sea tinted the color of blood.

So why did tears emerge from her eyes as her head sunk beneath the waves once again and she muttered, “I’m sorry…” again and again.

Cutting through the water, she advanced on the ship and was prepared to send it to the depths. Beneath her was a scarlet colored school of fish seemingly trying to keep up with her, as if racing to get to the boat first. She paid them no mind since she was only three seconds away from accomplishing her objective.

The crimson school exploded in a puff of smoke and revealed several Kushina clones, all holding their breaths with arms extended. One vanished, and the rest had chains emerge from their outstretched hands and entrapped her despite her best efforts to escape. Forcing the chains to the surface, Isaribi was thrown above the surface and into the air, falling down to meet the original…

***

With the Uzushio Group

“So,” Hisako started off from inside the boat that Isaribi was planning to sink. “You want us to stay out of sight while you try to reason with the Kaima?”

“Yep!” Kushina told her while she stood at the entrance to the inside of the boat.

Naruto was behind her and planned to assist in convincing Isaribi to stop sinking boats and possibly join them. He seemed feral since he visited her home earlier and saw that the village brats had gone too far and tried to burn it down while she was away…

They were currently tied up to a tree. Upside down. In their underwear.

The deckhands were too scared to approach so they didn’t bother with hiding their identities.

Sasame was nervously playing with her chakra strings by attaching them to a kunai and then pulling it up and down to test the tension limit. She wished she had enough chakra to use clones to help like Naruto, Kushina, or Hisako. Out of them all, she had the lowest amount but the best control next to Kushina and Menma.

“Why?” Hisako just had to ask. “Isn’t it just a monster?”

“Not necessarily,” Menma chimed in before Naruto snarled at the comment. “The fact that Naruto-kun is alive means that it went out of its way to save him given his recollection of the event. It is possible that this Kaima might be a shinobi with a bloodline-limit rather than an actual monster. The Land of Sound had many people of such attributes.”

“Hisako-chan, how someone looks on the outside shouldn’t be what determines how they are treated. You and I should know because of our hair and pasts.” Kushina smiled at her.

The gears in Hisako’s head turned until they reached a conclusion. “You’ve met who the Kaima really is haven’t you?” Kushina nodded. “I get where this is going—cliché befriending.”

“Good.” Kushina smirked. “Naruto and I will try to convince her to stop and possibly come with us. That’ll solve both problems.”

“I’d be more convinced if the squirt didn’t look like he was going to tear out someone’s throat,” she pointed to Naruto.

“Naruto has issues when it comes to people being treated as monsters for stupid reasons.” Kushina put it lightly.

“W-will it be safe though?” Sasame asked. “Shouldn’t we accompany you?”

“It’ll be fine,” Naruto told her. “She might be nervous if all of us suddenly appeared at once, but she’s already met mom and me. We can…relate to things like this easier. Plus, I saw Mom make two more jutsu sealing scrolls so she might be prepared for anything that can happen.”

“Actually, those are for…explosively hostile situations, not making friends…” she chuckled. “I’ll probably teach Sasame-chan since she’s still closer to learning than you are and lacks your brute strength…”

It was then that one of the Kushina clone’s memories returned. Kushina left to boat and jumped onto the water’s surface before making hand seals. Isaribi in her Kaima form was hoisted out of the water by the clones and launched towards the original.

“Water Style: Water Prison!” Kushina held out her hands and sealed her inside a ball of water that levitated above the surface. Isaribi felt heavy and kept her head down, not wanting to be seen as a monster by the woman who helped earlier.

Naruto landed next to her after leaving his clones to usher the deckhands inside. They didn’t want her to be recognized by anyone who might want revenge. He looked at Isaribi’s form without malice or hatred.

“Isaribi-chan,” Kushina said lightly and the girl’s heart skipped a beat. “I know it’s you. I don’t want to hurt you, but I do want to know your reasons for everything.”

“How…?” she asked dumbfounded.

“Naruto was worried about you and followed you. You haven’t dealt with too many shinobi, have you? We were hired to get rid of the Kaima—”

So they plan on killing me after all, a hopeless dread caused her to smirk at her demise. It was a fitting end to a monster.

“—but considering all things, instead we’d like to hear your story about how this occurred. After that, we want to take you with us if your reasons are sound.”

“Huh?” she blurted out confused.

“We’re planning on restoring our village,” Naruto chimed in. “We want you to join us.”

“After we found out about your transformation, I had my clones gather information on why you were treated like you were. If they knew it was you sinking ships, they would’ve killed you.” Kushina closed her eyes. “Tell me everything about how you were spirited away.”

So, as the boat drifted further away, Isaribi told them her tale. How she was spirited away and then released, only to be shunned. How the very man that did this to her said he would cure her if she did what he said. How she took lives for her own selfish goals…

“Right…” Kushina was seething to the point she had been so angry she failed to notice a certain other redhead’s shadow clone looking at the trio from behind a rocky outcropping. It had been practicing her chakra string-shuriken technique and had finally gotten the hang of it. “Okay, let’s go and see this bastard who did this and get him to turn you back before I send him to the Shinigami’s gut.”

“Why help me?” her form slowly receded back to normal and Kushina let the water prison drop. “I’m just a murderer—a monster!”

“Just because of what you are on the outside doesn’t make you a monster. I can relate to your situation.” Naruto told her bluntly.

“HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND?” she yelled.

Naruto signed. “To be called a monster when you never wanted to hurt anyone, driven away and hunted by people just because you’re different, beaten and abused. The one who manipulated you into everything is the real monster, abusing your trust like that.”

Naruto shook his head and looked down. “Because I—”

Naruto never finished as both he and his mother were forced to separate when the two Oto-nins appeared from beneath the surface of the water. Kushina reacted and had her chains attempt to bind them, but the bastards were too fast. Naruto met with the same conclusion when he couldn’t stop Isaribi from being taken after they rammed their fist into her stomach to render her unconscious.

His whisker marks had darkened and swelled substantially, bloodlust settled in.

“Naruto, control yourself!” Kushina told him. “We know where they’ll be taking her.”

Naruto growled and fell on all fours on top of the water. He ran like a beast towards the island he knew they had taken her to. Kushina swore under breath and sent a shadow clone to go with the kids on the boat while she chased after Naruto and Isaribi.

Hisako’s shadow clone dispersed.

***

With Hisako

Hisako just received the information from her shadow clone and eyed the rest of their little family. Kushina’s clone would be there in roughly three minutes.  Now she had to decide if she should act now or leave the rest up to those two, who were heading into dangerous territory…

“Squirts!” she called out to the Naruto clones. “Go to the deck and look for the originals!”

“Why do we—” she cut off the clone.

“Just go! Given how things have been going lately, and your luck with these things, for all you know things might have escalated!”

“Well, she may have a point…” one of the clones grumbled and the rest followed him out to the deck.

“Menma, Sasame, we have a problem.” Hisako whispered into their ears, not wanting the clones to hear even from outside. “The original pair encountered two of those guys from Oto and went after the Kaima that’s actually a girl.”

“Are you certain?” the gentle boy asked.

She nodded. “Shadow clone I had made before we left too far confirmed it. Normally I wouldn’t be worried with those two, but I’m getting a bad feeling. Kushina sent a clone, but I’d feel better if I could go help.”

“Then, you’ll need a distraction?” Menma guessed.

“W-Won’t it be better if we all go then?” Sasame added in.

“Good point.” Hisako smirked. “We’ll act as a 3-man team. But first we need to turn this boat around. You’ve learned the Zelda’s Lullaby genjutsu haven’t you? Can you control the sound waves to be directed into the deck hands ears alone?

“Avoid the clones and the captain for now. Once we get to the main island, we’ll go after them to Demon Island.”

“Alright,” Menma pulled out his ocarina and began to play a nostalgic tune.

***

Land of the Sea – Mother Island

The Konoha group had made their way to the main island after a long trip. Along the way Anko’s memories had returned and she had passed out. Surprisingly, Jiraiya didn’t do anything perverted.

“What’s wrong with that ship?” Jiraiya asked a random dockworker.

“Who knows?” the dockworker said. “Some of the deckhands fell ill and wouldn’t wake up so they were bought back. Since the ship captain couldn’t work without a crew, they’re halted until everyone is back to normal—hopefully by the end of the day so they can make it to the Land of Hot Water in time. The shinobi on board decided to use the time to go where they believe the Kaima was heading.”

Jiraiya shot Tsunade a glance.

Tsunade scoffed. “Fine, I’ll look at them.”

This isn’t an illness, it’s a genjutsu…Tsunade figured out and dispelled it before meeting with the ship captain. “Who did you say you hired to help guard the ship?”

“It was a woman traveling with a bunch of young shinobi,” the captain rubbed his beard. “They were pretty good at fending off the Kaima the first time it came around with the chains that came out of nowhere. When we left this time, the short boy made a bunch of solid clones and helped the deckhands out.”

Tsunade and Jiraiya raised an eyebrow.

“Well…” Tsunade sighed. “Your crew should feel better by now. We were sent by the Hokage to take care of the Kaima ourselves so it should be safe to travel again…but could you tell us where the other shinobi are.”

“There’s a few of them now,” he pointed to the kids, who were running on water in the distance.

***

With Naruto and Kushina

Naruto and Kushina halted their advance into the base upon receiving an influx of memories.

“The boat got turned around…” Kushina started.

“My clones were hit by a genjutsu and then destroyed.” Naruto added in.

“I’m sure it was Menma-kun who cast the genjutsu,” Kushina sighed. “They had the boat turned around…we have to wrap this up before they get involved.”

The pair ran down the corridor and into a large room with several tubes filled with greenish fluid that housed lifeless bodies of several Kaima. At the end of the room was a pair of steel double doors and a lone figure hidden in the shadows. Stepping closer, they made out the figure’s features.

“Isaribi-nee,” Naruto stopped in the middle of the room with his mother. “You’re okay!”

“Why…?” she had tears in her eyes. “WHY DID YOU COME HERE?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Kushina told her. “I told you we’d help you.”

“You can’t, he’s the only one who can…the one who did this to me…”

“Isaribi-chan, we can—”

“I’m sorry…” Isaribi interrupted as she pulled the rope that hanged above.

The floor beneath the pair opened and they began their decent. Kushina grabbed Naruto and tossed him back up through the hole before the trap door closed.

“Mom!” Naruto yelled to no avail. The steel doors closed and locked behind Isaribi. “Isaribi-nee! Don’t!”

The walls on the right and left rose with slow grating of steel. Three chimeras stalked towards the jinchuuriki from each side. Low grumbles and snarls were directed towards the boy, whose pupils had become slits.

“Get out of my way…” Naruto’s foul mood exploded while a figure watched hidden from sight.

***

With the Uzushio Group

“They came this way…” Hisako looked into the entrance.

“S-should we have f-followed them here?” Sasame asked.

“We’ve already come this far,” Menma lightly grabbed her shoulder. “We’ll be fine if we stick together.”

“Alright…” Sasame nodded.

As the trio made their way inside, they failed to see a certain snake’s right-hand man with silver hair and glasses. He watched them enter the island with mild interest. Of all the people there, a certain orange haired kunoichi caught his attention.

“Well now, this will be interesting…” he mused.

***

With Kushina

Stupid trapdoor separated me from Naruto…Kushina rubbed her forehead. I can track him after I get out of here.

The sound of a foot tapping on the ground was the only warning she received before she rolled forward and summoned a kunai into her hand. She narrowly avoided having her head snipped off by one of two scissor pincers wielded by an Oto-nin. Her hair was once again not so lucky.

“What is with cutting my hair?” Kushina threw the kunai at the shinobi. “Do you know how long it takes to grow it out and still be able to kick ass as a kunoichi?”

“Hehe…” the man snickered as he batted it away. “That’s the purpose of scissors after all. But if it makes you feel any better, I was originally going for your head. It is quite marvelous and I find myself wanting to add it to my persevered collection.”

“Collection?” Kushina shuddered as she noticed markings etching their way across his arm.

“My name is Kanchou ‘Head Hunter’ Masumi,” his body was swallowed by the cursed mark and took the form of a half-human rock scorpion with large scissor pincers for hands and an even larger one as a tail. “I amassed quite a bounty during my time in Iwa before I arrived in the Land of Sound.”

“That poses a problem then…” Kushina muttered.

“Fear not,” he snipped his pincers. “I shall preserve your beauty eternally as a work of art among my finest.”

“I was referring to whether should send your preserved body back to Iwa for the bounty or Konoha to investigate the cursed mark.”

“RAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!!!” a demonic howl echoed throughout the island.

Kushina’s face paled. “Naruto!”

“Ah, that blonde boy who came in with you?” he snipped his pincers again. “I imagine the chimeras would be devouring him about now if my partner hasn’t made a move yet. Such as shame since he somewhat reminds me of the Yellow Flash. His head would have made an excellent trophy…”

“…You’ve just said the wrong thing.” Kushina swiped at a seal on her clothing and two jutsu sealing scrolls popped out. She unraveled them with a single arcing motion and chains burst from within by the dozens, turning the area into a jungle…with just as many explosive tags dangling from the chains.

“Die,” a barrier was erected around Kushina, and countless explosions turned the sealed room into a death box.

***

With Naruto

Crimson claws flashed.

A howl echoed throughout the hidden base.

A single tail had formed.

Draped in a cloak of crimson chakra he stood in the room with the walls painted with the viscera of the chimeras that believed themselves to be predators, only to discover they were at the bottom of the food chain. Their blood and innards painted the room a multicolored scene that belonged in a horror story.

Yet, despite the fact that he had killed the chimeras and was cloaked in power…Naruto was struggling.

“I’ll bet my partner’s done with that woman who fell earlier…your mother wasn’t it?” an effeminate man mocked Naruto in hopes of anger release more of the tainted chakra. “He has a habit of cutting off the heads of his prey.”

Naruto snarled. His crimson chakra boiled over and sprouted a second tail. He rushed at the man. His sharpened claws were ready to rend the man to pieces as it had done the chimeras.

“Your chakra…It’s wonderful,” the man said before extending his palms…and revealed a double-diamond mark. “Dark Style: Inhaling Maw.”

The top diamond glowed as it intercepted Naruto in mid-swing around his wrist and began to drink the tainted chakra of the fox. The cloak was completely swallowed and Naruto was exposed as the man planted his foot into Naruto stomach before aiming his palms at the boy.

“Dark Style: Judgment.” The bottom marks lit up and unleashed a light blue flame that engulfed him. Naruto was slammed against the wall and left in a deepening crater until the flames died and he skid down onto the ground short of breath.

The man grabbed Naruto by throat and began to drink from his inner reserves of chakra. “Does it hurt? I’m sorry, but my bloodline-limit has left me with a deep craving for chakra. It’s a curse for having access to Dark Style techniques.”

The sound of countless explosions came from below and there was a flash in the air.

The darkness-using Oto-nin released Naruto from his grip as a large piece of metal nearly severed his arms and came around again, causing him to leap further back. The weapon landed in the hands of a pissed off red-head who ran to the side of the man’s meal with the two others in tow.

“Hisako-ane…” the boy muttered.

“Sorry we’re late squirt!” she told. “Can you stand?”

“He stole a lot of my own chakra as well as…” he trailed off.

“That red chakra, we saw it but now’s not the time. You can explain later if you want to.”

Naruto hesitated but nodded.

The darkness-user took a good luck at his interloper’s hair and chuckled. “An Uzumaki…how rare. Your kind has some of the best chakra I’ve tasted…The last time I had one of yours was this tasty morsel named Karin I believe. The vitality that your clan has is simply delicious, if Orochimaru-sama hadn’t stopped me, I would have drained her bone dry. That boy probably has some Uzumaki in him, but that secondary chakra of his was so hot, thick, and dark, I couldn’t help but want more than my fill…”

“Let’s see how you like taste of steel!” Hisako rushed forward with kunai in hand.

The darkness-user pulled out two collapsible spikes and advanced as well and the clashing of steel rang throughout the room as the two shinobi danced a waltz of battle. He swung the tip of the right to spike to cut across Hisako’s eyes which she avoided by lowering her head and pressing forward to get inside his guard.

Hisako’s kunai flashed as they targeted her enemy’s throat and thigh—both were aimed at a major artery. She missed when he reversed the grip on one of the spikes and attempted to stab her through the temple of her head while thrusting the other towards the center of chest. She had to roll to the left in order to avoid death.

Before she could recover the Oto-nin leaped into the air and descended towards her with both spikes ready to run her through. Hisako tossed her kunai towards his forehead and he changed his trajectory to land to the side and planted a kick into her abdomen that slammed her through one of the broken glass tubes and tore at her back as she went rolled on the ground.

He charged with spikes raised and prepared to impale her when green chakra strings attached to them. Sasame jerked the strings and they snapped almost instantly. Luckily they deflected the spikes from running Hisako through narrowly to just scraping her, and created an opening that Hisako took and kicked him away from her.

“MENMA!!” Hisako yelled as she winced at the liquid heat going down her back. “I NEED A BOOST!”

“I’ll play the Bolero of Fire!” Menma placed his ocarina up to his lips and began his tune.

His song reverberated in Hisako’s ears. Her chakra flared and became a thin layer of rising streamers; a folded Demon Wind Shuriken adorned her; she charged once again at a speed unlike before.

Hisako swung the weapon in a left-diagonal motion while streaming earth chakra through it. It met the first spike and shattered the weak metal with ease. Using the momentum earned, she bought up her back leg and performed a back crescent kick to his face that shattered the second spear and hit him hard enough to make him stumble back while she unfolded the shuriken.

“Die!” she threw the Demon Wind Shuriken at him in an attempt to bisect him.

His cursed marked activated and swallowed his body. His skin became midnight black; his hair turned blanket white; his teeth became elongated fangs; a smile crept across his face as he slammed his fist into the Demon Wind Shuriken and shattered it.

He jumped at Hisako and his fangs bit into her throat and drained the chakra flowing through her body. The sensational taste of the Uzumaki’s chakra was marvelous and he savored as she slowly stopped struggling due to near immediate exhaustion.

I’m almost completely wiped out in seconds…Hisako gasped as breathing became harder. Just how much chakra does the squirt have to last this long?

“LET HER GO!” Naruto yelled as he swung down his Nine-Tailed Fan in the blade form in an attempt to kill. His strike was intercepted as the man raised his other arm and sucked the chakra streaming from the blade before tossing Hisako into the boy.

“Hisako! Naruto-kun!” Menma yelled as he tossed a kunai with an explosive seal on it at the man and watched as the explosion consumed the darkness-user. He and Sasame rushed over to the two of them and noticed that Hisako was in a pretty bad condition. The back of her clothing was stained deep red and thoroughly wet while she was starting to go pale.

“Such naughty children,” the cursed-marked man emerged unharmed from the flames and rushed forward towards Menma who threw several kunai that were avoided until he got close enough to slam him head first into ground. He then back handed Sasame into the wall. The two support units were swatted and he dove for Naruto while ignoring the injured Hisako.

The fangs were nearing Naruto’s neck when Hisako extended her arm which was bit clean into. She thrust a kunai directly into his eye using her other hand as hard as she could. It went in far until the brain was punctured and death came.

He fell dead now as Sasame and Menma returned to their senses.

“Hisako-ane!” Naruto cried as he looked over his paling sister-figure.

“Squirt…go after the girl you came in for…” Hisako wheezed as her hand fell limply. “Otherwise…this will have…been for nothing!”

“But—” Naruto was interrupted by the sound of a feminine scream coming from further inside.

“GO!” Hisako yelled. “Sasame can heal me! Your moms taught her!”

“I—” Hisako shot a near murderous glare at her. “I-I can do!” Sasame performed seals and began healing it as best she could, but they both knew it was above her skill level at the moment.

Naruto hesitated for awhile and then nodded before leaving, unaware Hisako lied to get him going.

Kabuto watched the entire spectacle from behind entrance doors.

Well, the boy is probably concussed, the Uzumaki is bleeding out, and Sasame-chan isn’t much of a threat…Should I make my move now or…his thoughts trailed off until an explosion caused a once hidden trap door to fly open.

A chain shot to roof and speared deeply into the solid stone. The chain tensed and retraced, hauling up a certain red-haired kunoichi with shorter hair than before. She landed next to the kids and took one look at Hisako’s condition before she looked positively murderous.

“Why did you kids follow us?” Kushina kneeled and began to work on Hisako’s injuries.

“The squirt…” Hisako wheezed. “Further ahead…girl screamed…”

Kushina created twenty shadow clones. “Go find Naruto and Isaribi-chan while I treat Hisako!”

The clones took off while Kushina created five more to work on the kids and a chakra chain barrier to protect them in case more enemies came.

I doubt I can through that barrier…Kabuto decided to use the Hiding in Camouflage technique to trail the clones. Uzumakis are really interesting…

“Hisako…what on earth were you thinking?” Kushina chastised the girl. “I know it must’ve been you who convinced those two into coming here after us and looked what happened!”

“I had a bad feeling…if we hadn’t…the squirt would’ve died.” Hisako told her. “You guys are like family to me and I’d already lost one…”

“You shouldn’t have been so damn head strong…” Kushina plopped a pill in the girl’s mouth. “This plasma pill will kick in and help restore the lost blood, but you won’t be fighting again for some time otherwise the injury will reopen.”

The group was treated in silence until Kushina received the memories of a clone. “Crap, you all stay here while—”

“If we split up things will go to hell and back again,” Hisako pointed out which Kushina mumbled it probably would.

“All you stay with me!” Kushina said after she finished up on Hisako and had her clones carry the kids. “We’re getting my son and Isaribi-chan and getting the hell out of here!”

***

With Isaribi

The girl laid on the ground broken and injured as pain surged through body and her features went into their human form as Naruto and the clones arrived and took in the craters in the wall and floor from high pressured water attacks.

“You son of a bitch!” Naruto snarled at seeing her like that.

“She attacked me,” Amachi stated simply while in his Kaima form. “I fought back.”

“You…” Isaribi broke down crying. “You said you could turn me back…I did everything you asked…I-I killed people for you…”

The clones swamped the girl while running Mystic Palm over her body in hopes of repairing the damage done.

“I consider the fact that I was going to finish her mercy.” the man chuckled. “She can’t be cured and her hands are stained with as much blood as mine. Death is all she could hope for, no one will miss a monster like her.”

Isaribi wept silently as she lost her reason for living so far. The world around her shattered, now that the single belief she held onto was now gone. She was about to attempt to brush Kushina’s shadow clones away and resign to her fate, when a clone spoke up and Naruto stepped forward.

“The only monster here is you,” Kushina’s clone glared at him with hatred in her eyes. “Manipulating a child with false promises into taking the lives of others, and then claiming she was to blame and planning to dispose of her afterwards. You may have the flesh of a human, but you’re the biggest monster in this room.”

“Well, I won’t deny I’m a monster. But unlike her I can transform back and forth perfectly…as for who’s the biggest monsters, you should meet my employers—”

There was a red flash. Naruto stood where Amachi once was, his fist clenched and outstretched. Further ahead of him was Amachi who was pulling himself out of the wall.

“I’ll kick your ass…” Naruto growled. His eyes turned red and his pupils became slits. “I promise you that!”

“Sorry, but he’s still needed…” a voice came from behind Naruto, along with the sound of all the spare shadow clones dispelling, and he turned…only for a chakra scalpel covered palm to gently touched over his heart. The world shook for Naruto, and his heart ached and palpitated while his fox features receded.

There stood three Kabutos. Two were actually corpses that were altered and manipulate through the Dead Soul technique and had access to chakra scalpels. He summoned them from a scroll while watching the banter between them.

“I’ve just severed the Aorta artery from your heart and tore—” Kabuto was interrupted by the original Kushina introducing his face to her fist. It slammed into his head and launched him into a wall.

Kushina spun with her Whirlpool Yo-Yo cut through the moving corpses before she grabbed her son who had fell to his knees and went through hand signs to run a diagnostic over his heart while more clones began working on Isaribi and setting the kids next to her.

If I release the full extent of the Yang chakra seal then the fox should be able to reattach the severed arteries and the other damage he sustained, but he won’t be able to access the fox’s chakra for a couple of days. Kushina figured while her finger tips were aflame with chakra as she slammed them into the seal and twisted; a second layer over writ it with a tribal design and golden chakra washed over Naruto’s body.

Aorta repaired barely, excess internal bleeding being taken care of by the fox…anemia from the severing is going to be a problem…Kushina pulled out a plasma pill and placed it in his mouth. “Naruto, chew and swallow the pill.”

Naruto did so, when someone else decided to use the opening they gave him.

“Water Style: Large Projectile!” Amachi spat out a blast of water.

Kushina held her son in a defensive manner and placed the Whirlpool Yo-Yo in front to intercept. The blast slammed into the main body of the weapon with enough force that it launched her and the kneeling jinchuuriki through the solid stone wall with the Kaima-man following after them.

Which left the injured kids and clones with Kabuto…

“Well, well, if it isn’t Sasame-chan?” Kabuto pulled himself out of the wall. “You’re a naughty girl running away after betraying Orochimaru-sama like that. It seems like the duty of returning you for punishment must fall onto me.”

The clones rushed to assault the man who unraveled a scroll holding two more modified corpses that he activated the Dead Soul technique on and they sprinted forward with hands covered in chakra scalpels.

They tore through the clones at the front while the others used kunai with explosive tags to take out the legs and prevent the corpses from moving. The real Kabuto followed the corpses with even more brutal efficiency, avoiding chakra chains as he carved through the remaining clones with the agility of a jounin.

Sasame was frozen in fear as he made his way towards her slowly once finished with Kushina’s clones. Menma pulled out a kunai and stood in front of her in a defensive crouch with Hisako’s hand on a spare Demon Wind Shuriken.

“Who the hell is the pretty boy?” Hisako asked Sasame before shooting a glance at Menma. “Pretty boy #2 I mean.”

“H-he’s Orochimaru’s personal assistant, Kabuto…” she trembled. “I think he’s a medic-nin…”

“I find it interesting that you’ve all gathered around a jinchuuriki like Naruto-kun,” Kabuto tilted his glasses. “Normally they’re isolated and loathed.”

“Jinchuuriki?” Menma asked.

“It means ‘Power of Human Sacrifice’ and is a term given to those who have chakra demons sealed inside of them,” he answered honestly. “He houses the Kyuubi that attacked Konoha.”

The group looked momentarily stunned before Hisako shook her head. “Who cares? It’s not like the boy ever acted like a demon around me? He’s still getting use to killing for self-defense!”

“Why are you telling us this?” Menma asked.

“I wondered how you would react…I’ve heard of Naruto’s reputation during my stay in the village—mostly the people cheering that the demon ran off—and found it interesting that he still came to the defense of the village that abused him…” his eyes turned cold. “Either way, my curiosity is sated. Now, I must take Sasame-chan back to Orochimaru-sama for her punishment.”

Sasame’s heart sank and she grew cold at the thought.

“I refuse!” Menma said. “You’ll have to go through me!”

“What pretty boy #1 said!” Hisako charged as she unfolded the spare Demon Wind Shuriken and slashed it diagonally at the man in close range. “How tough can a medic be because he took out a few clones?”

Kabuto might have taken that personally since he avoided the slash and slipped to her side before he punted Hisako—hard—out of the same hole Kushina and Naruto went through. “Very. Good luck surviving the fall, Uzumaki or not, you’re still weak from before.”

“Hisako-san!” Sasame cried.

Kabuto appeared in front of Menma faster than he could react and swiped at Menma’s wrists and caused him to drop the kunai.

“That was your flexor tendons!” another strike was unleashed leaving a green arc in the sky. “A cut in the smooth muscle in your stomach lining,” yet another flash was carved into the air, “Next is the cardiac muscle!”

Kabuto continued brutalizing Menma slowly until he ended with a slash across his neck and the boy was kicked on the floor in front of Sasame washed in pain and struggling to breathe.

“Menma-kun!” she began diagnostics and noticed the external jugular vein in his neck was nicked, so he would slowly suffer hemorrhaging. She had to stop it.

“Such a cute attempt, but you can’t save him…” Kabuto chided Sasame. “You have some talent, but the damage is precise and you lack the experience of healing such injuries. I have more experience than you, a weak little girl who has always relied on others and they lost their lives defending you. This boy, the Uzumaki I just kicked to her death, and your cousin.”

“N-no…” Sasame shook her head in sorrow.

“Your dear cousin joined in hopes of restoring your clan do you know what he told me? It was all for you. You were responsible for his death. You’ve wasted his sacrifice and should repent with your life.”

Sasame sat there with tears in her eyes as Kabuto threw a kunai at her forehead. She closed her eyes and prepared to accept death until the sound of clashing metal rang as another kunai intercepted it and they fell to the floor. A certain purple-haired kunoichi landed in front of her.

“What is with kunoichi these days that make them just stand there crying?” she extended her arms and snakes poured out. “Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!”

Kabuto avoided the surprise strike only for time to slow as a buxom blonde woman closed in and raised her fist. He held up his arms in defense. The blow slammed into his arms and he stopped in midair for a split second before he rocketed backwards into the thick rear wall.

“Please!” Sasame didn’t know who they were but she begged them regardless. “You have to save Menma-kun! The others, they’re already…”

“It’ll be okay,” the blonde told her. “It won’t take me too long to help him and the girl…”

“Why are women knocking me into walls today…?” Kabuto wondered as he pulled himself free of the wall…again.

“How the hell are you still alive after that?” Anko asked.

“A technique I invented. I sent chakra to the estimated location of the attack and simply began to regenerate and recreate cells before they were damaged…” he winced as he stepped to the side. “Although I’ll need more time before I can do anything effective…until next time, Anko-senpai.”

Kabuto vanished down a hatch hidden in the floor. Anko was preparing to chase him when a scream came from outside and the Sannin both the recognized the name.

***

With Hisako

Hisako was falling down the rock side of the cliff after being kicked out by Kabuto when a blonde dart shot towards her from below.

“Hisako-ane!!” Naruto yelled as he jumped to grab her before she hit the water. His feet clung to the rock side using chakra, as she hung by her outstretched arm that he grabbed with both of his hands and struggled to keep hold. “What happened?”

“Well, I learned to never underestimate a medic-nin again,” she looked up at Naruto. “Where’s your mom?”

“I’m just a clone,” the Naruto told her nodding to the mother and son who were facing against Amachi and his summoning. “The originals have their hands full and I was going to check up on you guys.”

Naruto’s clone fell to the surface of the water with Hisako in his arms bridal style. “Can you give me a lift in a less embarrassing manner?”

***

With Kushina

“Damn,” Kushina swore as her clone’s death related information back to her about the man known as Kabuto. She thought she hit him into the wall hard enough to kill him. “Multi-Shadow Clone!”

Thirty Kushina’s appeared and rushed back to aid her surrogate kids while the original avoided another water blast from the Kaima-man. Kushina somersaulted forward while throwing her Whirlpool Yo-Yo at the man below. The Kaima-man batted the weapon away with scaled arms and then held the up to fire scales at her like a rain of shuriken.

“Wind Style: Cross Gale!” two clones roared as they sent the blades of wind at the man whose scales could not be cut. Four more Narutos ran towards him while extending chains from their hands and entrapping him. “PULL!!”

The clones hoisted the scaled monstrosity into the air and the two from before leaped with their Nine-Tailed Fans in blade form and streaming chakra. They targeted his eyes since the scales couldn’t be cut. It was a viable target given the circumstance and they saw Hisako do it.

The Kaima-man grabbed the chains that bound his arms and pulled them with a strong jerk to hoist the clones into the air before shooting them with his scales and then blasting the other two with a shot of water from his mouth. He landed on a rocky outcropping…only jump again.

A Demon Wind Shuriken imbued with earth chakra had flown towards the Kaima-man and littered the air with rubble as it impacted the large outcropping and shattered the top half into a shower of pebbles while passing through.

Kushina landed on the rough and unevenly stable remains and threw the Whirlpool Yoyo laced with water chakra with intent to kill as Hisako—riding on a clone’s back—landed next to her.

“I can’t be cut!” Amachi bought his hands up in defense and relied on the scales to defend him. The saw slammed into them and threw up a shower of blue sparks and scattering drops.

“Maybe you can’t be cut…” Hisako tugged on her finger. The chakra string attached to the Demon Wind Shuriken reached maximum tension, but held and redirected the earth chakra laced weapon back. The weapon slammed into Amachi’s back and shattered the scales and his spine at the waist. “But you can be broken…”

He howled in anguish as he fell towards a jagged outcropping. He hit hard and the scales on his stomach caved in and were run through. “And you can be pierced.”

“Wind Style: Air Bullet!” a dozen more Narutos roared as they pour the chakra that made up their existence into a blast of pressurized air.

The spheres flew towards a humanoid mass of water held together by chakra. They impacted and ruptured. The released force tore it apart…only for it to reform…Madder than before.

“What does it take to kill you!” the original Naruto roared as he his blade was streaming enough chakra to create a blade ten times his size. He swung it down and bisected the creature, only to meet with the same results.

The Umibozu howled and lashed out with numerous gelatinous tendrils and ensnared the jinchuuriki and tried to drag him inside.

“NARUTO!!” he recognized his mother’s cry and shot a chakra chain towards sound before being swallowed into the center of the creature.

Kushina, Hisako, and the remaining clones desperately pulled at the chain the original blonde shot out. Yet, despite their efforts, neither was able to budge due to the viscosity of the creature’s insides. Naruto was running out of air and would drown at that rate, no longer able to access the fox’s chakra.

“Water Style:—” Kushina froze as her ears heard the incoming attack and looked towards the location. The injured Kaima-man made the final seal and targeted Kushina. “Water Fang Bullet!”

The water surrounding the group churned and formed drilling tendrils that arched toward them. The Naruto clones intercepted them before they could hit his mother and older sister figure, as chains emerged from the stone surface and formed a barrier. And the life line chain of Naruto was severed.

Can’t die like this…Naruto looked on helplessly as he involuntarily took one last gasp. He stopped struggling as his consciousness began to fade from the water entering his lungs. The chain he supported began to lose its solid form and fade as it fell from the severed end…

Damn it…sorry mom…guys…were Naruto’s last thoughts as all hope seemed lost…

A feminine hand grabbed the chain before it could vanish completely and tugged. In an instant, the blonde jinchuuriki went flying from inside the spectral creature and fell into the arms of an older woman that looked the same age as his mother. Her hands were lit with a soothing green light that and placed over his chest.

“Guhp—!” Naruto coughed and took in a revitalizing breath of air.

“Tsunade…” Kushina muttered with her gazed fixated on the Sannin in front of her as she received the memories of her clones sent to help the kids.

“The other kids are fine,” the slug princess announced. “The medic with the glasses got away though.”

“WHAT!!” Amachi roared from his stone pike and spat blood before the water behind him erupted in a pillar. From it, a large black snake emerged and hissed. Taking one good look at the man, it opened its mouth and lunged.

“WAAAA—” the Kaima-man’s cries were cut off by the sound of the stone being shattered as he made his way into the stomach of the snake.

“God that felt good…” Anko sighed before landing next to Tsunade with Isaribi and Menma over her shoulders and Sasame landing shortly afterwards as well. “I’ve been wanting to kill him since I got my memories back.”

The spectral creature howled in a ghastly roar that awoke Naruto from his dreamless slumber.

“Fire Style:—” His eyes caught sight of a red and white blur as it rushed past the recovering party. It dashed across the water before taking to the air towards the Umibozu and casting a large shadow below. It wielded a pitch black sphere that was coated in burning flames and a hellish glow. “—Great Flame Rasengan…”

“Jiraiya!” Kushina whispered.

The toad sage had only one word for the monstrosity: “Burn.”

The sphere was thrust into its body and spiraled, the contents of the Umibozu were ignited and spun in conjunction with the sphere and became a vortex of flames and engulfed the summoning. The flames roared and consumed even the sea below the Umibozu, boiling it before the intense heat. With a mournful snarl the summoning fell into the sea of flames before evaporating gracefully.

“Mom…” Naruto said weakly as he observed the man standing with flames in the backdrop and his white hair gallantly dancing along with the embers in the wind. “Who is that?”

Hisako sat there silently blushing. Her eyes were entranced by the elegance and destruction he unleashed in an instant while radiating power. Even the sea itself could not put out the blaze that spread across the surface of the water mixed in with the remains of the Umibozu.

Despite Kushina’s previous grievances with the man, even she stood in awe at his display of power. He was a sannin and Minato’s sensei for a reason.

“His name is the Gallant Jiraiya…Toad Sage, Sannin of Konoha, Mentor of the Fourth Hokage…” Kushina looked at her son with gentle eyes she had a soft smile on her face. “And Godfather of Naruto Uzumaki.”

***

Canon Jutsu:

Water Style: Water Fang Bullet – Deals physical damage and increases killing power of water by adding spinning motion to pressurized water.

Water Style: Large Projectile – When in Kaima Form, the user is able attack with a blast of water from their mouth.

Fire Style: Great Flame Rasengan – Jiraiya’s variation of the Rasengan, he spews fire onto it causing it to turn black and be surrounded by a ring of flames.

Dark Style: Inhaling Maw – Absorbs the chakra of another shinobi through physical contact and can completely remove inner reserves causing death.

Dark Style: Judgment – Releases converted chakra from Dark Style: Inhaling Maw into a light blue flame to blow enemy away with amplified strength.

Non-Canon Jutsu:

Zelda’s Lullaby – Traps others in a deep slumber.

Bolero of Fire – Increases Chakra Output

***

Notes:

Okay, once again I ramped up the danger level of course. Basically, this chapter would be the example of a rescue mission gone wrong when you have people that are genin level going against people who are clearly above their skill level and don’t have clan techniques. They were lucky to walk away alive.

Kabuto makes such a good villain with his words and sadism. There’s a reason he’s one of the final bosses in the series. He basically went he same route as he did with Sakura in breaking her before throwing a kunai to kill her like in the anime. His manipulating the corpses to attack in conjunction is based off his Ultimate in the game series: Death Technique: Returning Soul Play.

Also, I’ve demonstrated why you don’t talk or not pay attention in the middle of the battle…or underestimate enemies…good thing Uzumaki clan members can take a hit…

Menma’s techniques with his ocarina are basically songs from Legend of Zelda. Why? Because I wanted it to be and how many series do you know that actually use ocarinas?

Naruto hadn’t signed the Toad Contract, nor did he have access to a fire jutsu or the fox’s chakra to kill the Umibozu. Wind might scatter it, but it will just reform until you evaporate it.

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