254Disclaimer: - I, SSG-Goku3397, do not own Naruto and any related matter. It all belongs to Kishimoto, the original brain behind the character Naruto. The only thing that I do own is the plot of this story and any original jutsu, seals, concepts and OC's that are present within the story.
'Thoughts'
'Bijuu / Jinchuriki Mode / Summons Thoughts'
"Speech"
"Bijuu / Jinchuriki Mode / Summons Speech"
Jutsu
Letters / Jutsu notes
"Telepathic Speech"
"Bijuu / Jinchuriki Mode / Summons Telepathic Speech"
Chapter 25 – The Fall of Mouryou
==========Dawn, 2nd September, Numa no Kuni==========
"What the hell is that?" Karin asked as she shivered from the dark feeling of the creature's chakra. Everyone except Shion shrugged to show that even he or she did not know what it was.
The creature, Karin was referring to, was partially hidden within the black smoke rising from the now active volcano. The silhouette showed a similarity to a nine-headed oriental dragon with glowing red eyes and an aura of black-purple chakra covering its body.
"No… no… no…" Shion kept repeating as she shivered in fear and shock getting the attention of the gathered shinobi.
"Hime you alright?" Kurotsuchi asked with concern as Shion fell on her knees and stared at the monstrous beast hiding its true form within the black smoke.
"This cannot be happening! Mouryou should have still been trapped, none but my line can release the beast! How did he escape?" Shion asked no one in particular as she sat there and stared at the monster hidden in the smoke. At the same time, everyone gasped in realization of what was in front of his or her eyes. This was the demon that Akatsuki was after.
"Shit! I will find Naruto. The rest of you take the High Priestess away from here!" Sasuke ordered only for Kurotsuchi to interject, "You will need Senjutsu to fight the demon. Naruto-kun fought against the soul of the beast possessing a human host. He said anything other than senjutsu just doesn't harm it."
"Not quiet, holy chakra will harm Mouryou but without my mother, it will be impossible. I just do not have the reserves of holy chakra she had. In fact, I have barely enough holy chakra to maintain the seal, which is now irrelevant." Shion said calming down, "If the seal still exists, I may be able to seal the beast away…"
"I hear a 'but' in there!" Sakura said with apprehension getting a nod from the Priestess.
"But, I will have to sacrifice my life to seal him again." Shion said with a sad tone getting an understanding nod from Sasuke.
"That is only if the seal remains intact. Was the seal inside the volcano?" Sasuke asked getting a slight nod from Shion. Sasuke nodded to himself before a dark blue ethereal ribcage formed around him. "I will just check on the seal and come back. Wait for a few moments please."
"What should we do Sasuke?" Jugo asked with a serious expression causing Sasuke to stop. After a moment of thought, Sasuke smirked and said, "I think it is time that you start exercising your new found control over your Sage Transformation."
"What? Why?" Jugo asked only for Sasuke to smirk and vanish into a swirling portal. "Why would he say that?"
"Because there seems to be some kind of chakra constructs moving under the canopy. The chakra seems to be very vile in nature, similar to Mouryou's!" Karin said causing Naruto's Team to stiffen in horror.
"Chojuro, Sakura, Suigetsu, and Jugo, you four handle the terracotta soldiers. They are immune to Ninjutsu, only Taijutsu, Kenjutsu, and Senjutsu affect them. Karin, you and I will be protecting Shion." Kurotsuchi said with authority causing everyone to nod. Karin approached the horrified Shion and crouched down in front of her.
"Get on my back. I will be sure to keep you safe." Karin said with a grin causing Shion to dumbly nod and get on the red haired girls back and not a moment too soon, as multiple terracotta arms emerged from the canopy followed by the bodies of the terracotta soldiers. A black-violet aura of vile chakra covered all of the soldiers causing everyone to shiver.
"Oh my Kami, they are stronger than before!" Sakura said with a shaky voice when Jugo interjected, "Why fear these puppets. They don't have bonds to strengthen them!"
Everyone nodded in understanding as Jugo's right arm transformed into a large sledgehammer while his left became a crescent moon shaped battle-axe. His face transformed into a demonic form while his eyes glowed green with suppressed senjutsu chakra. With a yell, Jugo jumped forwards and brought down his sledgehammer hand down on top of one of the terracotta soldiers crushing it to dust.
"See, they are puppets, and like all puppets, they are easy to break!" Jugo said with a grin as his face returned to a peaceful one, at the same time, a terracotta soldier jumped towards Jugo with its spear ready to pierce the orange haired boy's heart. Jugo sensed the soldier but just stood there, to the shock of everyone, who exclaimed for the boy to be careful. To their surprise, an ethereal blue skeletal arm appeared and crushed the soldier with ease.
"The seal is gone. We have no choice other than using the same seal that Naruto and I used to seal away Orochimaru!" Sasuke said as he materialized from a vortex. As everyone stared at Sasuke in shock, Naruto flew into the clearing in his sage mode as Tobi tried to kill him by piercing his heart with a kunai only for Naruto to flicker out of existence and reappear beside Sasuke.
"What happened to Kisame?" Kurotsuchi asked only for Naruto to grunt out, "I dismembered him but Tobi and Zetsu saved him. They even got Samehada as well. Tobi is far more difficult to handle than I thought."
"Kakuzu is dead," Sasuke said before both dodged a blast of fire from Tobi and charged at the phantom ninja with their swords drawn, both Sasuke and Naruto clicked their tongues when their swords went through Tobi's body.
"What's the matter? You can't seem touch me!" Tobi taunted before he threw a kunai at Shion only for Kurotsuchi to shoot it down with a small blast of jinton chakra from her pointed index finger.
"I will hold you off long enough so that Mouryou can regain full control of his abilities before Pein can subjugates him and takes control of his army. Isn't Tobi a good boy?" Tobi said with a maniacal laugh causing everyone's eyes to twitch.
"Naruto, activate the barrier to protect the rest. I will handle Tobi after which we can deal with Mouryou!" Sasuke said before he vanished in a small spark of lightning and reappeared behind Tobi with his sword erupting form his chest.
"Tch, damned Kamui!" Sasuke said as Tobi tried to stab Sasuke's throat only for the kunai to pass through Sasuke.
"I can say the same thing."
"At least I can hold you here until you are force to get away before you rematerialize." Sasuke said with a smirk as he saw Naruto create the barrier around the others. A translucent silver barrier formed around the group. When one of the Terracotta Soldiers tried to break through, it found itself on the other side of the barrier.
"Guys, this barrier has enough charge to keep active for the next three days. Do not walk out of it, if you do, you will not be getting back in. Now I need to handle Mouryou!" Naruto said as he jumped out of the barrier and flickered out of existence.
The group within the barrier watched as the terracotta soldiers tried and failed to barge into the barrier space only to find themselves on the opposite side. At the same time, they saw Tobi and Sasuke pierce each other and wait until one of them loses concentration on their Kamui.
At the same time, Naruto rushed towards the volcano as Mouryou finally emerged from the smoke in all of his horrific glory. Mouryou's body was black-purple with a deadly violet aura of chakra creating a thin layer above his skin, his nine pairs of red eyes watched Naruto approach with malice. His massive serpentine body writhing as he slithered towards Naruto with the intent to kill the blonde jinchuriki.
"Is he about to do what I think he is?" Kurotsuchi asked with concern only to get a sigh from Sakura.
"Yeah he is. He wouldn't be Naruto if he didn't do it!"
"What is he about to do?" Shion asked curiously only to get a suffering sigh from Sakura and Karin.
"Watch and you will see." Karin said as the group watched Naruto suddenly burst into golden flames with streams of silver wind mixing with the flames. They watched as Naruto drew both Shi no Hokori and Houou no Ken and set the first on flames and coating the latter's blade in silver winds.
The group watched as he suddenly flickered and reappeared on Mouryou's back, right where the nine necks met the body, and made a cross slash releasing a cross-shaped wave of golden flames and silver wind before flickering onto a jutting spire of rock.
"That didn't even do anything!" Shion said in disbelief as the cross-shaped wave of golden flames and silver winds exploded into a massive ball of pale golden flames before dissipating showing Mouryou's was barely charred skin.
"This will be hard. Naruto is giving it his all without resorting to the Rinnegan or Kurama." Sakura said getting a tense nod from Kurotuschi.
"It seems that Naruto-kun is having a bit of trouble with Mouryou." Tobi observed only for Sasuke to grunt as he watched Naruto flicker into position above Mouryou. He tapped the hilts of the katana and odachi causing them to temporarily join, before flipping himself so that his head pointed downward, he raised the joined blades above his head before he started to spin creating a massive twister of pale gold flames that rushed towards Mouryou and engulfed him in a massive pillar.
Both Uchiha watched as Mouryou roared out in pain before a massive wave of the vile chakra erupted from within the pillar, snuffing out the pale gold flames like that of dying candle. While externally, Sasuke did not show any emotion, inwardly he was worrying for Naruto. Until now, they have not met a foe they could not take down together. However, this time, Naruto was up against the monstrous demon Mouryou, a demon that seemed to be strong as any Bijuu. A demon that seems to be durable enough to easily shrug off some of Naruto's more powerful senjutsu enhanced kenjutsu techniques.
'You truly are a monster Mouryou, to be able to survive Naruto's Kaentatsumaki o tsuiraku sa seru was nothing to scoff at. Even his senjutsu enhanced Susanoo becomes cracked form the massive damage the technique does. To dispel the technique with just a mere release of chakra is truly worrisome. I hope Naruto can hold Mouryou back long enough so that I can deal with Tobi and get to his aid." Sasuke though with a grim frown.
"What, nothing to say? Aren't you worried for dear Naruto-kun? I surely would be if that was my best friend out there!" Tobi said with a maniacal laugh causing Sasuke to glare at the rogue Uchiha with his Mangekyo glowing ominously.
"Be carefully what you say Tobi. It may just be your last. We don't want any regretful events to happen, do we?" Sasuke said with a carefully hidden malice that Tobi noticed but decided to ignore in favor of observing the battle between Mouryou and Naruto.
With a massive roar, Mouryou struck like a viper at Naruto with one of his heads, the violet fangs dripping blue acidic saliva. Naruto jumped into the air as the head crashed into the spire on which he was standing moments before. While he was in the air, Mouryou's other heads struck at him one after another. Some he deflecting with swings of his swords, his strength enhanced by senjutsu. Others he flickered out of existence and reappeared at some different position in the air.
"You are one naughty snake. If you keep it up, I will have to make a snake skin cloak out of you!" Naruto taunted causing Mouryou to glare at the blonde haired jinchuriki with his glowing red eyes before the monster roared at the boy releasing massive waves of violet corrupted flames. Using Tenmetsu suru tenmetsu, Naruto vanished from the path of the flames and reappeared on top of a spire of jutting rock right behind Mouryou. He raised the odachi above his head as a massive quantity of silver wind flowed towards the blade as crimson blade glowed silver. A sharp whistling sound drew the enraged Mouryou's attention as all nine heads turned to the source just as Naruto swung the odachi down at him releasing a silver oriental dragon made of sparkling wind at him, calling out, "Senpo: Ginryuuha!"
The nine-headed dragon demon watched as the silver wind dragon, easily half its own size rushed towards him. With narrowed eyes, Mouryou growled as his nine maws glowed with an eerie violet glow before he released a massive wave of flames at the technique expecting the flames to dispel it. To the demon's surprise, instead of the technique dispelling, it absorbed his flames and then changed into a massive fiery from, glowing the same sinister violet color as his flames. The dragon demon tried to move away he heard Naruto exclaim, "Fuinjutsu: Tokui-ten yokusei fuin!" To the dragon's surprise, all the placed Naruto had appeared on his body, large man-sized black orbs formed, restraining his movement of that particular part and its surrounding areas. With a growl of frustration, the demon watched as the sinister violet dragon made of his flames and silver wind crashed into him and erupted in a massive pillar of flames.
"Those are some cool techniques!" Shion said with awe as Suigetsu watched with a gaping mouth. Jugo just watched with mild curiosity at Naruto's unique style and mastery of senjutsu. Karin, Kurotsuchi, and Sakura watched with pride at the fight Naruto was putting up against the monster. Chojuro watched with a grim expression, he knew from previous experience that Naruto did not normally resort to such chakra intensive techniques unless it was a dire situation. He hoped that he was overestimating the threat Mouryou possessed because he did not want to think of the alternative.
The group watched as the flames subsided revealing most of the top of the volcano was gone, molten rock flowing down even though the volcano had yet to erupt with its full pyroclastic fury. To their surprise, a couple of Mouryou's heads along with the necks were completely gone with most of the rest terribly charred. Extensive burns covered his whole body, which looked quite painful.
"I must say Ningen; you are the first to truly harm me without the use of holy chakra, even if you had to use my own flames against me. For that I shall honor you by slaying you in my human form!" Mouryou growled out with malice causing a shiver to run down everyone's spines.
"So what, I still haven't used my full power yet!" Naruto exclaimed with anger getting a dark chuckle from the demon.
"You were barely able to handle my dragon form. What makes you think you will be able to handle my human form? Just between us, I am far stronger in human form, than I am in my dragon form! You won't have a chance!" Mouryou exclaimed as he glowed with an intense violet light. Within the nimbus of light, Mouryou's body started shrinking before it started gathering into a ball of violet light that then collapsed into itself revealing a regal looking man with slightly pointed ears and claws. His eyes were blood red with slit pupils. He had long flowing violet hair tied in a long braid. Tribal tattoos in the shape of dragon scales adorned his face and arms. He was clad in pale lavender fundoshi and hanjuban. Above it, he wore a violet hankimono and sashinuki hakama. Black ninja tabi covered his feet. Finally, a demonic looking katana was strapped to his waist, through the pale lavender obi.
"What? Cat got you tongue, or is it dragon in this case?" Mouryou said with a malicious grin as he floated in the air, right above the churning magma.
However, no one but Naruto was close enough to see Mouryou in his human form, but all of them could feel the malicious presence floating in the air. The presence seemed to have nearly tripled since Mouryou shrunk into his human form. Naruto was sweating form both the heat and the heavy dark presence in front of him. Before Naruto could even react, Mouryou appeared in front of him with sheer speed that rivaled Naruto's tenmetsu suru tenmetsu and proceeded to swing the demonic blade at Naruto in hopes of bisecting the blonde-haired jinchuriki from head to groin. Naruto was barely able to parry the strike before a heavy kick threw him back.
Crashing through one of the spires, Naruto nearly fell into the boiling magma when a clawed hand roughly grabbed his face and threw him through another spire and onto a small jutting platform of rock. Groaning in pain, Naruto looked up to see a wave of violet chakra flying at him. Reacting on instinct, Naruto channeled a massive quantity of chakra into the odachi and swung it down calling out, "Kenpou: Senpou: Tan'itsu no nenshou-ha!"
A massive wave of golden flames erupted from the slash and flew towards the approaching wave of violet chakra. The onlookers watched as the golden fire and violet chakra fought for dominance before both imploded into a dense ball of glowing white meta-stable chakra before exploding in a massive shockwave.
"Naruto!" Sakura and Kurotsuchi screamed in shock as the shockwave blew away most of the mountaintop. A tremor flew by under their feet before the volcano erupted.
"Don't worry; Naruto-sama is still alright! I can still sense his massive chakra presence, though Mouryou's presence still exists as well." Everyone turned to Karin and nodded in understanding.
"Karin, give a running commentary of the battle. You are the only one who knows what is happening there!" Jugo said causing the girl to nod in agreement and focus her attention on the battle.
"Naruto-sama is having a bit of trouble. Mouryou is a good enough swordsman to easily rival Naruto-sama. Both of them are still near the volcano, trading blows with their blades. Ah, it seems that Naruto-sama is being slowly pushed back towards us, or he is retreating to get to a better place. He just dodged and parried a complex twelve-slash combo and countered with his own seven-slash combo. Mouryou easily parried and dodged all the slashes and tried to kick Naruto-sama in the gut only for Naruto-sama to flicker from existence and reappear behind the demon and strike out with an overhead slash hoping to at least cripple Mouryou's right arm. Oh, that's got to hurt!"
"What's got to hurt?" Sakura asked with trepidation.
"Huh, oh Naruto-sama was feinting with the overhead slash; he used his katana to disembowel Mouryou. Unfortunately, it seems that the demon has a very powerful regeneration ability. The slash has already been healed to a skin-deep one." Kurotsuchi, Sakura, and Shion gasped at that revelation.
"This will be Naruto-dono's greatest challenge yet." Everyone turned to see Jugo sitting on a crystal tree branch with his eyes closed. Karin could sense natural energy flow into Jugo and then flow out in a steady rhythm. "Karin please continue."
"Anyway, it seems that they are close by now. They should be in visual range soon, though it seems that fighting someone that has such a great regeneration is taking the toll on Naruto-sama. He seems to be in his bijuu sennin modo. Even now, he is barely keeping up with Mouryou. They are exchanging sword strikes too fast to explain." Karin said just before she gasped, "Oh no, Mouryou has gotten an edge on Naruto-sama. He is suffering from multiple lacerations, some skin deep, others bone deep. His left arm is crippled. The tendons have been cleaved in half. He will be lucky to regain full motion with that arm."
"How will we defeat Mouryou now? Even Naruto-sama is not being able to defeat that monster!" Choujuro said in panic only for Jugo to grin.
"I don't think so. A sage isn't so easily defeated!"
"Damn, Mouryou kicked Naruto-sama towards Sasuke and Tobi!" Karin screamed in frustration as everyone turned towards the direction Tobi and Sasuke were.
"It seems that Naruto-kun has finally bit off more than he could chew! Tobi's done his job, now is the time for Tobi to escape, sayonara!" Tobi said causing Sasuke to glare at the rogue Uchiha just before Naruto crash-landed near them. The momentary distraction was all Tobi needed to get out of Sasuke's range and escape, but not before throwing a kunai with an explosion tag at the prone Naruto. Before Sasuke could react, the tag exploded in a massive fireball gaining screams of pain from inside.
"Naruto!" Sasuke exclaimed and tried to reach him when Mouryou appeared and tried to take off Sasuke's head with a fast slash, only for the blade to phase through the Uchiha. Sasuke turned to Mouryou with a glare, "Who are you?"
"Silence Ningen, I won't be talked to with that insolent tone!" Mouryou growled out only for Sasuke to clench his teeth in anger. "Hmm, it seems that the gaki won't live to finish our fight. I really wanted to see him beg for death!"
Hearing Mouryou, something within Sasuke snapped. A massive burst of silver chakra erupted from Sasuke as a crescent moon shaped symbol appeared on his left palm. Mouryou watched with curiosity as a silver-blue ribcage materialized around Sasuke before the boy raised into the air as a full body formed around the ribcage, violet armor formed around the silver-blue humanoid figure with Sasuke in the forehead.
"That's not something you see every day! Tell me Ningen, what is this technique?" Mouryou asked only for Sasuke to create a magatama out of black flames and threw it at the demon who was barely able to get away when a chain of black fire nearly cleaved him in half.
"Because of you, I lost my best friend and then you had the gall to mock him! I will make sure to make you pay!" Sasuke exclaimed as he materialized a crossbow with a silver-blue lightning arrow. With a scream of rage, Sasuke released the arrow calling out, "Indora on Ya!"
Mouryou watched as the arrow left the crossbow and reappeared right in front of him before he could even react. A massive explosion temporarily hid Mouryou from sight. When the light and smoke dissipated, everyone watched with awe as Mouryou's body was covered in dark burns and deep lacerations. The interesting thing was that the wounds were healing at a fraction of the rate they were healing at before.
"I must say that I didn't realize that you could use divine chakra. That will be troublesome, but no mere ningen can kill me!" Mouryou mocked when massive pillars of silvery-gold flames erupted around him in a circle before fusing into a massive dome of solid flames before dissipating revealing parts of Mouryou's body flaking into black ash.
"Kenpou: Senpou: Ennetsu Jigoku!" Naruto had called out with a rough voice as he walked forward.
"Naruto's alive!" Kurotsuchi exclaimed with tears in her pink eyes while the others watched with shock and awe as ash gathered formed on parts of his body before flaking off revealing pristine skin underneath.
"How? I was sure that I felt his chakra fade while his heart stop beating!" Karin exclaimed in shock as Mouryou asked the same question. No one realized what the answer was about to be.
"Senpou: Hai Shitai no Tensei! A kinjutsu that can be setup to come into effect when the user dies. Like a phoenix being reborn from its ashes, the jutsu allows the user to access to that ability by sacrificing a portion of their remaining life force." Naruto explained before he looked up at Sasuke in his new Susanoo. "Mastered Rikudou no In no Chikara have you, that's good."
"What are you blabbing about Ningen?" Mouryou asked as his burns slowly healed.
"You don't need to know demon. The only think you need to know is that your demise is nearby." Naruto said as his body bust into a sliver and gold cloak of chakra with black markings flowing over the cloak. Naruto closed his eyes before opening them to reveal his Rinnegan but instead of purple, it was silver. "My death and subsequent resurrection allowed me to understand the concepts of life and death. With that knowledge, I realized what I was missing. Now face the power of two Rikudou Sennin!"
"Rikudou Sennin? How can that be? You would need the Rinnegan?" Mouryou said with confusion as Sasuke dispelled his Susanoo and landed beside Naruto in a similar cloak of chakra. The only difference was that Sasuke's was silver and blue with black tribal markings to Naruto's more symmetric ones.
"Let's take this to the next level, shall we Sasuke?" Mouryou suddenly felt a shiver run down his spine.
"Yes let's show this piece of trash what happens when they mess with humans!" Sasuke said before both flew into the air following the injured Mouryou, who had ran as soon as he realized the level of power the two shinobi before him were wielding.
"Kenpou: Senpou: Joukaku Enjou!" Naruto called out as two lines of pale gold flames erupted from the tip of his blade and encircled the fleeing Mouryou. At the same time, Sasuke stabbed his sword forward calling out, "Kenpou: Senpou: Joukaku Raijou!" Like with Naruto's technique, two forks of silver blue lightning erupted from the tip of the blade and encircled the fleeing Mouryou. Before the techniques could change into a solid dome, the two sages' teleported into the encircled area as the flames and lightning merged into a massive dome of silver blue lighting and pale gold flames.
"What is this?" Mouryou screamed before swinging his blade at the duo of Konoha ninja releasing waves of skull shaped dark chakra. Naruto and Sasuke did not speak as they systematically eradicated the skulls with their kenjutsu skills. "No I won't die, not here!"
"That is out of your hands Mouryou!" Sasuke said as he and Naruto called out their next techniques.
Naruto held his odachi parallel to the ground as the air around the cutting edge of the blade started to warp. At the same time, Sasuke held his sword perpendicular to the ground as the air around the cutting edge began to ionize and give off an eerie blue glow.
"Kenpou: Senpou: Kyoukujitsujin!" Naruto whispered as the image of the blade started to warp even more. Sasuke called out, "Kenpou: Senpou: Yuuhiha!" The air around the blade sparked before the blue glow increased. Mouryou watched with terror as the two vanished and reappeared on both sides of himself. Mouryou tried to jump away and swing his sword when he felt an intense pain on both arms. He looked down to see the cleaved off stumps of his arms with cauterized wounds.
"What happened?" Mouryou asked dumbfounded before chakra erupted from him in massive waves. Mouryou's muscles stared bulking up as another pair of arms formed out of his back. These ones more demonic that the previous ones. Dark grey violet scales started forming around his body as his eyes glowed red with rage. "I WILL KILL YOU!"
"Good bye Mouryou, it wasn't a pleasure to meet you!" Naruto mocked before him and Sasuke teleported towards Mouryou. Sasuke appearing in front of the beast while Naruto appeared behind him. Even in his enraged state, Mouryou recognized the eyes staring at him. One of Uchiha Sasuke's eyes was a Rinnegan with six tomeo in it while the other was an Eien no Mangekyou Sharingan. As realization kicked in, Naruto and Sasuke swung their swords and slashed deep into Mouryou's flesh used their final techniques. The condensed flames and lightning erupted from their respective blades throwing the two Konoha ninja away from their target as the lightning and flames consumed the mighty Mouryou. Terrible screams clawed out of Mouryou's demonic throat as he was literally reduced to ashes within seconds before silence reigned.
"You think it is finally over Naruto?"
"I really hope so, because that technique drew out a lot of my chakra and for some reason I can no longer summon any flames. I hope that it isn't permanent." Sasuke nodded in understanding as he himself could not summon even a small spark of lightning.
"Let's hope that we haven't damaged our chakra coils by using that technique, though you have to agree that it was badass. What do you think we should name it that is if we can ever use it again?" Sasuke asked getting a chuckle from Naruto.
"I think we will need that technique again sometime in the future. Let us call it Tenchi Kaijin, Heaven and Earth End in Ashes. Mouryou was a demon that was once an inhabitant of heaven and he died on earth. So it would be a worthy name for such a technique."
"I like it, so how are we going to dispel the flames and lightning around us?" Sasuke asked just as the flames and lightning faded revealing them in their new sage mode cloaks.
"Huh… I can't sense Mouryou's chakra anymore!" Karin said getting a surprised look from everyone as they stared at the massive orb of pale gold fire and sliver-blue lightning with hope. "But, Naruto-sama and Sasuke-kun's chakra levels are lower than they usually are. In fact, I would say that their chakra levels are closer to a low S-Ranked Shinobi's, instead of the Bijuu levels they usually have."
"I am so happy that I don't have to worry about fighting one of them in the Jonin Promotion Exams that the Alliance is planning to instate." Suigetsu said with a shiver getting a nod Jugo and Chojuro.
"The sphere, it's dispersing!" Shion exclaimed. Everyone watched intently as the sphere disperse into nothing revealing Naruto and Sasuke in cloaks of glowing chakra, floating in the air. They watched as the duo slowly floated down before landing in front of the group just outside the barrier. They watched as Naruto placed a hand on the barrier and sent a pulse of chakra through it causing the translucent energy to shimmer before dispersing.
"Hey guys, miss me?" Naruto said with a grin just before Sakura punched the blonde boy in the gut, launching him far away. As the pinkette fumed at the audacity of the blonde jinchuriki to joke after nearly dying, Kurotsuchi on the other hand and rushed towards her downed fiancée and crushed the boy in a hug before quickly pressing her lips to him in a chaste kiss.
"I am so glad you are alright!" Kurotsuchi sobbed as Naruto smiled reassuringly at the girl as he gently rubbed the girl on her back.
"It's alright Kuro-chan; a little explosion can't kill me!" Naruto said with a grin just before Kurotsuchi's face gained a menacing expression.
"I hope so, because if you do, Hinata and I will make sure to resurrect you and then kill you again!" Kurotsuchi said with a small ball of jinton chakra floating above her palm. Naruto nodded in understanding as he let the girl go and stood up.
"How did you survive, Naruto-dono?"
Naruto stared at the orange haired boy for a moment before he said, "A forbidden sage art technique that can be used to revive the user once after the jutsu is cast."
"What's the price? It wouldn't be a kinjutsu if it didn't carry a hefty cost!" Naruto sighed before replying, "A portion of my total life force. I shaved off about half a decade with the jutsu. Luckily, as an Uzumaki, I have a very strong life force, so the five years is not that much in the end since most of my clan lives for over hundred, some making to their hundred and fiftieth birthday. It is not that much different to Baa-chan's Ninpou: Souzou Saisei – Byakugou no Jutsu. Both of it causes us to lose a bit of our life force to survive fatal injuries."
Jugo and Sakura nodded in understanding with the others excluding Sasuke gaped in shock at how nonchalant Naruto was after admitting that he sacrificed a bit of his natural life expectancy to survive an unnatural death. As everyone gaped at Naruto, Suigetsu saw a shine in the distance and walked towards it leaving the group behind.
"So, what were you and your team doing here Sasuke?"
"The Alliance was tipped off that they were searching for Mouryou. We were sent to handle Akatsuki and if needed, reinforce you. Akatsuki could have and did go after the Priestess." Naruto's group nodded before Jugo drew everyone's attention to the missing Suigetsu.
"Hey everyone, where's Suigetsu?" Jugo asked getting surprised expressions from everyone present. They turned to see that the place the Hozuki was previously occupying was now vacant. Naruto, Sasuke, and Karin focused their sensory abilities on finding the missing boy only for their eyes to widen in shock. Naruto and Sasuke wasted no time and vanished from sight using their respective teleportation techniques while Karin ran towards the place she felt Suigetsu's chakra signature. Behind the, the rest of the group, Shion riding on Sakura's back, followed with haste, confusion marring their faces.
"Hehehe… Now you are a beautiful sword!" Suigetsu said as he walked towards a katana giving off a light red shine. Under the red aura, Suigetsu could see that that the blade was pure silver with dark violet dragon scale pattern was carved onto the upper half of the blade. The tsuba was two eastern dragons coiling around while biting each other's tails. The tsuka was blood red with demonic scales making up the grip. The pure black saya was nearby giving off a similar red glow, the sagiyo being the same blood red. Suigetsu was admiring the blade when a dark voice called out to him.
"Pick me up! Let me see if you are worthy!"
"Huh… Who said that?" Suigetsu asked as he looked about for any enemies he may have missed.
"Come and claim me! I can sense great potential in you boy. Show me that you are worthy of being my master!" The dark voicesaid causing a shiver to run down Suigetsu spine before his eyes widened in realization. He stared at the katana with awe and suspicion. "You finally realize don't you? Come, pick me up and claim me!"
Suigetsu walked forward, reached out, and touched the blade just as Sasuke and Naruto teleported into the area. A massive wave of dark chakra erupted from the blade and Suigetsu throwing the two back before they could say anything. Naruto and Sasuke watched in horror as Suigetsu let out a silent scream as his watery body started to bubble from the heat before he gritted his teeth and pulled the katana out of the branch.
They watched as Suigetsu glared at the blade before his lips started moving, though they could not hear what he was speaking through the surging chakra. As Suigetsu continued to speak, the rest reached the duo and stared at the towering column of dark violet chakra with awe and fear.
Suigetsu closed his eyes as his whole body started boiling from the corrosive chakra the blade was emitting and when he opened them again, he did not see the volcano or the Petrified Forest Naruto had created, he saw that he was in a massive expanse of grasslands. Small trees dotted the whole plains with some of them burning in pale gold flames while others were sparking with silver blue lightning. Finally patches if grass was burning with the same violet flames Mouryou had been launching.
"Where am I?" Suigetsu said aloud only for a gruff chuckle to draw his attention. He turned to come face to face with a massive black dragon with silver eyes.
"I welcome you to my world Ningen. I shall give you a task. If you succeed, then I shall give you my name and the right to wield me in battle. You task is simple. You shall spar with me. During it, you shall have to figure out what ability I have. You shall have one hour. If you fail, I shall consume your soul and add your power to the collection of abilities I have gained over the years. Do you understand?"
"Hai, I understand, but may I ask, what are you? I mean what kind of blade are you? And how are we to spar?" Suigetsu asked with a rare show of humility. The dragon raised its head in surprise before nodding to itself.
"Good questions. As for what I am, I am a Yokai Sword. A sword created from the parts of a powerful Daiyokai. To be exact, I was created from the fangs of a benevolent Dragon Daiyokai called Setsuna. That is all I shall say. As to how we shall spar…" The dragon said as it glowed with a purple aura before it shrunk down into a humanoid form. When the aura dissipated, Suigetsu saw a beautiful woman, in her mid-twenty's standing in front of him. The woman was wearing a violet shihakusho with a copy of her blade form resting at her hips. Her long midnight black hair was in a braid with the braid wrapped around her neck. The eyes were a solid silver with a powerful presence within it. The woman was barefooted, but it did not seem to cause her any trouble as her bare feet were resting on a pile of sharp rocks. Suigetsu gulped in fear at the very presence of the woman but steeled his nerves and reached towards his sword only to see that it was missing. "Here take this! It is a copy of my physical state!"
Suigetsu caught the blade with surprise before he swung it a few times to test out the weight before he nodded in satisfaction and got into a standard kendo stance. "So, when do we begin?"
Seeing Suigetsu's cocky attitude the woman smirked before she suddenly rushed the boy with great speed nearly catching him off guard. With a hasty swing, Suigetsu barely parried the woman's first strike before the woman's leg smashed through his liquid stomach. Jumping back, the woman and Suigetsu sized each other up.
"I must say, I didn't expect you to be able to transform parts of your body to water. That shall make this spar much more fun!" The woman said as a crazy glint appeared in her silver eyes causing Suigetsu to gulp before he dodged an overheard slash before countering with a quick horizontal slash on the woman side. To his surprise, the blade easily struck the woman only for the affected area to turn into water before reforming. "I must say that your ability is a fun one. It makes us nearly invulnerable! Now let me see how you do with this little handy trick?"
Suigetsu quietly raised the katana into a position that caused the blade to lie parallel to the ground, at his eye level. The tip of the blade pointing towards the woman. Suigetsu took a deep breath and eyed his opponent as he thought about how she was able to copy his unique ability. Something even the sharingan was unable to do. Both stared at each other for a few moments before the woman suddenly jumped back as her sword sparked with silver blue lightning. With a single forward slash, a crescent blade of the same lightning flew at Suigetsu, causing the boy's eyes to widen in shock before he tried to jump to the side only for the woman to appear behind him and slash at him with the blade alight in gold flames.
Using a quick kawarimi, Suigetsu was easily able to dodge the strike as he poured his suiton affinity chakra into the blade before swinging it downward releasing a sharp blade of compressed glowing blue water only for another blade of silver blue lightning to collide with it.
For nearly the next hour, Suigetsu used all the skills at his disposal to try to defeat the woman only to fail every single time. Frustrated, the shark teeth boy gritted his teeth and though of the task the woman gave him.
'Alright, I have to spar with the woman for one hour and discover her ability within the time limit. If I fail, she will take my soul and add my power to her collection of unique abilities. How am I supposed to do that? Wait, I do not have to defeat her, I am supposed to find her ability! I need to think through our battle. There must have been clues to her ability!' Suigetsu thought to himself as he dodged a kick to the head before the woman thrust a lightning engulfed blade into his stomach. To the woman's irritation, Suigetsu vanished in a puff of smoke revealing the blade piercing another wooden log.
"Is that all you have got? Then I shall kill you with my next attack and permanently absorb your ability. Your time is nearly up anyway!" The woman said with a malicious grin as dark violet flames engulfed the blade causing Suigetsu's eyes to widen in realization.
"Wait! I know what your ability is!" Suigetsu said getting raised eyebrow from the woman.
"Really, then explain to me my ability. If you fail, then your soul is forfeit!"
Suigetsu gulped in fear before he spoke up with confidence he did not feel, "Your ability is to be able to absorb and copy any unique ability you come across, like my water body, or the silver blue lightning that Sasuke-taicho was using against Mouryou!" The woman stared at him for a few moments with a blank look causing Suigetsu to fear that he may have made a mistake when the woman's face lit up with joy as a massive grin grace her beautiful face.
"Good job, though I hoped that you would have realized it earlier. My name is Kagami Ryuujin and I shall now be your partner. Your enemies are mine and as are your allies, may our partnership be fruitful!" Kagami said with a smile as Suigetsu nodded as well.
"As do I, I promise you that I shall wield you with honour and make our enemies cower in fear of our very names." Suigetsu said with conviction causing Kagami to nod in approval.
"Know that while I have collected a couple of unique abilities over the years and I can grant you access to them, you must earn the right to wield those abilities. As of now, the only ability I shall allow you is Shunpo. It shall allow you to move at extreme speeds, covering many steps in a single one. You must train to maximise its usage. The other ability you have access to you other than your native one is the ability to launch crescent blades of elemental chakra. When I believe that you have gained the right to get access to another ability, I shall contact you and give you instructions on how the master the ability. Now you must go, your comrades are worried about you, and remember that a massive quantity of chakra was released when you and I bonded. You must supress it, or die." The woman said with a grim frown as Suigetsu's world became dark.
"Is he alright? He has been standing like that for the past five minutes?" Jugo asked with concern getting shrugs from the rest.
"Hell if I know. We cannot get close, that chakra is corrosive, even to me. You saw that yourself. Besides, I think that Suigetsu is going through some kind of ritual to claim the Yokai sword. We cannot and should not interfere with such rituals. We do not know what can happen." Naruto said with a frown as he watched Suigetsu with the rest. After what seemed like hours, the first signs of movement caught the group's attention. Suddenly with a growl, Suigetsu raised the blade into the air before his chakra spiked. They watched in awe as Suigetsu forced the swirling dome of corrosive chakra into the sword through sheer willpower before he landed on his knees, with the katana planted in the branch to act as support. After a couple of moments of heavy breathing, Suigetsu stood up and walked over to the Saya and picked it up before turning to the group.
"Oh, hey!"
Everyone stared at him with raised eyebrows before Karin's face grew red with rage. Marching towards the exhausted boy, without preamble, the red haired girl punched her fist through the boy's face and growled out, "Hey! That is all you can say after you scared us to death. What about taking a weapon that could have had sealing defences on it. You could have been killed!"
Suigetsu looked up in surprise before he gave her a tired grin, "Still bipolar I see, besides, Kagami Ryuujin was calling to me to claim it. Do you think I would have given up such a great chance?"
"So I was right, you were going through the claiming ritual?" Naruto asked getting a nod from Suigetsu as he sheathed Kagami before securing the saya to his waist.
"I want a complete report on your task. There have been some Uzumaki in the past who were given the honour to wield a Yokai sword. Each of them had a different task but there was a common theme. I want to see if this one had the same." Naruto explained getting a nod from Suigetsu.
"What's so special about Yokai Swords? Are they demons themselves?" Shion asked with confusion only for Naruto, and Sasuke to chuckle.
"Not in the same sense as Mouryou. Yokai swords are forged from the remains or replaceable body parts of Daiyokai. They gain unique abilities that make the seven swords of the Kirigakure no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shu look like tooth picks. Out of five Yokai swords we had, I only found three. Surprisingly they are the three strongest Yokai Swords to be wielded by human hands. Usually the sentience of the swords find humans unworthy. I hope you do not mistreat it. If you do, know this, you soul shall be forfeit!"
Suigetsu nodded in understanding before Sakura spoke up, "We should head back to the Capital of Oni no Kuni. All of us need rest after this debacle."
"Sakura's right, I will use Kamui to take us there. High Priestess, I humbly ask permission for my team to rest at you castle for some time before we return back to the Alliance HQ to report on the mission!"
"Permission granted Uchiha-dono." Sasuke nodded as he gathered everyone around him before engulfing everyone in his Susanoo and then made his Susanoo vanish into a swirling portal.
A/N:
Japanese Translations
Shi no Hokori = Death's Pride
Houou no Ken = Phoenix Blade
Rikudou no In no Chikara = Six Paths Yin Power
Rikudou no You no Chikara = Six Paths Yang Power
Kagami Ryuujin = Mirror Dragon God
Kirigakure no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shu = Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist
Oni no Kuni = Demon Country
A/N:
Japanese Jutsu, Style and Weapon Name Translations
Kamui = Authority of the Gods
Kaentatsumaki o tsuiraku sa seru = Crashing Flame Tornado
Susanoo = Tempestuous God of Valor
Tenmetsu suru tenmetsu = Flickering Flash
Senpo: Ginryuuha = Sage Art: Silver Dragon Wave
Fuinjutsu: Tokui-ten yokusei fuin = Sealing Technique: Singularity Restraint Seal
Kenpou: Senpou: Tan'itsu no nenshou-ha = Blade Art: Sage Art: Single Burning Wave
Indora no Ya - Indra's Arrow
Kenpou: Senpou: Ennetsu Jigoku = Blade Art: Sage Art: Flames of Hell
Senpou: Hai Shitai no Tensei = Sage Art: Ash Corpse Reincarnation
Kenpou: Senpou: Joukaku Enjou = Blade Art: Sage Art: Fortress Blaze
Kenpou: Senpou: Joukaku Raijou = Blade Art: Sage Art: Fortress Thunder
Kenpou: Senpou: Kyoukujitsujin = Blade Art: Sage Art: Rising Sun Edge
Kenpou: Senpou: Yuuhiha = Blade Art: Sage Art: Setting Sun Edge
Tenchi Kaijin = Heaven and Earth End in Ashes
Ninpou: Souzou Saisei – Byakugou no Jutsu = Ninja Art: Creation Rebirth - Strength of a Hundred Technique
Kawarimi = Substitution
Shunpo = Flash Step
A/N: Hey everyone I hope you like this turn of events. I know that some of the techniques aren't really original. I admit that most of the techniques Naruto used against Mouryou after gaining mastering Rikudou no You no Chikara were copied from Bleach, particularly abilities of Ryuujin Jakka and Zanka no Tachi. From the names and usage you can tell that Sasuke's ones were lightning variant of the same, but I did it because all of those powerful techniques could be recreated though Rikudou Sennin Modo. We all know that Shunpo is also from Bleach. Don't flame me for using them.
I will wait for your reviews on this one.
SSG signing off.