Chapter 45: Chapter 45
Last time:
'Naruto!' Yugito quickly thought as she got up and rushed full speed to the scene of the fight.
Now:
~ Minutes Before The Explosion- With Naruto ~
As Tsume and Kuromaru charged, Naruto withdrew his katana and got into a defensive stance. As soon as they were within slashing distance, Naruto ducked under a vicious bite from Kuromaru and kicked him away. He then twisted back and slammed the hilt of his sword into Tsume's head, making her stumble. Naruto slashed downwards towards her neck, but jumped away as the spinning from of Kuromaru flew over her, making sure he didn't get the stab.
As soon as Naruto landed, Kuromaru was on him again, biting and slashing for all he was worth. 'Shit, this isn't good.' Naruto muttered as he back flipped away from the dogs' vicious bites. As soon as he landed, he looked up to see Kuromarus form descending on him, razor sharp fangs aimed at his throat. Naruto quickly grabbed the top of Kuromarus mouth and the bottom and held the mouth open, preventing the large dog from biting down. Tsume took this opportunity and charged Vee with the twin fangs in hand.
Thinking quickly, Naruto threw Kuromaru at her and began running into the thick tree line. "After him!" She yelled and Kuromaru took off. As Naruto was running on the ground, Tsume and Kuromaru trailed him from the treetops. "Mark him." Tsume whispered to her nin ken. The dog jumped and performed a corkscrew in the air while peeing, sending it splattering everywhere. Vee felt the warm liquid splash onto the back of his Kevlar vest, but kept running. After a few seconds, he came to another clearing.
'Shit, what the hell am I supposed to do now?' Naruto wondered as he looked around, finding nothing to help him. 'Alright, the Inuzuka are good trackers because of their traits and their canine-like traits.' Naruto thought as he assessed the situation. "Fang over Fang!" Tsume's voice rang through the clearing. Naruto quickly jumped out of the way as Tsume's form slammed into where he was just standing, leaving a small crater behind. Naruto then back flipped away as Tsume's form descended upon him, fangs ready to cut his head off.
Using his katana, he easily parried her slashes and sent some of his own. 'Dogs mostly track by scent, so either they have something of mines to go on or they marked me with something, probably both.' He thought as he ducked under one of her slashed and kicked her other sword away, preventing an upward slash. 'Probably whatever splashed my Kevlar vest earlier is being used to track me.' He thought as he slashed at Tsume's knees, but she jumped over him. When Naruto turned, he saw her and Kuromaru standing next to each other.
"Shit." HE muttered and tossed a smoke bomb to the ground. As soon as the bomb went off, he put his hands together and made three shadow clones. "Scatter!" he yelled and they all rushed into the tree line. Tsume and Kuromaru quickly cleared the thick smoke and looked around to see their target gone. "Kuromaru, you still got his scent?" Tsume asked as she looked around. "Yea, but it's weird. There seems to be four pairs of his regular scent leaving from this area." Kuromaru replied as he sniffed the air.
"Forget his scent, just focus on the scent you marked him with. " Tsume growled, mad that her target might have given her the slip. Kuromaru sniffed the air and quickly zoned in on the smells strongest trail. "Got him." He said. "Then let's go." Tsume replied and they vanished.
~ With Naruto ~
Naruto groaned as he ran away from the clearing. He had no doubt they were already onto him, but the plan bought him some desperately needed time. Naruto quickly took off his Kevlar vest and looked around. 'Alright, I need to disguise my scent..' Naruto thought to himself as he jumped into a large puddle of mud. 'Not the best way, but not like I had much of a choice.' He complained as he picked up his vest and emptied out the pockets. "alright, now I need something.." he muttered as he looked around.
In the middle of a clearing of large bushes stood a large stump, clearly concealed by foliage and various bushes. "That will do.." Naruto muttered and walked towards it, only to step in something squishy. He looked down to see a steaming pile of crap he stepped in. "That's… actually not a bad idea." He muttered as he looked at the crap and his Kevlar vest.
~ With Tsume and Kuromaru ~
"Where is he, Kuromaru?" Tsume asked her nin ken. The large dog sniffed the air and looked down towards the ground. "He's hiding down by that large cluster of bushes. He's spread feces on himself in a desperate attempt to hide his scent and he's trying to suppress his chakra." Kuromaru said. Tsume focused on the flow of chakra and sensed the way his chakra was flowing. 'Odd, it seems that a lot of tenketsu points aren't flowing properly/ It's sporadic and uncontrolled.' Tsume thought as the chakra began spiking and overloading on the still available points.
"Shit, he's preparing a technique. Come on, Kuromaru, Twin Fang Over Fang!" Tsume yelled as she and her ninja dog jumped. In mid air, she began spinning wildly, turning into a vortex-like missile. Kuromaru quickly followed suit and became a mirror vortex next to Tsume. They quickly began twisting around each other, become large deadly missiles. 'He's focusing his chakra.. He can't finish that technique!' Tsume internally yelled and charged ahead faster. 'Wait.. those aren't tenketsu. They aren't in the right spot and they aren't flowing chakra, they're expelling it.' She thought, growing more worried at the situation.
As soon as she was arm's length, she saw that it wasn't Vee, but the vest he was wearing was strapped to a standing log. When the log began fizzing, Tsume's mind finally caught up with her eyes. "Shit, STOP!" She yelled to her ninja dogs, but they were already too late. The vest blew with a resounding explosion, shaking the ground and blowing Tsume and Kuromaru away. The explosion left various burns and shrapnel marks on Tsume's body and discombobulated her. As she tried to stop the spinning from her head, she saw Vee approach her.
"Boom.." Vee muttered and punched her, knocking her out cold. He turned to Kuromaru and saw the dog out cold. Samui and Karui quickly arrived at the explosion scene and ran towards him. Samui quickly threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "What the hell happened?!" She yelled at him. "That Anbu team leader was a tough one. Luckily, she wasn't very good at planning ahead." Naruto replied. "Well, hoe the hell did you take her down?" Karui asked as she saw the downed Anbu. "Suicide Vest attached to a decoy." Naruto replied in time for Yugito to run into the clearing.
"What the hell were you doing with a suicide vest?" Yugito demanded as she pulled him in for a kiss, happy to see him still in one piece. "It wasn't an actual suicide vest, I just strapped a few dozen explosive seals to it." Naruto replied as he picked up Tsume and the large dog and sealed into a storage scroll. "Everyone still in one piece?" he asked the rest of his team. Everyone nodded and then turned to him. "We still need an Earth scroll to pass this part of the exams, and we already took a major beating because of these assholes.." Karui stated.
Naruto nodded and unsealed another black Kevlar vest from a scroll labeled "Clothing". He quickly filled the pockets with everything from the other vest and turned back to his team. "Alright, any remains?" He asked his team. Yugito handed him the scroll containing the porcelain Anbu mask and Samui handed him the scroll containing the remains of the Anbu she and Karui fought. "Alright team, we have.." Naruto began and looked at his messenger. "102 Hours left to find the scroll we need. Let's find a safe place to lay low while we recuperate." He finished.
"Vee, we should get this done as soon as possible." Yugito began. "Yugito's right. We can rest later." Samui chimed in. Naruto turned to Omoi and Karui. "You guys need some rest?" He asked, Karui nodded and Omoi hesitantly agreed. "We can't have anyone running on empty. We find a safe place and hole up. We are only as strong as our weakest link." Naruto said to Samui and Yugito. "Alright, let's go." HE said and jumped into a tree, the rest of the team following.
~Fifteen Minutes Later ~
Naruto and his team were jumping from treetop to treetop when Naruto heard a loud yell. He quickly stopped and signaled his team to do the same. "What are we waiting for?" Karui asked him quietly. "we go to wherever the hell that scream came from." He said and ran towards the course of the blood curdling sound. As soon as they arrived, it was a bloodbath. Bodies were torn in half and faces twisted in expressions of horror. "What the hell happened here?" Naruto muttered as he looked at the bodies.
'Something strong tore those bodies in half. Rest of them have various entry and exit wounds…' Naruto assessed as he searched through the bodies. He took a step and walked into a small red puddle, hitting something hard. He kicked into it and a piece of thick bone splashed out. 'What the hell happened to you, you poor bastard..' Naruto wondered as he took out a kunai and stirred the puddle around. Small grains of an unknown substance began bubbling to the surface.
"What the hell is that.." He wondered. "Sand." Samui answered him as she checked the wounds with a cotton swab. "The entry and exit wounds are full of it and the clearing is scattered with it. But what could have done this?" She wondered. Omoi and Karui turned away as the three-man team continued searching. 'Kitten…' A voice in Yugito's mind called out. 'What's up, Nibi?' Yugito asked the two-tailed demon cat. 'this is the work of the one tails' container.' Nibi informed Yugito, making her eyes widen.
'Are you sure, Nibi?' yugito asked her inner demon. 'Yes. My smaller brother specializes in sand based attacks, and has a tendency of driving his containers insane. The small amounts of sand left in the bodies are his calling card, of sorts.' The Nibi affirmed. "This was the work of the one tails container." Yugito said out loud, calling the attention of the rest of her teammates. "Are you sure?" Naruto asked her, trying to determine the degree of severity of the situation. "Alright, we need to know our enemy. Yugito, does the Nibi know anything on the Ichibi?" Samui asked.
"He uses sand based ninjutsu and tends to drive his container insane." Yugito reply. "Naruto, what are you doing?" Yugito asked as she saw him raiding the weapon's pouch of the dead shinobi. The lower half of his severed body was still bleeding, the upper half was nowhere to be found. "Aha..got it!" Naruto said as he pulled his hand out from the weapon's pouch with an Earth Scroll. "You were right, Yugito-chan. A true sociopath, only killing to please his own twisted desires and without a hint of remorse or regret." Naruto muttered as he flicked the blood off the scroll.
"Gaara.." Yugito muttered. "Can you ask Nibi how he manifests his biju form?" Naruto asked. Yugito went quiet for a few seconds, then woke up again. "She says he needs large amounts of sand to pull a body together, After it's done, he's literally a living weapon." Yugito relayed. "Alright guys, we need to get to the tower. We still have another stage to finish, an asshole kage who sent out assassins after us, an invasion, and a killer without a conscience." Naruto said in a bored tone. "God I hate Mondays." He finished, making everyone sweat drop.
"This does seem to be the norm.." Samui muttered. "Alright, let's go!" Naruto said, making all of them scatter.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone