Birth of the Forest

Birth of the Forest 19.

Oto Shinobi were dying, dropping dead like useless flies. The wide main street was clearly divided...one one side there was a veritable army of Shinobi trying to rush forward and defend their village, but they were only driven back taking dreadful casualties. Uzumaki Naruto was tearing through their ranks as he countered every move effortlessly, retaliating with lightning-quick and fatal blows.

His long golden hair whipped around as he cut through seven Chuunin rapidly, seeming like a blur even to trained Jounin. Still they came upon him, almost awing him with their stubborn suicidal nature. He was not even breathing hard as he effortlessly kicked away another Shinobi, so hard that he was flung through another platoon of enemies, taking them with him as he smashed into a house.

Kakashi had already resorted to Ninjutsu, and Naruto could see flashes of lightning and fire a few streets to his left. He could feel the Copy Ninja's life-force as strong as ever, and knew that he was in no real danger.

"Who are you?" shouted an Oto Jounin as he led a new group of Shinobi. Naruto closed his eyes as he felt another three dozen surround him, hiding in alleys and cleverly concealing themselves behind houses. His sensing had developed to such an extent that he could even tell the composition of a Jutsu by just feeling it...these poor fools could not really hide from him.

"Who I am does not matter", he said calmly, and he sheathed his sword disappointedly. "Are you truly all that Orochimaru has to offer? Is this what Akatsuki has been doing all this time? If that is the case, I must say I am sorely disappointed."

"Fool, you will die for attacking us so!" shouted the Shinobi angrily. "We will show you the consequences of attacking our village so brazenly. Everyone, change to level 1!" he ordered loudly, and Naruto could feel a familiar evil chakra shroud the entire street. Markings were coating the skin of all the Shinobi and he sighed as he realized that he now faced about forty Shinobi who used the cursed-seal.

Pathetic, just pathetic, said Kurama derisively in his mind. Naruto had to agree upon that point...he could even sense a corrupted form of Senjutsu coming off those seals. The earth shook for a moment, and his eyes widened as he sensed Susano being used. He needed to end this fast and go to help Sasuke if he needed it.

"You do not know who I am" he warned quietly. "Leave now. Those weak seals of yours won't really help you."

A foul purple shroud of chakra covered the street, and its malicious essence seemed to force itself on Naruto. He smiled grimly, and disappeared with a sigh. The loudmouth Shinobi swung at him confidently, but he caught the arm with his palm and looked at it critically.

"You are a bit stronger than before, but not really by much" he observed. As the other curse-sealed ninja dashed towards him, he flung the one he had stalled towards them. This time he flowed into the nature style, catching punches effortlessly and returning fatal blows. It was continuous, like the flow of wind over a forest...like the flow of water into an ocean. He flowed through the mass of Shinobi, and they were flung all over the village by the force of his Taijutsu.

Use Mokuton and be done with it. Or at least let me out. This game of yours is really boring, you know, complained the Kyuubi. Naruto rolled his eyes as he caught a kunai aimed at his head without even looking and tossed it back at its owner. The abrupt fading of life-force told him that it had found its mark.

They are running away from me now. Finally they get the point, mused Naruto as he felt the Shinobi of the village retreat from him and felt several large groups of them cluster in different locations around the village. Maybe they were making up a new plan to attack him. But they are not what I would want Konoha Shinobi to be. Their courage and devotion is not exactly what I would call astounding.