Naruto:A New Path

The Sounds of Battle

Shikamaru kept a steady gaze on the scene in front of him. Two Sound ninja stood in front of what he knew was the Sound base they had been assigned to. The two enemy ninja had their hands near their kunai pouch, ready for any incoming attack. If the first part of his plan was going to work then he would need to actually try, though troublesome it would keep them alive and guarantee a successful mission.
From his spot on the shadows he saw Lee approaching the ninja from their blind side, time for the plan to take effect. "Shadow Possession Jutsu," the Chunin muttered as shadows extended from around him and launched at the two unsuspecting Sound ninja. He held the jutsu in place as Lee charged at the enemy ninja.
The two Sound ninja noticed that they could not move and began to struggle before they opened their mouths to alert the others but before they could utter a single noise, a ferocious kick met their faces, instantly snapping their necks, before falling limply on the ground. The green-clad Genin turned back to Shikamaru and gave him a thumbs up, showing everything was clear for the moment.
"Good job Lee," praised Shikamaru as he got out of his hiding spot followed by the rest of his team, Kiba and Shino. "Part two of the plan will go into effect now. Remember to keep your heads up and walk in the shadows."
Kiba hung his head with a loud sigh. "And here I thought we were going to kick some ass," he complained with Akamaru barking in agreement, "Can't we at least fight a few of them?"
"It would be unwise to get into a meaningless fight," Shino advised in a calm voice, "We're against the odds here, if we are located then our mission will be put in jeopardy."
"He's right and besides, when would I ever listen to a hasty suggestion like that?" Shikamaru said in annoyance, gaining a glare from Kiba, "We've been talking long enough, let's get moving." With that Shikamaru entered the base before being followed by his team. 'This is going to be a pain,' he thought with a sigh before sharpening his eyes. He had to be on his toes now and it wasn't the time to be lazy, it was the time to make sure his team succeeded.
Naruto walked through Orochimaru's base with a sharpened gaze. His team walked behind him with uneasy expressions, save for Neji who had his byakuugan active on Naruto's suggestion. It was a typical base with the same snake pattern on the floor and walls, apparently made in the same maze-like way. Overall it looked like an exact copy of the last base the blond had been in, the only thing that made it different was the ceiling since it hadn't been tempered with for fear of a cave-in, he assumed.
Being made a Chunin and going through what he had made Naruto a lot more cautious than he had been at the beginning of his ninja career. Going into an enemy base without a plan was the last thing he would do, more so if his friend's lives were on the line. He had a clear plan on what to do and planned on leaving the base without too much trouble but knowing his luck something would go wrong, which is why he was highly on the alert. He had not only been assigned to deal with this base, he still had to deal with another base right after this one. This meant that he didn't have much time to waste since he was on schedule.
"This will be far enough," Naruto whispered to his team as he stopped walking. The blond turned to Neji and took a small scroll out of one of the pockets on his Chunin vest, "That contains some explosive tags, they're a little stronger than normal ones since I modified them so you don't have to use too many."
Neji nodded at the Chunin with a firm gaze. The blond proceeded to give similar scrolls to the rest of his team before running a hand through his hair. "Don't worry about them exploding after a set amount of time, they won't go off unless I use a hand sign," he explained, "The clones that went ahead found a crossroads so we'll separate for now. There are three different paths, Neji and I will go in an individual one while Choji and Ino go together. You'll be accompanied by a clone so that I know any of you get into any kind of trouble. Let's get going."
The group agreed though Ino a little reluctantly, she didn't like the idea of separating from Naruto in a place like this but knew that it was for the mission. She gazed at the blond and allowed a small smile to appear on her face, he had changed a lot from when she first met him. He was no longer the loud dead-last of the academy, she now realized that Iruka hadn't lied when he told them that everything would change after they became ninja. The blond was now a ninja who was serious about what he did but still held that little spark of child-like mischief that she had grown fond of. He was really one of a kind.
"We'll split up here," Naruto quietly announced. He turned to his team and gave them a grin, showing he had confidence in their abilities. "Remember to be careful and meet outside in thirty minutes. If you're not out by then, we'll come look for you. Let's go."
With firm nods the group split up, running through their respective halls. Naruto ran alone while everyone else was accompanied by a clone. They were all keen on being successful on their mission and planned on doing it without much problems.
Team Shikamaru walked through a large room with mixed emotions. Shikamaru had a look of concentration on his face, Kiba looked impatient, Lee looked as if he was ready to fight and Shino looked as calm as ever. It wasn't the most stable team, from all of the crashing personalities, but it would do since they were all shinobi and had to leave their differences behind. They were attaching explosive tags to the walls of the base as they walked, this was to destroy the base when they were done gathering research papers and to easily know the way to the exit. So far, most of the base had been tagged but they had yet to find any research talking about the Cursed Seal of Heaven.
Footsteps echoed from the entryway that led to a hallway that stood on the opposite side of them causing the group of ninja to stop dead on their tracks. Shikamaru motioned for the group to stay still as he thought of what to do. There was barely any light on the room, giving it enough light for him to control shadows freely. He would need to kill whoever was approaching before he alarmed other enemy ninja.
The Chunin turned to his team with a hardened look on his face and gave them a firm nod. Shino nodded in understanding while Lee and Kiba got into their taijutsu stances. As the footsteps grew closer Shikamaru got into his shadow possession's hand sign, Lee into his taijutsu stance, Akamaru jumped down from Kiba's head with a growl and Shino gathered some of his bugs on his sleeves.
A Sound ninja could be seen from where Team Shikamaru stood. It was a man with a small beard on his jawed scarred face, he had an eye-patch covering his right eye and short black slick hair. He wore white shinobi pants and a brown vest over a mesh shirt, showing many battle scars, and finally his Sound headband hung loosely from his neck.
The man crossed his arms and smirked at the group. "So you're the ones that have sneaking around here," he sneered.
The group's eyes widened at the revelation. It wasn't possible for them to be spotted, they had stayed in the shadows all the time and hadn't made a single sound. There was no way that they could've been spotted.
"I bet you're thinking…" the man began with an amused expression on his face, "'How did he see us' am I right?"
Shikamaru frowned. "Whatever," he sighed out with a smirk making its way to his face, "I already have you." A shadow stretched from the lazy Chunin and latched itself to the man's.
"Can't we just fight it out for once?," Kiba complained with a sigh, "Don't tell me we don't get to fight again?"
The man's smirk grew before he slowly balled his right hand into a fist. "Don't worry... you will!" the man began to flex his body making Shikamaru wince and struggle to keep control on him.
"Attack now!" Shikamaru ordered with a yell.
Lee was the first one to charge at the ninja with his right fist held back, ready to strike at the man. As he ran he suddenly felt his foot connect with a kind of switch before his eyes widened. A horde of kunai launched at Lee from one of the room's walls, the room was clearly full of traps. He quickly jumped away from the kunai but one of them managed to stab into his left leg. A groan of pain escaped his lips as he landed on the floor, it had probably struck a nerve meaning that he wouldn't be able to put up a fight. Bugs suddenly launched at the immobilized man but before they could get close, Kiba charged at the man with a kunai on hand.
"Don't!" Shikamaru exclaimed as his hold on the man finally gave out.
The man smirked and charged at Kiba in an incredible speed. The Inuzuka brought up his kunai to meet the man on the clash but didn't expect him to catch his fist before it got too close. A loud scream of pain echoed throughout the room as the man's fist met Kiba's face in a powerful punch that knocked the Genin back a couple of feet. Before he could get away, the man took hold of Kiba's ankle and threw him against one of the room's walls in a show of pure strength.
Kiba gasped in pain as his back made contact with the wall before falling to the floor with a groan. The man smirked at his work and charged at the semi-conscious teen but his eyes widened when his body refused to move. He managed to move his head back to see Shikamaru's shadow latched onto his own.
"I've gotten out once before, what makes you think I won't do it again?" the man pointed out in amusement.
Shikamaru smirked. "I didn't plan on holding you in place for more than a few seconds," he responded while struggling to keep his jutsu in place.
"You seem to have forgotten that I was also fighting," Shino said as he appeared next to the man with a cloud of bugs on his back, "Now you'll see that it is unwise to underestimate an enemy." The bugs launched at the man and latched into his skin, making him cry in pain.
"Shino get Kiba," Shikamaru gasped out through pants, "I'll take Lee. I know that you're bugs won't hold up for long so let's get going. There were no research papers, we're blowing this place down."
"Let's," Shino agreed as he ran to Kiba's fallen form.
"You okay?" Shikamaru asked Lee once he approached him.
Lee looked up at Shikamaru and grinned. "I will be okay but I don't think I'll be able to run as fast as I usually do," he said apologetically. The lazy genius nodded and the two moved to leave the room.
Shino was waiting for them on the entryway with an unconscious Kiba on his shoulders. Shikamaru gave him a nod and the group ran out of the base, ignoring the cries of pain coming from the man.
"There," Ino happily said as she put an explosive tag on a wall. She, Choji and the Naruto clone had been setting up the explosive tags while looking for any kind of research. So far there was no sign of any documentation though they had come across some rather disturbing experiments.
Choji nodded. "That's it for the tags, let's go back outside. The thirty minutes will be over soon," he suggested.
"Right," Ino agreed with a nod before turning to the Naruto clone, "Any news on Naruto?"
The clone got a tick mark on his head and gritted his teeth. "How many times do I have to tell you? I cannot see what the boss is seeing," he growled out.
"Fine!" Ino snapped with a frown.
"Guys…" Choji muttered as he pointed at the end of the hallway. Ino and the Naruto clone looked to where the Genin was pointing and their eyes widened. In front of them stood a women with a staff on her hands.
The women wore light blue shinobi pants with black ninja sandals. She had a red battle kimono on with a black belt holding it in place. She had mid-back black hair and dark black eyes with half of her face covered with a white mask.
"Oh, don't mind me please continue. It's very entertaining anyway," the women urged with amusement on her voice.
"What do we do?" Choji whispered to the Naruto clone.
"We have to take her down," it responded with a frown on its face, "I won't be able to fight much since I'll be out after one hit but I'll try to distract her whenever I can."
"How cute," the woman mockingly said, "Don't tell me you're whispering about a plan to kill me?"
"Not at all," the Naruto clone responded with a bored look, "We were just talking about the weather, missions and average pay. A very calm conversation, don't you think?"
The women shook her head and twirl the staff above her head. "Let's see how calm you are with this!" she brought the staff down on the ground. It was quiet for a second before the ground started to shake and rocks came out of the floor before launching at them.
"Body Expansion Jutsu!" Choji exclaimed as he stood in front of the two blond's and grew in size until he covered most of the hall. Rocks imbedded themselves to his back, causing him to wince in pain, before he began to shrink back to his normal size and kneel on the floor with pain written all over his face.
"Choji!" Ino and the Naruto clone exclaimed in worry as they kneeled over the Genin.
Choji managed to throw them a small grin. "Don't worry I'll be fine," he assured, "Just take her down for me will you?"
"You got it!" the clone said with a grin.
"Interesting," the women said with a frown on her face, "He was able to expand his body, is that a type of bloodline."
"We don't have to tell you anything," the clone said with a frown, "You'll pay for hurting Choji."
"And what will you do about it?" the women asked as she licked her lips in anticipation of a fight.
"This!" Ino exclaimed as she put a hand around her lips and fired several bullets of water.
The women's eyes narrowed and brought her staff up. As if in a dance, the women twirled and ducked through the water bullets before using her staff to hit the last balls of water. "That was refreshing," she said with a smirk.
"Ino, remember to keep calm," the clone said with a serious look on its face, "You won't be able to find her weaknesses if you're head is clouded."
"Right," Ino said with a nod before putting a hand to her lips.
"Again with that jutsu?" the women asked with a smirk. Receiving no answer the women sighed before holding her staff up, "Very well. I'll just take them down again."
"Water Style…" Ino focused her water chakra and glared at the enemy kunoichi, "Raging Waves!" a powerful stream of water shot from her mouth, taking the women by surprise.
The steam of water struck the women's chest before knocking her against a wall. "Water Style: Liquid Bullets!" Ino continued as she fired water bullets at where the women had crashed. The force of the attacks created a small cloud of smoke, blocking the women from view.
"Let's get going!" the clone ordered as it lifted Choji with a grunt and put him on its back, "She's probably not down and this is not the best place to fight her in."
"Right," Ino said with a nod as she and the clone ran out of the base, leaving a very soaked and angry kunoichi.
"You will pay for this," the women growled out as she shakily stood up.
Neji arrived to a large room that stood on the edge of the mountain since half of it wasn't covered. He had a clear view of the forest below and noticed that he had gone up a large distance. On his way to this place, he had found some notes on the Cursed Seal of Heaven that he assumed would help whoever was researching it. There wasn't much information save for where it had come from but he assumed that it would do.
"Quite a view eh?" came a voice.
Neji instantly activated his byakuugan and spotted a man sitting on the railing of the room with his arms crossed. "Who are you?" he asked as he dropped to his taijutsu stance.
"Who am I?" the man asked himself with a sad smile on his tired face. The man had long grayish-black hair that flowed with the breeze of the room. He had tired black eyes that talked about years of experience and pain. The man wore a long white kimono with dark blue kimono pants covering most of his dark blue ninja sandals, "We don't get names."
Neji furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean 'we,'" he asked in confusion.
"I mean the others that are forced to be here like myself," he explained with a tired smile before chuckling, "But the funny thing is that we've lost the sight of it."
"Sight of what?" Neji asked, he had no idea what the man was talking about but he assumed that any kind of information would help.
"Sight of what kept us human and not lab rats," the man responded, "Due to the things that have been done to us, we don't have most of our original mindset. Now we're only ghosts of our former selves that only live to carry out our orders, some more willingly than others."
"What orders might that be?" Neji asked with his byakuugan active, noticing that the man was beginning to move.
"Why to kill you of course?" the man calmly said with a gentle smile, "Why else do you think I'm waiting for you here?"
Neji frowned. "If that's the way it has to be then so be it!" with that the Genin charged at the man with chakra flaring through his fists.
The man chuckled as he ran at Neji while bringing a hand to his side. The Hyuuga watched the hand closely as he advanced on the man but his eyes widened when he saw the man take out a large sword. The man swung the sword at Neji but he managed to jump over the strike at the last minute. He sailed through the air and took out two kunai before throwing them at the man's head, wanting to end the fight before it escalated. The man looked at the incoming projectiles before bringing his sword up and knocking the kunai aside in a show of pure kenjutsu skill.
Neji landed on the floor before jumping away from the man, deciding to find defensibly for now. He cursed himself, the sword had thrown him off and knew that it had been a mistake to have been so affected by a simple change on the fight.
The man gave no rest and charged at Neji once more. He brought his sword back, preparing to strike but he never saw the smirk appearing on Neji's face. "Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation!" the Hyuuga began to spin as chakra surrounded his body. The man's eyes widened before he was violently hit all over his body and launched away from the sphere Neji had created.
The man landed in a painful thud and gasped in pain, feeling his old bones creak from the impact. He shakily stood up and looked at the youth in front of him. Some part of him believed that new generations were always stronger that the last but that part of him was long gone. He only lived to follow his master's orders now and that was what he was going to do. He began to take off his outfit, if he was to defeat the youth then he would need to give it his all.
Neji frowned as he watched the man rip his kimono off to reveal a mesh shirt and blue shinobi pants. The man then took out a liquid from one of his pockets and put it to his lips before taking a big gulp out of it. Violent blue chakra instantly flowed around the man, giving him a look of power.
"Behold my true power!" the man declared with a smirk on his face, "I will take you down for my master!"
' I have no choice but to kill him,' Neji concluded with a frown on his face. Whatever the man had done was getting dangerous and he still needed to make it out of the base in thirty minutes, 'I'll have to go all out.'
Naruto frowned as he walked up a set of stairs. He really needed to find a way to control his clones' personalities. The clone he had sent with Neji was a talkative one that eventually led the Hyuuga to drive a kunai through its head. The blond knew that he would've done the same but it was still a rather hasty thing to do.
' Now I have to finish this up a lot faster,'
he thought with a frown as he made his way to a large door. It had a stone snake on it that was cold to the touch. The blond opened the door to find himself in a giant room. It was circular and had no roof, it actually had a view of the sky that made him wonder if he was near the top of the mountain.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu," he muttered as five clones appeared beside him, "You know what to do."
"Yes boss/kiss my ass," said the clones as they got to work. Naruto sweat dropped at one of the clone's comments but ignored it for now. He would have them put an explosive tag around the room so that when they went off most of the mountain's rocks would bury the room. He had not found anything on the Cursed Seal but he hoped that somebody else had.
' Poof'
Naruto's eyes widened as he took out his blade and twisted to his left, blocking a large sword with a loud ' Clang.' The blond met eyes with a muscular man with long spiky brown hair and dark brown eyes. He had a long-sleeved white shirt with black shinobi pants.
"You're pretty good kid," the man praised with a smirk, "Though not good enough. I have a tradition where I only tell my name to anybody who I deem a challenge. Do you think you'll be able to find out my name?"
Naruto chuckled with a smirk. "When I'm through with you, you won't even remember your name," the blond added chakra to his blade, causing the intertwined blades to catch sparks before Naruto's began to cut the bigger blade. The man frowned and jumped away from the blond.
"So you can add chakra to your blade?" the man muttered with a smirk. He held up his sword and watched the large cut it had on the blade, the blond was no pushover.
"What of it!" spat Naruto as he ran through hand signs, "Wind Style: Devastation!" wind shot out of his mouth, crashing against the man with a violent gust of air.
"Damn," the man muttered as he struggled to stand against the powerful wind. He began to lose his footing before being violently thrown away from the raw power from the wind. He crashed into a wall but suddenly turned to mud.
"A clone?" Naruto asked himself with a gasp.
"Correct," said the man behind him with his sword raised. He brought the sword down on the blond and smirked when he saw it make contact.
' Poof'
The man's eyes widened. "It was a clone?" he gasped out in disbelief.
"Correct," Naruto said behind the man as he stabbed a kunai to his back, making him scream in pain before kicking him away, "Now tell me what you know about the Cursed Seal of Heaven!"
"Why would I do that?" the man asked with a smirk on his face as he took out the kunai from his back, "Why would I stop a fight like this?"
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Naruto growled with a frown. The man didn't answer but charged at the blond with his large seven feet sword. He brought it down on the blond, making him block with his blade but he suddenly spun to his right and threw his sword in the air.
The sword sailed through the air as the man spun behind Naruto. The blond threw a punch at the man but he simply took the hit without a wince. Naruto's eyes widened and threw another punch with the same result, 'What is this guy made of?'
The man smirked as he caught the blade and struck Naruto in the head with the blunt end of the sword, making him grit his teeth in pain. The man didn't let up and punched at Naruto's chest but the blond proved to be too fast and jumped over the kick only to be punched away by the man's left fist.
Naruto fell to the floor but rolled with the fall and stood back up before launching at the man. He added chakra to his blade and swung at the man with his right fist. The man dodged the strike but the blond infused more chakra onto the blade and managed to cut the man on the ribs, making his smirk grow wider.
"That's it!" the man cheered Naruto on with a smirk as he threw a kick.
Naruto moved with the blow to soften the impact but still winced from the force behind the blow. He then jumped away from the man and dropped into his taijutsu style, he had been training on implementing Asuma's blade to the toad taijutsu style. The blond assumed that it was time to see the results of that training since the toad taijutsu style was a lot faster than the one he used with Asuma's blade.
"Isamu," the man said with an exited smirk playing on his face.
"What?" Naruto deadpanned with a frown.
"My name…" the man began as he charged at Naruto with his blade extended. Naruto narrowed his eyes as infused chakra onto his blade and charged at the man. The two blades met in a loud 'Clang' followed by sparks coming from the two blades grinding against each other.
"Is Isamu!"