Naruto:A New Path

First Bases Destroyed

Ino and Choji stood in front of the angry Sound ninja, her staff forgotten inside of the base. She had a look of pure fury on her face since she hadn't expected kids to give her too much trouble. It was a kind of relief to be able to feel something after all that she had been through but she didn't care much, not anymore at least. Right now she would kill the brats that dared to, not only hurt her but to show her horrible face. She was only an experiment but she still hated showing what was behind her mask, it reminded her that she was nothing but a tool.
"Choji…" Ino whispered to her teammate, getting his attention, "How much chakra do you have left?"
Choji looked thoughtful for a second before giving her a firm nod. "I have more than half right now since I haven't used a lot. How about you?"
"I'm about the same as you," she responded with a small smile on her face, "We might be able to stall her long enough so let's give it everything we have and don't let up."
Choji chuckled. "You're really starting to act like Naruto," he observed with a grin on his face. Seeing the glare Ino was throwing at him, he added quickly, "B-but that's not a bad thing."
A chuckle broke the two ninja from their conversation. They both turned to the source to see the woman with a smirk on her face. "Oh, don't mind me I was just thinking of ways to kill you," the Sound ninja said in a deeper voice, "Should I play with you a little bit or just outright kill you?"
"Let's go Choji," Ino whispered to her friend as she ran through hand signs before putting a hand around her mouth, "Water Style: Raging Waves!"
As soon as the shot of water escaped Ino's lips, Choji ran at the woman with his fist held back. The woman sidestepped the shot of water but her eye's widened when a giant fist came her way. Using her tail, the woman knocked aside the punch and broke into Choji's defenses. The Genin's eye's widened as the woman punched at his face but before it could make contact she was knocked away by a couple of liquid bullets.
"Did you forget about me?" Ino taunted with a smirk on her face.
Choji put some distance between himself and the woman before throwing a glance at Ino. "Thanks for the save," he said with a grin.
"You damned brat…" the woman muttered with a glare as she walked towards them as if nothing had happened, "Did you really think that such a pitiful attack could hurt me?" Before anyone could react she appeared next to Choji with a smirk on her face, "Die." The woman's tail quickly wrapped around Choji's neck, making him choke and gasp for air.
"Choji!" Ino exclaimed in worry as she ran through hand signs, "Water Style: Raging Waves!" A shot of water came out of her mouth and launched at the woman in a fast speed. The woman simply smirked and took the attack as if it were nothing, making Ino gasp in disbelief.
"Foolish girl," the Sound ninja said with an amused smirk on her face, "I am invincible thanks to Lord Orochimaru." She tightened her grip around Choji's neck, making him struggle against the hold but to no avail. Choji was losing consciousness at this point and tried his hardest to find the slightest amount of air to breath.
A whistling sound echoed through the area. The woman looked to her right to see a kunai making its way to her. By the speed of the projectile she could tell that it would be capable of hurting her. With no other choice the woman let go of Choji and jumped away in order to avoid the kunai.
Choji instantly gasped for breath as he landed on the ground and broke into a fit of coughs. His neck was already starting to bruise from the grip the woman had had around his neck. He turned to see his savior and gave a small smile when he saw Neji standing on a tree branch with a kunai on hand. His clothes were a bit tattered and light pants came out of his mouth, showing that he had been on a fight of his own.
"Are you alright?" Ino asked as she ran to Choji's side.
"I'm alright," Choji informed with a grin on his face, "I'll just need to rest for a little bit."
"Sure don't worry," Ino said with a nod as she turned to the woman, ready for round two.
"I'm glad I made it on time," Neji said in a calm voice. He looked at his teammates and inwardly frowned, they looked tired and in Choji's case badly hurt. Being on the Chunin exams with them had shown him that they were at high Genin level. If the Sound ninja was able to handle both of them at the same time then she was probably around low or even high Chunin level, too much for even himself.
"Another one?" the woman asked incredulously, "Just how many of you are there? No matter, I'll kill you regardless."
"It won't be as easy as you think," Neji responded with a calm look, "I've just defeated one of your colleagues by myself, do not take us lightly."
The woman chuckled in amusement. "Fool, do not put me on the same page as the other fools. Only one person here has beaten me before and I know for a fact it wasn't whoever you beat."
Neji's eyes narrowed. "And how do you know that?" he asked in anger and a slight hint of worry, "I don't see any other Sound ninja around here, how do you know he isn't dead?"
"Easy," the woman said with a smirk, "If you had killed him then I'd be dead by now."
"What are you talking about?" Ino asked in confusion.
"Our master gave us each a set of different skills," the woman began, "I for example am the fastest out of all three experiments on this base. While another is the strongest and the last one is the most skilled with any kind of weapon. Lord Orochimaru met with us and decided on who were the strongest out of the three of us. He chose me and another to be bearers of the curse mark but under some circumstances mine mutated and turned me into this."
"So what you're telling us is that there is another Sound ninja that ranks above you?" Neji asked with a frown.
"That is correct," the woman affirmed, "Lord Orochimaru gave us all a seal. If any of the other experiments die then nothing happens but if the most powerful experiment dies then the seal activates and we explode into a million pieces."
"What's the point of telling us this?" Ino questioned with a frown on her face.
The woman broke into a smirk as purple chakra flared around her. "Because…" she disappeared from sight in a cloud of smoke, making everyone look around in alarm. Neji activated his byakuugan and his eyes widened. The woman appeared right in front of him with her right fist held back, "You won't live to tell anyone about it!" She punched at Neji and hit him directly on the jaw with a loud 'pop.'
The Hyuuga sailed through the air before crashing to the ground with a cry of pain. The woman didn't stop there and charged at Ino with a crazed look on her face.
Ino quickly got into her family's hand sign and aimed at the woman. "Mind Destruction Jutsu!" she exclaimed as the woman stopped dead on her tracks. Ino managed a small smile when she saw that her jutsu had worked, she had panicked a little seeing the woman charge at her but all was well in the end.
Neji stood up shakily, nursing his sore jaw and walked over to Ino. He raised a brow when he saw the woman standing up in front of Ino with a look of frustration on her face. "What happened to her?"
"She's under my jutsu," Ino replied through gritted teeth, "She'll break out soon so try to finish her before I lose my hold on her."
Neji didn't need to be told twice and charged at the woman. "Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" he exclaimed as he prepared to strike but was suddenly knocked aside by a powerful punch before painfully crashing against a tree.
Ino's eye's widened when she saw a hulk-like man with gray skin and green hair. The woman saw the shock on the girl's eyes and struggled to get free. Ino felt her hold on the woman lessen until she finally broke free, much to Ino's dismay.
"What are you doing here?" the woman snapped at the newly arrived man.
The man smirked and turned towards the base. "I met someone strong ," he said, savoring the word, "The idiot thought that I wouldn't escape an explosion he detonated but he couldn't be more wrong."
The woman growled at the man. "Wait for the bastard then, but don't interrupt my fight," she clenched her fists, "If you ever do that again I'll kill you."
The man smirked. "You and I know that you won't do that. If I go down then you're dead as well," he had a look of amusement as the woman kept on glaring at him.
Ino and Choji watched the exchanged in worry. If what the woman had said was true then he was the strongest of the experiments. The situation got a lot worse in only a few minutes.
Neji groaned as he tried to sit up. He had crashed against the ground pretty hard and his back was letting him know that. He watched the two Sound ninja with a frown, the woman was strong but the man had completely slipped his detection. He was a Hyuuga and someone managed to sneak up on him, but there was also some hope, unlike his teammate he knew who the man was talking about. It was obvious that they were the only group of ninja inside the base so it was logical to assume that Naruto had been the one to fight the man.
' Get here soon Naruto,' Neji thought as he began to stand. He knew that they had no chance against both ninja but maybe if the whole team fought together then their chances would go up. Naruto was a Chunin of Konoha, probably the village with the highest standards when it comes to promotions. He himself was low Chunin level, while Ino and Choji were high Genin level, they might just have a slight advantage.
Isamu looked at the Genin with a frown, none of them looked strong. He wondered how they had given trouble to a Sound ninja, much less one that was blessed with power from their master. He suddenly snapped his head towards the base, feeling a familiar chakra, and smirked, "He's here." (Linebreak)
"Fang Over Fang!" Two spinning blurs launched at the Sound ninja in perfect accuracy.
"I won't fall for that twice!" the man exclaimed as he watched the move with his improved eye. He easily dodged the attack with a jump before he spun in the air, avoiding a cloud of bugs. He landed on the ground and raised his right knee to meet Lee's kick. He gritted his teeth when he felt the force behind the kick and used his right hand to punch the Genin away. Lee was knocked aside but the man's eyes widened when he saw a shadow approaching him. He quickly jumped away from it only to be met with a cloud of bugs.
Not missing a beat the man threw a smoke bomb at the bugs, successfully blocking himself and his scent. He landed on the ground and gritted his teeth in anger, the kids were everywhere at once it seemed impossible to get a good hit on them. Even with the power his master had given him, it would be hard to beat the group of kids.
The unmistakable sound of an exploding tag reached the man's ear before he jumped away from where he had been standing. An explosion set off behind him but he didn't have time to dwell on it since the green-clad ninja was charging at him once more.
Lee threw a right hook but the man easily dodged the hit by leaning to his right. He continued with a kick but the man tossed it aside as if he knew what was about to happen. Lee continued to throw punch after punch but none of them landed as the man seemed to dance around the strikes with ease. The man suddenly winced in pain and brought a hand to his right eye, giving Lee the perfect opportunity to attack. He brought his fist to the man's face with great force, snapping his head to the side before he fell on the ground.
The man tried to stand but found that he couldn't move. "That shadow again," he muttered with a frown on his face.
"Exactly," Shikamaru said as he approached the man along with his team. They all had tired but determined looks on their faces, showing that they were ready to fight at any moment, "Now you're going to tell us what we want to know."
The man chuckled. "What makes you think I will?" he asked with a smirk on his face, "Do you really believe that you've won? Don't make me laugh! I could break out of this hold any time I want."
To prove his point the man began to force his body to move, making Shikamaru wince and drop his hold. Having wasted most of his chakra the lazy genius couldn't keep a firm hold on the man. The group watched as the man put some distance between them, they instantly dropped into their fighting stances and waited for the man to make a move.
"You're all finished," the man stated with a smirk on his face.
"What are you talking about?" Shikamaru asked with a frown on his face.
The man pointed at his right eye. "This is one of my master's gifts, a new kind of bloodline that will give me more power!" he exclaimed, "This eye is one of the attempts my master has made in order to make a better version of the sharingan. My eye is one of many but the best of them all, it has no name yet but it will! My eye is superior to any other! This eye will be the last thing you see before dying!"
' Fool,' Shikamaru thought as he watched Lee and Kiba charge at the man. Their superior taijutsu drove the man back, even if he used his 'superior' eye. There was no way that the man's eye had the same effects as the sharingan, if it did then why didn't Orochimaru have one himself. From what he heard from Jonins and Chunins, Orochimaru wanted a sharingan more than anything.
Lee threw punch after punch at the man with Kiba doing the same. The man was having trouble reading their moves and felt a burning pain coming from his eye. He didn't know what was happening with it, his master had told him that it was perfect. The man doubled over when he received a hard punch on his abdomen followed by a kick to his face.
The man was knocked away and put a hand to his burning eye, what was happening? Bugs suddenly flooded his vision and he noticed that he had been led to a trap. Since it worked before, the man released his foul purple chakra and smirked when he saw the bugs fly away from him. He tried to move away but found that he had been possessed by the shadow once more, he growled.
"You don't seem to get it," he began with a snarl, "You can't hold me here, I am too strong!"
"Who says I'm trying to hold you?" Shikamaru asked with a smirk on his face, "I'm just placing you in my trap."
The man's eyes widened when he heard the sound of burning paper. He scanned the area with his eyes and growled when he noticed that he was completely surrounded by explosive tags. "This won't do anything to me!" he exclaimed in rage, "I will kill you brats! My master gave me the most powerful bloodline in the world! I won't die, I can't die!"
"You're finished," Shikamaru stated as the explosive tags exploded around the man.
The man's screams of pain echoed through the area, making Kiba and Akamaru look away from the blast. Fire consumed the area and the man's screams seized, telling Shikamaru that the fight was over. Smoke filled the area, blocking the man from view but the smell of burning flesh told the group that they were successful. The smoke soon dispersed to reveal the burnt body of what had been a Sound ninja, they had been successful.
"It's over," Shikamaru stated with a sigh of relief, glad to be done with the first part of their mission.
Shino nodded in agreement. "It would be best if we rest before completing the next part of the mission," he suggested with a hint of hope on his voice.
"That sounds good, right Akamaru?" Kiba asked, receiving a happy bark from the small dog.
"There's no need for breaks!" Lee shouted in determination, "We can go without rest for the rest of the mission! If we can't then I'll walk to Konoha on my hands!"
Shikamaru sighed. "We have to meet the other team tonight. The meeting spot is close by so we'll be able to take a rest," he stated with a yawn, "Let's get out of here. We'll make camp and rest for a few hours, if the other team's base was anything like the one we were assigned to then I know for a fact that they'll take a rest too."
The group nodded in agreement. Shino supported Lee, since his leg wasn't fully healed, before the group of ninja leapt away from the area. It had been a hard mission and they only hoped that the next base wouldn't be as bad as the first.
Naruto stood on a tree branch with his invisibility jutsu up. He had a clear view of his team from this area and knew that he had to help them somehow but charging at an enemy was not smart. He would need a diversion in order to get the drop on them, but what?
"He's here."
Naruto froze and cursed for not hiding his chakra signature like he was supposed to. He would need to fight or else his team would be hurt, it didn't make things better to have his whole team outside with them.
' Wait a minute, that's it!' he thought with a grin on his face, 'They're all outside…'
"Come on out kid!" Isamu yelled with a smirk on his face, glad to fight the Chunin once more, "If you don't then I'll ki-"
' BOOOOOOM'
An explosion rocked the area as half of the mountain became enveloped in a series of explosions. Chunks of rock, metal, even trees sailed through the air due to the power of the explosion. A powerful wind from the blast rocked the area, making the group of ninja shield their eyes from the incredible blast.
The two Sound ninja stood motionless, their base had been destroyed and all of their master's research was ruined. They swore to themselves to kill the group of ninja that had destroyed their master's work, they only lived for their master and would gladly die for him. No brat would get away with such an insult.
Ino watched the explosion in fear, hoping that Naruto hadn't been caught in it. "Please be alright…" she muttered to herself in worry. She frowned when she noticed something, a shadow moved through the smoke in a fast pace, "What's that?"
"I'll kill them all," the woman exclaimed in rage as she turned her attention to Ino and Choji, "I'll start with you two!"
Ino ran through hand signs but suddenly felt dizzy. Her heart fell, she was out of chakra. Having kept the woman in place for too long had certainly taking its toll on her reserves. She glanced at Choji and gritted her teeth, her friend was in no better condition. The only way to fight back would be without chakra but she wasn't good at hand-to-hand combat.
The woman walked towards Ino before running through hand signs. She pointed her palms at Ino and smirked. "This is where you die. Earth Style: Earth Dragon Jutsu!" she exclaimed as a human-sized dragon shot off of the ground and launched at Ino, who could only watch helplessly as the attack approached her.
Before the attack could make contact a blur appeared before Ino and stopped the attack with its hand. The earth dragon was instantly destroyed revealing Naruto standing in front of Ino with an spinning sphere on his right hand.
"N-Naruto…" Ino muttered in disbelief, tears forming on her eyes.
"It's you!" Isamu exclaimed with a smirk on his face, "Now we can end our fight."
The jinchuuriki turned his face to the other Sound ninja, his Rasengan dispersing. His fists clenched, this was the woman that had almost killed Ino, his most important person. The woman flinched when she took a good look at the kid. He had blue slit eyes, deep whisker marks on his cheeks and fangs peeking out of his mouth.
"You damned bitch," Naruto growled in pure fury, making the woman wince at the tone, "You'll pay for trying to hurt Ino!"
The woman got over her shock and smirked. "What are you going to do about it brat?" she taunted, "I'll kill you and you're little whore in a second."
Violent blue chakra mixed with demonic red, flared around the jinchuuriki. He phased from view only to appear in front of the woman, making her feel something other than fury, fear. The jinchuuriki placed a hand on her stomach and focused his chakra. The woman's eyes widened at the feel of pressure building up in her stomach.
"Rasengan…" he muttered as the attack came to life and drilled into her abdomen, making her cough up blood before being launched away from the jinchuuriki. She crashed against a tree with a gaping hole on her stomach. The woman fell on the ground dead, not being able to take such an attack.
Naruto didn't look phased as he turned his attention to Isamu. The Sound ninja only smirked in amusement, the Chunin was proving to be really interesting. "Thanks you for that," Isamu said in amusement, "You don't know how much I hated her."
Choji watched Naruto in slight fear, he had never seen him act to cold-hearted before. It was as if Naruto was a whole different person. Neji had similar thoughts but viewed the Chunin in a new light, someone who would do anything to protect his team. His respect for the blond had increased a considerable amount.
Ino watched Naruto in worry. She was afraid of having him use the fox's chakra since she knew that it wouldn't do him any good. He had told her that demonic chakra was red and it was the most dominant color on his chakra at the moment.
"N-Naruto," Ino called out in a quivering voice, trying to be strong for him.
"What?" Naruto asked while glaring at the man, ready to spring into action and put an end to his life.
"Stop it," she demanded though a little weak. The Chunin ignored her and took out his blade, infusing chakra onto it and making it expand a few feet, "Stop it Naruto!"
The jinchuuriki turned to Ino with a frown on his face. "Why should I? These bastards tried to kill you, do you think I'll let them off that easily?" he snapped in anger, more red chakra surrounding the jinchuuriki, "I'll kill them all!"
"This isn't you Naruto!" Ino snapped with tears on her eyes. Naruto's red chakra wavered and began to lessen, seeing the desperation on Ino's face, "You told me that you hate using it. Do you know how it makes me feel to make you do something you hate? Please Naruto stop using it! You don't need it, you can protect us without it!"
Naruto watched as a few tears fell from Ino's eyes. His red chakra began to disappear, she was right. It wasn't really him protecting them, it was a damned fox looking for a fight through him. He felt the burn around his skin and closed his eyes in an attempt to calm the rest of the fury he felt.
He opened his eyes to reveal that they were back to their round electric blue. Ino gave him a smile that he returned, he would protect her with his own will. He wouldn't let the fox affect his decisions and if he really needed to use the chakra then he would make sure he had mastered it, he turned to Neji and gave him a nod. If they were to take down Isamu he would need all the help he could get.
"Let's fight now!" Isamu announced with a smirk. His sword nowhere to be seen and burn marks around his skin, showing that he had been affected by the explosion back at the base.
"Let's go Neji!" Naruto exclaimed as he ran at the Sound ninja.
Neji ran at Isamu from the opposite side while channeling chakra onto his palms. Isamu smirked at the challenge and jumped in the air before slamming his feet on the ground. The earth began to shake before large spikes of rock came out of the ground. The two Leaf ninja jumped in the air in order to avoid the attack before Naruto turned to Neji and gave him a firm nod.
"Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation!" Neji exclaimed as he landed on the ground, destroying each earth spike around him. Naruto landed next to him and ran through hand signs.
Isamu saw this and charged at them, keen on stopping the jutsu. As he got closer, Neji charged at him in a fury of open palm attacks. The Sound ninja was forced to dodge from the speed of the strikes, Neji just wouldn't let up his attacks.
"Now Neji!" Naruto exclaimed as Neji gave one last strike before jumping away from Isamu, "Wind Style: Devastation!" A powerful wind came out of the Chunin's mouth, taking rocks with it and launching at the Sound ninja.
Isamu smirked and jumped away from the attack, his improved physical ability had increased his skills several times. His thoughts were interrupted when Neji launched at him with his arms held back. The man smirked and threw a punch at the Genin, who used both hands to block the attack with a wince at the strength behind the punch. Neji was pushed back by the force and flipped in the air before landing on the ground.
Isamu landed on a tree branch and suppressed a groan when he saw clones all around him. He raised a brow when he saw that all clones had kunai on their hands. The small army of clones threw the kunai before extending their palms. "Wind Style: Gale Palm!" the clones exclaimed as the kunai gained a tremendous amount of speed.
Isamu frowned and jumped away from the barrage of projectiles but not before a few kunai embedded themselves to his right leg, making him wince in pain. He landed on the ground with a cry of pain at the feel of pressure on his leg before he reached down and ripped out the kunai, one by one with an angry look on his face.
"I got you!" Naruto yelled as he ran at the man with a Rasengan on hand.
Isamu smirked and ran at the Chunin with one of the kunai on hand. Before the Rasengan could hit, the Sound ninja threw the kunai at the Leaf ninja, landing right between his eyes.
' Poof'
The smirk on Isamu's face vanished and snapped his head to the right at the sound of footsteps. Neji charged at him, intent on finishing the fight. The Sound ninja slammed his hands on the ground, making an earth spike appear right in front of the Hyuuga. Neji could do nothing as he ran into the spike, his chest being pierced.
' Poof'
"Another clone!" Isamu snapped in disbelief. Two giant hands suddenly wrapped around him, keeping him in place.
"Up here you idiot!" Naruto exclaimed from high in the air as he dived towards the immobilized Isamu. The Sound ninja began to struggle against the hold but found that the Genin was too strong. The Chunin extended his right hand, swirling chakra turning into a sphere, "This is it for you!"
"No, dammit! Let me go you freaking kid!" Isamu screamed at Choji in an attempt to break free of the grasp.
"Rasengan!" Naruto yelled as the attack made contact with Isamu's skull. The force of the attack forced the man's body to dig into the ground, in a show of pure power. The Rasengan met the ground in a small explosion, kicking up a cloud of dust and blocking the Chunin from view.
Neji panted as he leaned against a tree, most of his chakra gone. "D-did he… do it?" he asked himself.
The smoke cleared to reveal Naruto kneeling on the ground next a hole that had been filled by the rubble the attack had caused, making a burial of kinds. He turned to his friends and gave a wary smile, they had finally finished with the first base.
Ino walked over to Naruto with a small smile. "You did it," she said with a proud look on her face, "I told you that you didn't need to use it!"
"Right," Naruto agreed with a chuckle before standing up with a bit of trouble, "It was all thanks to Choji getting back into the fight at the last minute."
Choji grinned. "I just held him, I didn't do much," he said with a chuckle.
"It seems we're finally done," Neji said with a weary look on his face, "Now all we have to do is meet with the other team and get to the next base."
"Yeah…" Naruto sighed out with a tired look of his own. Summoning clones that could use jutsu, though weak ones, took a toll on his reserves save for the clone that had been running with a rock henged as a Rasengan. Right now he probably had about one-fourth of his chakra left, to some it might be too much but since his body was accustomed to such an enormous amount of chakra, he felt extremely drained, "Let's take a break first though."
"Sounds good," Ino said with a smile on her face, "But before we do that…" She took hold of Naruto's shirt and pulled him into a quick kiss, stunning everyone. The Chunin got over the shock and returned the kiss, it was just like the first except that they were both more comfortable with it. It was still an innocent kiss with a bit of curiosity and the warm feeling of the affection they held for each other. The two broke the kiss and smiled at each other, "Now I'm ready for my break."
"Me too," Naruto agreed with a smile on his face as he took Ino's hand and walked away from the base. He turned his head back to the rest of the team and grinned, "Let's go guys. I saw a lake close to here, we can rest there."
Neji and Choji stared at each other with looks of shock, "Did we miss something?"