Naruto:A New Path

NaruIno Combination

"I won't be stopped," Kimimaro muttered with a calm look on his face. He bent his knees slightly, preparing to move when needed. His swords were gripped tightly on his hands as he kept his eyes peeled for any sort of movement. He drew a short breath before speaking once more, "There is no way that I'll ever fail Lord Orochimaru."
Naruto frowned as he gathered chakra on his right hand. The seal there responded and his blade appeared on his open hand. "Ino…" he muttered to the blonde kunoichi standing next to him. Ino turned to him, wondering how they would go about the fight. "I want you to stay back for now."
"W-what?" she stuttered in disbelief, with a bit of anger on her voice.
"I'll be the bait," he explained as he prepared to move. "Just wait for an opening and attack with all you have," with that he kicked off the ground, charging straight for Kimimaro. Ino stayed behind for the time being, telling herself that if Naruto was in the smallest amount of trouble she would attack.
Naruto gathered wind chakra on his blade as he ran, its size and sharpness increasing. Once close enough, he slashed at Kimimaro but he easily blocked with his two swords. Naruto gathered more chakra on the intertwined blade, beginning to slice through the bone swords. Kimimaro's eyes widened slightly, never witnessing his bone being sliced by another blade before. Seeing as his swords wouldn't hold out more longer, he kicked at the blond with his right leg.
Naruto took noticed the incoming kick and quickly raised his left leg, blocking the incoming kick with his knee. He proceeded to push against the intertwined blades before jumping away and landing a few feet away.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he exclaimed as a pair of clones appeared at his side.
Both clones stayed behind as Naruto charged at Kimimaro once more. The jinchuuriki jumped in the air before reaching out with his right hand and forming a Rasengan, still with a bit of distance away from the enemy. Kimimaro wondered briefly what he was doing before taking notice of the two clones standing behind the incoming ninja.
The clones ran through hand signs, pointing their attacks at the air-bone Naruto. "Wind Style: Devastation!" the clones dispersed as a powerful wind shot towards the original Naruto. The air pushed against the blond, increasing his speed as he approached the enemy ninja.
Kimimaro frowned as the attack grew closer, now knowing why Naruto had used the clones. He quickly jumped to the side, dodging the incoming Naruto that was forced to disperse his Rasengan and flip in the air in order to land safely. The Sound ninja turned to Naruto only for his eyes to widened as a torrent of water approached him. Not expecting the attack, he took it full force and was hurled through the air before crashing against a tree.
"That was great Ino," Naruto praised as he moved to stand next to her.
"I know I'm great," she smiled before turning back to Kimimaro with her expression turning into a frown. He was already standing with a look of anger on his face. "But he's already back up. I thought that my attack would buy us a little more time."
Naruto smiled bitterly. "We'll need a lot more than that," he turned to Ino, giving her a curt nod, "We have to attack together if we want to stand a chance."
"It's about all we can do," Ino nodded as she turned back to the enemy.
Kimimaro narrowed his eyes on the two Leaf shinobi. He had underestimated them and dropped his guard but he would make sure that it wouldn't happen again. "You two will not go unpunished for this," he growled as his swords dug back into his skin. He then pointed both hands at the Leaf ninja, "Take this."
Sharp pieces of bone shot out of Kimimaro's hands, heading straight for the couple just as Naruto ran through hand signs. "Wind Style: Devastation!" the powerful gust of air shot through the area, blowing away all of the incoming projectiles as it headed for Kimimaro.
The Sound ninja ended his attack, knowing that continuing it would be futile. As the air passed by him, he began to run at the two Leaf ninja. Bones stuck out of most of his upper body, shredding part of his shirt off. The two ninja didn't know what hit them as he closed in on them and stabbed with his two swords, though he instantly felt something was off. Just as he expected, both ninja turned to clouds of smoke, leaving him to wonder where the originals were.
"Wind Style/Water Style!" Kimimaro heard both voices coming from either side of him. He turned to his right, easily noticing Naruto standing on a tree. Turning to his left he found the kunoichi standing a fair distance away from his.
"Air/Liquid Bullets!" Blasts of wind and water shot at Kimimaro. The Sound shinobi moved from side to side in order to avoid the incoming attacks as two more bone swords formed on his hands. He used his swords to break apart a few of the bullets while most of them hit each other and dispersed.
Soon the attacks ended, leaving only Kimimaro standing on a large puddle. He began to move but felt a pair of hands take hold of his feet. A growl emitted from his lips as he stabbed the new clone holding his feet from underneath the ground, hearing the familiar dispersing sound.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto exclaimed as four clones appeared around him. The clones jumped away from each other, forming a circle around Kimimaro though keeping a good distance away. The blond followed with a series of hand signs before putting a hand to his mouth, his clones mimicking his actions, "Wind Style: Wind Wave!" The streams of air hit against the ground around the Sound ninja, blowing the water around Kimimaro.
Ino moved closer to Kimimaro before mending the air-bone water, spinning it counter-clock wise and creating a large whirlpool. Kimimaro was swallowed up by the large whirpool, his face showing nothing but fury.
Naruto jumped up a tree before kicking off of it and forming an orb of air on his right hand. He sailed through the air before diving into the whirlpool, sticking his right hand out as he neared the spinning Kimimaro.
"Wind Style: Spiraling Wind Ball!" he exclaimed as the orb of wind met the Sound ninja's back. Kimimaro let out a scream of pain as he was slammed onto the ground. The water died down as Naruto landed safely on the ground.
"I can't believe that worked," Ino smiled as she moved next to Naruto.
The Chunin grinned slightly. "We had the element of surprise on our side but an attack like that won't work again," he explained with his eye on the dust cloud that had kicked up due to Kimimaro's impact against the ground, "He'll expect things like this from now on. Let's just have our jutsu stall him only and try to wound him when the opportunity comes."
Ino nodded in agreement. They had caught the Sound ninja by distracting him and thinking two steps ahead. The air and water bullets had been a good distraction that had also gathered the necessary amount of water for her to mend. Next up were the wind waves Naruto had made in order to have the water completely surround Kimimaro. Lastly she had simply done her first water control training exercise, albeit using a lot more chakra, which resulted in a large whirlpool that kept him in place for Naruto to deliver a strong point-blank range attack.
"How's your chakra?" Naruto suddenly asked, breaking her train of thought.
Ino turned to Naruto with a small grin on her face, "I still have a good amount left even though I used up a lot of it controlling the whirlpool. We have to come up with a name for that anyway."
Naruto chuckled. "It has to be a cool name though. Something like that it's-"
The Chunin was cut off as a sudden wave of chakra engulfed the area. The couple turned to see Kimimaro standing before them with black marks running across his face and upper torso, his shirt being thorn off by the bones that had stuck out of his body. His gaze held nothing but anger as a dark purple chakra swirled around him.
"I've had enough of you," Kimimaro frowned as a piece of bone struck out of his right hand. He let out a hiss as a broad bone sword emerged from his hand, taking hold of it with both hands.
Ino turned to Naruto with a frown on her face. She had seen those marks before, in her mission to the Sound bases to be exact. Kimimaro's had a different pattern but she was sure they were the same, "It's one of those Curse Marks from the mission to the Sound bases, right?"
"Yeah," Naruto agreed, remembering the enemies they had taken down that day. They had all possessed the Curse Mark and had been really hard to stop which made him wonder how much stronger Kimimaro had gotten. Just by looking at him he could tell that the gap between their powers had only increased and not by little.
Wind chakra gathered around the blade Naruto held as he walked a bit closer to Ino. "Remember to keep your distance from him," he warned, "We'll just need to stall a little longer anyway."
Ino smiled bitterly, "Easier said than done."
Neji stood his ground as Tayuya's remaining ogre charged at him. He listened to the tone Tayuya now played, it was a more upbeat and chaotic one. Judging from the last attacks, the ogre would take an aggressive style of fighting.
The ogre raised its club as it closed in on the Hyuuga. Neji remained still as the weapon descended upon him, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. His byakuugan activated as he sidestepped the attack though not managing to avoid getting his arm scraped by one of the spikes on it. He gathered chakra on his right hand before striking the ogre on the chest, hitting its heart directly.
"Not bad," Tayuya smirked as the summon disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Neji turned to face her with his byakuugan glaring into her eyes. The Sound ninja didn't seemed fazed as she pulled more chakra out of the Curse Mark, causing her appearance to begin to change. Her skin grew darker, two horns sprouted out of her now longer hair and her eyes turned to a glaring yellow. She smirked as she faced the Leaf ninja, "It's too bad that I'll have to get serious now."
Neji dropped into his taijutsu stance. "If that's the case then maybe I should get serious as well," he smirked, earning a glare from Tayuya.
Tayuya slammed both hands on the ground, "Summoning Jutsu!"
Four ogres emerged from a cloud of smoke, all of them carrying clubs. Neji fought the urge to yell out in annoyance. He had just taken down three of those and now he needed to take out four more. It was only through cheer willpower that he managed to keep his face calm.
The Hyuuga took out a couple of kunai, attaching exploding tags on both. 'I have to take them out quickly. If I don't then I'll only end up wasting energy fighting them,' he was broken out of his thoughts by the distinct sound of Tayuya's flute beginning to play. Now with the knowledge of her different tunes he had an idea of what she would be doing, ' They're going to attack head on.'
Neji jumped up a near tree branch just as an ogre chased after him. He landed on the branch before beginning to run up the tree. Just as he took another step, an ogre suddenly tackled him from his side. His eyes widened as he was hurled through the air but managed to regain balance and land safely on the ground.
His eyes narrowed as he leaned to his right, barely avoiding a thrust from one of the ogre's clubs. 'What is this?' he wondered as another ogre charged at him. The large summon swung at him but met only ground as Neji rolled to his left. He dropped his first kunai before running at one of the ogres, catching movement out of the corner of his eye.
' How are they organized?' Neji skidded to a stop before jumping backwards, avoiding a powerful swing of the newly arrived ogre. Counting the one that had chased him and the three that had been waiting for him to move, he had already faced all of the ogres. Right now three were in front of him which meant that the last one would be waiting to attack, but that didn't make any sense.
Judging by the tune from the flute they should be charging at him instead of going through strategies, 'Did I read her fighting style wrong?'
Tayuya smirked from her spot on a tree branch. Seeing the confusion on the Leaf ninja's face, she concluded that he had been thrown off by her change of tune. A thing he didn't know was that there were different tunes for each commands. Making him read the first tunes had been part of her plan to catch him off guard.
Neji's byakuugan caught sight of the last ogre charging at him from behind. He dropped his remaining kunai before jumping up a tree, coming to a stop while glancing at the gathered ogres. He quickly set his hand in the ram seal, not wanting the ogres to spread out again, "Take this!"
Both kunai exploded beneath the group of ogres. Dust and debris kicked up in a powerful explosion that covered everything from view. Neji briefly wondered how Naruto had made such powerful explosive tags but dismissed it as he ran behind a set of trees that would hide him from view.
Tayuya covered her eyes from the incoming dust and debris. She had seen him drop the kunai when running but she had assumed he had simply been too preoccupied to hang on to them and on the off chance that he had been doing it on purpose, she hadn't expected him to have such powerful exploding tags.
She uncovered her eyes once the smoke cleared, none of her summons remaining from the explosion. There was a large crater in the ground before her and several trees had broken in two. She scanned the area for the Hyuuga but found no sign of him, much to her luck.
Tayuya placed the flute to her lips, playing a soft tune that filled the area. Her genjutsu would be able to take him out of his hiding place.
Neji stood against a tree with his byakuugan active in case of a sneak attack. So far he had only seen Tayuya begin to play her flute before there was a sudden burst of chakra from her. 'She's casting a genjutsu,' he frowned as he stopped his chakra before flaring it in order to prevent himself from being caught in the genjutsu. He quickly took out a kunai before flinging it towards a large tree. Just one opening would be needed and, hopefully, the sound of the kunai hitting the tree would distract her long enough.
He kept his gaze on her as the kunai stabbed into the tree. Her head snapped to the side, obviously hearing the sound. This was his chance.
Neji emerged from his spot behind a large tree before kicking off the ground, heading straight for the Sound ninja. Tayuya, hearing the sound of footsteps, turned around to see Neji nearing her with his right fist held back. Too late to dodge, she received a hard open-palm strike to her chest, instantly rendering her unconscious as she was sent flying through the air.
Neji landed on the tree branch Tayuya had been standing on as her body fell limply on the ground. "I'm finally done here…" he muttered to himself as he jumped down the tree and approached the Sound ninja. He kneeled next to her to see her chest rising and falling.
He had expected this. His open-palm strike hadn't been a fatal one, he had only opted for knocking her out. She didn't know that he could see when a genjutsu was going to be cast, which would explain why she had been caught completely off guard. He had contemplated on just killing her but capturing her would be a lot more useful.
The four Naruto clones ran through the trees of the dense forest. One of them held the barrel containing Sasuke on its back with an angry frown.
The clone carrying the Uchiha suddenly came to a realization, eyes widening in understanding. "Wait a minute!" it called out, making the three other clones stop on their tracks and look at him quizzically. "Why the hell am I carrying this thing?" the clone put the barrel down before crossing its arms and letting out a huff, "I'm not taking another step with that thing. Someone else carry it."
"Fuck that!" a clone roared in rage, "You carry it! It was your job after all!"
Another clone shook its head, "This is just wasting time."
"Um, guys… we shouldn't be fighting," the last clone spoke up.
"When did I agree to this?" the clone asked in anger, obviously ignoring the last two clones.
"Just shut up already. Your voice is annoying!"
"We have the same voice!"
The clones continued their argument before a sudden sound from the barrel caught their attention. One of the clones stepped closer to the barrel only to be stabbed by a hand covered in lightening before dispersing in a cloud of smoke. The other clones watched as their ally dispersed and the barrel broke into pieces, the last Uchiha now standing before them.
Sasuke smirked as he looked at the clones. His sharingan glared at the three clones before deactivating, Sasuke's stance relaxing before he spoke, "Where's the real Naruto?"
"Why do you even care?" one of the clones smirked, "Are you looking for the boss so that he can kick your ass… again?"
Sasuke's visible eye narrowed before he blurred out of view. The clone's eyes widened in shock before receiving a hard kick to the face that dispersed it upon contact. The remaining clones slipped into their taijutsu stances while Sasuke simply smirked in amusement.
A clone quickly ran through hand signs before putting a hand to its lips. "Wind Style: Devastation!" it yelled before dispersing.
The powerful wind shot at the Uchiha just as he finished running through his own hand signs. "Wind Style: Devastation!" his own powerful wind met the other before it could near him. The result was a small twister that dispersed quickly. Sasuke smirked before catching movement from his left, turning to see the remaining clone charging at him with an orb of compressed wind on its right hand.
Sasuke smirked before using his own jutsu, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
The flames met the spinning orb of compressed wind in an explosion that engulfed the clone. Sasuke watched his handiwork with a smirk. The clones were no problem and now he had a good idea of how to defend himself against most of Naruto's jutsu.
Sasuke turned around and broke into a run. The clones had been leading him the opposite direction which meant that he would eventually run into one of those Sound ninja that would take him to Orochimaru if he just kept going in a straight line.
Now with the clones gone, he knew that Naruto would be soon to follow. He smirked as he moved through the forest, he couldn't wait to settle his score with Naruto.
Kimimaro charged at the two Leaf ninja with his broad sword held to his side. The two shinobi jumped away from the area before running through hand signs, already taking aim. Naruto was the first to attack with several air bullets that he easily dodged by jumping away. Next was a torrent of water from the kunoichi that he simply sidestepped.
The Sound ninja jumped away from the water that had built up on the ground. He knew better than to be caught in the same trap again. If they didn't have enough water, then they couldn't use any strong water jutsu.
Naruto ran through hand signs as he watched Kimimaro jump away before the memory of his clones hit him all at once. He hissed in pain, putting a hand to his head and closing his eyes. The clones had been running around for a while and such long memories always gave him headaches.
"Are you alright?" Ino asked in alarm, having no idea why he suddenly looked hurt.
The Chunin shook his head as he processed the memories. Sasuke was awake now and needed to be stopped before he got to Orochimaru but, throwing a glance at Ino, he knew for a fact that he wouldn't let himself let her fight alone. It looked like things had changed, instead of stalling Kimimaro now they needed to defeat him in order to get to Sasuke before it was too late.
"Ino…" Naruto muttered with a frown on his face. His clenched the blade on his right hand as wind chakra gathered around it. "Sasuke escaped the clones," Ino's eyes widened before he continued, "Our mission is to stop him from going to Orochimaru. It looks like we'll have to defeat this Sound ninja so that we can complete it."
"Then, we'll continue to attack him with combination attacks, right?" she asked, receiving a nod from her boyfriend. Ino grinned, "Then let's get rid of this freak quickly."
Naruto chuckled and gave her a nod, "Let's."
The two jumped in front of Kimimaro with renowned vigor. They would no longer try to stall, this time they would try to go for the kill.
"It seems you two decided not to run anymore," Kimimaro commented with a calm expression on his face, a total contrast to the flaring purple chakra around him, "That's good. It will make it easier to kill you."
An orb of compressed wind formed on Naruto's right hand as he smirked at the Sound ninja, "We'll see about that."
Naruto dug the attack into the ground, kicking up a large cloud of dust that shielded him and Ino from view. Kimimaro watched closely for any sings of movement before seeing several shadows appear inside the cloud of dust. He frowned as dozens of Naruto clones charged recklessly at him.
He ran at the neared clone and swung his sword, cutting cleanly through it. The next clone threw a punch but he easily dove under it before a bone struck out of his shoulder and impaled the clone. More bones appeared around his body as he cut through the small army of clones, cutting them all with ease.
From behind the clones Naruto ran through hand sings. "Wind Style…" he began as all of the clones suddenly dispersed in a large cloud of smoke. Kimimaro looked at him oddly before the Chunin released his jutsu, "Devastation!"
The powerful wind shot through the air, blowing all of the smoke at Kimimaro who simply held his ground. His vision was blocked but he knew not to get impatient, they wouldn't attack him directly since he could easily outmatch them both.
The air around Kimimaro cleared to reveal no sign of the Konoha shinobi. He frowned before catching movement to his left and spotting the kunoichi running through hand signs.
"Water Style: Raging Waves!" she exclaimed as a torrent of water shot out of her mouth.
"Pathetic…" Kimimaro muttered as he sidestepped the attack. The water shot past him and drenched the ground where he had just been standing. He prepared to charge at the kunoichi but heard a rumbling sound. His attention turned to the ground as Naruto broke through it with his blade on hand.
Naruto slashed at the Sound ninja, his blade enhanced with wind chakra. Kimimaro's eyes widened in shock as he leaned his body back at the last second, successfully avoiding the attack's full force but not a large, though not deep, wound on his chest. Blood emitted from the wound as Naruto ran through hand signs in a speed he hadn't seen earlier.
"Wind Style: Wind Wave!"
Kimimaro didn't have time to dodge the point-blank attack and was pushed away from the blond. He growled as he skidded backwards, his chance to retaliate gone because of the last minute jutsu. The two ninja were running his patience and his control over the Curse Mark's intensified emotions was slipping.
Naruto landed on the ground with a focused gaze on his eyes. His attacks so far hadn't put much damage, if any, on Kimimaro. They had only delayed or stopped Kimimaro from attacking him or Ino. It looked as if the only thing they were doing was annoy the Sound ninja.
More purple chakra flared around Kimimaro as he glared at the blond ninja. The same shinobi Orochimaru had told him to kill only a few weeks ago. He would fulfill his lord's request, the ninja needed to die and he would make sure of it.
Kimimaro placed a hand on the ground and concentrated. The two ninja were proving to be annoying when together, he would need to separate them and kill them separately.
Seeing that Kimimaro was open for an attack, Naruto quickly ran through hand signs while he had the chance. As he finished preparing his attack he felt a sudden rumbling coming from beneath him. Naruto's eyes widened before jumping away just as a large spike made of bone emerged from where he had just been standing.
' What the hell was that?' Naruto wondered as he landed a few feet away. He didn't have much time to ponder since the same rumbling feeling beneath his skin shook his body. Naruto jumped away once more while another spike ripped through the ground, 'Is there no limit to how many he can make?'
Ino gritted her teeth as she ran through hand signs. She had seen the attacks about to hit Naruto and she wasn't about to let Kimimaro kill him. "Water Style: Raging Waves!"
Kimimaro frowned as the torrent of water headed straight for him. He would need to keep her occupied as well. With a push from the bones moving through the ground, a large spike appeared before him to shield him from the attack. The only downside to his jutsu was that he was open to attacks while conducting his bones but he knew that the Leaf ninja weren't that dangerous from far away.
The kunoichi frowned when her attack was blocked and prepared to try once more, only to hear something moving beneath her. Ino quickly jumped away to see one of those spikes break through the ground. She landed several feet away but heard another one of those spikes coming her way. Again, she leapt away from the area while wondering how she was going to get out of this situation.
Naruto continued to move through the area while dodging the spikes. He wasn't clueless to the fact that he and Ino were away from each other, something Kimimaro had planned no doubt. This itself was a disadvantage, along with the area around him being filled with those spikes. He was running out of running room and would eventually be trapped it he didn't think of something.
He rolled to his side to avoid another incoming spike but, upon taking a look at his surroundings, he found himself completely surrounded by the spikes. "Dammit," Naruto muttered as he ran through hand signs. "Wind Style: Devastation!" the powerful gust hit against the ground, pushing Naruto high in the air.
Kimimaro watched the Chunin sail through the air and quickly dug his broad sword in the ground before pointing his free hand at him, "Now die."
Naruto's eyes widened as needles of bone shot at him. 'Dammit, I can't dodge this!' he gritted his teeth in anger before running through hand sings as fast as he could, but just as he was going to finish his jutsu a cloud of sand gathered in front of him. His brows furrowed in confusion before the cloud of sand wrapped around his waist and pulled him away.
Naruto landed safely on the ground, the sand around him moving away. He turned to where the sand was going and couldn't help but feel a little relieved. There stood Gaara with his arms crossed and a blank expression on his face.
"Gaara?" Naruto muttered with a grin. Just how did he always manage to appear at the right times?
"Good to see you again, Uzumaki," Gaara nodded at him before turning his attention to Kimimaro, "It seems I arrived just in time."
Kimimaro pulled his arm out of the ground, ending his control of the spikes. Ino moved to stand next to Naruto and the newly arrived Gaara with a bit of sweat on her face. She panted slightly, a bit tired from all the jutsu she had used combined with her dodging the spikes for that long.
"Are you alright Ino?" Naruto asked worriedly.
Ino gave him a smile before nodding, "I'm okay. Let's just get this over with already."
"Right," he grinned, feeling a lot more confident now that he had Ino and Gaara fighting beside him.
Kimimaro looked at Gaara with a frown on his face. "I don't care that there's three of you," he began as purple chakra flared around him. His skin turned a shade darker, six bones sprouted from his back, just above a newly formed tail. The charka flared around him as he glared at the three ninja, "I'm done playing games. All of you will die now."
Naruto, Ino and Gaara slipped into their respective fighting stances. It looked like it was going to be a long fight but time was something they didn't have. Sasuke was getting further away from Konoha as they stood there facing Kimimaro. Naruto silently wondering just how they were going to manage to defeat him fast enough to chase after the last Uchiha.