Claymore Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ A Red Dawn ❯ Marked for Death ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

"Damn... I've never seen so many different liquors. I don't know which ones to pick!" Naruto exclaimed as he looked over all the bottles, cans and kegs of alcohol that the barkeeper kept.

Teresa had let him go out to do what he needed to do, probably just to get him out of her hair. However, when he asked her for some money she threw this back at his head before pushing him out of the room and locking the door behind. He knew the bag contained money but he didn't know how many of the small gold bars he would need. All he knew was that Teresa said it was more then enough to get whatever he wanted.

Pulling out a handful of the gold before dropping them on the counter, Naruto looked over at the barkeep. "How much will this buy?"

The said owner of the bar just looked at the money on the counter before looking up at Naruto before back to the money. "Boy, that is enough beras that you can buy whatever the hell you want!"

Naruto blinked a few times hearing this before shaking his head as he looked over the selection before he started picking some out. "I would like a crate of sake if you have it, three bottles of your best red wine and one of your white, two six packs of every type beer you have. Oh, I have to have two bottles of the best damn tequila you have here and a bottle of the most powerful whiskey you got. ...And if you have any high quality bourbon, add that in there to."

Everyone in the bar just looked at Naruto as he was insane except for the barkeep. He seemed overjoyed to get the said items as he was easily getting over a couple thousand beras over what was truly needed to pay for what the young man was asking for.

As the alcohol began to pile up on the counter, Naruto began to wonder how he was going to carry all this liquor back with him without showing off any of his abilities. Normally he would have sealed them away and walked back to the hotel and not worry about it. However, his abilities would shock those of this world and as Teresa said, it would be best to keep them a secret for now.

Just as the barkeeper brought in the crate of sake from the back, Naruto had a large bead of sweat falling from the back of his head before he turned to the people in the bar. "Um, I'll pay anyone that will help me carry this back to my room."

Naruto sighed as the few people there gave him the dirtiest look possible making him want to put a shuriken between their eyes. Shaking his head, he found his liquor was suddenly put in a wheel barrel by the barkeeper making the blonde wonder how much he actually paid him as this service was a little ridiculous.

But as long as he had his supplies of alcohol, he didn't care whatsoever. Now he just hoped Teresa didn’t kill him for overpaying for his stock of booze.

Teresa was twitching severely when Naruto entered the room with a wheel barrel full of alcohol. The trouble he caused today was bad enough, but the amount of liquor he brought back suggested that he was either an alcoholic or he was planning on getting her drunk and do something later that night. She had to go with both explanations as the blonde was entirely unpredictable and she had to suspect both.

However, when he started sealing them away into his scrolls leaving only the sake behind, Teresa could only twitch more. She just couldn't peg anything on the blonde without him suddenly doing something completely different then what she thought.

Sighing to herself, she gently lifted Clare's head off her lap and laid her down onto the bed. As she was about to reach over to the other bed for a blanket, Naruto walked over to the bed before laying his red cape over the young girl. She gave him a slight stare at this before she smiled softly seeing Clare's content face.

Shaking her head and sighing, Teresa turned towards the blonde haired enigma as he pulled a bottle of sake out of the crate and taking out a map out of his pouch. Seating herself at the table, as Naruto laid the map out on it; she tapped the desert located on the south-center of the continent. "We are located within this desert.”

Naruto nodded as he sat down in front of the map before taking a swig of his sake. His entire body twitched for a moment before he looked at the rice wine with new respect. "Whoa... This has a kick to it. Obaa-chan would have loved this stuff..."

"So your grandmother was a drinker to?" Teresa retorted as she reached out and took a bottle from his crate, pretty sure he wouldn't mind as there was plenty of the stuff.

"Oh yeah, she got me hooked on this stuff when I was thirteen and I've been drinking ever since." Naruto replied as he took another swig as he looked at the map a little more before sighing. "Just great. I really have no clue where the hell I am or how to get back home."

Teresa was a little surprised at Naruto's comment about him drinking since he was thirteen and had to wonder what kind of grandmother he had to allow such a thing. Shaking that off as he spoke again, she took a sip of the sake and was taken aback as it had one hell of a punch to it. "It really isn't surprising. We don't know anything about the worlds outside of our own even though people like me are confident they are there."

Nodding in understanding and downing his bottle before tossing it into the trash can, Naruto sighed as he rolled up the map. "That is just great. I just love a challenge."

It didn't take a genius to catch the sarcasm in his voice and Teresa couldn't really blame him. She would be highly irritated if she was in his position as well. Plus from what she gathered, he was rather important as he was the leader of this Red Dawn organization and his strength was uncanny just making her wonder what his organization did anyways.

Sighing as she took another drink, this time with less of a reaction, she looked over at Clare before shaking her head as she turned back to the blonde. "Your best bet to get any information of the outside worlds is to sneak within the organization and find out what they know. However, if you were to do such a thing I would not be able to go."

Catching a glimpse of what she was looking at, Naruto understood her reason for not going all too well. She would have to leave Clare behind and she couldn't do that. While he wasn't sure what the girl was to the woman, he knew she was very important to her and she would die to protect her.

As he was about to get up and pull out another bottle of sake from the crate, he stopped as he could sense something was coming. He wasn't the only one as Teresa had sensed it as well and had quickly hid herself from view as she closed her eyes.

Naruto was trying to figure out what she was doing at first before he began to notice that her yoki was slowly being concealed. While it was a good attempt, it wasn't going fast enough to keep herself from being detect as he began to sense that it was more then one thing coming. It was four people coming and if he had to guess, it was four warriors coming for Teresa.

Frowning as he remembered what she had said last night, he went to wake Clare up when Teresa stopped her attempt to suppress her yoki. "Don't... I know they have found me. Just let her rest and keep her from trying to get involved if she does wake up. I'll deal with my hunters."

"Don't get cocky." Naruto replied as he closed his cloak before he created a clone of himself and had it stand besides Clare. "We've made a deal and I don't plan on having to take care of Clare on my on any time soon."

Teresa growled at Naruto response as she kept her yoki restrained. Something about him just wanted to make her release some of her yoki to either intimidate him or make him back down. Calming herself down, she stood in the middle of the room before and firmly put on her metallic pads. "There is no need to be concerned. I've beaten the three they have sent many times and I know I can beat them together."

Hearing what she said, Naruto looked at her for a moment before a small smirk crossed his face as she pulled up a chair and sat in the middle of the room, as if she was waiting for someone. "Then what about the forth one, the one that is suppressing her yoki to the limit?"

For one of the few times in her life, Teresa was caught off guard. She had always been able to sense yoki no matter how well it was suppress. Even when she had met the woman during her training, she could tell she was one of them despite that there was the smallest trace of yoki escaping her body. But now, there was someone here that she could not sense. No, she could sense her now but it was very, very faint.

Looking over at Naruto, she frowned as he was able to sense her before even she was and that left her in a jam. While she was still very confident she could beat all four of them, the potency of the forth, the same one she had missed, was surprising. It was as if she was a number one in training...

Realizing that exactly what she was, she turned her head towards the door and got ready to welcome the oncoming warrior. "Alright... Just make sure you keep Clare out of this. Let me handle this woman and if anyone tries to attack me from behind, take care of them."

Giving her a slight nod, he ordered his clone to take Clare out of the room and just as the clone left the door opened to reveal a woman wearing the same outfit Teresa had on, plus the metallic skirt pieces that Teresa forsook, with straight, platinum blonde hair and elf-like features.

"Ah, it's you Irene!" Teresa mach greeted as she grinned at the elf-like woman before she became a little more serious. "It has been too long. I hope you have been doing okay... Shall I say the Number Three?"

Irene frowned deeply at her old friend. Even knowing her abilities almost as well as Teresa did, she could not believe she had sensed Priscilla so easily. "It has been too long Teresa; however, I am here for your head. But before that, may I know how you sensed our forth member? I know that you couldn't have unless someone else..."

"Can I offer you some sake my Elvin beauty?" Naruto's voice interrupted Irene's as he pulled out a bottle of sake and pointed it over towards her.

Twitching at being interrupted and being forced to take her attention off of Teresa, Irene gave Naruto a death glare and spoke in a rather annoyed tone. "No thank you. Now if you would please excuse me, I have a job to do."

Shrugging at her answer, Naruto uncorked the bottle before draining the bottle in a single swig before setting it onto the table just as Irene's attention went back to Teresa. Soon as he saw this, he spoke again just to piss off the elvin woman some more. "Oh, that would be me. I have the supernatural gift to sense yoki no matter how well it is concealed and tell just how potent it is."

Seeing Irene nearly break her own neck turning her head back towards him, Naruto smirked as he took a seat next to Teresa as he grabbed another bottle of sake.

Regaining her composure, Irene narrowed her eyes at the black cloaked man before closing her eyes. "I see..."

Opening her eyes, she looked back towards Teresa before loud cracks heard and slash like marks appeared on the door's entrance. "Teresa, I don't know why you have done this but my duty is clear. I will have to take your head one way or another..."

"Sure you don't want any?" Naruto interrupted her as he offered her yet another bottle of sake. The result was Irene nearly face faulting and the slashes along the door's entrance seized. "It is quite good and will put you on your ass if you aren't ready for it."

Teresa was enjoying the fact that Naruto didn't seem to only annoy her as Irene's face twitched in anger and looked like she was ready to use her Quick Sword on him. It just made her feel better that Naruto wasn't purposely being annoying. He just was an annoying person.

After reeling in her annoyance, she took a deep breath before giving Naruto a flat stare. "No, I do not want any and stop interrupting. This is a fight between monsters."

"Monsters? All I see is two really hot women." Naruto retorted making both blush horribly before both gave him dirty looks despite being somewhat flattered by his comment.

As both women regained their wits about them and were ready to start things up, Naruto had one last thing to say as he uncorked his third bottle. "Oh well. You two don't see interested in having a threesome anyways."

The bottle never got even got to his lips as her was suddenly sent through the window and into the wall of the next building by Teresa's fist. And he was still smirking as he got a good rise out of both of the women.

Quickly recovering as he was use to such blows, Naruto peeled himself off the wall before landing in front of a woman with short, spiky and platinum hair wearing the same get up as the other hunter was.

Seeing his clone with Clare hiding not too far away, Naruto turned his attention to the woman that was looking oddly at him. Once again being tempted by his devious prankster mind, Naruto refrained from smirking as he spoke. "Hey babe, if you see anything you like we can go into that hotel you know."

Noel's blush scorned her face at Naruto words. She was unsure whether to be angered or flattered at his comment as no guy ever hit on her before seeing that she was a half breed. She contemplated saying yes as she was quite curious as to how it would feel. When she was about to take him up on his offer after their job was done she saw he wasn't there anymore.

"What the...?!" Looking all around, she suddenly spotted Naruto as he entered the building before giving her a peace sign.

Wondering what he was up to, she was about to follow when she was suddenly engulfed in a minor explosion knocking her back into the same building Naruto collided into earlier. She attempted to pull herself off the wall, but she fell straight to the ground as the world was spinning all around her and all she could hear was a loud ringing sound.

Naruto could only smirk as he looked at the dazed face of the short haired warrior before walking into the lobby to see yet another warrior with short, wavy hair. Seeing her looking at the ceiling with her sword drawn, he quickly figured out that she was planning on striking Teresa from below.

Not one to allow such a cowardly tactic to work, Naruto walked over besides her and watched her circle around for a moment before speaking. "No, no! You're doing it all wrong! You'll never get it that way!"

Sophia blinked in confusion as she turned to look at the young man as she had no clue what he was talking about. She knew exactly what she was doing so who was this guy to talk. Before she could even think of a reply to tell him to buzz off, she suddenly found that she no longer was holding her claymore.

"Now it is about right here." Naruto commented with her claymore in his hand before driving in through the ceiling before spinning the blade, cutting a hole into the floor.

Removing the sword from the hole, a bottle of sake fell from the hole and into his right hand before he threw the sword back to her and taking a swig of his rice wine. "Now that is how you steal sake from below!"

Sophia found herself on the ground as she face faulted in disbelief at what just happened. He had not only stole her sword and alerted Teresa of what she was planning, he did it all for a bottle of sake! Was this guy even sane?

Running into the room, Noel, not looking so well after the explosive tag, glared at the blonde haired enigma before unsheathing her claymore. "You! You planned that somehow!"

Naruto nodded proudly before taking another drink of his bottle. This only angered Noel more as she brought her sword up, ready to strike the blonde. "You'll pay for that and tricking me!"

Due to the close proximity, Noel was on him almost instantaneously but the blade hit nothing but the wooden floor as Naruto side stepped her before casually walking outside.

Looking at each other, not sure how he just dodged Noel so easily, Noel and Sophia ran out after him knowing this guy was helping Teresa and wanted to take care of him before they could gang up on the former number one.

Once they were outside, Naruto took a sip from his sake bottle before he turned back towards the two short haired warriors. "I thought you guys had a law that forbade you to attack and kill humans? Man, that's what I thought this whole thing with Teresa was about!"

Noel growled angrily as she readied her claymore as she primed herself for her next attack. "Yes, we cannot kill humans but I’m beginning to doubt that you are one! But, we can attack them to defend ourselves or if they are getting in the way as you are!"

She launched herself towards Naruto, who seemed like he didn't care at first as he chugged the bottle. But as soon as she was on him and ready to slice off one of his arms, Naruto's other arm struck towards her chest, stopping her attack.

It felt like a truck had hit her when he outstretched his arm to stop her. But a sharp, piercing pain took away her shock as blood began to pour from her chest. Looking down, she noticed an odd, small blade was sticking out of her chest and the handle being gripped by the black cloaked man she had attacked.

Sighing to himself, Naruto threw his bottle off to the side before he jammed the kunai further into her chest to the point that it was a few centimeters from piercing into her spine. He didn't want to seriously injure them, but he was really left with no choice. These women he could not play around with and survive.

With a rough pull, he jerked the kunai out of her chest as she fell to her knees and looked down at her coldly before placing his kunai at her throat, ready to strike and end any chance she had of endangering Teresa.

"Noel!" Sophia's voice carried over the deafening silence that had overtaken the village.

Naruto could see that she wouldn't make it in time. She would get there, but she would be too late. He wanted to let this woman live, but she would only stall him from leaving this island continent and getting back home. But there was another, powerful presence that seemed to materialize besides him.

Jumping back, Naruto cursed as a shallow cut on his right forearm. If he hadn't picked up her presence sooner, he would have lost his right arm completely.

Landing on his feet, he took a good look at the woman that he had missed and was surprised. She wasn't a woman at all but a young girl, probably four to six years older then Clare but was still very young compared to her company. But that meant she was within his reasonable age limit and could be hit on.

"Wow, despite being so young and talented, you're kind of cute girly. You are the first person to hit me in battle in over a year. May I ask you out for dinner later if you are available?" Naruto asked as he looked at the young warrior before congratulating himself as yet another blushed.

Priscilla's entire face was beet red. This guy had just tried to kill one of her allies then instantly tries to hit on her. "You have a lot of nerve... You just try to kill one of us then you act like nothing happened! How can a human like you even try to hurt us?! We are the only ones keeping you from becoming extinct because of the yoma!"

"You mean these people," Naruto responded seriously, losing the playful attitude he had before, as he motioned his hands around him before continuing. "Because I'm not like them. If these yoma appeared where I come from, they would be killed almost immediately as the majority of my people are warriors. As for how... Eh, I do because I need to."

Glass shattered from above before Irene hit the ground and panted heavily as she looked up to the level above only to see Teresa jump down besides Naruto.

Smiling faintly as she noticed Noel passed out and seeing that Naruto had nothing but a single scratch, Teresa was quite pleased. One of the four attackers was taken out of the fight and Irene was getting ready to pass out herself after going against her for a few minutes. So that only left Sophia and the young girl.

"Good job Naruto, I think I can handle it from here." Teresa stated as she brought her claymore in front, smiling a little more as she knew she could end this battle now.

Naruto, however, was finished fighting himself as he shook his head. "I can't do that, Teresa. I helped start this; I'm going to finish it."

As soon as the last word rolled of his tongue, his arm suddenly jerked forward and a kunai struck the ground at Irene's feet. Then it went off, knocking back Priscilla, Sophia and the unconscious Noel as Irene was enveloped in the blast.

Teresa took a step back as she had not expected the weapon to explode and with such force as a piece of debris cut her cheek. Turning to Naruto with wide eyes, she turned back towards the explosion to see Irene had panting even heavier then before with her claymore stabbed into the ground in front of her, absorbing some of the blast.

"Wow, those swords are extremely durable if they can survive an explosion like that without even a scratch." Naruto whistled in amazement as he looked at the blade embedded into the ground.

Irene only looked at him, trying to figure out what he was as she had never heard of anything like him before. She tried to pick herself up, but as she tried, she collapsed and laid besides her sword. She knew she was done and now had to leave it up to Priscilla and Sophia.

As Priscilla ran to her side, Irene could only choke out what she needed the young girl to do. "Priscilla... You can't hold back your power. You are the only one of us that can defeat Teresa and this man now... But don't go past your... limit. Keep your power under... control."

Nodding at Irene, Priscilla stood up as Sophia walked besides her, staring down the two opposing them. "You heard her... I'll take Teresa for now, so take the guy out and do not hold back."

Sophia only smirked as the dirt around both hunters began to lift off the ground and float besides around them. The amount of dirt grew even more before it suddenly was blown back as they simultaneously released their yoki.

Their eyes sparkled a dazzling silver as the sounds of bones cracking and muscles tearing began to reach both Naruto and Teresa's ears. Their veins began to show as they bulged out as their muscle size began to increase and they seemed to become more and more demon like by the second.

However, they stopped their increase of yoki before suddenly charging the two.

Naruto ducked under Sophia's claymore as she attempted to behead him. Seeing that she was already preparing for a kick, Naruto simply jumped back further to avoid it and to keep Sophia from moving him to where she wanted him to go. However, when he felt himself pressed up against a building he cursed at himself for forgetting his surrounding.

But to his advantage, Sophia went for his head again and he ducked under as the sword went into the building. But to his surprise, it went straight through it like a butter knife and he was left with no room to counter as she tried to grab him with her free hand.

Grabbing her arm, he brought down his elbow against her forearm and snapped the bone with a single hit before kicking her off of him. Standing straight up Naruto knew he couldn't go on the defensive against this foe. He could only smirk at that thought. He loved being the one attacking. Increasing the flow of his chakra, the ground began to part from his feet as he moved towards Sophia as she regained her footing.

Sophia grimaced at her broken arm. That would take some time to heal. She would have preferred if he had just hacked it off as she could regenerate quicker then she could mend a broken bone.

Turning her attention back to Naruto as she needed to focus at the moment. What she saw surprised her as it reminded her of a yoki release as the ground was giving way to him as a strange energy began to surround him. She was sure even if she wasn't a warrior of the organization; she could see the aura as it wasn't yoki. It was natural energy.

Taking a step back as she did not suspect this, Sophia was taken back even further when the ground around him seemingly exploded and he disappeared.

She broke into a cold sweat as he suddenly appeared behind her without any warning. If he was this fast, she didn't stand a chance. It was as if this guy was on the same level as Bishou no Teresa. She wouldn't even doubt if he was stronger then Teresa.

With a quick blow to the back of her skull, she collapsed onto the ground. Shaking his head, Naruto turned around to see Teresa had made quick work of the young girl. In fact, it seemed the young warrior seemed to be scared out of her mind as she knelt onto the ground. He wasn't sure what Teresa had done, but whatever it was had worked as the young blonde haired warrior seemed so frightened that her entire body began to tremble as a dark stain stretched across her thighs.

Soon as he saw Teresa raise her sword to her neck, Naruto interfered as he gripped the swords handle. "Teresa, that is enough. You've thoroughly have frightened this child."

"We need to take care of her now... She has the capacity to become much stronger." Teresa responded as she tried to pull her blade free from Naruto's grip.

Naruto, however, held firm as he stood right next to her and looked down into her eyes being half a head taller then Teresa and spoke firmly. "It doesn't matter. Even if she has the potential to become more powerful then the Gods themselves, this is not the time to end her life! She is only a God damn child not that much older then Clare!"

Teresa flinched at Naruto's words before she pulled her claymore back after he released it. Taking one good look at Priscilla, she looked away in slight shame. She had indeed frightened the child, though she did not know how. Maybe she wasn't ready for such high intensity battle despite her skills and it overwhelmed her. Even if she was a warrior, she still was a child and her mind, despite what the organization had drilled her in, was still that of a young girl's.

Sheathing her claymore, she nodded at Naruto before Clare suddenly came running up and latched onto Teresa's leg. Both could tell that she was frightened, though she hid it well.

Kneeling down, Teresa embraced Clare tightly as she patted her on the back, trying to get the girl to calm down. It wasn't too hard as Clare had calm down rather quickly making Naruto what exactly frightened her.

That answered itself as she continued looking at Teresa before gripping her hand lightly as Teresa turned to him. "Let's get out of here. We've caused enough trouble and damage to this town."

Naruto nodded in agreement as he knew he did a lot of damage with his explosions and when Teresa punched him. Seeing his clone, he gave it the order to get their stuff, especially his sake, and bring it to them. Shaking that off for now, he walked behind Clare and Teresa to guard the rear and to watch Clare a little more.

He was just beginning to understand what Clare was to Teresa, but there was no doubt what Clare thought Teresa to be. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Teresa was her mother now even if she wasn't by blood. And she was the most precious thing to her on the entire planet and she was afraid of losing her.

Smiling sadly at the young girl, he looked up into the sky knowing that feeling all too well. He felt empty now that he thought about it as his most precious person had moved on and there was nothing he could do about it.

After a few minutes of walking, Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a small green stone. Gently holding it in his hand, he brought out a small chain he had been crafting ever since he lost her. Placing the jewel on the chain, he added a small amount of chakra to it and almost instantly it began to meld to the chain until it looked like it did before.

Having sensed something from Naruto, Teresa stopped and turned around to see what he had done. This mystified her as to why he did that just now as they had plenty of time before but she said nothing. It was his business and she wouldn't interfere unless it involved either her or Clare.

As she was ready to move on, Naruto's voice stopped her. "Clare, can you come here for a moment?"

The young girl looked at Teresa before releasing her hand and slowly walking to Naruto. As she reached him, he knelt so they were on eye level before he gently placed the necklace over her head. Looking at it, Clare was stunned by the dazzling green stone as it shone brightly in the light. Looking back up at Naruto, she could only shake her head as she tried to take it off and give it back to him.

Naruto only chuckled at her before lightly putting his hand on hers. "It's alright. I've been looking to give that to someone for a while. I've decided to give it to you as you kind of remind me of what I use to be."

As Clare looked up at him, Naruto smiled at her before giving her a small story. "The one that gave this stone to me believed in me and my dream so much that she nearly died for it. Because of her confidence in me, I began to blossom into who I am today. I'm giving this to you today so that maybe the same thing will happen and you will begin to blossom just like me."

Seeing the look in Clare's eyes only made him smile more before she suddenly hugged him making him laugh softly at the girl's action.

After a moment, she stopped hugging him and allowed him to get up before she went over to show Teresa, who was looking oddly at Naruto. But after a moment, the look turned into a smile as rubbed Clare's head.

Seeing his clone arrive, Naruto pocketed his sake scroll, as God knew he needed it, before his clone ran over to Teresa and handed her pouch and her skirt plates to her before disappearing into a plum of smoke.

But as soon as Teresa strapped them on, Priscilla landed in front of them, her entire body bulging and becoming more and more deformed as her yoki continued to increase.

Teresa sighed as she saw this and could see it was the fear in the girl that was driving her now and attempted to nip her attack in the butt. "It is no use. As things are right now, I will win. There is nothing you can do as of now that will change that so go home because this is not a fight you can win."

It seemed that Priscilla refused to listen as she released even more yoki then before, rupturing the ground beneath her feet as her skin began to gain a grayish tent to it. The muscles bulged even more making the small girl look like a giant and was as tall if not taller then Naruto.

Frowning as she saw this, Teresa unsheathed her blade, ready for a possible attack, before she tried to sway the young girl once more to restrain her power. "Stop the release now! You are newly instated warrior and I doubt you know your limits yet. If you continue at this rate, you'll pass your limit and you won't be able to return and become a yoma."

"Shut... Shut... SHUT UP!" Priscilla unearthly scream echoed throughout the desert, nearly deafening Naruto and Clare in the process.

With speeds that seemed unreal to even Naruto's standards, Priscilla was suddenly on Teresa with her blade drawn. But Teresa had seen the attack coming and simply put her blade in the way and blocked it. To make it even more surprising, it was Priscilla that lost ground as Teresa stood firm and pushed her claymore against Priscilla's.

"Murder... You... You murder... YOU MURDERER!" Priscilla screamed once more as she dragged her blade against Teresa's, trying to overpower the former number one while her yoki continued to rise more and more.

Naruto did not like this situation at all. He was ready to intervene and take care of the girl right then and there. Despite what he had said earlier, they had no choice but to put the girl down. She was becoming more then just a threat to them. She was becoming a threat to herself and everyone else around her.

Sensing this, Teresa looked over at Naruto and stopped him before he could even move. "You will stay there and guard Clare!"

Being outright told off, Naruto did as she said and stood besides Clare, ready for just about anything as he wasn't sure what he was about to see.

Yet soon as Teresa had said that, Priscilla suddenly had a burst of strength and knocked threw her and her blade back. Flipping in mid air, Teresa stopped the momentum of Priscilla's throw and looked for the young warrior only to find nothing.

Catching a glimpse of yoki, she could only look up to see Priscilla right above her, face to face.

Teresa barely had enough time to get out of the way. There wasn't even time to parry her blow. Not that she wanted to anymore as the girl's strength had suddenly gone through the roof and she could turn her own blade against her if she tried to block.

To make things worse, Teresa could not read the flow of Priscilla's yoki as her entire system was filled to the brim with it that it was leaking out and making it almost impossible to tell what her next move was.

However, she still was able to dodge an overextended thrust towards her heart but Priscilla counted on this and swept the blade towards Teresa to decapitate the platinum blonde. Teresa just ducked under it before jumping back as if she was only fighting a child with no experience.

But the next thing even caught her off guard.

Instead of trying to recover from the overextension, Priscilla used it to her advantage as her arm wrapped around he own waist and used the turn to gain even more speed as it went straight for Teresa's forehead.

An ear splitting clang sounded through the desert as Teresa had barely parried the blow to keep it from puncturing through and into her brain. However, she took a deep gash across the right side of her forehead that even cut through some of the bone of her skull.

Clare gasped loudly and was ready to run to her guardian's side when Naruto grabbed her shoulders, keeping her from moving. "Don't... That blow is only a scratch. She'll get out of this just fine."

However, Naruto knew something was wrong with the young girl as she looked over at Teresa and began to speak once more. "A yoma... A yoma killed papa... I'll never forget... I'll never forget... I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU YOMA!"

"You've already lost your mind, haven't you?" Teresa sadly asked as she looked at the turning warrior before she sighed deeply as she got no response. "I guess I cannot avoid this now. I must kill you here."

Naruto felt a chill go down his spine as Teresa said that. He wasn't one to be easily frightened by such simple words and it wasn't really the words that made him almost shiver. It was what he felt when she said that.

He was wrong, dead wrong about Teresa's power. She wasn't as strong as Pein was. If what he had just felt was right... She was possibly even more powerful then he was. And he was proven to be right as Teresa released her yoki.

"No way... That is insane!" Naruto yelled out in surprise as Teresa's eyes began to glow.

There was only one thing that he could measure this power to and even then, it wasn't a fair measurement but it was the best comparison he had. If this was only a tenth of her power, as he believed it to be, a full hundred percent would be equivalent to a tenth of Kyuubi's true power.

And that was truly frightening to Naruto.

Teresa and Priscilla clashed blades once more and the ground around them shattered from the shockwaves created from the impact. Priscilla tried to overpower Teresa once again, but it was of no use this time as she couldn't even push the Claymore back even when she was in the air.

Watching Priscilla jump back as she landed, Teresa stood up and looked towards the nearly awakened warrior as she began to growl like a yoma. Sensing sudden weakness in her, she struck and sliced through the right shoulder, shattering the armored pad above it.

Cursing as the blow was meant to sever her arm, Teresa appeared in front of Priscilla to feint her next attack so she could take off her arm.

However, Priscilla wasn't having it as her same arm stretched over to her and the same wound began to heal almost immediately forcing Teresa began to parry her sword strikes. Every strike seemed to fail making Priscilla even more desperate to land a hit and made her drop her guard.

That was almost a fatal mistake as Teresa suddenly went by her and sliced a clean arc through her left chest and shoulder, just off from hitting her heart. But it didn't seem to faze the nearly awakened warrior as she turned around and tried to decapitate her opponent.

Teresa, however, simply parried it before disappearing and appearing right behind her once more. This time she was able to block Teresa's attack but it meant no difference. The force of the blow sent Priscilla flying back and through a rather large boulder, turning the front portion into pebbles until she finally stopped halfway through it.

"It's over..." Irene's voice came from behind Naruto.

Naruto was instantly on the defensive as he had allowed himself to be distracted by the fight. He had his kunai out and was preparing for his signature technique when he saw all three of the hunter warriors behind him. Putting himself between them and Clare, he was ready to battle when Irene shook her head.

"We aren't here to fight... We know we can't win. We're here... To try and recover Priscilla before she awakens." Irene answered in a pain filled voice as she obviously hadn't recovered from the wounds she had taken from her fight against Teresa and the explosion Naruto caught her with.

Looking back towards the fight, Naruto could only shake his head before looking back towards them. "It is too late... Even if she could come back, her mind is shattered. I don't exactly know what an awakened is, but I bet it has to be the end result of a warrior that has reached her limits and can no longer control the demon within her... That girl... Is past that point."

Irene shook her head as she limped past Naruto and looked at Priscilla. "Mentally, she may be... But physically there is still a chance for her to change back. And at the very least... That is what we need."

Before she could move any more forward, Naruto placed the kunai at the back of her neck. "What makes you think I would let you get to her now? She is a threat to everyone and needs to be taken out. I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to recover that girl. It was you and your organizations fault for putting such an unstable warrior onto the battle field."

Seeing the elf-like woman flinch at his comment, Naruto put away his kunai before creating a clone and having it stand besides Clare just in case they tried anything. He wasn't sure why he was being so lenient, but he was quite sure the fight was about to wrap up and this was not one he wanted to miss.

Priscilla looked up at Teresa before she slowly began to stand up once more. "Papa... Give my papa back... He was so kind and I loved him so much... But he then ate the guts of Mama, my brother and my sister!"

Teresa wasn't sure what to make of what Priscilla's words. While her story was sad and all, it was proving that she was reverting back to her mind before she became a warrior. And that meant she was about to become an awakened and she had to stop that at all cost.

But as soon as Priscilla had stood fully erect, she disappeared from sight and Teresa not even Teresa could keep up with her.

It was Naruto, however, that saw her and called out Teresa. "LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!"

While it wasn't much time, Teresa was thankful as she barely managed to block Priscilla's strike. She was becoming more and more worried as her yoki began to rise again and it was just teetering on the border of no return. She had to end this now as the girl wasn't going to come back.

But it seemed Priscilla wasn't done with her story as she tried to overpower her and have Teresa’s own blade slice her in two. "But that's why, I killed him! I crept up behind him while he was eating my sister's guts and chopped off his head!"

Frowning, Teresa knew it was over when the top portion of Priscilla's shirt was ripped off and her sword holster was shattered from the muscle overload. She watched as Priscilla tried to reign in her yoki but fail as she dropped her sword and fell to her knees.

Priscilla didn't know what happened. She thought she was fine and the traitor was trying to deceive her. But now she couldn't call her power back and it began to overwhelm her to the point that she could barely suppress it.

Looking up at Teresa with tears running down her face, she couldn't help but try to ask for help despite that was what Teresa was trying to do the entire time. "Help me... I can't turn back... Please help me! PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO BECOME A YOMA!"

"Now... It is over." Naruto solemnly commented as he saw Irene close her eyes.

Irene could only nod as she opened her eyes and looked at the scene with regret. "I know... But there is nothing that can be done now."

Naruto nodded in agreement and he was about to turn to Clare and tell her to look away, but a strange surge caught his attention making him look back towards Priscilla when he saw it.

"I am sorry." Teresa responded to Priscilla as she gripped her claymore, preparing herself to end the young warrior's life. "But there is nothing I can do to turn you back. The best I can do is to cut off your head before you awaken."

Priscilla was absolutely devastated by Teresa words. She wanted to live. She wanted to live so she could avenge her fallen family. She wanted to live so she could wipe the yoma off the face of the earth. She wanted to live to be the best and to be loved by all.

But now, none of that could happen as she was about to become what she despised the most. There was no other way out of this. She would have to die so she would no become the same monster that devoured her family.

Bowing her head and gripping the dirt beneath her, she began to beg. "Please... Do it. Kill me now... While I have at least a shred of humanity in my heart."

Teresa gave Priscilla a small nod and stood before Priscilla, ready to be her executioner. Her heart was heavy as she did not like having to kill another warrior, but there was no choice now. She was going to awaken. "Alright... I will let you pass on as a human."

Suddenly, Teresa's hands along with her claymore hit the ground and blood began to pour from her hands as if they weren’t there. It was then she realized, Priscilla no longer had control of her body as the girl's claymore came streaking towards her neck.

But she did not feel the sharp pain of the blade slicing through her neck and beheading her. In fact, what she felt was a heavy blow from the side before she felt the rough surface of the desert rocks.

Not sure what happened, she turned to Priscilla only to see a young man cloaked in black standing in front of her with his very own guts beginning to fall out of his body before his body fell silently to the ground. A pool of blood began to surround him as it did not seem to stop coming and stained the ground a deep crimson color.

Teresa was in tremendous shock as Naruto's body hit the ground in front of her allowing her to see the most horrific thing she had ever seen. The actual transformation of an awakened being.

The dust scattered across the desert allowing no one to see what was happening outside of Teresa. She watched as muscles morphed and bones shattered before being recreated for new purpose while wings began to sprout from her back and her skin turn a deep blue. And when the dust had settled, a new demon had been born.

And her name was Priscilla.