Claymore Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ A Red Dawn ❯ The Witch's Trap ( Chapter 6 )

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

Time had passed rather quickly for Teresa as she stood in a dark clearing with Irene with the only lighting being the stars that shone brightly in the night sky.

They no longer wore the armor the organization had given them outside of their swords holster.

Irene had gone with a deep brown one piece suit with no leggings. She wore brown pair of boots that stretched just beyond her knees and had belts that strapped to her one piece top and on each arm; she wore sleeves with black straps to keep them from shifting while she moved her arms with high velocity.

Teresa had decided to wear a dark, navy blue one piece dress with a skirt that reached her knees and had no sleeves. She also wore a black pair of thick boots that reached beyond her knees and where buckled to her dress. She had two long sleeved, fingerless gloves with steel arm guards, to parry weaker strikes, that reached just centimeters from her arm pits.

In fact, the only thing they both agreed one was black cloaks, Teresa's being slightly different as her collar covered the bottom portion of her face when she had buttoned to the top.

She did not believe Irene's technique would be this hard to learn, but it was. Before she knew it, two years had passed. And after all that time, she had just surpassed the speed of Irene's Quick Sword.

Teresa had always out matched her in power and accuracy. Combined with her unequaled ability to read yoki, she could see Irene's attack before it ever happened. But the fact was that Irene had the faster sword until now. She was now faster then Quick Sword Irene.

Irene coughed blood as she dropped her claymore and fell onto all fours. She had been surprised that Teresa had just matched her speed and for a brief moment, she had even gone beyond it and slashed into her right shoulder and partially into the chest. But it made no difference. She was a defensive type and could easily regenerate the wound and would be in fighting condition when morning came.

"It seems... That you have finally surpassed me in every area, Teresa." Irene weakly commented as she smiled, ignoring the small amount of blood leaking from the corner of her lips.

With only a nod, Teresa sheathed her sword before she took a few steps to stand in front of Irene and offered her a hand. The elvin woman did not refuse the gesture and she slowly helped her onto her feet. Once Irene was on her feet, she grabbed Irene's sword before she wrapped the woman's arm around her neck and began to help her walk.

After a few moments of walking, a cabin slowly began to become visible. It wasn't too big, but it was just enough for the two warriors and the young girl that traveled along side of them.

Opening the door, Teresa led Irene as quietly as possible to the one of the three beds they had laid out across the room before gently laying the worn out woman onto it. Despite how hard Irene was training her, Irene was the one to wear out first and had grown tired.

When she was about to pull away, Irene grabbed her glove tightly before pulling her closer as she spoke softly. "Teresa... what are you planning to do? I know you can't just settle down... So what are you going to do?"

Sighing, Teresa pried Irene's hand off easily before she stood up straight as she looked down at the elvin woman. "I'm not sure yet, but I know we cannot stay here for long. The amount of yoki we have been using since we arrived here will attract new hunters. ...And I'm thinking of hunting for him again."

Irene frowned as she heard this and attempted to sit up but found herself pushed into the bed as Teresa looked her in the eye. "I'm not going after Luciela if that is what you are thinking. I just want to see if he's gotten away... And if he has, we can at least get a boat of this forsaken place and try to find a new land. It is better then waiting here for hunters to take our heads."

"And if he hasn't?" Irene countered as she was not looking forward to a date with an Abyssal despite how power Teresa had became over the past two years.

It wasn't just the Quick Sword Teresa had learned. She had been focusing on increasing her own power, speed and agility. And the results were obvious. Teresa could match an Abyssal one even with their experience. While winning still a split decision, the former number one could defeat the Abyssal with Irene's help.

The only problem that remained was the young girl, Clare. She knew that Teresa would not leave Clare behind unless the girl was in excellent hands or they were close enough that they could quickly respond to whatever the threat was. So how would she be able to hunt the boy down if he was still with Luciela of the South?

Teresa merely shrugged at Irene's question before she turned around before laying her cloak on the open bed. "I doubt that he would stay with her for any reason outside of helping return him to his homeland and if that is the case... We just might have to work with Luciela."

"Do you realize what you are saying?!" Irene hissed but managed to keep it low enough that it would not wake Clare.

All Teresa did in response was nod as she sat down on the same bed she laid her cloak on before gazing over at Clare.

The young girl had grown a few inches over the years. Her hair was much the same as it was but now it was to her hips. Teresa was thinking about cutting it as it was getting too long and the girl was having a hard time taking care of it.

Besides her bed, she had a new set of clothes laid out and, much to her ire; the clothes she picked were bright orange and black. The only good thing was that the bright orange was a purse like pouch she carried with her. She wore a black dress that reached to just above her ankles. She still wore brown boots, but they had to get a few pair as Clare was growing and would soon out grow them again.

There was one thing that she did wear, however, that made her think of Naruto. He had left his cloak-like cape behind and Clare had decided to wear it in memory of the blonde along with the necklace he had given her.

Teresa wasn't sure how or why the blonde made such an impact on the young girl, but he had. And that was the number one reason for going after him.

"I know all too well what you are saying Irene... But I'm not doing this for myself. I'm doing this for Clare because she bonded to him as quickly as she did with me..." Teresa quietly answered Irene as she closed her eyes before opening them as she stood up and walked over to Clare's bed with a sad smile on her face. "And I can tell she is hurting every day that he isn't here. He made her happier then I had ever seen her in the short time we were with him then even I had..."

Irene did not say a word as she saw Teresa gently brush her hand through the young girl's hair. She had learned how important the two were to each other, but she could tell there was emptiness with the brunette's heart every time she looked at the green stone on her neck. And seeing a single tear dropping from Teresa and onto her hand, Irene turned away and closed her eyes.

There was no doubt that they would be living tomorrow to find Luciela of the South and this young man known as Naruto.

Naruto twitched. He couldn't stop twitching as soon as he woke up and headed to the shower, Luciela walked out with nothing on and her entire body soaked from taking a shower.

If that wasn't bad enough, other then nature telling him he was quite pleased with what he saw, she immediately began her daily routine of courting him. This time, the courting was almost too much to resist as she once more offered to have intercourse with him. And he declined it as he had a massive hangover from the night before and his head hurt too much to think logically.

"Why the hell are you not taking her up on her offers?! I would have screwed her in an instant if I was in your position!" Kyuubi yelled within Naruto's mind as the said blonde ran a towel over his face as he finished drying off.

Sighing as the fox wasn't helping anything, Naruto ignored him before he pulled his boxers on before putting the rest of his clothes except his cloak. Finally, he strapped his pouch to his right hip before sliding his cloak on and looking into the mirror after wiping his hand so he could see through condensation build up.

His appearance had not change over the two years he had been stuck on this continent. In fact, he looked exactly the same he did on the day he arrived. It was strange to him that his physical appearance had not changed, but he knew that there was one reason for this.

Kyuubi.

The fox was using its yoki to keep Naruto exactly the same. He was using his power to keep Naruto in his prime as they both knew that he had not reached the peak of his abilities. In fact, he was far from his true potential and they both knew it. So Naruto had agreed with the fox demon to keep him from aging to keep from losing the possibility of losing the chance to reach his utmost potential.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto exited the bathroom before heading out into the kitchen to see Luciela was not there. He wondered about this for a moment before he sensed her presence outside, heading further off. He had noticed that she had done this quite often ever since they had made their deal and she would return and offer him information that she had learned while she was away.

He didn't mind her leaving too much as it gave him a break from the woman's constant attention. While he was flattered and overjoyed at first that he was getting so much attention at first, it was beginning to wear on him. It made him feel wanted but now he was getting ready to just walk out as she had given him his equipment back.

The only thing that was keeping him here was that Luciela was actually trying to find out if anyone knew of his homeland and if there was a way back. Her search had been rather fruitless until last night, which was why he was drinking so much.

Apparently there was a sailor in the western lands of Lautrec that had said he had found a different land mass and was offering to take people there. Luciela being unable to go there herself had sent someone to negotiate with him to barter for two passengers in herself and Naruto. Apparently the sailor had agreed and was the reason Luciela threw a party for him.

There was just one problem... He did not want to become her mate.

Naruto had thought it over and over again and while he had no problem with the fact that she had to devour human entrails to survive, he did not want to be with her. She had caused him enough problems over the past two years that he wasn't sure that he could handle living the rest of his life with her. So he was going to go on his own and leave without her.

As he began to move to the door, he began to doubt his decision to leave Luciela beside.

She had been nothing but kind, if not a little eccentric, to him while he had been with her and she did everything in her power to please him. She had even began cut back on how many times she fed and who she fed on, praying more on criminals then regular citizens. Almost every day Luciela cooked his meals for him, despite his protests, saying that she enjoyed cooking as it reminded her of her family.

And all she asked in return was for him, after she trusted him enough, was to do some reconnaissance on what the witch of the west and the man of the north were doing and to become her mate when they could leave. It wasn't too much to ask for him as she had been letting him live with her for the past two years and put up with his occasional taunting and perverseness.

It wasn't helping that he did honestly liked her as she reminded him a little of Hinata, Ino and Sakura. Hinata as she seemed to genuinely care and love him, Ino as she was rather good looking and had a certain flare to her and Sakura because she was quick tempered and had a hell of a lot of strength to punish him with.

All of this was giving him a bundle of trouble. But the fact was he was not ready to settle down. He was only twenty and he wanted to get out and enjoy life some more before finding someone that he truly cared for and settling down with them. She was acting him to do exactly that and he knew he wasn't ready for it or if he even liked her like that.

But there was something he had to do back home. He had to finish his mission to bring a new beginning for the elemental countries. He had to carry out the will of his sensei and have everyone understand what he fought for.

He had to liberate Konoha from the grip of that tyrant.

Without a second thought, he opened the door and shut it behind him as his fire burned in his eyes as he looked towards the western sky.

In a small camp site, the bodies of several men were scattered across the ground. Blood pools surround each and every single one as their stomachs were ripped opened and not a single piece of flesh remained within them. It was as if their guts had been hollowed out by some sort of ravenous creature.

And above the last body, Luciela of the South knelt over him as she ripped a chunk clean out of his stomach as she held the organ firmly in her hands.

She did not care about the blood that had soaked her hands or the small amount that dripped from the corners of her mouth. She savored the taste as it had been almost a month. She hadn't been able to eat as much with Naruto around and had cut her meals down to once a month as he was still human and despite his tolerance to the matter, disliked the fact that she had to feed only on humans.

This wasn't too much of a problem as he had helped a few times hunt down humans that had been causing havoc in her lands. While she didn't see what the difference was when she was eating a robber or the person they had robbed as they tasted the same, she knew it had to deal with Naruto's morality and she could deal with that. As long as she was still devouring the guts of a human, she did not care.

Taking a few more bites and finishing the last of his stomach, Luciela's entire body trembled in pleasure as the taste was so wonderful that she could not see what the harm was. Looking down at the corpse, there was still a little more but for once she was full.

Luciela frowned at this as she knew before Naruto had arrived that she could have wiped out an entire city and still not be full. But now, after his arrival, she could eat a few people and be completely content with the food in her stomach. Sure, she practice moderation as she didn't want everyone to move from the south as then she wouldn't have any food left. But even with her moderation, she was never really full. Now, she truly was not hungry.

"Hm," Luciela mused over her suddenly drop in appetite in the past two years as she wiped the blood of her lips with one of her victim's shirts, "I guess it has to be that I'm content on having a human as my partner and I don't want to eat as much in order not to offend him. ...Oh well, whatever it is, I don't care. He's a good boy to have at my side."

Getting ready to head back to their cozy little love shack, Luciela suddenly frowned as her senses caught movement from the house. Whoever it was, they were heading for the... west.

"No... He wouldn't..." Luciela tried to tell herself before she released her yoki throughout her body and transported herself to her home instantaneously.

She nearly broke the door down as she opened it and looked around, frantically trying to sense his presence within the house. But she could not find a single trace of him being there any longer.

Anger filled her entire being as her yoki began to flow uncontrollably. He had betrayed her and left on his own accord. Despite knowing that there was a good chance he would do so, Luciela couldn't help but feel beyond angry. She was seething as everything she had done for him, especially finding a way away from these lands, did not mean a damn thing.

Faster then one could see, Luciela was out of the house, taking the door of the hinges this time, and speeding towards the direction and path that she had felt him move toward.

He was going to pay for his treachery.

Naruto was now running full speed as he could feel that Luciela was coming after him and she was beyond pissed.

He knew at the rate she was traveling, she would catch him before he could make it into the western lands. He could not have that happen as there was no doubt in his mind that she would stop short of nothing to beat him within an inch of his life and possibly even kill him.

With a great chakra burst, thousands of clones formed around him before they stopped to stall the Abyssal of the South.

There was no given on how long they would last, but he doubted that she could get rid of every single one of them before he crossed the border of the South and West. He knew she would follow him, but would have to think twice as with the amount of yoki she was pouring out would attract the witch of the West.

In fact, his chakra outage would more then likely attract the witch and he really, really praying it didn't. If it did, he was going to have some big problems as dealing with two that were equal if not slightly stronger then he was could be the end of him, especially with Luciela being this furious at him.

Over the two years, he had been training to match Luciela in case if there was ever a case that he would have to face either her or one of the other two. He was confident that he could take her if came down to it, but she was the youngest of the Abyssals and possibly the weakest because of that reason. He was unsure if he could deal with either the witch or the man if he ran into them as of yet as he had yet to gage their power accurately.

She of course allowed his training as she was thrilled to watch him become even more powerful. It seemed to be on of her goals as she wanted to keep the balance of power from tilting to the others favor. He wasn't sure about what this meant, however, he knew that she had been keeping a close eye on both of the other awakeneds with power.

A sudden burst of yoki caught his attention and he had no choice but to look behind him as the forest itself had been ripped asunder as wisps of yoki exploded from the area. Naruto knew without a doubt it was Luciela and that she had transformed, something he had not seen her do during the entire time he had stayed with her.

Naruto couldn't help but shiver lightly as the power was a little beyond what he expected. But he had calculated for it and knew his clones could hold her for long enough so he could cross the border.

Once again his conscious was acting up and telling him to go back. It wasn't helping that it was sounding a lot like a certain fox trying to be his conscious. But no matter how much he agreed with all the points it was bringing up again, he was not going to go back. He had a purpose… A job to finish.

No matter how much he would hate himself for going against his own word, he had to complete his mission. It was more important to him then anything else in the world, even his own life.

He felt that Luciela was coming after him once more and was moving even faster then before, but now he could see the ocean, hear the waves crashing against the beach and smell the salt in the air. He had arrived and there was nothing that Luciela could do now... But why was there hundreds of pulses of yoki waiting for him?

As he jumped onto the beach, he frowned as he noticed there indeed was a fairly large boat waiting for him. The only problem he had with it was that it seemed to have been impaled by many spear-like rods that ranged from a regular sized short spear to giant ten foot long three feet wide battering rams.

To make things even odder, each one seemed to have their own yoki system making him believe that this what he was feeling. This made him wonder what their purpose was until he realized that he was having a problem trying to sense how far away Luciela was.

"What the hell are these things? They're throwing off my senses..." Naruto muttered to himself before he caught movement from above, forcing him to look up but find nothing.

Dismissing it as nothing and that his senses were going haywire here, he backed away from the boat before he was looked behind him as he heard foot steps, but once again he found nothing. Beginning to get creeped out as he couldn't find anything and was not liking it, he was ready to leave as he did not want to deal with Luciela when a voice caught his attention. "Ah, it seems he is finally here. It seems that woman doesn't know how to restrain her man."

Naruto froze as he hadn't even sensed the presence of this person, who he judged to be a young girl from the voice. Whatever the poles were, they were definitely not helping him as he couldn't sense whoever this was before they snuck up behind him. Slowly turning towards the sound of the voice, he saw a young girl sitting on the railing of the stern.

She had dark brown hair with a tint of black to it that stretched to her shoulder blades. She had her hair combed in a particular way as she made sure to have two locks of her hair on the side and lay on the front of her shoulders while the rest swayed behind her.

All she wore, however, was a rather flimsy, pink nightgown that seemed that it could be torn off with ease. That was made all too apparent that was all she was wearing as she was sitting above him and he was looking up and she had barely crossed her legs in time.

Shivering as that wasn't something he really wanted to see, Naruto took a step back, not sure what was going on when he bumped into something. It felt like a wall at first, but he knew better as it did feel like a person so he turned around to see a towering hulk of a man.

Not many people were taller then Naruto, but this guy was a good foot taller and had more bulging muscles then even what he seen from Gai or Lee. His frame seemed to be slightly awkward as his arms seemed to long for his body. He had light brown hair that faded from his forehead or he had a Neanderthal type forehead. Naruto wasn't sure which but he was sure that his face was disproportionate giving him a very mean, but slow witted look to him.

He wore no shirt showing off his physique and instead wore a single strap across his chest. He wore dark blue pants that he tucked into two metallic boots that protected his shins.

Feeling his shoulders being grabbed, Naruto growled under his breath as he looked up at the giant of a man, who was looking at the young girl to see what he should do. He was ready to throw him off when the man spoke, unsure what to do next. "I've got him Rifl... Shall I rip him in two now?"

Despite his words, Naruto didn't panic as he looked over to the young girl, which he now knew wasn't so young, and was ready to react accordingly depending on her response. After all, he didn't want to piss of a second Abyssal in the same day.

Rifl could see that the blonde was preparing to make a move, but was hanging onto what she said before doing so. He rather smart as she knew her man could rip him in half rather simply with his enormous strength. However, his power was mysterious and despite knowing her man's limits quite well, she wasn't sure that he could tear him to pieces right away.

Getting back to the question her man had asked her, Rifl simply shook her had at him. "No, Duff. I said you could only kill him if he was unreasonable and refused to listen to me. Now let him go before something breaks."

Hearing him mumble under his breath about not being allowed to have fun, Naruto dusted his shoulders before popping the joints as he stretched his shoulders. Keeping a close eye on the big man as he had a feeling he had more to worry about him at the moment then he did the woman, he turned to Rifl as his crossed his arms over his chest. "So what is that you want as you went through all this trouble to get me here and away from Luciela, Rifl of the West."

"Ah, you heard of me!" Rifl chimed as she beamed at the blonde in black. "That is great news and will make this go so much faster, hopefully before that woman arrives."

Getting somewhat impatient, Naruto tapped his foot and glare up at her as he attempted to tell her to hurry up as he could sense Luciela better then before as she was much closer. While that was a good thing as if whatever these two wanted was unreasonable, he would have an escape plan at the same time it was a bad thing as she was severely pissed at him as his clone's memories told him.

Seeing that her guest was rather impatient, Rifl got straight to the point as she really didn't want to deal with Luciela either. "To put it simply, I want you to abandon the woman that is following you and join forces with me. In return, I will grant you protection from her."

"And what is it that I can do that you want me to join forces with you, a dweller of the deep?" Naruto immediately responded as he placed his hands at his side while keeping an eye on his way out, wanting to make sure he could escape if things became ugly.

He suddenly found himself trapped as four black lances pierced the ground around him. He didn't fidget at all as he looked back towards Rifl to see her pointing her hand towards him, four of her fingers that morphed into lances extended towards him. "Now don't be trying to escape while we are talking. I haven't finished yet."

Showing nothing, Naruto merely motioned for her to continue with a hand gesture. Calling back her lances, Rifl couldn't help but smile as her eyes glistened. "It is quite simple... I've been noticing that both Luciela and that man in the north have been rather active as of lately since they've collected you and that woman respectively."

"Thanks to you, I know the true strength of that woman and know on my own I cannot defeat her and the only way is to join forces with Luciela. But I rather not and that is where you come in... The strength you unleashed dwarfed not only hers, but the combination of all three of us of power. With that power, you could easily defeat her and not only that, wipe out all the threats." Rifl explained as she looked down at Naruto, attempting to read him.

Despite the lack of facial expressions, she could easily read him like a book and could tell that he still wasn't interested. Getting somewhat frustrated, she looked over at Duff for a moment and nodded as she looked back at the blonde. "In all, I want you to unleash that power upon anyone that opposes me and in return, I will protect you will you regain your strength and allow you free reign to roam wherever you choose."

"Is that it?" Naruto commented as he looked at the witch with a raised eyebrow. "I've gotten better deals from insects then that. And what makes you think that I would want to stay on this God forsaken land when it is apparent that I'm trying to leave this place?"

Rifl frowned at the blonde as she had thought that she gave him a rather good deal. However, it seemed Naruto wasn't done as he continued on, taking a few steps closer to her as his chakra began to gather around him so that it became visible. "Or is it that you don't want me to leave because something else could rear its ugly head and challenge you and you would want me to take care of it? You're pretty cowardly for a woman with the power you possess as it doesn't seem you can take some competition."

"You are being unreasonable here. I don't have to offer you a thing at all and just extract that beast from your dead body and absorb its powers." Rifl countered as she stood up, raising her yoki to back the blonde down.

Naruto didn't back down as he locked eyes with her and raised his voice. "Go ahead and kill me as I am not afraid! The beast will die with me as the moment it was sealed; its life was tied to mine. And if you aren't careful, I'll do the same damn thing to you as I'm not afraid of death! Death is afraid of me!"

As soon as he finished his statement, the foliage behind them was torn to shreds as a large beast jumped onto the beach, growling and hissing loudly in anger as its gaze landed on the blonde. It did not stay there for long as it noticed the young woman standing on the stern of the wrecked boat.

The creature was covered in a light brown fur with a yellowish tent to it covering most of the face, the back and the chest. The bottom half of its fur was reddish-brown and covered most of her body except for its chest which allowed each of them to realize that it was a female as she had breasts.

"Luciela..." Naruto muttered under his breath in shock and awe as he looked at the awakened’s true form, not believing what he was seeing.

Two body sized tails swung wildly from her rear as her, double mouthed cat-like face gazed at Rifl. Each mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth like that of a shark’s without having more then one set. On her back, there was two sets of wings that seemed like that seemed to be more fitting of a dragon then that of a cat.

Multiple spikes stuck out from the bottom of her cheeks to her chin to protect her face and neck, one large spike on both her elbows and a few were located on her legs and hips as well. She also had a two set of spikes, the front set larger then the second set, on top of her head giving notice to her fire like hair.

Her hind legs were very strange as she had three leg segments with two pairs of knees, the first like a regular humans but the next was inverted. The design alone was frightening as the speed that could possibly be generated was almost impossible to comprehend. Her front legs seemed more human like as her hands outside of the extended fingers seemed rather normal.

The more and more he looked at Luciela's transformation, the less Naruto was reminded of the tale of the two tail demon cat and more a powerful dragon that was fused with a speedy and agile cat demon. It was as if the demon for the legend Jiraiya had fused with one of the dragon from the tales kids were told when they were young.

Luciela growled and hissed loudly as she did not like what she saw. She had been set up and by another Abyssal whose goal seemed to take her man from her. She wasn't going to allow this as he eyes landed on Duff before lashing out towards him and attempted to kill the muscled man.

Her hand never made it as dozens of lances struck her arm as Rifl stood up, her entire arm transformed into dozens, if not a hundred, of tendrils, allowing Duff to escape unharmed as he jumped away from the Abyssal of the South. "Sorry, but I cannot allow you to harm my man even if I am trying to take yours away. ...What the hell?!"

She immediately pulled her lances away as they many of them snapped off at the points they stabbed. However, they had not stabbed into her flesh. Instead, at each and every point they had hit there was a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth devouring the flesh of Rifl's lances.

Chuckling as she stood erect, Luciela looked down at the older Abyssal as her eyes sparkled dangerously. "Oh, sorry... I have a tendency to eat anything... No matter how bad it tastes."

Gnawing her teeth together, Rifl thought on her chances of success and did not like her odds without Duff being available to provide backup. There was a good chance she could win, but there was a good chance she could lose and she did not want to lose. She knew she was slightly stronger then her, but she would not act without knowing she could win without a doubt.

But as devious as she was, she came up with yet another idea as she looked to her husband then to the blonde. An evil smirk graced her lips before she gazed into Luciela's eyes. "I have a proposition for you, Luciela of the South."

Not waiting for Luciela to respond, Rifl spoke without caring what the dweller of the south thought of it. "You know as well as I do that if the two of us were to fight, it would be a messy finish and with our powers being released to this extant, Easley will no doubt have sensed this and come down to finish off the winner of this fight."

"Get on with it!" Luciela hissed as she knew Easley would make his move if they were to battle as she would do the same if Rifl was battling him and vice versa.

Rifl's smirk increased as she could tell Luciela was thoroughly irritated with the entire situation. "We let our men fight in our stead. If Duff is to when, we take your man with us and if the opposite where to happen... You can kill him and I will leave you alone."

"RIFL!" Duff yelled out to his wife in anger, fear and surprise.

"You will do as you are told or I will get myself a new man." Rifl ordered as she kept her eyes locked with Luciela's, waiting for her to respond.

She received her answer as her body began to shrink in size and revert into that of a human's. As soon as she reverted back to her human state, exposing her naked state to all, she held her hand out to Naruto. "Give me your cloak and get ready to fight in my place."

Unbuttoning his cloak, Naruto slid it off before handing it to Luciela. Her voice was all that he needed to hear to tell she was extremely upset with him. He had half a mind to take off right now as he didn't want to deal with any of this, but he doubted he could escape with two Abyssals chasing after him, even if he made it to the land of Alfonse in the north.

Luciela immediately slid it on to cover her exposed body and buttoned it back up until she reached the collar and left those buttons undone so she could see. She gave Naruto a dark glare before she took a few steps back and gazed towards Rifl. "I'll accept only on the condition that we cannot intervene in anyway, not even to inform them of what they are doing wrong."

"I have no problem with that. Despite his rather thick skull, Duff can get the job done especially when his manhood is at stake." Rifl replied as her lances morphed back into her arm before she sat back down on the railing of the wrecked boat.

Both Duff and Naruto looked at each other, not really wanting to fight one another too much as they were being forced into this. But at the same time, neither was going to back down as they really had no choice but to comply with the women as both were rather ticked off.

"Alright boys, you can begin now... Duff, try not to kill him as it would be better if he was alive. If you can't, it isn't too horrible of a lose. Just don’t make too much of a mess.” Rifl announced as she looked over at the two.

Having some confidence due to Rifl's words, Duff smirked as a small amount drool leaked out of the corner of his lips. He didn't even bother to wipe it off as his muscles began to bulge as his yoki began to increase at a rapid rate. His body began to turn a dark green coloration as the same type of rods that riddled the boat began to emerge from the back of his head and elbows.

As he grew in size, Naruto calmly reached into his pouch before pulling out a single scroll and unrolled it. With a drop of his blood, he released the seal and another black cloak with slight cloud alterations appeared in his hands. Putting away the scroll, he slid the cloak on and buttoned it as he looked up to the now transformed Duff.

"Damn... You are uglier then before." Naruto chirped as he looked Duff in the face with a bright smile.

Duff twitched at Naruto's comment before he pounded his giant fist into the ground leaving deep impact craters. "Don't underestimate me you puny human!"

Naruto had to admit, the giant green monstrosity had a point. He was absolutely dwarfed him now that he had transformed compared to before. And he was possibly underestimating him, but he doubted that he was that much stronger then he looked. And with his transformation, it looked like he had no speed.

However, Naruto got a quick lessen in how fast Duff was when he brought his fist down to crush the blonde. He was able to dodge, but Naruto was now on red alert. The big green guy's move were fast, well at least his punches were. He still doubted that he was very mobile and could easily run circles around him.

Pulling a single kunai from his pouch, he dashed side to side while approaching Duff to confuse and disorientate the big fellow. It seemed to work as when his fists came down, he wasn't even on target as he hit a few feet to the side where Naruto was. This left Duff wide open for a strike as he jumped up before he could recover he drove his kunai into his throat.

Or at least he tried to. As the kunai did was make a loud and annoying scratching sound and created a few sparks. Before he could even look surprised, Duff swatted Naruto off his chest like a fly and sent him into the sandy ground, creating an impact trail behind him.

Groaning in pain as he began to pick himself up, he heard Duff beginning to laugh as he looked down at the blonde. "Is that it?! You'll have to do more then that to harm me... AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Duff suddenly screamed in pain as the kunai Naruto was holding lodged into his eye as the blonde stood up. "Well, I'll just have to hit you where your armor can't withstand my attacks. Maybe, you other eye!"

It seemed the green giant wasn’t listening as he groaned and yelled as he covered his face. However, he stopped as he could feel Rifl's anger at him and despite the pain he was in, looked toward the blonde before grabbing the kunai out of his eye and crushing the small weapon. "That was cheep... I'll kill you for that!"

As soon as the last word left his mouth, a giant pole formed in his mouth and shot out towards him. Using his speed, Naruto side stepped it rather easily before he noticed that more of the rods were forming in his finger and they were all aimed towards him. Knowing he wouldn't be able to deflect these, his only option was to dodge.

But they fired out even faster then the one previously and Naruto was not prepared. He skillfully weaved around those he could, but there was just one he could dodge and it slammed into his stomach knocking the air out of him and putting him into the ground. Before he could even pick himself up, another barrage was sent towards him.

However, they hit nothing as Naruto sank into the ground as if he was never there as the rods skewered the ground were he was at.

Bursting from the ground just behind Duff's feet, Naruto leapt towards the back of the giant's neck with an orb of chakra in the palm of his hand. Landing on the giant's shoulders, Naruto thrusted the orb into his neck. "Eat this you big mother fucker! RASENGAN!"

As the orb hit home, Duff yelled out in pain and started flailing about as the Rasengan drilled into his armored skin. But as soon as it did, Naruto's face fell as he began to see that even his most prized attack was barely even cutting into the awakened's skin before Duff suddenly grabbed him with his gigantic hands and pulled him off.

Bringing the blonde in front of him, Duff began to squeeze in an attempt to crush the annoying pest for causing him such pain. He was still going to try and keep him alive for Rifl's sake, but he wouldn't be blamed if he killed the blonde bastard. After all, if his woman couldn't use him she wanted no one else to have him.

Naruto grunted in pain as he slowly brought his hands together. The pressure was like that of Gaara's Sand Coffin and was gradually increasing and he began to feel his bones beginning to creek from the strain. It was now or never and he hoped this would have enough strength to break free.

Smoke exploded with such fore in Duff's hands that he was forced him to release his hold of the blonde. But now it wasn't just one blonde. It was hundreds of blondes in black surrounding him, all looking very pissed.

"WHOA! THERE THOUSANDS OF FLIES NOW!" Duff yelled out as he attempted to count them and failed miserably.

Each and every Naruto face faulted before getting up having more reason to be pissed then before. However, they all knew their purpose as the real Naruto distanced himself from the battle.

The one closest to Luciela turned to her before whispering softly so the big guy couldn't hear him. "Move away from here... There is about to be some real fire power unleashed."

Luciela hardly wanted to move, but she knew that Naruto meant that something big was about to happen and didn't want to be caught up in it. So she naturally jumped out of the circle of clones knowing that inside of them was the ring of death.

Rifl, however, heard what the clone had said and did the same herself, getting far enough out of the way so she wouldn't be caught by whatever was about to happened. She had half a mind to tell Duff to do the same thing, but she really didn't want to fight Luciela and she was interested in what the blonde was about to do.

Each and every clone looked at each other for a moment as they surrounded the armored awakened being, waiting for the right moment to strike. They got it as Duff tried to bring his fist down into closest clone only for it to dodge and every single clone to jump him. He began to flail to tried and knock them away, but more then enough were clinging onto him but what really confused him was when they started to glow. He hadn't a clue as to why but he knew it was something bad.

And he was very right when every single one exploded in one grand fireball.

It was easily thirty meters high and the same wide as it flames and smoke took the shape of a mushroom as a powerful shockwave was created from the blast and blew any nearby trees down and forcing the three not caught in the blast to hold their ground. The sand around the blast and within the blast was blown with such force and heat that it molded into glass and scattered across a fifty meter radius.

As the debris, flames and smoke began to clear crater at least ten meters deep was formed and filled with nothing but cracking glass as Duff knelt on top of it.

Duff could have been doing better as his entire body was in searing pain, but his armored skin was only scuffed and dinted from the blast. Despite the force of the explosion, his armored skin had not been pierced. However, in every place that was not covered by his armor blood was spewing as deep gashes and burned covered the unarmored skin.

Panting heavily, he stood up tall before he gazed into the direction the single blonde was with his one eye. "You... Will pay... For that... I'm going to smash you... Into the ground and then rip you apart limb by limb before I feed on your guts!"

Naruto sighed as the big guy just didn't get it. He had won this battle and there was nothing the giant could do about it. But he had to make it clear to him as he began to walk towards Duff. "You still don't get it, do you big guy? No matter what you do or come up with, I will win this fight as I haven't even begun to show my true strength."

The sand around Naruto slowly rose into the air as his eyes began flashing from blue to gold and his pupil began to take a rectangular shape. Suddenly, his chakra burst around him blowing all the sand nearby him away as his eye stayed gold. His cloak bellowed from the intensity of his chakra release as he stopped on the edge of the crater that his exploding clones create.

All present were blown away by the power that Naruto was releasing as none had suspected he was this powerful on his own.

Even Luciela was taken back as the blonde had never shown this transformation before and despite how much weaker it was then his yoki release, its power clearly put him on both her and Rifl's level.

"You still can't pierce my armor! So no matter how much more powerful you are then me, I can still win!" Duff countered as he began to regain his courage and confidence once more.

Sighing once more, two clones formed at Naruto's side with him making a motion to form the seals. "Give up now or I will kill you with my next attack. I don't like taking lives even if you are no longer human, but I will not hesitate to kill you if you do not surrender now."

"Go to hell!" Duff screamed before he created another poll within his throat and shot it towards the blonde.

It suddenly stopped as Naruto put his left hand in front of it and caught it with almost no effort, shocking Duff on how easily he stopped it. He however, wasn't finished as he channeled his sage chakra to his left arm and with a single, powerful heave he drove the poll through and into Duff's stomach.

Watching the awakened scream in pain, Naruto sighed as he placed his hand above his head as he began to focus chakra to his palm, forming an orb. His two clones quickly joined the act as they began to rotate the sphere even quicker while adding his natural element to it.

Wind.

The wind began to take the shape of a shuriken as it spun wildly above Naruto's head before he began to coat the orb and wind with his sage chakra, incasing it in a controllable shell. As he did so, the two clones dispersed leaving nothing but plums of smoke where they use to be.

To the three awakened there, it felt as if the very air around them had stilled as the wind had seized and they found it very hard to breath. The magnitude of the technique was beyond anything they had felt before and for Duff, he began to regret his decision as he found it very hard to move an inch. He knew this attack could kill him.

Pulling it to the side, Naruto grunted deeply as he threw the chakra shuriken fused with wind towards Duff.

As he threw it, Rifl had suddenly transformed and sent dozens of her tendrils in front of the attack. It didn't matter as each and every single one was sliced as the Rasenshuriken made contact like a buzz saw as the shell released. The wind tore threw Duff's stomach as he tried to jump to the side, severing his torso from his legs instantly.

Purple blood stained the sand as Duff began to bleed heavily when he was suddenly wrapped by more tendrils and carried towards the transformed Rifl. "Sorry... But despite what I said earlier, I had no intention in letting my man die so easily."

It seemed that her entire body was nothing but tendrils as they wrapped around and formed a woman shaped body. However, that body without the hundreds, possibly even thousands, of tendrils was twice the size of Duff easily. With them, it was impossible to compare her size to any living animal as nothing came close.

Luciela growled deeply as she was preparing to transform once more when Rifl shook her head at the red headed Abyssal. "I have no interest in fighting you as of now as the odds are against me. But we will meet again and next time I will kill you, Luciela of the South. Remember, you are the weakest of the three."

As soon as the last syllable left her tongue, she suddenly disappeared into the sky leaving almost no trace that she had been then before. In fact, the only remaining trace that she was ever there was the tendrils the Rasenshuriken had sliced off.

Clenching and unclenching her fist, Luciela's anger rose even more. Turning towards the blonde, she was ready to lay into him when she noticed that he was burning the tendrils. Despite being very pissed at him, she couldn't help but be slightly curious as to what he was doing. "Why exactly are you burning her flesh. What does it mean to us if it is left here?"

"You remember what you told me about how the organization creates warriors." Naruto responded before blowing yet another burst of flames onto the flesh as it slowly burned and turned to ash.

Nodding as she remembered quite well, she waited for him to release his breath of flames to continue. "Of course I do. You asked me as you were curious on how a Claymore and Awakeneds came into being and I told you that they were created when yoma flesh is surgically implanted into a human's body."

Naruto nodded as he coughed some smoke out of his system. "Exactly... Now what if the organization were to get a hold of Rifl's flesh and use that instead of garden variety yoma."

Luciela didn't answer as she knew very well what would happen if the organization indeed got a hold of the flesh of an Abyssal. Even if they couldn't create warriors out of it, they would create monsters with the ability to combat them. Grabbing onto a piece that fell into the ocean with one of her tails, her tail formed a mouth and began to feed on the flesh. "God... If there is one, this is horrible. Still, it is food and I'm drained from transforming."

Watching the flames burn the tendrils to ashes, Luciela gripped Naruto's shoulder tightly before her other tail wrapped around his neck and she began to squeeze tightly almost crushing his wind pipe. "I'm going to be lenient this time because I like you and I want you for my mate. But if you try to escape from me again, I'll kill you. I don't care if you are as strong as me, I'll murder you. I cannot have you falling into her or that man's hands."

Releasing her tail from his throat, Luciela began to walk away before she called back to Naruto without looking back. "Let's go!"

Gripping his throat, Naruto panted lightly before he slowly stood up and started to follow her. Even after she had threatened him, he still knew that his best chance to get off this rock was Luciela.