Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Naruto Dragon Champion ❯ Black Moon Rising Part 2 ( Chapter 42 )

Naruto The Twin Swords

Disclaimer: I do not have any control over Naruto and all things related to it.

Chapter 30

Part 2

Black Moon Rising

( ): Thoughts

((“ ”)): Holy Talon's voice

(((“ ”))): Death Fang's voice

((( ))): Kyuubi's voice

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Mizuki reveled in the new found power that he had as he finally completed the formula that he had been given and that of the Sin Serpent's powers, he had taken a brand new form and the power, the sweet power flowing through his veins was worth every single moment of it and now he was going to make good use of it by bringing Konoha to account for his imprisonment and hunt down the one he knew was responsible for making his life hell….

Naruto.

He looked at a different direction and through his gifts, he was able to see the incoming force that Konoha sent, he was impressed at the line up, Yuhi Kurenai, Maito Gai, Iruka himself, His former girlfriend Tsubaki, Hinata, Hyuuga, Neji Hyuuga, Rock Lee, Tenten, Kiba Inuzuka, Akamaru and Shino Aburame himself, along with a pair of ANBU. The force was quite a sight and would be an excellent test of his new found abilities in battle, though he had no idea who the others were at the moment.

But the real prize was Naruto himself who was there as well, he was going to be his real prey and soon he would make the blonde demon carrying brat pay for messing things up for him, but for now, he was going to have some fun with them as he began to summon portions of his new found power to finally bring a very big surprise to them all.

Behind the former Konoha ninja were Fujin and Raijin but they too were different now, they were bound by several powerful and evil glowing tattoos that seemed to control them. The Sin Serpent had already been consumed by Mizuki to gain the full might of the power he had been allowed to taste and afterwards, the man, gripped in the frenzy of the power that he now commanded used a special cursing power to bind the two idiots to his service even more though they had briefly tried to fight him for a moment when they thought that he was going to take their food from them.

The two idiots were going to be useful as shock troopers as Mizuki decided to test his new found powers on his pursuers as he focused his chakra and the power that had been infused into his body, the former ninja then touched the ground and out came from the ground a number of beings constructed from the ground to act as the first wave of attackers and the former ninja then decided to really bring out the full power as he summoned a greater deal of Chaos Magic and then spoke to himself.

“Now….I will have my revenge!”

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Naruto tensed up a bit as he felt the power of the Chaos Energy before him, the sheer amount was enough to make him very uneasy. However he managed to keep himself calm as he knew that considering what he knew of Mizuki, the arrogant ass was going to show off his power to prove that he was better. That guy was radiating so much Chaos Magic that he might as well would have worn a neon sign on top of his head that said `idiotic traitor' in large letters.

Naruto however placed aside his humor and focused on dealing with the foes that he was soon going to be running into as he looked at his companions and began to think on how they were going to be able to the enemies that they were no doubt soon going to face once they were in the area where Mizuki was, he could only trust their skills and determination and hope for the best as soon as it happened. He then thought about just how he and the others were going to deal with Mizuki as he had no doubts in him mind that he was going to be quite the handful.

As they arrived in a nearby valley he quickly felt a wave of pure Chaos energy coming at them and he quickly made a raised gesture to the others to stop as he knew that the wave of malevolent energy he felt was coming from Mizuki and the kinds of monstrosities that he had unleashed, he raised his hand to stop the others and the others responded, Kurenai and Gai knew that while they were Jonin, and were of higher rank than Naruto, he had far more experience than they did with this threat and they moved forward with Gai speaking first.

“What is it Naruto-san?”

“We got company coming in Gai-sensei, you and Kurenai-sensei and the others get ready, I get the feel we're in for a fight.”

The others nodded and got ready and their Dagern allies did the very same thing, and it was at that exact moment that several massive creatures came out of nowhere, followed more like them. It seemed like a wave and Holy Talon recognized the creatures as the others saw them.

They were humanoid in shape but seemed to be hunched on the back and shoulders, their arms were long and strong looking, though their left arms were the only things that the resemblance of humanoid limbs, their right arms were in the form of three to four tentacles that resembled that of an octopus and they seemed to be very much a threat as they had faces that resembled that of crabs, but horribly grown and mutated crabs as well. As soon as the monsters saw the gathered ninja and the Dagern-borne women, they roared out a high-pitched sound that spoke of battle as they revealed their other arm which was a single long bone like blade on them

Coryin snarled a bit as she readied an arrow as she spoke.

“Swamp Reapers…just what we need.”

Neji was the first to ask the question to the Falcon Ranger as to what these creatures were.

“What are they?”

“Foul experiments of the Chaos followers that worship the dark nature Dragon Flights, they took human beings and twisted them through Chaos magic and foul magical surgeries to create these things, they serve as shock troopers and can be deadly in battle since there are few areas where they can be seriously harmed and it will take some serious hits to kill them.”

Naruto and the others got ready as they were being approached by the horrors and soon the battle was joined with Coryin providing long range support with her bow while Neji and Hinata then decided to even things up at the moment as the two cousins activated their Byakugan to see their foes, they spotted the creatures' own inner energy pathways and decided to do what they could with Neji and Hinata taking several kunai and shuriken and began to aim at the monsters as they closed in, Neji fired first and his kunai struck one of the Swamp Reapers in the area which was similar to the shoulder in between two overlapping bone-like plates.

The result was good as a fountain of deep yellow fluid raced out and the creature howled in great pain as it could no longer move it's arm to attack as it came closer, Neji then aimed his next shot and fired a shuriken at the creature's stomach, the weapon guided by Neji's Byakugan hit hard in between several plates and the creature roared out as another but much larger stream of it what appeared to be it's life fluids and this time, the creature died.

Hinata did the same thing and her attacks had good results, as her first strike struck the creature in the area between the left thigh and the hip, resulting in the creature crying out in great pain and seemed to stop and when it recovered, Hinata fired another weapon and this struck right at the elbow of the tentacle arm, unleashing another stream of the creature's life fluids as it roared out once more and began to lose it's strength and the young Kunoichi then took another shot and this time, the strike was able to hit the creature right in the face as it roared out in pain once more before dying.

The Falcon Ranger was not behind as she fired a powerful arrow right in the face of the next creature while summoning her own power into her shot as the arrow that she had fired was now glowing the same color that Naruto had been able to coat on his very own arrow.

“PIERCING SHOT!!!”

The arrow cut through the creature and was buried deeply in the face of the creature as it howled in pain as the arrow was able to punch through the shell that was on the back as it fell dead. The arrow then buried itself deeply into the chest of another one of the creatures and that had very obvious results as the monster roared in pain as she spoke to the two cousins.

“Nice, that Byakugan you two have is going to be good in this fight, fighting these creatures in close range is going to be very dangerous so that will be very helpful.”

Gai smiled at that as he and Kurenai got ready to fight while Liara and Tellis also used their powers as well as their weapons while Tenten, Lee, Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino got ready for their own battles as the monsters came closer, Naruto then took out his tri-bladed spear and got ready for the fight before him as Gai then spoke to Neji and Hinata.

“Neji-kun, you and Hinata-sama focus on guiding our attacks on the right spot and cover Coryin-san as she will help us.”

Neji nodded and so did Hinata and Kurenai spoke next to her student.

“Keep cool and we'll get through this Hinata.”

“Hai Kurenai-sensei!”

As the battle carried onward, the combined ninja forces of Konoha and the women warriors from Dagern were doing well enough on their own, Gai and Lee followed Valena as she attacked fast and hard on the Swamp Reapers and with their own respective skills, both master and student were able to inflict as much punishment as possible at their foes, Kurenai used her skills in Genjutsu to close the gap and attack the creatures as best she could without exposing herself to attack from them while Kiba and Akamaru were fighting alongside Liara who turned into a much larger wolf form to attack the creatures in battle using her ties to magic. Shino and Tellis worked in unison as well with Tellis taking the form of a massive bear which was being shielded by Shino and his Destruction Bugs. Neji and Hinata along with Coryin were able to provide long range support and both Hyuuga cousins were able to support one another.

The others were more than ready as Iruka, Tsubaki, Tenzo, and Uzuki were able to hold their own as both ANBU used their weapons and their own skills to even up the odds before them in battle, while Tsubaki showed her own skills as she used her kunai to block and attack, however, they were still a bit unused to fighting these creatures, though the ANBU were a bit better off after having access to the book that Naruto had made for the ANBU. They moved quickly to support the others while Naruto was on his own for the moment as he was busy fighting his own battles.

Naruto noted that and was happy that both cousins were able to work well in unison, however he placed that aside as he was in his own battle, two of the Swamp Reapers lashed out with their tentacles at him as he dodged their attacks while lashing out with his Spear while being guided by both Holy Talon and his now battle hardened senses as the creatures were divided into two groups, one was engaging his comrades and the other was engaging him. He evaded several more attacks by using his spear as a vaulting pole and he then quickly pointed his spear blade tip first downward and speared one of the creatures in the face, making it scream out in pain and rage as the blonde quickly slide down on the spear's length to land both feet on the chest of the creature and with one yank, pulled out his spear and used the body of the slain Swamp Reaper as a spring board and landed on the ground while focusing his chakra through his spear and to the blades as he lashed out at a trio closing in on him.

“FUUTON!!! KAZE KIWA ENKO!!!”

The glowing blade of the spear cut through the creatures as Naruto channeled his chakra to further increase the cutting power of the blade, cutting the creatures hard as Naruto spun the spear while holding the back end pommel of the spear, the creatures fell down as Naruto quickly held the spear in the middle, spinning it diagonally and cut down two more coming at him while using the spear once more as a pole for vaulting into the air and crashing the spear blade down and cutting another Swamp Reaper in half.

The others saw that and Gai was impressed as well as Kurenai, Iruka, Tenzo, and Uzuki as well. They had all heard that Naruto was a Wind Elemental Type and was one of the rare ones in Konoha from Asuma who was one himself. Apparently Naruto had been taking his training to greater heights in his desire to be a true ninja and worthy Dragon Champion, and that further elevated his stature in the eyes of those who saw it. The other Genin saw that as well and they too were impressed.

Naruto however was not done just yet as he began to focus his reserve of Dragon Fire and as soon as he felt his power flow into his body he called out the spell.

“ZEALOUS FERVOUR!!!!”

The energy flowed into his body as he focused his Wind chakra once more and when he felt ready he unleashed another attack.

“FUUTON! ICHI IKUSEN KAZE YARI TSUPPARI!!!!”

The blonde Chuunin unleashed a massive barrage of spear thrusts with his weapon and they spotted glowing spears of wind chakra flow out of Naruto's spear and those cut deeply into the blonde Chuunin's foes with tremendous results as the creatures were spilling their life fluids everywhere as well as their bodies falling down with holes and even their limbs fell down hard, Naruto then finished that attack with a powerful spinning strike that unleashed a powerful arc of wind chakra that cut down those still there. In that moment, Naruto had been able to take down at least two dozen of the creatures by himself.

“Wow…”

Lee spoke out and Neji himself was impressed, the Hyuuga genius of the Branch Family had to admit that if he had faced Naruto the way he was now back in the Chuunin Exams, he would have been in the fight of his life. Naruto however was not done just yet as he placed his spear aside and took out some kunai and these had explosive tags as well as metal wire. He had come up with this move and hoped that these would work as he quickly made several Kage Bushin.

“KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!!!!”

As the blonde Chuunin was surrounded by the Kage Bushin, he nodded to them and they closed in the gap, some fired the kunai and those moved in different directions and the wires with the explosive tags quickly surrounded the Swamp Reapers and Naruto quickly fired several more of the modified kunai and then when the Swamp Reapers were surrounded, the blonde quickly used his chakra to ignite the tags which were imprinted to react to his chakra. The explosions were more than enough to kill the creatures as Naruto landed and quickly flipped backwards as a Swamp Reaper came at him with it's blade, as he did so, a Kage Bushin he made came forward and smashed an explosive kunai into the face as Naruto activated it and blew up the creature in a very bloody display.

As Naruto looked about, the others were impressed at the growth Naruto revealed but decided to think about that later as more of the creatures came right at them, however, they were accompanied by none other than Fujin and Raijin, however, these guys were not acting normally for some reason as they seemed to be more like zombies yet still living from what the others could see. Naruto then spoke to Holy Talon.

(They seem different.)

((“Yes, that seems to be a seal of thralldom, similar to the ability used by Solana when she attacked Konoha, only in this case, it is to bind them into service until either the one who gave them the seals dead or it's broken. It appears to be connected to their stomachs for some reason.”))

Naruto nodded as the two brothers came at them and he was quickly evading their attacks while drawing out Holy Talon from his back and fought with the pair, he evaded their attacks and was about to attack when several of the Swamp Reapers came at him and stopped him from attacking the two. He moved back and it was then that Iruka spoke.

“We can't waste time with these two Naruto, if Mizuki is using the power of the Black Moon, then he takes priority before these two, besides, he must have sent the two of them to slow us down and buy himself time to do Kami knows what sort of mischief and worse.”

“I know….but these guys are dangerous Iruka-sensei even if they are as dumb as Tsunade-sama said them to be, we can't just leave them like this.”

Neji then replied as he joined them.

“We'll hold them here Naruto-san, you and Iruka-san go ahead.”

Naruto looked at Neji and the others and could see that they were serious and Tsubaki was eager to join them, he decided to trust them with this as he and the two ninja moved ahead. Neji and the others knew that they were not going to have an easy time with the two brothers and who knew what Mizuki had done to them, but they knew that they had the chance if they worked together.

As Naruto, Iruka and Tsubaki moved ahead, they finally arrived in an open valley and before them was none other than Mizuki himself. Iruka and Mizuki tried to find the words to say but they already could see the effects as there were arcane tattoos that seemed to radiate evil coming from Mizuki, the Mizuki the two of them knew was long gone, this monster before them was not human anymore as they closed in towards him, as he seemed to be aware of them yet daring them to come closer.

Naruto could sense the presence of traps somewhere and he didn't need to guess that Mizuki was trying to lure them in so he was ready for anything at this moment as they were only several feet from Mizuki who looked at them with pure evil in his eyes as the tattoos on his body continued to glow in evil and vile power.

“So I finally get to test my new powers on you three. I hope those two are going to do what I sent them to do. ”

Iruka sighed a bit and got ready to fight and Mizuki noticed that and replied with an evil look on his face as he taunted Iruka.

“Hmph, you want to fight me eh Iruka? Unlike last time, you are not going to get lucky this time around!”

“I don't care, I will stop you Mizuki, you've gone too far this time and even if it will take everything I have, then I will defeat you.”

Mizuki laughed and then looked at Tsubaki with a sneer and replied.

“And what about you eh? You think you can still save me?”

Tsubaki couldn't help but feel a great deal of emotion at this, but she knew that there was no turning back here and now, she had to stop Mizuki, she had seen how much he desired power above everything else so she had to stop him no matter what.

“No….you doomed yourself to this madness Mizuki, I will stop you, even if it means having to die to do it!”

Mizuki laughed and replied at that.

“You two think you can kill me?! When I have this power from Orochimaru-sama and this new gift?! Then try it, I will be more than happy to end your lives right now!”

Mizuki then looked at Naruto and there he noted the changes on the blonde Jinchuuriki and couldn't help but feel that the blonde had indeed changed and was more powerful than before. However his confidence in his newfound abilities, the training he had undergone and this power, he could easily match the blonde brat.

“And you….I want to see this newfound power they say you have, let's see if you really have the power to be a ninja, you stupid and worthless brat!!”

Naruto normally would have lost his cool, but he didn't and merely replied in a very cool and focused tone with only small hints of anger.

“Hmph, why don't you find out just how much I've changed Mizuki? You think that you can goad me into making the wrong move like before? Sorry, that was then, this is now.”

Mizuki felt himself get angrier at the way Naruto was acting, this was not what he expected at all from the blonde. He had hoped that despite all this, he could still try and goad Naruto to do something rash, but he could tell that Naruto had indeed changed. No matter, he had power and now he was going to show Konoha and the world that his power was more than a match for anything….even this vaunted power he had heard so much about that was in Naruto's possession. However, he was quick to make the move to try and imbalance the trio before him with a few attacks of his own on them.

He attacked Tsubaki first as she barely managed to block his attack, but that was enough to send her flying backwards, Tsubaki managed to right herself properly and move out of the way as Mizuki attacked her, she however got hit by a powerful kick to the side from the traitor and she was sent flying to the side as she gritted her teeth in pain. Mizuki was about to attack once more but Tsubaki was able to throw some smoke bombs at him and escape a few feet. She got ready as Mizuki came at her once more with a maniacal grin but she is saved as both Naruto and Iruka arrived, the Chuunin using several kunai to distract Mizuki while Naruto quickly got Tsubaki out of the danger zone, Iruka was quick to evade several attacks from his former comrade in arms but Mizuki was just playing with Iruka as he managed to move faster than Iruka thought and was able to land a full hit on the Chuunin's stomach with his knee and followed up with a powerful uppercut that sent Iruka flying backwards. Mizuki roared and was about to attack Iruka but he was forced back as Iruka tossed several explosive tags on kunai at him, forcing him back as Iruka got some fighting room. The Chuunin got ready and began to fight with Mizuki in close combat as they fought with one another. However the former Konoha ninja was stronger now and was able to fight with greater speed and power, forcing Iruka back once more in pain, and as Mizuki attacked he was stopped by several wires that wrapped around his arm, he turned to see Tsubaki holding the wires, he snarled at his former fiancé and pulled her towards him to finish her off, but as he got ready to attack, Tsubaki was quick to take out several shuriken and toss them at him, forcing him to block with his hands and when he blocked them, Tsubaki launched a powerful series of kicks on his body and landed a blow to his face.

Mizuki however laughed and replied as he glared at Tsubaki.

“You can't hurt me like that! My turn!!!”

Tsubaki moved away at the last moment and evaded Mizuki's attack, just as Naruto arrived and planted a powerful punch into Mizuki's face, despite the increase of his power, Mizuki was sent back by Naruto's enhanced strength and both Iruka and Tsubaki took full advantage of that by attacking at the same time, both Chuunin were able to hit Mizuki and send him back as he reeled and looked at them with hate filled eyes.

“You think you can really take me on?!”

Naruto could tell that both Iruka and Tsubaki were going to have a hard time with Mizuki as they had been injured, apparently the serum that Mizuki got from Orochimaru's previous works had given him some advantages but the blonde Chuunin and Dragon Champion was the all that worried as he was quick to launch his attacks this time by summoning several Kage Bushin and they charged right at Mizuki and the former ninja laughed and replied.

“Not this time brat!!!!”

Mizuki unleashed several whipping tendrils from his arm and lashed out at the Kage Bushin and destroyed them, however, the last one suddenly erupted into directed attack of kunai that were armed with explosive tags and the former ninja was unable to block the attacks as he was surrounded by the explosions and when the smoke cleared, he roared in anger and also arrogance as he was unscathed.

“Hah! I am stronger you brat!!! I will not be…”

However that was when he saw Naruto suddenly become bathed in pure energy and the blonde replied to the former Konoha ninja in a calm and relaxed tone.

“All right then, time to fight fire with fire, or in this case, claw to claw.”

The energy blinded the others and soon as the light faded, Naruto returned and this time, he had been transformed into a new form that was going to give him a much better chance in fighting the former ninja of Konoha and also to show to Mizuki that his power was soon going to become useless to him.

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Mizuki was utterly stunned at the sight before him as Naruto roared out a bestial cry as he was now in his lycanthrope form through the spell the Holy Talon had taught him only days before this whole mess. The blonde was in a pure beast form that resembled the form of the Alpha Werewolf that he had fought with before, but there were natural substantial differences to his form from that of the Alpha Werewolf in question.

For one, the fur was silver white with a golden streak of fur on the back and the eyes were blue with silver mixed in, and the difference was that Naruto had managed to place aside his armor and was very much covered in fur though there were greaves, gauntlets, and pauldrons on his shoulders as well, the spell placed aside clothing and the rest of the armor as well as Holy Talon in a special pocket, once the spell wore off, Naruto would be able to return to human form with full armor and clothing back on…unlike Mizuki

The former Konoha ninja laughed and taunted Naruto.

“You are a real monster you brat to have that form!!! If only the village could see you now, they would have you thrown out for sure!”

Naruto snorted and replied with a bestial tone in his voice however.

“News flash Mizuki, have you looked in a mirror lately? You're uglier than the stuff that comes out of a cockroach's ass, and that's being kind to the cockroach in question, and here's a difference between you and me ugly….this form is only temporary and unlike yours, I never gave up my humanity to get it.”

Mizuki snorted as he raised his hands as he readied the bone claws on his hands and spoke.

“Big words for a brat like you…come on!”

Both Naruto and Mizuki roared out in battle fury as they charged right into one another. Naruto's werewolf claws lashed out and so did Mizuki's bone claws in that exact moment, both of them roared out as they began trading punches with one another as well as kicks in order to try and score either a direct hit. The blonde wished he could be there to help the others but he could only hope that they were all right.

(((Hey kit! Move!)))

The blonde Chuunin heard the warning from the Kyuubi and quickly did so as Mizuki smashed his fist down hard and crushed the ground where Naruto stood before and the guy charged and began to transform before him, much to Naruto's surprise. Several bone growths appeared on Mizuki's forearms and they were sharp, the former ninja's white hair began to grow longer and more scale like while patches of fire began to cover his body and his fingers became like claws and several pore like growths were on his shoulders while several parts of his body began to be covered in a bone like substance

Naruto only said one thing to that.

“You are really ugly Mizuki, the appearance fits though.”

Mizuki snarled in anger at that and replied.

“Laugh all you want you demon carrying brat, I'm going to carve you up and hang your skin on a wall!!!”

Naruto growled and replied.

“Bring it on you lab reject!!!”

Both attacked once more and soon the battle was between them as they unleashed claw swipes and kicks at one another, Naruto managed to incorporate the Taijutsu training he had gained from the two Hyuuga cousins as well as from Gai and Lee, along with the training in the Boundless state, melding all three styles of Gentle Fist, Strong Fist, and Boundless State into a powerful form that was striking fast and hard into Mizuki as the blonde's attacks bypassed his defenses and hit he guy hard.

Iruka and Tsubaki watched in awe as Naruto's attacks were moving ever faster and hitting harder as he traded blow and blow with Mizuki and inflicting a great deal of damage to the former Konoha ninja with each powerful strike. Naruto had indeed grown up to become a very skilled and dedicated ninja, more than they had ever seen of him. Mizuki himself was furious as he tried every trick in the book to attack Naruto as well as several of the new attacks that he was able t use, but Naruto had indeed changed, he was not the same young kid that had been easy to fool, he fought and acted differently now.

(No! The brat is still the same idiot, I am going to kill him no matter what!)

The former ninja unleashed several slashes with his bone blades but Naruto quickly blocked and evaded, knowing full well from what he had been told by Holy Talon that the poison that was coating those bone blades was deadly to him even in this form so he would have to exercise caution even with the enhanced protection, Miozuki continued to press the attack and then lashed out with the tentacles to strike at Naruto, the blonde Chuunin in werewolf form ducked and charged head on and slammed hard into Mizuki and sent the traitor flying back, he recovered however and attacked once again with several powerful lashing attacks with his tentacles, forcing Naruto to be on the defensive, but not for long as he summoned his Kage Bushin and attacked en masse, but this was just a diversion as the Kage Bushin were soon to keep Mizuki company as Naruto made the hand gestures and unleashed a powerful blast Wind Chakra as the Kage Bushin were knocked out and Mizuki was about to attack.

“FUUTON!!! KAZE KANADZUCHI!!!”

The blow of pure wind chakra that was solidified into a powerful hammer smashed hard into Mizuki before he could respond and the result were extremely painful for Mizuki as the attack had been enhanced by the power of Holy Talon, Mizuki roared in pain at the attack as he was now bleeding from the attack and couldn't move and that was when Naruto attacked with another set of Kage Bushin and he then unleashed his full assault as both he and the Kage Bushin unleashed several massive claw swipes that tore into Mizuki and drew blood.

Mizuki was enraged and this finally snapped his ability to think straight and he got the punishment for letting his concentration falter as both Kage Bushin used the training from Hinata and Neji to deadly effect as they both lashed out with several fast strikes that hit the former ninja hard and disabled him from using any other attacks briefly, this was not lost to the enemy in question as he gasped at that.

(That….that is the Gentle Fist of the Hyuuga Clan!!! How the hell did the brat learn how to use that style of combat?!)

Mizuki had no time to attack as he was unable to move briefly and began to recover, but that was when both Kage Bushin exploded with a massive burst of gun powder covering him a fine mist and that was when the Chuunin and Dragon Champion took out a pair of stones, fueled them with chakra and threw them at Mizuki, these stones in question were flint and when they were able to hit one another, they caused a spark, and this was increased by the presence of Naruto's chakra, the results were naturally explosive and the sound of the explosion was more than enough to be heard. Mizuki was hit hard and he was furious at this as he charged right at Naruto, but the blonde was quick to react and hit Mizuki with a powerful kick which was then followed by a double fist strike with an elbow charge into the chest

The blonde then reared a powerful fist and smashed the attack hard into Mizuki's face and sent the former traitor flying back and as soon as the traitor hit the ground, he roared and then decided to end this by weakening Naruto's resolve and he reached behind him and took out a pair of giant shuriken and tossed one at Naruto and the blonde who was in werewolf form whacked it aside and in that moment, the former traitor tossed it at Tsubaki, Iruka saw it and went to block the attack with his own body, he had a feeling that since Mizuki's strength was far greater than before, he would be killed by it.

Naruto saw that as well and quickly tried to reach his father figure. However he had not expected a trap from Mizuki that comprised of powerful wire that somehow lashed out and trapped him briefly, but it was enough to keep him from being able to reach Iruka in time, but in that exact moment he then spotted a blur of movement and so did Mizuki.

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CLANG!!!!

Mizuki growled out in anger as his giant shuriken had been blocked by some sort of shield as the person revealed himself, or rather herself as Naruto looked on in surprise as well as Iruka and Tsubaki herself, it seemed that someone else had followed them.

“VALKEN!!!”

The Sword Adept turned to smile at Iruka slightly as she spoke to the Chuunin.

“You all right?”

“Better….”

“Good, let me help you guys against this monstrosity.”

Valken then focused her full attention on Mizuki who growled at her darkly as he unleashed another wave of large shuriken, in the attempt to punish Valken for saving Iruka but the Sword Adept showed her skills with both sword and shield as she blocked them with skill and patience, she used the force of the shuriken against them as well as moving them aside with enough efficient effort to not waste her strength.

Valken had spent a good deal of her time reading books in the house she had been given alongside her fellow comrades from Dagern by Tsunade previously. Since she had not been able to get a chance to have a spell help her understand the language, she had taken the time to read all the material she could find that would help her out in translating the language. Of course she also spent time talking to Iruka who was the only person she had met before and she developed a good deal of respect for Iruka who also helped her on his off hours whenever he could.

Now she planned to return the favor by helping him fight the former Konoha ninja before her, Mizuki's shuriken were keeping her pinned, but she had trained well back in her world to hold her own and this would help her a great deal until they could mount a counter attack. She however knew that while her shield was tough, it couldn't last forever and any more hits would severely damage or outright destroy it.

Mizuki roared out and shouted.

“DAMN YOU!!! DIE ALREADY!!!”

The transformed monster unleashed a powerful slash of his extending tentacles made from flesh and bone and Valken realized that it would be too risky to take the blow head on and she quickly ducked away and avoided the attack, Mizuki unleashed yet another one and she knew dodging was not going to work so she then jammed her shield down hard on the ground and moved away as the next attack smashed hard into her shield, sending it flying away as both she, Tsubaki, and Iruka were now out of the way as Naruto freed himself from the trap that Mizuki had made with the blonde Dragon Champion still in his lycanthrope form as he charged fast and hard into Mizuki and unleashed several claw swipes that wound the traitor ninja hard and fast.

The wounds were enough to make Mizuki roar in pain just as Naruto realized that now was the time to revert back to human form, he does so and was now back to his original form and in full armor, he moved in as Mizuki was still in pain, unleashing several powerful punches and ending with a powerful spinning heel kick that struck Mizuki right in the face, he soon landed on the ground and did a powerful shoulder charge that forces Mizuki back even further as he then used several powerful kicks using the Boundless State to send the former Konoha ninja reeling backwards, as soon as that was done, the blonde unleashed several Kage Bushin as he attacked once more while Mizuki was imbalanced and then decided to put his training under Tsunade and Shizune concerning the art of chakra control to good use, it had taken some time but with the increased control of the seal by Holy Talon and his own dedication to mastering himself as a ninja, he was more than ready for this task and as his Kage Bushin charged the moved their right hands to the sides as he placed Holy Talon aside as he spoke to the two beings who were with him.

(Holy Talon, Kyuubi, use your powers now!)

((“As you order.”))

(((About time!!!)))

The blonde felt the combined power of Holy Talon and the Kyuubi flow into his body in that moment and he focused his chakra and that of the three powers, he used the power of Holy Talon and his training to form a powerful shell covered in elemental energy while using the Kyuubi's chakra to further amplify the attack while using his own chakra to add extra power to it, the end result was a massive Rasengan several times larger than the one he had made before in the past, only this time, this one cracked with white and red waves, the white from Holy Talon and the red from the Kyuubi itself.

And here was the real change, the other Kage Bushin were also using the Rasengan in their own hands, as such, Mizuki was stunned and tried to mount a defense but it was too late as he was hit on all sides by Naruto, just as the others arrived with the arrival of Yamato and Uzuki as well as several ANBU along with Tsunade and Shizune. Gai and his team as well as Kurenai and her team were able to witness this despite the fact that they were tired and exhausted alongside their fellow allies who were also tired.

They had been able to hold their own on the two brothers and managed to defeat the other creatures in combat and focused on the siblings, they knew that a direct attack was not going to give them the right kind of results so they used hit and run attacks as well as long ranged hits to even things up and it proved very effective with the two ANBU using their powers as well as Yamato used his power over trees and nature to even it up while Uzuki used her sword skills and her own Jutsu to even things up while Kurenai used her Genjutsu to befuddle the brothers even more while both Gai and Lee attacked at the very same time.

The other were more than ready to attack as Tenten used the weapons given to her by Naruto, Kiba and Shino along with Akamaru and the Destruction bugs attacked as well and the women of Dagern were more than able to even up the odds, and it was then that both Hinata and Neji struck a certain part of the brothers' respective bodies that broke the flow of the seals that bound them to Mizuki, and it was here that the Hokage, Shizune, and the ANBU arrived and soon they were able to restrain and defeat the brothers.

And when that was done, and they were restored somewhat by Tsunade who had picked up some tricks from Naruto on how to counter certain seals along with the aid of the two Druidesses' use of their magic in this stage of the battle. They all watched as Naruto smashed all seven Rasengan hard into Mizuki from all sides and it was only due to the power given to him by the Sin Serpent and the serum developed by Orochimaru that he was able to be fairly intact though his form had been severely cut and torn up in the battle and he was barely able to stand, however, the arrogant warrior snorted and tried to attack while shouting in anger.

“I will not be defeated!!!!”

Iruka and Tsubaki however attacked in that as they leaped in despite their injuries and struck in that moment with their own attacks, knocking Mizuki back, apparently the power he had been given by the serum had finally faded and the power of the Sin Serpent faded as light filled the area, the others glanced up and saw that the Black Moon was fading from view and was soon gone, the former ninja then fell to the ground as his body began to turn into a gaunt skeleton as black energy flowed out of his mouth, reforming into the snake and it spoke in a tone and faded away but not before somehow laughing in a loud tone despite it's rather small size.

None of the others understood or heard it, though only the three were there and Naruto knew just what the Sin Serpent had said to the former Konoha ninja as he understood the language that the Sin Serpent was talking about to Mizuki who was still very much clueless in the language being spoke to him by his former partner.

“You have served your purpose human….you have tested the young Champion well, the master will be pleased at his growth and he will serve well as a worthy foe….now you are in their mercy, and with your soul tainted, you will not live long, shame, you would have been a bit more useful to the master had you been less arrogant in battle.”

--------

Mizuki spoke in a heavily weakened tone as he fell to the ground as he life blood flowed out of his now shriveled and dying body as he gasped for life…

“Noooo….I….won't lose…..I can't lose…”

Naruto looked at Mizuki as he was moved to some degree of pity for his foe despite the fact that he knew Mizuki was too far gone from the very start he broke out of prison. The blonde thought it over and spoke to Holy Talon.

(Can he be saved?)

((“The damage to his body is extremely extensive….we can keep him alive for a while and he might recover….but any hope of him being a ninja is over….his body has suffered irreparable damage….as to be expected when one eats as Sin Serpent to gain power for themselves, and that has been further increased by the fact that the serum had began to fade away.”))

The shriveled shell of a former man turned his face which resembled more of a skeleton with wisps of hair left over on the head to look at Naruto who looked back as he placed Holy Talon on his back.

“You….brat….you bastard….what have you….done to me?!”

Naruto snorted as he replied.

“I don't need to explain myself to you Mizuki, I stopped you, and you brought this to yourself.”

“W-W-What?”

Naruto snorted and replied as he was told already by Holy Talon what was the side effect of anyone being given the power of the Sin Serpent so he was not the least bit troubled by what was happening to the former Chuunin of Konoha.

”You wanted power so badly….you never thought about the cost of getting it. In your case, you lost your soul and in turn your humanity, whatever was left of it anyway. That is the price you paid to be given the Sin Serpent's powers. When I stabbed you….I also aimed to attack the spot where your power collected the most…and this is the result. After all, you were just a simple and expendable pawn to it.”

“N-No….I had power to….rival you!”

“You might have, but you lost it now…and the price is too high, you could be saved, but your fate would have been the same either way, even more so that you got that formula from that snake summoning bastard. That curse ate away at your body and spirit, as well as your mind, when you were defeated, the curse was broken and your body is now paying the price.”

Mizuki growled or tried to growl as his voice was dying away.

“Y-You lie….”

That was when another voice came into the scene.

“Naruto-kun is not lying Mizuki.”

Naruto turned to see Tsunade as well as Shizune with her, the two dressed in the same armor that he had Rumkil and Torril had made for them and with the two were a pair of ANBU along with the others who thankfully were in good health and were safe. The blonde then spoke to the Hokage as she was next to him.

“Good to see you Tsunade-sama.”

Tsunade smiled briefly at Naruto and turned to look sternly at Mizuki and spoke.

“That formula that you gained from Orochimaru was nothing more than a dead end experiment that he had discarded years before. He had tried to fuse the raw physical power of animals with humans to see if creating hybrid ninjas was possible, it was a failure and he discarded the formula eventually. He wrote in a set of notes that I recovered from that lab he had before he defected from Konoha years before, which he considered it worthless and incomplete. He only gave it to you to both have some fun seeing it fail and gather the results.”

Mizuki looked shocked by this, at least he looked to be in shock.

“Y-You're lying….Orochimaru-sama would never….”

Tsunade sighed and replied.

“He lied to you….and the damage done to your body by the powerful curse of the Sin Serpent further added to the damage, you are dying Mizuki, and even if I could save your for interrogation, the damage you have will cripple you for the rest of your life.”

Mizuki tried to deny it as he was now being tended by the ANBU to keep him from expiring too early before he was subjected to a full length of interrogation by Ibiki and his group of ANBU torture specialists, but he couldn't help but feel that there was some truth in the words spoken by both Naruto and Tsunade as he felt his body become weaker and he spoke out.

“This….can't be….”

Naruto snorted and replied.

“It is the truth, but you're a fool to blame anyone here… you have yourself to blame for your fate Mizuki, you now know the price of taking power without thought of the what it will cost you in the end.”

As the husk of a man was brought away, the blonde decided to check on his comrades who apparently had been able to hold their own, he was happy that Tenten, Kurenai, and Hinata were all right and the same sentiment went also to Kiba, Akamaru, Neji, Lee, Shino and Gai. The male Jonin was showing happiness at how his students had performed and lauded the efforts that Lee, Neji, and Tenten displayed in the fight as well as Coryin and Valena, Kurenai herself was also happy, commending the efforts shown by her students Hinata, Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino as well as Liara and Tellis.

As for Tsubaki, Yamato, Uzuki, and Iruka, he was happy that they were all right though he had to thank the Sword Adept Valken for being there for Iruka as she had been the one to block the attack Mizuki had made to kill his sensei and defend him well. However, he would have to make her a brand new shield for the one that Mizuki had ruined. Iruka himself was happy that Valken had arrived at that moment though how she was able to track them was something that surprised him, until Valken told them that she had heard reports of them leaving Konoha and decided to follow them, along with the way she encountered Gai and his team and headed that way after deciding to help with the removal of the wounded people, this was why she had been late in arriving to be of much help in the battle, she had hoped to enter the fight but seeing her fellow comrades holding their own, she decided to head off to find them to see if she could be of some help.

And she did as well in that moment to defend both Iruka and distract Mizuki long enough for the others to make their attacks on him to weaken and finish him off at that exact moment. As the now ruined body of the still alive prisoner was sent away, Tsunade directed her attention to both Fujin and Raijin who were still recovering while eating, she looked at them and could see that the seal had severely weakened the two which was why they were much easier to handle than they were before this whole mess.

She then coughed a bit to get their attention and they looked at her.

“You two are going back to your cells, I have a feeling that they are serving good food there.”

This brought a smile to the faces of the still recovering brothers and amazingly, despite having fought them herself, Liara took a piece of her specially made bread and gave it to them and the moment they ate the pieces, the two brothers literally had hearts appear in their eyes as the taste was delicious to them and that was more than enough to further pacify them further as they were transported back to the village.

--------

In the Hokage Tower two weeks later…

Tsunade looked over the reports for the day and was happy that the prisons were now back to full control and Mizuki was kept in the deepest and most secure isolation facility in Konoha to keep him from causing more trouble for the people there and the blonde Hokage personally requested a pair of golems to act as security for the cell itself. Naruto was more than willing to help her out in that regard, the Thunder Brothers were returned to their prisons and amazingly they were quite docile now….apparently sampling the bread cooked by Naruto's Druid companions had served to make the two more docile and more cooperative. They were still strong on their own, but the curse that Mizuki had used on them had drained the two of their original power and had made them less powerful than before. They were back in their cells and were now restrained by Orchaelium chains to keep them from going about and causing havoc in the village.

She then thought about Tsubaki who was currently on probation, the Chuunin ranked woman was willing to take any punishment for what happened, but Naruto and Iruka intervened and she was off the hook from more serious accusations and would soon be allowed to return to her work, she was happy that Naruto did that and she was more than willing to work hard to bring herself back to being a respected member of Konoha.

As for the blonde in question, Naruto was currently working on another set of weapons and armor for the ANBU forces as well as sending another shipment to Suna as well as taking a much needed break from all the things that he had been part of for the rest of the week as he was now in his home. She smiled at how much Naruto had grown and decided that he deserved to take some time off for now and she then hoped that they would get some peace and quiet around the village for as long as it would last.

She then recalled the Konoha was soon going to have an annual festival that would be paid for by the Feudal Lord and it would certainly be a welcome respite from all the things that had happened to the village for the past few months. The festival was still a few weeks off so she had plenty of time to plan things out with the rest of the Konoha Council

--------

In his home…

“Ahhhhh…..this feels good….”

Naruto was currently enjoying a hot bath in his tub with some good hot water and a towel on his head, the blonde felt happy that he was abler to get some smelling salts for the water for it to smell a lot nicer than before and help him feel more relaxed, he also tried some of the herbal balm that Liara gave him to help heal his body and relax him as well. The blonde had nothing on his schedule to deal with so he was more than happy to finally take a short break from work.

He thought over all that had happened and he had a feeling that sooner or later, he was going to be back in dealing with yet another threat cooked up by Death Fang, but so far the sword had been rather silent, he wasn't going to bet any money that the sword would remain quite for long. But for now, the peace was worth it and he would enjoy it as best he could.

He then thought about his earnings for the past few months, ever since he became a Chuunin, he had been earning quite the fortune and he had saved it away for him to use at a much later date as well as let it grow more for him to use when the time came. However, despite being very thrifty and conservative with money, the blonde also had plans to use his money well for the right time and occasion.

As he relaxed more, he then began to think on how he could use some of his money and then decided to see if he could help out a certain couple, namely none other than Asuma and Vlana, the blonde had seen them being together a lot more than before and while he knew that Asuma had his own supplies of money, he wanted to thank Asuma for helping him unlock his elemental affinity all those months before when they had been sent by Tsunade to help them protect Koyuki from Chumaza, and helping him court the skilled Silver Star Mage.

Not to mention that he would need to give Ino something nice for all the things she had done when they were working side by side in battle, something that would thank her properly her efforts as well as being something that she would be able to use in the right circumstances and the right situation as well. But what sort of gift would be worthy for Ino's help in all the missions that they had undertaken together?

He then wondered on how to present a gift to none other than Gaara's sister Temari, it would be rude of him to not give her one after all and also he would have to give something to Koyuki as well in thanks for all she had done for him as well as also make her happy. The gift would have to be something that she would like and that would have to be important.

He also decided to see if he could have some time to say hi to Hinata and thank her for teaching her all that she was able to teach him in their time together, not to mention he wanted to see just how she was taking the gift that he had been able to give her previously. He couldn't help but admit that ever since….they had become very intimate, Hinata had become a lot more confident in herself

(What to do….I can do that later when the time is right, for now, I need to have some much needed sleep and relaxation.)

With that train of thought, the young man decided to get some shut eye as well as enjoy the bath he was having right now and when he was done he was going to go out and grab another hot series of meals from the Ichiraku Ramen stand once more and with his money supplies as high as they were now, he could afford to use some of it for his own needs.

--------

The next day…

Asuma looked at Naruto with a slight look of surprise as he and Konohamaru were currently having breakfast in a nearby shop, he couldn't believe that Naruto was actually willing to do this for him.

“You're willing to pay the whole expense of me and Vlana having a date?”

Naruto grinned in his usual fashion and nodded.

“Yeah, tell me where you two want to eat, have some alone time, and have fun, I'll fork out the money and help plan it out.”

The Jonin raised an eye brow as he looked at the blonde Chuunin and wondered what was going on in Naruto's head and couldn't help but try his best to find out what that was in all. It wasn't that he was not keen on the idea of dating Vlana, in fact, over the past few weeks, he had gotten quite close to the Silver Star Mage, but he was wondering what would prompt Naruto to do such things for him.

“Not that I'm refusing or anything, but why are you asking that of me?”

The blonde grinned and replied honestly.

“Think of this as my way of thanking you for all the things you've done for me for some time now, come on Asuma-san, let me do this for you as a favor.”

Asuma sighed a bit as he could see that Naruto was dead serious about doing this for him and he was not the kind of person to say no to this sort of thing actually and made that rather plain to Naruto as he replied to the blonde.

“All right I'll do it, I just hope that this date is all right with Vlana.”

Naruto grinned happily and nodded.

“I understand, I'll go chat with her and if she is all right with the idea, then I'll tell you where to meet her.”

As soon as Naruto was out of the area, the Jonin was soon being teased by none other than his nephew Konohamaru who was very happy that his uncle was not at long last finally able to go out on a date and with someone who happened to be rather nice, he had met Vlana before as she at times would use her magic to surprise him and many others in the Academy when she was able to come there and she had the time to make something happen for them to see. Konohamaru smiled impishly at Asuma as he continued to tease his uncle.

“So you're going out on a date huh?”

“Yes…”

“Are you and Vlana-san going to?”

Asuma's eyes widened at that and he quickly smacked Konohamaru on the head gently but hard enough to send the message for his nephew that treading on that part of the whole thing was asking for trouble, he cared for his nephew but sometimes his nephew's perverted streak was something that really gave him a head ache.

“Don't say that Konohamaru.”

“Ow…but you want to be with her right?”

Asuma could tell that Konohamaru was not going to let it go that easily and he couldn't help but sigh at that and reply.

“I guess…but we'll have to wait and see.”

--------

Later…

Naruto walked over to the training field to the sound of sparring going on and he decided to see just who were busy training at this time of the day, and he didn't have to wait for too long to see just who are the people there in the training field. It was none other than Rock Lee himself and Valeena and the two of them were really going at it and the blonde Chuunin could tell that Lee and Valeena were doing well together in battle, just as they had done when they had gone after Mizuki and the two brothers. At the moment both were throwing punches and kicks at one another with amazing speed as both fighters were giving it all they had.

It was also when Naruto noted something different in the air as the two continued to fight with one another, Lee seemed more….active and energetic if that was to be possible for the normally upbeat and strong Genin as he continued to trade punches and kicks with the female elven Fire Dancer, in fact, he could swear that Lee had what was like a love struck expression on his face and when he glimpsed at Valeena's face, there was a face of pure concentration there mixed with respect and affection. He had learned much from Holy Talon and one such lesson is that while the Fire Dancers were something akin to monk order, they were not above having relationships and it was not unheard of for husband and wife who were both Fire Dancers to be fighting side by side as a fighting pair, that happened when the pair had fought together and were able to fight well and sync with one another flawlessly and having genuine feelings for one another.

And of course, there were stories of Elven Fire Dancers who were of either gender who married with humans and their children took the professions of their human parents or took to the Fire Dancer lifestyle and customs. On the matter of a Fire Dancer marrying an outsider, there was a custom for that matter and it worked in this fashion, when the Fire Dancer had an affection for a person, either male or female they would have what was called a courtship match, it was a non lethal match though the rules were for the fighters to use all their techniques in battle to win, if the Fire Dancer won at the end of the match, then he or she would have to either cut the romance short for a time until the one she or he wanted was ready and willing to try again, or find another person to care for. If the person won the battle, then the two were recognized as a couple and are considered married in many ways, including being able to be intimate out of wedlock, and it is further reinforced when they consummated it through the formal tradition or either elvish marriage or human marriage

Most of the matches ended in the later since there were few, elven or human who could equal Fire Dancers in their chosen style of fighting, but there were some who were of the former, and there were those who did win and become married to the Fire Dancers, he had no idea if Lee had any idea on that matter.

As the pair finally stopped, he decided to say hi to them and see how they were doing at this moment. Lee was happy to see Naruto and made that obvious as he greeted the blonde Chuunin.

“Naruto-san! Good to see you!”

“Right back at you Lee….anyway, how are things with you?”

Lee nodded and thought back on the events of the past few weeks, his body had now fully healed and he was more than ready to go back on doing missions and that was something that he was looking forward to.

“I'm well, fully recovered and ready for a mission!”

Naruto grinned at that, Lee was back to full throttle as far as he could see and on the corner of his eye, he could see that the elven Fire Dancer smile warmly at Lee, making him all the more curious if she was going to try and use the courtship match to bag the young man, he was not against, it, after all Lee had done, he deserved to have some level of happiness, and besides that, he seemed to like Valena a lot more now, as well as showing less interest with Sakura in the romantic sense though they were still very much friends. He then decided to chat with Lee later as he spotted Gai calling Lee over, Lee noted that and bid farewell to the two and that allowed Naruto to speak to Valena.

“Valena, how do you find your time here in my world and my home village?”

The elf thought about it and replied.

“It's a nice village, good people, and you have very interesting customs, and more besides. So I don't find anything bad with the village, in fact, it's not a bad place to stay in.”

Naruto could tell that she was telling the truth and that was good news to him as he hoped that the women who came from Dagern were being treated well by his fellow villagers as they were doing all that they could to help the village out with whatever they needed in this situation. And it was good that the villagers were not trying to harm the women at the moment. He smiled at that and decided to direct his line of questioning to none other than Lee himself.

“By the way….what do you think of Lee?”

Valena smiled warmly at that and replied.

“He is a good man, dedicated, honest, brave, and quite loyal to a fault, good traits in any man who is skilled, while he cannot use those arts that you call Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu, he has amazing fighting skills in the art of hand to hand combat, he would make an excellent Fire Dancer. Plus, he has a warrior's spirit by most if not all standards in my world.”

“I see….well, do you like him?”

Valena smiled a bit more and replied.

“Yes….though if you're referring to a more romantic setting, then I will have the challenge him to the kind of match that my people undertake and as a Dragon Champion I am well aware that you know it as well.”

Naruto grinned and replied.

“I see….so, do you plan on asking him to take part of the match?”

The elven Fire dancer smiled a bit and replied.

“I might do that, but I would like it better that I have time to get to know him more before I extend the idea to him so he would understand the situation. He is a good man and despite being young I believe that by your law regarding ninjas, he is already an adult so this should help him feel better. Besides, he is a good man and deserves happiness as well as the next man, it would be a serious crime if he is not given the chance to be given something for his efforts.”

Naruto laughed at that and recalled that as an elf, Valena had a very different outlook when it concerned relationships, this was very obvious in his studies with Holy Talon when it concerned the elven race, though he knew that elves had different customs and beliefs, depending on where they were born and their culture. He then replied to that as he thought about the implications.

“I guess so, by the way, I'll go see and chat with Gai about that, he might be surprised by this if you just do it without telling him, by the way, you know where I can find Vlana?”

Valena thought about that and replied.

“As a Silver Star Mage, I can bet that she is currently there in the library to look over all the information that she could find, so that would be the best place to find her.”

Naruto nodded and headed off to the location, it took a while for him to find Valena though the librarian was on good terms with the Silver Star Mage and directed Naruto to the woman while she told the blonde Chuunin that Vlana was by far the most dedicated reader her place ever had and she wished that people took to reading books and scrolls more often than being in front of the TV all the time.

The blonde Chuunin merely laughed a bit and nodded his head, as he arrived to Vlana's place in the library, he could see why the library owner was praising the woman as she had several piles of books nearby as well as some open scrolls and she was very intent on reading what was before her. In this case, Vlana was the epitome of a book worm….though in this case a very gorgeous book worm who had the skill to back up the smarts.

As she looked up, she smiled at Naruto and spoke to him.

“Greetings Dragon Champion Naruto, is there something you want to talk to me about?”

The blonde Chuunin then told the Silver Star Mage of the plan for a date and asked if it would be all right to her to go on a date with Asuma and she smiled at that and decided to agree, she found the man to be rather nice to say the very least and told the blonde Chuunin to tell Asuma to wait for her as she would be in the apartment that they were currently staying in. The blonde Chuunin grinned at that and nodded, he was looking very much to this moment so he moved out to give the Jonin the good news.

--------

The date between Vlana and Asuma…

The Jonin checked his clothes once more and hoped that he had been able to get all the possible stains and creases out of his clothing for this day, he knew that he would have to look the least bit presentable for this date and not make a fool of himself before the Silver Star Mage who he had become quite attracted to, he had been surprised to learn that she agreed with the whole thing and that made this all the more important for him. As he checked himself in the mirror once more, he looked at his usual pack of cigarettes and decided to place it aside for now. He had no idea if Vlana disliked smoking and the last thing he wanted was to make a bad impression.

Once he was done with his clothes and checking himself, he moved out to the Yamanaka Flower Shop to buy flowers for the date, Ino was there and she was quick to smile at the sight of her long time sensei.

“Asuma-sensei! What brings you here?”

“I just need to buy some flowers for…”

“For your date?”

Asuma nodded at that with a faint blush on his face, much to Ino's amusement and happiness, it was about time that Asuma got to be with a woman. As soon as that was over, the Jonin arrived at the hotel just as Valena came out and she then smiled at him and headed off to meet with lee for another session of sparring though she had far more interesting plans in mind for the day than just fighting with the Genin. That was when the Jonin saw Vlana come out and he gasped out loud at the sight of the woman.

She wore a beautiful strapless gown which was very fitting for her that was made from red silk with white trim on the sides of each with a special braid of both white and red silk that was on her waist and she also had a set of beautiful golden bracelets on her wrists with comfortable shoes that were shown as there were slits on the sides of the dress that rose up to her knees, the Silver Star Mage had her long hair in a classical ponytail.

The woman smiled at Asuma and the flowers and teased him a bit.

“Careful Asuma, you might end up with a fly flying into your mouth.”

Asuma noticed at that exact moment that his mouth was indeed open and managed to close it and moved forward and gave the flowers to Vlana, the Silver Star Mage smiled warmly and smelled the flowers and before Asuma could say anything, she moved towards him and kissed him gently on the lips and he blushed as she moved back and spoke to him.

“So, where do you want to go first Asuma?”

In the meantime, Lee and Valena had been sparring until she decided to surprise him with the duel and Lee, naturally accepted, in the belief that it was going to be a special type of training and they began to fight one another once more, Lee fired all of his attacks at full power, but Valena was able to block and launch his own. Throughout all this, Lee couldn't help but be enamored by the way Valena looked when she fought with him in any kind of match or when they would fight side by side. And while he tried to keep his thoughts focused on the battle which he was able to do to some degree, he still found her attractive and very skilled, not to mention she was rather nice.

(No, Lee, focus on the battle now!)

Lee did so as the two of them attacked one another with greater speed, he noted that Valena was acting a lot differently this time around, as she began to unleash more and more attacks, hitting with greater speed and power, this battle was becoming all the more intense and he couldn't help but feel the desire to go all out as well, and he did so, it would be wrong of him to not do otherwise or else he would end up disappointing Valena. As the fight continued to grow in intensity, he couldn't help but feel that he was being drawn into a powerful and utterly intimate conversation with the elven woman.

Valena was likewise seeing this in the same way, as she used the courtship duel between her and Lee, she relished that he was showing his full might and that made her all the more eager for him to show her the very apex of his abilities, she needed to go all out in this to draw out Lee's full skill and in turn she would not hesitate to unleash her own skills, The feeling of intimacy in this kind of fight was affecting her as well though unlike Lee, she reveled in the feeling of it all in this moment as they continued to unleash their full power on one another.

It was only in the later part of the battle that Lee finally scored a victory as he managed to defeat Valena though barely and the Fire Dancer was sent down and on her back, lee gasped and quickly tried to apologize to her for his actions.

“I'm sorry Valena-san! I didn't mean to go all out that much!”

Valena groaned at that, he did hit her rather hard in order to win the fight between the two of them but that didn't mean that she hated him for it, he had passed her test and she decided to speak to him.

“It's all right, you won the duel and that means I have to abide by my Order's traditions.”

“Traditions?”

“Tell me something Lee, do you care for me?”

“Yes I do! You are very skilled and capable!”

The elf grinned at that as she got herself up despite the pain and looked at the Genin and spoke.

“I see, but I am asking in a more intimate sense.”

That was enough to make Lee blush hard at that and he twiddled his fingers in the very same fashion as Hinata did when in the presence of Naruto before they became very intimate with one another. The Genin had no idea what to say but he knew that she deserved an answer and he was honest to himself that he found her beautiful and had a very nice personality.

“Well….you are beautiful and very kind….and I have to say that I am attracted.”

Valena smiled as she then grabbed Lee's head and pulled him closer and spoke to him gently.

“And I can say the same for you, the tradition of my Order is that when a Fire dancer is attracted to one person outside of the order, they must duel to show their full power to one another as well as not hold anything back, if I had won, I had to give up on you or try again, but if you won….then you and I are bonded in battle and in peace. I guess in this situation I am now your girl-friend.”

Lee was shocked and he couldn't help but feel very much embarrassed by this and looked at Valena if she was teasing him, but the happy smile on her face told her otherwise and then she kissed him gently, making him all the more awed and before he could try to deny this, he felt Valena gently caress his face, showing gentleness and a great degree of physical intimacy and that was more than enough to make Lee give in and kiss the elven woman back, running his hands on her emerald green hair and then to her ears gently touching them, making the woman moan out in appreciation at her actions on her ears.

As soon as the kissing was done, Valena explained her Order's tradition more and lee couldn't help but be surprised and amazed that he had been part of something that was this sacred among her people. She admitted that she had not told him since there was a chance he might not agree since his land was different than her own and thus the customs were quite different as well. But Lee decided to agree since he did find her beautiful and kind as well as very skilled and that was more than enough for Valena to be happy and she then whispered in his ear.

“Now I think now is the right time we can relax, this fight was good and we need to relax in some fashion.”

Lee nodded and the two left for Lee's home as Lee had some medical supplies that he used to patch his injuries, they rested there and patched up each other's injuries, and it was then that Lee brought out some food and drink as they rested, Valena told Lee further of the things she knew of and the people and beings she had met and seen in her world and Lee did the same on how he had grown up in Konoha, the conversations were very good between the two of them and it certainly helped ease them into their new relationship and it was then that Valena decided to massage Lee's body, making him sigh at her touch.

It was at this moment that Valena made her move as she began to kiss Lee, the Genin looked at the beautiful elven woman and she replied.

“Now then….let me make you relax even more Lee.”

At that exact moment, Asuma was currently sharing a quiet time watching the moonlight in his own home with Vlana as the Silver Star Mage and the Jonin just had a wonderful dinner in his home. He had also taken the time clean up his house of any garbage and even took the time the clean up the air and even took the time to buy scented candles for the occasion. Asuma did clean up his house and took good care of his own home, but in this case, he cleaned it up as best he could in order to make sure that it was very presentable to the woman.

They went to see a movie, much to Vlana's amazement as this was the very first time she had seen one before in her life, she also was impressed with some of the books that she had found outside of the library that she spends most of her time. After the movie the two of them also went to a nearby grocery to buy some food for their time in his home, once they were done, he toured her to the Hokage Monument to tell the stories of the men who had taken the role of Hokage in Konoha as well as tell her of his father who served as the Hokage before Tsunade took the position of leader. They took the time to talk about other things and Asuma told her about her own journey on his own accord, and how he returned and became a ninja and also about his conflict with his father in the past.

Vlana understood that in her own fashion and supported him as best she could assuring him that considering all that he had done and would soon learn in his own time, he would make his family proud of him no matter what would happen in this life. That was more than enough to endear her to the Jonin as they arrived in his home and she cooked some food and they were soon having a good dinner while she needled him in a good natured fashion on his desire to impress her with all the things he had done.

This made Asuma blush and this led to them looking at the stars but Asuma was torn to looking at the woman as the light of the moon and stars made her hair glow silver and her red eyes to sparkle and make her look more beautiful as she rested there before him, she leaned down and took all of his mental and physical discipline not to react and do something that's he might not want.

He did his best to control himself when he smelled her scent, he couldn't help but feel his body react a bit at her smell and also her own body's movements on his own.

(Easy you….if you do something bad she's either going to slap you, or fire a lighting bolt in your face!)

“Asuma…”

“Yes?”

“You seem rather tense for some reason, are you all right?”

“Uh….yeah, I'm fine.”

Vlana looked at him and replied.

“Really, why do I have my doubts on that? Here, maybe you need a massage.”

Before the Jonin could respond, the Silver Star Mage moved away and was now behind him and she began to press her hands into his shoulders, and back, she then told him to lean forward a bit as she began to work her magic to say the least as the Jonin felt a lot of tension move away from his body, making him feel more relaxed as he moaned out in pleasure, hearing Vlana giggle a bit at his moan.

“I see that you like that hmm?”

“Hai….it feels nice.”

“Good, I wanted to hear that from you, at any rate, you really should relax, there so much tension here.”

Asuma nodded and before he could do anything, the Silver Star Mage moved forward and he was surprised when he felt her breasts press into his back and before he could say anything the Silver Star Mage, she gently whispered to him.

“Your tension is because of me by any chance Asuma?”

“Ummm…I…”

Before he could say anything else, the Silver Star Mage moved her breasts on his back all the way to his shoulders, making him jump a little, much to her delight.

“I see that it is because of me….do you want to do anything about it?”

Asuma was stunned and then the Silver Star Mage made him turn to look at her as she then gently kissed him, as soon as the kiss between the two of them ended she replied in a very seductive tone.

“You went through so much effort for me, and I went through some effort to look presentable for you….so why don't we enjoy the fruits of our respective labors here tonight?”

“Are you sure?”

Vlana nodded and replied to that with a smile.

“We're already adults in the right age and maturity for it, and besides, despite your smoking habits, I do find you to be a very good man and you have the right kind of personality as well as nature. You would make any woman happy and that goes for me as well.”

Asuma couldn't say thing else when the Silver Star Mage decided to kiss him again, only this time around she kissed him with far greater passion and intensity than before very obvious signs that she was in the mood for them to take things to a much higher stage between them. And despite his logic telling him to stop at that moment, another part of his mind was telling him to let it happen, he was grown man and so was Vlana so they were nothing inherently wrong for them to be attracted to one another. With that train of thought in mind, the Jonin responded to that kiss as well and it was not long before the two of them began to get a lot more intimate, and it was not long before the Jonin reached the back of the Silver Star Mage to loosen the dress.

Vlana not that and decided to help him along and soon, things in Asuma's room were going to get very interesting.

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The next day…

Asuma woke up and tried to shake the cobwebs out of his brain and he was curious as to where he was at the moment. He then recalled that he was currently on his bed in his house and he was stripped naked and he was a bit confused as to how he was in this state of undress, but when his memories of the night before came back, he blushed a bit and looked to see Vlana lying there on his bed with her hair like a drape of white silk there on his pillow, he looked at her with awe at her beauty and he looked at the sun that was shining through the window of him room and couldn't help but feel a lot more happiness. And he had to admit that the potions that Vlana gave him to drink were very potent in making him stronger for the night ahead.

He was so deep in thought that it was only when Vlana gently kissed his cheek that he realized that she was now awake and right next to him, unmindful of the fact that she was now naked before him, making him blush at her beauty as she was indeed well built despite not being a serious fighter.

The Silver Star Mage smiled at her lover and spoke to him.

“So did you enjoy last night Asuma?”

Asuma smiled at that with the blush still evident on his face as he replied to the beautiful mage next to him.

“You were pretty amazing…I hate to ask…..but is this really your first time?”

Vlana nodded sincerely and replied.

“It is my first time Asuma, the only reason I know about such…things on how to be with men and make them feel more at ease around me, is because the books in the archives also taps into the more intimate side of being with people. I had studied that well apart from being a skilled mage just to pass the time. I hope I did all right for you Asuma? I hate to be disappointing you if I didn't do things right.”

Asuma smiled as he replied.

“You did well Vlana-san.”

The silver haired and crimson eyed woman smiled at the truth in his words and gently kissed him with a warm hug, allowing him to feel her naked form once more, making him even more aroused, but they stopped themselves for now as they got up and got dressed for the day ahead. Vlana then decided to cook some food for the two of them and cooked a special meat and vegetable dish for Asuma, and he found it to be very good and she also brought out some special beer that she had with her in her pack, Asuma normally didn't drink, but found the beer to be delicious and commented on it.

“This is very interesting beer.”

Vlana smiled and replied.

“It's a traditional brew among Silver Star Mages, because of our training with herbs, and potions we have good skills in making spirits, in fact, those of our order who leave actually become good makers of drinks and potions.”

Asuma smiled as the beer was well balanced but had the right mixture of spices, herbs, and alcohol to make him enjoy the taste. As soon as that was over, he and Vlana soon left his house as he decided to accompany Vlana to her usual place in the Konoha library to do her research and also to soon head off to the green house ran by her comrades to get some more herbs and components for her potions.

They were unaware that a certain blonde Chuunin and Dragon Champion was watching the whole situation before him, Naruto couldn't help but notice the aura of closeness between Asuma and Vlana and that was something that in his mind was worth every moment and action that he had been able to undertake.

Naruto then grinned and spoke to himself.

“I wonder how Lee is doing with Valena?”

He then turned to see Gai walking along and seemingly in the good mood and he decided to go have a chat with the Jonin and go see if the two of them could go and check on the young Genin. After a chat the Jonin nodded and admitted that he was quite eager to see just how far had his student gone with his relationship with the undeniably skilled Fire Dancer.

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In Lee's simple home…

Lee yawned a bit and got out of bed and wondered why he seemed to feel so relaxed….however, the very second the memories of last night hit him hard in the head and the young Genin blushed bright red and looked to see his usual jumpsuit removed and neatly placed away….next to Valena's own clothes and he looked to see the beautiful elven Fire Dancer smiling at him with a happy glint in her eyes while she wore some simple cloth to cover parts of her naked body…not that he had any problem imaging those said parts. She was already sitting on a nearby chair and smiling at the Genin and he spoke out.

“Valena-san…”

The elf however replied.

“After what we did that night Lee, I think you're going to have to give up calling me by that, I think the term chan added to my name is a better choice. By the way, I must admit that you are very fit for someone at your age and despite the fact that it was your first time, you did very well.”

Lee blushed brightly at that as he recalled telling the elven woman that he had never done anything like that before, but she smiled and replied that she was in the same boat though she had been taught about such things as a young woman in her days so she was able to help him handle the situation a lot better than most. Lee then spoke to her in respect and affection, he couldn't show anything else after that night to the elven woman.

“I understand Valena-chan.”

Valena smiled as she got off the chair and gently kissed him on the forehead and then took his hands to help him get out of the bed, he willingly obeyed and she decided to get dressed as well as he did and she decided to get to cooking some food for the two of them. Lee looked at himself in the mirror, he had just lost his….chastity, but to a woman who he cared for and was his equal in many ways, he sighed and smiled a bit as he felt some level of happiness and as soon as he was done, he moved out of his room to see Valeena cooking some food and placing it on the table.

The two of them enjoyed the food well and it was then that Valeena decided to leave and head off to meet with her comrades and he accompanied her to the place where the others of her group would routinely meet to discuss things and as they got closer, the elven Fire Dancer kissed Lee on the lips gently as she smiled at him and headed off. Lee blushed deeply at this and couldn't help but smile happily while looking at the way Valeena moved, showing that while she was indeed walking away, she was still making actions that got his attention fairly easily.

As he turned about, he was greeted by none other than Naruto and Maito Gai himself, the Jonin saw it and as they approached Lee, the Jonin gave his student a happy smile and was happy that Lee finally found a girl who was not only someone who liked him, but also was able to match him in terms of his abilities in Taijutsu despite the difference in their style of fighting.

“Congratulations Lee, you've finally met a woman who can be your equal and life partner.”

Lee smiled at Gai as well as Naruto who was smiling warmly at him and replied.

“Thank you Gai-sensei, I'll do my best to prove that I can be the best person to be with Valena-chan!”

Lee then spoke to Naruto with a happy look on his face.

“Thank you for helping me find the courage to ask Valena-chan out Naruto-san, I owe you a great deal.”

Naruto shook his head and replied.

“You owe me nothing Lee, I only helped you make the right moves to get the woman you like a great deal and respect as well.”

Lee nodded and then Gai spoke out in his usual Nice Guy pose..

“All right then! To celebrate your becoming a man, why don't we go to one of my favorite restaurants and see who can eat some of the best beef hot pot in one setting!!!”

Lee was ecstatic while Naruto sighed and smiled as the three of them headed off to have their own personal pig out session. He couldn't help but shake his head at the result of all the things that he had done in order to give two guys he respected and had trained him to be a much better ninja than before. He had a feeling that sooner or later, he would face Death Fang's machinations soon, but for now he was going to enjoy all the time he had free and when the time came for him to fight once more, he would be more than ready.

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Naruto was right….for at this moment…

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In Death Fang's lair…

The sword glowed in a deep burning aura of energy as it watched the battle between Naruto and Mizuki with absolute pleasure, the human guinea pig had been worth playing with and would have been a viable candidate for being turned into a servant, but his body was too ravaged to be of any use to it so watching him fight ad eventually suffer the pain of taking the Black Moon Curse was well worth it in the sword's twisted and evil mind.

(((“You will be interesting to see in action one I find my own master Naruto Uzumaki….for now, I will let you have a respite, do not let yourself get too relaxed as I am not done yet with my plans to really bring you to the limits.”)))

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To be continued…

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Author's Notes:

This is done at last….and there's a real change now…

Asuma and Lee got laid!!!!

I have a very good guess that I am going to get some major comments about Lee finally getting hitched in the best way possible with a girl, and that is to be expected, but I for one think that Lee deserves to have happiness and a reward for all he had to do to get to the level that he is now when it comes to Taijutsu and that nice guys like Lee deserve to be rewarded for all of their hard work and dedication.

And the fact that Lee got hitched with a beauty of an elf like Valena is proving once and for all that nice guys DO NOT finish last!

Anyway, you can bet that Asuma is going to one day have kids at some point in this story!