Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Naruto of the Mirage ❯ Chapter 26 ( Chapter 26 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Nightblade888
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.29.2007 | Pages: 7 | Words: 8.1K | Visits: 945 | Status: Work In Progress

“So, this is it, right?” Naruto's voice held an edge that showed his anxiousness to get this job finished.
 
“Yes Naruto, this is where we tracked the two members who were following Tsunade earlier.”
 
Naruto, Sasuke, Anko, Jiraiya, Neji, and Sakura were standing before a large boulder that was blocking the entrance to what should be the Akatsuki's lair. Though they couldn't track Hideaki, Tsunade had mentioned the pair that she had felt following her group earlier and their trail was easily picked up and followed. On the way they had met up with Kakashi, Gai, and Haku, who had been sent by Shizune, after Tsunade had contacted her and ordered back up.
 
It had been two days and thirteen hours since Gaara had been abducted by the criminal organization, and Naruto had nearly been vaporized by his own chakra in the explosion that lead to Gaara's capture. When he woke up, Naruto was devastated to hear of his friend's fate, and blamed himself as was his custom.
 
From that instant on, he had bugged and nagged the Godaime to allow a rescue mission, which she eventually agreed to, but not before making sure that Sakura and Naruto were fit enough to go. Sakura's new arm was working perfectly, and she experienced no ill effects when she tried out any of her medical techniques.
 
“That's a five seal barrier, it will take five of us to remove the seals at exactly the same time or else the entrance will lock itself and we'll have no chance of getting in.” Kakashi noted the large paper seal that was stuck to the boulder.
 
“I've found the other five seals; they are a ways from here, so it might take us some time to return after we remove them.” Neji's calm voice was awkward amongst the tense group, but after equipping wireless radios, and receiving instructions to the area of the seals, Neji, Sakura, Haku, and Gai headed out to the seals. After a few moments, confirmation came in that all four had found their targets and the intrusion into enemy territory could go on. On the count of three, all four ninja, plus Kakashi pulled off the tags and Naruto blew through the boulder with a rasengan. As the remaining members of the rescue party rushed inside, they were greeted by a completely unwelcome sight.
 
Gaara's body, which for a moment was suspended in the air, fell to the ground, limp, as the giant statue that represented all that was evil disappeared into the ground.
 
“GAARA!!!” Naruto's cry echoed around the vast cavern. Four figures dropped down from the hands of the giant. Naruto didn't notice, as he had turned to Jiraiya and began to yell at his teacher.
 
“You said we had four days! What the hell happened, they finished faster than you had calculated before we killed off two members!” His eyes had tears in them, knowing that his friend, the one that was the most like him, was dead.
 
“That would be thanks to our latest…recruiting drive.” The women, Chiyoko spoke.
 
All eyebrows on the Konoha side of the room rose, to varying degrees, until a lone figure, still standing on the hands of the statue spoke up.
 
“Ku ku ku, it's good to see you again, Jiraiya, Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun.” Orochimaru's projection flickered before it disappeared, though everyone noticed that he had both arms on his body once more.
 
“So, one of you works for that bastard, eh?” Jiraiya asked, though he knew which one it was.
 
“Name's Suigetsu.” The boy, who had had white hair down to his neck stepped forward, his hand moving to the hilt of the gigantic sword on his back. “Never thought they'd let Orochimaru back in, but when you show up with help and a couple of demons to seal, they get happy pretty quickly.”
 
“You…BASTARDS I'LL KILL YOU! Naruto was leaking large amounts of the Kyuubi's chakra, as well as activating his sakashima sharingan. During his training, he had experimented with this form of the sharingan and found a couple interesting things, things he was going to implement in battle very soon.
 
“I'm going to take the jinchuriki, I haven't fought one yet, and Jashin demands blood today.” Hidan, a man with grey hair and a large three bladed crimson scythe spoke up and eyed Naruto with a smirk on his face.
 
“Whatever, that woman isn't here, so I can't have any fun.” Kakuzu drawled, obviously unhappy that Tsunade hadn't shown up.
 
“You were interested in Tsunade-sama, no? Then you'll have to settle for me then.” Anko marked her opponent with her words, cracking her knuckles as she waited for the fighting to begin.
 
“Kakashi is mine, for him to have killed Zabuza-sensei…it is something that I cannot forgive.” Suigetsu drew the sword he had been palming since the confrontation began, which was instantly recognizable as the sword wielded by the former demon of the Mist.
 
“Actually, you will be fighting me.” Sasuke stepped forward and drew his own large sword. “Kakashi-sensei has a better things to do than be bothered by an amateur and I happen to know someone who would be awfully pissed if she knew what you have done.”
 
There was a tense moment as every one of the fighters waited for the battle to begin.
 
“Kakashi…we might have a small problem.” Gai's distorted voice over the radio was apparently the start signal, because immediately there were clashes of steel upon steel and the dull sounds of fists being thrown.
 
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As soon as Gai had removed the seal tag from the side of a cliff where he had found it, he felt something strange happen. A sudden influx of chakra directed his attention to an amorphous blob that had begin to spring from the cliff face. Shortly after its emergence, the blob began to take a recognizable form. It turned into an exact replica of Gai himself.
 
“Neji…is this happening to you as well?” The taijutsu master's voice held no emotion or any hint of fear.
 
“You mean the duplicate of me? Yeah, I've got one.”
 
“Me too.” Haku's voice was accompanied by the clang of metal as she parried her clone's sword.
 
Gai released a breath of air as he adopted a defensive taijutsu stance, one that was mimicked by his clone.
 
“Kakashi…we might have a small problem.”
 
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
 
When the clone began forming in front of her eyes, Sakura was wondering how something of this complexity could be happening. Was this based on previous information, or were these clones forming on some other set of information? The answer came soon enough when the clone exhibited the same scarred right arm as herself.
 
The clone adopted a basic stance of taijutsu and formed chakra scalpels which Sakura mimicked; she had long since gotten to the point where she could form them correctly, not like against Neji back when she was a genin. They traded some blows, with neither landing anything decisive. On the next pass, both girls used their explosive strength and this time both suffered damage from the exchange.
 
The real Sakura suddenly felt the fine hairs on the back of her neck stick up, and knew that some attack was on the way, but was still very surprised when one of the clay birds she had seen in her short fight against the member of Akatsuki come flying at her from her clone.
 
`I can do that?!' she thought as she leapt backwards in an attempt to dodge the explosive animal. When she found she couldn't get far enough away from the explosive clay, Sakura slammed her fist to the ground to kick up a small wall of earth, just enough to block the bird and cause it to explode. She still felt the small pebbles hit her skin as the force from the blast demolished her makeshift wall.
 
Her eyes began to dart around, looking for the follow up attack that was sure to be coming. The clone had attempted to charge through the debris of the explosion, but was thwarted by the genuine article's kunai.
 
`Why didn't she use those explosives again?' Surely that would have been the best follow up to the explosion. `Possibly, she can't do anymore, I mean, I/we don't have those pouches of clay, so I guess there is just whatever is left in that mouth.' As soon as Sakura thought of the mouth on the palm of her right hand, she felt it respond and felt that there was just enough clay left in the mouth from its previous owner for one attack. Hoping that the things responded to her thoughts, Sakura pictured what shape she wanted the charge to be shaped as, and felt the internal workings respond to her command. The clone was watching her with interest; it seemed that it was supposed to respond to her attacks, as opposed to instigating the action.
 
She withdrew a kunai and wrapping an exploding note around it, threw it at the clone, who threw her own knife and deflected the projectile easily. The clone watched as Sakura made a single hand sign and was momentarily mesmerized as the leaves began to fly and swirl around, before it recognized the very basic genjutsu, but didn't care why a ninja such as Sakura would use such a low level technique, until she noticed that Sakura was smiling and waiting as the clone brushed a leave from her body.
 
Wait, what? There were no leaves, that was the technique unless…
 
“Katsu!”
 
The clone fell to the ground before dissolving into the amorphous blob, as the explosion had taken off its head in one blow.
 
“This is Sakura; I'm heading back to the entrance.”
 
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