Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf	By : Pokemaster12 Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 8578 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 11
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in it. All rights go to Masashi Kishimoto, nor do I make a profit off of this story.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
Chapter 11: Sword to the Grind

~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~

Arashi and Kushimaru put on a burst of speed as they rushed each other, locking their blades together as they swung at one another. Each pushed against the other, trying to gain the advantage and determine the other ninja's strength. That ended when they both jumped back.
Both opponents moved around in a circle as they eyed the other, it was Arashi who broke first. Quicker than a flash the red head was right in front of Kushimaru, swinging his sword vertically in a way that would bisect the Kiri swordsman from his left collar bone to his right hip. If it ever hit.
Kushimaru brought his sword up, blocking the strike and bringing their locked blades around before reversing his blades edge so that it was facing Arashi. He swung his sword in a swipe that would have cleaved the red haired Uzumaki in half. However, Arashi jumped back in time, only to be forced to dodge several speeding thrusts that would have poked a whole right through him. It was harder for him to dodge the mans attacks due to how fast they were, Kushimaru's speed when stabbing at someone was said to be unparallelled due to the unique nature of his sword. Arashi could agree with them, the mans arm and blade were nothing more than a blur as he attempted to impale the red head.
However, Arashi had his own tricks up his sleeve and after a few seconds of dodging was able to find how Kushimaru timed his attacks. During the mans next attempt to kill him via impalement, Arashi brought his sword up to deflect the blow. He pushed both of their swords wide and came in with an elbow, hoping to hit his opponent in the face.
It was dodged as Kushimaru moved back, jumping a few feet away. The man than threw his sword at Arashi, who merely deflected it, sending it off course and forcing Kushimaru to run and catch it. Not wanting to give the man time to recover the Uzumaki swordsman blurred out of focus, reappearing next to Kushimaru just as he grabbed his blade. "I'm not really sure what you hoped to accomplish by doing that," Arashi said as the Kiri swordsman brought his blade up to block. "Honestly, throwing a sword in combat? That might work against an opponent who isn't a very good swordsman, but that sort off crap won't work against an Uzumaki."
"So it seems," Kushimaru said, sounding completely unconcerned before he pushed against Arashi's blade and jumped to the side. He swung his own sword, bringing it across his body but the attack was blocked. "I guess I'll need to take this up a notch."
Arashi narrowed his eyes before they widened slightly. Kushimaru suddenly became a blur of motion as he attempted to impale the blond on his blade. It was only thanks to the intense training that Akane had made him go through that kept Arashi one step ahead of the mans sword. He continued to dodge and redirect the direction of the Kiri swordsman's blade, before jumping back to gain some breathing room.
"So this is the Uzumaki kenjutsu style Issei No Ryuuken," Kushimaru commented as they both agreed to a small break in order to feel out their opponent. "I must say its impressive though a tad basic."
"You think so, huh?" Arashi said, a smirk beginning to grace his features, "I suppose someone who's never faced an Uzumaki would think that. Why don't I show you the true form of Uzumaki kenjutsu?" The red head shifted his stance, feet spread shoulder length apart at a forty-five degree angle, knees bent ever so slightly, while his arms went above his head, bringing his sword down on the other side of his body so that the blade was facing down. The stance was far different than your standard kenjutsu stance and Kushimaru wondered what it could do.
Just than Arashi kicked off, blurring towards him in a burst of speed, as the red head came closer he swung his blade horizontally from the left. The attack was actually slower than his last ones, and Kushimaru managed to block the strike but soon realized what a mistake doing so was. The moment his sword made contact with Arashi's, he was sent skidding back several feet from the mere force of the swing. His blade quivered from the power behind the red heads blow, and he could even feel his arms shaking slightly. He poured chakra into his arms and blade in an effort to stop their shaking.
"That's impressive," Kushimaru commented lightly, "your change in stance has affected the amount of power you can put behind your strikes. By bringing your sword up like that you are able to bring more force into your attacks at the cost of your speed."
"Correct," Arashi said as he moved back into his stance, "as you said the Uzumaki Kenjutsu style is fairly basic. Unlike most styles we don't have any unique dances. However, we do have forms, sword stances that allow us to utilize a specific physical and mental ability, speed, strength, dexterity, agility, cunning, constitution, protection, deflection; these are the eight forms of the Uzumaki kenjutsu style, designed to bring out the full potential towards a specific human ability. This is form three, the strong style."
"Fascinating," the man said, though from the way his voice was monotone it was hard to tell if he was truly fascinated. "So this is the true Uzumaki style, tell me, how many forms do you know?"
Arashi chuckled, "now that would be telling." He rushed in again, aiming a downward swing at Kushimaru's head. Knowing what would happen should he block from his last encounter with he red head, the Kiri swordsman dodged the attack, rather than attempting to block it. That proved to be a wise choice, since when the blade passed through where he had been it struck the ground and tore up a chunks of it, leaving a nice, long gash in the floor.
The battlefield had changed as Kushimaru was placed on the defensive, trying to find a way past Arashi's guard or some kind of weakness he could exploit. Meanwhile, Arashi himself was on the complete offensive. The form he was using, form three was a style that neglected defense and speed for power, and as such forced him to keep as much on the offense as possible.
On and on this continued as the two moved across the room, it became a game of cat and mouse, where Kushimaru would dodge and Arashi would attack. The room itself soon became a bit of a mess, gouges ran along the walls and floors from when Arashi's attacks missed. The gouges were a testament to the power behind the red heads blows.
The stalemate soon ended when Arashi came in for his next swing. Kushimaru timed his movements with Arashi, ducking under the mans swing and then stabbing at him. The red haired Uzumaki did his best to dodge and managed to avoid serious injury, but he did not get away unscathed.
A hiss escaped his lips as he held a hand to his lower left torso, blood dripped between his fingers from the slight cut he had gotten. "You are good," Arashi commented, "not many people could have found that weakness so soon."
"Comes with being a member of the Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu," Kushimaru said.
"Right, in that case..." once again Arashi shifted styles, his feet were spread wider and he placed his blade in front of him, the grip held up near his left shoulder, with the tip point diagonally down from near his right hip. "Let's see how you handle this."
Kushimaru's instinct screamed at him to move and, not one to ignore such a powerful compulsion he rolled forward across the floor. As he did, the singing of a blade passing through where he had been previously sounded, so close to him that several strands of hair were cut off. Pushing his hands on the ground he kipped up to his feet.
Only to come face-to-face with Arashi, his blade already swinging again. Kushimaru moved his own blade to block it, but the moment there blades touched,the red head had once again disappeared. The Kiri Swordsman spun around out of instinct and managed to block a strike meant for his head, but Arashi yet again disappeared and this time he was unable to fully dodge the strike sent his way.
"Now I see why the Uzumaki clan is so feared," Kushimaru commented as he held a hand to where he had been cut, the same place as the one he gave Arashi, only on the opposite side. "This new stance lets you utilize intense speeds that most would have trouble just seeing, much less reacting to it."
"You Kiri Swordsman really are something," Arashi said, "to be able to figure out my style so easily. Your a credit to your name."
"Thank you," Kushimaru went through several hand seals, "but now that I have seen more of your abilities I can't let this continue. You are too dangerous to be left alive. Now you will see the way a true member of the Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu fights, Kirigakure No Jutsu (Hidden Mist Jutsu)."
That's right, I had heard that Kushimaru was a master of the Muon Satsujin Jutsu, Arashi thought to himself as he stared into the thickening mist. It's a very quiet method of killing an opponent, usually from behind with a blade. Additionally, because the user is very silent, it cannot be defended against. The user will often slit their opponent's throat, preventing any cry that might give them away.
Well, since my eyesight is useless, I might as well not use it, Arashi closed his eyes he switched stances once again, moving his blade so that the hilt was next to his lower abdominal muscles and the blade was pointing away from him. He extended chakra into his ears and nose, hoping to pick out the sound and scent of his opponent before the other kenjutsu user could attack.
Acting with surprising speed Arashi brought up his blade and blocked an attack that would have slit his throat. He pushed the blade away, then spun around with a slash meant to slice his opponent in half. He hit nothing but air however, and moved back into his stance.
Another attack came, this one a piercing attack designed to impale him. Arashi twisted his body away and around as he used his blade to redirect the attack, at the same time he lashed out with a kick. Once again he hit nothing but air.
The battle continued along this vein as the two attempted to out move each other, Kushimaru's attacks would come from all angles, completely silently. Despite this, Arashi was more than able to hold his own and continued blocking all of the attacks that came at him. He attempted his own counterattacks, striking immediately after the Kiri swordsman's attack failed. However, this always seemed to end in failure as Kushimaru was simply too fast for a reactionary attack to work.
"Your ability to fight despite being blinded is impressive," Kushimaru said, his voice seeming to come from everywhere at once. "How are you able to know when I'm attacking?"
Arashi snorted, "tell you what, you teach me how to use the Muon Satsujin Jutsu and I'll tell you how I can still figure out where you are. Deal?"
His answer was several fast attacks that came from his left, right, and then behind. Arashi moved his blade in a blur as he dodged the right, used his blade to redirect the attack so it just missed him, twisted his body to left, allowing the blade to pass him by, then spun a full one hundred and eighty degrees, bringing his blade up at the same time to knock away the blade that came at him from behind and was set to impale him.
He took several deep breaths as he tried to regain control of his breathing, that was harder than I thought. I'm lucky Akane never pulled her punches in our spars or I never would have been able to keep up with this guy.
"Your so sweet Naruto-kun," Akane's voice suddenly popped up in his mind, "well, I'm always here if you want to come into the seal and "Thank me" properly."
Arashi blushed even as he dodged three more strikes that had been set to kill him, "Not now Akane!"

~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~

Ao covered the mouth of his last victim, the shinobi's eyes snapped open but before the man could do anything Ao slit his throat. The blue haired hunter ninja watched as the shinobi's eyes glazed over and dimmed. Looking around with his Byakugan he made sure that was the last ninja in this room.
Seeing that it was he made his way outside where he was met with his partner for this mission, covered in blood, though from the way she was standing he knew it was not her own. "Had some problems?" asked Ao.
The kunoichi sighed but nodded her head, "one of the shinobi woke up before I could kill him. I had to cut a different artery to finish him off faster, before he could sound the alarm."
"That happens from time to time," Ao said. "Our task is done now, we should meet up with the others outside. Hopefully we can inform Terumi-Sama of our accomplishment and have her send some troops to bring this place under our control."
the kunoichi nodded and the two of them began to move, "do you think that Arashi guy is alright?" she asked after a few moments.
"He's fine," Ao grunted, "I saw the kid fight before when he managed to hold off nearly three hundred shinobi by himself. It will take more than one ninja, even one as famous as Kushimaru Kuriarare to kill him."

~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~

Arashi continued blocking all of the strikes that were sent his way by the opposing swordsman. A good thing too, as all of the attacks launched at him so far would have killed him.
However he was quickly getting frustrated by the ongoing battle, so far neither he nor Kushimaru had landed a single hit on each other since the Kiri swordsman had made the mist. Kushimaru was simply too fast for Arashi to hit using reactionary attacks, and Arashi could figure out where Kushimaru was going to attack seconds before he did it. This left them at a stalemate.
Damn it, with the way this is going I'm going to have to use one my Uzumaki techniques to beat him, thought Arashi as he dodged a strike to his left, blocked another from his right and manged to side-step the last one from above him. He always comes in with three strikes before he backs off. He knows that if he stays in one place for too long I'm likely to hit him, so he has to keep on the move.
That meant he had to come up with a way to attack the man before he could get in his third strike. There was a move that would allow this, but he had yet to complete it when he had been training. Well, no time like the present I guess,he thought to himself as he shifted his stance again.
Arashi extended his senses out as far as they could go in an effort to be ready for the man to strike. The attack came from behind him, a thrust to his lower back, right near his spinal column. The red head twisted his body and brought his sword up in a vertical guard, deflecting the attack. The Nuibari moved back and the attack was now coming from his left, at shoulder height. Bringing his sword down Arashi blocked the strike and pushed the blade away. The last strike Arashi could feel was coming from behind him, and it was here that he struck.
The edge of his blade began to glow a bright white that almost seemed to pierce the mist. When the attack came, a piercing motion aimed at his neck, Arashi struck. He swung his sword up, blocking the attack and knocking it away, then he reversed the direction of the blade and brought it down in a swift motion, "Uzumaki Hijutsu: Hiton: Shashiki Ranpu (Uzumaki Hidden Technique: Light Release: Cutting Light)!"
a crescent beam the same width and length of his blade shot out of the edge and soared into the mist. There was a grunt and Arashi's enhanced hearing could pick up the sound of blood splashing on the ground. A second later there was a thump, a sound recognizable as a body hitting the floor.
The mist began to clear and Arashi, allowing the red haired Uzumaki to open his eyes and look around the room. Less then two feet away he saw Kushimaru, laying on his back with his sword at his side. There was a long gash in his clothes, a cut that ran the entire length of his torso and covered some of his neck. Blood was beginning to leak into his clothes, a growing stain of red that was soon pooling around his body. His breaths heaved in ragged, gurgled gasps, letting Arashi know that his attack had likely cut up a lung.
"That was...the best fight I...ever had," Kushimaru spoke out, blood beginning to leak out from under the mask. His face turned to look at Arashi, who had walked up to his side. "You are...strong...I'm glad we fought..."
"As am I," Arashi said, "you were my toughest opponent yet."
"As a reward for...defeating me...I'll tell you something...interesting about...about the Mizukage," Kushimaru's breathing was getting heavier and more labored as he spoke. "He rarely ever...leaves his compound anymore...I...most of our soldiers...think he's gone mad..."
"And what do you think?"
"I don't think he's really himself anymore..." the dying man said, "he...has isolated himself...more and more...beware...the man with the mask...he is..." whatever he was about to say was cut off as the man took one last labored breath and died.
Arashi stood there for a minute, digesting what he had just heard before he pulled out a scroll. He sealed up both the body and the sword and placed the scroll back in his pouch. With his mission accomplished he decided it was time he went to find Ao's team and hook back up with them.

~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~

back within Konoha Chishio Naruto had just gotten out of the first half of class and was now on his lunch break. It had been nearly six months since Naruto had left to fight in the Civil War in Kiri, using his persona of Arashi Kazama, the Uzumaki sealing expert who had forsaken his clan name. During that time things in Konoha had gone on as usual.
Sasuke was still being a prick, Naruto had at least tried to befriend the disillusioned Uchiha, but the kid was even more obstinate and arrogant than ever. Not only that but he seemed to have a darkness inside of him. The raven haired academy student had completely isolated himself from everyone else.
His fan girls were just as bad as they always were. Naruto didn't quite understand what it was girls found attractive about broody, emo, bishonen boys like Sasuke, but they seemed to have this belief that one of them would be the girl to "Heal their Sasuke-kun's broken heart" or some crap like that. They probably didn't even realize that Sasuke most likely wished they were all dead so they wouldn't be around to annoy him.
Everyone had stayed the same as always, Shikimaru was a lazy ass, Choji still ate every second of everyday, Kiba was still a loud mouthed braggart and was also starting to become something of a lecher, Hinata was still a shy, under-confident girl, though Naruto noticed that she had tried stalking him on occasion before he gave her the slip, and Ino and Sakura were still the most obnoxious of Sasuke's fan girls.
Naruto resisted a sigh, sometimes it was hard pretending to be an extremely happy idiot, and hiding all of his skills from everyone. A part of him, ok most of him, just wanted to bust out, show up the Uchiha and kick ass. He knew it was slightly childish of him, and he knew that he couldn't afford to bring suspicion to himself. The civilian populace still hated him, but right now they just thought he was harmless and so no one attacked him anymore. All that would change if they learned just how powerful he was.
As he was walking to his usual place to eat he felt something crawl along his shoulder. Reaching up Naruto grabbed whatever it was between his thumb and forefinger. He brought it up to his eyes and saw that it was a bug, it was a small beetle like insect. Naruto recognized it as the Aburame Clans Kikaichū beetles.
Looking around Naruto found Shino standing under a tree, it was hard to tell what he was looking at thanks to the sunglasses, but he had a hand raised up to his face so he must be looking at some kind of bug. Walking over he got the attention of the quiet bug user and held up his hand with the Kikaichū on it, "is this yours?"
"...Yes, it is," Shino said in a monotone voice. Naruto held out his hand the beetle crawled onto the quiet Aburame's waiting hand.
"I would suggest that you ask for my permission the next time you want to let your beetles feed on my chakra," Naruto said with a grin.
Shino raised his eyebrows, the only sign that showed he was surprised, though it was hard to see with his hood up. "I'll remember that," he said.
Naruto grinned, "then we'll have no problems." Lunch soon came to an end and the blond walked away and headed back into class.

~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~

"Everyone, it is time to strike at the heart of our problems and end this war," Mei was speaking to her soldiers from a raised platform. Beside her stood Ao, Choujuro, Hisagi and Arashi, who had become a symbol of strength to her people. "This war has gone on for several years, and we have faced many hardships and spilled shed more blood than any people should ever have to. However, the end of our troubles is near! In six days time, we will be launching an all out assault on Kirigakure's walls!"
the proclamation was met with stunned silence. For the past several months, the Bloodline forces had been having a lot more success in battle than the Mizukage's forces. Since Kushimaru's defeat at Arashi's hands the tides of war had changed. In the past month alone their forces had assaulted and taken over four different fortresses, each one had been given up without much of a challenge. In fact, most of their take overs had been brought about in part because of the many people Mei now had on the inside.
Thanks to Yagura's continued involvement in terrorizing his own people with bandits, many of the Mizukage's ninja had grown to dislike the man. Several ninja had even grown to hate him, after their own families were killed or taken slave by the many thugs that infested Mizu No Kuni. People wanted change, and were sick of the war, because of this many of the Mizukage's shinobi had turned traitor, believing that they would be better off living with the Kekkei Genkei clans than a man who would not only allow his own people to be killed, but also have his forces take part in it.
Still, the proclamation that they were assaulting Yagura in a head-on attack was shocking. Just a few months ago they had suffered a major defeat and now they were going to fight Yagura and his forces head on. However, no one said anything, everyone wanted this war to end, and even if they were afraid of losing, they would still fight. All in the hopes that one way or another, this would end.
"Thanks to Yagura's foolish actions we now have many ninja inside his camp who will be fighting alongside us," Mei continued. "Many who are dissatisfied with the rule of a man who has become disillusioned and lost sight of his goals in an attempt to prolong this war. I won't lie to you, there is a chance that many of us will die, however, I know that in the end we will win!"
a cheer went up with the crowd, unlike normal people these were shinobi, death was part of the business and didn't bother them. "I want all of you to be ready, check your equipment and speak with your families. In a few days you'll receive your orders and in six, we march on Kiri."
The shinobi cheered again and Mei let it continue before ordering her troops to get a good nights sleep and spend as much time with their families as possible. When everyone had cleared out Mei turned to the four behind her, "I'll be counting you four for support."
"Don't worry, I don't know about stick up his ass here, but you can count on me," Arashi said with a cocky grin as he hitched a thumb towards Hisagi who gained an eye twitch.
"You damn punk! You think you can just go around insulting me?" Hisagi glared at him. "Keep up with that lip and I'll have to teach you a lesson."
"Like you could old man," said Arashi, ignoring the fact that Hisagi was only twenty-two years old. "You can try if you liked, but just know that you'll be eating those words after I shove my foot off in your ass."
"Why you -"
"Could you two please stop fighting?" asked Mei, "I thought you had gotten over your differences."
"Nah, he just learned to be more open minded," said Arashi, "that doesn't make him any less of a prick." Hisagi growled again but the red head just ignored him, "anyways I'm heading out, gotta get some fresh air before I vomit from the smell of ass this guys exuding."
As Arashi left, Hiagi began a loud rant about red headed idiots and how he was going to beat the crap out of that red headed punk. Everyone else ignored him.
"You know sometimes that kid seems to have a childish streak," Ao said as he shook his head. "And I thought he was a real man."
A... real... man, thought Mei as a tick mark appeared on her forehead.
"You know, the kind of man you can count on in times of need...not a child."
a real man...need a child!
"back in my day -"
"Ao..." Mei interrupted in a sickly sweet voice that screamed danger, "shut up... or I'll kill you."
Ao gaped at Mei as she walked off, "w-what did I do?"

~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~

Arashi stood on a bluff with Mei, Ao, Chojuro and Hisagi as he looked out at the village of Kirigakure No Sato. Kirigakure's architecture is composed of several cylindrical buildings, with the Mizukage's palace being the widest and the largest. Like its name, the village is surrounded by a thick mist, with several mountains in the background, making it difficult to find by foreigners.
Behind them was nearly the entirety of the Bloodline forces. They had emptied out many of the bases and left only a skeleton crew at the main fort, along with a few shinobi at some of the villages to protect them in case of attack. Mei had the men left use Mizuk Bunshin's to keep up the illusion that all of their bases were full, in order to make sure Yagura suspected nothing. The illusion seemed to work, for the village they were looking at was as quiet as ever.
"When our forces inside begin their assault I want Ao and Hisagi to lead our forces," Mei began, reiterating their plan as a last minute check up. "Choujuro, it will be your job to take on the last member of the Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu, Jinin Akebino. Meanwhile, Arashi and I will take on Yagura." That had been the plan that they had come up with during the last six days. The many dissatisfied ninja in Yagura's camp would plant several explosives inside the main buildings in Kiri, blowing them sky high and sending the signal for Mei's forces to begin their attack. Hisagi and Ao would than lead their ninja and meet up with the turn-coat forces inside and begin their take over. The only difficulty they might have would be securing the village with minimal damage to its infrastructure, but hopefully they would be able to accomplish that. At the very least, they wouldn't have to worry about any civilian casualties thanks to the ninja inside taking care to ensure all civilians remained indoors at night and would have several forces guarding the area with the most heavy population.
Choujuro's job would be to deal with one of the few remaining people who could pose a threat. Jinin Akebino, the last loyal member of the Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu. It would be his hardest challenge yet.
However, it was Mei and Arashi who would have the most difficult battle ahead of them. It was their job to kill Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage and jinchūriki for the Sanbi No Kyodaigame (Three-tailed Giant Turtle). Not much was known about the mans abilities except that he was presumed to be a very powerful shinobi due to him being chosen as the Mizukage, and was also one of the few jinchūriki that were able to fully control their tailed beast. All Mei and the others knew was that he wielded what seemed to be a large staff, with two hooks on each end, one larger than the other, along with a green flower on the larger end.
"Hai, Terumi-Sama," Ao said as he and Hisagi saluted before walking back towards their troops. Choujui blushed but saluted as well before leaving Mei and Arashi.
"Your positive your plan will work?" asked Mei, turning to the young red head with steely eyes.
"Of course it will," Said Arashi. "He's a jinchūriki, it will work."
"I hope so..." just than an explosion went off inside Kiri's walls, than another, and another, soon they heard shouting and roars as the battle down below began. "I suppose it's time."
Arashi nodded and began walking off, "in that case we should head out, we have our own fight to get to."

~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~

Ao and Hisagi could easily pick up the sound of battle as the gates opened up before them. Inside they saw a scene of chaos as kunai and shuriken were tossed, jutsu were launched and explosions rang out. As the two shinobi and their forces entered the base they were met with one of the turn-coat ninja who was wearing standard Kirigakure jonin garb and had a slash through his forehead protector, the sign they decided to go with to sow they were on the Bloodlines side.
"Report!" barked Ao as he began to take charge.
"All of the explosions went off as planned," the shinobi said, "we managed to inflict maximum damage on the Yagura's biggest supporters and so far there has been no damage to the civilian section of the city. We estimate that we managed to take out a total of one fourth of Yagura's troops already."
"Excellent," Ao said, "in that case we'll be joining this battle with you."
the shinobi nodded before he fell in with the many troops that the bloodline side brought. Hisagi turned to Ao with a grim smile, "you ready?"
"I'm always ready boy," Ao said as he, "back in my day we always had to be ready for battle."
"Right," Hisagi said as he pulled out his katana. The two of them rushed into the city proper with their ninja and began to battle.

~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~

Choujuro frowned as he entered the building where Jinin was said to live in, only to find nothing there. He walked further into the building, noting that he was in the main entrance, which seemed to be somewhat similar to a living room, only empty. Just as he was walking further in his instincts had him jumping to his left just in time to dodge a large blur that smashed into the floor where he had been standing. Looking over Choujuro saw that he had finally found the person he was looking for, or would it be more accurate to say that person found him?
Jinin had a dark beard and hair which he had tied into a topknot. The remainder of his face appeared to be rather angular and featured a very protuberant nose. He was wearing a dark-coloured poncho cloth over his standard Swordsman attire, consisting of a sleeveless dark shirt and matching pants along with a waist-guard, pin-striped arm and leg-warmers typical of his village and Kirigakure's forehead protector. He also had bandages around his neck.
His sword was the Kabutowari (兜割; Literally meaning "Helmet Splitter") is one of the swords of the Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu. The sword itself consists of a giant axe and hammer, linked end-to-end by a flat thin leather-like rope, which together are referred to as a "bluntsword" (鈍刀, dontō) that is said to be able to break through any defense.
"Well, if it isn't little Choujuro," the man said in a congenial voice, "the last I saw of you, you were on your way towards becoming one of the new seven swordsman."
"Jinin-sempai," Choujuro said in what he hoped was a confident voice.
"Hahaha, your still the same as ever, kid," Jinin said as he readied his Sword. "You'll never beat me with that kind of under confident attitude!" The last loyal swordsman of the mist charged at Choujuro, the axe part of his sword lifted over his shoulder before he swung it down. Choujuro dodged, only to have the hammer part of the blade coming straight at him.

~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~

With all the Chaos going around Arashi and Mei had an easier time of getting to the Mizukage's mansion then they had expected. Of course, given that they had specifically told the ninja who had planted to explosives to leave the Mizukage's residence alone, maybe it wasn't all that surprising. Mei went over to the door and pulled on it, but had no success of opening it. "It's locked," she muttered, turning to Arashi who smirked.
"Leave it to me," he said as he lifted his hand and grasped his sword. Because he had not wanted to waist time having to summon his blade every time he used it in battle, he had one of the blacksmiths that worked to make the Bloodline factions weapons build him a sheath. The sheath was actually made of leather with a slick metal coating the inside. It was pure black in color, but with golden diamond pattern running along its length. At the end of the sheath, near the hilt of his sword, was a golden wolf, howling. It was a very special sheath, especially since Arashi had placed several seals on it underneath the paint.
He pulled out his sword and in one fluid motion made a downward slice. There was a flash of light that signified the blades movement before Arashi re-sheathed the sword. The blade made a clicking noise as it settled into the sheath, at the same time as the noise was made the door fell apart, showing that it had been cut into multiple pieces.
"There, now for the fun part," Arashi muttered as the two of them entered side by side, ready for anything that they may run into. The first room they had entered appeared to be a reception room. It was large, with several tables, chairs and couches placed along the wall, near the front was a desk with a staircase on one side and a large set of double-doors on the other.
"The doors lead to the room where the Kirigakure council used to meet," said Mei.
"Then I'm guessing the stairs leads to Yagura's place?"
"Yes, the entire second and third floor lead to Yagura's mansion," Mei nodded, "the second floor holds his house, twelve rooms consisting six bedrooms, three bathrooms, a study, a library and a dojo. The third floor is where Yagura's office is."
"You seem to know your way around," Arashi said as they began walking upstairs.
"Before the bloodline wars began my father spent a lot of time here," Mei admitted, "he would often take me with him so I know a lot about the layout of this place."
"Makes sense," Arashi said, "so, where will we find Yagura."
"I suspect his office." Arashi nodded and the two began making their way upstairs.

~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~

Choujuro's eyes widened and he only had a split second to dodge the hammer before it would smash into him. He jumped into the air, and grabbed Hiramekarei by both hilts and released it's bandages. He channeled chakra into his dual-handled sword, forming the shape of a giant hammer and swung it with as much force as he could on his way down.
Jinin jumped out of the way as the large chakra hammer smashed into the ground where he was, a good thing for him as the area he was standing exploded and large chunks of the floor were sent flying. A large dust cloud billowed from where Choujuro hit, dispersing only when the blue haired swordsman ran through it, his sword already changing shape into a large blade.
"Hahaha! That's it! That's what I'm looking for!" Jinin shouted as he jumped out of the way of Choujuro's swing. The large chakra blade sliced through the wall that the other swordsman had been standing behind like it was butter. Jinin came in with his hammer and axe sword ready to strike, "now we can get to the fun part!"
Choujuro had only a moment to dodge as Jinin brought his ace down, sidestepping the attack before rolling across the floor as the hammer came down on the flat part of Jinin's hammer, causing the floor to literally split open. In retaliation to the attack, Choujuro came in and swung his own blade, only to have it blocked by Jinin's axe. "Nice try," said the man before he brought his hammer and smacked Choujuro's blade, causing the blue-haired swordsman to lose his balance, "But not nice enough!"
Jinin swung his hammer down again as Choujuro tried to bring his sword to bear, knowing he wouldn't be able to dodge. The hammer struck his blade and the younger swordsman winced as he was sent flying back. He landed on the ground some feet away and had to push himself back up. Standing on his feet, Choujuro swayed a little before he could shake off the powerful blow.
Looking up he was just in time to Jinin coming back at him, his axe coming in swinging while he held his hammer above his head. Choujuro swung his Hiramekarei back and channeled more chakra into his blade, morphing its shape into a mase. He swung it forward just as Jinin brought his axe down.
The two blades struck each other, causing a massive explosion between them due to the force behind their attacks. Both of the swordsman were blown back, channeling chakra to the bottom of their feet so they wouldn't skid across the ground the the resounding shock wave their clash evoked.
"Haha, you've gotten pretty good with that sword," Jinin complimented with a grin, "that should make this battle that much more exciting!"
Choujuro grit his teeth as the other swordsman charged towards him, he knew he couldn't afford to stay on the defensive like he had indefinitely, yet he didn't know what he could do to catch the older and more experienced ninja off guard. The man was extremely skilled at using the axe and hammer in conjunction with each other. Also, the 'swords Kabutowari's construction allowed the weapons to retain their individual capabilities and thanks to Jinin's expertise, both the axe and the hammer can be exploited to their fullest.
Even though he knew that the older man was stronger than him, stronger and more experienced, Choujuro had no intention of giving up. He gripped his sword by both handles and charged, swinging down at Jinin who raised his axe to block it. At the last second Choujuro channeled chakra into his blade, creating a large scythe. Because the scythe's blade stuck out nearly two feet out from the sword itself, the blade continued on unimpeded.
Jinin's eyes widened as he saw the scythe coming towards him.

~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~

after reaching the third floor Arashi and Mei found themselves walking along a long corridor, it was dark, and the only light available was the small lamps located on the wall. Arashi had a hand on his Ookami Hitokage while Mei was holding a hand seal in case she needed to shoot of a quick jutsu. Both were feeling weary, they had been walking through the mansion and had yet to run into the Mizukage or anyone else. Neither had been sure what to expect, but they had not expected to just be allowed to walk anywhere in the house.
At the end of the corridor they came upon a plain, white door. "This is where the Mizukage's office is located," Mei whispered.
"And you think he's in there?" asked Arashi, gripping his blade a little tighter.
"He's in there alright Naruto-kun," came a voice from within his seal.
"Akane-chan?"
"I can sense the Sanbi's presence, he's in there."
"...There really isn't anywhere else I can imagine him being," Mei's voice snapped Arashi out of his inner dialogue and he realized that the auburn haired woman had been talking. "We would have known if he had joined the battle, and we haven't seen him anywhere else in the Mizukage mansion. He has to be in here."
"Right," Arashi moved and grabbed onto the door handle. He looked over at Mei who gave him a nod and in one swift motion, opened the door and ran in.
"You took your time getting here," Arashi stared at the man standing before him as Mei also entered. The person had his back turned to them and was looking out of the window, "I was wondering how long it would take for you to get here."
"Yagura," Mei said in a tense voice.
Yagura turned around, giving Arashi the chance to study the man he had heard so much about. Yagura had messy grey hair, pink pupiless eyes and what seemed to be a stitch-like scar running from under his left eye all the way down his cheek. He had a dull expression and was wearing a grey undershirt with short mesh sleeves which had a metal plate of a Kirigakure forehead protector sewn onto it over which he also wore a green poncho, a turquoise sash around his waist, paired with a green indument over his pants. He had on a pair of brown boots opened on the back, and on his back he was carrying a staff-like pole weapon with uneven hooks with a green flower on the end of the larger hook.
"Mei-san, this is a pleasant surprise," Arashi found it odd that the man actually sounded pleased to see Mei, and not in the psychotic "I'm going to kill you" way, but in the "Oh, it's really good to see a friend" way. "I trust you have been doing well?"
"I suppose you could say that," Mei said with a harsh glare, "if by doing well you mean watching as a man you once respected more than anyone else go about butchering his own people, then yes, I have been doing well."
"I only do what I must to protect those who do not wish for war," Yagura said.
"Those who do not wish for war," Mei muttered angrily before shouting, "how can you possibly say that when this entire war is your fault! Everything that happened to Kirigakure is because of you! The Kaguya massacre, Zabuza's coup, the rebellion, it's all your fault!"
"No, my dear girl, it's only the fault of the people who hold Kekkei Genkei," Yagura said. "The monsters who are used in war."
"There used in war because people like you start war!" Mei yelled angrily. She went through several hand seals, ending on a tiger seal, "I'm done talking to you! Yoton: Youtama (Lava Release: Lava Globs)!" Mei's cheeks bulged before she spat out several large globs of lava, all of them heading straight towards Yagura.
- 10
- 11
- 12
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf