NHRK Chapter 63

Oddly enough, Sakon and Ukon as well as Jirobo began to flee, feeling that this false loyalty to Orochimaru that both Kidomaru and Kimimaro had was not worth their lives, nor did that have Tayuya’s stubbornness to accept defeat.

They dashed towards the gate of the arena but their respective opponents joined to block their path.

Ino, who had been tasked with stopping Sakon and Ukon found herself at a disadvantage during their fight as she wasn’t fighting one opponent but two, whose minds are different and motor control could be switched between them. Haku, who dealt with Jirobo also found it quite difficult to pass through their defences.

They switched opponents and their respective strengths now shone. Ino only took a moment to meet Jirobo’s eyes and scramble his mind, stopping him in his tracks and making him fall face first onto the floor. Her clan technique was pushed to the limits so extensively that getting consistent victories against her in spars was an impossible task, as she only needed a moment for her jutsu to work.

Haku, on the other hand, surrounded Sakon and Ukon with ice mirrors and turned them into a pincushion with her senbon. With Ino already done with her opponent, and looking to join into the fight, Sakon and Ukon cursed.

“Fuck/Fuck,” they both simply said.

They activated their cursed seals and separated from each other.

…or they tried too, as the corrupt transformation stopped them midway.

They both screamed as their still conjoined body mutated into monstrous proportions.

They began to no longer recognise themselves, as their normal transformation of being an Oni-like creature wasn’t the case here.

They were simply a mass amalgamation of flesh–limbs grew from their torso, which was also elongating to unproportionate length.

The pain was unbearable and it only took a few more seconds for them to lose their minds.

Pain and madness filled them, so much so that it projected to the external world.

Ino, who was sensitive to psychic energy, winced as pain lanced through her mind and her concentration on keeping Jirobo asleep slipped from her grasp.

Jirobo groaned before he awoke, eyes snapping open and taking the details of his surroundings like the trained Oto-nin lieutenant he was.

His eyes shifted to his teammate and he froze in shock of what was happening.

Sakon and Ukon’s transformation wasn’t stable, even more so than that of the rest of his peers.

The momentary shock and brief distraction was enough for Ino to silently close the distance and put a kunai through his heart before he had the chance to transform himself.

He shouted in surprise and pain but another Kunai ended up through the bottom of his jaw and jabbed upwards into his skull.

He went limp in Ino’s arm and she tossed his body aside.

That was one enemy eliminated.

Four more to go.

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Naruto needed to do something to distract himself from watching his students potentially get murdered.

He was fast enough to save them at any time, and he’d instructed them to place a hiraishin kunai in their pouches just in case he needed to teleport to them to save their butts–to which they’d scoffed.

Who’s scoffing now, he wondered.

He glanced over to Kakashi and Asuma, who were dealing with dozens of Suna Jonin.

It was there he teleported.

He needed to eliminate the factors that may change the ongoing fight of his students. A surprise enemy might be the very factor that cost them their lives.

The bright flash of yellow stunned Kakashi as well as the others he was fighting.

A rasengan ball formed in Naruto’s hands and Kakashi swore he thought that Orochimaru had resurrected his old mentor for a second there before his eyes took in the visage of the new rising star of Konoha.

Naruto tensed for a moment before shaking his head, letting the rasengan fizzle out. Instead he balled his hand into a fist.

“Naruto, glad you’re here, we can use your help–” Kakashi tried to say.

He didn’t finish the sentence before the rest of the Suna shinobi found themselves dropping like flies, falling unconscious on the floor.

Baki himself was no match against the flying thunder god.

Kakashi’s throat dried up.

It really was like–

“Kakashi, Asuma, get your head in the game,” Naruto said, voice commanding them like a veteran leader, “My students are dealing with the Sound Four threat in the stadium. I’ll take care of them. Evacuate the civilians immediately and join the Hokage. His safety is Konoha’s first priority.”

Kakashi wanted to retort. Who was this kid to command him like a–

His thoughts stopped in its tracks as Naruto met his gaze, blindfolded eyes hiding his sight yet his gaze was enough to make the silver haired jonin shudder.

“...Fine,” Kakashi muttered, “Keep my team safe.”

Naruto nodded.

Kakashi and Asuma left just as Naruto made more clones to help any civilians stuck in trouble.

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Haku surrounded the stadium with Ice walls, preventing any of the monstrous beasts from escaping and potentially harming others at a significant cost of her chakra from the way she was panting.

Sakura charged at the skeleton. Her fist, normally enough to break stone and metal alike, bashed against the kneecaps of the transformed Kimimaro.

The skeleton bowed over, but surprisingly its bones remained intact, not shattering into pieces as Sakura expected. It wobbled on its feet before it let out a strangle clack-clack-clack noise with its jaw before more bones grew out from its right arm, into the shape of a sword.

Sakura ducked right as it swung to chop her into two.

Then, the hairs on the back of her head stood on end as she reactively leaned to the side but was unable to avoid the projectile fully.

A shot of white goo attached itself on her arm before it yanked her, dragging her across the floor.

Sakura turned just as a pair of giant mandibles opened to engulf her.

She tried to break free but without the leverage, her normal physical abilities weren't enough to break the tensile strength of whatever this was that was holding her.

Luckily, Hinata was there an instant later, standing between her and the spider as she spun with her revolving heaven.

The spider hissed as its mandibles were thwarted and Sakura suddenly found herself free as the spider silk was cut but the water strings Hinata finely controlled.

Sakura cracked her knuckles, pissed.

She activated her Strength of a Hundred seal and uppercutted the spider from below.

Its head splattered into a fountain of gory bits and its torso was likewise half vaporised.

The seals began to cover all of Sakura’s body, lines wrapping around her limbs and skin like tattoos of hidden meaning.

It was not just her strength that was affected, but her speed as well as the ground cracked as she jumped upwards.

She fell down sending a hammer blow on the top of the skeleton’s head.

“Shannaro!” She growled as the skull of the giant skeleton shattered into a million pieces.

Once she landed, the headless skeleton wobbled on its feet…before regrowing the skull that was missing from its neck.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Sakura shouted as she sidestepped the overhead sword strike and stuck the skeleton centre mass, right on its ribcage.

Like before, the bones that came into contact with her first shattered but began regrowing at a very rapid pace once more.

“Something keeping it from dying!” Sakura said to Hinata, just as her seal ran out. She’d yet to master its usage, having only gained it recently, and was only really able to use it for instances of immense strength.

Hinata activated her byakugan and observed.

The limbs of the skeleton, of the…creatures all tied to one spot.

“The seal!” Hinata commanded, “Target the seals on its neck!”

Sakura nodded but before she could do so, something unexpected happened.

A fleshy, monstrous amalgamation of human body parts appeared and ran at the skeleton, swallowing it up in its mass and…consuming it?

The skeleton struggled and Hinata and Sakura could only watch in confusion as their foes seemed to be turning against each other.

Haku and Ino landed beside them as they’d followed the fleshy monster here.

“What’s happening?” Ino asked, “Why are they attacking each other?”

It was Haku who answered her after observing for a moment. “I do not believe that they are–”

She was intercepted as the monster finished consuming its meal, before it grew once more, even larger than either of its previous monstrosities combined.

“They are combining their strength…” Haku finished, “Even if one of them was involuntary.”

Now, the flesh amalgamation had structure, with the skeleton from within powering its movements. It was taller than the stadium walls, with its upper torso poking out and allowing the citizens of Konoha to see it from the outside.

The girls could already hear the mass panic and shouts of fear they were eliciting. It wasn’t the nine tails, but it may be something that could cause the very same disaster even in smaller size.

“Together!” Hinata ordered, taking the reins of the operation. “Ino, try to distract it. Haku, contain its movements. Sakura and I will take the vanguard. Go now!”

The other three nodded and both Ino and Haku disappeared in a body flicker.

Hinata glanced towards Sarada, who was still dealing with the Oni girl.

“Actually, Sakura, perhaps it's best if you help Sarada out…” Hinata muttered.

As if somehow hearing her from a distance, Sarada tensed and turned towards her, meeting her eyes in a challenge. Then she mouthed a few words which Hinata could make out.

‘I got this.’

Hinata only nodded. “Nevermind, Sakura. It seems that Sarada wants to deal with this problem alone.”

“Alright,” Sakura stated before turning to watch as the giant skeleton, fleshy thing was trying to take a step towards the stadium walls. Too bad for it, Haku had frozen the ground before the step could fall. It slipped and tried to manoeuvre to regain its balance but Ino was then in the air, meeting the giant's eyes and sending it a wave of deliberating psychic energy.

Its eyes rolled into the back of its head for a second before it finally fell, and its body crashed to the ground with devastating impact, causing yet another small earthquake to shake the stadium.

That was Sakura’s que as she leaped into the air and channelled her hundred strength seal once more.

“SHANNAROOOO!” she roared as she hit the squarely on the head with everything she had.

That impact was even worse than the one previously between the giant and the floor.

Her strike was true and the head of the giant imploded from the other side of its skull.

Yet, just like before, it was already beginning to regenerate.

Hinata’s turn came next, and she activated her Tenseigan eyes to see through the monster’s skin. There she spotted where she needed to target as Sakura sent more and more blows to the giants head to keep it occupied.

Two cursed seals, one on the skeletal neck and the other…moving, shifting along the masses of flesh, constantly relocating as if it knew it was the weakness that was going to be targeted.

Hinata went for the one on the neck first, creating a lions head of chakra on her juken strike and precisely striking the spot where the neck seal lay.

Then she turned to the moving one, trickier to deal with but to her surprise, her attention shifted back once more to the neck seal.

It was…reforming, despite her attack on it, at an extremely rapid rate, almost reappearing within the blink of an eye. She tracked where this regeneration was coming from and found a line of chakra being sent from…

Hinata cursed, and it was so unlike the Hyuga princess to do so that it momentarily caught the attention of Sakura.

It was enough for the giant to swat her off of its chest and send her flying.

Hinata took the opportunity to back away as the giant, with greater speed and mobility than before, moved to get back up, careful to avoid the icy grounds which Haku tried to cover to get it to fall back down again.

It was learning, and it wasn’t stupid. That, along with its immense size, did not make for a great combination in one’s foe.

“There’s a seal to the right of its nape!” Hinata shouted to the others, “and another one that only I can get. We have to destroy it at the same time to stop it!!”

“I’ll target the neck!” Ino said, creating a psychic link with Hinata. “Give us an opening, Sakura, Haku!”

Teamwork was one of Ino’s specialties. Her psychic links allowed for instantaneous communication in the way of mere thoughts, not even words. One can have an idea of what their teammate is planning to do in a tense situation on the fly and coordinate accordingly. The only limiting factor was that it currently took all of Ino’s concentration to maintain, and prevents her from using any of her other clan jutsus.

Still, even without her clan techniques, Ino was an incredibly dangerous kunoichi, and she would be more than enough for the task.

As if reading their intent to target its weak points, the giant growled and bone began to grow from the nape of its neck to cover the seal’s location whilst a giant bone sword grew from the palm of its hand.

It took a stance and it was Haku who was targeted first, the giant being annoyed with having to watch its step.

The snow user’s eyes widened as the sword swung, coming faster than she anticipated.

“Haku!” Sakura screamed as she dashed towards the giants knees and vaporised it with a punch.

The giant toppled, but it was too late.

The sword was still on target.

The other girls felt their stomach drop before a loud clang was heard as the giant's weapon clashed against something that was not flesh and bone.

No, above where Haku was standing was a leopard the size of a dozen men, its forearms covered in a thick sheet of ice, crossed together to catch the sword by its tang and stop it in its tracks.

“Thank you, Snowguard!” Haku said, calling her leopard summon’s name.

“Oh, a foe worthy to fight!” Snowguard snarled, “It is my pleasure.”

The leopard redirected the sword away and ran up the giants arms in swift leaps before coming up all the way to its beady eyes and sank his claws into them.

The giant roared in fury and pain but just like Sakura’s punches, the injury healed in an instant.

The distraction was enough however for Sakura and Ino to finish setting up their attack, as Snowguard had taken Sakura’s job of providing an opening.

It was Sakura’s fist that came first, destroying the bone armour on the giant’s nape before Ino came in, her hand holding a precious jutsu that Naruto taught to each of his students in trust and belief in them.

A rasengan.

‘Now!’ Ino projected into Hinata’s mind.

Just as the rasengan made contact and shredded the sinewy flesh and bone of the giant’s neck, scrambling everything within, Hinata’s lion paw strike landed precisely on the giant’s stomach, where the other seal had moved to.

It all took barely a second for the three of them to execute the manoeuvre, and it was all that was needed to end the giant’s life.

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Meanwhile, Sarada was going her own path in dealing with her Oni threat.

The transformed Tayuya may have not been as deadly as the giant formed by the amalgamation that the others were fighting, but she was still beyond what most Jonin could handle.

She was fast, nimble and precise.

She was also learning and studying her opponent just as Sarada was studying her.

Sarada’s hand twitched as she channelled another Chidori, and she slid underneath the Oni just as she was doing an overhead swing, before embedding the lightning blade to the hamstrings behind her knee.

The Oni girl roared as Sarada came out of the other side but once again, her healing was coming at an astounding rate.

Sarada needed to think, to keep her ego from doing what she deemed ‘strong’ but rather to be smarter.

She did not need to end this fight with a giant, flashy jutsu to showcase the dominance of an Uchiha. She needed to end the fight with as minimal risks as possible.

Over the distance, she heard Hinata say something about a cursed mark and with her sharingan eyes, her perfect memory recalled the seals spreading from the girl's shoulder.

Was that what she needed to target?

Perhaps a lightning blade.

Then something in Sarada’s mind clicked, and an idea popped up into her head.

She didn’t have to eliminate this girl–there was a much easier option she hadn’t considered.

She still had Naruto’s bijuu containment seals used for Jinchuurikis. He’s said that it was weak and would not hold them for long. Yet if it worked on Bijuus, would it work to seal whatever energy this girl was using?

Sarada decided to find out.

Just as the Oni girl was about to finish healing, Sarada blitzed behind her.

The Oni swung in reaction, and that was what Sarada wanted.

Lightning Style: Blinding Flash.

It was an uncommon jutsu that Kakashi taught her, and Itachi helped her master, and she liked to use it in her spars against Hinata.

The Oni roared as the retinas in its eyes seared from the blinding light.

It turned away from her, and Sarada wasted no time in dashing in and placing the seal on the girl's neck, right where she remembered it originated from.

The Oni’s reaction was immediate as it began shaking in place like it was being electrocuted.

Then, miraculously, the Oni became smaller, and smaller before the visage of the original girl's body came into view once again.

Sarada sent her to the dreamworld with a punch square to her jaw.

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