(A/N: Well here is the chapter you guys have been waiting for such a long time. I just decided to take a break from fan-fiction and have some fun. Sorry for taking such a LONG break though. I was just lazy, that's all. Hopefully you guys enjoy this chapter and hope that I haven't lost my touch. Well at least whatever I had before I stopped.)
I would like to thank: Sniper757, Li-chan0767, Artful Lounger, Animefan29, Warper, Buzzbumble, Rooster455, nightbug08, Stormraven and Faroush. If I missed anyone, sorry. I probably deleted it. Thank you guys for offering to help me with the story. Sorry I didn't let you know that someone else had IM'ed me saying he would help so I decided to give him a shot.
So I would like to thank Christian for helping me with the fight scene and get off of this writers block. Hope everyone enjoys it. If you do I will know that you guys think he is a good beta considering I myself think he is. Anyway, I really don't have anything else to say so I will just get on with the chapter.)
Previously on Phoenix Sannin….
Naruto rushed to Zabuza's side, aiming a kick to his midsection only for it to be blocked by the flat side of Zabuza's zanbatou. Then followed up with a punch to the head only for it to be ducked. Zabuza retaliated with an uppercut with his sword, but was blocked by a mere kunai. Now he would've been surprised if he had the time to, for Naruto kneed him sending him skidding back.
"Now this is much better, wouldn't you agree Zabuza-san?" Naruto asked with a smile. Zabuza smiled back under the bandage in response. Then Naruto saw mist covering the area again followed by a powerful chakra signature nearby. It was probably as big as Zabuza's, if not larger. He looked back and saw thick mist coming around them at a rapid pace. Looking back at Zabuza, he asked, "Is this one of your friends?" getting a chuckle out of his future spy, at least he hoped. "Isn't this mist jutsu getting old? You do know that I could just blow them away again."
"Haha, not this time brat." The former mist-nin said. "Oi! What the fuck took you so long… Raiga!" he shouted out to shadow advancing toward them.
"Gomen Zabuza, I got lost on the bridge." Answered the newcomer as he strolled toward Naruto and Zabuza.
Both parties heavily sweat dropped upon hearing his response. Zabuza smacked his forehead, "ugh!" He sounded out, not really sure what to say to something as idiotic as that.
Naruto chuckled, "Haha Zabuza, do you think he'll be of any help to you? He seems to be an idiot." He said as he stared at the advancing silhouetted figure from the corner of his eye, all the while never taking his eyes off of the Demon of the Mist. 'Hmm, this one seems more powerful than Zabuza. I might even have to get serious.'
"Brat, he may sound like an idiot, but when it comes to fighting he is the 3rd strongest in the seven shinobi-gatana of the Mist. I wouldn't be underestimating him if I were you." Zabuza retorted with a hidden smirk.
"Well then Raiga-san, I hope you will give me a better fight than your friend." Naruto said to Raiga who is now standing few feet away from Naruto from what he could tell. Even though distance between them was shortened, Naruto still couldn't determine the appearance of Raiga as he, along with everyone else was then obscured by the heavy mist. His only visibility was probably a foot around him, so he couldn't see someone few feet away from him. "And Zabuza, hopefully you are considering my proposal. You and Haku-san would be of great help to me and Konoha and of course you guys have many benefits in joining me." Naruto finished while putting his hand on the handle of Muramubi on his back, just in case his opponents decide to attack first. It would be hard to fight two swordsmen without using his sword.
"Ok gaki, tell you what. IF you can defeat both me and Raiga, I will think it over." Stated the now confident former mist-nin as he knew he had better shot of defeating Naruto now that Raiga was here.
"I see; that shouldn't be too hard." Uzumaki Naruto said, earning a growl from Zabuza and an amusing chuckle from his partner.
"Zabuza, lets stuff his foot in his mouth then bury him alive." An excited Raiga exclaimed.
"Sure." Was what came out of Zabuza's mouth before readying himself to fight one of the strongest ninja from Konogakure. 'It would seem he still has a fetish for burying people alive.' Zabuza thought with a smile. 'Same old Raiga.'
Deciding enough nonsense has been said and heard, Naruto leaped up, going through alacritous chain of hand-seals before coming to a stop, whispering, "Fuuton: Daitoppa-(Great Breakthrough)," bringing his hand to his mouth he expelled a weak yet large blast of wind intend only to clear up the heavy mist. This alerted both of his enemies.
Zabuza and Raiga expecting the blast to be strong sent chakra to the soles of their sandals in order to stick to the bridge only to experience a weak gust of wind that probably wouldn't even move a genin level ninja.
Naruto having seen the jutsu clear up the mist quickly inspected a bewildered Raiga; he had green hair and seemed to be wearing a long black hooded trench coat with black pants and a pair of shinobi sandals. Said mist-nin was also holding two long blades with approximately five inches of upward curving blades coming off of each side; one towards the top and one towards the bottom.
There seemed to be something hidden underneath the trench coat on his back which oddly looked like bundle of clothes or something of that nature. What he finds odd is the dual chakra signatures that Naruto could feel from Raiga, though one was extremely faint. He tried to get a closer look, but his inspection session was interrupted.
Seeing Naruto distracted for a second, Zabuza decided to take the opening to attack.
Running toward the sannin at break-neck speed, he swung his zanbatou horizontally toward Naruto's midsection with the intention of separating his body. Zabuza missed the swing as Naruto jumped up to avoid this.
Another opening was rewarded to Zabuza as Naruto was in the air with no way to dodge. At least that's what Zabuza thought, so he did an uppercut with his zanbatou.
Since the attack was slow Naruto was able to block it with Muramubi at the last second, and used the force of the blow to his advantage to flip over behind Zabuza.
Naruto wanted to use this chance to disable Zabuza, but instantly was interrupted by Raiga who brought down his swords on the blond. Naruto pivoted and brought Muramubi to block Raiga's attack, using the force from the pivot to throw a powerful kick at Zabuza, sending him flying into the railing of the bridge.
Zabuza, wanting to abate the pain he would soon feel, stabbed his zanbatou into the bridge as much as was possible. Lucky for him there wasn't anything sharp sticking out of the railing, or he would've been finished.
Shrugging off the slight pain in his back and stomach, Zabuza looked at Naruto fast enough to see him get hit by one of Raiga's lightning jutsu.
"Ugh!" Naruto groaned from the electric shock of the jutsu. While it wasn't powerful, it still had sufficient amount of power to shake him up. 'I'm guessing he didn't have enough time to power-up the jutsu or I would've been fried.' He concluded while looking at Raiga whom was smirking. Naruto readied himself for the upcoming attacks from two directions.
Raiga was the first to reach Naruto. Upon reaching him, Raiga took a stab at Naruto's chest which the blond avoided by quickly sidestepping it.
Naruto then did a front kick on Raiga, sending the green haired swordsman skidding back. This was followed up by a reverse kick, only this time it was Zabuza who was on the receiving end of it.
Doing a ram seal Naruto whispered, "Kage Bunshin no jutsu-(Shadow clone)," before an exact copy of Naruto appeared next to him. Naruto and the clone then rushed Raiga and Zabuza, not giving them enough time to recover. The clone engaged Zabuza in a taijutsu match while Naruto fought Raiga in both taijutsu and kenjutsu.
One the sideline the three spectators were surprised to see another Naruto pop up into existence and actually engage Zabuza.
"Hey Hinata, isn't this the same jutsu Zabuza used when he fought Kakashi-sensei?" asked Hinata's pink haired partner.
Hinata was unsure of the answer, so she used her family bloodline, the Byakugan, to see into the clone and what she saw surprised her. The clone itself seemed to have almost as much chakra she saw in Kakashi last time he fought. Probably more so than Kakashi, but she wasn't really sure. Shaking her head she answered, "No Sakura-san, this clone seems to be different. It has its own chakra system, as if it were alive. Not to mention the chakra reserve is huge."
This surprised her, as did the fact that the clone obviously seemed to have no problem fighting Zabuza.
Speaking of Zabuza, he was having problem with the clone as he is no master of taijutsu; the only things he was proficient enough in were ninjutsu and kenjutsu. The clone should've dispelled when it took a hit from the flat side of his zanbatou, but it got right back up which slightly surprised him. Not to mention he received hits himself from a mere shadow clone.
'I have to limit his visibility in order to limit his skill if I am to win this fight, and I know just the way to do it.' Zabuza thought before he went through some hand-seals then shouted, "Kirigakure no jutsu-(Hidden mist technique)!" before the area surrounding his target is covered in fog.
Meanwhile, farther away from Naruto's fight, Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi and Haku were fighting to overpower each other in hand to hand combat. Both seemed to be battered and bruised, and not to mention breathing heavily.
Separating from each other, they took a deep breath of fresh air. Each was thinking of a way to stall for a way to relax even for a little. Haku exhausted half of her reserve when she fought the genin, while Kakashi exhausted some fighting Zabuza. Having the Sharingan activated was taking a toll on him.
Haku was preparing to attack, much to her consternation due to her tiredness. Luckily Kakashi interrupted her, to her relief, by saying, "Neh Haku-san, would you mind telling me what kind of offer Naruto-sama made to you guys?" Hoping to find an answer to his earlier question he asked himself and also to distract Haku from the fight for a while, not realizing that Haku was also relieved.
Taking the welcome break that the Hatake had unwittingly given her, Haku took her time to answer, "If you must know, I met him few days ago. Even though he knew my true identity, he decided to spare my life to deliver a message to Zabuza-sama. He threatened Zabuza-sama's life and my own if we don't join him. While I thought it was a generous offer considering all the benefits we receive if we were to join him, Zabuza-sama is not one to take threats lightly. That's actually the reason he decided to go with the original plan, which is to kill the bridge builder." She concluded.
"Now if you excuse me I have to hurry this fight up and help my comrades." praising herself for taking as much time as was possible. Haku hurriedly took out a senbon and flung it toward Kakashi, and then rushed him.
Kakashi deflected the projectiles with a kunai, and then engaged Haku in a series of punches and kicks. Each dodged, but managed to get a hit once in a while; both seemed quite concentrated on their enemy. They were trying their best to not falter as it would only mean death, though Kakashi was thinking of not killing Haku if avoidable as Naruto might have some use for her in the end. Just in case everything is to end well and no one is dead.
In the midst of their fight, Haku saw a flash of lightning from the corner of her eyes then thought, 'I wonder how Zabuza-sama and Raiga-dono are fairing against a sannin? Hopefully better than I am faring against him.'
(With Naruto)
"Yare yare, you sure are one reckless guy aren't you Raiga?" Naruto voiced after he avoided that huge blast of lightning. 'At the rate he is shooting out jutsu's, the bridge won't be able to take it all.'Naruto thought 'I think it's about time I wrap this up for the old man's and this village's sake.'
"I think it's about time we come to a conclusion to this fight. Don't you agree Raiga?" Naruto suggested before assuming a defensive stance.
Lowering his swords, Raiga smirked, before he answered, "Heh, if you really want to die so badly." Doing a short sequence of seals, his slightly-insane voice rang out, "Kirigakure no jutsu-(Hidden mist technique)!" adding to the mist that Zabuza had already dispersed earlier making it hard for all of them to see even inches ahead.
"Hey Zabuza, Did you hear that? It's time to end this now, so step it up and take out that clone already!" Raiga hollered with an unseen vicious grin, hidden within the rising mist.
Quickly analyzing the situation, Naruto came to the conclusion that he couldn't use a jutsu to blow all of the mist away, for fear of damaging the bridge further and hurting the genins and Tazuna. He decided to use an underpowered fuuton technique to make the mist a little less dense so he could see around his immediate area. Performing some speedy hand seals Naruto whispered,"Fuuton ninpou: KamiKaze-(Wind style: Godly wind)," which generated pillars of spinning wind, gathering the mist before dispersing.
Once the he gained more visibility through the mist, it rushed back, going to its original state.
"That won't work the third time Uzumaki!" Came the voice of Zabuza who was still battling the clone.
Knowing the futility of his action, Naruto started sending out chakra pulses progressively, until he was sending one out every millisecond, acting as a radar to constantly monitor where his opponents' location, though he only needed to focus on Raiga. The clone still has enough chakra to last for a while, after all.
After promptly tracking where Raiga was, Naruto headed in his direction; Raiga drew together his dual short swords, then electrical energy began to crackle. "Ikadzuchi no Kiba-(Lightning Bolt Fang)!" A plume of an electrified chakra-like essence rose into the clouds above to activate the lightning to come crashing down on his opponent.
Naruto had ample amount of time to register the white lighting that shot up to the sky before it crashed down on to the very place he was a moment before.
Dodging the lightning strike Raiga sent upon him, not letting it slow down his trajectory. 'So, he is aware of my location as well,' he thought while running, keeping an ear out for the sounds of lightning jutsu or anything else unexpected. 'I was under the impression that Raiga wasn't like Zabuza or others of Shinobi-gatana of the mist, as they all are pretty skilled in fighting in the mist technique; though Zabuza is the only one to master the silent killing... Either the information on the bingo book is outdated, or there something else to this.' He inwardly frowned as he remembered feeling a faint chakra signature near Raiga, wondering if that had anything to do with it; putting the matter to the back of his mind, for now, Naruto continued towards Raiga until he was in close range.
Raiga was now firing spheres of lightning at him, so Naruto decided that circling around him in rapid movements was the best way to prevent him from locking onto Naruto's location. While doing this, he noted that the faint chakra signature he had felt earlier was clearer to his senses, signaling that it was nearby. Focusing a bit more on his chakra pulse, he came to the realization that whatever this signature was, it seemed to be attached to Raiga, possibly that big bundle he saw earlier.
Paying a closer look at Raiga's silhouetted figure, he waited for the next attack to come, deciding to use it to his advantage.
When Raiga began to charge up his new attack, it briefly illuminated his form, making it clear to Naruto for only a split second, but a split second was more than enough for Naruto.'So that's what that hunch in his back was,'narrowing his eyes, a new plan formed in Naruto's mind. 'Whatever is under that trench coat, I have to find a weak point and attack it; to do so while he's facing me might be difficult.' Naruto thought, bringing his hands together into a hand seal. 'Looks like I'm going to have to create that opening!'Silently producing a Kage Bunshin, he had the clone circle Raiga in the opposite direction. Having two opponents now, and having to keep track of both created an opening for the blond who used the chance to its full potential.
With a burst of speed, Naruto appeared behind Raiga, launching a kick headed straight for the bundle on his back. Alarmed, Raiga spun around to defend himself, but was too late and a piercing scream filled the area.
Jumping back in shock, Naruto's eyes widened. He glanced quickly back and forth between Raiga's distressed face and the bundle, his mind going a mile a minute, 'What the hell is Raiga doing with a midget attached to his back?'
Then realization hit him before his jaw dropped to the ground and his eyes seemed as if they are going to pop out any minute. "Ahhhhhhhh, don't tell me y-y-you are a pe-pedophile!" Naruto stammered, pointing a shaky finger at a shocked and pissed Raiga.
"Urusai!" Raiga shouted. "Ranmaru, oii Ranmaru! Are you ok? Ranmaru!" he yelled out frantically.
A series of coughs followed before a soft whisper reached Raiga's ear, "It hurts Raiga." said Raiga's crimson eyed friend who was one the verge of losing consciousness.
Looking back at a skeptical Naruto Raiga shouted, "You bastard! I will kill you!," with rage clearly present in his voice.
Once again Raiga brought his swords together, "Ikadzuchi no Utage-(Lightning Bolt Feast)!" he cried out. Electrical energy started coursing through the blades. He then implanted his swords into the ground to send an electric current racing through the earth towards Naruto.
'Oh shit!' Naruto thought. Thinking on his feet, he leaped up, once more focusing on the fight at hand. What he had hit had been human, and from the look on Raiga's face, it was important enough to disturb him greatly. That could be a good or bad thing, as it could distract Raiga from the fight or make him fly into a violent rage; and it seems to be the latter.
Raiga angrily threw lightning jutsu after lightning jutsu at a rapid rate towards Naruto, his rage strengthening him and revitalizing his nearly-depleted chakra reserves.
"Raikyuu no jutsu-(Lightning Ball technique)!" Raiga yelled. Acting in conjunction with his two swords, Raiga formed a ball of electricity which he hurled at one of the Naruto, hoping to hit the real one.
His maniacal grin widened when one of his attacks landed on Naruto and a groan left his target's mouth. Raiga closed his eyes briefly, relishing in his victory. It was short-lived though when he heard a popping sound and then suddenly another Naruto appeared behind him, followed by the feeling of emptiness on his shoulder. Raiga's eyes widened as realization hit him; Ranmaru wasn't on his back anymore, instead a few feet away from him, he lay motionless in the bag that conceals his physical appearance.
Attempting to get some control over his emotional state, Raiga spun around with his blades aiming for Naruto's skull, but missed. He then tried to knee the blond in the face who jumped back to avoid the painful blow.
"Ranmaru! Hang in there! I will help you as soon as I finish up with this bastard!" Raiga exclaimed as he followed Naruto and stated to randomly swing his swords, desperately trying to get in a hit.
Naruto for his part had to start using less effort after Raiga became angry. 'Anger is clouding his judgment. At this rate, it won't be much longer until Raiga tires himself out,' Naruto concluded as the mist started dissipating, indicating that Raiga was low on chakra.
As Naruto was stepping back from each of Raiga's strikes, he stepped on a piece of gravel from the bridge that had come lose after one of Raiga's attacks on it, making him lose his footing. This gave Raiga the opportunity he needed to bring his dual weapons on Naruto who had to resort to using chakra in his muscles to block it with Muramubi in order to abate the damage to done to his arms. This left him completely open for the roundhouse kick across his face, sending him flying back and crash onto the bridge with a thud.
Naruto rubbed his sore cheek before getting up, but as he did so, a flare of killer intent magnified by the chakra pulse off to one side caught his attention. He could sense Kurenai's quivering chakra signature and that of her opponent who seems to be the origin of the killer intent. Taking a quick look at where it had originated, he saw something that shook him to the core.
(Don't worry guys. The next chapter won't take as long as this chapter. I will get on to the next chapter as soon as I update this chapter. I think I am going to co-author a story with Christian. Narutobleachxover. It might be updated sometimes soon. Either before chapter 14 of this story or maybe after that. Not sure. Anyway review, review, review. I would like to know you take one this chapter. Until next time minna.)
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