A Shinobi Among Yokai Chapter 28

I don't own Naruto or Rosario + Vampire.

Akua stormed through the halls.

How dare those two run off on their own. She'd spent all that time buttering them up and getting them to join Fairy Tale, there was no way she was going to let them ruin that so easily. They were under her care, and they were going to do what they were told.

"Having trouble?"

"Go away."

At first, his random and sudden appearances would make her jump. It was a consequence of being allied with someone who could teleport practically anywhere, she supposed. It had taken some time, but she'd gotten accustomed to it.

"Don't be like that." Obito's eyes were half-lidded, a small smirk resting on his lips. He was always like that. No matter how many enemies she dominated, no matter how strong they were, he'd never once taken her seriously. He treated her like she was still a child. "We're supposed to be partners, aren't we?"

Yeah, right. Akua scoffed and pushed past him. She didn't know what kind of deal he had with the subdivision leaders and Gyukuro, but she could feel his power rise every time they went out and killed more of those beast's apparent clones despite him never taking any part in the actual combat. It was unsettling, she always made sure to stay cautious around him no matter how nice or casual he tried to play.

"This is my mess, I'll clean it up."

"Is that so." He strode up and walked by her side. "Then I want you to do something for me."

Her eyes flicked towards him, glaring. "What?"

"If you see Naruto, don't try to kill him."

Akua stopped. "Why?" She sneered at him in annoyance. "You don't think I can?"

"I know you can't." He was blunt and honest, for once. Usually, he'd dance around any questioning before offering her an answer that didn't actually resolve anything. "You ran from him last time. You knew you were in over your head, didn't you?" She'd never admit to such a thing out loud, and even loathed to admit it to herself. They'd been just about even up until the point he'd turned himself into a portable light bulb. The amount of power rolling off him so easily was monstrous. Obito leaned in closer to her, his voice low. "He was holding back."

"Bullshit."

His strange, mismatched eyes twinkled with amusement. "I wish it was. Everything would be so much easier."

Akua remained silent for a few moments. "You sure know a lot about him." She pointed out. "Do you two have history together?"

"Something like that."

"Tell me." He cocked an eyebrow at her. "We're partners, aren't we?"

"And he's my mess." Maybe she should have seen a response like that coming. "I can't have you dying just yet, Shuzen. Don't do anything stupid."

Tsukune couldn't sleep.

He hadn't had a wink of it since Naruto left him to stew.

There was too many questions in his head, and the more he thought about it the more questions he had to ask.

Why did he have to leave? That was the first question. What was so important that he had to drop everything he had here? Why so suddenly? That train of thought had then led him to an unwanted realization, he didn't know much about the blond in the first place. Every time a conversation would get too personal, he'd change the topic. Where had he gone? When was he coming back? Was he even coming back?

Why did Naruto leave him to deal with Moka?

He hadn't even let her know that he was leaving, it was left to Tsukune to tell her, to watch as her shining smile slowly disappeared. The girl visited him everyday, acting like she was fine, but she wasn't any good at lying. It was as if she was lost, like she had no idea as to what she was supposed to do now that he wasn't there.

Tsukune couldn't really blame her, he felt the same way. The only reason he'd stayed in the academy had been because of Naruto's presence, the only reason he felt like he might be able to survive it. He was Tsukune's mobile safe zone. More recently, Naruto had been training him to protect himself and he'd been amazing himself with what he could do, how the hell was he supposed to continue learning when there was no one to teach him?

He threw the thin bed sheets away and hopped off the bed, making his way to the bathroom. The doctors wouldn't let him leave until they were completely sure he wasn't in a life threatening situation anymore despite his insistence that he was fine. Even the arm he'd lost was back, he had no idea how, they hadn't sowed it back on. It was like it had grown itself back.

Once again, his thoughts were back on Naruto. What had the blond done to him? He'd said he'd made a deal with someone, but Tsukune had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

He didn't feel any different at least. That was a good sign, right? Still, his stomach churned thinking about it. If it was nothing bad, then surely Naruto would have just told him what had happened.

Maybe not.

He didn't feel like he was able to tell what the blond would do anymore.

Tsukune turned the tap, gathering the cold water in his hands before splashing his face. He'd hoped it would help refresh himself, maybe help him get his mind elsewhere. It didn't. The failure just left him disappointed and annoyed.

After wiping himself dry, Tsukune took a look at himself in the mirror. He didn't look any different, just as unappealingly average as ever.

He blinked.

When his eyes opened, he noticed something in the mirror. Right beside his neck, rushing towards it. It almost looked like flesh, if a bit pale. The sharp needle-like object embedded itself into the side of his neck before he could react.

"Tsukune-kun."

The voice was familiar, but he chose not to dwell on it. Instead, he swung his arm back, fist colliding with the wall behind him. The plaster and wood didn't offer any resistance, exploding outwards and blowing through the next wall into the hallway.

He hadn't meant to do something like that, he was just trying to hit whoever had spoken as a knee-jerk reaction. He'd been able to do similar destruction when he'd been training with Naruto, but he was sure he hadn't called any chakra forth.

He felt his neck get pierced again, next to his spine. Before he could verbally complain, another shot into the right side of his neck.

"That strength of yours is impressive, it's not surprising that trash like Mido couldn't deal with you." He tried to speak, to tell the woman to shut up and leave him alone, but no words came. His eyes began to widen, it was hard to breathe, his lungs started to rapidly deplete of oxygen. "You'll prove useful to us."

The last thing he saw was the reflection of the pleasantly smiling nurse behind him, her fingers elongated and sharpened in a grotesque manner, three of them plunged deep into his neck.

Then, nothing.

How many fights had it been now?

Naruto had stopped bothering to count when he'd hit twenty.

He'd gotten bored of the repetitiveness. At first, he was fine with fighting any of the yokai he got paired up with, he got to show how much stronger he was and he stayed at the top of the ranks without much effort, which was his problem with the whole thing. None of them were able to stand up to him, not even a little bit. It made the ordeal tedious and he was tired of it.

He was in a fight again. His opponent bellowed and charged, confident in his sprint.

An uppercut to his jaw sent the yokai spiraling into the ceiling.

Naruto sighed and leaned back against the wall. Idly, he took note of the ones who came out victorious in their fights, appearing around the room in the locations they'd been in before their fights. There wasn't many left now, only a handful. He'd started to recognize faces, many of which looked worse for wear.

"Bastard!"

Naruto creaked his eyes open, getting a good look at the snarling man stomping over to him. He looked kind of familiar, but a little different at the same time. He had a whole head and a half of height over the blond, his physique was similar to the others—big and burly. He looked like he'd be able to take down the walls surrounding them just from his physical strength. "Me?"

Another yokai tried to grab the approaching man's arm, to tell him not to, but was shrugged off and mostly ignored. "You killed my brother." His face was scrunched up so hard that it made Naruto think it could explode.

"Are you sure? There's been a lot of-" The yokai's large fist crashed into the wall beside him, cracking and denting it. "You're probably going to have to pay for that."

There was untamed fury in his black eyes. "I'll kill you." His large hands snatched Naruto's collar, holding him up against the wall. "I'll make you feel more pain than I'm feeling."

Naruto had a smartass comment bubbling in the back of his throat, but it died the moment he realized they weren't in the waiting room they'd been in anymore. None of the other yokai were present either. "Did you do that?"

Apparently not. It didn't even look like the man had taken notice of their new surroundings, blinded by his own anger. His large fist sailed towards the blond but never reached its target. Instead, he was roughly tossed into the wall, cracking the wood and held their against his will.

"Calm yourself." Naruto's ears twitched. That voice was familiar. It was weaker, almost croaking, but he wouldn't be able to forget that sound in a million years. "Behavior like that is unfitting for my fastest subordinate."

Naruto swallowed in an attempt to curb his dry throat, but it didn't seem to help. His eyes traveled up the long, oval table planted in the center of the room until they landed on the obnoxiously big chair—well, it was more like a throne, much more exquisite than the other scattered furniture. The chair was facing the large pane of glass, looking down on the city. "You're not actually him, are you?"

"Who's him?"

He gathered his wits before pacing around the table, bringing himself to stand in front of the man he'd long thought was dead. "Orochimaru."

"Disappointed?"

He looked like he was on his last legs. His skin had always been pale, but never this badly. His eyes were droopy, as if it was difficult for him to just keep them open. Every breath he took was ragged and wheezy. "More than that."

"Living as long as I have has its consequences, Naruto." He was hard too look at. This was a man that had been able to strike fear in anyone's heart just from the mention of his name. Naruto was almost convinced it was an illusion, seeing the man in such a pathetic state. "Fifty thousand years is a long time. I can change my body as many times as I want, live as long as I want, but my very being is rotting at its core."

"Are you going to die?"

"No. Not yet. I haven't been able to walk for nearly three thousand years now." A weak yet still terrifyingly creepy smile made its way onto his face. "At least, I won't be dying while I'm still in this city."

"What do you mean by that?"

"That can wait." The smile flickered a bit, diminishing slowly. It looked like he was putting a lot of effort into just moving his face. "That's not what I brought you here for. I would have preferred you to finish the tournament, but there's no time for that anymore. I have a problem and you're going to fix it for me."

Naruto snorted. Funny. "You've still got a few screws loose." He said. "Why in the world would I help with your problems?"

"You've already met her, haven't you? The immortal." His thin lips twitched. "Of course you have. That's why you came to this city again. She told you to build a reputation, gain attention."

"How do you know?"

"She wanted you to meet me. We're going to work together, like it or not." He continued after a moment's pause, turning his arm and offering his hand to the blond. "Now, take my hand. They'll be here shortly, but you're going to stop them from getting what they want."

Naruto glanced at the hand, fragile and shaking as it was held out for him. "We're not going to work together, Orochimaru. That wasn't part of the deal. Seeing as we're both here though, you can answer some questions."

"You're being childish."

"I'll rip them out of your head if I have to." Naruto looked the Sannin over. He belonged in a hospital, not a high-rise building. "You're not in any condition to stop me either."

Orochimaru frowned, his hand resting back on the arms of his chair. From behind the blond, the window shattered, spraying his back and the floor with small, sharp bits of glass. The yokai who'd been somehow stuck to the wall against his will the entire time, dropped to the floor with a grunt. The strong winds from being so high up rushed into the room, blowing their hair and clothing around frantically.

Well, the yokai soon lost his clothes, tearing them off as his body grew, fur growing out all over his body; face morphing into a snout; hands shifting into claws. Another werewolf? Naruto had only met one other werewolf tonight, maybe he did kill his brother after all.

Before Naruto could question what he was doing, the werewolf blasted past him. The moment he'd passed by, Naruto felt a new presence approaching at a very rapid rate. No, two of them. Their yoki was excessively powerful, it kind of reminded him of Akua.

Not a moment after the thought had gone through his head, an ear-deafening boom reached him, almost instantly followed by the werewolf soaring into the back of the room, slamming into the wall and embedding himself there. Most of his torso was missing, his blood dripping from the large gap, one of his eyes hanging from his skull.

Well, he'd died pretty quick if that was what Orochimaru had meant by fast.

The two yokai were already here, he could sense them behind him, waiting patiently.

Naruto turned to face them, pondering to himself curiously as he took in their appearance. They were practically a mirror of each other; red, slitted eyes, messy ebony hair and a similar physical physique. But that wasn't what gained most of his attention, it was what they were wearing. Black military-esque uniforms clothed them, a black cap with an eagle spreading its wings, two swords strapped to its back in a cross.

Moka had described fighting and defeating someone wearing the same attire in Fujimi.

"Are you going to try and fight as well?"

The twin to his right had spoken up first, confidence in his tone. And what reason did he have to not be confident? The two of them had a good half-foot of height over the blond, maybe a bit more. When you were taller than someone else, it gave you a strange sense of superiority, something Naruto had only felt a few times.

"That depends. What are you here for?"

The vampire nodded to Orochimaru, still seated behind the blond, quietly keeping to himself. It was a wonder that he wasn't doing anything, he'd been the one to pin the now dead werewolf to the wall before, so he still had some manner of power at his disposal. "Him. He took our lives, now we're going to take his."

"You look pretty alive to me." Revenge, huh. It was a simple yet solid motive every time he encountered someone with it on their minds. Naruto sighed. "Besides, he's busy right now, you can come back tomorrow. He has questions to answer first."

It was the left twin to react this time. Tilting his head, he smirked, apparently not taking the blond very seriously. "That's not an option."

The quaking awoke Moka from her slumber.

She frowned, rubbing her eyes with her knuckles, scrunching her face as another rumble rolled through the building. She yawned and stretched her arms above her head, lazily peering around her dorm room. Her hands came to rest on her lap, fiddling, waiting.

It didn't happen again.

Her eyes rolled back as her head hit her pillow once more, eyes shut, sleep coming to take her once more. Her idle and fading thoughts wondered what it had been.

The loud, booming explosion made her eyes snap open. It had been much, much closer this time. It felt like the entire building was shaking, and screaming soon followed.

Moka hurled her sheets away from her body, throwing herself out of bed and slamming the door open, rushing down the hall towards the source. As her bare feet tapped each of the stairs, she questioned herself. What was she going to do when she got there? If it was a yokai going on a rampage, what could she actually do to stop them?

Despite her thoughts, she continued on.

The building shook again, the lights on the ceiling unhinging, windows shattering, walls cracking around her. She took a right turn and ran into the lobby, skidding to a stop. Her eyes widened in shock and disbelief, her hand coming up to cover her mouth.

It was Tsukune. He was there, holding up a female student against the wall, left hand tightly gripped around her neck. She scratched at his fingers and arms, but Tsukune didn't even flinch as her mouth opened and closed, begging for air.

"Tsukune!"

Her shout grabbed his attention, his head turning her way. His eyes locked onto her own, dull and lifeless as they were. He raised his arm and wasted no time thrusting it forward, piercing the girl's chest without any resistance. Her face convulsed in shock, eyebrows furrowing like she was coming to the realization of what happened. Blood spurted from her mouth as Tsukune removed his arm, tossing her dying body to the floor.

Moka couldn't believe what she was seeing. Tsukune was one of her closest friends, she knew what he was like. He'd never do something so vicious to anyone, let alone an innocent person. As he slowly began approaching her, she started to take slow steps back.

Was he going to kill her too?

She didn't want to die.

Not yet.

"Tsukune!"

It wasn't her voice shouting his name this time, but it was very familiar. "Gin-senpai?"

She didn't even see what happened, Tsukune had been coming towards her, then he was gone. A crash made her look back down the hall behind her, where Gin was holding Tsukune up against the wall by his collar.

The role had reversed.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Gin bellowed, rearing Tsukune back before slamming him into the wall again. The human didn't so much as grunt at the action. "How many have you killed tonight? And just what were you planning to do with Moka-san?"

Tsukune's arm raised and gripped their upperclassman's wrist, jerking it to the side and sending Gin through the wall beside them. She could hear him go through a few more out of sight. It was a shocking display; sure Tsukune had been training with Naruto, but it was hard to believe that he'd become stronger than Gin, especially not in the small amount of time it had been.

"Tsukune?" He was approaching her again, at the same leisurely pace. "I know you can hear me Tsukune. You don't have to do this."

Moka's words had no effect on him, he continued to march towards her.

Suddenly, he stopped. His left arm fell to the ground, blood pooling. A sizeable hole had been punched through his chest and left shoulder. Stumbling, the stony Tsukune fell back onto the floor with a thump.

A cool breeze washed past.

Shock prevalent on her face, she rushed over to her wounded friend and kneeled down by his head. Tears started to well up in her eyes, what was she supposed to do? She knew first-aid, but that wasn't going to help in the slightest. "Tsukune... what..."

"Well that takes care of that." That was a voice she hadn't heard before, it sounded somewhat satisfied. Raising her head, biting her lips to keep them from trembling at her friend dying right beside her, she glared at the man. He had a strong face and a very fit appearance, accented by a karate uniform. He looked her over with a raised eyebrow and smiled. "Did you happen to see a werewolf come by? Black hair, green eyes, and a stupid look on his face." He blinked, his eyes coming to focus over Moka's head. "Nevermind."

"Haji!" The Newspaper Club's President sounded far from happy. Moka watched as his eyes darted between Tsukune's body and the the karate uniform clad man. "What did you kill for him you idiot?"

"What? You said he had to be stopped."

Gin stormed over. "I didn't mean for you to kill him!"

Some fumbling and shuffling brought Moka's attention back down to Tsukune. She gasped and hiccuped as Tsukune slowly began to pick himself up off the floor. The hole in his chest had repaired itself, and his arm had almost fully regenerated. Once he was fully standing once again, he looked towards Gin and Haji, his eyes still as lifeless as they were before.

"Looks like I didn't."

Naruto smiled. It wasn't with anyone from the tournament, but he got what he'd wished for.

The left twin was the one to make the first move; dashing forward so quick that the sound barrier broke within his first few steps. He'd landed hundreds of blows on Naruto in mere moments, but he suffered from what most who prioritized speed suffered from: power. The punches coming towards him at supersonic speeds were pushing him back as he did his best to defend himself, but his senjutsu worked wonders for his endurance.

This was the moment when the other twin decided it was time for him to join in. He wasn't nearly as fast as his lookalike, but still quick enough on his feet to take the chance to slip behind the blond, bringing his fist down towards the side of his head.

Naruto was able to raise his arm in time to block it; he wasn't, however, able to defend against the yokai's physical strength. His arm crumbled against the force, slamming back into his chest so hard it winded him. The floor beneath him gave out as he was rocketed towards the bottom, crashing through thirty or so floors before he came to an abrupt stop. Debris fell around and on top of him, dust pouring out from where he'd landed.

The blond coughed and sat himself up, raising his left arm and catching a wooden beam before it crashed on top of him. Tossing it aside, he got back to his feet and glanced around. He was in a lobby, and in front of him was a desk; a female clerk seated behind it. Her mouth was agape as she stared at him with a strange look. "Hey." He said. "Nice night?"

Her head tilted slightly.

Naruto shrugged. Kurama's chakra flooded his system, a golden cloak of chakra surrounding him as it had many times before. Above was a giant hole, he could probably fit ten of himself through it without a problem. He bent his knees, a resounding boom and a shockwave flinging the debris around him in random places over the lobby as he launched himself straight back up the way he'd came.

Jumping thirty floors straight up a building sounded more difficult in his head. When he'd reached the room they were in, he saw who he assumed was the twin who'd sent him on his temporary trip back to earth; he'd pulled his fist, ready to blow the weak and vulnerable Orochimaru's head into oblivion.

Naruto was tempted to just let them do it, he certainly had no love for the conniving snake. Unfortunately, he was probably the only one who'd be give him answers.

He looped one arm around each of the twins' chests as he rushed between them, his leap from the edge causing a heap of the glass in the upper and lower floors to shatter as he broke through the sound barrier again, soaring them through the next building over, and the next one, before skidding to a stop in the third one, tossing each of them through separate walls in the unpopulated office floor.

It was still dark and very early in the morning, so thankfully no one had come to attend their jobs and ultimately get in the way.

The much faster twin got to him first, as Naruto had assumed he would. Bringing up his arm, the blond caught his assailant by the neck, wrenching his wrist and snapping the yokai's neck with a resounding crack.

"No!"

Naruto tossed the corpse and turned his attention to Orochimaru's would-be killer, eyes wide open in shock and horror, body shaking and looking like he was about to cry.

Guess that made two brothers he'd killed tonight.

He begun to slowly walk towards the only one left, slowly breathing in, gathering chakra in his lungs. His target, for all the strength and confidence he'd shown before, looked on with fear and anger in his eyes. He stood stock still, in shock, unmoving, unsure what to do.

Naruto huffed out his breath, a loud whistle accompanying it as the wind sliced through the furniture and cubicles, tearing through the yokai and painting the room with his innards.

Chapter 28 done!