This Is My Story Chapter 16: Geosgaeno, a naruto fanfic

Bolded words are generally jutsu. Generally. Though they could totally not be. And I may have gone overboard on the yelling and the screaming in this chapter. But again, I could totally not have. Also, I am dark. Might want to reread the whole story seeing as its been a while since I updated, and I changed some things around, nothing major..

Chapter 16: Geosgaeno

Last time:

Eventually, as Zabuza's Hidden Mist jutsu began to fade, a small, unimposing figure appeared at the unfinished end of the bridge, wielding a cane and wearing a business suit. "I came here expecting to find shinobi, and yet all I can see are two little boys playing ninja, how cute." A few seconds later, the fog cleared even more, revealing the rather large mob that the 'unimposing figure' had brought with him.

Naruto didn't groan, though he had to fight not to. He just got up, stood side by side with his teammate, and stared down the large group of killers just raring to get a piece of him.

"Oh... Wonderful."

Inari was generally a boy who always took no for an answer.

He would scream, "Please help my dog."

And they would say, "No."

He would plead, "Please don't let me drown."

And still, they would say, "No."

He would beg, "Please don't kill my dad."

And they would only scoff, "No."

For a long time, the only thing that bothered Inari enough that he argued about it was Gato.

They would say, "We can stop him," and he would reply, "No, we can't."

They would say, "He's evil," and he would respond with: "What are you going to do about it?"

They would try to reason with him, "Someone has to put an end to all this."

And he would only say, "But no one can."

It may seem callous, or like an act of cruelty, but Inari didn't want anyone else to have to experience the same kind of pain that he had: the pain of hope, and the pain of loss. In Inari's eyes, anyone who tried to challenge Gato was only setting themselves up for pain, for senseless pain.

There weren't many of them, the Land of Waves having lost much of their hope in the earlier days of Gato's reign, but every once in a while some idiot with a dream came rolling on through, trying to stir up a fight. A fisherman here, and a sailor there; once, there was even a pirate who thought he could take control. Nothing worked, nothing changed.

But then, there came along a ninja, a ninja who also talked of fighting and change. And for a while, Inari argued with that ninja, too. "No matter what you do, no matter what you say you're going to do, the weak are always going to lose to the strong! You're all gonna DIE!" he had screamed in frustration.

And it had pissed him off even more that this ninja just wouldn't take no for an answer: "Oh me! Oh my! All he ever does is cry! Oh gee! Oh no! Oh please Inari, don't go! Why fight? Why try? When all you're gonna do is die? Hmph! Go ahead and run, you little brat, I don't back down from anyone."

But still, Inari ignored the ninja, even when the ninja's friend told him the same things: ""Don't ever run away, don't ever hide... and never stop fighting. If you try to get away, and you somehow succeed... you'll begin to regret living when everyone else is dead."

It didn't matter what anyone said, or what anyone else believed, Inari was stubborn, and his way was set in stone. He didn't care at all about other people, only his problems mattered: "He too grew up without a father, or a mother for that matter, but eventually found someone to fill the gap. And his new father was murdered, too, just like yours. The difference between you two is that Naruto already got his revenge, and now he doesn't have a target, or anyone to blame. He's empty inside, and doesn't have a single friend in our village, and yet... I've never seen him cry or complain, not even once. He's always trying his hardest to get people to notice him, or to simply acknowledge his existence. He probably just got tired of crying, and decided to do something about it."

Inari didn't care, Inari didn't believe, because Gato was unstoppable and nothing could be done about it.

Then came the day when two men came to his house and kidnapped his mother, and one of the ninjas, one of the same ninjas he had scoffed at and disregarded as useless, fought off the swordsmen, and by extension: Gato. That ninja, that shinobi, made Inari see for the first time that something could be won from fighting, and that change could happen.

It was an epiphany, and at the same time, hope. Hope for the future, and hope for what could be, hope for change. Viva la revolution and all that.

So Inari picked up an old crossbow his family kept hidden in the basement, grabbed a quiver of rusty arrows, and headed off to the bridge, his blood pounding and his heart racing, because with two simple acts of murder, some ninja had convinced him to believe in the "good fight."

Don't worry guys, I'll protect everyone!

Inari promised himself then and there that Gato wouldn't hurt anyone else, that he wouldn't let Gato hurt anyone else, even if it cost him his life.

Even if it costs me my life!

He would make sure that Gato didn't destroy anymore homes, that he wouldn't destroy anymore families, Inari promised himself that from then on out, he would live a life with absolutely no regrets.

And I'll do it with these two arms!

--The Bridge--

"Well, kids," Gato said, speaking with an air of superiority, "we're here to finish off that old man you've been guarding, so if you would kindly step aside, we've got business to attend to."

Is he fucking kidding us?

The mist enveloping the bridge had all but faded, leaving absolutely nothing to obscure the businessman's form, and now, just looking at him, Naruto couldn't help but stare incredulously. This was supposed to be Gato? The fearsome shipping magnate? The man who had managed to bring the entirety of Wave Country to its knees?

But he's so... small!

Naruto snuck a glance over at Sasuke and noticed that, from the look on his face, he too had his doubts. But still, better to err on the side of caution... I guess.

"Hell no, you stupid piece of shit!" Naruto shouted back. Caution was great and all, but Gato had just brutally mauled and mutilated one of the oldest lines in the Evil Villain's Handbook. Naruto just wasn't going to let him get away with that, no sirree. "If you think we're going to back down from a midget in a business suit, you must be dumber than you look!"

Gato's eyes widened, him being so unused to such disrespect. The businessman's mouth dropped open in surprise as his head tried to process the fact that another child had just dared to insult him again.

He was not pleased.

"What the hell did you just say to me, you little brat!?" he roared. "I am the Great Gato-sama! The Sultan of the Seas, and Lord of the Land of Waves! How dare you talk to me like that!"

Seeing the small man's temper begin to rise, Sasuke sighed and looked over at his blond teammate, whispering, "You just had to try and piss him off, didn't you?" Naruto didn't bother to respond. "What the hell is wrong with you, you idiot?"

"Answer me, you stupid son of a bitch!" Gato screamed.

Naruto thought about Sasuke's question for a second, What indeed?

"I said that I'm astonished that anyone could be afraid of a half-pint, mousy little midget with a perm!" Naruto yelled. "Sorry if I got the wrong impression, your majesty, but you're trying to pass yourself off as important by surrounding yourself with a group of large half-naked men! Excuse me if I don't recognize your so-called greatness, O' Almighty Gato!"

He grinned.

"You think you're clever, boy!?" the businessman screamed back, waving his cane around in fury. "You think you're funny!? I'll kill you! I'll break your scrawny little neck!" The businessman bared his teeth in anger, and slammed his cane down in rage. He then began to yell at the men behind him, not even bothering to turn around to speak with them, "Whoever the hell brings me that kid's head gets a big bonus, alright!? I want his blood! His fucking blood! And I want it all over this damn bridge! Mousy little midge- How dare him!? I'll- I'll- Argh! What the hell are you doing still here!? Go and kill that little fucker!"

A split-second later, Gato's mouth snapped shut, and the small man quickly held up his hand behind him, a motion he used to tell his soldiers to wait. His pupils slowly drifted to the bottom-lefts of his eyes, then flicked back upwards to focus on Naruto. "On second thought," the magnate said, speaking in a much slower, yet still angry, tone, "I don't want you to kill the runt just yet. I want you to do his friends and the bridge builder first, that way we can make him watch." Gato began to cackle evilly as he continued, "And make sure you take care of Zabuza and his lapdog, too, even if they look like they're already dead."

The businessman took a deep breath, puffing up his chest, and bellowed loudly, "Alright, now GO! And remember, I want the blond alive!"

Gato grinned insanely as he waited for his thugs to go rushing forward, but a few seconds passed and he began to notice that none of his men were moving.

So he waited one more second. Just one more.

One Mississippi.

Gato turned around, his anger reignited. "What the hell are you guys waiting for!?" he shouted, walking towards them.

When he got no answer, Gato screamed again.

"Dammit, answer me!"

The businessman took a few more steps.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!"

Gato's face scrunched up in confusion as he began to really look at his men. Years of dealing with seedy business owners and corrupt politicians had sharpened his perception, and in a near-shinobi display of it, the small man managed to connect some very dark dots.

First(Firstly?), his goons, foregoing all thoughts of money and bloodshed, hadn't bothered to spare him a single glance at his call, meaning that they had something more important than their paycheck holding their attention. Secondly, their mouths had dropped open, and their eyes had widened, several had begun to tremble and one or two had even lost their grip on their weapons: classic signs of fear. These men were killers, hardened, blood-thirsty, grizzly killers, and they were showing symptoms of pure, unimaginable terror: Gato knew he had reason to be wary. Almost inaudibly, low murmurs began to drift up from the large group of thugs.

"N-no way..."

"That- that thing can't be real..."

"My god..."

"It's a monster..."

Thirdly, the mercenaries were staring over the edge of Tazuna's bridge. Nothing good ever happens when people start looking over bridges. Ever.

Slowly, all the men began to back up, moving away from the sea and cautiously towards the island of Wave, as if they were trying to get away from the water.

"Hey! You guys better-"

Gato, losing his patience, pushed his way through the men and stomped furiously towards the unfinished portion of the bridge. "Get out of my way!" he screamed. Though the magnate was no fool, and recognized the danger signs, Gato hadn't obtained dominion over an entire country by being cautious.

Bracing against his cane so as to not lose his balance, he peered over the edge.

A moment passed.

"There's nothing there, you morons!" he shouted, looking back over his shoulder. Glaring at his soldiers, the businessman righted himself and straightened out his suit. "You dumbasses got me all worked up for nothing! What the hell had your panties all twisted up in a bunch!?"

The mercenaries stared at their boss as if he was crazy, but nonetheless inched their way back over to the end of the bridge: they had regained some measure of money-grubbiness. As a group, each man glanced over the edge of the bridge, and saw that it was exactly as Gato had said: there was nothing in the water.

But then, what had they-

Thud.

---

Naruto and Sasuke's heads snapped down to look at their feet, their attention drawn from the spectacle at the other end of the bridge. They couldn't be sure what it was, or even if it had actually happened, but they were pretty sure that something had just rammed into one of the bridge's support beams, the only things keeping the metal monstrosity upright.

Thud.

Now they were sure.

Thud.

Someone should probably do something, Naruto thought absentmindedly. Glancing around, he noticed that everyone had frozen and was staring dumbly at the bridge. Weird, I can't seem to move either...

Thud.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.Thud.Thud.Thud.Thud.

THUD.

THUD!

Under the force of the last hit, the bridge began to buckle.

The beam that had been the target of the attack was positioned at the forefront of the bridge, the end that led to the mainland and the end that Gato and his cronies were currently standing on. The members of Team 7 on the other hand, were situated further back, closer to the island of Wave.

SKRREEEEEEE!

The sound of screeching metal filled the air as the damaged support beam began to give way under the weight of the bridge.

After taking multiple hits from the something in the water, the pillar's damaged steel lacked the strength to hold up the portion of the structure's mass it was supposed to, leading to it, the pillar, giving in to gravity and collapsing into the sea. The vibrations resonating along the surface of the bridge sent shivers flying up and down the spines of everyone there, and only added to the tension in the air.

There was a moment of tranquility up above on the bridge, a moment where everyone just sort of stared at each other wondering what the hell was happening.

Thud.

And then the other column came under attack.

Thud.

THUD.

THUD!

Since it was being forced to support the weight of the bridge all by itself, the second pillar was already succumbing to the laws of physics faster than it should have, but with the added stress of a physical assault, there was no way in hell that it would remain standing for long. Within seconds, Support Beam No. 2 cracked, and after a minute of a near constant barrage, it collapsed, following its brother into the sea.

And then with nothing left to hold up that end of the bridge, it too began to bend under the force of its own weight.

The edge tipped downwards, slanting at a steep enough angle so that anyone standing too close to the it would be lost to the sea. Unfortunately for Gato and his cronies, they were standing too close to the edge, and they were lost to the sea.

Bummer.

Having absolutely no ninja training, the men were hopelessly unable to regain their balance, and almost immediately fell into the water.

Doubly unfortunately, they weren't alone.

"What the hell is that?!"

An enormous set of skeletal jaws erupted from underneath the group of mercenaries and thugs, momentarily enveloping a small number of them. The jaws were attached to a face, and the face was attached to a wicked-looking giant fish. Large green wings extended from either side of the monster's skeletal and corpulent frame, giving Naruto the false impression of some fallen angel, warped and corrupted by the sea.

Man, I'm twisted.

For a few seconds, the scene looked almost surreal, rather like an artist's rendition of some overly complicated symbolism... but then the screaming started, and the illusion shattered.

With one big, bone-crunching chomp, the bodies of the mercenaries imploded, and the large otherworldly teeth crunched together.

Blood splattered the faces of the surviving men, while their shock and fear stunned them into inaction.

The screaming stopped.

Somewhere in the backs of their collective consciousnesses the goons realized that their meal ticket had been one of the men eaten, not that they particularly cared.

The beast moved.

And all hell broke loose.

Sasuke stood motionless atop the bridge, staring down at the waters.

Staring, and thinking.

Well, he was watching as well.

In particular, he was watching the- animal?- as it went on a killing spree. He watched, entranced, as blood literally gushed out from between its jaws and into the sea. Blood, muscle, viscera... all bubbled up to the surface of the dark blue ocean, dyeing it red. It made him sick, it disgusted him on even primitive levels, and it screamed at every self-preservational bone in his body for him to get the fuck away. And yet...

Sasuke stood motionless atop the bridge. And stared.

And thought.

This thing wasn't just some inconsequential grunt to be dispatched, it moved through instinct, attacked through instinct, and killed through instinct.

A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

This monster was as powerful as it was fast, as ruthless as it was strong...

And Sasuke wanted to fight this beast, the damn lunatic.

His blood, his Uchiha blood, his warrior blood, called for it, demanded it, begged for it. Something old, something ancient within him, something dark and angry, wanted this fight, even as Sasuke himself knew that he stod no chance. A creature- an adversary- of this magnitude, a foe of this magnitude, it... it was- My heart rate's gone up, Sasuke noted absentmindedly. The young ninja's eyes glossed over for a moment as he attempted to regain control of his breathing, and for a few seconds, he managed to calm down.

Naruto's thoughts, however, were a bit less... organized.

Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh hell no, hell to the no, that's a... a...

Naruto's eyes flickered back and forth, from the carnage in the water to his only conscious teammate, "Sasuke..."

"Yeah?"

"This is some serious shit, man."

"Yeah."

"Think we should do something about it?" Naruto asked with trepidation.

The strangest look came over the Uchiha's face and his voice cracked when he answered, "Yeah."

Naruto looked back over at him and sighed deeply, "You sure? 'Cause we can just go back to the island and forget this ever happened. Maybe dump ice-boy and sword-guy in the water, and just leave, man."

Sasuke looked over at his only remaining teammate. "Idiot..." he muttered, his voice having lost all traces of venom.

The blond redirected his solemn gaze back to the sea, "Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say..." Silently, Naruto began to sweat.

It was at that moment that memories, or a memory to be accurate, suddenly began to flood back into his consciousness. Specifically, it was the day that his master had died. The man's last eulogy had always been a topic of much discontent, discontent and fear.

Naruto... the fiends will hunt you now, just as they once hunted me.

How was that not supposed to scare him? Monsters the likes of which the elemental countries had never seen before were just going to start appearing where ever they like. And then, competing in a mad dash to tear him limb from limb, they would scour his home, his village, his country, and quite possible the entire continent he lived on, in a search for him and all his squishy bits. And now? Now that it was coming true...?

They believe we are connected.

It was like his one, most hated memory was returning to him with all the force of an enormous monster attacking an even greater bridge, except this time he was going to be the star, and there would be no one around to listen to his last words. Except for maybe Sasuke, who, incidentally, would likely get caught up in the fight, if you could call it that, and also get brutally mauled by a demon in a monster's skin.

You have to be ready for them.

How in the nineteen hells of Xergia was he not supposed to run away screaming like a little, prepubescent girl frightened by a gaggle of realistic, scaly, and slimy snakes? How!?

Every story must have an ending,

It was too hard...

And this is mine.

Naruto blinked.

"Did I just... give up?" he asked himself. The blond lifted his hands up to his eyes and stared into his palms. He took a long look at the scars in his hand, the small smudges of dirt caked into them, and the large callouses that usually stood as proof that Uzumaki Naruto did not give up. "I did, didn't I? I just gave up."

Unnoticed by Naruto, the sound of an eerie howl began to rise up from the sea.

"Hey, idiot!"

"Why did I even try then? If I was just going to give up?" Naruto wondered bitterly. Have I really become this weak?

The howl became a screech.

"Naruto!"

The blond felt like slapping himself. For the first time in three years, even if it had been for only a moment, he honestly and truly forgotten just why he had had a replica of his mentor's- his father's- red coat made, and just why exactly wore it in his quest to kill those that needed killing. Have I really fallen this far?

The screech became a scream.

"Naruto!"

"That's right... it was because I wanted to be like him," the blond whispered. "I wanted to be a guardian, and he said that guardians protected those that were precious to them, no matter what that meant."

"Hey, loser!"

My team is precious to me...

The scream turned feral.

"NARUTO!"

"What!?"

"It's coming!"

Fiend Entry No. 96: Geosgaeno

As listed in the Fiend Bestiary; all stats to be recorded on a scale of 10 to 255. Danger level calculations to be based upon the abilities of trained fighters.

Identifiable features: It's a large skeletal fish with tentacles and wings, you'll know it if you see it. The wing-like fins on either side of its body serve as arms, while its tentacles act as rudders. It has glowing appendages sprouting from its head and back, bone-like scales, and enlarged mandibles.

Endurance: 194

Strength: 114

Speed: 101

Intelligence: 42

Danger-Level (Solo): 222

Danger-Level (Partied): 91

Elemental Weaknesses: Fire, Ice, Lightning

Resistances: None

Other notes: Don't let it inhale you. If it does inhale you and you're captured, don't struggle. If you struggle, Naruto, you will die. Eventually, so long as you don't fight too much, it will spit you back out. Do NOT let it hit you. Geosgaeno can, and will, kill you in a single hit. Avoid a confrontation if possible, use elemental attacks if not. It'll only appear in large bodies of water. Under no circumstances are you to face it without some sort of backup. And Naruto, none of that "I am the reinforcements!" crap.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

With a massive leap into the air, followed by an equally impressive inhalation of oxygen, Sasuke flashed through the handsigns of his favorite jutsu and spat out an enormous ball of fire at the creature in the sea.

The flames of his attack closed in on Geosgaeno swiftly, burning so hot as to boil the very air itself with the intensity of their heat. Unfortunately, this sudden change in humidity acted as an indicator, allowing Geosgaeno to react quickly to the assault on its blindside and dive beneath the surface of the ocean before it could reach him. Sasuke's fireball hit the water instead, sending up a thick veil of steam that obscured each party from the other's sight.

"Hrrrroooooowwwwww!"

With a bone-chilling howl, Geosgaeno opened up its enormous mouth and roared, spitting out an frightening combination of sea water, saliva, and blood. The scream was meant to be used as an intimidation tactic, but it also served another purpose, unintentionally stirring up the smoke created by Sasuke's attack and letting the leaf ninja know where the beast would be attacking from next.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Having recently re-staked his claim on his testicles, Naruto called out the name of his favorite jutsu as well, timing the production of his clones to coincide with Geosgaeno's reemergence from the sea. "Get 'im!" he called.

With a battle cry, nearly two dozen identical ninja fell down upon the beast, each one brandishing his own kunai and possessing the will to kill. As the clones landed, their twenty-two blades simultaneously pierced the bone-like scales of the fiend's body, each one reaching down just deep enough to scrape at the monster's first layers of flesh, just below its outer covering.

"SKRIIIIIIIIIII!"

Geosgaeno, with a screech that was more surprise than pain, began to gyrate rapidly in an attempt to shake off its unwanted cargo. After a time, the fiend saw the futility in this and dove once more beneath the surface of the ocean, hoping to lose the shadow clones in the chaos of the waves, where it knew it had the advantage.

Fortunately, the Naruto's were made of stronger stuff than that (namely dust and chakra, but that's not important), and it was unable to shake them off, even as it barrel-rolled and zig-zagged around in the dark sea water. Still, the constant lurching motions managed to disorient the bunshins enough to keep them from concentrating on a follow-up attack until a single unifying thought spread through them all.

You're vulnerable to lightning, right?

Naruto's replications held on tight to their knives with one hand, while they they used their other hands to gather chakra. With the help of their training in chakra control from the days previous, the blonds managed to increase the efficiency of their chakra manipulation two-fold, even while dealing with the fiend's nauseating movements.

"Thunder!"

With a collective cry, the bunshins released their gathered spiritual energies, converted it into lightning chakra, and sent it spiraling straight into the back of their foe.

"He he he..."

Naruto chuckled to himself, back up on the bridge where he, the original, had remained. The easily conducted lightning his clones had created had backlashed upon the replications, electrocuting them all into non-existence. He thought that had been rather clever of him, using an electrical attack underwater.

"Heh heh he- OW!" he exclaimed as he grabbed his head in pain. The blond's skull suddenly felt like someone had just slapped it with a... with a... with something that would cause him pain. "What the hell...?" he wondered.

Naruto lifted his head up to look back at the ocean.

Sasuke was situated a few meters out from the now-submerged end of the bridge, and was calmly scanning the water for signs of the fiend's resurfacing. The young ninja's eyes were rapidly flicking from side to side, taking in every minor wave and ripple of the ocean as they searched for their quarry.

"Damn thing can probably breathe underwater..." Naruto said bitterly.

The blond jumped off his perch and landed with both feet firmly planted on the water. Utilizing an instinct that wasn't really his, he directed his chakra to his feet, keeping himself afloat, and almost immediately he was filled with the cold sense of calculating rage that he had already begun to associate with water. It cooled his head.

What the hell are we supposed to do if it doesn't come back up? he thought as he joined his teammate in searching for the beast. We can't exactly chase down the bloody bastard.

He needn't have cared.

Geosgaeno, as brutish and as stupid as it was, wasn't exactly the kind of creature that would back down from any opponent, not even one that it knew it could not beat. And Naruto and Sasuke, while exceptionally powerful genin, didn't rank up anywhere near the list of things that the greater fiends found frightening.

Geosgaeno would not run away.

"HRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

With another unearthly screech, the fiend burst through the water beneath Sasuke, catching the young ninja almost completely off guard. The monster's head rammed into the boy's feet, propelling him upwards. Luckily, the chakra Sasuke was already channeling to his legs was enough to cushion the blow enough to save him from ending up as just another splatter on the fiend's face.

Geosgaeno's body quickly reached the apex of its jump, and soon gravity began to take effect, pulling the monster back into the sea. It hit the ocean's surface hard, sending up a spray of sea water that obscured it from view, and when the waters had settled, the fiend had disappeared again.

Naruto blinked.

"Hrroaah!"

"Naruto, behind you!"

Putting his faith in Sasuke, the blond dashed forward, kicking up a thin mist of seawater as he quickly accelerated. He just barely managed to escape the jaws of the fiend behind him as he dove headfirst beneath the ocean surface.

Submerged within the sea, the boy began to channel his chakra into the water surrounding him, infusing it with his life force.

"Mizu no Tatsumaki!"

All of Naruto's stored air escaped his body as he called out the name of his attack, but apart from that, nothing else really happened.

What the hell?!

"Mizu no Tatsu- urrgh!"

Trying to call upon breath that wasn't there, Naruto accidentally inhaled a mouthful of salt water and choked on it. He instinctively grabbed at his throat, but that would prove futile as the sour liquid began to scrape at it from the inside.

My chakra... Damn, I used it all up before!

Kicking with his legs, the blond raced upwards in a bid for fresh air, hoping that his reckless dive had not carried him down too deep into the ocean. His throat ached terribly, and the sudden loss of control over the situation had thrown him off his game. So when Geosgaeno silently glided into place beside him, he almost took in another breath of sea water as he exclaimed in surprised.

"Bluurrgh!"

Desperate now, Naruto spurred forwards, frantically paddling with his arms as he struggled to out-swim the aquatic fiend. Geosgaeno did not strike at him, though, seemingly content with keeping pace with its prey. The beast coasted along, easily matching Naruto's speed as it began to lazily circle him. The blond genin could barely see the monster now, as it tauntingly swam in and out of his field of view.

"Gah!"

With one last final push, Naruto burst through the surface of the ocean, taking a deep breath. For a moment, he just floated there, reveling in the fresh oxygen that now filled his lungs. But the euphoria of not-dying didn't last very long, as he was quickly reminded that he was still in a life-or-death battle.

"Where the hell is it!?" Sasuke called, already recovered Geosgaeno's attack.

Still out of breath, Naruto began to turn his head from side to side, searching for the fiend that had just been right on his tail. He remained perfectly still, using his chakra to remain afloat so that only the movements of the fiend would cause ripples in the water. That's when he noticed it, a small whirlpool surrounding his body. What the hell is that?

The suction of the spiraling water wasn't near strong enough to pull him down, but it was still a sign that something was moving around him fast enough to create such a force. "Shit... Sasuke, do something!" Naruto yelled. "It's got me marked! If I move first, then it'll be able to see where I'm going and attack. But it's not going to make the first move because then I'll see where it's coming from and counter."

Sasuke nodded at his teammate's analysis and began to look around for someway to get him out of his plight; it took him only moments to come up with a plan. Releasing the chakra he was sending to his feet, Sasuke dropped down into the water and pulled his leg up so that his knee was pressing into his side.

"Leaf Whirlwind!"

With a cry, the genin swung his leg around in an arc, simultaneously channeling his chakra through it. This combination of physical and spiritual prowess generated a wave of water and energy that carried itself towards Naruto and his stalker. The surging water disrupted Geosgaeno's path, while the foam created by the water's movements blocked its sight. Naruto took the opportunity that was granted then, and jumped out of the area, landing near where Sasuke was pulling himself out of the sea.

Unfortunately, this time Geosgaeno would not wait patiently before launching a counterattack, and it immediately charged the two leaf ninja. With another deafening roar, the fiend put on a burst of speed and flung out the wing-like appendage on its left side. The fin curled into a shape not unlike that of a fist and slammed into the spot where Sasuke and Naruto were standing. Had stood.

The two genin had reacted quickly and moved out of the way of Geosgaeno's attack before it could hit them. They both leaped into opposite directions, landing simultaneously and skidding to a halt on the ocean surface. "Stay separate!" Sasuke ordered, a plan in mind. "One of us hits it when it attacks the other!"

"Right!" Naruto affirmed, readying himself.

The young ninjas waited patiently, tense and ready for the monster's attack. Luckily, Geosgaeno had not re-submerged itself after its last attack, and was instead gliding about, trying to reposition itself into a more advantageous location.

"Keep it between us!" Sasuke shouted. "Two-man pincer formation, don't let it escape!"

Naruto nodded, then paused. "Hey, wait!" he yelled. "I can still make some clones, you sure you don't want me to box it in?"

"No, not yet," Sasuke replied. "If we do that, it'll go back under. Don't scare it, just make sure it can't see us both at the same time."

"If you say s-"

Geosgaeno interrupted the genins' conversation by coming off from its slow, circling pace and breaking left at top speed. Naruto and Sasuke responded almost instantly by sprinting to the left as well, trying to maintain their positions relative to the fiend. They were just barely managing to keep up with it's unexpected acceleration when the monster suddenly changed its direction again and shot off to the right. Following that, there was a series of near-constant direction and speed changes where Geosgaeno's movements were increasingly becoming more and more erratic.

"Back off!"

"What?"

"Just do it!"

At Sasuke's command, the two ninjas immediately stopped their pursuit of Geosgaeno and backpedaled away from it.

"Tired?" Naruto asked jokingly.

"It was getting frustrated," Sasuke said. "We need it to stay up on the surface."

"Hey, do you actually have a plan or are you just making this up as you go along?"

The Uchiha looked to his teammate then returned his gaze to the fiend, which was now swimming in a large circle around the two boys. "We need it to open its mouth."

"Why?"

"Look," Sasuke said, his eyes still on Geosgaeno, "your clones tried to stab it, right? But it's not bleeding, so its outer shell's either too hard or too thick for us to get through. We have to hit it from the inside."

"There are spaces in between its rib-things," Naruto noted, "we can hit it through there."

"That'll just hurt it," Sasuke stated. "If we can get its mouth open, I can shoot a fireball into it and boil it from the inside."

"Well, if we hit it through the gaps in its stomach-bones," Naruto countered, "the pain will make it scream."

Sasuke paused. "Do it."

"I'll need you to draw it's attention, then," Naruto said, pulling a kunai from its holster. "Just get it to raise its chest out of the water, that'll be good enough."

Sasuke nodded once, dipping his fingers into the pouch at his back. From it, he pulled two handfuls of shuriken and took aim. Releasing the throwing stars, the Uchiha flung them at the fiend, aiming for the small, glowing, and somewhat fleshy appendages that sprouted from its head. The projectiles struck true, slicing the tentacles at their tips and drawing the monster's blood for the first time.

"Rwwwooooaarrrrrhhhh!"

Geosgaeno immediately changed direction upon taking damage, rushing towards Sasuke's location in a blind rage. Naruto dashed out of the way of its charge, leaving Sasuke behind to put more pressure on the beast. The dark-haired genin bravely stood his ground and pulled a knife from his pouch, but, when the fiend was close enough, he leaped forward, flipping over it and landing on its back.

From its back, Sasuke ran up and forward, over its neck and onto its head. He shoved his hand into the remains of the tentacles he had cut off, and gripped them tightly for support. Rearing back, the boy raised his blade above his own head, before pitching forward and ramming it into the top of fiend's.

The result was not pretty.

Geosgaeno's brain was protected by three layers of hard exoskeleton, followed by another two layers of thin flesh, which in turn protected a much tougher endoskeleton that couldn't be broken unless you applied enough force to break a slab of solid steel. Of course, 'was' being operative word. You give anybody enough training in the ninja arts, and words like 'durability' and 'endurance' don't mean so much anymore.

Sasuke's kunai shattered the outer layers of bone, cut right through the flesh on the inside, and cracked and pierced the skull lying beneath, stopping just short of the brain. And though the attack wasn't a kill strike, it was still enough to incense the monster's already peaking fury.

"Hhhrrrrrroooooooaaaauuuuuuuuuuuhhht!"

Letting loose its most frightening howl yet, Geosgaeno began to thrash about wildly, bucking and jerking as it desperately tried to get its assailant off.

"Sasuke, lean back!"

"What!?"

"You know, like in those cowboy movies! When they pull back on the reins to stop the horses! Pull back on your kunai!"

"This isn't even close to the same situation, you idiot!"

"Do you have a better idea!?"

"I was planning on getting off this crazy thing!"

"And what would that accomplish!? Lean back!"

"What's that going to accomplish!?"

"It's going to get that crazy thing's upper body out of the water!"

"Damn it!"

Sasuke, somewhat reluctantly, heeded his comrades advice and shifted backwards, pulling on his knife with all his strength. Geosgaeno soon felt the shift in the blade's weight, and reared its head back, hoping to keep the kunai from shredding anymore of its body. This served the purpose that Naruto needed it to, forcing the fiend to pull part of its torso out of the water.

"My turn."

Withdrawing a single shuriken, the blond measured his throw carefully, aiming for the gaps in the beast's chest. Then, making the absolute most of his momentary opportunity, he threw his bladed throwing star with practiced precision.

A moment passed.

Naruto's aim was perfect, and the shuriken neatly sliced through the hole in Geosgaeno's torso, managing to completely miss the bones guarding it. This allowed it to surge forward with all of its speed and momentum, so that when it impacted, it would do so with the full force of its power.

"And now..." Naruto's fingers danced through the handsigns he had become so accustomed to making in the last month, giving shape and form to whatever minute amounts of chakra he was able to drudge up.

"...the finishing touch: Tobidougu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Projectile Shadow Clone Technique!) Sasuke, I'd cover my ears if I was you!"

Naruto's single shuriken multiplied with the application of his technique, and since the projectile was already within the fiend's chest cavity when he used it, it was a one hundred percent chance that all of the replications would hit home. And well... one hundred percent is one hundred percent. The stars crashed into the fleshy inside of the monster, digging into its body and scratching at the nearly non-existent organs.

And so, Geosgaeno screamed; it had a habit of doing that.

"Ssssrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggghhhhh!"

"Go for it man!"

With a shout of encouragement from Naruto, Sasuke made his move. Scrunching his body up as tightly as he could, the genin pulled backwards on the knife he was holding onto. Then he relaxed his grip all at once, but still maintained his hold on the handle of the blade. This caused the kunai to rebound slightly against the elastic skin on top of the fiend's head.

This tiny motion was all that was needed to literally jump start Sasuke's maneuver. The boy used the small bit of momentum he had created with the action, along with some chakra, to magnify its effects on his being and springboard him over the monster's now vertical body and onto its face.

Geosgaeno's mouth was opened wide by its scream, and its head was forced to face upwards by the pain racking its body. Sasuke performed a split as he came down on its mouth, bracing one leg against the monster's lower jaw, and the other against its upper jaw, leaving him precariously suspended over the fiend's abysmal throat.

If Geosgaeno was able to open its mouth even just an inch wider, or if Sasuke's legs gave out for even a second, the boy would have nothing keeping him in place, and he would fall into the beast's waiting stomach. It was a huge gamble, but oh-so worth it.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

In an absolutely vicious display of brutality and savagery, Sasuke took in a deep breath and exhaled, sending a ridiculously large fireball straight down the fiend's throat and into that same unfathomably vast stomach.

"HROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

It. Was. Not. Pleased.

Luckily, or unluckily if you're rooting for the bad guys, there isn't much a skeletal fish can do when its stomach is jammed full with well over one-thousand degrees of Celsius measured chakra-fire. Not much at all.

The fiend dived beneath the surface of the ocean, screaming, squealing, screeching, hoping to put out the flames raging in its stomach.

But it would do so in vain.

You see, it is in the very composition of a ninja's fire jutsu that the inherent flaw in this plan lies. Chemically speaking, the only way to extinguish a fire is to deprive it of either its heat, fuel or oxygen. Diving underneath water is usually enough to rid a flame of all three of these things, exterminating it. It is not so with a shinobi's fire.

A shinobi's fire is heated by chakra, fueled by chakra, and oxygenated by chakra. So long as the energy exists within the flame, it can survive, even in a place with nothing to burn and no air to consume.

Therefore, Sasuke's Goukakyuu wasn't going anywhere.

The flesh on the fiend's body was going to melt, the organs it had put so much energy into protecting were going to boil, and the bones that it had used to guard these things were going to crack and shatter. Cartilage would break, tendons would snap, and ligaments would be damaged beyond repair. Sasuke's fire was going to sit, and it was going to lick, and it was going to burn, until Geosgaeno's insides were deep-fried in whatever stores of fat it had in its body.

And yet...

Animals can become tenacious creatures when they are faced with pain and death. They can become vicious creatures, terrible creatures who exist for sole purpose of wreaking havoc and causing pain. And if this happens, if they fall that far into their primal fury, they will do these things with every last ounce of their being, even if they are burning alive...

Geosgaeno was no exception to this rule.

Whatever higher brain functions and thought processes it might have had were long gone, replaced with a single-minded urge to kill. It would no longer eat for the sake of sustenance, nor hunt for the sake of pleasure, it was simply going to destroy for the sake of destruction.

And perhaps that was the most frightening thing of all.

Naruto smiled gleefully at the sight of the fiend being set aflame. He smiled and he jumped and he shouted in joy.

We did it! I can't believe we did it! We actually killed that monster!

So happy was the boy that his face nearly split in half with the force of his grin as he whooped and hollered and otherwise cheered for animal cruelty. "Hell yeah, you stupid animal! You like that!?"

Sasuke had managed to jump off of the fiend's face seconds before it had snapped its mouth shut and dived underwater, so stumbling back over to the submerged portion of the bridge, he sighed and nursed his right thigh.

"Ha ha, what I tell you, Sasuke? Easy as pie!" Naruto called, bounding over to him.

"What are you talking about!?" the Uchiha responded angrily, having turned his back to lean against the slanted bridge. "You wanted to run away and forget this ever happened, remember!?"

"Details, details," Naruto answered, waving his hand unconcerned. "Settle down, you're too tense. Take a moment to just enjoy the ocean air..." Sniffing twice comically, the boy exclaimed, "Aahhh, smells like burnt flesh!"

Sliding down so that that he was now sitting on a piece of metal, Sasuke scoffed at his teammate's antics. He rested his back against the cool metal of the bridge and groaned. "What the hell was that thing, anyway?" he wondered.

Naruto paused half-way in his appreciation for dead enemies and looked at his teammate nervously. "Who knows..." he answered, trying to act nonchalant. "A demon or something..."

Sasuke mulled that over as he looked up at the sky. "A demon, huh? Like the Kyuubi?"

"Well, yeah," Naruto acknowledged, managing not to flinch at the mention of the kitsune. "I mean, the fox couldn't have been the only one out there, you know?"

"Guess so..."

"Yeah..." Naruto's shoulders sagged, and all the energy he been displaying up until just a moment ago went away. If Sasuke noticed, he didn't say anything about it. "So what do we do no-"

"Guys!?"

A high-pitched voice suddenly carried itself over the bridge and down its sunken end to interrupt the two genin's conversation. The voice seemed like it was going to go on but it stopped abruptly and then restarted. "What the heck happened to the bridge!?" it asked loudly.

The two boys looked around curiously, searching for the source of the question. After a moment, though, they both looked up and tried to see onto the surface of the metallic structure, realizing that it had come from there. They were just about to start climbing the damaged bridge when they both managed to simultaneously put a face and a name to the voice they had heard. Their heads snapped down to look each other in the eye, confused and incredulous.

"INARI!?"

"Heeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyy!"

The two boys looked up again, this time to see the smiling countenance of Tazuna's grandson. The boy was on his knees, bending over the part of the bridge where the steel had begun to bend and was waving down to them with a rusty crossbow.

"What are you doing!?" Naruto shouted up to him.

Inari, seemingly ignoring the blond's question, instead spoke to the one who had saved his mother earlier, "Sasuke, I came to help out!"

A tick appeared on Naruto's forehead. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" he yelled in annoyance.

"I... I did good, right?" the boy asked hopefully, paying the shorter ninja no mind.

"Hello!"

"Yeah, kid," came the arrogant-but-still-kind-of-encouraging reply.

"Hey!"

Inari grinned widely. "Heh he he," he chuckled, rubbing the bottom of his nose with a finger.

"Hey..."

"Go check on your grandpa, would you? I think he passed out or something."

"Not cool, guys..."

"Sure!"

"Aarrrgh! Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, finally recapturing his teammates attention and pointing an accusing finger at him.

"What?" the Uchiha asked, sounding annoyed.

"Why do you always do that!? It's not fair the way people always pay attention to you and ignore me!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sasuke said, standing up with a grunt.

"The hell you don't! You two were doing it on purpose!"

"Hey, quiet down, would you? Do you have to be so damn loud?" The Uchiha asked, rubbing his temples. He paused, and after a moment, he cocked his head and spoke again. "Just settle down, you're too tense," he mocked.

"Ha ha ha," Naruto laughed sarcastically, "That was so funny, I forgot to laugh."

"Then why did you, idiot?"

"B-be-because it was so funny, stupid," Naruto responded cleverly.

Inari, who had already seen to his grandfather and returned, now peered interestedly at the two boys' argument.

"I'm stupid?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You're wearing white pants," Naruto reasoned, having regained his composure. "That makes you stupid."

"You're clothes are orange, you moron."

"What's your point?"

"Whatever."

Inari looked up from the conversation, having just caught the barest glimpse of something in the ocean. Whatever it was, it was causing steam to rise from the water, and was slowly turning it lighter and lighter shades of purple.

"Don't 'whatever' me, you glory hog, I'll kick your ass."

"I'm a glory hog?" Sasuke questioned.

"Yeah, because, you know, you hog all the glory. And you're an attention whore."

"I'm an attention whore?"

What is that? Inari wondered, squinting so as to bring the thing into focus. The young boy had lived in the Land of Waves his entire life, and not once had he ever seen anything that looked remotely like the creature he was seeing now.

"You got a hearing problem or something!?"

"No, I'm just... Forget it, Naruto, we still have to take care of Tazuna and the rest of the team."

"Don't change the subject!"

"What subject!? You're just randomly throwing out insults!"

"Well I feel like randomly throwing out insults, so nya-"

Thwip.

The sound of a metal arrow slicing through the air immediately put the two boys on guard. Sasuke, being the one with superior eyesight, saw it first and immediately traced its trajectory. Judging from the angle at which it was flying, he concluded that the bolt had come from Inari's crossbow, so he didn't bother to look for its origin. Instead, he followed the path that arrow would take and in doing so found its target.

"Oh god, it's still alive..." the Uchiha murmured.

Naruto followed Sasuke's line of sight, and soon saw what his teammate had seen. His reaction was just as disturbed:

"And its still on fire!"

Geosgaeno erupted from beneath the sea, sending scalding hot water splashing all over the boys and truly hurting them for the first time the entire battle. The fiend's large belly was literally filled to the brim with flames, so as fire gushed from its mouth and into the sea, the water around it was superheated to the point where it could inflict third degree burns.

Inari's arrow had hit home, piercing the thing's outer shell, but the tiny piece of sharpened metal could do nothing to impede the now-enraged monster's charge.

"Shit!" came the call, fueled by pain and surprise. "Move!"

At Naruto's cry both genin leaped to either side of fiend, hoping to confuse it. Unfortunately, Geosgaeno no longer particularly cared who it was attacking, and didn't bother to go after the elusive ninja when there was something much easier to kill. The monster's arm-like appendages rose up slightly, curling into fists in such a way that it resembled concentrating. After a moment, it lowered its arms and opened its mouth instead.

The fiend's gaping maw widened into a perfectly round circle, ballooning until it was twice the size of either boy. Then, Geosgaeeno pulled its head back, performing an action that looked remarkably like the human act of inhaling. Naruto paled.

Soon, water and air began to surge toward the fiend, filling its stomach even more so than the fire within it already was. But more than oxygen and hydrogen would be caught in its trap, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the blond genin.

"Inari! Get out of the way!"

"Aaaaahhhh!"

It was too late, the boy had already lost his grip on the bridge and was being pulled into the vacuum created by the beast.

Naruto jumped forward, attempting to tackle him out of the slipstream, but was too slow to save the younger boy and ended up being caught up as well. Unable to escape, the blonde was helpless to rescue himself or Inari, and was stuck trailing after him as he was sucked into the fiend's stomach.

The bridge builder's grandson was the first to be trapped within Geosgaeno's mouth, and as the monster felt the human meatbag hit its throat, he closed it forcefully, denying Naruto entrance. But the momentum of the fiend's action still carried, and the genin flew towards its closed jaws, bouncing painfully off of them.

As he fell downwards, Naruto prepared himself for the sensation of hitting the water's surface hard, tightening the muscles in his back. However, that was not the fate that awaited him, as Geosgaeno would instead raise one of its wing-like arms to catch the boy, curling what would be the fingers of the hand in order to contain him in its finny grip.

Rearing its fist back, Geosgaeno punched forward, opening its hand as it did so, and slamming Naruto's now bruised and battered body into the sunken part of the bridge. The boy had the breath knocked out of him, and he was fairly certain that he know had two or three cracked ribs.

As he tried to sit up, Naruto felt something shift in his abdomen, and he immediately fell back, returning to the position Geosgaeno had left him in.

Nope, those are definitely broken, he thought, gasping.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

Inari's bloodcurdling scream cut through the air, causing Naruto, even in his injured state, to crane his neck in order to get a good look at the boy.

Tazuna's grandson had been captured by the fiend's attack, and was now trapped in its stomach. The same stomach, Naruto noted idly, that Sasuke had shot a fireball into, and therefore, the same stomach where the fire still burned.

Inari was trapped in an enclosed space with a giant fireball.

Oh shit.

The boy's wounded screams soon debilitated into sobs of misery, but that did nothing to comfort the weakened genin. Occasionally, the flames of the fireball would flare up, eliciting more howls from the c,hild, whose skin was now charred and blackened from the fire's effects.

"MOMMY!!"

Inari cried heart-wrenchingly for his mother, as all children do when confronted with pain beyond belief. Sadly, the women was not there to help, and could do nothing to save him. His moans and sobs grew louder.

Geosgaeno could sense the life in its belly, could hear it scream and feel it struggle even through the flames that still burdened its body. The monster derived a sense of sick satisfaction from this, for it is as they say, misery loves company. Why should the fiend burn alone? To spare a child?

Naruto could only look on as the young boy was roasted alive, but Sasuke was at least in fighting condition.

The Uchiha charged the demon, pulling out a knife as he did so. Nearing the beast, the true intensity of the heat he had let loose upon it hit him for the first time, but he pushed on unabated. As he reached the Geosgaeno, Sasuke began to hack wildly at the fiend's outer shell, hoping to pierce it and force the monster spit Inari out.

Unfortunately, spitting Inari out was the last thing Sasuke should have made the fiend do.

A blue ball of energy grew from Geosgaeno's mouth, and Sasuke could see that Inari, as well as all the fire in the beast's stomach, had been transferred into it. The fiend spat.

The ball of fire encasing the boy exploded when it impacted with the submerged bridge, only meters from where Naruto now lay.

Inari didn't move.

He didn't cry, he didn't scream, and he certainly didn't speak. There was nothing, nothing that could have signified death. There was nothing there that would make up for the fact that a young boy had just died. No last words, no eulogy, not even one last shuddering breath before he had passed on.

Inari's back was bent at an unnatural angle, and though his eyelids were open, his eyes could not be seen.

Melted, Naruto realized detachedly. Turning his head to stare at the corpse next to him, he went on in his thoughts.

His eyes must have melted.

Author's Notes:

So yeah, its been about two years since I've updated, but this chapter is nearly double that of the longest one I've ever written before, so... go wild. All eleven of you who care. And hey, at least some more final fantasy stuff showed up in this chapter, I bet no one saw that coming, or the ending there.

Also, if you think what happened to Inari was going too far, just wait until you see how this all plays out, I might have to bump this fic back up to an M-rating with all the violence that lies ahead. Doubly also, I hope to finally be done with Wave at the end of chapter seventeen, but if that doesn't happen, Squad Seven will definitely be back in Konoha by the time I finish eighteen.

Triple also: I rewrote some stuff, just kind of balancing everything out. Tried to make Naruto less wise, give Sandaime a bit more backbone in chapter three, Kakashi a little less of dick, and Sakura a tiny bit less screechy. I'm fairly certain Sasuke's still Sasuke.

And just to give you at taste of what's coming up next, the next chapter's title is:

Chapter 17: Overdrive