Here you go, a new chapter. I hope you all enjoy it.
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Winds carrying dust and sand rushed through the stretch of desert where jutsu of different elements were being thrown around by a supposedly dead man and his masked humanoid creatures, and a young red-haired jonin and his clones.
Naruto, along with two of his clones, engaged in Taijutsu and armed combat with Kakuzu, while the rest of the clones fought the masked humanoids, pairing off against each masked creature.
Naruto and his two clones exchange strikes with Kakuzu without landing any hits yet, even though they seem to overwhelm him in numbers, Kakuzu is surprisingly very quick, agile, and flexible.
'This can't continue,' Kakuzu thought to himself as he ducked, dodging an incoming Kunai from one of Naruto's clones.
'Their coordination is on a different level. It won't be long befo….' Kakuzu's line of thought was cut when he stepped on a soft spot in the sand, making him slightly lose his momentum for a split second. That was enough for one of Naruto's clones near Kakuzu to strike at him with a kunai that the clone held.
As the kunai reached the upper part of Kakuzu's chest near his right shoulder, it didn't penetrate deep at all, much to the surprise of Naruto and his clones. The sound emitting from the place the kunai struck was a clang that was similar to the sound of hitting a rock with something metal.
The unexpected situation made the attacking clone falter for a second, giving Kakuzu enough time to strike it, making it dispel in a puff of smoke before jumping backwards while weaving hand seals with his hands, stopping at and keeping the form of a dragon hand seal as soon as his feet landed on the ground again.
Doton: Doryūdan (Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet)
A large puddle of mud formed beside where Kakuzu stood, and a large mud dragon's head formed from it. The mouth of the dragon head was open as it spewed and shot out multiple mud balls that headed straight for Naruto and his clone.
Naruto and his clone dodged and weaved the incoming projectiles. During that, Naruto's mind analyzed his current situation.
'Kakuzu seems to have some type of earth release jutsu on his skin, making it hard to cut or pierce him.' Naruto thought to himself before glancing at where his other clones were fighting the masked creatures.
While not able to see them fully, he can see their silhouettes through the sandstorm.
A few of his clones have been dispelled by those creatures, without any of them going down. Not that the clones didn't try; they landed hits that would kill regular shinobi. But those creatures didn't fall, even with multiple hits and jutsu thrown at them. From the memories Naruto received from his clone, the places where the creatures are hit don't bleed, and the dark grey tendrils always fill back any area where they were struck. The clones also found out that these creatures, while using tendrils to fight, also use types of elemental release unique to each mask.
The mask with red paint used fire release. The mask with yellow paint used lighting release. The mask with deep blue paint used water release, and the final mask was painted light blue and used wind release. The light blue one was also the only mask moving on all four.
Seeing this, the surviving clones started trying to go for the masks, hoping that they were the weak point, as the tendrils seemed to be coming out from the masks.
Naruto looked back at Kakuzu, whose jutsu was still throwing mud balls at him and his clone. He needs to find out if taking out Kakuzu will also stop these creatures. He can't wait for the clones to figure out if the masks are the weak points of those creatures. What if it isn't?
Naruto glanced at the clone near him and nodded before making a cross-hand seal while the clone formed a set of hand seals.
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)
Katon: Karyū Endan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet)
Naruto formed multiple new shadow clones that rushed around the two sides of the older clone, who breathed out a thin stream of fire that formed a huge roaring dragon made of fire that rushed towards Kakuzu while swallowing the still incoming mud balls.
...
Kakuzu's eyes widened at the incoming inferno dragon, letting go of the dragon hand seal, making the mud dragon head beside him crumble, and starting to weave a set of hand signs before slamming his hands on the ground.
Doton: Doryūheki (Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall)
Once again, an earth wall emerged from the sandy ground, but it was thicker and more durable than the previous one since Kakuzu pushed more Chakra into the jutsu, knowing full well that the incoming fiery dragon was much stronger than the earlier fireball.
BOOOOM. Thud, thud, thud.
The incoming fire dragon met the earth wall with a deafening bang, accompanied by several other hits that rattled and started cracking the earth wall. Those hits were from the, now burning, mud balls that the fire dragon intercepted from Kakuzu's earlier jutsu. The fire rushed past the edges of the earth wall, deteriorating it with the fire's momentum.
But in the end, the earth wall held, if barely, keeping Kakuzu safe as he pushed chakra to the earth jutsu covering his skin, making his skin appear darker, while weaving a new set of hand seals.
'I regret agreeing to take this mission. Not only is it taking too much out of me, but I can't even cash the brat's bounty if I caught him, and that is if I can catch him; the brat doesn't seem to be running out of chakra anytime soon.' Kakuzu thought bitterly as he finished weaving the hand seals and slammed his hand on the ground, releasing chakra from his dwindling reserves to meet the incoming clones.
...
Naruto's clones were rushing towards the deteriorating earth wall from its two sides in a pincer maneuver, as they could feel Kakuzu was still behind it.
Suddenly, they felt Kakuzu release a large amount of chakra as they reached the edges of the crumbling and scorched earth wall.
Doton: Doryūsō (Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears)
Mud spears appeared from the ground on the two sides of the Earth wall, striking upwards just a second later after the clones felt Kakuzu release the chakra, not giving most of them time to dodge, causing them to dispel, leaving a few clones remaining who rushed around the mud spears and towards Kakuzu.
The first clone that reached Kakuzu engaged him in Taijutsu before intentionally popping in front of him with a cloud of smoke. This confused Kakuzu, unaware of the clones' intentions. But that was all that the clone intended to do, to obstruct Kakuzu's vision for a brief moment with the dispelling smoke so that the remaining clone would reach Kakuzu. And as soon as they were all in proximity of Kakuzu...
Boooom. Boooom. Boooom.
Bunshin Daibakuha (Clone Great Explosion).
Multiple rapid explosions sounded across the dunes of the desert and the surrounding sandstorm. The explosions decimated the mud spears and what remained of the earth wall, with Kakuzu being in the center of the explosions.
Is it over?
To be continued.
Guys and gals, show me those powerstones.
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