Chapter 23
“You know.” Begun Iruka, taking a bite of his rice ball he had bought with him for the mission, “I don’t know what the 7 swordsman are?”
Shisui looked up from him own bento and replied, “They’re the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist.” He stated it as a fact he should have already known which to be fair wasn’t mandatory however due to it being war time they were encouraged to learn about all the special forces in each of the villages.
“That’s not very specific.” Iruka replied, squinting his eyes as if trying to recall when he may have heard about them.
Naruto placed her bento to the side, “The seven swordsmen are people who have mastered the art of using Kirigakure’s seven swords. Not just anyone can use them so should you meet a person who can use them, ideally you’d run the other way but that’s not possible here.” She had drawn in the attention of everyone around, everyone wanting to know more about the swordsmen than they already did.
“I don’t know a lot about the people who wield them at the moment however I know some facts. In alphabetical order there’s; Hiramekarei known as Twinsword, a bandaged sword with double handles which can store and emit the wielders chakra which can then take different forms.
“The next is Kabutowari known as Bluntsword but also known as Helmet Splitter, which consist of a single sided axe and a hammer joint together by long chain which can apparently break any defence.
“The third is Kiba known as Fangs but also known as Thunderswords. These are twin swords with lighting in it which increases its cutting power.
“The fourth is Kubikiribocho known as Seversword or the Executioners blade- some even call it the Decapitating Carving Knife. It has a butcher’s knife appearance but it’s nearly as tall as my brother. It has a semi-circle on the blade to… well decapitate someone. It also has a perfectly circular hole in it which is head size- I bet you can guess what that does.” She looked as saw Iruka and Shisui looked sick at the prospect. “If the sword is cracked or broken it has the ability to regenerate and become sharper using the iron in blood.
“The next is Nuibari known as Longsword or Sewing needle. It’s given that name because it’s the shape of a needle with a thin wire that looks like thread attached to it which can be used to pierce their enemies and… sew them back together in human bundles.
“The sixth is Samehada.” She grimaced causing everyone to raise their brows. She hated Samehada. “It’s known as Greatsword and Shark Skin because it has the appearance of a giant knife covered in shark scales. It’s the most terrifying of the seven swords because it’s sentient- it’s alive and chooses who can and can’t wield it. It also has the ability to eat chakra.” She shivered as she recalled Kisame and Killer B using the monstrous blade.
“The last of the swords is Shibuki known as Blastsword or Splash. Behind the blade is incorporated with explosive tags that never wear off which combines swordsmanship with explosions. Doesn’t leave a very pretty sight.” Everyone shivered as they thought about what an explosive sword can do.
She sighed as she thought about the wielders of those blades. She didn’t have a lot to go on, just the mission report from when Might Dai had died and even then, only five out of the seven had been names.
“Out of the seven I only know the names of five and which blade they weild. Jinin has Kabutowari, Raiga has Kiba, Fuguki has Samehada, Juzo has Kubikiribocho and Kushimaru has Nuibari. Any questions?” she asked, thinking she may have forgotten something which they might ask on.
Shisui was the one to ask, “How would you fight them if each sword has a unique trait? I mean, a sword than can make you explode and another which can eat your chakra?”
She thought about it for a moment, after all she hadn’t fought the swordsmen when they had been reanimated, then during the war the only swordsman who had lived had been Choujiro. After the war had ended no one had sparred in front of her using the swords.
“Not all the blades were forged for fighting. Take Samehada and Kubikiribocho for example, one is for killing and the other for executions. They all have different qualities but that means they can’t really be used in mid to long range combat. If we can trap them in seals or Shadow Possession to make sure they don’t move it’d be easier on us, because then we can deal with them afar. However, if you can get the blade off them is another method. Or with Samehada you can just use taijutsu. It can only take your chakra if you use your chakra.” HA! So that was what she was forgetting.
No one spoke a word after that, getting back to eating as they contemplated for the first time what they were really up against. It wouldn’t be Naruto’s first time going against one the swordsmen however it would be the first time she had to do so against all seven.
She could only hope that they wouldn’t show their faces till after reinforcements arrived. Even with Kurama’s power, it was hard to work around them. Unless she wanted to kill them all but that was an entirely different story.
Of course, Lady Luck was not on her side as not even ten minutes after they had finished eating, a thin blade with two thorn like blades protruding out of it came down and would have pierced through Naruto if she hadn’t jumped out of its path.
The blade broke the thick branch she had been sitting on, drawing the attention of the rest of Team Kushina. “Well would you look at this. We’ve got a bunch of tree lovers in our midst.” Naruto was thankful the man didn’t attack her with a lightning attack because she doubted Iruka would have been able to dodge it, who had been sitting near her on the next branch.
Team Kushina jumped together, looking around to see Fuguki, Jinin, Kushimaru, Raiga, Juzo, and two others she didn’t know the names of. The one with Shibuki had dark glasses on like an Aburame, a green sweater and a cloth tied around his mouth. The other who had Choujiro’s blade- Hiramekarei had chest armour like the ANBU’s but slightly darker in colour and brown hair in the shape of a triangle.
‘Of all the rotten luck.’ Groaned Kurama in her mind yet she paid him no heed. She already knew they were in trouble and didn’t need him to point it out.
“You missed, Raiga.” Spoke Juzo who in her opinion was scarier than Fuguki who had Samehada.
Naruto knew there was no way the five of them could take down the seven swordsmen. If it had only been a few it would have been possible but this was futile to even consider fighting.
She ignored the swordsmen chatting to themselves as she focused on everyone’s chakra, locking a small thread of it onto the swordsmen. Once she had made sure they had her chakra stuck to them, she focused on her teams’ chakra, locking on to the chakra she had imprinted onto them and teleported them further south, back into the Land of Fire.
Kushina turned around looked at her wide eyed, “Why did you send us back here?!”
“Because there’s no way we would have been able to deal with all 7 of the Ninja Swordsmen of the Bloody Mist! If there was only a few of them, that would have been manageable but it’s impossible to fight 7 monsters of shinobi despite our statuses.” She growled back, Kurama growling in her mindscape at the tone his previous host was using on her.
“We have a mission to complete you can’t just-”
“How do you expect us to complete the mission when we’re dead? Which is what would have happened to us if we stayed there.” She sighed and decided to take a different approach, “Look sensei, there’s no time mark on this mission. We’re here to sabotage Kiri for as long as it takes. Whether it be a month or four or even a year; there – is – no – rush.” She paused between the words to emphasise the fact they had as long as needed.
“And should they-”
“There is nothing you can say that will change the facts. If they decide to attack we’ll leave again. Let them chase us around, it’d be a wonderful way to sabotage their attack if they focus on us instead of Konoha.” Because at the end of the day, they were there to sabotage and infiltrate, not fight- fighting was only a last resort and only if they couldn’t escape.
No one said anything after that but she knew they all understood the message. If they had to fight the seven swordsmen it would be S rank but this mission was labelled A rank. Hell, if Naruto was hokage she would have make it as S rank and given it to ANBU. They all needed stress relief and she thought they could use the time to prank the enemy.
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The universe had given them a break which was very kind for the last week and a half as they used her shadowclones and her multitude of summons to confuse and lure away the swordsmen away for the borders.
So far, their plan of sabotage was going well, they had been joined by team Daichi consisting of Mizuki, Shizu Yamanaka and Tadase Nara who had all graduated with her. A few days after they had arrived, a few members of the ANBU, Foundation, two Hyuuga, one Uchiha and an Inuzuka had also arrived to assist them.
With the extra hands they had managed to keep the swordsmen off them for some time and Naruto was pleased about that. Several of her clones had had run-ins with the swordsmen however after that one incident, they had divided into groups of two, two and three.
Despite her apprehensions of Mizuki she managed to work well with him during the mission despite having never been able to do so when they had been in the academy.
Mizuki was surprisingly very good at sabotaging the enemy’s route with no regard to the destruction he left in his wake. It was quite funny, he had left hidden seals with itching powder in on a branch that Hirameikari’s wielder had landed on and she had to refrain from laughing as he had been scratching none-stop as he cursed all of them.
One thing that should be noted was the difference between the two teams. Team Kushina made it a point to never stop training, even if they’re on a mission. This was something their joint team did not do and when they saw Shisui and Naruto sparring they had assumed the two teammates had had a falling out.
It had taken sometime to calm them down and inform them they had been sparring only for them to receive horrified looks over how strange their team was.
Naruto failed to see what was so odd, Team Minato and Team Kakashi had always trained during mission time. Hell, Kakashi-sensei had taught them tree-walking when they had been on a C rank turned A rank mission against Zabuza.
When on missions it was best to these sort of things, on field practice, in her opinion, was the best type of practise.
Of course, things had way of turning to bad constantly in her life.
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Naruto felt like stabbing someone. Repeatedly. Hopefully killing them in the process.
As it stood, she had five people here that she and Kurama would kill. The only downside to this situation; she couldn’t use her chakra cloak around the Aburame. She’d have to relocate as she wasn’t used to the feel of Kurama’s heavy chakra.
‘Excuse me! My chakra is luscious! Not heavy!’
‘Keep telling yourself that Kurama. We all know that it’s far too heavy for people to handle.’ She muttered back.
‘They are simply not meant to use the chakra of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.’ He raised his head high and Naruto chose to allow him to do as he pleased, thinking of a way to get them all out of this situation.
She tried to focus on everyone’s chakra and hiraishin them away yet found that she couldn’t.
Fuguki looked smug in their direction, “Can’t leave, can you Namikaze?” he asked the question however Naruto knew he knew she couldn’t.
She glared at his with Kurama’s crimson red eyes, “What did you do?”
It was Juzo who replied, “Took a leaf out of the Uzumaki books. Fuinjutsu.” Naruto and Kushina hissed at him, Kushina channelling Kurama’s chakra as well as her eyes changed into the same colour.
“You have no right-” Naruto began only to be interrupted.
“We don’t particularly care. We won the war against Uzushio so we got the spoils of that war.” Interrupted Jinin and Naruto refrained from tearing his spine out with her teeth.
Kushina smirked with her elongated fangs, “If memory serves me right, you had to ally with Iwa to take down Uzushiogakure. My home wasn’t even the size of Kiri. Yet I recall your forces being diminished after that battle.”
Naruto held back her smirk. Kushina Uzumaki gave jibes like those of Onoki- subtle reminders and no need to threaten as their abilities spoke for themselves.
It was then that all hell broke loose.
Jinin came for Naruto and Kushina, Naruto using her bijuu mode- ignoring the ramifications it would later have on her. Kushina unleashed her chakra chains and Naruto refrained from staring in awe as they glowed gold, piercing the handles of Kabutowari into the ground.
Naruto took that chance to create a rasengan, aiming it to the man’s torso however the dark haired male dodged- barely- leaving the rasengan to tear at his cloak.
Naruto didn’t allow that to stop her as she used Kurama’s chakra to create another arm and hand from her stomach, clutching the man in a tight grip, not allowing him to leave and burning him with her Kurama’s chakra as well.
Using the opportunity, she created another rasengan and this time, it tore at him and his torso, spewing his guts on the ground and her clothes yet she barely paid any heed to it.
Kushina released the chains from Kabutowari and Naruto noticed the rest of the battles. Everyone seemed to be struggling as not everyone had bijuu on their side.
Naruto channelled the sage chakra into her right arm only, allowing it to protect her arm as she made a clone to help with created the rasenshuriken. Sure, she wasn’t supposed to know how to make it, but that wasn’t on her mind when she had seen Mizuki and Iruka get struck by Juzo’s blade.
It didn’t hit him however it did hit Kubikiribocho, cutting the Executioner’s blade in half, the other half landed some distance away.
Juzo snarled at her and Naruto was disturbed at his face, the scar, the red lines and the sharp teeth made for a terrible combination so add those to a snarling face…
He launched another attack at her teammates however the ANBU and Foundation members who had come with them had taken down their enemy- Hiramekarei’s wielder- intercepted the attack, ANBU holding back Juzo as the Foundation pierced him just below his heart.
Everyone, Naruto included, turned around when a scream was heard. Fuguki had used Samehada to take down their Inuzuka teammate’s ninken. The scream had been the cry of the woman who a moment later had been killed.
Naruto cringed at the line-up, all of those against Fuguki and Samehada were people who relied on using chakra.
The next moment had everyone holding their breath and Naruto reacted instinctively. Without even forming the hand seals she switched with Shisui before Samehada could cut him.
Samehada cut her instead, feeding off her chakra which she was using- her chakra cloak. Thanks to having her chakra cloak activated, she wasn’t as injured as she should have been however her relief was short lived when she noticed she couldn’t move.
She looked down and noticed a thin thread tying her feet together and her eyes widened knowing exactly what that thread was from. Less than a moment after, she felt a thin yet very sharp object pierce the corner of her heart.
By that point, her chakra cloak had been deactivated and as she began to fall, she could hear her name being yelled however all she paid attention to was Kurama- keeping the bijuu from taking over and killing everyone he could see for harming her.
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The sandaime’s face was grim as he looked at the latest report. He had made many decisions in life- decisions he could live with and decisions which haunted his waking hours and kept him in doubt. Alas, he was hokage and had to live with the decisions he had made and would continue to do so till he died.
Naruto’s heart had stopped beating, Team Daichi had one teammate remaining, the Inuzuka dead, her ninken dead, and one of the Foundation were dead. Overall, it had been a mission than had gone both right and wrong, the swords they gained had done nothing to relieve the pain in his heart over the news.
The rest of the report had weighed on him further which was why he had summoned Team Minato to his office.
He looked at all of them and he knew they knew what he was about to say was important. Hiruzen did not usually give the missions himself on his own and when he did it was a grave situation.
“Team Minato. Your mission is to go to the Hidden Grass and destroy Kannabi Bridge- stopping Iwa from breaching our nation.”
He could live with this final decision before he could retire, he though, but how wrong he was.
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