Chapter 40

The rain, beating down mercilessly, did not hinder the intense stare down of the three on one standoff. The water they stood on bounced and rippled with the way of the storm. Flashes of lightning closely followed by the booming thunder that could be felt within their own chests did little to calm their anxiousness. With an undetermined or unannounced starting point, Menma created two clones and rushed forward along with one of them, beginning the battle to end it all.

He leapt into the air, feigning a straight forward right hook. When Naruto moved in range to defend from it, he spun out of his previous attack and instead went for an overhead kick that was blocked all the same. Naruto pushed Menma up in the air before stepping back, avoiding the chain that popped up. He leapt to his left before his father could reach him. While in the air, he twisted out of the way of the Menma clone that rushed with him.

Menma quickly gave chase, using the rapidly appearing chains of his mother to swing on. When he reached the redhead, he threw a string of punches his way that were all blocked before he was kicked away. While in flight, Minato jumped over him, grabbing his hand to stop his tumble across the water before continuing on.

Naruto easily dislodged Menma's clone and lunged forward, avoiding the chains chasing him and engaged his father. He threw a right hook that was blocked with a grunt of effort before twisting his body and throwing a roundhouse kick with his right leg that was also avoided. He leaned back before he was caught in the face by Menma who came flying back in. Now with two to defend, he leapt away and went through hand signs. Two of his clones jumped out of the water. He briefly grabbed the back of their neck before the three split, attacking an opponent, the original rushing for Menma.

Kicking out, Menma ducked beneath the strike and rolled to his feet. Naruto spun around and caught the hasty punch headed his way. He kicked him in the side, putting some space between the two. As soon as he did, he went through more hand signs and jumped away, spewing out bullets of air that kicked up the water around them.

Menma dodged all of the attacks as he went through his own hand signs. When Naruto landed, Menma threw his hand forward, a huge gust of wind swept the water in front of him away as Naruto sunk beneath the dip and got behind Menma. Knowing he would, Menma turned around and blocked the punch that almost caught him in the face. He attempted to counter with one of his own, but his wrist was caught with Naruto's left hand. Naruto then used his right to push upwards on Menma's jaw, restricting his movements. When he released him, he kicked him back out to the water.

With a grunt of frustration Menma went through hand signs and slammed his hands onto the surface of the water. In a cloud of smoke, two small toads popped into existence. "Ma! Pa! I need chakra." He said urgently. With a quick nod, the two elderly toads hopped onto his shoulders and built up the necessary nature chakra. Menma's eye color changed to a deep shade of orange and his pupils shifted into horizontal lines. Two blue stripes appeared shifting down from each of his eyes to his jaw line.

Naruto watched in interest, not aware that Menma had mastered sage chakra. "Interesting…" he said quietly to himself. With a start, Menma rushed forward, considerably faster than he had been earlier. Naruto sunk into a taijutsu stance and waited for his arrival. Menma reached him and threw a sloppy right hook that Naruto leaned out of the way of. Well, he thought he did until he felt something slam into the front of his mask. He was sent skipping back along the water. Flipping to his feet, he squinted his eyes at the anomaly.

Shrugging it off, he opted to blocking instead. Rushing forward, he threw a roundhouse kick that Menma ducked beneath. When he landed he threw his arm up to block the counter kick that actually shook his arm with the amount of force. With a grunt of effort, he pushed back and ducked the follow up strikes. When he had a bit of freedom, he kicked him away, briefly disrupting the toad's continuous buildup of chakra. Going through hand signs, he jumped up into the air and spewed out balls of flames that kicked up the water around them.

Using the cover, Menma sunk down beneath the water and went through his own hand signs. From the water, two of his shadow clones leapt from the surface, trying to latch onto the ankles of Naruto who had already spotted them. They were quickly dispelled, the resulting smoke giving Menma the cover he needed as he drove the ball of spiraling chakra forward.

Naruto caught his wrist expertly and gently rerouted his attack. Before he could kill the technique out completely, his airborne father came within range and was clipped on his right shoulder.

Minato grimaced at the sting in his now injured appendage before he was painfully driven down into the water by the clone he was fighting who landed on his floating form. Flashing to the tag he placed on his back, he tried to kick him but his leg was caught with little effort. Shifting his body awkwardly, he spun the other way and actually landed with a brutal roundhouse that took the redhead off his feet.

Surprisingly though, it didn't disperse. Did that mean he was fighting the original? Jumping back from the counterattack from the downed enemy, he peeked over to see Menma land a fairly solid strike to his Naruto which also didn't dispel. With Menma in sage mode that was highly unlikely. Drawing his last remaining kunai, he landed and rolled backwards. When he made it to his feet once again, he began running along the water, jumping from right to left, he avoided the small balls of flames that rocketed towards him, seeming to curve or merge upon him for a short distance.

Seeing he was avoiding all of the attacks, Naruto switched it up and dropped back down into the water. Minato skid to a halt seeing he was no longer being chased. He lunged backwards however before the huge water dragon came screaming from the water beneath him. The dragon tailed him for a few seconds before it smacked down in the water nose first, dispersing in a shower that was indistinguishable from the rain. Now, he was faced with the problem of not knowing where Naruto was.

In his brief moment away from the battle however, he looked around amazed at these apparent clones of Naruto's. Kushina even had her chain through the arm of hers. They should have been long gone. That's when he remembered the footage he watched on Naruto and Itachi's chunin exam battle. These were Naruto's perfect clones. Though, they seemed to be a lot more durable than they were back then. So, how would they kill them? It seemed normal injuries wouldn't work. Maybe they had to actually kill them. It should be easy as he noticed they were a lot more sluggish than the real one.

Drawing his kunai he crouched down deeper into his stance. His right arm still stung from the hit he took from Menma, but he'd just have to fight through it. He jumped up, feeling the water shift beneath his feet. Sure enough, Naruto popped out and took off towards him in a sprint. Minato slashed and sliced at him, but Naruto expertly dodged the attacks with relative ease. Going for an overhead strike, Minato's wrist was grabbed and Naruto spun around giving him a very powerful roundhouse that sent him skipping back across the water. Naruto plucked the kunai from his hand before he kicked him and quickly sent it flying after him.

Flashing to it, he stuck his arm out, clotheslining the blonde man. Minato picked his face up out of the water and rolled forward and away from his own blade that was driving down to him. Naruto hopped back slightly while he threw the kunai up in the air, Minato flashed to it and grabbed it. He looked back to see Naruto finish a set of hand signs before shooting off a fireball to his unprotected form. He threw his kunai down into the water and flashed to it. Before he could resurface, his ankle was grabbed by yet another Naruto that began dragging him down. Minato tried to get out of the grip but found it impossible.

The clone threw kicks and punches his way that he was hard pressed to dodge given his quickly increasing need for air. Kicking him away, he was alarmed when the other Naruto splashed down into the water headed straight for him. Now, he was truly drowning. His ankle was grabbed again, thinking quickly, he swiveled down into an awkward position and stabbed the clone in the head. The blood poured out with the rising bubbles for a second or two before the clone dispersed in a burst of even more bubbles.

Minato used that cover to swim up and kick the other clone away before he resurfaced taking a huge gulp of air. He looked around making sure everyone else was still ok. Menma was getting handled a bit, but Kushina was doing alright, keeping her distance and utilizing her chains. He paid for his lack of focus on their battle with a kick to his jaw from the redhead he didn't know had resurfaced yet.

He quickly jumped from the water and blocked the next kick with a grunt of effort. He knew how to kill these now. Their brain had to die before they dispersed. So if he were able to even get a fatal strike that would stop their heart, it may take a few minutes, but the clone would eventually disperse. Dodging another attack, he sunk beneath the strike and sliced at his thigh. The attack missed by a hair or two and he paid for it with a brutal knee to the face.

Standing back up, he jumped forward, trying to drop kick the clone. Naruto leaned out of the way slightly, causing Minato's feet to slide onto the side of his shoulder. Naruto latched onto him and drove down, sinking his head into the water. Minato cut at his ankle, freeing himself. The Naruto clone stumbled back with the injury, grimacing from the pain but fought on nonetheless. Minato jumped up, nearly dodging the second water dragon that came soaring out.

Naruto jumped towards his airborne form and hit him across the jaw and plucked the Kunai from his hands again. Minato righted himself and flashed to the seal on Naruto's back, putting him into a choke hold. Naruto tried to reach up and stab him, but then Minato tightened his hold and ultimately snapped his neck with a resounding crack. When they finally hit the water, Minato pushed the body off of him and it began to sink. With a sigh of relief, he stood back to his feet and rushed for Menma's battle seeing that he needed some help. Upon his leave, he didn't noticed the glob of bubbles that arose from when the clone dispersed from deep down below.

Kushina chased the clone around in frustration as it didn't even try to attack her. He just continued dodging her attacks as closely as he could. It was like he was intentionally trying to stay close to them. Like he was examining them.

Naruto landed away a bit and crouched down. Kushina stopped, wondering what it was he was doing. He raised his hand and stared at his palm. Slowly, to her surprise, a bladed tip, similar to her own chain, began to rise from his palm before it faded out. He tried it again and got a little more out before it fizzed out as well. Trying it one more time, a chain successfully rose from his palm, a blue hue surrounding it as opposed to the yellow of hers. He could do it!

"Huh… so that's what it was…" he said standing to his feet. "I had read the Uzumaki scrolls within the library when I was younger. I was able to get most of the techniques down, but this one was always lost on me. Seeing it in action has taught me what I was doing wrong." He said informing her on how he was able to do it.

Kushina's eyes grew as in a moment of irony, a blue chain came soaring from beneath her. She jumped back and sent one of her own chains out to parry it. Naruto created one in each hand and rushed forward. He swiped away the multiple attacks from his mother, even using her chains to get to her faster. When he was close enough, he began swinging his own. It was clear Kushina was much more adept at using the technique however as she completely demolished him.

He jumped back and went through hand signs. The water around Kushina began to swirl into a whirlpool to her surprise. He even learned this technique? It was one of the much more difficult abilities to learn, if not the most difficult. She jumped back and away from it before she was sucked into it's current. If he truly knew the technique then she was in much more trouble than she previously thought.

Sure enough, she saw what followed the raging waters as from the violently twisting rapids, water dragons began spitting from its sides. She leapt out of the way of the first attack and noticed the one that attacked her reemerged. This was the origin of the technique of the water dragon itself. These wouldn't disperse on the first attack. They wouldn't disperse unless the user was disrupted. Leaping away from the next strike, she looked over to see that Naruto was still crouched down with his hands on the surface. Two more dragons were headed in the way of Menma and Minato.

Before she landed, she heard the cry of another one from behind her. Thinking quickly, she covered herself in her chains and flew into the mouth of the beast. While there, she spun her body violently, allowing the chains to split the water, giving her the time to get out. Going through hand signs, she spewed out an air bullet that flew for the redhead. Before it reached, another dragon leapt from the whirlpool blocking the attack. She squint her eyes and continued jumping away from the beasts. Know that going underwater would be suicide.

Minato and Menma continuously hurdled away from the attacks of the durable water dragons that continued to attack them while simultaneously dodging the attacks of the original Naruto. Minato knew the technique, hearing Kushina talk about it at one point, but Menma was absolutely amazed. "How do we defeat these!?" he yelled to his father from a distance.

Minato actually had no idea with that one. He had never even seen the jutsu in action until now. Jumping from one of the dragons, he leaned back, avoiding Naruto who came in with a flying spinning back kick. Before he could answer, he was falling towards the opened mouth of the other water dragon. Its red eyes pierced his own with an ominous intent. Minato could see its body coil down like a snake ready to attack. He couldn't feel his kunai anywhere which meant Menma must have a hold of it.

When the dragon lunged, he was sure that was it for him, but a chain wrapped around his abdomen and pulled him out of the path of the beast. Kushina pulled him and Menma back far enough that the dragons couldn't venture. The three of them watched as the original Naruto stood on the head of one of them staring out at them with his clone maintaining the jutsu. "There are two of them?" asked Ma from Menma's shoulder.

"Yeah, one's a clone." Menma said answering her.

Pa looked over to Kushina and Minato with a confused expression. "Why is it still alive? I can see it bleeding from here." He said looking at the clone Naruto's bleeding arm from when Kushina had pierced it.

"They're not normal clones Pa." Minato answered trying to catch his breath. "They're 'perfect clones' so the brain must die before they disperse." He said giving his analysis.

"Wow! What kind of technique is that!? That's amazing!" Ma said in astonishment. "They even share the same amount of chakra." She said a bit lower, still examining what she could from the two.

Minato was surprised by that. "They're chakra is even?" he asked in wonder. That had to be impossible. All clones only received a portion of the originals chakra, depending on how much chakra was used. With these being as sturdy as they were, it was unlikely that it would have as much chakra as the original, especially given how many he made.

"Yeah, and it's monstrous. Much like Kushina's." she said feeling it a bit more.

"Yeah, that's our son." She said, informing them a little more on the situation.

Pa and Ma shared a confused look before shrugging, they'd seen much stranger situations. Menma noticed how patiently Naruto was waiting. It was almost mocking how lax he was taking this entire battle. "Hey, anyone know how to end that Jutsu of his?" he asked in slight irritation.

"We have to disrupt the caster." Kushina said informing them. "The clone is maintaining it and we can't get close because of the nest." She said, trying to find a way to do it in her mind.

"Nest? What nest?" Menma asked.

Minato pointed over to the clone Naruto, more directly, the whirlpool in front of him. "It's an Uzumaki technique called the 'nest of the water dragons'. It's exactly as the name implies, a nest full of water dragons." He said astonishing the blonde.

"Wow, how does he even know something like this?" He asked in slight admiration.

Kushina shook her head. "I don't know. The scroll from Uzu didn't give much direction for it. That's why I never learned it… Naruto's a genius…" she admired.

Minato nodded. "Yeah, well." He said standing up. "We've got to force our way through that mess." He said going through hand signs. In a huge poof of smoke, Gamabunta appeared beneath them all. The giant toad quickly adjusted to the environment and stuck to the top of the water's surface.

"Eh!? Minato! What the hell do you need!? It's raining out here!" he yelled looking across at the hoard of water dragons.

"Sorry, Bunta." Minato said. "We need you to get us through that mess." He said showing respect to his summons.

"Urgh." The toad grumbled. "Was that's all?" he asked with a grimace.

"Yes, Bunta." Said a familiar voice that sent chills down the giant's spine. "That will be all."

The giant toad drew his sword. "U-Uh! Sure thing Ma! I didn't know you were here too!" he said with a bashful tone. "Right on it!" he yelled taking off full speed with the others clinging to his head with chakra.

Menma stepped up to his snout and got his attention. "Bunta! Give me some oil!" he yelled receiving a nod of confirmation. When they came within range, Bunta spewed out a stream of the black liquid that surrounded the group of dragons. Before the toad could jump away, a water dragon leaped from the water and caught his leg. He extended the appendage and sliced the neck off of the spiraling construct of water. When they were out of range, Menma spewed a ball of flames towards the edge of the darkened water.

The surface of the water and the dragons were quickly swallowed in flames. It was quickly doused by the rainwater however and Bunta rushed forward while the surface was clear of the water beasts. He skid to a halt before he ran into the whirlpool between him and the apparent target.

Looking down into it briefly, another group of water dragons burst from the nest, wrapping the toad up restricting his movement. "Menma!" Minato yelled looking down to the Kunai. Menma nodded and threw it as hard as he could towards the crouched blonde. Before it reached, it was swallowed by yet another one that then sunk back into the water. With a grimace, they were now completely out of Kunai.

Kushina was thinking of not only a way around them, but also on the fact that they lost sight of the original. Just as that thought crossed her mind, he landed behind her. She threw her arms up, somewhat blocking the punch that drove her back into Minato who spun around and caught her.

Setting her down, he rushed forward and engaged the redhead while Menma focused on getting to the clone. "Bunta!" he called out to the giant toad trying to free himself from the tightly coiled dragons. "Disperse!" he yelled. The giant toad wordlessly complied and disappeared in a huge cloud of smoke, leaving the others to freefall towards the water below.

Minato dipped into the water and quickly resurfaced before the now free water dragons shot towards him. Jumping around the beasts, he didn't notice Naruto until it was too late. He was very painfully kicked a ways away from the others.

Getting to his feet with a grimace at the pain, he picked his head up to look at Naruto who landed gracefully in front of him. Standing to his feet, he looked passed him at Kushina and Menma who were still trying to get to the clone. "Don't worry about them." Naruto said walking forward. "They'll be busy for a while."