10 advanced chapters on my Patreon: Fiction Haven
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Swish!
Before I could crush Fubuki's face, Dotō joined the fray by sending an ice staff my way. I stepped aside to avoid it, thus allowing Fubuki to escape. Dotō seemed to particularly care about this lackey. But maybe, he only wanted to increase his chance of survival.
A rush of memory flowed into my brain. The clone I had left behind to oversee the situation outside had dispelled himself. Sasuke had apparently managed to kill the fat lackey. He was left bloody and battered, but he succeeded. A smirk crept up my face as I recalled the small victorious smile he had made when he defeated the guy. The kid was likable when he didn't talk about killing his brother for revenge.
The room temperature went down drastically, pulling me out of my reverie.
"Naruto, watch out!" Sakura and Koyuki shouted.
I tilted my head to the side, avoiding an ice spike emerging from the ground. I had honed my reflex to the extreme. I had fried my nerves with Chakra and cut myself a hundred times to make myself react a second faster. The attack couldn't have hit me even if I hadn't processed everything faster.
Ice pillars emerged from the ground, entrapping me. I looked at Dotō in intrigue as he froze the surroundings with Hyōton.
"Hyōton: Kokuryū Bōfūsetsu!"
His next course of action made my body tingle in alarm. An ethereal black dragon created with the ice in the surroundings came flying my way after Dotō threw his hand forward. Creating a shadow clone, I traded places with him a moment before the dragon struck him. Unfortunately, I was not far from him enough to not get hurt by the Jutsu.
The ice shards embedded in my back stung. It hurt even more when I had my clone remove them from my back. I couldn't risk having Dotō and his lackey manipulate the shards in my back to kill me. When the ice dust settled down, I saw a series of ice spikes coming at me from the ground. I wrapped Wind Chakra around my tantō and then released a wind blade at the spikes, cutting them before they reached me.
The ground shook, prompting me to move away. Using Shunshin, I appeared beside Fubuki and struck her in the stomach, preventing her from finishing her Jutsu. As she keeled over, I delivered a roundhouse kick to her head, sending her flying away. She was saved by her armor; otherwise, she wouldn't have got away with only a bleeding temple.
I swung my tantō to the side, destroying the ice needle sent my way. Dotō quickly breached the gap between us, forcing me to take a side step. He had a dragon head made from ice covering each of his hands. The wind his punch produced was enough to tell me that my bones would not like it if I got hit.
Clank!
My tantō met his ice-covered hand. I wisely stored my tantō in the Storage Seal under my wrist upon hearing the resounding sound. I could buy another one if it broke, but I wouldn't intentionally break it. Bare-handed, I resorted to Taijutsu. A series of punches and kicks later, I found out that Dotō was decent at Taijutsu, albeit slow.
I could always score a hit, but dealing a damage was quite a hard task. The Chakra armor he was wearing provided him with a solid defense. Of course, I had a way to nullify it. I was merely engaging him in a battle to distract him from my clone who was sneaking on him to slap a Chakra Disruption Tag on his armor.
"Do you think you can sneak on me!?"
Dotō turned around and swatted my clone, dispelling him before he could do his job. It didn't matter as he gave me a chance to slap the Chakra Disruption Tag on Dotō's armor. It worked instantaneously. The ice covering Dotō's hands shattered. He turned around and widened his eyes in alarm, in time to receive a massive fireball from me.
"Ack!"
The force from the fireball threw him away. He managed to cover his body with ice, but it didn't completely protect him. His hair was singed and his face suffered from a second-degree burn. He glared at me viciously as his entire body trembled in rage.
"Fubuki, get up!"
The pink-haired lackey stood up from the ground, clutching her head at the call. Her eyes were unfocused, but she still listened to her boss.
"Distract him while I prepare my Jutsu."
"Un…der…stood."
Fubuki didn't understand. She was less than thrilled to come at me but did it regardless. The poor bitch could barely even sprint. Good thing, she had her Hyōton. Even then, the ice needles she sent me couldn't even graze my skin. I took out my tantō and came to her side with Shunshin. I coated my tantō with as much Chakra as I could control and swung it at her neck.
My tantō was stopped by the protective Chakra barrier her armor generated for a moment, but it didn't last long. That one second of delay would have given her enough time to escape if she hadn't been distracted.
Slash!
My tantō cut through her neck cleanly. I could see the confusion on her face. She hadn't even registered the fact that she had been decapitated when she closed her eyes. With her down, I returned my attention to Dotō. I was in time to see him finishing his prized Jutsu.
"Hyōton: Sōryū Bōfūsetsu!"
It was an advanced version of Kokuryū Bōfūsetsu. Instead of one dragon, he launched two of them at me. Dotō intended to sacrifice his lackey from the very beginning. Fubuki's body hadn't even touched the ground yet, but the dragons were already halfway. Even if she was still alive, she wouldn't be able to dodge them.
My mind raced, thinking of a way to keep my life. Everything slowed down as I thought about my next course of action. I couldn't run. I was not fast enough, so doing that would only make my back a practice target. I didn't have any shadow clones to trade places with anymore. The only way for me to survive was to tank the attack and it would hurt badly.
I gathered as much Chakra as I could in my lungs and shouted, "Fūton: Daitoppa!"
It wouldn't stop the dragons but slowed them down enough to give me time to cover myself with impromptu Chakra armor. My body hurt even before the dragons hit. I overstrained my muscles because of my Chakra usage. When the dragons hit me, the pain was amplified. I prided myself in my cool-headedness and pain tolerance, but I had to let loose a manly grunt.
"Agh… fuck!"
"Naruto!"
Koyuki and Sakura's shout was irritatingly loud, but I thanked heavens for that. Although I could barely feel my body, that meant I was still wide awake. When my vision was cleared of any ice dust, I found Dotō panting while kneeling. The Jutsu must have taken a huge chunk of his pitiful reserve without his Chakra armor to enhance it.
I looked down at my body and winced. The dragons couldn't pierce me, but a large area of my torso had its skin peeled off. My blood was freely running down my pants. It was pissing me off, but I was more pissed off by the fact that my shirts were obliterated.
"You are going to pay for this," I snarled, causing him to look up in shock.
"You are still alive!?"
I ignored his disbelieving look and used Shunshin to appear before him. Before he could raise his hand in defense, I smacked his head with the pommel of my tantō.
Thunk!
"Gah!"
"Don't act like it hurt. You don't know how much pain I am enduring right now."
I technically felt nothing because of the adrenaline, but I knew how much pain I was in. Dotō looked up with gritted teeth. He looked at me in resentment until I raised my tantō. A look of horror flashed across his face. At this moment, he must be recalling the time when he killed his brother.
Slash!
My tantō came down, cleaving his neck off his body. His look of horror remained on his face until he closed his eyes. I created a shadow clone and told him to show off Dotō's head outside. It would stop the fight that was still ongoing. I walked to the cell and met Koyuki's worried look. I told her to back off from the bars before I cut the door into parts.
"Are you okay?" Koyuki asked.
"I don't, Princess," I answered sarcastically.
Koyuki winced. "Sorry. I couldn't do anything."
"Well, you can do something for me." I knelt and deactivated the device around Sakura's neck. "You can give me a lap pillow after this."
"Naruto, you shouldn't move too much," Sakura said, holding my wrist as I was about to stand up.
"I am fine, Haru—"
My vision tilted and I lost control of my body. The adrenaline had worn off and I could feel the pain again.
"—no…"
Puff.
My head landed on something soft. Judging from the smell, it was Koyuki's thighs. I looked up and she smiled down at me. She honestly looked like a Yuki-Onna with the mischief in her eyes.
"Can't wait to enjoy my lap pillow, can you?"
"Shut it… Yuki-Onna…"
I shouldn't have said that, but my weakened body loosened my mouth. As darkness overtook me, I hoped I would be able to see the light again.
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Honorary Mention:
Faisal Salih
Florin Durbaca
Friday
Jamaul Pryor
Luck George