Inheritance

Death In the Forest

The slight shift and tightening of his grip on his katana was the only hint that the Kusa-nin was about to make his move, before he darted across the clearing towards the original Naruto, only just slow enough for Naruto to be able to see. One of his Kage Bunshin stepped in front of him, taking the ferocious downwards slash aimed at him with it's sansetsukon, before shifting his body allowing Naruto to jab at the katana wielding shinobi from behind him.

The Kusa Genin pirouetted to the left, dodging the blow, before crouching mid-spin, and using the momentum to sweep at the Bunshin's knees with his blade, dispelling it. Instantly, he rolled to the side to avoid a downwards smash from the second Bunshin that had been hiding with Naruto. Landing crouched, he used his already bent legs as a spring to launch himself at the offending Bunshin, destroying it with a lightning quick flurry of his blade. Naruto leapt at Orochimaru's former student with his Sansetsukon leading, creating yet another Kage Bunshin almost without thought as support, and both shinobi launched into a furious close-range struggle for dominance, with the Bunshin Naruto had hidden around the clearing rushing towards the melee in order to aid the beleaguered original.

For the first time in his life outside of sparring with Jiraiya and Yuugao, Naruto was fighting absolutely all out. His enemy was faster, stronger, and was far more skilled with his weapon than Naruto had for his own. He could feel his muscles strain, forcing themselves beyond what Naruto had previously thought he was capable of in order to try and match his enemy's speed; and rather than act as a diversion and irritant, or strategic chess pieces, his Kage Bunshin were being forced into sacrificing themselves to the enemies attacks simply to make up for when Naruto himself fell behind the pace the Kusa Genin was setting.

Every mistake and poorly judged manoeuvre was punished with drawn blood, his enemy ducking and weaving between Sansetsukon strikes and fists, and almost effortlessly targeting minor flaws in his taijutsu form. Being forced into a poor stance led to a sizable gash on his thigh from being unable to evade a sweeping attack completely, and a clever spinning strike had led to Naruto taking another nasty pommel blow to his face, that he could almost instantly feel swell and raise into a severe bruise.

Worse still, the smoke in the area was growing ever thicker, as the flames from his earlier attack continued to spread through the forest towards them, their fight only just staying ahead of the encroaching wildfire. His vision was beginning to get severely impaired whilst his enemy's remained unhindered, and breathing was becoming practically impossible.

And the Kusa Genin knew it.

Suddenly, without warning, their frantic melee was over - Naruto noticeably worse off for the exchange - and the grey haired enemy had darted back into the smoke, becoming seemingly invisible in the suffocating haze.

"My master long studied the silent-killing techniques of Kirigakure, and some of those secrets, he passed on to his subordinates. All those from Otogakure are at least somewhat skilled at stealth and assassination techniques. I will concede that you are stronger than I without my Master's gift, but now your time is up. You can't see, and have no means of locating me, or predicting my attacks. When I have my choice of vital points to aim for, holes in your stance to exploit... How many attacks do you suppose your reflexes and luck will carry you through? One? Two? This fight is over."

Naruto scowled at his enemies declaration. It was arrogant, and infuriatingly presumptuous, but also contained a grain of truth. He couldn't see his enemy, and he knew enough about silent-killing to know that those even moderately skilled at them could keep themselves utterly invisible in mist and smoke right up until they struck. Not only that, but the Genin evidently knew some voice manipulation, as his voice seemed to come from all around the area, making it impossible to discern his location.