Crystal In the Darkness (Sequel To The Crystal In The Light)

76. Youth and Blade

The sounds of the raindrops falling down on the ground relieved everyone's nerves as the army continued to fight against the clones.

One of the raindrops collided on a sharp blade as the wielder cut through the army of blond clones while slashing against them.

She quickly took out a kunai bomb and threw it to the eastern direction dispelling the clones standing in the way of the blast radius.

At the same time, in the other side of the battlefield, a man aged 19 shouted the words of youthfulness with great vigour and energy.

As the man moved through the blonds' ranks destroying them completely leaving nothing but residues of smoke which disappeared in thin air, he finally saw his woman teammate who was now wielding a kunai and a o katana in her hands.

"Tenten! Behind you!" The man with bowl cut shouted as Tenten quickly whirred around and slashed her blade across another clone which vanished in white smoke while Lee quickly appeared behind one of the clones and threw a hard punch ob it destroying it completely.

"Tenten. We should fight together." Lee shouted as they both rushed towards each and their back touched.

Lee took out a tri nunchak and Tenten took out another sword and vaished on thin air destroying some clones before they quickly returned with their backs touching together.

"I agree, Lee. We have to do it together or else it will become too troublesome."

Somewhere certain clan members from a certain clan sneezed at the same time before continuing to fight against the clones.

"Anyways, Tenten. We need to get to original one, the one who is creating these clones." Lee said as he destroyed another clones with his fist.

"I agree, Lee. But the real question is where is he?" Tenten replied as she threw a shuriken towards another shadow clone.

"Were you thinking about me?" They heard a voice from the above.

Looking towards the sky, they saw a lone blond haired sitting on a large boulder.

"Yo! I am the real one. Let's see what you have got here." Naruto said.

"I will not be using any ninjutsu or genjutsu during our fight. This is to ensure a fair fight between us. But I will use my weapons and Taijutsu skills. So what do you think?" Naruto said as he jumped from the boulder.

"Seems like a fair deal. You are youthful to minimize the gap between us. But it's quite unyouthful that you are our enemy." Lee said as he punched the air in enthusiasm.

"Very well. I agree with Lee." Tenten said as she spun her katana and got into her fighting position.

Tenten quickly moved through handsigns after taking out a sealing scroll and unsealed a dual bladed katana. 

She stood up and rotated her katana while Lee took out a nunchaku and spun it before stopping and taking position.

Suddenly, Naruto felt a sharp pain on his stomach. He looked around and saw that it was Lee.

"Huh! I thought that you cannot use ninjutsu!" Naruto exclaimed

"Who said that its a clone?" Lee said with a smile before throwing a punch on his face. 

Naruto looked around and saw that it was just an after image, which disappeared. 

Quickly looking towards Lee, he realized how much he underestimated the boy with bowl cut.

Never ever will I underestimate an opponent. Naruto thought bitterly before quickly blocking Tenten's dual sword with his own katana which he quickly unsheathed.

Naruto quickly kicked on Tenten's leg but she jumped in order to dodge the hit.

"Well, Tenten. I see that your skills have improved since I last saw you." Naruto said as Tenten quickly unscrolled a scroll which contained a fire dragon.

Naruto's eyes widened as he quickly weaved handsigns for the fireball and countered it effectively.

He suddenly felt a presence behind him. He quickly moved towards left to avoid a blow and he saw a nunchuk and caught it. He quickly threw the nunchuk in the air causing the wielder to fly into the air.

Naruto could swear that he saw a smirk on Lee's face when he felt an immense pain in his left hand. Looking towards his hand, he saw that it was bleeding.

Bleeding? It shouldn't bleed at all and instead the weapon should have passed through his body without harming at all.

That's when his eyes fell on the weapon and his eyes widened in shock and recognition of the weapon.

It was his own crystal blade which he swore that he lost during an Akatsuki mission.

"Surprised? Well, I suppose that this blade belonged to you. I found it when we were ordered to investigate a murder case of Guren san. That was the first thing, I saw and I knew that it was you.

I also noticed the crystal powders which very often appear from your jutsu falls on your body without even passing across your body as it should, and that too from the other shinobi's reports. I only needed to confirm my hypothesis and I finally confirmed that my theory was correct.

So that's your weakness? Your own crystal jutsu?" Tenten said as she smirked and took out a few more crystal blades from her sealing scrolls.

"Well, you are right. This is my only weakness is my own crystal. I am quite surprised that you, who is not even my close friend managed to find my one and only weakness." Naruto said as he pulled out the crystal blade and threw it away. Blood came pouring out of his hand before it was healed by the Kyuubi chakra.

"Although I have a question, how did you manage to get the reports? I thought that the room where the papers are kept, was off limits" Naruto asked as he quickly dodged another crystal blade thrown by Lee.

Immediately Tenten started stuttering out of nervousness. 

"Well! A-A-About that....y-y-you see.". Tenten began as Lee looked at her to make sure that she was alright.

"You stoled the documents from the room?" Naruto asked, his curiosity getting better of him. He got his answer when Tenten looked down in shame.

"Just as I expected. Anyways, I have to go now. Best of luck dealing with clones which resembles like plants." Naruto said as he shunshined away.

"HEY! WAIT." Lee shouted.

"Lee. Is it just me or something is emerging?" Tenten asked as Lee looked down and saw that the legend was indeed correct.

"HEEEELLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" One of the creatures shouted as it appeared out of the ground.

"WHERE IS NARUTO UZUMAKI??!!!  KILL US AND FIND HIM!!!!" Another clone shouted as it appeared out of the ground.

In the meantime, the sun rose in the middle of the clouds, signalling the beginning of the next day

Seems like the war will never end. Tenten thought as she twirled out a staff and struck it against a Zetsu clone.

Tenten: Finally, some screen time. Whew! I am so tired. I am also honoured that Shay san made a proposal if I wanted to find Naruto's weakness in return for some screen time.

Shino: When will my turn come?

Shay (from the studio): Your turn will come soon. So you don't have to worry about it.

Shino:Ah! Thank you for not forgetting about me, Shay.

Tenten: Anyways, I believe that the readers here might have a question. Why did the night turn
into day so soon?

Shino: Well, that's because, Shay san cannot write the whole war in every minor details of people fighting against clones.

Tenten: If you have any other question, please Shay know about it.

Shino: With that being said, keep reading and....

Tenten: PEACE OUT!!!!!!!

Next chapter: REMEMBERING THE FORGOTTEN ONE.