Inheritance

CHAPTER 17

"Except it's not as simple as that, is it? We can't see the seal, unless it's actually reconstructing them, and they won't have placed all the seals in the same place on each of them. Even you, Naruto, has to run out of chakra at some point, and I've only got another five tags. We can't carry on like we are." Shikamaru finished Naruto's train of thoughts on his behalf, the lazy drawl that usually graced his tone mysteriously absent.

"Well, we'll just have to think of another way to beat them then. I won't let them hurt my comrades." Naruto spoke as if it was the easiest thing in the world, any lack of confidence he may have had not given away by any of his movements. Even as he summoned yet more Kage Bunshin and moved to confront the approaching stone monstrosities once more, he didn't falter. Shikamaru sighed as he formed the hand seal for the one family jutsu he had actually learned.

Shikamaru however, knew it would make little difference. He was relying totally on Naruto. And he didn't like it. Lazy he may be, but Nara Shikamaru cared about his friends; and Naruto, even though they had rarely spoken in their days at the academy, and he had only just gotten to really know the blonde, was certainly his friend. The thought that his laziness would ever endanger any of them had never even crossed his mind. No, he didn't like this feeling of helplessness at all. He hated it.

Extending his shadow forward to the closest few statues that Naruto was fighting, he mused that it would be far too troublesome to allow any of his friends or comrades to die because he had been too weak to do anything about it.

Kakashi's teeth were firmly gritted underneath the mask that covered most of his face. He had realised earlier in the fight that he was not all that he once was in terms of ability, but he hadn't quite cottoned on to exactly how out of shape he was. The fight couldn't have been going on for too long despite how difficult it was to tell time in the heat of battle, and he could already feel fatigue setting in. He was using his sharingan for the first time in much too long, and his limbs burnt more and more with each dodge or attack he had made. He was already starting to slow, and the combined attacks of the pair before him were getting harder and harder to avoid.

Not that the pair before him were any better. They both looked exhausted, but Hitoshi was easily the worse off of the two. Their plan was a simple yet effective one. Hitoshi would take Kakashi in a frontal assault, keep him busy whilst Eiji attempted to strike him whilst he was distracted, and prevented him from retreating back to cover his Genin. However, as Hitoshi was locked almost constantly in battle with Kakashi, he was on his last legs, and covered in wounds, some superficial, others not quite so. Eiji was not that much better. He was nearing the end of his chakra from having maintained his unique technique for so long.

And no matter how tired he was, he was still Hatake Kakashi. He had gained his reputation for a reason and it was time for him to step up his game. Mainly because he wasn't sure how long the Genin under his command would be able to hold out. He had caught glimpses of their fight, and was definitely impressed by the supposedly 'green' Genin, but they would be tiring now, even Naruto, and Kakashi wasn't one to take liberties with the lives of those under his command. It was becoming dangerous for him to draw out this for any longer.

He began pulling on his chakra in preparation for a summoning jutsu that he would use to trap his opponents, when he felt it. That sickeningly vile feeling of tainted chakra that would be burned into his brain for as long as he lived. It was a minute amount of it, and wasn't increasing at the rate you would expect if the seal upon Naruto's chest had been broken, but something had caused the boy to pull on the Kyuubi's power, even unintentionally.

"His own son..." Eiji's mutter was not directed at anyone in particular, but Kakashi wouldn't have heeded it even if it had been.

"As fun as this has been, I'm going to have to cut our little game short. I have more... pressing matters to attend to." The sharingan wielding shinobi's words sounded as if they should have been in jest, but his steely expression and monotone voice suggested the opposite as the he flew threw hand seals.