Naruto:A New Path

The Copy Ninja Arrives

Kakashi ran through the woods at a fast pace. His clone had dispelled after making it to the village's gate and left Choji with two ninja that had been standing guard. The state he had been in only helped to worry him even more about the team sent to retrieve Sasuke. He didn't know who was in it but if Choji had been part of it, then he assumed that they would be Genin.
"There's someone nearby," Pakkun suddenly spoke. Kakashi turned his attention to his summon, watching him sniff about in the air before turning to him once more, "There's two of them."
Kakashi nodded to himself before he and his summon made it into a clearing. There were webs around the trees and parts of the ground had been dug up, clearly a jutsu, Kakashi's trained eye easily noted. He heard movement to his right and turned to see Kiba helping a hurt Shino to his feet.
"You've got things under control here, I see," Kakashi deadpanned. His presence seemed to alarm Kiba as he quickly turned to him with his right hand reaching for a kunai. The Inuzuka relaxed once he took in the appearance of Kakashi, "What happened in here?"
"Shino fought some Sound ninja with freakish arms," Kiba explained with a scowl on his face, "I manage to get here on time to help Shino out. But he pretty much took him down by himself."
"I see…" Kakashi muttered as he glanced at the bug-user. It was difficult to see due to the glasses he wore but he seemed to be unconscious. "Shadow Clone Jutsu," a single clone appeared at his side, walking over to Kiba and slinging Shino over its shoulder. Kakashi gave the clone a nod before speaking, "Take him back to the Leaf."
The clone left without a word, jumping through the trees on the wooded area. Once they were gone Kiba gave the Jounin a look of confusion, "What do we do now?"
"We'll keep going forward," Kakashi replied as he turned to his summon, "Are there any others nearby Pakkun?"
The summon sniffed the air before nodding to the two ninja. "There's two more battles up ahead but I smell a lot of smoke from one of them."
"Let's go to that one then," Kakashi nodded to his summon before turning to Kiba, "Let's get going."
Kakashi, Kiba and Pakkun sped through the woods with Kiba wondering how the small summon could run so fast.
"We're getting closer," Pakkun announced as they came upon changed scenery.
"What the hell happened here?" Kiba wondered out loud, looking over the area. There were many craters on the ground, apparently from explosions, which were filled with pieces of wood and some branches from the nearby broken trees.
"Over here!" they heard a voice from deeper in the area.
Kakashi turned to Kiba and gave him a nod, "I'll lead."
They walked through the debris before finally running into Neji, the latter looking a bit tired. Next to him, tied to a tree, was a Sound kunoichi with red hair.
"I managed to knock her unconscious but don't know what to do with her," Neji explained, "I thought of just leaving her here but she might escape if left unattended."
"Don't worry about it," Kakashi waved him off before making a single clone. "The clone will take her to the Leaf while we-"
"Kakashi!" Pakkun suddenly exclaimed, a look of alarm on his face. "There's a heavy scent of blood coming from deeper in the woods. We have to move quickly!"
"Is there anybody else nearby?
Pakkun inhaled once more before nodding, "Yeah, it's coming from the opposite direction. I can smell Naruto there."
"Good," Kakashi turned to the two Genin, "You two go up ahead and help Naruto. I'll be going to help whoever just got hurt. Understood?"
"Understood/You got it," Neji and Kiba spoke simultaneously.
"Lead the way Pakkun," Kakashi ordered as the two ran from the area at their top speed, shocking the two Genin that were left behind.
Jugo stood over the fallen Lee with a smirk on his face. The malevolent chakra was still running through his system as he brought his fist back. This would be the blow to end the life of the trash that had dared get on his way.
"Now die!" he laughed as he brought his fist down on the Genin, missing the quiet sound of chirping birds.
As his fist descended upon the helpless ninja, he was suddenly struck by a wave of pain coming from his stomach. Blood splattered out of his mouth as he looked down to see a lightening-filled hand sticking out of the right side of his stomach.
A single sharingan glared at Jugo before he was tossed aside by a powerful punch. The Sound ninja crashed against a tree just as Kakashi ran through hand signs. "Earth Style: Earth Dragon Jutsu!"
Earth erupted in front of Kakashi before taking the form of a dragon, and shooting at the Sound ninja. Kakashi watched as his jutsu crashed against the ground, breaking a few trees in its vicinity.
With the enemy ninja down he let out a short breath before turning to the fallen Lee. "What did he do to you?" he muttered as he looked at the gaping hole on his right side. He wasted no time in making a clone and having it lift Lee up carefully, "Take him to the Leaf as fast as you can. Don't stop at the gate, head straight for the hospital."
The clone nodded before leaving the area. Kakashi turned to Pakkun, shielding his sharingan once more, "Let's go help out the others."
Kakashi let out another breath, feeling a bit worn down. He silently scolded himself for ignoring his training and losing his old stamina. Using such jutsu in a row or running a few miles with chakra running through his legs had probably helped in wearing him down but he knew that, had he been on his best, such a thing wouldn't have fazed him.
Just as he took a step forward he heard the sound of laughter coming from behind him. Kakashi turned around just as a wave of purple chakra filled the area, kicking up clouds of dust and breaking a few branches from nearby trees.
"What the…" Kakashi muttered in disbelief as the chakra died down to reveal Jugo with a crazed smirk on his face. The wound on his stomach was no more, in fact, he seemed to have only gotten stronger.
"This is fun," he chuckled before breaking into a laughing fit, "This is FUN!"
More chakra flared around him before his eyes set on Kakashi. The Jonin took his taijutsu stance and uncovered his sharingan, it seemed as if he would be needing it for this fight. "Go ahead and leave for now Pakkun…" he muttered as the summon left in a cloud of smoke.
Jugo smirked before the appendages on his back flared as he broke into a run. Kakashi's eyes widened as the Sound ninja appeared before him only seconds later. Thanks to his sharingan, he saw the incoming strike and quickly knocked the punch aside with his left hand. He threw a punch with the other, making contact with Jugo's chest, though having little effect.
' What the hell is he?' Kakashi thought in alarm before receiving a bone-crushing blow to his right ribcage. He grit his teeth in pain before planting his feet on the ground. Chakra gathered around his left fist as he threw an uppercut at Jugo, making contact with his jaw.
Jugo's mouth snapped shut with a cracking sound before he was thrown through the air. Kakashi was quick to run through hand signs before taking aim, "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
Jugo watched as a dragon made of water neared him as he sailed through the air. He snarled before twisting his body in order to face the attack. His right arm formed into a type of shield before he put it in front of him, the powerful jutsu crashing against it.
The Sound ninja let out a few grunts at the force against his arm but managed to hold out long enough for it to end. His arm ached in pain as he landed on a nearby tree, all the while keeping a glare on the copy ninja.
"I'm going to kill you!" Jugo yelled in pure anger, more chakra flaring around him, "I will kill you!"
Kakashi kept his ground as chakra flared around the Sound ninja. It was true that the Sound ninja had a lot more chakra than him but he was too easy to predict. He let his emotions guide him and for that he was left with several openings that he could easily exploit. Overall, in the long run he would end up as the victor.
' But time is something I can't just waste,'
he concluded as he gathered chakra on his right arm, only this time using more than normal, 'I'll end this with this jutsu.'
"Fang over Fang!"
Kiba and Akamaru shot at Kimimaro as two spinning blurs. The Sound ninja quickly placed both hands on the ground making a set of large bone spikes rip through the ground in front of the Inuzuka. Kiba came to a halt, with Akamaru doing the same, before they could crash into the large pieces of bone.
Kimimaro, sensing movement to his right, turned to see a large wave of sand coming his way. With a frown he jumped away from the incoming sand before pointing a hand at where Gaara stood. Just as pieces of bone gathered on his fingertips, Neji jumped in front of him with his byakuugan active.
"Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation!" Neji exclaimed as his jutsu came to life, blocking the incoming bone fragments. He came to a stop as soon as Kimimaro's attack ended, slipping into his taijutsu stance in order to be ready for whatever was thrown at him.
The Sound ninja glared at his opponents before feeling a wave of dizziness wash over him. His eyes narrowed as he put a hand to his head, the world around him swaying from right to left. He took a step forward only to have the world around him spin around him.
' Genjutsu,' he concluded as he began to alter his chakra flow. No sooner than he did, he was met with a large wave of sand. He could do nothing as the sand enveloped him in a tight grip that only grew tighter around his whole body.
Gaara watched with a bit of hope as his sand began to crush the enemy ninja. Kiba and Neji stood next to him, both with anxious looks on their faces. Ino stood against a tree with a few beads of sweat rolling down her face. Her genjutsu had helped in catching Kimimaro off-guard but she knew better than to underestimate the Sound ninja and, judging by the sudden flare of chakra, he was already breaking out of Gaara's grip.
Much to the shock of Gaara, spikes began to cut through his sand. He tried to keep his grip on the Sound ninja until a large number of spikes finally broke through the sand to reveal a furious Kimimaro. "I've had enough," he growled before placing both hands on the ground, "You all die now!"
Large pieces of bone began to cut through the ground, emerging from random spots around the group. Neji and Kiba were forced to move through the area as to avoid being caught by the spikes. Meanwhile Io was forced to climb up the tree she had been supporting herself on, ignoring the pain shooting through her ankle at the lightest of movements.
Gaara was quick to think and made a cloud of sand to stand on in mid-air. Once safe, he quickly made more clouds of sand for the others. "Get on them," was his simple instruction as the clouds neared his allies. Neji and Kiba jumped in the air and safely made it to one of the clouds of sand while Ino dropped from the tree to land on a nearby cloud of sand.
Gaara proceeded to gathered the clouds of sand next to his. The result was a large cloud of sand that kept them a safe distance away from the spikes ripping through the ground. Also, if they were together there was less chance of them being caught off-guard.
Ino sat on the cloud of sand with a frown on her face. The whole area around them had been filled with large spikes made of bone and Kimimaro was nowhere to be found. He just seemed to disappear out of thin air and it made her edgy.
"Where did he go?" Kiba voiced his concerns with a frown on his face. More spikes were filling the area as he spoke.
Neji's byakuugan scanned the area before he turned to the others with a frown on his face. "There's traces of chakra on each spike," he spoke, "There's a larger source of chakra but it's moving through the spikes at random. I have no idea what this means."
"Maybe he's beneath the ground," Ino proposed with her eyes on the spike-filled ground beneath them.
Neji focused his gaze on the ground but found no sign of him actually moving through it. He only found the whole area filled with those weird bones, it was almost as if... His eyes widened in realization, quickly turning to Gaara in alarm, "He's moving through the spikes!"
No sooner than he said that, Kimimaro appeared behind Kiba with a large spike replacing his arm, almost like a lance. Kiba's eyes widened in shock before the lance tore through his left side, blood splattering out of the wound. The sound ninja withdrew his lance as the Inuzuka began to scream in agony, clutching his side while squirming on the sand.
Kimimaro turned his attention to Neji but received a shot of water before he could get close. Ino's eyes were narrowed as she ran through hand signs once more, "Water Style: Liquid Bullets!" Shots of water moved towards Kimimaro before he disappeared into another spike.
"We have to get Kiba help!" Neji exclaimed as he held Kiba down on the cloud of sand, the latter still screaming in pain.
"I know a little medical jutsu. Bring him over here," Ino ordered with a hardened gaze. Neji quickly picked Kiba up before laying him down next to Ino. Her hands glowed with green chakra as she looked over the wound, finding it to be too deep for her to heal completely. Slowing down the bleeding was all she could manage. They would need to take him to a hospital.
"We have to take him to a hospital," Ino informed the two other ninja, "I was only able to slow down the bleeding but his condition will only get worse if he's not taken care of properly."
Neji nodded in understanding, "Then we'll have to take care of the Sound ninja quickly." His byakuugan scanned the area once more, "Now that we know how he moves I think I'll be able to see him coming before he gets too close."
"Good," Gaara responded with his arms closed. Sand gathered around him before a sudden wave of vile chakra washed over the area. His features began to mend with the sand, half of his face covered by it and a tail forming on his lower back, "I don't know how long I'll be able to keep in control but I'll try to take kill him before I lose myself."
"I'll be your eyes then," Neji stated as he slipped into his taijutsu stance before addressing Ino, "Make sure nothing gets to Kiba."
Ino nodded, "No problem."
Kakashi's right arm filled with lightening as the sound of chirping became louder and louder. Jugo, watching as Kakashi prepared his attack, gathered chakra on his arm as it began to change shape. It took the shape of a canon with chakra burning within it.
Jugo pointed his arm at Kakashi as the chakra burned inside his arm. He prepared to fire but a sudden memory flashed through the little rationality he had left.
' Remember,' Kimimaro had said before the start of their mission, 'You are the most important member of this team. If you're ever faced with someone too strong, you are to leave immediately.'
The dark marks around Jugo's face began to lessen as he struggled to regain control. He couldn't let Kimimaro down. Jugo's train of thought was broken when Kakashi broke into a run with the jutsu on his right arm.
Jugo knew that he couldn't take another one of those attacks without sustaining massive damage. He quickly pointed his arm at the ground in front of Kakashi, knowing that the blast wouldn't take him down but could be a good distraction. With a yell the blast of chakra shot out of his arm, heading straight for the copy ninja.
Kakashi's eyes widened as the large blast of chakra struck the ground before him. The result was a powerful explosion that forced him to come to a complete stop before running through hand signs. "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" he exclaimed as a large wall of earth rose in front of him, covering him from the debris heading his way. The wind grew violent as Kakashi shielded himself from the blast, 'Just how strong was that blast?'
The wall came down as soon as the force of the blast was gone. Kakashi frowned from underneath his mask once he noticed that Jugo was no longer around. "I shouldn't have let my eyes off of him…" he muttered before running through hand signs and slamming both hands on the ground, "Summoning Jutsu."
Pakkun appeared before Kakashi once more, clearly expecting being summoned again, "Did you finish that ninja off yet."
"Not yet," Kakashi responded, "I need you to find his scent and tell me where he's going."
Pakkun sniffed at the air before jumping up a near tree branch, "He's moving towards where those Genin were heading. We'll be able to catch up soon."
"Let's get moving then," Kakashi replied as the two broke into a run. Thoughts of Jugo's transformation racing through his mind as he ran through the trees. It was similar to Sasuke's Curse Mark but he hadn't seen or sensed a Curse Mark on the ninja he had just fought.
If it was some kind of bloodline then they would be closer to finally finding a way to get rid of those marks. With this is mind, Kakashi quickened his pace. If he was able to capture Jugo then the Curse Marks wouldn't be a problem anymore and his student would hopefully go back to normal.
Naruto could see storm clouds in the distance, moving towards him. Judging by the quiet sound of running water in the distance he was getting closer to his destination. The Valley of the End. The place where he and Sasuke would finally put an end to their conflict. Where his mission would hopefully end.
The sound of running water grew louder as Naruto jumped up a tall tree and came to a stop. He could finally see the large waterfall adorned by the statues of the First Hokage and Uchiha Madara. The storm clouds blocked the sun as he walked towards the waterfall, the darkness giving the place an eerie feeling.
Naruto looked around the area before finally seeing Sasuke standing on top of the Madara statue. He didn't need to see his face to know that there was a smirk on it, pleased with him playing his game. Naruto didn't like listening to Sasuke's request but it would be the best course of action for his mission and team.
The Chunin ran up the waterfall before finally kicking off of it and landing on top of the First Hokage's statue. His mouth formed into a frown as he looked at the Uchiha standing on the other statue. They were on equal ground, looking at each other in anticipation of what was to come.
"You finally got here Naruto," Sasuke smirked as his visible eye narrowed. "This is where I'll repay you for taking my eye. 'An eye for an eye,' is what they say, right?" he slipped into his taijutsu stance as the first droplets of water began to fall on the ground, "Let's see who's the strongest between you and me."
Naruto took his usual taijutsu stance. "I thought it was already decided that I was the stronger one," he taunted, earning a glare from the Uchiha, "I don't have time for your pissing contest so please excuse me for making this quick."
The rain fell harder against the ground as the two ninja jumped at each other, both carrying their own beliefs and walking different paths. This single fight would determine the future of the path they walked.