Naruto suddenly gasped as the warmth in his chest grew, and spread to the rest of his body. He felt like he somewhere in between the two and three-tails states in terms of strength, speed, and physical energy; except his body was not tearing itself apart, and he was not filled with the fox's hatred and aggression. He could now sense the drugs keeping him sedated, as well as the jutsu attacking the recently expired seal. And on top of that, he had more chakra than he had ever felt before, more than in the four-tails form.
Naruto wanted to call out to the fox, and demand she explain, but he understood that the demoness was gone. The idea that she had given up her existence to escape Madara both saddened and angered him.
"You stupid fuzzball," he exhaled harshly, "I promise you; I'll kill that guy for you."
Naruto took a deep breath and turned his attention outwards.
The intravenous drip in Naruto's left arm exploded free in a burst of lightning chakra. The scientist and her assistants stared at it dumbly, too surprised and confused to react. The captured Chunin's eyes snapped open, and he flexed his newly empowered muscles, snapping the restraints. As Uzumaki sat up, one of the underlings finally recovered enough to produce a kunai and stab at the teen. Naruto caught the older shinobi's arm, and tossed him easily into the wall with a sickening thump. As the three remaining subordinates attacked, Naruto raised his hand, summoning Kitsune with a thought. He parried the first two strikes, and then killed or disabled the closest attacker with a ringing blow to the side of his head. The remaining two researcher ninjas fell in rapid succession, and he turned to their mistress. The Akatsuki's expert was cowering in the corner, her eyes wide with terror.
"Please, don't kill me," she begged, "I'm not a ninja, I just study chakra and jutsu."
He studied her dubiously, but finally lowered his staff-blade.
"Where is Madara Uchiha?" he demanded.
"What? The founder of the Uchiha clan? But he died eighty some years ago," she stammered nervously, thinking he had been driven mad.
"He was here with me earlier," Naruto didn't buy her protests, "Tell me where he is."
"That's impossible," she argued, "my team and I have been with you the whole time. The only other people who have been in this room with you were Zetsu and Tobi."
Naruto believed her desperation, and turned to leave. He grabbed a lab coat hanging near the door, deciding it was slightly better than running around in his swimsuit. Then he looked back at her, deadly serious.
"Run," he suggested, "This place won't be here much longer."
She nodded vigorously, as he exited the lab. But as soon as the door was closed, she grabbed her phone and punched in Tobi's number.
"Please answer," she begged, her dread lightening to mere worry.
The demon turtle loomed over them, blocking much of the light with its bulk. The Three-Tails opened its mouth slowly, and disgorged a small pond's worth of brackish water at the shinobi. Though they managed to avoid getting hit, the smell was sickening. Kiba and Sasame were both put off balance by the stench and landed roughly. Shino and Lee were already reacting as those two recovered, but Kaede beat them all.
"Raiton: Least Resistance Strike," the Mist hunter intoned, sending a powerful lightning attack towards the terrapin, through the water. The monster shuddered slightly when the voltage coursed through its body, but it turned to attack the Mizukage's daughter with another burst of putrid liquid. Before it could open its mouth, Rock Lee bounded up the demon's shell, and jabbed his now assembled staff into the creature's eye. Even though it was not injured, the turtle roared and reared back in pain. It swung its head towards the wall, and the Taijutsu expert had to drop back to the ground to avoid being crushed.
Shino completed his Jutsu, and his swarm covered the face of the Bijuu, hiding its eyes and bleeding off its chakra. But even in its current, limited state, the Three-Tails energy reserves far outstripped any normal human, and the insects quickly fell away, bloated with chakra. The beast looked at Aburame blandly, and shot out the deluge that Lee had delayed. Caught dead center in the cone of water, it appeared Shino would be unable to fully dodge the breath weapon.
"Katon: Abyssal Flare Jutsu!" Kiba shouted, bracing against Akamaru as the column of purple hellfire erupted from his palm. The flames boiled away the water an instant before if engulfed the bug user. Unfortunately, the advanced technique left the young dog trainer physically drained and with minor burns on his right hand. Both Shino and the turtle turned their attention to Inuzuka, but before the demon could finish its movement, more than a dozen threads fired out, binding its head to its right leg. Sasame's action bought her teammates the time they needed, Kiba swallowed a food pill while Shino activated a healing technique to fix his teammate's hand.
"Sure, I can pull that move off while fighting a demon, but not during a test," Kiba grumbled in self-recrimination.
"Do not jinx it," Shino admonished, "We may well need you to do that again before this fight is done."
As if to illustrate his point, the demon pulled again, and this time snapped the chakra laced cords that had been limiting its movement. At almost the same time, two of its tailed lashed at Kaede, who had been trying to get behind the demon. The Mist Kunoichi flipped back, but nearly clipped the wall of the canyon, and was forced to duck clumsily under the next tail strike the demon aimed for her. Though off-balance, this also caused her to realize something.
"Lee," she shouted for his attention, narrowly avoiding the flailing extensions, "The demon can't see me back here behind its shell. That means there must be someone else guiding its actions. Find him."
The Taijutsu expert nodded, and moved away from the leg he had been pounding on, unacknowledged by the massive monster.
Mangekyo Sharingan met Shin'en Sharingan, and both shinobi were apprehensive yet unflinching. Orochimaru had circled around the table, but now the opposed traitors simply stood there, staring at each other. The Chidori still chattered around the invader's left hand, while Madara appeared unarmed.
"Well?" the serpent in the stolen body asked, growing slightly impatient.
"You want me to use Susano-o on you," Madara explained, "And tempting though it is, I've decided not to fall for your little trap."
"Whatever do you mean?" the Sannin's innocent protest rang false on both of their ears.
"Itachi already reported that Sasuke has a way to reverse Tsukuyomi back on the user," the original Uchiha answered, "And you want to try to copy Susano-o; you are hoping that you can use my great-grandson's technique to escape. But I do not intend to give you any clues as to how to advance Sasuke's Sharingan further."
"As you will," Orochimaru shrugged, and brought up his hand, proclaiming, "Lightning Coils Jutsu."
The purple chakra left Orochimaru's hand, flying at Madara in the form of three electric snakes. Madara watched the art with interest, right up to the moment before they would have struck him. Then the immortal struck the table beside him, flipping it into the path of the attack, and dropping the guard's body unceremoniously to the floor. The lightning snakes burned through the thick oak top of the table, but by that point Madara was almost behind Orochimaru. He launched an elbow at Sasuke's chin, but the body thief dropped under the strike, and spun into a kick at Madara's right knee. The first Uchiha stepped over the attack and attempted to stomp on Orochimaru's ankle. The younger shinobi withdrew his leg and then thrust it back out in a snap kick at the immortal's chest. Madara simply stepped back out of range.
Tobi's phone suddenly rang, and the distraction nearly let Orochimaru land a punch aimed at Madara's solar plexus. The Akatsuki founder turned away from the attack as his cell rang a second time. Though he was itching to take the call, expecting news of the rescue team's destruction, he also knew that if he did not give Orochimaru his full attention, it could cost him the battle, and more.
For a few minutes more the two master warriors exchanged Taijutsu attacks. Because of their shared Kekkei Genkai, each could anticipate the other's moves. When combined with each ninja's incredible speed, this meant that neither one of them could land a blow. Finally Madara stepped away, appraising the Sannin frankly.
"You control Sasuke's Sharingan well," he admitted, "It is obvious this battle will not be decided with unarmed combat. But it is decided. Amaterasu."
Black fire erupted from both of Madara's eyes and swept towards Orochimaru.
Naruto entered another hallway encountering another five guards. On the floor below, he had killed or disabled every Akatsuki recruit who had attacked him without breaking a sweat or taking a scratch; though his lab coat was now thoroughly spattered with blood. Growing more curious about his new power with each passing minute, Naruto decided to test his limits, even as most of the former bandits charged.
Without a word or motion, Naruto spawned a single Shadow Clone. He held his hand up and again his silver chakra began to twist and spin above it. The clone drew the Rasengan out into a flat disk almost six feet in diameter. Though he recognized he could not have done this without the duplicate, Naruto was amazed by how simply he formed one of his ultimate attacks with only one copy, and without hurting himself.
"Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!" the two Uzumaki's roared in unison. The throwing star shaped chakra flew down the corridor, bisecting the first four warriors, before it struck its target, the soldier at the end of the hall who had been crafting a Ninjutsu. The wind chakra engulfed him, cutting his body to shreds in an instant. Mildly surprised by how perfectly the attack had worked, Naruto forced his attention back to the task of escaping. He quickly checked each of the rooms, but they consisted of nothing more than empty barracks and a broom closet.
'No windows on this level either,' the Chunin noted, and then took another deep breath.
'And no scent of fresh air. I must still be underground. So I have to keep heading up.'
Shifting Kitsune's scabbard, which he was having trouble getting into a comfortable position over the too large coat; Naruto sprinted to the stairs and headed up. He noticed more soldiers on the next floor, but decided to sneak past them, and conserve his chakra. He still had a promised to keep to an old friend.
He continued up, until he reached the top of the stairwell. This portal was locked, and both the door and its frame were heavily reinforced. Naruto thrust a Rasengan into the handle, but even after he had eaten through, the remaining deadbolts kept the barrier in place.
"Fine," the teen seemed more amused than upset by the challenge, "I'll just have to try something else."
Naruto cupped his hands, as if holding a soccer ball, and a larger than normal Rasengan formed between them. He began to slow spread his palms, pulling his fingers back, and increasing the size of the spiraling sphere. Once it was slightly larger than he was tall, he dove forward, slamming it into the door. The great ball attack tore through the door, leaving behind only the corners intact, hanging pitifully off the remains of the bolts.
He stepped through, expecting to find himself outside, but instead there was just another hall, no different than any of the others. And this hall, also like the others, held Akatsuki warriors. But this trio was special. Naruto could tell that, unlike the retrained bandits he had fought below, these were fully qualified shinobi. They also wore unique outfits, a shinobi shozoku with low hanging sleeves, loose leggings and a pointed hat that gave the uniforms more than a passing resemblance to a Shinto priest's robes. Their faces were covered by modified ninja hoods; these had built in mirrored goggles that concealed their eyes as well. About all Uzumaki could tell about them with any kind of certainty was their heights, and that one of his three opponents was a woman. Each also held a naginata, with blades facing him.
"Sorry, I don't have time to play," the Leaf Chunin told them, creating another copy, and shouting, "Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!"
But before his ohgi could reach them, the front two warriors released their own techniques, also without hand signals.
"Energy Net!"
"Granite Wall!"
The first defensive jutsu, a mesh of green lightning, caught wind throwing star, breaking off chunks of it. The remains of the Rasenshuriken struck the stone barrier that had appeared in front of the trio. It did not have enough power to slice through, and instead engulfed the granite, destroying most of it. The remains of the wall faded away a few seconds later, leaving him facing the three warriors again.
"Who are you guys?" Naruto asked, impressed in spite of himself.
"We are the acolytes of Pein," the man in the back answered, "His most trusted bodyguards and spies."
"Well, good luck fighting in here with those polearms," Naruto smirked, as he drew Kitsune. But the ninja who had spoken leaned his curved spear into his left elbow and began to sign.
"Ninja Arts: Arena of Destiny," he announced as the blonde teen started to step forward. Instantly, the hall began to grow wider and longer. The ceiling was replaced by an empty sky, and the dark grey stones of the walls and floor became a light brown sandstone. Pein's soldiers spread out, still keeping their weapons trained on him.
"Remember, we mustn't kill him," the female reminded her colleagues, "Lord Pein values the fox above our mere lives."
"Too bad for your boss, the Kyubi is gone," Naruto said, his tone mocking, but also slightly saddened. As he put aside his emotions and turned his attention back to them, Naruto was gripped by an unfamiliar sensation of wrongness. It took him a few seconds to understand what it was, and when he did, he almost tentatively laced his fingers together around the staff-blade's hilt.
"Release?" Naruto said questioningly. To his great surprise, the arena around him vanished, returning him to the original hallway. Except it was still four times the width and three times the length and height it had been previously. Naruto frowned, disappointment covering his surprise at even a partial success. The first acolyte charged forward, bringing his naginata down in an overhand strike. Naruto blocked the attack easily, and tried unsuccessfully to remove the rest of the illusion.
"Wait, if you can swing that around like that the room must really be bigger," Naruto realized the unnatural feeling was gone even as he said that, "The Genjutsu is just to keep your opponents off balance while you create a larger space in which to fight."
Naruto whistled, impressed that the masked man could combine such a powerful Ninjutsu and a Genjutsu into a single art. But he did not remain awestruck for long.
"Sorry, really I don't have time to deal with you now," Uzumaki slid past the two warriors attacking him, appearing instantly next to the ninja maintaining the spatial jutsu. As he slashed upwards with Kitsune, the wind chakra blade appeared, and he carved through the Akatsuki warrior's weapon and deep into his chest.
"Fast," the other male soldier broke his prior silence as his comrade's body dropped to the floor, returning the hall to its original size.
"Too fast," the female noted, lowering her blade. Instead she quickly launched a dozen hands seals before stating, "Dual Arts: Eye of Thunder Jutsu."
With the sound of a roaring storm, the sphere of frigid water with a core of lightning raced down the hall at the Chunin. Naruto batted the orb away with Kitsune, but it shattered. Most of the water was knocked away, but more than a few drops struck him, freezing instantly. The electricity had no effect, as always Kitsune absorbed it without complaint.
"You can use two opposing elements in a single Jutsu?" Naruto demanded, incredulously.
"How can you stop Lord Pein's Dual Arts with a metal pipe?" she countered, worriedly.
"Stop," the male fighter told his teammate, dropping his weapon, "We surrender. State your terms."
"Terms?" the blonde blinked in confusion, trying to switch mental gears
"Your requirements to spare our lives," the acolyte elaborated.
"Well I guess I need some information," Naruto frowned in thought, rubbing the back of his head.
"Then ask your questions."
"I need to get out of here. What's the quickest way out?
"The only entrance is back down on the ground floor, on the western wall," the concealed shinobi said simply.
"Great," Uzumaki brightened briefly, and then he grimaced again, "Then where is Madara Uchiha? And don't give me that line about him being dead."
"Of course Madara Uchiha lives. He is Lord Pein's strongest ally, and our ultimate foe. But as to his current location, we do not know that. Despite the inference of your inquiry, to the best of my knowledge he is not in this base, nor has he been recently."
"Darn it," Naruto grumbled. After a few seconds of consideration, he asked, "Wait, how can Madara be Pein's buddy but your enemy? Don't you serve Pein?"
"We live to obey Lord Pein," they both said in unison, and then the male figure answered, "Though they are allies, Lord Pein does not trust Madara. Thus we have been trained to fight the Sharingan."
"Good to know," he smirked at them. Then he raised Kitsune again.
"You would betray our agreement by slaying us?" the female said sharply.
"No, but I don't trust you not to attack again when my back is turned," he told them, stepping backwards towards the door opposite his point of entry. The woman bristled at the insult, but the man just raised his hand, both to settle her and to reassure Naruto. Once there was enough distance between them, the Leaf shinobi darted away.
"Why did you do that?" the female acolyte asked as Naruto ran off.
"He is more powerful than any two of our master's Paths," he answered, retrieving his weapon, "We stood no chance. And the importance of reporting the situation here to Lord Pein far outweighs the cost in information and personal dishonor."
She nodded, unhappy yet unable to disagree.
"Get away from me," the woman complained, jumping back as Lee jabbed his staff at her torso. The Akatsuki agent was in her mid twenties, and wore a thin, tight yukata with the same black with red clouds pattern used in the Rings' infamous cloaks. Her build was lean and long; she was taller than any of her opponents, but appeared to weigh less than any of the men, and possibly the slightly shorter but much more voluptuous Kaede. Her skin was a deep chestnut tone, and her violet hair hung to the mid of her back. The demon's controller watched Lee angrily with her wide, yellow eyes. And curiously, she wore no headband that the rescuers could see.
After a few minutes of searching, Lee had found the Kunoichi wedged into a crevice, watching the battle. With a few powerful strike to the stones around her, he had forced her out into the open.
"Fight like a ninja," she demanded. She threw a pair of kunai at Lee with each hand, careful not to disturb the chain wrapped repeatedly around her right wrist, which kept a silver amulet pressed tightly to the underside of her forearm. Once the knives were away, she quickly signed, creating a series of fire darts, which she aimed for Gai's apprentice. Lee knocked some of the steel and flame missiles away with his weapon, and dodged the others. He charged in again, swinging his staff at her waist. She stepped back neatly, continuing to glare at him.
"I am fighting like a ninja," he insisted, grimacing back at her.
"No, you're not," she argued, tossing more knives at him, "You have used no ranged attacks, no Ninjutsu, and no Genjutsu. You just keep swiping at me with that stick, like some common soldier."
"Bad move," Kiba commented, as he dodged a tail that whipped at him. With Lee distracting the turtle's master, it was easier to avoid the demon by moving to its back half. But that had not stopped the monster from viciously attacking anyone it could see, nor did it make it any easier for the four humans and the dog to hurt or impede the colossal amphibian.
Lee's face turned bright red with rage.
"I am more of a ninja than a traitor like you could ever hope to be," he countered angrily. He spun his staff around, and in the process caught his leg warmers, with the remaining weights, on the end of the pole. He brought it down, hurtling the masses at the ring candidate. And he followed close behind, much quicker than he had been seconds before. She ducked under the first weight, but was clipped by the second. When Lee reached her, she drew two kunai and blocked his staff, but was forced back by his furious strength. The Taijutsu expert snapped his staff apart, splitting it into two nunchakus. He swung at her from both sides, causing her annoyance to grow, even as she continued to stop his attacks.
The Three-Tails' caught Kaede in one of its tails, and began to crush her even as it moved to dash her up against the wall of the ravine. Akamaru jumped up, and bit hard into the extension, causing the demon to release the Hidden Mist Kunoichi. Kiba caught her in mid air, and set her down on her feet as they landed.
"I'm ok, thanks," she panted before he could ask, and they were both forced to dive away as the turtle began to hammer blindly at the ground behind him with the three legendary appendages.
One the other side, Shino had managed to rouse his chakra drunken insects. The bugs had 'digested' the demon's energy, and were able to send part of it back to their master. In turn, Shino used that chakra to power the constant stream of low-level fire jutsu to keep the monster's attention on him. But his combination of draining and attacking was still only a minor annoyance to the Bijuu.
"Are you almost done?" Shino asked, a strain in his calm voice. Sasame darted back and forth under the turtle, barely avoiding its tree trunk like legs.
"Just a little longer," she panted back, "Sorry."
"Katon: Grasping Inferno Jutsu," was the insect trainer's only response. Even filtered by his tiny allies, the Three-Tails chakra pained him to use. A small part of his mind wondered if Naruto felt like this.
Shino's hands were wrapped in fire, and the flames expanded until the chakra hands were ten times the size of Aburame's natural appendages. He grabbed either side of the terrapin's head, forcing it just far enough to the side that its next stream of water missed both Shino and the temporarily exposed Sasame. The turtle pushed back, its water chakra surging around it in a pure form that destroyed the human's jutsu. It turned its head back towards Shino, spreading its jaws wide, its rank breath washing over the Leaf warrior as it built up its next load of spittle.
Amaterasu erupted from Sasuke's left eye, but it was no match for Madara's assault. However the opposition bought Orochimaru enough time to complete his counter attack.
"Hyoton: Ice Prison Jutsu," the serpent intoned, keeping his black fire trained on Madara and slowly backing away as the stronger Uchiha's blaze began to overwhelm his.
"What are you going to do?" the Sannin taunted, as the frost crept up Madara's legs, "You could destroy my jutsu with your Amaterasu, except you would have to look away from me. But once you are trapped, I can just move out of eyeshot... Are you sure you don't want to just give me the secret of your immortality?"
The founder of the Akatsuki whispered something, unheard over the roar of the flames and the crackle of the ice.
"What was that?" Orochimaru asked as he took another step back. But Madara did not need to respond. His Amaterasu suddenly stopped, but before Orochimaru's flames could reach him, the air in between them began to spiral inwards. Sasuke's power was suck in, and his body was drawn off balance. The frozen water imprisoning the first Uchiha also cracked and broke away. After the rupture finally closed, Orochimaru was able to lift his stolen head again. Madara was standing over him with a mild smirk.
"I said 'Kamui'," the Sharingan master answered.