Naruto: Tango with Death

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The battlefield grew silent, the only noise around being the distant sounds of Mikoto and Roshi's battle, as well as the gurgling sounds coming from Gari.

Falling to his knees, he applied pressure to his neck as he looked at me with wide eyes as I landed in front of him.

Gari was relatively tall, so even as he kneeled he was at the same level at me. I looked into his eyes, and I could see fear, helplessness, and despair.

Reaching for my sword out of habit, I was painfully reminded that it was on the ground, left in pieces.

So straightening my palm, I muttered, "You fought well. Any last words?"

The tension increased with my words, several of the Shinobis surrounding us ready to attack. But amidst his gurgles, Gari raised his hand, and managed to say, "Spare… them."

"No, we're fighting! We can still save you leader!"

Cries came out of the crowd, fully intent on saving their leader. Meanwhile, I raised my arm, and said, "I refuse."

I reached out with my hand, piercing into Gari's body as I destroyed his heart, and spread my chakra through his body.

As I did so, I could feel a wave of chakra quickly spread from his navel area, probably what had been causing them to explode upon their death.

However, before it could result in another explosion, I stopped said chakra, making him die with his body intact.

Seeing this, the surrounding members of the Explosion Corps rushed at me, using their explosions to reach me as fast as possible.

In response I jumped away with Gari's body, easily avoiding them as I voided my presence, and then stored Gari's body into a scroll. All that was left of Gari's body now was a few pieces of his crushed heart, on the ground.

The members of the Explosion Corps, the ones remaining, searched for me frantically, but I wasn't gone for long. As soon as I was done with Gari's body, I resumed my attack.

With Gari gone, although the Explosion Corps were quite strong, they weren't good enough to stop me, and so after ten minutes of explosive fighting, nearly the entire Corps had been obliterated.

Before me was the last member of the Explosion Corps, a blond kid that happened to be the youngest of the bunch.

He was stuck to a tree, two kunais pierced through his hands into the tree, immobilizing him.

He was sobbing as I asked, "What's your name?"

He raised his head, his sobs not stopping as he said through gritted teeth, "I'm going to kill you!"

I replied, "No, I am going to kill you. But I can do it painlessly, or I can break you."

His gaze was only filled with hatred though, completely ignoring my words. I was about to start my work, but I felt danger coming my way, and looking over, there was Roshi, rushing over with Mikoto hot on his tail.

As he approached us, Roshi's face was filled with disbelief, while the kid next to me, whom I suspected to be Deidara, was hopeful.

A little annoyed, I muttered, "Fine, can't leave a danger behind."

Deidara looked confused, but only for a second as I pierced my hand through his heart.

Roshi, who wasn't far, cried out, "No!"

He attacked from a distance with his lava, forcing me to dodge, but it was fine, my job was done. I reached Mikoto's side, who looked exhausted and injured, while Roshi carefully took Deidara off the tree.

But Deidara was already unresponsive, his heart crushed. Roshi still pull him onto his shoulder, and looking around, he said, "You will pay for this, Owl. The full might of Iwa shall crush you to dust!"

I looked at him coldly, and warned, "Piss off, before I kill you too. And take what remains of your men, before I do it myself."

Roshi stomped his foot angrily, disappearing with the Body Flicker as he left.

Now left alone, I patted Mikoto on the shoulder and asked, "Are you alright?"

Mikoto nodded, grunting, "Sorry, couldn't keep him long enough. What about you?"

I sighed and said, "Lost my sword, but I guess it was bound to happen. It's fine, it's only a weapon."

Mikoto nodded slowly, before saying, "One lost, ten found…"

I rolled my eyes at the statement, before saying, "Roshi is a pain to fight against isn't he?"

Mikoto grumbled, "Any Jinchuriki is. That insane regeneration ability of theirs makes any fight much longer than it has any right to be. And there's always the danger of them unleashing their inner beast."

I nodded and added, "The only effective strikes against them are the crippling ones that even their healing factor can't heal."

"Easier said than done."

"True. Anyway, we should go back."

Mikoto lagged behind though, looking uncertain. I stopped to look at her, and reassured, "I'm sure they are fine."

Mikoto sighed and said, "They are fighting against an unknown enemy supposed to hold their own against the Hokage."

I replied, "Fugaku was once considered for the position of Fourth Hokage, if I recall. When Minato had already proved himself too. I'm sure he will be alright."

Mikoto nodded, still worried. Still, she followed me as we moved back to our camp, ignoring the rest of Iwa's army.

They were a little too many for us to take down without bringing danger to ourselves, after all Roshi was still there, and I had already experienced what it was to fight a large army with a Jinchuriki by their side.

We moved through the land quickly, and before long we reached the camp. Seeing the small group positioned here, then it would seem we were the first ones to come back.

About an hour after us came a large army, led by Guy. He had an arm in a splint, but going by his trademark smile, and the size of his army, which had barely reduced, they were returning victorious.

Something that was confirmed by Guy himself before he left to recover from his injuries. I would offer him to use the Sacred Water Pool, he was my mentor after all, but I couldn't just bring him along to Yami Mountain.

Not only didn't I receive the authorization from Yami to bring another human over, to reach Yami Mountain one either had to appear there with the Reverse Summon Jutsu, or walk all the way in the Summon World.

And neither options were available to Guy, so he couldn't benefit of the great Sacred Water Pool like I do.

However, after a quick jump to Yami Mountain, I asked Yami for a small amount of Sacred Water, a gourd full, and brought it back to Guy, significantly reducing his healing time, and also allowing him to heal without harming his vitality too much.

Healing did not come from nowhere, it used the Yang energy within one's body to heal the user, and if one relied too much on their healing factor, they would harm their vitality, resulting in a lessened lifespan.

However, I didn't have that problem because unlike most people, I was able to absorb Yin and Yang Chakra singularly, and I was absorbing absurd quantities of Yang Chakra everyday, resulting in renewed reserves every day.

As a result, no matter how much I used my healing factor, as long as I continued absorbing Yang chakra, I was fine. The same couldn't be said about others though, and that's where the Sacred Water came.

Although it wouldn't perfectly solve the problem, it should help Guy regain some of the vitality he lost healing all those injuries over the years.

Anyway, after Guy's return, we had to wait another four hours before our third force finally came back. Mikoto had been worried sick, but only felt relief when Fugaku came back fine, although the size of his force was worrying.