CHAPTER 54: ONLY THE BEGINNING

Chapter 54: Only the Beginning

~~~

The two of them locked their eyes with one another. Both were in near-top condition to fight and were ready to fight each other if it comes to that.

"Where is Satsuki-san?!" Yelled Lee, his voice reaching the valley. Naruto continued to look at him. He then answered his question.

"She's not here. If you want to get to her, you'll have to get through me." He only had to stall for just enough time so Satsuki would have enough distance so she would reach her destination even if Naruto lost.

But he had no intention of losing whatsoever. A month ago, Naruto would without a doubt lose to someone as powerful as Rock Lee.

However, times have changed and Naruto has grown in power as well. And luckily, he had gotten a pair of contact lenses to assist him.

"I see! Well then, I shall defeat you and get Satsuki-san!" In that moment, the two jumped down from their respective statues, gliding down the air. Landing on the ground, they jumped down once more.

Falling down on the reflective water, they began to dash towards each other at frightening speeds. And in a blur, Naruto and Lee clashed fists, a thunk following their clash.

Naruto maneuvered his arm and took grasp of Lee's arm. Using it as way for Naruto to launch himself right behind Lee.

Now in the air right behind Lee, Naruto unsealed his blade, letting lightning chakra course through the blade. The tendrils sparkling as Naruto threw it at Lee.

Moving to the side, Lee had dodged Naruto's blade without second thought.

Or did he?

Lee widened his eyes, feeling the slight shock from the lightning that was being mixed with the water, spreading the power of his lightning affinity.

Naruto pulled his arm, the blade that was being sunk within the depths of the water was pulled up to the surface by a single thread of wire strings. Landing on the part of the water that his lightning affinity did not reach, he saw Lee disappear in the blink of an eye.

Feeling the air rush from behind, Naruto ducked below, dodging a sonic kick by the one and only Rock Lee. Another kick came his way, swooping from the air as Naruto was still ducked down.

Creating a clone right next to him, Naruto got snatched up by the clone so he could avoid getting a direct hit. The two felt the rush of adrenaline that was coursing through their veins.

Naruto leaped at Lee, channeling chakra to his fists. Naruto appeared behind Lee, his fist brimming with pure power. But, just before, Lee disappeared from Naruto's sight and appeared behind Naruto instead.

Predictable. Naruto thought, suddenly pivoting his turn and ducked below, dodging a punch. With his previous still being powered by his chakra, Naruto struck Lee in the abdomen.

Sending Lee flying a few meters away from him, Naruto followed up by unsealing his dagger. Throwing the dagger as Lee slowly got up.

His eyes locking at the dagger, he twisted his body to the left, dodging the dagger. Lee then saw Naruto run towards the walls of stone that were far from their side.

Following Naruto, the only sound recognized was the sound of the water splashing. Their fight was now taking place on the side of the walls of stone.

Lee abruptly stopped once Naruto stopped running and turned around to perform a dash at Lee. With him being much more prepared, Lee raised his forearm, blocking the punch from Naruto.

Being pushed back just a few inches away, Lee ducked down, trying to deal a low-kick so Naruto would lose balance and fall down to the water once again. Naruto had to stop creating pressure so he could jump up to dodge the low-kick from Lee.

Jumping to the side, Naruto summoned a clone and started to wield hand seals at rapid pace.

Tiger → Ram → Horse → Snake → Dragon → Rat → Ox → Tiger

Tiger → Ox → Dog → Rabbit → Snake

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet!"

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" The real Naruto shot out a breath of fire alongside his clone, whom shot a gust of wind from his mouth to strengthen the overall power of the fire.

(A/N: If Kakashi can do the fireball jutsu with a mask, Naruto can do it too. Though they do wear entirely different types of mask. Shit. Consider this a plot hole.)

Lee moved to the side, a tiny bit of his spandex suit charred off due to the strength of the fire that Naruto had reigned upon him.

Lee decided to bring things up a notch and started to dash all around Naruto. The walls of stone started to dent due to the speed that Lee was using.

Naruto looked all around him, keeping calm as he saw moderately-sized rocks rise from the ground-up. Suddenly, those same rocks came flying towards him.

Due to that unexpected attack, Naruto had a graze on his cheek-bone with blood slithering down. Naruto was backed into a corner.

He did not want to already use his Mangekyou so early -- it was too risky for him right now. His constant use of his Sharingan has brought his vision at stake. Although not to the point where he will be fully blind, but at the stake where it will be way too noticeable.

Naruto decided to persevere through all of the attack before ducking down and doing a low-sweep, making the pebbles and rocks and letting Lee taste his own medicine.

This caused Lee to move much slower due to the speed of rocks passing him left and right. Naruto smirked behind his mask, jumping in the air.

The fight has only just begun.

~~~

Gaara stared at Kimimaro, his face stern and serious as he sent individual veils of sand maneuvered around the area. Standing still, Gaara commanded his sand to utterly destroy Kimimaro. With the sand unwavering, Kimimaro jumped back, seeing as the sand became sharp and weaponized.

The speed of the sand quickening, Kimimaro saw the sand circle around him, slowly closing around him with such fluid movement.

With his Curse Seal spreading throughout his body, he got ready for the attack.

"Sand Coffin!" Gaara stuck out his hand, clenching it tightly as the sand attached itself onto the body of Kimimaro.

He found it hard for him to crush Kimimaro with his sand. Narrowing his eyes, Gaara saw a finger reach out from the sand, the black markings evident on the finger.

Soon enough, more fingers emerged from the sand, then a whole hand then and entire arm. Gaara noticed that there were patches of skin were torn, revealing solid bone right behind the skin.

Gaara now realized that Kimimaro had prevented himself from getting crush by creating a bone structure beneath his skin to give him durability to withstand attacks like these.

"It seems we are both monsters," stated Gaara, even more sand rose, creating a massive wave of sand that shadowed over the area.

"But this shall test who is the greater monster." Gaara commanded his sand to push through and overwhelm Kimimaro with his absolute power. Letting the sand dive down, it covered the area and pushed Kimimaro down to the ground.

A dome of sand formed around Kimimaro, net letting him escaped this time around. Gaara was ready to crush him even more.

Kimimaro stayed calm under the amount of pressure being served to him. The Curse Mark started to evolve further. His skin turning into a grayish color, and large bits of bone were sprouting from his body.

A black stripes were around his eye and a tail wiggling. Gaara noticed Kimimaro's rise up from the ground, his power increasing by many folds.

"I see, you have something up your sleeve." Gaara had sand raise from the ground, letting it circle around Kimimaro in a careful manner.

"But it won't be enough."

~~~

Naruto was in the air, falling down from the heights above. As he was falling, Naruto pulled out a few shuriken from his pouch and threw it at Lee.

Landing on the water safely, a tiny splash was created while Lee jumped out of the way of the shuriken that was thrown at him. Diving down towards Naruto, Lee prepared a kick.

Naruto saw this and backed away, letting Lee hit the water instead of himself. Naruto widened his eyes slightly, seeing Lee appear right in front of him.

A punch was delivered to his abdomen, sending him far away. Tensing, Naruto summon a clone that stopped him from hitting a large boulder that was sticking out of the water.

The clone immediately the Naruto down, letting himself take the attack from Lee than the actual Naruto. With just a split second of time to spare, Naruto powered-up his hand with chakra, paying Lee back with the damage that he had dealt to Naruto.

A sputter of blood escaped from Lee's mouth. Once regaining balance, the two immediately acted on their next attack.

They began rushing towards each other on the large body of water. As Naruto had enough speed, Naruto summoned a Shadow Clone. The said clone threw Naruto at Lee.

Naruto came in at blinding speeds, soon appearing above Lee, a kick coming his way. Widening his eyes, Lee got hit by the sonic-speed kick that Naruto had just done.

Naruto threw another batch of shuriken that came Lee's way. Lee yelped in pain as a few shuriken cut through parts of his spandex and piercing his own skin.

Blood dripped down, diluting the water with its crimson color. It was soon lost within the depths of the body of water.

I can't use it just yet. Lee thought, his injuries were just recently healed and he didn't want to overexert his body so early.

Naruto had his blade in his hand, readying himself to continue with their fight. They were both pretty badly hurt.

Lee got back up on his own two feet, he began to circle around Naruto in a careful manner. The same went for Naruto. Their eyes were locked -- his azure contacts locking with his charcoal eyes.

"You're strong," said Naruto, masking his voice with chakra. "That's why I'll have to be even stronger." A grey skeleton with one arm appeared surrounding Naruto.

Once this is all over -- you will forget I even fought you. Naruto thought, having the intention of using his Sharingan to erase the memory of this fight.

Naruto slowly walked towards Lee, every cell in his body burning from the pain of using the Susano'o. In a blur, Naruto dashed, appearing right in front of Lee.

His Susano'o pulled back his arm, launching his fist at Lee, whom just barely managed to dodge with the hairs of his body standing from surprise.

Naruto caught sight of Rock Lee backing away far away to recover from the previous attack that Naruto had dealt to him.

Without a single ounce of hesitation, Naruto used his Susano'o to generate enough force to create ripples in the water. His Susano'o evolving, Naruto did the same thing but with two arms this time.

A large splash of water occurred, making Rock Lee's sight break off from Naruto. He appeared right behind Lee, using his Susano'o to demolish him.

Feeling pain from Naruto's power, Rock Lee got up and stuck himself onto the stone wall that was right behind him.

Naruto stayed put, tensing up as Rock Lee unleashed an enormous amounts of power that powered him up.

"Gate of Opening!"

~~~

Kimimaro dashed out of the sand. His movements were wild and untamed but were full of concentrated power. He moved right towards Gaara, planning to pierce through his defense.

Gaara tried hindering Kimimaro with his sand, but failed due to the speed that Kimimaro was dodging at. Gaara poured in more effort, making his sand more faster.

It soon transformed into sharp-like-knives that could kill a person in a single hit. This started to hinder Kimimaro because he was starting to slow down due to the rigid and sharp spears of sand.

But he managed to persist through. Gaara rose sand from the ground right in front of him, intending for it to defend himself with it.

"You call this your absolute defense? Pathetic." Kimimaro bursted through the walls of sand that had been used to protect himself from the wrath of Kimimaro.

But it had failed. Gaara had gotten knocked away just meters away from Kimimaro.

"Enough of your talking," told Gaara, reforming his sand armor. The sand that was acting like a shield went from behind, piercing the back of Kimimaro's back.

Blood escaped from the wound that was created, making him fall back. "It's not over yet," stated Kimimaro, reach over to his back, his spine rising from his body.

"Dance of the Clematis: Vine!" His way of using his spine was different from his regular bone-sword. He was using it like a whip. The spine was on his right hand.

Kimimaro saw his sand start to move once again, slowly rising in the air to tower over him. And in a blink of an eye, Kimimaro had cut the sand in half.

He then rushed passed the sand and attacked Gaara with the spin on his hand, but not before Gaara protected himself with his own own sand, not letting the spine-whip to pierce through with such potency.

Gaara moved his hand slightly, commanding his sand to pull the leg of Kimimaro so he could lose balance. Gaara once again made his sand become sharp and pierced the skin of Kimimaro's.

Gritting his teeth, the blood that was spilled attached itself on the crystal clear bones on Kimimaro's back. Going for another attack, Kimimaro launched himself to the side.

With him back on his feet, Kimimaro started to concentrate his power into his whole left arm.

"Dance of the Clematis: Flower!" Bone started to form, encasing his whole left arm with bone; the tip was extremely sharp.

"I'll kill you with this!" Roared Kimimaro, sprinting towards Gaara. Knowing that if the attack was successful it would be fatal, he quickly gathered the most durable minerals in the soil and infused it with chakra.

Making an even stronger defense than before. Making the layers of sand protecting him thick, Kimimaro was abruptly stopped, finding it rather difficult to break through.

They were in a stalemate, either of them were overwhelming each other in terms of strength. But only time will tell if this was true.

Both struggling, the two poured more power into their attacks and defense.

"It's over," declared Gaara, seeing the weapon that was encasing Kimimaro's whole left arm slowly crumble away, unable to tear through Gaara's sand defense.

"You -- a mindless minion for Orochimaru -- are but a pawn being moved by his games." The sand beneath was spiraling, making Kimimaro slowly sink.

"With this, you'll be trapped in the ground." Quickening the pace, sand started to cover Kimimaro as he struggled to escape from the everlasting amounts of sand shadowing over him. His eyes widened, he was entrapped by the san and buried underneath the ground.

Panting, Gaara was on the verge of passing out due to the excessive use of his chakra on things that may or may not have saved his life.

He may not have been hurt badly, but his chakra supply was. Thinking it was over, he slowly rose from the ground.

"Dance!" Gaara widened his eyes, hearing the voice Kimimaro echo from beneath the Earth.

"Dance of the Seedling Fern!" A spike rose from the ground, then another spike rose, then another, then another, then another.

Gaara managed to escape on a pad of sand and lifting himself to the sky as thousands of large and spiky bones emerged from the ground.

Tiredness washing over him, he couldn't do anything anymore. Suddenly, he felt the wind rush from the side. Now, it was his turn to widen their eyes.

Kimimaro was in the air, aiming another one of his 'Dance of the Clematis: Flower' right towards his eye. Just before he had pierced his eye, Kimimaro stopped.

Gaara stared at him, eyes widened. Kimimaro had blood dripping from his mouth.

"Orochimar-sama. . ." With his last dying breath, he said those words, falling down and being impaled by his own spiky bone that rose from the ground.

This marked the end of the last of the Kaguya Clan -- Kimimaro.

~~~

"Gate of Healing!" Power surged through Rock Lee as he unleashed the second gate. Naruto knew that this was going to be troubling.

Don't give up. Naruto thought to himself, seeing Rock Lee creating cracks on the stone as he disappeared and reappeared rapidly.

Gritting his teeth tightly, Naruto clashed attacks with Rock Lee. Both knew that they were going to have to end this fight quickly because if not, both sides will suffer significant damage.

They were at an even match, but what will happen if Rock Lee goes even further than just the second gate? The two ran across the water at frightening speeds, clashing every seconds -- every moment.

Droplets of water appeared. After one more collision, the two backed away from each other. Naruto panted alongside Rock Lee.

"Gate of Life!"

"Gate of Pain!"

Naruto widened his eyes, feeling pain rupture from his body. Hitting a tree, blood escaped from multiple parts of his body.

He was facing Rock Lee's immense and overwhelming power. Naruto tried getting up, but soon felt the tip of his hairs behind him stand up, immediately being sent across the valley in the speed of sound.

Shit! Naruto mused, falling down to the water. Huffing, Naruto just barely managed to dodge another attack due to his Mangekyou technique.

Shinsekai.

Using it one more time, Naruto ducked below, prematurely dodging a kick from Rock Lee. Moving up, Naruto tried sending an a punch from below, but failed due to Rock Lee reacting so quickly.

He reappeared right above him, sending him across the waters once again. Naruto cursed himself, knowing he should've ended it once he had use his Susano'o.

Rock Lee was about to make his next move, but was hindered by the repercussions of opening the Eight Gates. Naruto would use that time wisely and attack, but his body was just not having it.

His teeth tightly clenched, blood seeped out from the bottom of his mask. Pain coursing through her body, Naruto had numerous thoughts moving within his mind.

Shit. Shit. I need to move. Naruto was so focused on the amount of pain that he was experiencing that he didn't even noice that his Susano'o had shattered.

Rock Lee was still busy dealing with the aftereffects.

I can't. . . I can't. . . I can't. . . I can't. His mind was blank, not being ale to focus due to the tremendous amounts of pain. Water was dripping down from his hair.

"You're being too pathetic right now. Here, I'll lend you a bit of my damn power so you look less pathetic than you do right now." Naruto was broken out of his thinking by Kurama. His wounds slowly healing, a bubbly-ed aura lifting him up as his Mangekyou Sharingan spun wildly.

10 seconds -- No longer 5 seconds of Shinsekai. Naruto saw Rock Lee slowly recover from his repercussions -- his Eight Gates still active.

The bubbly-red aura shrouded Naruto, a one-tail appearing from behind. Soon enough, his gray Susano'o also shrouded over the bubbly-aura.

The two looked at each other, both feeling pain all around their body. They started to dash towards each other. Soon disappearing from the eyes of a normal person.

They were both determined to defeat their opponent. One mistake can cost someone their life in this battle. Rock Lee ducked down, expecting Naruto to continue with another.

But he did an unorthodox method. Using the hands of his Susano'o Naruto punched the water, creating a large ripple and disrupting Rock Lee's balance.

Knowing this, Naruto countered with a punch that was made by his Susano'o. Rock Lee was launched away, hitting the same stone wall that Naruto had collided with earlier.

Rock Lee persevered through and decided to bring out his 5th and last gate that he could access at the moment.

"Gate of Limit!" Another explosion of power swept through the valley, making Naruto use his hand to cover the incoming breeze.

Two can play that game. Naruto thought, slowly losing control of him as another tail appeared right behind him. In a blink of an eye, the two both committed their respective attacks. Naruto moved to the side, dodging a punch from Rock Lee before his attack could connect.

Naruto jumped in, droplets of water rising into the air as his Susano'o pulled its arm back, but soon stopped because Rock Lee disappeared without a trace.

Rock Lee started appearing from all sides, making Naruto move his eyes around at a constant rate. Jumping in the air, he deactivated his Susano'o while spinning in the air so he could reduce the amount area of possible hits for just a moment so he could dodge the attack.

Once landing on the ground, Naruto activated his Susano'o once more, the burning sensation going across his body. Naruto, with a serious look across his face behind his mask, just barely managed to block a punch from Rock Lee.

The hands of his Susano'o clenching the fists of Rock Lee's. Naruto took a deep breath, looking into the future for just 10 seconds. All he saw was him deactivating his Susano'o and duck down to dodge the punch that he was blocking, then he uppercuts him.

Inhaling and exhaling once again, Naruto knew that he only had very little time to dodge the hurling fist that was about to go his way. He narrowed his eyes, deactivating his Susano'o as the fist came straight at him.

Lowering his body, a tiny bit of Naruto's semi-spiky hair was cut off. Thankfully, he managed to dodge the blow. With his hair swaying, Naruto gave a punch to Rock Lee's abdomen.

As he was being sent back, Naruto decided to follow where he was going to stop. Analyzing Rock Lee's movement, he saw him go into a position of a roll and landed on a large boulder sticking out of the water.

The two knew it -- they were running on thin ice right now. With Naruto risking his eyes and the large amount of usage of his chakra and the amount of damage that was being dealt to him.

The same went with Rock Lee. He was pushing his body to the limit by using the Eight Gates. And was risking everything for this battle and mission.

He's become way too focused on defeating me that he has forgotten to conserve energy to accomplish the mission. Naruto thought, knowing that this was bad for Konoha's part.

But it was an actual positive for Satsuki. If she had fought Rock Lee, she would surely be back in Konoha if she was in this type of situation.

Naruto's azure contacts were burning much fury. A dangerous aura emitting form his body as he focused a large amounts of chakra to the arms of his Susano'o.

Flesh formed around the specific part of the Susano'o that he wanted. Rock Lee decided that this was going to be his last attack as well. Their strength and power overflowing.

Rock Lee jumped down from the boulder, now eye-to-eye. Both hurt badly, this will only further the damage being dealt to each other and themselves. As the sun went down, the two dashed towards each other.

Gliding across the water in unfathomable speed, they both clashed, creating a massive explosion that was made the water rise from the the large pool of water around them.

The only thing that a person would be able to hear would be the water showering over the spot of the explosion. As the explosion cleared itself, a figure emerged on the shores of the valley.

"Shit," Naruto said, surviving the explosion of their attacks. He gasped as the mask that he was wearing crumbled into pieces.

Naruto looked back, catching sight of Rock Lee's unconscious body on the large boulder that Lee was previously standing on. He spat out blood from his mouth, feeling every ounce of his body on fire due to his Susano'o.

With just enough to stand up by himself, he limped himself out of the battle scene, knowing that someone will be coming to make sure everything was fine.

Naruto looked at his body, seeing part of his outfit fully destroyed by the battle that had just occurred.

The cloak. . . Naruto thought to himself, knowing that he'll have to get the same cloak fixed by someone who was promising. With every part of his body sore, he continued walking.

As he made his way back to Konoha, Naruto thought about what was going to happen next after his whole ordeal was finished.

But he did know one thing.

"That this was only the beginning."

~~~