Chapter 12 Unlucky

Watching as Kakuzu slowly approached him, Riku's eyes were determined still.

Riku bet on Kakuzu being cocky and open to a sneak attack, but the fact he blocked Riku's axe throw showed that despite the apparent gap in strength, Kakuzu's guard was up nonetheless.

Wasting no time, Riku bit his thumb and summoned Nariko. He would've summoned Raiden but that would've ate too much of his chakra and Nariko barely took any.

Kakuzu's eyes narrowed as he looked at Nariko. "Oh? So that's the beast that is classed as an A rank?" Kakuzu taunted, "No matter, I'll have that bounty in by tonight regardless." Kakuzu said as his gaze narrowed. "But you are a bit taller than what was said on the report." Kakuzu said while analysing Riku.

"Nariko, this guy is extremely strong. Please be careful." Riku whispered to Nariko before he vanished.

Appearing behind Kakuzu from thin air, his sword moving just as fast as Riku aimed for the right shoulder blade. Riku knew Kakuzu's weak spots and that you needed to destroy all five hearts to kill him.

But before Riku's Ninjato reached the mask beneath the akatsuki robe, an arm that was being controlled by some kind of thread blocked Riku's sword. Flickering ten meters backwards, Riku looked at his sword and checked for any damage.

Kakuzu turned to look at Riku, the arm being controlled by threads retreated back and sewed itself back to his shoulder. 'Freaky.' Riku thought, but wasting no time he flickered once more. He knew Kakuzu wasn't one to mess around.

"Arden Swordsmanship : page 5, Shooting Star." Riku breathed before vanishing and appearing 50 feet from where he previously stood, 25 feet away from Kakuzu. He had… teleported through him?

At that moment, Kakuzu's akatsuki robe was sliced in two, as was his body.

But being immortal, Kakuzu was fine and his body sewed itself back together, but, What wasn't fine was the now split in two mask on the floor.

Riku hadn't targeted Kakuzu, but one of his masks. "My… heart?" Kakuzu noticed, his eyes burning with rage as he looked at Riku and cried "Lightning release : False Darkness Jutsu!", following this a large spear of pure lightning was thrown at Riku at blinding speeds, so fast that Riku couldn't even dodge in time.

Riku, recovering from the assault on Kakuzu was suddenly hit straight in the chest by a spear made up completely of lightning, but Nariko wasted no time as he appeared behind Kakuzu, his large paw encased in an aura of white lightning as his claws descended upon Kakuzu.

Kakuzu attempted to block, underestimating the strength of the large beast. Was quickly horrified as his poor attempt of blocking was sliced into four pieces.

But before the attack could kill, kakuzu disappeared.

Rushing over to Riku, Nariko asked "Riku, are you okay?" Nariko said with worry, but Riku brushed it off "Focus on the battle, I'll be okay." Riku replied as he stood up.

"How heartwarming." A sinister voice was heard as Kakuzu's figure appeared from a puddle in the floor, following Kakuzu, the puddle turned into four water lances that were flung at the pair.

Nariko's whole body was enveloped in a white lightning cloak as he vanished with Riku in arm. Despite his efforts however, the droplets that splashed from the lances hitting the tree were transformed into even more lances that flew towards the duo once more.

Kakuzu wasted no time as he flickered towards Nariko, but Riku had other plans.

Kakuzu was about to engage in taijutsu but Riku appeared before him after sheathing his Ninjato at his waist. Riku threw a chakra enhanced punch towards Kakuzu that was easily blocked, but then flickered once behind, then back in front of Kakuzu in a hope to confuse him, to which he followed through with a solid cross to the face.

Dodging backwards after being hit in the face, Kakuzu then ducked and threw both his arms forward in hope to grab the child.

Nariko however, after blocking the water lances once again appeared behind Kakuzu and attempted to destroy another mask.

Right at that moment however, the mask that Nariko was targeting flew out at him, followed by a large black body that even towered over Nariko.

Kakuzu had sacrificed his water heart in order to fight both opponents at once. The large black construct that had a turtle looking mask with dark blue water droplets on either cheek, stood back to back with Kakuzu. This fight hadn't been as simple as he'd expected. He had already lost two of his five hearts and he would be forced to retreat if he lost another.

With a fierce determination, Riku sprinted forward, his feet barely touching the cracked earth. He lunged at Kakuzu with a slice of his sword through the air, quick and precise, trying to reach the middle section of the larger man.

Kakuzu, on the other hand, dodged nimbly and, watching with acumen eyes, all the time taunting, "Too slow!" and counter-attacked with a quick strike. Riku had barely avoided it by rolling to his side.

Riku got up, his heart racing, and said, "Shut up and fight!" as he started channeling his chakra. In a blur, he had vanished using body flicker jutsu and appeared behind Kakuzu, slashing with his Ninjato.

Kakuzu turned just in time, raising one of his tendrils to block the strike. The impact reverberated through the air, but Kakuzu remained unfazed. "Impressive speed, but you'll need more than that!" he growled.

Kakuzu fired elemental shots from his masks in a relentless stream; the air cracked with the release of the lightning as Kakuzu sent another false darkness jutsu flying towards Riku. The ground erupted in waves of lightning underneath the thundering projectiles as Riku was able to jump backward just in time.

Panting, Riku's running mind judged the situation. He needed to be one step ahead of Kakuzu in order to find a hole to turn the battle tide. Faking a retreat at that moment, he drew Kakuzu in. With the larger man pressing forward, Riku whirled about and sent a series of monoflame enhanced claw projections toward Kakuzu's now-exposed side.

The suddenness caught Kakuzu off guard, and one of the slashes ripped across his body; a flicker of surprise crossed his face. "You little—!" he snarled; anger suddenly flared in his eyes.

Suddenly, a surge of determination engulfed Riku's being, the chakra running inside him, his speed and agility enhanced. "Arden Swordsmanship: page 8, Lunar Whirlwind," he murmured once more, charging at Kakuzu with flurries of strikes, each one well-placed.

Kakuzu's eyes squinted uncomfortably at the increased speed Riku had gained once again. "Your speed is still impressive, but that shall not matter in the least!" he growled, responding with a firm Wind Release: great breakthrough jutsu. A gust of wind spat from his mouth, which threw Riku back and into a tree-with his momentum, Riku had to roll onto his feet. Panting heavily, a grinning Riku caught his breath. "Gotcha."

…

While Riku and Kakuzu were having their duel, Nariko and the Water chakra nature mask began their duel.

The water construct growled low in its throat at the writhing tendrils as if alive, then lashed out with a tumbled wave of water that sent Nariko dodging promptly to one side to narrowly clear the torrent.

'Slow.' Nariko thought, focusing his chakra. He thrust his paws upwards, using the Lightning Release: Thunderclap Arrow

His paws sprang up and cast two great arrows of white lightning, one in each hand, which he slung forward. Flying true towards the construct and thus crashing into the water-construct with a brilliant flash.

It seemed to shudder, a coursing of electricity through its shadowy form, and then reformed into tendrils that writhed in agitation.

Nariko gritted his teeth at such a fight confronting him; then focused and drew on his lightning cloak for an increase in speed. He leaped suddenly into activity, threading through as the tendrils lashed out to him.

He faced the water chakra nature construct and began to send several fast lightning spears to the center of the construct. Each connected, the water sizzling and steaming, yet the construct was quite resilient due to its reformation and counterattack of the tendrils in almost no time.

In one swift motion, the thing whipped its tendril around Nariko's arm and yanked him closer. 'Shit' Nariko thought. It hissed, and water swirled menacingly.

Nariko struggled against the grip, his muscles straining, as a loud "Not today!" echoed from his throat. His chakra coursed into a strong surge of electricity, and the tendril went into spasm, coursed with lightnings, letting him be released from its grasp.

With a loud shout, Nariko threw himself backward, lengthening the distance to the construct of water, and on and on, the energy built within him, brewing the storm above. 'I will not lose.' he thought to himself, his paws raised up towards the heavens.

Ominous dark clouds swirled, and from the dark mass, a great, powerful bolt of lightning descended, pouring into Nariko's outstretched paws, turning that energy into a great, enormous lightning jutsu, rivaling Sasuke's Kirin in size, surging towards the water construct.

It felt the attack that was to come and tried to fend it off with its tendrils. Its reaction was just a tad too slow. There was a sharp, sudden crack, and upon landing, in a blinding flash that lit up the battlefield, the water construct convulsed, its form destabilizing from the wash of electricity.

Yet Nariko would turn none of it; thus, he pressed his assault, calling down more lightning, each bolt striking true, and the water construct writhing and twisting in strain to hold together against the tear of electricity. The attack came as Nariko summoned every last bit of strength in his body and unleashed one final bolt of lightning down onto the construct to explode in a mass of water and steam filling the air. As the smoke began to clear, a tall, heavy-breathed Nariko stood triumphantly upright. The water construct was destroyed, the tendrils breaking off and dissipating into the air like mist.

Looking over at Riku's battle, Nariko noticed that Kakuzu was distracted fighting Riku and sprung into action.

Nariko lunged forward, encasing one of his claws with white lightning as he flung a massive claw projection at Kakuzu.

Kakuzu, sensing the intense danger from behind yet couldn't dodge. Could only attempt to block.

*SLASH*

Kakuzu's eyes widened as he felt another one of his masks breaking. Wasting no time, he vanished.

As he had planned, he wouldn't allow any more than three masks to break.

He knew he would've won the fight in the end, but he couldn't risk losing another mask.

…

Riku groaned as he lifted himself off the ground, supporting himself with his Ninjato he looked over at Nariko "Where'd he go?" Riku asked, his voice low but his eyes were sharp and his guard was raised.

"I haven't got a clue." Nariko replied, "Who was that, anyways? Why was someone so strong after your head?" Nariko inquired.

"I have an 8 million bounty on my head for some reason, kinda sucks." Riku replied with a raspy tone. Kakuzu had shattered most of the bones in his body and it was really a chore trying to stand upright at the moment.

"Can I… sleep at your place for a while?" Riku asked before passing out.

But right as Nariko placed Riku on his back and got ready to reverse summon himself back to the Kumarai territory, he sensed a large amount of chakra rapidly approaching from behind.

He turned and was faced with a petite girl with mint green hair running towards him with a rusty sword while… crying?

However right as the girl approached, he had successfully returned to the Kumarai territory.

"Thank god, just in time." Nariko heaved a sigh of relief as he placed Riku on the floor right as…

"Don't touch him!" He heard a shout from his flank.

…

Fū, the Jinchuriki of the seven tails, also known as Chōmei. Was a girl from the village hidden in the waterfalls and is known for her cheerful personality and strong sense of justice yet was treated with fear and wariness due to her being a Jinchuriki had finally met someone that wasn't scared of her.

He was a pretty little boy named Riku, Fū didn't know much about him but she knew that he was strong and was super kind as he protected her and all of those children when they were kidnapped.

And today, she had prepared to go and see Riku. She had gathered some fruits and snacks to hopefully have a nice picnic with the boy, but as she approached the location they had last met.

All she saw was chaos, she saw trees all destroyed and the ground scarred with lightning.

But what shocked her most was the figure of a large beast holding her only friend, Riku, as it seemed to be reverse summoning itself somewhere.

Picking up a rusty sword from the floor, Fū steeled her resolve and ran straight for the beast, tears streaming down her face from fear but her sense of justice had prevented her from running away.

And that's when she was brought to a weird looking house?

…

Fū wasn't the only one to witness the destruction.

A couple hundred meters away from the clash between Riku and Kakuzu was a figure that was seemingly halfway into the ground. His head was covered by a Venus fly trap looking plant as his eyes narrowed at the battle.

He had never expected Kakuzu to be forced to retreat. But he knew that Kakuzu was careless and was playing it safe in the end, the kid was lucky to not have been killed instantly by Kakuzu.

Yet, the kid had piqued the figures interest.

"I'll inform pain about this." Spoke Zetsu.