Chapter 26: energy slammed

It had been his first meeting with his current allies and now friends that had offered him the opening he'd been looking for. Of course, being who he was, this new relationship started out as many of those in his past had.

With a bang.

(UBER LONG FLASHBACK OF DOOM: One hundred and ten years ago. )

The wave of bright yellow energy slammed into him with the force of an angry giant, battering into his body and dragging him across the earth at least three dozen yards before slamming him into the trees at the edge of the clearing. The explosion that followed was deafening, and by the time the roar of the flames quieted his ears were ringing, and it felt as if his head was playing host to thousands of tiny drummers all beating against the inside of his skull.

That may have been because he'd smoked his head on a rather stubborn rock on his trip across the clearing, or maybe the force of the attack had rattled him just that much; regardless, these sensations only lasted for about a moment before a new sensation began to dominate his senses.

It was hot, and unbearably so.

He was also buried in what felt like several tons of felled and burning lumber. He would need to rectify that so that he could focus on more pressing issues.

Such as the ones who had attacked him. So with a mighty push, he sent the crushed timber flying away from him, and through the air in splintered shards that rained down upon the earth below in a hail of burning kindling.

With a pained grunt, he stood from the pile of debris and burning wood and gave himself a quick once over; he appeared relatively unharmed, apart from the bleeding gash over his brow. The blood from his wound streaming down his face in thick rivulets, dripping from his chin and staining the blasted earth beneath his feet as he walked out of the flames.

His assailants were instantly on guard as he emerged from the smoke, his strides measured and confident even though his Haori had been nearly obliterated and his fishnet shirt was left in tatters. The only articles of clothing to come out of that encounter relatively whole were his sandals and hakama; though one of his sandals was missing, oddly enough.

In short, he looked like a bum dressed in rags; a far sight from the dignified and almost regal appearance he'd sported before he'd been blown sky high. Twice.

Stopping several meters away from the four women in the strange white garb, Naruto spit a glob of blood to the side, running his tongue around his teeth to make sure none had been knocked loose or broken. With his inspection done, Naruto reached behind him and drew his wakizashi, the broken halves of the scabbard falling to the dirt behind him as he did so; seemingly only having been holding on by a thread that had finally snapped as he'd drawn the blade.

Raising his free hand to his neck, Naruto gripped his nape tightly and tilted his head to the left, a sharp crack followed the action and a rather annoying kink that had been bothering him faded. He then used his pinkie finger to clean out his left ear, wiggling it about in an attempt to alleviate the high pitched ringing that was still assailing him.

A muffled voice from the group in front of him forced his attention back upwards, and towards one of the women in particular. She was the shorter of the group, standing at one hundred and fifty centimeters there-about, with long olive green hair, long eye-lashes and lavender eyes.

There were three pink tear-drops under her right eye, and three bone-like hair-clips on the bangs to the right of her face. She was garbed in a long white dress, which seemed to be the color of the day, with long sleeves extending well passed the tips of her fingers.

There were two crisscrossing belts about her slender waist, and if she was wearing any footwear then he couldn't see it. She was saying something, but since his head was still ringing he couldn't make out a word of it.

It was like trying to listen to someone talking to you when you were standing under a water fall; which was impossible, and annoying.

There were three others as well, another girl standing only a few inches taller than the first, with short black hair in a bob-cut, and hetero-chromatic eyes, the right being blue while her left was amber and painted with a thick red eyeliner. She was wearing a white kimono and hakama; the kimono having shoulder length sleeves and black cuffs, a v-neck top with a high collar, and black bands around her wrists.

There was some sort of bone fragment decorating her hair, set in the middle of her bangs and extending toward the back of her head with a single horn pointing forward.

Strange head wear to be sure; but to each their own. Wherever these people came from it must have been a common fashion accessory; who knew?

The others were quite a bit taller than the first two, the first of these being a dark-skinned woman with long, wavy brown hair and an impressive bust standing at 177 centimeters. She had what appeared to be a three section crown on her head, and a thick necklace about her neck, both of these items were seemingly made of the same bone-like material as the hair clips the other two were wearing.

Like the others, she was also wearing all white; a corset-like top, and short white pleated skirt, with two white cloth bracers on her forearms.

The last however was the one that had Naruto's more immediate attention; from what he could sense of her reiatsu, she was easily the most powerful of the group, her presence in the area making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. She too was a dark skinned woman wearing white, she stood at least as tall as the other woman, but unlike the others he couldn't see any bone fragments.