Code: Well, you may notice that this chapter is inconsistent with a lot of stuff I've written before. This is because I'm planning to overhaul and completely rewrite the series from scratch after I post this up.

Zurui: Indeed, Chapter 1 is already being overhauled and rewritten. This is going to be a huge undertaking, considering the story is reaching 100,000 words not taking into consideration the rewrites.

Code: Also, since I, the author, am in senior year, I somehow have even more, and even less time to write. I've got scholarships to apply for, colleges to worry about, schoolwork to work on, tests to study for, and video games to play.

Zurui: Code's had the Chapter 11 file and about 1,000 words written for about three months on his laptop, and now he's been motivated after reading so many good manga on the Internet!

Code: My imagination has been revitalized!! Hoorah! Let's all hope I keep writing after this!

Zurui: Ah, and I suddenly had a boom in inspiration and the rest of the chapter came together. However, writing battle for so long really screwed with my imagination. I'm better with plots than combat, it seems... Anyways, Chapter 11 is finally here! KAMPAI!

Side Note: As I didn't have the time to finish up Jutsu descriptions and such, I'll be posting this up and then editing the document later with the full descriptions. It's just for user convenience and it's not totally necessary after all.

PS: There's a poll up. VOTE!

PS#2: To those who have already reviewed, feel free to PM/Email me your review of the chapter instead.

Black Lightning

Chapter 11: Chaos

xxxx

"Chaos is the score upon which reality is written." Henry Miller

xxxx

"This... could be the end," Sarutobi groaned tiredly, his face dripping with sweat. "This old man is already worn out... Naruto, should I fall in battle, I want you to know that I've always considered you a grandson."

"Stop joking around!" yelled Naruto, his fourteen-year-old facial features taking on the beginnings of a panic that he hadn't felt in many years. "You're going to live! I won't let you die!" After losing his comrades, he couldn't even begin to think of losing the one adult that had truly cared for him during the first eight years of his life.

"He... Orochimaru... you must stop him in my stead," the old man coughed out, wheezing and gasping for breath. "You must not let him continue his experiments! -wheeze- "Konoha shinobi or not, you have the -cough- will of fire within you... Live on and carry that feeling with you for the rest of your life!"

"Sandaime-sama!" roared Kakashi, who had just dispatched his enemy before whirling around. "Behind you!"

With a mighty roar of willpower, the Hokage rose and delivered a spinning roundhouse kick to the enemy that had tried to sneak up behind him. All around him were the sounds of battle; screams, explosions, splintering trees, and the spattering of blood. Kirigakure was in chaos, a chaos that had not been seen since the final battle of the last civil war, where each side had laid waste to the other with not a single survivor.

They had come out of nowhere. Hundreds of ninja had descended from the misty treetops, falling upon the sparsely defended village. Already weakened from the purgation of the nukenin a few days earlier, a large part of Kiri's shinobi force was unavailable. Thus, a slaughter began, which was only slowed by the arrival of Konohagakure and Sunagakure's entourages of elite ninja. Uzumaki Naruto himself had joined the battle, justifying Raito no Kuni's sincerity of the alliance. As Hikage, Naruto inspired all around him despite his very young age, and this had helped to stem the tide of battle, but only temporarily.

"We're still outnumbered fifteen to one!" Hyuuga Hiashi reported. He, as one of the most senior and powerful shinobi in Konoha and leader of the Hyuuga clan, had been chosen as a bodyguard. Now he served as an intelligence officer, gathering as much information as he could on the current battle. "No, make that twenty to one! They just received reinforcements from the south!"

"..."

"Sandaime-jiisan, you have to rest," Naruto urged, nudging the old man gently to the ground. "We still have a ways to go."

"Indeed," he agreed, "but I'm not sure this old man can go any further. I'm at my limit, Naruto. Not even I can handle this many shinobi, and neither can you."

With a great shudder, a giant typhoon rose from the village's epicenter, the Mizukage's HQ, carrying with it both allied and enemy shinobi alike.

"Looks like they couldn't get away in time," Kakashi commented solemnly. "It seems like the Mizukage will need some help. She's becoming desperate if she has to involve her own men."

"Kasumi will be able to handle herself for now," the blond replied offhandedly, turning his attention back to the situation at hand. "What we have to worry about now is defeating all of these shinobi."

"Kakashi," croaked Sandaime, his throat parched, "take Hiashi and go northwest... thin out the shinobi there so that Kiri's ANBU can divert more troops to the south."

"Hai!" said the two in unison, before heading out at top speed.

"Naruto," began Sarutobi, "Naruto... you must leave me and head to the north gate, where enemy lines are at their weakest. I'm not sure how long Kiri will last, or how much time I can give you, but know that you must leave this place immediately. Hurry!"

"But-"

An explosion rocked the ground underneath them, and in the distance, plumes of black smoke rose from the general direction of the south gate.

"You must hurry!" Sarutobi repeated. "If you stay, we will both die. You at least must escape from this place!"

Another explosion shook the ground, this time the smoke coming from the east gate. Electricity could be seen dissipating into the air, the result of a powerful Raiton jutsu. A series of minor explosions followed it in a line, indicating that the battle was growing heavier as more enemy reinforcements arrived. Kiri would eventually fall, and everyone fighting knew that fact. The most important reason for fighting though, was to buy time for the civilians to escape and the Kage to form final battle plans, if they even had the time to come up with such stratagems.

"Please, as the final wish of an old man, go."

"... Take care," Naruto choked out. "I might have left when I was young, but you were always my grandfather-figure. I won't forget you, and the next time we meet, you have to treat me to all-you-can-eat ramen."

"Yes," agreed Sarutobi, "the next time we meet. Sayonara, Naruto."

"Sayonara..."

xxxx

"Chaos is the score upon which reality is written." Henry Miller

xxxx

Kasumi, though still very young at the ripe age of sixteen, was not the Mizukage without reason. In present-day Kirigakure, she alone had the chakra to perform A-Rank ninjutsu without becoming fatigued. There had been a few others in the past, two of which were Momochi Zabuza and Hoshigaki Kisame, the latter which had infiltrated her village mere days ago and had participated in Kiri's battle against the nukenin. Of course his appearance had startled her, even more so when she found out whose side he was on. However, nothing came close to describing how much shock she was in now.

Displayed in front of her were her four squads of her own ANBU, impaled into chunks of pavement. Some were still living, moaning and screaming in the intense pain they were experiencing. Those that were unlucky enough to live had most of their torso gone with their heart still intact, forcing them to suffer a slow and painful death.

Words couldn't even express how much nausea she was feeling at the grim outcome. Never before had she seen such a gruesome sight.

"Kasumi-sama," one of her ANBU escorts whispered hoarsely, "we must leave... now."

The sound of a blade drawing drew all their attention to their backs, but when they turned around, there was no one there.

"G-agh!"

Whirling around, the remainder could see a dead ANBU laying on the floor, decapitated. His head, still donning the white porcelain mask, rolled down the street. One of her escorts, a newly appointed ANBU, removed his mask to throw up on the ground. It had been far too early for the young man to experience the horrors that usually came with the job, and now was the limit.

"Who's there?!" demanded Kasumi, when the wind picked up, scattering her violet hair through the wind.

Unknown.

"Answer me!"

Unseen.

"Kasumi-sama!" repeated the first ANBU, "we must leave! One squad, around her! The rest of you spread out in formation C!"

"Undeterred," a sandy voice whispered through the air. "We are but shadows."

As all the ANBU dropped down into fighting stances, a lone figure rose from Kasumi's shadow. In his hands were two wicked-looking daggers. Along its curved edge were sharp spines, designed to rip and tear whatever it caught.

"Unmatched," he whispered into her ears.

Kasumi's eyes widened as the man made his move and the first ANBU, a shidanchou, roared in surprise and anger.

A dagger rose and fell swiftly, leaving no room for resistance, falling upon the violet-haired girl's head, piercing skull and slicing through brain.

At least, that's what would have happened had a fierce roundhouse kick not landed solidly into the man's gut, sending him flying backwards a dozen meters.

"Mizukage-sama!" Maito Gai roared in righteous anger, "Are you alright?!" What a reason to be angry. Three nations, Konoha, Suna, and Kiri, had met here to create an alliance. Instead of escaping war through alliance, war had come for them. Now all hope for peace was lost. Knowing that the children of the future would grow up in a time of strife... it angered him more than anything else. "Foul being, I shall smite you in the name of youth!" he yelled powerfully.

Said man began rising from his fallen position. No definite features could be defined about him during this time, as he wore a dark cloak and blank porcelain mask. Without a sound, he straightened up and changed his grip on the daggers so that the blades pointed backwards. Having discarded the assassination style for an offensive style, he charged quickly, crossing the distance between himself and Gai in seconds.

However, Gai was not considered one of the best taijutsu users in all Konoha for nothing. He stepped to the side and unleashed a powerful roundhouse kick, aiming this time for the upper torso.

The attack was blocked, but the outcome that the assassin expected did not occur. Instead of cutting through the leg by blocking, he found that his blades had hit something very dense and hard.

Gai smirked determinedly and pushed, following it up with a reverse roundhouse kick with his other side, catching his opponent's arms and knocking them aside. Sliding his feet on the ground, he gathered his strength and let out a mighty punch into the gut with a battle cry, sending the man into a building like a bullet. Dust flew through the air from the impact, covering the point of impact in a film of brown particles.

"You must know your enemy to defeat him, or if that does not work, you must be able to see and predict his moves!" Gai said challengingly. "Come!"

"Indeed," the assassin rasped, "You seem to be a worthy foe."

He discarded his daggers and charged at the Konoha Jounin quickly, crossing the one-hundred meters of distance between them in two seconds. Giving off a battle roar, he pulled his right arm back and swung fiercely.

Gai had, somehow, known what was coming. Call it a sixth sense if you must, but instead of merely dodging it, he opted to block it with both forearms held to his left. Surprise was evident in his eyes when his opponent's arm turned into something claw-like, like that of a monster, slamming into his defense and sending him flying to the side. Gai recovered quickly and landed safely onto the ground, then jumped into the air to dodge another swipe from the same claw-arm. When he went in to strike a blow to the assassin's back, the left arm swung back, also turning into a large clawed hand. Instead of striking though, the transformed arm grabbed a hold of him.

"Support him!" an ANBU yelled hoarsely, and two of the three squads accompanying Kasumi leaped forwards, drawing their weapons as they dashed towards the assassin.

"Humph." He flipped backwards onto a building and retreated, pausing only to give Kasumi a death-glare. "I'll be back for you."

"Mizukage-sama!"

"Don't go after him!" she yelled, though it hurt to say it. "I can't waste any more ANBU squads like this. I'm positive that he can handle himself."

"But-"

"There's a reason why the Hokage brought him as a bodyguard!" she snapped at the protester. "Have faith in him!"

"Y-Yes!"

Kasumi allowed her crimson eyes to scan the horizon just once before she and her ANBU escorts made for the center of the village.

xxxx

"Chaos results when the world changes faster than people." Anonymous

xxxx

"How goes it, Shin?"

"The battle is progressing well, Jushin-sama."

Far from the battle in the forests outside of Kirigakure was a man. He was seated on top of one of the highest tree branches in the area, allowing him full view of the area around him. His neck-length black hair was buffeted by the wind, for which he used his hand to get it out of his face.

"I should hope so," said the one called Jushin-sama in an authoritative, yet calm voice. "Everything should be going according to plan thus far, however..."

"The Kyuubi child, my lord?" Shin questioned.

"No," Jushin replied, shaking his head. "It is another, a girl. That is all I can distinguish at the moment. Her involvement in the battle may turn the tables, as I had not factored in her presence."

"Shall I take care of her?"

A pause. "Take care of yourself, Shin. She is formidable as no one knows her skills, not even the Kyuubi child."

"I will, my lord," Shin said forcefully, before getting up and disappearing in a gust of wind.

Silence.

"For your own sake, you had better not lose, Shin," Jushin muttered to himself. "I am not one to take failures lightly..."

xxxx

"When tempest tossed, embrace chaos." Dean Koontz

xxxx

Naruto sprinted through the chaotic streets of Kiri. Everywhere he went, whichever way he turned to, there were dead bodies littering the floor. Some had their spines snapped in half, others had kunai peppered across their bodies. He'd even saw one with their skin slewed off and still alive and screaming. He'd put the Kiri Chuunin out of his misery. He had never seen such a battlefield before, not even during Akatsuki missions. Chaos reigned everywhere, destruction was wrought upon anything, and death was brought to every moving, living being. Even now, he felt as if the Grim Reaper, the God of Death, Shinigami, was breathing down his neck at this very moment. Something was off, very off, and the reason constantly eluded him.

He was brought back to reality when an exploding kunai landed with a 'chnk' in front of his feet. Pumping chakra into the soles of his boots, he leaped into the air in the nick of time, avoiding an untimely death by explosion, only to see that dozens of shuriken were flying through the air to intercept him.

"You'd think that I'd be able to move around in some peace thanks to my reputation," the blond muttered to himself as he began forming hand seals.

Kumo Tate no Jutsu.

A thick, chakra-based cloud took shape in front of him, deflecting the attack before being dispelled. Naruto's ascent slowed down, and gravity took hold as his downward acceleration increased. Taking this opportunity, a second volley of shuriken was launched from below, hoping to skewer him the second time.

However, the blond didn't react in the way that they'd expected. Instead of trying to defend once again, Naruto let out his infamous black lightning from his body, creating a 'sphere' that surrounded him. This sphere stopped and cut to pieces all of the shuriken, as well as the unlucky shinobi that he landed next to. Their screams lasted only a second before the lightning cut through their voice boxes and their heads, sending sizzling brain matter and organ mush flying every which way. His malevolent glare alone was enough to send shivers up their spines, not to mention that the sight of their slaughtered comrades were shaking them to pieces; Imagine, a fourteen-year-old and his death glare, scaring shinobi.

'Well,' Naruto mused, 'I'm no ordinary fourteen-year-old, am I?'

'Indeed, you are a powerful, idiotic fourteen-year-old.'

'Yes, I am power- What the hell did you just say?'

Silence greeted his question, and inwardly, he fumed at the insult that he had just received on the side.

'I have more important stuff to worry about right now than to brood on insults.'

"If you want to live, don't ever let me catch sight of you!" he hissed as he sprinted off towards the area where he'd last seen the large Suiton jutsu decimate a part of the village, hoping to heaven that Kasumi would still be there, or at least some place nearby. "I'm going to need her help if I'm going to get out relatively undetected, what with her jutsu's potential for a huge distraction." Unfortunately, the part he was worrying about was where he'd have to try to convince her to perform her jutsu as a distraction for his escape. Hell, he wasn't sure if she'd try to murder him on the spot for the suggestion. There was the key word: Try.

xxxx

"Chaos and Order are not enemies, only opposites." Richard Garriott

xxxx

Gai put up a mighty struggle in the grip of the person holding him, and it was evident that the assassin was having a bit of trouble keeping the Jounin in his grasp. While his clawed arms held much strength, a human pushing out with all of their strength had much more support than demonic claws trying to close in to crush. As a result, the two were engaged in a lethal game of tug-of-war, as the loser would be open to attack, most probably fatal. That is why they both fought to win, with the assassin using both arms to attempt to crush the Jounin, while Gai pushed out with as much strength as possible, aided by the release of the first gate of the Hachimon, Kaimon.

By this time, both were sweating from the exertion they were placing, and it would have only been a matter of time until one of them lost. This was not to be, however, with the introduction of a fresh shinobi by the name of Buatsui Amaya. She leaped from a rooftop, landing on the assassin's shoulders, and brought her two kodachi down in an attempt to sever the arms at the shoulder.

"Insolent!" he hissed, releasing his grip temporarily to throw Gai to the side, and then to smack Amaya into the building she had jumped off of moments earlier. He would have dealt the finishing blow to the her, as she had not recovered yet, if Gai hadn't come charging in just as quickly as he'd been thrown, landing a kick against the assassin's defense.

"Dainamikku-Entori!" he roared, his powerful flying kick sending the assassin flying off the building regardless of having blocked the attack. He immediately followed up by jumping off of the building and attacking from above. "Konoha Gorikki Senpuu!" The kick this time was a spinning attack, and hit the mid-air defense with such force that the assassin was sent into the ground as if he were hit by a pile driver, creating a large crater at the same time. "Is that all you have against Konoha no Kedakai Aoi Moujuu?"

"How annoying," the assassin coughed as the rubble and dust settled down. "I cannot afford to underestimate you, it seems."

"Don't forget me!" Amaya retorted as she appeared behind him. "Take this!"

He swung his arm back in an attempt to get rid of what he perceived as an annoying pest, but instead of connecting, Amaya was no longer where she had been. Not behind, but under, as her two kodachi smashed through the soil in an attempt to disable his movement. Unfortunately, the assassin's reaction speed was just as great as his ability to analyze the surroundings and situation, and with a short hop and a spin, he avoided it and retaliated with a mid-air spinning kick that send Amaya tumbling across the floor until she was stopped by Gai.

"Allow me to handle this."

The opponent glanced warily at the green-clothed taijutsu user. He had long since learned not to underestimate the freakish Jounin, and was content with keeping a bit of distance between them, just enough so that there would be time to dodge, or think up a counter.

"Before we fight, answer just one question, assassin," said Gai, interrupting the silence.

"It depends on the question you ask."

"Fair enough," he conceded, as any decent shinobi would never reveal anything classified to anyone else, even in a death match. "Why did you attack Kirigakure no Sato?"

"Because our lord felt like wiping some of the continent's strongest shinobi off of the map."

"Pardon my rudeness, but let me ask another question. Are the shinobi the three Kage?"

"I thought it was obvious, what with my attempt to kill the Mizukage," the assassin replied, sneering.

It was at this time that Gai actually took a moment to take in the physical features of the assassin in front of him. The hair couldn't be seen as the man was wearing head cloth, but the face was exposed, showing a pair of yellow eyes leering at him. He had been wearing a face mask, but that had been ripped to shreds during their battle, and Gai could see the multitude of scars that were on the assassin's face, enough to rival Morino Ibiki in size and quantity. The top was a black, sleeveless shirt while on the bottom, he wore a pair of black standard-issue shinobi pants, or SISPants for short. Nothing spectacular, as an assassin would've looked like.

"Enough pause," the nameless assassin said, deciding to end the stalemate. "We fight, here and now."

With that said, he charged forward with his right arm swinging.

xxxx

"Pandemonium did not reign; it poured." John Hendrick Bangs

xxxx

This was some deep shit that they'd fallen into, and Hatake Kakashi was thoroughly displeased with what was going on around him. He and Hiashi had been stopped by a large group of shinobi, and while the two elite Jounin had dispatched them all fairly easily, it had created a large dent in their supply of time. Kiri's ANBU at the northwestern gate would be overrun without reinforcements, which could spell the end for the village's resistance. For all they knew, they might have already been defeated...

"Hiashi, how are their ANBU holding up?" he asked, looking around. They were about halfway to the gate, and already they could see smoke rising from the northwest. "We don't have all day, Hiashi!"

"The ANBU are holding," the Hyuuga replied finally. "They're holding, but they're starting to take some heavy losses."

A flash of movement caught the Kopii Ninja's eyes and in an instant, he was crouched down in front of a Kiri Jounin and three Chuunin.

"You four, come with us. The gates up north need reinforcements."

"B-But, our commanding officer ordered us to the middle of the city to set up an post to fall back on," a Chuunin protested.

"If all goes well, you won't need to fall back!" Kakashi growled menacingly, "Now follow our lead!"

"Do it," the Jounin said, nodding his head. "He makes a point."

"Y-Yes sir!"

At that moment, Hiashi struck, palming the Kiri Jounin away.

"What the hell are you doing, you damned Hyuuga?!" the second Chuunin screamed, just as a screaming ball of fire flew past the spot where the Jounin had been standing on.

"Saving your hanchou, that's what," Hiashi replied nonchalantly. "Mizukage-sama approaches from the south. If we head west at top speed, we may be able to intercept in five... no, four minutes."

"Let's go already," said Kakashi in exasperation. "We don't have time to waste in arguing or debate. We intercept or we don't, we move to reinforce the northwestern gate."

"Roger!" the Kiri squad chorused.

xxxx

"A life lived in chaos is an impossibility." Madeleine L'Engle

xxxx

Naruto was not a happy camper at the moment. In the span of traveling one-hundred meters, he had been ambushed three times by enemy shinobi. Three times. Three fucking times.

"This is ridiculous," he breathed, glaring at the spot in front of him in which he predicted a fourth ambush. Pulling out a kunai, he wrapped an exploding tag around it and took careful aim before throwing. The resulting explosion sent a squad of shinobi flying out, dead and smoking before they hit the ground. "I knew it." He took some care to walk around the scorched, deformed bodies, resisting the urge to wince.

"Really now, you don't have to go around blasting my subordinates to pieces do you?"

"I don't really care at this point," Naruto replied to the voice.

The shinobi behind him took a puff of his cigarette and exhaled the smoke. He leaned against the remains of a wall, all the while keeping his eyes on the blond's backside. As a chuutaichou, he would have preferred giving out orders from outside the battlefield, but at this time, at this battle, and with who his superiors were, he had no choice but to enter the battlefield, and here he was, facing off with an S-Rank, Kage-level shinobi, and a brat no less. There was fear, but he was also indignant that such a child could be stronger than him. He, Fuhen no Takeru, nukenin of Sungakure no Sato, would not stand for that insult.

Removing his cigarette, he flicked it away, and at the moment the butt hit the floor, he was gone.

'He's coming,' Naruto knew instinctively, without even having to turn around. A slight tremor under his feet alerted him, and rather than jumping, he leaped to the side and pressed his back against an intact wall, just as large slabs of glass shot out from the floor, rising about ten feet into the air before closing in on themselves, forming a prison that might have been holding him in there.

'Glass, he turned sand into glass.'

"Oh, you avoided my Hariouza by jumping to the side instead of typically jumping up," Takeru said from within the prison, as he had risen up from the ground and into it. "Well, since you're not in it, I can use it as a shield for myself, unluckily for you."

"We'll see about that," countered Naruto. "Let's see how much heat your shield can take! Kuro Katon: Karyuu Endan!" Performing the necessary seals, he took in a deep breath before exhaling with as much force as he could muster.

The unholy black flames burst out of the blond's mouth, encasing the glass prison in unnaturally severe heat. Not surprisingly, the black flames began melting the glass, but out of the corner of his eyes, Naruto saw the ground stir.

Tenbatsu: Onryou no Kudaru.

'What the-'

Separated from the soil, thousands of sand particles rose in the air, but then they started gathering to form sakura petal-sized shards of glass. Slowly, the flames coming from Naruto's mouth dwindled, and eventually came to a halt. He stood there, dumbfounded, as hundreds of glass shards hovered around him.

"There's no escape now, brat!"

"FUCK!" the blond yelled just as the shards flew at him from all directions.

xxxx

"Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence." Buddha

xxxx

A shock wave rippled the ground underneath their feet, sending a few ANBU staggering. Kasumi turned to look at where she had felt it emanate from, and could see a large dust cloud rising up into the air. Taking into consideration the cloud's size and the time between the shock wave and the rising of the dust clouds, she determined that it had occurred not too far away. Her curiosity was piqued, but she knew that she had more important duties to attend to, such as the survival of her village. As such, she ignored it and moved on, never knowing how it had actually occurred.

However, what she did know was that the northern sector of the village was under the most pressure, and while her ANBU wanted her to flee the village, as Mizukage, she had to fight. She knew that they knew what she had to do, but they had tried regardless. At least they'd tried.

It was strangely uneventful. In the midst of a small-scale war in a village, one would expect ambushes and a lot more noise than what they were hearing right now. It was just too quiet for a place that was being assaulted. She couldn't even hear distant sounds of battle anymore.

That was when a horrible thought entered her imagination.

What if they had lost already? What if all of the village's shinobi had already been overwhelmed?

These were but just a few 'what ifs' that had emerged as a possible solution to the dead silence. She hated to be thinking about it as such, but Kasumi also knew that it could be the truth.

It could've been the truth, had an ANBU not fallen over with a kunai stuck firmly into the back of his head. That was when she'd realized it, the implications of the soundless surroundings, the reason why such fearful thoughts had run through her head, and the reason why one of her best ANBU had suddenly keeled over dead by a kunai that none of them had seen or heard coming.

"GENJUTSU!" she roared as she formed the Ohitsuji seal. Genjutsu: Kai!

The reality around her began to warp, closing in around her, collapsing. With a loud rush of air, the sound of battle and the tremors of the earth returned to her senses.

Immediately, she swung her body back, narrowly avoiding the swing of a katana. The enemy had already been in front of her when she'd dispelled the Genjutsu, but hadn't been fast enough to strike her.

Cursing, she slammed her palms together, grabbing the flat of the blade, wrenched it out of the poor sod's grip, and bashed him powerfully on the head with the sword hilt. Spinning the weapon lightly into the air, Kasumi took hold of the grip and swung her arm backwards, taking off the left arm of the ninja that had tried to sneak up behind her during the chaos. He screamed, holding the stump of his arm, before she swung the blade down to silence him.

As her ANBU entourage finished off the rest of the would-be ambushers, Kasumi had to wonder who had placed that Genjutsu on them. It could hardly have been the work of the cannon fodder that they had just neutralized. She could hardly dwell on it any further because of the rain of shuriken that she spotted in the distance, about two-hundred meters away and heading straight for them. Ordering a swift backwards advance, the group took cover, threw a few shuriken of their own, and sprinted away.

Just when she'd thought they'd gotten away, a movement of several people to the group's east made them halt and take battle stances. The ANBU escort relaxed when they saw that the movement was from two Konoha shinobi and two Kiri squads.

"Kasumi-sama," Kakashi called as he approached, "permission to take one of your squads northwest to reinforce the defensive line?"

"Granted," replied the violet-haired Kage without much thought. "One of the taichou, volunteer and head out with your team. There may be plenty of shinobi inside, but the most are still outside, so I need that perimeter secured." After the three squads and two Konoha shinobi left, she turned to her remaining two squads. "We're moving straight north to see what we can do to hold the lines there. When the northwest gets reinforced, the enemy is going to strike around to flank."

A series of small shock waves shook the ground underneath and a line of explosions and smoke could be seen heading northeast. Stopping, it turned and began traveling northwest... towards them.

"Shit," Kasumi muttered. "Scatter!"

xxxx

"The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies." Napoleon Bonaparte

xxxx

"Are you going to keep running?" Takeru yelled, his black hair streaming back from his head as he chased a fleeing blond.

"To hell with you!" Naruto yelled in an equally loud voice, trying to quickly wipe away blood from his eyes. 'Shit, I almost died back there. What the hell was that jutsu?!' He had head wounds, arm wounds on his left, and chest wounds, a result of Takeru's second jutsu. Dozens of tiny glass shards were still embedded in his wounded areas.

Raising his left arm over his right, both over his head, Naruto crouched and performed a chakra-boosted leap, jumping straight into the incoming glass shards. Gritting his teeth in pain, he escaped the grasp of Death, only to have Takeru hot on his tail. While keeping himself alive, he had done so by wounding himself, and in this state, he couldn't hope to fight anyone until he healed. Not even the infamous Kurodenkou could fight with one arm, blood impairing his vision, and breath coming in short gasps because of a punctured lung.

Cursing repeatedly as much as his lungs allowed him to, he barely avoided another bloody death from a falling glass spike and stumbled into a building. Gathering a bit of chakra, he smashed his way through with Seishin Utsu and desperately made his way further, hoping that Takeru would think that he'd trapped his prey. A shadow from overhead appeared on the ground around him. So, it seemed that he hadn't fooled Takeru at all. He made to dodge the falling attack again when dozens of shadows appeared, blanketing a diameter of two-hundred meters.

"Shit." As he looked up, the glass spikes began dropping all at once. "You glassy-eyed shithead!" he screamed.

Brilliant black lightning crackled up into the sky, visible for miles around.

Safely from his perch on a rooftop, Fuhen no Takeru smiled benignly. So his prey could fight back after all. A wide swath of destroyed glass and ground surrounded the blond in question. When Naruto turned his head around, Takeru's smile dropped when he saw that the blue eyes had become red with slitted pupils. 'What... the hell?' He could, from his distance, see that the glass shards were loosening and popping out of the boy's body and healing itself rapidly. 'Ah shit, it's time to get serious,' Takeru decided, snapping his fingers. Forty men appeared around Naruto, dressed in all black. Their gleaming black porcelain masks leered at the Kage level ninja, and even he could tell that these weren't just cannon fodder like the others.

"My elites," announced Takeru, smiling again. "I do hope you enjoy what's going to come next, Kurodenkou-kun."

'Shit,' Kyuubi growled.

'Shit indeed, you worthless buffoon.'

'!'

Takeru took a step forward, stepping on a piece of glass. At the slight noise that was made, ten of the black-garbed ninja burst forward into sprints, weapons drawn so fast that even Naruto doubted he could match that speed. Ten more leaped into the air, soles grabbing onto the sides of the buildings. As those on the buildings withdrew kunai and shuriken and then fired it off, all in a single fluid movement, ten more ninja went through hand seals at lightning speed, preparing a variety of jutsu. The final ten began their own set of hand seals, but more slowly. More concentration was required for them to cast a Genjutsu of huge scale and power.

All this happened in two seconds. Fortunately, Naruto had the reaction speed to match their attack. Unfortunately, he didn't have the ability to take on forty shinobi... not yet, anyway.

Taking a deep breath, he roared in feral anger, discharging a gorge of vile red chakra. The sphere of energy collided with four of the slower shinobi, sending them flying back at breakneck speeds. The other six were in the air, with a barrage of weapons covering their fall towards him. Flaring out chakra in a more concentrated effort, the blond created a shield of red chakra around his person, the weapons hitting and deflecting away from the second skin.

The first of the airborne shinobi landed like cats, and one quickly swung his katana horizontally. This wasn't to injure his opponent, but rather to test the solidity of the chakra and whether or not it could be broken through. His katana was stopped solidly, but the shinobi was already out of range when Naruto reached for him.

'These guys are fast!' he realized. 'Not just any ordinary fast, but realfast!'

Two enormous fireballs roared past the enemy shinobi, streaking towards the blond. Opening his mouth, Naruto charged up and fired a shock wave of chakra, which blew through and dissipated the incoming jutsu, only to reveal what was behind the fireballs. A huge, flaming dragon was charging at him. Molten lava was streaming off its hide, a sign that a Katon jutsu had been paired with a Doton jutsu.

Doton Katon: Ryuudan.

While one of the most basic konbi-jutsu in existence, the force behind it still packed a very powerful bunch. Shock waves fired at the flaming dragon of death only stalled its arrival, as more earth, fire, and lava took the place of the destroyed parts. If he wanted to survive, he'd have to use a jutsu of his own.

A set of quick hand seals and a clap of his hands later, electricity was crackling around the palms of his hand.

Raiton: Rairyuudan.

The natural weakness of Doton jutsu, the lightning dragons sent forth by Naruto smashed through the lava dragon, flying straight into the crowd of jutsu-performing shinobi and sending them flying. Naruto rushed forward and swung his fist at one of the shinobi. The reaction was not what he'd expected: The shinobi had disappeared and reappeared behind him with such speed that it shocked the blond. The man raised his fist, sending it towards the shorter shinobi's face. Naruto raised his guard, but was surprised yet again when the fist punched deep into his abdomen, sending him traveling backwards into the rest of the enemy ninja.

'What the f-'

'Genjutsu, you ahou!' roared Kyuubi in annoyance. 'Fleshbag, if I weren't stuck in this cage, I would feast on your flesh for your incompetence!'

Scowling in frustration, Naruto tried to dispel the Genjutsu. Tried was the key word, because it was nearly impossible when there were forty shinobi on you while you were trying to concentrate. He winced as pain flooded his body. The direction told him that he'd just been stabbed in the back, but also knew that the wound would be healing rapidly after the withdrawal of the weapon used to inflict it.

"KUSOTARO!" he roared, releasing more vile chakra to create some temporary respite from the attacks.

Genjutsu: Kai!

While the Genjutsu itself had been very powerful, it was inevitably overpowered by the overwhelming force behind the bijuu's chakra, and the ten shinobi maintaining the Genjutsu reeled back as the chakra washed over them. Changing tactics, all of the shinobi performed hand seals, this time sending an exponentially more destructive attack towards the blond. Takeru watched on humorlessly; it seemed almost unfair at the almost infinite chakra available to his adversary, as well as the insane regeneration speeds that were a side effect of the evil chakra of Kyuubi.

A nameless jutsu with all five elements spiraling to form a single, multi-colored and multi-element dragon roared towards Naruto.

Kitsunenomen.

At Kyuubi's command, chakra left Naruto by its own will and, while bubbling, formed a physical wall of red chakra. The blond couldn't do much more than stare, for how had Kyuubi initiated a jutsu on its own, and how was he able to control the chakra from within the seal? Unless...

As the dragon neared, the wall of chakra flared massively and brilliantly, taking on the shape of a humongous kitsune head. The pupils of the kitsune contracted and glowed red, and just as the dragon impacted the obstruction, it roared terrifyingly, shaking the ground beneath their feet. Meeting force with a greater force, the meeting of the two jutsu fought briefly and ended in brutality, exploding and taking a large chunk of the block with it. The explosion reached a height of more than a hundred meters and the shock wave shook through the rest of the village.

'One thing is for sure,' Takeru decided, 'is that even if he's alive, every ninja, allied and enemy, knows his position and his identity now. There's no escaping Jushin-sama's attendant, Shin.'

xxxx

"Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos." William James Durant

xxxx

Shin felt it, the evil chakra of the Kyuubi no Youko exploding out from an area near the center of the village. He could only help but smirk as he finished off the last of the Chuunin squad that had unluckily come across him. He would use the blond's peril to his advantage, to lure out the one he was seeking. The two were both of lightning, but the other, Shirodenkou, like the name suggested, had pure and untainted lightning at their disposal. Jushin-sama had awarded the ninja the name for the camaraderie the person held with the Kurodenkou. There were other factors involved, but none so much as to create a 'pair'.

He breathed in deeply; the scent of blood, dust, metal, ash, and even the scent of fear and mayhem reached his nose. They were good smells. Battlefield smells. A smell he loved to no end.

That was why he worked for Jushin-sama.

That was why he was doing what he just did.

That was why he loved the battlefield.

Because he reveled in chaos and loved the gore and slaughter and celebrated in his opponent's blood. A Bloodthirster, that's who he was.

Shin laughed.

The hunt was on.

xxxx

"Anarchy is not chaos, but order without control." David Layson

xxxx

Maito Gai was dead serious. He sidestepped a mad lunge and performed a rapid high kick, sending his opponent barreling backwards. Assassins would normally have sacrificed stamina for size, speed, and maneuverability, but that was not the case here. The would-be assassin of the Mizukage had plenty of stamina, as well as physical strength and unbelievable reaction time. He held out his left arm to block a spinning kick and lashed back with his right. It connected, but his foe seemed to have an unusually high tolerance for pain, as well as a very durable body. Gai noticed that his strikes weren't doing as much damage as they should have been doing with the Kaimon open.

"You will have to do more than dodge and counter," goaded the assassin, grinning. "Otherwise, you leave me no choice but to trap you in a situation where defending becomes impossible."

"Let's see you try!" Gai roared challengingly. "I am Konoha no Kedakai-"

A ferocious swipe from the assassin was barely dodged by a series of back flips, but he was struck by a follow-up attack, sending him sprawling across the ground like a doll. Such strength! Gai glared at his opponent fiercely as he got back to his feet unsteadily. The claw-arms were slow and overbearing, but packed more punch than he himself did with the Kaimon released. His opponent charged him again, using the disorientation to strike again. Gai blocked it, but with it, he winced in pain. His eyes widened as he was thrown back. That last attack... it must have broken some of his ribs!

"Enough theatrics!" the assassin hissed, grinning. "I am aiming to obliterate now!"

Closing his clawed hands into fists, he slammed them together and smashed the ground with both fists.

Doton: Tsuchi Zuhan Danmaku.

Very, very large slabs of the earth lifted themselves off of the ground, almost one foot thick and three feet long.

"Go."

Like bullets, which incidentally don't exist in this 'verse, the earthen slabs blasted forward, aiming to crush their green target.

Time seemed to travel in slow motion. Somehow, Gai knew that getting hit by one of those blocks of earth could end his life, by knocking him out and making him vulnerable to attack. He could see his life flashing before his very eyes, and it was actually quite heartbreaking for him to know that this could be it. Lee's image flashed across his mind, and his eyes hardened. No, he could not live this world just yet. Not without imparting all of his knowledge to that unfortunate boy, not without atoning for his sins, and not without defeating Kakashi to achieve the status of 'superior ninja' over his eternal rival. He could not die yet.

Kyumon, Seimon.

"KAI!"

The surge of chakra that burst forth from his soul was extraordinary and tremendous. Before the earthen plates could touch him, Gai was gone from his position at speeds that one could mistake for the speed of sound. In a second, he was past the blocks, he was past the shinobi, and he had reached the set of buildings several dozens of meters behind. Landing heavily, which caused the wall to scream in stress and crumble under the pressure, he leaped off of it as a platform, straight towards the enemy's backside. Terrifying speed and overwhelming power combined together as he elbowed the assassin, sending the man flying forward very rapidly. Then he was gone again, in front of the still-flying assassin, who was now trying to defend himself.

"Konoha Shoufuu!" Gai roared, leaning down and performing a rapid vertical kick to send the man flying upwards. He disappeared yet again, this time appearing in front of the assassin, arms outstretched to his sides, palms out.

Shomon, Tomon. Asa Kujaku.

"SEISHUN!" screamed Gai as he begun his attack. A series of strikes and punches that were so fast they blurred struck the assassin, who kept swinging around like a marionette. The chakra-empowered punches, striking so hard in so many different areas, created what looked like a beautiful multicolored peacock tail behind the assassin, the result of chakra residue from the attacks. "HO!" The final strike sent the man flying away at breakneck speeds, sending him smashing through half a dozen buildings.

"Is... he dead?" Amaya dared to ask from her safe perch. A light drizzle had begun by this time, and her blue hair was dripping water. Her chestnut colored eyes eyed the impact area warily. "Whatever the case, let's get out of here. I don't want to be around if he's still alive."

"Agreed," Gai muttered, palm against his chest. "Medics can heal superficial wounds, but broken and fractured bones fall into a different area. I'm going to have to fight with these ribs as they are, so I will need you to cover for me."

"Alright," agreed Amaya in return. "You saved my ass back there, so I'll keep yours safe."

'Such foul language.'

It was at this time that the explosion occurred, shaking the ground. The two ninja could see the smoke not too far from their current position.

"Care to check it out?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered.

xxxx

"Chaos, that reigns here

In double night of darkness and of shades." John Milton

xxxx

He could see her. Kasumi was barely visible around the corner, but she was there.

'Ah,' Naruto thought disappointedly, 'I finally find her when it's too late for me to escape.'

She raised a finger to her lips and disappeared behind the corner. The particulates in the air were starting to disperse, and he could see those same forty shinobi. They were just standing there, nonplussed and unafraid. Damn.

"Impressive shield," praised Takeru from atop a merchant stall, clapping slowly. "Meet force with an equal or greater force and effectively cancel it out, therefore negating any damage directed towards you. Brilliant."

Glare.

"Ehehe, ready to give up?"

"Suck my dick," Naruto growled bestially. "No, in fact, I wouldn't even want you near my dick in the first place. Beat it!"

"Oho, acting like a hotshot, are we?" Shin asked from behind the blond.

Surprised, he whirled around to see nothing there.

"Behind you."

He turned around again and once again saw nothing. He looked at the elite ninja across from him. If he didn't already know that they were dead serious about their jobs, he would've sworn they'd be laughing their asses off behind their masks.

"I'm behind you again."

Naruto roared in frustration and anger, creating a rapid-expansion physical chakra barrier. A spherical ball of red chakra exploded outwards, but touched nothing. The next time Naruto turned around, the man was still there, albeit farther than he had been before the barrier had been set up. Short, white hair and what looked to be black ceremonial robes. The man's eyes were a piercing shade of blue, quite different from his own sapphire-colored ones. The man seemed to have what looked like a perpetual smirk and frown at the same time.

"My name is simply Shin," he introduced, bowing slightly.

"Hello, simply Shin," Naruto replied mockingly, sneering, which was enough to cause a reaction.

"How childish," Shin mumbled, chuckling a bit. "However, how childish will you act when I say that I am here to kill you?"

Suiton: Bakusui Shouha.

The ground began to tremble, which gave way to shaking, which finally gave way to a huge flood of water that came pouring from every alley and street in the vicinity. The buildings weren't spared either, and were destroyed by the immense pressure placed on it by the jutsu. Everything in the vicinity was to be washed away.

"Shit! Who the hell did that?!" Takeru yelled angrily as he struggled to keep himself from being submerged. Standing on water was child's play, but when that water is disturbed so that the distance between the surface as well as the stability of the water itself fluctuates rapidly, walking on water becomes extremely difficult. "Shit! When I found out who did this..."

Shin frowned. It was an intervention, but not from the person that he'd been expecting. He and Naruto alone were the only ones that did not budge at all.

For Naruto, there was the barrier keeping the water out.

For Shin, it was his immense aura that kept the water at bay, acting like a barrier, and this was something that didn't go unnoticed by the blond.

'Not chakra, but just pure aura... Not even I can do that. Just who the hell is this guy?'

"I'm sure you must be thinking just who I am, correct?"

"What's it to you?" replied Naruto scathingly, his eyes narrowing. 'How did he guess correctly?'

"Now you must be asking yourself how I knew what you were thinking about?"

He did not reply this time around, but instead began experimenting with the red barrier around him. Taking a step, he discovered that the barrier moved along with him. Naruto also knew that Shin should be able to move as well, all things considered. It was only an aura keeping the water at bay after all. An aura surrounds a person, whereas normal chakra barriers stay in place and do not move unless it is designed to or the center of the barrier, therefore the seal, is moved.

However, Naruto decided, Shin was at a disadvantage, no matter how powerful. Unlike himself, Shin did not possess the vile chakra of Kyuubi to invade the space between them and attack from a distance. Being in water, the pressure on their bodies were greater than when surrounded by air, but the water around them also made them 'lighter' in a sense. By being in the water, they were displacing it. At the same time, the water wanted to return to its original placement, and was placing force on them upwards, causing buoyancy. Logically, if Shin performed a jutsu, Naruto should be able to dodge it, because the water pressure would either crush the projectiles or slow their travel, depending on the pressure. This, of course, was tested when Shin placed a hand on the dry ground beneath him.

Doton: Kazangan Doryuudan no Jutsu.

A bronze dragon head emerged from the earthen floor just outside of the aura around Shin, who smiled snidely at the blond. Sound exists only by passing through something, whether it be air or water. In this case, water. "Good luck!" Shin called out.

The dragon head's eyes lighted, and Naruto stared in horror as a stream of lava exited the dragon's mouth and headed straight for him. The lava was coming in too quick for the water to cool into a solid, because new lava remelted the solid back into lava, etc... What's worse, it was making progress towards him! Naruto tried moving to the side, but the dragon head just swiveled to follow him. What the hell? Naruto had no idea how much punishment the chakra barrier could take, and right now, he wasn't willing to wait and find out. He began strafing to the side to escape the stream of lava that was closing in.

'Shit, I did not plan for this!'

Just as the lava would have reached him, the dragon head's eyes dulled and the head crumbled apart. This stopped the flow of lava, fortunately enough for the blond, but that seemed to only make Shin more amused.

"The water level has started to recede, so I'll make this quick," he called out, placing his palms on the ground again.

Yougan Ryuu Bakuha no Jutsu.

The ground opened up again, and what looked like lava entered the water solidly, before wisping away into steam.

"What the hell was that piece of shit?" Naruto scoffed, smirking.

"My, my, how overconfident," retorted Shin. "Attack."

The superheated steam, taking on the form of a dragon, blasted forward towards the blond. Being an alternate form of water, it easily and quickly traveled the distance between the two shinobi.

"SHIT!"

The steam dragon coiled around the red chakra barrier, causing both the barrier and the dragon to hiss.

"The air around me, and the water, it's getting hot," the blond realized as he began sweating. "Damn it, is he trying to make me burn up in here instead of breaking through the barrier?!" Deciding he no longer had the luxury to counter, he took up his own offensive with a set of hand seals.

Fuuton: Kaze no Yaiba.

'I see,' Shin observed. 'Nice idea.'

Pulling his right arm back, he struck forward forcefully, letting go of the wind surrounding his hand. Passing through the inside of the barrier into the water, it turned into a tornado of wind blades. With the spinning affecting the water, the tornado became a whirlpool of destruction that spun its way towards the white-haired ninja. Even in water, wind was a very potent force, and Shin knew he'd only have seconds before the whirlpool reached him. Clever, very clever. Spreading his feet and positioning his arms, he got into a neutral stance. Left foot forward, torso turned right, arms up but hands down, he then turned his torso and pushed his arms outward.

"Yougan Kabe!" he shouted.

Like the other times, the jutsu appeared just outside of his aura. This time it was a defensive jutsu, but one which had Naruto gaping like a fish out of water. A wall of lava thirty feet wide and twenty feet high rose from the ground. Lava, being molten rock, was a liquid that quickly hardened by being cooled. Becoming solid, it would hinder the whirlpool and the wind blades in it, he realized. Then he realized something else. The water was only about a foot above his head now. That being said, the upper portion of Shin's body was already out of the water.

The wall of cooled lava crumbled as it took the punishment of the earlier jutsu. As one of the pieces fell though, it obscured Shin's body behind itself. When it passed, Shin was no longer there.

'What?'

There was a pull on his gut and he ducked down quickly, avoiding the horizontal slash that had cut through the barrier.

'That could not be helped. You are still at the no-tail stage, where the barriers are the weakest.' Kyuubi explained.

Performing a back flip, he leaped out of a vertical strike and then released his aura and chakra at the same time, repelling Shin away from him.

"It's over," Shin announced to the surprised Naruto. "I'm too close for you to dodge what's coming. Doton: Tsuchi Tsunami no Jutsu."

A wave of earth and rock rose up, fifty feet high and seventy feet across. It roared across the short distance towards Naruto, who had no time to do anything before it was upon him.

'Kyuubi!'

Kitsune no Tate.

Just as a very powerful barrier of extremely dark red chakra surrounded Naruto, another jutsu appeared on the field.

"Taijuu Kouten no Saiketsu!"

Multiple spinning tubes of lightning tore past Naruto and impacted with the giant wave of earth and rocks, boring itself into it before they all exploded into huge bursts of electricity, taking apart the wall as if it were nothing. Eyes wide, Naruto turned around as he recognized the chakra signature. There, not too far away, someone in baggy pants and hooded sweater. He could recognize that brilliant forest-green hair anywhere.

"You-"

"Heh, Amatsuyochi Masaki, reporting!" she announced loudly and confidently.

Shin was smiling. Not a kind smile or a pitying smile. It was predatory, and there was only one phrase for him that could sum up what just happened.

'Target acquired, mission start.'

xxxx

"Chaos is the embodiment of the culminated sins and evils of the universe. It taints all." Anonymous

xxxx

Vocabulary

Ahou – Fool(s)

Chuutaichou – Company commander

Fuhen no Takeru – Takeru the Eternal

Hanchou – Squad leader

Konoha no Kedakai Aoi Moujuu – Konoha's Prideful Green Beast

Kusotaro – Asshole(s)

Seishun – Springtime of Youth

Shidanchou – Division commander

Jutsu List

General

Asa Kujaku (Morning Peacock) – B-Rank – One of Maito Gai's unique moves, it is used in conjunction with the fifth gate Shomon or higher. At that stage, the speed at which the strikes are delivered are so fast and saturated so heavily with chakra that it escapes through the enemy, creating the image of the multicolored peacock tail purely by chakra discharge from the strikes. Like many techniques involving the use of the Hachimon, it places a heavy strain on the user.

Genjutsu Kai (Illusion Technique Cancel) – D-Rank – This jutsu is not E-Rank because it is not necessary to know it before graduating a ninja academy. The standard and universal method of canceling the effects of Genjutsu on a person, it is performed by disrupting the chakra flow of the person affected. Because Genjutsu, when placed, rely on the flow of the victim's chakra to stay in place, a disruption could collapse the imaginary world. The stronger the Genjutsu, the larger the disruption has to be.

Hachimon: Kaimon (Eight Gates, Initial Gate) – Unranked – Opening the first gate, Kaimon, the Initial Gate, the user removes the brain's built-in inhibitors that prevent the body's muscles from exerting their full force. They also prevent the muscles from literally tearing themselves apart through overuse. However, there may come a time when a person is willing to risk their body for some cause, and the temporary increase in power that comes as a result of full use of the muscles may be their only option.

Kyumon (Heal Gate) – Unranked – The second gate's opening helps in the user's tolerance of gate usage. When this gate is opened, it forcibly restores a great deal of the user's stamina. This ability chiefly comes into play later, as the user's body becomes more accustomed to opening gates. The Kyumon helps to ease the burden that other gates place on the body. This, however, is a temporary fix because the strain of the usage of gates requires the user to exert more force to get their body to do what it wants.

Seimon (Life Gate) – Unranked – The third gate Seimon restricts the flow of the chakra from user's soul. By releasing this gate, the user enables a great surge of chakra through the user's body, bestowing an explosive increase in strength. This explosion in power also has a strange side effect, that being that the user's skin obtains a reddish hue and their pupils no longer become visible.

Shomon (Harm Gate) – Unranked – The fourth gate Shomon is the crucial gate when it comes controlling the amount on pain the body feels, what makes the body feel good, and what causes the pain. Releasing this gate completely disables the user's pain receptors thus making him immune to all pain – or any physical feeling at that. The inability of feeling pain allows the user to be a perfect fighting machine.

Tomon (Limit Gate) – Unranked – This gate restricts the muscles from using their maximum power and prevents them from being sprained. The body does not use the full potential of muscles to prevent reduce the risk of them getting strained or deteriorated through reckless or abusive use. Combined with Kyumon, this gate really helps to temper the force provided by the gates.

Konoha Shoufuu (Leaf Rising Wind) – C-Rank – A rather low-ranked Taijutsu technique, this move is nevertheless very important in the set up of high-damage attacks such as Omote Renge, Ura Renge, Asa Kujaku, and a variety of other techniques belonging in the repertoire of Gouken users such as Rock Lee or Maito Gai. It can also be used to initiate combos rather than set up.

Seishin Utsu (Spirit Strike) – A-Rank – A jutsu that is similar to the Rasengan in that it requires no hand seals, the user simply forces out a great amount of chakra out of their arm, from elbow to the tip of the finger. Unlike the Chidori or Raikiri, which forms a ball of lightning in the user's palm, the user manipulates the chakra outside of the body to sharpen, creating an 'aura' of destruction around the arm. Anything that comes into contact with the chakra will be cut, and being hit directly will result in death. It's flaws and counter-counters are the same as the Rasengan.

Special

Hariouza (A Throne of Glass)

Kitsunenomen (Mask of the Fox)

Kitsune no Tate (Shield of the Fox)

Tenbatsu: Onryou no Kudaru (Divine Wrath: Vengeful descent of the Vengeful Ghost)

Earth

Doton: Kazangan Doryuudan no Jutsu (Earth Release: Volcanic Dragon Blast Technique)

Doton: Tsuchi Tsunami no Jutsu (Earth Release: Earth Giant Wave Technique)

Doton: Tsuchi Zuhan Danmaku (Earth Release: Earth Plate Barrage)

Yougan Kabe (Lava Wall)

Yougan Ryuu Bakuha no Jutsu (Lava Dragon Explosion Technique)

Fire

Lightning

Kouten no Saiketsu (Heaven's Judgment)

Kumo Tate no Jutsu (Cloud Shield Technique)

Raiton: Rairyuudan

Wind

Fuuton: Kaze no Yaiba (Wind Release: Wind Sword)

Water

Suiton: Bakusui Shouha (Water Release: Exploding Water Shockwave)

Konbi

Doton Katon: Ryuudan (Earth Release, Fire Release: Dragon Blast)