Fragile World

Chapter 2: Of Rice and Demons

It was noon when Naruto was finally released from the hospital. The goggles that Hinata found where orange in color and covered the shading of the blonde boy's eyes completely while letting him see naturally. Personally, he thought the goggles were awesome and by far one of the best gifts he'd gotten. When he put the goggles on, he noticed a difference with the new vision he got. It seems the goggles could block most of the lines that Naruto could see, possibly due to the tinted color of the lenses.

"First Ramen, then I'm going to train," Naruto told himself as his addiction to ramen started to kick in, more specifically he's starting to feel the withdrawal symptoms associated by the earthly drug. One of the symptoms was to not pay attention to the surrounding as he bumped into a girl who was also off in her own little world.

"Oh sorry… Sakura-chan?" Naruto said as he helped the girl up.

" Naruto? You're out of the hospital now? What's with those goggles?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, the old lady said I was fine and these goggles are cool. Hinata-chan gave it to me as a present."

"Uh, they look good on you," Sakura said with questionable assurance. In her head, the other personality was say, "Oh god, why orange!"

"Say I'm about to go get some ramen, do you want to go with?" The blonde boy half asked and half pleaded.

The pink haired girl shook her head. "No, I have some things to do." As she walked past the apparently mentally crushed blonde boy, she said, "Oh, Naruto. I'll do my best." Mentally, she made the list of things she needed to bring with her when she left the village tonight to find Sasuke. She would not be a burden to Naruto.

"Do your best? What does that mean?" the normally cheery boy questioned to himself as he stared at the girl leaving. Suddenly, he averts his gaze. "Ugh, looks like I can't stare at one thing for too long with these goggles on. More lines appear on something if I stare at it long enough."

At the ramen stand, a white cloaked man was eating ramen with a bag next to his stool. He was recalling the events when he was at the hospital earlier and what he felt over there. One of the doctors hired him to bless the place and ward off vengeful spirits. Being the monk he was, he accepted a low fee as he was stopping by Konoha this morning to get his staff fixed.

"The doctor was damn lucky that he was walking out to visit the graveyard today and intercepted me when I was dropping off my staff for repair." The monk thought as a young boy clad in orange shouted wildly for a bowl of ramen.

As the monk visited the hospital, he noticed that there was quite the concentration of dark emotions in the place. He could feel the cries of despair of the people that died without concluding their goals in life. While he was taken aback by the amount, he realized it was normal when he found out it was a ninja hospital. First off he started to perform his rituals at the front door to ward against the vengeful and to purify the lingering dark emotions. He continued to do this as he worked his way around the hospital.

"I wouldn't be surprised that a vengeful spirit started to materialize from all the dark emotions emitted from the place. Everyone was getting uneasy feelings from the strong spiritual residue." True enough, he had to dodge a couple ninja's that was randomly throwing object or sometimes a kunai. When he arrived to the roof, it was different. "It was like a…"

"Then I rolled through the feet! It was so close!"

"Spiritual battle…" The man continued to think but was slowly losing when the boy next to him started to exaggerate his story using his arms while occasionally slurping his bowl of ramen.

"Then I stabbed it! It exploded in a large explosion!" the boy enthusiastically shared with a stabbing motion. Unfortunately, when he retracted his hand he bumped into the man next to him.

"Oy, brat, I'm trying to think here! And eat!" The monk yelled as he was holding some noodles that dropped when he was eating. The monk turned to look at the boy to give his best glare when he noticed that there was ten bowls piled up next to his target. "What the hell? Are you some sort of glutton demon?"

Scratching the back of his head, "hehehe, sorry mister. Glutton demon?" Naruto definite been called a demon brat or glutton for ramen, but no one has called him both at the same time.

"You know, one of the seven deadly demon types that devour everything?" Noticing the boy's blank face the monk sighed, "Nevermind."

"Hey mister, I haven't seen you around before?" Naruto asked as he was curious where the man came from especially since he was dressed differently.

"Oh, I was coming from the Land of Wind for a village northeast of Konoha. I need to do some exorcise work."

"Exorcise work? What's that?"

The monk noted that the boy was now looking around the monk now, but not directly at him. "Peculiar, but the boy can't be a demon or vengeful spirit. He's radiating too much positive energy to do so." The monk thought before replying.

"Didn't your parent tell you about monsters and monks purifying spirits?" Immediately the atmosphere turned darker.

"I never knew my parents, they died when I was born."

Sensing the attitude change, the monk replied in hopes to cheer the boy up. "Oh sorry, if it makes you feel any better, my parents died at when I was young too. They died protecting me from harm and loved me to their last breathe. I'm sure your parents loved you too and would be proud of you if they saw you today."

The yellow haired boy smiled, "Thank mister, so you fight demons and ghosts?" Naruto hasn't met any monk that actively battled ghosts. It would be nice to make friends with one in case he wanted someone to purify ghost. Ghosts were too scary for the young ninja to battle, best to leave it to professionals. Yeah, the professionals.

"Oh, interested in my job? I admit, I might need an apprentice and you certainly fit the bill. And to answer the question, yes I fight ghosts and demons. That's what exorcists do."

"Sorry, mister…"

"Fujino Akira."

"Mister Fujino, I, Uzumaki Naruto, am going to be Hokage one day!"

"Figure, all the kids in the ninja village wants to be ninjas. Hell, at this rate, exorcism is going to die out and demons will overrun the world." The exorcist commented quietly.

"Well kid, you got to be a ninja first before you say that."

"What are you talking about, I am a ninja, dattebayo!"

"Ninja usually have a forehead protector with their symbol on it." The monk commented as he finished his meal.

"What are you talking about, my forehead protector is on my…" Noticing that he forgot it at the hospital, the boy paid his meals and quickly ran out. "Gotta go, thanks for talking to me!"

Akira waved at the boy before turning to the chef. "Hey chef, what do you know about Keiko Village? I got some business over there."

After retrieving his forehead protector, Naruto was now in a training area. He did his customary training exercises before stopping and stared at a tree. "If I'm going to not let this ability to bother me, I will learn what all these lines mean." Taking off his goggles and pulling out a kunai, he walked up to the tree.

Looking at one of the branches overhead, he could see all the lines that coated the tree limb. Walking up the tree, he inspected all the lines of the branch he was looking at. Cutting one of the lines, the branch separated from the tree, but it didn't fall apart. Naruto then looked at another branch, studied it and cut. It did the same thing the last branch did. "Hmm, looks like what line I think will make the tree fall apart the way I want it will do that. So if I did this…" Naruto went to another branch and cut a line. The branch cut itself apart to smaller pieces. It seemed that while blonde boy didn't know exactly how the ability work, it seemed to follow his gut feeling.

The boy looked down the tree and saw a bright point. Jumping down, he studied the point then pierced it with his kunai. The boy didn't know what to expect, so he jumped back in surprised when all the leaves of the tree fell off and the tree withered then fell apart. "So hitting a point kill something."

"Oh ho, so this is what you're doing brat!" The white haired sennin made himself known as the boy turned and looked. "What did you find out about the doujutsu?"

The training boy put his goggles back on, "Well, hitting lines or points will cut something off or kill it. That's about it."

"Hmm, I guess you'll learn more if you keep experimenting." Jiraiya tossed a blindfold to Naruto. "Here, check if you can see through that. I put some seals on it to prevent someone with an eye ability like the Byakugan to see through it."

Putting on the blindfold, Naruto shook his head. "No good, I can still see through it."

Jiraiya thought, "Those eyes don't use chakra to sense these lines." Then an idea sparked on the sennin.

"Naruto, show me where to stab this tree to kill it?"

After taking off the blindfold, Naruto pointed at a seemingly random spot where the death point was at. Jiraiya stabbed at it, but nothing happened. "Huh, I was sure that was the point." The boy inspected the point and saw it was pierced, but something was telling him that he was the only one that could pierce it. Taking a hold of a kunai, Naruto stabbed at it and the tree withered away.

"Seems, you're the only one that can do that. Strange, so it's beyond the understanding of chakra. It's not some sort of advanced tenketsu nor deals with the chakra system. It's like you can sense the point where an object is fated to die. Naruto see if you clones can do it."

Naruto obeyed his sensei and made a clone. The clone walked up to the tree that the original was staring at and pierced the point then the tree promptly fell apart. "Looks like it works. I can see the lines on my clone too."

With a puff of smoke from the clone dispersing, Jiraiya commanded, "Kick that tree like you would attack an enemy."

"Bossy bastard…" Naruto mumbled. The boy walked up to the tree and simply kicked it. He yelled in shock when the tree had a sizable dent. He hadn't planned for that to happen.

"Looks like that's the instinctive wind manipulation. You're able to convert chakra into wind and send a compressed air blast when you punch or kick something."

"Wind manipul-what? Oy, say it simpler!"

"It means you punch and kick harder, brat. It also means certain actions like scratching and poking can cut. Be careful what you do because you can seriously hurt someone if you poked or scratched them." Jiraiya warned. "Oh, it might be good if you are able to control it. Such mastery over wind is rare and you could be drastically more powerful with the mastery of this."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll work on it. Anyways, I need training soon."

Jiraiya walked up to the boy and grabbed the goggles off the top of blonde boy's head.

"Hey!"

The seal master started applying a jutsu and said, "Putting a seal to make sure no Hyuuga or any technique can see your eyes. Besides, what's the rush?"

"It's so that me and Sakura can go out and find Sasuke!" The sage finished the goggles and gave it back.

"Hmph, well I won't keep you." The toad sage left with one thought on his mind. "I'd better talk to Tsunade for a mission. This brat won't let go of the idea. I'm pretty sure his teammate is going to ditch town tonight."

Tenten was bored out of her mind. She would be training but her father asked that she stay and watch the shop. He apparently had a rush order to do. There were absolutely no customers today. Suddenly the door opened and a monk walked through.

"I'm sorry, but the shrine is that way." Tenten pointed out the direction of the shrine.

"Funny, I placed an order here to get my staff fixed. Fujino Akira."

"Staff? We normally don't do staves, just Kunai, Shurikens, and various other ninja bladed weapons… Besides being a ninja blacksmith shop, we can't make ceremonial items." Tenten commented.

"Tenten, don't be rude to the customer. Mister Fujino, your staff is ready as well as the concealed sword in the staff." Tenten's father said as he walked out.

"Ah thanks. Hmm, seems stronger." The monk inspected the staff and pulled the top of the staff to unsheathe the sword. "Oh, used ninja magic on this?"

"Ninja magic. If you're talking about strengthening the sword by using chakra in the process. Then yes, I used this 'ninja magic' you speak of."

This entire time, Tenten's eyes were glued to the staff and sword. "No kid, this is not a toy!"

Non-plus by the kid comment, "Well, I didn't want that anyways. I have my weapon scroll."

"Ah playing ninja?" The man commented even though he knew she was a ninja. That forehead protector was a good indication, especially when it looks authentic. "Well, kid. Enjoy playing ninja, I got work to do."

As the monk walked out, the girl stuck out her tongue.

"Now you won't have a problem with a bandit breaking it, I've made it that strong." The blacksmith called out.

"Heh, bandits. Like bandits could break my old staff." the exorcist smirked as he walked northward.

It was getting late at night as Naruto kept training. He realized that if he intending to seriously punch and kick that there would be the air blast that would happen. The same would happen if he wanted to scratch to cut. It seems that the wind manipulation worked on the intent of his actions. Seemed about right as he thought his clones were hitting harder than they should.

He checked his Rasengan to see if it changed, but it didn't. Intent was not enough to change the Rasengan, it was due to the fact that he was consciously moving his chakra for it. It would've been strange if it did when Naruto thought about it. He would be cutting a tree when he walked up it.

"If the Rasengan was a bit stronger, I might have stopped Sasuke…" Suddenly Naruto thought back earlier to this day. "Shit, Sakura not thinking about going out now to get him!"

With that, Naruto left his training area and toward the north gate. Naruto sighed in relief when he found Sakura walking down the path. "Sakura!"

She turned back and saw the orange clad boy. "Don't try to stop me! I've been nothing but a burden to you."

"I'm not going to stop you." The pink-haired girl was dumbfounded by the reply. "I'm going with you. We'll bring back Sasuke together, dattebayo! I guess I can count as a third person for the three man team with one clone."

"And you two know that you'll become missing nins if you leave without permission!" The sennin said as he appeared out of the foliage.

Sakura was about to have a heart attack. One of the sages with equal to or better strength than Orochimaru just appeared. And it sound like he's going to stop them.

"That's why I'm going with you guys on a mission to find Sasuke." The pink haired girl was about to use a smoke bomb before the words processed. She stopped and looked over to Naruto who had the same idea. It seems they have a three man team for this now.

It was the morning when the monk arrived at Keiko village. He was greeted by the village chief as he offered tea. It seemed as he walked through town, there was foreboding feeling of the place.

"So you've sent people and ninjas to the town about a day's walk to the east?" the monk said as he was sipping the tea prepared by the leader.

"Yes, none returned, but we've ventured nearby and felt an ominous aura from Raka."

"Has anything odd happen?" The monk asked as he served himself another cup of tea.

"Well, I think some people saw a Jashin cultist walking around the area."

The monk abruptly stopped what he was doing. As soon as the man said Jashin, the monk's heart skipped a beat. "That can't be good. How long ago was that?"

"About two or three weeks ago. We've called Konoha to get help, but it seems that they haven't come back yet."

"I'll see what I can do about it." The monk said. If the cultist was here for a couple of week and the town next to the village stopped contacting then this cultist must be up to something big. If the ninja's could not silence him then this must be a powerful cultist. One that learned enough of the ways of Jashin to cast the Curse of Regeneration on himself.

"I hope you can resolve this, people are disappearing from the village lately." The chief said as he thought of his fellow villagers fearing for their lives.

"That CAN'T be good." The monk said as he hurried to leave. He was going to rest for a bit before heading eastward to Raka.

Over in the land of rice, the trio stopped in front of a town that seemed deserted. "Naruto, give me your cash."

"What? Why? Are you after my wallet again?"

"Well, I need cash for what I'm about to do." The old man said with a perverted grin.

With a sigh, Naruto pulled out his wallet which Jiraiya promptly took. "That's all, you've got to have more."

"Yeah, that's all," the boy replied. The sage grinned and suddenly picked the boy up and shook all the loose cash away. "Damn you. Now that's all I have, ero-sennin!"

"Brat, stop calling me that!"

"That's right Naruto. This is one of the legendary sannin." Sakura said as Jiraiya nodded in agreement. She pulled out her wallet and gave it to the old man, who counted the money and left into the town after yelling out to wait outside town.

"Sakura-chan! You didn't have to give the womanizing pervert!" Naruto yelled as he and Sakura left

"Naruto, we needed information." The girl said as she convinced herself that it was the right decision; however, when the blond boy labeled the guy as a 'womanizing pervert' she started to have her doubts. Especially the fact when the said boy invented one of the most perverted techniques in Konoha history. "I'm pretty useless anyways."

"You're not useless! You kept us alive in the Forest of Death, remember? You also are able to detect and dispel Genjutsu where I can't do that!" Naruto reasoned as it seem to cheer the girl up. They stood there quietly after that and waited for Jiraiya. It was too long until Sakura heard something in the bushes.

"Naruto, watch out." Sakura said as she dodged to the side from the three kunai from the bushes. The warned boy also dodged and retaliated with kunai. The attacker jumped out of the bushes and a Kunai ready. Both Genin noticed their attacker was around their age, dressed in a gray sleeveless shirt and green shorts.

"Who are you? One of Orochimaru's thugs?" Naruto asked as he readied a Kunai.

"Tch, I got it wrong." The would be assassin said and threw a smoke bomb. Naruto would have been able to follow but the figure jumped into the tree and masked their lines with the tree's lines unintentionally.

"Naruto, stop!" Sakura shouted as the boy was about to blindly run through. The blonde looked down and saw that there are caltrops on the ground. That would've hurt. Hearing another commotion behind him, the boy turned and saw a sage being chased by a crowd.

"You two! Run!" The sage ran passed. The two looked back then ran after the adult. It would take them the entire day to lose this crowd of people.

Akira was approaching Raka when it was sun was setting. There were a few things that the monk was noticing. The closer he was getting the more he can feel a dark presence in the area, there was a stanching in the air, and lastly, he could feel the lives of hundred or more people in the area that died a horrible death. It wasn't long until he actually entered the town.

"The place is desolate, not a soul in sight," the monk commented to himself. One thing was bothering him; there was a lot of mana in the air. Something shifted from the right of the monk before he forcefully dodged back. The figure, which would classify as a citizen of town had half his face not rotted off, that started to attack him had a butcher knife.

Akira whistled and said, "Ah, getting attacked by zombies this time? I also was attacked by zombies last time there was a Jashin incident. I think this is a trend." The monk said a prayer as more grotesque figures appeared. The exorcisist finished his prayer and smacked one of the approaching zombies with his staff. The undead instantly bursts into dust as Akira surged forward and purified the remaining undead on his way toward the center of the village.

"Ah, a demon slayer here to stop me?" the cultist said as he saw the approaching monk. The Jashinist had a black cloak and was carrying a scythe.

"Yeah, the locals were getting concerned by the smell you were emitting."

"Ha, a jokester? Well monk, it appears you are too late. I've spilled the blood for Jashin and he is pleased! And I've planned to spill more as I complete this spell!"

"Spell?" Akira looked around. There was nothing out of the ordinary. There were no drawings and the cult wasn't chanting. That would mean one thing, he still hasn't have enough power to activate whatever he wanted. In any case, he should stop him here.

"Those ninja that were sent sped up my plan immensely with their life. I almost have enough power to activate the spell! I just need your LIFE!" The follower of jashin yelled as he sliced forward with his scythe.

The monk dodge to the right as an invisible attack sheared a house in two. Akira pulled the sword from his staff and approached his opponent while dodging the invisible wind attacks. As soon as the cultist was in range, the monk started off with a stab toward the heart. His adversary turned his body to avoid the stab and used that motion to spin his scythe for a decapitation. The monk ducked and sliced upward toward the cultist's arm holding the scythe as it passed by his head.

Akira successfully cut off the arm with the scythe and it flew away from the cultist. With a quick slice at the legs, another slice at the arms, and a stab at the heart, the cultist was limbless and was coughing blood.

"Hehe, is that all you have? Those ninja did a better job than this!" The cultist yelled as Akira noticed the limbs of his opponent started to piece back together.

"Shit!" The Fujino cursed and jumped back to a safe distance as a scythe and arm just passed by the area he was standing. "So a Curse of Regeneration? What a pain!"

Akira suddenly had to parry a blow as the cultist foregone long range in favor for short range. For a few minutes, it was a danced between dodging and swiping. Most of the time it was Akira chopping off limbs of the cultist.

"What's wrong? Getting tired already?" The cultist mocked as he manage to nick the monk and jumped back. "You seriously didn't think that prayer you were mumbling a minute ago was going to help you? It did nothing!"

The cultist then pulled out a doll from his cloak. He rubbed the blood from his scythe. "In case you didn't know, my origin is mimic!"

A person origin is their inherit compulsion that guides them in life. It is speculated from Akira's clan text that Jashinist get their origin awaken by Jashin. It unlocked their abilities to do magic through their origin, even if they didn't learn the basics. Being that the cultist was a mimic, would mean the last person he drank blood from had an ability to throw vacuum blades. Akira then had a sinking feeling about the doll in hand.

"Ah so you know where this is heading. This doll you see here, whatever pain it feels. You feel! See!" The cultist twisted one of the dolls hands and Akira grabbed his right arm and yelled out loud as he started to feel a twisting sensation from his right arm. It was only pain and the arm looked physically fine. "Oh, that was a good sound. Let's do that to the other arm." The cultist was about to twist the other arm when suddenly Akira yelled out.

"BEND!"

The Jashinist's arms where ripped away. "Oh, what is this? An ace up the sleeve?" Then the cultist realized something, he was not regenerating. "What did you do?"

Breathing heavily, "You think my prayers were nothing? They were meant to dispel your curse and your link to Jashin. The clan I came from trained demon slaying specialists and fortunately, you guys count as demons. Everything I do has some sort of purpose in killing you." Akira said while looking at the cultist in the eye. The cultist then noticed something about his opponent. The irises in Akira's eyes are green with a red ring around the pupil.

"Impossible! The Fujino clan? We wiped out the remaining years ago. What's with that power? They couldn't used that much in one blow!"

"Heh, true, but I'm one of the exceptions. Ever since your cult killed the last of my family, I've learned from the scrolls they have entrusted me with. I learned their ways as much as I could and trained my Mystic Eyes of Distortion to be the strongest. Now…" Akira's eyes started looking in opposite directions.

"BEND!"

The cultist body twisted in half at the waist spraying blood on the ground from Akira's psychic power. Akira was walked over to where he threw the other half of his staff and sheathed the sword. He turned around when he heard a sudden laughter coming from the corpse of the cultist.

"I was going to use your life force, but instead… I'LL USE MINE!" The final words of the dead minion of Jashin exclaimed as a pentagram shined on the ground.

"Oh hell, there's enough mana in the air to summon a SERVANT!" Akira exclaimed as he prepared for what was going to happen. Whatever hero, anti-hero, or demon showed up, it's going to get a whole lot of anti-spirit magic. The area lit up and suddenly the monk was thrown into a house. The last thing he saw before he passed out was something that couldn't possibly be human.

At the end of the day, the three ninja were currently resting in the inn in the Land of Rice. After the entire event of Fuma clan, they discovered that Orochimaru won't take Sasuke's body for another three years. It had taken all of Naruto's willpower to not use the power of the Mystic Eyes. He needed answers and not corpses. The only time he'd used it through the day was to break through the chakra barrier where he's been able to see the point after sometime inside the barrier.

"We're going to leave in the morning, we'll probably arrive around Keiko Village tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to go out and check around for information." Jiraiya said as he left the room.

"Pfft, ero-sennin is probably going to fool around all day." Naruto said as he was inspecting his bandages. "I can't eat with my hands covered like this! Hehe, Sakura-chan, you're going to have to feed me." The boy turned to where the girl was only to find she was gone.

"Sorry Naruto, I need to take a walk." The girl said as she opened the door. "Naruto, wait for me to get stronger. The next time we go, I won't be a dead weight to you." She promised as she left the now thoroughly confused boy.

Akira woken up in a pile of rubble, after removing himself from the pieces of house that collapsed on him, he checked himself for any injuries. "I'm damn lucky I didn't break anything. Hell, I'm damn lucky the monster ignored me." The monk inspected the area for any clue as to what was summoned.

"Doesn't look like it was a call to Jashin, this is definitely a summon circle. Now what did this guy use as a reagent." Akira commented as he walked to the center of the summon circle. It looked at what was being used and noticed that there was the hand from the cultist that Akira ripped away. "Hmm, definitely didn't summon a human, so a creature that had the same origin? Now, where did it go?"

Extending his senses, he could feel a dark presence coming from the west. Gathering his staff, Akira quickly headed out of town and toward Keiko Village. The monster that came from the summoning circle was extremely powerful, but it needed mana to stay in this world. The best way to get the mana was to absorb it from the populace and the closest civilization was Keiko Village.

After resting at the Land of Rice, Naruto's injuries mostly faded away. They were currently in Fire Country and were about to approach Keiko Village from the north when Jiraiya suddenly stop them. He had sense something completely wrong with the atmosphere when they gotten close to the village.

"Ero-sennin, what's the hold up? I want to get some ramen when we get back!"

"Brat, tell me that you don't feel that?"

"Well, I do feel a little bad, but that's because I might have ate something bad." Naruto said as he held his stomach as to express his point.

"Jiraiya-sama, what is that feeling?" To Sakura, she could feel something making her uneasy.

"We will need to check this out. Keiko Village is close to Konoha and as such, we as the ninjas of Fire Country need to insure that the populace is safe." The sennin proclaimed as the resumed their trip, this time with caution.

When they arrived in the village, they immediately heard sounds of fighting. They had found a monk dressed in a white cloak fighting an old man. The old man was about three feet high, head was shaped like a zucchini, was dressed in brown robes. The man was surprisingly nimble as he dodged every strike the monk lashed out with. Then the old man, suddenly threw a hand forward and knocked the monk down the street they were fighting on. The old man was about to move to finish the job when a barrier of light surrounded him. The monk sat up on his spot while he was breathing heavily.

"What's going on? And what is that old man?" The old ninja said as he and his genin landed next to the monk.

"Ninjas? Oh good, you guys will be useful." Akira breathed in relief then pointed at the old man trapped in the barrier. "That is a demon."

"D-d-demon?" Naruto stuttered out, suddenly he relocated behind Sakura, who also was paling at what was said.

Mentally calculating the time it will take before the monster breaks free, "We don't have much time before it gets out of that so I'll give you a short description on what we're fighting. That monster is known as Nurarihyon, it's a master of disguises and a shape shifting monster. I've ripped this thing into pieces and it still reformed! Right now I'm just trying to hold it in a barrier long enough to make it run out of mana so it can disappear. Buy me that time to get the barrier set up! Old man, help me set up this barrier."

"Okay, I'll protect and help the monk. Naruto, Sakura, distract the monster." Jiraiya said as the monster broke free from the barrier. Naruto summoned a fifty shadow clones and crowded the entire street. It effectively created a barrier between him and the monster. Then Sakura suddenly hit him in the head.

"Idiot! How the hell are we supposed to fight this guy if you take up all our space!"

"But Sakura-chan, it's a DEMON. I'm making sure it doesn't hurt us!" the blonde rubbed his head at the place the girl stuck. They quickly turned to the sounds of clones that are dispersing left and right. "Oh god, what the hell is that!"

Nurarihyon suddenly morphed into a middle-age man with blades of bone coming out of its elbows as it attacked and destroyed all but a dozen. Naruto decided he'll need to bring out the big guns as he prepped up a Rasengan with one of the clones while he distracted he monster with the others. The creature was effortless slicing its way toward the boy. Suddenly, a clone disguised a pebble dispelled its transformation and landed an uppercut. Taking this chance, Naruto rammed the Rasengan to the chest of the monster.

"Take that!" Naruto yelled then he noticed something about the line of the monster. This entire battle the lines were slowly appearing on the monster, but every once in a while they disappeared, only to appear at a different location. Suddenly the mangled form of the monster regenerated itself to the point where nothing had happened to it. "Aw, man what's it going to take to?"

"Naruto, Legends of Nurarihyon imply that it redefines its own existence to suit its needs. That's how it's able to walk into someone's house and drink their tea and pose as the owner. If it works like the legends, then it only needs to know what attack is coming to regenerate from it!" Sakura said as she read some book on demonic folklore. She then chucked a couple of kunai with explosive tags at the approaching monster. Before the smoke can clear up, Sakura threw a couple of Kunai where she though the monster was at. When the smoked clear, the shape shifting monster already pulled out the kunai embedded in the body. "OH C'mon!"

The area suddenly is coated with a strong atmosphere of fear as the unworldly entity started to shift and morph. It seemed like it started to take the two genin seriously. The area suddenly exploded and sent all kinds of debris at the two.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled as one of the kunai's that was embedded in to the monster's body flew at the girl. Naruto tackled the girl to the ground and used himself as a shield to all the debris. Sakura had her eyes closed as she was tackled to the ground. She opened her eyes when something softly hit her face. It was Naruto's goggles, some of the debris must've knocked it off his face. She remained froze when she saw the peculiarities of her savior's eyes.

"God damn it. We need to escape, that thing just blew away the barrier!" The monk said as he clutched his now broken right arm. The barrier he just casted was completely shrugged off the monster with explosive results. "I'm going to need at least ten monks to keep this thing down!"

"No! This thing is close to Konoha! I'm going to kill it right here!" Naruto yelled as he looked at the monster with his un impeded vision. He could see more on the monster as well as the movement of the lines as it shifted to various locations of the body. While, the monster form resembled a cross between a lizard and a minotaur, the lines seemed to be alternating at the same places as the humanoid form. Then Naruto dashed forward.

"Fool! The girl was right when she was explaining about the monster. You can't fight it head on!" The monk would've rushed forward and stopped the blonde when he was stopped by Jiraiya. "What are you doing, isn't that your student?"

"I have a feeling he might be able to kill this," Jiraiya said. The old sage wondered if this is what constitutes as the uncommon.

The monk watch as he saw the young ninja cut a small part of the monster arm then summoned a couple clones. Then a couple things happened in a sequence, the arm that was cut sudden fell off the monster, the other clones aimed for the other limbs which repeated the same thing, and the monster roared in pain as it fell to the ground.

"It's not regenerating…" Akira commented as a few moments passed as the blonde boy was studying his handiwork. "What did that kid do?"

When Naruto was cutting through the lines, he felt that he wasn't simply killing the monster. He was unmaking the creature at those points. It was like he was deciphering how the object was existed and erasing those locations. The boy then studied the struggling torso of the monster. The points where the monster existence, Naruto dubbed 'Death Points', kept rapidly shifting at two locations. One on the head and one at the heart. Nodding to his clones, they surrounded the torso and aimed directly at the points. Instantly, the monster's aura and body disappeared as its anchor to the plane of existence was severed.

The monk surveyed the surroundings as Nurarihyon disappeared and noticed the mana that made up the monster completely vanished like there wasn't even a trace left of it. The injuries and fatigue began to catch up to him as he fell unconscious. Before the boy could turn around, the man passed out.

"What's going on? Why isn't it getting back up? All Naruto did was cut and stabbed the monster? What is with his eyes?" The intelligent genin had a multitude of questions that were left unanswered.

"We need to get back to Konoha as soon as possible. Tsunade will need to know about this." The sennin said as he picked up the monk.

End Chapter 2: Of Rice and Demons

AN: Almost to the end of the first arc. The eye abilities will start to clear up soon. Probably won't be a lot of action next chapter.