The roar of the sand demon shook the ocean floor itself as the massive, lumbering beast focused its attention fully on Manda.
The great snake hissed, the dangerous hollow sound sending vibrations through the water, the massive ripples it caused slamming against the hulls of nearby ships, be they crewed by Kumo's ninja or Konoha's non ninja mercenaries
Naruto's eyes absently trailed down towards the ships. The first wave was already engaging the Kumo fleet some fighting ship to ship, while those that hung back were firing their weapons, already some of Kumo's ships were sinking, torn in half by the massive rocks launched by the catapults or the decks in flames that spread quickly with the many accelerates the pirates used in their weapons. His eyes turned towards where the rest of his fleet was, noticing that the second wave was already approaching, much sooner than originally planned. He ignored that for now, no doubt Jiraiya had his reasons.
However, the ships would be much more tightly packed now, many were giving Manda and Shukaku a wide berth, meaning that the fleets were more or less split in two, crammed into two separate sides of the battle. That was good, because it would no doubt tie up the Kumo fleet, allowing the second, and if it came down to it, the third wave to much more easilly bombard their vessels, sinking them. However with ships more tightly packed together the ninja could jump from one ship to the other, allowing them to engage the non ninja crew soldier to soldier instead of ship to ship.
He did not have time to contemplate more on these things however as Shukaku brought up his massive claw, the appendage visibly breaking off the gargantuan pillars that held him up, no doubt they reached the ocean floor.
It took shape, lashing out towards Manda, much slower than Naruto expected it to be, most likely due to the fact that the sand was wet.
Manda shifted back, dodging the attack. The snake summon hissed before he released a stream of acid towards the sand demon, only for a sand shield to erect infront of the beast, hissing and smoking before it disintegrated due to the poisonous acid.
Sand spikes suddenly rose from the depths, seeking to impale the great snake, only the reptiles superior reflexes saved it.
"Dive." Naruto spoke simply, kneeling against Manda's head as the beast dived straight down, the wave created by its massive body, toppling over a few ships that came in a little too close.
Below the surface, Naruto and Manda could see more sand spikes emerging from the inky blackness of the oceans surface, beckoned to the will of the sand demon.
Manda swerved, dodging and weaving as his body twisted and spiraled in a dangerous underwater swimming performance as he made his way between the spears.
Directly below the Shukaku, Naruto and Manda found their target, the four massive pillars that descended towards the oceans surface, no doubt what was holding Shukaku up. Perhaps if they attacked those they could distract him enough to bring about an opening.
Manda hissed, smashing his tail against the Shukaku's right foreleg as he passed by. The creatures roar could be heard beneath the water as he lashed out with his claws, more sand spears rising from the oceans surface to the area.
Manda turned sharply beneath the waves approaching directly below Shukaku. He opened his maw, bringing his gleaming white fangs to the ready.
He burst straight up from the ocean, breaking the surface with a massive splash before latching onto the Shukaku's exposed throat, sand drying and falling away from the main body as the acid seeped in.
Naruto raised his blade, channelling wind chakra into the metal surface before he swung, releasing a single wide crescent like wind blade which cut into Shukaku's chest, nearly reaching the beasts stomach, prying another roar from the sand demon, before it quickly reformed itself before hundreds of sand spikes shot out of its chest, shoulders, back and neck, atempting to impale both Naruto and Manda with the jutting potrusions. Only for Manda to shed his skin, escaping the attack as he reeled backwards.
Naruto felt the chakra presences approaching behind him, turning he looked down the slithering form of Manda to see Akina and Yugito rushing up the beasts back.
Naruto growled before he turned back to the summoned beast. "Manda, deal with Shukaku, I will deal with those two."
"Hurry you foolish boy. I am no decoy for you." The snake hissed, knowing Naruto could hear him, despite the fact that he had already begun rushing down his back. The snake ignored him however as he rushed towards the sand demon again.
Yugito and Akina both stopped in their tracks as they saw the red robed Kage approaching. They readied their stances, but Naruto lunged for the two, diving straight down at the same moment that Manda's body shifted upwards, the added acceleration not only knocked the two off balance, leaving them wide open for an attack, but also added additional power behind the actual impact as Naruto's knee smashed right into Yugito's rib cage, sending her rocketing back down towards one of the nearby ships, one of Kumo's he noticed.
Grabbing Akina by the throat he spun around before throwing her towards the same location. He fell a little further, manuevering closer to Manda before placing his legs on the creature and shooting straight off of him, towards the ship where he had launched both women.
As he approached he noticed it was indeed a Kumo ship, the two holes in the deck indicating where the two women had fallen through. Kumo ninja, ranging from chuunin to a few jounin were on the deck of the ship, beginning to gather around the impact site.
The blond flipped in mid air, landing on the deck of the ship with a crash, his momentum forcing him onto a somewhat kneeling position. As all the men on the deck turned to face the source of the sound he saw the familiar reaction, fear, disbelief, panic, and finally settling over a reluctant courage as they each drew their weapons.
Naruto stood, then vanished from sight.
Jiraiya watched as the second wave of ships steadily approached the two fleets currently engaging one another. Coming within firing distance the captains of the second wave wasted little time releasing massive stones and flaming barrels of oil with the catapults, tearing ships in two with the oversized ammunition, while fires blanketed the ships, spreading even to the ocean surface as the oil spilled onto the sloshing waves.
Neither enemy nor comrade was spared from the volley, the Balistaes soon coming into range as well, further tearing away at the units infront of them.
Desperate pirates caught in the bombardment returned fire as best they could, choosing to value their lives over their paycheck as they realized that the chances of their survival out here on the first wave were slim to none if even the allies at their back were taking shots at them. But their ships, damaged and disorganized as they were in the confusion, only managed to do, at best minor damage to a few ships before being brutally sunk by either enemy or allied vessels.
As they approached closer still Jiraiya saw as dozens of water dragons rise up infront of the ships, the balistae rounds and catapult shots passing straight through them, as did the arrows and molotov bottles, splashing harmlessly into the sea as the apparitions rushed, tearing through several of the pirate ships before they either ran out of chakra, or were intercepted by Jutsu delivered by some of the other ninja scattered throughout the fleet.
Jiraiya's ship lurched. The reason soon revealing itself as a water dragon rose infront of it.
The Toad sannin stepped onto the front of the ship, Rasengan in hand as the beast roared, charging.
Placing his hand infront of him the water dragon was easily dispelled by the more powerful Rasengan, its compressed form shattering into thousands of droplets that wet the entire deck.
Turning back to the captain he spoke. "Order all vessels with ninja aboard to adance 50 yards infront of the rest of the fleet, with this one, when Kumo breaks through and attacks I want our vessels engaging them ship to ship, order the rest of the fleet to hang back and continue bombardment, get all crew-members into battle stations if they're not at them already."
"Aye sir!" The ships captain said hurriedly before he rushed off to carry out his orders.
Jiraiya was about to turn back to intercept any other water dragons that may arrive when suddenly to his immediate right there was a puff of smoke, bringing a kunai to his free hand he spun on his heel, only to come face to face with Hinata, holding onto a pale, unconsious Temari."
Jiraiya's eyes grew wide as he put away his knunai. "Medic!" He yelled calling forth the two medical ninja that were on this ship. Out of their 100 elites approximately 28 were medical ninja or knew a decent amount of medical ninjutsu. Since this ship was the largest and was meant to be the flagship, luckily it had two.
"What happened?" He asked as he knelt next to the two kunoichi.
Hinata breathed heavily, sweat pouring from her brow from the exertion of having singlehandedly been stabilizing a very fragile Suna Kunoichi up to this point. "Mika." She gasped. "Mika betrayed us! Liang must have paid her off or something because she stabbed Temari just as Naruto was about to make the exchange with Gaara. I've been trying to stop the bleeding as best I could, waiting forever for you to get into Shunshin range.
One of the medics whom had arrived midway through her explanation spoke up. "Good thing we moved ahead of schedule Jiraiya-sama. The kunai mannaged to nip her internal jugular vein it also severed many of the of the brachocephalic veins along the side of her neck. Hinata-sama's healing techniques mannaged to seal off most of open injuries but its like placing a bandage over a gaping wound.
"Then get her inside, she has to survive at all costs." Jiraiya barked. The two medics nodded before they summoned a stretched from the scroll, carefully placing her on it before they ran back to the clinic they'd set up in the former captain's quarters.
Looking to the heavily breathing Hinata Jiraiya nodded. "Good work, get below deck get some soldier pills and catch your breath, we have at least a few minutes before the fighting kicks up again. You're in charge of keeping Temari safe, she must be kept from Kumo or Suna's hands at all costs."
Hinata nodded before she stood and followed
At that the toad sannin's eyes narrowed. He always knew Mika was unstable but he never took her for one who would switch sides over who gave the most coin.
"This-" Sakura hissed as her kunai sliced open a pirates sword arm, as Ino snapped another mans neck with a quick, powerful spin kick. "Is insane!" She finished as she sliced open the man's jugular, blood blending into her red hued clothes. "There are so many of them and they just keep coming!"
"Yea I know what you-LOOK OUT!" Ino yelled pushing Sakura away as a massive two ton stone came crashing down on the ship, snapping the vessel in two like a twig. The end of the ship the two were on tilted back, putting them onto a near ninety degree angle. The two latched onto the side of the ship with chakra, running up until they mannaged to reach an upright position, The two looked into the ocean surrounding them, debris littering the blue surface along with the crushed, bleeding, broken bodies of ally and foe alike. They leapt off the sinking ship, landing on another Kumo vessel which had just disengaged from their opponents, they watched as the young chuunin who couldn't escape the vessel, or the men that had been knocked into the ocean due to the impact of the massive stone itself were easily picked off by the arrows from the enemy fleet as they tried in vain hope to get a good enough grip to walk on the ocean surface.
Hana's voice suddenly chimed in through the radio. "Ino, Sakura, just got word, those bombardments are coming in from the enemies second wave, all vessels not currently engaging an enemy ship are to immediately move forward to attack the enemy second wave head on, we need to stop those catapults."
"Why're you telling us then?" Ino spoke into her radio. "We're not commanding anything.
"Because I want you two on those ships, your wind techniques and Sakura's puppets can be a great asset. That and I'd rather have some familiar faces covering my ass rather than total strangers." Hana shot back.
"You're in the attack wave? Ino questioned again.
"Right, flagship leading the attack." She answered. "Shika and Chouji are busy on engaging several enemy ships so they wont be there for a while.
"We're already on a ship heading to the attack. We'll find you." Sakura piped up.
"Or I'll find you." Hana said before she cut off the comm link.
Akina groaned as she pushed some wooden debris off of her, clutching her head in pain. She heard a similar sound to her right, turning her head and finding Yugito as the Nibi Nekomata slowly sat up, clutching her chest as she gasped for breath.
"Are you ok?" Akina questioned as she stood and slowly walked forward, helping the older girl stand up, still clutching her chest.
"Y-Yea. Just fine." She gasped out.
There was a slight pause before a massive crash smashed through the deck, making yet another entry hole besides the two they had made. Wood and dust blanketed the lower deck blinding the two for a moment before it cleared, revealing none other than Naruto. The two barely had a moment to recognize this fact before he rushed forward, delivering another brutal blow to Yugito, sending the Nibi Jinchuriki through the two foot thick hull of the ship, hearing her splash into the waters surface. Naruto rolled forward, stopping his momentum as he spun around towards the still shocked Akina.
He said nothing but she sensed the chakra gathering in his palm as he stretched it out towards her, seeing the slight distortions in the air she realized what was happening. Releasing a startled cry she rushed to the side seconds before several dozen wind blades passed through the area she had been standing in, slicing up the wooden beams and barrels that had been behind her, spilling their contents, be they food or wine, all over the floor. Akina continued to rush around the lower deck, dodging the wind blades as they tore up the inside of the ship, using Shunshin and Kawarimi to evade the attacks. Finally she reached a wall which separated this compartment of the lower deck from another one.
Naruto, sick of the ineffectiveness of the wind blades extended his other hand, his gauntlet glowing red hot for a moment before two fireballs shot towards his sibling.
Akina leapt off the wall twisting her body in the air she slipped right between the two fireballs. The heat singing the hairs on the back of her neck as she passed them by mere centimeters, the heat licking at her skin and clothes.
The shockwave of the explosion sent her forward, increasing her momentum enough to reach Naruto. She spun in the air, coming down with a drop kick towards her brother. Naruto raised both arms, blocking the attack before pushing her off. He drew his blade again as she rushed him, blocking her strikes easily and leaping back as she tried to sweep his legs out from under him.
Akina leapt with him, attacking in mid air with another flying kick. He blocked it, and she pressed the attack with her three pieced staff, attacking with a wild flurry of blows.
Naruto did not even look phased as he evaded and parried, none managing to connect.
Finally lightning crackled over her weapon, making a tip, she thrust the weapon forward, towards his stomach, hoping to at least get something through.
Naruto caught her wrist however, pulling her attack to the side so that it passed him harmlessly and then thrust it down towards the wood, smashing it straight through dispelling the technique. Naruto threw her upwards, leaving her wide open as he delivered a quick palm thrust right over her solar plexus driving the wind out of her and sending pain rippling throughout her entire upper chest as she was sent flying back skidding to a halt a few feet away, coughing blood as she gasped for air, choking and sputtering, clutching her chest.
Yugito leapt through the opening she had left, soaked to the bone with salt water, eyes glowing purple as her claw, covered in black flames descended towards the back of Naruto's head.
The blond vanished as the strike fell, allowing the flames to grasp nothing but air. Yugito snapped her gaze to her left, where the blond stood, attacking again, only for Naruto to dodge, then vanish again as she delivered a follow up strike, appearing on the other side of the ship.
Akina slowly got to her feet, watching as Naruto continued to dodge Yugito's attacks, analyzing her speed and strength with every blow she attempted on him.
The blond slowly gathered chakra into her weapon, lightning arcing through the air as she used Naruto's distraction to her advantage.
Yugito continued her attempts against the blond until finally he appeared right infront of her. She jerked back, startled before he used his blade, slashing her forearm open as she defended, only the buffer of the black chakra cloak keeping her limb attatched to her body.
Grabbing her by the collar, he held her still as he reared his blade back to chop off her head.
Before he could however Akina, who had finished her build up for her own attack, released the lightning blast in a single bright flash, slamming it into Naruto's side, forcing him to release Yugito as he was sent across the lower deck. He turned as best he could, finally being able to place his free hand infront of the coruscating blast, skidding to a halt as he dug his heels in harshly, sticking to the wooden surface with chakra, now as he was able to properly channel his power into the flesh of his hands to weather the attack. Going through his mental list of known lightning Jutsu he realized this attack was known as "Sutatikku no Kyuutai"
An explosive ball of static electricity that once it reached a certain distance from the caster would, well...explode. Pumping the target full of enough electricity to freeze someone's heart dead on the spot. It was covered by a thin layer of chakra that recognized the distance and kept the electricity stable while inside the bubble.
No doubt her plan was to push him out of the ship, through the hole he'd made with Yugito, then the electricity would have shocked him enough to at least paralyze him, perhaps long enough to have him sink and drown.
The burning sensation of the ninetails chakra laced beneath the surface of his arm, moving through his hand into the attack, replacing her chakra with his own, overpowering the technique.
He looked beyond the slowly reddening haze, watching as she charged yet another of the attacks, no doubt hoping that the second one would be enough to push him off.
Finally, he felt the last vestige of her chakra vanish, just as she finished the build up for her next strike.
Launching the technique back at the same time as she released hers, the chakra attacks slammed into each-other. Hers gave a moment of resistance before being overpowered, being absorbed into the reddish orb before that too destabilized, exploding a few feet closer to Akina than Naruto, sending her flying back until she slammed against the wall between the two lower deck compartments.
She began to fell back towards the ground when she felt a harsh, crushing blow to her chest, sending her directly through the wall and into the second compartment.
She slowly began to rise up to her feet, only to have a clawed hand latch onto her hair, she felt the vague feeling of vertigo before she was slammed against the hull of the ship gripping Naruto's arm with a now feeble hand, her weapon slipping from her other with an audible clang.
Naruto raised his blade, only for Yugito, the Nekomata, to leap up onto the roof directly above him, gathering her Bijuu's chakra in her hands she formed it into two massive claws, sending them down directly over the blond.
Naruto raised his gaze to meet the attack, mere seconds before the dark, flame like claws to shove him down by his shoulders, smashing him through the hull of the ship and into the ocean floor below.
He growled low in his throat as he floated beneath the waves. This cycle of rescues was getting annoying...
Yugito landed, now helping Akina back on her feet as the two took advantage of their momentary respite from the blond's assault. Akina took a deep breath of relief kneeling down to take her weapon back into her hands.
"This is insane." Yugito panted. "He just keeps coming back, I feel like I've just been through a meat grinder and he doesn't even seem winded yet."
Akina opened her mouth to speak when the ship lurched violently, knocking both women off their feet. They saw sharp bony protrusions suddenly pierce the hull of the ship. If they didn't know any better they'd say that they almost looked like...
"RUN!" Akina yelled, springing to her feet with Yugito as the two rushed towards the opening she had made.
Naruto watched as Manda's massive jaws clamped around the ship, raising the vessel into the air, the dead bleeding bodies of the chuunin and Jounin who'd opposed him on deck falling limply back to the oceans surface. Wood groaned and cracked as Manda bit down, eventually snapping the ship in two with his massive jaws. Before he did though Naruto saw the two's silhouettes escape the vessel.
Though he didnt see it, he could guess judging by the sharp change in direction of their fall that they had put ninja wire on the ship before they leapt out, swinging from the broken remains onto Manda's back, just as the snake spat out the broken ship, sending the debris, into other nearby Kumo vessels. The blond turned to face the two women fully watching as they rushed up the back of the snake.
'Round two' He thought as he drew his second blade.
Meanwhile far beyond the range of the engaged fleets, the seals on Zhuge Liang's body, as well as those beneath him, slowly began to glow with chakra.