Digital Demon Story

Hopeless Battle, Demon of the Mist!

AN: Finals, projects, bad grades, and now recovering from a World of Warcraft addiction… Life is good.

On with the story!

(Scene Break)

Renamon stretched after he’d transformed back from his shuriken disguise. Not only was holding that technique for so long a drain on his energy, but it was also damn uncomfortable. You had to be completely still while holding a disguise like that, but it’s not as though they had much choice. The fox digimon did not know how to water-walk, nor would he be able to keep himself hidden even if he could.

He didn’t have too much time to contemplate his discomfort with the transformation technique, as Team 7 had already gotten a decent head start on him, and after the ambush from yesterday, he didn’t like being far away from Naruto at any time.

Not that he didn’t think that the boy couldn’t handle himself; he had nothing but the highest respect for his partner. The way he had fought against the assassins had only cemented that respect further into place. But if what Kakashi said was true, then they’d have to fight even stronger ninja soon, and Renamon knew he may have to step in if things got serious.

But the assassins weren’t the only thing that was bothering the fox digimon. He still couldn’t figure out for the life of him how Naruto had managed to use the Diamond Storm technique. Now, having been born in the human world, this particular Renamon knew very little about digimon, and the things he did know were instinctual. He didn’t know how he knew them, but he just did. They were things like, other types of digimon, how evolution works, that Naruto was his partner, and how to fight. One thing that he knew was that only Renamon and could use Diamond Storm.

The whole incident had left Renamon with a mix of emotions he didn’t know how to deal with. He’d been so worried about the attack, but also about exposing himself that he’d sat back and did nothing. He couldn’t allow himself to sleep because Naruto had been poisoned, and he was afraid that his blonde partner might die if he took his eyes off him for more than a minute. Sasuke and Sakura had worried for him as well, or at least, that’s how Renamon had interpreted their behavior from last night.

To his credit, Naruto was his usual self. Bright, smiling, ready to face the world. It had helped to put his teammates, as well as the bridge builder, at ease. Nobody had brought up the attack since Naruto had awoken that morning, and only the blonde and his sensei were acting normally. Stealing another look at Naruto, Renamon silently decided to step in if they were attacked again.

(Scene Break)

Sakura stole another glance at Naruto has he walked ahead of the group, practically bouncing with energy. She couldn’t understand how that idiot could be like that after what had happened. He’d almost died yesterday, and chances were that they’d get into an even tougher fight than before. How could he pretend like nothing had happened?

“That stupid idiot would probably get himself killed if he were made a genin.”

She almost flinched at the memory. It was odd how much more she sounded like a bitch in her memory than she had before the attack.

“Hi Sakura-chan! Hey, maybe we could go get some food together or something?”

“Naruto… You’re annoying.”

Dammit, why was she wringing her hands like that? She wasn’t Hinata.

“Kakashi-sensei, Naruto’s going to be alright, right?”

“Aa, don’t worry Sakura, he’s already through the worst of it.”

‘Last night… I never thought that I never felt so worried. Over Naruto of all people.’ She smiled slightly. ‘I guess you never know what you have until it’s gone, or almost leaves you in this case. Naruto…’ She looked at her blonde teammate again, unsure of how to finish that train of thought.

Sasuke was also staring at the hyperactive blonde, but without as much worry as Sakura had.

“Naruto! Can’t you even do a simple Henge right?”

The ebon haired Uchiha scowled, ‘He’s nothing but a dead-last loser. How can he be improving so quickly?’

“Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!”

“Diamond Storm!”

‘I won’t let him pass me. I’ll just have to get that much stronger.’

Kakashi continued to hide a sad smile under his mask. The incident with the poison had been a scare for the team, but Naruto was never in any real danger. He had hoped that his students wouldn’t have to go through the same things he had to before they realized just how much their teammates had meant to them. Thank god for the Kyuubi’s healing powers or he might be one student short already.

(Scene Break)

‘Well shit.’ Renamon thought.

Kakashi had said that he would protect his teammates. He said he wouldn’t let them die.

He was a damn liar, that Kakashi. How the hell are you supposed to protect someone when you’re trapped fifteen feet in the air, trapped in a water bubble?

“Everyone!” Kakashi yelled, “Get Tazuna out of here as fast as you can!”

‘Run away?’ The fox thought, ‘Yeah, like that’ll do us any good, this Zabuza guy will just chase us down and kill us off once he’s done with Kakashi.’

Naruto seemed to get angry, “Kakashi you idiot! If we just run away, that no eyebrow freak will just kill you then hunt us down and kill us too!”

Renamon blinked, ‘Whoa, déjà vu.’

Sasuke stumbled. He’d been about to follow Kakashi’s orders without question, but Naruto made a good point. What would running away now do for them? Besides tire them out when they really had to fight Zabuza. Wasn’t it better to fight now, when they were still at their best, and their chances were better? ‘Dammit! If I could just think of a plan, but I don’t have any time! We need to stall, or distract him somehow…’

The missing-nin just laughed as he created a water clone. “Seems like the punk’s got some brains in him after all. Go ahead and run, it will be fun to hunt you all down.”

The blonde gritted his teeth. ‘That bastard! I’ll take him down, even if I have to go down with him.’

Renamon blinked again, and then narrowed his eyes in concentration. ‘Naruto, if you’re gonna stick this out, then I’m with you all the way.’

Naruto put his fingers together in a seal, “Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!” Twenty-one Naruto clones appeared on the field. Each was standing in a different position, but there was one next to the real Naruto who stood out. His back was almost ramrod straight, his arms were crossed, and he was almost completely turned away from the water clone, but was looking over his shoulder with a haughty grin that looked really out of place on Naruto.

Naruto stole a glance at the clone, ‘Renamon?’

‘Yeah, it’s me.’ Came a reply in his head.

The blonde hid his shock well, ‘So you can hear me.’

‘Yeah, and you can hear me… We’re going to need a plan.’

Naruto grinned, ‘Don’t worry, I got something cooking’

Renamon (still disguised) and three clones charged forward. One clone sprinted ahead of the rest, and was instantly cleaved in half but the gigantic sword. The water clone moved to recover from his swing but the other two shadow clones charged in and each grabbed an arm and tried to anchor him in place. It worked long enough for Renamon to run up, leap into the air and deliver a powerful roundhouse to the clone’s face. Five pairs of eyes widened in surprise as the water clone’s neck twisted at an unnatural angle, and then dispelled in the water it’d been created from.

‘Amazing!’ Sakura thought. ‘Naruto’s really changed lately, I never thought he’d been able to think this far ahead before.’

Kakashi smiled under his mask. ‘Wild and unpredictable one moment, then quick and calculating the next. Renamon is really changing Naruto, or maybe this is how he always was.’

Zabuza laughed, shocking the ninja out of their thoughts. “Savor that victory while you can brat. It only gets tougher from here.”

“Pssh!” Naruto scoffed, “I know that! Why do you think I made so many clones if I only needed four?”

“No kidding,” Renamon said. “And they call me the dead last.”

The other clones shouted out agreements, and hurled insults at Zabuza while complaining about people underestimating them. The Ex-Mist-Nin smiled underneath the bandages, ‘I wonder how many clones I’ll need to take this kid out. Ah well, I’ll just create two more and work my way up as necessary.’ “Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu”

Two more water clones materialized between Naruto’s small army and Zabuza. The blonde smiled, and charged with the rest of his clones. The same trick wouldn’t work twice, but he’d figure something out as he went along.

As expected, the going was much harder now that Zabuza wasn’t underestimating him, and the two water clones working in tandem provided an excellent defense to Naruto’s charges. Whenever one was about to be taken out by Naruto, the other would hurl a shuriken or swing his sword to take out the shadow clone that was going to deliver the killing blow. It was frustrating, but playing the waiting game for a while was part of the plan.

“Hi-yah!” The real Naruto went in low, trying to sweep kick one of the clones. Unfortunately the water clone saw it coming and punted him across the clearing, heading in the direction where Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna were waiting.

Sasuke clenched his fist, then released it, forming a hand seal. Renamon’s eyes snapped toward the Uchiha, then smiled in realization, and sent a quick message to Naruto of what he was planning. The clones retreated just as the “Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!” Was called out. The two water clones leapt in the air, with one jumping in front of the other as a flurry of shuriken came from the direction that Sasuke had been in when he’d created the giant fireball. The clone intercepted the entire barrage into his body before turning back into water, while the other clone threw his sword through the fire. A fleshy thud was heard, and the fire died down, revealing Sasuke, impaled on the weapon.

“Sasuke!” Kakashi, Sakura and Tazuna chorused. Naruto and his clones were already charging the clone’s landing area while Sakura and Tazuna tried to catch the wounded Uchiha.

As soon as the water clone touched down, the explosion note went off. Smoke enveloped the area, and by the time it cleared ‘Sasuke’ had become a log. The clones continued to charge, this time aiming for the real Zabuza, each began brandishing kunai and shuriken, and one revealed a gigantic Fuuma Shuriken. The one with the largest weapon went into a spin, to wind up his throw, and just as he released transformed back into Sasuke.

The spinning blade was dead on, but Zabuza simply scoffed and lifted his legs high, causing the weapon to pass right under him. As it did, the second shuriken was revealed, this one headed straight for his neck. The mist-nin’s eyes widened in surprise, but with precise timing he reached out and caught the weapon out of the air. He laughed triumphantly, “Is that all you’ve got you brats?” He began to wind up a throw…

And Sasuke smirked. The shuriken that Zabuza was holding transformed with a poof into Naruto. The missing-nin’s eyes widened in shock, and left him stunned long enough for Naruto to pull himself upward and thrust a kunai for his had, but not long enough to hit the intended target. Zabuza let go of the boy’s ankle and twisted so the gleaming weapon wouldn’t hit any of his vitals. With a meaty thunk, that knife planted itself in his shoulder, and the three ninja fell to the lake below.

Kakashi landed gracefully, and Zabuza sunk into the lake a bit before regaining control of his chakra enough to stand on the water’s surface. Naruto hadn’t thought that far ahead, nor could he water walk, and wound up belly flopping into the lake, causing Sakura and Tazuna to wince in sympathy. Zabuza growled in anger, and reached for his sword, intending to finish the blonde while he could, had Kakashi not placed himself between the jounin and genin.

The silver haired jounin’s arms were crossed over his chest, and his bandanna was pulled back over his sharingan. “What’s this about Hatake?” Zabuza said, “Why’d you hide your sharingan? This fight isn’t over yet.”

Kakashi smiled under his mask. “Actually, it is. That kunai that Naruto stabbed you with, it was covered in the same poison that the Demon Brothers had coated on their chain blades.” He turned his head to his raven haired student, who was currently pulling Naruto out of the lake and onto his feet. “Sasuke was kind enough to coat a couple of kunai in that poison before we left, and they used one on you. By now, the poison should have worked its way well through your blood stream, and you should be falling unconscious any second now.”

Zabuza let loose a disbelieving noise, but his face was one of shock. He stumbled a bit across the water, and then fell, floating face down in the water. As he did, a figure landed next to him. “Thank you for disposing of Zabuza for us, leaf-nin. You have done the village of hidden Mist a great service.” The figure bowed his head.

Naruto sputtered a bit as Sasuke tried to keep him on his feet, “Hey! Who- Cough cough Who the hell are you? Hack”

“I am a hunter-nin from the village of hidden Mist, and I’ve come to collect Zabuza’s body.” He wrapped a limp arm around his shoulders, “I will be sure to tell the Mizukage about your help here.” The hunter formed a one-hand seal and vanished before them.

Kakashi’s eyes narrowed as he watched them leave. He knew something was wrong, but he hadn’t figured out what until the “hunter-nin” had left. ‘They’ll be back, and better prepared too. I’d better start training my team more seriously if we want to be able to get through the next fight without suffering any casualties.’

“Sensei!” Sakura called, “Are you coming or not?”

Kakashi smiled, and began to lead the way down the road they’d been walking on. Once he was sure Naruto could stand on his own, Sasuke let go to take up his position on Tazuna’s left, leaving Naruto with the rear. The demon-container dispelled his clones, and Renamon made his way back into the trees.

‘Naruto.’ The blonde managed to keep himself from reflexively snapping his head around to try and find the source of the noise, or telepathy or whatever. ‘There was something about that hunter-nin that bothered me.’

‘Can it wait?’ The blonde said exasperatedly, ‘I’ve had enough surprises today thank you.’

‘This is important.’ Renamon replied, ‘That other ninja, he had a digimon with him, I’m sure of it.’

(Scene Break)

OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE!

Reporter-Lady swirled her drink with the tiny umbrella it came with, when the ground began to shake. The small quakes became rhythmic, and steadily louder and stronger. The bar door swung open, and a grotesque creature made its way inside. Its skin was red and leathery, its eyes were glowing a bright gold, and its teeth and claws were blood stained. It was easily over 10 feet tall, 11 if you counted the horns. The reporter had the sudden urge to cower in fear.

Alacron raised his glass. “Hey everybody!” He slurred, “It’s Diablo!”

“HUZZAH!” the rest of the patron’s collectively cheered.

The demon chuckled and waved, “Oh, you guys.” He made his was up to the bar where Alacron and the reporter were sitting. He made a gesture, causing the floor to split open and a throne made of human bones and flesh to rise in front of the bar. Knocking three other stools away, he sat down in the throne and positioned himself comfortably. “Hey Banjo, the usual.”

The bartender lazily made his way to the back, only to return with a keg with the word, “Tequila” labeled on the side. He hefted the container onto the bar as Diablo dropped a bag (presumably filled with something valuable) on the counter.

The reporter leaned in close to the author, “You’re friends with Diablo?” She whispered.

“If I say so yeah.” The inebriated writer responded.

“Oh. Right.”

He handed her a sheet of paper, “Maybe this’ll calm yer nerves.”

(Omake!)

‘Phew! I can’t believe I made it on time.’

“Ah Sakura,” A well endowed woman in very nicely made business attire approached her. “I hope your prepared.”

“Yes Tsunade.” Sakura smiled back.

“You know, you’ve got real guts. Not many people take on a murder case for their first trial.”

Sakura scratched the back of her head and flushed, “Yeah well, I really owe him one. I need to defend him against these false allegations.”

Tsunade’s eyes widened, “You knew the defendant before the trial?”

“Yep.” Sakura chirped, “In fact, he’s one of the reasons I became a lawyer.”

“IT’S OVER, IT’S ALL OVER!”

Tsunade grimaced, “Sakura… Is that your client?”

“I’M GUILTY! GIVE ME THE DEATH PENALTY! I’M NOT AFRAID TO DIE!”

The pink-haired attorney sighed. “Yep, that’s Lee alright.”

(Omake!)

“So anyway,” Diablo continued, “As it turns out, she was 1900 years old, and those cops were just trumping up charges on me.” The demon grunted, “This happens all the fuckin’ time I tell ya.”

“Yeah,” Alacron said, “That, or you destroy the evidence they have against you and scare the hell out of whoever’s prosecuting you.” He took another swig, “Either way seems to work out fine in the end.”

“Yeah, well for me at least.”

“Um, Alacron?” Reporter lady tugged on his cloak, “This is supposed to be a fusion right? So what is it a fusion with?”

The author spun around on his stool to face the audience. “Find out next chapter!”

The reporter lady sweat-dropped, “I’m over here you wino.”