Memory of the King n°5

(Hours later in the Forest of Death)

With a explosion of smoke Haruki found himself back in the clearing in the forest of death right where he had left.

"Well nothing to do now but train on the basics. Can't ever hone those enough."

Haruki created about 200 clones, half of them would go through the taijutsu katas he knew. His remaining clones split off into four groups of twenty-five, they would again work on chakra control, Kenjutsu, nature manipulation, and Fuinjutsu. He didn't have time to work on Genjutstu right now.

Haruki knew that because of his massive reserves, doing things like Genjutsu and medical jutsu would be impossible However, when Orochimaru altered his genetic make-up, and he mastered Kurama's chakra, Haruki achieved a level of mastery over his chakra that was thought impossible for someone with his volume. He could flux his chakra to match or compliment any foreign chakra that entered his system making most genjutsu pointless against him. This also enabled himself to use his own version of medical ninjutsu, which was partly why he didn't like referring to it as such, but that wasn't really relevant at this point. However, he still needed to maintain this ridicules level of chakra control. So his clones would do a mixture of exercises, most of them would run around on a body of water with several large rocks sticking to different areas of the body while balancing senbon or kunai on his fingers with chakra.

While his clones were doing that Haruki would work on physical conditioning and strength, training his body to withstand high speed combat. He would do a 15 mile run, 400 pushups, 400 sit ups, 200 pull ups, 1000 squats, 500 kicks and 500 punches without chakra enhancement while his resistance seals were active. While Haruki was considered a ninjutsu specialist he had strong hopes that he could also match the likes Lee and Gai in taijutsu and Kisame in kenjutsu. Then he would do his own mix discipline challenge to really push himself.

'Just you wait Old Man. I'll give you such a thrashing they will have no choice but to let me go.'

xXx

Anko by nature was a curious person. The need to know had been one of the reasons that she became as skilled as she was at intelligence gathering and was chosen by Orochimaru to be his apprentice. Though she would never admit it that part of her only grew under his tutelage. That's why when she felt a massive disturbance of chakra deep in her usual place of solitude to murder and destroy to her hearts content, she had to investigate. When she finally reached the source of the disturbance, she had a front row seat to an impressive sight. She immediately recognized it was Haruki but what he was doing was beyond intense. The man was currently balancing on a kunai with one finger as he did several one-armed pushups. Sticking to his body were several decently sized rocks that blond was no doubt using chakra to keep in place, balanced on his feet were two large 6 foot boulders; one for each foot. He was currently blindfolded with Hitea-ate over his eyes, while several clones' of some kind were standing around him in a circle. Around his body she could see three condensed rings of wind chakra that expanded and retracted at different intervals. Upon closer inspection she noticed that the boulders were actually sitting on a cushion of air between their surface and his feet.

The red head was only wearing a pair of pants currently as he worked, allowing Anko to see a physic that while not bulky was extremely well defined. It was lithe, firm and reminded her of a panther or some kind of powerful predator; no doubt his body trained for a combination of intense speed and strength. She could see the ripple of his muscle's every time he moved, watching him caused an unusual heat to rise to her cheeks. Though that was dispelled as she examined what seemed to be a rather gruesome scar on his left side. Now that was a story she wanted the answer too. It was after all the only blemish on his body. Deciding that he was sufficiently distracted that she wouldn't be noticed, Anko began some impromptu surveillance on everyone's favorite mystery man. Afterall in a couple of days, everyone that mattered would get to see what he was made of anyway.

Twenty minutes later, he was still going at his workout routine. As she watched she saw the clones that were surrounding him take out several kunai and without warning started launching them at him. She wouldn't have believed it if she didn't see it, but the rings of wind fluxed to block each projectile that came and Haruki didn't break his rhythm the entire time. A few he couldn't block since they were coated with cut through the protective ring so he dodged, using the boulders connection to his feet as a counter balance to each other as he leaned his body from one side to the other as he dodged the kunai. In all her years Anko had never seen anyone who had such a ridiculously dangerous training regime. There were some that came close but those were not as multidisciplined as this. She licked her lips grinning like a predatory as an idea of what else was dangerous about this man came into her mind.

She watched him for what seemed like hours but in truth was only about 30 minutes as the man continued training. When it was done the clones dispelled and the man kicked the boulders off himself shattering them and the rocks on his body dropped. Anko readied herself pulling out three kunai, 'This is just too good of a chance to pass up. This'll be fun.'

(With Haruki)

'How long is she going to watch I wonder?' Haruki thought has he shook out his arms. He could have done more but he still had more to do in his training for the day and didn't want to risk too much with this particular person as an audience. Anko had always been a wild card.

However, as he was walking back to put his clothes back on, Haruki heard the distinct whistling of kunai cutting the air, a sound he had become intimately familiar with.

'I just had to ask.' He thought catching the only one didn't block with wind chakra and sent it back with double the speed. 'She can probably dodge that and maybe that will encourage her to come out so I can find out what exactly she wants.'

Not a moment later the woman appeared in a crouch at the base ot the tree with a kunai in hand and a wicked smile on her face. She was wearing clothing that could be considered more of a lack there of then anything else, which was typical for her. She had on a dark orange miniskirt that barely covered her unmentionables, a fish net shirt that once again did really nothing to cover her, it was especially bad since she had no bra under it as far as Haruki could see. Over that she had a tan trench coat that covered just enough of her breasts that Haruki could not see her nipples. She was wearing a pair of standard shinobi sandals with shin guards over them and had a Konoha headband on her head that held up dark purple hair in a pineapple hairstyle, though he would never actually describe it that way to her. He valued his genitals more than that.

"Hey ya Red, how's it hangin?" She began relaxing as she stood up not losing her slight off-putting smirk but stowing the kunia in her trench coat pocket.

"What do you want Anko?" Haruki began tiredly. He didn't mean to be rude but he wasn't in the mood to be bothered right now. He didn't bother attempting to dress. It was obvious by her body language that she would likely pounce on the opportunity. She wasn't very good at restraining herself when she wanted to fight.

"I was just curious to see who was training out here is all," Anko said in a pout, "Really, I mean when you get a new neighbor it's common courtesy to greet them."

"Neighbor, huh? So, you train out here too." Haruki respond putting a small smile on his face while feigning ignorance.

"Yup!" Anko said, smiling at him. "It's such a great place, all the creatures there that would like nothing more than to kill you, the giant tigers that love to feast on human flesh, spiders, man eating plants…"

As Anko continued to list off all of the 'amazing' animals that could be found within the forest, Haruki was thinking about other things. Haruki mentally tallied up what he knew about the woman for the enevitable sparing session that would happen; now Jōnin in rank, former apprentice of Orochimaru, hence a snake summoner and a ninjutsu specialist, had a boisterous personality, liked to use mind games to mess with people's heads, skilled in torture, interrogation and intelligence gathering. So overall, a less insane but probably more violent version of Orochimaru. She may have been the apprentice of the Snake Sannin, but Haruki in his own way could be considered the apprentice of all three of the Sannin. He shouldn't need to show too much to handle her so long as he was careful.

"Hey Red, are you listening to me?" She shouted flinging the same kunai from earlier only for it to be deflected to the side well before it reached him.

One of Haruki's cerulean eyes twitched in annoyance, "You know. I told you my name so you would use it."

Anko's grin threatened to split her face, "I know…"

He sighed. There was no other way around this. "Fine. You want a spar, lets get this over with."

It was impossible for her mouth to get wider. "I knew you were a quick learner. I love a good game of death tag and haven't gotten to play in a while." She got in a ready stance drawing a kunai from her trench coat again.

"When do we start?"

"We already have." A voice said from behind him.

Boom! The ground exploded underneath him from what was likely a paper bomb.

"Tell you what if you win, I'll show you a good time later." She said in sultry voice as she approach the piller of smoke from the explosion she just made.

"Darling, I'm glad you thought that our first-time fighting should be accompanied by fireworks, but I hate to tell you…you're just not my type." Anko whipped her head around and saw the red head casually leaning against a tree looking bored.

Not one to be out done, Anko double down on her attempt to fluster the red head meat slab. In a husky voice she breathed out, "Are you sure about that?" as she positioned herself in a clearly sexual manner showing off how full her breasts where tauntingly.

"I've seen better." Came the neutral and honest reply as the man rolled is right shoulder and popped his neck before settling in a loose stance. His body was primed and ready he would need to scale himself back accordingly for his opponent.

"Oh?" she sensually licked her lips. "Sounds like my kind of woman."

Haruki smirked. That was the Anko he knew. Confident, definitely too forward, stubborn and relentless, mischievous and terrifying even to her friends, but most of all she was loyal as they come despite what others may say. She was also a very attractive woman but thinking of her in any sexual way just weirded him out. Banishing those thoughts from his mind while Kurama chuckled deep in his mind Haruki launched himself at the saucy woman. In a blink his fist was embedded in her face which immediately exploded into mud. 'Hmm this may be a bit too much power. Well we'll see how it goes.'

"Damn Red that's cold going for a woman's face. Are you trying to damage my womanly charm?"Anko asked playfully droping down out of a tree from behind him. She went through some handseals then her and three other versions of herself appeared and dashed towards him.

"You know charging at an opponent who is clearly superior to you is just stupid," Haruki said with a large grin on his face, perhaps he could loosen up just a bit. In burst of pure speed he was on the first clone before she realized he had moved and already punched throw its body. He appeared behind the second that had begun to change course burying his heel in her skull before dodging a few kunia thrown by the last. It appeared she had realized that his raw strength was going to be too much for low level clones. Haruki snatched a kunai out of the air and returned it just as he had done earlier to end the last clone before turning to the original that was circling him.

Haruki braced himself for a taijutsu barrage, but was instead assulted by a sudden rainfall of steel headed. He dodged and looked back only to find most of them vanishing as soon as they hit the ground; Shuriken Kage Bunshin then. Before Haruki landed his dodge, he created three smokeless shadow clones in midair. "My turn, let's see what you got. Lesson one Taijutsu."

They speedily moved towards the snake summoner and her copies with kunai in their fists, as Haruki backed off to observe for a moment. Despite the fact that she was outnumbered she did not appear at any moment to be overwhelmed. While her snake-style taijutsu was similar to Orochimaru's, he favored speed with flexibility over strength; she preferred short vicious strikes that were almost too fast to dodge. After a few exchanged blows she twisted around one of the clones' strikes and dispelled it with a kunai through the eye, before flexibly using an overextended fist from another as a stepping stone and leapt into the air. "Sen'eijashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)" she called out as snakes extended from her hands and dispelled the clone she had as a springboard; as she landed she bent over backwards, appearing not to have a spine, to avoid being decapitated and in the same movement raised a foot and slammed it into the throat of the last clone.

Damn.

She spun the kunai around her finger as she called out, "Is that all you've got, Red?"

"Alright let's take it up a notch, lesson two ninjutsu!" Haruki shouted his face lit up with a smirk his younger counter part would be proud of. Haruki launched some shuriken he had retrieved from his pouch. He coiled his arm back after releasing and thrust it forward shouting a jutsu. He didn't need to weave signs for this one anymore.

"Fuuton: Repuusho! (Wind Release: Wind gale Palm)"

The shuriken which had already been going forward at high speeds soon became a nothing more than a streak of silver as they headed for Anko. The snake summoner jumped out of the way, knowing how dangerous Haruki was when he used his wind element for anything. However, Haruki knew Anko would dodge; after all Anko was not a jonin level shinobi for nothing and had in fact counted on him dodging. Haruki put in a small but intense burst of highly concentrated chakra into his legs, literally disappearing and reappearing right in front of Anko. The blue eyed shinobi aimed a punch at her solar plexus; Anko swatted it to the side and downward in the hopes of knocking him off balance. No such luck as Haruki went down and pushed himself into a handstand, launching a kick that managed to hit Anko in the face forcing her to lean back. Pushing himself into a flip, Haruki went for an axe kick to Anko's collar bone; Anko put up both arms to guard and immediately regretted it as she was forced to a knee.

'God damn his stupid strength is ridiculous. He is likely still holding back', Anko grabbed onto Haruki's leg with both hands and was about to flip the man over. However Naruto used his other leg to jump up and over Anko, using her grip to keep himself balanced and launched a kick to her face. Anko was forced to let go of Haruki's leg as she tilted her head to the side and dodged the kick. She turned around and managed to kick Haruki in the chest on the man's way down, but he moved with the blow and went into a series of flips as he jumped away to gain some distance. Anko took out a kunai and threw it at the red head, going through a few hand seals as he shouted.

"Ninpou: Kunai Kage Bushin No Jutsu! (Ninja Art: Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu)"

One kunai multiplied into two dozen kunai as they all headed straight for Haruki, said shinobi just looked at them with a smirk forming the horse hand seal before calling out his jutsu.

"Suiton: Suejinheki! (Water Release: Water Encampment wall)"

A large wall of water formed around Haruki blocking the kunai, once Haruki heard the popping of kunai being dispelled and he formed the horse handseal again.

"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu! (Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu)"

The wall of water soon began to swirl around Haruki, before taking the shape of a 30 meter water dragon with glowing yellow eyes. As soon as it did Haruki created a kage bushin sealessly and had it form one handseal as the water dragon launched itself towards Anko.

"Fuuton: Renkudan! (Wind Release: Wind Bullet)"

The clone smashed a fist into its stomach and shot a large ball of compressed wind out of its mouth; it went straight for the water dragon. The water dragon's power and speed were soon increased as the Renkudan merged with it as it headed towards Anko, said snake summoner swearing enough to make a sailor blush as she jumped out of the way. The water dragon made slammed into the trees behind her and smashed them to bits, which was a testament to the combinations power. These were forest of death size trees after all. With a loud crash, water erupted everywhere looking something akin to a large explosion.

Using the distraction caused by his jutsu Haruki threw several kunai and went through the hand signs Anko had used earlier even though it wasn't strictly necessary at his level.

"Ninpou: Kunai Kage Bushin No Jutsu! (Ninja Art: Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu)"

One kunai became forty-one kunai as they headed for the still air born Anko, noticing the kunai the purple haired kunoichi went through her own hand seals in an attempt not to become a pin cushion. A large number of snakes were released from her sleeve wrapped around the nearest branch and pulled her out of the way. She sprung of the side of the tree as the snakes returned and flipped to land before sprinting towars the red head a serious expression on her face.

"Ah back to Taijutsu are we? That didn't work out so well for you last time." Haruki jabbed but she gave no reply pouring all her concentration on weaving through and blocking his strikes.

Their respective attack speeds had escalated as they traded blows in close quarters; as did their inherent risk taking. While blocking a blow to the side of the head Anko released a kunai from up her sleeve, likely from a seal, and slashed across Haruki. He mange to dodge mostly, but the very tip nicked part of his arm. She did another backflip after a single handstand and put some distance between them after realizing that the red head was no more tired or vulnerable than when they started. Anko could tell he was starting to increase his intensity and if even one of those got a clean hit on her she was in trouble. As she looked at Haruki she brought up the kunai to her face and lewdly licked off my blood coating it. Her voice went back to the same husky tone from earlier as she said, "Mmm, you taste good, mysterious wonder. I'll have to get more of that."

"Does that mean you're free tonight, hot stuff?" Haruki said back giving as good as he got. Banter aside, if he were anyone else that slip up would have been the end for him. Good thing he was in fact himself. Haruki brushed off his arm drawing attention to the already healed wound. His chakra had already burned out the poison even if it had been able to affect him.

'Time to show off' He thought to himself with a smirk. In quick succession, his right and left hands went through separate seals. He saw her tense her leg muscles, ready to dodge; she wouldn't move yet as she had no idea what the jutsu might be. If she committed a direction, it would only seal her fate.

"Futon: Cho no Habutaki." (Wind Release: Butterfly's flap)

"Raiton: Suzumebachi no sashi kizu." (Lightning Release: Wasp's sting)

A wall of wind descended like a sheet to fill the whole clearing while the ground became alight with lightning chakra blades of grass exploding upward toward the woman. This combination was actually used for capture more than eliminating the target. Anko began to realize this as she failed to dodge the wind wall and was flattened into the barrage of electricity. Rather than a shock she felt numb and found it difficult to move. He ears were ringing from the pressure difference. "What did you do to me?" She yelled as she stood.

"Now, now. That's for me to know and you to find out." Haruki said grinning "Time to end this." He conjured a wind blade and sent it toward her. She spun away to dodge acting out of instinct more than anything else.

Right into his fist. As her head snapped back, disorienting her Haruki pushed his advantage, immediately striking at her shoulder and sternum before attempting to knee her in the stomach. She had recovered by then and with a cough raised her arms to block his knee and pushed him back. As Haruki regained his balance she spat blood in his eye and charged forward as Haruki flinched, landing an elbow in his face and a vicious uppercut to his chin that caused his neck to snap backwards with a horrible cracking sound that rang throughout the arena, causing Haruki to dispel.

With almost perfect timing, as Haruki received the memories from the clone, he leapt from beneath the earth intent on landing an uppercut of my own. However, the split second made the difference as she had already leapt into the air, throwing two kunai towards me and yelling out "Kunai Kage Bunshin!" With a wrench of raw Fūton chakra Haruki gracefully changed directions in midair and landed in a heavy crouch with a huge grin on my face. 'I haven't had a fun spar like this in forever! Man, I wish I had gotten to fight with her before.' he thought to himself.

All of a sudden, he had to lean back to avoid another Anko, likely the original, leaping from beneath the earth to land another uppercut. He back-flipped out of her reach in a move reminiscent of her own; but this was exactly what she had been waiting for. "Sen'eijashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)!" she called out victoriously as a bunch of snakes streamed from her sleeves and shot towards Haruki, quickly wrapping around his body and hissing ominously.

She squeezed the snakes binding me tighter and said ominously, "Give up now, Red; my snakes are already hungry. I'd hate it if one of them decided to take a bite out of you." The snakes hissed ominously, completing a rather scary effect.

"Aren't you curious how I'm still able to move?" Haruki asked calmly even as the snakes tried to squeeze him. He wasn't worried. He sparred bare handed with Tsunade the snakes couldn't hurt him through constriction no matter how hard they tried.

Anko frowed at the man, "Hardly. Poison immunity, though not common, is to be expected whenever you use them. You always have to plan for your poison failing you. Given your previous role it is more than likely that you have an immunity to most poisons used in the ninja world today and I already know of your healing abilities and medical ninjutsu. However, that doesn't mean I don't have questions. Like how you are this strong of a shinobi that you're still holding back when I'm going all out. I'm not the strongest out there but I was trained by a Sannin. Now without his stupid hickey I'm even stronger and yet you are treating me like a fresh genin. How is someone as strong as you a mystery to everyone?" Her eyes bore into him though he made no attempt to look away "But that doesn't really matter. The old man trusts you and you helped me out. So I don't really care that much, I'm just curious. Then there is what you are doing all the way out here. Aren't you supposed to be administering the sealing test today? I mean I'm going on a day where it'll be less crowded but you are kinda the main guy right? How did you get to ditch?"

Haruki looked sheepish as she brought up him ditching work. "Well I have to face the old man soon and I needed to train. I figured a clone could handle my other duties."

Anko blinked. "Wait. You sent a clone to administer the fuijutsu test. Do you have any idea how the Sandaime is going to take that if he finds out?"

"He's not going to find out. The clone should have enough chakra to handle anything that comes up and if not I trust my assistant. The test should be well underway by this point." Haruki said in an annoyed huff while rolling his eyes.

Anko's face split into a wide grin. "Well Red it's your unlucky day. See you are a man of many secrets and of those many secrets right now, I want to know one. Who gave the cure for our good friend Hayate? You're a super spymaster after all. I'm sure you have a clue. Either you tell me something or I'm telling the Sandaime."

Haruki's face maintained a neutral smile. "Interesting choice. How about I offer you another one instead? Fūton or Raiton?"

Anko's eyes widened as she felt the release of chakra and attempted to jump away. 'Too late' Haruki called out calmly, "Raiton: Jibashi (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)!"

Her face immediately changed to horror as lightning poured down Haruki's arms and shocked her snakes, shocking her by conduction as well. She dispelled them at once, but didn't realize that she was standing in a puddle from Haruki's earlier Suiryūdan technique; a fact she was shockingly reminded of when she was electrocuted.

She leapt away, her hair frazzled and a murderous expression on her face. She had taken too many heavy hits; by comparison he had only been briefly captured. Understandably she lost her cool at this point. "Fine time to go all in! You think I'm going to let you treat me like a genin, Pissant. Well then you've got another thing coming." She bit into one of her singed hands and started forming a very familiar set of handseals.

Simultaneous cries rang out around the arena, "Kuchiyose no jutsu (Summoning Technique)!" and " Kuchiyose no jutsu (Summoning Technique)! " and all vision was obscured by the cloud from their techniques.

When the smoke cleared Anko stood atop a red cobra with a scared right eye, and much too anko's surprise Haruki stood atop a large brown hawk with a golden beak.

"Anko! I though we agreed you would not summon me unless your life depended on it." Garaga bellowed addressing the woman on top his head. An instant later however he spread his neck and coiled sharply as he fixed his eye on his opponent. Garaga was deathly still. "There had better be a good reason for calling me here especially if we are fighting against him."

Anko was shocked by Garaga's reaction. The snake had been harsh and cocky for as long as she had known him. While he didn't openly oppose Manda he wasn't afraid of him either which was why she went along with his attitude. He typically had the power to back it up too. But now he was on high alert and held a healthy fear for their opponent. Did he know Haruki?

As Anko assessed the opponent it became clear that Garaga was focused far more on red's partner. The giant hawk was incredibly still with its head cocked to the side. Its giant silver colored eye pinning them in place taking in every bit of detail it could perceive. She felt naked before his gaze.

Then it spoke.

"Na- Haruki-dono for what reason have you called upon me so soon since our last meeting?" Takarashi spoke in a very polite manor. His voice sounded very refined though deep. It did nothing to lessen his overwhelming presence.

"Sorry Takarashi-dono. As you know, I am training for a large confrontation. My friend over there is aligned with the snake clan and is helping me train. It has been a while since we have fought together and I did not want out compatibility to grow rusty. This is just training, no need to get serious."

"Hmmm a sound argument. Very well I shall assist you. You have select excellent opponents to hone your skills against. I can tell. They were quick to perceive how completely out matched they are against us." The hawk complemented his eye never blinking or wavering.

"Ah is that you Garaga. It has been some time since we crossed paths. Still giving Manda trouble I hope." The hawk boss added in a slightly smug tone though nothing changed about his posture.

"Garaga, you know that guy?" Anko asked gesturing toward the giant hawk and bending over to look at her summons.

"Anko, shut up and focus. Do not take your eyes off of him. I don't know how you managed to find someone who could some him but that beside the point. Is what the summer say true are we just here to train?" Garaga hissed in a hushed tone.

"Umm I mean yeah but uh what's the deal?" Anko said now far more alert and on guard then before despite the casual response.

Garaga didn't relax one bit. "Good I'll only maim you instead of eating you for this then. Anko our opponent is the one being even Manda fears. The Hawk boss Takarashi. He is not an opponent to be taken likely. Do not underestimate him. Despite his polite and reasonable exterior, that bird is a rutheless monster."

"Don't you worry, Takarashi. I have not given that worm my allegiance." Garaga bellowed out in his usual disrespectful bluster.

"That's good. Perhaps now I won't have to rend you skin to ribbons with my talons. Since I'm in such a good mood I'll even let you keep your remaining eye. How's that sound?" Takarashi replied politely as he flexed his right talon.

"Hmph you haven't changed much. Be warned. If you escalate this, I'll take you with me!" Garaga declared baring his fangs in a hiss.

"Ma, ma. I don't think that will be necessary after all this just a spar." Haruki said holding his arms out in a placating gesture before his eyes sharpened, "But that doesn't mean we have to go easy either."

"Anko, hold on." The cobra shout as the ducked and weaved, invisible blades of wind cleaving through the space they just were. The giant snake thumped his tail filling the area with a dust cloud to hide their movements.

'It's not much but it might buy us a second.'

Weaving through the trees Garaga twisted and shot a blast of venom into the cloud. Just in time too as around them hundreds of large feathers pierced every surface they came in contact with as if they were blades.

"Anko!" He shouted rearing back.

"You got it," she said flashing through hand seals "Katon: Ryuendan no jutsu" (Katon: Flame dragon bullet)

A large dragon of fire five meters wide launched from her mouth and ignited the venom while blazing its way to their target.

When the smoke cleared though it was evident she had missed and just hit the tree the bird was perched on but they were no where to be seen.

"Above!" Garaga yelled. And launch himself to the side by coiling and reeling himself quicker than something of his size had any right too. Just in time again as a large talon grasped the ground right where he had been a moment before ripping up a monstrous chunk. And then the pressure wave hit them. They endured it even though there were wind blades with in the blast.

"Ho. Very good Garaga that battle sharp mind hasn't faded yet good. But tell me," That polite inquisitive voice echoed through the dust kicked up by the wind; the wind cleared to revealthe golden beak of the hawk and then his head, his unblinking eye clearly fixed on them, "How long can you keep it up, I wonder?"

Even as he finished, Takarashi brought his wings back and Garaga's eye widened.

"Anko earth wall now!" the red cobra shouted as he coiled in on himself as much as possible.

"Too Late. Senpu: Tako no Tensei (Sage Art: Heaven's Kite)" Takarashi flapped his wings forward and Anko's ears popped.

All of the air together shifted in front of the hawk and fled before him. Stronger that a hurricane the trees were stripped of bark and may knocked over. Anko and her summons were lifted of the ground a flung with the debris in a maelstrom. Both disappeared into the chaos created by the collateral damage.

Takarashi remained in position before he was smacked hard by his summoner on the beak causing him to tip forward slight.

"I thought I told you this was training. Sage arts are too much." Haruki barked in frustration.

The hawk rubbed his beak with his wing before folding his wings back. "Quite right sir. I am sorry about that. It's just when I see a snake I quite lose myself in the moment. It has been a while since I've had a decent challenge."

"Be that as it may. We need to go find them. Worst case scenario we blew them into one of the truly dangerous area's of the forest and they likely aren't in any position to be dealing with it."

With a mighty flap of his wings the two were instantly skyward. It really was a good thing training ground 44 was so far from the village proper. The last thing he needed was to blow his cover with the old man by causing an incident with accidental damage.

xXx

When Anko came too, she was hanging upside down from a tree. Immediately she felt pain from her side as well as from her leg that was tied up in whatever was keeping her hanging. She could make out Garaga's form bellow her. Well that was a good sign at least he wasn't dispelled. She was beginning to understand her summon's warnings. That creature was ridiculously fast and the raw power it possessed. It could have slaughtered them if it had wanted. And Haruki had mastered that thing. The man must be a monster in his own right.

Her hearing and balance were shot in one ear and she was bleeding a bit. Her leg was dislocated and broken in multiple places. The pain would probably be worse if she still wasn't numb from Haruki's raiton technique earlier. She looked up to examine her leg and then froze as she realize where she was.

Her leg was wrapped in a gooey sticky white threadlike substance. And above it staring with eight empty eyes what a giant man-sized spider. As Anko realized the implication of exactly which part of the forest of death she concludes that the hawk had blown them to the far north side in the darker overgrown section. A place even she avoided. This was spider territory. The creatures were nasty to deal with when it was just one of them but in this portion of the forest there were hundreds of them. They weren't stupid either. They knew how to hunt and though they held no love for each other, the spiders factored in each of their brethren's efforts when moving. Always hungry, always breeding, these monsters were held back by regular missions from the anbu and jonin to keep them contained to this area.

And they were in their nest.

So why weren't they descending upon her to devour her now.

"Garaga are you awake." Anko whispered through the pain, even talking hurt.

"Keep quite kid. We don't want to set them off. Our arrival was sudden and violent. The only reason you are still alive and I haven't unsummoned is because they are to warry of us for the moment. The moment they think the danger has passed we are toast. The truth is that neither of us is in a position to fight our way out. I need to recover before I try to break the amount of webbing I'm wrapped up in. Our best bet is wait for your friend to come get you then I can get the hell out of here. If they come for us before then we make our stand then." The snake said back in his own quite way.

They could here the rustling and chittering of the hoard as it scurted the edge of the new clearing. Webbing was everywhere. They kept their silence for what seemed like an hour but in reality was only five minutes. Then a flair of pain burst through Anko and she cried out. Th lurch had come from her leg and when she looked up, she saw the spider from before had crawled to where her strand connected to the rest of the web and was hoisting her up Its mandibles chattering in what she could only assume was excitement and hunger.

'Like Hell this is how I go. I refuse to be bug food.' Anko summoned another kunai from her arm and poured chakra into it. She flung it at the strand cutting it and causing her to free fall. In that moment no less than seven bodies launched themselves at her falling form. 'Damn those creatines. They planned this.' There wasn't enough time to substitute and she couldn't reliably shunshin. She closed her eyes waiting for the impact, the struggle to come. But it never came. In fact she realized she was no longer falling but floating in the air.

"Looks like I got here in time. Seems Takarashi did a number on you. I am so sorry Anko."

That was Red's voice wasn't it. Anko sighed in relief as the pain that had been racking her body subsided. It was then instantly replaced by exhaustion.

"Woe there. Don't pass out on me we aren't out of the woods yet. Literally." He said in jovial tone despite the situation. "Let's get you patched up. Garaga. Takarashi. Think you two could buy me some time.

Anko could tell from the resulting screeching and large crashes what the answer had been.

She felt herself be laid down gently and she opened her eyes barely to see the red head still shirtless and his warm ocean blue eyes staring into hers full of concern and confidence. But then she realized that she was still in the air, and there was something different about his eyes.

"Sage mode. That's how we were flying. Damn red your good," she croaked out too tired and injured to do much else. They were flouting in the air as if the atmosphere turned into a pillow.

He smiled softly at her despite the nickname, "Your pretty banged up there, if you were anyone else this would be a problem," Haruki paused as he floated in the lotus position beside her with his hands pressed together, "but you have tough chakra coils from living with the curse mark so long. Even better you've been exposed to my sage mode before. This means if you are as tough as I belive you to be I'll have you back together in no time."

His hands glowed with green chakra with flecks of white in it, "This is going to hurt." Haruki said a grimace.

"Senpo: Kaze no Sai Ketsugo!" (Sage art: Wind's Rebinding) Haruki pressed he hands to her body, one on her heart and one on her stomach. Instantly she felt as if her entire chakra system was burning. She tried to scream and thrash but couldn't the very air around her held her firmly in place as her body rapidly knit itself back together. She felt her leg unscrew itself and lurch back into place. Within a couple of seconds, the chakra left her system and other than extreme exhaustion she felt fine.

Haruki on the other hand was panting and pouring in sweat. He lowered them to the ground as his sage mode fades. "Damn that's never easy and took far more out of me than it should. You feeling better?"

Anko just nodded still processing what just happened.

"Good now take a soldier pill we still go a long way to go." Haruki said and got in a fighting stance letting his chakra flow out of him and saturate the air around him.

Anko quickly popped a pill in from her ninja pack and took in the situation. The entire forest in the area was in tatters. Everywhere she looks she saw broken bits of stone spiders, likely Garaga's work, and shredded remnants of their webs and body parts. Takarashi was divebombing the hoard from. above crushing them with his talons and slicing them with his wind and wings. The spiders would try to jump on him and he would spiral and fling them off. Garaga was making liberal use of his venom and quick reflexes to stay ahead of the hoard's numbers. Constantly moving around the field so they couldn't box him in. Despite their individual superiority it became clear that the shear volume of enemies was far greater than they initially would have feared and based in what they new of the forest they were in the heart of the spider's domain.

"You ready?" Haruki asked as a small contingent of the monster's speed past the giants looking for easier prey. Oh how wrong they were.

Anko grinned. "Hell yeah." And they sprinted together toward their challengers.

xXx

(3 hours later)

Hearing a snap from behind Haruki rolled to the left, just dodging a giant spider that had tried to land on top of him. Grimacing, Haruki grabbed a kunai and wrapped an explosive tag around it. They had been fighting a running battle with these things for hours. They managed to make it out of their standard territory, but the creature were incised about them. Almost as if they had to eat the two ninjas out of principle now. Garaga and Takarashi covered their retreat as they plowed their way through literal thousands of these monsters. The two giants eventually dispersed to return to their respective realms as they lacked the chakra to remain in this plane. Looking back, it would probably have been wiser to hop on the hawks back and make a bee line for the exit but he doubted that the hawk could have defended against all of them with both shinobi in the way. Haruki told himself as soon as he was out of here, he was going to establish in a sealing barrier to keep them pinned in their section on pain of death. The two had managed to make it back to where they initially started their spar and Haruki had his equipment which had been a big help.

As the spider began to move towards him, Haruki threw the kunai. It managed to hit the creature right in the left eye, one of its few weak points. The creature shrieked and thrashed in pain, however it still continued to charge after Haruki. Putting his hands in a ram seal, Haruki activated the explosive tag. He jumped off the branch as the creature's head exploded in a gout of blood and brains.

Bouncing from branch to branch Haruki eventually landed on the ground. He leaned up against the tree, panting as he tried to get a breather.

Faint sounds of inhuman screeching rang out in the distance and were growing ever closer. The tense waiting was broken when the woman that had been accompanying him flew past him into a tree, followed by the biggest spider that he had seen yet, it was easily triple the size of a full-grown adult male and was nimbly pursuing Anko, fangs dripping with paralytic venom.

Haruki pulled out his ninjato and drove it right through the spider's face, sending the blood of the arachnid spraying all over the place. Swinging his blade upwards with a burst of wind chakra to bolster it he cut straight through the deadly creature.

Anko hurried over to him spitting on the corpse of the spider as she passed.

"Damn, these things just don't give up. We can't keep doing this. We've got to have at least cut the population in half and there are still this many of them."

"I know what you mean, but can you really say you haven't been having fun?" Haruki asked with a smirk.

"Now Red. I like indiscriminate slaughter of my enemies as much as the next girl, but give me a break I'm ready for some dessert. Plus," She said suddenly getting serious, "even with your strength it would be unwise to try and confront these things at night."

"No, your right. Time to wrap this up." The pigment around his eyes began to change. Entering sage mode with this little chakra left was risky but it should give him the needed boost to trim their numbers down enough for them to finally escape. Using it early would have given them an advantage sure but it would not have bean as decisive. Damn, he had put some work in today.

"I sense at least a dozen of the spiders of that same size surrounding the area, watching us." He said gesturing to the spider corpse in front of them. The slightest disturbance in the air was tracked by him through the entire forest. It was then that he realized the full depth of their spider problem. He could feel the form of the queen in their tunnel as a large as Gamabuta though they were miles away. They were more organized than before, evolved to take over the wood. "We get rid of these and get out of here."

Anko nodded and paled slightly, "Not going to lie I am running a little low on chakra to deal with those and I've been through two pills."

Haruki propped his ninjato on his shoulder, "It would be two risky to take any more lets make a break for it. They'll come in waves to try and wear us down. You fight until I tell you to run and you follow me out. Keep your eyes peeled for the small ones when we break out, those sneaky bastards like to hide in the canopy and jump you from the shadows."

Haruki unsealed a ninjato from a scroll and tossed it to Anko. At Anko's questioning look, Haruki's eyes darted around the area, "You're going to need something bigger than kunai. That will just piss them off."

Anko scoffered and pulled out a metal rod from a seal in her ninja pack. "I don't use this often, but I have it when I need it." She stabbed it into the ground and yanked out a chunk so that it looked like a mace.

Haruki stared at her blankly, "Anko, you can use an mace? That's surprising…"

The first spider saw a moment of weakness and jumped from the trees at the group. Haruki jumped in the air and gave the spider a wide berth while swinging his blade. Extending the end of his sword with wind chakra he cut right through the spider and landed on the ground. Haruki formed two Kage Bunshin and sent them into the forest to cause as much havoc as they could. It would shorten his sage mode but ultimately allow them to escape. Haruki flew directly towards the closest spiders that would jump at him. He cut out one of the spider's legs from under it using a one-handed swing while simultaneously using a wind whip to slash through the torso of another.

Meanwhile Anko was bashing away at the closest critter and her sanity could be called into question at this point, "You fucking eight-legged pieces of shit just don't get it yet do you!" She caused rocks to spear ones abdomen keeping it pinned as it shrieked before back flipping and smashing in the "sckull" of another that tried to get from behind, "I'm not trapped in here with you! You're trapped in here with me!"

Haruki ran to back her up as three more spiders emerged from the surrounding area to attack. The giant arachnids were now extremely wary of Haruki's sword, seeing as how it had been his weapon of choice for the entire day's events. Getting sick of how the spiders were avoiding him he ripped the sword he had given Anko out of her hand and threw it at one while enhancing it with wind chakra, impaling it against a tree and killing it.

"Hey! That was mine!" Was the indignant cry from the put out kunoichi. The red head just shrugged before the two scattered due to being double-teamed by the two other spiders. Haruki and Anko engaged the spiders, Haruki simply ran some misdirection and cleaved all four legs on one side of his spider off. Anko slid underneath it and planted an explosive tag which exploded showing the area in gore. She then jumped up to smash one that was swaying from thread tauntingly in the tree above.

While Haruki was receiving the intel from his now dispelled clones that had obliterated large portions of the advancing horde and saturate the area with his chakra, he ended up being blindsided by a spider from behind and sent sprawling along the ground by the powerful creature. The giant spider skittered closer to the man before one of the more sizeable trees from above came crashing down on top of it, killing not only that one spider, but two more hiding in the background. Anko landed on top of the tree with the sword that Naruto had thrown in hand, "Ha! I found it!"

Haruki nodded, "Good work. But watch your back." Haruki was up bouncing on the balls of his feet and his fists in front of himself before punching the air

"Futon: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!"

Haruki obliterate four smaller attackers that were attempting to rush them with a quick series of punches. Haruki stood in a pile of the spiders remains, "So I guess we're doing okay for the time being?"

Anko readied herself to smash any surprises, "What's your count?"

Haruki sighed, "Not everything has to be a competition but if you insist, thirteen hundred."

"Damn it./ I'm only at five hundred." She said pouting, "You're only at such a high number because of your stupid clones. It doesn't count"

Haruki just rolled his eyes. "More are coming. It's time to leave. I'm ready."

"Then hop to Red. I don't have all day." She said getting ready to bolt strait for the exit.

"Here goes." Haruki flew through a string of handseals. More than Anko had seen him use. Ever.

Hyoton: Makyo Hyosho (Ice release: Demonic Ice Mirrors)

Ranton: Reiza Sakasu (Storm release: Encouraging Crushing Chain Tormenting Principle)

Senpo: Chakurazon (Senpo: Chakra Zone)

Kumiawase-jutsu: Rifurekushonrifurein (Combination Jutsu: Relection Refrain)

Materializing out of water vapor large mirrors spawned all through the clearing but based on how the chakra felt it was clear that more was happening. Suddenly lasers of liquid light shot out of Haruki's raised hands and shot through the spider that came charging into the clearing vaporizing the organs it touched killing it instantly. The lasers then bent and fluxed to some unheard command and passed into the mirrors. In the distance through the shade of the trees in the afternoon light, Anko could see flashes of blue back the way they came.

It was over a moment later and Haruki swayed on his feet before stumbling forward falling to his hands and knees panting, his sage mode vanished completely. "That took more out of me than I thought it would."

"What did you do?" Anko asked trying to process what she had just seen and felt. For hours she had seen this man demonstrate mastery of almost every ninja discipline , wield four out of the five major elements without the need for many handseals, and preform feats with chakra and strength that she hadn't witnessed before. But this, she didn't know what to think.

"Oh its simple really I used a technique from sage mode to extend the jutsu farther but using the ambient nature chakra of the area where my chakra has been saturated. It's called chakra zone and t takes a lot of effort to control. I used that to extend the mirrors all the way back to the nest. I then used them to effectively see the collective area and reflect my laser jutsu with perfect accuracy through as many spiders as possible all the way back to their nest. Effectively slaughtering them all at once. This combination is called Reflection Refrain.

Anko blinked. "You know what. You're buying me dango and a drink for getting me in this mess. And I'll buy you one for getting me out. I hope you don't have any other plans, because I have a lot of question for you, Red, and you aren't skipping out this time." Haruki didn't bother trying to dodge it. He actually wanted to relax and talk through things with her.

And so, the two exhausted jonin ran as quickly as they could, not stopping even as they left the forest focus too much on their survival and the food they both desperately wanted. Neither notice a figure stepping out from behind a tree next to the entrance before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

xXx