Tale of a setting sun

Chapter 21 - Earth-Shaking Matter

"You must be Nine Tails."

"What do you want?" came the rumbling reply.

"Lend me your chakra," said Naruto. "Otherwise, we'll both die."

The claws that had been futilely swiping at Naruto from between the bars froze in midair – and then without any warning, the being behind the gates burst into a deep and rasping laugh that, as it resounded across the brackish water, raised the hairs on the back of his neck. "True, if you get killed here, that'd be inconvenient for me...You've got guts, if anything. Very well then. Here is a gift for coming this far!"

"Man, I'm sick and tired of this stupid patrol duty," said the man, making a spitting sound.

Naruto felt his eyes narrow; the roiling bloodlust he was exuding was even stronger than Naruto could remember it being just two years ago in Yugakure. It could have felt that way due to the sheer vastness and emptiness of their surroundings, but nevertheless, if it had been a single storm cloud before, it was now a tempest.

"You think I want to be here wasting my time?" replied another man's gravelly voice.

"Who are you? Name - name your purpose!" Naruto heard Mayu speak up bravely beside him, and he realized she must not have recognized the man.

"We're not supposed to let ninja in this area," said the man he had identified as Hidan, ignoring the first part of her question. "So we're going to kill you. Or actually - Kakuzu, how about you stay out of this and let me have some fun?"

Naruto slowly began to reach for the tantō strapped to his back, thankful for the darkness. It seemed that Hidan had not recognized them either...but what could he mean by 'not supposed to?' And who was the other ninja – Hidan had called him Kakuzu – with him?

"From the sounds of their voices, I doubt any of them would even fetch a price at the bounty office," grunted Kakuzu, sounding wholly dissatisfied.

Rai let out a nervous laugh. "Whoa, whoa, ease up man. Let's not be too hasty. Don't you know who we are?"

"Hah?"

"The boss told us to rendezvous with you guys here," Rai continued, his voice remarkably smooth. "Well - he did mean you guys, right?"

This seemed to give Hidan actual pause; for a split second, as if a dog had just caught the scent of something other than its prey, the thick bloodlust wavered.

And in that same instant, Naruto formed the clone seal –

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!"

Accompanied by the sounds of exploding smoke, ten physical copies of Naruto solidified into existence, each one bearing a readied tantō in hand.

"Go," he said, and his clones burst forward in the direction where he sensed Hidan and Kakuzu. In response, as they'd practiced, he heard the high-pitched warbling of blue birds as they freed themselves from Mayu's hair and the telltale rustling of paper as Sai drew out his scrolls.

"4 o'clock, Rai!" Mayu cried out, and from Rai's direction came the sound of hissing, and then the whistling sound of deadly metal flying through air, followed up by a string of explosions. Slightly averting his eyes from the brief orange glows of the blasts, Naruto saw on the floor ink black snakes wriggling straight into the resultant smoke.

In theory, it was a simple tactic: using his clones to first surround and herd the enemy, Mayu would use her blue birds to confuse them – and in the case where they didn't have any visual information on their targets, to gain intel on their whereabouts. Rai would follow-up with exploding tags to further confuse them and in the resultant disorder, Sai would bind them with his ink snakes. Then – in theory – Naruto and Rai could go in and finish off whoever was left.