Kusari no Naruto

Twentieth Link

Naruto dived to the side, narrowly avoiding another hail of lethally sharp shuriken. Whatever they were made of, some Chakra-enhanced crystal he guessed, they were lighter and stronger than the regular stock. Since discovering his chains could damage her armour, Guren had preferred to keep him at a distance. Normally that wouldn't have been much of an issue, but the tonfa-like blades she could grow at a whim were just as tough as the armour and could grow to twice the length of her arm with nothing but a thought.

It was the toughest fight Naruto had ever had that wasn't a spar, and he was loving every moment of it. It was bringing out the tactical side of him that Saru had hammered in, but he'd never really had much need to draw on. Right now, he was watching from a nearby tree as his clone tested the woman's defences. Bright golden chains lashed at her from every direction but two that she could feasibly escape from; Saru had always warned that leaving one opening was too obvious a trap.

If she chose left then she would find a nice surprise in the trees, about twenty explosive tags primed and ready. Even if it didn't scratch her armour it would create enough of a smoke screen that he could get up close. He was sure that if he could just close the distance and attack with a more concentrated blow he could crack the armour and get at the squishy parts underneath.

She didn't choose left.

The blond grinned as she jumped right into his path. Leaping from the underside of a branch like a coiled spring, he shoved his fist into her gut. The chains that were twined up his arm released all their stored strain energy at once, spinning like a drill. They weren't elastic enough to give him more than two seconds of sustained rotation, but that was enough. He relished in Guren's shock as the tightly coiled links ground into the armour.

The translucent covering made a noise like shattering china before the shock on the purple-haired woman's features twisted into a wicked grin.

"Nice try."

Instead of her armour shattering, her entire body did, dissolving into glittering pink dust. Naruto could only turn fast enough to erect a weak layer of chains between him and the barrage of enormous snowflake-shuriken that screeched through the air like industrial buzzsaws. The chains didn't stop them, and he gasped from the sudden loss of Chakra as more than a few were cut off from him entirely. They did however, slow the shuriken down enough that they only cut into his chest about an inch, instead of cutting him clean in half.

He hit the ground in a roll, already ignoring the burning pain that felt like a ribbon of fire pressed against his skin. The chains grew back quickly enough, but he was beginning to feel it. Between this and the Ichibi, he had burned through a fair portion of his substantial reserves.

"This is what Konoha sends out after us?" Guren mocked from a nearby branch. Naruto was willing to bet it was another crystal clone. "A one-trick pony with barely two brain cells to rub together when a real opponent shows up?"

"Keep talking," he quipped, using the opportunity to make sure he wasn't coughing blood. Good, no internal bleeding then, "you'll appreciate the extra few seconds during that last breath."

Guren's lips turned up in a sneer, then they were back at it.

The game of cat and mouse hadn't lasted much longer. Guren now seemed just as eager to close the distance as Naruto was. Fighting at a distance, she couldn't do nearly enough damage to put Naruto down. With the Kyuubi's Chakra flowing through him, his wounds took a tenth of the time to heal. An endurance fight could only benefit the Jinchuuriki.

Although in that regard she was giving a good stab at it. Naruto hadn't thought normal shinobi could have this much Chakra, let alone bandy it about with such powerful techniques. He made no mistake, crystal release – as he had learned it was called after the umpteenth time the woman called out her technique's name – was dangerous. The ability to crystallise anything she touched, Chakra or flesh, was as lethal as abilities came.