I Read It In A Book

Chapter 16

The rain, beating down mercilessly, did not hinder the intense stare down of the three on one standoff. The water they stood on bounced and rippled with the way of the storm. Flashes of lightning closely followed by the booming thunder that could be felt within their own chests did little to calm their anxiousness. With an undetermined or unannounced starting point, Menma created two clones and rushed forward along with one of them, beginning the battle to end it all.

He leapt into the air, feigning a straight forward right hook. When Naruto moved in range to defend from it, he spun out of his previous attack and instead went for an overhead kick that was blocked all the same. Naruto pushed Menma up in the air before stepping back, avoiding the chain that popped up. He leapt to his left before his father could reach him. While in the air, he twisted out of the way of the Menma clone that rushed with him.

Menma quickly gave chase, using the rapidly appearing chains of his mother to swing on. When he reached the redhead, he threw a string of punches his way that were all blocked before he was kicked away. While in flight, Minato jumped over him, grabbing his hand to stop his tumble across the water before continuing on.

Naruto easily dislodged Menma's clone and lunged forward, avoiding the chains chasing him and engaged his father. He threw a right hook that was blocked with a grunt of effort before twisting his body and throwing a roundhouse kick with his right leg that was also avoided. He leaned back before he was caught in the face by Menma who came flying back in. Now with two to defend, he leapt away and went through hand signs. Two of his clones jumped out of the water. He briefly grabbed the back of their neck before the three split, attacking an opponent, the original rushing for Menma.

Kicking out, Menma ducked beneath the strike and rolled to his feet. Naruto spun around and caught the hasty punch headed his way. He kicked him in the side, putting some space between the two. As soon as he did, he went through more hand signs and jumped away, spewing out bullets of air that kicked up the water around them.

Menma dodged all of the attacks as he went through his own hand signs. When Naruto landed, Menma threw his hand forward, a huge gust of wind swept the water in front of him away as Naruto sunk beneath the dip and got behind Menma. Knowing he would, Menma turned around and blocked the punch that almost caught him in the face. He attempted to counter with one of his own, but his wrist was caught with Naruto's left hand. Naruto then used his right to push upwards on Menma's jaw, restricting his movements. When he released him, he kicked him back out to the water.

With a grunt of frustration Menma went through hand signs and slammed his hands onto the surface of the water. In a cloud of smoke, two small toads popped into existence. "Ma! Pa! I need chakra." He said urgently. With a quick nod, the two elderly toads hopped onto his shoulders and built up the necessary nature chakra. Menma's eye color changed to a deep shade of orange and his pupils shifted into horizontal lines. Two blue stripes appeared shifting down from each of his eyes to his jaw line.

Naruto watched in interest, not aware that Menma had mastered sage chakra. "Interesting…" he said quietly to himself. With a start, Menma rushed forward, considerably faster than he had been earlier. Naruto sunk into a taijutsu stance and waited for his arrival. Menma reached him and threw a sloppy right hook that Naruto leaned out of the way of. Well, he thought he did until he felt something slam into the front of his mask. He was sent skipping back along the water. Flipping to his feet, he squinted his eyes at the anomaly.

Shrugging it off, he opted to blocking instead. Rushing forward, he threw a roundhouse kick that Menma ducked beneath. When he landed he threw his arm up to block the counter kick that actually shook his arm with the amount of force. With a grunt of effort, he pushed back and ducked the follow up strikes. When he had a bit of freedom, he kicked him away, briefly disrupting the toad's continuous buildup of chakra. Going through hand signs, he jumped up into the air and spewed out balls of flames that kicked up the water around them.