The Clone That Got Away: Part 1, Chapter 5

The Clone That Got Away: Part 1, Chapter 4

"You brats!" roared Gouzu in a savage fit of bestial rage that could have given the Kyuubi himself a run for his money. Neither Dachi nor Naruto could prevent their legs from trembling in fear as Gouzu flooded the battlefield with a Great Lake's worth of killing intent. While Gouzu preoccupied himself with screaming at the top of his lungs and frothing at his mouth, Gouzu's cursed seal took the initiative to advance to level two. Dachi and Naruto's bodies then begun to tremble as a whole as the cursed seal mutated the crap out of Gouzu's body and chakra alike. Within short order; Gouzu grew to an intimidating height of 10'0", darkened into having a pitch black complexion, and bulked up into having ridiculously bulbous muscles. Not long after, an innumerable amount of spines abruptly protruded out of Gouzu's body in a manner which ultimately gave him the appearance of a humanoid puffer. Last but not least; Gouzu's eyes were corrupted into having black sclerae, yellow irises, and snake-like pupils.

"No doubt about it!" said Naruto while Dachi and him continued their struggle to acclimate themselves to Gouzu's killing intent and noxious chakra. "That's Orochimaru's Juuin (Kanji: 呪印; English: Cursed Seal)! So this guy is working for Orochimaru?"

"You're just now cluing in on that?" shouted Dachi over the powerful gales that Gouzu's chakra was blowing outwards. If he didn't know better, Dachi would have assumed that Gouzu was utilizing a Fuuton at the moment. "How in the world do you manage to be smart yet dumb?"

"How dare you mock our lives' work!" spat Gouzu an instant before all of his spines literally rocketed — flames and all — from his body into the air. Dachi and Naruto tried to follow the spines' movements throughout the air, but it wasn't long before Dachi and Naruto's sights were obscured by all of the smoke that had been produced by the spines' launches. "Fugu no Kuutaichimisairu (Kanji: 鰒の空対地ミサイル; English: Puffer's Air-to-Surface Missiles)!"

"Tajuu Kage Bushin no Jutsu (Kanji: 多重影分身の術; English: Multiple Shadow Clone Technique)!" called Dachi an instant before he utilized shadow clones seal to conjure more than a hundred clones above Naruto and him. Naruto couldn't help but to scream at the sight of a 100+ clones plummeting directly towards Dachi and him; while Dachi pulled Naruto close to him. Not long after, Dachi's clones dog piled onto Dachi and Naruto and then Gouzu's spines made impact with the pile of clones. Upon making impact, Gouzu's spines exploded with more than enough force to immediately disperse all of the clones into their constituent chakra. However, the shadow clones' abrupt dispersal brought about an explosion of white smoke which negated the remainder of the wrath of Gouzu's spines. Thus, Dachi and Naruto managed to withstand Gouzu's attack without taking any damage. "Few! That was a close one. Truth be told, I wasn't sure if it would work or not!"

"There is more where that came from!" screamed Gouzu as he nigh-instantaneously regenerated all of his spines. Dachi and Naruto gaped at the extreme speed of the spines' regeneration just as the spines begun to rocket into the air. Once again, the smoke produced by the spines' launch prevented Dachi and Naruto from seeing the spines. In addition, this time around, the smoke also covered the battlefield in a manner which was reminiscent of the fog that could be produced by the Kirigakure no Jutsu (Kanji: 霧隠れの術; English: Hiding in Mist Technique). "Fugu no Kuutaichimisairu!"

"I have another plan!" yelled Naruto as he recklessly burst into a sprint towards where he last saw Gouzu. "This one is called charge!"

"Silent Killing (Romaji: Sairento Kiringu; Kanji: 無音殺人術;)," chuckled Gouzu, his voice echoing throughout the smoke-covered battlefield as he did so. Much to Naruto's consternation, his charge only brought him to an empty space rather than to Gouzu as he hoped. Naruto then gulped as he begun to hear the sound of incoming spines. Just as the spines were about to impact upon an unprotected Naruto...

"Chou Oodama Rasengan: Chikyuu no Jiten no Moderu (Kanji: 超大玉螺旋丸: 地球の自転のモデル; English: Ultra Big Ball Spiraling Sphere: Model of the Earth's Rotation)!" ...an army of Dachis rushed onto the scene. All of the Dachis had the both of their arms raised into the air in order to support an elephant-sized Rasengan which was enshrouded in the local dirt. The toothiest grin in all of existence spread across Naruto's face as spine after spine bombarded the Dachis' Rasengan to little to no effect. "You can't be the only one who comes up with the cool ideas, Naruto!"

"Oh yeah?" said Naruto as the bombardment of spines came to an end. With a laugh, Naruto jumped high into the air and then safely landed on top of the Dachis' Rasengan through a clever application of the Water Walking Technique. With a gesture of his index finger, Naruto prompted the real Dachi to join him on top the Rasengan. "Make em send this bad boy into the air!"

"If you say so," warily responded Dachi. Dachi then urged his clones to utilize a pulse of their chakra to project the Rasengan into the air with Naruto and him on it. Not long after the Rasengan begun its ascent, the Rasengan also begun to destabilize since it was too far away from Dachi's clones. Dachi looked upon the destabilization of the Rasengan with fear; while Naruto smirked at the destabilization. Moments before the Rasengan simply broke, Naruto tossed Dachi into the air by his hand and then jumped after Dachi. As soon as Naruto did so, the Rasengan exploded into a precipitation of chakra-covered stones which showered upon the battlefield like meteors. From above, Dachi and Naruto watched as miles of the earth was torn asunder by the violent shower. Eventually, Dachi and Naruto landed in the middle of a barren wasteland. "I think you overdid it,"

"Now where did he go?" murmured Naruto as he scanned the battlefield for Gouzu. While the shower may have dispersed all of the smoke Gouzu had created with his spines, it also FUBARed the battlefield to the point where Naruto couldn't tell what used to be what. Fortunately, it wasn't long before Naruto managed to catch sight of a regenerating Gouzu as well as a regenerating Meizu. For Gouzu had attempted to utilize his smoke as cover to untie Meizu, only for Meizu and him to be destroyed by Dachi and Naruto's counterattack. "There they are! Tie em up!"

"Roger that! Tajuu Kage Bushin no Jutsu! Henge no Jutsu!" said Dachi as he conjured another 100+ shadow clones and then transformed all of the shadow clones into a single rope. The regenerating Gouzu and Meizu screamed in protest as Dachi inter-weaved his rope into the both of their regenerating bodies and then criss-crossed the rope enough times to sew together an enormous sphere which Gouzu and Meizu were firmly sealed within. "And done!"

"That takes care of that!" said Naruto as he fell onto his back in exhaustion. Dachi, on the other hand, immediately took a look in Kokurin's direction. To Dachi's dismay, he could see smoke arising from the swamp.

"We don't have time to rest," stated Dachi as he continued Naruto and his journey towards Kokurin, much to Naruto's frustration. "Jiraiya needs our help!"

The Clone That Got Away: Part 1, Chapter 6