As the battle raged on, Arthur was considering his chakra reserves. Hardly any techniques were performed except his Regenerative Healing technique to recover from that explosion, and his Crimson Gaze.
If things continued as they were, he'd have more than enough chakra left to finish this fight.
Suddenly, Sakura launched a kunai at him like a missile hurtling through the air.
Swoosh!
He dodged it by flipping back several yards away, but he couldn't help but notice how abnormally hard it was thrown.
"Cha!" she said, charging in and racing past her teammates.
When she closed the distance, both her and Arthur collided their fists with a thunderous impact!
Boom!
The force of the blow sent her reeling backward, but she quickly recovered, confused at what had happened.
"That punch," Arthur said, flexing his fingers. "That was the Chakra-Enhanced Strength jutsu…"
All of them were now muddled. How could he have possibly known that? Or rather, just how strong was he to have been able to knock her back so far?
The answer was obvious: he was now using the technique, too.
Arthur himself could only speculate that it was indeed Margaret who had taught it to her.
When Sakura charged in again, the two exchanged epic blows that thundered the air. Naruto and Sasuke weren't going to let her face him alone, so they ran into the fray as all three of them attacked with taijutsu.
Naruto unleashed a barrage of punches. Arthur, despite being interlocked with Sakura, dodged each strike. Sasuke aimed a kick, but Arthur flipped over it, reappearing behind him. Sakura saw this and launched a fist forward, but Arthur just dodged it with a mere sidestep.
"Fall back!" demanded Sasuke.
Frustration began to creep into the trio once they regrouped. And of course they were upset. They were hitting nothing but air, while Arthur seemed to know all of their moves. Such was the power of his Crimson Gaze.
Just then, he heard Sakura relay to her team about his eyes. Sasuke found this revelation the most suspicious.
"We'll take him down no matter what!" Naruto declared.
"Hmph." Arthur scoffed. "Come and try…"
At that, Sakura charged in first as she launched another attack. Arthur blocked the blow with a raised forearm.
Boom!
This allowed Naruto to follow up with a kick.
Bang.
It connected with Arthur's side, yet the pain was hardly felt, and Naruto was angry because he had expected Arthur to dodge. Had Arthur moved, it would have allowed their real strategy to unfold: a more impactful blow from the waiting Sasuke.
Arthur elegantly shoved the Uzumaki's leg away. Seeing Sasuke leap forward for a kick, Arthur dove to dodge it. Sakura recklessly went in for a punch, having thought Sasuke's attack would have landed. So Arthur let her get closer before rising from the ground and connecting a jab right to her torso.
Bang!
The impact made her clutch her belly as she slowly fell to the ground.
"That was a stupid mistake," he commented, kicking her on the side.
Bang!
The hit sent her sliding across the ground before she managed to skid to a halt against a rock. She then lay motionless for a second. The pain was excruciating, almost as if she had been hit with a battering ram.
Naruto and Sasuke wouldn't let that stand, so they charged at him in anger. Arthur didn't blink, meeting their next assault with a sense of calmness. He continued to weave through their attacks until Naruto decided to summon more clones.
"You should know," Arthur said as he ran through the Narutos, "the same trick doesn't work on me twice..."
'Seven heavenly breaths: first activation...'
Boom-boom-boom!
Just one hit from him now was absolutely destroying the clones by the second.
But this wasn't a solo battle. Sasuke appeared right behind Arthur with a katana aimed at his back—the same katana dropped earlier.
Shing!
The blade pierced right through the heart, only for Arthur's body to be replaced with a rock.
"Substitution!" Sasuke screamed.
They all pulled back and began looking for him. But when he was spotted, he was standing right behind Idate. The kid was startled as he was grabbed by the neck with an iron grip, and his legs swayed back and forth helplessly.
"Guys, help!" Idate screamed.
"Let him go," Naruto shouted, "or I'll—"
"Or you'll what?" Arthur growled.
"Guys, please!" Idate cried, tears welling up in his eyes. "I don't wanna die!"
The instant Sasuke dared to take a step, Arthur snapped Idate's neck with a sickening crunch.
Crack!
A stunned silence fell over the scene as the boy went limp before being let go of and collapsing to the ground. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were frozen in shock. This was the first time in this world both Naruto and Sakura had seen someone die.
Forget that they failed their mission; someone died before their very eyes. Now the trio was paralyzed by fear.
Arthur quickly dashed forward for another assault, prompting them to wake up from their daze.
Bang!
Sasuke was kicked back, leaving Naruto helpless against another beatdown.
"Oh…" Arthur mused.
Naruto's pupils had become slitted. That could only mean one thing: the Nine-Tails' chakra was waiting to be released.
Sakura, finally recovered, knew that she had to do something. So she threw several bags into the air where the two were fighting. Sasuke, working in tandem with her, launched a barrage of shuriken to distract Arthur and create an opening for Naruto to escape.
Some of the shuriken ripped open the bags, revealing what appeared to be hundreds of pink flower petals. Upon closer inspection, they weren't at all flower petals; they were explosive tags!
"Ninja art: snow sakura dance!"
"Fire style," Sasuke huffed, "fireball jutsu!"
The flames ignited a falling tag, creating a chain reaction. Then one by one, every tag exploded, causing a series of explosions that covered Arthur. But the attack wasn't finished.
"Wind style,' Naruto howled, "giant air bullet!"
The wind technique collided, further enhancing the blast while creating a wall of fire that engulfed Arthur. The heat was intense; the flames threatened to consume him as he stood there crossing his arms.
More torrents of flames erupted from Sasuke's mouth. "Fire style: dragon flame jutsu!" When the technique reached, it caused an explosion to shoot towards the sky like a fiery dragon.
Ka-ka-boom!
Then silence.
It took almost an entire minute for them to see the results. And when they did, they were stunned beyond measure: Arthur was encased in a dome of ice, dusting away the ash from his shoulder!
But how? How did he also know ice style?
The trio couldn't say a word; they had unleashed their most powerful attacks, but Arthur had remained unscathed once again. His resilience was terrifying, and his power felt seemingly limitless.
That's not to say that he wasn't impressed. For he had never seen some of those techniques before.
The Snow Sakura Dance was undoubtedly from a video game. And Naruto's wind style technique? Only someone like William could have taught him it.
As the ice shattered and the flames danced around Arthur, he looked at them and said, "I'll admit, your teamwork was exceptional... The best I've seen so far. Even better than Team 10."
The trio exchanged bewildered glances. What did he mean by Team 10?
Then something finally registered in Sasuke's head, so he growled, "Who the heck are you anyway?!"
Arthur just stood amidst the chaos, letting them figure things out for themselves.
"I don't get it!" Naruto announced. "How can he possibly have two Kekkei Genkai?"
Arthur, having no need to hide himself, finally dropped the disguise. The light from the fire radiated off his face, revealing his true form. And when the trio saw who he truly was, they were amazed even more than before.
Sasuke anxiously screamed to his teammates. "You two, get out of here now!"
"No way," Naruto argued. "We're a team, Sasuke!"
"You don't understand, Naruto! Arthur… You don't know what he's capable of!"
It was reasonable to see Sasuke being so nervous, considering he was the only one out of the three to actually fight Arthur and survive.
"Sasuke," Sakura tried assuring, "Naruto's right. We're a team. If we stick together, then—"
"Shut up, Sakura!" he screamed, interrupting her.
She had never heard Sasuke raise his voice that way. Just what could Arthur have done to him to make the Uchiha so uneasy?
"Character development," Arthur finally said. "You three lost because you couldn't fully develop into who you were supposed to be."
"Quit spoutin' nonsense!" Naruto threatened. "You're gonna pay for what you did to Idate and our friends in the Leaf."
"Don't think this world revolves around you, boy…" Arthur ironically mocked.
Yet Naruto wasn't one to be psyched out so easily. "Just because you have ice style doesn't mean anything. I'm still gonna beat the living crap out of you!"
"You must know a lot about ice style after meeting Haku," Arthur probed.
"H… How do you know Haku?" Naruto wondered.
Arthur cocked his head back. "I killed him, of course…"
"You what?!" Naruto yelled, anger now at the tipping point.
"You heard me… I slew your gay little friend."
Suddenly, the wind started to howl as Naruto's nails elongated into sharp claws. His hair grew spikier, and his teeth sharpened.
Arthur could practically see the Nine-Tails' chakra coursing through his veins as Sasuke and Sakura watched in horror. They were scared of what their friend might do because they had never seen him like this before.
Then in a fit of rage, Naruto's eyes turned red, letting out an animalistic roar into the sky. "I'll kill you!"
"Naruto!" his teammates yelled, seeing him recklessly charge in.
But their cries fell on deaf ears as the distance was closed between him and Arthur. Naruto aimed a claw at his head, but the moment the attack landed, Arthur's body had turned into pure smoke.
"What the heck is that?!" Naruto raged. The smoke suddenly condensed into his seven orifices, causing him to scream. "Argh!"
He swiped the air repeatedly as the Nine-Tails' chakra began to fade. Then his body returned to its normal shape. Sakura tried to rush in to do something, but she was stopped by Sasuke.
"Don't!" he said with urgency. "Whatever's happening, Arthur's inside Naruto's body. If you get near him, you might get caught in whatever jutsu he's using."
"But we have to do something!" she cried.
Sasuke clicked his tongue. For the first time, he couldn't think of anything. The two truly felt helpless.
Naruto finally collapsed to the ground just as Arthur finally re-materialized on top of him, holding the Executioner's Blade in the air. Sasuke wasted no time dashing forward. But he was too far; he wasn't going to make it!
Blade coming down fast, a figure suddenly blurred past and swiped Naruto's body away.
Crash!
The weapon broke the ground. All that was there in Naruto's place was blood. Arthur just stood there, staring at the spot.
What just happened?
When his Crimson Gaze finally registered the new arrival, he saw none other than Jada holding Naruto's limp form in her arms.