A Growing Affection

Chapter 79: The Infinite Abyss

The red spirals in Madara's eyes flashed with each beat of the  immortal's heart. He stared at Naruto so intently that the teen thought  the Shin'en Sharingan would burn a hole right through him, even without  using the power of Amaterasu. Uchiha's lips were pursed so tightly they  had vanished. And Uzumaki could have sworn he heard the grinding of the  immortal's teeth.

"You are just children, playing at being  ninjas," Madara told Naruto, his voice a livid whisper, "But the time  for games ends now. You will find out what happens when you cross a true  shinobi."

He took a step forward, and then vanished. Naruto  smelled, rather than saw, the attack to his right rear quadrant, and  turned to meet Madara. But the Akatsuki leader had already stabbed the  Chunin in the kidney, and was gone. Even as the wound began to close and  the organ began to regenerate, Uzumaki again detected Madara  approaching him from behind. Thanks to the aroma of his blood on  Uchiha's fingers, the young man was able to turn to meet him, moving  Kitsune to block while forming the wind chakra blade. But the attack was  a feint, and Madara severed Naruto's left hamstring.

"You weren't  that fast before," Naruto ignored the second crippling injury, still  mildly surprised how rapidly his body was healing. Madara's answered was  a strike at Uzumaki's throat, but this time the teen was able to block.

"You're  not using Shunshin," Naruto continued, stopping another attack,  catching a glimpse of Madara, "You opened the Inner Gates."

This gave the traitor pause, amazed that the boy had figured it out. More than that, Uzumaki was catching up again.

"Third Gate," Madara growled under his breath, "Gate of Life."

His  skin turned red, and again he was able to drive his fingers into  Naruto's right bicep, inciting a brief fountain of blood. Then he swept  Naruto's legs, focusing on the younger warrior's still injured leg.  Uzumaki tried to kip up, but Madara drove his heal into Naruto's  sternum, forcing him back down.

"You don't care about the damage  to your body," Naruto noted, wheezing slightly. He placed his hands to  the floor again, but this time he rotated his whole body, throwing out  his legs to force Madara back until he was upright again.

"Thanks  to your immortality," the blonde Chunin continued, "But you can only  fight that way for so long, and I've barely started sending chakra to my  muscles."

His first two injuries now fully healed, Naruto pumped  copious amounts of chakra into his muscles, enough to power a Cyclone  Spikes jutsu. His speed was almost doubled, but Madara was still  slightly faster. Unfortunately, Naruto also found his eyes could not  keep up with his body, or his opponent's. He used his nose and ears to  help compensate, but they weren't quite doing the job. He barely avoided  a strike to his face, and then was clipped into the chest again,  obliterating the front of his lab coat and tearing away a palm sized  chunk of skin. Naruto began to sign in anxiety; hoping one of his  previous successes had another meaning.

"Illusionary Art: 36  Frames Per Second Jutsu," Naruto announced, and to his minor surprise,  the C-Rank Genjutsu took effect, speeding up his eyes. He dodged an  attack at his stomach easily, and parried the kick aimed at his neck,  forcing Madara to withdraw or lose his foot to Kitsune's blade. Then  Naruto, though still a shade slower, was able to launch a counterattack,  aiming the wind chakra projection of his staff-blade at the immortal's  left shoulder. Madara slipped behind the strike, and fired a kick at  Naruto's groin. The teen avoided him again, and Uchiha snarled his  annoyance.

"I open the Fourth Gate," this time the Sharingan master proclaimed loudly, "Gate of Pain."

There  was an audible creaking in his tendons, but Madara's quickness took  another jump. He effortlessly sidestepped Naruto's vertical slice, and  stabbed out twice in response. The blow to the Chunin's nose was light,  barely bloodying it; but the stronger blow to Uzumaki's right forearm  nearly forced the teen to drop his weapon.