Title:Taiju no Ho (Large tree of Fire)
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto! If I did;…..let's just say that it would be Jiriya's paradise.
The wind whistled through the shattered windows, creating a mournful, haunting tune that seemed to lament the death of the village through which it flowed. Dust and ash covered everything in a red-grey blanket of dispair; the skeletons of calcified trees littering the remains of a forest turned into a desolate wasteland. The faces that were carved into the mountian overlooked their broken home; their equally destroyed faces giving them a look of infinate sorrow for the graveyard they now guarded.
Shadows moved with an alien grace; releaving the blackened creatures that walked among them, their snouts low to the ground, puffs of air stirring the blanet, like they were searching for something. Suddenly one gave out a long, thin screech, like a child being slowly tourtured to death. The pink-haired woman who was watching them shuddered; the faces of those who had emmited the exact same scream flashing through her minds eye in rapid sucession.
'They've found us; must tell the baka 'bout this.'
With barely a flux in her chakra she was gone, not even the swirl of dust betraying her previous position. Appearing in a tunnel deep within the base of the mountian with faces—once upon a time known as "Hokage Mountian"—the woman flicked her unrly, curly pink calf length hair behind her curvy 26-year-old frame; her mint green eyes cold and calculating, only the barest hints of worry shot through, fracturing her 'shinobi face' as she and her companion liked to call it. They were the only ones; despite the Hyuuga's kekki genkai, despite the Yamanaka's jutsu, despite the proweress of the Sand Siblings and the 'Kages—all had been for naught, for they were the only humans left to walk the earth. A single tear escaped the konoichi's eyes as she though of those who were lost before resolutly shaking her head, opening the large double doors with the words "Shichidaime Hokage" carved above them.
"They've found us."
The blond looked up from the scroll he was reading before—sighing like a man far older than his 26 years—brushing the bangs out of his cerulean eyes, getting up from his chair and walking towards his weapons in one fluid motion.
"How long ago?"
"About 3 minutes. They should be at the top of the mountian within the next 40."
The blond nodded his head strapping his two katana—Kitsune-Bi (1) and Tetusou Sankon(2)—to his back, along with two kunai pouches on either calf. His clothing consisted of typical ANBU armor for his lower half; black on black instead of the traditional black on white. A long, black trench coat covered his shoulders and back, leaving his chest bare, allowing one to see the seal that wound its way along his torso like a long line of ants, each kanji glowing with an inner fire. Black ANBU bracers on his forearms and and black and silver hitai-ite across his brow completed the look.
The woman copied her companion with the two kunai pouches,donning steel-plated gloves to complete her weaponry; her clothes consisting of traditional black on white ANBU armor,complete with a white mask in the likeness of a wolf. Silence reinged as they both came to terms with what their exposion signified before straightening themselves and walking out of the room, sealing it and every other room they came upon as they made their way to the surface. Sealing the entry-way to the inter-mountain complex, the two smiled at eachother grimly before turning to face the direction that they knew that the enemy would be coming from. Silence reigned for a while, each lost in their own thoughts before the woman spoke up, drawing her companion to her sea-foam eyes, which were laced with rarely seen sadness and grief.
"I never expected US of all people to be the last…….I mean; just look at how recklessly we threw ourselves into battle; you especially, though I mean no disrespect Shichidiame."
The blonde man raised an eyebrow, smirking in spite of the gravity of the situation they were facing.
"OH, so NOW you want to call me by my title?*Chuckle* I think not; the Haruno Sakura I knew would always call me baka or aho or even Naruto-teme, even after I became Hokage. What changed?"
"…..The world did Naruto. The fact that the kami's decided to punish the entire human race based upon the actions of that one bastard! They didn't even LISTEN to our attempts to save those who were innoccent……..Gone Naruto, they're all GONE…….Hyuuga, Akamichi, Nara, Sarutobi, The Sand Siblings, Kakashi-sensei…..even Lee. .."
"Lets hope that the kami's kept the afterlife at least, so that we can meet them there."
Sakura looked at Naruto with wide eyes before slowly crumpling to the ground, her silent weeping shaking her frame. Naruto smiled sadly before kneeling beside her, listening silently as she spoke.
"It's not FAIR!!......My little Akiko-chan…..Lee and I were sooo happy when she was born……when she reached her 4th birthday…………..Why couldn't the kami's have taken her instead of letting her be eaten by those THINGS?!......And what about Kakashi-sensei?..............It nearly broke you when he sacrificed himself for you……………….why Naruto?........ Why did this have to happen?"
"Honestly? I don't know……If I could go back and change the past I would Sakura, you know that…….Buut I can't; and no amount of wishing can change that. The best we can do is give them hell and go down in a blaze of glory brighter than any other so that the demons and lesser kami's will whisper the names of Kyuubi no Naruto(3) and Nagurikorosu Haruno(4) in fear; The Shichidaime Hokage and Konohakagure ANBU; the only humans able to strike fear in even the highest of kami's, their power so great, so legendary that they could be counted among the kami's themselves. Now get yourself into shape to kick some Bukimi(5) butt."
"*Strangled chuckle* Even when you're about to die you're still a knuckle-head."
"That's me! The number one knuckle-head of all Konoha!"
"*Laugh* Come on knuckle-head-teme; we've got a reputation to uphold."
"That's the Sakura I know."
Sakura smiled before putting on her mask, following Naruto with the Shushin no Jutsu(6) as fast as possible as he used his father's Hiraishin no Jutsu(7) to surprise the enemy, managing to slaughter the first 20 with the Chidori before the rest became aware of his actions. A fierce battle followed, Naruto and Sakura unleashing Jutsu's from Konoha, Suna, Iwa, Ame, Getsu, Hoshi, Kiri, Kumo, Kusa, Taki, Yuga and Yuki; the villages had stopped guarding their jutsu's so despirate had they become that ANYONE who could learn them was welcome in a last ditch effort to save the human race. Lot of good that did them.
"SAKURA! We can't hold them for much longer!"
Naruto yelled out his friend, rows upon rows of Bukimi surrounding them.
"I guess it's time for THAT technique then?"
Naruto smiled through his Kyuubi transformation, the red slitted eyes, elongated canines, red fox ears and nine tails along with the demonic-glowing of the seal giving him a feral look; it also helped that see seemed to be bathed in blood, the only clear areas being where his tongue could reach as he fought the Bukimi.
"Hai!"
As one they jumped form the ground onto the –no other way to describe it—hill of Bukimi that they had created, handseals forming in rapid sucession, a blur of motion and sound as they chanted. As one they ended on 'dragon', all of their chakra forming into a sphere the width and length of Konoha; as tall as the mountain upon which they stood. Slowly the sphere grew smaller, compacting the chakra on it's self an infinite number amount of times untill it was about the size of a beach-ball.
"Shimai no Jutsu(8)!"
The sphere released all of it's energy in a massive explosion, vaporizing every thing within a 60 mile radius. Naruto smiled as the power buffeted his Kyuubi chakra; not even he would be able to withstand the power of the blast for much longer.
'Soon we will all be together. Soon I will be with my Kakashi-aijin(9). Soon;…….soon.'
Naruto would have cursed if he knew how very wrong he was.
1:Fox-fire
2:Soul Scattering Iron Claw (yes I stole this from Inuyasha. DEAL WITH IT)
3:Naruto of the Nine-tails (At least I HOPE that's what it means)
4:Literally "Strike Dead Haruno" (if you know which Sannin she trains under, you know what I mean)
5:Eerie, Ominous- refers to their scream and the fact that after their spotted, death soon follows
6:Body Flicker Technique
7:The Thunder God's Technique (reason why the Yondaime was called the "Yellow Flash")
8:End Technique (powerful suicide jutsu)
9:Lover Kakashi