Yays! Update! I'm so happy! A lot of fighting in this chapter! I think that this is like by best fight scene ever ;p Also, one of you asked me a question, and I said that it will be answered in this chapter. It is answered in here, so yeah. ENJOY!!!!!
Apotheosis
Chapter 4: All things end.
Tsunade was standing by the ruins of the castle. It had been three days since she attacked and probably killed Jiraiya. She punched him and walked away. Shizune had rushed to Jiraiya's side and the two Akatsuki regarded her, not moving. She said nothing to any of them. She had a mission, and when her mission was done she would seek out the Akatsuki and join their ranks. She didn't care if she would be labeled as a criminal. She didn't care if she would be in every bingo book and bank on the continent. All that mattered to her was her deepest wish, her wish for immortality.
It was almost time for her to meet Orochimaru.
"Your answer?" Orochimaru's cold voice came from behind her.
Speak of the devil.
Tsunade didn't even turn to face her old teammate. "I will cure your arms."
Orochimaru chuckled. "Now, let's get this over with, shall we?" The grin on his face widened.
They slowly walked toward each other. The walk was slow and lay heavy on Tsunade's heart.
"There's still time to change my decision. The fortune teller did say that he could revive them… no. They're gone. Even if he brings them back, it won't feel the same."
Immortally was her goal.
She and Orochimaru were standing two feet away from each other. Orochimaru carefully held his hands up for Tsunade to heal. She began to build up chakra in her hands. The charka wasn't for healing, though. At the last second she was going to change her chakra into an electrical current that would utterly destroy Orochimaru's nervous system. Her plan was perfect, but it wasn't meant to be fully played out. Just as her hands were about to touch Orochimaru's, a kunai was thrown at her hands. She and Orochimaru jumped back. She glared at Kabuto, who was watching them from the top of the wall. He backflipped along the top of the wall and jumped behind Orochimaru.
Tsunade wasted no time. She lunged forward, a deadly punch aimed at Orochimaru's face, but Kabuto stepped in at the last second, a chakra scalpel in his hands. Tsunade changed her punch to a kick at the last second. Kabuto barely dodged the attack. Tsunade's foot hit the wall instead, causing it to crumble to pieces.
"Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto didn't take his eyes off the female sannin. "Should we move to a better location? We are at a disadvantage here."
"Yes, we should. Tsunade still has that insane strength of hers." Orochimaru and Kabuto jumped from wall to wall. Tsunade followed them, punching through every wall, not bothering to jump them.
Tsunade stood panting, her fist still lodged into the ground. The battlefield Kabuto and Orochimaru had chosen was a wide open plain. Craters made by Tsunade were scattered about. She was panting heavily. Kabuto was likewise panting. They were even. Tsunade scowled; this kid was too good, almost as good as she was. His knowledge of medical jutsu was great. Tsunade squeezed her fist and charged at the young silver-haired boy once again. He dogged all of her attacks and countered with one of his own, smiling smugly.
That really ticked Tsunade off. "I'm not done yet!" she yelled. She faked a lunge at Kabuto and dashed in the opposite direction, straight toward Orochimaru.
The snake sannin tensed, ready to dodge at the last moment, but that wasn't necessary. Kabuto wasn't fast enough to protect Orochimaru, but was he was close enough to distract Tsunade. Kabuto, using his kunai, cut his arm. Drops of his blood landed on Tsunade. She stopped dead in her tracks, just as he had planned. Her fist was inches away from Orochimaru's face. Yes, she was able to fight her phobia before, but the blood wasn't on her then. This was different.
An image of Dan's blood on her hands burned in her head. She started to shake and go back to that dark corner of her mind when Orochimaru's voice dragged her away from it.
"How pitiful." He kicked her hard in the stomach, causing her to double over, the wind knocked right out of her. She cringed and shook even worse than before when a trickle of blood seeped out from between her lips.
Blood. There was blood on her. She couldn't move. She couldn't think. All she could see was Dan's and her brother's dead bodies.
"Pitiful, pitiful Tsunade." Orochimaru was repulsed by her; she cringed in fear, all because of a few drops of blood. "This will end this." His eyes widened as a long silver sword slid out of his mouth. The sword was hanging dangerously above her head. "Die!" The sword came crushing down.
Orochimaru cursed. A thick black tentacle came out from behind a boulder and grabbed Tsunade just in time to pull her out of the way.
"Well, well, if it isn't the snake."
Tsunade's body relaxed when a rough piece of cloth wiped the blood off her skin. She slowly began to calm down. Her breathing evened out.
"How do you expect to take on an enemy that knows your weakness?" Kakuzu said to her. She stared at him; she didn't understand why they were here. How could they know that she was here?
"Oi! Scaly! We got a bone to pick with you." Hidan grinned in sick, psychopathic way.
Orochimaru scowled at Hidan, then smiled sickly. "Well if it isn't my old friends, the Akatsuki."
"We were never your friends, Orochimaru." Kakuzu stepped closer. "We are here to end some things. I bet you'll fetch a very high bounty."
"Money, money, money! Is that all you ever talk about?" Hidan threw up his hands in exasperation.
"Money is important, you know…" Kakuzu stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
BAM!
Tsunade had charged forward. She stopped halfway to Orochimaru and yelled as she punched the ground brutally. The ground trembled and broke, sending a wave of rocks at the snake sannin and his sidekick. Kabuto quickly ate a blood pill and did many fleet-footed maneuvers around the rocks. He came up quickly behind Tsunade. She kicked his feet out from beneath him and corrected her body to do a punch. The momentum of her previous attack added onto the force of the punch. Kabuto would be dead the moment her fist came in contact with his skin.
"Senei Jashu." Three dark green snakes came out of Orochimaru's sleeve, wrapping themselves around Tsunade's fist. Kabuto rolled out of the way, running his chakra scalpel down the length of Tsunade's arm. She hissed when her arm fell limp by her side. The snakes wrapped themselves tightly around Tsunade's body.
Orochimaru tossed Tsunade up into the air, the snakes still wrapped around her. He pulled back on the snakes, his sword in his mouth once again. Tsunade was tugged harshly back down to earth, straight toward the tip of Orochimaru's sword.
"Don't forget about us, scales for brains!" Hidan rushed into the fray, haphazardly swinging his scythe at the sannin's head. The scythe, whether on purpose or not, cut through the snakes wrapped around Tsunade. She threw off the remains and let herself fall down to the earth where the two men were fighting. She prayed that the Jashinist would be able to doge her attack. Chakra built up in her leg. She could see the sheer power radiating from it.
"HIYAAAAAH!" Her leg hit the ground, sending a shockwave of wind and rock in every direction. She panted, her eyes darting from rock to rock. Hidan and Orochimaru were nowhere to be found, buried amongst the rubble.
"To your left." Kakuzu appeared behind her. Tsunade aimed a punch to her left, catching Kabuto in the gut. The sound of breaking bones could be heard.
The male medic slumped to the ground, his hands clutching his stomach. Tsunade panted. Her limp arm was slowing her down too much. She started to heal it while keeping a wary eye on Kabuto.
"Not bad." Orochimaru shoved a rock off him. He had summoned snakes around him like a shield. Hidan was still nowhere to be found.
"Atsugai!" A mask came out from Kakuzu's back, wind gushing out of it. The attack hit dead on. Kakuzu growled when he realized it was a clone he killed.
Tsunade had finished healing her arm. She glanced down at Kabuto, who was still clutching his stomach. Something didn't seem right about it. She jumped back just in time as Kabuto's hand jabbed out, his chakra scalpel barley missing her ankle. Tsunade stared at the boy in disbelief. There was no blood. Even when she hit him, no blood came out. She gritted her teeth. He had to have started to heal himself before she hit him.
Kabuto stood up. He was very tired, but didn't show it. He glanced at Orochimaru. Something seemed to bother him. Orochimaru nodded at his subordinate.
"Well, it seems like there is someplace else that I should be." He pushed his glasses further up his nose. "We'll play later Tsunade-sama, Akatsuki." He was gone in a blink of an eye.
"Looks like it's just us now." Orochimaru smirked and summoned more snakes from his mouth. The hardest battle had begun!
Kabuto raced back to town. Orochimaru had recognized his chakra signature, the chakra signature of Jiraiya. He was tried and probably wouldn't stand much of a chance against the frog sannin, but if Jiraiya got involved in that battle, things would end very badly.
Kabuto was back in town, hiding behind the corner of a building. He saw Jiraiya, Shizune, and Naruto sitting on the roof next to a window. He enhanced his hearing by building up chakra in his ears. Jiraiya's rough, rigged voice shocked him.
"Shizune. Do you think that you could do anything to improve my condition? There's no way I can take on Tsunade when I'm this weak, let alone Orochimaru, even if he has no arms to use."
"Let me fight, Ero-sennin!" The peppy, hyper ninja Naruto yelled. "I'll kick all of their butts!"
"No!" Jiraiya snapped at the blonde. "There are two Akatsuki here as well!"
Naruto's eyes widened with shock. "Y-you mean Itachi and that fish dude?"
Jiraiya scowled. "No. These guys are different. We don't know their full abilities. I saw them when we first came here. That's why I made you stay at the inn. If they know you're here then they will surely come after you."
Shizune's face distorted in concentration, trying to remember anything about the two men they had met in the bar.
Kabuto eyes narrowed. He calculated his chances of victory against the sannin. Even when weakened, he was no pushover. There was also Tsunade's assistant, Shizune. Naruto as well, but he wasn't much of a threat to Kabuto.
"What are we going to do, Jiraiya-sama?" Shizune gave the frog sage a pleading look. She clearly wanted to go find Tsunade, but Jiraiya was more experienced when it came to Tsunade, Orochimaru, and the Akatsuki.
"I don't know, Shizune." He sighed and gulped down a few more glasses of water from a pitcher that Shizune had brought out from their room.
Kabuto decided that he could not win in a fight, so he would settle for the next best thing: being a distraction. In a flurry of movement, he was standing on the roof one story above them. They gasped in surprise. Naruto gritted his teeth.
"You!" Naruto yelled, anger rushing through him. He could feel the Kyuubi's power build up inside him. He jumped up, kunai in hand. Kabuto grinned as he jumped back. He did backflips to the next roof over. Naruto followed him. Jiraiya cursed and barked at Shizune to stay with Naruto. The medic nin nodded and hurried to catch up with Naruto and Kabuto, who were getting father and farther away. Jiraiya followed them to the best of his ability. Naruto was the first of his priorities. Tsunade was strong. She could take care of herself, he hoped.
Orochimaru stood opposite Tsunade and Kakuzu. She had small scratches along her arms and legs. Kakuzu was a heart short. They stared at each other. Kakuzu huffed as another mask from his back raced toward the snake sannin.
"Gian!" he shouted. For a fraction of a second, everything went pitch black. Then lighting from the mask's mouth hit the snake sannin square in the chest. Tsunade rushed forward, her fist pulled back. Snakes flooded out of Orochimaru's mouth. Tsunade dodged to the left, grabbing the nearest snake and pulling with all her strength, sending the man straight towards her. The snakes cut off from his mouth, and Orochimaru's tongue whipped out, wrapping around Tsunade's neck. At the last second, the female sannin grabbed his tongue and unwound it from around her. She grinned and tugged hard on the tongue, sending him even faster toward her with no way of escaping. She punched him violently in the jaw, sending him back from the force of the punch. She pulled back on his tongue again, bringing him back for more. She continued this over and over again, ignoring the pain in her muscles and joints. She forced herself to focus intently on the next punch; if she stopped now, she wouldn't be able to keep going.
"Gaaaaah!" She let out one last punch to his gut, this time letting go of his tongue. The muscles in her arm were breaking. They couldn't keep up with all of her moves. She was getting old. Her body wasn't as strong as it once was. She panted and watched Kakuzu continue where she left off, his steel-hard body beating the snake mercilessly.
"Sh-!" Kakuzu suddenly cursed. Snakes held the ex-falls nin and as Orochimaru's neck extended, the same sword from before sliding out of his mouth. Tsunade couldn't react in time. The sword went right through her chest. She gasped as the pain overwhelmed her. He missed her heart, but her breath hitched as blood poured out from the wound.
Tsunade did the last thing Orochimaru would expect her to do: she smiled. In a sweet voice she whispered: "You of all people should know that all things end, Orochimaru. All things end."
The snake sannin hissed and twisted the sword still inside Tsunade. She cried out in pain. It hurt terribly, but she was going to push through it. She had a plan. With all the energy she could muster, she forced her chakra to build up in her hands and feet. She was going to end this once and for all. She grabbed his shoulders, digging her nails into his skin.
"What do you think you're doing, Tsunade? Do you honestly think you can do anything in that state?"
A ferocious growl dominated Tsunade's facial features, replacing her sweet smile.
"I'm going to destroy you, that's what! Souzou Saisei!" The purple diamond on her forehead began to glow. Purple markings ran across her face. Smoke sizzled from her wounds as they healed. Orochimaru's eyes widened. He quickly pulled the sword out from her chest. He tried to break out of her grip, but it was no use; she had an iron hold on him. The wound from his sword was gone now. Not even a scar was left. Tsunade's lip curled as she brought him down across her knee, almost snapping him in half. She would have if Kabuto hadn't picked that very moment to re-enter the fray. Kabuto was also back from wherever he had been. Kabuto used the same technique he had used on himself before. His hand grasped the sannin's arm, healing Orochimaru before Tsunade hurt him. She flung her former teammate and his lackey across the plain, landing only feet before Kakuzu, who had freed himself from the snakes wrapped around his body.
Kabuto quickly grabbed Orochimaru and jumped away from the Akatsuki. "Orochimaru-sama!" He couldn't heal his master. Orochimaru sensed that he had almost no chakra left, only enough to escape.
"Let's go," he hissed. Kabuto did the hand signs, and their figures started to blur into nothingness. Before Orochimaru and Kabuto fully disappeared, Orochimaru glared at the Akatsuki watching them. "This isn't over," he said, and they were gone.
Tsunade collapsed to the ground, her body trembling. She had pushed herself way too far; her body was staring to fail her. Her Souzou Sasiei was still working, so she would survive, but it would take weeks to fully recover. Her vision started to fade, and she struggled to remain conscious. She looked at her hands that had a few wrinkles covering them. She didn't look young anymore. She now looked her age, 53 years old.
She stood up slowly, her willpower the only thing that supported her. She watched as Kakuzu searched through the pile of rocks where Hidan could still be buried. She wanted to tell him that Hidan was dead, that nobody could survive that, but her voice failed her. She couldn't let out a single sound.
"OVER HERE, YOU (bad word block)HEAD!" Hidan's voice came screaming out from beneath a few rocks five feet away from where Kakuzu stood.
Tsunade watched in fascination as the masked man tossed aside a few rocks, revealing the white-haired Jashinist.
"About friggen time!" he shouted. A stream of curses burst from his mouth. Tsunade couldn't believe it. His whole body was covered in blood. Tsunade could tell from looking at him that he had at least five broken ribs, a broken arm, a neck fracture, and a huge cut along his leg. He should have bled to death by now.
"Shut up. I had more important things to worry about, like Orochimaru, for instance."
"Yeah, right! You could have tried to… who the heck is that?" He stared at Tsunade, not recognizing her older self.
"That's Tsunade, you baka."
"No friggen way! She looks way too old!" He pointed at her in a disbelieving manner. Kakuzu knew that his partner had a point. He wanted to question the sannin, but it seemed she had finally had all she could take. Tsunade passed out.
In a forest clearing in the outskirts of the Hidden Rain village stood a twenty-foot-tall statue of a once-powerful kunoichi, Valencia Verdandi. She was the founder of the Hidden Rain village and of all medical Ninjutsu. The statue was old and covered in moss. A young woman leaned against the statue, her long brown hair splayed across her shoulders and back. She wore an extravagantly designed green and purple robe with a high slit and red flower designs. She looked up at the statue's face, which was no longer distinguishable beneath the moss. The young woman's own expression was passive, deep in thought.
"I wonder how Tsunade is doing," she said to the statue and smiled. "I have the feeling that I'll be seeing her again soon."
End of Chapter 4
What happens to Tsunade? What happened to Naruto, Jiraiya, and Shizune? Who is that mysterious woman at the end? Next chapter the Kakuzu x Tsunade fluff begins!
Next time! Chapter 5: The beginning of a new dawn, a red dawn.