Here is the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I hate having to do this, but I have no choice D: I don't own Naruto
Chapter 8: Desperation
The Road to Vengeance Arc
Part V of VI
"Yasuha…" Han growled at the woman.
"H-Han…" the girl cried. "Please…don't kill me…"
"Fuck you!" Han shouted and threw the girl across the room and into his chair.
The metal arms, smashed into her spin, eliciting a high pitched scream. Yasuha screamed in pain, but before she could voice her displeasure, Han picked her up by the throat and smashed her onto the table in the center of the room. Yasuha cried out as she tried her hardest to calm the raging jinchuriki. She wrapped her hand around his massive forearm, but Han simply punched her chest, forcing a huge blast of blood from her throat. Han glared at the woman with fury burning in his eyes, but not only was there a powerful inferno, but there was also a raging sea of tears, churning about in the corners of his dull-pink eyes.
"P-Please…" Yasuha pleaded.
Two weeks prior…
"Yasuha. You and Kaede charge from the southern wall while Kurotsuchi and I take to the air and attack the Uemura coming in from the eastern wall!" Hatomi quickly ordered. "Forget all of your allegiances to Han. He is no longer the man we once knew. Now then, go!"
"Let's take 'em!" Kaede shouted with a powerful smirk spread across her face as three clones popped into existence behind and next to Kaede. The three clones pulled out a scroll, each one filled to the brim with hiraishin kunai. Yasuha quickly recognized the technique that Kaede was trying to pull and smiled softly at the girl's powers. In a split second, thousands of Hiraishin kunai were shot off through the air and out from the scrolls and into the charging Uemura force making its way to the Okano mansion.
As it currently was, the entire mansion was low on defenses since for the past week straight, the Uemura and Manabu have been bombarding and assaulting the Okano clan's estate with everything they have. It also surprised the defenders of the mansion at the size that each attack was. They quickly concluded that because of the war going on, the entire Akatsuki force was able to slip through the country almost undetected. This war also seemed to be making the defense easier for the Okano's and the princesses present.
Once the kunai were launched and embedded in their targets, Kaede and Yasuha flashed out of existence. Kaede because of the hiraishin and Yasuha because of her reverse seals. The two girls dashed through the mosh pit of men and women, samurai and ashigaru, shinobi and kunoichi, and began to tear, rip, slash and hack their way through the thousands of opponents by themselves. As they sped through the area, all that was seen was a flash of red before ten; twenty or even thirty Uemura and Manabu were dead. From the sky above the fight with Hatomi and Kurotsuchi, both girls were awestruck at what the two girls below could do.
Kaede spun in a split millisecond, and dug her kunai into an Akatsuki footman and sliced her blade through his neck like a warm knife to butter, before flashing away and ending another shinobi the same way, continuing the same process before the second is over. She couldn't help but feel the amazement at the speed she was feeling, the vertigo that came with using the hiraishin and its speed as a weapon. Once again she flashed away and dug her kunai into another shinobi before hurling it at another shinobi and drawing out her black bladed sword before flashing once more.
On the other side of the fight, Yasuha had just finished dispatching her two-hundredth opponent and was catching up to Kaede's speed and kill count. The redhead had left her sword in the body of one of her enemies and chose to combat her opponents in hand to hand combat and smirked when some of them even thought of challenging her. One got too close and she sent her elbow out and broke the shinobi's nose and sent him stumbling before she kicked him in the chest, knocking him back. She punched a kunoichi that got too close as well, and reached into her kunai pouch and pulled out an explosive tag and slapped it onto her back and kicked the Uemura towards the rest of her force. Yasuha quickly sped away, knocking out and killing more enemies that got in her way, just before the explosive tag went off, killing everyone in a one hundred foot radius.
Kaede jumped up and lodged her sword into the forehead of a samurai, digging her blade through the woman's skull and out the other side. Once the two collapsed onto the ground, she tore the blade from the corpse and slashed about, cutting through Uemura sickle-swords and slicing through their arms and torso's. She diced a few of her enemies before she let them hit the ground. A samurai brute came charging through the line with a seal enhanced kanabo and swung at Kaede. The redheaded Namikaze simply hiraishined away and reappeared behind the man only to see an intricate seal formula that seemed to have a job of keeping the armor impenetrable to arrows, swords and ninjutsu.
So the only way to apparently defeat the brute was to take the head off of his body. Kaede jumped for the man, but he bashed her gut with the butt of the kanabo handle and sent her back into a flurry of male Uemura. She narrowed her eyes at the men and started cutting them down one by one with no remorse or hesitation. One Uemura raised his hand, and she cut off the hand before she bisected the shinobi. She kicked the top half off of the rest of the body, spraying blood and his innards onto the once brown and rocky ground below.
Once the Uemura surrounding the Namikaze were disposed of, Kaede concentrated on the huge samurai charging for her. The samurai swung down with his kanabo but Kaede quickly dodged and evaded the attack completely. She failed to notice the smirk on the samurai's face though. Once the kanabo hit the ground in front of her, a wave of earth pillars shot from the ground and shot for the redhead. Kaede's eyes nearly shot from her head, but she simply placed her feet on the tops of each pillar before back flipping away to get a better standing against the samurai brute.
She held her ground as steadily as possible as the brute charged for her once again but this time there was a change of chakra flow and a different element of chakra was being pulsed through the kanabo as he swung down. Kaede took a chakra enhanced jump to dodge the kanabo's elemental attack. Instead of it being earth, a blast of white hot fire shot from the kanabo and spread out, killing the samurai's comrades and allies. Kaede was disgusted by the action and landed on the ground once the flames died out.
The samurai sneered at the redheaded Namikaze and sent a wide swing at the girl with wind chakra pulsating off of the weapon and the steel studs protruding from the body of the weapon. Kaede shot back up with her katana pointed upwards and shoved the blade through the chin of the samurai and forced the entire blade through the head of the samurai, piercing his skull and the top of his helmet. The Uemura and Manabu forces remaining looked in fear of what the Namikaze was able to do. Kaede swished the blade around and sliced it out the front of his face, spraying blood out onto her already blood covered face. The samurai fell to his knees with no life in his body, but his armor and weight held his torso up. Kaede growled and kicked the dead man back, forcing him to splash in the large ocean of blood below.
"Who's next?!" Kaede roared.
A few hours later…
"That was some serious fighting you had going on there Kaede!" Hatomi laughed. "Kurotsuchi and I could see you tearing through them from the sky!"
"I only did what I could do at the time." Kaede said trying to be modest. "Besides, how many people did you two vaporize and turn to dust?"
"How about we don't go into that!" Hatomi and Kurotsuchi burst into laughter. The four girls began to converse with the other Okano defenders.
Throughout the night the defenders had a feast for their victory against the Akatsuki and the Uemura. The true heroine of the defense was surprisingly Namikaze Kaede, the Aka-hime no Konoha. After a lengthy talk and an even lengthier discussion about their plans for later on down the road, Kaede was soon enough given the allegiance of the Okano clan and all of their resources and forces at their disposal were hers to take to the fight to Han.
"For as long as you live, we Okano's will follow your command until the end." Tetsui knelt to Kaede. "You have proved yourself to us and nearly died to protect us from Han and his corrupt reach. Destroy him and his organization and we will be forever in your debt."
"Is there anything that we can do?" Tetsui asked.
"There is something…"
-Ten miles from the border of Tsuchi no Kuni and Hi no Kuni…one week later…
"Reform the line!" The shinobi shouted out with pain evident in his voice.
All along the Great River Kamaji that separated Tsuchi no Kuni and Hi no Kuni stood the batter Eighth Battle Division of Konohagakure. At the front of the attack force was surprisingly the Kogane Kishi. They were held back by Roushi's Kuroi Manto and Ganban agents and the Seventh Shock Army of Iwagakure. All members of the Golden Knights were wounded and bleeding profusely. Their entire division was suffering the same fate. Since no member of the Kishi could use the hiraishin as proficiently as the Kogane no ōji and the Aka-hime, their combat effectiveness dropped significantly to the level of the Sannin. Even then, they were still beaten badly in the battle of the Great River Kamaji.
Their forces remaining went down from the almost one-hundred-thousand shinobi and samurai, to less than half of that. The remaining forces they had were wounded and some were mortally wounded. The only good thing that came from this battle was that they were able to at least dent the Tsuchi no Kuni defense force and hold them back while the Eighth Battle Division reestablishes their hold on the front lines against Iwagakure.
The Great River Kamaji actually wasn't just one river, but in truth, it was a series of rivers intertwining with one another forming a massive network of fertile farm land in the plains surrounding the area. The ground though, wasn't cultivated and evacuated due to fear of what Iwagakure would do to Konohagakure and vice-versa. But now, looking at the Great River Kamaji, no one could tell if it was a river, for it was now an ocean of blood and rotting corpses. There was more butchered meat on the battlefield than in an actual slaughterhouse. It was a terrible thing to see. Thousands of troops and shinobi were piled onto each other with lifeless, dead, eyes, staring at the survivors of the so far, five day battle.
"Get ready!" Sasuke shouted out raising his sword wielding hand into the air, raising the moral of the shinobi behind the black haired Uchiha.
The leaf shinobi smiled at the boy. He was the last child of his clan. He was the last wielder of his legendary doujutsu, and now, he was leading the most powerful military in the entire Shinobi continent. His power was visible as his chakra began to surge around him and surge power into his sharingan eyes. Lightning pulsed into the chokutō blade of his katana. The shinobi and samurai behind him roared out their battle cry.
"Konoha remembers!"
-In the East…
"Seiji. How are we doing out on sea?" The Uzumaki was asked.
"We are doing well Uncle." Seiji replied to the man.
Standing across the room of the Captains Quarters of the flagship Mizukami, was the Prince's uncle, Uzumaki Toshi, Grand Admiral of the Uzumaki Fifth Fleet, which was the largest fleet in existence. Toshi stood at a powerful 6'2" and wore the traditional battle armor of the Uzumaki clan. On his back were two sabres strapped on his back. The most defining features that gave away his Uzumaki lineage was the blood red hair that topped his head and the deep violet irides adorning his eyes.
Toshi was aided by two other Uzumaki's, but they were of the lesser branches. One could tell because of their mixed hair color or different eyes. The two with Toshi at this moment were Uzumaki Takuji of the lesser Uzushio branch and Yamagawa Toju of the Yamagawa branch. Toju had deep red hair with black strands poking through the sea of red here and there. He wore brown armor with deep red sleeves to show his Uzumaki side. Takuji is half Uzumaki and half of a well-known and influential clan in Uzushiogakure. Toju is a master with staff fighting and wields a naginata while Takuji is a master with taijutsu and is also a practitioner of the eight-celestial-gates.
"Nephew, how is the third fleet doing in engaging Kirigakure's eighth fleet?" Toshi asked as he rested his knuckles on the table edge.
"They are as of now defeating them as we speak. With the help of Nii-san, they are tearing apart the Eighth fleet with the seven tailed tiger shark at his disposal." Seiji replied with a small smile. "Now all we have to do is continue the push against the Unabara and we might be able to defeat Kiri at sea and stop them from annexing any more lands."
"Good-"
"Seiji-sama! Toshi-sama!" A crewmember of the Mizukami burst through the door with sweat pouring down his face. "The Unabara fifth fleet is heading in this direction!"
"What?!" Seiji was surprised and charged from the captain's quarters to see far in the horizon a massive wall of warships.
The standard Kiri warship was a bi-masted long boat capable of going twenty-knots per hour, but with the Unabara warships, they were tri-masted long boats capable of going almost forty-knots per hour! They were large Ship-of-the-line class long boats and had huge crews and marine forces for ship to ship battles. The Unabara Fifth fleet alone had at least twenty of these ships.
"Steer a course for a full broadside attack!" Seiji shouted out to his crew.
"Signal the fleet for our elemental jutsu casters to get ready for the long range attacks!" Toshi ordered over the commotion of the warship's main deck.
The alarm was rung in the center of the deck next to the central mast. Shinobi and kunoichi charged for the starboard side of the ship and sped through hand seals, getting themselves ready for whatever may come for them from the Unabara's.
"Kami help us…"
-Kaze no Kuni…
"I am Yakushi Kabuto. I am Kami. I am Lord. I am the true leader of the Elemental Nations." The visually impaired Kage sped through hand seals and slammed them on the ground in front of him "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
Suddenly, from the ground in front of him rose a large row of coffins. The Suna division was horrified of what was to come. They stood their ground though with their pupped and fan platoons standing at the ready to take on whatever the 'Otokage' had in store. But then the coffins popped open to reveal familiar faces of once living Sunagakure heroes and heroines. Their bodies desecrated and tampered with to fit the deranged man's goals.
"Arise!" Once the command left his lips, the corpses opened their eyes to reveal pale white irides.
"W-What is this technique?!" One of the Suna jounin asked in disgust.
"It's called…Edo Tensei!"
-Tsuchi no Kuni…one week later…
"Yasuha…" Hatomi looked to her former enemy turned ally and gave her a small but sad smile. "If it means anything…I'm sorry for the way-"
"No need to apologize Hatomi…"
"R-Really?"
"Yeah…I guess…we were just being bigots." Yasuha looked to her sister. "If it means anything, being an Okano isn't too bad."
"Being the…sister to an Uzumaki isn't so bad either…" Hatomi smiled with a small tear trickling down her left cheek.
Yasuha shook her head and embraced Hatomi as tightly as possible, not wanting to let her go. They two stayed that way for almost five minutes. If one were to pass by it would seem like two sisters simply hugging for the love of each other.
After the defense of the Okano Mansion, the two began to seriously bond and see the true emotions of each other, and ended up bonding like true sisters. And as time progressed, they ended up with the sisterly feeling that they both forced down deep in their hearts, force its way up to the surface. It was a long process of denial and avoidance before they could finally confess how they felt and that they really did care. Tetsui couldn't be happier.
But now. There was something that had to be done. Yasuha was to be sent out on a solo mission into the war and get information of the main power players and V.I.S.'s of all sides of the war. As it was, the Kogane Kishi and its members and cohorts were already on the dossier with members of Roushi's Kuroi Manto were making their way onto the official dossier, but Kaede and Tetsui required more information.
So as of now, Yasuha was making her way through the tree filled region of southeastern Tsuchi no Kuni, but quickly found herself in a sticky situation.
She wasn't careful with her chosen path and ended up running into Akatsuki territory and ended up getting surrounded by Akatsuki troops and something called a White Zetsu. She struggled against the new enemy, seeing as there seemed to be a never ending amount of them. It finally hit her though, this White Zetsu as the Uemura and Manabu called them, were nothing cannon fodder to help bolster Han's numbers. How Han got his hands on this type of creation, Yasuha will never know.
After a few minutes of struggle, she was inevitably defeated in the battle and brutally raped in the clearing. They beat her and raped her and beat her some more, to the point that she couldn't fight back any longer. The Zetsu disappeared into the ground and the trees from whence they came, leaving the Uzumaki with a force of hormone raging men. But before they transported her body to Han, they raped her again, leaving her naked on the forest floor, covered in bruises and bloody scars all over her body, as they slept in tents.
Flashback over…
"Why should I spare you?!" Han growled. "From what my men tell me, you enjoyed getting fucked like an animal in the forest!"
"I-I didn't!" Yasuha cried. "Please Han! Don't do this!"
"Why should I?! You still haven't answered my fucking question whore!" Han punched her in her jaw, sending her to the floor. 'End her…She is nothing but a liability…with her still alive…she is just a loose end.'
'Do you know what people do to loose ends?' Han's head twitched slightly as the voice grew stronger and stronger. 'Do you?!'
'TELL ME HAN?! WHAT DO WE DO TO LOOSE ENDS! ?' Kokuō howled in laughter.
"We cut them free!" Han's eyes were glazed over as he reached into his kunai pouch and drew out a knife. "We cut them free…"
"Han…what are you doing…" Yasuha asked. "Please…no…Han! NO!"
"Goodbye…Yasuha…"
"Han!" Yasuha started backing away from the prince. "Think rational-GAHH!"
Han shoved the knife in her arm, enticing a high pitched scream to come from the redhead. He tore the knife free from her arm and kicked her away from the wall and into the center of the room. Yasuha trudged slightly with fearful tears pouring from her wide-eyes. The girl started weeping and hyperventilating and charged for one of the doors nearby to escape the deranged prince. But he ran after her and kicked her through the door and into the hallway. But once she landed, she sprained her ankle, rendering her running out of there, nearly impossible.
"P-Please Kami…have mercy!" She started to drag her body down the hallway, but then two Uemura and Manabu rounded the corner with daggers wielded. Yasuha turned her head slightly to see Han and his imposing figure standing over her with a delirious look in his eyes. It was obvious that Kokuō had effectively turned Han into its slave.
"Kami has nothing to do with it." Han said in a low growl.
"Han…" Yasuha pleaded once more. "GAAH!" The Uemura lodged his knife into her chest and started cutting out her right breast while the Manabu started stabbing left arm and left chest, while both were purposely missing the important organs. Yasuha continued to fight back and scream, but to no avail. They continued the painful torture until Yasuha's screams reached a new octave. Han quickly grew annoyed by this and dug his knife into her gut and slashed her belly open, spraying the Uzumaki's guts all over the floor.
"Find a janitor to clean this mess up." Han merely laughed and walked away after cleaning his knife of his former fiancées blood.
-Border between Kaminari no Kuni and Hi no Kuni…three weeks later…
The Konoha Tenth Division, led by Sarutobi Shirai, cousin to Sarutobi Asuma, was holding their ground against the seemingly unending amount of Kumo shinobi. From the previous reports in the early part of the year, Kumogakure had only about eighty-thousand troops not including samurai, but now it seemed that they had enough shinobi and samurai to increase their numbers to well in the millions. The Sarutobi was one of the many clansmen leading divisions into battle, only to be at the mercy of outdated information.
It was a saddening thought, knowing that all of their information was false and outdated. Because of the Uchiha/Senju massacre, Konoha's intelligence flow had been severed quite badly, and information wasn't getting to the village as fast and when the information did, it at most times, wasn't even correct. So as the war progressed into its third month, casualties were stacked painfully high for both Konoha and Kumo, and basically every nation fighting in the war. Kiri was having its navy decimated by Uzushio warships, Suna was struggling to fight off the Otokage and his forces and strange ninjutsu, Kumo was puncturing Konoha defensive and offensive lines in and out of Hi no Kuni, and Iwa was successfully holding back the Kogane Kishi from entering the country.
The Sarutobi sighed in exasperation and glared at the fifth wave of Kumo samurai and shinobi charging at their battle line. The shinobi took his stance as his shinobi soon followed suit. The samurai of his division were placed in strategic parts of the canyon opening that led into a direct path to the capital city of Hi no Kuni. Samurai archers began to pick off incoming shinobi and samurai with fuinjutsu enhanced yumi bows; while the shinobi conserved whatever chakra they had remaining in their shrinking chakra reserves.
The Sarutobi noble shut his eyes and took a deep breath as he channeled his chakra to express his clan's high affinity for fire ninjutsu. His chakra radiated around him as he sped through hand seals faster than any man or woman that most of his division has ever seen. But once he finished he blew out a cloud of ash larger than any Sarutobi had created. The Kumo troops simply looked at the cloud of ash and charged through with little care in the attack, but they were in for a nasty surprise.
"Katon: Haisekishō!"
-In Uzushiogakure…
"Father." Seiji knelt in front of his father.
Seiji, now a hero amongst his clan and his people, was draped in a deep red and violet cloak with a wreath of gold and platinum on his head. His red hair accentuated by the gold and platinum, making him look regal of the highest level. His violet eyes showed power and strength beyond belief. He kept his head bowed to his father to show his humility.
"Rise…my son." The old Uzumaki said with a small smile. "As you know…with the death of your sister…"
There was a solemn silence that befell the entire throne room as people looked down and said a quick prayer. The murder of the Grand Princess Kushina still affected Uzushio.
"Back to what I was saying…" The old man struggled to sit up in his seat. "With your sister gone…you are now the heir of Uzushiogakure."
"W-What?" Seiji's eyes were wide with surprise. "What about Toshi-Otōto-oji?"
"I have already spoken to him about becoming the next ruler of Uzushiogakure, but he quickly declined saying he would rather fight and move around than be held back as leader of a village…and he also suggested you to be called up to become the next ruler." The old Uzumaki said.
"S-So…" Seiji asked piecing the information together.
"I wanted to wait for your twenty-first birthday, but I believe it is time for you to become the new leader for our people my son." The Uzumaki elder was helped out of his throne by two lesser Uzumaki's and led down the steps to his son. "I bestow upon you the Uzukage crown. May the rushing waves and swirling tides bring you strength. Now take me home…I wish to take a long nap."
Seiji couldn't help but smirk at his father, but then steeled his emotions and rose from his knees and strode to the throne waiting for him. The chair itself was studded with the most precious gemstones one could find. And the only way to get the gems was to brave the whirling waters of the most dangerous whirlpool of Uzushio appropriately named the Uzumaki Tide. The seat was gold with a little bit of silver melted in to give the throne a shiny finish.
The boy sat down on the chair and immediately felt powerful from the position of the chair. It brought a massive smile to his face to finally become the leader of his home village. He looked ahead and the throne room doors opened to reveal his uncle Toshi and five other Uzumaki commanders from the main family. Their names were Uzumaki Hideo, Lord of the Eastern Islands; Uzumaki Shigeko, Lord of the Southern Isles; Uzumaki Naizen, Lord of Western Islands; Uzumaki Kisho, Lord of the Eastern archipelago and ending with Uzumaki Iwane, Lord of the Northern Isles. Toshi himself was a Lord, but claimed no fiefs or land because he felt that he had no need for such pleasures.
The six High Lords of the Uzumaki clan walked forward towards the new Uzukage. Hideo wore black armor with a blood red cloak on his back with the crest of his Fief sprawled on the back; a seal wrapped around the Uzumaki swirl. Shigeko wore a black cloak with a golden cloud in the background with the Uzumaki swirl, also in gold, on top of the cloud. Naizen wore a purple cloak with a black stork with the Uzumaki swirl on its chest. Kisho wore a green cloak with a three tailed wolf on the back with its tails swirled around each other to form the Uzumaki swirl, and finally ending with Iwane, who wore an orange cloak with a flaming Uzumaki swirl in the center. Seiji looked above and smiled at his own family's crest, it was an Uzumaki swirl within another circle with triangles pointing their tips at the 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions of the swirl.
The six shinobi stopped suddenly in front of the throne steps and all dropped to their knees to the new Uzukage. It seems that Toshi had told the High Lords of the Uzumaki about the ascension of their nephew Seiji to the new leader of their clan and nation. The new king smiled softly at his uncles and raised his hand to signal them to stop kneeling. Once they finished they each stood one by one.
"I, Uzumaki Hideo, Lord of the Eastern Islands, pledge my armies to you Uzumaki Seiji." Hideo called out his new oath.
"I, Uzumaki Shigeko, Lord of the Southern Isles, pledge my armies and fleets to you Uzumaki Seiji." Shigeko bellowed.
"I…"
A few minutes later…
Once the oaths were completed, Seiji led them out personally from the throne room. After bidding the five lords from the palace he turned to see his uncle beaming.
"Uncle…" Seiji smiled. "Thank you for what you've done."
"No need to thank me nephew." Toshi replied. "Just make sure you don't make me doubt my decision."
"Understood Uncle." Seiji nodded his head and turned to face the throne once more.
"Now let's go over battle strategies to keep Kiri on their toes."
-In Kaze no Kuni…March
"These bastards!" A Suna shinobi struggled against the incoming onslaught from the west beyond the great sea of sand.
These invaders seemed to have come from nowhere and it terrified the Suna patrols and garrisons of the various fortresses of the Land of Wind. Not only were they fighting a massive amount of shinobi and samurai fighting under the white banner with the eighth-not symbol, but they were also fighting zombies and reanimated shinobi from ages past, and the strange being called a White Zetsu. They were the most terrifying of them all.
It wasn't the Zetsu's skills in ninjutsu or genjutsu, or even taijutsu or kenjutsu even, no, it was their unbelievable amount. They seemed to never end no matter how long or hard you fought. The Zetsu's were never ending. They wore white armor that camouflaged with their already white skin and at their sides were white handled katana's and white bladed katana's. Each one may not have been a kenjutsu specialist, but they swarmed their opponents and destroyed with no remorse. The Zetsu's fought night and day, day and night, and never slept, never ate, never drank. They were the perfect fighting machines for the invading force from the west, which was succeeding in defeating Suna and kicking them from the conflict of the Five Shadows.
The desert sands were painted red with the blood of the people of Wind. The shinobi forces of Sunagakure shrunk completely and had put the village in a deep pit of economic disrepair and its military capacity was crumbling. It seemed as if the entire war was just a distraction from the true point of the conflict.
As the days past by and the war dragged on, the sea of sand turned into an ocean of corpses. A nation-wide buffet for scavengers. The sands were sticky and reeked of rotting flesh. Animals feasted on the mutilated and desecrated those put to eternal rest at sword point. It was a war at its finest definition. No. It was a slaughterhouse. This was no battlefield. It was a mass grave.
The overbearing heat of the desert sun pounded on the remaining survivors. The commander of the division that last fought the invasion of Oto was under the command of the Kazekage's first son, Kankuro, but the puppet corps was brutally defeated by the unbelievable power of the reanimation technique of the Otokage. Not even Sunagakure's famous Shakuton, or Scorch release, was able to scratch the edo tensei. As of now, Kankuro and the remaining shinobi and samurai under his command were wandering aimlessly through the desert. One by one, they fell into the sand with no chance of survival. One by one, they all fell down.
-In Uzu no Kuni…April…
"Uzukage-sama." Hideo bowed to the Uzumaki sitting on his throne.
Seiji after the first two months of being the new Shadow of the Uzumaki and Uzushiogakure, he had taken to the job quite well and showed himself to be a powerful leader and a smart economist. He was great with strategies and had a great mind for creating strategies. Within the first month of his new rule, they had defeated Kiri and the Unabara fleet at every confrontation. Now that his strategies were now orders, the Uzumaki fleets couldn't be stopped. As of now, Kirigakure was struggling to keep their fleets up and running since their ships were being destroyed faster than they were being made.
Manpower was also becoming an issue for Kirigakure and Mizu no Kuni as a whole. They were losing more men than what they could possibly hope. They were struggling in the war against Uzushio and they were also starting to lose land from their island and archipelago territories within the great Eastern Ocean. With the new regime under Seiji, the Uzumaki were no longer on the defensive. The first strike that Uzushio hit against Kiri was against their island territory also known as Shima yōsai, or, the Island Fortress. It was literally, the most heavily fortified plot of land in all of the elemental nations.
But Seiji wanted to make Kiri fear him and what his new regime would do to those who oppose him. He and his fleet attacked the island fortress, and bombarded the castle with explosives and the most powerful jutsu they could shoot off against the Kiri shinobi. The walls were destroyed almost immediately by Uzushio weapons and warships blockading the island from all sides. Once the walls crumbled, Uzushio samurai and shinobi charged in being led by Seiji and Toshi. Within an hour, they were able to completely eradicate all Kiri military presence from the island and burned the Unabara flag and replaced it with the flag of Uzushiogakure.
Within hours of their attack, Kiri began to receive reports of them losing their shinobi and land because of the now, extremely militant Uzushiogakure. Unabara Yagura choked on his turtle soup when he was told of what happened to Shima yōsai. It was a night to remember since Shunji knew that he was going to be the one to kill Seiji for his new role in the war. The Unabara clan had lost a great number of clansmen and retainers and bannermen because of the Uzumaki's stubbornness to step aside and let the Unabara rule the elemental nations.
Flashing back to the present, Seiji nodded at the Uzumaki kneeling before him and motioned for Hideo to continue.
"My lord, I have received reports from the mainland that Kumogakure has successfully broken through Konoha defensive lines and is making its way to the capital city of Hi no Kuni and Konohagakure itself." Hideo reported. "Hokage-sama has sent a request for troops to aid in the defense of the village and its borders. At least until the Kogane no ōji wakes up from his coma."
"What?!" Seiji looked surprised. "Naruto-kun is still in a coma?!"
"He is Uzukage-sama." Hideo bowed his head while some of the shinobi and samurai guards cringed at Seiji's volume.
"Send in two divisions worth of troops and also some of our best medics. That boy is of true Uzumaki descent! The Grand Triumvirate of Suna, Konoha and Uzushio, cannot survive without the Ōji." Seiji ordered. "Send them now!"
-Konohagakure…
In the hospital of Konohagakure, Mito and Arashi were sitting at Naruto's sides with sad expressions on their faces. The four year olds looked distraught by the scene. It has been almost an entire year since the massacre, and Naruto was still out cold. But not only that, their sister, Kaede has been gone for nearly just as long. Their entire clan was murdered in less than two hours, and they were starting to question everything they were. With the dissolution of their clan and the destruction of the Uchiha, the two children were sucked into a deep depression, but the only solace that they had were the letters sent to their big brother from their nee-chan.
But the thing that really got them was the sealed scroll written to Naruto by Kurotsuchi. They kept it to themselves though. They were prodigies and were able to unseal the scroll in less than five minutes. They found that it was a simple blood seal but was modified to do some serious damage to both the opener and the scrolls contents of the blood was rejected. The two were able to find a loophole in between the fifth prong and the sixth prong, under the third layer of the seal. When the scroll unraveled they were amazed at who sent the letter.
They sat in silence as they watched over their big brother. Their blue and violet eyes were blank and emotionless. Mito sighed and laid her head on Naruto's arm while Arashi laid his head on Naruto's chest. The blond Namikaze slept in silence with his eyes darting from different directions with his eyelids shut tightly. His mouth was slightly agape and his nose twitched every now and then. His chest rose slowly and fell quickly only to repeat the motion.
Suddenly though, a great and powerful explosion shook the hospital causing people to fall over and for Mito and Arashi to fall off of their position on their brother. Mito fell to the ground first but Arashi flashed for his younger twin and caught her before she hit the cold tile floor of the room. The two children pushed a chair over to the window of the hospital room and climbed onto the seat and peered out of the blinds, only to see large columns of smoke rising into the midday sky.
-Outside…
"Everyone! Set the defenses along the main street!" Minato shouted out the orders.
He was ready to slaughter some Iwa shinobi, but instead all he got were the armies of cloud. The numbers surprised him though. He wasn't ready to take on this amount of shinobi and samurai. He looked to the sky and prayed a silent prayer for the Uzumaki to hurry. After his prayer was recited, he looked to his ANBU body guards and nodded before flashing away in a bright yellow light and reappearing in the fray just outside of the village walls.
Minato drew out his hiraishin kunai and flashed at amazing speeds, beheading, dismembering and mutilating his opponents before they knew what hit them. He was fast and his skill was perfect. The Kumo shinobi quickly realized why he was Hokage and they now felt the true power of the Senju clan. Minato flashed in front of a Kumo jounin and smashed a rasengan into his gullet. But before the shinobi and samurai could react, five Minato's flashed and killed five more shinobi and samurai. In another blink of an eye, there seemed to be twenty Minato's flashing about.
Within moments, blood began to rain onto the battlefield outside of the central village. But in the eastern and northern villages, the Kumo shinobi were successfully defeating and pushing back the Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi defenders of those two villages. With Nikudan Sensha going off and gentle fist strikes being heard, to gatsuuga and Shintenshin, the five clans weren't so successful in holding off the unbelievable horde that Kumo had managed to erect in such a short amount of time.
Another explosion shook the five villages of Konoha as a large six tailed black bear was summoned in the center of the Northern Village. Its massive teeth were barred against the defending clans of Konoha and began to thrash about, swinging its six tails, crushing and annihilating everything in each swish and swoop of the furry appendages. Each step it took caused small shockwaves to occur, ruining the balance that the jyuken and Shintenshin users needed to succeed. The Kumo shinobi took full advantage of the weakness and attacked with no remorse and slaughtered without prejudice.
Men, women and children; Shinobi, Kunoichi and Samurai; all were cut down and hacked apart by the incoming shinobi and samurai, but what they didn't expect was the Prince himself. The great Kirabe or Killer Bee as many called him. Shinobi and Samurai howled out in pain as their life left their bodies. Killer Bee was spinning through the streets with all seven swords wielded. As he spun, one couldn't see his dark skin, or his bright white jounin flak jacket of Kumo, but instead, all they saw was a tornado of blood coming for them in a terrifying manner. They watched as their friends were viciously slashed apart by the seven sharp bladed swords wielded by the master.
Killer Bee jumped up from his one leg and spun down, bringing his free leg down on a konoha jounin and spun around using his scarf as a distraction before he slashed open the throats and tendons and ligaments of his victims. He dashed forward with his tentacles now holding onto his seven swords as he engaged any unlucky shinobi or kunoichi chosen to become his next opponent.
"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! No matter how much you muh-fucks try, you can't beat me! WHEE!" The man called out, confusing a few more just before the light left their eyes.
Suddenly a flash broke out in front of the dark skinned prince. Minato stood with his battle haori over his red Senju armor. On his forehead was the hitai-ate of konoha. In each hand was a hiraishin kunai oozing wind and lightning chakra elongating the blade of both kunai knives. Minato glared intensely at the dark skinned prince and tilted his head slightly and focused his eyes on the hiraishin seal still on the tentacle from all of those years ago. Minato simply smirked and flashed away once more.
He slashed for Killer Bee's back, but the man simply sidestepped the attack, but once Minato missed, he flashed once more and reappeared behind Bee with a rasengan in his right hand. Before the attack could hit though, Bee jumped forward and kicked Minato's hand away, dispelling the rasengan. The blond Hokage flashed again and leg swept Bee sending him over onto the dirt path. But before Bee could touch the ground, Minato flashed again and lodged his fist into Bee's jaw, flashing again and again, Minato bombarded Bee with punches, kicks and elbows, until Bee flew into the side of a building on the street.
Minato spun around and flashed away to one of his kunai that he left on the ground and found that a Kumo shinobi was using it to kill Konoha samurai. The Hokage flashed to the shinobi and dug his fist into the side of the Kumo man's face, sending him flying, while Minato grabbed the hiraishin kunai. Once the Kumo shinobi hit the ground, dead, Minato spun on his heel and hurled the kunai in the direction of the largest concentration of Kumo shinobi and flashed away.
-Elsewhere…
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Three giant toads popped onto the battlefield.
One was a maroon toad with red markings all over his body and had a large tanto knife proportionate to its body. The two most defining pieces of his attire was the large pipe in between his lips and the great blue yakuza-esque jacket with the kanji for 'Boss' in the center. The toad drew out the tanto and slashed down, destroying some of the Kumo war machines summoned onto the battlefield by unknown means. The next toad was larger, significantly larger, and was a light teal color with two swords on its back. The massive toad hopped forward and engaged the massive bear summon in the Northern village, only for three more bear summons to pop onto the battlefield. The final toad was a maroon-violet color with dark lines around its eyes. It dashed ahead and began to beat its opponents with its massive sasumata.
Every strike that the bears hit on the toads, or vice-versa, the ground shook as the vibrations increased with each strike and hit. The wind contorting and bending to each shockwave. Shinobi and samurai were flying about as the wind shot from the paws and flippers when they collided. The two giants backed away from each other one more time and glared at each other before taking the fight out of the village for a better battle. Jiraiya sighed in relief and ran off through the village gathering any stragglers together for a counter offensive.
It has so far been three hours since the invasion and Konoha was slowly losing ground and troops. It was a good thing that the other villages were evacuated to the Hokage mountain catacombs, or else this battle would have gotten a lot worse than what it could be. Shinobi and samurai were being led to the Hospital which happened to be the only safe haven from all of the killing and fighting. But after the fifth hour of the invasion, the hospital could no longer accept patients, causing many of the wounded to have to wait out in the sun and in the dirt streets with other wounded, or even dying shinobi.
-In Tsuchi no Kuni…
"Hey…where the hell is Yasuha?" Hatomi asked once more.
It has been two months since Yasuha was sent out on her mission and she hadn't reported at all. Tetsui and the rest of the Okano's were worried for her well-being but made sure not to make much of it until one of their spies or agents still in the Akatsuki could tell them of what's going on in the organization. Form the last report from their agents was that the Uemura and the Manabu were starting to lose Han's trust. Suddenly a loud screech came from above bearing the sigil of the Okano clan. The hawk swooped down and perched itself on Tetsui's shoulder.
The old Okano pulled out the message scroll and nearly dropped the message before he could even read the report. The first sentence he could make out was Yasuha is dead. Tetsui growled and handed the letter to Hatomi, whom of which, had started to feel the true sisterly bond between herself and Yasuha. The Okano daughter took the letter with uncertainty, but once she took the letter and read over it, she collapsed onto the ground with tears pouring from her eyes.
"What happened?" Kurotsuchi came running in with Kaede right behind her. "What's wrong?"
"R-Read it…" Hatomi weakly replied.
"…w-what?!" Kaede shouted in anger. "That bastard…murdered her…"
"We have to do something Kaede!" Hatomi shouted. "You promised us Okano that you'd handle that asshole! And now he's taken my sister…kill him! Mutilate him! Tear him to shreds! Just END HIM! Please…"
"Don't worry Hatomi-chan…Han will pay for his transgressions." Kaede knelt down to the weeping black haired Okano and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and sighed softly. "I'll make sure he does."
Kurotsuchi walked towards the door and motioned Kaede to follow and let the Okano's mourn Yasuha. Once the two were out of the room they quickly walked through the hallway and looked out the window of the hall to see Okano guardsmen and mercenaries walking and talking and rebuilding throughout the courtyard and mansion. Kaede took a deep breath remembering the massacre that happened almost an entire year ago. She didn't even know if her brother was still alive or not. She didn't know if he was awake or not. But what she did know was that, it didn't matter the state of his health, she would still fight in his name.
"Kuro-nee." Kaede suddenly said, breaking the silence that befell the two of them. "Han crossed the line…big-time."
"I know. The only problem is that the Okano's don't know where he moved the meeting place of his organization." Kurotsuchi said. "There are three different hideouts that we have to check for."
"Good thing it's only a small number." Kaede replied.
"Y'know…" Kaede said suddenly. "In truth…I'm scared of what will happen when I confront Han. I am having a strange feeling that this entire operation won't end the way I'd want it to…"
"What makes you say that?" Kurotsuchi asked with a surprised expression.
"I don't know…it's just this gut feeling that won't leave me alone." Kaede sighed in exasperation.
"I know what it is." Kurotsuchi placed a hand on Kaede's shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "You're just nervous and anxious for the end of this Road of Vengeance. That's all. We'll find him and beat him soon Kaede. I know it!"
"…hell yeah-ttebayo!" Kaede cried out.
-In Konohagakure…
The invasion has reached its sixth hour of siege and destruction, with little progress in holding off the entire Kumo invasion. While the Kiiroi Senko was able to at least loosen the numbers and tightness of the Kumo flanks, there were still too many to deal with and his chakra was dangerously low and he was out of practice since the massacre. His once white haori was now red and sticky with the blood and entrails that he forced from his enemies.
The entire konoha defense force was pushed back towards the Hokage palace in the back of the central village with its rear wall resting against the Hokage Mountain. Konoha was boxed in and the hospital was well within allied territory so the Ōji was perfectly save and his little siblings were fine as well. The royal family was protected by four agents of the Shimura ROOT ANBU.
But the defense didn't last as long as the defenders would have hoped. The bear summons broke through after dispelling the three toad summons and rampaged through the central village and trampled over the defenses and shinobi and samurai. Kumo shinobi ravaged the central village and pillaged the belongings. Samurai dodged and slashed open shinobi and kunoichi, before disposing of more enemies. Killer Bee had somehow recuperated and was in Stage 2 bijuu cloak with blood red chakra pulsating on his skin like the blood that flowed through his veins and arteries.
Next to the eight-tailed ox jinchuriki was the two-tailed cat jinchuriki, Yugito Nii, cousin of Ay and Bee. She too was in her stage 2 bijuu cloak. Their chakra was radioactive to non-jinchuriki in their current form and only had to touch enemy shinobi to kill them and suck out their chakra. With each death that they caused, they spread the radioactive chakra residue into the air and once inhaled, ruined the senses of the shinobi or whomever inhaled the dangerous fumes.
During the fight though, Minato was badly wounded and his right arm hung limply at his side while a medic shinobi worked furiously on the dead and wounded arm. She had managed to stop the bleeding, but failed to mend the shattered bone. Minato looked around to see his troops fighting with the unquenchable Will of Fire. He could see it in their eyes. He could see it in their faces. Sweat covered brows, and dirt covered faces. They were willing to give their lives for their village.
But their defense and resistance was futile against two stage 2 jinchuriki and a large host of bear summons that easily defeated three master toads of Mount Myoboku. Jiraiya was starting to weaken in the fight and was now trying his hardest to regain his chakra, but was bashed in the side of the head with a chakra enhanced war hammer that nearly crushed his skull, but sent him to the ground unconscious with a major concussion.
Minato looked over to see the other clan heads start falling down in battle. One by one, his friends and comrades were defeated by mere cannon fodder. Minato looked to see the greatest clans of Konoha get bested by Kumo and their horde. It was no longer a battle, it was a farce.
Amidst the chaos ensuing in the village under fire, the hospital was just as bad. But the Medical Corps under the command and leadership of Senju Tsunade, the Sandaime Hokage, were hard at work healing and mending the physically and spiritually wounded defenders of their precious village. A heavy explosion shook the village as one of the great wolf summons of Kumo crashed through the outskirts of the village and began to trudge through the defenses like they were dirt.
"Please…Kami…help us…" Tsunade prayed as she stared out at the damage being done to the village. "We need a miracle!"
The Bear summons were starting to make their way towards the hospital in an attempt to rid Konoha of its golden prince. But just as all hope seemed lost, the most unexpected of heroes came when he was needed most. In a great screech of power, the five bear summons were launched over the central villages walls and over the western villages walls and into the great forest on the outskirts of the village three miles away. The being that caused this made the Kumo invasion's throats dry in fear. He was radiating all of the power of the world. There he stood, in the translucent yellow head of the great Kyuubi no Kitsune, also known as Kurama. Black seals spread throughout the giant nine-tailed fox's body and on the man's body from within the head itself. His skin was glowing with a yellow light showing who he was. He was golden just like the sun that shined down below them. He looked down at the chaos that had suddenly frozen in its tracks and bellowed out to the men and women fighting below.
"Namikaze Naruto at your service, -ttebayo!"
So that's a wrap!
Naruto is awake! Naruto is back! What will he do now that he's completely combat effective? Seiji is now the leader of the Uzumaki clan and Uzushiogakure? What will that lead to? Yasuha is dead...but what will Kurotsuchi and Kaede do to find Han? Kaede has a bad feeling about the final destination of the road called vengeance, but what is it that she is expecting to see? How will Kaede end Han? Will Naruto be able to find her and stop her before she does anything irrational? Will Kurotsuchi be able to stop Kaede or her brother should things go awry? Find out next chapter!
Ja ne!
gottahavekyuubi
