Be warned guys, there will be a lot of perspective changes through this chapter and they won't necessarily be separated by page breaks or anything similar (other than a new paragraph) they should all dovetail together well enough but, hopefully it won't be too confusing to read! Also: Super-speedy update no jutsu! Whoop!
Hakujitsumu X
Just outside of central battlefield, where the tree branches were at their thickest and most responsive to the slightest trace of chakra was where they halted, just shy of six days worth of travel had finally brought them back to the battleground. The chakra tree still stood tall and proud though not in bloom; the Mother was not quite in sight just yet, though they were certain she was there.
"Hinata, what can you see?" Kakashi asked, the Hyuuga activated her Byakugan and looked carefully around, for what felt like a long, painfully quiet time Hinata observed,
"I see her, she is approximately two kilometres northwest of us, she is sitting still, Black Zetsu is still with her and there is no movement around her."
"Okay, is she near anything that might obstruct us? Anything that she might use against us, or that we could use against her?" Kakashi asked,
"Other than the branches of the tree and surrounding rocks, no."
"We will proceed with the plan as discussed, Naruto and Sakura you move first, then Killa Bee and I will move in; remember not to draw any attention, the element of surprise is crucial here. Don't get over excited, Naruto."
"I know." The blonde nodded firmly,
"Everyone else I want you to be ready, we still do not know for certain if the Mother draws strength from the tree or can be healed by it, not to mention the fact that we cannot get close to it without risking being caught. Your priority is to remain free from the Tree, do not risk getting recaptured by it, understood?" Kakashi reiterated, receiving a chorus of agreements by the shinobi; everyone had already been briefed by Tsunade and Kakashi before they'd left Konoha but he thought it prudent to restate it. "One more thing, do not let Otsutsuki separate us between dimensions, I don't have the chakra to cross the dimensions with my rinnegan so if she separates us, we might never find our way back. Gaara-sama and A-sama if I can ask you to direct the rear party." Kakashi added, seeing their grave nods in return, "Now you two activate your sage mode, we'll move as soon as you're ready."
"Hi there! Gettin' ready for a fight?" Zetsu suddenly appeared from the ground between Kakashi and the rest of the group,
"Holy shit!" Naruto and a handful of others flinched at the sudden appearance, "What the fuck, dude?"
"I was gonna help you guys!" He replied pitifully, "But you left without me!"
"Zetsu, you disappeared and we had no way of contacting you." Kakashi replied, irritated by the surprise, "What help can you be to us here?"
"Well, I can tell you where my other half is… and fight him."
"That's something," Kakashi agreed, under other circumstances he would have loved to banish the irritating creature, but now was hardly the time for delays or derailments. "Zetsu you go in with Naruto and Sakura and you go straight for Black Zetsu, keep him busy and preferably separated from the Mother for as long as possible."
"Oki-dokie! Just say the word!" Zetsu saluted; Kakashi looked over to Naruto and Sakura, both of whom were in their sage forms,
"Ready?" He asked and they both nodded, "Then go, we'll be right behind you. Killa Bee, are you and the Hachibi ready?"
"As always, Muthafucker! We itchin' for a fight and she's got no chance, that sucka."
"Then go!" Kakashi commanded and lifted his headband to watch through his rinnegan as his two former students darted away, through the rubble and debris, a few of the tree's branches flicked and searched for the echoes which they thought they could sense, but none made contact and the two were through in mere moments.
"Naruto! Create a clone and send it in with me, I'll engage her first and try to throw her off balance, then you come in after, okay?" Sakura hissed to him, he didn't reply, but created a clone before dropping off to the side; Sakura was seconds from striking her target but white Zetsu sudden popped up from the earth right in front of the apparently meditating Otsutsuki,
"Uh… hi! How ya doin'? Kinda quiet round here, isn't it?" He grinned idiotically at her, though the only response she gave was was to open her pale eyes; Black Zetsu, on the other hand appeared from her sleeve,
"You idiot! Where have you been? And what are you doing?"
"Um… talking to you?"
"Go away! You're useless now!"
"No! I don't want to!" Zetsu petulantly replied before darting forwards, straight at Black Zetsu and into Otsutsuki's sleeve, where they fought in a great whirl of movement, like two brawling cats, making the Mother's haori dance and wiggle in a failed comedic reprise. The Mother discarded her haori in a single fluid motion, with both of the struggling Zetsus still inside and that was when Sakura chose her moment to attack. Naruto's clone went in first, just left of her field of vision and drew her attention first, Sakura was barely a millisecond behind him but to her right. The Mother dodged to the right, but was not to easy to fool with her activated byakugan and seamlessly evaded Sakura's attack, which instead barrelled into Naruto and exploded the clone.
"You two again." She spoke calmly, "How is it that you escaped the Infinite Tsukikomi?"
"It doesn't matter, we're here now!" Sakura span on her heel, driving a roundhouse kick towards her, they parried and spared for a moment, but it didn't take long for the Mother to bring out her signature move and as Sakura came crashing down, intent upon striking the Mother, a portal opened up ready to swallow Sakura whole. A flash of yellow caught her, just in time, pushing her out of the way of the inter-dimensional abyss.
"Thanks, Naruto."
"What should we do now? We've gotta weaken her to give Kakashi and Bee a chance." He asked, she could feel the pressure from his fully golden-chakra covered body stood beside her,
"I know, but what?" Sakura asked,
"Let's just pummel her, I'll create a bunch of clones to protect us from the portals." Naruto formed the handseals and ten or so clones appeared, surrounding Otsutsuki; one exploded into a cloud of dust almost immediately as an unnaturally dark flash shot towards the Mother,
"You cannot defeat her… you lost once, remember? You'll lose again!" Black Zetsu snarled from where it lingered under the shows of the Mother's arm. Naruto and Sakura shared a glance between them, the first job was to separate the parasite Black Zetsu from Otsutsuki.
Naruto went in first this time, or rather his shuriken did, only for it to be swallowed by a dimension but thankfully the one in it's blindspot did not and it shot towards the Mother; she dodged easily, but the shuriken wasn't done just yet. It transformed back into Naruto and threw three kibakufuda laden kunai back at her. Naruto always did have uncommonly good battle-sense, given that he was something of an idiot, but even Naruto was not so practiced at dealing with a byakugan. The Mother's vision was far too sharp to fall for such a trick and again she dodged. But when she landed, so opened her third eye and Naruto found himself starting straight into the blood red, tomoe filled eye;
"Papa? What are we doing out here?" A childish voice caught his attention; Naruto felt frozen in that moment for he knew that voice and he slowly turned almost terrified of what he might see. There stood his little boy, with unruly, spiky black hair and bright blue eyes staring up at him as if he'd been stood there all along. His clothes and little wrinkled and grubby as often they were whenever Iruka claimed he'd been "shurniken training", the boy still stumbled over his 'Rs' an 'URs'. No… NO his boy was gone, this is just a genjutsu! Like the one Itachi used on me ages ago! Snap out of it! Kurama help! Naruto snapped his eyes shut and called out to the nine tails… even though he wanted nothing more than to get a look at his son just for one last time.
"Naruto! What are you doing? Why are you faltering? Gyah." Sakura cursed as she darted forwards, hurling a volley of kunai and shuriken at her enemy before opening the ground with her fist in an attempt to destabilise her. But the Mother was still too quick and avoided the crevasse moments before it tore through the ground.
"Mama? What are you doing?" A sudden pressure on Sakura's leg had her pause and suddenly she was staring down into the bright green eyes of her daughter clutching at her leg,
"M-Misaki? What? You can't be here… you don't exist." Sakura replied unable to tear her eyes away even as she wanted the familiar green eyes well with tears,
"Why would you say that? Don't you love me? What did I do?"
Naruto shook his head clear of the genjutsu, feeling the fatigue as Kurama fought against the strength of the rinne-sharingan's jutsu, "Sakura! It's just a genjutsu! Snap out of it!" He shouted, struggling to knead his chakra into a ninjutsu without interfering with Kurama's disruption. Before he could move, an enormous tentacle shot out of nowhere and swiped at the Mother, grabbing her around the chest, the force was enough to rip off the attached Black Zetsu, but the Mother would not be held so easily. She opened another dimension cutting off the arm of the tentacle and slipped out of the grasp. Naruto heard Sakura gasp just as he felt the tension on himself release and assumed that the genjutsu must have been broken, he wasted no time in redoubling his efforts, aware now that Killa Bee and Kakashi must be close by. Every second they wasted was a second in Otsutsuki's and the Tree's favour.
Hinata might have been well out of the way of the battle ground, but that did not mean she wasn't paying attention, her gifted eyes saw through the dust and confusion generated by the shinobi all battling the tree (and the Raikage, who seemed to be enjoying punching through every tree branch he was able). Eventually, they settled on the unnaturally black blob which zoomed between the fighters and leached between the cracks of the earth, making its way over towards the tree. Hinata was on her feet and away in seconds, ignoring Ino's surprised cry of her name; her eyes allowed her to see the reactions of the malicious branches, as if her eyes had allowed her the insight akin to that of the sharingan. She darted and weaved between the branches, so intent on her goal that no interruption could distract her; her chakra channelled ready to her hands. The moment she was within reached, she span, almost of her pure will through the air, her hands jabbing at the black blob that had only half a second prior touched the trunk of the tree itself. The creature might not have human form, but it very clearly had some source of chakra and that was what she aimed for, her chakra charged fingertips stabbing at the opening points eight times, crushing it into the bark of the tree but she did not stop: sixteen, thirty two and by the sixty-fourth hit, the thing that had been called Zetsu was no more and along with it, the bark of the tree split open fracturing the entire diameter of the trunk. Great shards of wood splintered, firing out radially at the near mile high tree swayed in the unnatural slow motion large masses tended toward: so subtle was its movement that no one noticed it, at first, not even Hinata who could focus on nothing save the mangled remains of Zetsu trapped in that endless moment. The tree swayed dangerously, its reign no more; two large splinters snapped off and struck Hinata before she was even aware that she'd hit the tree at all and she fell.
Someone grabbed her and carried her away, though she was barely conscious of who or how, blinded as she was by the pain of a three metre shard of wood piercing her midriff and another through her shoulder. "It's okay, Hinata, I've got you, hang on!" Ino said as she darted away, hurrying to get her to the ground, but with her next footfall didn't make contact with anything she could see, as aware as she suddenly was of the sand suddenly growing beneath her feet,
"Gaara-sama!"
"Just hang on," He replied, seemingly effortlessly dodging them through the falling depris and writhing tendrils of the dying tree. Shikamaru and Chouji flanked her as Chouji grew in size in an instant, to his absolute maximum, with just enough time to throw his fist forwards and blasting away the tree trunk, just managing to prevent it from falling on the battlefield, or crushing those still bound by it.
"Shikamaru! Give me a hand here!" Ino shouted as she lay Hinata down on the first bit of flat ground she could find,
"What? Oh shit!" Shikamaru skidded to a halt beside the two, "What do I need to do?"
"I'll control the bleeding, I need you to pull the wood out of her,"
"Are you sure? Isn't that more dangerous?—"
"Shut up and get ready," Ino's hand glowed a bright green as she lay them either side of Hinata's worst wound, "Okay, pull it slowly and steadily, try not to jerk it."
"Okay," Shikamaru pushed his sleeves up and took a hold of the ugly, blood-soaked shaft, Hinata squeaked in pain at even the touch, "Sorry Hinata." He mumbled and slowly pulled,
"Ino! In—fuck!" Chouji appeared,
"Chou, go get me Shizune! Now!"
"H-Hai!" He darted away again just as fast,
"That's good, Shikamaru, keep going." She said, focusing her chakra on tackling the blood vessels and organs, rather than on healing the tissue, silently praying that Shizune would not be long.
Naruto almost felt the change in the Mother, he didn't know what had just happened, but she faltered as if she'd been hit and sluggishly tried to avoid Naruto's incoming strike. But she didn't and his bijuu-dama hit its mark catching everyone by surprise. Only Kakashi had the presence of mind not to let the opportunity slip away and he darted from his position, his rinnegan wide open and beginning to tear with blood at the effort he was pouring in to his handseals to create his chidori as he darted over towards the Mother — he'd need ten seconds to get to her, but ten seconds was a good as an eternity here. With only one rinnegan and no Uchiha blood he couldn't create a shadow-self, to give him a barrier of protection, what had Sasuke called it? Limbo? Kakashi had only himself and his will to return home. As always. But Kakashi was not so alone, as he ran, the long tentacles of the Hachibi stretched above him, speeding towards the Mother and were upon her in a moment. The movement caught her attention and brought her back to the present, as she created a void in front of herself sending the tentacles off to who knows where.
Seven seconds.
The moment of distraction afforded by Killa Bee had given Sakura time to strike, as she leapt towards the Mother, her chakra charged fist aiming right towards her head, though the Mother clearly remembered this from times past and ducked and waved out of the way, each punch and kick narrowly missing its mark. But another sagely Sakura appeared and another and still ten more until every avenue was closed and Otsutsuki was forced to fight back, her own punch exploding the first clone into a cloud of dust and a further three as she realised she was battle little more than shadows.
Three seconds.
Otsutsuki seemed to have gained her confidence in striking at the clones as she struck each one harder and harder, her ability to travel inter-dimensionally had either been forgotten or she was unable to use it; but the attacking nin chose not to look their gift horse in the mouth for the Mother finally found the real Sakura, who absorbed all of the force Otsutsuki had piled upon her and fed it right back through to the Mother's body: her strength was to be the thing which brought about her downfall. The sheer force of the strike and the chakra running through it had been enough to know Otsutsuk off her feet, backwards into the path of Kakashi, who's crackling, chakra charged hand dove through her chest and exploded her heart.
"All right, Kakashi! Yeah! You got her! Whoo-hoo!" Naruto instantly cheered, though Kakashi paid him no mind; he kept his jutsu, his hand still crackling with chakra as it burned and cauterised the flesh of Otsutsuki, ignoring his own fatigue. Some part of him would not be satisfied she was dead until all that remained was ash. Though his rinnegan told him that she had no chakra of her own, and his fingers could feel no pulse.
"Kakashi!" Sakura appeared at his side, "What's the problem? Is she dead?"
"Yes… she is… but she'd been dead before." Kakashi replied as he finally pulled his hand free and allow her body to drop to the floor in a crumpled, blood-soaked heap; he dropped almost as quickly down to his knees, finally realising his exhaustion.
"Ay-yo, my man Sharingan Kakashi upgraded to a rinnegan and we see his power really luminesce so much he can beat a literal goddess!" The voice of Killa Bee shouted as he hurried over, grinning ear to ear, "See? We didn't need no Uchiha muthafucker, ya destiny's only what ya make it."
"Yeah! Kakashi is the best!" Naruto cheered, "Hey, where's everyone else? Do they know we beat her yet?" His words suddenly drew attention to the quiet that surrounded them,
"What's going on? Where's the tree?" Sakura asked, "It's not attacking us, either."
"Eh? You're right, the tree's gone!" Sakura interjected, her sage mode failing as her concentration faltered,
"You're right and there's movement over there, too, but I can't really see what it is." Naruto agreed.
"Let's move and investigate." Kakashi said, but not before he pulled out a scroll from his flack jacket and sealed the Kaguya's corpse into it. But that final burst of chakra had been the straw to break the camel's back and his vision blurred, his limbs slackened and he collapsed.
"Kakashi!"
"Shizune-san! Shizune-san!" Chouji shouted as he skidded to a halt beside her,
"What?" She asked back, still tending to a bleeding Kumogakure ninja,
"It's Hinata, she's been badly hurt, Ino needs your help!"
"Just give me thirty seconds, Chouji and I'll be right there." Shizune replied whilst she kept her chakra steady, the Kumo nin wasn't in big trouble, but he soon would be if she didn't stop the bleed. The flesh finally knitted back together cleanly and Shizune wiped the area clean of the dried blood, "Okay, show me to Hinata." Chouji nodded and darted off, closely followed by her, as they ran her attention was drawn, initially by the clear horizon, "Where's the tree gone?"
"Hinata cut it down."
"What?"
"I don't know what she was doing, but it fell." Chouji rather poorly explained, though Shizune was no longer listening, as she could see now how every cocoon was begin to wiggle and writhe as the people inside had awoken, all of them, at the same time.
"Shizune-san! Thank kami-sama you're here," Shikamaru said from where he was leaning over a bloody Hinata,
"What happened?" She barked,
"The tree splintered and struck Hinata in the abdomen and the shoulder," Ino replied without looking up, Shizune gathered her chakra to her hands placed them carefully on Hinata, feeling the extent of the damage,
"Okay, you've done well closing off the major blood vessels, let me take over here to fully stop the bleeding, start looking for any remaining splinters and try to draw them out."
"Hai." Ino replied and Shikamaru shuffled out of the way, only just looking up and noticing the movement around him,
"What the hell is going on?"
"I-I think they're all waking up." Chouji replied, as both the nin only started at all of the comatose people now wiggling and writhing in their bandage-like coverings, "Do think we should help them? Or will that only cause more problems?"
"I dunno, but I guess we can't leave them in there." Shikamaru replied, trying to hide just how unnerving he was finding the scene, like watching hundreds of corpses spontaneously reanimate. Chouji, however, was seemingly less concerned as he hurried over to the nearest entombed person, tore away the slimy casing and helped them sit up,
"Hey, don't worry! You were under the Infinite Tsukikomi, but you're free now." He said, hurriedly but gently,
"Wh—arrrgh! My back!" It was Oonoki, the Tsuchikage, "Don't be so rough! You young whippersnappers are all in such a rush! Now start from the top, I was just in Iwagakure! Enjoying my retirement with my granddaughter!"
"I know it's a shock, Tsuchikage-sama, but you really have been under the Infinite Tsukikomi, we all have been, but Naruto and Sakura and the others are fighting the Mother right now, we should win this time." Chouji tried to explain, aware as he was of everyone else waking up,
"What?" Oonoki merely asked again, his eyebrows jammed stubbornly downwards,
"I'm sorry Tsuchikage-sama," Shikamaru interrupted, "But we need to help everyone else; Chouji." He called and they both walked away, "Just a quick explanation, Chou, we can't afford to get bogged down pandering to some grouchy old man when we have this many people to deal with."
"Oi! I heard that!" Oonoki shouted back, though the two ignored him and pressed on.
"Shizune! What's happening?" Sakura landed beside her gently dropping Kakashi down to the ground, taking in the worrying scene around her, where she and Ino were still couched over Hinata,
"Hinata took down the tree, but she's injured. Everyone's waking up from the Infinite Tsukikomi." Ino hurriedly explained, as Naruto and Killa Bee all looked around the immediate vicinity at the hundreds of people all slowly writhing their way out of their bindings and loudly complaining at a situation they did not understand. The other nin were helping to awaken everyone as well as attempting to control the ever increasing crowd.
"Naruto, Sakura!" Shikamaru called out as he dropped down beside them,
"Shikamaru?"
"Everyone's waking up, we think it's because Hinata took down the chakra tree, we're doing our best to help everyone but…" He trailed off slightly, his unspoken what the hell? was clear, "But I think we need to get everyone organised, find the highest ranking shinobi and bring them to me, Killa Bee if you can find all of the Kumo—" Shika's words were cut off,
"Another whippernsnapper, White Fang's brat, is he Hokage yet or what?" Oonoki slowly pushed himself to his feet, eyeing the unconscious form of Kakashi warily,
"Ah, Tsuchikage-sama, I didn't notice you there." Shikamaru replied, before giving a brief nod to Killa Bee who didn't need any more prompting to flee the scene rather than get caught in another infamous tirade by the Tsuchikage.
"Well I am, now what exactly is going on?"
"We were all caught in the Infinite Tsukikomi, during the war, approximately seven and a half months ago, I and several others were awoken by Sasuke approximately six months ago and only now have we been able to stage a counterstrike at the Otsutsuki, whom we have now defeated." Shikamaru quickly explained,
"You really did it?" Ino butted in,
"Hai, she is dead, she faltered half way through and seemed to lose some of her powers, for that I am assuming we have Hinata to thank." Sakura replied,
"All right, so why have I only just been woken up now? You think I was too old to be of any use?"
"Iee, Tsuchikage-sama, we had limited time and we did not know where everyone individually was being held."
"Hmph," The Tsuchikage grunted in what Shikamaru assumed was reluctant understanding, "Where are all my Iwa nin?"
"We aren't sure yet, but as soon as everyone is on their feet, we can begin organising them."
"Okay," Shizune said as she leant back, "Hinata is stable for now, though I would like to get her back to Konoha as quickly as possible incase she develops any sign of infection."
"Shizune, you, Ino and Chouji take Hinata and Kakashi back to Konoha; I'll need Sakura with me. Please inform Tsunade-sama of our victory and that I will be remaining here until the awoken ninja had been organised."
"Agreed, Shikamaru… good luck." Shizune was on her feet, and hurried away to gather her supplies ready to leave. It didn't take long for Killa Bee to return with a handful of senior shinobi along with Gaara, A, and the Mizukage,
"Kages, have you accounted for all of your respective shinobi?" Shikamaru addressed the group, received nods in reply, "I assume that you all wish to return to your home villages and begin repairs and rebuilding."
"Yes, there will also be the civilian populations - which I think is safe to assume they too have all woken up with the Tree's fall - which need to be considered. They're likely to be confused and food and accommodation issues with only exacerbate the problem." Gaara added, "I will return to Suna with my forces, though I will remain in contact with Konoha."
Shikamaru nodded in understanding, "Raikage, what will you do?"
"The same, now is a bad time for Kumogakure to be without its leadership; you have our gratitude, Konoha."
Battou was such an old man now, he'd been only thirty a day ago and fighting nobly for his home village of Rock, strong and proud and powerful, brimming with chakra and ninjutsu. But his reality changed in an instant when someone had peeled the slimy bandages off him and pulled him awkwardly to his feet; he felt the stiffness in his back and the wrinkles on his hands and remembered the seventy year old man that he was. One who'd never shown any talent for ninjutsu and barely able to throw a rock in a straight line. He'd never managed to enter the academy and had been forced to follow his father as a small business owner, belittled and ignored by the shinobi he admired so much.
Now, as he sat in the rubble of his old shop, no home, no business and the sour taste of false memories bitter on his tongue; the tarnished key of his old shop sat on the palm of his hand. He could not go back and the only thing that awaited him in the present was destruction and desolation, amid the panicked and aggressive shouts of the civilian population. He felt the anger burn hot in his chest, gathering and gathering until it shot down his arm and into his hand; hotter and hotter it grew until the edges of the key grew blurred with denaturing. It wasn't until a clear lick of flame danced upward that Battou realised something odd was happening, he pulled his hand back in surprise and the key dropped to the floor with a muted thunk, its edges continuing to melt and flow out onto the dusty floor.
.
Where is Mama? Where is Papa? Hana thought desperately, her eyes straining to look around in every direction, she been covered by some weird, wet plant when she'd woken up — but she'd just been Obaachan, and she'd been learning how to make moon-pies, hadn't she? It was going to be the autumn full moon tomorrow, but all of the trees has no leaves and the air was cold… so it was now winter? I'm so scared… where is Mama? Hana crouched down near the branch she woken up next to, hoping to block out some of the breeze; her vision began to blur as she felt the weight of her loneliness.
"Hana!" A sudden shout drew her attention, "Hana!" It was Mama! Hana sprang to her feet and charged away, following the shouts, she paid no mind to where she was treading, her only thought was to run and find her mother. Eventually she found herself on the banks of the wide, torrenting Mizu river,
"Hana! There you are! Stay there, I'm coming to get you!"
"Papa!" She called back across, seeing her parents on the other side, she hesitated for a moment, but the fear of being alone was too powerful a motivator and she charged forwards, her feet easily finding grip on the water's surface as she ran as fast as she was able across the surface and was within their arms in moments.
"Hana? How? How did you run across the water?"
"Are you safe? Are you hurt?" Her father and mother asked at the same time,
"I don't know, I just wanted to get here."
.
"But where are all of the other shinobi? Why is the village still wrecked up?"
"How do you think you can explain how everything was perfectly fine just yesterday? A few hours ago, even? But apparently we were just asleep? What kind of idiots do you take us for?" Another voice shouted from the crowd, garnering murmurs of anger and frustration from the rabble gathered in her office;
"Please remain calm," Tsunade called, rueing the loss of Shizune: despite appearances, she really knew how to handle and angry mob, "As I was trying to explain, you were all captured under the Infinite Tsukikomi, which held us all in a dream-state and allowed us to view what we wanted. Myself and a handful of other shinobi were woken up less than two months ago and that party are all away fighting the enemy. Give that you are all awake now, I can only assume that means that they were successful. The village is in such poor state because there had been no one to tend to it, we have done our best with limited time and resources, but we will need your help to allow us to return the village back to its former sate." Tsunade spoke loudly, but with patience, she was well acquainted with the anger inducing frustration that being awoken brought with it. The angry muttering died down from most, save the elderly woman at the front — the rabble rouser, herself — Tsunade suspected, Shiaki had always been trouble.
"Hokage-sama, that explanation is not acceptable! We have no food, no accommodation and all of the shinobi who are supposed to help us, you've sent off on some fool-hardy war that you lost the first time?"
"And what would you rather we did do? Leave you all forever in a dream world?"
The elderly woman shot Tsunade a look of contempt that only the elderly could perfect, "I would think you'd have the sense not to wake us up until everything was ready!"
"Ready?" Tsunade barked back, "You think Konoha is just one big hotel for you? And you think that the seven of us shinobi left in Konoha had the ability to wake up every single civilian simultaneously? You are all also a part of Konoha and we need you to help us rebuild and repair!"
"C'mon, Shiaki-san, she has a point… we should just go and get some rest for today." A younger man grabbed the elderly woman's elbow, trying to get her to calm down and leave with them; Shiaki ripped her arm from his grip,
"No! That's not good enough, you think my old bones can cope with sleeping rough?"
"Please, Shiaki-san, now isn't the time—" Another grabbed her other arm,
"I said NO!" The woman the span around and shoved her hand against the young woman trying to pull at her, but instead of a simple shove, the younger woman was thrown clear across the room in a whirl of wind; "Hmph," Shikaki smirked to herself, before looking at the Hokage, "Well, it seems I have found my chakra after all these long years after all, Tsunade-hime."
..
.
Sorry if you felt the actual fight scenes were a little lacking here, but honestly, prolonged and parry-and-return fight scenes kinda bore me these days (and we had plenty of those in Naruto lol) I felt the the more general view of the wider battlefield would work far better in this chapt! Plus I think we all know that Otsutsuki was never the real enemy ^_ ~