Author's Note: Revised and corrected in preparation for actually finishing this story at last. Also, if you want to see what I've been doing in the last year check out Fimbulwinter, my original novel now available as a Kindle ebook on Amazon (just got to www_amazon_com/dp/B00KZ41LHM , or go to the main page and search books for "Fimbulwinter, by E. William Brown").
"I hate this rain," Hidan whined.
It was only a light drizzle, the fringes of a storm that stretched on for a hundred miles to the west. Certainly it was no real obstacle to a pair of S-rank ninja. But Hidan was always complaining about something.
Kakuzu eyed the trail impassively. "You're sure this is the right group? These damn decoys are everywhere."
"Yeah, I told you, once I get a taste of someone's blood I can follow them anywhere. The kitty-cat left plenty of it around, so it's no problem. We're getting close now. Hey, is it just me, or are the kid's clones getting weaker?"
"They are," Kakuzu agreed. "Wherever the real one is, apparently he can't replenish their chakra from here. That's probably why they didn't fly off with the girl in the first place - not enough chakra on hand to get anywhere."
Hidan grinned. "Good. Let's get this over with, so we can get someplace dry."
They pressed on through the increasingly broken terrain, leaping from tree to boulder to cliff-face at a pace few ninja could have matched. They'd learned to avoid the densest stands of trees after Naruto's first ambush attempt cost each of them a clone, but with Hidan's blood-tracking jutsu they had no need to actually follow their quarry's trail. They were gaining quickly now, and it was only a matter of time before they caught up.
Once they were safely past, a squirrel concealed in the underbrush vanished in a tiny puff of smoke. A mile up the trail the Naruto clone carrying Yugito paused for a moment and frowned.
"What's happening?" Yugito asked softly.
"Oh, you're awake," he replied. "That's good. I did what I could with your wounds, but I'm not that great at medical techniques. Do you have a regeneration bloodline, or is the Nibi healing you?"
"She's quite skilled at such things. But it's going to be at least a day before I can fight effectively, and I notice you didn't answer my question. I take it this rescue isn't going as smoothly as you'd hoped?"
Naruto shook his head. "No. I wasn't expecting that weird blood technique the religious nut was using. All I've got left out here is a bunch of shadow clones, and we don't have enough chakra between us to fight them. I was hoping we could lose them, but it looks like he can track you too."
"That doesn't sound promising. Who are you, anyway? You look just like the old bingo book pictures of the Yellow Flash, but you're too young to be him."
"The name's Uzumaki Naruto. I'm the Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki, not that the fox is ever much help with anything. Look, don't worry too much. I'm out of contact right now, but I'm sure reinforcements are on the way. We just have to stay alive until they get here."
She sighed. "Yes, I suppose Konoha won't let its prize go lightly. What will you do with me, anyway? Extract the Nibi and force her into a container of your choosing? Or do you have a brainwashing technique to use on me?"
Naruto snorted. "What, you think Tsunade wants to start a war with Hidden Lightning? Please. I wasn't even authorized to get involved. I'm probably going to get chewed out for stepping in, instead of just following them to see what they did with you. But these Akatsuki guys are trying to collect all the bijuu, and you've seen how tough they are. We need to stick together if we're going to beat them. I figured saving your ass and then not handing you over to T&I would be a good way to prove I'm not scamming you."
There was an explosion in the distance behind them, followed by a flurry of ninjutsu.
"It doesn't sound like the 'saving my ass' part is working out very well," Yugito observed.
The clone hung his head sheepishly. "Man, these jerks are making me look bad. I hate being low on chakra."
-oOoOo-
The clones did their best, but barely half an hour later they found themselves at bay atop a barren mesa. There were only three left by then, and between them they barely had the strength for one good Rasengan.
Kakuzu and Hidan casually strolled up the path behind them, bickering with each other as usual. Normally the clones would have just retreated down the cliff face away from their pursuers, but there was a strange presence in the valley below. The smell of blood and the taint of black chakra hinted at a summon of some kind, and anything these two called up wasn't likely to be a pushover.
But it wasn't a coincidence they'd ended up in that spot.
"End of the line, kids," Kakuzu commented. "Hidan, you want to finish them?"
The towering ninja stepped forward with a nod. "Yeah, you just sit back and watch. This won't take long."
Six thousand feet above them, Anko deactivated her flight jutsu and switched her armor to stealth mode. Suppressing the urge to shriek like a kid on a roller coaster, she wrapped her camouflage cloak around herself and plummeted towards the earth.
She could just make out the specks of the clones fighting Hidan far below. They were sticking with taijutsu, which was fairly useless against an enemy with apparently limitless regeneration. Hidan's skill with his odd weapon was amazing, but Naruto's clones were fighting well above jounin level themselves. The three of them tag-teamed him quite effectively for the first few exchanges, landing several hits that healed almost instantly. Then Hidan managed to pop a clone with a tricky reverse blow from the butt of his weapon, and the remaining two found themselves outmatched. He fell on them in a flurry of blows, and in moments they were both dispelled.
Yugito dragged herself awkwardly to her feet, determined to sell her life as dearly as she could. But before Hidan could reach her a swarm of shuriken sailed silently down from the sky.
Both Akatsuki sensed the attack at the last possible moment, and Kakuzu evaded with a frantic replacement. Hidan, long accustomed to being effectively invulnerable, simply batted the projectiles aside. Unfortunately for him, Anko was using her new exploding shuriken.
The blast knocked him sprawling, bits of steel shrapnel peppering his body. More importantly, it spread and ignited the twenty gallons of napalm sealed in each of the devices. By the time he hit the ground Hidan was covered head to toe in the sticky, gelatinous incendiary, and the area around him was a sea of flame. His belated attempt to leap away merely fanned the flames, and he went down screaming in agony.
Anko flared her suit's wings at the last possible moment, swooping over the inferno to land next to Yugito. Her hands were already forming seals, and as she touched down she spun in Kakuzu's direction and unleashed a Grand Fire Dragon. The snake clone wrapped around her neck threw a Grand Typhoon Breath at the same time, and the perfectly synchronized attacks merged into a firestorm that covered the entire mesa.
"Covering team, go," she ordered, and a dozen Naruto clones popped into existence around her. Half of them immediately henged into copies of her and Yugito, while the rest began filling the sky above them with mist. Anko turned to the battered jinchuuriki with a grin.
"Rescue team Oni, arriving! Need a lift, cutie?"
Yugito took in the lush curves revealed by her rescuer's skintight outfit, and found herself suppressing a blush. Damn, what a kunoichi!
"Yes. Please, get me the hell out of here before they come back."
"We're gone," Anko assured her, and swept her off her feet to carry her bridal style. Yugito flung her arms around Anko's neck as they left the ground, surrounded by three pairs of clones doing the same thing. Two clone pairs launched themselves into the sky, while the last stayed with them as Anko flung them off the cliff face and soared across the valley below.
A focused air jutsu blew one of the high-flying clone pairs out of the sky. The other retaliated with an equally powerful attack, while the pair pacing the real kunoichi blanketed the valley in flames. Then they were across the valley, ducking over a ridge on the far side, rushing down the slope beyond far faster than any ninja could run. Gradually the battlefield fell away behind them, and Anko cautiously gained altitude until they were well above the reach of any normal attack.
"Looks like they don't have a flight jutsu," Anko finally said. "Too bad. I was wondering if I could take them."
"We can kill them once I've healed," Yugito replied. "I owe those bastards for what they did to my team."
Anko chuckled. "Aren't you a feisty one? Just rest up for now. The boss wants us to link up with him, so this is going to be an all-night flight. I'm sure they'll catch up with us in a few days, and you can have your rematch then."
-oOoOo-
In distant Konoha, a weary Tsunade had finally been persuaded to get some rest by an equally harried Shizune. The Slug Sannin had insisted on following Naruto's reports in real time since the start of the crisis, much to his growing irritation. Things would be so much easier if she'd just issue mission objectives and let him use his judgment, like a normal Kage.
Apparently there were downsides to instant communication.
She'd left strict orders to wake her if anything important happened, but as far as he was concerned nothing short of an attack on Konoha was going to qualify. He had work to do, now that she was safely out of the way.
Starting with a quiet foray into the ninja records office. He'd never cared about legal details before, but it looked like they could quickly become critical now. So he'd set two clones to working through the arcane filing system there the instant Tsunade left, searching out a folder he knew had to be buried somewhere among the endless shelves of documents. When they finally found it the thing turned out to be protected by a forest of security seals, but his apprenticeship under Jiraiya made such things much less of an obstacle for him. Most of the protections were easily disarmed, and the one that might have actually given him pause was keyed to his own blood.
"So, the Uzumaki were a recognized ninja clan," he mused as he skimmed through the papers within. "From Whirlpool, huh? I guess that makes sense. Let's see, survivors fled to Konoha after their village fell, looks like they got the usual deal for a strong clan. Recognition under the clan laws, a seat on the council as long as they have a jounin-level member to occupy it, and three acres of land inside the walls. Wow, that must be worth something. Looks like they had a lot of enemies, though. Most of them died on missions over the next few years, until they were down to just... Kushina."
"Mom."
He stared at the clan roster for a long moment, wondering what she'd been like. All he knew was her name, and the fact that she'd been a strong ninja. Getting even that much out of Jiraiya had been tough. But his own name was listed there below it. Her son, and the last living member of the Uzumaki clan.
He turned the page, and nearly dropped the file.
There was a birth certificate for one Uzumaki Naruto, son of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato.
"Holy crap," he breathed. "There's proof? I never thought I'd find anything official. But wait, this should have been filed at the hospital, not in the clan records. Oh, right, I'm being stupid. The old man must have hidden it here, so no one would find out while I was a kid."
He smiled slowly. "This is exactly what I need. Heh. The old geezers are going to have a stroke when it all comes out. But I'll just keep that card in reserve. The Uzumaki name is all I need for now."
-oOoOo-
In the deserts of Suna, the clones assigned to locate Deidara were having considerably less luck.
Naruto had refrained from infiltrating Suna partly out of respect for Gaara, and partly because he wasn't interested in stealing the puppet skills that seemed to be their major secret technique. Unfortunately that meant that his presence in the area had been limited to a couple of persistent clones tasked with general observation, neither of which had any great amount of chakra.
They'd called up a few bird clones to expand their coverage during the battle, but Deidara's retreat had been well screened. Between the clay clones over Suna and the swarms of exploding insects Deidara had left in his wake as he fled most of Naruto's clones had been destroyed within a mile of Suna. The one survivor lost sight of his dragon-like mount while evading a swarm of exploding birds, and spent hours fruitlessly searching the desert before its chakra ran out.
Reinforcements from Konoha had arrived not long after that, but tracking a flying enemy was virtually impossible. They didn't even know what direction he'd gone in, and given the speed of his mount he could be hundreds of miles away. Unless Deidara had gone to ground somewhere in Wind Country their odds of finding him in time were miniscule.
-oOoOo-
"That was quite an impressive rescue," Yugito commented. "Why haven't I seen you in the bingo books?"
Anko chuckled. "You have, cutie. I'm just wearing a new mask. Konoha formed Team Orange as a special anti-Akatsuki force just recently. Against guys like that we don't have the luxury of hiding how strong we are." Well, she certainly wasn't going to explain their tricks to a foreign ninja. Let the girl think Konoha had been keeping an S-rank combat team under wraps for a few years.
"Well, thank you," Yugito replied. She snuggled a little further into her rescuer's embrace, and sighed. She'd cheerfully commit a few war crimes for a figure like that. Too bad this 'Oni' was a Konoha nin.
"What happens to me now?" She asked reluctantly.
"You get to tag along while we put down a little demon god," Anko explained matter-of-factly. "We need to make sure Akatsuki doesn't catch you while you're recovering, and we can't divert anyone to get you home until Moryo is taken care of. I think the boss is hoping to talk you into helping out with Akatsuki, since they're after you too. But I'm pretty sure he'll have us escort you home if you're not interested."
"Really?" Yugito asked skeptically. "No extracting the Nibi? No brainwashing attempts? You'd just let me go?"
"Yeah, Naruto is like that. But watch your step, or you might end up another of his adoring fangirls," she teased.
"I think I'm more at risk from your hentaijutsu than his," Yugito confessed. "He has entirely the wrong equipment."
"Oh, so you're a sushi kind of girl, are you?" Anko replied lightly. "Must be a pain when you want to blow off steam in a civilian town. Anyway, we're on our way to link up with the rest of my team right now. Up to you if you want to help out with this Moryo thing, assuming it isn't over before you heal up…"
-oOoOo-
Naruto retrieved the fragile-seeming glass bell from his analysis array with a thoughtful look. An absent gesture caused the twelve interlocking circles of intricate sealwork to vanish, leaving the stone floor of the cave unmarked.
His female companions paused in their idle conversation, and cast curious gazes his way. When he didn't immediately speak Hinata and Shion settled in to wait, but Sakura was too impatient for that.
"Well?" she asked imperiously.
"This thing is a real piece of work," he replied slowly. "The seals are drawn in three dimensions, which is a pretty unusual style. There's some symbols I don't know, and some of the grammar is weird, but it's pretty clear what most of it does. Shion, your mom was a real artist with this stuff."
"So I have been told," Shion replied.
Naruto nodded, and handed the ornament back to her.
"Okay, first off, the reason you still have it is because it's really just a projection of your chakra. If anyone but you tries to break the bell it'll reform wherever you are, and the same goes for stealing it. Maybe someone like Jiraiya could take it apart eventually, but it'd be a real project."
"Sure, but what does it do?" Sakura pressed.
"Lots of stuff. There's some defensive techniques built into it, with automatic triggers, but they're all keyed to respond to Moryo's chakra. There's some really funky stuff that I think is related to those visions, and a time-based technique that's probably S-rank."
"I know that one," Shion confirmed. "But mother said I'll die if I use it."
Naruto snorted in disgust. "It figures she'd say that. Shion, the main thing this bell does is keep you from accessing your chakra. There's a harmonic oscillation that'll interfere with any technique that takes more than five or six seals, a governor that keeps you from channeling more than a fraction of your power, and a genjutsu to keep you from even feeling what it does to you."
Shion gasped. "What? But why would mother do such a thing to me?"
"I'm not sure. There's a demon sealing technique built into the bell, so I guess you don't technically need to be free to seal Moryo with it. If your bloodline has instinctive abilities she might have been afraid you wouldn't be able to control them, especially if she knew she wasn't going to be around to train you. Doesn't seem like a good reason to put your kid under a seal her whole life, but..."
He trailed off at Shion's strangled gasp, and watched in bemusement as a storm of conflicting emotions played across the priestess' face.
"That's what the Kyuubi meant! I thought... but that means... but I... argh!"
"That does make more sense," Hinata observed, the faintest hint of a smirk adorning her lips.
"Do I even want to know?" Sakura asked.
"Doubtful," Hinata answered shortly.
Naruto frowned as he put it together. "Shion, was that why you...?"
"No!" Shion replied hastily. "I saw things. A future I wanted very much. But the Kyuubi must be laughing at my foolishness now."
"Actually, he's kinda pissed about it. There's some mystical business about virgin blood that could have been really bad if, well, if there's been any."
Shion looked shocked. Hinata frowned in concern. Sakura just rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Naruto, you're getting to be as bad as your sensei. How many women can one man possibly need?"
"Naruto is at least three men," Hinata teased.
Naruto chuckled. "More like a dozen right now, plus a couple of girls. Don't worry, Tanuki, there's plenty of me to go around."
"Pervert. Clones are cheating." Sakura looked away with a sniff.
"Indeed. Naruto is a terrible lech, and you should stay far away from him," Shion put in. "More for me that way."
Naruto slipped an arm around her, and pulled her into a hug. "No worries, Shion, she's not competition. She's so stuck on Sasuke I'd think he'd used his sharingan on her, except she's been that way since before he had it."
Sakura bit her lip, suddenly glad that she was wearing her mask. Shion looked so happy curled up against Naruto, it was hard not to be jealous. That could have been her. Hell, it still could be. Naruto might pretend to be over her, but she knew better than that. She might have to share, but did that even matter the way Naruto used clones?
She stood abruptly, and turned to the door. "Hey, look at the time. It's almost dawn, and we've still got miles to go. We'd better get moving soon."
I promised I'd wait for you, Sasuke. Kami, I never knew it would be so hard. Please, come back to me soon.
-oOoOo-
In an underground hideout six hundred miles away, Sasuke was returning to his chamber after completing another of Orochimaru's pointlessly brutal training exercises. He'd managed to disable a crowd of nearly a hundred thugs, bandits and missing nin without actually killing any of them, much to his teacher's amusement. Of course, they'd probably all die in the Snake Sannin's labs anyway, but at least he wouldn't be responsible.
He automatically checked the security seal on the door as he opened it, verifying that no one had entered the chamber in his absence. But as he swept into the room and closed the door behind him, he felt a sudden burst of familiar chakra.
He whirled, to find a busty blonde bombshell in skimpy kunoichi garb reclining on his bed.
"Hey, Sasuke," she crooned. "Long time no see. Are you done pumping the snake freak for techniques yet? Your girls are missing you..."
"Naruto," he said flatly.
She giggled, and propped herself up on her arms in a pose that revealed a vast expanse of disturbingly convincing cleavage. "Are you sure, Sasuke? You have so many admirers, maybe you just forgot one?"
"Pervert. Change back, now."
She dropped the pose, and sat up with a grin. "Sorry, can't. I'm a blood clone, and the boss made me so this is really what I look like. I think you were right about Sakura, by the way. I've caught her checking me out a couple of times when I'm like this."
The corner of Sasuke's mouth twitched.
"Told you," he pointed out. "I was just a beard. Ino's the one she was really after."
The female Naruto giggled again. "Nah, the way she freaks out I'm pretty sure she's repressing it. I still say she swings both ways and doesn't know it."
"Hnn. This better not be why you came."
"No, no, this is serious," Sasuke's visitor reassured him. "Things are about to come to a head. Akatsuki's making their move, and it looks like they're targeting all the bijuu. I've confirmed that Itachi is a member, so sooner or later he'll be coming after me or Gaara. Or maybe Yugito - she's got the two-tails in her, and it looks like she's joining up with us. You want in?"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "How? I'm still a missing nin."
The kunoichi tapped her head. "Us clones can all talk to each other no matter where we are. Get your team together, and I'll tell you where to be. Unless you're ready to come in out of the cold?"
"Not yet," Sasuke replied after a long moment of silence. "Orochimaru's current body is failing. He'll make his move soon, and I will destroy him. Then I can put my own plans into motion."
"If you say so, bastard. Just don't wait too long. Right now they're still trying to figure out how to track the real me, but it won't take guys like that more than a few weeks to come up with something. We don't have time to play around with dead drops, so I'll leave you a more direct way to keep in touch."
With that the curvy blond formed a single hand seal, and vanished in a summoning exchange so tightly controlled it gave off only the faintest ripple of chakra. In her place was the bedraggled-looking peasant girl who'd been assigned to clean this part of the complex for the last few weeks.
Sasuke raised one eyebrow a fraction. "You think Orochimaru won't notice you replacing a servant?"
The girl blinked in confusion, and answered in her usual timid tone. "Replaced? Why, no, Sasuke-sama. I'm the real Yukari. I've been delivering your meals and doing your laundry for three months now, remember? No spicy foods or alcohol, nice crisp folds on all your clothes, and make sure I dust under the bed every day? I'm sorry I was so slow today, sir. Normally I'm finished before you get back from training."
Sasuke's other eyebrow went up, and the girl grinned.
"I told you I was going to be a master infiltrator," she told him. "I can be anyone, anywhere, for real, and no one will ever know unless they've got a Yamanaka handy to read my mind. I'll be here when you're ready, Sasuke."
Then she gathered up a tray of dishes from his desk, and scurried off like the frightened servant he'd taken her for.
-oOoOo-
Hiashi's breakfast sat untouched on his desk as he brooded over past and present failures.
He'd tried to find an honorable path for the girl, despite the unfortunate circumstances of her birth. But she'd frustrated him at every turn despite her apparent pliability. She seemed like such a sweet girl, so meek and self-effacing, with a generous heart that was always looking for a way to help others. The sort of person who could never lead the Hyuuga, even if the elders had been willing to give her that chance.
Just like her father.
Hiashi had thought it a moment of kindness. Hizashi had loved Miyu, and she had returned his affections, but the needs of the clan had doomed their fledgling relationship. Miyu was the senior daughter of one of the cadet branches the clan, destined to wed the next clan head to renew their ties to the main branch. Hizashi was far too soft for such a position, and he knew it. In the end he'd been persuaded to step aside in favor of his twin, for the good of the clan. But Hiashi had been troubled by his brother's sacrifice, and in a moment of misguided kindness arranged for their impending marriages to take place on the same day.
The sealing arts the clan practiced were not entirely safe, and when circumstances allowed it was common to wait a week or so between removing the chastity seals of childhood and applying the fidelity seals of adulthood. It was a risk, but allowing the body time to adjust greatly reduced the chance of sterility or other serious side effects. The prospective bride and groom were always kept in isolation during this time, of course, but that meant little. Hizashi and Miyu had both been excellent ninja, while their honor guards were only genin.
After their marriage Miyu had come to his bed intact, as was proper. So he had studiously refrained from contemplating what might or might not have happened, in any stolen moments of privacy the star-crossed pair might have found. It was a small enough kindness, and if Miyu was perhaps a hair less devoted than would be ideal it was no great burden. She knew her duty as well as he knew his, and time heals all wounds. He judged the matter closed, and put it out of his mind.
Until Hinata was born just a few days too soon.
Hiashi and Hizashi were identical twins. They shared the same blood type, the same DNA, the same chakra signature. There was no test that could confirm his terrible suspicion, and babies do sometimes arrive early. But Miyu had been a medic-nin of amazing ability, and certain specialized regeneration techniques were probably within her abilities. As the years passed, and the girl who should have been his heir displayed more and more of the same regrettable weakness as his brother, his suspicion slowly turned to certainty.
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.
"Come."
Kanzai entered as silently as a ghost, and moved to stand before his desk. "I understand the clan has need of me?"
Hiashi suppressed a sigh. Despite the situation he'd tried to arrange an honorable ninja career for the girl. Let her serve the clan by serving Konoha, preferably somewhere far away. Hanabi showed great promise, and would no doubt advance to jounin in a few years. Then, with his daughter's position secure, he could arrange a suitable marriage for Hinata and allow her to retire from active duty.
That plan was no longer viable. Hinata's open defiance some weeks before had scandalized the clan, and set many to speculating as to the cause. Now she was defying his orders to consort with the hidden heir of the Uzumaki clan, whose mastery of the sealing arts might well have been enough to find a flaw in the Caged Bird Seal. A Hyuuga who bore that seal could never lead the clan, of course. But if the Uzumaki secrets were not truly lost… if Hinata suspected the truth… if she was canny enough to recruit the Kyuubi jinchuuriki's support, and meet with the elders behind his back…
The Hyuuga valued strength and cunning above all else, and suddenly Hinata's relentlessly timid persona seemed all too much like a mask. Hiashi had his own enemies among the elders. It was a chance he couldn't take.
"It is a delicate matter," he began slowly. "But of vital importance to the clan…"
-oOoOo-
The inevitable attack on Moryo's prison came an hour after dawn. An odd choice, but who knew how a demon god's mind worked? Perhaps there was some mystic reason for the timing. Perhaps it was merely an amateur attempt at double-think, to attack two hours later than the optimum pre-dawn period.
Or perhaps Moryo simply didn't think he could hide an army of stone statues.
The vanguard of the host blundered mindlessly into Anko's maze of traps. Heavy stone statues of warriors fell into pits, were pinned under deadfalls or blown up by exploding tags, over and over all along the perimeter. But the constructs were strangely resistant to physical damage, and few of them were actually destroyed. The army shrugged off the casualties, and advanced.
The shadow clones on perimeter defense struck next, flashing in to strike their clumsy foes with weapons and carefully focused ninjutsu. But kunai, shuriken and even the blows of Naruto's clones had little effect, and expending a Rasengan on each statue was a losing proposition. There were thousands of the things, and their advance was relentless.
Gai surveyed the developing battle from the entrance to the prison and frowned. "Naruto, are you certain you wish to face all of these foes alone? Your youthful enthusiasm does you credit, but you shouldn't let it lure you into overconfidence."
Naruto shook his head. "Nah, I got this. Moryo is supposed to have a ninja clan working for him, so I need your team to make sure they don't sneak by while I'm busy taking out his army."
"And how will you do that? Your clones don't seem to be faring well."
"Heh. They're just luring the main force down into the valley. Check out my latest army-killer technique."
High above the battlefield three clones circled in raven form, weaving a vast construct of air-natured chakra through the clouds between them. The clouds grew thicker as the wind picked up, sucking in moisture, greedily absorbing the nature chakra provided by another pair of clones hidden well away from the battlefield. A whirlwind fifteen hundred feet across gradually formed, assuming a distinctive funnel shape as the winds driving it grew in strength.
As the chakra-laced winds approach three hundred miles per hour the clones changed the pattern of their weaving, and the funnel began to descend.
It touched down in the middle of the ongoing battle, catching a few clones who'd been slow to body flicker away. The funnel of the gigantic tornado abruptly darkened as tons of loose dirt and rock were sucked into it, along with hundreds of lumbering statues. Some were thrown clear of the funnel by collisions with other debris, flung hundreds of yards across the valley to smash against the surrounding boulders. But most were trapped in the funnel for long minutes, lifted a thousand feet or more into the air while cutting winds tore at their substance and smashed them against each other. None survived.
The clones shifted again, and the tornado between them began to grind its way ponderously through the heart of Moryo's army.
"Impressive," Gai admitted. He eyed the shower of stone fragments being thrown from the vortex as it moved, and stepped back into the cave mouth as a boulder the size of a house bounced off the mountainside above them. "Yes, I believe you have this well in hand, Naruto. My team and I will guard the prison, in case the demon attempts to sneak in using earth techniques. Yes, the lower levels should be carefully watched…"
On the other side of the valley, Yomi scowled at the destruction. What exactly were they facing here? Surely no human could perform such a huge technique?
Well, there were stories of such things. But who really believed that the First Hokage had created the Great Konoha Forest with a single jutsu? Let alone those insane stories about the moon. But he'd already checked for illusions, and the monster tornado tearing his army apart was all too real.
"My lord? What do we do now?"
Don't worry about it, Moryo replied with a sinister laugh. The fools are merely playing into my hands. Prepare the Subterranean Journey technique, and we'll come up into the prison from below. They'll never sense our infiltration with all this chakra in the air.
