Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto characters.
A/N: Hello everyone! I'm so so sorry that this chapter took so long. I just got really caught up in everyday life, which happens to include moving and relocating, a martial art black belt test, and taking care of a sick roommie, but now I'm back, and we're on the second to last chapter! We're almost done, yay!
Chapter 13: A most fierce battle
The battlefield was divided into two separate arenas. Near the stage, Lord Yuuta and his remaining soldiers were frantically defending themselves against the rebels' fierce attack, whereas over at the other side of the fairground, Orochimaru was single-handedly fighting against all the Konoha ninja. Kakashi looked around, did some quick analysis in his head and said to Haruka, "You should go help your brother, and I'll beat up Orochimaru for you." Haruka nodded, her delicate face looking both excited and nervous. Kakashi gave her a comforting smile and said, "If you need me, just give me a shout. I'll be nearby." Haruka nodded again. Suddenly she walked up to Kakashi and surprised him by pulling him into a tight hug.
It took Kakashi a moment to respond and hug her back. Her body was… so soft... Kakashi couldn't help but think. Even after Haruka had turned around and ran towards her brother, Kakashi had to forcefully peel his thoughts away from the beautiful kunoichi and focus back on the fight against Orochimaru. Naruto had just attempted a rasengan at Orochimaru, but the legendary sannin simply tumbled backward in a swift movement, dodging both Naruto's chakra ball and a few of Ten Ten's throwing weapons at the same time. However, Kakashi saw a gap in Orochimaru's defense. He quickly performed a series of hand seals and aimed a fire jutsu at him. Orochimaru saw the fireball coming and ducked immediately, but the fireball still brushed against the hem of his shirt and set it on fire. Orochimaru growled angrily and quickly patted his shirt to put the fire out.
With Kakashi now in the battle, the Konoha shinobi were finally gaining the upper hand. Orochimaru had begun to slow down. At some point, Asuma's trench knife even managed to slice past his shoulder, drawing a little blood with it. The rebels were also at an advantage after Haruka joined the battle. With her incredible shinobi skills, Haruka was able to quickly take down many of Lord Yuuta's remaining soldiers. Finally, they had Lord Yuuta cornered. Shou and Haruka looked at each other. They were so close to victory that they could almost taste it.
"Shiori, it's time to avenge our parents." Shou said solemnly.
Haruka nodded. "Let's go, Shou onii-sama." Together, with weapons in their hands, the prince and princess of the Quartz Country walked towards the monster that murdered their parents. Together, the prince and princess would avenge their parents and seize their country back.
Suddenly, before Shou could plunge his sword into Yuuta's heart, something exploded in mid air and distracted everyone from the battle. Before anyone realized what happened, a troop of Sound ninja had teleported onto the fairground and immediately began to fight against the Konoha shinobi and the rebels.
Kuso! Kakashi mentally kicked himself in the head. He had totally forgotten about Kabuto, who had been lying unconsciously on the ground since Haruka kicked him on the chin. Apparently Kabuto had woken up and called for the Sound ninja back up. How many of them were here? Kakashi quickly killed the two Sound nins that were brave enough to challenge him and hopped onto a tree. From the height, Kakashi could see that the Leaf ninja were outnumbered, but the Sound nins were not nearly as skillful as the Konoha shinobi. Kakashi was confident that his comrades would be able to take them all down before too long. But what about Orochimaru? Where was he, and what was he planning?
Kakashi finally spotted Orochimaru's pale face at an empty corner of the fairground. The snake user was performing a series of hand seals... those hand seals... it was kuchiyose no jutsu! Orochimaru pressed his palms against the ground and a Kyodaija immediately appeared with a poof of smoke. Kakashi recognized the giant snake – it was same as the one that Orochimaru summoned during the Konoha attack. In other words, it was an extremely dangerous summon!
Kakashi quickly found Naruto on the battlefield. "Naruto, summon the toad boss Gamabunta, right now!" Gamabunta would be their only hope against the Kyodaija. Kakashi watched Naruto perform the hand seals for kuchiyose no jutsu. However, when Naruto pressed his palms against the ground, only the puny toad Gamagikichi appeared. "Not you again!" Naruto screamed in despair.
Kakashi sighed disappointedly. It seemed like he could not depend on Naruto's summoning jutsu after all. He needed to come up with a strategy to kill the giant snake. There had to be some useful jutsu among the thousands that he had copied, right?
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Suddenly a familiar voice rose behind him. Kakashi turned around. It was Haruka -- what was she trying to summon?
A giant flash of gold together with a small tornado appeared as soon as Haruka pressed her hands on the ground. When Kakashi finally managed to open his eyes after rubbing a few grains of sand out of his exposed eye, he saw an enormous bird standing in front of him. The bird was the size of Gamabunta, and it was covered in golden feathers that shined like the sun. Kakashi quickly realized that Haruka's summon was a giant phoenix.
"Pleased see you again, Shiori-hime." The phoenix addressed Haruka politely. It had a soft and gentle voice, despite its formidable appearance.
Haruka opened her eyes wide in surprise. "Kogane-san, how could you possibly know my real name? I haven't seen you since I recovered my memory!"
"We phoenixes certainly know a lot." The phoenix chuckled softly, unwilling to reveal the secret of its species.
"And the phoenixes are extremely proud creatures. They will only serve humans with pure royal blood, am I right?" A voice rose behind Haruka. She turned around and found Kakashi.
"I read that in a book a long time ago." Kakashi explained. "I thought I remembered it wrong when you first told me that you could summon a phoenix, but turned out that you are a true princess." Kakashi smiled. They had a chance of winning now that they had a magical bird like this on their side.
"Ano… Kogane-san, this is Kakashi, he's a shinobi from the hidden village of Konoha." Haruka introduced. "Ah, so this is Kakashi-san." The phoenix said warmly. "I know of him, of course. His name is written all over your fate, hime-sama." Haruka blushed at the bird's comment, yet she could not hide the sweet smile forming on her face.
The bird turned to Kakashi and said, "I am pleased to meet you, Kakashi-san."
"Pleased to meet you too, Kogane-san, please just call me Kakashi." Kakashi returned the courtesy. He read in the same book that phoenixes were rather particular about formality and courtesy.
"Kogane-san, would you lend us your power to defeat Orochimaru and his snake?" Haruka asked eagerly.
"It will be my pleasure." The phoenix replied. "Please hop on."
Haruka took Kakashi's hand and hopped onto the bird's back together. Kogane immediately took off. "Kogane-san seems to like you." Haruka whispered in Kakashi's ear, sounding pleased. "Is that a big surprise?" Kakashi whispered back. "Well… Kogane-san can be pretty opinionated sometimes." Haruka stuck out her tongue, feeling a bit guilty about gossiping behind Kogane's back.
In order to tease Haruka, Kakashi faked a frown and asked, "Exactly how many boyfriend have you taken home to show Kogane-san?"
Haruka shot him a sidelong glance and said, "None, you are the first one."
"Oh?" Kakashi allowed himself to sound surprised. "So I'm officially a boyfriend now?" He smiled and watched with pleasure that Haruka's face had turned beet red.
Suddenly they heard Kogane's gentle voice, sounding like a kind but stern grandmother. "Children, you can flirt as much as you like after the battle, but we should focus on the battle for now. What should we do?"
It was Kakashi's turn to blush furiously under his mask. He and Haruka had been whispering in each other's ear the whole time. He did no expect Kogane to have heard the conversation. "Kogane-san," He replied respectfully. "I think it will be best if we can lead the giant snake away from the village and fight somewhere else. There are too many innocent villagers around here." Kakashi paused and thought for a moment. "There is a forest south of here, right between the Quartz Country and the Fire Country. Let's head over to that direction."
Kogane nodded in acknowledgement. It circled around the Kyodaija several times, pretending to peck the snake with its sharp beak. The giant snake immediately got angry and chased behind the golden phoenix, with Orochimaru and Kabuto standing on its back.
"Hold on tight." Kogane told Haruka and Kakashi as it picked up the speed and raced towards the forest. Kakashi turned around and was glad to see that the Kyodaija was following behind them tightly.
They were traveling at such high speed that Kakashi had to hold onto Kogane's feather with all his might in order to not fall off. Very soon, they could see the edge of the luscious green. "We're at the forest!" Kakashi yelled.
"I shall begin the attack then." Kogane said as it turned around and charged towards the snake.
It was a most fierce battle. The two summon animals attacked each other with every intention to kill, stirring the sky above and shaking the earth underneath along the way. Trees were cut down by the enormous flapping wings, rivers were destroyed by the giant slippery body. Kogane managed to cut the Kyodaija several times with its sharp beak, but it was also injured by the snake's fire on multiple parts of its body. The phoenix could feel its chakra reserve decreasing rapidly, but the snake was also becoming more sluggish by the minute. I must kill the snake before I run out of my chakra. Kogane told itself. It took a deep breath, gathered up its remaining chakra, and charged towards the Kyodaija one more time.
The four shinobi had also split up into two pairs. Haruka had taken on Kabuto in the forest. Both of them were medic nins. Both of them had precise chakra control and knew a lot about the human body. Haruka had the advantage of speed, but Kabuto was physically stronger. Neither of them could take down the other person easily, so it had become a game of endurance, a game in which the person who made a mistake first would die.
The battle between Kakashi and Orochimaru was an entirely different story. The copy nin who knew over a thousand jutsu might be a formidable opponent to many, but in front of the legendary sannin, Kakashi's jutsu were nothing but child's play. "Kakashi-kun, is that all you have got?" Orochimaru teased the copy nin mercilessly.
Kakashi simply bit his lips in frustration but did not say a single word. His mind was churning rapidly. He had already tried some of his most powerful jutsu, including the water jutsu that he copied from Momochi Zabuza. He did manage to put a few minor scratches on Orochimaru, but that was about it. What other jutsu could he try? What would work against such a powerful opponent? It would be great if he could somehow strike Orochimaru head on with a raikiri, but Orochimaru was too agile for that. In fact, Kakashi wasn't even sure if he could manage another raikiri. He used it three times already, and he had collected quite a few injuries during this fight. Even though none of the injuries was fatal, he had lost quite a bit of blood. In fact, he could already feel the dizziness kick in. Would he survive this battle at all?
Haruka was the first one to win her battle because she suddenly remembered that she still had a bottle of the forbidden substance on her. At a low concentration, the forbidden substance could act as a potent sedative. Haruka reached into her pocket and fished out the bottle of white fluid, and she immediately had an idea. She gathered chakra under her feet and charged towards Kabuto at full speed, with a long needle in one hand and the bottle of forbidden substance hidden in her other hand. She ran around Kabuto in circles, pretending to attack him with her needle, which Kabuto managed to dodge fairly easily as he was a rather skillful fighter himself. When the time was ready, Haruka crushed the glass bottle in her hand and threw its content towards Kabuto. Droplets of the innocent-looking fluid scattered in the air and landed on both Kabuto and Haruka. Since Haruka's body was used to the forbidden substance, such low amount did not affect her at all. However, as soon as Kabuto breathed in some of the fluid, he instantly lost his consciousness and collapsed onto the ground.
Haruka was about to stab a needle into Kabuto's heart to end his evil life once and for all when she saw from the corner of her eye that Kakashi was in an extremely dangerous situation. The copy nin had been cornered by Orochimaru, who was charging towards him with the kusanagi sword. Haruka immediately jumped up and threw herself at Orochimaru, forcing him to turn around and defend himself against her needle, giving Kakashi a chance to escape from the sword. Kakashi quickly ran towards Haruka so that they could face Orochimaru side by side.
"Heh heh heh heh." Orochimaru stuck out his snake-like tongue and licked his lips slowly. "There is nothing I enjoy more than killing a couple of young lovers." He turned to Kakashi. "Should I kill you in front of her first? Or should I do it the other way round?" Kakashi grunted angrily, but before he could say something back, a loud shriek resonated through the air and caused everyone to look up.
Kogane had gathered up all of it remaining chakra and managed an amazing attack at the Kyodaija. It charged towards the giant snake with so much force that it sliced the snake's body open with its beak. The Kyodaija shrieked in pain and collapsed, its thick and stenchy blood spilling all over the place.
Orochimaru growled in anger. He could not believe that both Kabuto and Kyodaija were taken down so easily. He was determined to take his anger out on the two young Konoha ninja in front of him. However, when he turned around, he was surprised to see that both Kakashi and Haruka had disappeared! They had apparently escaped right under his eyes when he was distracted by the defeat of his summon animal!
Kakashi and Haruka were hiding in a tiny cave nearby, snuggling close to each other like a couple of small animals. "Is Kogane ok?" Kakashi whispered.
"She's fine." Haruka said. "She has a few scrapes and burns and she runs out of chakra, so I sent her home. She will recover in a few days." Then she turned and looked at Kakashi's body. "Let me see your wounds…" She tried to reach her hand under his uniform, but Kakashi caught her hand. "That's not what a lady should do." He teased her. Then he said seriously. "Listen, Haruka, Orochimaru will find us here in no time. We need to think of a way to get you out of here safely. In a minute, I'm going to run out and distract Orochimaru, and once I have his attention, I want you to run towards the opposite direction at your full speed…"
However, Haruka pressed her hand firmly against his mouth and would not let him finish his sentence. "Kakashi baka." She said angrily. "You're going to die if you do that." Kakashi peeled her hand off his mouth. "But this way you will live." He protested. "Baka." Haruka repeated. "Do you seriously think that I can live on by myself if you die?"
Kakashi was rendered speechless by what Haruka said. He saw the emotions in her eyes, and he could tell that she meant every single word she said. He knew that he was in love with her and he would die for her any time, but he had no idea that she felt the same way with him. Suddenly Kakashi gave up protesting. Instead he laughed and said, "Fine, either we live together, or we die together." Then he added, "But we'd better stay alive because I have yet to kiss you properly."
Haruka smiled and nodded. The two of them hugged each other tightly, both feeling a strong desire to live. Suddenly Haruka sat up and said excitedly, "I have an idea!" Kakashi looked at her, wondering what the witty girl was thinking about. "Kakashi, do you remember that spider monster? The one you saved me from a long time ago?"
Kakashi of course remember that fearful monster.
Haruka continued. "It lives under the cliff just a little bit south of here, right? Just if we can get Orochimaru down the cliff, even he will have a hard time fighting that monster!" Then she frowned. "But how can we possibly get him to go down the cliff?"
"Genjutsu!" Kakashi suggested. "First we lure him to go near the cliff, then I can use genjutsu to trick him into thinking that the cliff doesn't exist, and then when we fight, ka-boom, we send him straight down the cliff."
Haruka was not entirely convinced. "Will regular genjutsu work on someone like Orochimaru?"
"I'm pretty sure that I can hold him for at least a few seconds. That should be enough." Kakashi said confidently. They could already hear Orochimaru's footstep coming closer to the little cave. "We don't have time to think anymore. Let's go."