Dawn's Sage
Chapter 14
"Chidori Sharp Spear!" Sasuke's Lightning Style shot out and impaled the clay butterfly in a display of great accuracy as it descended on them. His Sharingan noticed the explosive chakra contained in the bomb drop, but the concentration was simply too large to be negated by Lightning Style jutsu alone. So Sasuke didn't bother thinking at all and acted on instinct. "Fire Style: Solar Blade!" Fire chakra flowed down his sword before he threw it at the small creature. He didn't bother to aim beyond throwing the sword in the general direction of the clay sculpture, and Sasuke's sword missed by a mile.
"Hah! You think I didn't know about my weakness to Lightning Style? C3 is designed to overcome that weakness with raw power, yeah!" shouted Deidara. Sasuke and the others weren't listening, since Sasuke had tackled Hinata to the ground, and Shino had done the same with Kiba. Just then, the fire chakra contained in Sasuke's blade exploded outward without him to control it anymore. The orb of flames engulfed the butterfly, detonating it prematurely. The explosion almost reached them, but all Team Eight felt was a strong shockwave. "What…did you just…I'll turn you into art!"
Sasuke looked up at the mad bomber, and the gathering clouds behind her. "Not ready yet." murmured Sasuke. His sword landed several feet away, melted to slag for all intents and purposes. He'd have to get a new one if he lived through this. Deidara looked absolutely furious that her art had failed to eradicate the Leaf ninja like it was supposed to.
"That was supposed to be a masterpiece that would send you to see the rest of your clan, yeah. Depriving my art of its purpose is something I can't forgive." Deidara tossed a large amount of smaller bombs off the edge of her bird, opting to just carpet bomb the area below her. Sasuke decided to set the stage for his own masterpiece, realizing that it was likely the only way they were going to win. Even if he could win without it, the technique he had perfected with the hawks would likely kill another member of Akatsuki. Not even Naruto would be able to shrug off Sasuke's coup de grace.
"Fire Style: Engulfing Inferno!" It was a basic Fire Style jutsu, despite the threatening name. It was actually meant to be the first Fire Style jutsu taught to beginners, which was why the Uchiha clan ignored it entirely and skipped right to the Grand Fireball. It produced a wave of flame barely hot enough to warm dinner, but it made a lot of fire, and it was enough to destabilize Deidara's bombs, making them explode harmlessly in the air. "Now!"
The hawk above Deidara gave a large flap of its wings, launching blades of wind down on Deidara. The Akatsuki member was unharmed, but her clay mount was damaged enough to trigger its self-destruction. Deidara fell out of the smoke, frantically preparing more clay to keep her out of her opponent's reach. She wasn't quick enough though. "Wolf Fang Over Fang!" A large two headed wolf using the Fang Over Fang was much more dangerous than Kiba and Akamaru separately. There was no possible way short of teleportation that Deidara could evade an attack of this size from such close quarters.
Not that Deidara intended to dodge. "Become art, yeah! C2!" A large dragon sprung forth from Deidara's hands in a puff of smoke. It was quickly pulped by the large tornado, but the clay was enough to stop Kiba's attack. The wolf landed, far more gracefully than Deidara, but was evidently stuck in a mangled mess of what had been the dragon. "Boom."
The clay encasing Kiba exploded violently, and for the first time this fight, Deidara got to see her art do what it as supposed to do. Be beautiful and kill her enemies. She quickly began to prepare more while the sentimental Leaf ninja mourned the loss of their mutt. Except for Sasuke, who was sprinting right at her with a handful of lightning. His Chidori cut clean through her chest, blowing her heart to smithereens. Without the chakra to maintain the illusion, the clay clone returned to its regular white color and slumped around Sasuke's hand. It usually would have exploded, but unlike C3, Deidara's regular clay clones didn't have the chakra required to ignore Lightning Style jutsu.
The real Deidara's head emerged from underground some distance away. She jumped up onto a crane which was hopefully stronger than her hawk had been, and lacked the self destruction of older models. She flew upwards, set on blowing that hawk summon to smithereens before focusing once more on the Leaf ninja below. It wasn't like they could reach her.
"I'm going to skip the chakra eating. These parasitic insects carry a poison deadly even to me. Once they get under your skin, not even Tsunade could heal you. You'll die." Deidara looked up to see Shino's bugs congregating in a massive sphere. "Why you ask? BECAUSE YOU KILLED MY FRIEND!" Shino stood below, his face contorted in one of his rarely seen emotions, rage. "Secret Technique: Beetle Sphere!" The purple orb of insects began to descend on Deidara, who quickly maneuvered out of the way on her clay bird.
The beetles were nothing if not persistent, and while Deidara was handily outrunning them now, she knew that if she let up for even a second she would be engulfed. She whirled around to throw some explosive clay at the bugs, but they simply absorbed the losses and continued their relentless pursuit. Deidara hated to resort to such drastic measures, but she really wanted to stick it to these Leaf ninja, and there's no kill like overkill.
Deidara pulled out a piece of clay, and grimaced before putting it in her mouth and chewing. Ironically, for someone whose entire lifestyle revolved around chewing clay, she hated the taste. She spit it out in an action more akin to throwing up than actually spitting, and the clay rose into the form of one of the most beautiful things in existence. The new bomb was a spitting image of Deidara herself, enlarged several dozen times. Deidara wiped the excess clay from her lower lip in disgust, and shouted out to the Leaf ninja below. "This is my ultimate art, yeah! You won't survive this one, even if it is scaled back so it doesn't kill my comrades!"
The large Deidara bloated as if to burst while the real one retreated to a safe distance. She was glad to see the looks of terror in the faces of the Leaf ninja as they watched the piece of art get ever closer to completion. She would have to something about the C4 making her look fat before it burst though. It was just downright unflattering. Shino's bugs stopped attacking to swarm around him defensively, making a tightly packed ball of beetles. Hinata dropped down into a defensive stance of the Gentle Fist, ready to use her Protection of Sixty-Four Palms at a moment's notice. Sasuke was putting his Sharingan to good use, using the jutsu he had copied from Deidara to hide beneath the ground.
Once the C4 had stretched as much as it could, making Deidara rather frustrated at her chubby portrayal, it burst in a cloud of smoke. The lack of explosion was perplexing, especially given the hype Deidara's C4 had received. Deidara however, looked like a cat with a fish. She alone knew that this was only the first part of C4. Once she made the seal, the microscopic bombs scattered about by her lackluster first bomb would explode, decimating anything in their range on a cellular level.
Sasuke's Sharingan noticed the air become heavily saturated in Deidara's chakra, and noticed the Akatsuki member staying well away from the cloud of the stuff. He had no idea what it meant, but it wasn't good. Deidara had likely found a way to make the very air explode or something. He Body Flickered over to Hinata and then pulled her along to the top of the wall, outside of the range of Deidara's chakra. "Sasuke, what are you-AAAAHHhhh!" Hinata was unceremoniously cut off by Sasuke electrocuting her with a weaker version of the Chidori Stream. He had already done it to himself to render the chakra he had inhaled useless, but his body was more accustomed to the electricity of the Chidori. Hinata's wasn't, and she collapsed into unconsciousness, though the explosives inside her were disabled. Sasuke jumped off the wall, intent of rescuing Shino as well.
"Oh no you don't, yeah! C4!" Deidara formed the seal, and just like that, it was over. Sasuke ran another Chidori through his system to clear out any of the chakra he inhaled on his way to Shino, but Shino had no such tactics, or even any idea what was going on. He could only stare in horror as first his bugs dissolved into dust, followed shortly be his own body. The method of explosion kept him alive for a few seconds of excruciating pain, then death.
"Ha! Two down, and two to go, yeah!" Deidara paused her condescending laughter when an explosion of downright malevolent chakra exploded from another section of Kakashi's walls. "Well, there's our jinchuriki, yeah."
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"Right, pissed equals power for jinchuriki. Of which you are one." mused Hidan as Sora waved his four tails behind him menacingly. "Guess that means I'm not allowed to kill you. Shit. Would've loved to wipe you all out. Naruto should handle his own damned target."
Sora's judgment was clouded by his rage at Choji's death, and the short freak that had killed him. Any plan Shikamaru had concocted for their survival went out the window in favor of breaking the man in front of him with overwhelming force. He rushed forward, and Hidan lowered his scythe to accommodate. Sora's attack was anything but subtle, opting to shatter anything and everything that he touched with burning chakra and sheer force. Hidan wore a shit-eating grin as he deflected the wild attacks. Akatsuki member were chosen to fight jinchuriki, and he loved a good challenge, even if he couldn't kill the challenge when he was done.
Sora's tails lashed out, but were knocked away by Hidan's scythe, which he swung around as an impromptu shield. Hidan stepped inside Sora's guard and slammed his weapon's three blades into Sora's chest. The demonic chakra however, stopped the strike from penetrating. Sora's right hand reared back before whipping around and smacked Hidan away like a pebble. Hidan pushed his way out of the wall, a wild grin on his face. The two berserkers rushed at each other once again, neither one caring that killing the other seemed impossible.
Hidan batted Sora's claws away, and kicked the jinchuriki across the face. Sora rolled with the momentum, using his tails to smack Hidan away from the wall. The Akatsuki member landed several feet from the edge, using his scythe as a means of slowing his flight. He looked up, ready to counter the jinchuriki again, and was confused to see him just sitting there like a dog waiting for a treat. The Hidan noticed the chakra.
Small balls of light blue and dark red chakra were slowly coming together into a dark black ball above Sora's mouth. The final product was significantly smaller than a real Tailed Beast Ball, but Hidan could tell it was still dangerous. Once al the smaller bits of chakra were absorbed, the black sphere suddenly got even smaller, and the ground beneath the jinchuriki buckled under the density of the chakra. Sora stretched his neck out and swallowed the marble sized ball of death, and Hidan could see even from such a distance the miniature Tailed Beast Ball traveling down his throat. Sora's chakra body bloated to epic proportions as the chakra exploded inside of him. He tried to hold it in as long as possible, but when he did let loose the chakra, Sora made sure it was aimed at Hidan.
Dodging wouldn't have worked, since the laser of chakra was simply too large to avoid with anything short of a Space-Time jutsu. The beam engulfed Hidan completely, and while most human beings would have been completely disintegrated, S-Rank ninja were a cut above the rest. When the attack died down, Hidan stood right where he had been before. His Akatsuki cloak was little more than tattered rags around his shoulders, and his skin was burned like he had been tossed into a furnace for several days. The only reason the attack hadn't carried him several miles away into the next mountain was because Hidan had taken the initiative to drive two black spikes straight through his feet, pinning them to the ground.
"YES! FUCKING YES! THIS IS THE BEST PAIN IMAGINABLE!" yelled Hidan as he tore the spikes out of his feet. "THIS IS A GREAT TRIBUTE TO JASHIN!" The silver haired man took a few deep breaths, and calmed himself down. "I just wish you could have experienced it too. I'll try to give you the best approximation I can." Hidan twisted the handle of his scythe, and the lower tow blades fell off of the weapon. Hidan caught them, and set them reverently on the ground at his feet, along with his two retractable spears. Without his cloak, Sora, Shikamaru, and Ino were given a clear view of the absurdly long cable that Hidan unwound from his left thigh, placing it alongside his other weapons.
Hidan took off, aiming at Sora. His new speed was frightening, and made his previous attack speed seem like he had been moving through molasses. Despite losing two blades, his scythe packed a lot more kick than before as well, likely due to the decreased weight allowing Hidan to swing it faster. Sora could attest to the effectiveness, and before he realized it, Hidan was slamming him around like a dog with a chew toy. Thanks to the Nine Tail's chakra covering him from head to toe, Sora managed to avoid getting cut, but the number and strength of the blows raining down on his hurt all the same.
"I'm only the slowest member of Akatsuki because I like my opponents to suffer the wrath of Jashin! But with your demonic chakra, I don't have to worry about killing you too soon! It's fucking wonderful!" Hidan continued to shout things to this effect while he battered Sora. The jinchuriki tried to strike back, but Hidan was able to easily knock the counter attacks aside with his deadly scythe. Shikamaru got over his shock and tried to help his friend, and his shadow shot out towards Hidan as quickly as he could make it.
Which wasn't fast enough. Hidan swung his scythe up to knock Sora upside the face, then let it continue on to dig into the ground behind him. He used the scythe as a pivot point to flip backwards as the shadow went straight through where he had been a second ago. Hidan landed deftly on his feet, and tugged the scythe out of the ground as he ran towards Shikamaru and Ino. Shikamaru retracted his shadow, but Hidan was coming at them faster than the shadow was, and Sora was still recovering from Hidan's barrage of attacks.
The only reason Hidan didn't kill Shikamaru then and there was because of Ino. "Clan Technique: Mind Transfer!" Hidan had already seen her healing Shikamaru earlier, and dismissed her as a simple medic, but Ino was also a Yamanaka, and had deeply studied the mind, and her clan's techniques relating to it. Not expecting it, and caught running right into it to get at them as quickly as possible, Hidan was hit dead between the eyes with the mind controlling technique.
Hidan's body gave a rather uncharacteristic hop, and he clapped his heels together while he did it. "I did it! Ino Yamanaka has saved you, you're welcome." If he had been more in control of his mind, Sora might have noticed that it was really Ino, not Hidan holding a scythe and wearing the tattered remains of an Akatsuki cloak. Unfortunately, Sora was little more of a condensed ball of rage directed solely at Hidan, a person Ino had the misfortune of currently being. Sora ran up behind her, and still unused to the body's controls, Ino was unable to react in time.
Hidan's body was pounded into the ground like a nail, and Ino's eye's rolled up into the back of her head. Now alone in his own mind, Hidan was free to curse once more. "God damn it, that hurt!" Hidan was cut off by Sora, who was far too enraged to stop with just one attack. He pounded Hidan on the head again, using both hands and dropping them with enough force to shatter the ground Hidan was trapped in. Hidan used the opportunity to escape, grabbing his scythe on the way out.
Sora roared once more in rage, and Hidan smiled back. Sora ran at him on all fours, and struck out with his tails to close the gap faster. Hidan weaved around the tails as they impacted the ground around him, but wasn't agile enough to dodge Sora's fist. The blow connected squarely with Hidan's stomach, but the immortal simply grabbed hold of the limb and used it to flip Sora in an impressive display of strength. The burns left by the demonic chakra covering Sora like a second skin would have put most ninja out of the fight, but Hidan was just getting interested.
"So do you experience this pain all over your body like this? I might have misjudged you." said Hidan, honestly jealous of the amount of pain the jinchuriki was likely experiencing. "So I'll do you a favor and let you experience the most sublime pain in existence! Let's go together!" Hidan's scythe began to glow blue as small blades of chakra formed to make the weapon appeared spiked along the edges. "Blood Tribute to Jashin: Chainslaughter!" As if cued by his voice, the spike began to spin quickly, giving the whole scythe a coating of rotating chakra blades.
Hidan and Sora rushed each other to the high pitched whine of Hidan's chakra flow technique. They clashed, and both were too berserk to worry about dodging the other's attack. Hidan gained three parallel cuts deep into his chest from Sora's claws, and the Akatsuki member's most penetrating attack only scored a shallow cut through the demon chakra. The jinchuriki's chakra coat quickly healed and covered the wound, but Hidan already had what he wanted. Sora was too far gone to the beast to noticed the change, but Hidan's skin became black as pitch once more save for the skeletal markings on his exposed flesh.
The Akatsuki member dodged several swipes from the jinchuriki's chakra appendages, both tails and unnaturally elongated arms to make it back to the circle of blood he had prepared earlier. Shikamaru noticed the destination and left from attending to Ino to go on the offensive. His shadow acted for him, allowing the lazy Nara to take part in the battle of monster from a safe distance. Hidan was too focused on the jinchuriki, and while he managed to make it into his circle, he was almost instantly trapped by Shikamaru's shadow.
"Fuck it all! I can't move, damn it!" Hidan struggled against the technique, actually managing to wiggle a good millimeter or two in either direction. While he was still gritting his teeth to maintain the chakra output needed for the jutsu and the concentration to restrain someone as strong as Hidan, Shikamaru sighed in relief. As long as he could hold the Akatsuki member until the jonin team could get here, they had won. No one else had to get hurt.
Sora didn't care about the plan in his current state though. He only saw the person he was angry at standing still. He ran at the trapped Akatsuki member and swung at Hidan's face as hard as he could. There was an audible snap, like his neck had broken, but Hidan just straightened his head back like nothing had happened. Connected as they were, Sora's head snapped to the side as well, but the demonic chakra coursing through him healed the normally debilitating wound almost instantly. Fueled by uncomprehending rage, Sora continued to beat Hidan to a pulp, getting weaker with each hit as he damaged himself as well. Hidan stood there laughing in ecstasy with each hit. Shikamaru held the jutsu, knowing that if Hidan got any momentum, he would escape the Shadow Possession with ease. That didn't make it any easier to watch his friend hurting himself like this.
Eventually, the pain became too much for even Sora's demonic stamina to take, and he collapsed to the ground. Two of his tails disappeared as he slipped in and out of consciousness, and the chakra became transparent, revealing the beaten jinchuriki inside. Hidan continued to laugh maniacally, despite looking the same, if not worse. "Is this all you can take, you little fucker? You'll never earn Jashin's favor like that! Once I can move again' we'll experience the ultimate pain together!"
Sora's current place on the ground offered a perfect view of the hole in the wall that Kakuzu's thread creature had broken through before into the area that Asuma and the others were fighting in. Sora was unable to muster the strength to move, even his head, and simply stared through the hole. A second later, his chakra exploded in a roar of pure fury. His chakra obscured his whole body, healing any wounds instantly. Hidan and Shikamaru looked on in surprise and horror at the nine red tails of chakra that casually swished through the air behind him.
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Naruto, despite his youth, was proving himself to have earned the title S-Rank ninja. The youngest Akatsuki member dodged attacks that could actually harm him while ignoring the attacks that couldn't. Ever since Sakura had punched him across the forest like a fresh genin, he had devoted quite a bit of time to discerning what attacks would hurt him at all and which were useless. His new, more efficient method of fighting enabled him to practically dance through the four jonin with ease. He was so good at taking all of their attention, the Leaf ninja barely noticed as Kakuzu's threads flew through the walls separating them from the others.
Kurenai attempted to trap him in genjutsu after genjutsu, layering them, using extremely powerful ones, using subtle ones, and every other trick in the book. While alone she wouldn't have lasted a minute, each time Naruto had to dispel a genjutsu, it forced him pause for a split second, which was usually all an experienced jonin needed. Against another experienced ninja who could afford to take a hit though, it wasn't nearly enough.
"Severe Leaf Hurricane!" Naruto ducked Gai's first kick, and blocked the second sweeping kick. The punch that landed squarely between his eyes sent him skidding back. Asuma ran at him, pressing the advantage that the Leaf ninja had gained. He opted for a straight jab, augmented of course by his Flying Swallow. Naruto met the punch squarely with his own, and the two practically bumped knuckles. Naruto was left with a straight cut about half an inch deep along his knuckles that healed quickly. Asuma was sent flying head over heels, and when he stood up, his right arm hung limply at his side.
Naruto broke another genjutsu, sending him off the surface of the sun back to the life and death battle against four of the Hidden Leaf's most powerful jonin. Kakashi's Lightning Blade was deflected harmlessly, and the copy ninja received an elbow to the face for his trouble.
"Kakashi, this isn't working." said Kurenai frantically. She had foregone physical combat, but chakra exhaustion was beginning to take its toll. "We need something bigger!" Kakashi nodded in agreement.
"I have just the thing. Gai, I'll need you to press the advantage. Don't hold back." The Sharingan user turned to face Naruto grimly. "All the jutsu I've copied, let me show them to you! Multi Shadow Clone Technique!" Thirty copies of Kakashi appeared in puffs of smoke, each significantly weaker than the original. It was far less than the fabled one thousand, but the number likely included some ridiculously idiotic jutsu and a great deal of hyperbole. Many jutsu were likely slightly changed with a brand new name slapped on. Naruto sensed the first jutsu coming a mile away, and jumped into the air to avoid the clone that tried to drag him into the earth from below.
The Shadow Clones jumped away from their point of origin to surround Naruto. "Water Style: Water Dragon!" "Fire Style: Grand Fireball!" "Wind Style: Great Devastation!" "Earth Style: Stone Edge!" "Lightning Style: Volt Wave!" "Wind Style: Tornado Buster!" "Fire Style: Hades Drive!" "Lightning Style: Hammer Bolt!" "Water Style: Grand Maelstrom!" "Earth Style: Earthquake Booster!" "Fire Style: Phantom Fire Shot!" "Water Style: Poseidon Wave!" "Wind Style: Tornado Wing!" "Lightning Style: Electro Web!" "Earth Style: Drill Run!" "Secret Taijutsu Technique of the Hidden Leaf: Thousand Years of Death!" "Water Style: Infinite Assault!" "Wind Style: Claw of the Storm!" "Water Style: Hydro Hydra!" "Fire Style: Inferno Claw!" "Earth Style: Avalanche Lance!" "Lightning Style: Hyper Shocker!" "Wind Style: Driver Force!" "Earth Style: Terra Blast!" "Lightning Style: Fusion Bolt!" "Genjutsu: False Trickery!" "Water Style: Hydro Rush!" "Fire Style: Blazing Beam!" "Rasengan!" "Wind Style: Zephyr Shredder!" "Lightning Style: Lightning Blade!"
The barrage of ninjutsu came all at once, engulfing Naruto in a flurry of death that was overkill by anyone's definition. Once they collided with Naruto midair, they more or less merged into a column of flames, lightning, and rock surrounded by steam. All the individual characteristics were lost to the wave of devastation chakras. The massive conflagration was cut clean in half by Kakashi's signature technique, leaving a streak of Lightning Chakra in a straight line through the Akatsuki member. It was a glancing blow, but Kakashi was impressed he had even hit Naruto when he was so obscured by the various jutsu. "Gai, do it now!" shouted Kakashi.
"Right!" Gai crossed his arms for a moment, and then he lowered then suddenly as his chakra exploded. "Seventh Gate: Open!" Gai's internal body temperature shot up as well, causing the Green Beast to sweat profusely from every inch of his body. In testament to how saturated his body was with chakra, his sweat practically glowed blue with excess chakra as it exited his body, and the sheer heat from his body caused it to evaporate immediately. The result was an intimidating blue flame that covered him entirely.
Gai punched in Naruto's direction faster than anyone could see, even with the Sharingan, creating a truly massive amount of pressure. Then, even faster than the pressure, Gai placed his hands in front of it in a unique seal to shape the pressure as it passed through, directing it at the wounded Akatsuki member in the air. "Evening Tiger!" The seal imparted the shape of a tiger onto the pressure wave, hence the name. It slammed into Naruto, sending him flying high into the air before exploding violently.
"Did that do it?" asked Asuma warily, holding his useless right arm tenderly. "Did we get him?" Asuma's questions were answered when Naruto's body fell from the sky several meters away, creating a large crater upon impact. They looked on in shock as the blonde sage shakily got to his feet, wiping the blood away from his eye that came down from a wound on his head. His Akatsuki cloak was in tatters at this point, and he was barely any better. His left arm was clearly broken, and it was healing far slower than usual.
He turned his scowl onto the two exhausted jonin that had wounded him so. "You will both die. But first I'm going to show you how outclassed you are. I'm still capable of taking you all on!" Naruto punctuated his last sentence by grabbing the kunai headed towards his neck. Kurenai had though to catch him off guard while he was still wounded, but it was clear that wouldn't work. "You'll be first then!" Naruto flipped her over his shoulder, driving Kurenai into the ground. While she was still gasping in pain, he delivered a kick across her face. Naruto would never admit it, but he was weakened by the combination of ninjutsu and taijutsu that he had just been subjected to, and his kick lacked any killing potential. He raised his hand up, readying a punch that would kill Kurenai even if she was several feet below the ground.
"Kurenai!" Asuma shouted with concern, running forward with his right arm listlessly trailing behind him. There was no way Asuma could make it in time to stop Naruto from killing Kurenai, and Kakashi was fighting to stay conscious after his ninjutsu barrage, a desperate ploy that had used a lot of chakra. That left Gai, who in his current state, was of no help at all. Opening seven of the eight gate had torn almost every muscle in his entire body. Every breeze caused excruciating agony at the moment, and moving would feel a thousand times worse. Still, he was the only one who could save Kurenai, and he had to do what he had to do to stop Akatsuki.
Naruto was hit before he could even sense Gai move, and he was even late hearing the sound of the technique that knocked him away from Kurenai. "Gate of Death: Open!" Gai stood, coated once more in the raw power of his chakra, and his muscles had bulged to ridiculous proportions. At the moment, his thigh was thicker than most people's torsos. Naruto had felt the blow through Sage Mode's protection, and it hurt. Gai spoke up again, and Naruto could only watch in awe. "I won't allow you to harm my comrades any longer. If you insist on forsaking your youth, then I'll just take it from you!"
"Gai, if you've opened all Eight Gates…" Kakashi trailed off as his eternal rival offered a small smile in response.
"I know Kakashi. I've enjoyed our rivalry, but at least I'll go out in the prime of my youth, securing the youth of my pupils." said Gai, without his usual exuberance.
"I'm not over the hill yet, you know." mumbled Kakashi as he struggled to his feet, only to collapse back to his knees a second later.
"I know old friend, but leave this one to me." The premier taijutsu expert of the Hidden Leaf turned to face his target, and Naruto almost flinched from the oppressive feeling of Gai's anger. "You'll be finished by the ultimate Taijutsu technique. The Midnight Dragon." Naruto frantically began hand seals to end Gai before he could get close, but before he even finished the first one, his hand were stopped by Gai's right hand.
The Green Beast's face contorted in rage as he tightened his grip, breaking Naruto's fingers, even through Sage Mode. Naruto didn't have time to dwell on the pain, since he immediately found Gai's fist buried in his gut. The blow was powerful enough to shatter the ribs of even a sage, and Naruto spit up a fair bit of blood from the blow. His mouth was snapped shut by a rising kick before Naruto even realized that Gai had let go of his hands. Naruto managed to open one eye as he flew up, and saw Gai far above him anyway. The dark, cloud covered sky grew even darker in comparison to the bright light gathering around Gai's fist. "If I don't, who will? Midnight Dragon!" Gai streaked downwards, his fist wreathed in flames of both chakra and friction, shaped like the roaring head of a furious dragon.
The shockwave of the punch hit first, driving Naruto into the ground with ten times the force of the Afternoon Tiger. The flaming punch landed next, breaking the ground around Naruto's landing spot into pieces so small they might have qualified as sand. Gai stumbled back from the impact sight for a few steps as his skin returned to its normal shade and his muscles seemed to deflate. He collapsed to the ground face first, dead. It was testament to his strength that his body was even intact, as the recoil damage from the Midnight Dragon was usually enough to vaporize even the user. Even so, Gai had escaped with all but his right arm intact.
The three living jonin were simply stunned by the display of power that rivaled Tailed Beasts, likely dwarfing the weaker ones. Gai was a legendary ninja, who would have tale of his strength spread for centuries. The Leaf ninja were just beginning to realize that despite losing Gai, they had managed to kill an Akatsuki member when it happened. Just as they were about to leave and go help other teams fight Akatsuki, or more likely quit while they were ahead, a long tongue came flying out of the impact site, heading straight for Kurenai. She was too stunned from earlier to dodge, and Kakashi was still half dead from his massive attack spree to help. Asuma however, reacted in time, unceremoniously shoving her out to the ground. The Fighting Tongue Slash impaled the Third Hokage's son through the chest, piercing his heart and killing him instantly.
Kakashi and Kurenai followed the tongue, which retracted back to the source, to Naruto. The young Akatsuki member was lying on his back in a pool of his own blood, facing the Leaf jonin with a look of pure hate on his face. Kakashi's hand lit up with a Chidori to finish what his eternal rival had started, when a massive explosion of demonic chakra rocked the area. The walls separating them had finally had enough, and they collapsed to reveal Sora, clad in the Nine Tail's chakra with nine red tails behind him. Naruto didn't see it, since his wounds had finally taken their toll and he collapsed into unconsciousness.
Deidara looked down from her clay beast to see her partner in more dire straits than she had ever seen him in, and entered a quick dive to get him. Distracted as they were by the Tailed Beast's escape from the seal, no one but Sasuke noticed her clay pelican swallow Naruto. The Uchiha in question followed her escape from the scene on his hawk, cutting her off.
"I won't let you two leave here alive." he threatened, obviously tired, but obviously determined.
"What are you going to do, yeah? I've seen you using big jutsu this whole time, you must be running on empty right about now." counter Deidara, reading Sasuke's body language rather well.
"I might be almost out of chakra, but I still have enough left for my trump card." Sasuke's hand began to crackle with lightning, and Deidara became acutely aware of the storm clouds they were very close to. "I wanted to show this to Naruto. A jutsu that harnesses the power of nature itself. The hawk's didn't have the secret to Sage Moe, but they did help me perfect this. This technique will guide the lightning trapped in these clouds down on your head faster than you can blink. This jutsu's name… IS KIRIN!"
The lightning in Sasuke's hand shot up into the sky, and the lightning behind him took the form of a massive dragon, silhouetting the youngest Uchiha against it. "Wait!" shouted Deidara frantically. "You can kill us, but there are still eight other members of Akatsuki! But if you let your jinchuriki friend keep rampaging down there, he'll kill all your friends from the village, yeah!"
Sasuke couldn't deny her logic, looking down at his allies frantically trying to fight both the Akatsuki members and the indiscriminate jinchuriki. "You're jutsu might be able to stop a rampaging jinchuriki, yeah. Us, or your friends? We're leaving now anyway, and Hidan and Kakuzu have no reason to stick around." Sasuke only had a second before he lost hold on his ace in the hole.
"Vanish in the thunder… KIRIN!" Sasuke's hand came down like a judge's gavel declaring a guilty verdict, and the dragon of lightning flew back into the heavens. Then it came crashing down in an instant. In a flash of light, the battle field had been rearranged into a pile of rubble, but only the target had been actually hit with Sasuke's most powerful jutsu. Lying in the deepest part of the crater, lay Sora. The jinchuriki that had been in an inconsolable fury moments before was now devoid of any demonic chakra, which had all retreated into his seal to focus on healing the wounds inflicted by the Kirin.
Deidara looked pleased and relieved at the same time, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Sasuke was kneeling on his hawk, entirely out of chakra after his ace had been used. Tears of blood slid down his face, and when he opened his eyes, the Sharingan had changed pattern to three overlapping red ovals outlined in black on a black background. "Those eyes… just like Itachi…" Deidara looked on in awe at the newly awakened Mangekyo Sharingan before regaining some composure. "In one month, come to the closest Uchiha hideout alone. Itachi will be waiting there for you."
Itachi's challenge was issued not a moment too soon, as Sasuke collapsed onto his hawk in exhaustion, though the hawk had the decency to lower him to the ground before going home. Deidara allowed herself a smirk. She had felt the attacks Naruto had taken to put him in such bad shape, and they wouldn't be in vain. One of her Earth Clones burst from the ground, grabbed the unconscious jinchuriki and hopped on a clay hawk in a matter of seconds. Deidara had hid the clone with the sculpture before the fight had began, just in case of such an eventuality. Though she never imagined Naruto getting this messed up. She put as much distance between herself and the Leaf Ninja as possible, both to secure the jinchuriki and get her partner some medical attention.
The surviving Leaf ninja below could only mourn their losses.
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"I'm perfectly aware of why there are two corpses over my shoulders, but they difficult to get out of there. Why did you bother to drag this corpse along with you?" asked Kakuzu, gesturing to his partner with his elbow.
"I promised Jashin I would butcher this fat ass, and I intend to keep that promise. Trust me, it's a pain in my ass too." retorted Hidan. He hefted Choji's body to ease the pain on his wrist afterwards. He just did not know how Kakuzu made it look so easy. Then again, his bodies weren't as large.
"At least you aren't mutilating any money. What happened to the jinchuriki you were fighting?" asked Kakuzu. The bounty hunter honestly didn't see what had happened to the Nine Tails. He was far too busy getting his own targets. He would have liked to get Kakashi too, but he would settle for Asuma Sarutobi and Might Gai.
"Fuck if I know. One second he was going all crazy, and then there was that giant lightning bolt, and poof! No more Tailed Beast." summarized Hidan, complete with one handed gestures to emphasize his point.
"We have another one." Kakuzu simply grunted as Pain's voice came through their rings, but Hidan wouldn't be content unless he had something to whine about.
"We fucking know that already, we were there Jashin damn it." grumbled the silver haired immortal. He looked around the clearing they were situated in, and fell to the ground. "This place is as good as any. Let's get this sealing over with." For once, Kakuzu was in agreement with his partner, and he leaned his bounties up against a nearby tree.
"So what required me to 'get your body'?" asked Kakuzu.
"Ah, the fucking jinchuriki ad some crazy sharp claws, sliced my head clean off." replied Hidan nonchalantly. "What about you, huh? Have any trouble with your little shits?"
"I lost two hearts, but I got some decent replacements. I'll need to pick up a new mask to cover the second one though. We'll need to get you a new cloak as well." said Kakuzu, gesturing to the cloak that Hidan was wearing at the moment, little more than a partial web of black threads.
"Huh, guess we will." mused Hidan. A nasty grin spread across his face as a way to annoy his partner. "Hey Kakuzu, how much do you think those cloaks cost? They're pretty durable, must cost a small fortune apiece." Hidan's grin only grew as he saw Kakuzu's face contort with the idea of wasting money. "Maybe I could fight naked to save you some cash, huh?"
Kakuzu's eyes snapped open immediately, and he turned to face his partner. "You will be getting a new cloak at the next possible opportunity. I will pay for it myself if you don't have the cash." Hidan was slightly taken aback at the out of character gesture, and then burst out laughing. He had finally found something Kakuzu would part with money for!
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"Damn it!" shouted Shikamaru as he pounded a fist against the tree he was leaning up against. Sasuke looked on silently. He felt for Shikamaru. He had lost teammates too, but at least Sasuke had been allowed to give their bodies a proper burial. Shikamaru didn't even get that privilege. "We didn't kill any of them, and on top of it all, they got Sora too! Damn it!"
"That's not necessarily true." said Kakashi soberly. "Gai might have died, but he hit Naruto with an attack no one has ever survived. His 'Sage Mode' might have kept him alive long enough to attack us again, but he likely didn't survive the wounds."
The thought was nice, but Sasuke didn't have that much hope left. He didn't have any hope actually. All he had left was sorrow, which converted into rage, which he converted into power to get revenge. And now a chance to get that revenge had presented itself on a silver platter in front of him, courtesy of a choice he wished he hadn't made. He should have struck down the two members of Akatsuki when he had the chance, but he had valued his friends above his vengeance. So that was the price for these eyes that Itachi had spoken of.
"But we've lost so many friends, and Akatsuki still won." murmured Hinata meekly. Kurenai came up behind the girl, and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Sora, Choji, Lee, Neji, Sai, Gai sensei, Asuma sensei, and…" Tears welled up in Hinata's white eyes when she came to her teammates names. It was part loss, and part survivor's guilt. Coupled with the brutal manner of their deaths, and Hinata couldn't think about it without the emotions coming back as strong as when they were fresh.
The list of their dead friends destroyed any semblance of victory the Leaf ninja might have begun to have. "We just have to become stronger then, for them. Keep moving forward and ensure that their sacrifice wasn't in vain." said Sasuke resolutely. His Sharingan unconsciously spun into the Mangekyo Sharingan, though he closed his eyes to prevent the others from seeing. It was his burden. "Whatever Akatsuki wants with the Tailed Beasts, it can't be good for the other eight, or the village that they belong to. Akatsuki threatens them all, so we'll need to work together with the other villages to stop them."
Kakashi cut him off, sighing sadly. "Normally I would agree with you, but who would we work with? The scars of war re fresh with the Hidden Rock, and Hinata can tell you what happened the last time we tried negotiating with the Hidden Cloud Village. It isn't common knowledge, but the Third Mizukage once tried to release the Three Tails in the Leaf Village to destroy it, and killed one of the Fourth Hokage's students in the process. The only village we could ask for help we already have. And other than Gaara, the Hidden Sand doesn't have the forces needed to fight evenly with Akatsuki without crippling their own village."
"Kakashi's right, I'm afraid." said Kurenai gravely. "The cycles of war has removed any chance of cooperation between the Great Villages."
"Then we turn to the minor villages!" suggested Sasuke. "If there are Nine Tailed Beasts, then all the villages would have two except for one. But both the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Sand only had one. Either one village has three, or a minor village somewhere has a jinchuriki. We need to help protect them."
Kakashi's eye widened as he realized what Sasuke was saying. "True. The Hidden Waterfall was given a Tailed Beast by the First Hokage. Supposedly, he felt they would become strong enough to threaten the peace he had crafted after an assassin from the village tried to kill him. They disowned the assassin to avoid a war, but they still got a Tailed Beast. We've never been to war with them, so they might be willing to help us."
"I know it's a long shot, but we can't let Akatsuki just take what they want." said Sasuke angrily. "We need to at least fight for the world we have."
"Still, this isn't for us to decide." said Kakashi. "I'll suggest it to Lady Tsunade though when we arrive at home. Let's go."
Sasuke smiled to himself sadly. He was glad that his ideas had been passed on. It was very likely he wouldn't be alive in a month, but he would try his hardest to live though this destined battle against the man who had killed his family.
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Kyoya and Ginji were rather shady individuals. The two actually did operate a legitimate bank on the southeastern edge of the Land of Fire, but their real profit came from the fee they got for managing the fund of an even more unscrupulous individual named Kakuzu. It was only a fraction of a percent of his total finances per year, but the 'tiny' amount was enough to make them two incredibly rich people by normal standards.
"Should we have red wine or white wine with dinner tonight?" asked Ginji. His partner in crime thought about it for a moment before replying.
"Dare I say it, both?" Kyoya grinned wildly at his suggestion. He was incredibly proud of their ill gotten fortune and willing to flaunt it at any given opportunity. Not that Ginji didn't. "Shall I send for it, old friend?"
"Why not?" replied Ginji. He leaned over to hit the intercom and send his assistant out for a rather lavish dinner. Just as he was about to hit the button, his assistant burst into the room.
"I'm sorry sir, I told her we're closed right now, but she just barged right in and…" she stammered out. Ginji was a tad annoyed. Then he saw who was behind his assistant.
"Actually, it's okay. This is an old friend. We'll talk in the back. You know what, take the rest of the day off." he said, staring wide eyed at the lady standing in his doorway. His assistant was a bit surprised at her good luck, but she wasn't paid to ask questions. Ginji turned to the person he hoped might double their profits. "And how can we help you? You are an acquaintance of Mr. Kakuzu, yes?"
"Zip it. I don't care about money, yeah." she deadpanned. "You know people in my line of work. Darker people. Plus, you were the only Akatsuki contacts close enough."
Slightly deflated at the prospect of a new account closing before it could open, Kyoya and Ginji still weren't stupid enough to bite the hand that fed, clothed, and housed them. "What can we do for you madam?" said Kyoya eloquently, all signs of his true unprofessional self gone in the blink of an eye.
"I need to find a guy named Orochimaru. He's the only guy I can trust for this job, and I need to find him quickly. If you can't help, I'll turn you into pieces of art. Shitty art." threatened Deidara.
"W-we don't know exactly where he is…" started Ginji, only to quickly finish his sentence when Deidara reached under her Akatsuki cloak for some clay. "H-he's always moving around, I swear! B-but he has a hideout near here. I can mark it on a map if you'd like!" Deidara thrust out a map, and Ginji shakily marked the area of Orochimaru's hideouts on the map.
"This can't be right, that's the middle of the ocean." observed Deidara skeptically.
"It's an island prison for his experiments. We've never done much business with the man, so we only know the location of the one, I swear." informed Kyoya.
Deidara took the map and stormed out of the building, running as fast as she could back to the clay hawk where she had left Naruto. Whatever those Leaf ninja did had really done a number on her partner, and his wounds weren't healing nearly as fast as they usually did, and Akatsuki didn't have a full time medic on hand. Orochimaru was said to perform experiments on the human body, mutating it in strange ways, but he was the closest thing to a medic she knew of. She was desperate to get her partner the help he need, and this was all she could think of.
"Why did we ever get involved with those monsters?" asked Ginji, almost sadly. Kyoya simply grinned and held up a wad of bills, none of them small. The reminder brought a smile to Ginji's face, and the corrupt banker sighed. "That's why, of course. Thanks for reminding me."
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"Lord Orochimaru, there are two incredibly powerful chakras heading this way! It's almost like they know this base's location!" Karin was absolutely furious at these invaders. She had been entrusted with the Southern Hideout for six months, and on Orochimaru's first visit, the base gets attacked. Not that it would be a problem she supposed, what with Lord Orochimaru here and all. Nobody stood a chance against him.
"Kukuku, let's give our guests a nice welcome." chuckled Orochimaru. Karin shuddered involuntarily at his voice, and was glad he was facing the other direction. Orochimaru was strong, but his demeanor was downright creepy, and his chakra reflected that. It was dark and slick, but the exact feeling was impossible to pin down, which might have actually been the exact feeling.
The two walked past the prison cells, full of Orochimaru's future experiments. She had managed to get it through their thick skulls that they wouldn't even breathe in Lord Orochimaru's presence without permission, and while they were still breathing, not a single word was spoken as the Snake Sannin passed towards the gates. When they could see the gates, the hidden doors in question flew off their hinges with a resounding boom. Orochimaru stood unmoving as the massive slabs of solid iron passed within inches of either side of him, but Karin ducked behind him to avoid getting crushed. Trying to save face, the redhead quickly stepped out from behind her master.
Orochimaru relaxed, not that anyone could notice, but Karin saw his chakra calm once the dust settled enough to make out the two people that owned those massive chakras. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" asked Orochimaru. "Has my acceptance letter finally come? I wonder who died to create that opening. Or are you here to kill me for some reason?"
Deidara entered the base, hovering a few feet off the ground with a four winged pelican of strangely large proportions. "I don't know what Sasori promised you, but I don't really have time to care right now. You're the closest thing to a medic that Akatsuki has connections to other than Sasori, and he'll be busy for a few days." The pelican's beak opened to regurgitate Naruto. The young sage was unconscious, and his body was caked in blood. He had shown no signs of waking up in the days after the fight while they put distance between themselves and any pursuit from the Hidden Leaf. Whatever attack those Leaf jonin had used, it had pulled done a number on one of the strongest people Deidara knew.
"Well now, I'm flattered." tittered the Snake Sannin in a manner Deidara thought wasn't befitting a man of his caliber. To each their own though, she supposed. "But flattery will get you nowhere. Akatsuki promised me membership and assistance in my goals in return for my help before, and neither of those things has come to pass. I'll let the information on the Three Tails slide as a gesture of good will, but if you don't want me to forcibly remove you from my hideout, you'd better be offering one or the other." Orochimaru's eye narrowed dangerously, and Karin noticed his chakra become tensed once more.
Deidara was honestly torn. She couldn't offer him membership in Akatsuki, she didn't have the authority. And while she might be able to help him with his goal of learning 'everything' as Sasori had put it, she really didn't want to. But this was Naruto, her partner for hundreds of missions, and her only real friend. Deidara brought her hands together, and the teeth of her right palm began knowing at the skin surrounding her left palm. After a second of Orochimaru's inquisitive gaze, she tore out a chunk of flesh from her left hand in one painful motion. The mouth she had removed screeched in a high pitched whine that made even Orochimaru wince. It had the same mouth as the one in her right hand, with two pure white eyes over it. Its body was a large black ball with several root-like appendages that left long holes all the way up her arm.
"This is one of three surviving parasites that were specifically raised to infuse the user's chakra into any material and allow the user to control them remotely. There aren't any left in this world, and all knowledge of how to produce them is a forbidden technique of the Hidden Rock that I destroyed years ago. Is this good enough to get my partner healed?" Deidara held back gasps of pain as the burning pain in her left arm got even worse. Her arm had retreated into her Akatsuki cloak, where she clenched it tightly to keep the bleeding to a minimum.
"Kukuku." Orochimaru laughed as he plucked the parasite out of Deidara's hand and placed it in a small tank, which he slid into wherever he had been storing the glass container before. "Of course. This will be a great help. Karin, heal our guest, will you? And record the results. I don't recall you ever healing a comatose patient, so it'll be an experiment for all of us." Orochimaru's order snapped Karin out of her shock, and she nodded vigorously.
"Of course, Lord Orochimaru." Karin walked up to the comatose blonde on the floor as if he might get up and attack her at any moment. Though the conscious blonde was the one who would likely kill Karin if there were any suspicious moves. Her nervousness was likely due to this person's chakra though. She hadn't noticed it before because he had been surrounded by his partner's volatile chakra, but his own was almost identical tot eh ambient chakra in the area, and was absolutely massive, even while he was supposedly comatose. He was however a bit bigger than her, and she struggled to carry him to the infirmary, though that might have been a rather generous term for the scientific laboratory where all the medical equipment was. There was always the Heal Bite if conventional tactics failed, so Karin wasn't too worried about her new patient not making it.
"I'll be back for him in three days." said Deidara. "If there's anything different about him because of you, I'll show you why I'm an S-Rank ninja of Akatsuki who defeated the Kazekage of the Hidden Sand in single combat."
To his credit, Deidara might've offered Orochimaru a suggestion for dinner for all he reacted. "I' assure you, my experiment here will be observation only. I won't even use any experimental medical techniques on him… unless I have to."
Deidara left the base in a hurry. As much as she wanted to stay by Naruto's side and make sure that snake freak kept his hands to himself, she needed to find somewhere to hole up during the sealing. They had managed to get the Nine Tails after all.
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"So where's the other blonde fucker?" asked Hidan, with about as much tact as could be expected of him. "This was his target in the first place."
"He was slightly injured in the fight. He's getting healed as we speak. I assure you though, he's very much alive." said Deidara defensively. The other eight members seemed to accept the excuse offered, though Deidara knew how much she was understating her partner's injuries. Except for Hidan, who grumbled that Naruto's absence would extend the time that the sealing took.
"It cannot be helped." Pain's voice was enough to stop even Hidan's grumbling. "Deidara, could you have captured the Nine Tails without Naruto's assistance?" Deidara snapped to attention at his question, and almost stumbled over her words.
"Y-yeah, he was the only one fighting jonin level opponents. It would've been way harder without him." Deidara stammered out. "Kakuzu knows just how much those jonin were worth too."
The bounty hunter spoke up to acknowledge the young sage's help. "True. Just the two opponents he killed brought in more than I usually make in a month and a half. My opponents weren't worth anything. I'll owe him a favor later."
"Then I see no reason for this absence to be held against him." Pain simply left it at that, leaving no room for argument.
Deidara let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding as Naruto's future in Akatsuki was secured. Her emotions finally at rest, her mind was able to remember the message she had to pass on. "Oh right! Itachi, your brother's eyes changed during the end of our fight. It wasn't exactly like yours, but it was close enough, so I gave him your message, yeah."
Itachi's blood red eyes closed as he nodded. "So my foolish little brother is finally ready to challenge me, huh? His eyes can finally see the light." Deidara was honestly confused by Itachi's words, but the guy sounded like a fortune cookie half the time, so she let it slide. "One month from now, I'll be able to see my little brother again." Despite the words, Itachi sounded less like he was looking forward to a family reunion and more like he was looking forward to finish what he started.
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A/N: Fourteenth chapter up! Wooo! Remember how the last chapter was the biggest yet? Yeah, this one blows it out of the water by over a thousand words. It was actually supposed to last until the end of the fight scenes but it just kept going and going. Anyway, review time. There actually weren't any questions this week, just praise, which is awesome. Still, if you have a question, I'll answer it to the best of my ability. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and reviews are always awesome. See ya!