Authors Note I: I feel like I should clear something out. Once more I received messages about why I hate Sasuke. *sighs* Let me clear the air for those who asked and those who want to know. I do not hate Sasuke. In Part I, I did like Sasuke better than Naruto. What? I'm honest, he felt like a better character but then I found Itachi and I thought "Meh, he's older brother is cooler even if he is a mass murdering criminal." Then came the part about him leaving, I wasn't surprised when he left. It was almost fitting of his character considering the shit he went through, what I did not like was his obsession with Naruto. Be obsessed with Itachi you twat. You're a fucking genius, if you want to know how Naruto got better, then these two words are the only bit of advice I have for you: GiT GuD. I mean no harm in extra training, but no you decide to vent your anger out on the one guy who's looking to prove himself. LOGIC! Let it be known, it was from that point on I began to dislike Naruto Uzumaki as well. Seriously the Chidori to the chest made him gay for Sasuke in weird ways.
After that when Part II began…I'm gonna be honest. Sasuke sort of became boring with his one directional mind, bland expressions and general lack of charisma. I mean I don't expect him to jump jacks and vomit rainbows but there was no anima in his character, a hollow shell with no soul just monotonous boredom. He just felt like someone who was there because he was forced to be one of the main MC's. I don't even hate the fact that he was revenge obsessed, go ahead kill Itachi and avenge your clan. Killed Itachi? Good. Now he finds out that his brother did that because of a coup d'état attempt by his clan and the elders ordered it. Now comes the fun part, why don't you just kill the Elders shit-for-brains? Why the entire village? Do you really wish to spit on your brother's last request, who you started loving again in like…I don't know two to three chapters? *sighs* I mean think about it from his aspect.
He has lived solely for the purpose of killing Itachi to avenge his clan. He even went rogue to join an S Rank Criminal for the sake of vengeance. You can't just get rid of those emotions like that in a second and generate something completely opposite from the other end of the spectrum. You'd have to be a master of emotional tempering, something he definitely is not. He's got an Inferiority Complex, a Superiority Complex and a General Dick-to-His-Friends Complex. He is far from being emotionally stable to actually have a rational mind and pull something like that off. BTW, remember when he killed Danzo? Yeah, okay.
SEE THE CLAN WAS AVENGED! RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT! THE MAN WHO ORDERED THE MASSACRE IS DEAD! THE CLAN WAS AVENGED! But fuck logic, he's going to go with the man who openly said he along with Itachi slaughtered the clan. Where's your vengeance now, oh mighty avenger? But he still decides to destroy the Leaf for some reason…. That is when I lost my shit and stopped caring about him. I told myself he's just an imaginary character I have to ignore when I read Naruto, but the manga won't let me and neither will the internet.
So there you have it folks, I do not hate Sasuke Uchiha. I just don't like the little shit that's why I like to make fun of him every now and then. Honestly, I think he would've been more befitting as a final villain and I do mean 'villain'. I mean that would've wrapped things up in a good way. However when it comes to fighting and an overall shinobi, I prefer Sasuke over Naruto. He's just a smarter fighter than Naruto, but that doesn't mean he's a better character. Can you imagine what would happen if Sasuke was real and you were better than him in Demons Souls, Dark Souls I/II/III or Bloodborne? Holy shit, he'd go after the guys from FromSoftware for making him lose that many times!
Enough! I've ranted on long enough. Let's get to the disclaimer and read the shit. We got a fucking invasion to cover and hopefully I can finish the fights properly within this one chapter. Keep in mind that I am not a great writer, far from it I am not even a good writer yet. So if the chapter gets cringe-y please bear with it. By the way one of you guessed who the third trump card was right, but sorry to say I changed it. Now bring that shitty disclaimer.
THE FOLLOWING IS A NON PROFIT FAN BASED FICTION
NARUTO AND NARUTO SHIPPUDEN ARE OWNED BY STUDIO PIERROT, TV TOKYO, VIZ MEDIA SHUIESHA AND MASASHI KISHIMOTO
CONTENTS USED FROM OTHER KNOWN AND RECOGNIZED SERIES ALSO DON'T BELONG TO ME
YOU HONESTLY THINK I'D B WRITING THIS SHIT IF I DID?
THIS STORY IS RATED M FOR A REASON AS IT CONTAINS VIOLENCE, COARSE LANGUAGE AND ADULT SITUATIONS NOT SUITABLE FOR MINORS
PLEASE READ AND REVIEW THE OFFICIAL RELEASE
ROOT Base#2, Underground Tunnel System, Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni
'In Root, you have no name. You have no feelings. You have no past. You have no future. There is only the mission.' Was the last thought that one certain white haired ROOT operative had before his soul left his body. This was the same thought many other bodies lying beside them had as they departed for life after death.
Screams of pain could be heard as a shark scale being in the form of sword giggled with delight. His frame was bathing blood as more of the tapes that held back its power was coming off. To the sentient blade this was exhilarating to the point a lust induced human craved for sex. Samehada had been shaving off chakra for some time now. His current master, Kisame Hoshigaki was living up to his name as the Monster of the Hidden Mist as he literally tore through the ANBU with the most powerful of the Seven Revered Blades of the Mist.
"You know, Itachi." The blue skinned rogue nin said as picked up one of the ANBU by his throat before making his trusted and living sword cleave cleanly through his then threw the ANBU away like a doll before he spoke. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you're making me do all the work. I thought Konoha nin prided on teamwork, you usually are more helping when we face great numbers." He said and turned around as all one hundred of the Black Ops shinobi they had faced when they entered were lying everywhere.
Kisame Hoshigaki alone had killed more than 60 of them with just his blade and a handful of Suiton jutsu, he didn't even need to use the ones that cause a flood in the entire hideout.
Did these foolish ANBU think they were a match for him, a chakra freak of a shinobi that even Yagura the Mad Kage tried to get on his side?
What foolish hopes. Their fates were sealed before they even had the chance.
Itachi himself was no joke, a few of the operatives that he knew when he was an agent of ROOT were still active and so were the genjutsu transcriptions he placed on them when he had worked with them.
Itachi was probably the most shrewed shinobi in the history of Konoha and he had contingencies for even long running plans. Shi o Nemuru: Sharingan / Sleeping Death: Sharingan, an A ranked genjutsu that lasted for a horrendously long time. Genjutsu in many aspects was like fuuinjutsu. Whereas the art of sealing dealt with mostly physical aspects, genjutsu in both theory and application was intangible and lived up to its name. This was why he had created that genjutsu when he was thirteen.
When he fled from Konoha, a few ROOT agents were sent to kill him but ended up killing each other as he had placed that genjutsu on them along with on a lot of other agents when they so unwisely looked into his eyes.
"I have to conserve my strength for the upcoming fight." The Uchiha who massacred his own clan replied swiftly. While he did have a plan to counteract Danzo's Izanagi, but for him to follow the plan they made he couldn't use that. That wasn't the only reason though. He had something else to do, something that was very important to him. He looked around and walked to one of the four armed statue and pressed the lower left arm as the gate near them opened.
"So, how many do we have left? Samehada seems to be very excited today." He said and the sword giggled as it nodded with its master's words. Itachi said nothing but watching a sword having a mind of its own made him look at it with a raised eyebrow.
"Around a hundred and fifty." Itachi said and strode forward.
He forcefully extracted the information from the ANBU's mind. He knew about the Cursed Tags on their tongues, and used Chishiki Kisechuu / Knowledge Parasite to extract the information.
Unlike a certain blue eyed Uchiha who needed to use his Mangekyou to get the full usage, he could do this easily with his normal one. Not that he would label his pseudo-younger brother as weak, he was just not there yet. But something in the rogue nin's mind told him that the day he does wasn't too far away given his unnatural growth rate.
"Gigigigigigigi" came the loud bloodthirsty giggle of Samehada as the scales of the sword were sharpening out more. Kisame petted the blade as if trying to calm him down.
"There, there. Don't worry. We'll get more victims." The sharp teethed man said to his living sword.
"Hn." Itachi said as he walked forward with Kisame.
He could tell there were traps laid throughout the place. But none of them would work, he already knew the layout of this place and the intel he had extracted would come into play. Thankfully having a pseudo-Tailed Beast did help his cause, now all that was left was to make sure that the Akatsuki don't exactly catch wind of this.
And as Naruto told him, should Zetsu appear or is alone in front of Itachi….he should be taken care of immediately.
Stadium
"Hmm." The masked one eyed jounin thought out loud as he slashed an Oto nin's throat open with his kunai.
The reason he did this was because he noted how the young genin of Konoha from this batch were actually holding their own. This was surprising. It seemed that the Chunnin Exams had been something of a wake-up call for them as they were fighting the enemy shinobi head on, with the exception of one Rock Lee. Poor boy had his leg broken after all, but still you had to give him points for hitting one of them with his crutch no less.
He saw Sakura Haruno trap three shinobi in a wire, Choji Akimichi rolling like boulder to flatten them out. Ino caught one enemy with her Mind Transfer Jutsu and then slipping quietly into their ranks to take them out and switch to more enemies for as much as she could. Shino Aburame was using his bugs to torture his enemies as they entered their ears, now that was painful to imagine. Hinata Hyuga was surprisingly taking out all the vital points of the enemies as she disabled their tenketsu points. He also noted how the other jounin sensei were also seeing their students flourish.
They were proud.
However, the impressive feat came when a large water dragon formed in the middle of the attending area and took out a lot of shinobi with them. Now if there was a lake nearby or some other form of water, this would've been completely normal. However, the fact was there was no large body of water present except bottled water. Kakashi saw that it was his student, Kasumi Uzumaki who did the jutsu and was grinning like a madman as she finished taking out the enemies.
'She can pull out water from the very atmosphere.' The scarecrow noted and was proud. Her mother also had a large water affinity, but not as dense as hers. 'Maybe I'll tell her this later, don't want her pranking everyone after this is over.'
"Man, Tomato-chan is going to be one hell of a kunoichi once she hits her peak." Came the voice of one amused Anko Mitarashi as she let looser some snakes on a couple of Suna nin as they were strangled to death. "You know, I'm almost thinking of taking her off your hands Kakashi."
"Tough luck with that." Kakashi said as broke a man's neck with his bare hands and lifted the hitai-ate off to use his Sharingan. He disappeared out of everyone's sights only to reappear as he killed a few more shinobi. "They seem to keep spawning. How many shinobi do they have anyway?"
"At this point it's getting annoying." Kurenai said as she stopped using the ram seal as four shinobi were lying on the ground out cold as they drooled and their eyes went white. The scarecrow jounin did not want to know exactly what she showed them.
"Well, it's not like we have a choice." Came the voice of one Asuma Sarutobi who had just finished off his bunch of invading nin. His trench knives had stopped humming as the blue chakra around them receded. He took the leisurely time to bring out a cigarette and lighted it up.
Kurenai frowned at this and sighed. Why couldn't they be more serious? She could actually hear Gai giving out lessons to Lee when he was done dealing with his crop of enemies.
She noted that Sasuke Uchiha was still there and a small verbal confrontation was going on between him and the Sand Siblings. Gaara had finally came out of his protective shell and was bleeding and barely conscious. She saw that they had made a run for it and Genma was battling Baki at that spot.
ANBU were taking care of the never ending amount of shinobi while another group was observing the purple flamed barrier erected around the roof of the Kage Stand. Kasumi Uzumaki after taking care of a few more shinobi had made her way out of the stadium with Shino and Shikamaru as they were heading out in the same direction as the Sand Siblings.
"Kakashi, they're going after Gaara." Kurenai said as Might Gai joined their group and all four shinobi were surrounded by scores of other enemy troops, "Are you sure it's wise to let them go after him?"
"Jiraiya-sama gave Kasumi a seal to repress the BIjuu's chakra." The Copy Ninja said as each Leaf nin stood back to back. "You know something. I think this is the first time all of us have fought together in years."
"Well, Kakashi my youthful friend." Gai began with his teeth smiling "While you were busy in ANBU-
"Now is not the time." Kurenai said as she had seen some of the shinobi chuckling at the group. Didn't they know they were going to die?
"Just like back in those days." Asuma was the one who said it this time as the dropped his cigarette and screams of pain could be heard as all four of them began to fight the invading shinobi.
Main Town
Scores of shinobi wearing the attires and hitai-ate of Suna and Oto could be seen flocking across the buildings of Konoha. It was a strange sight to see indeed. They held their weapons in their hands as their eyes searched for general life to destroy or at the very least hold some hostages to gain some sort of psychological advantage over the Leaf. Konoha always did preach camaraderie and teamwork above all.
That was why the other villages used to call them tree huggers because of their stern belief in teamwork, their drive for protecting the innocent and general love for peace.
This was why a lot of nations viewed them weak. However, those who had been in altercation with the Leaf previously knew exactly what distances the Hidden Leaf would go to fend off their enemies. However, the bizarre factor in all this was that the invading enemies of chunnin squads did not find a single person to kill or kidnap. It was a ghost town to say the least.
"Hey, did you find anyone?" asked one Kosaku Chouko to his Oto squad.
"None sir." came the reply from one of his subordinates.
"Stick together and keep searching. There's no way so many people can vanish all of a sudden." He ordered and they complied. Each of the groups of three were moving together and he decided to ask one more question before they left. "Where's that squad that was supposed to get the Uchiha?"
"They haven't come back yet sir." once more getting an answer from his subordinates.
This was strange, according to the intel he had they should've come back. It was four chunnin level shinobi going after one genin, strong genin or not four against one were odds even he wouldn't want to fight against. However, he could not finish his thoughts as he heard a noise in the air, it sounded like a high pitch frequency of something coming in fast.
He turned around to see something shimmering as his vision realized that that it was a sickle, a very large sickle that was aiming for his head.
"Oh shi-"
*SQUELCH*
The words died in his mouth as his face was cut cleanly in two. Blood showered everywhere as the people around him realized what had happened. One of their own had killed the squad leader. The perpetrator held the weapon as he looked at them with a bored look on his face.
"KAI!" came the collected yell of all the shinobi around them and they all saw the genjutsu around the traitor fade to reveal the person for who he really was.
Cold blue eyes were the first thing they saw. The kama in his hand still fresh with the blood of their leader resonated was in his hand and was shivering, shivering with eager excitement to kill them all. The Uchiha looked at them and raised his empty left hand as some strings appeared at the end of his fingers. He raised it up and the sound of various collected wires coiling winding up came. The invading shinobi realized why he had been among their ranks for such an amount of time.
However, their minds could not react quickly as thin 0.2mm standard ninja wire sharp as the day it was made came flying in from every direction as it closed off all paths of exits and their bodies were trapped by the machinating wires. The razor thin wires bit into their bodies to the extent that they could feel their blood trickling out of their bodies. Their eyes darted around, all 14 pairs of them and saw the Uchiha tug on the wire as bit on it with his teeth and made the tiger hand seal.
"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu / Fire Release: Dragon Flame Jutsu" the last words they heard as it left the Uchiha's tongue and fire scurried along the lines to kill the fourteen shinobi that were looking to take advantage of the situation. The young Uchiha looked around, he could not feel any chakra signatures around him at the moment.
'Looks like the civilians were cleared in due time.' Naruto thought in his mind as he heard large crashing noises a fair distance away from him. 'Summons probably. I can feel two squads nearby, probably ANBU. I'll leave the shinobi to them. Those snakes can be more annoying.'
Naruto rushed in the direction where the large crashes were becoming more imminent and saw that five large snakes had been summoned. He could see more operatives with large sealing scrolls. Naruto had miscalculated on his part. He did not expect that there would be these many summons around, or of this scale.
Perhaps if Jiraiya was around his Toad summons could've helped. But, precautions were his specialty and he had just the plan for this.
Ibiki Morino spotted him and Shunshin-ed near him.
"This is a bit of a bind." said the Head of Torture and Interrogation to the young chunnin. Of course Ibiki was in on the information from the beginning and knew by the look on the blue eyed teen's face he was planning something.
"It is. But nothing we can't take care of." Naruto bit his finger as blood came flowing out ever so slowly which he then rubbed against the palm of his right hand staining with it with his genetic information and started making hand seals.
'So he has summons.' Ibiki thought as he looked at the hand seals being made. 'Does he have a Boss level summon that could change this? Then again what exactly will he summon?'
"You might want to stand back, Morino-san." Naruto said and the Scarred Sadist did so at the prospect of what large summon he would see. Naruto slammed his hand on the ground as the black lines of kanji spread on the bare ground.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu." Said the young Uchiha as a cloud of smoke surrounded him. Then as the smoke dissipated and the tension dissolved, the summon was revealed.
A near human sized looking wolf whose ebony colored fur that seemed to be drawing in the attention of the snake who spotted him
Ibiki tried to get rid of whatever genjutsu the Uchiha was using to trick his enemies, making them think that it was a small summon but in reality it was a Boss Level Summon.
Putting his hands in the ram seal and muttering "Kai" Ibiki saw that this was not a genjutsu but rather a real wolf that was half as tall as the boy himself.
This is what he told him to move away from? Was he in a gaming mood in the midst of an invasion?
"Oh, Naruto. Is it that time already?" the wolf, Garoujin asked. The growing cub was strong, but not strong enough to take on scores of enemy by himself yet, much less take down a few Boss Level Summons.
"Hai. Is your father coming?" Naruto asked the wolf clad in black as he shook his head. Naruto was a bit disappointed but he realized why Garougenki wasn't coming. Simply put, Garougenki was a beast of destruction, and having heard that it would be a populated area he had already opted not to take part.
"Don't worry though. Someone else is coming, and those snakes are going to be in one hell of a surprise." The black wolf said as a scroll appeared beside him and he with human like reflexes he opened the scroll before he stood on it and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Two of the snakes seem to have acknowledged the presence of Naruto Uchiha and the foreign smell of wolf that had previously entered their menacing nostrils. The Uchiha in question crossed his arms as he looked bored, however he was getting impatient.
He didn't have time to deal with this shit, however he had to keep a cool and collected mind despite how ridiculous the situation may become. Then he saw the circular kanji on the open scroll glowing. This was a plan he made with the direwolves of Kabe no Kita. He had informed them of the impending Invasion of his village.
At first the direwolves did not want to come, however the prospect of a good fight was what tempted them to agree to his plan along with the fact that they heard that snake summons would be there. They hated snakes for some reason, apparently it was some old feud between them. That or they hated snakes, either way worked for him.
So the direwolves gave him reverse summoning scroll that allowed the summon to pinpoint the location and be present there, this also meant that Naruto would not have to use chakra to summon such said beast. Garoujin had just done that and a large, very large body of smoke erupted to cover the entire area around them to the point the buildings were also covered.
Then the smoke faded and Naruto Uchiha stood proudly on top of the head of the best.
Grey fur could be seen on the creature's body. His teeth jagged and drooling for flesh of his enemies. His golden eyes were looking at the snakes in front of him as he prepared for battle. The Uchiha looked down and realized that it was none other than Sif, the Great Grey Direwolf as he liked to call himself. Still a relatively new large scale direwolf on the scene, however among all the direwolves of this size he was the most proficient and caused little collateral damage.
"Naruto, so these are the filthy snakes you talked about." Sif spoke with a dissatisfied voice. Oh yes, he forgot. Sif was also a direwolf of battle thirst and had a skeptical mind. Each of them had their quirks, however Sif was no stranger to combat and Naruto knew that all too well.
"Yes, there are about five now. But judging by the sealing array scrolls they have, there might be more." Said the blue eyed Uchiha and the Sif scoffed at the words he said.
"I hope they're strong, otherwise this would be boring." Sif said with some disappointment. He felt Naruto sit down on one knee and pet his furry head. Now, Sif was an extremely proud direwolf like his kin, so admitting that he liked when someone pet a mighty beast like him was embarrassing so he silently stay put and took the petting.
"If you get too bored make sure that you switch out with Yūrei and Natsu. I'm sure they'll be looking forward to some fights." Naruto said goading him further. Naruto saw that the snake had hissed and gave the warning rattle that it was going to strike.
As its mouth opened and was about reach the Uchiha to devour him, the head of the snake came off as its blood spilt and covered the buildings of Konoha. Sif had one of his paws extended in the air as his claws had blood on them.
"You insult me Naruto." Sif spoke with a mocking mellowed voice. "Here I thought we were friends."
"We are friends. I just wanted to see how much incentive you needed." Naruto spoke as he saw the other snake coming in and this time Sif weaved around the lunge the viper did and kicked him away. Sif then breathed in as yellow flames covered its hinds and shoulders.
"Katon: Ōkami no Kokyū / Fire Release: Burning Breath of the Wolf" he muttered as he roared out yellow flames that burned the attacking snake and the other snake right behind it. A group of Otogakure shinobi was also burned to death as the large stream of flames consumed them and melted their very bones.
"Like I said, you insult me. Now get going and leave these…what did you call them ah that's right…Mongrels to me" Sif said and then looked at the first summoner of the Direwolves. The Uchiha merely looked at him with an annoyed look before he made a single ram seal.
"Sometimes I think we get along too well. Stay safe Sif." Naruto said before disappearing in a Shunshin with no smoke. The wolf chuckled a bit at the summoner's words. He then looked at the hissing snakes and the shitless summoners who held the scrolls. Boy he would be killing a lot of filthy lizards today.
"Oi snake eaters. Bring out more of your summons, today I'm going to redefine the 'Hour of the Wolf'." He said and it seemed like his words seemed to have an effect on the enemy shinobi as the remaining snakes were looking to strike him but were measuring their distance right now. Sif's eyes noticed a man standing near him on the rooftop of a building and the direwolf noted the Leaf hitai-ate he was wearing.
"Enjoying the show?" Sif asked with a toothy grin which made him look that much more menacing.
"How did that brat even get direwolves as summons?" the Head of the Torture and Interrogation Department asked in a bewildered manner.
Direwolves were rare, rare creatures almost to the point they were considered mythical or considered extinct like phoenixes and dragons. And now near Boss level size summon of a direwolf was standing before the world holding it as a witness as it was openly challenging the invading shinobi, and the direwolf himself was brought here by a teen no less.
"I heard it was a funny story. Our boss says that it was an accident gone right with fruitful results." The Great Grey Wolf said as he noted more bodies of large smoke appearing in the area around them.
Okay, maybe he'd go a little berserk when fighting, it wasn't like there were any people around otherwise Naruto would've told him. His paws caught flames as he jumped up in the air and slammed them against each other. Flames danced in the wind from the collision and he laughed like a true battle maniac as he descended down to wreak havoc.
"ENTERTAIN ME MAGGOTS!"
*CRASH*
"And this is exactly why I wanted to keep an eye on him." Naruto muttered as he stood alone in the shadows.
Sif would come through in the end and probably take care of the snakes. After that he had also made plans with Natsu and Yurei who would switch places with Sif after all the large summons have been taken care of. Natsu and Yurei were direwolves that were as large as Kuromaru, Tsume Inuzuka's canine partner in crime.
The prime difference was that those two were even crazier than Sif in some cases, he could feel he would have to pay for repairs even more once those two arrived.
Sighing he made some hand seals, exactly 32 of them before he bit his index finger. He did so in such a manner that it would bleed for a minute or two.
The blood kept dropping on the surface and kept moving like a wavy body of water. As much as Naruto wanted to follow the plan play by play, there was something he couldn't ignore. Over the years when he had began to become colder and more of a reclusive Uchiha thoughts of betraying the village and going rogue before killing a few Elders had crossed his mind.
However when she came into his life, he wasn't just responsible for his life. He had something that bound him to the village and someone he loved. It was for that reason he was doing this right now and he knew that he would run a bit lower on chakra than he had planned, but there was no way in hell he would let Kasumi Uzumaki face a fucking bijuu alone.
"Kodona Chi Bunshin no Jutsu / Advanced Blood Clone Jutsu" Naruto said as his finger still dropped blood on the small forming puddle of blood that twisted itself into a human looking shape that stood the same size as Naruto before it took the same look as him.
Naruto took out a bottle of chakra induced antiseptic liquid as he doused the wound with it. This Blood Clone was by its very name more enhanced in nature, usage and durability; in fact one fourth of his entire chakra was put into this clone alone. It was a gamble, but if it kept her safe then it was worth it.
To be honest, he did have faith in her abilities but still a little precaution never hurt.
"Go and find Kasumi. Help her in defeating Gaara. Keep her safe." Naruto said to his clone who nodded before leaving off in the direction of the stadium.
Naruto saw his clone fading into the distance. The clone was doing good in suppressing his chakra signature well, at least having your chakra shaved off a quarter increased your control even more. Now Naruto sighed as he headed towards the abandoned training grounds designated by numbers 56 and 57.
For there lied a secret passageway to the place he was looking to gain entrance to.
Hokage Stand
A squad of ANBU waited outside the Four Purple Flames Barrier that had been erected by four Oto nin that were surprisingly already inside the building itself. Clearly there was someone inside the Leaf helping them otherwise entry to the building was impossible without prior planning. Squad Sigma could do nothing but stand and watch their leader, the Sandaime Hokage and his student Jiraiya the Toad Sage take on Orochimaru and a group of shinobi who were also hiding in the building.
However, their worry was not as great as one could assume.
This was the Sandaime Hokage who was fighting, no matter how old he had his experience as a shinobi which expanded more than five decades along with his ridiculous skills that could still give a Kage a run for their money even now was present in the fray. Along with him was Jiraiya who was previously approached to be the Hokage on two separate occasions and refused each time, was also there as he smashed the skulls of several shinobi.
Orochimaru seemed to be making hand seals and the Toad Sage's eyes finally caught a hold of this.
The white haired Sannin rushed in front of Orochimaru as they began to fight each other hand to hand. Having sparred for years, both knew what moves the other was capable of however Jiraiya was fighting more erratically now and the katas he used generally were beginning to differ and as the Snake Sannin left a single opening, the Toad Sage kicked Orochimaru away. The Snake Sannin was beginning to make the same set of hand seals again, Jiraiya had stored some oil in his mouth after the Toads had drawn a seal on his gums and began to make hand seals of his own as he breathed in.
"Katon: Endan / Fire Release: Flame Bullet" Jiraiya said as he first spit out oil and consequently shot out a large bullet like shape of flames that shot towards the Snake Sannin. Orochimaru being the slithery snake he was known for being dodged the large pellet of flame that destroyed the previous spot he was standing in. He noted the burning factor of the jutsu and noted that Jiraiya did not have enough time to put that much chakra inside the jutsu, yet the damaging factor of the jutsu was high.
Then it clicked in his intricate mind.
"My, my Jiraiya. Using oil to enhance your jutsu's power and here I thought you'd be the idiot we all remembered." Orochimaru said as he peeled off the last of the skin that resembled Sabaku no Rasa. He was now standing proudly before his former teacher and teammate.
As much as he'd want to reminisce and talk about old times he couldn't. He was here for two purposes: One to get a new body, either of the Uchiha teens would suffice though he would prefer it was Naruto Uchiha. Secondly, to kill Hiruzen Sarutobi.
One may ask why the student would kill the teacher. The reason was simple. Orochimaru as a child had an inane fear of death, a fear he couldn't describe. He knew he would die one day, but he didn't want to. Under no circumstances he would die. Having lost his parents in the First Great Ninja War death became something akin to an enemy to the Snake Sannin.
Under tutelage of the Sandaime, he had grown to be a strong shinobi and witnessed the world they lived in. Only the mighty rule and the weak fall, one of the key factors that drove him to be so strong. However, somewhere along the way he began to find the emotions that humans bear somewhat distasteful.
Despite having comrades, Orochimaru did not have anyone he could call family. He saw that the more people become more familiar with each other, the closer they got and when either of the two died the other would be affected. So he simply chose to not be that close with anyone in particular at all, even Anko was nothing more than an apprentice. Someone he taught, not loved or cared for a large scale.
Then he discovered the possibility of immortality. The chance of not succumbing to death, and the possibility of learning every jutsu that would take lifetimes was something he could not miss out on. His mind wouldn't allow it. To discover a meaningful end result to his questions, he began to kidnap people and experiment on them.
Danzo Shimura was one of the people who, strictly speaking agree with some of his methods and provided him the resources. Orochimaru was a former ANBU after all and knew all about the Shinobi of Darkness. The Snake Sannin took the offer and even made Danzo an arm from the cells of Hashirama Senju, which Danzo had embedded with several Sharingan which he obtained via means that even Orochimaru did not know. However, when he was caught red handed by Sarutobi something inside him snapped.
Did his sensei not understand his ideals? Did Sarutobi not see the benefits of attaining immortality? They were shinobi, human experimentation was nothing short of taboo considering most of the wars they caused and lives they took. To him when Saruobi said the words 'I failed you. You're no student of mine' that was a stab in his twisted mind. Orochimaru took it as incentive that one day the Professor would one day be out to stop seeing it as a duty that only the teacher would carry out by executing his wayward student.
That is what Orochimaru thought anyway.
"To think you'd plan invasion on your very home. I almost regret not putting you down all those years ago." The Toad Sage said with a heavy voice.
Being an orphan, Jiraiya truly had no one he could call family. Until the second Team Seven was formed which consisted of Sarutobi and the then young Densetsu no Sannin. When asked why their team was called Team Seven and why they were the second one, the Sandaime revealed the true meaning behind it.
The original Team Seven was lead by the Nidaime Hokage and the name for the team was because of its seven members: Tobirama Senju, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Kagami Uchiha, Danzo Shimura, Torifu Akimichi, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane. They were the team that Tobirama trusted much more so than his own ANBU guard. Team Seven therefore became the title that would be given to generally the best overall teams.
For the first time in his life, Jiraiya understood what it meant to be a part of family. Sure his plans on hitting Tsunade didn't work out as well as he'd like but she did care for him. Orochimaru was like the annoying brother in a family you loved to hate, but relied on nonetheless. When Orochimaru went rogue, Jiraiya felt betrayed as a person he'd grown up with, went to war with, shared his drinks with and even knew a few personal aspects of life could leave their village was something he could not fathom.
When he confronted Orochimaru in the Land of Fire, the Toad Sage had held back. He held back so he didn't end up hurting Orochimaru, knowing full well that if both went out there was a high possibility both of them would. So he held back and let his once friend escape.
Another regret, one that allowed a nation to be overtaken by his friend. The Land of Rice became the Land of Sound. No doubt Orochimaru was behind this and from the information the Uchiha brat gave, that was his base of operations.
"Jiraiya you speak like you could kill me anytime you want." The Snake Sannin said, slightly angry at the words the clown of his generation said. Jiraiya was strong, but in his mind he was not strong enough to take him down. However, he had to admit he had never fought Jiriya with a hundred percent seriousness ever since the Third Great Ninja War.
Did Jiraiya have a trump card?
The rogue nin then chuckled. No matter what tricks they had up his sleeve, he had more than them. He noticed how his former sensei was wearing the armor he was famous for, the Sarutobi Warring States Armor.
He licked his lips in battle lust, his sensei was serious. True, he did not account for Jiraiya to be there but this changed nothing. The only difference would be that Jiraiya would die alongside his sensei and the process of that event completing itself would take a bit more time. He then noted that the two shinobi were looking to attack him. First he'd have to keep them busy.
He made three hand seals and bit his lips as blood was present in his mouth.
"Mandara no Jin / Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes" he said as an endless amount of vipers started rushing out of his mouth. One after another, scores of them kept covering the ground and the rate at which they were coming forth was not slowing down. Some of the snakes even had swords coming out of their mouths as they hissed. True to its name, more than a thousand snakes appeared and some of them were forming something like a wall in front of the Snake Sannin.
"Jiraiya, we need to take the snakes out. We can't let Orochimaru finish his jutsu." Sarutobi said as he began to weave through hand seals.
Hand seals that Jiraiya knew and followed with his own set of hand seals. This was something that was drilled into his mind ever since he was young.
To take down scores of shinobi in front of you with a collaboration jutsu, and Jiraiya knew exactly what his sensei was going to use.
"Gamayudan / Toad Oil Bullet" Jiraiya said as he not only used the oil from the seal on his gums but also converted his chakra into the highly combustible liquid.
Being a summoner of the Toads had perks that very few other beast affiliated summons had. The mass of oil that was spit out was spreading around the incoming snakes and landed on them with great force pushing them back momentarily. Sarutobi finished his hand seals as he spoke the name of his jutsu.
"Doton: Doryudan / Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet" Sarutobi said as a muddy dragon head formed from the residue mud of a jutsu Jiraiya had used previously to shoot out earthen bullets towards the snake that were coming to rush them. However, the Sandaime did not stop there as he kept making more hand seals and stopped once more.
"Katon: Karyudan / Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet" the Sandaime Hokage said as he exhaled a breath of flames that covered the bullets of muddy earth to make searing fire bombs. They rained down on the body of snakes and with the oil present, the fire spread around the snakes burning and melting them down to nothing as it so deviously chased and reached the slithery wall of snakes.
They fell each and every one of them as the defensive form of living organisms became nothing but rotten flesh.
Orochimaru was a bit annoyed, annoyed at the fact that all of the snakes had been killed. Manda would be bothering about this and would ask for a large, large amount of tribute.
However, that was the least of his worries as right now he was that much closer to killing them. For beside Orochimaru stood three wooden coffins, all three stood there and waited for the person who summoned them to do something with these. On each of the coffin was a piece of paper. However, each paper had a different initial on it or rather a different number on it.
'1'
'2'
'4'
Both the Toad Sage and the Professor were feeling awry at the presence of the coffins. They knew just how much Orochimaru had fancied delving into forbidden jutsu. It was almost as much as Jiraiya peeked on the women at the Hot Springs and seeing the coffins there was only one conclusion they could reach.
But…..the third one didn't make sense. However, before they could respond the coffins signified by the numbers '1' and '2' had their caskets opened and it fell down.
The resounding thud added only more worry as two people made their way out of each of their respective coffins. The footsteps along with the slight movements of the plated armor moving could be heard. Then the two figures came into view. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, known widely as the Professor had lived through three Great Ninja Wars. Ever since he became Hokage he won every battle he took part in, the only blemish that he had on his record was a tie against Hanzo the Salamander. He was never afraid to rush into the battlefield even when the Nine Tails appeared all those years ago.
However he felt a cold sweat run down his spine upon seeing those who walked out of the morbid coffins. To him it was both horrifying and sad at the same time.
The first person was a tall man with tanned skin and white irises, as the sclera was pitch black. He had waist-length black hair typically styled in a centre-parted fringe that framed his face, a hitai-ate of Konoha was on his forehead. He wore the standard shinobi dress that was reminiscent of the Warring States Era, consisting of dark red armour worn over a simple black suit with sandals. This armour was constructed from numerous metal plates, formed into multiple protective guards along his body; each collar of his shoulder guards bore a symbol.
The symbol of the Senju Clan. Cracks were visible on his clothes and skin.
Jiraiya couldn't say anything, his mind was still absorbing what was happening before him.
Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage stood before him. He was dead, yet he here was. A victim of the Edo Tensei no Jutsu / Imperfect Reanimation Jutsu. A forbidden jutsu that takes away chakra from the caster of the jutsu, but also brings back people momentarily from the dead so as long as the caster wills it so. They would have bodies that would suffer damage, but would keep reforming. This was the first time the Toad Sage had noted its usage.
However, the next word his sensei said made him realize how much more grave the situation was.
The other coffin that had the number '2'.
"Sensei."
One word. One word that made Jiraiya's eyes widen even further. The other coffin's host had come out as well.
The second person was a fair-skinned man with white, shaggy hair and dark-red eyes; like the other reanimated shinobi his sclera was black as well. He had three red markings on his face, one under each of his eyes and one on his chin. He wore blue armour with a distinctive white fur collar over a simple black suit. This armour was constructed from numerous metal plates, formed into multiple protective guards along his body. Beneath his shoulder armour he wore two bands on each arm. This clothing was accompanied by sandals and a happuri in place of the more traditional forehead protector. The happuri was initially engraved with the leaf symbol of Village itself.
Cracks present everywhere on his frame, as the man who had created this jutsu became a victim of his own device.
Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage stood as his calculative eyes darted around before noting his own presence. He had a strange body which felt hollow and empty. He knew exactly what was going on, however the sight before him was far more interesting.
"Saru." said the Nidaime Hokage as he looked at the aged old man in front of him. Even after growing old, the Sandaime felt like a wet behind the ears genin when Tobirama called him that, a monkey.
The white haired man looked to the side and saw another shinobi significantly taller than his student and he had the kanji for 'oil' on his happuri. However, his greatest surprise was when he saw his brother stand beside, undead.
"Nii-san." Tobirama said, a bit glad seeing his brother but under the wrong conditions. Before he could say anything he felt something foreign enter his nape. It felt disgusting and there was a smell of snakes around the source. After the foreign sensation exited, he spoke again.
"It seems we've become victims to the Edo Tensei" the Nidaime said in quick manner. His face no longer showed emotions, for whatever little he showed previously. The man beside him spoke up this time.
"This was one of the reasons why I didn't want you to complete this jutsu. Something as dangerous as this always did have drawbacks." The Shodaime Hokage said with a neutral expression. He then noted the person who was behind them and took in his appearance. Very bizarre indeed.
"I take it you are the one who summoned us?" the Shodaime asked as the probably caster giggled at his words.
"Of course. It's an honor to meet you. Shodaime-sama. Nidaime-sama." said the Snake Sannin with delight and this time the blue armoured Hokage spoke.
"To think a jutsu I created would be used on me." Tobirama said and then spoke while looking at the pale skinned man. "You put Binding Talismans as well, didn't you? Doing that you made sure we obeyed your orders."
"You're just as perceptive as Sarutobi-sensei told us." Orochimaru said and this time both former Hokage looked at him with a neutral stare, if they had their emotions then Hiruzen probably would've felt worse.
"I never thought I could pull off a Tobirama, but you really messed up with your student Saru." the Shodaime said with a straight face and had the seriousness of the situation not been grave, the Sandaime would've laughed. Hashirama Senju had the worst poker face in the world.
"I don't believe how you even managed to say that." Tobirama added his two cents. He then looked at the man beside Hiruzen and spoke to him, "Who are you?"
"This is Jiraiya, sensei. He's another one of my students, and a much better one than the one standing behind you." said Sarutobi as he had a stern look on his face. Whatever tears he had to shed already been done with.
There were some things that could not be forgiven, desecrating the graves of his former teachers and mentors was something that Sarutobi would not take lightly. Orochimaru was going to be dealt with today. But another worry was on his mind.
'4'
The coffin with that number was worrying him. It couldn't be Minato…..could it?
"That's not Minato." said Jiraiya as he spoke with a tone that reeked of anger and fuelled with malice.
Minato was indeed the closest thing he had to a son, and if that was Minato the Toad Sage would not hold back. History between the two former teammates would be just that, history. However there was a reason why Jiraiya was so confident behind his statement, and he was pretty sure that Orochimaru couldn't work his way around that jutsu.
"The Shiki Fujin / Dead Demon Consuming Seal traps the caster's soul in the gut of the Shinigami." Jiraiya said as he remembered how his apprentice's soul would forever be trapped there in that unforgiving limbo, unable to move on to the next cycle of life.
"He's right." Hashirama was the one who said it. "The Shiki Fujin is a seal that cannot be tampered with, not without extreme measures anyway. I assume that you brought us here to fight Sarutobi and his student."
"You flatter me, Shodaime-sama. While you're right about the Shiki Fujin not being broken, I will find a way around it. And yes, you are going to go and kill Sarutobi-sensei along with Jiraiya. Ironic isn't it? You killing the current Hokage in Konoha no less." Orochimaru finished with a sickening smile and if they had the ability to show their emotions they would've.
Jiraiya was not saying anything. However, he had clenched his fists had enough to draw out blood. The fight that was going to break out was no joke. He and his sensei would have to fight three Kage level shinobi. Four if the last coffin was opened. He drew out blood so that he could summon two toads, two particular toads that could help him change the tide of his battle. But he would need some time, just enough time to bring out his full strength.
"You're going to lose." Tobirama said all of a sudden as everyone's eyes were focused on him. "I taught Saru from the day he graduated from the Academy. My brother instilled his ideals into him. And there's the fact that both of us are heavily powered down because you're controlling our actions strictly with those Binding Talismans. Had they not been there, both of us would rescinded the contract already."
"That's right." the Sandaime said with a tone of reassurance. "Had I been alone, then this fight would've been one-sided even if sensei and Shodaime-sama were powered down along with you attacking me. Having Jiraiya here changes the situation just that much."
"Do you take me for a fool?" said the Snake Sannin, clearly some anger was present. This was something that Orochimaru had in spades, something that Jiraiya and the Sandaime were privy to: Arrogance.
Orochimaru did not like to be lectured down, mostly because of the fact no one ever did. Everything he ever did was perfect, he never left room for errors. Criticism was something he was not used to taking and that too at this age, Jiraiya thought it would wound his pride more than anything else.
"Enough." Orochimaru said as he made the ram hand seal. The first two Hokage were now staring at Sarutobi and Jiriaya. Then the Snake Sannin smile once more. "I really do have another plan. Sure it may take away a bit more of my chakra. However, with this I can easily take care of you all. Four against are overwhelming odds when you're fighting Kage level shinobi. Even if they're powered down."
Then the final thud came. The door of the third coffin fell down. Once more all five Kage level shinobi looked at the coffin. More specifically the person who came out of it, and upon his appearance both the Sandaime along with the Toad Sage cursed their luck.
The newcomer, the final linchpin in Orochimaru's execution plan had stood still beside the first two reincarnated Hokage. He was a fair-skinned man with spiky, black hair that had a blue tint to it and was tied in a ponytail. His bangs parted down the centre of his face to frame both sides of it. He wore a high-collared, blue shirt with a crest on his upper back and blue pants which were wrapped up in bandages at the ends. On his waist, he had a bandage belt that held a sack which presumably held ninja tools.
In his eyes, were two black sclera like the other reanimations, however his irises were red. Red orbs that had black epicenter as three tomoe lazily spun around.
His face was blank, and for a moment confused. He looked around to see the Sandaime Hokage standing before him, much more aged than he remembered. Jiraiya was there as well, but he too seemed much older than he remembered. He looked to the sides and blinked only once. The Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage were beside him.
Cracks were visible on the face, skin, body and armor of the previous dead Kage. He looked down at his own hands and his frame to see those familiar cracks on him as well. His mind raced and found the answer, but he wasn't fond on what he had concluded. He turned his head a bit backwards to see the Snake Sannin and immediately realized that he was the caster.
But, no matter how much he wanted to maim the pale skinned man he couldn't. Something didn't allow him to do the deed.
"You should've left the dead alone." the Uchiha said with a heavy voice. The baritone of it was deep and commanding, and the Nidaime Hokage noted his general appearance. There were some similarities to some of the Uchiha he respected and had to ask.
"Were you related to Kagami Uchiha?" Tobirama asked noting the similarities between this man and the one Uchiha he trusted unconditionally. He received a small nod.
"Yes. He was my father, Nidaime-sama." said the man who turned towards the Sandaime and his student. "Forgive me, Hokage-sama. Jiraiya-sama. But I don't have control over myself, best to brace yourselves."
"How far will you fall Orochimaru?" asked Hiruzen Sarutobi as he looked at his former student for some answers. "Not only did you defile the graves of my teachers, but you couldn't leave Sakumo's student alone!" He said as killing intent flooded the area.
Had there been any other shinobi, they would've fell unconscious due to the sheer pressure of it and some would've even gone mad.
"You make it sound like I wouldn't take such a chance. After all, it's not every day one gets to witness Genjuro Uchiha, the Lord of Cinder fight." He finished as the man in question had a darkened look in his eyes.
"Now, attack them." Orochimaru said and the man he ordered already started to make his move.
"Forgive me, Hokage-sama." Genjuro Uchiha said. The husband of Satsuki Uchiha then began to form hand seals at blinding rates even with his power toned down. Then the father of Obito, Shisui and Naruto Uchiha stopped his hand seals at the ever familiar tiger hand seal their clan was famous for.
"Katon: Kaen Funka / Fire Release: Blazing Eruption" he said as he blew out a very small ball of flames that sped towards the two Leaf nin. The ball of flames bright yellow in color and seemed to be vibrating, quite violently.
"That's relatively small." Hashirama said with keen eyes. He had never seen this jutsu before, and he had fought a lot of Uchiha before. Tobirama was in the same boat but both Senju brothers noted how their two reluctant opponents cleared the area as the ball was still rushing forward. They were getting away even further. The ball then met a large fuma shuriken that the Sandaime Hokage had launched. The result was instantaneous.
*BOOM*
An explosion, no a small firestorm erupted at the point of collision as everything around it in twenty yards was being reduced to ashes and embers danced in the sky. The Senju noted the destruction capability of it and if there was any doubt about him being the child of the Heir of Fire, it was gone now.
'I'm glad you and Minato are dead.' the Snake Sannin thought.
Had Genjuro and Minato were alive then he would've never thought about entering this place. Still, it took literal squads of Iwa jounin to put Genjuro Uchiha down in Nami no Kuni. Though the Leaf lost their ground later on, Nami no Kuni was free because of Genjuro Uchiha and with this one jutsu he shown why he was the Lord of Cinder, and one of the top contenders for the position of the Hokage.
The Shodaime Hokage also began to make hand seals as sadness clenched his nonexistent heart at the moment. To think he'd take part in something that would harm the village. He stopped at snake and said the name of his jutsu. A jutsu from a bloodline a majority of people had forgotten about.
"Mokuton: Jukai Kotan / Wood Release: Nativity of a World of Trees!" he said as trees forcibly began to form on the surface of the tiled roof the fight would take place. They thrashed around as soon the entire stand would become a miniature forest where a battle amongst monsters would take place.
Deepwood Forest, Northern Training Grounds of Konohagakure no Sato
Deepwood Forest was just another forest inside the Hidden Leaf. Planted and nurtured by the Shodaime himself, while it was an impressive and vast forest there was nothing too special about it. Nothing notable also ever happened in this place. Except now three shinobi could be seen leaping across from branch to branch. They needed to reach the Northern Exit. The Sand Siblings had escaped from the arena and were looking to make a mad dash for the exit.
They were leaving out of fear, the two of them. Temari and Kankuro did not want to see that monster again. Gaara was injured and bleeding. His second skin, the Suna no Yoroi / Armour of Sand had been damaged heavily and was slowly slipping into unconsciousness. As much as they wanted to obey their father and follow through with the invasion, they had other concerns. They cared about each other and though it may not seem like it, they cared for Gaara.
He used to be a kind and timid child when he was young.
Temari was particularly fond of him and used to dote on him, Kankuro often used to joke around and the then shy Gaara would often hide behind his sister. However as time passed things began to change, their father's opinions began to change.
Why shouldn't the village weapon be treated as a weapon? He strictly ordered his children to stay away from Gaara. He told them he was a monster. He kept Gaara in a different part of the house. Despite their effort, the older of the Sand Siblings could not reach their brother. Shinobi guards always held them back and months later when they finally met him once more…..he changed. He was bloodthirsty and cold.
His face was devoid of any warmth, and he often killed people.
Somewhere along the way, the boy became a monster.
They still cared about him, however fear outweighed affection in this case as both siblings kept a distance from him. Gaara on the other hand had believed that they truly feared him and loathed him.
Why shouldn't they? And now the Jinchuuriki of the Icihibi had one resounding thought in mind.
'Why?' he thought. A single word that echoed deep in the caverns of his mind as it resonated the inner walls of his mind.
"We've got to pick up the pace." Temari said as her teal colored eyes darted around to see any incoming enemies. Thankfully they had met a shinobi squad from their own village who had volunteered to stay back and they had some time before any Leaf shinobi could catch up to them.
"I know. You're not the carrying Gaara, so stop complaining." Kankuro said as he carried the nearly unconscious Jinchuuriki on his back.
'Why?' once more he asked himself. Why were they carrying him? Why were they taking him away from this place?
"I know but still. We have to make sure that Gaara is safe. I don't want anything to happen to him." Temari said and if both of the elder siblings could see it, they would've seen their youngest brother's eyes widen in surprise and shock.
'….They care?' he asked himself.
*THUD*
The Sand Siblings stopped. A kunai had been lodged on the next branch they had been planning to use. A single kunai, that came in from behind them and aimed at their path specifically with accurate precision. One needed to have a very good aim or a very good set of eyes. Turning around they saw two orbs looking at them. One had eye had one tomoe in it, the other had two tomoe. He was very close to having a total of four.
He could taste it. Only battle experience would make his eyes evolve now, and right in front of him was a battle he could not afford to miss out on.
"I have something I need to finish with him." Sasuke Uchiha said as he stood and his blessed eyes looked at the company of three.
This wasn't about the sake of the Chunnin Exams anymore. This was war and right now, he needed to take some prisoners. Of course, fighting Gaara was something he needed to do otherwise the unstable shinobi would cause him problems later along the line.
"Temari take him and go." the Puppet User said as his sister came forward and picked up their brother. "Get him out of here."
"You get back to us. You hear me you idiot?" She said and her war paint wearing brother smirked. There was the sassy and quick talking kunoichi he had for a sister. She then sped off with the red head as Kankuro brought forth the bandaged puppet that was on his back.
"You honestly think you can beat me?" Sasuke said trying to gain a psychological edge over his opponent. Trash talking and manipulation were two very different things. Something that Sasuke was only beginning to understand.
Kasumi Uzumaki was a trash talker, as in saying things that will make anyone blow a fuse either due to absurd statements or some personality quirk. Naruto Uchiha on the other hand was a manipulator. He played people, he made them think what he wanted them to think. He would tell you that the moon was green you'd be inclined to believe him. Naruto did goad Sasuke into rushing him during their spar a month and few weeks back, he dictated and toyed with his emotional weaknesses.
Something that Kakashi reprimanded him on during the last month. The lazy jounin made it quite clear that Sasuke was unstable as a shinobi, his general need for revenge was hindering his growth. His mind was that of a child as Kakashi has so aptly put it. He had burst out at that statement and proved his point. After that, Sasuke tried to control his emotions more. Tried.
"Please! Don't talk like you're that Naruto guy." The full body suit wearing Suna nin said with disdain. "If it was that guy I was facing, I'd be a bit worried. You're just another genin with a bloodline."
He finished as he unfurled the bandages that hid his puppet. Sasuke Uchiha did not know what to think, to be frank he wasn't sure what he was going to do. But he did know he couldn't waste his time. And as if by Kami's will herself, two figures landed beside him.
Kasumi Uzumaki and Shino Aburame.
"Where's the insomniac-baka?" Kasumi asked immediately and despite the severe nature of the standoff, everyone had to sweat drop. Sasuke looked at her with a twitching eyebrow. "Oi what crawled up your ass, teme?"
"Dobe…." he said. Why couldn't he kill her again? Oh right, Naruto would fucking bury him in a second. While Sasuke didn't outright fear Naruto, he was wary of him and knew that in a fight there was a large chance he would come out on top. Well for now anyway.
"I suggest you two move forward." Shino spoke up as both members of Team Seven looked at the Kikaichu wielding shinobi of the Aburame clan. "I was scheduled to face him either way. So I hope you understand my request to face him."
"Fine then. Kick make-up boy's ass Shino!" Kasumi said as Sasuke grunted at the Leaf genin. The shade wearing boy nodded at their words as they proceeded to go forward. Kankuro snorted and was half tempted to go after them, but he knew that the insect user would come after him.
Essentially speaking they were equals. Neither of the two actually had to make contact with their opponents. Kankuro could poison his enemies, and Shino could infect them with his 'friends'. Both prepared to battle as lunged forward.
Near the Forest, Outskirts of Training Grounds 56 and 57
Naruto Uchiha was going as fast as he could. He needed to get out of this place as he felt several chakra signatures closing in on him. Did he not cover his tracks properly? As if things couldn't get worse, he felt several more chakra signatures ahead. Instinctively he stopped and jumped back as a tiger had pranced on where he previously stood. It was black and white, but not only that it wasn't a white tiger. No he couldn't sense anything except chakra from this tiger. It seemed more like something you would see in paintings. Then he saw it.
Around thirty five ANBU landed in front of him. All of them had the symbol of 'Ne' on them. Naruto cursed his luck as he realized that Danzo had taken some countermeasures already.
They would take away some of his chakra, and considering how he needed to conserve a large portion of it this would be a problem. Unsheathing his tanto, he dodged a slash that came his way from a ROOT operative who decided to strike him first. He fought as his blue eyes noted the converging of the other shinobi around him.
Dodging more slashes coming at him, he jumped a fair distance back and made five quick hand seals, usually it would require seven but for him it was applicable. He unsealed a dozen shuriken from his left arm's Instant Weapons Brace as he threw the volley of shuriken forward with rapid speed and performed the jutsu in conjunction.
"Katon: Housenka Tsumabeni / Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson" he said as he breathed out fire of sun kissed yellow as they ignited the shuriken and increased the overall speed of the projectiles fired. The flaming shuriken rushed forward and managed to hit three ANBU operatives as they suffered from the singes of the shuriken. However, made the ram hand seal and spoke.
"Kai." He said as the small symbols on the shuriken began to glow and all twelve of them exploded at the same time.
He had killed about four of them and one of them was injured. Drawing seals on the shuriken was not an easy task. It required extreme precision and two more seals needed to be drawn on it before the letters that signified explosion could work. He then felt three chakra signatures rush in from behind. He had felt or rather met whomever these signatures belonged to. Probably more of Danzo's lackeys in the Leaf.
He would have to fight more seriously as he began to activate his Sharingan however, he was not allowed to as a giant zanbatou was hurled at one of the ANBU and had beautifully tore him half in a gore-y fashion.
Naruto looked at the giant hunk of a blade that was there and realized why it felt familiar.
"Hyoton: Samui Hanabira / Ice Release: Cold Petals" came the voice of a girl as leaves made of pure and cold ice were targeting the ANBU operatives as they scattered and broke their formation.
*SQUELCH*
"AHHH-mmph!"
*SNAP*
"Ah, haven't killed someone like that in a long time." said the voice of a man whose presence was only felt by the sensor types, including Naruto. The man who had been first stabbed as a kunai cut his nape and then had his neck twisted to the point it snapped was not that lucky. The man who brutally murdered the ANBU operative picked up his hunk of metal that he called a sword, rested it against his shoulders.
"Been some time, eh Uchiha gaki?" said the man. Wearing a sleeveless black shirt and camouflage pants, the man smiled underneath the bandages he used as a mask.
"Zabuza Momochi." Naruto said as he felt the Hyoton user land and she was wearing the hunter nin attire once more.
However the third person, who made his entrance was wearing a sleeveless, high collared violet shirt and grey pants was standing with an equally ridiculously sized sword that was covered in bandages. He was wearing a hanya mask of all things as his shoulder length whitish blue hair moved in the wind.
"What are you all doing here?" the blue eyed Uchiha asked as the last person to arrive spoke up.
"Well, I wanted to settle my score with you so I was thinking of ways to get in contact with you. Then, Zabuza-san was hired by the Hokage as he's a mercenary for hire. Haku-chan followed him, I followed her sweet ass and voila. Here we are!" the person said and if there was any doubt the person beneath the mast was Mangetsu Hozuki it was all washed away now.
"MANGETSU YOU SON OF A BITCH! HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT HAKU LIKE THAT?!" Zabuza yelled with rage and the Uchiha was surprised at his fatherly defensive instincts.
Naruto wondered if all fathers were like this, if they were he was glad that….well a certain blonde haired man wasn't alive, or worse a certain red haired woman. They would've probably maimed him a few times for even sleeping in the same bed as their daughter.
"Tou-san! Mangetsu-kun! Not now!" Haku said with a loud voice. Clearly the girl was flustered with all the attention. She noted that one of the ANBU decided to take advantage of that but Zabuza's eye caught up and he swung his Executioner Blade like a bat cleaving his head off as blood spewed everywhere.
"Go on ahead kid. We'll take care of whatever the fuck is going on here. Though it looks like you've got an internal problem." The Demon of the Hidden Mist said and was preparing to make the hand seals as Mangetsu formed a small lake with his Suiton jutsu.
"Yeah, and later we'll take care of the other shinobi. From the looks of it that grey wolf was tearing through snakes and buildings like they were butter." The Hozuki Clan member said and Naruto internally groaned at that.
Sif had probably started going rampant. As long as Natsu and Yurei weren't here yet, he could deal with it. He nodded and left in a smokeless Shunshin to gain a fairer distance before the ANBU could rush after him all three former shinobi of Kiri made their respective hand seals.
"Suition: Kirigakure no Jutsu / Water Release: Hidden Mist Jutsu" the collected yells of three foreign shinobi came and a thick mist surrounded the covering area of the forest they stood in.
Like a miasma of death it spread as the three Silent Killing technique users prepared to take down the ANBU. Haku would probably make them unconscious and leave them with numb body parts, but two of the Seven Ninja Swordsman would kill all of their opponents.
Kage Stand
Genjuro Uchiha dodged the punch that the Toad Sage had aimed for him and let his open palm rush forward to strike the jaw. Jiraiya felt a bit bristled by the counteractive blow but recovered nonetheless as he grabbed the wrist and kicked the undead Uchiha in the ribs making him skid back. Then Tobirama rushed forward and grabbed Jiraiya to slam him on the ground of the rooftop.
Before Jiraiya could recover from the blow he received, he saw Tobirama's foot descending down aimed at his skull. Using a quick Kawarimi to replace his body with a Log, he tried to gain some distance but once more Genjuro Uchiha had sneaked up on him and kicked him in the back. The Toad Sage cursed under his breath as he felt his spine rattle from the kick, then he saw the Nidaime rushing at him once more. Making hand seals at a pace he hadn't done in such a long time, he unleashed his jutsu.
"Doton: Doryuusou / Earth Release: Earthen Rising Spears" he said and slammed one hand on the ground as spears made of earth erupted near him and impaled the Nidaime as he was displayed as a victim of the jutsu. His body was starting to crack and crumbling as fragments of his undead body floated like dust around him.
'That should hold him for some time.' Jiraiya thought and ducked a roundhouse kick aimed directly for his head.
He then jumped back and saw that Sarutobi was fighting against both Orochimaru and the Shodai. The father of Naruto Uchiha rushed forward and once more attacked Jiraiya who was keeping up with him, Genjuro himself was having a hard time trying to predict the Sannin's moves. They were unpolished and at times random. So predicting the moves was getting harder, inwardly he was glad that he was powered down but he was sure that even in this controlled state there was so much more he could do even in this state.
Hashirama Senju punched Hiruzen Sarutobi's arms which were crossed to form a guard in front of his chest. Sarutobi was thrown back from the sheer force of it. Hashirama's hand was glowing, meaning that the punch was a chakra enhanced one.
Had it not been for the fact that Hiruzen had become accustomed to blows like that during his prime, he would've winced under the pressure of it. However with wisdom also comes age, and with age the body doesn't remain the same. Which was one of the reasons why he couldn't recover from the blow soon enough for Orochimaru to sneak up behind his former teacher. The Snake Sannin punched the aged Kage right across his face drawing some blood as he crashed into a wooden branch made by the founder of the village.
Orochimaru licked his lips in satisfaction. Everything was going smoothly, soon the Third Hokage would be killed and Jiraiya too. Then Danzo would take over the Hidden Leaf, and become an ally to the Hidden Sound. And by the end of it, the Snake Sannin would have a host worthy of all these efforts. He noted how the reanimated Uchiha was giving his former teammate a hard time. While Orochimaru was arrogant, he was not ignorant. He knew that despite Jiraiya's lecherous nature and unrivaled perverseness, he was a strong shinobi.
What ate away at the Snake Sannin was he did not know how strong Jiraiya was. Ten years was a long, long time for any shinobi to learn new skills. The same could be said for his sensei, who at the moment was taking a long time to emerge from the rubble. Granted he hit his sensei with a considerable amount of force, but if this was all it took to take down the Professor then he was disappointed. But then he saw it, barely visible but he did see it.
Remnants of smoke emerged from the debris of where he crashed into. Orochimaru could feel the presence of another and before he knew it, the entire branch or rather the tree that had become the point of impact was slashed away into smithereens as the Sandaime Hokage stood proudly with a staff.
The Adamantine Staff which had one eye visibly on it.
'Oh, so he's brought Enma out already.' the pale one thought as he nodded at the Shodaime to attack. Going through hand seals at a fast rate, Hashirama Senju stopped at the hebi seal once more.
"Mokuton: Jubaku Eiso / Wood Release: Binding Nest" the First Hokage said as the already present trees began to extend their branches as they danced like snakes and were converging on the Third Hokage who waited for the branches to strike him. Then with the athletic ability of that that of young jounin, he began to spin his Adamantine Staff at large speeds to chip through the wooden bindings that came from him.
They became nothing but splinters as he seal-lessly created two Shadow Clones beside him. They already started going through the hand seals as both began to unleash their collaborative jutsu.
"Katon: Karyuu Endan / Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet" one of the clones said as he breathed out a large stream of fire that twisted around before taking the shape of the mythical draconic beast.
"Fuuton: Kami Oroshi / Wind Release: Godly Winds From the Mountains" the other clone said as he spit out a vortex of slashing winds as it headed for the fire based dragon and collided with it to make it larger and increase the overall damage it would inflict. Orochimaru could not react in time as both he and the Shodaime were hit by the jutsu and a small explosion occurred from the resulting jutsu. Hiruzen turned his attention towards Jiraiya and his two opponents.
Jiraiya was struggling a bit now as both Tobirama and Genjuro as each of them were speed based fighters, both were much faster than Jiraiya himself, as they parried one of his blows while the other struck. Jiraiya extended his foot and Genjuro held his leg, yanking it forward as Tobirama spin kicked the Toad Sage away. Tobirama Senju then began to make hand seals at an abnormal rate.
"Suiton: Suihou no Jutsu / Water Release: Water Cannon Jutsu" the Nidaime said as he spit out a large stream of boiling water at the Toad Sage. The water was scathingly hot and could cut through rocks, however due to the restrains placed on the user it lacked the necessary power as it normally does.
"Ninpo: Hari Jizo / Ninja Art: Needle Jizo" Jiraiya said as his spiky mane of white hair became further untamed and grew more. It then wrapped itself around the user and the needle like hair became a shield that was on par with hardened steel. Jiraiya could feel that his defensive technique was under some damage, then it was heating up even more.
'Must be Genjuro with a Katon jutsu.' the Toad Sage thought and made his own set of hand seals.
"Ninpo: Hari Jigoku / Ninja Art: Needle Hell" the needle like sharpened strands of hair surrounding the toad sage began to shoot outwards in nearly every direction and his opponents did not expect the move, not even Genjuro as he had never seen it before and was struck with the highly sharp needles that lunged into their bodies with great speeds.
Once more both became temporarily stopped and Jiraiya's hair returned to its normal length, albeit a bit smoky. He then saw that his sensei arrived and looked weary, the battle had been going on for some time now and his age was catching up to him. Jiraiya could feel the effects too, he had gotten rusty over the years. Sarutobi then hit the two reanimations in front of them with his extended Adamantine Staff to delay their reformation rate.
"Jiraiya, we need to seal them off." Sarutobi said as he watched the two undead figures slowly starting to reform. Hashirama was also reforming and from the looks of it, Orocihmaru had spit his real body out of his former as he looked to be covered with saliva all over his body.
"I know sensei. But we need to hit them hard. I have a plan but, I'll need time." Jiraiya said and his sensei looked at him with narrowed eyebrows. Time was the one thing they did not have at the moment, not with Orochimaru around and the reanimation forming.
"How much?" Sarutobi asked not really looking forward to what his student was going to say.
"A couple of minutes. Five to six at most, since I need to heal plus get some gear and then I'll be able to go out. Then I can fight them on better grounds and use the Keikyaku Fuin / Contract Seal to break the control over the reanimations, even if it is only one of them." the Toad Sage finished and the Sandaime nodded grimly at him. Jiraiya knew he was asking a lot.
One single person fighting against four Kage level shinobi for a couple of minutes as a distraction? Another form of suicide by logical conclusions.
That was a bet that even a certain blonde haired gambler wasn't willing to take.
"Very well, Jiraiya. But you need to hide." Sarutobi said as he gripped the Adamantine Staff tightly. The Monkey King Enma could feel the wariness of his wielder. He had fought alongside Hiruzen for years. Before he could move, Jiraiya caught sensei by his arm and handed him a tadpole.
Was he joking?
"Keep that tadpole safe. I can't summon them here with four of them around, I'm pretty sure Genjuro or Nidaime-sama will attack them the moment they realize what is happening." Jiraiya said and the Sandaime nodded as the Toad Sage bit his hand to draw blood and made a few hand seals before he slammed his hand into the ground.
*POOF*
Jiraiya the Toad Sage disappeared and Hiruzen threw the toad, quite discreetly as it hopped away from everyone and stood alone watching four shinobi slowly walking towards the aged man who threw him. He blinked and sat still. Why was he summoned before when the fight had begun? He had no purpose here except for…
'So that's what he's planning.' Sarutobi thought as he restrained a smirk. He couldn't afford to lose his poker face now. Twirling his Adamantine Staff he held it with an aura he hadn't shown in years, no…he hadn't shown in decades he stood prouly as Enma also felt the sudden pulse of his wielder becoming more composed.
'You're calm. The calmest you've been since you summoned me today.' Enma thought as his eye opened once more to observe the four shinobi making his way.
"Kukukuku." Orochimaru giggled and started to laugh now. "I can't believe this. Hahahahaha! Jiraiya abandoned you as well!"
"Orochimaru, hold your tongue worthless brat!" Sarutobi said as he was trying to goad Orochimaru into an argument. The longer they talked the better. More time to be wasted. But sadly the Snake Sannin's eyes narrowed. 'I must've pushed a button.'
"Worthless…..Let me show how worthless I am." the rogue nin said and began make noises that made everyone feel like he was going to vomit. He was vomiting, but it wasn't any undigested form of bolus that exited his mouth. Rather a blade was coming out of his mouth as he coughed and the reanimations looked on.
"I've seen people get skinned alive." Tobirama said as he watched the process. "But this is more disgusting."
"Indeed." His older brother said as he looked on, internally his mind was yelling out to shove the sword back in.
"Sword swallower." Genjuro Uchiha said and both Hokage looked at him with an impassive stare, had they had more control of their bodies the facial reactions would be different.
"He seems to be a bit like you." the Nidaime said to his brother.
"A bit, but I am glad to see there were Uchiha who has a lighter mind." the Shodaime said and saw that Orochimaru had finally taken the blade out of his mouth. The First took a close look at the blade and eventually realized what it was. "That's the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. I wonder how he attained a blade like that."
"Sarutobi." Enma spoke loud enough so that his summoner could hear him clearly. "I maybe indestructible, but even I would be harmed if I get hit by that."
"I wonder what you'll do now, Sarutobi-sensei. Jiraiya fled and now you're here alone. Then again, I'm not surprised. You really did outlive your natural life, well you and that Tsuchikage anyway." the Snake Sannin said as he took his stance with the sword. "Sadly that ends now, Genjuro…..use the technique which gave you your nickname, Lord of Cinder."
"Hokage-sama, make sure you increase your defense." the Uchiha said and the Sandaime seemed to realize what Orochimaru was exactly implying. The chakra around Genjuro began to increase as it started to become visible. He then made the ram hand seal as the temperature around them began to rise very quickly.
"Katon: Moeshu no Yoroi / Fire Release: Armor of Cinder" Genjuro said as orange flames engulfed his body and flickered around him. Cinders from his body flew off and danced in the wind as if it was trying burn the air particles itself. "I see, it's not as strong as I thought it would be."
"A full body armor made of fire and the flames that act as a defense and increase the offensive taijutsu output. Similar to what the Raikage use." Tobirama said with a calculative eye, already breaking the jutsu down as Genjuro stared at him for a moment.
"Otou-san wasn't joking when he said your mind was your most dangerous attribute." the Uchiha said and felt a massive amount of respect building for him, it was a shame that he couldn't show the full power of his jutsu.
"I find it hard to believe how someone like you died. A technique like that surely assures invincibility on some scale." the Shodaime added his two cents and was equally curious about his technique. He remembered his father Kagami when he was a, well he was a brat but he knew even then the child would go far. His own child however exceeded his expectations.
"Poor Genjuro Uchiha was left to die." Orochimaru said as Genjuro despite his lack of emotions had his eyes shadowed.
"A mission during the Third Great Ninja War in which Konoha was supposed to merely observe Iwa's complete takeover made in Nami no Kuni resulted in squads of Konoha to be caught as prisoners of war. Genjuro Uchiha here abandoned the protocols like his sensei and instead took on the entire battalion of shinobi that had invaded the country. All seven hundred and fifty Iwagakure shinobi killed by the hands of one man. Genjuro Uchiha didn't let a single one of his comrades die that day and freed a country. All Konoha gave him was a name on the Memorial Stone and burned his body in Wave so that the secrets to his body don't get revealed. The name 'Genjuro Uchiha' became frowned up and his family were seen as outcasts in the Uchiha Clan itself. How the Will of Fire fades." the Snake Sannin said taking pleasure in how Sarutobi's face showed shame and sadness.
He was doing this specifically so that Sarutobi's emotions show up and take advantage of him. Both the Shodaime and Nidaime took in the words and knew that the man deserved better. Tobirama himself had died in a similar fashion, fending off enemy shinobi wards by himself so his team could escape. He had no regrets about that.
Shinobi Rule #25: Shinobi must never show their feelings under any and all circumstances. Feelings are emotions that will compromise the mission, cloud meticulous judgment and weaken the sense of duty.
"You're wrong." said a calm and collected voice. The voice belonged to the man how was body was on flames. "The Will of Fire will never fade. I died three times that day, and I had no qualms. Despite having no teammates as I was the White Fang's apprentice, he taught me the value of comrades and what the Will of Fire truly is. It's not the village, nor the Hokage. It's the next generation. I died so that the young ones from the captured squad could live. It was selfish, but I made my peace." He then looked at Orochimaru and spoke as he felt annoyance displaying on the man's face.
"There will always be someone to fan the flames and make Konoha flourish. Shodaime-sama's ideas came to be known as the Will of Fire, and us Uchiha are the fire. As long as these ideals exist, the fire will never fade." Genjuro said and all Hokage present there felt a surge of pride in themselves. This man, Genjuro Uchiha was an undying representation of the Will of Fire and shows how a village truly wasn't bound by the clan.
"Kill him." Orochimaru said with a hushed tone of malice. "KILL SARUTOBI!"
"Forgive me, Hokage-sama." Genjuro said as he made seven precise hand seals that ended at tiger and started to breathe in.
'That jutsu…is that-' Both the Nidaime and the Shodaime were following the hand seals and knew exactly what he was planning to do. Sarutobi remembered his old friend doing the same hand seals and immediately what it was he brought his Adamantine Staff forward and it was beginning to take a different shape.
"Katon: Gouka Messhitsu / Fire Release: Majestic Demolisher Flame" the former branch member said as he exhaled out a large stream of concentrated flames as it burst forward destroying the very ground underneath it with the heat generated from it. The jutsu increased in speed as it met its target but was hitting a solid wall instead of the Sandaime.
Enma or rather the Adamantine Staff had expanded itself to become a solid black box that surrounded the Sandaime as the heat inside the protective defense was getting larger.
"Sarutobi, there's someone else rushing in. It's the snake!" He yelled as the heat died out and a sharp slashing noise came and the Adamantine black steel bled. Quickly turning it back into a staff again, Orochimaru stumbled back a bit due to the recoil at which the weapon had changed shapes. The Snake Sannin did not stop there as he brought the sword down to strike the Sandaime's head or at the very least a large gash that would slow him down.
*CLANG*
The Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi instead collided with the Staff and there was a crack on it. As Sarutobi prepared to summon more clones, he felt something scathingly hot connect with his cheek. Embers is what he saw before flying back and crashing into the wall as part of his face sported burn marks.
Genjuro Uchiha was standing near the rogue nin as the flames flickered off his body with his fist extended. He had punched the Sandaime away as he rushed him once more. This time the Shodaime and the Nidaime were rushing in at him as well. Tobirama was already making hand seals as he stopped for a moment.
"Ninpo: Kokuangyo no Jutsu / Ninja Art: Bringer of Darkness Jutsu" the Nidaime said before darkness engulfed the area, a genjutsu made specifically to affect the eyesight of his enemies. While it could not be dispelled easily, the biggest weakness of this jutsu was that only sensor types could tell what was happening around them.
Sarutobi knowing and seeing how this jutsu had been played before jumped away from the spot as he heard a large cracking noise coming from where he stood. He guessed it must've been the Shodaime who punched the ground with his chakra enhanced strength. As if by instinct he brought his Staff to his right side as a longsword made of flames struck it and because of close proximity he was able to see the blade of flames before it disappeared. However Genjuro then proceeded to grab the Staff with all his strength before he spoke.
"Jump away." the undead Uchiha said and the Sandaime did exactly that as he kicked Genjuro and maneuvered his body away from the Uchiha who exploded into flames.
'A Hi Bunshin in the middle of the fight! Then where's the real one?' he thought as he didn't realize that the real Genjuro was already behind him and had his fist cocked with flames ready to burst from his hand.
"Behind you!" Genjuro shouted and the sentient Staff came to protect its wielder as it took the full force of the flaming fist and Sarutobi was falling as Tobirama stood below watching his favorite student coming down near him as he prepared to finish him off as he finished making his hand seals. His body would not listen as he prepared to gather the water particles from the very atmosphere.
"Suiton: Doiru Suiyari no Jutsu / Water Release: Drilling Water Spears" he said as his nonexistent heart flinched as the sharp water spears formed around him and rushed to kill and maim his successor.
*SQUELCH*
The water tendrils had successfully pierced the frame of the Sandaime and Tobirama looked up at the body as he could see it because he was the caster. The genjutsu faded as the Sandaime's body was visible to all, Orochimaru was going to laugh but something prevented him from doing so.
*BOOM*
The Sandaime's body exploded and caused quite a large shockwave, such that the frog sitting safely away from it on the roof fell of balance and was rolling down the slanted roof, struggling not to fall down. Orochimaru escaped the range of the jutsu, the Reanimations however could not as particles of their Edo Tensei bodies were moving around like specks of dust in the air slowly coming back to their bodies.
The Sandaime emerged from ground, sometimes the basics did do a lot of good. Orochimaru smirked a bit at his former sensei's evasiveness, he didn't even notice how quickly the Sandaime had switched himself out with a Shadow Clone so quickly and then emerged, but he could feel the Sandaime slowly draining out.
'Jiraiya if you don't get your perverted ass here…..I'm going to fucking kill you.' the aged Hokage thought as he was contemplating on what to do next. Then before Orochimaru could rush in with his sword to strike the Hokage, a large resounding thud was heard as Hashirama's body was found in a recently made crater. On his back a spinning orb of blue rotating chakra as his body became particles once more. The person who did this, then jumped near Sarutobi and stood in front of everyone as the smoke from his sudden jump began to fade away.
"Jiraiya-boy, never do something stupid like that again." the voice of an old man said as he said to the Toad Sage.
*WHACK*
"OW!" came a voice of annoyance.
"And that is for not calling us earlier!" said a woman who was also residing in the smoke which cleared to give the full view.
Jiraiya stood there with his sensei but his appearance changed. His nose had become swollen and had warts on it. There were red markings around his eyes and extended down his cheeks. His teeth seemed sharper as he new also sported a goatee of sorts. The shape of his eyes also changed. On each of his shoulders was a toad.
The toad on his left shoulder was a green toad with white hair styled in somewhat of a mohawk, very thick eyebrows and a small goatee. It was also wearing a high collared cape as its arms were crossed and his eyes seemed to be observing all the opponents around him.
The other toad which was purple had a green underside with purple marking around its mouth and the back of its body. The top of the toad's head looked as though it was wearing a hair net with hair-rollers underneath, giving the toad an 'old woman' look. She was wearing a high collared cape.
On Jiraiya's shoulders sat Fukasaku and Shima, the Two Great Sage Toads of Mt. Myoboku.
"You weren't joking, Jiraiya-boy." Fukasaku the green one said with a grave tone.
"Here." Shima said as she threw Sarutobi a pill and the Sandaime immediately consumed it. She then looked at the Staff and spoke. "To think that someone as thick-headed as Enma could be cut."
"I'm right here you filthy toads." Came the annoyed voice of Enma and Shima was silently giggling at his fuming anger.
"Fukasaku-sama, Shima-sama thank you for arriving with Jiraiya." Sarutobi said as he felt the Soldier Pill starting to take effect. The ones that the Toads made were different and efficient, but at the same time it was probably ten times more disgusting than he could imagine. He was sure he bit something slimy when he chewed it, but it worked and his chakra was feeling revitalized as well.
"Sorry for arriving so late sensei, but the tadpole actually fell off the building and I had to climb up. At least we got the Shodaime for now." Jiraiya said as he looked at Orochimaru was keenly observing him and spoke with a merciless voice.
"Orochimaru, let me show exactly what would have happened if I fought you seriously that day." as his eyes saw all three reanimations along with Orochimaru rushing at him and Sarutobi.
Stadium
"Well, that takes care of the last of them." Kakashi said as he brought down his hitai-ate and closed his left eye.
He looked around at all the bodies of the enemy shinobi lying around. Konoha shinobi had outdone themselves even the genin, sadly most of them had gotten their first kills today and seemed to be reeling from the effects of it. Thankfully a squad of ANBU had come here as some jounin also accompanied them along with the civilians to safer shelters, the new generation had done their part. While Kakashi and his other three classmates weren't exhausted they did feel a certain amount of stress over their bodies.
"We should head over there." Kurenai said as she looked at the purple flames around the Hokage stand.
"Yeah, Jiraiya-sama might be her but extra help is never bad." Asuma said and he tried to hide the anxiousness and slight fear in his voice regarding the safety of his father but it was visible. However, before they could take another step spikes of earth rose and jarred their path as all four jounin jumped back to see four figures land in front of them.
"Oh this just great." Kakashi muttered as he looked at the four.
A man with white shaggy hair and tanned skin was most probably the leader. He was wearing a red vest that was open and his muscular torso could be seen. He had black armguards as well along with white pants. Yashiro Nanjo the Earth Warrior.
The second of the group was a man with blonde hair and was wearing a short sleeved black shirt and black pants along with gloves. He had a bloodthirsty smirk on his face as his hand was twitching with a knife. Yamazaki Dan, the Psychotic.
The third was a woman with dark purple hair as her bangs covered her face. She was wearing a scantly looking outfit as she wore a fishnet shirt with a tightly fitting long sleeved shirt over it. She was also wearing a skirt that barely covered half her thighs. Sherumi Okizu the Seductress.
And finally a boy of around fourteen years old who had shaggy brown hair and was wearing a short sleeved cloth that came down to his midriff and a black undershirt beneath. He was wearing dark red pants. He had a cold and menacing smile on his face. Kuroudo, the Young Hunter.
"Kakashi Hatake, it's an honor meeting you here." Kurodo said before he breathed in and started making hand seals. He then breathed out a large ball of flames that had purple colored smoke coming out of it. Every Konoha jounin jumped away from the flames as everything that seemed to come into contact with was melting slowly.
"The Five Kings." Might Gai said as he stood his ground. All of them had separated from each other and each were facing their opponents. The Five Kings were mercenaries and each of them were rogue shinobi from the five major villages. Each of them were also classified as A Rank threats.
Before Gai stood Yashiro, Asuma had Yamazaki and Kurenai would be facing Sherumi. Kurodo however was already on Kakashi and soon enough the Konoha jounin were already fighting the other members of the group. However, they all had another question in mind.
'Where's the Fifth King?' they all thought.
Deepwood Forest
'Do…..do they care?' the redhead insomniac asked himself in his mind as he was being carried away. His wound had began to heal, albeit slowly. He had been asking this to himself. Due to the overall lack of sleep he had, Gaara always looked to prove his existence. Often times he would ask himself why his family did not care?
Why did they avoid him like the plague? He knew he was a monster, but he still had memories….happy memories and that foolish side of his clung to those memories. Overtime he would dismiss these as foolish notions. However today's acts by….his siblings had made him ask the same question again.
'Tell me…..do they care?'
'No…..' came a hollow reply followed by a mad cackle of laughter. Gaara shuffled a bit under the influence of the voice. The voice of his 'mother' as he called it. The one person who was always there despite whatever happened. It guided, molded his skills and made him become strong.
Strong so that no one can ever betray him again.
'They'll betray you….just like him.' said the voice and unknowingly he was accepting the answer.
'….You're right, mother.' He said as he freed himself from Temari's grip and twisted his body to land on a branch. He grunted in pain a bit as he was still healing from the wound the Uchiha had given him.
'You will kill him for harming. Nobody harms you.' said the voice as it tugged on the edges of the control he had.
'Yes…..' he thought as sand began to form around him and covered the wound. His eyes were changing. Gone were the cold and uncaring teal colored eyes, they were now yellow as his eyes had a black tilted cross in it.
"Gaara." said the Suna kunoichi as she noted his sudden drop and his eyes changing color. He had that look on his face again, she was feeling afraid again. Her brother was becoming that monster again. Wordlessly the redhead moved from that spot as he went further away from her view.
There was no need for him to rush in anything. His prey would come to him.
"Oi, four tails." came the yell of one familiar hyperactive blonde girl as she landed in front of her along with Sasuke Uchiha. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Listen here, Uzumaki." She said with barely restrained worry and anger. "I need to leave and help Gaara. He's needs my help." Then she noticed that Sasuke Uchiha had already rushed in the direction where Gaara had gone previously. Temari gripped her battle fan and was preparing to go after him but a chain had wrapped around her arm and yanked her back.
"What the heck?!" Temari said in surprise as more chains began to rise up and tied themselves around her limbs. Needless, to say her positioning seemed rather awkward and she realized it. She saw Kasumi Uzumaki coming forward, the chains sticking out of her body. Her chakra was being drained or was it being suppressed, she did not know.
"Alright, now you and I are going to talk." the orange clad kunoichi said and the blonde from Suna knew she had no other choice. "What do you mean he needs your help?"
"SASUKE UCHIHA!" Gaara yelled with a mad grin on his voice as his arm became more monstrous and seemed to be composed of sand and black lines. He saw the Uchiha appear and immediately swiped his hand.
"Suna Shuriken!" he yelled as shuriken made from the sand of his slowly mutating arm were launched towards the incoming Uchiha whose Sharingan warned him of the danger ahead. Making the appropriate hand seals he kneaded chakra in his lungs.
"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu / Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu" said the Uchiha as he exhaled multiple fireballs that collided with the sand shuriken. Normally Sasuke Uchiha was composed when it came to battles, however upon seeing the sand on Gaara's body starting to spread he could only say one thing.
"Fuck."
ROOT Base Entrance
Naruto Uchiha finally arrived. Danzo Shimura had not made it easy for him. After getting past the ANBU that the Kiri rogue shinobi had held back, Naruto Uchiha had to activate his Sharingan. The bastard leader of the Foundation had set up traps, traps as in every elaborately planned death traps that would activate one after the other and probably kill people.
He was never one to boast, but for the first time he felt pride booming in him because of his eyes. However, as soon as he entered through the doors of the ROOT Base, which was more like an underground tunnel he felt the chakra of another. Elite jounin level chakra, and judging by the sudden change in the winds around him probably a Fuuton user. Hearing the sharp noise, he ducked as a small slash appeared on the wall he was leaning against to stay hidden.
In the clearing stood a man with short blonde hair with black highlights. He had a small black goatee and dark blue eyes. He was wearing a blue cloak and blue pants. There was a cape over his body and fingerless gloves on his hand and knee length combat boots. He looked at the emerging Naruto Uchiha and smirked.
"Orochimaru-san was right in a way." The man said with a kind and gentle voice. He then put his hand on his chest and bowed down dramatically. "Genjo Tatsu, based your looks you must be Naruto Uchiha."
"Sorry, but I've never heard about you." Said the teen Uchiha as his red eyes began to gleam and the tomoe spun.
"I'm not surprised. You are still a child, a strong one but a child nonetheless. Orochimaru-san had given me instructions to collect you from the stadium or anywhere else from the village. I am ashamed to admit that I was rather lost reading a book." He said holding it up for the Uchiha to see.
Then the book was erased from existence as it shredded into minute pieces as the man's eyes looked at him, hungrily for battle.
"I suppose I have no choice but to-"
"WOOOHOOOO!" came a yell that echoed and Naruto could not stop himself from face palming.
His sentence was cut off as he felt two more life forces coming in behind him. Two wolves stood behind Naruto. One's fur was pure white respectively as his blue eyes looked around and the other was pink of all colors.
"Geez, Natsu. Could you keep it down?" said the white wolf and the pink one looked a bit blanched at him.
"I'm not that loud, Yurei" said the pink direwolf. Yes, the pink direwolf.
"Natsu, Yurei. What are you two doing here?" Naruto asked as his eyes were fixed on Genjo who was clearly amused by what was happening here.
"Sif was done tearing through his opponents. Seriously it's a snake corpse fest out there." said Natsu with stars in his eyes.
"After that, he got bored and tagged the game with us. We killed around, a lot of Oto and Suna nin. We even became friends with this one dude named Kuromaru. He's cool as fuck." said Yurei as he had a grin on his face. "That woman who was with him though, AWOOOOO!"
"Enough!" Naruto said, a bit cringed at how he knew that Yurei was a severe pervert and even asked him if he had the latest editions of "Kenso Paradise" and the fact that Yurei was talking about Kiba's mother. He looked at Genjo and realized he could use their help now.
"Natsu, Yurei. How did you two get here?" he asked.
"Oh we met a clone of yours who said to follow you here. Didn't know you were into death traps that much." Natsu said the more cheerful, and dense of the two. Naruto noted that it was a smart decision on his clone's behalf.
"I need you two take care of him. He's strong and uses Fuuton chakra." Naruto said before Natsu already stood in front of him. The pink furred direwolf always did have a natural tendency towards fighting and Naruto had to beat him down during his training trap at Kabe no Kita a few times.
"Alright, then." Natsu said and growled as fire escaped from the small spaces between his sharp fangs. "See, I told you we'd get a good fight Yurei."
"Sure, go ahead Naruto. We'll take care of the Blondie here." Yurei said before Naruto disappeared or rather teleported using his brother's famous jutsu.
"So, I have to fight dogs now and a pink one along with a lecherous one at that." Genjo said with one closed eye and a proud smirk. "How cheap."
"That's what I said when I met your mother last night!" Yurei said with a twitching brow. Him? Lecherous? Please, he was a player!
"Pink, huh?!" Natsu said as the slits in his eyes sharpened. "I'm going to eat you for dinner."
Itachi Uchiha walked forward to the room. Behind him were 5 dead ROOT shinobi. His feet were wet from the large jutsu that Kisame had used to flood an entire base. He was standing on the ceiling and he still got wet. Thankfully the tactic worked as Fuu and Torune of the Yamanaka and Aburame clans came to fight the Monster of the Hidden Mist along with the rest of the ROOT agents.
To be honest, Itachi had it relatively easy and had chakra to spare. He finally entered the final room as he had called it.
Opposite to him, stood Danzo Shimura as he was undoing the bandages from his arm very slowly and as calmly as he could.
Rarely did Itachi ever show his emotions. His complete lack of showing any feelings is what made him perfect for ANBU. However, today his eyes narrowed. They narrowed in anger and hatred. Danzo's right arm was wrinkle and palely white compared to the rest of his body. However, that was not what annoyed him. The endless amount of red orbs in them.
Sharingan after Sharingan embedded into his arm as the tomoe spun and then Danzo took off the bandages off his face as his right eye revealed another Sharingan.
Shisui's Sharingan.
Itachi stood still as he looked at Danzo.
"To think that you'd come back. On this day of all days." The Shinobi of Darkness said and Itachi looked at him now with a face devoid of emotions. His red eyes cold and lifeless. How long had it been since Danzo felt the aura of death like that?
Dense and merciless killing intent was around the around the area as he felt like it was constricting his neck. He stood still for a moment as Itachi spoke.
"It ends today. The Uchiha Clan…will be avenged today." the former ANBU said to the Shinobi of Darkness.
"Was it not you who chose to end your own Clan for the sake of the village? And now you would forsake the same village for something like revenge." Danzo said trying to delay him further.
"You broke the condition I set. I told you to leave those two alone." Itachi said as his eyes didn't blink for a second. "I was a fool to listen to you. All I've lost….is because of you. If Shisui had been allowed to go that to use the Kotoamatsukami / Distinguished Heavenly Gods that day on my father, Konoha would've remained stronger. You never gave the village that chance, so….." he took a pause before he spoke once more.
"…think before you speak, little shit." Itachi said and the older shinobi frowned and was going to make a move but he jumped from his spot to land on the statue. A very well placed slash of Fuuton chakra was sent his way to possibly harm him.
There stood a ghost. A ghost wearing the same attire Shisui Uchiha wore when Danzo ripped his eye out and the countdown for the Uchiha Clan's extinction began. Naruto Uchiha was here and his eyes were darker than Itachi's.
"Sorry I'm late." said the teen Uchiha as he stood with Itachi now. "He set up traps and had ANBU waiting outside along with a jounin near the base entrance, though that was probably Orochimaru's play."
"It's alright." Itachi said as his eyes began to change shape as a black tri-edge fuma-shuriken of black color formed in the red iris of his eye. "Now, it begins."
"No," Naruto said as his eyes also began to change and take the form of a four blade pinwheel "now it ends."
Both their eyes locked at Danzo and both said the same thing simultaneously.
"Amaterasu!"
Author's Notes II: I am sorry you guys, but this is it for this chapter. Originally it was suppose to be over by this chapter but I have some other impending duties to do and they kind of need to be done. What you saw essentially here was the first phase of the fights. In the next chapter, you will see the part II of the invasion finale. The next chapter will cover the fights of the Hokage Stand, Deepwood Forest, ROOT vs Kisame (a fucking massacre), some scenes from Konoha invasion and finally the two Uchiha going against Danzo.
Overall, I hope you guys liked the chapter and the next one will be published next month. Also, there is going to be a change in my usual routine. It hasn't been finalized yet, but I will inform you about it at the end of the month so don't ask too many questions about it. Now as for the Moeshu no Yoroi, yes is influenced by how 'flamy' the Lords of Cinder from Dark Souls are and yes I did make a lot of Dark Souls references but they seemed to work. The Hokage fight was okay I guess, well in my opinion, as let's be honest controlling three Kage level Edo Tensei is much harder as they need to be powered down even more as Orochimaru hasn't found an advanced to control them like Kabuto did during the Fourth War. Sage Mode Jiraiya should be strong enough to hold them back and do that thing I planned.
Now, about Genjuro Uchiha dying three times. I'm pretty sure you guys have figured out what he meant. Genjuro Uchiha was strong, he was very strong. How strong he was, I will explain in the next chapter. Also, the Five Kings are not exactly OC's as they were heavily influenced by the Hakkesshu from the King of Fighters series who serve Orochi, namely: Yashiro Nanakase is Yashiro, Shermie became Sherumi Okizu, Ryuji Yamazaki became Yamazaki Dan, Chris became Kurodo and Goenitz Leopold became Genjo.
And that is it for today, as I am very sleepy and if there are mistakes rest assured I will fix them tomorrow. Make sure you review guys. Until next time, take care and stay safe. :D