Grim Reaper of Iwa
Chapter 21
With Sakura and Kakashi before the two old men started the end of Konoha.
The two where sparring while they were waiting for Sasuke to get back from his meeting with the Hokage. They knew he was getting promoted and they couldn't be happier, but Sakura was pissed. She had done horribly in the Iron Country Chunin Exams and felt weak.
In an attempt to ratify that, she asked both Kakashi and Sasuke to help her with her training. And they both agreed. Only, they didn't start this in Konoha. They started in Iron Country and continued as they traveled back to Konoha. But it was mostly Taijutsu since that was what she needed the most. Yes, she would admit that she was weak and she was working to stop that.
Now she had a decent Taijutsu style from Kakashi, to which she was proficient in, but she needed to strength to pull of the higher level moves. That was fine because she would work on that with Lee's preferred method of training one's strength, insane weights.
Also, she had picked up a few genjutsu scrolls from the library since she had the control for them along with some medical scrolls. However, the high level genjutsu she had gotten from Kurenai, something the woman had been happy about since none of her own students seemed interested in the art of illusions.
Finally was ninjutsu. She had the academy three and that was it. Thanks to Kakashi, she learned that her elemental affinity was lightning of all things and that made Sasuke smirk and Kakashi to widen his…eye.
They immediately got to work on that and Sasuke shared his known lightning jutsus with her. No seriously, Sasuke actually SHARED his jutsu. In reality, Sasuke thought that with Sai gone from their team, along with Naruto, they needed more power and with the reveal of Sakura's element, maybe things would change and he would have a worthy partner to fight alongside him. So he gave her a scroll of his lightning based jutsu so that they could work in tandem.
There was one other thing too. Ever since Naruto had left, the two had indeed gotten closer. They had become friends, often complaining about Sai's behavior towards them. However, it wasn't until after the Chunin Exams that Sasuke decided to say 'fuck it' and he agreed to go out on a date with Sakura. It was nothing major, just a simple little affair and to be honest, it wasn't bad. So they often were seen together after that, much to the anger of Sasuke's old fanclub.
Sakura put up a hand to signify that she had run out of juice and for Kakashi to stop his onslaught. She was getting better, but to her, she got tired way too often. Deciding to put her mind off of that, she looked to Kakashi and asked, "Hey Kakashi-sensei, where are the Ichiraku's? I haven't seen either one of them since we returned."
Kakashi shook his head. "From what I was told, they left here around the time that we were almost done with the Chunin Exams. They felt they could not stand by this village anymore because of the treatment of their best customer. I think they are heading to Iwa to set up shop."
"Oh…well that sucks." Sakura groaned. She could use to ramen right about now.
Her complaint was cut short as Sasuke ran onto the training ground, looking tired and cut up. Kakashi narrowed his eye and said, "Report."
"Ugh, soon as I got out of the Hokage Tower, shit hit the fan. Danzo attacked the Hokage by kicking him out of the man's office, literally!" Sasuke shouted. "Then Danzo's root agent all came out of the wood works and started attacking people, even the civilians! I came to get you guys to help out. Things look really bad."
"Shit, I should have expected this." Kakashi said. "Come on, we got to-"
He didn't finish his sentence because of their person now blocking their path to the village. Sasuke was about ask what was up until he heard his voice. "I am afraid I can't let you do that."
"Itachi!" Sasuke shouted as he turned around to see his brother just standing there, mock him. However, he didn't just charge at the man because he remembered what Naruto had said and what his brother had done to the blond. So he decided to play this smart. 'What the hell are you doing here?"
Itachi raised an eyebrow but decided to answer. "Simple. Our leader wants this place eradicated. Your elders have started the end; Leader-sama will finish it."
"Not good." Kakashi grounded out, thinking rapidly on how to get past Itachi with his students and help out the village.
"Don't bother Kakashi." Itachi said as he appeared behind the one eyed man, with his back towards him, but both men were staring at each other in the eyes. 'I have already caught you."
Sasuke, seeing that his teacher was in trouble, rounded on Sakura for her help. "Sakura! Come on we-" Sasuke looked on with wide disbelieving eyes. Itachi was not only by Kakashi, but right by Sakura and it was not pretty. Sasuke saw Itachi take a swipe with his kunai and Sakura was on the ground in a puddle of her own blood, both her eyes gone. Then he saw Kakashi, hyperventilate to whatever Itachi was doing to him and then fall flat on his face.
Sasuke stared in shock at his two remaining teammates. There unmoving forms digging at Sasuke's psyche before he stared at Itachi, his own heartbeat pounding in his ears as tears ran down his eyes. Itachi had taken everything from him, again!
Itachi widened his eyes as he watched Sasuke's eyes activate into the Sharingan and then into the Mangekyo Sharingan on its own. It's time then. He thought sadly as he took a subtle stance and prepared himself as Sasuke charged him.
XXX
Naruto was…bored. They had camped outside a sound base and he was pretty sure they could have gone in last night, but Kitsuchi and Haku had a good point. They needed to be ready for whatever lay inside the base of a former mad man,
Thankfully now, they were at entrance and all rested up. They could actually do something. Other than him cowering in fear of Kitsuchi's fatherly wrath.
Oh well. As they walked in, they were already regretting it because of the body that was lying on the ground. Naruto recognized as a Kayuga. The white haired man was still alive, but he looked very weak. He looked at them for a moment before he weakly pointed at Naruto and rasped out, "This…is your fault."
The group looked at each other before they crouched down to the man's level and asked, "What do you mean?"
The man coughed violently before saying. "With Orochimaru gone, his men have turned on each other. This place is a blood bath and they were all nuts to begin with, so this event made it worse." The man paused and asked. "Why are you here?"
"Um, to get the survivors and offer them a chance to live in Iwa." Haku stated.
The Kayuga nodded to himself before forcing himself on his feet. "Very well. If you wish to give us a chance, then fine, but you will need to kill certain people for it to work. Also, I know of a few good survivors that may join you….but I do not trust you…yet."
"Noted." Naruto said as he followed the man deep into the recesses of what was once Oto.
XXX
Both men of almost equal age where tired as hell. They were truly too old for this shit and they were on their last legs. Sarutobi had multiple stab wounds and his ninja outfit with covered in blood. And not all of it was his own, from Danzo to the random root agent that got in their way.
Then there was Danzo. The bandages around his Sharingan eye were shredded as they exposed his only remaining Sharingan. The rest of his outfit was shredded and burned as well, but the most damage he took was his newly implanted arm with multiple Sharingan on it. It had taken Enma, the Monkey King and Sarutobi's personal summon, less than a minute to rip off the appendage from the man's body after he saw Danzo use its power a few times and then deal Sarutobi a crippling blow to the leg.
Despite the situation, Sarutobi sighed and chuckled. "It seems this stupid war has cost us an arm and a leg, eh Danzo?"
"Fuck you!" Danzo shouted out as blood poured from his shoulder wound. "If you had just done you job as a Kage and made the right decisions, then none of this bullshit would have happened!"
"And that's what makes us different, Danzo and a reason why the Second chose me as the Third Hokage and not you. We are too different when it comes to the important decisions. I have tried to keep this village in the light while you the dark, and the end results are in the twilight."
"Oh spar me you light speech. We are fucking ninja. We do the dirty jobs that mercs and samurai can't or won't do." Danzo argued.
"It doesn't matter now." A voice monotone out as he appeared behind Sarutobi. It was a man in an Akatsuki cloak with long orange hair. Sarutobi cursed at his lack of guard despite the pain in his crippled leg.
"Sarutobi! MOVE!" Enma screamed while in his staff mode.
However, it was too late because as soon as Sarutobi turned his head to see the person that had interrupted their fight, the long haired man had put a hand on the old man's head a did a pulling motion, effectively pull out the old monkey's soul.
Danzo watched in horror and a bit of anger that this person killed the man he was fighting. That was his job damnit! Still, to pull a soul out of someone's body was no laughing matter and he could do much with the pain he was in. He watched his old strained friend and rival fell lifelessly to the floor as his summon poofed out of existence. 'Who the hell are you!?"
"He is me." Another voice said, but in the same monotone.
Danzo looked on in horror to see a man he knew to be dead. "How?! I saw you run yourself through on Hanzo's blade!"
The short and spiky, orange haired man rose an eyebrow at that. "So you remember this form? At least one of you did. Hanzo did not. Still, it matters not as you will die just like he did."
"Like hell I will!" Danzo roared as he used another power of the Sharingan in a last ditch effort to stay alive. "Amaterasu!"
"Pitiful." The man replied before he held up his hand and said. "Shinra Tensei." The Black flames were rebound back at a stunned Danzo, who fell victim to the flames as he screamed for dear life in the wake of the flames burning him alive.
The man, also known as Pain, paid no attention to Danzo's screams because his hearing was picking up the sound of thousands of birds.
XXX A few minutes before
Kakashi groggily got on all fours and collected his thoughts. He was not really sure why, but it seemed that Itachi was helping them in his own way. Itachi, in the Tsukiyomi, explained to Kakashi that it was the elders who ordered him to kill his clan because of a possible coup da tat. What got Kakashi about that was why couldn't they reason with the Uchiha? Oh well, what is done is done.
Itachi then went on to say that Konoha would fall today and there was no stop it, so the nuke-nin asked Kakashi to save as many as he could while creating another pseudo Uchiha that could not succumb to their family cause, just like him.
When asked how he would even do that, Itachi smiled sadly as he tapped his own eye and the said, Sakura. The rest he would do himself.
So here Kakashi was, staring at the prone form of Sakura as Sasuke and Itachi were fightning not far from where they were. Apparently, the two noncombatants were hidden in a genjutsu to keep Sasuke's attention on Itachi. Still, Kakashi could not believe his eyes, Sakura's own eyes were gone!
Next to her was a box with a single eye in it, one of Itachi's own eyes. And on the box, was a note. My brother's eye will soon follow through a seal. Make sure you implant these right.
So this was Itachi's plan….it sucked in his opinion.
But Kakashi understood, he was trying to recreate the Uchiha in a new light, give them a second chance. Now it was all up to Kakashi. He needed to get Sakura out of here and save others.
XXX
Shikamaru was not have a good day and it had gone beyond troublesome in his opinion. First there was a commotion by the Kage Tower, which led to strange masked ANBU to appeared everywhere and started killing people left and right. It was just so stupid!
And to top off his bad day, strange cloaked men with red clouds on them joined the fray and killed off both sides. Now he and his team were fighting for their lives alongside Genma, Hayate, and Yugao against three of the cloaked men.
One of which was a stupidly tall blue skinned man with killer eyes as he fought Genma and Hayate.
Next was a silver haired, foul mouth man that was fight Asuma and some reinforcements in the form of Kotetsu and Izumo. They were having a hard time due to the fact that they learned the hard way that the man couldn't die and could kill you through 'killing' himself. As seen by the dead ninja near his feet. Shikamaru was thinking up ways to help them as best he could with all the madness going on while also keeping an eye on his teammates and their last offender.
A creepy man with pure green eyes and his mouth was covered. He seemed to be mocking them most of the time and seemed to have scared Yugao with the phrase of him once fighting the First Hokage and living to tell the tale.
Thankfully his thoughts where calmed down as he heard the chirping of many many bird and in rushed Kakahi with a clone right behind him, carrying a bandaged Sakura. Kakashi himself shoved his fist right through the green eyed man's chest, but it seemed that man was still alive and was now pissed off.
The clone then landed next to Shikamaru and the others that were given a temporary reprieve from fighting. "How are things going on around here?" The Kakashi Clone asked.
"Horrible." Shikamaru grumbled. "We have Hayate and Genma fighting off what seems to be a former Swordsman of the Mist. The worst one I would guess because Genma mentioned him being the Tailless Tailed Beast." The Clone cursed at that. "Then we have a guy named Hiden and his a religious nut job that seems to be immortal and if injured with the blood of someone he ingested, can kill you by killing himself." Shikamaru seemed more focused on this guy than others it seemed to Kakashi's clone. "Finally we have the one the real you is trying to kill. Yugao mentioned that his name was Kakuzu. He seems to be a different kind of immortal since Yugao managed to slice up a mask of his, making said man to curse and say that he will take her heart to replace the one she destroyed."
Kakashi clone nodded, "I see, I will see what I can do."
"Wait, what happened to Sakura?" Shikamaru asked.
"Her eyes are gone thanks to Itachi….i'll explain later." The clone sighed at Shikamaru's questioning look. "I'll explain later, just know that they wanted to fight alone."
"Their nuts" Shikamaru deadpanned. "But I have a plan."
"Right." The clone replied before it went poof to the relay the new info to the original.
Shikamaru sighed as he signaled to Ino and Choji to him.
"What's up?" Choji asked in a slight panic.
"I have a plan and I need help from both of you." Shikamaru stated. "Choji, I need to you use your jutsu to dig a large whole in the ground where I will set some traps. Ino, when the time is right, project yourself into that Hidan guy and drop the body into the trap filled hole and get yourself out of there quickly."
Ino looked at her teammate in annoyance. "Have you lost your mind? How do you even know this will work, not to mention how long it will take?!"
Shikamaru sighed. "This guy is not very bright and if my suspicions are correct, he is the weakest of this group. Just trust me."
"Fine, but if I get killed I am haunting your ass!" Ino growled as she got ready.
"That will be the least of my worries if that happens and we fail." Shikamaru said under his breath as he went to Asuma to tell me to be ready.
XXX
Kakashi was getting pissed off. With the help of Yugao, they may have managed to get out another heart, but it just kept on getting harder for them to land a hit. Kakuzu was a bitch to hit, no wonder he survived fighting their First Hokage.
"I have had enough of you fools." Kakuzu muttered as he ripped of the rest of his cloak and strange threads burst from his body. "I will kill you all and take the hearts you destroyed!"
"Not going to happen!" A voice rang out as a snake shot out the ground and bit into the now floating mask hovering near the man.
"ARGH!" Kakuzu roared in pain as he convulsed and writhed around until he went still. The surprise attack had successfully destroyed another heart. That was four down, only one more to go.
And who was this mystery person? Well…
A black ball short out the same hole from which the snake came out of and when it unfurled, a woman was standing under a black sign that said, "Beware the Sexy, Anko Mitarashi!"
"Anko...i am so glad to see you." Yugao panted with a smile. "You saved our ass but why are you here?"
"To help of course!" Anko boasted. "Besides, I had to help somewhere. After all, Ibuki was off help the Hyuuga with some orange haired guy that could summon any kind of animal he wanted!"
"Ugh, you bitch." Kakuzu weakly grounded out as he slowly got up. These fucking ninja had destroyed his hearts and left vemon in his system. He needed to finish this now and recover his hearts before it is too. "I am going to kill you!
"Great." Kakashi groaned. These guys just kept getting better and better. They were totally unprepared for this. "Anko, Yugao, I need you to distract him for a moment. I have a plan!"
"Works for me!" Anko cheered as she took out a kunai, licked it, and then went at the man alongside Yugao. "Hey mummy boy, how's the vemon treating you?"
"Fuck you!" Kakuzu roared as he sent a lightning bolt to her head.
Anko laughed as she side stepped the attack. "Tempting, but sex with you would be too kinky, even for me!"
"Argh!" Kakuzu roared in annoyance and pain because Yugao, in Kakuzu and weakened and distracted state, cut his left arm clean off.
"Focus Anko, we don't need you mind in the gutter!" Yugao stated with a slight smirk as she dodged a swipe from the man.
"But that is the best place to be! More fun!" Anko cheered.
Kakashi chuckled at his temporary teammate's fun. Anko was usually fun and games, even in her torture missions. Anko was just a ball of fun. But this fun was over because he had what he needed. "Anko! Yugao! Move!"
The two women did so as a swirl in the air appeared right before Kakuzu's exposed chest. "This is end for you Kakuzu, Kamui!" he simple said as Kakuzu's chest exploded in a shower of gore before the man slumped over, dead.
"Ugh, that a pain, glad that's over." Yugao said.
"No, this is far from over." Kakashi said as he noticed Shikamaru pulling of his plan.
XXX
Asuma watch in shock, mild amusement, and pride as his students quickly took control of the situation and battled a freaking S-class ninja. OK, he had to admit that this was not much of a battle because Ino, just took hold Hidan mind and body.
"Well…this is way easy that I thought it would be." Ino/Hidan said with mild confusion. "Wow, Shikamaru, you were right, this guy is pretty stupid!"
"Just hurry up and get him to the hole, Ino!" Shikamaru complained in annoyance.
The figure of Hidan nodded before skipping over to said hole in a very girly manner, getting many to chuckle…or be a bit creeped out. Hidan stopped at the hole and then looked at Shikamaru. "Remember Shika, if I die I am haunting you!"
"Whatever, just drop the body already!"
"Fine!" Ino/Hidan shouted before she did. As she feel she noticed the traps linked to what seemed to be shadows. That made Ino smirk before she release her hold over Hidan.
Hidan shook his head before he took notice of where he was at. He was falling in a very deep hole and he felt nauseous. However, he didn't get much time to think on this because the ground around him exploded into activity.
Wires, tags, and what looked like shadows all wrapped around him in a cocoon of death. "Ok…this fucking sucks!"
A shadow from above made him look up to see the figure of Shikamaru standing there with a bored expression on his face and lit match in hand. Shikamaru didn't like this guy and if he live any longer, then people he cared about would die. If he had to take a life to save his precious people then fine.
"Where's your god now?" Shikamaru muttered loud enough for Hidan to hear.
While annoyed with the boy's statement, Hidan was more focused on the important thing for once and that was the lit match that was heading towards him. Then it finally clicked what was about to happen. From the tags all around him to the small fire coming his way, he knew this would not end well for him.
"WHAT THE FU-"Hidan roared out before he was engulfed in a mighty explosion. However, all he did was laugh as he was burned and blown to bit and soon, that quieted down as well because the hole collapsed in on itself, burying the insane immortal for all eternity.
Shikamaru stared at the now covered hole in sadness with a hint of apathy. This was the first kill he ever made, but he did it to save his friends. That meant something…right?
Asuma came up behind the boy and placed a comforting hand on the boy. "I know what you are feeling, but you need to remember this feeling because it keeps you human." Shikamaru nodded slowly.
"Good job." Kakashi said as he, Anko, and Yugao came up alongside Ino and Choji.
"So what now?" Izumo asked as he watched his partner go and help Hayate and Genma fight off Kisame, who looked to be winning.
"We need to figure out a way to kill him as well." Kakashi said as he glared at the blue skinned man.
"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" A loud voice boomed as it slammed into Kisame's face just as he was about to critically injure Hayate. Kisame was sent flying into a nearby building, giving the others more time to think up a plan. "Hello my youthful friends! I thought me and my team could help out." He said as said team jumped in. However, when Lee saw the sorry state Sakura was in he rushed to her side, where Ino already was.
"Guy?" Kakashi asked. "Where were you five minutes ago?"
"Oh, some unyouthful artists where in our way." Guy stated with a frown. "Ironically, a platoon of Root Agents inferred and gave us a chance to beat them. However, the leader of the platoon, who I suspect was an orange haired Yamanaka, told us to leave, saying he will implant a suggestion in the bomber's mind to blow himself up."
Before Kakashi could ask what he meant by that, the sky darkened considerably. All throughout the village, storm clouds loomed over them, but it was more concentrated where Sasuke was fighting off Itachi. "Sasuke must be using the next level of the Lightning Blade he created." He muttered aloud.
Guy caught that statement and shouted. "How unyouthful of you, you left young Sasuke with his brother!"
"Are you nuts!?" Yugao shouted.
"This is their battle." Kakashi shouted back, shocking the others. "Listen, Itachi is our side still. I don't have time to explain right now, but it seems Itachi, in order to get into the Akatsuki as out spy, went to kill his family under order from our elders because of a possible coup da tat."
"Well….fuck." Izumo muttered while others had trouble processing this new information.
"Hey, could the Hokage have known about this attack then?" Anko asked.
"I say anything is possible." Yugao stated with a frown.
"Yeah." Kakashi replied. "My reaction too. However, he did tell me that the Akatsuki's leader has the power to destroy this village with ease and that we need to get as many as we can out of here. I don't like it, but he also said that he is taking himself and Sasuke out of the picture to end their curse...and to give Sakura what is in the box next to her."
"I don't like it either." Guy scowled. "Kakashi, in order to stop this, we need to kill this leader of theirs."
"Agreed." Kakashi replied. "The rest of you get out of here and get as many out as you can, just in case we fail."
"Are you sure you are going to be ok?" Anko asked, a bit nervous.
Kakashi didn't get to answer because the building that Kisame was in exploded. "You know, I won't let you get that far. Especially with the kick to the face. I maybe outnumbered, but that makes it fun!"
KABOOM!
A loud explosion rang out, the resulting shockwave knocking everyone down for a moment. The explosion had originated where the two Artists had been. Kisame groaned. "Well fuck, he went and blew himself and maybe Sasori as well up. Leader-sama will be pissed!" He then paused as he knew the end for this village was coming soon and he need to be smart and get out as soon as he could. "Well, it has been fun kiddies, but that explosion masks my need to leave. HA!" With that, Kisame disappeared in a swirl of water.
XXXX
And I am done with this chapter. So the end of Konoha will come next chapter along with a few more battles….like the end of Sasuke and Itachi's battle and Guy/Kakashi vs Pain. Also, I will add in a few more escapes since I know I will get flamed if I kill off Hinata and her team. Now, I was planning on killing off Guy and Kakashi in their battle with Pain, who do you guy think?
There might be two uploads of this because I am uploading it before I send it to my beta because you guys have waited long enough. Hopefully I will have the next chapter out soon.
I will also explain more of what Naruto is doing next chapter.
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