AN
"Blah"- Normal Speech
'Blah'- Thoughts
-Blah- - Radio

Naruto/Final Fantasy VII

Lost Son of Konoha

Chapter 20

Search and Destroy Arc part 3

Deep within Orochimaru's facility the fight between Cloud and Itachi raged, both their weapons colliding creating a small shower of sparks every time they struck one another. Back and fourth the two of the trades blows however as the fight between the two of them continued Cloud couldn't help but feel that something was…off about his opponent.

'What's with this guy, the way he's fighting is totally different from the one we had back in Suna.' Cloud thought as he parried another of Itachi's slashes, 'His movements also seem a lot slower and his attacks don't have as much force behind them as they did before. Plus he's not pulling out any of those ninja techniques, what's he up to…'

Itachi meanwhile was doing his best to keep up with Cloud, putting every last ounce of his remaining strength into just being able to swing his sword let alone stand up, however he could already feel himself deteriorating. Within only minutes his vision began to blur and he began feeling dizzy. 'No, no. Not now…' he inwardly cursed, barely managing to avoid an attack by Cloud but in turn caused him to lose balance and fall to the floor.

Cloud stared down at the, the elder of the remaining Uchiha siblings, his breathing labored and his features clammy. The sight caused a maelstrom of emotions to well up inside him, on the one hand the man before him was a criminal who had caused various atrocities all across these lands. And yet looking at him in the state he was in now, he looked so much older then probably was. Taking a deep breath he placed his blade behind him and slid it back into its sheath.

"W…what are you doing?" Itachi demanded as he did his best to get back to his feet.

"I'm done, I have no desire to fight someone who already has one foot in the grave." Cloud told his fallen opponent, "Given the state your in I could probably kill you right now but doing so would be a huge insult to both of our warriors pride."

Just then a voice was heard over the radio –Cloud, do you hear me?-

"I'm here, what do you want Vincent?" Cloud replied.

–I need you to head to the Generator room and catch up with Jiraiya.- Vincent said over the radio, -Cloud, you need to stop him. You cannot allow him to destroy the generator.- A confused spread across Cloud's face.

"I'm sorry Vincent but could you repeat that," he replied, "I think I might have misheard you."

–This is no time for games Cloud, you need to catch up with Jiariya now.- Vincent said in a gruff tone, -I was going though the snake faced guys systems and I found something disturbing.-

"What is it Vincent?" Cloud asked.

-WEAPON.-

This single word caused the color to drain from Cloud's face. "Vincent, please tell me your kidding?"

–Does it sound like I'm kidding,- Vincent retorted, -Now go, if that thing wakes up then we're all gonna be in deep.-

Signing off a grim faced Cloud began to walk away from the still winded Itachi. "W…wait…" Itachi called out, "Y…you're really just going to walk away whilst your opponent is still alive?"

Cloud looked over his shoulder at Itachi. "Like I said, I have no business fighting someone who's already half dead." He told the dark haired Akatsuki member, "Maybe next time…"

"There is no next time." Itachi cut him off, "Just look at me, don't tell me that you're too dense to figure out what's happening to me. I had hopes that my younger brother would be the one to finish me off, that he'd break free of the clans dark destiny and restore its honor. However…each day he sinks even deeper into darkness, I doubt there's even a flicker of light left in his soul." Itachi suddenly broke out into a coughing fit, blood mixed in with his flem.

"When I met you in Suna I finally found someone that I could have one last fight with before the end, one that where allegiance and duty did not matter." He continued as he wiped some blood from his chin, "So how about it Cloud-san, will you grant this dying man his last wish."

Cloud stared at Itachi for a few moments. He then walked towards Itachi and then, much to the one few remaining Uchiha's surprise, lifted him on to his back. "Wha…what are you doing?" Itachi demanded.

"I'm not going to help kill you." Cloud replied, "If your so concerned about 'restoring honor to your family' then you can return to your village and spend whatever time you have left in a jail cell after you've shared with them whatever you know. Now if you don't mind being quiet, I have to go do something that's more important then your death wish."

After making sure he had a decent enough grip on his captive Cloud set off, his goal was to catch up with Jiraiya as soon as possible.

Having made it outside Shikamaru Nara was searching the nearby woods for any sign of his teammates, navigating the trip wires had been tricky and time consuming however patience and as well as an uncanny ability to think out side the box was something the Nara heir had in spades and he'd managed to make his way through without tripping the alarms. 'Damn, that was drag…' Shkamaru inwardly cursed, 'Ok, now that's out of the way lets find Sakura, Chouji and Kiba.'

Setting off into the nearby woods it didn't take Shikamaru long to come across the spot where his fallen teammates lay and headed straight to Sakura's side. "Sakura, Sakura…wake up…" Shikamaru cried out as he shook her but got no response.

'Damn nothing,' the pineapple haired Nara let out a groan, 'Ok Shika, lets think about this. If she can't be roused like that then the most logical assumption would be that they're all under the effects of Genjutsu of some kind, however if really Itachi Uchiha is really the one who did this then there's a chance…still I have to try.' Forming a ram seal he began focusing his chakra. 'OK, here goes nothing…' "KAI…" using the Release technique, slowly Sakura began to stir.

'So it wasn't Tsukiyomi, however the fact that it wasn't bothers me,' Shikamaru thought, 'That would have trapped them in an illusion so powerful that only someone as powerful as Tsunade-sama would be able to break them out of it, what would Itachi hope to accomplish by casting a Genjutsu that was so easy to dispel?'

"Shika…maru…" the rosette groaned as she tried to sit up.

"Sakura, are you alright?" Shikamaru asked.

"I…think so." Sakura replied, "Damn, I shouldn't have dropped my guard. I can't believe I fell into something like that."

Just then Vincent's voice was heard in over Shikamaru's radio. "Never mind that now, go tend to the others whilst I deal with this." Shikamaru told her, he then turned his attention to the radio, "I'm here, have the charges been put in place?"

–Nara, we have a situation.- Vincent said in a no nonsense tone.

'Just perfect…' "What's the problem?" Shika replied.

–Nara, I was searching through the files when I discovered something.- Vincent told him, -We can't detonate the charges, if we do it could be disastrous.-

"What do you mean?" Shikamaru demanded, "From what I've seen this place exists to store these abominations that Orochimaru has created until he requires them, not just to be used against Konoha but the other Ninja nations as well. Leaving this place standing is irresponsible, so you'd better have a good reason for now not wanting to blow this place to hell."

–These clones aren't the only thing being stored here.- Vincent told him, -Nara, Orochimaru has a WEAPON.-

"A weapon?" Shikamaru said, sounding a little confused, "I don't doubt that there's weapons being stored here but…"

–I'm not talking about the likes of guns and bombs,- Vincent cut him off, -The WEAPON's are massive bio-mechanical engines of destruction, spawned by the planet its self 2000 years ago when Jenova crashed into the Planet with the purpose of protecting it.-

This got Shikamaru's attention. "Biomechanical? You mean it's alive?" He then let out a groan, "Oh this is just perfect. In addition to his massive army of clones all based on a friend of mine, Orochimaru also has a giant monster for a pet and it just happens to be kept here. Let me guess, your thinking that if we detonate the bombs the explosion might…"

–…wake it up.- Vincent said, finishing the Nara heirs sentence, -Trust me, you don't want to see how much devastation this thing can cause.-

Sweat began to form on Shikamaru's brow, this mission was becoming more stressful by the minute. "Look, just stay where you are. I'm on my way ok."

–No, you stay where you are. In fact you might be better off taking the people you got with you and getting some distance from here.- Vincent told him, -If something goes wrong here, we'll need someone to warn the surrounding towns.-

"That's actually a good point." Shikamaru said, "Alright then. Just be careful in there, if there's even the slightest evidence that this WEAPON thing is waking up get Naruto and the others and the get hell out of there." Signing off Shikamaru and looked round at Sakura who was bringing Kiba around, he then let out a groan. "Today just keeps getting better and better."

Back inside Cloud was still in pursuit of Jiriaya, even with the extra weight of carrying Itachi didn't slow him down too much as such it didn't take him long to find the room to the generator room.

"There you are," Jiraiya said, not even turning to look at Cloud as he entered, "I'll admit I had my doubts over how long it was going to take you to deal with Itachi and get here." turning round the sage noticed the dark haired Nuke Nin on Cloud's back. "Well that's unexpected. Any reason your carrying him around like a sack?"

"Don't worry, he's in no real condition to cause any real trouble." Cloud replied, "What about you, have you set the charges yet."

"Not yet, I'll admit by attention was diverted by the giant creature that happens to be underneath us." Jiraiya told the blond swordsman.

"Yeah about that. I talked to Vincent; we can't blow this place after all. If we do there's a chance we could wake this WEAPON up."

"WEAPON?" Jiraiya said.

"Long story, basically this creature and others like it were spawned by the planet itself to protect it from the severest threats." Cloud told him.

"Huh, well that's certainly interesting." Jiraiya commented, "I'm also guessing you've had more then one run in with these things?"

"You could say that." Cloud said mirthlessly.

"Still it leaves us with a rather large dilemma, I'm assuming that these WEAPON's can cause a lot of damage. However leaving this place in tact isn't exactly a responsible thing to do either." The toad sage said, "Do we destroy this place even so doing so runs the risk of waking this creature up. Or leave this place standing and hope that Orochimaru never feels the need to awaken the troops being stored here."

"Either way we lose." Cloud replied, "So, what do you want to do?"

In the room that contained the tubes of clones Naruto and Neji were engaged with Cassius, the clone that served as general to Orochimaru. Despite being out numbered the clone proved to be able to deal with the pair, avoiding Naruto's blades and Neji's Juuken strikes.

'Damn, I read the report that Yamato wrote but to face him person...' Neji thought, a grimace forming on his face, 'To be able avoid the Juuken Ryuu like that requires incredible skill. To defeat him it seems I have no choice but use it…' "Naruto…" he called out, the blond swordsman was once more locking swords with his doppelganger.

"Kinda busy Nej." Naruto replied.

"I need you to keep this guy occupied for a few minutes." Neji told him.

"You want me to what?" Naruto exclaimed as he narrowly avoided an attack by Cassius.

"Just do it." Neji retorted.

"Alright aright, geez." Naruto groaned, summoning up two clones the three of them rushed at Cassius, as they did the clone general slipped into a Snake stance and moved into engage them, striking at each of them with swift and fluid strikes before moving into the next, never allowing himself to stay still for too long.

As the four Naruto's were fighting Neji stood off to the side, gathering his chakra and letting it radiate throughout his body. Small flashes of energy began to spark around him, using every ounce of that had come from a lifetime of training he focused that energy and focused it into his hands causing them to crackle with electrical power.

'Alright then, lets do this…' Neji then charged it at Cassius, lashing out at him with this glowing hands forcing the clone back.

"Ok, that's new…" Naruto commented as he watched as the Hyuuga prodigy continued his assault on his clone, each strike missing only by the narrowest if margins.

"HAKKE KUUSHOU! Eight Divination Signs Air Palm!" Neji cried out as he unleashed an invisible wave of chakra at his opponent, the attack being enough to catch Cassius off guard for a moment.

"HAKKE RAI ROKUJUUYONSHOU! Eight Divination Signs, Sixty-Four Lighting Palms of the Hand!" Not wasting a beat Neji charged at Cassius and unleashed a barrage of strike with his sparking hands, each one striking a different part of Cassius's body and cutting off one of the mans Chakra points as well as forcing him back into one of the tanks.

'What is this? Juuken Ryuu combined with Raiton, this wasn't in Orochimaru-Sama data on the Hyuuga Clan…' Cassius inwardly groaned, 'Damn, each strike aimed at each of my Chakra points blocking them. If I don't do something I'll be left helpless…'

His face set into a stern look Neji, approached Cassius, rearing his right arm back before thrusting his cracking hand forward, the appendage making contact with the spot where the mans heart would be, delivering the final blow. However the person standing before him wasn't Cassius.

Naruto stared at Neji, blood beginning to seep from his mouth as his vision began to darken. "Wh…whaa…h…how…" he spluttered out, his weapons falling from his hands.

"N…Naruto…" Neji gasped, a look of horror spreading across his normally stoic face as he watched the blond man fall to the floor. Glancing round Neji saw a beaten looking Cassius standing in the doorway, the clone shot the Hyuuga prodigy a cold look before turning around and walking away to which the Hyyuga let out a growl of frustration before turning back to Naruto.

Knowing that he had very little time to save his comrade's life he scanning the fallen man with his Byakugan; the x-ray like effect revealing that an inhuman chakra was spreading through his nervous system and through his heart. 'Ok, the Kyuubi is doing its part to keep him alive.' Neji thought, 'However the longer his heart goes without beating will resulting in his brain being starved of oxygen…'

Glancing down at his still crackling hands a thought occurred to the long-haired Hyuuga, it seemed a little risky however he didn't have much in the way of alternatives. Slowly Neji placed his hands upon Naruto's chest sending a pulse of electricity through the blonds body causing him to spasm before lying still again, frowning Neji performed the action again but to no avail.

'Come on Uzumaki, don't you dare quit on me…' Neji inwardly growled as he once again sent another electrical surge through Naruto's body, once more the jerked upwards which was followed by a coughing sound escaping from the blond.

"Naruto…" Neji half cried out, a sense of relief flooding through him, he then leaned his teammate against one of the glass tanks.

"N…eji…what…what happened?" Naruto managed to say between deep breaths.

"Easy, don't do anything unnecessary." Neji told him, "The truth is you almost died."

"Oh, is that all." Naruto replied, "Where is he, where's that guy who looks like me?"

"Gone." Neji replied, "I would have gone after him but I had to restart you heart."

Naruto groaned and tried getting to his feet. "What are you doing?" Neji said.

"What's it look like, we need to get after him before he can do something to get reinforcements." Naruto replied as he tried to push himself up off of the ground only to fall back almost immediately.

"You're not going anywhere," Neji told him, "Incase you missed it you almost died, you need to give your self time recover."

"I'll rest when I'm dead." Naruto shot back.

Just then the lights in the room when out only to be replaced by red ones and an alarm sounded. "What's going on now?" Naruto groaned.

He didn't have long to get his answer as several of the glass tubes suddenly cracked open and the clones held within awoke, the one behind Naruto included the blond only avoiding being stepped on by being pulled out of the way by Neji.

"Well this is just great." Naruto growled as Neji pulled him to his feet.

"Our situation seems to have not improved." Neji commented, he then reached over and grabbed his sword from the floor before handing the weapon to his comrade.

"You figure that one out by yourself." Naruto commented mirthlessly as the two Konoha ninja found quickly themselves surrounded.

As Neji and Naruto prepared to face off against the clone forces Cassius was limping his way up the metal staircase towards his destination. 'That Hyuuga's attack has done quite a lot of damage, I am hardly in any condition to fight any of the Konoha ninja whom have infiltrated this facility. And even with the small amount of Medical training that was instructed to me by Kabuto-sama I do not posses the skill to undo the damage.' The clone thought to himself, 'This facility has been compromised, there is only one course of action to take.'

Despite his condition it wasn't long before he found himself before the door that led to the control room. Once inside he made a beeline towards the main computer, accessing it and typing in a series of commands and the words 'Base Self Destruct' as well as a timer appeared on the screen. That was until he felt something press against the back of his head.

"And what do you think your doing." Vincent said in a gruff tone, aiming the three barrels of Cerberus at the Oto nin's head.

"This base is compromised, in order to prevent Orochimaru-sama's work falling into enemy hands I will destroy this place and everything in it." Cassius replied in a monotone voice.

"Yeah, I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow." Vincent told the clone, pulling the hammer of his gun back, "So much as move a finger in the direction of that console and I'll paint the screen with your blood."

"I do not fear death." Cassius said plainly.

"You realize that 'everything in it' also includes you." Vincent said.

"If that's what it takes." Cassius replied.

"That's insane, you'd throw your life away so easily."

"I am Orochimaru-sama's loyal servant, I am his tool to be used." Cassius said, not a shred of fear or hesitation in his voice, "If my death will in some way further his cause then so be it."

The clone general then thrust his hand towards the console, as he did Vincent pulled Cerberus's trigger, a bullet released from each barrel. The back of Cassius's head shattered as the projectiles bore their way into his head, followed by a torrent of blood. The corpse of Cassius fell forward and collapsed on the console, his hand landing on the keyboard. Suddenly the lights turned red and an alarm sounded. Grabbing Cassius's body and throwing him aside, Vincent stared at the screen and found that the countdown to the bases destruction had started.

"Damnit."

In the basement Cloud and Jiraiya were still considering their options when the lights turned red and the alarm was heard. "Well that doesn't sound good." Itachi commented. "Quiet you." Cloud told the dark haired man, he then got on the radio, "Vincent, what the hell is going on?"

–We've got problem's Cloud, this base has been rigged with a self destruct and its active.- Vincent told him, -Its counting down and you've got less then 10 minutes to get out of here before it goes up.-

"Well that doesn't sound good, it also makes our quandary all for naught." Jiraiya said, "I suggest that we take our leave."

Cloud nodded in response and the two of them made a quick exit. The pair ran through the long corridor however they were quickly brought to a halt when several of Orochimaru's clone soldiers, amongst them were three Scouts four Soldiers and three Titans, appeared to bar their way.

"We don't have time for this." Jiraiya muttered; he then shifted into a Taijutsu stance only for Cloud to shove Itachi into his chest.

"I'll take care of these guys, I'll make you an opening." Cloud said in a firm tone, he then stepped forward and drew his sword from the sheath on his belt in readiness.

This was going proved more of a challenge, the limited space that meant he couldn't use sword to the extent that he would normally or use his more destructive moves as they would just as likely bring the tunnel down upon them, thus Cloud had to utilize other forms of combat to defeat these opponents.

The scouts rushed forward as energy began gathering around the blade of Cloud's weapon, the blond fired a Braver catching one of the three Scouts in the chest whilst the other two were forced to dive out of the way. Cloud then dashed forward and with his large blade made quick of the two remaining Scouts, as he did the other clones moved in.

Cloud braced himself as they approached, ducking under as one of the Soldiers aimed a punch at him and responded by delivering a punch of his own right to its gut. Not giving any of the clones a chance to catch him Cloud quickly moved onto another of them, using First Tsurugi to block an attack by another Soldier he aimed a vicious kick at the chest of the third before slicing the second with the large blade.

It didn't take much longer to dispatch the remaining Soldiers leaving only the Titans left to deal with, the largest of Orochimaru's clone army lumbered towards him. A bead of sweat dripped from Cloud's brow, these one posed slightly more of a challenge then the other types of Clones. He knew from fighting them in Konoha that these Titan's were more resilient to physical damage combined with their sheer strength made for an almost lethal killer.

Slipping a hand into the Materia pouch on his belt Cloud pulled out two orbs and quickly placed them into specifically designed holes on his sword, he'd barley done this when one of the Titan's got into range. The giant then made to grab at him which made Cloud use his sword to block it, electrical energy began to crackle along the weapon's length causing the Titan to cry out in pain. Seeing his chance Cloud launched another Braver Limit Break, the attack catching the giant in the chest making it stagger backwards and collide with the other two, all three of them then went down.

"Come on, let's go before they can get back up." Cloud called out to Jiraiya, the two of them made tracks (the elder of the pair carrying Itachi on his back) and did their best to put as much distance between them and the three fallen giants before they could get back to their feet.

Back with Naruto and Neji things weren't going well for the pair, it seemed like no matter how many of the Clones they defeated their numbers didn't seem to decrease any, it help that Naruto still wasn't in rough shape which in turn meant that Neji also had to keep the worst of the assault off of him. "This is getting us nowhere fast." The Hyyuga called out to his partner.

"Tell me something I don't know." Naruto replied, "We need to get the heck out of here."

"No argument here, unfortunately that's easier said then done." Neji told him, "If we could just create a clear path through all these Clones then we could do so."

"I can take care of that." Naruto told him, "Of course you'll need to cover me."

"You want me to hold off all these guys?" Neji exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, its not like I did the same for you when you asked, oh wait."

Neji groaned. "Fine, just don't take too long." He told the blond before moving in to engage the incoming foes. Naruto meanwhile took the opportunity to back towards the doorway, as he did he summoned a pair of Kage Bushin's, all three of them began molding Chakra.

"Are you bugging out on me?" Neji demanded as he ducked under a swing aimed at him.

"Will you chill, I need to concentrate for this." Naruto retorted, he and his two Clones each created a sphere of spinning chakra. "Ok Nej, you'll want to get out of the way for this." Naruto called out.

Dispatching another enemy Neji then fell back heading towards the door. "Now what?" he inquired.

"Run." Naruto replied in a serious tone.

Neji looked at him for a moment, a questioning look on his face, however he didn't argue and headed out the door. No sooner had the Hyyuga ANBU exited the room when the sound of footsteps on the metal staircase caught his attention, looking round he saw both Cloud and Jiraiya headed towards him. He didn't fail to notice that the aged ninja was carrying Itachi on his back but figured that this wasn't the best time to inquire about it. "Cloud-san, Jiriaya-sama."

"Neji, where's Naruto?" Jiriya called out.

"Back there," Neji replied, "Come on we have to move, I think he's about to do something potentially stupid and dangerous."

"Sounds like Naruto to me." Jiraiya said, letting out a small chuckle, "Come on we better move."

Back inside the room Naruto and his two clones had finished charging up their individual chakra spheres, they then merged them together to form a single larger sphere. "Alright you damn fakes, eat this…" Naruto half yelled at the approaching Clones, he then hurled the spinning chakra sphere at them, "KYO HYŌ RASANGAN! Big Bang Spiral Sphere!"

Not sticking around to see what happened Naruto turned tail and ran, catching up with Neji and the others quickly, all four of them did their best to put as much distance between the room and themselves as possible. Seconds later a large release of light, sound and energy erupted from the room that also triggered the paper bombs the pair had planted creating a large explosion that totally leveled the entire floor. As the four ninja ran the staircase beneath them began to buckle under the force of the explosion below.

As he ran Naruto suddenly began to feel fall the strength in his body begin to drain away as well as a pain within his chest, it seemed like the adrenalin that he'd been running on was beginning to wear off and the full consequences of being struck in the chest and revival by Neji were tacking over. 'No, not now…' Naruto inwardly groaned he went to take another step forward only to have both his legs give out from under him and he collapsed onto the stairs.

Due the explosion the bolts that attaching the staircase to the wall had come loose and as the party had made their way up the stairs started to come loose from the wall. As Naruto landed another explosion went off, this one causing the stairs case to come free from its moorings and tipped sideways.

'Shit…' Naruto inwardly cursed, he tried to scramble to his feet when another wave of pain pulsed through his body causing him to collapse again and slid down towards the railing but before he collided with it he felt a hand grab on to his wrist. Looking over the blond found Cloud staring back at him, "C...Cloud…"

"Don't worry, I got you." He reassured Naruto before pulling him up, leaning the blond ninja against him Cloud then half carried/half dragged him up the remaining stairs to catch up with the others again.

As they neared top the sound of gunfire could be heard over the sound of the alarm, arriving they found Vincent surrounded by the corpses of several Naruto clones. "Lets go." He told them in his usual no nonsense tone, leading them up the remaining flights of stairs, it wasn't long before they reached the top and were headed along the corridor that lead to the entrance, the late afternoon light pouring in through the open doorway.

No sooner had the six of them exited they were quickly met by Shikamaru and the other members of the team.

"What happened?" Shikamaru asked upon seeing the condition that Naruto was in before shifting his gave over to Itachi who was still on Jiraiya's back, "And care to explain why you've got Itachi Uchiha with you."

"No time for that now, we need to move." Vincent told him, "This place is about to go up any second now."

With out a moment's hesitation all of them began to run wanting to put as much distance between themselves and the facility as possible, they'd barely gotten ten meters away when the countdown ended. The entire base was consumed into an explosion that also engulfed the whole hill as well as proportion of the forest surrounding it before the ground began to collapse burying it under tons of earth and rock whilst the party of ninja and AVALANCHE member were only just able to get away from.

Once the ground stopped shaking and collapsing beneath their feet everyone stopped, Cloud placing Naruto on the ground and leaning him against a tree, as he did Sakura came running over. "What's wrong with him?" she demanded.

"I dunno, as we were escaping he suddenly collapsed." Cloud told her, "Whatever it is he needs serious medical attention."

He then turned to Vincent. "Call Cid, I doubt it'll take too long for word of this places destruction to attract the attention of that snake guy." Vincent nodded; he was about radio the Shera when once again the ground began to shake.

Deep beneath the ground underneath all the buried remains of Orochimaru's Cloning facility was the form of Ebony WEAPON, for centuries the large creature had slumbered waiting for the day when the planet would be in dire need. That was until explosions that rocked facility caused it to stir, even as it was buried underneath the rubble it began to rise, its great strength pushing earth and rock aside as if it were sand until it reach the surface.

From their position Cloud and the others could only watch in horror as the earth was torn apart as giant clawed hands erupted from the ground which was followed by the creatures scaled head as it pulled itself up from out of the ground. Ebony WEAPON was awake.

AN And so this chapter is finally done, I realise its been some time since the last post. However before I get to anything else I want to take a moment to bring something to all your attention.

A few months ago I got a comment from a guy going by the name Cosmic Being (he's also used the names Dark Irari of the Fist, which was the name he was using when he first posted his comment, and Galacter) where he said some rather hateful things and quickly found out I'm not the only one he's done this to. I also checked out his his profile page and found he's listed several authors as well as charming comments along the line "You're dead meat if I EVER meet you faggot." and "Another bitch who needs to get her teeth kicked down her throat, literally."

Now I like to think that I'm a fairly open minded person and everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but this is unacceptable. Far as I'm concerned someone like this has no business being on this site and behaviour like this should be in no way tolerated. Worst of all he's review are signed one so I can't delete his comments.

Honestly I feel dirty even acknowledging this guy but I feel like I need to bring this to people attention. The moment I read his comment I reported him to the admins, I suspect he has kicked off before and just created a new account.

If you come across this guy or anyone like him, please speak up and report them because people like him who are just on here to spread hate have no place in this community.

Anyway now that's out of my system I can concentrate on this story. I realise that this chapter is a little on the short side, more was going to happen but I felt like you'd all waited long enough and also didn't want this chapter to drag. I hope that isn't too disappointing for you all.

The Cloud VS Itachi fight, I can already tell there are a lot of of you who are disappointed by it. In my defence Itachi is at deaths door, far worse then he was durning his fight with Sasuke in the manga, the fact he was walking was a miracle. Also I like to think it shows Cloud's nobility, that his pride as a warrior wouldn't allow him to strike down a helpless opponent, something that shows the difference between himself and the likes of Sephiroth and Sasuke. Had it been Sephiroth in Cloud's place he wouldn't have heisted in striking Itachi, however Cloud chose mercy and spared him with the intention of handing him over to Konoha.

Also before anyone asks yes Cassius is dead, he's not going to pull a Schrodinger from Hellsing and keep showing up. He's dead and I always going to kill him off in this arc, sorry if that disappoints some of you.

Sorry for the delay, I'm going to try my hardest from now on to have a new chapter up every couple of months. Your continued support for this project is very much appreciated and please leave feedback

Next time Team Konoha and AVALANCHE VS a giant Kaiju and the end of this arc, till then later.