Chapter XXV - A God of War Emerges
"I'm done with waiting," said Gyatsō. His arms were crossed, and his Shaolin was blaring in the dimmed light of the cave.
Three large pods sat in the room, all of them connected to each other. Some kind of bubbling blue liquid was inside of these pods, with a large monitor and keyboard resting above it.
Hide walked forward, opening the pod on the far right before throwing Itachi's body inside of it. Seiko gritted her teeth as she bowed to Gyatsō, worry on her face.
"Lord Gyatsō, Master Sebbech hasn't returned yet... with all due respect, my lord, you should wait for hi-"
Seiko was cut off when Gyatsō sharply brought the back of his hand to her cheek, sending her falling backwards. Hikari had sidestepped out of the way with no look of concern on his face. Seiko angrily stared at the ground as Gyatsō began to speak to her.
"Nothing is more important than this fusion. Show me such disrespect again, and I'll kill you on the spot. Is that understood?" he had demanded. Seiko gave no response.
In seemingly an instant, he was now standing over Seiko. He grabbed her by her orange locks before pulling her up to make eye contact with her. Hikari looked over to them, gritting his teeth a little.
Damnit, Seiko, just answer him before he kills you.
Hide's snakelike eyes glistened with interest as he silently watched the ordeal.
"Is... that... understood?" Gyatsō repeated, adding emphasis to every word. Seiko gritted her teeth as she nodded without verbally responding. Not letting go of the female subordinate's hair, Gyatsō looked over to Hide.
"I'll say it again. I'm done with waiting. Commence the preparations for the fusion," he ordered.
Hide murmured out a raspy "Yes, my lord," before walking over to the keyboard, pressing away at multiple keys. The blue liquid in the pods slowly turned purple and was now bubbling rapidly. Itachi's body became a bit thinner as a strange result. Quickly noticing this, Gyatsō dropped Seiko and looked at the rest of the Osore with a smirk of satisfaction.
"You're about to witness the transformation... of the strongest form I can possibly have!" he boomed. Hikari and the others smirked as well, eager to witness the fusion.
"Hikari, make sure to set off the bombs after my fusion. Only then will we attack Konoha, murder the Hokage, and take control of the village. Orochimaru's Hidden Sound forces will join us in the assault against the remaining Great Nations. Smaller villages will have no choice but to surrender or be destroyed," Gyatsō continued.
Hikari nodded before looking over to Zuko. His body was in a separate pod, filled with red, bubbling fluid. It was a different pod used for regeneration.
Oh, Zuko, he thought. It must sadden you to not be able to witness Lord Gyatsō's ultimate fusion. Perhaps you'll be too injured to participate in the war, too. Don't worry. We'll kill Ketsueki for what he did to you.
Seiko slowly stood up and watched Gyatsō as he tore off his cloak and then his blue mesh armour top. Hide, Hikari, and a small group of Oto shinobi watched as well as he walked into the pod on the far left.
He then deactivated his Shaolin before looking over to Itachi's motionless body, smiling one final time.
Fret not, Uchiha. You'll see the destruction of your home village... in OUR consciousness! he thought, remembering Itachi's earlier question: "Do you really think I'll allow you to destroy my home village?"
Gyatsō jumped on top of the edge of the pod and looked inside it. After slowly closing his eyes, he fell into the pod. The lid closed immediately after.
Hide typed away at the keyboard again until the liquids turned red. The speed of the bubbles increased even more, to the point of where Gyatsō and Itachi's bodies couldn't be seen anymore.
"Behold!" yelled Hide, typing at the keyboard again.
Osore and the rest of the shinobi present watched with eager as the liquids in those pods slowly drained, with a new, green liquid pouring into the third one. Everyone gasped as they sensed the immensely powerful chakra in this pod.
What the hell?! What is this chakra? It's... it's like it's infinitely growing, thought a now sweating Seiko.
The pods where Itachi and Gyatsō's bodies were in were now completely empty. After a few moments, the pod in the middle cracked and shattered.
As the green liquid rained down, everyone looked up to see a male levitating. His hair was long and white, and he had fairly toned muscles. His irises were dark red. He rose his hand and stared at it. Then he looked down at everyone. No words were exchanged until Hide spoke up.
"Lord... Gyatsō?" he muttered quietly.
The male's left eye morphed into Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan, and his right eye morphed into Gyatsō's full powered Shaolin.
"I suppose," he started, his Mangekyou quickly transforming into the Shaolin. It then donned four more lines to make six. His iris changed from red to red orange.
"You can call me that..."
His Shaolin also changed colour, with four more lines appearing in its vacant spots.
There it is... the Mūgetsu Shaolin, Hide thought excitedly. Gyatsō smirked widely and slapped his hand over his eyes.
"This... power... I must savour it... everyone, go... fulfill your duties..."
On his command, everyone in the room left.
Hikari landed on the top of the cave, his hair blowing furiously in the wind. He then sat down and performed a single hand seal.
"Let the fun begin... huh!"
Across Konoha, multiple devastating explosions went off. Accompanying the sounds of explosions were startled screams and the sounds of buildings collapsing.
Nori's eyes widened as an explosion came off above her, but she jumped out of the window before the ceiling collapsed. As she landed on the ground, she looked around in horror as villagers were crushed by debris, others screaming and running around.
"What the hell is happening?!" one of the villagers yelled, not noticing the large piece of stone that was now falling towards him.
Nori appeared above him and smashed her fist against the stone, sending it flying into a wall. She picked him up and dashed to the village's rescue area, where she sat him down before gritting her teeth.
Iruka Umino, now a Jonin of the village, ran to her as more explosions set off in other parts of the village. He had severe burns on his back, indicating he was also caught in the sudden explosions.
"L-Lady Nori! We're under attack!" he yelled, panting.
Nori looked around again, clenching her fists tightly.
What's happening?! And why?! I knew there was something weird going on, but I never thought the village would be attacked like this!
"Iruka, gather the other Jonin and Chunin and rescue the villagers! I'll get the ANBU to look for any intruders," she yelled back, due to the screaming across the village.
"Right!" Iruka replied before dashing away. Nori ran forward, now coughing as smoke from fire filled the area. Suddenly, she stopped, widening her eyes.
A deep slash was now in her chest. Her blood dripped to the ground.
After a few moments, the female Hokage slowly looked behind her, now staring into the cold eyes of Orochimaru.
"You're not going anywhere, Nori Senju."