Disclaimer: This is a fan written work based on the works of J.K. Rowling. Also features Naruto which is owned by Kishimoto. It might possibly also have some elements of a number of other works. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the masses. This is merely for fun, and no profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.
Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.
Note 1: AU.
POWER
chapter twenty-five
Who knew that Konoha had so much confidence in their abilities, just because their main founders were Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, two of the legendary shinobi of the era. They had clearly overestimated themselves by sending a little more than seven hundred of their elite shinobi to invade Mizu no Kuni while at the same time also taking advantage of Kaminari no Kuni's invasion from the North.
The Konoha-nin thought that they would be having an easy time getting into the country. They were sorely mistaken as they were met with a barrier of shinobi between themselves and their objective. Twenty-seven Jounin stood in their path, twenty-seven Kiri-nin stood facing close to a thousand Konoha-nin. Never underestimate one's opponent is a rule in the shinobi world, but in this case the Konoha-nin forgot about that little thing, and decided that since they were more, they were stronger. A philosophy which lost them quite a lot within the first four hours of their battles. They were also overconfident in the distraction which their Kage had sent with them, in the distance they were able to see the hulking form of the Kyuubi.
The group of seven hundred two Konoha-nins split up into twenty-seven teams to take on the Kiri-nin, out numbering them twenty-seven to one, since the Uzu-nin were only there as guideas as well as to provide medical aid. While not able to fight toe to toe with the Hokage, each of the Kiri-nin were very close to that level. The only thing missing was actually being called a Kage, the actual confidence which would come with the title would place one of them on par with another Kage.
None of the twenty-seven knew that they were the Kage candidates, only that they were the first and last line of defense on the western edge of their country. Ryoku hadn't bothered to inform them of that part of the mission. They didn't need such a distraction, they needed to focus on the task at hand which was to beat back their opponents and prove that Kiki-nin were worth their place in the changing world.
The Konoha-nin came riding boats, all of which had been turned to driftwood as soon as they were within range of the water jutsu of the hidden Kiri-nins who were waiting for their prey underwater. It was at that time that they stopped moving and decided to try and locate the defenders who were obviously there.
When the Kiri-nin were finally located, and the Kiri-nin knew they had been found, they all activated a single jutsu, the signature jutsu of their village.
"Kirigakure no Jutsu," they each whispered as a mist rose up around them and the invaders, then each voice echoed throughout the mists, "Eight points. Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart. Where shall I attack first?"
The Kiri-nin did not bother with releasing any form of killing intent or mixing any such with the mists as that could be used to guide their enemies to their positions. They were all masters of a blade, from a mere pocket knife to a zanbatou. They each silently made their way through the mists, mists that were filled with their chakra, an amount which even they hadn't known they had.
The Konoha-nin were far too slow for these silent killers in the mists, twenty-seven Konoha-nin were taken dragged into the depths of the sea after the question was posed to them. What good are numbers when those numbers can't even locate a single enemy. As soon as they allowed the Kiri-nin to form the mist, they were goners, or they would have been had the Kiri-nin not decided to spare a few of them.
It was only after eighty-one Konoha-nin were slain, did one of them finally think about blowing the mist away. That was when they found themselves face to face with an equal number of the enemy, the usefulness of clones, regular bushin, these illusionary clones aided the Kiri-nin when they decided to finally simply attack. Lashing out with creatures made out of water. Riding the attacks themselves to get to the Konoha-nin, and shredding them to bits as soon as they were in range of their blades.
"For Kirigakure! For Mizu no Kuni!" Mejin shouted as he barreled into one of the Konoha-nin, a Hyuuga that had been unable to see through the mist, his comrades doing and declaring similar things as they engaged the enemy, taking on the teams all at once, with their clones to aid them as distractions.
Mejin took out fifteen more of his group of attackers before he thought of how stupid he was being, he jumped away and did some more flips to get as far from the Konoha-nin as he could before having his hands fly through a set of seals, ending with him slamming a palm on the unbroken water's surface.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Mejin called out, and from under him bubbles arose from underneath the water, and a few seconds later, he found himself standing on the head of the Otter Boss, Meizu.
"What is the meaning of this?" Meizu asked his summoner.
"Konoha-nin are trying to invade Mizu no Kuni," Mejin informed his summon, "Ryoku-sama is battling the Kyuubi, and I would like to aid him in driving it away."
"Then leave these small fry to me, and go help your allies!" Meizu said as he picked up Mejin and flung him in the direction of Majin who seemed to be having a hard time fighting his own group of enemies as most of them were Akimichi, and whose bodies were a little bit too much for just one nin to handle.
"Take this!" Mejin shouted as he neared the nearest literal giant of a man, one of his hands held his wakizashi, while the one he was going to hit the Akimichi with held a large closed oyster, one which seemed to radiate chakra. He slammed the oyster into the Akimichi catching the man offguard, then after landing on top of the water he dashed to Majin and dragged his ally away from the Konoha-nin.
"Hey! I can still fight! Let me go Mejin!" Majin shouted as he was literally dragged over to the next Kiri-nin's location.
"You don't want to be there when that Oyster Bomb explodes," Mejin said, running as fast as his chakra enhanced legs could carry them both.
Where the hell did you get such a big Oyster?" Majin asked, still being dragged by Mejin.
"Kekkai Genkai," Mejin said, "My fingernails, or any of my nails, I can turn into some kind of shell protective or otherwise."
"So that's what you guys can do...I just thought you guys were just really good at defending yourselves," Majin said.
"We are," Mejin said, "I'll fling you over to Kei, looks like he's in trouble. So go Beast-mode on their asses."
"How did you...hey!" Majin shouted as he was flung ahead of Mejin, "Fine!" he shouted then transformed into his beast form, which was a form where he literally turned into a beast a kind of monsters, enhanced everything, but not enough chakra to perform Jutsu with. He slammed into three of the Konoha-nin and sucker punched three more.
*BOOM!* the Oyster Bomb finally exploded, the shockwave strong enough to form waves, and even managed to get Mejin over to the three in a manner of seconds, knocking away the remaining Konoha-nin that Kei was fighting.
"That was amazing!" Mejin shouted as he jumped up and down like a child, "Never thought that it would be that strong!"
"You guys are crazy!" one of the Konoha-nin shouted, and started to back away, dragging his sinking but still living comrades with him, "You've won this round, but we'll be back!"
After the Konoha-nin finally left, a number the other Kiri-nin arrived where the trio were resting.
"Thanks a lot Mejin!" Matsu Nobuo said, "If it weren't for your summon it would have taken us a while to get our fights done."
"Great job slowpoke," Maeda Sadao said, "Shall we go aid Ryoku-sama?"
"Have they all really retreated?" Mejin asked.
"They have," Kasumi said appearing amidst the group, "Our own summons reported that they're heading back to dry land."
"We walk on water as if its second nature to us already," Mejin said as he simply sat on the water's surface, the water not even rippling, "Let's rest up a bit, I doubt Ryoku-sama would want exhausted aid."
"Great idea, we need the rest anyhow," Shigeru Shigeo said then plunged a hand into the water and brought out some seaweed, "Here, have a bite of this, it should give you guys back some chakra."
"Let me guess," Majin said, "Your bloodline."
"Yep, rather useless most of the time though, as we Shigeru can only work with seaweed," Shigeo said.
"Anyone else use their bloodline?" Kaguya Takao asked, being the last to actually arrive, he was covered head to toe in bones.
"Did you guys hear that explosion?" Mejin asked.
"Yeah," the rest said.
"That was me," Mejin said, "Didn't know it would be that strong though."
"Apparently you're the only one with a summon contract among us," Takao said, "Glad to have met the Otter boss. Matches you perfectly."
They rested for a little bit longer, close to an hour later, the still complete group headed out in the direction of the Kyuubi where Ryoku was battling with the beast. But when they were half-way there, Shigeo called out to his companions to stop as he had sensed something.
"What is it?" Majin asked.
"I'm a sensor, and it seems like those Uzu-nin may have been half right, but at the same time wrong," Shigeo said, "The second wave are coming..around two hundred nins...they're coming in fast too."
"If you say so," Mejin said, deciding to take charge of the situation, "Majin, Takao, and Sadao, we'll hold 'em of, while the rest of you go help Ryoku-sama, even though we should trust him, he's been battling the thing for several hours now and will need to be relieved that he may rest."
"Just four of you guys against two hundred?" Kushiki Yuji said, "I'm going with you four, a kitsune has fire on its side, a fire that may be able to melt my ice, while these are just men. I'm going with you, you'll need my cold."
"I can make these fire brats Katon jutsu backfire on them," Nobuo said, "I'm coming with you, whether you like it or not."
"I'll come too," Asano Kou said, "While you need an explosion to make waves, with us close together, I can make them with only a small burst of chakra."
"Fine, the seven of us then," Mejin said, "Now that I think about it, we need a genjutsu specialist, Yasuo we could use your illusions."
"I'll come, I was thinking about it, and I doubt I could best a kitsune at that art," Gensou Yasuo said.
"Then we part ways here," Mejin said, "See you when all this is over."
"Meet back at the island," Shigeo said, "I'm sure that once they find their bigger fish gone, they'll flee for real this time."
#
"Hahaha! I hven't had this much fun in centuries!" Ryoku shouted as he dodged gouts of flames, water dragons, hurled boulders, lightning bolts, and a number of other things from tails to paws, and a single maw. This particular bijuu was intense, sending all manner of elemental attack against Ryoku whom it had yet to recognize.
"Stand still Mortal! That I might crush you like the insect you are!" Kyuubi roared as it tried to drown Ryoku once again with his many tails.
"I bet you told that Senju that! But you're still here fighting me!" Ryoku said, pissing off the beast, as it knew that it lacked the power necessary to truly go against the Senju head, the Shodaime Hokage who had the power to control the tailed beasts, even he himself was powerless against the seemingly divine power of Senju Hashirama, he the Kyuubi no Kitsune was no match for a mere mortal.
"Stand still I say! Let me crush you mortal!" Kyuubi raged, as it was not allowed to simply drown the land of water with a tsunami.
"Mortal? Me?" Ryoku taunted the beast, "I helped in besting your former self! Can you not remember me? Shukaku remembered me!"
"Now that I think about it..you do seem familiar.." Kyuubi said, its pondering look was all Ryoku needed to deliver a kick to its chin sending it flying a few yards away from the island nations.
"I should!" Ryoku shouted as he ran at the temporarily downed form and kicked the beast into the air, deciding that holding back may be a bad thing in this particular battle.
He unleashed his god-like strength on the beast, unleashing kicks and punches in quick succession, delivering bone shattering blows on the pitiful beast. Making any witness from afar believe that he was having trouble as no one would dare think that any one man would be able to handle such a beast on his own.
"While I may not be able to stop what happens in the future," Ryoku said, "I may provide a solution for the present, ridding the world of you until the time when I will be unable to send you back to the depths of the abyss myself."
"Send me to hell! Ha! You will not be able to destroy me so easily!" Kyuubi responded and righted itself, just as the Kiri-nins arrived to aid their village founder, their jutsu flying at breakneck speed buying some time for their sealing comrade.
"More insects! These additional hairless apes will look to be more like those that I have been ordered to devour!" Kyuubi roared then lunged in the direction of the Kiri-nin who scattered upon noticing the beast's intentions, as well as hearing its words.
"How do we get rid of this thing!" one of the Jounins questioned, they had been peppering it with jutsu upon jutsu, knowing that their weapons would be no use against it.
"We could seal the blasted thing into something!" another of them shouted, all the while hopping all over the place sending out attack after attack against the beast, even going so far as to utilizing their bloodlines.
Ryoku upon realizing that his reinforcements had arrived decided to seal away the Kyuubi, while he would not be able to seal it away within himself, he could seal it away in a realm separate from the rest of the world, but still remaining in the world, much like the summon realms which peppered the Shinobi World.
"Nothing seems to be working, and my sealing isn't all that great!" another Jounin shouted, not really paying attention to the fact that the beast could hear their every word.
"You!" Kyuubi finally shouted realizing from where he remembered Ryoku, "You were there! You fiend! Its all your fault! I shall crush you! I shall kill you! I shall have my revenge!"
It then crouched low, its head looking straight up, while its body seeming to explode outward releasing balls of chakra. It paid no mind to the attacks sent its way by the Kiri-nin. They were pitiful annoyances compared to the attacks that it had felt when it was still a part of the whole that was the Juubi no Shiryuu.
"What the hell is it doing? Our attacks aren't working!" the Jounins said.
"Calm down," Shigeo said gathering them up as it seemed that the beast was focusing on its task, while Ryoku was focusing on his own.
"Why should we be calm, its planning something, and we can't even do anything to it!" one of the jounin said.
"By distracting its attention from Ryoku-sama, we have been able to do something, but now..we just have to watch and wait," Shigeo said.
Its tails arched over and pointed their tips at a spot directly infront of the maw of the beast. The balls of chakra then began to gather at that point, they began to merge with one another, then began to compress. The sheer amount of energy coming from the shrinking ball of chakra was immense.
"We have to get farther away from here!" Shigeo shouted over the sudden noise that the compressing ball was giving off.
"But what about Ryoku-sama?" one of the Jounins asked, "We can't just leave him there!"
"We have to!" Shigeo said, "We have to trust him!"
When they were a ways away from the beast, far enough away that the noise could no longer be heard, and the power in the ball could barely be felt, they watched as the beast opened its massive maw and swallowed the ball. After that, it seemed to suddenly expand, blowing up like a balloon, it seemed to grow heavy as its body suddenly crashed into the water, sending large waves in all directions, but none powerful enough to be called tsunamis.
"Surfing time!" the Hoshigaki of the group said as he pushed off of the water with his zanbatou in tow, which prompted his companions to jump as high as they could as well, all to avoid the waves, then slid down surfing style, riding on the flat part of their blades, no matter how small they may have been. Shigeo's being a pair of katana sized sai was hard to imagine.
The beast then opened its mouth and let out a fierce roar while at the same time also releasing the pent up energy it had released within itself. The discharge of energy was immense. It literally lit up the horizon in its intensity. A beam of light which could be seen from the shores of the mainland, as well as from the farthest island of the Land of Water. It was that bright and its power was that strong.
But at the same time, it could go no further than Ryoku's position, as the beam was sent straight upward, as if there was a mirror strong enough to deflect it and send it up into the atmosphere. When the beam suddenly lost all of its power, all that remained was the massive Kitsune and a dot on the horizon.
"Is he alive?" a Jounin asked.
"He better be," Shigeo said, "Or we're screwed."
Even further away where Mejin and his group were...
"Keep fighting and trust our comrades not to fail us!" Mejin said as he continued to fight the stunned into silence Konoha-nin that temporarily forgot that they were fighting. Mejin's comrades snapped out of it just in time to deliver devastating blows to the invading nins, before they got back to their senses.
"How are you still alive!" the Kiri-nins heard the beast ask, "You should have been incinerated!"
"Go to sleep already," Ryoku said, as he suddenly moved from his spot on the water, or rather from the frozen island that used to be water, to directly in front of the beast, his form had instantly changed from his human form to his phoenix form, ~this was the form you first saw me in, and this shall be the last form you see me in, until you reawaken from your slumber~
From where Shigeo and his group were staying, they simply saw the dot vanish and instead of a dot, they saw a large bird hovering in front of the beast, the words they had not been able to hear, but they did witness the beast begin to disappear. Its body vanishing until finally only the bird remained.
Ryoku had sealed away the beast in a realm within the world, separate yet connected, similar to a heavily warded area, he also put the beast to sleep with the equivalent in magic of bijuu tranquilizer.
With getting rid of the Kyuubi done, Ryoku teleported to the spot directly in front of Shigeo, reverting back to human form mid-transit, surprising the jounins with his sudden arrival.
"What the hell!"
"Let's go collect the others," Ryoku said, "They're probably either exhausted or or mocking the Konoha-nins, that are surely running back to their forest now."
They ran all the way to where Mejin and company were actually sleeping on a whirlpool, only Mejin being the one awake, and while not taunting the retreating Konoha-nins, was trying to count the rings of the whirlpool which Kasumi had created to keep them afloat.
"How was the fight?" Ryoku asked, as he and his group arrived.
"Tiring," Mejin said, "I think I'm almost out of chakra."
"You would be right in that regard," Ryoku said, then faced Kasumi, "Leave them to me, I shall send them back, and did you have to send the blasted thing over here?"
"It was the strongest of them, and the easiest to emulate," Kasumi said.
"Uzumaki Sennin," Ryoku said, "Those Ika taught you well."
"That they did, but not as well as you taught my ancestor," she said.
"Leave us and thank you Kasumi," Ryoku instructed, and she followed his order and left the men to slowly sink into the sea, only to be grabbed by their companions, lifting them out of the water.
"Twenty-seven Kiri-nin, against close to one thousand Konoha-nin,"Nobuo said breathlessly, "How the hell did you know we would manage?"
"You are the leaders of your outposts, miniature hidden villages on their own, you were elected and trusted," Ryoku said, "As you all know, there is still no Kage for Kiri. You can stop channeling chakra to the soles of your feet, I've got you."
"What...Oh..how are you doing that?" Majin asked, awakening from his slumber caused by exhaustion, "I'm still above the surface of the water."
"It is a gift I possess, as well as years of practice," Ryoku said, "As I was saying, you are the chosen candidates for the position of Shodaime Mizukage. Now chose amongst yourselves who are the eight that are best for the position."
"Eight? Why eight?" Koori Ran asked, "There is something else, isn't there, something which you still refuse to tell us."
"There will always be somethng which I will not tell you," Ryoku said, "Now, decide amongst yourselves, who should it be?"
"Mejin, Majin, Nobuo, Takao, Yuji, Kou, Yasuo, and Shigeo," the Jounins that went with Shigeo to Ryoku said at the same time as if they had rehersed it.
"The eight of you," Ryoku said, "Are now to chose who of you will be Kage."
"Is there a way that we can do this that doesn't have us voice our choices?" Nobuo asked.
"Here," Ryoku said producing some pieces of paper and some pens, "Write down your choice, fold the paper and hand it to me."
The eight scribbled their choices and handed over the papers and pens to Ryoku who vanished the pens, and scrambled the papers as to make it not obvious who chose who. He then handed over the papers to Ran.
"Read them," Ryoku said, "I will be back moentarily, don't worry about sinking."
Ryoku simply vanished from view by sinking into the sea, he had left to fetch the Hat he had created, one that would be able to stand the test of time, one of the marks or symbols of a Kage, the Hat.
"Shigeo," Ran read, "Mejin, Mejin, Mejin, Mejin, Mejin, Mejin, and Mejin."
"Well...it looks like the slowpoke is our Kage," Sadao said, "Congratulations Mejin!"
"Me?" Mejin said, still a little tired, "Yasuo! You said you wouldn't chose me since you suspected this to be some form of test!"
"Deceit is a shinobi's best friend," Yasuo said in his defense, "What's wrong with being voted as Kage anyway?"
"Well..nothing I guess," Mejin said, "So when do you guys think he'll be back, cause I don't think I have the chakra to get us home.."
"Looks like we're stuck...on this..island of water.." Shigeo said.
"Mah..I'm going to sleep, wake me when he gets back," Majin said, then promptly fell asleep, leaning against Mejin."
"I like his idea," Ran said, "Nap time."
"We're stuck in the middle of nowhere, and its not like those Konoha-nin are coming back anytime soon," Shigeo said and got himself into a comfortable position and fell asleep as well, the rest following suit, but not before deciding the order of the watch.
By the time Ryoku returned, he found all twenty-seven Jounins sleeping, so he woke them up.
"Kasumi! This is not the time and place for you to bathe!" Ryoku shouted, not that Kasumi was there, but the Jounins all of them male didn't know that.
"Where!" the twenty-seven all shouted upon waking up, all bolting upright and looking everywhere.
"That wasn't funny old man," Mejin said after realizing what had been done.
"Well at least I know all of you found her that attractive," Ryoku said, "She's married by the way."
"Spoil our fun why don't you," Yuji said whining.
"Congratulations Mejin," Ryoku said and handed over the first custom Mizukage uniform, "While the robe may one day need to be replaced, the hat never will, so you better not lose it. You are now Mizukage, there should be a formal celebration of some kind once you inform the clan heads of the decision, so don't wear the duds until then."
"What about the rest of us? Do we get anything?" Kei asked.
"The other seven that were chosen by the lot of you, are to collectively be known as Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shu, the elite of the elite, and personal guards of the Mizukage," Ryoku said, he then produced seven blank swords.
They were called blank swords because they looked like ordinary katana, but they had a special quality ability and purpose.
"Take one each of you," Ryoku instructed the seven, "Channel chakra into them, these will be the symbols of your position, only your chosen successor will be able to use them to their full potential, don't lose them either."
"Will they change forms after this? When they change hands I mean?" Nobuo asked.
"No, they will not," Ryoku said, "They may gain some kind of form of life, but that's about it. As for getting home, take this," he then reached into the sea and pulled out a boot, and handed it over to Mejin, "Once all of you are holding onto it, it will transport you to the outskirts of Kirigakure no Sato, where by the time of your arrival, the rest of the village population have already been waitin for your return for about a week."
"Why so long from now?" Mejin asked.
"It adds dramatic effect," Ryoku said, "Do you honestly think I'm going to tell you the real reason?"
"Well, no," Mejin said then came to a realization, "You're not coming back with us are you, Ryoku-sama?"
"I wont be seeing Kiri until I take that hat back," Ryoku said, then shifted into his Keigo guise, "I'll be staying somewhere else in the meantime."
"You!" seven Jounins said accusingly while pointing fingers at Ryoku.
"Yes, me," Ryoku said, "Someone had to make sure that you weren't abusing your powers."
"Calm down you guys," Mejin said, "We've got to get home, ASAP."
"Hai, Mizukage-sama!" the twenty-six shinobi said.
"Knock it off! Its not official official yet!" Mejin said, minutes later all twenty-seven of them disappeared.
'Now where do I go...' Ryoku wondered, then teleported back to his mountain hideaway, not to be seen again, until midway through the Third Great Shinobi War.