I had actually hoped to end the entire war arc in this chapter but sadly I didn't manage it because I'm not very good at managing things plus my new job is taking more of my free time. I will however manage to bring chapters in the rythem that I am currently posting ( hopefully).
Enjoy
-–-
The battle raged on on top of the lookout tower of the chunin exams. The third Hokage was trapped inside a great barrier together with Orochimaru who had reanimated the first and second Hokage.
Luckily for him Nagato and Konan managed to get inside the barrier to aid him in this fight. Sadly a masked man stepped out of a vortex to aid Orochimaru in the fight.
Outside of the barrier were a group of anbu special operatives who waited for a chance to engage the enemy if the barrier disappeared. Next to them was the pale woman known as Kaguya who was also only able to watch es they fought.
Early at the beginning of the battle the first Hokage used his wood style jutsu to turn the entire battlefield into a forest. He was tasked with fighting Konan while his brother and Orochimaru fought against the third Hokage.
Nagato was fighting the masked man but sadly his abilities proved to be very effective in evading and avoiding Nagato's attacks. Every attack seemed to simply go right through him without leaving as much as a scar. The masked man managed to use this advantage by doing small amounts of damage with kicks and punches.
The battlefield wasn't really playing into Nagato's hands either. He couldn't summon any bigger creatures due to the cramped space they were currently in and the masked man used his ability to fase through trees as a method of surprise attacks.
"All of your attacks are completely futile Nagato. If you reconsider joining me and handing over the jinjuriki I might let you live." Madara said with a dark chuckle.
Nagato only smiled. "You know what my answer is."
"I know." Said the mask man before preforming quick hand signs. Suddenly a massive fire ball appeared before the masked man and flew directly towards Nagato.
Nagato however simply stood his ground and held out his hand. The moment the fireball came in contact with him it instantly disappeared. Madara scoffed at that.
"I underestimated the powers of the Rinnegan, absorbing my attacks like that gives you a big advantage. Let's see how long it takes to take you out with simple punches." Madara said before vanishing into another vortex.
Nagato prepared for a attack from Madara but little did he know that his opponent had another plan before attacking.
-–-
At another part of the battlefield the third Hokage was having trouble fighting both the second Hokage and Orochimaru at the same time. The snakes nimble movements combined with the force of the second Hokage's water style was simply to much.
"Sarutobi! Concentrate your attacks on Orochimaru! You can't wound me!" The second Hokage was calling in hopes to aid his successor and student.
Suddenly a vortex appeared behind the second Hokage and Madara appeared to pull him into his dimension. "I will borrow him for a moment."
The vortex disappeared again and left the two shinobi standing there. Orochimaru klickt his tongue in disapproval. "That useless shit. Claims that he helps me but takes away my trump card. No matter."
The third Hokage was standing ready to fight. "Orochimaru, if you continue this path you will not survive this fight."
The snake just chuckled. "Acting so wise even though you were so massively wrong in the 't you say all those years ago that I was a prime example for a future shinobi of the hidden leaf village?"
"My only mistake was it to not see the signs earlier that you strayed from the will of fire." The Hokage said before both launched back into battle.
-–-
"You truly are talented. It pleases me that the village has such powerful allies like yourself that gladly help the village in it's time of need." The first Hokage praised Konan and her ability to fight him.
The paper angle however was getting annoyed at the constant praise her opponent gave her. "I can now understand Kakuzu why he hates you so much."
That name called back some found memories with a smile. "Kakuzu? I remember that young man, he tried to assassinate me but ultimately failed. He had that fire in his eyes that told me how much determination he had. How is he? He must be so old by now, I regret not giving him that rematch."
"This is not the time for idle chat, I am going to send you back were you came from." Konan said as her paper wings sprouted out of her back.
The first Hokage laughed loudly. "Good, I like your fire. Try aiming at my lower back, Tobirama said I let myself open on that side."
-–-
Inside the village the battle in a blood soaked mansion continued. The nine and seven tailed jinjuriki were still struggling against the lizard girl with her executioners axe.
She swung that weapon around like it was nothing more then a pocket knife while her opponents dogged and evaded her attacks. The more she fought the more she lost herself in her temper. At first ther attacker were coordinated with a proper fighting stance, now as time went bye it turned into a frenzy of attacks just hoping to hit something.
The jinjuriki knew that this would make it harder for them to come closer to her but at the same time it was more likely the she would make a mistake. That moment came and Naruto immediately took it.
The lizard was just about to swing again but this time Naruto managed to dash closely to her and deliver a well placed punch at her arm, causing her to drop her weapon. Naruto didn't hesitate as his arm hardened and the aimed this time for her face.
The opponent however opened her mouth with her razor sharp teeth and bit down on Naruto's fist, causing heavy bleeding even though the hardened skin. Naruto saw the pure hatred in her eyes before Fuu suddenly flew directly towards her and kicked the beasts in her face, successfully freeing Naruto. "Stay away from Naruto you beast!"
As the lizard recovered she started at the two jinjuriki with even more malice then before. "You call me a beast? A beast!? You jinjuriki have more blood on you hands then me and jet you have the audacity to judge me!"
The lizard took a deep breath before spewing a raging inferno towards the two jinjuriki. The entire mansion was blown to bits as the impact tore everything down. As the dust settled and looked over to the two jinjuriki, expecting to see nothing more then bones and burned flesh see saw something els.
There was now a bit ball of sand sitting there were the two jinjuriki were before. The sand slowly crumbled away and revealed not only the two unharmed jinjuriki but also another jinjuriki.
"Garra? How long have you been here?" Naruto asked his fellow jinjuriki and friend.
"I watched the battle, hoping to understand this opponent." The one tailed jinjuriki said while crossing his arms.
The lizard chuckled. "Hehehe, another one of you who came for the slaughter."
"No, you don't want this." Garra simply said.
The opponent seemed to be delighted by that answer. "What? Are you one of those tough guys?"
Garra simply shook his head and looked at her with what appeared to be sympathy. "That is not what I meant. You say that you are a monster that preys on on humans, but it's not true."
The lizard chuckled again. "Care to explain?"
The one tailed jinjuriki still looked at her with sympathy. "You claim to be a monster but reacted so strong to the comparison of a beast. You don't want that, you never wanted this."
Her smile disappeared. "Shut up."
"You are afraid of all those around you, how they look at you."
"...shut up."
"You hate the world and everyone in it because everyone looks at you and only sees a monster."
"I said, shut up!" The lizard said while trembling with rage.
"But deep down you know that you don't hate them. If you look in the mirror you know why they hate you and you start hating yourself, so much that you wish that you could feel nothing." Garra continued.
Now she bursted out with rage with even tears in her eyes. "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! What would you know of having no place to call home, to be mocked and judged by one simply look!? I know what I am a monster that hates live and lives to take the life's of others. How could you even think that you know anything about me!?"
Slowly sand moved to Garra's face and covered half of it, making it look like the face of the pine tailed beast. "I know all this because I am exactly like you. We all have this hatred inside us, let us help you just like we helped each other."
"No, no stay away! You can't understand me! I will kill you all!" She screamed before expanding her wings and flying away. Garra didn't even attempt to stop her, he simply removed the sand and let his face turn back to normal.
"Are we done? Is it over?" Fuu asked slightly afraid of might come next. In that moment they all heard a mighty roar across the village.
"It's either a victory for us or the end of the village." Garra said as his thoughts went back to that girl, how much pain did she go through and how similar would he be to her if he hadn't been taken away from the village?
-–-
Yagura and Utakata were currently slowly walking the stairs on the side of the Hokage monument. It was a long way and sadly for Yagura it took evert last scrap of energy out of him.
The little Hyuga girl continued to walk along side them and numerous times tried to offer some sort of help. In the end she wasn't able to help and Utakata help Yagura up the stairs by supporting him with his shoulder.
Slowly but surly they manage to continue and spot the entrance in the distance. Several shinobi were guarding the entrance but one familiar face was taking to a group of children.
"Listen konohamaru, you and your friends can't help in this. So please stay Inside." Roshi said with a calm voice.
"That's not fair! You helped us get here and now you want to go out again? We will come with you and help you!" The young boy declared.
Roshi sighed and turned around. He spotted Utakata and the wounded Yagura immediately and dashed towards them. "Are you two ok!? Were are the others, we planned to help and them meet here again."
"Han is currently engaged in combat with a enemy so we could flee. As for the others I do not know." Utakata said with slight amount of concern were the others are.
The four tailed jinjuriki kneeled down to the little girl. "You must be Hanabi correct? Some of the Hyuga clan members are in the shelter and are worried sick about you."
The little girl nodded and stared to run for the shelter. Yagura looked at Roshi. "Are you sure this place is safe?"
"It is, trust me. In this position the shinobi have the higher ground and are able to take care of enemy threats." Roshi said with a confident smile.
In that moment a huge smoke cloud appeared at the bottom of the moment and only a second later a giant three headed snake appeared. It was bigger then the monument and was looking down at the shinobi, its eyes were looked on little Hanabi who didn't reach the shelter just jet.
"Lore Danzo, everything went according to plan, are you going to act now?" One of the special anbu shinobi asked his master as they both hid in the shadow.
Danzo and Orochimaru planed this all along. While the snake killed the current Hokage, Danzo would plan the summon of this snake which will attack the civilians. Then he would step in at the last second and save them all so that he ensured the approval of the civilians and secure his seat on the Hokage chair.
Danzo smiled as he saw how the jinjuriki used there jutsu to fend of the snake. Magma balls and bubbles attack the snake while the other jinjuriki tried to flee with the Hyuga. He saw how one of the heads prepared to attack the Hyuga girl. "Let's wait until some of them die and all hope gets lost."
One of the snakes heads opened its maw and charged at Yagura and Hanabi. The three tailed jinjuriki wasn't able to fight so he held the jung girl close to him and prepared for his end. However it never come to contact with the snake, instead he felt some liquid spilling on him.
Both of them opened there eyes and saw that the snake stopped right before them. Roshi was turned to them and held the snake, but then Yagura saw what the liquid was.
One of the beasts fangs entered through Roshi back and exiting through his stomach. Blood was everywhere and still dropped from the tip of the fang. Roshi chuckle weakly as he coughed up blood. "Ok, maybe not so safe."
The snake moved its head up again with Roshi still hanging from the fang. With one movement the beast got rid of Roshi by flinging him up into the air. Roshi only heard the distant screams of his fellow jinjuriki before his world started to fade into a black haze.
-–-
"You really are a idiot. Jumping to your demise without hesitation is truly the mark of a fool." The four tailed beasts rumbled as he looked down from his cage at Roshi who smiled and rubbed the back of his head.
"What can I say, I had a pretty good run." Roshi said with a chuckle. His smile faded however as he spotted how the darkness drew closer and closer.
"I really am dying. What will happen to you?" The jinjuriki asked the four tailed beast who just shrugged with his shoulders.
"Not sure, apparently I will just wake up again somewhere in the world in a couple of years." The beast grumbled. This would be the first time something like this would happen, the beast heard how the rebirth worked but was unsure what to do in this process.
Roshi smiled again at the beast. "Wähnt to make a deal?"
The four tailed beast looked confused at his jinjuriki. "What?"
"A Deal. Let's say I free you now and in return you help defending the village. Think about it, you wouldn't have to wait for freedom." Roshi said while jumping up on the cage.
Before the tailed beast could even answer Roshi already removed the seal and opened the cage. Son slowly took one step outside of his cage and stared to feel the ground underneath his feet. With a mighty roar he stretched all of his limbs in total satisfaction.
"Finally free of this cramped cage! I forgot how wonderful it felt to stretch my limbs after so many years!" The beast laughed and turned to Roshi who just smiled.
"Glad to see you enjoy your new found freedom. But could you please concentrate on your part of the deal and save the village." Roshi simply said without loosening his smile.
"Deal? What deal? You just freed me and assumed that I would help. I might as well kill now everyone as payback for forcing me into that tiny cage." The beast said as it drew closer to Roshi.
The jinjuriki however continued smiling. "No you won't."
"Excuse me?"
"You won't. I know you now for a while and I figured that you aren't the type of guy who just kills without a reason." The jinjuriki continued with a smirk.
The giant monkey waited for a moment before bursting out in laughter. "You know what little brat, I'm going to do something different. Your entire existence is nothing more then one surprise after another, so I'm going to fix your body."
"Wait! You can do that!? I was mentally preparing for the afterlife, I did everything and now you say you can just heal me? Why didn't you say that before I went through that trauma!" Roshi screamed in a mixture of joy, anger and relief.
The four tailed beast just gestured with his hands that he should calm down. "I'm just going to keep your body inside your mind and heal it. In the meantime you go out there and play a hero, but don't embarrass yourself."
Roshi didn't quite understand how this would work. "If my body is in my mind what body do I use on the outside?"
The world around him stared to turn into ha firestorm. He knew that he was awake and he felt that his body was rapidly changing. He heard the tailed beast voice before the flames disappeared. "Don't overdo it."
-–-
The people outside just looked in horror as Roshi's body was flung up in the air, they were even more surprised as his body was enveloped in a giant fireball. It took only seconds before the flames disappeared and revealed another horror.
Roshi has completely turned into the four tailed beast and dropped with all his mighty weight on the three headed snake. The shinobi and the jinjuriki could only watch as the beast slowly rose.
While the beast was standing on the main body of the snake each of his two hands gripped one of the snakes heads. The third head was trapped inside his mouth.
With one powerful pull the three heads were ripped clean of and the snake disappeared on the spot. From the feet of the Hokage mountain the four tailed beast looked up to the shinobi who stared at it in fear.
"Are you ok Roshi!?" Utakata called down from the mountain. Roshi smiled in his beastly form and gave him a thumbs up.
Roshi turned around and saw that the enemy shinobi were staring at him with complete fear in there eyes. With a roar he pounded his fist on his chest like a crazed gorilla and successful made the enemies flee. But that's wasn't enough, he knew that the battle was still going on and that this sight alone wouldn't be enough.
"What are you doing?" Roshi heard the beasts voice in his head.
"What? Just intimidating the enemy." Roshi answered sheepishly back inside his head.
A pause followed. "Don't do that again with my body. It's just something that you don't do. You know, it's a beast thing."