Chapter 26
Neji winced his nose as the smell of rot and decay reached the nostrils.
Despite the fact that this was the second time he faced the Undead, the smell was still something that he still had to get use to. Throughout his life as a shinobi, never before Neji had faced fouler foes. In fact, he doubted that there were anything more hideous than those limping, snarling flesh of rot. They were creatures that were supposed to exist in the worst nightmares.
Yet here they were, snarling as they approached behind the Hokage and her two subordinates, who came rushing towards the Hyuuga front. Eying the thin line of Hyuuga, Neji somehow wondered how long they could hold it before the Undead came rushing into the gates behind them, flooding the village with their sickening presence. It was a thought that made his stomach churn.
Whose idea was it that giving them Naruto would buy their retreat?
"Hokage-sama!" Hiashi said. "We'll take it from here."
The Hokage gave a small nod, and rushed into the gates.
Neji looked backed at the enemy they were facing. Somehow the Undead stopped their chase, and formed a rotten wall a few dozens meters from the Hyuuga line. Several dark shapes emerged from the army of death. There was a loud gasp when everyone seemed to recognise one of them.
"Hinata?" Neji shouted.
---
Sakura's brows furrowed as she focused her mind onto issuing her next order, trying to ignore the noise that was coming from outside the room.
Ever since the Undead renewed their attack, all the shinobis had turned to Sakura for orders. It was not that that was causing the trouble in her mind, however. After all, it was customary that the Hokage's apprentice would assume leadership during the Hokage's absence. Tsunade often reminded Sakura of how important it was for her to be ready to take control, since there was always a chance that she would not be in the village when she was needed most.
Still, it was a new experience for her to take control.
"Sakura-sama?" the shinobi in front of her asked.
"Uh... you take the First Ave," Sakura replied. "Just gather the villagers around and, um, group them together. Then take them to the mountains where they'll be safe."
"Hai!" The ninja acknowledged his orders and made a hand-seal. He disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Another shinobi came in through the door. Sakura let out a deep breath. She was so not used to this.
---
Neji stared in disbelief at the winged Hyuuga who was flying in front of him. Hinata's lips twisted into a sneer as she pointed her finger at him. As if receiving a silent command, the Undead beneath her marched forwards.
"Hinata?" he whispered. "But how? Why?"
"I don't know," Tsunade said. "I just saw Kabuto touching her, and then a green light..."
Just then Neji heard a loud screech that rattled his mind. Covering his ears, he found that the sound seemed to penetrate through his hands, through his eardrums, and thrust right into his head. A dark, chilling feel began to spread throughout his body.
The next thing he knew was a hand on his shoulder. Neji turned around, and saw Hiashi, who was grabbing him by the shoulder. For a moment the Hyuuga frowned in puzzlement to find his uncle somehow ended up behind him. Then he realized that in that moment of panic, he had almost turned around and fled.
Neji looked around, and saw that several of the Hyuuga were already running around, their fear evident in their eyes. The Hyuuga saw that Hiashi, too, was fearful, but the Hyuuga leader bit his bottom lip and held on.
"You... you are no Hinata," he growled. "What have you done to her?"
"Oh," Hinata said as she looked around at the Hyuuga. "So you brought out everyone. Good, saves me the trouble of looking for you all." She sneered as she raised her hand and flew backwards.
The Undead scampered as they charged forwards.
---
The sounds of battle grew louder, and Naruto knew that he was approaching the grounds of war.
He paused, and proceed to leap towards one of the highest branches in the forest. Once on his high ground, the blonde saw the giant toad fighting a gigantic humanoid with wings on its back. Tsunade's slug and the giant skeleton were no where in sight.
He bit his bottom lip. He knew that Jiraiya and Gama Bunta would require some sort of help. Naruto was about to head for that direction when he heard a familiar voice.
"Naruto!"
The shinobi turned around, and was relieved to see the sight of two Nathmenids that were hovering in the air, their wings flapping.
"Mardonius!" Naruto cried out.
"You are not going to fight the bafafo demon like this," Mardonius said. "We're going with you."
"Ah," Naruto blurted out. "Let's go then!"
---
Jiraiya bit his bottom lip as Gama Bunta dodged another blow from the monster. Even without the skeletal dragon on its side, the bafafo proved to be a tough opponent. For a being of that size, the demonwas very agile. By the time it had already opened up several gashes on Gama's side, the toad still had yet to land one single blow upon its adversary. No matter what the toad did, the demon seem to be able to leap out of the way. If this kept up, it would not be long before Jiraiya and Gama Bunta fell.
Jiraiya risked a peek behind him. There, half-hidden in the canopy, was the black mass of Undead, held back by the white line that stood in the path between it and the gates of Konoha. The line was a lot thinner than the last time Jiraiya looked. It would not take very long before they broke through the Hyuuga and into the Leaf.
Time was running out.
Then there was an orange explosion, and the demon tumbled over to one side. An orange blur leaped onto Gama Bunta, and two winged figures landed next to the Sannin.
"Hi Jiraiya," Atossa said. Jiraiya's eyes lit up.
Mardonius, Atossa, and Naruto. With them together, maybe they would have a chance...
---
Neji stared at the zombie rushing towards him. Biting his teeth, he thrashed out his kunai. With a quick flick, the skull in front immediately split into two gory halves, the blood splashing into the shinobi vest that was already caked with sweat.
The Hyuuga looked at the chaos around him. The Undead was everywhere around him, ganging up onto the few Hyuuga who were more or less fighting in a formation that forms a wall at the Konoha gates. An occasional Kaiten would throw some of them away from the Hyuuga line, but the Undead were relentless in their attacks. The Hyuuga line would not hold much longer, and the zombies would pour into the streets of Konoha, slaughtering everything in their paths.
So that was how it would all end.
Strangely enough, Neji felt no fear. Instead there was a calm resolution. He had done his part for the Leaf, committing everything to its protection. Dying here would not be disgraceful. After all, he had survived the first zombie attack, and that was saying something considering that the Sand fell in the first assault.
Neji looked up into the petite figure of Hinata, who was hovering above the horde of Undead, her face grinning evilly. The Hyuuga could not help but wonder if she was one of them all along, playing them all around until this final moment. If so, why? Was it just because of her banishment?
A sudden snarl to the right was the only warning Neji got. With a side-step, the Hyuuga narrowly escaped the bloody claws of a rotting, animated corpse, adorned in a torn shinobi vest with a Sand headband on its bloodless forehead.
With lips twisted in disgust, the Hyuuga struck his palms onto the zombie, spilling his chakra into his half-decayed nemesis. There was a loud, sickening crunch, and the zombie was thrown backwards, back into the rest of the Undead.
Then a loud voice called.
"Hiashi! Hiashi-sama is dead!"
Neji looked up in shock. Held up by rotting hands, the head of his uncle was paraded over the sea of Undead. Gasps of fear and shock spread wherever the head went.
The Hyuuga front shattered like a sand wall before the sea. The Undead rushed in, flooding towards the gates of Konoha. There was nothing Neji could do but to watch helplessly as the zombies marched into the streets of the Leaf.
So this was it then.
Neji never noticed when a zombie walked up behind him. There was a loud thunk, and then blackness...
---
"Damn it, they've broken through!" Jiraiya shouted.
Everyone looked behind them at the Konoha. The black mass of Undead swarmed over the white line of Hyuuga and was rolling towards the unguarded gates of Konoha.
"Damn it!" Naruto shouted.
"Look out!" Atossa cried.
Naruto just managed to see the bafafo demon lunging towards them when he almost fell over as Gama Bunta wheeled around to dodge an upward slash, the claws missing the blonde only by a couple meters. Mardonius and Atossa leaped into the air, and darted straight towards the giant monster.
When Naruto regained his proper footing, the Nathmenids were already circling around the demon, whizzing around it so quickly that their Kataya created a path of light encircling around the monster. Like a giant trying to grab annoying insects, the demon waved his arm in vain. With its attention leaving Gama Bunta, it began to step backwards away from the giant toad.
An opening!
"Now, Jiraiya!" Gama Bunta cried.
Jiraiya nodded as he took a deep breathe in, and blew out fire from his mouth. At the same time, Gama Bunta breathed out a jet of oil at the blaze, creating a line of flames that shot straight at the bafafo demon.
"Katon- Gama Yuendan!"
Mardonius and Atossa could just dodge in time before the entire area was engulfed in flames, the blast consuming the giant hellish demon in a large, orange fireball. The Nathmenid couple flew back to Gama Bunta, landing next to Jiraiya.
"Wow," Atossa muttered as she looked at the blast. "Next time give us some damned warning before you do something like that!"
"Well, you dodged," Jiraiya replied.
The fire quickly died down to smoke. When the smoke cleared, the bafafo demon was still standing, apparently unscathed.
"Damn it," Jiraiya shouted. "How do you kill that thing?"
The giant staggered a little as it tried to move. Then, with a loud crash, it collapsed onto the ground.
For a moment, Jiraiya stared at the motionless giant that was lying amongst the canopy. After a while, when he saw that it stayed still, Jiraiya realized that it was dead.
"Well, normally we would lure it into a Mojoya, then seal it in the ground," Mardonius replied. "Apparently that works as well."
Jiraiya looked at him. "Ok," he said. "Come on, we got a... Oh what the heck?"
The Toad Sannin pointed past Mardonius, who turned around. Everyone gasped at the sight of a cloud of black dots that was beginning to roll over the skies of Konoha...
"Oh, dastaka..."
---
Tsunade fended off the sharp claws that were reaching for her face, and punched the face of their owner. The zombie was send flying down the corridor, its head a bloody heap. Right next to her was Sakura, her fists bludgeoning at the two zombies that were pressing her towards the balcony.
After she rushed through the gates of Konoha, it did not take Tsunade very long before she reached the Hokage building. Ordering Kurenai to help with the evacuation efforts, the Hokage proceeded to seek out Sakura. It was exactly when she found her apprentice when, from the balcony, she saw the Undead marching onto the streets, burning and pillaging everything on sight.
Very soon the Undead were rushing into the Hokage building, crowding through every door and every window they could reach.
Tsunade quickly ran to Sakura and dispatched the two zombies quickly.
The master and apprentice turned around at the crowd of Undead slowly walking towards them, filling up the entire Hokage office with their rotten presence. Slowly the two backed towards the balcony as the zombies approached.
Tsunade risked a glance behind her. The streets below the balcony were filled with zombies.
There was no escape.
The Hokage suddenly felt a quick wind as something shot past her ear. One of the zombies in front of her staggered as if something hit it.
A bolt was buried on its forehead up to the feathered end.
Tsunade turned to look back. A line of a dozen or so Nathmenids hovered at the same level as the balcony behind her. With their faces almost entirely covered by their black helmets, Tsunade could not tell their facial features. Yet she knew very well that none of those were the two Nathmenids that she knew. The Hokage widened her eyes in surprise as the armored demons aimed at strange-looking weapon at the Undead.
"Argh! What the..."
Tsunade squealed when a sudden force yanked her up from the balcony.
