Hey guys! Been a month or so but I finally got a bit of my groove back! Hopefully I'll keep these posts going! I've also got my other story up as well, took some time to write both chapters before I posted, so please check out the latest update of By Any Means Necessary! Thanks for reading guys, please review! Thanks!
The Raikage stood, in full battle regalia, before his men, outside the gates of Kumogakure. The other Kages stood behind him, The Kazekage, the Tsuchikage, and Orochimaru, their own forces marshaled behind them.
"It has come to our knowledge that the leader of Amegakure, known as Pain, has assassinated their former leader, and has formed the criminal organization known as Akatsuki. They are responsible for the kidnap of Kirabi, as well as several other Jinchuriki, including my own children Raiden and Yugito. As Pain is the head of both Amegakure and Akatsuki, I have declared war on Amegakure! Quarter will be given to those who refute Pain as their leader and surrender unconditionally to our forces! A swift death will be dealt to those who refuse surrender! Let the full might of the four great nations descend upon Kumogakure, and let Pain see the error of his ways!" He stood tall as his gaze met each of his men. They stood at attention, firm and fearless, awaiting orders. "Do not attempt to engage Pain, or any other enemy dressed in black robes with a red cloud pattern alone! They are members of Akatsuki and should be considered extremely dangerous!" He watched again as they nodded as he finished speaking. "TO WAR!" He roared, and the forces before him cried out. In unison, they clasped their hands together, and in a flash of lightning, the cloud nin disappeared. The other three armies disappeared in their own unique way, the Earth nin seemingly crumbling into dirt, while the sand nin became sand and were swept away with the wind, and Orochimaru's forces disappeared in a flash of fire.
---xxx---
Hinata stood alone before the lone guardian, her two partners on the ground, not moving, having been dealt tremendous blows with electrical energy.
"You should not have come, little Hyuga. The prisoner will be kept here, for so long as we have deemed necessary."
"We're trying to protect the Jinchuriki, don't you get it? There is a criminal organization trying to capture all the Jinchuriki for unknown reasons, and we have to stop them! These are S-class ninja, all dangerous and extremely skilled!"
"And our prison will hold. None will steal the Jinchuriki from this cell. We are it's jailors, and you will die for your intrusion."
"They're right behind us! They're in the prison too, they're going to try and take the Jinchuriki from you!"
"You will fail, as will they. All intruders will be destroyed." The guardian drew a scimitar from it's waist and began moving solemnly towards Hinata. She crouched into the Gentle Fist stance, waiting for the guardian to make the first strike. "Ah yes, the Gentle Fist style." The guardian stopped as it spoke. "Let us see how you fare, hmm?" The guardian disappeared suddenly in a flash of light, reappearing behind her as it stabbed out with it's sword. Hinata spun instantly on her feet, palming the blade to the side as she stepped forward and struck out at the guardian.
"Gentle Fist Art, Eight Trigrams! Two palms!" She struck it twice in the chest, before spinning again to it's side. "Four palms!" Two more blows, and the guardian might as well have stood still, as fast as Hinata slid effortlessly across the floor, her hair floating aimlessly above her with the static electricity. "Eight palms!" She stabbed out four more times, pin pricks of chakra lighting up with each strike as she moved faster, jabbing out harder. "Sixteen palms! Thirty-two palms! Sixty-four palms! One hundred-thirty-two palms!" She jabbed out furiously, connecting on each blow, illuminating the flow of chakra through the guardian as electrical energy began to glow.
"Well done, little Hyuga, but will you survive yet?" The guardian fell to a knee as the glow shone brightly, electrical chakra crackling and snapping as a great amount welled in it's chest. Hinata slid away from it, breathing heavily as the bolt of lightning tore out from the guardian, aiming for her chest. She spun and ducked under the bolt, which shot over her shoulder and crashed into the wall, before ricocheting off, shooting back towards her. She spun again, narrowly avoiding the bolt as thunder boomed around the room. "How long can you dodge, little girl? The more it bounces against the walls, the faster it will go!" Hinata continued to dodge desparately, noting the same fact, that it was indeed speeding up as it ricocheted around the room, bouncing off ceiling, floor, and wall alike.
Her heart began to race as she realized the mission had fallen entirely to her now, in her ability to survive this battle and then revive her friends from their injuries.
I can't dodge this forever, what am I going to do? She looked over briefly, her eyes resting on Naruto's face briefly. Naruto…How would you escape this one?
"He wouldn't give up, ever. He'd keep trying, keep fighting, until he'd figured it out or won. You must do the same, Hinata." Hinata spun rapidly around the bouncing bolt to see Neji standing there, his form incorporeal and insubstantial.
Neji! He's dead!
"You have to focus, Hinata. That bolt of lightning is simply chakra. If the Hyugas can be proud of anything, it is our ability to stop the flow of chakra. Use the gifts that have come naturally to you. I believe in you, Hinata. I did not sacrifice my life to save yours in vain."
Neji… A tear rolled down her cheek as she ducked behind one of the pillars, letting the bolt of lightning bounce off the pillar, then listened carefully as it bounced on the walls, changing direction and moving around the pillar. It bounced off the ceiling and shot straight down at her, as she closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. "Rotation!" She cried out and spun, emitting chakra from every direction, a pale blue shield surrounding her, and the bolt struck, held for a moment, and then shot off in another direction, continuing its wayward path, it's speed increasing still.
"You're not thinking clearly, Hinata. Don't give up, you are the last heir to the Hyuga family, you must endure, you must fight on."
Yes, Neji…I have to win, I have to survive! I have to break the flow of Chakra! She stopped moving yet again, her eyes fierce, intent on victory and settled into the Gentle Fist stance once more. As the bolt rocketed towards her, her eyes flashed and she slid forward, an outstretched palm, outlined with a dense wall of chakra, blocked the path of the bolt. Her other hand glowed as well as she spun, chopping down onto the bolt of lightning, severing it in half. The two halves shot off in separate directions, bouncing endlessly around the room, and she shut her eyes hard, almost lost to despair as she continued dodging.
Nothing I try is working! How do I survive this? The only way the other bolt stopped was by striking Ken!
"This is your task now Hinata, you alone have lasted this long and survived the Guardians. Your destiny is to rescue the Jinchuriki, and to defeat Akatsuki. You cannot avoid that fate, and so you will not fail here today."
She continued her tactic, blocking the bolts and chopping down, severing them in half, but was only succeeded in increasing the number of bolts bouncing around the room. The room crackled and hummed with energy as she danced around the room, her movement speeding up out of necessity, her eyes wide open, her byakugan having long since lost it's minute blind-spot thanks to her training. She continued her seemingly endless task, blocking and chopping, momentarily severing the flow of chakra, sending the two bolts in opposite directions. Thousands of bolts now sprang around the room, miniscule sparks at this point, all homing in on her direction after every bounce. It was all she could do to block each bolt as it flew towards her, were she not altering their path the increasing speed would have overwhelmed her. She ducked, then spun, narrowly avoiding half a dozen bolts with precise movements, then stood straight and palmed straight out, blocking a bolt, then chopping it as it flew away, expecting to see two sparks, but instead, she saw a tiny puff of smoke as the sparks disappeared. She stood with relief a moment, then smiled in victory, continuing her task. "Gentle Fist Art! Eight Trigrams! Ultimate Defense!" Blue blades of chakra sprung from her hands, and she moved her hands in furious arcs, slicing through the bolts, the entire room filling with smoke as she destroyed the remnants of the guardian, it's energy dispersing throughout the room. She breathed heavily as she rested, the last of the bolts destroyed, the only sound the gentle humming of the two generators. She stepped over to Naruto and Ken, took a deep breath, and placed a hand glowing with green chakra over each of their chests.
---xxx---
"Ino, you're finally awake. Are you alright?" Chouji stood smiling over her as he helped her to her feet. Temari and Shikamaru stood nearby, Temari passive and emotionless while Shikamaru smiled at her recovery.
"Nnnh…What happened?"
"Deidara, the clay guy, he tried to kill his master out of revenge and nearly caught us all in the process." Shikamaru said as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Did we win?"
"Yeah, we did." Shikamaru smiled.
"Yeah, Shika-" Chouji began to speak.
"Chouji beat the guy by himself." Shikamaru said as he cut his friend off, and looked over to the Akimichi child with a wink. "His own body was a puppet, none of my techniques worked. Chouji really came through today, whatever he did for training with the Tsuchikage really worked." Chouji smiled and looked down at Ino, his cheeks getting a little rosy as he blushed from the compliment.
"Good job, Chouji." Ino smiled and kissed his cheek after standing on her toes.
"Two more members of Akatsuki are dead, do we know how many they started with?" Temari asked as she looked to Shikamaru.
"We discovered something that means much more than our victory today."
"What's that, Shikamaru?"
"Those two guys…think about it. All the members of Akatsuki are S-class criminals, missing-nin from their villages. You can't be an S-class ninja without a little pride, if not arrogance, and they obviously have problems with organization and structure. Those two guys fought constantly."
"So what you're saying is-" Temari started.
"We just exposed Akatsuki's weakness."
---xxx---
"Lady Tsunade!" Lee shouted as he, Sasuke, and Kankuro leapt to catch up with the traveling army.
"Lee? You're here, when did you get back?"
"Just today! We have something to report!"
Sasuke caught up to her and spoke softly. "The sixth Kazekage is also the seven tailed Jinchuriki."
"What?! He is? Well, I suppose he's certainly safe here."
"Are you sure?"
"Where could he possibly be safer? He's surrounded by a thousand shinobi, not to mention four other Kage-level ninja."
"Heading straight into enemy territory. We're delivering three Jinchuriki to Akatsuki if the others join up." Sasuke spoke with mild irritation, and Tsunade looked at him, an eyebrow raised.
---xxx---
"Pain, everything is going according to plan."
"Speak freely, Zetsu."
"The Cloud nin have assembled an army with their allies, the earth and wind nations, as well as a following from the Sound village and Orochimaru's Venom village."
"And?"
"And they are headed our way, bent on rescuing the eight-tails you and Konan captured, and on waging war on Amegakure."
"And I trust all the Kages are seeing to this battle personally?"
"Yes, Pain."
"Including the Sixth Kazekage?"
"Of course."
"And the Konaha children, the ones that escaped the disaster?"
"A nuisance, Pain, nothing more."
"They have killed the vast majority of our forces, Zetsu. Only five members of Akatsuki remain, you and I of course, Konan, Itachi and Kisame. Sasori and Deidara died fighting three of the Konaha children."
"I see. Two of them, tailed by Ken, are entering a catacomb within the mist village that houses the five-tailed Jinchuriki. Itachi and Kisame are following them."
"Go on."
"The three that defeated Sasori and Deidara would be in the Earth nation still, with their mission of safeguarding the four-tails having failed, they will likely return to their leader, Lady Tsunade."
"And Itachi's brother?"
"The youngest Uchiha has fallen in with the forces headed here, as have his two companions."
"And the nine-tailed brat, in the mist village, will he move with them?"
"I believe so, that would make the most sense, assuming he survives his encounter with Itachi and Kisame."
"Very well. Collect the rings of the fallen members and return to me. You are dismissed, Zetsu."
"Yes, Pain-sama."
---xxx---
"Thanks, Hinata." Naruto spoke softly as he rubbed the back of his head. "That medical jutsu Grandma Tsunade taught you really works." Hinata just nodded and smiled her shy smile, and Ken smiled his own wide grin of gratitude.
"Indeed, well done Hinata-san. Our mission would have been a failure without you." Hinata did not speak, simply stood and gathered the seals, opening the door at the end of the room. It opened slowly, and revealed a stone hallway, not well-worked like the others, rough-hewn and brown instead of a polished gray.
"You have succeeded in gaining entry to the lower levels…Your skill is to be commended, and your stupidity is to be punished. The trials you face beyond this will not be so easy as the few before. Welcome to the Earthshaker's chamber."
"Bah! Bring it on, I've got a job to do and I won't leave until I've rescued that Jinchuriki!"
"Let's take this one slow, Naruto."
"Yeah, sure…" Naruto sighed and walked down the hall. Ken and Hinata followed, Ken having to actually duck his head. They followed the winding passage until it opened into an enormous chamber, a hundred feet high and a thousand to the other end.
"Alright, what've you got in store for us now!?" Naruto shouted. "Bring it on, I don't have time to waste with your games!"
"If you so desire it, then it shall be." From the shadows at the far side of the room, a great rumbling could be heard as the chamber shook violently. An enormous stone automaton reared it's head and revealed itself. It walked towards the center of the room, its footsteps leaving craters and causing tremors across the room. It scraped its head across the ceiling but didn't much seem to care. It had two eyes that glowed black, and it growled, it's booming voice shaking the hall yet again.
"You have dared to wake the-"
"Let me guess, the Earthshaker?" Naruto said as he fell to all fours to keep his balance.
---xxx---
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