Naruto: Making of a Hokage
The Gathering Arc
Ch.36 Akatsuki Leader Pain
A grunt came from Naruto's lips as he pushed himself off the ground.
Almost every structure in his vicinity was now reduced to rubble. He could see ninja buried underneath the debris, some unconscious, while others were struggling to get up. Some did manage to fully get up but others weren't so lucky as their legs were very obviously broken. If things were this bad here, then he didn't want to think about the state of the whole village.
"N-Naruto?" Ino mumbled as she regained consciousness.
Even though he tried to take the blunt of the attack by covering her with his body, the powerful shock wave from the attack had pushed them to the ground where Ino had hit her head pretty badly. Thankfully, after checking it thoroughly, what little he knew about medicine paid off as he realized that the hit wasn't as bad as it had seemed.
"Ino, I want you to stay here and help those that are hurt."
She frowned, "What about you?"
"I'm going to find the person responsible for this," he said, yellow eyes looking focused on something far away.
"Fine, I'll help but when Master Tsunade or Sakura get here, I'm going to go help you."
He smiled at that, "There's just no winning against you... Okay, but be careful, someone else might show up to attack."
Ino nodded and watched him leave. Other times she had watched him go didn't compare to how she felt now. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but she was on the verge of panic. Naruto was about to go fight someone that had leveled the village with a single attack all by himself. When they got through this she would make sure to drill it into his mind that he shouldn't do things by himself.
"Come back safe, Naruto," she muttered to herself, hand to her chest, before she went over to a wounded ninja.
Kakashi emerged from the rubble with a grunt of pain. The area around him had been left a total mess, all of the ninja that had been with him had been scattered across the village after taking the blunt of the attack.
"Kakashi."
At the mention of his name, the copy ninja turned to see Asuma walking towards him with a slight limp on his step.
"Can you stand?"
"On one leg," Kakashi answered honestly when looking down at his broken right leg. "Don't worry about me. You should go protect the ones that need it."
"And you don't need it?"
"Even with one leg, I'm still able to take care of myself," he responded with a bit of humor as he slowly got into a standing position.
"At least take this." Asuma handed him a broken piece of wood.
"Thanks."
"I'll go find the Hokage."
Kakashi nodded and watched as Asuma left.
With a bad leg he would only burden whoever was with him. But that didn't matter at the moment. For now he had to make sure to get everyone help.
With that in mind, he sat on the ground and pressed his hands on the ground, "Summoning Jutsu."
Tsunade's hands glowed in a green hue as she mended the broken bones and wounds of a ninja that had been crushed by a big structure. She could take solace in the fact that the two prior to this patient had been much worse, and were now safely recuperating on the side.
At the same time her student, Sakura, worked diligently to heal any ninja whose wounds were not bad enough to render them out of battle after being healed. Ranging from things like cuts that needed to be closed, to being impales by debris, Sakura did a fine job in getting them back to speed.
"Lady Hokage!"
Asuma approached the village leader, glad to see that she was okay.
"What happened in your end Asuma?"
"A lot of injured ninja just like here. Kakashi's got a broken leg."
Tsunade frowned, "How bad is it?"
"It didn't pierce skin if that's what you're asking. I was hoping one of you could heal him so that he can help if need be."
In times like this it would be much better to heal those that could fight, but if she left the people waiting for her to heal them, then they would most likely be at high risk of death.
"I'll go."
The relief showed on Tsunade's face as soon as she saw Ino arrive.
"Take her to him, Kakashi. Ino's more than capable of fixing his broken leg."
Asuma smiled despite the situation, glad that one of his students had gotten good enough to warrant praise of the Hokage herself.
"Let's go Ino."
"Yes, Asuma-sensei."
Sasuke was on the defensive the instant that Orochimaru attacked. With the sharingan he was able to dodge each of the blindingly fast strikes that none of the others present could follow, not that they were watching the fight from the sidelines as Kabuto was taking on the two Soudn ninja that had been with Orochimaru.
A muscular bald man punched at Kabuto, but he used a chakra scalpel to stop the first, earning a cry of pain, before he swiftly flicked his wrist and cut and severed the man's hand. However he had no time to rest as the other man was upon him in an instant, throwing a series of punches and kicks that he could barely block.
Long black hair, thin figure, and a mustache that reaches past his chin; this man was a master taijutsu user that put any others to shame. It was no wonder that the medic could barely defend himself, within moments the man would break through his defenses and dish out a beating. But before he could do that, Kabuto chewed on the inside of his mouth and took off a fake molar with a hole on its center. Without wasting any time he blew on it, and a tiny dart shot out and dug into the man's chest.
Kabuto smirked as he received a powerful kick to his torso that sent him flying several feet back. Once on the ground, he got up slowly and adjusted his glasses with a chuckle.
"What's so funny?"
"Look at your chest."
Confused, the man followed the command and noticed a tiny dart on his chest. He quickly took it off and pulled up his brown shirt. To his horror, dark purple lines ran all over his chest and were spreading through his body quickly.
"What is this!?"
"A very deadly poison I created," Kabuto explain. "As it spreads you will lose use of your legs."
When he said that, the man toppled over.
"Next you will lose the ability to speak." The medic smirked when he heard muffled screams. "And finally your heart will stop."
Kabuto laughed to himself and took a step back just in time to avoid a mindless charge by the bald man from earlier.
"It seems my methods were effective." He noted when noticing that the man's hand had regrown. "Impressive. If must have been painful, I imagine."
"You're going to die!"
Pushing up his glasses in response, Kabuto created two chakra scalpels.
At the same time, Sasuke blocked a punch aimed at his chest before retaliating with a kick. Orochimaru easily blocked by raising one of his legs to stop the attack, and then shot out his tongue to wrap around Sasuke's neck.
Surprise, and also disgusted, by the attack, Sasuke quickly took out a blade and cut the tongue off, soliciting a grunt of pain accompanied by a spurt of blood.
With the momentary advantage, Sasuke quickly ran through hand signs.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
Orochimaru retracted his tongue and, with a flexibility that no human could have, somehow slithered his body out of the way just in time to avoid the attack. Next he expanded his neck to get in close enough to the Uchiha in order to bite him with a couple of large fangs that hadn't been there before.
Sasuke raised his blade and blocked the snake summoner's fangs once they were dangerously close.
Not deterred by having a blade intertwined with his teeth, Orochimaru pushed against the force, making the Uchiha skid across the room.
Sasuke's back his a wall and when things were starting to look bad, he infused lightning into his blade, making Orochimaru grunt in pain as he retracted his head from the blade. Smoke came out of his teeth as his head went back to its normal state.
"Not bad Sasuke. Not bad at all."
"I'm just getting started. That wasn't even half of what I can do."
"It seems you're in quite the predicament Lord Orochimaru," Kabuto said mockingly as the body of the large bald man fell lifelessly on the floor. "Even together, you're pets were no match for me."
Orochimaru chuckled.
"Indeed. It seems I bit off more than I can chew, no pun intended," he said, amusement noticeable when he looked at Sasuke. "But the two of you can't ruin my good mood"
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean by that?"
"Simple," he chuckled. "All the plans Kabuto heard, the ones you heard as well. Were fake."
Kabuto narrowed his eyes slightly, "You've been feeding us false information."
"Precisely. For example, did you know that the attack on Konoha has started already. While we are here fighting, a force of hundreds of ninja is already moving towards the village." Orochimaru smiled in a crazed manner as his hair began to turn white. "There is also another thing I never told you Kabuto."
Sasuke and the medic took a step back as dozens of pointed bones began to emerge from Orochimaru's body.
"That's..." Kabuto cursed, recognizing the ability as the one Kimimaro had. Orochimaru had said that it was impossible to transfer himself into the younger body but now he knew that he had lied.
"I don't need either of you alive anymore," Orochimaru laughed, "Now that I have a younger body there is nothing to keep me from killing you both and ripping out the sharingan when I'm done."
Sasuke frowned deeply as lightning danced around his fingertips, "Bring it old man."
The light rain began to come down hard on the ruins of Konoha as Naruto landed on the middle of a crater that was at least a mile wide. Everything on it had been obliterated, surrounding it were the ruins of the village, which created a perfect circle.
Floating down at a mild pace, was the apparent culprit, a member of the Akatsuki with orange hair.
"You are the Nine-Tails."
Naruto's yellow eyes narrowed, "Who are you?"
"I am Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki."
'The leader?' Naruto thought in alarm.
"You are using that strange transformation as well." Pain said, pointing out the orange pigmentation around Naruto's eyes. "Though it is different from what Jiraiya-sensei used. Tell me, is your transformation incomplete, or in control?"
Naruto chuckled dryly, "Jiraiya-sensei? Different than the one he used? Is that supposed to be a subtle way of telling me that you fought Jiraiya-sensei, and that you knew him from before?"
"Subtle? Why would I need to be subtle with you when you are about to perish? Jinchuuriki usually die when their beast is extracted, no?"
Fists clenching, brow furrowing, mouth in a thin line.
Naruto spoke.
"The only one dying today is you!"
Three ninja with Sound headbands stood on top of a large tree that gave them a view of the Hidden Leaf Village. They had watched as the village crumbled under a massive attack, giving them an amazing opportunity to carry out their destruction of the village. What they had to do now was simple."
The three ninja dropped from the tree to see a large group of ninja waiting for orders on a large clearing. With many more groups waiting for orders as well, a single command sent them into action.
"Kill any survivors!"
By the giant tremor and brief moment of silence, the mysterious Akatsuki member knew that Pain had used Almighty Push to destroy the village. Most of the ninja there had been put out of commission but it was very likely that Root was still standing.
Located in a concealed tunnel protected by genjutsu and explosive seals, was a large dark corridor barely lit by torches that led to a large metal door. Two masked ninja were standing guard before it and tensed up when seeing the Akatsuki robes.
No words passed between them, no warning, as they rushed forward to attack.
A pair of blades emerged from the Akatsuki robe's sleeves and their wielders flickered out of view and reappeared behind the Root ninja. They stood there, frozen, before blood gushed out of their torsos and they fell to the ground, dead.
Putting away the weapons for now, the Akatsuki member placed a hand on the door and it was blown off its hinges, revealing a medium-sized room with a lift that only lead down.
True to its name, the Root headquarters were located underground just as their spies had said. Just like Danzo to cower from a safe place while the village he protected was brought to its knees.
Moving to stand on the lift, the Akatsuki member produced one of the blades and used it to cut the chains on the lift, instantly sending them both crashing down. The rush of wind ruffled the mysterious member's robes as the lift descended down a dark tunnel before it suddenly became lit and a very large open-space was revealed. It was a natural cave located well below Konoha, that rivaled the size of the village. However, most of it was unused, and the Root ninja were focused into a single tall building that stood at the center of the cave.
Several Root ninja were alarmed by the falling lift and the Akatsuki member knew that it was time to attack.
Jumping off the lift and thrusting both hands forward, a harsh wind blew the lift off its set path and sent it flying towards a group of Root ninja. Some managed to avoid it but others were crushed under the large metal lift. While the other ninja scrambled to counterattack, the Akatsuki member swiped both hands forward and created a rain of hundreds of kunai.
Now most Root ninja outside of the building were either dead or badly hurt, while the ones that remained fit for battle unleashed a barrage of long-range jutsu. Though most were the typical fire, water, or earth jutsu, others were more recognizable, such as the Aburame insect jutsu.
However, the Akatsuki member was well-prepared, and counter the attacks by blowing a massive cloud of flames at the attacks, consuming them, before they came down on the ninja. As some were consumed by the fire, the ones that managed to avoid the attack, were cut by another wave of kunai that rained down on them.
The Akatsuki member landed on the rocky ground and calmly walked into the large building.
Surprisingly, there were no waves of Root ninja waiting inside, instead there was a mostly empty large room with Danzo sitting behind a large desk.
"I never imagined that the Akatsuki would know about this base," Danzo said as he got up and walked around the desk. "You are after the jinchuuriki, correct? Tell me, why have you come here."
"Revenge."
The Akatsuki member took off the straw hat to glare at the old man, whose visible eye widened in surprise.
"I see. So you're still alive."
Ch.36 End