Dammit… He's attacking me with so many chains that I can't do anything but keep dodging. He's not giving me any openings to counter-attack or flee…
Sasuke was dominated by the pressure of Jashin the Second's assault using numerous electrified Adamantine Spinning Chains. However, Jashin could only attack with such overwhelming ferocity because his aim was solely directed at Sasuke; he left everyone else alone, and someone picked up on that.
"Take this!"
Butsuma's right fist smashed Jashin into the wall opposite the door in time with his roar, crushing the candles adorning the wall behind the latter. "Haven't forgotten about me, have you?"
"Butsuma… Thanks for getting him off my back." Sasuke said as he still kept his eyes focused on Jashin.
"There's no time for that! Take Karin and Suigetsu's body and leave! I'll handle Jashin! Quickly, before he recovers!"
"What are you going to do? A Jashinist can't be killed!"
"There are other ways to defeat someone than just killing them."
Butsuma ran to the wall on his right and punched a hole through it with his left hand. At the moment of contact, water burst into the room, slowly filling it up. "We're underwater right now."
"I see…" Sasuke's eyes widened as he ran to Karin's side. "If we shut the door to the room where we dispelled the barrier on our way out, then eventually the secret passage will fill with water. Jashin will drown and he'll be trapped here until his immortality runs out… and you're volunteering to hold him off until that happens."
"But then you'll die too, Butsuma!" Karin objected, her face full of tears.
"If that's what needs to happen, then so be it."
Sasuke knew immediately what Butsuma was feeling from his choice of words. He sighed and reluctantly poked Karin's back to get her attention. "Come on, Karin… Let's go. We weren't afraid to die in order to save him… now he's repaying the favour. We shouldn't waste Butsuma's will by lingering here."
"Dammit…" Karin cursed as she picked up Suigetsu's body, one arm under his legs and the other supporting his mid-back, and started to run up the stairs with Sasuke just behind her.
With Sasuke and Karin no longer within earshot, Butsuma turned his attention toward Jashin the Second, who was just about to recover.
Hashirama… Tobirama… I expected to live a long second life, but it turned out to last no more than a day… But at least now I'll see you again. My children, what would you think of me, dying to save an Uchiha of all people? Can it make up for all the suffering I caused you? … I don't think it can, but strangely… I'm okay with that. Sasuke Uchiha… I've only known him for two days, but Hashirama, Tobirama… your wills… they live on… in him. The fire in his heart… I won't allow it to be extinguished!
Those thoughts engulfed Butsuma's mind as he prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice.
[X-X-X]
Sasuke and Karin lost track of time during their escape, too distressed by Suigetsu's apparent death and Butsuma's sacrifice to care. They managed to reach the room they found the secret passage in - the room where Sasuke and Karin first became teammates – and shut the door on their way out and firmly locked it, trapping Jashin the Second on the other side. Sasuke and Karin sat down along the opposite wall to take a breather now that the danger was seemingly averted.
"Butsuma's plan… it worked. Now Jashin the Second will never hurt anyone again…" Sasuke sighed in relief.
"Thank fucking go-"
Karin suddenly cut her curse short with a gasp. "Oh no…"
"What's wrong?"
"Butsuma's chakra… is gone! … And Jashin is approaching us! Fast! What do we do?!"
Sasuke got up, and Karin followed suit with Suigetsu's body in her arms on instinct.
"We keep running. I have a plan to stop Jashin for good!" Sasuke said as he started sprinting once more, Karin just behind him. "But we need to be outside for it to work!"
Sasuke and Karin kept running until they reached the set of stairs leading to the exit of the hideout. Right then, Sasuke and Karin heard the sound of metal being ripped apart, and looked back to find Jashin the Second in the same hallway as them with water up to his ankles, having apparently pulled the door out of the wall using his Adamantine Sealing Chains. Sasuke took one step down so he could look Jashin eye-to-eye, and before Jashin could rush him, black flames erupted all over Jashin the Second's body, making him keel over in pain.
"These pathetic flames will not stop me!" Jashin the Second screamed.
"But they are slowing you down." Sasuke remarked, his left eye bleeding from using Amaterasu. "And that's all I need them to do. Karin, time to escape!"
"Yeah!" Karin yelled as she exited the hideout with Sasuke right behind her.
They left the hideout to find Sai's ink bird was still there at the shoreline. Karin dashed to it as fast as she could without looking back, but Sasuke turned around to face the hideout only a few steps away, and subsequently formed the Susano'o ribcage without a word. Then he broke it down and reformed the chakra into a makeshift left arm, the same kind he used Samsara of Heavenly Life with. Sasuke was afraid that he might not have had enough time to form the arm, but those fears were alleviated, replaced with a trembling of excitement when he completed it just in time for Jashin the Second to step outside. Before Jashin could react, Sasuke clapped his hands together, and the next moment Jashin the Second was forced into the air against his will:
"Deva Path: Planetary Devastation!"
Sasuke's words echoed across the water and into the sky, alerting the airborne team to his technique.
"Planetary Devastation? Isn't that the jutsu Pain used to try to capture Naruto when the Nine-Tails ran wild?!" Kiba asked.
"I believe so…" Shino said, trying his best to mask his fear. "The surrounding area is going to become a miniature moon in no time…"
"If so, then we need to fly away right now before we get caught in it." Sai concluded as he commanded his ink bird to put some distance between themselves and the island below, but still flying close enough to watch the events unfold; he had to know when to make the other ink bird take off.
After warning Sai's team to escape, Sasuke sent Jashin the Second even further into the air, the entire Southern Hideout and the surrounding water going with him. The underwater prison shattered into pieces from the gravity emitted by Sasuke's technique, coalesced around Jashin alongside the water, and formed what appeared to be a small replica of the planet with Jashin as its core. When the technique was complete, Jashin's body was unable to move and Sasuke's Susano'o arm dissipated.
"Phew… My control's getting better, it seems…" Sasuke panted, somewhat tired from having to sustain enough chakra to pull a satellite together, taking several minutes. He thought that perhaps his complete Susano'o could last longer now compared to when he used it against Shin's clones, but now was not the time to test his theory.
"All that's left… is to send you into spa-"
Sasuke was suddenly stunned into silence, and his jaw dropped at the sight before him:
Planetary Devastation was crumbling.
Sasuke's first instinct was to assume his control wasn't as good as he thought it was and he made a mistake with the jutsu. But on closer inspection, he saw at the places where the technique was beginning to crumble the ends of chains… and soon enough the number of chains doubled, the new ones spinning and enhanced with lightning. Within moments, Planetary Devastation burst open, and Jashin the Second was completely free. The debris from Planetary Devastation fell into the water around the island while the water rained down onto where the hideout's entrance used to be: right on top of Sasuke, and just missing Karin. The former prison now had a stronger resemblance to a shipwreck.
"No way… Planetary Devastation… was a total failure…"
Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes, unable to comprehend how Jashin the Second was able to defeat the technique from the inside after having been caught, when even the Tailed Beasts could not escape his use of it during the war, needing Naruto to defeat him before it could be undone. It was thanks to Jashin's presumably impossible feat - and the rain hampering Sasuke's vision - that Sasuke failed to notice what was going to happen next.
"AAARRGGHH!"
Sasuke let out a blood-curdling scream when he felt chains drilling straight through his knees. Moments later, however, he was unable to feel anything from the waist down, his entire lower body numb to the pain, probably a result of Jashin the Second's Lightning Style paralyzing him. Sasuke collapsed to the ground unable to move, almost completely at Jashin the Second's mercy, their positions utterly reversed compared to mere seconds earlier.
Sasuke saw the chains leave his body with bits of bone and blood and retract inside Jashin, who was now back on the ground safely, though one chain remained extended to some degree, curved to reach his own mouth. It was then that he saw the cross at Jashin's back once more, but this time its orientation was diagonal, more like an X than a plus sign. Then Sasuke saw the cross rotate back to its original position and Jashin the Second licked the blood off the chain next to his mouth, grinning with ecstasy as the chain retracted into the body. Consequently, the very instant Jashin the Second closed his mouth, all the skin on Jashin's body turned pitch black except for some white markings that resembled a skeleton.
"I must say, young Uchiha blood tastes soooo good in this body!" Jashin remarked with twisted, almost orgasmic glee.
That settles it then… that body really did belong to Karin's father once upon a time; their senses of taste are practically identical… Sasuke thought with disgust. "What happened to your skin? …" he managed to ask.
Jashin the Second looked at his hands with joy rather than focusing on Sasuke. "It's the Curse Transformation. I ingest foreign blood, causing the Curse Energy inside me to act up and turn me into this form. It's a requirement for Jashin's Ceremonial Killing; the ritual needed to be performed once a year to retain one's immortality…"
"Once a year… but you've been isolated for nineteen…"
"Of course, I haven't needed to perform the ritual since acquiring this body, unmarred by the Curse… I would have died of malnutrition already if I did. The Jashin Immortality Ritual is supposed to Curse one's entire being, body and mind… but if a Cursed mind finds its way into a non-Cursed body…"
"The negative side-effects of the Curse on the body won't occur…" Sasuke's eyes widened with terror. So his immortality will never end… he despaired.
"I don't need to kill like this anymore, but between the nineteen years in the prison you just helped me escape from… and the century I've spent in the Shinigami…"
Jashin the Second quickly shot a spinning chain from his left hand through his own right bare foot, causing it to spill copious amounts of his own blood on the ground, and proceeded to use his right foot to draw a circumscribed triangle with his own blood before finishing his sentence:
"… I've missed the incredible sensation that comes from offering my prayers! Here's an example!"
At that moment, Jashin shot another spinning chain, this time from his right hand into his left elbow. Simultaneously, Jashin screamed in elation and Sasuke screamed in agony, the voices creating a terrible melody.
"Do you understand the power of Lord Jashin now?! Even if you're missing a limb, you can still feel the pain of it being punctured, thanks to the jutsu I just performed: Curse Jutsu: Death Possession Blood! While I'm standing inside a Mark of Jashin made with my own blood and I'm in my Curse Transformation, any injury I'm inflicted with will also be dealt to the one whose blood I ingested to transform!… You! All I must do to complete Jashin's Ceremonial Killing now is to stab myself in the heart, and thus stab you in the heart!"
Jashin the Second finished his explanation while interlocking his fingers and holding his hands as far away from his body as he could with a puffed up chest. Sasuke figured he was going to shoot a chain from the inside of his hands into his own heart, mortally wounding himself… and thus Sasuke.
"Before I die, please grant me one last request…" Sasuke begged.
Jashin the Second raised an eyebrow at the young Uchiha's surrender, but quickly relaxed himself. "Very well… My god is a generous one, so long as destruction arrives eventually. Only one killing is typically needed per year, after all… Speak now, or forever hold your peace."
"It's just… how did you manage to take over Kagemaru's body? I thought dead people released from the Shinigami had their souls sent to the Pure World… That's what happened when I saw it… How is your existence any different?"
Jashin's expression turned grim, frowning and furrowing his eyebrows. "On second thought… dead men won't need to know anything at all where they're going. So you can just go ahead and die, Uchiha!"
Jashin tried to stab himself with a spinning chain from his hands, but the chain was stopped just before it could pierce his skin… seemingly stopped by, from what Sasuke could make out, another chain wrapped around it.
"Never again…" a woman said loudly from behind Sasuke. He looked back to see Karin walking closer to them with an Adamantine Sealing Chain coming out of her right hand, her hair flared up in several directions, glowing bright red. Jashin responded by attempting to stab himself with a chain coming up from his right foot. Karin caught that one as well, with a chain coming from her left breast:
"You stole my father's body…" Karin stated during the catch, still walking forward. Jashin tried to stab himself again, with a chain from his left foot. Again Karin caught it, this time with a chain from her right breast:
"Destroyed my country in his skin…" Karin punctuated her catch. Jashin attempted another stab, a curved chain from his back. Karin raised her left hand and used a chain from there to avert the mutilation again:
"Scared my mother away from her rightful home…"
Karin and Jashin again exchanged similar blows, her thwarting his attempts to kill Sasuke with Jashin's Ceremonial Killing one by one. The next of these sorts was from the shoulders closer to Sasuke, then the shoulders away from Sasuke, and lastly Karin's abdomen intercepting Jashin's forehead when Karin was right next to Jashin.
"Killed Suigetsu… Drove Butsuma to kill himself… Involved Sasuke in your demonic ritual!"
Karin shouted along with her catches, getting louder with each one. At last, she released her complete hold on Jashin, all chains from both sides snapping quickly back inside their bodies as Karin pushed Jashin the Second out of the circle and on to the ground. Sasuke felt the strength of Karin's palms on his chest and they knocked him down as well. Sasuke struggled to sit up, finding Karin kicking the sand on the ground beneath her every which way, ruining the Mark of Jashin and making it unusable.
"Who … Who are you?!" Jashin the Second screamed, his Ceremonial Killing thwarted for good; the circle was destroyed and his Curse Transformation had worn off.
Karin crossed her arms and spat at Jashin in disgust. "I told you already… I'm the daughter of Kagemaru Uzumaki, and of Kagura Uzumaki the Second… I'm the last pure-blooded Uzumaki alive, and a member of the Kagura Dynasty… I'm the greatest Sensor Ninja in the world, and a damn good medic too… I'm the Cleric of Team Taka, and Sasuke Uchiha's sister, sidekick, and second-in-command… My name is Karin Uzumaki the Second, and you'd best remember it for the rest of your eternal life!"
"Those titles… are meaningless!" Jashin the Second replied in panic, trying one more time to kill Sasuke from where he was crawling on the ground, using a chain from his left hand aimed for Sasuke's forehead.
Karin stopped it again, this time stomping on it with her right foot. "I repeat: never again…"
Miraculously to Sasuke, Karin didn't collapse from being in contact with Jashin's Adamantine Sealing Chains the way Suigetsu did. He thought that perhaps Kagemaru's mind was fighting Jashin from the inside, trying to protect his daughter, but he didn't give it much thought when the bulk of his attention was squarely on Karin herself, displaying power that he'd never seen before, especially coming from her.
Sasuke was consumed by awe watching Karin near-effortlessly dominate an opponent he himself lost to so utterly. The feeling was similar to when he saw Sakura activate her Hundred Strengths Seal for the first time and demolished a large number of Ten-Tails Clones, but unlike that moment, he wasn't lusting for this power. Nor did he envy this power like when Naruto defeated Gaara in front of him. What Sasuke felt, it took a second for him to realize, was pride; he was proud of Karin, proud that she was finally able to use the chains she failed to show him when they reunited on the beginning of this journey.
It came as no surprise to him, then, that he found himself smiling.
"Never again will you hurt anyone important to me!" Karin ran up to Jashin the Second and kicked him all the way across the island, his body falling into the water on the opposite side. When Sasuke heard the 'splash', Karin turned around and approached him, her hair falling back down into place and the glow vanishing.
"Karin… argh!" Sasuke yelled as he tried to get up, the feeling in his legs returning. But he was unable to do so; his knee wounds were too great. Karin caught Sasuke as he fell from his attempt to stand.
Karin's attention was drawn to Sasuke's leg injuries. "Damn… Jashin took away some pieces of bone. I don't think my healing can mend an injury like that. The bone fragments will still be missing at the end of it… Let's get out of here and go to the Hidden Leaf with Sai's team. Granny Hokage, Sakura, and Kabuto are all better medics than me. They can treat you more completely… and maybe tell us how Suigetsu died… I can pick you up just like I did him…"
"Never mind me. What about you? You used your chains… You trounced Jashin… That was incredible. How did you do it?"
"I don't know!" Karin confessed, Sasuke's eyes widening in surprise. "I placed Suigetsu's body on the ink bird and all of a sudden, I heard you scream. Then my body just… moved on its own… idiot…"
Suddenly, Karin passed out from what Sasuke assumed was chakra exhaustion, falling face-up into his lap. Despite the chaotic situation he found himself in, watching Karin sleep relaxed part of Sasuke's mind. She went through hell to achieve it, but Karin was able to use her Adamantine Sealing Chains again. The satisfaction of accomplishing a goal shone on Karin's face, and that satisfaction made Sasuke feel at peace as well, at least for the moment.
The peaceful moment, however, came to an abrupt end when Sasuke heard footsteps coming his way from the other side of the island, dread overcoming Sasuke's former content.
"YES, THAT'S IT!" Jashin the Second roared with frightening zeal. "So much POWER behind those chains! In a package of unrivaled BEAUTY! And a member of the KAGURA DYNASTY as well! I knew it… I knew that girl was PERFECT the moment I saw her… perfect to become MY NEXT VESSEL!"
Next vessel? … Jashin's planning to… steal Karin's body?! No… I won't allow it! Sasuke thought as he tried his hardest to form Susano'o around himself and Karin, hoping to fly them next to Sai's ink bird.
But Susano'o petered out as soon as it formed.
Shit! With my legs mangled like this I can't sustain chakra for very long at all… The only jutsu I can use right now are ones with immediate payoff… Is there nothing I can do?! Karin's down, Suigetsu and Butsuma are dead, I can't stand up and my chakra control isn't good enough for Susano'o or anything needing two arms… Fuck!
Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted by a squirming sensation at his upper back. Sasuke reached through his collar to just below his neck and pulled out the white slug he nearly forgot he had amidst the chaos. He looked at it for a brief second, then asserted himself and nodded. He placed the Katsuyu fragment on top of his head and focused his remaining chakra to combine with it.
"It's time, Katsuyu…" Sasuke whispered as he wiped the blood that came from his left eye when he used Amaterasu off his face with his thumb, and slammed his hand into the ground to his right, conjuring a human-sized puff of smoke. The first things Sasuke noticed emerging from it were two attributes he knew all too well:
Pink hair and a huge forehead.