And thus we enter the territory of "I have no idea wtf I am doing", from this point onward I know/remember maybe… meeehhhhhh… 40% of what happens in the manga/non-filler anime and less than 10% of filler. I only enjoyed this arc in full once from the manga when it was published and never the anime. I focused mostly on day two back then (which is the Kabuto fight and Madara appearing) so if I'm missing details… yeah that's why. My beta and I were staring at wikipedia for hours to figure things out. Anyway, this covers day one of the war plus a couple events before it.
Thank you guys so much for the fave, follows and reviews. Please bare with me in this arc, I'll try my hardest to make it enjoyable to read!
VenaHope: It's honestly a decent movie, I suggest giving it a shot whenever you have freetime.
MidnaMoo: Road to Sakura is in the anime and it was… an interesting episode to say the least. Shisui doesn't have much of a role in the story because he's a baby and won't really interact with the world until I do my pre-epilogue timeskip.
Haru Hime-sama: I love that you are enjoying my version of SasuSaku, I wanted to make their relationship more organic and actually show them enjoying each other's company… never understood their sudden marriage. Also don't worry about the long reviews, I love seeing what my readers have to say. :D
Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf: You think he's scary? I read this out loud to my beta and we were both shivering as I voiced Itachi. Reading him is one thing, but try saying the stuff he says OUT LOUD. I'll provide more details on the Kaguya fight later but… let's just say… Kaguya gets very little screen time.
RedWolf Lover: I barely remember Bleach besides the Espadas so I don't think that would be a good idea, but thanks for the idea anyway!
Pr1nc3ss K3nny: I knoooowwwww, poor Dei needs some proper husband snuggles after that traumatizing adventure. Some of these characters I actually struggled to alter… hence Kimi acting like he's PMSing all the time and Sasuke finds Menma's butt to be something to enjoy.
Daku-DarkNess316: I actually cover those questions in the narration, no one believed them and thought they were crazy and all it really took was the Hokage monument for them to realize they were in the wrong world. Though I wouldn't say that world's Dei was powerful but more… I'd say balanced, they had less things to worry about and instead focused more on Sakura and the Akatsuki. I don't have any intention of fleshing out that other SI because the amount of detail I would need would require another fanfiction to be written, and I just do not have the muse for it. Sorry if the news disappointed you, I don't want to write something I don't have a passion for. But I am really happy that you are enjoying my story. I can't really recommend stories without knowing someone, but you can check out what I have in my favorites even though it's a pretty small list (I'm picky on what goes in my favorites). To be honest, I'm almost out of fanfictions to read, I'll need to search for some new ones soon. ^^"
EgyLynx: Glad you liked it!
"Blah"- English
Warning: Violence, language, bad timing, sad reunion, Deidara is as lost and confused as Author-san.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I'm gonna hide while this arc is being played out.
The Fourth Great Shinobi War was only days away...
So much happened during the week after my return from the other world, the Five Great Nations created a single army, and Anko went missing. No doubt she was taken by Kabuto to power the edo tensei and to also be used as bait to lure me in, frankly it would work even without her because Itachi and I need to break his jutsu. I also haven't heard from Konan, but as long as I knew she was alive I would let her remain in Amegakure without much of a fuss.
I lightly scratch my exposed neck over the curse mark. To match the rest of the Konoha shinobi I wore their standard jounin jacket and Konoha uniform, but no headband, I refuse to wear the headband with that silly kanji on it. Attached to my waist were my usual clay pouches… with seals to hold an ungodly amount of clay, because there was no way in hell I'd be able to get more later.
I'm suppose to appear serious as Gaara was giving his motivational speech to the shinobi below us, but I couldn't help but allow my pessimistic mind take over me. Most of these shinobi would be dead, maybe less than in the show because I have Madara, but overall… they will die.
While the army was cheering, Gaara turned his attention to me, "Do you want to say anything to them, Deidara-san?" I move my head to look at the crowd, suddenly my legs felt like jelly.
I couldn't stop the shaking in my voice, I felt my face heat up, "N-no it's fine, I-I… uh… talking in front of… um… uh… people… uh…." My heart began to race at the idea of speaking in front of a large crowd, "I'm not the most motivational of speakers, un…" Just don't look at Gaara's shiny green eye- damnit, I looked, "Uhhh… I need to prepare some explosives, bye!" Leaving a cloud of dust in my wake, I bolted off that stage and far away from the area.
"Wow kid, for someone who always talks strongly to others who'd knew it took a group to give you stage fright." I look up to see Kisame standing in front of me with an amused grin, "I thought you had no problem talking around people, what's up?"
I gulped nervously, "Heheh… talking in front of a large group reminds me of presentations back when I was in school. It's always nerve wracking as all of those eyes stare at you expectantly and then silently judge every word and action you make, un." Not to mention that I could easily talk to one person and have dozens staring at me, but talking directly to THOUSANDS is enough to make me nope out of there.
Kisame opened his mouth to say something, only to pause as he watched my entire spine straighten out, "Something the matter?"
"Konan just destroyed her flower. Tell Itachi I'll be back tonight, un." Without giving any more details I created a bird and flew off at high speeds for Amegakure.
The closer I got to Ame the louder the explosions rang in my ears until they suddenly stopped. She used her trump card on him already, Obito was about to use Izanagi, Konan was about to be killed. Fuck stealth, the moment I saw Obito appear behind Konan, I lost my cool.
"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE TOUCH HER!" Throwing mass amounts of bombs at the Uchiha, not only forced him to get away from the woman but also alerted her that he was alive. I instantly jumped to her side, pushing her behind me as she was almost out of chakra and allowed a primal growl to emanate from my throat, "Oh hell no… If you really think I'm going to let you kill Konan... You've got another thing coming, you pathetic BASTARD!"
Obito was of course, worse for wear. Half of his mask was destroyed and he was missing his arm, there was enough hatred in his eye to let me know that he was sick of my meddling, "Seems like I'll have to kill you and then interrogate Konan for Nagato…"
I snort, "Tough luck school boy, I hid his body personally, un." Grabbing a smoke bomb from my pouch, I fling it at the Uchiha, blocking his vision while I picked up Konan and put her on the clay bird, "Come on, let's have Sakura tend to your wounds."
Slowly gasping for air, Konan locked eyes with me, "He's… going to get Nagato's eyes anyway… isn't he?" Her face twisted into grief when I nodded, "We should have never allowed him to take over the Akatsuki… we were such fools…"
I pat her shoulder, "You cannot change the past, Konan. Focus on the future instead, we'll need your help in the war… Nagato was reanimated by Kabuto." I watch her tense up under my hand, "You know his abilities better than anyone, once he is located… I need you to help manage a team to seal him away, un."
Unlike the previous timeline, with Naruto's help each team has at least three types of seals they can use on the edo tensei army. Thankfully, we are not going in as blind as expected because I managed to make up a list of those who should be reanimated by using old shinobi registries and my own memory. As long as teams fight the correct type of opponent, deaths should be kept to a minimum… hopefully.
But something in my gut was telling me things would not go as smoothly as I'm hoping it to be…
The next day
Obito did manage to get Nagato's eyes thanks to Black Zetsu finding the bodies and everyone was away from the village, but even with that in mind I was too focused on the battlefield in front of me.
Itachi and I were managing a squad that consisted of mostly fodder shinobi, Neji and Kimimaro with a few others sprinkled in the area. I think Team 10 was in this fight? We were by the water, white zetsu were everywhere with my main focus on constantly destroy edo tensei bodies to buy time for the sealing team to capture them. I think I've said "sorry" more times in the last 3 hours than I have in both lifetimes combined. Itachi gave up on apologizing to the dead, but can you blame me when I've had to blow up Hizashi and Dan for the 20th time? They're the nice ones too! Everytime they came back, Dan would give me a friendly wave and Hizashi would just ignore me and continue fighting.
Hizashi, who was fighting other shinobi, looked to his son who was fighting side-by-side with Kimimaro, "He's grown up…" There was pride in his tone, a grateful smile spread across his lips when he saw Neji's bare forehead, "He was freed from the Hyuuga cur-" His joy was sadly cut short when I had to blow-up his body before he could fatally wound someone.
I wave frantically on the edge of my bird, "Sorry!" I winced as Neji gave me a look that could make a kicked puppy seem cheerful. I can understand why Kabuto let's these guys talk, it's emotionally draining to watch your loved ones get destroyed then come back.
Kimimaro decapitated a White Zetsu, "Nii-sama, please stop apologizing to them. I think you're making them feel more guilty than you are!" Well, he has a point, the moment Hizashi reformed he had the matching kicked puppy look like his son, "Before Nii-sama blows you up again, I'm Kaguya Kimimaro, Neji's boyfriend. It's an honor to meet you Hizashi-sama, I could only wish we had met under different circumstances."
Hizashi nodded, unwillingly getting into a gentle fist style and looking directly at my brother, "Likewise, please do not hold back and fight with all your might. I would rather not be the one to kill the one my son loves."
A rarely cocky smirk appeared on Kimimaro's face, "No need to say that twice."
I chose to allow my brother and Neji to fight Hizashi on their own, it'll allow them to catch up with him… how convenient that Hyuga fights could last hours if the chakra demanded it. Though the casual conversation the three were in were rather unnerving when Kimimaro has to keep dodging potentially fatal attacks.
I honestly lost count of what was really going on around me, for safety measures I had to keep myself on my bird, far away from Zetsu and the reanimated. I had no idea where Naruto was, where Sasuke was, the last time I spoke to anyone outside of my squad was the night before, I haven't seen my babies in three days since they were with Mei and I can't fucking find any of the former Akatsuki members!
"Water style: Water dragon jutsu!"
Oh yeah! Kisame's nearby helping the fight against those Kaku-Kyuubi-chakra twins. I swear, when I wasn't dropping explosions, I was documenting the fights with my scope. Got to admit, I think they are turning out well.
"Uchiha-san!" Out of instinct, Itachi and I both turned our attention to a random fodder shinobi appearing on the cliffside, "You two are needed in the Land of Hot Water, as soon as possible!"
Itachi, naturally suspicious of the shinobi, doesn't break eye contact until I confirm that it wasn't a Zetsu, "What is it?"
"There are Uchiha on the enemy side! No one knows how to fight them and they are taking out shinobi left and right!" Our hearts froze at this news, our worst fear came true. We had suspicions once Kabuto revealed his attempts to reanimating Shisui… but nevermind him being bold enough to dig through Uchiha graves.
"That bastard… we'll get there within minutes…" Screwing the idea of saying jutsus out loud, I summon Izuna, "Izuna, help out over here, use every technique in the book, un." All I recieved from the Uchiha was a nod as I sent him off into the battlefield. Getting Itachi on my bird, I create literal dozens of clay bats to carry the message far and wide that there were Uchiha in battle. I also made sure to specifically include in my message that everyone should, and I quote, "ignore the one that looks like Sasuke with a rat tail. If he ain't attacking you, you don't attack him." end quote.
Thankfully, speed was my specialty as we made it to the Land of Hot Water in record time only to see pure and utter chaos.
Back at the waters
3rd person POV
Not long after the bats were received by the groups and the news was spread out did the shinobi army become tense at the idea of fighting the Uchiha clan. Despite how infamous their eyes were, no one has fought any of them in years, and those that did never lived to tell the tale.
Izuna was not made aware of this, and was instead focused on the task given to him by Deidara, skillfully wiping out hordes of Zetsu left and right to the point where he was almost bored. To the war-torn young adult, killing these clones was as stressful as watching his Nii-san brush his hair, fun for him, torture for his brother.
At the same time he was walking around the battlefield in hopes of finding a stronger opponent, a Kumogakure shinobi charged at him with the intent of sealing him. Izuna watched as this ant came forth to his presence, only for his head to slowly turn to the side and watch a Konoha shinobi tackle the man to the ground like the sport… he thinks Deidara described this as "football"?
The Kumo shinobi looked up at the Konoha shinobi above him, "What the hell was that for?! He's an Uchiha and reanimated!"
The Konoha shinobi frantically waved his hand, "No! This is Deidara's Uchiha… wait that came out wrong… The one that looks like Uchiha Sasuke!" He didn't notice the tick mark on Izuna's forehead, "Anyway, just ignore him. Sorry Uchiha-san!" The Konoha shinobi bowed slightly and got off his comrade.
Izuna didn't say anything and just kept walking, he could see that Kakuzu fellow in the distance and was pleased to see that he looked strong. But he also didn't miss the Kumo shinobi mutter, "How many Uchihas does that blond have…?"
Back in the Land of Hot Water
Deidara's POV
Observing the battles below me, Suigetsu was helping Haku lead Kiri shinobi in the fight against the former Seven Swordsmen, several lightning users were dealing with the explosion guys… and the person fighting Pakura?
"Senpai! It's been so long since I last saw you! There's a dead chick who has the same abilities as me and she's super tough but I keep winning!"
Well… Daiki's still alive.
I wave to the boy before scanning the area with my scope, there was so much mist and moving bodies I had trouble figuring out who was who. Suddenly, Itachi grabbed the top of my head and made me look to my right. There were dozens of Uchiha standing together, quietly conversing and only attacking when someone got too close. This felt like a trap… something to lure the two of us over there… sadly seeing Sasuke make a beeline for the group made us take the bait.
"Duck-kun, what the fuck are you doing, un!" Without much thought I leaped off the bird and chased after the stupid duck, effectively using enemy shinobi's faces to hop to him like motionless springboards. Itachi was not far behind me as his eyes were locked onto the Uchiha ahead of us.
"I know some of the Uchiha in that group, one of them is-!" But a voice rang out, cutting Sasuke off and making both brothers skid to a halt, effectively making me crash into Sasuke.
Uchiha Fugaku emerged from the group, looking at us gravely as many of the clansmen had matching reluctant expressions, "Sasuke, Itachi… it's been a long time." I could hear their hearts hammering in their chest, it only got worse when Mikoto arrived and stood by her husband's side.
Sasuke's mangekyou eyes were glossed over with tears seeing his parents for the first time in ten years, "No… he reanimated you two… Kabuto…" Sasuke looked to me, hoping I could grasp some sense for him, "How did he…?"
"It doesn't matter how that man did this, Sasuke…" That was Mikoto, "What matters now is that you two need to seal us, break this jutsu… do whatever it takes to live. Please…"
Neither brother spoke, so I spoke for them, "Of course. Everyone!" I now had dozens of bright red eyes staring me down, "Jesus fuck that is scary… I'm going to apologize ahead of time because I will have to constantly blow you all up! Please try to find a way to break free of the edo tensei, there are a ton of sharingan in that mix and I swear to Kami one of you bastards has the ability to break it, un."
It was evident that because of how many summons Kabuto had, he chose to keep his control of the Uchiha clan to a minimum to ensure maximum control of everyone else, considering most of the other reanimations were not bloodthirsty assholes. The only ones that engaged in battle were ones that were within fifteen feet range of us… sadly those were all focused on me while the brothers were splitting their attention on both their parents and making sure I didn't die… again.
Ripping off my scope, I fling my bangs out of my face and opened my closed eye to test for genjutsu. Turns out that I was in one, as I barely dodged a kunai to my neck from an Uchiha next to me, whereas in my normal eye all I saw was Uchihas running towards me. I wisely took this moment to summon Tobirama in order to help me out. He hates Uchihas… so hopefully he doesn't mind helping me fight a bunch of them.
Based on how fast he joined in the scuffle, he didn't mind at all.
3rd person POV
Itachi's eyes worked overtime as he classed kunai with his mother and skillfully sending a kick to a cousin of his. Sasuke was fighting his father and a squad of Uchiha from an older generation, based on their clothing. The rest stayed back or ended up being forced to join the fighting in other parts of the area, with his mother informing him that there were more clansmen in other areas. The only reason why he knew Deidara was still alive was because his ring was still intact and he could hear the blond shouting out "sorry!" every 30 seconds along with explosions.
"Itachi, we are so proud of you…" Mikoto gave him a sad smile, accepting the blow to her gut from her eldest son, "You two have to live… I won't forgive either of you for dying early deaths."
"Yes kaa-san, please forgive me…" Activating his eternal mangekyou, he allowed Amaterasu to swallow up Mikoto and all nearby Uchiha. He noted that ever since he changed eyes with Sasuke, using his special techniques only used a fraction of the chakra it once cost him. While reaching into his own shinobi pouch for a sealing scroll, his eyes locked with someone… someone that filled him with pain and the sudden urge to kill Kabuto in a slow and painful matter, "You…"
"Itachi-kun…"
Uchiha Izumi stood in the midst of black flames, skillfully dodging the flames as her body forced her to charge at the boy she loved. Of course, he was much older now, but his face had barely aged but she easily noticed how he's changed. How he would often look over to ensure the blond bomber was alive, how he would check his ring right afterwards, and how this was the first time he's acknowledged her presence, "Do you still remember me, Itachi-kun?"
How could he forget her? His first love, the one that died in his arms from Tsukuyomi*. He gave her the ideal life in that genjutsu, making her body think it died from old age when in reality only a second had passed. His body went into auto-pilot as the world seemed to vanish, leaving only her.
The female Uchiha giggled, "You still make the funniest faces, even in the middle of a battle too. But even though I'm here, you need to keep yourself focused on protecting the living. You're married to that blond huh?" She shook her head slightly as she swung her kunai, seeing Itachi about to explain himself, "It's fine Itachi-kun. Keep the ones you love and those that are alive safe… but… tell me… did you, at some point… did you truly love me? Or did you think you loved me?"
There was no hesitation, "Yes, I did love you before. That genjutsu reflected the life I wish I could have given you…"
"'Before'..." Izumi slowly lowered her head, tears threatening to form as her soul found peace by that answer, "Thank you… Itachi-kun." A soft glow formed around her as the edo tensei began to lose its hold of the girl. Her body peeled apart like broken petals on an old tree, and with a breeze that helped cleared up the mist, she returned to the afterlife.
In a distant cave, Kabuto sat in front of his diagram seething. This wasn't the first time one of his reanimations was broken due to souls finding peace, and it definitely won't be the last Uchiha to do that. Taking more chakra from Anko's curse mark, he began shutting down the Uchiha's free will completely. It was time to take this fight into this own hands.
When the flames of Amaterasu faded, Mikoto and the other Uchiha returned. The former matriarch's face pinched up, "Itachi… we're… losing control… please… you must stop us." The already dull eyes of the Uchiha's became more apparent on their sharingan. What were once brilliant scarlets under black tomoes, were now dulled to the color of brick. The Uchiha clan were now mere puppets before they could even free themselves.
Sasuke watched his father lose his posture. Pooling in his large reserve of chakra, he formed Susano-o and mixed the seals he carried with the ethereal sword.
He wasn't going to let the Uchiha name be squandered anymore.
Deidara's POV
"GREAT! Now we're really fighting zombies, un!" Of course this was a huge mental drain on the brothers, but to Tobirama and myself, this was merely an annoyance.
"Is there any reason why I was summoned and not Madara?" Despite the Uchiha's ability to see everything, thanks to Kabuto shutting off their free will, Tobirama was effortlessly fighting the clan.
I snort as I prepared a mass scale seal, seems like most of the other teams were preparing to do the same, "Kabuto wants Madara and Obito wants me. The moment I summon Madara, all of these red-eyed bastards are going to focus solely on me, un." I throw a bomb at an Uchiha that got too close… shit, that looked like Kagami, "Sorry! I know you can't think, but still!"
"I highly doubt Madara would let them near you, everyone here are like children compared to him." Wow… was that a compliment from Tobirama towards Madara? "And that was not a compliment." Damn.
Just as I was about to seal a large number of Uchiha, coffins appeared. Seems like the first day of battle was over for Kabuto… fuck, I didn't get to seal any of them.
While the medical shinobi tended to the wounded, I began sending out more bats to collect reports and confirm that my chibis were okay. Killer B confirmed that him and Naruto were okay, as we made them both go into hiding during the first day. Minus some injuries and the desire for long therapy sessions after the war… everyone seemed fine.
I stuck close to the center point of our camp as a part of security. Trust became an issue when I warned all of the camps that Zetsus were impersonating the injured; a medical shinobi was killed when one pretended to be an injured Suna shinobi. All reports were to be made to me until Itachi and Sasuke woke up from chakra and stress exhaustion. I kept my left eye open, my right eye is still caught in one of the Uchiha's genjutsu and it's extremely disorientating seeing a peaceful, but heavily saturated campsite in one eye and a fireball coming towards me in the other… I'm half tempted to summon Madara just to break it.
… Fuck it. I slammed my hand down and summoned Izuna once a migraine began to form. All I had to do was point frantically at my right eye, and one staring contest later I was genjutsu free and unsummoned himself. Ahhh… Uchiha are so convenient when they're not choking you and trying to kill you.
"Deidara-san?" I lift my head up to see Hinata running to me in worry, "How is Naruto-kun? Did his bat report back?"
I give her a tired smile and nod, "Yes, he's fine." I stretched until my shoulders gave a sharp pop, "That felt good~. You should rest up honey, tomorrow is going to be hell on ice skates trying to make curry, un." I let out laugh as the girl stared at me like I've lost my marbles.
Wait… why is Hinata at this camp?
"Hinata… I forgot… what did you want me to make you for your wedding with my brother?" Okay, she blushed… that's normal… I can't sense any differences.
"Oh! Um… traditional dishes? Crabs and-" She was cut off when my kunai drove into her heart and our bodies toppled to the ground.
"Hinata hates crabs." Shinobi ran over thinking I was a Zetsu, only for them to stop when Hinata's face twisted into said plant-man's features, "Impersonating my chibis gets you killed, un."
Shooting to my feet, I let my voice boom throughout the camp, "Question everyone and list everyone that was by your side in the battlefield! Ask personal questions either about themselves, their clan or their village and make them do the same to you! I want all Hyuga and sensors questioned first and brought to me so we can confirm those that fail questioning, un!"
But no one moved, until Sakura approached me that is, "How do we know you are the real Deidara-sensei though?" Good question.
"Do you want me to go into a long winded rant of how you, Karin, Ino and Anko tortured me for hours to get me in a wedding kimono? Or maybe I should talk about Harry Potter and my disdain for Dolores Umbri-"
"Nevermind everyone, he's real!" Everyone quickly scattered to follow my orders while Sakura shuffled back into the medical tent.
"That's what I thought, un." Crossing my arms in triumph, I sit back down and wait as sensors and Hyugas that passed were brought to me.
That night, there were 40 Zetsus in our camp, all of them were killed.
Poor Hizashi getting blown up so many times by Deidara. I used my own poor memory of the war to reflect how real war plays out. When in battle you don't know what's going on with your friends in other units, your own concern is your squad and making it out alive. Deidara is stuck on a bird and has no idea as to what is going on outside of his area as a result.
As for all of the Uchiha, it was honestly one of the biggest question marks of the entire original series for me. There had to be graves, or at the very least Orochimaru had collected DNA at some point in Konoha, and yet not a single Uchiha was reanimated for the war besides Itachi and Madara. But also, I can imagine Kabuto having limited ability to control all of those clansmen at once, so he would make them only attack when nearby people. It honestly hurt my heart a little to write the Izumi bit, I love that girl, she's one of the few good things Itachi had in his life and was forced to cut it short.
* For those anime viewers out there, you may be scratching your head about Izumi's death. I am using the light novels death which is more tragic, Itachi places her in Tsukuyomi and gives her a full life filled with marriage and children in the matter of a second, killing her in the process. I hate how the anime changes this because it was such an important moment in the novels, so I use that as my canon. The anime makes it seem like Itachi didn't care about Izumi, whereas I truly do believe he did love her, but his love for the village and Sasuke came first.
Next chapter will hold day 2, including Konan's reunion with Yahiko and Nagato, and Kabuto… well… let's just say Deidara really no likey snakey.
As always, reviews are loved and I will see you all next week!
Bye!
