A.N.: Hey...sorry about the long wait between this chapter and the last one. It...got a lot longer than I thought it would as I was writing it. Hopefully, this makes up for it, but I think I messed up in some spots...you might be able to see where.
Amidst the Hate: Chapter 55
At the enemy team's call, both the ground and the water in front of both statues started to rumble and quake. A section of rock began to glow, first a light orange before getting hotter and hotter, ending on a deep crimson, than both it and the waterfall exploded in a show of power, forming giant winding, dripping, draconic analogues, which snaked their way onto Madara, ending with their heads next to their creators. Anza summoned her Kiba blades and jumped onto her jutsu's head, an action that Haku mirrored with his. "Let's get this started!" she shouted, and the dragons charged onward to the other side, gliding through the air like they were weightless. The twelve-man team got into defensive positions, and when the duo got close enough to crash into them, they prepared to jump out of the way, but the behemoths didn't do such a thing. Instead, to their confusion, the one made of lava went to their left while the blue one went to their right and began circling around them like vultures.
"Don't let your guards down! Be ready for anything!" shouted the Hokage to his ninja, getting all of them to silently nod. "Kushina! Try to stop them!"
"Right!" The Uzumaki raised her hands and sent out ten golden chains, five for each elemental monster, and right when it seemed she was going to touch one, a pure white one slapped it away each time. "I can't! She's creating her own to counter mine!"
"Let me try." said Kakashi, who proceeded to lift his headband to reveal his Sharingan, and charged a large amount of chakra into this hand, making lightning cover it. He followed the movements of Haku's Water Dragon Bullet, waiting for the best moment to strike...but then their foes went straight up into the sky above, behind the low-hanging clouds out that day. 'This...doesn't bode well. If they didn't attack us then...that means that they have something far worse in store for us...but what?' His answer came when a single bolt of lightning came to life in the puffy, ivory clouds, and both constructs came back into view, intertwined with each other as they spun like a drill, with Anza holding her dual-swords out, blanketing the jutsu's in electricity. "Move...NOW!" The Konoha-nin jumped in every direction, and not too soon, either, because not even a second later the attack collided into the ground, kicking up debris. Once the ash and smoke settled, Haku and his leader stood in the crater, back-to-back.
"Combo attack number one is complete...we hit no one, ma'am." said the black haired man.
"As expected…but we're not done, are we?"
"No...I still have almost all my chakra."
"Good...we take them on together."
"It's our only option. They're too strong to be taken on alone."
"Then I guess we better continue, then." She passed him the right half of her blades, and turned to Team Asuma. "Them. Show no mercy."
"Anything you say." Haku formed a single seal, and faced the same direction as Anza. "Ice Release: Certain-Kill Ice Spears!" Frozen spikes jutted out of the ground and approached the childhood friends, who avoided getting skewered by jumping again, but as Shikamaru landed, a single kunai cut through the air and passed by his head, bringing the albino with it, arm already poised to slice through him...and for a split second he looked into her eyes, and saw something no one her age should have.
'Her eyes...they're clouded with almost unbridled amounts of anger...but why at us? We're not the ones she's angry with...or does she consider us the same as her family? But if that's true...then why?' He tried to form a seal to use his clan's Shadow Imitation Technique, but he knew that he probably wasn't going to be fast enough to stop her from killing him, and even if he did, there was the other one to deal with. His situation was bleak at best...until a bright flash took over his vision, and the sound of metal hitting metal echoed over the running water.
"Did you think I'd forget about the mark I put on you long ago? Or that I'd let you kill one of my shinobi while I was here?" asked Minato.
"No. I saw an opportunity and I took it, something you and every warrior worth their weight would do in my situation."
"You have a point, but…" He summoned another kunai, forced her sword arm away, and made a slash at her. Anza easily saw this and retreated a few paces back. "...doesn't mean I like it when you do it to people who are your friends."
"And I...don't care. How many times do I have to say it?" Her teammate joined her in standing against the man responsible for her existence, but the rest of the retrieval team surrounded them, leaving no openings for them to attack. Almost like she already planned for this, she jumped straight into the air, formed butterfly-like wings to keep her from falling back to the ground, and threw kunai after kunai at her foes and at the surrounding area. Taking it to the next step, she teleported to a random one, appearing next to Kakashi, and tried to bisect him, only for the experienced shinobi to deflect the slash, and they began to trade blows.
"Hm...I knew you've gotten better when I watched you fight Mito, Sasuke, and Fu a couple months back, but now that I'm actually fighting you...you're giving me a workout by yourself, and I know how you fight, unlike the first time we fought." mused the silver-haired jonin.
"And we both have the Sharingan, so we're pretty much at a stalemate...unless…" Suddenly, Haku was next to them in a black flash similar to the one she used, forcing him to split his attention.
'They're quick...far quicker than almost anyone their age. This...Haku...he's just as fast as Anza is normally and has Ice Release. They also move in tandem with each other...this could be a lot harder than I thought.' In no time, they started to overwhelm him with their teamwork and sheer speed, using the jutsu that his sensei made famous like it was child's play. Seeing the trouble he was in, everyone rushed into the fray to stop them, only for the two allies to blink out of sight, reappear behind all of them, and started using their jutsus less liberally. The feminine male summoned liquid needles out of the air, which Anza proceeded to charge with electricity, and fired them, hitting all but the fastest of them. As they suffered electrocution, Anza shrouded herself in Chomei's might and dashed forth with Haku, landing a punch in Choji's gut that sent him flying, and the kimono-wearing boy moved to knock Shino out the old fashioned way.
"Don't touch him, Haku! His bugs will suck you dry!" warned the white-haired demon, who then had to block a strike from Sasuke's tanto.
"Why are you doing this, Anza?! What's possessed you to wage war on your home?!" he asked, getting her to scowl.
"Home?! I have no home! I never did! My so called 'home' is nothing more than a traitor's paradise, and I don't want any part of it!"
"Traitor's paradise? What do you-" His sentence was cut short by powerful punch in the jaw, courtesy of the ice user, that sent him back a few feet.
"I won't let you touch my leader…" he coldly warned the Uchiha, who decided to stop warming up and activated his eyes.
"I thought you were taking care of Shino." said the half-Uzumaki.
"I was, but I saw that you were having a bit of trouble, so I decided to come help. Not that you needed it against him."
"Well...thanks."
"Your welcome." He turned his attention back to Sasuke. "Any who wish to harm her have to go through me first."
"I don't want to harm her, but if she won't stop being an idiot, I have no choice but to fight her! And if I have to fight you too, then so be it!" He formed the 'tora' seal. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" The scorching hot technique barreled down towards Haku, who didn't move an inch to dodge, he simply held out his hands, and a wall of ice materialized in front of him. 'That won't work...fire melts ice, his defence won't hold.' His jutsu hit Haku's, exploding in a fiery cloud. Then both of them ran out from the blast zone, unharmed, and closed the distance between the three of them in a matter of seconds. He tried to block with his weapon, but his former teammate brutally slashed down on it, knocking him slightly off balance, allowing Zabuza's prodige to land a shallow slash on his arm...then Anza got one on his torso. Doing his best in this situation, the raven-haired boy fought back, with negligible results. When he tried to stab one of them...any of them, the other would deflect his strike, leaving him open to attack, something the two of them punished terribly...until the one in a haori broke off contact, grabbed Haku, and went to one of the kunai.
"Damn it, she felt it coming! I was so close!" he heard the Nara say, and when Sasuke looked at him, he saw his shadow extended all the way to him.
Anza narrowed her eyes at him. "You're going to be a bother...a single second in that jutsu could decide the fate of this battle...you must be eliminated quickly...but I also have to worry about everyone else…I know how to deal with that." In both her hands and her subordinate's, their swords went up in smoke.
"So we're going to that plan already, huh?" asked Haku.
"Yes. We stand no chance trying to go up against one of them at a time...but if we attack all of them, we have a shot at taking at least one down." Eight chains grew out of her body, four on her back positioned like scorpion tails ready to strike, and one plastered on each arm and leg. Putting on a burst of speed, they went after Shikamaru, but everyone descended upon them. Snarling at the further annoyances, Anza dug into the ground, an action the only man on her side mirrored, and decided to fight them as they came. Using the ethereal jutsu the Uzumaki created, she made large, sweeping movements with her arms, letting the chains lengthen to hit everyone in a certain radius, smacking them away. Haku, on the other hand, blazed through seals behind her, causing uncountable amounts of frozen stalagmites to periodically shoot out of the dirt around them. All of this made the journey to them rather perilous, so in the end, the larger force stopped advancing and took a look at the predicament.
"Damn it, they've formed a defensive perimeter! Hardly anyone can get through that!" yelled the amber-eyed 'sister' of Anza, turning to Minato with desperation awash on her face. "Can't you bring her away from that guy with your Hiraishin? 'Cause than this would be a lot easier!"
Said man shook his head. "That would be true if she was an inanimate object. To transport someone I have marked to me, they have to want to let me do so...and I will not get such permission from her anytime soon...but I do think I can get past their formation…" He formed his signature jutsu and prepared to teleport above Anza, but stopped when he saw Haku suddenly create a rectangle and stepped through it, disappearing afterward. When that happened, his pale daughter also vanished without a trace, leaving behind an icy battlefield. '...uh oh...'
"Lava Release: Scorching Stream Rock Jutsu!" yelled the mercenary from the air, and everyone looked up in time to see two fist-sized globs of melted rock falling towards them. Ino and Mito, the ones seemingly being targeted, rolled out of the way, and when the Namikaze looked at where the shots came from, she only found what looked liked the rectangle Haku disappeared into.
'Odd...where are they?'
"By the statues!" yelled Kurama, but by the time the blonde turned, there was another ball of liquid fire roaring towards the team, this time aiming for Shikamaru.
'I guess she does think I'm a threat!' Like the last two, the member of Team Asuma stepped out of the way, but when he thought he was safe, a senbon came from the same direction and stuck into the ground just centimeters away from his foot. 'That...was close...' "They're throwing senbon, everyone! Make sure you keep moving when you see her jutsu, or you'll get hit!" Right after saying that, lava and medical needles began to come from every direction, and no matter how many times any of them looked at where they came from, they never saw the highly skilled shinobi, just light blue sheets of ice.
'This is ridiculous! How can they be so fast, when Anza never even showed this much speed before calling on more of Chomei's, Son's, or Isobu's power?!' mentally yelled Mito.
"It's that boy...he uses those ice sheets in a similar vein to your father's Hiraishin, using them to be in multiple places at once. Anza uses the Hiraishin mark she put on him to travel with him at the same speeds and launch impossibly fast barrages. At this rate, we're stuck waiting until they run out of chakra. They have to be destroyed!" said her ancestor, and understanding what he meant, she called upon Kurama's chakra, getting an eight-tailed shroud.
"Dad! I know what we have to do, so could you help me?"
Minato dodged another lava ball and nodded. "We're going after whatever that jutsu is, aren't we?"
"Yeah. You follow Anza, I'll take care of the ones farthest away. She'll have no where else to go but back to the ground."
"Understood; sounds like a plan." He formed a second Rasengan and got to work, using the mark on the white-headed twin and smashed the mirror he found himself next to, yet Anza had already moved onto the next one, so he did as well. While he chased after her and Haku, the other blonde used the malleable chakra around her to form giant paws so she could take out the mirrors from a distance, while also creating earth-shaking shock waves with her roars to disperse the Scorching Stream Rocks and help protect her friends. In no time at all, they dwindled the mirrors down to one, Haku deciding that creating any more would be useless now. He jumped out of it shortly before it shattered in a million pieces, and he and his younger leader fell to the ground, panting. Without giving them much time to rest, Sasuke took the initiative, rushing towards Haku and throwing out a punch, which the Ice Release user barely avoided. Seeing no other way out, he returned the punch, but it didn't land thanks to the Sharingan and the Uchiha's speed. Sasuke socked him in the jaw, and when that didn't seem to faze his opponent, he did it again...and again….and again. Anza appeared above him, Rasengan in hand, but he was saved by Mito, who jumped and kneed her sister in the side, sending her tumbling. Silently thanking her, he continued the beatdown with a gut punch, lifting up the other man, hit his stomach twice more, and ended his combo by kicking him back down to the earth.
"Ugh...gah...oww...she's...fast…I think a rib's broke…" wheezed the missing-nin, who put pressure on the sore spot. "Haku...you're still conscious, right?"
He coughed. "Yeah...but I don't know how much longer I can fight...chakra's running low…using my jutsu's on such scales, and for so long..."
"Can you do one last jutsu with me?"
"You can feel how much I have...of course I can, just...didn't think we'd ever have to use it." Fighting through the pain, they flipped back up on their feet, and jumped back to get some distance. The aura around the jinchuuriki constricted around her and blackened into her 'version two' four-tailed mode, and they went through three hand seals, each one forming one half of each. After completing the last one, hare, they both punched the ground, first causing the rocks and soil in the immediate area to frost over, then the entire valley started to shake before the icy section started to rise into a cone-shaped structure.
"Wh-what is that?! A mountain?! They can create goddamn mountains now?!" shouted Kiba, Akamaru barking in a similarly angry tone.
Anza chuckled at his frustration. "No...we can do so much worse…" In the cavity behind her, the rock melted, setting the air ablaze with orange, then it turned icy blue, making fog roll down the 'mountain'. "I...am the fire that never can be quenched! I rage against and consume anything in my path, killing all the scum in the world and all who have wronged me! Stay out of my way, for I am luminous Chimera, and I will strip the flesh from your bones with my flames!"
"And I am unrelenting Glacius! When you run from her, I am the cold lying in wait to fill your heart with dread and despair! You may avoid one of us, but you can never get away from both!"
"Ultimate Secret Combination: Lava and Ice: RAGNAROK!" They finished their speech, ending with the blue lava rocketing into the sky and Haku forming a barrier around him and Anza. It became clear that it most of the attack was falling towards the twelve-man team, so Kushina stepped up to the plate.
"Stay still everyone!" she warned, and without waiting for confirmation she summoned multiple chains which curved around them. A see through energy filled the gaps between the chains, creating a dome over the Konoha-hin. The jutsu collided with it, slightly warping the barrier for a second, and after a minute of constant impact, it ended, leaving the strange liquid building up on the ground outside...and yet, even though it was done, the dome her daughter was in didn't disappear. 'Is...there more to it than that? ...I should keep the barrier up.' It was a good thing she did, as the lava-like substance froze over and violently shattered, throwing millions of spikes all over the area. After waiting a few seconds to see if anything more would happen, she let the chains disperse.
"Thank you, Kushina. That would have killed a lot of us." thanked Shino, without taking his eyes off of the hopefully empty volcano.
"Don't thank me yet, Anza's still not incapacitated. She could have a lot more under her sleeve."
Up on the rim, the ice that surrounded the mercs fell to pieces, with Haku sweating and barely standing. "We...hit everything...but them…Anza…" His legs gave way, but the whiskered-girl saved him from falling face first into rock, and laid him down. "I'm sorry...I...can't continue…"
"No...I should be sorry. This is my fight, yet I dragged you into it without thinking. I should have asked if you wanted to, but I didn't, blindly forcing you to come along."
"It's...fine. Your fights...are my fights. Your enemies...are my enemies. There's...nothing for you to feel...sorry about. I simply...did what I always...wanted to do...help my friend…I wish I could have...been more help, though..."
She smiled a bit. "You are a good friend, Haku. Better than any I've had before you. Rest for a bit, I'll take over from here."
"Can do…" He closed his eyes, and his breathing slowed down to a gentle rise and fall. She summoned a clone, who knew it's orders and picked the downed man up bridal style, and left it's creator behind. Anza stood up, letting her head hang just enough to cover her eyes.
"I suffer no delusions. There's...no way I can beat all of you. Maybe one or two, but that's it. Even if Haku had the same reserves I do...today is the day I fall to Konoha. We knew that…"
"Then why are you fighting?! If you know you're going to lose, if you know that it's futile, then why are you doing this?! Tell us what's going on, Anza!" roared Sasuke, making her jolt her head back up, her eyes cracking into her Mangekyo.
"Why am I fighting?! Because of the horrible things you either did, or let happen! My apprentices...the girl that considers me her new mother...I won't let their imprisonment, their TORTURE, go unpunished!"
"...what?"
"Try to play innocent all you want, but I know the TRUTH! THE TRUTH OF ALL OF YOU! YOU COLD, HEARTLESS, BASTARDS!" Her shroud came back, erratic and shooting in every direction. One by one, tails formed out of it...and it didn't stop at three, or four, or seven. It climbed higher and higher, from eight, to ten, to twelve...to fourteen.
"That's...not good. Not good at all. The full power of three biju run through her veins, and we are going to be on the receiving end of all of it. She's not holding back anymore…but not even that will be able to help her in the end, not when some of the best Konoha has to offer is right here in front of her." said the more talkative half of the fox before Anza vanished from her perch and went down to the same level as the rest.
"This...is my last stand. I'll...make every last one of you pay with your blood...because I thought...thought I could…" Her eyes and hands squeezed shut, and the amount of force she was putting them through caused her gauntlets to start to crack at the fingers, which she ignored by using the seal she put on Sasuke to appear above them all. A large amount of chakra surged to her right foot, and when she landed, slammed that boot into the ground as hard as she could, breaking the ground apart and sending Sasuke, Ino, and Kushina airborne. As everyone made a move to attack her, she went back up, coming face to face with the Yamanaka, who shivered at seeing the face of madness Anza had. "Hello Ino! Get the hell out of my sky!" She instantly formed a Rasengan and slammed it into her stomach, sending Ino spiralling into the ground. The platinum blonde rolled after crashing, and before she could get up, the snow-haired kunoichi planted a foot on her back, grabbed her by the ponytail, and tugged. "My my...I remember you had long hair the last time I saw you, but now it's as long as mine! Regretting that now, aren't you?"
"S-stop this, Anza! We're your friends! We don't have to fight!"
"...friends? FRIENDS?!" She let go of the hair and changed the position of her foot from Ino's back to her head, stomping it into the dirt. "That's what I thought we were! I trusted you, I trusted all of you, and instead all I get is betrayal!"
"H...h-how...did we betray you? You barely talked to us when you came back as Menma!"
"YOU LET MY FATHER TORTURE MY STUDENTS! You, the daughter of Inoichi, one of the top members of the Intelligence Division! You had pull over what would happen to them, and you either didn't care, or wanted them to suffer so I would suffer!"
"Do you realize how crazy that sounds?! Your dad would never-"
"He's the Hokage, of course he would, because I was an 'unstable element', and therefore must be rid of by any means necessary, even if innocents must be sacrificed. Don't try to make him sound like a good guy, because I have proof he isn't. Now die like a good little bitch." She tried to crush Ino's head, but her leg wouldn't move anymore. "Oh, you sneaky little rat…using our little conversation as a means to use your jutsu..."
"Choji! Grab her NOW, while I have her restrained! I don't know how long I can hold her!" yelled the Nara, and his teammate complied, enlarging his hand to a gargantuan size, almost completely enveloping Anza in it, only leaving her head and legs visible. "Ino!"
"I know!" Pushing herself onto her feet, she formed a hand seal where both thumbs, index, and middle fingers touch, leaving a circular opening. "Mind Body Switch Jutsu!" Both her and the Namikaze went limp, with the latter losing her cloak, but before Ino could fall Shikamaru ended his technique and grabbed her.
"Well...that was a lot easier than expected. Now all we have to do is find Haku and we're done." commented Fu.
Sasuke nodded. "Yeah...but that seemed...too easy. Maybe I was just expecting more, since she activated the strongest form of the Sharingan...oh well, now she's in our custody." He turned to Shikamaru. "How long can Ino hold her jutsu? Will we have to take more serious measures?"
His brows scrunched up. "That depends...how strong do you think her will is? Or can biju interfere with things like genjutsu?" As if to answer his question for him, a black mist started to seep out of every opening in Choji's hand.
"Um...I think something's wrong…" said Anza's captor.
Something clicked in Minato's mind. 'Wait...that fog...I saw it once before...it was when...oh no...' "LET GO! SHE'S GOING TO SUMMON SUSANOO!"
"Susan-what?"
Anza's eyes shot open. "GET OFF OF ME!" The energy expanded outward, forcing Choji to let go, and now that she was free, she restarted her assault by attacking the one who just had a vice-grip on her. Seeing that, Choji tried to use his still giant hand to punch her, but her own arm changed, becoming a large ape arm with red fur and green skin, and collided with it. "You think that you're tricks will work on me?! The Shadow Imitation Jutsu can't hold me for long, you don't have the strength I can conjure up, and NOTHING CAN TAKE OVER MY HEAD! NOT YOU, NOT INO, NOT ANYONE! SO COME ON, DO YOUR WORST, FATSO!"
"Grr...I am not fat! I'm big boned!" The Mangekyo user brought all fourteen tails back and hopped forward, kneeing the Akimichi in the chin and sending him a couple feet back.
"Say what you want, it doesn't change what you are!" The sheer rage in her former friend's eyes was unmistakeable, and he rapidly inflated into a ball, tucked in his limbs, and began to spin extremely fast. He then sped off to crush Anza, who caught him with her hands, pushing her backwards and shattering the palms of her gauntlets from the resulting impact. "I will say...you are FAR stronger then I would give you credit for...you even broke my gloves...but you can never match me!" Two of her tails changed into arms and joined her in stopping Choji, grabbed ahold of him like he did to her, and threw him at the rest of her father's team, but before he could hit anyone, her twin saved him, and he shrunk down back to normal, ready to fight another round. "Who's next?! I will show you why I was the best in our class!" Everyone charged, and she brought out her signature katana, complete with it still in it's sheathe, to help combat them. Sasuke started the brawl by spewing a Great Fireball, only for it to be cut in half and rendered useless by Anza. The first to actually engage her were a eight-tailed Mito, and a Byakugan-wielding Hinata. The Hyuga tried to hit her tenketsu, but the armored ninja deflected, grabbed her arms, and pulled her to towards her, and struck her back when she maneuvered around Hinata, sending her sprawling to the ground. Turning to prepare for her sister, she blocked a punch that made her arm scream for mercy, but gritted her teeth and bared it.
"This is my last warning, Anza! Please, just surrender! None of us want to fight you! We can clear up everything concerning Akira, Noboru, and Haruka!"
"Why would I listen to you?! Any of you?! I knew that letting them go to that cursed place would end terribly, but I trusted that not even you, Minato, and Kushina would harm them, but NO! You throw them in prison! All because they have ties to ME! One of them is only eight!"
"You're not even going to call mom and dad your parents?!"
"I HAVE NO PARENTS! THEY DON'T DESERVE THE TITLE! They left me for dead...they mistreated the people who wanted to meet them! THEY DESERVE TO ROT IN A HOLE FOR ALL ETERNITY!" Anza managed to land a gut-punch, causing Mito to spit out some saliva, and hit her twice in the face before having herself struck by...someone, she couldn't quite tell in her rage, so she poured chakra into her lungs and roared a mighty roar, sending everyone flying.
"O...o...ow...I never thought...shockwaves could hurt so much...but they do…" groggily mumbled a downed Fu under a cloud of dust.
"This one...was a lot more powerful than the one I felt back then...you alright...Fu?" asked her dark-haired teammate.
"Yeah...gotta get up...need to stop her…"
*Crunch...crunch...crunch…* At the sounds of footsteps, they hurried back onto their feet, and got into defensive stances when they saw their friend-turned-enemy...whose eyes looked even more warped than normal.
"I...never thought it would come to this...Fu...Sasuke…where I would have to fight you to the death. I...I loved the both of you so much, despite being on two ends of the spectrum. Me, a missing-nin, the both of you, loyal shinobi to Konoha. I thought our bonds meant something to you, but as it turns out...I'm the only one who treasures them, because everyone I ever loved...turns on me. Even the two of you...is that the story of my life? Where I...can't have...anyone?" The duo saw a tear run down her cheek, and they realized...she wasn't the same Anza that they remembered. The strong, calm, level-headed warrior was gone...replaced by a broken soul, who didn't know what else she could do. The snow-haired teen shook her head sharply, as if to put herself in the right mindset, and tightened her grip on the katana. "It doesn't matter...in the end, I'm through any way."
Sasuke got back up. "That's not true, Anza!"
"Yes...it is, but at least until then I can fight, and if I can fight, I'm not down for the count yet." A large surge of her shroud caught his eye, and he saw her partially draw her blade, with the chakra seemingly rushing inside as she re-sheathed it. Behind her, one of the tails slightly faded. "Sasuke...this sword...the sword that you helped give me...will be your undoing. Yours...and Fu's." She was between them faster than they could blink, hand on the hilt, ready to draw, and when she did, a terrible wind joined her slash, making a vortex that both cut their flesh and pelt them with rocks.
'S-she really didn't show all she could do!' The Uchiha barely avoided a follow-up attack, only to have Anza's tails beat him silly and rip off the holster carrying his tanto while she easily overpowered Fu, toying with her as she did by not scoring any fatal blows, but if someone didn't stop the other girl soon… 'No...don't think that...everything will be just fine.' Luckily, their savior came as a bolt of lightning: Kakashi Hatake.
"Raikiri!" the jonin shouted, and his wayward student could sense just how powerful his jutsu was, so she punched Fu away and formed a Rasengan.
"No!" Kakashi thrust out his hand, and so did she. The results were...unexpected. From the point of impact, a dome of light emerged and covered a large section of the valley, obscuring the vision of nearly everyone present that didn't have a dojutsu. Inside, teacher and student did battle, and Anza tried everything to get the best of the older man, but even with all her power, his experience both as a shinobi and with the Sharingan made it possible for him to start beating her by himself now that he was being serious. In only a few seconds, the light died down, and he struck her hard enough to make her stumble and lose balance...and everything started to fall apart. Taking the opportunity, Sasuke rushed in with a Chidori and electrocuted her, giving Kiba and Akamaru time to leap in the air and start spinning like mini-cyclones. The ninken hit her first, sweeping her off of her feet and lifting her up off the ground. The Inuzuka hit her from above, bringing Anza with him back down to the rocks below, grinding her into a hole. As she scrambled back to her feet, Fu closed in and landed punch after punch on the disoriented missing-nin, but the missing-nin lost the stars in her vision and grabbed Fu's hand before another hit could land, and flipped her over her head. The merc drew her sword, letting the scabbard float in the shroud, and charged it with quite a bit of Son's power, wreathing it in green flame. "I want all of you to just disappear from my life! FOREVER!" She stabbed down at her 'sister', but Minato flashed to life, deflected the katana, and went back to Kushina with Fu in his grasp. Unable to stop, the memento of a happier time stabbed itself into the ground, sending a ring of fire over the area and leaving patches of flame where it traveled. It barely did any damage, as everyone had enough time to jump over it, and the next two challengers were the blonde twin and Choji. Using their own methods, they enlarged their hands and punched, making Anza cross her arms to block them, and before she could get ready to launch a counterattack, Mito was already on her, forcing her on the defensive. It only got worse when Choji joined in, and they easily outpaced her thanks to Mito using so much of the Kyuubi's chakra. After hitting her a multitude of times, they ended their barrage with a conjoint uppercut, making her head snap back and stumble backwards while her biju chakra dissipated. Mito and Choji split, leaving an opening for a certain Hyuga. Hinata got to Anza and started her own assault, closing chakra points as she did, causing her opponent to cry out in pain each time, and landed a forceful open-palm strike that sent the white-haired kunoichi flying. She landed on her back, barely able to move...and then her real sister appeared above her, their family jutsu in hand.
"I'm sorry Anza, but this has to be done, for your own good! Rasen-agh!" Mito was slapped out of the sky by a spectral hand...and it wasn't red.
"No...not yet...not yet...not...yet…" Black energy coiled around her as she pulled herself up, only to fall to her knees. "I'm...not...quite done yet...I...won't fall...so soon…especially...when you seemed to bet on Hinata closing...my tenketsu...how idiotic...that won't...work...on ME!" The dark aura solidified around her, and began to form a being, starting with that ghastly, plain skeleton, but this time it had four arms. Muscles, or something like it, began to manifest around it, then skin and hair...then armor and a single weapon. It's armor, like the rest of it, was pitch-black in color, and not very grand in nature. It's chestplate was very form fitting, with grey lines running up and down it, and over that it had something like a hooded cape that only reached down to where it's shoulder-blades would be, serving as its pauldrons. This also had light grey sun marks, with a single strap keeping it on the being. The gauntlets the deity wore had the same pattern as it's torso, and at the elbows had the same marks. Under the hood, it had a smooth, grey mask covering it's face, and they knew it was a mask because the the shining, white eyes seemed to be further inside. The sword it held onto was of similar shape to a claymore, but it's edge was comprised of blade-like spikes.
"Is...is that still Susanoo?" murmured Minato after taking in the full form of the guardian.
"Hehehe...this...is what happens when you train everyday like I do! I...have the power to stand up to even all of you! I won't let myself die by your hands just yet! I have nothing left to lose, I have everything to prove! I will show you that I am not someone you can just push around! I AM NOT HELPLESS!" Anza's eyes started to bleed as she forced some of Isobu's chakra through her closed tenketsu, and she raised back to her feet. "COME, AND GREET MY SUSANOO!"
"As you wish!" Mito restarted her attack by leaping high into the air, clasping her hands, and raising them above her head, a maneuver that her crimson chakra copied, and once her chakra arms enlarged to a similar size as Anza's Susanoo's, she swung down. Susanoo looked up, and raised a single hand to block, and when the two chakra's collided it sent a gust of wind in every direction, but the armored being held strong, not even gaining a crack. "What?!" Suddenly, it grew and punched the blonde with a fist bigger than her body, making her rocket to the earth and pinning her in it.
Despite the amount of danger their 'good' daughter was in, both Minato and Kushina sat back, looking at the new factor in this tedious fight. 'It's defences are much stronger than when I fought it...I can't sit on the sidelines and hope that they can take her down without me anymore. It's now far too dangerous.' "Kushina...we need to step in."
"I know. This is getting way out of hand." His wife created four chains for battle, and they dashed into the fray. 'This being seems to be made out of chakra...so all I'll need is a good grip!' When they got into fighting distance, Anza was batting away their team's attempts to hit her, always sending them flying with the immense strength behind her jutsu, so Kushina attempted to stop one of her arms movements, but her daughter caught her chain.
"So the main attractions finally decide to take a more active role in our little climax? FINE! BUT JUST TO WARN YOU, I'M NOT THAT EASY TO BE RID OF!" Anza yelled, and focused her attention on her parents. Seeing that she wasn't going to get the chain back, Kushina broke off her connection with it and created another one, and began to use them as her own arms to fight the Susanoo while Minato ducked in close, slamming Rasengan after Rasengan into the living chakra, trying to find, or create, a weak point. After a minute of being in a stalemate, Anza's fury began to boil over. "Grrr….why. Won't. You. Just. DIE?!" On the last word, she used Susanoo as a medium to create literally hundreds of spear-headed chains and forced them out, hoping to hit someone...but the Uzumaki formed a single sided shield, protecting her from impalement, and the Namikaze used his ungodly speed to avoid serious injury. 'T-there's...nothing I can do...if I change my attention to Minato, she can wrap me up in her chains and cut off my connection to all my chakra, and if I continue to focus on her, he'll eventually get through...no...NO! I HAVEN'T MADE THEM PAY FOR THEIR CRIMES YET! I HAVE TO LIVE JUST A BIT LONGER! THEY HAVE TO-' Her internal rant came to an end when a sharp pain pierced through her skull and her eyes. "Urgh...ugh...AAAAHHH!" She brought up her hands and applied pressure to her eye sockets, and around her, her Susanoo left her, causing her opponents to stop the offensive for the time being. 'I...I don't...understand! I've barely...used...Susanoo today!' Anza tried to look at the ground, but despite everything looking just fine, it seemed that the action caused the pain to increase, making her scream in agony against her will. 'What's...going...on?!'
Sasuke didn't understand either as he watched with his Sharingan. 'Why is so much chakra flooding the coils behind her eyes? Is she doing this? No...judging by her reaction, it's something she's not in control of. It's not her biju, either...what's wrong with her?'
Back with the family trio, the older Uzumaki couldn't help having a twinge of sadness at watching Anza suffer. 'She's in so much pain...I need to knock her out, fast.' Kushina shot a chain forward, but even though she was...preoccupied...Anza could still feel it coming.
'Not...like...this!' Using her knowledge of one-handed seals, she formed the five necessary for her next move. "Summoning Jutsu!" She punched the ground, flooding the area with smoke and carrying her up, away from being imprisoned...for now. From inside the cloud, a giant, scaled tail tail tried to smash Kushina, but she got out of the way.
"What...the hell was that?" she managed to get out...and that's when the smoke started to clear, showing just what was summoned.
"THAT'S FLUFFY?!" shouted Fu, a bit of fear in her voice. What Haruka called 'Fluffy'...only could describe one section of it. It's head and the front side of it's body was like that of a lion with a full mane of jet black fur and hellish, glowing yellow eyes, but that's where the similarities ended. It's front arms were heavy set and laced with muscle, leading to paws larger than any human. It's hind legs were similar, but the feet there were more reptilian in nature than feline. All over it, the beast had dark green scales that didn't seem to quite fit, as every motion it made created a rattling sound, but it didn't cause any discomfort to the creature. To make things worse...he was as tall the statues; about as big as the toad boss, Gamabunta.
"Hello master, it's been quite a while since you last summoned me out of the cave." 'Fluffy' spoke, getting his summoner to chuckle despite the pain she was in.
"I know, Daku, and I wish I didn't have to summon you, but as you can see...I can't see at the moment."
"Overused your Mangekyo, did you? I thought you knew it would make you blind if you used it to too much without letting your eyes rest."
"No, it's something different...something I don't understand...but I don't need my eyes to fight." She summoned the blindfold she last wore a day before the Chunin Exams, and tied it around her eyes before standing tall. "This...is Dakubisuto, the chimera! My personal summon, and key to justice!"
Daku looked down at the shinobi from his tall stature. "These...are the ones?"
"Yes! Give them hell!"
Almost immediately after those words reached his ears, his calm face became a snarl, showing his ghostly white teeth, and veins started to glow a pale shade of red on his body, mainly on his legs and paws. "How DARE you make my master cry in her sleep! I will crush you under my heels, break as many bones in your bodies as nature will allow, and teach you the meaning of AGONY!" He threw his head up and roared so loud that birds kilometers away flew off in panic. Still not done, he lowered it back down and breathed fire in the form of a funnel at his targets, causing them to scramble to get out of the way.
'Oh no...Mito's still out!' thought the Hokage, who then teleported her to his arms as he regrouped with his comrades. 'Damn, she must have been hit hard to remain out this long. Must have gotten several broken bones even with the Kyuubi's chakra protecting her...she won't be able to fight until he fixes her up...I know what I have to do now.' He approached Kushina and handed Mito to her. "I need you to hold on to Mito for a bit. I have to get even ground with Anza, so I want you to take Kakashi and the rest of them to a safe place far away."
"You're going to summon Gamabunta, aren't you?" she asked.
"Yes."
Fu stepped up. "Then let me help! I can summon rather large toads too!"
He nodded. "Then get ready. We have to overwhelm them quickly, as we have no idea what her summon can do." Everyone left them, and they quickly went through the seals for the Summoning Jutsu, and in a second the large, rusty red toad and an aquamarine one with scaled-to-size katana's on it's back stood across from Daku and Anza.
"Now...isn't this a little unfair?" sarcastically asked the temporarily blind girl.
"It's called 'getting an advantage'. I know you've heard of it."
"...I swear I said that before...but do you really think you have an advantage?"
"Well, considering that there's two summons on our side and you only have one...yes."
"Speaking of summons...Minato...what the hell have you summoned me and Gamahiro to fight?" rumbled Gamabunta.
"That would be a chimera, Bunta."
The toads eyes widened. "A chimera? I've only heard about them in legends...I never would have thought I'd get to see one in the flesh, much less have it as my opponent."
"Do you have anything that might help us?"
"No. All I know is that a chimera is very rare, being the product of interspecies breeding, and that this one seems to be descended from a lion and some sort of reptile, but which, I can't tell."
"Not very helpful, but thank you anyway."
Anza smirked. "Good to know we still have the element of surprise. Unfortunately for you, Daku won't be your only opponent. You see...I don't need to have my eyes open in order to use Susanoo...and that wasn't it's strongest form."
"...you can't be serious…" His daughter jumped off of her summon's head, and nearly instantly, a giant figure as large as the three animals stood with them. Like the smaller version, most of it was covered in plate armor, with it's robes bound underneath. It's spaulders were large and rectangular, covering all the way down to it's elbows, where the vambraces and gauntlets took over. On it's chest was a simple breastplate with no grooves or lines, and on it's legs were relatively normal greaves, but at both ankles there were small wing-like protrusions. A katana even longer than it was held firmly in it's right hand, and when it swung the weapon to the right, two dark grey wings grew out of it's back. Bangs of long, grey hair framed it's face, and cascaded down to the middle of it's body. Anza was situated in a crystal on it's forehead, which itself was attached to another mask with a long nose.
"Well? What say you now?"
"...why can't anything concerning you be simple?"
"Because nothing is simple when I'm involved. Daku, you take the one with two swords, I got the one with the Hokage on it."
"If that is what you wish, master, it will be done." He took a few steps to give Anza some room, and faced Gamahiro and Fu, growling. "I've heard a lot about you, Fu. Master always tried to suppress a smile whenever she recalled the times she spent with you, but for you to betray her like everyone else...I won't be keeping my claws sheathed."
The toad summoner growled back. "I haven't done anything! No one has! Don't just take Anza's word for it, Daku!"
"I don't think you understand...I will never go against my summoner, no matter what!" He pounced and clawed at the blue amphibian, who unsheathed his swords and deflected the blows, starting their battle.
With the other combatants, Anza's Susanoo grasped it's sword with both hands, and took a sideways stance, holding the blade in front of it's face, with the tip facing Gamabunta. "Can you follow me, tadpole?"
The toad narrowed his eyes. "Underestimate me, girl, and it will be the last thing you do."
"Bunta, I don't want you to kill her. Just...try to knock her out." voiced the Yellow Flash.
"...I will do my best, but if worst comes to worst...I can't promise anything."
He knew that was going to be his answer, but he couldn't stop his fists from clenching. "I...understand." With that confirmation, the toad boss too brought out his sword, and Anza charged, resulting in a clash that made the ground quake.
'She's...strong...but I won't let a little kid beat me!' Gamabunta pushed her away, but she was hell bent in fighting a melee, coming right back for more. He did his best to deflect the absurdly long katana, and eventually managed to get a slash on her, but his blade did nothing more than scratch the construct, revealing just how tough it was. 'This thing's harder than rock! My sword strikes won't do very well against her…but jutsus might.' Avoiding Susanoo's next few attacks, he got a small opening, and leaped into the air, forming the tiger seal. "Water Release: Gunshot!" He spewed a large glob of water down at Anza, but she jumped, flying into the air with him, dodging the attack entirely.
"Your mine now!" She flew towards the toad and tried to cut him open, but he nimbly twisted his body out of the way and planted a powerful kick on her as punishment, sending her back to the ground with a massive *thud*, while he landed safely. She simply got back up. "Or maybe not. Despite your size, your surprisingly flexible."
"As I said...you shouldn't underestimate me."
"I see that now...next time you won't get so lucky." The 'Uzukage' went back to trying to carve up Gamabunta, and like before he skillfully blocked her attacks, but as they continued to come to blows, she got a feel for how he fought, and started to get small, insignificant cuts on his arms. It was the same for the summon, as he also began to get more and more strikes on her, effectively making them stuck in a perpetual loop.
"Rgh...Minato...I'm dead even with her! I can't get any good hits, and neither can she, but I can bleed while that jutsu can't! We need a different plan!"
"I know!" His first thought was to have Gamabunta prepare some oil so he could ignite it, but that collaboration was highly dangerous and could kill Anza if her defence wasn't really as strong as it seemed...but he couldn't think up anything else that would work, as if he used the mark on her to hit her with a Rasengan, Susanoo would protect her long enough for her to headbut him to the ground, which might knock him out of the fight like her sister. 'I'm sorry...but I have to do this, or else everyone could be in danger.' "Bunta...get the oil ready." The toad grunted in acknowledgement, and as he continued to be on the defensive he started converting his chakra into oil, letting it pool in his mouth, making his cheeks puff out, something Anza couldn't miss even without her sight.
'What is he doing? Probably don't want to let that touch me...' She broke off to get some distance, thinking that might be the safest thing to do, but that was what the duo wanted.
'Now!' Gamabunta spewed the thick liquid at her, and on his head Minato threw an explosive tag into it, setting it off remotely and making the torrent of oil into a wall of flame while also increasing it's speed.
'...fuck me...' The combination attack struck, creating an inferno that bathed the valley in an orange glow. Once the fire and smoke died down a bit, it turns out Anza's guardian was still standing, with it's wings in front of it like a shield. They had rather large cracks, but ultimately seemed superficial when they folded back to their normal positions. "Okay...ow. The force of that jutsu whipped my head back, and my neck is still sore from when Mito and Choji hit me...guess that's something else I can pay you back for."
The stress of the fight made sweat run down the sides of Minato's face. "...why am I not surprised that didn't work? And now she knows to take flight if you do that again...damn. Sorry, but you're going to have to hold her off until I can think of something else."
"I can try, but seeing how much that did...I don't know how long I can. Hopefully Gamahiro can defeat the chimera and come help us..."
Said toad was not having an easy time with Daku. The beast obviously sparred with Anza's humongus Susanoo and learned how to fight sword wielders, as he was skillfully dodging his strikes and countering rather easily with either breaths of fire or claw strikes. It was a wonder that his swords were still intact. 'Must be good ole' toad smithing.' reasoned Fu as she ducked under Anza's summon's tail as it missed her summon's head. 'And that goddamn tail...it's like it can be as long as he wants it to be! This is nuts!' At that moment, Daku backed off, but Hiro kept his blades up for whenever he decided to attack again.
"You...are a good opponent. Besides my master, you are the first being I have fought in more than a hundred years, and you do your race proud, toad. It's a shame we have to be on opposing sides, but my master is my master, and I'll do whatever she says. I'll honor you, though, by showing you the full extent of my skills." He moved his tail so that Gamahiro could see it, and at around the middle the scales on it opened up and pointed out, showing smaller, slimmer scales just underneath. With a flick, he fired them, and the silent kenjutsu master used his swords to block them, only to be shocked that they exploded on impact, making little shards embed into the sturdy katanas. On his paws, more scales flowered open, and that meant that his tail wasn't the only one that could launch the deadly projectiles. The lion-like animal rushed back into combat...and the toad began to lose. Daku swiped at him, which Hiro blocked, but he couldn't block the scales that were shot into his shoulder and promptly splintered, causing blood to gush out of the wound...yet he fought on. For several minutes he continued to battle the chimera despite the growing amount of red on his body and the worsening condition of his weapons, but he wouldn't stop until he couldn't move.
"Hiro! Stop! Go back, this isn't worth your life!" shouted Fu, but he shook his head. There was something he wanted to do first. Powering through the pain, he deflected a claw and before it could bounce away completely, he jammed his other sword under one of the scales and ripped it off, making Daku let loose a bloodcurdling shriek as his own lifeforce started flowing down his arm. After the pain subsided, he looked at the amphibian with nothing short of fury in those single-colored eyes, and in a second had the sword responsible in his mouth, biting it in half. He then pounced onto the toad, tearing into his wounded shoulder with his wicked teeth. Before anymore damage could be done, he finally went back home, leaving the former jinchuuriki in the air. Fortunately for her, Minato saw the large poof of smoke signalling Gamahiro's departure, and transported her to him on top of Bunta. "Thanks…"
"No problem...but Bunta might not be able to fight for much longer...everything we do, it's like her Susanoo can't feel...it just doesn't register!"
"So what do we do?! If he can't do much, how are we going to win?! She can crush us like ants in that thing!"
"There's only one thing left, then…Fu, I'm sending you to Kushina. Tell her to create as many chains as she can and aim them at Anza." Before the girl could protest, she was sent away. "Okay, Bunta...just a little bit more."
"Yeah...about that...I was just listening in on your conversation, and you just gave me a great idea, Minato." his daughter said, and Susanoo's left hand started to glow. In a blink of an eye, chains wrapped around Gamabunta's sword and disarmed him. Calling upon Chomei's chakra, she put on a burst of speed, and the missing-nin impaled the wort-covered summon in the left shoulder, and lifted him up off of the ground as more chains slithered out of the katana, binding his movements. "See? See what happens when you wake the giant? You've made me suffer for so long...but now...now I'm doing damage...to you...but I want to do so much more. I want chaos...and for this entire world to see what I've done...and to do that...all I have to do is kill you. I want to be remembered until the end of time as the one who killed the Fourth Hokage...and I think making your own summon crush you and everyone you love is a good way to do that." She tossed Gamabunta off the weapon to where the rest of the retrieval team was at...and there was nothing the toad could do. He had no access to his chakra, so he couldn't teleport back to Mount Myoboku.
'No! I have to send all back to Konoha, before Bunta crushes them!' As he prepared to do that...he spotted a light down there. A bright, orange light...and it wasn't Kushina's chains.
-a few minutes earlier, Mito's mindscape-
"How much longer, fuzzball?! I need to get back out there! I need to help them!" yelled the blonde in front of the bars of Kurama's 'prison'.
"Well, if you didn't decide to try and take on her Susanoo by yourself without even knowing how strong it was, we wouldn't even be in this damn mess!" roared back the Kyuubi, who sighed after the outburst. "Look, I'm doing all I can. That punch cracked all your ribs, a portion of your skull, and tweaked your spine a bit. I've had to divert all of my power to heal them, and I'm getting close to completion, but you're going to have to sit tight just a bit longer."
"But they may not have that much time! Who knows what Anza can do now!"
"I understand, but there's nothing we can do until you're all healed up! You're just going to have to let your parents and comrades take care of the problem for awhile. Remember, Anza is not just your responsibility, it's everyone's that came to this valley today, so don't think you are the only one who has to fight her."
Asura nodded from his spot next to his 'brother'. "He's right, Mito. All your friends decided to come here so they could get their friend back, so you have to trust that they can hold her off while you get better. They also have Kakashi, Kushina, and Minato with them, they'll be fine."
She sighed. "I know...but I just don't like being so...useless."
"Believe me, I know how you feel…" He closed his eyes, and went back to watching what was going on outside the mindscape...only for him to shoot up to his feet after a minute. "No...crap...this isn't good." He bounded over to his reincarnation and stuck out his hand, as if he was trying to give her something. "Come on...come on...come on! Damn it, it doesn't work with you! Must be because I'm not my father...damn it!"
"What are you trying to do? What's going on out there?!"
"I was trying to give you access to my Six Paths Senjutsu, but it doesn't work! Which...might be a good thing as you don't know how to use senjutsu yet...and what's happening is that there's a giant toad coming straight at us!"
"WHAT?!"
"You heard me! Your mother was just about to create some chains to hopefully stop it, but I don't know if she can without creating a barrier! And that would mean it would go splat, along with your father! We're sitting ducks!"
"No...we're not! I just remembered something! Kit, tear the seal off!"
"Why? What would that do?"
"It doesn't matter, just DO IT! DO IT NOW!" Hearing the urgency in his voice, she did, and the iron gates vanished. "Great! Now that all of my power is free for you to use, I can heal the final injuries in a second! I'm going to catch that tadpole, you prepare for battle!" Mito nodded, and woke herself up just in time to see a giant, translucent arms form out of the seal on her stomach, catching Gamabunta and moving him to the ground safely.
"What the...Mito?! What the hell was that?! And why are you orange?!" asked Sasuke, and confused by his statement, she looked at her body, and he was right. Her entire body was glowing orange, and her seal was seemingly stuck on her clothes. She also noted that there was a line running down her chest that parted at her stomach, but she didn't have a lot of time to look at herself.
"I don't know Sasuke, it must be because I broke the seal…" She got back up, and looked at the black tower that was controlled by her sister. "Everyone, stay down here. I'm going to take care of this...once and for all."
"With how your chakra is now...I bet you can. Go get her. End this madness." Again, she nodded, and began taking steps forward. As she did, her cloak parted down the middle, opened up and lengthened into a jacket similar to the one Anza was wearing, with three magatama on each side of the collar. On her cheeks, thick, black lines formed in the shape of whiskers, and the swirl on her gut became a complete circle, with an orange line distinguishing it from the rest of her body. Almost on instinct, she summoned an avatar to fight Anza: a translucent, yellow-orange version of Kurama that matched Susanoo in size.
"So...you've done it, Mito...you've become a perfect jinchuuriki."
Mito didn't answer...her biju did through the shroud. "Yes. We almost beat you back near the Land of Sound, and that was with only eight of my tails. Now that she can use all nine...there's no way you can beat us."
"I guess we'll see about that." She took the same stance as earlier, and called upon all of her biju, quickly powering up to max, which was reflected on the Mangekyo jutsu as changing to a bloody shade of red before getting covered in an armor of lava and fire. "Daku, I order you to stay out of this. This...is my fight. Our fight." The chimera nodded, and backed away.
"Mito...I have to tell you something before we fight her...we only have about five minutes before you'll revert back to the normal chakra mode, and you'll lose the strength required to fight something this size. We simply don't have the connection needed to maintain Tailed Beast Mode."
"Five minutes will be more than enough." Anza took the first move and tried to poke holes into Mito, only to be foiled when the other jinchuuriki dodged them all. After the orange kunoichi did that, she made her tails slam into her twin, but that was blocked by a scolding hot wing...and the blonde noticed it wasn't nearly as hot as when she last fought her Lava Release Chakra Mode. 'This power...it gives me the ability to tough out her heat! That means I can actually fight her!' Getting in close, she formed a fist and punched at where Anza was at, but Susanoo blocked with it's incredibly sturdy weapon before hitting her in the face, making her skid back and form deep trenches. Grasping with the katana with both hands, it raised it above it's head and swung down, the length and speed almost guaranteeing that it would hit, so she brought up her arms to block it, and as soon as she did the merc was on her, raining down slash after slash. Luckily, her tails easily deflected them, and something clicked in Anza's mind.
'My sword is too long for this kind of close-quarters combat...she could eventually exploit the excess length by using those tails to knock me off balance...I simply can't have that.' Without warning, the katana disappeared, leaving the two feuding siblings in a white-knuckled brawl. After both tanked a few hits to see what each other could do, Anza showed her experience of being able to read her opponents by expertly changing her stances to bat away a few strikes, landing a few of her own, and kneeing the fox avatar in the muzzle. This only served to make her sister more determined. Morphing her nine tails into arms, she launched a merciless eleven-handed assault that despite Anza's attempts to lessen the damage on Susanoo, it gained a few cracks under all that molten rock. 'She's...so strong now...but I can't give up! There's still a chance that I can win!' She focused as much biju chakra as she could into her hands and feet and powered through the onslaught, hit Mito a couple times before landing a high kick on her chin, then kicking her in the chest hard enough to make her roll on the ground for a second before getting up.
"Kit! Let me in on the action for a minute!" voiced Kurama, and she did. Acting through the shroud, he opened his mouth, and rapidly started to gather chakra, forming a purple ball. "Bijudama!" He fired, and knowing how devastating that technique was, Anza brought back out her sword and charged every inch of it with chakra. As it reached her enough to where she could hit it, she made a vertical slash, cutting the jutsu in half and making it pass by her harmlessly, both parts exploding in the water behind her. She didn't get time to think out her next move, though, as the Kyuubi kept on firing Bijudama's, so she kept cutting through them, making the legendary battleground gain even more scars.
"Did you really think I'd let those hit me?! How delusional! I know how exactly those things work!"
"Then how about this?!" Anza looked up, and saw the largest Bijudama she'd ever seen above Kurama, it being about the size of the biju and her Susanoo.
"...shit!" Diverting her chakra off of the blade, she began to form her own Bijudama with the chakras of the Sanbi, Yonbi, and the Nanabi. In the end, it wasn't as large, but it was half the size of her construct, so it would have to do. "Bijudama!" They fired their attacks, and when they collided, they set each other off with a deafening *BANG*, sending water sky high and buffeting the area in high-speed winds. In the chaos, the powerful teens rushed each other, each trying to hit the other, but they ended up catching each other's punches and slamming their construct's head's together in another power struggle. 'And here we are again...in the fated battle between us that was predetermined the moment I ran from Konoha...in a way, I've made history repeat. I'm the Madara to your Hashirama...and this probably going to end in the worst way...with me dead at your feet, because I...I don't want to go back...and that hurts me to say. Konoha was...my home for nine years...and yet it and everyone there has caused me so much pain...maybe...it never had to be this way? Maybe if I hadn't revealed myself, I could have lived in a happy lie...where I could stand with you instead of against you...or maybe, if I never came back, and I just wandered the world with no sense of direction...but neither of those happened, did they?' Anza moved first, using the hands on her wings to grab Mito's head and push her away so she could land a hit. 'I didn't like living like that, and I was tired of being known as Menma...of being known as someone I wasn't. I had to pretend to not know anyone, and watch from afar...until you and Sasuke pushed your way back into my life. I thought...there was a chance I could forget all my suffering, and become the person I once was...but it was never meant to be. I...am...empty, always losing the things that have ever mattered to me...'
They went back to their sibling grudge match, the force of their clashes making colossal waves crash against the shore and the statues, which have somehow remained intact from the battle that was taking place not too far from them. As Mito evaded a fist and managed to plant one in Susanoo's chest, the lava momentarily started to fade, only to come back as Anza lifted into the air, taking a giant leap back, summoned the katana again, and sent out arcs of fire with her wide slashes. 'Anza…you're running low on chakra, aren't you? You've been fighting so many people at once for so long, using attacks that would hit everyone around you at the expense of your energy...that Susanoo must also drain a fortune...you know that if you run out of chakra you'll die, right? What am I saying...of course you do...you simply hate us that much. You'd die just to spite us one final time...and that just pisses me off, because I don't want you dead! I want you alive! I want you to come back and see Konoha again! I want to see you smile again, like when we were a team! When you were back with us, before everything fell apart! And I won't stop until I make those things happen!' She got down on all fours and started running towards the blasts, weaving between them before they could do substantial damage. When she got into striking distance of her sister, she pounced, ramming into her stomach and making Susanoo fall onto it's back. Changing her tails into hands again, she made them hold down all the major things that could fight back while she held down the torso with the avatar: the arms, the wings, the legs, and the sword just in case. "No more, Anza! I'm not going to let you stay steeped in your own anger! I'm going to free you of your hate! I'm going to save you, whether you like it or not!" The blonde brought up her fist and pelted the dark being with blows, and eventually the sound of cracking resounded from it, meaning that she was getting closer to her goal. So she sped up, and ended her barrage with a punch that completely broke Susanoo's head, sending Anza down into the dark below. Both it and the manifestation of Kurama around Mito vanished, leaving her panting on the water's surface.
"MASTER!" Daku dove after Anza, disturbing the melancholic peace that just settled in the area. The rest of the team joined Mito on the lake, with Fu enveloping her in a bone crushing hug.
"You did it! You beat her!"
"Heh...yeah...I did…"
She let her go. "So...where is she? Minato or Kushina have to put a paralyzes seal on her so that we can go home without any struggle."
"Uh...she went...under…"
"...WHAT?! And she isn't back up yet?! After Daku JUST went down after her?!"
"No…oh no...no no no…" She turned to her father. "Dad! Can you feel her?"
Minato nodded. "Yes, I can. She still has quite of bit of chakra left, but I don't think that she can fight any of-" He suddenly stopped, and his eyes widened. "I...it just disappeared…"
"What do you mean it 'just disappeared'?!"
"It's exactly what it sounds like! Daku's is gone, too!"
Sasuke put a hand on his chin. "That means she might have went back to her cave...or…"
"NO! She can't have drowned! She...she can't die before we've even had the chance to reconcile with her!" shouted a defiant Mito, who turned to where she approximately thought she punched Anza, and prepared to jump in after her and the giant animal...and then she saw the bubbles. "Oh thank god...she's okay...she's coming back up…"
Kushina looked at Minato. "And you can't feel her at all? Do you think…?"
"I don't know...but I think we're about to find out." They watched the bubbles rise more frequently, and in a sudden shift, a blur shot out of the water. It flew around in a circle around them for a minute before finally moving to a spot in front of them, back turned, and gently landed onto the lake, barely disturbing it. Of course, it was Anza, but she was...a little different. From what they could see, the ends of her long hair were a little spikier than normal, and she had wings different than the ones she usually used. These were formed by her chakra chains, with the 'membrane' that would allow her to fly seemingly being made out of the same barrier that Kushina could create, and they were shaped like two halves of the same star.
"Let me guess...all of you thought I was done? Sorry...that just isn't who I am." she said, and proceeded to tear her sleeves off, showing the pristine, white fur covering her arms. "I don't feel my chakra going haywire around my eyes anymore...good, I'd rather fight without even the slightest impediment. Not that it was much of an impediment in the first place." Anza reached up, untied the band, and let it fall to the surface. She turned to the rest of them, showing her heavily scaled face, and opened her eyes...her ghastly, glowing, pale yellow eyes.
"No...Anza...you didn't...do you realize how dangerous that training is?!"
"So you know what this is? Why am I not surprised…Daku did say that only people with strong bodies can learn it, and if you don't have that, then no one does."
"You could have turned to stone!"
"Oh, I know...which is one of the reasons why I never completed it."
"Then...how are you in Sage Mode?!"
"It's not me who's in it."
"You mean...you merged with Daku? That's why he disappeared from my normal senses?"
She nodded. "That's right. I'm still learning how to access it by myself, but before I could figure it out...well...you know, this kinda came up."
"Then you're in a form even weaker than the one sensei uses...an incomplete incompletion, essentially."
Anza shrugged. "What does it matter? It allows me to fight just a bit longer, so I have no qualms with it. Though...Daku's working overtime to make sure none of the deadly consequences happen to me while he's with me, so that I have some problems with...anyway, are we going to get this finale underway, or are we just going to sit here and talk the rest of the day away like little girls?" All of her classmates took a step towards her, but their superiors blocked them from going any farther.
"Kakashi-sensei! Mom, dad! Let me at her! I can beat her again!"
Kushina shook her head at Mito's protests. "No. We're not going to let you fight her by yourself anymore. It's time me and your father gave a good old fashioned ass-kicking to your rebellious sister. Kakashi, make sure none of them try to join us in this fight."
"I'll do that, just make sure you end this."
"Thank you." The parents of the raging teen took up positions across from Anza. "Are you ready, Minato?"
"Ready to fight our daughter? No, not really...but this has to be done if we want to save her from the road she's going down."
Anza sneered. "Oh, so NOW you want to save me?! FUCK YOU. Fuck you and everyone you love! You made me believe that you loved me, then you left me out there for the wolves to eat! WHO DOES THAT TO THEIR KIDS?! Both of you are the worst humanity has to offer! Even Madara is a saint by comparison! Heartless, heartless, HEARTLESS!"
The redhead looked down at the water. "We know...we are horrible parents for not locating you, and you have a right to be angry with us...but that won't stop us from hoping that we can be a whole family again."
The jinchuuriki took a deep breath to calm down, only to be a futile effort when it just made her angrier. "I wanted a family...even after being betrayed by the one I was a part of and loved, I still wanted one...so I took Fu as my sister, only for her to betray me later too...when I came back, Kakashi, Sasuke, Mito...they were still my siblings, and they betrayed me...I took Haruka, hoping I could make sure that she couldn't do the same...and then you took her captive, along with the people I started to consider as part of my 'family'...the only ones I have left are Isobu, Son Goku, Chomei, Haku, and Daku. Don't you see? I will never be part of your family again...as you are responsible for all of my anguish. So come...meet the villain you created." Seeing no other option, the two high-ranking shinobi charged their daughter, who barely blocked their conjoint forearm strike.
"You're making a mistake, Anza! Stop this, or else we'll have no choice but to fight you at full strength!" warned her father.
"No...I'm not." She pushed them off and didn't waste anytime in going to taijutsu, and changing her wings back to weapons. Despite the skill she had, all she could see was her parents blocking and avoiding her punches, and after a few seconds of seeing if she changed up her style, they made their move, battering Anza around the lake rather easily. 'They are making me look like a fool! I've got to do something!' Using the Hiraishin, she broke off contact with Minato and Kushina and flew up, forming half of the tiger seal. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" She spat out a stream of senjutsu-enhanced fire, and flew around trying to hit her parent's, but the Uzumaki erected a shield to let the flames pass by safely. 'Of course she was going to do that, why would I think I had a chance at hitting them? Even if I did...I don't have much energy left. Susanoo...drained practically all the biju chakra I had. I can't go on for much longer…' Suddenly, the Hokage appeared above her and hit her over the head, sending her back down to ground level. Before she could go back under though, her mother wrapped a chain around her waist and pulled her in, giving her a strong punch to the face that sent her spinning onto the water. She managed to right herself by spreading her wings as wide as they could go, and she rocketed towards the one responsible for her impromptu flight, and she managed to land a hit on her face, but Kushina was a lot more durable than she looked, taking it without budging a bit, and kneed her daughter in the gut, forcing some blood out. The redhead rained down some long over due punishment, and Minato got in it as well, ending with them kicking Anza away. Once she fell flat onto the water, she struggled to get up from all the blows she's taken, but she did, to her family's disappointment. 'I...I can't...fight anymore...I'm..done for...' "(Huff) I can see...the look in your eyes...the feelings you won't express. Why...don't you just come right out and say it?"
"Say what, Anza?" asked Kushina.
"That you hate me...that I'm not the daughter you wanted...that you want me dead and gone. T-tell me the truth...for once...please…"
Minato shook his head. "I'm sorry...we can't do that...as that's not the truth. We can't hate you, as we love you, and even though you didn't turn out like we thought you would, that's fine. We'd rather get to know the present you over mourning over your death again, and all we want...is for you to come back to us." He held out his hand, and his wife mirrored the action. "Please...come back. Everyone's waiting for you."
"...so you can't even do that, huh? You have to tell me sweet nothings even as you hold a knife to my throat. Fine…" They saw tears run down her face, and she cupped her hands. Inside, a Rasengan formed...and grew...and grew...and grew until it was as large as her torso. Her fur, scales, and glowing eyes vanished, replaced by her normal look. "I'm not going to wait for an execution, or be forced to my knees so you can strap chains to my body. If I'm going to die...it'll be on my own terms." She blinked to their sides, and on instinct the blonde formed his own to counter hers, creating a storm around them.
"No! Please, don't do this!"
"I don't care anymore! Even if I were to survive, there would be nothing I could do to save them! So I'm taking you with me! We'll be bunkmates in hell for all eternity!"
Struggling to stand against her large jutsu, he created another Rasengan in his other hand and combined it with his first one...but hers didn't move. 'She...she put all her chakra into this attack! It's...simply too powerful compared to my own! I guess I have no choice, then!' Calling on his training on in the toad's home, his eyes changed shape to that of a toads, and an orange pigment surrounded them. "I'm sorry for this! Sage Art: Rasengan!" He poured senjutsu chakra into his jutsu, empowering it enough to break through the standstill. Seeing the attack barreling toward her, her left arm moved on it's own to desperately try to protect her...but it didn't stop the technique.
"GRAAAAAH!" Anza screamed as it wrenched her arm in every direction and carrying her away to the statue of Madara. As a last act, she expelled her summon out of her body, and he landed in the water, unconscious from the ordeal, while she created a small hole in the stone, kicking up dust.
"...it's over...it's finally over…" he mumbled, and soon everyone came up to where he and his wife were.
"Are you sure, dad? We thought that twice, and she got back up from both…" said Mito, and he nodded.
"Yeah...she doesn't have anything left in her anym-"
"G-give t-them...back...give m-me back...my l-little girl…" The team looked at the cloud of dust, and saw Anza stumble out of it...with her left arm twisted at an odd angle, and bleeding profusely from cuts gained from the Rasengan. She moved her other arm up, as if to reach out for them. "I...I...want her...by my...side…" Not even a second after, she fell face first into the water.
"ANZA!" They all shouted, and they ran to her. Her twin was the one to flip her back over to the right side side so she wouldn't drown, and held her up so she wouldn't sink. Seeing that Anza's eyes were closed, she smacked her a few times to try to wake her up.
"No...come on, stay awake...d-don't pretend like you're dying!"
A weak laugh escaped from the missing-nin. "Tell that...to my c...chakra...and my arm...I won't...last much longer...heh, who...would have thought...I would die in...your arms, of all...people…"
"You're not dying!"
"Lie to yourself...all you want…" Anza turned to look at her, with half-closed eyes. "I want...you to know...all of you, to know...I never...wanted to fight any of you...I could have stayed...content for the rest of my...life...but you forced...my hand…"
"We never did anything to your students! Please, you have to believe us!"
"And...I want that to be true...but you all have hurt me...so...much...I can't trust...a word you say. All any of you...ever say...are all lies."
Mito felt her eyes starting to water. "Then...then we tortured them! Sicked Ibiki on them!" She saw her sister slowly close her violet orbs, and she went limp in her hands. "No...no! You...you can't leave us again…" She turned to the Yamanaka. "You learned how to be a medic, right? Please, tell me there's something you can do to save her!"
"I-I'll try!" Ino dropped down, moved her hands to the broken arm, and began healing it. After a minute, the bleeding slowed to a trickle...but so did Anza's breathing. "All I can do is heal her arm...I...can't stop her from dying."
"Can't you just place your chakra in her?!"
"I don't have enough to make a difference...maybe if you or your parent's did, but everything's shutting down...fast. I don't think their chakra would be able to assimilate quick enough…"
Now the tears started to fall. "No...after all that...there's...nothing we can do...damn it...damn it…DAMN IT!"
Inside her seal, the newly freed Kurama and Asura could feel her anguish. "If only I could use my powers...I could heal Anza, and this wouldn't be happening…" Through his link to Mito, he looked at his reincarnation's sibling...and stopped on the whiskers. "Wait...waitwaitwait...KURAMA! I have an idea!"
"What is it?"
"Look at her! She has a connection to you thanks to her mother, and you have full control over your chakra now! You might be able to do something!"
The fox's eyes widened. "By our holy father...you might be on to something!" Forcing his chakra out, Mito's stomach turned orange, and he formed a head and hand out of the spot.
"F-fuzzball? What are you doing?" she asked.
"Trying to save Anza!" He touched said unconscious girl, and gave her a tail of his power. For a minute, a red cloak similar to the one Mito used formed around Anza, and her whiskers got thicker, before the cloak seemingly was absorbed into her body. When that happened, the bleeding on her arm stopped altogether, and her breathing became less labored.
"H-her chakra's back! She's going to live!" shouted Sasuke, and the tears of sadness became tears of joy.
"She's going to live…" she echoed, staring at the sleeping teen's face.
Next to them, Minato sighed in relief. "Thank god...I was worried that she'd be gone forever…"
"Me too...can take her home now?" asked Kushina, getting him to nod.
"Yeah...let's all go home."
