DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, FAIRY TAIL, OR ANY ASSOCIATED CHARACTERS
And here we go with the latest chapter. Lots of stuff going on lately, who wants to see how it plays out? I definitely do. Anyways, read, review, and as always, enjoy!
Chapter 30
"And that's how you use Tailed Beast transformation! It's a whole other kind of sensation!" B proclaimed as they exited the training dojo. "I need to get a meal, or more training is no deal!"
Pantherlily rolled his eyes. "Impressive as always, though you could stand to tone it down on the rhymes."
"I thought it was amazing!" Happy exclaimed.
From the moment that the two Exceeds had met B, they knew that his personality was aloof, with an emphatic undertone. They'd spent some time back on Turtle Island, but had left a few days ago, because B had said that he needed to do some training. They'd first stopped in the Cloud village, because B said there was a meeting that he was forced to attend with his brother. The Exceeds were expecting another rapping buffoon, one that would be even worse than B.
Imagine their surprise and horror when they met a man with more muscles then even B. His face was permanently set in a scowl, rivaling Laxus' even. As it turned out, he was also the leader of the village, and was incredibly scary.
Pantherlily had noticed that these Cloud folks didn't seem very original when it came to naming people. You had B, the Raikage's name was A, and his direct subordinate was named C. Needless to say, Happy could have thought up a better naming system, and it would have been better, even if they would have all been variations of the word mackerel.
After the brief meeting that involved lots of yelling and submissive holds on A's part, the Exceeds accompanied B up to a temple set in an impassible canyon. The jinchuriki had said that it usually took one a week or more to traverse the terrain, but he'd convinced Pantherlily to fly them there, with Happy tagging along behind.
As eccentric and seemingly carefree as B was, he was an incredibly skilled warrior. Lily still hadn't worked out all the details of these shinobi and their abilities, but he could say for certain that they were elite forces to be reckoned with. And he was almost positive that B was in the upper echelon of said shinobi. It only took five seconds of watching him wield seven blades to determine that.
Due to the clear superiority of B as a swordsman, Lily had been eagerly engaging in sparring matches against the jinchuriki to hone his skills. Unfortunately for B, he'd been so shocked when Lily transformed into his battle mode for the first time that he promptly fell in his butt, resulting in the blade of Lily's massive sword being pressed to his neck. Since then, however, B had accumulated seven straight wins, and showed no signs of slowing down.
In spite of their vast power gap, Lily and B seemed to always enjoy themselves when they sparred, often cracking jokes, or in B's case, rhyming them. Happy, lazy as ever, just sat by and watched while eating fish.
But now that B had finished his training for the day, the trio found their mouths watering at the thought of a meal, their stomachs loudly agreeing with them. Emerging from the dark temple, they didn't expect to see a figure standing at the bottom of the extensive staircase as if it was waiting for them. After all, this area was secluded, and the terrain was nigh impassible, even if you knew it well.
B walked slowly down the stone stairs that had been carved into the side of the mountain, the two Exceeds floating above either shoulder. "This fool looks rather strange, I have a feeling there might be an exchange," B said quietly.
Lily nodded to Happy, preparing the little blue cat should something happen. As they descended the stairs, the man waiting for them became easier to identify. When they reached the bottom, they could see every detail. He had gray skin, and gill-like markings over his cheekbones. His eyes were blue-gray and sharp, and his teeth had been filed into points. His blue hair was styled upwards to resemble a fin. He wore a black cloak with red clouds on it, and a massive bandaged sword was strapped to his back.
The shark-man grinned, flashing his sharp teeth at the trio. "Well, well, what do we have here? A jinchuriki and his two pets? Can't say that I've ever seen flying cats before. Then again, I've never been to the village Hidden in the Clouds, who knows what you people are hiding."
"An Akatsuki, huh?" B recognized, his gaze travelling over the cloak. "Don't worry my feline friends, I'll erase this fool and put him to his end!"
"I've been searching high and low for you, Eight Tails. My great blade Samehada just loves powerful chakra," the Akatsuki grinned. "And it seems to have sniffed out a particular kind that it really likes, so I'll feed it with yours. Don't worry, I won't kill you."
Pantherlily grew almost instantly to stand in his battle form. Now taller than B, his chest rippled with muscles as he reached behind him and brought out his blade, which expanded in size until it was as large as the bandaged one on the back of the Akatsuki.
"Woah, you're a big kitty," he laughed. "Too bad Samehada doesn't like the taste of cat."
"That's too bad," Lily said, dashing forwards. In the blink of an eye, the bandaged blade was there to block Lily's, and the pair remained locked together. The shark man smirked with amusement as he stared across the locked blades.
"You're pretty strong for a little cat. Maybe you're even worthy of learning my name. Kisame Hoshigaki."
"Pantherlily," the black cat replied.
"Strange, normally you'd be weakening by now from my blade stealing your chakra," Kisame narrowed his eyes. "This close to Samehada should be draining your chakra unbelievably quickly. Unless...you don't even have chakra!" the shark man realized.
Before any more words could be said, a lightning-coated pencil sped past Kisame's ear, the shark man having just moved his head to the side in time. The pencil impacted the ground and disappeared, its penetrating power allowing it to dig itself into the earth.
B appeared to the right of the bladelocked pair, one of his blades in his outstretched right hand. Changing direction, he dashed right at Kisame, coating his blade in lightning chakra and thrusting it forward. In a quick twist, Kisame delivered a powerful kick to Lily's midsection that sent the black cat crashing into the stairs, his back cracking some of the stones. Samehada swung around just in time for B's blade to pierce directly into it, but all of the lightning chakra disappeared instantly, halting its progress.
"Lily! Are you okay?" Happy asked as he hovered over.
The black cat nodded and rose to his feet, hefting his sword in front of him again. "I'm fine, Happy. You need to go tell the Raikage about this, we'll need some backup."
Happy gave Lily a thumbs up. "You got it! I'll be back soon!" he declared before shooting off into the sky.
B looked up from his position next to Kisame. "No, not my brother! His iron grip makes me shudder!" he called after Happy, but the little cat was already out of earshot.
The jinchuriki shot Lily a scowl. "Now what'd you do that for? My brother will pound us into the floor!"
"Would you rather we take the risk of dying?" Lily shot back.
B looked offended"We won't die, especially not I! I'll kill this guy, then we'll disappear into the sky!"
Kisame chuckled, still engaged with B. "Is that so? How're you going to kill me when your chakra is constantly being drained?"
B responded by growing five tails of red chakra and shouting "WEE!"
Gray wouldn't say that he was healed completely. No one can heal from an emotional wound like that in just a week's time. But he was definitely doing better. He still walked like he was sulking, which reminded everyone of Shikamaru, but that was just the way he was.
What did surprise everyone, though, was the girl that walked on his arm. Though both of his hands were in his pockets, Gray's left arm had two hands wrapped around it, fingerless gloves covering the palms. While they weren't dating, Gray had to admit that he and Tenten had grown closer over the past week as she helped him process his grief.
He really didn't know how to process that type of grief on his own. Usually, Gray just bottled it up until it grew to such a height that it just exploded and all came rushing out at once. It'd happened the first two times, and you'd think that he knew not to do it again, but nope. It was lucky that Tenten had enough sense to help him. If she hadn't, whoever was around when the bottle broke would have been in for the ass kicking of their life.
Even if Tenten knew that they weren't a couple, she had to hope that the small gesture of allowance from Gray meant that there was more to come. Regardless of their relationship, the kunoichi was just enjoying spending time with him. They'd taken a break from their regular training sessions, Gray opting out because of his emotional state.
Instead, they'd taken to walking around the village in silence. Tenten sometimes tried to make small talk, but Gray wasn't really into it. It didn't stop her from trying, though.
"Hey, are you getting hungry? We could go get something to eat?"
Gray shrugged out of her grip on his arm. "No thanks. I think I'll just head back to my apartment, I'm tired."
Tenten frowned slightly at the ice wizard's response. She knew that he was still hurting, she just didn't want to push him any further and risk angering him. "Oh, okay."
"See ya," Gray waved behind him as he trudged back the way they'd came.
He turned when he came to the corner of the block and proceeded down the street, head bowed. Several minutes passed as he made his way back towards the Hokage's tower and his apartment. Just when the building appeared in his field of vision, he was thrown to the side by an explosion.
Landing on the ground, Gray rolled for a few feet before managing to stand back up. The left side of his coat was singed and torn, so he simply shed the garment and turned to assess the damage. A nearby shop had detonated, and a column of smoke was trailing up into the air. Seconds later, matching sounds could be heard from all directions, with identical trails of smoke wafting up into the sky.
"Not this again," the ice wizard sighed before taking off down a side alley. He was heading for the nearest cluster of explosions, as the shop that had detonated had no one in the immediate vicinity. Which meant that the targets were random, not planned.
Just when he emerged from the alley, he saw a Leaf ninja being stabbed through the chest with a rod of black steel. The man holding it turned to immediately assess the new arrival. He had orange hair and three nose piercings, as well as seven studs in each ear. His eyes were a strange purple spiral pattern.
"He knew nothing. Perhaps you can tell me what I need to know," the man said.
Gray growled, recognizing the man. He pressed his right fist into his open left hand and stared menacingly at the Rinnegan bearer. "You're Pain. The main Pain. You killed my friend, and you're gonna pay!"
Shikamaru hated being in charge of important things. All these expectations placed on him because Lady Tsunade saw something in him, it was such a drag. He was delivering a list of incoming teams that were supposed to arrive for the Chunin Exams a few weeks from now to the checkpoint at the village gates.
He greeted the two shinobi on duty with a raised hand. "What's up, guys?"
"Oh, hey, Shikamaru!" Izumo smiled.
"What brings you all the way out here?" Kotetsu asked.
Shikamaru yawned and held out the small stack of papers. "List of Genin teams that are supposed to arrive for the Chunin Exams in a few weeks. Lady Tsunade wanted me to deliver it early because she knew you guys would need all the time you can possibly get to look over this thing."
"What, is she insulting our intelligence or something?" Izumo joked dryly, taking the papers from Shikamaru.
The Nara placed his hand on the back of his head. "I think her exact words were 'useless fools'."
Kotetsu laughed. "That sounds about right!"
"Yeah, well, anyways, I better get back. We're putting the final touches on the exams and I need to-"
He never got the chance to finish his sentence, as multiple explosions rang out across the village. He whirled around, eyes wide in surprise at the clouds of smoke rising from the burning buildings. Izumo and Kotetsu leapt out of their seats and joined the gawking Nara.
"Let's go!" they yelled, moving towards the middle of the village. Shikamaru stopped them with outstretched hands, turning to look behind him, sure that he'd heard something. As he watched the gate, two figures appeared, their footsteps loud and completely void of stealth.
"I think we've got our hands full here," Shikamaru pointed out.
One of the approaching figures could be seen with a massive, red, three-bladed scythe raised overhead, cackling as he ran. The other figure, a hooded and masked man, forged ahead slightly, which caused the other to increase his speed.
"You trying to race me, Kakuzu? Huh?!"
"Shut up, Hidan. We've got company."
The pair ground to a halt in front of Shikamaru, Izumo, and Kotetsu. They both wore the black cloaks with red clouds that identified them as members of the Akatsuki. The one with the scythe, Hidan, smiled, holding his hands out to his sides as if he were about to embrace someone.
"Well whaddya know! A welcoming party! You shouldn't have!"
Shikamaru dropped to one knee and nodded to Izumo and Kotetsu, who produced their weapons. Izumo wielded his double swords connected by a chain at the pommel while Kotetsu hefted a massive mace, the head shaped like a conch shell.
They charged at the pair of Akatsuki with their weapons raised high. Said weapons were easily intercepted, though. Hidan raised his scythe to block the double blades of Izumo, while Kakuzu effortlessly caught the mace of Kotetsu with one hand, the skin having turned a darker shade than it was previously.
"How pathetic," Kakuzu said, his voice like gravel.
Hidan only laughed maniacally. "Yes, you'll be my first sacrifices to Jashin!"
"Now!" Shikamaru yelled.
Izumo and Kotetsu jumped backwards, landing on either side of the Nara, who smirked. Kakuzu and Hidan made to follow, but found that they couldn't move their bodies. Mustering the strength to look down, they saw that their shadows had turned a much darker shade, and were connected by a longer, thinner shadow that stretched from theirs to the kneeling boy's.
"Shadow Possession complete," Shikamaru smirked, a bead of sweat trailing down his forehead. "Hurry up, these guys are strong."
Izumo and Kotetsu nodded again, rushing back towards the action. Kotetsu's mace disappeared, replaced with one of the swords that Izumo tossed him, having disconnected it from the chain. The pair stabbed their blades into the bodies of the two Akatsuki in unison, smirking with satisfaction at the fact that they'd beaten their foes. Seconds later, all of their hopes were dashed when neither of the two bodies moved. Looking up, they saw two sets of hateful eyes staring down at them.
"Ow, that hurt!" Hidan complained casually as blood trickled from his mouth.
Kakuzu's green eyes seemed to bore into Kotetsu's soul, nearly making the shinobi cower in fear at the amount of killer intent flowing off of the Akatsuki. "You just cost me a heart. I'll have to replace it with yours."
"What?!" the two gate guards gasped.
They withdrew their blades and stepped back a few paces, looking to Shikamaru. "What's up with these guys, Shikamaru?"
"Are they immortal?" the Nara theorized.
A moment later, the tendrils of his shadow grew thinner and thinner until they finally broke away from the enemies' and returned to him. Shikamaru breathed heavily, cursing himself. "Damn, I'm out of chakra. These guys' power is incredible."
In a flash, Kakuzu had appeared right in front of Izumo and Kotetsu, hefting the two Leaf ninja into the air by their throats. They struggled and thrashed against the Akatsuki's grip, but to no avail. Eventually, and to Shikamaru's horror, their erratic movements ceased altogether, and they were promptly tossed towards their lookout post, destroying the simple wooden structure with their lifeless bodies.
Before Kakuzu could move towards Shikamaru, he was stopped by a call from Hidan. "Kakuzu! Don't even think about taking this one from me! I haven't rampaged in months! I'm gonna kill this one slow and savor every moment of it!"
"Fine," Kakuzu growled. "He doesn't have a bounty in the Bingo Book, so he doesn't matter to me."
The taller of the Akatsuki leapt upwards, landing on the roof of the nearest building and dashing off towards the heart of the village. Shikamaru turned back to Hidan, watching helplessly as the scythe approached. Hidan cackled as he stepped closer, an evil, creepy smile dominating his face.
"You got no idea the things I'm gonna do to you, kid. You've never experienced pain like this," he said before bringing the scythe down.
Shikamaru closed his eyes and awaited the inevitably finishing blow, but opened them when it didn't come. The red blades were frozen a mere six inches away from his chest. Hidan looked down in surprise, seeing the darker shadow again.
"Not this again! Kid, you're just delaying the inevitable. Just let me kill you already!" Hidan yelled.
"It wasn't him," a raspy voice said from the side.
Both heads swiveled to spy a carbon copy of Shikamaru, only this one had several diagonal scars across his face. "Dad!" Shikamaru realized.
"Dad?!" Hidan smirked. "I gotta say, you'll be the first father-son duo I've ever killed. Should be like ecstasy."
Shikamaru managed to extricate himself from underneath Hidan and join his father, who grunted with effort. "He's powerful. What have you analyzed so far?"
"As far as we can tell, he's immortal, and his physical strength is off the charts. He was able to block Izumo's blades by using it with one hand. As for his immortality, he was stabbed through the chest, and appears perfectly functional."
Shikaku set his mouth in a grim line. "I see. Troublesome. I guess it's a good thing that the Nara compound is so close to the gate, or I would be out of an heir."
Shikamaru sighed as he stared at his opponent with his father. "What a drag."
Tsunade's eyes darkened as she observed the carnage taking place before her. From the roof of the Hokage's tower, she could see the entire village, and it didn't look good. Flashes of red, and blue, followed by dust clouds at least notified her that her shinobi were fighting, but they had no idea of who or how many.
The Barrier Corps had only reported a single intruder, but one individual could not cause this much destruction in this many places at once, it was impossible. Growling under her breath, Tsunade bit her finger to draw blood and weaved the necessary hand signs before slamming the same hand onto the roof. On the street below, Katsuyu appeared in a massive puff of smoke.
"Lady Katsuyu! The Leaf village is under attack. Please take my chakra and attend to all of those who are wounded."
"At once, Lady Tsunade!"
Katsuyu split apart and began to crawl her way through all avenues of the village, leaving a very small clone of herself attached to Tsunade's shoulder. Just before the Hokage assumed her sitting position to perform her healings jutsu, her attention was captured by another voice.
"M'lady Tsunade!"
"Sakura," Tsunade recognized.
"The village is under attack!"
"Yes, I'm aware of that. I need you to get to the hospital, Iruka told me that it's already overflowing with wounded."
"Me?" Sakura asked incredulously. "What about Lady Shizune?"
"She's taking some sensitive information to the Torture and Interrogation Unit. They're meant to distribute it to all of our forces. You are a student of Tsunade of the Sannin. If you cannot take command in the hospital, then no one can, now get going."
Sakura bowed and leapt away. "At once, M'lady."
As soon as Katsuyu began to make her way around the village, her clones had an extremely hard time with the intake of all he information she was getting. Reports came in from everywhere about different individuals with different powers. Even rampaging shadow monsters that could use jutsu somehow made their way into her memory banks. The little slug did the best that she could to relay all of it, but it was difficult.
Regardless, one of her clones made it to the Torture and Interrogation Unit just as Ino, Shizune, and Inoichi emerged from it. They all gasped at the sight around them. All of the columns of smoke brought both anger and sadness to their minds.
Shizune instantly tried to make for the Hokage's tower, but when she'd run only thirty feet, she froze. In front of them was a terrifying sight. A Leaf shinobi was on his knees in front of a man, whose palm was on top of the shinobi's scalp. A second later, the man's hand rose off of the shinobi's scalp, taking a purple humanoid form out of the Leaf ninja's body. The shinobi collapsed dead to the street afterwards as the other man turned towards Shizune.
He had long, orange hair that hung down around his shoulders and framed his face, which was pierced by black metal rods, which were now revealed to be chakra receivers due to Shizune's autopsy of the Pain body that Jiraiya had managed to procure with the help of Gajeel.
Pain suddenly dashed forwards and planted a strong knee into the midsection of Shizune, causing her to crumple over in pain. Holding her stomach, she collapsed to the pavement in the blink of an eye, all before Ino or Inoichi could even react.
Pain hauled Shizune into a kneeling position and looked her directly in the face with his dark purple, spiraling eyes. "Tell me where I can find Naruto Uzumaki or I will be forced to rip it out of you."
Ino whimpered at the sight, as she and her father were rooted to the spot since he had Shizune hostage. To Shizune's credit, she was brave, a determined look setting itself in her eyes. "I'm not telling you anything!"
"So be it," Pain said. His arm and hand tensed up, preparing for him to pull away from Shizune's head, but he was suddenly knocked away from her by a blast of yellow lightning. Pain sailed away, colliding headfirst into the bricks of the Torture and Interrogation Unit before disappearing inside.
"That's my girlfriend you bastard!"
A strong arm pulled her up and pressed her against a muscular body. Shizune's eyes went wide, tears threatening to fall from them as she looked upwards. Even though the village was under attack, and she had almost lost her life seconds before, she couldn't help but smile at the presence of Laxus. The dragon slayer was well and truly angry this time.
"I'm-I'm your girlfriend?" Shizune asked softly.
Laxus raised an eyebrow as he looked down at her. "Got a problem with that?"
"And what if I do?" Shizune demanded.
Laxus shrugged. "Complain about it to someone else."
Shizune slapped his chest in mock anger, then buried herself against him in a fierce hug. "Thank you," she sobbed.
Laxus managed to extract himself from her arms and passed her to Ino and Inoichi, who had approached as soon as Laxus had appeared. "Take care of her, this isn't over."
As he said that, Pain appeared from the rubble that had been created by his impact. He stepped out, an emotionless expression on his face as he regarded the dragon slayer. "Love. How ironic. That's the problem with these Great Nations. They preach love, yet do nothing to break the cycle of hatred. That is why I shall break it myself."
"The hell you talking about?" Laxus asked, shrugging off his coat and tossing it to Shizune.
"It matters not. This village will soon be reduced to rubble unless I leave with Naruto Uzumaki."
"Oh, I get it. You're the jackass that killed one of my friends," Laxus growled, his magic power flaring up to new heights. "We thought about going to find you and kicking your ass, but you came to us instead. Convenient."
"You are the second to say that I have killed one of your friends. Would that be perhaps that man with the strange iron-based abilities?" Pain asked, not needing an answer when Laxus flinched. "I see. Then you can all join him."
Laxus exploded with lightning that matched his anger. Gradually, it's color darkened, passing orange, then red-orange, then red, until it finally settled on a darker red, the color of blood. Outlined in black, this lightning shook the ground with the amount of power that it was putting out.
"Red Lightning Dragon Mode!"
Before Laxus could jump forward, Shizune called out to him. "Don't let him touch your head!"
Laxus smirked. "He won't get the chance."
Whew, lots to unpack here. Lots of smaller skirmishes and one on one fights taking place, and we didn't even see some of the main characters! This arc has the potential to be five or six chapters long, but we'll see. Anyways, thanks for all of your support, and drop your thoughts if you feel like it!