'Thoughts' "Speaking" Author's Notes "Bijuu Speaking" "Telepathic Talking"
=Chapter 26: Rising stakes...=
"You're Naruto's friends, aren't you?"
"What do you want... Orange Flames?"
"Oh nothing really," spoke the feminine voice.
"Well unless you don't want a hint on our... attack?"
This definitely caught the eye of the senior Jonin who lowered their guard slightly. Kakashi took the lead from here. "What do you mean?" He was playing his cards safe and analysing his opponents.
"You guys really think Naruto's just going to abandon you guys right and let you all die?" That lone sentence cut straight through their hearts as everything started to fall into place. "If he didn't care for you guys, wouldn't he had broken out of this place already? Hatake-san, I'm sure you remember how proficient Uzumaki Kushina was with her prowess?"
"Uzumaki Kushina? Who's that?" questioned Tenten, reaching into her pocket for weapons. Snake watched as the scroll she brought out was aimed towards her.
"Simple really. Naruto's mother," spoke up Shikamaru. "You should be able to guess it, really."
"That's right. Well shocker, you guys aren't going to perish, along with the vast majority of Konoha!" called out the younger voice. "After all, we only have a few targets~"
The group immediately knew what they meant. Danzo. But they did say 'a few,' so, who else? The senior Jounin still didn't know if they should trust the rogues, but they didn't doubt their power able to sneak inside the sensing barrier like this.
"How did you get past my Genjutsu?" questioned Kurenai, still unsure.
"Oh Genjutsu doesn't affect me," said the younger one. "Pretty sure it does affect Snake-san over here."
"Not even of the highest calibre?"
"Don't even try. You'll waste your chakra and I don't think you'll want to considering..." Kakashi was immediately onto the younger voiced one with a kunai to their neck.
"So what do you want?"
"This is just a warning we gave you. If you feel someone else should know this that you can absolute trust then tell them. No snitching, you got it?"
"Sensei, you really expect us to trust these rogues?" called out Kiba from the back, with his partner growling.
"Oh you're going to snitch on us dog-boy?"
Kiba paled and scratched his head. He started sweating at the sudden threat but composed himself. "Well I don't plan to now considering you're going to get rid of Danzo-"
"-then we'll be off. Be back in two days!" Snake reached into her cloak and pulled out a small pouch. She grabbed something inside and clasped it in her hands. "Now, we cant have you following us now can we?"
She threw whatever she was throwing onto the ground with it exploding and sending out smoke, as well as a very small powder, out around the inside of the building. The Konoha ninja found they couldn't move and could only watch as the Orange Flames moved out of the building back to wherever they came.
The effect faded of as the two with Byakugan looked outside.
"Gone. Completely gone," said Neji as the rest stretched their frozen muscles. They stood in silence for a while until Ino broke it.
"So, they were joking about invading right?"
=Konoha ANBU Prison=
To say Ibiki was annoyed was an understatement. To say he was a master of mind games was not an understatement. To say he had gotten little information from Naruto was true.
He didn't know how someone could stand this long against his 'games' that were supposed to throw up information. Naruto never flinched at threats and seemed dead. He could definitely hear breathing though so he was still alive.
Not one suspect had ever been this quiet and resilient against him. Never in his entire career. He was turning into the prey this time with Naruto catching him off guard every now and then. He couldn't harm this person as he was Danzo's 'special' subject.
"ANBU, get me out. He's not giving any information at all." The few 'normal' ANBU there gasped at this but quickly brushed it off. Ibiki was led out of the prisons with more ANBU scattering around the cell.
'Brat's a good person. I can tell. Oh how big a mistake Danzo is going to make,' thought Ibiki walking out. Danzo's influence had reached its peak but now was starting to fade. People didn't like him and with dislike comes fall. Either way, his empire would collapse soon be it internally or by outside means.
Naruto watched Ibiki climb up the stairs, making sure it was silent, and asked the ANBU a question, just out of pure curiosity. "So how long until you're going to extract furball from me?"
"Silence in the prison," was his only response from the darkness. Naruto only sighed and laid back against the wall, waiting for the signal to flee. He'd let Danzo think he'd won but would strike at the last minute. Oh how the old could be fooled.
He changed his position into meditation again, gathering sage energy under the noses of ANBU. He'd thought they remembered but then again these were Danzo's ANBU. They were never seen during the Pein attack so how would they know? The regular ANBU here probably wouldn't remember either.
He felt at peace sensing the chakra of people in the village, seeing what they were doing just by the outline and trying to pick out individuals from the many. This would suffice until he was free.
A few minutes passed trying to find certain chakra signatures but was distracted by a messenger walking down into the prison and whispering to one of the guards. They nodded and the messenger left with Naruto picking up a few words.
'So, they try and take you tomorrow Kurama?'
"Please, let them try. It will be amusing to see their vain attempts."
Naruto chuckled inwardly at this and honed in the Hokage Tower. Danzo's chakra signature stuck out like a sore thumb until it just suddenly disappeared. He was walking towards something that was for sure. Something was interfering with his sensing and Naruto knew that Danzo would be hiding dirty tricks up his sleeves. It was just a matter of exposing him.
'It will be amusing to see if they can even control one piece of chakra right?'
=Outside of Mount Myoboku=
The ANBU currently watching over the moment had finished, for the most part, their refuge to launch their charge. All it was now is to wait for the command to strike which should appear soon. They had trust in their leader to complete the extraction by then so they would reign. Their emotionless minds though of nothing else.
One ANBU turned around from watching their target, only to be disposed of in a flash and someone else to disguise as them. Their body was hid behind some barrels as the intruder walked down the steps and into the main room.
They gained no attention as they blended in for a while, studying the ANBU's movement, before knocking out one and alerting the others. They flickered in between the charging ANBU, stole a kunai from one and threw it into another's face. One tried to escape through the door but wasn't needed as the noise had quickly spread out through the headquarters.
More rushed into the room and a few were taken down quickly with some falling rocks and being landed upon by more infiltrators quickly arriving. Some did the same set of hand seals and disappeared using an emergency technique taught to them while the rest delayed the intruders.
"Fire Style: Fire Dragon-"
"Plasma Style: Lion's Fists!" ANBU were thrown to the side like toys as shock waves bounced around the headquarters, knocking down pillars and causing the place to collapse in on itself. Green flashes jumped from wall to wall with the remaining ANBU planting paper bombs on the walls.
"Activate!" The tags glowed and exploded, with the ANBU hoping to catch at least one person in the blast but only succeeded in more destruction. They were quickly surrounded and wrapped together with a dark chain, being exposed to a paralysing mist.
"We'll let you live, but we'll tell you this..."
"...don't come back..."
"...or you'll regret it!"
"Now get out before this place blows up. We don't want Danzo to miss our message."
The ANBU felt control over their muscles already and the chains disappear and looked around. One thing hung around in their minds, report to Danzo. They all did that same formation of hand signs and disappeared with the base blowing up after them.
"Honestly, I don't know why we didn't do this earlier if it was this easy!" called out Tiger from afar, admiring the burning building.
"We did have to wait for the right time. It just seemed that now was perfect, considering what's going to happen soon."
"Let's go and wait for the fun. The fire will take care of the rest."
=Next Day: Somewhere in Danzo's Lair=
"Preparations complete?" called out Danzo somewhere underground and watching as Naruto was chained down to a table. Seals lay all over him as the time was here. Danzo couldn't wait any longer.
"Yes sir. Seals applied and no change in subject's chakra wave. Output constant. Seal ready to be loosened."
"Begin."
"Eight Trigrams Seal, made up of two separate not overlapping Four Symbols Seal. Second one added to encourage merging and increase strength," recited an ANBU from some scroll Danzo has given them, just as a reminder for the process.
Four ANBU stood around the table, ignited their fingers with chakra, and slammed their hands into the ground. A barrier rose up around Naruto as their seal started glowing.
"Chakra wavelength disturbed."
"Continue," demanded Danzo as they watched the seal ever so slightly start to unfurl. The centre spiral stirred but then reversed the other way, seemingly tightening around. The eight markings around arranged themselves not in pairs anymore but now equal distances apart from each other. The lines usually joining four finally joined with the other half and black lines spread across the body.
'Kurama?'
"What?"
'Show them fear.'
"Sir, it's loosening." They watched as the centre spiral unrolled itself and a malevolent red chakra started sweeping out from it. The waves of emotion washed over the room and all through Danzo's lair, barely making it out of the entrance.
"Activate the containment," commanded Danzo again, but this time a cylinder carried by a mechanical arm moved its way above Naruto and began absorbing some of the chakra. Minutes ticked by as the container slowly filled up with Naruto peacefully meditating inside his mind.
'He thinks he's successful right?' thought Naruto in his mindscape, watching red chakra float up gently. 'I'm bored. Let's shut it off.'
The spiral once again turned the opposite way as the remaining bubbles of chakra were sucked up by the machine and with Danzo cursing. "What happened?"
"It seemingly tightened by itself, sir. Maybe some kind of special 'resort' about the technique we don't know about?"
"Impossible." Danzo looked up to the container and watched the red bubbles move around. 'The scrolls never said anything like this!' He looked at the 'unconscious' Naruto and asked his question. "How much chakra have we gotten?"
"I suspect we have the same amount of five Jonin, sir. We may have more as we cannot identify the nature of the red colour."
"Send him back to the cells. We continue two days from now. ANBU, bring the container to the lab."
His subjects saluted and got off to doing their preparations, Danzo walking down the everlasting tunnels of his lair. The feeling of malevolence given off by the Kyuubi never seemed to fade over time. It was the same as it was.
His walking stick tapped against the metal floor as he looked by a room with giant pods inside. He opened the door and walked in, his subjects scurrying about and taking notes. They monitored the massive cylinder in the centre and watched as their leader walked towards it.
"How long?"
"It will be ready in a few hours, sir."
"Good. I expect to see it fit to use?"
"We are ready to apply chakra to it."
"Start the process."
The pipes on the roof roared into life as the green fluid inside started turning orange slowly and then red. Bubbles swam to the top and burst indicating some sort of reaction happening. Danzo watched as the red tint gathered in the centre, making an outline of something inside the tank.
Danzo smiled as he saw the outline of a body inside the tank, with long hair flowing from it. It was close. He watched as the scientists scuttled around the cylinder with machinery clanking and supporting the being.
"Perfect. It will be ready soon. Continue working."
=Unknown Location=
"This will be one of the most embarrassing things that has ever happened to me!" complained Urashiki, slamming their hand down. "Momoshiki, Kinshiki, they're dead!"
"Not exactly for the first..."
"What do you mean?"
"My time on this planet has honed my skills to sensing even the faintest traces of chakra. He is... alive but in a state of utter weakness." The yellow-eyed figure stood up and traced their hands along the Gedo Mazo. "Anymore luck trying to get the bijuu?"
"Forget about that, those Orange Flames totally ruined everything! Plus... I've been staying low recently. I can tell, these aren't ordinary lower class creatures."
"I think I have a few tricks up my own sleeves that can surely put up a fight by themselves..."
"Tch. As long as they can get rid of those Orange Flames I don't care what you have. Anyways, I'm still activating it."
"In these millennia I've gone, you haven't changed one bit have you? Cowardly as ever..."
Urashiki growled at this but thought better at striking back. "Neither have you. Now, let me see these... tricks, you said?"
"Gladly. They have the potential to be more powerful than they are right now."
"Oh am I going to enjoy this."
=Next Day: Outskirts of Konoha=
"You ready?"
"Yes!" replied a chorus of voices. The day had arrived and the sun had reached the highest point in the sky. The day could never seem to be more... perfect. Perfect to be destroyed.
"Alright thirteen of us, full-scale attack. We show no mercy to any of Danzo's ANBU but try to keep some people separate to him alive. My group will go through the main gate and clear out that portion of the city," said Dragon to the rest of the team, his two teammates Hare and Bird remembering to limit themselves.
"Snake, Boar, Ox and Aka will go straight to the heart after us and infiltrate the headquarters. Your mission is intelligence gathering and then we lead onto 'Team Invention.' You'll be distraction and force ANBU to move away from the heart of the village with your favourite weapons, bombs."
"Remember, we are going to take Danzo down. My group, assassination," said Horse to Dog and Tiger. "We'll go in above the mountain and rain chaos down. This will be after the ANBU have been led away from the centre. If all goes well, target will be eliminated."
"That's the basics but remember, no attacking any civilians. We have limits. Do not attack any normal ninja unless they attack you first. This should sway few disloyal ninja to our side, and bring more."
"So you're telling me we're going to destroy this place using its own ninja?" asked Dog, having her own fair share of invasions.
"Yes, yes we will. Realistically, at least a quarter of the village will be destroyed and burnt to the ground in this attack. It's not our problem, it's theirs. We don't know what Danzo has hidden in store for us so be careful. He may be old but certainly won't be gullible."
"There are also a few targets separate from Danzo that you should want to take out too in the chaos. They are of less important but do take care of them if you have time," said Dragon, handing their own version of a bingo book around highlighting the extras. Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, to name a couple.
"Final preparations now, get ready team!" declared Horse as everyone scattered off. She looked at Monkey chatting with Aka and walked towards the two youngest members of the group.
"Monkey, are you fine with this? Your last chance if you want to just watch-"
"I'm fine." His quick, not over the top response brought slight shock towards Horse, but she only smiled. "They all think I'm dead too, anyways. It's time to test out how much I've truly grown." They bit their thumb and slammed their hand onto the ground as a puff of smoke appeared, fading away to reveal a large monkey. "It's time."
"I never thought things would end up this way, going against the village I once protected," spoke the creature, watching over its target. "But it is necessary, I never liked Danzo. I never knew why Hiruzen always wanted to keep him alive, but now it is time to do what should've been done."
The summoner and summoned bumped fist before continuing to reminisce, Horse talking to Aka now. "So Aka, you ready?"
"I've never been more... excited? This is just so... different now. Let's just get this over with. I'm getting the creeps from something around here but I don't know exactly what. It feels... dark? But it's definitely a decent distance away from us."
"Focus. What does it feel like?"
"It's like it's trying to hide from us, or it's watching us from afar..." Aka pointed the opposite direction from Konoha and into the forest.
"We can investigate that later. Focusing on too many things is hard, right?" Aka could sense a warm smile underneath the hood and wiped his head clear, slightly smiling himself.
"Yeah."
Horse looked up at the sun, and around their small little hideout. The teams were ready to strike with the sun reaching into position.
"Alright, let's go! Attack on Konoha!"
And as if in response, the sun seemed to burn brighter...
So... How'd I do? Good? Bad? Awful? Trash? Amazing? Tell me!
Slightly shorter chapter than average (pfft I dunno I'm just guessing here) but hope you enjoyed. Well, it's finally here. The climax? Whatever you wanna call it but this (maybe and possibly) will be the last chapter of 2020!
So what else? Characters being revealed and me skipping a bunch of information but next chapter... oh it's going to be an interesting one.
If you have any suggestions, let me know and I'll incorporate them if I like them!
And that's all for now!
See you later: Ja ne!
