Devil From The Heavens
Chapter 25: Fear
The chunks of earth, closer to small mountains than simple boulders, fell from their brief flight. Each impact birthed an earthquake that would level small settlements were any around. The Seven Tails stayed where it was, its glowing eyes fixated on the golden star that shone through even the thickest smoke from the fires around.
An invisible wave of force hit the beast and it was shoved back. The sun's heat bore down on them unabated even as horrible storms still raged. Mid-blink, something ripped clean through its body. An instant later and a trench was torn into the earth for half a mile.
The Kyubi swung at the blur of blue that had appeared in its vision but its arm no longer responded as it wasn't there anymore. The remainder of its face was crushed against the ground and fragments of teeth and skull were thrown around like shrapnel from a bomb. Its neck was seized before it was dragged into the open air.
A corona of heat gathered in front of its body from the sheer speed it was moving at. Hunks of still falling rock burst as the Kyubis body was pushed through dozens of them. With every hit, pieces of its body were torn away. Its momentum suddenly stopped and the Jinchuriki hung limply like meat on a hook as it was reduced to little more than a quivering mass of dusted bone and formless chakra.
It met the ground seconds later with a splatter not unlike a corpse. Limbs and bones reformed rapidly as its body took advantage of the brief pause in abuse. The Jinchuriki looked to the Akatsuki when its head returned. The man, no, the devil shook as control warred with madness.
It took a step back in fear.
Even as far away as they were and with the billowing smoke in the way of everything, the golden light shone through the cracks of the shelter undeterred. Konan created more and more paper to fill in and hold up the crumbling shelter. She wasn't the only one as earth jutsu from some of the remaining shinobi helped alongside her.
"Shit, we need more sedative!" Cursed Tsunade as she stopped Hinata from moving. A medic nin responded that their stores were destroyed by some falling rocks. There were more curses from the Hokage. The Hyuga woman groggily opened her eyes.
"Hinata, I need you to stop moving. You're lucky to be alive right now and-"
She didn't understand what Hinata said but the Hyuga pointed to a scroll on her hip. Sakura and Shizune looked at her with confusion but she gestured to bring the scroll. Sakura handed the woman her scroll unfurled and she put a finger to the parchment. A burst of smoke later and an exact copy of Hinata appeared in a meditative position. A moment later and she disappeared. On Hinata's face, her Sage markings reappeared and she sat up a moment later.
After her initial shock wore off, Tsunade put her hands back on the woman's skull and neck. "I should've seen something like this. You kids are too stubborn for your own good." She muttered angrily as she scanned her injuries. What she saw surprised her; her fractures and breaks were practically gone.
"Well, I'll be damned." Tsunade took a closer look. There were still loose shards of bone. "Your bones haven't healed, it's more like they've been forced back together by Sage Mode, we'll need to-"
Hinata pushed her hands away. "Lady Tsunade, I'm...not alright but I'll live."
Tsunade refused to budge but kept her hands away; the last thing they needed was the woman's resistance worsening her injuries. "No, Hinata, you're not out of the woods yet!" The Hokage barred the Hyuga as she tried to move and stared her down. "You're staying put here until I tell you otherwise! That's an order."
Hinata wilted under her gaze and looked away before nodding. Tsunade gestured for the others to continue their work as she herself went back to work.
The Hyuga pointed out the four tails. "Is that-?"
She shook her head. "No, he's still out there fighting Broly. That's a clone he sent to bring you back here."
Hinata did a double take. "By himself?!" She quickly activated her Byakugan and extended its range until she spotted the familiar malevolent chakra of the Kyubi. It was massive, easily dwarfing the village's collective, but it was a speck compared to the sun that was Broly.
"That's Naruto for you..." Sakura muttered beside her. "He'll walk into Hell itself if he thinks he has to."
The Kyubi's chakra expanded twice over.
Yamato hissed as he grabbed his wrist. The seal on his hand morphed. "Eight Tails!"
The Jinchuriki screeched as yet another tail grew. Muscle filled out its frame before physical eyes formed in its skull. Fire hotter than anything around them spilled forth from its form as its eight tails swung wildly. Stories told of the Kyubi's power being such that a single swing of its tails could flatten mountains and raise tsunamis and that mythical strength was on full display. Entire swaths of forest were reduced to smoldering timbers and the storms above grew ever more violent.
The Eight Tailed Beast breathed out and the very air burned like the fires of the sun. Broly bore witness even as flames covered him whole but refused to touch him. The Akatsuki reached out to the flames and let his hands swim within.
It was nothing.
Broly rocketed through the superheated air and hit the fox with a crushing blow against its jaw. The Beast staggered with shattered teeth but it retaliated with swung onto the man's body. In an instant, Broly was twenty feet underground and a moment later, another clawed strike tore through the ground. It crashed into his side and he was sent flying through compacted dirt like it was the air itself.
The Kyubi sprinted after Broly's body as it tunneled through ground below. Every step of its massive frame broke the weakened crust and gouts of water spewed forth from the fissures. The Akatsuki burst forth and collided with the Jinchuriki's chin sending the monster onto its two hind legs as teeth and blood fell to the ground.
Broly shot through the Beast's legs and grabbed a hold of one of its tails on the way. The Eight Tails fell forward onto its chest and dug its claws into the floor impotently as the Akatsuki dragged it away. He heaved the monster over his shoulder onto its back; the lake that had sprouted split in two. Blood splattered from the beast as it screamed in agony at the impact.
The man pulled the massive monster around and spun it around which kept the walls of water back. The Kyubi dug its claws but it quickly lost its fingers as it could do nothing to stop what was happening. At the peak of his speed, Broly let go.
The Jinchuriki soared the air and the Akatsuki followed close behind. He shot past, no more than a golden blur, and the Kyubi lost an eye. He made another pass and most of its snout disappeared in a burst of gore. The process repeated and its right arm was broken followed by its lower back being pulverized. The cruelty ended with a crippling blow to its sternum.
Chest and lungs collapsed as its limp body crashed into the lake below and bounced against the earth. In the distance, Broly slid along the the ground to stop himself. He pushed forward, each bound cratering the ground beneath, before his body lit up in golden light and he closed the distance in an instant. As his body pierced the waves, millions of gallons were evaporated in an instant.
He speared the Kyubi feet first. Every ounce of water and air for hundreds of feet were pushed away at hypersonic speeds as the impact formed a vaccuum. The Kyubi's body resisted for a fraction of a fraction of a second before it was sundered under the force of his blow.
Two separate thuds impacted the earth before the waves washed back over them.
In his mind, Naruto stared down the fox with clenched fists.
"I thought I knew what I had to do." He started, the words coming out like hot flames. "I accepted your power like you said but things are so much worse!" His tone took a desperate edge. "I need answers, damn it!"
Naruto sat amongst the churning waves of sewer water in his mind. How did things go so wrong so quickly? A sudden pain hit him in his stomach as his jacket burst open. The seal on his belly morphed into a black hole from which a river of ink spilled forth to darken the liquid around. The Kyubi waited patiently behind its bars. The flicks of its tail sent more waves forward.
"Destroy him." Kurama's face drew closer to the bars. "You wish to save him from his pain and so you restrain yourself; that is a fool's errand. Save what remains of your village."
Touches of red flickered along the edges of Naruto's pupils.
"I can kill him. Give me your soul and I'll save everyone."
Most covered their ears as the Kyubi's screams reached them. The tails of its clone flicked to and fro as if it was worried itself. A crowd had gathered around Neji as he tried to give updates through the use of his Byakugan. After insuring their roof was stable, Konan tried to watch the fight through a hole in the ceiling to little success.
"That...it sounds like its in pain." Shikamaru stated, more worried than anyone had ever seen him before.
Choji anxiously palmed at his lap. With the shelter stabilized, there was little use for either of them at the moment. "Can it even feel p-"
Neji suddenly fell back as if struck and he covered his eyes. Hinata flinched terribly too; they'd both witnessed the carnage. "It- he-!"
Tenten grabbed the man and helped him back up. "Hey, take it easy."
Hinata shook uncontrollably at the sight. Sakura and Tsunade tried to keep her still; she was still injured. They all knew about the horror of the Nine-Tails, she'd witnessed it herself, and how the Fourth Hokage was forced to sacrifice himself just to seal it away. But underneath it all was still Naruto.
"Hinata?" Shizune asked as she put a comforting hand on her back.
She swallowed hard; she was ready to vomit.
"I need to go!" Hinata stood up despite Shizune and Sakura trying to keep her down.. She couldn't watch this anymore, she had to do something.
Tsunade blinked twice at the sudden action. "The hell you are!"
The words fell on deaf ears as Hinata walked away. The Hokage grabbed her hand, a crushing grip under normal circumstances, but the sage broke free easily. The older woman hesitated. Any physical altercation between them would bring the entire shelter down on their heads.
"Hinata, you're disobeying a direct order from the Hok-!"
"I don't care; Naruto is out there by himself. He needs help!"
Jiraiya held out his hands to the woman. She didn't look receptive to his thoughts but she did stop. "Hey, look, I get it but you're still injured and they're throwing power around that'll vaporize you by accident. It's suicide."
"So we abandon him?!"
"Last I checked," Tsunade answered, arms crossed with a fierce glare. "We would be out there if not for you kids."
Hinata clenched her fists. She could see how exhausted everyone is. She was the only one close to fighting shape. "You can't stop me."
Konan floated down and landed without a sound. Regardless, her arrival had everyone's head turned her way. She extended a hand to the Hyuga.
"I can take you close."
Without a second thought, Hinata grabbed onto the woman's hand. Wings of paper sprouted from her back. There were cries of surprise and protest around but they were quickly left behind as Konan flew with her in tow. The flew out of the opening the blue haired woman tried to observe the battle from.
There was a good minute where they quietly traveled to the battle. They were miles away by now.
"Why are you helping me?" Hinata asked the Akatsuki.
Konan didn't answer for a few moments. Hinata was about to ask again when she heard her speak.
"It was our, Akatsuki's, goal to create a weapon so terrible that all the Great Villages would be forced to stop fighting lest they have it aimed at them. It would be peace brought about by pain. I only thought of the end and used it to justify our means." The sandal from earlier flashed in her mind. "Seeing what we wanted made manifest...I cannot justify it any longer. Broly is another victim I had an indirect hand in. I don't want anymore pain; we need to stop Madara and that starts with saving him."
The Kyubi's upper half writhed. Steam saturated the air as its blood steadily stained the water red. Its cries could be heard miles away. Broly hovered nearby, his shoulders shaking with barely contained mirth.
The creature focused on him; its instinctive self preservation refused to have the man out of its sights. Bones burst out from where he had cut through before organs and muscles followed. The creature roared once more before it launched itself at him. It knew it could not hope to defend itself.
It swiped at him and he raised his arm in return. The fox's momentum continued undeterred but a horrible agony raced up its limb. The Kyubi looked and half of its paw was missing. Broly spat out some blood that got into his mouth as he incinerated its paw. He flicked his wrist and three green bolts raced out.
Each was lodged into the Eight Tailed best, one in its snout, another in its shoulders, and the third at its hip, before they simultaneously exploded. Its cries rapidly turned to chokes as blood raced out of its ruined throat. The Saiyan flew by and grabbed the beast by an exposed orbital socket before rapidly changed course.
The Tailed Beast hung limply in his grasp as he flew straight into the upper edges of the atmosphere with callous laughter. His aura shown so bright that it was near impossible to tell between him and the Sun. He cleared the miles thick cloud layer in seconds with wet ash caked into his skin. Broly held out the fox as it dumbly tried to push him away.
It wanted him to let go. He did just that. He watched it plummet until it fell back beneath the clouds. Its screeches were quickly smothered by the storm that had gathered. He followed it down not long after.
Broly hit the ground with a thunderous boom before he casually walked out of the freshly made crater. Next to him, a much larger crater held the broken body of the Tailed Beast. It moved as bones by the dozen snapped back into place. The blood that it was half submerged into retreated into its body. In little time, it was back on shaky feet.
The fox paused for a moment before it raised it head. In front of the Kyubi's snout, power gathered. Broly looked around as balls of chakra, most black with some white interspersed, was seemingly pulled out of thin air by the gravity of the Biju Ball.
The orb of black held still above the fox as it waited for the hundreds of thousands of particles of energy to join it. The fox's maw opened once it reached critical mass and swallowed the chakra ball whole. The ground cratered underneath. Its throat bulged before the energy erupted from its jaws.
Broly held up a hand as the blast reached him. Stone melted beneath his feet instantly as the beam split in two around the man. He faltered for a moment at the force but he stomped his feet and whatever backwards momentum he had stopped.
The skin on his palm blistered quickly but he pushed back. That push became a step and that step soon turned into a walk.
The Kyubi noticed the reversal of movement and it brought its tails forward. On the tip of each one, there rested a fully formed Biju Ball. The tails simultaneously thrust into the beam and the geyser of power tripled in size instantly.
It washed over him like a tsunami but he stayed resolute in his path. His golden aura acted as a bulwark against the raging heat and allowed him to just continue to walk towards the fox. His steps cracked the glass underneath. Once he was close enough, he jumped at the beast.
His shoulder met a massive neck and the beam was cut off. The Kyubi fell onto its back as the man jumped away from it. He let himself fall, the speed of his drop pushed along by his ki, and his feet crushed the monster's chest. He did it once more and the beast spewed blackened bile and blood over him. He knelt onto it's collapsed chest and dug into the muscles with his hands.
He ripped and tore through the flesh and bone until he spotted Naruto unconscious amongst the gore.
He grabbed the boy by his throat and pulled him up to eye level.
"Now come, take this seal from me. Free me and not another will die."
Naruto stood as if puppeted by an unseen force. His pupils were red slits; a match of the Kyubi's own. He walked forward until he was right in front of Kurama's prison. Water swirled around him and lifted him up until the seal was right in front of his face.
He reached out.
Broly pulled his arm back. Bones popped as he clenched a fist.
Naruto's red eyes opened and the fox's body exploded.
A million tendrils of crimson chakra snapped onto Broly's body. He could not move. It boiled up around their bodies. His skin blistered and burned away under its embrace. It seeped into his seals and his power fell from him.
Broly pushed his strength outward, tried to blow away whatever this was, but it continued undeterred.
Red colored the edges of his vision. Naruto smiled.
Someone grabbed his wrist before he was practically tackled away from the seal. He fell back into a water with a splash but he distinctly heard a second smaller one beside him. A hand reached into his vision. The figure was cast in shadow but what he could see stunned him. He recognized those robes.
Naruto grabbed it without thought. It couldn't be...
"You!"
The figure came into the light and he knew who it was. He saw that face looking over the village every day. Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash.
"Lord Fourth...Hokage."
Author's Notes
Sorry for the lateness of the chapter. I had a friend lose their father so I haven't written for a bit. It doesn't help that this chapter had a meeting between Naruto and his dad too. I just couldn't write it. In the end, I decided to leave that for next chapter which is why this one is a bit short.
No review responses this time around; they'll be there next time.