Chapter 80:
They descend, streams and eddies of water chasing their footsteps and leading them forward all the while following the wounded animal that is the Ame kunoichi Konan.
Deep, deep down into the depths of the earth, where the weight of rock and iron and rain seem to press down from the world above.
It is a gorge they step into now, deep, like some god cracked the earth clean in two, splitting it open to leave this nasty scar, worn deep by running water and time.
The rain hisses as it falls, chasing them further in.
Still they descend.
Visitors
The sound, because it is a sound, not a voice- makes them go still.
The sound is in the water.
Little droplets rising and falling into their pools, streams churning and sloshing; a symphony of a thousand disparate noises turning into a chorus that can formulate words.
Our first visitors in a very long time…
A pause, the waters cascade once again, filling the silence.
May you be welcome here.
Orochimaru looks to Tsunade and she to him, neither of them saying a word, but the warning, and trepidation passing unspoken easily between them.
Such a level of control, over such a great distance… whoever this was, he was dangerous.
Not even the Nidaime could boast such a refined control over the element of water.
They draw their weapons and continue their descent.
(X)(X)(X)
There is no single defensive line within a Shinobi village for its protection.
The defense is divided into layers, redundancies and mutually supporting systems.
The forests, the walls, alarms, traps, hidden passages, illusions and more. All of them could and would be brought to bear.
All villages had these systems, all villages had their own means of self defense.
But no matter how formidable a wall, or powerful a fortress; it is useless if there are no soldiers to man it.
Konoha had used Iwa's lack of manpower to attack them at the very heart of their country years ago.
A was not above taking a page from the same book to use himself.
Konohagakure's ninja were stretched dangerously thin along their border, the Daimyo's forces committed at least for the immediate moment elsewhere; this was, frankly, Kumogakure's best chance.
Over two hundred Shinobi, every last one of them a Jounin.
It accounted for nearly two thirds of those of Jounin rank within the active branch of the military
Maintaining secrecy as they made their way through Konoha's heavily patrolled lands had been a monumental undertaking but it had been achieved.
The evidence of how unprepared Konoha was for their attack was self-evident when Hatake -for no one else would have dared to give such an order nor would have had the authority to do so- destroyed the entire outer ring of the city, walls included in a massive explosion as the first wave breached the outer barrier.
The casualties were not grievous; Hatake was not that good and A was not that stupid.
It was a warning, perhaps even a bluff, something born of desperation, make them overcautios, stall for time.
Perhaps with another Kage it may have worked.
Even so the village was wreathed in fire. The flames burned hot and tall; the heat was stifling even outside in the forest and the smoke hung low and heavy; this was no natural blaze…
"Press the attack." 'A' snarled to his commanders. "The longer we give them the more time they'll have to prepare defenses like this. We can't afford to be bogged down here."
He turned his eyes towards Yugito, meeting the Jinchuuriki's gaze with a nod. "You know your target.."
"And you?" The younger woman asked.
The Raikage sneered, staring into the burning city. "I'm skinning a wolf before we leave."
(X)(X)(X)
Every civilian in a Shinobi village knew what steps to take in the event of an attack.
It's drilled into them at least twice a year, every year; from the moment they become citizens or come of an age where they can understand the concept of a foreign invasion.
Every child knew where to go, every adult what roads to take, every veteran and retiree where the rally and hard points are located.
Emergency shelters, secret paths leading out of the village, or Genjutsu shrouded passages to lead counter attacks and ambushes.
They knew this.
Even so, there is one thing to drill for an emergency, quite another to be living through it.
Hanabi had noticed before any of her peers; because how could she not?
When throngs of ninja were removing people, sometimes forcibly, from an area, it's not a subtle process.
They knew an attack was coming.
However, she noticed the flames before she heard the village wide alarm.
From there, it didn't take long after that for things to descend into near complete pandemonium.
The civilians knew where they should go. But they needed to stop first. They needed to be all but told.
Where was their husband? Their wife? Their children? What exactly was happening? How close was the attack? Where were the defense forces? Was this another drill?
She could *see* the questions quietly rolling behind the windows of their eyes.
Then they saw the flames, the smoke.
Then the questions turned to urgency and from urgency it was quickly escalating to something beyond control.
By the time Hanabi caught sight of the first enemy Shinobi to force his way through the wall of fire that had enveloped the outer layer of the city, the civilians were in near anarchy.
Being completely honest she herself had to fight down the urge to flee to the Hyuuga compound, to her father, where that small, childlike part of her knew she'd be safe within its walls
But, fighting it down or not, she did resist the urge, instead turning and rushing as fast as she could towards the nearest designated rally point near the north fountains, Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi right behind her.
Her Byakugan was active, the veins bulging around her eye sockets, so it was childsplay to see who had already arrived before she was anywhere near the point.
What she saw was worrying.
She knew, she knew that the bulk of their forces were far from the village, holding the border outposts and bleeding the enemy along the forests, the hinterlands and distant towns.
Even so, at the sight of only Chuunin, mainly administrators and office workers she recognized from the many times she'd gone to pick up or report a mission completed in the Hokage offices, and not a single Jounin in sight sent her stomach opening into a chasm.
It was… dismaying in a way she couldn't really describe.
She swallowed down the anxiety, forced down the spike of fear and something that was disconcertingly close to panic and kept moving.
(X)(X)(X)
In Akane's memories, the view of the village from the Hokage tower was one of the more breathtaking sights one could enjoy within the village walls.
Now, she felt that memory being ripped apart. She didn't think she could ever look down on the village from this vantage again without seeing the flames rising, encircling the village like a burning serpent;
All the while the Hokage stood impassively by her side.
She tried to hold her silence, tried to hold onto the discipline and deference that was expected of Shinobi in a crisis situation, especially before the Hokage; but as the flames rose and the sound of screams began to waft up from the village below she felt her tenuous hold over her composure fray and snap.
At the absolute least, she had enough presence of mind to think about what she needed to ask, what she needed to say; before she actually opened her mouth.
"Where do you need me!?"
Kakashi turned his head, eying her for a moment before turning away. "Right here beside me, at least for a little while longer.
She bit her lip, hard enough she could swear she'd drawn bits of blood from cuts that rapidly healed thanks to Goku-kun.
'Why?' She wanted to scream.
People were fighting and dying… they were the two strongest ninja in the village why were they just sitting up here when they should be going down there to-
The door swung open behind them.
Akane turned, so did the Godaime;
To her shock and naked confusion, rather than an Anbu or Chuunin commander there-
It was Yuugao and Sasame.
Then, to her greater surprise still, Kakashi wasted little time as he stepped forward, and clearly, addressing the six year old girl, bowed low.
Deferentially low.
"Princess. It is good that you're safe."
Akane's brain seemed to catch and stutter in her skull-
Did… Sasame? Did he just-
The Hokage pivoted, stepping in a way that he could easily turn his gaze between both herself and Sasame.
"We have little time we have to move under the presumption that Kumogakure knows of the Heir apparent's identity and get her to safety. Akane, along with myself and my personal guard will escort the both of you to an emergency passage that will get you out of the village, once that's done, we can try to salvage what's left of a defense."
Akane's brain scrambled to make sense of what she was hearing.
Heir apparent?
Heir apparent!?
Sasame!?
"A Hokage a Jinchuurikki and several Anbu?" Yuugao's voice did not sound incredulous but her expression betrayed her. "That's-"
"The only amount of firepower I have available to me that can potentially hold off the two Jinchuurikki that Kumo has to their name." Kakashi interrupted blandly.
The purple haired woman tensed, her hand clutching tightly at Sasame's as the girl shifted beside her, biting her lip as she looked down. "You think they'd commit both Jinchuurikki to this attack?"
"I would." The man known as the Blood Wolf of Konoha said; his voice flat and devoid of emotion." He turned his exposed eye to the dark haired six year old. "You must be kept out of their hands-"
There was a rumble, a tremble snaking up from their boots as the blooming flare of an explosion outside bathed one side of the room in orange light.
Kakashi rounded on Akane; the Jinchuurikki, who was not even a Chuunin straightened under his gaze.
"This is your mission." He said gravely, eye fixed on hers. "It has been your mission for weeks; though you did not know it." He admitted gravely "You are guarding the heir to the seat of the Fire Court. You will not hesitate, you will not fail. You will kill everything that gets in her path to safety. Am I understood?"
She could almost see his snarl even through the mask.
Akane swallowed thickly, feeling the apple lodge itself in her throat before her eyes darted away from the intense, demanding gaze of the Godaime and towards the near whimpering child clutching Yuugao's hand.
She nodded, forcing the words through her constricted voicebox. "Yes Sir."
He offered a single, firm nod. "Good." Before turning his back to her, adressing Yuugao, Sasame and the rest of his guard. "Let's go."
(X)(X)(X)
He was not Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Perhaps the old man would have had a better answer, a better plan; perhaps the old man would have had the ability to sally out and rally the meagre defenders the village had and drive a counter attack fierce enough to push the attackers back.
The old man had that Charisma that… spirit of fire, as he called it.
Kakashi wasn't Hiruzen.
He was the Blood Wolf, and his way of fighting was not like the Monkey lord.
He dealt in facts, hard numbers and calculated tactics more than the old man. Variables he could predict; factors he could control or take into account.
As he moved swiftly through the village, a coterie of his personal guard fanning out to protect himself, Yuugao, Sasame and Akane behind him his mind moved as quickly as his body.
Kumo had managed to sneak a force through their lines and into the village while it was undefended, the chances of victory here were slim, the core of elite Jounin and available Anbu within the village walls couldn't even scratch at one hundred, Chuunin and genin were the bulk of the available forces at his disposal and most of those were administrators, sensor nin, intelligence workers or barely out of the academy recruits who'd never seen combat.
Collectively; these were all the ninja who'd never expected to face open battle at this point in their career.
They would have their orders to fight, and likely, most would do so, but he was not stupid enough to believe well wishes and dreams would suddenly make his force the equivalent to the elite cadre A had forced through miles of sensors and patrols to strike at their unprotected underbelly..
The only saving grace they had was that A couldn't have snuck 'that many' of his forces through. At the absolute best, three hundred and even that number would be optimistic for A, it was likely closer to half that.
Not nearly enough to hold the village
No. This was a raid.
A came here to eliminate targets, cause damage, demoralize the village and its people and then flee.
This, Kakashi could use.
If you know what they're after, you know where they're going, what to defend and what to surrender.
The Scroll of secrets and other forbidden techniques, intelligence reports, troop numbers, damage to key infrastructure points, the Silk farms, the Water and Grain silos, the treasury.
Assassinations were of course, another avenue of attack.
All of the existing clan heads, or their respective heirs. The village Council. Any Elite Jounin such as Maito Gai in the village
Himself, obviously.
And Sasame.
But not all of these targets were viable. Not all took priority.
He'd taken what little time he had to mix in false and contradictory intelligence reports with the valid ones, removing those deemed critical in nature. The Forbidden techniques, evacuated deep into the bowels of the village by the remnants of ROOT on his order.
Not all of the Clan heads or the Heirs were within the village and A could not know which was and which was not. They would not be directly targeted save perhaps, the Hyuuga; the same went for Maito Gai and other High ranking Jounin like him.
That narrowed down the avenues of attack.
Infrastructure and logistical damage he could not prevent, but he could repair.
So that just left two.
Sasame, and himself.
It was why he'd pooled so very much of the villages available battle strength here.
The thrust of this attack, if it was aimed anywhere, would be squarely on himself, and the girl.
As if to prove his point. He sensed a warning pulse from one of his guard. His single visible eye turned, finding the guard in question when the man suddenly swerved, diverting his trajectory to bleed off his speed shortly before a crackling flash blasted apart the house and tore apart the street in front of them.
Kakashi grunted, turning his head away to weather the smattering of dust, rock and wood as the crackling snapping body of A, wreathed head to toe in Lightning stalked forward.
"Goin somewhere Hokage?"
His guard moved to cover his flanks, Yuuei, his Sensor spoke discreetly, her voice masked by a minor Genjutsu so only his ears could hear.
"He's alone. Arrogant."
Kakashi shook his head. "Clearing a path, signalling everyone where their target is."
"We can take him down quick." The woman suggested.
"No such thing with A." Kakashi cautioned, calmly beginning to remove his overly encumbering robe.
His mind ticked along like clockwork.
Thinking, examining, Prioritizing.
The calculus was clear.
Hokage or not, there were more than several candidates that could easily take up the position.
Koutou's heir however was a different matter.
If she died, the claims of succession would grip Hi-no-Kuni in even greater political and civil unrest. The mostly subdued civil strife would boil over again and then their enemies, all of them would smell blood in the water.
Keep her alive above all else. That was the priority. Even if A burned down the whole of the village and slaughtered every ninja within somehow it would not cause nearly as much lasting damage.
Of the available manpower here to protect the girl, he was the expendable one.
"Protect Sasame-dono-" he ordered. "Continue towards Point Zarebas"
His guard, to their credit only gave minute shows of surprise, all four of them stiffening, but giving no other protest.
"Yes sir."
"A won't be stopping you." He said.
The massive mountain of muscle that was the Raikage sneered in response. "As if you can stop me Hatake-" The man's eye snapped behind the Godaime Hokage, towards Yuugao and the frightened girl cradled in the purple haired kunoichi's arms.
The only warning any of them had was a slight bunching of A's powerful legs before the man shot forward like a living lightning bolt..
Kakashi's hands slammed down onto the ground. "Doton-"
Even at the blinding speed Kakashi's eyes could just spy the minute flinch, the befuddled confusion in A's body as he registered the word.
An earth technique? Against his living lightning armor?
A's fist smashed against Yuugao's face, punching straight through, what should have been blood and bone and gray matter was instead a splatter of mud, the woman and the Sasame in her arms melting away into sludge.
A rounded on him, only to see dozens of the exact copies of the woman and the guards around her rushing away in nearly all directions.
"Your fight is with me, Raikage." Kakashi straightened from his crouch, glaring at the man with an eye that glinted in the midday sun.
(X)(X)(X)
Akane shut her eyes tight, feeling the earth shift and move around her as she was dragged beneath the soil by the Hokage's technique. It was a struggle to not fight the hold his power had on her in reflex when she first felt it.
She was Konoha's Jinchuurikki, on paper, the strongest ninja within the village, but right now she felt like anything but that.
She hadn't even seen the Raikage move before his fist had smashed through the mud clone of Yuugao… and yet Hokage Kakashi had not only seen it, but reacted to it in time to pull off multiple earth techniques .
She… felt inadequate… out of place.
Before the disquiet could fully settle she felt herself breach the earth and smashed outwards, hitting the ground in a tumble as the bright light of the sun stung her eyes through her eyelids.
A hand gripped her shoulder, and she opened her eyes to find Yuugao looming over her, clutching Sasame to her chest and shoulder.
"Come on!" She barked. "We have to keep moving!"
The woman didn't wait for her, and before she'd even left her sight Akane was scrambling to her feet, rushing to follow.
The screams came in earnest now, like a baleful hiss from the village around them, the voices echoing through the street like a dirge.
She couldn't tell if it was battlecries or civilians caught in the bloodshed.
Perhaps it was both.
Whatever the truth, she pushed the thought out of her mind, fingers rising to almost clutch at her ears to drown out the sound before she forced them to her sides again, knowing that her sense of hearing was vital to detecting a potential attack as she followed Yuugao and two of the Hokage's Anbu that had linked up with them through the tight city streets.
"How much farther?" Yuugao demanded.
"Not far, we're-"
The man's answer was cut off, and inexperienced as she was even she felt the massive surge of Chakra.
Close. Too close.
It crashed over them like a gale, and somewhere deep in her chest she felt Goku stirring as he rumbled, and knew immediately the source of this power.
Jinchuuriki.
The Anbu, Yuugao as well, moved in near perfect synchronicity, the guards hands slamming down onto the earth to form a broad and thick earth bulwark before a wave of black purple flames crashed over it, with Yuugao taking the extra step of physically curling herself over the screaming Sasame to shield her further as the fires broke and parted over the earth.
After just a few seconds, she could smell the stone burning, and with thunderous cracks the earth wall dried and splintered before crumbling away as the fires died down.
A woman marched through the rubble, negotiating herself with lithe, graceful movements over the debris, her arms and legs wreathed in dark fire.
The two Anbu drawing their swords as Yuugao backed away.
"Well well." The kunoichi drawled with a smirk. "What have we here?"
She stepped forward, almost literally as though it were a catwalk, slow and languid; unconcerned. "These are some quality guards for someone with such a… low born pedigree." She laughed.
Yuugao sneered, gritting her teeth. "What spy was it then Kumo?"
"Wouldn't you like to know." The woman chuckled, examining the dark flames on her arm. "The deal is simple, hand over the girl and you might just live through this day. I'd rather avoid scarring the poor thing. Resist. And I take her from you anyway."
There was a crackle, and quick as a bolt of lightning the Kumo kunoichi's head snapped to the side, her arm rising just as fast to catch a lance of electricity shot from a nearby rooftop, the bolt crackling and forking within her grip.
"RUN!" One of the Anbu between Sasame and the Jinchuuriki shouted, one hand pulling a scroll from his vest as he rushed forward, unfurling it to reveal a torrent of water the man expertly manipulated with barely a handsignal as he charged.
Yuugao and the last remaining Anbu didn't hesitate, turning and fleeing immediately.
Akane was not so fast, not nearly so used to this kind of battle.
She stopped., torn between helping and following her orders.
Before the Anbu and the other who had fired the bolt of lightning from hiding had even closed half the distance the woman tossed the bolt to the ground, the crackling energy exploding as it struck dirt, kicking up a cloud of dust on one side of her she used as cover to expertly weave her lithe body between a hail of Shuriken and face the remaining attacker.
The water rushed onto the flames on her arm and did nothing. The fires burned without a hint of guttering under the torrent.
Her hand whipped out battering aside the Anbu's sword thrust before grabbing the man by the face.
He screamed as he burned in ghostly fire.
The Kumo woman's eyes darted towards the fleeing Yuugao, and Akane could see the moment her eyes focused sharply on Sasame, the heiress to the throne of Hi no kuni.
She pounced on the two, body soaring through the air, hands brandished like claws, fire trailing behind her.
And just like that; the rigid, stupefied stupor that had gripped the overwhelmed daughter of Tsunade was burned away, the fires of Goku's infernal chakra swelling up from deep within her body until it overflowed from every limb and fibre of her being.
Still in mid air, the Kumo woman could do little more than turn her head in surprise a second before a pillar of white hot flames slammed into her, blasting her out of the air.
The Concussive force knocked Yuugao off her feet, the Anbu woman falling onto her side with a cry of alarm, her body scraping along the dirt and rock as she continued to physically shield Sasame from harm.
The Kumo woman smashed into the side of a nearby building.
Pulling herself free, the Kunoichi snarled as she marched out of the debris, settling her eyes on the red haired genin, who's fires could melt solid stone.
Akane panted, adrenaline tingling her fingertips, a mixture of euphoria and simmering anger sending her heart racing.
"Yonbi." The Kumo-nin sneered. "You're not my mission girl. And you're far out of your league." She scoffed. "Back off, I'd rather not kill a sister."
Akane straightened, her eyes darting for a moment towards Sasame and the injured Yuugao, the little girl, with tears in her eyes, pleading desperately for the woman to get up, even as she struggled to even push herself up to her knees.
Her eyes turned towards the Nibi again. "Konoha…" She said haltingly. "And everyone in it. Is under my protection!"
Within the planes of her mind she reached out her hand and felt when Goku took hold of it firmly.
His Chakra surged into her, melding with her own so perfectly after a moment she couldn't tell where her own ended and his began. And a moment after that; she did not care.
She saw the enemy Kunoichi's eyes widen, surprise clear on her face as the wave of heat and chakra slammed into her, nearly knocking her off her feet as she braced herself.
Hair now blazing orange, burning lines of chakra threading across her skin, the flames danced and surged around her.
Her voice was not just hers, and they were not just said through her lips.
"We would see if you can burn… sister!"
(X)(X)(X)
The Lightning shroud armor.
Powerful, versatile, and at the moment proving it deserved every last ounce of its feared reputation.
As Kakashi moved, dodging and weaving as best he could, his analytical mind broke down its various strengths while trying to decipher any potential weaknesses.
Increased speed was certainly it's greatest gift, for a man already lauded for his incredible speed, it was all the Godaime Hokage could do to keep up, and even then, just barely. He got the feeling that the only real limit on that speed was A's perception, similar to his own failed technique the Raikiri; his own eyes after a point, couldn't keep up.
Not that Kakashi could capitalize on the openings A provided when he overshot his strikes, the shroud was also an all encompassing defense, the crackling, forking lightning battering aside kunai and shuriken with ease and would flatly kill any man stupid enough to try striking it with bare hands.
Many in Kumo called it the ultimate technique, and he could see why.
The only solid weakness he could imagine it held for now, was its raw chakra consumption.
And A did not look like a man who would tire on that front any time soon; even if he were, Kakashi was not confident enough in his ability to keep dodging forever.
Like a static image, A's body flickered, and that was all the warning the Hokage had before he needed to leap away, the Raikage's lightning covered body bolting forwards, tearing through the earth and surrounding buildings as he tore the world apart,, headed straight for him.
The thunderous crash as the man came to a stop coincided with Kakashi landing on a different rooftop.
He shut his eyes tight against the cloud of ash and dust squinting to try and keep an eye on his enemy.
Only for A to suddenly be right ontop of him.
The Hokage's eyes widened, a split second before his head was ripped clean off his shoulders by a piercing, lightning shrouded fist.
The body vanished in a puff of smoke, replaced by a log covered in burning explosive tags.
They went off and the crack of fire couldn't quite drown out the chirping of forking electricity.
"You can't run forever." The Raikage sneered, the clouds of dust slowly dissipating.
The man was right. But neither could he fight that technique head on.
He needed a way around it.
His dark eye coldly watched the Raikage as the man stalked forward, already having detected him. Was that a natural sense? Or some other byproduct of the shroud armor?
There was… a force, like the wave of a Tsunami that crashed over both of them, so powerful the lightning surrounding A flickered; followed immediately by a burning heat that nearly bowled Kakashi over before he snapped his gaze up to look where the force had come from.
Like an open furnace, chakra glowed from several streets over, burning bright orange like a new sun cresting over the horizon.
Akane?
Smoke began to rise, thick and heavy, the sheer heat beginning to catch the wooden buildings.
There was another pulse and the Hokage saw the wisps of dark flame alongside the shimmering heat haze.
"It seems our Jinchuurikki have found each other." A sneered.
(X)(X)(X)
"Stop squirming!"
Moegi's voice was harsh, the smoke and the screaming had forced it to lose it's childlike nature and roughened it.
A cut was above Moegi's brow, bleeding profusely.
It made her shut one eye to keep the stinging clear as she used her hands to try and heal the gash that cut Hanabi from belly button to lower ribs.
She'd been careless… tried to strike faster than her opponent while he'd been distracted. Her Juuken had ruptured his lung as his kunai slashed across her flesh.
The Hyuuga breathed harshly, keeping her Byakugan active. The Kumo nin were tearing through the village, the thin, reeling defense of Konoha ninja were barely able to put up a fight in any real sense.
She could count on both hands the number of Kumo nin she'd seen definitively killed with fingers to spare. She'd seen more injured but that was little consolation when the number of their own dead kept rising so fast the bodies were littering the streets and rooftops.
Right now, what was happening could barely be called a fighting retreat, occasionally Hanabi could spy some measure of resistance, a trap or a handful of Anbu or Jounin that could put up a fight or get a kill before they had to flee themselves or be overwhelmed, but beyond that the defenders were collapsing.
They'd gotten separated from Udon in the chaos. She wondered if he was ok… or dying, or already dead.
Moegi, Konohamaru and Hanabi themselves were hiding in the blasted out remains of a butcher's shop, the smell of meat and blood masking their scent as much as the debris masked their presence.
"We have to try and find a way out." Konohamaru muttered.
"Won't be hard." Hanabi breathed as she felt the odd sensation of her wound knitting itself closed. "They're passing over the civilians… ignoring them almost. They have targets."
The thought suddenly occurred to her that, possibly, she might be one of those targets.
Not she herself of course, but any Hyuuga female would certainly do given her sisters own history.
Before the thought could move further, there was a sudden, all consuming flare, so bright it made her scream and shut off her Byakugan in reflex.
"What's-" The shockwave nearly knocked her friends over, the remains of the structure rattling around them, nearly knocked clean off it's foundations.
It was like being bowled over by a charging bull, after a moment, Hanabi gathered herself again and reactivated her Byakugan, wondering what on earth could be the cause of that brightness; the pain was sharp, nearly blinding.
It was like staring into the heart of a sun.
She looked, forcing her eyes to peer through the shroud of chakra before she felt her eyes go wide, the surprise nearly knocking the wind out of her.
Akane?
Together, almost uniform, she saw a whole contingent of the Kumo forces turn from their attack and begin to converge on the raging inferno.
'No!'
"We hav-HEY! STOP!"
Konohamaru's shout was lost on her as the princess of the Hyuuga clan began running as fast as her legs could carry her.
(X)(X)(X)
Yuugao sucked down a ragged, desperate breath of air
Sasame was clutched to her chest, the both of them hiding now, sheltered under the debris of a shattered building, a chunk of the slanted roof having fallen to the street, shorn off in the wake of the Nibi and Akane's fight.
Sasame was crying, the young girl clutching at her chest and Yuugao clutched her close as she forced herself to move, getting to her knees under the slanted roof and prying the girl loose to get a look at her.
Sasame wailed and her little hands desperately reached for her, terrified at the sudden distance.
"It's alright! It's alright!" She yelled back trying to soothe the girl as she brushed a hand through the now tangled mass of her hair. "Calm down! Calm down kid I'm right here I'm right here."
It took a minute of coaxing but the girl's terrified screams died down, reduced to sniffles and choked whimpers that broke Yuugao's heart as the young princess tried desperately to clutch at the memory of her training and station.
No six year old should be trying to look composed after being nearly killed…
The Anbu woman looked her over, hands brushing away the soot and the dust on her face as her eyes raked her up and down, searching for blood or any sign of injury.
"Are you hurt!?"
The girl shook her head, lips thin and bloodless as she pressed them together, her chin quivering.
There was a sound of a crash, the ruins rattling around the both of them, as there was a howl she could only guess had come from the two demon holders currently fighting just a few hundred feet away.
Another crash, this one closer, wood breaking, Sasame yelped in fright and Yuugao lurched forward to clutch the girl again tightly to her chest, drawing a kunai as a shaft of light broke through the gloom from the new opening.
Another Anbu jumped through the opening, she recognized the man, one of- The last? -of the Hokage's guard.
"Come!" He hissed. "The Jinchuurikki is buying us time! We've got to move!"
Yuugao scowled, The Jinchuurikki has a name she wanted to hiss; but now was not the time. Sasame's safety was the priority.
She crouch walked forward, carrying the girl who clutched at her before she could straighten a bit, reaching the man before he led her out of the collapse.
(X)(X)(X)
Yugito snarled, growling in pain as the clawed fist, hot as molten metal grabbed her by the face, overpowering her and smashing the back of her skull into the cobblestone streets.
Her skin burned, the smell of cooked flesh overpowering her senses as the Nibi tried to heal the damage.
She drew a kunai, two of them, plunging the daggers into the forearm and the bend of the inner elbow and yanking harshly.
The grip vanished with a snarl; and Yugito avoided a claw swipe that would have raked over her eyes before ghost fire burst from her lips and spewed over the burning Konoha girl's face.
Her flames were not like the fires of the Yonbi and the Jinchuurikki screamed as she reeled, batting aside the emphemeral flames that scorched her eyes.
More flames surged onto Yugito's form. She was not a fully realized Jinchuuriki, not like Bee… not like this girl… but she and the Nibi were close enough; and her experience far outmatched this girl child.
She wouldn't lose to this upstart, no matter how synchronized with the Yonbi she was.
Yugito rushed forward. But, immediately, her forward lunge was checked, her fist, wreathed in ghostfire, cracked harshly against the girl's own clenched fist even though her eyes were still shut; matching Yuugito's movements.
The Yonbi. Her body was moving under a will that was not entirely her own, she'd seen it from Bee enough to recognize the signs.
Fist crashed against fist, and the girl's sheer, impossible strength sent force and pain rattling up her arm, as though she'd just smashed her fist into a steel wall.
The girl swung a haymaker blow that would have taken her head off, but Yugito was faster, leaning back to avoid the strike as she struck with a high kick, veilfire streaming in the path of her leg; but again the girl moved warned or controlled, she avoided the blow as her eyes blinked back open struggling to regain her focus and her sight.
Yugito pressed her advantage while she could, claws, knees, kicks and strikes lashing out, with the added power of ghost wreathed flames.
The girl's defenses tightened, tucking her arms in close, absorbing blows that could have flattened men twice her size with little more than grit teeth as she rapidly regained her sight.
'Careful kitten.' She heard the Nibi purr at the back of her mind. 'It's not just my little brother at work here.'
She pushed the thoughts aside, aware of the warning but incapable of engaging it fully as she focused, ducking under another punch, this time Yugito felt a shockwave of concussive force nearly knock her off balance; a blast of fire bursting out of the girl-child's fist.
Dipping low, under her guard and behind her, Yugito swept the girl's legs out from under her, hooking one arm into her shoulder before tossing her with all her strength into a nearby building.
Even before smashing through the walls, she could see the young Jinchuuriki regain her bearings, righting herself, she smashed through feet first and a second later was lunging straight for her again, the dust and debris barely having the chance to settle.
The Yonbi Jinchuuriki twisted, curling in mid air before her leg came crashing down onto the earth.
The force of the blow made the Yugito's jaw drop open in shock, earth and rock splitting open, fire bursting out of the ground as she lost her footing and stumbled.
Caught off guard and off balance she could do little but try to brace herself as the girl rushed in her fist cocked back and brimming with an overflow of burning chakra.
The blow that smashed into Yugito's stomach was by far the hardest she's ever taken, not even Bee in her full powered state could match the devastating force.
She felt her organs and bones rupture and break along her insides; barely having the presence of mind to hold her arms up to try and block the follow up strike that would have likely killed her instantly if it struck her head full on.
She was sent crashing into the ground, her body carving a trench into the earth, the Nibi frantically attempting to repair the damage inflicted as Yugito struggled to keep herself conscious through the pain and what should have been otherwise fatal damage.
The Nibi worked quickly, now unfurling her full, deathly power Yugito's body was wreathed head to toe in flames, the twin tails of the Neko bursting from the space of her tail bone as she struggled to her feet on shaking legs.
The girl child gave her no respite.
Before she'd even reached her feet, the burning beast was there, striking with two quick jabs.
Yugito backed away, barely avoiding the first and was about to avoid the second when fire burst out of her clenched fist, a flash burn searing the Jinchuuriki's eyes with a scream of pain.
She felt the Nibi take hold of her chakra coils and did not fight it, physically reeling the chakra shroud lashed out tails and claws thrashing and striking to give her some reprieve.
Coughing blood and bile, she brought all the raw chakra she could mold in an instant to bear, channeling it through her hands, flames burst from her fingertips as she thrust her hands forward, blasting the Yonbi Jinchuuriki with a column of fire at point blank range.
She felt the Yonbi resist with its own monstrous power, a shield to Yugito's sword as the Konoha girl struggled to push through the violet flames even as Yugito backed away and the girl's feet dug divots into the stone roads, trying to resist being forced back.
After a moment, the Nibi's power waned and failed, her Bijuu was not one for raw strength like the Hachibi; but the reprieve was enough as she felt the worst of the pain beginning to fade from her insides and the weakness in her limbs recede if only just.
The instant the force diminished she felt the Yonbi brute force it's way through, the girl's face a rictus of fury, snarling with eyes that burned like fire pits
Suddenly, smoke rose from the ground, thick and black Yugito's eyes darted around them, noticing the many Kumogakure Anbu surrounding them, holding just outside the heat envelope that surrounded the Yonbi Jinchuurikki like a living Kiln, enveloping the both of them.
Her eyes glinted in the gloom as she pulled back into the blackened shadows now.
(X)(X)(X)
Where the battle between the Jinchuurikki was akin to two mountains crashing into each other, the battle between the Kage was altogether different. A serpent evading a lion.
A tore through the village, the lightning shroud armor tearing apart anything that came close, doggedly chasing the retreating Kakashi with furious determination.
Further and further away the Hokage drew the Raikage from the battle between the Jinchuurikki, further from them and Sasame, deeper into the village.
The flames were truly spreading now, black smoke rising to hang thick in the air, the fires he himself had lit as a stalling tactic, and now those bursting to life as the heat of Akane's transformed state made the dry would catch like a wick.
The flames provided their own form of cover, but it was a double edged sword to be sure; it was narrowing his escapes. His means of keeping distance. He couldn't disengage completely, or A would take the opportunity to circle back towards Akane and Kakashi was well aware she could not fight the Raikage with any hope of success.
She was raw power, A needed a different weapon to bring him down, if it were possible at all.
Finally, as they drew near the city center, the Bloody Wolf turned to face the Lion.
A's approach wasn't anymore subtle than it had been, tearing through the city straight for him.
Kakashi's hands moved, flashing in signs before he stomped one foot onto the ground, the earth erupting beneath his feet like a wall of spears jutting out in defiance of the Raikage.
Stone cracked and splintered, turning to little more than pebbles, barely slowing down the lightning wielder.
Kakashi rushed him, climbing the still intact stone spears to leap over the man.
A tried to lunge for him, but couldn't reach leaping from ground level as he was. The lightning armor tore through any kind of foothold before he could even reach it, stone, wood or otherwise.
Kakashi twisted his body overhead, lashing out with both arms a fan of kunai blades, the small knives fanning outwards in a perfect semi circle, digging deep into wood, brick, mortar and stone wherever they struck.
The flutter of seals snapping through the air was drowned out in the comparative cacophony of fire and lightning.
The seals glowed, the runes shining before A's monstrous lightning shroud was suddenly diminished, reduced to little more than a faint shimmering aura around his body.
The Raikage frowned staring at his hands in irritation as his mind caught up quickly with the trap before Kakashi was on him.
A was a mountain of pure muscle, and Kakashi knew better than to expect the man relied solely on his lightning shroud armor; his mastery over Taijutsu was legendary.
Even so, it was more than a little dismaying that the strongest axe kick delivered as he descended from the sky was blocked with barely a flinch of discomfort at all from the man, the crack of armored shin guard meeting his forearm thundering through the village street.
A shoved him off and with a handstand to catch his fall and get to his feet Kakashi drew a kunai as the Raikage went on the offensive, uncaring as to the state of his lightning armor.
A's moves were quick and powerful, relying on fists and heavy blows. Kakashi's arms came up, blocking the strikes, and quickly bringing his own limbs close to better absorb the massive impacts.
The moment he sensed his opening, he took it, A's knee came up, ready to drive into his stomach when Kakashi's own limb caught the strike, driving the bone of his kneecap into the soft cartilage between knee and shin, he drove forward with all his force, knocking the Raikage off balance if only for a moment, before delivering a rapid series of blows.
Off balance, A still blocked each and every strike, the Raikage's eyes never leaving his as his fists and forearms cracked against Kakashi's armored gloves and bracers.
A's hands thrust forward suddenly, both fists crashing into Kakashi's chest and stomach; driving the man back with a sputtering cough.
In the next instant, A drove his foot into the ground a wall erupting behind the Hokage, making him smack solidly against its surface, trapped between it and the advancing A.
Without handseals and barely with enough breath in his lungs to make the technique work, Kakashi breathed a plume of fire at A's face, the thin veil of lightning still covering the man made the pitiful gout of flame break like water on rock but it obstructed A's vision enough for Kakashi to duck aside the heavy blow that would have caved in his skull.
Now, almost beside the man Kakashi stepped into A's guard one foot hooking onto the massive man's own before he shoved.
A didn't budge an inch.
With a roar, the Raikage pulled back his extended fist and drove the bone of his elbow into Kakashi's ribs, or tried to, as the Hokage barely caught the blow with his one free hand.
Gripping as tightly as he could with chakra, Kakashi drew a kunai with his free hand, the blade crackling with lightning and drove it tip down into A's shoulder through the lightning veil.
The Raikage didn't so much scream as he simply roared.
Then the heel of his boot crashed down onto Kakashi's foot.
The snap of bone was instantly painful, and the loss of focus made Kakashi lose his grip on the Raikage as A fully rounded on him, driving forward with a fist caught him full in the jaw.
Through the blood pounding across his skull and the ringing in his ears as he hit the ground Kakashi heard A pull the knife from his shoulder and shoved himself forward to roll back onto his feet, rounding on the man as he ignored the pain in his now broken foot.
A gripped the knife tight, and then with a throw that could have thrown that blade clear across the Hokage monument, A tossed it.
With the sound of steel shattering, one of the kunai seals around the two men broke and with the sound of the sky splitting open, A was again shrouded in his lightning armor.
(X)(X)(X)
Akane snarled, feeling the slash of claws rake across her shoulder and back, the pale flames of the Nibi eating away at her flesh in a cold burn that seared her skin.
She turned, lashing out with a swipe of her hand, but it was little use; the Kumo kunoichi was already slipping back into the unnatural smoke.
When her eyes were injured, Goku could still sense her, still see. This was different, the smoke wasn't real, it was chakra, enveloping the whole area in foreign presences. It was like trying to spot an individual rain drop while under a waterfall...
She'd tried to blast away the darkness before, the power of her explosion enough to knock down buildings but doing little to dissipate the unnatural dark. The Anbu circled, keeping their distance, staying beyond her reach to retaliate but giving their Jinchuuriki support.
She moved to take on a defensive stance but before she even could three more strikes tore across her arms, stomach and thighs, blood audibly dripped in rivulets onto the cobblestones at her feet and she felt Goku's snarl in her own mind reflected as it emerged from her throat.
They were losing this fight.
She sensed it a moment before it struck, the flare of chakra to the side; and though she tried to move it was too late.
A claw of pure chakra, wreathed in fire lunged out of the dark, coiling around her throat, the sharp nails digging into her skin as Goku tried to keep the worst of the power from burning her neck to cinders.
The claw pulled and she was ripped off her feet, smashed face first into the stone, dragged across the bare rock, she felt the grit tearing at skin that rapidly reknit itself rock and dirt digging into the torn flesh of her face and arms.
She was lifted, into the air, smashed back down, dragged again, the streets and walls of the village repainted with her blood before the woman finally threw her down the length of the street.
Akane's body shook, nearly failing as she tried to get to her feet, fat globules of blood dripping from her chin as her torn up face stitched itself back together.
She let out a cough, wet.
A breath, also wet.
"Goku-chan-' She wheezed, clutching at her chest as her thoughts sluggishly moved through her mind 'I… need help.'
"I am helping girl." He said, not unkindly. "A few more years… and we would have beaten my sister into the dirt; her and her friends."
There was a sharp flare of pain a slice at the back of her knee that made her fall again, the kick that subsequently cracked into her temple drove her further off balance, nearly knocking her flat all over again.
Goku snarled in her mind.
If… if she could just get rid of this damned smoke…
She shut her eyes, channeling chakra to her ears in desperation, but the crackle of flames, the screaming of people, the muttered curses, everything came to her, not just the sounds she needed, overwhelming and disorienting.
She heard the rushing sound of footsteps to her right, a shout-
Her eyes snapped open, whirling on the sound, face twisting into a snarl as her fiery hair flared behind her.
The spinning whorl of Chakra was wholly unexpected.
"KAITEN!"
The scream shocked her, and the spinning bubble burst apart in every direction, like a stone thrown into water the smoke was forcefully parted, the Hyuuga's chakra disruption extending to the unnatural cloud around her.
One moment she was staring at the whirling chakra, a blink and in the next she was staring at Hanabi, her friends skin rapidly blistering, red and burned braving the ambient heat that had already put the nearby buildings to the flame.
The Hyuuga girl's eyes were shut tight, leaking tears as she whimpered and cried curling in on herself and Akane's instinct was to go to her, recede back the fiery fury of Goku to help her friend.
But Goku's own voice arrested the thought, his shout came with urgency- "LEFT!"
She turned
There she was.
Hanabi had been waiting, waiting for a moment when the woman couldn't retreat, couldn't slip away until the smoke was enforced around her again.
She was fully committed, a claw swipe that would tear out Akane's throat;
This was her chance, likely her only chance.
She moved, not risking an avoidance.
She stepped into the strike.
Claws sank into her upper arm, pale flames burned coldly under her skin, her strength was rapidly failing as muscle, tendon and sinew burned away but she had enough strength to bring the remains of that arm up and grab a bone breaking hold on the Jinchuuriki's forearm.
The bones ground and splintered- but she couldn't afford to enjoy the moment as she reared back with her free hand.
The blow was telegraphed, sloppy, the Nibi had enough time to raise a hasty defense.
Akane and Goku didn't care.
All of her strength, every bit of raw power she could shove into the blow was driven into her arm, the instinctive power Goku had infused her body with in likeness to her mother's own legendary strength surged into every single muscle fibre as she screamed and punched.
The Kumo girl's arm snapped like a dry twig and her fist kept going, through the defense to smash straight into her upper chest. She'd been aiming for her head, but the woman had enough time and reflexes to try and dodge.
Bones broke, she felt it, collarbone, ribs, sternum, her fellow Jinchuurikki's chest all but caved in and the wide eyed shock and horror was made all the more terrible when the blood she coughed spattered over Akane's face.
She was catapulted back, both arms broken, hitting the ground like a flopping dead fish, the bones of her body crunching and rolling within the sack of meat that was her skin.
She rolled to a stop, a bloody trail left where her body had skipped over the cobblestones.
She didn't move again.
(X)(X)(X)
Sasame kept her eyes tightly shut, face pressed into Yuugao-san's chest, hands clutching so tightly at her vest her fingers hurt.
'Ladies do not cry.'
Every shake, every sound, the heat of crackling flames, every wayward scream carried on the wind made the girl jump
Yuugao and the other man moved fast, the purple haired woman that had been taking care of her for months rushing through the half destroyed village as the flames continued to rise around them.
The heat was stifling, the smoke a choking grip on her throat, she stuffed her face into Yuugao's shoulder, smelling the faint traces of her lavender soap beneath the smoke.
Then something hit her.
The shock of the impact rattled her insides, her whole world jerking. She tried to clutch tightly onto Yuugao but her grip was ripped away, her whole body tumbling through the air until she couldn't tell where the ground ended and the sky began before she slammed into the hard unyielding ground.
She felt her arm scrape against the stone, the rough rock tearing at it; she screamed in pain and then bit at her bottom lip, cradling her arm tight as she curled into a ball and tried to smother her tears.
'Ladies do not cry…'
There were sounds nearby; sounds of fighting, she brought her eyes up to see Yuugao and the other Anbu fighting people, four of them.
It was fast, too fast for her to keep up. The Hokage's guard killed a man before he himself was killed, his throat slash, gurgling on bright red blood that spattered as it hit the ground.
But his arms wrapped around his killer, holding him tight and Yuugao took the opportunity to step close, driving three quick stabs into the man's unprotected side.
Sasame watched, heart in her throat as her guardian was grabbed from behind, the Kumo nin wrapping one arm around her throat the other grasping the arm holding her kunai.
The second man rushed in to attack.
Her foot drove into his chest, shoving him back and herself into the man holding her, sending his back smashing into a wooden wall with enough force to splinter it.
Still he held her.
Yuugao snarled, scratching at the armored arm around her neck like a beast, eyes alight with fury as her nails splintered and cracked, fingers beginning to bleed.
Sasame stared, tears percolating in her eyes that she refused to let fall; praying in stiff, frozen terror somewhere in her mind.
Then someone grabbed her.
The grip was painful. A crushing thing at the back of her neck, she screamed, long and loud, legs kicking as she was pulled off the ground.
"Got y-Ughkn"
The burning hot liquid poured over her head and the grip was gone, she fell onto her knees, scraping them and her hands, the pain lost on her as the man collapsed, a kunai blade driven into the hilt at the side of his neck before Sasame's eyes snapped over to Yuugito, now unarmed, and struggling to breathe as the man behind her released the arm that no longer held a weapon to put all the strength he could into his hold.
His partner got to his feet, weapon at the ready.
When he drove his blade forward there was nothing to stop it but bare flesh.
So that's what she used.
The knife was stabbed straight through Yuugao's hand, its diamond shaped tip bursting out the other end alongside gristle and bone; still her fingers clenched tight, grabbing as firm a hold as she could before yanking blade free from a grip soaked with blood.
Then she drove the back of her fist into the skull of the man behind her.
It wasn't clean, it wasn't instant, the shock of pain made the man slacken his grip, unsure how he was under attack, she sucked down a breath, eyes regaining their fury before she punched again and this time rather than a cut on skin, the knife bit into skull, the Anbu mask shattering as the Kumo nin shoved her away in a panic-
Straight into the waiting blade held by his friend.
The knife sank into Yuugao's stomach, blood bursting from her skin like a sliced water sack; her eyes went wide, the air driven from her lungs as the strength started rapidly leaving her body.
Sasame screamed but still…
'Ladies don't cry'
The Anbu gripped at the hand still pierced by the kunai, keeping it from being used any further as a weapon as he used the other to force the knife to cut her open even further.
She reached at her hair, pulling free the thick heavy shard of shattered mask in her free hand before swinging wildly.
She hit collarbone first, the jagged edge biting into her hand and into flesh, pulled it free, hammering again, closer this time, the chest.
He let go of the knife, let go of her arm, panicked now, trying to defend.
Too late.
The third hit found her target, hammering the shard of mask in the exposed opening beneath his, onto his neck, bright red blood fountained from the wound as she ripped his throat open.
He gurgled, trashing horribly as he hit the ground before going still.
Her eyes swam, ashen face nearly slack before she collapsed onto the stone.
Sasame wasn't sure how long she stood there, staring in numb, shocked horror at the sight of her guardian, laying on the floor.
The flames crackled around them, the smoke casting long, dark shadows even in the midday sun, the sweltering heat trapping her eyes in a haze, along with her mind.
She didn't notice the tears spilling from her eyes until she saw Yuugao body twitch, struggling to move.
She cried, screaming something she couldn't even hear as she ran forward, little feet pounding across the stones to reach the woman who's arms shook with the effort of even lifing her chest off the road, but caught Sasame in a firm grip, hugging her tight.
"Shh… shh… you're ok… you're ok."
Her voice was soft… faint, she lowered the both of them to the ground, curling her body as much as she could around the fire princess, the blood pooling around the both of them.
(X)(X)(X)
With a tremendous crash of shattered masonry and brick Kakashi's body was sent straight through the outer walls of the hospital.
People screamed, what few nurses and hospital staff remained right alongside their panicking patients.
His armor was cracked, clothes torn, numbing techniques were keeping him moving but he could feel the bones of his foot grinding and digging along his insides the bruise along nearly broken ribs that made breathing difficult.
He would be paying for the constant movement the second this fight was over, might even lose the foot entirely; but better that than dead.
Stepping through the hole, A looked little worse for wear than he had been, his only injury still the kunai that had dug into the juncture between shoulder and collarbone.
That arm was slower, weaker, but that was hardly a weakness when Kakashi couldn't get past that lightning shroud armor.
Not yet at least.
His eyes darted a split second to the door at A's immediate right, the room number displayed.
Third floor
His eye darted back to the Raikage, smiling at the man. "Aren't you tired yet?" Must be exhausting keeping that up."
The dark skinned man rolled his shoulder. "I can rest after you're dead Hokage."
A lunged forward, the lightning shroud noticeably smaller than the colossal monolith that had been tearing apart the village streets and buildings. Barely hovering more than a few inches around his skin.
Was he tiring? Or simply doing it so the building wouldn't collapse around them? Perhaps there was a limit to how much tonnage the shroud could destroy at once and wouldn't keep him from getting crushed if ten stories of concrete and steel fell on him.
Either way, Kakashi had neither the time nor the luxury to care.
He skirted to the side, his back pressed against the hallway wall leaping away as his hands formed seals, pulling the water from the nearby pipes and faucets sending lances of the liquid straight towards the living lightning rod.
The armor sparked, spat and jumped, forks of lightning crackled and split across the hallway but A didn't look at all impressed, snarling as he stalked forward.
"Really? This was your plan! You thought such an obvious thing would work?" The disgust in the man's voice was a weapon in and of itself. "What I wouldn't give to have fought Hiruzen, rather than this pale shadow sitting in his office."
Kakashi didn't answer, hands heaving downwards as if pulling a massive weight, the water surging from the floors above tore down the ceiling. He heard more screams, saw more than one person fall to the hall between them or behind A, injured or dead, he couldn't spare a thought for them now.
The concrete, like everything else thrown at the Raikage broke apart on contact with the shroud, becoming little more than flecks of dust that coated the man, turning his dark skin into an ashen gray.
Oddly enough, A looked as infuriated as Kakashi felt
Leaping up onto the walls, Kakashi began to climb.
"Bastard!"
A moved and Kakashi spared a quick look behind him, seeing that the man had in fact, by necessity diminished the raw output of his shroud even further to avoid destroying the walls themselves, allowing him to climb.
With a blindingly fast pivot, the Hokage turned and rushed towards his enemy, the sound of a thousand birds filling the air as both his hands lit up with the lightning of the Raikiri.
A's eyes widened, jerking to the side to avoid being impaled by the lightning that could now pierce the thin remnants of his shroud, his knee shooting up to hit Kakashi's midriff, but at the angle that they were, standing directly on the wall, with Kakashi above and he below, gravity worked against him, and the angle was off, his brain still not having fully adjusted to the sudden change in perspective.
The blow winded him a bit, but it didn't hurt him.
Kakashi pressed the attack
He focused on his hands, both of them still screaming with the deafening noise of the Raikiri, hammering A's upper body defenses with all the force and speed he could bring to the fight, watching as the man's muscles jerked and jumped where the foreign lightning made contact. His shroud was enough to stop the ninjutsu from shredding through his skin and body outright, but the increased output, concentrated on Kakashi's fists as opposed to A's whole body was breaking through the defense.
A's movements became less precise, more unsure, muscles jumping and twitching, minute changes that affected his defense badly, and Kakashi pressed the moment for all it was worth, not allowing him the time to retreat and get to more favorable ground.
His hand whipped out, snake fast, shoving through a block that was just off its mark; his fingers latched onto A's collarbone, thumb pressing over the kunai wound.
Then he forced his finger to dig in and the Chidori in his hand to go with it!
A's entire body seized, volts of lightning tearing through his insides as the man screamed, his lightning shroud shutting off like a bursting light bulb.
His face; a rictus of absolute fury snapped towards Kakashi and before the Hokage could do much more than widen his eyes in surprise that the man was still breathing, let alone moving, he charged forward, delivering a tremendous headbutt that sent a sickening crack across Kakashi's face.
Nose. He belatedly realised.
Reeling, he couldn't do much more than gasp as A grabbed him by collar and throat with both hands before throwing him over his shoulder and sending them both straight down to the third floor where they'd started.
He hit the ground and felt something break along his insides, a flare of pain burning across his chest as he brought his arms up to block the hammer like punches that rained down from above as A seemed determined to cave in his skull.
Every blow felt like it would shatter his forearms.
A was strong. Stronger than Gai and that was saying something.
He couldn't fight him like this.
A's fists hammered and hammered and hammered, it felt endless, and the instant Kakashi spied the man pulling one fist back a bit father than he should've, he took the opportunity, drawing two finger knives from his vambrace and slashing A across the ribs and exposed bicep.
The fight was brutal, ugly, like animals fighting with claws and teeth than ninja dueling with technique.
He pulled away suddenly gathering enough concentration to sink through the floor itself, another finger broken and his forearm white hot from what must've been a hairline fracture.
He had a second's respite before A smashed through the ceiling bleeding from a half dozen new wounds as the lightning shroud sparked and spat, trying to form itself again.
Kakashi's hands smacked down onto the ground. "Doton:-"
They were on the second floor, too high to use the earth itself, but concrete would suffice.
It jutted out like fine white rock spears around the Raikage, the hallway suddenly turning into a jagged row of concrete teeth.
A moved, the fine chakra control needed for the lightning shroud was gone but he was no less fast.
The Hokage backed away as fast as he could, A was a Taijutsu monster , facing him head on was something best left to Gai, and even then, he wasn't sure if his friend could actually beat the Raikage in that fight.
He fired off technique after technique keeping his distance, fire, lightning, water, even a handful of the wind abilities he knew.
A was relentless, when Kakashi fired the man dodged, when he couldn't dodge he intercepted with a technique of his own, or furniture, medical equipment, sometimes just ignoring anything that couldn't stop a rampaging bull and just barrelling straight through it.
Finally, in desperation, the Hokage's hands once more struck the ground.
"Kuchiyose!"
The clouds burst along the hallway and a half dozen hounds the size of wolves and small horses burst outwards; charging forward with snarls on their lips and spittle flying from their bared fangs.
The first beast to reach the Raikage was promptly dispelled, the man catching it by it's throat and jaw before twisting with a sickening crunch.
The second fared little better, with A ramming his monstrous fist down the beasts throat breaking teeth, jaw and everything in its path before the beast vanished.
The third slammed into him, biting into his thigh, he raised his fist but the fourth, came in, biting at his forearm, then the fifth at his shoulder and the sixth the leg.
Kakashi fired off a lightning spear, thin, fast and aimed squarely at the bound A's heart.
The Raikage heaved, lifting the dog on his forearm and maneuvering the other on his shoulder into the path of the attack, both were dispelled with twin yelps of pain.
Much less encumbered A grabbed the two beasts on his thigh and ankle by the scruff of their necks.
The one in his right arm, he tightened his fist until something crunched, the other he threw into and through the opposite wall.
The two men stared at one another, panting harshly.
Kakashi was nearing his limit, pain and injuries catching up and despite the sheer strength in him he could tell A was similarly affected; blood dripping from the man in rivulets from the multitude of fresh cuts and punctures.
A seemed to shake off his exhaustion, shedding it like a snake would shed its skin as he began to stalk forward again and Kakashi had to grit his teeth, wondering if his rival was just made from bloody granite.
Then, suddenly the sound of a horn cut through the chaos.
Kakashi didn't recognize the sound.
A stopped, eyes widening just a bit as his head turned.
The sound came again, three times, loud and rolling.
A grit his teeth, turning and glaring and Kakashi suddenly realized what that was.
A call for retreat?
The sound came again.
With a roar A turned, smashing his fist through a wall before he vanished in a puff of smoke.
Kakashi sagged where he knelt, wondering what the hell had just happened.
After a moment, he could hear a strange hissing around him, glancing up to peer out a window to try and see what was happening.
'Sand?'
(X)(X)(X)
The place Tsunade and Orochimaru found themselves in towards the end of this winding, dark, flooded road; either of them could only describe it as a heart.
Seemingly every stream from every corner of the great corpse of a city above them came down here, water made the walls sheen, only the faintest shaft of light reached the floor, glimmering across the rippling waters like starlight.
At the center of it all- a tree.
Tall, gnarled and withered. It was bone white as dead as the city that fed it; its roots digging deep into the crags and rocky crevices.
At the foot of the tree they saw her- saw them both.
Konan, curled onto her side, her head resting on the man's lap, still wounded, the blood from her wounds glimmering like rubies thrown across diamonds as water, white bark, grey stone and pale sunlight played tricks on the eye.
She was pale, eyes closed, features pinched in troubled sleep.
The man, if he could be called such was a thin, skeletal thing- his body was starved, wry lines of muscle stood out along his arms but that seemed the barest hint of flesh on him beneath the skin. Hollowed cheeks, sunken eyes. The shock of red hair was the only thing that seemed to be well kept within him.
His body had atrophied it seemed, half fused with the bark of the tree, sitting at the center of this place.
Tsunade stepped forward, Orochimaru beside her.
Neither of them knew who this man was, but standing here, so close- they could feel the raw power rolling off of his broken body in waves. His Chakra was like a blanket, covering the whole of this place. Like roots, digging deep into the earth, spreading like tendrils across the world, as far as they could fathom. Farther even.
He was powerful, perhaps the power behind Konan's rise within Amegakure, the tool that kept her iron hold across the fractuous Ame population.
She his eyes, ears, his enforcer. He the will guiding her.
It would make sense.
He needed to die, as much as she did.
Both Sanin stopped cold however drawn up short as their keen eyes behold something slightly behind the man amidst the ruins.
A gravestone, unmarked, and unremarkable;
Save for the familiar horned Hitai-ate and the bound scroll resting beside it.
Preserved… enshrined.
The Man's eyes rose.
Once more, the waters around them churned and rippled and the eyes that fixed themselves upon them were ageless and sundering.
"Welcome"
(X)(X)(X)
Mannaged to edit in such a way as to reasonably place the previous three chapters into two, so I'm much more comfortable posting this one 'solo'.
As you can see, tis a beefy chapter, 12k words; hope you all enjoyed it. The next one should be up relatively soon.
In other news, just 4-5 more chapters to go.