The Wanderers
Chapter 19 – Endgame
A/N: I've noticed the last few chapters haven't been getting that many reviews. Ultimately I'm still going to write this story and publish it online, but I do get a smile on my face every time I read a review. Anyway, end of ramble.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be consequences from fights that are seen later on in the story.
***Previously-On***
The Invasion of the Hidden Village of Sound has hit a few barriers, four to be exact. Sasuke and Itachi were able to defeat Kidomaru, though not before the spider-like Sound shinobi saved Sasuke's life. In turn, Itachi spared him, but left him unconscious as he tended to Sasuke's injuries. Hinata, Kiba, Sakura and Lee found themselves all trapped in highly convincing illusions. Hinata and Sakura were able to escape the genjutsus, and helped their male companions do the same as they found themselves confronted by a music-using female shinobi called Tayuya. On the other side of the underground village Naruto, Chouji, Ino and Shizune confronted the Sound shinobi who called himself Sakon. After a short battle, in which Naruto's sword was destroyed, Shizune summoned two of her most powerful tiger summons, who easily defeated Sakon. Unfortunately just as they left, the Sound shinobi regenerated the fatal wound and revealed that he was in fact two shinobi, twin brothers Ukon and Sakon. Ukon quickly took out Shizune, but the other three were harder to defeat. Chouji was able to beat down their defences by converting all his body's calories into power, though it took him out of the fight and made him skinny to boot. After a clever use of Hiraishin when his body was attacked, Naruto was able to knock out Sakon, and Ino was able to get close enough to knock out Ukon as well. They decided to take their injured companions out of the village, since their flooding of the tunnels was already complete.
***End Summary***
***Kakashi – Shino – Shikamaru***
The three Konoha shinobi regarded their opponent with suspicion. He didn't look anything like the description of Kabuto that Shizune had given them.
"I'm guess we've been had" commented Shikamaru with a sigh.
Considering what Kakashi had done to the Jounin before he had given up the information, the Nara heir was surprised that he was still able to deceive them, but as he suspected the Sound shinobi's loyalty was undeniable.
"It would appear so" said Kakashi.
Shino didn't make a comment, but he kept both eyes carefully on their opponent nonetheless. The Sound shinobi was huge in comparison to the Konoha shinobi in front of him. He stood as tall as Kakashi, but was twice the size, huge muscles lining his body. Most of his head was bald, with only three sections of orange hair covering it. He wore black pants with a white tunic, a necklace of metal shards and beads around his neck. Across his white skin were lines made up of black arrows, from his back all across his face. Shikamaru kept his eyes on the large Sound shinobi, while a small line of his shadow crept around the side of the walls before moving in the enemy's blind spot towards the shadow underneath his feet. The Sound shinobi cracked his neck before regarding the three of them with beady eyes. A smile came across Shikamaru's face as his shadow connected with the enemy's, immobilising him.
"Kagemane no Jutsu, successful."
Kakashi frowned, "Well that was easy."
The Sound shinobi took a moment before laughing loudly, moving his head down slightly to see how the shadows were connected.
"Not bad, not bad at all."
Shikamaru grimaced as he tried to get the enemy's movements under control, those trapped by his technique were not supposed to be able to move at all, yet he had moved his head like it was nothing at all. The Sound shinobi moved his head back to face them, smiling arrogantly.
"I suppose being the slowest of the Four hasn't helped me in this regard. Still, I am impressed. Not many are able to stop Jiroubo of the South Gate in his tracks."
With very little effort, both of his hands slowly moved up and down before his smile widened.
"Perhaps not then."
Shikamaru swore under his breath and cut off the connection, letting his shadow retreat back to his position.
"What happened?" asked Kakashi next to him, already with a kunai in hand.
He had never seen Shikamaru intentionally release his technique; he figured something must have spooked him. The Nara heir released his hands from his family's handseal and shook his head, unable to believe what he had seen.
"He was just…toying with us. I wasn't restraining him at all."
"Was it a Bunshin?"
The two of them watched as Shino sent an insect towards Jiroubo, the Sound shinobi barely even noticing the Destruction Bug as it perched itself on his shoulder. After a few seconds his face scrunched up in irritation, and with one movement he reached over and swatted at the insect with one of his palms, causing the small insect to be crushed instantly.
"Guess it isn't a Bunshin then."
To utilise his insects properly and efficiently Shino was required to keep his composure as calm as possible, so that the insects didn't eat up his chakra too fast. However since his regular hive was destroyed by Hidan, he had been struggling to keep his new insects in check, forcing the majority of his attention to be internalised. His ears began to hurt as the insects that resided within him buzzed angrily at their companion's demise. Stretching out his arms, a large portion of his hive flew out of his jacket sleeves, surrounding him while he stared at Jiroubo through his sunglasses.
"Are you okay, Shino?" asked Kakashi, wary of the warning Hinata had given him earlier about the insect user.
The buzzing around him got louder as Shino placed his hands together to consolidate his chakra.
"Kakashi-sensei, Shikamaru, follow my lead."
His two companions looked at each other for a moment, before both of them shrugged and prepared themselves, both holding kunai in their hands.
Their opponent watched the large cloud of insects grow in size with a frown, "That is it for pleasantries then, I guess."
He looked up at the ceiling of the room for a moment, before a wide smile crept onto his face. Shino began to run through handseals, but flinched as Jiroubo put up a hand in a stop motion.
"If we are going to do this, might I recommend a change in venue? I'm not big on small spaces."
He clapped his hands together before slamming them onto the ground beneath his feet.
"Doton: Hensenseken" (Earth Element: Changing World)
The ground beneath them rumbled like an earthquake as Jiroubo pulled his arms up and faced them at the ceiling. As one, the ceiling opened up like it was designed to, coming apart to reveal the open world above them. Kakashi and Shikamaru both grimaced at the incoming light, Shino simply looked at it through his sunglasses, noticing where the sun sat in the sky. By his reckoning, it was two hours past dawn, though it was hard to tell with the clouds surrounding the sun. The ground underneath them shook again, and all three of them moved to steady themselves as the floor rose slowly towards the opening that Jiroubo had made.
"What is he doing?" asked Shikamaru.
"Turning the battlefield to his advantage" replied Kakashi, taking note of the earth techniques the Sound shinobi had used.
His techniques may be useful for later use. I know it will drain my chakra use, but if those marks are anything like that bone-users, we need to take him out quickly, before he goes into another form.
He reached up and pulled off the cloth around his head, revealing his Sharingan eye as the floor connected with the other edges of the ceiling, placing all four of them above the village. Jiroubo grinned as the floor stopped rumbling, taking a look at their surroundings before turning back to his three opponents. The ground around them was dry and rocky, completely different from the grass fields that made up most of the Land of Rice Fields. Shikamaru bent down and felt the rocky ground, noticing that while the ground of the village was made out of some kind of smooth stone, as it had been rising the ground had turned into the same rocky surface as the outside.
"Definitely a battlefield for an Earth user" he said dryly, standing up slowly while wiping his hand on his shirt.
It took him a moment before he looked over at his two companions, realising that Kakashi had Earth techniques of his own, and that while he didn't use them that often, Shino was attuned to Earth abilities as well. He glanced over at their opponent as a plan formed in his mind. If the Sound shinobi couldn't be bound by Kagemane, then there were other ways for him to be defeated.
"Ah, so much nicer outside. Never understood the need for having an underground village."
Not wanting to let him complete another technique, Shino waved a hand towards the Sound shinobi, two small clusters of insects flying out from his cloud straight at Jiroubo. To his frustration, the Sound shinobi simply laughed at two clustered projectiles, jumping to the side to avoid the attacks. Without a single motion from him, the clustered insects homed in on his new position, aiming straight towards his stomach.
He yelled out as he reached back on of his fists, "Straight fist!"
The punch landed directly onto one of the clusters, the sheer force of it sending the insects flying. The second cluster dodged around his other fist and struck him in the shoulder. Their stingers pierced the skin beneath his clothes for a moment before he slammed a palm into his shoulder, killing them. He grimaced and held his shoulder for a moment, trying to keep an eye on the Konoha shinobi. His eyes widened as he saw that only the two teenagers were standing opposite him. He jumped into the air on instinct, just as Kakashi's lightning charged hand pierced through the air where he was standing. The Jounin swore as he looked up into the air, his Sharingan hadn't shown him the movement at all. Jiroubo fell to the ground quickly, driving a fist directly at Kakashi's head. His Sharingan did show him that motion, forcing the Konoha Jounin to jump forwards back towards Shino and Shikamaru. The ground underneath his fist shattered as the Sound Jounin grinned while he looked at his opponents.
"Not bad…for trash that is."
He cracked his neck before placing his hands together. As the air around him began to waver with the huge amounts of chakra he was giving out, he slammed his hands into the ground beneath him, digging his fingers into the rocky earth as his three opponents scrambled to get their defences ready. With his muscles straining at the effort, Jiroubo heaved his hands upwards, bringing up a giant boulder high above his head.
"Doton: Doryou Dango (Earth Element: Earth Mausoleum Dumpling)
He drew his hands back before hurling the giant boulder at the three of them, the sheer weight of the throw nearly tearing the air apart as it hurtled towards the Konoha shinobi. Both Shino and Shikamaru slid back, but as Kakashi went to move he could see that they were still going to get hit by the Earth attack no matter what. With his hands flying through a set of handseals, the silver-haired Jounin moved into position and put both his hands up to receive the boulder strike.
"Futatsu Raikiri!"
As the boulder struck his hands they crackled with fierce lightning, the Earth attack falling to pieces the instant they made contact. Behind the attack Jiroubo frowned when he saw the lightning coming from the Sharingan user's body, as an Earth Element user he was very wary of Lightning users, since they directly counter his attacks. He pushed off his feet with a burst of chakra, charging straight at Kakashi. Using the falling rubble as cover, he slammed straight through the rocks.
"Right Elbow!"
Once again Kakashi's red eye saved his life, allowing the Jounin to duck under the strike and roll away. He kept his Sharingan eyed on the large Sound shinobi as he landed back with his two students. Kakashi calculated how much chakra was in the blow, his eyes widening when he realised that if it had struck him where it was aimed, his head would have gone flying.
"Slippery fellow, aren't you?" observed Jiroubo with a grim smile.
Kakashi smiled under his mask, "I do what I can."
"Ninpou Kuchiyose…" Both Kakashi and Shikamaru frowned when they heard Shino activate the technique, neither of them had any idea what he was trying to do, let alone the fact that the Aburame had a summoning contract. Shino placed his hands together, "Mushikyojin" (Insect Avatar).
A cloud of smoke appearing above him, as long insectoid legs emerged over him. His companions jumped back, not wanting to get in the way as the smoke cleared and Shino's summoned creature was shown completely. It was huge, dozens of feet tall and monstrous-looking, but they trusted that he knew what he was doing. Jiroubo looked up at the creature with awe, as horrifying as it appeared it was more impressive that one so young could summon a creature so large. His hands began to twitch, the arrow lines on his skin fluctuated as he tried to force the Cursed Seal into the next stage. He snarled and was forced to jump back to avoid a leg strike, the marks having stopped moving.
"Of all the times to…when I actually need it…"
The insect giant pulled back two sets of mandibles before pulling back its head and spitting a large glob of green liquid at the balding Sound shinobi. Jiroubo clapped his hands together and slammed them into the ground beneath him, a large shell of rock forming around him. The green venom slammed into the defence, and for a few seconds it seemed like the shell would hold, until a loud sizzling came from the rock shell. The backend of the shell exploded outwards as Jiroubo slammed his way through, jumping back as the venom burnt through his defence.
That was too close.
A large fireball came screaming towards him, forcing the Sound shinobi to move to the side to avoid it. As he hit the ground a collection of black tendrils reached up and grabbed at him, restraining him tightly like ropes.
Another fireball came towards him, as did a huge claw from Shino's summon, both aimed at his head. Jiroubo strained against the bindings, "You guys…don't know…who you are…MESSING WITH!"
With a roar he stretched out his arms, snapping the shadow bindings easily. With a hand planted into the ground he picked up a giant boulder and threw it at the fireball, while jumping up into the air with a fist raised. While in the air his skin began to turn dark red with big warts along it as his three tuffs of hair turned orange and grew into a mane down his back. With relative ease he patted down the claw strike with one hand, and in a single motion he drew back a fist and slammed it into the creature's face, the sheer power of the blow causing it to reel back momentarily before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. He landed back down on the ground with a loud thud and smiled cruelly at his three opponents.
"I'd say I'm being underestimated, but in truth I think you are the ones being overestimated."
Across the battlefield Shikamaru bit at his thumb nervously, trying to formulate a plan to counter this new form. He watched as the Sound shinobi buckled slightly, his body seeming to thrash as huge jets protruded out of his back, spewing out large volumes of chakra. Jiroubo glanced over his shoulder, a curious look on his face.
Well that's new.
"Any ideas, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Shikamaru, feeling utterly helpless considering his shadow techniques couldn't even slow him down.
The Jounin in the group watched their enemy carefully, "I could try that technique that took out the bone-user, but I have no idea how it worked, or even if I could do it again."
Shikamaru shook his head, there was no sense betting on an ability that only worked some of the time, if that. He asked for his two companions to cover him, taking a moment before placing his hands into his thinking pose. Kakashi moved into a position to keep Shikamaru secure, praying that the lazy genius could think of something before they were overrun. While he knew his lightning techniques could easily penetrate their enemy's ground based techniques, but Jiroubo's sheer power was frightening. After a few seconds Shikamaru stood back up, tapping both of them on the shoulders before pulling out a kunai.
"Did I miss anything?"
Kakashi shook his head, their opponent seemed happy to wait for them to come at him. He was either supremely arrogant, or just interested in a decent fight, they couldn't figure out which.
"You have a plan?"
"Part of one, I suppose. Your Raikiri would pierce through him."
"He keeps moving out of the way of it though, faster than my Sharingan can keep up. We need some way to bind him."
Shino ran through a set of handseal quietly, taking a second to summon up the majority of his chakra before placing his hands carefully on the ground.
"He will be preoccupied for a while. Why? Because I didn't just waste my time while you were asleep, Kakashi-sensei. I do my duty."
His companions glanced at him for a moment, before both shrugging and preparing themselves. Shikamaru leant over and whispered into Kakashi's ear, the Jounin nodding as he understood the plan. It wasn't the Nara heir's best, but it was better than he could think of at such a time. Clapping his hands together, Jiroubo indicated that he'd had enough of waiting.
"It's about that time, Konoha trash."
Large jets of chakra bellowed out of the jets in his back, but before he could move out there was a loud rumbling underneath his feet. Jiroubo glanced down at the ground, and regretted taking that moment as it ruptured underneath him. The ground cracked and rumbled before a huge set of teeth burst out of it, a giant worm-like creature emerging out to attack him from underneath. Jumping off the ground using the teeth as leverage, Jiroubo leapt high into the air. He felt a small spike in his chest, looking down to see a half dozen kunai buried in his chest. In the Second Level he didn't feel any pain, a pulse of chakra pushing the metal projectiles out of his body with a smile. As he began to descend towards the ground, his landing area began to crack and rumble. He swore as another worm erupted out of the ground, biting at his legs as he landed.
"Enough of this."
He slammed a foot into the worm's teeth, wincing as it went through his foot, but let out enough strength to slam his fist into its side. He grinned wildly at the death of the worm creature, though only for a moment before his ears twitched. Almost as if he knew it was going to happen, he flipped around in an instant, bringing up a hand and catching Kakashi's wrist before it could strike him.
He grinned as he stared into Kakashi's red eye, "That Sharingan of yours must see a lot."
The muscles in his arm flexed and Kakashi cried out in pain as he felt the bones in his wrist break. His Raikiri had been a centimetre away from taking down the Sound shinobi, the only shinobi that had been able to stop his lightning technique so easily was the Fourth Hokage, and he had superior speed over his student. Jiroubo wasn't faster than them, that much Kakashi was certain of, but for some unexplained reason he had dodged his attack twice now. Jiroubo pulled back his other fist, the red skin slowly turning into a large piston-like spike. Kakashi tried to pull away, but with his hand caught he knew he wasn't going anywhere. He could see both Shino and Shikamaru running towards them, but also knew that they weren't going to make it in time. He closed his eyes slowly, picturing the three important people he had lost so long ago. As the images of the Fourth, Obito and Rin came to him, the image became populated with many others, shinobi he once knew or still did.
I guess this is it.
Inside his mind he felt a spiking pain in his cheek, like he'd been punched in the face. His eyes opened and he was amazed by what he saw. Standing in front of him was his childhood friend, a frown on his face.
"O…bito?"
The young Uchiha punched him again, though there was no malice in the strike.
"You're just giving up, Kakashi? I never knew you to be a quitter."
"But I…"
"Shut up, I've only got a short amount of time. I gave you that eye to watch over you, but that time had passed."
"Am I dead?"
"Not for the next minute. But Kakashi, don't waste it. It's all I've got left to give you. After this, you are truly on your own."
Kakashi looked down at his hand, noticing that instead of the black emptiness that he had just seen, he was outside and back on the battlefield, watching as Jiroubo seemed to destroy him, but he was apart watching himself die.
"What the…"
He could tell that Shino and Shikamaru were thinking the same thing, noticing that their teacher was in one place then another.
Jiroubo turned to face him with a confused look on his face, "A clone?" he asked, knowing that what he had just crushed was real enough.
Kakashi glanced at Shino and Shikamaru for a second before laying his Sharingan eye on their opponent.
One last fight, Obito. Then we'll see.
Kakashi placed his hands together before pulling them apart, both hands crackling with lightning. With a pulse of chakra he shot forward, pushing out his right hand. His Sharingan read Jiroubo's counter, but as he moved against it he saw a second movement to counter his counter.
It's not him at all, it's that seal. It has a mind of its own and reacts accordingly. We can beat this.
Trusting that whatever saved him the first time would do it again, since he was still in that minute-mark that Obito had given him, Kakashi let Jiroubo's counter strike him, a large spike embedding itself in his face. As he suspected, Kakashi appeared behind the Sound shinobi with no injuries at all, his hands still crackling with lightning. Sensing his opportunity since Jiroubo was distracted, Kakashi shot forward with both his hands extended. His opponent turned at once like he had before, but in the knowledge that he would move that way, Kakashi placed both of his hands together as he activated a technique he had copied during the war.
"Raiton: Raikousen" (Lightning Element: Lightning Beam)
Jiroubo's eyes widened as a large circle of light encompassed him, Kakashi holding the technique for as long as he could before his chakra ran out. After a second the light subsided, and Kakashi stood over the fallen body of the large Sound shinobi.
"You didn't tell us you had that kind of ability, Kakashi-sensei."
Kakashi turned and smiled at Shikamaru through his mask, "It's…a long story…what is it?"
Even though he couldn't see most of his face, Kakashi could tell that Shino was as surprised as Shikamaru, though he couldn't tell why. He frowned and asked them again, making sure that Jiroubo was down for the count before turning back to them. As soon as he saw the two of them again he noticed something different, they didn't appear as blue outlines anymore. He frantically reached through his pack before he found what he was looking for, placing the mirror across from his face.
"Well I'll be…I guess he was right."
For the first time in nearly two decades, Kakashi had two black eyes, feeling a strange sense as he found himself able to see in three dimensions again.
"Kakashi-sensei, what happened to your Sharingan?"
The silver-haired Jounin looked around while trying to clear his eyes, not used to using both eyes to see things.
"How much chakra do you two have left?" he asked, taking an account of their surroundings.
With the ground raised they would have to double back to their original entrance, but it had taken them a long time to get where they had come from to begin with. Shikamaru indicated he had a reasonable amount of chakra left; Shino though didn't have much left, only enough to keep his hive in check.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
The silver-haired Jounin was still trying to work out what had happened to his Sharingan, particularly since it made that six months he and Itachi spent almost useless. It had given him closure, but that was all. He shook his head slowly,
"Sorry, I was in another place. We need to move back and regroup. If that's what it takes to take down one of their Jounin, than their leader will be even more difficult. We need to strike at force. I'm sorry to say this Shikamaru, but your plan is on hold for now."
The lazy shinobi nodded slowly, he understood Kakashi's reasoning. They both turned to Shino, but the insect-user was already moving. It was only a short distance to the group's rally point, and if the others weren't there, then they would move back in after they had recovered enough.
***Hinata – Kiba – Sakura – Lee***
The four of them watched as Tayuya pulled her hand off the floor, their eyes widening as they saw what she had summoned. As the huge smoke cloud cleared, three figures rose slowly to stand against them, each of them standing nearly fifteen foot tall, far above any of the shinobi in that room. They had initially thought that the pure white room was part of the woman's genjutsu, but even after they broke out of her illusions, the room had stayed the same. The device was no longer there, but they were more concerned about the giants that were standing before them. One of the giants was covered in bandages and had no arms, the top half of its head completely covered by the bandages and its mouth was sewn shut as his head was held backwards at an odd angle. The middle one looked like a giant ogre, with pasty muscular skin and bandages across his eyes, long spikes across its knuckles, its mouth also sewn shut. The final one was the most human-like in a full green body suit with hair covering its head and face completely, a giant metal club in one of its hands.
"Those things are huge!" said an amazed Kiba, his eyes wide as Akamaru barked in agreement.
Standing next to them both Hinata and Sakura nodded in agreement, though Lee had a different view. With an enthusiastic yell he leapt off the ground, directly at the fully bandaged giant. As he flew through the air, Tayuya seemed happy to just wait for his attack, watching as Lee slammed a foot straight into the giant's bandaged head. The summoned creature barely even flinched at the powerful strike as Tayuya smiling as she placed the flute to her lips. The music was soft at first, not unlike the music they had heard when they first entered the room. Both Hinata and Sakura recognised the music, their hands already ready to dispel any type of illusion that might come their way. To their surprise, the pink-haired Sound shinobi wasn't creating an illusion with her music, rather as the musical tones flowed through the air the giants began to flinch and move slowly. Lee landed on the ground as the giant he just struck cracked its head and moved to face him.
"What the h…"
He didn't get a chance to finish his exclamation as the bandaged giant moved out and, with a speed unexpected of a creature that size, kicked out at Lee, sending him crashing into the wall behind his three companions.
"Lee-kun!"
Both Hinata and Kiba went to help him, but Sakura blocked them with her arms.
"What the hell are you doing?" yelled Kiba, trying to see what had happened to Lee behind her.
Sakura shook her head and kept her eyes on the giants, "He's fine. Worry more about them."
"But…"
He was cut off as the wall behind them exploded outwards, a green-clad figure picking himself up from the ground while stretching out his arms.
"He's fast for a big guy. Doesn't hit too hard though."
He walked past the three of them like nothing had happened, while Hinata and Kiba shook their heads in amazement. Sakura, on the other hand, was used to Lee shrugging off blows that would otherwise kill a normal person.
"You alright?" she asked as he stood next to her.
He smiled widely, "Truth be told, I hit my head on the wall. Feels kind of fuzzy."
She let out a short laugh before stepping next to him and reaching up with a hand, placing it on the back of his head. He blushed slightly at the touch; she had healed him in the past, but she seemed to make a point of placing her glowing fingers through his hair for a moment before she removed them.
"Better?"
He smiled warmly and bowed his head slightly, "Th…thank you, Sakura-san."
The music stopped abruptly as Tayuya glanced through the gaps in one of her giant's feet.
"You kusegero quite finished? I thought we had a fight going on here."
Lee gave her a very short bow before standing in a defensive stance, "Of course, my apologies."
He grimaced as he felt Sakura reach over and smack him on the head, "Don't apologise to her, she's the enemy!"
"Even so, Sakura-san, it is right to be courteous."
Their opponent simply rolled her eyes and placed the flute back onto her lips, her fingers pressed against the holes to its side as the music began to flow once again, and the giants began to move towards the group. Kiba walked past both Sakura and Lee with a wide grin on his face, as Akamaru barked twice before transforming into a clone of Kiba.
"When you two are ready, I think we have some enemies to take care of."
Lee shook his head before standing next to his fellow Konoha shinobi.
"Kiba and I will take the front; you girls support us with your water techniques from the back."
"Shouldn't I help you guys at the front with my Jyuuken?" asked Hinata, her Byakugan active as she tried to analyse the giants for weaknesses.
She answered her own question when she saw that none of the giants had chakra points for her to attack. The giant with the club jumped at their group, swinging its weapon straight at them. They all jumped out of the way of the weapon strike, and began their counter attack.
Kiba aimed himself at Tayuya, both he and Akamaru leaping into their whirlwind techniques, "Gatsuuga!"
Noticing the attack, Tayuya didn't move an inch from her position, simply continuing to play her flute as the ogre-looking giant moved sideways to position itself between her and the attacks. Kiba noticed the defence through the whirlwind, but decided to continue the attack, to see how sturdy the summoned creature was. Lee striking it normally was one thing, but Kiba's destructive power was quite high in his current form. As they went to strike it in the stomach, both of them diverted their angle, the twin whirlwinds striking the giant under its chin. While Kiba was attacking his target, Lee moved to strike at the club-wielding giant, his muscles straining as he opened the first chakra gate. His skill with the taijutsu technique was to such a point that the first gate did no damage to him whatsoever, though it did tire him slightly.
He didn't remove the bandages on his arms, there was little point to using the Lotus on such a large enemy, his legs slammed off the ground as he flipped in the air and drove both his legs into the top of its head. Unfortunately for both the male shinobi, their attacks did no damage at all to their targets. Lee flipped backwards as he looked at the giant he had attacked from his position next to Sakura.
"Bah, no damage at all."
On the other side, both Kiba and Akamaru bounced off the giant's chin, falling to the ground as the giant swung an arm at them. They were both sent flying at the strike, Kiba able to shield Akamaru as they landed on the wall to the side of the room, both of them leaping off the wall to land next to their companions.
"That thing took no damage at our strike? Why do we always get the tough enemies?"
Lee clapped his companion on the back with a grin, "It's so that we can get stronger, Kiba-kun. You should know this by now."
The Inuzuka heir just shook his head; the taijutsu-user's enthusiasm was tiring at the best of times. Hinata walked between the two of them and pointed over at the three giants as they lined up against them.
"The three of them are made up of pure energy. None of our attacks will work. They are being controlled by her music, I think."
Kiba leant across to glance at the Sound shinobi playing the flute, noticing that she was becoming increasingly agitated as they dodged one of the giant's blows as a group, easily able to move away from the obvious strike.
"They aren't that fast, once you are paying attention to them" observed Lee, flipping backwards as he dodged a thrown fist from the ogre-giant.
The green giant tried to slam its spiked club at the two girls, but as one they placed their arms up and a huge wall of water emerged from the ground. The weapon crashed into the water, but both girls reinforced their defence, causing the club's force to be dispersed across the water's surface. The two of them shared a look for a second before placing their hands into another handseal. Having successfully defended the attack, the water around the club changed form, moving around to grab the hilt of the weapon whilst slamming a large portion of water into the giant's fingers holding the club. Sensing his opportunity, Lee leapt at Tayuya with his legs raised, a huge aura of green chakra surrounding him as he jumped over the club-wielding giant. The ogre-giant was forced to move rapidly to block his path, taking a foot to the face for its trouble. The water techniques still kept the club-wielding giant held, Tayuya struggling to release it from its bindings. Out of the corner of her eyes she noticed a large whirlwind screaming towards her from the side.
Turning to face it, she continued to play her flute, causing the bandaged giant to jump to intervene, taking the blow directly at the chest. Her eyes widened as she saw the whirlwind transformed into a large white dog, smiling widely, a considerable feat for a dog. She swore through her flute, not missing a beat as she flipped around, seeing the other whirlwind flying towards her. Seeing no other option to defend herself, Tayuya was forced to make the green-clad giant drop its spiked club, moving the giant to position itself to defend her. She clenched her hands angrily as the attackers fell back, the girl's water techniques tossing the large spiked club to the opposite side of the room.
"Good work guys" said Sakura, stretching out her fingers as Hinata also let the water technique finish.
Kiba smiled as Akamaru barked happily at them, "Yeah, but we still can't get near her. Those things move a hell of a lot faster when they are defending her."
Beside him, Lee took a glance at Tayuya's position before looking down at his legs.
He looked back up at Sakura, the two of them sharing a silent look before he looked back at the group, "I could reach her, without my weights."
"Oh yeah, that's a good point. Why didn't you do that from the start?" asked Kiba.
"If I don't fight with them on, I don't get any stronger. Everything is training, Kiba-kun."
The animalistic shinobi just shook his head in amazement, muttering under his breath as he turned back to face their opponents.
Sakura moved over and placed a hand on Lee's shoulder, "Are you sure about this Lee? You know how much it hurts going from one state to another."
He smiled slowly and patted her hand with his, "I know what I'm doing, Sakura-san. Besides, I'm only using it like I'm supposed to. To protect one of my precious people."
Despite herself Sakura blushed at his remark, watching with a slow smile creeping onto her face as Lee turned and took a step forward.
"Hey, do you guys hear that?" asked Hinata, still watching carefully with her Byakugan.
Sakura shook herself out of her stupor and listened carefully, taking a moment before noticing what Hinata had. Kiba's sharp ears had caught it immediately, but he hadn't thought it was important enough to mention, he had heard plenty of things that he wished he hadn't.
"The music has changed" observed Lee, pointing over at the giants as all four of them noticed what the change in music had done.
The two of them with visible mouths, their stitched together lips came apart as horrific worm-like spectral creatures emerged from their mouths, the same creature coming from the green-clad giant's head, where its mouth would have been. As the worms came out slowly, dozens of razor sharp mouths appeared along their spectral forms. All four of them visibly recoiled at the view; it seemed to be something from a nightmare.
"What the hell are those?"
Hinata tried to analyse them with her Byakugan, but couldn't see anything beyond the normal visual range. The others weren't given a chance to analyse them as the three worm creatures dove straight at them, their mouths open wide to bite at them. Lee, Kiba and Hinata all jumped away as two of the worms moved to attack them, while Sakura put up a wall of water to defend herself as she was caught in the middle. To her dismay, the spectral worm simply passed through the water shield like it wasn't even there. The razor-sharp teeth bit into her shoulder, yet instead of physical pain, she watched as it passed through her and took a large portion of her chakra with it. She rolled away and clenched at her shoulder, noticing that when it ate her blue energy it grew massively in size, with more mouths appearing along it.
"Sakura-san!"
Lee was the first one to reach her side, ducking under a worm spectre as he placed a hand on her arm, helping her to her feet.
"Are you okay?" asked Hinata, using her Byakugan to keep an eye on the creatures.
Sakura shook her head to get her bearing, taking a moment to see what damage the creature had done. To her alarm, it had stolen nearly half of all her chakra in that one bite.
"Don't let them touch you. They consume your chakra."
"And they pass through solid matter like it was nothing" observed Hinata, also noticing that since the worms had come out of them, the giants hadn't moved at all, and Tayuya seemed to be concentrating harder on controlling the worms with her flute.
Kiba looked over at Lee's concerned face, wary of the fact that he still hadn't removed his weights, "You sure you can get to her?"
After Sakura assured him that she was fine, Lee moved his hands over his leg warmers, touching them quickly with chakra to remove the weights.
"Those giants are still a problem though. I can get around them and attack her, but they will need to be distracted in case it doesn't stop them."
The Inuzuka heir glanced over at his childhood companion, Akamaru giving him a short bark before growling softly. He nodded in agreement, reaching into a pocket to produce a soldier pill.
"Akamaru and I can do that. You girls will need to be ready though, we might take a few hits."
Neither of them were happy with the idea of the boys risking themselves, but acknowledged that they weren't the strongest attackers, not in their group at least. Kiba flicked the soldier pill into Akamaru's mouth, watching as the large dog's fur turned a dark red, turning to see Lee disappear in a flash, and the girls moving back to a defensive position. A grin came across his face as his fangs lengthened and the claws on his hands grew as well. He watched Akamaru perform his transformation, the red hound reappearing as the giant two headed wolf they had practised so much since the battle with the Akatsuki, Kiba feeling a swell of pride at his companion's ability to do the transformation without him. The slobbering wolf stared at Kiba for a moment before turning to face the giants, now able to see them at the same height. Beneath him, Kiba placed his hands together before biting a thumb and slamming both claws into the ground.
"Kakekomi Hinote! (Stampede of Flames)
Akamaru began spinning rapidly, charging straight towards the three worm creatures. While his companion was distracting the spectres, smoke began to emerge from Kiba's hands. Unlike the last time he had used a complex technique from his family's scroll, this was one he was extremely confident would work how he intended it to. The air around him began hot almost instantly, as a legion of wolves appeared around him, each of them covered in bright blue flames. He barked twice at the flaming wolves around him, before pouncing towards the giants, his claws alight in the same flames as his companions. With a collective roar the wolves followed his lead, charging straight at the giants. Akamaru had spun into his giant whirlwind, but as they had expected the worms were passing straight through him, taking out large chunks of chakra at the same time. When he had attacked the first time Kiba had noticed that parts of the giant had taken damage, but only bits and pieces, mere scratches.
However as he and his legion of flaming attackers crashing into the giants, striking them in the chests, there was a noticeably different result. The flames had added to their destructive power, and Kiba had tweaked the technique so that each wolf that struck the giants exploded on impact. Dozens of high powered explosions struck the giants in the chest and legs, causing two of them to falter slightly, and the bandaged giant in front of Kiba fell to the ground. He jumped up high in the air, summoning a plume of flames around his hands as he spun into a whirlwind and slammed down directly into the giant's bandaged face. On top of the giant, Kiba saw Akamaru transform back to his white dog form, limping for a moment before collapsing on the ground, his chakra spent.
"Akamaru!"
He leapt off the giant and sped towards the fallen dog, not even noticing that the worm creatures that had taken him out had disappeared.
"You alright there mate?"
He heard a soft growl as Akamaru pawed at him softly, before his eyes closed. Kiba smiled and rubbed the white dog's head affectionately. His companion was out of chakra, but would be fine with enough rest. Kiba took a moment to thank the white dog for his help, before realising that they were still in a battlefield, turning around with his claws ready. To his amazement, all three of the giants were gone; Sakura and Hinata were running towards him while Lee was standing over the fallen body of the Sound shinobi with a grin on his face. The blue flute that Tayuya was using was in two pieces in his hands, and the pink-haired shinobi was face down into the ground.
"Is he alright?" asked Hinata, kneeling down next to the two of them.
"I think so; he's just low on chakra."
Hinata indicated that she still wanted to have a look at him, while Sakura made her way towards Lee. The taijutsu-user was surprised that only a single blow to the stomach had knocked out the music-playing shinobi, but he had broken the metal flute in two just to be safe, the destruction of the flute enough to unsummon the three giants. With two quick taps, Lee restored his weights to their original values before tossing the flute pieces on the ground.
"Is she out of it?" asked Sakura as she reached Lee, impressed that in one action a bad situation had turned into a win for their side.
He nodded and gave her a thumbs up with a wide smile. After a minute Hinata declared that Akamaru would be fine, as Kiba had thought, while Sakura and Lee took their time to rest up. The four of them turned at once as they heard violent coughing behind them.
"Kuso! Kuso! Kuso! Kuso! Damn you little kusegeros!"
They watched as the Sound shinobi picked herself up from the ground slowly, continuing to cough with a hand over his stomach. With a hateful look on her face she looked over at the ruined pieces of her flute.
"Damnit that was my favourite flute."
She saw Lee jump towards her, his legs high up in the air to kick her. With a single motion she reached up with a hand, catching the chakra-charged kick with ease as a black aura rose around her. She stared at him with a furious look on her face, the black marks across her skin closing up and turning her skin a dark black as the bandaged hat fell off her head and odd horns protruded out of her head. She threw his foot away and jumped back, mentally trying to stop the Cursed Seal from taking over her, but to her distress the dark chakra wouldn't let up, two large spikes shot out of her shoulders and out of her elbows before she got it under control. Her short pink hair had grown wildly past her waist, the horns from her head turning a pure white.
"You guys are screwed now. I hate people that destroy my instruments, but that punch was just uncalled for. Bastards…"
She swore under her breath as she clapped her hands together. With a small cloud of smoke, an instrument appeared in her hands, a wide grin emerging across her face. Her opponent's eyes widened as she tightened the strings and tuned the edges for a few seconds before running her fingers through the strings to the large round centre.
"Is…is she serious?" asked Sakura, not able to understand what their enemy was trying to do.
Hinata tried to hide a chuckle and failed, "I think so."
Lee just stared at her with surprise, while Kiba actually fell over in a fit of laughter.
"A…a banjo? Bahahaha!"
Tayuya didn't seem deterred by his disrespectful tone, her fingers lightly plucking at the banjo strings. Unlike the flute, the wooden instrument began to emit a playful tune, one that seemed oddly unsuited to a battlefield. As the four of them were trying to work out what she could possibly be doing with it, they felt a huge pulse of chakra emanate from her.
"I can't see anything strange coming from her. It just seems like music."
The four of them shared a look for a moment, before nodding slowly in agreement. Sakura was already running through handseals while the other three jumped at Tayuya. Kiba was already spinning in a Tsuuga attack, while Lee was going for a low kick to her stomach as Hinata shot forward with her hands ready to strike at Tayuya's midsection. Kiba was the first to reach her, but his whirlwind strike bounced off her with no visible damage, the Inuzuka shinobi yelled out in pain as he landed back next to Akamaru. Not seeing what sent Kiba flying, Lee trying to bounce off the ground and strike her across the chin with his foot, but as with Kiba, he was sent flying, while Tayuya continued to play her soulful music. Above Hinata a water dragon-like attack flew towards the Sound shinobi, however as if barred by an invisible wall the water dragon collapsed like it had struck a wall, dispersing along the ground. Not one to attack brazenly, Hinata skidded to a halt and jumped back, her white eyes frowning as she saw a strange figure appear around Tayuya's playing form. She landed next to her companions and shook her head, indicating to them that attacking her would be foolish at that time.
"What is it?" asked Kiba, clutching at his side in pain; it felt like he had been slammed in the side by a huge club.
Two of his companions shook their heads, but Hinata didn't respond, an idea forming in her mind. She noticed that Tayuya wasn't moving from her spot, but by her judgement their attacks had been prevented a small distance from the pink-haired kunoichi. She turned and asked Sakura for some of her medical supplies, thanking her as she was passed the pack. After a few moments she pulled out a small pouch, Sakura giving her a curious look as she recognised the powder Hinata had removed. The Hyuuga heir stepped in front of the group, running through a quick set of handseals with the bag in hand before standing a short distance away from Tayuya's position, hoping that her analysis was correct. With a fluid motion she threw the bag into the air, letting the herbal powder inside spill into the air as she completed her technique. It was only a low level wind technique, one that didn't even have a name associated with it, but as she waved her hands around the air, she pushed a small amount of wind chakra through the air. The powder flew straight towards Tayuya, but instead of being aimed at her, the substance was scattered in the air around the Sound shinobi's position, Hinata's suspicions were confirmed as the powder settled into the shape of a large soldier-like figure superimposed on top of the pink-haired foe. Kiba and Lee both looked at it with awe, the Inuzuka figuring that it was the giant's long spear was the one that injured his side.
"I guess that's what stopped our attacks" observed Sakura.
"No kuso, idiots. This form has never been breached."
Tayuya kept a cruel grin on her face, taking a moment before she stepped forward, the banjo in her hands getting louder as she got closer to them. Kiba glanced over at his fallen comrade before turning back to the revealed warrior above Tayuya. He snarled and swallowed a soldier pill from his pack, letting his chakra run wild around him as his body became more animalistic, with his large furry tail flicking wildly behind him.
"Can't be breached my ass."
With a high leap in the air Kiba transformed into a large armour-covered grey wolf, snarling fiercely at Tayuya with dark eyes regarding her from a short distance away. His three companions were amazed at his transformation, of all the forms they had seen him perform, an armoured wolf was not one they had seen before.
Hinata regarded her companion's form with amazement, "Kiba?"
The armoured wolf let out a howl before leaping towards the giant, a single claw raised as he dodged the giant's spear. With a huge shockwave the claw struck against the front of the giant, Tayuya grimacing at the blow but not missing a beat from her playing.
This prick doesn't understand my music at all.
She ran one hand up and down the strings of her instrument, before flicked her other hand down the strings, causing a loud change in the musical tune. As the armoured wolf attempted to retreat back, its attack causing no damage to the giant whatsoever, the giant reached back and slammed its shield into its face. With a cry of pain it fell through the air back towards the rest of the group. Lee and Sakura jumped out of the way, while Hinata placed her hands up in the wolf's path. With a not-insignificant amount of chakra she used her wind chakra to slow Kiba's descent, allowing him to turn back to his normal self as a small pocket of air guided him to the ground. Kiba sighed as he picked himself up from the ground, turning around to thank Hinata for her effort, but hesitated when he saw the looks on their faces.
"What, what is it?"
Hinata slowly put up a hand and pointed at him, "Um…Kiba-kun…your…"
Kiba let out another sigh, "What is it this time?"
He reached up and touched his face with his hands, not noticing any difference until he got to his hair. His normally messy short brown hair had grown in length across the sides of his face, but to Kiba's distress his ears had changed in the same way that his tail had grown; long and triangular with grey fur covering them.
"For the love of…"
He didn't get a chance to finish his comment as the long spear came crashing down on his head, the music having extended its reach so that it could strike at the seemingly-ever-changing Inuzuka.
"Kiba-kun!"
Hinata rushed forward to catch him, jumping back to avoid another strike. Sakura knelt down as Hinata put Kiba's body on the floor, Lee taking a position in front of them with his staff in a defensive stance.
"Is he okay?" asked Lee, trying to keep an eye on Tayuya's movements, still unable to comprehend how an instrument like a banjo could control such a powerful technique.
Hinata placed a hand on Kiba's head, using her Byakugan to try and see what he had suffered. Sakura traced her fingers over Kiba's new ears, feeling the fur between her fingers.
Hinata let out a sigh of relief, "He's fine, just knocked out."
"You know, you'd think he actually wants to become an animal, with all these transformations."
Hinata smiled with an uncharacteristic look on her face, "You have to admit, it is kind of intriguing."
Sakura smirked, "Maybe a little."
They both turned as they heard a loud cough, Lee trying to get their attention back to the battle at hand. He had noticed that their opponent wasn't able to move very fast, but after seeing the reaction from Kiba's attack, it had both a long range of attack and seemingly impenetrable defence.
"There is only one thing I know that could break through that."
Sakura leapt up immediately, "No, Lee, you can't. I won't let you."
The green-clad shinobi smiled and patted her on the head affectionately, "Sometimes we've got to do things we don't want to, Sakura-san. Opening the Sixth Gate is the strongest attack I can think of. If it doesn't work, than we're all dead. That's a good enough reason to me."
Sakura just shook her head. When Lee got into one of these moods, it was impossible to deny that his heart was in the right place. She sighed and placed a gloved hand on one side of his face, lightly pecking the other side with her lips.
She smiled at his blushing face, "You're a damn fool, Rock Lee."
The bowl-headed shinobi took a long breath, unable to stop a wide smile coming across his face as he turned around and gathered his chakra, placing his staff on his back. He felt his muscles spasm as he prepared himself for the painful process of opening the Chakra Gates one by one. Just before he opened the First Gate, he felt a tap on his shoulder. At the same time Sakura felt the same tap, both of them turning at once.
"Kai!"
Their eyes widened as they saw Hinata's smiling face between them, her hands on their shoulders. Sakura rolled her eyes immediately, turning around to notice that while Tayuya was still playing her banjo, the warrior protecting her was gone.
"A genjutsu? Really?"
Hinata nodded, moving past the two of them, "I noticed when I examined Kiba's head. He didn't have any physical injuries, but was still knocked out cold. It was then I saw that her music didn't change at all while the warrior moved with her, and my Byakugan couldn't see it, meaning it was an illusion."
"I can't believe I missed it."
"It was pretty subtle, Sakura-san."
"Still."
Across from the Konoha group, Tayuya stopped playing once she realised they had dispelled her illusion. Her arms strained in anger, she hated losing in anything, and with her summoned creatures destroyed with her flute the only offensive attacks she had were genjutsus. Her eyes widened as Lee suddenly appeared in front of her, almost carefully plucking the banjo from her hands before snapping it in two pieces. Through her dark eyes Tayuya knew that she was beaten, but by her nature she didn't want to accept such a fate.
Why did I have to have these ones for my opponents? The plan was so simple. Damn that white eyed mesuinu.
She went to jump back, already thinking about the next instrument she would need to use, but almost like a blur she was confronted by the dark haired girl that had broken her illusion. She felt her feet trapped in place, glancing down to see a large seal beneath her.
Hinata placed her hands in position, "Jyuukenhou, Hakke: Rokujyuuyonshou!"
Her hands became a blur as she attacked Tayuya's chakra points, each blow cutting off her chakra blow instantly, Hinata making sure that she wasn't killing her by striking her. Once she had finished off her attack Tayuya fell to the ground, all her chakra points temporarily shut down, though her Cursed Seal was still in effect, despite no longer providing her any additional power.
"Damnit, I guess you guys have won."
With the three Konoha shinobi standing over her, and no chakra responding, Tayuya knew that it was only a matter of time before they finished her off.
"Go on then. Kill me. That's what you bastards do best."
The three of them shared a look for a moment before turning back to the fallen Sound shinobi.
"We don't know what you are talking about" said Sakura.
Tayuya didn't have any strength left; otherwise she would have spat in the pink-haired girl's face.
"You Konoha bastards killed my sister. You are all monsters, and the world is better off with your village's destruction. Good riddance."
Lee went to slam a fist into her chest in anger, but was pulled back by Sakura, knowing that it would do more damage to Lee in the long run. They all knew there was no talking to her, grief and revenge were powerful motivators, and the hatred she felt towards them was fairly obvious. Satisfied that she had done her job, Hinata took a glance around the room, noticing that since the music had stopped a large metal device had appeared in the middle of the room. She indicated it to Lee, knowing that he had more destructive power than she did. Tayuya continued to curse at them as Lee set about dismantling the device, while Sakura and Hinata made sure that Kiba and Akamaru were going to be okay. Hinata felt a huge rush as her Byakugan view got a huge boost in knowledge, her black and white vision now able to see the other people in the room. Sakura asked her if it had worked, to which she nodded in agreement, but as she expanded her vision she gasped.
"What is it?" asked Lee, having jogged back to their position.
Trying to keep her voice down, Hinata indicated for them to huddle around Kiba's unconscious body.
She kept her voice at a whisper, "There are forty three Sound shinobi just outside this room, waiting in ambush."
"Well that's fine, a straight up fight would be nice, compared to all this genjutsu business" said Lee with a grin.
Hinata shook her head slightly; watching as Sakura subtly moved over and in one swift move pushed a long piece of cloth into Tayuya's mouth, gagging her immediately. The fallen Sound kunoichi could only stay in hatred as Sakura smiled an apology and moved back to her companions.
"That won't work, Lee-san. They all seem like Chuunin to Jounin strength. You might be fine, but Kiba and Akamaru need to be moved, and I think Sakura-san and I only have about half our chakra left."
Lee tried to keep a positive look on his face and failed, wary of the fact that their seemingly surprise attack hadn't worked how they planned.
"What should we do?" asked Sakura, knowing that as the 'leader' of the group, Lee would take responsibility and make a plan.
Lee looked over at their two fallen companions, taking a minute to think before turning back to the two girls.
"Sakura-san, can you take Akamaru's weight?"
She looked at the fallen white dog, "I could carry both of them with a water technique, but I wouldn't be able to fight, it takes a fair amount of concentration."
Lee took a second to consider what she said before a plan formed in his mind. Reaching into his pack, he pulled out a blank scroll and asked Hinata to indicate what the enemy positions were, and how many were ready to ambush them.
We'll have to leave the village and drop off Kiba and Akamaru before we can move back in. Thankfully we took out that device, so the next incursion will be easier. And with that woman down, we've taken out one of their more powerful shinobi, hopefully.
Author's Note:
I know these fights have been long, but trust me I'm setting up some important stuff for the near future of the story. Without revealing too much, let's just say I'm not quite done with the Sound Four. I messed around with Kakashi a bit in this chapter, but his eye turning back to normal is relevant to the story, particularly later on. The mega-flashback wasn't a waste either; it had a lot of setup in it.
Also the next chapter could be considered the halfway point of the story. Not necessarily in chapters, but story-wise. Big things will happen, that's all I'm going to say.
Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.