"Talking"
'Thinking'
Jutsu/ Bijuu/ Summons
Flashbacks, Letters, and Setting
I don't own Naruto
Chapter 33: The Bloodline Rebellion Part 4
A Few Days Later, At a Rebel Base
"This… is so cruel. How could they do this? They weren't even combatants!" Haku said in shock, as she laid down the remains of a woman tightly holding her dead child in her arms.
"This is what happens when you're trying to remove the world of a bloodline. You make sure that you kill everyone who might one day pass down the trait." Zabuza told Haku as he gazed at the site of destruction.
Hundreds of bodies littered the path from the camp to the emergency bunker, many of them civilians.
"No signs of a fight here, other than the massive destruction of the base. They all died at the same time, unable to fight back." Naruto commented as he looked over the destroyed rebel base.
"How is this possible?" Haku questioned out loud.
"A strong-ass jutsu. One strong enough to kill everyone at once." Mangetsu responded, without any of the humor that was usually present in his tone.
"But who's strong enough to do something like this?" Suigetsu asked his brother.
"Yagura." Mei responded instead, clenching her fists tightly as she tried to control her rage. "This is most likely his work."
She looked around the site, taking in the sight of each dead body that was haphazardly thrown all over the place. Each one was a son, a daughter, a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, a lover to someone. They all had their own hopes and dreams. Hopes and dreams of a better future. They had pinned their hopes on Mei, believing that she would lead them there. They would never see that future realized, all of that blotted out in a single moment of terror. That felt like a thousand daggers stabbed Mei in the heart. Every time some of her already few rebel shinobi died, it felt like she sent them to their deaths. With the indiscriminate death she saw here, she felt like a failure.
"Mei-sama! We found some survivors in the bunker!" Ao informed Mei, as he helped an injured survivor head over to Mei. "She says she can tell us what happened."
Mei ordered Haku to treat the survivor and get her some water.
As Haku cleaned and wrapped bandages around the kunoichi's wound, Mei began to question her.
"What happened here? Did you see what happened?"
The kunoichi nodded.
"It was just another night for everyone. We were cleaning up and getting ready to sleep for the night. I was ordered to set out the traps for fish for tomorrow's meal, so I was at the beach. I finished setting the traps, and was about to head back to camp, when I saw a ship heading this way. At first I couldn't see the ship well because it was dark and the ship was far away, but I soon saw the blue and red sails with the turtle insignia. It was Yagura's flag ship." The injured kunoichi recounted before she winced when Haku tightened the bandages around her leg.
"Please, continue. What happened next?" Mei asked.
"When I saw it was Yagura's ship, I immediately ran to the camp and told them Yagura was coming here. At first they didn't believe me, but a few other sentries came and told the others the same thing. The leader of the camp immediately tried to direct us into the bunker. I was at the door of the bunker, helping people get in, when suddenly…" She began to trail off as her eyes widened in terror as she remembered what happened.
She began to hyperventilate as she was seized by the trauma once again.
"Suigetsu, throw some water on her face. Haku, get her some sake, immediately." Mei quickly ordered.
The woman came back to her senses when Suigetsu splashed her face with a weak water jutsu, and calmed her nerves with the sake that Haku brought for her.
"I know it's difficult, but please, we need to know what happened." Mei gently pleaded.
The kunoichi wiped a few tears away as she tried to calm herself down. "I was guiding people into the bunker, when I felt a massive amount of chakra. I'm not a sensor or anything, so when I felt the chakra, I knew something big was happening. I looked over to see what was going on, and saw a massive black ball of chakra flying towards the base."
"Bijuudama…" Mei and Ao whispered to themselves.
"When the ball of chakra hit the base… It obliterated everything. It killed everyone who wasn't already inside the bunker. Including… Asahi… my boyfriend…" She began to sob again.
Mei sat beside the crying young woman, and rubbed her back to comfort her.
"I-I was thrown back into the bunker by the force of the explosion. It hurt my leg, but I guess that's what saved my life." The kunoichi managed to say as she tried her best to stop crying.
"Shhh… That's enough. Thank you for telling us." Mei told the young woman as she hugged her and patted her back.
The kunoichi sank into the embrace and began to cry into Mei's chest, finally releasing her tears unconstrained, as the shock wore off and the full force of the situation hit her.
"Let's bury everyone quickly and get out of here. No point lingering here." Ao suggested. This war was tough on everyone. He had seen too much brutality and death in this civil war. He could see the horrors of the war were hitting the younger shinobi amongst them harder.
"Help this poor girl find the remains of her boyfriend. It'll help her have some sort of closure." Mei ordered Ao, who nodded.
The weeping woman was led away by Ao and some of the other sympathetic shinobi that were around.
"So it seems the Mizukage is finally stepping out into the stage now." Naruto commented.
Mei clenched her fists tightly. "I swear I'll make that bastard pay for everything he's done. All the families he's destroyed. All the clans that were driven to near extinction. All of the deaths. I'll make him feel every bit of the pain he forced onto others."
"We'll need to come up with a contingency plan to deal with this Mei-sama." Zabuza proposed.
"Why didn't Nezu let us know this was coming?" Mangetsu asked. "Do you think… maybe he's been compromised?"
Naruto shook his head. "He's been sending us information, even just yesterday. There was no way he could have known this was going to happen. The Mizukage came out himself, so there was no way for Nezu to know where he was going. It's just unfortunate."
Mei whipped her head around to face Naruto. "This is more than just unfortunate. This is unacceptable! We can't let this happen ever again!"
"What can we do to prevent this?" Mangetsu asked. "It's not like we could teleport to different places and help. Besides, what can we do against a fucking Bijuudama?"
"Send out our spies, sentries, scouts, sensors. Anyone. We need to keep an eye on Yagura's movements. We need to kill him before this can happen again." Mei growled out. "The moment his ship is seen at a distance we can reach in time, I'll lead our men myself. He's been allowed to hide in his shell for too long. Now that he stuck his head out, it's time for us to drop the axe."
The rebels soon finished burying the dead, and boarded their ship. The voyage back was somber, with a melancholy atmosphere hanging over everyone.
The loss of the base hit Mei the hardest, in large part due to her responsibility as the leader of the rebellion, but also due to the trauma from her past.
The Terumi Clan was one of the first to be hit when the purge started. She could still see the bodies strewn all over their clan compound, as she was muffled and dragged out by a concerned retainer of the clan, who hid her in a barrel and threw her in a river before he himself was killed. Years later, when she unified the separate rebel factions into one and became the leader, she found a few Terumi survivors. Unfortunately, she was the only one who survived from her family.
The traumatized children and the destruction around them made Mei see her younger self in each of them. She wanted nothing more than to give them a future where they could live a better life than she did.
The last few weeks had given her hope, but today was a huge blow for the Rebels. It reminded them how precarious their situation was. The little victories she had won against the Loyalists were just that: little victories. As long as Yagura lived, nothing would change. It reminded Mei what needed to be done. These little hit-and-run raids were nothing more than attempts to draw out Yagura, and he was finally out now. However, she wasn't quite sure she liked it now that he was out himself.
Naruto watched Mei as she attempted to look unfazed on the outside, even giving him a few flirtatious smiles, but they were hollow. She was really beating herself up inside. She blamed herself for not being to prevent these deaths. For not being a better leader.
Naruto turned his mind to his own thoughts. Here was the first Jinchuuriki Kage of a village. An insane, twisted, and absolutely cruel bastard who tore apart his own village.
'Great. Give a Jinchuuriki a position of power for once, and what does he do? Becomes a mass-murdering psychopath who proceeds to commit genocide amongst his own village.' Naruto thought to himself. He was worried this would be bad for Narumi, who also wanted to become a Kage.
'If you get in the way of her dreams…' His mind was consumed with violent thoughts for the rest of the journey back.
With Team 7
"Man, C-rank missions are boring. When can we get another A-rank mission?" Narumi complained to Kakashi, as they traveled to Suna after delivering messages to other neighboring villages.
"If you don't like C-ranks, we can always do D-ranks." Kakashi reminded her from behind his book.
"Awww come on! We proved that we could take on an A-rank! Give us at least a B-rank!" Narumi begged.
"You were stabbed in the stomach, Narumi. You guys could have all died. Is that what you want? You'd be happy if one your teammates die, as long as you get to do cool missions?" Kakashi snapped back.
That shut Narumi up. "Well… not if you put it like that…"
"You guys were all extremely lucky. If any of the many lucky factors that were on your side went slightly differently, there could possibly not be a Team 7 right now. Don't let a success or two get to your heads and make you arrogant. Stronger ninja have died from arrogance, too many times." Kakashi lectured.
That put a damper on the Team's mood.
"Oh, and by the way, I'd appreciate it if you didn't go around talking about that mission. Others don't need to know and get the wrong idea." Kakashi told the team as he remembered his mission from the Sandaime.
"Fine. But it sucks that we can't tell our friends about our cool missions." Narumi grumbled.
"Actually, let's make that don't tell anyone, not just your friends." Kakashi added.
"Not even my kaa-san?" Sasuke asked.
"Or my Otou-sama?" Hinata also wondered.
"How about my nii-chan?" Narumi asked.
Kakashi tried his hardest not to show any reaction to the last name. They might catch on if he gave them any hints.
"Let's not tell them for now. Don't want them to be unnecessarily concerned. Maybe they'll prevent you guys from going on cool missions in the future because they're worried." Kakashi explained.
'Hopefully this makes them keep their mouths shut.' Kakashi hoped as he tried to manipulate the Genin.
"Oh man! Definitely can't tell nii-chan then!" Narumi shouted out. "You guys better not tell your parents either!"
"So, you're saying if we keep it a secret, we might be able to go on higher rank missions?" Sasuke asked.
"Of course. Shinobi are expected to be able to keep secrets after all. If you prove yourselves as being trust worthy, you might be given better missions." Kakashi replied.
Of course, that was mostly a lie. Sure, shinobi were expected to keep secrets, but that had nothing to do with missions you were assigned as Genin. He just needed to keep the secret from Naruto, for the sake of peace.
The team travelled in silence after that for a while, before Narumi spoke up.
"Kakashi-sensei?" She asked.
"Hmmm?" The lazy ANBU-captain turned baby-sitter/sensei replied.
"I was wondering, have you ever dated anyone before?" Narumi asked.
Kakashi almost tripped over a rock from the unexpected question.
"What? No. Not really." He replied when he regained his composure. "Why? You want to get dating tips from me?"
Narumi rolled her eyes. "Pshh. Hardly. I bet all of your tips will be perverted, seeing how your nose is buried in that book all day. I don't even know how you manage to walk without bumping into things."
"You might just see me as some pervert who can't bear to part from his precious books for even a second, but underneath that disguise, is a shinobi dedicated to training. You see, this is in fact, a training exercise for me. While my eyes are occupied by this book, I'm actually training my other senses to be able to navigate, even without my eyes. That way, I won't ever be caught off guard." Kakashi replied.
The 3 Genin stopped walking and glared at him.
Sensing the strange mood, Kakashi peered over his book.
"What?"
"That was quite an elaborate excuse." Sasuke accused as he rolled his eyes at what he saw as nonsense.
"Yeah, if elaborate means a bunch of lies and nonsense." Narumi added.
"Come on Hinata, let's go. If we spend any more time around this pervert than we need to, his perversion might spread." Narumi protectively pulled Hinata away from Kakashi who stood there gaping under his mask.
The 3 Genin left Kakashi standing there as they picked up their pace to move away from him.
"Damn. I thought they'd believe that one. It worked on Gai." Kakashi mumbled to himself before chuckling as he remembered how Gai bought a book of his own started copying him, much to the chagrin of his female Genin student.
With Yagura
"Ah, Nezu. Good to see you." Yagura greeted Nezu with a smile.
Nezu forced himself to smile as well, hoping to placate the unpredictably cruel leader, even though it made him want to throw up inside.
"You called for me, Mizukage-sama?" Nezu asked.
"Yes. Please. Have a seat." Yagura motioned to a chair in front of his desk, which Nezu promptly seated himself in.
"I want you to tell your friends at the Rebel HQ that I'm changing my tactics. I'm specifically going to go after civilians now, to destroy their bloodline completely, and to kill the rebel's morale. As such, I'll be mostly targeting the bases with the larger civilian populations. In fact, I've already started." Yagura informed Nezu.
Nezu was horrified to hear that he had already begun going out personally to kill civilians.
"But this is a ruse?" Nezu asked, his habit of gathering intel kicking in subconsciously.
Yagura responded with a smile. He'd indulge Nezu. If the man acted against him, he'd just go play surgeon on his family for a while.
"No. I actually mean it. I want them to know that all of the civilian deaths are on Mei's hands. I want them to lose trust in her ability to lead them and to keep them safe. Once they lose trust in her, the figure holding the rebellion unified, they'll break off into smaller factions, which will be easier to mop up. Maybe I'll be lucky and even break that bitch's spirit."
Nezu nodded contemplatively.
"Oh, by the way, I don't have to remind you to keep that part to yourself, right? Just tell the rebels what I told you to tell them, or else I might find myself with a new leather cover for my favorite book. And did I mention, your wife and daughter have such nice skin? Please ask them for their secret the next time you visit them, will you?" Yagura said in playful manner, though the threat lying underneath his whimsical tone was anything but.
Nezu nodded, and left when Yagura dismissed him with a wave of the hand.
As he headed out to relay Yagura's information to the rebels, he couldn't help but wonder what else Yagura was planning.
'How many people will lose their lives because I put the lives of my family before theirs?' Nezu contemplated to himself. The demons of his choices haunted him every moment of his life now. Still, this was the choice he made. It was too late to look back now. 'Sorry Mei-sama… I wasn't strong enough…'
At Suna, In the Kazekage's Office
"Kazekage-sama, there are messengers at our gates from Konoha. Were we expecting them?" The Kazekage's secretary asked him from the outside of his office.
"I see. I wasn't expecting them today, but I think I know why they're here. Send them up here within 30 minutes." Rasa, the Yondaime Kazekage ordered.
Once the secretary left to relay the message to the Suna-shinobi who brought her the message, Rasa's guest resumed his talks.
"Kukuku… so, the exams are just around the corner…" The man commented.
"It would seem you are correct. However, I'm still not sure if this is the best idea… I need more assurance that things will turn out in our favor. Konoha is still the most powerful village." Rasa remarked.
"You'll find that the tales of their strength is exaggerated, and not what it once was. They've lost too many of their powerhouses. Their strong front is merely that. A façade. There is much to gain for Suna if Konoha should be met with an unfortunate… turn of events." The man facing Rasa hissed.
"Even so, the risk is tremendous. I'll need more information before I can give you an answer. Now, I suggest you keep your presence here a secret, especially now that shinobi from Konoha are here." Rasa suggested.
"Kukuku… very well. I shall be back in due time. I hope you have your information, and your answer by then." The man then proceeded to vanish into the floor.
'That man… I don't know what he's up to. I know he doesn't have the best of Suna in his mind. What does he hope to gain?' Rasa quietly thought to himself.
On the streets of Suna
"Wow! Check this place out! I can't believe a place like this exists in the middle of a desert!" Narumi exclaimed as she marveled at the unique village that was unlike anything she had seen. It was far more modest than Konoha was, but the fact that there was so much life and even plant life present at all in such an inhospitable place just made it look so much more mystical than what it actually was.
"Eh. What's so great about this place? It's just mostly… brown." Sasuke commented as he looked around in confusion, trying to see what Narumi was so impressed with. While Konoha had numerous buildings built in various styles, materials, and painted with various colors, the buildings in Suna were mostly carved out of brown rock, or built with sandstone, giving the village a very uniform look.
"Now, now. Let's remember we're guests here. And try to remember that Suna isn't known to be very kind, especially foreigners. Let's try to stay polite, alright?" Kakashi reminded the Genin.
The 3 Genin looked around, and saw that the villagers looked on them with wary and suspicious looks.
"A-aren't we allied villages, Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata asked, unsure if she felt the so-called friendship between the two villages from the Suna villagers.
"Let's just say, friendship doesn't always mean the same thing you might expect, especially between ninja villages. Something we were reminded from your trip to Taki." Kakashi replied.
As the team were escorted towards the Kazekage Tower, Narumi felt a huge surge of negative emotions nearby.
She froze where she stood, and looked at the direction where she sensed a presence earlier.
"Something wrong, Narumi?" Sasuke asked, seeing that his friend was falling behind, her attention on some empty alley.
"N-no. Not really. I just thought I sensed something. Maybe I was just being paranoid." Narumi replied as she rejoined her team. She couldn't sense the presence anymore anyway, so she thought she was mistaken.
As the team walked on, an eye of sand crumbled away in the alley, and a short figure further away clutched at his auburn hair near his forehead.
"Yes mother… she does seem to be quite peculiar… Yes… I think so too… her blood will be the same color as her hair… maybe I'll keep some after I kill her…" he muttered to himself.
At The Rebel HQ
"Mei-sama… we've got another one…" Naruto informed Mei.
Another base had been attacked by Yagura, and nearly everyone died. Mei felt her heart sink. She had sent out messengers to all of the bases to tell them to gather at the main rebel base for safety, but some of the ones further away got hit before the message got to them.
"I… I see…" Mei replied simply, lacking the confidence that was usually in her voice. She felt like she had aged another 30 years overnight. The weight of the hundreds of souls that she failed on her shoulders weighed her down like a ton of bricks.
Ao looked over at Mei with concern in his eyes. He had heard screams and the faint sounds of sobbing coming from Mei's tent in the middle of the night. He didn't disturb her as he thought she could use the rest, but it was clear she got no rest last night, judging by her disheveled look, which her radiant natural beauty coupled with her make up failed to completely mask. Even her sharp eyes and luscious hair looked a little duller today.
It was clear that the war was taking a toll on her. Ao was worried the men would lose confidence in the cause, and in her, and abandon her if they found out how vulnerable she was. He was one of the only few people who could see she was hurting, as he had known her for years as her closest confidant, and she was doing a good job of keeping up a strong façade, but he wondered how long that would last.
Something needed to change, and quickly too.
"Mei-sama!" Mangetsu yelled as he barged into the tent.
"Hmmm?" she asked, a little lifelessly, as she looked up to see who called for her.
"Ships! Sighted not too far from here! We believe it's Yagura!" Mangetsu informed Mei.
Her dull, lifeless eyes suddenly came to life, burning with fury. "Yagura?" She growled out as she rose from her seat. "Where?"
"His ship was seen heading towards the Black Cliffs!" Mangetsu replied.
"Looks like Nezu's intel was correct. He's going after the camps with the larger civilian populations. Too bad they already evacuated from the island though." Naruto commented.
"Gather the men. I want 1000 men to follow me, and the rest will stay here under Ao. Ao, you're in command until we return. We're going turtle hunting." Mei commanded everyone as she prepared herself.
Ao saw the fire return to Mei's eyes. 'Maybe this was exactly what she needed. Land a blow on Yagura, to make him feel the pain we felt. Maybe even get him.'
"Hai, Mei-sama. Don't you worry about a thing. I'll keep the people safe until you return." Ao assured Mei. He'd try to take any burden he could, off of Mei's shoulders.
"Naruto-kun. Get ready to use your technique. I want us to get to the Black Cliffs before he does." Mei told Naruto who nodded.
On Yagura's Ship
"Are the men ready?" Yagura asked a trusted officer.
"Hai. We've picked out 500 of the stealthiest, and most powerful Suiton ninjutsu users and swordsmen in your whole army. They're ready to ambush the rebels, and sweep them into the rocks below. We'll sail in our other ship to set ourselves in position for you to use your coral jutsu to pick off the survivors once they fall."
"Excellent. And Jinpachi?"
"He's hidden himself on a tall basalt column. He's ready to signal us or the ambush party when he spots the rebels." The officer reported.
"Good. Make sure my flag ship is stationed on the beach on the east. They need to travel on the route we chose, for our ambush to work." Yagura reminded the officer, who nodded and left to carry out his orders.
"Soon, I'll finally able to stamp out this curse in Kiri called kekkei genkai, once and for all." Yagura whispered to himself, as he touched the scar on his eye that was throbbing.
He'd finally be able to get his revenge on the people who doomed him to a life as a demon. He'd make them regret ever choosing him.
On the western shores of the Black Cliffs
The rebels arrived on the island formed from volcanic activity, which formed the black basalt columns, and the other black igneous rocks which gave it its name.
"Yagura's ship! It's about 1 kilometer away from the eastern shore! They'll reach the shore within 30 minutes!" one scout told Mei.
"We need to get there before they do! Hurry, follow me!" Mei shouted to her men, leading them towards the eastern shore.
The 1000 men with her traveled in a column around the southern edge of the island, as the geography of the island made it the best route to get to the eastern shores undetected, as fast as possible.
The island had a circular wall of basalt columns around a flatter area in the interior, where the rebel camp was located previous to their evacuation. The plains area had wide openings on the east and west, which made for an uninterrupted view from both shores. The curved northern and southern walls of basalt formed a cliff face on both the northern and southern sides of the island, though the tiered structure formed paths on top of the lower cliffs that dropped straight into the sea around the island, between the cliff walls around the plains, and sea. Other spires and columns of basalt dotted the island, irregularly sticking out higher, and provided plenty of nooks and crannies for people to hide.
Mei wanted to plan an ambush for the beach landing, so she could crush the Loyalists, which made traveling undetected another priority, in addition to haste.
However, she was acting just as Yagura and his advisors had wanted her to. They had already landed 500 of their most elite shinobi on the island hours before, and had stationed them on top of the cliffs overlooking the southern route that Mei and her forces were traveling. They hid behind the many columns of basalt that were sticking out, and waited for Mei to cross the point of ambush. Yagura's flagship was merely a decoy.
Jinpachi was hidden on top of a tall spire of basalt, where he could easily see Yagura's ship, the ambush group, and the path the rebel forces were travelling on, though the 3 were hidden from each other's view. He was there to facilitate movement by signaling the right group at the right time.
Jinpachi looked through a spyglass watching the furious rebel leader leading her men through the pass. He smiled with his sharpened teeth flashing wickedly. Everything was going just as Yagura planned. In approximately 5 minutes, Mei would reach the ambush point, where the ambushing force would use their most powerful jutsu to kill, injure, and sweep the larger rebel forces off of the cliff, driving the rest of the stragglers off with an aggressive push onto the jagged rocks below where they would be dashed to pieces. Then Yagura would approach them on his smaller and faster ship, and use his ability to manipulate coral to pick off the survivors.
Jinpachi took out a small hand mirror, and flashed the ambushing force 3 times, letting them know where the rebel forces were.
"The rebels are almost here. Mask your chakra, and be ready to use your most powerful Suiton jutsu on my command." The leader of the ambushing forces commanded.
Oblivious of the trap they were heading into, Mei led her forces from the front, with Zabuza and Mangetsu by her side. Naruto and his team were in the back, protecting the rear of the column. Due to the haste, and assumed advantage of arriving first, nobody was able to do a thorough scan of the island, to look for enemy forces.
Jinpachi flashed the Loyalist ambush commander with the mirror once, letting him know it was almost time.
The leader of the 500 took a deep breath and calmed his nerves. If this ambush was successful, the civil war could effectively end today. Perhaps Kiri could finally know peace.
He could hear the sound of thousands of footsteps approaching, and knew it was now time.
He held up his hand and began to count down, as he quietly whispered the countdown under his breath. "5… 4… 3… 2… 1… NOW!" He shouted out to his men.
The rebels were caught off-guard at the sudden shout, and froze in their place as 500 men suddenly emerged from the sloping cliffs above them.
"Suiton: Suishouha! (Water Style: Water Colliding Wave)"
"Suiton: Bakushuishouha! (Water Style: Exploding Water Shockwave)"
"Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu! (Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique)"
"Suiton: Suikodan no Jutsu! (Water Style: Water Shark Bullet Technique)"
A truly massive deluge of water swept towards the stunned rebels, as dozens of sharks and dragons made of water shot out of the massive tsunami that headed their way, appearing to ride the wave.
The dumbfounded rebels were trapped. On one side, were sloping cliffs that had the largest wave of water jutsu they had ever seen coming their way. The other side was a cliff, which dropped off to sharp, jagged rocks below. They could only go forward or backwards, but the clumped column formation the rebels were in meant that only a few dozen, or if they were very lucky, a couple hundred, could make it out. They didn't even have time to respond with a jutsu of their own, especially without friendly fire in this packed formation. Everything happened in a split second, but they knew they were doomed.
Some of the hopeless rebels began to drop their weapons. They could see their lives flashing before their eyes. They gave up hope. Some of the others who hadn't completely given up were looking around for some sort of way to save themselves, but they had no luck finding any.
Mei looked at the bombardment of water jutsu coming their way, and time seemed to stop. She didn't have jutsu in her arsenal to stop an attack of that scale.
All of those years she had spent in harsh conditions, living a teetering existence at the edge of a blade, all of the losses and victories she had experienced with the men who followed her, all of the people she had lost along the way, everything she had endured for the sake of hope for a better future, this oncoming behemoth of a wave threatened to sweep it all away, making all of her sacrifices for nothing.
A single tear rolled down her cheeks as she clenched her fists so hard, that her nails began to cut into her palm and draw blood. She was furious at herself for leading her men into an ambush. She was furious Yagura would be victorious once again. She was furious that she would be unable to bring that barbaric, psychotic tyrant to justice. But most of all she was furious at this unfair world that she was born into, one that gave her nothing but hardships, and teased her with hope for a better future, hope for justice, only to snatch it away in the most heartbreaking way. She resented her parents for bringing her into this world, and resented the heavens above that had destined her for this life. This last defeat would be a tough one to swallow. It was so bitter. She knew even if she died here today, she would never find piece.
One by one, the men began to accept their fates, and their arms hung limply at their sides, awaiting the rest they would finally get with their deaths.
All hope seemed lost for the rebels as the giant wave was only around 20 meters away from their position.
That was when Naruto jumped ahead in front of the giant wave, along with 2 shadow clones he had formed without any hand seals.
'Fuck it, if I don't reveal my powers now, there won't be a rebellion to show it to, later. Sorry, Hokage-sama, but I'm going to have to reveal myself earlier than we had planned.' The blonde Konoha native thought to himself as he and his clones went through dozens of hand seals faster than any other shinobi present had ever seen.
"Katon: Gouka Mekkakyu! (Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation)" Naruto bellowed out before spewing a massive wall of intense blue fire that almost rivaled the scale of the incoming combination of over a 100 Suiton jutsus.
The rebels were left speechless by the largest fire jutsu any of them had ever seen in their lives. It didn't seem like it should be possible that one man could be capable of using a jutsu of this scale, but here they were, witnessing it. They couldn't believe their eyes.
Still, as powerful as Naruto's jutsu was, it was still slightly smaller than the incoming wave. That, however, changed when the two clones next to him unleashed their jutsu.
"Futon: Breath of the Wind God!" They both yelled out simultaneously, as they exhaled unbelievably powerful gusts of wind from their mouths. The hurricane force winds tore up everything in their path, ripping rocks apart like they were wet tissue, until they reached Naruto's literal sea of blue flames.
When his wind jutsu mixed with his fire jutsu, the already vast sea of fire tripled in size and intensity. The intense heat licked up the enormous combination of water jutsu, instantly evaporating it like a drop of water on red-hot iron.
The rebels could barely keep their eyes open in the presence of the fire, as it felt like they were almost staring into the sun. Luckily, the direction of the fire jutsu, and the wind jutsu sent the heat towards the Loyalists.
The ambushing party, was not as lucky as the rebels, to merely have some discomfort to their eyes from the bright fire, or complain that it was hot.
The hundred or so shinobi that were closest to the front and cast the massive combination water attack, died painlessly, as the intense heat flash boiled all of the liquid in their bodies into steam instantly, causing them to explode before they were incinerated into dust.
The ones who had it worst were the several dozen men that were close to the front, but behind the Suiton users. The fire didn't reach them directly before Naruto cut off his jutsu after a couple seconds due to the massive chakra cost for the jutsu, which caused his clones to poof out of existence after using all the chakra they were given for the powerful S-ranked wind jutsu. Still, the intense heat quite literally melted the front of their bodies, though it was brief enough to not completely consume them. They felt excruciating agony before dropping dead in a charred mess.
The scalding steam from the evaporated water burned the ambushing party severely, causing their exposed skin, which included their faces, to slough off partially, or leave painful blisters.
Screams of pain erupted through the dense fog that now surrounded the ambushers.
The rebels were almost unable to process what they had just seen. One moment, they were sure they were going to die in the face of the most powerful combination of water jutsu they had ever seen. Then, a literal sea of fire from the most powerful jutsu, regardless of element, that they had ever seen, licks up the entire small ocean of water that was heading their way. More incredibly, that jutsu was cast by one man. One man that many had simply thought to be a stealthy seal master swordsman.
"…Unbelievable…" Mangetsu whispered out.
Zabuza just stood there with his mouth hanging open. He had always known Naruto was strong, ever since he faced him in Wave, and advocated his strength when others in the rebellion doubted Naruto's true strength. However, he had no idea this was what he was capable of.
Naruto's team was also shocked to the core. Haku's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her skull. Even the usually calm and stoic Kimimaro looked shaken.
Suigetsu, however, was the most shocked. He remembered how relaxed he had been with a man who he imagined had the power of a god, even going so far as to make fun of him. "Sh-shit… What the fuck did I just see…"
Despite leaving every single person speechless, Naruto was not done yet.
He bit his finger and drew some blood. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu! (Summoning Technique)"
A giant puff of smoke appeared, temporarily hiding Naruto from view.
Everyone squinted their eyes, trying to see what the Uzumaki mercenary would do next. Slowly, some of the smoke receded, revealing Naruto standing on top of his summons.
"Is that-" Zabuza gasped out in shock.
Mangetsu narrowed his eyes. "That's the lost summons of the Nidaime… the giant clam…"
Gasps and murmurs broke out through the rebel army. Just who was this man?
Mei watched the continuation of unbelievable and unpredictable actions from Naruto wordlessly.
Being a clam, Naruto's summon was unable to communicate vocally. However, what it was incredible for, was genjutsu, unmatched amongst the other summons. It was able to overcome its lack of vocal abilities with its prowess in genjutsu.
"It's been a long time, Naruto-sama. Why have you summoned me?" The Giant Clam communicated to Naruto telepathically through a genjutsu.
"I'm going to try out something, but I'm not ready for the world to see it yet. I need you to create a genjutsu that covers this entire island. Hide the real me and my actions from view, but make them see mirages of me attacking them. For the rebels on my side, I want you to just make them see a thick mist covering what's going on. You can then burrow into the ground and hide yourself as well, Shinkiro-san." Naruto instructed the Giant Clam.
"As you wish, Naruto-sama." The Giant Clam communicated, before it began to spew out a mist from its siphon.
Once the mirage of the Giant Clam took hold, it buried itself into the ground.
"Futton: Kairiki Muso! (Boil Release: Unrivalled Strength)" Naruto whispered out, before he jumped into the air with a steam chakra powered jump that sent him high into the air.
In the air, he unsealed a tri-pronged kunai which hadn't been seen on a battle field in decades.
"Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Kunai Shadow Clone Technique)" Naruto whispered out as he threw his kunai, causing it to multiply into hundreds of kunai that landed all over the area the Loyalist ambushers were located.
The injured ambushers heard several thuds near their location, but couldn't see anything, due to Shinkiro's genjutsu.
They struggled to get into a fighting stance, when they saw hundreds of blonde figures in a Kiri ANBU outfit and a hunter-nin mask running at them with a sword. They tried to cut the apparent rebel ANBU down, but their swords and kunai just hit empty air.
"What the… what's going on?" One Loyalist shinobi wondered out loud.
"Is this a genjutsu? KAI! Wait, why can I still see them?"
They tried to fight off the mirages of Naruto, but failed to do any real damage to the real Naruto.
Meanwhile, Naruto closed his eyes, and began to stretch out his senses. In just a couple of seconds, he located each of the locator beacons that his kunai were inscribed with, and the chakra of each enemy shinobi.
He drew out his Kiri ANBU sword, and formed 10 shadow clones.
'This is my first time trying this, so I hope it works.' He thought to himself.
"Time to recreate your legend, Tou-san." Naruto whispered under his breath.
"Hiraishin!" Then, all the clones vanished in a yellow flash.
It was absolute chaos for the Loyalists. They were cut down by an enemy they couldn't see, while they were fighting illusions.
Naruto released all of his resistance seals, and moved faster than he had done so in a long time. He and his clones flashed around the mist, delivering deadly strikes with his wind-chakra enhanced sword.
The rebel forces couldn't see what was happening, but they could hear the sounds emerging from the mist. Screams of pain and terror rang out, as the sound of steel tearing through flesh was interrupted by the garbled sounds of blood gushing from slashed throats. The dull thuds of sundered flesh hitting the ground happened so frequently, it almost sounded like rain on a rooftop.
Being unable to see what was going on left everything to the imagination of the rebels, who only had the terrifying and gruesome sounds to work with.
The rebels watched in a hushed silence. Something was going on in that mist, and it was something terrifying, something their imagination went wild with, but reality was worse than what they could imagine.
Naruto's deadly storm of blades came to an end in less than a minute, having sliced and diced each enemy into multiple chunks, when the last shinobi fell to the ground, dead, and cut into 5 pieces.
He stood there panting after his handiwork was done. Even for a chakra monster like himself, using a powerful wind jutsu to travel, then using 3 chakra intensive S-rank jutsus with shadow clones, then summoning a boss summon, then using the Hiraishin to kill hundreds of men, was not something that was easy on his chakra reserves.
"Thanks Shinkiro-san. You can go now." Naruto told the clam.
"Anytime you need me. Until next time then." The clam conveyed before it summoned itself back to its home.
When the Giant Clam vanished, the genjutsu mist vanished as well. The heavy mist had been blown away by this time too, revealing Naruto to the rebels in all of his bloody glory.
The rebels stood speechless as they looked on as Naruto emerged from the mist, absolutely covered in blood, wielding just a blade, panting as he stood upon literal heaps of the dismembered corpses of 500 shinobi that looked more like mangled meat rather than something that was once living, breathing people.
Many of the rebels with weaker stomachs immediately threw up. Even with a life of fighting and death, this sight was simply too much.
Soon, however, everyone got over the shock, and they realized what happened. They had been saved from certain death.
After a brief silence where no one knew how to react, Mangetsu began to clap slowly.
Zabuza soon followed his comrade, and within seconds, the whole army was clapping. Cheers and whistles began to ring out all over the place celebrating Naruto's victory.
Despite all of the joy from being saved and being victorious, Mei stood there with an odd look on her face. She too, was relieved at being saved, and happy they had won. However, she felt a chill creeping into her very bones at the implications.
Here was a man who was capable of easily destroying an army by himself. Sure, he was with them now, but he wasn't a Kiri shinobi, and was only here on loan. There was no guarantee that they wouldn't face him as enemies one day. The fact that such a person existed was an existential threat for Kiri.
She looked over the overjoyed rebels, and noticed no one saw the same problem she did. They assumed he was from Kiri as he hid his identity from everyone except a select few, and even they looked happy, not realizing the implications.
She realized as long as he breathed in Konoha, Konoha would be untouchable, and far beyond their reach. Kiri would just be another second-rate village. 'Just what kind of monsters do they have? This is just one of their men? How about all of their other legends? The Sannin? The Ghost Squad? The Uchiha Clan? The Hyuuga Clan? The InoShikaCho trio? The Aburame? Kakashi of the Sharingan? The Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha? The God of Shinobi?' She thought to herself.
'That clever bastard of a Hokage… This whole time, I thought he sent Naruto because he wanted to form an alliance with us once we won… when in reality, it was merely him flexing Konoha's muscle… showing the whole world how strong Konoha is…' Mei felt her knees shake in the face of such insurmountable odds. Even if she won the civil war, there were monsters like this out there, monsters who could destroy an entire village on their own. Suddenly, she felt very small. How could she ever protect her village against such enemies? Was she even fit to be a leader?
'No wonder he was so carefree… this was all just child's play to him... what a cruel joke…" Mei realized.
Zabuza noticed the troubled look on Mei's face, but just assumed it was from the disturbing chain of events that had occurred and brushed it off.
In the midst of all of the celebrating, there was only one face that shared Mei's concern.
"Shit… That's not a human being anymore… That's a monster… a demon…" Jinpachi whispered to himself with a pale face, before he slinked away to tell his master.
*Author's Note*
And that's the latest chapter of the Jinchuuriki's Brother! What did you guys think? All of the questions of what Naruto could do, what his summons was, everything answered in this chapter! I've been planning this scene for a long time, even before Narumi became a Genin!
I can't lie, I was torn for a long time if I should choose a salamander summon or the clam summon. I know the clam seems kind of lame, but I felt it fit Naruto's style of cloak and dagger and illusions so well, that I had to go with it. They only showed one of its powers in canon, so I have a lot of room for creativity for what else they can do. If you have any interesting ideas, please PM me, so I can add it to my story! Some of you guys suggested how cool it would have been if he summoned Ibuse and wrecked people. And you're absolutely right. It sounds epic as hell lol. But this is the choice i made. I'll have to save Ibuse for a different story.
So some of my readers brought some things to my attention about the genjutsu and Yagura thing. You guys are right, genjutsu is capable of controlling people, and that wasn't a plot hole. Though I still think Jinchuuriki are mostly strong against genjutsu if they're working together with their bijuu, and their enemy doesn't have the mangekyo. Thanks for letting me know! Anyway, in this story though, I'm not gonna have Yagura be controlled. I'm just going to continue with him having his own motives. It's an alternate universe, and now, there's quite a bit of differences from canon. It'll change even more in the future.
So one of you guys commented on me using bitch and slut in my story, and how it makes my story look like an average horrible fanfic that you will find in the thousands, and that i should be professional. What kind of leader uses those words? The answer is, a lot. A lot of leaders swear. Tons of military officers swear all the time. Also, Yagura isn't a noble, high-born leader in the imperial court. He's a sadistic military dictator, who seized power by being stronger than others. So is it that unbelievable that he'd call his sworn adversary a bitch? Especially with how flirty she comes across? One of the first things people do to their enemies is dehumanize them, so i don't think it's unreasonable that Yagura would refer to her as such. Also, it's not like everyone in my story swears. I try to make sure i keep each character, well... in character, by differentiating how they speak. Also, you could watch movies or tv shows like Game of thrones, and you'll see leaders swearing all the time. Don't compare Yagura with someone like the queen of england.
I usually wouldn't respond to negative reviews in my Author's notes. I'd prefer to message you privately to clear up misunderstandings, but you wrote on a guest account, so i had no way to reach out to you, and i wanted to address the issue in case others felt the same way. I hope it makes more sense now that you see where i'm coming from.
I did warn you guys in the summary that Naruto would be powerful lol. Think he lives up to that warning? I know some of you guys might think he's too OP right now, but throughout this story, you'll find that he's not without his weaknesses.
Now that Naruto finally revealed his powers and acted as Naruto, and not as ANBU Fox, his actions will give him a reputation, and a nickname. So I was thinking between the Blue Dragon due to his powerful blue fires, and the blue cloak he wears, and the Mirage, due to his sneaky style of fighting, and his ability to appear out of nowhere and vanish, and hide himself with illusions. Which do you think would be a better nickname? If you guys have better ideas, I'd love to hear them as well! Another thing to consider, is the fact that he'll probably get multiple nicknames, depending on who's referring to him, as people who hate him will probably call him something bad, and people who saw different sides of him will call him those things.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Let me know what you guys think!Thanks for reading, everyone!
I hope you guys have a great day, and most importantly stay safe!
Until next time!