Author's Note: So here we are, folks, first chapter of 2019. With this chapter, we also break the 600K words milestone, wohoo! Hope you guys enjoy it:
Chapter 67:
Cats and Foxes, Part II
or
And Sharks and Panthers too
"Fire Release: Mouse Hairball!"
Yugito expelled several blue fireballs from her mouth, which quickly took the shape of fiery mice, as they flew towards one of the Kisame clones surrounding her and her partners. The Kisame clone merely smirked, and swung his Samehada in order to block all the incoming projectiles, resulting in a series of explosions. But when the smoke receded, the Kisame clone was any worse for the wear.
"The hell? You're a clone, your sword isn't supposed to work just as good as the original!" Yugito snarled.
"I wouldn't be a very good clone if that was the case, don't you think so?" the Kisame clone replied with a taunting smirk, before he dashed to strike the jinchuriki.
"Okay then, if I can't use ninjutsu directly against this guy, I'll use it in a more indirect manner!" Yugito thought, dashing forward as well, making several hand seals.
Jinchuriki and Akatsuki met in the middle, with Kisame pretending to deliver a swing, before placing the sword between himself and Yugito as if it was a shield, just when the jinchuriki was ready to attack.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire!"
"Do you think you can catch me off guard with such an amateurish trick? Disappointing," Kisame said, fixing a stare of contempt on the Kumo kunoichi.
Howerver, much to his surprise, the stream of fire coming from Yugito's mouth wasn't aimed at him, but at the ground, propelling herself into the air. Spinning her body, she placed herself just above Kisame, before letting gravity pull her down. She extended her arms downwards as her fingernails enlogated into claws.
However, Kisame was quick to react to the strategy, and managed to parry the blow coming from above. He smirked at the jinchuriki, her claws now stuck inside Samehada.
"This is way to eas-"
But the clone was silenced by another Yugito, who impaled him from the front with her enlongated claws. The effect of the blow was instant, and the clone dissolved into a puddle of water.
"Fire Clones. They never expect them," Yugito said, shaking her head, before she noticed Samui and Atsui still struggling against the other two clones.
"I think we should help those two," the clone pointed out.
"You took the words from my mouth," the original replied as she and the clone dashed towards Samui and Atsui.
The Kisame clones didn't realize that Yugito and her clone were going towards them, and saw too late the cross slash aiming at them. The eviscerated Akatsuki clones dissolved in yet another two puddles of water.
"Thank you, Yugito," Samui told her teammate. "These were way more powerful than the average clone."
"Yeah, I don't know how Darui-sama and that Konoha girl are holding so well against the original," Atsui added.
"Because they aren't his target, and isn't fighting at full power. But when he does, they will be in trouble. Come on, we need to help them," Yugito insisted.
"But Darui-sama said-" Atsui tried to protest.
"I KNOW what Darui said, dammit!" Yugito snapped. "But we need to help him before-"
"SUMMONING JUTSU!"
Yugito froze, as a sense of overwhelming dread washed over her body. She could feel the Tailed Beast inside her shaking with a swirl of emotions. Turning around, she saw a massive cloud of smoke forming where the Konoha ninja were fighting that other Akatsuki, followed by a powerful wind that threatened to blow her away.
And then, the smoke cleared, and he appeared.
Time seemed to stand still as every Konoha and Kumo ninja stared at the giant nine tailed fox that had appeared in the ruined village. Their looks were either of terror, bewilderment, or shock. Or all three, in Atsui's case.
"The Nine Tails..." Samui said in awe.
"Guess that solves one mystery," Yugito dryly remarked, as she started to walk towards the beast. "Turn out those Konoha brats weren't lying when they said that there was a second Nine Tails running around."
"H-Hey! Where are you going?" Atsui told his partner.
"Where do you think, dumbass? I'm the only one who can deal with that monster," as Yugito said this, orange chakra started to burst around her body, forming an aura around it. "Now I want you to stay away from us. I can't fight and take care of you two, and I'd never forgive myself if you two got killed because of me."
"You can count on us, Yugito," Samui replied.
The Two Tails jinchuriki nodded in return, as she rushed towards the other Tailed Beast.
Speaking of said Tailed Beast, Obito was standing on its head, smirking down at the Konoha ninjas below him. The girls looked terrified, while Sasuke was shooting him an angry glare, as he gripped the pommel of his katana.
"Honestly, I have absolutely no idea how this is possible, since last time I checked, the blond brat still has the Nine Tails inside of him," Obito admitted, shrugging a little. "But hey, I'm not going to complain about something that benefits me. Now, Nine Tails, CRUSH THEM!"
The Demon Fox let out a deafening roar before raising his right paw. The Konoha ninjas snapped out of their terror and shock in time to avoid the paw coming down at them, creating a large crater and destroying several already ruined houses in a large area.
"Sasuke, it all depends on you! Use your Mangekyo Sharingan to tame the beast!" Shizune urged.
Sasuke nodded, doing his best to push back the memory of Naruto being impaled that was being forced into his brain, Sasuke's Sharingan changed into their advanced form, and locked eyes with the giant fox. However, when he tried to force his will upon the creature, another force repelled it back.
"Argh!" Sasuke grunted, as he winced, grabbing his head. "I can't!"
"Of course you can't!" Obito laughed. "As long as the Nine Tails is under my control, he's shielded from outside influences!"
"In that case, we'll need to take care of Obito first," Sasuke stated.
"Easier said than done. That will be hard to do with that monster trying to kill us!" a panicked Karin pointed out.
"I think this is my cue to play my ace in the hole," Rin interjected, making several hand seals, as she took a couple of steps forward. "Wood Release: Great Forest Emergence!"
Suddenly, the earth started to shake, and green thick wooden vines emerged all around the Nine Tails, wrapping themselves around his legs, tails and neck, immobilizing it. The effort of restraining such a large beast soon made itself evident in Rin, who winced and started to sweat heavily. Sasuke and Karin stared at Rin in awe.
"Wait, what?" the redhead asked. "You can use Wood Release? How? Why?"
"We can talk about that later! Come on, now is your chance!" Rin urged the others.
Shizune nodded, and she launched herself at Obito. The Akatsuki, howerver, jumped off the Fox's head before Shizune could catch him. He then pulled out a Fuma Shuriken. The steel star burst into flames before he tossed it against the Nine Tails, and made a hand seal.
"Fire Release: Shadow Clone Shuriken Jutsu!"
Multiple flaming shuriken appeared near the first one, all of them flying towards the Tailed Beast. Many of them embedded themselves into the vines restraining him, while others stabbed into the fox's flesh, not that Obito cared.
"Now's my chance!" Sasuke said, as he made several hand seals. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Sasuke exhaled a fireball which flew towards Obito with flawless accuracy. The Akatsuki, however, turned intangible, and the fireball phased through him. More fireballs were shot, the effect was the same, and they disappeared into the sky.
"You might caught me off guard back then. But as long as I don't send anybody to my pocket dimension, my abilities should be safe to use," Obito confidently stated.
Rin gathered her chakra as she tried to repair the damage Obito had done to her vines, but it was too late, and after several snapping sounds, the tailed beast managed to break free. His eyes, morphed into Sharingans, shot a hateful glare at Rin, and moved to attack. But before he could do anything, he was rammed by another being of the same size. The clash of giants produced a shockwave that knocked all those nearby back
"What the...?" a confused Rin asked as she fell on her butt.
Both she and her Konoha companions saw a giant cat, made of what appeared to be blue and black flames. Her eyes were of different color, one green and another yellow. Two tails lashed at the end of her body.
"Yugito," Shizune said aloud, albeit mostly to herself. "Hokage-sama said she had full control of her Tailed Beast, but seeing it with my own eyes..."
"Stay away from us!" Yugito's voice boomed from the giant two tailed cat, as she wrestled the Nine Tails. "Even if you want to help me, don't! I don't want to put you in danger!"
"Ah, there it is, the longed prey. I knew that I did good in bringing my Nine Tails here, Yugito," Obito said, as he started to teleport away. "Your Tailed Beast will be mine!"
Meanwhile, not far away from there, Darui and Sakura continued fighting Kisame. Even if the fight was going well, the two of them had the impression that the former Kiri ninja wasn't giving his all and was just merely toying with them, if his careless attitude was any indication.
"Hey, sorry for not believing you at first when you guys told us about a second Nine Tails," Darui said, as his cleaver clashed against Samehada. "For all that it's worth."
"Save the apologies for when we have won!" Sakura replied, trying to capitalize on Kisame being focused on Darui to land a punch, but the blue skinned swordsman skillfully avoided it.
"You're adorable, thinking you have a chance to win. When it was the boy and I, maybe you had a tiny little chance, but with that monster on our side..." Kisame laughed.
"We have our own jinchuriki to stop it!" Darui countered, as he delivered a swing the shark ninja avoided.
Kisame chuckled once again. "Tell me, brat, don't you think that's exactly what we wanted? Kumo is fiercely protective of their jinchuriki, but we knew you'd deploy at least one of them if an attack by another Tailed Beast was involved. We were planning for this. And you fell right into our trap."
"Soon you're going to see that plans don't always go as intended, specially one so dull as yours," Darui replied, as he reared his cleaver sword backwards. The wide blade started to crackle with electricity, as the Kumo ninja dashed forward.
Kisame received the onslaught with a smirk, as he expertly parried all of Darui's blows. With each blow of his cleaver, lightning bolts were released in every direction, but sadly those aimed at Kisame were absorbed by his bandaged sword, much to his chagrin.
"Not only that sword can absorb ninjutsu, but even when it's used in an indirect way, like being channeled through a sword," Darui noted, deciding it would be for the better a change of strategy.
"My turn then," Kisame's toothy grin expanded, as he raised his sword above his head. Thousands of droplets of water started to gather around Samehada from the air's moisture, forming a liquid mass around the weapon. "Water Release: Tsunami Sword!"
Slamming his sword into the ground, the water gathered by Samehada was released in the form of a brutal and massive torrent, that in no time flooded the entire village, including the zone were the two Tailed Beasts were fighting. Darui and Sakura used the rubble and half destroyed buildings as footing to jump above the incoming wave, before they landed on the water's surface with a splash.
As they did, they noticed that Kisame was leaping at them, Samehada raised above his head. Darui was about to hold his own in a defensive position to parry the blow, but Sakura beat him to the punch by jumping and, well, throwing a punch at the incoming Samehada. The resulting impact caused a powerful shockwave that pushed both ninjas back several meters.
"The power behind his water jutsu is unreal. My skills look pretty dull in comparison," Darui thought, as his brain tried to come up with a proper strategy, before he noticed Samehada. "I wonder how much power comes from him and how much from that sword. Regardless of the answer, taking that sword of the picture will imrpove our chances."
"You look thoughtful. Desperate to look for a way to beat my unstoppable power?" Kisame taunted. "Don't bother. Even the most cunning strategies are useless in the face of the overwhelming strength of a tsunami."
"Don't be so coky. I haven't show you yet my best moves," Darui said, as he sheathed his cleaver while starting making hand seals. He leaned towards Sakura. "I'm going to attack now. Try to land a punch the moment you see an opening."
Sakura nodded. "Got it."
"More ninjutsu? I thought that you'd know it's useless by now," Kisame mocked. "But hey, I'm not going to interrupt an enemy when he's making a mistake."
"Storm Release: Laser Circus!"
Darui brought his hands forward, both indexes and middle fingers aiming at Kisame. A blue light orb formed around them, before it exploded in a multitude of beams of the same color that flew at the shark ninja. Kisame merely smirked, and placed Samehada between himself and the incoming attack for protection.
"So, you have a Bloodline Limit. Not that it's going to help-"
Suddenly, much to Kisame's shock, the beams changed their trajectory just before they were going to crash against Samehada, arching around it and Kisame, before blasting the Akatsuki's back.
"AAAARRGH!"
"I think that's my cue!" Sakura said, as she launched herself towards Kisame. She reared a fist back, which started to swirl with chakra, taking the form of an even larger fist surrounding it. "SHANNARO!"
However, Kisame wasn't as defenseless as she thought. The shark ninja managed to jump backwards as he made several hand seals.
"Water Release: Water Shark Bullet Jutsu!"
A gigantic shark made of water formed between Sakura and Kisame, opening its jaws to crunch the charging pinkette. However, Sakura's incoming punch packed so much power it shattered the elemental animal into tiny droplets, and still had enough momentum to keep forward. But the jutsu made it job, and softened Sakura's blow enough for Kisame to safely parry it with Samehada, even if it pushed him backwards a few meters.
"Not bad, definitely not bad," Kisame complimented, once he came to a stop. "But sadly not good enough to beat somebody of my level!"
With a swift motion of his sword, Samehada split Sakura in two...
...before she dissolved into water.
"The hell? Where did she-"
Kisame barely had time to react as Sakura burst underwater below him, her chakra-enhanced fist aimed for his chin. If Kisame didn't move, that punch alone would have separated his head from the rest of his body. But even if it didn't connect, the shockwave it produced was strong enough to hurl him even further backwards, making him drop Samehada.
"Yes! Well done, Sakura-san!" Darui praised as he rushed forward. His hand expertly caught Samehada before the falling blade could even touch the water. "This sword belongs to Kumo now. Let's see how well you do without-AAAGH!"
Much to the Kumo ninja's surprise, spikes sprouted from Samheada's handle, forcing him to drop the blade. Blood was pouring from the holes his now usless right hand had.
"Darui-san!" Sakura cried, as he jumped back towards him. "Quickly, give me your hand!"
"Are you a medic?" Darui asked. Sakura's answer came in the form of the Mystical Palm Jutsu. In a few seconds, the bleeding stopped and the holes were healed, making his hand look like it was never damaged. "Thank you. Wow, you're really good."
Sakura smiled at the compliment. "Thanks. Kumo might have the best swordsmen, but no village tops Konoha when it comes to medics."
"Good thing that you're on our side then," Darui said, still taking a look at his hand, before his eyes focused on Samehada, floating besides him. "Though apparently I'm not a good enough swordsman for that sword. If that thing is a sword to begin with."
Suddenly, as if Kisame was pulling an invisible string, Samehada flew towards him, and the blue skinned ninja casually caught his sword back.
"You're right, Samehada is more than just a special sword," Kisame said, grinning again. "It was created by the first jinchuriki of the Three Tails, using the chakra absorbing coral the Three Tails produces to build it. The result was a sword that could absorb ninjutsu and transfer it to its wielder. Eventually, due being made of living matter and all the chakra it consumed, Samehada became sentient and grew a mind of its own, though it still remained a weapon. It only obeys one ninja at once, and has its ways to punish little thieves that want to get their hands on it. Samehada will never belong to another ninja as long as I'm alive."
"Don't worry, that has an easy solution," Sakura replied, frowning at Kisame.
"Did I tell you that you're way over your heads trying to fight me? You have seen only an iota of my true power," Kisame taunted.
As Kisame, Sakura and Darui continued to fight, Yugito fought as the Nine Tails, transformed into the beast she was carrying inside. The scale of such battle made it all but impossible for the rest of the ninjas to intervene in much capacity. The Konoha and Kumo ninjas watching the battle discussed what they could do.
"Come on, there has to be something we can do to help Yugito," Atsui insisted.
"She told us not to interfere. The scale of this battle is way above us, so please cool down," Samui told her brother.
"I'm with Atsui here. Our power might be insignificant compared to them, but that does not make us useless. We can turn the tide of the battle," Sasuke interjected.
"Rin, do you think you can immobilize the Nine Tails with your Wood Release?" Karin asked, before she realized what she just said, and chuckled. "Wood Release...not happy to come back from the dead, she also has Wood Release of all Bloodlines..."
"I could try, but it's moving way too fast," Rin pointed out.
"For the time being, let's be cautious and watch. Sooner or later, an opportunity to intervene will present to us," Shizune stated.
"Or maybe we could try and create those opportunities ourselves," Sasuke said, as he bit his thumb before he started to walk forward while making hand seals.
"Sasuke-kun, wait! Don't do anything reckless!" Shizune asked.
"Doing something reckless is still a better alternative than doing nothing at all," Sasuke snapped, finishing the seal sequnces, slamming his hand into the water surface. "Summoning Jutsu!"
From a cloud of smoke, a giant hawk emerged, flapping his wings as he took off, with Sasuke riding on his back. Sasuke commanded the bird to fly towards the two fighting tailed beasts. Shziune sighed, and shook his head.
"That boy's going to get himself killed," the older medic-nin said. "Okay, Sasuke took the choice from our hands. We'll approach with caution and move when there's a chance to act, or if our side is losing."
"Whatever, just let go with the action already," an impatient Atsui stated, before Samui smacked him the back of the head. "Ow!"
"Thank goodness they aren't using Tailed Beast Balls, or else we could easily end up as collateral damage," Shizune pointed out.
"Tailed Beast Ball?" Karin repeated.
"It's a Tailed Beast's most powerful attack," it was Rin who answered. "The Tailed Beast gathers a lot of chakra in their mouth forming a ball, which is then released in the form of said ball that can explode upon contact, or in the form of an energy beam or wave for a more focused area of destruction."
"You know an awful lot about Tailed Beasts," Karin commented.
"It was because of Minato-sensei. He used to study them in a very thorough fashion," Rin explained. "Though the fact that Kushina-san was a jinchuriki does explain where that interest came from."
"If that's the case, then I guess it's because they're fighting too close to each other for an attack of such magnitude," Samui guessed. "If they do, there's a big chance they might hurt themselves."
"Not to mention all the unwanted attention that such attack would bring to this place," Shizune added.
"Wouldn't be that a good thing?" Karin asked. "If more Kumo ninja came to help Yugito..."
Samui shook her head. "We need quality, not more quantity. If Killer B-sama or Raikage-sama came, they could easily turn the tide of the battle. But other Kumo ninja would barely make a difference. If somebody sees this fight, it would be better if they warn Kumo about what's going on, rather than join the fight themselves."
"But by the time reinforcements arrive, it might be too late," Rin pointed out.
Meanwhile, above the two fighting giant beasts, Sasuke's hawk was flying in circles, as the Uchiha on top of it carefully analized the clash, Sharingan activated in order not to miss any detail, as small or insignificant as it might be.
"Cat Flame Roaring Fire!"
The Two Tails opened her jaws, and fired several large fireballs at the Nine Tails. The Fox, however, deflected said fireballs with a flick of his many tails, some of them being redirected into the sky, while others fell on both the ground and water around them. After that the Nine Tails charged at the Two Tails.
Yugito decided to return in kind and charge at him as well. However, just beforer the two could met in the middle, the Nine Tails abruptly stopped and spun over himself, delivered a nine-tailed tail blow at the surprised jinchuriki, who was hurled backwards.
"Well done, Kyubi," Obito said, reappearing besides his subdued Tailed Beast. He quickly made several hand seals. "Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
Multiple wooden vines emerged around the still dazed jinchuriki, wrapping around her neck and limbs, immobiziling her and binding her chakra.
"That should take care of it. Now, let's deal the finish blow!" Obito said.
The Nine Tails opened his maws, and started to gather chakra into an ever expanding sphere. The Konoha and Kumo ninjas still in the ground knew the Kyubi was charging a Tailed Beast Ball, and if the attack hit, it would mean the end for Yugito. Sasuke had left before hearing the explaination on what that attack was.
Not that he needed it to know that it was bad news and, if it wasn't stopped immediately, the Akatsuki would win. Almost on instinct, the youngest Uchiha jumped from his flying summon, and aimed his fall towards the fox's face. He made a hand seal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Sasuke wasn't stupid enough to use his real self as a human missile towards a Tailed Beast, not when a clone would do just fine. He then transferred all his momentum to the clone by pushing it downward the moment he appeared. In the couple seconds before the clone would hit his destination, he made several hand seals.
"Fire Release: Burning Man!"
The clone was surrounded by an aura of fire just before it crashed against the Nine Tails' left eye. The beast howled in pain, losing control of the forming Tailed Beast Ball, which exploded in his mouth, hurling him backwards.
"No!" Obito yelled.
"Atsui, let's release Yugito while the Nine Tails is incapacitated!" Samui suggested, as she unsheathed her tanto while rushing towards the immobilized giant cat.
"Alright!" her brother said, following Samui and unsheathing his katana as well.
"Now's our chance!" Shizune said, as she rushed towards the beast, with Karin and Rin following her. "Rin, try to subdue it now!"
Rin nodded, and her hands flew through hand seals once again.
"Wood Release. Deep Forest Emergence!"
More wooden vines emerged around the Nine Tails and wrapped around him, just like they also bound his two tailed sister. Though the damage caused by the failed Tailed Beast Ball wasn't as severe as it appeared, as the Kyubi had enough strength to trash against the restraining wooden vines.
"Karin, help her subdue him!" Shizune said.
Karin took a step forward, and made a hand seal. "Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
Multiple chains of chakra emerged from her back, and they wrap themselves around the Nine Tails' limbs, just like the wooden vines did, and combined their supressing effects to subude the angry monster.
The Kyubi trashed again, but his movements were much slower and sloppy, as he progressively became less and less active. The combined power of both jutsu was too much for him to handle.
"Very good! Keep going like that, girls!" Shizune cheered.
"Fire Release: Phoniex Sage Fire Jutsu!"
A volley of fireballs rained upon Karin and Rin, seemingly out of nowhere, blowing the two girls away, and in Karin's case, forcing her to release her chains from the incapacitated Fox.
"I won't let you interfere any further!" Obito said, as he landed in front of them. He then turned around, and started to throw more fire jutsu at the vines still pinning the giant Fox down.
…
Meanwhile, at the other side of the flooded village, Darui and Sakura continued their two on one fight against Kisame.
"Things are looking grim over there," Darui said, who had just glanced back to the two Tailed Beasts duking it out, before his visible eye rested on Kisame. "Sorry man, but I'm afraid we'll have to end this pretty quick. We're needed over there."
"I was having a lot of fun, but if you want me to end this quickly, I can do that as well," Kisame grinned, as he suddenly disappeared.
Darui tensed, as he gripped the handle of his cleaver. "Where did he-"
"From underwater! Watch out!" Sakura warned.
Both the blond haired man and pink haired girl jumped in time before a shark jumped out of the water, its jaws full of teeth wide open. Another one jumped immediately afterwards against Sakura, but the kunoichi managed to punch it in time, sending it skidding across the water surface, before it disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Another one met the same fate when Darui sunk his electrified cleaver into its flesh.
However, more and more sharks started to come out of the water, in greater numbers and higher frequency. It was becoming increasingly harder for the two ninja to keep up the pace. In no time they would be overwhelmed.
"I can see the bastard below us," Darui told Sakura, as he slashed an incoming shark. "Summoning more shakrs. Hell, I bet these sharks aren't even real. He just plans to tire us out before delivering the finishing blow."
"In that case, we should ignore these fishes and go after him directly," Sakura suggested.
"I had the same idea," Darui asked. As he sheathed his cleaver. "Protect me for a few seconds, will you?"
Sakura nodded, and pushed her body as much as she could in order to fend off the sharks coming from every direction. Fortunately, a few seconds is all what Darui needed to weave the necessary hand seals.
"Lightning Release: Black Panther!"
Darui's hands crackled with black electricity, which condensed into a mass of dark lightning that took the shape of a panther. The panther dived underwater headed for Kisame, but it was intercepted by several of the sharks he was consantly summoning.
"Damn, such a failure," Darui complained. "Reaching him underwater is going to be a challenge."
"Not that much. I have a way that will open a direct path to the Akatsuki, but it will only last for a few seconds," Sakura told the Kumo Jonin.
"Sorry for being skeptical, but what do you plan to do? Punch the water really hard so the shockwave creates a vacuum zone?"
Sakura smirked in return. "You just read my mind."
Dauri's visible eye widened. "Are you...are you serious?"
"You might want to take a step back," Sakura said as she leaped into the air, her fist wound back.
Darui did as Sakura was told. However, as he was the only one touching the water surface, now all the sharks were aiming for him. Unsheathing his cleaver once more, the Kumo Jonin went into the defensive.
"SHANNARO!" Sakura hollered, as she came down, her fist impacting against the water surface.
The effect was immediate. The force released by the impact created a shockwave that pushed all the water aside in every direction, creating a rather large "hole" in the water, with a genuinely surprised Kisame at the bottom.
"Damn. That girl looked pretty dull, but she packs quite the mean punch. If Konoha has more ninja like her, we might be screwed," Darui said, mostly to himself.
"Come on, attack, he's wide open!" Sakura shouted.
Darui nodded, and jumped into the hole the pinkette had literally punched in the water. Unfortunately for him, Kisame was able to shake off the shock and expertly parry Darui's blow with his much bigger sword. Before the Kumo ninja could force the blue skinned Akatsuki into the defensive, Kisame wasted no time and counterattacked with a series of rapid swings of his massive blade.
The dark skinned ninja replied by jumping backwards, while making several hand seals.
"Storm Release: Laser Circus!"
Joining his hands together, Darui fired another salvo of light blue beams at Kisame. The Akatsuki smirked and prepared to defend.
"You're not going to catch me off guard with your little light show again," Kisame confidently said, and when the beams were close to him, he delivered a very wide swing, Samehada absorbing them. "As I said-"
"You're wide open!"
Another Darui appeared before Kisame, his cleaver ready to slash the Akatsuki to bites. However, Kisame was fast enough to parry the clone's blow as well, and deliver another swing that knocked the sword out of his hands.
"You expected to catch me off guard with a clone? I'm starting to feel insulted," Kisame chuckled, as he delivered another blow to the clone.
But much to his surprise, the clone caught Samehada, wrapping his arms around it. Samehada grew several spikes in order to eviscerate the clone, but much to Kisame's shock, not only the clone did not dispel, but the spikes even failed to pierce him, as his skin was extremely hard.
"Now I got you," The Darui clone burst in smoke, revealing that it had been Sakura all along. Her skin was now a metallic brown while her hair was silver. "Did you forget about me already? Come on Darui-san, before the sword absorbs my Iron Skin Jutsu!"
"You don't have to tell me twice," Darui replied, as his hands flew through hand seals. "Lightning Release: Double Black Panther!"
Darui's hands generated a mass of the aforementioned black lightning, which took the shape of two panthers, ready to pounce on Kisame.
Seeing that there was no point in struggling, Kisame dropped Samehada and jumped away, just as the water started to fill the hole while it formed a whirlpool. The shark ninja decided to counter Darui's ninjutsu with one of his own.
"I don't need Samehada to beat opponents of your level!" he shouted, as his hands quickly formed hand seals, before thursting them forward. "Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Jutsu!"
Kisame created a gigantic shark made of water before sending it towards Darui and Sakura.
"This jutsu can absorb the chakra of other ninjutsu and add it to its own power as if it was Samehada. I don't know what those black panthers do, but they won't touch me!" Kisame boasted, as his face formed a grin of confidence.
However, much to his surprise, the black panthers maneuvered around the shark-shaped missile, gracefully avoiding it.
"What!?" Kisame asked in shock.
"I'll take care of that!" Sakura said, placing herself in front of the shark bullet. She spread her arms wide, as two giant fists made of chakra appeared around her fists. "Cherry Blossom Thunderclap!"
Sakura slammed her fists together, creating a powerful shockwave forwards, which easily shattered the water shark bullet when crashed against it.
"Just as I thought. I can use my chakra enhanced strength to create shockwaves, but since they lack chakra, they can't be absorbed," Sakura thought, pleased with her deduction.
That moment, a lightning bolt fell from the storm clouds above, landing somewhere near the spot the rest of her teammates were fighting Obito and his Tailed Beast. Sakura saw that the Nine Tails was down, and smiled. She turned her sight back to the enemy at hand.
"Lightning Release jutsu packs a lot of power, but they're usually hard to control and direct. Black Lightning has no such problems. And as you're going to experience, it's also more powerful than regular lightning as well," Darui explained, enjoying Kisame's predicament.
Unable to defend or even dodge the attack, the two lightning panthers crashed against Kisame, engulfing him in an explosion of black electricity. When the electricity faded, Kisame was still there, his clothes and skin badly burn, but still in condition to fight. The Akatsuki extended his right hand, and Samehada flew to it.
"Hehehe...I'm going to admit, that hurt a lot," Kisame chuckled, sounding oddly nonchalant. "But these wounds will stay here very little. I can use Samehada for-"
Kisame was interrupted by a massive explosion coming from behind. Both him and his opponents forgot about each other for a moment, as their eyes were focused on the massive blast. The Akatsuki grinned.
"Oh look at that. It seems that Obito is finally done playing," Kisame laughed.
Sakura and Darui looked horrified at the other battlefield.
"Just... what happened over there?" Sakura cried.
…
As Darui and Sakura's fight against Kisame was winding down, the fight of the giants had been halted by both Rin and Obito incapacitating the other side's Tailed Beast with their wood release. Not that they were going to just leave things that way.
"Let's release Yugito!" Atsui said, as made a couple of one handed hand seals, as his other hand held his katana. "Fire Release: Burning Edge!"
Atsui's katana was coated in fire, as he dashed towards the giant incapacitated cat. He quickly started to slash the vines with his flaming blade, but they proved to be more resistant than their appearance suggested.
"Don't go all by yourself, let's work together!" Samui replied, as she made several hand seals, before unsheathing her tanto. "Lightning Release: Thunder Blade!"
Samui's tanto started to crackle with electricity, and the blond rushed towards the vines, cutting them in one swing each. Her brother, who was having more trouble, noticed this, and frowned.
"Hey, how the hell did you took so little to cut so many vines?" the indignant blond complained.
"Wood Release is a combination of water and earth, both elements weak to lightning," Samui replied matter-o-factly.
"Aw man, that's not so hot..." he complained.
Suddenly, more vines started to emerge, replacing the ones the Kumo silbings had cut.
"What the hell?" Atsui protested. "Aw come on! This is NOT so hot!"
"Quit complaining! If the vines regrow, we will cut them faster than they can regenerate!" Samui insisted, as she pressed on.
As the Kumo siblings liberated their jinchuriki, or at least tried to, Obito was doing the same with the Nine Tails. Unlike the Kumo siblings, Obito had to contend with the Konoha ninjas attempting to keep the Kyubi incapacitated.
"I never thought that you'd use the gift I gave you against me, Rin. Your disloyalty knows no limit," Obito said with an angry snarl.
"You never thought?" Rin replied, just as angry. "In what world would I approve of everything you're doing? All these meaningless deaths! All the suffering you're spreading!"
"Sometimes you need to cut a limb in order to stop a disease from infecting the rest of the body. Given that you're a medic, I thought you'd understand that," Obito fired back.
"Not before I did everything to save that limb first!" Rin shouted, as she dashed towards Obito.
The two former teammates engaged in a hand to hand duel. Due to his experience and height advantage, Obito thought Rin wouldn't be much of a challenge, but he was surprised by the brown haired medic-nin's skill and physical strength.
"All I need is to knock her out, and she won't be able to keep the Nine Tails incapacitated," Obito thought, as he ducked a roundhouse kick from his former crush. "I knew about her physical enhancements, but when did she become such a good fighter?"
As he was fighting Rin, he failed to see Shizune coming at him, who delivered a painful kick to his temple, sending him flying several meters to the side, skidding on the watery surface.
"Just as the other time. If he wants to hit us, he needs to be corporeal. There's our chance to hit," Shizune said. "We can take advantage of our numerical superiority."
"You think you're so clever, do you?" Obito said as he stood up, rubbing the spot Shizune had kicked in. "Let's see what do you think about your numbers after this! Wood Release: Wood Clone Jutsu!"
Several clones made of wood started to grow from Obito's body. Once fully formed, they split from his body, placing themselves in a circle around the Konoha ninjas, and adopting fighting stances. They counted nine clones in total.
"You're not the only one who can do that!" Rin replied, as she echoed Obito's actions. However, the brown haired girl was only able to produce three clones of herself.
Obito couldn't help but chuckle. "Even if you have the same power as me, my skill is far superior to yours. Take care of them while I release the Nine Tails!" Obito commanded.
"Oh no, you won't get away!" Sasuke yelled, as he leaped at the original. One of the clones jumped to intercept Sasuke, but the youngest Uchiha easily sliced him in two with a swing of his katana. "Fire Release: Burning Edge! Lightning Release: Thunder Blade!"
Holding his katana in one hand and his shoto in the other, the former's blade was coated in flames while the later's started to crackle with electricity. Obito started to weave hand seals, a chain that he had used before a couple times, and that Sasuke had memorized thanks to his Sharingan. He knew what attack would come next.
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
Sasuke was ready to destroy whatever wooden vines Obito threw against him, his senses looking for the first sign of the attack to come. Except, much to his surprise, the attack didn't come. Or better said, it did come, just not from the direction the youngest Uchiha was expecting.
Even more vines emerged around the Nine Tails. Though rather than wrap themselves against him, they started to pull the first vines Rin had summoned. And while the brown haired medic was busy fighting the clones, she was unable to direct chakra to keep her vines in place. In no time, the Nine Tails was free again.
"Didn't see that coming, Sasuke?" Obito mockingly asked, as he jumped onto the fox's head. "Ninjas nowadays seem to focus too much on power and forget about the subtle art of misdirection."
"Damn you..." was all what Sasuke could said, gritting his teeth. Looking up, he saw that his hawk summon was still flying above the Nine Tails in circles. He let out a whistle to call it down.
"No! The Nine Tails is free!" Shizune cried, as she was fighting the remaining clones.
"I'll subdue it again!" Rin said, as her hands started to form the same hand seals she used before. "Wood Release-"
"You think I will let you!?" Obito spat.
The Nine Tails delivered a wide swipe with one of his tails. The Konoha ninjas jumped in time to avoid it, but the sheer force of the swipe was so great, the shockwave it created as enough to hurl them backwards. Sasuke managed to jump onto his hawk's back, and even if it was caught in the burst of wind, the giant bird was able to maneuver around it much better.
"Alright, this ends here," Sasuke said, as he sheathed both his bladed weapons, as his left hand started to crackle with electricity. "The next jutsu will finish this fight."
Obito couldn't repress a laugh. "You're delirious, Sasuke. No jutsu, no matter how powerful, can subdue a Tailed Beast, other than Wood Release."
"You might be right, but it's worth a try," Sasuke said, raising his electrified hand towards the sky. "Do you think that if I gathered several dozen lightning bolts and threw them all at your pet, would he survive?"
"While I admit you have grown powerful over the years, no jutsu of your own can have the strength you claim. No human being could gather that much power," Obito countered.
"Oh, I'm aware of that. But if instead of lightning generated by my chakra, I merely used my chakra to redirect natural lightning towards you?" Sasuke asked.
Suddenly, a bad feeling washed over Obito. Looking up, he realized that the sky had turned really dark, with several lightning bolts jumping from one cloud to another.
"Where...where did those storm clouds come from?" Obito asked, a bit surprised.
"I admit this jutsu requires a bit of a setup. You know, all the fireballs I threw at you from below, that when you dodged, kept flying upwards into the sky? Yeah, they true purpose was to stir the clouds into storm clouds. The Two Tails' fireballs that you deflected into the sky were of real help as well," Sasuke explained. Suddenly, all the lightning in the clouds merged in the form of a serpetine dragon. "The name of the jutsu is Kirin. Now begone."
Sasuke brought his hand down, and in a split second, the Kirin fell down, blasting into the Kyubi. The fox let out a loud and long howl of pain, before he succumbed to the power of several lightning bolts condensed into one, falling to the water with a loud splash. Obito was nowhere to be seen. Sasuke deduced that he had teleported away.
"My most powerful jutsu, the Kirin. Stronger than the Annihilation Nova, with only consuming a tiny fraction of its chakra cost," Sasuke reflected, as he examined the results of his attack. He then turned at the rest of his teammates, looking at the downed Tailed Beast with a flabbergasted look. "Quickly, seal the beast within Karin, before it wakes up!"
This seemed to snap the three women out of their stupor, who nodded and rushed towards Sasuke.
"Okay...how do we do it?" a nervous Karin asked.
"Like this," Shizune said, taking a step forward, while making a hand seal. "Eight Trigram Divination Seal!"
In a poof of smoke, Shizune summoned an octogonal paltform with an altar in the middle, and eight lit candles on each of its corners.
"Now, Karin, lie down on the altar," Shizune instructed. The redhead looked at the altar, her lips quivering, but she didn't move. Noticing it, Shizune added: "Karin, everything's going to be okay. It's normal to feel afraid, but I promise you your life won't change that much. We're all here to support you."
"Karin, come on, we have no time!" Sasuke urged.
Letting out a sigh of defeat, she conceded and walked towards the altar. "I wish mom or Neji-kun were here. Alright, let's get this over with."
"Rin, immobilize the Nine Tails again. I'm not as skilled in sealing as Hokage-sama or Naruto-kun, and I'm going to need some time to do the ritual. We don't want it to wake up in the middle of the sealing," the oldest kunoichi told her.
Rin nodded, and walked towards the uncosncious beast, ready to perform the same jutsu she had used several times before, and started making the hand seals.
"Wood Release: Deep Forest-"
Suddenly, the Nine Tails' eyes snapped open, and with a loud growl, quickly stood on its legs. It raised one of its paws ready to crush the shocked medic nin. Fortunately, Sasuke appeared before Rin and the fox.
"Everybody, behind me!" Sasuke yelled, as a giant, ghostly purple ribcage formed around the group as the same time the paw came down.
Even if Sasuke's Susanoo absorbed most of the impact, it was unable to withstand such a powerful blow, and Shizune's Medical Squad plus Rin were swiped away as if they were flies.
"Did you really think that jutsu of yours would be enough to subdue a Tailed Beast?" Obito mockingly asked, as he reappeared on top of the fox's head. "Pitiful. If you weren't so afraid of using your real power, the outcome of this fight might have been different. But there won't be any more chances for you. While I'm sure Rin will survive this attack, I can't say the same for the rest of you lot."
The Nine Tails opened his jaws, and started to gather chakra into an ever growing sphere. Everybody panicked. They were still recovering from the brutal blow the Nine Tails had delivered them. There was no time for counterattacks, and dodging an attack of such magnitude would be useless.
The Tailed Beast Ball charged, the Kyubi fired it forward. Sasuke tried to shake off the feeling of anguish washing over his body in order to summon another Susanoo for protection, but found himself unable to.
"This can't be my end... not like this..." Sasuke said, gritting his teeth in impotence.
But the end didn't come. Suddenly, a black and blue blur dashed between the Tailed Beast Ball and them. He didn't need his Sharingan to realize it was the Two Tails, or better said Yugito, who for some reason had decided to become a human shield and take the blast herself, being engulfed by the ensuing explosion, which was thankfully cushioned enough that the Konoha ninjas were merely hurled backwards a few meters by the shockwave.
When the explosion was over, the Yugito was no longer in her Two Tails form, but had reverted back to human. Her body was floating in the water, being rocked by the small waves created by the exploding Tailed Beast Ball.
"Just as expected," Obito smirked, as he landed besides the unconscious Yugito with a splash, and carried her over her shoulder.
Two voices cried as Obito did this.
"Yugito!"
"NO!"
The now one eyes Uchiha saw Samui and Atsui desperatedly rushing at him, their weapons drawn, ready to rescue their comrade. But in their haste, they didn't take into account the Nine Tails' presence, who, with a flicker of one of his tails, hurled the two Kumo nin backwards.
"I think we can assume the fight is pretty much over," Obito said, before making a hand seal, causing the Nine Tails to disappear in a cloud of smoke. "Farewell." A spiraling vortex appeared around Obito's eye, and the Akatsuki and his captured jinchuriki were gone in an instant.
A few seconds later, Obito reappared behind Kisame, and spirited the other Akatsuki away.
…
For about ten minutes, nothing happened. Both Kumo and Konoha ninjas remained silent, at most exchanging questions like "are you okay?" and offering to heal wounds, mostly those from Samui and Atsui, who got several broken bones from the Nine Tails' tail swipe. They felt so lost and dazed, especially the Kumo ninjas. It was Rin who broke the silence.
"Why," she asked, her voice almost a whisper.
"Why what?" Samui asked back.
"Why did she save us," Rin replied. "Why did she take that attack aimed for us? She could have used the chance to escape. Now she's going to die, just because she wanted to save a bunch of ninjas from a non-allied foreign village that didn't know that much."
"Yugito didn't do it just to save you. She saved all of us," Atsui replied.
"What?" a confused Rin asked.
"A Tailed Beast Ball is no dull attack. If she didn't use her own body to shield us, the resulting explosion not only would have killed you, but all of us as well," Darui explained. "Sorry for rushing you, but how long until you finish healing them? We need to go back to Kumo and plan a rescue party."
"If Akatsuki plays their cards well, Obito is on his way to take Yugito out of Lightning Country," Shizune sourly thought, but decided to keep those thoughts to herself. Nobody would gain anything by demotivating the Kumo ninjas.
"Almost there," it was Sakura who replied, as she finished healing Samui's arm. "Broken bones can't be properly healed with medical ninjutsu alone. We patched you up as well as we could, but you should go to a hospital as soon as you return to your village and get proper treatment there."
"I see. Thanks for your help then," Samui replied. "And thanks for helping us against Akatsuki, even if in the end it was for naught. We'll make sure to tell Raikage-sama about how you fought alongside us."
"If it can help to ease the relationship between our villages, please do so," Shizune interjected, sounding almost pleading. "The threat of Akatsuki is too big for a single ninja village to handle."
"We will," Darui assured, before turning to his two remaining squadmates. "Alright, Samui, Atsui, let's go!"
And thus the three Kumo ninjas leaped away, rushing north towards their village.
"I think we should head back to Konoha as well," Shizune somberly said. The rest agreed.
…
Konoha, a few days later
On the way back, the mood didn't improve. They still felt the weight of the defeat at the hands of the Akatsuki. Even if they didn't have any personal ties with the jinchuriki, who wasn't even from an allied village, the outcome of the mission weighted heavily on them. They barely talked, and only traded words when necessary.
For some reason, Karin looked the gloomiest of them all, even more than Rin if it was possible.
"Konoha is up there," Shizune pointed out.
And yes, just like the medic Jonin said, the walls of Konoha could be seen in the distance. This seemed to lift the mood, even if it was just a little.
"Finally, home," Sakura said, letting out a sigh.
"Okay, I know you guys are exhausted, both physically as well as emotionally, so you can go home. I'll go to the Hokage Tower and give Hokage-sama the mission report," Shizune offered, something her subordinates greatly appreciated.
However, there was still one last obstacle they had to face before they could rest and put this disastrous mission behind. The moment they crossed the gates, they saw a certain blond ninja rushing towards them.
"Shizune-neechan! Karin-neechan!" Naruto cried before landing in front of them. "I arrived as soon as I got the message from dad regarding the mission! How did it go?"
The somber look on the Medical Squad and Rin's faces was all the jinchuriki needed to know their answer. Unfortunately, he barely knew half of the story, and once again, it was Shizune who took up as her duty to deliver the bad news.
"Naruto-kun...I was going to the Hokage Tower. Come with me and I'll tell you what happened. We have some bad news... news that you need to know," Shizune said, as she and an apprehensive Naruto headed towards the Tower.
…
A few minutes later, Sasuke returned to his apartment. As expected, Itachi wasn't there. It would be at least a wekk until he returned from that mission. Hopefully, his brother would be more succesful than he had been so far.
At first, the youngest Uchiha merely dropped himself onto a couch, hoping to get some rest and put this mission behind him. But he found himself unable to.
"I don't get it," he said to no one in particular. "This wasn't the first mission I failed. I had no ties with the jinchuriki. I don't care what happens to Kumo or its ninjas," Sasuke said out loud. His hand clenched into a fist. "Then why does it hurt so much?"
Author's Note: Sorry to all Yugito fans who were expecting her to have a bigger role in the story, but alas, I just can't save every jinchuriki. At the very least, I hope you guys enjoyed her in these two chapters, were she gets to show a little of her personality and badassery. I was originally planning to have her being captured offscreen, but I a fellow Naruto writer convinced me not to make the same mistake as Kishimoto. Now I kind of regret not giving Han his own mini-arc as well, even if it would have made the story even longer.
Have to say, I was quite surprised how most readers reacted negatively at the prospect of Karin becoming the jinchuriki of Kurama's second half, which in hindsight makes me glad I changed my mind while I was writing this arc. The reason, thought, is that it would make Obito way too incompetent. Not only did he fail three times to capture a jinchuriki, but the one time he suceeded it would be at the cost of another Tailed Beast. And even then, he didn't come out of the battle unscathed, since he lost Shisui's eye (though gotta say, a lot of people enjoyed Rin gouging his eye out).
So yeah, not only Akatsuki scores another victory, increasing the number of Tailed Beasts they have to four (the other three are the One, Three and Five Tailed beasts, if somebody needs a reminder), but Sasuke came out of that mission a complete mess. The next chapter will deal with the fallout of this mission (meaning it also be pretty Sasuke-centric), and will close this arc for good, before we move back to Naruto's team once more.
Thanks a lot to Ookami88, my new betareader, for proofreading this chapter.
Anyway, while you guys wait for the next chapter, don't forget to leave your thoughts in a review! Reviews make me really, really, really happy!