Original Publish Date: 15th-May-2016

Edit: 15th-May-2016


A/N: Congratulations to Leicester City on deservedly winning the Premier League.

Now that I've got that out the way, Leicester have shown that it is possible to be underestimated all the way to the title; and how typical is it that only Arsenal took them seriously enough to beat them home and away! Ugh. We finished above Man United, Man City and Chelsea (EDIT: AND, HILARIOUSLY SP*RS!) but we still didn't win the league. Man. Whatever. Nobody expected Atlético Madrid to beat Barcelona in the Champions League either, but they did; and they scraped their way past Bayern too. The final is going to be epic, even though it will be a rematch of the 2014 final. What a crazy season.

But that's why we love football!


Chapter 21 – Queen of Peace

Oh, the queen of peace

Always does her best to please

Is it any use

Somebody's gotta lose

Like a long scream

Out there always echoing

Oh, what is it worth

All that's left is hurt

- Queen of Peace, Florence + the Machine


8 Months Later, Hidden Rebel Base, Mizu no Kuni: 4465617468

Kamikaze.

Allow me to repeat that.

Kamikaze!

The grin hadn't left my face for a week straight.

Kamikaze!

Ever since I had heard the moniker bestowed upon me by the loyalist Kiri ninja, I refused to answer to any other name (to the consternation and general annoyance of the Resistance).

Kamikaze!

Unless, of course, Mei called me 'Nanashi-kun' in her sultry voice; in which case I turned to her like a lovesick puppy.

Not that she played those kinds of games anymore.

The grin slowly slid off my face as I recalled the shit we had been dealing with over the last 8 months. Mei had changed. We all had. We hadn't had a choice.

Honestly, the last time I had seen Mei smile fully was in the aftermath of our first suicide mission, all those months ago.

And even then, it hadn't been a happy smile.


"I wish that I had fought the commander. I would have taunted him and caught him off guard." Hideki said as we made our way back to the pier.

Hitomi snorted, "As if it would have been that simple."

Hideki raised an eyebrow, "You recall there were… rumors… about him? I finally found some substantiating proof. I would have thrown that in his face."

Hitomi looked interested, but she shrugged. "It's not like that matters anymore; he's dead. Who killed him anyway? Was it you, Mei-sama?"

Mei shook her head, but refrained from speaking. She had that same melancholic glint in her eye like last time after she killed her comrades.

But she was still curious enough to send a questioning glance my way; as did both Hideki and Hitomi.

Despite still basking in the glow of accidentally having achieved Hyōton; I felt a flush creeping up the back of my neck. "Yeah, I found him."

They waited for details, but I didn't give them any. Until Mei raised her eyebrow, anyway.

"He was...err…" I floundered for a delicate way to put it, before I recalled a line from one of the Icha Icha novels, "otherwise engaged."

I got the impression that Mei's second eyebrow went up (not that I could see it); Hideki fixed me with a penetrating stare, and Hitomi started smiling a very amused smile.

"I don't want to talk about it", I said defensively, and sped up so that I wouldn't have to look at their faces.

Hideki called after me, "Atleast tell me this, were the rumors true!? That he...you know-"

"Played for the other team? Yeah." I said in a clipped tone, and kept walking briskly.

Until I heard the first snicker, courtesy of Hitomi.

I stopped and turned, taking in Hitomi's hand in front of her mouth, Hideki's too-wide smile, and Mei's twitching lips. "It's not funny!"

And then the dam burst, and all three of them were laughing, completely without restraint. Hideki had thrown his head back, Hitomi had clasped both her hands to her mouth and Mei had doubled over, her hands holding her sides.

"I'm going to have nightmares for weeks", I grumbled, and my reward was a redoubling of the laughter from my companions.

That said, all of us pretended we didn't hear the note of hysteria in Mei's laughter.


The melancholy in Mei's green eyes had slowly changed into an unidentifiable gleam. It disturbed me, to be completely honest.

But such were the circumstances we found ourselves in. Kill your comrades, or be killed by them.

However, a direct consequence of walking the edge of the knife was that you found your own edge very quickly.

I could honestly say that I had never felt more attuned to my own fighting instincts.

I could finally say, that even without the Hiraishin and Rasengan, I would likely qualify as a borderline S-rank shinobi.

My Fūton chakra cloak was finally at maximum efficiency; I could hold it for nearly an hour.

Combined with the unpredictable A-rank techniques of Raiton, Suiton and Hyōton that I could shoot out at a moment's notice, my ever-improving mastery of Fūinjutsu, my overall speed, my reflexes, my immunity to Genjutsu and my not-too-shabby Taijutsu, I was right up there when it came to powerful shinobi.

If I used the Rasengan and its variants alone, I definitely qualified as S-rank.

To my surprise, though, it didn't really go to my head. I mean, sure, I loved it when people gave me an absolutely bitchin' moniker like Kamikaze (KAMIKAZE!), but I've seen too many comrades die to let it affect my perception of myself and my abilities.

Oh, and it turns out that I could use an incomplete version of Jinton (Swift Release). Since Jinton was a combination of Fūton and Raiton, it could cover my right arm, causing it to respond at the speed of thought. I tried spreading the Jinton chakra throughout my body, but it didn't allow me to manipulate the rest of my limbs at the same speed. So, I was restricted to my faster-than-you-can-blink right arm and my imagination.

Hitomi, of course took great sadistic pleasure in putting me through 'training'. The result was a technique called Jinton: Sensatsu Ken (Swift Release: A Thousand Fists), which was basically a flurry of punches in the time it took a normal shinobi to throw a single punch. Masters of Jinton, Hitomi claimed, could actually throw a thousand punches; but I couldn't even go as far as a hundred.

Training for the Jinton was surprisingly similar to the Yin chakra training I had undertaken with Kurenai, despite Jinton being a clearly Yang chakra Bloodline. I had to meditate a lot to understand my physical limits and figure how to get my arm to respond at the speed of thought.

Hitomi's help was invaluable, but I would rather not have accepted it if I had known what I was signing up for.


I had finally managed to control my arm at the rather insane speeds of the Jinton. Hitomi pointedly cleared her throat at the end of our session, "Now remember, Nanashi-san, please do not perform any non-combat related experiments related to the Jinton."

I tilted my head in confusion at the peculiar phrasing, "Non-combat related experiments?"

Hitomi smirked, and I felt dread pooling at the pit of my stomach; I just knew that once again a Kiri kunoichi was going to successfully embarrass me. "Try not to use it for…ah, self-satisfaction."

She didn't mean… She wasn't referring to… Ugh. Of course she was.

Her smirk turned into a wistful smile, "I remember having to take my son to the Iryo-nin in the middle of the night when he first hit puberty. He refused to tell me what had happened, but the way he held his groin said it all."

I was torn between embarrassment and amusement.

Hitomi's smirk came back full force, "Do take my warning seriously, especially with how Mei-sama seems determined to give you a chronic case of blue-balls."

My eye twitched, Hitomi snickered and my face heated up in embarrassment yet again. Log-damned Kiri kunoichi.


Training for the Hyōton on the other hand was pretty much stumbling in the dark. I mean, I knew what hand-seals would get which results, but actually shaping Ice chakra was quite troublesome. Sure, the Sealing Matrices was supposed to do the actual shaping, but they were horribly chakra-inefficient to begin with. I had sacrificed chakra control to be able to shoot out techniques in the blink of an eye, but now that I wasn't a chakra battery anymore, I couldn't go on using the Matrices recklessly. That didn't mean I couldn't use them at all, but it had taken me a long time and a lot of practice to be able to pace myself and control all my abilities in battle perfectly; this included Hyōton.

I had needed to improve my chakra control, but thankfully the Yin chakra training with Kurenai had given me a good base to start; and now, more than a year and a half on, I had to say that my chakra control was about on-par with, if not better than, most Jōnin. Whenever I trained, I primarily worked on chakra control now, taking my own advice from all that time ago; I needed to preserve my chakra to fight just that little bit longer. I was about 25 years of age now, which meant that the growth of my chakra coils would be negligible at best.

But that was all right; I had the reserves of an Uzumaki and the chakra control to make them count.

And learning how to use Hyōton had paid off big time, as painful as it was.

I had finally beaten Mei in one of our bi-monthly spars about six weeks ago.

Hyōton was a great equalizer against Yōton. I suspected it would be the same against other sub-elements like Mokuton as well. Each Hyōton technique cost me at-least twice in terms of chakra cost as compared to any singular element, but the results were worth it. I couldn't travel through the Ice like Haku could; evidently that was reserved for the actual Bloodline users. In any case, Hyōton was extremely versatile and very hard to beat. Traps and defenses made from Ice were notoriously hard to break. Techniques made from Ice were nearly impossible to shield against. Using an offensive Ice technique almost guaranteed that your opponent would have to dodge; therefore Hyōton allowed you to control your opponent's movements, which was invaluable in a fight.

Combined with the new barriers that I could now spring up at a moment's notice, I had an effective way of ending most fights; namely trapping my opponent.

Mei hadn't been pleased upon being trapped.

The memory of our subsequent two spars still made me wince. She could get really crabby when she lost. I used to be the same, but sparring with the Hokage had stripped me of that particular quirk really quickly.

Speaking of the Hokage, he had shared quite a few strategies for using the Doton with me. As a physical element Earth was extremely versatile, and was equally effective for offense and defense. I shamelessly used all his strategies for the Doton for Hyōton. I suspected he wouldn't be pleased, but I would cross that bridge when I came to it.

Well, at the very least, I could hold my own against S-ranked ninjas. If I had an unexpected run-in with any Akatsuki members I had confidence in my ability to beat them.

I still hoped/expected that Tobi would show up at the final battle, which was at the most a week from now.

Oh yeah. We had finally pissed off the Yondaime that he had finally taken to the field. Our offensive had been long and arduous, but it had finally borne results. Not the ones I had expected, but the truth was undeniable.

The Kiri loyalists called us terrorists.

To my complete and utter shock, Mei admitted that they were right.

I mean, yeah, we went around attacking the Kiri strongholds, and escaping the minute the tide turned against us; yeah, our tactics were designed to cause confusion and loss of morale; but did that really make us terrorists? Whenever civilians were in danger of being collateral, it was us that protected them, not the Kiri shinobi.

And yeah, they had a massive propaganda in place that depicted us as deranged freaks; but it had little to no effect. Mostly because the civilian population didn't care one way or another; they were being exploited either way by those who could wield chakra.

To them, we were all freaks.

I was terrified.

Living through the post-apocalyptic chakra-hating remnant period once was enough.

It could not happen again.

But thankfully Mei had played the long game; she had cultivated enough propaganda of her own amongst the civilian population that a large percentage was amenable to her ideas of elected civilian representatives working in tandem with the military. Over the last couple of months the moral tide had turned our way.

It was when a few civilian villages had openly rebelled against the incumbent despotic rule that Yagura had finally come out on to the field.

He had caught two squadrons by surprise, and singlehandedly slaughtered them all. We only got word due to our civilian members, who had witnessed the horrific attack in all its gory glory.

The moment we got word of the attack, Mei had immediately looked to me grimly and said, "It's time."

I had returned her grim look and duly relayed the message to the Hokage.

I was now on my way to tell her his response.

I walked into the War Room, and every council member was present to give me a penetrating stare.

None of them missed the tense look on my face.

It was Megumi who finally had the courage to ask me, "So what's the news, Nanashi-san?"

I stayed silent, not meeting her eyes.

For the longest moment, a look of terror and hopelessness stayed on her visage.

Then she sighed, dropped her head, pinched the tip of her nose and asked me, "So what's the news, Kamikaze-sama?"

KAMIKAZE!

I immediately grinned at her and said, "Provided we create an opening through the naval patrol, they will be here in three days."

Even my childish idiocy couldn't stop the smiles and grins spreading across the face of every single council member.

Except Mei.

Kitashi immediately started fussing over some of the papers on the large table, "I've been working on a plan for the distraction like you asked, Nanashi-san. You said they would be coming in on four ships?"

"That's right. They want to land in different parts of the country, in case they run into an ambush."

Kitashi nodded, acknowledging my point. "There are three ships that are scheduled to patrol the area your compatriots will be approaching from. One of the ships will be in the dock for refilling their supplies; this will be the most heavily guarded target."

I exchanged a glance with Mei, and I knew we would both be attacking the docked ship. No doubt the dock would be crawling with Kiri shinobi as well, especially after our offensive over the last few months, which meant that this mission needed serious firepower.

Kitashi continued, not having seen Mei and I exchange glances, "The second ship takes a route through the backwaters before coming out into the open sea, so our best bet is to ambush them before they hit the ocean."

I nodded to myself. All things considered, it wasn't that hard to sink a ship. The actual problems came when we had to fight the shinobi guarding the ships.

Kitashi then let out a nasty smile. "The third ship, in a fortuitous coincidence, has quite a few of our spies on board. I imagine that the ship will experience a rather unfortunate accident, no doubt of the explosive variety. I've asked the crew of the ship to rendezvous with us with the rest of the Resistance and Nanashi-san's compatriots. I figured that it will be the end of the Resistance one way or another."

I grinned as I smacked my fist into the palm of my other hand, "There's only one way in which this ends!"

My enthusiasm was catching on, if the smiles and grins around me were anything to go by; but Mei immediately poured cold water over the fire I was stoking. "How do we make sure Yagura does not attack either one of the ship ambushes? We want to fight him on our own terms, not when he is backed up by his own army and we are hopelessly outnumbered."

Never let it be said that Mei lost sight of the big picture.

Kitashi pursed his lips. "We will need a...distraction", he said finally.

The way he said 'distraction' said it all.

Nobody would be returning from that mission.

The good mood my tidings had brought evaporated in an instant.

The silence was unbearably heavy.

"I'll go ask for volunteers", Megumi said in a low tone, and walked out of the council room.

The rest of us exchanged glances, but we remained silent. We had all made sacrifices in this war, and now was not the time to be squeamish.

Even if we were asking for our comrades to die for the rest of us.

The situation in Mizu was downright depressing. It had already been quite bad when I first landed in Ibaraki port a year and a half ago; but now it was like a scene from a post-apocalyptic nightmare.

See, there was a reason that the civilian denizens of Mizu no Kuni were throwing their lot in with the Resistance en-masse.

Earlier, when I had gone on the long term mission with Fuyuki, Megumi and Shinzō, we were harassed and extorted, and Megumi had even been openly molested. But crucially, we were basically allowed to do whatever we pleased. Compared to the situation now, those days looked like paradise.

Earlier, the curfew was at sundown. Now, the curfew was whenever the Kiri shinobi said it would be.

They no longer gave any pretense before hauling off citizens for extortion or for their twisted amusement.

Most civilian women and children never left their homes, fearful that they would be used for the sick pleasures of the Kiri shinobi.

Travel between islands had been heavily restricted. It made our sneaking around all the more difficult, and more than one cell of the Resistance had been lost while attempting to circumnavigate the restrictions.

Farmers had been imprisoned on the farms that they had once owned; forced to till their lands day and night.

Artisans were chained to their workshops, forced to produce their valued goods until they dropped dead from exhaustion, and then they were summarily replaced.

Factory workers were penned like cattle, overworked, underfed, dehydrated and forced to mass-produce weaponry.

I finally understood why Mei had been so heavily reticent to go on the offensive.

This was not something I had seen before. I had never before seen the incumbent group in power run rampant and take out their frustrations on the helpless majority of the population.

But such was the price of our terrorism. Because yes, Mei was right, attacks on our targets were acts of terror.

At the end of the day, the point of terrorism was to spread terror. And that had been our goal, to sow confusion and terror amongst the Kiri ninja population.

Never had I thought that the response from Kiri could have been as brutal and uncompromising as it was.

I had not realized that when we attacked those in power, it was the common man that bore the scars.

Mei had known it, and yet chose to escalate the situation anyway. Sure, it brought the majority of the population on our side, but at what cost?

Could I have made the same decision in her place?

I was deeply disturbed to find out that the answer to that question was yes.

Yes, I would condemn a large number of people to oppression if it meant getting my way.

Terumī Hayato's whisper crawled in my skull, 'War… is a hunger. And there are spirits in the world whose hunger is never satisfied.'

Was I becoming a warmonger too? Was I turning into the very monster I had sworn to fight?

My dark thoughts were interrupted by Megumi quietly entering the War Room. "Terumī Hideki wishes to lead the mission to distract Yagura."

I blinked in surprise, and Mei pursed her lips.

Then, to my utter shock, she nodded her agreement.

Was it penance, that she sacrifice a family member for all the lives she had upended? Or did she have confidence in her cousin to make it out alive?

I didn't know the answer. I wasn't sure Mei did either.

Such was the cost of war.


2 Days Later, Ibaraki Port: 4465617468

I had come full circle.

It was fitting, I suppose, that my last mission for the Resistance was in the place where I had first encountered them.

I idly wondered if I would see Musuke, the sailor/dock worker who had first seen me in that barrel full of fish.

On second thought, I hoped not. Today was a day of reckoning, and the collateral would be massive.

There were only 5 of us today. Mei, myself, Kitashi, Scowling Guy and his partner Jibachi. We couldn't afford anyone who couldn't pull their own weight, which was why we went for a group of fighters and sensors.

Hitomi was leading the group ambushing the second ship in the backwaters.

If all had gone well, Hideki would already be fighting the Yondaime by now, at a location a day's travel away. I said a quick silent prayer for him, hoping he would survive. It was unlikely, especially since he would be disguised as Mei under a Henge for as long as possible, to ensure that Yagura came after him.

I had wrestled with the idea of rescuing Yagura from the Genjutsu that Obito/Tobi… Obitobi had put him under, but I had ultimately decided not to. Either way his reputation would be in tatters. He would forever be known as a despot, or be known as the Kage who couldn't fight off a Genjutsu. Even if the shinobi accepted a ruler who had been under someone else's thrall for a long time, the civilians never would; especially now that Mei had planted the idea of a democratic nation in their heads. Also, I didn't want to meddle with the timeline too much. For now anyway; small changes were inevitable.

I was broken out of my thoughts as we finally reached the shinobi checkpoint and handed over our papers. I could say it was the moment of truth, but it wasn't. Either they would see through our disguises and attack us right now, or they would attack us in a few minutes when we blew up the ship. I didn't particularly care one way or another.

Our goal today was twofold; we had to destroy the ship, yes, and we had to leave a barely-obvious trail for them to follow. We had to lead them to the location we had picked for the final confrontation.

The Kiri shinobi checked our faces against the ID's we had provided.

They asked us a few questions.

And then, to my surprise, they let us pass.

Huh.

Looks like restricting the use of the Henge Seal had paid off.

We made our way to the docks quickly. There was no sense in hanging about, after all.

There were a lot more shinobi around the docks than I had expected. It made sense, on one hand; but on the other it meant that our escape would be that much harder.

I wasn't surprised to see that the ship that we were to destroy was the same one I had sneaked into Mizu on. Like I said, full circle.

We walked down the pier until we were right next to the ship.

And then I broke the Henge seal, causing a massive chakra flare that immediately caught the attention of every single Kiri shinobi in and around Ibaraki port.

I activated my Fūton chakra cloak, started spinning in place, until my entire body had turned into a spiralling spear, and then leapt into the side of the ship, "RASENYARI (SPIRALLING SPEAR)!" I screamed.

I tore through the hull of the ship from the port side and came out through the starboard in an explosion of wood and metal. (Living in Mizu meant that I quickly picked up on boat and ship terminology).

Everyone's attention was on me at this point.

"Nice day for a swim, isn't it?" I called out annoyingly from the water, grinning as I did so.

To my displeasure, nobody called out 'It's Kamikaze!' The first time I had heard it, it had made my day. I would never get tired of hearing it, but the Kiri shinobi today were in a less-than-forgiving mood.

"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique)!" was what I got instead.

Well, now it was time for another trick I had picked up.

It's considered impossible to steal someone's technique. Technically, it is impossible, considering that a technique is made up of someone else's chakra. But you can certainly give them the impression that you stole their technique.

It took me every ounce of chakra control and concentration I possessed, but I raised my left arm and focused on the water dragon headed my way.

I quickly wove a thin transparent layer of Ice around the onrushing dragon.

Had I tried this before today, without my Yin chakra training, without my Sealing Tattoo Matrices, and most especially without the hard-fought chakra control I now possessed, it would have been an epic fail.

But there is a reason I consider myself an S-ranked shinobi again.

By the time the water dragon reached me, it was full of my opponents' Suiton chakra, but crucially, encased in my own Hyōton chakra. That meant it wouldn't go anywhere I didn't want it to, and it wouldn't do anything I didn't want it to.

The dragon curled to a stop in front of me and performed what was unmistakably a bow. "Aww!" I cooed at the deadly A-ranked technique, petting it as if it was a puppy. "A pet for me! Thank you!"

The shinobi who had sent the deadly dragon at me had his eyes wide as he pumped more chakra into his technique, trying to wrest back control of the dragon.

I smirked annoyingly at him as the dragon dipped its head underneath the water and came up with me standing on its head. "How sweet! You want it to be big and strong! Go on!" I leered at him, "Feed it more chakra. I dare you."

The shinobi cut off pumping chakra into the technique, giving it up as a lost cause.

Just as well, because I was bluffing. He could have overpowered my thin Ice shell had he been more stubborn. I was surprised that he hadn't understood what the churning of the water underneath it's transparent (read: invisible) shell had meant.

For a moment, it went to my head. Would word of me stealing Suiton techniques spread? Would they call me Kamimizu next? Or perhaps name me after another water deity?

Then, Mei broke her Henge.

"It's HER!" someone screamed, and I felt my eyebrow twitch in annoyance. Surely I was worth a mention, too?

I took out my frustration on the shinobi attacking me, by sending my (well, mostly his) dragon back at him. He leapt out of the way, but I leapt off the dragon and intercepted him, shooting a Fūton: Shinkūha (Wind Release: Vacuum Wave) at him. It caught him partially in the chest, and I made quick work of him after.

I turned back in time to see a bright flare shoot up into the sky, blazing a crimson trail.

It hung in the air for an unnaturally long time, filling me with apprehension. It was evidently a signal. Was it to signal that Mei was here? Was it for reinforcements?

In any case, it meant nothing good for us.

"We need to leave!" I yelled, running back to the four former-Kiri ninjas. "Reinforcements incoming!"

Easier said than done, since the 4 rebels were surrounded by nearly a dozen loyalists. Mei was facing half of them, and the remaining three were facing the other way, watching her back.

Two more incoming shinobi heard my warning and diverted to meet me, one preparing a Katon technique while the other threw an explosive tag-laced kunai at me. In the loud melee, I couldn't hear which technique it was, but it didn't really matter.

After the debacle from my first suicide mission, I was now ready for someone unexpectedly using a Katon technique against me.

I thrust my left hand forward and poured chakra into one of the knuckles of my orange fingerless gloves, causing a one-liter water balloon to be unsealed. "Hyōton: Kōri no Tate (Ice Release: Shield of Ice)!" A thick wall of ice congealed from the released water, absorbing both the blast from the tag and the Katon technique.

Once again, I thrust my arm at the shield, "Hyōton: Sensatsu Hyōshō (Ice Release: A Thousand Ice Needles of Death)!" Hey, there's no dissing the classics.

My version was considerably more deadly than Haku's (if Kakashi's description of the battle was accurate). My needles were longer, thicker, and were like barbed wire, as compared to the slim senbon-lookalikes that Haku had preferred.

My needles were meant for unfettered carnage, not surgical strikes.

The guy who had thrown the explosive tag was caught in the middle of trying to complete a Suiton technique; honestly, I know I didn't use hand-seals very often, but some of these Kiri shinobi were slow.

The guy who had fired off the Katon technique copied my idea and hastily erected a Doton: Doryūheki (Earth Release: Earth Wall). Before he could copy my second idea and use his defense as an offense, I thrust my right hand forward, "Raiton: Raikyu (Lightning Release: Lightning Ball)!"

My Lightning technique punched through its naturally weak Earth counterpart and hit the shinobi behind it in the chest, causing him to scream in agony as he was electrocuted. I spat out a single Shinkūgyoku (Vacuum Sphere) at him, catching him in the middle of his forehead. He jerked abruptly as his screaming was cut off, and then he crumpled to the ground.

"Behind you!" I heard Kitashi yell, and I didn't hesitate.

"Ninpō: Hari Jizō (Ninja Arts: Needle Spines)!"

My hair violently tore free from its ponytail and instantly surrounded me; just in time to block a rather heavy weapon. I quickly calculated the trajectory of the weapon and formed a hand-seal underneath my protective cocoon of hair.

"Ninpō: Hari Jigoku (Ninja Arts: Needle Hell)!"

This time, the needles shot out in the direction I had perceived the attack coming from; I heard a muttered curse as a kunoichi dodged the attack.

I withdrew the needles speedily, marveling at ease with which my hair responded. The fish oil actually caused the chakra to flow easier through my hair. In fact, on the days when I washed out the fish oil with the shampoo and conditioner, my hair based-techniques were absolutely fantastic; not only would I have a great hair day, but the chakra conduction through my hair was nearly lossless. It may have been absurd to think of it this way, but the fish oil made me a better ninja.

I would wash out the oil tonight, before the final battle; I would need every advantage in that confrontation.

As I neared the kunoichi who had nearly caught me off guard, I realized that she was working with custom kunai that were larger, heavier and almost certainly made from Kiri's chakra metal. She channeled chakra into the kunai she was holding and threw it at me, and then formed the hand-seals for a Genjutsu. I deflected the charged kunai with a burst of Fūton chakra, and I pretended to sway as I felt the Genjutsu slide off me. I staggered wide-eyed to the kunoichi, who smirked and drew another kunai with great deliberation, thinking I was under her thrall.

Her smirk turned into a look of horror as my hair split into three tendrils, catching her arms and her neck and raising her off the floor. "Thanks for these!" I said as I lifted the pouch from her hip containing all the chakra-metal kunai, while my hair snapped her neck with a loud 'crack!'

I dropped her corpse on the floor and started to run back to my companions, who had done well in my absence; only six enemies remained, three on each side. I used one of the kunai I had just been generously donated and channeled Raiton chakra into it before throwing it into the back of one of the Kiri loyalists. His muscles tensed and he started shaking in place, but to his credit he didn't scream; impressive, considering he was being electrocuted. It didn't help him any when Scowling Guy cut off his head, however.

Confident that the three of them would dispatch the remaining two enemies, I leapt a good twenty feet into the air. "Firestorm!" I yelled to Mei.

She immediately back-flipped, and the moment her head came up she breathed a torrent of fire in a wide arc; a wordless A-ranked technique.

I had shot off a massive Shinkūha, its dimensions approximately the same as those of Mei's technique.

Just before our techniques met, Mei called out, "Katon (Fire Release)!"

"Fūton (Wind Release)!" I took my cue.

"Enpū no Rappa (Blazing Wind Wild Wave)!" We finished in tandem, and the torrent morphed into a blazing inferno.

One of the shinobi was almost instantly vaporised. Another was caught by the blaze and started screaming, but the sound was lost in the roaring of the flames. I lost sight of the third, and by then the inferno had spread to two more ships and half the warehouses on the dock.

I heard a lot of the civilians screaming and running from the burning buildings.

And then, just for a second, I saw one of the burning civilians jump into the water.

Had...had that been Musuke!?

"Incoming!" Jibachi yelled, and there was no more time to think about Musuke.

Mei ran south-west, which was the direction the Resistance and the Konoha shinobi were to meet up.

I waited a heartbeat, allowing the other three to follow Mei, and then I brought up our six.

Initially, our plan was to stay longer, and give the civilians more time to evacuate before we caused some cosmetic property damage (that could easily be repaired). Then, we would stagger our departure and give the enemy a trail to follow, so that Yagura would walk into an ambush. Before today, we had never wilfully caused any damage to civilian buildings. But plans rarely survive first contact with the enemy.

That flare had changed things.

Reinforcements were on the way, and I was regretting the chakra-intensive techniques I had used; even though I had more than 80% reserves.

I quickly snapped a Kage-Bunshin into existence; it took the left side into account, while I took the right.

A full squad of four appeared in our way, but Mei didn't even bat a beautiful eyelash as she released the chakra she had been repressing since we had begun our dash, "Futton: Kōmu no Jutsu (Boil Release: Skilled Mist Technique)!"

Immediately I dropped behind my clone, who created a cocoon of Fūton chakra around the rest of the group. Once more, I kept my senses hyper-aware, on the lookout for traps or sneak attacks. Mei's Futton kept our outlines hazy and our enemies far from us.

That didn't mean they weren't giving pursuit.

They were throwing shuriken, kunai and any projectile they could get their hands on, and I kept knocking them back, first with Fūton chakra, then with projectiles of my own. We had planned on being ahead of our pursuers, but now they would be on our tails like white on rice. That meant we would not be getting any rest for the foreseeable future, therefore I had to conserve as much chakra as I could.

Mei had taken out one of the four, but the rest had re-grouped and joined the pursuit. We somehow blew past the city limits and kept going on the route we had planned; we didn't even need to leave the subtle tell-tale signs of our passing, since the pursuit was about 250 meters behind us.

Mei finally let up on her Kōmu no Jutsu, allowing my Kage Bunshin to disperse and the leftover chakra to return to me. My face turned grim. I was at about 2/3rd, or 66% capacity.

It would have to be enough.


30 Minutes Later, Countryside, Mizu no Kuni: 4465617468

Thankfully we had taken into account the fact that we would be travelling a long distance, which was why we had attacked in the late afternoon. Now, night was rapidly approaching, so at-least we wouldn't be boiled alive by the extreme heat of Mizu no Kuni. Our bodies were warmed up, and we were ready for a marathon.

We each had unsealed a ration-bar and drink of water which we quickly gulped down. Weirdly, my chakra reserves were still at 66%, but it was because my spiritual energy had slowly recovered, while my physical energy was still dropping off with every step that I took.

"Nanashi-kun!"

I sped up till I was level with Mei, "I was just about to suggest leaving a few traps."

Mei narrowed her eye in thought, but shook her head. "Maybe later. We need to increase the distance from our pursuers. And I want one of those flares."

I, too, narrowed my eye as I considered this, while the wind whipped through my hair. If we had one of the flares we could push our pursuers in a different direction. Alternatively we could herd them towards the site of the final battle. Already I had thought of two reasons off the top of my head; no doubt Mei had already thought up other possible uses. But that's why she's a Kage.

I locked eyes with her. "Understood."

I activated my Fūton chakra cloak and jumped straight up; my companions rushed past under me while I hung in the air. Once I saw my enemies (of which there were 25), I forced my chakra cloak into two high-pressured balls, "Fūton: Renkūdan (Wind Release: Wind Bullet)!"

Sadly, the twin attacks only claimed one casualty. Once more, I activated my Fūton chakra cloak and fell amongst the swarming enemy.

Yeah, I'm a borderline S-ranked shinobi; yeah, I know that this means I'm supposed to be kickass. I can handle three Jōnin level enemies simultaneously, maybe even four.

But I definitely couldn't handle more than 20. (Without Hiraishin, of course.)

It took me twenty seven seconds to locate an odd-looking contraption that was almost certainly the flare, hanging from the waist of one of the Kiri shinobi.

In those twenty seven seconds, I took forty three hits, atleast two of which were heavy and required immediate first aid. I was in a whirlwind of thrust counter-thrust block duck attack shoot dodge jump as my senses went haywire. I killed three enemies, but it was scant consolation.

The moment I spied the flare, I tore it off the shinobi it was attached to, while slicing deeply into his intestines.

The moment I had the flare in my hand, I switched out with a specially prepared Kage Bunshin.

"Bunshin Daibakuha (Great Clone Explosion)!"

BOOM!

I didn't look back to see the carnage, the confusion or the casualties.

I activated my chakra cloak and used a Fūton: Shunshin no Jutsu (Wind Release: Body Flicker Technique).

I caught up with Mei and handed off the flare. A tiny line in her forehead relaxed when she saw that I wasn't dead, but she tensed up when she saw my injuries. "I'll be fine."

She pursed her generous lips, "If they're in disarray, we have to push our advantage", she said apologetically.

I grit my teeth, "I'll use a Shunshin to catch up. Go."

Still pursing her lips, she nodded and ran faster. The other three went past me too.

I created a Kage Bunshin, who immediately climbed on my back, slowing me down further. He started up the Shōsen (Mystical Palm) and immediately went to my head wound. I was surprised that I had a head wound, but the moment my headache and dizziness cleared up I realized that it was the right call. Hopefully I didn't have a concussion.

The clone then started on my shoulder, and I nearly blacked out from the pain.


Once my injuries were healed to the point that they wouldn't hinder me in a fight, I used the Fūton: Shunshin to catch up to the group. We could use the Shunshin to travel, sure, but it was a very imprecise technique over long distances; and it was very chakra intensive. In the long run, we were better off running on our own two feet.

My chakra reserves were around 30%, so I bit into a soldier pill and felt the rush of chakra rejuvenating my body.

I pulled out the scroll I used for communication with the Hokage. By now, the corresponding scroll would be in the hands of the ranking officer of the Konoha contingent, so that I could coordinate their arrival.

Even as I ran, I managed to hold the scroll steady and wrote succinctly, 'Sea patrols disengaged'.

I waited for a few minutes, checking to see if there was a reply.

And then, the response came in the form of cold, efficient and immaculate lines of kanji.

'Acknowledged'.

For some reason, I got a sense of foreboding as I read that word.


2 Hours Later, Countryside, Mizu no Kuni: 4465617468

The pursuit was relentless.

Twice in the last two hours we had seen the flares go up.

Each time, within a few minutes, both Jibachi and Scowling Guy exchanged grim looks, but said nothing. Considering the fact that they were sensors, the implications were obvious.

Once again, I sped up to Mei, "We need to leave a few traps behind us to slow them down."

"What do you have in mind?"

I pulled out some of the scrolls I had prepared. "Put some of your most destructive techniques in here. I'll tie them to a proximity seal."

Mei's eyes flashed with understanding, and she built up her chakra and aimed a Futton technique at the seal I was holding. Once it reached full capacity I signaled her to stop. She then repeated the same with a Yōton technique; and then alternated between the two.

Once I had enough, I began tying the proximity seals to the sealed attacks.

As soon as an enemy came within 10 feet of the scroll, it would erupt in an A-ranked explosion.

"Aren't you going to seal attacks of your own?" Mei asked me.

I grimaced, "Two or three, maybe. The healing took a lot out of me."

Once more, Mei pursed her lips, but she didn't say anything.

I sealed one Raiton and two Fūton attacks, and then I began to place the scrolls in locations that our pursuers were sure to follow, layering a minor Genjutsu over them; one that would make them unnoticeable.

I checked my reserves: 50%. I bit into another soldier pill.

The first soldier pill restores around 1/3rd of your total chakra, or roughly 33%. The second one restores just under a quarter, 24%. The third one, which is very dangerous, only restores 16%. By the third pill, your body starts beating down your muscles and converting the proteins to chakra. It's usually a last resort.

Today would be such a day, of that I had no doubt.


4 Hours Later, Countryside, Mizu no Kuni: 4465617468

My traps had worked, more or less.

We now had a 30 minute lead on our pursuers.

But we were all reaching the end of our line.

Jibachi was audibly panting, he was going to keel over any minute. Kitashi looked like he wouldn't be far behind.

The moon had risen, and was casting an ethereally enchanting glow on us as we breathed heavily and pushed our bodies to their very limits.

Clearly, if I was thinking about the moonlight, I was beginning to suffer from exhaustion-based delirium.

Would we make it? The mind numbing boredom left me with nothing to do but think.

Would the Resistance be successful? My legs were burning, but my mind was ambling.

Would I ever kiss Mei? The monotony and the physical exertion was leaving me with a unique high.

Would Naruto save the world? I'm not entirely sure why I wasn't as exhausted as the others; or maybe I was and just didn't feel it?

Would I ever eat Ichiraku's ramen again? I could have sworn that I had just crossed the ramen stand, but I could have been hallucinating.

Then Scowling Guy started swearing like a sailor, snapping me out of my confused reverie.

The filthy words he used actually took me aback for a moment. Considering that Mei was with us, I was shocked that he would do something like this in her presence.

Then Jibachi turned his head in the same direction as Scowling Guy, and wheezed out a single, "Fuck".

I was officially worried.

Kitashi asked them, "What's wrong?"

Scowling Guy, with a massive characteristic scowl on his face, growled out, "A new group of ninja is headed our way. More than a hundred strong. They'll cut us off, we're trapped."

Fuck. Fucking fuckity fuck. I was tempted to repeat some of the things Scowling Guy had said, but I didn't really like the guy. "How many are behind us?"

"More than 80."

Well… Fuck.

Mei immediately turned from our path and led us to a copse. She probably figured some cover was better than no cover, but against two hundred enemies it wouldn't matter.

"What's the ETA on the two groups?" Mei snapped out.

"30 minutes for the group behind us. 35, maybe 40 for the other one."

Mei narrowed her eye. "Soldier pills", she ordered; and we all bit into our third pill of the day.

Shit.

We all collapsed in the first clearing we reached. I immediately created 2 Kage Bunshin and ordered them to set up traps, no longer mindful of the chakra cost.

Everyone was on the ground, giving their poor legs some rest; likely for the very last time.

I quickly went through my options. I could set up a tough Barrier, but that wouldn't last more than a few hours. While the ambush site and the Resistance were 6 hours away, they didn't know that we were trapped here. Fine, barrier out.

Fight our way out in the face of fantastical odds? Even if I used the Rasengan variants I wouldn't kill 200 enemies. A couple dozen, sure, but more would dodge and kill me.

Use the Hiraishin to escape with Mei?

.

.

That thought gave me pause. The Konoha shinobi were already landing in Mizu. Our end of the bargain was fulfilled. Dying here served no purpose; in fact, without Mei, the situation would devolve into a war between Konoha and Kiri. If word about the Hiraishin spread to Iwa, so be it. We would make peace with them another way.

I turned to Mei…

…and found her looking right at me.

She wasn't going to leave her people behind.

I clenched my jaw, but otherwise gave no indication of my traitorous thoughts.

Fine, once the three hangers-on died, then I would use the Hiraishin to escape with Mei (after throwing down a smoke bomb to hopefully obscure the characteristic yellow flash).

Our breathing slowly came back to normal as we scarfed down ration bars and drank as much water as we could. Nobody made any plans or discussed any strategy. We all knew that this would be our last stand. Well, I amended, three of us did. Who knew what went on inside Mei's pretty head?

I activated the Shōsen and removed the buildup of lactic acid in my leg muscles, causing them to relax. I cut off the technique the second I felt they wouldn't hinder me in a fight. I barely had 60% of my chakra. Against two hundred enemies though, I could have been fully rested and it would barely make any difference.

Slowly, everyone's breathing slowed as we took a well-earned rest. Our bodies may have been resting, but the looks on everyone's face were as grim as a prisoner who was waiting to be hanged.

Yes, I would use the Hiraishin to escape with Mei.


The pursuing group had finally caught up to us.

They surrounded us. Some of them were holding their knees and panting, and they were overall in worse shape than we were 30 minutes ago.

But they outnumbered us more than 10-to-1.

We stood back-to-back in a circle, for all the good that it would do.

The leading shinobi stepped up, a young looking guy who was drenched in sweat. "Well, well, well. Terumī Mei. You've led us on quite a chase."

Mei glared at him, but stayed silent.

My mouth took the cue. "Well, well, well. It's… Who are you again? You don't even look old enough to shave! Do you even have any pubes?"

He turned to me, his smile unaffected by his heavy breathing. "And Kamikaze! The Yondaime will be sure to reward me. You have quite a bounty on your head, you know."

Even though I was thrilled that he called me Kamikaze (KAMIKAZE!), I rolled my eyes at him, "You've been watching too many Saturday morning cartoons. Did you memorize every clichéd line every villain ever spoke?"

His eyebrow twitched, and I smirked, having found his weakness. "I bet you even practiced them in front of a mirror. Did mama's little boy have delusions of grandeur as a child?" I finished mockingly.

He let out a snarl of rage and took a step towards me; then he visibly restrained himself. After a deep breath, he let out a strained smile, "Well, as you can see, you're clearly outnumbered. Give up, Terumī Mei, and your execution will be swift and open to the public. Then they will see that their bodhisattva is just another weak-willed woman."

I turned to Mei incredulously, "Bodhisattva!? They're calling you a bodhisattva!? But… But that's a cooler nickname than Kamikaze!"

Mei's lips twitched, "Well, I am advocating peace and harmony. And I'm prettier than you."

Well, she wasn't very good at the whole trash talking thing, but I could work with it. "But still… bodhisattva!?"

"Hmm…" Mei pondered, "Think of it this way, would you want to be known for bringing spiritual enlightenment to all sentient beings?"

Heh, at-least she was a quick study. "I suppose not", I grumbled. "Kamikaze sounds cooler anyway; bodhisattva is just a mouthful", I finished petulantly.

"Indeed!" Mei huffed, but I could hear the smile in her voice.

The pre-pubescent child (I reserved the right to call him whatever insulting moniker I could think of) in front of us was twitching hilariously, his hands curling and uncurling into fists. Clearly he didn't like being ignored or mocked, let alone both at the same time.

"Attack!" He snarled, and playtime was over.

"Katon (Fire Release)!"

"Fūton (Wind Release)!"

"Enpū no Rappa (Blazing Wind Wild Wave)!" Once more Mei and I used our firestorm, and we pushed half of our opponents back. Then Mei built up chakra for another A-ranked technique, and I turned around to deal with the other half. I immediately detonated all the traps I had laid, sowing confusion amongst the enemy ranks.

I pulled out the two chakra-metal kunai and channeled a shaped burst of Fūton chakra before spinning them at the throng that was headed our way; as the shape of chakra unraveled, the Fūton blade of the kunai grew larger, and I clearly saw it lop off a couple of limbs. Then their ranks closed and we were under siege.

Somehow, we all survived the next minute. We made sure our ranks didn't break; Mei and I were each facing nearly half the enemies, while the remaining three watched the sides.

I made sure that the smoke bombs were in easy reach, ready to vanish with the Hiraishin at a moment's notice.

We had scored a few major hits, but we were close to being overwhelmed.

And then…

… Then the second group showed up.

Cloaks as dark as the night sky.

Bone-White masks gleaming in the moonlight.

The silent squadron made a terrifying sight, their uniforms designed to strike fear into their enemies hearts.

I finally understood why ANBU were so universally feared.

There was a lull in the fighting, as our enemies salaciously watched us despair.

But… there was something… off about them.

When the first ANBU reached the Kiri loyalists…

He sliced into the Kiri shinobi.

For a moment, everyone stood still in shock.

Then, the blood sprayed across the blank white mask of the ANBU, and the Kiri ninja suddenly forgot about us, and swarmed forward to meet the new enemy.

Just as well, because I had gone numb.

'How could he do this!?'

I desperately looked, searching every ANBU's mask, hoping that I was wrong.

But every single mask was blank.

If I had any minute doubts, they were dispelled with what I saw next.

One of the ANBU lost an arm to a Raiton infused sword strike. He didn't scream, didn't twitch; he reacted as if he had dropped a kunai, instead of losing a limb. He violently killed the kunoichi who had cut off his arm, thrust a tantō into the back of another enemy's head, and then, when he was overwhelmed by two shinobi working in tandem, used his remaining limbs to grab hold of them. He didn't react as a kunai pierced his jugular, but another ANBU used the opening and quickly dispatched the two enemies his comrade had grappled at the cost of his life.

Then, he emotionlessly bled out on the ground, while the other ANBU fought equally silently, equally emotionlessly.

"RETREAT!" screamed the ridiculously baby-faced leader, and the Kiri ninja ran from the…

(I swallowed.)

… from the ROOT shinobi.

I staggered a few paces away as I breathed heavily, on the verge of physical, chakra and emotional exhaustion.

And then, even though we were on the soft ground, I heard the rhythmic tap-tap-tap of an approaching cane.

I stayed silent as I watched the fleeing loyalists; I didn't react as I felt him come and stand next to me.

Uncharacteristically I didn't say a word, which is why he broke the silence.

"Why", Shimura Danzō asked me, "do you smell like fish?"


Author's Notes: HA HAH! NONE of you saw that coming did ya!? THAT WAS AWESOME!

Hehe, once I imagined a stoic character like Danzō asking that question, I just had to put it in.

Whew! So much happened! So much will happen!

Next time: The final battle against the Yondaime Mizukage! Will Yagura die? Will Obitobi show up? Will Nanashi make out with Mei? Will he answer Danzō's question?

And the lucky ones who will find out the answers to the above questions in about two weeks are my beautiful patrons, of whom I now have 5 (FIVE)! I will actually have to use a second hand to count them if I get any more! So thank you: MrKlonam, bnga1, Raiyoukai, Stevie57 and gymbrall!

For more information on my Pat-reon crowdfunding campaign, check out my profile.

Special thanks go out to Ark Temper, for preventing me from making a mistake that could have had potentially disastrous consequences!

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I'm available on Twitter, Tumblr, Gmail, Instagram, PM etc. All of them have the same handle: Tyrannitor. Feel free to get in touch!

/* EDIT: Because I am a petty, petty person, I will now perform a rendition of the song that is being sung all across London.

*Ahem*

It's happened again, it's happened agaaaain, Tottenham Hotspur, it's happened again.

You'll always be shit, you'll always be shiiiit, Tottenham Hotspur, you'll always be shit.

Happy St. Totteringham's Day, my beautiful readers! */

So, my lovely reviewers, the apples of my eye, what did you think of this chapter? Of Nanashi finally being a kickass S-ranked shinobi? Of being called KAMIKAZE? (I always thought that Kishimoto would give Naruto that moniker, but when does he ever do the obvious thing?) Of his technique-stealing move? Of his dark thoughts? Of Sarutobi sending ROOT as the Kiri invasion force? There were a lot of subliminal messages in this chapter (there always are), so let's see how many of you caught them! Worship the Log! Review!