Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Wah!
Note: So, I decided to bump the story up to "Rated M" because the amounts of the word "fuck" that will probably show up in the future.
Not because this story is any sort of mature though.
A Nugget Of Advice, Chapter 7
One Hour Back…
"So, remind me: why aren't we at the stadium yet, Sensei?" Sasuke Uchiha groused, hastily putting on his fully black body suit, strapping on the white buckles that adorned his arms and legs. Because training had gotten considerably brutal over the past month with Kakashi Hatake, Sasuke's favorite blue and white Uchiha Clan outfit had now too many cuts, rips and tears in the fabric.
His shorts in general probably took way too many "Sennen Goroshi" from Kakashi-sensei, and yes, despite the disingenuous assertions running around town, Sasuke Uchiha did not like people – especially grown-ass men – doing any sort of things near or to his ass. People took the fact that he was more focused on training, and not drooling over women or showing too unhealthy of an interest on the opposite sex, as some sort of confirmation that he was gay – and he was not. There was plenty of girls he thought were cute (Hinata, though her meekness also turned him off; Tenten, though he heard she got destroyed by that Temari chick from Sunagakure; Temari, who destroyed Tenten; that movie actress, Yukie Fujikaze; pretty much any female who wasn't in his fan club that was cute), but he was focused more on the whole "Killing my older brother because he was a bitch for killing my entire clan" part of his life. People just didn't understand.
Plus also, breaking a part his name, and emphasizing the "uke" part of his name was not funny either. Even if he did swing that way, he was definitely a seme, dammit.
Wait, why was he getting into that?
Oh yeah, because Sasuke's perverted teacher stuck his fingers up his ass before during training! What the fuck?! Kakashi was lucky they were all considered adults in the eyes of the law due to their profession, otherwise he would definitely be seen as a child molester. Though, if he wanted to, all he had to do was get the guy arrested for sexual harassment. Lucky for the silver-haired pervert, Sasuke was kind enough to ignore it, because he really needed that training.
Itachi wasn't going to kill himself, after all. Or, at least Sasuke hoped that fucking weasel didn't do so, because that would just be not fair.
"So sorry, Sasuke. We ended up training so late, and we were pretty tired. I actually forgot to actually to set the alarm for us to wake up." Kakashi chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.
"You're meaning to tell me that we're late because you forgot to set the alarm?" The raven-haired Uchiha growled at his teacher.
Kakashi had the gall to look sheepish. "Now, now, Sasuke. We're only about 30 minutes from the stadium. It won't take very long to get there."
"Can't we just use the Shunshin to get over there?" The genin groaned, the closest thing Kakashi was going to get to a childish whine from the usually stoic Sasuke.
The jōnin shook his head, lips twisting into what Sasuke thought to be under that blue mask: a smile. "And waste a portion of your chakra before you even got to fight in the tournament? Not a good idea. If anything, we can just use Shunshin when we get into the village in order to get to the stadium. Therefore, we can show up coolly in the arena when your match starts. I understand the necessity to be stylish, but let's do it smartly, Sasuke." After all, Kakashi himself had been doing it for years himself. Kakashi was the master of being cool.
Sasuke just made his signature "hn", effectively ending the conversation, and attached the kunai pouch to his backside, clipping on the bag to his person. Kakashi finally threw on his green flak vest, and urged his student to move from under the tanned tent they shared. The Uchiha teen then took down the tent along with Kakashi. He watched in some interest as Kakashi took a scroll out of his pocket, unraveled it, and watched it him place it near the tent. Kakashi did a half-ram hand seal, and the tent (and all of the contents inside the tent) get sucked into the scroll. Fūinjutsu was interesting to Sasuke, and it seemed to have its practical uses like creating exploding tags, making scrolls, and more. Not like he was in a hurry to learn any of it. Besides maybe making your own storage seals to carry a nearly infinite amount though, he didn't really think it served much of a purpose offensively, which Sasuke needed. He needed plenty of techniques he could use in battle. He needed to kill Itachi, no matter what, and nothing else.
Today, he was going against Gaara, supposedly one of the strongest genin in this tournament, and it put shivers down Sasuke's spine. Shivers of excitement, of course. He didn't watch the match Gaara had against Rock Lee – the guy who Sasuke was already interested in having a battle with because Rock Lee attacked him early in the tournament, and managed to get a clean hit on him. However, he did hear things about Gaara from Kakashi, that he was a formidable shinobi with the unique ability to manipulate sand to the point of making constructs like barriers, shields, and using the sand offensively in attacks. Kakashi called it an "absolute defense"; Sasuke wondered how true was that.
Nothing was absolute.
Of course, he wouldn't be able to test him newer skills against Gaara if he didn't get to the stadium in time. Sasuke and Kakashi moved briskly back into the forest leading towards Konohagakure. Kakashi said it would take 30 minutes to get there? Well, Sasuke wanted to be there in 20.
They got there, according to Kakashi's wristwatch, around 25 minutes. Not exactly too bad, and Sasuke was feeling just as energetic as he was before. They showed ID when getting to gates of Konoha, suffered a comment from one of the guards ("Weren't you supposed to be fighting today?") and they raced off to the village's stadium quickly. They both wrote off the sounds of an explosion going off as the faults of tournament participants, and missed the sounds of people yelling and scream due to them using the Shunshin no Jutsu. Traveling at high speeds tend to block out sounds pretty badly.
When they both appeared in the arena, both were greeted by not only their teammate, Naruto Uzumaki, flying away from being attacked by something, but a grotesque creature who looked vaguely human as it approached him. Sasuke observed the battlefield more, and saw a few people on the ground – around six people. ANBU from what it looked like. He could hear some of them groaning painfully. Some looked unconscious, or dead, for that matter. In the background, sounds of people yelling and crying were sounding off, and the boom of battle was all around the two.
Confused, Sasuke blinked, "...Wasn't there a tournament going on?"
Kakashi flinched, and snapped into action. He lifted his forehead protector that was dropping onto one of his eyes, and revealed the Sharingan (which always served to annoy Sasuke), "Sasuke, get out of here. The tournament is over – go round up some of your peers and defend the village. I'll have to deal with this."
That left Sasuke somewhat dumbfounded for a moment, as he watched Kakashi run off to deal with the roaring creature before them. Not even thinking twice, Sasuke too went after the creature who was slowly moving towards Naruto. A fire release ninjutsu came from Kakashi, and propelled itself to the creature, who howled, and turned. Sasuke looked into the beast's eyes unconsciously, and froze as a wave of killer intent washed over him. It felt like that time when they were in Nami no Kuni when they were fighting Zabuza Momochi, or when he was fighting Orochimaru in the Forest Of Death. It was the type of killer intent that made you want to soil yourself, as you stood there, paralyzed by fear, as you awaited your death.
Sasuke almost didn't register the sounds of Kakashi telling him to get back, or when a sphere of sand flew towards him. Sasuke snapped out of it last moment, dodged to the left, and threw a few shuriken towards the direction of the monster, which the metal didn't seem to slow the creature down at all. The shuriken seemed to have done nothing, as more sand spheres were sent towards the Uchiha's way.
'Sand? Isn't that my opponent's ability? Is that thing… Gaara?' Sasuke wondered in his head. Why the hell was Naruto fighting him?
Unless… Of course. Kakashi gotten Sasuke disqualified; Naruto had progressed pretty far in the exams; and now Naruto was fighting (or fought) Gaara, the only person who was using sand in this tournament. If their current situation wasn't happening, Sasuke would throttle Kakashi for getting him disqualified thanks to their lateness.
Of course, this made up for it. He could still fight, and he would do so. He was itching to try out his newer techniques anyway. So Sasuke directed the standard amount to activate his dōjutsu, started channeling chakra, and throwing up hand seals for the first technique he would use today.
Naruto groaned in pain, picking himself off the ground despite wanting to just lay down. To do that meant certain death however – something Naruto was not keen about as of this time. Today was just not his day. It sure started off fine; he had defeated two people today in the tournament, and he was close to being promoted, but now here he was, about to be killed by some sort of monster. What was Gaara? Why did he turn into that creature now rampaging across in the arena? He just dealt with the ANBU like it was nothing, like they were nothing but roaches to be stomped on.
Naruto feared be the one next, feeling Gaara nearing him like a sixth sense.
Thankfully, Kakashi-sensei chose that moment to not be a tardy-tardy McPants and shoved something electric into the shoulder of Gaara, the sand demon, who howled in pain. Naruto didn't marvel very long at the electricity pouring from Kakashi-sensei's hand as he himself moved away, and Kakashi didn't stay in place when it looked like his attack didn't do too much to Gaara. Kakashi removed his hand, and once Naruto was at a good distance, he seen the handiwork of his assigned teacher. A sizable hole was now where Gaara's shoulder should be located in that body of his.
Naruto took that to mind. 'Weapons like shuriken and kunai are useless, but elemental attacks seem to work. Got it.' More killer intent radiated from the sand demon, and it was so much Naruto found his knees slightly buckle as the invisible force washed itself over him, but the blond attempted to resist the feeling and kept moving.
Gaara roared belligerently, and tried slashing at Kakashi with his sharp claws, but missed as Kakashi jumped back towards Naruto's side.
"Kakashi-sensei! You finally got here!" Naruto exclaimed. "Where the hell were you guys? I ended up having to fight Gaara – or rather, this thing."
Kakashi acknowledged Gaara was sure as hell a "thing" now. He knew Suna may have had a jinchūriki in their village, but to have placed such a person here, as a contestant in the Chūnin Exams? Kakashi was privy on the rumor that Suna may be in cahoots with Otogakure thanks to his former connections in the ANBU but for them to be so damn brazen about it with Gaara here? If he had know already, he might not even had Sasuke fight Gaara period. Unfortunately, one of his other students in the exams had to. Thank the spirits Naruto himself seemed fine.
That meant more of a reason for Naruto to go. "Naruto, get out of here, now! Sasuke's here, and I told him to go to find some peers in the crowd to help defend the village. Go find whoever, defend the village, and when you can, get to an evacuation center. This village is under attack."
Just as his assigned teacher said that, a plume of fire flew over both of their heads, and Naruto knew Sasuke had joined the fight too. "Need some help, dead last?"
Kakashi looked irritated by Sasuke's presence, but he could do little about it as he found himself on the defensive, dodging Gaara's long-range attacks. Tentacles of sand erupted from the ground, and all three of them were forced to dodge – Kakashi and Naruto going left and Sasuke going right. Sasuke was shooting fire around occasionally, but none of the fireballs hit near the target. This wasn't going too well for the three men of Team Seven at all.
That showed when suddenly Gaara – with speed that shouldn't have been possible with his large size – flew towards them. Kakashi separated from his two students, barely evading an attack from Gaara, but he soon found that was a mistake. Instead of focusing on him, or Naruto, Gaara rushed to Sasuke and sent a knee directly into the Uchiha's stomach, sending Sasuke screaming and sprawling away far away from the fight. Although the knee looked like it did some serious damage Sasuke, it might have been a saving grace, because what they were dealing with was so far beyond a normal human target that even Kakashi was having trouble.
Gaara then appeared at Naruto's side, with superhuman speed, and the demonic figure smiled nastily at him. Naruto froze in fear. "Now, where were we?"
For his troubles, Naruto was the one sent flying with a swat of Gaara's arm – or that would the case if Naruto didn't make the wise choice to make a clone further away from Gaara, and use the Kawirimi no Jutsu with it a minute ago when he had a moment to himself. Stones rained on Gaara's head, but it seemed to not do much to him except annoy him, as the superhuman roared in agitation.
Kakashi appeared at Naruto's side swiftly. "Naruto! Go and retrieve Sasuke and leave, and I mean it. Unlike that time in Nami no Kuni, I don't want to hear anything different. This guy is way above your level. Get your asses to a nearby evacuation center, now!" Naruto knew that was very true; he wouldn't be able to do much here to help his teacher anyway, instead of possibly get in his way. Then the gray-haired man joined a copy of himself in a run, heading towards Gaara – blue lighting filling their hands.
Again he did not try to stay in order to watch, trying again to move from Gaara since he would be distracted, and this time to pick his teammate up. Naruto reached his teammate, who seemed to barely be conscious, as he laid down clutching his sides. "You okay, Sasuke?"
"N-No. That guy broke my ribs; probably all of them." Naruto grimaced. Sasuke was not looking good either. Sasuke's face, outfit, and other parts of his body looked all cut up and bruised. Naruto summoned two clones and had them pick up the boy while they started to make their way out of the stadium arena.
Naruto was perhaps a tad careless. Sasuke yelled. "Y-You id-idiot! Watch it!"
The blond winced, and looked embarrassed. "Sorry..."
Sasuke growled, looking miserable. "D-Dammit. I got… taken out so... easily. I missed my match, and I couldn't even… do anything against that thing."
"Relax, dummy. I couldn't do anything against Gaara either." Naruto remarked.
"Even after all that training I did... I'm still not strong enough…."
Naruto shook his head. "Gaara is on a whole level higher than both of us. I'm lucky I didn't end up getting crushed when I fought him."
"You fought this… thing… all through the match?" The tone Sasuke had suggested disbelief.
The blond corrected him immediately. "Gaara wasn't like this through our fight. Even then, I couldn't touch him. Now, he seems pretty unstoppable. I mean, even Sensei is having a hard time with him. Hopefully with us out of the way, Kakashi-sensei could do some real damage." Naruto then saw figures over his head, them moving towards Gaara, who was still in combat with Kakashi. "And it looks like help has arrived."
"We… couldn't do a damn thing..." Sasuke croaked out, starting to look like he was about to slip into unconsciousness.
Naruto shook his head. "Be quiet, bastard, and rest. There's no use fighting it now, and we got to get out of here."
Sasuke didn't say anything for the longest, until he uttered one thing before he fully closed his eyes: "Itachi..."
Naruto didn't think too much of it, because he heard a familiar shriek as he came towards the stadium walls to the stands. "Naruto!" At his left, his third teammate, Sakura Haruno, came down. She was accompanied by Ino Yamanaka, Chōji Akimichi and Shikamara Nara. His bubblegum-colored haired teammate immediately gasped in horror. "Naruto… and Sasuke-kun! What happened?!"
"Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei arrived right after Gaara went berserk. Gaara got Sasuke." Naruto frowned; Ino unnecessarily shrieked when she saw Sasuke as well. "We need to get out of here, guys. No reason to stay here anymore. Let the jōnin and ANBU deal with it."
"That's what I was trying to tell these guys. There's an invasion going on, and the first thing they wanna do is race down here to see what's going on with you." Shikamaru grunted out his displeasure. "Let's get to an evacuation center already."
"What happened up there?"
"Some sort of powerful genjutsu came down and put almost everyone to sleep. A lot of people fell under the spell." Shikamaru explained briefly. "None of us could break it, but lucky enough, we were woken up by a few shinobi who told us to run. Then, there was fighting up in the stands with our side against Otogakure and Sunagakure. There's a lot of people that were killed; both civilians and shinobi a like. It was too smooth. This was well-thought out and planned; Suna and Oto were planning to invade Konoha for quite some time."
"At least evacuations started..." Ino spoke up, shivering a bit. "Some people gotten out and already headed for shelter." The rest was unspoken about the fate of those who did not escape.
"All those poor people..." Naruto trailed off, feeling anger rise inside of him, but he swallowed it. "Let's go then."
Things were looking grim around Kakashi as one by one, the extra jōnin who joined his battle against Gaara – who now was the confirmed Ichibi jinchūriki of Sunagakure – was dwindling. Gaara was incredibly strong, and very vicious, lashing out at anything that got near, being able to shrug off physical blows, and weapons. One unfortunately fellow had the ballsy idea to get close and try a combination of taijutsu and kenjutsu against the jinchūriki, which proved to be a foolish endeavor. Gaara – quite literally – tore him asunder.
Then others who tried to keep their distance, spitting out long-range elemental attacks, found that Gaara could play the "keep-away" game much better than they could, with the terrain of the stadium working just find with him. Some were snatched in sandy prisons, and crushed alive, while some were impaled by pure sandy "tentacles" that appeared from the ground. Worse, Gaara seemed to get bigger, and bigger as time progressed, growing in size, which made Kakashi believe Gaara was going to go full transformation, and become the Ichibi in the arena.
Which would be devastating.
Sunagakure had some gall, seriously. He knew Gaara was trouble the moment he saw him, but he didn't know how much until this point, where he was almost fully transformed into his inner demon. To place your jinchūriki in a tournament where he was leagues stronger than the competition? Sunagakure had a lot of nerve. Fortunately for Suna, and unfortunate for Konoha, it seemed to be working. If Gaara became the Ichibi, nothing could stop him. His defenses were already nigh-impenetrable like this. Naruto and Sasuke needed to leave, and he hoped they had the good senses to get to an evacuation center (or at least a place where it was safe). He also hoped there was nothing in their ways to prevent that; the village had to be crawling with all these enemy shinobi right about now.
Genma, the assigned proctor for the exams, shot out a senbon, did a few hand seals, and exhaled fire-infused chakra onto it. Then, he did a few more hand seals, turning the single senbon into thousands with the Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Normally, it would be a deadly technique that would kill anyone who got near it, Gaara simply guarded against it, his body becoming adorned with metal pinned all over his body, and yelled out his annoyance when the bombardment of projectiles ended. "Pest! Out of my way! I must kill Uzumaki! Otherwise, I'll kill you instead."
"Tch, this is proving to be annoying, Kakashi." The bandana-wearing tokebetsu jōnin. "Nothing seems to be working."
"He's getting stronger and stronger, Genma. We might have a full-fledged transformation here." Kakashi informed, voicing out his earlier thoughts.
"Seriously? Ugh. We're only two guys here, Kakashi. The stuff we been hitting Gaara with isn't working."
"A pain indeed." Kakashi responded, feeling sour himself.
Gaara's enraged roar made the two men tense up. "More, I need more power! Mother, give me your strength!"
"Oh shit!" Genma appropriately sounded off as both of them felt that surge of chakra. It wasn't something that could be ignored, even if you weren't a sensor. "If I remember correctly, when the jinchūriki turn into their demons, they become extremely huge, so… Let's get the hell out of here!" Then the brown-haired tokebetsu jōnin disappeared in a swirl of leaves, while Kakashi followed suit.
They had just missed the sounds of the explosion in the stadium going off.
When Kakashi and Genma appeared again outside the stadium, they saw what was left of it. The walls were completely demolished. Pieces of it were all over the outside of the stadium, some pieces still falling down above them. Genma palmed the earth, and a dome of rock covered Kakashi and him. Kakashi flinched at the sounds of pieces of the stadium hitting the barrier. Genma kept his hand on the ground, feeding the earthen barrier for a bit. Kakashi did a few hand seals himself, and made a shadow clone just outside the barrier, in order to check on the state of the outside.
A few moments later, the clone dispelled, and gave him visions of the outside world. He patted Genma on the shoulder, and Genma took that as a silent confirmation that everything was clear. Well, not everything was clear – clearly, the village's stadium was now left in ruins. Genma released the connection with his chakra to the Earth, and both of the jōnin stared up at a demon that resembled a tanuki, as it let out of an inhuman wail. "Well, I think I know how it feels how to be a roach..."
If it was any other time more appropriate, Kakashi probably would have laughed at the wisecrack from Genma. As it stood, a gigantic demon was now towering over everything and everyone in the village. All of them were roaches to it.
All those people – both ally and enemy – were surely dead if they didn't get out of the stadium in time, and now there was a tailed beast roaming around the village – like there had been one 13 years ago. He prayed his students, and the rest of the genin associated with them were out of the stadium and safe. What had happened here was a tragedy. A monstrous roar was heard that had to been heard by every shinobi in the village, and Kakashi knew no one wouldn't able to do anything against Gaara right now, now that he was fully transformed.
Things looked bad until Kakashi saw a giant toad plop down right above the two jōnin, destroying some of the rubble that lied before them. There was only one shinobi he could think that could summon toads, and unless his former teacher had risen from the dead, it seemed like Jiraiya had made his scene finally.
About damn time too, Kakashi thought, not hesitating to let out that sigh of relief he had been holding in.
Things were certainly looking bad, the Toad Sage thought to himself. One moment, he was watching the matches progress in the tournament, enjoying watching his godson kicking some major butt, the next moment the Hokage Booth goes off in flames and everyone was screaming. Man, he knew they were going to attack – Oto and Suna – but he didn't know they were going to do this here! The enemies' plan was certainly devastating; there was no telling how many people Gaara killed when the jinchūriki was allowed to transform in the stadium. Jiraiya knew it had to be Orochimaru, and was about to chase after him to help the Hokage, but then the jinchūriki decided he needed to transform into his demon.
So much for a good day.
Jiraiya summoned chakra in his body, and prepared the technique already he had in mind. A biting of his finger later, and a few hand seals, and Gamabuta, the giant boss of the toad summons rose in the rubble of the stadium. Gamabunta, who was just as large as Shukaku here who was currently standing in where the stadium used to be hollering loudly, was going to be invaluable in this fight.
The white-haired toad sage suffered a minor grumble from Gamabunta, before the chieftain of the toads started speaking gruffly. "Why do y'all always gotta put me through dis kind of shit? This is going to be my second time tusslin' with a tailed beast, Jiraiya. Minato made it the first. That's not ta say what else ya had me fight over da years."
Jiraiya snorted. "Ah, quit your belly-aching, Bunta. It's not going to be all that bad. He just transformed – should still be getting revved up."
"Yeah, ok. Ya tell me it's not a big deal when ya fight a damn tailed beast." Gamabunta grunted backwards. Jiraiya could see a giant blue aura wrap around Gamabunta's sword. The Ichibi had long gone stopped roaring maniacally, and started leering in Gamabunta's direction. "Well, thank the spirits the jinchūriki hasn't gone full demon yet, otherwise we would have more problems, Alright, so what do ya want me to do?"
"Alright, so the plan is we're going to completely subdue him, so to do that, we can't be here. Bring him out of the village. We'll deal with the demon in the forest. That way, we avoid anymore damage in the village." They were lucky that the stadium was already at the edge of the village anyway. Gamabunta wasn't exactly the lightest of creatures. "The other snake summons in the village are being dealt with by a clone of me, Gamahiro, and a few ANBU squads. That shouldn't be a problem at all. After we deal with this, we're heading off to find and help the Sandaime against Orochimaru."
Gamabunta grunted, that being the only sort of indication he was listening to what Jiraya was saying. Jiraiya felt that spike of energy – he was no sensor but he could definitely feel that energy build up. Senjutsu chakra was up and on. Gamabunta had long ago expressed not liking using it, because he particularly was more versed in close range combat and regular usage of Water Release, but it seemed like he had no choice when fighting something as powerful as a bijū. The energy stabilized and Jiraiya knew his toad friend was ready. Gamabunta was ready for some action.
The toads of Mount Myōboku had already knew the vague details of a possible invasion by Orochimaru and that village, Otogakure. Jiraiya didn't know it would be Sunagakure involved as well, otherwise this defending of the village would go much smoother. Right now, the stadium was now nothing but rubble and a whole lot of dead bodies. It was time for Sunagakure to get some payback.
"Suiton: Teppōdama!" The Water Release technique shot out of the toad's mouth, resembling a cannonball more than a bullet itself. On a human target, that would be outright deadly. On a tailed beast, it would do little more than agitate the demon – which is what they wanted to do.
Jiraiya gathered chakra to the soles of his foot, and anchored on the toad's head tightly with it, as Gamabunta was already preparing to jump to the forest. When Gamabunta leaped, the Ichibi followed shortly afterward like the elder shinobi knew it would. Spheres of wind chakra shout out the mouth of the sand demon, to which Gamabunta dodged swiftly.
When the village started to become a distant speck, Jiraiya shouted to Gamabunta to stop, and start fighting. Gamabunta had quickly drew forward the tantō from his back, and decided to fight the beast at short range. Seconds later, that seemed to be easier said to done, as the Ichibi decided to shoot a gigantic sphere of wind at Gamabunta and Jiraiya. Gamabunta countered with the Suiton: Teppōdama from before. The Water Release ninjutsu equaled the Ichibi's attack in size and power and both elements clashed together; the sky briefly raining down in giant globs of water.
Keeping the toad and Jiraiya at a distance, the Ichibi then decided to use sand attacks, shooting globs of it from his mouth, and then large spires of sand appeared under Gamabunta. The toad was already out of the way, hopping towards the great beast, who was still hollering at the chief toad and Jiraiya. Gamabunta did a ram hand seal, then tiger, and six senjutsu-influenced cannonball-sized spheres of water were shot at the tailed beast, who decided to defend again with a shield made of sand. It proved to be a foolish effort as the torrents of water tore through the sand easily, and wet the rest of the body of the demon. The Suiton: Roku Idaina Jūsei easily made short work of the sand, and dampened the entire monster.
Sand, ultimately, was an earthen material. Normally, Earth Release techniques was very effective against Water Release techniques because how it dissipated the force of water, and its flow, making it useless and easily absorbed by earth techniques. However, that would prove to be useful here as the water was never meant to do anything but make the sand heavier and fall together. It was both the theory of Jiraiya and the toad chief that water could make sand much harder for the tailed beast to control, and since it was a creature made entirely of sand, it would make the beast slower.
The creature roared, trying to put its arm up, only to find incredibly hard to do so; Gamabunta pulled out his sword – saturated in water chakra – and cut off the offending arm, and then the other. The beast hollered, whimpering in pain, allowing Gamabunta ample time to complete his second technique. Lowering his tantō and hopping slightly back, Gamabunta then summoned more water into his mouth, spitting it out of his mouth onto the beast. It struggled, but the Ichibi could not move anymore now.
The Mizuame Teppō was a senjutsu-infused Water Release technique with a high viscosity, capable of covering one battlefield with a sticky cohesive that was capable of binding even the largest of foes. A tailed beast itself wouldn't be any different, and with how much Gamabunta had made a point with shooting water techniques at the tanuki-looking demon, the monster would be easily subdued.
Jiraiya gotten a closer look as Gamabunta was set on using his technique, and could see Gaara sticking out of the head of the great tailed beast. Jiraiya jumped off, chakra pumping in his lower extremities to both help him jump and land without a problem, and landed on the monster's head. Gaara was starting to yell, possibly out of frustration that his control for his beast's power had become almost nonexistent. Sand attempted to rise at Jiraiya's side to attack him but it had been too slow to form, and the Toad Sage was already moving away from its range, and to Gaara's position. Not wasting any time, Jiraiya's fingertips became aglow with a purple flame sitting on each finger.
The kanji for metal, wood, water, fire, and earth came forth in each fingertip, while Jiraiya tore the top half of Gaara's black body suit with one hand, to reveal a seal placed on the left side of his chest. He then slammed his fingertips on the seal. The deranged shinobi hollered as the flames burned into his skin for a few seconds, before finally slumping over as the sand demon that Gaara nearly transformed into became nothing but specks of dust and sand scattering in the wind. This, of course, left them in the air. Jiraiya captured Gaara's body into his arms, using a minor Wind Release to slow his descent down, and reinforced his legs with normal chakra again. Gamabunta did the rest of the job, and caught the two with his head.
Thankfully, they weren't all that far in the air, and Jiraiya felt nothing much in his legs when he landed on Gamabunta. Gamabunta seemed to be a few feet shorter than the demon in any case. Even with Gaara now unconscious, Jiraiya took no chances, and placed a hand on the teen's chest. Mud formed around the jinchūriki, and further usage of his chakra stuck Gaara onto the head of the toad. "Sorry, Gamabunta. Bet it feels a little weird, but it will only be for a little while. After we get near the village, I'll make another clone and drop this guy off into the custody of the ANBU."
Gamabunta only grunted and hopped towards the village. Jiraiya had already had prepared himself for a giant leap from the toad.
There was still more to come.
Naruto and his peers had decided going onto the streets of Konoha to get to an evacuation center was stupid. There was still fighting on ground-level; hollering, shouting of techniques of all kinds, and massive amount of dead bodies littered the streets. Instead, the six of the genin traveled on the rooftops of each of the buildings of the village – eight if you counted the clones who were carrying Sasuke Uchiha, who was still very much still unconscious. Shikamaru lead the front, knowing exactly where the nearest evacuation center was, while Naruto and Chōji – the heavy-hitters of the group, covered the back. Sasuke, Naruto's two clones, Ino, and Sakura covered the bulk of the middle.
The rooftops was far from being clear however. Each of the rooftops they had been on had beaten down with signs of previous battle, and sometimes, they saw dead bodies on top of them also. One rooftop, the entourage came across two enemy shinobi – both clad in gray clothing that looked similar to the clothing those Otogakure shinobi were wearing back in the preliminaries of the Chūnin Exams. Lucky enough, before the enemies knew what was happening, they gotten the drop on them – literally. After Shikamaru did his Kagemane no Jutsu, holding the enemies in place, Naruto followed up with his Doton: Ichi no Kōu, smashing their heads in with large rocks. Chōji – just to make sure they were disposed of – enlarged his arm, and swept them off the roof to the ground before they proceeded again.
"We're nearing the center, guys," Shikamaru announced, the Nara still leading the pack. "It's about two buildings away."
"Thank the Gods. We can get some medical attention for Sasuke-kun soon." Ino answered, to which both Sakura and Naruto nodded at.
Things turned south when, without much warning, a squall broke out through the afternoon wind to swallow the gang of shinobi. Although everyone got hit, the middle of the group, meaning the two kunoichi and Sasuke, took the brunt of the attack. They landed painfully against the rooftops' railing – Sasuke obviously getting the worse of it as he awoke with a howl of pain – but otherwise, they weren't blown off. Though, Sakura and Ino seemed to be still be conscious – if their painful groans from the side of the building's roof top was an indication of that.
The remaining three male shinobi quickly got back to their feet.
Naruto knew who they were dealing with as the enemy landed in front of them. It seemed like it would be another round against Temari with her brother, Kankurō, now involved in the mix. Thankfully, he had his allies with him this time.
Temari smirked in his direction. "Well, it looks like we finally caught up with you folk."
"You were following us?" Naruto questioned, the blond responding to the other one's comment with a frown.
"I want another fight. You can say I'm somewhat of a sore loser!" Then she swung her fan again – a gust of wind erupting from the metal. Naruto barely moved out the way of the attack before he spun back, being hit by another. It seemed like she was focusing towards him.
Naruto hit the ground hard, but it wasn't enough to stop him. He got up, cuts now adorning his face. He winced; gods did that sting a lot. If she was focusing toward, maybe Naruto could get Temari away from the band of genin. They were already in a bad situation with three people who now seemed injured. "Shikamaru, Chōji! Get the others to the center! I'll deal with her."
Temari snorted. "Like we'll let that happened. Kankurō, deal with them. I got this brat. Me and him got a bone to pick."
The puppeteer arrogantly remarked, "Light work," and started his own assault on the two standing members of Team Asuma. The puppet swung at Shikamaru first, who dodged, backed up and sent kunai towards the direction of the puppet, which served little more than a distraction anyway.
"Naruto, don't be stupid. They want you to separate from us. Doing that lone wolf bullcrap isn't going to be good. Right now, both Ino and Sakura aren't exactly 100% and the less that can be said about Sasuke, the better." Shikamaru growled out at the blond who looked like he was still ready to go do something stupid. That would just serve to get everyone here killed. "Get some distance from us if you must, but don't go too far."
"Alright, I got-" Naruto didn't finish the sentence, too busy dodging a fierce gale.
"Less talking, more fighting." Temari smirked, swinging her fan at Naruto freely. Now that the effect Naruto put on it had long ago dissipated, lifting and swinging the metal fan had been quite easy again. She found some sort of glee seeing the brat panic as blasts of wind shot at him.
Naruto hated the situation, and knew this battle was much more in his opponent's favor than the battle in the tournament. He had no underground to run to, and he was finding a hard time getting any space to summon his clones. Temari seemed to be focused on him, and him only. He couldn't see what the rest of his peers were doing at all, and Naruto found himself on a building adjacent to the one they were on when they met the Suna shinobi.
Naruto knew the only way he was getting any sort of advantage against Temari was to head to ground level, and the resource of earth techniques would be abundant. He could do what he did best, and hide underground to form a new plan. He got enough time to time make a clone though, which proved to be just enough to get his strategy rolling. The clone bounced away from Temari, as the teenager sent a howling gale of wind his way again. Naruto idly wondered if the girl had a lot of chakra much like how her brother, Gaara, seemed to have, as he completed the Kawarimi no Jutsu and switched his positions with his shadow clone.
Instantly, the clone was dispelled by the wind, and Naruto received the memories as he found himself in the mid-air, jumping towards the alleyway. Not wasting any time, Naruto sunk into the ground, spawning clones before he did so. Temari had followed him down, shooting wind again from her fan. He could feel the winds whipping above his face, missing him by inches. He closed the hole, and started spreading his chakra in the soil, moving it along as he moved through it.
His chakra was starting to feel like it was taking a hit – all day, he had been using chakra nonstop without taking a breather. He, of course, couldn't gauge where the level of his chakra sat at, but he was starting to feel a little winded. Nevertheless, he summoned clones topside to serve as distractions to Temari and things to track the Suna kunoichi's position. Much to his surprise, when memories were fed back to him, Temari made sure to move fast, never standing on the ground against his clones as she shot attack after attack at them.
This has been her pattern: move back when the clones approached, cling to the walls of a nearby building, and then blast his clones with some nameless Wind Release technique, or one Naruto didn't quite care to know about at the time. She had been using all these wind attacks all day; that had to be a confirmation that she had quite a bit of chakra to spend, and she didn't look a bit winded. Nevertheless, Naruto was sure he had more chakra than she did; unless she was like him, a jinchūriki. He wouldn't know how to see if she was one. In fact, if it was any indication, Gaara seemed like he was one – that massive spike of energy let off by him, and the flood of chakra that surrounded him when he transformed seemed to be a telling sign of being a demon vessel like him. Naruto didn't know, and all of this was just idle thinking. Back to focusing on Temari, idiot, Naruto chastised himself.
The girl clung to the wall of the building once again with her chakra. The only way to get her onto his ground would be actually pulling her down. Naruto had no problem with that, plan in mind as he flared his chakra and let loose hundreds dopplegangers of himself, the ground above him erupting. Temari flinched, and reared back her fan, looking ready to load up an attack again, but there were way too many Naruto clones covering her from almost every angle. Her own solution was to head up, which she did, speed up the building wall to the roof.
And when she got enough space, she blasted them with an air technique again.
Well, most of them. One Naruto remained in the mix: himself. It was time to try something new out on Temari. Manically grinning, Naruto tore through the tornado, feeling the sting of the wind chakra across his skin, but ultimately didn't care one bit. Temari was still in the process of using the technique, and then she saw him pretty much rush through a tornado. It was obvious she quickly became alarmed.
One last thing about chakra flow that Ebisu-sensei briefly went over that Naruto expanded on himself while reading up some stuff in the library. You could place chakra in almost anything, whether it be objects, other people, and even flow it in yourself. Naruto had already worked out the kinks on how to flow chakra through his limbs – his hands and feet being the easiest place to do it on his body, it being the thing he worked on when days Ebisu refused to teach him, but the one thing he was working on currently was perfect distribution of earth chakra flowing through his body. The technique he was working on was, therefore, still incomplete, but he did get down on the basics. Earth really was the best defensive element to know, and as crazy and stupid it was to jump through a fucking gale of slicing wind, he did it.
A few cuts on his skin was like a slap on the wrist. Well, he lied, it hurt like Hell.
As soon as he was near the face of Temari, who was frozen in shock, he reared back his earth chakra-laced fist before crunching her in the face with it. Like before, Temari went down with one solid hit, her head being rattled back.
That was it: he won.
Seeing the girl knocked unconscious, Naruto nodded to himself, and was about leave but stopped.
And he sighed. 'Goddammit.'
Call it a weakness for cute girls, or maybe it was because he plain disliked killing people, or leaving them to die, Naruto decided he would go do the right thing (in his own opinion), which would be turn in this girl to the ANBU and have them take it from there. Tricky part would be finding a squad though. Ah, maybe Shikamaru would be able to help him out.
He really should be trying to get back to his group.
After dropping Gaara off, his clone dispelled and fed Jiraiya information on the whereabouts of the Hokage. Jiraiya cut a path to the area where the sky-high barrier of purple flames stood ominously in the background. A hop later, and Gamabunta stopped near the barrier. ANBU all circled the area; a clump of the ninja were surrounding one portion of the barrier. Jiraiya took heed of the green-colored hooded cloaks, and knew these ANBU were a part of a fūinjutsu squad.
The seal master went over to talk to the people, simultaneously dismissing his giant toad partner who disappeared in a giant cloud of smoke. This did not go unheard of. Some, who were inspecting the barrier standing up, gave him a quick salute, while he nodded wordlessly, and turned his head towards the purple barrier. Ah, the Shishienjin – a nearly impenetrable barrier ninjutsu/fūinjutsu technique that required four people to hold up the barrier. He saw one of Orochimaru's subjects at work, holding the barrier up. They themselves were protected from outside interference.
An explosion rocked the roof, and battle was still fierce in the purple barrier. Elemental techniques had arose from both sides, thrown by Orochimaru and the Hokage inside. They had been going at it for a while before he arrived here. It was time to get inside and help his former teacher out-
And then he felt it. A surge of chakra inside the barrier; too powerful to ignore. Even someone with meager sensing abilities like him, he could feel it. It must had been twice as bad for the sensors of the ANBU, some who even lost their compose to gasp in awe and fear.
"Two Kage-level beings were summoned inside the barrier, Jiraiya-sama!" One ANBU yelled out.
Jiraiya had a feeling that was not good. "Alright, we got to hurry – quick. I have a feeling those beings inside aren't here to aid our Hokage." And he had a seal to take care of it. The thing about the Shishienjin was they had to be held up by the four shinobi inside. It required all four to hold up the barrier – meaning if one of them were felled, it would create a hole in the barrier. Which would make it a hole the forces of Konohagakure could get through. Orochimaru had figured Jiraiya would be too busy with the summons to do anything, but that couldn't be any further from the truth. That or he thought he would be able to kill the Sandaime right off the back like that. Sarutobi-sensei may have not been the same ninja he was when he was younger, but the current Hokage was still one of the most powerful shinobi on this entire continent. Orochimaru hadn't really changed since Jiraiya last seen him: an arrogant bastard that was too assured by his power.
Besides all of that, the Shishienjin was one of the many barrier ninjutsu Sarutobi-sensei showed them growing up. Such an old-school technique, Orochimaru, Jiraiya chided in his head. The weakness of the barrier was not inside, but rather, outside. The people who were holding up the barrier itself were the weakness – get rid of them, and this was no problem. However Jiraiya had an even better solution – which was to keep a perpetual hole inside the barrier.
Pulling out a paper seal from his pocket, he activated it with his chakra, with red glowing kanji on it reading "封" ("Seal"). Then, he raised it towards the barrier's direction, and watched the purple flames of the barrier started to be sucked up into the seal. The barrier itself would hold based on how much chakra the users had, and unless they purposely wanted to constantly feed a barrier chakra that was ultimately letting people in still, it would be a waste of time and chakra. In the end, the barrier would come down thanks to the work of the Fūka Hōin.
And the enemy realized it was a foolish endeavor to keep the barrier going because before Jiraiya's fire canceling seal could finish its work, they dropped the technique, and all four of Orochimaru's guards went to fight the ANBU. Jiraiya allowed his fellow countrymen to handle the guards, while he made a beeline to Orochimaru, who seem alarmed that his grand plan was coming undone.
He inspected the battleground and seen something extremely alarming. Large roots that looked like it belonged to a giant tree and water was on the ground. Before Jiraiya could think what that meant, he narrowly dodged a blow from one source of the issue. Jiraiya could have never imagine even meeting the legendary "God of Shinobi", Hashirama Senju, let alone fighting the man in battle. Now, this seemed to the case. The very-dead Shodai Hokage was very much alive at this point, or maybe… not so. In fact, he looked just like he was the very day he died in battle – still very much young looking, despite the cracks adorning his face, and in the same iconic red armor he died in. The odd thing about it was just that. It looked like he hadn't age a day since he died.
Jiraiya got another shocker when he met the Nidaime Hokage's fist, aimed to his temple. Tobirama Senju was another dead Hokage before his time; his blue armor and white shaggy hair flowing through the air as he jetted past Jiraiya and kicked the sannin in his back hard. His face too was wearing a lot of lines that looked like cracks, his skin was almost gray, and his eyes looked cold and dead. That was just great, wasn't it? Two dead Hokage now back to life, because there was no way Orochimaru had them in his service for this long, truly alive.
What laws of physics and nature did Orochimaru break to get these two people to come back to live to serve him? Now he could see why Sarutobi-sensei was having an issue defeating Orochimaru in combat for an hour, when Jiraiya was sure it wouldn't take him that long. If he had to deal with Orochimaru, and then the two Senju brothers, Jiraiya surely would have many issues too, and Sarutobi-sensei was one of the best. The old coot could still teach the Gama Sennin a few things or two.
Well, today was going to be something interesting indeed.
First, he had to get these two off of him, which was proving to be difficult. As he was thinking all the insults he could call Orochimaru in the book for what he did, Hashirama again attempted to engage him in taijutsu. Jiraiya narrowly dodged the God of Shinobi, knowing from his history that one did not want to engage the Shodai Hokage in close quarters. Tobirama then followed, but Jiraiya managed to get a leg up and kick the white-haired Hokage where the solar plexus would be located at. Taijutsu was a skill that may not been his forte (unlike a certain green-wearing shinobi he knew), but no one wanted to go up against it. He was no Tsunade, but he was able to crack stone with his feet alone.
The Hokage didn't so much make a grunt however, and after he fell almost boneless to the ground, he picked himself up, and came again. Meanwhile, Jiraiya narrowly dodged a spire of stone that appeared at his feet, and summoned chakra to his throat, oil filling his mouth. Then, he spat it out, before howling out fire from his mouth to create a large blaze of fire aimed towards the Shodai. It hit the Hokage head on, before his form collapsed into burning wood.
A clone made out of wood. He should have expected that. He really should have expected that. For his mistake, wood started wrapping around his figure, squeezing his arms together to his body. Jiraiya allowed the flow of fire to surround him, but was surprised to see that fire could not burn the wood. He didn't wonder why it didn't, just knowing staying in the bindings meant certain death. He had to think quick when the Shodai Hokage came forth with a wooden sword made out of his hand. Infusing chakra into his feet, and then stretching it out to infuse with the Senju's shadow, Jiraiya's form became just as weightless, and he disappeared into the Hokage's shadow.
The work of the Gamadaira: Kageyatsuri no Jutsu was really great on surprising enemies or escaping binding techniques like what the Shodai Hokage had previously done to him. Jiraiya held his breath, and moved closer to the man, before releasing the technique. The guy didn't know what hit him when Jiraiya then immediately charged up a Rasengan, and hit him face first with it.
Jiraiya then gotten a Water Release technique fly his way, the technique looking fairly dangerous and lethal should it hit him head on. A quick performance of the Kawirimi no Jutsu, and a piece of wood was in the same space Jiraiya once occupied, getting devoured by the water. The Shodai Hokage may have not been a problem anymore, but Jiraiya was left to deal with the stone-faced, dead Nidaime Hokage. Without forming even one hand seal, behind the Hokage two dragons came to live, shaped out of pure water chakra. No water source whatever anywhere (except, perhaps the air) himself, and the toad sage was reminded why Tobirama was perhaps one of the most scariest Water Release user in history. Jiraiya buckled down, and slammed his palms into the ground, and fed the ground his chakra. A dome of pure rock was created, barely holding up to the water dragons slamming against it. It shook, and Jiraiya shook with it.
All of this took some bit out of him. Switching between elements were rough on the tenketsu, throwing ninjutsu here and there, and then making earth out of his own chakra thanks to no viable source on the terrain he was fighting on – the roof itself was made of wood, which would probably work more to Hashirama's favor – was not easy. Jiraiya cut the link between the roof and his chakra, and moved away. The Nidaime was still hot on his tail, sending a barrage of water techniques. One managed to knock into Jiraiya's shoulder, which made the 51-year old man spin, and throw him to the ground. Tobirama went in for the finishing blow, approaching with a kunai ready to stab Jiraiya, but it was a mistake as Jiraiya created a stone spear, and it flew into the eyeball of the Nidaime. Much to the credit to Tobirama, he didn't yell or scream in pain – not that Jiraiya cared enough to make a big deal about.
Doing a sequence of hand-seals, Jiraiya quickly followed up spitting oil onto the Hokage, and burning him into cinders with a Katon: Endan. The fireball connected, and Tobirama was blown back away from Jiraiya.
The Shodai came back, but Jiraiya was ready for him, and before he could do anything, Jiraiya summoned wind into his hand, and a tearing gale of wind sliced into neck of the remaining Hokage, lobbing off the neck.
The Sannin sighed in some relief, glad the battle was over. Soon, things would be finished here. He turned away and went to help the Sandaime battle Orochimaru, approaching their side of the field. The two seemed engaged in a battle of weapons. Orochimaru was swinging around the Blade of Kusanagi, a legendary sword granted to him a long time ago, and Sarutobi was swinging back with a massive staff.
Ah, Sarutobi-sensei's Kongōnyoi, if he wasn't mistaken. That meant the monkey summon, Enma, was around helping him. Good. At least Sarutobi wasn't all alone then. Jiraiya decided it was time to enter the fray to assist his teacher, landing a kick onto the backside of the snake who was attacking him. Orochimaru roared, being launched back by the sucker punch (well, kick).
"Jiraiya!" Sarutobi breathed out, looking exhausted and drained.
"I'm here, Sensei. Let's go kick our old Orochi's ass, shall we?"
"What did you do to Hashirama-sama and Tobirama-sama?" His teacher was all business, and not in a joking manner.
Jiraiya grinned nonetheless, trying to be reassuring. "Took them out, of course. Wasn't too hard, really. They are probably dead… well, again."
Sarutobi only turned more alarmed. "They do not die, tire, or stay down for long, Jiraiya. They will get back up. I already had used some of my strongest techniques against them and after a few minutes, they regenerated their wounds completely and was back in fighting condition. I suspect the very reason why they are still going is because of Orochimaru's control over them. Damn him for his perversion of Nidaime-sama's technique."
"And such a divine technique the Nidaime created, Sensei. Such a divine one." Orochimaru remarked, smirking as he picked himself and stood tall with his sword.
Sarutobi growled, and turned to face the pale-skinned man, already prepared to fight again. Meanwhile, Jiraiya had a different reaction. "Ah, seems like Orochi has gotten back up from the little love tap I gave him to his back." Jiraiya smirked at the source of the voice. "You okay there?"
Said man glared at the toad sage in annoyance, the Kusanagi blade no longer in his hands. "Jiraiya, my old friend. So, you are the reason my guards couldn't hold up the barrier."
"Yes, it is I! The Great One! The Magnificent One!" Jiraiya bellowed, starting to pose flippantly. "I am here to shine down light in this battle, and save the village from your evil ways, Orochimaru!"
"Still ever the buffoon, I see. It's amazing how little you have changed since we last met."
Jiraiya had immediately thought up a counter. "Buffoon, you say? Yet, you taught your guards a technique me, you and Tsunade-hime figured out a way to counter since we seen the move being used by an enemy squad in the Second Shinobi World War. How foolish of you."
Orochimaru chuckled. "Oh? You still remember? Ah, of course. After all, we did develop the seal that absorbs Fire Release ninjutsu together, did we not? Perhaps I was a little silly choosing such a technique for them to use."
"Well, it's not your fault your guards suck. Oh wait, it kind of is, isn't it? Now the ANBU are dealing with them, while I beat the crap out of you for summoning back the previous two Hokage, Orochi."
The demented snake sage snickered. "Oh? Did you like what I did? I have gained the power to control both life and death. I have reanimated them for the sole purpose of playing with our sensei here. Unfortunately, you had to come and ruin all the fun. Oh Jiraiya, you party pooper."
"Oh, I'm so sorry. You come back home after so long of being gone, and you think you're going have a blast here without seeing me? Come on now, Orochi. We got to catch up and all. Oh, and by the way, you thought you can distract me with some mere shit middle-tier snake summons in the village? You got to stop underestimating me."
Orochimaru shrugged. "Perhaps. Well, this banter was fun for a little bit, but I think I will resuming killing our former teacher. Yes, I think that will be a splendid idea. Meanwhile, you can deal with the Hokage again."
On cue, a blast of water was sent his way, and if it was not for the warning Sarutobi-sensei gave him and him feeling something wasn't quite right, Jiraiya probably would been washed right off this roof by the Nidaime's nameless Water Release technique. Jiraiya simply moved away, and pivoted towards the other sannin with a Rasengan charged in hand, but Orochimaru slipped away, going towards the Hokage who prepared himself for another battle with his former wayward student.
Jiraiya found the other Hokage hot on his heels, as he dodged water and wood alike. Blasts of water after water came from the Nidaime, while the Shodai kept stomping on the ground, creating pillars of wood coming up under the white-haired sannin. So the Sandaime wasn't kidding, huh? Orochimaru essentially had brought back two Kage-level shinobi that had no sort of limit.
Dealing with Gaara, summoning two toads (one being the boss of the toads, and the other a very high-tier summon), some other various techniques, and now this battle was starting to dent his chakra reserves, but he wasn't one of the Legendary Three Ninjas for nothing. Still though, if Orochimaru had been able to summon undead versions of the first two Hokage with quick regeneration abilities, and lots of chakra to spare, things would get bad quick if they didn't finish the two off. Perhaps if Sarutobi and/or Jiraiya killed off Orochimaru – like how real summons acted with their summoners – the two Hokage would go away? It was a good idea, but Jiraiya was still stuck in battle against them for now. Meanwhile the Sandaime was, no doubt, fighting Orochimaru. This was hardly fair – three against two. Where was other back up when you needed it? Right now, it seemed like Jiraiya couldn't get a solid, sticking hit on the two Hokage.
The sage of toads then felt his vision shake and shake until he could not see anymore. There was nothing but darkness. His senses were out of a wack for a second, until he recognized the effects of what was happened. Genjutsu. And there was only one technique both of the Hokage were famous for wielding that created the sensation of someone suddenly going blind.
Shit, he read this technique up too. It was a genjutsu called the Kokuangyo no Jutsu. What an apt name for a technique – the world became nothing but darkness, and had him been a lesser shinobi, he would have panicked. However, Jiraiya was not, and instead of relying on his eyes, he relied on his ears, nose, and more importantly, his chakra.
The smell of dirt and decay filled his nose, and he barely dodged an attack whizzing past his face. He couldn't dodge a blast of water however, and his senses still were not reset back to normal. The genjutsu was still in full effect. Fortunately however, he was caught by a person, and feeling a surge of chakra run through him like a current, his vision returned. "Sensei, I'm assuming that's you."
"Aye, it is. You're having a problem with Tobirama-sama and Hashirama-sama."
"I am. I don't know much of their abilities." Jiraiya admitted, feeling no shame for such. He might had have a better chance if he was able to summon some extra outside help, but it would take time, and a fight like this wouldn't allow him the ample time to do so.
"I suppose is time for us to switch opponents." Sarutobi did a strange combination of a wheeze and a grunt. "Deal with Orochimaru then, if only for a short while. I am preparing a technique that can put the two of my old masters out of commission, and possibly kill Orochimaru."
"You look exhausted, almost as exhausted as I am, Sensei. What type of technique do you have in mind that won't kill you?" It wasn't hard to see how low on fumes the Sandaime Hokage was running on. Hokage or not, no person's chakra was unlimited – no mortal's, anyway.
"Death is nothing I am worried about, Jiraiya. I only care about winning. As for the technique I have in mind for our former countryman, it will be something that will make sure Orochimaru will no longer be a threat. I admit however, my reserves with my chakra are starting to get very low, Jiraiya. If... you do not mind..." Sarutobi trailed off, but Jiraiya knew what he wanted from him. The toad sage nodded, believing he had some chakra in his own tank to spare, and immediately sent a transmission of his own chakra to the body of the Hokage.
The old man's body jolted a bit but Sarutobi – who was more slumped over, and trying his best to cover up his slowly hardening breathing (yes, Jiraiya noticed) – stood more straighter and sent a barely noticeable nod to Jiraiya before going off to attack the two Hokage. Orochimaru came in, like on cue, to stop this but Jiraiya intercepted his former teammate with a punch, to which did little to nothing to the snake man, who twisted his face and neck unnaturally in a strange motion to avoid it.
Jiraiya didn't let that deter him, and continued his assault on the other man, which seemed to more and more becoming affected with distracting his former teammate. Orochimaru could not afford just ignoring the Konoha shinobi, and so turned his sights on him, which is what Jiraiya wanted. Sarutobi-sensei could fight the other two better than he could. Perhaps it wasn't as fair to leave the Hokage to them, but he stated he had a technique in mind that would take care of the Senju brothers and Orochimaru.
He believed in his teacher. He just hoped whatever the old coot was doing wouldn't be any threat to himself. Jiraiya fired an Earth Release technique at Orochimaru, to which the snake dodged, of course, but something happened, and Jiraiya had gotten a strange feeling creep over him. Like, death looming over them. Of course, any three of them could die at any moment, but something told him that literal death hung over the battle. The skies themselves started to darken, as if something big was going to happen.
Orochimaru must have felt it to, because he paused, looking briefly confused. He stopped attacking, and looked towards the Hokage's battle. He smirked. "Oh? It looks like Sarutobi-sensei has dealt with my toys."
Jiraiya looked himself, and see no more sign of the two other Hokage who were here. Thank goodness to whatever Sarutobi-sensei had done to stop them. "Looks like a lot of your plans have failed, Orochimaru."
"Oh, no. Not by the slightest. Our teacher must be running on low fumes now. I suppose it's time to stop playing here, and mosey over there to finish what I came for."
Jiraiya wouldn't have it, rushing to the man with a Rasengan in hand, but Orochimaru had – disgustingly enough – turned his bottom half into what seemed to be the bottom of a snake, and sped off to Sarutobi. Orochimaru was still the fast one of the group of sannin, it seemed.
But Sarutobi seemed to be ready, and dodged the snake man's swipe before grabbing onto him by the shoulders. Jiraiya moved closer and saw Orochimaru's face completely frozen with shock, and fear.
The missing-nin growled. "What are you doing, Sensei?"
Sarutobi smirked weakly. "Winning this battle, Orochimaru, even if it kills me. Just like how I had done with my former teachers, you will be the same. I have learned I should have not allowed you to leave Konohagakure before with your life. I will now rectify my mistakes, by taking you down with me. For the glory of Konohagakure!"
Orochimaru gasped, for once having that arrogance of his be replaced by real, stark fear. "No, no, I feel my soul… slipping away."
Jiraiya looked alarmed at that. There was only one technique he could think of that could do such a thing. "Sensei, what are you doing? What kind of technique is this?!"
"A technique another Hokage before me has used, Jiraiya. I'm sorry, my boy, but I need to do this. For too long has I let my kind heart rule over me. The next Hokage after me, I hope, never makes the same mistakes I have. I leave Konohagakure to your hands, Jiraiya. Serve her well. Executing the Fūinjutsu: Shiki Fūjin!"
What was his teacher saying to him? It was that technique? The very own that killed his own beloved student, Minato? No, it could not be. But, perhaps that's what he felt – the looming death that hung over them, darkening the skies around them. The kinjutsu that was the Shiki Fūjin had been used before was being used again, and Jiraiya had studied the technique extensively ever since Minato had died.
The seal was crafted by the former Uzumaki Clan themselves, which invoked the Shinigami, and used the Death God Itself to kill their enemies. Such a terrifying thing was one of the reasons why the Uzumaki Clan was destroyed, of course. To see this technique in action, even if he couldn't see the Death God himself, was terrifying.
Orochimaru was practically screaming, unable to move, but flapping his gums anyway. "No, no! I can't die here! My dream hasn't be fulfilled yet. My hopes, my ambitions! You must stop this, Sensei. You will kill your own self, you old fool! Those who summon the Shinigami will die!"
But Jiraiya heard nothing but a grunt of exhaustion from Sarutobi, who concentrated to continue his task on finishing Orochimaru. Orochimaru growled out one last thing, "Kusanagi, Summon!"
And Jiraiya watched as the sword Orochimaru once used traveled quickly to the backside of the current Hokage, but Jiraiya was already on it, sending the sword flying back with a Rasengan to throw it off course. The sword spun far away from them.
"No!" Orochimaru howled in despair.
Sarutobi nodded, not looking in Jiraiya's direction. "I thank you, Jiraiya. It would have been harder completing this technique if the sword gotten to me. Enma, form a barrier around us."
The staff became many with a technique similar to the Kage Bunshin, and then formed a lattice boxing in both Orochimaru and Sarutobi. To make the barrier even more protected, eyes popped out of the staves, and furry arms too. The hundreds arms made a cross guard to protect the barrier. It seemed like even in staff mode, Enma could produce several of his body parts out of the staff. Nothing could get through that thing now, not where Enma was a literal aegis protecting and observing anything that got near.
Orochimaru had long gone become slacken with fear, and if it was possible, even more paler. Jiraiya approached, sadness in his eyes. Orochimaru was finished, for good now, but now, so was the Sandaime. "Sarutobi-sensei..."
"Jiraiya." The man croaked out, his voice almost lost. "I… have prepared a letter… in my quarters in the Hokage Residence. Seek out Shikaku Nara. He… shall know what to do next. Read the letter, Jiraiya, and follow whatever is on the letter's instructions. This… is my last order to you."
"I will, Sensei." Jiraiya was openly weeping, and he did not care.
"It… has be an honor being your teacher, Jiraiya. You have made me proud, my boy. So proud. The same is to be said of Naruto. Like his father, I will… regret not being able to see him grow in the man I know he will be. Like Konohagakure, take care of him, Jiraiya."
"You bet your ass, old man. I'll do it. I'll make him to the best spirits-damn shinobi you would ever seen! I'll mold him in the best Hokage you would ever seen! I swear on it!"
Sarutobi smiled brightly at him, and said one final word: "Good." Then, he and Orochimaru spinelessly dropped to the ground, no longer drawing any breath. Even as he died, Sarutobi-sensei did what he loved doing: smiling. Jiraiya smiled too, and crouched near him, closing his eyes.
He did not do the same for Orochimaru.
Even with the invasion's biggest player dead, there was still a battle waging on, and a village just lost the man who had been protecting it for years, even after being forced to pick the mantle again when his successor, the Yondaime Hokage, died so young. Never once had Sarutobi-sensei complained; never once had Sarutobi-sensei hated it. He loved his village, and served it well. The old man didn't have to do this along, and Jiraiya was glad to had been here to help.
Perhaps he should have felt something for Orochimaru to had died like that, a missing-nin and a disgrace to his village, but he did not. For him, Orochimaru's death was like drawing in fresh air. Sarutobi-sensei had done what Jiraiya could never had done. The late Hokage hadn't been the only one who could not kill off his heart to do what he needed to do. How many times had he fought Orochimaru trying to get him back to the village, where he could have killed him instead? Too many to count until he gave up.
Enough, no more thinking about it. A half of his genin team was now gone. Jiraiya was the only one who was still loyal to Konohagakure alive. He still had a village to serve. As he said before, there was still a battle waging on. He picked up the Hokage, and walked on. Enma, who released his technique as soon as the two inside the barrier died, had gestured him not to leave yet. "The deed is done, but do not despair, young one. Hiruzen had lived and died as a true shinobi, and a fantastic Hokage."
"Yes."
"Perhaps you shall be the same." Enma said, cryptically. Had Jiraiya not have a thousand other thoughts in his mind at the moment, he would have thought hard on that, but he just nodded at the boss summon of the monkeys. Enma walked away, and bent down to retrieve the Kusanagi blade, which was wedged into the rooftop, handle jutting out.
"Farewell, Jiraiya-kun." The Monkey King boomed from a distance over, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
He too walked away with his teacher in his hand. The others will see soon.
And like him, Konohagakure would weep.
End.
A/N: I hope you liked the chapter. Took a bit to write, as you can see. Freaking too long for my tastes. Some things were easy to write, and then some weren't. But fuck yes, I'm done with Chūnin Exams and the Invasion Arc. You do not know how happy I truly am.
I added Jiraiya in the battle between Orochimaru and Hiruzen. It kind of bugged me that Jiraiya wasn't a part of the fight in canon. Seriously, canon had Jiraiya deal with Orochimaru's snake summons in the original Naruto only. What else he was doing? He had to have done some other things. Now, maybe it was a stretch here since he also dealt with Gaara, because Naruto couldn't (thanks to him not have access to the Kyūbi's chakra and lacked the ability to summon the toads), but I believe he could have joined the battle after. As for the snake summons, I think Jiraiya could spare making a clone, summoning another toad, and have the help of the ANBU to deal with them. It might be taxing on the chakra but Kage-level shinobi have been seen doing some ridiculous things in canon, seriously.
Some other things I added, I'm sure you noticed. Naruto has shown some competency in chakra flow covering his entire body (although it hasn't been perfected yet, seeing as he gotten cut up still); Gamabunta showed some senjutsu off, which I am sure he is not capable of in canon but his son, Gamakichi is; and Jiraiya's usage of the Fire Sealing Method to stop the Sound Four's Four Violet Flames Formation. I figured the Four Violet Flames Formation is made of fire (or acts as such), and so Jiraiya's technique could stop it. That's head canon for you. I also reasoned (in my head) that even if Sarutobi could do the same fūinjutsu as Jiraiya, he wouldn't had gotten the chance to do so. Orochimaru wasn't banking on Jiraiya, and so, yeah.
Sorry to some Sasuke fans who may I think I have made him seem weak, but in all honesty, I wanted to portray a Gaara who was on another level compared to Naruto and Sasuke, which is apparent in canon from the get-go that Gaara is much stronger than them at this point, no matter how much training they received, and when using his demon mode, it's just another gap. I think I was being fair. He didn't die, did he? Don't worry. I'm sure Sasuke will get his chance to shine some time down the line. Lord knows you cannot ignore how powerful this ass gets later on.
Anyway, how about that? Both Sarutobi and Orochimaru died. What does that mean for Orochimaru's followers? Ooh, and what's this letter Sarutobi's talking about? We will have to see soon.
Thanks for reading, and I shall be back shortly.
Translation List:
Fūka Hōin – Fire Sealing Method
Gamadaira: Kageyatsuri no Jutsu – Toad Flatness: Shadow Manipulation
Katon: Endan – Fire Release: Flame Bullet
Kagemane no Jutsu – Shadow Imitation Technique
Kokuangyo no Jutsu – Bringer-of-Darkness Technique
Kongōnyoi – Adamantine Staff (as in Transformation: Adamantine Staff)
Mizuame Teppō – Starch Syrup Gun
Sennen Goroshi – One Thousand Years Of Death
Shiki Fūjin – Dead Demon Consuming Seal
Shishienjin – Four Violet Flames Formation
Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique
Suiton: Teppōdama – Water Release: Gunshot
Technique List:
Water Release: Six Great Gunshots (Suiton: Roku Idaina Jūsei) – The user summons six senjutsu-influenced cannonball-sized water spheres around them, blasting the enemy with them. It is enough to be completely wipe out several enemies at once, and even shred through the strongest of defenses. The blasts of water can cover an extreme amount of distance, depending who shoots the attack. For a user such as Gamabunta, it can be launched to extreme distances. Like Water Release: Gunshot, this move is effected by gravity, meaning gravity makes the spheres brutally stronger in power if launched at a downward angle.
Rank: None
Technique Class: Offensive
Type/Classification: Ninjutsu, Senjutsu
Hand Seals: Ram → Tiger
Range: All ranges
Users: Gamabunta