CHAPTER THIRTY
A Jinchuuriki's Ultimate Weapon!
XXX
80 Days Since Sasuke
Fuu awoke to the sounds of crackles and snaps. Her bright orange eyes slowly creaked open as she turned to stare at the campfire burning a few metres from her face. She was in a shallow cave surrounded by a sleeping Shizune and a sleeping Hotaru. They'd all fallen asleep around the campfire. There was no need to worry about ambushes and sneak attacks since Yugito had been so insistent on taking secret paths through the ravines of the Fire Country. She'd wrapped her sleeping bag around her petite frame in the middle of the night to cocoon herself from the cold. It was a miracle her sleeping bag hadn't caught fire. She rolled over onto her back to try and sleep again. She closed her eyes.
"You better not be going back to sleep," an authoritative voice warned.
Fuu opened them again to stare at an older blonde woman who stood at the mouth of the cave with her hands on her hips. "I'm not sleeping, I'm just lying down… with my eyes closed," she groaned.
"We're already a day late, Fuu. You better get up," Yugito told her.
Fuu rolled over to face away from Yugito, "But what about Shizune and Hotaru, they're still asleep, ssu."
"I was about to wake them up."
"Yeah, start with them, I promise that by the time you get to me, I'll be awake."
"You don't believe that."
"I do," she crossed her middle finger over her index.
Yugito let out a soft sigh. She walked over to Hotaru and gave her a gentle shake, "Hey, Hotaru, wake up. We're just around the corner from your village."
The fellow blonde perked up upon hearing the news, "Really?"
"Yeah, by my calculations, we've got about a two-hour walk before we arrive at the Tsuchigumo Village. You can see your family again; you can see your friends after all these years."
Hotaru groggily propped herself up and tried to stand whilst still half-asleep. Yugito held her up with one arm. "Let's get some water on your face," she chuckled before guiding Hotaru to the nearby stream and allowing her to wash her face.
Yugito returned to the camp to shake Shizune awake.
"Oink," Tonton trotted up to the pair.
"Hey, little girl, good to see at least the two of us are all dressed and ready to go," Yugito laughed.
"Oink," the pig was dripped out in a red jacket and pearl necklace. She turned her attention to Shizune before headbutting the older woman, who woke up in a panic. Shizune grabbed a kunai that was by her side. She looked around, defensive at first, until she realised that she'd just been awoken by the stupid pig. "Oink."
"Smart pig you've got yourself there," Yugito noted.
"She's not even my pig. She's Lady Tsunade's but she refused to leave my side when she learned of our trip to the Fire Country. She's scared of lightning storms."
"Did she tell you all that?"
"Yeah… well, no, when you've been around her for long enough you can basically understand what she's saying based on her oinks."
"Oink."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm up," Shizune said, running her hand through her hair. She looked up at Yugito and asked, "How much longer until we get to the Tsuchigumo Village?"
"About a two-hour walk," Yugito guessed.
"And why can't you fly us there again?" Shizune asked Fuu.
"You're all fucking heavy," was Fuu's response, sleep wrinkles covering her face.
Hotaru returned to the group, "I think I'll take a proper bath and everything when we get to the village."
"Same," Shizune said, clipping on her Konoha flak jacket.
"Same here," Yugito suggested after giving herself a sniff, "I smell like a pigsty."
"Oink."
"I obviously didn't mean it in that way," Yugito said before palming her own face, "Now I'm talking to the pig."
Fuu's stomach grumbled, "What? What about the food?"
"You'll eat when we get to the village."
"But-."
"It's a two-hour walk; it won't kill you," Yugito held her pinkie out, "I promise."
"I don't need your promises. I need food," Fuu groaned before walking out of the cave. "Let's go, ssu!"
Hotaru picked up her backpack and followed behind the mint-haired kunoichi. Shizune did the same after picking up her cute little pig. Yugito kicked some sand and dust onto their campfire to kill it.
Next stop, the Tsuchigumo Village.
XXX
As the four kunoichi silently meandered through the mountainous trails and canyons of the Land of Fire, Fuu couldn't help but come to a complete halt and yell, "For fuck's sake, I'm so exhausted!" They were two hours in and Yugito had kept promising them that the village was 'just around this corner' for the past six corners.
Yugito, the group leader, came to a complete halt. Hotaru slammed into her back. Shizune ran into her. "Oink," and Tonton also slammed into Hotaru's back.
Yugito gave the mint-haired jinchuuriki a slight smirk before teasing, "What's wrong? Is the jinchuuriki, with all her unlimited stamina, getting tired before the two humans are?"
Fuu doubled over, putting her hands on her knees. She looked down at the crevasse below. To her right was a cliff-face that went up for another twenty metres, to her left, a sheer vertical drop. When she looked down, all she could see was greenery, and all she could hear was water moving through the canyon. "I'm not even exhausted because I'm tired, I'm exhausted because this is boring and because I'm hungry, ssu."
This had been the view for the past seven days, and it was all Yugito's fault. They could've taken a more direct route with villages, paths, and even surfaces, but because she refused to stop stressing the importance of staying hidden, they had to scale mountains and traverse valleys just to get to Hotaru's little village. "Well, in that case, put your boredom away for a few more minutes because the Tsuchigumo Village is just around this corner," Yugito explained.
"For real this time?" Fuu's eyes lit up. She sprouted a pair of wings and flew twenty metres up to see if she could get a view of the village. As she rose over the cliffside, Fuu's eyes widened. "Holy shit…"
Hotaru looked up, hearing the shock in Fuu's voice, "What's wrong?"
"I see smoke."
"That means there's a village," Yugito informed her.
"No, I'm serious. I see smoke. A huge plume of it, ssu," Fuu said before lowering herself into the canyon and sprouting two more wings, "Everyone grab onto me!"
"I thought we were too heavy?" Shizune said.
"Grab on, ssu!"
Shizune held onto Fuu's arm. Yugito did the same to her left arm. Hotaru grabbed one of Fuu's legs. She lifted them over the mountain and towards the village.
The Tsuchigumo Village was a small village built into the step formation of a little mountain. It was surrounded by foliage with only one way in and one way out. If you weren't looking for this village, you would've missed it, so the fact that a huge plume of black smoke was erupting from the main town hall meant something bad was happening.
"Fly faster!" Hotaru demanded.
"I'm carrying like four times my own body weight, ssu! The fact that I'm flying at all is a miracle!" she yelled, carrying everyone over the forest towards the burning village.
XXX
The Tsuchigumo Village was in trouble. The Akatsuki were here. Luckily, only the Akatsuki and none of their bloodthirsty white army members were in the village. One of the members, dressed in their signature black cloak with red clouds, stepped out of a townhouse to reveal their large green Venus Flytrap and black and white face.
Zetsu stopped to observe an elderly couple making a break for it across the village square with a young boy in tow. They seemed to be moving towards an evacuation centre, so he stopped to track their movements.
"Where do you think you're going, huh?" someone landed in front of the trio and flashed them a creepy smile. "Did you think you could escape Lord Jashin's judgement? We know you're housing the jinchuuriki, so tell us where they are and I might think about not skinning you alive," he said.
All three of their eyes darted towards the silver-haired man's scythe, which was coated in a viscous crimson liquid. "We don't know what you're talking about."
"Hidan! You idiot! They were obviously moving towards some kind of evacuation bunker, so if you stopped to think, even for a second, you would've let them continue," Zetsu yelled.
The Jashin worshipper rolled his eyes, "Is that the black one talking again? You're always so negative… I'm sure the jinchuuriki wouldn't be hiding away in some bunker with old people, so they probably went off to a nearby village or something," he said before returning to the family, "I'm just here to find out what village they went off to."
"But we're also here for the Tsuchigumo Leader, remember? He's the only one that knows the secrets to the Fury Jutsu."
Hidan laughed, "Don't worry, we'll find him. Even if we have to strip this village brick by brick," he said before pulling out a dagger, "Now then, shut up and let me have my fun…"
"He's pretty arrogant, isn't he…"
"That's the price of immortality, I guess."
"Do you want to go search for more people down that way?"
Zetsu shrugged before making his way down the streets. The townhouses around him crackled as the blaze grew stronger.
Hidan returned to the trio in front of him. "So, where we were? You said, you didn't know where the jinchuuriki were? Well, we know they're here, about four of them, all moving towards this village, so either you're lying or you're calling our leader a liar. Which is it?"
"Please don't kill us," the old man begged.
"It's too late for that. I have to kill at least one of you for wasting my time."
"Take me," the old man said, "Just let the boy and her go."
"How noble, but now that you're telling me what to do… I wanna take the boy," Hidan said before placing his blade under the child's chin. "You look like you've never bled before, boy… am I right? Would you like to?"
Three shadows darted towards Hidan. He stood still and let all three of them stab him with their blades. One got him in the left shoulder. One pierced his stomach. The third pierced his back. They were three Konoha shinobi.
"Huh?" Hidan looked down at his body.
"Takeshi, who is this guy?" one of the shinobi asked.
"He's one of the Akatsuki members," Takeshi said before pulling out a black book, "I'll quickly check to see which one he was."
Hidan grinned, "Was? I'm still standing, you cocky shit" he said before grabbing his scythe and swinging. Takeshi leapt away with only a scratch of blood on his cheek. The other two shinobi pulled their weapons out of Hidan and leapt away, allowing his blood to trickle onto the floor.
All while laughing, the mercenary ran his foot along the blood pool before forming a circle around his person. He completed it with a triangle within the circle. "What is going on?" one of the shinobi asked as Hidan's pale skin turned black with skeletal symbols running along it.
Hidan held his arms out, "What's happening… is that Lord Jashin has come to my aid," he said before bursting out laughing, his face to the sky, "I WIN!"
The third shinobi shoved his sword through Hidan's back again, "I'm getting awfully tired of all your laughter."
Hidan just looked at him over his shoulder, "Hm? What about your friend, Takeshi, is he also getting tired of it?"
Takeshi collapsed, clutching his back.
"What have you done?" Hidan laughed in his face. "Answer me!"
"I've passed judgment," he said, caressing the man's face with his hands. He shoved a spear through the man's abdomen. Hidan licked the man's blood off his blade as he collapsed in front of him.
He turned to the second Konoha shinobi.
"Oi! Takeshi! Let's get out of here and come back with reinforcement."
"Go without me, Ueda."
"I can't leave you like…" the older man looked down at his abdomen. Hidan's scythe had carved his midsection open like a jack-o-lantern.
"Should've listened to your friend, Ueda," Hidan chuckled before pulling the man in with the extendable cable on his scythe. He grabbed Ueda by the mouth and slammed him into the earth.
"The symbol… the blood… the curse jutsu. You're a disgusting Jashinist, aren't you?" Takeshi groaned, still clutching his spine.
"Hm? And what if I am… you're telling me after seeing what I did to you and your friends, you wouldn't want to be one too?"
"Fuck you. I hope you rot in hell."
"I'll catch you there," Hidan said before stabbing his own heart with a spear. The damage was transferred to Takeshi. Who clutched his heart and passed on.
Hidan looked back over his shoulder at the family of three. "You're still here? You three are all dumber than you look."
Suddenly, a thick mist descended on the village, reducing Hidan's vision to zero. He looked up and around as the fog blinded him. "That's strange. I swear there was not a cloud in the sky a moment ago… if I didn't know any better, I'd think this… was… a distraction!" he yelled before swiping in front of him. The trio was gone. "Ah… so, it was… smart jinchuuriki. I expect nothing less from the hosts of the tailed beasts. But which ones am I dealing with? One-Tails, Two-Tails… Three? Four? Come on… whistle if I'm getting close… Five? Six? Seven…"
A whistle broke through the mist.
"Seven?"
Hidan turned. He flung his scythe into the fog, and pulled it back with the cable, "I eat bugs for breakfast."
The mist cleared around him to reveal he was surrounded by a flaming blue cage. Hidan looked around. Shizune was running away with the elderly pair. Fuu, Hotaru, and Yugito had formed a triangle around him.
"Three on one? Well, at least it's fair then," Hidan, without a second thought, broke through the cage, risking third-degree burns to swipe at Yugito. Blade met claws.
Yugito spun and danced to counter every swing. Hidan just kept swinging. Aiming high then aiming low. He turned to swipe at Hotaru too, but the future jinchuuriki blasted him away with a Water Wall. He backflipped through the air and landed on a building.
Fuu charged.
Hidan swung his scythe. She stepped on one of the blades. Yugito yanked on a chakra thread to pull the mint-haired kunoichi back by her wings. Hidan missed with a cheeky dagger strike.
"Let's not charge in haphazardly. This guy is Hidan of the Hidden Hot Water. If he draws blood, we'll be fighting a losing battle against his cursed blood jutsu," Yugito informed them. "Any damage that he suffers will transfer onto you."
"A suicide attack?"
"No. He's immortal. What to him will soon heal, will kill you," Yugito explained.
"In that case… I dare him to try and draw blood from a tailed beast," Fuu challenged him as the skin began to tear from her face.
"Good idea."
The column of chakra came down from the heavens. Fuu emerged with a six-winged Version 2 cloak. They clashed again. This time Hidan on the defensive, hopping from building to building to evade Fuu's blasts of wind and scale powder.
"Oi! Flytrap! Is there any backup in the region?" Hidan yelled.
Zetsu emerged from one of the roofs to scare Fuu off. "I've got Kakuzu, Suigetsu, and Kisame in the area, but they're supposed to be moving towards Kiri."
"Come back with Kakuzu!" three beams of chakra appeared around Hidan. He slapped them all away with his scythe before yelling, "Quickly!"
"Matatabi."
The building exploded under Hidan's feet. A giant blue flaming cat erupted from around him. He deflected both paw swipes with his scythe before leaping away.
"Rodent Hairball," she said before coughing up four flaming mice, which scampered after Hidan.
He swiped one away, but it blew up on his hand. Hidan had to dodge.
"Water Style…" Hidan looked back. The combination play had put him at Hotaru's mercy, "Water Dragon Jutsu!" He couldn't dodge in mid-air. The dragon projectile caught him between its teeth. Hotaru switched it up, going through another series of hand signs, "Water Style: Explosive Bite of the Water Dragon!"
The giant blue creature spiralled into the air before coming down and exploding.
Water rained down on the village.
"There's no way he survives that," Hotaru assumed.
When the rain cleared, Hidan reared to his feet, perfectly fine. He wrung his clothes dry before turning to the dirty blonde. "Hm? And what tailed beast are you, huh?" he asked, massaging his neck.
His speech was cut off by Matatabi smacking him sideways. Version 2 Fuu smacked him into the air. Matatabi leapt into the air and smashed him into the ground.
Hidan hit the earth. Hard. He got back up and leapt away before Fuu could ram into him.
He was still laughing.
"Oink," Tonton stood behind Hidan to trip him over.
He tumbled and rolled.
Hotaru came down with a chakra punch.
Matatabi had to swipe her out of the air.
Hidan thrust at thin air.
She crashed into the remains of a building.
"Are you okay?" Yugito asked.
"I'll live," Hotaru groaned. Her slamming into that building was better than whatever fate awaited her had she been pierced by Hidan's blade.
"How is this guy still laughing, ssu?"
"Hidan's immortal."
"Like 'can't die of old age' immortal, or 'can't die from physical damage' immortal?" Matatabi looked back at the flying rhinoceros beetle. How was she supposed to know that? "What? There's a big difference."
"I don't know! It doesn't matter. All that matters is that we're going to need you to seal him in order to defeat him."
Fuu reverted to her human form. "Fine by me. You smack him up, I seal him away."
Hidan charged Fuu.
Matatabi put her paw between the pair. Hidan slammed into it. Fuu stepped on the claw to vault over it and weave some seals. "Wind Style: Gale Palm."
"Fire Style: Flame Hurricane!"
The torrent winds met the burning embers. They cancelled each other out. Fuu burst through the flames and was caught by a third party. They looked into each other's eyes.
"Kakuzu-senpai?" the jinchuuriki asked.
The masked man raised an eyebrow, "You know of me?"
"You know of her?" Hidan asked. Kakuzu shrugged.
"You're a legend in the Hidden Waterfall, ssu!" the jinchuuriki lowered her gaze to the man's black cloak. Suddenly, she tried to pull away, but he had a firm grip on her. "Not you too… why?"
"I don't know what garbage the Hidden Waterfall fed you, kid, but I'm no legend. I left that cursed village with my tail between my legs and I vowed to destroy it with all my heart… and I'll start that destruction process with you."
"Rodent Hairball!" Matatabi tried to separate them with some burning rodents.
"Water Style: Water Wall!" Kakuzu extinguished their flames.
"Water Style: Water Shuriken!" Hotaru went for an opening.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall!"
"Eat scale powder!" Fuu used the distraction to blind Kakuzu and put some distance between them.
"Looks like you guys know each other."
"Barely," Fuu sulked before stating, "Unfortunately."
Hidan massaged his neck before yelling, "Roast that pig while we're here."
"Oink?" Tonton scrambled for safety.
"I leave you alone for two minutes and you're beefing with a pig?" Kakuzu shook his head in disgust before throwing aside his Akatsuki cloak to reveal four masks on his back. One with light blue lining. One with red. One with yellow. And one with dark blue. He weaved a few hand signs to separate the four masks from his back and create massive tendril monsters.
"I don't… I don't remember him being able to do that, ssu."
"Watch out, each one of those masks has the ability to use a specific chakra affinity."
"Now I can get to work," Hidan cracked his neck. He charged Fuu, who pulled out a kunai before fluttering away. They clashed metal as they darted through the burning streets of the Tsuchigumo Village.
Fuu's eyes widened.
Behind Hidan, one of the monsters appeared.
"Wind Style: Pressure Damage."
Was she about to get hit by her own jutsu? No way, what about Hidan? He'd get caught in it too. Oh shit, he was immortal. Fuu stared at his arrogant smile. She wanted to slap it off his face so much.
The winds hit. They sliced through her wings and left cuts and gashes on her skin.
"Damn it!" she was thrown through the village along with a ton of debris, sand, and dust. Hidan continued to try and swipe at her, but he was taken away by the attack too.
Matatabi hopped from building to building to try and rescue Fuu, but two monsters appeared from either side of her.
"Lightning Style: False Darkness!"
"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"
She was hit from both angles. If it wasn't for her tailed beast shell, she would've been destroyed by the two abilities coming down on her from both sides.
Kakuzu turned to Hotaru. "You… I don't know you. What's your name?"
The blonde rose to her feet, "Hotaru of the Tsuchigumo clan," she said, wiping the blood from her lips.
The water style mask turned to her as Kakuzu pulled out a little blue book from his pocket. He flipped through it while repeating her name. "Hotaru, Hotaru, Hotaru…" his face lit up when he got to her page, "Hotaru Tsuchigumo, 5 million ryo dead, 25 million ryo alive… someone obviously wants you alive."
"Huh?" was this guy some kind of mercenary?
"So, I'll just have to beat you within an inch of your life. Water Style: Deep Tidal."
Water covered Hotaru's ankles, stopping her from moving. She was bombarded by a wave of water, followed by another, and another, and another. Wave after wave erupted from the mask's mouth to the point where she couldn't fight back.
"Water Style: Water Wall!" she took the water and spiralled it around herself just so she could breathe.
XXX
Fuu had been launched all the way into the forest. She was covered in scratches and gashes as she ducked behind a tree and hid there for a moment. She needed to think of a plan. There was no point in going for Hidan first, since he was immortal, but she couldn't go for the wind monster without taking care of that pest, lest he gets a drop of her blood.
"Choumei, any thoughts?"
"If our biggest problem is him drawing blood, then I'd suggest putting some distance between ourselves and the village, then using a completed transformation. My exoskeleton should be impenetrable… if he survives the blast."
"Wind Style: Consecutive Air Bullets!"
The wind mask lit up the whole area. The rapid-fire shots sent Fuu flying through the air as tree trunks shattered around her from the air pressure. Fuu landed on her feet as Hidan hopped over rocks and logs to get to her. He was worse than the White Zetsu, at least they had some semblance of self-preservation.
Fuu parried his dagger away and elbowed him in the face. He headbutted her. They wrestled a little until Hidan grabbed her by the hair and thrust. He missed. She weaselled around his blade a few times before kicking him off.
He licked his lips with that crazy look on his face.
"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"
Fuu hopped from tree to tree to get away from the expanding blast wave. Hidan rode the explosion, laughing as it tore at his cloak and skin. She needed to put some serious distance between herself and the village if she was going to use her completed tailed beast transformation without destroying the Tsuchigumo Village.
"Tell me when you think we're out of the explosion's range, ssu."
"I think another hundred or so metres should be grand."
It was the longest hundred metres in Fuu's life.
Hidan grabbed Fuu by the hair again. He dragged her closer.
He gripped his spear tight, aimed it, and thrust.
A deathly red tail wrapped around his blade to move it away. Fuu's back slammed against Hidan's front, inciting a cough. With both his hands occupied, Fuu wrestled with the mercenary to try and get some leverage after turning to face him.
Since he wasn't afraid to pull her hair, Fuu figured everything was fair game.
She lifted her knee into his crotch. Hidan let go. Of both her hair and his blade.
He punched her with his left hand and went for his scythe with his right.
Hidan gripped his scythe.
A diagonal swing.
His blade met wing. Fuu had pulled out three of her seven tails.
"You're an annoying brat," Hidan smirked.
Fuu wiped the smirk off his face with another knee to the groin.
Hidan grabbed her by the face.
Fuu bit down on his hand.
Hidan screamed in her face. Fuu drew blood.
Hidan clawed at her face, almost enough to draw some of her blood.
The glare they shared radiated insurmountable hate. Fuu wanted to kill Hidan. And he wanted to do the same to her. He yanked his hand away, tearing the webbed skin between his index finger and thumb. Fuu spat a chunk of flesh at the creep.
"You runt!" Hidan punched her in the stomach. He went for his scythe and swung.
Fuu wrapped her hand in tailed beast chakra to grab the blade.
Hidan continued to punch her liver with the other hand.
Fuu headbutted him.
Hidan still laughed at her.
"Wind Style: Air Bullet!"
The wind mask forced some distance between the pair.
Fuu hopped from treetop to treetop, breathing heavily.
Hidan blasted through the windstorm, blade in one hand, scythe in the other.
Fuu spat more of Hidan's own blood into his face. Hidan licked it off.
"Fuck it, Choumei… I can't keep up with this guy in my normal form… I'll have to…"
XXX
Matatabi's claw came down on the fire mask creature, but tendrils wrapped around her claw in retaliation. She threw her paw back and leapt away. She clenched her teeth and yanked on flaming strings, which appeared under the monsters and wrapped around them.
"Lightning Style: Thunder Spear!"
Matatabi's shoulder was pinned to a step mountain behind her by a solid beam of lightning.
The fire mask absorbed both flaming lassos and turned it back on Matatabi. "Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!"
"Fire Style: Flaming Cat Roar!"
An enormous ball of fire of her own cancelled out the monster's giant ball of fire.
"Fire Style: … Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
The pinnacle of Uchiha fire control, and this monster was spitting it out at random. The intense blaze spanned such a wide area that there was no point trying to cancel it out with her own jutsu. Yugito emerged from the flaming cat and leapt into the air. She needed to think of something quick… In each of those masks was a heart belonging to a shinobi who possessed that specific chakra affinity. So, she needed to hit them with a strong jutsu of the superior chakra type. For the fire mask, a strong water jutsu would do the trick. For the lightning mask, a strong wind jutsu would overpower it. For an earth mask, a strong lightning jutsu would work. But wait… where was the earth mask?
Yugito stared at Kakuzu from her vantage point a few hundred metres above the battlefield.
"That makes sense."
She pulled a scroll from her kunai pouch as she lowered back down to earth. She slapped on the seal in the middle to summon a demon wind shuriken.
She flung it at them. They both dodged. She landed to reveal two threads. She pulled on them to separate the demon wind shuriken into two. They both dug into the monsters' tendrils. Yugito bit down on the string. She clicked her fingers like a lighter and set both threads on fire.
They both exploded in a vivid blue flame.
She snuck away from this battle to try and get to Kakuzu. The two tendril monsters emerged from the blaze unfazed.
XXX
The Water Mask had turned half of the village into a river.
Hotaru stood on the water's choppy surface as the mask pumped more and more onto the ground, flooding everything.
"Earth Style: Mobile Core!" Kakuzu pressed his hands against the earth to raise pillars out of the water.
Hotaru leapt onto one.
"I hope you know that you're not making it out of this village alive," Kakuzu warned her.
"I hope you know that you're invading my home village, so even if it costs me my life, you'll go no further in your lust for destruction."
"Know your limits, girl."
"Water Style: Water Shuriken Jutsu!" she spawned several shuriken before launching them at Kakuzu. The water mask put its hand out to stop all of them.
"There's no use even blocking, none of those jutsu would have an effect on me," Kakuzu explained, "I am immortal for a reason. Earth Style: Iron Skin," he said before looking back over his shoulder.
Yugito swiped at his face. It tore the fabric over his mouth, but the claws sparked upon hitting his rock-hard face.
"Maybe try a… AHH!" Kakuzu's cocky rant was interrupted by Yugito's claws penetrating his heart. His actual heart. He turned away from one Yugito to see another Yugito standing in front of him. "How the fuck were you able to get through my earthen armour?"
"Lightning Style: Shadow Clone Jutsu," the jinchuuriki dispelled, but not in a puff of smoke like Naruto would. She disappeared in a blaze of electrifying glory, dealing further damage to Kakuzu's earth armour.
"I just needed to make sure you were still using that earth style jutsu of yours," she said before grabbing Kakuzu by the head and slamming him into the ground.
The mercenary acted quickly, ripping his shirt off and allowing the water mask heart to mix with his real body thanks to his plethora of tendrils, rejuvenating him.
He kicked Yugito off.
"No matter, I'll just find a new earth style heart… perhaps I'll use the heart of one of your fellow jinchuuriki, perhaps Han or Roshi," he chuckled.
Hotaru was about to make a move, but the lightning style mask came down from above to land on the water. "Shit," it fired a thunder spear through the earth column she stood on, dropping her into the water.
"Fry her!" Kakuzu demanded.
The lightning monster stood there in silence.
The shirtless zombie looked back over his shoulder. "Did you not hear me? I said… fry her!"
The lightning monster turned to its creator.
"Don't do it."
"Lightning Style: False Darkness!"
Kakuzu was launched through numerous buildings by the impact of the jutsu.
"Never doubt the impeccable timing of the Hidden Leaf Village's Flower Princess," Ino massaged her own ego. "Don't be afraid, back up is here."
The fire style mask dropped down behind her.
"Human Boulder Jutsu," Chouji exploded through the roof to take it out.
"Oi! At least give me a heads-up next time!" Ino cried as Chouji bounced through the streets of the Tsuchigumo Village.
"How did you know we were in trouble?" Yugito asked.
Shikamaru landed on one of the buildings, "Lady Tsunade saw a whole group of Akatsuki members move towards your location as you left the Kumo Homebase, so since we were stationed in Konoha, she ordered us to hurry here immediately," he explained, "Where's the other jin…" he was cut off by a flash of light.
Fuu had gone far enough away from the village to finally activate her ultimate weapon. The trump card gifted to all perfect jinchuuriki as a last stand when nothing else seemed to work. The completed tailed beast transformation.
The destruction was immeasurable. The dust lifted off the roofs of buildings and trees were blown clean off their roots. The sound was ear-piercing. Shikamaru and Ino were thrown off their roof. Yugito and Hotaru were flung into the river that'd been created by the water style mask.
Hidan, who was inches away from stabbing Fuu when it happened, was so close to the explosion that there was no chance of survival, as immortal as he was. He evaporated. Stripped of his skin. Stripped of his muscle fibres. His bones ground to ash. His last cell torn to shreds. The same fate came to the wind monster stalking her. Nothing outside the Tsuchigumo Village survived to tell the tale. She'd got it down to a tee. The explosion calmed as smoke rose over the village's walls and turned the wooden fence to a crisp, but that's the only damage the Tsuchigumo Village suffered.
When the mushroom cloud dissipated, the 100-metre-tall bug of seven tails loomed over the village.
Shikamaru was awe-struck. This was the first time he'd ever seen a tailed beast in person.
"The battle's not over yet!" Yugito yelled, emerging from the river.
Kakuzu had merged with his fire and lightning mask to turn himself into a hideous tendril hurricane. "Earth Grudge Fear!" As he hovered over the streets of the Tsuchigumo Village, fire and lightning exploded from every angle. Homes caught alight whilst others were lit up by bolt after bolt of lightning.
"I'm already on it!" Shikamaru threw a storm of smoke bombs onto the battlefield. He emptied out his whole kunai pouch on this single attack. His intention was to blind everyone, but Kakuzu swung and spun enough to calm the smoke a little.
Shizune appeared, "Ninja Art: Poison Fog!" she added more smoke to the attack, weakening Kakuzu and blinding him. It blinded everyone. Yugito. Kakuzu. Shikamaru. Even Shizune, herself.
Everyone except Ino.
She used her sensory jutsu to lock onto everyone on the battlefield, regardless of visibility. "Sensory Relay," she pressed her hand against the back of Shikamaru's head, allowing him to see what she saw. "Are you connected?"
"Locked on," he noted, "Shadow Possession Jutsu," he extended his shadow to grab onto Chouji, who was still in Human Boulder form. "Ino-Shika-Chou Formation: Human Boulder Yo-Yo!"
In the darkness, he whipped the Akimichi around like a sling before using him to batter Kakuzu. Chouji had to ignore the bolts of lightning rippling against his armour as he flew through the smoke and dealt lethal hits on Kakuzu. Kakuzu couldn't retaliate. Every time he swung, he hit nothing, then Chouji would fly in from behind him and batter him some more. Moreover, the poison fog was concentrated solely on him. Every breath he took was deadly. The hits began to add up until Kakuzu was launched into the air.
"CHOUMEI!" Yugito yelled, signalling for the tailed beast to do its thing.
The bug grabbed Kakuzu and lifted him higher into the air. They went higher and higher until they broke into the stratosphere. Choumei threw him up before returning to earth.
Finally, it utilised the ultimate technique available to a tailed beast once it had completed its final transformation. By combining 2:8 negative white chakra and positive black chakra and gathering it all in front of the creature's mouth, Choumei created the Tailed Beast Bomb. It fired one concentrated attack into the sky, sending a shockwave through the village and out into the surrounding forest, or what remained of it.
A direct hit.
The explosion continued to expand until there was nothing left of Kakuzu. It swallowed him whole and destroyed him on a molecular level, just like his fellow immortal a few moments earlier.
Jashinism, the Earth Grudge Fear technique, immortality, none of it could hold a candle to the power of a perfect jinchuuriki and its tailed beast, and Fuu made sure of it.
The explosion continued to expand.
And just like that, the jinchuuriki were victorious, and two of the ten Akatsuki members were knocked out of the war.
The pendulum of fate began to swing in the Allied Shinobi Force's favour.
The explosion continued to grow bigger.
Fuu emerged from her hundred-metre-tall flying beetle before falling back down to earth.
"I've got her," Chouji called before catching the petite kunoichi in his much beefier arms. He looked down at the mint-haired jinchuuriki, her skin gone from a golden brown to a jarring red colour, to ask, "Are you okay?"
The Tailed Beast Bomb disappeared.
"… I… I… I'm fucking starving, ssu."
XXX
That night, the Tsuchigumo Village Chief organised a banquet for the saviours of the village, under moonlight. Finally, after a long and draining battle, Fuu could dig into some food. She didn't care about being ladylike or about manners, she just wanted to fill her belly and head home. Chouji just stared at her with stars in his eyes.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we gather around these tables to mourn those who we lost in this meaningless attack, as well as celebrate those who came to our village in its time of need. Especially our village's favourite daughter, Hotaru… we're glad to have you home," the elderly man said, "What made you decide to bless us with your presence in the first place? I haven't seen you since you left with Utakata," he had to ask.
"Utakata's dead. The Akatsuki got to him before the war began," she explained before unzipping her shirt to reveal the dark purple sphere on her back, "I've come to ask you to remove the Fury Jutsu from my back, and teach it to me, so I can use it in the battles to come."
"Ew," Fuu stopped eating for a moment to remind Hotaru of just how much she hated seeing that thing.
Covering his hands in a green aura, the old man walked up to Hotaru and dug his fingers into her skin to pull the technique out. He healed her wounds as he moved away from her. "The Fury Jutsu. A technique to rival the tailed beast's Tailed Beast Bomb… don't worry my child, I'll teach it to you."
Shikamaru just stopped eating for a moment to stare at the night sky overhead. A technique to rival the Tailed Beast Bomb? They just watched a high-ranking shinobi get absolutely destroyed by that same Tailed Beast Bomb, what type of jutsu had Hotaru been storing on her back for it to rival such a technique?