The Shadow Wars
Chapter 27
"Who are you?" Naruto asked, rage filling his eyes. Blood trickled down his arm, which hung uselessly at his side. He was talking to the figure, who seemed to be ignoring the battle around him.
"My name is Uchiha Moujuu." The figure said, his voice cold and emotionless. Suddenly, a body struck him in the shoulder, and Naruto took the advantage to charge Moujuu. However, the Uchiha elder effortlessly dodged the attack, and hit Naruto in the stomach.
"Itachi… You have… Betrayed your country. I… Cannot… Forgive you!" Takara said. He was facing off against Itachi, but was badly wounded. His clothes were torn and bloodied, and he had a large gash in his side, which was bleeding profusely.
"Now, now, Takara. You are not strong enough to fight me. Give up." Itachi said.
They were standing in the middle of the battlefield, bodies littering the ground. Many of the shinobi that were still fighting seemed to be on their last legs. It seemed clear that either Itachi would kill Takara and conquer Konoha, or Itachi would fail.
Suddenly, Takara whipped a kunai and threw it at Itachi, who dodged quickly, and slammed his right elbow into Takara's stomach. The latter was blown back, flying into the stadium wall. On both impacts, blood exploded out of his mouth.
"Takara, it is too late. Moujuu has awoken, and you cannot win. Surrender Konoha and I may spare your life."
In response, Takara rushed at Itachi, who simply flared his chakra. The Sixth was thrown back into the wall, and was buried by it this time.
Moujuu began walking toward the injured Naruto, who was half unconscious and had his back to the wall. The blond-haired shinobi quietly drew a kunai and hid the short blade in his sleeve. Perhaps luck would allow him to deliver this blow
"You were foolish in challenging me, Kyuubi-no-ko. Now, let us see just what is more powerful: the strongest youma, or the powers of the Kami Sharingan." Moujuu said, and broke into an evil laugh. Then, he lowered his face so that he was looking straight into Naruto's eyes. They turned dark-purple, and suddenly Naruto's skin started rotting.
"Ah!" Naruto yelled in pain, accidentally dropping the kunai that he had hidden.
"Well, well. Were you planning on using it against me?" Moujuu smirked.
"Yes." Naruto said, and suddenly a red aura flared up around him. It took the shape of the Kyuubi itself, and his body started changing. His eyes turned blood-red, his whisker marks deepened, and his fingernails grew into claws. "Now you die."
At this, the young shinobi charged at Moujuu, who was forced to go onto the defensive as the boy's punches and kicks drove him further and further back. Although Naruto had called the Kyuubi's power, he managed to retain control. Moujuu's Kami Sharingan seemed to have no affect on the boy anymore, for the Kyuubi's chakra deflected all of the energy radiating off of his eyes.
The elder Uchiha then leaped away from the boy, and threw three kunai at Naruto. Although they all hit, the Kyuubi chakra surrounding Naruto rolled around the wounds, sealing them. The boy them leaped at Moujuu and struck, knocking the black-haired man into the stadium.
Suddenly, Naruto noticed that Sakura, who had been knocked unconscious by a stray rock, was in danger of being crushed by a portion of the stadium, so he ran as fast as he could toward her limp form.
Deciding to take advantage of Naruto's attempt to save his girlfriend, Moujuu began performing hand signals for his best jutsu.
"Hino Bakugeki!" Moujuu shouted upon reaching the last hand sign, and a huge amount of fire began falling from the sky at Naruto. The blond was hit by a lot of flaming rock, as well as the flames themselves, but he ignored them, focusing all his energy on saving Sakura. Infuriated, Moujuu rushed at the boy, knocking him into a wall across from him.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, his hands in a cross form. Instantly, he was duplicated to make one thousand clones, all of whom rushed Moujuu. The real Naruto then leaped over the fray and got on top of Sakura, to at least shield her from the impact. The rock hit him in the back, causing him to cough up some more blood.
At that moment, Sakura woke up, and gasped at the sight of Naruto laying on top of her with a heavy rock on his back. "Why?" she asked.
"I… will always protect you, Sakura-chan." Naruto said weakly, and began to get up, throwing the rock off himself. Then, he faced Moujuu, who had finally destroyed all of Naruto's clones.
"Foolish boy. You could've defeated me… But it's over. No one can destroy me now!" Moujuu said, and began laughing hysterically.
"Takara… Why do you continue to resist?" Itachi smirked, standing in the midst of the rubble marking their half of the forest. Their fight had lasted for several minutes, in which Takara had been knocked into trees, walls, shacks, and boulders by Itachi, who still had not been wounded.
"Because… it is… my duty… as Rokudaime Hokage!" Takara said, as he had been doing hand seals for the past three minutes. "Ho Tsunami no Jutsu!" At this, an aura of fire went around him, and then rushed at Itachi, who dodged.
"So, you still have some chakra… I'll fix that. Hino Dansu!" Instantly, Itachi was surrounded by fire. He then rushed in, and performed a complex series of kicks and punches, eventually sending Takara into the wall.
"That's what you think! Rasengan!" Naruto yelled, the swirling energy enclosed in his palm. He rushed at Moujuu, who stood there, and Naruto succeeded in hitting the elder Uchiha in the stomach, which was promptly ripped open. "Getting a little to confident, eh, Moujuu?"
"Fool." Moujuu said, and his eyes began glowing purple again, locking his gaze at Naruto, whose skin began rotting again. "I made sure that your hand was stuck. Now you will age rapidly until you die!" This was delivered by yet another hysterical laugh.
Suddenly, Moujuu was hit by a kick that came out of thin air. It was Rock Lee. The impact caused the Uchiha's head to snap back, breaking the connection.
A/N: Sorry for the delay, but I was having trouble thinking up how to finish the war. However, I have everything planned out now. Unfortunately, several readers might not like it, especially Hinata fans, so those who are amongst that number would do best to stop reading now, unless they don't mind writing that could be considered anti-Hinata.
I'll give everyone a clue, however. It builds on the fight between Hinata and Sakura during the Third Task.
BTW, in case you haven't guessed, this chapter did make the rating higher because of all the blood.