The attendees at the meeting were completely oblivious as to what's about to happen.
Ordinarily, they'd have already gone home but negotiations ran longer than anticipated. Everyone's tired and annoyed and they're running in circles.
They're jolted awake but a quake. A loud explosion puts every single shinobi on full alert.
"Lords!" A man runs into the room, panicking. "We're under attack! There's hundreds of them!"
Tsunade slams her fist on the table. "And how exactly did they even get this close?!"
The wall behind them cracks. They turn their attention to it just in time to see it implode, an explosion sending bits of it flying toward the Fire table.
Just as the shinobi are about to strike to protect the officials, they're surrounded by chains. Semi-translucent golden chains created from chakra.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains"
Everyone follows the chains to their origin- Awaji Uzumaki. They surround everyone and create a barrier that protects them from the rock, which slam into the barrier and fall, leaving them safe.
Kakashi and Tsunade look on in surprise. "That's… just like Kushina's…"
"Leaf, head out and stop our pursuers. I can keep everyone safe." Awaji's hands are trembling but he's not letting it show on his face. He's old and his chakra is not what it used to be; the Uzumaki's Chains are draining.
Shizune stands behind the elder Uzumaki and places a hand on his back, activating her Mystic Palm to transfer chakra. He turns back to her and smiles. "Thank you."
Each table's shinobi go to protect their respective daimyō and officials. Shinobi not part of the meeting join them and defend and escort them to safety while the best fighters rush out to fight the assailants.
The Land of Rice Paddies officials and the Fuma clan shinobi make a run for it along the corridor but are quickly beset by enemies. They don't have any distinguishing features or emblems. They look like ordinary thugs, but they have to have some skill, right?
Hanzaki, the Fuma's tall bulky leader, draws his blade from his back, a Zanbato, a wide sword that can be best described as a giant cleaver knife, about as big as the man himself. Sasame draws what looks like a blade from her back, except it doesn't have a hilt but a giant ring. It has a single-edged scimitar-like blade except the sharp part is on the other side.
The bandits cry out. "Get 'em!"
Hanzaki charges toward two at the front. "Do not underestimate the Fuma clan's weapons!" He swings his zanbato with tremendous force and speed, moreso than the attacker thought possible. They're cleaved in half and flown back from the immense pressure of his brute strength.
Others aren't fazed and don't seem to care what happened to those two. They take out their kunai and go for the officials.
"Ninja Art: Hair Binding"
Kotohime's hair seemingly gains consciousness of its own as it wraps around and entangles the remaining assailants, strong enough to crush their bodies.
Sasame flicks her wrist and her weapons' blades unfold themselves, now numbering four. The Fuma shuriken, also called Shadow Windmill for its ability to fold its blades. She throws the shuriken at the attackers but it's easily dodged. What they don't dodge is the shuriken hiding in the first one's shadow. It digs deep and Sasame doesn't miss her chance to run in and make the slash wound deeper. She grabs the second Fuma shuriken and uses them in a powerful combination of both close quarters and at range.
The Fuma continue to slice their way through them until Hanzaki turns to Sasame and two other members of the clan. "You guys, head out and meet them halfway. We can't keep playing defence, we gotta stop them before they reach us! Now go!"
"Yes, sir!" They Flicker away.
The Land of Woods officials are being escorted in a fairly calm manner. The daimyō doesn't show even a hint of worry although the same could not be said about her council.
Takeshi is walking at the front not uttering a word.
He points to the window next to him and holds up two fingers, and then points up and holds out 5 fingers.
Kuga smirks and draws out her claws, her nails become sharp like knives. She and Noraneko jump out the window as two bandits appear in their view, having jumped down from the floor above.
"Severing Claws"
The feline and her master slice with both paws/hands in opposite directions, their foes rent to pieces and flung aside with great force. They latch onto the walls by focusing chakra to their feet and run up to intercept 5 other bandits with as much ease. They weren't expecting to be attacked instead.
The reason the Woods envoy seems calm is Takeshi Imori, a skilled sensory ninja. As long as he's around, nothing and no one can come close to them, and when he wants to communicate with his team, all he has to do is give them a series of hand gestures to tell them where to go and what to expect.
Takeshi points outside to the gardens and clenches his fist. That means a small army.
Mizushi and Kaidomaru both stand by the open window and weave their respective hand seals.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet"
"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Flower"
Mizushi summons forth the serpentine-like body of water that washes over and engulfs whoever it goes through, while Kaidomaru summons multiple orbs of blazing hot fire that shoot down at the bandits, rendering them and the ground to ash.
Kūga and Setsuen join back up with their group.
In contrast, Kaidomaru steps on the windowsill. "I'm going to take care of things. You know what to do."
Everyone nods as he Flickers away.
Tsunade makes her way to the giant hole in the wall created by the previous explosion. As soon as she does, a barrage of kunai with explosive tags fly towards her, ready for another great explosion. Without batting an eye, she swings her hand back and with her full force punches the air. The resulting shockwave sends all the kunai flying back and they explode in the air, not causing any damage to the palace.
She looks back and call out to the most unpredictable ninja. "Naruto, try not to cause any more damage than they have."
"I know!"
Kakashi comes next to her and looks down to the numerous thugs gathered below.
He jumps down, gathering powerful lightning chakra that surrounds his whole hand and leaves behind a trail of lightning.
"Lightning Blade"
He slams on the ground, creating a powerful blast that kicks up a dust storm. When it settles, the people that were under him lay dead. Yamato emerges from the ground and the two stand back-to-back.
"So flashy, senpai."
"Sometimes the situation calls for it."
The bandits nearest to them take a step back, their eyes showing recognition and fear.
"Oi, oi, ain't that Kakashi o' the Sharingan?"
"Yeah, but he ain't got his Sharingan no more so he ain't nothin'!"
Yamato lets out a light chuckle. "Senpai, you're being underestimated." His arm shifts its form to that of wooden beams, preparing to strike.
Kakashi sighs, gathering more lightning around himself, cackling and surging all around them. "It's been awhile since I was a Jounin sensei but I suppose I can teach some punks a lesson or two."
"Lightning Style: Lightning Beast Tracking Fang" A hound made of pure lightning rushes forth, a leash of lightning connecting it to Kakashi's hand.
"Wood Style: Great Forest" The beams that now comprise Yamato's arm each jut out in different directions to strike different foes.
-X-
Not far from where Kakashi and Yamato are, Naruto, a handful of Shadow Clones, and Shikamaru also face their own force.
Shikamaru takes a knee in his usual stance before performing his clan's signature technique. But right now is… "Naruto, listen-" He's interrupted by a swirling chakra, ear-piercingly shrill. "What are you doing?"
Naruto has already entered his Chakra Shroud and is preparing a Rasenshuriken, except the core isn't raw chakra. The Wind Style blades instead surround a sphere of Lava.
"You can't use your Shadows since there's no light, right? So I'll make you some."
His Shadow Clones jump upward, gaining as much height as they can by using the building to propel themselves. Naruto throws the jutsu up, between the Clones.
"Tailed Beast Rasenshuriken"
The jutsu powered by Lava Style reaches its peak before exploding in a massive wave of gale and heat. Everyone can immediately feel the rise in temperature and its light acts as a second sun.
That's when a question Shikamaru had is answered. The reason the Shadow Clones jumped up was to create shadows on the ground.
Shikamaru doesn't skip and beat and immediately uses the Clones' shadows to empower his technique, the darkness slithering on the ground and holding most of them in places.
"Shadow Possession complete. And now..."
He changes the hand signs.
"Shadow Stitching"
The shadow underneath the bandIts jumps out like spikes and sticks into them. The ones further back watch on in horror as their own shadows are turned against them. Naruto and his remaining Clones run out, chakra gathering in their palms and expanding to great sizes, to take care of the remaining attackers.
"Massive Rasengan Barrage"
They're overwhelmed by sheer force of the jutsu and are taken out easily enough
Shikamaru taps his friend on the shoulder. "Nice thinking."
"Hah, you sound surpri-" Naruto lets out a pained yell. He curls up on the ground holding his stomach in agony. He feels like he did back when he couldn't control his Nine Tails chakra.
"Hey, Naruto, what's wrong?"
Inside his mind space, Naruto is in just as much pain. Kurama is looming over him, arms crossed.
"Hrm, it seems my chakra's acting up."
Nartuo tries to stand up. "But… why? I thought we were good…"
"We are, but I can't control my chakra that's running rampant somewhere else."
"Whatcha mean somewhere-" He gets a look of realization. "Sora."
Naruto wasn't aware he'd said that both in his mind and outwardly, confusing Shikamaru. "Sora? What about Sora?"
In the physical world, Naruto manages to fight the pain and Flicker away. "Take care of the rest Shikamaru."
Ikkyu and the ninja monks were at the palace for their own business when they were caught up in the attack. They put up a good front and did an excellent job of fending them off, until one particular attack struck Sora in the stomach.
From the shock and pain, the Nine Tails' chakra sealed inside him began overflowing. Half of his body is now covered in dark red chakra, shaping itself in the form of the fox. His tails are swatting at random, striking at the attacking bandits and even at his own comrades and Ikkyu.
When a tail lashes out again, Elder Bansai places his hands in front of him, but not to form a hand sign as ninja do. Both his palms are stretched out and facing left and right; the palms would be facing each other if the two hands weren't one over the other. A translucent figure surrounds them, a woman sitting in a lotus flow, dozens of arms protruding around her.
"Welcoming Approach: Thousand-Armed Guard"
Some of the arms surround them in a protective stance while the others swat away the tail. Seeing the resistance, the barely-aware Sora focuses all of his tails on them in a fit of rage.
He roars, sending chills down Ikkyu's spine.
"Sora, please!" Sentoki, the scarred monk, cries out. "I don't want to harm you."
The divine figure of the Kannon breaks under the assault, causing them all to fly back. Sentoki manages to protect Ikkyu in time, sparing him from any harm but the monk himself is severely hurt.
Before he can regain himself, another tail swipes at them. Ikkyu watches on in horror as it comes directly for them.
He expected to see the tail get closer and closer, but instead he saw his surroundings become a blur. He blinks and finds himself and the monks in a different place to where they were, with Naruto standing in front of them.
"I'll take care of this." The blonde declares just before making a run for the transformed Sora.
He dodges and weaves past the attacks and gets right in his face. Sora tries to swat him away with a clawed hand, but Naruto meets it with a punch, and enters his friend's mind space.
"Pitiful" A loud voice echoes in the boy's mind. "Followers of Ninshu are supposed to have better control than this. You're disgracing the old man Hagoromo."
Initially, Sora doesn't register this as real as opposed to a hallucination. Once he looks up, he sees the overbearing figure of the Nine Tailed Fox. He scritters back.
"You… you're the Nine Tailed Demon Fox?!"
"Hey, don't call him that." Sora sees Naruto approaching from under the fox. "His name's Kurama and he's my friend."
"Ku-Kurama? But how, where are we?"
"We're inside my mind space. It's where I get to talk to Kurama. A bit lower is where I talk to the others. You… went on a rampage again."
"But… I had it under control! I trained hard to suppress it!" Sora's eyes widen. "Oh no, the Elder! Sentoki! Ikkyu!"
"They're fine, but we gotta get you under control. Kurama, can you help?"
"Of course I can, who do you think you're talking to?" Kurama turns to Sora. "Listen, boy, even a small bit of my chakra is difficult to control on its own, not without me around. So I'm taking back what's mine. You'll still have a bit of my power in you because it's intertwined with your own chakra over the years, but a rampage like this won't happen again. You'll lose power, but gain control."
"I thought I'd have to live for the rest of my life like this. I'd resigned myself to it and became at peace with the thought. But… It's only right to return what belongs to someone else. What do you need from me?"
Kurama and Naruto extend a fist. "Bump fists with us." "Bump fists with us"
Sora does as instructed and he can immediately feel chakra being pulled from his body. It manifests as a spectre of sorts leaving his body and being pulled into Naruto. The process stings a bit but is oddly freeing.
In the physical world, the monks can see chakra being drained from Sora and into Naruto. The young monk comes to and is back to normal.
He breathes heavily and looks around at all the damage he's caused. "Damnit."
"No time for that. We still have people who need protecting."
Sora stands up to his feet, dusting himself off. "Elder, Sentoki, Ikkyu. I'm sorry. Allow me to make amends."
Both Sora and Naruto extend a hand, one gathers blue chakra and the other- orange. They both fire off raw chakra in the shape of a claw that washes over the bandits still present.
"Beast Wave: Gale Palm"
"Tailed Beast Arm"
Over at the entrance, some of the bandits are trying to make a run for it, seeing that things are not exactly going in their favour. Some guards manage to cut down the fleeing attackers but some guards are also cut down in return. Just when they think they're free from danger, one of them is struck in the chest.
"Gentle Fist: Palm Bottom"
The man falls to the ground, unable to move. Hinata runs to another fleeing bandits and strikes her in the heart, as well. And another. She shuts off the chakra of as many as she can but even she can't stop all of them at once.
She sees one of them making a run for it to the crowd. To her shock, she sees Kotori making a stand in front of him. The girl forms a seal and a screen of sparrow feathers appear in his way. He swats them away and draws a kunai to the girl, cursing at her.
Kotori freezes in fear, focusing on the bladed weapon aimed at her.
Hinata Flickers away, faster than she'd ever done before and manages to get between Kotori and the bandit in time. She raises a hand to stop him, but he manages to slash her arm. She winces in pain but strikes at him with her other hand.
"Gentle Fist: Vacuum Palm"
He's flung back with great force.
"Kotori, stay back!" She calls out and the girl manages to snap her mind back to follow the command.
Another wave of bandits come out running. Hinata gathers chakra in both hands, but doing so with an open wound hurts. Still, she fights through it and jumps up to gain higher ground.
"Gentle Fist: Vacuum Wall Palm"
A great force of pressure and wind surges and blows them all back, giving her a chance to draw closer and finish the job. And once she does, she gives a cursory glance to the surrounding area to ensure that people are safe and that no more bandits managed to escape.
While looking around, she does notice one curious item that 2 of the people she defeated are carrying. A ring engraved with Ijou Keiji's emblem. She takes them both and ties the two of them together, ready to take them in.
Yamato and Kakashi look around their surroundings, filled with fallen enemies, they themselves out of breath and clothes slightly ruined.
"Senpai, these people are all…"
"Yeah, I know. Let's go tell Lady Tsunade."
They both flicker up, along with Shikamaru who'd finished up cleaning on his own, and meet up with their Hokage. Kakashi approaches her first.
"Lady Tsunade, those guys down there. I don't recognize all of them, but the ones I do… are all from the Land of Fire."
"What?"
"Rogues from the Hidden Leaf, or bandits from the Land of Fire. I recognize them from the bingo book. I can't be certain if the other assailants are, as well, but…"
She bites her finger, annoyed. "Damnit. Pray that you're wrong, Kakashi, because this just might be the deciding factor. Let's check up on everyone else."
Inside, everything seems to have died down. Or simply died, depending on who you are. The shinobi from each village gathering back together, everyone bruised and torn in their own ways, and meeting with the officials where they'd ran to safety.
Sasame lands on the ground next to Hanzaki. She looks around but doesn't see the daimyō's daughter. "Where's Lady Mikoto?"
Hanzaki grunts and tries to stand up. "She got separated with Kotohime and some of the others when a ceiling collapsed." He falls back to the ground, his leg wound more severe than he'd like to admit. "Go find them."
"Right!" She Flickers away and runs around the immediate vicinity calling out her name. Eventually she hears her cries. She's actively calling out… Kaidomaru's name? She runs faster.
Entering a room that survived the confrontation better than some others, she sees in the room fallen shinobi from the Fuma clan and the Hidden Mountain. In the centre are both Lady Mikoto, looking well all things considered (her hair has seen better days), and Kotohime, whose leg looks in pretty bad shape.
In Lady Mikoto's lap is the leader of the Hidden Mountain Village, Kaidomaru, with a sword sticking out of his chest.
"No! Master Kaidomaru, please, you have to survive!"
He extends a hand to the daimyō's daughter and brushes her cheek. "I'm sorry, my love. But at least I was able to protect you." He coughs out blood.
"No, I can't go on without you! I can't!"
Sasame stands stunned. Did he say 'my love'? Are these two involved? How? When?
Kotohime sees Sasame and calls out. "Quick! Get the Hokage and her aide, he can still be saved!"
It takes her a moment to register but she does exactly that. A minute or so later, she walks in with the Hokage in tow, as well as most of the other shinobi who were gathered. The Hidden Mountain shinobi were already there and Takeshi had begun healing, with a crying Mikoto hoving over him.
Takeshi speaks without even looking at who'd just walked in. "Lady Hokage, please, medical ninjutsu isn't my forte, I'm barely able to keep him stable."
The daimyō of the Rice Paddies bursts in. "Mikoto! My dear daughter!" He runs to her but she's still crying over Kaidomaru.
Tsunade takes over the healing from Takeshi.
"Please, Hokage! Save my love, I can't lose him!" The young woman continues to be distressed.
"Your… what?" Tsunade shakes her head. "Never mind that now, let me focus."
"Mikoto… what are you saying?"
"Father…" She doesn't look up to him. "My apologies, Father. I didn't mean to keep it a secret for so long, but we didn't wish for this to affect the negotiations. We wished it all to be impartial." She looks to Kaidomaru being healer in her lap. "Master Kaidomaru and I began seeing each other months ago when he'd visit. We… we're in love, Father!" She finally looks to him, trying to remain strong.
The daimyō looks between the two of them, mouth agape. "Mikoto, I never knew."
"With all due respect, Lord daimyō, could this conversation wait until I've finished healing?"
Everyone waits with bated breath as Kaidomaru is being healed. Tsunade does the preliminary work but she can't do everyone on the spot. She's able to heal him and get him to a stable condition but she gets him well enough to where he can be taken to a hospital where treatment can finish.
Hinata and Kotori arrive on the scene, next to Naruto.
"Hinata? What are you doing here?"
"I saw the palace being attacked, did you believe I'd sit back?"
"Heh, no, I guess not."
She holds out the two rings she found. "These rings. Two of the assailants were carrying them; the same as that man in Yokumaru's house."
Naruto takes them and examines them. "What? That guys? But Ikkyu said.."
"That anyone wearing such rings acts upon the will of its giver." Ikkyu walks next to him. "Naruto, if Keiji has people who were involved in the attack, this may be just what I needed to get the upper hand." He turns around to the older Madoka. "Father."
The man simply turns his head slightly and nods. "I do believe you're right. We have evidence gathered. Once we process everything, I'll make arrangements."
Kotori isn't exactly sure what's going on but she's somewhat picked up on it. "So then Yokumaru will be free?"
Ikkyu smiles to the girl. "Well, I don't know who Yokumaru is, but a lot of people will be free once Keiji is out of the picture."
Over the next 2 days, Kaidomaru would make a somewhat full recovery. He still has trouble breathing but is in overall good condition. The negotiations continue but are clearly slanted in the Land of Woods' favour.
It came to light that indeed every single attacker was from the Land of Fire, making their case difficult to defend. The Rice Paddies daimyō could not feel safe if there is such descent. The ones who were captured alive claimed they could not allow the servants of Orochimaru to be part of their land, although a clear picture of their full motives and goals is yet to be gotten.
If that wasn't enough, the revelation of Kaidomaru and Lady Mikoto being in love put things into perspective. The daimyō initially disapproved of such a secret but came around after talking to his daughter. Apparently nothing 'serious' had happened and they planned on revealing it if they merged with the Land of Woods, but if they'd instead merged with the Land of Fire- the relationship would have been called off, although it pained them both.
Ultimately, a decision was reached.
The Land of Rice Paddied would be no more, and officially become one with the Land of Woods.