AN/ would have had this out sooner but had some stuff going on IRL (I am moving), and I just got my first commission, so I was working on that too.-edit- it messedup some parts so i made some changes. edit more fixes hope this is the last time.
Chapter 36: Incarnation 3
Well, this was new… pride in someone else. Unfortunately, it was overshadowed by all this unyielding rage. The act of binding had just effectively killed all of her buzz, and Raven was not amused. She smiled a tight smile, baring her teeth, just full of all the defiance she had.
The fact of her daughter and the schnee getting the better of her, well on her way to getting thoroughly shit faced or not aside. She should have never let her temper and the liquor get the better of her.
"You best let me go, schnee," raven absolutely hissed. Her eyes seemed to flicker only for a moment, a split second.
"Nice try 'mom', but how about you talk?" Yang snarked, her elbow on the table, resting her head in her hand.
Raven scowled. How hard could it be to escape? The little Schnee was not her grandfather, the Night King, infamous for his summons, or her mother, who was known as the Argent empress at one point. "Look, I told you all you need to know. Now… let… me… go!" she warned.
Struggling with all her might in the vain hope, she could overpower the glyph and make her escape. "How are you even doing this without a weapon?"
As Weiss slowly savored the taste of her wine, she glanced at Raven like she was some kind of annoyance, an inconvenient burden, or a naughty child. "You really should give up." with a flick of her dainty wrist, Six flechettes came into view from beneath the table.
It was all the hint raven needed to look down to see the three more of those little daggers anchoring her to the spot. So that was how the schnee was doing it. Now if only she could disable one projector. If only, indeed.
Raven huffed out a silent pout. Crossing her arms beneath her ample bust. The reason she was so hesitant and wanted to warn off Yang was because the damned boy was an Uzumaki. And that meant at the very least he had ties to the very coalition that killed most of her men and enslaved her to do their bidding for the better half of three years. She was woman enough to admit that the whole situation was her fault in the first place. And she could admit that going around as a roving band of bandits was a poor choice in hindsight. Especially with monsters like the Uzumaki roaming about.
Yes, truly there was no better opportunity to change the ways of the tribe. They made it even easier with all of her detractors put to the sword. Now the Branwen tribe sent their best to the academies for training. While getting a stipend for supporting the Huntsmen that journeyed into Mistral's wild lands.
Raven had initially come here to warn her daughter off of the Uzumaki. But thanks to a combination of copious amounts of liquor loosening her tongue and Yang's abrasive, glib, snarky attitude, something she definitely inherited from Raven herself. God, did the brat know how to grind her gears something fierce. So much so that rather than tell Yang what she wanted and leave. Instead, Raven got herself absolutely smashed. Completely forgetting the adage that liquor loosened lips to be a fact in the process.
"Fine," she growled, "for the last few years, they were who I was 'working for'. And I would use the term 'working for' lightly." She grumbled, clarifying that if she had a choice, then she would have preferred to not have met the Shinobi clans that enslaved her to their will. Even if she got the better end of the deal in the end. Made all the sweeter now that she was free from their service.
"Right, right, I get that and all. You have my sympathies, really you do…" Yang said, the sarcasm clear in her tone. "It couldn't have happened to a better person, really. But what does this have to do with Naruto?"
Raven grit her teeth. Lest she do something she would regret, especially with her anger rising. They were so much alike it was starting to piss her off. "What it means, girl, if you were paying attention! That the Uzumaki are after that boy! And getting their interest is not good. Ninja god or not, it's a bad thing for them to be looking into him like this." she growled, panting and short of breath. Her frustration at Yang's obtuse behaviour rising.
"Oh, is that all?" Yang asked, clearly taking her warning rather lightly. "We've been getting stronger as well, besides I'd never be able to live with myself if anything happened to my loved ones and I could do something about it." her tone got a lot darker, as visible scales started forming at her back creeping their way down her arms. Her temper getting the better of her. Made even more obvious by her unconscious use of her sage transformation.
"Yang," Weiss warned, clasping her hand in her own.
"Look, I didn't come here to fight." Raven muttered, breaking eye contact with Yang, "despite all my flaws I care. If I did not, then I would never have come here. Never tried to warn you."
If Yang, her sweet baby girl, refused to back down then, then there was no actual choice. Was there? Even if it scared her to no end, she had no other option. Gripping her skirts in trembling hands, this time when Raven spoke, her voice was full of fear and resolve alike. "If then for what it's worth, if you won't run, if you won't stay away from this boy even if he is marked, then neither will I." If Yang was so determined to fight then she refused to hide herself away anymore.
"Let me tell you a story about the seasons."
Red eyes sparked with azure flames, and the glyph at her feet guttered out of existence.
[
Madara locked his purple ringed gaze with that of the sinister thing taking the form of a dragon. "I've always wanted to slay a dragon, Hashirama, a boost if you would."
Hashirama complied without hesitation. "Of course, you'll have about ten minutes of sage mode max." setting his hand upon the other shinobi's shoulder, allowing him to carefully syphon off the vaunted nature energy that was the hallmark of the Honored sage mode.
Black inked lines appeared under his eyes, while a crescent moon like mark formed on his forehead.
"Scarecrow, Obito, take on four eyes and the winged one, Hashirama, you're the finisher. I'll take on the dragon and that other thing when it hatches." he ordered, "I'll start things off."
Kneading the chakra he needed for one of his most infamous of Jutsu, he formed the horse hand seal, inhaling and bringing that hand up to his mouth. Katon: Great fire Annihilation!
He exhaled a mighty conflagration of fire. That washed over the battlefield. Scouring it clean of lesser beasts in one clear stroke.
Obito and Kakashi had not been idle, merely watching the flames scour the field clean. No, they had taken action, leaping headlong into the blaze without hesitation. Protected from the inferno thanks to their skilled use of Kamui.
Faster than the eye could track, Kakashi dashed through the heat of the inferno, it felt like a warm summer breeze on his skin. He burst through, intent on sinking his chakra saber into the thick hide of a winged creature. His blade bit deep into the flesh of where its collar bone should be and was dragged down at a vicious angle.
Its injuries mattered not, no, they never truly did not to this creature. As if they did not even harm it in the first place. It brought that wickedly long blade down on Kakashi's head.
The white-haired shinobi lept back on instinct, narrowly avoiding the blow. It was a good thing he had. Even with the benefits of Kamui. The blade that rested at its wrist still cut a small furrow in his flak jacket.
With a Roar of Exaltation, Madara Charged, his speed rapidly eating up the ground between him and his targets. The dragon let out a beastly roar, meeting him in a charge of its own. Bringing its massive taloned claws down on his head.
Against those scythe like claws meant only for the rending of flesh. Madara never faltered, never yielded. Rather than ripping the shinobi in half, they instead were caught in the unyielding grip of the ancient shinobi.
With the ground at his feet buckling, Madara let out an exhilarated exclamation.
"Now this is more like it, I actually felt the power behind that one!" gripping tightly onto the claw with one hand he drew back the other and the azure arm of the Susanoo formed. The blow that was delivered was devastating. The arm of the dragon yielded first, failing before the mighty grip of the sage mode empowered shinobi. Separating at the elbow in a gory spray of viscera.
It bounced on the ground once, twice, landing on clawed paws digging furrows into the ground, roaring out its challenge; it only seemed to grow. Already the grievous wound sealed shut, its form shifting rapidly, growing thick plating on its arm and the bubbling remains of its stump.
Madara's unique Susanoo rapidly formed in response. First, the skeleton formed, followed by the worm-like muscles, then the flesh forming into his unforgettable ogre like Susanoo. Its distinct, undulating blades that resembled a kris formed in two of its four hands.
With a grin, Madara lunged forward, his Susanoo following his thoughts perfectly. Its blades met with bestial claws. Halting its fierce rampage in its tracks. Forcing the creature back with a blade and might alike.
Still the beast persisted, claws scrabbling off the nigh impenetrable armor of the Susanoo. All the while, Madara monitored the fifth of those creatures. It had yet to do so much as move. It's form which took the form of a massive hulking humanoid that had skin that seemed to be made up of a scale like woody bark. Its head wreathed in a laurel crown of thick branches that sprouted from both of its eyes and wrapped around its head, ending in thick antler-like branches. There was a massive jagged wrent in the center of its chest, at the center of which was a massive glowing crimson jewel, Pulsing with power.
A massive roar from the slavering maw of the dragon brought his full attention back to it. It had not fared as well as the armour of the Susanoo had. Its armour battered and ragged. Visible marks where once had been pristine scales. One wing was tattered while the other was missing entirely. Its claws chipped and worn.
Yet still it persisted, prowling around him like it was the one with the advantage. This was not the behavior of a cornered beast. When finally what was left of its wings sloughed off. It lunged, grappling with the Susanoo, peeling away at what was left of its claws. Sacrificing them upon his blades. Until finally, at long last, it halted his blade. When blade met claw, the former shattered what remained of the latter. Revealing smaller, more refined, ultra-dense claws underneath. It wrenched one blade to the side. A glowing light building in its chest. It's ravaged, fanged maw wide.
Madara swung the blade in his ethereal avatar's other hand, intent on stopping this thing in its tracks. In a spray of gore from its stump it sprouted a skeletally thin arm; the dense claws on the new limb sheared clean through his blade like it was not even there.
It reared back its head and exhaled a torrent of fire on his construct. It was defuse at first. But with each passing second, it grew more and more concentrated. Until the conflagration was a stream of pure plasma. Boring down on him, slowly gouging away at the outer layer of his avatar.
Still safe within the center of his construct, Madara scowled darkly at the monster, his arms crossed. 'was this the extent of its strength, was this all it could do? Was it worth all the effort he put into this so far?' his mood only darkened further as he reinforced his Susanoo with a mere thought. Halting scrabbling claws that once gouged chunks from his avatar cold in their tracks. The stream of plasma breath doing no more than cosmetic damage now. 'No,' he resolved, 'no it is not worthy of my effort.' even the blonde brat and his father were worthy of his full might. And that was when he was trying to end the world. Madara himself had grown stronger since his death, and so had the boy. The boy had grown into a man since then. The boy, no Naruto, had surpassed him long ago, and had become more than worthy of his full power. He had become a goal worth striving towards.
His blades reforged anew in an instant. As fast as they were formed, Madara brought them down on the Dragon's head. Its head flew cleaved from its shoulders. Black ichor sprayed out, coating his avatar in thick, viscous blood. The once mighty dragon's body slumped over, and Madara directed his crimson gaze to the other creature that remained motionless. Even after the swift defeat of its kin.
Madara drew his gunbai, pointing it in the other creature's direction, "I don't know if you can understand me or not? But you're next." he declared.
High above on a platform of sand, Gaara was in his element. Sand flowed according to his will. His hands waved about like a conductor. Directing his orchestra of death. None of these monsters would escape his senses. Of that, he knew. Not with the sand he used. It was quicker to respond; it could become as light as air or as dense as he wanted with just a thought.
Even now, as the monsters sought a way past the merciless barrier of his sand. Be they the weakest of their number flooding him with wave tactics, the more intelligent brutes probing impenetrable walls of sand, only to be punished most severely for their folly. Or even the massive juggernauts, lumbering head long into the barrier relying on their armour to hold back forces that would even shatter diamonds to dust. It mattered not. He turned them back all the same.
He was not working alone in this endeavor to turn back the endless horde. Dozens of clones worked in tandem, cleverly making up for the power they lacked by working with Gaara. Making openings he took swift and brutal advantage of. Delivering punishing blows that on a normal man even with the aid of chakra or aura. They would have no hope of surviving. But that's ok because they did not need to win, they did not need to kill these creatures. No, they only needed to buy time.
[
Leaping from building to building a Naruto Clone slipped by unnoticed by all. Using his stealth skills to their maximum in order to not be caught by any of the monsters. While utilizing what little sage chakra he had left to track his targets. Velvet and Yatsuhashi had gotten further than he had thought. Honestly, how had they even made it this far without attracting any attention? As he was about to leap to the next building, a shot rang out. And he paused. Going completely motionless. To gather as much nature chakra as he could. Stoking the remaining embers of sage mode, he had left. Sharpening his senses to their maximum.
Another gunshot rang out. And the clone blurred. The shingled roof shattered under the force of his motion.
'Shit, shit, shit,' Velvet thought, how had things got so bad? They were just about at the castle. Staying well out of sight. Lest they end up like that poor man. Velvet questioned whether that was meant for them or not still. They had just turned a corner on the final leg of their journey. When they ran into these things. Whatever the hell they were, they certainly were not grimm. Even the creatures of Grimm stayed dead when you blew their heads off. These things… did not.
She ducked under a jagged claw. Bounding up into the monster's unprotected guard. The sharp spear that was the Nuibari in hand. Mimicking Weiss's grace, she wielded the blade like a rapier. Slashing the creature to ribbons. Before rapidly shifting to a stance she had seen Naruto use. She thrust forward, putting her all into the rotation of the thrust. Turning the blade into a force of destructive drilling might. She grit her teeth in pain. The muscles in her arms strained and tore with the blow. Still, she held strong. Biting her lip to hold back a cry of pain. The Nuibari pierced the monster clean through. Sailing off to strike another in the head. Ensuring that her blow ended the creature's life.
Not pausing, she quickly activated her weapon, Anesidora, despite the need to conserve ammo. In a flash, she held in her hands a copy of the Bladed Compound Sniper Bow of Vella Moisia, Chatareus. She drew back the draw string and fired, once, twice, thrice, striking her next three targets dead where they stood. Their corpses flopping over bonelessly from the gaping holes in their heads. She spun and fired at four more enemies that all met the same fate.
There was a rumbling growl that velvet felt in her chest. She saw it before Yatsuhashi could. A massive bestial thing, hairless and with two malformed heads stalking her teammate from above. Velvet swore, "Shit, Yatsu-" she drew back once more. Ready to fire. To save her partner. But the construct winked out of existence in her hands. She yanked on the wire that was linked to the Nuibari. But she knew she would never make it. Not before it pounced.
A blonde blur struck it in the abdomen a scant few feet above Yatsuhashi's head. Steam billowed out, clouding their sight. But they still heard the sickening impact of the blow.
Boil release: Erupting Propulsion Fist, the clone thought as he drove his fist to meet with the unyielding hide of the beast. In an explosive rise in his temperature steam billowed out, his strength doubled a thousand fold. Sending the twin headed monster through several buildings with the violent explosive force of his blow.
Landing next to Yatsuhashi, "it's good I made it in time." the clone said, "you guys ok?"
As implacable as ever, Yatsuhashi took things in stride. "Thank you." he nodded his thanks. Still focused on the fight, he brought his massive cleaver down on a creature that resembled a skeletally thin tiger.
"What are you doing here Naruto?" Velvet asked, idly stepping out of the sluggish swipe of one of the lesser creatures now that the others were defeated if only for the moment.
"I'm not the boss, he sent me to pick you guys up." the clone replied. "Things have changed, and he wants to gather the others. "
"What's going on?" Velvet couldn't help but ask. "What are those things?"
What wasn't said was that they certainly were not grimm? Grimm did not get back up after being decapitated.
The clone grimaced. They definitely did not have the time to explain what these things were. He barely understood that himself.
But what he knew was this, "the boss sent me to get you guys and get you out of the city. So that's what I'm going to do. No matter what." he said, affirming his resolve to do what needed to be done no matter what.
[
It was pure happenstance that they were so close. A mere one in a million chance that probably they would never get again. They had just set camp. Hunted a brace of rabbits for stew and ate, then the pair took first watch while letting their squads rest when they got their orders, delivered by one of their swiftest of crows. It had to have flown non-stop as fast as possible for hours to reach them in just a few hours.
Giyu's eyes widened as he read the mission orders. To find their wayward heir, of all things. And the proof that this was real was the two inked seals at the bottom from honored elder Hideyoshi, and his grandfather Giichi. Inscribed with their chakra. There was no way to fake that.
"So new orders? What does it say?" Shinobu asked from her resting perch in a tree.
"T-they found him." Giyu replied, a bit of disbelief entering his voice. A strange occurrence for the usually stoic man.
Shinobu looked at him with a teasing smile on her face, "hmm, I'm afraid you 're going to have to be more specific, Gi-yu-C-H-A-N!"
Giyu sighed, forcing himself to calm, to not let her get under his skin. "Our heir, they've found our heir." he said, letting the importance of that hang in the air.
This time when Shinobu looked him in the eyes, all amusement was gone from her face. Instead, she was deadly serious. Her jovial attitude a thing of the past. "I see," she said, as she alighted to the ground in a soundless crouch. "Then we must leave at once."
Giyu couldn't agree more, "yes, I will go wake the others. It's going to be a long night."
"Yes, it will be," Shinobu commiserated, dousing the fire and erasing all traces of their campsite.
[
Cinder ducked, dodged, and rolled the whole time her heart was thrumming in her breast. This was it, what she truly enjoyed. The thrill of battle, to face a worthy opponent, a worthy match. This was nothing like when she fought in spars against Neo, or the little psycho, Naru- err Menma, kept leashed and loyal.
Several shuriken flew her way, and she let out a wave of blazing Azure flames to incinerate them. With a grin, she dove headlong into the resultant smoke. Clashing blades with Menma head on. She came to find out that as Menma; he was a knife fighter. A devilishly good one, too.
He blocked her blades with his lone dagger. She never gave him the chance to capitalize on any weakness, any opening.
She was leading him on. He knew it; she knew it. There was so much more she could do. He was about to punish her for it when he heard the distinct crunch of glass underfoot. Cinder grinned. Using her semblance and a small portion, more of Polaris's power that she could feel thrumming in her veins and made her muscles burn, her bones ache, and her heart thrum with excitement. She pushed that power into the fragments of glass she had scattered throughout their spar. What was underneath his feet exploded. Knocking him off guard.
She acted quickly and tackled him to the ground. With a triumphant cry and her blade resting at his neck, she declared her Victory. "I win," she purred, her silken words like sin itself.
Menma cleared his throat, "might wanna rethink that" he said, his dagger digging into her ribs just so.
'Oh, dear,' her heart did a little flutter in her bosom. She removed her blade from his neck. But did not yet deem it necessary to get off the shinobi. She had a hungry, almost predatory gaze in her eyes. 'yum.' she thought, chest heaving, her body slicked with sweat. And the most devilish grin on her gorgeous face. ' if only he were the original, I would pin him to a wall and…'
"Um, you gonna get off me yet?" the shinobi asked, completely unaware of her naughty thoughts.
Her response was to grind her pert derriere against his crotch. Causing him to let out a growl. Before she quickly leapt off him and out of reach.
"You did that on purpose." the disguised shinobi accused. Leaping to his feet.
Cinder gave him an impish shrug. "Maybe, maybe not." She teased, "anyway I think we can call this a Draw. I need a shower." She walked away, feminine hips swaying.
Menma looked to the ceiling above, "god, dammit boss. Girl is nothing but trouble." he muttered, his frustration clear.
Polaris appeared in a burst of bluebell flames just after Cinder left. Her tail swayed to and fro. "If it's any consolation prize, father, you have my permission to mate. With my host." she said in an attempt to console him. "It's beyond me why you don't. Human mating habits are a mystery to me, anyway."
"I need a drink." the shinobi declared, palming his face.
Polaris quirked a brow. "How will that help? You can't get drunk." she stated. "Humans are truly the most puzzling of creatures."
Rather than respond, Menma groaned at his misfortune, or fortune, depending on how one looked at it. 'Damned cheeky minx!'
Endnotes, if you haven't noticed yet I am now taking commissions, see my profile to see my rates, and if you like my work and would like to stay up to date, and get two chapters ahead, please consider donating to my (p)atreon page link is in bio.
