Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.
AN: Full Chapter Title: Six Versus One? Ambush on the Green Beast!
"No..." Horror filled the eyes of Maito Gai as he looked upon the village. Homes burned, corpses of friend and foe laid in the street, and the sounds of battle reached him where he stood.
Dozens of Suna Shinobi laid at his feet, some dead and some simply crippled. He had been lenient with some and unforgiving to others. Some had desired vengeance for the dead they had known as friends so he had let them survive this encounter. Some had simply attacked the Green Beast of Konohagakure and paid with their lives. It was the nature of the war they brought to the village he called home after all.
Vengeance was a thing that beget vengeance. He would restrain himself as much as he could to prevent such a cycle.
'Kakashi.' His eyes drifted to the stadium where his friend did battle in. 'Asuma. Kurenai.' The two would keep the other safe or die trying. He knew how much they cared for each other and knew they would gladly die for the other. They battled together in the streets. 'Hokage-sama.'
Even the Hokage did battle, trapped in a vortex of winds that had to be some Barrier Ninjutsu from Suna.
The Taijutsu master sighed before he leaped from the rooftops.
"Easy pickings." Far, far away from Maito Gai a six armed man drew back the string of his golden war bow. A golden arrow ripped through the air a moment later.
Gai snatched it out of the air. His eyes narrowed before a second and third arrow attempted to strike him from both sides. He avoided them and caught sight of the string tied to the end of both of them. It wasn't something he needed to touch to know it was something like spider silk. He landed on the rooftop he had been aiming for and broke the arrow in half with hardly a thought.
It was a thing supposed to be stronger than steel forged in the hottest of flames.
It was nothing when it was put up against be fearsome and legendary strength of the Jonin.
'This arrow...' Gai let the broken piece of the shaft fall from his hand as he opened it. 'I've heard about the man who uses them.'
The legends of a man with six arms wielding golden weapons couldn't be ignored by any Jonin after all. Especially when that man was a mercenary who made a living off of long distance assassinations of Shinobi and their clients. From Gai's memories he was one of many mercenaries that simply disappeared several years ago.
'I see where he disappeared to know.' Gai's eyes traced the path the first arrow, unaided by any tool to adjust it, must have flown. His eyes ended their search at a tower.
It was one of the many towers the Konohagakure Aviary maintained for the countless messenger birds that traveled to and from all villages, big and small.
'He hasn't changed his tactics.' Gai dashed forward and avoided the arrow sent to punch through his chest with almost contemptuous ease. He immediately saw the beginnings of a trap for him.
He decided to spring it.
He forced himself to ignore the danger signs all around him.
The deserted streets, Shinobi and civilians alike simply gone, the biggest one. It was almost painful to do so but he did it nonetheless. He would spring the trap.
He pushed himself forward and avoided the next trio of arrows fired at him at once. He avoided the next arrow that came for his eye. He avoided the arrow after that one that came for his shoulder. It was easy to dodge the arrow that aimed for his leg.
He continued forward in his dash and wasn't surprised when a figure leaped from the tower he had been heading for. He was mildly surprised when they seemed to run on the air but he quickly saw the truth.
The same strange spider silk was strung between multiple towers. That was what the former mercenary was running on.
'Ambush.' This was meant for him. Whoever was behind the attack had scouted him before the invasion and decided to attack him now.
He landed at the base of the tower regardless of its current vacancy and tracked the archer with his eyes.
"Kidomaru the Spider." Gai's voice was more than loud enough to reach the ears of a Shinobi. "You gave up your life for this invasion?"
"You must be crazy old man." The six armed man called down to him, laughed at him. "I crunched the numbers, I'm on the winning side here! This village is going to be nothing but a footnote in history by the time Lord Orochimaru is done with you!"
"So Orochimaru is behind this attack?" Gai shook his head as he brought his fist to his palm. "I'll be sure to deal with him after I kill you."
There would be no mercy for the man in front of him. Too many Shinobi of Konohagakure had fallen to him already. Gai would make sure he ended no more lives with his deadly arrows. He would die in the village he sought to destroy.
"Good luck with that." Kidomaru laughed at him as a new arrow shot down towards him.
His fist shattered it.
His eyes easily caught the mercenary's shock before it was gone.
'He has help.' Gai leaped onto the aviary tower Kidomaru had vacanted upon his approach. He didn't need to look around to know he was about to be attacked. Kidomaru was already running down another line of silk, his back to a Jonin like Gai was either asking to die or he had competent help.
A large fist was swung for Gai's head. He ducked under the blow and struck out with his own to the large attacker's chest.
"Jirobo the Mountain." Gai's comment earned a chuckle from the man who hadn't budged from a blow that would kill most other Shinobi. Gai avoided the attempt to grab him by jumping into the air.
A arrow was easy to use as a launching pad to gain more height from his jump as he drew a kunai to his hand. He dived back down towards the man beneath him when a third attacker made his presence known. He used Jirobo's large back as a springboard to meet Gai in the air. It was easy to dodge the telegraphed kick but Gai was unprepared when another foot emerged from the extended leg. He was powered off to the side and hit the roof of a building with enough force to break it. He was immediately out through a window and clung to the building using Chakra channeled to his feet. The arrow fired at him this time was snatched out of the air. It took only a glance to see there was no string attached to it so it couldn't be controlled any longer. In less time than it took most to blink, Gai spotted Kidomaru moving to the next spot he had chosen and flung the arrow towards the line of silk he traveled on.
Gai didn't get the chance to see if his attack was successful as Jirobo roared as he ripped up part of the street and threw rocks at him at lethal speeds. Gai took note of the number of improvised projectiles approaching him and crouched before he launched off the side of the building. He used them as stepping stones in the air to close the distance between himself and Jirobo. It was easy to strike the large man in his equally as large stomach and send him hurtling through the air and into a building. Gai dodged the third attacker as he attempted a blow and this time grabbed hold of the arm that emerged from the extended arm.
"Two Headed Sakon." Gai threw away the former mercenary and his eyes searched for the line of silk he had thrown an arrow towards. He was forced to dodge the returning Jirobo before he could find it. A crater formed in the street from the large man's impact and Gai struck out with a trio of blows.
A kick to the side. A blow to the stomach. And a kick underneath the chin.
Jirobo was airborne from the Jonin's monstrous strength. Gai moved to finish him when Sakon was suddenly in front of him.
A kick that felt more like three struck him and sent him hurtling back. Gai didn't let the pain show but his eyes narrowed as the grinning Sakon lowered his foot back to the ground. Jirobo landed on the ground and anger showed on his face as he rose back to his feet. His hands were plunged into the ground and Gai saw him lift a giant boulder above his head with a roar. The attack was only possible no doubt thanks to what had to be a rather strong Earth Release Chakra Nature.
Gai's accuracy was one of the best in the village, he had taught one of his students to be so precise after all. A trio of kunai with explosive tags struck the boulder and detonated. The three successive explosions succeeded in blowing the rock in half. Jirobo threw the halves forward regardless and the Jonin turned to the side to dodge them.
He darted forward a moment later. His rushed blow was dodged by Jirobo, an arrow came descending from above to punch through his neck, and Sakon was behind him. Gai noticed all three attacks as well as the fourth.
Something was traveling underneath the ground, something large.
He simply moved.
One moment he was in the middle of a clear pincer attack and the next he was on a nearby rooftop. A golden arrow was easy to knock out of the way with the back of his hand.
His eyes traveled across the ground, noted where the ground was disturbed at, and he was gone once again. He tracked it back to its source and saw a flash of red haired before a massive creature was in front of him.
A large fist tried to crush him, crater the ground and pulverize stone with his body, but it was easy to escape the blow. He followed up with a kick that sent his attacker crashing through more than a handful of buildings. His victory was short lived as an ally of the creature grabbed him from behind, locking him in a full Nelson at impressive speed to catch the Taijutsu Master by surprise. It was obvious this was an attempt to leave him open to a ranged attack and he was right. His eyes were tracking the arrow soaring towards him while it was still several blocks away. The added drill at the tip proved it would be more destructive than the regular arrows. He didn't waste time with attempting to break free any longer.
It was easy to take the beast holding him by surprise when he suddenly dropped to the ground. He did his best to get onto all fours before powering himself forward and up into the air. It worked to turn the beast into a shield that took the force of the arrow. He looked the strange beast in the eye before a single punch was all it took to power it away.
It struck the red head that was its master and Gai didn't have to worry about the last of the three attacking.
He landed on the ground and his eyes roved over the expansive battlefield. He saw none of his opponent but at the moment such a thing didn't matter.
It was clear they were regrouping. He would take the time to analyze the situation he found himself in.
'Two obvious close range fighters. One long range support fighter. One close range support fighter with three puppets. Against anyone else, they could almost easily overwhelm. Their attacks would eventually succeed if their opponent failed to keep track of them all. I can't take any unnecessary risks fighting a team like this regardless. They could have been testing me during their attacks. I can't hold back against them no matter what. The longer this fight drags on, the less stamina I'll have and the more effective they'll be as a unit. I can't afford to waste too much time here when there's the chance of an out of control Jinchuriki.'
Gai considered ending the fight with the Eight Gates, a technique to break his limits for a short time, but considered better of it.
The consequences would leave him out of the fight indefinitely as he recovered from such severe strain.
'I can't risk it. Better to save it for the Jinchuriki instead of this.' Gai, his decision made, jumped to the middle of the street.
He would simply draw them out for now.
One moved out to confront him.
"Demon Flute Tayuya." Her moniker was another of the many mercenaries that had vanished several years ago. He was no longer surprised to find her and people so similar to her under the same banner. "How many more of you has Orochimaru brought to die with him?"
She spoke no words. She lifted her flute to her lips and Gai moved. Jirobo intercepted his blow with an earth-laden fist larger than most men. His punch still shattered it and sent the large orange haired man flying. Sakon attacked from the side, Gai ducking under his punch. He grabbed the arm as he rose and turned the feared mercenary into a projectile to throw towards Tayuya before she could play her first notes. He didn't hear the flute break when he slammed into her but she couldn't play for the moment. He turned and snatched the arrow coming towards him from the air and threw it back a moment later. Kidomaru would be moving to reposition himself since one tower began to crumble from the force of Gai's return throw. He spotted the blur as he raced to his next destination. A trio of kunai flew forward, cut through the spider silk and forced Kidomaru to jump into the air to avoid certain death. A fourth Kunai struck him in the neck only to bounce off a golden covering. Gai turned in time to stop the twin blows from Jirobo and grabbed hold of the large Shinobi by his arms before throwing him away. He dodged the joint attack by Sakon and Tayuya, their adept Taijutsu easy to read to the master of the style. He jumped back in time to avoid Kidomaru's trio of arrows. They buried into the ground next to him, threw up a cloud of dirt. Gai heard the two fighters break away and retreat down the street.
He didn't pursue.
He closed his eyes, sight being useless for now, and relied on his sense of hearing, his sense of touch, and even his sense of smell.
'They're good.' He could give credit where credit was due. Not many Shinobi could work so well even if they were partners for life. The four Shinobi that he fought seemed to have developed impressive synchronization in a rather short amount of time. It was something to be impressed about. Especially when mercenaries were the ones that fought together so well.
Gai felt the sudden vibrations in the ground, heard the sound of palms striking the soil, and leapt away. He heard the ground open up like a greedy mouth trying to swallow him. He landed on an already collapsing building and used his arm to block the blow coming from one of Tayuya's creatures. It hurt to start the club but the pain was ignored in favor of snapping it in half. He made use of the severed upper half of the weapon to bat away the creature that was simply a torso charging him. It was surprisingly agile, landing feet first on a building and vanishing from sight for a moment. He ducked under its attempt to kick him and grabbed the creature's leg. He threw it forward and missed the chance to take out the creature in green. Jirobo made his appearance to the battle once more. Gai stepped back to avoid the swings of the broken club, the thrust of the strange claws one wore on its arms with bandages. He nearly blindsided the Taijutsu master before he was able to escape the mountain of a man as he slammed his fists into the ground with a roar.
Knowing he was a Earth Release user was the only reason Gai was remotely ready for the suddenly sprouting blades of earth erupting from the ground around him. He quickly leaped onto the side of one and ascended to the top. One of Tayuya's creatures, the one lacking arms, was waiting for him and it's head slammed into his stomach. Gai wasn't blinded by the pain, he was barely stunned as he was powered through one of the sharp pillars of earth. He slammed into the ground with the creature still on top of him before he managed to get his feet under it and power it back the way they had both came. The club wielding creature reappeared then and stabbed forward with the jagged end of its broken half of its formerly whole club. Gai knocked it aside with the back of his hand as he rose and powered the creature away and off to the side with a single kick. He didn't drop his guard and was right not to. The last of Tayuya's trio of creatures descended form above with its dual weapons aiming to pierce Gai. He avoided the sharp point at the end of both weapons and grabbed them by the shaft. His grip tightened the and the weapons shattered in his grip. He snatched the two spikes out of the air and powered them forward into the creature's chest. It was thrown away with a single punch.
Tayuya's melody continued.
Gai kept up the irregular flow of his Chakra to continually disrupt her attempts at any of her no doubt many audio Genjutsu. The trio of creatures were forming back up as she played, joining together to attack him again, when he decided to strike first.
He dodged the golden arrow that aimed to pierce through his eye, snatched it out of the air. He threw it forward like a spear, the arrow nearly log enough to be one, and watched it pierce through the bandaged creature as it charged forward once more. It dropped with the arrow ripping through the top of its head and out through its back. Gai grabbed hold of the bleeding creature and threw it into the air with a shout, sending it more than several blocks away. He vanished where he stood in a burst of speed to avoid Jirobo as he descended from above. Sakon threw a hail of shuriken towards him from three arms and Gai drew a kunai to deflect the majority of them all as fast as he could. A second arrow soared forward, punched through the building in front of him when he dodged it and made it crumple. Gai raced up the side of the building directly across of it and ran straight into Tayuya and her three returned creatures. Gai's foot had hardly touched the rooftop when he was dog piled by the three as Tayuya played her flute.
Gai rose with a shout, tossing the three creatures away as he aimed to take out Tayuya. A trio of arrows interrupted him, forced him to leap out of the way. A massive boulder thrown through the air towards him while airborne was difficult to avoid so he didn't. He landed on it and prepared to leap away when a large hand grabbed hold of him. The grinning form of Jirobo emerged from within the rock as it shattered and threw Gai torwards the ground. Sakon kicked him into a nearby shop before all the Shinobi put distance between themselves and the building.
It erupted when Kidomaru sent an arrow inside, struck the explosive placed there during a brief lull in the battle.
Gai burst through the smoke and straight into the large arm of the free clad creature, trapped in a bear hug the moment he was free of the smoke. It hold hardly take him a moment to free himself but the creature was covered in explosive tags already burning.
Gai kicked himself away, avoided the worst of the sudden blast with distance between himself and the creature.
It didn't mean he avoided damage.
He dropped to the ground before he could right himself, looked down and saw his burned legs.
'This fight just became more difficult.' He rose back to his feet, ignored the pain already trying to consume him. 'I can't fight after taking damage like that much longer.'
The weights hidden by his orange leg warmers remained in place, far too durable to be dislodged by a simple explosion. He reached down to them then, undid the clasp keeping them in place. He saw the trio of blurs approaching him.
He gladly tossed two of them his weights, saw Tayuya and Sakon immediately fold in on themselves before the weight powered them back and down the street. Jirobo's fist met his and Gai swiftly shifted to grab hold of his fist and began to crush it. Jirobo immediately made an attempt to pull away but his strength failed him. Gai's hold was far too strong to break.
"You should all know just how outmatched you are against me." Gai forced Jirobo to his knees, made the large mountain of a man grimace as his arm was forcefully bent back. "You should have known better than to join with Orochimaru."
Gai didn't dodge the arrow this time.
He pushed Jirobo into it.
"Dammit!" The Shinobi went limp in his hold for a moment, his eyes glanced to his destroyed shoulder where a golden arrow trembled with the force it was fired with. "I'm gonna smash you to pieces you piece of shit!"
Gai ignored him. He turned and threw Jirobo into the returning Sakon. Tayuya was stopped when he appeared behind her. She struggled for only a moment before she realized the futility of escaping his choke. She began to quickly hum instead and the world tried to shift on Gai.
He was in the process of disrupting his Chakra flow so it failed horrendously quickly.
He was in the process of crushing her throat when he saw his impromptu projectile be thrown off by Sakon where the two landed. He threw the already fading former mercenary towards Sakon when he tried to attack him again. Kidomaru's next trio of arrows failed to do anything to the Jonin as his eyes traced their path. He threw his own trio of projectiles in turn, one after the other in rapid succession.
The three struck simultaneously.
Three explosive kunai detonated at once.
Gai saw Kidomaru's burned form fall to the ground.
He breathed out. Calmed his racing heart and let his body relax if only slightly. Orochimaru's mercenaries were defeated. For now. He had time to leave this fight and lend his power to another fight, to lend his strength to the burning inferno that the Will of Fire had become with the fuel of a war so close to the home of of such a flame, the home of so many comrades now threatened with
He didn't know he wouldn't be leaving just yet.
"You damn bastard..." Sakon forced his body to rise. "You damn Leaf bastard...toying with us like this! Wasting my time with this weak shit when you got more power hidden away!"
Gai felt the power suddenly erupt around him, consume him in a vortex that made him almost sick. He nearly fell as the raw wrongness of the power surrounding him consumed his senses.
'Orochimaru...he corrupted such an energy? How? How could he even learn something like it? Who taught him?' Questions raced through Gai's mind just before a horned demon erupted towards him. Segmented black armor covered its entire body and it let out maniacal laughter as spiked fist drove themselves into Gai's stomach. He was thrown back but swiftly recovered, he held his stomach as his feet punched into the ground, pushed a mound back as he skidded back from the force of the blow.
"Impressive." Gai charged forward, blitzing the transformed Sakon and his fist struck the armor and an armored fist erupted from his chest, struck him away and into a pair of massive maroon arms.
He felt as if he was being crushed when whatever held him tightened its hold. Gai broke free with a shout as he turned while airborne and struck out with a kick that was blocked with a forearm. He took in the orange haired and maroon skinned figure he knew to be Jirobo before Sakon attacked from behind. He roared, unleashed a wave of pure Chakra and sent Gai reeling as the durable Jirobo stood firm. He crashed into a building and immediately landed on all fours. He sprang back out into battle and clashed with the two transformed mercenaries. They matched him blow for blow, Gai unable to break the combined defenses of either Sakon's demonic armor and multiple limbs or Jirobo's incredible new level of durability and raw strength. He was thrown across the street like a stone skipped across a pond, dragged along the ground until the mound his impact created drew him to a stop. He stumbled as he rose back to his feet and his eyes widened.
A golden arrow nearly took his head off if he didn't deflect it with a powerful blow off to the side. His eyes caught sight of the transformed Kidomaru next. His skin had turned dark red, his hair had turned grey, and spikes had sprouted from each of his elbows. He was grinning from his nest of webs between two buildings. A great golden war bow rested in two of his arms as a fresh arrow was created from a golden material spewed from his mouth. A third eye on top of his forehead was open and locked into Gai with an unnerving precision.
He hardly saw the next arrow.
Instinct saved him from certain death. Instincts honed from countless battles screamed at him to dodge, to jump away, and he did.
Slightly off, the arrow demolished the store off to the right. It's fall unleashed a cloud of dust that blanketed the street. Gai breathed slightly easier with the concealment before he heard the sounds of a flute.
His disrupted Chakra didn't save him this time, the sound was never designed to trap him this time.
It was as if a sonic blast struck him. It was probably the truth as he was sent hurtling back through the street. He was saved from deafness only because he had quickly clamped his Chakra laden hands over his ears, improvised ear plugs from his days on the battlefield. He slammed into another building and groaned as he rose, feeling as if his insides were liquified. His heart was beating faster and faster, his vision began to narrow, and he breathed in and out faster and faster.
'This isn't good.' Gai watched as his two opponents approached, another prepared another shot from his destructive bow, and another was hidden from his sight. Three shadows appearing above him showed that the monsters Tayuya had made use of were returned and their presence screamed of the same corrupted energy as the others. 'Whatever Orochimaru's done to them, I can't fight them like this anymore.'
'I may even have to use some of my Ninjutsu to win this...' Almost as quickly as the thought came to his mind, it was discarded as fire entered the eyes of Konoha's Green Beast. 'No. I swore to my student to use only Taijutsu to accomplish any task, to overcome any challenge, and to emerge victorious from any battle! If I was to break that promise, I would no longer have the honor of being his teacher!'
His foes approached, their dark power enshrouded them, and they clearly thought they had him defeated at last.
The past few moments had made them believe themselves superior to the strength of the Green Beast. They had pushed him on the back foot and thought he was at his limit.
He was far from them.
'I didn't want to have to use this but it seems all my other options have been eliminated after all.' Gai would have sighed if he could have wasted the air. It was more important to conserve all he could for what he would be doing.
He at last spotted Tayuya as she dropped down onto the street beneath Kidomaru, her head wrapped by white horns that formed a crown, her hair had grown much longer, and her skin had turned light brown.
'Yes. With all of them transformed, using this corrupted Senjutsu, I don't have a choice at all. It's come to that.'
There was nothing else to be done but one thing and that was to unleash the power of his greatest technique.
"I wish it didn't have to come to this." He crossed his arms in front of him, exhaled until his lungs were empty of air. "I can sense the Chakra building up in the stadium, I can tell what Orochimaru real plan is at last, and I can't let this drag on any longer."
"When the life of my comrades is on the line, when the ever burning flame of this village is threatened, and when a threat as great as the Jinchuriki is here I have no other choice!"
He breathed in.
He breathed out.
"The Eight Inner Gates."
AN:...This chapter was a pain to write. Never really understand how hard it is to write a Gai fight without showing him as unstoppable. This is definitely something I need to work on. Hope this satisfies.
Also, Orange Legion is once again uploaded with a decent number of new chapters. Hopefully they aren't terrible affronts to writing that should be purged from the world.
Hopefully.