Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.
AN: Chapter title: A Roadblock is Reached!
"And you have been delivered to the shelter safely." Sasuke chuckled as he spoke, ignoring the fact that they were far from safe.
They had been pursued after all. A massive number of Otogakure Shinobi were no doubt already waiting outside, waiting for the chance to slaughter everyone hiding inside the shelter. Innocent civilians, children from the Academy that had no place on the battlefield, and those of the visiting nobles and dignitaries that had managed to escape the chaos at the stadium with their guards. The same force that made up their guard was not enough to handle the Shinobi outside. They weren't ready to fight a force that aimed to kill everyone inside, to butcher all.
"You call this safe!" Shikamaru would have grabbed hold of the Uchiha if Ino wasn't using his shoulder to stay upright. "Those guys that chased us are going to break down those doors and kill us all!"
"Scum like that worries you?" Sasuke's face held a smirk that only continued to infuriate the usually lax Shikamaru. "Do you think yourself too weak to battle thugs that look only to slaughter those unable to defend themselves, those who have no place in battle?" He shook his head as he spoke, only made Shikamaru's face twist into a snarl. "I know you are not the strongest of us all Nara but this is simply too much."
He was having fun taunting him it seemed. He turned away from the irate Shikamaru and looked towards the doors already straining to remain closed.
He began walking forward.
"And where are you going?" Ino had to know it seemed. She couldn't seem to leave him alone since their match.
"I'm going out to a warzone Ino-chan." Sasuke spoke her name with the same taunting tone he had taken to using during their match. "It makes no sense for any of you to step outside with me." He drew the blade from his side, held up his arm and his shield appeared on it. "Especially after all the trouble it was to drag you all here."
The mark on his arm burned with his Chakra. In a burst of smoke more than several Centuries worth of Praetorians appeared around him. The large space was suddenly cramped as several moved forward, formed a wall of shields stacked two high before the doors to the shelter. Sasuke summoned his helmet to his hand and used his sword hand to place it on.
"I hope you all appreciate what lies before you." Sasuke didn't turn to address the Genin and civilians with him. He didn't need to look at them to know they were listening, all of their focus devoted to the words he spoke. "These are my personal Praetorians, some of the finest in Caesar's Orange Legion."
"Should we be impressed at how much you care about us Sasuke-kun?" Ino's voice held the same taunting tone as Sasuke's had when he spoke to her. "I can hardly hold back my awe." The dull tone she spoke with made the Uchiha chuckle.
Sasuke didn't waste any more time. He looked to the door that would open up to either glory or death.
"Praetorians, on me!" Sasuke brought the flat of his blade against the shield he carried on his arm.
"HOO!" Their cry was thunderous as they raised their blades to the ready position, held their shields up on arms that would give none.
"He's insane." Shikamaru shook his head at the complete insanity that was ahead of him. Sasuke seemed fully ready to charge out of the shelter and into the clear trap that awaited him outside. "He's not going to survive if he goes out there."
"He probably will." Ino shook her head as she leaned on Shikamaru's shoulder. "He's too stubborn to do something as simple as die."
"Single files to either side. Form the first rank. Shields at the ready! Advance on me." His instructions were quickly spoken and they were quickly relayed by those that had stood close to him.
The lines behind the single line of shield that stood ready at the door became a flurry of movement and positioning. Two long lines snaked on either half of the assembled Praetorians that were prepared to stop any attack.
"Get ready!" Sasuke readied his sword from the front, his arm bearing his shield was moved in front of him. The centurion that stood with him, set to lead his file down just as Sasuke was, nodded to the Legate.
"May we be blessed with glory Legate."
"It is our only path Centurion."
He breathed in.
He breathed out.
"FORWARD!" The shield line broke in the center, Sasuke leading a stream of Praetorians to one side and the centurion to the other, their shields held out at their sides to cover as much as it could.
'That idiot...' Ino shook her head as she watched the Uchiha charge out of the shelter, the Praetorians following him with a roar.
It was out to a hail of shuriken, of kunai, of deadly slicing and shredding air, bombs, smoke, and what had to be certain death.
"What is our shield!" Sasuke shouted the short question as he came to a stop, turned to face the Oto Shinobi that were already charging towards the forming line of steel.
"STRONG!" The Praetorians answered as one, their Chakra covered shields held at the ready as they met the wave of flesh with steel.
Blood fell, steel sang through the air, and their shields held strong against the tide of humanity and hostility.
"FIRST! FORWARD!" The orders of the Legate were absolute in battle.
"HOO!" The Praetorians shouted as they forced their foremost wall of shields forward with a mighty effort, forced back the Shinobi that tried to stop them and clash with their blades.
"SECOND! PILUM!"
"HOO!" The second rank did not advance with the first, they drew back ever so slightly as their sword was replaced with one of the many pilum each could summon to their hands. They surged forward, plunged the Chakra laden shaft and blade through the narrow gaps that appeared between the shields of their brothers.
Bullets of Chakra raced forward, forced the Otogakure Shinobi gathered before their shields to jump away, escape from certain death. They threw a hail of shuriken, unleashed a myriad of different attacks in bolts of lightning, fireballs, bullets of wind, shard of stone, and torrents of water. They unleashed all they could against the might of the Orange Legion, against the wall of steel that seemed unwilling to bend in the slightest. Already the gaps were closed, the pilum withdrawn, and shield and sword once more in hand.
"SHIELDS!" The first row slammed their shields into the ground, spikes ripped down from below to lodge it in place. Above them other shields settled as they hunched over. The spikes there were released, driven into their place above their heads. More joined them, a ceiling of steel appearing above their heads in little more time than it would take one to blink their eyes.
The entirety of it was wreathed in Chakra, turned into an impenetrable defense.
The world rocked when the barrage of attacks met the shields of the Praetorians and they refused to yield.
"Keep attacking!" The voice of who had to be the leader yelled his command, rushed through the needed hand signs before releasing a stream of fire from his mouth. His subordinates did not hesitate to follow him, unleashed enough power with their combined strength to create only destruction for their foe. "Don't let up for a second!"
The wave that held the fury of all five Nature Transformations roared forward, slammed into the shields that did not yield as those that held them would yield to nothing.
Explosions rocked the ground, spikes of earth slammed into the shields, fire crashed and burned all it managed to touch, water aimed to flood and drown the Praetorians that stood unflinching before the wave. Bolts of lightning were unleashed only to strike against the barrier of Chakra that encompassed the impenetrable barrier of shields.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" The voice came from behind them, the smoke drifted across their feet.
Those in the rear turned too late to stop the descending steel.
Blades cut them down and pilum that burned bright with the blue glow of the Chakra that engulfed them ripped through their bodies, death taking them abruptly from the mortal coil.
"What the hell?" The leader of the Otogakure force that had targeted those unable to fight turned, looked at the full Century that appeared without warning behind him. He spotted the Centurion that must had been responsible just before a blade of Chakra nearly took his head from his shoulders if he hadn't ducked in time. "How did they get behind us?"
"FORWARD!" With their concentration devoted to their attack gone, the wave of destruction had let up. The remnants were tossed aside by the shields as the locks that kept them in place were released.
The Uchiha was the first to charge forward, his shield left in the ground with so little time to make use of this opportunity. The rest of the Praetorians that had made up the front line charged forward with their blades in hand, the rest threw the pilum forward before drawing their swords from their sides. Chakra roared down the blade, created an azure flame that cast death's pale light on their foes as they attacked the Otogakure Shinobi that faced a grim fate from two fronts.
The commander of the strike force sent to lay waste to Konoha's civilian populace narrowly lifted the weapon in his hand to stop the lethal blade of Sasuke from cleaving off his head. The Uchiha pushed forward, nearly pushed his foe off his feet, and leaned in close to him. Their eyes met and his opponent was the first to look away.
"Is this all you could manage for Caesar's Legion Mizuki!" Sasuke grinned as his foot kicked the former Chunin and now Missing-nin away. "I heard that you once saw yourself to be a foe worthy of Caesar himself but this is all you can do?"
"You damn brat!" Mizuki threw his giant shuriken forward and Sasuke sneered as he batted it aside with the flat of his blade. The pair of wire strings behind it were immediately severed by the Uchiha and Mizuki cursed as he unsealed a second giant shuriken before throwing that one as well.
"Is this all you can do?" Sasuke didn't bat away the projectile this time. He sent a razor sharp blade of Chakra forward and cleaved through it with a grin on his face. Mizuki immediately backpedaled, hardly avoiding death as the arc of Chakra soared past him and buried into a building off to the side. "How pathetic is the force of Otogakure to send someone like you to lead their men? Are you truly the strongest among these weaklings that they chose you to be leader?"
Sasuke was suddenly in front of the former Chunin and he didn't bother with a blade. No weapons were needed when the gap between the Uchiha prodigy and the Missing-nin was so great.
He simply backhanded the former teacher away, a grin still on his face.
Mizuki crashed into the ground but was up on his feet quick enough to avoid the halfhearted swing of Sasuke's blade against his back. He summoned another pair of giant shuriken to his hands and threw them forward without another moment wasted.
He took the chance, as Sasuke deflected one of the large projectiles into the other, to take in the state of his allies.
Most of them were dead. All of them were going to die. The Praetorians were closing in around him, forming an ever shrinking circle he wouldn't be escaping from if he remained any longer.
He made his choice.
"I'm not dying here!" The disgraced Academy Instructor rushed through the hand signs he needed, bit his thumb for the blood sacrifice, allowed the dark power from the mark on his arm to power a technique he could never hope to pull off with his own Chakra, and slammed his hand on the ground. "KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!"
Smoke enshrouded his form, hid him away.
Hissing filled the air just before a massive brown snake lashed out from the smoke. Its jaws were open, venom dripped from razor sharp fangs able to bite through any armor, pierce any defense, and strike the flesh that lay underneath. Its cavernous maw was open wide, more than enough to swallow any foe whole.
The Uchiha saw it coming, the sudden powerful Chakra drawing his Sharingan to it, and he sidestepped the attack with little difficulty. In the next moment he surged Chakra down the blade and swung down.
The serpent was beheaded with pitiful ease. It was clearly nothing but a distraction. A glance was spared to where the once Konoha Shinobi should be and it showed nothing but a hole in the ground where he once stood like a lamb brought to the slaughter. His eyes searched the ground but the man was clearly proficient in Earth Release. He was traveling too fast too far to be caught.
He also made ample use of the tunnels beneath their feet when his Chakra was too low to continue.
"The coward flees." Sasuke returned his blade to his side just as bodies began to descend from the rooftops, those slaughtered above them finally falling and letting their blood spill across the ground with the rest of the fools that had tried to match the might of Caesar's Orange Legion. "I should have expected him to be a master of running away."
He began to follow the trail. The Centurions and their Centuries silently formed up behind him and began to march behind the slow walking Legate. They knew he was in no hurry to squish an ant. With a glance to two of the five Centurions that stood in the front rank, two centuries of Praetorians were left behind to continue guarding the shelter.
"Tenten…" Within the shelter, Lee finally found his injured teammate. He fell to a knee and his fist nearly shattered the ground when it struck. "I made a promise to you when we walked to the stadium and I intend to fulfill it. Gaara will pay for what he did to you, for every drop of your blood he spilled I will do the same to him!" He looked up to Tenten and his eyes blazed with fire. "But now I will not stop with simply breaking his body, I will take his life from him for what he did to you and for what he intends to do to the village I have sworn to protect with my life! If it doesn't upset you, please let me fulfill this new promise!"
"You don't have to ask Lee." Tenten winced but reached out and laid a hand on Lee's shoulder. "I would do it myself but…"
"There is no need to speak of such things Tenten." Lee didn't bow his head at the memory of his teammate's future away from the career she had strived to have for so long, he didn't look at her with eyes filled with pity or speak pointless words of apology. Fury burned in his eyes, a thirst for vengeance burning like the sun. "I will not allow Gaara to escape what he has done. He will pay with his life or I shall die trying."
"Don't end up dying for me Lee." Tenten pulled and Lee followed the rather weak gesture. Her strength was still far from what it used to be. "I know you want vengeance but…don't waste that passion for me. I'll get it myself one day. You can go ahead and beat Gaara senseless but I still want to kill him some day. I don't care if it takes a hundred years, I'll end him for what he did to me. Nothing's going to stop me from getting MY revenge."
Her promise spoken to her teammate, the fledging weapon master pulled Lee up to his feet.
"In the meantime, you go out there and do what you do best. Show him what a Taijutsu master can do when someone is stupid enough to stand still like that."
With words such as those spoken, Lee didn't smile or offer her a thumbs up. He gave a wordless nod as he turned away.
He raced out of the shelter, a flash of green that did not escape red and black eyes as it raced past him.
A grin split his face before he wordlessly dismissed his force, sent them to attain glory in the battles that raged through the streets of Konoha, as he took off in pursuit of the student of the Green Beast.
Not too far from them actually, the Green Beast of Konohagakure flew through the air from a blow from the transformed Jirobo.
'It looks like two isn't enough.' He recovered and focused.
"Third Gate, Gate of Life, Open!" His skin turned red and his speed increased, his striking power became greater, and the Green Beast of Konoha became that much fiercer with another of his limits broken through.
"Again with this!" Sakon was upon him, his two armored hands joined above his head. He likely aimed to crush his skull with his enhanced strength only for Guy to strike fast and first, a powerful kick throwing Sakon into the air.
Jirobo arrived a moment later, his hands moving through the necessary seals to unleash an Earth Release technique, and Gai delivered a single solid blow to the durable Shinobi's stomach in less time it took for the dirt from his arrival to rise from his feet.
He was sent flying down the street, crashed through numerous buildings, and wasn't in sight any longer.
"The hell did this guy do?" Tayuya waited near Kidomaru, the two merely observing as half of their team was laid to waste ahead of them. Sakon was still flying higher and higher into the air and Jirobo was out of even Kidomaru's sight at this point and showed no signs of stopping. "How is he so strong?"
"The Eight Gates…" Kidomaru's voice was a near whisper. His changed face was suddenly pale. "I had heard he could pull it off but…seeing that power in action is different."
"The fuck are you talking about?" Tayuya would have yelled her question at him in any other situation but not the current one. She didn't know exactly what had Kidomaru afraid of the oddly dressed Jonin but she knew better than to draw any attention to them.
He had just demolished their two close range fighters.
"The Eight Gates…pure physical enhancement and limit release. It's like a cheat code. That guy is a Taijutsu master to pull that off." Kidomaru pulled back, drew back into the shadows. "I'm not fighting that freak of nature if he's really got something like that under his belt."
"You're fucking running?"
Tayuya only received a look of disbelief from the six armed man.
"Staying here is game over. We can't beat this guy."
Both felt as if eyes were burrowing into the back of their heads.
A glance behind them showed it to be true.
Guy didn't give either a chance to react to his sudden appearance behind them, striking out at Tayuya with a simple and straight blow that threw her away from Kidomaru, sent her crashing across the street. The blow had knocked her unconscious before she hit the ground. Kidomaru's body was rapidly covered in golden armor, it spreading in little more than a blink of an eye.
It was far too slow.
Guy struck him in the chest with a kick far faster than the Spider Sticky Gold Armor could properly form and harden. He was ripped from his web, ripped from the shadows he had concealed himself in, and went sailing through the air. Guy pushed off of the thread he had perched on before it fully snapped from Kidomaru's abrupt flight ripping through it and beat him to his next destination, his impact shattering the wall but he was already pushing off of it and launching himself forward. His next blow slammed into the six armed Shinobi, blood flew from his mouth as he was folded in half by the blow while still reeling from the first. Guy gave him no time to recover before he was sent crashing into the street with an overhead blow.
Kidomaru hit the ground and cratered it, his battered body bouncing back up from the ground from the impact before falling just as quickly as it had risen.
Guy appeared next to the crater before it fully finished forming.
He spared a glance towards where the Ichibi was thrown onto its side by a shining blade of blue Chakra, where he saw an island of Gold Dust hang high above the stadium that housed the Hokage and so many others.
His battle may have been won but the war for the village was not yet over.
He rushed off to join them.
The Green Beast would not find rest until all of the invaders of his home had been destroyed.
AN: I originally thought of this chapter as something else entirely: Actually write out the trip to the shelter. Decided against it. Also threw in Guy again and finished up his fight with the Sound Four.