Sealing Salientia - Chapter 50: Showdown - Author: PenSmoke
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor make any profit from writing this.
Trigger Warnings: This chapter has violence (graphically described).
Previously on Sealing Salientia: And he would protect it. If needed, even from his former sensei.
Rain Country
Monday, January 1, Year 75
The soggy mud squished into his sandals for the umpteenth time, the cold wet sludge mixing between his toes making him unconsciously shiver in disgust. What he wouldn't give for a pair of closed toe boots right now to continue the soggy trek through the flooded fields.
He cursed mentally for not having thought to unpack as they were about to cross the border. It would have taken a minute then. He could have sorted through his backpack and looked for a pair in his spare supplies that were sealed up, he knew one was in there somewhere. However, he didn't have the time to do that anymore.
Not five minutes ago, his team had spotted ninja approaching from the north, what looked like a large group coming down from the Hidden Stone village. Seeing that group outside of their borders instantly put him on alarm, as that would likely mean that they had seen the meteor too and were there for the very same reason. Gama Team had pulled a quick stealth maneuver and were now tailing the group. Jiraiya had ensured that Senta called in this most recent development.
The radio earpiece crackled to life as Senta received his report back. "Toad, orders are to ignore enemy ninja, head towards the objective. If enemy ninjas are going to objective, intercept if possible."
Jiraiya sighed. "Copy," was his only response. He could already tell by the enemy team's trajectory that they were going in the direction of where this meteor had crash-landed. He guessed it was a foregone conclusion. There wouldn't be many other reasons for Hidden Stone to be down in this area, as the uneasy truce that Hanzo the Salamander had earned with his battle prowess had held for many years.
The group stayed about a half mile back from the other ninja, attempting their best to stay hidden while keeping them within sight range. As the group traveled at high speeds, they noticed more and more signs of the shockwave having blasted through the area with more and more power. Rice paddies lay flattened with the entirety of the plants lying flat against the surface of the water. Dirt and mud could be seen blasted out through various holes along the roadways. What few trees grew in the area, mostly swamp cedar and jackpine, were splintered where they stood. A particularly tall pine had the bark stripped clean off, the bright white wood underneath striking a stark contrast to the muddy surfaces everywhere else.
Without warning, the group in front of them disappeared from view, dropping below their viewline. Jiraiya quickly called for a halt to ensure that they hadn't been spotted. When the enemy didn't immediately come charging back at them, they proceeded carefully up ahead.
Right where the Hidden Stone team had fallen out of sight was a crater, smack in the middle of what used to be a farm field. The field itself was torn up and completely destroyed from whatever impact had occurred. Wisps of smoke still rose as the semi-permanent drizzle seemed to evaporate upon contact. Chunks of sod and pebbles were strewn hundreds of feet out from the edge of the crater, causing a sheen of brown mud to cover everything under the early morning sun.
Jiraiya peered over the edge of the crater, hand resting on his hip matrix in case of any issues. He could see several people milling around near the center of the crater. All had the metal plate of the Hidden Stone village affixed somewhere on their body, signifying their allegiance. They appeared to be discussing the site and what to do next.
The toad sage considered if he should use a technique to help him spy or simply try to eavesdrop on the group, when the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He quickly jumped up and back, over the outstretched pair of hands that attempted to snatch his ankles from the earth. He looked up into the crater in time to watch the figures crumble into piles of earth. Clones. Damnit.
As he was in mid-air, the earpiece crackled to life again. "Shit! Company! 3 and 9 o'clock!" Calculating the trajectory that he leapt back at, he had planned to land near the rest of his team. But, if his team was under attack, it was probably not the best idea to land smack dab in the middle of whatever trap the enemy had concocted. He tapped out a drumbeat with his fingers and a long frog tongue shot forth towards an area several dozen feet behind where his original flight path would have landed him at. Constricting the tongue sent him hurtling past his initial drop zone, watching as the mud that he would have landed in swirled into a whirlpool that would have attempted to drag him down.
As he landed, Dragon landed beside him. "Orders?" He could spy Senta and the Uchiha off a short distance to the east, with a cadre of Stone ninja pushing them back. They appeared to be fighting back, but unsuccessful in pushing back far enough to rejoin himself and the ANBU.
Jiraiya quickly spoke, sending his words through the earpiece at the same time. "Subdue or Capture, Non-lethal only. Regroup after."
In response to his own words, a voice came drifting back along the breeze, only slightly muffled by the raindrops. "Little bugs crawling out from the woodwork think that they can spy on us?" The voice was low, likely male, and sounded gravelly and raspy with some age behind it. Jiraiya swiftly concluded that this was likely a senior jonin from Stone, which meant that there would be bad blood between him and Leaf. Any ninja from Stone that was old enough to have served in the last war was bound to have lost a friend or family member to the Leaf, and more specifically, the Yellow Flash.
Jiraiya thought to himself for a second. Perhaps that could be used to his advantage. Thinking quickly, he turned to Dragon. "Follow my lead."
He quickly crafted an illusionary technique that would distract the enemy for a few seconds. Whispering the words of genjutsu, he created a scene in which himself and his partner turned wide, frozen eyes towards to enemy, yelped out an "Oh, shit!" and beat a hasty retreat. While he doubted that the illusion would fool any veteran ninja for long, hopefully it would buy him the required time he would need to get out what he needed.
Underneath the initial genjutsu, he quickly made two clones that darted away from them in a different direction. If the enemy immediately spotted the illusion, he would likely fall for the secondary illusion layered underneath. It was what Sarutobi-sensei had always been harping on about, seeing underneath the underneath. Next, he quickly flipped off his pack and rifled through the side pockets, he grabbed the necessary tool.
He swore that he heard a gasp from Dragon as he pulled it out, though he wasn't entirely sure. He wasn't particularly focused on that at the moment. He watched as all but one of the ninja took off after his primary distraction. As he suspected, the one that had spoken up hesitated for just a half second longer. He watched as a smile broke out on the enemy ninja's face as he saw the secondary distraction go off. A sing-song voice, or at least as sing-songy as such a raspy voice could get, called out again, "I see you, little cockroaches! Time to die!"
As the fourth of the enemy ninja disappeared in pursuit, he finished his preparations by performing a Henge. The form he chose was easily pulled from memory without even a thought. When it finished, he felt a pang of heartache go through him as he looked at his arms and legs. Exactly as he remembered.
He dropped both the illusory techniques that he had in place, listening to the shout of surprise from both groups as their pursued targets disappeared. He yelled out loud in a voice that was not his own as he threw a half dozen weapons in an arc towards the other ninja. "It's been awhile since I had to crush a pebble. I had hoped not to do it again for some time. There's no challenge to it."
And in the blink of an eye, along with a crackle of thunder, Jiraiya appeared behind the older ninja that had run after his clones. He watched as the man whipped around with a worried look that quickly turned to disbelief and fear. "No! You couldn't! You're dead!"
The flashing smile of Minato Namikaze lingered on the man for a moment, as Jiraiya held the illusion firm. "The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated." The smile dropped, instantly replaced by the look of a trained killer, the way that Minato had looked when in battle. Another flash of yellow light later and he appeared next to the group of three ninja that had chased after the first illusion he had sent out. He was absolutely certain that at least one of them had pissed their pants.
The group broke without any hesitation, screaming and running back the way they came. Jiraiya thought about following them to ensure that they left, but he felt his performance had already been convincing enough. He didn't want to push his luck with someone being able to see through it. He waited a few seconds until the Stone ninja had vanished from the immediate vicinity, through some tall grass that was miraculously still standing amongst the rubble and rain.
The voice of Senta came through the radio stuck on his earlobe. "This is Mind, the enemy has broken and fled. We are clear. Returning to your…"
A loud explosion cut off the rest of the transmission, a fireball blooming in the direction that his teammates had been. Jiraiya looked up in surprise and alarm. The Stone ninja had fled in the opposite direction, he doubted that they had regained composure, circled around outside of his visual range and mounted a counterattack in such a short period of time.
A figure landed gracefully in the opening where Jiraiya and Dragon stood, as chunks of rubble rained down in the area behind him. Jiraiya very carefully ignored the red smears on several of the dirt clods as they smacked into the damp soil with sickening squelches.
In a smooth and calm tone, the much younger voice called out. Unlike the other man, who seemed to be cruel in his words, this carried the battle-hardened tone of a Shinobi who had seen and done plenty of things to earn their position. "That Shibito always was a scaredy-cat and a fool. Though, I must say that was a nice trick there. For a moment I almost believed that the Yellow Flash had returned to terrorize us all."
The man had long stringy brown hair, extending in a halo of spikes as it was pulled back behind his head, giving the man the appearance almost of a porcupine. He was wearing the standard thick gray vest of Iwagakure, with a dark brown shirt that had the left sleeve down to the wrist and the right sleeve cut off at the shoulder. On his left arm was an Iwa headband, wrapped around the bicep. In one hand, he seemed to be fidgeting with something indeterminate, his fingers rolling in a pattern that indicated he was holding an object.
"I do so hope that you weren't too attached to those teammates of yours. They seemed to be cowards as well, instantly fleeing from a battle." The man spoke of death with an ease of which disturbed Jiraiya slightly. "You can drop the illusion now, I know that you aren't that thrice-damned Yellow Flash."
Jiraiya did so, not because he was asked to, but because the subterfuge would no longer serve any purpose. His form fizzled away into his normal look, but he didn't waste any time. While holding still, he started to gather some nature chakra. This opponent had taken out two jonin level ninja with a single explosion, or so it had seemed, he didn't want to take any chances.
"Ah, good to see your face, Jiraiya of the Sannin. And how about your partner there, would you mind removing your mask?" As the Dragon-masked ANBU shook his head, the Iwa-nin replied. "Shame, I guess I'll have to blow it off to see what is underneath."
The ninja sunk into the ground within the span of the blink of an eye. Jiraiya quickly put the moment he had before the Land of Earth warrior came at them to use. Slamming his hand on the ground, he cried out "Summoning!" A large battle toad appeared, swords in hand, carrying Jiraiya and Dragon high up into the air. Jiraiya noticed a bulge appearing in the earth below and commanded his impromptu steed quickly, "Jump!"
As the toad complied with the order, another explosion happened underneath them, ripping the ground apart. Thankfully, his leap from the toad carried them up and away from the explosion radius. Unfortunately, this also revealed a problem. The other ninja that had been retreating due to Jiraiya's deception were now bearing down on them, coming up from behind where the explosives user currently was standing.
As the ten Rock ninja troops came crashing into the clearing, the man that had seemed to delight in calling the Leaf ninja cockroaches spoke first. "Good work Gari, way to flush them out! Let's get them boys!"
But then, before the rest of the Iwa shinobi could charge, the man now identified as Gari whirled on them. "You lot are a disgrace to the Iwagakure name and reputation! Running away from a battle simply because of who a person looks like! You're all cowards. I formally accuse all of you of desertion and dereliction of duties."
The other men instantly became agitated and looked at him wide-eyed. The man who had spoken first, spoke again. "But Gari, we're still here! We're still fighting."
Gari disappeared from his current spot and appeared in a flash of speed in front of the other man. It was obvious that there was a height difference, as the spiky hair towered over the sleazy ninja. Gari reached down and grabbed the other by the collar, lifting him high in the air, feet dangling off the ground. The smaller man began kicking futilely.
"You, Shibito. You are the worst of them all. Throwing crass insults and attempting to torture anyone weaker than you into submission." By now the larger man had moved his hand to wrap around Shibito's neck, squeezing firmly. The smaller mans eyes bulged out, much like many of the rest of the squadron that flanked them. "Not only that but laying down prostrated in front of the upper echelons to gather power and prestige. I've dealt with you and your kind for long enough." The arm tensed as something seemed to form underneath the sleeve and head out towards the hand that was grasping the neck of the other.
Quick as a flash of lightning, the arm had extended and throw the other man into the air. A single word sounded out. "Explode." Ten explosions ripped through the air where the Iwa-nin stood, his hair buffeted wildly from the fire-pushed wind as the detonations blasted his comrades into a bloody pulp.
Jiraiya and Dragon both looked on in shock as the man stared blankly at the spot where the other Iwa-nin had previously occupied. Slowly the head turned back to them, voice carrying out over the pockmarked battlefield. "Now then. Where were we?" The voice carried no emotion whatsoever, as if exterminating 10 of his fellow shinobi during a battle with the enemy was commonplace for him. And in the blink of an eye, the man was gone again.
Dragon disappeared by his side not a millisecond later, a swirl of leaves left behind. A clang rang out from behind Jiraiya as the two combatants clashed, both having appeared within a foot of each other. The ANBU agent holding the standard issue tanto blade, where the taller Iwa-nin had steel knuckles on his fist. The figures dropped from sight again, another clang echoing around the muddy field as they clashed metal on metal a second time, this time on his right. Another clang on his left, the swirling patterns of leaves and dust from the respective Body Flicker techniques of the two was starting to fill the ground nearby.
With five more echoes of metal on metal ringing across the rain-soaked meadow, the two backed off for a second. Dragon appeared back at his side and Gari flitted back across the clearing. Dragon spoke quickly. "Go, secure the meteor. I can hold him for now."
Jiraiya had instantly recognized the successive uses of Body Flicker, determining who was most likely behind the Dragon mask. While he wouldn't trust many with being able to handle a man who had easily just killed 12 chunin or jonin level shinobi within moments, this particular individual could probably handle himself. He nodded his assent and left Dragon to handle the explosives expert.
He teleported over to the edge of the crater using the Flying Thunder God technique, as the other man was definitely fast, but not fast enough to counter that. As he reappeared, he heard more clangs along with an explosion and wished the Dragon agent luck in the fight while he secured the package. He couldn't help but shake the feeling of eyes watching him as he approached the still steaming chunk of white rock that sat in the middle of the crater.
He quickly set about doing what the mission required. Tossing a sealing scroll over the object, he hurriedly activated the sealing matrix within the paper, absorbing the foreign object into the paper, he then picked it up and tossed it into a secured pocket on his leg.
All of ten seconds later, he finished with his appointed task and scrambled up to the edge of the crater. Peering back over, he was instantly buffeted by flames and shrapnel as another explosion went off nearby.
Dragon had not been having a good day. Yesterday had finished well enough. He had completed his paperwork and hadn't had any major setbacks regarding village security during the New Year's festival. He had even had time to go out and enjoy the fireworks display as they went off over Konoha. He had been tired after having been up for almost 24 hours, but it wasn't too bad.
Then everything went to shit. A blinding light had blasted through the sky, injuring thousands of residents, including a good portion of his ninja. An emergency deployment had been called and he had been harangued into going out on this retrieval mission, even though he felt he would be of more usage back at home.
He had been travelling at a high speed for almost 7 hours to cover the several hundred miles distance that the meteor had gone after it ripped apart the sky over his hometown. He had even had to pop a soldier pill, which he was so glad he kept in his emergency pouch. Especially with Jiraiya as the group leader and an Uchiha from the police force, he couldn't afford to show any weakness. The soldier pill had revitalized him to keep going for a time but now it was starting to wear off and he could feel the sluggishness of the pills side effects kicking in.
They had been worse before. The Research department under Orochimaru had created a new version that had far less severe drawbacks and allowed people to use more than ever before, but it still could be potentially very harmful in the long term. Besides, he only had 1 left in his emergency pouch, and if he used it right now this fight, he'd never make it home without collapsing.
Ducking another punch, he realized that if he didn't take it, there was a very good chance he might not make it back home anyway. He hadn't recognized the man but it was very obvious from the fighting style that his opponent was a member of Iwa's Explosive Forces. Based on the shown behavior and obvious talent, he was likely a Captain himself, equivalent to any ANBU Captain from the Leaf.
He leapt back just in time to dodge another explosion that occurred in the dirt at his feet. This man was seemingly able to make anything explode, provided he could touch it. He had been watching the man carefully and saw the chakra feeding together in the mans' arm mixing earth and lightning chakras to create a ball of energy that went boom after a short time period. Using this knowledge, he had been able to watch when and where the spheres were formed and pushed out to avoid the blasts, but many of them only just missed him. He doubted that he had ever been more thankful for his skill with the Body Flicker technique than he was now. While the Shunshin was known to most ANBU agents and jonin, he had always practiced it excessively.
Gari disappeared in front of him, speeding towards him quickly using ridiculous speed, and Dragon had no choice but to Body Flicker to intercept yet again, and then Body Flicker back out of the way of yet another crater that formed from the newest bang.
This man was quite infuriating. Dragon was absolutely certain that if the orders were to kill, that he could take him down, but attempting to restrain a man that could create chakra-based explosives from his skin was not an easy ask. Still, he hadn't found his way to the rank of ANBU Commander for nothing.
His opponent had been bearing down on him constantly, seemingly trying to get him out of any set rhythm in order to blow him up easier. Many highly offensive taijutsu users were quite capable up close and in battle. The way that Gari's punches came raining in though told Dragon that the man was used to using hit and run tactics, get in get out and let something blow up behind him. He could use that. He changed tactics and started to go on the offensive.
Tanto flashing left and right, he threw several sword attacks, while trying to keep a perpendicular motion to where his opponent was to try and get the sword strikes to find purchase on the flank or back of the man. Each strike was met with a rapid fire clang as the blade was blocked or parried away by the plates of metal that adorned the taller man's wrists. The steel knuckles were very sturdy and obviously well practiced, considering the ease at which blows that could decapitate a person were being slapped aside.
Mind racing to think of a good plan at disarming the man, either figuratively or literally, he almost missed the earth clone that sunk into the ground during the most recent charge. As it was, the clone only managed to land a punch square into the bottom edge of the mask, instead of his chin. The hardened ceramic mask shattered on impact, sending razor sharp shards flying upwards into his face.
His hand flew up to his now bloodied face to wipe the remnants away, smearing the red liquid across his cheeks and chin. As his red eyes stared out at his opponent, he heard the chuckle.
"Shisui Uchiha of the Body Flicker. Huh, well no wonder I can't tag you with these explosives. I guess that means I'll have to kick it into high gear." Gari stated in an even pace, not a trace of panic in his voice.
Shisui could feel the tiredness in his bones, all pretense of not needing the last soldier pill that he had available was gone. He used the scant time while the other ninja was talking to rip it out of his emergency pouch on his leg and toss it into his mouth, ignoring the rush of coppery blood that came in with it. He could feel the rush of energy start speeding into his system. He straightened up a little bit and settled into a defensive pose. He would need to end this fast. Solider pills had exponentially weaker effects the more you used them, so he doubted this burst would even last a few minutes.
"Taking a pill, I see. Well, I hope you're ready then, Leaf." The man held his hands behind him while Shisui's red eyes spun furiously to try and understand what was happening, focusing on the threads of chakra that were being formed.
It looked like several of the circular explosives were being pulled into his hand. The odd thing was that he was making no movements to try and throw him away, giving all appearances as if he was going to blow himself up. But a suicide technique made no sense at this stage. The man hadn't even been hit yet, there were no signs of him being outclassed, and he didn't seem to be fond of a cowards' way out given his earlier display. Shisui waited with tensed muscles and bated breath to see what would happen next.
The explosives detonated in the bomb user's hands, just as he predicted it would. What he didn't expect was for the Iwa-nin to shape the charge into a conic projectile, blasting himself forwards at an even higher rate of speed. It was only because Shisui had the Sharingan active and was so used to processing the information as fast as reflex that he survived the foot that plowed through the space where his head was a moment ago, instead just grazing a tuft of hair rather than Gari implanting his toes deep inside Shisui's cranium.
As Shisui dropped to the ground, he watched as a small orb bounced on the ground in front of him and cursed. He wasn't going to be able to physically dodge away from this explosion, not so soon after letting gravity drop him down out of the path of the ferocious kick that had jut been placed. He flared his chakra and Body Flickered out of harm's way, yet again.
Gari was all over him the moment he appeared though, as if knowing exactly where the Uchiha was going to appear in space and at what time. Shisui had to rapidly dodge another hammerfist and a roundhouse kick as the explosive expert blasted him with a kata from a hard striking martial arts style that tried to pummel their foes into submission.
Shisui used Body Flicker again and crashed directly into an elbow that smashed into his gut the second that he appeared. As he went flying back, he watched as Gari charged at him, not relenting for a half second. Another flare of chakra, another Body Flicker and another punch waiting for him at the end of his movement. He was starting to get really pissed. Was he just that slow, or was there something he was missing?
His mind whirled with possibilities. He didn't think that the enemy had tagged him with something as he didn't feel any foreign chakra source on him. He didn't believe that the man was simply guessing where he would show up, and he dismissed the thought of pure random lucky shots too. The man clearly had some method of working out where he was heading.
This thought in mind, he focused on the man intently as he prepared to Body Flicker out of the way of an orb of explosive that was hurtling towards him. As Shisui started the high-speed movement, he caught something. Gari wasn't actually running to get to him. Instead, the man was using the mud under his feet to move him. The mud shifted in response to his chakra flare and sensed where he was going, moving his opponent to intercept while he was still going there. Gari was sensing him through contact with the ground, interpreting the tremors that his footsteps made into a calculated maneuver.
Barely blocking another steel knuckle punch with his tanto, he decided to use this knowledge for a tactical advantage. A second later, the next attack came flying in and he reacted as though he was going to Body Flicker away, but this time he purposely slowed the movements down in order to make a change. As he watched the mud underneath move in accordance with his speed, he flung his hands up to his mouth, canceling his Body Flicker halfway through and launching a Grand Fireball at the spot he was originally planning to land.
A flare of heat blasted through the area in front of him, followed by a scream of pain as the Fireball found its' target. Shisui grinned through his bloody face, he had tricked the enemy that time, hopefully slowing him down enough to the point where he'd be able to subdue to Iwa-nin.
That thought was short lived as two dozen spheres came flying through the air in a semi-circle around him. There was no chance of him surviving if he didn't get the hell out of there this instant, so he used what he had to and Body Flickered his way backwards.
The soft wet thump of a blade meeting flesh was an unwelcome sound meeting his ears, as was the blast of pain that pierced through his chest a moment later, as the kunai sunk itself into his upper abdomen. The hand holding it was blackened and charred, the cloth on it burned into the skin that was beneath it, fusing the two substances together. The skin had already cracked apart in several places from the movements of the shinobi wielding the arm and was openly weeping blood from a dozen places. The shinobi's other arm held a kunai, currently descending towards Shisui's face. Shisui grunted through the pain and performed his signature move again to get out of the way, drawing his own tanto again.
He finished his own move with the blade extended in front of him. He had been watching the ground during his movement and saw the mud flying to carry its passenger to the desired destination. He could hear the whooshing sound of the enemy blade flying towards his own head and did the only thing he could do. Moving the blade upwards, he cleanly bisected the arm of the enemy shinobi, the severed appendage dropping like a chunk of cooked meat upon the mud below.
Gari screamed with rage as his arm fell from his body and a crazed look entered his eyes. "You fucking bastard Leaf-nins. You never know when to DIE!" The other arm flew out and grabbed onto Shisui's body, the grip driven to extreme strength due to the adrenaline that must be coursing through the Iwa-nins system.
Shisui's eyes went wide, as the amount of chakra that was being pulled didn't even need the Sharingan active to see what was happening. The man was pulling every bit of chakra that he could into himself to explode as violently as he could. Before, a suicide technique made no sense. Now, not ten seconds later, it made perfect sense. Such was the life of a shinobi. One short, violent battle meant death was never more than a few seconds away.
As Gari's skin began to light up from the inside, Shisui attempted to Body Flicker away, only to find that Gari's grip was stronger than his movement. He just ended up pulling the bomb along with him. The last thing that Shisui heard before the man erupted into a gigantic fireball was the words "Atomic Blast!"
Jiraiya poked his head over the edge of the crater to see the glowing body of Gari encasing a now unmasked Shisui Uchiha, about to explode. Tapping out a furious rhythm into his opposing arm, he slammed his hands down on the ground, and yelled "Summoning, Toad Mouth Bind!" A sea of pink sticky flesh encased the targets, most of which was blasted away less than a moment later as Gari's explosion sounded off.
Picking bits of slimy esophageal tract off of his clothing just before it desummoned, Jiraiya stood up to see what was left of the suicide bomber and his intended victim. He could see a slightly scorched pile of flesh surrounding what looked to be an intact Shisui, but there was nothing left on the other side to show where the mad bomber had gone.
"Fucking Leaf bastards and your precious teamwork!" The animosity drizzled from the slightly bloody mouth of the man.
Jiraiya whirled around at the sound of Gari's voice. There was no way that he survived such a blast coming from inside his own body. Yet, there the man stood, still glowing white and looking primed to explode.
"If I want you to explode, you're going to explode!" Gari shouted as he charged at Jiraiya. "Legendary Sannin or not, I'm going to blast you Leaf scum to pieces!"
Jiraiya quickly activated his Sage Mode, the bumps on his skin smoothing out as the technique took hold, and it was just in time as well, for the man dashed with blinding speed, small trails of explosions pushing him forward. A large detonation rocked the area as Gari's body was the epicenter of another massive blast, just barely having singed Jiraiya's hair as it pulled back from the Hair Needles technique.
"How the hell are you still alive after blowing yourself up?" Jiraiya said aloud, hoping to either get an answer or to have his enemy start spouting a monologue and be able to catch him off guard. However, he only got half his wish. Gari started to speak, but also was charging him at the same time, his hand cupped behind him, working like a rocket engine to propel him forward at speeds no human muscles could recreate.
"My chakra detonates on the outside of my skin, only going outwards. It'd be pretty dumb for an explosives expert to be blowing themselves up in the middle of battle. I'd only expect that of you Leaf cowards." Gari said in-between multiple more explosions as he quite literally blasted his way towards Jiraiya.
Well, that at least answered that. The man was able to sustain a constant chain reaction of explosives for as long as he had chakra. That was a huge problem. Well, for anyone but a master in sealing. Smirking suddenly and changing directions from his previous dodging, Jiraiya spread out the palm of his chakra capable hand, each finger glowing with purple flame.
The distance between the two opponents closed rapidly. Gari lit up another explosion that flung dirt a hundred yards away, but Jiraiya had defenses against explosives. As his now blackened hair retracted just enough to expose a hand, he lunged forward towards Gari's unprotected gut. Jiraiya's hand slammed into the middle of the Iwa-nins stomach as he cried out "Five Elements Seal". Gari gurgled for a second as the seal etched itself into his skin. As the flames dissipated amongst the skin, Gari stumbled forward, body no longer glowing. He clutched his stomach, uttered one last "You fucking Leaf bastards," before tumbling forward onto the ground unconscious.
Jiraiya keeled forward for a second, quickly verifying the man was out, before dropping his sage mode. The man needed to be disposed of. Konoha didn't need word of anything getting back to Iwa that they were investigating within Rain Country. The toad sage hadn't wanted to do anything so drastic but considering the man had murdered his own countrymen without hesitation, he felt he had little choice. It would have been better if the word of the Fourth went back with the other ones that wanted to initially escape. That would have at least struck fear into their hearts and caused hesitation, or possibly not been believed at all. It was also possible that that group would have shut their mouths entirely out of shame or fear of retribution.
Now, that wasn't even a possibility. They risked an international incident, because too much had been seen. He thought about calling a toad to store the man in and bring him back to Konoha. But Gari was too dangerous to keep alive. Interrogation could never work, as the man would immolate anything nearby into hundreds of fireballs. While the Five Elements Seal would severely limit his chakra flow, it wouldn't keep it locked up entirely. And as an elite jonin, there was no way the man wouldn't figure out the weaknesses within the seal quickly.
He nudged the piece of Inoichi that was in the back of his mind. A response came soon after, questioning, "Report?"
"Gama Team reporting in. Iwa ninja were heading for meteor as well, they attempted to ambush us. We scared all but one of them off using a non-lethal technique, however the last remaining one did not flee, but instead faced us. Referred to as Gari, the man is an explosive expert. He killed ten of his own countrymen for their supposed cowardice, two members of our team, heavily injured Dragon and is currently chakra-sealed. My recommendation is that he is too dangerous to be left alive. Awaiting further instructions."
A long pause followed, stretching on for several minutes. In the meanwhile, he ensured that the Iwa-nin was completely unconscious and bound him up as best he could with rope. He knew it wouldn't restrain him through another self-igniting explosion, but it might hold him back for a moment or two.
With that being completed, he trudged through the muck that splattered the battleground to the fleshy mass that enveloped the Uchiha scion. He slowly started to pick off the bit of esophagus that had blasted into the skin of the ANBU Commander, most of the flesh had disappeared shortly after being summoned, a result of being dispelled by force. But some bits had been thrown with enough force at such close range as to practically merge with their target.
After clearing enough of his face so that he was positive the man could breathe, he tried to slowly shake the Uchiha awake, to no avail. The breathing was shallow, but stable. It seemed that there was some other reason because just getting knocked out from the blast that the man remained unconscious. He didn't know what yet, though.
At this moment, the voice spoke up in his head, Inoichi's words ringing through. "Copy. New orders are to eliminate and clean the scene as necessary. Additional information is as follows: Team Hebi had an encounter with a squad of Suna ninja coming up from the south. Team Inu had run into a squad of Grass ninja as well. There has been no report from Team Bagu since border crossing. Lastly, it appears that Team Moku has found a piece of the meteor and is currently surrounded by an unknown number of Rain ninja while attempting to retrieve it. Immediate assistance to Team Moku is requested. Bearings to follow." A series of numbers indicating distance and direction followed.
'Well shit, this day gets better and better.' Jiraiya thought, trying to keep the words hidden. To a mind reader of Inoichi's caliber, when he was already in your mind, that was night impossible.
"Yes, yes it does. Good luck Team Gama."
Grumbling both internally and externally, Jiraiya started with the obvious point. Drawing a kunai, he carefully slit the throat of the still unconscious Gari, who didn't make a sound as he passed from the land of the living into the spirit world. After that unpleasant task had been accomplished, then began cleanup of all the bodies in the area. He wasn't sure if he was grateful or not that Gari had completely blasted apart everything so thoroughly, as there was almost no cleanup of body parts necessary, most having been instantly vaporized into a red mist. Grateful because it meant less work, less disposal and less carrying of things back to Konoha. Annoyed because the man had denied any chance of the families of the fallen Leaf nin of having that measure of closure. He closed his eyes and thought for a moment.
There was a multitude of thoughts swirling in his head about how to get rid of Gari's body. He could drop it in one of the deep lakes that littered the area. That would likely hide it for a bit, but the body would float to the surface shortly after, unless weighed down by something. Or he could keep the body and turn it in for a bounty. He hadn't ever been motivated much by money though, so that didn't really have any appeal.
The next thought made him smile though. Gari would exit this world just the way he would have wanted to. Jiraiya took a small stack of explosive notes, placing a dozen on the body. He put it in the center of one of the craters, lit the time delay fuse tags, and then used a smaller version of his Swamp of the Underworld technique to submerge the body. Once the body was a few feet deep, he jumped back. A few seconds later a deep rumble bounced through the earth and a torrent of dirt and pebbles shot forth from the center. Jiraiya again noted how a large amount of the dirt was stained slightly red.
The next problem at hand came to mind though. Shisui Uchiha was unconscious and unable to defend himself. But he also had orders to try and assist Team Moku at another site. Bringing an unconscious ally into a battle area was akin to giving a someone a target to hold ransom before entering negotiations. It was exceptionally dumb. But Jiraiya was also a minimum half hour from the border at top speed, there was no feasible way to drop his comrade off in a safe location and be able to help other comrades that were maybe a couple of minutes away. He thought of the toads for a second, but he suspected they would be loathe to have a non-summoner within their realm, even if it was at his behest.
Having no better options at his disposal aside from just leaving the man on the ground, he quickly summoned a messenger toad and bade the creature to transport Shisui back to the swamps of Mount Myoboku and let him rest there. He had to make several concessions to the toad, including a jug of the expensive sake that Gamabunta liked. Upon receiving a reluctant agreement, the toad swallowed up his fellow Leaf-nin and poofed away.
With that out of the way, he quickly sat down and did a self-inspection. He hadn't had to do very much fighting, only using Sage Mode for about a minute and less than 10 chakra techniques, though two had been summons. Even then, he felt he still had more than half left in the tank and had plenty of fight in him. He mentally linked up to Inoichi again.
"Team Gama, I have secured the location and a piece of the meteor. Dragon has been secured in a safe environment. Heading on bearing mark 217 at full speed to make contact with Team Moku."
Before even waiting for a confirmation, Jiraiya patted his pouches to make sure everything was secure and charged off towards the next fight. He was completely unaware of the pair of eyes following him the entire way.
AN: Damn that was fun to write. Battle scenes are so much easier to write after having to describe constant Dungeons and Dragons battle scenes. Plus, I get to actually be in control of what happens in them!
50 Chapters! Almost 250,000 words! Hot damn! My original goal was to hit that, and it looks like I'll hit that next chapter. Can't believe how much there is left to get out of my brain too. We aren't even to the good stuff.
Naruto's first genin mission out of town will be something nobody has ever written before. The Chunin Exams will be completely original. We haven't even gotten to what Danzo is doing with all the Byakugan, Akatsuki's involvement in anything and several other things that are brand new to fanfiction (as far as I can tell).
Hope you guys enjoy it!