Chapter 45 Summary: The siege of Konoha by Orochimaru has begun and Tsunade is meeting the threat of her former Sannin teammate head-on. Meanwhile other battles rage on throughout the Leaf village, as many brave shinobi fight for their lives and their home.
Naruto vs. Sasuke: The Aftermath
Chapter 45: "The Battle of Konoha Part. 1"
As Orochimaru watched his former Sannin teammate Tsunade standing outside the main gate of the Leaf village atop her personal summons Katsuyu the Queen of Slugs, he could hear the shouts of encouragement for the blonde Hokage from the Leaf shinobi manning the walls of the village. The Snake Sannin was annoyed when he saw the great slug slither out and take a position in an empty field between himself and Konoha. The shouts of scathing rage and insults from the Leaf shinobi towards Orochimaru meant only one thing, which Kabuto commented on in a scraggily voice.
"It appears that Hisoka failed in his mission to destroy the Leaf village shinobi's morale and will to fight Lord Orichamaru. In fact, it seems to have had the opposite affect and has strengthened their will and inspired them to fight that much harder."
"A calculated rissssssk Kabuto-kun, but it doesn't matter how much bravado they show. They will all still fall before the end of the day."
"What are your orders?"
"We will still follow through with our initial battle plan. I will leave 1,000 of our shinobi in reserve at our eastern flank, while you Kabuto distribute our remaining forces to attack various locations around the village that we've already discussed. I also want you to position our siege towers at key points around Konoha and using them have some of our forces attempt to climb up and over the village walls."
"But Lord Orochimaru, our siege towers are made of wood and since we're in the Fire country, most of Leaf shinobi have an affinity for Katon jutsu's."
"Ku, ku, ku, this is true, but while they are dealing with the siege towers, this will allow you to coordinate our mangonel catapults to batter down various sections of the outer wall surrounding the village to break open new pathways for our forces to enter as well as attack the walls defenders. You will also set-up our long range trebuchet catapults to launch large stones into the village to inflict as much damage to the Leaf village property and shinobi as possible. While Konoha's forces are attempting to deal with all of our siege warfare weapons in place and attacking. You may then commence your main objective and use your snake summons to destroy a section of the wall at their rear flank and open up a second front from behind within the village."
"As you command Lord Orochimaru."
"Ssssssasuke-kun, you will take a small force of men and attack the hospital from within. Killing all of the medic nins and the wounded residing there. That will prove the crippling blow to the Leaf shinobi's morale that Hisoka failed to accomplish. Once the Leaf village has lost the ability to heal their wounded, its demise is then only a question of time. You are positive that no one knows of the secret tunnels your clan built to allow its members unfettered access in and out of the village."
"I'm positive Orochimaru-sama, only a select few of the main members of the Uchiha clan even knew of their existence. I can lead a small group of our forces through those tunnels and into the village and wipe the hospital and everyone in it off the map."
"I leave it you then Ssssssasuke-kun."
"What shall you be doing Lord Orochimaru?"
"I Kabuto-kun have a date with my former kunoichi teammate the slug bitch Tsunade. And since she's so eager to fight me judging by her having the audacity and gall to ride out on Katsuyu onto the battlefield and face me, who am I to disappoint her. Today will be the end of the Godaime Hokage's reign and mark the beginning of the Rokudaime's, my reign at lasssssst."
Both Kabuto and Sasuke bowed in respect to the Snake Sannin before leaping off to begin their respective tasks and missions for the invasion, as Manda with Orochimaru perched atop his head grinning wickedly slithered forward towards Tsunade followed closely behind by 100 of his strongest Sound shinobi.
Tsunade gave a mirthless chuckle and shook her head sadly at remembrance of her youthful foolishness of once having a crush on this embodiment of evil approaching her on the slithering snake summons Manda. She wondered why she had been so blind to not to recognize his wickedness or appreciate Jiraiya's nobility and goodness during that same time. It was one of the Slug Sannin's most damning regrets of how she treated both of her Sannin teammates when they were younger.
As Tsunade's thoughts turned to the Toad Sage and the man she loves, a single tear rolled down her cheek. The blonde Hokage feared she would never see him again after today and that thought made her heart ache. For as much as Tsunade wanted to believe that she could defeat Orochimaru on her own, she knew deep down only Jiraiya was capable of doing that. All she could do was silently pray to Kami that he would be benevolent and allow this foolish old woman one more chance to make things right with the people she loved. Tsunade was broken out of her musing's by the mocking lisping voice of her ex-teammate calling out to her while his men took up position on each side of Manda.
"How nice of you to greet me in person Tssssssunade, it ssssssaves me the trouble of having to search for you before I kill you."
"Hmph, I promise you'll find completing that task very difficult and painful for you to accomplish!" Tsunade snorted with defiance.
"Perhapssssss, but it will be accomplished, that I can assure you!"
As the two Sannin glared at one another from 100 yards apart, Tsunade noticed all the Sound shinobi flanking Manda on both sides and commented with derision.
"What's the matter Orochimaru, afraid to face me on your own?"
"Ku, ku, ku, Tssssssunade-hime, you misjudge me these men are merely here to insure that things don't get out of hand between ussssss."
"You mean if you've underestimated me and I begin to kick your scaly ass all over this field!"
"Well, if you have a problem with them being here, why don't you do something about it?"
"Very well, I shall!" Tsunade replied with a smirk before snapping her fingers and in a puff of smoke 12 of her most skilled Jounin and Tokubetsu (special) Jounin suddenly appeared in front of her.
The blonde Hokage looked on with pride as her shinobi took up flanking positions on each side Katsuyu. On one side was two-thirds of the original Ino-Shika-Cho trio with the Jounin Inoichi Yamanaka and Shikaku Nara commanding Tokubetsu Jounin Ibiki Moreno, Ebisu, Aoba Yamashiro, and Raidou Namiashi. On the other side stood the Jounin Might Guy and Shiba Aburame commanding Tokubetsu Jounin Genma Shiranui, Yuugao Uzuki, Hamaki Mimura, and Tsume Inuzuka along with her wolf familiar Kuromaru. Orochimaru gazed upon all the Leaf shinobi ready to do battle and commented with contempt.
"A dozen against a hundred, you must be getting senile Tssssssunade."
"Not really, I just remember what a lousy teacher you were in the past. So I'm quite confident that the strength and skills of these 12 shinobi far exceeds those of that motley crew you currently have with you. By the way, where are your two favorite pets, the Leaf village traitors Kabuto and the Uchiha brat?"
"They have their own missions to complete within the village and are currently unavailable. Sssssssomething you should be quite thankful for sssssslug queen. For if they were here; they would make short order of your dirty dozen shinobi."
A brief visage of concern flashed across Tsunade's face, as the blonde Hokage wondered what the two protégé's of Orochimaru might be up to. It was surely no good, if the Snake Sannin didn't feel the need to keep them there to guard him. Tsunade was broken out of her pondering when she heard her former teammate shout out with impatience.
"Enough of thisssssss we're wasting time! Sound forces remove the Hokage's pestssssss then join with your brethren in taking this village!"
"Shinobi of Konoha, show this lisping fool of a traitor how overmatched his pathetic rabble are in comparison to you! And remember, take no prisoners!"
Both Oto and Konoha's forces leapt off in various directions and engaged in furious battle. While the two great summons and their Sannin riders approached each other to do the same, as Orochimaru commented with mirth.
"No prisoners, you've gotten quite bloodthirsty over the years."
"No, it just took you to bring it out of me. After that stunt you tried to pull with the women and children in the safety shelters. It angered me enough to realize that the only good Oto shinobi in this battle is a dead Oto shinobi. I do have to thank you. That loathsome act enraged all of my shinobi forces and ignited the will of fire within the Leaf village that Sarutobi-Sensei always taught to us and provided just the motivation needed to destroy you once and for all!"
"Bah, the will of fire is a joke and Sarutobi-Sensei was a fool! And so are you if you continue to believe that drivel he preached. I will see you in chains or just kill you before I raze this village to the ground and there's nothing you can do to sssssstop me!" Orochimauru spat with bile and disgust.
Manda then struck forward at Katsuyu, its gaping jaw wide open and one could see the poison dripping off its massive elongated fangs. Tsunade saw the great reptile lunging towards her and Katsuyu and shouted out.
"Katsuya, Zetsushi Nensan!" (Tongue Tooth Sticky Acid)
The massive slug summon Katsuya instantly directed a concentrated spray of sticky burning acid at the behemoth serpent. Seeing this Manda immediately dove underground before the scorching acid could strike him. Both Tsunade and Katsuyu scanned the surrounding area intently looking for any sign where the snake summons might emerge. Suddenly the ground behind them began to violently shake and the blonde Hokage turned around to see Manda erupt from the ground in a vertical leap and quickly wrap its coils around Katsuyu's body. Tsunade looked up to see Manda's mouth wide open and descending upon the great slug its fangs glistening in the sunlight. Transferring a massive chakra infusion into her legs, the buxom blonde Hokage leapt straight up into the air rising above Manda and Orochimaru who looked on in surprise, as she shouted out.
"Tsuuten Kyaku!" (Bruising Sky Leg)
Tsunade then brought her leg crashing down from high arc to which Orochimaru was barely able to leap away in time lest it struck him with murderous impact. Unfortunately for Manda, he was not as lucky as the downward thundering kick struck the nasal crest of his skull and slammed the upper portion his jaw closed before it could grasp onto Katsuyu. The Slug Sannin then yelled out to her personal summons.
"Katsuyu, Dai Bunretsu Zetsushi Nensan!" – (Slug Great Division Tongue Tooth Sticky Acid)
A moment later the enormous slug summons burst apart into thousands of smaller slugs all of which immediately latched onto the coils in various places on the mighty snake summons and began spewing forth its fiery acid. Manda let loose a shrieking hiss and began writhing on the ground in immense pain as the acid burned its way through its scales.
"Hissssssssssssssssss, curse you Orochimaru! You told me I would be facing that fat amphibian Gamabunta, not the gastropod mollusc Katsuyu! It is beneath me to face such a disgusting opponent! I will not stay to battle that hideous slimy monstrosity any longer!"
Manda then shed his outer layer of skin detaching himself from all of the slugs before disappearing in a plume of smoke, while the multitude of Katsuyu slugs moved off to help defend the village before its limited allowable time in the world of the living ended. The Snake Sannin cursed Manda's retreat, but before Orochimaru could ponder the untimely exit of his summons any further, he once again was forced to leap away, as Tsunade had brought down another Tsuuten Kyakuonto his position. Looking back the Snake Sannin was silently impressed by the size of the impact crater that now existed where he had been standing only moments before. It was then Orochimaru heard his former teammate shout out in frustration.
"Come here and fight me you slithering asshole! Or is running away all you're good for anymore?"
Orochimaru scowled as he didn't appreciate the tone of Tsunade's voice or the insult hurled his way and decided to use the blonde Hokage's very words against her.
"I've never runaway Tssssssunade, only you have! A few months after the death of your lover if recall correctly. I was always curious why you waited so long to leave? Not that I cared when you did depart, but it was delicioussssss seeing how much pain and suffering it caused that fool Jiraiya after you left!"
Tsunade paused a moment, as the sad memory of her leaving that simple two-word note next to Jiraiya as he slept and skulking off into the night abandoning him and their son flashed through her mind. Orochimaru saw his words had the desired affect he wanted when he saw the Slug Sannin pause and quickly lashed out with his elongated flexible tongue. In an instant the pliable muscle was wrapped around Tsunade's throat and began to choke her. However, before the Snake Sannin could strangle his former kunoichi teammate completely, he suddenly found himself flying through the air towards her. For instead of trying to rip the slimy appendage off of her throat, Tsunade simply grabbed it and forcibly yanked Orochimaru off of his feet and rocketing towards her to be met by a monstrous fist to his pale face. The impact of the blow crushed Orochimaru's skull and his tongue released its grip before it sent the Snake Sannin skidding and tumbling over the ground for nearly a hundred yards.
Tsunade glared with disgust and frustration when her former Sannin teammate came to a halt before looking up and grinning at her as two hands appeared from within him and pulled aside the broken jaws inside his mouth. Orochimaru then emerged from said mouth, as he cast off the skin of his former body with his new body bearing no damage from the blonde Hokage's attack. Before Tsunade could even ponder how Orochimaru had developed such an inhuman ninjutsu regeneration technique she heard him hiss menacingly.
"Mandara no Jin Jutsu!" (Myriad Snake Net Formation Technique)
Suddenly a torrent of serpents erupted from the Snake Sannin's mouth, as the wave of slithering serpents rose up and began slithering towards Tsunade at an ever-increasing speed. This twisting winding mass of reptiles then opened their mouths to reveal Kusanagi blades in them. Acting hastily before she was skewered by all of these blades, Tsunade called out while flashing through a series of hand seals.
"Doryuu Heki no Jutsu!" (Earth Style Wall)
The buxom blonde Hokage then exhaled a deep breath and began spewing forth a line of mud onto the ground. The mud quickly grew into an immense wall in front of her at which point Tsunade infused a massive charge of chakra into the earthen barrier. She then reared her fist back and delivered an earth-shattering punch to the wall shattering it completely and sending thousands of chakra infused projectiles hurtling towards the oncoming wave of fangs and blades. Upon impacting the oncoming reptiles the earthen shrapnel made quick work and destroyed all of the snakes. Both Orochimaru and Tsunade glared at one another, each one panting from the exertion and toll their fight was taking on them.
" A clever tactic using the old monkey's techniques in combination with your own Tssssssunade!"
Tsunade just grinned at her ex-teammate in silent acknowledgment of their departed teacher.
"It matters not; I know all of the techniques of that pathetic old fool and many more! So I would wipe that condescending smirk of your face, this fight is far from over!"
"You are so right about that!" Tsunade replied in earnest agreement, as the two Sannin charged at one another to resume their epic battle.
"Please Otou-san come on; we've got to get to the shelter!" Ayame Ichiraku pleaded to her father, as he was nailing the last plank of wood onto his restaurant to barricade the establishment from intruders.
"Alright Ayame-chan I'm just about done. I still say we should stay and protect the restaurant."
"It's just a restaurant, I'd much rather see us survive then it."
"But it's all we have."
"I don't care and it's not all we have, we have each other and that's more important than any building we work in. Now come on, we should have gone to the shelter yesterday like everyone else. I still can't believe I let you talk me into keeping the restaurant open for this long!" Ayame griped with irritation, as she dragged her father away from the ramen eatery.
"But think about all the money we've made the last 24 hours. With all the other places to eat closed, we were the only restaurant still open and able to feed all the shinobi getting ready to defend the village."
"I don't care about all the money we made because we can't very well spend it if we're dead."
Just then a high-pitched screaming sound came rushing over their heads and Teuchi swiftly pulled his daughter to the street and covered her body with his own. A second later a thunderous crash erupted behind them as dirt and debris exploded into the air. After a minute, as the dust began to settle, both Ichiraku's tentatively rose from the ground and gazed behind them.
"Nooooooooooooo!" Teuchi mournfully wailed at the sight before him.
Ayame was also saddened at the sight in front of her. Where once stood their simple little ramen restaurant had now been completely obliterated and reduced to rubble by a massive stone projectile. Before either of the Ichiraku's could mourn the loss of their business any further, eight Otogakure shinobi suddenly appeared around them with weapons drawn, as one of them snidely commented to his comrades.
"Bah, what a waste, it's just some old man with his daughter not a Leaf shinobi!"
"Yeah, but the girl isn't bad looking. We can kill the old man and have some fun with the girl before we move on." Another Oto shinobi remarked, while casting a leering look up and down Ayame's body.
A second later said shinobi suddenly found his head rolling off his body, courtesy of a meat cleaver that Teuchi now held in his hand along with a large butcher knife in the other, as he suddenly engaged in battle the other seven Oto warriors. Ayame looked on in awe as her father ducked and weaved like a seasoned shinobi around the kunai and various swords and weapons the enemy ninja were using in trying to take down Teuchi. The ramen chef had managed to kill another Oto shinobi and severely injure a third one before he was finally taken down by a sword slash to the back and held in place by the five remaining ninja.
"Kami damn you old man! That guy you just killed was my best friend. I'm going to take great pleasure in killing you, but first I'm going to make you watch while I have some fun with that scrumptious little daughter of yours over there!" An Oto shinobi named Ginjiro spat with bile and vengeance before reaching to undo his belt, as he walked over towards Ayame before a voice bellowed out.
"Gatsuuga Style!" (Dual Piercing Fang Taijutsu Technique)
Everyone looked over to see two identical young men who sported red triangle markings upon their faces begin to spin rapidly and leapt to attack the surprised Otogakure shinobi. The Oto nin's suddenly found they were ill prepared to combat the fast rotation of their two attackers, as they were bombarded by multiple impact claw strikes to their bodies. Kiba and Akamaru heightened their confusion by repeatedly switching off opponents and striking from multiple angles. Then in an instant the rotating duo stopped, as Kiba had thrust with full force his right claw deeply into one Oto shinobi's chest. While the Akamaru/Kiba clone had sunk his teeth into another Oto nin's throat. As Kiba tore his arm out of his enemy's chest, and Akamaru ripped out the others throat, they both were showered in a spray of blood before the Oto nin's fell to the ground in a heap.
"Haru, Kenta! Form up on my position!" Ginjiro shouted out in a panic to his two remaining comrades.
When Ginjiro received no reply he quickly scanned the area and found Haru and Kenta writhing on the ground with a multitude of bugs crawling all over them. It was a sickening sight, as the insects filling their mouths and lungs were choking off their screams. Ginjiro decided he needed a hostage if he was going to survive and quickly turned around to grab Ayame. A second later Ginjiro unleashed a high-pitched scream and looked down to see that Ayame had retrieved her father's butcher knife and thrust it into his groin.
A look of terror spread across the Oto warriors face when Teuchi suddenly rose up in front of him, his cleaver poised to deliver another deadly strike. Ayame turned her head away in disgust, as her father cleaved in half the head of the Oto ninja who was going to rape her. A moment later, Teuchi collapsed to the ground, weakened by blood loss from his wound and Ayame cried out.
"Otou-san!"
Kiba rushed over and lifted Teuchi off the ground to give comfort and inspect the wound the old man had received. Meanwhile, Shino was busy finishing off the Oto shinobi that Teuchi had injured with a kunai slash across his throat as he remembered Tsunade's orders of taking no prisoners. The other Kiba lookalike transformed in a puff of smoke back to his original form of Akamaru and the canine along with Shino made their way over to Kiba and the Ichiraku's, as they heard the Inuzuka heir say with admiration.
"Those were some nifty moves you were doing old man in fighting those shinobi before we arrived."
"Indeed Teuchi-san, one can see that you've had shinobi training within your life." Shino stoically commented.
"But my father has never been a shinobi!" Ayame exclaimed with confusion.
Ayame looked to her father who turned his head away sheepishly before saying.
"We'll talk about this later Ayame."
"Well, I don't think its life threatening, but it's still a deep cut. We should probably get you to the hospital old man."
"Nonsense, just get me onto my feet and Ayame and I will get to the safety shelter ourselves. They will be able to render minor medical aid there, which is all I need. We will not hinder the both of you from protecting the village merely to escort us to the hospital."
"I don't know old man?"
"Well I know you Inuzuka pup and you will address me as Teuchi-sama not old man! I hereby order you under Shinobi Regulation Directive #9 of Subsection B as Teuchi Ichiraku retired Chunin grade level one to leave us and resume your duties in protecting the Leaf village."
"Hey Shino, have you heard of this Directive #9 Subsection whatever?"
The Aburame heir nodded his head in affirmation to his teammate who merely shrugged his shoulders and said.
"Well, I haven't so I guess it doesn't apply to me. Besides old man…uh…I mean Teuchi-sama, I can do both, protect the village and get you and Ayame to the safety shelter."
Kiba then flashed through a series of hand signs and called out.
"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" (Shadow Clone Technique)
Suddenly in a flash of light and plume of smoke two identical clones of Kiba emerged and preceded to heft Teuchi and Ayame onto their backs piggy-style much to the objections of the elder Ichiraku and the embarrassment of the other. Kiba then ordered his clones with authority.
"You guys keep these two safe and get them to the safety shelter as quickly as you can. When that is accomplished disperse yourselves."
"Right boss." Both clones said in unison, before racing off down the street ignoring the cries of protest coming Teuchi as they went."
As Kiba watched his shadow clones speed away, Shino raised his arm to activate his radio earpiece and called out.
"Shadow-one, this is Bugdog unit, do you read me, over?"
"Roger, this is Shadow-one, I read you Bugdog, over."
"Roger Shadow-one, Sector 11 is clear of rogue snakes, do you copy, over?"
"Roger Bugdog, I copy, proceed to Sector 14, I have reports of more rogue snakes, over."
"Roger Shadow-one, we'll leave at once and report our findings, do you copy over?"
"Roger Bugdog, I copy, good luck, over and out."
"Come Kiba, Akamaru, according to Shikamaru, we are to proceed to Sector 14 immediately." Shino announced to his partners.
A nod from Kiba and a bark from Akamaru signaled their understanding, as all three of them then leapt away.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered to himself as he listened in on the radio broadcasts of the various Leaf shinobi defending different areas of the village.
The battle of Konoha had been going on for almost four hours and his father's defensive strategies for the village had proven most effective, as the Leaf village forces were still holding their own. But Shikamaru could tell from monitoring all of the radio reports that slowly but surely the numbers advantage of the Oto forces were slowly taking their toll. As more enemy shinobi were starting to slip through the cracks of the village's defenses. After hearing one particular broadcast, Shikamaru quickly raised his arm to activate his radio earpiece and called out.
"Nejten, this is Shadow-one, do you read me, over?"
"Roger, this is Nejten, I read you Shadow-one, over."
"Roger Nejten, proceed immediately to Sector 08, I have reports of increased snake activity and you're needed to bolster our forces there; do you copy, over?"
"Roger Shadow-one, we copy, proceeding to Sector 08 as ordered, do you copy over?"
"Roger Nejten, I copy, good luck, over and out."
As Shikamaru broke off his connection, he then turned around to deal with the three Otogakure shinobi who had been trying to approach him stealthy from behind. Quickly flashing through a series of hand signs, the shadow ninjutsu specialist called out.
"Kage Nui Yari no Jutsu!" (Shadow Sewing Spear Technique)
Seconds later, three tendril shafts of black shot up from the Nara heir's shadow before a shocked and garbled cry and resounding grunt was heard. All three Sound shinobi had been impaled straight through by the solid beams of shadow, one through the heart, the other through his throat and the third through his forehead. As Shikamaru watched all three enemy ninja fall forward dead upon the rooftop they were all standing upon, he could only grumble with apathy before he leapt away.
"What a drag!"
As the two Kiba shadow clones arrived at one of the safety shelters at the base of Hokage Mountain, they could see several dead Otogakure shinobi littering the area. It was then they spied Iruka Umino and several other Leaf village Chunin guarding the entranceway to one of the tunnels. Rushing over with Teuchi and Ayame still on their backs, they called out to the academy instructor.
"Iruka-Sensei, over here!"
Iruka heard his name shouted and looked up with confusion, as he saw a pair of Kiba's running towards him carrying two people."
"K-Kiba?"
"Shadow clones Iruka Sensei. We've brought two civilians to the shelter sir; one of them requires medical aid." Both clones stated in unison.
"Teuchi and Ayame Ichiraku, what happened?" Iruka exclaimed in surprise, as he recognized the pair immediately.
"No time to explain right now Iruka-san, just please get my daughter into the shelter at once." Teuchi quickly replied, while grimacing in pain from his wound.
"Yes, yes of course, bring them this way."
As the two Kiba clones began to move, suddenly two Sound shinobi appeared in the air above them ready to strike down onto the Ichiraku's. Both clones immediately shrugged off their passengers and jumped up while stabbing their claws into the chests of their would-be attackers. However, one Oto ninja was able to stab one of the clones with a kunai dispelling it in a puff of smoke before he died. While the other clone landed neatly onto the ground and immediately went to check on the well-being of Ayame.
"Are you alright Ayame-chan?"
"I, I'm fine Kiba-kun." Ayame answered while slightly blushing, as she grasped the clone's outstretched hand helping her get to her feet.
"My master will be glad to know that. Iruka-Sensei, I leave these two in your capable hands." The Kiba clone replied, before pulling out a kunai and stabbing himself to disperse into the air.
As Teuchi leaned against Iruka for support, both he and the academy instructor heard Ayame comment with admiration in her voice, as she stared at the disappearing smoke.
"I never really noticed before, but Kiba-kun is kind of cute."
Teuchi could only groan in protest at his daughter's remark, while pinching the bridge of his nose. Iruka snickered slightly at Ayame fathers mock frustration before he ordered another Chunin to escort the family into the tunnel and take them to the safety shelter. However, the academy instructor's amusement was short-lived, when a great explosion suddenly echoed throughout Konoha. Looking to where the thunderous blast came from, Iruka noticed a great serpent arise at the rear flank of the village. A feeling of dread spread through Iruka's body, as he gazed with a look of concern towards the mighty snake summons and that area of the Leaf village.
Kabuto glared with unease, as he watched the snake summons he had conjured up smash through the rear wall of Konoha. It had taken him much longer than he had anticipated getting the siege towers, mangonel catapults, and trebuchet catapults set-up and coordinated to batter down various sections of the outer wall surrounding the Leaf village and break open new pathways for Oto's forces to enter and attack. Konoha's defenders had proven vociferous in their defense and had destroyed a significant number of the Sounds siege weaponry and killed many of their shinobi attacking the village. Kabuto could only hope that by opening up a second front, it would finally turn the tide of the battle of Konoha into Otogakure's favor, as he commanded.
"Sound forces,…attack!"
However, as the Oto shinobi began flowing into the village, a hail of kunai, shuriken, and exploding notes rained down upon them and decimated the first wave of warriors through the breached wall. Looking down from atop his snake summons to see what had happened, the white-haired protégé of Orochimaru eyes narrowed in aggravation, as he immediately recognized the woman he was now staring at on the ground below him.
The woman standing confidently in front of the ruptured wall facing off against Kabuto had light brown eyes and sported short purple hair that was pulled back into a wild-flowing ponytail. Also, her taste in attire was quite appealing as she wore a tight black fishnet mesh blouse that revealed her well developed breasts and showed off her slim figure and waistline. She also wore an attractive short copper-colored skirt that went about mid-thigh and had on white leg bracers with dark blue shinobi sandals. To complete her fashion ensemble the woman wore a tan long-coat and had her Hitai-ate tied around her forehead. Kabuto also noticed that behind the Leaf village kunoichi were about 100 Konoha shinobi placed in various defensive positions ready to repel his invading Sound forces.
Inwardly cursing to himself, Kabuto had felt for years that this woman was a bane to his very existence and someone he had always been in the shadow of during his service to the Snake Sannin. For the kunoichi before him was none other than Anko Mitarashi, the first ever apprentice and protégé of his master Orochimaru. Glaring with hate at the young woman, Kabuto spat with sarcasm as he snidely addressed her.
"Anko Mitarashi, you're looking lovely as ever. I haven't seen you since the Chunin exams. Tell me did you enjoy your reunion with Lord Orochimaru during the exam?"
"It's Anko Mitarashi Umino now you prick and don't ever forget it! Well, well, Yakushi Kabuto, Orochimaru's number one butt-buddy. Oh, but I forgot the Uchiha brat has taken that title from you now as the snake teme's favorite." Anko replied with derision.
"Sasuke has taken nothing from me you bitch! I am still Lord Orochimaru's first apprentice and protégé and will serve him faithfully always."
"Actually Kabuto, you're the second apprentice and protégé or did you forget about me?"
"I've forgotten nothing you failure. In fact I'm glad you're here, as soon as I dispose of you there will be no question who the first and only apprentice to Orochimaru-sama shall be."
"You can have the title dumb-ass; I'd just as soon forget I ever had that traitorous Sannin as a Sensei."
"Be that as it may, I will still offer up your corpse as a gift to Lord Orochimaru, but I am curious. How did you know we were going to attack the rear flank of this village?"
"Well knowing the snake-teme as the kiddy-raping butt-pirate he is, attacking from the rear is his specialty, as I'm sure you're intimately aware of."
"I shall take great pleasure in killing you slowly for daring to insult the great Lord Orochimaru. My forces and I will destroy all of you!" Kabuto fired back in indignant anger.
"Whatever, you and your men should just give up now, we have the defensive positions and you shouldn't dabble in something you don't understand like snake summoning."
"What are you talking about you whore?"
"Just this asshole, that snake you summoned, what species is it and what does it feed on?"
Kabuto paused a moment unsure of the answer before hesitantly stammering.
"I, I don't know what species it is, but it probably feeds on human sacrifices like, like Manda."
"That's why you should stick to the medical ninjutsu arts and not the snake ninjutsu arts, but a lucky guess on what it eats Kabuto, however my snake doesn't eat human sacrifices."
Anko then slammed her palm to the ground while releasing a massive amount of chakra and shouted.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" (Summoning Technique)
In an instant, a brilliant flash of light and a massive amount of smoke appeared on the ground where the purple-haired kunoichi had struck. After a moment, the smoke began to dissipate to show Anko standing upon the head of a tremendous onyx-colored serpent with bands of white going down its body staring directly across at Kabuto standing upon his own snake summons before she stated with mirth.
"As I was saying, my summons doesn't eat human sacrifices; it's a Mountain King snake. Would you like to take a guess as to what this species of snake summons does eat four-eyes?"
Kabuto remained silent, as he realized he didn't know the snake arts as well as Orochimaru's former apprentice did. However, the serpent he stood upon apparently knew what that species of snake fed upon, as Kabuto could feel it begin to quiver and start to slowly slither backwards.
"It feeds on other…SNAKES!" Anko shouted out in devious glee before leaping off with kunai drawn in both hands towards Kabuto, as her snake summons suddenly lashed out and sunk its teeth into Kabuto's summons, while simultaneously wrapping its coils around the other serpent to constrict his meal.
Kabuto also leapt off his summons and called out to his shinobi to attack, while quickly flashing through a series of hand-seals. Instantly, his hands glowed blue indicating he had activated his Chakra no Mesu or Chakra Scalpels and met Anko midair, as the battle of Orochimaru's apprentice's got underway.
"Byakugan!"
Hinata called out while activating her clans famous Kekkei Genkai to examine the wounded Leaf shinobi lying on a stretcher outside the hospital.
"Get this man inside and prepped at once for surgery at once! Inform Shizune-Sensei that ribs one through four on the left side have been broken and a jagged edge of the third rib has pierced his aorta, also ribs seven through nine are fractured as well and have caused a Pneumothorax of his left lung." Hinata ordered with authority to one of the medic orderly's assisting her.
"At once Hyuga-sama."
As Hinata watched the young shinobi get wheeled inside, she sighed and wiped a bead of sweat off of her forehead. So far the hospital hadn't been overwhelmed by casualties, which the young Hyuga girl could only take as a good sign. Admittedly Hinata wished she could be inside of the hospital and helping Shizune, Sakura, and the other medic nin's with healing the wounded. However, Shizune had entrusted to her one of the most vital posts during wartime medical treatment that of triage and Hinata would not disappoint her Sensei's faith in her to command such an important post.
In hindsight, Hinata understood completely why Shizune had assigned this crucial responsibility to her in the first place. Because of her clan's bloodline inheritance, the Hyuga girl was essentially a living breathing x-ray machine. So with her Kekkei Genkai, Hinata was able to diagnose a patient's internal injuries much more quickly than a Medic nin could using the standard chakra scan. So with this talent, she is able to determine the priority of patients' treatments based on the severity of their condition, the very heart of being in charge of triage.
As Hinata was ready to resume her appointed duties, she heard a scream from across the courtyard of the hospital where the triage center had been placed. Her eyes grew wide with shock, as she saw one of the medic orderlies fall to the ground and a Sound shinobi standing over him holding a kunai dripping with blood. Even worse was the fact that he was not alone, as the Hyuga girl saw about two dozen more Otogakure ninja entering the hospital courtyard. Instantly, Hinata threw and kunai with an explosive note attached to it at the group of invading shinobi and yelled out to the remaining hospital personnel.
"Get all the wounded into the hospital now and inform Shizune-Sensei that we are under attack!"
As the explosion of the note caused the enemy shinobi to disperse, the lavender-eyed Chunin then charged at the first Sound ninja. She nimbly ducked under the kunai swipe of the shinobi who had killed the orderly before rising up and swiftly delivered a Juuken strike to the tenketsu point of his heart killing the man. Hinata was soon joined by four other Leaf Chunin, as they all engaged the force of Otogakure ninja in battle. About one dozen of the invading enemy shinobi targeted Hinata and quickly surrounded her, as one of them said with a perverted grin.
"Take a look at this one boy's! I don't think we should kill her; she's got a body to die for! Come on honey, don't make us kill you, just surrender and we all can have some fun later on."
For her part, Hinata began to subtly maneuver herself around until the wind was blowing away from the hospital courtyard. The Hyuga girl knew she didn't have time to waste in battling these Oto shinobi and needed to take them out all at once. Fortunately, she had learned a technique to accomplish that from Shizune, but Hinata needed to make sure the ninjutsu wouldn't also harm the wounded still being evacuated into the hospital. Looking up at the leering shinobi around her Hinata smiled sweetly at them and stammered in an innocent tone of voice.
"You, you promise you won't hurt me if I surrender?"
"You got my word on it baby."
"O-ok."
As all the Oto shinobi converged on her, Hinata's smile disappeared when she felt they were close enough and taking a deep breath cried out.
"Doku Kiri!" (Poison Mist)
Hinata then expelled a purple-colored poisonous gas from within her body, which immediately enveloped all of the Sound ninja around her. The Hyuga girl could hear the choked cries of the Oto shinobi from inside the toxic cloud and gave a genuine smile of satisfaction when she saw the mist dissipate revealing all twelve of the enemy ninja dead on the ground before her. Their hands clutched around their throats with eyes bulging out of their sockets in a grim visage of death. Hinata looked over to see her fellow Chunin finish off the last of the Otogakure ninja they had been fighting, but it looked as though two of them had been injured in the process.
"You two take your injured comrades inside and then help getting the rest of the wounded inside as well; I'll join you in a moment."
"Hai Hyuga-sama." Both Chunin replied, before leaping away with their wounded comrades in tow.
Hinata exhaled a deep breath and took a moment to recover, as the Doku Kiri ninjutsu is a B ranked jutsu and had depleted her chakra significantly. The Hyuga girl was about to activate her Byakugan to check the area and see if there were anymore Sound shinobi lurking about. Suddenly, a pair of arms encircled Hinata around her chest from behind and gripped the girl tightly, as a voice seemingly laced with evil spoke whispered in her ear before licking her cheek lasciviously.
"Hello Hinata, I'm so glad to find you here. It saves me the trouble of having to hunt you down."
Hinata's body grew rigid with terror and she recognized the voice of the person holding her, as she stammered with fear.
"S-Sasuke!"
"No, not Sasuke!" Kurenai exclaimed in horror, as she looked out of her hospital room window and saw the traitorous Uchiha take hold of Hinata from behind.
Kurenai had awakened when she heard the explosion of Hinata's tagged kunai earlier and struggled to get out of bed to see what was happening. Upon reaching the window Kurenai saw her once timid student charge a group of Sound shinobi without a hint of hesitancy or fear and at that moment she had never been more proud of Hinata. The Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha was amazed when she saw her pupil utilize a B ranked ninjutsu to take down the enemy ninja in one swift and merciless blow. She would have to thank Shizune for teaching Hinata such deadly but effective technique for it surely saved her life on this day. However, all current thoughts ceased within the crimson-eyed kunoichi's mind when she saw Sasuke arrive and grab Hinata from behind. Kurenai could see the look of fear that appeared upon her pupils face followed by an expression of revulsion when the Uchiha licked her cheek, as she thought in a panic to herself.
'That disgusting bastard, I've got to help Hinata somehow?'
Kurenai quickly scanned her hospital room for anything that could help before her gaze fell upon a metal floor lamp in the corner. Wobbling over to grab the lighting fixture Kurenai thought.
'If I throw the lamp through the window breaking it, perhaps I can cause enough of a diversion to distract Sasuke and allow Hinata to break free from his grasp and escape.'
Just as Kurenai raised the lamp to smash her window she cried out in severe pain and dropped to her knees as the fixture slipped from her hands and fell onto the floor with a clang. Looking upwards with tears in her eyes while gripping her stomach in her arms, she cried out pleading with frustration.
"Kami no, not right now, please not now, Hinata needs my help!"
Kurenai attempted to rise to her feet before another wave of intense pain forced back to the floor where she collapsed in a heap and sobbing lamented with abject sorrow.
"I'm sorry Hinata, I promised I would always be there for you, but now when you need me the most I'm not. May Kami protect you and forgive me because I will never forgive myself if anything happens to you."
The physical and emotional strain of situation finally took its toll on the Genjutsu Mistress, as she fell unconscious, her face wet with tears.
Hinata struggled desperately to break free of Sasuke's grasp, while the Uchiha chuckled mockingly at her efforts, as he slipped a hand inside of her Chunin vest and groped one of her breasts. It was then the Hyuga girl kicked her right leg skyward and brought it nearly perpendicular with her upright body and leveled a vicious boot onto Sasuke's face breaking his nose. The Uchiha cried out in pain and released his hold on Hinata while bringing his hands up to clutch at his now broken nose. The lavender-eyed kunoichi immediately whirled around and delivered a chakra enhanced palm strike to Sasuke's chest which knocked the Uchiha back several feet before Hinata back-flipped away to put some distance between her and Sasuke. As the Uchiha shook his head to regain his bearings he gazed across at the Hyuga girl before him who immediately slipped into a taijutsu stance and glared back at him in defiance.
"Well, you certainly are a flexible little minx Hinata. That pleases me; for it will allow me to bend you into all sorts of positions as you help me to restore the Uchiha clan." Sasuke perversely commented with a sneer, as he wiped some blood from his nose.
"Like you will ever get the chance, I'd sooner die than to help you revive your despicable clan!"
"I see you're a defiant little bitch as well. I'll have to beat that out of you once we get back to Otogakure."
"You'll have to beat me just to bring me to Otogakure Uchiha-teme."
"So be it Hyuga…..Sharingan!"
"Byakugan!"
Upon their shouts activating the two most famous Kekkei Genkai's of the Leaf village both Sasuke and Hinata charged at one another each with a fierce look of determination in their eyes.
"Senei Jashu!" (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)
Orochimaru shouted, as two large snakes shot forth and extended from his sleeves at Tsunade in an attempt to bite into her to hold and bind the blonde Hokage in place. However, before the elongated serpents could sink their fangs into the Slug Sannin she deftly grabbed them both by their necks and strangled them. Tsunade then laughed as she threw the dead snakes to the ground and said with derision.
"Ha, ha, ha, you'll have to do better than that Orochi-teme!"
"Then I shall slug slut,….Senei Ta Jashu!" (Multiple Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)
In an instant, a torrent of snakes erupted from Orochimaru's sleeves to attack Tsunade. Upon seeing this, the buxom blonde Hokage quickly flashed a string of hand seals and called out.
"Karyuu Endan no Jutsu!" (Fire Dragon Flame Projectile Technique)
The Slug Sannin then inhaled a deep breath before exhaling and blowing a large jet of fire from her mouth incinerating the oncoming surge of snakes instantly. As the ashes of the serpents fell to the ground both Sannin were panting as they scowled at one another. Their battle had been going on for several hours with neither combatant able to gain the upper hand on the other. Nevertheless, Tsunade knew she would not be able to last much longer against her former teammate.
It had only been by the grace of Kami and the utilization of the ninjutsu techniques she had learned under the tutelage of her sensei Sarutobi Hiruzen that had allowed Tsunade to survive as long as she had against Orochimaru. Unfortunately, her opponent also knew all of her former teacher's techniques and how to combat them. Because of that even Tsunade's immense chakra reserves had been severely depleted during this fight. The blonde Hokage realized she needed to end this fight soon before all of her chakra was gone. The Slug Sannin did have an ace up her sleeve, which she believed would end the battle in her favor once and for all. The problem was she just didn't know how to get close enough to the Snake Sannin to use the technique.
As Orochimaru stared at his former Sannin kunoichi teammate he inwardly cursed at himself. Tsunade was proving to be much more difficult than he had originally thought she would be to dispose of. Their battle had almost been a reincarnation of his fight with their childhood Sensei Sarutobi Hiruzen at the Chunin exams. Orochimaru had not expected the Senju princess to put up this much resistance and unfortunately he had not prepared the Edo Tensei as he had with the Third Hokage, which ultimately was the technique that had helped to defeat him. Orochimaru realized he needed to end this fight soon, as Tsunade had forced him to use his regeneration technique several times to overcome the injuries he had sustained in their battle. Unfortunately, his over-use of this technique had weakened the Snake Sannin and depleted his chakra greatly.
"Give it up Orochi-teme and slither back to your den in Otogakure before you end up like the rest of your men!" Tsunade proclaimed with much bravado, as she gestured with her arms all around her.
Orochimaru gazed around him before his eyes fell upon Might Gai in the distance snapping the neck of the last remaining 100 shinobi he had sent to eliminate Tsunade's 12 elite ninja's. The Snake Sannin seethed with anger as Tsunade's assessment that the strength and skills of her twelve shinobi exceeding those of his one hundred had proven accurate. Although some of the Leaf shinobi had been injured it was still a far cry better than all the dead Oto ninja that now littered the field around the two Sannin. Just as the Leaf shinobi regrouped and were about to join Tsunade in her battle against Orochimaru, the blonde Hokage held up her hand indicating for them to stop and commanded with authority.
"Some of you get the wounded to the hospital and the rest of you join up with our forces within and help defend the village!"
"But Hokage-sama you can't…"
"That's an order Inoichi! The defense of the village is more important than helping me."
"But…."
"I'm your Hokage, do as I command! This fight is personal between my traitorous former teammate and me. I don't want anyone else interfering in it."
"Hai Hokage-sama." Inoichi begrudgingly replied, as he and the rest of the Jounin retreated back towards the village.
"A foolish move on your part Tssssssunade! With their help you might have stood a slim chance in defeating me. You sending them away has merely guaranteed your death at my hands."
"We'll see Orochi-teme, we'll see." Tsunade replied dismissively, before she and her former teammate resumed their ongoing fight once again.
As Sasuke leapt backwards narrowly avoiding a lethal Juuken strike from Hinata he landed skillfully on his feet while panting with frustration, as his Sharingan eyes glared at the young kunoichi he was fighting. It was maddening to the Uchiha that the Hyuga girl was able to fight on equal footing with him in a taijutsu battle. Everyone knew that the Uchiha taijutsu style was superior to all other styles and it was beyond Sasuke's comprehension how Hinata's gentle fist style was able to match and parry his own. It annoyed Sasuke to no end as he scowled angrily at Hinata and thought to himself.
'Who does this Hyuga bitch think she is trying to fight me? Doesn't she realize I'm an Uchiha, an elite? Her pitiful clan is nothing in comparison to mine!'
Also panting from the physical toll of the battle, Hinata eyed her Uchiha opponent warily, as she watched him glare at her. She had done well during their battle in being able to ward off his taijutsu attacks thanks to her gentle fist style of fighting. Unfortunately, Sasuke's Sharingan had proven as formidable as its reputation and had allowed the Uchiha boy to fend off all of her own taijutsu attacks. In fact their entire battle so far had been nothing but a stalemate between the two for the past half-hour. Hinata realized she needed help to take down Sasuke and it was then she remembered Shikamaru's orders and thought to herself.
'My fight against Sasuke happened so quickly, I nearly forgot about Shikamaru's plan to defeat the Uchiha-teme in case any of us ran into him during the invasion. I need to fire off my flare and bring the others here and together we can take him down once and for all.'
Hinata then reached down to her kunai holster tied to her hip to retrieve the flare, but after a moment she suddenly realized it was no longer there. Scanning the area in a slight panic she silently thought.
'Oh no, my flare must have slipped out during my fight against Sasuke.'
Sasuke gazed at his Hyuga opponent with curiosity, as he noticed she appeared to be looking for something and had taken her focus off of him. A mistake on her part, as he now saw an opportunity to end this fight and capture Hinata without injuring the girl. Sasuke hadn't wanted to damage his prize, which is why he had only utilized his taijutsu skills thinking it would be enough to defeat the girl. However, Hinata had proven much more difficult than he had originally thought she would be to capture. But now with the girl momentarily distracted, Sasuke decided to use a weapons technique unique to the Uchiha clan the Sharingan Windmill Triple Blade attack.
Sasuke quickly reached around to his weapons pouch and pulled out three large shuriken blades with wire attached to them. He then hurled the blades through the air towards Hinata and controlled the direction of the shuriken via the wires to have it encircle the Hyuga girl and with the wire to restrain her.
Hinata was roused from her carelessness of taking her attention off of Sasuke when her Byakugan alerted the Hyuga girl to the shuriken blades heading towards her. The young kunoichi noticed the wires attached to the blades as they swiftly circled around her and realized what the Uchiha was attempting to do. Flashing through a series of hand-signs in an instant Hinata's hands glowed blue showing she had activated two Chakra no Mesu or Chakra Scalpels and slashed her arms upwards cutting through the wires before they had a chance to tighten around her.
As Sasuke watched his shuriken fall to the ground he couldn't help but be impressed with the skill and strength Hinata had been exhibiting in their fight and it excited him as he commented with perverse and wicked glee.
"You've grown quite strong and skilled Hinata. I knew you would make an excellent choice to help revive my clan. Now quit fighting me and accept the honor and the privilege in my choosing you to help with such a noble goal before I have to damage that pretty face of yours."
Hinata's reply was to hurl a kunai with such speed directly at Sasuke's leering smirking face that he barely dodged it in time and rising up angrily he spat with vile malevolence.
"So be it bitch! I guess it doesn't really matter if you get damaged or not just so long as you can still reproduce. You're going to spend the rest of your life strapped to a table anyway. I'm ending this fight now!"
Sasuke then shot his arms forward and shouted out.
"Senei Jashu!" (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)
Two large snakes instantly shot forth and extended from the Uchiha's sleeves at Hinata in an attempt to bite into her to hold the Hyuga girl in place. Sasuke then quickly sped through a series of hand-signs and shouted.
"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" (Great Fireball Technique)
The Uchiha then drew some chakra from his mouth into his chest and then immediately exhaled it blowing a stream of fire. Which erupted into a large sphere of flames, as he brought his hand up to his mouth to control and direct it towards Hinata.
However, before the elongated serpents could sink their fangs into the lavender-eyed kunoichi to bind her and the ball of fire racing towards the Hyuga girl could hit. Hinata nimbly jumped up and flipped in the air before bringing her feet down on top of the serpents' heads pinning them to the ground before a quick slash of her chakra scalpel decapitated the snakes. Taking no time to pause the young kunoichi cried out.
"Hakkeshou Kaiten!" (Eight Divination Palms of the Hand)
Hinata then began releasing a large of amount of chakra from her tenketsu points. While at the same time began to spin like a top, creating a whirling vortex of chakra that acted as a 360° degree shield surrounding her. This famous Hyuga clan ninjutsu defense nullified Sasuke's Katon attack and sent the sphere of flames rebounding back at the Uchiha. Sasuke rolled out of the way, while rising to his feet incensed and pointed towards the hospital while yelling with fury.
"You might be able to protect yourself from my Katon attacks, but they can't!"
Sasuke once again made a series of hand-seals and called out.
"Gouryuuka no Jutsu!" (Great Dragon Fire Technique)
Hinata's eyes grew wide with horror as she recognized that jutsu and realized what Sasuke was planning to do. As the Uchiha boy released his much more powerful fire jutsu, a technique that allowed him to form and expel dragonhead fireballs so powerful the spheres of flame could even punch through concrete. Sasuke directed his attack at the entranceway of the emergency ward of the hospital where many of the wounded were located. Smirking with amusement he disregarded Hinata speeding through a series of hand-seals herself before pointing her hands at the water fountain that sat in the middle of the hospital courtyard, as she called out.
"Suiun Suishi no Jutsu!" (Water Transport Dispatch Formation Technique)
Instantly, a column of water to rose from the fountain, which Hinata immediately directed and fired the column towards the oncoming dragonhead fireballs. A tower of steam rose from the courtyard as the water collided with the fire. Hinata was thankful that the fountain was directly tied into an underground stream, as it was taking every drop of water she could gather to slowly but surely extinguish the powerful Katon attack. Once the last dragonhead fireball finally fizzled into nothingness, Hinata released her jutsu and exhaled a sigh of relief. Breathing heavily as the exertion of using so many different jutsu's was beginning to wear Hinata down. The young kunoichi left her guard momentarily down, which Sasuke took full advantage of and suddenly appeared 20 feet in front of the surprised girl and locked eyes with hers before uttering one word.
"Tsukuyomi."
Hinata instantaneously froze in place when she caught sight of the spinning kaleidoscope of the evolved Sharingan. Meanwhile, Sasuke smirked with satisfaction, as he slowly walked towards his former kunoichi classmate and commented with conceit.
"I can't believe you actually forced me to use the Uchiha clans most powerful Sharingan technique the Mangekyou just to subdue you, but in the end it doesn't matter how you were defeated. You were a fool Hyuga to think that your wretched clan was anywhere close to the strength, talent and nobility of the Uchiha's. A Hyuga verses an Uchiha in battle will always be a losing proposition for the Hyuga. Something you should have realized before you decided to fight me Hinata."
As Sasuke stopped within a few feet in front of Hinata, he was taken aback in shock when she suddenly blinked and a smile drew across the young girls face, as she calmly replied.
"The only fool here is you Uchiha-teme because you're now within my divination field of attack."
"Hakke Hyakunijuuhachishou!" (Eight Divination Signs, 128 Palms of the Hand)
"Two hands, four hands, eight hands, sixteen hands, thirty-two hands, sixty-four hands, one hundred-twenty eight hands!" Hinata called out, as she delivered in a blur a series of Juuken strikes all over the tenketsu points of Sasuke's body before leaping back and watching the Uchiha fall to his knees unable to move and asking with fury and confusion.
It's, it's not possible, how are you able to resist the most powerful Genjutsu technique of the Mangekyou Sharingan? The Byakugan cannot resist the mentally and physically harmful Genjutsu illusions of Tsukuyomi! Tell me how you did this you bitch!"
"You're right teme, a normal Byakugan would not be able to resist the Genjutsu technique of the Mangekyou Sharingan. But who says you were the only one to evolve your Kekkei Genkai since you've been gone. Thanks to the Byakugan training I've gotten from Neji-niisan, I've been able to advance my bloodline technique to a level where I can resist Tsukuyomi and so can he. Now be a good little teme and wait right there and I'll go get some Anbu to take you to a nice little cell before you have to answer for all of your crimes Uchiha-pig. While you're waiting, you can brood about how your arrogance in believing that your bloodline inheritance is the one all-powerful unstoppable Kekkei Genkai technique is what led to your defeat." Hinata declared with triumphant elation before deactivating her Byakugan and turning to walk away while thinking to herself with glee.
'I did it, I actually did it, I defeated Sasuke all on my own! I wish Naru-kun could have been here to see me do this.'
Meanwhile, as Sasuke watched Hinata walk away from him his thoughts were inflamed in a rage he hadn't imagined was possible.
'No, I will not allow myself to be beaten by some slut from an inferior clan! I'm an Uchiha, an elite, no one can defeat me no one!'
"NO ONE!" Sasuke screamed to the heavens, as he activated his cursed seal.
Hinata spun around upon hearing Sasuke's scream her Byakugan flaring to life and what she saw shocked her to the core of her very being. The Uchiha's chakra was transforming from its normal blue color to an ugly dark purple almost blackened color. Even worse was the fact that the chakra was dramatically increasing in power and was opening up all the tenketsu points Hinata had shut down on Sasuke. As the Hyuga girl pulled out a kunai and rushed forward intent on ending Sasuke's life once and for all, she noticed a raging, flame-like pattern spreading from a seal on his shoulder and beginning to cover his entire body.
However, before Hinata could ponder upon this any further, Sasuke suddenly appeared in front of her driving a knee into her gut with such force that the young kunoichi began coughing up blood. As she fell to the ground clutching her stomach Sasuke reared back and delivered a violent kick to Hinata's ribs, breaking several of them and sending the girl flying through the air before landing with a sickening thud on her back 20 feet away. Sasuke in his level one cursed seal state menacingly stalked over towards the now prone figure of Hinata and loomed over her before his left hand shot out and tightly gripped the Hyuga girl's throat before she heard him say with malice.
"You fucking smug little bitch! Did you honestly believe that you could beat me an Uchiha? You're nothing but some slut from an inferior clan in comparison to mine. You dared to mock my clan's bloodline inheritance and had the audacity to think that your clan's Kekkei Genkai was even remotely on the same level as ours. You lectured me about my arrogance, well let me now demonstrate how foolish your arrogance was in thinking you could defeat me!"
Sasuke then reared his right arm back and launched a vicious right-cross across Hinata's face while shouting.
Punch! "That is for insulting my clan you white-eyed whore!"
Sasuke then reared back and let loose a brutal backhand across the other side of her face.
Smack! "That is for daring to think you ever stood a chance against me in battle bitch!"
Sasuke then kept repeating the process of ferocious right-crosses followed by equally fierce backhands, all the while spewing with venom at the Hyuga girl her supposed affronts to himself and his clan as to why she was receiving this hellish beating. At one point Hinata attempted to defend herself and brought her arm up to strike Sasuke only for the Uchiha to grab her arm and give it a cruel twist with his curse seal enhanced strength breaking it instantly before resuming his brutal verbal and physical pummeling of his former classmate.
Punch! "That is for refusing to accept the honor and privilege I have bestowed upon you in allowing you to be one of the chosen to help revive my noble clan to its former glory."
Smack! "That is for the disrespect you have always shown me ever since our academy days in not acknowledging my superiority over all of our classmates especially Naruto!"
Sasuke paused a moment when he saw Hinata attempt to open her swelling eyes, as she stared up at him with her bruised, bloody, and battered face and said with contempt.
"Uchiha-teme, you never were and will never be superior to Naru-kun and he will prove that to you when he returns and kicks your pompous, arrogant, inferior ass."
Sasuke erupted in a rage at Hinata's continued defiance of him and re-clenched his right fist tightening it even further before striking and saying with jealous malevolent hate.
Punch! "And that is for your stupid belief that the dobe is superior to me in anyway or will ever be able to defeat me!"
Sasuke stared down Hinata, as his last blow had broken the Hyuga girls jaw and knocked her unconscious. Taking a moment to calm down lest he injure his prize any further, Sasuke exhaled a deep breath, as the infectious flame-like patterns covering his body began to recede back into the original curse seal on his shoulder. As the Uchiha boy leaned down and hefted Hinata's body onto his shoulder, he commented with egotistical conceit and laughter to the unresponsive Hyuga girl.
"I guess the dobe really isn't in the village anymore if he hasn't shown up by now. Too bad, I would have enjoyed killing him in front you bitch and destroying your foolish love and confidence in that idiot. Oh well, I'll just have kill him later on and right now be satisfied knowing I've taken away his woman. Time for your trip back to Otogakure and the start of the only function you will have for the rest of your life Hinata, the reproduction and restoration of my clan. I only wish I could see Naruto's face when he learns I will have defiled the only two girls he has ever loved. Ha, ha, ha, ha!"
Their battle had been epic, but both Sannin realized it was soon coming to an end as they angrily gazed at one another. Tsunade was exhausted and though she had inflicted many wounds onto her ex-teammate that snake bastard kept picking himself up after every hit and attack that she had thrown at him. The Slug Sannin was desperate and knew she needed to use her specialized attack before she was completely drained of chakra. But to use that attack the blonde Hokage needed to bring Orochimaru close enough to touch him.
Charging some chakra into her fist, Tsunade punched the ground with earth-shattering force and sent a shockwave heading directly at the Snake Sannin in the hopes of dislodging him off of his feet. She then intended to shunshin to his position and grab Orochimaru while initiating her technique. Unfortunately, as the shockwave hit the Snake Sannin, he utilized his regeneration technique once more and a new Orochimaru emerged from his mouth. However, this form of Orochimaru bore the body of a serpent from the waist down and he immediately dove underground disappearing from Tsunade's sight.
Tsunade appeared to be scanning the surrounding area looking intently for any sign where her fellow Sannin might emerge from, but in knowing her opponent as well as she did, the blonde Hokage knew exactly where he would attack from. Whirling around in an instant Tsunade lashed out and struck Orochimaru in the chest as he erupted from the ground behind her. As the Snake Sannin fell backwards silent and unmoving, Tsunade smiled, as she had finally been able to unleash her Ranshinshou or Chaotic Mental Collision ninjutsu technique.
It was one of the most prized techniques the Slug Sannin had in her arsenal and a ninjutsu she herself had created. By changing the chakra in her hand into electricity, Tsunade was able to create an electric field and disrupt Orochimaru's nervous system. It was an effective attack because the brain and body communicate using electrical impulses and Tsunade can use the field to disrupt her targets ability to move. The results of the attack culminated in her opponent's commands to move one body part being relayed to another, making it near impossible for them to move unless they have high skill and understanding of the human body. However, since her battle and use of that technique against Orochimaru's apprentice Tsunade had enhanced the ninjutsu to the point that now it would immobilize and paralyze her opponent completely. Breathing a sigh of relief, the blonde Hokage began stood over the fallen Sannin and spoke with an air of finality.
"It's…it's over…Orochimaru, the day has finally come where you will finally pay for all of your crimes and sins."
Unmoving, Orochimaru glared up at his fellow Sannin before an evil smile crept across his face and he declared with malevolence.
"No Tssssssunade, It's not over. It will never be over until you die by my hand, and the Leaf village is mine or burned to the ground!"
Suddenly the serpentine portion of Orochimaru's body whipped out and wrapped its coils around the surprised blonde Hokage binding her before the Snake Sannin lifted his head and the legendary sword Kusanagi shot forth from his mouth and impaled Tsunade through her right shoulder who cried out in pain. As Orochimaru rose up and released his coils dropping Tsunade to the ground in a heap, he reached up and grasped the Kusanagi from his mouth before gazing at his former kunoichi teammate clutching her shoulder and glaring up at him before stammering in a voice filled with anger, pain, and confusion.
"How, how are you able to move? I know I disrupted your entire nervous system. No human being should be able resist that attack!"
"Ku, ku, ku, you just answered your own question, I'm quite surprised you still think I'm a human being. I can assure you that through my experimentation with DNA genetic splicing over the years, I've surpassed being a mere mortal human being a long time ago. So, while your attack is indeed impressive and effective against a human beings physiology and nervous system. The physiology and nervous system of reptilian is far different making your technique against me ineffectual and uselesssssss."
Tsunade could only grimace in pain, as it felt as though her shoulder was on fire, while she listened with disgust at what a truly inhuman monster her former teammate had willingly made himself into over the years.
"I do have to give you credit, you put up much more of a fight than I was expecting, but don't say I didn't warn you at the start that I would kill you on this day."
"Just shut-up and get it over with you teme! I'd rather die now than have to listen to your lisping, arrogant, and insane ramblings any further you asshole!"
"Ku, ku, ku, such atrocious language coming from a lady, how very unbecoming of you Tssssssunade. Besides, there is no reason for me to strike the final blow. The poison I've laced within my Kusanagi blade is already attacking your system and slowly killing you as we speak. So let's spend your remaining time reminiscing about the old days. A pity that fool Jiraiya isn't here so we could have a proper reunion and watch as you shuffle off this mortal coil."
"You should feel grateful that Jiraiya-kun isn't here you snake-teme! For if he were you would already be dead!"
"Bah, that perverted Toad-sage could never defeat me, his skills are nothing compared to mine and furthermore….wait….did you just refer to that idiot as Jiraiya-kun?"
Tsunade blushed slightly before turning her head away from her fellow Sannin in embarrassment before Orochimaru cackled with derisive glee.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha! Oh this is too much; I remember a time when you only used that loving honorific for me. How truly fickle a woman's heart can be. I don't know which of you is more pathetic? That old fool for chasing after you for 40 years only for you to reject him time and time again. Or you taking 40 years to finally realize you do love that perverted idiot, ha, ha, ha, ha!"
"It doesn't matter what you think you bastard, it won't change anything! When Jiraiya-kun does track you down you are going to die and so is that pathetic little Uchiha plaything of yours when Naruto-kun gets a hold of him!" Tsunade spat with defiance and confidence.
"Ku, ku, ku, Tssssssunade such brave words coming from a woman defeated and dying at my feet. I must assume since neither that idiot Jiraiya or the Kyuubi no Youko Jinchuuriki have arrived in an attempt to save you then the rumors of them being gone must be true. So, that fool of a Toad-Sage thinks he can defeat me and train a pupil to defeat my newest protégé Sasuke-kun. Well then, I look forward to the day when both Sasuke-kun and I are standing upon their broken corpses and we shall show the world no one can defeat us!"
"It's nice to have fantasies Orochi-teme because that's all that is a fantasy. Neither Jiraiya-kun nor Naruto-kun will lose to the likes of you two…..EVER!"
"I grow weary of your continued defiance of me and of your faith in those two idiots. Listening to your voice prattle on about them is growing quite annoying to me. Perhaps I shall be benevolent and grant to you the final killing blow. It's the least I could do for the girl who once professed her undying love to me."
"Please, there's no need to remind me how young, stupid, and blind I was back then not to recognize or appreciate how fine a man Jiraiya is or realize what a worthless pedophilic piece of shit you really are. So go ahead and deliver the final blow, I already said I'd rather die now than have to listen to your lisping, arrogant, and insane ramblings any further you asshole!"
"So be it, if you see the old monkey on the other side, give him my regards." Orochimaru wickedly exclaimed, while raising the Kusanagi blade in his hand over his head, as Tsunade merely closed her eyes and waited for the final strike to come that would end her life.
"Time to die Tssssssunade!" Orochimaru hissed, as he brought his sword swinging down in a murderous arc.
Author Notes: Hmmmm, it looks like both Tsunade and Hinata have had better days, lol. I meant to get this chapter out as a Halloween gift chapter for you all, but time has not been my friend lately. My apologies for the long delay in updating my story, but I won't bore you with the litany of reasons as to why this happened. I'll only say that the main reason is …LIFE. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the first installment of my Invasion Arc of the story. There is definitely a lot going on within it and there's plenty more action, suspense, angst, and surprises still to come. I will go ahead and warn everyone right now that some of the protagonists (i.e. the good guys) are going to die. I won't spoil it and say who they are, but expect a Jounin and one of the Konoha 11 to be K.I.A. I'll let all of you speculate on who those people might be.
Now I wish to thank everyone both old and new readers who took the time to review my last chapter, it's much appreciated by me. You all had a lot to say about the last chapter and about my take on what Kishimoto has been doing with the manga, especially with the whole Kyuubi/Jinchuuriki/sealing explanation. A lot of you had brought up several interesting and varying viewpoints and theories with regards to that in your reviews. They all have merit and to me are a testament of how confusing Kishi has turned the explanation into. In fact, the only conclusion I can honestly say is that Kishimoto has contradicted himself throughout the manga so much that he's totally trashed the whole Kyuubi/Jinchuuriki/sealing explanation into something no one can truly understand now because of those contradictions. Anyway, I enjoyed reading many of your reviews and I'm pleased that this story has such a strong fan base with readers who actually write out well thought-out reviews instead of the obligatory "Great chapter" or "Please update soon" I'm not trying to slam anyone who does leave reviews like this, I do appreciate you saying something. I'm merely saying that reviews that actually make me pause and think about something are the ones that really help me out as a writer.
Take for example the following review I received last chapter from Hektols. I admit I had fallen under the guise or belief that Kishimoto was thinking about Sakura when he had Kushina's speak her idiotic diatribe of final words to Naruto in #504 culminating in her advice on women of "try to find a girl like your mother." At face value I had thought that considering the parallels Kishimoto has tried to establish between Kushina and Sakura he was implying Sakura be the girl for Naruto. My first mistake was in believing that Kishimoto actually thinks. My second mistake was in overlooking the Kushina parallels not with Sakura, but with Hinata as Hektols expertly points out in the following.
First of all: WHY DO YOU THINK THAT SAKURA AND KUSHINA ARE ALIKE!
Sakura cried when kids made fun of her. Kushina beat them.
Sakura was good at school. Kushina wasn't.
Sakura was fawning for Sasuke at the beginning. Kushina thought that Minato was girly.
Naruto got Kushina's personality. Does Sakura have the same personality as Naruto? NO.
Now let's compare Kushina with another girl...
Who was kidnapped by Kumo? Kushina and Hinata.
Who aspires to be more like Naruto, who is practically a male Kushina? Hinata.
Kushina loves Naruto? YES. Hinata loves Naruto? YES.
Who would give her life for Naruto? Hinata and Kushina already did.
Who said to Naruto that she loved him and meant it? Hinata and Kushina, Sakura's words were fake and Naruto knew it.
Who vows to never give up his/her word? Naruto and Hinata and because we know that Kushina is like Naruto, her too.
All of these facts are taken directly from the manga nobody can deny them. Just expose them to all those delusional NaruSaku fans.
So please leave lots of reviews, as they do help a writer not only get the thoughts, opinions, and viewpoints from the fans of a story, but can also make the authors think as well. They can also help lift the spirits of a writer when life has been kicking him in the ass, lol. To any readers who are staff members to any C2 communities, please feel free to add my story to your community if you feel it is worthy of it. I won't mind, I swear. I'll even pinkie swear if I need to?
Hottest Anime Girls Poll:
The poll is still going on and quite strongly I might add. In a short amount of time it's already garnered over 875+ people who have voted on it. So if anyone of you hasn't checked it out yet, please do so. Also to any authors of stories out there who read my tale, if you are willing please copy and paste the following to add into any chapter updates you might post in the future.
Have you ever wondered "Who is the hottest, sexiest, most beautiful girl ever created in the world of anime?" Well now's your chance to vote for your own Top 10. Kingkakashi besides having a great story has set-up a poll about this very question on his profile page. Help answer and settle this issue once and for all.
I'm trying to get as many people as I possibly can to vote on the poll because I've never seen one done to the scale I have on this particular question. I'm considering ending the poll once it reaches 1,000 voters. So any help you all can provide is much appreciated by me. Thanks to everyone and I hope you have fun with the voting. And believe me when I tell you, picking 10 choices isn't as easy as you would think it be on this poll. (Lol)
Comments with regards about the poll results so far:
Well the Top 10 is virtually set and I'm happy to say that all five of the Naruto girls you could vote for are strongly entrenched in that Top 10 with Hinata leading the way of course. In fact it looks like the top two girls are going to end up being Hinata and Anko and up until a few weeks ago Yoruichi of Bleach fame had a solid hold on the number three position. However, now I'm not so sure as Kurenai has come back from over a 20+ vote deficit to Yoruichi and is making a strong run to claim that third spot. So if you want a 1-2-3 finish on the poll of Naruto women, then those votes for Kurenai need to start rolling in before it ends.
End of Poll Comments:
Now, onto everyone's favorite section Kingkakashi's rants on the manga yaaaaaayyyyyy!
Once again back to I have very little positive things to say about the last few issues of the Naruto manga!
*Warning I do give away some spoilers in my rants, so read at your own risk.
#508 – Well, I was hopeful that Kishimoto could extend his record with me of stringing together four straight manga chapters that I enjoyed. At the start and much through this chapter it looked like he would. We got to see an interesting flashback and conversation between Itachi and Kisame when they first met. Also we got to see a really cool death by his own shark summons from Kisame so as not to give away any information he held about the Akatsuki and Madara. But of course Kishimoto had to go and ruin it all by having the scroll of information Kisame had gathered and that Gai had retrieved be booby-trapped when they opened it and a shark summons escaped with the info back to Madara.
So in the end, this chapter was nothing more than Kishimoto granting once again yet another advantage to Madara and Sasuke and leaving the good guy's with nothing. The last page showed Madara facing off against Konan because he wants to know where she has hidden Nagato because he wants to retrieve the Rinnegan. Gee, Kishimoto is such a mystery, I wonder who is going to win that fight and if Madara will succeed in finding the Rinnegan?
#509 – Not much to this chapter, a brief philosophical discussion between Madara and Konan. This was followed by an interesting attack Konan attempted to use to kill Madara, which almost worked. You also got flashback of the early days of the Akatsuki when it was just Yahiko, Nagato, Konan, and a few others. In the end, Madara had sucked Konan into his alternate dimension and she was left desperately still trying to kill him to protect the Rinnegan from being taken. Amazing, that Kishimoto actually managed to write a chapter in which he didn't give yet another power-up advantage to Madara and Sasuke in the upcoming war.
#510 – This chapter was a continuation of Konan fighting Madara and she had a really clever plan to defeat him, which should have worked. However, Kishimoto of course had Madara whipping out a forbidden awesome Uchiha technique to save him because Kishi just is freaking in love with the Uchiha's. Now get this, this technique is so powerful it helped in the creation of all the Bijuu by the Sage of the Six Paths and essentially has the power to turn the imagination of the user into reality. I don't know why Kishimoto just doesn't throw in a lamp with a genie in it and three wishes as well. So in the end, Madara kills Konan and he finds the Rinnegan. (Wow, didn't see any of that coming!) Imagine that, Kishimoto granting yet another power-up advantage to Madara and Sasuke for the upcoming war. Who'd of thought?
#511 – I didn't see any real point to this chapter other than it showed us a glimpse of Jiraiya training Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan as kids followed by some brief excerpts of their lives as young adults. It wasn't a bad chapter per-say, just kind of boring to me.
#512 – This chapter just plain annoyed me greatly. Madara is ready to capture Killer Bee and Naruto now that he knows of their location thanks to the info he got from Kisame. Btw, Kishimoto must have been a fan of Gamera in his youth, as the island Naruto and the others are located on is actually a giant tortoise. Anyway, Madara's newest ally Kabuto volunteers to capture the two Jinchuuriki himself, but wants a Zetsu to experiment on as payment. Madara decides to show Kabuto his army to defeat the shinobi alliance forces, which numbers 80,000 ninja combined. This alone irritates me as it is yet another classic contradiction done by Kishimoto that smacks in the face of what he has previously done.
Let me explain, a few readers have pm'd me with regards to these out of nowhere large number of shinobi that now appear in the manga and asked if I am going to adjust the numbers in my story? No I'm not and I'll explain why. I'm going to cite two examples of Kishimoto's glaring contradiction in adding so many shinobi into the Naruto world, the Third shinobi war and the Chunin exams.
In the Third Shinobi war against Rock, it was said that the Yondaime used the Hiraishin technique to appear within their ranks, using the great speed of this technique to seemingly appear to be in several places at once and wipe out entire squadrons one by one in moments before they could even react, thus ending the war. So let's say Minato did this a few times and killed off 40-50 Rock ninja at a pop. Those numbers still more closely coincide with my numbers of ninja then Kishimoto's. Because Rock ended the Third war because Minato had taken out a sizable chunk of all of their ninja forces.
Also if you go back and look at the manga #116 during the Chunin exams you'll see the only numbers mentioned during it are when a Leaf shinobi reported to Ibiki that 100 Sand ninja were attacking the village at the start of the invasion. So let's say Sound had that same number attacking and we can even say they left the same amount both Sound and Sand back in reserves for the invasion. Those are still numbers more in proximity to the numbers in my story. I think Kishimoto ballooned up the numbers of shinobi in the manga for excitement and shock value for his story. He forgot about the numbers he had previously done early on in the manga. Which doesn't surprise me, as one of Kishimoto's biggest faults is that he will say or convey something in the manga, then contradict himself 100 chapters later about the same subject.
Finally, I can't control what Kishimoto does with the manga. If I could, there would be a lot of changes I would make to Naruto, lol. To me having so many ninja such as 80,000 in the alliance devalues the uniqueness of being a ninja. I mean I think it's a specialized skill that only a small number of people in the world can attain. So that is why the numbers of ninja in my story are much lower than what he has. Plus he released his figure after I had already done mine as well.
Anyway, in the manga who is Madara going to use to fight these 80,000 ninja in the Shinobi Alliance? Why 100,000 Zetsu clones that he has grown using the Bijuu chakra he had already collected of course. At the end, the Tsuchikage sets off towards the island to reinforce the forces there and help protect Naruto and Killer Bee from being captured. While Kabuto and his Edo Tensei revived Deidara fly off to the island to capture the two Jinchuuriki setting up a Tsuchikage verses Kabuto/Deidara showdown.
#513 – This chapter was pretty good, as the Kabuto/Diedara battle verses the Tsuchikage and his bodyguards got started. We also learned that Kabuto has created a new summons Manda 2 using the cells of the old Manda. This new snake summons is bigger and stronger and was able to attack the tortoise island. At which point Kabuto left to go capture Naruto and Killer Bee, while Diedara went to do battle with the Tsuchikage. Overall, this was a really fun chapter to read so I will give props to Kishimoto for it.
#514 – Back to the irritating chapters once again from Kishimoto. The Tsuchikage battles Diedara and is about to defeat him when of course he escapes. While Aobo, Yamato, Moito and the Tsuchikage's granddaughter Kurotsuchi battled Kabuto. Kabuto escaped and captured Yamato bringing him back to Madara. So, once again yet another advantage granted to Madara by Kishimoto for the upcoming war, as if he hadn't bestowed to the villains enough advantages by now.
#515 – This chapter was essentially a logistics chapter giving the readers a semi-look into how the Shinobi Alliance army was set-up and who was placed where of the characters we know. But that doesn't mean Kishimoto can't grant, that's right you guessed it, more power-up advantages for all the bad guy's! We get Kabuto using the Edo Tensei or Resurrection to the Impure World forbidden ninjutsu technique that as you know involves the summoning of dead souls from the afterlife back into the real world. So Kabuto revives not only all of the deceased Akatsuki members to fight for Madara, but also all the former Jinchuuriki, all the previous Kage's, as well as several well-known shinobi who have died like Zabuza, Haku, Chiyo, Hanzo the Salamander, Asuma Sarutobi, and several others just to name a few. Oh did I mention Yamato is also getting sucked dry of his Mokuton powers and is creating even more and stronger Zetsu clones. In my opinion, Kishimoto has done so much to make Madara, Sasuke, Kabuto, and all the rest of the baddies so powerful that victory by the good guy's against such overwhelming forces will just seem utterly ridiculous to me when it happens.
Yes, I'm still thoroughly disgusted that Kishimoto hasn't done anything yet with the Hinata confession to Naruto now reaching 78 freaking issues!
As always, if anyone wants to discuss my story in greater detail, just shoot me a PM. I enjoy talking about the story with any readers who really have an interest in it. I'll try to respond back to you as quickly as I can. Now I'd like to give a shout out to a couple of stories that I recommend and hope you all will checkout when you have the time.
"Death was Only The Beginning" by zentary: I figured I'd go ahead and recommend this story now, as the author has just started the story and it only has a prologue and a first chapter so far. I normally don't recommend stories that have just started up, but I've read and recommended zentary's work in the past, so I have no doubt that his newest project will be great. So, better to alert all of you about it now so you can catch the story early and not have to read a lot of chapters. It's a really creative and interesting Naruto/Bleach crossover story, which knowing zentary will by the end probably surpass my own Naruto/Bleach crossover story that I co-write the lousy $&*$!
"A Little Too Late" by Rubedo the Crystal Blood: A nice romantic three chapter story based around Naruto and Hinata having finally found one another and Sakura realizing she did love Naruto only to discover that she was "A Little Too Late." The story does have a brief bit of lemony goodness to it, but it's done tastefully and doesn't come across like pure smut at all.
As for "Supreme Genetics – Creation of a Bloodline" the next update is being worked on by my co-author Hefster, so please address any queries about when it will be updated to him. However, I do wish to point out that we did warn in regards to this story not expect quick updates on it because both Hefster and I consider our main stories a priority over this story. That being said, if you haven't seen this story yet and you would like to read a really good Naruto/Hinata/Sakura story, then this is the one you should checkout. According to the reviews we've gotten, it's pretty damn good. The link to the story is on my profile page and in my own opinion; the story is becoming one of the best Naru/Hina/Saku stories on this site.
Now please be kind and leave precious valuable reviews on these stories.
Take it easy and be good!
Kingkakashi
School Time:
Trebuchet Catapult was a catapult or siege engine used in the Middle Ages which employed a counterweight and could fling projectiles of up to 300 to 500 pounds at high speeds into enemy fortifications.
Mangonel Catapult was a type of catapult or siege machine used in the medieval period to throw projectiles at a castle's walls. The mangonel threw projectiles on a lower trajectory and at a higher velocity than the trebuchet with the intention of destroying walls, rather than hurling projectiles over them.