CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The Battle For Konoha!
XXX
A buxom blonde woman burst through Naruto's door in the Hidden Cloud and grabbed one of the Naruto clones by their collar before saying something in a frenzy. "Oi! Oi! Oi! You're gonna dispel him! Violence and threats won't work on us, Tsunade, we came here for diplomacy!" the other Naruto clone yelled as the other four Kage entered the room. He was still rubbing his eyes, trying to understand what the crazy Hokage was trying to say.
The panicked woman reached into her pocket and pulled out a blank piece of paper.
"What is this?"
"That is a blank cheque. Right down whatever demands you have, and we'll accept it."
Naruto squinted, "What's the catch?"
"The catch is that in less than a week, Orochimaru, Sasuke and an army of zombies will destroy the Hidden Leaf! We can't let that happen, Naruto! Please! If Konoha falls into the Akatsuki's hands, it'll all be over."
"Sasuke?" Naruto looked down at the piece of paper in his hands. "A blank cheque?" he repeated. He looked up at the people behind Tsunade. "We've been going back and forth all day thanks to differences in opinions. I need an assurance that whatever I write on this, you'll accept. All of you."
"I promise," Tsunade said.
"All of you," Naruto repeated.
"I promise," Mei said.
"I promise too," Temari agreed.
Naruto waited.
"… I promise," A grumbled. His heart wasn't in it, but from the looks of it, Tsunade had gotten through to him.
There was only one more person left. All eyes were on the tiny fence-sitter brat from the Hidden Stone. His village had already been overrun. Weapons and shinobi from the Hidden Stone were fighting on behalf of the Akatsuki. He had the least to lose of everyone in that room, aside from Temari. "I won't make any promises, but…"
Tsunade grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall.
"Whoa!" Mei tried to intervene.
"Tsunade-hime!" A yelled.
"Listen here, you grumpy old man. You might not care about your village as much as I do, but I've been entrusted by my people to be the embodiment of the Will of Fire. My grandfather held this position, and so did my granduncle, and my sensei after him! Each one of those men as powerful and famous as they were, were always there when the village needed them. They were willing to risk everything, life, and limb for the village they called home. I can't die for Konoha right now, but I will not be the first Hokage to let Konoha down. It's not happening on my watch. Which is why I need this, and I won't let your stubbornness get in the way of my village!"
Onoki headbutted Tsunade. Knocking her back. "You think I don't care about my village? You think I'm not hurting too?" he asked, floating. "My village has been burnt to the ground! I've lost my village! I've lost the morale of my people! I let both our tailed beasts leave without any resistance! Iwa is weaker now than it has ever been and it's all thanks to you!" Onoki said, pointing past Tsunade at Naruto.
"Me?"
"Yes, you! Your meddling is what unsettled my jinchuuriki to begin with."
"I didn't unsettle anything. All I had to do was ask Han to come with us, and he was more than willing to do so," Naruto explained. "You created an environment where all tailed beasts lived in agony. Hearing the stories of how your jinchuuriki were treated sickened me. The fact that all but one of your jinchuuriki were willing to join me speaks volumes about how you run your villages. After all, I was there in Iwagakure when it fell… or at least my clones were. I did more for your village than you did. So, if you need someone to blame for your current predicament, turn that finger to yourself, dattebayo."
.
.
.
Onoki put his hands on his head, covering his face. He needed a moment to breathe. Three tense minutes of silence passed before he finally said, "Okay… I promise."
Tsunade looked up at Naruto over her shoulder.
They had a blank cheque.
Soon enough, the jinchuuriki would be in the Fourth Great Shinobi World War.
Naruto curled the paper up under his fist. "I promise you that by the time you get back, those Hokage faces will still be there to greet you, dattebayo. You have my word. And I never go back on my word."
Both Naruto clones dispelled.
XXX
In the middle of a meeting, Naruto stood up and threw on a white haori with flame tips on the bottom.
"Naruto?" Han spoke first, "What's the meaning of this?"
"The Five Kage have given us a blank cheque to make any demands we want," he said, grabbing some kunai and shuriken. He took a shuriken pouch from the closet and strapped it to his thigh.
"And? What's the catch?" Yugito asked.
"Orochimaru and an army of White Zetsu are marching on the Hidden Leaf. I'm going to stop them."
"I thought you had clones in the Hidden Leaf," Han said.
"I do."
"Then where are you going?"
Naruto fastened his headband, "Sasuke's gonna be there. I'm going to… kill Sasuke. I wanna look him in the eyes as I do it though. My real eyes."
"Why?"
"Because… because I need to be sure."
He paused for a moment before slamming the door as he left.
He boarded a boat onto the mainland and when he touched down in the Land of Fire, Naruto ran. He ran like he'd never run in his life before. He dispelled every clone other than the one waiting for him in Konoha. He needed all the chakra he had left.
XXX
A week finally passed and for the first time in four years, Naruto had spent a week in the Hidden Leaf Village. He hadn't been in Konoha in so long that it felt like stepping onto an alien world. The village was as beautiful as the day he left it. Konoha was a kaleidoscope of colours, not too dissimilar from Uzushio. The longer he spent in the Leaf Village, the more he understood why Konoha and Uzushio were such good friends all those years ago. They were fruits of the same tree. Everything was a mix of paint, greenery, wood, and cobblestone. It all meshed together in perfect harmony to form the greatest village the shinobi world had ever seen. He didn't think he'd ever come back here again, but Tsunade had given him an offer he couldn't refuse. It was a win-win scenario. Uzushio get a seat at the table, Naruto gets to talk to Sasuke.
But what if the talks didn't work? What if Sasuke was far too gone? Then Naruto would have to…
There was no time to think about such things.
"We've spotted movement in the north-west quadrant of the Konoha Forest," an ANBU shinobi reported, suddenly appearing between Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji. Naruto had gotten so caught up in the socialising that he'd forgotten about the main mission at hand.
"What's the ETA?" Ino asked. She'd substituted the purple midriff-exposing shirt and ankle-length skirt she'd been wearing earlier for a standard Konoha flak jacket with navy pants. They all had. It appeared the Allied Shinobi Force had a uniform. Village-specific flak jacket with a village-themed undershirt and pants combo. They all had the same headband too. Rather than be divided by village and country of origin, all their hitai-ate had one symbol on the front. 'Shinobi'.
"It's a large army, so about thirty minutes."
"We'd better go check on the defences around that quadrant then," Shikamaru suggested. Chouji agreed.
Unlike Iwa and Suna, Konoha wasn't going down without a fight. Tsunade had been smart enough to not dedicate her whole force to the frontlines. She had set up a series of traps and checkpoints in the forest surrounding Konoha, that would shepherd any large army into a narrow passageway. So, even if they were heavily outnumbered, they would still put up a fight. She also left behind Sakura, Asuma, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Inoichi, Shikaku, and Chouza, along with a few thousand more shinobi who had one job, and one job only. A job they were willing to die for if it came to it.
Protect Konoha.
Shikamaru began walking towards the gates. Chouji stopped and stared at the north-west edge of the village for a solid minute. Finally, he turned to Naruto and gave him a large, warm hug. Everyone paused. It caught the Uzumaki by surprise.
"What was that about?" Naruto wondered.
"I just never thought I'd see you again, so even if you are just a clone, I wanna say I'm glad I got to spend time with you," the chubby warrior said, wiping the tears from his face, "You know… just in case, this is the last time."
Naruto chuckled nervously, "Don't talk like that, Chouji. My clones have dealt with the White Zetsu Army before. They're a nuisance, but shinobi of your calibre have nothing to worry about. We'll meet again for some ramen when all of this is over," Naruto said. "All of us."
Chouji nodded. Shikamaru threw his hands behind his head, "So many emotions in the air. How troublesome," he sighed before continuing to walk away. Chouji followed after him.
"I'm going to the vantage point with daddy. Where will you be?" Ino asked Sakura.
"I'll take Naruto to the Hokage's office, so we can sound the alarm and start the evacuation.
Naruto scanned the village for a brief moment. It was still full and lively. Children were playing. Civilians were moving up and down the village's streets, going about their business. People were taking their pets for walks. People were taking their partners on dates. The village was in a dangerous position. Everyone of high enough authority to authorise a proper mass evacuation of citizens was not in the village currently to make that call. Even then, there wouldn't have been enough time to move tens of thousands of people away from their homes. There was nowhere to go. This was all people had. Their only hope was to hide behind the Hokage Monument. Hide and hope no one knew they were back there.
"Okay… good luck, Billboard Brow," Ino nodded.
"You too, Ino-pig," she replied as the blonde woman flashed away.
"Naruto."
"Yeah."
"Follow me."
XXX
Thirty minutes later, Shikamaru and Chouji flickered onto the north-west wall of the village. Behind them were thousands of shinobi, who'd been instructed to man the defences on the wall. In front of them were acres of forest that'd been cleared out to give them the best chances of survival. Mines, barbed wire, and concrete blocks had been laid out across the field and all the trees were levelled so the Zetsu army had no places to hide. It was a solid thousand metres of space between the start of the forest and the entrance to Konoha.
Shikaku and Chouza were already on top of the wall, looking out at the forest through binoculars.
"See anything?" Shikamaru asked.
"Yeah… they're there alright. They're just behind those lines of trees, I'm assuming they're waiting for Orochimaru's command," Chouza said.
"Are you nervous?" Shikaku teased.
Shikamaru looked away, "Of course not."
Shikaku burst out laughing, "It's okay to be nervous. Being nervous proves you're human… and not one of them. Cling onto it, that's what will keep you alive in the battle to come," he explained.
"Does anyone feel like giving any dramatic speeches?" Shikaku yelled to the group behind them. Everyone chuckled nervously while going through specific battle rituals. Some prayed. Some held onto pictures of their loved ones for good luck. Others tried to keep their lunches in their stomachs. For many of them, this was going to be their first war. Not since the Battle for the Kannabi Bridge had the world seen such a big battle, but this wasn't the Battle for the Kannabi Bridge. Kakashi Hatake wasn't here. Rin Nohara wasn't here. Obito Uchih wasn't here. That man on the Hokage Monument. Minato Namikaze wasn't here. They were all alone.
"I… have a few choice words actually," Shikamaru said.
"Really?" Shikaku asked. Shikamaru nodded. The older man looked around at the shinobi below, "Well… get this man a megaphone or something, you don't want him to strain his voice, do you?" he joked. After some shuffling, Shikamaru was handed a megaphone to better project his voice.
"Can everyone hear me?" the pineapple-headed genius asked, before swallowing harshly, "Men and women of Konoha. Some of you I know by name, some of you I do not. For some, it's the first time you've ever seen my face, and for some, it'll be your last. The war has finally come to Konoha's doorstep and, as we expected, it's not the Five Great Shinobi Nations vs the Akatsuki, it's Konoha vs the Akatsuki, it's you vs the Akatsuki. It's us, about 3 000 of us, that were left behind vs about 18 000 of the Akatsuki. And I know, for some of you that might sound daunting, for every six of them there's one of us, and believe me, I share your sentiments… but I want you all to turn around and look at what I'm looking at right now," Shikamaru said. The shinobi followed suit, looking back over their shoulders at the village behind them. The cobblestone streets, the wooden buildings, the river, the Rock, the people, the children, the animals, the birds, the trees, the leaves, all of it. "The people behind me, behind that treeline, there may be more of them than us, but they fight for nothing. They're zombies. They're soulless. Stupid. Walls of flesh and meat. We fight for that, for them. We fight for the people of Konoha, for the legacy of Konoha, for the Will of Fire. The same Will of Fire that allows every man and woman to fight with the strength of ten men so long as that flame burns within them. We fight for the freshest leaves on the tree of the life. Those leaves that will bud anew and live in a prosperous Konoha 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 years from now, when we're dead and buried, and our names are written on stones laid out around the village, and the people sing our names in carols and learn of our names in academy textbooks. For them, I urge you, no, for them, I plead with you, that, for the sake of the Hidden Leaf, we take not one step back from these walls as hordes of clones come charging at us. Set aside whatever gripes you have with me, with my father, with my friends, with your Hokage, with the person sitting next to you, and stand firm as we fight for the Village Hidden in the Leaves."
The shinobi standing below Shikamaru erupted into celebration, "Long Live the Hokage! For the Village Hidden in the Leaves!" they repeated.
XXX
Naruto stood, leaning over the window, listening to the speech and the chanting thereafter from his vantage point in the Hokage's office.
"Naruto, are you listening?" Sakura broke the Uzumaki's train of thought. He turned back to her before nodding.
"The evacuation procedure is that we sound this alarm, and everyone will move under the village using escape tunnels that lead to an empty cavern behind the Hokage Monument," Sakura said, explaining the escape plan for the civilians to Naruto's clone. He hadn't been in the village for nearly four years, so he needed a refresher course. His only fear was that if Sasuke and Orochimaru were part of the invasion, wouldn't they know where the escape tunnels were and how to access them. Sakura argued that even if they did, knowing where they were was one thing, how to actually get to them was a secret dependent on the specific house or building itself. Unless Orochimaru chose to drill into the Hokage Monument or something, he wasn't getting to the civilians.
.
.
.
Sakura let out a soft sigh as she watched the blonde jinchuuriki walk up to one of the Hokage's windows and stare at the village below. "Where did it go wrong, Naruto?"
Naruto looked back over his shoulder. "What do you mean?"
"You? You could've been such a great Hokage, but you chose to be a rogue ninja, just like Sasuke-kun."
"I didn't choose to be a missing-nin. I was forced to be. Everyone in this village hated me with a burning passion. They saw me as a monster. I was tired of being accused of things I didn't do, so I figured there was no point in staying somewhere where I was constantly being shunned. I already had the Fox telling me how worthless I was, I didn't need that information reciprocated by the people around me," he explained.
"The people of Konoha were just scared. They're a little naïve but they're good people. If you just showed them who you really were… how you really were. They would've opened up to you."
"And that's the problem, I was a monster until proven otherwise to these people. And that story rang true throughout everyone else's upbringing. All of us. The One-Tails, the Two-Tails, the Four-Tails, the Five, the Six, the Seven… we all have the same story. No matter how we treated them and no matter what the circumstances around our creation as hosts were. Everyone had the same story. It became apparent to me that hate and fear transcended borders. No one cared about us until we became a threat to the shinobi world."
"That's not true," Sakura argued, "I cared about you. The day you disappeared; I ran around the whole village looking for you. I stayed up for countless nights, thinking about you. I was afraid I'd never see you again."
Naruto threw both legs through the window to sit on the Hokage office's windowsill. He stared at the view for a few moments before finally letting Sakura's words sink in. "Key phrase: the day I disappeared," he said, "It was far too late by then. My body may have left the village on the day of the Chuunin Exams, but my mind had long since left these village walls, dattebayo. I dreamt of a better life for years, Sakura-chan." He turned to the pink-haired kunoichi and flashed her a smile, "But such thoughts are behind us now, there's no point dwelling over what was and what could've been."
Sakura wrapped her arms around Naruto's waist before leaning her head on his back. "I really did love you though, I hope you know that. I guess my stupid preteen brain was just too fixated on Sasuke-kun to notice."
Naruto felt something.
Asuma, Shikaku and Chouza felt it too from atop the walls.
Inoichi and Ino turned to the centre of the village.
Shikamaru and Chouji dropped the megaphone equipment to stare at the Hidden Leaf.
It felt like an unfathomable amount of chakra was building up from different sections of the village and gathering in the middle.
"I guess I just didn't know what I had until I lost you."
"Get off," Naruto snapped.
"I'm sorry?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.
"Ring the alarm, some thing's…"
An explosion went off in the centre of the village. It rocked the Hokage Manor to its core, shaking the room and bringing down bits of wood and dust. Papers flew everywhere. Wooden boards hit the ground around them. A massive cloud of smoke blew into the room, entering through the open window.
Sakura, from her downed position, rung the alarm.
The evacuation drill was underway.
Naruto reared his head to see a giant white snake sitting in the centre of the village, coiled around itself with White Zetsu clones leaking from its scales. Unlike Iwa, the resistance was immediate. Shinobi poured in from everywhere to combat the Zetsu clones and battle the snake.
From the snake's head, a figure began to rise. The sticky shape, covered in blotches of white goo rose to its feet before throwing its black hair back to reveal its face. Orochimaru.
"Is everyone okay?" Ino asked, bursting into the room.
"I'm okay," Sakura groaned. "What happened?"
"We don't know how Orochimaru got into the village but majority of the White Zetsu are coming from the entrance, so it's just as we expected."
"What about Sasuke-kun?"
"He's nowhere to be seen."
"And the injured?" Sakura finally asked.
"We've got two groups of shinobi on the field. Combatants and field medics. The civilians who can still walk are being escorted to the evacuation centre whilst those who can't are being treated in field hospitals."
"Naruto…" Sakura looked back over her shoulder. The Uzumaki was gone. "Shit… I'll head down to the field hospitals and see if we can get anymore people behind the Hokage Monument."
"And me?"
"We need you on the frontlines. Help keep the White Zetsu out of the village while Inoichi, Shikaku, and Chouza deal with Orochimaru."
"Sure," Ino flickered away.
Sakura leapt out through the window, "Summoning Jutsu!" A cloud of smoke rose as tall as the Hokage Manor.
"Sakura-san?"
"Lady Katsuyu, we're in dire straits at the moment, so I hope you're not afraid of snakes."
"Oh dear."
XXX
The White Zetsu army was incredible. They had no fear, no reasoning, no logical thinking, they rushed out through the trees, saw the traps that awaited them, and rushed straight into them. On one hand, that was great, that's exactly what they wanted. On the other hand, how were they going to stop them?
Explosions rang out as they crossed the first checkpoint. Blast after blast rocked the village sending chunks of white and green into the air. They rained down from above as more Zetsu clones poured out of the forest like ants. The gates came down and the first wave of shinobi came out to meet the horde.
A row of shinobi lined up behind a row of barbed wire to throw a hail of kunai at the ground the Zetsu clones ran on. Each kunai lit up and exploded. It ignited pots of oil that sat just below the surface, which caught the Zetsu clones and began to burn them alive. They continued to run though.
They were 900 metres away.
"Is everyone okay?" Shikamaru asked, looking at the thousands of shinobi behind him. Some of them had been caught in the blast. "I'm gonna need you all to grade your own injuries. If you're still healthy, head down to the gate to act as reserves for the first army. If you're slightly injured, head down to the field clinic to get some pills or healed. If you're incapacitated, head down to the evacuation shelter!"
They were 800 metres away and approaching the next checkpoint.
"Chouji."
"I'm on it," Chouji nodded before flickering away. He hopped from post to post before leaping into the air. He came down a hundred times larger than before, slamming into the earth and collapsing it.
The third checkpoint was a ditch. As the Zetsu clones ran over it, they fell. Unfortunately, they didn't care. They jumped into the pit and allowed the Zetsu from behind them to jump into their heads and climb over the pit.
"Chouji!" Shikamaru yelled.
The Akimichi had gotten caught by the speed and unpredictability of the Zetsu. "Shikamaru! Help!" They grabbed at him and pulled him into the ditch. He clawed at the earth before being dragged in.
The earth erupted.
Chouji was lifted out of the pit by a wooden tentacle. Grids of wood came out of the earth to entrap them below ground level. The Zetsu clones that tried to run over the new wooden bridge were blocked off by more wood. Wood. Wood came from everywhere. It wrapped around the Zetsu clones that tried to run past the checkpoint. It came from above to puncture a few more Zetsu. It locked around another cluster of Zetsu clones to stop them in their tracks.
Chouji was pulled away.
"Yamato-san, you're a lifesaver," the Akimichi shinobi sniffled.
"You're lucky I was returning from Kumo when I heard about the invasion," Yamato explained. He landed on the wall and turned to face the Zetsu army.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" a few shinobi took advantage of the wood to burn the trapped Zetsu clones alive.
"What's the report?" Yamato asked.
"For now, we're holding," Shikamaru said. He looked back at the giant snake wreaking havoc in the centre of the village, "But Orochimaru managed to somehow sneak around us and get into the village. Ino-Shika-Chou are on the job though."
Yamato scratched his head, "I thought you were Ino-Shika-Chou," he said looking at Chouji, Shikamaru, and Ino, who just landed on the wall.
XXX
Inoichi, Shikaku, and Chouza landed on buildings on either side of the giant white snake in the middle of the village. They all came face-to-face with Orochimaru. The pale-skinned Snake Sannin looked around at each of the Ino-Shika-Chou formation surrounding him.
"How brave of you to try and challenge me on your own," the sadistic sage chuckled.
"We're not alone. We've got the Will of Fire behind us, and as long as we're fighting for our village, we'll never lose," Chouza said.
"What he said," Inoichi chuckled.
"Ah yes, the Will of Fire. Some things never change about this accursed village. Which is why I can't wait to see it burn to the ground…" Orochimaru couldn't move. He slowly turned his head to stare at Shikaku. The Nara man's shadow had run down the building he was on, up the snake and connected to the sage's.
"Giant Human Boulder!" Before Orochimaru had time to think, Chouza broke through the mist of war as a massive rolling ball. He crashed into the snake. The creature fought back, all while Orochimaru was rooted to the floor.
"Allow me to give you a hand, Chouza-san," Lady Katsuyu said, pushing the Chouza through the snake, dispelling it.
Orochimaru landed on his feet. He'd manage to disconnect from the Shadow Possession Jutsu in all the commotion.
Inoichi landed across from him.
"I can't even lie. I'm slightly impressed that you defeated my summon that quickly," Orochimaru clapped for them.
Shikaku and Chouza landed around him.
"What can we say… we came prepared," Shikaku shrugged.
Orochimaru smirked, "Hm, did you now?"
"Of course. When we heard the great Snake Sannin Orochimaru was planning to pay our village a visit, we had to do some research," Shikaku explained.
"Research such as?"
"We know your jutsu, fighting style, and general method of thinking. I don't want to brag, but I think we've given ourselves all the tools needed to take you on, especially in a three on one scenario," Shikaku said.
"If that's the case… then let me even the odds. Summoning Jutsu!" A cloud of smoke shrouded the Snake Sage. When the clouds dissipated, three deathly pale clones surrounded Orochimaru. They grew to his height before lifting their heads to reveal the Snake Sage's face. The real Orochimaru got down on his hands and knees, "Do you like them? I personally engineered them myself with some of White Zetsu's DNA… sic em!"
Chouza tried to fight his Zetsu clone hand-to-hand, but the doppelganger's punches felt like rocks against his fragile skin, and every punch he threw seemed to have no effect on the clone's demeanour. He finally decided to put some distance between himself and the clone. He leapt past Inoichi, who'd decided to put some distance between himself and the clone too with a series of fire style techniques. Shikaku took a step back after feeling a few of the clone's punches. They had to be made of earth or something. If they were, then none of their techniques would have an effect on them. He knew that lightning style techniques were the best counter for earth style jutsu but between the three of them, that wasn't an option. The Zetsu clones gave Orochimaru a bit of breathing room, so before proceeding, he stopped to take a look around at the invasion's progress. The attack was going well to start off. The Konoha shinobi were running around like headless chickens trying to save those who'd been injured in the initial explosion whilst trying to fend off waves of White Zetsu clones coming from the gate.
He'd managed to spread the remaining Konoha forces thin. If the White Zetsu clones managed to break through the gate, then the attack would be a success. He looked back over his shoulder at the five Hokage faces looking down at him. His eyes zoned in on the wise but neutral face in the middle of his old mentor, the Third Hokage.
"Look at that, old man. You died for nothing. You may have sealed away my arms with the intention of preventing me from weaving hand seals, but you underestimated just how many techniques in my arsenal do not require a single hand sign. For example…" Orochimaru slapped his hands against the floor, "Summoning Jutsu: Rashomon!" The demonic gate went up in time to stop Sakura's fist from rearranging the sage's spine.
Sakura chose to go around, "Shannaro!" She got a second bite at the apple.
"Rashomon!" a second gate went up. She went around again. A third gate completely protected Orochimaru from all sides.
"Please be aware of the acid's toxicity. I suggest you back up, Sakura-san," Orochimaru looked up as the white slug of death deposited gallons of acid into the little grave he'd created for himself.
The viscous liquid completely coated Orochimaru. The sounds of sizzling and burning echoed throughout the clearing. If the Snake Sage wasn't so durable, he'd surely have been dead. Hundreds of snakes poured out from behind Rashomon's walls. They crawled over and around the barriers. Sakura put some distance between herself and the snakes.
Orochimaru reformed before charging her.
He stopped to snatch a kunai out of mid-air.
It had an explosive tag on it.
The explosion went off.
Orochimaru vomited himself out. The new Orochimaru slithered his way out of it, whilst the original's body was disintegrated by the explosion.
Shikaku launched kunai after kunai from his shadow tendrils. If they missed, he simply latched onto their shadows and pulled them back to have a second go. Orochimaru looked around. He saw his three clones pinned to a wall by a lightning spear.
Where had they got that from?
A giant fist came down from below to crush Orochimaru.
He dispersed into a hundred white snakes.
He reformed a few metres away.
"He's a slippery one," Chouza noted.
"And you're all a bunch of annoying ones," Orochimaru growled. He looked up.
"Shannaro!" Sakura punched the earth. Orochimaru slipped around her punches before vomiting a pile of snakes onto her. They wrapped around her petite frame, constricting her.
"I've got you, young lady!" Asuma came out of nowhere. With a single horizontal swipe, he cut the snakes away from Sakura before slicing Orochimaru clean in half. "Bull's eye."
"Not quite," Inoichi panted.
Snakes from his torso and snakes from his base joined together. They connected to two halves. Orochimaru was back in action.
He was taken out of action by a chakra punch square to the jaw. It blew his head clean off. Snakes joined together reform it.
He vomited a flurry of snakes.
Sakura backflipped away.
The snakes opened their mouths to reveal swords.
Sakura backflipped away even faster.
The swords all joined together to form a new Orochimaru body. The original was destroyed by Chouza and Chouji coming together for a Dual Giant Human Boulder Smash.
Sakura grabbed her kunai.
She clashed with Orochimaru's sword.
She ducked under his incoming kick.
Sakura punched Orochimaru in the groin. The punch was so powerful and true, chakra exploded from the Snake Sage's mouth. She tried to pull her hand away, but her wrist was entangled in snakes.
"Mind Destruction Jutsu!" Inoichi caught him. Orochimaru was frozen stiff. "I've got him!" he yelled, coming down from above with a sword in hand. Shikaku went for an attack. Chouza did the same. Chouji ran in from behind. Sakura spun on one leg to go for a chakra-loaded kick to the head. Asuma prepared for an X-slice straight through the sage.
Lady Katsuyu came to the rescue, grabbing them all by the ankles and yanking them away.
Three giant purple arrows lodged into the earth around Orochimaru. If Lady Katsuyu hadn't seen the attack coming, they all would've been dead. But who did that? The snake sage, free from Inoichi's mind control, moved out of the way, putting some distance between himself and the slug princess. He looked up at the top of the Hokage Monument to see a purple Susanoo looking down at the scene.
"You fool! I had it covered!" Orochimaru roared.
"ARGH!" Naruto came from above to land a blow on Susanoo, shattering the purple creature. He'd given his position away. Sasuke turned to stare into Naruto's eyes.
The Uzumaki swung. He connected. He kicked Sasuke off the rock and chased him down, landing a few more hits before sending him through the roof of an empty house. Sasuke saved himself by landing on Susanoo's spinal column. The great purple beast dissolved around him as Naruto landed on the Uchiha, before creating a shadow clone. "Sasuke! I'm here to kill you, dattebayo!"
"Chidori," Sasuke's left hand lit up. "Chidori Nagashi!"
One of the clones leapt up and away, the one holding Sasuke's collar dispelled. Sasuke dusted himself off. "You're here to kill me? I never thought I'd hear those words leave your lips," he noted. "Let's see if you actually mean it though… those better not be empty words, Naruto, because I'm here to kill you too, and there's not a single shred of deception in my words."
Naruto formed a pair of shadow clones.
The clone in the middle was impaled by Sasuke's long blue rod. Chidori Laser Spear. "But if I'm going to kill you, you have to at least respect me enough to fight me as a man, not as a clone."
"A clone is all I'll need," one of the Naruto clones charged.
"Chidori Light Sword," a new Naruto clone leapt into the air. The other two were taken out by Sasuke's Laser Spear going crazy and electrocuting everything in the vicinity. Naruto landed on a building's roof. Two new clones formed from clouds of smoke and charged out. Those two clones created four clones. Those four made eight more.
Sasuke let out a barrage of Fireball techniques as he cartwheeled from building to building.
Clones emerged from under the roofs to try and drag him to hell as he hopped.
"Fire Style: Fire… huh?" a pair of hands clasped around his ankles. They lifted to reveal a chain of shadow clones. Like a whip, they swung him around before smashing him into a row of buildings. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" like a serpent, the flame travelled down the row of clones, dispelling them all.
Naruto was breathing heavily, "I was hoping that one would knock some sense into you," he said.
Sasuke smirked. He wiped the blood from his lips and got back up to his feet. "Knock some sense into me? What happened to 'I'm here to kill you'? Don't tell me all that hard talk was just a façade to hide the fact that you're still a soft and pathetic loser," he chuckled.
Naruto chose to remain silent.
"I told you, those better have not been empty words, Naruto, because I'm willing to kill you and the moment I find where your real body is, I'm going to tear it limb from limb."
Naruto still didn't say anything.
"… Unless… unless your real body isn't here," Sasuke paused for a few moments. The silence was broken by the sound of a thousand birds shrieking, "Tell me, Naruto. What would happen if I tore a hole through the clone that stands before me right now?" he asked, Chidori in hand. "How far away is the real you? Are you even in the village? Are you even in the country? Huh? ANSWER ME, USURATONKACHI! YOU WERE ALWAYS THE LOUDEST AMONG US, WHY HAVE YOU GONE SO QUIET ALL OF A SUDDEN?!"
Naruto looked up at his best friend with tears in his eyes. "Sasuke… please, don't make me do this."
Sasuke was taken aback.
"I know that the real you is still somewhere in there. Okay, I admit that my words may have been empty at first, if it was all up to me, we wouldn't be having this battle to begin with. But it's not up to me. There's a voice in my head telling me it wants you dead. And its words are never empty. Sasuke, you have a choice. I don't. Don't be stupid."
"You're calling me stupid?"
"Don't do it."
Sasuke flashed. He was hovering a few centimetres in front of the Uzumaki. Their eyes met. Sasuke swung.
Sakura caught the Uchiha in the jaw, sending him flying away.
Naruto couldn't hold the tears back any longer.
"Naruto, snap out of it. Sasuke-kun's far too gone now to be talking to him like that. You're our only hope when it comes to repelling this attack, so don't drop your guard when you only have one shadow clone left!" Sakura demanded.
Naruto was broken. "I wish you would've just let me die," he said. His eyes rolled into the back of his head. When they came back down, they were bloodshot with slits running through them. "Your tactics have failed. Now I get to fuck this runt up," Naruto said. His voice several octaves deeper with nothing but vengeance and anger behind his eyes.
Sakura's eyes widened. "Naruto?"
Naruto stared at Sasuke, who was a few buildings away. Even the Uchiha was unnerved by how straight and penetrative his gaze was.
"Naruto?" Sakura repeated.
.
.
.
"Naruto?"
Naruto disappeared. He grabbed Sasuke by the face, rammed him through a couple of buildings, dragged his body up the Hokage Rock, spun in mid-air and tossed him back down.
The Uzumaki crashed into earth.
Sasuke leapt away.
"What's going on?" the Uchiha asked.
Naruto exploded out of the smoke.
He punched the shit out of Sasuke, spinning him. He grabbed him by the ankles and flipped through the streets before sending him flying out, through the gate, into the forest surrounding Konoha.
As Naruto crawled out of the village, he was mauled by White Zetsu clones. With a single roar, chakra expanded outwards. Every clone caught in the blast was destroyed, hundreds of them.
Naruto returned his attention to Sasuke, who he knew he was still flying thanks to the row of trees, snapping, breaking, and collapsing as the Uchiha flew. His flight was broken by a mountain.
"Bring him back!"
A Kurama hand exploded out of the earth. Sasuke clutched at it, "What the fuck? What the fuck?" he channelled chakra to his feet to try and hold his ground, but it was useless. The hand pulled him back.
Naruto pulled his fist back.
This was going to hurt.
He cleaned Sasuke's clock. The punch connected, flipping the Uchiha, turning him inside out.
He was out for the count. Face pressed against Konoha's cold cobblestone streets.
"Naruto! Stop! You've made your point," Sakura came running down from atop a building. The pink-haired kunoichi jumped in between the two shinobi. Naruto looked up at her. "You've stopped him. He's unconscious. We can lock him up."
He warned her, "I will go through you… to get to him."
Sakura tested his bluff.
Naruto held his right hand out. Chakra gathered around his palm. Rotation. Power. Containment. They all came together to form the Rasengan. "No!"
He paused for half a second.
Yamato snatched Sakura.
Orochimaru snatched Sasuke.
The technique hit nothing but cobblestone. It tore away at the cobblestone, nonetheless. Eating away at the rock like it was nothing. Naruto realised he'd missed. "What the fuck is wrong with you, runt? Full control means full control!"He let out a hellacious roar.
"What on earth was that?" a groggy Sasuke asked, being shaken back to life by Orochimaru.
"He would've killed me," Sakura noted.
"That's not Naruto anymore," Orochimaru and Yamato said in unison, as they leapt away, "We're dealing with the Nine-Tailed Fox from here on out."
"The Nine-Tailed Fox?" both Sakura and Sasuke asked.
"Let's just hope it's on our side," Yamato reasoned. "If not, I'll have to try and use my wood style to control him."
"Unfortunately… if he lays on single touch on you from this moment on, you'll be dead. So, no matter what, keep your guard up," Orochimaru explained Naruto's skin began to peel off.
"Our deal was for Sasuke. I won't let you hurt Sakura too."
"I'll take out whoever I please!"
Naruto reached for the sky as a column of chakra came down on him. He tore away at his skin with his newfound claws to reveal deathly red chakra. He escaped the chakra dome as a dark red monster with four tails.
"Here he comes," Orochimaru said before throwing Sasuke away.
Naruto grabbed Orochimaru's head and ripped it off his shoulders. The snakes dispersed. Naruto slid to a halt. He fired a volley of energy blasts as the snake slithered from building to building.
Two large snakes emerged from below to coil around Naruto. "To fight a monster, you must become a monster!" Orochimaru yelled, coming down from above. The snakes constricting the Uzumaki turned to dust, being burnt away by the jinchuuriki's toxic skin.
Naruto roared.
Orochimaru was caught in it. His body was destroyed on a molecular level.
Naruto turned his attention to Sasuke, who was sitting against a house clutching his stomach. Naruto barked at him. Sasuke stood up. He created the Chidori in his left hand whilst drawing his sword in his right. "No matter, you're still a shadow clone. I can't land a blow on you; you can't land a blow on me. The moment either one of us touches the other, the victor will be decided."
Naruto barked again.
"I will be the victor," Sasuke threw a flurry of Chidori Senbon before charging.
Naruto opened holes in his body to allow the senbon to fly through. He fired a blast at Sasuke who slapped it away with his sword.
Sasuke stopped. He hopped away from Naruto as a giant chakra hand came from below to try and grab him. The jinchuuriki had dug his hands into the earth.
Sasuke did a series of backflips away as hand after hand rose from below to try and snatch at him. The hands joined together to form one massive chakra hand. Sasuke went from backflipping to sprinting away.
The hand came down to crush him, but Orochimaru came to the rescue.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu," Orochimaru towing him away, Sasuke launched a single fireball at the Uzumaki.
Naruto retaliated.
"Summoning Jutsu: Rashomon!" the giant demonic gate exploded out of the ground as buildings and trees alike flew past the pair. Naruto decided to fight fire with fire, countering Sasuke's fireball with a blast of his own.
A gelatinous red blob emerged from behind the gates. Orochimaru looked around. Numerous hands sprouted from the blob, aiming for Sasuke.
The Snake Sannin sacrificed himself. Like giant nails, the claws dug through him, impaling him and drilling into the earth. The claws came together to form Naruto's face.
Sasuke drove a sword to Naruto's head.
The blade melted away before coming into contact with him.
"Once more maybe?"
"You're a monster," Sasuke noted.
"I'm the monster you made, coming to confront you."
Naruto opened his mouth. A snake rushed out of the jinchuuriki's open mouth to take Sasuke away.
"You're a persistent one."
"And you are pretty interesting yourself," Orochimaru's husk chuckled.
Naruto melted the snake sage away with the toxicity of his chakra.
He gave chase.
Sasuke looked back at him.
Naruto growled.
Sasuke's left eye began to bleed.
"Amaterasu."
Naruto collapsed. His roars went from hellacious, deep booms to high-pitched shrieks. He rolled around on the floor as the black flames of Amaterasu consumed him. There was nowhere to go. They were everywhere. On his arm. On his leg. On his face. He made a mad scrabble to the river, running through the centre of Konoha, but it was just a desperation move to try and ease the burning.
There was a puff of smoke.
A fresh, blue-eyed Naruto clone rose to the surface of the water, coughing and choking.
"Chidori!" Sasuke drilled his left hand through the clone's heart before pressing him against a wall.
"Sasuke…?" the clone dispelled.
"Sasuke, you fool!" Orochimaru yelled, leaning over the railing.
Chakra hands covered in Amaterasu's ever-burning black flames emerged from the deep. They coiled around Sasuke, but he propped up Susanoo, just in time to protect himself. He looked down. His shirt had caught fire.
He jumped out of the purple flaming samurai to throw his top off.
A vortex formed in the water.
Sasuke ran away.
Naruto, still screaming and crying from the heat of the black flames, gave chase.
Sasuke eventually stopped next to Sakura.
"Not another step! I will kill her, I swear!" Sasuke threatened. He hadn't learned his lesson. Naruto would've cared, but Kurama didn't. It was two for the price of one to him.
He charged.
"NO!" Naruto wrestled back control to rip himself out of the chakra cloak. He rolled for a few metres, allowing the Amaterasu-covered cloak to fall to the ground and burn away. "I told you… that wasn't… part of… the deal," Naruto muttered to himself as he tried to get up.
Sasuke left Sakura behind.
This time he was certain.
"Chidori!" the technique tore through the final Naruto clone, not even giving him a chance to create another clone.
Naruto disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Sasuke fell to one knee, the Chidori still in his hand. He looked back over his shoulder at Sakura. "I'd call that a win for me, wouldn't you?" Sakura wasn't sure what to do. "Wouldn't you?" Sasuke's confidence turned to anger. He stood over the pink-haired kunoichi with the ball of lightning at the ready.
"I said… wouldn't you?"
He thrusted.
Naruto caught it.
All three of them stood there in silence.
They were all breathing heavily. Sakura looked down at Naruto's hand. He held onto Sasuke's wrist firmly. When did he have time to make another shadow clone? It didn't matter. He'd saved her life.
"Not this time!" Sasuke yelled before punching Naruto across the face with his right hand.
He didn't dispel.
He was here.
For real.
"What a reunion, right Sasuke?"