CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Battle For Kiri!
XXX
84 Days Since Sasuke
Getting to Uzushio without your own personal boat was quite the task. Roshi and Han had to cross the Naruto Bridge into the Land of Waves before hopping from island to island until they could get to the Fishmonger Village, the biggest island in the Land of Water besides the Hidden Mist. There, they could take a boat south to the Land of Eddies and return to Uzushio. It was a lot of work, and upon leaving the Land of Waves and setting foot on Fishmonger Island, Han vowed to create a system between the Land of Fire and the Land of Water that allowed for easier access to Uzushio without a ship.
"Or you could just get us a boat," Roshi suggested.
"And have it docked in the Land of Fire for months while I'm in Kumo or Konoha or Iwa? That sounds like a waste of money to me."
"What kind of Kage complains about wasting money?" Roshi laughed.
"When Uzushio becomes a great power with its own overseas territories and tens of thousands of citizens, then you'll be allowed to bust my guts, but my village is only a few thousand people strong and less than a year old," Han chuckled as they made their way up a grassy hill.
"How are you handling the responsibilities so far?" Roshi wondered.
"Well… it's been a lot of paperwork, that's for sure. And a lot of people who think you know more than them, because you wear a funny hat, looking to you for answers."
"Yeah, to be honest, I was surprised to even hear that you were appointed as the First Uzukage," Roshi admitted, "You don't look like the authoritative type. That Yugito girl, on the other hand, she would've made a lot more sense."
"Thanks for the compliment, master."
"I don't mean it in that way, of course. You've done well in the limited time you've had as a Kage. Now, if we can win this war in the name of Uzushio, I think you'll have successfully established Uzushio as a world power," Roshi said as they reached the top of the hill.
They were greeted by a large volume of white clones standing on the acres of farmland between the pair and the Fishmonger Village. There were thousands of them. Han looked up at the village in the distance before returning to the White Zetsu clones who were eating food off the crops, killing livestock, and lazing around fires they'd created.
They were at the top of the hill, whilst the clones were down in the valley, so the Zetsu hadn't noticed them yet, but Roshi and Han had to think about their next move carefully. Roshi extended his arm. Han followed Roshi's arm with his line of sight until he locked onto two figures walking away from the village.
One was a tall, fish-skinned man with gills under his eyes and a large, bandaged sword over his shoulder. The other was a much shorter man with white hair and pale skin. Han squinted a bit before lowering himself behind the ridge. Roshi joined him on the floor.
"I know the tall one… that's Kisame Hoshigaki," Han said. There was no mistaking it. Han had taken an interest in the fishman after their meeting in the Hidden Hot Water Village. If only he'd taken the time to actually read up on his stats and abilities like Yugito tended to.
"And the guy next to him?"
"Beats me, but he's not wearing the Akatsuki cloak, so he must be one of Orochimaru's test subjects," Han said. He lifted his head slightly to peek over the hill and analyse their surroundings. To his left was the ocean. To his right was a large forest that went on for kilometres until it reached the southern ocean. Straight ahead was the farmland on which the Zetsu were and beyond that the Fishmonger Village, which was surrounded by more forests. They had three options. 1) Go around the island from the north and warn the Hidden Mist, but they'd need to turn back and get a boat for that. 2) Go straight through the farm to rescue the Fishmonger Village, but that would mean dealing with two powerful shinobi and thousands of Zetsu clones. 3) Try to sneak through the forest and head down to Uzushio.
Roshi sat down and crossed his legs to think, "So, we've got an Akatsuki member, one of Orochimaru's goons, and thousands of White Zetsu roaming around in the Land of Water… and none of the Allied Shinobi Forces are here?"
"What's on your mind?"
"They have that giant tracking globe thing, so surely they know that there's an army behind enemy lines."
"Maybe they already know, but reinforcements are still on the way. We've got like… 3 000 White Zetsu clones here right now, plus two key players like Kisame and that other guy…"
"I have a name, you know…" Han and Roshi looked up in unison to see the white-haired young man standing over them. How had he spotted them from all that way across the farm? "My name's Suigetsu Hozuki," he said before drawing a giant blade from his back, "The Second Coming of the Demon."
Han blasted him with steam.
The steam was so hot that Suigetsu's skin began to melt. He held his face and screamed, falling back over the ridge to roll down the hill. The White Zetsu clones all turned to the jinchuuriki.
"Shit…"
"AHHH!" an army of shinobi broke through the treeline across from them, behind the White Zetsu Army. How long had they been there?
"It's an ambush," Kisame presumed, yelling for the White Zetsu clones to take up their battle stations.
"Where did they come from?" Roshi wondered.
"Does it matter?" Han chuckled. He took the opportunity to slide down the grassy knoll in an attempt to land a final blow on Suigetsu while he was downed. Kisame would be a hard opponent to handle, so he needed to take out Suigetsu, so they could both deal with the shark-skinned shinobi.
Suigetsu swung his large blade with his face still hidden behind his hand. Han flipped in mid-air to plant his foot on the tip of the sword. He leapt away.
He'd lost one shoe and the sole of his right foot was bleeding. Han took the other shoe off.
The melting of Suigetsu's face was just a ploy. "Huh…" Han observed him for a moment. The white-haired shinobi had some form of kekkei genkai that allowed his skin to liquefy and melt at will. Han almost fell for it. But how far did the liquefication go?
"Suigetsu, get serious. You're fighting a jinchuuriki of the Five-Tails here," Kisame warned, walking up to the battlefield. He tapped him on the shoulder before explaining, "You're up against Han of the Steam Release, don't let him boil you alive, okay."
Han jumped away.
"Lava Style: Pyroclastic Flow!"
Kisame stared at the top of the hill. Tons of hot dust and ash raced down towards him. He leapt away too, making sure to pull Suigetsu away. The steaming hot cloud blew past the pair, putting some distance between Han and the Akatsuki members, before flowing into the wet crops to catch some of the White Zetsu before they engaged with the Shinobi Allied Force.
Kisame raced up the hill as Suigetsu vaulted over the still-burning mass of hot ash to battle Han.
Han saw him approach. "Vapour Style: Unrivalled Strength," he said, boiling his own chakra to emit steam, "You're no match for my taijutsu," he warned.
"Not on land, I'm not," Suigetsu admitted before turning his whole body to liquid. "Water Transformation Jutsu!" He carried Han a few hundred metres across the fields before dunking him into the ocean. He hit the water and sunk like a rock, until he took his armour off.
Han swam to the surface, constantly being assaulted by Suigetsu's attacks as he rose. He emerged from the ocean and landed on its surface. A water tornado rose around him, lifting him into the air. It slammed him onto the beach before dragging him back out to sea.
Han filled the air with steam, "Kok…" he was shut up by Suigetsu jamming water down his throat. Han coughed up his lung as he was lifted out of the water. He slammed back down, the ocean's surface almost feeling like concrete at the speed. He sank again.
Suigetsu reformed to land on a rock. He was already breathing heavily. Suigetsu knew he couldn't take Han on one-on-one. The jinchuuriki was stronger, faster, and had more stamina than him, but if he ended the battle quickly enough, then Han wouldn't get a chance to get a foothold in the battle. The air was filled with Han's steam. His visibility was reduced, but he had to keep the onslaught going.
Han leapt out of the water and fell onto another rock, a dozen metres away.
"What's next?" Han, now only wearing a red bodysuit after discarding his armour, asked. In order to utilise his Vapour Style Taijutsu, he needed to actually get into taijutsu range. But boy, did this kid have stamina.
"Water Gun Jutsu!"
Han had to stand there, arms crossed over his face, to block the barrage of water bullets assaulting him as he stood on the rock. Han looked down at his feet. He was moving backwards from the force of the technique on his body.
Eventually, the barrage came to a halt.
Han dropped his arms.
"Water Gun Jutsu: Double Blast!"
Two streams.
The giant jinchuuriki was launched back into the water.
Suigetsu broke out through the steam and swung his blade.
"Fountain of Fury Fist!" Han punched Suigetsu across the face, landing square on his jaw. Even though he was almost on his ass, he managed to get enough power behind the technique thanks to the steam propulsion. Suigetsu turned to water. "Was that his liquefication technique?" Han stood up.
Five more Suigetsu clones emerged from the steam to attack.
"Water Clone Jutsu!"
A pair of hands reached out from below to grab Han's ankles.
The five Suigetsu clones drew their massive swords.
"Kokuo…"
.
All six Suigetsu were blasted with tons of hot steam. From the darkness, a pair of blue eyes opened. The twenty-metre-tall heavenly white horse-dolphin lifted itself from the clouds and came back down to drop its hooves on the Suigetsu clones, reverting them all to water.
The shockwave lifted kilolitres of water from the ocean and dumped Suigetsu onto the beach.
Kokuo charged him.
"Wait!" Suigetsu stopped her mid-charge. "I give up."
Kokuo squinted.
Suigetsu dropped his sword, "Legit. I give up. I don't have enough of a stake in this war to get absolutely destroyed by some fucking horse whale creature." Kokuo lifted her head. She didn't have time for this, hopefully, someone from the Allied Shinobi Force would arrive soon to, "GOTCHA, BITCH!"
A great current of water lifted Kokuo into the air by her tails and slammed her back into the ocean. Suigetsu merged with the ocean once more to create a giant fish demon that stood at the same height as Kokuo. He pounded her repeatedly with hammers of water.
XXX
Roshi hopped from treetop to treetop as a giant shark chased after him. It launched itself into the water. "Lava Style: Scorching Rocks Jutsu!" he fired a barrage of burning rocks to destroy the giant shark. It exploded.
"Shit," Roshi winced in pain as one of the droplets landed on his hand. Each droplet had turned into a tiny shark. Which sucked for him because it all came raining down on him, tearing at his armour, cutting through his skin.
Kisame emerged from the rain, laughing, "You're not looking too good, old man."
"I could say the same for you…"
"Huh?" Kisame looked down at his feet. Roshi leapt away as Kisame was sucked underground as the ground turned molten and liquified beneath his feet. Roshi looked across the ocean as he hopped through the forest. Kokuo was still battling the water demon. He turned back to Kisame. "Earth Style: Underground Shark Jutsu!" the bandaged sword emerged from underground like a shark fin and made a beeline for Roshi.
"Shit," he threw his arms over his face to block. Kisame erupted from the dirt and slashed at Roshi. The old man was thrown across the clearing. His back exploded through some tree trunks. He rolled until he finally came to a stop a few metres from Kisame. "I'm not cut?" he asked himself. He jumped to his feet. Then immediately collapsed again.
Holy shit. Whatever that thing did to his body, he would've preferred if it just cut him.
"My blade Samehada doesn't slash or thrust like your normal sword. You see, Samehada grinds at the opponent with skin as rough as sandpaper, sapping your chakra with every hit," Kisame explained. Sections of the sword exploded out of the bandages to reveal the shark skin sword, "And Samehada loves tailed beast chakra."
"If that's the case…" Roshi covered himself in the Version 1 demon cloak, "I'll give it what it wants."
Roshi flickered behind Kisame. His shin met shark skin. Kisame grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air before slamming him into the earth. He'd lost his Version 1 cloak. That thing had stolen it.
"Lava Style: Chakra Mode!" Roshi ignited his body. Kisame plunged his sword onto Roshi's chest. As the chakra mode grew stronger, it grew weaker. The more chakra he poured into it, the more it disappeared. "How much chakra can that thing handle?"
"You're about to find out!" Kisame grabbed him by the face and threw him through a series of trees.
Roshi pried Kisame's scaly hand off his face and swung the taller man into a boulder before limping away. His heart was racing. That technique had drained so much chakra from him.
He collapsed.
Kisame slowly rose to his feet and began laughing at the jinchuuriki. "Can you believe it, Samehada, an entity with near-unlimited chakra is about to die from chakra deprivation?" Kisame began to approach Roshi, who'd begun to crawl away, "I'll put you out of your misery. Water Style: Water Shark Bomb Jutsu!"
A figure dove in.
Mei slapped the giant shark away.
Roshi sat up and leaned against a tree for support, "Lady Mizukage, never did I think I'd celebrate a Kage arriving on the battlefield."
Mei flashed him a smile before asking, "Are you okay, yourself?"
"Me? I'm grand, I just felt like taking a nap in the middle of a battle is all. When did you arrive?"
"We'd been here for hours. Tsunade sent us to Kiri when she saw the Zetsu army moving across the Land of Fire. We were waiting on you guys because having a pair of jinchuuriki is always better than not having a pair of jinchuuriki."
Roshi erupted into a coughing fit, "Well, sorry I couldn't have been of more use."
Four new figures landed around Kisame. The cavalry was here. Roshi sat up to look around at the new combatants. Han, Chojuro, and Kiba Inuzuka with his pet dog Akamaru.
"Han… how did your battle with whatshisface go?" Roshi chuckled.
"It went well… I managed to detain him, thanks to a bit of help."
"You're welcome by the way," Mei replied.
The shark man chuckled, "What's this? Han of the Vapour Style, the Fifth Mizukage Mei Terumi, a member of Seven Swordsmen of the Mist Chojuro, and heir to the Inuzuka throne Kiba. Not forgetting Roshi of the Lava Style, of course. Heh… forgive me if I feel a little honoured by the fact that your little shinobi force thinks it needs five great shinobi to defeat me," Kisame said, wiping the tears from his scaly face.
"You're not walking out of this encounter alive, Kisame," Mei warned him, with a straight face.
"Me? No, no, no, Lady Mizukage… you should be worrying about your own health. Five isn't enough," he said before fully releasing Samehada. He slapped his hand against the floor, "Water Style: Five Hungry Sharks!"
Five giant sharks formed and dispersed. Mei leapt away. Chojuro did the same. Han grabbed Roshi before running away. Kiba hopped on Akamaru and ran into the danger. Dodging the sharks as they came down around him.
"Tunnelling Fang!" Kiba missed with the attack. Akamaru missed with a bite. Kisame dodged a thrust from Chojuro. Han flew by him. With each attack, Kisame would grind his blade against their skin, draining them of more and more chakra.
"Lava Style: Chakra Mode!"
"Water Prison Jutsu!" Kisame stopped Roshi's momentum by entrapping him in a bubble of water.
"Fountain of Fury Fist!"
"Water Prison Jutsu!" another bubble.
"He only has two hands! What are you all waiting for? Tunnelling Fang!" Kiba began to spin. He was met by a sword to the shoulder. He let out a hellacious scream. Samehada had taken on a life of its own, standing up on its hilt. Akamaru charged.
Kisame leapt away.
Gallons of lava dumped down on where Kisame once stood. "You've had your fun for long enough," Mei yelled, wiping the lava from her lips.
"Not even close."
Akamaru barked at Kiba to revive the drained Inuzuka. "I told you his sword will drain you of your chakra," Mei scolded him. Kiba collapsed onto Akamaru.
"Roshi-san, are you okay?"
Roshi took a few moments to respond. "Yeah…" he eventually groaned.
"With every touch, Kisame can steal tons of chakra from you, don't get too close," Chojuru explained.
"Yeah… I figured as much."
"If you weren't a jinchuuriki, I'd wager you'd be dead already," Mei giggled.
"Good to see you're all enjoying my misery," Roshi didn't have much of his own chakra remaining. He looked to the skies and begged for a little more, "Oi, Four-Tails, help me out here!"
"Water Shark Bomb Jutsu!" a massive shark appeared over the team.
"Mobile Core!" Mei slapped the earth to destroy the shark with a pillar of earth. The water rained down on them. "Fuck!" she had to leap out of the way. The tiny sharks wreaked havoc on those who were caught in the rain.
Akamaru emerged from the rainstorm, yelping as he disappeared into the forest. Chojuro was next, leaving the rainstorm covered in cuts and blood. Han leapt out of it with Roshi in tow. Kiba limped out of the storm last.
"Water Style: Water Bomb Jutsu!" a ray of water pierced through the storm.
"Water Bomb Jutsu!" Mei answered the attack with a beam of her own. Han ran through the storm one more time to emerge out the other side and run towards Kisame.
Kisame went through some hand signs. He slapped the earth, "Summoning Jutsu!" Han's run was cut off by a shark snatching him between its teeth and rolling through the forest with him. He steamed it out of existence.
Han ran in from behind. Chojuro came down from above. Kiba from the left. Akamaru from the right.
Kisame abandoned the water battle with Mei for a second, "Water Style: Super Exploding Water Shockwave!"
Water. From everywhere. Consumed everything. Han. Chojuro. Kiba. Akamaru. Roshi. Mei. They were all consumed by the torrent of water until it formed into a giant sphere.
A column of chakra destroyed one-half of the bubble, rupturing it. The water flooded out onto the farm, through the village, and out into the ocean. Five-Tails Version 2 Han descended on Kisame, who pulled out his sword and blocked with it.
Han jumped off.
When he landed, he was normal again. His skin wasn't even red, "How much chakra did he drain?" the broad-shouldered man asked. Kisame descended on him this time.
"Lava Style: Melting Monster Jutsu!" Kisame was swiped out of mid-air by Mei's technique. The sticky brown substance corroded both Kisame's skin and Han's clothes. He quickly jumped out of the way too. Kisame was pinned. "Someone land a blow for fuck's sake!" she yelled before continuing to pin Kisame down with intense corrosion style.
Kisame looked up to see hell descend on him.
"Inuzuka Style: Man Beast Transformation Combo: Two-Headed Wolf: Super Wolf Fang Over Fang!" the giant spiralling blade of death barrelled towards him.
"Kokuo!" once more, the great white horse-dolphin emerged from the clouds to come down with a stomp.
"Son Goku!" Roshi mustered one last bout of strength to emerge from a hellscape as a massive red gorilla.
.
.
.
A new figure came down to block Kisame from the onslaught of lava.
"Shinra Tensei…"
Son Goku crashed into the hill. He rolled over and was sent flying into the ocean, destroying a few ships that had docked in the harbour.
Kokuo blew through a section of the forest, taking out thousands of trees as she rolled repeatedly until she, too, crashed into the ocean.
The Man-Beast Wolf took out everyone and everything standing between it and the ocean, destroying farmland, taking out White Zetsu, and hurting unsuspecting shinobi. It rolled onto the beach and dived into the ocean.
Chojuro crashed into Mei, who held her own for a few seconds by sending chakra to her feet, but the gravity was too much. She was pelted by trees and rocks as she flew through the forest, which was lifted off its roots as the technique took out all it could.
The only thing that remained was Kisame and Pain. The Deva Path turned to the injured shark-man whose torso had been dissolved by the lava. "You look like shit."
"How… how did you get here?" Kisame panted.
"Hi-hi!" Tobi popped into Kisame's vision.
Zetsu emerged from the tree, "After what happened with Hidan and Kakuzu, we figured it would be best to get you out of here as quickly as possible."
"Hidan and Kakuzu?" Kisame asked.
"They died facing the Two-Tails and Seven-Tails."
Kisame was still struggling for air, "Really? Aw, I'm playing the world's smallest violin in their memory" he said sarcastically.
"It's no matter. We'll chalk them up as casualties of war. Tobi teleported us here, me and the Preta Path," he said before looking around, "Where is Orochimaru's boy?"
"Captured. Sucks to be him, it seems."
"Another casualty of war, Tobi, take us back to base," Pain demanded.
Tobi saluted before picking the fishman up and sucking all three of them into his eye before disappearing himself. Zetsu followed after them.
The remaining members of the White Zetsu army began to retreat. The Allied Shinobi took out hundreds as they turned to run away.
The Battle for Kiri was a success.
XXX
"Where are you two headed to now?" Mei asked Han and Roshi after they got bandaged up by mednin.
"We're going to continue down to Uzushio, make sure there are no Akatsuki members down there too," Han explained. There probably weren't, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
"Good luck, we'll take Suigetsu here back to Kiri and have him investigated."
"Are you sure you're okay with taking one of Orochimaru's subjects back to Kiri?" Han asked.
"Suigetsu? Oh, he's harmless," Mei giggled before turning to the young man, who was sitting in an earthen prison, sipping on a cup of water, "We probably won't need to worry about him anymore."
Han stood up and sauntered over to the little glass in the prison.
Suigetsu rolled his eyes, "What? Are you here to brag about your victory?"
"No, I'm here to tell you that you put up one hell of a fight. Hopefully, when Orochimaru's brainwashing wears off, we can meet again. We need swordsmen like yourself in Uzushio," was the last thing Han said to the younger man before he was wheeled away.