I've been super busy for a few years with job, family, building two houses; lots of work that I need to worry about. So, I thank you all for the patience!
This story starts to get epic, violent, and dark for the sake of realism: there will be one or more canon-character deaths, good guys or bad guys, in every chapter. OC deaths don't count.
Beta: Illuminated.
Proofreading and consultation: Ookami88.
Credits to Jericoe who made this epic image! For full image you can go to: jericoe
Anyway, enjoy: Book Two - Shadows of Uzushio.
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0830, September First (Thirty Minutes Ago), Cell Block A01, Ancor Vantian
Karin Uzumaki leisurely bit down on a rice cracker, while lying on her belly on a tatami and reading a magazine, inside her cell aboard the Ancor Vantian– the flying fortress and headquarters of the Neo-Combine.
She had been imprisoned on the flying fortress for over seven weeks, and her experience there was bizarre to her. While the Neo-Combine ninjas had herded hundreds of prisoners to common cells on the fortress, the young Uzumaki girl was taken to a special cell, on the direct order of their supreme commander- Orochimaru.
To the red-haired girl's surprise and relief, her cell was almost like a 5-star hotel room. It was spacious, with large clean tatamis on the floor; a table and chair were present as well. She had many privileges: fine meals, clean clothes, access to a shower, a heater, and even a television. All of these made her feel not quite like a prisoner.
It was 0830 now, and she turned on her TV for her favourite morning show to pass some time. To her disappointment, the channel didn't display the show but rather a breaking news story. There was video of a big building devoured by black fires. The Uzumaki girl kept clicking the TV controller to surf away from the scene, but all of the channels were showing the same big news.
"This is Katsuto Ikemoto, reporting live from Fire News Network on the border between Fire Country and Frost Country. Several hours ago, there was an attack on the FNN headquarters in Fire Capital, that left scores of deaths, including many of my colleagues…" The reporter's grief was discernible in his tone. "The Fire Capital Law Enforcement Department announced that, thanks to concrete evidence in its possession, it suspected that the hidden Cloud village was responsible for this act. A reliable anonymous source adds that the ninja village did this to cover up a heinous scandal that could bring catastrophic political disaster to the Lightning leadership. Kumogakure no Sato and Lightning Country have denied responsibility for the attack and dismissed the idea of a scandal."
The scene now switched to outside of the Fire Palace. "Half an hour ago, the Fire Daimyo finished a joint video conference with the Earth Daimyo, along with their respective courts. Representing the Fire Daimyo and the Fire Court, Fire Crown Prince Masashi Madako has declared the attack on the FNN an act of war and declared that he will do everything necessary to protect his country. Then, he announced that the Fire military forces have been mobilized along with their special forces- ninjas."
Karin raised her red eyebrows at the mention of ninja as the point of view switched back to this Ikemoto reporter. Over his shoulder, the station displayed video of a huge group of armoured warriors wearing Fire emblems marching towards a destination.
"Behind me is the Fire 141st Samurai Regiment marching towards the northern border. The Frost and Hot Water Daimyos have already issued an evacuation order for their citizens to avoid the conflicts between Fire, Earth and Lightning. This is the biggest crisis since the Fall of Whirlpool, that caused the Ninja World War Two. Is this going to be the Ninja World War Four? Will there be a way to solve this crisis?"
The bespectacled girl turned off her TV, she didn't want to hear any more of this.
"War is coming…" Karin mumbled, and held herself tightly at the reporter's mention of the Fall of Whirlpool, her mother's country. The reporter's words pained her, because they led her to thoughts of her deceased mother and her destroyed Uzushio home village, and more and more on her captors- the Neo-Combine.
"Does this have something to do with the Neo-Combine?" She asked herself quietly and wondered if war would really happen. She recalled her mother Nori's tale of the Fall of Uzushio.
"The Uzumaki clan head- Lord Kenshin Uzumaki, Lady Kushina's father, issued an emergency evacuation order as the Combine began to breach the final defences. My family had to leave everything behind, even my favourite mermaid dolls. It was totally chaotic; the buildings were either burning or collapsing. We were separated from Aunty Fuso's family, and I didn't get a chance to see that shy-cute little boy Nagato again. When we had nearly arrived at a seaport, a team of Kumo ninjas ambushed and killed my parents, your grandparents, little Karin…. The Cloud ninjas forcibly grabbed me from my parents' dead bodies and said they would take me to their village to start a new Uzumaki clan there." Nori had shuddered and taken a deep sip on her tea before she continued her story.
"Fortunately, an Uzumaki ninja, I don't know who he was, furiously killed the entire Kumo team and personally took me to an evacuation boat before he left to fight the other invaders. The ordeal didn't end there though… My boat was strafed and bombed by the Sky Country ninjas with those powerful Iwa clay bombs. I was the only survivor because I bit myself to induce healing. The boat engine was destroyed, and it took my boat a week to drift and finally reach the mainland. To make matters even worse, I didn't know the rendezvous point. I took the possessions of the dead and wandered to find the other surviving Uzumakis. I had been wandering alone on the coast for a week before I started to realize it was too late to rendezvous with my clansmen and I was stranded... Fortunately, a Kusa jonin spotted me crying and offered me sanctuary in his village. It was a foolish decision; I accepted the offer, as I was starving and homeless at that time and I had no other choice, and I doubted the ninja would have kindly accepted my decline."
Having finished recalling her mother's tale, the young Uzumaki girl closed her eyes in deep thought. She despised wars; the fall of Uzushio had made her mother a lone, homeless orphan and refugee, stranded in the hidden Grass village and always at their mercy.
The innocents always suffered the most from wars: families torn asunder, homelessness, starvation, disease, rape, and death were common things in wars.
She turned around and looked out of her cell window; despite the fortress being in the clouds, she could still see squadrons of Buzzards, the term for the golden-winged devices piloted by Sky ninjas, as they were patrolling around the flying fortress.
Recently, more and more Dragons had been coming and leaving the Ancor Vantian, more than usual. It looked like the Neo-Combine was preparing for something. WAR was the only word that rang inside Karin's mind, and the girl bit her lip. The Uzumaki looked at all the good food, clothes, and accommodation in her cell.
"With all this nice treatment, the Neo-Combine must want something in return… what do they want from me?" Karin Uzumaki fearfully asked herself. The red-haired girl felt alone and vulnerable. "I feel like a fattened lamb prior to the slaughter…" She mumbled quietly and went to sit in a corner and huddle to herself before began to sob quietly.
"Mum… I wish you were still here."
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0855, War Briefing Amphitheatre, Ancor Vantian
The flying fortress was several thousand meters above the destroyed Uzushiogakure no Sato, which was the secret rally point for the Neo-Combine forces.
It put a smile on Shinno's face when he saw the panicked faces of the Kumo leadership, including the scarred-faced Raikage, realizing how deep the shit was that they were in now, after watching the breaking news.
The hidden Cloud village hunted and killed him before, and it pissed him off that Orochimaru had offered this superpower village a membership in the Neo-Combine. He had strongly opposed this idea to the Snake Sannin, knowing the Kumo leaders were nothing but a bunch of greedy, power-hungry, self-absorbed assholes. But the Supreme Commander of the Neo-Combine dismissed his protest, reasoning that a superpower ninja village could boost up the army's strength.
Sound and Sky contributed ten thousand strong ninjas each. Grass brought six thousand, but that number included 2,000 inmates released from the Blood Prison. The Combine's 4,000 ninjas were from Rain, as the leader Hanzo the Salamander had agreed to join in. The Last Hattori had hundreds of Juggernauts under his command, and he had used his vast wealth to recruit more than ten thousand street thugs, ronins and missing-nins who served as the "meat shields" for the Combine.
With Kumo's addition, the army was now 60,000 strong.
Sitting at the supreme commander seat at the conference table, Orochimaru paid little attention on the Sky Marshal's smile and the Kumo leadership's panicked expression; he was more concerned about the news. First, he would bet everything that Kumo was not responsible for the attack on the FNN. What kind of imbecile left a mountain of evidence at a mass-murder scene?
Second, he had been acquainted with this Ikemoto FNN reporter when he was in ROOT, and this newsman had been on ROOT's payroll to spread pro-Konoha propaganda.
The Snake Sannin had a strong suspicion that his former ROOT employer had something to do with this. That crippled elder might be the anonymous source mentioned in the news. If Danzo Shimura was truly responsible for it, then it made sense that he and his Fire Court allies, including the Fire Crown Prince, wanted war for profits.
'Well, well, well, this attack on FNN has made it easier for me to deal with Kumo,' Orochimaru turned to face the Raikage and his entourage with a smile. "Kukukuku, I hope you enjoy the TV show, now it means you need to win the war against Konoha, doesn't it, Raikage? Haaave you reconsidered putting your Hell Storm toy aboard Ancor Vantian? We still have plenty of space here, even though we have that Blood Prison Box here. We'll have moooore when we will clear out the prison space."
Every Sound commander understood the meaning of 'clearing the prison cells,' and they paled and trembled.
'Mass-sacrifices for Edo-Tensei, and payment in advance for Manda and his snake goons- to boost the Combine's ranks,' Shinno thought nonchalantly, and wasted no sympathy on those human sacrifices, because victory required great sacrifices.
"NO!" The Raikage answered immediately. "We have already placed Hell Storm on the Turtle Island, and it is now en-route to the Fire Country's eastern coast. Operation Crushing Leaf is less than 48 hours away and that means we don't have the time to relocate the cannons to your palace, along with the charger equipment. So thank you for your offer Orochimaru!"
"Fair enough," the sannin shrugged it off. He expected that Kumo wasn't willing to share her military secrets; nor was any other village. Yet, it was fine to him, as long as Konoha got destroyed and he got what he wanted- the Uchiha children.
"But you wiiiiill still commit your 15,000 ninjas, riiight? The Iwa Gravemaker promises that he will use his influence to obstruct Iwa's aggression against your village."
"Yes, that number! And I hope Shingen Hattori can keep his promise to cease Iwa's hostility towards Kumo, and you too, Orochimaru!" A said while he pointed a finger to the Snake Sannin.
"Ouch," Orochimaru made a fake hurt expression and put his hands on his chest. "Didn't I prove that by healing your soldiers, helping to reconstruct your little village, and re-masculinizing you? Actually, I found your feminine look attractive… Kukuku."
The Sky Marshal laughed aloud, and there were snickers in the chamber. Orochimaru ignored the Raikage's murderous glare.
"Not to mention, my meditating peace between you and the Iwa Gravemaker? In case you don't know, the Hattori was very angry at first that you took Minato's boy. BUT!" The Snake Sannin held up his long, left index finger. "If you help him to take the boy's head, he will forgive you all. He swears this on his dead son. He and I always keep our ends of a bargain, and shouldn't you too, A?"
A nodded grudgingly that fifteen thousand Cloud ninjas would participate in the war against Leaf. Still, he and the rest of the Kumo leadership were sceptical of the alliance, but they didn't have much choice. Several Kumo ninjas disguised as Lightning diplomats or merchants had been murdered and mutilated in Earth Capital a few weeks ago and the hidden Rock village was apparently responsible.
The Cloud ninja village couldn't face two superpower ninja villages at once, so alliance with the Neo-Combine was their only way out. On the other hand, they could reap great benefits from this alliance secretly. When the war against Konoha was over and Kumo got what they wanted, they would secretly take some Sky M-47 kunai launchers and a few Dragon carryall transports back to the village, and get Professor E busy, doing reverse-engineering on them.
Returning to his role as the supreme commander, Orochimaru clapped his hands, gaining everyone's attention in the amphitheatre. "Anyway, time is short, so ladies and gentlemen, shall we begin this?"
Every Combine commander sitting above him nodded quietly. The Snake Sannin grinned and rolled out a scroll on the table. He casually touched the scroll, a Konoha landscape model soon appeared; even the wall and the monument were shown. There were nine little flags with kanji numbers "One" to "Nine" placed in the Konoha landscape evenly.
The numeric flags were arranged like a computer number keypad: one to three in the front section, four to six in the middle section, and seven to nine in the rear section.
"Konohagakure no Sato is divided into nine zones," a snake slid out of Orochimaru's right sleeve and served as the Sannin's pointing stick. The snake pointed towards the front section of the Leaf village model with forked tongue extended. "The front section of the village is Zones One, Two and Three, and the Konoha walls. The walls are strongly fortified with over three hundred heavy artillery pieces and the Firewall defence seal array. Although the exam starts at 0900, my spies still cannot confirm the Firewall shutdown time for the welcome ceremony fireworks. Now, Raikage?"
"The Hell Storm chakra diffusion cannons will blast that pathetic Konoha walls apart!" A said confidently. "Then we can start the invasion!"
"I'm certain it will," a stern voice came out from a monitor. "Nothing withstands the might of Hell Storm but remember: it will take 129 minutes to recharge Hell Storm, in case we need to fire again." Professor E reminded the supreme commander, much to the Raikage's annoyance.
"Thank you for the information, Professor. The walls will be destroyed anyway," Orochimaru agreed and everyone present nodded. His snake then tongued the model's middle section. "The central region is Zones Four to Six, but Zone Five is the most important, because the Chunin Exam Arena is there. Shinno?"
"My Sky forces will take out as many high-ranking people as possible, to cut off the head of the sna.. ah, whatever." The Sky Marshal said, while Orochimaru simply shrugged it off. "Many Naruto's genins will take the Final Exams, it's 100% certain he will be there. We will drop and unleash the box there, assuming he survives the Sky forces' first assault."
"I am certain he will. Now the rear section, Zones Seven to Nine. Eight is the administration area, that's where the Hokage Tower is, you're sure your Sky Forces will take it out too, Shinno?" Orochimaru asked, and the Sky Marshal nodded curtly.
The supreme commander turned to look at A, "But you are only interested in Zone 9, aren't you? Because that's where the Hyuuga Compound is. So Konoha right section: Zones 3, 6 and 9 are yours to deal with, alllriiight?"
The Raikage and the Kumo councillors all nodded in satisfaction. Orochimaru said "My Sound forces will take the left section: Zones 1, 4 and 7."
It took a second to widen A's eyes a bit. 'Now I get it… The left section has nothing important to take, except the Uchiha Compound that is in Zone 4. The Uchihas are his prize!'
"Now the middle section, Zones 2, 5 and 8," Orochimaru looked at the commanders from Sky, Grass, Rock, Stone, Rain, the Prajna Group from Wood Country, and other ninja villages. "They are all yours to take. Shingen will have the overall command of the central forces. We will link-up at Zone 8 and put the final nails in Konoha's coffin."
They all nodded, even Shinno, Shingen's and Hanzo's respective representatives, and the Kusa leader Kazuo too. This section of Konoha was rich and there were a lot to pillage and plunder.
Seeing everyone agreeing his plan, Orochimaru grinned and clapped his hands. "Now the meeting is adjourned. You are all dismissed, go to prepare your units for the war we will win. Kimimaro and Amaru?" Said Sound shinobi and Sky kunoichi stood at attention. "Amaru, it's time for that Uzumaki girl to fulfil her role, take her to the studio. Kimimaro, you send a message to Generals Hattori and Dodai that Operation First Strike is green-lit. Commence at 0915."
"Hai!" The two bowed deeply towards their supreme commander.
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0909 (Less than 48 hours prior the Chunin Exam Final), Konoha Jonin Arena
The Third Hokage slightly dropped his jaw in astonishment when Naruto caught Jiraiya's punch with little effort. His former three students, the Sannin, were some of the most powerful ninjas in the world. His second successor Tsunade packed the most powerful punch in the village, possibly in the whole ninja world, and her teammates were not far behind her.
Two minutes ago, Naruto had immediately attacked his jonin exam proctor/opponent- Jiraiya, his godfather and the strongest Konoha ninja, without a warning. Then, the Namikaze launched a series of sword attacks on the Toad Sage so relentlessly that the latter never even had a chance to do his ridiculous kabuki self-introduction.
The boy looked very serious and he hadn't spoken a word. Worse, he was reeking enormous killing intent. This made Jiraiya become serious and take out a kunai out of his sleeve to block Naruto's wind-coated katana strike. There was a spark created between the two clashed weapons, followed by a loud clang, then the kunai was severely dented. The Toad Sannin discarded his damaged kunai and took out a new one.
For the next minute, the duo had traded weapon attacks, but they both either dodged or blocked each other's attack. Neither scored a direct hit in this minute.
'Jiraiya seems to be on defensive, but he won't stay on like this,' Hiruzen and Tsunade predicted in their thoughts.
"HAA!" The Namikaze launched a katana stab aiming directly at the Sannin's groin, much to Neji's and Aoba's terror. A blue-chakra ball appeared out of the Toad Sannin's left hand and he slammed it on his opponent's katana. The force was so powerful that it knocked the sword out of the blond's hands. The Arashi flew a hundred meters backward.
"RASENGAN!" Naruto was surprised to see his father's technique. "The bastardized Tailed Beast Ball!"
The blond then saw a fist coming towards his face fast, but he had caught it in time with his right hand and was merely pushed two centimeters behind.
"WHAT!?" Jiraiya was shocked, and everyone else as well, including Tsunade and Kakashi. Not many in the world could easily withstand a Sannin's powerful punch, let alone intercept it.
"Strong, yes, but slower than the Raikage," a devious smile appeared on Naruto's face. "What happened to you, Jiraiya? Icha-Icha got you pushing too many pencils, huh?"
Jiraiya felt Naruto's grip on his fist tighten and started to feel the blond's nails dug deeper into his hand. The Sannin was surprised when he saw the nails were slowly becoming claws. Blood slowly seeped out of his hand. The jinchuuriki had used Claw Creation Technique, a jutsu he learnt from his former teacher Yugito Nii. The blond's right hand had firmly gripped his god father's left hand, and he pulled the hand forcefully towards himself.
"What the heck?" Jiraiya wondered what his god son was doing when he was yanked forcefully. His male instinct urgently told him to look downward and he did so. To the super pervert's terror, Naruto's left hand with 15cm long claws was coming close to his crotch.
"OH MY KAMI!" A terrified Jiraiya jumped far away in a knee-jerk reaction from his would-be castrator, ignoring the tearing pain on his left hand. Strangely, Naruto didn't give chase.
"Fighting Rule 101 for kunoichi fighting against male ninja," Tayuya commented with an evil smile, as everyone in the vicinity was listening. "Aim for their balls, and you'll get the edge! They will always surrender if you grab them by the nuts!"
Anko Mitarashi and other outgoing kunoichis burst out laughing, while the other senior kunoichis giggled and nodded- even Kurenai, who sighed and reluctantly nodded. Hinata and Honoka nodded in embarrassment while the junior kunoichis like Sakura and Yakumo blushed heavily. All the male ninjas paled and put their hands on their family jewels. This made the kunoichis laugh louder.
"I'm getting bored of this, jonin or special jonin whatever. Let's end this fast," Naruto said. His arms formed an X shape before his chest and took a deep breath. He shouted "HA!" in a demonic tone and spread his arms outward. Grass and dust within a 10-meter radius of the jinchuuriki were blown away.
Within a second, the jinchuuriki's body was coated in a golden chakra shroud with six magatama marks around his neck. His hair stood up like horns and the seal on his stomach became visible with several black lines flowing over his arms and legs, and one swirl mark appearing on each of Naruto's arms. The chakra energy radiated by the jinchuuriki was off the scale.
Everyone in the arena including the Hokages stood up from their seats in astonishment.
"The power of a perfect jinchuuriki!" Many people shouted.
"You have full access to the Kyuubi's power even without the key?" Jiraiya remarked, curious, and he knew he was completely outclassed now. The Sannin immediately clapped his hands, then two small figures leapt onto the man's shoulders from out of nowhere.
Sasuke Uchiha was among those awed by the power that his K-15 commander wielded. 'This is the power of a jinchuuriki? The power Naruto and Fu possess… I-I-I wish I could have this power to protect my clan from outside and inside the village…' But he cast a glance at Danzo Shimura with strong disdain and hate. 'No! looking at the problems Naruto and Fu have; it truly isn't worth it. My Sharingan and AK-16 are enough to protect my clan!'
'What the fuck!?' Tayuya mentally shouted and quickly leaned over to Honoka and Hinata, and whispered, "Honoka, Hinata, why does Naruto show this power in front of everyone? There are special interested people here! Doesn't he have enough problems?"
"I don't know," Honoka answered, she was confused and worried too. "Prior the exam, Naruto said he wouldn't use this power against Kakashi. Jiraiya's entrance is unexpected, but he isn't even supposed to enter the Kyuubi mode to fight the Sannin. It doesn't make sense. Hinata, can you see something wrong?"
The Byakugan Princess secretly activated her dojutsu and observed nothing wrong with her fiancée. Then the girl slightly glanced towards Danzo's seat, making sure he didn't notice them. It took Hinata a second to whisper "Nothing wrong about him."
This made the three girls more confused. The Chain user created a shadow clone and instructed the clone to find Ladies Hitomi and Mikoto for assistance, while she herself went to Fu for consultation with Chomei.
'There is nothing wrong with Danzo, he is just sitting there watching, but why does he wear a large arm guard, larger than the Raikage's, on his right arm?' Hinata pondered a moment but she cast aside this question. She then quickly turned to scan the arena to look for any anomaly on the field.
"Hey, Neji," Tayuya smiled sweetly, and sat down very close to the Gentle Fist genius and held his hand. The Hyuuga's cheeks were red. "I need you to do something for me, and you can take me out for dinner tonight."
As the girls shifted their focus, Danzo Shimura let a quick little smile alight on his face. The Konoha's Darkness knew he was being watched; there were many Hyuugas here and he had to be careful. He quickly turned off Shisui's eye when the boy displayed the power he used to defeat Itachi Uchiha in Wave Country. Now Kotoamatsukami had completed its job, there was nothing for the Leaf elder to do but to watch the fight between the perfect jinchuuriki and the sage, and make his next plan to get his weapons– the Kyuubi and the Nanabi.
Now back in the centre of the arena, four chakra arms appeared from out of Naruto's body.
"Let me show you something more powerful than Rasengan," the Kyuubi jinchuuriki said. Three Micro Tailed Beast Balls were formed between three pairs of hands/chakra-hands, the same jutsu he used to destroy Itachi's Susanoo.
"Tailed Beast Ball: Burst Shots!" The blond threw the baseball-sized orbs formed by his real hands towards Jiraiya like a baseball pitcher with a speed of over 300 meters per second. A pair of the chakra hands quickly passed him the second ball and he threw it in the same direction before the third ball was given to him.
Jiraiya had just completed gathering natural energy with the toad elders, Fukasaku and Shima, and the first Micro Tailed Beast Ball was coming straight at them fast. Deciding to test the power of the Bijudama instead of dodging, the Toad Sennin quickly palmed his hands on the ground.
"Summoning: Rashomon!" A giant menacing gate quickly rose to intercept the ball.
BOOM! Large spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the gate when the first micro-Bijudama impacted on the front teeth of the demon-looking gate.
BOOM! The second micro-Bijudama hit the same spot and a three-meter radius hole was blasted open. The demon face on the Rashomon seemed punched toothless. The third ball passed through the gate defence and went flying towards the Sannin, and he quickly moved aside.
BOOM! The Toad Sannin and the toad elders could feel a big explosion behind them, as dust and debris rained on their backs.
"Jonin exams always end in three or four minutes, and now it's already 0920. So far, no hit has been made, but look at the damage at the field…" Tsunade commented to her sensei, who nodded in agreement. To their minds, Naruto, whether in Kyuubi mode or not, was on the Sannin's level. There was no issue with promoting the blond to full jonin.
Jiraiya heard a demonic shout of "Kyuubi Mode: Lariat!" and turned around and saw his godson in a golden aura charging with his right arm open aiming at his throat. The Sage launched a counterattack punch towards the jinchuuriki. Naruto quickly shifted his head to avoid the hit, but his face was distorted and impacted. He flew 30 meters backward before dropping to the ground on his butt, confused.
'Senjutsu: Frog Kata,' the Sandaime thought. 'Finally, a direct hit, fifteen minutes after the exam had started.'
"Sage Art: Frog Song!" Fukasaku and Shima in unison released loud and powerful soundwaves at Naruto. The noise was a big headache to the blond who cursed "FUCK!" and jumped backward to prepare a counter this nuisance.
"Toad Oil Bullet!" Jiraiya shot an extremely sticky oil at Naruto, as he predicted the boy's movement. The jutsu took away the blond's mobility, the Sannin then unleashed his extremely long white hair and ensnared his godson. His white hair pulled Naruto towards himself fast. When his godson was in range, the Toad Sannin slapped an anti-jinchuuriki suppression seal on his forehead.
"Seal!" Seeing his godson's Kyuubi mode start to fade, Jiraiya smiled. "I won, your limbs are bound, and you cannot remove the seal until your Kyuubi chakra is drained, but you have made a great impression here. You are no doubt qualified for the jonin rank. It's time to end the game and get back to the emergency meeting about the FNN incident…"
Naruto chuckled darkly, confusing everyone even the Toad Sannin.
"You gotta be kidding me. You think this little seal gets you a victory against a jinchuuriki? Tell you what: Kumo already knows you are a seal master and had prepared me and the other two Kumo jinchuurikis to counter this threat. Not to mention, I'm a high-A class seal master by the Uzumaki standard, while you are just low-B class."
The mention of Uzumaki fuinjutsu levels shocked everyone except Team Naruto: Hinata, Honoka and Tayuya.
'Jiraiya is considered only a low-B class by the Uzumaki fuinjutsu standard!?' Many wondered about their best fuinjutsu expert in the village.
A chakra arm emerged from Naruto and ripped off the suppression seal tag on his forehead, shocking everyone again, particularly Jiraiya. The chakra arm crushed the tag into a tiny paper ball and chucked it at the dumbfounded Sannin.
'The Kyuubi mode was supposedly disabled! How did he do it?'
Naruto shut down his Kyuubi mode to allow activation of his Shield seals on his armour. The Toad Sannin's white hair that wrapped the blond's body started to wither, and the toad oil was absorbed into the flashing crimson Shield inscriptions on the black Uzumaki armour. The blond landed on the ground and reactivated his Kyuubi Mode, before grinning at the Sannin.
"The fight is starting to get fun, you ready for round 2, Jiraiya?"
"Anytime!" Jiraiya grinned back and took a step to the front, "Ready for round two! BEHOLD, NARUTO NAMIKAZE! Look above, upon the halos and the heavily canopies…" He announced and started to do his kabuki-style introduction. "The Great Gallant Toad Sage Jiraiya will definitely-"
"GREY NOW!" Naruto shouted. Directly underneath the Sannin, a katana popped up from the earth and thrusted towards his ass.
"HOLY SHIT!" were Jiraiya's words when he saw the blade emerging from the ground towards his butt before he jumped 100 meters into the air with all his strength.
Naruto and his shadow clone Grey sighed in disappointment at that the tip of the sword just touched the Sannin's pants, and there was a sweat drop on everyone's head.
"Is the son of the Yellow Flash a sadist? Maiming, flaying, castrating, sodomizing his foes? He makes Ibiki Morino like a saint…"
Even said head of Torture and Interrogation Department, present in the arena, wondered the same thing.
Seeing Jiraiya in the air, Naruto in Kyuubi mode made several hand seals before putting his palms on the ground. "I'm gonna rock you like a hurricane! Kyuubi-Wind Release: Maelstrom Ascent!"
He and Grey quickly moved away. A small twister was created on the ground, initially it was not even Category One, but as each second passed, it upgraded to the next class. At the sixth second, the twister became a Category Five hurricane with a 250 km/hr wind speed. Everyone in the arena quickly scattered and moved further away to avoid the destructive hurricane, even the Hokages and the elders, except for poor Jiraiya, who was blown upward and spun helplessly in the hurricane for the next 10 seconds.
There were spirals on Fukasaku's and Shima's eyes. "I'm going to throw up!"
"Me too! I gotta do something!" Jiraiya said. He took a scroll out of a pocket and started to write a fuinjutsu to counter this attack.
On his own initiative, Grey made a tiger hand sign and opened his mouth preparing to shoot a fire stream at the hurricane, to finish the exam.
"STOP IT, GREY!" Kurama shouted. "Naruto has a plan, now listen…" The shadow clone stepped back and followed the order.
Naruto threw a kunai with a fuinjutsu tag at the hurricane and it disappeared immediately, then he jumped towards the freefalling Jiraiya. Six chakra arms shot out of the jinchuuriki's body. Four of them grabbed the Sannin's limbs, and the other two grabbed the two toad elders' bodies and forcefully removed them from the Toad Sannin's shoulders.
"YIKES! What the hell!?" Jiraiya asked in disgust because Naruto was now sitting on his shoulders, and the blond's crotch touched the super pervert's face. Yaoi-loving kunoichis including Shizune, Anko, Inner Sakura and Ino, giggled at the scene, and some of them suffered little nosebleeds.
Many winced at the sounds produced when they saw Naruto bashing Jiraiya's head viciously several times. The blond then scissor-crossed his legs to make his thighs lock Jiraiya's head tighter and shouted "Hurricanrana!" in demonic tone. He flipped backward and there was nothing Jiraiya could do but be pulled along with the powerful force towards the ground.
Danzo watched emotionlessly when Jiraiya crashed in front of him and bounced several times like a ragtag doll. But deep inside, the ROOT leader was very excited that the jinchuuriki was even more powerful than the most powerful Sannin. The elder was drooling inwardly and couldn't wait to claim ownership over his weapons.
The Konoha's Darkness heard the demonic voice "Kyuubi-Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullets!" and raised his head to observe the source. Naruto was still in the air upside-down. The ROOT leader's left eye widened when a cluster of five tennis ball sized orbs were coming straight towards him. This shocked everyone, and all ROOT members rushed towards their master, yet they would never make it in time.
'OH SHIT!' The elder cursed in thought and he quickly moved 30 meters aside just in time.
KABOOOOOM!
Danzo Shimura turned around to see his original position and his eye widened again. Everything, even large rocks, within 10-meter radius from his original place was completely obliterated, and earth to a depth of forty centimeters was gone too.
'Fuu Yamanaka, Torune Aburame, Tanuki Shigaraki…' Watching everyone's reaction to the assassination attempt, it was easy for Grey to identify the special jonins and jonins who were on Danzo's side, but to his shock. 'Sai!?'
Naruto landed on the ground and immediately made a deep bow towards the nearly-killed Konoha elder. "Sorry, Elder Danzo! Stray fire! Stray fire!" The blond apologized innocently. "I was aiming at Jiraiya, but you were in the line of fire and I still couldn't control my air-landing after Hurricanrana. My bad!"
'You ain't as crippled as you seemed to be… Fuck you, Danzo! FUCK YOU!' was what the blond's real thought.
Everyone, including Danzo and the other two elders, was looking at the son of the Yellow Flash suspiciously. 'You attempt to kill Danzo in front of everyone in broad daylight?' was the thought most people had now.
"To show my sincere apology, your next nyotaimori is on my tab!" Naruto said grinning.
Now some male ninjas sported a little blood leaking from their nostrils, as they imagined eating delicious sushi and sashimi off a beautiful woman's naked body. Kurenai and some kunoichis shook their heads in disappointment at Naruto's objectification of females.
It pleased Naruto a bit that the elder looked insulted. He pulled Jiraiya up to his shoulder. "It was a good fight, godfather, and I shouldn't have gone overboard to shoot you; I didn't know you were KO'd by my Hurricanrana. Would you like to join the nyotaimori with me and Danzo? My treat."
A perverted grin appeared on the battered sannin's face and his right hand thumbed up.
Naruto nodded and smiled before he turned around. "Hey Lord Sandaime and Kakashi! Would you like to come too? The tab is on me! We five can have a very good time!" The blond smiled at Kakashi's thumbs-up and his eye-smile, and a very nervous nod from the Third Hokage under the Slug Sannin's glare.
Tsunade palmed her face. 'I know what's behind your nyotaimori invitation, beside the insult. You want to have a talk with Danzo on everything: the Uchiha Massacre, your parents' scrolls and house, FNN, everything… But can't you use something better, boy!? How the hell do I come to this nyotaimori!'
"Good!" Naruto made an ear-to-ear grin at Danzo, thinking 'And next time I WILL WHACK YOU!'
Sirens came alive everywhere in the whole village, and everyone became alert. Many sensor-type ninjas could sense panic inside the village.
"Lady Hokage!" Tsunade heard as an ANBU from the Konoha Operations Center landed in front of her. "You and everyone here must come to the War Chamber now! The Operations Center commander Iruka Umino has declared Crimson Contingency: the Western and Northern Garrisons are both under attack!"
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0925 (Five Minutes Ago), Konoha Operations Centre
Special Jonin Iruka Umino sat in the command chair taking a sip of his coffee while supervising all the staff sitting in front of him. Everything here was business as usual, even the Western and Northern garrisons.
Things were good, he assessed. The academy was closed for the upcoming Chunin Exam Final the day after tomorrow. Civilian-background students mostly had to help with family businesses during the event, when many rich customers and VIPs would come to see the tournament and enjoy Konoha's hospitality. While the special jonin had wanted to see Naruto Namikaze's Jonin Exam, it was unfortunately his turn to oversee the Operations Center.
Luckily, his girlfriend Anko Mitarashi could tell him the results later. The Academy's acting-headmaster also pondered his recently graduated students, especially most of the K-15 members, including the Nanabi jinchuuriki, Fu.
At first, he had treated the teal-haired girl kindly and fairly, in the same way he treated the other kunoichi-prospects, until her jinchuuriki identity was exposed. She was the container of a brethren of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, who had killed his parents many years ago. He had started to distance himself from the girl.
The cold treatment just lasted for one day, however, when the Snake Mistress noticed his cold look at Fu, who was her dango buddy. That same night Anko confronted him at his apartment and gave him a lecture.
"Are you stupid!? I also heard the rumour of Fu being the jinchuuriki of the Nanabi, but first, this biju didn't kill your parents, and second, she is just a container with a seal! You should know the difference between a scroll and sealed kunai better, you are a chunin and a ninja teacher for fuck's sake!" Anko's points made Iruka lower his head in shame, but she didn't stop. "The Kyuubi killed your parents and is indeed a monster, but there is a worse monster who wears human skin!"
Anko tore off her shirt. Iruka blushed at first but was shocked to see a seal on her left shoulder.
"It is the Curse Seal of Heaven, made by that son-of-bitch Orochimaru, who toyed with human lives in his sick experiments. The seal has a fatality rate of 90% and it is unremovable. Even the Sandaime, Lord Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade couldn't do nothing about it. I have to live with it for the rest of my life, just like Fu!"
She started to break down. Iruka was ashamed of himself and felt sorry for the woman in front of him, he did all he could to comfort Anko. It was after that night that the academy teacher began to treat the Nanabi jinchuuriki with more warmth and kindness, and began the relationship with the beautiful Snake Mistress.
He had to thank Anko for the lecture, and he could never thank Fu enough, because the girl's and the Nanabi's high thoughts of him had put him on the Godaime Hokage's good side. The then-chunin was quickly promoted to special jonin and acting headmaster, after the kunoichi genins' diet secret was exposed, and the headmaster and many academy staff were subsequently sacked.
The joy from double promotions was nothing compared to what another jinchuuriki gave to his love- freedom. At the request of Kurenai, Yugao, Shizune and Fu, Naruto Namikaze removed Anko's curse seal without much difficulty. Iruka would never forget his Anko's tears of joy and the happiness that she was finally free. He could never thank Naruto and Fu enough for what he and his love had gained.
A few days after the seal removal, Iruka "popped the question" to Anko with a ring, and her immediate response was to glomp the man tightly before saying "Yes!" The Third Hokage, Tsunade, Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, Shizune, Yugao and her boyfriend, and the K-15 members all congratulated them. The Dolphin Man and the Snake Mistress planned to be married after the Chunin Exam Finals. He was also happy that his best friend Mizuki would marry Tsubaki, the center operator sitting in front him, after the Chunin Exam Finals. The special jonin couldn't wait for their happiest time.
An emergency hotline from the Western Garrison blared, startling everyone.
"This is Special Jonin Hana Inuzuka from the Western Garrison! We are under attack by the Iwa Gravemaker!"
Iruka was shocked but he quickly regained his composure and started to ask in serious tone for confirmation. "Say again, special jonin?"
"IWA GENERAL SHINGEN HATTORI! HE'S HERE! WITH HIS ENTIRE FORCES OF JUGGERNAUTS! REQUEST IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE!"
Everyone in the room became frozen, paled and trembled heavily. The infamous Gravemaker and his Juggernauts were responsible for the crippling and deaths of many Konoha ninjas.
"This is very bad…" Iruka said shaken. Intelligence stated there were over 500 Juggernauts loyal to the Gravemaker. An Iwa Juggernaut could decimate a Konoha squad. The magnitude of this attack forces was so large and powerful, and the Leaf village's Western Garrison was only 2,000 strong.
Everyone had optimistically believed peace could be made between Konoha and Iwa, when Naruto Namikaze brought back the Rock girls from Kumo captivity. But they were so wrong. Things got worse as another hotline radio kicked in.
"This is Northern Garrison General Hayama Shirakumo, we are engaging Kumo forces of 6,000 strong! Kumo elite jonins Darui and Dodai were sighted!"
"Shit, the Northern Garrison only has 3,000 ninjas," the scarred-nose special jonin recalled. Konoha was attacked on both fronts and had not experienced such situation since the Third Ninja World War. It was thanks to the legendary Yellow Flash, who neutralized all the fronts in the war with the Hiraishin, but he wasn't here anymore. The whole Operations chamber erupted into panic. In a display of his leadership, Iruka immediately stood up from his commander seat.
"Everyone, CALM DOWN!" He shouted. The staff quickly regained their senses, otherwise he would have to resort to his big-head jutsu. "Crimson Contingency is declared, mobilize Kakashi's and Asuma's battle groups now. You know the drill!"
Everyone was shocked at the activation of Crimson Contingency and the subsequent mobilization of 10,000 Leaf ninjas for the relief expeditions at first, but they quickly digested the situation and got back to their stations.
"Tsubaki, you go send an ANBU to fetch the Hokages and the councillors!" Iruka ordered. "Then get the War Chamber ready!"
"Hai!" Said kunoichi immediately left her seat to carry out the special jonin's order.
Chunin Shimizu turned on the village sirens and opened his PA. "This is Konoha Operations Center, Crimson Contingency has been declared! All ninjas report to your mobilization stations within one hour! Repeat: Crimson Contingency is declared!"
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0940, Konoha Western Garrison, Kannabi Bridge, Border between Fire Country and Flower Country
The Kannabi Bridge was 200 meters long, and it was well known in the history of the ninja world, for two important battles happened on the bridge in the Third Shinobi World War.
The First Kannabi Bridge battle ended in Konoha's victory that stopped Iwa's advance in Fire Country. There were two well-known casualties: Obito Uchiha and Mahiru Hattori. The former's death was considered "insignificant" to Konoha, although he was a student of the Yellow Flash, but the latter's dealt a blow to Iwa and the Hattori clan. Mahiru was the only son and heir of Shingen "Gravemaker" Hattori.
The Second Kannabi Bridge Battle ended in a Konoha victory again. Iwa had launched a full-out assault with over a thousand ninjas to retake the bridge, but they ended up slaughtered by the Yellow Flash. This battle drove the hidden Rock village to seek peace.
Now, Konoha Western Garrison forces of 2,000 ninjas were rallying at a point 300 meters from the bridge. An earthquake had begun 10 minutes ago, it hadn't stopped, and it was getting stronger by the minute.
Konoha General Kosuke "Former Eternal Genin" Maruboshi, his XO Hana Inuzuka, and over 400 ninjas with earth-affinity palmed their hands on the ground and shouted in unison: "Doton: Great Defender Fortification Wall!"
Within two seconds, a battlement, which was eight hundred meters wide and half a meter thick, raised from the ground in a concave semi-circle shape.
"Barrier team!" Scores of Leaf ninjas rolled out their scrolls covering the whole garrison's land, creating a barrier underneath them, so the Rock ninjas wouldn't burst up under them wherever they pleased to threaten the health and the well-being of the Leaf ninjas.
"Crossbowmen, take your positions!" Kosuke ordered. Chunins and qualified senior genins with AK-16 crossbows immediately took position at their own battlement crenels and loaded their AK-16s with Cartridge scrolls before pointing them outside.
The Leaf general issued his next order "Artillery squads!" Three ninjas in each of the 24 artillery squads bearing big scrolls on their backs quickly came into position one hundred meters behind the battlement and unsealed their scrolls. Two trebuchets and a ballista appeared before each squad. The squad loaders put smaller scrolls on the trebuchet slings and ballista flight grooves. Their payloads were ready by a simple verbal command: "Unseal!" Then rocks and big arrows tagged with explosive seals appeared on the trebuchets and the ballistae respectively. All 72 artillery pieces were in position and ready to fire.
As an Inuzuka, Hana always appreciated her gift of enhanced senses, smell and hearing, but she knew they were double-edged swords. The Inuzuka special jonin could smell that some genins had wet themselves. She couldn't blame them, because she was afraid and nervous too.
Ten minutes ago, an S-class emergency radio transmission was sent from a scout team to the garrison HQ. "This is Team 64, we've spotted Shingen Hattori and his whole Juggernaut army on a fast march towards Fire Country! Over 500!" The radio transmission broke into static. "He saw us! Everyone ge-" The Inuzuka special jonin, and every other staff including Ko Hyuuga winced as they heard an explosion, screams, and bones snapping, as the transmission went cut off.
The Third Kannabi Bridge Battle was clearly about to begin. Hana secretly prayed to Kami that the garrison could get through this.
Ironically the word of Kannabi meant "Kami doesn't help."
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Shingen Hattori was the same age as the Sandaime Tsuchikage and Sandaime Hokage, but he looked much older, with more wrinkles. The Last Hattori had cold hazel eyes, a long beard that reached to his chest, a completely bald head, and a long vertical scar on his right eye. The deep hatred and grief in his eyes for the loss of his family and clansmen 14 years ago was readily apparent.
Having personally killed many Senjus and Uzumakis in the Uzushio Campaign and many other ninjas in the Second War and the Third War, he had earned the nickname "Gravemaker." At first, Shingen gladly accepted the nickname, but he despised it in the later Third War, because it seemed more appropriate that this moniker should be hung on Minato Namikaze, who had made more graves, including one for Hattori's son- Mahiru.
The Last Hattori would have his vengeance. He and all his five hundred Iwa ninjas were charging towards the Konoha garrison fast. They were all clad in rock armour called "Juggernaut." The Doton armour covered the whole user's body with titanium-hard rock plates. Vital parts such as the head, heart, and spine had thicker plates. The Juggernaut armour was not without a disadvantage, namely speed, as it weighed over forty kilograms. This deficiency was demonstrated by the failed ambush on the Leaf Kurama clan heiress, who had rescued by a genin named Rock Lee opening his Fifth Gate.
However, this changed thanks to a few Uzumaki fuinjutsu scrolls taken by the Last Hattori during the Fall of Uzushio as war trophies. His membership in the Neo-Combine had provided him with aid to unlock the secrets on the scrolls from fuinjutsu specialists among the Combine ranks, including the rogue Konoha Snake Sannin. To the Last Hattori's pleasant surprise, one of the Uzumaki seals proved most beneficial to Iwa Juggernauts, as it halved the armour's weight and allowed Juggernauts better agility.
The destroyed Kannabi Bridge came into their view. The Iwa general had expected that, as well as Konoha having rolled out a welcome mat for his army. All the vanguard earth golems and rock clones were blown up by mines underneath them. The Rock ninjas immediately stopped their charge.
"Jackhammers!" Shingen ordered. Ten Iwa ninjas with Explosive Release made several hand seals before palming their hands to the ground. Their chakra first went a meter-deep underground and spread across the minefield below. A moment later, the entire ground imploded, revealing fresh earth that was safe to traverse.
A kilometer away, the Konoha forces began to fire. Artillery launched their explosive payloads, crossbowmen fired their kunai in hundreds, and their jonins shot long-range Raiton jutsus. The Iwa army saw countless projectiles heading to them; they would be obliterated by the Leaf bombardment in seconds.
"Incoming! Formation NOW!" The Hattori ordered his forces. All Rock ninjas along with their general together made several hand signs and shouted in unison.
"Doton: Immortal Tortoise Shell Wall Crawler!" Earth came out of their mouths to merge with the earth that raise from the ground. The combined earths quickly formed into a half-dome and steel-hard wall that was 100 meters tall, 300 meters wide, two meters thick.
The Leaf ballista arrows were the first to hit the crawler wall. The arrows were tagged with earth-suppression seals that made the wall weaker. Then the trebuchet rocks with explosive seals blasted many portions of the rock wall apart and debris fell on the armoured Iwa ninjas, harmlessly. Many portions in the wall crawler were blasted apart, but it quickly regenerated itself with the unlimited earth supply from the ground. Earth was Iwa's friend, and that made the village a major superpower.
"Now push forward!" The Iwa general ordered. "Grenadiers begin retaliation now!"
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The Konoha garrison, even Kosuke, were shocked to see the wall was moving towards them at 20 km/hr. When in range, dozens of Iwa ninjas left the cover of the moving wall and threw their football-sized Mayhem clay bombs to the Leaf position. A few of them were quickly shot by the Leaf crossbowmen and were blown up the Leaf artillery. Their deaths were not in vain, when their Mayhem bombs flew over the Konoha battlement. The Iwa forces destroyed several sections of the battlement, along with more than fifty Leaf ninjas.
Two BOOM sounds came from the center of the Leaf formation, and many crossbowmen in knee-jerk reaction turned around and saw that two artillery squads were completely obliterated. After throwing his explosive rock spears, Shingen quickly retreated to the moving wall.
Panic began to spread among the Konoha forces, even Hana and Ko became very worried. General Kosuke, a veteran of the three great wars, remained calm, however.
"Everyone, stand your ground! All artilleries, concentrate on their wall's base! Destroy the roots and it will be completely destroyed once and for all!" Kosuke barked aloud. The Iwa wall crawler was now 400 meters away from the destroyed bridge. 'If the wall makes it to the bridge, Shingen will turn it to a makeshift bridge!'
A tiny flash caught Kosuke's eyes and he turned to find out that the source was a stone spear thrown by his counterpart. His careful look soon turned into horror: there was an Uzumaki Beacon seal on it!
Kosuke ran at his fastest speed to grab the spear and used all his strength to throw it back to the Iwa army. He didn't know what this Beacon seal was supposed to do, but it must be bad news.
'I hope I am not too late!'
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Several kilometers above the battleground, no one noticed a flight of three Sky Dragons retrofitted as bombers, escorted by a flight of four Buzzards. They were hiding in the sea of clouds and were waiting for something.
"Sir!" A Sky chunin who served as the sensor and navigator abroad the leading Dragon bomber exclaimed. "The beacon is turned on, but it's moving away!"
"The enemy is removing it," the Sky commander presumed correctly. "But it's too late for them. Give me the beacon's original coordinates."
"Yes sir!" The chunin provided the coordinates and the Sky commander issued an order to the rest of his squadron. The Dragons and the Buzzards started to change flight path.
A few minutes later, bombardiers on all three Dragons gleefully shouted: "Mayhem away!"
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Hana and her ninkens emerged from their burrowed holes. To her horror, there were broken bodies and parts everywhere, and many were screaming in pain or dying. When the Konoha ninjas had sensed and seen the unexpected bombs on top of them, there was little they could do but try to find cover individually. The Konoha central formation was a hell now.
"Medics!" Hana shouted. The medic squads from the rear formation quickly rushed towards their heavily wounded comrades and carefully placed them on large rolled-out scrolls. When one was put on a scroll and a medic made a seal command, the subject was sealed into the 72 hours long stasis Medivac fuinjutsu scroll. It was a revolutionary medic space-time-fuinjutsu created by a certain Uzumaki-Namikaze, much to the happiness of the Fifth Hokage, who had no doubt given him a bone-crushing hug.
The Inuzuka special jonin saw Ko emerge from his cover, coughing.
"Ko, can you see how they dropped the bombs from such high altitude?" She asked.
Without a word, the Hyuuga turned on his Byakugan to look up in the sky. He was shocked upon looking the sky and opened his mouth. He was about to say about what he saw before his head exploded.
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Using Doton: Light-Weight Rock Technique, Shingen hovered among his bodyguards, armed with rock shields to protect him from the Leaf's AK-16 fire. The Iwa Gravemaker wore a scope on his right eye and held a second explosive spear in his right hand.
He scanned the Konoha formation and made sure there was no more Hyuuga to discover his military secret and jeopardize the Neo-Combine's operation and his vengeance. After confirming the Hyuuga he killed was the only one in the field, he threw his second explosive spear at a random Leaf trebuchet before retreating to the wall.
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As Hana sealed Ko Hyuuga's headless body into a scroll, Kosuke Maruboshi appeared in front of her, panting. His right blue sleeve had turned to red colour.
"Sir, thank Kami the bombs didn't get you, but you are bleeding…" The Inuzuka said worried.
"I don't have time to bleed…" Kosuke shrugged it off, his breathing became normal. He looked at the right and left flanks that were badly damaged, yet they were still fighting. The Iwa army was 200 meters away from the bridge.
"And we don't have much time left either. I'm issuing an evacuation order now. I know what you want to say, Hana, but we have already lost this battle. All we can do now is to live to fight another day. The reinforcements will arrive within 15 hours. I will leave you in charge of the evacuation, you and everyone rendezvous with the reinforcement."
Hana's eyes widened. "What about you?" She asked, fearing the answer that she already knew.
Kosuke Maruboshi briefly closed his eyes thinking about Tobirama Senju, whom he looked up to as a father.
"I will serve as the rear guard along with some volunteers."
"No sir! You can't do that! You are wise and powerful. Konoha needs you and you should be the one to live to fight another day!" The Inuzuka protested. Her ninkens barked in agreement.
The jonin put his hands on Hana's shoulders, and let out a smile. "It's you and the young generation that Konoha needs the most. I'm old, and you are young and still have a future ahead, that's what the Nidaime and Dai Maito and many other Leaf ninjas died fighting for. You may not understand now, but one day you will…" The general's smile faded, and he turned serious with steel and fire in his eyes.
"Now, Special Jonin Hana Inuzuka, this is my direct order: evacuate all personnel now, or I will court-martial you!"
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Fifteen minutes ago, Hana Inuzuka bid goodbye to Kosuke with tears in her eyes. It was another of Maruboshi's many regrets in his life.
First, he was responsible for his teammates' deaths.
Second, he couldn't protect Tobirama Senju, who helped him out in his darkest time.
Third, he couldn't protect his godson and the grandson of the Second Hokage- Minato Namikaze, during the Kyuubi's Attack 13 years ago. Only Hiruzen and the elders knew this secret that Kosuke Maruboshi was the Yellow Flash's godfather, appointed by Minato's mother, who was Tobirama's daughter.
Fourth and last, he couldn't protect the son of his godson and the last descendant of Tobirama- Naruto Namikaze, from the Kumo kidnapping. He had privately rejoiced when the boy came home safe two months ago. He even allowed most of the garrison to celebrate the boy's return with sake wine for a night.
He deeply regretted that he couldn't see the boy one more time, but at least the bulk of Konoha forces had moved a safe distance away from here. The remaining thirty Konoha rear guards were all over fifty years old and had volunteered to stay to buy time for their younger comrades. Some of them were manning the remaining five trebuchets and ballistae, and the rest fired their AK-16 and lightning jutsus at the Iwa Juggernaut army to stall them.
The enemy was on the other side of the bridge now. Kosuke's guess was proved right when the Iwa wall crawler was turned into a makeshift bridge and a second rock wall was raised to cover the Iwa ninjas. The Rock Juggernauts began to cross the bridge and there was a shout of "Doton: Devouring Earth!"
The Konoha rear guards raised their heads and saw the Gravemaker in the air again. Rocks and stones congregated on the Hattori's hands and formed into several colossal sets of jaws, which he then sent towards the Leaf position.
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Ten Minutes Later
Most of the Leaf rear guards had been killed by that powerful earth jutsu. Kosuke was one of the very few survivors, but it didn't mean that he had escaped unharmed. His broken ribs had punctured his lungs and he wouldn't last long. The former Konoha eternal genin saw the rogue Iwa army had finally crossed the bridge and left their second wall crawler.
"Die you stone-heads!" A trio of the Leaf ninjas ambushed and killed three Juggernauts with the combination of Raiton jutsus and AK-16 crossbows, before being swarmed by many Iwa ninjas. It pained the Leaf general when he heard their screams and saw them being impaled by countless rock blades and kunai.
Kosuke saw Shingen came out of the wall safely and gave orders to his ninjas. This Last Hattori was the biggest threat to Naruto Namikaze. The Leaf ninja quietly took out his last four kunai and tagged them both with explosive seals.
"Raiton: Thunderclap Arrow!" Kosuke shot the lighting projectile and his kunai at the Gravemaker, hoping to end his threat once and for all.
Several Juggernauts immediately formed up around their general and raised their rock shields. All the shields crumbled and disintegrated after the blasts, and two Juggernauts fell, but the Gravemaker was left standing unharmed.
Kosuke managed to dodge a Juggernaut's punch to his head, but he couldn't dodge the second attack aimed at his body, crushing everything on his right side; his lung, liver and kidney. He flew backward until he crashed at some trebuchet wreckage.
"Ah, Kosuke Maruboshi, you are still alive. Can't believe you can still attack me." After getting the confirmation from his sensor ninjas that Kosuke was the only survivor left, the Iwa general slowly walked towards him. A steel-hard rock blade appeared on Shingen's right armoured wrist, and his bodyguards and commanders walked closely behind him.
"Such heroic nonsense..." The Gravemaker said coldly as he personally thrust his blade towards Kosuke Maruboshi's heart. The Leaf ninja screamed painfully and lots of blood were pouring out of his mouth.
"Is it?" Kosuke said weakly. His eyes were getting very heavy, he was at death's door now. The old Konoha ninja again regretted that he couldn't meet Naruto, but he could now meet his teammates, Tobirama, and Minato's parents with pride.
Kosuke Maruboshi made a smile. Underneath his flak jacket he had hidden a dozen trebuchet explosive tags, gathered from the wreckage. He said five words in small voice, before sending all his remaining chakra to the explosive tags.
"Farewell… and… good luck, Naruto."