0630, September Third, the Destroyed Hidden Whirlpool Village
There was no time for Kin Tsuchi to grieve for her fallen teammates- Dosu and Zaku, who died in the night air-assault training two days ago. It was insane to perform jump from 200 meters above ground at night. She herself was lucky she had landed on a tall building, albeit roughly, and suffered some cuts and bruises, but her teammates weren't that lucky. Dosu, her team leader, didn't get a building to land and he crashed hard into the ground. Zaku smashed onto a building wall hard before falling to his death. Her plead for medics fell to deaf ears.
The Sound genin kunoichi needed to focus now, the war against Konoha was going to commence in a few hours. All she wanted now was to survive. Her Sound village leader, Orochimaru, reinforced her idea by making human sacrifices in front of the whole Sound ninja army.
The Uzumaki clan arena was desecrated, the once proud place were ninja of ages past would demonstrate their skills before the awe of spectators, now it had been defiled and its use perverted, for it had become little more than a sacrificial pit for the Snake Sannin to bring about his dark goals.
Kin and many others trembled with fear and disgust when they knew what this Edo-Tensei ninjutsu was for, the raising an undead army by using human sacrifices. She had watched as her leader used three hundred people, prisoners who were too old and too weak to be of any other use, were gathered together and given over in exchange for the ability to resurrect some powerful dead ninjas, most noticeably the First and the Second Hokages, while the rest were all red-haired ninjas.
She wished the horror could end now. Her wish was so wrong when Orochimaru did several hand signs before putting his hands on the ground.
"Serpent Style Summoning Technique!" The Snake Sannin said aloud as he cast this jutsu.
Kin and many other genins nearly lost their bladders when they saw a super-giant purple snake and several other smaller but still giant snakes of black and brown colouring appearing inside the pit, their long bodies coiling and wrapping around each other in the pit, the air become filled with sharp hissing noises. Suddenly the earth itself seemed to rumble as an angry voice called out from within the pit.
"Orochimaru!" The super-giant purple snake roared as its head reared up, gazing around at all the frightened Sound ninjas before finally resting its gaze upon Orochimaru, the giant head leaned forward and turned its face so that it was directly looking at the Snake Sannin, whose own image was reflected in the pupil like a mirror.
"You dare to summon us to this foul place! Is it the payment you promised us? If not, you will not live long enough to regret it!" The long-forked tongue of the summoned snake hissed in and out in anger and its eyes narrowing.
Orochimaru, however showed not even the smallest hint of fear at the warning of the gargantuan snake, instead he bore a smile on his face chuckled a bit. "Kukuku… Yes, Lord Manda, I'm here to deliver my promise," he said as he offered a small bow and then he turned around and barked. "Release the prisoners!"
Three hundred prisoners, men and women, all of whom had blank empty looks in their eyes, were marched to the pit, all of them as naked as the day they had been born.
'They were all under genjutsu!' Kin looked at the prisoners' eyes. Then she recognized one of the prisoners. 'It's Maroi!' Kin remembered him; her team took the Kumo spy to his cell when he was captured. Had the snakes not scared the hell out of Kin, she would blush and appreciate how well-endowed he was.
The Sound leader then spoke to the snakes in a way that made the blood of everyone turn cold. "Lord Manda, please accept these sacrifices, may their flesh feed you and your kin well!"
Kin watched helplessly the snake's saliva dripping over Maroi and others as they walked into their doom- the purple snake's mouth. The other sacrifices went into the other snakes' mouths. Under the genjutsu, the victims wouldn't offer any resistance as they were digested alive inside the snakes' stomachs.
Unable to stop herself, the black-haired kunoichi dropped on all four and emptied her stomach; a few other people around her did the same.
"Was this offering satisfactory Lord Manda?" Orochimaru asked as he gazed up at the purple snake, as it swallowed the last of the sacrifice.
The great snake gazed at the Sannin and its long pink tongue flicked in and out for a moment. For the briefest of moments, Kin worried that Manda might suddenly devour Orochimaru or worse, declare that he was still hungry and that Orochimaru would offer their lives to sate its hunger.
"For now," Manda answered before he and his goons disappeared.
The Snake Sannin gave another bow. Kin let out a quiet sigh of relief, but she didn't have any appetite for food, not after what she had just witnessed. The Sound leader looked at his forces.
"Food pills will be served in thirty minutes! Everyone will eat, it's a direct order! Then you will launch at 0800. We have a war to win!" Supreme Commander Orochimaru raised his Kusanagi sword high and spoke to his forces aloud. "Who will lead you to Victory? Who will unite the World?"
The assembled crowed cheered out "LORD ORCHIMARU!"
Suddenly the Snake Sanin held up his hand, an immediate hush fell over the crowd as he spoke again. "And remember this, I will give great reward to any and all for every Uchiha child captured: land, wealth, power, and slaves!" The crowd once more cheered for their lord and master but Orochimaru's face suddenly turned sinister and the words he spoke were dripped with poison. "But remember this too, should you harm any of them, even so much as a scar, then you will find yourself as the next meal for Manda!"
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0710, Konoha
Special jonin Aoba Yamashiro entered the Konoha Operations Center, and saw all the morning shift staff, including Tsubaki and Shimizu, at their posts. The door was at the front of the chamber, so everyone could see who came and left without turning around.
"Good morning commander!" Everyone said almost at once and greeted him with a nod.
"Good morning everyone!" The shade-wearing special jonin greeted in return, and he walked toward the coffee machine at the front of the chamber. The Leaf Operations Center had all necessities- coffee machine, microwave, fridge, bento meals, snacks even dango (at the behest of a certain Snake Mistress when she was special jonin), so that staff always stayed at the chamber until their shift was over.
As Aoba was waiting for his coffee, Chunin Shimizu came forward. "Commander, when will the Firewall be shut down for the fireworks?"
"It's five to nine," the special jonin answered.
Everyone looked at the digital clock, it's now 0715. It's 100 minutes counting down before the Firewall array shutdown, temporarily of course.
"Is the shutdown time still the plan, thirty minutes long?"
"Nope. Lady Hokage has ordered that the time be changed from thirty to fifteen minutes, no reason to take any unnecessary risks." Aoba answered. He took his coffee mug and walked up to the chamber rear where his commander seat was. "We are at war with Kumo now. Although both sides haven't officially declared it yet, but Lady Tsunade will make the official announcement about it at the end of the Exam with the Fire Daimyo in attendance. So everyone stay sharp today, I want your eyes and ears opened, if I catch anyone slacking in their duty then I personally kick their arse from here to the Valley of the End!"
"Hai!" Shimizu and everyone else answered in unison and started their stations.
'Just eight more hours…' Chunin Tsubaki thought while working on her workstation. She looked at her engagement ring. 'I'll be married to him and we can be a happy couple. We can have our honeymoon when the war is over.'
Despite the war and the knowledge that people would die, Tsubaki didn't allow such thoughts to weight her down, because in truth she simply couldn't wait for the happiest moment in her life to come. And not even a war would ruin that for her.
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A Minute After, Somewhere in Konoha Zone Eight
Mizuki smiled at what he had heard from the Leaf Operations Center and the potential reward he'd get from Orochimaru. There was an eavesdropper device secretly embedded in Tsubaki's engagement ring. The device was extremely small state-of-the-art co-developed by Sound and Sky. A local-yokel village like Konoha couldn't detect it.
"Hey, Kabuto, Guren," he spoke to the two Sound infiltration team leaders. "Firewall shutdown confirmed at 0855 for fifteen minutes."
Kabuto smiled. "Excellence, that is more than enough time."
"Orochimaru will reward me with the Uzushio Forbidden Scroll, right? He can have the Konoha Forbidden Scroll, but I need a team of your ninjas to invade the Uzumaki Manor to get it." The Konoha traitor demanded.
"You will be rewarded," the Sound spy adjusted his glasses.
Guren instantly activated her Crystal Release Jade Crystal Blade and slit Mizuki's throat. The man had time to utter a small gasp as he clutched his throat and fell to his knees, he tried to speak but only a gurgle came out of his mouth, his eyes then clouded over as he fell all the way to the floor, a pool of blood forming underneath him.
"Why did you do that!? He could have still been useful!" A surprised Kabuto asked.
Guren simply shrugged. "This loose end had overreached himself for the Uzushio Forbidden Scroll. Whirlpool's secrets all belong to Lord Orochimaru. I gave this turncoat a quick and painless death as a good reward for his service, otherwise he would die slowly and painfully."
"I see," the young bespectacled man nodded his head in approval. "Good point."
People said the Uzushio Forbidden Scroll had more powerful jutsu, particularly fuinjutsu and ninjutsu, than the Konoha ones. After all the Uzumaki were cousins of the Senju, one of only three clans in all the world that could trace their lineage back to the legendary Sage of the Six Paths.
The Snake Sannin desired the Uzumaki clan scroll far more than the Konoha one.
"Alright, time to move," Kabuto said. "My team will go to the outer zones to relay this information to Lord Orochimaru. We will check the Firewall situation. Guren, your team stays here just in case."
"OK" was the blue-haired Sound kunoichi's only response.
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0730
The Royal Fire palanquins had arrived right on time, the Fire Daimyo had always prided himself on punctuality. An official party of Tsunade, Hiruzen, and all the clan heads and their scions were at the hidden Leaf village's Northern Gate welcoming them. The elders- Danzo, Koharu and Homura were present, and Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze and Hinata Hyuuga were there too.
Everyone including Naruto and Hinata bowed when the Fire Daimyo, his wife Lady Shijimi with Tora being squeezed in her arms, and the Fire Crown Prince Masashi came out of their own palanquins.
Hinata Hyuuga had seen the Fire Daimyo and Lady Shijimi on TV before; the Royal Couple seemed like nice people to her, although she knew from the past that appearances could be deceiving. The Fire Crown Prince- Masashi Madako was at her parents' age, and he was quite the opposite to his father and Lady Shijimi, who was his stepmother and the Fire Daimyo's second wife. The Kumo intelligence Naruto stole stated Prince Masashi had served in the Fire Samurai Army for a year during the Third Ninja World War for political reasons, and the prince yet never saw combat. Yet he "earned" several military medals. The files described the Crown Prince as a spoiled chicken-hawk with a grandeur ambition. Indeed, he wore a more elegant kimono outshining his parents, and he carried a pair of overly ornamented swords- a katana and a wakizashi.
The Fire Daimyo and his wife greeted Tsunade and Hiruzen politely, and the Fire Crown Prince, who should have followed suit, he bee-lined his way straight to Naruto instead, however.
"Ah Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, nice to finally meet you face to face!" The Crown Prince smiled and offered his fat sweaty hand to the blond. Naruto reached out with his right hand to accept the man's handshake out of politeness, but suddenly Masashi quickly pulled his own hand back.
"Ah! I see that you have those incredibly sharp fingernails. I don't want you to tear off my delicate hand with those claws." The Crown Prince's eyes were now full of arrogance on the Heir of Whirlpool.
Everyone looked at the scene in shock, and Hinata was angry at the insult to her lover. She and many people instantly developed a dislike for the Fire Crown Prince. Naruto, however, looked calm, his face betraying no hint of anger or insult.
"Masashi! Show some-" Shijimi was reprimanding him for this rude behaviour, but the prince shot his stepmother a look that silenced her effectively. Strangely Tora started to snarl at the prince.
"This village is in our land, and the ninjas and the commoners all work for us. And this boy is a vassal to us!" Masashi then clapped his hands, and a minister delivered a scroll to a bristling Tsunade. "Hokage, this is the Fire Royal Order."
The Slug Sannin read the scroll in disbelief. "You want Naruto to proctor the Exam Finals, your highness!? But we already have a proctor and Naruto is the teacher of many participants! They need his advices to fight the Suna team!"
"This is the Royal command, Hokage. If you want to keep your hat and position, you would be wise to follow the order." The Crown Prince said with full authority in his tone. "The Fire Daimyo will then announce Naruto is to inherit Kushina's Red Duchess of Whirlpool after the exam. Naruto will become the Red Duke of Whirlpool of Fire Country at which point he will kneel and pledge his service to my father as his liege lord and then in time he will do the same to me when I take my place as my father's heir."
Hinata, Mikoto and Sasuke could barely managed to hide their horror on their faces. If Naruto was indeed officially confirmed in his position as the rightful Lord of Whirlpool by the daimyo, then that would mean he would become a vassal to Fire Country.
The Fire Daimyo made a slight bow to Naruto. "I'm sorry for my son's rude behaviour."
Naruto bowed in return. "No apology is necessary, sir. No offense was taken, it's OK."
The Fire Heir Apparent looked at them in contempt. 'Father is a weak ruler, but I am NOT. I will become the future emperor of the world with Danzo Shimura at my side, the jinchuurikis will do my biddings to bring peace to the world!' He then looked at Hinata and made a lecherous smile. 'This Hyuuga is very beautiful. She must be Hitomi Hyuuga's daughter. I shall get her come to my chamber tonight. Hehehe…'
Masashi Madako turned around to the Fifth Hokage. "Now Hokage, take us to the arena!"
When the Royal Family left with the Hokages and the Leaf elders. Everyone else looked at the Heir of Whirlpool.
'How will you respond to the Fire Daimyo if you want Whirlpool independence?' Mikoto wondered in great worry. 'If you bend the knee in front of all live televisions and tens of thousands arena spectators, then Whirlpool would remain a province of Fire Country and Itachi will never find a safe haven!'
To everyone's surprise, Naruto just gave his trademark grin, looking very relaxed. Somehow it made Mikoto smile and easy.
'Oh, you must have some tricks up your sleeves, don't you? You are full of surprises, just like Kushina.' For though Naruto had inherited the Namikaze looks, he had the mind of an Uzumaki.
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Somewhere in Zone Three
Naruto's shadow clone, Black, activated his Predator stealth seal and vanished. At his exam against Jiraiya, the blond identified the special jonins or full jonins who associated with Danzo Shimura- Fuu Yamanaka, Torune Aburame, Tanuki Shigaraki and… Sai and a few others. It's hard to track the well-guarded and well-covered Danzo, but not his subordinates.
The blond's scores of shadow clones had been monitoring and tracking all these ninjas for the past two days. The inconspicuous building here was their common destination; and judging that it's well secretly guarded with hidden sentry ninjas and fuinjutsu traps. This must be Danzo's lair.
The door opened, and Sai came out.
'This is the chance!' Black dashed to the door, carefully not to bump the pale-skinned ninja. The shadow clone smiled when he successfully got through the door, and Sai and the sentry ninjas there didn't even sense him.
'Hey they didn't see me coming!' Now Black was inside the ROOT headquarter. After informing Kurama his successful infiltration, he began his hunt for Danzo's secrets.
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0750, Destroyed Uzushiogakure no Sato
"This is the Sky Marshal speaking, all air-assault personnel get to your Dragon transports. We are in T-minus ten in counting!"
The PA announced across Uzushio, which was converted to the Neo-Combine ground base. It was a spectacular scene that twelve thousand ninjas jogged towards the five hundred Dragons waiting in the airfield.
The Combine's plan changed when Snow Country joined the grand army. Sound and Snow would take the left flank, and Kumo and Rain took the right. Both sides would have fifteen thousand strong ninjas each. The rest of thirty thousand would take Konoha center.
Kin Tsuchi sat on her Dragon seat with a Sky M-47 kunai launcher on her legs. Her platoon leader Elite Chunin Jigumo Fuma was the last to enter the Dragon and addressed to his unit.
"We are going in first wave, means more tree huggers for us to kill! You smash entire area and kill everyone except the Uchihas, you get me?"
"We get you sir!"
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Three Minutes Later
The 500 Dragon carryalls lifted off dozen by dozen. Soon the sky of Uzushio was filled by these Neo-Combine aerial transports. It took ten minutes for the Combine air-assault forces to leave the Land of Whirlpools.
They were now flying across the Whirlpool Strait, towards their destination: Konoha.
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0830, Snow Flag Airship- Dominion, High Altitude above Fire Country Eastern Coast
On the bridge, the Snow Daimyo Doto Kazahana was impressed at what he saw- the Sky four aircraft carriers and eight Sky destroyers were in the sky, literally, along with the Sky Ancor Vantian and the Snow four airships. These seventeen capital ships formed The Neo-Combine Fleet.
Those twelve Sky sea ships couldn't be airborne, but the Iwa Gravemaker made it happen. There were Rock jonins underneath the sky ships and they were uplifting them with Earth Release: Light Weight Rock Technique.
"Shingen taught he subordinates some powerful jutsu, he must be really hellbent to get Minato's boy." Doto remarked. 'Just like I'm after little Koyuki.'
The Neo-Combine capital ships were separated into four squadrons- each had a Sky aircraft carrier which were escorted by two Sky destroyers and a Snow airship cruiser. Three squadrons took the left, center and right formation, and the last came with Ancor Vantian- the Combine flagship.
The Sky aircraft carriers started to launch their Buzzards- glider-like flying devices piloted by single Sky ninjas, and soon 600 Buzzards were in the air.
"My Lord, the air-assault vanguard Dragons have rendezvoused with the Combine Fleet now," The Dominion Captain Hanami notified his Snow Daimyo. The monitor showed five hundred Dragons were approaching the Combine Fleet from behind. They quickly flew pass the capital ships to catch up the Buzzards. The entire sky was filled with the Combine capital ships, Buzzard fighters and Dragon transports. The Buzzards and the Dragons flew faster than the capital ships, and they quickly disappeared out of Doto's sight.
"Pardon me for question this, captain," a young bridge operator asked the captain. "Why shouldn't the main fleet drive at full speed? We can reach Konoha at 0900 rather than 0930 and we can destroy Konoha in a wave!"
Doto overheard the question and looked at the operator. "Boy, you have much to learn about tactics and strategies. The first wave is just cannon fodders to disrupt and confuse the Konoha forces." The Snow Daimyo lectured and then he decided to break the military secret to his crew. "Not to mention they carry the Kusa box that contains the demon Satori."
All senior staff's eyes widened at the name. "Satori… The demon that rampaged the world a millennium ago?" Hanami asked. He had thought that such a monster had simply another bedtime story told by parents to get their kids to sleep at night.
"Go to sleep or Satori will come" had been something his own mother had said to him when he had been not much more than a child.
"Yes, that's why we must come later; it attacks indiscriminately. It might wipe out the entire Konoha ninja forces there and save us the efforts, or maybe not. But I expect it at least tires out the Leaf elite ninjas, including Naruto Namikaze, then when the might of the Neo-Combine Fleet arrives, Konoha is finished!"
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The Turtle Island, Fire Country Eastern Coast
"It's 0900 now!" Professor E barked the order. "Hell Storm Chakra Diffusion Cannons FIRE!"
The twin giant muzzles unleashed gigantic amount of chakra into an enormous light-blue beam towards the sky in Leaf's direction at sub-light speed. The sky was temporarily filled with countless electrical currents.
The beam was fired ballistically. As it started to descend, it diffused to eight beams three times, making 512 beams, all towards Konoha.
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Konoha Walls
"AOBA RE-ACTIVATE THE FIREWALL NOW!" Ibiki Morino shouted his lungs out towards the intercom, and he shouted again. "EVERYONE GET OUT OF THE WALLS!"
Inside the Operations Center, Aoba Yamashiro slammed his open palm down on the red button. The special jonin didn't need Ibiki's call, he saw the beams too through CCTV. He and everyone in the chamber was shocked at the lightening beams charging at them. His first reaction was to re-activate the Firewall fuinjutsu.
Inscriptions on the Konoha wall glowed brightly for half a second, and a light orange barrier quickly formed around the walls and rose up to the sky. The 512 Kumo Hell Storm beams struck the Konoha Firewall, the Uzumaki barrier shimmered, glowed bright orange, then flickered. There were hundreds of "ripples" on the barrier.
Everyone in the center signed in relief. It was an extremely close call. Aoba wiped the sweat away from his forehead before giving out his orders. "We are under attack! Tsubaki you get an ANBU to fetch the Hokages! And Shimizu sound the alarm!"
The male chunin hit the siren button, strangely it didn't activate. He kept pushing the button but nothing happened. "What the hell!?"
Everyone in the chamber heard screams outside and freeze. They recognized the screams, they belonged to the ANBU security here.
"Tsubaki, bar the door!" Aoba immediately ordered her then he quickly typed a few buttons on his control panel. 'Kami, please bring back the emergency power, I beg you!'
Just as Tsubaki rushed towards the door, the door was busted open and a flying human-sized pink crystal crushed her into a wall. The female chunin was killed immediately and didn't have a chance to scream. Everyone was shocked to see a mangled ANBU inside the crystal. The door revealed a hulking tall man and a light-blue-haired woman.
"Hey who the hell are you!?" Shimizu asked. In a blink of eye, there was a crystal kunai embedded in his forehead. The Konoha ninja sat up right for a moment with a passive look as blood began to dribble down his face before falling to the floor.
"Well done, Gozu," Guren looked at the stunned Leaf Operations Center staff. There was a sadistic smile on her face. "Let the slaughter begin! Crystal Release- Shuriken Wild Dance!"
Aoba's first reaction wasn't to cast a jutsu to fight the intruders, but heavily slammed a fist down an orange button that activated the Mechanical Eight Trigram Formation defense. One crystal shuriken penetrated his right eye, and he muttered a word that was he cared about most.
"Honoka..."
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Team Kabuto was inside a house in Zone Two, the house was just next to the Konoha Walls. It provided them a good view on what's going on the walls and its Firewall fuinjutsu defense array. They saw confused Konoha ninjas, and Ibiki ordered everyone to get back on to the wall.
"Well, you guys owe me five hundred ryos," Kabuto said to his teammates- Yoroi Akado and Misumi Tsurugi, his right hand towards them. "Pay up."
"How do you believe the Konoha Firewall can withstand Kumo Hell Storm?" Yoroi asked as he handed his team leader a 500-ryo note.
"Ah, you don't know this, do you? The Konoha Firewall fuinjutsu is from the Uzumaki clan that is expert at seal art, like the Uchiha clan on the genjutsu. The Uzushio Firewall withstood several Bijudama during her Last Stand. Beside Lord Orochimaru wanted to experiment the Firewall and the Hell Storm, and the Firewall won, heh."
The bespectacled man decided to omit a secretive detail- politics. Orochimaru and Shinno didn't want Kumo to get too many credits on Konoha destruction, and they didn't trust the hidden Cloud village.
"OK, Lord Orochimaru's got his result- the Uzumaki fuinjutsu is very impressive, but what should we do now? The Firewall is up now, and how does our army come in?" Misumi asked worried.
The Sound spymaster smirked. "Plan B, and that's our actual plan."
"Plan B?" Misumi and Yoroi asked.
"Actual plan?" A fourth voice asked. The voice belonged Genno, a Konoha carpenter and a ninja trap master who held deep hatred toward the Leaf village. Decades ago, his Kagero village was critically weakened by Konoha that invited another village to destroy it. Genno held Leaf responsible for the death of his son and his village destruction. The elderly Kagero survivor represented his village as a village member of the Neo-Combine. He was sitting in a corner dying of illness and wounds.
Five minutes ago, there was a struggle between him and Kabuto over the detonation on the Konoha walls. Genno wanted to destroy the vulnerable walls when the Leaf defense was down. The Sound spymaster didn't provide any explanation to delay the detonation, and a scuffle followed, of course. The elderly Kagero ninja was no match to the three young ninjas.
Kabuto walked toward Genno and gave him back his detonator. The Kagero trap master was shocked and could only say "Why?"
Kabuto looked at the dying trap master with a smile. "The Firewall will be down again. This time you can destroy them for good. Lord Orochimaru is very thankful for you sabotaging most of the Operations Center systems, and he grants you your vengeance."
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0903, Konoha Walls
"Something is wrong," Ibiki Morino was deeply worried. "The Firewall is on, but why aren't the sirens on? What the hell is Aoba doing?"
All 2,000 ninjas were back on the wall. The jonin looked at the Hokage Tower with a binocular because he was nine kilometers away from the tower. "Something is wrong there in the Hokage Tower. Mozuku, hotline the Zone Eight commander to check out the tower and activate the sirens ASAP!"
"Hai!"
"COMMANDER YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!" Elite chunin Tonbo Tobitake shouted. He was pointing outside the walls.
Ibiki looked at Tonbo's direction and was shocked at what he saw: several kilometers away, countless of flyers, big and small. They filled the whole sky and they were approaching Konoha very fast.
"IT'S AN INVASION! EVERYONE FIRE AT WILL!" The jonin barked his command.
A thousand crossbowmen and artillery squads manning three hundred super-trebuchets and one hundred super-ballistae followed the order without a question.
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Neo-Combine Carryall Transport- J17
"All units, brace for impact!"
Kin Tsuchi recognized the voice on the radio chatter, it belonged to the Sky Marshal Shinno who was on his command transport. The Sound kunoichi looked outside the window and saw the Sky Marshal's Super-Dragon named Iron Fist, it was quadruple as large as the normal Dragon. And, of course, it was packed with more firepower and heavy armoured that a few Konoha explosive rounds couldn't dent it.
Iron Fist was unscathed when it was hit by a Konoha artillery, but many other Dragons were not. Kin and her platoon looked in horror when a Dragon right next to J17 was hit by a ballista arrow; it spun until it hit the ground and exploded claiming all 30 lives.
Another Dragon left next to J17 was hit by an explosive rock and immediately exploded and claimed another 30 lives. As the Combine air-assault vanguards were getting closer to the Leaf village, a dozen more Dragons were hit and destroyed with all lives onboard.
'If Dosu and Zaku are here they would be scared shitless too!' Kin thought, she could feel a few wet spots on her panties.
"Shit! Evasive maneuver! Evasive maneuver!" The J17 pilot exclaimed.
Kin and everyone could feel their transport turned abruptly. She looked outside and saw Konoha was raining projectiles on them. Twenty more Dragons were hit and destroyed.
"MAMA! MAMA! MAMAA!" A Sound genin, younger even than Kin, held his head and cried aloud. A few other genins followed suits.
"I WANT TO GO HOME!"
"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"
She believed others wet themselves too. This was already terrifying, and they hadn't faced combat yet, particularly the infamous Golden Slayer, who was the son of the Yellow Flash. How could she survive this war?
'I don't want glory or power. I just want to live! Kami helps me!' The kunoichi prayed silently. She overheard the Sky Marshal's command over a Buzzard group.
"Falcon Wing, deploy Edo-Tensei!"
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Konoha Chunin Arena
Everyone was listening at Tsunade Senju's speech to the exam participants. No one here had noticed doom was coming to Konoha, except Fuu Yamanaka.
"My Lord," he whispered to his ROOT master. "The walls are under attack, and the tower has gone dark."
Without raising an eyebrow, Danzo Shimura stood up and quickly left the arena. No one noticed the Konoha's Darkness and Fuu left, as they were all looking at the Heir of Whirlpool at the center of the arena.
"Fuu, gather a team and quickly escort the Heir Apparent and his cohort to the bunker. Tell him 'Code Approaching Thunderstorm' and he will understand. Evacuate them ASAP!"
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0905
All the Konoha Walls defense briefly halted, everyone couldn't believe at what they saw- their Leaf First and Second Hokages coming out of their caskets.
The Sky Falcon Wing dropped scrolls five hundred meters away from the Konoha Walls before flying away. The scrolls then revealed caskets, and the Edo-Tensei undead came out. Beside the First and the Second Hokages, there were also three hundred red-haired ninjas out of their caskets too.
Two of them were Mito Uzumaki and Kushina Uzumaki.
"They are the Uzumakis!" Ibiki said in shock. Hashirama Senju started to make hand sign. Ibiki quickly barked orders. "ALL TREBUCHETS CROSSBOWMEN FIRE AT THEM, EVEN THE HOKAGES! BALLISTAE KEEP FIRING AT THE FLYERS!" He thanked Kami that the sirens were now on, and he hoped helps could arrive very soon.
Even a city could not withstand the concentrated fire from three hundred super-trebuchets, their explosive payloads bombarded the two Hokages and a hundred Uzumakis for several seconds. They were quickly reduced to dust.
No one didn't have time to say a word or cheer, when the remaining two hundred Uzumakis jumped towards the Konoha Walls.
"Crossbowmen take them out!" The jonin ordered. Twenty Uzumakis were shot in the jumps, they were like the rest of the Uzumakis that disintegrated upon touching the Firewall. The barrier shimmered slightly, and its orange colour became a bit dimmer. Everyone looked in shock when the destroyed Hokages and the one hundred Uzumakis quickly reformed.
"Wood Release: Great Forest Technique!" Hashirama's arms became big trees, and they were shot towards the Konoha Firewall. The fuinjutsu was busy absorbing Hashirama's chakra and the barrier becoming dimmer, the remaining "surviving" Uzumakis including Mito and Kushina jumped towards the wall. The undead Uzumakis punched their fists inside the Konoha wall, and they didn't disintegrate.
Hashirama was disintegrated though.
"The Shodai Hokage bore the blunt of the Firewall, while the Uzumakis attacked it without taking any damage, and did they disable the Firewall!?" Ibiki realized it in horror. "Our Firewall is derived from the Uzumaki clan!"
To make matter worse, a series of BOOMS rocked the Konoha Wall.
"Thank you" were Genno's last words, he was holding the detonator firmly in his hand and the button had been pressed. The Firewall fuinjutsu was finally destroyed along with the Toad Portal- it would deny Jiraiya coming back to the village instantly. The sole Kagero survivor was certain Orochimaru and his Neo-Combine would obliterate Konoha and avenge the dead Kagero villagers. He smiled at Kabuto with gratitude and passed away.
"Water Release: Water Severing Wave!" Tobirama shouted as huge water came out of his mouth and sliced at a part of Konoha walls. That section of the walls was destroyed and several Leaf ninjas' waists were severed by the Nidaime's attack.
The Neo-Combine Sky Armada started to fly over the walls. The Buzzards and the Dragons dropped Iwa Mayhem clay bombs over many sections of the walls, destroying them and killing many Leaf ninjas there.
"The Firewall is destroyed!" Ibiki shouted and saw the Mechanical Eight Trigrams Formation coming to live. "Everyone move to the secondary defense line!"
Many ninjas managed to seal the artilleries and quickly left the wall. Tonbo shouted and pointed at Ibiki's direction.
"Commander!"
The jonin turned around and saw Kushina Uzumaki charging at him with a katana. The last thing he saw was her soulless eyes.
It's too fast, the chunin could only watch helplessly as the Red Death separated his commander's head from his shoulders.
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0910, Konoha Chunin Arena
100,000 spectators at the arena were panicking when they heard huge explosions and sirens. The crowd situation was getting out of hand in seconds.
Just as Tsunade issued the evacuation order, a group of five Sky Dragons appeared above the arena. Their Sky symbol was recognizable to all senior ninjas and Naruto.
'Is it them who bombed the Western Garrison forces?' Tsunade and Naruto thought in shock, and they were more shocked to see the second symbol.
"The Combine… the army that destroyed Uzushio!"
Spectators started to scream and ran for safety when the Sky Dragons were firing kunai and dropping explosives on them, killing dozens of innocent people. The situation was chaotic as many civilians were trampled to death.
Things became worse when three rockets tipped with Mayhem were shot into the Fire Daimyo's, Fire Crown Prince's and the Wind Daimyos' boxes.
"Air Gold Dust Protective Wall!" The Kazekage shouted. A thick golden wall was raised from the ground and intercepted the rocket at the Wind Daimyo's box just in time. If there was one more second Rasa's sand defense wall could reach to the Fire Royal Family's boxes.
"The Fire Daimyo, Lady Shijimi!" Everyone looked in horror as the Fire Daimyo's and the Crown Prince's boxes exploded and went ablaze.
Tsunade Senju avenged the Fire Daimyo and Lady Shijimi by hauling two rocks at devastating speed to the Dragons that killed them. Hinata Hyuuga shot two arrows tagged with Uzumaki Havoc explosive seals to bring down the Dragon that fired at the Crown Prince's box.
"Ultimate Hard Absolute Attack: Spear of Shukaku," Gaara Sabaku threw his most deadly sand spear at the Dragon that nearly killed the Wind Daimyo.
"Doton: Earth Dragon Bullet!" Hiruzen Sarutobi shot several mud balls at fourth Dragon, then added "Katon: Fire Dragon Bullet" to the mud balls.
The fifth and the last Dragon was brought down by Naruto with his two Wind Javelins.
"Air Sand Protective Wall!" Rasa and Gaara put a giant shield of sand above the arena. The destroyed Dragons wouldn't crash on civilians. The Kazekage looked at his bodyguards. "Pakura, Yashamaru, Temari you three go protect the Wind Daimyo! The rest of you follow me!"
Unbeknownst to everyone due to the sand shield covering the arena top, another group of five Dragons arrived at the arena. This group was led by Mui, the warden of the Blood Prison.
"All Dragons, deploy the chakra absorption seals!" The Grass jonin ordered. The Dragons dropped large stakes on the Air Sand Protective Wall. The seals on the stakes quickly absorbed the wall's chakra, and it took thirty seconds to crumble the sand wall.
"Commander! We locate all the targets: Naruto, the Hokages, the Kazekage and the Ichibi jinchuuriki!" Mui's adjutant spoke.
"All Dragons, fire your fuinjutsu trap at your designated target!"
Five stakes landed in front of Naruto, Tsunade, Hiruzen, Rasa and Gaara. The blond Uzumaki seal master immediately recognized the seals.
"SHIT!" Naruto threw a Havoc tagged kunai at the stake in front of him and threw another one at Tsunade's at sonic speed.
VROOM! BOOM! It destroyed the fuinjutsu trap for the Fifth Hokage.
"Sorry…" Naruto apologised quietly as he watched helplessly Hiruzen, Rasa and Gaara being absorbed into the seals. "But I will get you out soon."
"Lady Hokage, we must bring you to safety- back to the Hokage Tower," ANBU Cat Yugao Uzuki spoke to her village leader before facing her boyfriend. "The Hokage Guard Platoon, please take the Hokage to the tower by Hiraishin! Team Ro will arrive there shortly!"
Naruto landed in front of her and Tsunade. "Belay that order! I sense the Hokage Tower lifeless now- everyone is dead." He felt sorry when he looked at Honoka's horrified face. "The enemy must have taken it and set traps for us. Lady Hokage, I recommend you go to the Uzumaki Manor now and set up command shop there! It's the most secure and fortified place in this village, and there's a Hiraishin seal there!"
Everyone paused when a giant box landed in the centre of the arena, along with four new stakes next to it.
"What is that fucking box?" Tayuya asked. The four stakes released huge amount of orange charka and the box was absorbing it like a sponge.
"It's the Kyuubi chakra!" Hinata answered. "The stakes have the Kyuubi chakra in the Battery Seals!"
"How did they get it!?" Fu asked aloud.
"I hope this amount of Kyuubi chakra Orochimaru took during the Kyuubi's Attack is sufficient to open the box! Otherwise we will use Plan B!" Mui said while looking at Naruto, who and the Hokage were going to attack the Sky carryalls. "All Dragons leave now and prep another round of seals!"
"It's the Box of Ultimate Bliss!" Tsunade shouted. The box stopped absorbing the Kyuubi chakra and started to drop its outer parts. "IT'S OPENING! EVERYONE LEAVES NOW!" She took her combat stance but Naruto stood in front of her and motioned her to stand down.
"Aunty, the enemy will soon overrun the village front section! You shouldn't fight but command the defense and the counterattack! Leave this Satori demon to me! Honoka will open the Uzumaki Manor Armoury for you!"
"Sensei, I see another group of countless enemies are coming towards the village fast. They will arrive in thirty minutes!" Hitomi Hyuuga said with Byakugan active.
"I see them too!" Hiashi and Hinata both said. The latter added "They are from Sky, Sound, Grass, Rain, Snow, Iwa, Kumo and other villages, MY KAMI!"
'MY GOD!' Everyone was shocked at the large number of enemy villages.
"Sensei, Naruto is right: you have to take command, otherwise Konoha is doomed." Mikoto Uchiha advised.
Tsunade nodded. "Alright, we'll head to the Uzumaki Manor. Raido, Genma and Hayate you teleport Honoka to the Manor first now!"
The Hokage Guard Platoon surrounded a sobbing Honoka and quickly teleported away. The Slug Sannin looked at the clan heads and all the available ninjas here. "You all evacuate the civilians here to safety! Shikaku you are in charge here!"
"Hai!" Everyone immediately left.
The Hokage Guard Platoon teleported back, Tsunade pointed to Fu. "You are next."
The Nanabi jinchuuriki didn't have time to question the reasoning behind that decision when the platoon surrounded her and immediately teleported her away. The Box of Ultimate Bliss was 50% empty of its guards by this time.
"K-15, you here help evacuate the civvies too! Hinata you too!" Naruto ordered, and everyone acknowledged his order except Hinata. The Hyuuga opened her mouth wanting to fight alongside with her love. Naruto beat her first by "That's an order genin!"
The Hokage Guard Platoon came back, and this time they surrounded the Hokage. Before the Slug Sannin departed, she looked at her nephew.
"Make sure you come back alive, kid. That's an order."
All she got as a response was a grin and a thumbs up before the blond rushed off.
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Two Minutes Later
'So that's what this bastard after…' Naruto was on guard with his katana drawn as he watched Mui tearfully be reunited with his son Muku, who just came out of the Box of Ultimate Bliss. 'And I thought the box contained that demon Satori. What the hell is going on here?'
Using the time being, his shadow clones had gathered nine steel posts from the rubbles. The blond quickly put Firewall seals on the steel posts and threw them into nine corners around the arena ground. Then he made a hand sign and quietly said "Activate!"
The fuinjutsu on the posts brightened- an orange dome-barrier was quickly formed around the nine posts. It's like a wrestling cage match: no one in and out.
Just as the small Firewall was formed, everyone was shocked to see Muku killed his father by impaling his heart. The Blood Prison warden dropped dead on the ground and his son screamed in agony and began to transform.
Hinata banged the barrier with her fists and tears in her eyes, and Tayuya put a hand on her right shoulder. "That legendary demon is too powerful for you to fight, Naruto doesn't want you to get harmed. You have to trust him, Hinata."
The Hyuuga banged the barrier again, and she started to cry. "But… But Naruto will be killed! If he dies I will never forgive myself for not helping him!" Tears streamed down her face like rivers from her eyes. "I can't live without him!"
Neji placed his hand on his cousin's left shoulder to soothe her. "No, he will be the victor. I know, because fate decrees it."
Tayuya shot Neji a not-this-fate-bullshit-again glare. The Gentle Fist genius shuddered a bit, but continued to encourage Hinata, "We can only help him by helping the civilians lest it distracts him."
Tayuya nodded and smiled at him and he blushed. Twenty seconds later everyone was horrified at what Muku became- a gigantic monster with large wings and long arms. It was headless and covered with black feathers, its torso was like a mouth, with bones and fangs protruding from it. Naruto Namikaze held his Arashi katana tightly and narrowed his eyes.
"You are one ugly motherfucker!"
Satori let out a terrible roar, but Naruto showed no fear and charged straight towards the millennium demon with his blade at hands.
Now the true fight had begun.
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Author Notes:
Beta: Knight-Bishop.
Proofread and consultation: Ookami88.
The Fuinjutsu Trap is the one used in the anime OVA: the Cross Roads. It sealed Kakashi into a different dimensional space.
Check out the video game For Honor – Marching Fire trailer. Katie Garfield's song- Gallows best suits the theme of this Book 2- Shadows of Uzushio. It also fits what Shion and her mother Miroku saw in the future: everyone was busy killing each other, and then a new faction joins the party. The chain of events on The Maelstrom Saga change everything you know about the canon manga, for example, Naruto would not have Rasengan in his arsenal.
The Wheel of Destiny is still spinning wildly. For a spoiler, Naruto would not meet Jiraiya for a long time, or never again. Nevertheless, he must rise and learn senjutsu to face destiny along with Hinata. I am still contemplating which senjutsu he will learn: Toad or Oni? And wouldn't the Oni Senjutsu be refreshing and interesting?
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Reviews and favourites please! I thank everyone enjoying and loving my TMS.