0905, Konoha Zone 1 (70 Minutes Ago)
"WE PASSED THE KONOHA WALLS, EVERYONE GET OUT NOW!" Elite Chunin Jigumo Fuma shouted to his platoon as he opened up the Dragon J17 troop side doors. "GO! GO! GO!"
Kin Tsuchi and the other 24 Sound genins quickly jumped out of their Dragon carryall. It's always safer to be on the ground rather than in the air wondering when the Konoha forces would blow you up.
'Thank You Kami!' Kin appreciated God when she landed safely along with her platoon. Her entire platoon had all survived the jump in the hostile environment as they landed on a house roof. The air-assault trainings did prove essential. She turned around and saw fellow Combine ninjas jumping out of their Dragons. A few fell to their deaths, but most had landed on houses and took positions attacking Leaf ninjas.
"Everyone get down!" Jigumo shouted to his platoon. A kunai flew above Kin's head, she quickly squatted down in a knee-jerk reaction. The Sound kunoichi was lucky but three other genins were not- they were hit by several kunai and shurikens before they fell off the house.
Everyone got their belly on the roof, the platoon leader barked out orders to his unit. "First squad to the front! Second squad you face the wall!" Kin and the rest of the second squad followed the order and crawled to face the Konoha Walls. They saw more Dragons and Buzzards coming and dropping Iwa Mayhem bombs on the walls, forcing the Leaf ninjas leave the walls.
The Sound platoon leader used his M-47 kunai launcher to shoot a Leaf ninja who was carrying a big scroll on his back. "Kill every Konoha ninja, especially those carrying scrolls! Those scrolls contain their artillery!"
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Shinno, the Sky Marshal of the Neo-Combine, was listening the first wave commanders report on board his command Dragon- Iron Fist.
"This is Sound Jonin Arashi Fuma, the Sound and Snow forces had successfully landed on Zone 1, albeit suffering some loss!"
The reports from Zones 2 and 3 were similar. The Sky Marshal looked at the console and frowned deeply at the number of his lost Dragons. The Sky ninja village lost more than 50 out of 500 Dragons, while the Buzzards lost five only.
At least the first wave had secured the beachhead nonetheless, over ten thousand Neo-Combine ninjas were in the Konoha front section. The second wave of Neo-Combine ninjas along with Shingen's 10,000 mounted mercenaries would arrive in half an hour.
The loss would be nothing if his Sky village reaped a great reward afterward. Most of the carryalls returned outside the village to ferry more troops, while the rest served as gunships and fought the Leaf forces along with the Buzzard wings. Now the Combine had gained a foothold in the Leaf village, with air supremacy. He expected his Sky casualty would be less from now on.
The central section and the first wave were originally under Shingen Hattori's command, but he relinquished them to Shinno. The Iwa general insisted not to take command and everyone knew why- he wanted the head of the Son of the Yellow Flash.
There was no way that that boy could survive an ancient demon and the Gravemaker. Soon enough the boy would be dead, and with his death the morale of Konoha would then certainly plummet.
Crossing his arms behind his back, Shinno smirked. Victory was within their grasp, and nothing could possibly stop them now.
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0920 (Fifteen Minutes Later), Zone Three
Anko Mitarashi was always joyful and it's rare to see her grim expression. She was now interrogating a captured Aoi Rokusho, a Rain jonin and a Konoha traitor. He was now coiled by Anko's anaconda.
The anaconda was one of her favourite summons; it could wrap around a victim's body to detect changes in their heartbeat, hence making itself a perfect lie detector. Every time the victim lied, the tighter the anaconda would coil.
"AAARRHHH STOP IT PLEASE! AND YES! It's true- We are the Neo-Combine led by Orochimaru!" Aoi Rokusho confessed in pain, it felt like his ribs were about to be cracked from the pressure of the snake. "And this is just the first wave! More waves are coming, you will die bitch! YOU AND EVERYONE IN THIS VILLAGE!"
"First wave!?" The Snake Mistress's eyes widened with shocked. 'There are already over ten thousand enemy ninjas in the village now, and they're just the first wave? No way we could survive another.'
"How many ninjas does this Neo-Combine have?" She interrogated further.
"I... I don't know really..." The traitor said and then Anko's snake coiled the captured Rain jonin tighter in response. "AAH! Over sixty thousand!"
Anko's eyes widened, she turned to look at her XO and fiancé- Iruka Umino. His face was equally shocked. Leaf had merely ten thousand ninjas in the village now. They were severely outnumbered. She flicked her fingers, and her anaconda devoured the Ame ninja.
"Take this bastard to Inoichi Yamanaka, and you have my permission to eat him after Inoichi is done with him… No, I insist you eat this traitor!" The anaconda let out a predatory smile before leaving.
Zone Three was now a warzone, there were fights, shouts and screams everywhere in this area. Many buildings were either collapsed or burning. Konoha ninjas were fighting their enemy in streets with ninjutsu, AK-16 crossbows, and booby traps.
Elite Chunin Tonbo had told her Ibiki's death at undead Kushina Uzumaki's hand, she didn't have the time to grief for her T&I buddy. She had more urgent things, because she was the commander of Battalion A and her ninjas' lives mattered. Her forces were defending Zone Three. The 1,000-strong battalion was fighting against the combined forces of over 4,000 strong Cloud and Rain ninjas.
The worst news though was that the undead Uzumakis, who hadn't arrived yet. The situation was getting more dangerous by minutes.
Anko and Iruka looked at the Mechanical Eight Trigrams Formation walls, that insulated Konoha blocks. Iruka looked at his love and spoke "Looking at the scale of the Neo-Combine's first wave attack and the sky is full of their air forces. It is a matter of time before the Combine breaches the Mechanical Eight Trigrams Formation walls…"
The Snake Mistress nodded. "Yeah, this zone will soon be overrun and we gotta hurry- we need to fall back and link up with the Zone Six forces and wait for the Hokage's reinforcement. Lady Tsunade and Naruto might have a counter against that asshole-Orochimaru's Edo-Tensei. Before we go to Zone Six, we need to evacuate all the civilians here to the tunnels. You take all the platoons to evacuate the civvies, and I take the companies to defend the zone. You have 20 minutes to complete the evacuation!"
"Hai!" Iruka said before he gave Anko a hug. The couple then kissed deeply yet briefly before they went to their duties.
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Twenty Minutes Later, Fire Country Western Region
An earthquake-like vibration coursed through the ground. There was an audible rumbling and animals hurriedly moved out of the way for seven thousand people who were leaving a large trail of dust in their wake.
'It was a ruse- the attacks on both Konoha western and northern garrisons were a distraction that tricked us send out most of our forces, and the village is now vulnerable to attack! It was a well-planned attack and the Toad Portal was destroyed, Fuck!' Jiraiya concluded his thought angrily.
Behind the Toad Sannin were Kakashi Hatake, Gai Maito, Shino Aburame, Tsume Inuzuka, Hizashi Hyuuga, Shizune and six thousand Leaf ninjas including the surviving Western Garrison forces were all running toward their home village- Konoha.
Everyone was running at their fastest speed and they all had a worried look sharing a similar thought: 'That bastard Orochimaru had over 60,000 strong ninjas from many villages, and many powerful allies like the Iwa Gravemaker, and he even has that notorious yokai called Satori and undead Uzumakis attacking our home. Are my family and friends OK? Kami please protect them!'
There were a thousand Sand ninjas among the homecoming Konoha forces. The Suna battalion's mission was to aid the Konoha Western Garrison initially, but now the mission changed- to reinforce and protect their Kazekage and Wind Daimyo in Konoha.
The two thousand strong Sand expedition force against Kumo had already been launched yesterday. They had just crossed the Fire-Wind border and would rendezvous with Jiraiya's forces. There was another good news to everybody- the hidden Sand village had mobilized her ninja army.
Asuma Sarutobi was doing the same in the north, he had split his battle group into half and took most of his ninjas and Kurenai Yuhi rushing back home. The second half of his battle group must stay to help the Northern Garrison fighting the Kumo forces there.
'But we are still vastly outnumbered by the 60,000 strong Combine… we need every help we can get!' Jiraiya thought.
"Lord Jiraiya!" Hizashi Hyuuga spoke the Toad Sannin and everyone else. "We received news that Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze singlehandedly killed Iwa Gravemaker Shingen Hattori and the millennium demon Satori!" The Sannin's and the Copycat Ninja's eyes widened in disbelief, and everyone cheered aloud.
"A-Amazing!"
"UNBELIEVABLE!"
"Of course he could, he is the son of Yellow Flash and Red Death after all!"
"Yeah! The message said he used the Flying Thunder God technique!"
"HIRAISHIN IS REBORN!"
"The Iwa Gravemaker is finally dead! Dead, dead, DEAD!" A chunin said. He lost several loved ones to the Gravemaker.
"The Golden Slayer will lead Konoha to victory!" A Leaf kunoichi cried out, this was followed by a cheer of agreement from everyone around her. Jiraiya and Kakashi exchanged look and smiled, everyone's morale had risen sky high.
"Hey Gai," the Copycat Ninja spoke to the Sublime Green Beast.
"Yo Kakashi what's up?"
"Let's have a race back to Konoha?"
There was a lightning flashed across Gai's eyes. "YOSH, A CHALLENGE! MY ETERNAL RIVAL CHALLENGES ME FOR THE FIRST TIME! HOW CAN I TURN IT DOWN? LET'S RACE BACK HOME!" The Copycat Ninja and the Sublime Green Beast left a large trail of dust.
Many Konoha ninjas began to shout such as "I'm joining the race too!"
"Me too!"
"I wager 500 ryos I will reach Konoha before you!" A chunin said to his friends. All of them started to bet themselves reaching Konoha first.
The Sannin smiled at everyone running back to their village. 'I estimate we can reach home in nine hours. Hime, Naruto, Sensei, everyone, stay strong and hold the line! We are coming back!'
"Lord Jiraiya!" Shizune ran next to the Sannin with a big smile. "We receive a message from the Nadeshiko Village! Lady Uzume is leading a force of 900 kunoichis to help us! We have more ninjas!" Then the medic leader's face turned confused. "And she also said that she expects you to fulfil your promise with her as her own reward?"
Seeing Jiraiya visibly gulp and his facing turning a bit pale, the Leaf medic leader couldn't help but wonder what sort of promise the Toad Sannin had made with the leader of the Nadeshiko Village.
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'The message from home said Naruto killed Satori with innovative fuinjutsu, he is indeed an S-rank seal master. He can definitely save Neji and Aoi from the shackles!' Hizashi's smile turned to worry- his children's safety in the Combine's attack. The Neo-Combine was composed of many ninja villages, particularly a rouge Iwa faction led by the now-dead Gravemaker and Kumo.
Kumo!? Connecting the dots together, Hizashi's face turned to horror as he realized the consequence of Danzo's deed at the Fire New Network a few days ago.
'If the FNN incident doesn't occur, Kumo's scandals would be public and they would have surrendered and wouldn't join Orochimaru's Neo-Combine. The Snake Sannin wouldn't attack Konoha without Kumo!' The Hyuuga father thought that he had blood, lots of blood of his Leaf comrades, on his hands.
'It was me and Danzo allow this attack in Konoha happen… Dear Kami, what had I done!?'
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1010
Despite Naruto's victory, and Kakashi's and Asuma's Battle Groups rushing home, the situation in Konoha was getting dire by the minute. The enemy forces were relentless in their attack.
"THE WALLS ARE COMING DOWN!" Sky Marshal Shinno shouted to his forces in radio broadcast, alerting the Combine ninjas of the incoming danger.
Kin looked up and saw spiderweb-crack was everywhere on the great Konoha Walls. Debris and rubbles were falling off the three kilometers-wide 100 meters-tall walls. In the past thirty minutes the Neo-Combine vanguards had been attacking the walls in order to pave a way for their main army. The Sky air forces bombed from above, while ground demolition squads sabotaged the wall bottoms with Mayhem bombs.
The walls finally gave in and began collapsing outward. The Neo-Combine had made the walls fall towards the outside the village, to prevent harm to their own forces, everyone instinctively put their hands on their heads though.
Flocks of birds were roosting on top of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha at the Valley of the End, they heard a loud crashing sound. It frightened them and with startled chirps and caws they began to fly away.
It took two minutes for the dust cleared. Kin made a sigh of relief, because she saw the Neo-Combine's next wave had arrived- another 10,000 ninjas and 10,000 mounted samurais were a kilometer outside the Leaf village. Fresh Dragons and Buzzards had arrived too.
Shinno smiled, as more than 30,000 Neo-Combine soldiers were at Konoha now. "Victory is ours!"
'Konoha is doomed, the son of the Yellow Flash should be dead by now.' This was the thought that every Neo-Combine ninja or samurai had in mind. They couldn't wait for the pillage, loot and despoil everything in their path when they entered the city. Many of them had nasty thought on soon-to-be-captured Konoha women.
"CHARGE!" The Neo-Combine's new wave ran toward the village with enthusiasm, the earth vibrated. Dragons and Buzzards began to drop Mayhem bombs on top the Mechanical Eight Trigram Formation Defense- to bring down Konoha's last major defense.
After bombing the Eight Trigram Walls, the Sky air force began strafing at stranded Konoha ninjas and civilians.
"Get some! Get some! Get some! Yeah, yeah, YEAH!" A Sky chunin named Toshiaki Noda laughed with a cigarette in his mouth. He was shooting at Leaf ninjas and civilians with glee. "Anyone who runs is a tree hugger. Anyone who stands still is a well-disciplined tree hugger!"
"Kill them all!" Another gunner Tsuyoshi Mukai responded. "Hey Noda, how about let's have a killing contest?"
"Sure! Tonight sake is on the loser's tab!"
"INCOMING!" The Dragon pilot shouted. Mukai and Noda turned around and saw something coming straight at them and then their eyes were widened like saucers.
A pole with a warning sign that read "DO NOT SMOKE HERE. PENALITIES APPLY" pierced into the Dragon, which crashed and exploded, killing everyone onboard.
The destruction of the carryall caught everyone's attention, and a huge killing intention washed over the Neo-Combine forces. The samurai horses were panicked and most of them raised their front hooves high, causing some of the riders fell off. Many ninjas and samurais, even the seasoned ones, paled and trembled at the killing intent and bloodlust coming from the center of the village. They all looked at the source and were stunned and terrified- a gigantic fox shape chakra avatar was rising three kilometers in front of them. The Neo-Combine ninjas in the village front section were overshadowed.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?"
"Kyuubi no Kitsune!" Many people shouted in terror at the sight that they beheld.
"Didn't that Satori demon kill the yellow brat?"
"Konoha ninjas!" A feminine voice was heard across the village, and many Combine ninjas recognized that it belonged to the Fifth Hokage. "Naruto Namikaze has slain the millennium demon Satori and the Iwa Gravemaker! It's time for us to fight back! We have a village to defend against invaders, and a war to WIN!"
"Impossible! Isn't Shingen Hattori with us?" A Grass ninja turned around to see their Iwa general crumbling to dust.
"Earth Clone!" Everyone realized that the Gravemaker was truly dead and panic spread across the Combine ranks.
"Shingen Hattori is dead! Our employer is dead!" A ronin leader said to his fellow samurais. "We have no chance against the Kyuubi and the Golden Slayer. EVERYONE RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"
Before the mercenary leader could run, a kunai embedded in his head, courtesy of Grass Jonin Zosui.
"You have a contract to fulfil, so you all stay to fight, and we have numerical and technological advantages over Konoha! We will win no doubt, and if you flee..." The Kusa ninja looked at the scared ronins with killing intent. "You will be meal for Lord Orochimaru's pet snakes!"
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Shock was the only reaction Shinno had when he confirmed Satori and Hattori were both dead, so were the Sky forces that had accompanied the Gravemaker.
'What could have happened to them?' He wondered as he rubbed his chin. The Neo-Combine network was full of panicked radio chatters.
The Sky Marshal was a tested and brilliant commander, he quickly composed himself and started to issue orders. "All air forces surround the Kyuubi at safe distance! All ground forces, artilleries ready! Do not let fear affect you, we have prepared for this- we have done many drills for months! We will defeat the Nine-Tailed with air superiority!"
He knew though that many would be hesitant to engage the fearsome Kyuubi. "It may be a biju but it is still nothing more than an animal, we are men… we are ninja… victory is still in our grasp, and if we kill the Kyuubi then we will be legends!" He declared loudly and boldly to those under his command.
Hundreds of Dragons and Buzzards quickly surrounded the Nine-Tailed Fox, and the Sky Marshal barked "FIRE AT WIL-"
Scores of Sky Buzzards and Dragons exploded, and hundreds of figures with insect wings coming out of buildings attacking the Neo-Combine air forces.
"The enemy has fallen for the trap! You lead Fu's shadow legions to combat their air forces, Chomei!" Kurama told his seven-tailed brethren. "I will lead Naruto's shadow clones against their ground forces!"
"Got it!" The Nanabi responded.
"RAAWWWWRRR!" Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze in Kurama avatar sent a powerful shockwave toward Zone 2, then he swiped his right arm toward Zone 1 and left arm toward Zone 3 with powerful Wind Blast respectively. Over ten thousand Neo-Combine air-assault ninjas who had been staying on roofs were blown off from buildings. Scores of Dragons and Buzzards unfortunate enough in the blast paths were knocked to nearby buildings or collided to each other resulting explosions.
"Lock on," Naruto looked at the Combine's second wave, when a one-meter radius purple-black orb formed on Kurama's each tail. A second later nine Tailed Beast Micro-Balls were fired at nine different enemy positions.
Nine little mushroom-clouds appeared there and at least four thousand enemies perished. Chaos ran amok among the enemy rank. Naruto in his avatar leaped toward the Neo-Combine artilleries outside of the village.
"AAIIIIIIIIIIII!" were many Neo-Combine soldiers' last word when the Kyuubi no Kitsune land-crushed on them. In the middle of artillery batteries, Naruto made a few hand signs.
"Kyuubi-Fire Release: Spitfire!" Naruto-Kurama rotated 360 degrees as his mouth released a jet stream of flame the surrounding enemy. Hundreds of Neo-Combine artillery soldiers screamed in agony and burned to chars. The avatar then slashed the Neo-Combine rank with his gigantic, long and sharp claws before stomped the ground a few times, leaving countless of broken bodies in the field.
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Looking at the carnage Naruto inflicted on the enemy, Iruka Umino was visibly shaken. "I was there when the Kyuubi's Rampage happened 13 years ago, many people were killed that night…" The scarred-nose special jonin recalled painfully. "But this is far worse."
Anko gently hugged him from behind, comforting his painful loss of his parents, and spoke to him in a rare gentle tone. "It's Madara Uchiha who killed your parents. Now the fox is on our side this time and he is protecting us. Come on, the Kazekage and the Zone 6 forces will rendezvous with us soon. We are gonna flush out the enemy inside the village while the kid wrecks havocs on those outside. We have a war to win! And after we win this war," she whispered to her fiancé's ear in sultry voice that made the Dolphin Man shudder and blush. "I'm gonna ride you wildly!"
She then licked his cheek and grinned like a mischievous cat.
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Arashi Fuma, the commander in charge of the Konoha's left section remained calm, he had a mission to complete for his master- Lord Orochimaru. He ordered his forces of 3,500 Sound and Snow ninjas.
"Everyone, ignore the Kyuubi outside and keep attacking the wall!" Arashi spoke over the radio to everyone. "Lord Orochimaru has sent help to deal with it!"
But the morale in the Sound and Snow forces was low.
'We are all going to die!' was Kin Tsuchi's thought when she first saw the Kyuubi no Kitsune and blew everyone off building with his Wind Blasts. Seeing the sheer destruction that the fearsome Golden Slayer inflicted on the Combine's new wave outside the village cemented her thought.
Just everyone got up their feet, barrages of kunai coming to them from many directions. Many Sound ninjas were hit and dropped dead, Elite Chunin Jigumo Fuma saw a group of Leaf ninjas.
"The tree huggers are counter-attacking! Everyone find cover and fire back!" The Sound elite chunin ordered his unit. The Fuma dodged a kunai, which hit a post next to him and exploded.
"Leader Jigumo!" Kin and the surviving genins shouted at their platoon leader, but he's dead as well as ten genins in the unit. The Konoha ninjas were bombarding Sound forces in the street with the Uzumaki Havoc and Hellfire seals. She and a few genins were lucky to get into a house first before the attack. She picked up a mirror and carefully looked around and was horrified that 200 Sound ninjas in this street were all killed.
Only her small group survived, but not for long. Kin realized now she's in charge now, as she was the most senior ninja in this small group, and she was very, very scared. The Konoha company including a gigantic Akimichi was approaching. She looked at the three younger genins who were crying and didn't know what to do now other than waiting for death.
"They are everywhere!"
"I don't want to die! Mama!"
"Kami please save us!"
"Everyone, listen!" Kin spoke to them and had their attention. "This area is lost, we have to fall back to a block behind us! There must be friendlies still there!" All three junior genins nodded.
"There!" A Leaf ninja spotted them, and all Konoha ninjas showered the four Sound genins with jutsus and kunai. Kin's team ran like hell and blindly fired their M-47 kunai launchers, the Konoha ninjas pursed them for three minutes until they were ordered to move against another large Combine forces nearby.
"They gave up chase. We take a rest here for…" the Sound kunoichi said panting when she found a safe dark alley. She turned back to see her three teammates, but she saw no one.
"They are all dead!" The Oto genin spoke to herself in horror as she realized they didn't make it. Hundreds of shadows were flying over her.
'This is it! I am going to die!' Kin thought in despair. But the shadows ignored her and ran toward the village outside. She looked at them again, they weren't those teal-haired Konoha shadow clones with wings. They were red-haired and she recognized them. They were the vanguards of the vanguards and they had been attacking the Zone 4 Mechanical Eight Trigram Formation Wall to spearhead to the Uchiha Compound.
They were the undead Uzumaki ninjas.
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Ancor Vantian
The Golden Slayer's victory over Satori and Shingen Hattori spread like a wildfire, and the Neo-Combine Fleet as the third and final wave had received the news too. Everyone was greatly worried.
The messenger who brought the report to the Orochimaru, feared that the supreme commander would fly into a rage and kill him for being the bearer of bad news. Instead, much to his surprise, the Snake Sannin sat quietly, tapping his fingers together as he quietly analysed the situation, with his Sound Four bodyguards behind him, all of them as still as statues.
Orochimaru's slitted eyes looked down at the map of before him, showing him the positions of his forces currently.
'The two waves suffered heavy casualty, but they are just pawns, even that Satori demon. Shingen's death is rather convenient to me. He will be a serious problem if I want to re-create the Namikaze and the Senju clans… Yes, Shingen's and Satori's deaths shook the morale of my forces, but my commanders will hold the line, I hand-picked them after all.'
There were over 30,000 Neo-Combine solders in Konoha now, including the Gravemaker's 10,000 samurai mercenaries. There was news that many of them attempting to desert upon learning their paymaster's death, but the Combine's commanders had brutally killed a few of them and sent a warning to the rest that they needed to fulfil their contract.
Fear, the Snake Sannin had found, was a perfect motivator.
The supreme commander spoke to the Ancor Vantian captain. "Captain Aruga, ETA status?"
"Sixty minutes, my lord" was the answer. The Neo-Combine Fleet had changed route; it was flying toward the back of the Hokage Monument rather than the village front gates. It would give them a pincer movement against Konoha back and forth. That's why the fleet's arrival was late.
"Understood and prepare the Yamato Cannon. I want it ready to fire when we arrive Konoha."
"Hai!" The captain began to issue orders to the crew.
The Snake Sannin looked at his Sound Four bodyguard leader. "Kimimaro, are the Berserker Corps ready?"
The Kaguya nodded. "Yes, Lord Orochimaru, and they are getting restless."
It was then that a smile appeared on the Supreme Commander's snake like face, making his appearance even more sinister. "Good, tell them to prepare for the drop."
"Hai!"
"Naruto Namikaze, you are not stopping me from my goals and you are not destroying my army anymore," the Snake Sannin said as he looked at his table, particularly hundreds of pebbles on his table, these tiny stones represented his Edo-Tensei ninjas.
"Hashirama and Tobirama are both destroyed, too bad, but all the 300 Uzumakis are still intact. The Uzumakis are immune to the Konoha seal defense…" A cruel smirk appeared on Orochimaru's face, as his long slender fingers started to arrange the pebbles. "Boy, I heard you always want to meet your parents, don't you? Kukuku, now I shall grant your wish." He then let loose a cruel peel of laughter.
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1030, Zone Nine
The Uzumaki Manor had become the command center for the Konoha forces, all the Leaf ninjas had come and left after receiving their orders. The Manor Dojo had been turned into a field hospital and many Katsuyu's clones were laying on top of wounded people healing them. More Katsuyu's clones were outside across the village either healing or passing the Hokage's orders to Leaf commanders.
"Lady Hokage!" A sensor ninja reported, "The undead Uzumakis stopped attacking the Zone Four Mechanical Eight Trigram Wall! They are moving toward the village outside!"
"They are going to kill Naruto!" Tsunade said in grim tone and there were audible gasps as everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at her.
If Naruto was killed, Konoha's morale would be shattered, and no one would be able to stop the Neo-Combine. The Leaf village would be utterly obliterated.
The Edo-Tensei subjects were essentially indestructible and could not be stopped by standard means. However, they were vulnerable to fuinjutsu and that's how Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju were neutralized.
The undead Uzumakis however presented an entirely different problem. They were immune to the Konoha fuinjutsu traps and that made them invincible. Many Leaf ninjas in Zone One had been slain by the Uzumakis, but their deaths were not in vain- they died buying time for Konoha to prepare a few counters against them.
Honoka approached the Fifth Hokage. "I'm going out to help Naruto. Lady Tsunade, I've left three shadow clones to manage the Armory."
To everyone's surprise, ANBU Bird dropped his right knee in front of his leader. "Lady Hokage, request permission to assist Honoka and Lord Naruto fight the undead enemy."
Tsunade looked at Tokuma Hyuuga for a good second and smiled. "Granted, protect Honoka with your life, that's an order!"
Hidden behind his mask, the Hyuuga gladly swore that he would protect the Uzumaki girl with his life.
"Hai!"
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Three Minutes Later
"Naruto…" Hinata Hyuuga held her lover's hand with love and concern. The Byakugan Princess accompanied the Golden Slayer to lay waste on the Neo-Combine. Her commander had assigned her two tasks when he took her in the Kurama avatar. First was to find and kill enemy commanders with her archery, and second was to keep an eye on the undead Uzumakis.
And now they were here in front of the couple.
Leading the undead Uzumakis, Kushina and Mito were both in jinchuuriki Version Two form- coated in red Kyuubi-chakra with six-tails and fox-skeletons respectively. One of them had her hair floating like nine tails and Naruto and Hinata recognized it was Kushina.
"Mum…" a tear flew down Naruto's right cheek as he finally met his mother who died protecting him.
The blond's hesitation to fight his mother gave the undead Uzumakis a good head start. The two former Kyuubi jinchuuriki fired Tailed Beast Balls at the Kurama Avatar, and Naruto intercepted them like a baseball player and threw the two Bijudamas back at the Edo-Tensei army, obliterating all of them in a mushroom cloud.
Hinata and Kurama noted Naruto deliberately threw the Bijudamas as far away from Kushina.
"Watch out!" Hinata shouted and pushed Naruto when Kushina's Adamantine Sealing Chains came straight toward him.
"NOO HINATA!" Naruto shouted in horror Hinata took the hit in place of him.
"I'm OK. The armour took the most damage and I am merely grazed in the back."
The blond punched himself in the face, much to the shock of the bluenette. He wiped the blood off his mouth. "I shouldn't let my personal attachment get the best of me, I am an elite jonin and I am in charge of the counterattack in the mid-section for Kami's sake! And you nearly get killed because of my emotion!"
"It's alright Naruto," the Hyuuga replied kindly. "It's your mother. I would hesitate too if I were you."
"Thank you, my love," Naruto-Kurama's nine tails raised and fired another barrage of Tailed Beast Micro-Balls at the undead Uzumakis, and this time Kushina was obliterated. The jinchuuriki shut down his avatar though.
"We can't fight them in this avatar anymore, even Bijudama is useless against them… Look, they are re-forming now… Edo-Tensei soldiers can regenerate, that's the most powerful and terrifying feature of Edo-Tensei. The forbidden ninjutsu makes them ideal vanguards..." Naruto explained as he and Hinata landed on the ground. The undead Uzumakis were reforming and they would be ready in two minutes.
"Not to mention Tailed Beasts are susceptible to Mokuton, Sharingan and Adamantine Sealing Chains," Hinata repeated what Naruto has told her about Biju's weaknesses.
"Plan B now," he made several hand signs and a big smoke came out. When the smoke dissipated, three Shadow Legions surrounded the couple.
"Legions!" Naruto shouted at his 300 shadow clones. "Fight those undead Uzumakis!"
Without a word, they all activated the Wind Claws Technique- double serrated wind-blades appeared on each arm.
Watching his shadow clones charging at the Edo-Tensei Uzumakis to buy him some time, Naruto held Hinata's hand and teleported back to the Chunin Exam Arena with Flying Thunder God Technique, the Hiraishin tagged javelin against Satori was still there. Most of Satori's parts and Shingen Hattori had been sealed into scrolls which were taken away.
"Chunin Neji!" Naruto called his K-15 second in command, who then appeared in front of him. "Is everything prepared?"
"Hai! All teams are in position!" The Hyuuga answered and handed a scary demonic mask to his commander.
Naruto looked at the mask retrieved from the Uzumaki Mask Storage Temple and nodded at that the mask was the right one. Tayuya must have secured the other Uzumaki masks into a scroll.
Then the K-15 commander looked up around saw two-men teams surrounding and hiding on the arena top: Sasuke-Sakura, Ranmaru-Tenten, Lee-Yakumo, Sai-Ino, Shikamaru-Choji, Shino-Kiba. To the blond's surprise, Honoka was with ANBU Bird instead of Tayuya, and the flute-user was standing in a place by herself.
"Good," the K-15 commander said to his XO. "You team up with Tayuya." Then he whispered something to Neji's ear, Tokuma Hyuuga read the blond's lips.
"You protect her with your life! I will kill you if she dies!"
The Gentle Fist genius paled and nodded fiercely, and to the ANBU's surprise the Golden Slayer turned around to face him.
"And you too!"
XXXXXXXXX
The Konoha Chunin Exam was reported as a sport event, but now it became a breaking news across the world. The whole world had seen Naruto's fight against Satori and Shingen Hattori due to the news cameras in the Arena. All new outlets that covered the Konoha Chunin Exam kept rolling the fight scenes, and anchors had been talking about the mysterious blond.
"The young man is back in the Arena!" Yoshi Tashiro, the Water News Network anchor exclaimed. "Hey wait, what is he doing?"
Everyone watched the blond rolled out two scrolls. He stepped on one of them, his black battered armour disappeared, showing his bodysuit and ripped muscles underneath it, much to many women's excitement and many young men's envy.
All eyes widened when Naruto stepped onto the second scroll, there was a flash then armours materialized around his body.
"Another fight!" Yoshi said excitedly. The news outlet rating would go sky high.
XXXXXXXXX
Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze began to check his new armour, seals and weapons, a big snake appeared with a sword in its mouth.
"Lady Anko wants to giiiivvvve yooouu thiiiiis sssword as a ggiifft…"
The blond's eyes widened at the blade. "It's great-grandpa Tobirama's Sword of Thunder God!"
He test-wielded the sword and a satisfied smile appeared on his face. Naruto thanked the snake, and he made a mental note to later question how Anko got this, because right now, a group of very powerful ninjas were coming at him, including his mother.
"You OK, Naruto, about your mother?" Hinata asked Naruto in a worried tone. It horrified her that Kushina wanted to kill her son.
"I'm OK Hinata," he answered as he closed his eyes. "She is controlled by that bastard Orochimaru and she harmed you. I will treat her and those Uzumakis as enemies."
'That tone…' the Hyuuga thought with widened eyes. 'That's his Kumo soldier tone!'
Naruto was brutally trained by Kumo since they were kidnapped, and they made him a professional soldier before his fifth birthday, and later a ruthless super-lethal ninja. She was right when Naruto opened his eyes looking at the undead Uzumakis landing at the arena floor. Many people gaped when they saw a pair of determined and cold blue eyes- the type of eyes that said he would fight his enemy with extreme prejudice.
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Sakura Haruno let out a little sigh of relief when the Edo-Tensei Uzumakis drop-passed them unnoticed. She thanked the two layered-genjutsu protection on them. The platoon plus Honoka, Tayuya and ANBU Bird had been split to nine two-ninja teams: one in each team casted a genjutsu, and the other one ready to activate the fuinjutsu at Naruto's mark. Yakumo Kurama cast another genjutsu on the whole platoon, creating a two-layered genjutsu.
If the genjutsu failed, she would want to use the Uzumaki Advanced Individual Combat Kit-Scrolls.
XXXXXXXXX
Five Minutes Ago
Sakura was happy and afraid. Happy because she was now with Sasuke. Afraid because of the danger and the mission they would face; K-15 was ordered to lay a trap for the incoming undead Uzumakis. Sasuke would activate the trap with half the K-15 ninjas, while she and the other half cast genjutsu layers on their own teams. She felt proud on herself that Commander Naruto trusted them to carry out this task and she would not fail. The pink-haired kunoichi saw her partner Sasuke Uchiha was shaking and sweating a bit, so she asked him.
"You nervous too, Sasuke?"
The Uchiha nodded. "This is a hundred times dangerous as we faced Zabuza Momochi... But I want to see an Uzumaki fight by my own eyes."
His three-tomoe Sharingan eyes were active. Sakura knew her crush had been very fascinated with the Uzumaki clan since the Wave Mission. If her Sasuke was interested in the mysterious foreign clan, so was she, and she did research about them with books bought outside Fire Country.
The book smart pinkette discovered that Konoha educated their ninjas and villagers that the legendary feud between the Senju and the Uchiha clans that created the village, but never mentioned a more legendary one. Every country except Fire Country acknowledged the feud between the Uzumaki and the Kaguya clans was more legendary and bloodier- sea were always red after a battle between the two seaborne clans.
Even Sasuke admitted the story between the Uzumaki and Kaguya clans was more legendary and brutal.
Sakura wondered why Konoha ignored the history of their most important ally- Uzushio and Whirlpool Country, despite their destruction. Was it to boost the village pride and morale, or was there something sinister behind this action?
"Hey!" A familiar sound made them turn around.
"Fu?" Sakura asked surprised. "Why are you here? Aren't you with Lady Hokage?"
Sasuke was surprised too, and his eyes were asking the same question.
"The Hokage is healing the wounded and busy issuing commands now, and I will be back to the Uzumaki Manor after I give you all these." The teal-haired kunoichi handed out two scrolls to Sasuke and Sakura respectively. "I 'borrowed' them from the Uzumaki Armoury."
"Advanced Individual Combat Kit?" Sasuke read the texts on the scrolls.
"Yes, it has advanced seals such as the anti-ninjutsu and anti-genjutsu Shield seals, the stealth Predator seals, and others-"
"These are the Uzumaki clan secret fuinjutsu!" The Uchiha heir shouted, startling both Fu and Sakura. "Naruto has made it clear that no one except the Uzumaki clan can use them!"
Several weeks ago, much to Sasuke's shock, Naruto generously issued the K-15 platoon with Uzumaki fuinjutsu- explosive Havoc and incendiary Hellfire seals, for every raider's protection and combat effectiveness. The Uchiha clan heir secretly admitted he wouldn't be that generous to issue Uchiha weaponries if he was the K-15 commander.
The raven-haired Uchiha recalled that in a platoon training, Sai asked for Shield seals that defeated Itachi, and Naruto vehemently said "NO."
"But I want to protect you guys, you all are my precious friends!" Fu retorted with a good reason. "Naruto views me as his sister. I'm sure he will understand this and forgive me for this."
Sasuke and Sakura understood why Naruto treated Fu like a sister because they were both jinchuurikis.
'It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission?' Sakura pondered about her best friend, then she raised a question. "Why does each of us have two scrolls?"
"Oh, it's better that everyone has a backup scroll, Sai said that."
XXXXXXXXX
'Here they come.' Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze looked up sadly when three hundred undead Uzumakis descended from the arena top with blades drawn. Their soulless eyes and killing intents strengthened his resolve the concept that 'They are my enemy and I WILL defeat them.'
Golden chakra surrounded Naruto as he activated his Biju Mode. He put his hands on the ground and shouted.
"Kyuubi-Wind Release: Almighty Maelstrom Pull!"
A maelstrom-twister appeared inside the arena, and Hinata shot an arrow tagged with a Hiraishin seal that allowed Naruto to teleport above the arena. The maelstrom sucked all the undead Uzumakis into it. The maelstrom was spinning the helpless Uzumakis like a washing machine and they couldn't get out.
The undead Uzumakis didn't give up, Kushina and those with Chain Release shot their chakra chains toward Naruto. Hinata shot another arrow tagged with a Hiraishin seal higher and her love teleported higher in the sky.
The Kyuubi jinchuuriki opened his mouth and a Tailed Beast Micro-Ball was fired toward the arena ground.
"Tailed Beast Meteors!" The Micro-Bijudama diffused into a hundred of smaller orbs and the arena was cluster-bombed, damaging all the Edo-Tensei Uzumakis. The blond Uzumaki donned the Noh mask before ordering his platoon.
"K-15 now deploy the Eight Trigram Damnation Fuinjutsu!"
"RIN!" Kiba shouted as he performed the first sign of Kuji-Kiri, the Nine Symbolic Cuts. To the Inuzuka, Akamaru and Shino's surprise, the seal brightened in orange colour.
"HYO!" Tenten activated the second one. Neji looked at his partner Tayuya as she activated the third seal.
"TOH!"
"SHA!" Sasuke touched the fourth seal.
"KAI!" Ino shouted and the kanji seal in front of her and Sai brightened. The sixth seal was Choji's responsibility.
"JIN!"
"RETSU!" Lee shouted and activated his seal while Yakumo covered the whole platoon with genjutsu.
"ZAI!" Honoka activated the eighth seal.
The last and the ninth seal befell to Naruto. The blond jonin first activated Kyuubi-Wind Armor Thruster Mode- two chakra arms appeared behind his back with palms faced the ground and generated wind chakra to keep him afloat in the air. He opened a large scroll, and had it face his undead clan people and shouted the final command with great pain.
"ZEN!"
The Zen kanji appeared on the scroll, and a spiral combined with Yin-Yang symbol appeared on the ground where the undead Uzumakis were. The scroll began to suck the souls out of those Edo-Tensei bodies. Honoka began to weep.
"You OK, Honoka?" Takuma Hyuuga asked.
"The Uzumaki Damnation fuinjutsu is an alternative to Dead Demon Consuming Seal the Fourth Hokage used except no consequence. It is forbidden nonetheless, because it is to imprison souls and torment them because they cannot go afterlife, and now we use it against our clansmen. They have suffered a lot!" Honoka explained in tears while putting her hands on her eyes. "This is the only way to defeat this sick ninjutsu and to temporarily prevent that bastard Orochimaru resurrect them again to do his biddings!"
"I am sorry, your people don't deserve this," Takuma Hyuuga comforted the Uzumaki girl. "But your people will be freed soon, I'm certain Lord Naruto will kill that snake bastard and all this shenanigan will end."
Honoka shook her head. "No, it isn't over even if Orochimaru is dead. It's highly possible his subordinates or other ninjas can use this Edo-Tensei jutsu too. This ninjutsu can only resurrect those who haven't gone to the Pure Land. After this war, we will go to Demon Country and ask the High Priestess to take our dead Uzumakis to the Pure Land, so even Edo-Tensei can't enslave them anymore. Only Demon Country High Priestesses can perform it."
Tayuya was weeping too. "We Uzumaki clan have suffered a lot… Our country got wiped off the map, and the survivors had to hide because there are assholes after us for our bloodline limits and jinchuuriki purposes. Our warriors died fighting for Uzushio and now those turds enslaved them as puppet soldiers… When can they get their due peace? And when enough is enough for fuck's sake?"
It was Neji's first time see Tayuya in this emotional state, he couldn't help but admire the girl more and she was so beautiful. The Uzumaki pulled out her flute and played a soft melody for her deceased clan people.
The Hyuuga found the song beautiful; it was soul-comforting with a bit of sorrowful tone. The proud Hyuuga Gentle Fist genius felt something wet flowing down his cheeks, he touched them and realized they were tears and he was saddened by the Uzumaki clan's tragedy. Without a thought, he hugged her silently from behind to comfort her. She said nothing on this, but she put her hand on his hand in appreciation for his support, then they together watched the near-invisible white spectres, which were the Uzumakis' souls, leaving their Edo-Tensei bodies to Naruto's scroll.
Their Edo-Tensei bodies crumbled to earth and revealed dead human carcasses inside them, much to the horror of young Leaf ninjas present. Everyone was shocked to see there were two undead Uzumakis unaffected by the fuinjutsu- Kushina and Mito.
"The fox's chakra enables them to resist the Damnation fuinjutsu…" Naruto commented on his jinchuuriki predecessors. They were on their fours with red Kyuubi charka and six tails, it was a matter of time they got free of the Almighty Maelstrom Pull.
He was still in the air with his Wind Armour Thruster Mode active. Two more chakra arms appeared behind the blond's back and they were as large as Kurama's. The two gigantic arms slammed Kushina and Mito hard to the ground and they couldn't do nothing but let out terrible roars. Hinata shot arrows tagged with empty Battery seals at the two former Kyuubi jinchuurikis to drain their Kyuubi chakra.
"RAWRRR!" The Konoha Red Queen was hit by three arrows, and she returned to her human form. The K-15 raiders were awed by Mito's beauty in her youth form, then they watched sadly the Konoha founding mother's soul being pulled into the Damnation seal.
Kushina was the only undead Uzumaki left, and she's still in her jinchuuriki version two form. None of Hinata's arrows hit the Konoha Red Death, thanks to her Uzumaki's Adamantine Sealing Chains deflecting all of them. Now the Red Death began her retaliation by binding Naruto's gigantic chakra arms with her chains.
Naruto's chakra arms disappeared, and things became worse when Naruto's Biju Mode and Kyuubi-Wind Thruster Armour were both gone.
'Mum's Adamantine Sealing Chains seals my chakra!'
The blond landed on the arena ground and his eyes widened when he saw countless Nano-Bijudamas coming toward him. He immediately took a defensive pose- dropping his right knee and extended his arms and had his palms faced the incoming bullet-sized Bijudamas.
The Nano-Bijudamas disappeared one by one before Naruto's hands, the machinegun-like attack created a huge smoke in the area and the attack lasted for one minute before it suddenly stopped. His eyes widened when he saw a Mini Tailed Beast Ball coming out of the smoke towards him.
"Shit!" The blond teleported to a safe place by Hiraishin while the Bijudama obliterated a big section of the arena, fortunately no one was there.
'Mum is coming!' Knowing his mother's high speed was equal to the Fourth Raikage's, Naruto prepared for her next attack. Strangely nothing happened, and a female voice spoke on his radio earplug and he recognized it's Honoka's.
"I've bound Lady Kushina with my chains!"
'OH YEAH! Honoka has Adamantine Sealing Chains too!' Naruto thought in delight. He appeared in front of an ensnared Kushina in a cross pose. Her arms, torso and legs were all tightly bound by Honoka's chains. The Red Death was snarling and struggling to get free. The blond removed the Noh mask from his face, hoping his mother could recognize him.
"WATCH OUT!" Everyone shouted. Kushina fired another Tailed Beast Mini-Ball to his son. Luckily Naruto teleported to a safe distance with Flying Thunder God technique.
"Mum is totally controlled by that bastard Orochimaru to kill me. It can't be helped…" Naruto reappeared in front of Kushina and put a Battery seal on her, draining her Kyuubi chakra and returning herself to human form, then he put another seal on her forehead.
"Fuinjutsu Mindjack!"
XXXXXXXXX
"Fuinjutsu Mindjack? What is it?" Ino asked curiously. The term "Mind" piqued her interest, the Yamanaka was a clan of mind readers after all. Well, everyone was interested in it too, even Sasuke Uchiha.
"It's the solution to gain control on Edo-Tensei subjects, you don't need to know the rest, it's the Uzumaki clan secret." Honoka explained sharply.
'They don't need to know the information about Mindjack fuinjutsu was the Uzumaki's clan version of Genjutsu Sharingan that could control subject's mind and action. Its ultimate version can even rival the fabled Uchiha Kotoamatsukami. If the words about Mindjack get out, then we Uzumakis will be in bigger trouble- every hidden village or ambitious country in the world would love to get their hands on this forbidden powerful fuinjutsu…'
XXXXXXXXX
"Where am I? Why am I restrained-ttebane!?" Kushina Uzumaki shook violently on her restraints, only to realize they were chakra chains. Then, to her horror, she also realized she wasn't in total control of her body. "What the hell is going!?"
Sounds of footsteps caught the Red Death's attention and she looked forward and gaped at the four approaching figures.
"Minato? Hitomi?" No, they couldn't be, Minato and Hitomi had already passed the teenager age, and wasn't her husband's soul trapped in Shinigami's belly? The other two she immediately recognized were Uzumakis based on their red hair; they must be Uzumakis.
The young Minato quickly approached Kushina and hugged her and burst into tears and wept over with a word "Mum!" that widened Kushina's eyes.
"Naruto?"
Naruto nodded while wiping his tears over his face. Kushina was overjoyed and she began to cry. "You have grown up just like your dad!" There was a big foxy smile on her face, the fact that she somehow came to life was forgotten. But she hadn't forgotten that she was still restrained.
"I want to hold you, my son, but why am I restrained?" She tried to move her arms to no avail, and she was getting frustrated.
Naruto pulled out another seal, and Kushina recognized it was Mindlog fuinjutsu, he put the tag on her forehead to let her know what had happened. Naruto's logged memories flowed into Kushina's mind in half a second.
Hiashi's adoption on Naruto made her smile and her son grew up happily in the Hyuuga household. 'I was afraid Naruto would grow up alone. Thank Kami I was wrong. Thank you Hiashi!'
The Hyuuga girl in front of her was Hinata Hyuuga, Hiashi and Hitomi's daughter. Hinata looked very similar to Hitomi.
Next she was furious to see that damned hidden Cloud village finally succeeded at capturing her son and Hinata. It scared her to hell that they wanted to use the children to breed Hiraishin, Chain Release and Byakugan for their village.
'I am going to kill that Raikage! I will give Kumo a lesson they won't forget for a century!'
'The fox is called Kurama? He didn't seem evil. Perhaps our mistreatment on him made him hate us… If I were him, I would do the same.'
Then she smiled, because her son found fellow Uzumakis- Honoka and Tayuya, and the massive destruction her son inflicted on Kumo. Kushina became very proud of her son.
Kushina knew Itachi Uchiha very well and he was a good boy, but why did he turn up a criminal ninja and kill his father and many fellow clan people? It scared the hell out of her that Naruto and Itachi nearly killed each other in Wave Country, then she went further and knew the truth of the Uchiha Massacre. That Asshole Danzo Shimura!
It made her smile again that Naruto's going to marry Hinata. She made a mental note to tell the couple to give her grandchildren!
Now she was terrified at the last revelation. The Combine, which destroyed her home Whirlpool, had returned under pedo-Orochimaru's leadership. Now she understood why she had to be bound by Honoka's chakra chains.
"I see. I am resurrected… by Orochimaru's Edo-Tensei?"
Naruto nodded sadly. Suddenly Kushina's nails became claws, and her right arm escaped Honoka's control and slashed at Naruto, who dodged it just in time.
"NOOOO!" It horrified Kushina though- she was controlled to harm and kill her own flesh and blood. Red chakra began surrounding her, and Honoka tightened her chakra chains on the former Kyuubi jinchuuriki.
"My Mindjack fuinjutsu isn't perfect yet, Orochimaru will soon regain full control of you. Time is running out…" Naruto said with his eyes closed and fresh tears flowing down his cheeks. He hugged his mother one more time. "I have no choice but to seal you into Damnation. I'm so sorry, Mum."
"Don't feel sorry, son. You need to do what you have to do. It's an utmost horror that a parent kills their own children, and I would rather be sealed into Damnation than harm you." Kushina told her son with kind tone, "But somehow I have to thank Orochimaru that I can now know you grow up to be a good ninja and a good man I'm very, very proud of. I'm sure Minato too."
Kushina's eyes turned to Hinata. "Hinata, thank you for your unwavering love for Naruto! Come give me a hug!" She let out another foxy grin, and Hinata hugged her dearly. "I'm glad to have you as my daughter-in-law. Please take care of my boy- he may be a powerful and awesome ninja, but he still needs your help and support."
"Yes Mother!" Hinata tearfully hugged Kushina again. "It's a lifetime of promise!"
"Thank you, daughter. And please tell Hiashi and Hitomi my gratitude for looking after Naruto." Then Kushina looked at her living Uzumaki clanswomen, "Honoka, Tayuya, I thank you for helping Naruto and Hinata escaping Kumo captivity."
"It's my honour," Honoka bowed deeply. "Beside your son saved my life."
"Uzumaki helps Uzumaki," Tayuya said as she bowed as well. "We are a family."
"Yes, you are, as long as you stay together, the Uzumaki clan is always alive." Kushina smiled warmly. "I'm sure everyone here will become great nin-" Suddenly her Kyuubi chakra spiked exponentially, alarming everyone. Her right eye was returning to Edo-Tensei soulless state.
"It is time." Naruto and Kushina both sighed with their eyes closed accepting that their reunion was coming to an end. They would give everything to make the reunion longer, but this was a luxury they couldn't afford- there was a war in the village.
Without a word everyone went back to their positions, and the Damnation fuinjutsu was ready fifteen seconds later. Naruto put a post tagged with a Battery seal in front of his mother, draining her of Kyuubi chakra, and then he held the Damnation scroll facing his mother. It was time to say goodbye, everyone was quietly weeping, even Sasuke Uchiha, Neji Hyuuga, Shikamaru Nara and Kurama shed a few tears.
"I love you Mum. Thank you for everything!" Naruto shouted with more tears flowing down his cheeks. "I'll find a way to release Dad from Shinigami, so you two can be together in the afterlife!"
"I love you too son! The future of the Uzumaki clan is in your hands." Kushina said as her Edo-Tensei body was crumbling to dust. She continued her last words. "Sasuke Uchiha, please bring my greeting to your mum and you make your parents proud! I wish you all have a happy life! You too Kurama and thank you for helping everyone!"
It took nine seconds to complete the process, and Kushina's soul was sealed into the Damnation scroll, leaving a dead woman covered in a pile of earth, and this unknown sacrifice sported a red-dyed long hair similar to Kushina's, this shocked everyone.
'Is it that bastard Orochimaru's sick joke to Naruto!?' Many K-15 wondered.
It was at that moment, that Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, one of the most fearsome and deadly ninjas in the world, who was referred by friend and foe alike as The Golden Slayer, dropped to both knees and cried like a child.
XXXXXXXXX
A few moments later, Naruto's radio crackled to life. "Are you OK, Naruto?" The voice belonged to Choza Akimichi, the leader of the Titan Squad.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks." The blond answered.
"All the nine posts will be set up in thirty seconds."
"Good," Naruto stood up from the ground and wiped the tears from his eyes and decided that the time for crying was over. He could grieve later, right now he needed to be a commander for there was a war that still needed to be won. "Let me know when they are all done, and I can activate the Firewall fuinjutsu from here."
Tsunade and Naruto had planned to re-establish the Konoha Firewall Defense. The reasoning behind the plan was twofold. It would first entrap the Neo-Combine's first wave inside the village and eliminate them, stripping Orochimaru's at least one-sixth of his manpower. The new Firewall barrier would prevent more enemy forces from coming inside, and Konoha could then hold and wait for reinforcements, then they could deal with the fifty thousand enemy when their reinforcements arrived.
The village even had enough provision to last four years just in case. Kakashi's and Asuma's battle groups were coming back, and helps from Suna, Iwa, Taki and Nadeshiko were coming, not to mention the Fire Country Army was mobilized.
But the next few hours were going to be critical, every moment passed and every action taken could mean the difference between victory and defeat. For Konoha, defeat meant total annihilation.
"15 seconds left for the posts to set up…" Choza said to Naruto, who was ready to cast the barrier. "14… 13…"
XXXXXXXXX
1110, High Altitude Above Konoha
A special squadron of Fu's shadow clones, using Nanabi's chakra, was pursuing Shinno's Iron Fist Dragon command transport. The chase had led them behind the Hokage Monument and to the clouds. The sudden loss of half the squadron caught Chomei's attention, and he looked at what happened through a surviving shadow clone, while the destroyed shadow clones' memories were returning to Fu.
Both Chomei and Fu were shocked at what they saw- a fortress and a fleet of ships flying in the clouds. The flying fortress' cannon was glowing and aiming at the Konoha Chunin Exam Arena direction.
"4…" Choza counted down, as the Titan Squad unsealed posts close to the destroyed Konoha Walls and began to plant them into the ground. "3…"
"K-15 YOU HAVE TO LEAVE THE ARENA NOW!" Fu shouted her lungs out over the radio. Everyone was confused at her words.
A second later Naruto stiffened and was alarmed at the spike of an energy coming from the cloud. The blond jonin turned around and looked up, everyone followed suit and they all saw a bright light in the cloud.
In his command center Orochimaru smirked. Over the intercom the voice of an officer filled the room.
"My Lord, the weapon is primed and ready!"
The Snake Sannin looked down at his map, and with a gentle tap of his finger, he knocked down the flag of Konoha.
"Fire!" The Supreme Commander of the Neo-Combine ordered, and the powerful beam of the Yamato Cannon shot toward the center of arena.
Chomei immediately had Fu's shadow clones near the area perform substitution technique to switch place with everyone in the area, except Naruto, who was in the center of arena and was too far to reach.
All except Naruto found themselves suddenly in the sky 400 meters above the ground and were falling to their deaths.
"WHY ARE WE IN THE SKY!? NOOOOOOO!"
"WE ARE FALLING DOWN! SHIIIIIIIIT!"
"WHAT THE FUCK!?"
"WHHAAAAA!"
"WHAT THE HELL!?"
"Gravity is so troublesome!" Shikamaru shouted.
Another group of Fu's shadow clones substituted with them, then a third group substituted with them so that all the K-15 could land safely albeit roughly.
"My Kami!" Everyone got up and was horrified to see a mushroom cloud in the Chunin Exam Arena, and many buildings nearby were gone too.
"NARUTO!" Hinata shouted in worry, she hadn't seen him during the freefall- was he still in the arena? She activated her Byakugan to scan, and much to her horror, her love was buried in the arena rubbles.
"NARUTO NOOOO!"
The blond elite jonin had reactivated the Firewall fuinjutsu that was used to contain and fight Satori, but the temporarily erected barrier barely withstood the powerful Yamato Cannon before it overloaded and dissipated. The moment it did, the arena collapsed on him. Hinata sighed in relief that he was alive and was covered with Kyuubi chakra yet unconscious.
"Everyone OK?" Neji, the K-15 second in command, spoke over the platoon channel, and everyone responded with a "Yes" and reported their whereabouts.
The Hyuuga chunin sighed in relief that everyone was alive and fine but frowned that the platoon was scattered across the Konoha zones, but at least they were in teams. He was with Tayuya Uzumaki.
"The beam was so powerful that many buildings at the boundary between Zones 2 and 5 were destroyed, and it could penetrate undergrou…" The Byakugan Princess began to scan the areas and was horrified at what she saw.
"MY KAMI! THE BEAM ALSO DESTROYED AN UNDERGROUD SHELTER! THERE WERE PEOPLE INSIDE THERE!" Hinata Hyuuga cried distraught and in horror that over a thousand Konoha souls perished by the Anchor Vantian's Yamato Cannon.
"NOOO!" Many K-15 members began to cry, and the rest were deeply scarred by the atrocity.
'Can't blame them, it's even too much to me...' Takuma Hyuuga closed his eyes and sighed. 'Lord Naruto, you will be able to save us from destruction no matter the odd right?'
The clouds were becoming black-steel colour. Somethings were coming out of them, and they casted large shadows over the Leaf village. Every Leaf or Sand ninja, including Tsunade, Hiruzen, Rasa, Gaara, Mikoto and Shikaku, froze when the things coming out clearer.
Four Sky aircraft carriers escorted by eight Sky destroyers and four Snow zeppelin-cruisers sank from the clouds above the Hokage Monument. Anchor Vantian was the last to come out of the cloud. Everyone in Konoha was stunned at the magnificent air fleet.
A thousand fresh Buzzards came out of the aircraft carriers, accompanied by at least one hundred fresh Dragons transport. Tired, but Fu immediately created another three shadow legions/swarms, she wanted to protect her village with all her power. Over 600 shadow clones flied toward the sky to fight the newly arrived enemy forces.
"All swarms except Beetle engage the enemy flyers!" Chomei ordered all Fu's shadow swarms, "Beetle Swarm you attack the ships first, then the fortress!"
The Snow cruisers fired at Fu's shadow clones with their weapons under their bellies, the shadow swarms were getting decimated quickly.
The eight Sky destroyers began to fire with their deck guns, and their targets were the Akimichi Titan Squad standing at the destroyed Konoha Walls. They had planted 100-meters tall posts near the wall and had been waiting for Naruto to activate the Firewall fuinjutsu.
"Everyone revert back to your normal size!" Choza ordered his squad.
The gigantic Akimichis were big targets to the enemy. It was too late for Maruten Akimichi, he was hit by several rounds and dropped dead. All other eight Titan Squad members made it in time and quickly left with their teams. The Firewall posts became the next target to the Sky destroyers.
Naruto suddenly opened his eyes at Hinata and the other people's cry over the radio. He found himself trapped in rubbles and could barely move. He activated his Biju Mode first, then spat a Tailed Beast Mini-Ball, blasting an opening. The jinchuuriki used Mini-Bijudamas on his hands to create more space before jumping out of the destroyed arena. The blond was shocked at seeing the Neo-Combine Fleet.
The four Sky aircraft carriers landed behind the Hokage Monument, crushing a large portion of Konoha artilleries and dozens of ninjas who couldn't make it out in time. The grounded aircraft carriers had turned into airfields and launched more Buzzards to the air.
The Sky destroyers had landed next to the aircraft carriers and became artilleries and began shelling Konoha.
The Snow cruisers flew above the village strafing exposed Leaf ninjas while dropping Neo-Combine ninjas into the village.
Onboard the flying fortress, an officer's voice called out over the intercom. "My lord, all systems are reading as normal, the cannon is being charged as we speak. It will be ready in 88 minutes."
"And Kumo Hell Storm will be ready in an hour…. Anyway, I want an update on Konoha every ten minutes, we have many targets to destroy." Orochimaru said with a complete lack of pity or mercy in his voice.
"Yes my lord, any further orders?"
The Neo-Combine Fleet was raining death down from the skies all across Konoha. As Orochimaru watched the view from above, he in that moment truly felt like a God. He issued his next order.
"Unleash all the Berserkers!"
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1120
"I am certain those ships and that fortress can dodge Bijudama, but not your B-F-G Nine Thous-" Kurama's advice was interrupted because there was an unbelievable amount of malicious intention coming from Anchor Vantian that caught his attention. Naruto and Kurama saw the flying fortress was coming towards them and began to drop caskets across Konoha.
Nine caskets landed in Naruto's area. The caskets opened and revealed a Berserker, which was a human guinea pig on senjutsu experiment that turned them to homicidal monsters. One Berserker saw Naruto and let out a vicious laugh.
"HAHA! I am gonna kill you and your family and friends blondie! HAHAHAH-" However the laughter quickly died, for Naruto shut up the Berserker by severing his head from his shoulders.
"Then you gotta die," the Golden Slayer said coldly as the Berserker's head rolled to the other eight whose eyes widened. "Free lesson to you all, if you're going to kill someone, do it. Don't stand around talking and laughing about it."
The eight Berserkers were surprised and were a bit scared by Naruto's swift killing on their comrade. Their fear, however, diminished as Ancor Vantian continued to rain additional Berserkers down onto the village.
The majority of the caskets had been concentred in the area and as one of the caskets opened it revealed the Berserker leader, Jugo.
More than five hundred Berserkers had surrounded Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze with murderous grins, for they knew that one who killed the Golden Slayer would be considered the strongest warrior in all the world. Eager to claim what they thought would be an easy prize, the Berserkers howled for blood and all of them started to come at him.
"Bet you gonna fight like maelstrom, kid?" Kurama asked when Naruto unsheathed the Sword of Thunder God. Now he's wielding both the Uzumaki Arashi and the Senju Thunder God katanas.
"You're on," the Golden Slayer answered calmly as he dropped into a battle stance, he looked out at the horde of enemies racing towards him, their eyes filled with murderous glee. Yet his eyes were only filled with a cold determination, and he launched himself straight at the oncoming enemy.
"I am going to kill every last one of these ugly motherfuckers."
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Author Notes:
Beta: Knight-Bishop.
Proofread and consultation: Ookami88.
Movie poster Battle: Los Angeles best describes the scene Naruto sees Anchor Vantian. This chapter is inspired by movie Battle: Los Angeles, that every Konoha ninja, including the Uchiha clan, had to fight for home, village and family.
Uzume is the name of the Nadeshiko kunoichi village leader, who was also Shizuka's mentor. The name belongs to Psycho G's Sealed Legacy, and I like "consistency."
The whole Neo-Combine has arrived, and the table turns again and this time it's against Konoha. Naruto will soon realize his Reclaimer ruby, which is used to find scattered Uzumakis (which is mentioned on Chapters Nine and Ten), is radiating brightly. This battle will push him, Hinata and everyone in their posse to the very limit.