Devil From The Heavens
Chapter 19: The Chained Predator
Beneath his robes, veins threatened to burst from his skin. With every step, more and more pressured mounted in every inch of his body. Licks of verdant energy burst from him. It threatened to rip him apart.
He could see it from here. The fear. The helplessness. There was no hope in the eyes of the survivors.
Before, he'd relish the sight but now he couldn't. He could never go back. he's felt what they have. It sickened him.
He hated that he hated what he saw. He was Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan. This was what he did. That old man did something to him somehow, he must have.
With a roar, his aura burst to life. A great invisible wave collapsed Konoha's walls and the foundations beneath became untethered from the planet's gravity. Homes, and shops followed in the instants afterwards. Men, women, and children, shinobi and civlian alike, floated helplessly as they were pulled to the heavens.
And in moments, stone and flesh alike were naught but dust.
The village stood still for a moment as the mushroom cloud reached for the heavens above. Then came the screams.
The shinobi of the Leaf Village reacted once the initial shock passed them. Civilians were rushed away by Chunin and Genin from the initial attack site, some by force but most were compliant, as they were led away from whatever cataclysm befell them. Jonin and ANBU charged headfirst into the jaws of the enemy. Questions were asked and answers were demanded.
Sakura pushed against the roof that had collapsed on top of her. She quickly looked over the two women she had save. They were scared but alive. One bled from her forehead but the wound was minor at worst. With a great cry of effort, she pushed it off and brought a hand of green chakra to the back of her neck. As tough as she was, a ton of stone is still a ton of stone.
"Evacuate to the north. There should be plenty of shinobi to guide you."
"But what about you?!"
The pinkette looked to the ruins that used to be the front half of the village.
"There's work for me here."
Sakura was among the first to arrive to the scene to look for casualties. It wasn't hard given that it looked like half the village was annihilated in one blow. It was mainly through blind luck that she was far enough away to survive. She quickly spotted the assailant and her breath hitched. Akatsuki. She could hear their description being passed along through the amassing forces and he was quickly identified.
The Eraser of Suna.
The Destroyer of Taki.
Gaara's killer.
Broly.
She could hardly stay on her two feet. She remembered the only time she saw the man face to face. The nausea, the fear, as he and the Kyubi crashed against each other. The masked man that killed Hinata's team. It was harrowing to know one bad move could have killed all of them in a moment.
She blinked and the man had rushed into the village. Without a thought, she rocketed towards him. She couldn't stand back and wait for anyone to help. Not when she was there and she had strength. He glanced at her for a fraction of a fraction of a second but Sakura knew that she'd been dismissed.
'I'll show you!'
He didn't even move to block as her fist crashed against his jaw. A pain sharper than any blade erupted from her wrist as his own monstrous hand clamped down on it. Her strike did nothing to cease his forward momentum and Sakura screamed as she was pulled along. In the next moment, her body was thrown through several buildings.
She punched her way out of the rubble. Everything hurt and there was definitely something broken but she could still stand. She heard a groan of pain behind her. She took a glance and there was a chunin stuck in the rubble. She needed to get her out before- green light shone around her and she turned back to see Broly launch green energy at her.
This was what he used to destroy the villages and to fight the Kyubi. She couldn't let that hit her but she couldn't dodge it either!
'Push it out of the way then!' An insane part of her suggested and an even more insane part of her complied.
She swung her fist up into the blast with wild abandon and no concern for her own reserves. Anything less would be death. A cacophony of blue and green light and shocking thunder exploded out. Her glove disappeared and the violent winds tore at her uniform before they ripped into her body. She could feel the blood vessels in her limb explode as the emerald energy chew and clawed at the millimeters of chakra that separated it from the skin of her knuckles.
She blinked and the blast was gone. Above her, a muted explosion past the hole in the ruined roof shook the land. Sakura dropped her arm and glanced at it.
'So...' The purple limb and her blackened hand hardly twitched. That was going to be a bitch when the adrenaline passed. 'Everything's broken.'
She fell to her knees exhausted unable to pay heed to the numerous open wounds on her body nor hear most of her surroundings due to the severe tinnitus.
Sakura glanced at the chunin who stared slack jawed at what she did. The astonishment quickly changed to horror as a shadow covered her.
Broly's hand clamped down on her face when she turned and she screamed. It was like her head was in a tiger's jaw as the fingers cracked her skull.
But then he stopped. She hardly noticed as he looked away in a random direction and dropped her.
"How...can...he move?" Someone yelled in the distance. Sakura gripped her head as tears flowed down her face. Blood flowed over her hands. She missed death by moments.
"Someone grab them and take them away!" Another voice shouted before she was lifted from the ground.
"Everyone at once! Shadow Possession Jutsu!"
Tsunade kept a calm visage even as every leap of hers threatened to collapse buildings and her ANBU could hardly keep up. He arrived far sooner than she expected. Far sooner than she had hoped. But her ninja were well trained and evacuations of the areas around the initial attack were well under way already.
The one to her right brought a finger to their ear. "Ma'am, the Nara have engaged the target!"
Good, that would buy the rest of her forces time they needed. They'd been able to restrain the Nine-Tails when it had attacked; they could do the same here.
She flew the familiar hand signs and bit her thumb. "Summoning Jutsu!"
Her massive slug summon, Katsuyu, appeared in a puff of smoke. She could see the devastation happening in the village and split into hundreds of smaller versions of herself.
"Find who you can and stabilize them, Katsuyu."
Shikaku was sweating bullets. With most of his clan's strongest, they'd manage to put a stop to Broly but it was temporary at best. The man's hand inched forward once more and the Nara clan head could see blood seeping from some of his clan mates' noses.
One passed out and he surged forward another foot. They stopped him once but the wave of feedback from his resistance slammed into them once more. Two more fell.
The familiar voice of Choza cried out. "Hold on, Shikaku!"
He hissed between grit teeth. "Could you be...any later?"
"Super Expansion Jutsu!"
Broly disappeared underneath a foot the size of a house. Man, he was going to hear a whole lot about that from the man if they survived this.
Then Choza's foot moved.
From underneath, as the black tendrils of the Shadow Posession broke off, the man lifted the Akimichi clan head's foot above his head. Try as he might, Choza couldn't make the man so much as shake from his efforts to crush Broly. Instead, the ground gave way and the man sunk like a nail beneath a hammer.
An inhuman roar shook the earth as a sickly green light shone from the Akatsuki.
Shikaku's jaw dropped as Choza was flung into the air.
Then Broly exploded.
They were collectively bowled over with some unfortunate souls killed by the ensuing shrapnel. Luckily, he remained conscious if covered in dirt and dust. Choza's scream, booming at first, quickly diminished as it grew distant.
"He- he just carried Choza away!" A kunoichi screamed behind him.
"What?!" Someone answered.
This was far above what they were prepared for. He had to pull everyone back, he needed to come up with a different plan-
Choza's headless body crashed in front of him. Broly followed quickly and landed straight as an arrow with his back to the Nara clan head. A landing like that should have destroyed his legs and spine but it was clear they were dealing with something far out of even his wildest imagination. He dropped Choza's head.
The man turned around, his eyes full of burning hatred, and he lifted a hand.
A dozen voices cried out. "Fang Over Fang!"
Broly looked away and Shikaku followed his gaze. The signature drilling attacks of the Inuzuka clan collided into one that blotted the sun. The Akatsuki crouched to move out of the way only to feel himself stuck. He looked over the Shikaku who smirked.
"Got you."
Broly ripped out of the Shadow Possession easily but the slight delay cost him. Shikaku put his hands up as the gargantuan Fang Over Fang crashed into the man. Wind like hurricanes and the screech of tearing metal erupted as the Inuzuka tried to rip apart the Akatsuki. The man resisted but the stone underneath proved less durable and fell away from him.
As soon as it came, the cacophony of sound and violence went away with Broly in tow. A hand reached for the Nara clan head.
"Don't be lazy now, Shikaku." The insult was humorless, done more out of habit than mirth.
He grabbed the offered hand. "Glad to see you, Inoichi."
"First time for everything." He pulled him onto his feet as the other clans either helped the injured Nara or further bolstered the Inuzuka. The two looked over to Choza's body.
Inoichi put a firm hand on his shoulder. "There'll be time for grief later..."
Shikaku scowled. They'd both seen plenty of friends die. They knew how to behave in the field. "I know."
"He was a good man."
His scowl wavered for a moment and it softened. "...I know."
The two clan heads separated to join their clans as more of the Leaf's forces gathered around the mountain of rubble that the Inuzuka created with Broly's body.
They arrived as a fist burst through the rocks. It uncurled and pressed against the rubble. Broly pushed himself out of the pile. The upper half of his robe was little more than cloth hanging on by the barest threads. As for the man himself, there was hardly a scratch.
The shinobi held a collective breath as the Akatsuki walked away from the rubble that they thought had entombed him. He grabbed at his torn robe and removed the scraps in one smooth motion. A violent emerald flame erupted around him.
The Leaf ninja reacted instantly as dozens, if not hundreds, of Great Fireballs converged onto the Akatsuki. Just like how they defended the village from the Nine Tails. There was a great big boom and even those on the periphery could feel the searing heat. Something like this pushed the fox back at its full power.
The noise gave way to a sudden dead silence of everyone around. Fire and dust and a great plume of smoke obscured their vision.
"He's still alive!" Shouted Hiashi Hyuga with his Byakugan ablaze. No sooner than he said that, the smoke speared forth towards an unfortunate Inuzuka. The man didn't have time to make a sound as a hand reached out and tore his head clean off. A blink of an eye later and a half dozen more shinobi were ripped to shreds in fountains of blood and gore.
There was panic among the lesser experienced shinobi but most held their ground. The Leaf always stood strong.
The strategy was to keep close and keep him occupied. He could, and did, level a village with that strange energy of his so he had to be prevented from making more of it. With little to go off of and with what they gathered from the Kazekage, it seemed that he needed to concentrate for some undetermined amount of time before he could make one of significant power.
With the Nara around to slow him down and with the overwhelming number of shinobi, they'd wear him down with longer range jutsu while their taijutsu practitioners tried their best to stay alive. That was the plan.
And plans never survived contact with the enemy.
It was as if the man was death itself and a mere touch unmade even their sturdiest ninja. As water dragons and mountains of stone rained down on him, Broly remained unyielding and the most they could do was make him stumble. It didn't take him long to notice the tactic at all.
His mouth became aglow with virulent power and a beam of caustic energy shot forth. His head swung to and fro as the beam seemingly decided where it wanted to go. He twisted around until all he could see was flame and death.
Buildings collapsed in the instants before the tide of monstrous ki turn all it touched to less than ash. Even those that avoided the beam's direct path were not safe as the water in their bodies instantly boiled and their bodies burst.
Broly stopped seconds later. Most of the village had been razed to the ground and anything still standing was engulfed in fire. There were few bodies; most were burned away into the ash that hung around.
Asuma coughed as he moved the rubble away.
Where was Kurenai? It was midday, the sun was supposed to be up there in a clear blue sky, but it was dark as night with flames providing the only light. Blood had congealed over one of his eyes. He tried to move but his left arm was pinned. He looked over. There was a lot of blood. Not much in the way of flesh.
He looked around, his knives were missing, and spotted a stray piece of metal. Of course, he wasn't lucky enough to find an actual blade. With a little bit of wind manipulation and steeled nerves, the son of the Third Hokage freed himself.
They were near each other. Practically hip to hip. Where'd she go? He looked around though he kept wary of the Akatsuki who stalked among their dead. He spotted her not long after he started his search. Her arm was draped over some rubble.
Fear struck him as he ran to her. The fear was quickly replaced by a dawning horror as he realized it was only her arm. His shaking hand grabbed at hers as he fell to a knee. His mouth opened but no words came; only a pained gasp.
Stones moved and Asuma whirled around with a fist up.
Past the fire, a shadow appeared and it parted the flames as a foot stomped forward. Two glowing green eyes were the only things he could see in the shadow. Asuma never went through hand signs as fast as he did then; a tough proposition with only one hand.
"Ash Pile Burning!"
The shadow disappeared in the cloud of ash and soot that Asuma breathed out.
"This is for Kurenai!"
He clicked his teeth together and the ash ignited in an explosion that nearly blinded him. It was by far the most powerful one he's ever created. He wavered on his feet; there was a reason he didn't make them so big.
Something hit him. Asuma looked down. There was an arm in his chest. It shone for a moment.
Neji turned off his Byakugan and wiped at his eyes. He didn't need to see what happened next.
"There." He pointed in the direction of Broly. While none of them saw whoever attacked the village, save for Sakura who was unconscious and currently being treated, there was no mistaking that signature of his.
Whether Broly meant for it to happen or not, his wild attack prevented Tsunade's arrival to the battlefield. It was probably the only reason she, as well as a few others, still lived what with the devastation the Akatsuki unleashed in seconds.
"We have to do something!" Shouted his team mate.
The Hyuga sighed. Lee was a noble man but with more bravery than sense. "Our job is to ensure the Leaf's civilians are safe." It was hard for him to say that without being choked by the sight.
"Neji's right, Lee." Shikamaru responded lazily though he couldn't his anxiety from the keen eyed Hyuga. "Besides, most of our elite forces are fighting that Akatsuki. We'd just get in the way."
"But we've all fought Akatsuki and survived. That's more than anyone out there can say! We should be out there!" Ino shouted.
"Most of them are dead now." The two teams were silenced by his words. "That last attack wiped out most of our forces. I only recognized Hiashi among my clan."
"...Is my dad...?" Choji asked quietly.
Neji stayed quiet for a moment. While he wasn't intimately familiar with the Akimichi, their chakras were distinct. He didn't see anyone that looked like Choji's.
"I don't know." He answered. It was a half truth at most but he didn't need the Akimichi in grief; they needed to focus on keeping the civilians safe.
"I'm going." Tenten said as she secured her large scroll on her back. "Like Ino said, we've all fought Akatsuki so we're best suited for this and..." She shrugged. "If he's killed most of our forces already, we won't be able to keep the civilians safe anyways. We need to stop him out there."
Neji's eyes narrowed. This was reckless for the woman but he connected the dots quickly.
"Your family isn't here, are they?"
She didn't say but she looked away ashamed but undeterred.
He sighed. "I won't let my team go without me."
Shikamaru groaned. "How troublesome. At least we'll all die together."
Tsunade clenched her fists and her knuckles cracked. She'd never seen devastation on this scale happen so quickly. The Hokage coughed and wiped the soot from her face.
"I just need a few more seconds, Lady Tsunade." A sweet voice told her.
"Thanks, Katsuyu. Is anyone else still alive?"
"Your ANBU were dead before I could do anything."
"Damn it, that attack caught everyone by surprise!" She punched the ground and it cracked. "Where's Jiraiya?"
"The attack delayed him as well. He was actually about to reach you when it happened. He's fine; just some scrapes is all."
"Good, I'll need that old toad for this."
Heavy steps stole their attention and Tsunade jumped to her feet in a defensive stance. The smoke around cleared as an invisible force pushed her back. Broly was caked in ash, soot, and blood but his stride was of a predator in no danger. She spotted a blur of movement but she was too surprised to stop the ANBU's attack. The woman was caught by her neck with hardly a glance in her direction.
But it seemed the ANBU expected it as she held up a violet orb. Tsunade recognized it immediately and jumped away as the ANBU slammed it in the Akatsuki's face. That was a potent neurotoxin the man just got a face full of. One of those was enough to kill a platoon of fully trained shinobi!
The toxic cloud went up in an explosion mere moments later. As it cleared up, Broly held the body of the ANBU in a rage as the emerald aura around him burnt it to cinders.
"On your left."
Never before had she been so relieved to hear that old pervert's voice. He landed next to her with Fukasaku and Shima on his shoulders.
"Now, I don't want to tell you how to conduct yourself in a battlefield but..." The tell tale red markings of Sage Mode ran down Jiraiya's face. "Something tells me Rule Four is going to apply here."
"I didn't think I'd see the day I'd have to use this."
She eyed Broly who hadn't spotted them yet and put her hands together.
"Mitotic Regeneration: The Hundred Healings!"
Author's Note
Happy Holidays, everybody!
All I want for Christmas are your thoughts!
And to win the lottery.
I am a simple man.
Ent out.
Review Responses!
Abyss Trinity: Here's another one just to make you extra wrong.
fightingchampion: Ayy, you caught that, glad to hear it!
Gistyaco: I chose Broly because I like Broly. I also wrote the story this way because I wanted a story. An unnerfed Broly would have been a one chapter fic that would be boiled down to "Broly blows shit up and leaves. The End." and that's, in my opinion, uninteresting, shallow garbage. Also, I don't know what you're complaining about? Even nerfed, Broly in this very story has crushed almost all opposition.
SilverJoJo: Wish it could be sooner, but here you go!
DTLA1992: Oh, riiight. Sasuke Uchiha. The Uchiha that is Sasuke. The Uchiha that Itachi specifically left alive to kill him, Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha. That Sasuke?
Guest: I don't know how any option passed (past? idk) the first became an option.
Primal Warrior: I ain't writing no kids into this story lol
Jeferson Arthur: Oh geez, it's almost like stomping wasn't the point. Christ, you guys have got to let this nerfing thing go. Write your own stomping fic.
Dasgun: ...
p6lishb6kser: Both of those are very good predictions, we'll see if either pans out!
Guest: Here you go!
