Devil From The Heavens
Chapter 37: Brief Negotiations
Sasuke leapt up to the newly created entrance alongside two of his Hybrids. The last flew up through the roof into the sky where it generated a translucent, green barrier presumably around the whole complex. Konan let him pass unmolested. It'd be suicide to take on the Uchiha, someone she was unsure she could beat in a one on one confrontation, as well as his lackeys and that was ignoring Broly's pseudo clones.
The three he left for her were unknown variables. She'd have to trust that Broly came back in time for the Hybrids and that the rest would take care of Sasuke.
The orange haired one transformed his body radically. It reminded her of Orochimaru's curse mark experiments. Jets sprang forth from his shoulders and he rocketed forward. Konan twisted around his blow just as the sword wielder slashed down at her. She pushed back with a flap of her wings but her arm remained in the path of the blade and it was lost.
Rather than blood, hundreds of sheets of paper flowed forth from the wound. 'Kubikiribōchō.' Konan thought as she took a glance at the blade. One of the legendary swords from Kiri. They'd appreciate the return of their weapon.
She burst into a cloud of paper sheets that folded into razor thin shuriken and attacked the two missing nin. The improvised weaponry bounced off the mutant's hide while they went straight through the swordsman's body. Water flowed from his wounds that quickly closed. Konan reformed high above them near the roof.
Of course, they'd be freaks. They were probably all related to the snake in some way given Sasuke was their leader here.
"Jugo, up there!" The kunoichi below screamed as she distanced herself from the battle. Providing support or ranged specialist?
Jugo lifted a hand that quickly shifted into a cannon that filled with a glow. He screamed with raucous laughter as the former Akatsuki narrowly avoid the beam of energy that tore the ceiling apart. Hard skin. Impulsive and wild. Capable of improvising impossible constructs out of his biology. That one was the most dangerous here but she was without a means to kill him just yet.
Footsteps beside her warned her and Konan ducked as the cleaver nearly decapitated her. She formed her own paper blade and stabbed at his chest but the blade went through with no resistance and her paper fell apart as it became soaked with water. His fist, suddenly ballooned to triple its normal size, struck her and she flipped away.
He chased her down and swung a dozen times in quick succession. Despite the size of the blade, he moved it with precision and speed that made it extremely difficult to dodge the blows unscathed. She flapped her wings hard and put distance between them. Skilled with a sword. Equally hard to injure as the other as his liquification technique ran directly counter to her own paper.
This battle was going to be far tougher than she originally imagined.
Jugo flew up to them and his teammate backed off. His wild eyes told her of the bloodlust within. She avoid the blow once more but the sheer power behind it threw her away regardless and she hit the ground hard.
The Angel of Ame groaned as she sat back up. Jugo crashed down in front and pounced like an animal onto wounded prey. She burst into paper once more but this time a whirlwind focused around the crazed monster. Several Konan appeared from the walls of the storm with spears in hand.
"Suigetsu, that's the real one!"
"Stay hidden, Karin!"
She heard just barely over the noise generated by her papers. Between this and the last two times she spoke, it was clear the redhead, Karin, was a sensor type. She'd give away her position every time. Konan needed to blind them to stand a better chance.
Suigetsu put his hands together and pointed them at her. "Double Water Gun!"
The technique was too fast and she wasn't prepared for her position to be compromised so quickly. With her spear, she deflected one but the other pierced her right shoulder and she cried out. Her clones threw their spears at Jugo but they bounced off the brute's skin as he jumped at her.
Jugo pulled her out of the paper storm and wrapped her in a bear hug as they landed. Instantly, she felt the cracking of her ribs as he squeezed. Konan remained focused even as the agony made her want to scream at the top of her lungs. Two papers fell off from her face and formed into thin needles.
The wild ninja was too enamored with Konan's pain to pay attention to them and so he was shocked when his eyes exploded in pain. Jugo dropped her immediately as he put his palms to his blinded eyes and roared.
This time, when Konan created paper, she flooded the whole room.
"Damn it, where did she go?" Suigetsu asked as he tried to ignore the innumerable cuts on his person. Eventually, he created a thin film of water around his body. The paper couldn't hurt him if it got wet first. "Jugo, you okay?"
"AAAAAGH!"
"Yeah, you're okay."
The Kage and their guards sprang into action as they witnessed Sasuke and the Hybrids approach. Mei spewed forth a wave of lava towards the Uchiha but it was intercepted by one of Broly's lookalikes. It swiped away the attack in a fraction of a moment that surprised the gathered shinobi with its speed. The second raced into the room.
Darui was the first to intercept as he swung his electrified blade while his guard, C, blinded the Zetsu with his Flash Pillar technique. The brute, seemingly lacking in smarts, blocked its eyes instinctively leaving its midsection wide open for the Raikage's blade to slice clean through.
Temari's heart raced and she hyperventilated. She wasn't in the Land of Iron; it was Suna all over again. The heat of the fires, the smoke choking her lungs, the screams of the civilians she failed to protect from this horrid monster. They were all the walking dead the moment these things saw them. She pushed away from the table and fell out of her wheelchair as she fumbled for her fan.
Onoki scoffed dismissively. What did he expect from someone so young and inexperienced? He formed a cube of chakra within his hands as his guards, Akatsuchi and Kurotsuchi, created an earth golem and spat a large jet of water respectively. The first Hyrbid was soaked as it disregarded the water technique in favor of the construct that it punched through. It didn't seem to mind as the lava on its other arm solidified into stone.
The golem wrapped its arms around the Zetsu to trap it as Kurotsuchi expelled a large quantity of quicklime from her mouth. The technique mixed with the water and quickly hardened into a cement like substance and the Broly lookalike found itself trapped.
"Particle Style: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!" Onoki released the cube from his hand where it quickly expanded and enveloped the confused Zetsu. In front of its eyes rested a glowing white ball that then hyperexpanded lighting up the room as it filled the cube completely.
Sasuke paid no mind to the seemingly rapid defeat of his hybrid escort. Instead, his Sharingan transitioned into its Mangekyo form and a line of Amaterasu divided the room. Black flames consumed her guards as they isolated Tsunade from the rest of the shinobi present. He pointed his blade at the Hokage.
"The Leaf will pay for what it did to me."
"I can't say I'm great about paying debts, real or imagined." Tsunade said as she turned and blew a hole in the wall with a punch. "But we can take this away from here." Tsunade added before she ran through. The Uchiha snarled as he chased after her.
"Tch." Onoki said as he dusted off his hands and glanced at the other Hybrid that lay in two. "The Leaf was a quintessential paper tiger if that's all it took to-"
The blood splattered on his face first and then the sound of his Particle Style's cage shattering reached his ears. The Hybrid, missing an arm and most of its skin, held Akatsuchi aloft. The decorated Iwa nin gasped silently as the Zetsu admired the red sheen on its hand.
"Akatsuchi!" Kurotsuchi cried out at the sight as Onoki shook his head and formed another Particle Style cube.
A smack followed and C's body rocketed out of the ceiling. Darui's mouth gaped as the bisected Zetsu rejoined and jumped onto its feet. It gave him a sadistic grin. Mifune was the first to recover and he bolted to the first Hybrid. It pulled its arm out of Akatsuchi's chest to avoid the samurai's slice before it grabbed the general's face.
It squeezed and the man's head exploded in a gory shower. The second Zetsu threw a casual punch at Darui who barely managed to put his own blade between him and the attack. It hit like a freight train, shattered his blade into pieces, and sent him flying through the opposite wall.
It then rushed forward to Mei. The Zetsu was too fast and its outstretched hand was mere inches from the Mizukage. Mei closed her eyes as something rushed between them and there was a resounding boom. Her guard, Chojuro, smacked the pesudo clone aside with a hard blow of a massive chakra hammer.
"We need to leave." Her other guard, Ao, stated as he activated his Byakugan. "With Mifune dead, the samurai will most likely turn hostile against us."
Korutsuchi put hands to the ground. "Earth Style: Earth Flow Spears!" Spikes of stone erupted from beneath the Zetsu and skewered it through a dozen times but not a sound was heard from it. Could these things even feel pain?
Onoki expelled mud from his mouth and it formed into a dozen earth clones that surrounded the Hybrid. They encased their arms in stone and collectively slammed down onto the Hybrid with innumerable blows. It suddenly exploded in green light, destroying the clones, and ripped a spear out of its body. With a quick turn and a flick, the spear went through Onoki's leg and pinned the diminutive Kage against the ceiling.
Onoki lost control of his Particle Style and the cube went flying towards the Cloud ninja. They dispersed at the sight of the wayward attack but Ao's leg was caught by the second Hybrid. There was nary a moment to react before he was tossed into the technique and atomized. Mei's shock at the sudden death of her right hand man was further compounded as the room flashed green for a moment and Chojuro's head exploded.
Konan's guards tried to stop the Hybrid, the Kages must stay alive, but it was like throwing themselves into a meat grinder as their bodies were ripped apart by the charging Zetsu. Mei, using her Boil Release, breathed out a corrosive steam that melted the Zetsu's visage but its placid smile remained even as the skin on its face fell away.
A slice of wind removed its outstretched hand and the wounded Hybrid stopped to look at the stump of its wrist. It looked over as Temari stared it down. She was shaking visibly as she leaned on her open fan.
"I'm not hiding this time."
Karin stayed hidden behind a wall on the second floor of the room. Despite the sudden flood of paper all over the room, she kept a close eye on Konan. At first, the former Akatsuki seemed intent on sneaking up on Suigetsu but she suddenly shifted course for Jugo. Sasuke was smart to put them against her. Both Suigetsu and Jugo rendered most of her techniques harmless.
They'd be done soon and then they'll-
Konan stopped and so did Karin's heart. Suddenly, the other kunoichi beelined it to her. How did she know her position?! She kept her chakra low and with Jugo and Suigetsu around- Karin panicked and concealed her chakra completely.
With her chakra concealed, she could no longer track Konan but at least she'd be hidden. Just to be safe, she quickly moved as far from her original position as she safely could. She removed her concealment and looked for the Angel of Ame.
She was right above.
Karin slowly craned her neck upwards as she broke into a cold sweat.
"H-how?"
Konan glanced to the side and she followed it. Hidden by the storm were dozens of origami butterflies. The storm wasn't just for her own safety, it was to find their sensor. Ame's Kage landed in front of her without a sound as she palmed a kunai. Karin raised her hands as tears formed in her eyes.
"W-wait!"
Broly stopped his out of control ascent with a yell and a kiai. His aura was lit aflame and he flew back to the samurais' complex. Too late, he noticed a strange emerald sheen right as he smacked into it full bodied. The Saiyan groaned as his eyes refocused.
This was a ki barrier like the ones he used. One of those Hybrids had to be making it. Broly pushed off and spotted the culprit not fifty yards away.
In a moment, the two were suddenly face to face. The Zetsu held a permanent grin as it was seemingly convinced of his inability to get passed the barrier. Broly growled as he threw a strong punch at the shield that bounced off. He did it twice more, each with more force than the last, only for it to repeat.
"No holding back then." He said aloud. He had to try and avoid collateral damage to not hurt Konan but everyone was doomed if he didn't get in. He became like a sun as he brought what power he could to bear and rocketed through the clouds.
If the hybrid could sweat, it would as it witnessed Broly punch a hole nearly ten miles wide in the sky above only for another even larger to appear next to it a moment later.
Most of a minute later and there was a break in the storm just as Jugo healed the damage from the needles. Suigetsu readied his blade with a cocky smirk. She was easy pickings. They'd kill her soon and help Sasuke do his thing then be back in time for dinner.
Konan from across from them. Hunched over from pain and with a bleeding shoulder, she was nonetheless able to hold up a hooded body. He caught a flash of red hair and his heart rate spiked. But she was- he told her to hide! Ame's Angel tossed the body at Jugo and he caught it. Karin's head lolled back and there was a kunai in her chest.
"I'll fucking kill you." Suigetsu snarled as Jugo wailed beside him. His grip tightened.
Konan glanced him with an almost bored expression as more paper flooded the room and obscured her.
"Now to make things truly fair."
It was then that he smelled some smoke. Suigetsu whipped his head around to Karin's body. He spotted something peeking out from her collarbone. An explosive tag. His gut told him it was one of many.
"SHIT!"
The explosion rocked the building and splattered him against a wall. He groaned as he reformed himself. Jugo's roars were followed by beams of plasma as he fired at random spots in the paper storm. The room shook and pieces of the ceiling were collapsing. The poor bastard was flailing around missing an arm and part of his face. The former Kiri nin grabbed for his sword but it was nowhere to be found.
It was then that he noticed that the room was hot. Too hot.
As Jugo continued firing into the storm, anything not turned to ash was lit aflame and the fires were spreading. No, they were being spread. He didn't see it before but with how the storm was behaving, it was funneling air from the hole in the roof down into the room and purposely fanning the flames.
"Jugo, stop! You're doing what she wants!" He yelled impotently. Even if his friend were to stop now, the flames had already spread throughout the entire room. The water was already evaporating from his body.
Suigetsu had to leave or he'd be boiled alive. Jugo was the toughest thing in the shinobi world; he'd survive this. The swordsman started to run towards the exit but it was quickly blocked off by a wall of flaming paper. He cursed as he looked for another way out.
A tornado of flame quickly surrounded him and the temperature instantly rose another hundred degrees. He couldn't breath. His skin was bubbling as the water he was made of began to boil. The swordsman fell to his knees. He had to turn off his liquification otherwise he'd evaporate completely.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He swore quietly as he let go of his clan technique. Being solid probably bought him an extra minute maybe but he had to get out now. "Jugo, get us out of here!"
Red burst out of his chest and Suigetsu couldn't breath anymore. He gasped and choked as he tried to look at his assailant. A paper clone, lit entirely in flame, had run him through with a spike. Movement in his periphery had him instinctively bring his hand up defensively only for both it and his torso to be impaled by another clone.
The tornado died down and Konan approached him with his sword in tow.
He coughed a mouthful of blood. "You- erg- you bitch!"
Ame's Kage decapitated Suigetsu with his blade. The sword was lighter than it looked but it still required a great heave of effort on her part. Afterwards, she pick up his head. It was worth it. He should not have invoked Pain's name as he did.
She flew up through the roof as Jugo's roars grew quiet behind her. She'd have to apologize to Mifune as a sizable portion of the estate collapsed.
A deafening shattering rang out a few seconds later and Konan was blown away uncontrollably by winds that put even the strongest of storms to shame. She'd have thought herself dead for sure if not for Broly catching her right after. Konan's eyes rolled around for a few moments before she shook her head and regained focus.
What remained of the wing she had fought in was now little more than a flattened crater. If Jugo wasn't dead before, he was now.
"You okay?" He asked, failing to play it cool as he looked her over and showed the sword she had inadvertently let go.
She let out a breath in relief as she let herself relax some in his grasp. "For now. The other Kage remain in danger from Sasuke and his Hybrids."
"I'll take care of them quickly enough."
The Hokage and former Leaf nin stopped once they were in a much more open, outside portion of the complex. Neither of their styles were good for such cramped quarters. The barrier above collapsed in a titanic. She felt some relief at that.
"I should have figured you'd work with Madara eventually." Tsunade spat as she fell into a stance. "This grudge of yours is pointless, child."
Sasuke's face was like thunder at the Kage's words. "Who are you to judge? My clan, my family, was murdered and my brother condemned because of Konoha. This isn't just a grudge; it's justice."
"Your clan was planning a coup." She retorted. "Were it to go through, thousands of innocents would have died. What my predecessors did was justice too."
"Of course, the Hokage would support what happened." Sasuke responded sardonically. "A Senju okay with the destruction of their rival Uchiha. How expected."
Now it was Tsunade's turn to bristle. She had little relation to her Senju roots nowadays. The clan was mostly gone when she came around anyways. That blood feud had nothing to do with her and neither did this stain in Konoha's history.
"Everyone involved with the decision regarding your clan is dead anyways. You're punishing ghosts."
"I'm not. The Leaf isn't." Sasuke readied himself for battle. "At the end of all this, one will be dead and buried."
Author's Notes
I'm back! Sorry about the last month's update, hit some hiccups making a chapter for An Unburdened Fury and that delayed this. Next update will be on time.
Next chapter, we'll see Broly show off. Can't wait to write that.
Ent out.
Review Responses!
SilverJoJo: They got a small taste from imperfect copies. They'll see the original soon!
fightingchampion: Would you believe I'm most excited to write their interactions next chapter?
Dontus -not Donut- Powerus: Oh, they got the smallest taste of what they could do here but Broly will be there soon.
DTLA1992: It's only natural for rival villages to be skeptical given relations between the villages are rarely collaborative. Unfortunately, that normalized skepticism proved poorly here.
Isaiah Navarro: I love to hear this brightens up your day even a little. Keep it up!
TheRightPrice: I hope it lived up to expectations!
Monster: That would just mean their horror at what Broly did would just expands towards the entire Saiyan race. Hell, even in the context of the entirety of the Saiyan race, Broly's kill count is orders of magnitudes greater than all of the Saiyans we've seen combined. Saiyans haven't wiped out a galaxy; Broly has.
Music is life: Honestly, this is a great idea. If I do this, it won't be 1 to 1, but I like it!
JensenDaniels32: For this story, they can and repetition is emphasis in writing.
M: Man, this is a weird one to read.
