"Talking"
'Thinking'
Jutsu/ Bijuu/ Summons
Flashbacks, Letters, and Setting
I don't own Naruto
Chapter 36: The Bloodline Rebellion Part 7
At the Battlefield
"Naruto-taichou!" Suigetsu and Haku yelled out in relief, when they saw the spikey blonde hair of their captain.
"Naruto… you're finally here…" Mei whispered with a soft smile on her face.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting. I got here as soon as I found out we were under attack." Naruto replied.
Yagura got over his surprise and anger, with a smile forming on his face. "So, it seems I was wrong! The Uzumaki mercenary didn't run away! I finally get to meet you, the elusive Phantom of Illusions!"
"Heh, you sure suck at coming up with nicknames, don't you?" Naruto said with a smirk, though nobody could see it, as his face was hidden by his Kiri hunter-nin mask.
He turned around to look at the Rebels behind him. They were all in terrible shape, and barely half of the number of shinobi that were on the island the day before were present now.
Naruto gritted his teeth. Mei's words rang in his mind. If only he had been closer, he could have prevented many of them from dying. He turned back to glare at the army facing him.
"I'll make you guys pay for what you've done." He growled out in an ominous tone.
Yagura smirked. "Oh? Will you now?" he asked sarcastically.
The Loyalist shinobi behind Yagura began to retreat further behind, in order to get as far away from Naruto as possible, and also away from their angry leader, who could be quite destructive when angered.
The Rebels began to do the same. It was clear that a showdown between these 2 juggernauts was imminent, and they did not want to be caught in the crossfire. It was clear their participation would do next to nothing on the outcome of the fight, and they wanted to stay safe. Besides, this was going to be a fight for the ages. They wanted to be able to watch in relative safety.
Only Mei stayed where she stood, before she approached Naruto.
"Naruto-kun…"
"Mei. I'm sorry I was so late. You were right. I should have done more." Naruto began to say.
However, Mei cut him off. "No. You were right. I know it's not easy watching people you care about get hurt, but you knew it was something we needed for ourselves. It was wrong of me to accuse you of not caring. I shouldn't have said all of those things to you earlier. I'm so sorry."
She stood beside him, intending to help him fight Yagura.
Naruto noticed the terrible state Mei was in, and put a hand on her shoulder. "We both have our roles to play in this war, and right now, I'm the only one who is in the condition to take on Yagura."
"So, you want me to sit back and do nothing, like a damsel in distress waiting for her savior?" Mei asked angrily.
Naruto chuckled. "Of course not. To be honest, I'm not sure if I can beat him by myself either. But what's true is that I have more chakra than you right now, and less beat up. I'll see what he's capable of, and if he's too strong for me to handle alone, I'll try to create an opening for you, and you can strike then. Until then, stand back and let me do the fighting, and try to recover a bit if you can, ok?"
Mei couldn't argue with that, seeing that she was nearly completely out of chakra. She was barely standing on her feet as she was. She reluctantly nodded.
"You done talking to your girlfriend?" Yagura asked, annoyed at having to wait. He wanted to have his epic showdown with a worthy adversary, unhindered and undisturbed.
Naruto didn't say anything, but turned to face his enemy. His muscles were tense. He hadn't fought anyone on the caliber of a perfect Jinchuuriki before.
"Good. Get ready to fight for your life, Uzumaki!" Yagura shouted out, as coral began to sprout around him as he twirled his staff.
"Naruto-kun…" Mei whispered before she got close to Naruto.
He turned to face her, about to tell her get back to her troops, but Mei surprised him with her actions.
She lifted his mask and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Naruto turned to her in shock.
"For good luck. Come back to us safely." Mei whispered in his ear as she gave him a coy smile that he wasn't used to seeing on her face, before putting the mask back on his face and heading back to her troops.
Naruto was glad he had his mask on, because his face was as red as Narumi's hair.
He shook his head, and focused on the fight once again.
"Come at me!" Yagura challenged with a confident smirk on his face.
Naruto didn't say anything, but he drew his Kiri ANBU sword from his sheath. He then blurred out of view.
Yagura didn't move from where he was standing, calmly weaving through hand signs rapidly.
Naruto struck from behind, sword aimed at Yagura's neck.
Yagura didn't even turn to face Naruto, as coral growing from his neck stopped the attack, and began to grow around the sword.
Naruto increased the amount of wind chakra he channeled through the blade and quickly pulled it out before the coral could encompass it totally. He jumped back and examined his sword. 'Damn. That coral is some tough stuff.' Naruto thought, as he looked over a chip in the blade of hardened and tempered steel.
It looked like this fight wouldn't be so simple.
Naruto had to jump back when Yagura thrust at him with his staff with enough force to pierce through flesh if it hit.
Luckily for Naruto, it didn't land.
"Quite the fast one, aren't you?" Yagura asked with a grin. "Luckily for me, I'm used to dealing with you fast ones."
Naruto didn't know what Yagura had up his sleeve, but knew to keep his senses sharp, and to be prepared for anything.
Naruto formed 3 clones, and proceeded to surround Yagura, before all charged at him simultaneously with their swords ready to strike Yagura at different areas.
Yagura smirked and simply allowed a thick layer of coral form around him, until he resembled a coral statue.
When Naruto's wind chakra enhanced swords struck the coral, Naruto was surprised to see his swords barely able to penetrate further than a couple centimeters.
Sharp branches of coral shot out of the armor of coral, catching the 4 Narutos by surprise when they pierced through their chests.
Coral around Yagura's face receded to reveal a smirking Yagura. "Didn't expect me to be able to fight from this position, did you?"
His smile fell off of his face, when the clones disappeared with a puff of smoke, and a log pierced by Yagura's coral was in the place where the original Naruto once was.
A short distance away, Naruto looked over his sword. 'That was enough wind chakra to cut through solid rock! How tough is that coral?' He thought to himself, as he examined deep cracks spreading through the sword, branching out from the initial chip.
He tossed the now useless sword aside. It appeared that using swords against Yagura was a losing strategy.
"Like my coral? It's almost as tough as steel! I'd say it's the ultimate defense!" Yagura boasted as he stepped out of his coral armor.
Naruto formed another clone, who ran at Yagura with his fists drawn back for a haymaker.
"Really? You think your fists are stronger than your sword?" Yagura taunted as coral began to surround him again.
"Futton: Kairiki Muso! (Boil Release: Unrivaled Strength)" The clone yelled out as it dodged the sharp branches of coral that shot out of the armor.
Despite being rooted to the ground by the coral armor, Yagura was surprised when he was sent skidding back, creating a deep ditch in the ground, when the clone landed its punch. However, besides for a few pieces of coral chipping off, most of it was intact.
However, the clone wasn't quite done yet.
"Futton: Bunshin Daibakuha! (Boil Release: Clone Great Explosion)" Naruto called out, and the clone proceeded to hug the coral armor and explode, releasing the pressurized acid.
Even at point blank range, the coral wasn't completely destroyed. A few cracks began to form around Yagura's coral armor, but it was still intact. It only fell apart when Yagura emerged from his shell, seemingly unharmed on the outside. However, it was clear that he had taken some damage, when he spat out blood. The shockwave from the explosion had penetrated through the shell to do some internal damage.
"Heh, looks like I got complacent with my coral armor. Note to self, don't let his clones get that close to me." Yagura said with a smirk. He wasn't too worried about the damage anyway. He'd be able to recover from it before this fight was even over.
Naruto gritted his teeth as he watched Yagura basically shake off an explosion that would have destroyed a small house. It looked like he'd need to bring out something bigger.
Naruto began to go through his options now that kenjutsu, the staple of his fighting repertoire, was out of the picture. He was definitely Jonin level in his taijutsu, but it honestly wasn't his strongest suit, and he doubted it would be of much use in this battle.
Even as he was fighting a battle of life and death, he smiled under his mask when he recalled the first fight he had with Kakashi. Itachi had been by his side at the time.
'Lesson 2: Ninjutsu…' Naruto recalled to himself.
"Katon: Goryuuka no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique)"
Naruto spat out a giant blue ball of fire that was shaped like a dragon's head.
It scorched the ground as it flew towards Yagura, attesting to how hot the fires were.
However, when Yagura twirled his staff around to make a mirror of water, a similar ball of fire emerged from the mirror, and collided with Naruto's, forming a giant explosion of flame that forced both combatants to jump backwards to avoid being caught in the blast radius.
Within a 50-meter circle, everything was scorched black.
"Whew! That's quite the fire attack you've got there, Uzumaki!" Yagura shouted out with a grin.
"Naruto-kun! Watch out! He's able to repel any of your ninjutsu by casting that mirror! It's able to copy your own attack and send it back to you!" Mei called out.
Naruto nodded in thanks to that bit of information. He began to analyze and compile the info he had gotten on Yagura so far.
'So, he's got quite the defense, both for physical attacks, and for ninjutsu. He prefers to fight statically, taking advantage of his powerful defense, and strikes out opportunistically when he sees an opening.' Naruto supposed. 'Turtles up in his defense, and then strikes out suddenly huh? Just like a snapping turtle… I guess I'll have to give him something to bite on to, before I strike his neck, huh?' Naruto concluded.
"Realize you can't touch me?" Yagura taunted. "Well, if you're not coming for me, I'll come for you!" He smashed his staff into the ground, and sharp corals began to rapidly sprout from the ground, creating a jagged trail of coral that stretched towards Naruto.
Naruto ran to the side to dodge it, but the growth of corals followed him.
He jumped into the air in an attempt to get away from the corals, but the coral began to grow upwards, threatening to stab him.
He created a clone mid-air, and the clone threw him towards Yagura, before it dispelled in a puff of smoke when it was pierced by the coral.
"Katon: Hosenka Tsumabeni! (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson)"
Naruto threw a wide volley of shuriken at Yagura, simultaneously blowing his blue flames onto the shuriken.
Yagura drew a circle in front of him with his staff once again, creating a mirror of water which shot out blazing shuriken and knocked down Naruto's own.
However, Naruto noticed the mirror only shot down the shuriken that were directly in front of it. The shuriken that landed harmlessly next to Yagura were untouched.
'So, the mirror can only block techniques that come from the front!' Naruto realized, as he landed and rolled away from Yagura.
"Damn! I couldn't land a single hit!" Naruto said out loud, in an effort to mask the fact that he figured out Yagura's technique.
The shinobi on the Rebel side began to grow concerned at hearing this and seeing Naruto struggle against Yagura, while the shinobi on the Loyalist side began to grow confident in their victory.
"Naruto-sama…" Haku whispered to herself in concern, as she watched the fight.
"Don't worry about Naruto, Haku. If anyone can handle Yagura, it's him." Zabuza told her in an effort to comfort her.
Mei watched Naruto fight against Yagura with a concerned look, before she was distracted by someone calling her.
"Hmm? Yes, what is it?" She asked as she turned to the voice.
Kimimaro said nothing as he stuck out his arm. It appeared he was holding something in his hand.
"You look like you could use this, Mei-sama." Kimimaro told Mei, when she looked at him in confusion. It was clear to him that she was close to collapsing from chakra exhaustion. "It's a chakra pill. I carry several for emergencies, due to my condition. Here, take it."
Mei looked at the pill in Kimimaro's hand in silence for a couple seconds, before she gave him a warm smile.
"Thank you, Kimimaro-kun."
Meanwhile, back at the fight, Naruto yelled out "Katon: Fire Hydra Jutsu!", as he completed a complex chain of hand seals. He then exhaled a massive dragon made of blue fire at Yagura.
Yagura rolled his eyes at the similar pattern of attack. Was the Uzumaki stupid? Didn't he learn that this wouldn't work on him yet? He cast his Mizukagami no Jutsu (Water Mirror technique) again.
A similar dragon of fire shot out of the mirror, and collided with the dragon Naruto had made. However, when the two dragons collided, two more dragons shot out of either side of Naruto's dragon of fire, and circled around the mirror to fly towards either side of Yagura.
"Shit!" Yagura yelled out as he quickly formed a thick armor of coral around him to protect himself from the surprise attack.
When the fire cleared out, Yagura's armor of coral stood standing, relatively unharmed. However, the coral on the sides had been bleached bone-white.
Immediately after casting the Fire Hydra jutsu, Naruto immediately followed through by creating 4 shadow clones to attack Yagura from each side with a steam-power boosted punch or kick.
Once again, Yagura stayed in his bastion of tough coral, allowing his sharp branches of coral to attack while he stayed safe.
The clones coming from the front and from the back were pierced and puffed out of existence.
However, Naruto noticed that Yagura was unable to grow coral from the bleached corals.
When the clones coming from the left and right landed their hits, the white coral shattered, and Yagura was sent flying a short distance away.
'So, fire kills the coral, preventing it from growing, and renders it brittle!' Naruto realized.
Yagura picked himself off the ground, and dusted his clothes.
"Heh, not bad, Uzumaki. I'd have been disappointed if you were any weaker, like our dear friend Mei over there." Yagura said with a smirk.
Mei glared at Yagura as she gritted her teeth. How dare he accuse her of being weak when he waited until she was nearly collapsing from the lack of chakra before he struck! That coward!
"Coral Release: Polyp Bullet Jutsu!" Yagura yelled out after a chain of hand seals, and proceeded to spit out several pink bullets at Naruto.
The rebels gasped when they heard several dull thuds hit Naruto, and Naruto fell on his back.
Yagura's smirk faded, when once again, a puff of smoke revealed a log with several pink bullets embedded in it.
Naruto looked at the log in surprise, a short distance away, when coral began to grow from the bullets, quickly encompassing the entire log.
'Shit, if I didn't kawarimi out of there in time, I would have been trapped!' Naruto thought to himself.
"Quite the slippery eel you are." Yagura commented. "You run away exceedingly well, just like these Rebel cockroaches."
Naruto grinned at Yagura's taunt, unfazed. He had seen enough of what Yagura was capable of to come up with a plan.
He unsealed kunai with a tag attached to it, and threw it at Yagura.
"Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Kunai Shadow Clone Technique)"
The single kunai multiplied into hundreds, and flew at Yagura.
"Explosive tags? Let's see how the stack up against this!" Yagura said to himself as he prepared for another jutsu.
When Yagura called out "Coral Release: Barrier Reef Bastion!", vast amounts of coral quickly rose out of the ground and formed a giant semi-circle with a 10-meter radius around him.
The hail of kunai hit the wall of coral, but were unable to penetrate the tough material. They all fell to the ground.
"Did you really think some kunai would cut it?" Yagura wondered out loud, before Naruto formed a single hand seal.
"Kai!"
The tags on the kunai all went off at once. A thick black smoke exploded out of the tags, covering Yagura's field of vision. They were just decoys.
"Katon: Hunting Pack of the Underworld Jutsu!"
Yagura tried to clear the smoke away by using the Suijinheki Jutsu (Water Encampment Wall Technique). He was surprised when he saw several massive dogs made of fire jump over the wall of coral, and heading straight for him.
"Suiton: Mizukagami no Jutsu! (Water Release: Water Mirror Technique)"
Several similar hounds leapt out of the mirror and crashed into the flaming dogs, causing several small explosions of fire, when the jutsu cancelled each other out.
Yagura had thought he was in the clear, when several flaming dogs leapt out of the smoke behind him, and from either side.
"Coral Release: Coral Armor Jutsu!"
Yagura quickly covered himself in a thick layer of coral to shield himself.
The dogs crashed into Yagura from all sides, causing explosions of blue fire when they crashed into him.
The flames died down to reveal Yagura completely encompassed in a thick layer of bone-white coral.
'Shit! That was close! He almost got me with that one!' Yagura thought to himself in relief.
However, Naruto wasn't done. That last move had merely been the set up.
Naruto jumped off of the wall of coral, to gain an incredible amount of airtime with a steam-boosted jump.
"Futton: Kairiki Muso! (Boil Release: Unrivalled Strength)" Naruto cried out, bringing a steaming fist down unto the white coral surrounding Yagura.
The powerful punch shattered the brittle bleached coral, and created a massive crater in the ground, with Yagura lying in the middle.
The Loyalists gasped as they saw their leader lying motionless in the ground. They were speechless and in shock, seeing their undefeated leader lying in a crater that no one would believe was created by a single punch.
The Rebels on the other hand, were cheering. The man that had been tormenting them for years was finally down!
"That son of a bitch. He actually did it!" Zabuza commented as he smiled.
However, Ao watched the scene with a grim face. The Byakugan under his eyepatch was showing him things that others couldn't see.
"No… he's not done yet…"
Mei turned to look at Ao, before she turned to look at Yagura's prone form again, staring with a worried look.
Naruto watched Yagura's body from the edge of the crater, observing to see if there was even the slightest movement coming from him. He wouldn't let his guard down yet.
When he saw Yagura twitching, he flew at Yagura with a kunai. He would make sure he was dead before he celebrated.
Yagura rolled over just in time to avoid having a kunai go through the back of his skull. However, Naruto's kunai still pierced through his left shoulder.
Naruto was shocked when Yagura grabbed the hand holding the kunai with his right hand, preventing Naruto from pulling the kunai out.
Yagura unnerved Naruto when he began to laugh out loud.
Naruto tried pulling his arm back with all of his strength, but Yagura's grip was surprisingly strong, unmoving with his vice-like grip.
He then tried to force Yagura to let go, by channeling wind chakra through the kunai to inflict even more pain, but Yagura just tanked it, and Naruto was unable to move his hand enough to do more damage, due to the powerful hold Yagura had on Naruto's hand.
"You're strong! Really strong! No one has ever pushed me so far before! It's time I reward you for your power and skill in battle!" Yagura shouted out with a hint of madness seeping into his voice.
A cloak of dark red chakra began to envelop him, taking the form of a humanoid, spiky, 3-tailed turtle. Yagura drew back his arm, and punched Naruto in the mask.
Naruto flew back, creating a deep crack in the wall of the crater when he smashed into it. The tough, resilient mask on his face shattered, revealing blood trickling down Naruto's face from a cut on his forehead, and from his busted lips.
Yagura didn't give him any chance to recover. He blurred out of view, rocketing into Naruto with a devastating uppercut that sent Naruto tearing through the wall of the crater, and sent him flying into the air.
He landed on the ground on his back, bouncing a couple times. Yagura jumped out of the crater and landed a short distance away from him.
Mei, and the rest of the Rebels with her, began to pale. This was it. Nobody saw the chakra cloak of the 3-tailed Bijuu and lived.
Naruto spat out blood as he picked himself up. If he hadn't reinforced his entire body with chakra in time, he would have been a bloody splatter on the ground. 'That bastard! He punches harder than Tsunade!'
He looked at his right wrist when he felt a sharp pain from it, and saw that the skin around his wrist had been burned off from the corrosive chakra from the Bijuu chakra surrounding Yagura.
'So, this is what it's like facing a Bijuu!' He thought to himself.
Naruto didn't have much time to think anything else, as he had to kawarimi away from Yagura's blazing quick punch that was aimed at his head. The log that had taken his place exploded into thousands of wood chips no bigger than toothpicks when Yagura's punch landed on it.
Naruto's head was still spinning from the punches he took from Yagura, but he knew he had to stay focused, or he'd be dead in a split second.
'Shit. His whole fighting style has changed! He doesn't use jutsu anymore, but he's so much faster and stronger than before! I'm struggling to keep up! And that chakra surrounding him… it's corrosive. I can't touch him without hurting myself…'
Mei and the Rebels watched with trepidation, as they watched their champion on the backfoot for the first time, using all of his concentration to dodge Yagura's rapid strikes, not given any time to form hand seals for jutsu.
'If this keeps up, I'm bound to slip up eventually. One hit… and I'm a goner.' Naruto mused. 'He's not giving me any time to use jutsu, and I can't use taijutsu against him right now…'
Though Yagura swung rapidly, his attacks were still focused on Naruto. He wasn't planning on giving Naruto even the slightest second to even breathe.
It appeared to everyone that Naruto had his hands tied, unable to fight back.
'I really didn't want to have to reveal this, but it looks like I have no choice...'
Naruto surprised Yagura by letting a punch slip by his face, and driving a blue ball of tightly compressed and rapidly rotating chakra into his ribs.
"Rasengan!"
Yagura was sent flying, and created a deep trench as he skidded across the ground.
The battlefield went silent when Naruto sent Yagura flying.
The silence was broken when one of the older shinobi present on the battlefield shouted in shock.
"Th-that's the Yondaime Hokage's jutsu!"
Everyone's eyes fell upon Naruto, and their jaws dropped when they saw ice-cold blue eyes that were calm yet calculating, and the blood crusted blonde hair on his head.
"I-It's the Yellow Flash!"
Those simple words sent a chill crawling up the Loyalists' spines, and some of them began to discretely back away from the battlefield. Some them had seen him in action first-hand, and knew they were lucky to be alive now.
The Rebels were also in shock when Naruto's face was revealed to many of them for the first time. Murmurs began to break out.
"What's the Yondaime Hokage doing here?"
"You idiot! The Yondaime Hokage is dead! How could he be here!?"
"Is it his son?"
"Does that mean Konoha is involved?"
"Why would they only send him then?"
Mei watched in silence as she listened to her men wonder what was going on.
Meanwhile, Yagura threw the rubble covering him off of his body, and looked at Naruto in fury.
"You!" He roared as he charged towards Naruto with his fists drawn back for another haymaker.
Naruto was able to easily dodge his attack, now that his fury had driven him into a berserker rage, and his attacks were sloppier. He punished Yagura for each sloppy attack by driving a Rasengan into his stomach, his back, and any other exposed part on his body.
After taking a rasengan to the face which sent him flying back, Yagura picked himself up once again.
"Fuck it! I'm going to make sure they never even find a shred of your body!" Yagura screamed out in a deep voice that wasn't completely his.
Everyone watched in silence, as the dark red chakra that surround Yagura began to grow and expand, until it quickly turned into its final form.
"The Sanbi…" Mei whispered out despondently. This was the worst-case scenario.
Yagura, or the Sanbi as it appeared to be now, roared a mighty roar which created shockwaves that sent debris flying in all directions.
Naruto stayed rooted to where he stood, as he wordlessly observed the massive beast in front of him. His mind was in chaos as he tried to come up with a strategy to defeat the Sanbi.
Yagura spoke in the Sanbi's deep, booming voice. "Now that you've shown me your attacks, why don't I show you one of mine?"
Chakra begin to gather and condense into a single black ball of chakra in front of Yagura's mouth in his Bijuu chakra cloak form.
"It's Yagura's Bijuudama! (Tailed-beast ball)" A Rebel officer yelled out in terror.
Naruto drew a three-pronged kunai, and prepared himself to dodge Yagura's most powerful attack.
Yagura surprised Naruto when he turned to face the Rebel army instead.
The Rebels could do nothing but watch as Yagura finally fired the black ball of condensed chakra at them.
The force of the approaching ball of doom blew wind in their direction, blowing the hair and clothes of the Rebels towards the back.
Mei's hair also was blown back, revealing her eyes full of anger and also fear, as her life flashed before her eyes.
"Kuchiyose: Sanju Rashomon! (Summoning: Triple Rashomon)" A voice rang out in the air, as 3 demonic looking gates erupted from the ground in between the Rebels and the Bijuudama.
The deadly ball of chakra smashed through the first gate, busted open the second gate, but was stopped by the third gate, which dissipated all of the force behind the exploding ball of chakra.
"WHAT?" Yagura shouted out in surprise. How had he been able to stop this attack, which was strong enough to destroy an entire small village? He turned his gaze to see the man who had summoned the defensive structure.
Naruto panted as he lifted his hands from the ground. He had barely been able to pull that off in time to save the Rebels.
"Your fight is with me, YAGURA!" Naruto shouted.
He had to jump out of the way, when the ground he was standing on him was destroyed by the spikey tail of the Sanbi that was swung at him.
"Futton: Kairiki Muso! (Boil Release: Unrivalled Strength)" Naruto yelled out as steam began to emanate from his body. He picked up a house-sized chunk of earth that had been created in the fight between him and Yagura, and threw it at the massive form of Yagura.
Yagura didn't even try to dodge the massive boulder that was sent flying at him. He tanked the projectile, which hit his spiky shell, and disintegrated into tiny rocks, doing next to no damage to Yagura.
"Hmmm. Looks like physical attacks don't seem to do much." Naruto said to himself, as he prepared for his next jutsu.
He was forced to stop his jutsu midway, when Yagura in his Sanbi form, surprised Naruto by rolling up into a ball and rolling at him much faster than his giant size suggested.
"That was close! That was like the Akimichi Nikudan Sensha! (Human Bullet Tank)" Naruto remarked to himself as he threw himself, with a chakra boosted jump, to the side to avoid being flattened.
He stood up and quickly rushed through hand signs to form his next jutsu, before Yagura could turn his massive body around and come at him again.
"Futton: Acid Dragon Jutsu!"
Naruto launched a dragon formed of hot, compressed acidic vapors, which flew towards Yagura.
Once again, Yagura blocked it with his shell, but the dragon exploded on contact, releasing the hot, acidic vapors.
"ARRGHHHH!" Yagura roared in pain, as the acidic mist slowly dissolved part of his shell.
Yagura spat a torrent of water into the air, which fell on himself, and washed the acid away.
He then turned to glare at Naruto, and released his own jutsu at him.
"Suiton: Suidanha! (Water Release: Water Severing Wave)"
Yagura spat out a high-pressure stream of water, that cut cleanly through several chunks of earth and through the rock which was behind where Naruto was standing, before Naruto jumped away to avoid being hit.
'So, he can still use jutsu in this form? Damn! How am I supposed to defeat him?' Naruto thought to himself. 'I'm going to need some back up.'
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu! (Summoning Technique)"
"You summoned me, Naruto-sama?" Naruto's giant clam summon asked as it revealed itself after the smoke from the summoning dispersed.
"Yeah, I need your help defeating Yagura and the Sanbi." Naruto told Shinkiro.
"The Sanbi? I am not powerful enough to fight against one of the Bijuu, Naruto-sama." The clam responded telepathically.
"Just create some openings for me, so I can attack him."
"I shall create some illusions of you and hide your presence to help you."
Naruto nodded. "I'm also going to need you to prepare me for that thing we discussed before."
"Surely you don't mean that? You know the drawbacks! We haven't figured out the kinks yet!" Shinkiro asked in shock.
"Does it look like we have any better options? If I don't, then we're all going to die. Screw the drawbacks." Naruto told Shinkiro resolutely.
"Very well. I shall do as you ask. Give me a couple minutes to prepare then."
Naruto nodded.
When the giant clam emanated the mirage inducing vapor from its siphon, Naruto and the clam vanished from the view of everyone present.
"Where did he go?" one Rebel shinobi vocalized the question that was in everyone's minds.
Yagura too, looked around, trying to locate Naruto.
"Odama Rasengan! (Big ball Rasengan)" several voices yelled out all around Yagura.
Yagura howled in pain, as dozens of extra-large Rasengans drilled into his body from all directions. He swung his tails as he thrashed around, dispelling many of Naruto's clones who were attacking him.
"Where the hell are you!" Yagura yelled as he fired jet after jet of water at illusions of Naruto, while Naruto's clones attacked him from the openings he left.
"How much longer, Shin?" Naruto asked Shinkiro as he created and sent clone after clone at Yagura. He needed his summon to hurry up with the preparations as his chakra was quickly diminishing.
"Just a little bit more!" The clam answered back.
"I'll need your help with buying some time then, Shinkiro!" Naruto relayed to the giant clam.
"Got it! Mud Release: Slip River!"
The clam pointed its siphon at Yagura and sprayed a thick stream of clay that covered his entire body.
"Katon: Goka Messhitsu! (Fire Release: Great Fire Destruction)" Naruto called out next, before he inhaled, and then proceeded to exhale a massive stream of blue fire, that completely engulfed the entire form of the Sanbi.
Yagura howled in pain in the deep booming voice of the Sanbi, as the extremely hot fire burned its tough hide, and made it tough to breathe by burning up all of the oxygen around it.
The spectating shinobi around the two combatants were absolutely stunned to witness a fight of this caliber. The blue stream of fire that Naruto had used was so intense, that they had to turn away to protect their eyes.
"Wha-what is this? Is this really a fight between two people?" Rebels and Loyalists alike wondered.
The clay covering Yagura quickly dried up, before the intense heat began to fire the clay into a ceramic prison that bound Yagura's movement.
Naruto cut off the flow of chakra to the extremely chakra intensive jutsu, and fell to one knee, exhausted. He looked up to see if his plan had worked.
When the fire and the smoke died down, Yagura's Sanbi form was revealed once again, standing upon a huge patch of scorched earth, where the everything was covered in a blackened char. Even the muddy ground he was standing on had been baked into a brick-like material, and Yagura himself was bound in an extremely tough, stoneware body prison, that completely restricted his movement.
For a moment, the Rebels thought they had a breakthrough. Yagura was bound! It seemed like victory was imminent, when cracks began to rapidly spread throughout the ceramic shell binding Yagura.
"You insignificant ant! How dare you!" Yagura bellowed, as the ceramic prison around him exploded into pieces as Yagura twisted and flexed his massive body.
"Crap. I guess it won't be that simple, huh?" Naruto commented as he panted.
"Naruto-sama! The preparation is complete!" Shinkiro finally reported opening up its shell.
"I'm done with trying to find you! I'll just destroy this whole island with you!" Yagura yelled, as he prepared to use the Bijuudama on the Rebel forces once again.
Naruto grabbed the shining pearl the size of a blueberry sitting on Shinkiro's tongue, and quickly swallowed it. "Here goes nothing!"
Meanwhile, Yagura had finished charging the Bijuudama, this time larger than before, and aimed it at the Rebels.
"Bijuudama!"
"Kuchiyose: Sanju Rashomon!" Naruto called out, this time raising 3 demonic gates at an angle, which failed to completely block the massive ball of destruction this time, but was able to redirect it to away from the Rebels.
The massive ball of chakra struck a hill on the outer edges of the island, and completely destroyed that part of the island, attesting to the power of the Bijuudama.
The illusive mist began to clear, revealing Naruto to everyone.
Yagura immediately fired another blast of high-pressure water at Naruto, intending to punch a hole right through him.
"Senpo: Bivalve Barrier Jutsu!"
However, that plan was foiled when Naruto summoned a thick clam shell as a wall to protect himself. The curved shape of the shell turned the beam of water into a massive spray of water around Naruto, similar to how a spoon might do the same when put under a stream of water under a running tap.
"What the… why does he look so different? The shinobi watching him wondered out loud, when the mist around Naruto from Yagura's attack receded.
When Naruto opened his eyes, his blue irises were replaced by the whitish, iridescent color of a pearl, and necklace of pearls graced his neck like a monk's beaded necklace. Grayish blue lines formed below his eyes, reminiscent of Kabuki paint. A coat similar to the one worn by the second Mizukage was draped on his shoulders.
"Just remember, we clams do not have a tradition of sages, meaning we never taught our summoners to use nature chakra! These pearls of concentrated nature chakra will just give you a temporary boost of nature chakra, which will allow you to use Sage Jutsu for a little bit, but will come with its drawbacks when you run out!" Shinkiro warned Naruto.
"That's fine, I'll only need it for a little bit anyway."
"Let's see how many times you can summon your annoying gates!" Yagura yelled as he prepared the Bijuudama again.
"Enough! Senpo Kuchiyose: Myojinmon! (Sage Art Summoning: Gate of the Great God)" Naruto shouted out.
Yagura was about fire off his Bijuudama, when several interlocking wooden Torii gates fell from the sky, and pinned him down by the neck, arms, legs, and tails.
The chakra gathered for the Bijuudama fizzled away as the Torii gates began to suppress Yagura's Bijuu chakra.
"Wha-what is this! What have you done to me! Let me go!" Yagura bellowed out as he thrashed about in an effort to free himself.
No matter how hard he tried, he could not seem to free himself. For the first time in nearly 2 decades, he was trapped and unable to move, helpless, just like he had been when he was a child.
Flashback
Yagura's childhood
"No! Please! I don't want this!" an 8-year-old Yagura begged as he was being strapped down to a medical cot.
"Shut up! You asked for this!" A fierce looking Yuki clansman hissed as he tried to strap down his legs.
"This isn't what I meant! I don't want to become a demon!" Yagura screamed.
Struggling as if he were fighting for his life, Yagura kicked the Yuki clansman in the eye, and knocked him to the floor, and shook off the others and tried to run away.
He was quickly caught when ice began to grow around his ankles, trapping him in place.
"You damn brat! I'll make you pay for that!" the short-tempered Yuki clansman growled as he wiped the blood seeping from the cut on his left eyebrow.
He walked up to the trapped Yagura, and punched him in the stomach with all of his strength.
Unable to even fall, Yagura was beaten to a pulp, rooted to the ground he stood on by a shackle of ice.
Once Yagura was barely conscious, they began to strap him down again.
When Yagura felt the straps on his body again, he began to fight back with a second wind.
However, it was a little too late. The shinobi were able to strap him down in time.
"You want to play rough, little boy? Why don't I teach you a little lesson you never forget!" The Yuki clansman said with cruel smile that Yagura would never forget.
The man formed a thin scalpel of ice and brought it close to Yagura's face.
Yagura's eyes were wide with fear, and tears fell from his eyes.
"Please! Don't hurt me anymore! I promise I'll behave!"
"It's much too late for apologies, little boy. I'll teach you the concept of an eye for an eye!"
The other shinobi around the two didn't stop the Yuki clansman. They merely watched with snickers at seeing the terrified boy. The cruelty they experienced growing up in the bloody mist had desensitized them to such things, and they had little empathy for others.
"I'm gonna leave you a little gift you'll see every time you look in the mirror!"
The Yuki clansman began to cut into Yagura's face, intending to flay the skin off of his face near his eyes, starting with the cut below his left eye.
Yagura screamed and thrashed around with all of his strength, but was unable to stop the cruel man from cutting a deep cut under his eyes.
"That's enough!" a rough voice boomed.
"Mizukage-sama!" The shinobi present saluted, stopping what they were doing.
The Third Mizukage walked over to the bleeding boy on the table.
"So, you're the boy they said wanted a bloodline."
"Please, Sandaime-sama! I didn't know they wanted to turn me into a demon! Please! Let me go!" Yagura begged.
The Sandaime shook his head. "Unfortunately, I can't do that. My scientists and seal masters have revealed that you are one of the rare people who are able to contain the Sanbi. After losing the Nidaime, our most powerful shinobi, we'll need all of the weapons we can get. Be proud you'll be serving our village by becoming its weapon."
Yagura's eyes widened when he realized there was no way for him to get out of this now. This was sanctioned by the Sandaime Mizukage.
"Now why don't you try to relax. It will end much faster that way." The Third Mizukage told Yagura, before he nodded to his men, telling them to proceed.
Weeks Later
Yagura sat at the edge of a pond, throwing stones into the water. Ever since word got out that he was the new Jinchuuriki of the Sanbi, all of his friends stopped associating with him.
His world had been turned upside down ever since the sealing. He had been a naïve child, looking up to shinobi like the others in his age, thinking them to be the coolest thing around.
Bloodline users in particular, were especially respected. The Sandaime's military doctrine revolved around building up the number of bloodline users to bolster his forces, and he gave them special treatment. As such, they were exempt from the barbaric practice of Academy student death matches, and were treated as nobility.
Yagura had revered them for their powers as well, but after suffering at their hands, came to realize they were corrupt.
He realized just how unfair the system in Kiri was. Especially towards him. He wasn't even really seen as a human anymore, just a weapon. Just like most parents don't want their children playing with explosives, they didn't want their kids playing with Yagura. The sadistic shinobi of Kiri didn't care about his well-being, and only focused on his training, which was brutal.
"I wish I never opened my stupid mouth about wishing I had a bloodline." Yagura mumbled to himself as he threw another stone into the water.
"And why is that?" An unfamiliar voice asked, making Yagura jump up in surprise.
"Wha- who are you?" Yagura asked in surprise, seeing a strange man with a mask on his face and a hooded cloak over his body.
"Nobody important. A forgotten boy from the past, I suppose." The masked man replied.
"What do you want?" Yagura asked the strange man suspiciously. He had learnt not to trust people after the sealing.
"I'd like to ask you the same. What do you want?" The man in the mask asked back.
He didn't know why he felt compelled to answer, or why he felt like he could trust the man, but he did, and so he began to speak.
Meanwhile, unseen to Yagura, a pair of Sharingan were spinning behind the mask of the stranger.
"Well, I wish things were different around here. I wish people could be all treated equally. It's not fair that some people get to be considered better than others, just because they were born into a certain family that gives them special powers. And it's not fair that I get treated like scum just because they forced the Sanbi inside me! I'm still the same Yagura, but people just see me as the Sanbi now! It's not like I wanted this either! They tricked me! Why do I have to be the one who suffers for that? It's not fair!" Yagura yelled, as he got more and more emotional as he spoke.
"You're right. The world isn't fair." The masked man replied. "So, what are you going to do about it?"
Yagura stopped and thought for a second. What could he do? "What can I do? I'm just a little kid. A little kid who has a demon inside me. No one cares what I think, and it's not like I can change anything by myself."
The masked man shook his head. "You're wrong. You can change the world, even by yourself."
Yagura raised an eyebrow. "How?"
"Power." The masked man replied. "You need power. If you're strong enough, you can create the changes you want to see."
Yagura thought about it, and then remembered how the Kiri shinobi overpowered him and forced him into becoming a Jinchuuriki. The Mizukage could make any changes he wanted, and he too became one by being stronger than the others. He slowly began to nod. "You're right! I need to get stronger! I'll train so hard that I'll become stronger than everyone else! Then I'll force them to change!"
The masked man nodded, but added to what he said. "You'll certainly need that kind of power. However, there's more. Controlling information is also power. You must be able to keep information to yourself, by using tricks and lies. You must be able to pretend you are something you are not, or pretend you know something you don't, or pretend you don't know something you do know. This way, you can control the flow of information. This is also power."
Yagura thought about what he just heard, as he stared into his reflection in the water.
"Become powerful, boy. Become powerful enough to bring the changes you want to see. And become powerful enough to punish those who used their power to create this unfair world. Strong enough to punish those who have wronged you."
Yagura nodded as he continued to stare at his reflection. "Yes… you're right. I'll make all of those bad people pay for what they've done… Yes! I see it now! I'll pretend to be fine with this terrible system until I'm strong enough! I'll gain their trust, and then make them pay when they least expect it!" He shouted out, starting to form a hysterical smile on his face. "Thanks! Umm…"
When Yagura turned to thank the masked man and ask for his name, he found the man gone without a trace. He looked around for him for a while, but never found him. Still, Yagura wasn't too bothered. He had a goal for his life now. An ambition he must accomplish. He would endure all the hardships that came his way and do whatever he needed to do until he realized this dream.
"I promise I'll bring the end of the Bloody Mist, Mask-san. I'll bring equality to this village." He whispered to himself. His face grew darker, as a sadistic smile took over his face. "And I'll start by showing those bloodline users what they deserve."
End Flashback
Yagura bellowed and thrashed around harder than ever as he remembered the promise he had made to the masked man, and to himself.
"NO! I must finish what I've started!" He roared as he tried to free himself.
Naruto was forced to put more chakra into his jutsu, in an effort to hold down Yagura. Sweat poured down his face as he struggled to maintain his jutsu. As difficult as it was, Naruto was able to keep him in check.
Yagura began to panic, when he felt the Bijuu chakra slipping away from him. His gigantic form began to shrink.
"NOOO!" Yagura screamed out as he began to return to his human form.
Before Yagura could recover from the shock of transforming, Naruto charged at Yagura.
"Odama Rasengan! (Big Ball Rasengan)"
He smashed Yagura with the big ball of rapidly spinning chakra, and sent him flying into the post of one of the Torii gates that had held down the Sanbi form of Yagura.
Yagura coughed up blood as he fell to the ground. The clothes on his chest had been completely torn to pieces, and he was cut up pretty badly, as he had been unable to completely cover himself with his coral armor in time.
Naruto watched Yagura slowly pick himself up, and noticed something.
'There! On his chest! There's the seal holding the Sanbi!' Naruto realized.
Yagura was shaken up still, and unable to completely focus, but when he saw Naruto form another Odama Rasengan, he began to mold his chakra in advance to be able to use his coral jutsu.
Naruto reached into his pocket, and pulled out a smoke bomb with his free hand. He threw the bomb towards Yagura, who shot it out of the air with a bullet of coral.
Several regular kunai emerged out of the smoke, aimed at Yagura, but Yagura knew a static defense would be walking into Naruto's trap. He wasn't sure if his coral armor could hold out against the Odama Rasengan, and he didn't want to find out the hard way. He instead dodged them or blocked them with coral partially covering his arms to stay mobile, and kept an eye out for Naruto.
He heard a coat flapping, and looked up to see Naruto coming down at him with a Odama Rasengan. He had apparently jumped up high out of view using the smoke and kunai as a distraction to attack Yagura.
It was a good distraction, and might have gotten him if he was less attentive. However, it was a double-edged sword for Naruto, as it was harder to maneuver yourself in the air. Yagura grinned as he used the coral on his arm as a starting point to form a spear of coral.
Using his superior reach, Yagura was able to pierce Naruto in the stomach. However, Yagura was left surprised when Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Yagura looked over the battlefield, trying to locate Naruto. 'He must have used the smoke bomb as a distraction to hide himself! Where could he be?' Yagura thought to himself as he looked around.
Suddenly, one of the kunai on the floor next to him transformed into Naruto with a puff of smoke, and caught Yagura by surprise.
"Gogyo Fuin! (Five Elements Seal)"
Purple flames lit up on each of Naruto's fingers, which he aimed at Yagura's seal on his chest.
Even as Yagura was caught by surprise, he was able to quickly respond and shot out a spear of coral out of his arm, and towards Naruto.
Naruto was about to dodge, when he suddenly felt immense pain in his entire body, as the unfiltered nature chakra from the pearl had briefly overwhelmed his reduced reserves of chakra, and damaged his body.
His training and pain endurance meant he only froze up for a fraction of a second, like how someone feeling a heartburn might, but that second was all it took for Yagura to stab him with his sharp branch of coral.
Naruto was still able to avoid a fatal blow, shifting his body to have the coral pierce his shoulder instead of his chest.
Even with the coral in his shoulder, he continued to push himself closer to Yagura, which made the coral pierce deeper into his shoulder, but put him into reach to slam his hand into Yagura's seal.
When the Gogyo Fuin was applied to Yagura's seal, he lost all connection to the Sanbi's powers, including the coral.
Yagura was sent to the ground, and the coral that had begun to grow around Naruto's shoulder stopped growing.
"Wha-what did you do!?" Yagura screamed out as he stood up, seeing that he couldn't access any of the powers granted to him by the Sanbi, and struggled to channel his own chakra as well.
Naruto just smirked. He wasn't in the mood for explaining anything.
The smirk fell off his face, as his body was once again racked with pain, as the pearl had poisoned his body with the nature chakra. This time, the pain was worse, and lasted longer, and Naruto fell to his knees and coughed up blood.
He would have already been suffering from chakra exhaustion, but the poisoning from the pseudo-sage mode made it worse, and caused him unbearable pain, causing him to writhe on the ground in agony.
Yagura saw this as an opening, and drew a kunai. It wouldn't take any chakra to slice a throat.
Naruto saw this and tried to get up, but there was no strength left in him, and he stumbled as the pseudo-sage mode faded away.
Yagura grinned madly, as he began to charge at Naruto, hoping to kill him quickly before he recovered.
"This is the end of the line for you, Uzumaki!" Yagura yelled as his kunai began its downward arc towards Naruto's neck.
"Futton: Acid Cannon Jutsu!" A female voice rang out.
That was the last thing Yagura heard, before a corrosive glob of acid shot off his arm, and began dissolving the wound it formed.
Yagura's kunai fell short of its mark, and Yagura stumbled and fell, as the pain from having parts of your body dissolve was unbearable.
"Y-You! You bitch!" Yagura yelled as he wobbled back to his feet. He was pissed that Mei interfered in his fight against Naruto, only jumping in when he was weakened.
"How did you like that? A taste of your own medicine? You waited until I was nearly about to collapse before you hopped in, and now, I have the pleasure of doing the same." Mei said with a grin as she walked up to the now one-armed Yagura.
"I-I'll kill you for that!" Yagura screamed as he tried to attack, but with one arm and no access to his Bijuu chakra, he was unable to do anything, and fell when Mei gave him a fierce low kick to the side of his knee.
"You look real pitiful right now. Can't accept what's coming for you, can you?" Mei said to Yagura, as she slowly formed hand seals.
"No! It's not over yet! I still have so much left to do!" Yagura cried out as he crawled towards a kunai on the ground, hoping to throw the kunai at Mei, and maybe kill her.
"This is the end of the line for you, Yagura. Your reign of tyranny is over. Yoton: Yokai no Jutsu! (Lava Release: Melting Apparition Technique)"
Yagura's screams pierced through the night sky, as Mei's lava burned and melted him to death.
His screams announced the end of a civil war that had lasted for nearly a decade.
At first, the Loyalists were in shock at the abrupt end of a fight they thought was on their side the whole time, but then they realized the implications of Yagura's death. The symbol of the Loyalists was dead, and so were his policies and visions. They threw down their arms and surrendered.
The Rebels quickly moved in to bind the surrendering Loyalists, and cheers celebrating their final victory rang out loudly from all over the place. The war that had laid Kiri to waste had finally come to an end.
Time would eventually help people heal, but scars that would never fade away were left both in the hearts and bodies of the people involved. The lands that the battles were fought were just as scarred, and even the Gates of Uzushio was heavily scarred from the battle that took place this night, which left thousands dead. Only the acrid smell of Yagura's sizzling body served as a funerary incense for the thousands of shinobi that died.
In the midst of the celebration, two figures stood over Naruto, who went unconscious just after seeing Mei kill Yagura.
"What should we do with him, Mei-sama?" Ao asked Mei. "He's far too dangerous, Mei-sama. Look at what he was able to do tonight. He killed nearly a thousand shinobi by himself, and nearly defeated a perfect Jinchuuriki on his own. If we were to meet him on the battlefield as enemies…"
Mei knew Ao had a point. They would never get another chance like this to kill him. They could easily blame his death on Yagura too. She was once again forced with having to choose between what she wanted, and what would be best for Kiri.
"Ao. Get some men to carry him. We're taking him to Kiri." Mei ordered.
*Author's Notes*
And that's the latest chapter of the Jinchuuriki's brother! How did you guys like the battle between Naruto and Yagura? This was honestly a tough chapter to write. I wanted the fight to show the weight of the battle, and not downplay how powerful each character was. It ended up being my longest chapter, being over 9000 words long. (Lol over 9000)
So some of you were saying Mei beat Yagura in canon, and I made her out to be weak. Well we have to remember that Mei was carrying a mostly drunk and unprepared Rebel army the whole night, so she was exhausted. I see her as being more of a ninjutsu specialist, especially if you consider she can use 5 different types of chakra at least, so that feat couldn't have been easy on her chakra reserves. She was on her last legs when Yagura came, and she wasn't in the position to have a full on fight with a perfect Jinchuuriki.
Even if she was, I don't know if I see her beating Yagura. We don't actually see her fighting Yagura in canon, and he actually died when the genjutsu Obito had put on him was dispelled. So in my opinion, he was defeated a lot more easily than he would have been if he was in full control of himself and his Bijuu.
Also, we barely see any of Yagura's abilities other than the water mirror jutsu in canon, so I had to come up with a whole fighting style for him. Like I stated in the chapter, I tried to model his approach to that of a turtle, most being a defensive, counter-attacking fighter. I saw him use corals somewhere, (it might have been a game) and I thought that was a really cool ability and tried to build his repertoire around that.
There are some similarities between Yagura's coral release (at least my interpretation of it) and Hashirama's wood release, in that they both manipulate living organisms in their fighting style. The main differences would be that that coral is less flexible, but tougher than wood, and lacks the chakra draining abilities. It's more a defensive ability compared to wood, though I would still say is pretty powerful on offense. I felt like that was in line with the turtle the power comes from.
Anyway! With that last battle, the Kiri Rebellion is over, and this arc only has one more chapter left. To the people who thought this arc was meandering and dragging on, that's probably good news, since I can get back to writing about the main characters of the story, and the stuff going on in Konoha. To those who enjoyed this break away from Konoha, well, I hope you guys enjoyed seeing Naruto in action and what he can actually do.
Thanks for reading guys! Please leave a review or comment if you enjoyed the chapter or have anything to say about it. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!
I hope you guys all have a great day, regardless, and I hope you guys all stay safe in this crazy world.
Until next time!