THE BATTLE FOR THE EARTH – A PLAN TO WIN
Naruto and Clyde's Starting Point
The countdown finishes.
The buzzer buzzes.
The fight begins.
The moment the claxon sounds the two warriors dash towards one another. Their speed is incredible, Clyde through his battles against countless mighty warriors just like Naruto, Naruto through his physical training coordinated by his friends. The only thing that this speed can be compared to is the Raikage from the hidden cloud. Unspeakably fast.
Clyde is the first to throw a punch, his fist cutting through the air on its route towards Naruto's chest.
The blonde shinobi has the same thought in mind though, he throws a punch along a pre-calculated path. The path is perfect for the collision. With a bang the two fists connect. A tremendous outward force stems from the point of contact. While the two fighters stand unaffected by this great force, the nearby environment doesn't remain unaffected. Within a fifty-meter radius, all of the grass is torn up, leaving behind a barren circular plane.
As the outward force stops, Naruto is the first one to move his fist. He allows Clyde's previous pushing efforts to carry the General forward, using his enemy's momentum against him. With this Naruto leaps into the air, his feet reaching heights such that his ankles are parallel to the top of Clyde's head.
With all the strength, he can summon from his hips, Naruto kicks his leg towards Clyde's head. The General catches his leg though, taking a firm grip on the shinobi's left ankle. As Naruto starts he has no time to free himself, Clyde swings him by his leg, just like a club, down towards the ground.
There is just time to weave a couple of signs, but this is enough for Naruto.
A cushion of wind stops him from hitting the ground at full force.
'Wind' Clyde notes to himself.
This thought is a distraction for the General, he is wasting too much time focusing on his opponent. After all, Naruto has one leg free.
Naruto uses his free leg, swinging it upward and catching Clyde on the underside of the chin. The shinobi uses the momentum of his right leg to carry him around a full revolution, backward flipping before he lands with both feet on the ground.
The General takes a similar motion. A kick to the underside of the jaw can be fatal if he does not take it properly. To do so, he follows the momentum of Naruto's foot with his own face, back flipping himself to reduce the impact of the kick.
The two land after their reverse rotations at the exact same moment.
Naruto weaves a succession of signs, creating a translucent blade in his hand. Clearly, this blade is also made of wind. The creation of this melee weapon is a mere dummy in the battle against the General though, Naruto steps forward, arching his arm like a baseball player as he launches the sword towards his opponent.
Clyde is able to dodge the sword but this gives his opponent the chance to dash him. Naruto takes hold of Clyde's head with both hands. Pulling his arms and raising his knee, he sets Clyde's face on a collision course with his leg.
The General is left with no choice, he puts both palms out in front of him, bracing himself against Naruto's thigh as he stops his skull from connecting with his opponent's kneecap. This presents him an opening, with both Naruto's hands on his head, the shinobi's midsection is wide open. Clyde pulls both his arms behind his back before slamming his open palms into Naruto's abdomen.
The Hokage skids back, small waves of dirt arising from his feet as his ankles rub against the ground. Slowly he comes to a halt. The loser of this fist exchange.
The Hidden Leaf Hill
"Hey, hey" Dan stares at the screen with shock on his face. Naruto and Clyde's match is incredible, "Is this for real?".
Both Naruto and Clyde have tremendous speed and strength. A lucky few shinobi have seen someone near the Colonel level battle before. There have been a few of these shinobi throughout history. Hashirama, Madara, Naruto, Sasuke and even for a few moments Obito and Kakashi. Nobody though, nobody has seen a shinobi on this level before, Naruto had already transcended the limits of what was thinkable for a warrior, this battle has put him even further beyond that.
"I've never seen a battle like this before" Metal remarks despite being a veteran of many battles in this war.
"Neither have I" Mitsuki nods in agreement.
"It's in every single hit" Tsunade notes. "This battle may appear straightforward. What makes it special is the scale though, every kick, every punch, the strength they are packing is incredible".
"The ground around them is all torn up just from that little skirmish" Hiruzen stands mouth agape.
"Yeah" the 5th nods, "And this is just the beginning. Neither of them is going all out yet".
Naruto's various trainers look between one another. They know that their physical training had been incredibly tough, even for the man who would become the 7th Hokage. They had not been expecting results like this though. It's nothing short of miraculous, it's not the strength that should be possible for a shinobi to obtain. It's far from over though, Clyde hasn't even begun to use an element yet, much less a cloak. No, this unbelievable strength, it's just the beginning.
Hinata grips the sleeves of her shirt tightly. 'Naruto, keep going. You can win!'.
Naruto and Clyde's Battlefield
"That strength is truly impressive" Clyde compliments Naruto while maintaining his fighting pose, "You have come a long way in the short time since you battled Peterson".
Naruto smiles at this compliment. "You're not weak either, but I can't stop here".
"My strength when I use my element is as great as Peterson's when he using his elemental cloak" Clyde explains. This is a monstrous claim, Peterson is perhaps the strongest of the Colonels, Naruto and Hashirama together had only just defeated him in that form last time, yet that represents the General's strength without the use of a cloak. "I hope you are prepared for this".
Naruto doesn't waver. His eyes are fixed firmly upon his enemy. His gaze drilling a hole through Clyde's head. He simply watches.
Clyde holds his hand out before him with his palm facing the sky. Slowly, a thick dark black substance pours from his hand.
'This is…'.
Clyde doesn't allow Naruto to finish his hypothesis. The General condenses the black substance into a hand sized ball, much like the rasengan, before throwing that ball towards Naruto.
Despite the speed of this attack, Naruto is confident his own speed will not be overcome. He speedily creates a rasengan in his hand before smashing the high velocity chakra ball into the black ball approaching him.
A gust of wind stems from the point of contact but the result soon becomes obvious. The dark ball completely overcomes the rasengan.
Thanks to Naruto's keen skills of observation and quick reaction time, he is able to dodge the black ball of energy but it is a close-run thing. 'That was close'.
That attack seemed to be incredible, to be unprecedented. But, Clyde refuses to waste a second, creating another energy ball in his hand, ready to attack.
"Kurama" Naruto shouts into his inner world, "Do you have any idea what that element is".
The tailed-beast replies in a solemn voice. "It doesn't matter what it is. It's dangerous. It's more powerful than whatever the Colonels have been using".
"It's confused you" Clyde smiles as he interrupts the conversation between Kurama and his host.
"What…".
"An element that cannot be formed from chakra" Clyde's grin only widens as he continues to tease the blonde shinobi.
"It can't be formed from chakra" the 7th Hokage repeats these words, considering what they could mean.
"STOP GETTING DISTRACTED".
Kurama's voice acts as a wakeup call for Naruto. As he raises his head he sees Clyde's arm quickly moving in his direction. It's another throw, another energy ball is hurtling towards his head.
Crossing his fingers, Naruto creates two clones.
The first clone runs forward, slamming a rasengan into the black ball before dissipating. The second follows in quick succession, succeeding in little other than slowing the ball's path. However, that is exactly what Naruto has been planning on.
As the two clones are destroyed, Naruto finally completes his jutsu. A wind rasen-shuriken appears in his hand. With a primal shout, he throws the shuriken, crashing it perfectly against the dark coloured ball. At last, the ball is destroyed. Two rasengan and one rasen-shuriken, that is how much it had taken to destroy that one attack.
"Nice quick thinking" Kurama encourages his host.
Naruto takes a few moments to observe Clyde who seems to be doing the same to him. This is a battle neither of them can afford to lose, if either is able to see any weakness in their opponent, they will not hesitate to act upon it.
"Kurama" Naruto calls the nine-tails name, "Do you want to try something we've never done before?".
"Now of all times?".
Naruto explains his thinking. "If he starts to use that cloak then it will be a lot harder to defeat him".
"You can't mean you…".
"Yeah, I have a plan to defeat him. I have a plan to take him down before he even uses his cloak. It will require us to do something we have never even done before though".
Naruto quickly explains his daring plan to Kurama. A perfect culmination of sophistry and deception, a plan of bluff that could help him to defeat even someone as mighty as this General.
"Do you think it will work?".
Kurama snorts, turning his head to the side and speaking from the corner of his mouth. "It might do, if you had any talent at all".
"Kurama…".
"But sure" the nine-tails grins menacingly, "I'll give it a go if you will".
As if hearing their agreement through some form of psychic power, Clyde creates another ball of dark energy in his hand.
In reaction, Naruto places his hand into his pocket, pulling a spherical object out and throwing it down into the ground. With a bang, smoke appears, covering Naruto and the area surrounding him.
The General is unperturbed by this trickery though. 'It doesn't matter what you do in there, you are not escaping from my attack'.
Clyde smiles as he watches his own attack hurtling towards the mass of smoke. 'The only way he can withstand a direct hit is to transform, but, if he did that I would be able to feel the increase in his chakra'.
Just as the General thinks that, a rasen-shuriken flies from inside the smoke. Cancelling out the black ball. That does not end this exchange though. The smoke clears to reveal a trio of clones stood in front of Naruto. All three of these clones charge together, their speed slightly inferior to the original Naruto as they bear down upon the enemy.
'Ignore the clones, they won't do any great harm' Clyde tells himself, 'If I attack the real one they will defend him'.
Creating another dark ball, Clyde launches a second attack towards the original body. As expected, all three clones react by creating rasengan. With this, most onlookers conclude that the shinobi had planned to test if three rasengan could cancel out Clyde's repeating attack.
'You can try and counter all you want, it's too late'. With a click of Clyde's fingers, the dark ball accelerates, flying past the three clones faster than they can defend.
Naruto's eyes widen as he quickly begins to produce a rasen-shuriken. It's too late though, the dark ball hits Naruto and the shinobi begins to fall backwards.
The Hidden Leaf Hill
As Naruto falls to his back on the screen. It takes everyone a moment before they can process what is happening. The 7th Hokage is down.
"DAD!" Himawari shouts as she looks at the screen in panic.
Naruto and Clyde's Battlefield
The original body.
Or so everyone thought.
It disappears in a puff of smoke.
Clyde starts, 'His clones are so advanced that not even I can see through them'.
The situation continues to worsen for the invading General. That wasn't the original body so the clones have not disappeared. They all continue their charge, their intention now clear. To launch a surprise attack on him.
'Damn, which one is the real one'. The first of the clones swings a rasengan towards Clyde's face, an attack the General is able to dodge only by the skin of his teeth. After escaping, he grabs hold of the attacking clone's arm, swinging him around with the help of his own momentum before launching him into another Naruto lookalike.
The two bodies crash together and disappear in a puff of smoke.
That can mean only one thing, the one remaining Naruto, is the original.
The original Naruto is right in Clyde's face at this point. He had evidently faked the decrease in his speed during the last attack. With a rasengan ready, at this point-blank range, the General will have no time to counter attack. This attack, will definitely hit.
'So, this is the original' Clyde sighs internally, 'But this is fine, that technique won't do any great damaged to me'.
That is where he is wrong.
The rasengan suddenly begins to change. The blue appearance of the attack just an illusion that slowly peals away before his eyes. A genjutsu, previously Naruto's weakness, now another weapon achieved through his training.
It would be impossible to trick Clyde with an enormous genjutsu, but, a small visual trick like this is well within Naruto's power. What is truly terrifying is what the blue energy peals away to reveal.
It's a mini tailed beast bomb.
'NOT GOOD!'.
Naruto lets out a primal scream as he slams the mini tailed beast bomb into Clyde's chest. Just as dictated in his plan, the General didn't have the time or the opportunity to dodge. It's a hit.
Clyde falls backwards, landing flat on his back.
"You did it" Kurama shouts in Naruto's inner world.
The Hidden Leaf Hill
"He fired off that attack without using the nine-tails chakra mode" Shikamaru exclaims.
Hinata shares his surprise, "I didn't even know Naruto could do that".
"He can't" Kiba shakes his head, "He has never done that before. Not the Naruto from the present or from the past, he has never been able to do that".
Naruto and Clyde's Battlefield
"You, sneaky devil" Kurama grins towards Naruto, "You used your battle from before. Back then he saw you fight, he knew that you should only be able to use that attack while using my chakra".
"That's right" the host responds, "I used his own experiences against him".
'This kid' Kurama keeps his thoughts private as he looks at Naruto, 'He really dared to attempt something so outrages. Not even the old man had such a perfect fighting sense. Indeed, only you could have won this fight, Naruto'.
Outside from his inner world, Naruto is breathing heavily. Readying himself for any other attacks that may come at him. To use the tailed beast bomb without help from chakra mode is difficult, it is incredibly taxing. He will likely never use such a method again, it would only work the once, a true surprise attack. Still, it is worth it, Clyde is down.
'Damn, I dropped my guard' the General curses to himself, 'My chest feels like it's going to collapse'.
Something snaps in Clyde as a memory comes to him from his past. A memory of an old man. "Remember Clyde, the most important thing is to look after your men".
'I can't let them down' Clyde concludes after he recalls these words from the old man. This old man who meant so much to him, this old man who taught him what it was to be a leader.
1…2…3…4…5…
'You have to get up Clyde… GET UP!'.
'Stay down, stay down'.
6… 7…
At the count of seven, the General manages to force himself upwards. Getting himself onto his right foot and his left knee. This may not be classed as getting onto his feet but it virtually guarantees that he will be successful in getting up. This is enough for Naruto to understand, right now the most important thing isn't chancing the count. He needs to attack, attack again, attack until you have won.
8…
As Naruto begins to approach Clyde roars aloud, "I can't afford to lose here!". The General covers his palm in the dark energy he had used to form his attacks just a few moments ago. Bang, he slams his open palm into the ground, sending the black substance towards Naruto's feet. With the blonde shinobi barely avoiding the fatal action of stepping upon it.
"This element" Naruto starts, "It's…".
"Darkness" Clyde finally answers the mystery.
Clyde's element is darkness.
Not standing on ceremony, Clyde throws a volley of punches and kicks at Naruto. Each and every hit is enhanced by the power of darkness. That is not to say that the attacks are physically stronger but the element seeps in through Naruto's pores each time a blow connects, dealing far more damage than Clyde's initial attacks with merely his hands.
As Naruto begins to fall backwards, his eyes roll back in his head.
'No more messing around' Clyde resolutely declares as he watches Naruto fall backwards, 'When I fight seriously using my element, you don't stand a chance'.
Naruto begins to lose consciousness, despite screaming to himself to stay away. 'Am I… Am I going to pass out… will I lose here'.
"WAKE UP!" Kurama practically screams at Naruto.
With this scream so many emotions are carried. Sasuke and Sakura's images pass through Naruto's brain. 'I f I lose here, would they have died for nothing?'. More images pass through his brain, loved ones, Kakashi, Sarada, Minato, Kushina, Boruto, Himawari and Hinata, 'If I lose here, won't they die to'.
The shinobi stops his fall by catching hold of the General's wrist.
Clyde is stunned, he had believed Naruto had lost conscious.
An orange chakra begins to spread up the length of Naruto's arm. 'If I die here, all of my friends are going to die too, so I have to hold on'. He focuses his eyes upon the face of his enemy, retorting to the earlier shout, "I can't afford to lose either!".
Upon regaining his focus. Naruto enters chakra mode. This makes it easy for him to form a mini tailed beast bomb. To counter this Clyde creates a ball of darkness. Two balls of pure black energy, they slam against their counterparts to create an ironic, blinding light.
The Hidden Leaf Hill
"This is already the most intense fight we have seen so far" Minato points out, "And they are both holding back their true power".
"It's incredible" Hiruzen finds himself forced to agree, "This isn't a level it should be possible to reach".
Shikamaru grins hearing the high praise of the 3rd Hokage, the man who had been the village leader during his youth. "That's what is so special about Naruto, it doesn't matter if it's impossible, he will do it anyway".
'Naruto, please be alright' Kushina prays in her heart before switching her gaze to another of the screens, 'Boruto, you have to be OK too'.
Suddenly, she feels a hand take her own. She looks up to see her husband watching the same screens.
"Minato…".
"They'll be fine" the 4th Hokage smiles, "They wouldn't come this far to lose, would they?".
"Of course not. They're going to win".