THE BATTLE FOR THE EARTH – NARUTO'S ELEMENT
Naruto and Clyde's Starting Point – Mirai and Sheer
This is the site of several simultaneous battles. The one featuring the two weakest individuals is this one, between Sarutobi Mirai and Colonel Sheer. It is a testament to the strength of the individuals in this match that Mirai is the weakest one in this battle. The granddaughter of the 3rd Hokage, Mirai is the owner of a miraculous ability to fuse elements. It's not like kekkai genkai, this is something else altogether. This is not such a limited ability, it can combine any elements she puts into it as long as she has enough practice. A truly incredible power.
Facing her is Sheer. Sheer is perhaps the Colonel who has changed the most as a result of this contest. Her first match had been with Uchiha Sarada, it was during that match that Sheer had learnt the importance of never giving up, of battling against the odds even if they were impossibly long. This is a lesson she has thoroughly taken to heart, a lesson she has used to bolster her own mental strength. Since the beginning of this contest, she has only gotten mightier.
Sheer's element is wind. It is not a powerful offensive element but it does have its uses. The first and most important attribute of wind is its benefit to speed. Using her element, Sheer can become one with the wind, travelling over a short distance while seemingly invisible.
Using this ability, she dashes to bursts to Mirai's side. Despite Mirai's strength, she is not a strong as a Colonel and she is certainly not as fast as Sheer.
Sheer prepares to attack the seemingly unprepared Mirai but her attack never reaches the Sarutobi clanswomen. Mirai stretches her thin hand out before creating a condensed explosion. Its small but the power isn't, it's as if a bomb had exploded over a centimetre of space. It knocks Sheer from her feet, onto her back some ten meters away.
The Colonel pushes herself to her feet as she spies the incoming Mirai. 'She wasn't this strong before' Sheer shouts in her head, panicking about the direction of this particular battle, 'What happened to her'.
When Mirai reaches Sheer, the purple-haired Colonel attempts to dodge, to run away from her attacker but quickly realises that her movement has been restricted, her feet are stuck in position. She lowers her eyes, horror slowly spreading across her feet as her visual combines with the cold sensation in her lower body.
Her feet have been frozen in place.
'Dammit' Sheer curses internally, 'I was acting like her power was just creating explosions. I forgot that she could fuse anything'.
Sheer is right. She has forgotten. Now it is too late to do anything about it. That is the consequence of not looking hard enough at your enemy. That is the consequence of overconfidence.
When you consider who is facing off in these small fights you may consider the leaf at a disadvantage. Thinking logically, these small battles had two losers from the hidden leaf fighting two winners from the invading forces. These battles saw those determined to be weak against those determined to be strong. The leaf has been at a constant disadvantage though. Reaching this point has already been a miracle. A miracle summoned from the past by Uchiha Sarada. However, Mirai hasn't been summoned from the past. She is a miracle of the present. A miracle of hard work.
Mirai's fist shines a brilliant orange colour. Repeated bangs can be heard as it nears Sheer. This is her explosive power compressed onto her fist and with no way for it to be dodged, there is only one outcome for the wind-controlling Colonel. Her demise is inevitable.
BANG!
Held in position by the ice, Sheer's body rattles about violently within its confines. Her eyes momentarily glass over as the pure vibrating power damages her internal organs. A few moments pass before the ice melts and Sheer falls backwards, her head hitting the ground.
This fight is Mirai's victory.
Lowering herself to the ground slowly, Mirai takes a seat next to Sheer. This may be slightly too close to Naruto and Clyde. In fact, it is dangerously close to a battle of such power but she discards these dangers. She is convinced that this is the best seat in the house and she is about to witness the defining moment in shinobi history.
"Why" Sheer asks, her voice strained as she lays unmoving on the floor, "I was stronger than you, I was sure of it".
"You still are stronger than me. You're just exhausted, I had the advantage from the moment we began". This is not modesty, this is the truth. Mirai knows that if the two women had started at full strength then she would likely not have been victorious. She is a victor of circumstance, that is something she can live with. "You realise don't you, that you're completely exhausted?".
Sheer closes her eyes slowly, looking away from Mirai and brining her head back into a resting position.
"Perhaps it's time you took a nap".
The Colonel smiles at this, not having the energy to laugh. "A nap huh… perhaps that wouldn't be so bad after all".
Naruto and Clyde's Starting Point – Hashirama and Peterson
This battle is of an entirely different ferocity. These two are two juggernauts with enough power to rule over this world in any other time period. They are incredibly close to the General level of power. However, that is not to say they could compete with Clyde. Clyde is a General with control over the element of darkness, an element far stronger than normal ones, a transcendent General.
Peterson fires lightning bolts at Hashirama repeatedly only for the 1st Hokage to dodge them time and time again. This is not going the same way as their first battle at all. Peterson has gotten slightly stronger since then but Hashirama is a completely different man. All of his weaknesses have vanished, all of his strengths have been enhanced. It is like he has moved from a gennin to a chunnin.
Peterson notice his opponent weaving a series of signs and manages to leap into the air just in time to avoid a group of wooden spikes that stick up from the ground. This is an attack that could truly have killed him. It could have killed him. Just who is Colonel Peterson. Peterson is someone who took on Asura's latest two transmigrants and fought them to a draw, a monster not of this world and he could have been killed.
These wooden spikes are nothing to Hashirama though. His true attack is far greater. A shinobi may have noticed it, those weren't the signs for that jutsu. No, they were the signs for a far greater jutsu.
It comes from above.
Splitting the clouds, it suddenly emerges, turning Peterson's head to the sky. It's a giant wooden dragon, the real jutsu that Hashirama was weaving signs for. It's not like when he has created the wood dragon previously, this time it is faster, it is bigger and it is stronger. With a huge smack, it hits Peterson before driving him down into the ground.
With this single almighty jutsu. Hashirama has won.
"Dammit" Peterson spits, "Before you were going to die at my hand when that boy saved you. How is it then, how is it that your strength can advance so much quicker than mine".
"It's simple. You underestimated me, you were so ignorant that you thought you would win easily" Hashirama turns his back on Peterson and instead looks towards the remaining fight. "When I trained, I did it with the fury sourced from my wife's death".
"You… fury…".
"When I stopped trying to save Minato, when I finally trained in Solitude, I just got angrier and angrier. I even start to think, maybe Boruto was right. If I had left him to die perhaps I could have fought the General". This statement perhaps signifies the true end to Senju Hashirama as many known him. The moment where he confesses, perhaps allowing Minato to die would have been correct. The moment where he loses his former self.
"So, my motivation was weaker than yours?" Peterson sighs.
"I would rather you say that mine was stronger than yours" Hashirama replies, "Now, let's see shall we. Is Naruto's motivation stronger than your General's".
Naruto and Clyde's Starting Point – Naruto and Clyde
They continue to battle. Forcing Hashirama and Mirai to realise there is no way they could interfere here. If they were to join this battle, Clyde could use their lives to threaten Naruto, that is just how incredible the two of them are in this moment. That is the power of the golden darkness cloak.
Still, there is something more incredible going on here. Despite the power of Clyde's golden darkness cloak, Naruto is fighting him to a standstill. Despite Clyde having a transcendent element like darkness, Naruto is battling him with his captain level use of his element. Whatever element Naruto is using, he cannot even form it into a cloak, he is can simply use it to augment his movements, to amplify his attacks both on a small scale.
"Dammit, even if this were our power, how is it possible" Clyde asks through clenched teeth, "How could you possibly fight me to a standstill?".
The blonde shinobi doesn't reply with words, he replies with a look. It is not a look of curiosity nor one of confusion. It is not a gaze filled with fear or anxiety. His look is unwavering, his eyes don't leave Clyde's, not even for a second and there is a trace of something that the General really hates. There is a trace of pity. Is Naruto looking down on him?
"A stone" Clyde mutters, "A stone tablet has appeared right, in that world where only you can go".
Naruto smiles, that tells him everything he needs to know. Clyde knows about the stone tablet. This is the invader's power he is using.
"Yeah" he answers.
Clyde shakes his head once again. 'His element is white in colour but it's so strong despite his low level of control… could it be…'. The General suddenly shudders so hard that Naruto can see it. He acts as if he has just seen a ghost, as if a lifetime of bad karma has come crashing down upon him in one moment.
"That stone tablet" he mutters, "It had a word on it. That word names your element. On mine it clearly has darkness written down. On yours… does it say… does it say…".
"Uzumaki Naruto… is your element… life?".
A smile slowly creeps onto the shinobi's face. Naruto is smug.
"ANSWER ME!".
"The fact that you have asked me means that you already know" Naruto replies to Clyde, confirming his suspicions.
Naruto's element isn't something that can be touched. It is not even something that can be seen but not touched like Clyde's darkness, it is more than that. It is a principle, a principle that only the effects of can be observed. A power that echoes throughout all of reality.
"No, that's impossible" Clyde says again, as if to convince Naruto that he had misread the word himself, "Only the old man could control the element of life".
Naruto's gaze continues to hold firm as the General continues to shout hysterically.
"A mere mortal like you, the 2nd person in history? Your power cannot be life, that's impossible".
"I don't know who this old man is" Naruto points out as he stares down his opponent, "But it's clear to me he's someone who you admire".
Clyde frowns deeply. Of course, the old man is someone that he greatly admires. The old man is the one who has stuck in his mind through his entire life, whose lessons have stuck with him through thick and thin. The old man is the reason he is protecting his subordinates with this match.
"Is it really so unbelievable that someone else could control the power of life?".
"Shut up. Your element isn't life" Clyde snaps at Naruto, he gets more aggressive with every sentence the two exchange, "I have seen so many people try to understand life".
"I have seen the most prodigious of students try and fail".
"They all had expert help from the foremost geniuses in our society and they still failed".
"There is no way that you could succeed where they have failed".
"You're a mere mortal, a local from this lowly place".
Naruto sighs, this man is truly getting more and more out of touch with reality at every passing moment. "Whether you believe me or not doesn't matter".
Naruto raises his thumb. He raises his index finger. He raises his middle finger. Channelling life energy through the three of them he creates a weapon in the centre of them, a deadly vessel with which to attack Clyde.
He creates a dart.
The General gasps, realising the parallels from earlier.
"We can finish this now, General Clyde".
Saying this Naruto throws the dart into the General's leg.
The result is Clyde falling to the floor, clutching at said leg. 'He copied this attack from me' he notes as he painfully pulls the dart from his own leg, 'Even if he has understood the element of life, no it doesn't matter if he has'.
'Either way, I still have to win' he tells himself as he gets back to his feet.
Clyde charges at Naruto, readying a golden-darkness sword as he does so. Naruto sticks to his existing weapon, the truth-seeking staff stained white by the element of life. The two clash their weapons against one another, the ringing of their collisions sounds so loudly in the air that Mirai can feel the vibration just by stretching her hand out.
The General is unable to gain an advantage but he has a trump card up his sleeve. His element is darkness and he is proficient in using it. For just a second, he is able to completely cloud Naruto's vision with darkness. That second is enough for him to draw a blade and thrust it into his enemy's shoulder.
"Tsk" Naruto winces in pain as he kicks Clyde away and pulls the blade from his shoulder. What strikes him is that there is nothing remarkable about the blade. Then he notices a trickle of something familiar, something mauve.
Clyde smiles, "I don't like using it but that knife represented my ultimate backup plan". A moment after he speaks, Naruto frowns angrily at the General bringing a surge of delight to him, "It was laced with the most potent of Martin's concoctions".
"You have been poisoned, Uzumaki Naruto".
The Hidden Leaf Hill
"His most potent poison" Minato repeats with wide eyes, "That can't be good". The 4th Hokage is the most qualified shinobi of all to state this, it is he who had to endure the poison and the agony that it brought. It was he who had to wait for his son to awake, for a miracle to come.
"Is something like that even allowed" Hinata protests.
Mitsuki reluctantly answers though. "Poison is a weapon just like Lord 2nd's kunai, I seen no reason why it wouldn't be allowed".
Even if poison were banned from this match, which it isn't. It would not be worth it for the hidden leaf to complain. If the fight were to break off this instant, then it would result in an all-out clash between the shinobi and the invaders. The shinobi wouldn't stand a chance, they would be crushed.
Naruto and Clyde's Starting Point – Naruto and Clyde
Naruto falls to one knee, clearly weakening due to the poison.
"Now… die".
Naruto's hand is shaking as he reaches for his shoulder. After trying a couple of times, he manages to wrap it around though, clenching tightly with each of his fingers. His teeth can almost be heard grinding against one another as he pulses life energy through his fingertips. He does this three times, each time his whole-body shakes, it's like he is shocking himself with a defibrillator. Then he pulls his hand away from his shoulder, pulling something with it.
He pulls a mauve substance from his shoulder.
A mauve crystal forms in the space before his hand.
'What!'. Clyde has never seen anything like this before.
Naruto takes hold of the crystal and crushes it. The rush of energy outwards tells Clyde exactly what he needs to know. That crystal was all of the poison and poison energy within Naruto's body. Using the element that is life he managed to take it all out and crush it.
"This was the poison…" Naruto begins.
"Huh…".
With incredible speed, Naruto launches from a standing positon, forcing his foot into Clyde's face. He keeps his foot there, forcing Clyde backwards further along the ground with every passing moment. Yet he refuses to release contact.
"This is the poison you used on my father!".
Clyde struggles about, trying to stop his backwards motion but he cannot. Naruto's standing start has caught him off guard and now he is in a spot he cannot recover from.
"This is what killed Mito" Naruto adds.
Despite coming from different times, Naruto and Mito had struck up a friendship in the short time they had together. Mito had visited Hashirama many times while he and Naruto were incapacitated. Hinata, Mito, Hashirama, Naruto, the four of them had spent a lot of time together as a result of this inaction. And there is of course, one last connection between Naruto and Mito. They are both Uzumaki.
"I won't forgive you for that!" Naruto shouts as he swings his leg forwards, throwing Clyde off his foot and even further back through the dirt.
The General struggles to get any semblance of balance. He grunts in pain as he forces himself to his feet, that attack was never going to keep him down and it wasn't meant to. Clearly that attack was meant to make him feel pain, that attack was for all Naruto's loved ones who had suffered.
"I told you, I will beat you so bad that you will never hurt us again".
Clyde growls, "Uzumaki Naruto!".
Naruto stretches a fist out before him, "I have a birthday to go to, idiot".
The Hidden Leaf Hill
"Dad" Himawari smiles at his resolution. It looks more realistic than ever before, he will be going to her birthday party, no matter what stands in his way.
"Naruto can destroy that poison" Minato gasps, "He did it just like that".
"Minato, Kushina, your son is truly incredible" Tsunade praises the parents, "Still, I can't believe it, power like this, it really exists. The ability to tackle poison that strong, just like that".
Naruto and Clyde's Starting Point – Naruto and Clyde
Clyde's vision is wavering. 'It's too soon to give up Clyde' he tells himself. He forces his hand into a tight fist, gripping so hard that it turns a pale white, 'You have to win here for the others'.
'I'm not ready to let them die yet'.