WAR NEVER ENDS – OLD ENEMIES
The Battlefield
Charging into battle at the head of his army, Clyde feels the adrenaline rushing through his body. He looks into the crazed eyes of the incoming captains and knows how heavily outmatched his side are. All of his subordinates here, except Peterson, are captains, this is the level they will be fighting at. The shinobi will have to work together and coordinate their attacks to even take them on. That is why he must take this opportunity.
To those behind him, Captains are tremendous obstacles.
To Clyde, they are nothing.
He dashes into the group that arrives at him first, the first combat the battle would see. As they volley their various attacks at him he jumps into the air, dancing through their pitiful attempts at an offence.
He can see so clearly, despite their massive numbers he can see the path of every attack. He can see the cogs turning in their minds, he can read their thought process like a book. With a few casual waves of his hand he snakes 'darkness' between them like a rope. He ensnares them all in one go and pulls the rope tight, taking out the first group in one fluid motion.
Many others would be amazed but the enemy generals are not, they could all take apart an enemy like this, it is nothing impressive for someone on their level.
The shinobi take heart in this though. Every captain down is one less they will have to fight, it's an enormous boost for them.
"Here he comes, Lara" Elliot remarks plainly.
Lara nods, her smile returning slightly after the eight backs speech. That damn speech was annoying but now she can enjoy herself. "Send in the colonels".
Prior to the battle Elliot had been putting a lot of effort into these colonels. He used hundreds of years' worth of intelligence gathered from the academy and Clyde's former subordinates. He used that intelligence and now understands Clyde's fighting tendencies perfectly. Using these tendencies, he trained the colonels for this. Their job is to do some damage. It's unrealistic to expect them to kill Clyde but Elliot knows that with such perfect information they are not hopeless.
Clyde spots the group of silver caped warriors running at him, each uniform marked with a different insignia to his own. This is a group of colonels, presumably some of Lara's elite.
The colonels activate their elemental cloaks so Clyde responds in kind, the darkness gathers around him.
The first colonel is a 'fire' user. He holds his hand before him proudly like the head of a dragon, he unleashes a torrent of flames upon his foe.
Elliot feels a slight irritation as he sees the dumb head-on attack. Despite all his training these colonels are panicking in the face of Clyde.
An attack like this will be all too easy for the general.
Clyde sidesteps the attack and immediately kicks the floor beneath him. Before the 'fire' colonel can even react the gap between them has closed. Clyde hits a palm strike to the colonel's chest, knocking him back with such ferocity that is guaranteed to be incapacitated.
The next duo is smarter, they try a combined attack from behind. One throws a kick to the right of Clyde's head, one throws a punch to the left.
Elliot notes that the locals of every pocket world tend to be tenacious. The only victories they get over the mighty invaders are sneak attacks. The military has always been weak to sneak attacks and Clyde is no different. This one may work.
It should work.
It might work.
It would have worked on the Clyde of yesterday.
It doesn't work on the Clyde of today.
He crosses his arms, reaching over each shoulder and catching the two incoming blows. The colonels try to counter by concentrating their elements into the attack but it has no effect. Their control over 'water' and 'lightning' is insignificant compared to Clyde's superior control of 'darkness' and he rams this home by pulling them over his shoulders and slamming them into one another.
Three colonels and barely ten seconds has passed.
A group of three are the next to try, they line up next to one another and prepare a combined barrage. They concentrate their elements on various parts of their body, their legs, their arms, their mouths. In one ferocious moment they unleash it all upon Clyde.
Clyde pulls the 'darkness' energy from his body and forms it into a shield. He holds it out before him and uses it to direct the morphed divine energy away from him.
As soon as the attacks finish he is quick to react. He leaps into the air and - like a frisbee - launches his shield into the group, taking them down.
"Look at him go" one shinobi notes.
"Yeah" her friend nods, "I'm really glad that he is on our side".
Kushina fights in the battle alongside her fellow shinobi. She deflects an attack away from her friend before marvelling at the fighting ability of Clyde. 'Naruto… you really managed to beat this guy?'.
Lara's emotions are conflicted. She wants to make Clyde understand that she is his superior in every way, she wants those to be his last moment's thoughts. In that sense she is glad the colonels aren't doing much damage. She is also slightly disappointed though, given the effort her deputy put into this, 'I had expected them to hold up better'.
'I don't need to activate a golden cloak to stand up to people like this' Clyde shouts in his mind. If he is going to fight Lara he must conserve his energy while fighting small battles like this.
A whole group of colonels attack Clyde next. This is not the sort of group he can take out all in one go. They synchronise their attacks in a way he greatly admires, few groups are drilled to perform so well together and he has worked hard for years to make his colonels function so.
Still, it is not enough.
He avoids each of their attacks, not wasting a moment as he dodges elements hot and cold, light and heavy. After each dodge he checks for an opening and finds it, knocking out his opponent with a single kick.
The colonels fall before him like skittles.
It's an awe-inspiring demonstration of strength that stuns even Peterson.
One colonel. One more colonel dares to approach Clyde but this one is different.
This one also has 'darkness' as his element. His elemental powers are equal with Clyde's.
'This man has 'darkness' as his element, just like you do' Lara thinks to herself, 'What will you do Clyde?'.
The two stand facing each other. The battle of 'darkness' versus 'darkness'.
"Aren't you going to activate your golden cloak" the colonel taunts, hoping to make Clyde use a fraction more of his divine energy.
Clyde doesn't even flinch and begins walking slowly and calmly towards the colonel.
The message is clear, it's a show of strength.
"Don't regret it" the colonel yells as he leaps at Clyde and throws a punch at him.
The punch is clearly on a different level to the ones before, the level of a normal general. Clyde should be concerned about this, everyone else who watches him is.
However, things don't go that way.
Clyde dodges without even moving his torso, he simply tilts his head to the side to avoid the punch.
As the colonel's own momentum carries him towards his opponent, Clyde grabs him, catching hold of his face using his palm and slams his head down into the ground.
He does it in one attack.
Clyde doesn't even see how everyone reacts, despite their enormous surprise. His eyes go straight where he wanted the message to go. His eyes find Lara's.
She smiles, feeling inexplicably euphoric after seeing his power.
They are alone for just an instant, in their own pocket world.
They both realise that this is where their fate will be decided.
They realise that their actions will affect the destiny of one another and that they are a true pivot point around which all of reality will move.
Elliot feels the irritation coursing through his body, only this time it is more intense. He is certain that Clyde had not met that colonel before. That colonel knew almost everything about Clyde. Both were using normal element cloaks, both had roughly equal divine energy in the states they were in. It doesn't make any sense, for Clyde to defeat him in a single hit, that is unthinkable, it's impossible.
"Lara" he says.
"What is it, Elliot?".
"Please allow me to fight against the traitor. I know that you wish to fight him but if he cannot even defeat me…".
"Of course" Lara concedes, "Clyde should prove he is worthy to fight against me, that will make crushing him much more satisfying".
She frowns slightly, her voice dropping in pitch. She doesn't want Elliot to win, it would ruin everything for her if he does. "Go, fight to your heart's content".
"Yes".
Elliot flies towards Clyde at full speed, traversing the enormous gap between them very quickly.
'Fight to your heart's content, what a joke' Lara muses, 'Just try and last a bit longer than those colonels you trained'.
Elliot arrives before Clyde. "It's about to get real for you" he boldly proclaims as he brushes some dust from his pristine uniform.
"General Elliot…" Clyde smiles nonchalantly.
In truth, Clyde is bluffing with this confidence. He had been hoping not to face Elliot. Defeating both Lara and her second-in-command would be almost impossible, even for him.
"You must be feeling pretty smug after defeating our colonels, however, you should know that they are nothing compared to me" he says, his powers of 'cold' slowly rising through his body. "I have mastered the element of 'cold', a transcendent element just like yours. After years of fighting under Lara's command, under the strongest general, do you really think you can defeat me?".
With a whoosh, his golden cold cloak activates.
Clyde replies in kind, activating his golden darkness cloak.
"Perhaps it is you who is feeling too smug, Elliot. Did you really think I would come here if I had absolutely no chance at victory"?
Elliot lifts his hand; the temperature drops dramatically and the air itself freezes at his command. A spear made from solid air, a golden ice-like substance condensed in his hand, brimming with divine energy.
He casts the spear forward. It flies towards Clyde significantly faster than the attacks of any colonel, this time he will have to act seriously.
He creates a dart from golden 'darkness' just as did against Naruto during the captained-six contest. He too casts the projectile forward, throwing it at Elliot.
As the two weapons clash there seems to be no contest. Without even slowing down, Clyde's dart pierces Elliot's spear straight down the middle, continuing on towards the most dutiful general in the military.
Elliot dodges at the last second. If he hadn't kept his hair so short he is certain that dart would have taken a good fraction of it.
'What is this speed?' he asks.
Taking advantage of Elliot's shock, Clyde rushes him, arriving much quicker than the chilled general believed possible. With a single strong punch Elliot is sent tumbling down to the ground. The deputy leader is forced to concentrate to maintain his balance and keep on his feet.
'This power, how could he be so strong?'.
Lara laughs loudly, clapping like a child at the zoo. "He never stood a chance, he really thought he could beat Clyde, what a fool" her face quickly turns more serious, "Only I can defeat Clyde. Only I can crush him".
Elliot cannot hear Lara's taunts from so far away, even if he could he would ignore them, he is flustered so. 'There is no way, that can't be Clyde's power. There is no way I am going to lose that easily'.
Elliot forms a spear once again, this time he will be more vigilant. He will test how strong Clyde really is, or whether that was just a fluke.
He throws the spear forward.
BOOM!
The spear explodes in mid-air.
'I felt the power of 'wind'… and then it exploded?'.
Elliot looks down from Clyde's floating position to a woman approaching from his front. It's a shinobi, she must be extremely confident to approach him.
After a moment, he recognises her.
It's Mirai.
She was there, when he killed that local.
"I'm here to avenge Dan's death" she proclaims. "Kato Dan, that is the shinobi you killed when you first came here".
"Your opponent is not him… it's me…".
Against all the odds, Mirai decides to fight the general with the transcendent element. This is a fight that only one shinobi has won before. Can she truly be the second one?
Elsewhere on the Battlefield
General Blackburn walks through the crowd of shinobi and captains that Clyde has amassed. His face is blank, his eyes vacant. He seldom bothers to even attack his enemies, only thinning their numbers with counterpunches necessitated by the opposing captains. The shinobi pose no trouble at all, other than sneak attacks, all of their efforts are easy to dodge for him.
"Boring" he mumbles as he punches one captain so hard his ribs break, "Too boring".
Something comes along to cure his boredom.
Mitsuki runs at Blackburn from the front. The general can immediately tell that his moves are better than the others. That is not all that Orochimaru's son does differently though, he raises his hand and throws down a smoke bomb to disguise his approach.
He emerges from the smoke and leaps into a flying triangle, immobilising one of Blackburn's arms.
It does little to impede the general though. His tree-trunk like arms are reflective of his strength as he lifts Mitsuki into the air like a child and slams him down into the ground.
POOF!
That was a clone.
Another Mitsuki emerges from the smoke, the real one this time. He throws a kick and connects with Blackburn's head.
It's an incredible moment for the shinobi. He has hit a general. He has no element and no other powers that could rival the likes of the Hokage but he has hit one of them. It can be done.
Blackburn staggers backwards, almost tripping over a rock. However, that is the only damage he suffers. Pitiful when he thinks about it.
As Mitsuki attacks again Blackburn punches him in the gut, deliberately holding back so that the shinobi will not die. If nobody else can then Mitsuki should entertain him for a short while.
He didn't hold back as much as he thought though. Mitsuki immediately starts coughing and a few of his fellow shinobi run to his aid. He is one of the leaders on the field for them, they realise his importance to morale and refuse to let him die, no matter the consequences.
Blackburn simply laughs, walking forwards like the shinobi tending to Mitsuki aren't even there. "That was interesting, let's continue".
A handful of Clyde's captains step between the shinobi and the general. They realise that this man must be an important part of their strategy going forward.
The captains can't stop Blackburn though, someone else must come if that is to happen. One of the true heavyweights.
Someone answers their prayers.
Two someones.
Two silver-haired Hokage arrive in Blackburn's path with a flash of incredible speed.
One of the shinobi jumps for joy.
"It's Lord 2nd and Lord 6th".
The two Hokage are under no illusion that this will be easy. They have fought Blackburn before and needed Clyde to save them that time. However, they have to lead the way in this battle, they have to be two of those eight backs. They have to fight here.
"So you two are back for more huh?" Blackburn smiles as he activates a golden 'earth' cloak.
Tobirama draws a kunai and advances on Blackburn. "Last time we were foolish. We stopped acting as we should, we became wandering shinobi, looking for our friend instead of doing our duty".
The 2nd Hokage calls upon the greatest source of chakra he has. He uses the power of the nine-tails he took from Mito and enters chakra mode.
Kakashi walks alongside his friend, clearly a coordinated attack. "You won't be so lucky this time" he says, "This time you won't be fighting two wandering shinobi. You will be fighting the Hokage".
Without warning, the 6th Hokage activates the power of his Mangekyo Sharingan, effectively summoning a marked kunai to the side of Blackburn's head.
A clone appears with his hand on the kunai, a clone of Tobirama.
Blackburn turns and smashes his fist towards the clone, child's play for someone as powerful as him.
His fist only finds air.
Tobirama seems to move instantly into a different position to evade the attack. Not only that, he also counterattacks, slicing down with a kunai and putting a deep cut in Blackburn's arm.
This is a technique he developed in the fight for Mito's life. He swaps his clone with his true body to instantly move into position for a counterattack.
Once more Tobirama swaps positions with his clone, this time giving a prime opening to his double. The double pulls his leg back as far as he can, bending his knee to the limit before unfurling it like a snake. He may be weaker than a general in this state, especially as a clone, but he can still get a solid hit in using Kurama's chakra. His boot connects with Blackburn's chest and pushes him backwards. This is not like Mitsuki's kick, Tobirama forces Blackburn to leave his feet.
The general is forced into the path of the two true bodies.
As the clone bursts into a cloud of smoke, Kakashi begins to run at the general, a rasengan starting to spin in his hand.
Blackburn is already beginning his counterattack, swinging his leg towards Kakashi.
A general. Someone so powerful and fast that most shinobi couldn't hope to follow them. Even Kakashi's reaction has been too slow previously, it has rendered Obito's ability ineffectual. He won't let that happen here. He concentrates, he won't allow these invaders to spit on his best friend's legacy.
'Focus, you can follow him, follow him, follow…'.
WOOSH!
The leg passes straight through Kakashi's body, his Sharingan keeping perfect track of it.
'Blackburn, you will have to be faster than that if you want to hit Kakashi when he is like this' Tobirama grins.
Kakashi slams the rasengan into Blackburn's chest.
A solid hit!
Blackburn grimaces as his chest lights up. If nothing else it will be red later. He flips backwards, landing on his feet before falling to one knee.
'I was definitely fast enough to hit him before' the general recalls, 'Has something fundamentally changed, or has he just improved since we last fought?'. He quickly decides that it doesn't matter, 'It looks like I'm going to be going all out against these two'.
"We told you didn't we Blackburn?".
"Oh?".
"This time things will be different!".
"This time we will win!".