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Artwork: jessejzette - The 7 Generations of Hokage - Find jessejzette on deviant art.
A NEW WORLD – A UNITED ASSAULT
The Hideout
Having heard Lara's plan and Naruto's subsequent plea, the Circle made the decision to trust her once more. To the delight of the destined assailants, they will attack Carmen once more as a team of four. This is the team of four who Naruto believed in from the beginning, the perfect group of skilled warriors to take down Carmen and make an attempt on Furst Jonas' life.
As before, the various shinobi and captains rush about and make the final preparations to leave. They leave a skeleton team of their comrades behind to look after the villagers should the worst happen and ready most of the military personnel to move. Nobody should be able to find them here in this grassy plain, not in a world of such titanic size and open space, but it is always best to take precautions.
Having prepared her own stuff for the journey, Hinata stands atop a small mound in the plains. She is unsure what she can do to influence the bigger picture, and when she looks at the team of four and the other Hokage and Generals, it only reinforces her feelings. She isn't the type to give up though, she will keep pressing forward with an unwavering determination. She will never stop looking to bring her son back to the village.
Hinata begins to smile as she gazes into the distance.
"Hinata, are you alright up here?" Naruto asks as he walks up the small mound to join his fiancée.
Hinata nods. "I've never really thought about it with everything that happened, but I really like it here, don't you?".
Naruto thinks back to recent events. Hinata is right, they have been difficult to deal with. The politics has been impossible to negotiate at times. Treachery of a trusted friend has led to civil war. Battles have taken place, both physical and emotional that has made everyone question who is an ally and who is an enemy. While he avoided the war, Naruto has suffered more than most in that battle. The echo of deceit and the pain it has brought him may never leave him.
But then he looks to the surroundings and he sees nothing. Just the grass, the wind and the sunshine. This place, despite having seen so much horror, is idyllic. One could lie down here, watch the hours pass with the clouds and truly relax. If it weren't for the scarring of the environment, one wouldn't know that this world was the source of such great turmoil.
Naruto kneels and summons some divine energy to his fingertip. Using that energy, he clumsily draws a little symbol atop the mound. A leaf.
"When this is all over, we can come back here one day, can't we?" he smiles.
"I would like that" Hinata smiles. "I hope this is the last time we have to make this journey. I hope that this is the time we finally defeat her".
"We will, you can trust me on that much, right?".
"Of course I can".
Nearby Minato stands shoulder to shoulder with Tobirama. The two of them shut their eyes and try to shut out the world around them, focusing only on each other's voices. They have been given a strict set of instructions. It is not anyone's place to give orders to the Hokage, not even Uzumaki Naruto's. When the 7th Hokage asked them to help though, they were not able to refuse.
"Must have left the ground…".
"Must wait for the signal, must move before you…".
Kakashi approaches the two muttering Hokage, watching them for a second and observing their exchange. These two have fantastic battle instincts. Teleporters like them are rewarded for fast thinking but they, particularly Minato, usually excel beyond the norm. For them to be memorising actions means that they are likely to be acting on instruction, robotically rather than instinctively.
"Hey, you two are acting a bit strangely" Kakashi says, "Is everything alright?".
"Everything is fine Kakashi" his teacher replies. "The two of us just have to act in very particular circumstances. We're memorising them".
"It doesn't bear to forget these conditions" Tobirama says, "If we mess this up we may never get another chance".
Kakashi nods. "I have to ask, you two aren't angry with me, are you? I fought against you in that battle and looking back on it I wish that I hadn't. I made the wrong decision. I should have listened to you sensei, Obito would have been ashamed".
"Forget it, it doesn't bother me" Tobirama says dismissively.
"You're wrong anyway Kakashi. Obito and Rin would have been just as conflicted as you in that situation" Minato concedes. "It's no use looking back on it now, we all doubted our own actions and acted how we thought best. All that matters now is that it worked out in the end".
"It will. It's Naruto after all, my student wouldn't lose again".
"Thank you Kakashi, all that you have taught him through his life, it has helped make him into the person he is today".
"No. Naruto may have had a lot of help from a lot of different people, but he is the man he is today because of his own efforts. Nobody could have stopped him from becoming what he is. Nobody".
Minato thanks Kakashi regardless for the effort he has put into Naruto. The 6th Hokage certainly made it easier for the 7th to accomplish his goals. In a way every Hokage has helped to define their successor. Tobirama was defined by his efforts to regulate the village Hashirama left. Tsunade was defined by the secretive village left to her by Hiruzen and Minato. Naruto though, Kakashi stabilised the village for him after the war and allowed the 7th Hokage to carry the village forward into a golden age.
Close to the sentimental Hokage, Mirai watches Naruto speaking with Hinata atop the mound. She wonders just what he thinks about her and all the others who rebelled. Will he hold a grudge, wouldn't that make him a hypocrite? Naruto probably wouldn't hold a grudge, she concludes, but then wonders how someone could possess such mental strength. Naruto isn't the only one who has lived a hard life, obtaining such determination shouldn't be possible.
"Hey, you!" a woman calls to Mirai as she pushes her in the back.
Mirai stumbles forward, just about managing to stop herself falling flat on her face. She turns around to look at the one who pushed her. It is Lara! Of course it is Lara, who else would introduce themselves like that?
"You sure having a charming way of referring to people" Mirai grumbles as she dusts herself off.
"Shut up! I need to speak with you about the fight" Lara explains. "If we're going to win this fight, if we're going to defeat Carmen".
"WE?".
"Yes, WE" Lara spits the word out. "I need a shinobi's help, and you're just about the only one that I can stomach".
"Wow… thanks. That's probably the nicest thing I've ever heard you say".
Lara forces herself to hold back from rebuking Mirai. She tells herself to build bridges. What she learned from her discussion with Clyde will take a long time to fully implement. She cannot change her attitude overnight, she cannot suddenly force herself to like people, or make connections with anyone else. However, she must start somewhere, and she has decided that should be with Mirai. So, she holds herself back for now and tries to tolerate the military leader of the Hidden Leaf for just a bit longer.
"We're going to be taking this journey slowly" Lara explains. "On the way to the outer wall of the imperial palace, I need you to teach me how to move like a shinobi".
"Move like a shinobi, that's what you want to do?".
"Clyde has his concentrated defence now. I will still be weak against the scatter shot unless I can learn to dodge like you. So, teach me how to do that".
Mirai doesn't know what to make of this attitude of Lara's. "Wow" is the only thing she can think to say.
"If you're holding out for a 'please' you're going to be waiting a long time" Lara angrily declares.
"No, no, I'm not" Mirai shakes her head eagerly. "I'm just surprised you would ask. Sure, I'll try to teach you how to dodge, Lara".
Ten meters behind Lara, Himawari and Sarada watch curiously. Until recently, Mirai and Lara almost never spoke to one another. While neither is one of the leaders of their world, they each lead their world's military. It is strange to see what may be their future. Cooperation between two worlds which hopefully will extend beyond their military and into every echelon of their society.
"Is learning how to move like a shinobi even possible in that time frame?" Himawari asks Sarada.
"Not for normal people, but something tells me that Lara will be able to do it. And if Mirai can befriend her, that's only good news for us".
"Yes".
Clyde approaches Naruto atop the mound, signalling to the assembled warriors that it is very nearly time to depart for the imperial palace.
"You do know that this plan is missing a key element" Clyde says. "We're depending on you, Naruto. Even with all our schemes, I'm not sure that we will be able to truly put Carmen down for the count. Have you found a solution to that problem yet?".
Naruto opens his hand and looks down at his palm.
"I think I have. Yes. I think I have a technique strong enough for us to win. I just hope that it works".
The Imperial Palace
Carmen is initially roused by the slight tremors in the ground. She realises straight away that she is being approached by a large group of people, likely an army. She has felt this all too often recently, from two groups. This sensation has become too familiar for her, each time she feels it, it's proceeded by violence. She is either assaulted by 'death', the most unpleasant element she has ever felt, or is forced to defeat the last wielder of 'life', the one person she absolutely doesn't want to make her enemy.
Then, about five-hundred meters away from her, she feels the tremors stop. The army comes to a halt and a subtler approach is made. Four individuals separate from the massive force behind her and approach her directly. Obviously, they have come for the hidden entrance through the outer walls of the imperial palace. This group was well prepared for whatever obstacle would prevent them moving forward, they knew that she would be here.
As the group of four approach, she comes to the horrible realisation of their identity. 'No, this can't be right, my senses must be failing me. Surely, that cannot be Clyde and Lara, they have come again?'.
Clyde can tell what Carmen is thinking, he can see the distress despite her best efforts to hide it. "Your mind isn't playing tricks on you Carmen, it's the four of us, we have returned to try once more. This time, it won't be the three of us who try defeat you. All four of us will combine our strengths to get past you".
If Carmen weren't blind, she would be confronted with the most awe-inspiring sight that the alliance could put before someone. The bloodthirsty general who has led the military for hundreds of years. The caring general who has finally decided to take a stand. The last Uchiha, the Hokage who fought back against the unstoppable invasion. And the man who never gives up, the one who no matter how strong you are, it seems impossible to defeat. The four mighty warriors stand not in any form or formation, but in a straight line, equals.
'I can feel it. Even coming from Lara. Even without my sight I can read their emotions, they're resolve is stronger than before' Carmen notes as she gets to her feet. 'I don't get it, these fools, even after I tried so hard to convince them, even after I told them how pointless it was, they still want to ignore Emperor Endou's wishes. How could they? I can't let them get away with it'.
Carmen checks one last time to make sure she hasn't misinterpreted this whole situation. No, there is no chance of that. A peaceful resolution to this encounter is not realistic, that is only her wish. That means that she only has one choice, she is going to have to beat the four of them again. She is going to have to find some other way to stop them coming back next time. She is going to have to break their spirit completely.
Carmen charges towards the allied foursome.
"Clyde, you're my subordinate" Lara says. "That means you fight beside me, right?".
"Yes".
Naruto and Sarada grab Clyde and Lara by the arm respectively. The two powerful Hokage lift their generals off the ground, spin them around once and throw them towards Carmen as hard as they can.
Carmen pauses at the speed of the two incoming generals, too late to do anything about it. The two generals grab her, Clyde by the left shoulder, Lara by the right, and push her back down into the ground, scattering the earth and the grass as they do so.
Carmen's surprise at the sudden successful move does not have much time to fester. Immediately Clyde resumes the attack, stamping ruthlessly towards her. She is forced to roll out of the way, managing to evade three times before his foresight pays off. Predicting where Carmen will be, Clyde slams his foot down towards her destination, forcing her to catch his incoming foot.
While Carmen evaded, Lara created an axe of 'golden light'. She waits for the second Carmen grabs Clyde's foot, knowing that the moment one executes a counter-attack is when they are most likely susceptible to another attack. She slams the axe down only for it to be caught by Carmen. She is too weak, there is no way that she can outpace Carmen when it comes to situations like this.
Carmen pulls the axe and Clyde's foot backwards. Simultaneously, she pulls herself upward and knocks the two strongest generals down to the ground. Having got back to her feet though, Carmen senses for the first time, an incoming group of a hundred-identical people.
A selection of Naruto's clones approach Carmen on-masse, concealing within their ranks not only the real Naruto but Sarada also. Carmen condenses 'golden air' around her fist tightly, making the gas more akin to steel in hardness. She then expands that super-condensed element sending a beam-like attack through the group of clones.
As the hundred clones disappear in a puff of smoke, the two key individuals manage to avoid the blast. Approaching from the left and right respectively, Naruto and Sarada make diagonal runs toward Carmen, having avoided her attack.
'Do these fools think I can't attack in two directions at once?'.
Carmen proves her mental threat to be true, this time firing two concentrated bursts of 'golden air' towards both incoming Hokage.
Perhaps straight-line speed is a battle that none of them could win against Carmen. However, in a race of getting from A to B, Lara will always win. The bald general grabs her subordinate and teleports to the space between Naruto and the beam, leaving Clyde there before teleporting again. This time Lara places herself between Sarada and her beam.
The two generals then show their teacher just how much they have learned. Clyde activates his concentrated defence, protecting Naruto from the attack heading his direction. Mirroring this, Lara uses her concentrated attack to protect Sarada from the attack heading towards her.
'The two of them, one has mastered the concentrated defence, the other the concentrated attack' Carmen realises, 'When Lara works with the other three as well, they operate much more smoothly than they did apart'.
Carmen's deliberations are poignant but there is no time to make them. As soon as her thoughts are concluded, she notices that Naruto has created a 'life' enhanced tailed beast bomb and Sarada a 'creation' enhanced solar punch.
'But I won't let the two of them hit me'.
That sort of thinking would have worked last time.
Naruto and Sarada each arc their runs. Their inevitable meeting point is no longer Carmen, but a spot about ten meters in front of her. They drop their shoulders and move their centre of gravity with perfect synchronicity, as if they can read one another's minds.
Carmen's thinking would have worked. Last time.
'What are they doing?'.
Lara teleports to Carmen's front with Clyde right in front of her.
Clyde prepared a 'golden darkness' dart while Carmen was distracted by the two Hokage. He casts the dart forward into her knee, instantly making her fall to one foot. The second Carmen falls, Lara removes her hand from Clyde's head and places it instead atop Carmen's. Then she teleports away, moving Carmen to the exact spot of her choosing.
Lara teleports Carmen to the spot Naruto and Sarada are converging on.
'Not good' Carmen realises.
From the left, Naruto slams his 'life' enhanced tailed beast bomb into Carmen's shoulder. From the right, Sarada throws her 'creation' enhanced solar punch into Carmen's arm.
Reacting by instinct rather than strategy, Carmen activates her own concentrated defence, creating a strong armour of 'golden air' around her body, protecting her from the two blows.
As she emerges from the attack unharmed, Carmen spots the slight disbelief on the faces of the three attacking warriors. She jumps into the air, twisting her left foot on the ground to spin her as quickly as possible. Making one full rotation with her jump, she uses her elbow to strike all three of the assailants in one fluid motion, bundling them all back away from her.
'Working together they are too strong, I can't afford to let myself get caught up in my anger' Carmen tells herself. 'I'm going to have to stay calm and go all out against the four of them'.
Having calmed herself, the teacher of the two generals begins to practice what she has always preached. She begins to fluidly use her battle principles to her advantage. That starts with her foundation. She digs roots of energy into the ground, just as she did previously, and declares to the world that she will not move from this spot.
Lara makes three consecutive teleports to regroup the four fighters.
"Things just got a lot harder" Sarada admits.
Last time they fought, Carmen got caught up in her own frustration. Her rage against her two rebellious students and two stupid Hokage forced her to lose her temper. Back then, Carmen's lack of control presented an opportunity, very nearly taken by Lara, to defeat her. It was bad luck that Lara's strongest attack couldn't defeat Carmen then. It is also unfortunate that the four of them could not defeat her while she was still angry this time. With a cool and collected opponent, their job will be much tougher.
'You're going to take me seriously this time' Lara grins, 'Bring it Carmen, I am ready for you'.
Clyde takes a deep breath. Unfortunately he is a lot less excited than Lara. 'Alright, Carmen is going to fight seriously now, her style has changed. Our mobility advantage is pointless now. Lara's teleportation won't be as useful anymore. However, this will probably be OK for Naruto and Sarada'.
Naruto charges Carmen once more, activating his six paths sage mode as he prepares to use any and all techniques he needs. First, he makes use of his truth-seeking balls, firing all of them at Carmen one after another. Naruto knows that his job may have just gotten harder, but at least now he is aiming at a mostly stationary object.
Sarada also begins to charge towards Carmen. If they are going to take her down in this state, they are likely going to need to strike at the same time.
Carmen coats her hands in 'golden air', ready to repel each of the incoming attacks. For the first few truth-seeking balls, she simply slaps them away as if playing a game. She counts the attacks patiently, waiting for the last two to arrive. She leans to the side slightly, timing her counter perfectly so that she sends the two incoming projectiles towards the attacking Naruto and Sarada.
Both Hokage manage to dodge the counter-attacks, making full use of their years of training in agility.
Naruto, as he falls from his athletic evasion, creates and enhances a rasen-shuriken in his hand, waiting for the perfect moment before throwing it. He lands and realises that the perfect moment still hasn't come, Carmen is too well prepared. He steps to the left and to the right to see if there will be any opening and when he finds none he throws it forward anyway.
Carmen simply reaches her hand up and when it arrives dissipates the rasen-shuriken. Naruto's hesitation was more thought-through than it appeared though. Carmen feels the shifting of the air on her skin as Sarada slams a kunai down toward the back of the aristocrat.
Carmen dodges the incoming kunai from Sarada. While her feet are fixed to the ground, her body pivots from her hips and she cleverly avoids each incoming attack from Sarada. That's when the perfect opportunity comes, Sarada slips slightly as she strikes again, and Carmen grabs her by the wrist, tightening her hand painfully around it.
Sarada tries to get her wrist free with brute force but it doesn't work, Carmen is too strong. The 9th Hokage attempts to stun Carmen with several powerful blows to the rear of her opponent's head, but even that doesn't stun her. One thing's for sure, Carmen's endurance is monstrous. With only one idea left, Sarada jumps a few feet into the air before intensifying the gravity around her. With the gravity strengthened, Sarada is forced back towards the ground and delivers the most powerful strike to the top of Carmen's head that she can manage. This finally stuns the rooted warrior, forcing her to free Sarada's hand.
Carmen's concentration is forced back to her front where she spies Naruto, a 'life' rasengan in hand, ready to attack. Naruto throws the rasengan towards Carmen's chest, but the attack never reaches. Carmen's fist whips forward like the head of a snake, striking Naruto perfectly in the forearm to make him lose control. The rasengan detonates violently, but not violently enough to affect either of these powerful individuals.
A stunning blow connects with Naruto's head. The very impact seems to leave his skull resonating painfully and put him off balance. He puts one foot back, regaining his senses just in time to see the same punch connect again. This happens three times in quick succession. These blows are what Carmen is really capable of when she puts her back into it.
After the third blow Naruto is extremely groggy. Carmen was forced to put him into this state, not because of her malice but due to Naruto's remarkable recovery rate. As a shinobi, the Uzumaki clansmen's recovery speed was already godly, adding 'life' to that only made it even more incredible. As Naruto staggers from one foot to the other, Carmen creates a 'golden air' knife in her hand, extends her arm out to her side and swings it toward Naruto.
Sarada sees the impending danger and ceases her own attacks in favour of defending her master. She leaps up onto Carmen's shoulder, powerfully wrapping herself around the attacker's arm to restrict any movement.
With her attack stopped, Carmen reshapes the 'golden air' knife. Sarada can do nothing but watch in dread as the knife changes shape into a cylindrical object, one that she cannot identify until it is far too late. Carmen clutches the object in her hand and as the 'golden air' explodes outwards Sarada finally understands, it is a bomb.
Naruto and Sarada are driven away with the bomb's detonation, giving Carmen her much needed breathing room again.
She preserves this room by beginning to use her deadly scatter shot battle principle.
The two Hokage quickly recover from the explosion and begin to dodge the scatter shot. The shots are quick and dynamic but nothing that the two of them cannot evade.
Clyde activates his concentrated defence, forming an armour of 'golden darkness' around his body. It is not cost-effective in terms of divine energy, but like this he endures his teacher's attacks.
However, Lara proves the true surprise story. The first attack comes her way and she dodges to the side of it. Dropping her body low to the ground and then using her hand as an axis to flip around the second incoming attack.
The agility that Lara displays pays compliments to Mirai. She is dodging like a shinobi. 'Over, around, down, up… move in every direction… out of the way… useful positions'.
Carmen double checks her own senses as she realises that this movement is coming from Lara. 'I expected Clyde to use his concentrated defence, but Lara is moving like a pocket-worlder. Just what is going on?'.
Naruto forms a tailed-beast bomb in his hand. Not satisfied with the power of this attack though, he begins to spin the pure mass of chakra, much like he does with his rasen-shuriken technique. Finally, he adds his power of 'life' to the attack, creating one of the deadliest spheres he has ever produced.
Sarada gets the message, they're going to do another combined power attack. She summons lightning to her hand and while augmenting its energy with 'creation' begins to form it in a pattern described to her by her father.
'I know that technique, or at least the one it was based on' Naruto realises, 'She's gathering energy in the same formation as Sasuke did with his Indra Arrow'.
While Lara starts to funnel energy into the space in front of her, Clyde identifies these as the strongest techniques that the other members of the four have used in the past. He has no such equivalent but does his best to improvise, creating his own sphere of 'golden darkness' energy.
The four of them move on Lara's command.
"Let's go".
Naruto, Sarada and Clyde all have summoned attacks that can be used on the move, unlike Lara. The three of them dash towards their adversary, with Naruto and Sarada moving to adopt unique paths. This will be a three-pronged attack if Carmen is sensing their motion correctly. Lara on the other hand, remains stationary.
'Lara is the only one staying behind, but she can teleport' Carmen concludes, 'She can change which position the others attack from at the last second. Go on then. Show me Lara. Show me the genius of battle, which direction will they attack from? Show me just how amazing the four of you are'.
Lara does not move any of the others but does teleport herself.
First to Carmen's left, managing to evade the subsequent punch.
Next to Carmen's right, managing this time to avoid an attack with the other fist.
Now with both fists out of the way, Lara teleports to Carmen's rear.
She didn't move anyone's position, but she did distract Carmen while the other three closed the distance. Now all four of them are within striking range and Carmen has no time to defend herself.
All four attackers unleash their most powerful attacks at once.
'No other choice'.
Carmen, as her last defence, fires her own concentrated attack into the ground, using it as an omni-directional strike, knocking all four defenders back and cancelling out their respective strikes.
A terror reaches Carmen's heart for the first time since these pocket-worlders have been striking against her. If she hadn't defended against that attack, she would have been defeated!
"I congratulate the four of you. You have all gotten stronger, if not physically then mentally. It shows in the way you fight" she praises them. "But the fact that this fight is still going on is why I cannot let you pass. You will die if you pass! I'm sorry but I will stop you here, because your power right now is not enough to defeat Furst".
Sarada ignores Carmen completely. This is not over yet.
'Her scatter shot has been beaten. That's one of the battle principles down' she tells herself. 'She is already speaking about her victory, but Carmen has no idea what I've got in store for her next'.