THE IMPERIAL PALACE – RESISTING SENJU HASHIRAMA
To the North
Arcs of blue crackle between the outstretched arms of General Peterson as he pulls one slightly behind the other and points his open palms at his target. A moment of concentration alter and the blue arcs are enshrouded in a gold coloured powder substance, as is his entire body. He activates the power two levels beyond the normal warrior, his golden cloak. Golden cloak active, he makes one final check of his aim before launching the golden 'lightning' at Tao Ma.
The agent of 'death' doesn't even react as his body is shocked by the 'lightning'. His endurance has now reached such a point where he can completely numb himself to the pain of attacks like this. He is a rare breed, one of the few people who can look down on a general.
Recognising that a ranged attack hasn't worked, General Sheer uses her powers of 'wind' to aid her movements. Her element is one of those inclined towards increasing speed, much like Peterson's 'lightning' or Lara's 'light'. After closing in on Tao Ma, she volleys a succession of punches and kicks at his torso. She does this fully aware that it's not going to be fatal, merely in the hope that it will slow down his slaughter slightly.
Tao Ma uses a single arm to block each of the incoming strikes, partially to demoralise his opponents and partially because he requires the other arm for other reasons. Manipulating 'death' in his left hand he creates a tentacle-like construct which raises up from the earth below. The construct raps itself around Sheer at his behest and throws her back towards Peterson with enough velocity to damage them both upon impact.
Sheer braces for impact but is grateful when she slams into a stony pillar instead of her long-time comrade. The pain may be worse than it would have been, but as she looks to her side, she sees that it is General Blackburn who stopped her and saved Peterson some pain in the process.
The behemoth spins his hand in the air, gesturing as if to throw something. On the fifth spin of his hand, the 'earth' pillar raises from the ground dropping into his hand. Despite the tremendous wait placed upon him, he controls the pillar with expert precision, throwing it overhead like a javelin, heading straight for Tao Ma.
Tao Ma snorts, having dealt with people like this many times before. Gathering 'death' upon his palm he slaps his hand at the pillar, shattering it into pieces. He looks around at the generals who are attacking him, each of them using their golden cloaks to enhance their elements. He has not reached that level of power yet, but he is still confident that his skill is enough to defeat any one of them.
Blackburn doesn't give up, launching pillar after pillar at Tao Ma with greater and greater frequency.
Tao Ma rolls his eyes as he continues to slap his hand back and forth. The pillars keep coming but he keeps destroying them. If they want to turn this into a battle of attrition the numbers should favour them in theory but doing so would be a grave error. With all their leaders occupied, the homeworld military cannot mount an effective counterattack. Eventually Hashirama's followers will overwhelm them, and then the numbers game will win this battle on Tao Ma's behalf.
Tao Ma slaps his hand forward once again and hits nothing, the pillars have stop coming. It is only at this point that he looks down and notices that his feet have been frozen to the ground.
'She's got you know' Blackburn grins.
Brooks raises her hands, lifting the 'ice' up the side of Tao Ma's body so that it freezes his arms to his sides. She then glides along the ground, freezing it as she moves allowing her the superior mobility that she is feared for. She moves past him several times, striking him once each time but striking him powerfully every time.
"We're soldiers" she tells him as she hits him.
"We serve under a mighty general".
"We have been through more than you understand".
"So if you think you can defeat us…".
On the next pass, Tao Ma pulls his arms free of the 'ice' and grabs Brooks by the neck.
"Try losing your entire world, then tell me what you've been through".
With a firm grip on Brooks' neck, Tao Ma moulds his 'death' energy into the shape of a knife and strikes it towards the throat of his captive.
"Watch out!" comes the collective shout of Blackburn, Peterson and Sheer.
A shield much colder than any Tao Ma has faced before blocks the attack of his knife. The moment it shatters a powerful blow is delivered to his shoulder, forcing his grip on the child-like Brooks to release. The final general grabs his falling comrade and leaps backward, carrying her a short distance to safety.
As the rescuer comes to a halt, he once more creates a frost-based shield to repel a series of attacks from his 'death' using assailant.
"Put me down" Brooks demands as she pushes Elliot backwards.
Elliot shakes his head. "You would do well not to be so careless again Brooks, we may not be so lucky next time".
"Fine!".
Tao Ma re-evaluates Elliot. He is clearly the strongest of the five generals he must kill. If he remembers from the generals battle against Mirai, the element in question is 'cold'. Tao Ma can well believe this experiencing what he just did. Just putting his hand close to Elliot's shield he could tell that it was the coldest thing he had ever felt. He continues to watch as Elliot rallies the five generals into a tight defence.
"As you said, we're soldiers who serve under a mighty general" Elliot shouts, "We won't lose to a naïve pocket-worlder like him".
Tao Ma doesn't think much of their opinion. He doesn't exchange any words with them, he simply raises both hands into the air. In place of the one he summoned earlier, ten long-thin strings of 'death' raise up from the ground. The look of horror on Sheer's face is transparent and is a beautiful sight for Hashirama's subordinate.
"Blackburn, dome!" Elliot shouts.
Blackburn protects the five generals from the incoming whipping attacks using an 'earth' dome. Upon it's completion Elliot immediately hardens it by cooling it down as much as his 'cold' powers will allow him. Though they momentarily lose the ability to attack it gives them a moment to breathe.
"We need to work together to think of a way out of this" Elliot declares, "Now think".
"Your powers are on par Elliot; can't you defeat him?" Sheer asks.
"In theory our powers are roughly equal" Elliot admits, "But he is more skilful than I am. I am reluctant to admit it, but right now I can't defeat him".
"Then we have to work together!".
"Lara, Clyde and the pocket-worlders defeated a stronger opponent working together, but that was only possible because of their skill" Elliot says, "I don't think the five of us can defeat this man, not without luck on our side".
"Then if circumstances don't change, we are going to die here!".
Nearby
Hashirama's hand closes menacingly around the collar of Lara as she finds herself suddenly with no route to escape. She gazes at him, certain that a second ago his eyes were closed. Her suspicions are quickly confirmed but she notices that coloured markings are appearing around the edge of his eyes. She correctly determines that this is a shinobi technique that would help him find her without having looked, but there is still nothing she can do about it.
Hashirama punches Lara in the forehead for the first time.
Lara's head wobbles on her shoulders as the entire field of her vision seems to rotate from side to side. Her brain works on correcting this but may be being slowed down by its own warnings of imminent danger. Lara knows that she will be hit again but can't free up the mental processing power to protect herself.
Hashirama's fist goes back for the second punch but an arm moves underneath it before meeting with a second that has just wrapped around his neck. Clyde wrenches at his opponent as hard as he can as he holds Hashirama in this choke hold. He switches between shouting and grinding his teeth as he holds on for all he is worth.
Hashirama is not so weak as to be brought down like that. He removes his hand from Lara's collar and grabs each of Clyde's arms. Slowly but steadily he peels the generals arms away from his neck.
Unfortunately for Hashirama, he is just slow enough to give Lara sufficient time to recover. She grabs him by the armor before pulling her head back. She readies herself to lose self-control once again in the knowledge that she will be dealing the first significant blow to Hashirama she has ever managed.
Clyde spots Lara's intention and suddenly stops his attempts at choking Hashirama. He grabs the rear of the Senju clansmen's armor and pulls his head back, mirroring Lara's movements. When the two of them are ready, they slam their heads forward, sandwiching Hashirama between the two of them. Their skulls seem to vibrate against their brains, but they are certain that Hashirama must be sharing their pain.
No!
Hashirama recovers the quickest of the three.
He brings a kunai to his hand, quickly covering the surface of the weapon in 'death' energy. He turns, aiming for the man to his rear, specifically aiming for his head. Clyde tries to move back away from the attack but in the split second he has to react he still receives a nasty wound to the side of his face. That may not be all though! Hashirama skilfully flips the kunai in his hand, pointing it back at Clyde once more as he swipes it at his head once again.
Hashirama's attack misses as he is hit in the back of the head by Lara.
Lara doesn't attack just the once, desperately slamming the point of her elbow into the rear of his head as hard as she can. After the fourth hit she realises that it is doing little damage and is instead angering Hashirama. That does not stop her from attacking a fifth time.
Hashirama begins to turn to Lara but does so a little too fast. She takes advantage of this by punching his face in the opposite direction to his rotation, increasing the relative speed of her fist. She notices that this forced him back for a moment and ventures to try again.
The second proves unwise, it was a cleverly planted decoy by Hashirama who now targets the head general's face with his sharp weapon.
Clyde grabs at Hashirama's neck once again to prevent this attack from connecting, but his own attack is not successful either. Hashirama stamps his foot into the ground, kicking backwards and driving his elbow up into Clyde's chest.
As the 'darkness' wielding general hurtles backward, his painful bounces along the ground are stopped only a well-timed duo of teleportation's by Lara, bringing them to a standstill a short distance from Hashirama.
"You need to remove the 'death' from your body now, before it consumes you".
Clyde follows the order, using 'darkness' to finely slice the corrupted layers of skin from the side of his face.
He rebalances himself, looking at Hashirama who is already coming after them once again. This situation is desperate, they can't hold out for this much longer. It has not been easy adapting to Lara's orders and style of fighting but he made the decision as it was necessary. He can no longer remain calm, he can't fight against this man without panicking, it takes a greater character than his own. Luckily for him what Lara may lack in morality she makes up for in character.
As Hashirama leaps towards the two of them, Lara teleports to him, using his forward momentum to increase the power of her strike as she kicks him in the chest, driving him backward. She notes that if Hashirama has one weakness it is that his power vastly outstrips his reaction time.
With Hashirama driven backward, Lara begins to prepare a concentrated attack.
Hashirama creates a wooden wall in front of Lara and before she can react he closes the distance to that wall and thrusts his hand through it, grabbing her by the neck. She tries to peel his hand away but has no luck, even one so strong as her has no chance of breaking his vice-like grip. He lifts her and slams her into the ground.
With Lara immobilised he jumps back away from her before raising his hand towards the sky. Suddenly a wood dragon is created and begins to divebomb towards the senseless head general. Hashirama doesn't wait while she regains her senses, instead enhancing the dragon with his element of 'death' increasing both it's lethality and its speed.
Just as the dragon is about to strike Lara, Clyde positions himself between the two of them and uses his concentrated defence to hold it back. Even the concentrated defence can only hold for so long though and under the tremendous weight of the dragon Clyde drops down to a single knee.
"Lara! Lara come! I can't hold it Lara he's too strong!".
Lara's vision begins to return to her.
"Lara!".
Recognising the voice, Lara reaches out, grabbing Clyde's hand and teleporting the two of them a short distance to safety.
With the two of them out of the way the wood dragon slams into the ground, shaking the surrounding area with tremendous vibrations.
"He's different to last time" Lara gasps "He's not toying with us anymore, he's trying to k ill us".
"I know. I did notice the giant dragon of 'death' trying to kill us" Clyde replies.
"Shut up fool!".
"Do you have any ideas about how to win then?".
"The only chance is if I can hit him with a concentrated attack" Lara says, "If you can force an opening there, do it, do it at all costs".
The two of them are offered a momentary reprieve though.
Hashirama's attention moves away from them and his eyes turn to the south.
Hashirama sighs.
"I can feel it now… he is coming".
To the South
Minato arches his arm and casts his kunai forward once again before teleporting to it, doing as he has been for several minutes now. He eternally casts his eyes to the horizon, hoping to see that glimpse of hope.
Eventually he does.
A man runs towards him with tremendous speed.
"Naruto!" Minato shouts, waving to the fast-moving man.
Naruto arcs his run, moving to his father's side while circulating 'life' energy through his own body.
"Dad, it was Sarada" he says, "It must have been her plan all along. Dad, Sarada isn't our enemy anymore, she…".
"Naruto, we don't have time to talk, we need to head north, now!".
Minato uses Kurama's chakra, cloaking his body in the orange chakra of the nine-tails. He moulds this chakra into the shape of a hand and uses it to create a path between his own chakra and Naruto's. Turning, he throws the kunai back in the direction he just came from and begins bringing Naruto north with him.
"From what you were saying it seems like we are trusting Sarada again, is that a good idea" Minato asks, "She only betrayed us a short while ago and now we are entrusting her with Tsunade's life".
"It's fine" Naruto says without hesitation, "I think Sarada realised something I didn't. Sarada probably saw the doubt within my heart. I was determined to never give up, to stick to my ninja way but I had forgotten why. She may have known about this eternal hope in my heart, so she made a deceptive plot to remind me of that".
Minato listens to Naruto while moving North as quickly as he can. Whatever this eternal hope is that Naruto is speaking of, it seems to have made a difference. There is something behind the determination in Naruto's voice now. He is no longer just determined to act, he is a man of purpose, fighting for a goal. This is the man who the youth of today speak of with reverence, this is the legendary 7th Hokage.
"Dad, Sarada was on our side all along" Naruto smiles.
"Her plan must have been absurdly risky" Minato replies, "Sarada must think that your resolve is worth its weight in gold".
"It's worth a thousand times its weight in gold" Naruto answers, "I will prove it to you".
"If you're willing to bet on that, I will too Naruto. So, do you think Sarada's plan worked, are you back to full capacity".
Naruto continues to smile, "I won't doubt myself anymore. My path will be hard but no Hokage has ever had it easy. I will give my life to walk that path".
"I see".
Minato considers Naruto's words, their true, no Hokage has ever had it easy. They have all had to deal with problems. They have had to deal with world-wide wars. They have had to deal with uprisings from the Uchiha. They have had to deal with pressure from the many clans of the village. They have had to deal with plots and schemes and the eternal cunning of Uchiha Madara. It's a difficult path that makes a shinobi into a Hokage, he is no exception.
However, Hashirama is also a man who walked that path. Many would say that Hashirama's route to becoming Hokage was the hardest of all, a path that went straight through the Uchiha clan. Naruto says that he is willing to give his life to walk the difficult path, that difficult path goes straight through Senju Hashirama, something no Hokage has ever done before. To call it difficult is an understatement, especially looking at Naruto's condition.
"I know your worried dad" Naruto says, "But while I am on this path, I can't be beaten by someone like Hashirama. I won't lose to someone who has abandoned hope".
"Then do me a favour when we get there, beat him Naruto! Show him that you were right, that there is still hope. Show him what it means to the rest of us to be the Hokage".
"That's exactly what I'm going to do".
If Naruto weren't Minato's son he would find it much harder to believe him, especially considering the former's condition. Minato notes that Naruto is completely drenched in sweat and that his bleeding likely only stopped a few minutes ago. The 7th Hokage has the look of a man who is already on his last legs.
"Is it really sensible to circulate 'life' energy as we approach?" Minato asks.
"It is".
"Wont' Hashirama sense you coming?".
"Everyone will sense me coming".
Naruto's proclamation echoes in Minato's head. Naruto will make his presence known not only to intimidate Hashirama but to give hope to his allies?
"I will be a beacon of hope for our allies. I will be a symbol of the end for our enemies" Naruto declares. "The panicked look on Hashirama's face will be a symbol for all the loyal shinobi and homeworlders fighting against him".
"A symbol of what?".
"A symbol that Uzumaki Naruto is coming back!".