DECLARATION OF WAR – DECLARING WAR
City Centre, Taigai, Aturia
Rana smirks at the bravado shown by Naruto and Ming Dai. They are both showing their youth with crystal clarity. Unfortunately for them, it seems that the combination of their incredible talent and short years has imbued them with an unjustified arrogance. There is no way that the two of them could possibly defeat a class 8 warrior together, much less a General. Generals in the Imperial Guard stand above all others in the class 8 world, having been trained to the extreme. They were forged in the flame of conflict after having been born amongst the best of the best.
Rana steps forward, moving towards Naruto and Ming Dai and she gestures her subordinates to back off. This fight is hers. She will capture the two of them here and it will be an end to Zahra's hopes to replace her.
Ming Dai grabs Naruto and throws him at Rana.
Naruto, hurtling through the air at speed thanks to Dai's 'strength', activates his 'life' cloak and throws a kunai over each shoulder of Rana, fixing her in position in front of him. He activates his chakra cloak, borrowing all the energy that he can from Kurama and creates a mini tailed beast bomb in his hand, filling it with as much divine energy as he can. He scouts the spot his feet will land, just a single pace from Rana so that he can add one last burst of acceleration.
Rana has scouted the spot as well. As soon as Naruto begins to descend, she jumps, sailing over the top of him and out of the reach of his attack. This is the first time Naruto has been outmanoeuvred by a hostile Homeworlder in such a fashion. Up until now he has had superior skills to his enemies, with only Headmaster Sora having shown a hint of superior skill when they were doing their bell test.
Ming Dai runs towards Rana, watching her feet and the muscles in her legs. If she intends to evade by jumping, then he will jump at the same time. It doesn't matter if he's weaker than his opponent, if he hits her as hard as he can while using the full power of his 'strength' energy, it will hurt.
Rana doesn't have to dodge him though. As he approaches, she strikes him in the chest, stepping just as his foot rises, she uses her superior speed and reaction time to hit him powerfully, knocking him back with more force than Naruto did to her two captains previously. He will surely be out of the fight for a while.
Naruto approaches the General from behind, his run low and dynamic, far superior to that of Ming Dai. Rana is not afraid though, she has tactics that she can use against people like this. She examines his approach, the way he weaves side-to-side, a very cunning evasion tactic that she wishes more of her own soldiers would adopt. It's not enough to evade her though. She turns and throws a punch, despite being over ten steps away from Naruto. Then, she bends the 'space' between them with her divine energy, bringing the space around Naruto closer to her fist.
Naruto detects Rana's attempt at tricking him with the One True Sense and moves to the side, avoiding her attack.
As Rana reacts with almost gleeful surprise, Naruto spots an opening. He approaches from the right, noticing that her right hand his now in no position to block, and attacks with the tailed beast bomb he created before.
Rana reaches unnaturally across her chest with left hand and grabs Naruto by the wrist, stopping the tailed beast bomb short. She gets her right hand back into it's natural position and slaps Naruto halfway down his arm as hard as she can, dissipating the energy he uses to sustain the tailed beast bomb.
Naruto leaps, using Rana's grip on his wrist as a pivot so that he can turn upside down in the air. She surely wasn't expecting him to attack from above. He kicks downwards powerfully, using the One True Sense and his Six Paths Sage Mode powers to gauge where it will be hardest for her to evade him. He attacks with every bit of power he can generate from his waist and prays that he will at least be able to land one attack.
Rana doesn't dodge this time, but she does block. She uses divine energy to create a shield of 'space' energy above her head, a shield that Naruto cannot penetrate level of strength.
Naruto lands on the shield, throwing a shuriken like a boomerang, it spins and approaches Rana from behind, flying beneath the shield. He takes hold of the shield and uses it to swing downwards, aiming to kick her from the front. Rana steps to the side, causing the shuriken to miss and fly back towards Naruto, a powerful projectile of his own making that he barely dodge himself.
As Rana stops aside, she is suddenly surprised by a tiny vibration in the ground. She looks around to see that Ming Dai is approaching once again.
Ming Dai makes a deliberate show of closing his eyes to draw Naruto's attention. That plays to Naruto's strengths. The 7th Hokage throws a smoke bomb clouding the two of them. He runs into the smoke and using the One True Sense he locates his sibling pupil. He places her in front of Rana and tells him to swing as hard as he can.
Rana knows what's coming, she uses 'space' energy to create a vacuum just beyond the range of the smoke, sucking it away and bringing her two assailants back into view. She just about manages to move backwards, avoiding the incoming uppercut from Ming Dai. That is enough to breathe a sigh of relief.
But then Naruto disappears in a puff of smoke.
It's a technique she doesn't know about, it's one of Naruto's shadow clones.
Suddenly, an incredible amount of divine energy gathers behind Rana. All of it seems to be 'life' energy. She still begins to turn around and sees that energy is pouring towards Naruto from the surroundings, energy that transcends his level. This must be his concentrated attack. Indeed, this is the life-gathering rasengan.
Naruto leaps towards Rana with the life-gathering rasengan in hand.
Rana leaps backwards, her first priority to escape Naruto's impending attack she overlooks the fact that Ming Dai is behind her.
Dai motions to grab Rana forcing an evasion from her. With his many sensory powers stacked atop one another though, Naruto was able to judge perfectly how she would dodge and has already corrected his approach mid leap.
Rana is left with only one choice left, she bends 'space' to put an unbridgeable distance between herself and Naruto, aiming to rob him of all momentum when he eventually arrives before her and attacks.
Naruto has a way to get past this though. He drops another smoke bomb to hide the technique that he dare not show to General Rana. When covered by smoke, he detonates a fraction of his core, sending all of the energy he can to his right leg. Instantly his power in the limb is multiplied several times over.
Naruto emerges from the smoke moving many times faster than before, too fast even for Rana to avoid him with 'space' energy.
He arrives before the General and slams the life-gathering rasengan into her abdomen as hard as he can.
Normally this would be game over in one of Naruto's fights. He is not fighting a normal opponent though; he is fighting a general. He notices that something is off about Rana's body, it seems to be rippling. He notices that her entire presence in this realm is wrong. Rana is bending space to minimise the damage to her from the attack, a manipulation of divine energy that takes an unbelievable amount of practice.
Naruto's most powerful attack is cancelled out completely.
This is Rana's concentrated defence.
She looks at the two of them with the same smirk she began the fight with. They had more skill than she expected but this nothing she couldn't handle. Ming Dai knows that all this time she has been using another of the battle principles developed by Carmen, specifically regulation. Her energy reserves have been replenishing as quickly as they have been used up during this fight. She was never going to lose, whereas the two of them have been fighting as hard as they could.
It should be obvious by now that they have lost.
However, when Ming Dai looks across at Naruto, he sees the Uzumaki clansmen has not lost his will to fight. He smiles and clenches his own fist, determined that he will not give up either.
Rana is more impressed than she was before, she now understands what the big deal is about Naruto. Ming Dai isn't bad either. These students of Headmaster Sora live up to their master's name.
However, now it's over.
Or at least that's what she thinks, until she looks to the top of the straight hilly road.
There is one man stood at the top, and naturally there is only one person left in the city of Taigai that would dare to stand up to her. This is of course the Leader of the War Council, Yuuki Terukatsu. She's surprised to see him here, surely the War Council would not be so stupid as to endorse Uzumaki Naruto, so he is probably here on his own.
After the incident in the Council Chambers previously, Rana considered that a massive revolt by the War Council was likely, so she summoned everyone within range of the city. She is not afraid of the Leader of the War Council, especially when he stands alone atop the hill.
But Yuuki Terukatsu is not alone.
He is first joined by Minato and Himawari.
Then come the Leader of the North Wing and the Leader of the South Wing.
Then comes the rest of the War Council.
Suddenly there is quite a crowd standing at the top of the hill. It hasn't escaped Rana's notice that this is the perfect spot for them to attack from above. She did this in the first place as a psychological ploy, hoping that it would make their absence stand out more, that it would diminish Naruto's spirit. It seems to have backfired on her now, she never expected the council to do this.
"You don't want to do this Terukatsu," she whispers from the bottom of the hill.
She still believes that she can win, but if she were to completely eliminate the War Council it would not be popular and would perhaps make a civil war more likely. She would likely not escape discipline, neither would King Max. However, in present circumstances letting Naruto go might be worse, especially when this is a battle that she can win. She is left with no choice but to hope that either the council backs off, or that Furst is desperate to get his hands-on Naruto at all cost.
Yuuki Terukatsu begins to walk down the hill, at the head of the War Council.
There is a resounding bang. The War Council marches in unison and every fourth step they slam their feet down at the same time. It sends out a deafening wave of sound with a pressure that can be felt even at the bottom of the hill.
This is an iconic march from the previous war that Rana has not seen in a very long time.
Rana raises her hand and condenses golden 'space' energy into a ball of light, similar to Naruto's rasengan. Without warning, she fires it in the direction of the War Council, aiming it so that it sails over their head.
The attempt at intimidating the War Council has not worked.
Not one of them had to utter a word to another. They just continue marching, every fourth step a wall of sound, advancing on Rana.
Things really change though when Rana sees something, she thought the world would never see again. From behind his back, Yuuki Terukatsu produces a long horn. She recognises this straight away, this is the missing fabled artefact from the conflict with the Dark Dimension. This is the Horn of Endou Akashi.
Terukatsu lifts the horn high into the air, a signal for the onlookers.
Suddenly, from the buildings either side of the road, thousands of people emerge. Their powers are unremarkable, but their numbers are staggering. Rana always speculated that these people existed. These are the people of Taigai who have understood an element but were never conscripted into the military, because the War Council got to them first.
Now this is a fight that she cannot win.
Terukatsu hands the horn to the Leader of the North Wing and nods to him.
Rana knows the situation is now beyond salvation. This is already Uzumaki Naruto's greatest victory. This is already her greatest failure. Between them, they have persuaded the War Council to commit treason.
The Leader of the North Wing blows the horn.
The sound of the horn fills the air, and together, the War Council charges towards the Imperial Guard.
Rana tries to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. The only way to do that now is to kill Naruto before the War Council can get to her. She reaches for Naruto and Ming Dai but sees a man has appeared between them who looks very similar to Naruto. This is of course the 4th Hokage. He grabs the two students of Sora and teleports back to safety.
Now there is nothing Rana can do.
Naruto watches with Minato and Ming Dai from the top of the road. He watches as Yuuki Terukatsu charges towards Rana and she runs. The Imperial Guard all try to escape, with Rana helping many of them to run faster with her 'space' energy. The majority cannot escape though. Terukatsu captures many in a wave of his spectacular and practiced 'silver' energy. He, the North Wing, and the South Wing Leaders work together with a practiced teamwork from many years ago. Clearing up the stragglers and trying to chase down Rana.
Its obvious from this vantage point that they will not catch her, but it is still a historic sight to see. The War Council are chasing the Imperial Guard from the city. Ming Dai knows that this is unheard of. Most people in Homeworld are mortal, they live for about 70 years and have only ever known life under Furst's rule, in that time nothing like this has ever happened. Since Furst came to power, the Imperial Guard has regulated every city in Homeworld, they have never been defied like this. It's a piece of history.
One Hour Later, The War Council Chambers
Rana was right, Terukatsu has more influence in this city than anyone else. It takes only one hour for he and the War Council to completely remove all Imperial Guard presence from the city, from their city. He knows that fearing retribution there will need to be a mass evacuation in the coming days, that even the War Council cannot stand up to the king. However, today they have made their stand, today they have won.
The entire War Council reunites in their chambers where they have instructed Naruto to wait for them. They are less hostile to him than before, many patting him on the shoulder or shaking his hand as they pass him and retake their seats in the North and South wings. Still, Naruto is a bit confused by their movements and what they intend.
Yuuki Terukatsu clarifies things as he walks past the Uzumaki clansmen and retakes his seat at the head of the chamber.
"I deem that the events of today mark a sufficient change in circumstances. Therefore, we are free to discuss the issue of declaring war once again."
Naruto understands perfectly now.
Terukatsu looks to the leaders of the two wings, receiving a nod of approval from each of them. He then announces to Naruto that the chamber has given him permission to speak in front of them once again. He has one last chance to convince them. He has one last chance for them to change their mind, for them to declare war.
"What you've done today, is not enough!" Naruto begins.
The War Council is shocked, as our Naruto's companions. They never expected him to start off this way.
"You have helped one city today, but you didn't move until you saw the fallen hospital. Not until you were forced to look into the face of the suffering that has plagued this world for years, that people have endured silently, not knowing that they have any other choice.
"For years you sat here in your chamber, debating issues that don't matter, discussing things that are never going to happen. You buried your heads in the sand, so that you couldn't see the pain all around you.
"It's too long. You may say now that you couldn't see what was in front of you, but originally you must have known, you must have made a decision to hide yourselves in here. You knew they were suffering, but you didn't want to know, because you were afraid to do anything about it. You have opened your eyes for one day, you have done a great thing and freed this city, but that is not enough!
"Even if you freed Taigai for an eternity it wouldn't be enough. There are people out there, in cities I have never seen, towns I have never been to, villages where I will never go. They don't have a War Council. Who is going to stand up for them? You said Furst wasn't so bad because of what you saw here in Taigai, but you weren't looking far enough. There is suffering places beyond this city. What you've done here is not enough!
"You came to my rescue, and to Dai's rescue, but that isn't all you need to do. While you guys sit around and watch all this pain, I'm going to do something about it. I'm going to fight, in every country, every city and every town. I'll fight the Imperial Guard, I'll fight the generals, the royals and eventually Emperor Furst Jonas himself! This victory is just the start but alone it is not enough!
"When I leave this city, I will be just one man. Even with the others who came here with me, we're a small group compared to our enemy. That's why I need your help, because there is a lot of work ahead of us and alone, I could never overcome the challenges that face us.
"That's why I'm begging you this final time, to stop sitting around here in the War Council Chambers and to do the right thing. Help me to fight the empire, help me to take down the emperor.
"When Furst is defeated and Homeworld is free, then your job will finally be done. You will have done enough.
"Please, help me."
Terukatsu looks to the Leaders of the North and South Wings, waiting for them to gather the opinions of those behind them, for them to tally the votes. It is perhaps the quickest vote he has ever seen in the chamber and he is not surprised. Perhaps everything he has heard about Naruto is true. Today he has seen a miracle, if he can do this time and again then the emperor should be afraid of him.
The votes from the North Wing are tallied and passed to Terukatsu.
The votes from the South Wing are tallied and passed to Terukatsu as well.
He looks down at the records given to him. The mathematics here is not difficult. The decision of the War Council is unanimous.
Yuuki Terukatsu gets to his feet and the entire chamber follows suit. They stand in unison as he makes clear the result of their most important decision in hundreds of years.
"I, Yuuki Terukatsu, Leader of the Homeworld War Council speak on behalf of the free people of Homeworld. We declare as one people, from the nations Okarin, Aturia, Ewoa, Gavaria, Seblix, Cheqitori and Fayoth that we will no longer stand for the oppression of the False Emperor Furst Jonas.
"Therefore, it is our joint decision to stand against him.
"On behalf of the War Council, I declare war against Furst Jonas."
The chamber roars its approval at the decision. This is first truly valuable thing they have done in years. They know that many of them will die in this conflict, that the chances of victory are slim, however, for once they can look at themselves in the mirror and feel good about what they are doing. This is the right thing to do, no matter how high the cost may be, no matter how much they may suffer.
Ming Dai congratulates Naruto, shaking him firmly by the hand as his daughter hugs him from behind. It is as they suspected, the moment he awoke from his meditation and came back to them things started to move in the right direction. Headmaster Sora's faith in him was not misplaced.
Terukatsu approaches Naruto and nods to him. Once again, he is doing the most unusual thing and displaying some emotion. He is smiling.
This is the day that Yuuki Terukatsu and Uzumaki Naruto shake hands as comrades.
This is the day they declared war against Furst Jonas.
This is the day the war begins.