DECLARATION OF WAR – TEAM 7 REUNITED
North Aturia
Hinata looks on at these newcomers curiously. Naruto knew them before they even arrived, but he hasn't described anyone matching their description to her since they reunited. They must have known each other in the pocket-world. Did she hear them call each other teammates? Why does he seem so relaxed now that he stands alongside this strange man?
Naruto and Sasuke charge alongside one another towards Zahra. Naruto prepares a rasengan in his hand and draws back his arm, ready to push it towards Zahra, but then he unexpectedly bends at his waist. Sasuke steps on Naruto's back, using it as a platform to leap at Zahra, kicking towards her head. Zahra is able to block the initial kick, but not the subsequent rasengan that is thrust into her abdomen. She is knocked back into a nearby tree.
Zahra looks at the two of them in surprise. This is not the first time a combination attack has been used against her, but it is undoubtedly the first that has been performed so effectively. The timing, the speed, the positioning, it's like these two pocket-worlders could read one another's minds.
They don't stop attacking either. They don't let up for even a moment. Sasuke throws his sword towards Zahra such that it will obviously sail over her shoulder. This is an old trick for him now, one he doesn't mind showing her at this early stage in the fight.
When Zahra lets the sword move past her shoulder and embed itself in the tree, she adopts a defensive position, ready for her opponents to rush her once again. Shockingly the sword disappears, and Uzumaki Naruto appears in it's place. He slices downward with one of the pocket-worlders weapons clad in 'life' energy, he manages to cut her arm once again. She manages to barely escape the second attack he throws in her direction due to her superior speed.
Sasuke smirks.
Naruto grins.
This is the safest either of them have felt since coming to the future. They have felt more comfortable with others of course, they have found others who they can talk to more easily and who they eat alongside happily. There is no comparing to the company of one another though. They have each walked a path that only the other fully understands and when they battle together all their troubles seem to slide away. They have fought so many times now they know each other inside out, their minds meld into one consciousness more powerful than they could possibly be apart.
"Hey Sakura, hurry up with the healing," Sasuke says.
"Yo Sakura, it's good to see you," Naruto adds. "It would be handy if you could hurry up, I would have been done by now."
Sakura receives a series of these comments from her teammates making her more and more angry as they continue to fight with their opponent. Doing this wasn't her choice, it was Naruto's fault for letting his allies get injured. Her frustration grows further and further until her two condescending teammates allow their opponent to slip past for a moment. Zahra clearly identifies the others as a target, a weakness to target first. Sakura refuses to let that happen.
Sakura intercepts Zahra, using her 'strength' energy to knock her backwards powerfully.
Zahra, having seen 'healing' energy coming from her, never expected Sakura to also have command of 'strength' energy. 'Strength' users make for some of the most powerful attackers around. It is one of the few elements that someone could use two battle classes below her and still hurt her. She curses herself for this oversight.
Feeling that she has made her point to her teammates, Sakura looks back at them. She is surprised to see that they are not running, they are smiling. They let Zahra through because they worked out that she would underestimate her. They even knew that she would jump in the way and stop her, and they let it all happen. While they may childishly rejoice their ability to predict this way will go, it frustrates Sakura even further.
Sakura strikes Zahra once more, driving her back into the path of Naruto and Sasuke.
"Thanks for the assist," Naruto says as they converge on the colonel.
Naruto grips Zahra by the arms from behind, leaving her wide open for an attack from Sasuke. The Shadow Hokage leaps over his counterpart, flipping in the air before throwing a series of strikes in Zahra's direction.
Zahra may be only one person, and she may be facing the most remarkable teamwork she has ever encountered, but the power advantage is still hers. She breaks free of Naruto's grip and establishes a grip of her own, catching hold of both their arms. She slams them together before throwing them in the direction of the others, hoping to catch them all in one huge bundle.
Sasuke uses 'spacetime' energy to slow them down calmly, bringing them to a stop.
Zahra unleashes a huge blast of golden 'gale' energy in their direction, a blast that would be enough eliminate them all under normal circumstances. This is the difference between Zahra and a real general though. In this situation, a general would have been well prepared for their opponents, a general would have expected them to be extraordinary.
Naruto and Sasuke raise their hands, simultaneously bringing forward 'life' and 'spacetime' energy, as well as a tremendous wave of chakra. They emerge unharmed from the blast of energy.
Zahra frowns at the defence that the two of them seem to have built around themselves and their allies. There is a fox, glowing with a combination of 'life' energy and a strange orange shade. Surrounding the fox is what seems to be a suit of armor, coloured purple and laced with Sasuke's viridian 'spacetime' energy. Despite being made from divine energy of an inferior quality, the mastery with which the technique was used was enough to keep everyone safe from her attack.
"Slowing us down with your powers, that was pretty cool," Naruto remarks, "It's time that I show you what I can do."
"Then let me put you right next to her."
The viridian energy flows from Sasuke's hand, swirling into a shape Naruto recognises from recent days as a portal. A speck of the same viridian energy appears next to Zahra. Naruto smirks, he was only able to notice that because of the One True Sense. Sasuke must have noticed that his senses have improved since they last fought together.
Naruto powers-up his leg and launches himself into the portal.
Naruto appears next to Zahra.
Naruto powers-up his arm and strikes Zahra, blasting her back through the jungle, felling several of the tall dark trees.
Zahra, despite her frustration gets to her feet. She smiles to herself and shakes her head. She dusts herself down and walks calmly back towards her two opponents, noticing that they have now reunited. It seems that she wants to talk with them and if they thought she had any intention of making peace they might listen, but they are not so naïve.
Sasuke opens up another small portal and Naruto throws a kunai through.
The kunai flies towards Zahra's head. It is only thanks to her superior speed and reaction time that she escapes with a cut on the cheek. Her carelessness in the face of her opponents almost cost her life.
Zahra drops into a defensive position, not planning to get hit by surprise again.
"It's obvious that you two have impeccable teamwork," Zahra says. "I think you should reassess your chances of victory though. Neither of you two understand the battle principle of regulation, I can see it. Against me, a superior opponent, your energy reserves are gradually depleting, and despite your best efforts I am still standing. When you combine with those behind you, this might actually be a fair fight."
Thanks to the One True Sense, Naruto knows that Sakura has finished healing the others. He sees what Zahra is concerned about, but her concerns are very much misguided. He struggles to hold back a laugh, wishing he could play it cool like Sasuke is doing. Zahra may have been considered for the position of general, but he now appreciates what Claude the Owl said before. In the brief time he fought Rana he understood that she was a formidable opponent, that's why he held back from using his divine oddity against her. Zahra is different though, she's an idiot.
Hinata is shocked to see Naruto laughing at the situation. She is willing to admit that when working with Sasuke, Naruto has gotten control of the fight much better than when he fought with her. However, Zahra is right; if the fight keeps going like this the colonel will win. She wonders what it is he sees, what this stubborn fool from the pocket-world believes will happen?
"You clearly haven't been paying much attention colonel," Sasuke says.
"Until now we have been focusing on keeping the others safe," Naruto says with a chuckle.
"In other words, we were holding back. When we come at you with our full power, do you really think that you will be able to withstand it?"
"I won't fall for your bluff," Zahra says.
"It's not a bluff," Naruto replies defiantly, "We have no intention of accepting any help from any of the others. Sasuke and I will go all out, and we will defeat you with just the two of us."
Hinata holds her head in her hands. Clearly the pocket-worlders have become delusional. Naruto was working with multiple teammates before. Those previous teammates may not have grown up with him, but they should have been compatible partners in a fight. Two were his predecessors, one was his descendant, one had perfect instinct, she was allegedly his wife. How could this one man, who seemingly has nothing in common with Naruto, be so different to all the others?
"You're worried?" Himawari asks.
"He's bluffing," she answers.
"He's not bluffing. Just believe in the two of them, they will definitely win this."
Naruto tells the others to get back, but Sasuke hasn't the patience to wait for them to react. He uses 'spacetime' energy to form a portal below each of them, shifting them back a good distance, out of harm's way. There is only one exception to this. He keeps Sakura with them, telling her that she is their teammate and they may need her help if they get into trouble.
Sasuke's jokes do nothing to allay Sakura's frustrations from before. On the inside she is happy though. Seeing her two teammates, the unbeatable duo, fighting alongside each other like this is nostalgic. It reminds her of a simpler time in life, a time when fights were frequent and dangerous but that this crazy pair would find a way to overcome all obstacles that were placed in their path.
Naruto and Sasuke rush towards Zahra, moving in perfect unison. They make countless steps each second, but each is timed ideally to match that of their partner. When they finally reach Zahra, she expected them to try some trick like last time where they weaved in and out of each other, but they don't try anything like that. Naruto and Sasuke punch Zahra, simultaneously, as hard as they can.
Zahra puts her palms out to catch the dual incoming blows, expecting them not to be very powerful since they come from warriors below her level. The energy from the two punches seem to enhance each other, increasing the power of each strike and pushing her backwards. It is as if she were struck by a fellow class 8.
As Zahra retreats through the trees Naruto and Sasuke weave between them. They use well timed combinations of Sasuke's teleportation abilities and Naruto's ability to power-up his limbs. Despite being technically weaker than Zahra they overtake her, arriving in front of her threatening to throw another pair of punches.
Zahra kicks Sasuke before he can punch her, knowing that a single punch from Naruto may hurt but will be insignificant in comparison. This brings her to a one-on-one exchange of strikes with the 7th Hokage. He uses his divine oddity to land the first three strikes in the exchange, but she knows that she will now soon have the upper hand.
Just when Zahra is about to strike back at Naruto, an enormous viridian arrow flies in between them. This puts off her timing but does nothing to affect Naruto's, who hits a fourth time consecutively. These arrows continue to rain in her direction as the exchange goes on, each coming from Sasuke's Susano.
Fed up, Zahra runs in Sasuke's direction. Sasuke sees this deactivates his Susano and runs back at Zahra. A foot trips Zahra from behind, Naruto using his divine oddity to catch up with her. Sasuke then uses his 'spacetime' abilities to shift Naruto in front of Zahra, there he uppercuts her falling chin with his divine oddity, leaving the path open for Sasuke. Sasuke's attack looks incredibly slow to Zahra at first, reducing the urgency with which she would have attempted to dodge it. But, when Sasuke's fist is just an inch from Zahra's abdomen, it suddenly speeds up dozens of times over, hitting her with great force.
Zahra does get to her feet again, finding herself trapped between the two mighty shinobi. She finds herself terrified to make the first move. It seems that no matter what she does they have an answer to it. No matter what, one of their confusing powers will be there to thwart her, and despite the improbability of any technique being used, they each know exactly what the other will do.
Having refused to move first, Zahra finds herself being batted backwards and forwards between Naruto and Sasuke. Each punch seems to reignite energy dying down from the previous, making for an endless stream of pain.
Naruto and Sasuke get closer to one another as they knock Zahra back and forward, increasing the rate at which they strike the colonel. As the strike rate increases so does the damage dealt and the difficulty of Zahra's attempted counterattacks. It is far too late for her to break out of this chain now, she will either have to tough it out until the two of them run out of energy or will have to rely on their mercy.
Naruto kicks Zahra in Sakura's direction.
Sakura punches Zahra back towards Sasuke.
"Can't you get on with it," Sakura says, "You two should have finished this by now!"
Naruto and Sasuke switch from using their preferred hand, each to prepare for their own specialised attack. Naruto prepares a life-gathering rasengan. Sasuke prepares a chidori, manipulating it with 'spacetime' energy, a manipulation so specific that observers can watch the arcs of lightning passing through the air.
Sasuke nods to Sakura.
Team 7's great healer leaps into the middle. She grabs Zahra by the shoulders and slams her back down into the ground. She quickly lifts her back up off the floor and tosses her a short way into the air. Now the colonel is in the middle, unable to defend herself, heavily wounded and with two powerful attacks coming in her direction.
Naruto and Sasuke attack!
The chidori and the rasengan connect!
The outpouring of energy is enormous. Even from a distance Himawari can feel a few stings as the 'spacetime' and 'life' particles bump up against her skin. She is glad that she wasn't in the middle of that. However, Zahra is an experienced class 8 warrior, with all kinds of defences, so she closes her eyes and prays that the attack has worked.
Standing in the midst of the explosion though are Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. Each of them are smiling, confident of their victory as the light from the explosion stops obstructing their view. Their trust in each other is proved correct. As the light dies down, Zahra is revealed.
Zahra is down!
Zahra is not moving!
They have won.
The members of team 7 congratulate one another. They embrace, having spent years training to reach this point. They have all survived so much. Attacks from the 1st and 5th Hokage, attacks from the Homeworld Military, attacks from the Imperial Guard, even attacks from Furst Jonas himself. It is all worth it now that they can be together again. Now the empire should truly be afraid.
Seeing her mother looking on in astonishment, Himawari offers an explanation.
"In our world young warriors are called shinobi. They are split into teams of three, selected based on their skills so that they work well with each other. For years the best team we had consisted of three powerful shinobi. Eventually those three each took on a student of their own, each a member of the broken team 7. They trained them separately without realising that they would one day become a team again.
"Team 7 consisted of three powerful shinobi. Uzumaki Naruto who went on to become our best Hokage. Uchiha Sasuke who went on to protect the village from the places the rest of us cannot see. Haruno Sakura who went on to become the greatest medic that our village has ever seen. When they reunited, they turned the tide in our greatest war.
"You don't need to worry about the future of Homeworld now. If there is any team that can reclaim the empire from Furst Jonas, it is the one standing right in front of you."
Seeing Naruto and Sasuke's fists bum pinto each other, Hinata's mind is filled with a rush of images. Two children. Small Naruto. Small Sasuke. A classroom. A fight. Two hands full of energy. The energy clashes. More destruction. They grow older. They keep fighting. Everything changes around them. They stay the same. A fateful day arrives. Everything changes. They become inseparable. They stand atop a stone monument. They protect everyone.
Hinata's mind comes back to the present.
"Now everything will be fine," Himawari says, "Team 7 has been reunited."
Author Note
Hi All,
This is the final chapter of part 10 (Declaration of War). I really hope you have enjoyed it.
In the next couple of days I will be releasing a special chapter that is set in the past.
This chapter will help to explain how Endou Hinata and Hyuuga Hinata both exist.
After releasing the special chapter I may take a week's break.
Writing part 10 has been fun but very tiring.
Thanks for all the very kind things you have said as I have written part 10.
I look forward to writing part 11.
Thanks for reading,
Me
Battle Classes in this Chapter
Uzumaki Naruto (7) = Life (2) + Transcendent (2) + Shinobi (3)
Hannah (7) = [Light + Darkness] (3) + Transcendent (1) + Combo (1) + Manual (1) + Divine Ability (1)
Namikaze Minato (6) = Wind (3) + Shinobi (3)
Claude (6) = Flight (3) + Manual (3)
Endou Hinata (7) = Fire (3) + Divine Ability (2) + Shinobi (2) - Also has tier 1 water understanding
Yoshida Mana (6) = Lightning (3) + Manual (2) + Divine Ability (1)
Colonel Fadel Zahra (8) = Gale (3) + Transcendent (1) + Manual (3) + Divine Ability (1)
Uchiha Sasuke (7) = Spacetime (2) + Transcendent (2) + Shinobi (3)
Haruno Sakura (6) = [Healing + Strength] (1) + Combo (1) + Transcendent (1) + Shinobi (3)
Himawari (?)
Kushina (?)
In Response to Guest's Question
About various subjects
- Naruto can't absorb divine energy the same way he can chakra
- Sasuke's potential level has never been measured but would be less than Naruto's
- The difference between levels increases the greater the level, a pair of class 1s may be able to beat a class 2, at higher classes this is very rare. Pocket-worlders tend to have a higher battle skill though so it happens more often for them. I wouldn't like to put a ratio to it though.
- When past-Hinata was brought forward in time, future-Hinata disappeared, I believe I said this in chapter 2. That's going back a long way.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to Engineer's Questions
About various subjects
Odion and Dodi are both class 8 but have much greater battle skill than Zahra, meaning they are stronger.
Juan and Nina were both class 8.
Zahra was able to defeat that trio because they were not familiar with each other.
They had only recently started travelling together and weren't equipped to team together.
After working together for longer they would have been able to defeat Zahra.
Hannah is susceptible to a headbutt from someone a whole class above her.
She's vulnerable to any attack from someone that much stronger than her.
Hannah's instincts make her practically unbeatable but only on her level.
Hinata would have spotted Zahra before the battle if she had been looking for her, she wasn't.
If they came across as slack in the battle then that's probably the fault of my writing rather than the characters' fault.
I don't think it's spoiling anything to say there will be more team battles in the future.
I won't say what they are going to be though.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to jenuzumaki's Questions
About strength levels and special abilities
Zahra is not stronger than Rana.
Rana would have easily defeated Naruto and Ming Dai if Yuuki Terukatsu didn't arive.
Boruto and Himawari are effectively pocket-worlders, they have no special advantage beyond this.
At least not one that I have written about yet.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to 's Question
About Minato's power level
Minato's chakra-based powers increased greatly during the three year gap when there was peace.
It was during this time that he mastered the rasen-bomb technique.
During this time several of the shinobi trained and became stronger, this is why they are tier 3 shinobi.
Thanks for reading.