In His Own Right:
Chapter Eighteen:
Izumi remained as calm as she could though, the sight before her had her temper rising in levels she had not known up until now.
"Kakashi!", she said her attention leaving the form of the Akatsuki ninja as the black-haired girl bent over to feel the masked face of Kakashi. He wasn't in the best of states, he was probably in the worse state he's ever been in his life. His whole entire body from neck to toe had been submerged in debris. It was a terrible sight to see, Kakashi Hatake had been defeated and from the looks of it, it had been rather easily. Her eyes went back to the ninja, he had not one scratch on him. That was alarming, Kakashi a shinobi of skill close to her own had not been able to even lay a hand on this monster.
"Izumi…", he stated softly, the strong leadership no longer being found in the caverns of his voice. "I'm sorry.", he let out a hard breath at this. She kept her face passive, though she knew this could have very well been Kakashi's last words.
Izumi became ground level with him touching his face before moving to his neck and checking for some sort of pulse or sign of life. He was motionless, his grey hair mattered and laying low, no longer defying gravity as it once did. The wind began to blow, the cool air blowing the man's hair, she could see every strand move with the wind as it pushed gently. His mouth was shut closed and his head facing the ground.
"No, Kakashi… I'm sorry.", Izumi let out somberly. Kakashi Hatake was dead. She brought herself to her feet, her eyes glaring as she became lethally quiet. The Kakashi had been a very close friend. Hell, he had shown her the ropes of Anbu, he had been a mentor really. One of the only people who seemed to understand Izumi, how different it was to grow up a prodigy, how it was to be self-sufficient. The pain of loss and understanding of what a shinobi truly was, he had helped her in many aspects. Waves of emotion hit her in this moment. She felt it, it was pain. She had lost people before, comrades...friends, and even family members. But each time something like this happened, she felt her heart shatter. It was heart crunching. Kakashi Hatake was indeed a friend, she cursed herself for not arriving faster. She had been busy helping the civilians to safety. She was unaware of Kakashi's engagement, but she wished she had. They could have fought together. But now, he had suffered the ultimate price. The price of a shinobi, the greatest honor for any true Ninja; Death. "I won't allow your death to be in vain, Kakashi.", she felt wetness dripping through her eyelids. Feeling a bit pathetic, she hadn't allowed years to fall in ages. Kakashi had made a huge impact. The girl blinked them away, she would not allow her enemy to see her emotions.
"Izumi...Uchiha, Pride of the Uchiha clan.", she gazed at the ninja, her chest boiling for battle though her face still remained calm. "The honor is mine."
She made no move to respond, moving from Kakashi and promising to herself that she would avenge his efforts. He raised both his hands at this.
"I am Pain."
She said nothing, meeting the man with a dead stare.
"It is unfortunate that we have to meet under such circumstances, I had intended on recruiting you into my organization…", he shook his head after looking her down from head to toe. "However, from the looks of it you don't intend on doing any of the sort, so I'll just ask you one question."
There was a pause, she felt him out analyzing the shinobi like she did every opponent. There were more of them, more of these ninja that held the Rinnegan in their eyes, it was a rather weird occurrence, Izumi had always thought that the Rinnegan was a rare Dojutsu. Her eyes gazed at the fallen figure feet away from Kakashi, it was robotic in its construction, pieces hanging off of its form. It too had the Rinnegan, it's eyes wide open. Something was off about it all, but if she had to conclude anything, the two ninja were connected somehow through said Rinnegan. Maybe two parts of one whole? Something more? She wasn't entirely sure, but it did seem that way. She'd have to come to a conclusion soon.
"Where is the Kyuubi?", he finally asked.
She gripped her Katana bringing it upwards, the question sparked a few emotions. The Kyuubi. Naruto! Of course, she had figured as much.
"Don't worry about where he is. Your main priority at this moment is me, your battle is with me.", she felt a surge of energy. A need of some sort, a need not only to protect those she cared for but to especially defeat this criminal who had obviously come here for Naruto—her Naruto.
She wasn't having it! Izumi would have to defeat this enemy swiftly and surely before her low chakra reserves gave out on her.
"Very well.", Pain moved suddenly, Darting at Izumi with what seemed to be his full throttle. A black object came from his sleeve. Izumi anticipated his moves with the Sharingan, blocking the attack with her Katana. Pain countered her attack, aiming for the girl's feet with his legs as he attempted to trip Izumi.
She jumped upwards before performing the correct seals for another fireball Jutsu. The attack was repelled by the orange haired ninja, again his Rinnegan eyes never leaving her or changing its gesture.
She rushed forward, darting at the shinobi, he responded with the same black item from earlier. Her Katana met the item equally, the two intersecting as they engaged in a duel. They exchanged blows, Izumi being able to evade or block each of his attacks, resorting to her feet or hands if need be. Izumi was saw an opening in her opponent's defense, and took advantage of it, using her sword to slash at the ninja's head. Pain ducked, moving his head to the side with speed Izumi had not expected. Pain returned to his feet, jerking to the side before jabbing at Izumi with the item. Predicting the attack with her Sharingan, Izumi disarmed the ninja before kicking the shinobi backwards her foot making contact with his chest. He slid backwards, his hand coming downwards helping him gain balance. Izumi was relentless, charging the man with her Katana in hand, Pain met her head on with his weapon, the two dueling again as they went back and back with a barrage of swings and slashes. He targeted her face with a sudden roundhouse Kick, which Izumi blocked with her hilt, the girl then grabbed for his leg, attempting to throw the man. He twisted out of her grip. Suddenly, Izumi felt her body being flung backwards, a gust of wind pushing her backwards, her eyes widened as she landed on her side rolling across the debris-ridden floor. Cutting her body, as she rolled before recovering. She would definitely need stitches after this. Crimson blood dripped down her right arm.
Suddenly, Izumi sprung into the air, a figure landing in the position in which she had recently been, the same black material slamming into the ground. "Another one?",
She landed feet away, noting the figure to be much larger than the original opponent but the eyes remained the same. His hair was folded back neatly.
The clanging of distorted metal brought Izumi's attention to behind her. With a quick wash over the area with her eyes, Izumi realized that the enemy that Kakashi had defeated was missing. Izumi let out air before, disappearing in a flock of black crows, just as an explosion sounded off in her last position. Izumi landed feet away, her eyes glaring at three different enemies now. Things were getting rather heated you could say, the advantage was definitely on the side of the enemy.
"You must realize that you are no match for a God?", the original opponent stated, the two other shinobi stood to her right and left respectively, while the former of the two stood center of Izumi. Time was a high variable at the moment, she could not hold her own for long in a fight. Realizing this Izumi had no other choice.
She sighed, closing her eyes softly as she allowed herself to activate her Mangekyo Sharingan. Her eyes instantly burned as she did so, but the pain was irrelevant. The ninja didn't seem to be alarmed by the change of her Sharingan, they simply stared into her eyes. Fatal mistake.
Izumi cast her most powerful Genjutsu. "Tsukuyomi!", she said, casting the Jutsu on all three of the ninja. The Tsukuyomi was a Genjutsu that only someone with Sharingan equal to the caster could counter, even Bijuu could be controlled with the Jutsu. However, something was very wrong. Izumi found herself jumping away from the metallic aggressor. His giant blade cutting through her cheek, as she just escaped the attack. Flames escaped from her mouth devouring the shinobi. He or...it rushed through it the attack not seeming to be phased by it at all. Izumi rushed backwards in a series of backflips. The Tsukuyomi had failed? It was alarming in all honestly, scary even. She deactivated it for now, saving chakra and trying to come up with a reason as to the mishaps of her Jutsu.
She found her body moving instinctively as the metallic man continued his assault. His blade extending from his backside came down like a scorpion attacking it's prey. She reacted with speed that not many shinobi could muster blocking with her much smaller sword, holding her sword horizontal as she pushed back against the man's force. She dashed backwards finding the shinobi's strength to be superior, they separated with a clang and a spark. She moved to the side with speed her opponent had not anticipated. He stabbed his tail into the floor, hitting nothing. She was a good five feet away, obviously being faster. He attacked again, slashing erratically. She found herself dodging and blocking the
Man's attack. She could definitely outmaneuver the ninja, that could work. Well, if it had just been just her and this one alone, but that wasn't the case. She glided across the ground before catching her balance. He came again, using the blade almost like a sword, Izumi matched his attacks with her Katana, deflecting his brash and heavy attacks with great effort. He was a brute, she was faster but his attacks held much more power and she struggled to meet his strength equally. He jumped over her, flinging himself into a nearby wall using it as spring, basting himself at Izumi again with the blade. The girl ducked, just as the blade came for her neck. She let out a harsh breath, the man wasn't done he came again landing within stabbing distance of the Uchiha. The saw-like blade stabbed into the girl impaling her chest. It would have been a victory on his part but Izumi was able to disperse into a flock of crows before the attack had made contact. Successful leaving the area unharmed and a safe distance away.
Izumi began to collect herself. Finding herself breathing a little heavy. They were connected, be it through the visual power of the Rinnegan or some other Jutsu, they were united. But also they were empty shells, empty shells in the sense that they did not have their own consciousness. Basically, they were puppets, being controlled by someone or something in a different location, which would explain why the Tsukuyomi had no effect. That made things tricky, locating the puppetmaster would be troubling. So main priority; defeat these 'puppets'. Easy enough, each individual seemed to only have one special technique that it could execute, and each seemed to have a cooldown time for each technique. Now, the only problem was baiting out the techniques and successfully countering them. How would she go about successfully doing that? And another question that had been bugging her…
"Where is the real you?", Izumi aligned her spine straight, while inclining her sharingan eyes with that of the Pain.
He didn't make an expression though the other two moved in front of him also as if to protect him.
"So you've discovered the secret of my technique. You're an observant one, Izumi Uchiha. Someone like you will be a thorn in the side if I do not deal with you immediately."
"Why, what do you wish to accomplish by doing this? Searching for the Bijuu, why is that your goal?"
He turned away from her. "This world...all it knows is death. War. Pain.", her eyes remained curiously on his. "If you live by the sword, then by the sword you shall die.", he raised a hand.
"Hatred is the catalyst for this effect. I'm going to Re-create this World. Where such things immoral things do not exist. This cannot be achieved without first showing the world pain.", A gust of wind began to pick up, centering around the shinobi.
"There are other more moral approaches to peace.", she explained smoothly. Giving her commentary, he had a wicked ideology.
"It has already been decided. Prepare yourself Izumi Uchiha, your fate is in my hands."
Izumi watched as Pain's feet lifted off the ground. His hands going upwards as the Rinnegan user began to ascend in height. Izumi gazed on, wholeheartedly amazed at the ability, it was quite a phenomenon. But she also remained cautious, he was planning something and something that could only be catastrophic. Izumi felt her spine shiver as the man glared directly into her eyes from his elevation. The other bodies made no movement towards the girl, they only watched pain equally, except with no expression. He finally stopped his ascent.
"Today is your Judgement day, accept it, it is your destiny. You. Must. Know. Pain!", There was silence for a whole entire second, Izumi heard absolutely nothing for that tick of time. It was almost as if someone had covered her ears in that instant. Or like she had been placed in a void container, empty of sound or anything for that matter.
"Almighty push!", Izumi's eyes widened as a blast of air rocketed from the man him being the epicenter. She let out a surprised grunt as she felt her own body being picked up by the wind. She crossed Her arms over her eyes in an attempt to block the dust and particles of dirt. She attempted to resist the attack but found it impossible. The sound of buildings being torn down from their foundations rocketed through the building as multiple explosions simultaneously made one loud BANG. The Village Hidden in the Leaves was no more.
Sasuke and Shisui both attacked simultaneously, both choosing to combine their fireball Jutsu in order to bait the man's Jutsu. Just as they thought he remained in that state keeping himself safe. They both continued pushing chakra into their attacks in an attempt to maximize the duration.
They stopped the shinobi choosing to attack with Wood style, the wood extended from the ground rushing outwards in every direction. The ends were as sharp as Kunai and probably as fast as them also. Sasuke jumped backwards shooting fire from his mouth, the wood burst into flames, though the fire was contained due to the small droplets of rain.
Tobi hopped backwards, jumping high into the sky a stock of wood sliding from the ground as he landed firmly on it. He stood for a moment, his hand still holding his missing arm, a white substance seeming to still drip from where the arm had once been. Sasuke suspected that this man wasn't entirely human. But, who knew?
"Very good, I must say that you two are very powerful.", he held his missing arm by his shoulder, seeming to be some a lot of pain.
"It's only a mere fraction of what we're capable of.", Shisui spat, never breaking his guard. Sasuke followed his cousin not entirely sure if the man was finished.
"We can do without the flattery.", he pointed his sword. "Come back, stop with the cowardly tactics and let's finish this already.",
Shisui of the body flicker put his hand up, Sasuke gazed at him. Was Shisui shushing him?
"I have never heard of an Uchiha named Tobi, and even if there ever was someone by that name I highly doubt that's your real alias.", The spiky-haired Uchiha, looked at Sasuke his way of non-verbally ordering him to calm down. Sasuke did so out of respect.
"So let's have it.", he began. "Who are you?"
Tobi simply shrugged.
"My name is Madara Uchiha.", the words came out though Sasuke was barely able to register it. What?
"Madara Uchiha?", Shisui inclined his head skeptically.
"Impossible.", Sasuke countered, he didn't believe it.
"Madara Uchiha died shortly after his battle with the First Hokage, what type of shit do you think you're pulling?"
"I'm simply informing you of my true identity."
Madara Uchiha had died long before Sasuke was even conceived. It was literally impossible for this man who did not have one grey hair on his head to be Madara Uchiha.
"Relic of the past, or masked weirdo; it really doesn't make a difference. We're going to kill you.", He gave the masked man a blank look.
"I wouldn't be too worried about me, that village of yours, however…", he trailed off.
What? Ours?
"Hold on...what are you saying?", Shisui stepped forward. The masked man shrugged again, not saying anything. "Let me repeat myself; what the fuck are you saying?", Fire consumed his sword.
"Well, at the moment Konoha is under siege.", he told them bluntly.
There was silence for a moment. Sasuke collected his thoughts thinking over his words.
"By who?", Sasuke gravitated towards him aggressively.
"One of my subordinates.", He raised his hand. "Do what you want with that information. For now, I'll take my leave, eventually, however your eyes will be mine. Oh and this world… Well, you'll know about it later.", He disappeared in that moment, a swirling vortex sucking him in, but not before saying. "Byye.", he said this in a deep threatening tone.
Sasuke and Shisui's black eyes intercepted each other. There were so many questions, Sasuke found his brain twirling as he thought over everything. Between Madara and supposedly an attack on the village, Sasuke was just "Sasuke, let's go.", Shisui made to move, but Sasuke stood solid.
"Are we really sure of the validity of his statement?", Sasuke questioned though wholeheartedly he knew better than to take the chance.
"Better safe than sorry.", Shisui stated taking off into the forest.
He grunted, following behind. If anything Sasuke prayed that this Madara figure's words had been anything but true.
Smoke masked the area. Where the once-great village known as the Village Hidden in the leaves once stood now seemed to be a desolated mess of debris and garbage. The only thing that stood, the only indication that the village had once been established in this very location was the monuments of the Hokage, which still stood in contact. She gazed outwards through the ash everything was those people, her family… Her comrades, many of them could very well be dead and that was the reality of this situation. She felt anger, and again she was not used to such feelings. Innocent people had lost their lives and Izumi the supposed prodigy was unable to stop it; how pitiful.
She should have been dead. If it hadn't been for this Jutsu, her body would have been torn from limb to limb. The orange-red chakra in the form of a skeleton that now surrounded and protected her body glowed just how she imagined the will of fire within every true ninja's heart did. The smoke was settling, and she could barely make out any landmarks or buildings that indicated that this used to be Konoha. It made her angry, she was slowly finding it hard to contain her emotions. She made out the descending figure of the body that had caused the destruction. He glared at her with bewilderment in his circular eyes but still seemed to keep a blank expression.
"This Jutsu…", he began, pausing before asking "...what is it?"
Izumi returned his gaze, as the two other bodies joined the supposed leader. "This…" She began, as the Jutsu began to fully develop, the skeletal form beginning to transition, forming muscles and then obtaining full body armor, she watched as the Yata mirror and the Totsuka blade ended up in the hands of her completing the set to one of her most lethal abilities.
"This, Is the Jutsu that may just end up killing you.", she allowed the words to roll off. "But if you must know this is one of my trump cards, the Susanoo. I won't lie to you, I would be dead without this.",
"I see.", he replied.
The bodies became cautious, keeping their distance, and remaining very still. The Deva Pain remained in the backline while, allowing the other two to take point. They were keeping their distance seeming to test out the waters of Izumi's new technique, waiting for Izumi to make the first move perhaps.
This changed when the Asura pain took action. From his grotesque and unnatural body came missiles, they summed up to a rather large arsenal, the missiles blasted forward slamming into Izumi's Susanoo. That wouldn't do, she thought to herself. It made no effect, on the Susanoo basically ate the damage the blow not leaving so much as a scratch.
She kept her eyes on the Deva Pain. She couldn't tell what he or they were thinking, she didn't care at this point, at this point, it was time to get shit done.
"Prepare yourself Pain, I intend on ending this.", Her voice came out strong and full of promise. Izumi almost thought that she could see a slightly surprised expression on that of the Deva Pain.
Three other figures fell from the sky joining the other three. His eyes narrowed as all six of the bodies clad in Akatsuki uniform and orange hair, all except one.
He narrowed his eyes at Izumi, a horrid glow in his eyes as he did so. She did not show any fear as he mouthed the words. "As do I…",
This wasn't something he had ever pictured himself doing. Naruto Uzumaki battling the Kyuubi itself. It was a physical battle as much as it was an internal one, and the Kyuubi went ahead and began it with a BANG! The Kyuubi had been freed once he tore the seal, and shit was he mad. A blast spilled out of his mouth, it hurled at Naruto the boy widening at the sheer power of the Bijuu.
The attack was caught by Octopops, AKA Killer Bee, the one stated would help Naruto, the octopus. Activating his Bijuu mode, and pounding his hand with Naruto's, Killer Bee had been able to assist Naruto.
"That's all the cooperation that I can do for this Operation. Ya on your own!",
Naruto smiled. "That's fine, I got this!", he instantly activated his sage mode, as the Kyuubi attempted to swat him with his tails. He dodged the first hit, which shook the wet and gloomy ground below. The blond then began to bounce off the Kyuubi's tail, doing so as he activated his attack.
"Sage art: Super Giant Rasengan!", The Rasengan formed within seconds, growing giant hence the name. He attacked slamming his attack downwards. However, the Kybuui countered with his tails, blocking the attack and causing another mini Earthquake.
"You're fast!"
He Kyuubi snorted. "Do you really think you can beat me?", he threw Naruto back with extreme force. The Jounin fell to the floor but caught himself.
"Of course why else would I tear the seal!", Naruto called, he wasn't an idiot after all.
The Kyuubi attack suddenly pinning Naruto down with his large paw, his paw began to crush Naruto's chest.
The Kyuubi had been so busy with Naruto that he did not notice the shadow clones sneaking up behind him. The spirit fox grunted as he felt his tail being pulled backwards, Naruto pulled with his inhuman strength, throwing the fox on his back. The floor roared with tremors again.
His Shadow clones then reassembled, moving quickly as the Rasen-Shuriken came to his hand. The Nine-Tails looked rather surprised at Naruto's ability to get the better of him. The attack made contact, exploding in a flash of blue on the giant fox.
The Kyuubi was down, this was the time for Naruto to get moving.
"Go Naruto!", he Heard Jiraiya call from outside. Naruto's physical form began the process of containing the Kyuubi's chakra Grabbing onto the fox. He could feel the chakra flowing through him as he attempted to contain the Bijuu. "You won't win.", The Kyuubi's giant head stared angrily at him. "My hatred goes further than just you", His words were deep and seemed to strike a nerve in the blonde. And at that moment, Naruto felt himself losing control as the dark red chakra of the Nine-Tailed fox began to consume him. Every nerve in his body began to burn as everything began to change, his vision began to turn red before switching to darkness.
*Well lookie here. We are fastly approaching what I'd like to consider the end of the first Arc of In His Own Right. And look, it only took a God damn year and some change. Which isn't very reasonable, and I apologize for my slow updates plus, I know some chapters lacking in comparison to others, I intend on fixing them in the near future. Bare with me.
* As always, I would like to hear criticism for you guys. If it's Plotholes, my writing, my writing style, or just me in general, feel free to tell me it all.
*Anyways, I'm currently writing a short multi-chaptered alternate counterpart to this story. It is called; The Difference Of Knowing , and literally only has a prologue, but I'll update it shortly after posting this chapter. So, if you are possibly interested in that, by all means, go check it out. I hope this chapter was alright and that's it.
Later :D !
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