Disclaimer – I don't own anything from the Naruto anime/manga. All I own are my original characters and plot twists.
'Talking'
"Thinking"
'Heavily demonic voice'
'Fox talking'
"Fox thinking"
*expression*
Jutsu
Flashback
Chapter 38 – Assault
Naruto frowned, as he ate a bowl of ramen. When it came to ramen, almost nothing could bring Naruto down. The high of eating one… or a dozen bowls of ramen, never failed to lift his spirits, but for some reason, he felt uneasy, as though something bad was happening right now. Suddenly, Naruto felt six sudden spikes of chakra, just inside the village. Naruto didn't recognise the chakra, but he had a bad feeling about it. Naruto left his empty ramen bowl on the table and shot out towards the chakra signatures. Naruto could feel the chakra of various ninja moving quickly, to confront the new signatures, but they paled in comparison to it. One particular signature stuck out to Naruto, that of Kakashi.
"Hang in there Kakashi-Sensei, I'll be there in a minute." Thought Naruto, pumping chakra into his legs and soaring over the buildings.
-line break-
Kakashi glared at the group in front of him. The six men all held the same gaze, which was currently fixed squarely on him.
'Kakashi of the Sharingan eye, produce Naruto Uzumaki immediately, or you shall feel pain.' Said Pein.
'Hmm, Naruto Uzumaki, I'm not sure who that is, can you describe him? There are many shinobi in this village after all.' Quipped Kakashi, in his usual aloof manner.
'Do you wish to test a God? If you do, it shall be the last thing you accomplish on this soil, before perishing.' Said Pein, his face as stony as ever.
'Well, I wouldn't mind relocating to a beach, I have been a rather diligent ninja for quite some time… perhaps I've earned a break.' Said Kakashi calmly, but raising his headband nonetheless.
'A single, pitiful, Sharingan. My eyes are superior to yours and I shall demonstrate that fact now. Universal Pull.' Said Pein, causing Kakashi to feel his body jerk suddenly, being carried towards Pein.
Pein flicked his left wrist down, a black rod appearing in his grip in a flash, which he raised to meet Kakashi's floating body.
'Water Style: Mouth of the Serpent.' Said a voice.
Pein didn't even flinch, as a spinning column of water, with a snake's jaw at the head of it, lunged at him. One of the other five people with Pein, in this case, a stocky man, with a short orange ponytail, stepped in front of the attack.
Fuka frowned as her attack was seemingly absorbed by the man, all the while, Kakashi was still being drawn towards the original attacker. Fuka was about to attack again, when a loud, boisterous cry, snapped her out of her thoughts.
'Dynamic Entry!' Shouted a man, clad in green spandex, as he slammed his foot into the face of the man, who had been controlling Kakashi.
Kakashi dropped to the ground in relief, thankful his self-proclaimed rival had saved him.
'Thanks Guy.' Said Kakashi.
Before Guy could respond, a bald, hulking figure, with a very thick neck, rushed him. Guy raised his guard and prepared for a frontal assault and thus, was surprised, when the man suddenly stopped and crouched down slightly, angling his head at Guy. Guy looked on in surprise, as the man's head opened up and a nozzle was aimed at him. In a split second, chakra started to build up at the tip of the nozzle, which caused Guy to quickly charge the man, hoping to stop the attack.
'Guy, wait!' Shouted Kakashi, from his current position on the floor.
Kakashi could see Guy wasn't going to reach the man in time, even with his immense speed. Kakashi's eye switched to that of his Mangekyo and focused directly on the head of the man. Guy continued his assault undeterred, however, his eyes widened, when he noticed what Kakashi had already. The heavily pierced man fired his attack, unleashing a massive blast of chakra at Guy. The attack engulfed Guy completely and shot past him, annihilating a few buildings behind him, leaving nothing but rubble.
Kakashi cursed under his breath, not having been able to stop the attack fast enough. Kakashi continued with his attack though and warped the creatures head away to oblivion, the headless body slumping backwards, once Kakashi had finished. As the smoke cleared, Kakashi watched on nervously, hoping his boisterous rival had survived the attack.
'To survive an attack of such magnitude, you are quite the fighter, but still no match for a God.' Said Pein calmly.
Guy was revealed, looking only slightly ruffled from the attack, however, his skin was now red and Kakashi could feel the power rolling off him.
'God or not, prepare yourself to face the Leaf Village's Sublime Green Beast of Prey. I, Might Guy, will defeat you and this victory will give me one more point against my rival.' Said Guy energetically.
'Really Guy? Is this really the time to make a challenge out of things?' Deadpanned Kakashi.
'In life, everything is a challenge, Kakashi.' Grinned Guy, the light shining off his teeth, as he gave Kakashi his standard thumbs-up.
The leader of the invaders looked over to one of the others, one who possessed a circular stud on the bridge of his nose, along with a diagonal row of studs on each of his cheeks and three spike piercings in each of his ears. The two shared a look, before the man grabbed the headless body, courtesy of Kakashi's attack and disappeared along with the other invaders, leaving only the one with three piercings on either side of his nose, remaining.
'You have angered a God here today and now you shall face punishment.' Said Pein, as he rose into the air.
'Now, know true pain.' Said Pein, angling his right hand down at those who would defy him, building up a monstrous amount of chakra.
'Almighty Pu…' Spoke Pein, before being suddenly cut off.
'Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan!' Shouted Naruto, flying through the air at Pein and slamming his attack into him with such force, numerous velocity rings were created upon impact, as the orange haired man was launched flying away from the village.
Naruto summoned wind chakra around his body, before shooting off after Pein, causing more velocity rings to be created. Kakashi sighed deeply, before standing up. Kakashi turned to face his green clad comrade, before a loud roar was heard within the village. Turning to the sound, Kakashi saw a large three headed dog, with brown fur and black rods stuck into the snout of each head.
'Let's go Kakashi! A race to see who can beat that creature first!' Shouted Guy, before shooting off, still glowing red, from his usage of the gates.
Kakashi sighed once again, before following after his fellow Leaf ninja.
"That man certainly seems exhausting." Thought Fuka, after the two had left.
-line break-
Kakuzu couldn't help but feel slightly nostalgic, as he walked to a certain waterfall. The village had not changed at all since he had left it. Kakuzu walked through the waterfall and made his way to the inner sanctum of his former village. The two recently deceased bodies, cooling outside the waterfall, also made Kakuzu nostalgic, as did the faces of the Jounin in front of him.
'Ah, even after all this time, this village is still an arrogant eyesore.' Said Kakuzu calmly.
'You shouldn't have come back here, traitor.' Said one of the Jounin, a Waterfall headband, proudly on display on his forehead.
'You see, things like that are why I never came back to this village. I was assigned a mission, an impossible mission, yet I carried it out. I failed and this village saw fit to blame me. Defeating Hashirama Senju was too much of a task for any one man, even Madara Uchiha, yet I was blamed personally. What did I do after that? Place my trust in money. Money doesn't lie. Money doesn't betray you. Money is neutral. Sadly, for all of you here today, I am not here for money.' Said Kakuzu, before four black creatures slunk off his body.
'I may be here for the Jinchuuriki, but this, is also personal.' Said Kakuzu, before launching himself at the lead Jounin and impaling him in the blink of an eye.
'Prepare yourselves, as none of you will ever see this village again. I do have a secondary assignment after all.' Said Kakuzu calmly.
-line break-
Kisame also felt quite nostalgic, walking through a familiar misty terrain. He gave a fanged grin, as he felt both his targets together. Maybe they would prove a challenge. Either way, Kisame was looking forward to a fight right now.
'It seems we can't ever get a break here.' Said Yagura tiredly, once Kisame came within view.
'Pein, Sasori, Deidara and now Kisame… honestly, are we really that much of a problem?' Muttered Utakata.
'Well, it isn't that the two of you are so much of a problem, more like you two just have really bad luck. Unfortunately, that meagre luck is just about to run out, as I know this terrain better than both of you. Not to mention, that the two of you are now facing the Monster of the Hidden Mist.' Said Kisame.
'Let's start then.' Said Yagura.
'Hidden Mist Jutsu.' Said Kisame, before the mist intensified.
'*sigh* Kisame just made things much more difficult for us. Be on your guard Utakata and very alert, Kisame is a master of silent killing.' Said Yagura.
Utakata nodded, before barely avoiding Kisame's sword slash. Kisame was smirking at the Jinchuuriki.
'He's right you know.' Said Kisame, with a grin, before fading back into the mist.
-line break-
Tobi joyfully swing his legs off the side of a cliff. A rather tall man, was walking next to a red haired man.
'Roshi.' Whispered the tall man.
'I know, Han.' Said Roshi, before turning around and launching a bullet of lava at Tobi.
The attack passed through the Akatsuki member, who then giggled, before jumping down from the cliff, landing about twenty metres away from the duo.
'Hi-ya there, I'm Tobi. I have good news and bad news, which do you want to hear first?' Said Tobi cheerfully.
The two stared Tobi down, stony expressions on their faces.
'Aw, you two are no fun. Okay then, good news first: after today, Akatsuki will no longer come after you, or any other Jinchuuriki, ever again.' Said Tobi cheerfully, surprising the other two.
Neither Jinchuuriki spoke, simply staring at Tobi, who was animatedly waving his hands around, before suddenly stilling, letting his hands drop down to his sides.
'The bad news though…' Said Tobi, in a dark and spine chilling voice.
'…is that the two of you most likely won't survive today.' Said Tobi, his Sharingan eye slowly spinning, visible through the hole in his mask.
-line break-
The shinobi that was known as The Darkness of the Shinobi, slowly walked through a mountainous valley. Danzo was currently quite content with his supposed assignment. Cloud had always been an enemy of Danzo's. It was Cloud that had led to the death of his Sensei, in particular, the Kinkaku Squad. It made Danzo's current assignment all the more enjoyable for Danzo, who, in addition to capturing the Two-tailed Jinchuuriki, was also tasked with retrieving the body of the Gold Brother, Kinkaku, who he was soon going to control. Of course, the actual retrieval would not be carried out by him directly, nor would the retrieval of any other be carried out by the combative members of Akatsuki. The creature known as Zetsu, would accomplish that, or at least, that is what Tobi had said.
Danzo gave a small chuckle internally at Tobi. The boy was a fool. He had bitten off much more than he could chew and was in over his head. Danzo was surprised he had survived as long as he had, but soon, Danzo would teach him to respect his elders.
'So, another one is it?' Asked Yugito, dropping down in front of the elderly man.
'Cloud kunoichi, prepare for battle. You shall fall here today, but at least try to put up a fight.' Said Danzo, pulling his arm out of his sleeve, thoroughly shocking Yugito.
'What is that?' Exclaimed Yugito in surprise.
'The instrument of your defeat, Amaterasu.' Said Danzo, engulfing Yugito in black flames.
Danzo watched on calmly, as the fire engulfed the women, but quirked an eyebrow in surprise, when he saw the flames being redirected against his will, moulding around a quadruped-shaped creature.
'It is too bad I have the Nibi within me because all you did just now was add more fuel to the fire!' Roared Yugito, taking the form of the blue hellcat, which was the Nibi.
'Impudent child, I will teach you to respect your elders.' Spoke Danzo calmly, as he prepared to battle with a Jinchuuriki.
-line break-
Gaara surveyed his village calmly, from atop the Kazekage Tower. His brows furrowed slightly, as he felt a chakra signature behind him.
'Must you Akatsuki continue to invade my village?' Spoke Gaara calmly, arms crossed over his chest.
'Well, it isn't personal and we are invading all of them right now anyway.' Said Zetsu, both white and black halves, as he rose from the tower.
'I see, so you are making your move it seems. However, why is it that I feel a signature very similar to yours, near the place where we bury our deceased?' Questioned Gaara coolly, as he turned to face the two-toned creature.
'You are more aware than we thought, but we will still succeed in our mission.' Said Zetsu.
'You shall not. As Kazekage, I promised to lead this village and protect its people. I will put you down here and then stop whatever your plan may be.' Said Gaara, uncrossing his arms.
'You can try, but you will fail.' Said Zetsu, even as sand slowly approached him.
'We'll see.' Said Gaara, before a wave of sand rushed the plant man.
-line break-
The Toad Sage of the Leaf Village was currently making his way through a dimly lit laboratory. It had been a rare find for Jiraiya. His investigations into Rain had been brought to a standstill, thanks to Tsunade, but he was able to hear a snippet of information which piqued his curiosity. Apparently, Akatsuki was going after his former comrade, Orochimaru. Naturally, Jiraiya had keep his ear low to the ground and heard of a confrontation between the two, which Orochimaru had lost, fleeing with his ever faithful right hand man, Kabuto. It had been a bit of an effort for the man to track the two down, without getting caught, especially since a separate group of Leaf ninja were raiding a different base of Orochimaru's.
Nonetheless, Jiraiya had been successful and had managed to remain undetected. He spied on the two, as they stood in front of a tube. In fact, the entire room was filled with tubes, which made Jiraiya wonder just what could his former teammate be storing here.
'Well, Suigetsu, how would you appreciate the opportunity to fulfil your dream?' Questioned Orochimaru, to an empty tube, confusing Jiraiya.
'I'd say; are you only coming to me now because you're desperate?' Asked the tube, surprising Jiraiya.
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, seeing a wisp of white and purple in the tube.
'Kukuku, desperate? Not even slightly… however, with the way things are going, if you refuse my offer now, you will mostly likely remain here, forgotten. Is that really what you want?' Asked Orochimaru calmly.
'Fine, fine, I'll come along, but if you get the idea to stick me in a pod again, I'm leaving for good.' Said the tube.
'Very well, Kabuto, if you would.' Said Orochimaru calmly.
Kabuto pushed his glasses up, before walking over to a panel on the side of the pod and quickly input the release command, causing the pod to rise into the air, spilling out a stream of water.
Jiraiya watched on curiously, as the water flowed out, waiting to see what was hidden in the pod, before all the water had escaped and inside the pod was: nothing.
Jiraiya looked on in confusion as both Orochimaru and Kabuto stared at the puddle. His confusion grew, when Kabuto threw a purple, sleeveless shirt, blue pants, sandals and a belt, with water bottles attached to it, into the puddle. Jiraiya then blinked in surprise, as the puddle of water reformed into a person, who was now wearing the clothes.
'Ah, you even threw in a few bottles of water, really trying to butter me up here, aren't you?' Said a white haired man jokingly. The man had purple eyes and Jiraiya noticed he also had sharp teeth, similar to that of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
'Well, we do have a mutual goal as of now. You want to regain the swords of the Hidden Mist and I wish to pay back my old friends for their recent assault on my base.' Said Orochimaru calmly.
"Does he mean us? Is he going to try and attack the Leaf again? We do have one of the seven swords, the one the brat gave to his girlfriend, but Orochimaru can't seriously think he will be able to take us on right now." Thought Jiraiya in disbelief.
'All right, I'm ready to go, but how much longer are we going to ignore that guy hiding over there?' Asked Suigetsu, surprising Jiraiya.
Jiraiya's hand instantly shot to his weapons pouch, only for Orochimaru to turn directly to face him, while chuckling.
'Don't be so alarmed, Jiraiya, we have a mutual enemy as well right now.' Said Orochimaru calmly.
Jiraiya vanished in a swirl of leaves and landed a few metres away from the trio.
'Is that so?' Questioned Jiraiya calmly, noticing the three of them weren't on guard, causing him to relax slightly as well.
'Yes. As I'm sure you have some knowledge about, Akatsuki recently saw fit to confront me, to take back my ring. Of course, the ring itself matters very little to me, but I do take attacks on my being quite personally and Pein with his annoying God complex has sufficiently irritated me, enough for me to take direct action.' Said Orochimaru.
'I see… and your friends mission for the seven swords of the Mist?' Queried Jiraiya.
'We will be targeting Kisame Hoshigaki currently, besides.' Said Orochimaru, pulling a scroll out, which he unravelled quickly, before a burst of chakra caused something to fall out of it.
'We already have the Nuibari, which I believe will keep young Suigetsu here, entertained for now.' Said Orochimaru calmly, as the water man grabbed the thin, needle-like blade, which emerged from the scroll.
'Wow, you're really spoiling me here today.' Commented Suigetsu gleefully, examining the blade reverently.
'What of the Leaf? Do you still intend to see it be destroyed?' Asked Jiraiya sharply.
'Perhaps, but there are many things in this world, Jiraiya. The Leaf may be an interest of mine, however, it is not my sole interest, or even one of my greatest interests. Sarutobi-sensei was my real reason for caring about the fate of that village. With you and Tsunade now at the helm, my interest has waned. Add to the fact that Itachi is no more and young Sasuke is gone as well… well, aside from your current apprentice, who I hear is causing quite the stir among the land, I couldn't care less about the Village Hidden in the Leaves.' Said Orochimaru calmly.
'I see.' Said Jiraiya stonily.
'A word of advice, Jiraiya, you should be wary of Pein, especially considering exactly who he is.' Said Orochimaru, as he, Kabuto and Suigetsu, turned their backs on Jiraiya and walked away.
'What do you mean by that?' Asked Jiraiya curiously.
'Well, I wanted to kill those three back then, but you saw fit to stay back and teach them the ways of chakra… funny how that worked out for you. After all, who can claim to have taught both a Hokage and the leader of a terrorist organisation?' Said Orochimaru, before giving an eerie laugh, which slowly faded, as they left a shell-shocked Jiraiya behind.
"Nagato... Yahiko… Konan… what is Orochimaru saying… did you three really turn out this bad?" Thought Jiraiya in confusion.