Forgotten

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Naruto (Shippuden). This is a story inspired by the original made up for entertainment purposes only. - Krystal

Chapter 68: Geniuses of their Times

Yuki caught up to Naruto and Bee as soon as she had readied herself for the battle. She knew he barely had any information about the current situation and that he was just heading into the battle blindly. It was such a typical thing for him to do. Bee wasn't any better. He often did things with his gut feelings as well. He wasn't much of a thinker and was much more of an actor.

"Naruto, you need to understand what's going on first before you randomly jump into the fight." Yuki told him.

"I don't have time for that!" Naruto said. "I'm already late..."

"And you have no idea who and what you are going against." Yuki said. "We will keep moving, but we need to slow down a bit so I can catch you up on what's going on."

"Fine..." He then said as he slowed down his pace a bit.

"First, the enemies are using reincarnations to fight us. They cannot be killed since they are dead. The only way to defeat them is to seal them. There are always sealing teams nearby. Most of them are from the Sand Village. They carry around large cloth scrolls. You can't miss them."

"Gotcha."

"Second, the White Zetsus have the ability to transform themselves into any ally and to copy their chakra. Therefore, right now, nobody knows who the enemy is and who the friend is."

As she told him that, two people who appeared to be allies were heading towards them. Yuki glared at them as no troupes were supposed to be deployed in the area that they were in. Naruto quickly headed towards them and killed them. They revealed themselves to be Zetsus. A tree grew from each of their body as they were being struck down.

"How did you know they were the enemies?" Yuki asked, amazed by his quick reaction.

"They had evil intent within them. I can sense it when I'm in this state."

"Seriously?" Yuki asked. "This makes it so much simpler. Can you use your clone jutsu?"

"For what?"

Yuki sighed before remembering how clueless Naruto could be. She looked at him, exasperated, and then said: "Remember how I said none of the allies can tell enemies and friends apart? If your clones can make it to each battlefield, they would be able to weed out the enemy, therefore, allowing the allies to fight together once again, rather than doubting each other."

"OH! That's a great plan!" Naruto said enthusiastically before creating just about 10 clones of himself.

Yuki then gave them the approximate coordinates of each division so that they could come to their aid. She then contacted Inojin, who now was used to having her telepathically talk to him all of the sudden, to let every battlefield know that Naruto was about to come over and help them identify the White Zetsus among them. Meanwhile, he let her know that the Fourth Division was now facing what seemed like the former Kages of the Sand, the Cloud, the Mist and the Stone village.

"I'm coming with you!" Naruto said.

"I think your priority, right now, is to get rid of the White Zetsus." Yuki told him. "You are the only one who can recognize them despite their chakra imitation. Besides, I'm sure there are more enemies on the way. They probably found out that you and Bee have entered the battle. Keep your eyes open wide. The Fourth Division didn't come into contact with the White Zetsus so there are none among them. I'll head there first to lend them a hand. You can join us later when you are done with your job."

"Just as bossy as ever, eh?" Naruto teased her.

He agreed however with her plan. He couldn't fault. It was indeed the best way to fight this war. She always believed in his abilities to make the impossible possible. He always believed in her brain and reasoning. Nothing had changed. As they bid their farewell, Yuki teleported herself to where Gaara was. As she appeared, the Sharingan in both her eyes appeared as well. This was another fight that she knew she had to utilize those cursed eyes.

"It's a different look for you." Gaara told her as she stood by his side.

She smiled as she closed her eyes, sensing the enormous amount of chakra that was heading towards them.

"One of them is my father." Gaara told her.

"Do you want me to..."

"No. I'll fight him myself." He replied firmly. "Perhaps, I'll get some answers that way as well."

"The best way to fight them is to separate. They were four Kages after all. Fighting them all at once would be too hard." Yuki told him.

He did not disagree. He gave the orders to split the forces into four, each to go after one of the Kages. He would lead the group to fight his own father. As they began splitting up, Onoki, the Third Tsuchikage, appeared and told them:

"I'll take care of the Second Tsuchikage."

As he said those words, they were attacked by the four former Kages. Along with Gaara's sand, Yuki created a large ice wall to protect the Allied Shinobi before heading out to fight the Third Raikage as they had planned. She lead a group of shinobi who had the best wind manipulation jutsu as lightning was weak against wind. As she managed to separate him from the remaining Kages, she began worrying about the remaining people, including Onoki who she wasn't really a fan of. She wasn't given much time to be concerned about everyone's safety however. The Third Raikage was no easy target. He was known, from her readings during her time in Kumogakure, that he had impenetrable defense and unstoppable attacks thanks to his lightning armor. He was also known to be just as quick if not quicker than the current Raikage. The reason why she offered to take care of him was that she knew she was the only one who could keep up with his speed. However, she wasn't sure she would be able to take down his armor.

"Fight me with your best wind jutsu." He told them.

None of the Kages were out to truly kill them. They were merely puppets who were reluctant to fight. Actually, they hated the idea of having to fight people who, especially, could be of their own village. After all, their lives were dedicated to protect those from their village. However, as if the jutsu caster caught wind of their leniency, the Raikage appeared to be soulless and was now fighting them without sparing anything. Yuki ordered everyone to back off as they were now no match of him in such a state. He no longer controlled his movements and was out to kill them. As she dodged each of his attacks skillfully, she still couldn't land an attack on him. He had no blind spot, no weak spot in his armor. She truly began questioning how she would be able to stop his movement in order to seal him. Temari, from the ground, tried her best to hinder him with her wind jutsu in order to gain Yuki some time to think and figure out how to defeat the Third Raikage. As she fought him for a bit longer, she noticed that he had a scar on his chest. It had to mean that he was struck there once. It was also in the shape of a lightning.

That's when she had an idea. She immediately contacted Bee telepathically.

"Bee-sama! Can I talk to Hachibi?"

"Eh? Who's this?"

"Yuki. Sorry, I should've said something, but it's kind of an emergency."

"Gotcha. Switching over..."

"Hachibi-sama?"

"What? Kiddo, you are not usually this polite. What do you want?"

"I remember reading about your fight against the Third Raikage. It was the only episode I could remember where he had actually collapsed after a fight."

"To be honest, I don't remember much about that fight. All I know is that we both collapsed forward onto the ground after pushing against each other non-stop. Wait, Naruto wants to say something to you."

Yuki quickly disconnected her telepathic communication with Bee and switched over to Naruto.

"What's up?" She asked him as she dodged another one of the Third Raikage's attack.

"Is he like the old man Raikage?"

"Yes, except older."

"You know that lightning armor they have?" Naruto asked her.

"Yeah?"

"What if their broke it themselves? I don't think any of us can destroy it, but..."

"Naruto, you are a genius!" Yuki exclaimed.

"I am?"

"You have no idea."

"I really don't." He said, definitely sounding clueless.

"I'll tell you later. Or you'll probably figure it out on your own later. Say thanks to Bee and Hachibi for me."

She stopped their conversation to focus on the battle in front of her. She sensed one of the Kage's chakra being sealed away. It gave her a sense of relief but also motivated her to complete the task at hand. She used her Amaterasu to distract the Raikage as he knew he had to dodge those eternal flames at all cost. As he did, she had set up a trap where his arm was now attached by chakra strings and she could freely control it. She bent it in a way where his arm went right through his chest. Naruto was right. The only weapon strong enough to break through that armor was his own fingers. As he was struck in that spot again, he was unable to move for a few second, allowing Yuki to seal him with her ice jutsu while maintaining that arm within his chest with the skills she had learned as a puppeteer.

"I've got to give it to you, Yuki." Temari said as she walked over to Yuki as she finished sealing the Third Raikage. "You really learn fast and impeccably."

"Thank Kankuro for me?" Yuki said as she now flashed herself to where the Tsuchikage was fighting his predecessor.

He seemed to be struggling as his age finally came to reveal itself in his stamina. Gaara was occupied with the Second Mizukage. It was up to Yuki to give the Tsuchikage assistance, whether he appreciated it or not. He actually seemed relieved that she came. She looked around and it seemed like most of their surrounding was reduced to dust. It was the infamous Dust Release that the two Tsuchikage had mastered throughout the years.

"You can wield all five elements?" Mu then asked Yuki as she appeared on scene.

"You can tell?" Yuki asked him as she was healing the current Tsuchikage while maintaining her guard up as she didn't know when the former would be attacking them.

"I can sense chakra well enough that I can sense what type you have." He replied. "I can also tell that you can manipulate them to such an extent that all of them could be the one you originally had affinity to."

"The younger generation is quite impressive, isn't it?" Onoki then told his mentor. "That's why I can't lose against you now."

Those words surprised Yuki. She didn't know that was how Onoki truly felt about them. She always sensed some doubt in him about her generation. However, she could now tell that he meant what he said. He truly felt like they were now able to surpass the people of his age.

"Watch closely and learn. If there's someone who I believe could master it, it would be you." He told her as he prepared to use his Dust Release once again.

"You'll end up missing again." Mu told him as he tried to make an escape.

However, to his surprise, Yuki had blocked off any of his escape routes with her Amaterasu. He had very little choice: either be burnt eternally by the flames or be reduced to atomic particles by Onoki's dust release. Within seconds, he was no longer present in front of them. Yuki put out the fire and as Mu's body began reappearing piece by piece just like any other reincarnation, she sealed him away with her ice. She could however see that he was saying something, but she couldn't hear it nor read his lips to understand. It bothered her. She couldn't dwell on it for too long as they still had other businesses to attend to. She made sure that the Tsuchikage was healed properly before letting him go.

"Did you look at it carefully?" He then asked her as she was mending his bones.

"The Dust Release? I did."

"Practice it once you have time. It's my thank you for coming to help me."

"Aren't you scared I would use it against your village someday?"

"Ha, like you would. I've watched you since the Kages' Summit. If there's one thing I can be certain of, it is that you want peace more than anything."

"What if the only way to peace was to destroy your village?"

"Then I must have not learned anything from this war." He replied. "You and Gaara have taught me a lot. I never thought I would admit to it, but I figured why the heck not say it. Who knows if we will all still be here tomorrow. Besides, what is pride to this old man anyway? I'm already sharing my village's secret technique to a stranger because I believe only you can master it. Even my predecessor believed so."

"Thanks..." Yuki said as she removed her hands from his back. "You should be able to move freely now."

"It definitely feels better." He said as he stretched his back.

She smiled as she looked at the old man trying to straighten his back as much as possible. At that moment, he reminded her of the Third Hokage. She felt honored that he had so much faith in her as to pass on his ultimate jutsu to her, an outsider. She promised to herself to master it once the war would be over. She couldn't let that good thought go to waste. She also prayed for them both to survive this war so that he could teach her properly once it was all over. She wanted to know the Tsuchikage for more than the cynical old man she had seen him as for the past few days.

As they headed towards Gaara, Yuki suddenly sensed a familiar chakra miles away from where they were. However, the chakra was so special to her that it caught her attention right away. Onoki seemed to have noticed that something was wrong.

"What is it?" He asked her.

"I'm not too sure, but I also know that I'm not mistaken." She replied. "I need to contact the headquarters."

"Just go." The Tsuchikage told her. "Don't look down on this old man and Gaara. We will definitely seal the Second Mizukage."

"I was hoping you could sit back and relax." She replied teasingly.

"Just go. You must have your reasons for wanting to go." He replied as he continued to head towards Gaara as she flashed herself back to the headquarters to make sure that she had sensed the right thing.

End of Chapter 68

And so day two of the war starts.

Thank you for reading this chapter.

Let me know how you like/dislike this story so far.

xox

Krystal