Another Chapter is here!
Enjoy!
Sasuke ditched the branch he was on as hands woven from dense sand crashed into it and the tree, breaking it apart on impact with loud splintering noises. He twisted as he fell, throwing shuriken at the eyes of the creature that the red-haired boy turned into. It raised its stout arm and the shuriken failed to so much as scratch the armor-like sand composing the limb.
When it lowered the arm, Sasuke saw that the Sand-boy's head had been overlapped and changed. Exhaling and baring fangs, those monstrous eyes fixated on his. Sasuke felt a current of fear running through him from head-to-toe as they promised mutilation and murder, a palpable madness hidden within them. The sand-creature then inhaled, its cheeks and throat swelling and bulging, before exhaling audibly.
Sasuke Body Flickered out of the way, taking refuge behind a tree far to the right and out of the path of the Dust Cloud technique as it billowed forward. The howling stream of wind containing the power of the desert tore, grated, and grinded everything that had been behind where he had stood before with the coarse grains of sand within it, capable of stripping flesh from bones and turning bones into dust. By the time the creature had finished expelling the lungful of air, there was a long strip of eroded earth as far as Sasuke's eyes could see in that direction.
"Where are you!?" it screamed, its voice inhumanly hoarse as it raised its nose towards the air. "Come out! I will have your blood! I'll soak it into my sand as I wring every last drop out of your body until you're nothing but a husk! Then I'll grind your withered corpse down into dust and use it to pad out my sand!"
Sweat rolled down his brow as he listened to the threats being made. Primal fear gripped his heart and held it in a deathly grasp as he could picture it happening if he was caught. He couldn't die here before he avenged his clan. He had to get away while he could, before it was too late….
Yet, the moment he took a step to leave, he froze again as a thought occurred. If he ran away, he could definitely escape. But then it would prove that his worth as an Uchiha was less than his life.
This was no different than in the Forest of Death. How many times would he surrender and run in the face of overwhelming power and monsters in the form of men? How many times would he need someone else to be there to drive him forward like Naruto and Sakura? How was he was going to defeat the monster in human flesh that killed his entire clan, if he couldn't overcome the monster right in front of him?
No matter how much training he went through. No matter what power he attained. It would all be for nothing if he wouldn't stand up on his own feet and power in the face of a threat that surpassed him.
He bit down on his lower lips, hard enough to draw blood. The pain brought clarity to his mind and drove away the fear… right as the sand-monster caught scent of the blood and turned its murderous gaze towards the tree he'd been hiding behind.
It extended its hands, engorging them until they were big enough to wrap around the entire tree and crush the base. "Caught ya!"
"No, you didn't." The voice came from above and behind, from Sasuke standing upside down on a tree limb. There was now a standard-issue Hidden Leaf chakra blade in his hand, withdrawn from his pouch and held in a reverse grip. His mirror-wheel eyes were fixed on the jinchuuriki's own.
"Decide to stop running?" it asked. "Good. There's no fun in chasing prey—makes them too tired to scream when you catch 'em!"
"Prey, huh?" Sasuke said calmly, his tone hauntingly low as lightning crackled from the chakra blade. "More than I could say about you. You're just a warm-up before I hunt down mine."
[0-0-0]
The moment Karin's body hit the ground, Naruto ripped the sealing tag in half and ran to be by her side. She was burned, blood covering her body from wounds forced open by the explosion. Had she not been kicked away, it was likely she wouldn't even be whole.
"Karin, can you hear me?" Naruto asked as he skidded to a stop on his knees and took her into his arms. There was no response, leaving him to silently pray to whatever absent gods there were that she was still alive. He felt a pulse as he pressed a finger to her throat, but none of the tension bled away with how shallow it was.
"You're going to be okay! We'll get you to some—" His voice died as he heard the ground parting and turned his head to see Kabuto emerge from the ground. The fucker didn't even look like he was hurt. Naruto grabbed one of his kunai that had been displaced by the explosion and then tossed it straight at his head.
He caught it nonchalantly and then threw it right back, nailing Naruto in the shoulder. The pain of the stab briefly made him flinch, and when he opened his eyes Kabuto was closing the distance with a spare sealing tag that he had. Naruto barely had time to raise his arm and let the seal slap itself onto his jumpsuit sleeve, stopping it from sealing him through direct contact with his skin. Kabuto, undeterred by the lack of a seal, immediately kicked Naruto hard enough in the chin that he was forced to let go of Karin as he arched through the air and hit the ground headfirst with a pained grunt.
Naruto then sank into the ground as it became too soft to support him, leaving only his head sticking out before it hardened again. Naruto wheezed as he struggled in vain to free himself, despite the fact his head felt like it was swimming from the kick, only to see Kabuto leaning down over her. "Get away… from her…."
"You should be relieved that I won't allow such a fine specimen to die so easily," he said as he laid a glowing hand down on her. "Though there's no telling if the quality or potency of her healing ability will be diminished by the burns, or could they be mended as well? I suppose it doesn't matter as long as it remains at least 60% effective for future experiments. "
Listening to him referring to her in such a manner, as an experiment, made Naruto reflect back on what Karin had said. The way she seemed to appreciate the time they'd spent together, even if it was on the orders of someone else, must've meant so much to her—a chance to be with people who didn't treat her like an experiment or only prized her for her abilities.
And now, if he didn't do something, they'd take her back to that sort of life. She didn't deserve to suffer like that. He wouldn't let her suffer like that!
"I said get away from her!" His face slowly warped to become feral to the extent that the Inuzuka's transformation paled. His normally azure eyes were now bloodshot, red-rimmed slits that served as a mirror of the demon fox within. Hatred begat malevolence—raw and pure—until it seethed from Naruto' tenketsu with such force that it billowed out like a hot gale and unearth him. "I won't let you treat her like some tool!"
"Fool," Kabuto said as he stood back up. "Without me to treat her, she won't last another five minutes!"
"And let her be a toy for you to experiment with?" he said as rage began clouding reason. Naruto couldn't save her as he was, but letting her go back to them after she was willing to die to stop him from being taken would be a fate worse than death. No, all he could do now was kill the man before him and then rush back to get her help.
The crimson chakra bubbled and boiled relentlessly from his actual flesh until it encompassed his body in such a density that it formed of a blood-toned cloak with claws, ears, and a tail that seemed writhe on its own accord and wanted nothing more than to lash out. He fell onto all fours, and where he touched the ground the corrupted Yang chakra began to blight the land. "I… WILL… KILL YOU!"
[0-0-0]
Sarutobi felt exhausted and it showed as he started to slouch on the staff, watching the flames crackle and burn a charred husk that was once a person. He had put every last drop of chakra into delivering the kill, finally putting an end to his wayward student once and for all. It was a shame. He had shown so much promise, but that was the past.
He turned to see that Jiraiya had a hard look in his eyes as he stared at the corpse. It was hard to tell if he was waiting for any sign of motion, or just having a moment of nostalgia when they and Tsunade had been on the same team. Either way, when the corpse began to writhe, Jiraiya crossed the distance with a Rasengan in hand to make sure that he remained dead.
Two things happened in that instant. The first was the corpse burst apart, charcoaled flesh splitting after serving as an incubator for poisonous serpents that basked in the flames. The second was that the tiled rooftop behind Sarutobi rippled, with the screams from the Anbu Officers watching barely reaching him before a streak of silver parted the air and filled it with a spray of crimson blood.
The Hokage fell down, his arm following suit with a wet thump, as a large white snake stood tall over him with the jian-like sword held by the forked tongue wrapped around the hilt. It had an inhuman face and mouth full of sharp teeth in contrast to a true serpent. Looking down at the exhausted and beaten man, it aimed the tip of the blade down towards his head. "Die, you old fool!"
The sword flashed again as it flew forward. This time Enma emerged from his staff-form and grasped the blade's hilt before it could pierce Sarutobi's skull, instead leaving it to hover mere inches away and drip his own blood onto the aged shinobi. The monkey king then grabbed hold of the tongue with his other hand and pulled, ripping it out of the white snake's fanged maw and flinging it aside as he stood guard over his summoner.
"The power of the white snake flows through me," Orochimaru said, his voice crossed between a hiss and his own as the tongue re-grew. "It tethers my soul to this plane and heals my wounds. You cannot harm me—you cannot kill me!"
There was a red and white blur as Jiraiya leapt past Sarutobi and slammed a Rasengan into the white serpent's maw. The spiraling sphere hit hard, knocking loose several fangs and sending the mass of ivory scales that had once been the soul of his teammate away. Jiraiya spared Sarutobi an apologetic look before turning his attention back to Orochimaru. "Enma, take care of him!"
Ah… I blundered at the end, Sarutobi thought to himself as Jiraiya went back into the fray. The blood leaking from the stump took with it his strength and vitality, making him look every single year of his age. He felt his body becoming heavier as a result, making it hard to move.
"We have to stop the bleeding," Enma said as he leaned down over him and used one of his stout hands to clamp down on the stump like a tourniquet. The other hand tore off cloth to use as a wrap, biting down on one end of the strip while he circled the stump and knotted it tightly. Only when it was in place did he loosen his hold, as satisfied as he could be with the temporary measure.
"Enma," Sarutobi wheezed. "I have to… finish this…"
"You don't have any chakra left to do anything that could harm him," Enma said bluntly, if not unkindly. "You gave it your all."
He honestly did. He tried to rectify the sins of the past from not stopping Orochimaru when he had been younger, but he failed. This was the end result. The village was on the verge of destruction and his former student had allowed his very soul to be warped to such an extent that an honest death was no longer enough to save it.
However, peering at the barrier that covered them, he couldn't die in peace unless he ensured that he had stopped this madness. And while he had no strength left for techniques, there was one last way that he could be of use. He raised his remaining arm and pointed towards the defensive encampment that sealed them within here. "The b… bar…rier…"
The summoning looked towards it and then nodded, seemingly in understanding. Though it was ranked a B-ranked technique, it was capable of stopping even Tsunade's beloved one's technique—a physical manifestation of his spirit capable of possessing others—when they'd tested it. What would it do to a soul tethered to the physical plane then?
"You'll only get one final shot," Enma said. "I'll use my own chakra to expand, so make it count."
Sarutobi rose to his feet shakily, haggard breaths escaping from his mouth as Enma once more turned into a staff. It felt heavier in his single arm, but he could still lift and throw it in a single motion. He turned his gaze towards the giant white snake, the mutilated soul of his former apprentice, and Jiraiya, the student that remained loyal and steadfast despite his wanderlust, trying once more to kill one another.
Determination filled him as he gathered his breath into his lungs and held it. He forged his spirit, tempered by the Will of Fire, and the dredges of his lingering physical strength into chakra manually. There would be just enough to get the job done. Holding the staff tight to his body, he spun around to give it the momentum it needed and then released it with a scream.
The staff flew through the air and speared towards Orochimaru, who was already moving to avoid the straight-path flight by getting off-center. It was nothing more than the desperate actions of a dying old man in his eyes, a futile act of one who could only flail as death gripped him with its cold fingers. Then the staff expanded and swelled in an instant, becoming even larger than the serpent itself as Enma expended all his chakra as well to ensure the kill—matching the determination of his summoner and putting their lives on the line.
Jiraiya managed to get out of the way, darting back to grab Sarutobi and moving him away as the expanded end of the staff threatened smash him like it did the rooftop. The white snake was crushed between a staff with the durability of diamonds and the edge of the purple cage of flames, and the violet flames were merciless and indiscriminate as they engulfed both of them. An unholy scream filled the air as the Snake Sannin was immolated by the very barrier that his agents threw up.
"Shit!" one of them yelled as the Sound Four abandoned the formation to save their leader. But it didn't stop the already present flames from consuming him as the Anbu Officers moved to try and capture them. They could not retrieve Orochimaru before the flames consumed the bared and twisted soul entirely. "Retreat!"
They fled with their pursuers hot on their tails, save a scant few who had medical training and were resolved to see that their Hokage made it through the remainder of the invasion alive. Enma grunted gruffly as the transformation shorted out and the chakra shell dissipated, leaving him still covered in the hungry flames. Jiraiya was quick to pull out a Fire Sealing scroll, one of the myriad he had kept prepared for today depending on how the battle would have turned out, and used it to absorb the flames before Enma returned from whence he was summoned.
"Jir… ai…." His student was by his side as he trailed off, unable to finish due to his throat being dry and his lungs weary.
"Easy, Old Man," Jiraiya said as he grasped his old man's good hand. "You did it. He's gone this time, nothing left behind—not even ashes. Just lay still and let them help you make it. You hear me?"
His mouth opened and closed as he tried to breathe out a few words. "Vill…age…go—"
"Help the village, I know. I'll go, but don't you dare die." He gently set the strength-less hand down and turned to the Anbu using the Mystic Palm technique to try and stimulate his failing body into carrying on just a little long, offering their healing chakra as a supplement to offset the diminished physical energy, while the other focused on dealing with the missing arm. "Don't let him die! I don't care what it takes; we are not losing another Hokage like this!"
"Understood, Jiraiya-sama!" one of them said. "We'll make sure the Hokage survives!"
Watching Jiraiya jump off the building and into the fray once more, despite his previous exhaustive battle, Hiruzen Sarutobi's lips forced themselves into a small smile as he slowly exhaled. Good, he'll make a fine Hokage after me….
The foundation had already been laid out for it to happen behind closed doors. With Orochimaru dead there was no longer any need for the guilt to chain him down from taking the role. He may be a little reluctant, but it was for the best with Tsunade not fit for the role at the moment and their being few others he could trust.
With that thought in mind, the Hokage closed his eyes and the sounds of battle in the distant faded entirely….