I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters from the Manga or Anime.
A Price for Peace
Chapter 44: The Placement Trials pt 6
Naruto stared apprehensively at the giant ball of sand that was currently converging into the Ichibi, Shukaku. 'Why the hell is Shukaku here?' he asked in shock, completely ignoring the almost terrified looks that were being shared collectively by the empire shinobi as well as the blonds new found allies respectively.
'Shukaku was always going to be the first Biju to reform in this world after being freed from the Akatsuki's sealing. He only has one tail and much less chakra than the rest of us, it's only natural that he would need less time to recover,' Kurama answered eagerly.
'Well that part at least makes sense, I guess. But shouldn't Shukaku be reforming in the desert somewhere near Suna?' Naruto questioned, still struggling to come to terms with what he was witnessing.
'That is Shukaku's preferred stomping ground, but don't forget that you have a portion of his chakra inside you as well. It's possible that may be the reason why he is reforming here. Either way you're going to have to get ready for a fight,' the fox replied, resting his head on his paws while making sure to keep watch on what was happening outside the seal.
'Why? The Bijuu shouldn't be attacking me, we came to an understanding,' Naruto declared.
'Yes that's true... But when a Bijuu reforms it takes multiple steps. Unfortunately it's not until the very end that our consciousness returns. Once that crazy tanuki's body is formed he will go out of control,' Kurama explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
'I still have to deal with these empire ninja as well. How long do you think I have before it it becomes dangerous to ignore Shukaku?'
'I don't know I have never seen any Bijuu reform before. But if I had to guess, then I would say you have a few minutes before he goes out of control.'
Naruto sighed knew that he couldn't leave a rampaging Bijuu alone, which meant that he had to deal with the Empire shinobi quickly. His gaze hardened as he turned his attention back to Gouhara and Joli. The two Uchiha commanders were gazing in shock at the large ball of sand hardly believing their eyes. "In a few minutes that lump of sand is going to transform into a creature of amazing destructive power. So I can't waste any more time playing with you," the blond said firmly, effectively reminding every shinobi in the area of exactly why they were here in the first place.
"Idiot. You should have used that sand as your only chance to run. You didn't even try to use it as a distraction and attack us, just what kind of fool are you?" Joli asked stiffly. Around them her bodyguards were in combat with soldiers that had sided with Shougo, who was currently face to face with Tetsu, his katana clashing against blades formed from the rusty haired shinobi's blood.
Naruto remained unfazed by the taunting, he had gotten much worse in the past. "If I attacked you and defeated you like that, it wouldn't serve my purpose at all," he said with a small smirk as he gathered some more natural energy for his sage mode while he had the chance.
'You desire a fair fight... well I'm more than willing to give you anything you want Naruto-kun," Gouhara said with a flirtatious drawl that seemed to go right over Naruto's head completely unaffected by the attempt. Naruto meanwhile wasted no more time, rocketing forward, his fist drawn. But just as he got within range of Gouhara he quickly jumped back. "What's wrong Naruto-kun, I thought we were going to play?" she teased licking her lips hungrily.
"Did you guys feel that?" Naruto asked the small toads sitting on his shoulders.
"I sure did Naruto-chan, tha' young lady can freely manipulate wind ta do 'er biddin'," Fukusaku replied, he was reluctantly impressed by the Uchiha princess.
'She uses wind in a similar way that Gaara uses sand, that could be a problem,' the blond thought before quickly rolling out of the way as a long blade of wind shot from around Gouhara forming a thin yet deep laceration in the ground where Naruto had been standing just a second earlier.
Gouhara's assault was relentless, each time Naruto stopped for a second a new barrage of wind would descend upon him forcing him to run. "Ya need ta counter tha wind Naruto-chan, a Katon jutsu should easily overpower pure Futon manipulation," Shima suggested.
"I don't know any Katon jutsu... in fact I still only know Futon ninjutsu, I'm going to need some help here," the blond admitted.
"That's alright Naruto-chan, we can 'elp ya, but we're going to have to fix your limited knowledge of Jutsu once this is over. Even if ya lost tha ability to use the Senjutsu of Six Paths, you should still have the ability to use all of the elements," Fukusaku sighed.
It was Shima however that supplied the fire to counter Gouhara's wind blades, a powerful wide wall of flames spread out between them and sped towards the two Uchiha princesses. Joli and Gouhara were forced to jump back to avoid the senjutsu powered flames, splitting apart as they did so.
Both Uchiha began racing through had seals and in perfect sync each created a large dragon, one of wind and the other of flames that circled around the blond before they combined together. In a perfect collaboration that created a giant dragon of white hot flames that scorched the earth around the blond as it continued to circle him forming a dome of flames. "If he doesn't suffocate from the loss of air he will be burnt to a crisp in a matter of seconds," Joli said with a smirk. What she didn't expect was a massive pillar of mud Water and wind to shoot up into the sky that opened up to show Naruto and the Toad elders perfectly fine. "How did he break out of that collaboration, the circling flames should have sucked the oxygen out from his lungs before he even knew what was happening," she gasped.
"He collaborates with the summoned toads, they're powerful, he's also somehow gathering chakra from nature to greatly enhance his strength," Gouhara explained a massive smile on her face. "I haven't felt this alive in years... he truly is magnificent!" she declared as the wind around her began to pick up forming what looked like a mini tornado that cloaked her body, her long white hair flailing behind her.
She shot forward in a blur, the wind propelling her faster. Naruto at first thought of blocking her strike but then thought better of it, he knew first hand the destructive nature of wind, so instead he narrowly dodged the attack. He wanted to keep the distance tight between them so he could counter so he waited until the last second to move, rolling his body to the side as she passed him, even with the Sharingan she didn't have time to counter the lightning quick reactions Naruto had from his use of his Bijuu cloak.
Once behind the white haired Uchiha he casually kicked her away before he realised the extent of the damage her wind cloak had done. He has several deep cuts on his arms, a gash along his cheek and the right leg of his pants was torn to shreds when he kicked her. Fortunately his wounds were already rapidly healing. "That's dangerous. It's a little like A-jiji's lightning armour. But it trades some of the speed for the ability to cut anything that it touches into ribbons," Naruto said analytically while wiping the excess blood from his face as it healed.
He didn't have any more time to rest as a large spectral arm came crashing down ready to crush him where he stood. He had to act quickly, creating a clone to throw him out of harms way before spinning to face his attacker. Joli was standing shrouded in a dark skeleton with a semi-humanoid face. "Susanoo," Shima said a little surprised at this.
"I guess it's not a surprise that you have the Mangekyo Sharingan," Naruto said calmly. "I've heard about the way your family practices, pitting you up against your family in a fight to the death, so it's no surprise that some of you have those eyes."
"You know far too much about our clan," Joli said with a scowl. A large sword forming in each hand of the large spectral skeleton.
At the same time Gouhara was picking herself up and admiring the handiwork of her Futon cloak, the fact that Naruto's wounds had finished healing with only the light traces of blood on clean skin as evidence excited her, she wanted to watch him heal next time. She was also aware that if the wind didn't lessen the blow from Naruto's kick, she would probably be dead. "Are we getting to the the main course so soon? I wanted to play for a little longer," she pouted, but her eyes too slowly morphed into her own Mangekyo Sharingan.
'Things are getting pretty serious now,' the blond thought now being extra careful not to look either Uchiha in the eyes. "Fukusaku-sensei, Shima, I think you should head back to Myobokuzan now," he said, his body stiff as he waiting for any subtle sign that either might attack.
"But Naruto-chan, it's too dangerous," Shima declared.
"It's alright, I'm not strong enough alone to beat them both like this. At least not easily and I don't have any more time to test myself," Naruto said, kneeling down so the two toads could easily hop off his shoulders.
'What is he doing?' Gouhara wondered while silently signalling to Joli behind the blonds back.
"Be careful Naruto-chan, summon me again when you get home, we still have a lot of training to do," Fukusaku declared. Both toads gave a short wave before they both disappeared in a puff of smoke. At that same moment the two large blades from Joli's Susanoo descended on where the blond remained crouching, and on the opposite side a black flames descended on their target.
Neither attack would come close to hitting him. A massive burst of chakra preceded two large yellow claws grabbing both the blades of Susanoo and blocking the black flames from Gouhara's Amaterasu. Naruto slowly stood covered in the golden chakra of his Bijuu cloak. He felt stronger and faster than ever before, the only thing that could compare was when he was in his Six Paths Mode. 'Amazing.'
'That's right, by increasing your speed and strength without my chakra, it greatly improved your ability to use my chakra,' Kurama said proudly.
"What Jutsu is this!?" Joli asked. For the first time in years, she was feeling intimidated, even scared.
The other fights had also stopped the pressure that Naruto's chakra exerted felt crushing. They had never experienced anything like it before. It dwarfed even the strongest of the empire, and the large beast that had almost formed. "What kind of monster is he?" Tetsu asked, ignoring the smirk that seemed to be spreading on Shougo's face.
"The kind that will be able to change this empire for the better. Can you see that now Tetsu? Don't you think putting our faith in someone that would fix our mistakes is better than the way things are run at the moment?" Shougo asked.
"What I think doesn't matter, I have a duty, and I will fulfil that until the end... The real question is why are you siding with him? What about your family!?" Tetsu replied angrily.
"You mean the family that forced me to kill my own brother? The family that thought I was worthless because I did not appear to have our Dojutsu? But you know what... they were wrong!" Shougo replied his black eyes turned red and the tell tale marks of a fully developed Sharingan.
Tetsu's eyes widened. "Since when?"
"Since I was five, I just didn't let anyone know. I was the youngest of our generation to awaken the Sharingan, I just never let anyone know," Shougo replied, his eyes hardening as he found that blocking his friends attacks was now effortless, like he moved in slow motion. "I wanted to know how good I could become without needing to use these eyes, but that changes now, I'm ready to make a stand against everything this empire has done."
"So when I beat you all those years ago, you weren't even trying?" Tetsu asked incredulously.
"Not really, I was always the black sheep of the family. They would also allow me to get away with a lot more if they didn't consider me to be a real threat," the Uchiha rebel explained.
Tetsu had to admit he had a point, the higher your rank in the empire the more eyes were on you. Shougo had found a position where he was in contact with top members of the empire without having direct influence on anyone important. He had the perfect role to fly under the radar, gathering supporters without raising any suspicion. Which led to the twenty shinobi that were in combat around them. 'That's just the allies he has with him here, there's no telling just how many allies he has within our ranks that aren't ready to expose themselves,' the blood wielder realised.
Meanwhile both Uchiha kunoichi were struggling to deal with Naruto, his cloak was acting as the perfect buffer for any attack that either kunoichi was able to throw at him. Joli's Susanoo had been effectively canceled out, however she soon found that it would be detrimental to allow herself to allow the spectral figure to disappear.
Up to this point Naruto hadn't moved a muscle, he simply allowed the extendable arms of chakra to swat at the two Uchiha princesses, effectively keeping them on the defensive. This changed however as Gouhara formed two massive tornados to which Joli added fire. Naruto knew that even in his current state he wouldn't be able to withstand something like that. He waited until the last moment when the spiralling inferno's were almost upon him before making his move.
Even with their Mangekyo Sharingan's Gouhara and Joli could only just follow his movement with their eyes, before they knew it Naruto was behind Joli, his fist buried into the back of her Susanoo, sending the younger Uchiha crashing to the ground tumbling quickly towards their own jutsu.
Gouhara reacted at the last second and used a Fuuton Jutsu to stop her before she ended up caught in their flaming tornados. Gouhara was now starting to realise just what she was messing with, Naruto was more than capable of defeating both her and her daughter with relative ease, a prospect which both frightened and excited the albino Uchiha.
A loud primal roar drew everyones attention away from their fights and to the giant ball of sand that now looked like a semi formed monster. "This isn't good," Naruto realised as the beast began to thrash about sending waves of sand across the field tearing apart the landscape. "I'd hoped we would have more time."
"What the hell is going on!?" Joli asked as another powerful screech shook the ground shocking everyone except Naruto.
Naruto sighed and closed his eyes as the black marks on his chakra cloak began to spread and his chakra thickened until he had the appearance of wearing a sage robe made entirely of chakra, fleck of golden flame like chakra flicked at the edges of the cloak. "No more playing around... let's do this Kurama!" he yelled before slamming his fists to the ground. A second later Naruto stood atop a glowing Kurama, his nine tails waving around eagerly behind him.
"Ah it's good to be outside again," Kurama said as his attention turned to the rampaging Ichibi. "Ah Shukaku, it always a pleasure when I get to put you in your place, even if your not fully awake yet!"
Naruto hopped off of the foxes head allow the Bijuu to take care of his brother. "Now to deal with you two."
"Wh... What the hell are you!" Joli stammered, backing up slowly.
"Someone who you shouldn't have tried to kill," Naruto said as two chakra claws rose from his shoulders forming a Rasenshuriken in each hand. 'I should be able to use all the elements, that's what Fukusaku said... But I've never tried without the Bijuu helping me out, and now isn't the best time to try. I guess I'll just stick with Futon for now.' He threw both spinning discs of chakra at the two Uchiha who had no choice but dodge.
"We need to retreat, this isn't a fight we can win," Gohara admitted as Naruto began forming several more of the wind powered Rasengan variants.
Joli was less than impressed with that declaration. "I'm not a coward who will run away from some ill bread piece of trash!" she declared.
"Don't be a fool, you claim to have better eyes than mine, yet you cant even see that he's been toying with us from the start. We need to escape, if we don't we will die!" Gouhara said in a urgent whisper unwilling to take her eyes off the blond incase he moved again. Once more the Rasenshuriken came flying at the pair. They jumped in the same direction but before they landed Naruto was right behind them a rasengan un hand. Gouhara was the first to react, creating a small bubble of air pressure between her and Joli to send them rocketing in different directions. Neither landed gracefully but they were saved from being impaled by Naruto's jutsu.
'How much chakra does this guy have!? He's been going none stop for hours now and it hasn't even made a dent. It's like staring at a never ending well of chakra. I hate to admit it but maybe Kaa-san is right. It's going to take more than the two of us to beat this guy... Damn it where did he come from this makes no sense!' Joli thought as she pulled herself to her feet, glaring daggers at the blond who was momentarily distracted by the Fox and Tanuki that were currently destroying anything in their path. 'Now's my chance!' she realised kicking off forming a single arm of her Susanoo with sword in hand ready to impale the blond who had his back turned.
Joli's victorious grin faded as once more an arm of chakra extended out grabbing the blade as a second clawed hand delivered a devastating blow that crushed the kunoichi into the ground. Joli screamed in pain coughing out a large amount of blood.
Naruto sighed if he let things drag on anymore it would be dangerous to his new found allies. In an instant several clones appeared and quickly dispatched with the enemies that his allies were fighting. Tetsu and Shougo were engaged in a vicious kenjutsu match as a blur of yellow struck Tetsu and sent him flying eventually falling into a large ravine that had been filled with sand.
"Thanks for the help but that was kind of personal, we had some stuff we needed to deal with," Shougo said trying not to sound annoyed that Naruto had interfered with his match.
"Sorry, but the boss wants to end this so he needs to get everyone else out of here, it's too dangerous to stay here," one of Naruto's clones explained while Shougo's allies were one my one being carried in a blur far from the field.
"Do you really have to carry me?" Shougo asked with a deadpan he didn't like the thought of being that helpless.
"I'm afraid so, otherwise you wont get out of the way in time," Naruto admitted.
Shougo raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued. "What's he planning to do?"
"Trust me, you will see soon enough," the clone replied before grabbing the rebel Uchiha before he could complain anymore.
The real Naruto gave a quick nod as the clones indicated that the others were safe knew what he had to do. He used his chakra to kick off high into the air, almost defying gravity. He then threw both arms into the air and a mixture of blue and black chakra scattered in the air around him as he appeared to hover.
Gouhara was crouched beside Joli, both looking up at the surreal sight before them. "What the hell is that freak doing now?" Joli asked coughing up a small amount of blood.
Naruto's chakra claws began to gather the chakra slowly combining the two types of chakra. The pressure from the chakra was building to an incredible amount. "We have to go, if that hits, there is going to be nothing left of us," Gouhara realised in a horrified fascination. She helped Joli to her feet and the two began to make their retreat, however that was slowed due to Joli's beaten state.
Once the large ball of chakra had formed Naruto compressed the chakra to the size of a ball easily small enough to fit in his mouth, however the weight of the jutsu had forced him to slowly descend. 'This is a lot harder without Kurama's help,' the blond thought as he swallowed the small black ball of compressed chakra and found his target. 'Bijudama!' he thought as she let fly a beam of chakra that eviscerated anything if came in contact with, the beam growing back to the full size of the ball of chakra had been before Naruto had swallowed it.
The blast continued, ripping a massive hole in the side of the arena. "Looks like you've got that down without any help not bad Naruto," Kurama said with a grin as the fox shoulder charged the sand Bijuu who let out a wail of compressed air that narrowly missed Kurama but formed a mini trench half way across the arena tearing up trees and tossing stones as it continued on it's path. The the beam died down there was no longer any sign of Gouhara or Joli.
This seemed to change something in the Ichibi as his dead looking eyes seemed to gain the spark of life, the beasts pupil brightening. "Kurama! Stop I'm conscious now," Shukaku bellowed quickly as the foxes fist rapidly approached the Tanuki in what appeared to be a haymaker.
Kurama's fist stopped an inch before making contact. "About time you runt, I could have sent you back to the other side, then you would have to wait to reform again," the fox scoffed.
"Oh shut up you damn fox, I'm not here for you," Shukaku scowled.
"That reminds me, why are you here?" Kurama asked curiously.
"The one father chose is here, he entrusted us to look after him and vice versa," Shukaku explained.
Naruto who had heard the conversation landed atop Kurama's head. "You didn't have to come all this way, Gaara and the others would have taken care of you in my absence," the blond said.
"There is no telling if the humans will respect the Bijuu in your absence Naruto. Shukaku came here because this is where you were not wanting to lose his freedom again. Is that about right?" Kurama guessed.
"For the most part, yes," Shukaku admitted.
Naruto smiled happily at this news, but began rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "That's great and all but I don't exactly know what I'm supposed to do with a thirty foot Bijuu, we don't have much room where we're heading," he admitted.
"I can fix that, you already have my chakra in your system so all I have to do is..." A large stream of chakra flew from Shukaku directly into Naruto's seal. The more that entered the seal the smaller Shukaku appeared until the Tanuki was about the same size as a large horse. "There... and if you ever need me at full strength all you need to do is release my chakra to me," Shukaku explained.
"Wow you look like you did in Rikudou-jiji's memory he showed me of you after your birth," Naruto said as he ended his Bijuu mode and Kurama returned to Naruto's seal.
"I believe at this size I could be both useful in a fight and a manageable size that I wouldn't get in the way," Shukaku said hopefully.
Naruto nodded in agreement. "Yeah I can't see any problem now. Glad to have you join me Shukaku."
"Thank you Naruto-sama," the Bijuu said with a bow.
"Ah, don't go bowing to me, we're partners, I'm not your master alright?" Naruto replied a little embarrassed.
"Very well, but I will watch over my fathers legacy and I vow that no harm shall come to you on my watch, I swear on my pride as a Bijuu!" Shukaku said proudly.
Naruto blushed a little in embarrassment at the declaration, "You really don't need to go that far Shukaku, you and all the Bijuu are my friends, not servants," he said sheepishly, not wanting to abuse his relationship with the Bijuu for his own gain.
'Perhaps we should have this conversation someplace else? I'm sure your vixen is worried about your safety and let's face the longer we wait around here doing nothing the more time it gives for our enemies to attack again,' Kurama reasoned.
'Yeah, you're probably right,' the blond thought calmly. "Hey Shukaku, it's not safe here let's get out of here and meet up with the others... oh and welcome to the team," Naruto said calmly. He ushered the Bijuu to follow after him as he walked towards where Shougo and his surviving allies were eying him with varying degrees of suspicion.
"Uh Naruto, do you know that... um what do I call that?" Shougo asked his eyes trained on the Ichihibi.
Naruto thought about the question for a moment, 'Should I tell them about the Bijuu?.. No that's probably not a good idea. Potential ally or not, it's a risk to tell anyone about the true nature of the Bijuu, and certainly not an Uchiha.' he thought carefully before deciding on an answer. "Oh this is Shukaku, he's a Tanuki."
"He's a lot smaller than he was before, and I sense a lot less chakra," Shougo commented.
"Yeah I'm holding onto his chakra for him, it's no big deal for me," Naruto replied neglecting to mention that the only reason it is possible was the fact he already had a small amount of the Ichibi's chakra sealed within him in the first place.
"Well I have to admit seeing him like this is far less intimidating," Shougo sighed regaining his composure. "So what's the plan now?"
Naruto shrugged. "I'm heading home, I never wanted to get involved in the empires business."
"Isn't it a little late for that now? They're not just going to let you live after all you have done," Shougo replied.
"Maybe, not but I'm not strong enough by myself to take on the entire empire, and I should have done enough today to deter them from attacking me for awhile," Naruto reasoned.
"What do you mean not strong enough? You just took out two of the strongest shinobi in the empire single handedly, not to mention all the soldiers you took out before hand," one of Shougo's allies said in disbelief.
Naruto shook his head, "I'm strong, but I'm sure the empire has tens of thousands of shinobi, I'm only one man I can't fight a war by myself. The best I can do for now is protect a small area, if I have home ground advantage I'm confident that I can at least repel any attacks sent my way," the blond exclaimed confidently.
Shougo nodded in agreement, this would not be a fight won in a single battle, nor would it be an out and out war, there were steps that they needed to take. "Naruto's right, but at the same time your isolated little village is too small of a target, the empire won't even hesitate to wipe it off the face of the earth. It would only take one half decent jutsu for it to happen as well."
"Yeah you're right, but what else can I do," Naruto sighed.
"That's simple, claim more land for yourself. Give the empire something else to think about, take the southern capital for your own, change the laws of those southern districts and turn it into a place where you can offer a fair way of life to the people," Shougo replied.
"Isn't that a lot of land though, it might force the empires hand and retaliate," Naruto replied.
Shougo and the others all broke out into laugher at this. "Sorry Naruto, but the outskirts of the empire are nothing but trash to the higher ups, why do you think it's so lawless. I doubt they will waste any real resources trying to claim it for themselves... at least not until it's too late."
"Too late? What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked calmly.
"There is more than one way to win a war Naruto. The side with the superior numbers or weapons can still lose if the people turn against them. If you oppose the empire and offer real equality, unrest will spread throughout the empire, not just in the south where it can be ignored," Shougo answered.
"You think that will work?" Naruto pressed.
"I do. Show the people that there is a better way to live and they will not take being oppressed any longer, people will flood to join your side, even some of the Empire's soldiers will side with you. Whether you like it or not, today you started a war, but for now fight with idea's rather than fists." Shougo declared.
"You might have a point, still I don't want to rush into anything just yet. But that's definitely an option... Now let's get the hell out of here, Karin-chan will be on the verge of killing my clone and running here herself if we wait any longer," the blond said with a smile.
End Chapter!
Sorry about the delay, I'm really busy at the moment, I've had no time at all to write so this chapters been a bit disjointed in coming together. I usually like to do a chapter in one or two sittings, but I haven't had the time to pull that off. In any case this ends this particular arc, save a few loose ends that I will hopefully tie up next chapter.
Naruto-gaiden first chapter was fairly heavily focused on Sadara... fuck it I'm calling her Salad... Didn't like the hint at the Sasuke x Karin pairing. For one it further more reduces my respect for cannon Karin. Just once I would like to have a female character in the series act like a real person. She was fucking stabbed in the chest and left to die for fucks sake, she would have died if Sakura didn't heal her, then she goes and jumps back into his arms... She's like the poster child for domestic abuse.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of Sakura x Sasuke either... Hell, in my opinion letting him live was a mistake in the story. No consequences for his actions, just let him go and trust that he has reformed... Fail! Life has consequences, you don't kill a Hokage, even if it was Danzo, and get away scot free. It's fucking stupid. (I'll probably be raging about that for years,)
Rage over. I am interested in how this new manga will progress, the Last Movie didn't really cover much in the way of anything other than some Naruto Hinata fluff. It wasn't that bad of a movie despite having a very boring antagonist, just I still would have preferred the war arc in the manga to end much sooner and to have done one or two mini arcs depicting what happened after the war instead. Like seeing Naruto as a Jounin Sensei with his own team or something like that.
Still the thing about Naruto has always been it's obvious imperfections that were based around a brilliant universe of ideas. That's what makes it such a gold mine for the Fan Fiction communities, it has so many flaws that everyone wants to see something else happen.