Chapter 57 – The Fall of Otogakure
"Talk"
'Think'
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto sensei.
Gaara vs. Kimimaro
Gaara was floating on his sand and observing the terrain after he had used ryūsa bakuryū followed by sabaku taisō when he heard "Sawarabi no Mai" and countless of bones emerged from the ground.
"GAARA!" Gaara turned and saw his opponent had risen and ready to stab him when Noriko jumped in, covered in orange chakra with her byakugan and sharingan activated and yelled "Hakke Kūshō!"
Kimimaro's eyes widened as the attack hit his heart. He choked on his blood and began to fall while the bones on the ground began to disappear.
'O…ro…chi…maru…sama…' his last thought.
The orange chakra surrounding Noriko dissipated and Noriko fell on her knees, panting slightly as she had not recovered fully from her fight with Kidōmaru.
"Are you okay?" asked a concerned Gaara.
"Yeah" said a panting Noriko
"Thank you. I think you saved me" Gaara said with a smile.
Noriko just smiled "Honestly, I wasn't thinking. I saw you in danger and just jumped in…Oh no!" Noriko gasped and wailed "I've turned into Naruto!"
Orochimaru's Base
"Sen'ei Tajashu" a swarm of big snakes appeared instantly from Orochimaru's arm and moved fast towards Jiraiya.
"Hari Jizō" Jiraiya's hair enveloped himself and turned into needle, followed by "Hari Jigoku" where the hair-needles were shot at the snakes.
The moment Orochimaru shot snakes at Jiraiya, Sandaime jumped to Orochimaru and said "Katon: Karyūdan"
Orochimaru let go of the snakes and jumped to the side, when Sandaime shouted "Doton: Doryū Taiga" and the ground underneath Orochimaru's feet turned into mud then mud-river which carried Orochimaru away.
Then Sandaime said "Doton: Doryūdan" and a dragon-like head appeared to shoot mud balls at Orochimaru. Simultaneously, Sandaime cried "Katon: Karyūdan" and shot fires at the mud balls to increase its damage
Orochimaru's mouth opened and another Orochimaru appeared, shedding his old Orochimaru's skin. Orochimaru then performed Mandara no Jin where a countless of snakes appeared from Orochimaru's mouth, forming a wall of snakes. Each snake then opened its mouth and a sword emerged from each snake's mouth.
Seeing the wall of snakes with the swords, Jiraiya yelled "Doton: Yomi Numa" and the ground underneath the snakes turned to swamp, dragging the snakes down. At the same time, Sandaime shouted "Katon: Karyū Endan" and three fire dragons emerged and attack the visible snakes from the front, left and right and left them in ashes.
Orochimaru gritted his teeth. He was down to his last option, Yamata no Jutsu.
"Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" Temari panted and ate her second Hyōrōgan. Their opponents was tough as she had to unfold her fan all the way to the three stars as the first two stars had no impact on the enemies.
Meanwhile, Kankurō's puppetry skill was being challenged seeing he cannot use Kuroari's for capture. The barrel containing his previous opponents was by his side while Kuroari's other parts were being used in tandem with Karasu.
Shizune, whose shikomishindan was out of needles, was fighting with her poisoned kunai
Shin was pulling his tantō from his opponent's dead body when an enemy grabbed and choked him from behind.
A large fist appeared and punched the enemy away, "Thank you, Shitō" rasped Shin, trying to clear his airway.
Shitō's grinned was cut short when a number of enemies dog piled on top of him. Before he could do anything, a shout of "Rasengan!" relieved him of his burden. "Thanks, Naruto"
Naruto grinned and saw a group of enemies moved towards Shizune. He began running but faced obstacles by another enemies.
Shizune jumped backwards and took out another kunai. Her kunai was bent when she tried to stab her opponent who was joined by another two. She prepared to do her dokugiri when sands appeared and wrapped her enemies tightly before she heard "Sabaku Kyū" and her enemies were crushed.
Noriko jumped next to Naruto and performed jūken on an enemy.
While taking down their opponents, the ground cracked suddenly and a gigantic eight headed white snake appeared from the ground. At the same time, Jiraiya, Sandaime, Kakashi and Itachi landed on the ground near them.
"Wow…" said Naruto and Noriko, simultaneously at the sight of giant eight headed white snake.
"What's that?" asked Temari.
"That's Orochimaru" answered Jiraiya "Keep your eyes on him"
"Watch out for his sword" reminded Sarutobi, now wielding an Adamantine Staff "It's called Kusanagi. He stored it inside his mouth"
"Naruto-" said Jiraiya "Summoned Gamaken while I summoned Gamabunta and Gamahiro"
Naruto nodded. Both he and Jiraiya bit their thumbs as yelled "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
Three giant toads appeared with Naruto, Jiraiya and Sandaime on top of each one. Kakashi jumped next to Naruto "Looks like we fight together, Naruto" he said with a smile. Naruto grinned.
"Be on a very high alert. His speed is very fast. Don't let your guard down" reminded Kakashi. His sharingan was uncovered.
"Greeting Gamaken-san. It's an honour to fight with you" said Sandaime.
"I'm sorry. I am a bit…clumsy" replied Gamaken.
"Jiraiya" said Gamabunta "Is that Orochimaru?"
"That is correct" answered Jiraiya "He has finally shown his true self"
"Then the rest of you cleared this area" said Itachi "I got him" he looked at Kabuto who returned the look with a smirk.
…
…
…
The eight-headed snake moved forward at a speed that belied their size. The toads jumped off. Gamabunta beheaded one while Gamahiro beheaded another. Gamake got one of the head trapped with his sasumata and Sandaime beheaded that one with his adamantine staff.
Jiraiya was using Doton: Yomi Numa to build swamp underneath the snake to hinder its movement when one of them bit him, only to shriek in pain as at the last moment, Jiraiya used Hari Jizō and wrapped himself like a porcupine.
Kakashi used his chidori along with Naruto and a number of his kage bunshin, each wield a rasengan to inflict damage on one of the head which shrieked in pain and trashed around, thus dispelling Naruto's kage bunshin.
Noriko had her sharingan activated, channelling Rajah's ears, nose and feet, shouted "Zanzō Bunshin!" the moment the eight-headed snake started moving. She opted for sharingan instead of byakugan as she hoped to 'learn' one or two jutsu to add into her repertoire.
From the corner of his eyes, Itachi's mouth curved upwards as he saw Noriko moved around her bunshin with fluidity, '…much like Shisui's' he thought. Itachi then looked back at his opponent who was trapped in genjutsu 'Time to seal him' Itachi said to himself 'Ibiki would love to have him as a challenge'
"Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" Temari yelled when she felt sand moving behind her. She turned and saw Gaara's sand wrapping around an enemy that appeared to emerge from the ground and was about to launch sneak-attack on her.
'Thank you Gaara' Temari thought and nodded at Gaara, who nodded back and crushed the enemy with Sabaku Kyū.
Shin stabbed an opponent with his tantō while Shitō used his enlarged fist to pulverize his opponent to the ground.
Shin looked around and said "I think we killed the lasts of them".
"Are you sure?" asked Shitō "Let's check to make sure they are really dead. I don't want a surprise" he said wearily.
The toads severed three more of the snake's heads when Orochimaru emerged from one of the two remaining heads, looking highly pissed off. He regurgitated a sword, wielding it while his eyes flashing crazily.
Noting the look, Kakashi ordered Naruto to joined the other group while Jiraiya thanked the toads before asking them to return to Myōbokuzan.
One of the snake's head launched towards Kakashi, who allowed himself to be swallowed before he execute it with raikiri from the snake's mouth.
Still inside the snake's mouth, the last snake's head launched to Konoha's and Suna's shinobi on the ground. Realizing his intention, Sandaime jumped and beheaded the last of the snake's head with his adamantine staff when Orochimaru's neck shot out, turn back and stabbed Sandaime with the Kusanagi sword.
"Ojiisan!" cried Naruto and Noriko.
"Sensei!" shouted Jiraiya
"Sandaime-sama!" cried Shitō and Shizune.
Fighting the pain, Sandaime grabbed on the sword to keep Orochimaru from moving. Realizing Sandaime's plan, Orochimaru elongated the sword to keep the distance when he felt two incoming large chakra.
Both cloaked with the Kyūbi's chakra, with tears running down their face, Naruto attack with a bigger version of rasengan while Noriko released as much chakra as she could for Hakke Kūshō.
Seeing his adopted grandchildren were about to take down his strayed student, thus correcting his mistake, Sandaime smiled as he closed his eyes for the final time.
The smiling face of his sensei was the last sight seen by Orochimaru before his head was pulverized into oblivion.
End Chapter 57
Chidori – One Thousand Birds
Dokugiri – Poison Mist
Doton: Doryūdan – Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet
Doton: Doryū Taiga – Earth Release: Great Mud River
Doton: Yomi Numa – Earth Release: Dark Swamp
Hakke Kūshō – Eight Trigrams Air Palm
Hari Jigoku – Needle Hell
Hari Jizō – Needle Jizo
Hyōrōgan – Soldier Pills
Jūken – Gentle Fist
Kamaitachi no Jutsu – Wind Scythe Jutsu
Katon: Karyūdan – Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bomb
Katon: Karyū Endan – Fire Release: Dragon's Flame Bomb
Kuchiyose no Jutsu – Summoning Jutsu
Mandara no Jin – Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes
Myōbokuzan – Mount Myōboku
Raikiri – Lightning Blade
Rasengan – Spiralling Sphere
Ryūsa Bakuryū – Quicksand Waterfall Flow
Sabaku Kyū – Sand Binding Coffin
Sabaku Taisō – Sand Waterfall Imperial Funeral
Sawarabi no Mai – Dance of the Seedling Fern
Sen'ei Tajashu – Multiple Striking Shadow Snakes
Shikomishindan – Poison Needle Barrage
Yamata no Jutsu – Eight-Headed Serpent Jutsu