I Don't Own Naruto, Any Other Anime/Manga or Its Characters.
All Characters Appearing In This Work Are Fictitious. Any Resemblance To Real Persons, Living Or Dead Is Purely Coincidental.
The Battle outside the Barrier
Outside the barrier where Naruto and Kabuto were fighting the Konoha shinobi were having their asses handed to them Shikamaru was pissed his plan had gone horribly wrong. Hirako had received a message from Shino saying that while both he and Konohamaru were safe they had been routed by enemy Sound ninja.
The Leaf ninja were too scattered to be of any good use, they were just about able to fight the enemy ninja. Shikamaru had figured out their secret it seemed that the curse seal afforded the enemy three abilities: one: it gave them massive endurance and physical strength, the second and most horrible was it took away their ability to feel pain and the third ability seemly robbed them of the use of ninjutsu and genjutsu, but in exchange their bodies had been turned into hard steel and their hands and feet could turn into weapons with which they could attack, making the already hard to kill enemy even harder to kill.
With their inability to feel pain and their minds being twisted because of the curse seals these ninja had become nothing more than savages but very dangerous ones at that, Shikamaru not for the first time cursed Orochimaru and Kabuto to hell for their actions. The main problem was that his three main fighters Rock Lee, Kiba Inuzuka and his best friend Chouji Akimichi had gotten separated from the group and were now battling their own battles just a ways off.
Kiba was in his wolf form fighting a Giant sabre-toothed tiger; Chouji was locked in a mace fight with an Earth ninja who had transformed into a Giant as big as Chouji, and Rock Lee was locked in a taijutsu match against an Earth Ninja Jonin.
Shikamaru although pissed had not lost his common sense so as per the situation he changed his plan, now that he had figured out the enemy's abilities he had to plan so. Throwing a smoke bomb, he then activated his dormant traps temporarily blinding and incapacitating the enemy for a few minutes. The Leaf ninja gathered around Shikamaru. "Alright guys I have figured out their abilities it seems they have increased endurance and strength and it seems they cannot feel pain so we will have to aim to kill."
"There is no other way of stopping we take no prisoners, when we attack we have to aim to kill, when you strike make sure you strike instantly fatal blows, if you don't well: you see what has already happened to Udon," he told his comrades; Udon had struck at a sound ninja directly in the stomach with a kunai and saw him go down, he had then turned towards another opponent to fight when the first one suddenly got up and managed to cut him across the chest causing a large gash across his chest, Udon fell down on the ground heavily injured and just as the enemy was about to strike he was saved by Hanabi who with a decisive strike to the sound ninja's heart, killed him instantly. Moegi was only able to barely heal him to the extent to stop the bleeding and close the wound but could not do much more.
The Leaf ninja nodded their heads Udon winced at pain as the scar on his chest throbbed in dull pain, his wound had slowed him down so he was now supporting His comrades with his ink beasts by helping them create openings and distractions. "That's all well and good Shikamaru-kun but we are almost all out of chakra and..." She suddenly stopped talking when within the barrier a series of loud and continues explosions rocked occurred and even though the barrier was constructed to prevent chakra from leaking out the force and the pressure of the chakra released was enough to cause a vacuüm of air as the chakra sucked the air out of the atmosphere for a few seconds before being pulled back into the barrier, after another few seconds the barrier started to flicker before disappearing altogether. The barrier had come down and in the middle of the clearing stood Naruto in the middle of the clearing kneeling on one knee panting hard.
Hinata looked at her beloved and for a second all she could see was Naruto and every molecule of her wanted to rush to Naruto's side, but she stood where she was, looking at Naruto. Out the side of her eyes she saw a sound ninja trying to sneak up on her and with a flick of her wrist she curled her whip around the enemy's neck and with a burst of chakra she caused the barbs on her whip to bury themselves inside his neck and with a flick of her wrist and a pull on the whip she beheaded her enemy who fell dead.
Naruto gathering the last of his strength conveyed his message in Konoha sign language so only the Leaf could understand his message: "Kabuto is dead; barrier is full of traps, am out chakra, going to Toad Valley to recover, tell Gamakichi and Gamatatsu the Chief Toad has released them from their oath for the rest of the battle." "Call me back only after Hokage gives the signal not before." He looked at Shikamaru in the eyes to see if he understood when Shikamaru nodded his head Naruto gave a thumb up and winked and sent a flying kiss towards Hinata before making a single hand sign activating the dormant seals around him and disappearing in a poof of smoke: as soon as he was gone a large dome barrier was once again erected although not as formidable as its predecessor it still prevented anyone from entering or leaving said dome barrier.
Shikamaru looked at his comrades then at the fallen enemy Hinata had just killed and an idea sprung to his mind. "Ok change of plans guys from what Naruto said he is out of chakra so we can't rely on him then turning towards the two toads he said: "Naruto told me to tell you that for the remainder of this battle The Chief Toad has released you from your oaths, what does that mean?" Shikamaru asked the two toads.
Gamakichi and Gamatatsu looked at each other and said with a heavy voice "what it means is that we will no longer have to sit by the sidelines and watch we can now fight, looking around him Gamakichi saw many trees and other forms of life. "You see Shikamaru san with us being released from our oaths we will now be able to attain a Sage Mode similar to what Naruto attained."
"However unlike his Sage Mode ours is a forbidden art that we discovered by mistake three years ago after the war when Naruto came to finish his sage training, and when our father and the Elders found out they had us swear to never use our Sage Mode and so we promised that we would never use that form again.
The fact that our father has released us from our oaths is a big thing, but never mind all that, for all intents and purposes of this battle we will gain all the abilities and powers Naruto has when he uses Sage Mode but it will take us some time to prepare."
Shikamaru nodded and said: "with the situation the way it is we can't stick with the original plan I made, so here is what we will do: seeing as the best way to deal with is to simply kill them you will work in formations one team attacks while the other defends I need the shadows to wield my jutsu so I will stay behind along with the toads.
"This is how we will do it: Kenpachi and Hirako you two will be at the forefront because both of your techniques require little to no chakra. Hirako I know you are wearing weight seals on your feet and arms and Kenpachi I know you are also wearing weighted clothing. I want you both at full power no holding back so Hirako release your seals and Kenpachi take off your weighted clothing."
" In fact not only these two, I know all of you are restricting your strength in one form or another whether it be seals, weights or oaths to your family and sensei." Shikamaru said. His eyes resting on Kenshin for a moment before moving on "my only command is this: kill your enemy as efficiently as possible and that means Kenpachi no showing off, I have allowed you to be at the forefront of this battle, do not let me down."
Kenpachi looked at Shikamaru with a grin and said "you got it boss, no kidding just killing I can handle that." He unsheathed his sword and prepared to go to battle, Shikamaru then looked at Hirako and said "Hirako your ability with your insects will help you along with Kenpachi to target many people at once." He then turned to Tatsuki and Udon and said "both of you will make up the second line you will attack and defend both.
He looked at Udon and said: "I doubt I have to say much to you do I Udon?" Udon shook his head and said: "no, you don't Sensei Tatsuki and I will be able to kill those who get past Kenshin and Kenpachi and with our abilities to set traps we can create mass mayhem and major casualties.
Shikamaru nodded and said "correct," he then turned to Tatsuki and said "with your poison and acid abilities you will able to affect many of your opponents and even if they can't feel pain the poison will still affect their systems it will at least slow them it will then allow us to kill them effectively."
"Moegi and Kenshin although you're battling skills are admirable your skills as medics are more valuable to us so you two will stay back and act as our back up and medical nin." "Hanabi will also stay back with me giving me real-time information and allowing me to move you guys accordingly." "Hinata will be in charge of Kenpachi and Hirako at the front line, Tenten will be in charge of the second line and I will be at the back with Hanabi, Moegi and Kenshin and the two toads, any questions?" There were none "good now let's get into positions."
Kenpachi was turning away when Tatsuki called him from behind he turned towards the sound of his name and was tackled by Tatsuki and was kissed hard and fierce on the lips by Tatsuki he only just had time to register the fact that Tatsuki had kissed him when Tatsuki broke the kiss and told Kenpachi "consider it a good luck charm now go and you better come back to me you big lug, I won't ever forgive if you die today."
She said fiercely with fire in her eyes and gave him another fierce kiss one which Kenpachi enthusiastically returned, before Tatsuki broke off the kiss and took her place, a blush on her cheeks but her face serious, the gathered ninja smiled.
Hanabi finally broke the silence saying " way to go Tatsuki who knew you had it in you, just make sure Kenpachi doesn't get too lucky too fast" she said wiggling an eyebrow at the two. Which caused everyone else to laugh "She was about to say something else when she was shushed by Hinata who was thinking to herself: "it seems I will have to have a talk with Kiba-kun, it seems Hanabi is emulating her Master a bit too much."
Kenpachi had a smile on his face but this smile was a different smile it was not a smile of a predator on the hunt neither was it the smile he usually wore when he was engaged in battle. It was a real smile with real emotion. He was about to say something when Tenten said "alright guys break it up now get into your positions quickly it seems the enemy has escaped our traps battle is upon us." Like a well oiled machine the shinobi got in their positions
Kenpachi was having lots of fun he had been given express permission to do as he liked and kill his enemy mercilessly but quickly, during the battle, Kenpachi had quickly realised that his normal katana would not be up to the task because it seemed that their skin and bones had been transformed into steel which made cutting them difficult so Kenpachi had unsealed Kuma No Tsume from its sealing scroll, and with the help of his Kuma sword was able to cut his opponents down.
While Kenpachi beheaded or cut his enemies in half Hirako who was also at the forefront of the battle was able to use his insects to finish the job by allowing his Insects to feed on the flesh of his enemies and transfer the chakra to him thus boosting his chakra reserves continuously and continue fighting along Kenpachi at the forefront.
Hinata was also at the forefront with the two genin: with her Byakugan she was able to direct Kenpachi and Hirako towards the weak points of the cursed warriors, and while they killed most of them with one strike a few of the enemy ninja escaped and came rushing towards Hinata.
Hinata got into her stance and by channelling her chakra into her whips she was able to split the fibres of the whip into many strands each and every one deadly, with a simple flick of her wrists she was able to pinpoint each ninja individually and kill them effortlessly, after the war she had trained relentlessly with Naruto and Hiashi, she trained every day until she dropped until she was able to perfect her skills, Hinata thought back to the time after the war 3 years ago.
Flashback
The war had ended; her father had acknowledged her as strong and most importantly Naruto was finally hers and although she had improved her skills significantly with it. Here she was a year after the war was over her skills still felt somewhat incomplete so after discussing her problem with Naruto.
Hinata found that even her friends shared similar feelings as her, so the Konoha 12 as they were now being called in the village decided to train together, and train they did because while each of them had learned a wide array of new jutsu and techniques they had learned on their own they had never tested the limits of their new found abilities and jutsu.
After that it was decided that in order to maximise their overall abilities and to research and develop new techniques they would spar with each other, and spar they did: each member of the Konoha 12 helped each other with different aspects of training whether it be Sage Mode Naruto fighting Drunken Fist Lee, or Tenten helping her with her Protection Of The Sixty Four Palms Technique.
After training with Tenten Hinata had decided to add a personal weapon to her arsenal and after discussing it with Tenten's father Takashi she had decided to use Battle whips and ever since then she trained with Tenten on how to use them in battle effectively until she was able to master them, to reach perfection she trained relentlessly to prepare herself she first trained with Lee and Naruto in Taijutsu to increase her endurance and speed after that she trained with Ino and Sakura in chakra control and then trained with Tenten and Neji in mastering her new weapons and finally she trained with Sai, Kiba and Shino to perfect her skills in tracking and so it went, Hinata trained like a demon until she was perfect.
After her mastery in her art she went to the one person who understood her more than anyone else to tell her of her achievement: Kurenai sensei. When she went to the Sarutobi Mansion she saw sitting there with Kurenai playing with little Zuko was Konohamaru after the war Konohamaru wanted his aunt Kurenai to move in with him saying his grandfather's mansion was big and lonely. Thus with The Hokage's permission Kurenai moved into the Sarutobi Mansion with little Zuko her son. Konohamaru looked up to see Hinata and said "hey boss lady what's up you come over to play?" He said with a kind smile.
Hinata smiled, after she and Naruto had hooked up Konohamaru and his gang started calling her Boss Lady, when she asked them why Konohamaru had said: "well Naruto Ni chan is the Boss and your his lady so by default your our Boss Lady, Naruto had simply laughed at that and even after telling them they didn't have to call her that they still called her the boss lady except Moegi who started calling her sensei after that. "You don't have to call me boss lady Konohamaru Kun it's just Hinata." Konohamaru nodded and said with a Naruto like grin "whatever you say boss lady." Kurenai looked at the Genin and said "hey Konohamaru why don't you go out and take little Zuko to the park and play with him for a while." Konohamaru nodded at her and picking up little Zuko and putting him on his shoulders and said "come on kid let's go the park and check out the pretty Kunoichi."
Zuko simply cooed in baby talk and giggled as they were leaving Kurenai shouted at him saying "don't you dare use my son to pick up girls Konohamaru Sarutobi!" Konohamaru simply laughed and said "whatever you say Auntie Kurenai" and disappeared out the room.
Hinata sat down opposite Kurenai and after exchanging some pleasantries with her former sensei. She explained to Kurenai how even after doing so much and gaining so much she still felt incomplete. Kurenai looked at Hinata and said "you have trained hard and long Hinata and from what Hiashi tells me you have created and perfected your own style of the Hyuuga Gentle Fist, so what else is left for you to achieve and master?" Hinata smiled and said" true but only one thing remains: a battle with you Kurenai Sensei, a real battle with you to truly test my skills."
Kurenai looked surprised for a minute but then smiled and said "alright fine you're on Hinata" and the two kunoichi then walked towards the back of the mansion where the two had a sparring match in which she displayed her mastery of her new skills to her old master. The end of the match saw not only Kurenai defeated but also the birth of a new confident and powerful Hinata who no longer hesitated in battle.
End Flashback
Present
The battle continued as if for an eternity but Hinata did not relent. With every step she brought death to her enemies as her each strike hit its mark, thanks to her training she was able to use her Protection Of The Sixty Four Palms technique to both attack and defend.
Tenten and Udon and Tatsuki made a good team together. Udon was now injured so he could no longer move too much but that did not mean he could not help, his skill lied not in close combat but like his mentor the Ink master: Sai his skill lied in long distance fighting, Udon drew as fast as he could and then with a single hand sign his creations came to life and attacked the enemy, and while most of them were able to find their mark and killed their targets some of them were destroyed by the enemy, but that didn't disturb Udon one bit, the three of them had decided to adopt a cattle herding technique where Udon and Tatsuki would lure them all into one place with their traps and poison jutsu, while Tenten would then target them all in one go and as one the enemy would leave the land of living to join their dead comrades in hell. It was a good strategy and worked well because even if Tatsuki's poison and Udon's ink beasts didn't kill them right away it slowed them down enough for them to be killed by Tenten.
Shikamaru and Hanabi were at the back within the shadows with Moegi and Kenshin their two medical Nin, Shikamaru was in the shadows with Hanabi at his side giving him real time info about the battle, due to his chakra levels he could not manipulate the shadows of others properly unless he was immersed in the shadows himself which was an advantage for him, so Shikamaru set to work on the information Hanabi had given him it seemed while the others were doing their best it seems that a group of Earth Ninja had managed to sneak up behind them and had joined up with some other sound ninja who did not seem to have curse seals on them but they still seemed strong they were coming in very quietly and just outside the Byakugan's range. Hanabi was barely able to see them when Kenshin and Moegi noticed some bushes moving. Turning her gaze upon them Hanabi counted 50 ninja in total.
Shikamaru cursed and then considered his options and started to formulate a plan, he turned towards the three Genin and said "alright guys here is the plan act like nothing is wrong and you haven't noticed. Hanabi tell me when they are about 25 metres away from us, and then when they are within range I want Moegi to use her strength and split the earth to cause to kill most of them and catch them off guard I will then use my shadow jutsu to keep them in place while Kenshin and Hanabi move in and attack. I want you to injure and incapacitate them and once that is done I will finish the job. The Genin nodded their heads in agreement; Hanabi however had a question "sensei will it not be easier for us to kill them or is that you doubt our abilities?" Shikamaru shook his head and said "no, my dear I don't doubt your abilities but understand that killing is not always the best thing, I want to kill them because I need you guys to conserve your chakra and I have a way of extracting information out of them but I can only do it if their alive and not dead." Shikamaru explained the Genin then all nodded their head in understanding and turned towards the battlefield again.
A few minutes later
The Enemy earth and sound ninja had reached the 25 metres mark and when Hanabi informed them about the same, at Shikamaru's signal Moegi punched the earth with all her might turning stones into rubble surprising their enemies and although the enemy tried to move it seemed they could not as they were frozen in place by Shikamaru's Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Paralysis Jutsu.) Quick as vipers Hanabi and Kenshin quickly attacked and incapacitated their attackers leaving them on the verge of death.
Shikamaru then walked over to the enemy ninja and saw that although they were captured they could not talk at all as it seemed a seal on their tongues prevented them from speaking anything about Hokumara or Kabuto or anything else for that matter. Shikamaru looked at them in disgust and said "you people disgust me you have caused war on your allies for no other reason than for power and control you are scum who don't deserve to live."
"I will now rid you of your ability to live" he told his enemies, the enemy commander simply looked at him in disdain but said nothing." Shikamaru then made the following hand signs: Tiger → Snake → Rat → Monkey → Hare and said "Ninpou: Kage Shiyousha no Jutsu" ("Ninja Art: Shadow Consumption Jutsu.")
The Genin looked on in amazement as the Jonin's eyes flashed jet black and then as if some other worldly force was speaking from the Jonin's mouth the Jonin said "BEHOLD WHY WE OF THE NARA CLAN WERE FEARED IN ANCIENT TIMES FOR WE ARE THE SHADOW GUARDIANS. WE CONTROL THE SHADOWS AND BY THE SHADOWS WE ARE ABLE TO WIELD POWER OF UNIMAGINABLE LENGTHS OUR FOES SHALL TREMBLE BEFORE US!" Suddenly it seemed that the wind pressure dropped and all around them went quiet and the Genin were shocked to see the shadows leaving the fallen ninja and drawing themselves into Shikamaru's body.
Hanabi activated her Byakugan and saw that not only were their shadows being pulled from their bodies and drawn into Shikamaru's body their very life force were being sucked out of them.
In A few minutes the enemy ninja fell dead on the ground Moegi examined them and saw that Hanabi was correct it seemed that their chakra and life force was pulled out of them and into Shikamaru. Shikamaru Looked at their curious faces and said "I am sorry you Genin had to see that but I was out of chakra and stamina and I had to get the information out of them I also realised that you could not kill them easily that is why I had to use a kin-jutsu to kill them. With the help of that jutsu I was able to suck their chakra and life force out of them and add it to mine thus recharging and replenishing my lost chakra reserves. I have also gained their memories but it's of no use they were mere foot soldiers they..."
Suddenly a loud cry of pain erupted from the battle field and the ninja hurried back to see who the scream belonged to. They arrived at the battlefront to see Tatsuki injured and wounded very badly, with a kunai in her stomach and she was coughing up blood. Moegi and Kenshin went to work right away trying to heal her
Kenpachi hearing the scream rushed over and saw Tatsuki lying on the ground seemingly dead he tried to move towards her when Kenshin stopped him, he looked on in sadness and in rage and with a barely controlled voice he asked: "who did this to her?" No one answered Kenpachi repeated himself again and said "I asked who did this to my girl?"
Tenten spoke up and said "it was the enemy ninja she was fighting a sound ninja when she got stabbed by a Kunai in the stomach by the enemy, I managed to kill him but..." Kenpachi held up his hand and looked at Kenshin and said "can you heal her?" Kenshin looked at Kenpachi and said "Moegi and I can stop the internal bleeding and keep her stable but I am afraid we do not have the skill to heal her she will need an experienced medical nin and the hospital is on the opposite side of the village and the only way across is through them," he said pointing towards the enemy ninja.
Kenpachi nodded and said" fine keep her stable Kenshin Ill clear the path these guys made a big mistake by messing with my girl." Shikamaru was looking at all this in confusion and finally he lost his patience and said "what the hell are you planning Kenpachi." The genin looked at Shikamaru and said: "A rampage sensei." "A rampage: today the rivers will run red with blood and violence for today you shall see the true bloodlust of Kenpachi Kuma Zaraki and no one shall deny me my revenge!"
Before Shikamaru could reply Kenpachi disappeared in a shun shin of leaves and appeared at the front of the battle field and he then shouted to the oncoming ninja: "come you bastards today the rivers will run red from your blood for today you face the true wrath of Kenpachi Kuma Zaraki and his Sword Kuma No Tsume!" With a single sign his sword appeared once again in his hands appeared his Kuma sword but this time it seemed different it was as if the weapon itself could sense Kenpachi's anguish and wanted it own vengeance. With his sword in hand Kenpachi set out to fulfil his promise a murderous aura started to swirl around him as he walked towards his enemies.
A/N: Wow it seems Tatsuki is injured and Kenpachi has made a solemn vow to avenge her will Tatsuki survive and what does Kenpachi have up his sleeve and where are the two toad warriors find out the answer to all these questions and more next time on By Executive Orders.