Alright! 22nd Chapter!
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Sorry for making the last chapter so short. I'll do better this time...
Disclaimer! I. Don't. Own. Either. Naruto. Or. Elric! F-A-N-F-I-C-T-I-O-N!...ON WITH THE SHOW!
"Blah"-person speaking...'Blah'-person thinking..."Blah"-Demon speaking...'Blah'-Demon thinking..."Blah"-Memory speaking(they don't think)...'Blah'-Pyron speaking through mental pathways.
Konoha's Hospital: 1:08 PM
"This is the other." Elric stated, presenting the sword, "However, this blade is Stormbringer's brother. This blade contains the other side of the void, where all that is lost to it can be found again. All the power, all of the souls. Mournblade is its name. If only Naruto had found this sword instead...But alas, that did not come to pass."
Tsunade looked at the blade's black sheen, and its runes, seeming to call to her, "Elric, what exactly will this do?"
"Hopefully," began the pale man, "Mournblade can free Naruto."
'How can this be done, Elric-sama? I wish to see my master smile!'shouted the dragon.
"As do I, Pyron" agreed Tenten, "What must be done?"
Elric looked uncomfortable at the question, "Well..." he started, "It must be used to kill him, and free Stormbringer..." he said the last part, and tightened up, something a person would do after putting forth a motion to free a imprisoned God.
"BUT YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" yelled the Godaime, "HE'LL KILL US ALL!"
Elric paled, and began to tell them his plan.
That one mountain: 2:30PM
"Fish-face, we've got movement." one cloaked person said to the other.
"God damn it, fuckin' weasel, stop calling me that!" the other said in a whispered scream.
"Hey, bitches." a voice from behind them said.
The 'weasel' turned around with the 'fish-face', to see a boy standing defiantly in front of them.
"Let me see if I remember that 'bingo book' thing...Uchiha Itachi?" Stormbringer said, then looked at the other one, "...Hoshigaki Kisame? I assume your ugly mug was the one worth QUITE a bit to the Mizukage?"
"Kisame, now!" yelled Itachi, who dived into the ground.
Kisame swung his sword, Samehada, at the boy, who blocked with the blood-stained long-sword.
"What? I thought that Yonshu had tha-" Kisame was cut off by the boy lopping his head off.
Stormbringer stooped to pick up the sword, "3 down." his hand came into contact with the sword, which attempted to stab him with barbs.
The barbs crushed against his skin, into little stumps. Stormbringer shaved the stumps off the handle, and forced a large amount of his own metal into the blade. The dark steel infested the floor adding spikes to each scale, and serating the edges of each scale. The whole blade turned from a dull grey to a livid black, with green runes, coiling along the blade.
The blade released a dull grey glow, and was suddenly swung around, shaving through Itachi's side, and draining chakra from the wound.
Naruto threw the shark-blade into a tree as he swung the metal, that was still absorbing chakra, then withdrew the long-sword from his left hip, just below the God-sword itself. That blade was then sent into Itachi's Leg, severing it, and absorbing a large amount of blood.
Itachi gurgled with pain, and activated his Mangekyo sharingan, staring into Stormbringer's eyes.
Mangekyo Sharingan World
"Uzumaki Naruto," Itachi called out, "You are scheduled to have your Biju removed."
"Sorry, Naruto isn't in at the moment...Actually, I have no idea where the little bugger is." Stormbringer said with a sigh.
"Then I suppose I am speaking to Kyubi?" Itachi asked for clarification.
"That is not the case either." Stormbringer pointed out, "You are speaking to a god, so mind your manners."
"I don't believe in gods." Itachi said through his gritted teeth.
"I'd start now." Stormbringer said, as he slipped his sword-form through Itachi's eyes, killing him instantly, the genjutsu broken easily.
"Best part about being a god? Infinite killing intent..." the deity mumbled, as he ran Stormbringer through Kisame's body, and felt a surge of power.
"This man had more of that 'chakra' stuff than Naruto did... neato..." he said to himself, before draining the blood and chakra completely out of the two Akatsuki members.
Stormbringer remembered to alter Yonshu's old blade. Pushing Dark Steel through it, the blade configured to its old length, getting black streaks down the length of it, and spikes off the back of the blade.
He then attached it back in its place, below Stormbringer's name-sake, then put the new Samehada on his back, after covering it with a metal imitation of the sword's previous wrappings.
"Souls," he tapped Zabuza's old sword that was changed to his new vessel, "Blood," he tapped Yonshu's, "And chakra." he tapped Kisame's, "I think I'm ready to take the Akatsuki out. But first..." he stopped to pick up the two rings, "I have some skeletons to make."
Akatsuki's Hide-out: 4:15
"Sir?" a man with a venus fly-trap asked of a man with a pierced nose, along the bridge of the nasal appendage.
"Yes, Zetsu-san?" he asked in retaliation, "What is it?"
"Sir, Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame's rings have been removed, then placed on the same hand. On that hand is also the tenth ring, taken from Orochimaru."
"Well then, it would appear we have either an eager person, wanting to join, or a mass-murderer that gets off on killing the strongest people. I want him scouted, and even if you are attacked, send a picture, by means of Deidara's camera." the leader ordered.
"Yes sir! Deidara-san, let's go!" Zetsu called to a blond man 'playing' with clay.
"Ok! Should we bring Sasori no Danna too? We might need his 'art'...yeah..." Deidara said, pointing to a huge man in the corner.
"I thought I was going to get a break for getting the 1 tail, Sabaku no Gaara, just under a day ago! It's a good thing that Uzumaki Naruto, the 9-tailed biju, caused a distraction!" Sasori said agitatedly.
"We need you on this, and Zetsu?" the leader called, "Bring Tobi. He can get a ring."
A masked man jumped from the shadows, and struck a dynamic pose, "TOBI IS A GOOD BOY!" he shouted, as he flexed.
The other members paled.
Konoha: 7:00PM
Tsunade had finished handing out Konoha's most precious weapons to the surviving Ninja, including 2 of the seven swordsmen's blades. The first was a pair of short swords, captured from the dead Raiga. The second was a singular dagger, constantly emitting a bright red glow. These two weapons were given to Tenten and Hinata, the best at close-range taijutsu. Tsunade would be using a massive hammer she had made, that had its own chakra pathways, allowing her to channel her monster strength through the mighty weapon.
"Tenten, please teach Hinata how to use the dagger." Tsunade ordered.
"Tsunade," began Hinata, "I, for one, already know how to use the dagger."
"Oh, is that so?" Tsunade asked incredulously, "In that case, to test your skill, you will fight against Tenten, who will be armed with an ordinary kunai. Let us see if you are as good as you say you are."
Tenten immediatly left for the sparing ground, with the others in tow.
Konoha's Weapon Sparring Grounds: 7:20PM
Hinata fell into an improvised Jyuuken stance, and charged at the bun-haired girl.
Tenten effortlessly dodged, but failed to see Hinata slip underground with a combination of a Bunshin, a doton technique, and a henge. When she threw her kunai, attached to a string, she did not expect a miss, as it passed through the new head of the, now severely reduced, Hyuuga clan.
Hinata knew that her father was behind her physically, as well as being under her, in terms of clan status.
'My daughter has grown stronger than any Hyuuga before her. Only now am I proud of her.' thought Hiashi.
As Tenten jumped into the trees, she felt a sharp blow to her shoulder blade, cutting into the bone. Hinata had snuck up on her like a true ninja should, and sliced into her, the red chakra burning the wound.
Hinata, after hating Tenten for an incredible amount of time, entered a blood fury, and dug the blade into Tenten's back, again and again.
Inside Hinata's mindscape
A small mammal traveled from a certain sword, by means of the fulfillment of a contract, into a dagger, and now into Hinata's mind.
"In a girl? AHA! She has a crush on the host of Stormbringer-sama! And...she wants power...power enough to take him for herself...I can give her that power..." the bunny thought, "FOR I AM BOUNCE!"
Back in the sparring grounds: 7:23PM
Tsunade had to pull Hinata off Tenten, but she found this difficult. Hinata glowed with the same red energy that was commonly associated with Naruto. She was wildly stabbing, but it seemed as an art form. The goal was pain, not death. The cuts were shallow, but they curved once under the skin. Each cut burned itself closed once the blade had left. Then, Hinata had collapsed from exhaustion, much like Tenten had blacked out from the pain.
"I guess she knows how to use it..." Tsunade muttered.
Akatsuki Mountain: 8:07PM
Tobi jumped, "TOBI IS A GOOD BOY!!!!" he screamed, before letting out a different kind of scream as the God of the Void swung a blade with each hand, including a third hand, risen from his torso.
"Kōton: TRIUMVIRATE!"(For all you readers, that is the new thing for "Steel release")
The first was Stormbringer's body, the second was Yonshu's blade, and the third was Samehada. Poor Tobi...he didn't stand a chance. His body was first rid of a sword, then or its blood, then of its chakra, drying out and breaking the body like paper.
Zetsu snuck up behind him, but failed to notice the steel vines sneak up behind him. His darker side warned the lighter, but it was too late, the vines had spread beneath his skin.
"ZETSU-SAN!" yelled Deidara.
Alas, he was too late, "Rend!" Zetsu's bones shattered, "Deep Flay!", and just like that, his skin was torn off, revealing, that, in fact, Zetsu's insides resembled that of an ear of corn.
Deidara did the unthinkable, he put one hand in a clay bag, and held the other towards Stormbringer. The clay was rolling through his body, up the left arm, across the chest, and into the right hand, where it was shot as a web, completly covering Stormbringer in a massive dome of C-3 strength clay.
"BOOM!" shouted Deidara.
Two explosions took place. The first was where the black-haired god once stood, the second was located in Deidara's heart. The resulting bang blasted Sasori away from his charge, and killed Deidara.
"Pity, that." a voice said from the smoke, "His final attack didn't even mar my skin..." Stormbringer stepped from the ruble, his clothes repairing themselves.
Sasori opened a scroll, and summoned every Puppet he had. This included the late Kazekage, as well as Sabaku no Gaara.
As Sasori affixed his strings, and had all the puppets attack, stoembringer said only one word, "Phase" the god disappeared.
Sasori looked around to see the god appear and disappear, again and again, each time stabbing a puppet where its soul used to be, draining chakra and souls.
Finally, Sasori looked at the Kazekage and Gaara, whose sand kept defending them. That was, until Stormbringer controlled the metal of the Kazekage's sand, forcing the Kazekage to destroy itself.
It was, at this point in time, that the puppet, formally known as Sabaku no Gaara let loose a tear. Latent energy flowed over him, and a massive wave of sand beat against Stormbringer. The area where the sand crashed against grew larger.
"Kōton: Multi-size no jutsu" Stormbringer now had the size of a god. From all that metal, absorbed previously, from all that highly compressed sand, he stood as tall as the Kyubi once had, and rivaled the bronze giant spoke about in history.
Sasori at once felt the pain of thousands of metal spikes, raining down from above, pierce his skin into that of a pincushion. Soon, a total of 5 rings adorned the hand of the god.
Naruto's Mindscape
The boy was huddled in a corner, crying, when he heard a voice,flowing from a far distance: "Naruto, hang in there, we are coming for you. We need you to fight it. If you don't we will all die" "Naruto-kun..." "Naruto-sama!" "Naruto...-kun" "Naruto-baka" "Naruto-teme"
In between all of these voices, he heard a call, levels above the rest, "Naruto-san, I must stop my brother, only you can do it, only you can turn the tides of our eternal war."
He wanted them to stay away, for, to him, it seemed that the swift wings of their desires would have shattered against the iron, no, the steel gates of the impossible.
End of Leaves of Steel, Chapter 22
...Woah...that end surprised me...Oh, and by the way, I don't own "The Red Badge of Courage"...fyi...
3 days left...
-Johnhamsta