Whew, I'm back to writing again! Sorry for the delay, it's explained at the bottom of this page. We're already at the 6th chapter and I'm just now starting the war. There's a somewhat good chance that instead of the original 10 chapters I planned for this story it will go to 11-12, maybe even 13 depending on how long the fight scenes I have planned last.
As always, I appreciate the Reviews/Favorites/Alerts. Reviews keep a writer writing =)
Shout out to everyone who reviewed since last time: DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles, TheOmegaMan, melapoy, Jozern, Darious Frost, holydemon00, hideki411, Blazing CobaltX, saveme57, ZeroTail29, Kyuubi loves NaruSaku, Toasty Warrior, liarcor, Goddess of Night Eternal Faith, Nutt Man 117, Senya Higurashi
DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles: Glad you enjoyed the fluff, and don't worry, it may be mean to bring them back, but I'll make it worth everyone's while =P
TheOmegaMan: Actually, I brought the Yondaime back in "A Jinchuriki's Husk" which this story is a sequel of. Basically he outsmarted the Death God. Sorta lame, but I needed to get him involved in the story so I stuck with it =P And yea, that would be nice to buy expensive jewelry at those prices! I think Shikamaru's eyes were opened during his "fight" with NaruSaku. I think he's just realizing there's room for improvement, and since he knows he's going to be heavily involved in planning Konoha's defense, he wants to be at his best. I want Zabuza to get redemption too!
melapoy: Both Lee and Shikamaru's eyes were opened during their "fight" so that showed them there's much room for improvement. As for Zetsu, he was killed during "A Jinchuriki's Husk," which this story is the sequel of =) And Naruto did have a mission...of sorts =P
Jozern: Hmm? Action? Violence? /e glances down. Check!
Darious Frost: =) To be honest, I had recently an episode of Chuck pertaining to marriage proposals (I won't say more) and drew the moon inspiration from there. Everything else was all from my head, so I'm glad you liked it! I also agree, the engraving is perfect for NaruSaku. As for Shikamaru, I got a lot of similar comments. I didn't intend to make him sound weepy, I intended to show that he realized there's room for improvement and to show that for once he's not being lazy and actually dedicating himself to making sure his skill is as good as it can be for when he's called upon to develop a strategy to save Konoha.
holydemon00: It's true! I was proud of myself when I came up with the nickname :D
hideki411: Thanks! Glad you enjoy it, and sorry for the delayed update!
Blazing CobaltX: Thanks and I'm glad you enjoyed it =)
saveme57: Lol, agreed. Let's go save some villages from homicidal super powered people who think they're gods... =P And I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!
ZeroTail29: Thanks a lot =) Good call on Naruto and Madara paralleling Ichigo and Aizen. The main Naruto and Madara fight will not be until the third and final portion of this series though. The main villain to beat the crap out of is Kabuto in this part =)
Echo Uchiha: =)
Kyuubi loves NarSaku: =P
Toasty Warrior: Ya, I like the fluff. Probably why I write so much of it =P Thanks for the kind words and glad you enjoyed the chapter!
liarcor: Actually Minato got away from the Death God during "A Jinchuriki's Husk" which this story is a sequel to. The way I look at the lake thing: If the edo-tensei can restore a revived shinobi from complete incineration, it should be able to continually heal the revived body as it trudges through the cold pressurized depths of the bottom of a lake. And thank you for the kind words on the story, I'm glad you enjoy =)
Goddess of Night Eternal Faith: Hehe =) Naruto's got skills in the "proposal" department, that's for sure =P I just liked Zabuza, and wanted to write him, that's why he specifically is Kabuto's messenger boy. But he also played a prominent role in Naruto's development, so it's nice to have him around. /e glances down. Yep, I see a Haku! As for your last question, maybeeee! Sorry for the delayed update, but I'm back to updating regularly again =) Glad you enjoyed the last chapter and hope you enjoy this one!
Nutt Man 117: Thanks a lot! I'm glad you enjoyed it =) Sorry for the delay on this chapter, hopefully it was at least kinda worth the wait!
Senya Higurashi: Ah thank you so much! =) Glad you're enjoying it!
Standard disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and Sakura would've been one of Naruto's guards when he goes off to train. I mean seriously, you don't want Naruto running off and entering the war? Put Sakura with him. Problem solved.
Now, I've made you wait long enough. Let's start the war shall we? Please do enjoy, "A Jinchuriki's Strength"- Chapter 6: A Battle to Lose
Naruto calmly stared at the approaching army of undead shinobi. There was no fear in the jinchuriki's body, only determination. His sage cloak gently flapped as a breeze blew across the field.
He glanced at his fiancé from the corner of his eye. She had insisted on joining him here on the battlefield, and judging by the look on her face, it was a good thing she did. Sakura's face was set in a determined expression.
Sakura-chan is calm, how is everyone else? Naruto glanced around at the rest of the small task force gathered with him.
"Naruto, remember what Shikamaru said, we're not ending the war here." Sakura's eerily calm voice called out, interrupting the jinchuriki's thoughts.
FLASHBACK
Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi were standing in the Hokage's office. "I've called you all here because we have received word that Kabuto's army has started marching towards Konoha. It looks like war is finally coming." Tsunade barked out.
"How many of them are there Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked.
"More than we're ready to deal with considering we still don't know how to stop the edo-tensei." Shikamaru answered.
Tsunade nodded her head at the lazy genius, and motioned for him to continue.
"So far the only way we know to stop the edo-tensei is for Naruto to transfer nature chakra into the revived ninja which they are not trained to control, this causes them to transform into a toad statue; a transformation that not even the edo-tensei can undo."
Naruto grinned proudly at Sakura. They were the only two that were yet to find a way to beat the edo-tensei.
"But that's not good enough." Shikamaru continued causing Naruto's grin to disappear. "Naruto is the only one who can channel nature chakra, so we would have to depend on him to force the toad statue transformation on each undead shinobi, this would take an insane amount of chakra. The amount of chakra it would require is far beyond even Naruto's chakra levels if he was using the full power of the Kyubi."
"If it's the only way we can stop the armies then don't worry about it, I'll turn each of those bastards into a toad statue!" Naruto boasted.
"Even for you it's impossible." Shikamaru replied, quickly putting an end to Naruto's boasting. "Even if you somehow had the chakra that would be required to perform such a feat, your control is far too terrible for you to actually turn all of them into statues."
"But…"
"But nothing baka!" Sakura shot her fiancé an angry glare, causing the mighty jinchuriki to shake a little bit in fear. "I told you that you weren't ever going to do that again."
For once in his life, Naruto smartly remained silent.
"Actually Sakura, Naruto's going to be using the toad statue transformation." Shikamaru said, surprising everyone in the room.
"We don't have a good way to beat the edo-tensei yet, but Naruto can transform two of Kabuto's more powerful revived ninja into statues to take them out of the fight."
"But…" Sakura started.
"Itachi had amazing chakra control. He was one of, if not the worst possible target for someone like Naruto to target. From what I've analyzed of Naruto's abilities, he should be able to force the transformation on two revived shinobi, as long as they don't have chakra control nearly as good as Itachi's. After he does that, we'll bring him back to you." Shikamaru stated calmly, ignoring the glare from the pink-haired kunoichi.
"What do you mean bring him back to me? I'm going to be by his side the entire time!" Sakura growled.
"Your abilities on the battlefield are exceptional, and you and Naruto's teamwork make you a nearly unstoppable force. But we're not going to win this battle, so it would be much better for you to stay in the village where you can heal the wounded." The lazy genius explained.
"Ne, Shikamaru, that's a little negative don't you think?" Chouji asked with an eyebrow raised.
"No Chouji, we are not going to win our first battle with Kabuto's army…"
"Now wait a second Shikamaru…" Kiba growled.
"Everyone quiet down and listen to Shikamaru's plan." Tsunade snapped. Shikamaru had already consulted with her, and as always she was impressed with the boy.
"We're not going to wait for Kabuto to arrive at Konoha's gate. We're going to engage him away from the village first. Our first battle will be solely for information gathering on his army, it's just an added bonus that Naruto will be able to take out two of Kabuto's most powerful shinobi."
A look of understanding dawned on the faces of the rest of the Konoha ninja.
"Now then, a small strike force led by Naruto will engage Kabuto's army. Sai and Neji will fly high into the air so you're out of Kabuto's sight. You will fly directly over Kabuto and Neji will use his byukugan to watch Kabuto's every move. Hinata will also be in the air on one of your ink birds, and she will be using her byukugan to monitor the revived shinobi."
Shikamaru paused for a moment and waited for Sai, Neji and Hinata to nod their understanding.
"Good, we will fight until I give the signal to start the retreat. Naruto, as soon as you see my signal you need to force the toad statue transformation on whichever two shinobi you decide are the biggest threat."
Naruto simply nodded in response.
"As soon as Naruto turns a second shinobi into stone, we will enact a full-scale retreat, and retreat behind a new barrier we set up when we heard about Kabuto's army. That barrier won't stop them for long, but it will buy us a couple of days to recover and prepare for the real battle. We will then run back to Konoha as quickly as we can so Sakura and her medic team can heal the wounded."
"I'm not staying in Konoha." Sakura ground out with her fists clenched tightly.
"Sakura, I've already explained…"
"I'm. Not. Staying. In. Konoha." Sakura hissed again, shooting Shikamaru a daring look. The lazy genius knew that if he challenged Sakura any more on this issue he may be in the hospital soon.
"What do you think Hokage-sama?" Shikamaru asked, expertly deflecting Sakura's potential wrath away from himself. The pink-haired kunoichi turned to face her master, a scary look still present on her face. For the first time ever, Tsunade was actually slightly intimidated by Sakura.
"I think if she wants to stay be Naruto's side, there's not much we can do about it." The Godaime replied, appeasing her angry student.
Sakura's wrathful glare instantly transformed into a happy grin, causing the rest of the nin gathered in the Hokage's office to sweat drop at the girl's quick mood swing.
"So how is having Neji and Hinata watch the enemy with their byukugan going to help us defeat the edo-tensei?" Chouji asked.
"That's actually where Ino is going to come in." Shikamaru said as he turned his attention the purple-clad platinum blonde. "You have a jutsu to display people's memories correct?"
"I do… But I haven't mastered it yet; I can only hold the jutsu for 15 minutes before I exhaust all of my chakra.
"That will be plenty. In that time I should be able to spot some weakness in the edo-tensei that we can use to defeat it." Shikamaru replied confidently.
FLASH IN
The next day Gaara arrived under the cover of night with reinforcements from the Sand. He immediately wanted to join the task force that would first engage Kabuto's army, but Shikamaru insisted on him staying out of the fight. It would be better to save Gaara and the rest of the sand shinobi to catch Kabuto off guard during the battle they actually planned to win.
A few days after that, an attractive brunette named Mei, who was apparently the Godaime Mizukage, arrived with reinforcements from the Hidden Mist. Like Gaara, Shikamaru insisted she and her forces stay out of the initial fight as well.
Naruto had spent that week working on his toad statue transformation, and had seen some improvement in the rate at which he was able to transfer nature chakra into another object, but his poor chakra control still prevented him from forcing the transformation effectively.
Naruto looked over his strike force. Kakashi had his little orange book out, but the jinchuriki knew that his sensei wasn't actually reading the book. It was clear from the look in Kakashi's eye that his attention was solely on the approaching army.
Lee and Gai were currently stretching with an excited grin on their faces. But neither of them spoke a single word; they knew the severity of the situation they were in. Chouji and Kiba both looked slightly nervous, but they had a determined expression on their faces.
Yamato's face was unreadable as he stared at the approaching army. Tenten was looking apprehensive, but there was a slight look of excitement on her face if one looked close enough.
Naruto couldn't read the emotions of any of the 30 Anbu members that Tsunade sent along, but Naruto could tell by the way they held their bodies that even they were a little of nervous.
And then there was he and Sakura, both calmly watching the approaching army. Not once ounce of fear in their bodies.
"Naruto?"
"What is it Sakura-chan?"
The undead army was close now. The battle would start soon.
"I love you."
"I love you too Sakura." Naruto cast a soft smile at his fiancé, but that smile was quickly gone when he turned back to the undead army.
"Ok everyone! Let's do this, and don't any of you dare die on me!" Naruto yelled. The jinchuriki formed a rasengan in each hand, and with a feral roar leapt towards the undead army.
"What have you got to report?" Madara Uchiha asked the short Akatsuki member who slinked out of the shadows.
"I believe Kabuto plans on betraying you after the war Madara-sama." The short man replied.
"I'm not surprised. Well then, I think a visit to the Hokage is in order soon."
"Shall I continue spying on Kabuto?"
"Please do." Madara replied, before disappearing in a swirling vortex.
Sakura couldn't help but have a slight feeling of awe as she watched her fiancé bat away powerful undead ninja. Naruto's fighting style was so uncontrolled and wild, yet he managed to move gracefully, moving from revived ninja to revived ninja striking them and knocking them backwards.
Unfortunately, every person Naruto took out came right back completely healed thanks to the edo-tensei. Sakura was relieved that she hadn't spotted anyone that the Konoha shinobi might now. She quickly cast a genjutsu on an undead shinobi wearing a hidden mist headband that was creeping up behind Naruto.
The shinobi launched a water dragon at what he thought was Naruto, but in actuality was another undead shinobi about three feet to Naruto's right. The jinchuriki turned around and quickly struck the man.
Sakura felt the familiar warmth spread through her body as Naruto disappeared in a flash and blocked the sword of a shinobi both he and Sakura were very familiar with.
"Nice to see you again Zabuza." The future hokage greeted in a calm voice.
"Kid." Zabuza relied. A chill filled the air and suddenly senbon needles made out of nothing but ice hurtled towards the husband and wife to be. Sakura quickly slammed her fist into the ground to raise an earth wall which blocked the needles from striking either her or Naruto.
"So you're back too, eh Haku?" Naruto's voice was calm, but Sakura could detect the slight pang of regret in it. She had never fought Haku, but she knew the impact the boy had on Naruto's life.
"I recognize this girl from the last time we met. Is she one of the precious things you fight to protect Naruto?" Haku asked as he revealed himself to the duo.
"That's right. Sakura meet Haku, Haku this is Sakura."
"It's a pleasure to actually meet you Sakura-san, I'm sorry we couldn't have met on better terms." Haku said politely. "Unfortunately Zabuza-sama and I do not have control over our bodies, so we're going to come at both of you with everything we've got."
Naruto chuckled. "So a rematch from Team 7's first fight… It seems appropriate."
"I agree Naruto." Kakashi said as he suddenly appeared by Naruto and Sakura's side. "A very appropriate way to start off the war."
"It looks like you're doing well brat." Zabuza called out as he pushed his blade against Naruto's kunai. "You're the reason Haku and I lost last time, so I'm not surprised to see that you're some powerful big shot now."
"I have you two to thank for that. Our fight is what set me on my path, and I swore on your graves that I would follow it." Naruto replied as he pushed Zabuza's blade away and quickly struck the undead swordsmen in the chest with a kick forcing him backwards.
Haku grabbed his head in pain. "Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi… I'm losing what little control I had. Please stop us once again."
Zabuza stood from Naruto's kick. "Please Kakashi… use whatever means to stop me. I'm already dead. I died as a human and I want to stay that way!"
Kakashi lifted his headband to reveal his mangekyo sharingan. "Yea… I know."
"Sakura, Kakashi-sensei, I'm going to force the transformation on these two." Naruto called out in a determined voice. "I will not allow Kabuto to desecrate their memory by controlling them like this."
"They are powerful Naruto, but are they the most powerful out here? Be careful about letting your emotions cloud your judgement." Kakashi warned.
"I don't care… if someone else more powerful than Haku and Zabuza show up I'll force the transformation on them as well!" Naruto growled.
"Fine fine. But remember, you're not supposed to use that transformation until Shikamaru gives the signal."
"Don't worry about it sensei. Haku, Zabuza!" Naruto turned his now toad-like eyes to the two ninja who had such a profound impact on his life. "I'm going to save you, that's a promise!"
"Thank you Naruto…" Haku whispered quietly. "Makyo Hyosho!" The femine looking nin yelled.
21 ice mirrors surrounded the remaining members of the original Team 7, and Haku quickly disappeared into one.
So this is what Sasuke and Naruto faced off against all those years ago… Sakura thought as she attempted to figure out which of the reflections was the real Haku.
A small smile graced Naruto's lips as he easily tracked Haku using his sage mode. "It's just like old times!"
"Sakura, I think Naruto will be fine against Haku. If you wouldn't mind assisting me against Zabuza please?" Kakashi called out calmly.
The pink-haired kunoichi watched as Naruto grinned like an idiot at Haku.
"I'll be fine Sakura-chan, help Kakashi-sensei out."
"Alright Haku, now I'm going to show you how strong my precious people have made me!" Naruto yelled before shunshining to the mirror where his undead friend was. The jinchuriki slammed a rasengan into the mirror, smashing it into pieces.
"Your attack was able to break one of my mirrors…" Haku said in a disbelieving tone.
Naruto suddenly appeared in front of the mirror he was currently in and smashed it to pieces with another rasengan.
"Only 19 more mirrors to go!"
"Man that brat of yours sure is something." Zabuza declared with a grin on his face. He raised his executioner's blade and charged Kakashi.
The copy nin dodged Zabuza's first swipe then used the shunshin to disappear in a puff of smoke. Sakura suddenly appeared through the smoke and caught Zabuza off guard with a powerful punch. The punch would've been enough to kill him had he not already been dead. His body skidded across the ground, far away from the mirrors.
Zabuza quickly got up and charged the pink-haired girl. Before he could reach Sakura, he was suddenly pulled down into the ground by Kakashi.
With Zabuza temporarily incapacitated, Sakura glanced at Naruto. The blonde was flickering from mirror to mirror smashing them with a rasengan, there weren't too many mirrors left. It looked like Naruto was attacking too quickly to even give Haku a chance to throw his ice senbons.
"Sakura, we haven't stopped him yet." Kakashi cautioned, returning the kunoichi's gaze to Zabuza, who was now pulling himself out of the ground.
"Any ideas on how to permanently disable him sensei?" Sakura asked.
"Not really." Kakashi replied with a one-eyed smile. "I guess we just have to keep fighting him until Naruto can force the toad statue transformation on him."
Sakura responded by simply nodding her head.
"So… your other student has became quite powerful as well Kakashi. Impressive, tell me, how's the third one? The kid who's speed was almost enough to match Haku's…"
Kakashi looked sideways at Sakura, he had never had a chance to talk to her about Sasuke's death after she killed her former crush, he wasn't entirely sure how she would handle this.
"He fell to darkness and betrayed us." Sakura answered matter-of-factly. There was a slight twinge of regret and sadness in her voice, but it was barely noticeable. "He almost killed Naruto, so I killed him. But he thanked me as he was dying, so I guess in death I saved him."
"That's too bad. With how powerful you and that brat are, you three would've been the most powerful team to exist had he stuck around." Zabuza replied.
"We're still pretty powerful." Kakashi answered, flashing Sakura a now two-eyed smile.
"Yea…" Sakura whispered quietly with a small smile on her face. "We are!" Pink chakra chains whipped out of Sakura's body and wrapped tightly around Zabuza, effectively restraining the undead demon of the mist.
Against his will, Zabuza began struggling against the chains, but they bound him too tightly. He a small chuckle escaped his lips.
"Heh, I bet Kabuto is pissed right about now. He went to all the trouble of reviving me and now he can't even use me. Thanks girl."
"You're welcome." Sakura ground out as she focused on maintaining the tightness of the chains.
Lee ducked under a punch from a man with spiky black hair, had a prominent line down both sides of his face and was wearing a Iwa forehead protector tied around his completely exposed right arm. If the jumpsuit-wearing jonin didn't know any better, he would think that this ninja seems to be holding back.
Lee launched a quick kick to the man's chest, sending him skidding backwards. Before he could focus on the strange spiky-haired man any further, he was forced to leap backwards as a golden rope crashed down where had been standing an inch before.
"You two… go find someone else to bother." The spiky-haired man addressed the two long-haired men that were wearing what looked to be demon horn headdresses.
"We thought we'd have a little fun with this one Gari." The taller of the two replied. "Right brother?"
The man's brother gave Lee an evil grin. "Right."
The spiky-haired man whose name was apparently Gari sighed. "Be careful with these two child, they are far more powerful than you know, and unlike me, they won't be satisfied with simply trading blows."
Lee took in his former opponent's words as he stared at the two men who looked eerily like demons.
"I don't know who you are, BUT WITH MY POWERFUL YOUTH I WILL DEFEAT YOU!" Lee yelled. The two brothers grinned and released an evil aura.
Naruto smiled as he flickered from mirror to mirror smashing them to pieces. He was actually having fun and he was happy to have a chance to show Haku how powerful he had grown for his precious people. Haku shot out of the last remaining mirror just before Naruto smashed it like he had all the rest.
The jinchuriki grinned at the ice-wielder. "If only I had been this powerful all those years ago. Sasuke and I wouldn't have had to get cut up by so many of your ice senbons!"
Haku chuckled the ever carefree blonde. "I'm happy to see how powerful you've grown Naruto-kun. My body is going to force me to start fighting you again soon, even though I know it's pointless with how powerful you've become."
Just as Haku finished, he rushed toward Naruto. The jinchuriki easily dodged his friend's attack and quickly moved behind him, locking him in a full-nelson lock.
"WE ARE!" Sakura's yell drew Naruto's attention and he looked over to see her using her chakra chains to restrain Zabuza.
"I'm going to save you from Kabuto now Haku. After I save you, I'm going to go save Zabuza. Thank you, for putting me on the right path." Naruto said in a now completely serious and grateful tone.
"Thank you… Naruto-kun."
Naruto closed his eyes and began focusing on his nature chakra. Just as he prepared to channel it, a very familiar aura filled the air. The Kyubi seemed to recognize the aura and Naruto could feel the demon's rage.
The young sage focused on the aura and followed it to see Lee standing in the distance across from two burly looking men, with demon horn headdresses. One was carrying a golden rope and a fan, while the other was holding a gourd and a large sword.
That chakra… It's the Kyubi's chakra… But how?
"KILL THOSE TWO NARUTO!" The Kyubi roared in rage.
"Who are those guys ya damn fox?" Naruto asked the raging demon inside of him.
"Those are the Gold and Silver Brothers from Kumo. They tried to capture me once, and when I ate them they survived in my belly for two weeks by eating the chakra meat in my stomach! Those bugs need to pay! If you're not going to kill them, THEN LET ME OUT SO I CAN!"
"So is that how they have your chakra? Because they ate part of you?"
"DAMNIT NARUTO YES! NOW RELEASE ME SO I CAN KILL THEM!"
"Shut up Fox..." The jinchuriki thought as he closed the connection between himself and the demon as best as he could. He sighed.
"Sorry Haku… but I can't save you yet." Naruto threw Haku with his sage enhanced strength, sending the former hunter nin flying.
"Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei… change of plans."
"I figured as much." Kakashi replied.
Sakura flashed him a look filled with worry. She knew Naruto was strong, but the two shinobi he was currently preparing to fight were both exuding the Kyubi's chakra.
"Hang on Naruto, you're not going after those two alone. Right Kakashi-sensei?"
"Hmm, I guess it can't be helped." Kakashi replied cryptically as he rummaged in his hip pouch before pulling out a small scroll.
"We were going to save this for the main battle, but I suppose it can't hurt to see if these scrolls work now. Keep him restrained Sakura." The pinkette merely grunted an affirmative. Kakashi rushed forward and unfurled the scroll to reveal a seal, and placed it directly on Zabuza's face.
"I hope this works…" The copy nin muttered as he flashed through a series of handsigns. "Fuin suru."
A bright light burst forth from the scroll and sucked Zabuza into it.
"Well Shikamaru will be happy to find that this works." Kakashi panted, activating the sealing scroll took up about the three quarters of the amount of chakra he used for his chidori.
Sakura released her chakra chains and smiled at Naruto. "Ok, we're ready Naruto. Let's go!"
"Alright! Time to turn those bastards into statues!"
Sakura and Kakashi followed Naruto as he ran towards the two demonic looking men.
"Hmmm… so Konoha has developed a scroll to seal my revived shinobi." Kabuto said to no one in particular. "What a waste of chakra. You would think they would've learned from the Sandaime's sacrifice that only the death god can effectively seal souls revived by the edo-tensei."
Kabuto summoned a coffin out of the ground. The door slowly creaked open and Kabuto sneered at its occupant.
"Welcome back Zabuza-san."
Zabuza glared at Kabuto, his gaze held nothing but hatred for the scaled man.
"I don't think you're done yet."
Zabuza's body began to move back towards the battle against his will. "Damnit Kabuto… I will make you pay for using me like this, eventually I'll be going back to hell and eventually you'll join me!" The "demon" threatened as his body took off in a full sprint towards the battlefield.
Hmm… It would appear that Naruto-kun is going after the demon brothers. If my intelligence is correct, he's going to turn them into statues just like he did to Itachi… I can't allow that. I especially can't let him get ahold of those treasures; with his chakra levels he could wield them against my army…
The scaled man smirked as he forced one of his "puppets" to intercept Team 7.
Tsunade sat in her office with Shikaku Nara and the other two Kages that had arrived in Konoha. Shikamaru had been attempting to explain their battle plan to the Kages, but Gaara stared out the window with an annoyed look on his face.
"Gaara, I know you want to be out there fighting on the front lines, but you're the Kazekage now. You need to understand the plan that Shikaku's son came up with." Tsunade called out, breaking the young man from his thoughts.
The former jinchuriki turned back towards the meeting. "I know." He replied in his usual monotone voice. "I just don't like that we sent such a small force to face off against Kabuto's army."
"They're not fighting to win Kazekage-sama, they're fighting to distract. They'll be fine. Besides, Shikamaru should be sending the signal soon for the retreat." Shikaku pointed out.
"I guess…"
"The Hokage and Nara-san are correct Kazekage-sama. Their plan is good, they'll be back soon. Now we need to focus on how we're going to win the battle that we actually plan on winning." Mei spoke up.
Gaara nodded his head and gave the elder Nara his full attention.
"Ok… as I was saying…" Shikaku was interrupted by a cloaked man with an orange mask swirling into existence.
"Madara!" Tsunade gasped in surprise as she dropped into a fighting stance. Sand poured from Gaara's gourd as he eyed the ancient Uchiha with a deadly glare. Mei however, remained completely calm.
"Interesting strategy, coming here Madara. Teleporting directly into a room where three Kages are meeting… Each one planning on killing you." The Mizukage said.
Madara chuckled at the beautiful leader. "None of you are on my level, I could kill you all if I so desired. But I'm not going to do that just yet, I still have a use for you all."
"A use for us? And what makes you think we're going to do your bidding?" Gaara growled. Seeing Madara merely served to remind him of what the masked man in front of him almost did to his first friend.
"Because if you don't, you will all be wiped out by Kabuto's army."
"Isn't that what you want?" Tsunade asked with a confused look on her face. The intel Konoha had gotten on Kabuto and Madara's partnership was completely accurate, some of Konoha's best shinobi themselves saw it happen…
"If that's what I wanted I would be killing you right now, wouldn't I?" Madara sneered.
"So Kabuto has betrayed you." Shikaku spoke up, drawing the ancient Uchiha's attention away from his Hokage to him.
"Ah the Naras, always very perceptive. Yes, Kabuto plans on betraying me, so I'm going to have him killed."
"And what's to stop us from simply capturing Kabuto instead of killing him?" Tsunade asked.
Madara smirked at the busty Hokage. "Oh believe me, you won't allow him to live. You will want to kill him."
"And why's that Madara?"
"You'll just have to wait and see Hokage-sama. But enough on that, I came here to tell you how to beat Kabuto and his army…
Naruto could now see the demon brothers. He was relieved to see that some anbu and Gai had joined Lee and were helping him fight them off.
"Alright, Sakura-chan I'm going to do this quick. If they're anything like me, they have so much chakra that their control is pretty bad. That means they should be susceptible to genjutsu. Cast one on me so they can't see me, that way I can quickly sneak up behi…"
Naruto grabbed Sakura and leapt backwards evading the large blade of a puppet in a white cloak. It had red "hair" that was pulled back into two buns.
"What in the…"
"Chiyo-sama…" Sakura whispered.
Naruto followed his fiancé's gaze to see the old woman who gave her life to revive Gaara. The puppet that had attacked leapt backwards to her side, joining the other 9 puppets, all wearing the same white cloak.
"Damnit… I don't have time for this."
"Be careful Naruto." Sakura said softly, her eyes trained on the old woman in front of her.
"Sakura-chan?"
"Kakashi-sensei and I will deal with Chiyo-sama. You need to go take care of those two that have the Kyubi's chakra. Be careful."
"You too Sakura-chan. Take care of her for me Kakashi-sensei!"
"Of course. Good luck Naruto." The jinchuriki ran towards the two demonic looking men. The puppet from before moved to attack him, but Sakura quickly formed hand signs.
"Suiton: Teppodama!" Her water bullet hit the puppet sending it off its attack course freeing Naruto to escape to take care of his targets.
"Sakura, you've grown stronger since we last saw each other." Chiyo complimented as she stared at the confident kunoichi. "And I can see that you no longer doubt yourself, I'm glad."
"Thank you Chiyo-sama."
"Ah Chiyo-sama, I don't suppose there's any way we can convince you to put those puppets away is there? They're going to make things considerably more difficult." Kakashi called out.
Chiyo chuckled at the silver-haired jonin. It was funny, she absolutely despised his father, yet she had nothing but respect for him.
"Unfortunately Kakashi I don't have control over my body, I'm afraid you will have to deal with my Ten Puppet Collection of Chikamatsu until you find a way to defeat me."
Kakashi reactivated his mangekyo sharingan. "I figured as much."
Lee dodged a powerful gust of wind from the brother who was wielding the rope. The man struck an anbu with his golden rope, and his brother quickly slashed the man with his sword. Surprisingly, the anbu didn't have a single wound on him.
"Are you alright Anbu-san?" Lee asked as the Anbu looked around, obviously surprised to be alive still.
"Hai!" The Anbu quickly replied. The demonic looking brothers smirked, as the one with the sword suddenly sucked the Anbu into the gourd he was carrying.
"What the hell?" One of the anbu yelled out in surprise.
"Words are potent weapons in battle… don't you think Kinkaku?" The smaller brother asked.
Kinkaku grinned. "They sure are Ginkaku."
Alright! The war has finally started. Stay tuned next week!
Sorry for the delay in updates, but I recently got a new job and moved from Ohio to Washington DC for it, then flew down to Florida for a bunch of meetings during my second week. I've basically been running around like a crazy person this past month, and really haven't had much of this stuff called "free time." But my job is starting to calm down a little now, and I actually have free time again. So that means I can get back to updating regularly. Yay!