Thunder and Lightning Pt.3

Last time on Cloud Gamer

Kurenai was about to speak as the building began to shake, with lights falling from the roof. "Is this place coming down!?" Asuma yelled, running over to Kurenai, and grabbing her hand. "We should get going!" The girl nodded as Asuma sprinted from the room and back into the hall. Along the walls, the pipes began to burst, and wires shot an electrical current across the metal panels.

"What about the others?!" Kurenai asked in a hurry.

"We'll go get them now, lets head towards Anko and Hayate first." Asuma responded, entering the lobby, and turning down the hallway Anko and Hayate and ran down.

Chapter Time!

Anko and Hayate, 20 minutes earlier

Anko fell to the steel floor, stumbling to her feet while coughing. "You—" Her insult was cut short by a fist colliding against her nose. Hayate leapt through the hole created by Ito, creating two afterimages as he clashed his blade against Ito's gauntlets. Ito ignored the illusions, throwing a right hook towards Hayate's face. He quickly parried, turning his blade to slash against Ito's bicep. Ito put up his other hand, catching the blade with ease before kicking Hayate to the ground.

Hayate planted his foot down and flicked through three hand seals. 'Transparent escape!' He called out mentally, coating his body in a transparent skin of chakra. Ito quickly looked around, putting his hands up to guard. Hayate slashed towards the man's leg, but as soon as the metal touched, Ito shifted it out of the way and launched a palm strike towards Hayate. He easily dodged the attack and brought his blade back again for another attack, which was also reacted to. 'He's… moving the instant the blade touches him, how are his senses that insane?!'

Anko slowly stood back up, putting her hand forward as a snake slipped out from her sleeve, slowly creeping up to Ito's leg. Hayate attacked at the same time, with his slash being blocked before the snake bit, releasing a toxic venom through Ito's system. "Hayate! We only need 5 minutes. 5 minutes and he'll die!"

Ito clicked his tongue, turning around to launch a kick at Anko. She quickly bent backwards, letting the leg fly over her stomach as she formed 3 more hand seals. Hayate jumped backwards, recognizing the technique before Anko spat out a cloud of purple gas, filling the entire room with it. Hayate ducked out through the hole, letting Anko follow him before a heavy weight fell onto his blade. Ito slammed his fist into Hayate's katana, snapping the blade before forming a crater in the ground below him.

Hayate and Anko jumped away, evading several more strikes that became wilder as they were thrown. Ito reeled his hand back, dragging the gauntlet across the wall and leaving a deep gash in his wake. "Steel Crash!" He swung his fist across his body, flinging several panels from the wall towards Hayate. He put his broken sword up, rapidly slashing and cutting each one with ease. Ito followed behind, slamming his fist into Hayate's forearm, bending it unnaturally from the force.

The boy gritted his teeth as his camouflage faded. Ito threw another punch, launching Hayate backwards with a dislocated shoulder. Anko quickly caught him, sliding across the ground before throwing out several shuriken, all of which were deflected with simple punches. Anko dodged one of Ito's attacks, flipping to dodged another before she whipped out a kunai, throwing it at Ito. The man caught it with his finger, having put it through the hole mid-air, and flung it towards Anko.

Hayate turned around and picked up his broken blade, throwing it like a javelin towards Ito. He quickly spun around to block it, but found his body unable to move as snakes wrapped around his limbs, and the paralytic effects from the poison gas set in. "N-NOO!" He screamed, right as the broken sword flew through his throat, puncturing his voice box. Ito coughed up some blood before falling on his face, completely dead.

*CRASH*

The building rocked around them as panels from the ceiling fell down. Hayate jumped out of the way of a plate to avoid being crushed as Anko did the same. "We need to get out of this hall, now!" Hayate yelled, catching up to Anko quickly.

The girl nodded before looking forward. "Shit! My trap!" The wires Anko had strung up earlier slowed down their progress significantly, allowing several panels to fall down from above them. Hayate flicked his head up, reflexively grasping his empty sheath.

"Fuck!" He yelled, putting his arms up to block the steel. Just as they were about to be crushed, a boy leapt in with wind enhanced trench knives, shattering the panels with dozens of cuts.

"You two alright?" Asuma landed behind them, letting Kurenai dismantle the traps.

"We're fine thanks to you, but we still need to get out of here." Hayate replied, looking down at his sheath. "And now I need a new sword, great."

Asuma snickered and looked behind him, seeing Kurenai had finished. "Let's go."

The group immediately left the hall, running back into the lobby where Guy and Shikaku were standing. "Oh, here you are."

"What're we waiting for?" Hayate asked, slowing to a stop in front of the duo.

Shikaku flicked a thumb towards the hall where Kakashi and Shin ran down. Hayate turned his head and his eyes widened in surprise, "T-That can't be real…"

"Facility under lockdown for the conclusion of our project."

A TV screen sat in front of a large dark steel door, showing Kakashi and Shin panicking to stop the generator in the laboratory. "Guy has even opened the 6th gate, but we can't destroy it for some reason. Every time we attack, double the force comes back.

"Then, how can we help them?!" Anko yelled.

"We can't." Shikaku mumbled, biting his thumbnail. "There's nothing we can do."

"T-Their project isn't it to…" Asuma stuttered.

"Destroy Konoha." Shikaku finished, a bead of sweat dripping down his forehead.

They all turned back to the screen. Shin reeled back his hand before a burst of blue electricity pulsed from the machine, shocking him away. "They can't do anything!" Anko yelled.

"We have to trust them, they're our heavy hitters, they can do something."

The lighting in the lobby area cut out, leaving the dim light of the screen as the only source of light. The group stood still, silent as the electrical charge continued to accumulate. A shroud of red chakra appeared around Shin, with a single tail flowing behind him as he slammed another rasengan into the mechanical construct. The same shockwave threw him back brutally before the feed cut off of the tv, being replaced by numbers.

"5."

"No. No, no, no!" Asuma screamed, running up to the steel door and slashing his blades across them, only to be knocked backwards.

Shikaku grit his teeth as a single tear ran down the right side of his face. "It's… all over."

"Yugao…" Hayate mumbled, his teeth audibly creaking from the force of his jaw.

"4."

The feed cut back in, revealing a sliding sunroof slowly shifting on the ceiling, showing the open air outside. The countdown sat in the corner as the group watched in hope. Anko pulled out a kunai, attaching some ninja wire around the ring. "Shikaku, can you throw this to the roof?" Shikaku nodded and formed a rat seal, sinking his shadow around the kunai and flicking it into the roof.

"Asuma, climb up that and cut open the ceiling!" Anko yelled.

Asuma got off the ground, clenching his trench knives as he placed one of his feet on the wire, gripping his left hand to it and slowly climbing up.

"3."

"Quicker!" Anko yelled. Asuma pulled out another kunai, using it like a grappling hook to flick himself to the roof. He retrieved his trench knife from his pocket, slashing open the rooftop and climbing outside onto the steel ceiling. He quickly ran across to the hole in the laboratory dropping through and onto the floor next to Kakashi. "We're here, sorry we took a little while."

"2."

Shin slowly reached into his inventory, sprouting wings from his back. "I, always end up using you, don't I?" He pulled out Prometheus, flicking it to his side and creating a large gash in the floor.

"1."

Shin ran forward, slashing downwards towards the generator. A slight it appeared on the shell as Shin pulled it backwards. "Huh, but wait…it's supposed to…" He looked down at Prometheus which vibrated quickly, before disintegrating into ash. 'The sword… the raw materials were too weak to hold the gods power!' The handle disintegrated, right as the countdown finished.

"Konoha falls. Sango."

The coils and rods all hummed with power, before launching an extremely large pillar of electricity into the sky, reaching towards the clouds. "FUCK!" Shin yelled, quickly flying up into the sky as his cloak began to change colours, turning into a shade of pink with the swift chakra combined with Kurama's cloak.

"Kid! That's way too much stress on your body, you're going to die!"

Shin ignored Kurama's words with a burst of speed, exceeding the speed of lightning and stop in front of the pillar. It slightly began to curve, on a trajectory downward across the country towards Konoha. The boy whipped out his chakra blade, throwing it in front of him in a feeble attempt to deflect the energy. His fists began to burn as his clothes singed from the heat pouring off of the attack.

He pulled back one of his hands, his sword flying out of his other palm from the force as he made some hand seals. "Gravity release: Push!" The bolt slowed slightly as blood burst from Shin's nose, but immediately evaporating from the heat.

"You're going to die, stop!"

"Ugh! I'd… I'd rather it be me than him!"

"Him? Who's him? Who could possibly mean more to you than yourself, Kakashi? He's down there alive!"

"Well take a wild fucking guess! Naruto will not die under my watch, not before me!"

The paper that made up Shin's body charred and began to flutter away. He gritted his teeth while being pushed backwards, slowly making one handed hand seals with his left hand. 2 chains sprout from his back, below his wings, and pierced into the pillar.

On the ground Kakashi put his hands together, making several hand seals as his hand was coated in navy blue chakra. "Raikiri!" He yelled, running forward, and leaping into the air. He swiped downward, splitting the bolt in two, one half towards Konoha, the one Shin was stopping, and the other towards the land of lightning. Shin's load immediately decreased as he stuck his second hand forward, pushing more chakra into his gravity technique.

"Come on! Just go!" He screamed; his hands almost turned black from the heat as he slowly lifted his palms. The bolt slowly began to be pushed up before it slipped from Shin's grasp and launched straight into space.

"Wha-T-That isn't possible…"

'Well, guess it is now, haha.'

"You…"

Shin's consciousness faded like a light, and his body plummeted to the ground.

"H-He did it!" Asuma cheered.

Kakashi smiled before looking at Shin, who was rapidly falling to the ground. "He's going to die from that height! Shikaku! Anyone! Stop his fall!"

Shikaku heard Kakashi's announcement and looked into the air. He sprang from the facility lobby and hopped through dozens of trees before putting his hands in a rat seal, forming a basket of shadows that caught the boy mid-air. Shin was slowly placed on the ground by Shikaku's technique as the other members of their squad landed on site.

"How did he do that?" Anko asked, looking at the extensive injuries over the boy's body. Burnt palms, lacerations all over the skin, cracked lips. It was like he had been through a blender, and then cooked in an oven afterwards.

"The help of his friend, and Kakashi of course." Asuma pulled Kakashi over to him with a smile.

"What did Kakashi do? No offence Kakashi, but we didn't see anything."

"Haha none taken. I just split the bolt with my new technique." He held up his hand, coating it in a jolt of electricity.

"Splitting a lightning bolt!?" Anko yelled.

Asuma laughed and nodded, "yeah! I saw the whole thing!"

"Then, where did the rest of it go?" Hayate asked.

Kakashi looked into the air before pointing. "Northeast, that way."

Shikaku's eyes widened as he groaned. "Oh fuck."

"What?" Kurenai questioned.

"Straight into the land of lightning's territory, this will be a diplomatic nightmare." Shikaku responded.

"Can't we just explain it was an accident?" Guy asked.

"Kumo has been notoriously childish with this shit, he'll probably request a meeting with the hokage."

Kakashi nodded in agreement before picking up Shin in a princess hold. "Let's go back to the village as soon as possible, he needs treatment."

Shikaku looked towards the rest of the team. "We'll move for a little while on foot, but there's no way we get back before a week."

…

"Shin, do you remember our deal?"

"Of course I do Kurama."

"Then, why do you act so rash?"

"Hm, I wouldn't say I act rash."

"You literally threw yourself in front of a S-RANK technique!"

"Well, I'll do anything to protect my family, but no one else."

"You've said that before, but who is part of your family now?"

Shin lifted up his fingers to count. "Naruto, Kakashi… Natio…"

"Then... I'd like to ask, who will be receiving the fox contract?"

"Why do you bring it up?"

"Your little gamble today cost you another 3 years of lifespan, you have just over 28 years."

"How did it increase?!"

"1. You stopped using that little cloak of yours, and 2. I've been using the natural energy inside of your seal on your neck, the one placed by the bats, to renew your life energy and revitalise your cells."

"Then… why can't I just keep doing that?"

"It's artificial. So, trust me when I say this, those last 5 years of your life, the one's I've given you through natural energy conversion, will be the worst of your life. You'll be relying on nature to keep you alive, rather than your own biomechanics. It's like a life support machine from your other world, but worse."

"Pff."

"What?"

"HAHAHAHAHA! Don't worry Ku, those last 5 years, even if they're the worst… I'll still be happy."

"You…" Kurama squinted, but he didn't need to. Through his negative emotion sensing, he could tell the boy wasn't lying. 'How?'

…

8 days later

"Ah, this seems familiar." Shin commented, his eyes scanning across the pale walls of the hospital room he was in. Kakashi sat by his right, the same as last time. His eyes looked up before he smiled, it was visible through his mask with how wide it was. "Happy to see me?" Shin commented.

Kakashi nodded, standing up and handing a glass of water to his friend. Shin accepted gratefully and gulped it down. "How long has it been?"

"8 days, but don't worry about the report. Only one person from each pair has to write one since we were together. And I handed in ours before coming here."

"Aww, how nice of you." Shin laughed, sitting up and popping his back. "So what happened with the Raikage stuff?"

"Hm, well, it isn't good."

"Elaborate please."

"So basically, we are heading to Kumo."

"I said elaborate, not summarise." Shin deadpanned. Kakashi laughed.

"Sorry, sorry. It went like this."

3 hours earlier

Kakashi dropped into the Hokage's office with a body flicker. "Lord Hokage, I have the report for my latest mission."

Hiruzen looked up from his desk with a smile. "Thank you Kakashi, I also have something to discuss with you, well, 2 things." He accepted the report and opened it up, skimming the writing before nodding. "First, we will be heading to Kumo as soon as Shin awakens. Me, you, Raido and Shin."

"Why?"

"I'll get to that. Because of the result of this mission, a deep mark has been left on the territory of the land of lightning, therefore, the raikage has demanded a meeting with me. And he wants the perpetrators brought as well."

"Perpetrators, quite aggressive language."

"Tell me about it." Hiruzen sighed. "Now for my second point, this will be your last mission as a member of the ANBU division of Konoha."

Kakashi didn't outwardly react, causing Hiruzen to quirk an eyebrow. "You don't seem surprised."

"Truth be told sir, I actually planned to resign."

Hiruzen smiled widely. 'He… got through to him. Thank you, Shin, Minato, Naruto.'

"I see. Well, you have played a great role in your tenure as ANBU, so I would love to bestow upon you the position of jonin right now. But this mission must be complete first."

"Yes sir."

"When Shin awakens, bring him here immediately. We need to leave right away."

"Yes sir."

Kakashi stood up to his full height, a small smile visible under his mask. Hiruzen smirked and waved the boy off. Once Kakashi left, his personal ANBU moved from their spots. "Kakashi is leaving the ANBU? I heard he would stay until he died."

"Well, something changed." Hiruzen chuckled, looking out at the village. "Something big changed."

Shin POV

"So that's basically what happened." Kakashi finished. I had signed out while he talked, considering I was completely restored thanks to Kurama, and we were currently heading to the Uchiha district to pick up Naruto.

"Then. Shouldn't we be heading there?" I asked.

"Well, do you want to go there?"

I laughed sheepishly. "I wonder if Mikoto is making lunch."

Kakashi snickered and turned towards the Uchiha gates. "Probably, it's about 12:30 after all."

We knocked on the doors of the Uchiha Patriarch's house, with Mikoto answering in seconds. "Hey you two, have you just come back?"

"Ah, well not really." I said, walking in past her. "We're about to head out on another mission."

"So soon?!"

"Yeah, it's a bit ludicrous, but we were requested specifically."

"Even then…"

Kakashi followed me into the dining room where Naruto and Sasuke were eating a bowl of soup with Itachi's help. I laughed slightly and Itachi frowned. He was in between the middle of them, with one hand swung around each of their bodies and a spoon in each hand. "Afternoon Itachi." Kakashi greeted. Itachi nodded towards him before giving me a death stare and focusing back on the babies.

I chuckled slightly before turning to Mikoto. "Sorry for the quick departure, but we have to head to the Hokage, mind taking care of Naruto for another week or so?"

"Of course! He's been lovely to have! And Sasuke seems to love him being around." She smiled and the two babes.

"Yeah, more than he loves me." Itachi mumbled, barely loud enough for me to hear.

"Is that a hint of jealousy?" I commented with a smirk.

Itachi gave me another glare and I smiled, pulling something from my inventory. "Here, take this. I thought it would make a decent fit for you."

I placed it on the end of the table. "It's a genjutsu, one that I can't use because of my chakra supply."

"Well, whats it called?" Itachi asked.

"Genjutsu countering, it's a basic skill, but it has probably the most potential from the entire field."

"That's a big statement."

"Not an exaggeration though. Any genjutsu, you just need to match up your chakra signature perfectly with the oppoenent's, and you can reflect the genjutsu back onto them, with you being in control!"

"You must be kidding."

"I'm not." I shrugged, leaving the scroll on the table. "Well, we need to get going, hope you enjoy your gift!"

Kakashi and I flickered from the building and onto the Uchiha gate. "When did you get that?" Kakashi asked.

"I copied it, on a heist."

"A heist?"

"Mm, when I was looking for a special jewel, there was a huge library, and I took a few scrolls pertaining to ninjutsu."

"You have to tell me about that."

"Maybe when we get back." I smiled, hopping to another rooftop.

…

The pair landed in Hiruzen's office, climbing through the window as they usually did. Much to his annoyance. "Oh? Far sooner than I expected." Hiruzen commented upon looking at me.

"Well, what can I say old man?" I replied.

"You can say your greetings with respect maybe." Hiruzen chuckled.

I laughed and knelt down next to Kakashi. "You two, and Raido, who is not here at the moment. Will be following me to the Land of lightning to meet with the Raikage. This is an A-RANK mission, and you will condone yourselves with dignity. You're representing the village here, remember that. Anyway, for this mission, Shin Uzumaki, you will be known as Fox."

A mask was placed on the ground in front of me, with 3 whiskers lining each side of the cheeks and rings under the eyes. I picked it up and clipped it to my face.

"We will be leaving right now." Hiruzen stood up, leading us out of the room towards the base of the tower. "Shin, only refer to Kakashi as Dog, and Raido as Badger."

"Yes, Lord Hokage." I responded coldly, emulating what I thought would be an ANBU's speech pattern.

"Where's this respect usually?" Hiruzen chuckled.

I lifted off my mask, sticking out my tongue. "I think it comes with it, old man."

"Tch, maybe I should tape your mouth under that." Hiruzen said.

Kakashi laughed before we were taken to the ANBU headquarters, where Raido was standing in front of. "Lord Hokage, are we ready to leave?"

"Yes, Badger."

Chapter finished, wahoo!

There will be a delay between this chapter and the next, due to my starting the rewrite of the first 15 chapters or so. But it won't be more than a month, so be ready! I really hope you enjoyed the mission as much as I did writing it!

Cya! - tired