"You must be joking..."
"I'm not," Kin replied to the new voice.
"There's no way we could accept this!"
"It's the only offer on the table! Orochimaru can give you information about the Alliance that you'll need for this little band of misfits to stand a chance!"
Amongst the leaders of Akatsuki, the only ones that were visibly worked up at the audacity of the proposal were the founders of the organization. Tsunade and Jiraiya both scowled bitterly, and Itachi simply examined the messenger curiously
"And why is he offering us this information," Yahiko demanded, "Why offer a partnership?!" Kin remained silent, simply scowling at the darkness that hid the leaders.
"Orochimaru is looking for protection," Jiraiya finally said. Everyone's heads turned to him as the white haired Sannin examined Kin. "With both Tsunade and I on seated positions within Akatsuki, he thinks he has a chance to forge a partnership and weaken the Alliance. Likely to fabricate some story about how he was framed, so when Danzo is killed, Orochimaru can become Hokage, and thus leader of the Alliance." Kin's upper lip twitched with a sign of irritation as Jiraiya's expression calmed, continually examining the young woman in front of him. "Where is Orochimaru?"
"Bite me," Kin snapped. The young kunoichi trembled in her chair, knowing that she wasn't going to leave the room alive either way.
"We'll use genjutsu to break her," Yahiko stated as he rose up from his chair.
"Orochimaru isn't an idiot," Jiraiya replied, shifting his eyes to Yahiko. "There are likely countermeasures in her head to prevent us from extracting any information. It wouldn't surprise me if they were fatal either."
Kin kept her composure, determined not to give them anything else. She knew from the beginning if the Akatsuki thought they were going to be used that they would never agree to join Orochimaru. Even so, Kin never expected them to deduce the entire plan so offhandedly.
"There has to be something more to this," Itachi finally spoke. All heads turned to the youngest leader of Akatsuki, who like Jiraiya was boring his eyes at Kin. "This approach is...sloppy. Did Orochimaru order the others to follow you?"
"Yes," Kin answered, staring back at the bodies. She examined them curiously, having her interest piqued after Itachi pointed out just what she was thinking. This plan was entirely too sloppy.
"And risking one of his top agents, as you said. He had to have figured that we would deduce that we were just pawns to him for a grander scheme." Itachi rose up from his seat and stepped into the light.
Recognizing the prodigy of the Uchiha Clan, Kin prepared herself for the worst to come. Itachi stopped in front of the bodies however, staring at them curiously and paying no attention to Kin. The young kunoichi's eyes then went back to the bodies as well to examine them.
Suddenly, one of the corpses rose up and took a swing of his kunai at Itachi. The Uchiha had no problem dodging the strike and jumped back as the rest of the corpses started to stand up.
Kin's eyes widened, completely horrified and confused about what was going on. The rest of the Akatsuki leaders stood up from their seats as the animated bodies tore off their shirts, revealing that they each wore an identical summoning seal.
The meeting room for the Akatsuki leaders blew open, throwing debris and rubble down the main hall. The sound was loud enough to draw the attention of nearly everyone in the catacombs.
The smoke started to break as the leaders of Akatsuki rushed out of the room quickly as hundreds of serpents followed after them. Itachi carried Kin, still wrapped in chains, under his arm as he fled with the others. The youngest leader tossed Kin to an unexpected Nagato, who narrowly caught the black haired girl.
Itachi, Jiraiya, and Yahiko all stopped and turned to face the overwhelming horde of snakes before they progressed any further. The three of them used Fire Style ninjutsus, combining them into a giant wave of flames that moved down the hall, consuming and burning the snakes alive.
When they stopped their jutsus, the three leaders stood ready for anything to come out of the smoke. In a few short seconds, a mob of ninjas wearing snake pattern scarves, grey tunics, black masks, under shirts, and pants, and other ninjas wearing ANBU-like masks and dark robes rushed into the main corridor.
The three Akatsuki Chiefs were immediately joined by several other Akatsuki to fight the oncoming herd of enemy ninjas.
"Lady Tsunade!" The other three leaders turned their heads, seeing Shizune, Hana Inuzuka, and Obito Uchiha coming up towards them for instructions.
"We need to get all our sick and wounded out immediately," Tsunade stated, pointing directly to Shizune.
"Are we going to actually abandon our home," Obito snapped angrily. Another explosion shook the cavern, but it was too far off to have been from the meeting hall. "How the hell did they-,"
"Orochimaru's forces probably tunneled underground," Nagato shouted. "Damn it, Obito you're with me!" The redhead and Uchiha shot off down the hall, the former taking Kin with him.
"He'll likely be spreading the attack out," Konan added as she ran past Hana, tapping her on the shoulder, "Come on, we'll cover the east wing!"
Tsunade went with Shizune towards the medical wing to prepare evacuations.
On their way to the west wing of the catacombs, Nagato looked over to Kin who was slung over his shoulder. "We'll drop her off in the nearest prison cell." Obito simply nodded, not seeing the point in keeping her alive but knew better than to argue with Nagato. It wasn't long before they arrived in the cell blocks, and Nagato carelessly threw her into the nearest one before slamming and locking the door. "Come on!" The two rushed onward to the heart of the conflict in the west wing.
The group in the library had come out to see that their home was somehow overrun and in the midst of a heated battle. "Oh you've gotta be kidding," Neji shouted before jumping into combat.
Deidara watched as everyone, minus himself, Karin, and Ranmaru charged into battle. He wasn't sure what the other two's excuses were, but Deidara knew that any explosion he used ran the risk of bringing the entire place down on them.
"I freaking hate these guys," the artists muttered before running towards the main hall to get to the exit. "Come on you two! If you're not going to help kick ass then the medics'll probably need it!" Karin and Ranmaru quickly followed Deidara, who guided them through the combat, occasionally resorting to taijutsu to push past the enemy.
Naruto heard the explosions and felt the rumblings of the earth around him. He stopped just in front of Sakura's door and looked back. Naruto knew something was horribly wrong.
"What's going on," a soft voice asked. Naruto looked down, seeing Sakura slowly waking up, rubbing her eyes.
"I...I don't know..."
Another explosion went off, drawing the duo's attention. Sakura quickly reached back to her pouch and felt carefully to make sure she still had her Uncle's journal. She rolled out of Naruto's arms and ran down the hall.
"We're under attack!"
"Wait! Sakura!" Naruto ran after the pinkette, who had found a new rush of energy to drive her forward.
Jiraiya and the others started to fall back as the smoke started to grow, threatening to engulf them. The Sannin knew that fighting blind would be more chaotic and bloody than the initial battle. Jiraiya knew that the increase of smoke had to be caused by someone's ninjutsu, but he also realized that whoever was using that jutsu was likely in the back of the crowd, hiding.
The smoke then formed into a dragon and launched forward, slamming into the face of a trio of Akatsuki shinobi. They coughed and attempted to run out of the smoke, and batted it about, but it lingered in front of their faces, filling up their lungs until they fell to the floor.
"Any Wind Style users, dissipate that smoke right now!" About a handful of ninja ran forward and used their separate Wind Style jutsus to blow the smoke apart, revealing an opening and what looked to be well over a hundred enemy shinobi. "The rest of you stay back!" Jiraiya shot forward after bellowing his order, preparing a Rasengan in each hand.
Each orb individually carried enough chakra and force to completely devastate the bodies of their targets, as well as launch them back and spear two paths through the opposition. As Jiraiya slowly lifted up his head, Yahiko and Itachi shot down the open paths towards the rear of the enemy lines. Yahiko brandished his sword and cleaved through any enemies that stood in his way, while Itachi rolled through with his kicks and a single kunai.
In the back of the group were two shinobi that stood out amongst the rest. One of them had unusually pale, pasty looking skin, long white hair, and dark framed glasses that covered his eyes, and an unusual device on his wrist with what looked to be multiple cannons. The second was a man with medium length grey hair, wearing a black cloak and a gas mask over his face.
The man with the device on his wrist fired Smoke Dragons from each of his cannons as Yahiko closed in on him. Each dragon hit, completely engulfing Yahiko's body in smoke. The shinobi stepped to the side as the cloud landed next to him. He chuckled softly, knowing that Yahiko would likely be suffocating and that he couldn't even use his nose.
In a flash, Yahiko's sword snapped around and cleaved the man's head off. As it hit the ground and rolled a few times, the smoke around Yahiko slowly lifted off of him.
"Thank goodness smoke doesn't carry any sound," Yahiko stated, smirking with his eyes closed. "And that any half-wit would think to hold his breath after seeing that jutsu used just once."
Itachi closed in on the second smoke user, who flung his arm forward. Itachi's Sharingan picked up a spark appearing in the man's hand for a brief moment before expanding and launching into a ball of flames. The attack hit Itachi, exploding in a fiery inferno.
The man wearing the gas mask huffed with satisfaction before something came out of the ground behind him. Itachi's Sharingan burned brightly as his arm was pulled back over his face. The enemy ninja looked on in horror before Itachi plunged his kunai into the man's back.
The ninja then dissipated in a cloud of smoke after the kunai pierced him. Itachi's mouth hung open a bit in shock before the smoke simply lifted off harmlessly into the air. "Well that's...an interesting jutsu..."
Neji paralyzed another foe with his Gentle Fist style, before jumping backwards and standing at Gaara's back. "You've noticed the differences in our foes, right?"
"The cloaked ones use Wood Style and aren't actually human, while the masked ones are just normal ninjas," Gaara stated. "Kiba and Haku went off to inform the others of the differences."
"That was a mistake. The others surely would be able to discern that by now." A spiked pillar of wood came at Neji, who took a few strides forward and then used his Rotation to destroy it.
"Not everyone would be as organized as us," Gaara added, as his sand quickly swept up several of the Wood Style users, encasing them with the element. Gaara clenched his hands, performing multiple Sand Burials that crushed the clones inside. "Right now, who knows how many of our comrades are dying because they don't know what's going on..."
Standing at the north, main entrance of the Akatsuki's hideout, Orochimaru stood with his arms crossed over his shoulders, watching as Kimimaro finished cutting down the last guard. Standing to the Sannin's right was Kabuto, with the Serpent Four behind him. To Orochimaru's left was a man wearing simple dark clothing that matched his brown hair, long pants and a short-sleeved shirt with black shoes. He also wore a red sweatband on his head. Behind the unknown man was a group of four other shinobi.
"Get ready to depart you four," Orochimaru said, turning his head towards his bodyguards.
"Sir!" Jirobo, Sakon, and Kidomaru quickly departed while Tayuya and Kimimaro stayed behind.
"Are you certain those four can perform the jutsu needed," the brunette questioned.
"That jutsu is a backup plan, in case things don't go how we want them to. Remember, Kazuma, creating a new contract with the Edo Tensei and using some of Akatsuki's star shinobi is the goal. The Limelight jutsu will incinerate everything inside, and I need their DNA to resurrect them."
Kazuma simply huffed and folded his arms over his chest before turning his head towards one of the women on his side. He nodded to her as she unraveled a scroll that had the blueprint of the area in particular. There were special seals at each of the cardinal directions as the woman activated the jutsu. A pillar rose up out of the earth behind Orochimaru and the others.
Around the rest of Akatsuki's hideout, the pillars came up out of the ground on the surface in the other directions, south, east, and west.
She began drawing in changes to the terrain on her diagram scroll. As she did, the earth began to tremble lightly as the earth shifted to her changes.
"That's a rather impressive technique," Orochimaru said as he smirked a bit.
Kazuma shifted his eyes to the Sannin and narrowed them in a glare, 'Don't you forget, our treaty is temporary, snake. I know you desire to be Hokage, and I'm not going to allow that.'
Inside the Akatsuki's hideout, the ground began shaking yet again. Some tunnels began closing or collapsing, rock formations started popping up or coming down. Several shinobi on both Akatsuki and Orochimaru's side were caught and crushed with the changing and alteration of the earth itself. Other luckier shinobi were either in locations that weren't affected by the shifting of the caverns, or managed to dodge the more radical changes.
Naruto and Sakura had to outrun as the hall they were in began to collapse, and thankfully escaped unscathed. After taking literally a second to catch her breath, Sakura turned and continued forward with Naruto right behind her.
"What's going on Naruto, seriously?"
"I don't know! I was taking you back to your room so you could sleep, and then explosions just started happening!"
"There's no way anyone should have been able to find us though, right?" Naruto's mind suddenly remembered the prisoner he saw on his way to Sakura's room. His blue orbs widened in horror at the only implication his mind came up with.
"Oh no..." Sakura looked back to see the blonde's horrified look before stopping herself. Naruto did the same and looked up at Sakura with a tender stare. "You...Sakura, please don't freak out..."
Haku kicked one of the clone shinobi in the face and landed on the ground, looking ahead at four others that had him cornered, and alone. The young boy flipped out a handful of senbon needles, one between each finger, and readied himself.
Before anyone could attack however, the wall behind the clones exploded outward. Several giant pieces of debris collided with the clones with enough force to knock them down and put dents in their wooden frames. Haku's eyes widened in shock at the random event.
Sakura came through the hole in the wall, wasting no time as she slammed her fists into the clones that got in her way. Her punches carried enough strength to completely blow pieces of their bodies away before rushing off down the hall.
Haku stood perfectly still, seeing the clear sense of rage behind Sakura's eyes as she demolished the wooden clones and ran off. Shortly after she ran off, Naruto chased after her with a sense of urgency. Haku took a second to examine the remains of the enemies that gave him a bit of trouble. After a moment, he ran off to follow Naruto and Sakura.
"Slow down," Naruto shouted, "Sakura! I said it was only a hunch!"
"What's a hunch," Haku asked.
"Th-that Orochimaru is behind this," Naruto whispered.
"Wooden clones, some ninjas with unusual abilities, and I've seen some snakes slithering around. I'm fairly certain it's Orochimaru." Ahead of the two boys, Sakura let out a furious roar before punching through another rock wall. Naruto glared at Haku, who stared ahead with a terrified expression before raising his finger to point at Sakura. "She...her Uncle. Right..."
Yahiko clashed with an unusually mutated shinobi that absorbed the bodies of two others to increase his own power, and turn into some freak of nature. What made matters worse, was that with the increase of power, the ninja Yahiko was fighting seemed to lose his mind whenever he absorbed the two ninjas he had killed.
Yahiko slid back and took a swing of his sword at a masked clone that attempted to attack him, cleaving it in two before turning his attention back to the matter at hand. The ninja performed a series of hand signs with his original body, and the other two doing the same. A collaborated fire ninjutsu launched towards Yahiko. He stabbed his sword into the ground and quickly performed the hand seals to use his own jutsu.
"Water Style: Wild Water Wave!" Yahiko shot a torrent of water from his mouth which collided with the triple enhanced fireball. Yahiko's jutsu held the other in place before the two canceled each other out.
The grotesque figure cackled madly before casting the first in a series of hand seals. Yahiko's eyes shifted to the two bulging figures sticking out of the ninja's back. He predicted that the enhanced power the enemy ninja was getting was from the two dead bodies and rushed forward with his sword.
"Curse Mandala!" Yahiko sprung into the air after seeing his foe extending his hands out at him in a triangle shape. His foe scowled before lifting up his arms, trying to target Yahiko. The Akatsuki leader swiped his sword in the blink of an eye, cleaving the right corpse off from the source of the enemy ninja. "NO!"
Yahiko landed behind his foe, sensing a sharp drop in his chakra. Swinging his sword upwards, the blade cut through right under the foe's left arm and sliced upwards. Yahiko's foe froze before his body fell in two, blood gushing and pouring from the remains.
The founder of Akatsuki turned and saw that despite the change in the structure of the cavern, and being separated from Jiraiya and Itachi, he and the forces he had with him were doing rather well on their own fighting Orochimaru's forces in the main hall.
Jiraiya hung upside down from the ceiling after his foe, an ugly looking, hunched over fellow, had turned the entire room they were forced in, into a giant sink-hole. The plus side was that since Jiraiya was alone, the only casualties caught in the enemy's jutsu were Orochimaru's minions.
Jiraiya whipped his head around, lashing his ponytail towards the center of the sink-hole, grabbing the hunched over creature. His foe cried out in shock before Jiraiya readied a Rasengan in hand, and slammed it into the center of his gut. The concussive force created a loud booming noise and sent Jiraiya's enemy slamming into the center of his own jutsu, consuming him in his own trap.
After forming a few hand signs, Jiraiya placed his hand on the ceiling where he stood, surging his chakra through it. A few pieces of the ceiling broke off and fell into the softened ground, creating a path for Jiraiya to hop along, like lilipads on a lake's surface.
Whenever Jiraiya landed on the first platform though, an explosion erupted from the ground, and a young girl with a thin frame, and a white dress flew up into the air with four dragon-fly wings of chakra. The Sannin stared in awe before straightening up.
"Well, looks like there was a butterfly waiting under that ugly cocoon."
"Lord Orochimaru will not allow you to live..." A powerful blast of energy was released from each of the chakra wings, all directed towards Jiraiya, who stood perfectly still until the last moment.
The explosion carried enough force to completely obliterate the room, destroying the walls to create an opening into one of the halls. Jiraiya slid out from the smoke, his cloak tattered and dirtied and a few scratches on his face from the blast. He looked at his new opening and then back to the young girl who now lied on the ground motionless.
"That much chakra took it all out of you, huh?" There was no response, but Jiraiya saw the subtle movements of breathing as her chest moved up and down. He knew though, that medical ninjutsu could not save her from chakra exertion even if he was able to save her. "Throwing away the lives of his followers like this...Orochimaru certainly wouldn't care about them, but this attack still seems too stupid for him." He turned and moved through the hall, confused and mulling over his old comrade's reckless attack, "What are you planning?"
In the medical wing, many bodies already littered the floor, both Akatsuki and Orochimaru's minions. Several clashes went on as only a handful of shinobi were able to help the sick and wounded to get out of the way.
Kiba swiped his claw across the face of an enemy shinobi, causing him to scream in pain before the young rogue shot past him, tearing his claws across his throat as he passed. "Can someone explain the changing of the hideout to me?!"
"Shut up and keep on defense," Deidara shouted, still bitter at how useless he was feeling.
Tsunade herself roared as she slammed her fist against the fist of a larger, ugly looking man. The Sannin scowled as his arm expanded and he opened his hand to grab her arm. Before she was lifted off of the ground, Tsunade slammed her heel into the floor to force her foe to lose his balance. She brought her leg up and connected the bottom of her foot into the oversized man's wrist, hearing a satisfying snap. He howled in pain and released Tsunade who landed perfectly safe on the ground. The Sannin's furious stare bore up at the brute who quickly shot out a mouthful of mud at her.
Tsunade ducked and rolled before the goop could hit her and slammed her fist into the man's gut. He cried out in pain, blood shooting out as his organs were ruptured and bones were bruised from Tsunade's punch. He keeled over, his head right next to Tsunade's.
The Sannin furiously whispered into his ear with a tone full of malice, "Where is he...?"
"N...North..."
Tsunade pulled her fist out of her foe's gut and lifted his chin up. She grabbed a handful of his hair, and then with all her strength, slammed her forehead into his. The force caused his head to whip back, snapping his spine, and sending him flying into a stone wall with a tremendous impact.
"What's the hold up," Tsunade shouted, infuriated for a variety of reasons, one of which was how slowly the evacuation was going.
At the end of the hall, several Akatsuki bodies lied at the feet of an unusual looking ninja with a slender frame, and a blue body-suit, with the face of an odd looking doll. He blocked off the only remaining exit from the medical wing, and many of the Akatsuki ninjas remaining were hesitant to attack him.
Deidara rushed forward and jumped into the air, landing a successful drop-kick on the foe's face. The artist noted immediately that his feet sunk in, as if he had stepped in some kind of goo. The rest of the enemy's body expanded like rubber, threatening to swallow Deidara whole. He quickly threw a small handful of explosive birds and pushed himself off of the odd foe. The explosions were small enough to not cause a cave-in, but caused the rubber shinobi to stumble back.
"Get going!" Deidara continued to bombard his foe with small creatures, one after another, pushing him away from the exit. As soon as it was clear, the shinobi all started to rush past the conflict. As Deidara's assault continued, he grew increasingly frustrated that his explosions seemed to do nothing to his body. "Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it..." He continually chanted swears with each handful he threw out until finally, his foe was caught in a dead end. "Crap..."
"My turn," the foe stated with a grin before extending his arm out and punching Deidara across the face. The force of the blow sent the artist flying back and smashing through a large piece of rubble before sliding across the ground.
"Ow..."
The gas mask wearing shinobi lied on the ground, eyes lifeless and fully open as the Kubikiribocho stuck out from his body, blood seeping from the wound in his chest. Zabuza stood over his body, shaking his head as he looked down at his foe.
"You never did learn your lesson Kigiri," Zabuza said before turning his head up to a handful of shinobi serving Orochimaru. "Looks like you scum all have something in common." Zabuza stared into the eyes of Kigiri's corpse, feeling no remorse for killing his old comrade from Kirigakure.
Kigiri originally was one of the ninjas joining Zabuza to assassinate the Mizukage. As fate turned out, Kigiri betrayed Zabuza to Yagura. Killing Kigiri was highly satisfying for Zabuza.
Standing outside the entrance, Orochimaru smiled before casting a single hand sign to activate his trump card. "Now the slaughter begins..."
Zabuza shouldered his blade and walked towards his new batch of enemies before they all started screaming and groaning. He stopped, brow furrowing in confusion before the ninjas all started to change and morph their bodies. Zabuza's eyes widened, having seen the same transformation from the Legendary Stupid Brothers before.
"Ah crap!"
He swung at the first opponent, but his arm had transformed and hardened with layers of scale-like skin. Zabuza quickly jumped back before his foes attempted to attack first and stared at the five mutated humans in front of him.
"Son of a...I can't wait to give that Orochimaru a piece of my mind..."
All of Orochimaru's lower human subordinates underwent a transformation with the Curse Marks he placed on them, turning them into powerful beasts that overwhelmed Akatsuki's forces in a few areas. The tides began turning against the Akatsuki, as the enemy's new found, sheer brute force became too overwhelming. Making matters worse was that the catacombs began changing yet again, either aiding or hindering both sides.
Deidara saw an opening to the outside and immediately sprung for it before he had to take another hit. His foe, Nurari, stretched after him, but Deidara had already taken off with a clay mount. A sneer formed across his face as the opening closed behind the rubber shinobi.
"Oh you're in for it now!"
Neji was isolated in a dark room. His Byakugan was active to try and make sense of where he was at. He was familiar with all the catacombs in Akatsuki's hideout, but with whatever jutsu was changing it all had Neji at a loss. Surrounding him, scattered all about the floor were the dead bodies of Orochimraru's minions that were trapped with Neji after the change in the catacombs.
His Byakugan scanned the caverns, seeing what was practically a full scale war in the caverns. The fighting was literally door to door, figuratively speaking. Orochimaru's subordinates seemed to be less skilled overall, but with the Curse Marks activated, their power became overwhelming and managed to turn the tides against Akatsuki. Even in spite of their power spike, Akatsuki managed to hold their own with natural talent, or numbers.
Casting his vision further, Neji managed to pinpoint the locations of a few specific, and highly dangerous ninja working for Orochimaru. The Serpent Five were all scattered about, with four of them taking location up in the cardinal directions. Their leader, Kimimaro, was by the northern entrance of the hideout, along with the only female of the team. Along with the two of them, Neji saw Orochimaru there as well, emitting a foul and powerful chakra. Standing with Orochimaru were another group of ninjas, two of which soon departed.
Neji deactivated his Byakugan and scowled, "I need to find some way to get this out immediately. If I can just find Ino..."
A loud screeching noise echoed throughout the room. Neji's head started spinning and his legs felt weak, causing him to stumble around before falling to his knees, holding onto the side of his head. The echoing sound continued, disrupting his balance and equilibrium. Neji's body shook violently, scowling as he tried to bring himself back to his senses.
"Well, well, looks like someone may know a little too much about our placement," a voice called out from the dark. Footsteps echoed throughout the room, and even that sound seemed to keep Neji's head swimming. The young Hyuga's senses eventually got the better of his stomach, and he vomited on the floor. "Whoa, kind of nasty there buddy."
The sounds stopped all of a sudden. Neji immediately fell on his side, breathing heavily as his rattling head started settling back to normal. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes and looked up to the ninja he somehow missed before. The ninja had long, dark brown hair and wore nothing but a dark purple vest and a scarf, black wrist warmers, tan pants, and brown sandals.
"How...?"
"I use ultrasonic waves, and I had chakra infused with them to disguise myself from your eyes. Kind of a shot in the dark, so to speak, but I'm glad it worked." The brown haired man smiled and shifted his weight to one side as he crossed his arms, "The name is Rinji by the way. Just thought you'd know before I end this a little prematurely. See, I'm supposed to be getting ready to organize our forces to kick your asses better."
Neji groaned as his body still trembled weakly on the floor, "Wh...what are you after...?"
"Isn't it obvious? The heads of Akatsuki would surely bring Orochimaru back into the Alliance. And if not, you all have plenty of powerful shinobi for Orochimaru to start a new Edo Tensei contract and go to war himself." Rinji held out two fingers and smirked, "You also have a couple of Jinchuriki as I recall...Orochimaru wouldn't have any problem forging a new empire from that on the off chance the old fox won't take him back."
Neji scoffed and flashed a smile up at Rinji, "Good luck with that...as you mentioned already, we have two Jinchuriki, and a number of S-class ninjas. All I saw of Orochimaru's forces were a bunch of powered up savages."
"We have more than just numbers you know. We had a couple of powerful shinobi from the Fuma Clan in the Land of Rice Fields, though they didn't offer a whole lot. Orochimaru has also gathered some of his top shinobi, mostly spies placed around the countries, and brought them together."
"And I guess you think you're one of those spies that thinks he's worth something, eh?" Rinji smiled and tilted his head to the side before kneeling down in front of the struggling Neji.
"I managed to take you down, didn't I? Neji Hyuga, prodigy of the Hyuga Clan. Gotta say, your big reveal and beating the Hyuga Princess caused quite an upset. The nephew of Hiashi Hyuga, from the branch family no less, managed to best the little Princess, literally blind folded." Rinji rubbed his chin and hummed softly, "Man, how many spies from the branch family have tried to leak info about the Alliance? There aren't many, but still. The Branch family has grown some serious balls after what you did. Let me tell you, but there has still been talk of a rebellion amongst the Hyuga Clan."
"A...a rebellion?"
"Oh yeah. Espionage, false information, the branch family is working itself to death trying to find a way to turn the main family into pariahs. See, the main problem is, framing the Hyuga Clan for treachery, easy right? Well, if they frame the whole Clan, not just the main family, but the branch family will get taken out too by Danzo and the Alliance. Just like that poor old Uchiha Clan."
Neji quickly struck a precise jab at Rinji's ankle, using the Gentle Fist. The spy howled in pain and quickly sprung backwards on his leg that wasn't hit. He stumbled, but caught himself on a wall before glaring back at Neji who was now sitting up on his knees.
"You're gonna regret that..."
Rinji formed a hand sign, and another mind rending shriek caused Neji to cry out in pain, holding the sides of his head. He quickly got to his feet and staggered onward, trying to focus his eyes on Rinji. The only notable feature he picked out was that his foe was smiling. Neji took a jump forward and twisted his body.
"Rotation!"
Rinji's eyes widened in shock before he sprung up towards the ceiling to avoid the attack. Neji hit the wall, but his Rotation dug through the stone before he finally stopped. Rinji shot across the room, standing on the opposite side with a smirk on his face.
'Instead of going for a precise strike, he used an attack with a wide range, in case I dodged. Little kid is smart...'
Neji panted softly, taking a moment to get his senses straight since the shrieking had stopped. After that was done, he turned around to face Rinji and charged again. The spy smirked and activated his sonic jutsu again.
Orochimaru stared at a rotating orb of earth, lightly spinning it with his hand as he examined the layout of the Akatsuki hideout itself. Standing next to the Sannin was Kazuma, who examined it carefully as well. While his subordinate, Fuen, was able to alter the terrain above the catacombs neither he nor Orochimaru knew what the actual inside looked like. Thanks to Orochimaru's servant Rinji and his bats, they managed to connect the Sensing System Technique to the sonic waves Rinji's bats cast out to create a representation of their hideout through sonar.
While Kazuma had no intentions of putting another person in the position of Hokage, he inwardly admitted that Orochimaru certainly knew how to plan an attack. Even more, the orb that he made from the earth came with little pebbles Orochimaru placed to represent the various battles going on. Most of the pebbles were white, to represent the less important battles. Black pebbles represented important members of Akatsuki. The purple pebbles Kazuma had guessed were Orochimaru and his more noteworthy subordinates, such as the Serpent Five placed around the hideout. There were a few other colors that Kazuma wasn't sure about, but chose to ignore them for the time being.
Orochimaru stopped on a red pebble and placed his finger on it, "Tayuya?"
"It's one of them," the redhead replied as she sat cross legged on the ground, her back to her master and Kazuma. "I'm not sure which one, but the chakra signature is definitely that of a Jinchuriki."
"Good." Orochimaru smiled and turned towards Kazuma, who glared coldly at him, "Send your little weapon, won't you?"
"And why should I?"
"My mastery of the Edo Tensei is limited. Killing the Jinchuriki would hinder us more than anything, since the Bijuu would just escape from their bodies, and when they're revived, they wouldn't have their chakra either."
"So capturing them alive is in our best interest," Kazuma questioned. The Sannin nodded, looking a bit irate. "Very well. Sora, come here." A young man with a dark, blue/grey hair color, wearing monk robes stepped forward. "Your target is here." Kazuma pointed to the red pebble, "Take him in alive."
"Yes, Kazuma-sama," Sora replied in a tone-dead voice. The boy immediately shot off to the location to find his target.
Orochimaru chuckled softly before turning back to the orb, "You've put a lot of burden on your own child, Kazuma."
"That's none of your concern," the brunette replied. Orochimaru snickered loudly as he continued to turn the orb.
Tayuya's brow twitched a bit in confusion. She had sworn she picked up an extra chakra signature somewhere not too far from their location, but then it vanished too quickly. The chakra was oddly similar to the Yamato clones, but somehow very different. She was sure it had to be one of the clones.
Sitting at the west, Sakon had his arms crossed as he stared out into the distance while Fuen sat in a tree behind him, continuing to draw up different ways to change the terrain still. Sakon was a bit frustrated that he had to babysit some ally of theirs, and even wondered why she needed protecting in the first place after already altering the terrain as Orochimaru wanted it.
Regardless of his complaints, Sakon did his job and waited for either someone to show up, or the signal from the rest of the Serpent Five to activate their fail safe.
As fate would have it, someone showed up.
Sakon effortlessly dodged as his new opponent sprung out of the bushes and went right past him in a spinning bullet. The opponent straightened out and skidded along the ground, growling like an animal at Sakon.
Kiba shifted his eyes up to the kuniochi in the tree, noting that she hadn't even paid attention to him yet. "Thought I smelled something up here. Lucky for me I get to actually bag some bad guys!"
"Oh yes, how very lucky for you, trash," Sakon spat bitterly. He thanked whatever good fortune he had that there was something for him to beat on now.
Kiba charged towards Sakon and attempted to take a swing at him. Sakon dodged and slammed his fist, as well as two others, into Kiba's gut. The extra force caused Kiba's stomach to fold over the fists before coughing up some blood. Sakon reached up, grabbed the Inuzuka's hair and tossed him across the ground.
"You're one of the Inuzuka Clan, eh? I've never had the chance to meet one of your kind, since Danzo wiped you all out when I was so young." Kiba got back up and charged his foe, screaming as he did. Sakon let out a loud grunt as he threw an uppercut on Kiba, launching him into the air. The sadistic boy grinned and spun around as Kiba came falling back down. With two extra feet coming from his knee, Sakon landed three kicks directly across Kiba's body, throwing him into a rock. The wind picked up as Sakon stared at his opponent, blowing the grass that Kiba was sprawled out in. "I gotta say, I'm not too impressed with the Clan if you're all that's left."
"Fuck you," Kiba snapped, spitting some blood out of his mouth and onto the ground. He got up and dusted off his jacket, snarling at a smirking Sakon. 'I know Naruto could take this clown...there's no way I'm gonna lose. I just gotta be careful about it.'
"Come on mutt, what're you waiting for?!" Sakon laughed at Kiba's scowl, trying to entice his opponent into attacking.
Jirobo stood across from Fudo, one of Kazuma's men, but they both had their backs to one another, standing several feet apart. Jirobo had kept staring at an odd spot on the ground that looked freshly dug up, perhaps only a few days old, and a single stone at the end of it. He had guessed it was a grave, but he was curious as to who it belonged to. With Orochimaru planning to reuse the Edo Tensei, the body of a powerful shinobi would be immeasurably useful.
A rustling of the trees drew both Jirobo and Fudo's attention before a pair of Curse Mark enhanced ninjas lunged at them. Jirobo looked on in shock at the Curse Marked shinobi, wondering why in the world they would attack them.
Fudo shot up at one of the enhanced beasts, and suddenly snapped its neck. They watched as its body hi the ground seconds before Fudo landed. He and Jirobo turned to the last enemy, who managed to spear his shoulder into the latter and hurl him a few feet away, despite his weight.
A javelin made of solid earth pierced through the enhanced shinobi, causing a light gasp to escape his lips. He stared down, seeing the piece of earth jutting out of his chest, looking on in horror before falling to the ground in a lifeless heap.
Fudo huffed before dusting his hands off, "Some jutsu Orochimaru put on them. They're monsters who can't be controlled and attack their allies. Worthless." Jirobo growled angrily at the ridicule at his master's expense, but remained silent as he got up to keep things peaceful.
Behind a nearby tree, Ino sat at its base, silently thrashing her arms and legs about in frustration as her ambush failed, 'Damn it! I can't take on both of those goons by myself! Someone needs to hurry over and help me already!' She happened to stumble upon the two enemies, and instantly sensed that they were incredibly more powerful than her. Ino whimpered softly, wishing she had backup, but at best the only thing she could do was stall and harass the two brutes.
After getting the patients in the medical wing down the hidden corridor, that had thankfully not been affected like the rest of the hideout due to how much deeper underground it was from the rest of the catacombs. After Ranmaru scanned the tunnels and assured Tsunade that they were clear, she began evacuating the injured and sick, as well as their escorts and any medical ninjas.
"Shizune," Tsunade stopped her apprentice and stared firmly at her. "You take care of them, do you understand me?"
"L-Lady Tsunade...a-are you leaving?" The Sannin turned her head and let go of Shizune's arm.
"I'm going to end this. I won't allow Orochimaru to get away with this!"
"Milady please," Shizune pleaded, quickly cutting her master off. Tsunade's stare had Shizune immediately regretting her action, but stood firm. "You're the best medical ninja we have! And there are so many of us unaccounted for."
"This is a decisive battle, Shizune. If it's not won immediately, if we spend our time preparing instead of fighting, Orochimaru is going to win. And you can't argue that I'm just as good of a fighter as I am a healer." The young medic's brow furrowed as she struggled with her decision. Tsunade placed her hand on Shizune's head, as if the the near thirty year old were a child. "If something happens to me, you take over the Medical Division."
"Lady Tsunade," Shizune murmured. Before she could continue, Tsunade spun around and ran against the small sea of people moving past her. All Shizune could do was stand still and watch silently as her mentor went off to battle.
Gaara finished off two Curse Mark enhanced shinobi, saving a squad of Akatsuki from their wrath. As he lowered his arms, he saw two more of the monstrous men running towards him. "Go," Gaara shouted to the other Akatsuki shinobi.
He heard panicked footsteps behind him heading for the exit. Gaara turned towards the Curse Marked fiends and readied himself to cut loose. The sand at his feet began to stir, before Gaara lifted both of his hands high above his head, bringing out two spears made of solidified sand. He threw his arms forward, sending both spears soaring at his foes. The Sand Spears pierced two of the enemies, nearly cutting them in half as the weapons passed through their bodies. The third continued on, unaffected by his comrades' deaths. The sand from the spears then traveled up above the third Curse Marked shinobi before parting into two masses again and going to either side of him. Just as the enhanced shinobi closed in on Gaara, the masses of sand formed two hands reminiscent of Shukaku's, and then slammed together with the Jinchuriki's foe in the middle. The body gushed with crimson between the two crushing forces of sand while Gaara simply stood in place.
After the sand reverted back to normal and moved into Gaara's gourd, the redheaded Jinchuriki stood around for a moment to make sure no one else was around to eliminate before moving on.
Although he felt an attack coming at him from behind, Gaara made no move to dodge as his sand rose up and blocked several chakra based slashes. To his surprise, the slashes were very quick in succession, but it did nothing to break Gaara's defenses as the sand twisted and expanded to meet the strikes.
Finally the short attack stopped, allowing Gaara to slowly turn around and face a young boy. Gaara stared at him, studying his new foe. He looked only to be a few years older, and had a certain innocence about him. Gaara simply remembered the assault only a few seconds ago to wash away any doubts that the boy in front of him wasn't dangerous, or a threat.
"You're different than the rest," Gaara stated.
"As are you," the boy replied. Gaara made no response, but kept staring at the boy who simply gazed at him like a zombie.
"What's your part in all of this?"
"I am an instrument of my Lord Kazuma's will. And I have been ordered to capture you alive."
Sora held out his hand at Gaara. The Jinchuriki gasped a bit as a sudden, and powerful wind picked up in the room. Gaara felt the wind moving towards Sora, and saw it all condensing into the form of a large, beastly claw. Recognizing the damage such a jutsu could cause, Gaara moved his hand in a similar motion, bringing his sand to form a single, larger claw of Shukaku.
The two boys launched their attacks at the same time. The two claws collided with tremendous force, throwing both Gaara and Sora back. Although Gaara's sand shielded him, the young Jinchuriki was still thrown through several stone walls, as was Sora from the impact alone.
Gaara quickly straightened himself, using the sand that shielded him as a platform to hover a few inches off the ground. He thrust both arms forward, and quickly moved more sand to encase the claw jutsu Sora shot at him in sand. Thankfully, with the Shukaku, Gaara had no issues locking the Wind Style jutsu away, surrounded by a layer of his own sand.
Sora pushed the rubble off of him and stood up, seeing a claw of sand shooting at him. The boy could do nothing before the jutsu hit him, creating a massive, concussive blast of chakra, wind, and sand that devastated the room.
Orochimaru and Kazuma turned their heads to the sound of an explosion, seeing dirt and rock fly up from the ground like a geyser. The Sannin turned his head back to the sensory orb, and saw the light blue pebble representing Sora start to crack.
"Looks like your secret weapon was no match for a Jinchuriki after all," Orochimaru stated with a disappointed look in his eye.
"Don't underestimate the power of the Kyuubi," Kazuma stated before forming a single hand sign.
Gaara stared forward as the walls and ceiling began dropping rocks and pebbles from the paths of destruction caused by his and Sora's jutsus. The ceiling a little over halfway down the new path caved in, creating another pile of rubble. Gaara looked past it and saw the even larger pile of rocks that Sora was likely buried under.
From under the larger pile of rubble, an explosion boomed upward, throwing the rocks outward, and blowing another hole in the ceiling. Gaara quickly used his sand to shield himself from the falling debris before flying up out of the cavern to avoid the cave-in. He floated into the air, staring at the long trail of rubble now. Another explosion happened, but this time it was something breaking free. Rocks came down like rain around Gaara as he stared at the source of the explosion.
In the smoke, an odd looking creature shrouded in a red chakra. The creature's eyes were wimple white circles that beamed up at Gaara. The redhead simply stared down with a look of awe in his eyes, "That can't be...he's a-,"
Sora rocketed up into the air, his four tails flowing behind him as he appeared in front of Gaara. His speed was great enough that Gaara's sand barely had time to raise up and defend himself from Sora's punch. The impact carried enough force to send the Jinchuriki spearheading into the ground, forming a deep crater filled with debris.
Sora in his transformed state, landed on all fours and shook the ground with his landing. A low, rumbling growl echoed from his throat. The ground began to quake, prompting Sora to look down. A small ocean of sand burst from below, throwing Sora high into the air. The apparent Jinchuriki bounced between the tendrils of sand coming for him with surprising speed and acrobatics. As he sprung above the sand that attempted to grab him, Sora opened his mouth and charged a clear, white orb and then fired it at the pillar of sand coming up at him.
The ball hit the rising tower, and was quickly consumed within the heart of it. The bomb detonated with enough force to cause the flowing torrent of sand to blow outwards. The sand scattered around the area, raining down gently.
Sora landed on the ground yet again, and slammed his forehead into the ground. The impact shattered the ground, cracks snaking out from his forehead with chunks of the earth coming up. Sora lifted up his head and growled, looking around the giant chunks of earth jutting up from the ground.
More sand came out from between the cracks, rushing Sora from all sides. He let out a furious roar, releasing a powerful burst of chakra from his body that acted as a shield from the sand, and even destroyed some of the terrain he had just created. As the shockwave dispersed, and the dust settled, Sora stood in the center of a sizable dent in the ground, and everything had been leveled, and the ground was nothing more than dirt.
Sora charged another white colored Tail Beast Bomb and fired it in front of himself. Before the it detonated, he turned and fired another and another, continuously firing and blowing up the landscape around him in an attempt to hit Gaara.
Before he could launch another Bomb, the ground burst open with a powerful river of sand that slamming into Sora's midsection with a thunderous sound. The sand carried Sora away and slammed him into the ground. The flow of sand continued to press down against Sora, slowly flowing across his body to keep him trapped against the floor.
Sora let out an enraged roar, using his raw strength to break free from the never ending barrage of sand. He growled angrily and fired one Tailed Beast Bomb before being bombarded by Gaara's sand again.
Hiding in a safe section in the caverns that hadn't been caved it, Gaara sat crouched down, controlling his sand from a distance. He knew that if Sora got his hands on him, or got sight of him, that Gaara would be in grievous danger. What was more confusing is that Gaara had no idea who his opponent was, or why he had the power of a Bijuu.
"Stumped, ya brat?" Gaara ignored his own Bijuu and focused on continuing to keep his opponent suppressed. He knew that if that power got loose, it could cause a lot more serious damage to Akatsuki than any of Orochimaru's forces. "This kid you're fighting has the same chakra as that damn Kyuubi's." Though he still refused to give Shukaku a conversation, Gaara wondered how that was possible, when he knew for a fact that Naruto was the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. "It's just the chakra, but not any real part of the stupid fox himself."
The sand shot up from Sora's feet, circling in and entwining the pseudo Jinchuriki and restraining him. Sora was completely encased in the sand, and Gaara quickly used his Sand Burial to crush his foe within. Gaara looked over at the floating Sand Coffin that housed Sora's body.
The Sand Coffin immediately exploded outward as Sora fell to, and landed perfectly on the ground.
Gaara inwardly sighed with frustration at how resilient Sora's body was, and that the Sand Burial didn't even slow him down. "If you want to beat this brat, you're gonna need my help!" Growing more frustrated, Gaara remained silent to weigh his options against the pseudo Jinchuriki.
Orochimaru and Kazuma stared out at the distant battle between Gaara and Sora, mostly due to the thunderous sounds of explosions. The Sannin wore a bit of a sour expression at the rapidly devastated land that he witnessed, even from their distance.
"I did request for the Jinchuriki alive, didn't I?" Kazuma huffed and glared at the Sannin, noting his sarcasm before crossing his arms.
Tayuya's eyes shot open in shock. Her mind raced, questioning herself as to how she missed the sudden chakra that appeared right on top of them. "My Lord!"
All heads turned as a robed figure landed on the ground right in the center of them all. Tayuya quickly rose up to her feet and stared at the light purple haired figure as she stood up in her cloak. Orochimaru stared back at the young woman with disinterest, but examined her regardless.
Surprisingly enough, the kunoichi expressed similar distaste towards Orochimaru before turning around and facing Tayuya, Kimimaro, and her intended target Kabuto. Orochimaru noted this interest in his right hand man and tilted his head curiously.
"Kabuto, do you know this woman?"
The silver haired young man adjusted his glasses and flashed a smile, "Unfortunately. This is Izumi, the adopted child of Chiyo and Ebizo."
A grin formed on Orochimaru's face, followed by a low chuckle, "Oh, the Honored Siblings incident, of course. I'm sure that this young lady has more than enough time to spare for you." Orochimaru shifted his eyes back to Izumi. Her surprisingly bold move on placing herself in the center didn't seem so suicidal anymore, now that he knew that the kunoichi was a puppeteer. "Don't take too much time with this."
"Don't get too comfortable," Izumi stated as she pulled out a scroll from under her cloak. "After I'm done with him, I don't intend to stay content with revenge."
"Is that a threat," Orochimaru questioned, his eyes practically shining with a new found interest in the bold young woman.
"More of an assurance." Izumi unraveled her scroll and surged her chakra into it. A cloud of smoke covered Izumi suddenly, but it cleared as quickly as it came out as soon as Izumi's puppet Zosan shot out towards Kabuto. The three shinobi all dodged, but Izumi's eyes followed Kabuto. Zosan's elephant head spun around as Izumi formed a hand sign, "Water Style: Water Trumpet!" The trunk extended fully and fired a powerful torrent of water. Kabuto had no time to dodge in the air and took the full brunt of the jutsu.
Izumi shifted her eyes towards the side as Kimimaro rushed her. She quickly sprung back to get his distance and quickly brought the Zosan puppet around before kicking Kimimaro's wrist to avoid one of his swords forged from bone. She brought her other food up, placing it against his face and launched himself off of Kimimaro's body. She twisted her body around and skidded across the ground, completely hunched down before bringing Zosan up behind Kimimaro. The pale young man quickly spun around and slashed at the puppet, who stopped short just before the strike.
The young puppeteer moved Zosan around Kimimaro, who carefully followed its movements before jumping further away from it, launching a flurry of bone bullets from his fingertips. The puppet moved forward and spun around between each projectile, before the elephant's mouth opened up. Zosan launched a kunai out at Kimimaro. He quickly dodged, but noticed the explosive seal on the handle of the knife just before it exploded.
Izumi turned her head, and then shot her eyes to the ground and hopped up in the air as a pair of hands tried to grab her. Detaching the strings from one of her hands on Zosan, she used her free hand to attach her chakra strings to the hands coming out of the ground. She landed on the ground and then spun around, jerking Kabuto out of the ground forcefully.
She quickly turned around, her fingers bent and hand open, jabbing her fingertips into Kabuto's stomach. The silver haired shinobi coughed out loudly as Izumi's fingers pierced into his gut as blood gushed out from each of her fingers. Kabuto quickly grabbed Izumi and pushed himself off of the puppeteer. His wounds began to heal immediately, but Kabuto's body grew weak, causing him to fall onto the ground.
Orochimaru's eyes widened, and his mouth pressed into a firm, somber line as he watched his dangerously skilled right hand man writhing on the ground. Kabuto groaned and held his stomach, feeling the poison running through his bloodstream.
"Y-you," Kabuto's sentence trailed off before he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Izumi casually flipped her hand to fling the blood off before holding up her lightly blood stained fingers, "Poison nail gloss. I remember during our last encounter, even the most powerful physical attacks did nothing to stop you. Since then, I've been working on a poison in my free time, that spreads fast and deconstructs the cells in your body at an accelerated rate. The problem is, the poison has to be imbedded deep into the person's body. No light scratches would do the trick." Kabuto shook violently, hacking up more blood from his mouth. "I also needed to insert it directly into the bloodstream. But, I'm sure you're feeling that right now."
Izumi looked up at a rather stunned Orochimaru while Kabuto lied on the ground and shook violently, coughing furiously. She walked forward, pulling her hands around to bring Zosan up to her. She violently kicked Kabuto out of her way on her approach towards Orochimaru.
Kimimaro rushed behind the puppeteer, eager to defend his master. Tayuya followed behind him, her flute pulled out and ready to cast a genjutsu to slow the puppeteer down.
The two of the Serpent Five were cut off by two new figures in black cloaks who knocked both Tayuya and Kimimaro back. Izumi calmly turned her head at the sound rather curiously.
Orochimaru scowled at how easy it was for the Akatsuki to locate him now. The Sannin suddenly felt a menacing presence behind him, quickly spinning around. He saw a head full of pink hair on top of a black Akatsuki robe. She lifted her head up, glaring with her green eyes full of malice and rage as her gloved fist was cocked back.
"CHA!" Sakura slammed her fist into Orochimaru's gut with enough force that the blow echoed like an explosion. The Sannin's hood fell off of his head, revealing his half scarred face as he let out a quiet howl of pain.
"Lord Orochimaru!" Kimimaro rushed to save his master, but was cut off by Haku, who began a brief and speed based skirmish.
Sakura brought her fist, with Orochimaru around it, smashing into the ground. The earth shattered beneath the impact, dividing pieces of the ground with deepened crevasses. Sakura gasped as she noticed Orochimaru's body melting away into thickened mud.
Naruto slid back away from Tayuya, just as Izumi immobilized the redhead with Zosan. The puppeteer turned her head, realizing that Orochimaru's other ally was gone.
In an instant, Izumi's legs went completely numb as she lost feeling in them. She collapsed onto the ground, falling flat on her chest before turning her head back. The ground came up as Kabuto burst out from it, wearing a scowl on his face as he adjusted his glasses. Izumi noted the alarming amount of blood that stained the medic's clothing.
"That poison is quite potent. Any longer an I wouldn't have made it. Lady Chiyo taught you well, Izumi." Kabuto lifted up his hand as chakra began forming around it into a sharpened point. "You forget though, I worked alongside Sasori, whose potential with poison far surpassed that old witch's." The enraged medic pulled his arm back and readied himself to impale Izumi.
Before the blade could hit, it was intercepted by Naruto's forearm. Kabuto's Chakra Scalpel dug into the Jinchuriki's flesh a bit, but the blonde glared daggers at the silver haired shinobi, despite the blood and searing pain in his arm. The medic returned the blonde's glare, but didn't take notice of the swirling orb of chakra in his hands.
"Rasengan!" Naruto slammed the jutsu into Kabuto's gut. The force of it caused Kabuto to cry out in pain, tearing open the stomach wounds that he had just closed up. Before he was thrown backwards, Kabuto used both hands to grab onto Naruto's cloak. The Jinchuriki looked up in shock, wondering what had possessed the silver haired medic. Kabuto sneered with a bloody grin before he completely erupted into an explosion.
Sakura snapped her head up at the sound and looked over at the cloud of smoke just as Naruto had been through out of it by the force of his own Rasengan detonating against the explosion. His cloak was almost halfway blown off of his person, and his chest and arm exposed and bleeding badly. Naruto hit the ground with a thud and lied motionless.
"Naruto!" Sakura quickly hopped out of her small crater and rushed to the Jinchuriki's aid. Just as before, Kabuto popped out of the ground, looking more confident than ever and completely unscathed, minus the blood on his stomach. Sakura scowled and looked past to see Naruto's unconscious form being lifted up by Orochimaru. "You keep your hands off of him!"
The Sannin chuckled and lifted up the boy's head by his chin, "Such an interesting specimen. I can't believe this child caused so much trouble, and even managed to defeat Kakuzu. Imagine his potential once he's serving me, and has control over the Kyuubi?"
In an instant, Naruto poofed out of existence in a cloud of smoke right in front of Orochimaru.
"What?!" The ground broke apart as a trio of Naruto clones came out and all attempted to land a solid hit on the Sannin. Orochimaru had no trouble simply jumping backwards to avoid the strikes.
"Behind you Lord Orochimaru," Kabuto shouted.
The Sannin turned his head slowly, seeing a sight that horrified him to the core. Naruto and a clone both holding a large, rather noisy, jutsu that looked like a giant shuriken made of chakra. The blonde Jinchuriki and his clone had come up out of the ground with the jutsu in hand, aiming directly for Orochimaru.
"Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!"
The powerful jutsu slammed into Orochimaru's back. The serpent howled in agony as the jutsu dug into his flesh, tearing away at him before it was launched forward, propelling Orochimaru a great distance away at break-neck speeds. When the jutsu detonated, it expanded greatly in an all-encompassing dome of wind that shredded everything inside of it down to pieces.
Naruto hit the ground and rolled over onto his side, clutching his hand as his clone disappeared. "Damn it that hurts..."
The dome of wind continued for a few more moments before finally quitting. Within the dome, a single body slowly fell from the air and landed in a cleared out crater in the ground.
Kabuto trembled at the sight, and power of the jutsu, and at the thought of Orochimaru having been caught in such a terrifying attack.
Sakura let out a small sigh and smiled before rushing over towards Naruto. When she realized he was in pain, her smile vanished and she immediately fell to her knees next to him and began healing. Sakura saw the cuts and scratches over Naruto's trembling, and slightly smoking hand. The smell of burnt flesh filled her nose, making her cringe a bit.
'His own jutsu did this to him...'
Sakura's thoughts came to an immediate stop as she felt something pierce her body. She let out a soft gasp and looked down, seeing the blade of a sword jutting out of her chest. Naruto saw this as well, his eyes widening with horror and grief.
Standing behind the kunoichi, with his hand on the blade, was Orochimaru, who glared coldly down at her. He swiftly pulled the sword out of Sakura's body and kicked her to the side like a sack of trash. Sakura only let out a pained cry and rolled across the ground from the kick.
"Sakura!" Naruto shot his glare at Orochimaru, who immediately slammed his foot into the boy's arm before pointing the tip of his sword at the Jinchuriki's nose. Naruto yelled in agonizing pain as Orochimaru dug his heel into his already half-mangled arm.
"That was truly a splendid jutsu," Orochimaru said. A grin came across his scarred face before loosening his arm a bit. "Too bad for you, I have very loyal subordinates willing to take my place." Orochimaru looked back to the crater and chuckled. "Poor Kimimaro. He was always my most loyal subordinate. Even to the end." The Sannin twisted his foot on Naruto's hand, causing the boy to scream again. "Perhaps bringing him back with the Edo Tensei won't be so terrible. Oh well, I suppose I have you to blame for his death in the end. Fighting so hard for a little girl you barely know. You're pathetic, just like your parents."
Naruto's anger sparked to life, burning out his pain. A Rasengan quickly formed in the boy's free hand and he moved to hit Orochimaru's leg with it. Before the jutsu could hit, the Sannin's sword pierced the Rasengan, and Naruto's hand, pinning it to the ground. The pain was back as the dominate, overwhelming sensation as Naruto's hand was speared into the ground, causing him to holler in agony.
"Did they even bother telling you about your mother? It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't, after all, I doubt you need another reason to hate the Alliance. You remember your mother, Kushina Uzumaki? She was a shinobi, one of the Six Paths to be precise." Naruto whimpered a little, breathing heavily through his teeth as he glared up at Orochimaru standing over him. "She was also the former Jinchuriki of the demon fox inside of you." The blonde's eyes widened and his breathing stopped when hearing this. Orochimaru snickered and leaned over the boy more, his shadow looming over him. "Now why...why wouldn't Jiraiya tell you this?"
To the side, Haku attempted to attack Orochimaru, but was intercepted by Kabuto, who fended of the ice user with ease.
"Perhaps it was because the Alliance wiped out the Uzumaki Clan? No, that has nothing to do with your mother." Orochimaru chuckled and stomped on Naruto's injured arm for good measure. The Jinchuriki howled once again and winced, practically snarling at the serpent by this point. "Ah...perhaps because you were meant to be the Alliance's ultimate weapon..."
"Wh-what?"
"The true story behind your birth, of course," Orochimaru stated with a sadistic sneer. "The firstborn child of the Six Paths of Shinobi. The child of Kushina Uzumaki, and Minato Namikaze, two of the most powerful ninjas in Konohagakure. When your mother was to give birth, the seal holding the Kyuubi back would weaken. Danzo knew that your parents, as well as Higure and the rest, were far from loyal to him. And with the village's only Jinchuriki not pledging themselves to him...well, Danzo didn't like that at all. So, what did he do? He planned to have your parents killed the night of your birth, implant the fox inside of you, and raise you as his own. The perfect Jinchuriki, loyal to the Wrath of Fire, and to Danzo."
"Y-you're lying!"
"It's quite true. Your father and his team even went to painstaking lengths to hide Kushina when she was due to give birth, after discovering the truth. Danzo's Root agents couldn't even find them. So...he got a little desperate." Orochimaru removed his foot from Naruto's arm, but quickly grasped it with his own hand to hold it in place. The serpent knelt down on top of Naruto, leaning in with only inches between their faces. "After killing Saizo Hideyoshi, everybody believed that the Six Paths of the Shinobi would be unstoppable. That they could do anything. And, they could. Danzo knew that there was only one person alive who had a chance of stopping the unstoppable."
Orochimaru's lips moved slowly and he spoke softly enough only for Naruto to hear him, "Madara Uchiha."
Time stopped as Naruto's mind filtered through the information. All that went through his mind was Danzo had Madara attack Konohagakure the night he was born. The night his parents had been killed by the Kyuubi.
The thought went through his head, over and over again. Danzo and Madara killed his parents.
Naruto's head was screaming at him, the rage building up before he let out the loudest scream he possibly could. In an instant, his chakra exploded around him, throwing Orochimaru off of hm like a rag doll.
The Sannin flipped around and landed perfectly on his feet, grinning as he stared at the chakra shrouded Jinchuriki. Three tails swished behind Naruto violently, his features becoming darker and his eyes blood red with slit pupils.
Orochimaru chuckled lowly as he squared off against his foe, unfazed by the ground trembling and the heavy air caused by their two overbearing chakras.
Off to the sides, Haku and Kabuto both stopped their scuffled to simply stare in anticipation and fear at the two monsters about to face off.
"Stop!"
All heads snapped around as Sakura stepped forward, standing a considerably safe distance behind Orochimaru. The serpent hissed through his teeth, annoyed that Sakura could heal herself so quickly from what was supposed to be a critical wound.
"Naruto, don't let your anger get the better of you! You were chosen because you were going to be born with the Uzumaki bloodline, and Minato's prowess, you were the perfect vessel for a Bijuu. And the Six Shinobi knew that. No matter what, even if they hid you, you would be hunted." Naruto's expression softened, but the Kyuubi's chakra didn't die down in the slightest. "The hope was that you could grow up somewhere safe...away from the Alliance, away from being used as nothing more than a weapon for Danzo. Your mom...Kushina, she was the one who wanted to hide her identity as a shinobi. Even Minato was going to do the same!"
"Why though?! Why did Jiraiya want to hide it?! Why didn't anyone tell me?!" The Kyuubi's chakra spiked, as did the air pressure. Orochimaru smiled, turning to Sakura with an expectant stare. He wanted to test the Jinchuriki's full limitations before he began to turn Naruto to his side.
"The plan was originally to take you somewhere far away. Some place where the Alliance would never find you. They—they suggested some place called Mount Myoboku. The toads Jiraiya uses live there, and no human has been able to find it without the toads allowing them to. They were going to remove you from all of this so you could live happily and peacefully. And your parents, they wanted to keep the truth from you because they were ashamed! They were ashamed of all they had done in the name of the Alliance while holding onto the dream that they could change Konohagakure."
"I've had about enough of this blabber," Orochimaru stated as he turned his body towards Sakura. As soon as he did, a powerful, open handed smack to the stomach sent the Sannin spearing through the ground, dragging a trench as Naruto threw him several meters away.
The chakra shrouded Jinchuriki then slowly turned back to an uneasy Sakura. She stared back at him, looking into his eyes that called out for more answers, for a clarity of his past and who he was. Swallowing nervously, Sakura pulled back the information from Higure's journal.
"They didn't want you to be apart of any of this, Naruto. I guess...your dad somehow contacted Jiraiya to take you to Mount Myoboku. And then...the attack happened..."
"The attack that killed your dad, and my parents..." Sakura nodded softly, her eyes drifting to the ground as though she were guilty. She supposed that her guilty conscious lied with the fact that she had to keep it all a secret from Naruto, that she knew the truth about his origins for close to a month now after joining Akatsuki. "But...how did I end up in Akatsuki? How do you know all of this Sakura-chan?"
Naruto's chakra shroud began receding, thankfully, giving Sakura some room to breathe. "After...after my uncle died, I looked through his journal. Most of the early stuff was...personal writings, not a whole lot useful. But after that night you were born, he wrote down everything. Theories, information about the Alliance...I think he meant for me to take his journal some day..." After the Kyuubi's chakra completely vanished, Naruto gently placed his hand on Sakura's shoulder. She swallowed nervously and continued, "Danzo was...critically injured fighting off the Kyuubi. Nobody had any idea you had survived that night to be honest. Uncle Higure took you in, continuing their plan. He met Jiraiya by chance, and gave you to him, your godfather. Uncle Higure...after finding out that Jiraiya was in the Akatsuki, he talked Jiraiya into keeping you in the Akatsuki. To have you fight against the Alliance, like they always wanted to. As for why they never told you about Kushina's status as a ninja...I couldn't tell you the reason why, outside of shame..."
Naruto pulled Sakura into his arms and hugged her tightly. She felt his body shuddering with the effort to restrain his sobs. She gently wrapped her arms around him and returned the embrace.
Sakura's eyes then flashed over towards Orochimaru rushing towards them with his sword in hand. She reacted quickly, turning around and getting ready to shove Naruto out of the way.
Orochimaru was suddenly stopped, his arms held back in restraint as he looked up at the man who had brought him to a halt. Jiraiya, gripping Orochimaru's arm with the sword in hand, and using his other forearm to keep both hands pushed down, glared at his old comrade, who now looked astonished.
Everyone stopped to stare at the sight of two of the Sannin reunited so suddenly.
"Well, well, long time no see, Jiraiya."
"You couldn't have gone a little longer before bringing down my house?" Orochimaru snickered before adjusting his body and kicking Jiraiya's side, sending the larger man stumbling off a few feet. Before he could pursue his target, Orochimaru felt another presence behind him, and quickly jumped out of the way, flipping over on his hands and then to his feet to gain some distance as the ground shattered under the new attacker.
Tsunade turned her head and glared at Orochimaru, who had just straightened himself up in time to return the glare. He looked at Jiraiya, and then at Tsunade before flashing a smirk. "Well, looks like the gang is back together." The Three Legendary Sannin squared off against each other, with Orochimaru twirling and brandishing his sword. "Let's begin then, shall we old friends?"
So...don't know where this plot twist came from when I was writing. I think I was just bored and decided to throw in random action. Anyway, next chapter I'll post within a week or two since it is kind of left on a cliffhanger.