Alright guys! So here's the update :)
From now, I'll update this fic weekly considering I've another fic to update now. So in nutshell, the updates would be alternative.
Also, many have been having problems regarding Kushina's four seals. They did NOT revive Mito and Mikoto yet, her seal only managed to neutralise Orochimaru's sesls, so they are still not 'alive' yet.
With nothing else to say, on with the chapter! ^_^
Chapter-31-For My Precious People
"You boy, never fail to intrigue me. Come on, let's see if you can back up such bold words," Orochimaru said with a 'bring it on' motion with his hands, that smirk still on his face while Naruto growled dangerously at him.
Slowly getting on all fours, steam rising from the water because of his burning youki while the three tails waved behind him.
Taking the first step forwards with his right hand slowly like a predator, he dashed towards Orochimaru at THUNDERING speeds, large amount of water splashing behind him while Orochimaru's eyes were widened a bit.
Already past midway, his clawed hands reared with his eyes burning full of rage, he roared menacincly.
"I'LL CRUSH YOU!"
The snake sanin stood rooted on his feet as Naruto drew near. His clawed hands just inches away from his face, the blonde suddenly jumped over Orochimaru using his momentum, making the sanin's eyes widened.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he spoke in his demonic voice while in midair resulting in a clone puffing just beneath him.
Using his back as a springboard, he launched himself higher towards a large tree.
"RASENGAN!," he exclaimed loudly as he slammed the reddish white chakra spiralling sphere into a thick bark. And at the same time of the impact, a greenish brown figure formed at the opposite side of the trunk to reveal it to be Orochimaru who quickly jumped away from the tree.
Naruto's attack though completely pierced the wood.
"Damn it! The teme got away," he exclaimed angrily before taking his arm out from the bark, it's splinters flying in different directions while the damage revealed itself to be a see-through hole with the wood around it being twisted.
"I'm surprised, you were able to determine that it was an earth clone," the blonde turned his head to see Orochimaru standing on a branch, the fabric of his Oto gear at the gut was completely torn while his skin there was a little dark.
"Your pathetic techniques wouldn't work everytime," Naruto growled as the youki continued to flare around him.
"It's all about Rinnegan isn't it? Those eyes are doing all the work. I wonder though Naruto-kun...at what level would you have been had you not possessed the Rinnegan?," the snake sanin said in an amusing tone making the blonde growl at him.
"What would've happened if Kushina wouldn't have been alive? Wouldn't you still be the village's kucklehead, hmm mommy's boy?," he again taunted while the youki around Naruto continued to flare.
'Yes, just a little more. A rampaging jinchuriki would be a good present for Konoha,' Orochimaru thought while he could practically feel the increasing amount of youki being released.
The branch on which Naruto was standing began to vibrate while the red colour of the youki started to grow darker.
"Grrrrrllll," a demonic growl escaped Naruto as his features started to grow deeper as another tail started to slowly sprout from his back.
"You still would've remained a loser, always beneath Sasuke-kun. Being glared and hated by all the people, it must be a painful childhood for you, ne Naruto-kun?," the sanin continued to push him over the edge, forcing the blonde to subconsciously relive those memories.
The youki grew in density as the wooden bark and branch started to crack while blood started to leak from Naruto's skin, which began to be peeled off by itself.
"Aghgrrl...grragh," he began gritting his teeth in pain, the youki taking toll on his body as blood began to mix up with the youki, gusts of wind flowing violently around him along with the leaves rustling loudly.
PUFF!
"That's enough Naruto."
Orochimaru's eyes widened when he saw an extremely beautiful woman standing besides Naruto, the most noticing feature being her nine tails.
Doing some handseals at an extremely fast pace, Ayumi's hand started to glow before a red kanji for 'supress' appeared on her palm which she immediately pressed onto his forehead. The effects were immediate as the youki started to recede back into him while his eyes slowly returned to their oceanic blue colour.
Orochimaru though was too shocked to do anything as he stood frozen on his spot.
'That...is the Kyuubi? It has to be, who else would have nine tails? But the almighty Kyuubi, the strongest of the bijuu...is a woman?,' he thought, apparently recieving the biggest shocker of his life.
"A-Ayumi-chan?," his voice becoming normal, Naruto stared at Ayumi wide eyed who was looking at Orochimaru with a grim expression.
"Are you alright Naruto?," she asked with a monotone voice while the blonde slumped against the bark, a little out of breath as he wiped his forehead. Looking at his hands, he noticed that they were heavily injured, almost red but they were healing at a fast rate.
"It's a relief that I stopped you from going to the four tailed state, you were getting out of control," dhe said, her voice almost sounding like she was disappointed?
Naruto's head dropped down, eyes staring at his feet while Ayumi continued to watch Orochimaru.
'She's disappointed with me, and has every right to do so. How could I have lost control of myself so easily? But the way he spoke, it made my blood boil. He made me relive those memories...but, it was my fault in the end,' he thought with a saddened expression, his hands clenched.
"Are you alright Naruto?," she asked, her voice emotionless, her eyes cold as she stood in front of him, watching the sanin carefully.
"Hai," he could only utter one word. She wasn't even calling him 'Naruto-kun' now. His head was down in shame when she spoke again.
"Can you continue to fight?," again, he wasn't used to that cold voice. She was always so warm towards him, her voice was always angelic to his ears, her smile always made his heart flutter in untold happiness. But this was not the Ayumi he was used to.
"Yes, I can go on. I still have some chakra left," he said while she nodded ever so slightly. "Are you the Kyuubi no Kitsune?," Orochimaru finally opened his gaping mouth, though his eyes were still wide in surprise.
Ayumi though, just stayed quiet as she slightly turned to Naruto making the sanin growl in anger.
"I'm going back," she spoke with a hardened expression on her face.
Just when she was about to puff back, he gently grabbed her hand.
"I'm sorry," he muttered quietly when she spoke after turning her face towards Orochimaru.
"We'll talk later Naruto."
PUFF!
Getting off the bark, he released a sigh before steeling his resolve. Activating the Rinnegan, he glared at Orochimaru who still couldn't believe what he saw.
'Damn her! She ruined my plan. But it seems that both of them are on good terms with one another. It's pretty rare, a jinchuriki so young befriending the beast inside of him. I never would've guessed the possibility of bijuu possessing human forms though,' he thought as he stared back at Naruto, both of waiting for one of them to attack.
'Fighting sensei really took a toll on me. I can't believe that old bone could still fight this good. I'm low on chakra right now, I'll just keep messing with the kyuubi brat till those four finish their work.'
Konoha: West Gate
"Tchh, this was easy. Were these the Iwa nins you guys couldn't handle?," Tianlong asked after apparently blasting out another lightning ball from his mouth. Currently he was standing amongst the destruction that had taken place around the west gate, the walls now almost completely destroyed. Besides him were the remaining Konoha nin, composing of Yamanaka, Akimichi, Nara, Hyuuga and the Inuzuka clan memers among them; who had survived the onslaught. There were large chunks of concrete, craters and dead bodies from both the sides everywhere. It truly was a devastating battle and not a sight for the weak hearted people.
"Um...yes. But we are really grateful for your help dragon-sama," said one of the leaf jounins as now the battle seemed to be over.
After the reinforcements from the respective clans had arrived, it had gotten much easier for them to push these Oto, Suna and Iwa shinobi, with the help of strange dragon summoning of course. His strong lightning attacks were easily rendering their earth elemental ones useless.
"It was nothing. You should thank the one who summoned me," it said as they kept guard on the area, not yet lowering their defences.
"Who was your summoner dragon-san?," Ibiki asked after landing on a roof in front of Tianlong with a raised eyebrow. A dragon capable of emitting blazing fire from his mouth and a water one (from Kushina)he had heard of, but had never seen a lightning one before.
"Uzumaki Naruto," he said in a gruff voice making everyone's eyes widen there.
"That demon?," a random jounin yelled before he was glared by several other jounins. After apparently Kushina had addressed the village about Naruto, the population had been divided into groups: the demon haters and the hero worshippers. Naruto had won the heart of most of the young generation combined with almost half of the village's military force, but there were still plenty of them who hated him for his very existence while some just remained neutral towards him. And let's just say Ibiki considered Naruto as a hero along with most of the main clans of Konoha.
"You'd like to repeat that you puny human?," Tianlong growled as lightning started to crack around his three clawed hand making the jounin almost piss his pants in front of the intimidating creature.
"My sincerest apologies dragon-san. It seems there are still some idiots left in this village who still hate the boy," Ibiki immediately apologised after glaring at the jounin, promising him sweet torture if he didn't shut his mouth.
"You're lucky punk. And my name's Tianlong, a lightening type dragon," he said as the others present around him made sure to remember it's name.
"You mean to say that there are other type of dragons? I heard of water dragons regarding Kushina-sama, but there are others too?," Asuma asked with a shocked expression while Ibiki too was curious.
"Yes, there are. We belong to the elemental dragons summoning contract, meaning all the five elemental ones are there," he said with a smirk, taking pride in his species while others had their jaws dropped.
"All five ones are present?," Ibiki asked, as if not sure he had heard the dragon right.
"Yes, but we only allow the Uzumaki clan members to summon us. And you never know, you may find a sub elemental dragon too."
'Damn, that is one hell of a contract,' Asuma thought with a smirk while smoking.
"So does that mean Naruto-kun can summon all the basic elemental dragons due to his Rinnegan?," a Yamanaka asked as Tianlong flapped his wings a bit.
"That's something I can't reveal. You have to ask him yourself, it depends on him if he wants to tell you. Now, I think my work has finished here, so I must take my leave," it said while the others nodded.
"Thanks for your help again Tianlong-san," Asuma said before the dragon disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The jounins though began to murmur between themselves.
"Did you hear that, your demon saved your ass today, ahahaha!."
"Shut up!"
"That kid's really strong. I got news that there were other dragons on the other three gates too."
"'squeal' Naruto-kun is so cool!"
'Uzumaki Naruto, soon you'll know how irritating fangirls are,' Ibiki thought with a chuckle.
Konoha: South Gate
"It's finally over!," Kiyohime exclaimed, a little out of breath.
"Hn, such weakness!," Koryuu exclaimed while he himself seemed to be panting.
Around them, was the aftermath of destructive battle that had taken place in the area. The front gate was completely destroyed with the walls barely holding up.
"I wonder how Naruto-sama is doing?," she wondered, her voice concerned when a random jounin came to them.
"We are really grateful that you summons helped us," he spoke while bowing to them.
"Oh, it's no problem! Though you should thank Naruto-sama for he was the one who had summoned us in the first place," she replied cheerfully while the jounin's eyes widened.
"You mean Uzumaki Naruto?"
"Yep!" she exclaimed with what seemed to be a grin while a smile formed on the jounin's face.
"I see, I'll be sure to thank him," he said when they heard a stoic voice.
"Our work is done here. I think we should leave, Mizuchi-sama along with others have already returned," a dragon wearing black shades spoke which twinkled at the end of his speech, making him look hilariously mysterious.
The jounin though almost burst out laughing at the dragon's strange fashion sense. The other dragons though nodded before they began to vanish in puffs of smoke while the jounin returned to his current orders.
"Let's go Kiyohime," Koryuu spoke when the cute female dragon replied quietly.
"You go ahead, I want to check on Naruto-sama first," making him sigh...yes, the dragon sighed.
"Alright, but don't get clumsy and die you baka," he said nonchalantly before puffing back while she had what seemed to be a pout on her face.
Konoha: North Gate
"I'm outta here Jiraiya."
"Thanks for the help Gamabunta!," Jiraiya exclaimed as he jumped off the toad's back while the toad boss summon grunted before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
'I hope you're doing well gaki,' the toad sanin thought with a grim expression for he had sensed the spike in Naruto's chakra several minutes ago.
After checking that everything was under control, Jiraiya made to dash towards the stadium.
Konoha: Just Outside the Four Corner Sealing Barrier
"Can't we break through this?," Kurenai questioned the Anbu who were standing alongside her, Yugao and Hana.
"No, so far only Kushina-sama and Naruto-kun have been able to pass through this barrier," one of them said making them sigh.
"It doesn't help that the water wall is blocking our view," Yugao stated as she folded her arms under her breasts.
"I guess we have no choice but to wait for this barrier to go down," muttered Hana making her nod.
"I wonder though how Naruto-kun is faring? He is facing a kage level shinobi in there," the kenjutsu mistress said when Kurenai spoke with a smile.
"Oh he will be fine. I have faith in his abilities. Kushina-nee is in there too remember? She will die before anything happens to Naruto-kun."
"Kurenai-sensei!," they turned around to see Kiba, Hinata, Sakura and Ino in their midjump from another roof towards them.
"Oh, it's the rookies," Yugao muttered as they landed in front of them.
"Why are you standing here sensei?," Kiba asked when Hana spoke.
"The others are fighting in there Kiba, meaning Orochimaru, Hokage-sama, Raikage-sama, Mizukage-sama, Kushina-nee and finally Naruto-kun," she spoke with a serious expression making their eyes widen.
"Naruto's in there too?," asked Sakura with a concerned look. She had after all faced the horror that was Orochimaru in the forest of death.
"Hey Hinata-chan...think your Toyotama Byakugan can penetrate this water wall?," Kurenai asked with hope in her eyes making Hinata look at her in surprise.
"I'll try," she said with a determined look before activating the Byakugan followed by the upgraded one.
She concentrated her chakra in her eyes as she stared at the barrier while Kiba informed Kurenai that they had evacuated the civilians with the other rookies too almost finished.
"I can see!," the Hyuuga hieress exclaimed with a smile as she searched the area. Her eyes though suddenly widened in horror.
"N-Naruto-kun is fighting with Orochimaru I think, and it seems that Hokage-sama is barely just alive," she spoke with her hand over her mouth, the others eyes were widened while their faces were pale.
"You mean to say that Naruto is fighting that monster alone?," Sakura said terrorized, her eyes widened while Ino too was now worried. Naruto was strong, but clearly he was nowhere near a sanin's level.
"But it seems that Orochimaru is low on chakra," she said making them breath a sigh of relief, atleast he was fighting a weakened Orochimaru.
"It seems Hokage-sama had already made that snake tired," Kurenai pondered.
"Though Naruto is low on chakra too."
THUD!
And they face vaulted anime style.
"Hinata-chan, you should've told us that earlier," Kurenai muttered while rubbing her red face making the girl smile sheepishly before she turned her head back towards the barrier.
"Ah, there they are. It seems Kushina-sama is fighting along with Raikage-sama and Mizukage-sama. But I can't seem to recognise the two persons they are fighting though," she said making Yugao and others look at her in confusion.
"Kushina-sama just planted something on one of them, it looks like a seal," Hinata said making them nod when suddenly, much to their surprise, the water wall fell.
"What happened?," questioned Kiba as they got into defensive stances, the barrier must be going down if the water wall had vanished suddenly.
Their eyes though widened when they saw a huge forest in there, water filling the barrier while they couldn't believe their eyes.
"Kami, just what the hell happened here?," questioned Ino as they gazed at the dense foliage in front of them.
"How did this forest even get there in the first place?," Kiba asked with a shocked expression.
"That jutsu...it can't be possible!," Yugao exclaimed while Kurenai, Sakura and Hana had equally shocked expressions on their faces.
"What's so special about this forest?," Kiba asked nonchalantly making Hana sigh.
"The wood element Kiba, is said to be used only by the shodaime hokage in the history of elemental nations. But the fact he's dead doesn't match upto what we're seeing right now," Sakura explained while Kiba's mouth opened in an 'o' in realisation.
Yugao though had other thoughts going on in her head as she watched one specific Anbu carefully.
'Tenzou...could you be the one...,' though her thoughts trailed when he turned towards her, as if feeling her question, and shook his head very slightly.
'Could it be that Orochimaru's experiment of inheriting the DNA of the shodaime into a foriegn host suceeded this time?' the kenjutsu mistress mentally wondered while others continued to gaze at the barrier, waiting for it to be released.
Konoha: Four Corner Sealing Barrier
Right now we see both Naruto and Orochimaru standing on the water several meters away from them, both of them low on chakra as they panted.
"My Naruto-kun, even in my weakened state...I'm surprised you were able to drag this fight until now," the snake sanin said with a smirk as he panted lightly.
'Not to say that I don't want you to die yet. Your Rinnegan maybe of use to me somebody. It's a pity though that the curse seal failed it's purpose,' he thought while the blonde too seemed to be tired.
'Using so much of Ayumi-chan's chakra took a toll on me. I'll just stall him for as long as possible and wait for others to arrive.'
"C'mon, why ar-," Orochimaru stopped abruptly when he noticed the water wall no longer present, his eyes widening as he came to a realisation.
'It's impossible! How could they have beaten the nidaime, no attacks would've worked on the revived ones,' closing his eyes, he seemed to be concentrating when they suddenly snapped open.
'The tracker seals aren't working except one! It could only mean one thing...someone has tampered with my seals,' he thought when the obvious answer came to him like a ton of bricks. His eyes got narrowed, his fists clenched as he gritted his teeth in anger.
"Kushina!," he growled in anger as he dashed at full speed towards where the last tracker seal was indicating the location.
"Shit!," the blonde exclaimed as he trailed after Orochimaru, pumping chakra to his feet as he jumped towards the forest. While in midair though, he signalled his clone holding Hiruzen to follow him at some distance.
'Damn he's fast, real fast,' the blonde thought as he jumped through the trees as fast as he could, his form only a blur to a civilian's naked eye.
'I should've known that bitch would use her fuinjutsu!,' Orochimaru thought as jumped through the last tree to enter a clearing, his eyes widening when he saw both shodaime and nidaime hung over A's shoulders.
"Alright, let's go take care of-," Mei stopped in her mid speech when the sanin dropped in front of them, a few meters away while he had a pissed off expression on his face before it turned into that of a bit of confusion.
'Why haven't they returned back to the pure world? If they were defeated somehow, they should've been disintegrated. Could it be that Kushina is trying to...,' his thoughts trailed, his eyes widening as he put the pieces together.
Even though Kushina had a calm, serious expression on her face, inwardly she was now panicking.
'Shit! I've got to apply those seals, he will try to escape now,' she thought when suddenly Orochimaru tilted his head, a white ball of sphiralling chakra passing through thin air, where his head previously was. Grabbing a hold of the arm which followed the attack, he flipped Naruto over his shoulder.
Correcting his body balance in mid air, the blonde skidded across the water to halt besides Kushina.
"Are you okay Naru-kun?," Kushina asked but she didn't dare peel her eyes away from Orochimaru, she could see him raising the last of his remaining chakra with her Sharingan, the snake was definitely upto something. Mei though was staring at Naruto, inwardly relieved that the blonde was alright.
"H-Hai," he exclaimed while panting heavily making Kushina nod. The redhead though was really worried for him, but she forced herself to concentrate on the man standing in front of him.
"Naruto-kun, listen carefully," she spoke telepathically to him via the Uzushio seal, and knew she had to hurry.
"He's upto something. The fifth seal I created is to seal his arms, atleast temporarily, long enough for me to revive them. Before he escapes, we have to apply the seal or he might deactivate the technique at a later time before I've any chance to revive them," she spoke making him nod ever so slightly.
Orochimaru had a smirk on his face as he put his hands together in a 'dog' handseal, making them stiffen while Kushina had already told her plan to A and Mei, and had ordered them to stay back. She knew that the sanin was an expert in escaping, one mistake and he would leave the barrier. They only had one shot at this.
'C'mon, what are you planning now? You're already low on chakra, what kind of attack are you planning?,' she thought as beats of sweat rolled down the side of her face. Naruto though had his own set of thoughts going on.
'I wonder if I'll be forced to use that seal. It's not complete, and I would be taking a huge risk...but if I'll have to do it, then I will,' he thought while clenching his left forearm tightly.
"I don't know what you plan on doing by neutralising my seals and planting your instead. But whatever plans you may have in store, I'll be sure to ruin them, like you ruined mine!," he said with a smirk, his tone turning to that of angry as he did two other handseals; dog and tiger slowly as he built his chakra.
Kushina's eyes widened as she considered his words.
"No way...," she muttered with an expression of horror on her face while Naruto, A and Mei too had understood what he was doing.
"Kai!," the snake sanin exclaimed as he gritted his teeth, putting the last bits of his chakra.
'It's a relief that I had saved some chakra just in case,' he thought with a smirk as he watched the shodaime turning into dust.
"Whoa!," A exclaimed making the other three turn their heads, pulling them out of their shocked frozen state. Their eyes widened upon seeing the shodaime turn into dust completely when the nidaime's body too started to crumble.
"YOU ASSHOLE!," she exclaimed loudly, an expression of rage on her face as she made to dash towards him after taking out the seal. Mei and A could only watch helpless, fuinjutsu was out of their reach and they knew that Kushina couldn't reach the sanin in time. Heck, even with A's lightning armour on, he wouldn't be able to stop him in time. The souls were leaving the bodies way too fast. Just a one step in her dash, Kushina felt her hand being grabbed.
"WHAT AR-."
'Sorry Kaa-san.'
Punch!
"Aagh!...," she exclaimed in pain when she found herself being punched hard by Naruto square in the gut, spitting some saliva while her eyes were widened in shock.
Instinctively her hands went over her stomach, while in the process her hold over the seal loosened which the blonde immediately snatched from her whereas Nidaime's body had just disintegrated completely.
Tearing off the dark blue fabric over his right forearm hastly, revealing a circular ink seal ring which was blank in the center.
"Naruto NO!," Ayumi screamed in alarm while he just ignored it.
Slamming Kushina's seal on it, he held it with chakra as he wiped the blood off his chin before wiping his thumb completely over his forearm, the thick line of blood passing over the seal.
"Yamitsuki (Absorb)," he whispered as the seal began to glow. All of this had happened in a span of two to three seconds, without any time for thinking, the blonde had just went with his instincts.
"NARUTO!," Kushina exclaimed, having easily recovered from his punch while she had an expression of teror on her face. Her eyes were widened in panic as she gazed at him, who was gritting his teeth...ofcourse he would feel pain! That seal was really devastating.
Orochimaru's eyes were widened though for different reasons.
'What is happening? I can't mould my chakra properly,' the sanin thought, his eyes widening when he saw a seal forming on itself on the skin of his forearm, the fabric already torn.
Kushina though was panicking, it was clear that he was in pain while Mei and A too rushed closer to him.
"AgghhhhAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!."
He screamed in pain as Kushina's seal which had spread through his arm was slowly being sucked by the blank circular seal on his arm. His ear deafning screams were even heard by the those outside the barriers.
"NARUTO!," Kushina screamed in panic, her heart clenching at the sight of him screaming in pain. Appearing at his side in a flash, she started rubbing his back as he slid to his knees, his continuous screams making tears stream down her face.
'What do I do? The seal I created is gonna destroy his arms, why did he do that?,' she thought, her hands trembling while her eyes were reflecting the infinite amount of fear she was feeling.
"W-What have y-you done?," her eyes widened upon hearing Orochimaru's strained voice. Snapping her head back along with Mei and Raikage, her pupil zoomed out in immense shock as she saw her seal slowing coming out of the same circular blank seal that was on Naruto's forearm.
"What is happening here? The seal is appearing on his forearm, it's like a dimensional portal connecting Naruto's and his arm," Mei said with widened eyes while A too was speechless.
'Could this be the seal he was working on?,' Kushina thought as she wiped her tears, pressing the blonde's head to her chest as she rubbed his back, whereas Naruto to scream.
"AAAAGHHHHHHH! WHAT ARE YOAAAAAAGGGHHH!," the snake sanin now started screaming as her seal was now almost sucked by Naruto's seal. Mei and A watched as Kushina's seal worked it's magic, steam started to arise from the sanin's arms as the skin on his arms began to turn black.
His screams echoed throughout the area while the blonde's screams slowly subsided, his arms limp by his sides while his eyes were clenched shut. Beads of sweat were pouring down as he writhed in agony while Kushina continued to comfort him. Mei too bent down and started rubbing his hand, they had to do something. There were no medics in the barrier after all.
"There there Naruto, it's gonna end. Just a little longer," the Mizukage spoke softly, trying to lift his spirits as he gritted his teeth in pain, no longer screaming while Orochimaru's screams too died down, though Kushina knew it was because of different reason; her seal had done it's work.
"C-Curse you kyuubi b-brat. I'll g-get you f-for this," Orochimaru spoke while panting, his black arms hanging limply by his side.
The sound four though, had seen what had happened. They nodded to each other before releasing the barrier as they dashed towards their master.
"Naruto, are you alright?," Kushina asked as she carressed his cheek while the pain had now stopped, only his pants echoing around them.
The circular seal though, after completely absorbing Kushina's seal had glown for a bit before it vanished from his skin, as if it had erased itself.
"K-Kaa-san...," he stuttered when Kushina grabbed his other hand and squeezed it gently.
"Y-Yes, I'm here Naru-kun," she spoke while wiping her tears of relief whereas Mei too sighed in relief, that was a really close call. The blonde had her worried there for a minute, though the way he had activated Kushina's seal on himself, the Mizukage knew that he was upto something.
'Thank Kami! Thank Kami! Thank Kami!,' Kushina repeatedly thought to herself in relief as she pressed his panting form to her tightly.
"Is he okay Kushina?," A asked in a quiet tone as he gazed at Naruto. The red head though could only nod as she continued to hug him.
Opening his eyes slowly, Kushina almost kissed him with the amount of relief that flooded her, just by staring at those oceanic blue eyes she knew that there was now nothing to worry about.
Naruto, now coming to his senses closed his eyes as he promptly activated the Rinnegan. Focusing on the clone's vision that was guarding Mikoto and Mito, the blonde's expression fell a bit.
"S-So I was able to save only Mikoto-chan," he muttered as he slowly tried to stand up.
"Naruto! Don't exert yourself, your already low on chakra," Kushina said while he just stood up slowly.
For the blonde, A's respect for him sky rocketed. Just to save them, if even one, he had taken such a huge risk.
'You are a true shinobi gaki, just like your father. He would be proud of you today,' the Raikage thought as now Naruto was standing.
"Thanks Mei-chan," he said with a smile as he stretched his arms, making sure that he didn't get any damage from Kushina's seal. Mei though just smiled at him, a light blush on her face as she smiled back.
They turned their head upon hearing the sound of footsteps.
"R-Remember th-this you brat, I g-get you for t-this," as now the sound four were holding the snake sanin with Tayuya having her own thoughts.
'Where's Kin-chan? I have to find her,' the red head thought as they supported Orochimaru.
"Naruto-kun!," everybody turned their heads to see the rookies, fire queens minus Anko along with some Anbu coming towards them.
"Let's go. We're done here," Orochimaru ordered as the group jumped towards the forest.
"TAYU-CHAN!," Tayuya's eyes widened when she heard that familiar voice. Turning her head, a smile weaved onto her face as she tried to jump in the opposite direction, to take her best friend with her.
"KIN-CH...," her eyes widened when she found an arm tightly held around her neck.
"Leave me you fucker. I have to save-," her eyes widened when Kidomaru delivered to chop to her head making her eyes roll back in her head.
"Hn, idiot! That bitch is no longer any use to us," Kidomaru spoke as he hefted Tayuya on his shoulder while the other two had gone forward with Orochimaru.
"TAYUYA-CHAN!," Kin again screamed in horror as she saw her unconscious. Naruto though had watched this event besides the others asking if he was alright.
Pointing his palm in the direction of Tayuya, he moulded the last of his usable chakra while he was already panting due to exhaustion.
"Naruto-kun, what are doing?," Hana asked when the blonde spoke.
"Banshou Tenin," seeing that Kidomaru was at sime distance, he had to put in some extra chakra.
"W-What?," Kidomaru exclaimed in surprise when he found Tayuya being pulled towards the Konoha-nin at amazing strength.
Not wanting to be caught, Kidomaru was forced to release Tayuya as she flew towards the group that had gathered.
Naruto could feel himself getting empty, he quickly changed the durection so that Tayuya was descending towards Kin.
'I can't hold it anymore,' he thought while panting heavily, his body covered with sweat as he released the technique while Tayuya flew towards Kin due to her momentum.
"Naru-kun, don't push yourself! You're very low on chakra," Kushina spoke as he fell to his knees, taking in deep breaths while his one eye was shut.
The others were immediately by his side while the Anbu had gone after the sound four.
"Gaki, that was one hell of a move," A said with a smirk while Kurenai had grabbed his shoulders, she knew he would soon be loosing consciousness due to chakra exhaustion. Summoning all those dragons, using youki so much and fighting with two jinchurki and a sanin, even his large chakra reserves had to end...not to mention the strain on his body that was put due to Ayumi's chakra.
"Where's Hokage-sama?," Yugao asked making everyone blink. Where was their Hokage?
As if answering their questions, Naruto's clone who was carrying Hiruzen dropped in front of them. Setting the hokage down on the tiled roof, he vanished in a puff of smoke as others rushed towards the old hokage.
"Jiji...," Naruto muttered, his voice hourse as he stood up shakily.
"Naruto-kun, please don't exert yourself," Hinata spoke with concern while Ino and Sakura too were at his side, supporting his body as they hefted his arms over his shoulder.
"T-Take me to j-jiji," he stuttered, his eyes barely opened while he could feel his vision getting blurry. They nodded as they slowly walked towards the laying form of the Hokage who had again started bleeding, though Hana had immediately applied pressure to stop the blood flow.
Naruto though quickened his steps a bit when he heard someone among the group say.
"We have to call the medics, he's dying!"
"Naruto, don't push yourself. You're barely even conscious," Sakura said softly while Ino too was looking at him with concern. What had gotten into him? Orochimaru was gone now while the village's situation was pretty much under control. Why was he pushing himself now?
Kushina's eyes widened when she saw Naruto coming towards them.
"Here you go Naruto-kun," Ino said as they carefully released him while he sat tiredly in front of Hiruzen, who was barely hanging onto the single thread of life. In front of him was Hana, on the other side of Hiruzen as she continued to apply pressure on his wound.
"Kushina-nee, I don't...I don't think we can save him. His old body is not being able to hold such damage," Hana spoke in a low tone, her face saddened while Kushina too had a melancholic expression on her face. Her fists were clenched while a few tears inadvertently gathered in her violet eyes.
Everyone's face saddened, even Mei and A had depressed looks on their faces as they gazed at the pale face of sandaime hokage, who was slowly losing the battle between life and death.
Naruto though had his own thoughts going on as he slowly put both of his hands on the old man's chest, his vision now blurry as he forced himself to stay conscious through sheer willpower.
Closing his eyes, he began to take deep breaths making Hana look at him in confusion while the others were lost in their thoughts. Kin too was sitting just a little away from them, Tayuya in her lap as she gazed sadly at Naruto. She knew how much the Hokage meant to the blonde.
'Alright, I remember that feeling. If can just find it, it was coming from deep inside me...when I truly wanted to save Anko-chan and Temari-chan. From within the deepest cores of my chakra system. I want to save him, I want to save jiji,' he thought as he started to remember all those grandfather-grandson moments, all those happy memories which he cherished.
"Kushina!," turning her head, the redhead noticed Jiraiya coming towards them when Kiyohime suddenly landed in front of her.
"Kushina-sama, is Naruto-sama okay?," the female dragon asked as she gazed at the sitting form of the blonde.
Jiraiya's eyes though widened when he saw Hiruzen laying there motionless, and other's sad faces told him everything.
"How?," the sanin asked in a low voice, a grim expression on his face as he clenched his fists.
"Orochimaru," Kushina spoke making the toad sanin grit his teeth.
"How's Naruto?," he asked when Kushina turned to look at his sitting form, few tears escaping her eyes. She knew how heartbroken the blonde would be to see him die, but this was common in shinobi world.
"Jiji...," she spoke before turning towards Jiraiya.
"He may have had lived the past thirteen years of his life bowing on his knees, but he died standing on his feet," she spoke making the sanin nod as he gazed at his sensei's face, remembering those times of his genin days.
"W-What's happening? Is he...glowing?," Ino pointed towards Naruto who still had his eyes closed. Eveyone snapped out of their thoughts to look at the whiskered blonde, and much to their shock; he did seemed to be glowing white.
'I can feel it, it's spreading through my body like a wildfire,' Naruto thought as he pulled on the feeling, his form's glow increasing with each passing second while his Rinnegan activated automatically.
"Jiraiya, do you know what's happening? Is this the work of Rinnegan?," Kushina asked as nobody dared move while the glow continued to increase to such extents that everyone had to shield their eyes from the sharp rays the white light seemed to emanating.
"I don't know! Could it be that his Rinnegan is ascending?," he spoke while shielding his eyes.
"It already did!," Kushina replied making him stumble a bit in shock.
"Ah, you've already come this far Uzumaki Naruto. Interesting, very interesting," the cloaked female spoke with a smile, who was standing on a tree a little far away from the group.
The white glow was so much bright now that nobody dared open their eyes. Everybody's eyes closed, the blonde slowly opened his eyes.
"Don't you dare die on me old man," he muttered as white chakra started to form around his hands, applying it on Hiruzen's wound.
The glow around his body though started to decrease at a slow rate while his hands began to glow brighter, alongwith Hiruzen's wound too when it started to heal at tremendous rates.
Hana though opened her eyes just a little bit, when she got the shock of her life.
'The hell?.'
Straight through her field of vision, the first thing she had seen were Naruto's eyes. The Rinnegan was purple alright, it had two black rings alright, she could even accept that it was glowing a bit; but not the fact that both of the rings contained three black tomoes in each one.
Naruto though was panting the whole time, the glowing chakra started to fluctuate, it's effects decreasing.
'Just a little longer...c'mon, I wouldn't give up! It's my way of shinobi, my principal...for jiji, for my precious people!,' he thought as he gave his all. A large burst of the special chakra gave an unearthly white blinding glow throughout the area before it died down like a flash.
It took a few minutes for the others to adjust their eyes to the current brightness, their vision hazy as they rubbed their eyes in irritation with Naruto's heavy pants echoing through the silence.
Hana was the first one to notice her surroundings as well as Naruto who was breathing in desperation, like he was chocked for minutes. His eyes were downcast as he watched the old man.
"N-Naruto-kun?," she asked with worry, the blonde was looking like he had been training for days without eating anything.
Her eyes slipping down, they widened further when she noticed Hiruzen's wound almost completely healed, though there were still some bruises there.
Lifting his wrist, she checked his pulse before her eyes widened in shock and happiness.
"How did you...?," she trailed as he just smiled at her, his eyes barely open while he seemed to be wavering.
"Heh, m-my p-precious people d-dattebayo," he muttered weakly before his form fell towards the laying Hokage, his eyes closed as he let loose himself free.
Hana though immediately grabbed him, his head pressed to her chest while the blonde found himself slowly losing consciousness.
'Mikoto-chan...,' was the last thought that passed his mind before he succumbed to unconsciousness.
Now this marks the end of invasion arc (Readers sighed in relief, finally the idiot realised that Tsunade has to return too! What's with the marathon invasion dude?)
Also, to inform you guys, although the method of releasing Edo Tensei has been unconfirmed in the manga(it can be Kabuto's plot or something), I'm just going with that. Besides Orochimaru's version of Edo Tensei is a lot weaker than Kabuto's one.
And I BET most of you didn't see only Mikoto being spared, did you? Well, as my friends call me, I'm an unpredictable bastard.:)
IMPORTANT A/N: Also, if some of you haven't read 'The Burdened Deathcake', go check it out then. I'm pretty sure you'll like that one too!
So please review this one, thanks to those who have reviewed me and PM'ed for ideas! So until the next update, ja ne! ^_^
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