Jiraiya dug his heels into the ground and asked quietly, "Ready?"
She looked down at the beautiful glowing red sword and knew that no matter how badly she wanted to curl up somewhere and cry, she couldn't let herself do so. Orochimaru despised weakness and if he saw her like this, he would be horribly disappointed. "I'll move in when she's open," Tsunade said, her hand tightening around the bloody Kusanagi sword. "Orochimaru is the eighth seal for the sword. By killing himself with it, the sword that was able to cut anything in this world, can now cut the soul as well."
"Alright." Jiraiya pressed two of his fingers together and gave his toad sages a look. "Boss, ma'am. In Sage mode, I can't be possessed because of the senjutsu swirling around in my system, correct?" When they gave the affirmative, he dispelled his barrier. The air suddenly turned immensely heavy and their knees buckled.
"Jiraiya-chan," Fukasaku protested, clinging onto Jiraiya's shoulder and hair, "This don't seem like somethin we can handle without breaking a really big sweat. Be careful."
The transparent and blurry apparition in the dark room chuckled. "Perhaps you will provide a challenge after decades of boredom. A little something as thanks for your inferior humans for piquing my interest." The room rumbled and the talking ball of light moved over to the center of the runes in the floor. A blinding white flash of light overwhelmed their vision and when they could see again, a tall stately woman with the signature eyes of the Byagukan, snow white skin, noble cut eyebrows and long white hair materialized before them. Adorning her head, was tall graceful curving horn, a final clear indication that she wasn't human. She opened her hand and a bone slowly emerged out of her skin, forming a long whip made of her spiky bones. Her rich red lips curled and she muttered, "My original body."
"Why steal the bodies of others when you already have one?!" Tsunade said angrily.
A violently enraged look crossed her face. "If it wasn't for the fact that Kaguya mishandled the chakra of this planet and the fact that her brats passed the chakra of the divine fruit all over the world, I wouldn't have to resort to this." Her nails lengthened and she held out her hands. "This body, this perfect body will decay. My own son..." At the word, her alien face showed a real hint of remorse as a tear slid down her cheek. Touching her face with trembling hands, she murmured, "We weren't supposed to end up like this. We weren't supposed to be forced into choosing this stupid world or the moon if it wasn't for Kaguya. I miss my sisters and my home... the grandness and beauty of it is unmatched by anything on this ugly pathetic world." Her lips grew thin and the veins around her eyes bulged as she activated her Byagukan. "This world never deserved my previous generosity. Until the day I and my son can return home, I will live and take as many bodies as needed."
"If you don't like our fucking world then I'll do you a favor and escort you to hell instead!" Tsunade charged and slashed at the bony whip when it lashed out to counter her. The bones were extremely dense however and even with the Kusanagi sword, it took more than five hacking motions for her to cut pieces of it off. Grabbing the sharp knife like bony whip, she dug her feet into the ground and yanked, ignoring the pain and blood as the bones pierced through the skin on her hand. What mattered was that she pulled the woman off her feet and sent her flying in her direction. "Eat this!" She thrust the sword forward at the heart, but her eyes widened when a solid plate of bone formed over it. The Kusanagi sword only managed to sink the tip of itself past it and into the skin and Tsunade growled.
The woman smirked. "You inferior beings can never hope beat a goddess-"
"Cut the crap." Tsunade's eyes gleamed and she banged her forehead hard against the woman, taking in the satisfaction of wiping the smile off her face and seeing blood mar that perfect white skin. In the next second, she brought her knee up and despite the fact that pain shot through her leg as sharp rib bones shot out to stop her, she continued, letting it tear through her flesh as she connected with the woman's stomach and sent her flying into the wall.
"Tsunade, stay back and fix your leg! It's my turn now!" With a powerful frog leap, he made his way over to the woman in a second and began trading blows with her. When she tried to strike at him with her whip, he whipped his long white hair at her and sent all of his chakra to sharpen and harden the hair around her. He gnashed on his teeth in frustration when he felt the resistance. Using his hair to prod, he could tell that she had somehow formed a layer of bones under the skin to keep his sharp hair from piercing her through like a pincushion. "Using your bones to protect you, eh?"
"Out of my sight, disgusting frog." Her cheeks rippled for a moment before bones slowly protruded from it.
It was not a second too late when he released her and jumped back to avoid the bones she fired at him. Regrouping with Tsunade who had finished healing her leg and forehead, he muttered, "We're going to have use a move that's powerful enough to destroy the bones in her body, or make her use up all of her chakra so that she won't be able to protect herself for you to cut her with Orochimaru's sword. If his sword can cut the soul, no matter how strong or quick her body can heal, she's dead."
The woman held out her hand and hundreds of chakra strings hooked themselves down into the ground. " I won't let you two come close with that horrible sword." She pulled up and the ground rumbled as the circle of blue glowing runes on the ground glowed even brighter. Skeletons. Bone white skeletons rose up and in the next minute, she formed an army of undead at her beck and call. "They are all my old outfits," she said with a wicked smile, slim white fingers caressing the skull of one near her. "They were all such beautiful men and women. Even in death, they serve me so faithfully, don't you think?"
"I grew up with two of the most vain people in my village. But your vanity is certainly on a whole different level," Jiraiya muttered.
She smirked and placed her hand over her face. Slowly, she lowered it to show white bones peeking through, turning the beautiful face into a mirror of contrasting horror and beauty. Her teeth clacked as she said, "There is no living thing in this world that is not taken by physical appearance. Even the birds of this word judge potential mates from color or tail length." She reformed the skin back to her face and muttered, "I only seek the same thing everyone else does."
She moved a few fingers and made a throne of out of skeletal servants that bent their backs to let her seat herself on them, like some undead empress. Leaning back, she crossed one slender leg over the other and said, "It's not too late to bow down and give up. A goddess can be forgiving if the prayers are earnest."
"You are no goddess. You're a demon!" Tsunade said hatefully. "The people of Uzushiogakure sent us here to destroy you!"
The woman's face darkened, the veins around her eye bulging. "This temple was made to honour me, little girl. I was a deity, a godsend to the people here. I protected them, ensured the land was lush and listened to their prayers." She pointed at them. "Those deadly whirlpools that surrounded the island, were created by me. The reason why this place overflows with chakra is because of me. Life here couldn't have started without me." The white hair demon cocked an eyebrow. "Years of good harvest and peace, and all I ask for is a body to continue my existence. With me living onto eternity, the people would also enjoy an eternity of good fortune."
"You probably ruled over them like a tyrant. They finally got fed up and sealed you in here, didn't they?" Jiraiya asked.
"And for that, their descendants will be learning a very harsh lesson." Her white eyes crinkled with bubbling anger. "I should not have been so lenient. This time, when I'm free, I will not make the same mistakes." She uncrossed her legs and tapped a long nail on the arms of her skeletal throne, her demeanour growing dark. "You humans are all like ants, crawling towards me for crumbs of power. When I decide to crush you, you all cry and forget the fact that you were the ones who chose this path and desired my power. Back then, I was too forgiving and that's why I ended up trapped here for so long. I'm a very bitter old woman now, and I will have retribution."
"We don't need your powers. Like Tsunade said, we came to destroy you," Jiraiya said.
"Heh." She rested her chin in hand and grinned. "I was in your friend's body long enough to know, he coveted the technique in my forbidden scroll. He didn't come here to destroy it." Her lips curled. "I saw his heart during the brief moment when I was in that body. He is selfish, arrogant, and most of all, he was so scared of everything around him. It's quite pathetic how desperate he was to do everything in his power to feel safe."
"HE WAS REAL! His fears, his dreams and his hesitations were all real!"
"Tsunade!"
Jiraiya tried to stop her but she pushed him aside and ran in, her eyes burning. Orochimaru's life was hard, he had few things to be happy about. But despite the hardships he faced, he stayed strong and persevered. She remembered everything about him as clear as day and if there was one thing that she knew was true, was that despite the hardships, Orochimaru never once backed down in his resolve. Once he's decided on something, he would fight for it. She was sure that had he survived, he would have kept his words to do his best for their relationship.
She charged and began smashing her way through the horde of skeletons that were grabbing and tearing at her. She could tell that the bones had soaked in alot of chakra, and were incredibly dense. But that didn't matter. She could crack solid diamonds if she wanted to.
"Futile." The demon's finger twitched as the skeletons reformed. "No matter how many times you break them, I can reform them. You have no hope."
Tsunade 's throat rumbled with mirthless laughter as she jumped right in the middle, Orochimaru's sword held tightly between her teeth. Grabbing a skull head and plucking it off like you'd pluck the wings off a fly, she cleared a circle with a sweeping kick and held the skull out. Taking the sword out of her mouth, she hissed, "I'll crush them all to dust. Try reforming that." With that, she crushed it into dust. A massive torrent of fire washed past her on her right, the blazing heat made her skin tingle and in the next second, a long pile of blackened ashes scattered down onto the ground and air, an obvious attack from her teammate.
Jiraiya took two steps forward and said icily, "I've lost many fights in my life. But this is a fight I will not lose, even if I have to die to win." He formed three hand seals and growled, "Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld." The ground liquefied into a deep and hungry swamp that pulled at half of her skeletons, dragging them down into its depths.
She quickly hovered into the air and yanked on her chakra strings, making the skeletons run along the walls and ceiling. Tsunade jumped up on the ceiling and rampaged through with brute strength, the sword back in her mouth. With a spinning kick, she crushed ten skeleton ribs and with a slash of the powerful sword, she cut two down with an inhuman crazed look. But no matter how many she took down, another three would take over. Jiraiya was doing a good enough job keeping himself from getting swamped with his fire techniques and his frog sages also helped by crumbling the bones to dust with their sage arts and frog calls. She had trained hard in evasion and could keep herself from being cornered but sooner or later, she was definitely going to run out of stamina.
She couldn't dawdle and whittle down the numbers one by one. If she and Jiraiya both launched a powerful attack to catch everything in the shockwave, they can finish this without risking more injuries. "Jiraiya!" she shouted, falling down from the roof and landing on her feet beside him. "We need a move that will take all of these down at once. Got anything in mind?"
Jiraiya's brows furrowed together in thought as Fukasaku and Shima helped guarded them by pushing back the army of undead with shrill powerful frog cries. "I... can use a technique that will drag us and them all into the stomach of a toad and use the powerful gastric acid to melt them. But it's going to require a tremendous amount of chakra and the enviroment will be dangerous to you."
"If you can take away all of her skeletons and destroy them, I can stay back and face off that monster by myself," Tsunade replied. When he gave her a worried look, she said solemnly, "You know how strong I am."
His eyes were slightly sad as he said, "Just don't die on me, Tsunade. Losing Orochimaru is hard enough already." She turned her head away, her throat constricted with emotions over the one they both loved. Curtly, she gave a single nod and he said to his sages, "Boss, ma'am, you heard right?"
"Heard you Jiraiya-chan."
"Let's hurry before I lose my voice," Shima said in a disgruntled fashion.
The three of them clapped their hands together and shouted, "Barrier: Toad Gourd Prison!"
The entire room rumbled and with an explosion of smokes, all of the skeletons were summoned away with Jiraiya to manage them. Except for the lingering smell of gastric acid, nothing more remained in that room beside her, the demon, Orochimaru's fallen body and the altar where the motionless skeleton held onto the forbidden scroll.
"What a nuisance," the woman muttered, not at all fazed by the loss she's just suffered. She cracked her whip on the ground. "So? You wish to fight one on one? Do you even know how to use a sword?"
Tsunade gripped onto the Kusanagi sword with both hands and said icily, "I just need to stab this through your heart to destroy your soul."
The woman's pale lips curled as her bony whip grew spikes along its length. "I'd like to see you try."
Tsunade cracked the stones beneath her feet as she dashed at top speed towards her. Stinging pain suddenly burned along her right arm and legs and blood spurted out from the skin that split apart. She only caught a blur of white before her back split open and she fell to her knees as the woman suddenly appeared behind her, running a slender finger down the whip that was speckled with blood. "H-how?" she gasped as she quickly rolled away and stumbled backwards. How could she be that fast? It can't be possible. It... it has to be genjutsu or something.
"I don't want to cut you up too badly since you're to be my new outfit. Give up, child."
"Over my dead body," Tsunade spat.
She smirked. "Like the body of your friend?" In a flash, she appeared before Orochimaru's fallen body and placed a foot over his chest. "This is reality. Everything you've done and everything your friends have done is wasted effort."
Tsunade's eyes blazed with fury. "Don't touch him!" She bit onto her palm and let the blood run down her hand. "Lightning Release: Flowers of Red and Gold!" She slashed at the air, sending blood that sizzled with lightning towards the woman, who chuckled as she formed a barrier around her and repelled the attack. Tsunade smile and said, "Oh I'm not done." As the blood fell, it expanded into flower shape patterns on the ground. In the center, lightning shot up to connect the other flowers, forming a brilliant golden cage. Directing the lightning through the use of chakra in her blood, she shot it forth at the barrier, shattering it explosively.
"Not bad."
Tsunade froze when she felt the woman at her back, her hand on her neck. It can't be! She can't be faster than even lightning. There's no way. Her eyes moved over to Jiraiya when he reappeared, no longer in sage mode and with his toads gone. He was breathing hard and he looked exhausted. But all of that disappeared when he saw that she was in danger. From the way he struggled to stand straight to the sudden panic in his expression, he conveyed it all.
"Let her go!" he roared, pressing his hand together into the tiger hand seal.
The woman smiled. "It's over."
Tsunade saw everything go dark. After the loss of vision, was the loss of touch. The pain was gone but so was the warmth from her own body. There was nothing but complete silence and it like she was slowly being buried alive and deep down into some kind of dark abyss. It was terrifying. She couldn't move her body or make a sound. This feeling of helplessness was despair-inducing and the darkness was suffocating. Was this how it was going to end? With all three of them dead, and some demon going out to wreck destruction and death? Was this how Tsunade Senju, granddaughter or Lord Hashirama and grandniece of Lord Tobirama going to die? "I'm sorry," she thought as she felt herself sink further and further. "I failed you, Orochimaru."
All of a sudden, the darkness receded in a flash and she could see again. Stumbling forwards and into Jiraiya's arm as he ran to catch her, she gasped for breath, her body covered in sweat. "What happened?" she rasped, looking up at him. His eyes were wide and his mouth open in shock. When he continued to ignore her question, she turned to look and she thought her heart stopped. He was missing an eye and an arm, and half of his hair was now snow white but it was definitely Orochimaru. He had thrust his sword through the woman's heart and wearing a triumphant grin on his face, his eyes glowing with delight.
"What happened?" she asked, slightly shaking Jiraiya. "What did you see?"
"He... he used that technique from before. The one where I burnt him and then he escaped out with a new body from his mouth," Jiraiya answered. "From behind, he suddenly shot forth to save you."
"Why is he missing-" She stopped herself, remembering that Orochimaru had said that the technique hasn't been perfected yet and his body was failing him. If he was to use the technique again in such a short amount of time, perhaps that was the reason why he was missing an eye and an arm a d half of his hair was white, she thought as she saw blood dribble down the empty eye socket and bleeding shoulder. But still, how could he be alive? She was one of the best medical ninja of the village. The signs that he had passed away was all there. There was no possible way a dead body could mould the chakra necessary to perform his technique.
In front of them, the woman shook and looked behind her. "How can this be? You can't-"
Orochimaru's smile widened, knowing what she was going to say. "Did you know that some snakes have the ability to play dead? They convulse, keel over onto their backs, loll their tongues out, cough out some blood and even release a foul musk. As a child, I found the act rather adorable. As an adult, I found the act to be very smart. The technique you just saw, kills my old body while reconstructing a new body to give birth to. I have the power to delay the regeneration process. At most, three hours can pass before my new body emerges, making it seem like I've died and making sure that the enemy would have already left or dropped their guard."
"You deceived even your friends?" she asked, as he shoved his sword deeper into her chest. "But wasn't you death required to give your sword the ability to cut the soul?"
"If my death didn't fool them, you wouldn't have dropped your guard," he stated in a calm and practical manner. "Also, it was a complete lie that my death was required to cut at the soul. I just changed the color of the glow to help the act be more convincing." He yanked his sword out and kicked her down to the ground, before grinding his heel into her back. "My sword never had that ability in the first place. The main point was to cut you to inflict a poison on your body, that completely seals chakra. You may be a demon that can move your soul, but that ability like any other, requires chakra. That was confirmed to me when you tried to possess me. Your soul and your chakra invaded me."
She snarled. "How dare you-" When his sword thrust into the back of her hand, she cried out in pain.
"Power without brain will never last long. I knew I had to be clever to win." He laughed darkly. "Try not to be such a sore loser about it. It's unsightly."
"You're quite ruthless. Putting your friends through that kind of pain," she said, trembling with anger under his foot.
Orochimaru bent down and yanked up a handful of her long white hair. "It was your fault for making me resort to that. Nonetheless, your words have no effect on me. To protect them, I would have done anything for them. Their feelings may have been hurt but I'm currently missing an eye and an arm that will take a very long time to regenerate." He smashed her face down into the ground and stood up with a cold expression on his face. "I will keep you alive so that I can cut you up and study you for later. You're clearly not human and I'm sure the research will be quite fascinating." Stabbing his sword down to the ground, he raised his remaining arm and released a bunch of long muscled white snakes to bind her.
"Orochimaru..."
Slowly, he looked up and walked over to Jiraiya and Tsunade with a weary smile, his steps heavy when he saw the expression on their faces. "Are you two... alright?" It was as he expected. Both of them punched him in the face.
"You asshole!" Jiraiya roared, grabbing a handful of his shirt. "I thought you fucking died! I've never lost anyone before! Did you even know how much it hurt and how hard it was for me to shove down that feeling to fight? I-I felt so guilty for everything! I almost planned on giving up on being a ninja entirely if I made it out of this alive!"
Beside him, Tsunade grabbed onto his arm and her fingers dug deep into it, tears streaming down her face. "How could you do this to me?! You broke my heart you bastard! You knew how much it hurt when I lost my grandfather and granduncle! You knew how scared I am to lose you! I thought I'd never ever see you again and it hurts so damn bad, I couldn't even breath! I was fighting on sheer willpower to avenge you!"
Orochimaru spat out a broken tooth and gave them a small smile. "I'm glad you're both ok," he said quietly. The two broke down and hugged him. In their arms and with the three of them together like this, this was home, he thought. He burrowed his face into the space between Jiraiya's and Tsunade shoulder and said, "I'm sorry for hurting you both like that. But there wasn't much of a choice."
"Shut up snake eyes," Jiraiya choked, pressing his face into his friend's hair. "You know, I was inwardly praying that if you were allowed to live, I would give up porn forever. Never do this to me again you ass."
"Ok..."
Tsunade continued crying into his shoulder and said, "If I didn't love you so much, I'd kill you for tricking me like this. Like Jiraiya, I was also praying and I promised I would give up on gambling forever if you made it. Don't you dare try something like this again!" He nodded, rubbing her back to comfort her.
After a minute or so of the three of the holding onto each other and comforting each other with the mere fact that all of them were alive, they finally let go and Jiraiya said, "What now?"
"We take that scroll and hand her over to Goro, while I draft a request to ask to experiment on her," Orochimaru replied, gesturing to the scroll on the altar.
"You're not thinking about still trying to get that thing are you?" Jiraiya asked with exasperation. "After all we've-"
"Especially after all we've been through," Orochimaru replied. He stayed still to let Tsunade close the bleeding wound of his missing arm and said, "I could still hear everything that was going on thanks to my connection with my sword. Clearly, this woman is not of this world and the knowledge she possesses, especially in that scroll, can be very beneficial to mankind itself. This is lost ancient knowledge that we cannot destroy, Jiraiya."
Jiraiya shook his head and protested. "But she is dangerous! Everything about her is dangerous! Whatever is in that scroll, is probably evil."
"A weapon isn't evil. Neither is a technique. The way it's used is what determines its nature in the end."
Sighing, Jiraiya replied, "This isn't the time to be philosophical. Look, we were sent here for a very simple purpose. We've already screwed this so far off from the original path, it's not even funny. This is our chance to wrap up everything with a giant pretty bow and call it a day."
Orochimaru bent down alittle to let Tsunade reach his empty eye socket and heal it. "We can lie and say that we've destroyed the scroll and take it." He gave Jiraiya a hard look. "Do you not trust me with power?" When his friend made a sound of frustration, he dropped his sword and pulled on his sleeve. "I've never begged you for anything before. Please Jiraiya, let me have it."
"Damn you snake-eyes." Jiraiya yanked his arm away and put his hands on his hips, torn with what to do. It was true that at this point, if Orochimaru took the scroll then they could definitely lie and say that they destroyed it since Goro isn't here to witness it. And if there were more godly beings like that woman out there, obtaining power was necessary.
Orochimaru waited with baited breath beside Tsunade as they waited for Jiraiya's answer. He jumped slightly when she threaded her fingers through his and held it, as if to reassure him. After what seemed like an eternity, Jiraiya finally answered. "If you promise that you'll use whatever power that's in there for the sake of our village, then I agree. Show me that it really is true, that it's how a technique is used that makes it good or evil."
"I will," Orochimaru said immediately. He squeezed Tsunade's hand and said softly, "After all, it is the home to those I care about most in the world."
Tsunade's cheeks turned pink and she shyly looked up at her teammate. His one remaining golden eye met hers and she felt her heart beat fast. "Orochi..." Hesitantly, she leaned against him and when he squeezed her hand again, she smiled happily.
Jiraiya gave the two a slightly sad smile, his heart slightly torn with conflicting feelings. "You two really are beautiful. You... both make a great couple." He swallowed and said thickly, "I'm happy for you both. Really."
Tsunade lifted her head off Orochimaru's chest and murmured, "You really have a golden heart, Jiraiya. I'm sure you'll find someone who can truly appreciate it and give you the love you deserve."
"I'm sure that future someone will at least have bigger boobs than you do," Jiraiya joked. He walked over to them and said in good humor, "But congratulations on being with the person who has the nicest ass in the village. It's the only ass that ever made me consider going gay for. What kind of exercise do you use Oro? I remember when it was as flat as Tsunade's chest."
Tsunade laughed with him as Orochimaru just rolled his eyes in annoyance and said "Can't you be serious for longer than ten minutes, chosen of the frogs?"
"Like I said Oro. If not for me and my humour, everyone would drown in your doom and gloom." He gave a loud sigh and ran a hand through his white hair. "Still don't know why Tsunade wants to be with you instead of me. Other than maybe you'll probably end up being the housewife in the relationship so that she can continue being spoiled and never have to cook or clean." Jiraiya cackled. "You'll probably be more like the mom to the kids! HAHAHAHAHA!"
"You're probably right," Orochimaru muttered under his breath. He picked his sword back up and swallowed it with an audible gulp before the three of them turned towards the altar. Slowly, he let go of Tsunade's hand and went over to the altar, his heart racing with excitement, wondering what kind of powerful kinjutsu was laying within. Here was some kind of forbidden and very old technique that was made by someone not of their world. The innovation and mere potential in it must be incredible. In his heart, he half suspected that it probably had to do with the woman's ability to move her soul into different bodies. That was his greatest hope. To be able to utilize chakra to accomplish something that could not be explained by science and is as far from the physical realm as possible, was something that could further humanity's knowledge and reach to an unimaginable extent. He reached out and pulled away the soft paper scroll and unfurled it, quickly scanning through it. All of a sudden, the skeleton on the altar twitched to life and grabbed his hand, wrenching away the scroll. From its dark empty sockets, red eyes suddenly glowed and its skeletal teeth clacked.
"Wicked and greedy serpent, you are not worthy of my mother's treasure."
A blast of chakra threw all them backwards as the small skeleton stood up and moved over to the bound white hair woman, bending down and hovering around her protectively.
"How can it be?" Tsunade gasped, recovering from falling flat on her stomach. She shook her head and said, "There are no chakra strings connected to it. How is it even speaking?" She turned to Jiraiya for answers.
"I don't know," he said, getting back up on unsteady feet. "All the skeletons I teleported into the stomach of a toad, I had them all melted by the gastric acid to make sure she can't resummon them. But when they were disconnected from her and in the stomach, all of them were completely lifeless."
Orochimaru said quietly, "This may seem insane but... what if there was a soul possessing that skeleton and controlling it?"
"Impossible," Tsunade rejected. "Even in that gruesome patchwork of limbs, despite the fact that it was rotting away, it was actually alive from all medical standpoints. Even that original body of hers is alive." She then added, "Remember those frozen bodies we found back in that tomb when we were kids. It's clear she somehow preserved hers in a similar fashion to regain its use. She tried to keep it from decaying for a reason. There's no way something dead can move or speak."
"But we just saw that thing do so," Orochimaru retorted, standing back up and the three of them regrouped.
Jiraiya said loudly, "Ok forget whatever crazy thing is happening. The simple solution is to melt that thing and kill her. This is getting too dangerous."
Orochimaru had to agree with that point. He was very unhappy at the prospect of losing such a fine specimen, but this was certainly getting out of hand.
"Mother." The skeleton sliced away the snakes bounding her and gently helped her back onto her feet. "Let me do the rest." Without another word, it hugged her and blinding white light took away their vision. When they could see again, they all reeled backwards at the giant white skeleton that nearly reached the tall dome ceiling. At the center of its chest, was the woman that was now serving as its heart. From its right hand dangled the same bony whip but in its left hand, was a sharp bone-like dagger. Its mouth open and they could now hear the woman's voice. "You will all die in my mother's name."
"She's insane," realized Orochimaru.
"What?" Tsunade and Jiraiya both asked, completely confused and half terrified at the situation.
"The reason why that skeleton can move is because she's split a part of her soul and gave it to it. In her sorrows of losing her son, she must have gone mad and now thinks that he's actually alive." Orochimaru slowly reached into the inside of his shirt for a scroll. "I'm versed in auditory genjutsu thanks to the knowledge my mother left behind. You two can't tell, but his voice when he first spoke was fake. The genjutsu was so well crafted that it almost tricked me as well. It only dropped once she's connected to that skeleton and was reunited with that part of her soul."
"How do you even know about this weird soul splitting thing anyway?!" Jiraiya gulped as the skeleton began bearing down on them, shaking the ground with every step.
Orochimaru answered, "First, chakra signature is unique to every individual's soul. That's because chakra is comprised of both physical and spiritual energy. When that skeleton blasted us backwards, the chakra I sense is exactly the same as hers. Secondly... what I managed to glimpse in the scroll, confirmed that she split a part of her soul through the usage of chakra."
"Chakra is composed of physical and spiritual energy," Tsunade repeated quietly. "The soul and the body are extrinsically linked. She's been keeping... his bones alive with that part of her soul. The other skeletons she had to seal to preserve, but his was kept out in the open air and it never decayed because of that."
"This thing is like fifty meters tall, let's worry about that part first instead of the little details," Jiraiya gulped as the three of them continued backing up. The giant skeleton let out a shriek and slammed both weapons down on them, breaking through the sealed door and sending all of them flying.
Orochimaru coughed as his back hit the rubbles, with Tsunade and Jiraiya landing right beside him. His two friends quickly pulled him to his feet and they huddled together as the dust cleared, revealing the giant skeleton shaking itself and looking up at the incandescent sun.
"Free! Free at last!" The skeleton clacked and raised up both hands to the sunlight shining down on them. "We are free, mother!" Inside the bony cage, encased in a protective barrier, her lips curved into an icy smile as she sunk deeper into her joyful madness.
They all froze as they heard her whisper.
The fair head
It must connect all with bloody threads
The body that sustains
It had to be led by bloodstains
The arms that reached
To collect them the laws had to be breached
The legs that traverse
They will trample over those who considers this perverse
The life giving heart
From life I take and make it into an art
The tablets on the ground flew up into the air and shattered, sending sharp jagged pieces of rocks flying in every direction to reveal the true contents inside. Massive amounts of chakra exploded out of them, in all five different elements and they each soared towards a different spot on the giant skeleton. After absorbing it all, the skeleton wore a golden chakra cloak around its body and it grinned. "The one thing greater than a beautiful body, is pure chakra itself. All that mother gathered over the years, will one day surpass Kaguya's Ten Tailed form."
Before Orochimaru could say something, Jiraiya held up a hand and said in a sassy voice, "First, your uhhh... momma is crayyyyyyyy. Second, you're ugly in the first place. Third, the hell is Ten Tails?"
"How about fourth, you run and not get trampled under my feet?" asked the skeleton as it lifted up a giant foot.
"Probably a good idea." Jiraiya grabbed onto Orochimaru's one remaining arm and then Tsunade's and dragged them off while screaming his head off when the foot that smashed down, sent a powerful shockwave of dust, dirt and wind at them.
The large physical size combined with the massive amount of chakra enveloping it created a crater size hole, Orochimaru noted when he looked back. By unsealing the door from the outside, they had weakened the seal. But what was troubling was that he thought she needed a live and whole body to get out. Why can she break through now... His eyes widened when he finally realized. Her original body that they forced her to use was still alive and preserved. It was her broken soul that stopped her from leaving before. Now that her soul was accidentslly whole again, she fulfilled the requirements to get out. That was the only theory he could come up with and he made a note to study the broken sealed doors if he lived through this.
As they scrambled for their life down the stairs of the many platforms, they ran into Goro who was huffing and panting, still trying to recover from the injury he received from Tsunade earlier. "What's happening? Jiraiya, did you manage to stop them after all?"
"Uhhh..."
The answer to that question was answered when the giant skeleton jumped down on the platform with its bony whip and dagger, its teeth clacking together in laughter.
Darkwings13: First, holy shizzzzzzz Mitsuki knows medical ninjutsu! XD His stats was just released from an extra page in the Boruto manga. It now fits in with my head cannon that Tsunade is probably looking after him in Konoha since Oro can't and is teaching him. *wipes away a tear* He's going to be not only Oro's incarnate on the team, but also Tsunade's in a way HOLY MOTHER AHHHHHHHHHHHH! *explodes from sheer omgness*
Secondly, sorry for the long wait. Last last week was my birthday so I was busy. The week after that I was kinda busy and not too happy with the chapter so had to rewrite it like 20x times. Hope you guys will like it D: I just refuse to put up a subpar chapter until I'm satisfied with it.
-the lady's bone abilities were inspired by Kimmimaru.
-snakes playing dead inspired this chapter ヽ(●´∀｀●)ﾉ
*Special note to Lissette Paola655 for the kind pm message and very polite inquiry as to when I'd be updating. Hope you'll enjoy this chaper friend! ＼\٩( 'ω' )و /／
(〃´∀｀) Hi lumichan! To be honest, my favorite to write was actually Jiraiya's haha! I adore his genuine and funny character. And sorry to have dragged on your intrigue for so long my friend! Hopefully this chapter will make up for it.
（＾ω＾）LOL your review made me laugh JigokuShoujosRevenge! So true! I was also pissed off at how easy Sasuke got away with things. Like seriously? He should have been made to work for the village for twenty years without pay or something at least lol. And thanks for your compliment on my wordplay!
（＾ｖ＾）Thank you xxhebi-himexx. I tried my best with the portrayals and to solidify the reason why Oro is the way he is. Heavily influenced by the world and those who managed to get close to him, he really wasn't a bad person. It showed from him feeling sad about Jiraiya's death, to not wanting to hurt Tsunade even when she betrayed him, and shedding a tear when he held Sarutobi. Like Sasuke mentioned, Oro didn't destroy Konoha on a whim. He probably saw the meaningless and corruption hidden in it. Like Sakumoto Hatake being driven to commit suicide, to Danzo's bs that went to the Uchiha's massacre, etc. I think his potential was actually so great, that he saw and understood things he wasn't supposed got totally fed up with it all and strived for something with meaning, without consideration to the darkness he would have to embrace.
v(・∀・*) You got it BlackLady777. And again, it was a reaffirmation of what Mito could see with the way those three influenced Orochimaru. For better or worse, they had a hand on molding his character and perspective on the world. As Sarutobi is a professor like figure, I'm certain he probably greatly encouraged and helped funded Orochimaru's research and as a father figure, impacted Orochimaru the most. He only stopped really caring about the village entirely when Tsunade left, Jiraiya wandered around to look for peace and tend to spy duties, and when Sarutobi passed him over as Hokage. They were his lifelines and for better or worse, they were an important part of his life. They did their best but yea, kinda the reason why Oro went cray cray. And agree with the Shinobi system being fucked up. Worst was Sakumo Hatake, who contributed so much he earned a title, but then got shat on by his comrades and village and was driven to kill himself. Orochi probably saw and got even more sickened by Konoha, the system and the world. He's already lost his parents, witnessed Tsu's loss and now this. I'd probably wack people too.
(*≧∀≦*) I will make up for your tears with lots of laughs in the future chapters ileangie23! Forgive meeeeeee. There is actually more to the Sarutobi part but it got so long that I had to cut it out and store it for a later chapter. But it would have made you bawl even more cuz of how sweet it is. I adore the fatherly relationship with Sarutobi and Oro. I think he actually loved Oro more than Asuma and his other never mentioned son. And writing kid Sannin is oddly very satisfying and cute to me for some weird reason. Glad you like how Oro really wanted to try and be a true friend to Tsu. Hahaha and with how funny Jiraiya is, I think his moments with Orochi is probably hilarious. They clearly had to have a close bond since he chased after him for like fifteen years or so. Gah, I wished we had more Sannin flashbacks. And I sorta clarified abit on Jiraiya's feeling this chapter. How he, like Naruto, puts the happiness of the person he likes above his own. I think he really can be sweet and understanding that Tsunade can be happy with someone that's not him. Oh but for sure, something relaxing will certainly come up! Actually, it's just going to be hilarious. Hint: Sarutobi-sensei... I can't ask Jiraiya about this and you're the only person I can talk to. What's... sex like? *Cue Sarutobi spitting his teeth across the room* Something like that XD Oh gawd, I feel for parents who have the sex-ed talk with their kids.
(ノ^o^)ノOh thank you very much for your kind words RushiAei! My chapters don't deserve your praiseeeeeeeee! I'm unworthyyyyyyyyy. I just try my best lol. And there really isn't enough stories out there to portray Oro's relationship with Sarutobi in my opinion. Which is a shame! The first time I actually cried in Naruto was when Sarutobi is dying and he sees kid Oro smiling at him as he dies. LIKE HOLY FUDGE THAT HIT ME IN THE THROAT FEELS. To still love Oro even in his last dying moments was a tremendous thing for me. So I do my super best to write those two when they're together. Sarutobi obviously was very important to Oro and as Sasuke mentioned that he knew Oro didn't destroy Konoha based on a whim, I'm sure Oro did it because his love turned to hate when his teacher rejected him for Hokage. Oh and like I said to ileangie23, there was more to that part with the two but I had to cut it out and will be using for another chapter. Get ready for more tears my friend! XD And to know my chapters have you feel so many different emotions, makes me feel like I won a trophy. I'm so glad! :D
(づ￣ ³￣)づ uhhhhhhhh, here's the update LordRevan66.