Author's Note: Bear in mind all readers, I'm very impatient at the moment, and I don't like writing multiple battles taking place at the same time, particularly for the Invasion of Konoha. However, I can promise even better battles to come after this chapter. Enjoy.
NARUTO
Nox Noctis Ingredior
Settling Matters
"God, mother fucking dammit all to hell, shit bitch, fuck!" Were some of the many strings of curses flying out of Naruto's mouth as he ducked, weaved and leapt around the shallow lake as the Three Tailed Giant Turtle pursued him, at the same time, bringing down building after building surrounding the square which was their battle zone.
So far, the battle in the shallow lake has left a grand landmark smack bang in the center of Konohagakure. If the battle on the village's perimeter wasn't intense enough, then the jinchuriki battle certainly was.
Smashing down another building in an indecisive swipe at its target, the Three Tails quickly locked back onto Naruto as the boy flipped through the air, keeping his distance from the colossal beast. Landing atop of the water, the blonde panted heavily, visible bruises patterning his skin and tears in his outfit, while he glared angrily up at the demon. The Three Tails crushed the building it knocked over under its foot, and stepped towards the blonde, glaring down at it with its big red eye glowing brightly.
"This… sucks… balls!" Naruto cursed, flicking his wrists, with two kunai tied with explosive tags appearing in his grip. "I can't stress how much I hate turtles!" "ACHOO!" The Genin sneezed, wiping his nose and looking up, irritated. He was soaking wet from the water battle, and it was beginning to take its toll. "Great… I'm getting a cold as well… ARE YOU HAPPY NOW YOU CLAM FACED FREAK?"
Of course, shaking a fist up at the Three Tails wasn't really a smart thing to do…
With a loud roar, the Three Tails raised its foot above Naruto and brought it down like the hammer of doom. The blonde had only a one second window of opening, but didn't take it, and ended up being flattened under the big beast's foot. The giant demon didn't stop there though, and began stomping on him repeatedly into the shallow waters, its blows shaking the entire hundred meter square area around it.
Eventually, after stomping down on the boy about twenty times, it kept its foot down, glaring down at the spot its target was. For a moment, it thought it had killed its opponent, only to get quite a surprise when its foot was suddenly forced up. Still trying to put its full weight behind it, the Three Tailed Giant Turtle got quite a shock when its foot was lifted right off of the ground and out of the shallow water. Seconds later, its limb was hanging about a person's height above the ground, a rather bruised up and pissed off Naruto standing underneath it and having a weight lifting contest with the demon.
"GAAAAARRRGGGHHH! YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Naruto roared, his body trembling as he held the full weight of the giant turtle above him. His legs and arms shook as he pushed the monster's corns off of him, and glared up through a red, strained face. "YOU CAN'T SQUASH ME!"
With a yell of anger, Naruto threw the turtle off of him, the giant beast staggering back and colliding into several more buildings, the structures collapsing under the impact and its weight. A loud, primal roar echoed off of the giant demon, glaring over at the blonde Genin as he staggered away, huffing and puffing from the effort.
"Well… I guess this is turning… into a real fight for my life!" Naruto grinned, wiping his brow. "Let's see how many lives this demon has…"
The Three Tails lunged down at him, head first, aiming to swallow the blond. Naruto, frowning, suddenly became blurred in the eyes of the turtle, and vanished into thin air as the demon collided with the shallow water. The wave it formed from the force was colossal, about the same size as the water colliding wave, but it dissipated before it did any real damage to the village. Looking up from the water, the Three Tailed Turtle spotted Naruto hovering fifty meters above, right hand grabbing the brim of his hat. Taking aim, the blonde ripped his straw hat from his head and held it out, throwing it like a discus straight down at the demon.
The metallic dish of a hat curved through the air before striking the beast dead in the eye. As if that weren't enough to stagger it, the explosive notes attached to the inside of it did. The hat detonated with the force of a couple of landmines stuck together, and when it did, the giant turtle let out a roar of agony, and stepped back, crashing into more buildings.
"You've got a big ass bulls-eye sitting right in the middle of your face!" Naruto exclaimed in his descent. "It's hard not to miss!"
Charred and smoking from the face, the turtle glared up through a slightly obscured vision, watching as its target landed about a hundred meters away.
Just as he was about to make another move, there was a flash of light and a shadow, and suddenly, a small falcon or hawk came diving out of the sky out of nowhere with a loud shriek, the nimble animal lashing out with its claws at the demon in its swoop. The Tailed Beast roared angrily and lashed out, only to have the falcon soar off unharmed. Naruto grinned when he saw his winged friend disappear, having come to help him as he always had.
"Thanks, Auron!"
Trembling with rage, the Three Tailed Giant Turtle rose back up, and with a mighty roar, sent a huge tsunami in Naruto's direction, this wave being several times bigger than the previous ones. The blonde Genin gawked in shock as he watched the attack approach him, and quickly formed a hand seal.
"Not good!" He vanished in a yellow blur, using a quickness technique to sprint away from the wave and back down the streets of the village hundreds of meters ahead of it. However, he wasn't able to get far when he ran into a crowd of villagers several blocks from the center of the village, all of them huddled up and hiding from the battle taking place.
Noticing that they were in the path of the coming wave, Naruto stopped in front of the small group of families in the middle of the intersection, and turned towards the humungous wall of water, towering over fifty stories and heading in their direction. Looking back and forth between the civilians and the tsunami, the blonde cursed at himself and formed his trademark, cross-finger hand seal, and flexed his chakra out as much as he could.
"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"
Smoke exploded around him and spread down a line of over five hundred meters in every direction, forming a perfect semi-circle around the incoming wave attack. The smoke lifted to reveal hundreds upon hundreds of Naruto's stacked up on top of each other. Standing on each other's shoulders, the countless clones quickly formed Rasengan's in their hands all down the line, the whipping winds coursing over the city, like a hurricane. The wave was quickly upon the wall of clones, the civilians of Konoha screaming, praying that they aren't crushed by the enormous wall of water.
However, Naruto was not about to give up at this point.
"WIND RELEASE: WALL OF A THOUSAND RASENGANS!" The clones roared, thrusting their attacks directly into the oncoming, raging wave.
Their simultaneous thrusts generated a colossal wall of wind, which tore into the wave and drove it back, as the tsunami was continually fed by water from the Three Tails. In spite of their best efforts, the clones quickly started losing chakra as their Rasengans, though holding back the wave, began to fade. Naruto's quickly depleting chakra levels were the main cause of this, the original standing against the jinchuriki's attack, but not for much longer.
"Damn it… to hell…" Naruto growled amidst his copies, also driving a Rasengan into the wall of water, which was gradually gaining ground over them. Biting his teeth together tightly, the blonde glared over his shoulder furiously towards the crowd of villagers. However, his frustration wasn't directed at them, more like to the bystanders on the sidelines. "GAARA YOU BASTARD! IF YOU WANT TO MAKE A MOVE NOW, NOW IS YOUR CHANCE!"
"Earth Style: Sand Wall!" Gaara shouted, slamming his hands together as he landed behind the wall of Naruto clones. He then slammed his hands into the ground, the earth quickly splitting down the line of Narutos. It took only several seconds, and as they ticked by, a mass of sand particles poured out of the earth from the huge split Gaara made, and rose up several stories, before stopping at a reasonable height. The wall of sand then tightly packed itself together, and became a solid, wall of earth.
The moment he felt and saw the wall behind him form, Naruto canceled his technique and back-flipped up to the top of it, making it just in time to watch his wall of clones dissipate all at once and the wave continue on. The wall of water had been cut down enough for it to crash into the earth wall, but have no effect on it. The water was effectively stopped, a huge lake formed right in the middle of Konohagakure, with the Three Tails at its center.
Panting heavily, Naruto collapsed to his knees and glanced behind him, seeing Gaara suddenly materialize out of sand right next to him, the red haired boy's arms folded.
"Hmph… you're still too weak, Uzumaki," Gaara muttered.
"SAYS YOU, YOU WALKING DRINK BOTTLE!" Naruto shouted back, feeling pretty much underappreciated at the moment. "I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'VE ALREADY NOTICED, BUT I'M FIGHTING A JINCHURIKI UNDER MY OWN POWER!"
"Still… not an excuse…" Gaara smiled down at the blonde, watching his friend stagger back to his feet. "Need any more help?"
At that moment, Sakura, Sasuke, Lee and Shino appeared beside the red head, jogging up to the two jinchuriki.
"Naruto-kun…"
"Geez. You look like hammered shit, dobe," Sasuke commented, slipping his hands into his pockets and taking note of the blonde's battered and bruised condition. His white trench coat was torn in several places, he was bleeding from the head and mouth, and he was stained in dirt and dripping wet. Needless to say, 'hammered shit' was a pretty accurate description.
"Yosh! Are you okay?" Lee asked. "Does my eternal rival require any assistance?"
Naruto smiled as the active Rookie Nine members came to his aid, before turning back towards the Three Tails standing in the center of the huge lake now spanning over two kilometers across. The thick mists forming around the Three Tails was matched by the darkening sky, the giant demon growling angrily as he glared towards his target and his reinforcements. After a minute or so of consideration, the blonde stretched out and groaned his answer.
"Just keep the villagers out of harms way, and keep the water inside this pond!" Naruto said, glancing over at Gaara and the others. His Suna friend nodded in understanding, while a couple of the Rookie Nine looked ready to protest. "He is my opponent… so I'll be finishing this battle by my hand!" He then pointed at Sakura and Lee. "Spread out around this area and stop anyone from interfering. It's better that only one person deals with this thing, then risking a whole bunch of others if they get caught in the crossfire. This way, nobody else will get hurt…"
Sakura nodded in understanding, reluctantly allowing her boyfriend to carry on the fight on his own, whereas Lee saluted in his characteristic way. Sasuke shrugged indignantly, but agreed nonetheless.
"Well… now that that is settled," Naruto exclaimed while walking out onto the now calmer, steaming waters. His footsteps formed small ripples, which echoed outwards as he approached his target, slowly. "It's time for me to unleash my secret weapon…"
Reaching up, he grabbed the scroll and yanked it from the clasp on his left shoulder, his trench knife no longer sheathed in his right shoulder scabbard, as it was shattered and lost in the wake of his battle with his opponent. Unfurling the scroll, he threw it out in front of him and bit into his thumb. Running the blood print down it, he then slapped his hands together and slammed them into the water's surface, seal marks appearing around him as the scroll fell atop of the lake's surface. The Rookie Nine and Gaara, who were still standing on the wall, watched on in interest and awe as Naruto performed his technique.
"Summoning Jutsu!" the blonde Genin shouted, white smoke exploding around him in animated, dramatic fashion.
Seconds later, the smoke faded away, revealing not Gamabunta, but Gamakichi sitting in front of him. The small orange toad smiled, and waved up at his summoner.
"Yo! Naruto… my man! How's it going?"
Literally everyone standing behind Naruto fell over backwards, even Gaara. The blonde shinobi gawked in disbelief before pointing accusingly down at his summon.
"YOU!"
"Yeah me! What's up?"
"UGH! WHY…I… YOU….I… THI… THA… SOME… YOU… GAAARRGGH!" Naruto grabbed his hair and pulled at it. "WHY IS IT ALWAYS YOU?"
"What? You should realize at this point that you suck at summoning reliable companions, kid!" Gamakichi chuckled, rubbing the side of his head. "Of course, this attempt can be considered an exception from all the others. You're lucky to get me! I'm pretty reliable!"
"ARGH! I don't have time for this!" Naruto growled, biting into his thumb and drawing more blood. He then ran seals all over the roof and underside of his right hand, along his fingers, palm and knuckles, focusing all his most potent chakra into the center of his hand. "I have a big problem at the moment…"
"Big problem?" Gamakichi hopped around and looked behind him. He got quite a shock when he looked upon the easily recognizable form of the Three Tailed Giant Turtle lumbering towards them. Small waves began kicking up as the weight of its footsteps began rippling across the lake's surface. "WHOA! THAT IS A BIG PROBLEM!"
"Get into my coat pocket, Gamakichi!" Naruto shouted, opening up one of the flaps on the side of his trench coat. The frog immediately hopped in, not wanting to get caught in the water in a confrontation with one of the most powerful creatures on the face of the shinobi world. Though he had a bit of trouble fitting in, he was able to manage eventually. "I'm going to summon my familiars…"
"Familiars? You don't mean…?" The toad croaked, looking up at the blonde from under the pouch flap with a nervous look on his face.
"YUP!" Naruto thrust his right hand into the lake's surface, seal patterns expanding out from his center. "Ultimate Ninja Art: Memory Manifestation Summoning Jutsu!"
Another explosion of white smoke engulfed him, Gaara, and the Rookie Nine present, back on their feet, looking up to see what was happening. Most of them ere expecting their blonde friend to screw up again, while the select few amongst them who had more confidence in their friend, felt that something big was gonna come from his technique.
Those set few were quite correct, but nevertheless, received a shock of a life time…
When the white smoke dissipated, Naruto was revealed to be kneeling between two summoned bodies. As the white cloud dissipated further, the silhouettes revealed themselves to be two teens around their age. One of them was a young male who stood on Naruto's left, with long, spiky blonde hair, wearing dark blue, standard ninja pants, and a white jacket with blue linings, a fishnet top adorned underneath. The second teen standing on Naruto's right was revealed to be a pretty young girl with beautiful, red hair, a slightly rounded face, and wearing light brown, orange and red clothes. Furthermore, both the teenagers had the Hidden Leaf headband worn proudly on their foreheads.
Clothes ruffling in the wind, the two teens standing on either side of Naruto glanced down at the boy, the whisker marked boy breathing heavily from his efforts.
The boy on Naruto's left blinked in surprise, but then smiled in amusement.
"Geez Naruto… you've really taken a beating this time, haven't you?" the kid exclaimed. The girl on Naruto's other side also giggled as she looked down at the battered jinchuriki, who was now looking up at the two of them in distain.
"Give him a break, Minato-kun. He's been through a lot today," the red haired girl pointed.
It was then the two Genin standing on either side of Naruto looked up towards the creature the blonde was fighting. They weren't too surprised when they saw the Three Tailed Turtle standing before them, but it did rouse their interests. The two summoned individuals were, as observed by Naruto, his parents; Minato and Kushina in their Genin days, both of them young, fresh, and battle ready.
Needless to say though, he was a tad bit disappointed.
"Ah… the Sanbi," Minato chuckled, slipping his hands into his jacket pockets. "I figured you'd be having trouble against someone like that…"
"It must be the Forth Mizukage," Kushina commented, placing her hands together as she admired the beast. "Ever since he disappeared from Kirigakure all those years ago, the Village Hidden in the Mist has been one short a jinchuriki, and has been searching tirelessly for it and their Kage. But now, after all these years, he's shown up in Konoha of all places…"
"Why'd you summon us to fight anyway, Naruto… and how?" the young Forth Hokage glanced down at his son, blinking in confusion. "You seemed to be doing fine on your own…"
"I didn't… expect to… summon you guys… in such states," Naruto panted in exhaustion, struggling to his feet. Stretching out, he rubbed the back of his head and groaned, looking over at his young father. "I used an experimental technique meant to summon memories manifested into physical forms through use of my chakra. I developed it under Mia's guidance; because she knew I had tremendous knots of energy the two of you left behind inside of me, and provided me with some knowledge as to how to utilize it. But my chakra must be really low to summon my parents in their teenage forms and not as adults… sorry about this…"
"That's alright. It must be a high level technique then if you're learning from the Sage of Six Paths," Minato exclaimed, glancing back over at the Three Tails. "You've handled the battle quite well from what we could see. Good job!"
"There are only a handful of people I know who have had experience with fighting the Tailed Beasts, but Ero-Sennin is busy fighting Orochimaru with old-man Third at the moment, Gaara is no match against a water jinchuriki, Killer Bee is too far out, and I can't get into contact with Ni. You two are the closest people I could think of and because you're essentially a part of my memories, it made it easier for me," Naruto replied, looking over at his young mother. "I hope you two can still use your techniques…"
"I've still got some tricks up my sleeves," Kushina exclaimed, throwing her hands out, with two white kunai attached to chakra chains shooting out. "Since you summoned us, Naruto-kun… let's have some fun, ttebane!"
Minato chuckled and pulled his hands out of his pockets, and held both of them outwards, assuming a fighting stance. "I may not know the Flying Thunder God Technique at this age, but I'm still pretty light on my toes…"
"Be careful you two," Naruto said, putting his hands together into a hand sign. "I've divided whatever is left of my chakra into thirds between the three of us, so use what you have wisely. I won't be able to keep feeding you reserves forever!"
"Right…" Minato exclaimed, the three Genin quickly springing into action.
The young Yellow Flash exploded forward, sprinting across the water's surface at high speed. Kushina followed, both of them running side by side in battle formation. Naruto joined them in their charge as well, hooking right and rushing around the slow, lumbering Three Tails. The Rookie Nine and Gaara stood on the sidelines and watched closely with eagerness and anticipation, wanting to see how the battle would unfold
The Three Tails let out a bellow of anger, before lunging at its opponent and his summons, lashing out with jet streams of water and its three tails whipping behind it, its attacks cutting through the clouds and mists surrounding it. Naruto leapt skywards as one of the demon's tails flew straight down at him, the blonde landing against the length of it and ran along it about half way, before diving off, avoiding high pressure jets of water fired at him from its mouth. The blonde dove into the water to the beast's far right and, like a dolphin, swam at high speed around the Three Tailed demon's blind spots, its attacks and tails still following him.
Eventually, Naruto leapt out from under the water and began skidding across the surface of the lake, adjusting his chakra at his feet and beginning to skate across it gracefully.
While the spiky haired Genin distracted the beast, Kushina came in from its blind spot on its left as it rotated in a clockwise direction. Forming a hand seal and crouching on top of the water, she threw both her hands out in front of her and shot chains of chakra at the Giant Turtle. The white chains of pure energy curled around the demon's form, wrapping around its neck, body and limbs. With a yell and a sharp tug, she pulled the Turtle towards her, the Three Tails staggering back and crashing down further into the lake, it's scarred, red eye glaring round at the attacker responsible for its restraining.
With its attention now set on Kushina, a young Minato used the lapse in time to leap up and on top of the beast's head after managing to get close enough to it, drawing kunai from under his jacket and beginning his assault across its back.
Performing an array of flips forward and down the length of its steel like shell, Minato swiftly and with great strength, drove kunai into and along its back. He stayed on the move to make sure neither of its defensive attacks caught him. Eventually jumping and running up one of its tails rising up into the air, the blonde haired boy formed a hand seal and grinned down at the struggling, giant turtle. Safely away, he initiated his technique.
"Ninja Art: Summoning Vacuum!"
The tailed beast unleashed a roar of agony when suddenly, Minato's kunai simultaneously went into slip-space jumps across its back, taking huge chunks out of the turtle's shell and staggering the beast. The technique Minato performed was the parent jutsu for his Flying Thunder God Technique, but instead of teleporting himself through the space time leaps, he instead teleported sections of the host body the kunai were attached to. As a result, invisible explosions racked at the Three Tails' body, causing it severe damage and pain beyond its imagination.
Seeing gaps in its protective armor, Naruto decided to make his move. Leaping from behind the giant beast and out of its degree of vision, the blonde formed a quick hand seal, and summoned over three dozen shadow clones. The copies appeared around him in mid-descent, all of them immediately beginning to generate Rasengans in their hands, the blue balls of energy glowing brilliantly and parting the mists above the turtle. All at once, the Naruto copies cascaded down on top of the Three Tailed Beast, striking at the soft flesh exposed from underneath the armor Minato had chipped away. The turtle roared in pain and attempted to escape from his binds and throw his attacker off, only to suffer more damage from the pressure induced by the tightening of Kushina's binds.
The red haired girl holding her quarry down bit her bottom lip as she kept her chains in check, forming a hand seal to better concentrate her chakra, while Minato joined her at her side. He landed right next to her following his successful assault on the now crippled demon.
"How much longer?" he asked.
"Not long… the chakra Naruto was able to give me is almost gone. It takes a lot to produce chains this strong!" Kushina groaned, breaking out into a heavy sweat as she felt the strain on her newly gained body grow. "It's insane! He's so young and he's been fighting this thing all by himself! I have to say… he's gotten much stronger then I could ever dream of…"
Minato smiled and nodded, watching as the Naruto copies dispersed and the real one jumped down to rejoin them on the lake's surface. The original landed right in front of the summoned pair, Naruto nearly collapsing under the strain of exhaustion and battle fatigue, but managing to hold firm.
"He's really strong…"
"KEEP THE SANBI DOWN!" Naruto shouted at his young parents, throwing his right hand out to his side. At that moment, several of his surviving clones formed up on the trio on Naruto's order, and arranged themselves at a ten meter radius around the blonde's extended hand. All at once, the copies held their hands out towards the original Naruto, and began rotating chakra around him. A heavy wind kicked up, Minato and Kushina watching on in silent surprise as the boy's chakra level climbed and he began forming a huge technique to take out the Tailed Beast. Everyone in visual range witnessed blue chakra swirl and compress into the Genin's hand, the blue, pure chakra glowing rather brightly.
The summons immediately recognized the rotation and formation of the technique Naruto was attempting, but noted it was much stronger then the original attack, and from the clones gathered around Naruto at their distance, it was much bigger.
"That's…" Minato blinked.
"I'm going to finish this fight in one go!" the whisker marked Genin stated, nodding his head firmly as he concentrated his chakra around the air space, his copies helping him to maintain its shape. "I need to knock the demon back into the container while leaving the host intact so he can be handed back over to the Village Hidden in the Mists! This is the best I can do at this point for attacks!"
"You can't!" Minato shouted, rising to his feet. "A Rasengan at that size with your level of chakra and experience with the technique will rip your arm off!"
"Heh… I can't tell you how many times that has happened to me already, dad," Naruto grinned over at his young father, who suddenly came to the realization of what his son has already been through in his life. Sweat dropping a little, Minato animatedly sighed out and shook his head.
"Geez… it's only a hand… again. Why am I so concerned?" Kushina glared up at her husband, her expression becoming one of comedic fury.
"YOU'RE HIS FATHER, TTEBAYO!" the red head shouted. "YOU SHOULD BE CONCERNED!"
Within seconds, the ball of chakra swirling in the original Naruto's hand grew from baseball size to the size of a basket ball, and after several more seconds, and an up kick in the raging winds around him, it grew ten times in size. Within a minute, the Rasengan Naruto was struggling to hold was about the size of the Three Tailed Giant Turtle's head, who the blonde was intending to hit with his gargantuan attack.
With a hurricane like force raging around him, the Naruto clones dispelled, their chakra being added to the technique the original held in his hand. Gritting his teeth, he compressed the attack just a bit, enough for him to properly move it where he stood. It was at successfully being able to contain his technique the blonde grinned and glanced over at his two young parents, both of them smiling at him.
"Wish me luck…"
The pair nodded.
"Go for it, Naruto!" Kushina shouted.
With a nod of his own, the blonde turned back to the Three Tails still being held down by the chakra chains. Sucking in air to compose himself, the Nine Tails' jinchuriki charged, sprinting across the water towards his target, his giant, billboard version of his Rasengan spinning wildly, and causing the water beside him to part as they made their way to their objective. Gathering speed, Naruto then leapt into the air, aiming to hit his opponent in a downward direction to limit risk of a splash back on the village if he aimed it upwards.
Judging from the size of Naruto's Rasengan, bystanders new the explosion was going to be big.
Spotting the threat descending towards it, the Three Tailed Giant Turtle was able to find a new urge of strength inside of itself, an urge to survive, and not get disintegrated by the attack heading its way. Growling loudly, it forcefully ripped itself from the chains binding it, shattering the chakra strings and leaping up out of the lake. Roaring at the top of its lungs, it lunged at the incoming Naruto, clawed arm extending and jaw widening.
However, its efforts would be all for naught.
Grinning, Naruto swung his Rasengan round, and thrust it straight at the beast's face.
"Eat this… GREAT BALL RASENGAN!"
At first, when his attack seemingly struck the beast right between its eyes, nothing happened, the attack rapidly shrinking to the size of a spec, a sonic boom ring visibly rippling off of it. However, a split second later, it suddenly exploded, the size of the attack increasing many times over and engulfing about half of the giant turtle. The huge blue ball of raw, swirling energy ripped at the demon's face, the demon crying out in agony as its face and upper body was torn up, at the same time, Naruto pressed home on his attack, gritting his teeth as pain wracked at his arm and shook his skeleton from head to toe.
The lake surrounding the Tailed Beast and the attack gradually expanding to consume it caused a whirlpool effect, which whipped around with the speed and force of a hurricane. This unholy accumulation of energy and seismic forces literally had the air in the surrounding space for kilometers literally sucked in. The Rasengan expanded more and more, and with it, its effects increased in ferocity too. A hole was punched straight into the black clouds above, which opened up with a shockwave, light pouring through the rip and illuminating the village. Eclipse was shocked out of his technique, and was literally knocked out of the sky when the wave of wind from Naruto's attack hit him.
Eventually, the Rasengan's orb consumed the entire Tailed Beast, and after a minute of ripping at the demon's body and chakra coils, exploded with concussive force which sent the huge beast careering through the lake and to the other side where the wall Gaara had created kept the water in. The turtle's body was pretty much disintegrated within the twisting forces of incredible attack, with Yagura's body appearing as the Tailed Beast's physical form was blasted away. The control seal breaking from the sheer magnitude of the Rasengan, the former Kage came too, and cried out as he whipped through the air within the tornado that blasted him straight into the earth wall holding the lake in.
The explosion that followed sent waves crashing everywhere, spilling over the brim of the barrier. Eventually, when it all died out several seconds later, it left a half full, man made lake in the middle of Konohagakure, and Naruto standing in the middle of it, right hand extended, and panting in exhaustion.
Looking down at his throwing arm, Naruto saw that his skin was peeled and burnt, not to mention cut up around his hand and palm, and bleeding a bit. Withdrawing it, he grabbed his wrist and glared up to where his opponent was, floating unconscious in the lake close to the wall on the other side.
Seeing no sign of danger or the Tailed Beast, the blonde smiled and looked back to where Minato and Kushina were, both of them looking just as exhausted as he was.
"Aww… come on… you guys didn't do much," Naruto chuckled, grinning.
Minato sighed and laughed back, despite his tiredness. "You didn't have much chakra to give… and sustaining a manifestation like us at the same time is too much for a youngster like yourself…"
"You sure did a number on him though, Naruto…" Kushina smiled, her chakra chains dropped, and her energy pretty much depleted. "You've grown so much…"
Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head as he looked at his two, teen parents. "Heh-heh… it's hard to take you guys seriously when you're the same age as me…"
Minato and Kushina grinned back.
"Perhaps next time… we can have a more heart to heart chat…" Minato replied, his body suddenly starting to fade away, along with Kushina's. A few seconds later, the blonde boy vanished, shortly followed by the red head, who managed to pass on her parting words to her son before she disappeared.
"Take care… Naruto…"
Waving as they faded away, Naruto then turned back to the matter at hand, and began strolling over to where his opponent lay still. His right arm was pretty much screwed up, and he was starting to feel the effects of his Rasengan tremor up his body. He gripped his right arm and bit his teeth to fight against the pain, at the same time, he limp-walked up to the floating Yagura. Thankfully, he was lying face up, his clothes turn and battered, and the damages he sustained from his battle pretty severe, but he was still alive and well.
Sighing, the blonde knelt beside Yagura and tried to pick him up, but instead, ended up collapsing under his own exhaustion. Sitting on top of the water, he felt himself begin to sink, and cursed his luck when he fell into the water with a yelp and a splash.
He was saved from an awkward fate when Sakura jumped down and helped him onto her shoulders, with Shino and Lee also hopping down to help with Yagura. Together, they hopped up to the top of the wall, the blonde hero's teammate sitting him down and beginning to perform first aid, while Lee and Shino laid Yagura down next to them, making sure he was comfortable.
"You did great, Naruto-kun," Sakura exclaimed, smiling up at the boy as he hunched over in exhaustion. Her palms running up and down his back, the girl made sure she worked over his injuries thoroughly, and double-checked to make sure she didn't miss a fatal wound. "I guess this means you've won your round in the Chunin Exams, huh!"
"Heh… you could say that," Naruto chuckled, wincing at the pain in his ribs. He glanced over at the pink haired girl, who stuck her tongue out at him cheekily. "But I think we've long stepped far outside of the bounds of these exams… Sakura-chan…"
"I guess so."
"Yosh, Naruto-kun!" Lee exclaimed, standing in front of his comrade and appraising the boy rather loudly for his liking. "You have become so strong! Able to take down such a powerful beast on your own! Amazing!"
"That's Naruto for yah!" A squeaky voice spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to Naruto's pocket. Gamakichi stuck his head out and waved to everyone. "Hi all!"
"Oh… Gamakichi… I forgot about you…" Naruto chuckled.
"Man! What a ride! What a battle! I swear, I first thought you were done for when you charged at that big guy but then…BOOOM!" Gamakichi threw his arms out in exclamation. "You dropped the bomb shell on that oversized walking soup mix and turned the fight in your favor! Unbelievable!"
"That's a… pretty accurate recount," Shino commented, hands in his pockets and looking down at the worked up toad.
"You should have been in my position! Wow! Talk about a roller coaster!" The frog wiped his brow, sighing. "So boss, should I skedaddle off now? After all, things are wrapped up here on your end, and I've got one heck of a story I wanna share with paps and the boys!"
"Sure… beat it you no good hitchhiker," Naruto chuckled, waving his friend off. The toad saluted, before disappearing in a puff of white smoke.
Sasuke and Gaara soon joined the blonde lying flat out on top of the wall with his other companions, his head resting on Sakura's lap and a satisfied smile on his face. Lee and Shino took up guard positions on either side of them, keeping watch for any enemy ninja. However, the only people they saw around were villagers crowding around the high wall to try and catch a glimpse of the young boy who saved them, and the Jonin rushing about to engage the invaders on different fronts. In spite of the victory here, there was still a battle to a war to be won.
The sky was now clear of the black clouds, Eclipse having been knocked off of his high horse thanks to the force of Naruto's attack. The shockwave had also knocked down a few more buildings, but this was only collateral damage compared to the lives Naruto was able to save with his victory.
"Congratulations on your win, Uzumaki," Gaara smiled down at his friend, kneeling down to shake hands with the victor. Of course, despite the slack in the response, the red haired Suna Genin was satisfied either way. "You had a big victory today…"
"Yeah… but it's not over…yet..." Naruto panted, glancing over his shoulder and towards the horizon. His friends noticed he was trying to catch a glimpse of the arena, but was unable to from his position. "We still have… Orochimaru… and Hikita… to deal with…"
"We scouted the area," Sasuke stated, slipping his hands into his pockets as he glared over the horizon, watching as explosions from the engagements between Konoha and Sound shinobi began spilling into the Hidden Leaf's streets. "Lord Jiraiya and the Mizukage are fighting Orochimaru alongside the Hokage. The proctor is also fighting with them…"
"Gai-sensei and the others are battling the big enemy ninja in the arena," Lee stated, raising his hand over his brow and staring off into the distance. "That man is especially strong, they can barely handle him…"
"Then… we have to… go help them…" Naruto groaned, trying to get up, but was unable to. He collapsed back into Sakura's lap, his faltering mostly due to the pink haired kunoichi pushing him back down.
"Oh no you don't, mister," Sakura fussed, glaring down at him. "You're too injured to go help. Not to mention you're suffering from incredible chakra exhaustion. You won't be able to move for the rest of the day."
"Oh… lovely…" the blonde muttered. Sakura giggled and pinched his cheek, earning a sultry groan from her boyfriend.
"Don't worry. The others can take care of it."
"W-Wait…" Naruto shook his head and the soreness in his cheek off, and looked around at the others. "Where are Hinata-chan, Kin-chan, and Temari-chan?"
"Temari has gone to find Baki, and relay information to him on the situation," Gaara stated, arms folded as he continued to kneel beside his friend, his stoic look still in play. "The Kazekage was really Orochimaru in disguise… and the whereabouts of our father is currently unknown…"
"It's most likely that the Sannin killed the Kazekage before the start of the Third Stage of the Exams, and took his place in order to get close to the Hokage," Shino said, glancing over his shoulder towards the others, his glasses flashing. "He's using the invasion as a cover up to strike at his main objective…"
"The Third Hokage," Lee frowned, clenching his fists angrily. "What an underhanded move!"
"Kin is with Kiba at the moment," Sakura stated, looking over in the direction of the arena, which she could see smoking on the horizon with the huge barrier Orochimaru's minions had set up in plain sight. The explosions seen coming off of the building indicated that a major battle was currently taking place in that general direction. "She's helping to revive our friends, and protect the injured in the med bay. It's really the best thing we Genin can do in this situation against formidable Chunin from the Sound Village. She'll head back home to check on Isaribi and the others later…"
"W-What about Hinata?" Naruto asked with concern.
"She's gone after Miki-san," Sakura replied. "She said she wanted to fight her… badly…" The kunoichi visibly trembled, along with Lee and Gaara, who were also there when the purple haired girl impulsively ran off. "That look she gave us was scary…"
Naruto chuckled at his other teammate's willingness to step into battle, something she probably picked up from Anko or Zabuza when they were training. Either way, he figured she would be able to handle herself against the swordswoman.
"I wonder how… Anko-sensei is fairing against Hikita…" Naruto murmured, looking around. "You guys help the villagers... I'll be fine here..."
Back at the Arena…
Anko let out a cry of agony when she was punched across the face and sent straight into another wall, disappearing in a blast of dust and a cave in of cement and rubble. Hikita growled and spun around, slashing his sword out and striking Chojuro when he attempted to attack him from behind. The blow from both swords connecting was catastrophic, the shockwave ringing out splitting the ground and sending rubble flying everywhere. However, being the stronger of the two, Hikita sent Chojuro away with just one swipe, a sonic boom ringing out when the anti-gravity from his sword pulsated outwards, and blasted chunks of earth off along with his opponent. The young swordsman bounced along the ground several times, before crashing into the remains of the arena wall.
Pretty much the entire wall encompassing the Chunin Exams main arena had been brought down due to the fight taking place. The only part of the coliseum that was still standing was the main building, which was starting to crumble under the strain of the major battles taking place in and around it.
Hikita staggered back, his body fried in several places with numerous cuts, which started healing the moment he was able to shrug off the last assault made by his opponents. Panting heavily, he glanced around, looking to see Kakashi, deep fried by a Fire Style technique launched by the swordsman, Ao and Kurenai struggle back to their feet. In the wake of the last hour, their battle had carved a huge gap and space in the middle of Konohagakure, the most part of the arena wall knocked over, and the buildings on the other side also demolished.
Gai, who had been sent flying by a Wind Style technique fired by Hikita, pulled himself out of one of the said buildings, and gritted his teeth angrily.
"How unyouthful!" he shouted out at the top of his lungs. "An opponent this strong must receive attacks with dignity, not walk through them!"
At that moment, Asuma's hand popped out of the rubble next to him and crawled out as well, the bearded man bleeding profusely from his head and looking to be in an even worse state then his friend.
"You're just saying that because we're losing," the leader of Team 10 groaned.
Huffing, the scarred swordsman glared around him, scowling at the Jonin who were getting back to their feet.
"This is bad… I'm taking way too much damage from these curs. I'm losing too much chakra from healing constantly," Hikita thought furiously, his wounds healing up completely as he spun around, bringing his sword up, which hummed furiously, more rocks and boulders beginning to levitate around him and provide extra protection. "I may have grossly underestimated these Konohagakure shinobi… thinking I can get to their Kage through them. But they are much stronger then they appear. The sacred stones were supposed to last me out on this one, but they're losing power. I'll need to replace them…"
Just as he was preparing to take down a wounded and staggered Kakashi, Hikita's eyes widened suddenly when he heard a faint whistle on the wind of an incoming, heavy blade heading in his direction. Spinning around, the swordsman swung his weapon at the attacker behind him, his blade slamming hard into that of another's the resulting shockwave exploding out around them and basically disintegrating the levitating rubble.
Holding his ground, Hikita glared into the eyes of a newcomer to the battlefield, and furrowed his brow when he recognized the eyebrow less, masked face glaring back at him.
Executioner's Blade held in a single-handed grip, a recovered Zabuza Momochi glared back into the death stare of his former companion from the Village Hidden in the Mists. Gritting his teeth against the equally strong grapple of the seemingly invincible enemy, the now Konoha swordsman thrust his sword outwards with great effort, and threw Hikita off of him, the man skidding backwards across the earth to a stop, before holding his sword up in defense.
"No-brows-baka… is that you," Hikita asked, his voice raspy and forced as he shared his nick-name with his former comrade.
"Nut-job-kun… it's been too long," Zabuza twirled his sword around and assumed a stance. His other arm, which had been badly damaged in his fight with Kisarabi, was still in bandages and in a sling.
Hikita was about to retort with a smart-ass come back against the man, only to dodge suddenly to the side when a cloud of senbon rained down on top of him. The oversized rogue ninja retreated towards the wall, stopping right next to the rubble that was its remains. Glaring back, he recognized the distinctive masked figure of Zabuza's traveling companion land next to his master, Haku glaring at Hikita from behind the slits of his Hunter-Nin antique mask.
Gritting his teeth, the giant of a ninja suddenly collapsed to his knees and panted heavily in fatigue, looking around to see the Jonin that were present in the area encircle him, and resume defensive stances. Anko was also back up, and joined in the enclave of defenders, all those who had participated in the prolonged battle with the madman barely able to hold their ground due to the wounds they had sustained and the amount of chakra they had used. The only ones that were still able to fight were Gai and Ao.
However, the group of distressed shinobi was soon backed up by the appearance of two more allies jumping down from the arena's main building to join them.
Landing on either side of Zabuza, the two ANBU members Yamato and Yaguo made their presence known, both of them coming to the aid of their allies.
Seeing that he was suddenly surrounded on all sides, Hikita looked around in worry and sweated nervously. Perhaps for the first time since he arrived in this village, he had nothing to laugh or cackle about.
"Perhaps there are too many…"
Furrowing his brow, he stood up, swinging his sword around him before propping it onto his shoulder, a small gust of wind passing him and the defenders of Konoha by. Amidst the exhausted and battered Jonin and the new arrivals, Hikita stood with a smirk.
"You rats put up a better fight then I thought," the man boomed, looking around at their tired yet determined faces. He noted that a lot of them were bleeding profusely, and were bruised up badly, particularly Anko, who had taken a lot of hits to the face that it was bloated with purple bruises. Hikita grinned. "But how long are you going to be able to bluff your way through this battle?"
"Speak… for… yourself," Anko panted, looking the man up and down, as he appeared to be trembling. "You're having… a lot of trouble… standing right there… aren't you?"
"Heh… you got me," Hikita exclaimed, looking around at the ANBU glaring at him. "But don't think I'm going to come quietly…" A trail of smoke suddenly whipped through the air past the Jonin and landed beside the swordsman, Eclipse reappearing beside his leader to back him up. "I don't have time to play games… I've got a schedule to keep..."
Across the village…
Hinata quickly ducked and weaved around unconscious bodies and in between huge slabs of rubble as she avoided getting hit by her opponent's staff. Byakugan blazing at full power in order to predict and precisely capture each one of the blind girl's movements, the Hyuuga retreated little by little under the swipes made by the flailing staff and its bladed, parasol end.
Miki smiled as she progressed forward, following after her opponent, spinning her staff expertly around her as she attacked, one swipe, followed by a thrust then a stab after another. She varied between combinations, keeping her attacks consistent and repetitive to throw off her opponent, hoping to catch her. However, Hinata was proving to be a rather amusing moving target for her, with woman quickly following her over the battlefield.
Spinning her staff above her, Miki thrust it out, the staff extending and flexing as she lashed out at the purple haired girl. Hinata ducked under the first swipe, then leapt over the white haired girl, flipping and lashing out with a kunai to deflect an upward slash. Their weapons whacked against each other as Hinata leapt over and landed a top of a three meter high slab of concrete, rubble from one of the buildings Eclipse had decimated.
Perched on top, Hinata glared down, kunai held forward as she watched Miki spin her staff around her before swiping up at her. The Hyuuga quickly leapt away and off of it, landing a top of a web of wires crisscrossing three stories above the ground, the clothes line supporting the girl when she landed. The member of Team 7 managed to evade the swipe just in time to watch the concrete boulder she was standing on second before have its top get blasted off by the swipe, debris flying everywhere.
Hinata furrowed her brow, watching as Miki leapt up after her and also land on the wires hanging precariously over the destroyed neighborhood.
"She's not just fast… she's incredibly strong…" Hinata thought, blinking as she assumed a stance. "Each of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen possesses insane amounts of physical strength. I shouldn't be surprised…"
Smiling, Miki spun her staff around her again and thrust the tip straight at Hinata. The purple haired girl side stepped and shimmied forward swiftly, striking out with a palm-strike, moving from medium range with the girl to close range. Her strike came in contact with the woman's staff, the bamboo effectively blocking the chakra burst. Hinata pressed forward with precise, swift palm strikes, her attacks being blocked one after the other by Miki's firm defense, her staff spinning expertly in her hands and maneuvering around the Hyuuga's attacks to effectively parry and block every single attempted blow.
Backing up a little, Miki spun her staff around her neck and allowed the bladed end to come slashing down at Hinata from above. The purple haired girl spotted the attempted strike and cross her hands above her, blocking the blade with a chakra burst, only to receive a spinning side kick into her stomach when the blind swordswoman effectively opened her up for a low attack. That kick sent Hinata flying across the web of wire, and straight into the building across from them.
Hinata flew threw wall after wall, before exploding out on the other side. Recovering with a quick spin through the air, the young Genin landed in the middle of the road, skidding to a stop. Assuming a defensive stance she looked up to see Miki leap through the holes she had made and come flying straight down at her, staff held back and ready to strike.
Huffing, the Hyuuga leapt to the side and avoided the downward strike, which created a massive shockwave directed towards the earth space, which detonated like a land mine. The dust that engulfed Miki blocked Hinata's view of her opponent, the Hyuuga attempting to seek her out in the thick of it. All of a sudden, the blind swordswoman came lunging out of the dust and straight for her, the spear weapon thrusting at her with the speed of a bullet.
The Konoha Genin leapt backwards to avoid the staff strike, at the same time kicking up at it and sending it skyward instead of her. Miki staggered forward at the lapse in her strike and giggled, spinning her staff back around and continuing her assault, throwing strike after strike at the back-flipping Hyuuga.
"You're incredibly nimble, Hinata-chan!" Miki exclaimed, slashing out again with the tip end of her spear as Hinata flipped away, before landing at a safe distance. The Hyuuga was visibly scarred and battered from her fight, whereas Miki hardly had a scratch on her. "But you're still way out of your league!"
Spinning on the spot, Miki swiftly came in with a thrust of the base end of her spear and jabbed it into Hinata's chest. The girl blocked it, but the blow sent the Hyuuga flying straight through another wall. When she burst out the other side, the girl unintentionally landed in crossfire between Konoha Shinobi and Sound Shinobi, both sides heatedly engaged in close-quarter battle.
When they saw the girl suddenly explode through the wall, they paused for a moment to see what was happening. A split second later, Miki exploded through the wall as well, chasing after the girl. Hinata reacted quickly and back-flipped up into a standing position to avoid a downward thrust from the girl's spear. The swordswoman quickly reengaged with her target and pursued her with a flurry of spear thrusts and swipes through the air, Hinata blocked them this time with effective palm strikes, her hands a lit with blue chakra.
The Sound and Konoha Ninja effectively broke away and created a path for the two girls going at it, not wanting to get caught up in the furious, staff wielding woman. However, some ninja were rather unfortunate to get too close, and two Sound Ninja ended up being decapitated and three more their chests cut up when Miki went in to strike at Hinata. The Hyuuga girl back-flipped away and landed a distance from the white haired kunoichi, watching her charge at her, staff held back.
With a shout, Miki struck at Hinata's mid-section, the Genin leaping back to avoid the swipe, but getting her jacket slashed open on the retreat.
Successful at staggering the girl, Miki grinned and lunged at her once again, her blade at the end of her staff flashing as it was thrust directly into her opponent. However, the swift Hyuuga managed to side step it at the last moment and, spinning into the white haired girl's range, elbowed her in the chest, and slammed the back of her head into Miki's face. The blow staggered the blind girl back, who clutched her face in surprise.
Seeing her opponent staggered, Hinata spun around and lunged at her, her left palm glowing brightly in chakra, which suddenly formed into the shape of a lion's head.
"Empty Palm: Lions Roar!" the Hyuuga shouted, driving her palm straight into her opponent's stomach. The blow sent a shockwave ringing out, and a blast of wind to lash at both the Konoha and Sound shinobi surrounding the area.
Miki choked out a wad of spit as she was sent flying several feet, but managed to skid to a stop and hold her ground. Gripping her stomach, she looked up towards her opponent, who reassumed a defensive stance, and awaited the next attack. Hinata saw that her opponent had a blood nose, due to her unorthodox head butt, which did not sit into her pattern of attacks. One of the things Anko taught her was that ninja never stuck to their comfort zones, and would often attack unexpectedly.
Sniffing, the blind swordswoman wiped her nose and smiled, swinging her staff around and retracting its length, sheathing it onto her back.
"You're the first person to ever wound me in one-on-one combat, even when I'm only fighting at half my strength," Miki stated, moving her hands around. Still smiling brightly, she instead grabbed the sword at her side, slowly sheathing the blade out of its scabbard. Once she did, a gust of wind whipped out, circulating her like a small tornado. "However… I'm afraid this fight ends here…"
Miki suddenly blurred in everyone's eyes present, and in a flash of movement, the swordswoman suddenly ended up behind Hinata, sword held out in a strike. Twirling it in a single handed grip, she smirked and sheathed it, the Hyuuga suddenly collapsing to her knees when she heard the katana click back into the owner's sheath. A few seconds later, Hinata's Byakugan deactivated, and the girl fell flat over backwards, blood beginning to seep out of a huge gash in her right side.
Sighing, the blind girl turned around and glanced in the direction of her fallen opponent, hand placed on her sword tenderly. When she detected the Sound and Konoha ninja shifting about nervously on the two different sides of the battlefield, the woman's soft look transformed to a rather terrifying glare, and she rounded on the enemy shinobi surrounding her, and instead of focusing on each other, focused on her as a greater threat.
"Do you boys and girls want to quarrel with me?" Miki asked, her katana clicking out of her sheath when she pushed it up with her thumb, the blade exposed flashing dangerously, "Unless you want to end up like this girl lying here… leave!" Her closed eyes opened to reveal cat-like eyes glaring at them dangerously, flashing from light blue to light green.
The Konoha shinobi didn't feel like crossing blades with the swordswoman, and instead chose to high tail it out of there. The Sound Ninja hesitated for a moment, but then retreated from the battlefield to carry on the fight elsewhere. Smiling when she managed to scare them off, Miki slipped her sword back into the sheath and walked over to where Hinata lay in a small pool of blood.
Stopping beside the girl, she looked down at Hinata's palm, empty face to see her looking up in shock. Thankfully she was still conscious, and when she saw Miki tower over her, blinked in shock.
"I… never stood a chance…" Hinata whimpered, furrowing her brow. "I can't beat you…"
"You're still young, Hinata-chan," Miki exclaimed, smiling brightly down at the girl. "You're incredibly strong for someone your age, easily a Chunin level ninja. It's only unfortunate that your opponent had to be me; a person who has had years of experience in combat, coming from a village renowned for its war like ways…" Kneeling down, the blind girl then held her hand over Hinata's wound, and began healing it. Within seconds, her potent life energy managed to seal the girl's wound, and after a minute of going over the young Hyuuga's body, Hinata was sitting up, feeling better then ever. "I may be blind, but I can see that you have a lot of potential as a ninja. In terms of skill and technique, you're close to matching me in straight out hand to hand combat by a paper-thin margin. However, I'm still physically stronger and faster then you…"
"Your technique is flawless," Hinata smiled, rubbing the back of her head as she looked up at the white haired girl, who grinned back at her. "You have no wasted movements whatsoever…"
"It's not as jumpy or flashy as your friend Lee's, but it's still okay…"
Helping Hinata to her feet, Miki turned to take in the scope of the invasion and its results. Her former opponent was also looking around, the outskirts of Konoha from their perspective looking like Arnhem back in 1944. Building were blown wide open, rubble lay all over the place, trees were uprooted, and smoke was bellowing into the atmosphere on the horizon. The sounds of the shinobi war could be heard echoing all around them.
"What's going to come of this day?" Hinata asked with concern, lacing her fingers together.
"By tomorrow, Konohagakure will be back on its feet, and... though it will take some time, will be prospering from this day's events for months to come," Miki explained, glancing round at the Hyuuga. "People grow from experience, and pain helps them to evolve, to become better then what they were before. But it's only how people respond to pain that shapes their future and the future of others, and has a major impact on determining whether they will walk the path of destruction or the path of rebirth. It's hard to put into full perspective, but I can guarantee you this Hinata-chan; after the invasion, Kirigakure and Sunagakure will put aside their differences, and become friends with Konohagakure…"
"H-How do you know that?"
Miki giggled, tapping her nose. "I'm not at liberty to say…"
Back at the arena…
Deep fried with his right arm literally ripped off of him, Orochimaru growled and glared at his two opponents, Mei Terumi and Ryoko Takahashi, who were glaring at him from their side by side position across the roof. Their battle had turned into a real bloody mess, which punched a massive hole in the tiled roof right down into the floor below. However, neither of them considered running, and felt that they should see this fight through and through. Of course, Hiruzen was having the hardest time out of all of them fighting two Kages at once, while Jiraiya and the resurrected Minato were having a hay day on their side.
The Snake Sannin was seething angrily; enraged by the fact that his plans weren't going how he wanted them. The One Tailed Shukaku and its jinchuriki didn't do anything; the Three Tails' battle was forfeited way too early by Naruto, and he was encountering far too much resistance from the Mizukage and Jiraiya to even get to his teacher. In spite of being able to resurrect the Kages to help do battle with his enemies, it wasn't helping him succeed in his mission.
"This invasion was a complete waste of valuable time and resources…" Orochimaru growled, furrowing his brow as he clutched his stump of an arm. "That woman's Lava abilities have sealed up my arm, and I've lost too much chakra to regenerate or shed bodies."
"This fight is over, Orochimaru!" Mei shouted, with her friend smirking beside her and twirling her sword around.
"I've always wanted a Snake doll plushy! I'll have Anko-chan make one out of your skin!" Ryoko giggled evilly, furrowing her brow at the man.
The Sannin sweated nervously and grinned back, assuming another fighting stance. "Don't think that my fights with you are over… I can still kill you…"
"Uhh… no… you can't!" Ryoko scoffed. "You've got one arm and no balls. Don't pretend you can still raise a kunai to us!"
Orochimaru frowned at her, his body radiating with killing intent.
While he was busy glaring his opponents down and Jiraiya was hammering techniques away at Minato like he was a moving punching bag, two rather unlikely people suddenly showed up outside of the barrier. Appearing next to the three ANBU standing by and ready to jump in when and if the barrier falls, they became a tad bit distracted when they saw a young, red haired woman carrying a raven haired girl on her shoulders suddenly appear.
It actually made the whole scene a tad bit more hilarious that they were carrying shopping and she was eating a chocolate bar.
"Hello!" Mia exclaimed.
"Umm…hi!" one of the masked ninja kneeling by the barrier replied. Little Haru waved back, giggling happily.
"Excuse me, ma-am… but this isn't a safe place to be at the moment," the hooded team leader said, turning to the two girls.
"You're right; this isn't a safe place to be!" Mia smiled, flashing her Rinnegan at the ninja and making the Black Ops ninja jump in surprise. "Not when I'm here…"
"Uhh…"
"I was having such a nice day, until some idiot heroes decided to try and jump me while I was out shopping with my baby sister!" Mia said, taking a bite out of her chocolate bar and scowling at the barrier blocking her way. "I have come to make a formal complaint to the Hokage about the lack of proper respect this village's shinobi have to their civilians!"
Apparently... she thinks the ninja that attacked her earlier were Konoha shinobi...
She strolled forward, stopping in front of the purple shield blocking her way. The three ANBU aimed to get her away from it, but hesitated when they felt the heat of the shield singe them, while she got to within an arm's length of it. The Sound Four maintaining the barrier spotted the kunoichi walking up to their chakra made wall, but paid little mind, since they doubted that she could do anything.
"Tsk, it's just a mom and her kid," Sakon smirked. "No need for concern…"
"Not even their ANBU can break through this thing," Kidomaru laughed. "What good is a boring old housewife gonna do?"
"Miss! Stay away from that barrier!" the ANBU with the cat mask shouted, rising to his feet. "If you touch it, you'll burn up!"
"Oh please, this thing?" Mia smirked, knocking her fist against the purple wall, her hand bouncing off of it and singing a bit from the heat, but creating a ripple when she tapped it. "I invented this barrier ages ago while I was sitting in the hot springs and I didn't want guys sneaking in and molesting me. So whenever I visited a resort I put up a shield like this that set perverts on fire if they tried anything. It was funny. My older student called it the Pandora's Box: The Impregnable Purple Barrier, my younger student called it the Purple Prism that-keeps-perverts-out, but I believe they call it the Four Violent Flames Battle Encampment today." She tilted her head as she looked the wall up and down. "It's created by a person when they use their energy to manipulate the particles in the air, and by vibrating them at a high velocity, create a hot shield. Whenever someone comes in contact with it, they burn up as a result of the super heat created by the friction of the fast moving particles. I can create one of these barriers from scratch by using three spoons and a fork!"
Mia giggled and looked back at the ANBU, sticking her tongue out at them. If it weren't for their masks, everyone would be able to see that they were gawking.
"Well… I can create one using any inanimate objects or myself, but these jokers need four people to create one… geez. My teachings have really gone down hill," Mia raised her right hand and pressed it against the side of the barrier. The Sound Four who were watching were now looking at her in silent surprise, seeing as that she was able to touch the chakra wall and not get burnt. "You see, the trick to get through the barrier is to find the 'crease'. The barrier resonates with a high frequency sound too high in pitch for dogs to hear, but all you have to do is create an opposing high frequency sound that effectively cancels it out. It's quite handy to carry around one of those forks that vibrate, a wind chime or a triangle, but I prefer the good old fashion chakra palm!"
Her hand suddenly began to glow a bright blue before changing to the same color as the barrier itself. With a quick twist of her palm, the wall in front of her suddenly shattered, and the shards of purple chakra fell away, exposing not only the Sound Four but everybody else inside the barrier. All of the fighting effectively stopped as soon as Mia deactivated the barrier, leaving the entire airspace on top of the arena's main building effectively open for anything and anyone to walk in.
Smiling brightly, the young woman gave Orochimaru and everybody else the peace sign.
"Peace of cake!"
"Cake! Cake! Cake!" Little Haru cheered, clapping her hands.
"How did she… whe… when did she… huh?" Sakon and the other members of the Sound Four muttered, looking around in shock.
"How did you break through the barrier?" Orochimaru seethed, glaring at the red head and the girl on her shoulders. "The Four Corner Battle Encampment Wall is impregnable!"
"You would think so, wouldn't you girlie?" Mia exclaimed, taking a bite of her chocolate, while looking the man who looked like a poor cross-dresser up and down. "You must have had a pretty lousy teacher to not know that every single element and technique has a weakness."
Hiruzen sweat dropped as he looked at the woman with a rather distraught expression on his face. "Umm… I'm… his… teacher…"
The Snake Sannin grinned, rounding on the newcomers instead, and the ANBU flanking around her. "So… it appears I have met an equal in the Village Hidden in the Leaves in terms of jutsu knowledge and strength. How fascinating. I never knew such a ninja even existed, especially a kunoichi."
"I'm not a kunoichi," Mia snapped back, pulling out another chocolate bar from her pocket, while throwing away the wrapper of her other one. "Hmm… let's see… Butter Finger… hmm… why not! I love peanut butter…" She opened up the bar and began eating it, smirking up at the Sannin who was looking at her oddly now, as was everybody else. Everything just became awkward in a matter of seconds. "I am just a humble, sake, and soup lover, who is looking for a new muse in life. I think I will try… dancing for the next few years. I never was good at dancing though. I'll be sure to get some lessons in and not procrastinate like I did a thousand years ago…"
Orochimaru gritted his teeth impatiently at the ignorance of the woman. However, it was then he noticed that both the woman and the girl on her shoulders had the Rinnegan, the ringed eyes glowing brightly for everyone to see. Blinking in shock at realizing that the ultimate prize was standing right in front of him, the Sannin grinned and took a step towards them, removing his free and still working hand from his stump of an arm and taking a fighting stance.
"So… you possess the eyes of the legendary Sage of Six Paths!" Orochimaru exclaimed, catching Mia's attention. The young woman looked up a bit with a start and her mouth full.
"Wha…?"
"I may not succeed in killing my former master today, but I will be taking those eyes from you!" Orochimaru shouted, before turning towards his bodyguard standing around with slack-jawed look on their faces. "Sakon! Kidomaru! Tayuya! Jirobo! Get them!"
The Sound Four leapt forward on his order and landed in front of Mia and Little Haru, forming hand seals and ready to attack. The Great Sage, seeing them round on her, giggled and held up her right hand, forming an unidentifiable hand sign of her own, and suddenly, a rush of wind and ripple of blue energy starting from her feet, shot out in every direction. The ring of blue encompassed the entire village, and after passing the walls, dissipated.
"Sorry… I can't play today…" Mia giggled. "I just got a manicure. I don't want to ruin my finger nails."
"Spider Web!" Kidomaru shouted, rearing back and trying to spit out his net attack, his targets standing square in his sights. However, the moment he did so, all that came out of his mouth was saliva and nothing else.
Everybody just stopped moving on the spot, when they saw the four armed ninja hock a loogie instead of his white web. Blinking, Kidomaru stepped back in bewilderment.
"Huh?" He tried again.
Nothing…
Then again
Still nothing…
"Why can't I… WHAT'S GOING ON?" He shouted, forming a hand seal and concentrating his chakra. However, when he tried to focus his energy, he had a startling realization. "My chakra… it's…"
"Earth Release: Earth Shaking Palm!" Jirobo tried to attack using a technique of his own, slamming his hand onto the roof to try and collapse the area around Mia and trip her up. However, all that resulted was a loud clap and a sore palm for the poor guy that tried. "Argh! What the heck!"
Tayuya pulled out her flute and tried to play a tune and summon her familiars, but all she got was an annoying whistle. "Hey! What the fuck! Huh?"
"NONE OF OUR TECHNIQUES WORK!" Sakon shouted, forming hand seals and trying to do a simple clone jutsu. "WHAT'S HAPPENING?"
The summoned dead corpses of the Kages also tried to perform techniques, so did Jiraiya, Mei, Hiruzen, and even the ANBU. But after several tries and nothing, everybody was left just standing around and scratching their heads.
"WHAT'S GOING ON YOU IDIOTS?" Orochimaru shouted, looking around at his lackeys. "EXPLAIN!"
"Isn't it obvious?" Mia asked. "I simply nullified within the range of the Village Hidden in the Leaves everyone's ability to use ninja techniques. If you guys won't play nice, then I won't let you use ninjutsu at all!" The woman waved her finger at all of them as if she were their mother scolding them, which was pretty funny. "Shame on you!"
Everybody was stumped.
Within seconds of saying that, a sudden uproar of shouting and yelling echoed across the entire village, with ninjas all round complaining about their inability to use any techniques whatsoever. The fighting stopped, and the warring sides began questioning what was going on and demanded the other side some answers as to this strange phenomenon.
It was quite a pain in the ass for all those fighting on the frontlines when they suddenly couldn't use any ninjutsu and genjutsu. People who were running up walls or hanging from ceilings suddenly fell flat to the ground when their chakra vanished and weren't able to hold them up. Even the Jonin fighting Hikita down below paused abruptly when their attacks dissipated in mid execution; fire balls vanishing and snakes just turning to dust. Even the summons unexpectedly vanished from the battlefield.
Hikita was fuming that he couldn't do anything, his gauntlet losing its energy.
"How the heck did you do that?" Mei Terumi asked, looking over at the red haired woman responsible for the unexplainable occurrences.
"I am the master of the impossible!" Mia proudly stated, finishing off her butter finger chocolate and throwing the wrapper away, dusting her hands down. "Because I have such a huge chakra level, I simply directed it outwards in a small pulse and canceled out everybody else's chakra within range. I can nullify anyone's attacks or abilities, since I possess every single nature type. But this is only temporary. Everybody should be able to use their techniques in the next…" She looked down at her wrist but realized she didn't have a watch. "Oh… hang on…" She looked up towards the sky and determined the position of the sun. "Five hours. However, I will keep taking away your ninjutsu privileges until you start behaving!" She pointed at the Sound Four, looking at her, confounded.
"This is… ridiculous…" Kidomaru blanched.
"Oh… this is perfect!" Ryoko chuckled. Throwing away her sword, which had gone limp, and pulling out from her pouch a couple of brass knuckles, she slammed her fists together. She stepped towards Orochimaru, grinning wildly with an aura of killing intent wafting off of her. "Now that we can't use chakra whatsoever, its fair game all round! I can just beat the living snot out of you instead!"
"Oh… that's right!" Mei spun back around towards the Snake Sannin, also holding up her fists. "He's injured and weak, and relies primarily on ninjutsu for his strength. He's vulnerable!"
Orochimaru backed off fearfully, the Sound Four accompanying him in his step down. The three Kages that were summoned by the Snake Sannin, though it took a minute longer then the other techniques, suddenly crumbled away into dust, their bodies returning to the earth, and revealing the sacrificed individuals that were given to create them. When those obstacles were removed, every single ninja on top of the arena building, Jiraiya, Hiruzen, the Mizukage and the ANBU, focused their attention on Orochimaru.
Backing up at the sight of the approaching enemy, Sakon turned towards his master nervously.
"Retreat?"
"That would be best," Orochimaru nodded in agreement.
"GET EM'!" Jiraiya shouted, sounding his war call.
Immediately, the Sound Four and the Sannin turned tail and fled, with Ryoko, Mei, the ANBU and Jiraiya chasing after them. In spite of not being able to use chakra, the ninja could still jump far and run fast, meaning that those who ran first got a head start.
"Hey! Get back here cowards!" Ryoko shouted, diving off of the building after them.
Watching them run, Mia shook her head in amusement and placed her hands on her hips. Little Haru was giggling excitedly as she watched the chase game going on and wanted to join in, but her big sister held her back. Relieved that it was over, the Third Hokage collapsed to the roof and sat down, removing his helmet and wiping his brow, while more ANBU showing up on the scene (albeit lots of trouble clambering up the walls) surrounded him for his protection.
"Some people never grow up…" Mia giggled, pulling out an apple from her pocket and taking a bite. She then walked up to the Kage, the ANBU parting to allow the distinguished sage the privilege to talk to the village leader. "Now, Hokage-sama… I have a complaint to make…"
TO BE CONTINUED…
Omake:
It was a nice quiet day up in Naruto's estate, the main loungeroom currently occupied by Isaribi, Hinata, Ryoko, Haku and Kin. After a long day out of work, the five individuals felt a nice, relaxing day, spending quality time with each other was the most healthy thing to do. While Isaribi and Kin were happily watching TV, which was featuring a movie entitled Princess Gale: Warrior of the North starring Yukie Fujikaze, Hinata, Ryoko and Haku were playing a game... well... unlike the usual boardgames that were sold at every convenient and retail store out there, the residents of the Naruto Estate had a very different idea of how to play games.
At that moment, the three of them were locked in a desperate monopoly of drinking. A snakes and ladders board was used as the basis of the game, with scrabble plates used as chess pieces, shots of sake used as checkers... or... players, and the battleships taken out of the battleship game were... what appeared to be the houses in monopoly.
Rolling the dice, Ryoko grinned and took three scrabble pieces and lined them up beside a shot glass.
"Eight in a row, scrabble spells "kunoichi", E6, everyone drink!" the swordswoman exclaimed, taking a shot.
"You sunk my battleship!" Hinata shouted, taking a shot of sake and downing it. She giggled and wiped her lips. "Scrabble piece D climbs up the ladder!"
"This game makes no sense whatsoever," Haku groaned, shaking his head.
"My turn!" Hinata exclaimed, picking up the monopoly money beside her and tossing it onto the board. "Dealer places fifty monopoly money! That means your scrabble ship goes down snake lane! Pay up!"
"Everyone drink!" Ryoko took another shot.
"Why drink... I mean? What is... shouldn't you... this game... UGH!" Haku threw his arms in the air. "I will never understand you people!"
"YAHTZEE!" Ryoko cheered.
"Hey, here's a hint Hinata," Kin called over, pointing down at the board. "Take the four scrabble pieces and line them up to the battleship, you'll get a straight flush for another shot!"
"Oh... good eye," the Hyuuga exclaimed, moving a shot glass along the board. "You owe me six in a row."
"SERIOUSLY! HOW THE HELL DO YOU PLAY THIS GAME?" Haku shouted, now getting fed up of not knowing what the hell he was doing.
At that very moment, Mia came bounding into the house through the doors. Humming happily, she then hopped over to where the boy and his girl companions sat, and leaned over to check out their boardgame. Tilting her head, the red head smiled when she recognized the game.
"Oh! Another game of Battleship Snakes and Scrabble Shots," she piped.
"Yeah... and it's getting good," Hinata smiled.
"Why are there three boards..." Ryoko groaned, the number of shots she had taken starting to take their toll.
"Don't quit now, Haku is so far ahead!" Mia exclaimed.
"I'm winning?" the boy looked down, scratching his head.
Mia giggled and twirled on the spot, walking around the small group. "Hey! Has anyone seen Naruto-kun?"
"Oh, I think he's out in the hotsprings Mia..." Isaribi stated, pointing over her shoulder.
"Thank you!" Singing happily, the ever cheerful Sage of Six Paths bounded down the hallway and headed for the outdoor baths, leaving the kunoichi and a distraught Haku to their game.
"Five scrabble pieces buys one battleship," Ryoko said.
"And Haku wins!" Hinata shouted, both she and the swordswoman throwing their arms in the air. "YAHTZEE!"
"Yes! I won!" Haku laughed, jumping to his feet. "Yeaaahh... wait... how the hell did I win...?"