Yes! The battle for Konoka is now! This is where everyone's true colors are shown, and where their true allience is made or braked.
Itachi: It is also where dry humor and aweful melodrama fight it out for chapter supremacy.
...Sure. Anyways, I was going to make this THE final chapter, but it became to long with so much happening I have to give out one more to wrap things up. I have to thank all my readers for sticking around for so long dispite the errors found throughout the story (I want to fix it, but I just don't have the time), and this chapter may be no diffrent (because my mind was at so many diffrent places and there was a lot of procrastination...). And there is still the fact of "What happened when Naruto wasn't here?" Well I'm planning a spinnoff story called:
(Dun dun dun DUN!)
'The Marvelous Misadventures of Sasuke!' Staring the Uchiha brothers! It's still in planning, so no real details can be told yet. And Lastly, I would like to thank XiaBubbleQueen, Ichigo Mirai, flame55, and KMT for their constant support for my story. Without them, I may not have had the patience to finish. Plus I became quite addicted to revews.
Itachi: Don't worry, there's rehab for that.
Anyways, hopefully everyone can enjoy the chapter. So without further ado, I present...
Ch. 16: FINAL BATTLE; The Fate of Konoha
The crowd continued to cheer, more than ready for more entertainment that the ninja were sure to bring. The proctor gave a huge grin as he called out the next combatants.
"Well all righty then! It is time for the next battle! Please come down Temari of the sand village…."
And she corked-screwed jumped from the high levels of the stadium and glided to her spot.
"… And our own Ino Yamanaka!"
As she jumped down with cheering support of the village, the proctor gave a smirk. "Now ready? FIGHT!"
…Meanwhile….
The sound Kunoichi Kin looked down from the arena rooms from under the stands.
'This fight would be a joke. As for my own….'
Flashes of his fight and their last encounter sort of haunted her. She might have had a chance if it was that spandex wearing freak, but this guy…
She shuddered. 'He must not be human.'
Things became quiet except for her own thoughts. She closed her eyes and wondered on how in the world she would win her fight… then noticed that it really was quiet. No sound of the cheering crowd, the coming of jutsus or battle. Kin shot her eyes open and saw nothing out of the windows.
Only total darkness.
'N-no… He can't be here. Please say I passed out-."
And two fists picked her up, spun her around and pined her to the wall. The sound nin struggled to look at her attacker, heart slowly filling with hate and fear as she spat out his name; "Narachi."
The cold glare of the gas mask looked at her. "You… Now I know that feeling when I saw you and your friends. It came right off your teacher. Orochimaru."
Her heart skipped a beat. How did he know?
"I sent a spy to watch over the two of you twenty-four-seven over the last few months." Naruto continued, holding on harder to the struggling Kin. "Yet the only thing I don't know are his plans. It would be in your best interest to tell me, because whatever it is could be disastrous for us all."
She smirked. "Of course it will. Orochimaru will rain a doom upon this place and have his own revenge. And Zaku and I will be at his side, proud to be his weapons."
Naruto shook his head as he let go of her.
"You poor deluded fool. You think you are important enough to him to even be considered as his tool. Once he gets what he wants, you and any other would be discarded like trash. He would gladly kill you without a second thought if it meant furthering his own goals."
Now it was Kins turn to pin him to the wall, screaming into his face "That's not true! He saved me when I was little when my village was attacked! When my family…."
"And who do you think started it?"
"I don't know… but he's a hero! He rescued me." Her mind wandered off a bit and when her focus returned the guy was gone, replaced by a log.
The mad cheers returned as the shadows disappeared, quickly became defining as she returned to the window as she finished watching the current fight. 'What's with that guy, and did he threaten me, or was it really just a warning? But what does he care and know? Orochimaru is like a father, and I shall still stand by his side.' Yet for some reason, she felt a little unsure now…
…Back in the Arena…
Ino stood behind a tree for cover and to catch her breath. Whatever she threw at Temari didn't work, she couldn't get close to land a hit, and her Mind Transfer Jutsu wasn't fast enough to hit, plus that girl already saw it once so she can anticipate it! So, things were not going well. 'Ohhhh, if only I listened more to my dad during our training….'
Temari stood at the other end of the arena without a single scratch and called out; "Hey, are we still fighting? 'Cause this is getting really sad now…"
And Ino jumped from her position and dashed to her opponent.
"Oh please." Temari continued, getting bored. She didn't even bother opening up her fan as she swung it at Inos head, who in turn didn't dodge. But the attack sailed right on through!
"A clone!?"
Five more appeared and ran in different directions as Temari opened her fan. "Enough with these games, it's time I put an end to this right now!" With a huge wave of the titanic fan blew right through the clones until it found the real one and knocked her out.
The proctor waited a bit before he called its end. "This anti-climatic battle is finally over. Think I almost nodded off a bit too. Err…TEMARI IS THE WINNER! Now the battle between Garra and Sasuke Uchiha! … As soon as the Uchiha shows…" He finished as Garra appeared from behind in a cloud of sand, starting to creep out the man.
"I'm right here." A voice called from high on top of the stadium, and with a jump while being followed with swirling leafs was Sasuke.
"Love to make a bit of an entrance hmm? And just how long were you up there anyways, because all the stuff that's going on is…you know…here."
"Just got here. I was a bit busy dealing with some family secrets."
The proctor had a bit of a shine in his eye when Sasuke said it. "You don't say… Anyways, the fight must go on. NOW IS EVRYONE READY FOR SOME ACTION?! The next match starts now! FIGHT!!!"
The crowd cheered in frenzy as this battle seemed like the one they where waiting for and without warning Sasuke went at it. In a dash towards Garra, Sasuke jumped in the air and spun upside down delivering a kick to the sand village nin, for it to be blocked by a pillar of sand. This repeated a few times with the same effect until Sasuke decided it was time to change tactics.
With a few back flips, he got enough ground to use "Fire technique: Blaze of Glory." In a few hand signs, Garra was engulfed in flame and heat as Sasuke held the jutsu for a while. When it finally ended, Garra and his sand were glass with shock etched across its face. "Not all that tough, hmm? If I knew it was going to be this easy-."
His gloating was cut short when a hand made of sand and stone grabbed Sasuke and tossed him in the air, however he wasn't surprised in the least. He only regained himself with a back flip, landed on the ground and continued his attacks to no avail. Garra only hid behind his sand and counterattacked when given the chance as the Uchiha didn't let his own guard down and kept moving.
"Damn, none of my attacks are making it! How can I pierce through his defenses…. That's it!" Running around the sand nin and up towards the wall and hanging there for a moment, lightning formed around Sasuke's hand as he yelled out "CHIDORI!"
…
Garra knew what was going to happen, so as quickly as he could, he formed walls and a cocoon of sand around himself for the utmost protection while starting out his own most powerful technique.
…
Naruto stood upon the sidelines, the demon fox inside becoming restless.
'What is it with you? Calm down, you're making me fidgety.'
'There's a demon out there. I can smell it, feel it. It's coming out, and excited about it. I don't know when, but it's soon and willing to make a big entrance.'
However, the boy disregarded the paranoid creature as he became fixated on the fight as Sasuke hopped on the wall and created the lightning attack ('I need to learn how to do that.') as Garra made his walls. Then off like a bullet, the Uchiha shot off the wall, dodging and weaving around the obstacles as he closed in onto the ball that held Garra…
When the attack hit, everything was dead silent. Naruto even found himself holding his breath as a small voice aroused from the middle of the field. Softly enough but quickly grew was this voice: "Blood…? My blood? MY BLOOD!!" Garra's screams of pain, fear, and a bit of disbelief shook the ground of the stadium and as if one cue ninjas with sound symbols on their headbands jumped from parts of the crowd as bystanders or Anbu and as Naruto's eyes glided up as he watched them spring into action towards the Hokages and…Orochimaru?
"So the snake planed for this to happen?"
'Keep focused brat! The other demon, or rather his vessel, is escaping!'
'But the Hokage-!'
'So what? Everyone here will die anyway!'
Naruto screamed at himself. 'Screw it. Call me a hypocrite, but now I know what I have to do now. Save these people, from what I seen they deserve a second chance.'
'So I waited this whole time to for a blood bath just to get nothing?'
Naruto's eyes watched Orochimaru and the Hokage talk, both in a fighting stance.
'I wouldn't say that.'
…
Kin ran to the hospital to get Zaku to get ready for the fight. 'That slob is probably sleeping the fight away. It's not like he's still wounded, and we have a mission to finish with that one boy.'
She ran to his room and kicked in the door. "Hey Zaku! Get out-." She stopped herself when she saw him being held up by the neck by Kabuto.
"And my job just gets easier." He said with a smirk, holding a scalpel.
"What the?"
"Orochimaru needs some sacrifices. You two happened to get the raw deal in this."
She shook her head. "This is some sort of sick joke. And what the hell do you mean sacrifice…"
Zaku felt the grip around his neck loosen, and with a kick to Kabutos groin freed himself with a gasp. "Come on Kin, run!" And grabbing his partners arm, made their way out of the hospital leaving Kabuto to weep to himself muttering "Damn you…."
Once outside, Kin hit Zaku with her hardest question; "Zaku, what exactly happened in there a few moments ago?"
He was quiet for a while. "Kin… Orochimaru planned all along for our whole team to become sacrifices. We were the weakest of them all, so he decided to make the best of his trash to fuel some sort of forbidden jutsu for when he fought this village's leader. I found out when I read Dosus diary a day or so before he was on the bad end of Garra's five second fatality. It told of a weird suspicion of his, but I thought he was always paranoid, that we were to be used to summon this villages past hokages to fight against the current one if things didn't go Orochimaru's way. Kabuto proved it right."
Kin was speechless. She couldn't believe Orochimaru would do such a thing, not him! Tears slowly swelled up in her eyes as her mind tried to take in the fact, but the reality of it all came back as the sound of crashing walls and homes erupted as the summoned giant three-headed snake appeared to help with the Leafs destruction.
"Then what do we do now?" She asked, felling frightened for once in so many years.
Zaku grinned. "We take out another one of Orochimaru's assets in this fight; the sand brat Gaara. He needs to be repaid for Dosu and it would send a big 'F.U.' to our previous leader. It shouldn't be that hard, I mean, what could possibly go wrong?"
…Outside of Konoha…
Zetsu sat in the forest with a look of shock on his black and white face. After three months of surveillance just waiting for the right time to tell the rest of the team it was a good time to attack and capture Itachi and the demon brat, the last thing he expected was a full out war in the middle of the village.
"Crap. Now we have to tell the rest of the Akatsuki to postpone the whole thing." His black half scoffed at the idea.
"Please. The whole place is in chaos, now's the best time to go in! The others have their own fun all the time, now it's our turn. And even if we can't bring out the Uchiha, we can still at least have a fight or two."
The white side thought for a moment, but before he could say his answer, Itachi appeared before Zetsu and sucked him into the Tsukuyomi world in order to give a complete resignation of his membership to the Akatsuki, which meant full out torture and a warning to never look for Naruto and himself again.
Afterward, when Zetsu finally came around, he was tied and left at the organizations doorstep.
…In the forest of Death…
Sasuke, along with Sakura, Shikamaru, and Ino, perused Garra who began to transform into the form of a hideous creature that laid inside him.
Throughout, they encountered Sound nin, slowly picking off their numbers in an attempt to stall the children until Sasuke remained.
"Sasuke…Uchiha!" Garra bellowed. "You..HARMED ME… I will…Make you PAY."
Sasuke didn't even bother with a retort. He pulled out a few Kunai and tossed them for it to be blocked by Garra's transformed arm and sent back. Sasuke dodged and tried to give another attack, but it was obvious that Garra was forgetting about their battle, instead he talked to himself.
"Mother…I need you…I been a good boy, so very good… I need you…"
Sasuke just stood against a tree, with fatigue setting in after plenty of battles and trying to survive in-between.
'At the rate this is going, this psycho will kill me. The only option now is to get enough energy for one last Chidori and end it all here…' He looked at Garra, trying to build up energy but stopped half way through, because Garra gave out his final transformation.
While he was muttering about his "mother," sand was gathering all around. And a few thousand tons began to pile up on him all at once…
…Meanwhile…
Naruto tried to fight his way to the Hokage as he and Orochimaru fought, the light barrier long arouse around them. The masked boy used all his tricks to try to force his way through, but there was too much fighting to pass, like that of an all out war packed into that one stadium.
Naruto couldn't really move. Every turn had someone with a kunai or attack that was to kill another crossed his path, forcing him to defend, making him fell claustrophobic. He simply couldn't take it.
'You know,' Mused the Kyuubi with a grin, 'There's one way to clear out this whole area, or at least stop the fighting for a moment. The question is, are you ready to give the shock?'
Naruto knew what the fox meant. It was to release the demonic energy, scare people to stop, and help the Hokage who was still the father Naruto never had. And at the risk of everyone hating him again? To relive being the child that they tortured? Despite his power, the very thought made him feel very much like the helpless child of before.
Yet Sarutobi, the Hokage, needed help.
'Well, are you going to do it?'
'I'll do it. Maybe it would drive the sound out. Or force me to kill everyone in self defense.'
'Whatever. I just want to flex my power, and see if it reminds them of what terror really is.'
Naruto started to concentrate on the strength deep within his stomach, feeling the demons power course though his veins and beyond, feeling the power burning his flesh a bit as a huge flair of energy surrounded his body, violently throwing everyone within fifteen feet away.
The pure power that surged from Naruto lifted loose rocks and his cloak, while he tore off his gas mask.
"People of Konoha!" Naruto roared as feral features formed on his face, "Your demon fox has returned!"
…Meanwhile with Zaku and Kin…
The two ex-sound ninja ran though the forest until they caught a trail of battles that screamed 'A pissed Garra was here.'
"Zaku, I'm starting to have second thoughts." Kin muttered. "Orochimaru said he was one of his strongest weapons ever. He's possibly stronger than Orochimaru himself. He killed Dosu! In five seconds! How can we beat that?"
"Oh Kin. Oh so simple Kin. Dosu was caught off guard. Orochimaru wanted to hype us up that this single kid has some sort of 'ungodly' super powers and his vision of a better future once we get rid of this village is nothing but a load of garbage. I bet that Garra is really a wimp who hides behind a stuffed bear because he heard the wind outside his house! I mean come on-." And a pile of sand toppled over Zaku.
Kin's eyes followed the trail of sand to see it was only the very tip of a tail to some sort of gigantic raccoon at the top to barley be made out was a limp Garra and the Uchiha flipping around clearly being nothing more but a fly to the monstrosity.
Pulling Zaku from underneath, Kin gave a sarcastic "Yep. A real wimp. I mean 'what could possibly go wrong?'"
He just glared. "Shut up."
…
Sasuke tried to find a hole in the creature's defenses but everything he tried was in vain, especially when he got swatted by a lazy backhand. With heavy breaths, he tried to run, but was grabbed by the demon.
"Ya know kid," The creature spoke clearly; "I could kill you just by squeezing my fingers, but that fight was just pathetic. So much, killing would do you good. So you better just run home or-."
And in a flash, the creature howled in pain. "OWW, my EYE. Oh god my eye. Who just stabbed me?" A kunai was clearly visible and in the pain and confusion, the sand demon dropped Sasuke who fell onto a tree limb.
"What happened?"
And from beside him a long haired girl screamed out "Not so tough now are ya?!" as another ninja flew up and stabbed the eye again ("AGAIN WITH THE GODDAMN EYE!!!").
Sasuke was puzzled as he looked at his two unlikely allies. "…Alright, I'll bite. Why are you helping me?"
Kin chuckled as they dodged an arm that came crashing down from above them. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm only doing this as payback."
As the Uchiha landed somewhere else, he muttered. "Risking your life against a monster for revenge? Makes perfect sense to me." He finished with a chuckle.
…
Naruto stood in the middle of the crowd, a torrent of energy amongst the men who felt like ants in his presences. It took a while, but finally one sound nin said: "Wait…Is that the demon brat-(BAM)-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaAaaAaaaaaaa…."As Naruto punched the guy into the sky.
Needless to say, this had a big impact upon everyone.
"The monster is back!"
"He's going to wreck his unholy vengeance upon us!"
"Don't hurt me! Take my neighbor! He's a douche!"
"Game over man, game over!" And most of the ninjas scrambled to leave the stadium.
Naruto rubbed his temples in exasperation. 'I can't believe I was afraid of these people.' However, that didn't mean that there wasn't a few who thought they could make a difference and take on Naruto. One of them was a leaf nin with long silver hair with his headband as an eye patch attack from behind screaming "Lightning blade!"
Naruto turned in time grabbing the man's outstretched hand and pinned him against a nearby wall. "For the record, you may not want to shout 'I'm attacking behind you' in the future."
"What do you care." He muttered with his face against the wall. "I remember you. Just little kid, and I never thought you were, or would ever become, a monster."
"Then why didn't you ever do anything?" Naruto hissed. "Anyways, I'm not here for revenge. As stupid as it seems, I was looking for a second chance. I realize now how much I outgrown this whole village and their petty hate, but the man I ever thought of as a father is probably fighting for his life right now and I don't feel like wasting my time with every-."
"Naruto…I believe you. I feel guilty for letting what happen to happen. There are plenty of others who are the same, and we never expected that things would escalate like it did. I'm…sorry. I really am."
"…Who are you?"
"Kakashi Hatake."
"Then do me a favor. Stay out of my way or help me, if you can."
Naruto let go of Kakashi and made his way to the energy cube that held Orochimaru and the Hokage. As for the leaf ninja, he knew that this news had to spread and to make sure that no one would bother the angered youth.
…
Zaku, Kin, and Sasuke dodged and weaved around the monster as he launched sand and blasts of air. Kin ran behind the creature and caught up with her partner and asked exhaustedly "Alright Zaku. We managed to get it angry enough to have it kill its own mother in blind rage. Now what?"
"I have absolutely no idea."
"WHAT?!"
"What did you expect, were fighting a demon and I was in the moment. Plus I thought there would be an obvious target we could hit to destroy it, or have another plan on the fly."
"I swear if that thing doesn't kill you first…"
However, she couldn't finish that thought as another limb came crashing down, and the creature finally wore out both the sound girl and Uchiha and had it in its grasp.
"I AM GOING TO HAVE SUCH FUN KILLING YOU BRATS!" The creature roared as he tightened his grip. "NOW WHERES THE OTHER?"
…
Zaku stood at the top of a tree as he watched the creature yell at his captives. "Damn I should have thought this out better. Now there has to be some weak spot…" And he saw Garra's limp form at the head.
'Wait a second… That Garra punk…' He blinked a few seconds before a voice popped into his head.
'Hey, I'm Garra. I'm all limp, and you're not. I'm so cool; I can kick all your asses in my sleep. That's because you're not me. Garra. What are you looking at BOY? You think you can take me on. Right punk? RIGHT?'
"Grrrrrrrr…"
…
"WHERE IS HE?!"
"Really?" Gasped Sasuke. Things were going south fast, and when all hope was lost….
Zaku shot out of the forest using his wind cutter technique to rocket himself through the air.
"Damn it Garra, STOP MOCKING ME!!!" and he head butted the unconscious Garra awake. Just like that, the creature fell apart and the four kids fell, only having the trees underneath to break their fall.
…
Naruto stood before the cube, helplessly watching the two inside fight. No matter what he tried to do, nothing could penetrate the shield.
'Come on,' The fox nudged on, 'there must be some way to break this thing.'
Naruto could agree, but using a constant flow of chakra was taking its toll on the boy as fatigue set in.
'Fox, I tried all my tricks. All we get is my shadows to disappear, and your power to be dispelled. There isn't anything physical, or large enough to break this thing.'
'Brat. Turn your head.'
Naruto did and he saw a mammoth sized three-headed snake terrorizing the town, and he grinned.
…Inside the Cube…
The Hokage and Orochimaru had reached a stalemate. A sword was plunged through the Hokage right below the lungs, barley missing the heart while the demon of death reached through his body slowly ripping out Orochimaru's soul.
"Orochimaru, I swear as long as I draw breath, I will defeat you."
"Empty words for a senile…old…man?" Orochimaru looked outside and the Hokages eyes followed to see the snake flying right towards them, and they couldn't even move out of the way.
…
Naruto quickly followed as the monstrosity crashed through the barrier and vanish in a massive puff of smoke. 'I still can't believe it worked.'
'Especially saying you just could of just busted up through the ceiling of the building to get to them.'
'Wait, I could of what?'
Naruto finally landed in the middle of the battlefield as the smoke cleared, and he saw the Hokage and Orochimaru still in the middle of their struggle, however now the sound four elites by their masters side (since the barrier was broken through and none of them had the time or energy to make a new one) each was ready to defend him from the demon boy. However, they didn't need to.
The Hokage gasped for breath as exhaustion sat in. Even Orochimaru was starting to lose it as his soul slowly slid out ever slightly.
The Hokage gasped as he fought to draw breath; "My student, I know I may not be able to defeat you here and now, but I can take away one of the few things you love most. Your arms, so you may never use another jutsu again." With a swift cut of the hand, the Demon that he summoned did the same over the bit of soul it grabbed and vanished.
For a moment, no one knew what the point was. Then Orochimaru's arms throbbed clearly to those who saw as he screamed bloody murder. "Get me out of here!" He shouted to his elites.
They all gathered up and all the sound swiftly retreated, but the Leaf nin and Naruto tried to stop Orochimaru.
"You bastard!" Shouted the boy, who tried to use his powers to stop or kill the fiend but ultimately couldn't. He was now completely out of energy, so he turned his attention to the 3rd Hokage who was still standing up as eerily like a statue. Naruto slowly approached him with fear he was far too late in his attempt at a rescue. "Hokage…Old man, are you all right?" These few words seemed to snap Sarutobi into reality (at a price), as Naruto had to catch him as he collapsed…
