INTRODUCTION
Welcome back to the End of Innocence. As always i begin by stating that I do not own Naruto.
THANK YOU
A special thanks to all those who reviewed my previous chapter: ZeroTail29; InARealPickle; Gravenimage; xDARKNESS; Christina322; Kushina's Truth of Hell; MyHikari; Diamond Man; Sasuke K; goldone5; charles cdv; Shan117; The Flying Lion and LoveOfYourLife.
RESPONCES
ZeroTail29 - Glad you liked the chapter. i hope you enjoy what I have in mind for the final battle with Naruto. I'm sure you'll be pleased.
InARealPickle - Oh! You think Konoha's in trouble? My friend you have yet to see how much trouble they're in Lol!
Gravenimage - Thanx.
xDARKNESS - Lol! Well, that was unexpected! But i no homo you too bro! LoL! I'm glad the action has bee working fro you so far. But I'm planning to ramp things up even more so stay tuned!
Christina322 - LMAO! Betraying the manga huh! Well, if that is not high praise then I know not! I thank you my dear. As for the pacing and flow it is something that is paramount in my tale as well as planning out every thing from beginning to end. Fun fact: I never plan things out on paper before I write. I keep it all in the old brain. Lol! I'm glad you enjoy my depiction of the NS development. I know it was slow but I was betting on it being more satisfying after the wait. Hope to hear from you again and enjoy!
Kushina's - I think this be the shortest review you've ever written Kushina. (Not that I pay attention to those things. :.:)Glad you liked it dear!
MyHikari - Lol! It's funny how so few of you are asking what that's all about. But in time, that too shall reveal itself. Oh, and things aren't horrifying...not yet. Heh Heh!
Diamond Man - Lol! I'm used to you going off and talking about whatever inspires you DM. It's cool. Lol! Glad you like things but I warn you, I'm only warming up. What I got planned, is far bigger than this.
Sasuke K - Ok, I get it. But here's the thing, to say they now have a brother/sister relationship is not something you can say "just happened". I would have had to shown that a sibling relationship had developed and i didn't do that. In my story the Naruto / Hinata relationship is one of mutual understand and friendship. They are just not close enough to be like siblings.
goldone5 - Cliffhangers are awesome! Thier like candy! SWEEEEET! Lol! Isn't it funny that a week after i introduce a character with undetectable chakra, Kishi then does the same thing. Makes you wonder who's copying who doesn't it? Lol! And yes, I have plans for her.
charles cdv - Thanx
Shan117 - Thanx. And the Rock Lee chapters are ones I am especially proud of and I'm glad you loved them. And yes, I do have a plan for each and every thing to come. Some of the ideas i've had from the very beginning while others were developed as I wrote. But I think it's all starting to come to gether well.
The Flying Lion - Thanx.
LoveOfYourLife - I post weekly. Except for last week. (which I will explain shortly) I'm happy that you've found my story to be compelling and I hope you love it all the way to it's conclusion.
MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR
Ok, so here is chapter 24. I apologize for not releasing a chapter last weekend. I had a bit of a family emergency that took up my time. Hopefully I will be able to stick to my schedule from here on. So enjoy and please remember to leave me a review of my work. Thanx!
Naruto's fist crashed into the Akatsuki ninja's chin with incredible force, knocking him out cold instantly. He then quickly pulled a kunai from his belt and blocked the sword being swung directly at his throat by another Takatsuki ninja. While he was stuck in fight for dominance with this ninja, two more attacked from behind him. Realizing the danger Naruto concentrated and then released a powerful blast of wind knocking everyone back and to the ground.
Before they could recover Naruto kicked one attacker in the head, picked up his unconscious body and threw it at another ninja, knocking them both away. The third ninja ran up behind him, only to see Naruto vanish before his eyes. The ninja then felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck and fell to the ground. Naruto had used his speed to get around behind him and knocked him out.
He quickly looked around to see all of his comrades locked in one battle or another. Choji, his father Choza and several other members of their clan were using their Super Multi Size Technique to enlarge themselves to fantastic proportions. In that form they began swatting Akatsuki ninja like flies as they fought through their seemingly endless numbers.
Naruto could also see the other clone of himself, as well as Iruka, Guy and Konohamaru each locked in battle as they all tried to push further and further up the hill towards the two launchers. Naruto had lost sight of Shikaku as they ascended but every so often he could hear his voice, spurring them on to keep fighting.
Naruto heard a wild scream and turned to see another Akatsuki ninja leap into the air ready to attack. Naruto leapt back out of range and got into a defensive stance just as the ninja closed in. The ninja took a deep breath and spat out a large mass of water that quickly broke into hundreds of small globes of water, each about the size of a fist. The globes then began to flatten and sharpen and took the shape of shurikens. Then the man yelled, "Water Style: Water Shuriken Jutsu!'
The man then outstretched his right arm and all of the shurikens launched towards Naruto. Naruto began to leap and spin between the shurikens as he considered a way to defeat his assailant. Naruto quickly pulled several kunai from his belt and threw them at the ninja who used several of his shurikens to knock them away. The ninja laughed and said, "You have to do better than that!'
Naruto stopped and made several hand signs just as the shurikens closed in and said, "Wind Style: Divine Down Current!" A large vortex of wind blasted from Naruto's open palms, slamming into the shurikens and knocking them all to the ground and turning them back into water.
The ninja merely stood in shock as he watched Naruto's display of power and once done Naruto quickly sprinted towards him, intent on finishing the fight. Just then the ninja grinned and with a small movement of his hands the water on the ground began to rise and reformed into a large shuriken and launched at Naruto. Naruto was able to see it just in time and leaned back as the shuriken whizzed by his face.
The ninja laughed as he said, "Did you really think that would be enough to defeat my Water Style?"
Naruto looked at the ninja harshly as he wiped a tiny bit of blood trickled from his cheek. "Alright," he said. "Let's take this seriously then."
Naruto: Chronicles of the Seventh
Book III: End of Innocence
Chapter XXIV: Innocence Ends
High above the battle ground Sai, Yamato, Shino, Ibiki, Tsume and her ninja dog Kuromaru were each sitting on one of Sai's ink birds. "Alright," Yamato said. "They've gotten Akatsuki's attention. Tsume and Shino, I want you two to take the one on the right. Ibiki and I will destroy the left one. Sai, you stay up here to back us up. Got it?"
Before they could descend however they were suddenly taken off guard when a blast of pure chakra exploded in between them, destroying all of the ink birds and causing them all to fall. Sai quickly pulled his scroll out and drew a bird which came to life. He quickly grabbed the legs of one of them and slowed his fall.
Sai tucked and rolled as he landed on the flat surface of one of the large metal four bladed shurikens atop the launcher. He then heard Tsume moaning and grasping at her ankle nearby. Sai ran over and asked, "Are you alright?"
"I think it's broken," Tsume responded.
"We need to get it looked at," Kuromaru said.
"No," she said. "There's no time. We need to destroy this thing ASAP."
It was then they heard laughter coming from the distance. Sai, Tsume and Kuromaru looked to their right to see a lone man standing on another of the shuriken blade points. "You," Sai said in shock.
"Oh, this is just too good," Suigetsu said with a smile. He quickly leapt over to the blade point where Sai and Tsume was and then said, "Hello there pasty face. Did ya miss me?"
******Meanwhile******
"Do you have any idea what it was that hit us," Ibiki asked. He, Yamato and Shino had landed on the large shuriken on the other launcher.
"Yes," Yamato responded. "I've seen that before. We need to hurry and destroy this thing before…."
But Yamato instantly knew it was too late as he looked across to see a familiar face. He was tall with spiky orange hair and the red and black robe of the Akatsuki inner circle. "I'm sorry," Jugo said. "But I have orders to not let anyone leave here alive."
******Meanwhile******
Sai stood up and walked in front of Tsume. "Tsume," he said. "Can you move around enough to plant the charges on the launcher?"
"Yes," Tsume said as she used Kuromaru to get to her feet. She quickly sat on top of the dog and said, "Can you delay this guy long enough for me to get it done?"
"I don't really have much of a choice," Sai responded. "Go, quickly."
"Right," she said. "Once I'm done I'll be back to help. Let's go Kuromaru." Kuromaru quickly turned and ran off leaving the two men alone.
Suigetsu smiled and said, "Ya know, to be honest I'm kinda glad it'll just be you and me." Suigetsu then unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Sai. Sai could see the sunlight gleaming off the blade. "My Kubikiribocho has been itching to spill your blood, Pasty. And I'd prefer not to be interrupted so I could take my time."
Suigetsu then took off in a sprint towards Sai and leapt up in the air. "Now you're going to pay for making a fool out of me," he screamed as he swung his sword down.
******Meanwhile******
"Who is this guy Yamato-taicho," Shino asked as they stared at Jugo.
"He's a member of Akatsuki's inner circle," Yamato answered. "Anko and I had a run in with him. His abilities are unlike anything I've ever seen. He seems to be able to transform his body into different weapons. His strength and power increase with every transformation."
"Then how do we handle him," Ibiki asked.
"Close range is out of the question," Yamato responded. "We're going to have to keep our distance. Ibiki, you go and plant the charges. Shino and I will try to bring this bastard down."
"Right," Ibiki said before he leapt away.
Jugo watched as Ibiki ran and raised his hand towards him. Jugo's arm suddenly transformed into a cannon and he said, "I'm sorry but I can't let you do that." Jugo fired a blast of pure chakra at Ibiki but it was intercepted by several branches that grew from the ground and absorbed the blast.
Jugo looked back at Shino and Yamato and said, "If you run now I won't chase after you."
"Sorry, but that is not an option," Yamato responded.
"As you wish," Jugo said as he transformed both his arms into giant axes and sprinted towards them.
******Meanwhile******
Sai quickly drew his tanto from his back and blocked Suigetsu's attack. Sai's arm and hand instantly went numb from the force behind Suigetsu's attack and he quickly ducked under Suigetsu's follow-up attack.
Sai rolled back and then flipped back to put space between him and Suigetsu and he began to shake his numb arm hoping to quickly get feeling back into it.
"Oh, did that hurt you," Suigetsu said smugly as he shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry. Sometimes I just don't know my own strength. But I gotta say, you're stronger than you look. Usually I'm able to slice right through a man's arm with that attack."
"Tch," Sai said as he quickly reached behind his back and pulled out a tan scroll with golden edges.
"Oh no you don't," Suigetsu yelled as he ran towards Sai. "I have no interest in fighting your little drawings!" Suigetsu swung his sword towards Sai forcing him to leap out of the way as he furiously drew in his scroll. Suddenly several figures emerged from the page forcing Suigetsu to halt his attack. Standing between him and Sai were four, six foot tall, armored samurai. "Hmm," Suigetsu said with a smile. "This is different."
The samurai drew their swords and began to attack Suigetsu, forcing him back as he blocked strike after strike. Suigetsu suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back. Turning he saw it was Sai who had made his way behind him while Suigetsu was distracted and sliced him with his sword.
Suigetsu grimaced and swung his blade around, intent of cutting Sai in half. Again Sai leapt out of range and Suigetsu was cut twice by the Ink Samurai. "Shit," Suigetsi said as he looked at the fresh wound on his arm. "I've had enough of this shit!"
Suigetsu's right arm suddenly began to grow in size until it was impossibly large. He then struck one of the samurai, slicing it cleanly in two. But just as he did that, the samurai began to glow and then exploded.
******Meanwhile******
Yamato quickly grabbed Shino by the collar and yanked him back just as Jugo swung his axe shaped arm. Yamato then created a large mass of wood from his palm. It slammed into Jugo's chest and pushed him back and away from them.
Jugo, raised his arm and sliced through the wood, stopping his momentum. Just then he heard a massive explosion and looked over to where Suigetsu was fighting and saw plumes of smoke rising. "Hmmm," Jugo said. "Suigetsu is playing around far too much. He needs to get on with things and set off the trap."
"Trap," Yamato asked as he closed in on Jugo with a kunai in hand. The kunai was aimed for Jugo's heart and Jugo quickly raised his hand to block it. Yamato buried the kunai deep into Jugo's palm and much to his surprise, Jugo didn't show one hint of pain. "What trap?"
******Meanwhile******
Sai stood calmly as he waited for the smoke to clear hoping this fight was over. He knew it wasn't when he heard Suigetsu's laughter. "Damn you sure are full of tricks Pasty," Suigetsu said. "Now let me take a guess. The ink you're using, it's laced with some sort of explosive am I right?"
"It explodes on contact," Sai responded.
Suigetsu stopped laughing and looked at the other three ink samurai and then looked out towards the massive battle taking place all around the base of the surrounding hill. "A little more time and then the real surprise can happen," he said with a smile. 'But in the mean time let's have some more fun."
Suigetsu suddenly turned his body into liquid and ran towards the samurai. One samurai swung its blade into Suigetsu's body only for it to pass harmlessly through him. Suigetsu then sliced into the samurai causing it to explode, but he had already stretched his liquid form far away from the blast.
The other two ink samurai closed in on him and sliced into his body, again both blades passed harmlessly through him. Suigetsu then spun, swinging his sword around and sliced through both of them. Again each exploded but Suigetsu avoided each blast by stretching away.
Finally with all of them destroyed he turned his body back to solid form and sprinted towards Sai and screamed, "Enough of the games! I'm going to slice you up limb by limb!" Sai quickly drew onto his scroll and two dozen miniature lions, about the size of a medium sized dog, leapt from the page and ran to intercept Suigetsu.
Suigetsu began to slice through each lion and dodge the resulting explosions expertly as he made his way towards Sai. Suigetsu suddenly felt his momentum stop and he looked back to see three of the lions biting down on his sword, pulling him back and as he tried to rip free two more bit down into each leg and another into his arm. "Fuck," he yelled. "Damn you!"
Suigetsu then turned into water and each of the lions passed through him. He quickly swung his sword, throwing the lions off and then ran towards Sai. "I'm done letting you make a fool out of me," he yelled as he turned his arm into water and stretched out with his blade to cut into Sai. The move caught Sai off guard and as he leapt to side step the attack the blade sliced into his side. Blood gushed from the wound as Sai fell to his knees.
With Sai's focus thrown off the lions shattered and fell into pools of ink. Suigetsu smiled and ran at Sai, ready to end his life. Just as he was about to close in, a large two-headed, black wolf appeared behind him and began to spin at an incredible speed. "Fang Wolf Fang," it yelled as it crashed into Suigetsu's back, launching him forward and off the edge of the shuriken.
Sai groaned as he clutched his wound. He was bleeding badly and he knew he needed to have it treated. He winced as he looked up to see the large wolf towering over him and he quickly reached in his bag and grabbed a tube. The two headed wolf looked down at Sai and then disappeared in a puff of smoke revealing Tsume and Kuromaru.
Tsume winced and clutched her ankle. "Are you alright," Kuromaru asked.
"I'm fine damn it, now quite asking me," Tsume said as she gritted her teeth. "How about you Sai?"
Sai opened his shirt and put some of the chemical on his wound causing it to close up slightly. He groaned as the medicine did its work, stopping the bleeding and closing the wound partially. After it was done he pulled a piece of cloth from his flak jacket and wrapped it around his stomach. This will help for now, he thought. But I need to get this looked at soon.
Once done he looked to Tsume who was standing over him. "You finished nursing that little cut," she asked. "We should head over to the next launcher and help Yamato and the others. I covered this thing with enough paper bombs to level the entire….guh!"
Tsume found herself speechless as she stared at the large, bloody blade protruding out of her chest. Behind her they could here a familiar voice say, "You did? How very unfortunate. I guess I'm gonna have to stop having fun then."
"Tsume-chan," Kuromaru yelled. Sai stared in horror at the agonized look on Tsume's face and the blood dripping from the sword. Slowly Tsume was lifted in the air and as she struggled to turn to see her attacker, she and Sai saw the smiling Suigetsu behind her, lifting the blade, with her attached, high into the sky.
"Well," Suigetsu said. "Lookie here. I thought I said that I wanted to fight you alone Pasty. And here you allow this old bitch to interfere! Hmpf!" Suigetsu swung the blade and threw Tsume off the sword and sent her helpless form crashing to the floor.
"Tsume," Kuromaru yelled as he saw her fall. The dog then turned to Suigetsu and roared before sprinting towards him. Suigetsu deftly sidestepped his first attack and sliced Kuromaru in the side. The dog yelped and fell to the ground motionless.
"Anymore interruptions," Suigetsu asked as he looked around mockingly. "No," he asked as he propped the large blood stained blade on his shoulder. "Good. Now…where was I?"
******Meanwhile******
Far below the fight between Suigetsu and Sai, the forces of Konoha was locked in a vicious battle with Akatsuki forces, desperately trying to push their way through to the launchers to destroy them.
Near the base of the hill and at the outskirts of the battle, Tokuma Hyuga and several other ninja arrived and witnessed the massive battle taking place. "Let's go," one ninja yelled as several of them ran into the fight. Tokuma began to follow but quickly stopped.
Wait a minute, he thought. He then turned to another young ninja and said, "You there! Do you have a map on you!"
"Yes of course," the ninja yelled.
"Let me see it," Tokuma replied as the ninja handed it to him. Tokuma unrolled it and quickly scanned through it. "Just as I thought," he said. "I've patrolled this area countless times and I've never seen this hill before. And there is no hill marked on this map."
"So what does that mean," the ninja asked.
Tokuma lowered the map and activated his Byakugan and scanned the entire hill. "What the," he said in shock.
"What is it," the ninja asked.
"Paper," Tokuma answered as he continued to scan the hill. "It's a large piece of paper, buried under the ground."
"How large," the ninja asked. "It….it almost looks like a large single piece of paper that wraps around the hill all the way from the base to the top," Tokuma replied. "It's like one big scroll." Tokuma knew he needed a higher vantage point. He saw a high branch and leapt up to it and looked down. "Oh no," he whispered in horror. He was right. It was one large, continuous scroll. But it wasn't until he could see the writing on it did the horror truly set in.
"Fall back," Tokuma screamed as loudly as he could to any who could hear him. He then looked to the ninja's below and said, "Tell everyone you can to fall back now!"
"What's wrong Tokuma," one ninja asked.
"It's a trap," Tokuma yelled. "Tell everyone to fall back now or they're all gonna die!"
******Meanwhile******
Jugo slid back from the blow from Yamato's technique. He then looked at his arms at the hundreds of bugs crawling about. "These things drain chakra right," Jugo asked calmly. He then began to glow and released a massive amount of chakra from his body, incinerating every last bug. He then looked over to the other launcher. What's taking you so long Suigetsu, he thought.
Using that brief moment Yamato closed in. "Water Style: Tearing Torrent!" From his palm, Yamato fired a large blast of spiraling water that struck Jugo head on and blasted him back and almost off of the large shuriken. The attack clearly hurt him as he struggled to get to his feet.
Just then Jugo felt something on his back. It was Shino who had made his way behind him and attached an explosive tag to his back before disappearing in a mass of insects and reappearing beside Yamato. As soon as he got there he made a hand sign and said, "Release!" The tag exploded engulfing Jugo in the blast.
******Meanwhile*******
The explosion caught Suigetsu's attention and he looked to see the fire and large plumes of smoke atop the other launcher. "Oh? Jugo's not going to like that," he said with a smirk. Seeing that Suigetsu was distracted, Sai tried to lunge at him with his sword. But the pain in his side slowed him and Suigetsu easily parried the attack. "Ah ah ah ," he said. "We can finish our fight after the festivities."
"What….are…you….talking about," Sai asked as he gasped for breath.
Suigetsu sighed and folded his arms after sheathing his sword. "C'mon," he said. "Think about it. I mean look at these launchers. Do you know what these things are? Yes, they are deadly, that much is clear. But you know what else they are? They're big fucking targets! So big, no one could resist. Don't you think?"
Sai looked up at Suigetsu who had an evil grin plastered on his face and realized what he was saying. His eyes grew wide as he looked back to see hundreds of his comrades down on the hill fighting. All in one place.
Sai turned back to see Suigetsu make a hand sign. "No," Sai yelled. "You'll kill your own men."
Suigetsu stopped and looked at Sai and asked, "What's your point?"
******Meanwhile******
Shikaku sliced through an Akatsuki ninja whose body fell like a lead brick. He quickly turned to see who to attack next when a Konoha ninja came up. "Shikaku-taicho," he said. "Tokuma has sent me to warn you. He has found out that this entire hill is a trap. A massive explosive tag has been buried under the ground!"
"What," Shikaku yelled in disbelief. "Fall back," he yelled desperately. "It's a trap! Everyone fall back!" But as the ground began to rumble and first of the bits of light began to pierce forth from the ground he knew he was too late.
******Meanwhile******
Sai watched in horror as the earth shattering explosion ripped through everything below him before blinding him with light and deafening him with the sounds of screams, death and thunder. The last thing Sai could hear was the maniacal laughter of Suigetsu, and then everything went black.
And, several miles away Madara, Sasuke, Kisame and Karin stood watching the explosion in the distance. Once the sound died away Madara calmly said, "You see Sasuke. Sometimes the most efficient way to exterminate pests is to lure them with irresistible bait. This way you can kill them all at once."
"Hmph," Sasuke said as he crossed his arms. "Whatever you say Madara."
Madara looked at Sasuke for a moment before turning his attention to Kisame. "You know what to do Kisame. It's time for you to go," Madara said.
"It's about time," Kisame responded as he walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down to the large valley below when a massive army, numbering in the thousands, remained waiting impatiently. "Alright you bastards," he yelled down. "It's time to move out! We head to Konoha! Kill everything that moves!"
End of Chapter Twenty Four
Next Time: Rage of the Emotionless Blade
"Some men dream of family, friends and happiness. Others dream of power, destruction and dominion over others."
The Curse is coming!