Sorry! Took too long, I know...
I've been adding some info at the end of each chapter, mainly to let you know how I name some jutsus or to clarify some things about certain characters. It may be useful for you, because sometimes I rename some jutsus because I don't like how they originally sound.
I want to thank you for the reviews, specially to kail420 who gave me some tips that I've already been putting to use.
Chapter 007 - The Mayhem Concludes! End of the Summit
"Sand Style Ultimate Attack: Spear of Shukaku" Gaara launched the halberd shaped like Shukaku's claw, that flew towards Madara.
"Shit! To warp away or become intangible I'll have to stop Kamui, but if I do, Kakashi's will get me instantly." Gaara's sand spear was about to struck Madara, but the latter threw himself into the ground, avoiding the spear which was sucked in by Kakashi's Kamui. As soon as Madara fell into the ground, he warped himself away. "Kazekage! How did you break free of my Mugen Tsukuyomi?"
"Don't know...Only thing I know is...I have to prove myself...to someone..." The tired Gaara said, sweat covering his face. "Let's end this...Madara!"
"Gaara-kun..." Kakashi mumbled before he started to feel the sand below him shaking. Surprisingly, Gaara didn't seem to be expecting that. A large amount of sand was raised and from it came Naruto, orange markings around his yellow eyes. Shocking was the size of the sphere of chakra in his hand. "Oh my..."
"Sage Art: Super Odama Rasengan" Naruto slammed the huge sphere of chakra into Madara's body. A loud explosion occured, causing the sand pile to crumble almost completely.
"What is that?" As the sand finally stabilized, Gaara stared to his friend in awe. The Kazekage could feel the powerful energy that came from Naruto's body, thanks to the the sensor wind and sand jutsus activated earlier. Plus, he noticed Naruto's toad-like eyes, yellow irises with horizontal bar-like pupils and the reddish-orange pigment mark on each eye.
"Hey! Are you awake, Gaara?" Naruto shouted to the former Jinchuriki.
"Huh? Yeah..." Still in awe by Naruto's new power, Gaara shook his head to focus. "Thanks to you."
"Thanks for making me remain still. I wouldn't be able to enter Sage Mode if it wasn't for your jutsu." Naruto smirked as he stretched his right arm.
"Sage Mode?"
"He's back..." Naruto's eyes suddenly widened and he turned to the place where a new whirl pattern appeared. A panting Madara reappeared with the upper right part of his orange mask broken, revealing his right eye but not much else. The pupil had the shape of three linked black orbs, on top of a black "Y" mark that spreaded over the red iris. That was Madara's Eien no Mangekyō Sharingan."I hit him? I thought he would just warp!"
"Naruto..." Kakashi whispered as he landed by his student's side.
"Your Sharingan...How did I hit him?" Naruto asked, hoping that his teacher's enhanced eye had noticed something but Kakashi just shook his head.
"Not sure, but he warped a lot slower. The chakra flow in his body is considerably weaker than when he met him earlier. He must be running out of chakra, so his techniques don't work as effectively." Kakashi gave his opinion. Behind them, Gaara's eyes widened and he clapped his hands together, causing the sand around him to wrap the Mizukage and the Tsuchikage who were attacking from his blind spot. The Fifth Kazekage's vision started to fail and he fell forward, but the Raikage stopped him with his right arm.
"Don't go to sleep now, or those two will get free again." Ē remembered the younger Kage, as he forced him to stand.
"So this is Sage Mode...Who would say?" Madara angrily thought as he raised his hand to the broken part of his mask. "It consists in gathering natural energy and mix it with chakra...Not that different from Hashirama's Adamantine Powers."
Flashback
"Adamantine Power: Acala" The bleeding Hashirama shouted as he pressed the sphere of chakra and gathered natural energy into the swirl pattern in front of him. Both forces collided and, after a short confrontation, the swirling pattern inverted its direction. Madara's body was suddenly brought back to the its original dimension, much to his shock. With Hashirama's Acala being not even half of what it was, the First Hokage slammed it into his opponent's torso to make sure he wouldn't escape again. Then, he drew the katana on his back and slashed through Madara's face, cutting through his left eye, until the sword reached the Uchiha's abdomen. The sphere of energy exploded and sent Hashirama's rival flying to the valley created earlier, during their long battle.
End of Flashback
"The natural energy draws me back when I'm travelling between dimensions. It's purest form of Yang that can even counter the Sharingan's Yin chakra." Madara stared to his opponents and chuckled. "Kakashi did a mistake. Even with that mask covering his face, I could read the movements of his lips. They've made a wrong assumption, even though I'm actually running out of gas. The secret of how to counter my jutsu is still safe."
"We have to think of a plan." Kakashi said.
"There's no time! We have to get him now that he's weaker!" Naruto shouted as he charged towards the Akatsuki leader. "And before Sage Mode ends!"
"Don't! Naruto!" Kakashi shouted but Naruto didn't stop. A wicked look appeared in Madara's Eternal Sharingan as Naruto approached with two spheres of chakra in his hands.
"Naruto's Sage Mode isn't as effective as Hashirama's Adamantine Powers, but apparently he can use the gathered energy in more than one attack." Naruto jumped towards his opponent and slammed the Rasengan in his left hand into his opponent who simply dodged by jumping and followed with a midair roundhouse kick to the neck of the jinchuriki. "The simplest way to keep it secret is to fight him for real. There's no way he can keep up with..."
"Is that all?" Naruto didn't move even an inch thanks to the extra durability given to him by being in Sage Mode. He lifted both hands up and attempted to sandwich Madara between both spheres. "Rasenrengan"
"Not quite!" Madara shouted, as he spun in midair to seat himself on Naruto's shoulders. The Akatsuki leader grabbed his opponent's right wrist and slammed the Rasengans together, causing another great explosion. As Naruto was sent flying by the impact of his own jutsu, Madara didn't let go of him as he wrapped his legs around the blond's neck. The Uchiha bent his upper body forward, causing his eye to meet Naruto's. "It's about time, Naruto!"
"S-shit..." Naruto's eyes suddenly widened, before his facial expression turned blank. His eyes closed as he crashed on top of Kakashi who had grabbed him in midair. Some meters away, another Kakashi landed on top of Madara after pushing him away from Naruto. He pinned him to the sand and attempted to stab him with a Lightning Blade, but Madara grabbed him by the throat before he could. As the clone was warped away, Madara sat up and saw the real Kakashi staring at him on one knee.
Flashback
"Well, isn't that a bit far-fetched?" Kakashi asked to the Toad Sage. He was still recovering from the mission to rescue Gaara, when the Sannin approached him to talk about some of his suspicions.
"I know what you're thinking. There's no way he would be alive 15 years ago and we know that he has been defeated by Shodai Hokage at the Valley of the End...but still..." Jiraiya trailed off.
"Why Konoha, right?" Kakashi asked to the older shinobi who nodded. "If the Kyuubi was really a natural disaster that appears to attack areas wherever human malice had collected and festered, then why not the Bloody Mist Village?"
"Or the Hidden Cloud that has been after other villages' Bloodline Limits for years." Jiraiya added.
"And he certainly had his own motives." Kakashi pondered and rubbed the back of his own head. "If he somehow survived until that day, it's more than likely that he's still alive."
"That's what worries me...What are his motives? The Uchiha clan has been eradicated, so it's likely that he'll aim for Konoha. I can't get this idea from my head...He'll want to use the Kyuubi again." Jiraiya had a deep frown on his face and Kakashi sighed heavily.
"Naruto..."
"Yes." Jiraiya nodded again, before he layed the briefcase he had been holding to on Kakashi's lap. "This is for you."
"Poison?" Kakashi asked after opening the briefcase. It was filled up with dart-like shots that contained some kind of chemical inside.
"I have a briefcase like that. Those shots are filled with a powerful poison that will knock someone out for a long time. Shizune prepared them for me."
"She doesn't know their true purpose..." Jiraiya smirked, since Kakashi's sentence wasn't a question.
"If I told her a slight part of my suspicions, she would go immediately to Tsunade or worse...She thinks it's for one of my infiltration missions." Jiraiya sighed, before turning serious once again. "If by any chance Naruto faces Sasuke, Itachi or...him..."
"To stop them from bringing the Kyuubi out, you want me to knockout Naruto..."
"Right. If they don't stare into his subconscious, where the fox his being kept, they won't be able to control it." Jiraiya explained. "Of course, there are other ways to pull out the beasts, but the quickest known way is by using the Sharingan, and it's the only one that would allow them to control it at the same time. Kakashi, if by any chance Naruto stares into their eyes directly..."
"Don't worry, I know what I'll have to do." Kakashi said as he closed the briefcase. "I think Itachi would simply knock him out and I doubt Sasuke would have any interest in controlling the fox. If I'm forced to use this in the future...well, that would be a really bad sign..."
End of Flashback
"Eh..." Kakashi looked from the injection shot in his hand to the drooling Genin, before eye-smiling. "At least I did it..."
"It seems like this entire plan was a failure..." Madara thought as he looked to his severed arm, then to his opponents and finally to the Kages, both injured ones and the two enveloped in Gaara's sand. "Things didn't happen as I thought they would...I got control over the Kages, they were the perfect pawns, but that Kazekage kid made things a lot more difficult...Still, Naruto ended up appearing at the summit like I wanted. It's a shame I couldn't get him today...It's not like I'm gonna let Sasuke fight him at this point. I can't risk him. Besides, thanks to Zetsu, Sasuke's development reached its peak. This little battle wasn't a complete fail."
"I'll have to be very careful. Even though he's weaker, he can still pick Naruto and warp away with him." As Kakashi assumed a defensive stance, Madara straightned himself into a more relaxed posture, much to Hatake's surprise.
"I admit defeat, Kakashi. I can't go on fighting like this. I'll get Naruto some other day." Kakashi's eyes widened in shock at the lightness of Madara's words. "Naruto surprised me a lot with his new powers. I won't be as careless next time."
"Why aren't you coming after him now that he's knocked unconscious?" Kakashi asked suspiciously, but Madara just shrug it off.
"I'm lacking an arm to form hand seals to fight you one on one. Besides, it's not like you would let go of him...I know you'll only attack at the moment I appear to pick him up, so there's no point." Madara pointed an accusatory finger to the Leaf Jounin, before shifting its direction to the Kazekage. "And there's also the sensory jutsus of that young man that will be an hindrance. I've got to tell you Gaara-kun, I'm really surprised by what I saw from you today."
"What are your true plans?" Gaara asked, while he was having a hard time to maintain his eyes open. "Taking control of the villages was never your goal...Your real goal has something to do with that thing that was inside Sasuke."
"Like I said before, Sasuke was sent here to develop his skills. Zetsu was just a tool that allowed that development to be faster." Madara explained. "But yes, I never intended to take over your puny villages. I just wanted to use you as my soldiers in this battle. The real motive was to get that boy."
"Then why didn't you do that earlier when you met us?" Kakashi countered.
"Because you were guarding him like ninja hounds. That meeting's point was to play with Naruto's emotions. You saw how eager he was to attack me earlier. He was full of openings for me to exploit and I would have taken control over him and his beast if it wasn't for your little trick, Kakashi."
"Then what you said earlier...everything was a lie?" Kakashi asked.
"No, everything was true. Naruto and Sasuke are destined to fight eachother. I'm just trying to bend destiny by getting Naruto before they have a chance to do it."
"Madara..."
"Don't stare at me like that, Kakashi. You can choose to believe me or not. Your opinion doesn't interfere the slightest bit with my plans." Madara said as he started to pass his hand by his body, making it disappear from that dimension. "Until next time, Kakashi."
"You could've at least tried to warp him back with your jutsu." Ē barked to the Copy Ninja. At the same time, the exhausted Gaara fell on his knees.
"When he warps, that swirling pattern moves in the same direction as my Kamui. That's why it doesn't work. Instead of stopping him, I would allow him to escape even faster." Kakashi exhaled a deep sigh. "Jiraiya-sama was so right..."
"Kakashi-senpai..." Yamato called as they moved through the woods. The Copy Ninja didn't answer. "I can take Naruto-kun for awhile."
"Let it be. I can go on for a little longer." Kakashi once again refused to let go of his student. Yamato suppressed a sigh.
Flashback
"Provoke them?" The confused Chojuro asked. Through the two holes in his blue pin-striped shirt, it could be seen that his torso was bandaged up, like many of the others that had fought Danzo.
"Yes. Naruto appealed to my emotions until I woke up and since you're the ones who know them better..." Gaara quickly explained.
"Hmm...Could you make it tighter around Onoki-jii?" Kurotsuchi asked with a devious smirk. Gaara moved his hand a bit and the sand surrounding the Tsuchikage became tighter, until a still cracking sound was heard. Gaara stopped pressuring the sand and they all stared into the widened eyes of the Third Tsuchikage. "Hey, Onoki-jii, you're really getting old, aren't you? You can't even break free of a small amount sand. So much for..."
"What are you saying? I'm Sandaime Tsuchikage, Onoki, the great fence-sitter of..." As he stretched in an attempt to break free from the sand prison, his back cracked once again, causing his eyes to turn blank in pain. "Ow, ow, ow..."
"Easy." Kurotsuchi smiled and made a victory sign with her fingers, while Gaara released Onoki from the Sand Coffin.
"I don't know how to wake Mizukage-sama up..." Chojuro admitted. Everyone looked to Ao who was sweating a lot. The Hunter-nin sighed in defeat and nervously walked towards his village leader.
"Even though this is for the good of my village, I'll regret it for eternity..." Ao silently thought as he stared to the trapped Mizukage. Everyone stared in antecipation to the two for awhile, before Ao finally let it out. "Mizukage-sama! It's about damn time you find a husband! Every villager has been talking about it lately! At your age..."
"Ao..." She suddenly whispered and Ao stopped talking, relieved that she hadn't done a thing to him. Then, she pushed the sand away with sheer strength and her eyes glew red. Ao's uncovered eye turned blank as she pounced him to the sand below them and started to choke him. "I'LL KILL YOU, AO! I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!"
Everyone sweatdropped in fear...
(...)
"I think everyone will agree if we continue things with Kakashi Hatake as Hokage." Yamato suggested and, while not everyone nodded, none openly opposed.
"So, what should we do?" Onoki asked.
"We'll have to go ahead and form the alliance." The still visibly tired Gaara answered. "Everyone who is able to pull a stunt like the one Madara pulled should be taken seriously."
"Are you still opposed, Raikage?" Mei turned her attention to the silent Raikage.
"My brother is apparetly safe, but we can't allow the Akatsuki to cause trouble!" Ē seemed much more polite and remained calm. Despite that, his voice was still loud. "Let's form this alliance and finish them off immediately!"
"I beg your pardon, Raikage-sama." Shi kneeled as he interrupted and Ē allowed him to speak. "We should start by searching Killer Bee immediately. If Madara Uchiha is still after the Eight and Nine-Tails, then they're probably still searching for Bee."
"Right! Shi, send word to Mabui for her to form the tracking teams to search for Bee! I trust her judgment." Ē ordered and Shi nodded, before starting to write a message on a scroll.
"You better let Samui-san's team know, too. Omoi was pretty upset about it and Karui must be too." Darui remembered his partner.
"If we want to keep Madara from going through with his plans, we have to keep the Hachibi and Kyuubi out of his hands." Mei stated as she pointed to the sleeping Naruto. "As soon as we find the Hachibi, I think it would be best if the Alliance hid them somewhere."
"S-she's right. The minu..."
"No, kid. You don't know the power of the Tailed Beasts obviously." Onoki interrupted the much younger Chojuro. "He already has seven and I'm sure he didn't really meant to use them to power up his genjutsu. He must have some plans for them, like unleashing them in one of our villages. Didn't he have the power to summon the Kyuubi? He'll sure be able to summon the lesser ones, then. Don't you think the Alliance should make use of the power of the Hachibi and Kyuubi to counter them?"
"We can't. We have to protect them." Kakashi's visible eye widened. "The reason Madara would unleash the other Tailed Beasts would be exactly to draw these two out."
"I agree." Gaara immediately supported the Leaf Jounin.
"All right, we'll start by finding and protecting the Hachibi until he's back on Kumo's hands. What do you suggest we do, Raikage?" The Mizukage asked.
"I'll give you all our intel on Killer Bee, so you can form search teams and begin looking for him immediately!" Ē decided. "Send word to me as soon as you find him!"
"Uh, um...May I say something?" Chojuro nervously asked.
"Just spit it out!" Ao harshly urged his partner.
"Uh, one of the members of Akatsuki is Kisame Hoshigaki. He's a bearer of one of the seven ninja swords of Kirigakure just like me..." Chojuro looked to his village leader and she nodded in approval. "His chakra is as strong as a host's and he has the worst of the seven swords, Samehada. I was told he's called the Tailed Beast Without a Tail, because when he merges with his sword...he's as powerful as one."
"He's special. Considering Akatsuki's numbers, it's highly likely that he's the one going after Killer Bee. You mustn't underestimate him." Ao added and all nodded in understanding.
"This will be the first ninja alliance and we samurai will fight too! There's just one question...Who'll lead this alliance?" Mifune asked.
"You're the one who dismissed us all before, Mifune, so you tell us." Onoki countered.
"I would say...the Raikage."
"I thought you said the Raikage was too emotional." Like Onoki, others seemed confused by Mifune's choice.
"Now that we know the Hachibi is alive, I think the Raikage will be able to keep himself under control. I take back my hasty judgments...Please, forgive me."
"Besides, the Raikage has already taken the lead here and he was quick to come up with a plan." Kakashi added, while Mei and Gaara nodded in agreement.
"It's up to you. Join me!" Ē insisted and Onoki scoffed.
"You always think you can just order us around."
"I don't care if you trust me or not. It's about time to set personal grudges aside and join forces!" Ē shouted and this time Onoki frowned.
"I guess it's better than losing...I'll join you." Onoki finally accepted. "Since this ninja alliance is formed, we should talk to the daimyos."
"Got it!" Kurotsuchi winked as she pulled out a scroll.
"I think the villages should work in pairs, which would make the sharing of intel easier. Is anyone against it?" Ē asked and, even though Ao and Onoki had strained looks on their faces, none opposed. "Then, we should do have the distance between villages in consideration. I propose having Kumogakure and the Land of Iron, then Sunagakure and Iwagakure, and finally Konohagakure and Kirigakure."
"Kirigakure isn't that close to Konoha." Ao stated.
"Nor to any other village. Still, I would like you to interact with some village." Ē said in a quite sarcastic tone that annoyed the Hunter-nin.
"I know we hold the fame of not sharing anything with other villages, but I'm not against this, Raikage." Mei turned to her bodyguard and glared to him, causing him to flinch. "In fact, considering that the Kyuubi's jinchuriki is unconscious, I'll send Ao and Chojuro to Konoha so they can help in the transportation of Danzo Shimura. Afterwards, they'll remain there as Kirigakure's ambassadors."
"B-but, what about you, Mi-Mizukage-sama?" Chojuro worriedly asked.
"I'm not hurt. I can go back on my own to Kirigakure. The Kazekage didn't go too hard on me." Mei smirked, before winking at the young man. Gaara remained impassive but Kankuro, who thought the Mizukage was winking at him, seemed to be dazed, much to Temari's annoyance.
"I thank you greatly, Mizukage-sama." Kakashi slightly bowed to the Fifth of Kiri, who stared at him curiously.
"That mask...I wonder why?" Mei thought as she whirled her hair with her finger.
"I'll remain here for a day, just so that Akatsuchi gets back in condition to return to Iwa. Afterwards, we can start our talks, Kazekage." Onoki said and the younger Kage nodded, before struggling to retain a yawn.
"Still, I hope you spend this night in our land. You'll need to rest before you leave for such long journeys." Mifune offered.
End of Flashback
"Yamato..."
"Did you say something, senpai?" The startled Yamato asked.
"What do you think of this alliance?" Kakashi asked and the ANBU seemed to be struggling to find an answer.
"I don't know. It could work in a short term, but I think egos will come in the way if things drag themselves for too long." Yamato offered the best answer he could find. "Let's just concentrate in finding the Hachibi. We'll see what happens afterwards."
"Hmm..."
Flashback
"Sage Art: Super Odama Rasengan" Naruto slammed the huge sphere of chakra into Madara's body. A loud explosion occured, causing the sand pile to crumble almost completely.
(...)
A panting Madara reappeared with the upper right part of his orange mask broken.
End of Flashback
"Madara Uchiha..." Kakashi thought as he stared by the corner of his right eye to the boy he carried on his back. "Perhaps, you're the only one who can do him...Right, Naruto?"
"Hmm..." A man with long pale grey hair stared in disappointment to the fridge. It was almost empty. He took the last can of soda and closed the door with a sigh. "Tomorrow, I'll really have to fill it. Gosh, neechan would kill me if she saw this apartment. I guess I've become really lazy, eheh...It's a shame she isn't here to scold me. Or mom..." As he walked towards the window, he had one of those rare moments of sadness that filled him every once in awhile since the two most important women to him left his life. Staring at the blue, three leaves fell from the tree closest to the house. The wind pushed the leaves against the window, making them whirl back and forth. The man came closer to the window. He saw the leaves falling slowly, until two stopped at the windowsill, while the other continued to fall to the floor. The man then took a sip of the soda and turned his back to the window. "When the tree leaves dance, one shall find flames...Guess that fits me..."
Next Arc: Senju and Uchiha Arc
Next Chapter: Unexpected Meeting
-Nawirama13
-NawiramaWikia-
1. Jutsu:
1.1 Adamantine Power: Acala - Used by Hashirama Senju. The jutsu consisted in gathering natural energy from living beings around him and mix it with a large portion of his own chakra, compressing it in a sphere that is then slammed into his opponent. Normally, it would cause a huge explosion that would spread over a large distance.
-Nawirama13