A/N: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.
Spoiler Alert, skip to next bold line if you aren't up to date with the latest chapters of the Naruto classic manga.
To all reviewers bringing up Kyuubi's true name, Tobi not being Madara and everything that is currently shown in the canon manga, well those facts weren't revealed yet when I started to write this story. I'm not really sure how other writers do it but I planned the whole story plot from the beginning to the end with what I knew from the manga at the time. So Kyuubi's name will remain Natsuki and Tobi will still pose as Madara in my story. Modifying those facts aren't possible at this time in my story, and well it's fan-fiction so not everything has to follow the manga :)
End of Spoilers
Lots of good reactions on how the Kage Meeting went from last chapter, some confusions too. Let's clear some misunderstandings first:
For starters Naruto did not take out the entire Iwa troops, he merely incapacitated a small group but you will learn more about this while reading this chapter.
Secondly, Naruto did not "magically" appeared out of nowhere. I'm pretty sure I made him "poof" back from the summoning world into his family compound after his training. Anyone from the higher ups in Konoha could have informed him about Tsunade's current location after that and we all know he would never sit back while his fate was discussed by others.
Finally, about Kurotsuchi not being "strong" enough to resist a direct order from her Kage and grandfather, well I did mention her having doubts about the attack but it is also a common fact that she knows her grandfather is pretty stubborn when he sets his mind on something.
I hope everything has been answered in this A/N or will be answered while you read this chapter.
With this chapter, the story will go over 200,000 hits, thanks to you all for your support :)
Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.
Chapter 35: The Siege – Part I
Samurai's Fortress Walls
Naruto was standing on top of the main gate, facing the Samurai and shinobi delegations. He quickly recognized his fellow jinchuriki friend Gaara the Kazekage as well as Mei from Kirigakure, each of them standing in a corner of the base with two bodyguards.
When his eyes fell on the group from Kumogakure, he could feel the youki from Yugito. Natsuki told him that he was facing the jinchuriki from the two tail Cat. Naruto could see that the Kumo kunoichi also felt his youki and most likely her bijuu also told her about him being with Natsuki, from the surprised look on her face.
After she regained her composure, Tsunade decided to get everyone on the same page.
"Raikage-dono, this young man here is Uzumaki Naruto, one of the most powerful jonin from the Leaf. You may already know him from his bingo book moniker, the Kaze no Kami. Kazekage-dono and Mizukage-dono have already met him in the past." The blonde Hokage said.
"Uzumaki … Are you perhaps related to Uzumaki Kushina, Naruto-san ?" A asked Naruto.
Before Tsunade could change the subject, Naruto answered the Raikage.
"Yes, she's my mother. While we're on the subject, my father was the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. It is a pleasure to meet you Raikage-sama." Naruto said, while bowing his head.
Tsunade wanted to scold the younger blond for his truthful answer but she knew it was his secret to tell. Iwagakure was already their enemy, at this point it didn't really matter anymore if the whole world knew about this.
The audience though was far more affected by Naruto's confession, in front of them stood the son of the Yellow Flash of Konoha, a man known throughout the Elemental Nations. The man's reputation was even known to Mifune and his Samurai.
Mei already knew but her bodyguards didn't, Zabuza simply chuckled at the revelation, knowing he lost to the second coming of the Kiroi Senko somehow softened the blow from his previous defeat to the blond.
Gaara's eyes widened at the news, once again being able to identify himself through the blond. Both sons of Kage and both hated and isolated for the burden they carried. Yet Naruto could rise above his fate, Gaara's admiration for his friend increased even more after learning his lineage.
The Raikage thought he would have to speak with Naruto about Kumo's attempt to kidnap Kushina in the past, now he would also have to speak with Naruto about his encounter with Minato. A simply smiled to the blond before speaking again.
"Nice to meet you too, Naruto. We have things to discuss about, it concerns both your parents but this isn't the time nor the place to. Now what is it that you said about taking out Iwa nins on your way here." Said A.
"Yes Naruto, what are you doing here ? When did you get back from your training trip ?" Tsunade asked her subordinate.
Naruto took his trademark pose, grinning and scratching the back of his head before he answered his leader.
"Well, yeah sorry about leaving without warning you first but I needed to leave as fast as possible. I went to a place where I could not contact you, anyway my training is completed now and I came back yesterday. Shizune explained the situation to me and I left as soon as she told me about the meeting and what you were discussing. I think she tried to say something before I left but I didn't really pay attention." Started the blond jonin.
"On my way here, I saw shinobi troops from Iwagakure advancing towards this position. They did not even let me talk and started to attack as soon as they saw me. I thought that maybe I was intruding on a restricted zone reserved to Iwa and did not want to cause diplomatic issues with them. I decided to just knock them out and then I came here as fast as I could, and you know the rest. Where's the Iwa delegation by the way ? I swear it was auto defense, if you let me speak with the Tsuchikage Jiji, I'm sure he'll understand, Ba-chan." Naruto said.
Those who didn't know Naruto could only gasp at the blond's blatant disrespect towards his leader and the way he simply decided to leave his own village to come here alone. The others just chuckled at Naruto's antics, Tsunade decided to brief him on the current situation, fully knowing that no one except her or a whole army could have stopped him from getting here, much less Shizune alone.
"There will be no need to explain yourself with Onoki, Naruto. Iwagakure suddenly attacked us during the meeting and ran away after their surprise attack failed. The men you met on your way here are their backup plan, they are currently blocking our retreat and they will launch an attack on this fortress very soon. It's a shame you only knocked out those you encountered, we are severely outnumbered." Tsunade said to Naruto.
"I see, what about the meeting, did you guys reach an agreement about the jinchuriki and Akatsuki ?" Naruto asked, knowing the agenda of the Kage meeting.
"Yes, an alliance has been formed between Suna, Kumo, Kiri and Konoha. We will share any information we receive about Akatsuki and we will assist each other in the fight against them. Jinchuriki will be protected and you may even get to train with them, though it will have to wait until the Raikage finds his brother." Mei decided to answer this time.
Naruto's eyes widened at the red head's announce, the words from his sensei resonating in his mind. The wolds was almost united against a common foe, this was what Jiraya wanted to achieve. Naruto did not forget about Iwagakure's betrayal and wondered what made them act so foolishly.
"Anyway, how many of them did you take out during your skirmish ?" The Raikage asked him.
"Not that much, I'm afraid. I think it was a group of fifty, I didn't really stopped to get a head count you know." Replied the young shinobi. His reply once again caused the audience to face palm, taking out fifty of Iwagakure's elite was no small feat, contrary to what Naruto's tone seemed to imply.
Iwagakure's Vanguard
Kurotsuchi joined the troops and a jonin suddenly appeared in front of her.
"Kurotsuchi-sama, we lost contact with our men from sector one." Said the Iwa jonin kneeling in front of the Sandaime Tsuchikage's granddaughter.
"Have one squad investigate the zone, in the mean time send men from sector two and three to cover the hole this made in our lines." Replied Kurotsuchi, not showing her surprise to the man in front of her.
The brunette had a terrible gut feeling about this whole operation, there was no way Iwa could get away with what they were about to do. Even if they somehow managed to capture the two jinchuriki and kill the rest, facing the combined force of four of the five great ninja village was too much.
She knew her grandfather held a deep grudge against Konoha since the last Great War, however the old man never put his personal emotion before the good of his village. The village had nothing to gain from this, something was terribly wrong in this but she didn't knew what.
Akatsuchi decided to stay with the Tsuchikage, that man was completely loyal to the old man, never letting him out of his sight. Those two were leading the main assault wave that would clash with the Samurai's base main gates.
The kunoichi was left in charge of the secondary troops that would surround the rest of the samurai's base. The troops still had one hour before they would reach their target. With nothing better to do, Kurotsuchi decided to join the investigation squad on sector one.
Unknown Location
Zetsu and Pein were still in the cave where they received instructions from Madara. Zetsu suddenly broke the silence and then spoke to the organization's apparent leader.
"It seems like the Kyuubi jinchuriki is back in the game." He reported.
"Where is he ?" Asked Pein.
"He just broke through Iwagakure's lines, taking out several shinobi along the way and joined the others at the Kage Meeting." Zetsu replied.
"We have to seize this opportunity to get him, send Kakuzu and Hidan in." Ordered Pein.
"What of the two other jinchuriki ?" Zetsu asked.
"What about them ?" Pein said.
"Who do we target first ?" Replied Zetsu.
"Iwa is already going for the Ichibi and Nibi, we will focus our efforts on the Kyuubi. Relay these orders to Kakuzu and Hidan. They are to specifically target Uzumaki Naruto, the Kazekage and Yugito are secondary target." Pein gave out his instructions.
"It shall be done." Announced Zetsu before disappearing.
Samurai's Fortress
The alliance was once again waiting for the battle to start, according to Mifune and his scouts, they should be in range really soon. Naruto decided to position himself at the main gates, leaving his fellow ninja comrades with the task to defend the base's corners.
True to the predictions, Iwagakure's troops were spotted not too long after that. The night just fell when they started the siege, most likely using the darkness as a cover to decrease the defender's accuracy in shooting them down from a distance.
The Samurai were using bows, however, the lack of light clearly worked against them as the invaders easily evaded their arrows. The Fortress was not build to for a ninja's battles either, as none of the walls had any decent protection against long range ninjutsu. The enemies were clearly taking advantage of this, as many Doton jutsu were used to launch various size of rocks against the walls of the base.
Northern Corner – Konoha's Team
Tsunade knew it was only a matter of time before the walls of the base would crumble under the sheer power of Iwagakure's assault. Unlike in Konoha, this fortress did not have seals embedded in the walls surrounding them to deflect ninjutsu thrown at them. Iwa was most likely waiting for a breach in on of the walls surrounding the base to charge in, not exposing themselves before that.
Their corner was doing fine, with her deadly taijutsu and the support of Kakashi using his Sharingan and Gai opening his Inner Gates, they easily destroyed anything that came their way.
They had no other choice but to wait though, trying to get out right now was downright suicidal.
The Konoha Team continued to hold their position, not allowing Iwa to breach their side of the base.
Eastern Corner – Kiri's Team
The Mizukage and her two guards also stood their ground quite easily.
Haku was using his Hyoton bloodline to freeze the enemies missiles while Mei or Zabuza simply destroyed them once frozen.
Mei was using simply her Yoton bloodline to annihilate the incoming frozen projectiles, due to the great thermal differential between the frozen rocks and her lava bullets she had no trouble to counter even the biggest of them.
Zabuza for his part, used his giant cleaver, the Kubikiribocho, to cut down the smaller and faster rocks.
Southern Corner – Suna's Team
The Kazekage and his siblings were doing their job too.
Gaara used his sand to cover their side of the base. There was no way in hell the invaders would outrun him in chakra capacity, so they basically knew their corner was safe for now.
This didn't prevent Temari from helping her younger brother and leader, using sharp wind techniques to slice down the smaller rocks when she could.
Kankuro however, was pretty useless during that time. Long ranged fighting had never been his forte, the puppet master would however be extremely useful in close range, once Iwa decides to charge in.
Western Corner – Kumo's Team
The Raikage, Yugito and Darui also managed to hold off the invaders.
A and Yugito were mainly using their superior reflex and advanced taijutsu forms to defend their spot. The Yondaime Raikage activating his lightning armor, enhanced his body's synaptic transmission, thus increasing his response time and overall speed.
His adoptive daughter used her cat like features to increase her senses and efficiency. Yugito could make her finger and toe nails grow to become long claws, it allowed her to slash at anything she wanted to with deadly precision.
Darui was the wielder of the Ranton bloodline, allowing him to fire super heated and charged plasma beams. Needless to say that his ability came in handy to deflect or destroy the incoming rocks thrown at them.
Main Gates
Naruto stood with Mifune and some of his men behind the main gates of the Fortress. The blond chose this position since scouts announced that the main assault force would come for the gates, supposedly led by Onoki himself.
True to the reports, Iwa concentrated most of their firepower on the gates, the bigger and faster rocks were thrown this way. Mifune turned out to be a pretty decent swordsman, using his katana to cut though the stones with no difficulty. Naruto only used mid classed wind jutsu to defend their position.
Naruto was surprised that the Tsuchikage did not take part in the battle yet, something was off but Naruto could not figure out what.
"Is that it ? Is that really what Iwagakure's elite can offer ?" The Raikage said with a smirk on his face from his corner of the base.
Unable to ease his discomfort, Naruto decided to activate his superior sight, the Ryugan. The dragon sight allowed him to scout the base's surroundings, what he saw however, out of the normal human eye range made him frown. The young sage suddenly yelled, surprising his comrades.
"Take cover immediately ! Get away from the gates !" Yelled the Konoha jonin as he dragged Mifune away with him.
What nobody could see was the Tsuchikage, that Naruto recognized due to the Kage hat he was wearing, applying some kind of sealing tag on a huge rock that his subordinate, a very tall man easily lifted. The taller man then prepared himself to launch the giant boulder towards them.
Naruto deducted that the seal was some kind of explosive or charged with some nasty jutsu that would obliterate its intended target.
"Everyone, destroy that giant boulder that's coming towards the gate with any long range jutsu you have !" Naruto yelled, catching the ninja's attention from every corner of the base.
The four Kage immediately understood why the blond seemed so panicked, cursing that they did not see that one coming. Mei and Gaara tried to stop or deflect the boulder but it was too late and it came in too fast.
As the boulder came close to the Base's Gates, the sealing tag attached to it glowed for a second before expanding into what looked like a bigger version of Onoki's previous jutsu the Jinton : Genkai Hakuri no jutsu.
The boulder impacted the gates, causing damages but not destroying them. The jutsu however encompassed its target and seconds later totally destroyed it, leaving a giant hole in the fortress.
Thanks to Naruto's advanced warning, the defenders suffered no casualties after that attack but they just lost one of their only edge in this battle. Iwagakure did not miss this, as the assaulting forces immediately stopped their bombardment of the sides of the base. Most likely preparing themselves for a final frontal charge, now that the walls of the fortress were breached.
"And thus truly begins the first battle of the Alliance … " Grimly announced Mifune.
A/N : What do you think ?
Sorry for the nasty cliffhanger, the rest of the battle will take place in the next chapter :)
I based this part of the story on a movie scene, cyber cookie to those who figure out which one and which scene.
Naruto announced his lineage to the world in this chapter, how will this affects his future career remains unknown :)
I know the sealing tag charged with the Sandaime Tsuchikage's jutsu was a bit unrealistic but well I liked it that way, I could of course load the boulder with exploding tags but it felt better this way.
Akatsuki will come and join the battle in the next chapter too.
How will the alliance do against their enemies ? Will we see some new moves from Naruto ?
Read the next issue to know the answers to these questions :)
As usual please Read and Review.