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.
Alright, the moment has come for the final battle to really begin. The previous chapter received unanimous support from all the reviewers, I'm very impressed. Got no complain about Sakura's fate and her upcoming execution, I suppose I already lost all her fans a long time ago or they did the smart thing and chose to not read a story with the "Team 7 bashing" tag :)
Now, all the pieces have been carefully placed on the chessboard and are ready to be moved. I've been asked an interesting question about who the "key players" are in this war. Obviously Naruto is the "good" side's King and Natsuki is his Queen while the Kage can easily be identified as the Knights, Rooks or Bishops. I guess the "bad" side is more difficult to assess, Sasuke is the King or is he ?
Well, everything will be answered in this chapter or the next one, so sit tight and enjoy the ride. I must warn you that there is still one final major twist that may or may not please you readers, however, things have always been planned to be played out like this.
Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.
Chapter 60 : Chaos under the Rain
Amegakure – Top of the Kage Tower
Sasuke and the rest of his staff were quite surprised by the violence of the explosion that shook the entire area when the city's main gates were taken down. They could only stare from far away at the two kunoichi who were responsible for that action, the Mizukage and the Tsuchikage themselves, riding on top of two medium-sized dragon summons.
Otogakure may have had a two to one numerical advantage in terms of army size, it didn't prevent the Alliance from taking advantage of the fact that they were trapped in a confined environment in order to outsmart them. His troops were just beginning to fire back against the enemy's flying forces when Sasuke saw the center of his city collapse, with the timed appearance of a giant hole made by explosives below the ground's surface.
Naruto, the Hachibi jinchuriki and the Raikage were leading that ground assault. Those three were army killers, meaning that each of them had the strength to fight off large numbers of enemies on their own.
True to his reputation, the Lightning Shadow was already decimating Otogakure's troops left and right as he got out of the hole, covered by his Raiton no Yoroi. This jutsu boosted his body's entire nerve system, allowing him to move and react to everything a lot faster than any other human being alive could. He was so fast it was almost impossible for his enemies to see him move until it was already too late to dodge.
Next was Killer Bee, jinchuriki of the Eight Tailed Octopus and the Raikage's younger brother. Bee immediately changed into his bijuu form and started to go on a rampage within the city, destroying buildings and stomping over his opponents as if they were ants. Due to his massive size, jutsu, weapons or anything they could throw at him had no effect on him, other than slowing him down a bit.
Finally there was Uzumaki Naruto, Leader of the entire Alliance's forces and former jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox. The blond already had his ultimate wind form activated as he jumped out of the hole, the Ten'i Muho no Kiwami, that allowed him godly mastery over the wind element.
It was a fortunate thing for Oto that Kabuto managed to develop a counter to one of Naruto's most destructive jutsu, the Hakugei or its derivative the Hakuryu. That jutsu allowed Naruto to literally make his opponents explode from far away, by expelling wind highly charged with chakra over his targets and then forcibly pulling that wind back from within the unfortunate victims. Since their first encounter with that incredible jutsu, namely the battle of the Bloody Rain, Kabuto had devised a mask that every Oto shinobi was now required to wear, preventing Naruto's controlled wind to be inhaled.
Never one to be discouraged by such a setback, Naruto chose to simply use his katana for the time being, cutting through his opposition with his long range kenjutsu style, as if they were merely made of glass.
It was the last straw for Sasuke when he gazed at the horizon, only to see the rest of the Alliance's armies approaching his now vulnerable city with its broken gates. He couldn't afford to let them come inside his capitol, the situation was already chaotic enough as it was for more intruders to come in, he had to make his move now or it would be too late.
"Kabuto, you're in charge of the protection of the walls and the space where the gates used to be. You have more than enough troops there in order to fight them back, make use of the artillery we hid in anticipation for this battle." The Otokage ordered his second in command.
"As you command, my Lord. What about you though ? What will you be doing in the mean time ?" Kabuto inquired, wondering what his leader's intentions were.
"I'm going to take control of our forces in the center of the city, Suigetsu, Kimimaro and Juugo, you three are with me. Kabuto, I want you to win me some time in order to prepare my counter, the Alliance's forces from the sky and those approaching from outside cannot be allowed to join with those on the inside of the city, do you understand me ?" Sasuke replied.
"Yes I understand, my Lord." Kabuto said from his position before moving away to do as his master ordered him to.
With Kabuto gone, Sasuke and his elite guard made their way towards the center of the city.
Above the city with Gaara, Mei and Kurotsuchi
Kurotsuchi and Mei were still bombarding the city with Yoton techniques from the sky, destroying buildings and killing Otogakure's soldiers left and right. Neither of them had tried to hold back, their jutsu were simply not made to take prisoners, melting away anything that was in their striking range.
They didn't really need to concern themselves with their own defense either, since every kunai jutsu or projectiles that went near them was blocked by Gaara's sand. The Kazekage was floating high above in the sky, deflecting every attempt to shoot down his two fellow Kage. However, Gaara could only do so much with his concentration, and it took a lot from him to cover for those two women who had to fly very close to the ground for their jutsu to really be effective.
Otogakure really had an overwhelming number of men defending the walls of the city, for every man taken down, two more came after him to take his place on the wall. It started to show on the battlefield, as more and more soldiers from Gaara's group were shot down from the sky.
The top of a tall building suddenly collapsed, with no intervention from the Alliance's forces, surprising the three Kage as they turned their eyes to it. As the dust was blown away, it revealed the presence of Kabuto, the second in command himself, escorted by a few of his men.
However, what really caught the attention of the three Kage were the strange machines that were hidden on top of that tower. Gaara's eyes widened as he understood their purpose, those were automatic kunai launchers, already loaded and ready to be fired. They didn't have the time to further study those devices as Kabuto's men immediately started to fire them towards Mei and Kurotsuchi.
Gaara's controlled sand immediately sprang into action and blocked the first wave of kunai but, to the Kazekage's surprised, the force behind those kunai was far greater than for a kunai thrown by a human being. Another thing that caught Gaara off guard was the fact that they detonated on impact with his sand barrier, most likely being exploding tags ignited once they were launched. All in all, it took Gaara a lot more chakra to withstand those attacks than it previously did.
While this was happening, Kabuto managed to change position and jump toward two other towers where he revealed the same defense mechanism as the one he just released, right under the nose of Gaara and his group.
"Fall back, we need to temporary distance ourselves from those, I won't be able to hold them back forever." Gaara said to the group, getting nods from both Mei and Kurotsuchi.
Seeing this, Kabuto smirk as the first step of his plan worked. He had just managed to create a safe zone for them inside the perimeter formed by the firing range of those three towers, equipped with the exploding kunai launchers. This was a good thing that those devices were kept hidden until the last moment, otherwise they would have been destroyed during the Alliance's first wave as the rest of their long range artillery.
Seeing the Alliance's main external ground assault forces approaching, Kabuto decided to initiate the second part of his plan. He jumped out again from one of those towers, toward the center of the safe heaven he just created. He landed on another tower, this one being a bit lower than the other three and then activated a hidden mechanism that once again blew away the roof of the building. Instead of the mid-low ranged kunai launchers, this time it was one of those long range rocks launcher that Gaara's group destroyed in the first moment of the battle.
"Damn, he got us. We can't get close enough to hit that new machine and he reorganized their troops to defend that position. At this rate the ground forces will be exterminated ..." Gaara thought as he saw Yugito and the twenty thousand men under her command approaching the city's entrance.
The Kazekage was pulled out of his thoughts as the first rock was launched towards the ground troops. The rock flew away very fast and suddenly detonated mid air, in the space above their allies, killing dozens of them in the process.
In front of the City with Yugito and Natsuki
The Alliance's main army was currently struggling to get inside the city, as countless Oto shinobi were blocking their way in front of the main entrance. The defenders troops were regrouping themselves in front of the giant hole that stood in the place where the main gates used to stand.
Yugito and Natsuki were organizing the troops as Tsunade had asked them to, however, they were both caught off guard by the appearance of a giant boulder flying over them.
"What the hell was that ?" Yugito shouted as she saw the giant rock flying over her men and then suddenly exploding, burying a few dozen of them under a shower of smaller rocks.
"Must have been the ammo from one of their long ranged defense devices that Naruto's dragon spy spoke about. What the heck is going on up there ?" Natsuki replied, as surprised as Yugito.
"I don't know, they were supposed to destroy all of those damn things as soon as the battle started, what can we do, we are sitting ducks for that weapon if we stay parked here." Yugito said.
"We can't go back, Gaara and his group would be fine since they can fly and all but Naru-kun will have no way out if we back out now !" Natsuki yelled.
"I know how you feel, believe me, Bee and A are still in there as well but what can we do against such firepower ?" Yugito said.
"I have an idea but I need to speak with Matatabi, can you switch with her for a moment please ?" Natsuki asked Yugito. The blonde nodded and then closed her eyes.
"Hey there Na-chan, what's going on and what do you want from me ?" The Nibi asked her former fellow bijuu comrade as she took possession of Yugito's body.
"We need a way into that city but those damn Oto ninja are in our way. We need a jutsu powerful enough to cut through their ranks, and I know the perfect one for that. I would have done it myself but I'm technically not a bijuu anymore." Natsuki replied.
"You want me to fire an Imari against those fools ? It's a dangerous attack, I don't know, the friendly fire collateral damages could be tremendous, did you think about this ?" The Nibi asked Natsuki.
"What other choice do we have, we're vulnerable right now against their weapon as we stand here, furthermore Naru-kun and his allies are in danger as well. Your host too, has her special people inside that damn city." The red head replied.
"Precious people uh, you've change Natsuki. The old you would have never concerned herself with those human you now call precious. However, since the partial unsealing, I too, have new perspective on this world so I shall assist you in this." Matatabi said as she started to gather youki around her body.
"Everyone, make way ! Yugito is going to unleash the powers of the Nibi so stay back, you've all been warned !" Natsuki yelled as she jumped back while Yugito's body was going through the bijuu transformation. Every Alliance's shinobi then jumped back, giving the Nibi the space she needed in order to fire her jutsu against the Oto armies.
In her full transformed state, Nibi gathered youki around her mouth in a spherical condensed form and then turned her head to aim at the place where they needed to go through, the city's entrance. As the jutsu was released, everything went blank …
Center of the city with Naruto, Bee and A
Absolute chaos, that was the only definition of what was happening in the center of Amegakure. Near the hole that the Alliance's underground forces dug, stood the ten thousand ninja that came with Naruto, Bee and A. They were hiding among the rubble and ruins of the buildings that Bee destroyed in his bijuu form.
The pressure created by the countless Oto shinobi trying to push them back was tremendous. Only three Alliance's warriors dared to break formation and venture into the deadly streets of the enemy's capitol. Naruto just killed another platoon that was trying to breach inside their perimeter, those men never knew what hit them as the blond used his undetectable genjutsu skills to decimate them.
"There's no end to them, what the hell is going on with our aerial and ground assault ?" Naruto asked loud enough for A and Bee to hear him out.
"No idea, but I don't plan to do this all day since my chakra reserves aren't bottomless as yours or my brother's are Naruto. Bee what do you see from up there ?" A replied to Naruto and then spoke to Killer Bee.
"Those fools just brought out some damn mid and long ranged weapons from out of nowhere Bro, our men are shot down like flies and the external forces are under heavy bombardment." Bee replied from his higher ground vision with his transformed state.
"No wonder we've been waiting all this time for our allies to link up with us without them showing up. They must have hidden some of their artillery weapons before the battle just in case." Naruto said.
"Bee ! Get your ass out there and go destroy those things before they get the chance to annihilate all of our allies." The Raikage yelled out to his younger brother.
"Got it Bro, I'm on my way there." Bee replied as he made his way towards the enemy's artillery.
"Will you do me a service Bee and go look out for Yugito and Natsuki at the doors once you're done with their …" Naruto didn't have the time to finish his sentence when a bright light illuminated the area.
Naruto's and Bee's eyes widened as they recognized the jutsu behind that phenomena, this was the bijuu Imari, the strongest offensive jutsu a bijuu could fire. Seeing that neither of them fired it and Gaara could no longer transform into his bijuu state, ever since Naruto tightened his seal, they both knew it was Yugito and Nibi who did this.
"Things must be getting complicated for them out there, if Yugito had to resort to the Imari. I really hope Na-chan is fine, things aren't really turning out like we expected them to." Naruto thought as the light slowly dissipated.
Bee was about to move on toward his new destination when one of his tentacle was suddenly lit on fire despite the continuous rain, proof that it was no normal fire and even more by their black color. This could only mean one thing for those who already knew of those dark flames, the Amaterasu, Uchiha Sasuke was among them somewhere close.
Bee was yelling in pain and moved around randomly, trying to put the flames out, but couldn't do anything against the inextinguishable flames of Amaterasu. Naruto lost no time as he revealed himself from under his genjutsu, unsheathed his katana and ran to the rampaging Bee with the clear intention to cut.
"What the hell are your trying to do to my brother, Naruto ?" The Raikage yelled, as he saw Naruto preparing his blade.
"Cutting myself a slice of nicely cooked Takoyaki, why do you want some ? Besides it's either that or we let the flames entirely consume his whole body. Don't worry too much though, you better than anyone know that Bee will pull through this, and it's not like I'm cutting out one of his real human form's limb anyway." Naruto replied as he performed a clean cut of the still burning tentacle.
"Damn that hurt like hell, thanks Naruto. Now, where's the little shit who did this to me ?" Bee roared as his burned body quickly healed with the help of his massive youki reserves.
"Your enemy is me, jinchuriki of the Hachibi. My sword will deal with your demonic powers." Suigetsu announced as he appeared on top of a tower with the Samehada in his hands.
The Raikage was about to move toward his brother when he suddenly had to jumped back, to avoid a volley of projectiles. Upon further inspection, he saw that they were all made of bone, most likely bones from a human hand's fingers. A turned his head in the direction where the bones came from to see Kimimaro. However he had to once again dodge another attack as Juugo appeared from the side and tried to punch him, A would have normally tried to block the punch, but Juugo had his entire arm transform into his cursed state.
"A Shikotsumyaku kekkei genkai user and someone with Orochimaru's Juinjutsu. I won't be able to get away that easily." The Raikage thought before reactivating his Raiton no Yoroi.
Naruto managed to hide behind his genjutsu again during the confusion and was about to go attack one of the newcomers from behind when the area around him was suddenly covered in black flames. The blond had to use the Hiraishin in order to get away, revealing his presence to the people around him.
"You finally came out to play with us … Sasuke." Naruto said as he reappeared on top of a tall tower looking right at his enemy, the Otokage himself.
A/N : What do you think ?
Large scale battle between the Alliance and Otogakure. Almost everyone made an appearance by now, I'm saying almost since there are still some "bonus" players around that have yet to participate in the battle.
Next chapter will focus on the fight in the center of the city and the last twist will then be revealed. I think the next chapter will be the last one before the epilogue, I don't know if I'll start writing my next story at the same time, I have almost finalized its plot.
Anyway as usual please give me some opinions, so Read and Review.