Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto
Chapter 34: Invasion, part two
Jiraiya cursed. The situation was bad. His spy network had completely missed this. He had summoned enough toads to deal with the snakes, but there were far too many enemies remaining. There wasn't anything he could do about the aerial attack and he couldn't use most of his large-scale attacks without causing even more destruction to the village.
'I guess I have no choice. Hopefully Shima and Fukasaku have cooled down from when I told them about the kid having signed the contract with the swallows.'
'Summoning technique'
With two puffs of smoke a pair of toads materialized on the ground. Their eyes widened when they took in the devastation around them.
"Jiraiya-chan, what is happening here?" the female toad elder Shima asked.
"Dammit boy, why do you only call on us when you are in the middle of some wild rampage? No wonder Bunta is always mad at you." her male counterpart Fukasaku groused.
"I'm sorry to call you so suddenly, but as you can see Konoha is about to be destroyed. I really need your help." Jiraiya explained.
"You really need to learn how to use Sage Mode on your own, Jiraiya-chan. By the way, boy, didn't you say that you hate this form?"
"I don't have a choice right now, Pa. I'm up against the forces of several villages, after all." the Sannin answered. "Please, lend me your powers."
The toads hopped onto his shoulders. A moment later he felt himself entering Sage Mode. "As if we would let you down. Now go get them, boy."
Jiraiya nodded before heading into the direction of the approaching forces from Suna. The attack was coming from too many directions and he could only be in one location at once, but he should be able to blunt at least one prong of the attack.
The academy building shook from another explosion nearby and for a moment Mizuki feared it would come down on top of them. Considering the damage the building had sustained earlier it was only too likely. Fortunately only a few cascades of dust left the ceiling and Mizuki returned to his task of bandaging one of the first year students he had been teaching when the attack took place.
Mizuki gave his patient a reassuring smile. "There, that should hold until we can get you to a doctor. Everything will be fine."
The boy nodded somewhat shakily before lying down on the floor. He was probably still in shock, not that he was the only one. The better part of his class was in the same state. Thankfully injuries had been light among his charges. Sadly, the same couldn't be said for the others on this floor. Only a bisected corpse remained of the Sound kunoichi who had barged into his classroom shortly after the explosions started in the village. Mizuki had been surprised, yes, but he had reacted in time before the woman could get off more than a few poorly aimed projectiles. Other teachers had been slower to react and paid the price. It was only luck that he had held his giant shuriken charged up with a complicated fire technique already in his hands. As it was he had only needed to throw it instead of simply letting the technique dissipate as planned. It had gone through the woman (and the man behind her, the wall behind them, the classroom on the other side of the corridor and the outer wall) like a hot knife through butter.
'Funny, I didn't think I would ever get to use that technique in earnest. Dragging a giant shuriken around is just too cumbersome and normally the technique takes too long to charge up. I hope it doesn't hurt anyone on our side when it lands.'
Normally the teachers were only lightly armed (mostly some kunai, shuriken and such), but thanks to Naruto-sama's warning Mizuki had brought a lot of weapons and equipment with him today under the guise of a demonstration. Unfortunately, even he hadn't expected the scale of the attack. There hadn't been that many Sound shinobi hitting the academy, but they prevented them from evacuating in an orderly fashion. That wasn't even mentioning the casualties they caused. Most of the younger children would probably need counseling… if they survived this. For now they had herded all surviving students into the corridor until they could make sure the way out was free.
Two dust-covered teachers arrived from the direction of the staircase. "The upmost floor is simply gone. There's no one left alive. Whatever it was, it came from the stadium and hit the mountain. There's fighting all around."
"The ground floor is clear now; the last of the children are being evacuated right now… but there were losses. Keep the children away from the classrooms." the second one added.
On the way out Mizuki spared a look into the ground-floor corridor. Smoke came out of several rooms and some bodies were lying around. Most of the children seemed to have gotten out alive, but there were still enough corpses to make him feel queasy. He might hate teaching the brats, but he most definitely didn't want to see them dead. With a sigh he left the place of carnage. Konoha's problems in regards to security had finally come home to roost. On the outside most children were already away towards the safe area behind the Hokage mountain, the teachers forming a protective cordon on the yard and carrying off the wounded. Mizuki's class would be the last to be led away. The white-haired chunin wasn't sure if the evacuation plans were actually tenable considering the sound of fighting all around them. It seemed a large number of enemy shinobi was already inside the village.
Mizuki's eyes suddenly widened when he looked to the sky. "Everyone, get down!"
A moment later he hit the ground. It wasn't a second too soon. New explosions blossomed around them, shrouding the yard in smoke. The academy building they had just left collapsed in a cloud of dust.
As soon as the explosions stopped Mizuki jumped to his feet. The sky was full of gliders attacking all over the village. Most of the chunin around him were dead. They had probably presented too good a target. Mizuki's heart sank when he spotted a new group of enemies approaching. Their escape route had been cut off.
"Go into the cellar underneath the storage hall! I'll try to stop them here!" Mizuki shouted towards Daikoku Funeno, the only other teacher still on his feet.
For a moment Daikoku seemed ready to object, but then he nodded respectfully and began ushering the remaining students away. Mizuki breathed deeply, preparing himself for battle. There were at least a dozen enemies, killing off the injured in their way.
'Time to see if my research pays off. Fire Release: Field of the Dancing Fireflies'
Countless motes of light emerged from his mouth, filling the yard before him with swirling specks of colored light. All Konoha shinobi in the area were dead anyway and he wouldn't have to be worried about hitting any friendlies. For a moment the enemies hesitated, but when nothing happened one of them advanced towards him. Once again nothing happened. Two more Sound shinobi left their position to approach him. Mizuki had to dive to the side to evade several thrown kunai. Rolling behind a broken piece of the wall, he took notice that all enemies were now advancing on his position. Apparently the enemies now believed the field was harmless.
Mizuki's lips moved into a malicious smirk when the necessary time passed. 'I love when my enemies are stupid. Feeding Time'
The change was obvious. All the formerly widely curving tiny lights homed in to the nearest human chakra source, aside from him of course. Then the screams began. The tiny specks of light were no longer harmless. Instead they were small but very highly concentrated accumulations of elemental fire chakra. One hit, while painful, didn't actually do much damage. Unfortunately for the Sound shinobi there were thousands of those specks, each one unfailingly calibrated on one of the chakra signatures that had moved through the field earlier. Half of the Sound shinobi threw themselves to ground in the hopes of quenching the flames that devoured their bodies. It made them only easier targets.
The other half tried to escape in different directions, a stream of multi-colored fireflies following closely behind. It could have been a pretty display if one ignored what happened to the victims. It definitely wasn't a pretty way to die. The fireflies automatically evaded every obstacle in their path including techniques. Of course, it wasn't perfect and there were countermeasures, but fortunately these shinobi didn't seem to know any. Finally only a dozen smoking corpses were left on the yard. Mizuki was about to make sure when a shout from behind drew his attention.
"That was so cool, sensei!"
His heart sinking, he turned around. Konohamaru and Hanabi were standing on the rubble. Both children looked unscathed, but Mizuki could spot tear tracks on their faces. Today he had taught a different class as replacement for a sick teacher. The children had been supposed to learn about trap setting under Iruka and Suzume.
"What are you two doing here?"
"We were at the small training field when the attack came. Iruka-sensei and Suzume-sensei tried to defend us, but…"
A change in the children's expressions was all the warning Mizuki had before a sledgehammer hit him in the side and sent him flying. His ribs creaked dangerously, but held. As soon as he came close to the ground he used his hand to change his trajectory. It wasn't a moment too soon; a massive fist came down at the spot he would have been at had he continued on his way. Two back flips later he got the first good look at the enemy that had managed to sneak up on him. It was a man with absolutely massive muscles.
"He, and here I thought I was fighting against a man. Instead I only see a grasshopper." the Sound shinobi said with a laugh before he launched himself at Mizuki.
The chunin had no opportunity for a reply. Whoever his enemy was, he was fast and strong. One hit from his fists disintegrated the rubble lying around. For the first time in years the white-haired chunin was in a life-and-death battle at close range. He was still faster than his opponent, but not by much.
'If I didn't regularly train with Anko that would have killed me.' Mizuki absentmindedly thought when he evaded a particularly vicious punch. Training the kids had been helpful, but he had needed a sparring partner on a far higher level than they (or the other academy teachers) could provide.
Suddenly he saw an opening. His thrust missed the man's eye due to him moving his head at the last moment, but it cut a deep incision into the man's cheek instead. The counterstrike threw Mizuki several meters away until he managed to regain his balance.
For a moment the battle paused as the Sound nin dabbed at his cheek and examined his bloody fingertips. Then his eyes narrowed. "Enough playing around, you will pay for this grasshopper. Behold the power Orochimaru-sama has graced me with."
The man took a bottle from his belt and downed the contents in one big gulp. Immediately his already massive muscles bulged even more. Fur grew and fingernails elongated until the man looked more than a bipedal tiger than a human. With a roar he lunged at Mizuki. Said chunin barely managed to stay alive throughout the next seconds. His enemy was just too fast and strong.
'I guess I have no choice; I need time for hand seals.'
Mizuki purposefully let the next attack connect. The claws shredded his chunin vest (luckily without penetrating his undershirt) and he was once again launched into the air from the force of the strike. While in flight he went through a series of hand seals, but he didn't release the technique yet. He needed a clear shot for it to work. The impact with a particularly large piece of rubble drove the air from his lungs, but his concentration held. His enemy was already running at him with high speed.
'Wait for it, wait for… now!'
'Fire Release: Ray of Hope'
A lance of fire so hot it looked white shot from Mizuki's right palm, hitting the beastman squarely in the chest. For the smallest moment nothing seemed to happen; then the man was hurled back by the force of the technique until he hit the wall on the edge of the academy grounds. His roar of pain rang painfully loud in Mizuki's ears, but he kept the fiery beam straight on target. Finally he let the beam peter out before he expended more chakra than he could afford in this situation. The tiger-man slumped to the ground, a smoking hole in his chest.
Breathing deeply, Mizuki stood up from his sitting position. His right hand hurt and was covered in some relatively light burn. 'Still a work in progress, I guess.'
To his astonishment his enemy was still alive despite his insides being turned into something resembling charcoal. In the next few moments Mizuki grew even more astonished. The formerly heavily-muscled tiger-like man turned into a thin, withered husk before Mizuki's eyes.
"Orochimaru-sama, you promised me power… you promised…" were his last words before the light left his eyes.
Mizuki had to suppress a shudder before he turned around and approached the children to deal with the next problem. 'That could have been me if not for Naruto-sama.'
Tsume Inuzaka ripped another Sound shinobi apart with aching hands, but she had no opportunity to rest. The next group of enemies was already upon her. It seemed she was directly in the invasion route from one of the breaches in the wall. By now she and her partner were fighting alone and she had lost count of how many people she had killed. Still, even more enemies went around her. She simply couldn't stop them all.
Suddenly something that had always been there was brutally ripped away.
"Kuromaru!"
Her companion of so many years had been speared through in mid-jump by a strange bone construct. A man with pale skin, white hair and two dots above his eyes turned towards her, his face an emotionless mask.
"Orochimaru-sama commands your destruction, trash."
A red haze descending on her vision, Tsume howled in rage and threw herself at the man. Her claws ripped his flesh away, but then only hit bone. She never saw the bone spikes emerging from his body that pierced her brain, lungs and heart.
'Summoning technique'
With a large puff of smoke another carriage-sized swallow materialized, this one with red feathers mixed with a mainly black plumage. After a moment to orient itself it jumped into the air, joining the large flock already circulating over the park. It wasn't as if anyone could see them. One of the seven boss-class swallows Naruto had summoned was the aptly named Niji. The swallow had feathers in all colors of the rainbow and specialized in large-scale optical illusions. Currently she was using her powers to hide the growing swarm until they were ready for attack.
Naruto was about to summon another swallow when a dizzy spell hit him. The next he knew was that he was sitting on the ground, several worried swallows surrounding him.
"I think this is quite enough, Naruto-sama. You'll need some energy to fight if something unexpected happens." Natsu admonished.
"I have to agree. No single summoner in our history has ever managed to call that many of our tribe on his own. Almost everyone who can fight is here." Fuyu added, the awe clear in his voice.
Since the two mid-level swallows had been the first ones he had summoned they had apparently been assigned the honor of being his personal summons. Naruto didn't mind, he liked the two and it didn't make much difference for him. Natsu was rather formal most of the time while Fuyu was easily excitable and possessed of an insatiable curiosity. Frankly, on their own both swallows would be pretty irritating. That was probably the reason why they never left each other's company and refused to be summoned without the other.
In response Naruto simply nodded. He was actually low on chakra. He! Low on chakra! That was almost an impossibility. He had only experienced that state a few times in his parents' realm when he deliberately spent all he had.
'I guess summoning is pretty chakra-intensive.'
With a sigh he stood up. "You're right. If this isn't enough nothing will be. I only hope the ones who won't get to fight aren't offended."
Natsu shrugged. "They will certainly be sad to have missed this grand battle, but there will be other opportunities in the future. Now then, are you ready, Naruto-sama?"
Naruto nodded again and approached the swallow that would serve as his means of transportation. The lull in the aerial attack would soon come to an end when the next wave hit and he wanted to be ready. A few seconds later they were airborne. Konoha didn't present a good image. The big stadium was all but destroyed and fires were everywhere. In the distance he could see a giant toad fighting against the last of the giant snakes that had cut several swathes of destruction through the village. The big demon leech had moved further into the village as well and was engaged in heavy fighting.
'I guess that was the Pretending Worm from Dad's vision. There is no Reibi; it pretty much pretends to be something greater than it really is. I really hope the other shinobi manage to deal with it.'
Overall the situation in the streets was too chaotic for him to make much sense of it, but he got the impression that the defenders were once again getting organized. His task was in the sky. Looking towards Konoha's outskirts, he saw more signs of fighting in the training grounds. Unfortunately the trees prevented him from seeing any details. Some isolated groups of gliders and larger airships were still in the vicinity, but Naruto didn't want to split his forces. The swallows were all that stood between Konoha and a second, even more devastating attack.
"To the west, Naruto-sama." Fuyu shouted from his side.
Squinting, Naruto looked into the indicated direction. Then he saw them. Another large force of gliders and airships was just clearing a mountain range. He couldn't allow them to reach their target.
'I hope the Ichibi doesn't break free anytime soon, but I have no choice. I have to deal with Sky first.'
Karin tried to think happy thoughts to distract herself from reality. She wasn't especially successful. Her current location was the shelter under the Inuzaka clan compound. It was filled with the old and infirm as well as the children too young to fight, both human and canine. There were quite a lot of those children. About nine or ten years ago the Inuzaka clan seemed to have begun experiencing a baby boom that had only somewhat subsided in recent years. Almost all families had at least half a dozen kids. Kiba's family was actually abnormal in that regard that it was only him and his sister, but she supposed that was because their father was gone. Constantly being surrounded by younger children had been a novel experience for Karin. They were simply everywhere.
It wasn't the only new experience she had in the last month. The leadership of Kusagakure had rid themselves of her with alarming alacrity when the Inuzaka matriarch asked. It had only taken a single exchange of messages until she had permanently become a Konoha kunoichi under the authority of the Inuzaka clan. At first Karin had been very worried what would become of her.
Her treatment had been, well, nice. Tsume and Hana treated her pretty much as family and the other Inuzaka followed suit. It was far more than she had ever received back in Kusa. Oh, they drilled her mercilessly. In her more honest moments she had to admit that she wasn't a very good kunoichi aside from her sensor ability, but that was slowly changing. The blond Yamanaka girl Ino had made an offer of friendship and helped her dealing with her Problem from a more personal perspective than the regular counseling sessions.
Part of her always wanted to be close to Kiba and Karin found herself thinking about him more and more. It wasn't just the attraction to his chakra, though. Kiba was a generally nice and funny guy with some rough edges. Considering that she found herself in his bed every night it spoke high volumes of his character that he hadn't taken advantage of her. She could do far worse.
'I hope he is okay.'
As soon as the explosion started she had been ushered into the shelter along with the other non-combatants. It had gone smoothly, in no small amount thanks to repeated drills in the last weeks. Unfortunately she still didn't know what was really going on other than Konoha was under attack. At first she had tried to find out what was happening with her sensor abilities. She had been forced to abandon that soon. There was just so much death, more than she could endure. The enormous source of inhumanly malevolent chakra in direction of the chunin exam stadium had made things even worse. In the end Karin had clamped down on her mind's eye as hard as she could. She was still unable to shut it off completely, but now she only perceived the people in her immediate vicinity.
"This is bad. The fighting is already going on for too long." one of the old women sitting beside her whispered to her equally old neighbor. "It wasn't even that bad during the third shinobi war when that force from Iwa breached our walls."
Karin gulped. Konoha was the strongest among the great shinobi villages. It couldn't fall that easily, could it?
Hayate spat out a gob of blood and tried to extract himself from the wreckage of the market stand that had broken his fall. He was pretty sure that last strike had damaged something inside of him. It had only been a glancing hit, but glancing hits from their enemy were often all it took. Direct hits were generally not survivable.
'At least the jinchuuriki got away.'
He didn't want to think about what that black monstrosity would be like if it had managed to devour the Kyuubi. As it was they were losing badly. By now more than half the shinobi that had engaged the demon were dead. Worse, they had achieved nothing. No matter what they did, it just didn't seem possible to actually deal lasting damage to their foe.
"Out of the way!" came a booming voice from above. In the next moment the black leech was buried under the massive foot of an enlarged Choza Akimichi.
For a moment Hayate felt hope. Then black tendrils emerged from under the Akimichi's foot, wound around his lower leg and squeezed. Hayate didn't want to believe his eyes as the giant was lifted from the ground and flung around like a rag doll until his leg simply gave away. Choza was already returning to his normal size as he fell to the ground somewhere behind the frontlines, the stump of his severed leg spraying blood. The black mass once again reformed into the leech-like demon with the white mask. A large mouth suddenly gaped wide before devouring the Akimichi's leg.
"More! I want more!"
The street was running red with blood as the demon created countless arms to crush the attackers. Others were simply devoured directly by the impossibly wide maw.
'This isn't working.'
They were losing too many people against this thing. He had to find another solution, but a demon such as this was not like their usual enemies. Granted, besides the famous tailed beasts there existed the occasional lesser demons throughout the Elemental Nations, but encounters were rather rare. Most of them didn't really require other methods to kill than humans.
'I have to find a solution. What did Hayame-sensei tell me about demons?'
Hayate was a shinobi first, swordsman second, but his mentor in the art of the sword had taken the time to pass down what lore remained. It dealt mostly with the legends of cursed swords and the like, but there were many tales about warriors facing supernatural threats. The swordsman's eyes narrowed when he remembered a particular tale.
'This demon isn't really here. It is using something else as a medium.'
Their only chance was destroying the medium… which was inside the demon and not reachable by normal attacks from the outside. There was only one way to find out if he was right. If he was wrong he would die an ignoble death. Readying his sword, he charged at the demon. Several arms emerged to meet him, but he could them apart or evaded them. Then he was in range.
'Dance of the Crescent Moon'
The black substance of the demon parted under the simultaneous strikes of him and his shadow clones, revealing an unearthly purple glow. In the next moment Hayate plunged headlong into the wound before it could close again.
HATE SORROW WRATH ENVY PAIN GREED ANGER SUFFERING RAGE JEALOUSY BETRAYAL AVARICE GRIEF ANGUISH MISERY WOE FURY LOATHING DREAD FEAR HATE SORROW WRATH ENVY PAIN GREED ANGER SUFFERING RAGE JEALOUSY BETRAYAL AVARICE GRIEF ANGUISH MISERY WOE FURY LOATHING DREAD FEAR HATE SORROW WRATH ENVY PAIN GREED ANGER SUFFERING RAGE JEALOUSY BETRAYAL AVARICE GRIEF ANGUISH MISERY WOE FURY LOATHING DREAD FEAR
Hayate wanted to scream. He was immersed in a churning ocean of emotion and dark chakra battering at his very being. Memories of the demon's countless victims assaulted his mind. His soul was coming apart.
'NO! I must prevail. I am the bone of my sword. Steel is my body, and fire is my blood. My soul is made of blades.'
Reciting the words of the ancient swordsman whose name had been lost to time allowed Hayate to regain some semblance of control over himself. There wasn't much time before he would be eroded away. He immediately launched himself into the very center of the maelstrom. Time lost all meaning as he dove deeper and deeper into the raging sea of emotion. It was as if someone had collected the darkness that dwelled in every human heart. Hayate closed his fraying mind as good as he could against the onslaught.
'I am a sword. I mustn't feel, only cut.'
More and more of his being was ground away until he feared there would be nothing left. Suddenly it stopped. Hayate was standing in complete blackness, but there was one splotch of color directly in front of him. A naked girl of perhaps thirteen years with reddish-brown hair and blue eyes was half-standing, half-hanging in the darkness. Veins of red, purple and black stretched from their undefined surroundings, burrowing into her flesh, keeping her upright. From the looks of it her entire body was pierced through with these things.
Hayate knew he didn't make a sound when he stepped closer, but suddenly the girl focused on him with a fearful expression. "Who are you? Have you come to hurt me, too?"
"No. I am only a swordsman. Who are you?"
The girl's expression grew vague. "I don't remember my name. I was living in a village. I was always ill. The other villagers treated me as an outcast. Then Shinno-sensei came. He was so kind and nice. Then he did something to me. I remember it now." The girl's word came quicker and quicker. "He put something into my body. It grew. Then he gave me to the snake man." She began to sob. "The pain, the pain. Please make it stop. Please." Her sobbing turned into a singsong. "The shadows came to play, my lord; the shadows came to stay, my lord." From one moment to the next her voice assumed a dreamy quality. "I have been here in this place ever since. Sometimes the darkness shows me the outside. I don't like what it is doing." Suddenly she became completely serious. "You should hurry. It hasn't noticed you being here yet, but it will soon."
Hayate had been silent throughout the rush of words. "Is there a way to save you?"
"No. It's too late for me. My heart belongs to the darkness already." The girl looked at him with pleading eyes. "Kill me. Please."
Not needing any further prompting, Hayate raised his sword. The blade sank easily into the girl's chest. A relieved sigh was the girl's only reaction. From one moment to the next the darkness around them disappeared and Hayate was back in the streets of Konoha. Before him stood the girl from inside the demon, her heart pierced by his sword. A red glow was fading from her eyes, returning them to a blue color. The girl gave him a smile and opened her mouth. Hayate's hearing barely picked up the girl's softly whispered words.
"Thank you."
Then the light went from her eyes and she died.
"Summer's Heat!" "Winter's Cold!"
The two small swallows were engulfed in a red and blue glow, respectively, and started to circle around each other. It took a few seconds, but then a storm cloud formed between them that was immediately launched at the approaching gliders. Countless other swallows followed suit with their own attacks. The battle in the sky had begun.
Suddenly Naruto felt a strange presence in the direction of the stadium. It was cold, hungry and lifeless. To his surprise the presence felt, well, small in comparison to his parents or what he had experienced of Jashin's followers.
'Probably the old man using some sort of suicide technique. There was a seal in the forbidden scroll involving an invocation of the shinigami. Hopefully he'll get Orochimaru with it and keels over afterwards.' He shook his head. 'Can't afford to get distracted now.'
Shibi Aburame ducked under a strike before he drove a kunai into the enemy's throat. When he detected no further opponents in the vicinity he took the time to examine the dead man. In contrast to the Sound and Sand shinobi he had been fighting almost constantly since the invasion started this one wore a Sky headband. Shibi had been very young during the second shinobi war, but he remembered the tales. It was unusual to find them on the ground.
Shaking his head to drive the onset of exhaustion away, he approached the next strongest chakra source he could find. The day had gone from bad to worse when the Sky ninja showed up and shattered the organized resistance. By now they should hopefully get organized again.
Turning a corner, he saw a square occupied by a large group of Sky shinobi with a muscular, large man in the middle. The man just crushed the skull of a Konoha shinobi one-handed before hurling the body away. Shibi immediately released a large part of his remaining kikaichu and commanded them to spread over the square. From the corner of his eye he spied several fellow jonin arriving, but he was the nearest. If he took out the obvious leader the rest might lose heart, softening them up for the blow.
"Is there no one in this pathetic village who can provide me with a decent challenge?" The man bellowed loudly.
Shibi calmly stepped onto the square. "You have already lost." 'Secret Technique: Insect Sphere'
All the kikaichu he had distributed in the air earlier targeted the man, forming a globe around him. Suddenly the Sky shinobi laughed loudly. "Is that supposed to defeat me?"
A wave of something dark emerged from the man. All his kikaichu that came in contact with the dark chakra immediately withered away and died. The last thing Shibi ever saw was the man sprinting at him at a speed he had only ever seen from Maito Gai or Minato Namikaze, a dark orb with two rings around it in his hand.
Orochimaru cradled his useless right arm as he fled Konoha surrounded by his body guards. Kimimaro should have been able to keep an escape route open.
'Damn Hiruzen, damn him to hell.'
He should have seen that coming, he really should have. Suicide techniques were notoriously dangerous. He shouldn't have played around instead of going for the kill right from the start. Seeing his ex-teacher cornered and his spirit squashed had proven too strong a temptation, though. He had paid dearly for that miscalculation. Fortunately the old man had been weak already, only managing to seal the two Hokages… and Orochimaru's right arm. His rejuvenation technique didn't seem to be able to fix the damage.
'It would have gone far worse if I hadn't brought the Kazekage along. Speaking of Goldie…'
"Take command of Suna's forces and do your best to destroy Konoha as soon as we cross the village wall. If you still exist by sunrise tomorrow, destroy yourself." Orochimaru commanded the revived form of Suna's ruler. The man gave no outward sign that he had understood, but the control seal would ensure his obedience.
At least that way Konoha would pay. Still, what was happening in the sky and where did all those birds come from?
Izumo Kamizuku felt the bones in his arms snap like kindling from the dark force exuded by the black-haired man before him. A moment later he was hurled away like a leaf in the wind. The impact on a wall on the second floor of a nearby house broke his shoulder. His collision with the roof smashed several ribs as well.
'I really should have stayed with Kotetsu. Something always happens when we are separated.'
The shinobi found he just didn't have the strength to get up again. He had just seen the Aburame clan head literally smeared across the ground. That dark chakra their enemy used was more powerful than anything Izumo had ever seen. He could only watch helplessly from his perch as the man single-handedly decimated the defenders.
"Dynamic Entry!"
The newly arrived Gai sprang away from his enemy who hadn't even moved despite taking one of Gai's jump kicks to the head. Cracking his neck, he turned towards the challenger.
"Not bad, I actually felt that. Who are you?"
Gai struck his usual pose. "I am Maito Gai, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey."
The Sky shinobi took a battle position of his own. "I am Shinno, the Sorakage."
No further words were exchanged and the two combatants clashed in battle. It only lasted a few second before Gai was flung away, although he managed to land smoothly.
Shinno snorted. "That wasn't even remotely challenging. You'll have to do better."
Gai didn't answer, but Izumo could feel the jonin's chakra intensifying. He had opened the first of the eight gates. A second later they clashed again. The fight grew increasingly violent and Izumo had trouble following all the movements. That was far above his own level. Buildings and streets were trashed by attacks that had missed their intended target. Several bystanders from both sides were killed in the process, causing the rest to take cover. It seemed an eternity until the fighters separated. Both men seemed mostly unhurt, but their clothes hung in tatters and they were breathing heavily.
The Sorakage smiled widely. "Marvelous, simply marvelous. Such a challenge. It will make your defeat all the sweeter."
Gai shook his head. "Don't underestimate the power of youth! Gate of View: Open. Morning Peacock!"
"Revival Fist!"
Shinno met Gai's charge with outstretched hands. An almost solid wall of black chakra met a flurry of punches so fast the air caught fire. The ground beneath and around the combatants began to crack from the unleashed forces. Suddenly both techniques collapsed at the same time, driving the fighting shinobi apart.
The Kage of Sky had a maniacal expression on his face. "I must say I'm impressed that you can continue fighting even with all the internal injuries my last attacks caused. None of those pathetic worms I slaughtered came anywhere near you. I will remember your name even when this village is only ashes."
Wiping off a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth Gai smiled grimly. "Don't count me out yet! Gate of Wonder: Open. Daytime Tiger!"
"Super Revival Fist!"
Izumo couldn't get a good look at what Gai was doing, but suddenly the air around the jonin assumed the shape of a roaring tiger before it was launched at Shinno. During its flight the tiger contracted more and more until it seemed to occupy only a single point. Meanwhile Shinno had created another of those dark orbs he had used to slay Shibi Aburame and launched it against Gai's attack.
The force of the resulting massive concussive explosion picked Izumo up despite the distance to the fight and threw him once again against the wall. Several surrounding buildings collapsed. Coughing blood, Izumo crawled back to the edge of the roof. He had to see what was happening even if it killed him. This time he took care for his body to remain covered by the edge of the building, though.
Where the plaza had been a few seconds ago only a big crater gaped… and still both combatants lived, standing on opposite points of the rim.
A look of determination settled on Gai's face. "I will not let you win. Gate of Death: Open. Evening Menagerie!"
This time Izumo couldn't even see what was happening, an explosion of light and sound blinded and deafened him completely. Desperately rubbing his eyes, he tried to regain his sight. Finally he could make out forms. The crater had expanded once again. Only one person was still standing. Blinking tears away, he felt indescribable relief when he recognized the remains of a familiar green bodysuit. His opponent was only an unidentifiable heap of bloody flesh.
"My… life… for… Konoha." As if in slow motion Gai leaned to the side until he collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Izumo could feel the overwhelming feeling of Gai's chakra disappearing. He closed his eyes in respect for the great man who had given his life for the village to take down an opponent of nearly undefeatable strength.
Suddenly laughter echoed in the remains of the plaza, causing him to snap his eyes open. The broken heap that had been the leader of the Sky ninja twitched and bubbled as black energy surrounded it. A moment later Shinno rose from the ground with a completely intact body.
A jump brought him close to Gai's body. "Fool. Every time you strike me down I will rise stronger and harder. As long as I have access to dark chakra I cannot die. But you have fought well and I shall remember you. I think I will make your head the first of my collection."
The man slashed down with his bare hand, easily separating Gai's head from the rest of his body. Izumo was too frozen by terror to do anything; the same seemed to apply to all the other Konoha shinobi who were watching.
Shinno turned his back towards the defenders while he was cheered on by his own forces. "It's time for us to go. The next phase will begin soon. Move out!"
Izumo slumped down. This was a nightmare.
Goro knew he was going to die soon as he limped through the chaos that was Konoha. The gaping, bleeding hole in his side left no doubt about his ultimate fate. He knew enough about the human body to be certain of that. Stuffing shreds of clothing into the wound had slowed the bleeding, but it only delayed the inevitable for a time… time enough to fulfill Jashin-sama's divine will. He was the last of their group and now everything hinged on him, the unremarkable servant.
Their journey had been difficult and fraught with peril. They lost two of the warriors to bandits; bad weather had delayed them further. Just an hour after they had arrived in Konoha this… this madness started. Goro had not the slightest idea what was really happening, but from one moment to the next fighting had started everywhere around them. Fumio had died in an explosion that ripped the building apart they were just passing, some shinobi had casually killed Hachiro not even a minute later. Masao-sama had called upon their lord to give him strength, but the wounds he had received were debilitating and more enemies were coming. He had just enough time to give Goro Jashin-sama's holy talisman and the command to continue on his own. Then he had turned towards their enemies to enable Goro to escape.
The Jashinist had done just as asked and tried to reach the Hyuuga compound to render Jashin-sama's divine judgment while staying alive, just one more civilian running around in the chaos. He hadn't even seen what hit him. From one moment to the next he was simply missing a large chunk of flesh. The rest of the journey through the burning village was mostly hidden in a haze of pain, but finally his target was in sight. From the descriptions the Hyuuga compound was unmistakable. Somehow he had made it.
From the looks of it several buildings on the inside were on fire and heavy fighting taking place. It mattered not to Goro, he only needed to reach land owned by his god's enemies. Blood of a dead Hyuuga shed on their land would do, but a living Hyuuga would be better.
A groan drew Goro's attention to a formerly white-clad figure lying before a hole in the wall. A garden was visible on the other side of the wall. Several deep wounds dotted the man's torso and someone seemed to have taken a sword to the man's arms, leaving only stumps. Despite that he was still alive.
'Praise Jashin, he has given me all I need.'
Goro closed the distance as quickly as he could and began to drag the man onto the grass inside the compound wall. Whoever the man was, he helped the process along by taking some of his weight on his own legs. The fool apparently thought Goro was bringing him to safety. As soon as they entered the Hyuuga grounds Goro dropped him unceremoniously and removed Jashin-sama's talisman from its sheath. It was a tiny, unadorned dagger, just large enough to comfortably fill a hand. The only unusual thing about it was its color: blade, guard and hilt were completely black and seemed to drink all light. In all honesty it looked more like a dagger-shaped hole in the world than any sort of normal weapon.
Placing it above the Hyuuga's chest, Goro began intoning the aria Masao-sama had taught them all during their journey.
"Oh ancient hate now given form, strike down my lord's enemies reborn!
Blood calls to blood, none shall escape, let this curse seal their fate!
Wings of darkness shall ride the breeze; invade the air, the land, the sea, no matter to where the prey may flee!
Mist-filled pits, dark, dank, unclear; touch all before me with frost-fingered fear!
Flay the flesh, lay bare the bone. Upon this field, let grief be sown!
By nature's hand, by craft, by art; what once was one now split apart!
The arrows turn, the swords rebel; let misfortune be their knell!
By what creeps, what crawls, by what does not; let all that grows recede and rot!
Wind of sickness, illness most vile, strike down my enemies, with disease revile!"
With the last word spoken Goro plunged the dagger into the white-eyed man's chest. A cold, dark pressure that had build up during his reciting now intensified, completely overshadowing his pain. Goro could feel Jashin-sama's divine gaze rest on him for a moment.
Goro smiled when he fell to the ground, the pain and blood loss finally takings its toll. He had fulfilled his sacred duty and could now die in peace. The dagger seemed to melt into the Hyuuga's body. For a few moments nothing happened; then a scream that seemed to contain all the world's pain tore from the Hyuuga's throat. Goro's last sight in life was a wave of blackness exploding from the man's body that immediately shimmered into invisibility.
"Stay still, you scumbag!" Anko screamed while she launched a fire jutsu that unfortunately missed its target. She had almost missed her teacher when he tried to flee, but he had passed overhead of her while she was busy with some Sand shinobi. After dealing with them permanently she had taken up pursuit. Unfortunately she had lost sight of Kurenai and Asuma in the process. Now she had finally managed to catch up with her hated ex-teacher. Hate and desperation fueled by the horrors of the invasion bubbled inside of her, causing the curse seal to throb and taking away her ability to think clearly.
The fleeing Orochimaru sent a glance over his shoulder. "Sorry Anko-chan, I have no time to play. Stop her, but leave her alive."
Before she could react golden dust surrounded her. In the next moment it solidified into a wall and hit her with bone-crushing force.
'That hurt.' she thought groggily while she was propelled backwards.
The collision with the wall of a nearby building was even more painful. The impact on an inner wall was probably similar, but by then Anko had lost consciousness.
Danzo cursed liberally while he tried to get a grip on the situation. This was far worse than his most pessimistic projections. How could his spies have missed the build-up of such a large force as well as the resurgence and involvement of Sky? He remembered only too well what a nightmare they had been in the second shinobi war.
'It seems I have severely underestimated Orochimaru's resources and connections.'
Originally he had planned to keep his ROOT agents in reserve, but as soon as he had become aware of the sheer scale of the invasion he had sent them all out. Since they had weathered the first attack by Sky unscathed they were still organized and in prime fighting shape. He would probably lose the majority of them, but they might make a difference. He needed Konoha reasonably intact for his plans to advance.
Shading his eyes with his hand, the old shinobi tried to make out what was happening in the air. Konoha was ill-prepared for aerial assaults and he had expected a second wave some time ago. It would probably have broken what resistance remained. Instead there seemed to be a battle taking place in the skies over Konoha. One side was obviously the Sky ninja, but the other side consisted solely of birds. He couldn't make out any details, but wind, fire, lighting and all other sorts of elemental attacks danced between the specks.
'They are obviously summons of some kind, but whose?'
Another question was who had the necessary chakra reserves to summon that many birds in one go. Even most jonin had problems to muster the chakra necessary for boss-level summons. Judging from size alone there had been originally at least a dozen up there in addition to several hundred smaller summons. He would have learnt if a new summon contract was spread around; you couldn't really keep a group of the necessary size for this secret. Someone would have let something slip.
'I can investigate that later. The important fact for now is that they are giving us the time to get organized again. Damn all that smoke and chaos. I have no idea what is happening in the village at large.'
The birds had taken heavy losses, but so had the Sky ninja. It seemed to him as if they were retreating. Danzo prepared himself to head into the village. His combat skills were rather rusty, but he was still dangerous enough to make a difference. He didn't intend to use his joker hidden behind his bandages though; the battle would take longer than the number of sharingan eyes he had access to would last.
Suddenly a light filled the entire western horizon. A moment later the earth shook so strongly that he almost lost his balance. Several seconds later the sound of an absolutely massive explosion followed.
'What was that?'
The vice-commander of Soragakure turned towards his subordinates after peering at the position of the sun. "The time for the next phase has come. Are we in position?"
"Ancor Vantian is now in range of Konoha. There are still some mountains in the way, although they shouldn't present an obstacle. Our maps were somewhat inaccurate. According to the timetable all our forces deployed on the ground should have retreated ten minutes ago; the aerial forces five minutes ago. We have received no signals to abort, even if our forces met unexpected resistance." his subordinate reported.
"Then initiate the main firing procedure. We will wipe Konoha from the face of the earth."
Naruto looked around tiredly. The battle had been hard fought, but it seemed he had been successful. Only a few stray gliders of the second wave had gotten through his allies, but now there were perhaps only a third of the swallows left. They had dispelled themselves as soon as their injuries prevented them from staying airborne. The Sky ninja had sustained similar losses before they retreated if he wasn't mistaken, but in their case the losses would be permanent. A fall from this height was not survivable. He really hoped there wouldn't be a third wave; they wouldn't be able to stop them.
A familiar swallow flew closer to him. "A most worthy battle, Naruto-sama." Natsu remarked. "Shall we assist in the fighting in the streets?"
After a moment of thought Naruto nodded. There was still a lot of fighting, but the leech demon had apparently disappeared at some point and the village had acquired several new large craters. "Send a quarter of your remaining brethren. They can probably use all the help they can get down there. It won't make much difference if the Sky ninja come back."
Hearing his decision, several smaller swallows that served as his messengers flew off to inform the others. Naruto was about to ask some further questions when a bright light engulfed them. Not knowing what was happening, he held tightly onto the swallow carrying him. That proved to be a wise decision as a shockwave hit only moments later.
It took the swallow serving as his mount several seconds to stabilize itself, but it finally managed. Blinking away the spots before his eyes, Naruto tried to discover what had just happened. A large section of the woods surrounding Konoha was now shrouded in a gigantic smoke cloud. An entire mountain in the western mountain range was simply gone. In effect it looked as if somebody had just launched a bijuudama of a strength somewhere between what he could manage in his four-tailed state and what his mother had shown him she could do. He could spot an enormous flying object moving through the gap. It seemed to be some sort of flying fortress.
'They missed the village and the sanctuary isn't anywhere in the vicinity either.'
In that moment he felt a shock coursing through him. It was the Ichibi. Apparently it was breaking free right now.
'Damn, not now. I can't let that fortress get off a second shot.'
Pushing the desperation down, he tried to think. Both the fortress and the Ichibi would be able to destroy Konoha on their own. Hinata might be able to contain the tailed beast for a time if she was in the right position, but there wasn't anyone else who could do something about the fortress. In contrast, he could take down the fortress by playing one of his trump cards.
'That decides it. Fortress first, Ichibi second.'
"I have to use the Kyuubi's power to destroy that thing, but I can't transform while you're carrying me. I'll jump off, do my thing, and transform back. Can you catch me before I hit the ground?" he asked the swallow carrying him.
"I will do my best, Naruto-sama." the bird shouted back.
'Well, that wasn't a clear yes, but it'll have to do.'
In the next moment Naruto jumped off. Trying to ignore the sensation of falling he drew on his mother's chakra. Liquid fire filled his veins and a red haze obscured his vision. Power flooded his body and violent rage clawed at his mind. He could feel himself transforming as the red chakra surrounded him like a cloak. A moment later the first tail formed on his back, quickly followed by the second.
'Here goes nothing.'
Fixing the task of destroying the fortress firmly in his mind he drew even more power, crossing the threshold of what he could safely control. A third tail formed, but Naruto didn't stop. The rage threatened to consume him; would consume him if he paused in his task.
Then his skin started burning off and he bled freely. It felt as if he was flayed alive. Orbs of black and red appeared in the air rushing around him, seemingly not affected by gravity. It was his own blood mixed with burned skin and demonic chakra. In the next moment the orbs united, forming a black sphere around him. The hate and rage became all-consuming. Then the world shifted.
Naruto's body was gone, replaced by something different, alien that only loosely obeyed the rules of lesser beings. His mind was engulfed in an ocean of rage and hate, dissolving his conscious mind. The world was a colorful mosaic of chakra and emotion. He hated it all. Oh, how he raged and hated. The only thing surpassing the rage was the desire for more power.
'Stop… have something… to do first.'
Yes, there was something to do first. The large thing over there in the air had earned his special hatred. It had to be wiped from existence before he did anything else.
Blue and red-black balls of chakra shot out from his body and floated in the air, gathering even more chakra from the surroundings. His tails moved into position and he drew the chakra back together, forming it into a purple-black ball, compressing it. Then he opened his maw impossibly wide and swallowed it. The pressure on his inside was incredible, the energy wanted to escape and destroy everything.
Turning in mid-air, Naruto aimed himself at the thing in the distance. Then he allowed the pressure to escape. A blinding beam shot from his maw, piercing the object of his hatred, obliterating it in a massive explosion. Letting the last of the pressure escape, Naruto closed his maw.
His self-set task complete, Naruto's mind lost the last hold it had and surrendered to the overwhelming desire for more power to destroy everything, to create an outlet for his unfathomable hate and rage. The beast he had become dug deeper into himself. More power was flowing into him through the seal; a fifth tail began to form.
Suddenly white and golden splotches appeared on his inhuman form, causing his body to contort spastically. The overwhelming rage was pierced by feelings that were so alien to the demonic energy that a violent reaction ensued. More and more divine chakra flowed into him until he felt as he was ripped apart. With a last, overwhelming blaze of pain Kyuubi-mode collapsed, leaving Naruto nearly unconscious. He barely felt when his body was caught by one of his feathered friends.
"Naruto-sama, are you alright?" a chirping voice pierced the haze of pain.
Clawing back to full consciousness, Naruto forced an answer through gritted teeth. "I will be fine… at some point in the future. That fucking hurts every time."
Propping himself up carefully, he tried to get an overview of the situation. The enemy fortress was an expanding cloud of dust and falling debris. The few gliders he could see were retreating. Konoha was still being invaded. A dome of water larger than the Hokage Mountain had formed in the woods. It seemed Hinata was already hard at work.
With a groan Naruto slumped down. His entire body hurt. He wouldn't be capable of fighting for hours, but there were so many things to do. He couldn't leave Hinata alone any longer.
Hinata ducked behind a tree. Somehow she had managed to follow Gaara the entire way out of the village without being spotted. The woods outside Konoha's walls were crawling with Sound and Sand shinobi massing for a new attack and she couldn't simply close the remaining distance. There probably wasn't much time remaining, the Ichibi drew so much magic now that she could feel it from several dozen meters away. It didn't seem as if any of the Sand shinobi realized what was happening, though. Gaara had regained consciousness and seemed to be recovering. His jonin and older brother had left him in the care of some guards to take command of the invasion.
Suddenly the sky turned white and the earth shook. Seconds later a strong wind went through the forest. From her position Hinata couldn't see what had happened, but it had to be bad.
From one moment to the next the magical vortex centered on Gaara stopped. Then she felt a shock coursing through her. It felt as if the world was breaking. She knew what that meant. The Ichibi was breaking free and only minutes remained until it would emerge.
Naruto wasn't here to help her. She would have to do this on her own. Gripping the sapphire Naruto had given her, she began channeling chakra into it. Almost immediately a feedback loop started and her awareness expanded. There was just so much water here and it was all hers to control. Maybe she could do something about the invasion force at the same time.
Author's notes: Thank you for all the reviews.
Originally I wanted to cover the Ichibi's bid for freedom in this chapter, but there were a whole lot of other scenes to write first. Sorry to keep you waiting. The invasion should be wrapped up in the next chapter. A whole lot of people died and even more will lose their lives. Invading another village isn't a pretty business.
Regarding the Gai-Shinno fight: Gai is one of the strongest fighters in Konoha. Not quite Kage-level overall under normal circumstances, but thanks to the gates he can surpass that temporarily. He did manage to kill Shinno in the end – unfortunately for Konoha it didn't stick. My Shinno is a medic/taijutsu master on nearly Tsunade's level (he's even roughly the same age) on a demonic power trip. In contrast to the movie the Reibi is much stronger thanks to the alliance with Orochimaru and Shinno had time to get used to his new powers.
Oh yes, Orochimaru lost only one arm and Kimimaro is completely healthy.
So long.