"Human talking"
"Human thinking"
"Demon or Summon talking"
"Demon or Summon thinking"
Jutsu will be underlined
"If it isn't the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, who would have thought you'd have such powerful summons?" Sasori asked from atop a building looking down on the Konoha shinobi. "Tell me, will this dome come down once I kill that old armored rat there?"
"Who the hell are you?!" Hideaki, a member of Machi's Bravo team and was a Mizuki look alike (glasses, a slightly different nose and a two inch height difference being the only things allowing you to tell the men apart) asked.
"Sasori of the Red Sand" Sasori answered watching as only four of the shinobi present seemed to recognize his name. "Ah, so you've heard of me Kyuubi brat? Since you know who I am you know that you and your squad don't stand a chance against me so I tell you what, if you agree to come with me peacefully I'll spare your little friends here" Sasori bartered.
"I'd love to stick around and watch this little showdown but I'm out of chakra, don't get yourself killed Naruto" Arumaeiji said before leaving in a puff of smoke.
Sasori reached inside his robe, pulled out a scroll and with a puff of smoke unsealed his contents revealing 10 puppets of various shapes and sizes with equally varied weaponry. Not wasting anytime Sasori sent his puppets to attack the squad of leaf-nin who took on a defensive formation. Naruto unsealed Kubikiribōchō and rushed a childlike puppet that kind of reminded him of Inari, well besides the extra set of arms and scorpion tail coming from its back.
The puppet started things off by opening its mouth and spewing senbon at a surprisingly high rate of speed prompting Naruto to instinctively bring his sword up to use as a shield. "All right Naruto think! How do you deal with puppeteers?"
Flashback, 5 years ago:
"There are shinobi that use toys in battle?" an 8 year old Naruto asked skeptically. "No Naruto not toys, I'm talking about highly dangerous puppets that can be customized for various tasks and opponents" Crane explained but upon seeing Naruto's cynical facial expression hadn't changed he decided to skip the text book explanation and speak from personal experience.
"On one of my first Root missions my 4 man team was found in a part of Wind country that we weren't supposed to be in by a Suna shinobi and kunoichi. The shinobi wasn't much of a problem until he ended up killing our team leader in some sort of suicide jutsu. The kunoichi was easily Jonin-level but had only been using taijutsu and kenjutsu. When she was seemingly distracted by her comrade exploding my teammate Hare shunshined in front of her and stabbed her in the chest with his kunai. That's when we all saw that something was wrong because she didn't bleed… at all. Hare tried to get away but she grabbed him, opened her mouth to an impossible degree and exhaled a cloud of dark green smoke right in his face, he managed to slap an explosive note on her before he died…"
"He died? Don't Root and Anbu masks have filters built in them?" Naruto interrupted.
"Hai, but the filters are not infallible; the green cloud was so toxic that the miniscule amount that Hare inhaled was enough to kill him in less than 20 seconds. When the note went off her 'body' was blown apart however as soon as Komodo and I escaped the blast the real kunoichi jumped out of the sand with four puppets equipped with all kinds of weaponry. We fought the puppets, slowly taking them apart but even when we would cut off their limbs the kunoichi would just attach chakra strings to them and attack us with the dismantled puppets limbs" Crane narrated.
"So what did you do?" Naruto asked. "Komodo noticed a slight delay between her hand movements and the puppets' actions and deduced that she was compensating for this by anticipating our movements. He switched from using his naginata to spawning multiple fire jutsu erratically. The kunoichi had to concentrate on him more in able to keep up, allowing me to hit her with a long range lightning technique. 2 hours after we had sterilized the area Komodo fell ill and 4 hours after that he died…"
"How?" Naruto interrupted once again. "During the battle Komodo was nicked by one of the puppets' katana it was only after Komodo's autopsy that we discovered that the blade was poisoned" Crane finished.
"So… not toys" Naruto stated now grasping what Crane was getting at.
"No Naruto, definitely not toys" Crane answered.
End of Flashback:
Do to the rarity of puppeteers and the sheer amount of material that Danzo forced Naruto to learn, that conversation with Crane was the only time during Naruto's Root education that the subject of Ninja puppetry was touched on.
"So avoid getting cut by their weapons, keep changing my style and tactics up and take out the actual puppeteer instead of only focusing on the puppets" Naruto thought to himself. He also briefly considered passing this info to the members of squad Machi but quickly dismissed the notion.
"If they were Sasuke and Ino I could tip them off nonverbally but I need Sasori to think I'm just a snot nosed Genin jinchuriki with a flashy summoning contract. If he hears me breaking down his technique he will be more on guard and I'll never be able to get close to him." Naruto quickly but sloppily dispatched the puppet he was fighting and left the immediate area via shunshin.
"Did that little shit cut out on us!" Hideaki yelled in exasperation before bringing his tonfa blade down in a slash cutting the puppet open from its crown to its sternum causing the automaton to drop its commas and stop moving. Grinning he attempted to withdraw his weapon before a sizzling sound caught his attention.
Hideaki's eyes widened comically as he pumped chakra into his legs and jumped backwards as hard as he could avoiding the blast. Unfortunately he was riddled with shrapnel from the puppet's inner mechanizations, taking him out of the fight and ensuring a slow and painful death.
Sasori reached into his cloak to retrieve another scroll full of puppets when sensed the tell-tale burst of chakra preceding someone coming out of a shunshin and brought his tail up to defend against a sword strike from the Kyuubi Jinchuriki before kicking the 'boy' in the chest. It was only his vast experience as a shinobi that allowed him to jump off of the building and narrowly escaping the resulting blast, his puppet shell damaged but the enhanced shadow clone inside very much intact.
With the majority of his opponent's clothing burned away it was easy for the real Naruto, who had rejoined what was left of the squad, to see that what he had failed to blow up was just another puppet. When he left in his body flicker he created a total of 11 doppelgangers, one exploding clone to attack the puppeteer and the rest to use the Hiding Like a Mole Technique and make sure the puppeteer wasn't really underground.
They hadn't found anything yet but since they were only shadow clones (not as powerful as the original) and the fact that Naruto didn't have an earth affinity they might not be able to find him at all.
"Shoi, my kikaichu are detecting massive spikes in chakra, that puppet is about create a blast radius so large that we will not be able to escape it" Ayano reported. Not wasting any time Naruto flashed through a short series of hand seals and summoned a massive amount of chakra "Demon Mimicry: Human Chakra Cloak Jutsu!"
Sasori couldn't believe it. This 12 maybe 13 year old genin had not only found a way to use his own chakra to mimic that of his burden's but had managed to spawn two huge chakra hands, pick up his 300 pound puppet and rapidly extend his chakra arms, pushing him up in the air away from the squad. Sasori was sure that the boy would use his impressive chakra reserves and apparent shunshin skills to avoid the worst of the blast and survive due to his healing factor. This chakra cloak was unexpected.
With his right hand he had what was left of his puppets dig into the ground in an attempt to stop his ascent. He slowed momentarily until his chakra strings snapped and he shot up even faster than before. He detonated around 20 feet shy of the dome.
Sky Above FOB Tobirama 1307 Hrs:
"A giant golden dome? How garish un" Deidara said to himself before putting his hands in his clay pouches and having his palm mouths eat a large amount of the explosive substance.
"Gold is one of the weakest metals there is. My C2 dragon will blow it away then it'll be a true work of art, un!" He exclaimed before creating a huge clay dragon that was 7 or 8 times larger than the bird he was riding.
His dragon flew over the dome regurgitating over a dozen man sized spiders that landed on the dome and crawled over the grated air holes before detonating themselves. However when the smoke cleared the dome was only slightly dented.
"What? That wasn't enough huh, I 'll just AAHHGAH!" Deidara shouted as his outstretched right hand was cut off by the fastest flash of fire he had ever seen. Deidara had made the mistake of leaning forward past the giant birds obscuring wing span to touch one of the small dents he created. This gave a curtain Uchiha a clear shot at his torso, had Deidara sensed the attack any later he would have been killed.
Turning in the direction of the attack he activated the scope over his eye and looked right into the spinning tomoe of Sasuke's Sharingan.
"Another Uchiha!?" Deidara yelled instantly thinking back to his defeat at the hands of Itachi. "And this one's just a brat, I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL HIM!" Deidara roared before being stopped by Sasori's chakra strings.
"It's time to go Deidara, the patrols they sent after our further out decoys are returning plus you're injured and have gone through too much clay trying to take out the dome, we need to leave. Besides, the mission is a success any way, between your earlier bombardment and my suicide bombers going off the base is crippled, and I have Intel on the Kyuubi Jinchuriki that leader-sama needs to hear." Sasori, who had just received his clones memories explained.
Deidara was pissed but didn't want to disobey a direct order from Sasori while the puppet master was giving him that look.
"Fine just let me scoop up my hand, un" Deidara said as he looked for his severed limb. "Where is it!?" Deidara exclaimed not seeing the appendage anywhere.
"We'll get you another hand to apply the kinjutsu to, now let's GO!" Sasori yelled while ducking a flame arrow.
As the two missing-nin flew off Deidara made himself a vow "Those eyes, I'll hunt down and kill everyone who has those eyes!"
20 minutes later, inside the FOB:
Naruto had no idea why he was ordered to be in Shibi's new command tent (the main house was destroyed) to attend an emergency meeting with so much rank. Base Commander Shibi Aburame, Company Commander Asuma Sarutobi, Moena Watanabe (Leader of the Kusa shinobi), 6 of the original platoon leaders and 2 newly appointed ones were the only other people in the room. The platoon leaders had just finished reporting their dead/wounded totals which were so staggering that even the normally stoic Shibi removed his sunglasses and rubbed his face.
"With 47% of our shinobi out of the picture it's only a matter of time before the enemy's main forces show up to take the base. I suggest we place explosive tags in key areas inside the FOB before pretending like we are trying to defend it, luring the bastards inside and blowing them all to hell" Anko suggested prompting a couple of her fellow platoon leaders to nod in agreement.
"Negative, I have already called in a sitrep to the war council and they have ordered that we hold this base by any means necessary. They are putting replacement personnel and equipment together as we speak" Shibi sated calmly.
"Replacements and not reinforcements, the council is going to feed us into the meat grinder?" Asuma asked, his expression grim.
"It appears so, new intel from Jiraiya-sama suggests that the enemy will be utilizing a company of Cerberus enhanced mercenaries with missing-nin in leadership roles and a company of Iwa and Taki shinobi when they attack" Shibi explained.
"Why? I mean this FOB is barely over the Grass/ Fire border. Why pull out all the stops to take this place when there's no way they will be able to keep it?" a rookie platoon leader asked.
"They don't expect to, this base's location allows us to defend Tenchi bridge at a moment's notice. If they can take out the FOB destroying the bridge - a major supply route - will be childs play" Asuma said slightly annoyed by the kunoichi's stupid question.
"Not to mention that this base holds one of Konoha's most important military assets" Anko added glancing at the room's lowest ranking occupant who, until then had gone mostly ignored.
"Those summons of his were pretty impressive" Moena commented.
"Well with that, the kid's status as a Jinchuriki and his probable lineage Iwa undoubtedly wants him dead more than just about any other Konoha shinobi" Asuma thought to himself before speaking up.
"Maybe we should get the kid out of here before the battle, he maybe freakishly skilled for his age but he is still a first year Genin" Asuma suggested worried about Naruto's chances of survival.
"I would agree with you but I was specifically ordered to 'utilize the Uzumaki' and his team" Shibi answered before turning to Naruto. "Naruto-san do you have any biju sized summons?"
"Most of the Armadillo clan can control earth so well that they can manipulate the rock, dirt, and mud around them to create massive artificial body's while their real one is safely contained inside" Naruto informed him thinking how Danzo must still be actively pulling the Hokage's strings.
"With so many of our ninja out of the fight we will be relying on you and your summons when the battle starts. Will the dome they put up continue to hold?" Shibi asked.
"Hai the gold of the armadillo sage has special properties that make it stronger than steel, I'm not saying that it's invulnerable but it should do the job" Naruto assured.
"Good and as for you being a Genin, the War Council has ordered your immediate promotion to Chunin" Shibi informed before tossing a small scroll with the kanji for 'vest' to Naruto.
"Anko, I'm attaching team 7 to squad Machi until further notice, I want Machi herself watching Naruto-san's back during the battle understood?"
"Hai, sir" Anko replied not exactly happy that the human target known as Naruto Uzumaki was going to be with her nin during the battle.
40 minutes later, Outside of the Dome:
Squad Machi sat in a trench, waiting for the long range specialists of both sides to finish their exchange. Naruto his thumb, slid it over his summoning tattoo and channeled a specific amount of chakra to summon two small 4 inch fairy armadillos (A/N: they're real animals google them).
"You guys are the 'special children' that Arumaeiji told me about right?" Naruto asked. "Si!" The telepathic twins said simultaneously in hi pitched voices. "Then I need one of you to go back to EL Dorado so that I can stay in contact with it during the battle" Naruto requested.
"I'll go back, I don't like loud noises too much" Arumaeri the male twin admitted before going home in a puff of smoke. "Okay he's back and he's with Arumaeiji, Arumaiko and Arumagoro. What do you want to say to them?" Arumaemi asked moments later.
"Tell them that I'll be summoning Arumagoro first and that he should start the Earth Expansion Jutsu now and to let me know when he's ready to go" Naruto told Arumaemi who relayed the message.
"Etsuo-san, you are pretty strong, do you think you can toss Machi-sensei and I high into the sky over the enemy when I give to signal?" Naruto asked.
"I can use my clans multi size technique long enough to toss you guys" Etsuo answered.
"CHARGE!" was shouted from the tree line before the Cerberus enhanced company of mercs rushed out to attack the FOB. Naruto waited a minute or two before nodding at Etsuo who went through a series of hand seals, expanded to a gigantic size, and grabed Naruto and Machi, tossing them into the air.
"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto yelled before summoning Arumagoro under Machi and Himself and crashing to the ground, crushing an entire enemy platoon. "Odelay! It's finally time to fuck somebody up!" Arumagoro yelled enthusiastically before finishing a set of hand-claw seals and exhaling massive blue flames at the enemy mercs taking cover in the tree line.
With Sasuke:
Sasuke was covered in a blurring Genjutsu shunshining through a platoon of Taki-nin slitting throats and stabing hearts, temples, lungs and kidneys while dropping the occasional explosive note or two. However when he went to stab a middle aged male Taki-nin he felt a surge of chakra behind him and just barley brought his kunai up in time to block a katana slash.
"You're not the only ninja around that's good with the shunshin jutsu you dip shit Uchiha brat!" A twenty something, masked Taki kunoichi whose eyes had green irises, no pupils and red sclera, yelled pushing Sasuke back.
"You know I'm an Uchiha and you're looking me in the eyes? Seems like you're the dip shit" Sasuke said while placing the kunoichi in an ocular based Genjutsu. Once she was snared Sasuke threw a kunai in her heart before picking up her katana and cutting her head off.
He was about to leave in a shunshin before he saw the weirdest thing he had ever seen. Black oily looking treads of hair shot out of the kunoichi's neck and pulled her head back onto her body. She then stood up, removed her mask revealing more of the hair that was growing out of her mouth and spoke.
"I hope you enjoyed that demonstration of the Earth Grudge Fear Uchiha, it'll be the last thing you ever see!" The kinjutsu wielding kunoichi yelled before shooting treads at Sasuke.
With Ino:
Ino spun her axe over her head building momentum before bringing it down in a C shaped arch, slamming it into the skinny Iwa-nin's gut so hard he was lifted off his feet. Pulling her weapon out of her hunched over opponent she raised it above her head and brought it down, severing the young man's spine.
Sensing an underground spike of chakra 15 yards away to her 7o'clock Ino looked behind herself and saw Ayano who was releasing a swarm of insects.
"Ayano, jump back now!" Ino warned the Aburame saving her from the heavy set Iwa-nin that was jumping out the ground. Unluckily for him he was facing away from Ino so he never saw the flying hatchet that imbedded its self in the back of his skull.
"Thank you Yamanaka-san, that would have been my end if not for you" Ayano said in a drone voice.
Looking across the battle field Ino saw what she assumed was a Iwa Jonin kunoichi spewing lava from her mouth and killing multiple Konoha-nin. "You can thank me by helping me out with something" Ino said before taking off into the tree line with Ayano right behind her.
When they got into position approximately 50 feet away from the Iwa lava user Ino turned back to Ayano "I need you to protect my body for a minute" Ino said to which Ayano nodded.
Using her sensor ability Ino estimated that her target would be doing a chakra enhanced jump backward and adjusted her aim accordingly. "Mind Body Switch Jutsu" Ino said before launching her consciousness straight ahead possessing the Iwa Jonin.
"What the…?" the woman asked herself internally unable to move her body.
"It'll be quick I promise" Ino told her before locating the woman's explosive note pouch, slipping one under the woman's flack vest and shirt and priming the note. After Ino fled the body and returned to her own the Iwa Jonin tried to remove the note but it went off right as she touched it, killing her instantly.
When Ino came to, Ayano's insects were draining an unconscious Taki-nin's chakra just two feet away from her. "I am sorry he got so close Yamanaka-san, he was quite skilled" Ayano apologized.
"Hey you kept me alive and uninjured that's good enough for me" Ino said before stumbling slightly. "Are you alright?" Ayano asked.
"Restraining that Jonin's consciousness took a lot of chakra and mental effort, I need a moment to rest" Ino explained.
"Please remain still" Ayano requested before sending some of her kikaichu to Ino. The insects landed and bit into her skin regurgitating chakra into her system. "How do you feel now?" Ayano asked.
"Grossed out but better, don't ever do that again" Ino said and Ayano simply nodded not at all offended. The two kunoichi left the wood line axe and insects at the ready, rejoining the fight.
With Naruto:
"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto heard someone yell before turning to his right to see a Taki Jonin standing atop a species of cat he had never seen before, Arumagoro however had. "Little lion" Arumagoro said respectfully, nodding to the giant grayish colored feline. "Little armored one" the female sounding giant cat said in the same respectful tone.
"What is that Arumagoro?" Naruto asked. "She's a jaguarondi; thousands of years ago, before we gained sentience her clan hunted mine. They're the reason we tunneled underground and eventually created El Dorado in the first place, they're highly skilled in lightning jutsu. I don't have enough chakra left to go the distance against her so have Arumaiko get ready" Arumagoro advised.
"If you're quite done, Lightning Release: Bolt!" The jaguarondi yelled with an accent similar to Arumagoro's. Said armadillo managed to raise four massive walls of earth to protect himself however all but one fell to the giant cat's jutsu.
"That cat has the elemental advantage and even if I summon Arumaiko there's no guarantee she'll be able to win, she is less skilled than Arumagoro after all. Looks like I'll have to kill the summoner and send the jaguarondi back to its own world" Naruto thought to himself before speaking to Machi.
"Machi-sensei when I give the signal I want you to shunshin with me on top of the enemy summon's head and engage the Taki-nin. Arumagoro can you get in close enough for us to do that?" Naruto asked so only Arumagoro and Machi could hear. "Hai" Arumagoro answered.
"Then let's do it" Naruto stated prompting Arumagoro to rush the cat and grab it. "You must have loss your mind" it stated before digging its claws into Arumagoro's artificial earth body and pumping lightning chakra into it sending the armadillo back to its home world with nasty burns.
It was too late however to save it's summoner who blocked a high kick from Machi, but was unable to react in time to stop the burning arm made of blue chakra that pierced his heart.
Naruto and Machi immediately jumped from the head of the summon to avoid being caught in its wake as it was dragged back to its home world.
"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto yelled before he and Machi roughly landed on Arumaiko's back. "Ugh that was a very unyouthful landing" Machi said rubbing her ass drawing Naruto's attention to it. Shaking his head and telling himself to focus Naruto ordered the slightly smaller giant armadillo to attack.
With Sasuke:
"What are you, why the fuck won't you stay down!" Sasuke screamed having seemingly killed the kunoichi two more times and was now extremely low on chakra. So low that he was unable to dodge the treads that the kunoichi ejected from her partially detached wrists.
As he was pulled within arm's reach of the female monstrosity he reached into his supply pouch and prepared to prime his entire roll of explosive notes. "If this is it I'll drag this bitch with me to hell" Sasuke thought to himself.
"Five point exploding heart technique!" Han yelled after releasing the camouflage jutsu he used to sneak up on the Taki-nin and striking her five times in the back with incredible speed.
The kunoichi slumped forward releasing Sasuke who placed a tag on her chest and jumped backwards as hard as his exhausted legs would allow, narrowly avoiding the blast. Walking over to look at the body Sasuke turned to Han.
"Thanks" Sasuke choked out, not at all happy at being saved by a Hyuga. "No problem" Han answered before spotting Ino and Ayano exiting the woodline and deciding to link back up with them. Popping two soldier pills Sasuke felt an artificial sense of rejuvenation flood his body and ran behind Han. It wouldn't be long before the pills effects wore off but that didn't matter to Sasuke "Everyone else is putting it all on the line so I'll fight until I can't anymore".
With Naruto:
With the help of his summons Naruto was able to take out a little over 2/3rds of the Cerberus enhanced merc company before Arumaiko ran out of chakra and returned to El Dorado. While the mercs failed to take out many Konoha or Kusa-nin they did serve as a major distraction allowing the Iwa and Taki-nin to tunnel right under Naruto, avoid his biju sized Armadillos and launch both personnel and jutsu from under the ground.
"Machi-sensei, how are they doing this, doesn't the FOB have an underground mine field around it?" Naruto asked his breathing labored. "The enemy must have knowledge of the mines locations and devised …" Machi started before punching/shattering a man sized boulder that had been launched at them from an Iwa-nin 30 feet away. Going through the five hand signs required for the technique at an amazing (but not Kakashi) level of speed Machi thrust her gauntlet clad hands forward, lightning chakra cackling in between them and called out "Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!".
Several thin tendrils of electricity shot at the Iwa-nin who slammed his hands down raising a defensive wall of stone that protected him from the jutsu. Machi, grateful for the aid in lightning chakra control her gauntlets provide built up a good amount of said energy before releasing it all at once. The stone wall shattered and the Iwa-nin taking cover behind it was killed by a piercing lightning tendril, his body convulsing even after his death.
"That jutsu was made to travel through a medium of some kind before reaching its target, her control of lightning chakra is even greater than Crane-sensei's was"
Feeling a burst of familiar enemy chakra to his immediate left Naruto swung his sword just in time to block a massive rock covered steel war hammer.
"The assassin from Wave" Naruto said recognizing the large nin's build and scent. "I failed to kill you before because of Kakashi's meddling but look around little Namikaze, there aren't any shinobi of his caliber around to save you this time" Rotsuchi taunted before kicking Naruto so hard a sickening crunch was heard.
Rotsuchi ran towards the downed Naruto, war hammer raised, intent on finishing the Blonde once and for all when a green blur appeared right in front of him and he was hit with a powerful lightning chakra enhanced fist.
"Hatake-san may not be here but I'll never let anything happen to any of my comrades!" Yelled before a strong set of hands broke the grounds surface and pulled her under.
"Sensei!" Naruto yelled as he shakily rose to his feet noticing that the 'Rotsuchi' on the ground was now just a pile of rocks. "Careful kit, two of your ribs are fractured" the Kyuubi informed. Naruto was about to reply when he too was grabbed around the ankles however before he was waist deep in the ground Sasuke appeared in shunshin and grabbed his hands.
"Saving your life is like a full time job, you should start cutting me checks dobe" Sasuke said around gnashed teeth, straining to keep his friend above ground. Naruto could only grunt painfully in reply since being pulled from both ends was undoing the healing his tenant had performed on his ribs.
Feeling a spike in chakra Naruto turned his head to his right as Han exited a shunshin of his own with an unconscious Ino in his arms. "What's taking her so long!?" Sasuke asked right as the Iwa-nin released Naruto allowing him to pull the injured blonde out of the earth.
"He was strong willed and had been possessed by one of my clansmen before, just getting him to open his hands was almost impossible" Ino answered as Han put her down.
"Senpai, Ino, where is He?" Naruto asked. "I don't know. Our enemy is flooding the earth with so much chakra that I can't see through it" Han answered. "and I can't lock onto his chakra signature anymore but I can sense… he's creating more clones, their surfacing!" Ino yelled readying her axe.
10 Rotsuchi's sprang from the ground two of which were immediately on Han and crashed their war hammers into his chest and back simultaneously only for the Hyuga to explode into a flock of screeching hawks that seemed hell bent on pecking out their eyes.
Realizing that they were in a Genjutsu they tried to escape it but were destroyed by a few well-placed Jūken strikes from the real Han. "Thanks for the assist Uchiha-san" "Hn" Sasuke grunted in response as he ducked under a hammer swing and vanished in a shunshin leaving a rolled up explosive note in his wake.
The clone that he was battling jumped back in time to avoid being damaged in the explosion but was beheaded as soon as it's feet touched the ground by the stolen katana wielding Uchiha who had struck from behind.
With his peripheral vision Sasuke could see Ino, who was protecting a kneeling Naruto, swing her axe into the side of a rock clones head dispelling it. He was about to turn away to find another Rock clone to smash but his Sharingan picked up a brownish translucent chakra coming from right under his teammates.
When his Dojutsu finished computing the data it presented Sasuke with a series of images with Ino scooping up Naruto and jumping to avoid an earth dragon only for both of his teammates to be consumed by a dragon twice as large as its decoy counterpart.
Sasuke was about to take off in a shunshin to aid his friends when he felt the effects of the soldier pill begin to wear off and came to a heart wrenching realization.
"I can't save them both!"
A/N: I'm sorry for the wait but I'm back. Part of the reason it took so long is that I wrote this chapter like 3 times before finally deciding to go with this version. I'm still not completely happy with it but it's been driving me crazy so…
Next chapter by 12-24-12
P.S: Still looking for beta's