Chapter 28 - The Bloodline Thief: Kazuko Uchiha!
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[Uzu no Sebone]
Recap:
Before anyone else in Naruto's group could say anything else, however, they were forced to dodge an thrusting attack from the now-named Sasori, forcing them to focus on fighting their own battle...
Current Time...
As Naruto's teammates focused on the tail-like appendage that Sasori used to nearly skewer them Kazuko, who had already activated her Sharingan, kept a close eye on Deidara after he had created a giant bird out of some sort of white clay that he kept in two pouches latched onto his waist.
Deidara got on the "bird's" back and had it fly around fifty yards away, at a low altitude no less, before he stuffed his hands into his pouches. Sasori's eyes widened a little bit at this.
"Don't do it, Deidara... you'll just play right into her hands," Sasori calmly warned his partner, clearly referring to Kazuko. Deidara simply the former Suna-nin, though whether it's because the didn't hear his partner's warnings or he simply refused to heed them was anyone's guess, as the former Iwa-nin glared at both Kazuko and Sasuke.
"Two Sharingans, huh? This is perfect opportunity to finally prove the superiority of my art, hm!" Deidara declared as he withdrew his hands from the pouches.
Sasuke and the others were surprised when they saw two mouths, one on the palms of both hands, spit out a glob of white clay.
"Those globs of clay now have chakra kneaded into them... what is that man up to?" Neji thought to himself as he observed Deidara's jutsu with his Byakugan.
Deidara was now grinning at the Sasuke and the others as he closed both hands for a few seconds; when the former Iwa-nin opened his hands he revealed that he had molded the globs into ten small clay birds, five in each hand.
"Let's start off with some C1, hm!" Deidara said excitedly.
The former terrorist-for-hire then threw the ten birds, the wings of which had suddenly spread out in midair. Then, like some sort of white clay homing missiles, the birds charged right past Kazuko and towards Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Neji who tried in vain to dodge the projectiles which simply followed them around. In his excitement in attacking the young shinobi Deidara failed to notice Kazuko making a few hand signs.
"This is the beauty my art... and art ... is an EXPLOSION!" Deidara yelled with joy before Seal of Confrontation with his left hand.
The clay birds suddenly swelled up before they all exploded, six of the bombs blowing up next to Shikamaru and Neji, three for each genin, while Sasuke had four of the bombs detonate in front of him.
As the resulting dust clouds began to disperse Deidara, having seemingly killed off Naruto's teammates, began laughing as if he was reveling in victory.
"Hahahaha! So much for Itachi's kid brother and those two other brats, hm! They couldn't even dodge..." Deidara began before the dust clouds finally dissipated.
The blonde bomber's eyes widened in shock when he got a good look at the site of the explosions. Instead of seeing the exploded corpses of the young Leaf-nins Deidara saw that the three kids were alive and unharmed; even more unbelievable was the fact that each of the three ninja were surrounded by four mirrors... made of solid ice. Sasuke was also surprised by this turn of events and didn't noticed that the ice mirrors had dissipated in that shock.
"This is the same jutsu that Haku used against me back in the Land of Waves. How is this possible...?" Sasuke thought to himself before he heard Kazuko speak out to the Deidara.
"Interesting... so you've managed to combine the Explosive Style with an Earth Style jutsu and that strange forbidden jutsu from Iwagakure that allows a user knead chakra into inanimate materials. That's a very impressive combination, even if it's a bit too flashy," Kazuko said as if she was complimenting Deidara who was further taken aback by what she said.
"How the hell did she figure that out so quickly? There's no way..." Deidara thought before Kazuko suddenly closed the distance between herself and the blonde "artist", surprising him with her speed as she stood directly below the young Akatsuki member.
"You had your shot. Now it's my turn," Kazuko said as she planted her naginata onto ground.
Everyone there, including Sasuke and his teammates, were shocked by what happened next. Kazuko, in a display of great agility and leg strength, jumped into the air and reached the underbelly of Deidara's large white "bird" even though the clay construct was still four stories above the ground. At the height of her jump Kazuko reared back her left fist; Deidara watched this scene in disbelief but not because Kazuko had reached him. It was because he realized what the female Uchiha was about to do.
"Explosive Style: Landmine Fist!" Kazuko yelled out before striking the clay bird's stomach with a left jab.
The Konoha-nins looked on in further shock as Kazuko's punch caused a massive explosion directed right at both the bird and the blonde missing-nin. Even more incredible was that this first explosion caused the clay bird to detonate as well, blowing up right under Deidara's feet just as Kazuko, who was already on the ground. retrieved her Naginata and rejoined the members of Naruto's team.
"Unless the three of you wish to meet your ends here I suggest that you try to be more careful next time; that mad bomber isn't dead yet and I can't shield you three all the time," she warned.
While Sasuke and his companions did listen to the elder Uchiha they were also able to figure out something else.
"Shield us? So you were the one who protected is with those ice mirrors?" Neji asked, to which Kazuko nodded as she kept her gaze upon Sasori.
"But how is that possible? I've seen the jutsu before so I know that its a Kekkei Genkai that can only be inherited by members of the clan that wields it; there's no way you could've just learned that technique if you're not from the clan that the jutsu belongs to," Sasuke pointed out.
Kazuko sighed at her fellow clansmen's skepticism.
"Under normal circumstances that would be correct, Sasuke-san; then again, however, these aren't normal circumstances. I'll have to explain it on the fly, however, since this fight is not over just yet," Kazuko pointed out.
The three preteens turned to see what Kazuko was looking at and were surprised to see Deidara standing next to Sasori. While the bomber was still standing, however, he did not escape the explosions unscathed; not only was Deidara, who had lost his Akatsuki cloak in the blasts, sporting several burns to go along with a dislocated left shoulder and a few fractured limbs but his left forearm as it had been incinerated by the blast of the clay bird. Naturally Deidara was less than pleased, to say the very least.
"Damn you! How the fucking hell did you copy my Kekkei Genkai so quickly, hm?" Deidara angrily hissed.
To the blonde's surprise Sasori was the one to answer that question.
"She didn't copy it, you fool. She had already done that with another Iwa-nin before she left Konoha. Maybe now you'll listen to me when I try to warn you. (he turns to Kazuko) It would appear that you still live up to your reputation... Kazuko Uchiha, the Bloodline Thief," Sasori said, adding a mocking tone in his voice at the end.
Kazuko noted the confused faces on the preteens due to the strange moniker that Sasori had called her so she turned to face the Konoha-nins, the elder Uchiha being well aware of the fact that the two Akatsuki members already knew what she was about to say.
"That's an old nickname people gave me before I was forced to leave Konoha. I got the name because I'm the only Uchiha whose Sharingan is able to copy advanced nature Kekkei Genkais, like the Ice Style, even though it's supposed to be impossible to copy any Kekkei Genkai. I was able to master all five of the basic chakra natures in about a year so I combined that with my Sharingan's enhanced copy ability, hence my unique ability. I can't copy other types of Kekkei Genkai like dÅjutsus, however, so there are limits," Kazuko explained to the young ninja; if this explanation was simple boasting on Kazuko's part it clearly didn't sound like it.
The young Konoha-nin, especially Sasuke, were still surprised by this.
"She can copy Kekkei Genkai? If that's true, and it definitely looks like it, then it's no wonder those other Akatsuki bastards would've wanted her in their ranks; that ability alone is enough to warrant their interest and Kami only knows what else she's capable of," Sasuke thought to himself while also asking himself how it was possible that he
Just as Kazuko finished her explanation she suddenly turned around and held up her naginata, blocking another surprise attack from Sasori.
"I think those guys have had enough of letting us talk," Sasuke pointed out as the he and the others got into their respective fighting stances.
Several Minutes Later...
"It's going to be a real drag when we have to fight those guys again," Shikamaru groaned out as he and the others ran through a small valley in the mountains.
Sasuke felt his eyes twitch in annoyance at the Nara clansman's complaining.
"They're members of the Akatsuki, Shikamaru; they're all going to be difficult for us to defeat so stop whining about it," Sasuke reprimanded before he turned to Kazuko, who was running in the center of the group.
"How much longer until we've arrived, Kazuko-sama?" the younger Uchiha asked, getting a sigh from Kazuko for his question and surprised reactions from Neji and Shikamaru for using an honorific.
"Now that he's in my range I think it may take at least another fifteen minutes before we get there if we're fast enough. Anyways I sure hope that we didn't make mistake in letting Naruto-san confront that... man... by himself," she replied while thinking about what had happened in the rest of their battle.
After explaining her special ability Kazuko had the three preteens battle a weakened Deidara while she fought against Sasori who, to the surprise of both Deidara and Naruto's teammates, had fought against the Uchiha clanswoman fourteen years earlier during which the elder Uchiha had easily defeated the puppet master. Even after fourteen years had passed since Kazuko and Sasori's previous encounter, the difference in strength between the two ninja remained unchanged as the elder Uchiha easily rendered the hunchbacked puppet, which she referred to as Hiruko, that Sasori had used as a useless improvised armor by blasting it with a Lava Style jutsu, damaging the puppet to the point where Sasori had to seal it away to avoid losing it while.
As this was going on Deidara continued his battle with the Naruto's teammates but with his common sense being hampered by his anger, and his fighting capacility being hampered by his injuries from Kazuko's attack, the former Iwa-nin was being forced into a corner by the power of a Byakugan wielder, a Sharingan and MS wielder (though Sasuke limited use of the latter), and a Nara clansman/supergenius. If the battle had continued on as it was Deidara would've met his untimely demise... keyword being "if."
Before either of the battles could be finished Tobi, the man with the spiral mask who had gone to confront Naruto alongside the other masked man, suddenly returned and used an unknown teleportation technique to get the two self-proclaimed "artists" out of danger, leaving Kazuko and the preteen ninja to their own devices. With the two Akatsuki members having been rescued, to be it bluntly, by Tobi and being far out of their range Kazuko and the others decided to go find Naruto and provide him back up. Sasuke, Shikamaru, Neji knew from firsthand experience, however, that their teammate would probably not need their help and would probably be finishing his battle at this point if he hadn't done so already.
As the group got to the top of a ridge on that went parallel to the valley they had just came from they finally got a good view of the battle occurring ten or so miles they were rushing to join. The small group was shocked to see the statue-like creature that the man with the marked mask had summoned; even more unbelievable than that, however, was the sight of Kurama himself confronting the summon... with Naruto floating beside the Tailed Beast.
"That's definitely the Kyubi... did Naruto actually summon him?" Neji asked, though not to anyone in particular.
Sasuke sighed at this, remembering how Naruto had explained to Team 7 the nature of his "summoning" ability.
"This fight's over; even that... thing... can't last long against the Kyubi," Sasuke mused, remembering the stories of the Kyubi's attack on Konoha 13 years prior. Sasuke snapped out of his thoughts, however, when he heard Shikamaru.
"Not to burst anyone's bubble... but what are we going to do now?" the Nara clansman asked.
Everyone suddenly realized what he meant. They were standing in an exposed area... with a battle between giant "monsters" about to begin only ten miles away...
Meanwhile...
Recap:
As Naruto flew beside the Tailed Beast that normally dwelled within him pointed his zanpakuto, which he still wielded even after summoning Naruto, at his masked opponent.
"I can tell that you take great pride in that empty shell of a summon; Kurama and I will tear that pride apart... piece by painful piece," Naruto said in a dark tone as he and Kurama prepared themselves.
As the fake Madara looked on in obvious shock, even with his mask to hide the look on his face, Naruto turned his Tailed Beast/zanpakuto.
"Do what you like with the doll, Kurama, but take it somewhere else. (he points to "Madara") The masked bastard is mine," Naruto said bluntly.
Kurama simply grinned at this.
"FINE BY ME. (he turns to "Madara") JUST BE THANKFUL THAT NARUTO'S THE ONE WHO'S GOING TO KILL YOU AND NOT ME," Kurama said, causing a chill to fall down "Madara's" spine, before he charged at the Gedo Mazo, accidently flattening a few mountains with his tails as he closed in on his "prey".
The fake Madara was able to snapped out of his shock in time to respond to the Kurama's assault, ordering the Gedo Mazo to attack the Tailed Beast. As "Madara" did this, however, he almost failed to notice Naruto flash stepping right behind him and was barely able to turn transparent before the young Uzumaki-Namikaze clansman could run his sword through the masked man's heart.
"You do realize that without any of the Tailed Beast sealed inside it that little toy of yours doesn't stand a chance against Kurama, right?" Naruto asked as he completely phased through "Madara" before flash stepping back ten yards away from his opponent.
"Do you really think you can stop me so easily, Uzumaki?" the fake Madara asked.
As if to respond to "Madara's" question the Gedo Mazo was sent flying back at least forty miles away by Kurama who smacked the summon with a swipe of his claws. As both ninja now looked on at the battle of giants Kurama, in an impressive display of speed, closed the distance between himself and the Gedo Mazo before using his left paw to grab the strange summon and push it deeper into the ground. Kurama then began running on its three other legs while he kept his grip on the fake Madara's summon, dragging the summon for another fifty miles, leveling another mountain as he did som before the Tailed Beast mustered all of his strength and threw the creature high up into air. Keeping up with his attack Kurama then appeared above the Gedo Mazo while the latter was still in middair before he fell on top of the statue-like creature and drove it into the ground, leveling several pther nearby mountains in the process.
Kurama, who was now using his massive size to keep the Gedo Mazo pinned to the ground, then cocked his head upwards and opened his mouth before he began creating a massive black orb of reiatsu. When he finished creating the massive attack Kurama compressed the orb into a dense sphere before he ate said sphere. A few seconds after ingesting the orb Kurama's mouth began bloating while steam seeped out of the Tailed Beast's mouth through the gaps between his bared teeth just as he cocked his head downwards so he could face the struggling Gedo Mazo.
"IT'S OVER!" Kurama yelled out as he released the attack he had devoured in the form of a massive beam, hitting the Gedo Mazo at point-blank range, causing a massive explosion that engulfed both summons...
Next Time - The Battle of Uzu no Sebone, Endgame!