Chapter 29 - The Battle of Uzu no Sebone, Conclusion!
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[Uzu no Sebone]
Recap:
"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...
Current Time...
As the explosion caused by Kurama's attack rocked the surrounding area "Madara" looked on at the battle of giants in complete shock. Even though he had yet to seal a single Tailed Beast in within the Gedo Mazo the fake Madara never imagined that it would be defeated so easily; then again, however, he also never imagined that Naruto would bring out the Kyubi from within himself like some sort of summon.
"Such power... damn it, Minato-sensei. Why did you have to seal the Kyubi inside of that gaki?" "Madara" thought to himself as the blast finally began to subside.
The sight that emerged from the site of the blast was not encouraging for the masked man. Kurama stood victorious, completely undamaged from the power of his own attack, one of his clawed hand grasping the defeated Gedo Mazo by the head. the humanoid creature now sporting a massive hole in its torso. The Tailed Beast, using a great deal of strength, threw the heavily damaged statue-like summon, which then dropped to the ground with all the finesse of a sack filled with rocks.
To the surprise of Kurama the damaged Gedo Mazo suddenly poofed and, after the cloud of smoke had dissipated, had vanished into thin air.
"Sorry, Kyubi; but I can't allow you to destroy the Gedo Mazo... for you and the other Tailed Beasts are to become one again with it and-" the fake Madara began taunting but was interrupted when he was forced to turn transparent in order to dodge another of Naruto's slashes.
"So much for your trump card; I guess that means that you're out of ammo," Naruto taunted before he flash stepped to Kurama.
"WAS THAT IT?" Kurama asked to which Naruto nodded.
"Unfortunately... sorry I couldn't summon you for a more interesting opponent. Anyways I think it's time I ended this battle," Naruto pointed out.
"INDEED IT IS. ANYWAYS I'M GOING TO BACK TO MY NAP. LATER," Kurama said before he was suddenly enveloped by the same blood red aura that had been emitted when Naruto had summoned him.
After a few seconds Kurama suddenly transformed back into the red wrappings that then rewrapped themselves around the hilt of Naruto's blade. Naruto sighed at the Tailed Beast's comment but, before he could comment on it, the young Uzumaki/Namikaze clansman was forced to dodge "Madara" who had tried to grab the Konoha-nin from behind. As Naruto jumped back to create some distance between himself and "Madara", the latter began to consider his options.
"He's too strong for me and the rest Akatsuki to handle. I have-"
"-To defeat me now before I become a major threat. That what's you're thinking, right?" Naruto asked, seemingly finishing "Madara's" thoughts.
The masked man was clearly shocked by this; his one visible eye widened in shock and horror at this. Naruto smirked at this before he continued.
"Don't worry... I'm not literally reading your mind if that's what you're thinking. I'm just good at reading people... like my father was before me. -How he failed to learn the identity of this bastard I'll never know- Now, then," Naruto began as he pointed his blade at "Madara."
"Anyways, that's enough talk. It's time to finish this!" Naruto declared as he charged at the fake Madara.
With Kazuko and Naruto's Team...
During the very short and one-sided battle between Kurama and the Gedo Mazo Naruto's companions, with Kazuko in tow, managed to find a small cave to hunker down in and provide them some measure of protection from the devastation occurring all around them, even more so when Kazuko reinforced the area with walls made by using some Earth Style jutsus.
Several minutes passed, though it felt much longer to the members of Naruto's team, before the ground finally stopped shaking after which the group finally decided to leave the safety of the reinforced cave. After several more minutes of staring in awe at the carnage caused by the giant monster battle the shinobi then rushed to where they sensed Naruto's energy just in case they needed to come to his aid... though that was extremely unlikely.
As the group of four rushed to Naruto's location Neji decided to speak with Sasuke.
"Hey, Sasuke, mind if I ask you something?" the Hyuga prodigy asked.
"Go ahead," the young Uchiha. Kazuko decided to stay silent for this conversation but she did pay close attention to what the Konoha-nin were saying.
"Naruto said that he was gone for seven years because he was training somewhere all that time, correct?"
"Yeah... and you're point is...?"
"Has Naruto ever told you anything about person that trained him?"
Sasuke thought about it for a several seconds before shaking his head.
"No... he's told me and the rest of our team a lot about where he trained, a place he calls 'Las Noches', but he's refused to tell us anything about his teachers," Sasuke responded.
The rest of group was actually about to accept the Uchiha's response before Shikamaru suddenly realized something.
"Wait a minute, Sasuke-san... teachers? As in more than one?" Shikamaru questioned to which the Uchiha nodded.
"Yes... the only thing he has said about his teachers was that he had thirteen of them; of those thirteen, however, three of them, apparently the ones in charge of this 'Las Noches' place left most of Naruto's training to the other ten. That's I all know, unfortunately," Sasuke explained.
The fact that Naruto trained under ten, or thirteen depending on how you interpreted what Sasuke said, took Neji and Shikamaru by surprise; even Kazuko listened to this with great interest as they continued heading towards Naruto's location.
The group conversed amongst themselves as continued their trek to the site of Naruto's battlefield with a great haste...
With Naruto...
The fake Madara found himself in dire straits; after several minutes of fighting Naruto the masked man had been forced on the defensive, having to keep his transparency ability activated to avoid certain death. To make matter worse for "Madara" the young Leaf chunin that was his opponent somehow knew the secrets behind how his jutsu worked, including the fact that it had a time limit of at least ten minutes, and used that knowledge to his advantage by refusing to let up his assault.
"What's the matter? You've run out of options and having to resort to hiding yourself in that dimnesion of yours?" Naruto taunted as he appeared on "Madara's" right and attempted to slash at him.
Even though he managed to avoid getting cut in two yet again the fake Madara finally admitted to himself that he had lost this battle and would have to withdraw,
It was in that moment that the powers that be, having already made "Madara's" life a living nightmare at this point, had apparently decided to screw him over again at the worst possible time.. because the ten minute time limit for Madara's only means of survival had run out... and Naruto knew it as well as the masked man did.
"Looks like you're done. As a reward for having survived the longest in battle out of all of my opponents so far allow me to finish you off with an attack that I haven't even shown to anyone back in Konoha," Naruto said as he stepped a few away from the now bewildered and exhausted "Madara."
Just as the masked figure was about to question the chunin's claim Naruto pointed the tip of his blade, which he was holding with only his right hand, at the Akatsuki mastermind before channeling a large amount of reiryoku into his blade which began emitting an aura of orange light.
"What is this?! What the hell are-?" Madara began to ask.
That was as far as he got.
"Cero Metralleta!" Naruto yelled out.
Faster than the blink of an eye Naruto charged up several orange ceros in certain points around the tip of his blade at all once before firing a barrage of the orange beams like a machine gun. The fake "Madara", having exceeded the time limit of his space-time jutsu and finding himself unable to use it for several minutes, was now a sitting duck and was easily overwhelmed by the seemingly endless barrage.
After about two minutes of nonstop ceros Naruto finally cancelled the attack. Keeping his zanpakuto in hand in the unlikely event that his opponent could still fight Naruto slowly approached "Madara" who was lying face up on the ground
Thankfully it looked like the attack had done its job as the fake "Madara" was, to put it lightly, a dismembered mess. "Madara" had been cut in half horizontally, the upper part of his body having been separated from the half at the belly; his right arm from the elbow down had disintegrated as were his left shin and his entire right leg. To say Naruto's attack was brutal overkill was a massive understatement.
Despite his injuries, however, "Madara" managed to miraculously maintain consciousness as he glared at Naruto with his visible eye (the mask, though heavily damaged, did not break).
"Dammit... what kind of attack... was that?" the fake "Madara" asked/hissed very weakly.
As Naruto thought of how to best answer this question he suddenly had another flashback of his time in Las Noches...
Flashback
[Somewhere in Hueco Mundo]
Two Years Before Naruto's Return...
Naruto was currently underneath the perpetual night sky of Las Noches. This time around he was training with Coyote Starrk, the incredibly lazy yet incredibly powerful 1st Espada, who had just merged with the Lilynette Gingerbuck, an Arrancar also happened to be Starrk's zanpakuto. Though Starrk would've preferred to train inside of Las Noches or, even better to him, not train at all someone had to teach the young Uzumaki how to use a cero and, unfortunately for Starrk, ceros were his forte among the Espada. In addition Aizen made it perfectly clear that he had to train the kid while in his resurrection, something that was forbidden for him to do (as well as for Barragan, Harribel, and Ulquiorra).
After a few minutes of silence Starrk finally spoke.
"Alright, Naruto, Lilynette; let's hurry up and finish this damned training session. I want to go back to bed already," Starrk suggested/complained as he pointed one of the two pistols that formed part of his resurrection at Naruto who did the same thing with his blade.
"Starrk, stop your whining already!" an annoyed Lilynette, who had turned into the very pistols was currently wielding, yelled out before Naruto regained the duo's attention.
"Ready when you are, Starrk-sama!" Naruto yelled out.
As soon as Naruto did so his blade emitted an orange aura while Starrk begin emitting a blue aura all around himself, especially around his pistol.
"Cero Metralleta!" Naruto and Starrk yelled out simultaneously before they both unleashed massive barrages of ceros.
Blue and orange ceros began colliding with each other as explosions began to cause the ground around the training area to shake violently. It was perfectly obvious that Naruto and Starrk's ceros were evenly matched, much to Starrk's dismay since that meant that this session was another probably going to be another long one. Starrk didn't have any problem with Naruto personally, and in fact had began a close friend of the young ninja, but the Arrancar's trademark laziness meant he wasn't looking forward to this session.
"And I have to start training this kid to use the Cero Oscuras today as well; this day is really going to be such a pain in the ass," Starrk thought to himself as he and Naruto cancelled out their respective Metralletas so they can ready themselves for another attack...
End Flashback
[Uzu no Sebone]
Current Time...
"That was the signature attack of one of my teachers and he managed teach me how to use it, though his version still has several advantages over mine. That's enough about that, though," Naruto explained before he held his blade at "Madara's" throat.
"Any last words... Obito Uchiha?" Naruto asked, finally referring to the now-named Obito by his actual name for the first time.
Despite appearances to the contrary, however, it would not be the last time.
"Do you really think it's that simple, gaki? This is not over... not by a long shot," Obito taunted despite his weakened condition.
Naruto raised an eyebrow at this but, before he could question Obito on this, said Uchiha was suddenly enveloped by a puff of smoke. That smoke quickly dissipated to reveal that Obito... had sent a wood clone to fight Naruto this time around.
Despite the sudden turn of events Naruto was not even fazed in the slightest.
"Heh... I thought as much. That traitor doesn't have the balls to confront head-on so he sent a clone to gauge my abilities first. Won't do him any good in the end, though," Naruto said to himself as he sheathed his blade.
"Anyways I should probably regroup with Sasuke and the others. We still have a long distance to cover in order to get back home... and I'd rather confront that person following me back in Konoha," Naruto thought to himself as he went to rejoin Kazuko and his teammates, fully aware of the mysterious figure that had been tailing him since before he arrived in the Land of Whirlpools.
A hundred yards away from Naruto, and several yards above the young Uzumaki, a person was floating in the air. The person's physical appearance was hidden by a black cloak that hid their entire body, save for their golden-colored eyes. As the person continued watching Naruto very carefully they pulled out what appeared to be a cell phone and dialed a number. Soon enough someone answered them.
"Hello? Yeah it's, me; the kid is headed back to his village. Yeah, it looks like those rumors are definitely true; he wields the power of both shinigami and hollows... but he's also the Kyubi's jinchuriki. Not sure how Aizen was able to convince Sarutobi to let him train under his wing but it looks as though he did a hell of a job with him. Huh? No there's no indication that he's aware of Aizen's plans; it must mean Aizen is trying to keep him in check until the time comes. Uh-huh. What... are you sure that's a good idea? This kid already knows that I'm following him and he might not be in a talking mood if I do that. I see... I guess you have a good point. Anyways, I guess I should hang up; if anything happens just send me a message right away and keep me in the loop. Later, Kisuke," the person said before hanging up,
The person then noticed Naruto beginning to walk away from the site of his battle with Obito and proceeded to tail him, taking care not to be spotted by anyone... except Naruto as he was already aware of the person's presence...
Next Time - A Future Uncertain