Village Hidden in the Sea: Part 3
Jiraiya launched a fireball at Zolomon, who made a water wall to block it.
"Why are you doing this, Zolomon?" Jiraiya asked. "No one was going to bother your people or your village."
"I do this for my people!" Zolomon exclaimed, before lunging at Jiraiya with a punch that Jiraiya jumped back to avoid.
"Then I have no choice but to put you down."Jiaiya said sternly, then caught Zolomon's punch and countered it with a punch to the latter's stomach, and then delivered a roundhouse kick, knocking Zolomon back.
"I'm no longer playing with you, Toad Sage!" Zolomon screamed, before breaking off his armour allowing his muscles to expand. "It's over!"
Zolomon instantly appeared in front of Jiraiya who tried to punch him, but Zolomon caught the punch and countered with a powerful body punch, then threw a left hook, knocking Jiraiya back but Jiraiya wasn't down for long. He attacked Zolomon as soon as he regained his footing. As Jiraiya reached Zolomon, he disappeared then reappeared behind him and, as Zolomon turned around, Jiraiya kicked him in the face and into a wall.
The two clashed again with Zolomon sweeping Jiraiya off his feet, then hitting Jiraiya in the stomach with a knee, but Jiraiya returned the favour mid-air, by grabbing Zolomon's knee and twisting his body so that, when he hit the ground, Zolomon will land face first as well. When they stood up, Jiraiya attacked Zolomon, but Zolomon dodged the punches before countering with an elbow to Jiraiya's stomach, followed by a punch then; the two continued going back and forth until Zolomon used a water jutsu to knock Jiraiya back.
Jiraiya wiped his mouth and looked at Zolomon then smirked to himself before standing up; Zolomon lunged forward with a punch that hit Jiraiya square in the face, but Jiraiya just stood there, unfazed, eliciting a shocked look from Zolomon.
"Surprised?" Jiraiya asked, and then punched Zolomon in the chest knocking him back. Zolomon then made a series water chakram in his hands and threw them one after the other, but Jiraiya dodged with little effort.
"How the hell are you so strong!?" Zolomon demanded, but Jiraiya just punched him the face before grabbing him by the hair, and pulled him into a straight punch.
"I'm no stronger than I was when this fight started… you're weaker."
"How? This is my strongest form!"
"Your body isn't used to it, so it was all a matter of waiting until the strain caught up to you."
"I won't let you interrupt my plans!" Zolomon exclaimed, before jumping towards his throne. He activated a hidden mechanism before Jiraiya could stop him.
"What'd you do?!" Jiraiya demanded and Zolomon smiled.
"I ensured the destruction of Konoha."
Team 0 all made their way to the last cannon, but Dairuko stopped them from destroying it.
"I'm heading back to Konoha to help out where I can." Dairuko said.
"Dairuko, I'm sure your family is okay." Itachi said.
"No… this was too easy. If something else is happenin', Konoha will need a heavy hitter like Dairuko, in case we can't stop it." Natsuki said.
"Besides, you guys're the power couple of Konoha; ain't nothin' you guys can't handle." Dairuko smirked then loaded himself in the cannon.
"Wait, what're you doing?" Natsuki asked.
"I'm taking the shortcut."
"Are you insane? It could kill you!"
"True, but what a way to go right?"
"Don't you even think about it, Dairuko!"
"When have I ever?" Dairuko smirked. "Loose!" he exclaimed, and fired himself from the cannon just as the centre of the village opened up.
"Well that can't be good." Itachi remarked as he and Natsuki – mouth agape- watched as a giant creature with an octopus-like head, rubbery-looking body and humanoid arms emerged, flying upward on its long, narrow wings.
"What is that thing?" Natsuki asked.
"I don't know, but it's big." Itachi answered.
"Very perceptive… for a blind guy." Natsuki joked, light-heartedly. "Now, how do we kill it?"
"We'll just have to hit it until it dies."
"Oh great, you sound like Dairuko now."
As Dairuko flew through the sea, and then sky, he saw an army of sea people heading towards the beach.
"Well, shit." Dairuko muttered to himself as he crash landed in Konoha.
Dairuko didn't bother trying to regain his composure before looking for Tsunade to warn her about the army. Luckily, he landed near her and she understood his incoherent-ness.
Tsunade wasted no time in forming a team of Jounin to hold the beach; consisting of Might Guy, Neji, a persistent Temari, Asuma, Kakashi, Dairuko and herself.
"You take the 500 on the left; I will take the 500 on the right." Guy strategized next to Dairuko.
"Fuck that, I'll take on 501." Dairuko replied.
"That's the spirit."
"Alright. No matter what, we hold this line!" Tsunade ordered as the army began emerging. "None of you are allowed to die or hold back!"
Dairuko cracked his knuckles with a smirk, Guy waited in anticipation, Kakashi closed his book, Asuma put out his cigarette, Temari pulled out her fan, Neji just stood there, quiet and ready, and Tsunade waited for the army to take the first step onto shore. When they did...
"NOW!" Tsunade ordered and Dairuko made wooden spikes emerge from the ground before flinging the bodies back to the sea.
"YOUTH!" Guy exclaimed as he charged in. "Dynamic Entry!" he said as he kicked one of them into five others, and then continued fighting them.
Several of them attacked Neji simultaneously but he simply took the Gentle Fist stance and activated his Byakugan. "Two palms…" he started, and ended with "Two thousand four hundred palms!" as all his assailants dropped to the floor. "You were destined to lose this fight the moment you chose Konoha as your opponent." Neji said.
Soldiers attacked Temari simultaneously with their swords and hooked weapons, but Temari smirked then spun her fan around causing a powerful wind to trap the soldiers in the air.
"Tornado Drop!" Temari exclaimed, as she moved her fan to make the soldiers slam into the ground before she took a step back and swung her fan again. "Summoning Blade Dance!" then a tornado of blades and wind tore through the soldiers that were caught in it. "Too easy."
Asuma shattered one of their jaws with a punch before kicking one above him, then unleashed a flurry of punches, then jumped up and punched the soldier into the ground. Asuma grabbed another threw them onto the ground so hard that they bounced and, mid bounce, he connected with a powerful straight punch.
Kakashi whipped out his book again and continued reading. When one of the soldiers attacked him, he used the Hidden Mist jutsu and disappeared into the mist before running pass all the soldiers and slitting their throats with ease. Kakashi used Head Hunter jutsu to trap one of them before crouching down to their level.
"You now face Death!" Kakashi said evilly as he revealed his Sharingan and placed the soldier under genjutsu; then he laughed as he covered his Sharingan again. "I still got it."
As Kakashi laughed, another soldier came from behind him to attack, but Kakashi dodged at the last second and ended up behind the soldier, crouched down.
"A Thousand Years of Death!" Kakashi exclaimed and the soldier was launched sky high, then Kakashi looked on in horror as he found his book lying, cut in half on the ground. "NOOO!" Kakashi exclaimed with tears running down his face. "Now I'm serious." Kakashi said coldly as he showed his Sharingan. "Lightning Blade!"
Kakashi charged in to the still, oncoming, army with lightning in both his hands, impaling first one soldier, then another before dodging an attack by disappearing into the ground and delivering an uppercut to a different soldier, launching him into the air then grabbing his leg and throwing him into his partner.
"My Eternal Rival has upped his level! Well, so will I!" Guy exclaimed then jumped into the air, doing a corkscrew diving kick into a group of them. "I will show you all what it means to be hot-blooded!" Guy kicked one of the soldiers away, and then gut punched another before doing a backflip kick over him.
Guy ran into a group of them and in an instant appeared behind them, giving Kakashi thumbs up as everyone behind him just dropped.
Dairuko punched the ground at an angle sending a shockwave into the soldiers, knocking them into the air after which he had a wooden branch reach for them and break apart to grab each one before slamming the soldiers on the ground like rag dolls, before flinging them into a cliff.
Tsunade wasn't fooling around as she knocked every soldier into the ground or each other. One of them tried to punch her, but she sidestepped before punching him in the stomach then she jumped over a group of them, kicking a few as she landed. Six of them then attacked her at once, but Tsunade blocked all of them and held them in place with a smile before throwing them aside and jumping to another group.
"Heaven Kick of Pain!" Tsunade exclaimed.
As one of the soldiers stood up after recovering from the ground shattering kick, Tsunade appeared in front of him and delivered an axe kick straight to the back of his head.
Natsuki and Itachi jumped to another building to avoid the sea creature's attack.
"Any ideas, Natsuki?" Itachi asked.
"You could go S'usanoo on him." Natsuki suggested as the creature tried to smash them again.
"Natsuki, synchronise!" Itachi exclaimed and they went in opposite directions, avoiding the attacks. Once they were on either side of the creature, they chanted;
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
in unison. The combined jutsu hit the creature but it didn't flinch and proceeded to attack Itachi. Natsuki used this moment to form a Chidori spear and cut off the creature's index finger.
"Ha! You felt that one!" Natsuki exclaimed and the creature turned to her. "And I got your attention… not sure I wanted that to happen." Natsuki squeaked and the creature reared its head back, then Itachi showed up in front of Natsuki.
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!" Itachi exclaimed, as the creature spewed a large amount of water that Itachi's fire managed to block, causing a large amount of steam that blocked everyone's sight.
While the creature tried to find Itachi and Natsuki, Itachi's perfect S'usanoo grabbed the creature by the throat and Natsuki ran along its arm and jumped over the creature's head, then used her Chidori to cut off its wings before Itachi's S'usanoo caught her.
"Let's finish this, Itachi." Natsuki called and Itachi nodded but, before he could use his sword, the S'usanoo began deconstructing and fell to its knees just as the creature did a vacuum-like attack that sucked in everything that it could, including Natsuki. Itachi held on to the S'usanoo as tight as he could but his S'usanoo's hand disappeared and Natsuki was sucked in.
"What have you done?!" Jiraiya demanded as he held Zolomon against the wall.
"I ensured my people's safety." Zolomon said.
"What are you talking about? Your village is being destroyed by that creature!"
"Unless I kill the Hokage, my people will be killed by those men."
"What men?"
"It doesn't matter now, you can't stop them, no one can!" Zolomon exclaimed and broke free from Jiraiya's grip, but Jiraiya wasted no time in hitting Zolomon with a Rasengan to the chest.
Zolomon lay on the ground, coughing blood after being hit point blank with the Rasengan in a weakened state, and Jiraiya crouched down next to him.
"Please… save my people, Toad Sage." Zolomon said and died. Jiraiya looked toward the throne and saw a gold chalice filled with the pellets they had taken before jumping into the sea earlier.
"I might need those." Jiraiya said, then took four of the pellets and walked towards a hole in the wall, where he saw Itachi's S'usanoo fading in the distance.
Itachi's S'usanoo was fading fast, but the creature wasn't finishing him off. He saw it jerk forward suddenly and, after a second, it jerked forward again, then he saw a blue light that cut through the creature's stomach and Natsuki jumped out, covered in slime, but alive, and Itachi used this moment to stab the creature through the head and seal it into the container his S'usanoo carried.
"That was just… ugh…" Natsuki made a gagging face and Itachi's S'usanoo finally faded and he lay down, barely able to move, just as Jiraiya arrived with the pellets.
"Natsuki, I- gross, you stink!" Jiraiya said and covered his mouth.
"Shut up!" Natsuki exclaimed, embarrassed. "Get Itachi, we need to go now, before this dome fully breaks."
"Here, take a pellet. I'm not sure how long these things last, but I think the ones we took earlier have expired." Jiraiya threw a pellet to Natsuki before feeding one to Itachi. "Where's Dairuko?"
"He shot himself out of a cannon to return to Konoha." Natsuki answered then took her pellet. "Hold on to Itachi and don't you dare let him go… this is where the fun begins." Natsuki said, before firing a Chidori spear through the dome, fracturing it and causing the dome to break and water to gush in, sweeping the three of them into the ocean where Natsuki and Jiraiya- who was carrying Itachi- began swimming back to the surface.
"Time to settle the score, Dairuko." Tsunade said and both she Dairuko punched the ground, knocking all the remaining soldiers into the air. Temari then used her fan to launch them higher into the air, where Neji waited, standing in the middle of the group atop a branch Dairuko had made a second ago; then Asuma and Kakashi both jumped to Neji's level and blew fireballs at Neji while he performed his Palm Rotation, sending out smaller fireballs all over the place. Once the survivors started to stand up, Guy opened the third gate before running towards them.
"Super Dynamic Entry!" Guy exclaimed, his kick enhanced by chakra which sent shockwaves out of each rotation with the strength of a normal Dynamic Entry - which defeated the remaining soldiers.
"Well that was fun." Tsunade said casually.
"Maybe for you, but I've had enough of fighting foot soldiers." Dairuko said.
"I gotta say; you two are very capable jounin." Asuma complimented Neji and Temari, while Kakashi just looked sadly at his book.
Natsuki and Jiraiya emerged on the shore with Jiraiya carrying Itachi's, now, unconscious body.
"Hey is Itachi alr- what's that smell?" Dairuko asked as he covered his mouth and nose. "Smells like rotten fish mixed with normal fish."
"SHUT UP!" Natsuki exclaimed, her face as red as a tomato. Itachi coughed out blood, snapping everyone back to attention. Tsunade was the first one to reach him, followed by Natsuki who was stopped by Tsunade.
"Dairuko, get Itachi to the hospital ASAP." Tsunade ordered and Dairuko, without asking questions, picked Itachi up, and then used all his strength to race back to Konoha. "Natsuki, go shower; Jiraiya get Kakashi another one of your perverted books; Temari go back to Suna and the rest of you, clean up this mess." Tsunade then headed back to Konoha herself.
"Why me?" Neji muttered to himself as he, Kakashi, Guy and Asuma started disposing of the dead bodies. Nobody noticed as Natsuki sealed a body in a scroll.
"Good luck guys." Natsuki winked, and then left them.
Natsuki walked into the basement of her house, making sure everywhere was locked so that no one disturbed her. When she was done, she placed the scroll on the table and began drawing symbols around the scroll, then released the body from the scroll.
"Let's get this over with." Natsuki said to herself as she performed a series of hand-seals. "Kin Jutsu: Corpse Awakening." She said and the symbols began to cover the soldier's body. In the next instant, he awoke.
"What the-" The soldier started, but was interrupted by Natsuki.
"Shut up." Natsuki said and soldier stopped talking. "Now then, you will sit there and answer my questions; nod if you understand what I just said." The soldier nodded. "Why did your people attack Konoha?"
"King Zolomon ordered us to kill the Hokage in order to bring our families back."
"Who took your families?"
"A man. I don't know his name."
"Did this man work for Hoka?"
"I do not know who the Hoka are."
"Did the man who took your family have a flame emblem anywhere on his body?"
"Yes, on his sleeve."
"How did he take your people out?"
"Shadow men appeared from the ground. They… they grabbed my family and pulled them into the ground."
"Interesting… thanks; now die." Natsuki said and the soldier just fell back on the table and disintegrated. "Shadow men… if these shadow men are what I think they are, then my attempts to avoid the Mist will be for nothing."
"In all my years I never thought I'd see you go down the road of raising the dead, Natsuki." Jiraiya said softly from behind Natsuki, causing her to turn around quickly in alarm.
"Sensei! How did you- why are you here?
"Why isn't important. Where'd you learn that technique?"
Meanwhile
Itachi woke up in the hospital. Dairuko and Tsunade were conversing in the corner near the closed door, but he couldn't quite hear them so he looked out the window instead, and saw a crow standing there, watching him, before flying off.
"Yo, Itachi, glad you're awake. It was touch and go for a while there but, kaa-san says you must've had an allergic reaction to the pellets we took to get to the village." Dairuko said, after seeing Tsunade out.
"That must be it then." Itachi said, as he turned to Dairuko.
"Funny thing is, Tsunade didn't know about the pellets. I suppose she wasn't at liberty to tell me what was really going on…"
"You're going to blackmail me now, aren't you?"
"In a sense… Just tell me what's wrong. I mean, we're friends, right?" Dairuko asked. "And if you don't tell me, I'll just go asking around. Starting with Natsuki, then-"
"Don't get your sister involved! Or anyone else for that matter."
"Why?"
"I'm dying." Itachi said.