Opening - D-Tecnolife by Uverworld
The cylindrical glass tank at the center of the room seemed to be empty, not counting the clear, blue-tinged water that filled it almost to the brim. The room around it was also empty, and yet, a muffled sound of snoring rang out through the room.
When Suigetsu was bored to this degree, he tended to snooze. Currently he was having a lovely dream about cutting things to bits, and blowing those bits up with Shibuki. It hadn't actually been his favorite among the Seven Swords of the Mist, but he'd been fond of it.
He interrupted his fantasizing to muse about which sword among them actually was his favorite. Kubikiri Bouchou, of course, was subtly beautiful in its simplicity. It was just a big sword; all you had to do with it was cut people. Then there was Hiramekarei, which was always fun to swing around since it could change shape, and each different form he and Mangetsu thought up were increasingly massive and ludicrous.
But there really was something to be said for the thrill of dual-wielding swords made of lightning. Kiba might actually have been his favorite out of them all...
In his dream, Suigetsu shrugged and went back to blowing things up with a manic grin on his face. He was still having fun with Shibuki, so he didn't bother to conjure up a pair of Kiba blades.
After a while, his dream regrettably came to an end, and he woke up glumly in his tank. It took him a few seconds to pull his body back together with the Hozuki kekkei genkai, but when he did a grin was already plastered on his face. For some reason, the sweet music of stuff blowing up was still ringing in his ears even after his dream was over.
His grin slowly began to fade, however, once a few more seconds had passed and the explosions still hadn't stopped. In fact, they'd gotten louder, and Suigetsu could only assume that whatever was making those sounds was coming closer.
He shrieked like a little girl as a huge curved sword made of transparent purple chakra tore through the room around him. It also sliced into the front of his tank, and against all odds this failed to completely shatter the tank. Instead, the water spurted out through the cut in the glass.
Catching a glimpse of freedom for the first time in years, Suigetsu pounced on it, activating his Hydrification Jutsu to stream his body through the hole in the glass. He laughed giddily at the thought of actually getting away, then yelped as the same purple chakra blade cleaved through the room again. Panicking, he prepared one of his most efficient and powerful jutsu simply by making a pair of finger guns, and compressing a few drops of water in each of his index fingertips.
A cloud of dull brown dust still lingered in the air ahead of him, where the building had been cut twice by a sword that Hiramekarei would never have been able to match. Suigetsu jumped, and instead of stopping to possibly thank the stranger who had set him free, he opened fire with his finger guns.
He heard a windy swishing sound, along with two quick metallic rings not unlike a bell or two swords touching. It took him a moment to realize that whoever was standing in that dust had actually blocked his shots with something made of metal. If it was a sword as Suigetsu suspected, it would've taken even more than a master swordsman's level of skill. To catch his water bullets, the swordsman would need to be able to perceive them as they flew through the air, react quickly enough to actually try to block them, and finally, they'd need to move their arm and sword at an incredible speed to intercept the bullets in time.
For a few moments, silence weighed heavily in the room as Suigetsu 'reloaded' his finger guns, but hesitated to fire them again. He never thought of himself as a coward, but his experiences with Orochimaru had changed him. He knew what a Kage-level shinobi was capable of, and he knew how unstable most of them were.
"Was that a kekkei genkai?"
Suigetsu shivered. That voice... The young man's voice itself wasn't especially deep, loud or threatening, but his calm tone clashed frighteningly with the killing intent he radiated. "...Y-Yeah, it's a kekkei genkai," he replied warily. "I'm Suigetsu Hozuki. I can turn my body into water."
"Hn." Suigetsu heard the unmistakable sound of a blade being sheathed, and he watched as the swordsman emerged from the slowly fading cloud of smoke. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha," he answered, then glanced over his shoulder. "We've found them."
"...F-Found them?"
"Kabuto's test subjects. That is what you're here for, isn't it?" Sasuke nodded to the slashed glass tank. "It looks like you weren't staying here willingly."
A sizable team of identical crimson-haired girls burst into the room, led by a pale boy in white plate armor with a matching shield and lance. One of the clones glanced in Suigetsu's direction, and her face fell. "Aw, dammit..." she sighed. "Do we have to save this guy?"
It took Suigetsu a few seconds to recognize her, but when he did his eyes went wide. "K-Karin?"
"You two know each other?" the armored young man questioned.
"That bitch helped Orochimaru experiment on me," he pointed at her accusingly.
"Oh please," Karin crossed her arms, "All I did was resuscitate you if you went too crazy with your Hydrification Jutsu. It's not like either of us dissected you or anything... not that I'd mind it, you creepy bastard."
"Creepy bastard?" Kimimaro repeated.
"Enough," Sasuke cut in, immediately drawing everyone's attention. "We don't have time to talk. Suigetsu, you're welcome to tag along with us or leave now. It's fine as long as you don't get in our way."
"Bleh," Karin stuck out her tongue while glaring at Suigetsu. "Fine, you can tag along if you want."
Now that the dust had settled, Suigetsu was able to peer out into the night where Sasuke had destroyed that side of the room. He stared longingly into the darkness, then shook his head and raised his finger guns. "I'll stick with you guys. Something gives me a feeling that I won't last a minute out there without a sword."
Just as Itachi led Juugo into the room through the wall Sasuke had cut down, Kimimaro blinked before pulling out one of his upper arm bones and fashioning it into a longsword for Suigetsu. He promptly handed the pearly white blade to the younger swordsman, who took it with a grateful nod.
"Alright then," Sasuke declared. "Suigetsu, follow Kimimaro, Karin, and Juugo. Clear the north side of the compound and free any prisoners you see. Itachi, Jakuzure and I will do the same on the south side of the building." he bit his lip to quickly draw a bit of blood, then swiped it onto his right thumb and began making hand seals before laying both of his palms on the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!"
A comparatively small cloud of white smoke floated upward from Sasuke's summoning fuinjutsu, and within it a pink snake appeared, stretched out as though she had been lounging comfortably or napping before she was summoned.
"...Gaki," she growled as she rose from the cold floor. "This had better be important."
Sasuke only barely suppressed his smirk before pulling a page from his sensei's book. "Hn? Did you say something?"
"Sasuke, this had better be important," she corrected herself. "I was having a really, really nice, relaxing day."
"And now you've just made a lot of money," Sasuke pointed out. Jakuzure nodded after a moment in agreement. "We need your help fighting our way through this compound, and we expect to run into Kabuto and Orochimaru as well."
"Hm..." Jakuzure considered this. "I'm pretty much the Kage of the Snake Clan, so I can dismiss any snake summons they use. Depending on what actually happened with Manda-chan..."
"Manda-chan?" Sasuke repeated in disbelief.
"The kid always hates when I use that honorific," Jakuzure mused with a sly smile, "so of course I keep using it. He's insufferable and arrogant, but that only makes annoying him that much more fun." Without another word, Jakuzure reared up off the ground and wrapped herself around Sasuke's right wrist, surprising and confusing him. "I'm gonna use Sage Mode," she explained as she slithered up his arm, "but to do that I have to remain perfectly still. I'll need you to move around for me," she finished, coiled over his shoulders.
"...Hn."
Jakuzure gave an amused smirk, and flicked out her forked tongue momentarily. "Get going, Gaki. We've been sitting here and talking long enough."
Itachi nodded. "She does have a point. Oto-nin have already surrounded the room; I can see their chakra." As he said this, fiery red-orange chakra began surging up around his feet and forming into a skeletal ribcage around him.
"Hn..." Sasuke began forming his own Susanoo, preemptively creating a skeletal right arm wielding a long, curved sword of purple chakra. "Kimimaro, take your team past them if you can. Leave us to deal with the Oto-nin."
Kimimaro nodded quickly. "Yes, Sasuke-sama." Shortly followed by his team and Suigetsu, he disappeared from the room with a Pulse Step.
As the Uchiha brothers finished conjuring their chakra constructs, both in a fully formed and armored state, each of them readied their weapons. Itachi raised the Sword of Totsuka over his Susanoo's head, and Sasuke shaped an arrow of black flames before fitting it to his bow and aiming it at the chakra silhouettes he could see behind the remaining walls of the room.
Jakuzure's scarlet eyes glinted in anticipation. "This is gonna be fun."
The walls ahead of them were obliterated as their weapons struck home. The Oto-nin behind it were crushed by flying rubble, sealed away by Itachi's sword, and incinerated by Sasuke's flames. They had no chance.
"Now that we have their attention," Sasuke declared, "hopefully they'll all focus on us. They might not detect Kimimaro's team at all, if they're careful and stealthy enough."
"We're up against a Kage, one of the Legendary Sannin, and a small army of ninja," Itachi replied coolly. "I wouldn't bet on it, foolish little brother. Still, for what it's worth I'm sure you'd have no trouble with that boar now." He peered into the cloud of dust and black flame left in the wake of their attacks, and called, "Are you really trying to hide from the Sharingan, Kabuto?"
"I didn't expect to remain unnoticed for long," the Otokage answered, "but it bought me a few seconds that I put to excellent use."
He emerged from the cloud of dust with his head held high, and both of the Uchiha brothers immediately noted the changes in his appearance. The young man now wore his long silver hair unrestrained, tumbling down his shoulders. His skin seemed slightly paler than usual, and his eyes certainly were. In fact, they were completely white, with even the slit pupils only slightly darker than the pearly irises.
"That's the Byakugan," Itachi noted immediately.
"Never mind the Byakugan," Jakuzure growled, and pointed to the thick purple markings around his eyes. "Where the hell did he learn the Snake Sage Mode? I sure as hell didn't teach him."
"No, you didn't," Kabuto agreed with a smile, "but you did teach Manda."
"Hm..." Jakuzure's tongue flicked out briefly, and she sized him up with the golden eyes that Kabuto would've had, if his eyes weren't already colored white by his active Byakugan. "So Manda-chan really did go rogue, then."
"Go rogue? Oh, don't be ridiculous. I killed him." Kabuto continued to smile. "He was nowhere near as cooperative as I would've liked, and the chakra cost of summoning the Snake Clan's boss was too much of a bother. So I killed him, and made a superior clone of him. All of that legendary strength, that Kage-level Lightning Release... his knowledge of the Snake Sage Mode... all of it was copied into a clone who would always remain completely loyal to me. I even improved on the original Manda's prowess in combat. Would you like to meet Manda-Two?"
Jakuzure hissed furiously. "You little shit," she snarled. "The Snake Clan is going to annihilate you for this disrespect."
"I think I'll take that as a yes," Kabuto replied smoothly, and clapped his palms together in the Snake seal. "Summoning Jutsu."
X
The floor shuddered under the feet of Kimimaro's team, and their eyes went wide. They heard the deafening sounds of a distant section of the compound being torn apart and the pieces being scattered in all directions.
Karin quickly activated her Kagura Shingan and cast her gaze through the countless walls between her team and the devastation. "Oh, shit."
"What is it?" Kimimaro asked urgently.
"A big-ass snake summon," she replied. "From here, it looks bigger than Manda. I can see Sasuke's and Itachi's Susanoo too, and it looks like they're getting ready to fight it, so it's not one of Sasuke's summons."
"Damn it," the bone wielder scowled.
"Should we maybe... go back and help them?" Juugo suggested hesitantly.
"No way, I'm not getting into a fight with Orochimaru," Suigetsu immediately threw in.
"It might be Kabuto, not Orochimaru," Karin pointed out, "In which case Orochimaru could be somewhere else in this compound."
"What an astute observation, Karin."
All eyes turned to the black-cloaked Sannin who grinned at their alarmed expressions. He was particularly amused to see Kimimaro move to the front of the group with a Pulse Step, raising his shield.
"Orochimaru-sama," he greeted, with respect but with no trace of warmth.
"You've grown, Kimimaro." he glanced around. "All of you have, in fact."
"Karin, Juugo," the white-haired boy began, "Can you give me a moment to talk to him, before we fight him?"
"Oh?" Orochimaru's eyes glinted with interest. "You have something to say, Kimimaro?"
"We'll wait," Karin replied at the Kaguya's side, and Juugo nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I'm in no rush to pick a fight with Orochimaru," Suigetsu threw in.
"Thank you all," Kimimaro answered. "Orochimaru-sama... I've trusted you since the day we met, and until recently I've never doubted anything you've ever told me. But now... Now I've seen you in another light, and I don't know what to believe."
"Well..." he glanced around, sizing up Karin, Juugo and Suigetsu. "I think I can guess what's making you feel this way. You've seen the bite marks on Karin's arms and hips."
Kimimaro nodded. "She told me that you forced her to continue experimenting with her bloodline."
"That's correct," Orochimaru answered flatly. "I did. I've even bitten her myself, twice. Do you want me to tell you why? What I intended to gain from it?"
"No," the Kaguya shook his head. "I don't care why you did it. When she told me, I was angry at you. I knew that what you did was immoral. You experimented on someone I care about, and you did it against her will. But then... I started thinking... 'It's wrong for me to doubt Orochimaru-sama.'"
"Ah..." the snake smiled in understanding. "That thought must have come to you so suddenly. It startled you, didn't it? It didn't quite seem to be a thought of your own."
"Exactly. That thought wasn't mine. Until then, I'd always been sure that my feelings and opinions were the result of my own reasoning, but... Orochimaru-sama... did you brainwash me?"
"Kimimaro..." Orochimaru tsked. "Don't you see? That's the beauty of brainwashing. The victim always believes it's all their own reasoning." Kimimaro closed his eyes, and let out a long, softly audible breath. "I suppose you've only asked me this so that you would be able to erase your doubts and face me. Is that right?"
Kimimaro shook his head. "I'd want those doubts erased, even if I knew I'd never have to fight you. I want to know that I can trust my own thoughts, and that I can side with my precious people instead of you, without hesitation."
"I see." Orochimaru's smile fell. "Kimimaro, you're still hesitating." the younger man looked up at the older in suprise. "Let me tell you more. I never intended to do anything more than use you for a replacement body. Likewise with Juugo and Karin for their special chakra. So let this be my last order to you, Kimimaro. Whatever fulfillment and happiness you thought you could find under my command... start looking for it somewhere else. I'd recommend you find it with them," he nodded to Karin and Juugo.
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama." Kimimaro readied his bone lance. "Thank you for telling me the truth... this is goodbye."
The Karin clone standing next to him was dispelled by a kunai through the back of her neck, and Kimimaro's eyes went wide. "W-What-"
"Kagura Shingan!" the army of Karin clones roared in stereo, and scanned through the compound. "Found her; she's hidden under a genjutsu! Release!"
"I-I'll fight this chick!" Suigetsu declared, charging toward Mariko Hyuuga with his bone blade in hand. "You guys can handle Orochimaru without me!" the pale-eyed young woman danced away from his blade, and he opened fire with the finger gun he had made with his off hand. She narrowly dodged the bullet of water, then drew a kunai in each hand and drew in closer to fight him with kenjutsu, hoping to keep him from firing it again.
"Coward," a few of the shadow clones snorted, while most of them kept their attention locked on Orochimaru. "Kimimaro, what's the plan?"
"He's a ninjutsu specialist," the Kaguya answered, then sidestepped into the path of a Lightning Bullet aimed at Juugo, catching it on his shield. He charged forward with his lance aimed at Orochimaru's heart. "Get in close and attack him with taijutsu and blades!" he went on in a louder, more urgent tone. He leapt back away from the older ninja's Striking Shadow Snakes, smashing them away with the side of his lance. "Don't hold anything back," he added as he activated the first stage of his Cursed Seal.
He screamed in shock and pain as the lines of the seal began to burn the skin they covered, and the seal's power faded as those lines flowed back into the mark on his sternum. "Kimimaro, don't you remember? I gave you that seal myself. You can't use it against me."
As Kimimaro fell to his knees, Orochimaru stepped toward him. "Bastard!" Karin snapped as she moved between them, manifesting chakra chains that scythed through the air between herself and Orochimaru. "Stay away from him!"
Kimimaro gritted his teeth in pain, while encasing himself in a much thicker layer of bone to cover his entire body, leaving only small holes for him to breathe. "Never mind me, Karin!" he called with pain evident in his voice. "I'm safe in here! Stick to the plan!"
"Striking Shadow Snakes," Orochimaru replied, and sent a dozen emerald-green pythons through the air amid Karin's chakra chains, only the tips of which were sharpened. She let the chains crumble into a blue chakra mist, retreating away from the snakes.
A beam of pale blue chakra then tore through the snakes, burning them to ashes. With his right arm transformed into a chakra cannon, Juugo glared at Orochimaru with black-and-gold eyes. "You're starting to make me angry, old man."
X
Atop Manda-Two's violet-scaled head, Kabuto grinned down at the two Susanoo and the Uchiha floating within. "This is going to be fun," he declared cheerfully.
Sasuke smoothly drew back his Susanoo's bow with an arrow of black flames nocked in place on it. He took aim at Kabuto and let the arrow fly, but his eyes widened slightly when the older ninja blurred to the side of the arrow. "...Amaterasu." His eyes shifted into their fully awakened Eternal Mangekyou form, and a thin line of blood dripped down his cheek. Kabuto yelped in surprise as he was set alight with black flame.
The older snake summoner deployed the Substitution variant unique to himself and Orochimaru, shedding his skin and emerging from it unharmed. Clapping his hands together in the Snake seal as his feet once more touched the top of Manda-Two's head, he called, "Wood Release: Houbi Jutsu."
Itachi's eyes went wide with alarm, shortly followed by Sasuke's. "Wood Release?" he breathed. "Where did he get the Wood Release?"
"Hn..." Sasuke peered up at the shell of living wood that Kabuto had encased himself in. It was streamlined against the top of Manda-Two's head, and the outside was carved into a stylized dragon's face. "That's the kekkei genkai that defeated Madara Uchiha... but on the other hand, it's still wood. Not exactly an ideal defense against two Kage-level Fire Release users."
Manda-Two lunged forward with an angry hiss, aiming himself first at Itachi. The older Uchiha held up his Susanoo's glistening red chakra shield, blocking the giant snake's charge. Sasuke then swung his purple chakra blade at the side of Manda-Two's throat. The snake deftly retreated in the opposite direction, slithering past Itachi.
Sasuke brought his hands together in the clone seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu." A lone copy of the youngest Uchiha bloomed into existence next to the original. Meanwhile, the real Sasuke fully activated his Cursed Seal and spread his bladed wings, flying out of a rapidly opened hole in Susanoo's armor. The clone sealed off that weak point once the original Sasuke was free of the chakra construct, leaving his clone in control of the chakra avatar.
Coiled around her summoner's neck and shoulders, Jakuzure spoke up. "What's the plan now, Gaki? I mean, Sasuke," she corrected herself.
"The snake is focused on Itachi," he pointed to where Manda-Two continued to lash out at Itachi's Yata Mirror, futilely trying to strike past it and devour the older Uchiha whole. "It didn't see me make that clone, so if I stay within its blind spot, I might be able to get a clear shot at Kabuto's defenses."
"And what about me? Am I just gonna sit here while you fight? You paid a lot of chakra to summon me here," she pointed out reasonably.
"Yes, I did. That's why, when I burn or cut through that wooden shield, it'll be you that attacks Kabuto. I'll stay in the air and keep fighting the snake along with Itachi and my Susanoo."
"Great. I want that kid's head myself."
Sasuke soared forward, beating his wings through the air for as much speed as possible. Meanwhile, Manda-Two backed away a short distance from Itachi, opening his mouth to rapidly fire several missiles of glowing blue liquid. Sasuke recognized it as the jutsu Aoda had used on him, the Echo Lightning Torrent. Noting with satisfaction that Itachi had blocked the attack with his shield as usual, Sasuke kept flying.
He came to a stop and landed at the base of Manda-Two's neck, already bringing his hands together in the Ox seal. From there, he continued the short sequence of seals that he was by now intimately familiar with. After the Ox came the Hare, and finally the Monkey; a mere three seals to conjure one of the most famous assassination jutsu of all time.
"Chidori!"
He dashed forward with his right hand wreathed in lightning and his Sharingan spinning wildly. It took only a moment for him to cross the remaining distance between himself and the Houbi, stabbing into the back of the wooden dragon's head with the Chidori. He then sharply pulled the jutsu upward, ripping a vertical hole through the Otokage's Wood Release defenses.
Leaping back, he banished the chirping lightning on his right arm and extended it forward, pointing at the opening in the Houbi. "Now!"
"Right!" Jakuzure hissed, and darted along his arm without hesitation. She sailed through the air like a spear or an arrow, disappearing headfirst into the darkness within Kabuto's wooden shield. Sasuke took off, pounding his wings downward and soaring higher as fast as he could.
A thunderclap roared through the air and shook the ground far below, as some kind of lightning jutsu went off inside the wooden dome, exploding with tremendous force. Sasuke glanced down and found that it was made of the same liquid lightning as Aoda's and Manda-Two's jutsu. The glowing blue substance was pouring downward through the air, showering the ground loudly. He also noted that Manda-Two's head had apparently been fried by the jutsu, as the colossal snake was falling toward the ground along with the liquid.
After a few seconds, he spotted Jakuzure perched atop Manda-Two's corpse, coiled along his spine. With his Sharingan active, he saw her chakra rising up for another jutsu, and he averted his eyes before the brilliant light surged forth from between her fangs.
This time, the flood of liquid lightning struck a much smaller cocoon of wood, a slender, six-foot-long ovoid shape. She submerged Kabuto's last defense with her jutsu, continuing to fire the blue liquid from her open jaws like a hose for several more seconds.
Eventually she stopped, and watched as the glowing azure substance rapidly began to evaporate into loose forks of electricity that then faded completely. "You'd better be dead from that," she scowled.
"I'm afraid not," Kabuto purred as he appeared behind her. Her golden eyes went wide, and she hissed as she tried to react, but it was too late. Her hiss grew into a pained shriek as she felt a kunai slip into her back through her ribs.
Her tail took on a vibrant teal color as she charged it with lightning chakra, lashing out at Kabuto who blurred away with a Pulse Step. "You..." she choked out, "...have an unhealthy obsession with stabbing people in the back, Kabuto." she coiled around herself and locked her jaws around the hilt of the blade in her back, roughly pulling it from the wound. "So, I guess you've improved on your movement jutsu, then. Last I heard, the Pulse Step only allowed the user to move in the direction they're facing."
"You noticed that, hm?" Kabuto remarked lightly. "I suppose there's no point in denying it. Yes, I've learned how to properly control the speed of a Pulse Step. It wasn't exactly easy, but it was certainly worth it."
Sasuke landed next to Jakuzure and folded his kunai-bladed wings behind his back. "How bad is it?" he asked quietly.
"Not too bad," she answered. "Sage Mode makes my body more durable. His attack never cut into my vital organs... it hurts like a bitch though."
"If you can keep fighting, stay right there and attack from a distance. You seem best suited to long-range ninjutsu attacks anyway."
"No problem," she replied. "Slippery bastard... how the hell did he move right by me like that?"
"He might've used a Substitution on a thrown kunai," he suggested. "All it takes to do that is a doujutsu and a bit of practice."
"...Hn," she echoed him tauntingly. "Get moving, Gaki. It's no use just standing here."
He nodded and took to the sky again, keeping his black and scarlet eyes locked on Kabuto. Meanwhile, the shadow clone inside his complete Susanoo decided to form and draw back an arrow of lightless flame. Kabuto glanced between the two Sasukes and Itachi, then raised another wall of living wood between himself and his enemies, this time a thick, square one with a monstrous face partially sculpted out of the front of the wall.
The clone let its arrow fly, piercing through the makeshift Rashoumon replica with ease. Both it and the real Uchiha brothers immediately doubted the fact that Kabuto had actually been killed by the arrow, and they were proven right when the Otokage's Sword of Kusanagi pierced through the violet Susanoo from behind, dispelling the clone and thus the chakra avatar around it.
Itachi promptly turned his own Susanoo to face the exposed Kabuto, swinging his own legendary weapon downward in a massive, brilliant orange arc. Kabuto caught the Sword of Totsuka with his own Kusanagi over his head at its default length.
Itachi continued to push his blade downward against Kabuto's, and even with Sage Mode the young Otokage struggled to hold back the much larger weapon. Meanwhile Sasuke shot toward him through the air, aiming toward Kabuto's chest with a Chidori-charged sword. Kabuto turned and opened his mouth wide, unleashing a long, thin snake with glistening silver scales that precisely caught the tip of Sasuke's blade with its fangs.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance, and he swept the sword through the air in an attempt to dislodge the snake. Instead, he watched in surprise as the current of electricity crackling along his blade was sucked into the snake's open mouth. After roughly a second, the snake opened its jaws a bit wider and spat out a blast of wind, the element with an advantage over lightning.
Caught off-guard, Sasuke was thrown backward and the shashka flew out of his hand. He rolled to his feet and skidded backward a short distance before he resumed making hand seals. "Fire Release: Great Dragon Flame Jutsu!" he called, unleashing a sculpted fireball from his mouth in the likeness of a dragon's head.
The snake leapt forward off the ground, directly into the oncoming fireball which was sucked into its scales a moment later.
"...Hn?"
The snake opened its mouth wide and fired out a perfectly round Water Bullet, which Sasuke smoothly dodged. That's two nature transformations now... both times, it used the element with an advantage over mine... Tapping into his seldom-used third affinity, Sasuke held his hands together in the Snake seal. "Water Fang Bullet." He decided not to waste too much chakra on the attack since it was already heavy on his reserves.
The snake again took the attack directly, absorbed it, and returned fire with a missile of the element that held the upper hand over his. This time, a long, thin spear of solid brown rock shot out of the snake's throat toward Sasuke. Annoyed, he summoned a skeletal arm of his Susanoo and caught the attack, crushing it into pieces.
"Jakuzure, do you know anything about this snake?"
"Nothing!" she called, shaking her head. "It's not one of ours. If I had to guess though, I don't think it's just catching your attacks and taking no damage. I think it's absorbing your chakra!"
"I thought so too," he nodded. In that case... A line of blood trickled down his cheek, and his Eternal Mangekyou shone and spun intensely. "Tsukuyomi!"
The snake guessed at Sasuke's intent and tried to avert its eyes, but it was too late. It shuddered as the genjutsu took hold, and it fell limply to the ground before exploding with white smoke a moment later.
Kabuto snarled wordlessly as he dispelled that summon, then he glanced back and forth between Sasuke and Itachi. "...Damn it." I haven't had time to take DNA samples from even half of my subjects, and I haven't used the ones I do have... I don't want to leave all this work behind, but like this, I don't have a choice... "Eight Trigrams: Revolving Heaven!"
Itachi's eyes went wide as Kabuto spun up a dome of senjutsu chakra, forcing back the Sword of Totsuka as it expanded a few feet in all directions. After a moment, it faded away to reveal that Kabuto had vanished, almost certainly by tunneling underground with the Hidden Mole Jutsu.
"...He knows Hyuuga Clan jutsu," Sasuke grumbled. "How the hell did he learn that?"
Itachi's Susanoo dissolved and faded away, but he kept his Eternal Mangekyou active and ready. The design in his eyes was a six-pronged version of the curved shuriken pattern his Mangekyou Sharingan had had. "Probably the same way he acquired the Byakugan itself," he mused. "Although I can't make sense out of how he managed even that much."
X
As he waited for the Cursed Seal's fiery pain to finish slowly fading away, Kimimaro steeled himself, knowing that he would only have a few seconds to attack Orochimaru before he activated the seal again, freshly rendering Kimimaro useless. A few seconds wouldn't be enough time for him to really turn the tables on Orochimaru, but he refused to remain curled up in a shell of bone while Karin and Juugo faced a Sannin alone.
The layer of bone covering his body cracked slightly, and much of the armor over his back crumbled away to allow four large spikes of the same material to grow outward, signifying that he had activated the second stage of his seal.
"Dammit!" Karin yelled in frustration. Orochimaru was consistently dodging her chakra chains, which she was nowhere near mastering. On top of that, he was keeping his distance enough that she couldn't close in and cut him to ribbons with her cutlasses. The snake knew his weaknesses well, apparently, and he dealt with them by maintaining a solid distance between himself and his enemies while bombarding them with a broad range of C-rank and B-rank ninjutsu, rather than rapidly burning through his chakra with A-rank attacks.
Juugo roared wordlessly, launching a livid blue beam of chakra from the cannon his right arm had become. Again Orochimaru danced carefully out of the way, countering with a snake-shaped projectile made of tightly bundled lightning like a miniature dragon bullet. Juugo shaped his left arm into a heavy, bladed mace and swatted the lightning snake apart as it flew toward him. However, Orochimaru then followed up with a Great Fireball that collided with Juugo without any trouble, burning him and throwing him backward as he roared again.
"Son of a..." Karin trailed off, seething as she watched a still-burning Juugo sail through the air. "Great, now I'm fighting him alone! Suigetsu, hurry up with the Hyuuga chick and get over here!"
Suigetsu turned to her incredulously, nearly taking a Gentle Fist strike to the throat in his distraction. He just barely managed to whip up his bone sword in time to slap her palm away. "You're asking me, to help you, fight Orochimaru!? Are you fricken insane!?"
"...Good point; you're useless anyway!" she snarked, aiming a fresh volley of chakra chains at Orochimaru. Her aim was true, but Orochimaru simply refused to stay still. All five of the chains shot past him, but she then made a fist and brought them together in an attempt to tangle him up with them.
Just as the thought occured to her that the snake summoner was blatantly holding back, likely because he wanted to see Kabuto pay as much as they did, Kimimaro blurred into existence between him and her. She called off her next volley of chakra chains just in time to spare him several stab wounds in the back.
There were four curved bone spikes extending from his back, diagonally outward in each direction, the telltale sign that he had fully tapped into his Cursed Seal. His lance had been replaced by a longer, thinner one that smoothly encased his right forearm and narrowed to a much sharper point than the Clematis Flower had. In addition, his face was covered by a mask of bone in the likeness of the front of a knight's helm.
Almost immediately, Orochimaru locked his gaze with Kimimaro's and made a hand seal, ready to immobilize him again. However, this time he wasn't fast enough. Acting purely on instinct, Kimimaro turned slightly and used a short Pulse Step to blur past his former mentor. Much like a Substitution, Orochimaru's control of the juinjutsu had to be aimed at its target, and this time it missed.
Kimimaro only hesitated for the briefest of moments before whipping his lance horizontally at Orochimaru, who stepped forward and ducked to dodge it. The snake summoner whirled and faced Kimimaro again, only to be greeted by the sight of a white shield's edge aimed at his chest. Although Orochimaru lessened the power of the impact by trying to dodge backward, the blow struck home, shoving him backward brutally.
Karin gave an elated grin and raised her hands in the clone seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Two exact copies of her appeared, one on each side of the real Karin, and they aimed their hands forward while she drew her swords. A chakra chain burst forth from each fingertip of each clone, trapping Orochimaru between the two sets of taut chains.
Roaring, she closed in on the Sannin's exposed back. He turned to her with his hands raised in the Tiger seal, likely intending to neutralize her with ninjutsu since she was affected by the confined space just as he was. However, Kimimaro interrupted this by stabbing him in the back. The tip of his lance emerged out the front of Orochimaru's chest, now stained red with his blood, and pushed his artificial hands apart.
Orochimaru coughed up a bit of blood, shortly followed by the rest of his body. The old one slumped forward, still impaled on Kimimaro's lance, as the unharmed Orochimaru rose out of its mouth with the lower body of a giant green snake.
Just as he was about to send one of his signature snake techniques after the two, he felt Kabuto's voice resonate powerfully, even violently in his mind. Whatever you're doing, stop it. Retreat... and see if you can salvage any of the kekkei genkai samples we've retrieved.
Orochimaru grinned broadly. "Well..." I 'see' that I 'can,' but since I haven't been expressly ordered to retrieve those samples, I think I'll leave them where they are. "Kimimaro, Karin..." he glanced up in time to dodge a chakra blast that had been fired with startling accuracy, "...Juugo... you three take care of yourselves. And Suigetsu too, I suppose. He'll need it."
On instinct, Kimimaro inclined his head politely. "Yes, Orochimaru-sa..." he fell silent, noting the look Karin was giving him. There was concern in her expression, but also understanding. "...We'll be fine."
"...Kukuku... You're already starting to grow up, child." Orochimaru slithered away into the night, still wearing a huge grin. It'll take him some time, but he'll develop into his own person, and in doing so he might even get me out of this mess...
With that promising thought in mind, he headed off in search of the Otokage.
X
Bearing a sizable assortment of bruises and flesh wounds, Jiraiya tiredly dragged himself into a familiar tavern in Tanzaku. This was the same place where Tsunade had gotten herself wasted the night that Naruto and their team had found her. After what he'd just been through, Jiraiya wanted nothing more than to get wasted, so he'd chosen this same place to meet with Taka.
Hawk. Sasuke had made an interesting choice for his team's name, Jiraiya would admit. He limped into the tavern, spotting the team seated in a large booth with enough room left for Jiraiya to drop his half-dead body there.
"Saved me a spot at the table, huh?" he mumbled tiredly. "That was nice of ya... but who's paying?"
"Me," Sasuke answered quickly. "You look like hell."
"I feel like hell," he agreed, then glanced up and noted the presence of a white-haired boy he wasn't familiar with. "Who're you?"
"I'm Suigetsu Hozuki," the boy replied with a halfhearted grin.
"Jiraiya. Welcome to the team."
"What happened to you?" Kimimaro spoke up. "You said you could handle the mission alone with no trouble. You should've taken one of us with you."
Jiraiya shook his head. "Shit happened. I met up with Yagura at his hideout, but we got jumped by a couple of Akatsuki. We beat 'em, but they ran away. Bastards must've been tailing me... I dunno what they expected to learn by following me around, but now they know that Yagura's alive."
"Hn," Sasuke grunted as he mulled over this new information.
"Did you recognize them?" Itachi asked.
"No. One was wearing an old-school ninja mask, and the other had slicked-back grey hair and a scythe. I'd never seen either one before."
"Kakuzu and Hidan. Both are immortal; I'm impressed that you fought them off."
"I wasn't alone," Jiraiya pointed out. "This guy Yagura is good. His Water Release is near the Second Hokage's level, and with all that chakra... one-on-one, he could probably hold his own against Naruto or Hinata."
"They're that strong?" Sasuke asked, interested. "You're saying that Naruto and Hinata could each take on a former Mizukage without any backup?"
Jiraiya nodded. "Even if Yagura went into Tailed Beast Mode, I'm sure that the two of them together could hand him his ass." he chuckled through his exhaustion, cheered by the thought of his two former students.
"I wonder how I'd fare against them," Sasuke mused.
The sage remained silent for a moment. "About as well as I would. So, really badly."
He glanced over his shoulder as a rather cute brunette waitress approached their table. "Hi again," she greeted. "Have you all decided on your meals?"
"I'll have some okonomiyaki, a stick of hanami dango and a bowl of miso ramen," Karin was the first to speak up.
"The large sushi platter, please," Suigetsu added. "And a glass of water. No, two glasses."
"Sake, and lots of it," Jiraiya grumbled. "I'll have a beef ramen too."
"Onigiri and two sticks of hanami dango," Itachi decided.
"The beef ramen sounds good," Kimimaro threw in.
"Steak and a salad for me, please," Juugo added with a smile.
"Yellow curry noodles with beef," Sasuke finished. "Jiraiya, you probably want to recover from your injuries here, and no one would blame you, but... how long do we have to stay here before we can return to Konoha?"
Jiraiya chuckled. "Are you kidding? The three greatest medic-nin in the world are all waiting for me in Konoha. Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura." Sasuke's eyes flashed when he mentioned her name. "We're leaving for Konoha tomorrow morning, so I'm gonna try not to get too blasted tonight."
"Good." Sasuke leaned forward and nestled his fingers together in front of his mouth, resting his elbows on the table. This hid his excited smirk rather well. "So, you two like ramen?" he glanced to Kimimaro and Karin.
Kimimaro nodded, and Karin replied, "It's not my favorite food, but yeah."
"There's a restaurant in Konoha called Ichiraku Ramen," he answered. "I happen to know someone who lives off the stuff and never shuts up about it. Maybe you two should check it out sometime."
He looked up, watching the same waitress returning with Jiraiya's sake. She set it down, and he thanked her politely before pouring his first shot.
Just as he brought the sake to his lips, Sasuke spoke up. "I'm going to be the Sixth Hokage." Jiraiya gagged on his drink, but managed to keep from spraying it all over the table. He choked it down and began laughing like a lunatic. "...What's so funny?" Sasuke asked, irritated.
I can't... I can't believe I never told him! After several seconds, Jiraiya gradually stopped laughing and settled down. "...Don't... don't worry about it, it's nothing," he chuckled again. "It's just... you might want to talk to Naruto before you start telling everyone that."
"Hn."
Jiraiya poured another drink, lifted it, then hesitated. "Is... is anyone else gonna say something like that?" Collectively, Taka shook their heads. "Great." he downed the drink and poured another. "So, Akatsuki knows about Yagura, and they're probably going to try and capture him before we can get him to Konoha. He told me he was headed west into the Land of Waterfalls, since they know about his hideout in Iron. That's my story. What happened in the Land of Rice?"
"Kabuto and Orochimaru ran away again," Sasuke replied.
"Which is getting annoying," Karin threw in.
Sasuke ignored her. "On top of that, Kabuto has the Byakugan and Wood Release, and he knows how to use both. The good news is that we were able to destroy the facility, free the prisoners, and prevent Kabuto from obtaining any of their bloodlines as far as we know. We also recruited Suigetsu here." he nodded to the newest member of Taka.
"I guess we'll call that 'mission accomplished,' then," Jiraiya tentatively decided. "It would've been better if you'd neutralized those two, but that was asking for a bit much. They are both Kage-level, after all."
"We had Kabuto beaten," Sasuke declared firmly. "Next time we won't let him get away."
"Next time you guys'll have more backup," Jiraiya nodded. "But then again, so will they. Things are escalating quickly. Akatsuki's just about ready to make a move, and so is Ninken."
"So it looks like the first shots of the war will be fired in the Land of Waterfalls," Itachi mused. "Taki likely won't take that well."
"Naruto and Gaara have been talking with the Seven-Tails Jinchuuriki telepathically," Jiraiya answered. "Taki understands the situation well enough, so that simplifies things a bit. We're still about to go to war though." he drank again.
"All we can do now is make sure that we win," Sasuke answered just before their meals arrived. "That, and enjoy the time we have left before the war begins."
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