Opening - Revolution Dualism by Nana Mizuki and TM Revolution
X
Naruto's sword flew from his hand, spinning through the air behind him until its tip struck the tatami-covered floor and bounced off, allowing it to skid a short distance further before it stopped.
Mifune lowered his own bamboo sword and stepped back, smiling while Naruto rubbed his stinging right hand. "It's as I thought. Shinobi kenjutsu is vastly different from samurai kendo. Because we use swordplay almost exclusively and we have far less stamina than a shinobi, we've refined the art further and to a very different end result than kenjutsu."
Naruto nodded, flicking his fingers loosely a few times before he made a fist. "You're really, really good, jiji. You weren't even using any chakra, but you were so fast..."
Mifune's smile broadened slightly. "Yes, well... the goal of Iron's samurai has always been to match or surpass the abilities of a shinobi, and to do that with only kendo, it means we've had to achieve superhuman levels of skill in our lone chosen martial art. Still, I admit that I'm considered the best kendo user in the world; the rest of us aren't as fast as I am."
"Heh... well, we've got that in common. A lot of people are saying I'm the best kenjutsu user in the world, so..." Naruto shrugged. "Honestly I think that's an exaggeration, but I guess this means samurai are definitely better with swords than ninja, right?"
"Actually, I have to disagree with that observation, Hokage-dono. This match between us only represented our own skills with our chosen blades, not the average skill levels of our respective armies. In addition, the shinobi has access to a plethora of other skills the samurai doesn't, and you denied yourself the use of ninjutsu and such during our match."
Naruto considered this for a moment, then nodded. He might've replied if Sasuke hadn't chosen that exact moment to make his presence known.
"Hn," he mused wordlessly, and all eyes turned to where he was leaning against the wall of the training room, arms crossed and eyes crimson. He'd used his Sharingan to track and analyze each of Naruto's and Mifune's moves, not that he intended to make use of any of them. He was far more comfortable with his own kenjutsu, and some of Mifune's moves had been so fast and so completely alien that Sasuke hadn't even managed to comprehend and memorize them before they were over, and the old master had moved on to his next attack.
"Yo, Sasuke," Naruto flashed his signature vulpine grin. "How long have you been standing there?"
"I arrived just in time to see Mifune disarm you," the Uchiha answered casually. "From what I can see, I have to say you're both right. Mifune's better with a sword, but you would've won if you'd used some of your ninjutsu, even just the smaller ones."
"In fact..." Sasuke took a step forward from the wall, and his Sharingan eyes spun once. "...I think all of us here might learn something if we show our fighting styles to someone who isn't a ninja at all, standing on the outside looking in."
Naruto activated his Rinnegan and turned fully toward the Uchiha. "...You just want an excuse to fight me again, don't you, teme?"
"The last time we fought one-on-one was over three years ago," Sasuke answered, "And after that, Sakura and I fought you and Hinata. The result was the same both times... maybe the third time's the charm."
Mifune glanced back and forth between the two ninja, amused but concerned at the same time. "If you two are going to fight in my city, I'll have to ask you not to start throwing S-rank ninjutsu around," he cautioned. "We have enough of a mess to deal with already."
"Don't worry, jiji," Naruto glanced over his shoulder, still grinning. "We'll stick to the small stuff and we won't break anything important."
"You might have to put out a few small fires though," Sasuke added, and unclasped his cloak in order to toss it aside. Naruto had already removed his coat to spar with Mifune. With that done, he reached behind his back for the Sword of Totsuka while shaping his left hand into the Seal of Confrontation.
"...This isn't reassuring me at all," Mifune frowned, then sighed and reluctantly went on, "Confine yourselves to this dojo, and do not damage or even touch my students' swords."
"Got it," The two answered in stereo.
Sasuke drew his liquid blade completely, holding it out before himself and coiling in preparation to lunge toward his opponent. He paled slightly, however, when Naruto immediately activated his Six Paths Sage Mode and formed an orange-within-black blade of chakra, which he'd recently decided was called the Truth-Seeking Blade.
Naruto's blond-furred tail swished slowly behind him, while the rest of him remained perfectly still and awaited Sasuke's first move. He's... just standing there... Sasuke hesitated. If he's going to let me have the first move... my first thought would be to summon Jakuzure, but I wanted a one-on-one fight. If I summon her, Naruto's reaction would probably be to bring Kurama into this.
"Hn..." ...My other options are to attack with my sword, use a fire jutsu, or try to trap Naruto in Tsukuyomi...
Naruto shifted his weight slightly forward, considering pressing an attack first since Sasuke hadn't moved yet. Just as he began gathering his chakra for an Empty Wind, however, his eyes went wide as his view of Mifune's dojo was replaced by a black and red chessboard floating within an endless black void, with black flames crackling all around its edges.
Ahead of him, Sasuke flashed forward with the Sword of Totsuka in hand, and Naruto instinctively moved his own blade to catch it. The Uchiha pressed on, lashing out with several more cuts, and the Uzumaki found his sword arm moving more and more sluggishly until Sasuke landed a hit, producing a small cut which gushed an impossible fountain of blood and made him scream in pain.
Sasuke vanished, flickering in and out of Naruto's view to his left and right. Then he appeared directly above the wounded Hokage, who looked up with orange eyes wide. He moved his Truth-Seeking Blade to catch Sasuke's Sword of Totsuka, and just barely managed to get his block into place before the sake blade slammed down with enough force to shatter the chessboard under Naruto's feet.
Naruto felt the marble crunching under him, and feared he would fall clear through into the endless darkness under the chessboard. Fortunately for him, the weight of the liquid sword vanished along with Sasuke before that could happen, leaving Naruto up to his knees in chunks of red marble.
Sasuke reappeared again, this time directly in front of Naruto, and sliced the Hokage in two. Naruto screamed again, even as his body dissolved into black flame at the same time another blaze rose up near the center of the chessboard. Those new flames condensed and took a solid form, namely an unharmed Naruto.
"So... this is Tsukuyomi, huh?" Naruto gave a pained hiss, holding his left hand to the first small wound Sasuke had landed, which was actually no longer there. "Damn, I still can't recognize it as a genjutsu like I can with your other ones. Not bad, Sasuke."
"Hn." The Uchiha raised his liquid shashka in a one-handed kenjutsu stance similar to Naruto's own. "I'm intentionally weakening the time dilation effect of this jutsu, to keep you trapped in here until the real me lands a hit on you. Normally we could fight like this for three days, and it'd only be one second in the real world. I'd have to keep you busy in here for a week at that rate."
"Then... I guess that means I just have to kick your ass and break out of here as fast as I can." Grinning ferally, Naruto flashed forward with his Truth-Seeking Blade held high, and Sasuke raised his left hand calmly to catch the blade. Seeing this, Naruto flash-stepped behind Sasuke and attacked his back instead.
To his dismay, the sword bounced harmlessly off Sasuke's back. "You can't hurt me in here unless I let you, Naruto."
"Then I'm gonna skip right to the breaking-out part!" Naruto flickered away to the far side of the board, and Sasuke turned to him with a nonchalant smirk.
"How are you gonna do that, dobe?" He reached for Naruto and made a fist, prompting the black flames behind Naruto's heels to rise up and engulf him.
"Brute force," Naruto answered, and Sasuke stumbled backward under the force of a chakra pulse unlike anything he'd ever felt before. It was like someone had just thrown the Hokage monumemnt at him; he had absolutely no chance of resisting it.
Granted, this was only because Sasuke was a part of the genjutsu flowing through Naruto's system, and this chakra pulse hadn't so much as rustled the real Sasuke's hair, but it served its purpose well enough.
The black flames scorching Naruto to the bone shattered like glass, as did the chessboard before him, the void it floated within, and the false Sasuke standing near its center, all to reveal the real Sasuke dashing toward a motionless Naruto with the Sword of Totsuka aimed to stab through Naruto's right shoulder.
Naruto gritted his teeth and whipped his own sword forward, striking the length of the Sword of Totsuka as it approached. Sasuke's stab grated past Naruto's block, but it had already been pushed to the side enough to miss Naruto.
Sasuke growled and pulled back his sword, chaining together a quick flurry of attacks that Naruto managed to block. The Hokage stepped back, deflecting each of Sasuke's attacks but not countering with his own slashes.
Without warning, Naruto vanished and left Sasuke's next swing to cleave through the open air. Dammit, Sasuke whirled, by now I know where this is going... He raised the Sword of Totsuka to block Naruto's next slash even as the Hokage reappeared to deliver it. "That old trick won't work on me, dobe!" he shoved his sword forward against Naruto's, pushing their two wielders apart. "Everyone who knows you can recognize that move!"
"Don't worry; I can do better than that." Naruto vanished again, and Sasuke cast a rapid glance around with his Sharingan to catch sight of the Hokage again. This time, however, he was nowhere in sight.
"...What the...?" He held the Sword of Totsuka before himself defensively. Where the hell did he go? It's not like the dobe can turn himself invisible, can he? His crimson eyes went wide with understanding a moment later, just barely in time. Unless-!
He glared upward and blocked Naruto's downward slash, planting his left hand on his liquid blade to hold back his opponent's full weight. Naruto continued to fall until his feet touched the floor, at which point he blurred away without even drawing his sword away from Sasuke's. Vibrant orange sparks flew from both weapons even though neither was made of metal.
Naruto appeared in midair across the dojo, near the roof with his sword pulled back. "Banshou Karu!" he called and swept his sword in Sasuke's direction. A blade of metal nearly ten feet across and wreathed in neon orange chakra shot toward Sasuke, who brought up his hands in a Tiger seal and activated his Eternal Mangekyou.
"Blaze Release: Chidori Great Fireball!" he countered, breathing out a stream of black flame and blue lightning that washed over the steel blade and reduced it to ash long before it reached its target. Naruto landed in a crouch on the floor, his eyes slightly widened. "...I'm guessing you weren't expecting it to be bright orange, were you?"
Naruto hesitated before giving a small shrug in reply. "My chakra changed color when I got this natural energy mixed into it. I guess I should've expected that the chakra on my Banshou Karu would be orange now too."
"Hn." Sasuke deactivated his Mangekyou to conserve chakra. "More importantly, you can use your Empty Wind in midair now... just one more thing I have to be careful for."
Naruto grinned just before he disappeared yet again, this time emerging from his jutsu behind Sasuke. He faintly heard the deep hum and sound of wind that softly heralded Naruto's arrival, and whipped the Sword of Totsuka over his shoulder to catch Naruto's Truth-Seeking Blade.
The blow never landed, however, and instead Naruto blurred into place directly in front of Sasuke with his sword pulled back for a stab. His Sharingan widened, and he jumped to the right to dodge the attack. Naruto's stab whistled through the open air, and with his arm extended he swept his sword after Sasuke, who parried the blow and counterattacked with a stab of his own.
Naruto vanished and reappeared several paces away, but Sasuke wasted no time in preparing his next move. He lowered his sword and raised his left hand instead, lighting it up with screeching blue electricity. He crouched forward, eyes trained unerringly on his target, and lunged.
"Chidori!"
Naruto grinned once again, and the sword in his hand shrank back into its original ball form before stirring and whirling in a familiar manner. Sasuke realized what Naruto intended to do, but still he kept charging forward.
"Rasengan!"
Their attacks met and strained against each other, but both of them could feel the inevitable result. Naruto's Rasengan contained all five natures and all three types of chakra, whereas Sasuke's Chidori was purely lightning fuelled by his own blue chakra.
Sasuke's adrenaline spiked, and a distant memory flashed across his vision from three years ago. He recalled the match between Naruto and Hinata during the Chuunin Exams so long ago, and the cataclysmic way the match had ended. Their jutsu reacted to each other somehow, and created that huge white sphere. If the Rasengan can resonate with my Chidori like that as well...
He cast a glance around the training hall with wide red eyes, then turned his attention back to his struggle against Naruto. If that happens in here, with Naruto's jutsu being so much stronger than before... His fingertips were in growing pain, as though there were cuts running up and down his knuckles. I have to stop this!
He saw Naruto's Rinnegan widen with the same realization a moment later, and the pressure against his Chidori lessened ever so slightly. It wasn't much, but it was all he needed to grate his lightning attack past Naruto's sphere and into the right side of his chest. The Chidori stabbed deeply into Naruto, but it hadn't struck his heart, and that was all the Hokage needed to recover.
He blurred backward with an Empty Wind, leaving Sasuke to stumble forward with his lightning-covered left arm extended. He touched his right hand to the ground while still loosely holding the Sword of Totsuka, then cast a scarlet glare at Naruto as he reappeared.
The Jinchuuriki wiped blood from his chin with the back of his left hand, glancing down at the wound in his chest. It was already half-healed, but it had been a massive injury to begin with. Sasuke seized the oppurtunity to press a further attack on the wounded Hokage, this time aiming to stab through Naruto with the Sword of Totsuka.
Naruto deflected the stab with his reshaped Truth-Seeking Blade, but the wound in his chest made his block falter. He bit back a shout of pain, and stumbled. Sasuke threw his left hand forward next, still wreathed in a screeching Chidori, but Naruto leapt to the side and left Sasuke to fall forward again. This time, however, the Uchiha made no attempt to regain his balance and instead let himself fall through the air, spinning as he did to deliver a kick to the back of Naruto's head.
Both of them hit the floor while falling in opposite directions, and they recovered at roughly the same time. As Naruto climbed back to his feet, Sasuke noted that the wound from his Chidori was gone, leaving only a scar that would also soon be erased. The black mantle of his Six Paths Sage Mode covered it before then, however, and he flickered ahead to continue the fight.
Sasuke flinched backward from Naruto's sudden appearance and the renewed ferocity of his attacks. His Sharingan spun and flitted back and forth, able to keep up with the movements of the Truth-Seeking Blade for the moment. However it was still getting faster, and Sasuke found himself taking one step backward after another.
He's so much faster than me, he silently admitted, frantically parrying Naruto's attacks, but... so are these eyes. Unconsciously, he activated his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan and found his task growing less impossible. His sword arm is at least ten times faster than mine now... he must be combining his kenjutsu with the Empty Wind...
...But even at this speed, if I can predict his attacks before he makes them... Sasuke blocked Naruto's next slash with a bit of extra force, pushing the weapon away and shifting the Hokage out of his rhythmic onslaught. ...I can block his attacks as though I were as fast as him, even though I'm not!
Naruto bared his teeth in a decidedly vicious grin. He vanished with an Empty Wind and reappeared to Sasuke's left, but he was followed by the Uchiha's scarlet on black eyes. His next thrust was dodged and countered with a broad slash from the Sword of Totsuka, and he flickered into empty air yet again.
"I can see you, Naruto!" Sasuke's voice rose as he looked upward, wearing a challenging grin to match Naruto's own. When he reappeared above Sasuke, the Hokage's grin was still in place, but his eyes had slightly widened in surprise. He brought his sword down even though he knew the Uchiha would block it, and Sasuke went on to lock his free hand around Naruto's right ankle, moving to swing the airborne Uzumaki away before his feet could touch the ground.
"Can you really, Sasuke!?" The black and red eyes of the Uchiha widened considerably when his right hand passed cleanly through the image of Naruto's leg, an image which disappeared a moment later. He felt a blade slice a shallow wound across his back, diagonally upward from his left hip to right shoulder.
He stumbled forward and cried out, casting a panicked glance around as he spun in search of his foe. A... genjutsu clone? No, that can't be... I felt the impact of his sword against mine. There has to be another explanation, just like how I know Naruto can't turn himself invisible right now, which means that he just isn't where I'm looking.
He looked up, and saw Naruto standing upside-down on the ceiling with a smug smirk. "...Alright, dobe, let's hear it. How'd you pull that one off?"
"When I stopped moving with the Empty Wind to throw that cut that you blocked, it was only for a split second. After that I started moving again, using my flight together with my speed, to get behind you. By the time you tried to grab my leg, it wasn't really there anymore. It was just an afterimage, like the kind I leave behind when I run circles around an enemy enough times."
Sasuke's mouth fell slightly ajar when he realized the implications of Naruto's statement. "That means... you were moving so fast that even my eyes could only see a still image you left behind..." Kami, without the Sharingan I probably wouldn't have seen even that much...
"Believe it. We're training to fight Madara Uchiha, remember? I've been pushing my speed to the absolute limits with this new chakra mode, and I like the results so far." Naruto beamed. "Wanna see some more?"
Sasuke grinned back, and an ethereal purple ribcage rose up around him as a shield. "Bring it, dobe."
Naruto vanished, and reappeared in three places at once around Sasuke's Susanoo, all with their swords swinging forward in identical poses. Sasuke sharply drew in a breath, but steeled himself and poured chakra into his eyes. I won't let you fool these eyes so easily, Naruto...! He watched as the pattern of Naruto's movement became visible, if incompletely so. So he's attacking at one point and moving to the next so quickly that it looks as though he's making all three attacks at once...
"It's impressive enough to look at," Sasuke noted, "but it won't help in a fight. Like me, Madara will be able to see your movements. If he can do that, it won't matter that you look like you're making three cuts simultaneously. He'll still just be reacting to three consecutive attacks."
"So you can see my moves again, huh?" The real Naruto asked while his two afterimages flickered out.
"I just had to look harder; that's all," he replied proudly. "I know you're fast, Naruto, but the eyes of the Uchiha Clan are legendary for a reason..." Sasuke leapt forward suddenly, and stabbed ahead with the Sword of Totsuka even as Susanoo's ribcage crumbled. "...It'll take more than that!"
Naruto vanished, at least to Mifune's eyes. Sasuke, on the other hand, saw the direction Naruto intended to move by following the subtle shift in his Rinnegan's aim, and he was able to see a black and orange blur arc around to his left as Naruto passed him, coming to a stop with his Truth-Seeking Blade raised over his head.
Sasuke spun and stabbed the Sword of Totsuka through Naruto's belly, throwing his whole arm behind the thrust. "Now..." the crystal-clear liquid began to glimmer slightly, and flowed backward toward its wielder. Naruto's eyes began to glaze over very slowly, and Sasuke pulled his grip on the sword backward an inch or two. "...Lose."
Naruto's orange eyes flashed with renewed light, and he used his Empty Wind to dart away once more, this time with a bleeding hole through his chest. He didn't stay at a distance for more than a moment, however, before he lunged ahead again with one last movement jutsu.
When he reappeared, he did so on a crouch halfway along Sasuke's extended arm, already wrapping his tail around the Uchiha's wrist and the hilt of the Sword of Totsuka. He was panting heavily and blood was dripping from his stab wound, but Sasuke couldn't move with a black and orange blade resting against his throat.
"...Hn..." Sasuke cracked a sad smirk and relinquished his grip on Totsuka's hilt, leaving it solely in Naruto's grasp. The Jinchuuriki quickly flicked it away with his tail. "I really thought I had you that time, Naruto."
"So did I," came the quick reply. Naruto paused to draw breath, and added, "You almost sealed me away there... another second and I would've had no chance to break free."
Sasuke lowered his arm, leaving Naruto to hop to the floor and dissolve his sword. "What changed? I saw that look in your eyes; there was definitely something that snapped you out of it."
"I'm... not sure, really." As his wound finished healing, Naruto deactivated his Six Paths Sage Mode and his Rinnegan. "I just... when I heard you tell me to lose, I felt this overwhelming push to not lose. Like losing that fight was the worst thing I could possibly do; like the whole world was counting on me to win."
"...Hn," Sasuke scoffed after a moment. "That definitely sounds like you, dobe. The Will of Fire and all that."
Naruto shrugged. A moment later his gaze was suddenly drawn over Sasuke's shoulder, and a surprised expression crossed his face as he spotted the Fractured Flame standing in the doorway leading into the dojo. "Y-Yo, Tenten! I thought you were still recovering from your fight!"
"Ha!" Tenten grinned under her mask. "What, you think I've actually been sleeping off my injuries or something? Hell no; I've been working on my newest masterpiece ever since they set me up with that stuffy hospital room. It's almost done, but that's not exactly why I came down here."
"Hm?" Naruto frowned, confused. "So... what's going on, then?"
"The Tsuchikage showed up. He barged right into my room and called Gaara away; they're setting up for the Kage Summit right now." The Uzumaki's and Uchiha's eyes slightly widened. "I offered to pass the message along to you, so here I am."
"A-Alright then!" Naruto smacked his right fist into his left palm. "Let's get this show on the road!"
"Dobe, I think you're forgetting something," Sasuke spoke up with a frown as he retrieved and tucked away the Sword of Totsuka.
"Huh?" Naruto turned, confused. "What's that?"
"Just the huge slash across my back from our fight. I can't heal like you do, idiot."
"Oh right!" Naruto flash-stepped behind Sasuke and laid a hand on the Uchiha's back, pulsing his chakra into the wound. It quickly healed shut, and Sasuke stepped forward while rolling his shoulders experimentally. "Sorry about that..."
"Hn," Sasuke answered shortly. "Let's get going, then."
X
The Hokage pushed open the double-doors that led into the Kage Summit, and draped his coat over the back of the sole remaining empty chair. "Sorry I'm late," he announced as he seated himself quickly, "but I won't waste any more of your time. Let's get started."
He glanced around the room carefully, first noting the layout of the room itself. The five Kage were now all seated at a horseshoe-shaped table of solid-looking wood, and all of them except Naruto had laid their ceremonial headpieces on the table in front of them. He quickly followed suit, carefully arranging the white and red hat before himself while he continued to glance around.
At the open end of the horseshoe desk, Mifune sat before a small shield-shaped one of the same material. At the edges of the room stood the various escorts brought by the five Kage, each directly behind their respective leaders and at a distance.
Hinata and Sakura were already standing behind Naruto's seat, and they were shortly joined by Sasuke. Tenten took up a spot behind Gaara next to Temari and Kankurou. Behind Mei stood her swordsman Choujuurou and her sentry Ao. Both of Kumo's Jinchuuriki silently positioned themselves behind the Raikage. Lastly, the Tsuchikage had brought along his granddaughter Kurotsuchi, and one of his most adept Jounin, a man named Akatsuchi.
As for the Kage themselves, Naruto sized up their expressions next. Gaara seemed almost calm, but with a slight undertone of anxiety in his expression and posture. The Raikage looked mildly annoyed at Naruto's delay, but he didn't seem outright angry. The Mizukage was smirking openly, with her arms folded over her chest. The certainly didn't think the scene was a joke, as the Raikage had accused almost a minute earlier, but even so, she found it amusing.
The Tsuchikage was gritting his teeth and seething quietly in his chair.
"...Ah, crap." Naruto sighed loudly, running a hand through his hair and accidently swiping his ears down as well. He flicked them back up with a scowl; it had been uncomfortable and hadn't helped his mood. "I forgot... Tsuchikage-dono, you were attacked too, weren't you?"
Oonoki glared at Naruto. "Boy, don't play stupid with me. I'm the oldest living Kage and I've seen every damn plot in every damn book. I wrote most of the books. So tell me what you think I should make of this situation, you brat. I and my escorts were attacked by a team of six Suna ANBU on the way here, and upon my arrival the Kazekage claims he didn't send those ANBU. The other three Kage all claim that he's telling the truth, that they've seen-"
"Now hold on a second." Naruto reached behind his back and pulled out a scroll, noting that Oonoki had surged up out of his chair, but he didn't react to the hostile motion. "You haven't seen proof yet. That's what the problem is, right? Well here ya go."
He unfurled the scroll across his section of the desk, pushing aside the Hokage's hat as he did, and unsealed the body of a pale humanoid but not quite human being, with a lively green sapling growing skyward out of its chest. Its head had been severed, but was with the body. Its irides were yellow with opaque pupils of the same tone, lifeless and glazed over.
"Konoha got jumped by a team of these things. So did everyone else at this table." Naruto pushed his chair back but didn't stand. "Feel free to examine it however you want."
Oonoki remained floating in midair above his seat, aiming a withering glare at Naruto. "Akatsuki does not use things like this. I know because I've hired them for almost a hundred missions by now, and no, I will not flinch from telling you that. I was in direct contact with six of their members. None of them had the Wood Release." He floated forward, now above his spot at the desk and his own ceremonial hat. "And might I add, Konoha has three shinobi with it, one of whom is the result of a known genetic experiment."
"Funnily enough, not many of my own ninja know what Tenzou can do," Naruto replied. "How did you find out about him?"
"He doesn't regularly use his Wood Release in combat with Konoha-nin, now does he?" Oonoki spat. "Any villages whose ninja he has encountered and fought would be more likely to know about the jutsu he so heavily relies on. Now stop dodging my point, and show me real proof that this thing came from Akatsuki and not you!"
"Fine," Naruto answered shortly. "I brought that too." He pulled forth and unraveled a second scroll, and from this one he unsealed a severed head with slicked-back grey hair and purple eyes. Immediately, everyone in the room noted that the head was screaming profanities at no one in particular. "You worked with six members of Akatsuki, and there were nine official members up until recently. You could say the odds are two to one that you know this guy."
Wide-eyed, Oonoki nodded and floated back into his chair. "That's Hidan, without a doubt. I never really took him seriously when he claimed to be immortal..."
"Right. Well then..." Naruto held up Hidan's head by a fistful of his silver hair, and glared at him with his orange Rinnegan activated. "Hidan. Looks like we need your confirmation that this thing-"
"So suck a fuck, catgirl." Hidan spat in Naruto's face, and watched with a faint hint of satisfaction as the Hokage's ears slid back. Naruto set down Hidan, who cried out in pain as his neck-stump hit the table even though it was a gentle impact. "Motherfucker! I'm gonna feed every last one of your fuckin' souls to Jashin-sama, and I'm gonna make you beg for me to do it quicker! You hear me!? You are my bitches!"
"Hinata, Sasuke," Naruto interrupted while wiping away Hidan's spit, "Which of you wants to break him?"
"I don't think I can do it all by myself," Hinata answered first, "But I'll get him ready for your Tsukuyomi, Sasuke."
"Hn?" Sasuke watched with a confused expression as Hinata strode forward and laid a hand on the top of Hidan's head. She doesn't know any Yamanaka jutsu... what the hell is this?
Hinata's grip on Hidan's head tightened suddenly, and he started shivering in horror at the killing intent she was aiming entirely at him. She threw on her scariest scowl, which admittedly wasn't very scary, and lifted Hidan to glare at him. "I'm not the one who'll get you to talk," she announced in a calm voice, but when filtered through the genjutsu it sounded beyond demonic. "That'll be him," she nodded to Sasuke, who was watching with thinly veiled interest.
"Hn."
"But I'm in a good mood today, Hidan. I'm feeling generous, so I'll offer you one chance to tell us what you know about this creature right now. Do that, and I won't hand you over to him."
Hidan gulped, then averted his eyes from Hinata's Byakugan. "...For fuck's sake..." he gritted his teeth and glared at the floor, hesitating. "...You know what? I'm callin' your bluff, bitch. I'm a severed fuckin' head! What the fuck can you do to me, that's worse than this!?"
Hinata set down Hidan's head and cancelled her genjutsu. "He's all yours, Sasuke."
"Hn," he murmured for a third time, and cast a black and red glare at Hidan, who recoiled away from it but remained silent.
"Kami I hate doing that," Hinata sighed loudly while Hidan was trapped in Tsukuyomi. One and a half seconds later, Hidan gasped despite not having lungs. "How long did he last?" she asked.
"About an hour," Sasuke replied casually. "I kept giving him his body back, and then decapitating him over and over." Hinata winced. "Alright then, Hidan. Tell us what you know about these things."
Hidan sighed, then started talking. "This is an artificial human soldier, one of about eighty thousand at this point." The Kage all leaned forward with wide eyes, and Mei's smirk dropped. "We grow 'em out of a tree in the Land of Rain, and recently we've been teaching 'em how to use bukijutsu. It's weird though... it's like they already know those skills, and we're just reminding them. But they're still glitching out, the stupid fucks. They keep forgetting and remembering their bukijutsu moves at random."
"There," Naruto spoke up. "Is that enough proof for you, Tsuchikage-dono?"
Oonoki remained visibly indecisive. "...You just used two genjutsu on him," he pointed out. "Either one of them could be forcing him to say these things, much like a Yamanaka jutsu."
"I've had enough of this," Gaara answered in place of Naruto, and Oonoki turned to him with fury. "You know I wasn't responsible for that attack, Tsuchikage-dono. The Akatsuki are trying to play us against each other, and this after they've already killed both of your Jinchuuriki-"
"Roushi was my best friend!" Oonoki snapped, slamming his fists down on the table. A loud crack sounded throughout the hall, and Kurotsuchi winced as she realized her grandfather had just thrown out his back. To her shock, however, he continued his rant without slowing down. "My best friend was killed by those bastards, and make no mistake, I will see them all pay for that."
After several seconds of heavy silence, he sighed and spoke up again. "...To do that... I suppose I'll need to join this alliance, won't I?" he relaxed his balled fists and grimaced. "Kurotsuchi, I can't move."
"On it," she stepped forward with a sigh of both resignation and relief. It took a moment for her to register the Hokage's snickering, but then she cast a scalding glare at him. "Think it's funny, do ya, brat?"
"O-Oh, no, it's not that," he bit back another chuckle. "Just... Kurotsuchi. Heheh."
"...You've got a weird sense of humour, kid."
Tenten considered explaining on Naruto's behalf, but shook her head and decided not to bother.
Oonoki's back cracked again, and he groaned loudly while slumping forward over the table. Kurotsuchi stepped back away from him, and he rubbed his tender spine before speaking up again. "Hidan! Tell us about the surviving members of Akatsuki and their abilities, now."
"Fuck your mother."
"Hn?" Sasuke leaned down to Hidan's eye level with his Sharingan spinning slowly. "What was that?"
"I-I said, uh..." Hidan gulped and shut his eyes tightly, "Right, I dunno who you guys killed so far."
"Kisame, Kakuzu, Deidara and Sasori," Naruto recited calmly.
"Ah, fuck." Hidan groaned. "That leaves Madara, Tobi, Pain, Kabuto, Orochimaru, Mariko, Konan, and Zetsu."
"Start with Pain," Naruto pressed. "He's the one with the Rinnegan, right?"
"Okay, okay. Yeah, he's got a Rinnegan. But Madara took one of those and gave him a Sharingan to replace it, so now he has one of each. He's got all the Paths, and he channels each one through a seperate zombie-puppet-thing."
"Hn?"
"H-He has six dead bodies and he remote-controls them to fight," Hidan clarified hastily. "The real Pain can't walk; he just rides around on this spider-robot thing. Anyway, he's on a team with Konan, and she can turn herself into paper. Sounds like a fuckin' pathetic jutsu, but she can kick my ass with it."
"You don't have to worry about that anymore," Sakura pointed out, laughing.
"Fuck you, Pinky. Anyway, she-" Hidan was cut off by Sasuke reaching forward and pulling one of the helpless cultist's eyelids open to deliver another genjutsu, one which left him screaming incoherently for several seconds. Fortunately, this one wasn't Tsukuyomi, and it wore off quickly enough. "What... the... fuck...?"
"I don't think she appreciated your tone," Sasuke explained in a low voice. "And I know I didn't. So you'll watch it from now on, understand?" Hidan silently nodded. "Keep talking."
"Y-Yeah, uh, do you guys know about what any of us can do?"
"We know about Kabuto's and Orochimaru's powers, Mariko's taijutsu, and Tobi's teleportation," Naruto answered shortly. "So tell us about Madara."
"I haven't really seen him fight," Hidan admitted. "I know he has a higher level of Susanoo than Itachi on his best day, and I know he's got some bitchin' fire jutsu. He has the Rinnegan in one eye, and he can shift it into a Mangekyou or a normal Sharingan whenever he wants. He has a Sharingan in his other eye too, but nothing else. Oh, and the Wood Release. And he once said he could call down a giant space rock to crush a whole city if he felt like it, but he can't really put it to good use 'cause it'd crush him too."
"What about Zetsu?" Sasuke demanded.
"He's just one of these guys," he nodded to the pale corpse, "but with Madara's will built into one half of his body. He's all black and oily-looking on one side because of it, and he can split himself in half like that. He doesn't really fight though; we just use him as a spy. And now... yeah, I think that's all of us."
"Good. That only leaves us with one more thing to ask about. Your plan."
"Our... plan. You mean to tell me you don't even fuckin' know what we're doing!?"
"We know what your plan is," Naruto clarified, "We just need to know how much progress you've made, and how we can stop you."
"Ah... alright, I've got a question for you, catgirl," Hidan chuckled again at Naruto's displeasure. "What are you gonna do for me once I'm done tellin' you this shit?"
"After the Summit, we'll be taking you back to Konoha, where a Yamanaka will confirm that you were telling us the truth. If you are, and you haven't held back any important information, then we'll see what we can do about your... condition," he tapped the table near the base of Hidan's neck stump. "But we won't just let you walk away... and if it turns out you aren't telling us everything..."
"Deal," Hidan cut him off. "I dunno how many Tailed Beasts we actually got, since you kinda cut my fuckin' head off during the start of our mission. But I do know what we were aiming for."
"Go on."
"Madara went after the Four-Tails and Five-Tails," he began. "I'm assuming he got both of 'em."
"That's correct," Oonoki agreed.
"And Pain went for the Six-Tails," Hidan went on.
"Successfully," Mei admitted.
"And Tobi was supposed to go for any of the Beasts that were exposed after the fight we set up in Waterfall."
"He got the Three-Tails," Naruto sighed. "So you guys have four of them right now, but what else can you tell us?"
"...We were also planning to absorb the chakra left in the air back there, from all those Tailed Beasts fighting. In theory, we have chakra from all of the ones in Waterfall at the time."
"And that was..." Naruto's eyes gradually widened as he spoke, "The Nine-Tails, One-Tail, and Seven-Tails. Which means the only Bijuu they don't have chakra from..."
"...Are the Eight-Tails and Two-Tails," the Raikage finished, gritting his teeth. "Akatsuki is going to attack my village exclusively."
"No," Naruto answered loudly. "No, they won't. We're gonna stand together, all of us, and stop them before they ever reach Kumo."
"What makes you think you can speak for all four of us, Hokage-dono?" Oonoki asked, irritated.
"I don't," Naruto replied quickly. "But Konoha is gonna fight Akatsuki and protect Kumo..."
"As will Suna," Gaara interjected.
"...and it's up to Iwa and Kiri whether they want to stand with us or not-"
"Oh, so you're threatening us!" Oonoki snarled. "With three of the five villages allied, even a coalition between Iwa and Kiri-"
"Oh will you just let me finish!?" Naruto shot back in frustration. "I'm not saying that! I'm just having a hard time saying it right, believe it!"
Oonoki blinked.
"Look... Iwa and Kiri are gonna help us, not because I said so. Not because I'm threatening anyone, because I'm not. In fact, let me get that out of the way... Konoha will never declare war on another ninja village under my rule. After Akatsuki is dealt with, we'll all still be allied. Can't you see how awesome that is!? We'll have world peace for the first time in a thousand years!"
"So Iwa and Kiri are gonna complete this shinobi alliance because they want to. I mean, you do want to, don't you!? If we do this, if we all band together and do this, then none of us will ever have to send kids onto a battlefield to die, ever again. Isn't that enough for you?"
"Kiri wants in," Mei spoke up in a casual tone. "Hm... maybe I should've mentioned that earlier, and saved you some time, Hokage-dono." she turned to Oonoki, still smiling. "Your move, Fence-Sitter."
"I'm the Great Fence-Sitter, thank you very much," Oonoki answered. "Fine then... I don't have to like any of you to cooperate with you. Iwa will join this shinobi alliance."
The floor at the center of the horseshoe-shaped table cracked loudly, and a few pieces of it were pushed upward by a tree growing out of the floor. From within that tree emerged Zetsu, exactly as Hidan had described. A moment later the doors to the room were pushed open, and the Otokage strode in with a silver snake drapped over his shoulders, clad in Akatsuki's uniform and a Kage hat with grey accents, marked with the kanji for 'sound.'
"What's this about a shinobi alliance?" he asked, throwing on a fake, mocking frown. "I guess that means you started without me... what a shame. Oh well..." he blurred past the Kage in their seats and appeared before Mifune. "Old man, you didn't set up a seat for the Otokage... that's fine, I suppose. I'll just take yours."
"Now then!" he spun to face the Kage, who were all glaring at him and considering an attack. "We're all here at last, so the Six Kage Summit can finally begin."
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