Opening - Revolution Dualism by Nana Mizuki and TM Revolution
X
"We're all here at last, so the Six Kage Summit can finally begin."
Kabuto blinked, and in the time it took him to do so a snarling dragon made of lava appeared before him. His Byakugan flared to life, and he dodged to his left. Naruto appeared behind him amid a softly rustling wind and an equally quiet low-pitched hum, with a brilliant Rasengan in his right hand. He reached forward to plant it into the small of Kabuto's back, but the so-called Otokage spun up a Revolving Heaven to save himself.
Naruto sprang backward with another Empty Wind, putting distance between himself and Kabuto. His black and orange chakra mantle ignited over his shinobi gear, and he replaced his basic Rasengan with a Truth-Seeking Blade.
Meanwhile, Kabuto let his ultimate defense die down, and immediately the Raikage appeared to press another attack, sending his foot down toward the top of Kabuto's head with all the lethality of a guillotine. Kabuto blurred backward a short distance with his own movement jutsu, not quite phasing entirely out of view before he stopped again. A's kick smashed down into the floor, and he scowled as he pulled his leg out of the rubble.
Bee appeared behind Kabuto with his arm stretched out to clothesline him from what he temporarily mistook for a blind spot. Kabuto ducked, letting the lariat sail cleanly over him and toward the Raikage, who caught Bee by the face with his right hand.
"Bee," he declared in a menacing growl, "Stay out of this."
"But bro-"
"You two are the ones he's here for," the Fourth cut off his adopted brother. "Which means you're going to stay away from him, both you and Yugito. Am I clear!?" he roared, calling both of his Jinchuuriki to attention.
"Yes, Raikage-sama," Yugito answered crisply, maintaining her distance from the fight.
Which was just as well, since Mei was currently chasing Kabuto around with two more lava dragons. He chose to escape them by disappearing into a dust-filled hole in the floor which solidified back into stone in his wake. Oonoki, however, was floating over the point in the floor where Kabuto had slipped away, holding a shining cylinder of translucent white chakra.
"Don't think you'll be able to mock us that easily, boy," he declared, and the cylinder grew rapidly to lance through the floor to an unknown depth. "Boundary Dismantling Jutsu!"
The cylinder glowed a brighter white and turned opaque, then vanished completely. What was left in its wake was a perfectly smooth tunnel extending deep into the earth beneath the room, too far to be seen. Naruto flash-stepped to the edge of the chasm and whistled, wide-eyed. "That's one hell of a jutsu, Tsuchikage-jiji!"
"Quite." All eyes turned to where Kabuto was standing upside-down on the roof, peering down at them with a smile that clashed with his otherwise bored expression. "Did you get it all out of your system, or do we have to keep doing this for a while yet?"
Naruto glanced down into the frighteningly deep tunnel, then back to Kabuto. "...Lemme guess. Wood clone?"
Kabuto sighed, still wearing a condescending smile. "...Correct..."
"...Which means you're probably a clone as well," Mei observed.
"Also correct. Now then, can we get started?" Kabuto dropped from the ceiling to the floor, which placed him rather close to Zetsu. "I have places to be after...!"
His legs impoded from the knee down, sending splinters tinkling across the floor in all directions. The sand that had crippled him then crept up from his knees to his waist then. "No," Gaara replied coldly. "You aren't a Kage, and you certainly aren't welcome here. We have no reason to allow Akatsuki to listen in on our meeting... Sand Coffin."
What remained of Kabuto after Gaara's second attack quickly lost its lifelike palette, turning into merely a solid chunk of wood in his likeness. "Hinata and Sasuke," the Kazekage went on, "You have the best chance of finding him with your doujutsu. He's likely somewhere in the city, which means we still have an oppurtunity to kill him."
"And what about this guy?" Naruto pointed to Zetsu, who had remained motionless at the center of the room. He blinked in surprise, however, upon registering the fact that the monochrome creature was staring directly at him emptily. "...The hell are you lookin' at?"
"That... that chakra of yours is..." Zetsu's black arm reached forward, and its fingertips began to droop downward as though they were melting. ...Exactly what I've been looking for.
Naruto's and Hinata's eyes both went wide at the resonance in Black Zetsu's voice, since it was a perfect match for the otherworldly accent of the Sage of Six Paths. "Everyone, stay on your guard! We don't know what he's capable of," Hinata called, gathering her chakra for a moment before blurring to Naruto's side.
In the time it took her to do so, tendrils of black liquid surged up out of the floor and twined themselves around Oonoki's throat, Mei's waist, A's arms, and Gaara's ankles. A moment later, the same tendrils reached for Naruto and Hinata themselves, but he scooped her into his arms and flickered away to safety. The white half of Zetsu's body slumped to the floor, lifeless, and the failed attacks meant for Naruto and Hinata slipped back into the floor.
The sand armor around Gaara's legs exploded outward, blasting Zetsu's tentacles away long enough for him to jump skyward and land on the ceiling in a crouch. "Tenten!"
"Right behind you!" she answered, leaping up to his side promptly. "Damn," she winced since most of her body was still a bit sore from Madara's attacks, but she still drew Soujihonou and glared down at the remaining three Kage Zetsu had captured. "We're in some deep shit now, Gaara..."
Naruto gently set Hinata back on her feet, and she quickly settled into a Gentle Fist stance while activating her new barrier armor. This time, the shape of the barrier was far less defined, appearing like a haze of thick white fog trapped close to her outfit. There was also more of the same fog in a looser, more transparent cloak around her.
"He's captured three of the Kage..." her eyes glowed white as she slipped fully into Sage Mode, drawing in the already-prepared senjutsu chakra making up her new barrier armor. "...Even if he just has them immobilized, this is bad, and I have a feeling it's even worse..."
The black liquid wrapping around the Raikage, Mizukage and Tsuchikage settled into a smooth shell over roughly half of each of their bodies, all in irregular patterns. One thing was consistent; however, each of them had the left side of their faces covered by Zetsu's. You're quite correct, he answered, with his voice echoing as it flowed from all three of the restrained Kage. These shinobi will be my weapons.
The three turned their gaze on Naruto, and went on, Naruto Uzumaki... that chakra of yours is just what I need. This is a pleasant surprise... if all goes well today, I won't have to wait for Madara to carry out his scheme.
A look of understanding flitted over Naruto's features, and he scowled. "You're the one the Sage warned me about. You're the one trying to bring back Kaguya Ootsuki."
Yes... and I have you at a disadvantage right now. The free shinobi in the room all tensed, but Zetsu went on, I know your full names, all of you, and you don't know mine... I am Zetsu Ootsuki, the oldest living member of my clan and therefore its patriarch.
Oldest... living... Naruto's mouth was left hanging slightly open at the implications of the black creature's assertion. Then he means... the Ootsuki Clan are still...
Without so much as a word, a one-tailed fox emerged from Naruto's seal, bursting through his chakra mantle and landing on all fours before him. The Hokage's orange eyes went even wider. "K-Kurama!?"
"What... a load... of tripe," Kurama growled, glaring at the fragment of Zetsu covering the Raikage. "You're completely wrong about all of that."
Hm? The Zetsu fragment possessing Mei hummed in a vague expression of interest. Nine-Tails? What would you know about it?
"First..." the fox's voice dripped with contempt, "you're not an Ootsuki. Anyone who would cooperate with that monster has no place in this clan! Second!" he went on, rising in volume once more. "Since you're not an Ootsuki, I'm the oldest member of the clan. Which brings me to my third point... the Ootsuki Clan has no head at the moment, but for the record, I've thrown my name in for consideration among the other eight living members."
Other eight? Zetsu laughed, a horrifying sludgy sound. You think the Bijuu are all that remains of the Ootsuki Clan!? That would be more amusing, if it wasn't already so appalling!
"...Enough," Kurama answered coolly, having said what he had to. "Naruto, kill him. Don't even leave any recognizable pieces." With that, he leapt back into place within Naruto's seal.
Kurama... you don't really think he's...
Telling the truth? I can't say, but at this point it hardly matters. If there are still Ootsuki out there, I look forward to meeting them. If they turn out to be aligned with this creature, I'll destroy them. If not, I'll call them family... but it's not our problem at the moment. Kill him.
"...Alright, everyone," the Hokage spoke up addressing the Kiri-nin, Kumo-nin and Iwa-nin who had accompanied their respective leaders to the Summit. "I'm sure you'd all like to help out, but none of us can use any S-rank jutsu with you here to get hit too... on the other hand, Zetsu isn't gonna worry about that." He glanced to his fellow Jinchuuriki then, and added, "And even though you two could help, Raikage-dono is right. If Akatsuki gets any chakra from you, they get the Ten-Tails, and we can't let that happen."
Bee, Yugito, Choujuurou, Ao, Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi all then retreated from the room despite their reluctance. The Tsuchikage glanced around under Zetsu's influence. ...That leaves six of you, he observed. I'm outnumbered two to one... how inconvenient...
"Hn..." Sasuke trained his gaze northward with his doujutsu active. "Naruto, I've spotted Kabuto's chakra silhouette. Should Sakura and I chase him, or stay here and help you?"
"Don't let him escape," Naruto spoke with finality. "If he's eliminated, Oto's forces won't support Akatsuki. If he isn't, we can expect to see Oto-nin with Cursed Seals on the battlefield."
"Right," Sakura nodded quickly in understanding. "We're on it, Hokage-sama! C'mon Sasuke!"
"Hn." He followed her from the room, leaving Naruto, Hinata, Gaara and Tenten to face off against A, Mei, and Oonoki.
It's three against four now... this, I can work with. The Raikage turned his gaze up toward the Black Death and the Fractured Flame then. Still... I think I can make things even easier for myself!
The Raikage promptly flashed toward Gaara with his fist pulled back, likely to take the Kazekage's head off. He was intercepted, however, by Tenten in her fully activated Kekkai Kokuei. Rather than outright blocking the fearsome blow, she struck the Raikage's forearm from below to knock it upward past herself and Gaara. She countered with a spinning kick straight into A's chest, knocking him back a short distance along the ceiling.
"Soujihonou!" she called forth a blazing streak of orange light from her sword and whipped it through the air, and the Raikage blocked it with his forearm. "Dammit!" I can't use Umiyou in a room this small, much less my new trump card... if all I have is Soujihonou, I can't really...! Her eyes widened under her barrier armor at the sight of the Raikage being struck by a flood of black sand from the floor below, smashing him through the ceiling he stood on.
"N-Nice!" she dashed toward the hole in the ceiling and jumped through. "Come on, Gaara!" as she took up a kenjutsu stance facing the Raikage, a grin slowly began to light up her face. "Damn... I didn't think I'd get to use it so soon... this is gonna be fun."
"...Use what?" Gaara questioned as he arrived next to her, holding Kuroshi in a reverse grip as usual. "You don't mean..."
She nodded eagerly, and replied, "Hell yeah! What'd you think I was doing in that hospital room? Reading Icha Icha the whole time?"
"Reading Icha Icha and recovering, yes." Gaara sighed tiredly. "I should've known better."
"I've already read through each book at least twice, so... yeah, I thought up a better way to spend my time." Tenten twirled her jian through the air lightly. "Now watch this," she watched the Raikage warily, knowing he was about to press another attack. "I think you'll like this one... Bankai: Sasuhonou!"
The blade of the sword in her hand flared with orange light, and at the same time a stream of white ninjutsu smoke shot from its pommel. When the smoke cleared, a slender wooden shaft was solidly attached to the sword's pommel, allowing Tenten to wield it as a polearm. She twirled the weapon experimentally a few times, then aimed the tip of the blade at the Raikage.
X
"Sakura."
She stopped, surprised, and glanced over her shoulder to see where Sasuke had stopped, perched near the edge of a stone rooftop. The construction of Iron's capital city seemed to heavily favor buildings made predominantly of grey stone bricks with flat rooftops and minimal adornment, which Sakura had noted but hadn't particularly cared about.
"We're not ready to just charge into this fight without a plan," the Uchiha noted. "I'm still watching his silhouette with my Sharingan; he's waiting for us."
Sakura blinked. "Why would he...?" realization crossed her features, and she scowled. "Right. He can see us too; he knows we're coming."
Sasuke nodded solemnly. "And he still wants my eyes... listen, Sakura. You already know he has the Byakugan and Wood Release," he paused and waited for her to nod her agreement, "but you probably haven't heard about him learning Sage Mode."
Sakura paled. "He's like Hinata?"
"Maybe not quite as powerful, since he learned his version from an animal summon, but yes. Now as for his jutsu... we know he learned the Gentle Fist from Mariko, and he's advanced far enough to use the Revolving Heaven. We should assume he knows the Sixty-Four Palms as well, just to be safe."
"Well, that one's not so bad," Sakura observed. "It's not like he's gonna fistfight either of us, not with my strength and your new insta-kill sword."
"...Which brings me to my next point," Sasuke replied. "He has the Sword of Kusanagi, and he's learned to use it rather effectively. At the very least, he's better at kenjutsu than Orochimaru ever was. Also, he's modified the Pulse Step; now he can use it to move in any direction. We still don't know if he can steer himself while using it like Naruto does."
Sakura sighed. "Dammit... what else does he have?"
"He can use his Byakugan to Substitute with moving objects, and he can use the Hidden Mole Jutsu to disappear into the ground almost instantly. He also has at least two artificially created snake summons; a clone of Manda and a smaller silver snake that can absorb ninjutsu and counterattack with any of the five natures."
"And that's all of it?"
"That's all we know about," he confirmed. "So we're going to go into this fight fully prepared..." he took a step back from the edge of the rooftop and crouched while biting his thumb. He blurred his hands through a few rapid hand seals, then clapped his hands to the cold stone surface under him. "Summoning Jutsu!"
White smoke blossomed up before Sasuke, and Jakuzure emerged from that smoke a moment later.
"Hey there, Gaki, Pinky."
"Hn," Sasuke answered, amused. "I need you to partner up with Sakura. You can provide ranged ninjutsu to compliment her taijutsu and genjutsu, and you can help her pulse out any of Kabuto's chakra if he manages to land a Gentle Fist strike."
"Sounds simple enough."
Jakuzure slithered over to Sakura, who cast a confused look down at the snake. When the Snake Sage wrapped around her right ankle and began climbing her leg, Sakura yelped and pulled her leg upward, nearly dislodging Jakuzure. "W-What the...!?"
"Cool it, Pinky. I'm gonna wrap around your shoulders and you're gonna carry me in battle," she crept up past Sakura's knee, then the chainmail on her thigh. "That way, I can draw in natural energy whenever I want, since you'll be moving around and I won't."
"I could've just picked you up," Sakura replied, annoyed and uncomfortable.
"Are you kidding?" Jakuzure laughed, a series of short, airy hisses, just as she reached Sakura's waist. "That would be so demeaning... it'd be kinda like me doing this..." she poked her snout up under the hem of Sakura's leather jacket and kept ascending.
"G-Gah!" Sakura raised her first and very nearly brought it down on her own belly. "T-That's personal space, you creep! I thought Orochimaru was bad, but you..."
"Oh, Orochimaru's much worse than me. Take my word for that," the pink snake's voice was muffled slightly by Sakura's jacket, but as she emerged at the pinkette's collar she went on, "You probably just haven't seen much of him; am I right?" Sakura scowled down at the snake currently coiling around her shoulders and neck, who responded by briefly flicking out her tongue tauntingly.
Sakura, one of the strongest and most feared kunoichi in the world, a Special Jounin with skills unquestionably more suited to a higher rank, a borderline Kage-level fighter and the smartest kunoichi in her graduating class, stuck out her own tongue in reply. "Mlehh," she intoned with her tongue still out, sounding almost accusatory.
Sasuke laughed, which was more than enough to distract Sakura from the annoyance resting about her shoulders. "You're never going to win a staring contest against her, Sakura. She doesn't have eyelids."
Sakura huffed, looking away from the snake and toward the ground with a scowl. "Is she like this with you too?"
"Not quite. If she's giving you this much attention, I guess it means she likes you."
"Oh, it's true," Jakuzure sarcastically and melodramatically confessed. "I've only met her twice but she's already like family! Come here, Pinky!" already with her body wrapped around Sakura's shoulders, she swiftly tightened one of her coils around the pinkette's neck and gave a brief tug. "Can I call you imouto?"
"I swear to Kami I'll turn you into chunky salsa."
Again the Uchiha laughed, and again the Haruno was shocked. "...H-Hn... Sakura, I need you to carry this with you," he produced a small scroll and passed it to her, still smirking a bit. "It's a summoning fuinjutsu preloaded with chakra and a sample of my blood. If Kabuto brings Manda into this, use it to summon Aoda."
"Ah... but what about the people in the city? If there were two giant snakes fighting instead of one, things would only be even worse for them..."
"But we don't have any better options," Sasuke answered. "Our best course of action is to eliminate Manda as quicky as possible, rather than letting him rampage around the city. Even if we somehow defeat Kabuto quickly, there's no guarantee that his snake will get dismissed. It's possible that it might just keep fighting after he's gone, and Aoda can match Manda in ways we can't."
Sakura hesitated for a moment, but then she sighed and took the scroll. "I can't think of any better way, and you've probably been thinking about this for a long time anyway..."
"Since I got my summoning contract, so... two months or so. The only other option would be to hit Manda with everything we've got right away, and honestly... I don't think that'd work."
"It's worth a shot though, right?" she pressed, hopeful. "If you use one of your Blaze Release moves, then maybe..."
"Maybe," he nodded, "but if not, be ready to summon Aoda. Let's go." he jumped ahead to the next rooftop, and Sakura quickly followed with Jakuzure aboard.
They didn't get far, however, before each of them began to notice something wasn't quite right. Sasuke was the first to notice it with his Sharingan, seeing it as a very faint glow of chakra in the air around their group. This is... definitely not one of our chakra signatures, but I don't recognize it as Kabuto's, either. And it isn't anywhere near thick enough to do something like a Hidden Mist Jutsu... so why is it here?
"Sakura, Jakuzure... do you two feel that?" he asked quietly.
"There's definitely some kind of chakra in the air," the pink snake observed. "It's disrupting the flow of natural energy in the air; I can't get into Sage Mode like this..."
"...Honestly, I don't sense anything like that," Sakura admitted. "I'm not a Sage and I can't see chakra... but I do feel something..." she ran her right hand through her hair in discomfort. "It's like static electricity or something; I can feel it in my hair..."
Sasuke's eyes went wide, and he leapt forward. "Move!" Sakura jumped after him on instinct, initially not bothering to wonder what exactly she was running from. The static electricity in her hair, however, continued to crackle, and Sasuke called again, "Dammit! Sakura, jump left!"
"Y-Yeah!" she turned and leapt away at the same time that Sasuke hurled himself to the right. A moment later, a beam of blue lightning scythed through the empty air between herself and Sasuke, giving off a thunderclap that made her ears ring and a sudden blast of heat that scorched her right arm.
Sasuke cast his crimson glare around in all directions, eventually spotting what he was looking for. "Six rooftops ahead of us. There's a snake summon," he pointed, although Sakura couldn't see anything. "I can only see its chakra silhouette, but I'd guess it's Kabuto's familiar."
"Let's go deal with it, then," Jakuzure answered. "The chakra in the air just cleared up... so..." her eyes lit up with a golden-yellow gleam, "...I'm ready whenever you two are."
"It's running away," Sasuke noted casually. "Right toward Kabuto, like it doesn't know I can see them both with the Sharingan." he took another leap ahead, pursuing the silver snake. "That was the jutsu that I was attacked with outside of Ryuuchi Cave... I think Kabuto might have snakes from your clan under his control," he announced to Jakuzure.
"I'll look into it when this is over," she replied. "So, you got a look at that jutsu with your Sharingan, right?"
"Hn. It's actually really simple; the user's chakra saturates the air around the target and creates a positive charge, which attracts the negative charge in the user's lightning jutsu, just like natural lightning. It's not much stronger than an average C-rank lightning jutsu, but it's faster because of that pull."
"...Hm..." Jakuzure glanced skyward thoughtfully, flicking the very tip of her tail back and forth slowly. "If the Snake Clan could take that concept and apply it to a stronger jutsu..."
"We're getting close now," Sasuke warned, and activated his Cursed Seal while drawing his liquid sword. "He's up there," he pointed with the blade to the top of a comparatively broad and tall stone building. It stood six stories tall, and Sakura glanced through one of its windows on a whim, noting that it appeared to be a rather extensive library. The rooftop was flat and broad enough to serve well as a stage for their battle, which was likely why Kabuto had chosen it.
"Alright, let's get started!" Sakura rocketed toward the rooftop with a single leap, passing by Sasuke in the process. He glanced down to the smooth stone she'd been standing on, noting that a few chips of the rock had been cracked off when she jumped, but then he followed and arrived next to her on the edge of the rooftop Kabuto had chosen.
"I take it you're excited," he observed.
"Maybe a little," she replied shortly, tightening her right glove and sizing up Kabuto like he was her next meal.
"Hn."
Kabuto opened his mouth to speak up, but Sakura was a split second faster. "Hey Kabuto, I've got something to show you," she announced, surprising the Otokage. "Since you're a medic-nin, I think you'll appreciate it." reaching behind her back, she produced a black-painted egg from her pouch and showed it to him. "I put this little gem together just for you; wanna see what it does?"
"...Not particularly," he answered with a perplexed frown.
"Too bad. Catch!" she tossed the egg lightly toward him, and he initially considered dodging it before he realized that the impact would likely trigger whatever it did. Next he thought of catching it by hand, but that way lay madness. Third, he considered flash-stepping away, but assumed that Sakura had expected such a reaction and that the device would still affect him even if he dodged.
So he wrapped himself up in a Revolving Heaven, the sturdiest defense he could manage on such short notice, and hoped for the best. He blinked in genuine disbelief when he felt the egg strike his defense and break apart, its contents scattering with no discernible effect. After a few seconds, he reluctantly stopped his jutsu and glanced around.
It only took a moment for his eyes and throat to start burning as if they'd been thrown into the Sun.
"Poison?" he distantly heard Sasuke question.
"It's not as simple as that. We both know he can shrug off most poisons... no, I got a bit more creative with this one."
"So what is it?" the Otokage choked out, squeezing his eyes shut against the pain and doubling over as he coughed. Water... I need water...
"You haven't figured it out? That powder that just got into your eyes and lungs was processed from the moruga scorpion, the hottest pepper in the known world. It's not exactly a poison, per se..." she paused to hear Kabuto's tortured moan, "Sounds like you just started feeling it in your skin too... so..." she began striding toward him, smiling darkly and pulling forth another egg. "Remind me again. What was that about you wanting to rip my boyfriend's eyes out?"
Kabuto glared up at her briefly, then shut his eyes again and retched. Sakura toyed with the egg in her hand, then shrugged and threw it at Kabuto's feet, closing her eyes momentarily. The egg went off, producing a flashbang that Kabuto recoiled backward from. Already disoriented and in agony, he fell onto his back and cried out as his head hit the cold stone.
"Now... I've had my fun," she decided, flicking out a kunai from her pouch and twirling it around her finger. Kabuto curled upward as he continued to cough, allowing Sakura to glare into his reddened Byakugan. "My kunai are coated in one of the poisons I salvaged from Sasori's puppets in Waterfall. I know you're good at dealing with that sort of thing, Kabuto, so I'm going to aim for your head just in case."
She threw the kunai, and it made a blunt thunking sound as it entered Kabuto's forehead.
"...You know," Sasuke commented, "I had three years, a whole team of powerful ninja including my brother, the Eternal Mangekyou, and a summoning contract, and I couldn't do what you just did."
"...Yeah, it was kind of underwhelming..." Sakura admitted.
Kabuto's mouth opened, and a second Otokage emerged from within the first, leveling the Sword of Kusanagi at Sakura. She dodged the rapidly extending blade, noting with some satisfaction that her opponent looked openly furious.
"Should've known," Sasuke sighed, and lunged toward Kabuto with his own sword.
X
Naruto glanced warily back and forth between the two Kage facing him, specifically at the sickly yellow circles covering each of their left eyes. The Mizukage was striding forward confidently, while the Tsuchikage floated backward at the same rate. Both had their right eyes closed, and both held their hands up in seals.
Behind him, Hinata stood with her back to his, radiating misty white senjutsu chakra around both of them, poised in a Gentle Fist stance and watching the captured Kage with her active Byakugan. "Maybe we should open with a few of our new tricks," she suggested. "I think we'll need them for this fight."
"Right... we should hit 'em with everything we've got..." despite the tension in the room, he cracked a slight smirk. "Like what Asuma-sensei taught us when we first met him. In a fight this tough..."
"...We'll have to attack with killing intent just to stand a chance, even though we want to take them alive," Hinata agreed. "Alright then, Revolving Heaven!"
"Banshou Karu!"
Since Zetsu's yellow eyes were forever set into their perfectly circular shape, they couldn't widen, but he was still surprised by the dome of white chakra that flared up around the Konoha-nin, and only more so by the dozens of fully formed, glowing orange Banshou Karu blades that then whipped out of the Revolving Heaven in absolutely all directions.
Within the dome, Hinata spun and expelled chakra behind Naruto, fuelling her ultimate defense with powerful senjutsu chakra. Meanwhile Naruto accelerated his sword arm with the Empty Wind, whipping it through the air with speed only a Sharingan wielder could hope to follow. With each slash of his Truth-Seeking Blade, a Banshou Karu was formed and launched toward the wall of the Revolving Heaven, which caught it, spun it, and let it fly in a random direction rather than the one Naruto had thrown it in.
"Collaboration: Shin Banshou Karu!"
Boundary Dismantling, the Tsuchikage countered, throwing up a smooth wall of opaque white chakra between himself and the oncoming blades. The Mizukage quickly ducked behind him, and both of them waited for the storm to pass. Each blade that attempted to pass through Oonoki's defense was wiped from existence completely.
Vapor Dragon Bullet, Mei called, breathing out a pale mist that loosely took the shape of a serpent, flying up and over Oonoki's wall toward the Revolving Heaven. Several Banshou Karu blades sliced through the acidic gas, but they did nothing to stop its approach. It swept into place above Hinata's defense, and there it lost its shape and floated down over the entire dome, moments before Hinata stopped spinning and Oonoki lowered his own barrier to see the result.
It only took her a few fractions of a second to register the presence of the lethal gas around them, recall Sakura's account of how she'd defeated the Revolving Heaven, and formulate a counter to the Boil Release gas. Hinata flared her ethereal chakra cloak and shoved back the similarly colored mist threatening herself and Naruto.
I already know about the Revolving Heaven's weakness, she mused, and I know how to deal with it. "Naruto, we can use it against them!"
"Right; Shinra Tensei!" he raised his hands forward, blasting back the Boil Release acid and Hinata's misty chakra together to the edges of the room. Oonoki held up his hands to shape another Dust Release barrier, but he was too late to stop the white current that washed past both himself and Mei.
Twice over, Zetsu hissed in pain as he was scalded by a jutsu he had fired. Using Mei's abilities, he was able to neutralize the acid on that half of his body and soothe his burns in the process, but the half of himself wielding Oonoki had no such luxury. ...Damn you...!
"Gentle Step!" Hinata appeared mere feet in front of Mei with an Empty Wind, pulling back her right fist and aiming it at the older kunoichi's face. "Twin Lion Fists!" the Mizukage retreated backward, spitting out a thin stream of red-hot lava and swinging it to catch Hinata's next punch. The young Hyuuga sprang back and called off her attack, allowing Mei to finish forming her own jutsu.
The whip of lava, now roughly eight feet long and two inches thick, flicked forward in line with the Mizukage's right hand, snapping almost like a real whip. Hinata dodged the first three lashes, then deftly snapped out her right hand and caught the red-hot cord. Mei flicked her right hand to the side, shattering the whip into a spray of molten rock that left dozens of small burns on Hinata.
She flinched away in pain, but only for a moment before she renewed her Gentle Step attack. This time, Mei fought back with her own taijutsu. She could barely deflect all of Hinata's rapid-fire blows, but barely was good enough.
At least until a chakra-wreathed haymaker slammed into her left cheek from out of nowhere. She cried out as she was launched away by the exploding Lion Fist. Zetsu expected for Mei to be thrown along the floor for at least twenty feet from that much force, but Hinata wasn't done surprising him. Mei stopped abruptly and painfully, tearing a howl from Zetsu with the pain of a Rasengan digging into the small of the Mizukage's back.
Water clones, the Tsuchikage snarled, frantically retreating from the Hokage while shaping a cylinder of Dust Release chakra. But without hand seals, in the middle of a taijutsu bout? I expected this to go more smoothly...
"So what the hell do you want with me, anyway?" Naruto fired a Banshou Karu at Oonoki, who dodged and finished charging his next Dust Release jutsu. He let it fly, a long thin cylinder of white chakra that lanced toward Naruto with surprising speed. The Hokage dodged to the right, but Oonoki kept his jutsu going and swung the Dust Release beam to pursue him. "You mentioned needing my chakra... what good would it do you!?"
I rather thought you'd figure it out on your own! Zetsu called as Naruto used his Empty Wind. He swept the Dust Release beam after his foe without slowing, burning through the walls of the room in his pursuit. Naruto reappeared in the air above Zetsu, with a section of flesh vaporized from his left forearm, revealing bone and bleeding profusely. Zetsu ended his jutsu and leapt backward, dodging just past the tip of the Truth-Seeking Blade.
"Yeah, well I didn't." Naruto took up a one-handed kenjutsu stance, ready to move in any direction with the Empty Wind. "So tell me anyway."
You already know I intend to bring back my mother, Zetsu held up the Tsuchikage's hands and began building another Dust Release shape. To do that, I need to commandeer a body filled with the same chakra that she had. A mixture of red, blue, and green chakras, the same power wielded by her, her son, and the Ten-Tails itself. In addition, the host body needs to be in possession of at least one Rinnegan eye.
"It's me," Naruto finished. "You're here to resurrect Kaguya into my body."
Yes. I hadn't expected for you to obtain a full mixture of the three chakras, and I'd intended to use Madara once he became the Jinchuuriki of the Ten-Tails, but you've conveniently allowed me to carry out the final stage of my plan early.
"Like hell am I gonna allow you to do anything!" Naruto snarled, flashing backward to the edge of the room. He raised his Truth-Seeking Blade over his head and began twisting it out of its condensed shape, starting at the tip. The malleable orange-black chakra making up the weapon tore itself apart into small scraps, which began spinning rapidly and smoothing out into implausibly sharp blades.
The spinning razors picked up speed and melted together into larger blades, swirling around Naruto's palm and wreathing his entire arm in an orange glow. He pulled back his arm, and with it the storm of fiery light and smoky darkness, shortly before he blurred out of view.
Zetsu finished preparing his next Dust Release jutsu at the exact moment that he heard Naruto's call from behind him. "Truth-Seeking Rasenshuriken!"
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