Opening - Love Deterrence by Nana Mizuki
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Kumo wasn't quite silent, but it felt oppressively so. Gone were the busy sounds of footsteps and voices, and with them went the cozy atmosphere of the village, its feeling of safety, of home. Ryouko still heard the wind blowing, the leaves rustling, the fountain behind her gushing, but there was no life here. It felt like a scene from a cosmic horror story; it felt as though she were standing in a perfect scale replica of her home built solely to deceive her.
Yugito picked up on the Genin's unease and laid a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. It's really over this time." She smiled down at the younger girl. "The Edo Tensei is broken; all of the souls Kabuto summoned have gone home." Ryouko looked down at the kunai strapped to her legs, one of which had contained the undead Third Raikage until minutes ago. "That means we got him, and he won't be sending any more."
The two sat along the side of a tall circular fountain, built of pale granite in the middle of a matching square. Ryouko perched with her legs curled up to her chest, slightly chilled in the early winter breeze. "I know, it's just... it feels really wrong here, doesn't it? It's too quiet."
"We'll be bringing everyone back from the Walls in maybe an hour or two," she replied. "The ANBU won't look around for too much longer; anyone else who came along with the Third would've been more Edo Tensei anyway. Just stick it out." She grinned and rustled Ryouko's hair. "Look at it this way. In two more hours you'll get to tell your team and your sensei that you sealed the Third Raikage."
She heard just one set of approaching footsteps, and looked up to see Killer Bee returning from the edge of the square. In his arms were an assortment of drinks fresh from a nearby vending machine. "When I got there it was already busted up," he noted. "They must've thought they might as well grab some stuff."
Yugito sighed in mild annoyance. "They probably guessed the village would be badly damaged by our battle... so one more broken vending machine wouldn't even be noticed."
He shook some glass dust from one of the cans and handed it to her. "I only had enough change for two drinks, but thanks to this I grabbed one of everything." he picked out a bright red can for Ryouko and a blue one for himself, then set down the rest in a pile by the fountain. He took a seat and popped the tab on the drink.
"I'll pay for it," said Yugito as she opened her own drink. "The thieves have probably been caught by now, with their arms full of drinks covered in bits of glass." She frowned down at her own can and flicked off a shard. "Speaking of which, be careful with these."
Ryouko nodded and slurped her drink; it was powerfully sweet but after a moment she noticed a sour citrus aftertaste. "Thanks. It's really good." She brought the can to her lips again; it shook slightly in her hands and nearly splashed her. It took her a moment to realize it wasn't her that had caused the tremor.
She fumbled the can with the second quake, much stronger and accompanied by the sound of shattering stone, spectacularly loud but muffled by the great distance. Her first thought was to grab the drink as it fell, but she missed and it sprayed ruby-red liquid across the cobblestones.
Only then did she look around for the source of the disturbance; a vast hole had been torn through Kumo's outer wall. Through it gleamed a vivid blue light she recognized as a ninjutsu of some kind. Even across such a huge distance she could make out the shape of a katana and a hand wielding it.
"Ryouko, run." Yugito stood up and took a step ahead of the Genin; she tried to hide the tremor in her voice but didn't quite manage. "Run and don't stop until your legs give out. Then crawl and hide under whatever you can. Go!"
She got to her feet at the same time as Killer Bee, and the fear just began to set in as she sprinted away from that blue light. As she ran and nothing stopped her, she grew more afraid rather than less so. She ran to a distance where she felt safe from even a Kage-level battle, but she only felt still more hopeless. She glanced back over her shoulder, thinking perhaps her fear of the threat was worse than the threat itself.
She saw Yugito and Bee fully transformed into their Tailed Beasts, each armed with a vast black-orange ball of chakra held before their open mouths. The orbs were nearly the size of their casters and held high over their heads; the two Jinchuuriki threw them forward at the same time. They orbited each other even as they flew toward the enemy, but were stopped far short of their target.
The balls fell straight down and melted into puddles as they touched the ground, their momentum halted instantly. She saw the ground itself sink and flatten as smooth as glass; the effect raced closer to the Jinchuuriki and then crushed them down as well. The coat of flame over the Two-Tailed Cat abruptly dimmed; the remaining embers burned downward under the unearthly weight.
She saw the twin pools of chakra glow steadily brighter, orange chakra overpowering black and shining with the same relentless light as the sun. Despite the impossible swell of gravity holding them down, the Tailed Beast Balls exploded.
It was only thanks to that gravity that the village wasn't instantly wiped from existence. Even with it in the way, a shockwave tore outward through the streets and smashed apart anything it touched. It was visible, a faint electric blue color that showed Ryouko exactly how close she was to death. She spent a moment simply staring at it, frozen in fear.
Then she moved again, her training and instinct kicking in together. She drew her right-hand kunai, still holding the heap of ash that had been the Third Raikage's body, and stabbed deep into her left palm with it. She vanished and left the knife behind to be struck by the shockwave.
In a tiny cell of rough, white granite, she sat buried to her hips in ash. She counted out ten long seconds and listened to the sound of her own trembling breath, then stood and reached up to touch the smoother ceiling.
She and the kunai lay in a vast field of rubble. Pieces of buildings she knew were still recognizable, here a nearly intact wall, there a mattress shredded down to the springs, at her side a few blocks of worn stone from a road. Over it all was a dense brown-grey cloud of dust, carried along by a loud and powerful gale.
She stifled a cough and crawled behind a torn-up slab of a wooden floor, no easy task with her left hand still spilling blood. She sat with her back to the debris, cradled her wound and prayed. The light of the explosion died out with a steady, unnatural speed, but the heat showed no sign of weakening. A mighty wind screamed past Ryouko's pitiful shelter; through it she couldn't quite hear the ongoing battle.
At the very bottom of the ash-lined crater that was Kumo, Madara Uchiha floated comfortably within the undamaged armor of his Susanoo. He watched the two Jinchuuriki with a mismatched Rinnegan and Sharingan; his expression spoke of total disinterest. "Hn."
After a moment, several cracks opened in his Susanoo. They widened and split into more fissures; the entire chakra avatar burst into tiny fragments that scattered on the wind. He landed on his feet and stood still, exposed under the hateful glares of two Tailed Beasts. While Gyuuki visibly tensed and made ready to attack, Matatabi took a single step back.
Bee... I don't think we can beat him.
We can, said Gyuuki. His armor is down; we can end this if we hit him with a big attack that catches him off-guard. The Ox's tails swayed slowly, hypnotically. Kurama told me that Madara's only real weakness is arrogance. He takes risks in battle to give his enemy a chance, because otherwise he wouldn't find it fun.
"You're still just standing there," said Madara. He aimed his right palm at them and his sole Rinnegan flashed. "It's getting annoying. Rinbohengoku."
The two Tailed Beasts shot backward across the crater, struck by a tremendous invisible force. Despite its appearance, it felt completely distinct from Shinra Tensei. Rather than being merely pushed by gravity, Yugito and Bee were hit by something hard and cold as steel, a vast wall of it that broke bone and drew blood on impact. Madara lowered his hand and the wall vanished, leaving its targets in a heap far across the razed ground.
Matatabi rose first to her feet, battered but showing no signs of real pain. Her tails lashed angrily together; Gyuuki was shortly behind her and they pounced on Madara as one. He dodged the initial strikes from the Ox's fists and the Cat's forepaws; in moments he moved past them and landed a single punch to Matatabi's flank. She felt and heard her bones shatter with the impact, which then drove her sidelong into the ground with a howl.
Gyuuki brought down his own fist on Madara's head; his target reached up and caught the blow with his left hand. The earth shattered and caved in under his feet, but Madara stood unharmed under the punch. Matatabi twisted to face him even with her torso still healing; she opened her mouth to reveal a Tailed Beast Ball she'd charged inside. His eyebrows slid up slightly, and she spat the orb toward his face.
Holding back the Eight-Tails with his left hand, Madara swept his right into the short path of the attack. The Tailed Beast Ball shrank and vanished instead of exploding. Thick cables of pure black wood burst from the earth and crossed over the Two-Tails, then pulled taut and pinned her tightly, unbreakably.
The Eight-Tails pulled back its free hand and punched diagonally down into Madara. That blow was caught as well, but then he whipped a single tentacle forward and struck Madara in the chest while both of his hands were still occupied. He soared wildly across the crater, tumbled and skidded to a gradual stop, and then brushed some ash from the shoulder of his now-battered armor.
"Gyuuki," the Two-Tails murmured. "Yugito, Bee. Please listen; if we keep fighting like this he'll kill us all. He's going to capture us and bring back the Ten-Tails... but if you two open our seals...!"
Even as she spoke, the Ox was thrown by an invisible wall whose edge struck her in the face as well. The Wood Release cords held her down and it blasted past her, leaving her barely conscious in its wake. Gyuuki dug in his tails and fought to stay upright until the wall called Rinbohengoku vanished, then cast out a huge cloud of chakra orbs and began manifesting a Tailed Beast Ball.
We can do this, Bee! Gyuuki poured more chakra into the attack, supercharging it to ten times his own height even as he gave control of their body back to Bee. Like I showed you, compress it down!
He took the Tailed Beast Ball and crushed it, twisted it into the shape of a horn in place of the one Gyuuki had lost. Matatabi said something, he noted. I didn't catch it... Nii-chan, you there?
Bee... Yugito's voice came across the Tailed Beast Dimension slowly, slurred and weak. No, Bee.
He sighed and leaned low to the ground, aligning his body behind the attack. It's cool. We got him with this one.
He felt her shudder and regain some awareness; her next warning came more strongly. No! Stop, don't...!
The Ox blurred out of view, moved across Kumo and reappeared with its surrogate horn clasped between Madara's palms. The glowing chakra was sucked away by the Preta Path; Madara clutched the stump of horn beneath it instead.
Well. Shit. Bee pulled back but Madara's grip remained firm. Nii-chan? Did I ever tell you why I rap when I talk? A blue skeletal arm burst out from behind Madara's back and expanded to match the size of Gyuuki's own. I know most of my lines are kinda forced, but I do it 'cause it makes me learn new rhymes. An undulating shortsword of the same blue light extended from Susanoo's palm and drew back. Figured if I did it for long enough, I could make anything pair up. I wanted to be remembered as the best MC there ever was.
Madara brought the blade down. So much for that, huh?
The Tailed Beast Dimension went quiet. Yugito didn't have a line of sight to Madara or Bee, but she heard the slice and then a pull as the Eight-Tails was sealed away. Her entire body shuddered with the sound, as if she was the one struck and not Bee. A scream tore from her, high and deafening through the voice of the Two-Tails.
Then there was silence for a moment. Madara walked toward her; she heard his soles crunch over the burned and blasted ground. She struggled against the Wood Release cords holding her down, but they only tightened in response. He stepped into her field of vision from her right side; another black root snapped up and wound around her muzzle to prevent another Tailed Beast Ball.
Yugito, you have to open my seal. Matatabi's flames lit up vastly brighter white-blue, but the Wood Release didn't burn away. I'm immortal; I'll survive this! Please, Yugito! Madara laid a hand over the Cat's nose; his hand burst into flame and charred black but he didn't flinch. Let me go! Let me go let me go LET ME GO-
Yugito shut her eyes tight and unlocked Matatabi's seal. She briefly saw the chains fall away from the wooden gates in her mindscape, saw them blasted open by the Cat's desperate charge. She fell to the cold earth in her human form; at the same time a burst of blue flame flew through the gaps in the wooden cords just before rematerializing.
Matatabi pounced on Madara; her attack was stopped effortlessly by the sudden appearance of a completely armored blue Susanoo. She yowled and scraped her claws against it but left only the lightest of scratches. He whipped her off and slammed her into the ground on her back, then ran a twisted shortsword through her chest.
Once more, her body spiralled apart into a whirlpool of flame, promptly sucked away through the sword into whatever vessel Madara had prepared, most likely the husk of the Ten-Tails itself wherever it lay.
Silence again, absolute silence as Yugito held her breath and tried not to shake. Madara turned to her, watching her for any signs of life. He glanced up at the coils of black wood that had bound Matatabi, considered bringing them down so he could stab Yugito whether she had yet died or not.
He hummed softly and turned away, heading due south. She listened to his footsteps and only began to shakily breathe once they faded completely into silence. Her hands curled into fists clutching the ashes of her village.
She lay there, shaking, until Madara was gone completely from the ruins of Kumo. Only then did she begin to cry.