Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Negima.
Chapter 21
Akatsuki Strikes
Throne Room
Itachi was not normally one for expressing surprise or profanity but, hearing from Suigetsu that two members of the Akatsuki are marching up the snowy plains and towards the castle, he let out a polite sounding, "Shit." He really didn't want to deal with Akatsuki so soon.
"I know, right," Suigetsu exclaimed, watching as soldier after soldier rushed to protect the castle interior, "That means that that floating castle that's about to fire down at our location is also the work of Akatsuki!"
So, Sora no Kuni has been annexed by Akatsuki. That's how they managed to become a credible threat to the bigger lands in so short a time. What is their purpose here? Do they want Yuki no Kuni's weaponry? Do they want the broken spring machine? I don't see the spring machine being useful to their purpose. The weaponry, on the other hand, might have some use, however little due to being prototypes. Itachi frowned. Of course, considering that they have lost a lot of members so quickly in a matter of months, Madara could've taken control away from Pein and changed their mission parameters to include anything that will give them an advantage against the Shinobi world. Then, it's even more imperative I stop them from getting to their objective.
He calmly stated, "Listen closely." Both of his teams turned to him, noting his grim visage. "This is where your true mettle as shinobi of Konoha will be tested."
"The Akatsuki," Setsuna asked, gripping her katana tightly, "Are we strong enough to fight against them and the flying fortress?"
"We must be," he firmly stated, "Or else Yuki no Kuni will fall, taking us with it. Akatsuki takes no prisoners and I doubt that those two new recruits will be any different." He turned to Suigetsu. "Suigetsu, describe the two to me. With any luck, they may be notorious enough that I will know about them."
The Hozuki gave a frown of his own. "One of them is an old man – gray hair, sunken, yellow eyes, oddly thick eyebrows, and two lines going down his face like yours. The other guy is a skinny-looking guy – pale skin, eye bags, long face."
Itachi's frown deepened. "Sora no Kuni's Shinno and Kaze no Kuni's Mukade," he concluded, muttering to himself, "Madara's desperate and no longer holding back." He addressed the two teams. "Team Kotarou, you will attempt to bring down that flying fortress. Don't let it get close to the castle and drown us with cannon fire. Temujin-san, can you help them out?"
The hanyou smirked, despite his uneasy feeling, as he said, "Got it!"
Asuna, Setsuna, and Kaede nodded, readying their respective weapons.
"Team Negi, you will be with me fighting against the two Akatsuki operatives."
The mage took a heavy gulp as he nodded, "Understood."
Suigetsu rolled his neck, one of the two pistols used as a massaging tool on his shoulder. "And here I was hoping for an easy time. Whatever, let's do it!"
Jugo kept his head low as the memory of almost losing control remained fresh in his mind, despite being calmed down by Itachi and his Sharingan. "As you wish, taichou," he mumbled.
Sora calmed his breath, a testament to his monkhood. "I am ready, taichou."
Nodding, Itachi turned to Temujin. "I will leave a clone to protect the princess but can I ask you to have your men help him out? Help him make sure that the princess and the other VIPs remain safe."
The armored knight nodded, crossing an arm across his chest and bowing. "My men will protect her with their lives. I will ask Kazehana-dono to arm my men with what she could provide before I join the team."
He nodded again. "I wish you luck." He started to walk towards the exit. "You have your orders. Go."
Castle Gate
"Hmm, very nice craftsmanship," the larger, old man commented as he looked at the gate of the outer castle wall, "A testament to Yuki no Kuni's technological advancement." He smirked malevolently. "Child's play to a shinobi," he exclaimed, extending a hand where chakra coalesced in the form of a dark ball. Then, he jammed it to the castle gate, causing it to be blasted forward.
The wooden gate flew from its hinges into the castle wall before it shattered into pieces, courtesy of Juugo, his right arm transformed into a spiked fist to get rid of the projectile.
"Oh," the thinner man narrowed his eyes at their headbands, "I was wondering when we would be facing you Konoha bastards here." He cackled. "You ran back here with your tail between your legs! You Konoha bastards are just a bunch of pussies!"
Juugo stepped aside to let Itachi take the lead, his crow mask affixed on his face, as he addressed the two of them. "Akatsuki, I don't know what your intentions are for facing Yuki no Kuni but you will be stopped here. Kaze no Kuni's Mukade, Sora no Kuni's Shinno, you two will answer for your crimes."
Shinno laughed aloud, dark chakra starting to materialize around him, coming from a spot on his left shoulder. "Konoha is welcome to try!" His menacing eyes turned to the group as dark chakra encompassed his body and disintegrated his Akatsuki robe and his top. Before the Konoha-nin's very eyes, the dark chakra slowly turned Shinno younger, turning his white hair black and beefing up his previously normal body.
Beside him, Mukade took out a scroll and unfurled it, summoning four puppets tied to strings on his hands. All four hovered around him, protecting him from his enemies. "Come!"
Itachi commanded, "Negi-kun, Juugo-san, you two will be our frontlines. Suigetsu-san, you will support them from range. Sora-kun, you will fight them from the middle." They nodded. "Go."
Suigetsu quickly pulled out his pistols and started firing at the Akatsuki members. Juugo and Negi ran at them, watching the bullets whizz past their heads.
Sneering, Shinno called on dark chakra as a wall that stopped the bullets in midair. Then, he pushed the wall towards the approaching duo.
Negi and Juugo leapt to the side to avoid the wall, letting the dark chakra continue unobstructed to the others.
Stepping forward, Sora took to the stage, clapping his hands before pushing a palm in the air in front of him. Bright chakra gathered around his palm before extended in front of him in the shape of a large palm, blocking the wall of dark chakra in its tracks.
As the wave subsided, Juugo and Negi continued their charging, now moving from the sides.
Mukade started controlling his puppets, two of which went off to meet Juugo and Negi's charge. The puppet headed Juugo's way turned black as steel while the other puppet suddenly gained a burst of speed and appeared in front of Negi. "Jinton: Mueisho!"
Widening his eyes, Negi quickly leapt over the puppet's punch, landing behind it. His fist was clenched and ready to punch the puppet, only for it to suddenly be facing him and grabbing his outstretched fist. Just as quickly, Negi was punched by the puppet's other fist. He stumbled back but Negi didn't waver, recovering to block the next punch before flinging it to the side using its own momentum.
The speedy puppet whizzed behind the steel puppet, which moved to punch Juugo.
The orange-haired shinobi focused inward and transformed his right arm into a monstrous arm that he used to meet the puppet's punch. His other arm transformed afterwards into a rocket-propelled fist. The nozzles expelled chakra, which boosted his fists towards the blackened puppet, slamming down on his fist on it.
The puppet was immediately pulled back to avoid the slam, only for Shinno to leap over the puppet and slam his own fist down on Juugo's position.
His surprise showing for the briefest of moments, Juugo quickly transformed the fist on the ground, turning it from a fist to a nozzle that expelled chakra once more, pushing him away from Shinno's fist.
"You aren't going anywhere!" Shinno roared as he called on his dark chakra to attack Juugo in the form of two spheres that came from his palms.
From the backlines, Suigetsu holstered his pistols before mimicking two guns with his hands, water gathering at his index fingers. "Mizudeppo: Nicho," he shouted as he let loose the two water balls at high speed, quickly reaching the spheres and making them explode. Afterwards, he formed his seals and puckered his lips, "Suiton: Bakusui Shoha!" A large torrent of water was expelled from his mouth and descended down onto Shinno.
Juugo gave a small smile and leapt to the water wave, riding it as it moved onto Shinno.
The Sora-nin retaliated by holding out a hand, dark chakra gathering on his palm, before pointing it at the wave. A beam of dark chakra burst from his hand that hit the water. Seconds later, the water wave exploded, stopping its momentum and sending Juugo into the air.
Gritting his teeth, Juugo transformed both hands into rocket-propelled pistons as he hovered above Shinno as the nozzles spouted chakra that sent him down in seconds. The slam that occurred afterwards broke much of the castle floor.
Sora covered his attack by swiping his arm back and forth while facing Juugo's location, sending arcs of wind towards them. "Juha Sho," he shouted, "Juugo-san, get out of there!"
A figure jumped away from the chaos just as the blades of wind crashed down on it. To Sora's shock, the figure was Shinno who flew towards Negi, who was dashing unobstructed towards Mukade. Sora, still on alert, rushed over to Juugo's fallen form. His hands hovering over his body, his chakra coated his hands green as he healed Juugo.
At the other end of the fight, the puppeteer didn't even look worried as the redhead boy who had staggered his speed puppet charged at him.
"Raiton," Negi chanted, "Ikazuchiken (Lightning Release: Lightning Fist)!" Lightning encased his fist as he approached the puppeteer. With a yell, he moved to punch Mukade.
With but the smallest of movements, one of the two puppets protecting him got in front of him and grabbed the lightning fist. Then, the lightning chakra was sucked from his fist and into the puppet itself. "Meiton: Kyuketsuko."
It's absorbing my attack!? His attempt foiled, Negi tried to remove his hand from the puppet's grip but it held his limb firmly. So, he was unable to properly defend against the projectile human who planted a solid punch to his torso and sent him to a wall.
Mukade smirked, giving Shinno a brief nod, as he prepared his next move, his hands and fingers controlling his puppets. Chakra coursed from his absorption puppet and he redirected it to his other puppet, whose own arms had started to become charged with lightning. "Ranton: Kyosei Arashi (Storm Release: Force Storm)!" The puppet pointed both lightning-charged arms at the group, where it unleashed a large amount of lightning at the group.
Sora's brows furrowed as he watched the storm spread out towards them. He defended himself by stopping his healing of Juugo, calling on the Gift of the Hermint Group to manifest the avatar of an overweight man behind him, which covered his and Juugo's body from the storm. He gasped out, "Raigo: Kashikoi Hito (Welcoming Approach: Enlightened Man)."
Itachi frowned underneath his mask, his Eien no Mangekyou Sharingan becoming active. "Susanoo: Yata no Kagami!" Orange chakra surrounded him in the form of a skeleton, which progressed into a humanoid shape. It formed a left hand and a shield on it, which Itachi had it use to block the lightning attack. Meanwhile, it formed an open right hand, where three magatama, revolving around an axis, manifested. "Yasaka Magatama."The Susanoo lifted the Yata no Kagami as it threw the Yasaka Magatama towards the two Akatsuki members.
Mukade clicked his tongue as he stopped his storm puppet's attack and had his speedy puppet move him away from his spot. On the other hand, Shinno roared, calling on his dark chakra, which he used a wall that collided with the magatama projectiles, creating yet another explosion.
Everything went silent.
In the distance, Sora kept his avatar active while he continued to heal Juugo.
Itachi kept the Susanoo active, not willing to let it drop under any circumstances, as he waited for the next move. A ball of dark chakra pierced through the dust and rubble and zoomed towards them.
Itachi didn't bat an eye as Yata no Kagami blocked the projectile, even as it exploded on impact.
Its source, Shinno, lowered his hand, revealing that he wasn't unscathed from tanking the attack, as wounds and burns littered his body with some already starting to heal.
Within seconds, Itachi weaved through his handseals and spat out flames. "Katon: Goka Mekkyaku!"
The absorb puppet moved in front of Shinno and absorbed the massive wall of flames. Instead of transferring it to another puppet, however, Mukade pointed the puppet's palm again at Itachi, saying, "Meiton: Jajimento." Equally large blue flames erupted from its palm towards the group.
Suigetsu and Itachi formed hand seals and spat out jets of water, calling out, "Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu!"
When water and fire collided, the resulting steam covered their view. Despite the situation, Itachi smiled as he casted his next jutsu, "Kirigakure no Jutsu." As he produced a stream of mist that added onto the steam, Itachi thought to himself, I should've thanked Kisame for teaching me this jutsu. He glanced at Sora and Juugo; the latter had regained consciousness and was being helped up by the former. He glanced over to Negi, who also had recovered from the punch and flight to the castle wall; the redhead pushed away some rubble as he glared at the Akatsuki members. He returned his gaze to the silhouettes of Mukade and Shinno, a frown on his face. Shortly, Sora, Negi, and Juugo joined him within Susanoo.
"Negi-kun, Juugo-san, you two suffered hard blows," he uttered, "Are you two well enough to keep on fighting?"
Negi gave a determined nod. "Yes, taichou, that Shinno person just caught me by surprise."
Juugo grunted his affirmation. "I can keep fighting. Sora-san healed me sufficiently."
Itachi nodded while keeping a narrowed eye towards Negi, unseen through his mask. That was not a light punch. Not even an ordinary jonin could possibly recover from it that easily. This boy truly is hiding his full potential. Hokage's son or not, Naruto-kun found himself a suspicious friend during his time in another place as Fate Averruncus. He then said, "Good. We can keep going." The mist and steam had been completely absorbed and the puppet that absorbed it was about to shoot its flames once more. "Here they come."
Mukade called out, "Meiton: Jajimento!" Blue flames burst from the absorb puppet's palm once more.
Itachi formed his seals, puckering his lips to spit out flames, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu." The blue and yellow flames collided between them. From both sides, Negi and Juugo charged towards the Akatsuki members again.
Like earlier, the steel puppet and Shinno rushed to meet them. Just as they crossed fists, however, Juugo and Negi covered themselves with charka and ran into the flames, fighting the other opponent. Now, Negi faced Shinno and Juugo faced the puppet.
The flames receded and the fight was on. The speedy puppet ran between the two fighting groups to strike at the other group.
"Sora-kun," Itachi softly commanded, "He's yours. Suigetsu-san, if the other two puppets do anything, they're both yours."
Sora gave a nod, getting into his stance, and Suigetsu grinned, taking out his two pistols again.
"Raigo," Sora announced, "Senjusatsu." The many-armed avatar appeared behind him. Then, with his will, its golden aura turned red, its calm face turned murderous, and its multiple arms started to rain fists down on the speedy puppet.
As Itachi expected, the absorb puppet and the storm puppet had already started moving to intercept.
Suigetsu exclaimed, "Oh, no, you don't!" He pointed his pistols at the puppets and started to fire. The two puppets stopped their charge and scattered to avoid the rain of bullets.
Furrowing his brows, Mukade clicked his tongue, his hands moving as fast as they could.
The speedy puppet couldn't close the gap to Sora and had moved back to give it some space. To the side, the absorb puppet and storm puppet were dodging the bullets. With sudden movements, the three puppets faced each other, intent on switching places.
Itachi would have none of that. Channeling chakra to his right eye, which started to slowly bleed, he pointed his gaze to the spot between the puppets and uttered, "Amaterasu."
Black flames appeared between the puppets. Then, Itachi moved his gaze, causing the black flames to make a wall to separate the puppets. The absorb puppet pointed its palm at the flames, about to absorb it but Suigetsu firing his pistols at it stopped its plans.
Mukade's face was transfixed into a sneer as his attempt to swap puppets was stopped.
The steel puppet punched Juugo's transformed arm to no avail. Lifting his shield arm, Juugo punched with his other arm, chakra bursting from the nozzles on his elbow to propel his punch faster and stronger. The puppet's whole body turned to steel to tank Juugo's hit. It connected but the puppet didn't emerge unscathed. It flew back to Mukade's side, much to the puppeteer's annoyance. Growling under his breath, Mukade moved the steel puppet back at Juugo.
Juugo pointed his arm at the puppet, the fist turning into a nozzle from which he fired a blast of chakra at the puppet. Afterwards, he released blast after blast towards the puppet.
The puppet flew around the blasts as it charged at the orange-haired shinobi. Once close, the puppet held out a steel fist and moved to punch Juugo.
His arm transformed into a shield that blocked and parried the steel punch. As the puppet recoiled from the parry, Juugo's other arm became a massive axe, slamming down on the puppet's form.
However, Juugo wasn't done yet. The shield arm became another axe and he started to slam one blow after another on the puppet, not noticing the blackness that slowly crept on his one eye. Mukade reeled back as he watched Juugo destroy one of his puppets.
Negi ducked under Shinno's fist before running behind him and punching him square on the back with a lightning fist. Shinno grunted as he spun around and brought his dark chakra fist down on Negi's location, only for the redhead to have already moved around the large man, planting another lightning-covered fist to him just as Shinno's slammed down on the ground.
Having had enough, Shinno roared, calling on his dark chakra to surround him, pushing Negi away. Flipping backwards to avoid the dark waves, Negi frowned at Shinno. That dark chakra of his is too troublesome. I need to find a way to cut him off from it but I need to also be faster than his attacks can reach me. He frowned. Can I combine my Raiton with Hakkesho? Fate said that the Hyuga clan's Juken has elements of Hakkesho and focuses on dealing internal damage to the body. And Kakashi-san said that, with the proper usage, Raiton can affect a body's internal systems, much like natural lightning could. If I combine both, I should be able to defeat this guy. He clenched his fists as lightning started to crackle around his body. I can't use Magia Erebea and get into Raiton Taiso but I can imitate what Sasuke-san did in his fight against Fate and cover myself with Raiton chakra. Lightning coated his entire body, his hair starting to stand up on end. It's not the same boost I'd get from Raiton Taiso but it'll have to do. He crouched into his Hakkesho stance, his gaze firm on Shinno
This wasn't missed by Shinno or Itachi, both of whom narrowed their eyes.
Shinno kept a firm eye on Negi. That stance…it almost looks like the Hyuga's Juken. It's impossible for the boy to be Hyuga; he hasn't shown any of the traits recognizable in any Hyuga I've encountered before. He doesn't look like one or act like one. He doesn't even have the Byakugan. And the lightning coating him…someone so young is able to use Raiton no Yoroi or Raiton Chakra Mode or whatever name they have for it now?
Itachi's suspicion of Negi grew bounds as he watched him. Hokage-sama said he's a foreigner that followed after Naruto-kun when he returned as Fate Averruncus. How does he know the Juken stance? It's possible that he came across someone who used the Juken against him but he shouldn't be able to replicate its stance and movements unless he challenged the Hyuga multiple times to be able to memorize it, he has an excellent memory from experiencing it once, or he has a dojutsu capable of memorizing it. There's also his ability to do something similar to the Raikage's Raiton no Yoroi. He never showed this ability before. Hokage-sama said that he was present in the match with Sasuke and Naruto-kun, when Sasuke used that Raienhei jutsu against him; could Negi-kun be such a genius that he's able to imitate other jutsu by mere sight alone, unaided by dojutsu?
With a narrowing of his eyes, Negi's form fizzled before suddenly appearing behind Shinno.
The muscular man turned around in alarm. He's fast! His instincts, born from years of experience out in the field, allowed him to block the palm strike aimed at his arm. As soon as his block connected, however, Negi disappeared and reappeared above him.
He thrusted a palm down at Shinno and said, "Hakke Kusho!" A gust of chakra burst from his hands, the shell surrounded by lightning, and slammed on Shinno's position. Negi rushed forward, landing where he believed was behind Shinno and aimed another palm strike at where he believed Shinno's shoulder to be.
A hand swiped through the smoke and the other followed after it, fingers curled in an attempt to grab the elusive Negi.
The mage furrowed his brow, easily avoiding the attempted grabbing. He jumped over the arm and leapt over Shinno, his hands blurring as he landed Raiton-enhanced strikes on Shinno's shoulder, his fingers tapping on and around the mark on his shoulder.
Landing again, he watched as Shinno's dark skin receded into the mark, his entire body slackening as he was denied his powerful tool. Taking advantage of Shinno's shock and horror, he swiftly turned around, firing another Hakke Kusho at Shinno, sending him flying to a castle wall. Negi relaxed slightly, confident that Shinno wouldn't be getting up from that that easily after he had cut him off from that dark chakra. A loud smash made him aware of his fellow frontline ninja. He turned and widened his eyes at seeing Jugo in a monstrous form, his hands not stopping in their smashing of the puppet. He rushed over to him, a hand outstretched. "J-Jugo-san, that's enough. That puppet's completely destroyed."
The orange-haired shinobi abruptly stopped his rampage to turn to him, his features completely overtaken by his transformation, as he glared at Negi with his amber eyes. "You're next?! Fine by me," he yelled out. One hand was already midway through smashing into him.
Negi readily caught the hit, holding tightly to the limb. "No! Jugo-san, please get a hold of yourself! Don't lose yourself to this power!"
"No talking, brat," he roared as he swung the limb Negi was holding onto, intent on getting him to let go. "You'll die!"
His eyes wide, Negi let go of Jugo's arm after the first swing and landed on the wall, which he used to propel himself back at the berserker. His fist, encased in lightning, went forward to punch Jugo, who responded with his own fist, propelled with rockets. The concussive force of the impact broke the ground around them. Breaking fists, Negi lashed out with a kick to the side; Jugo took it like a champ and punched Negi again.
The redhead, however, was too fast and he sped past the punch and behind him, a palm landing behind him. "Hakke Kusho," he shouted. Like with the empowered Shinno earlier, the attack didn't even faze him. Jugo was only pushed back a few inches, which he easily took back when he charged back at Negi. "Rraaaagh," he roared, both hands transformed into axes that slammed down on Negi's position.
His form zipped to the side before zipping forward, hitting Jugo's torso with a few Hakkesho strikes. He moved behind him before Jugo could react, a strike landing on Jugo's knee. As the orange-haired ninja fell to a knee as a result, he continued and aimed the next strike at his neck, intent on knocking him out.
However, Jugo wouldn't have that. Already enraged at a leg being incapacitated, he let loose a burst of chakra with a mighty roar, sending the boy flying back. His knee restored, Jugo stood back up and turned around to chase after him.
Itachi frowned as he felt Jugo's chakra spike with senjutsu chakra. He's in the battle for too long. Senjutsu is starting to take a hold of him. We need to end this quickly. "Sora-kun, Suigetsu-san, we're taking too long," he stated, his Eien no Mangekyo Sharingan activating, "End this now."
Suigetsu gave a grin, holstering both his pistols, and Sora bowed his head, the avatar vanishing behind him, as they prepared their next, and final, jutsu.
The demon clapped his hands as chakra started to gather within him. The monk's face scrunched in concentration, his body starting to glow.
With his grin, Suigetsu spat out a massive amount of water, "Suiton: Bakusui Shoha!"
Gathering the bright chakra onto his hand, Sora gritted out, "Raigo: Kami no Hofuku (Welcoming Approach: Divine Retribution)!"
The puppets, already weathered from the excessive actions they had to do, could do nothing as a tidal wave crashed down on the absorb and storm puppets and the powerful beam of light collided with and exploded the speed puppet.
After their respective jutsu has been cast, Sora fell to his hands and knees, sweat covering his brow, as he moved to catch his breath. Suigetsu blinked in surprise as he moved over to him. "Oi," he chided, "don't just use a jutsu if it's gonna make you this tired."
Chuckling softly, Sora replied, "If I don't want it to get back up and fight me again, it's only natural to use my most powerful ability."
"And if your enemy survives or avoids your strongest jutsu that leaves you tired like this," he impatiently asked, shaking his head, "But whatever, we beat those bastards to the ground. We can now help Negi and Jugo."
"No." Itachi interjected, his Susanoo disappearing, "We need to stop Jugo in his rampage. He unwittingly gathered too much senjutsu chakra. He's currently attacking Negi-kun, who just finished with his fight against Shinno."
"Damn it," Suigetsu exclaimed, jumping to his feet where the two aforementioned shinobi went to last, "Now, of all times!?"
"That's why we should get moving." He stepped forward and looked at Sora. "Sora-kun, rest here and recover. If you need help, don't hesitate to call for us." The monk shakily nodded as he moved to a sitting position by some concrete rubble. As Itachi and Suigetsu rushed over to help Negi against Jugo, the former said to the latter, "Keep an eye on him, Suigetsu-san."
"Got it."
When he got there, he was beholden to the sight of Negi holding tightly onto Jugo's fists. Both had dug their heels on the ground as they struggled to push the other away.
"T-Taicho," Negi shouted, not daring to look away from the orange-haired menace in front of him, "Help me stop him!" If only I didn't have to obey the need for secrecy…
Itachi was much faster than Jugo could react and appeared behind the enraged boy, grabbing his collar and throwing him away from the group. Inadvertently showing off his skillset, Itachi reached the point of impact before the projectile Itachi himself threw reached it. The Uchiha genius grabbed the incoming Jugo and threw him down on the ground, gazing down at him with his Sharingan. "Calm," he simply ordered.
The one word, combined with the hypnotic effects of his dojutsu, was just as effective as it was. Jugo stiffened, the darkness clinging to his skin receding, taking the transformation with it. As the gentle giant's eyes shifted from its amber color to his normal orange, he looked around in alarm, his breathing labored and rapid. "T-Taicho, d-did I lose control? The last thing I remember was incapacitating one of Mukade's puppets…"
Itachi took a step back, calmly stating, "Yes, you did. You were fortunate that the first target after you were done with the puppet was Negi-kun. His Raiton no Yoroi proved a match for you and was able to hold you off until we got to you."
Jugo grimaced, his form slumping. "I humbly apologize, taicho, Negi-san."
Wiping sweat from his brow, Negi leaned to a wall, the lightning dissipating from his body, as he smiled at Jugo. "It's no problem at all, Jugo-san. I'm just happy you had calmed down."
He bowed his head, a look of self-loathing on his face.
While this was going on, Itachi frowned, noticing a lack of two particular people. Mukade must have taken Shinno away from here while Negi-kun and Jugo-san were fighting. Damn it all. I wanted to take them in for questioning as to Madara's current motives. He glanced down, where the redhead was consoling his orange-haired companion. There's no use thinking about it now. I'm confident there'll be more chances to learn in the future. I held back so that Yuki no Kuni and my team won't be caught in the crossfire and possibly destroyed; I'm not regretting that decision and I'm moving on. No mission is worth the unnecessary and avoidable loss of life. "Come," he commanded, "the Akatsuki operatives escaped in the confusion but we still have a job to finish. All of you, get back at the throne room for some rest. I'll rendezvous with the fortress group."
"Hai, taicho," they both muttered, relief in their eyes at the respite, as they slowly stood and trailed after him.
While he led them, Itachi looked up at the flying castle in the distance, smoke and destruction littering its exterior. Now all that's left is the castle. He looked around and found a soldier manning a catapult. "You, soldier, I have an order for you…"
Ancor Vantian
Temujin unceremoniously dropped the corpse of an unfortunate guard who attempted to stop them from boarding their fortress. Tightening his gloves, he turned to his companions on this skirmish. "Are we ready?"
Stepping off the flying boat they had hijacked to get to the fortress, Team Kotarou nodded at him, drawing their weapons as they prepared by the entrance.
Setsuna and Temujin drew their swords, with the knight also taking out his shield. Kaede whipped out a hand, kunai emerging from her sleeves and stopping between her fingers. Kotarou lightly patted Akuto's head, who gave a silent bark. Asuna tightened the straps on her fists before gripping her Pactio broadsword.
The knight knelt and searched the corpse's pockets and bags before taking out a furled scroll.
Kotarou raised a brow. "Eh, whatcha looking for," he asked while leaning on Akuto.
"We are in an unknown fortress. The first thing we should do as its infiltrators is to know its layout. So I'm looking for a map." He unfurled the scroll and read its contents, making him frown. "This is no map but this is noteworthy nonetheless."
Setsuna kept an eye on the entrance but nonetheless asked, "What is it?"
"This is a message from their leader, Shinno. Mainly, it is about their objective in this mission. They are to siege and assault Kazehana Castle with the intent of acquiring their technology and capturing Kazehana-dono and her researchers."
"It makes sense, de gozaru," Kaede commented, "No one wants to have competition for their industry. For Sora no Kuni and Yuki no Kuni, their industry is technology."
"So they want to steal their technology, claim credit for it, and kidnap their people to get them to make more technology?" Asuna scowled distastefully. "That's disgusting."
Temujin narrowed his eyes at her, his eyes holding no recrimination, as he regarded her. "That's the way of the world, Kagurazaka-dono."
She clicked her tongue but said no more.
Temujin rolled up the scroll and pocketed it. "Regardless, we still need to find a map of this place." He led the group, passing through the door, and headed into the fortress proper, the four (and one dog) following behind him.
"What are you hoping to find with the map, Temujin-san," Setsuna asked him.
"The important systems," he replied, "A fortress this advanced cannot function without certain systems. My knowledge of chakra and technology is limited but I know for certain there is no such person capable of flight while lifting this thing alongside it extensively; it's just as unlikely that a group of people are capable of doing the same thing for too long. So, this fortress should have some sort of system that keeps this thing afloat. Furthermore, if this fortress does have a flight system, it logically must draw power from somewhere. Again, it's unlikely that a lone person or even a group of people can continuously provide power like this. Therefore, this fortress must also have a power room."
"That makes sense," Asuna agreed with him, her pigtails bobbing with her head's nodding, "We could interrogate someone for that information, too, if we can't find a map somewhere."
"I'm open to suggestions," was the curt reply while they continued their trek inside the fortress.
"Hey, who the hell are you guys," a loud voice shouted as they rounded a corner. His face half-hidden by a facemask, they could only see his eyes, wide in alarm and surprise. His hand was raised as the man pointed at them accusingly.
Temujin immediately responded. He ran towards the Sora-nin, slamming a gloved hand to his mouth to stop him from shouting and alerting the fortress. He then slammed him to the nearest wall, his red eyes glaring at him. "If you want to live, you will answer my questions," he threatened to him.
The Sora-nin glared back in defiance, making Temujin punch his stomach. He grunted in pain, his eyes scrunched shut.
"Let's try this again," Temujin uttered, "Answer my questions and you live."
The glare he received held less animosity but the Sora-nin nodded nonetheless.
"Good. Now, does this fortress have a room that operates on flying this thing? Does it have a power room? And does this have any other important rooms?"
With a grunt, the Sora-nin nodded to the first two questions and shook his head to the third.
"Do you have a map to any of them?"
He shook his head, making Temujin frown.
"Do you know how to get to them?"
The Sora-nin didn't answer, his fire returning with a passion through his glare at the knight.
We don't have time for this. Temujin slammed another fist into his stomach. He ignored the pained grunt that left the shinobi as he hissed, "Cooperate or you will die."
He glared at Temujin with utter hatred, a growl emitting from his throat.
Temujin let out an exasperated sigh as he quickly pulled the Sora-nin close to his chest, both hands already on his head and unhesitatingly broke his neck.
The Mahora group gave a slight wince at the action, watching as Temujin dropped the corpse and looked around.
"Damn," Asuna muttered, "That's ruthless."
Temujin nonetheless spoke, "Let's keep looking. There's bound to be someone who knows this fortress or has a map."
It was after plenty of failed interrogations and subsequent executions that the Mahora group had found themselves resting on the floor, mentally and physically drained.
Setsuna slowly raised a head up to the knight watching their backs as they rested. How could he kill so easily, so remorselessly? I know that death is inevitable; we faced it countless times on Mundus Magicus; and we killed a few people over there. But this guy…he didn't even bat an eye as he killed one shinobi after another. Is this the norm for high-ranked shinobi of these lands? She frowned. Do we need to be just as ruthless the longer we stay here? Fate's already ruthless as he is but us. We aren't strangers to pain and death but can we – do we have to – go farther while we're here? Gulping, she said, "Temujin-san, we've been doing this for quite a while and we haven't gotten anywhere. Perhaps we could try a different strategy in bringing this fortress down?"
He glanced down at them, his eyes softening as he watched them. "…I see that my actions are beginning to trouble you four," he apologized, bowing his head, "I humbly apologize. I forget that I tend to be…ruthless during my skirmishes." His eyes showed his sincere regret. "I've been told that once or twice by my knights but old habits die hard. While I was in Haido's employ, I was no stranger to executing and killing people for his…utopia," he grimaced, "directly or indirectly. Despite all attempts of my friends and men to rehabilitate me, I still tend to revert to that mentality when I'm on the field."
Kaede shakily smiled at him, a hand waving at him to placate him. "It…it's alright, de gozaru. J-Just tone it down, okay?"
With a grimace, Temujin turned away. "I'll endeavor to control myself."
They devolved into silence before Asuna let out an audible grunt and stood up.
She pumped a fist. "Well, whatever we're gonna do, we aren't gonna get it done lying around like this!"
Setsuna smiled as she joined her in standing. "You're right, Asuna! We shouldn't stop now! The others are doing their best fighting those Akatsuki and it would do them a disservice to stop now!"
Revitalized, the other Mahora students stood up with them, ready to continue their mission.
Temujin smiled at them, drawing his blade and opening his shield once more. "Let's go; we have a fortress to destroy."
"Right," they affirmed.
Thus, they continued their attempt to bring the fortress down. Obviously, they met resistance but they were far more skilled than mere grunts whose primary source of experience was manning artillery and not in person-to-person combat. They cleared room by room of hostiles as they searched for a map or information about the fortress' important rooms.
In one such room, Temujin smashed the door open and quickly took stock of its occupants.
Positioned atop the windowsill were four cannon fixtures, firing down below. Manning these cannons were four Sora ninjas working on cranks and gears with four others near them loading large metallic cylinders reminiscent of cannonballs into said cannons. And all eight of these ninjas were staring at Temujin in shock.
He quickly ran into the room, his sword and shield unsheathing and unfolding, respectively, as he charged at them.
The ninjas rushed to abandon their posts and take arms against the intruder. They took out their kunais, kunai-loaded crossbows, and their seals to prepare to fight against him.
"Raging Thunder," Temujin roared, his sword alight with energy, as he swung at them. The arc of energy that left his blade connected with three ninjas, sending them flying. One collapsed into a pile of cannon ammo and two smashed into two cannons. He spun his blade in his hand and parried a kunai fired from a crossbow. He grabbed the airborne kunai with his shield hand and threw it back at the shooter, catching him square in the chest. On the other end, a Sora-nin pointed his crossbow at Temujin.
As soon as the kunai left the bow, a katana quickly moved forward and blocked it. Setsuna then ran under his guard and slammed her katana's hilt into his stomach, knocking him out quickly. While the ninja slumped forward in a dead faint, Setsuna then spun around and kicked another ninja to Kotarou, who quickly knocked him out with a sharp blow to the head. Kaede and Asuna closed the door behind them before they started rummaging through the ninjas bags and equipment.
Asuna pulled out a scroll and unfurled it, her face brightening. "I found a map!"
Temujin, who held a Sora-nin in a headlock, turned to her. "That's great," he exclaimed, "Now, we can find the important rooms in this fortress."
The ninja in his grasp growled at them. "Y-You won't, gack, make i-it!"
Sparing him a brief glance before looking at his comrades, Temujin simply knocked him out with a sharp blow to the head. Letting the ninja slump down to the ground, Temujin moved to Asuna and looked at the map over her shoulder, his eyes roaming its contents. While he did so, he murmured under his breath, "Prison cells…engine room…power room…the bridge…the galley…the hangar…the quarters…sick bay…" Then, he paused, quietly asking, "A containment facility?"
Asuna furrowed her brows. "That's weird. They already have prison cells; why do they need a containment facility?"
After studying said containment facility, Temujin commented, "It's rather large in comparison to the cells too. Could it be used to hold an animal – or animals – of some sort? What would they need animals for?"
Kotarou grunted as he leaned onto Akuto's side. "Probably for food or materials," he offered.
"It's possible," he straightened up as he addressed the others, "There's only one way to find out."
The redhead girl looked up at him. "You want us to split up?"
He nodded. "We'll cover more ground that way. I'm not concerned about them bringing a considerable challenge to us; these guys are rather weak compared to us. I imagine these guys have gotten too used to using their technology that they neglected their personal training."
"Alright," said Kaede, "What's the plan, de gozaru?"
Temujin held out his hand to Asuna, who understood what he wanted and handed him the map. Looking at the map again, he said, "We can ignore some of these rooms as they aren't that important. We can prioritize the power room, the bridge, and the engine room first."
Kotarou frowned. "What do we do about the containment thingy? What if that thing holds something dangerous?"
The knight nodded. "That's part of our secondary objective. After we secure the first three rooms, we'll move onto checking the prison cells, the sick bay, the galley, and the containment facility." He looked at them. "Kagurazaka-dono and Sakurazaki-dono, you two will form the first group."
Asuna and Setsuna looked and nodded at each other with smiles on their faces.
"You two will head towards the power room. Nagase-dono and I will form the second."
Kaede foxily smirked at him, her head bobbing twice.
"We will deal with the bridge. Inugami-dono and his ninken will be the third."
"Oh, we're gonna have so much fun, Akuto!" Kotarou grinned wide, Akuto barking loudly beside him.
"And you two will go for the engine room." He went to the nearby desk and placed the map there. When the others joined him on the desk, Temujin started to point at the map. "From what I recall, we boarded the fortress here. Then, we spent a long time wandering the fortress looking for a map and stopped…here, I think."
"You think?" Asuna's question lacked bite but there was nevertheless a hint of skepticism that filled her tone.
"My memory is good but not perfect," he shrugged, "I'm using what information I know and combined it with where we are to pinpoint our most likely location in this fortress."
Setsuna reached into her shirt and pulled out two pieces of paper and a pen. "Since we'll be splitting up, I'd like to make a copy of this map for the other two who won't get the original."
He nodded, showing her the map.
She thanked him briefly before starting to draw on the pieces of paper, making sure to be as accurate as possible to the original material. Minutes later, she finished and looked up at Temujin. "I'm done." She folded one drawing and put back into her shirt. "I'll keep one of the drawings. Who'll get the other one?"
"I'll take it," Kotarou offered, holding out a hand to her. As Setsuna gave him the other drawing, he nodded to them. "I'll see you guys later."
"Wait," Temujin suddenly said, "We'll group up by the bridge to set up for our secondary objectives.
"Got it," he replied, "I'll see you guys later." He gave them a salute as he left the room with Akuto in tow.
Temujin held the door open, gesturing to Kaede. "After you, Nagase-dono," he supplied.
Kaede smirked at him while she passed through the door, followed closely by Temujin. "Thank you, Temujin-san." She glanced at Asuna and Setsuna over her shoulder. "We'll see you at the bridge, de gozaru."
They both nodded and eventually left the room to accomplish their objective.
With Kotarou and Akuto
"Let's see…according to this map…it's…this way…"
Akuto trailed faithfully behind his master, who was busy reading the map in his hands. Then, he noticed a group of Sora-nin ahead of them. With a snarl, he overtook his master and charged at the Sora-nin. He swung a paw down, sending an arc of chakra at the closest one. As the other two shouted in surprise, Akuto took advantage of their surprise and leapt to the wall to give him greater height when he jumped at them.
The force of Akuto's impact on the second ninja's torso was enough to knock him out and he quickly knocked the third to the wall. The wall cracked on impact and the ninja suffered the same fate as the two before him.
Kotarou looked up from his map at the sound of a commotion and grinned. "Good boy, Akuto," he praised as he rushed to meet him. He patted his ninken's head. "I probably should pay attention to my surroundings more, huh?"
The deadpan but good-natured bark that Akuto replied with could be simply translated to, 'Duh.'
He simply laughed again. "Come on. We're almost to the engine room."
He barked and followed him again. Eventually, Akuto's ears twitched and let out a low bark.
"Yeah," Kotarou murmured, his own ears twitching with his ninken's, "I hear it too; the sound of machines, of engines." They walked carefully now, sneaking closer to the door that the sound came from. Stopping by the door, Kotarou glanced at Akuto with a grin. "You ready, boy?"
The growl was his answer, his fangs bared and his eyes feral.
The inugami flexed his own claws and bent his legs to a crouch. Grasping the door handle, he slammed the door open with a loud yell of, "Let's go!"
The occupants shouted in surprise at the sudden intrusion to their room. They pulled out their crossbows and pointed them at the inugami and his ninken, letting loose the kunai loaded in them.
Akuto moved first, letting out a loud bark that released a dome of chakra, blasting away the kunai.
With a smirk, Kotarou leapt over him and swung his claws down, arcs of black energy spawning forth and striking some of his enemies. Landing, he crouched low, that same energy gathering and swirling around him. Then, he launched himself forward, his fist outstretched and the energy following him. He connected with one ninja, launching him into one of the many machines inside the room. Then, he spun around and kicked another into a wall.
A Sora-nin charged from behind him with his sword raised high.
Kotarou faced him and grabbed the blade with one hand. Smirking, he said, "Nice try, bud." Suddenly, Akuto jumped over him and tackled the Sora-nin to the ground. He crushed the sword to pieces and flung the remnants in his hands at an approaching kunoichi. As she exclaimed loudly in pain at the shrapnel thrown at her, Kotarou frowned at her and slammed a fist into her stomach, knocking her unconscious. He put an arm on her back and gently put her down on the ground. After muttering an apology, he continued to wreak havoc in the engine room.
He charged at a shinobi and punched him into a wall before grabbing his companion and throwing him to the side, where Akuto met him with a pounce. Getting off the shinobi, the ninken then let loose a burst of chakra with his bark, blasting away the incoming ninjas and their blades.
He looked around for any more active enemies before standing down. He put his hands to his hips and grinned wide. "All in a day's work," he exclaimed, "Come on, Akuto! Help me tie these guys or put them away before we secure this place!"
Akuto gave a bark.
With Asuna and Setsuna
"That guy was really brutal, wasn't he, Setsuna?"
"…yes…yes, he was, Asuna-san. It's really scary. I thought I saw it all in Mundus Magicus but…that level of ease in execution…it's hard to believe."
"It makes you think if Fate's family and friends in Konoha would be just as…ruthless."
Setsuna suppressed the shiver that went down her spine. "Namikaze-dono and Uzumaki-san are very nice people; to think of them having those kinds of eyes is a scary thought."
Asuna rubbed her arm in discomfort at the thought. "Really scary," she mumbled before turning to Setsuna, "How close are we to the power room?"
She took out her sketched map and perused it. "Right around this corner should be the power room."
Wordlessly, the heterochromatic girl brandished her sword before hefting it over her shoulder. "Then, let's get to it!"
She smirked, putting the map back into her shirt, as she unsheathed her katana. She led Asuna around the corner before stopping by the door. "Ready?"
Asuna nodded with a smirk just as confident. She held her sword with both hands in front of the door while Setsuna stood beside her, her katana at the ready. "Three," she started counting, "two…one…go!" She slammed her foot against the door, chakra enhancing her blow. The door flew forward and both girls ran into the room, blades high and ready. Asuna jumped high and slammed her sword down on a nearby group of ninjas with a loud shout. The impact cracked the ground and scattered the group. She then prepared her next move and swung her sword at the nearest airborne ninja, slamming the blunt side of her blade against his stomach. The hit brought him down to the ground and knocked him out. She then stabbed it to the ground beside the shinobi and lifted. With a roar, she broke a chunk of the ground before she spun around and flung the broken chunk at an approaching ninja. The impact shattered the chunk but also incapacitated the ninja. She followed the momentum of her spin and continued to spin. Her leg then shot out and landed a kick to a kunoichi's stomach, which sent her to a wall.
Setsuna's blade was a blur in the air as she deflected and parried the barrage of kunai being shot at her flawlessly. She then saw the ninjas moving to reload the kunai into their launchers and took her chance. She whipped her blade to the side as she charged at the ninjas. She ignored their exclamations to reload faster and shoot sooner and leapt at them, her blade at the ready. With a swordswoman's grace, she sliced through each crossbow, weaving around each ninja. Stopping behind the group, she made a sweeping motion with her sword while she spun around to face them before unleashing her next attack, "Hyakuretsu Okazan!" Hundreds of unseen blades then struck the ninjas in front of her, making just as hundreds of cuts and tears on their clothes and bodies. While this happened, Setsuna switched to a reverse grip and then slashed at the enemies;, her ki was summoned in the form of sakura petals that surrounded them like a tornado, "Tsukimi no Yozakura!" She watched as the tornado subsided to reveal a pile of unconscious, wounded bodies.
After ensuring that there were no more enemies, Setsuna sheathed her katana and Asuna dismissed her sword into her Pactio card. The latter grinned wide as she approached the former. "That was a blast!"
Setsuna smiled at her while walking towards a console. "I agree, Asuna-san. That was very exhilarating. We should do more of this sometime."
"I know, right?! This is the kind of mission that I want to go on! Those bandit and escort missions get really boring really fast!"
She studied the console in front of her before starting to press its buttons.
"What are you doing, Setsuna?"
"I'm trying to figure out the flow of power of this fortress; where the power is coming from and where the power is going to." She frowned as she continued to study the console. "Negi-sensei, ever the curious sensei that he is, studied the technology of this world. It's obviously not as advanced as ours are but it does exist, except it's limited in comparison. The bigger the machine or the bigger its scope, the bigger the power source must be. So, a fortress this big will need an equally large power source. That's what I'm trying to find out."
"I get it, I get it," she nodded in understanding, "but how can you find that?"
"This computer is a bit primitive in comparison but I can get the hang of it easily enough." She pressed a few more buttons and some responses appeared on the screen afterwards, which Setsuna skimmed through. After a few minutes, she eventually stopped on the keyboard and focused on the screen. Then, her eyes widened in horror. "Oh, no…"
Asuna immediately got worried. "What? What is it?"
"The…the majority of the power source comes from the power generators that uses the same technology as the batteries. But," her voice wavered, "this fortress also uses chakra from its prisoners as a secondary power source…"
Her eyes widened with her. "What?! That's totally barbaric!"
"And," she gulped, "the power is also connected to that containment facility Temujin-san found earlier."
"That's not good. What could house that much power?"
"Beyond shinobi, that's for sure. But that's not the main issue." She turned to Asuna. "It's currently active right now; something's contained here, something powerful, and it's powering this fortress."
She shuddered. "This…is really not good. What do we do?"
Setsuna pursed her lips. "I don't know. If we try to face this thing without Temujin-san or the others, we might be forced to use a lot of our abilities to stop it, even our magic." Asuna scrunched her face in discomfort. "There's also the possibility that whatever it is would just ignore us and break through the fortress and start attacking the castle below. Our best bet is to rendezvous with the others in the bridge and tell them what we found out. At least, we'll be supported with other people when we fight against it."
Asuna grimly nodded. "Good idea," she replied, "Let's finish up with securing these guys and then we can go."
With Temujin and Kaede
As Temujin expected, the path to the bridge was filled with enemies. His sword coursed with Gelel energy as he sliced and diced his way through throngs of enemies. He kicked an approaching kunoichi into the shinobi behind her before he raised his sword high and brought it down, "Raging Thunder!" His sword unleashed a burst of energy that went down the road and cleaved through numerous ninjas. He then raised his shield, coursing his Gelel energy through it now, and flung it away, "Shield Boomerang!" His shield detached from his arm and flew forward, blasting an approaching group of Sora-nin.
Kaede followed through his attack and moved between the scattered group. She held out both hands and brought out two handfuls of kunai attached with explosive tags. She then flung it at the surrounding ninjas before jumping away onto a wall just as explosions started.
Temujin held out his hand as his shield returned to him. His sword lit up once more with energy; then he spun it around and around. Gelel energy in the form of flames spewed from his sword and engulfed the area around him, eventually becoming a small tornado of Gelel energy. Then, he raised his sword high and stabbed it down on the ground, causing the tornado to burst and explode. Enemies were sent flying away and the area was filled with pained screams.
High above him, Kaede vaulted over the concrete bannister and immediately took stock of her opposition. Three shinobi with crossbows, six with simple kunai, and one whose hands are forming some sort of jutsu, she observed, gripping her cloak – her Pactio's artifact – and preparing her next move. Her hand moved from her cloak and into her cloak before pulling out a fuma shuriken with a chain connected to it. She crouched low and then took to the skies just as a hail of kunai rained down on her position. She spun around and flung the chained shuriken at the group.
The group scattered as a result and the shuriken ended up imbedded harmlessly on the ground. The shinobi who had been preparing a ninjutsu finished and let loose a gust of wind at the airborne Kaede.
She joined her hands into a cross shape and called out, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A doppelganger appeared beside her, took hold of her clothes, and spun her away from the path of the ninjutsu. When they landed, the doppelganger formed her own seals and transformed into another fuma shuriken whose chain is connected to the cloak behind her, which the original Kaede took hold of and threw once again.
"It's just a transformed girl!" One of the ninjas shouted, taking out a kunai. "Kill her!" They easily avoided the fuma shuriken as they charged at Kaede herself. They therefore missed the shuriken transforming back to Kaede behind them. The clone held onto the chain firmly and called out, "Bakusa Bakuenjin!" She tugged on the chain, causing it to become taut and unveil from Kaede's cloak, pulling the shinobi from their path before exploding. The clone dispelled itself and Kaede walked past the bodies of the ninjas towards a door. She heard the heavy footsteps of Temujin behind her and waited for him. "Is this the door to the bridge, de gozaru?"
The knight nodded. "That's what the map says." He readied his sword. "I'll head in first. Back me up."
Kaede smiled and nodded, uttering, "Nin, nin."
Taking that as an affirmative, he took a deep breath and swung his sword, blasting the door apart. He then ran into the room, his shield held protectively in front of him. The shinobi inside were knocked aside and onto the walls on impact. Reaching an intersection, he raised his sword high and stabbed it on the ground, the Gelel energy spreading outward down the hallways. He dislodged his sword from the ground and looked around as Kaede approached him from behind. "Come on," he beckoned, "the bridge is near."
She nodded and followed him to the bridge. With a kick, she opened the door and Temujin jumped ahead of her, swords blazing once more. His Gelel-infused sword was swung at the groups of shinobi and the energy arcs that each swing caused blasted the shinobi away. Kaede whipped out both hands around her, shooting numerous shuriken in every direction.
The room was cleared quickly and cleanly. Temujin looked around, his eyes narrowed and alert for any remaining alive or conscious shinobi. Upon finding none, he retracted both blade and shield and headed for the console. "The bridge is now secure," he softly announced, "Let's see if the others secured their rooms."
"Are there cameras in those rooms?"
"In a fortress this large and advanced, I would be more surprised if Sora no Kuni didn't have any monitoring systems in place for its important systems." He fiddled with the buttons on the console and kept his eyes on the screen. "Ah, here it is; the power room and the engine room. They look clear of enemies; I guess they accomplished their objectives and are on their way here." He ends the camera feed on both rooms before accessing the console again.
Peeking over his shoulder, the Koga-nin asked, "So what do you intend to do, de gozaru?"
"I'm going to try and disable all of the important systems. I'm also hoping there's a way to overload the power here and rig this place to self-destruct but that's too hopeful for me. If nothing else, I could probably go back to the power room and cause some havoc in there."
With a nod, Kaede grabbed a chair, sat on it, and waited, watching Temujin on the console. Minutes later, the door to the bridge opened and in walked the others. She smiled at them, giving a wave, "Yo."
"Mission complete," Kotarou grinned wide. His ninken barked beside him as they both sat down and rested.
"Hey, Temujin-san," Asuna spoke up hesitantly, making him pause and look at him.
"Oh, Asuna-dono, is something wrong?"
"Well…Setsuna and I found something really bad." She then let Setsuna tell the others about what they found.
Temujin scowled. "Disgusting," he spat out, "We need to destroy this fortress as soon as possible." He accessed the console. "You all go ahead and free the prisoners. We'll deal with the containment facility afterwards."
Kaede turned to him, frowning. "Does that include me as well, de gozaru?"
"Yes. I'm operating under the worst case scenario and assuming that they have a lot of prisoners being held and would need all hands on deck to get them to safety."
"What are you going to do," Kotarou asked.
"Right now, I'm disabling the prison. Afterwards, I'll look into what the containment facility is currently housing. Finally, I'll try to find some sort of self-destruction mechanism here. If there's none, I'll try to do something about the power generators that will help us destroy this beast." He turned to them, his face grim. "I assume you have explosive tags at the ready?" They nodded. "Plant them as you make your way to the prison cells. It may not be needed but it's better to be safe than sorry."
Asuna asked worriedly, "Will you be fine here alone? I'm sure reinforcements will be coming here after the ruckus we made since we boarded."
Temujin nodded. "Yes, I'll be fine. I have a few tricks up my sleeve should the need arise. Besides, I'm not as important or urgent as the people being drained of their chakra in the prison cells. These reinforcements are most likely headed over here and don't know that you guys are headed over to the cells. That means that I can at least be a distraction while you guys save them."
They didn't appear convinced of his plans. Kaede insisted, "You should have at least one of us with you, de gozaru."
He smiled at them. "I appreciate the offer but you all should go. As I said, they are more important than I am but we also need someone to keep the Sora-nin distracted while the prisoners are saved." Their hesitation showed on their faces but he continued, "Go. Get the prisoners off this death machine; get one of the flying ships from the hangar or use the ship we used to fly here. Either way, get them off this place and then you can come back to me."
They didn't move at first; then, they started exiting the room, leaving one by one until Kaede stopped by the door, looking back at him.
Temujin paused his typing to look at her. Offering her a smile, he nodded. She nodded back and closed the door behind her just as another door opened. He quickly turned around and drew his blade. The person who entered the room, however, made him pause and widen his eyes. "Karasu-san?"
With the Mahora group
Asuna placed a hand on a pillar, attaching an explosive tag to it as they walked. "I don't like leaving him up there alone," she mumbled, gripping her sword tightly.
Setsuna was leading the group with her hand-drawn map. At Asuna's statement, she glanced at her over her shoulder. "Neither do I. But he was very insistent on it. He wouldn't take no for an answer. As much as I hate to admit it, he had a point. There may be a lot of prisoners that needs saving and that means we need as many hands on deck as we could spare. But, we want to delay the reinforcements as long as possible on the bridge and so Temujin-san offered himself as the distraction." Her piece said, she returned to reading the map and leading the group. "We'll have to trust in him."
"There they are," an alarmed voice exclaimed.
The Mahora group raised their heads in alarm; a group of Sora-nin barred their way.
"Get them!"
Kaede and Kotarou ran forward, shuriken and kunai taken into their hands, and clashed with the group. The inugami pushed the group away and flung his weapons at them. Then, as the Sora-nin parried and blocked the thrown weapons, Kotarou pulled his arms back and then slashed the air in front of him, creating arcs of ki that crashed into the group.
Kaede raised her dominant hand in a handseal, "Ninpo," she announced, "Kage Nui no Jutsu!" Taking out a handful of kunai, she leapt forward and landed within the group. Then, she flung each kunai towards the ground near her enemies. Before the Sora-nin could mock her for her lack of aim, they all froze in place.
"What's going on?!"
"She's a Nara?!"
"Try and get out of this!"
She smirked in response and called out, "Asuna-san, now!"
The heterochromatic girl smirked wide, her blade already raised off to the side to prepare for a wide swing. "Take this!" She then swung her blade, the force summoning blades of wind that cleaned after the rest of the enemies. She pumped her fist victoriously and exclaimed, "And that's how you do it!"
With a smile, Setsuna's form moved in the span of a second and appeared behind a Sora-nin who snuck up behind her. Her katana in her hand was then sheathed and she said with a smile, "You missed one."
Asuna pouted. "I was saving that for you," she muttered, making Setsuna grin.
Setsuna kept the grin while she led the group. Then, her grin dropped as she stopped in front of a set of doors. "This is it," she said, "The prison is through this door." She drew her blade. "I don't expect heavy resistance but there should be a few guards in there." Smashing through the door, Setsuna unsheathed her katana and coursed it with lightning. Slashing downward, she called out, "Raimeiken!" Lightning coursed forward and crashed into the guards protecting the prison, sending them flying to a nearby wall. Then, she slashed sideways pointed above the guards, calling out, "Zanganken!" The concrete wall broke and collapsed down on her fallen enemies. Her eyes then looked around and took stock of her surroundings.
As she expected, there were prison cells lining the room filled with prisoners. On initial count, she found approximately fifteen, all of whom were either slumped by the walls or crumpled to the floor; they were all unconscious. Her friends followed after her into the room and went into action. "Destroy those things on the ceilings," Setsuna called out, "before you open the doors. Temujin-san may have shut them off but it never hurts to be sure."
Kaede grunted in affirmation and threw a handful of shuriken at each device hovering above each prison door. Each device sparked as they were destroyed and Asuna and Kotarou started opening each door.
Asuna knelt by a nearby body and inspected him. She frowned. "They've been drained of their chakra…a lot of chakra. They'll need to be carried out here and into one of those ships." She turned to Kaede. "Can you use your Pactio to keep them safe until we get to the hangar?"
She nodded, her Pactio card transforming into a cloak. "Gather them together and I'll get them inside, de gozaru."
After they grouped the prisoners up, they watched as Kaede used her Pactio to get all the unconscious prisoners into her Pactio's alternate dimension. Afterwards, she dismissed her Pactio and turned to them. "The hangar's next, de gozaru?"
They nodded and were about to leave the prison but stopped when a lone person stood by the prison door; it was Karasu.
"Taicho," Asuna asked, "Did something happen down there? Did the Akatsuki guys escape?"
Karasu stepped inside and nodded, his masked voice greeting them, "Yes. We managed to hold them off but they escaped. Given the tactical importance of this fortress of a weapon, it's likely that they've returned here." He gazed the empty prison cells. "Were there prisoners aboard this place," he rhetorically asked, "Where are they now?"
Thinking quickly, Setsuna replied, "We put them inside the sealing scrolls that Uzumaki-sama gave us for supplies to keep them safe while we rendezvoused with Temujin-san." Then, she straightened up. "Karasu-taicho," she exclaimed, "we should regroup with him! This place seems to be holding something really terrifying! We don't know what it is. The plan was that we would get these prisoners to safety before regrouping to investigate that 'something'."
Karasu interjected, "My creator should be already met up with him and moving to extract him from this fortress."
"Your…creator," Kotarou asked, "You're a clone?"
"Yes. The original used one of the soldier's catapults combined with my chakra to propel me to this fortress. I sensed Temujin's energy in one area and your familiar energies here so a clone is now here and the original is with him. Come," he beckoned, "we should leave now."
"What about that thing being contained here?"
"I can feel it; it doesn't feel familiar at all," he admitted, "But finding that out is not our primary objective; destroying this fortress and stopping Akatsuki are. Finding these prisoners is a good secondary but don't increase your workload by adding a tertiary, especially if you haven't accomplished the primary and secondary. We defeated the Akatsuki operatives and the majority of the land forces so that solves one primary objective; I saw the explosive tags on my way here - so that accomplishes the other primary; and I'm here to extract you all with the prisoners, about to complete the secondary." Suddenly, he stiffened and looked over his shoulder.
"Taicho," Kaede asked, "what's going on? Did you sense something, de gozaru?"
"Yes." The Mahora group flinched and grew worried by the cold steel in his tone. "The very last person I wanted to cross paths with is now here. Hold onto those prisoners," he commanded, "We need to escape…fast."
With Temujin
The young knight felt a bead of sweat dripping down his helmeted head. His sword and shield was alight with Gelel energy as Karasu's hand was in front of him, held protectively. The masked ANBU had drawn his tanto and was crouched low, ready to strike. What were the chances that the same two Akatsuki members that retreated after being beaten by Karasu and his group would show up in the bridge just as Karasu finished explaining to him the situation?
These two weren't alone as well. Behind them were the Sora-nin reinforcements he had anticipated. Temujin was confident they could handle the reinforcements. He had a few anxieties about the two Akatsuki members but he was sure they could escape if necessary, even with the reinforcements.
But they weren't what he and Karasu feared and were cautious of. It was the man in front of them all. That man…oh, that man's very presence alone exuded danger. With him present, he knew that even escaping was a gamble.
"Well, well, well," that man spoke amusedly, "I was wondering why the group sent to finish Yuki no Kuni off was taking longer than anticipated. Now, I know why. Konoha can't seem to stay away and make things easy for us, can it?" He then gave a malevolent chuckle that sent a shiver up Temujin's spine and made Karasu tense further. "Still, it's not all bad. I may be delayed from my purpose here but I at least will be able to deal a loose end." He tilted his head. "Now, then, what shall we do with you, Itachi?" The red eye behind that orange, swirl-patterned mask narrowed in vindictive glee.
Itachi was not normally one for expressing disdain but, seeing him standing there after dealing with one threat just earlier, he let out a relatively calm but nonetheless confrontational sounding, "Madara." He really didn't want to deal with him so soon.
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