Chapter 43: Konoha Crush (3): Declarations.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto.

CRACK… CRACK!

As cracks spread on the orange roof tiles like a cobweb, a woman with long blonde hair tied at the end stood up, not bothering about the dust on her body. When she looked up, her fierce almond-brown eyes showed a resolve that was as firm as steel and as fiery as an ocean of magma.

Hiruzen's eyes gawked at the sight of his former student. "What are you doing here," he asked with a shaking voice. As her sensei, he was worried and missed Tsunade's fiery personality and would often ponder what would happen if she had stayed in the village and helped him.

Would Danzo still become the Shadow Hokage? Will he still earn the chance to usurper power? What about Naruto? Would he still go missing for two years? Will he still be abused by the villagers? And what about the village itself? Will it still be in such disarray?

There were too many questions but too few answers in the old professor's heart. When he glanced at the nonchalant Jiraiya next to him, he understood that it was he who called Tsunade, yet it only left him with more questions.

'How and when did Jiraiya convince Tsunade? If I remember, they weren't on the best of terms because of Jiraiya's… much to be desired personality,' nevertheless, Hiruzen shook his head and didn't dwell on it for too long lest he lose a few more hair strands. 'For now, we shall deal with Orochimaru and…'

When he felt a stinging gaze land on him, Danzo turned his head to see Hiruzen staring at Orochimaru with a determined expression. 'Strange…' His instincts shouldn't have failed him… 'Am I getting too old?' He sighed and pushed it to the back of his mind and turned to look at Orochimaru, who was giving his former teacher and teammates a nasty glare.

'Foolish Orochimaru, you just had to attack the village. What was in it for you, anyway? The Forbidden Scroll of Sealing? Other forbidden scrolls? You could've sent ninjas for both, so why did you choose to invade the village? I can't understand your motives,' Danzo mused, feeling as if he was missing an important puzzle piece.

As he was mulling over his thoughts, a sweet voice echoed in the ears of all the people present on the rooftop.

"Sensei, you're such a great Hokage. I'm sure that Grandfather and Granduncle would be SO proud of what you've done," Tsunade said. Hearing her, Hiruzen felt his chest ache and knew that she'd been informed of what happened in the village. He tried to defend himself but was cut off by his student before he could open his mouth.

"Shut it, old man. I don't want to hear excuses. I respected you when you were young, but I guess age is everyone's nightmare. Orochimaru, as much as I hate to say this, I can kind of understand your obsession with immortality, but I disagree with eternal life," Tsunade spat, watching as Orochimaru chuckled.

"Princess Tsunade, it's great to see you again. But I wonder," Orochimaru brought a kunai to his palm much to Jiraiya and Hiruzen's indignation, but Tsunade smirked, "Hemophobia? I'll admit it was shameful of me, a legendary medical ninja, to have a phobia of blood," Tsunade smirked and ignored Jiraiya's questioning look.

"But if you're going to threaten the village that my Grandfather and Granduncle built, the village that Dan and Nawaki wished to protect, and the village that I love, then I…" Tsunade gritted her teeth, steeling her trembling hand—BANG! She punched the roof, nearly shattering the entire thing to dust.

"I'D RATHER DIE THAN BE HELD BACK BY SOME STUPID TRAUMA!"

Jiraiya smiled as Tsunade roared, her blonde hair glowing a mellow gold under the brilliance of the yellow star above them. Danzo narrowed his eyes and stared at the blonde kunoichi and the snake Sannin's bleeding palm.

'I was hoping I could get her to help me with my transplants…' He sighed and gave the battlefield one last glance. 'Oh well, I'm sure they can deal with the snake. Besides, I doubt that this place will be the burial grounds of that slippery snake,' as he turned to leave the rooftop, he didn't catch Hiruzen's cold and murderous gaze like the latter wanted to tear him apart, one inch of skin every minute.

Just as Hiruzen was eyeing the ROOT division's commander, he felt three chakra spikes near him and cursed the gods above. 'GOD DAMNED IT,' Hiruzen flashed through hand seals and yelled out, "EARTH STYLE: EARTH REINFORCEMENT JUTSU!"

As soon as he slammed his palm to the rooftop, the roof tiles began to shimmer as if they were made out of metal instead of concrete. He breathed a sigh of relief and started weaving the same hand seals as his students.

"SUMMONING JUTSU: KATSUYU!"

"SUMMONING JUTSU: GAMABUNTA!"

"Summoning Jutsu: Manda," Orochimaru sighed after hearing the yells of his teammates. 'Those two are still as loud and obnoxious as before,' he thought and watched as the air around them condensed.

"Summoning Jutsu: Monkey King Enma!"

POOF! POOF! POOF! POOF!

WOOOSH…!

Just after Hiruzen finished weaving his set of hand seals, clouds of white smoke passed over the entire area like a hurricane as three giants emerge from thin air. A giant purple snake looked down as it wrapped its body around the Kage Observation Box that Hiruzen reinforced, while a giant red toad and a giant white and green slug sat quietly below the arena walls.

Hiruzen could only feel sorry for the houses crushed by the two giants, as well as thankful that Orochimaru summoned his giant beast on top of the Kage Observation Box. 'Thankfully, I evacuated the civilians in advance after getting a notice about the Kazekage's attack. I just didn't know it would be Orochimaru attacking instead,' Hiruzen shook his head and took off his kage robes, revealing his battle armor.

"Orochimaru…" Just as Manda was about to question his summoner, ROAAAR! A thundering roar came from the arena and moments later, another massive cloud of smoke engulfed the area. The three giant summons and their summoners looked over, as well as Hiruzen, his summon, and Danzo.

There, they saw a giant sand tanuki making their hearts stop. "Fufu, although my plan to kill you, sensei, was thwarted. At least I can still destroy the village," Orochimaru laughed. "And Manda, don't worry, I have a few hundred sacrifices for you once this is over, so fight for me this once."

"Hmph, whatever."

Orochimaru flashed his summon a smile and looked at his former teacher. "All right, let's begin…"

"KAKAKA! I'm free! Hey, fox, how does it feel being locked up, eh?! Look at me, I'm FREE! KAKAKA—"

"Crazy Tanuki, I pity you. Unlike you, I have a vessel that can kick your dusty ass, BAHAHA!"

Thundering roars of the two beasts filled the arena and all the fighting forces looked over to witness the scene. When they saw the One-Tails, they were shocked, but when they saw its rapidly deteriorating face, they were terrified!

"DAMN! Naruto, why'd you have to enrage the One Tails inside the village?!" Jiraiya couldn't help but curse out loud, not realizing that it was the Nine-Tails who spoke and not its host.

"DAMNED FOX! Just wait, I'll tear you and your vessel apart!"

The One-Tails said through gritted teeth when suddenly, the ethereal voice of Naruto echoed out. "One-Tails, why don't we talk?"

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

"ARGHHH!"

The ninjas watched with frigid bodies as the giant sand beast crumbled into chunks of sand and melt like butter out in the hot sun. Meanwhile, Orochimaru's face was darker than the bottom of a pot as he watched the One Tails disappear from the arena.

"Damned brat, you just had to ruin everything…"

"And I plan to ruin more of you, Orochimaru," just as Orochimaru was muttering to himself, a voice echoed inside his ears. Not just him, but his teammates, sensei, and Danzo heard the voice as well making them look at its source. The voice was childish and playful as if a kid was excited to eat ice cream in the middle of summer.

Their gaze landed on the same figure with red hair and crossed arms, his vibrant eyes glowing like the sun in the sky. It was none other than Naruto Uzumaki.

"Ha… everything is going wrong today," Orochimaru chuckled and clasped his hands to summon three coffins.

TRRRK—GRRR…

"Hm?"

At first, Naruto didn't react to the coffins, but when he sensed the chakra inside the third coffin, his eyes narrowed dangerously and sent Orochimaru a malicious glare. "Adamantine Chains," Naruto whispered and three chains burst forth from his chest and slammed toward the three coffins faster than they could open.

BANG!

As the coffins burst open, they revealed greyish paper that scattered into the wind as two potent chakra signatures lingered in the air for a moment. However, the third coffin that emerged was filled with nothing but air as Orochimaru jumped far away from the chains that tried to strangle him, making Naruto sigh.

"Well, that's a bummer. Let's meet again someday, Naruto-kun," Orochimaru licked his lips. A full-blown Uzumaki was standing in front of him, and he can even use the adamantine chains. The insatiable thirst for knowledge inside Orochimaru was restless to come out.

Likewise, Naruto was feeling the same. 'Orochimaru, we meet again. This time, I won't let you go,' Naruto vowed. It can be said that being a scientist in the ninja world was tantamount to putting a target on your head.

Why?

Because there are people like Naruto, who wanted nothing more than to rob those scientists of their knowledge, and Orochimaru was the greatest scientist since the Second Hokage, making him a prime target for someone like Naruto.

"BIND," Naruto ordered, his voice laced with chakra as the chains suddenly moved as if coming to life, charging with vigor toward the snake sannin. Orochimaru chuckled and bent his body as if he had turned into a snake, twisting and turning in impossible ways.

"Fuinjutsu: Four Demonic Hands," Jiraiya muttered and poured his chakra into the air. As soon as his chakra surrounded Orochimaru, they condensed and turned into black ink. As another Fuinjutsu Master, Orochimaru had long sensed Jiraiya's plan.

"Fuinjutsu: Dispel," Orochimaru muttered and from his mouth crawled out white-ish chakra that bound the ink-chakra trying to bind him in place. While this happened, Naruto's chakra chains weren't idle and tried to wrap around his body, but he suddenly secreted slippery slime all throughout his body and jumped high into the air, only to be greeted by Tsunade's rough punch.

BANG! When the punch met Orochimaru's face, the latter growled and burst into hundreds of small snakes. Naruto frowned and opened a scroll, "Unseal," he said and came forth a giant scroll that opened in mid-air, dancing like an eastern dragon. "Fuinjutsu: Fire Dragon Guardian."

ROAAAR!

Suddenly, a giant fire dragon half the size of Manda appeared and tried to burn Orochimaru's snakes into ash, but Manda coiled around Orochimaru and defended him. Naruto didn't know how tough Manda's scales were so he used the opportunity to test them.

"What?"

He was thankful that he did as he learned that even after using a tenth of his chakra volume for the Fire Dragon Guardian, Manda's scales were only steaming but otherwise unharmed.

"Naruto, Manda is immune to fire," Jiraiya's voice suddenly came and Naruto understood what happened. "Great, I wasted chakra. An earlier warning would've been appreciated," Naruto grumbled and closed the Golden Dragon Scroll that was in midair.

"Sorry," Jiraiya chuckled and watched as Mana uncoiled his body, revealing an unharmed Orochimaru. "It's a shame that our summons is only here for decoration, eh?" Orochimaru laughed as he spat out a sword from his mouth.

"Sword of Kusanagi," Jiraiya mumbled as Tsunade walked beside him. "Damn, I guess I'm out for this battle then?" Tsunade cursed. That sword could dice her up, so unless she found an opportunity to make Orochimaru drop it, she wouldn't join the battle recklessly.

Furthermore, it wasn't like she could just rampage inside the village.

"Oh well. Now, we can only rely on genjutsu, fuinjutsu, or small-scale ninjutsu if we want to keep the village intact… hey, Naruto!" Before Jiraiya could finish talking, Naruto went ahead and charged toward Orochimaru who was chuckling.

"Uh-oh, I got caught," Orochimaru said as he and Manda vanished in a puff of smoke, yet Naruto didn't stop running. As Orochimaru said, he'd already sensed where Orochimaru ran off.

"HOLD ON! You're an Uzumaki, right?" Tsunade yelled. Naruto glanced at her before forming a single-hand seal with one hand. POOF! "Yes, I am," Naruto's shadow clone answered her question while the original body kept chasing Orochimaru's chakra signature.

"What do you plan to do?" Tsunade asked, her eyes containing an impatient glint. Seeing Naruto's confused expression, Jiraiya flickered next to him as Hiruzen and Danzo approached the three. They all didn't plan on chasing after Orochimaru for they all knew it was pointless.

Only Naruto wanted to give it a try.

"Naruto, Tsunade is a Senju, but she's a quarter Uzumaki as her Grandmother is Uzumaki Mito, the previous jinchuriki before your mother," Jiraiya explained, earning a nod from Naruto.

"Are you curious about the clan?" Naruto asked before shaking his head with a sigh. "I guess you wouldn't be asking if you weren't, and I assume you know about my 'bloodline'," Naruto stated and earned a nod from Tsunade, much to Jiraiya's confusion.

Naturally, they were talking about the Royal Bloodline of the Uzumaki clan.

It's ironic, Tsunade held the Royal Bloodline of both the Uzumaki and Senju clans but got neither the Adamantine Sealing Chains nor the Wood Release.

"My plan is simple. If I can find enough real Uzumaki, then I plan on rebuilding the clan. If not, I have another plan, but I don't want to tell anyone yet," Naruto chuckled and gave Jiraiya an apologetic look. Jiraiya shrugged his shoulders to show that it was fine.

"Rebuilding the clan… will I one day see their rise?" Tsunade inquired. She was the last of the Senju, and she was already old without hope of ever rebuilding her clan. That's why she wanted her second clan to at least escape the fate of extinction.

"I don't know. But the Uzumaki will definitely earn back the glory we deserve as long as I live," Naruto said and watched as Hiruzen and Danzo enter the sound barrier. As soon as they did, Danzo spoke up with a stern voice. Hiruzen and Danzo both didn't hear their conversation as Jiraiya secretly formed a sound barrier around them when he saw the solemn gaze of his teammate.

"Uzumaki, return what rightfully belongs to Konoha."

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