Chapter 87 Attack on Dragon?

The room was in chaos. For some reason, the Kages were panicking. I wasn't sure why the ghost army was awake and running amuck this early, but the solution was simple. We needed to find the priestess and have her seal the demon away again. Shion would be young, but they implied she was practicing for a while.

Going to find the priestess wouldn't do much for the land of Iron, which would no doubt be a pile of rubble soon, but sacrifice and all that.

Mifune stood and called for his samurais to rally and escort the citizens to the stronghold. The Kages were doing the same, telling every able-bodied man, which was really only the jonins, to prepare a retreat. I watched as they planned an exit route, seeing this place as a lost cause.

Oddly enough, no one mentioned the Priestess. As I cut off a stone arm, I thought I'd move the plot along.

"Weren't these things defeated before?" I called, eyes still unfocused. "They fell in the Land of demons, right?"

The Kages looked around uneasy.

"Yes, but there's no hope for us now," Hiruzen said when no one responded.

"How so? Can't we do what they did?"

He turned to me and told me a rather unusual story.

Years ago, Moryo and a shinobi clan set out to conquer the world. They marched on nation after nation, devastating everything in their wake. The world was on the brink of destruction. And then it stopped. A priestess from the land of demons sacrificed her life and clan to seal the Demon and its ghost army. The thing was, everyone in that land disappeared without a trace. It became known as the Ghosting and left a mark in history.

That was not what I knew to be true. The entire clan was gone, Shion too? If everyone was gone, who was supposed to seal the demon now?

Naruto voiced my thoughts as I focused on stalling. I got worried when the room went quiet. The truth was that only a priestess could seal the demon away, and while I knew where its body and soul were, I could do nothing. I only knew a part of the incantation and wasn't sure it was a sealing ritual.

I recalled Naruto destroying the demon, but I dismissed it. Naruto still needed the power of the priestess to defeat Moryo. No matter what I thought, we needed the priestess. I grit my teeth.

I pulled my hair stick from my hair and drew blood from my hand. A new swarm of Springflys spawned and made its way south.

"If these things are here, Moryo must be nearby," I informed them. "I don't know how to kill him, so you guys figure something out." With a wave of my hand, the summons formed a dome of swords surrounding the army. Channelling Madara's chakra, I set them on fire.

"Ryujin Jakka!" I declared, and the swords fell on the army, forming a barrier with their broken corpses.

Like literal fireflies, my summons retreated to a higher altitude, looking down at our handy work. Their wings fluttered with the flames of Madara; they looked like mini phoenixes.

"Don't you get it! Without the power of the Priestess, it is hopeless," Raikage yelled. Why was everyone so negative?

"Didn't they say that about the Jinchurikis as well?" I fired back. The fallen soldiers faded into black smoke, and the barrier was gone; they resumed their march. "When the First died, everyone was worried about the seals on the Jinchurikis, right? But you persevered, found a way to seal the Jinchurikis, and survived!" I fired another volley of Ryujin Jakka. "If you all put your heads together, I'm sure you can come up with something."

Talk no Jutsu was Naruto's specialty, not mine, but I did well. The Kages would realize, "They don't need no man," or Priestess in this case, and seal Moryo away with the power of Friendship.

Perhaps I placed too much faith in bitter old men.

The room was quiet, and I saw the realization dawning on their faces.

"We didn't invent new seals," Yagura offered when everyone remained quiet.

"What?" Naruto asked for me. Yagura looked pleased.

"We didn't invent new seals; we replaced the manufacturer."

Sasuke stilled, the first to understand the implication. Naruto looked even more confused.

"Manufacturer?" he asked.

"They used the Uzumaki," Sasuke answered him, sounding bitter. "They took the nomads of the Uzumaki clan and made them create new seals." His eyes bled red, and he glared. "They all did."

"What were we supposed to do!" Onoki yelled in defense. "No one else could control such power but Hashirama and the Uzumaki!"

"But you destroyed their homes," Naruto said weakly. I could already tell he was thinking about what Ina said that night about everyone using the Uzumaki clan. He began to tremble, looking away from the third in disgust.

I wasn't surprised, just disappointed.

"So you guys are useless to me then," I concluded coldly. They seemed offended.

The samurai came to the scene and attacked the soldiers with their chakra blades slicing through them. Seeing the soldiers fade to smoke, I knew it was futile.

Ghost army. I never understood why they called the Ghost Army, but if they returned after every defeat.

I stood on shaky legs. Sasuke and Naruto fussed over me. I closed my eyes to concentrate and opened the conference room again.

The rookie twelve were confused and looked at me expectantly.

"Chaos is happening outside. Soon, the Stronghold will be overrun by civilians. I need you on the battlefield, so get your ass out here, grab your Jonin, and meet me at Wolf Mountain." With that, the connection dropped, and I nodded to my teammates. Ever trusting, they returned my nod and ran off to find Kakashi and Yamato.

"Sakura," Hiruzen hissed, but I ignored him. I linked to a nearby Springfly and switched places. I sighed a frosty breath as I looked over the village. This was a disaster. I thought I knew everything, but it seemed the future changed. I should have known when I saw Ina and Obito in the clan massacre. For some reason, I thought it was okay for her to be there, that it made sense somehow.

Shaking my head, I focused on the present problem. I was trying to rid this place of Moryo.

"I could try sealing him," I tried.

No!

"I did come prepared to seal something, so maybe," I tried again.

No! Sealing souls is different from sealing a demon!

"Not by much," I muttered.

Moryo isn't like the Tailed Beast. It's a crazy demon that wants nothing more than to conquer the world. Are you so positive that you can contain such power? Think about what happened to Yomi!

I bit my lip in frustration. Nothing was going according to plan. I am not prepared for this!

Snow crunched, and I turned to see a familiar face.

Black hair dancing in the wind, Itachi gave me a curious look.

"I've seen that face before," he commented. "Don't do anything stupid." I chuckled. Turning back to the chaos, I responded.

"I never do," I said. "I didn't think you'd make it."

"I'd never miss my brother's exams," he declared. Brother complex is thick with this one.

"I don't think they'll be much of an exam, I'm afraid."

We were silent, listening to the chaos, panic, and distant sound of battle.

"What do you have planned?" He asked

"The only real way to win is to kill Moryo," I responded, my face saying what I thought of that plan.

"What else?"

"We could seal him, but the host won't survive, and he could break free once they die," I clenched my fist.

"What else?" He asked in the same flat tone.

I felt like crying.

"We could run away, but he's likely to destroy the world and start his thousand-year kingdom."

"Perhaps there's another option," he offered, his voice soft.

I turned to him, confused.

"Not every battle has to end with a win or lose; some end with a draw," He explained. I wasn't any more enlightened. He chuckled; it sounded nice. "Perhaps we can drive him back, force him to retreat."

I would have laughed if his eyes didn't sparkle with determination.

I thought about it and looked back at the chaos. The civilians were thinning out and disappearing into the mountains. The samurai wouldn't be much help with their inability to use jutsu. While they could cut down a soldier or two, I found myself constantly shielding them from overwhelming attacks.

The land of iron would only survive if the Kages got together and fought. Something I knew they would never do; they were packing up to leave.

"Those geezers would never work together," I told him. "They would rather watch the other lands destroyed before they tried to stop the army."

"The Kages might not want to, but that doesn't mean the nations would fight together," he sounded smug.

I gasped when I felt it, turning to him wide-eyed. He had a smug smile on his face.

"If I leave you alone, I know you'll only get yourself in trouble," he said. "So I brought back -up for your backup."

The Anbus appeared first, kneeling behind their leader, Sai, and his brother among them. The torture team came next, looking mildly amused. Ino-shika-cho senior and the Jonins arrived with the genins. The Leaf ninjas were ready for war. Tree hugging my ass.

I looked in awe at the turnout.

"I leave you alone for four minutes, and you're already planning a war," Kakashi chuckled.

"You should really leave this to the adult kid," Shikaku grunted as Inoichi smiled nervously.

Naruto and Sasuke ran to my side, grinning.

"Almost everyone from the leaf village is here," Naruto cheered.

"Everyone else is protecting the Stronghold," Sasuke added.

I nodded and turned to the group.

"Alright, everyone, while I could do a heart-wrenching speech about justice and "will of fire," I rolled my eyes. "The truth is if we don't do something about this, the shinobi world will be no more. At least for a thousand years, but a lot can happen in a thousand years. We might very well forget about chakra and ninjutsu." I paused, thinking about why that was a bad thing. Before I could dwell on it, Itachi spoke.

"What Sakura is trying to say," he began. "The Ghost army is a nationwide threat; if we don't stop them here, the Great Nations won't survive. For the safety of everyone in the land of Fire, we have to fight."

The group roared for some reason.

"War mongers," I muttered. Stepping forward, I began again.

"Since I know most of you, it would be sad if you died," They didn't look amused. I ran my sharp hair stick across my palm; the blood that stained the snow glowed pink and spawned a new swarm. One springfly per person. The summons landed on their body before turning into a tattooed seal. "This seal will transport you to a safe area if you say the code word. "Goddess Mercy.' It's not something that comes up on the battlefield, so refrain from saying it unless necessary."

"Did you seriously create your own Raijin?" Kakashi asked.

"No," I waved him off. "It's forced substitution jutsu," I explained. "Raijin was different. The person moved from place to place with that seal; mine swaps you with my summons."

"Impressive," Shikaku mused. "You managed to take a simple jutsu and make it so versatile."

I was about to respond, but an explosion from behind stopped all conversation. The walls protecting the village crumpled as the soldiers marched into the deserted village.

"Ino-shika-cho, stay behind. The rest of you can go on ahead," I stated. "Give 'em hell."

The group rushed forward, leaping off the edge and taking down soldiers as they landed.

"So what's the plan?" Shikamaru asked.

I pulled out a scroll and unsealed it. Ten bodies appeared, all made in my likeness with long back hair.

"How's your mind possession jutsu?"

Raikage, A, watched the chaos unfold from his hotel room. He already knew the samurai couldn't handle the ghost army. This land would fall, and then the next. With the Land of Lightning's terrain, it would be a while before the army reached his village; plenty of time to think of a plan.

Without the knowledge and Fuinjutsu of the Uzumaki, the Cloud Village was at a disadvantage. They would survive, he decided, at least longer than the Leaf.

He turned away as the army breached the village walls. It was the end.

The battle cry caused him to turn once more to the window. Below amid chaos, the Leaf shinobis fought.

Outnumbered 50 to 1, and yet, they fought. Raikage scoffed. It was a pointless endeavour that he couldn't understand. What was the point of fighting for this clearly doomed land?

"Multi shadow clone jutsu!"

There was an explosion of orange, and the blond Uzumaki dominated the battlefield, evening the numbers in seconds.

With a cry of a thousand birds, Kakashi, the 'copy ninja,' sliced through the soldiers like butter.

Raikage was impressed. It was why he hated the leaf. As much as the village claimed to love peace, they thrived in war. The bingo book had more Leaf Ninja than any other nation. When he saw the two small Hyuga genins perform a rotation, he pondered, taking both in all the confusion. He smirked, thinking of Sakura's reaction, but all thought processes halted when the sky glowed pink. A pink Glyph, sporting a cheery blossom, flooded above them as though painted on the sky. The glyph began to spin, and the Ghost army froze. Raikage's eyes went wide as he watched in amazement.

They stopped the army.

There was a flash of pink. He almost missed it. If not for his fast reaction speed, thanks to his jutsu, he would only see the aftermath. The army faded into black smoke, carried away by the wind. It was a lightning attack; no calling it that would be too insulting. It was a storm of lightning. When the Ghost army stopped, a pink lightning dragon carved through the enemy, leaving black smoke and scorched earth behind.

The window cracked under the weight of his palms. He didn't realize he was leaning on the glass until it almost gave. Stepping back, he shoved away the awe and replaced it with anger. Raikage knew of the devastation the last appearance of the Ghost army caused. There's no way the Leaf Village vanquished the army so easily!

And he was right.

The ground shook, and the window shattered. Raikage A stepped away, his eyes wide in disbelief. A look of pure terror fell odd on his face, but there it was.

Despair.

A dragon of purple malice towered over the three-wolf mountain. Eyes red, it glared down at the Land of Iron. Larger than a tail beast, the majestic creature spelled their end. As the dragon opened its maws, Raikage regretted not bringing his secretary.

My Vacation was great!

I went to a waterfall and then the beach, all around relaxing. Now that I'm back, I'm buried under work.

But!

I'm rested, so I can power through. This fic was late because of work, but imma work on the next chapter now, so the next chapter will be on time.

Next Chapter

Aug 30

Until next time,

Night Song~