Chapter 27: Orochimaru is cornered!
Hiruzen, at the time, did not consider his title. Nor did he consider the ninjas who served under him. He was stuck in a loop of thoughts that danced around vengeance. Anko had been kidnapped. Choza might not make it. The Inuzukas, the Aburame, the Harunos, the Hyagas, The Uchihas, the Uzumakis. These were all great names that aided the village in their own way. And these names might be at risk of losing an important part of their family. If only Hiruzen had killed Orochimaru, none of these atrocities would've happened!
But what if something were to happen to him? Who will lead the village?
He would have to believe that Nara, Ibiki and Kakashi would act on his behalf during his absence. They would identify what takes priority and execute any method to achieve the goal. Whatever goal that may be, because at the time, Hiruzen could do nothing but focus on eliminating the targets in front of him.
Kakashi turned in time to witness a Godzilla snake that went rampant at the border. The safety of team 7 remained a forefront thought, but he knew his task assigned by the Third Hokage came first. After tossing what he hoped to be the last of the remaining enemies to the pile of bodies, he performed a fireball technique and burned the bodies. He held the technique until the carcasses were nothing more than a pile of bones. He ended the technique and watched the smoke travel upward like a bonfire, as similar scenes were occurring all around him, as he was not the only one with the same task of finding and eliminating threats.
The sound of the fire crackling became background noise as a couple of Jounins walked up to Kakashi. Silence befell them over the urgency of the situation. And the silence lingered. Anko was kidnapped for unknown reasons, and without her around, there was no one to fill the silence with snarky comments or sexual comments.
Ibiki and Genma walked up to the group, looking serious.
"You think that was the last of them?" Genma's voice cut through the silence as he chewed on his sebon. The question, was directed toward Kakashi.
Kakashi reacted slightly. "With these snakes, you just never really know. Let's aid the Hokage, then find Anko."
"You don't know if that will be the Hokage's plan," Ibiki commented. "A lot could've happened between now and then,"
"It's not in my will to be scums and leave anyone behind. We will find her, orders or not." Kakashi was aware that Orochimaru doesn't place value in human lives, thus a rescue mission was in order, not just for Anko's sake, but for the village.
Genma stopped chewing the poisoned needle, which he tends to use like it was a toothpick.
"Being a sensei has changed you." He said with a smirk.
Chakra or not, Chouji's father was heavy.
Sasuke was running low on chakra just as he was nearing the hospital, and before he could collapse, some medics quickly met him outside and took him from him.
The waiting room was packed. Everyone watching the battle that took place far away, while the floor felt like it was shaking with each time Manda slithered and slammed it's tail. Ino's eyes pulled away from the battle and noticed someone familiar being taken in, as well as Sasuke coming up the steps and into the hospital.
That was Chouji's dad…wasn't it? Her fears were confirmed when Chouji yelled right next to her.
"Dad!" He shoved past several strangers as his father was being carried inside an emergency room.
"Step aside, we have to stabilize him!" A medic yelled frantically as they shoved past Chouji, Ino and Shikamaru, wheeling him away.
His father had looked so pale…
"Did you see what happened to him!?" Chouji asked Sasuke.
"No. I found him unconscious in the forest. He had a weird bite on his neck. I think he was poisoned-"
Wait a second. Where's Naruto and Sakura? Where's that other team with the bug boy and dog face?
Shikamaru looked him up and down as he didn't seem to have any sort of scratch.
"And why aren't you hurt? Did you abandon your team?"
Ino's eyes widened. No way? Did Sasuke really abandon them? Her hand reached on its own accord, gripping his collar.
"You coward! I used to think you were so cool, but you left our friends to die!"
"Ino, Shikamaru give it a rest. We don't know anything about the situation. Anything could've happened out there. He-He brought back my dad," Chouji said while hiccuping and crying.
"That's true…" Ino murmured.
"If you really knew me, you would know I would never abandon my team," That idiot went out of her way to protect this village the only way she knew how. Sasuke approached the window and looked at the battle happening. He gripped his hand on each side. If the Hokage doesn't end things, he would make sure he would make Orochimaru suffer.
Just give me a few years, and you'll see, he said to himself with renowned resolve. Whether he gets his brother or Orochimaru first, it doesn't matter. Those two will pay.
"Why is everyone gathered here?" Sasuke asked the room.
Neji glanced his way, "It was Lord Hokage's order. All the Jounins and chunins are out there fighting. They said the hospital was the only safe place for us."
Things began to feel dire for Orochimaru when Hiruzen bridged their distance and their weapon clashed while on top of Manda's head. Orochimaru knew time was of the essence, and he needed to retreat and leave the village in order to avoid a certain loud-mouth-silvered-hair-pervert who used to be his teammate. Having been around Orochimaru long enough, Kabuto knew his sensei was using all his efforts to escape, and so he reached into his weapon pouch to aid. Hiruzen jumped back to avoid Kabuto's attack. He could tell right away that the young man was not just Orochimaru's minion, but also his student, in the way he fought, his movement reflective of that of a snake when he moved to attack.
Manda glanced up, annoyed that the Hokage was on his head and that they were using him as a sort of battle arena. He trashed his tail around, while flailing, trying to shake him off. Orochimaru and Kabuto found ways to stay stabilized by holding onto its scales, while Hiruzen flipped away, landing on Tsume's mount as it cut across, landing on a tall tree.
"Tsume!" The Hokage said, her presence pulling him out of his vengeful thoughts. He couldn't believe had considered using all kinds of forbidden technique that could've shaved the remaining of his life.
"Hurting children like their lives don't matter, like their future don't matter, of course I'd return! It got personal the moment their safety got involved!"
"My team wants to know what the plan is." A Shinobi spoke, with his team behind him.
"Kakashi," Ibiki called out, wanting to confirm if they had similar ideas. He had identified their failures but knew that they could still turn the tide if they didn't allow Orochimaru to successfully exit the village.
"The Lord Hokage has taken it upon himself to defeat Orochimaru within our walls. That gives us an advantage. If we activate the barriers, we can keep Manda and Orochimaru trapped inside the Village. Normally a tactic like this, a big risk. But the risk is minimal because all the enemies has already been tracked and eliminated." Kakashi spoke as he stepped forward and shoved his hands in his pockets.
The Chunins nodded with big smiles on their faces at the prospect of coming out of this as victors.
"And that leaves just three. Manda, Orochimaru, and his young apprentice." Ibiki said.
"Lord Hokage, where Choza? I thought he'll be here," Inoichi asked when the two had caught up.
"No time to talk, he's trying to get away!" Tsuma growled.
"Well that's not going to happen now that I'm here!" A hyper, and outgoing voice said as the outline of his silhouette shone with the sunlight, he was standing proudly on a tree with his arm crossed and his red hoari moving with the wind. He leaped in the air, making hand signs while leaping on top of Manda. "Ninja style: Summoning no Jutsu! Crush the lizard technique!"
In one instance, Manda was on his belly, as a large toad sat on top of him. Orochimaru and Kabuto leaped away as if abandoning a ship, leaving Manda who cursed all the surrounding humans.
Gamaken, the toad, said as he stood proudly, with his arms crossed, with two swords on his back. His posture and confidence mirrored that of his summoning companion.
"My my my, if it isn't Manda. It's been a long time. You used to be a tiny puny reptile," He didn't even want to know how many lives Orochimaru had been feeding him. The comment made Manda finally realize that Orochimaru had lied, and there were no human snacks nearby. Manda hissed towards Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru, you'd better prepare at least 500 hundred sacrifices the next time we meet, you got that!" Manda demanded before dispersing himself back to his daily life in his realm.
"I'll tell Gamabunta you said hi!" Gamaken said while waving at the disappearing smoke.
"For someone who's supposed to be a genius, you went and done it now, huh old friend?" Jairaya said sarcastically to his previous teammate, his eyes following hundreds of Shinobis who had joined them by then, Kakashi and Ibiki were in that same crowd.
The scenario Orochimaru had been avoiding came true as a sphere of chakra surrounded the village. They were trapped. Still, he smiled and licked his lips. His posture changed as he became more confident all of a sudden. Kabuto sent his sensei a look, thinking he had lost it.
"If you don't want anything happening to Anko, then I advise you to let us go,"
Hi everyone! omg I see new names thank you for following me wow. I don't know if I'm really back. I found a draft sitting on my old computer when I was going down a path of memory lane and decided to polish it and finish it. I can tell I was supposed to write an epic battle but I'm rusty sorry lol. As I mentioned a while back, I got a job and that got in the way and plus my personal life. Next thing I knew poof! Years went by. I'm no longer the same age from when I started this, so I feel disconnected from the story. The world have change so much since posting the first chapter in 2016. So idk if this story will be well received as opposed to back then.