"However strong you become, never seek to bear everything alone. If you do, failure is certain."
Itachi Uchiha
Caves were always regarded with fear and apprehension. They were said to be gateways to other dimensions and worlds. Others said monsters and creatures lurked in the deepest depths where nobody could hope to reach no matter how long they went at it. Others viewed them as medians and would use them for their meditations. The norm though, was fear and apprehension.
Caves were dark and ancient, they were the houses of the secrets of the earth in a sense, and that brought even more apprehension since one would say it's 'living'. Some would say 'conscious' or 'consciously aware'
Saying a cave was a living entity, conscious, or consciously aware was bordering on the inane, but people still held this true as every other superstition that came having to do with caves.
"How much time has passed?" Usagi questioned, finally breaking the silence. She felt like she was walking around in circles, which wouldn't be too far off considering everything looked the same just about and there were a lot of winding passages that wormed all around. She was also certain it had to be two hours since they got in here, everyone too a small break to relieve themselves, which could only mean a substantial amount of time passed.
"No idea." Tobirama replied in his baritone voice.
"An hour?" Haji shrugged.
"Two hours?" Toka ventured, shrugging lightly.
"Half hour?" Osen ventured.
Three hours passed. Four passed. Two thousand hours passed. Four thousand hours could have passed and they wouldn't have known it. Not a single bit. There was no way to tell in a cave, there was no sunlight, no nothing to determine how far they were into the day itself. Navigating through the cave proved to be dangerous and treacherous even for them.
There were many openings and gaps with every step they took, they ranged from giant to tiny, they were high and low, altogether they were natural killers. One could easily get lost in here and never come back out alive.
It could get to be a disorienting after a long while and there was the saying that if one spent too much time in caves they'd eventually go blind.
Usagi kept their torches lit up easily. Every so often she'd expel a small amount of fire from her mouth lighting the tinder and forcing crackles and pops to echo around them. She stayed next to Tobirama as she continued her trek, the walls were narrow where they currently were forcing them to walk in an almost single file. It was a little more than nerve wracking for her since she wasn't used to being so confined, but she was close to Tobirama so she could let it slide she supposed.
Her steps were carefully placed as to not shift the earth under her and create another gaping hole-it had happened now about twenty times. It forced them to change their course, thus pushing them deeper into the caves.
There wasn't a trace of wind, not even a desolate whisper, and the deathly silence stretched around them like the darkness shrouding them nearly. The terrain constantly changed but there were many things that stayed the same. The 'ceilings' were around the same height, passages went from narrow to wide though it seemed to be at random there was no single passage that appeared to be the same entirely.
They were jagged and oblique spiraling around it a complicated series.
"I don't like this..." Tsugi muttered out loud. The silence was starting to eat at him. He kept a constant eye on his surroundings as if he were watching for something to pop out from one of the openings. It wasn't all that unusual for shinobi to take shelter in caves and at times use a cave to house their compound. "We shouldn't be in this cave system..."
"I think I'm inclined to agree..." Disuke muttered, his sharp gaze sweeping over everything as they made it through the narrow path, stepping onto a more open but still more dangerous route spotting a few stalagmites towering up from the ground like bright beacons in the everlasting darkness. "Something feels... Sinister in here."
"It could be the menk." Usagi said.
"I really hope not..." Hashirama's brows creased together. That was the last thing they needed to deal with on top of the Bijuu. There was the same tale that everyone spoke of that he was told as a child... The menk resided in the cave system, they terrorized and hunted shinobi and non-shinobi alike at one point in time until many shinobi clans, the Senju included went to war with the beasts. He wasn't so sure about the details, but despite the numbers being in the shinboi's favor the menk would literally bulldoze them with a tree.
"That can't be they were hunted down practically all at once." Osen spoke up peering at her comrades, staying close to Ryoku. "There were very little survivors and they reside in the woods now for the most part, you can see the signs of a terrible fire that took place here." She pointed her finger to her left as she spoke, and true to her word there were small bits of black remains and ash scattered about and went as far back as several hundred feet some of it even clinging to the cave's walls still.
"This whole cave system at one point was ravaged in fire." Syrus said, tightening his arms against his chest. "I'd doubt there's any of those filthy beasts in here now.:
"If there was one we'd definitely know." Hesui remarked. "Those things are loud and bold." Whenever one of those damn things roared it'd shake the trees and spread through the forest like a shock wave.
"You're not kidding..." Tobirama muttered to himself recalling his few close run ins with the menk as a child. There had been one time that was burned into his mind forever. He had just turned nine and ten Senju shinobi hadn't returned from a mission. It was an easy mission a simple assassination and gather supplies on their way back. The supplies never came back.
A week later they had discovered the bodies lying mutilated beyond recognition near a river. The bodies had been so torn and ripped he actually vomited seeing it... He had witnessed death, but this was something completely different. It made his blood freeze and hands shake with apprehension. A human couldn't have done that.
Roughly twenty more minutes pass. They didn't slow down their pace any. The terrain changed from dangerous to treacherous to nearly impossible to navigate-if it weren't for their shinobi training they wouldn't have made it through some of the passages. Finally they came to a slow halt, peering up at the huge earth wall that blocked them off from anything else.
The 'room' they were in was easily hundreds of feet in length and width, several huge stones or rocks of some sort were set up in a half sphere a few situated right against the wall. Hashirama curiously looked at their new surroundings, his dark eyes narrowing as he stretched his senses out around him-couldn't sense a thing.
"Where are we?" Hesui asked.
"Honestly, no idea." Toka replied. "I lost my sense of direction way back there."
"And, where was back there?" Usagi asked, laughing softly.
"Back at that one corner." Osen joined in on the fun."
"No... The other one." Toka tapped her chin, feigning being clueless.
Women... Disuke sighed at the trio's antics shaking his head once.
Disuke walked up to one of the boulders examining it closely before turning his eyes up on towards the dirt wall. Silent. He observed the natural made structure. "There's nowhere else for us to go, this seems... To be a dead end." He placed one hand on the boulder. It was solid most definitely, but there was a fine layer of dust covering it.
"How can you tell?" Usagi asked.
"Look around." Tobirama sarcastically quipped.
"Very funny, smart ass." Usagi retorted, glaring at Tobirama for a moment. Disuke's voice tore his focus away from the white haired Senju who looked pretty smug.
"I'm very adept with the element of earth. This place, geographically speaking is right above a river, I can tell because the ground higher up is softer than the rest down here. Also, all of the passages seem to come to this single point, if we go one way or the other we'll end up here, lost, at a dead end, or through some means back where we started outside." Disuke explained in as few words as possible his focus still elsewhere despite his rather simple but insightful answer. He glanced at everyone in tow with his stoic expression, his face showing little emotion other than concentration.
"And, what about these boulders and that wall?" Haji questioned, spacing himself out from the rest of the group and starting to run his hand against one boulder. He covered his nose and mouth so the fine cloud of dust didn't force him into a gagging fit. He couldn't help but ponder how such a huge and well fortified wall could be placed so firmly, the same went for the boulders. It wouldn't be strange if this was through nature, but there were some signs that pointed to someone else's or something's tinkering.
"Parts of it are real... But, there are some parts that have been added on and fixed to fit accordingly. The boulders are real enough, I can't sense or feel any change with them, but the wall..." Disuke paused letting the thought linger among the group.
"He isn't lying..." Syrus said softly, uneasily.
"I was afraid that'd be the case." Hashirama mused softly. He tensed his jaw, teeth clenched against each other. The wall was giant even if he were to use his Mokuton it'd take a long time to fill out the space this solid dirt wall did, he didn't doubt he could just about replicate how the structure looked, but the time, effort and chakra it'd take to do just that was too much to be sacrificed.
The task wasn't worth that much. He could tell by the subtle signs that there wasn't something natural about this wall. "Which means if we scale up that wall there's no telling what could happen." He forced himself not to sigh, this was a sticky situation and he didn't want anyone with him to die here.
"Could be better than just standing here." Usagi said.
"Or it could be worse." Tobirama was quick to retort. "We just need to stay here and wait."
"Wait for what!?"
"The passages all lead to this point." Haji said, giving his sister a blank stare when he turned to look at her. "Which means the Bijuu has to come back here eventually We'll be here to greet the beast."
Tobirama was growing impatient and a bit anxious made his way towards the rock wall with a stoic expression. Slowly he set a hand on it,ruby eyes tracing up to the top of the formation. "Usagi and Tsugi come with me." He said in his baritone voice, glancing back to wait for the two to step towards him, but they were already there and present.
Tobirama sped up the wall followed closely by Tsugi and Usagi, the shadows of darkness clung to the upper walls in desperation as their torches formed small beacons. We're a good eight hundred feet, possibly more off of the ground.
"Hey! Can you hear me down there!?" Usagi shouted from the edge of wall, cupping her hands over her mouth for better effect. Tobirama sighed at her antics as he heard his brother yell back up 'yes, but I can't see you' The two of them started shouting back and forth, with all of his might Tobirama tried to ignore their antics.
He wasn't concerned about the acoustics in this cave system, his eyes scanned where he stood, and with a small tap of his sandal tested the structure's strength. It didn't give or slack against his strength, which was a good thing it showed that there was enough fortitude behind it and supporting it that it wouldn't cave easily.
"Disuke is right." Tsugi's deep but cool voice tore him from his thoughts and temporarily stopped Usagi from yelling down at the others. "Something isn't right about this wall... It's almost as if it was pulverized into place." He couldn't think of anyone or anything that could do this... Not many people just went into these caves shinobi and non-shinobi alike. If shinobi did enter then they would have to had hailed from the Earth country, they had a better understanding or geography and experienced in doton.
Faintly, Tsugi banged his fist against a part of the wall, concealing his surprise when a part of it crumbled in on itself. "See..."
Usagi's eyes narrowed as she looked at the uneven edge. "This is strange."
"As is disturbing me from my slumber!" A feral voice boomed throughout the entire structure shaking the walls and causing age old dust to fly down in patches. "Subatsu and Senju...! Stupid arrogant humans! I'll devour every single one of you!" The voice boomed against, this time accompanied by the vicious rattling and shaking of their current perch, a part of a boulder cracked several meters away from them, the giant piece of rubble slamming into the wall spreading cracks even further. The trio dashed towards the edge, forcing chakra into their hips, and sprung high into the air just evading a mess of debris and part of the wall.
"Brother!" Hashirama exclaimed sprinting towards him.
"What the hell is that?" Syrus asked, focusing his eyes onto Usagi.
"I've got a feeling, but I don't want to say." Ryoku muttered.
"It's big, bad, and causes mountains to quake before its might." Tsugi continued.
All at once the earth wall and boulders erupted into millions of pieces scattering and flying around moving as fast as twenty miles per hour broken and ruptured by some unseen force. The earthen projectiles slammed and crashed into the nearby cave wall shattering parts of it and indenting other parts of it with vicious force, the impact was enough to jar everyone's bones as they fought the remain stable and evade the impromptu dirt shower.
A deathly silence fell over everyone and none of them decided to speak or make a move they just stood frozen in their spots, eyes tracing over everything, and their senses stretched out. A large paw shrouded in nothing but blue and black fire slammed down before them, shaking the entire cave. "You won't escape alive..." The loud voice boomed against, and slowly from the darkness and smoke emerged an enormous feline-like creature, two blistering tails flared as wildly as the flames enshrouding its body, one green eye, and one yellow glowered at the assembled team.
"Two tails..." Haji hissed, glaring at the mammoth beast as it stood to its full size nearly touching the very top of the cave structure. I should say Matatabi...
The beast flicked its two mighty tails once unleashing a guttural roar as it knocked down several stalagmites and pulverizing the cave's walls around it into piles of rubble and dust even gashing a large opening at the very top allowing a glimmer of sunlight to enter, just barely. As the debris continued to rain down upon them the two tails opened its mouth for a second before shutting it, snapping it open a split second later spewing out a tsunami of vicious flames heating the area around them to horrid temperatures.
"Tobirama!" Hashirama shouted, concern and fear shining in his eyes. Fire and steam consumed his vision and a sharp pain burned against the side of his head.
Two hours into the battle. It at least felt like two hours. The sun was hot. The scorching sand ran with trails and streaks of blood. Bodies were starting to pile up. Sarutobi. Akimichi. Shimura. Uchiha. Domou. They all clashed at once their battles spanning over dozens of miles as the earth groaned and whined with each explosion that threatened to tear the ground apart at its foundations.
Madara deflected one kunai, dodging another, and slammed his foot straight against the knee of a Shimura shinobi cracking his knee and sending him spilling across the sand into a group currently engaged in battle.
"Izuna! Their camp!" Madara shouted over the roar of an explosion.
"I'm not sure!" Izuna half yelled back. He had one cut on the back of his hand, it was one of those that bled really bad, but didn't really everyone else's attire his was caked in sweat, blood, and sand. Two of his swords were gone used as projectiles to tear through several Akimichi's ankles before they could use their expansion jutsu. The battle tore him away from Madara but he quickly made his way back seeing Sarutobi and Shimura shinobi swarming him from all sides.
"We need that information!" Madara snapped, lunging back from his post as two dozen kunai pierced the ground where he stood, sinking into the sand for several inches. Heedless to danger, he dashed forward slamming his fist across the shinobi's face that threw the barrage at him, and he swiveled on his heel lashing out with his gunbai smacking aside a sword that was aimed for his neck.
He spun using the added momentum and swung his sickle in a tight arc. The man's body fell to the sand, his head rolling away. "Where's Mikito!" Madara slid close to Izuna glaring at their attackers.
"Fighting Ajo." Izuna replied dryly, kicking and punching away anyone that came to close, sliding back a few feet. "As for that camp and information, I don't know if there's anything left." The camp had been the center point of the fight, everyone just mutually tore their way into it, the Sarutobi swarming out from the centre of their camp making quick work of several Akimichi and Shimura.
Two ninjutsus, one fire and the other earth collided several minutes ago, covering the entire area in smoke and sending a shockwave rippling around them bashing right into the camp.
Madara let loose a quiet growl, parrying two attackers, kicking one against the ribs, and sliced the other one across the chest knocking him away with a sweep of his gunbai. That's what he didn't want to her. It was only natural the camp would suffer damage from the battle, but he wanted to be able to salvage something for it.
That stupid scroll Ahiko and Yuko obtained evaded him completely, he couldn't ponder what it was speaking on. Everyone had their own opinions and suspicions but none of it was concrete. He only dealt with facts and the only fact there was with that scroll was that it held something of significance in those few words that were scribbled across it. "Handle things here! I'm going to the camp!" Madara shouted, screaming forward with Izuna hot on his heels before the younger Uchiha clashed with three Shimura shinobi.
Madara continued his mad dash towards the camp. Black plum clouds were starting to stretch high into the sky, to such heights they'd be visible from miles away. The sand was flowing with the sticky and metallic liquid as it pooled out from the fallen bodies, flies and other insects were starting to make their way onto the corpses more than eager to feed on the decaying flesh.
Unfortunately, the Sarutobi camp was in the center of one of the largest clouds of thick black and gray smoke the battle continued to rage inside the thick blankets. Why is Mikito wasting her time with Ajo when she should be here!? Madara questioned mentally raising his sickle just in time to fend off a vicious assault on his person.
Strapping his gunbai back on his upper back with a quick flick, he drew his sword in one fluid motion battering the blades as if they were bamboo and took down his attackers in one stroke. He didn't spare the corpses another glance as he tore his way through the smoke attacking anyone and sprinted passed anyone who wasn't foolish enough to attack him, his blood red eyes flickering in every direction. Searching. Searching.
"Madara!" The Uchiha turned just in time to see Hiro and Ahiko take down three men that were poised to remove his head swiftly. Yuko landed a short second later her eyes wide and observing but a bit frantic.
"Ahiko. Yuko! Both of you come with me!" Madara ordered, not waiting for them to respond he sprinted forward. The two girls chased after him while Hiro went towards Souji's location. Madara put on a burst of speed when he was sure the two were following him, it'd be simple to interrogate a prisoner and he fully intended to do just that, but more information was invaluable. The more he had the better.
Two dozen Akimichi shinobi and sixteen Shmiura shinobi barreled right towards them, Madara weaved and dodged between the horde cutting them down and kicking them away, Ahiko took a much more precise method to it impaling those that came too close and kicked them off of her spear into their comrades, there was getting to be too many of them, and Yuko discovered this as she was hard pressed to dodge and attack with lethal force.
Kicking them away and sparing them wasn't an option anymore.
"Where did you two find that scroll?"
"This way!" Ahiko took the lead, swiveling sharply and lunging to her left. She recognized the layout from before, even though the tents were all but destroyed and burning she could never mistake this certain area. The tents were a lot larger than average and the bulk of the Sarutobi camped out were all situated within this one area while they spaced themselves out to guard the perimeter.
Her large eyes flicked left and right, desperately searching for the tent where she had obtained the scroll. "Over here!" She said with hast, putting on a burst of speed and literally lunged towards the burning tent stopping short by a few inches. "This is the one-" Ahiko's head spun as she forced herself to stop, glancing left and right searching for Madara but could only see Yuko.
"Fuck!" Madara's curse echoed out of the tent, and with measured savageness a part of it was torn and Madara lunged out spacing himself a safe distance away from the fire. "Are you sure that was one? There's nothing in there other then old maps!" His blood red eyes flicked from Ahiko to Yuko several times, anger and agitation slowly starting to cloud them.
Ahiko didn't show any signs of fear despite his show and Yuko kept her eyes turned towards the ground. He shook his head once, the Akimichi must have destroyed most of it when they attacked before, or this battle put the final nail in the coffin there wasn't anything worthwhile in that damned tent.
"Kill anything that moves! If you can help it spare one of those stupid monkeys!" Madara barked out the orders making both girls flinch at the sudden rise in tone, and at a brisk pace Madara sprinted towards one of the many battles raging.
"Yuko-chan." Ahiko smacked her friend on the shoulder. The red haired girl had gone stark silent and her body was rigid, shaking slightly. Ahiko frowned slightly, smacking her shoulder again. "Yuko-chan!"
"Sorry!" Yuko exclaimed, jumping two feet off the ground and whirling her head in every direction. She took a steady breath, again she had made a fool out of herself but at least it was with Ahiko. She wouldn't comment on it.
Without thinking she sprinted in a random direction hoping to take her mind off of the fear she felt for several long seconds, she swung her katana forward clashing with an Akimichi shinobi, and stepped to the side knocking him off balance. She took the opening and stabbed into his side swiping harshly to the side sending him rolling across the ground.
Ahiko sprinted passed her jabbing her spear through the chest plate of one man, swiftly skewing the tip across another Sarutobi Shinobi's wrist forcing him to drop his sword. She stabbed through his chest cavity splattering blood all around her and ending his life swiftly. Ahiko spun her spear once, glancing around her.
The camp was all but empty save for dead bodies and burning tents, the area around the camp was littered with dead bodies or those dying. The Shimura, Akimichi, and Sarutobi were starting to waver as the Uchiha and Domou remained firm not backing down a single inch. Ahiko sighed softly, allowing herself to relax as she heard the words 'pull back! Retreat! Abandon camp!' Resound from the three clans opposing them.
In short of two minutes every shinobi that was able from the Akimichi, Sarutobi, and Shimura were practically gone leaving behind their fallen comrades. Ahiko wiped the sweat from her brow, making her ways towards her sister who was slowly sheathing her katana back in its saya with frightening expression on her face, the rest of her kinsmen and the Uchiha were checking the area and starting to see how was wounded on their side and who needed treatment.
Thankfully nothing but a few cuts and bruises was all that they suffered. "I don't understand." Ahiko said to her sister stopping her trek and leaning the spear against her shoulder. "What was their point in doing this?"
"The Shimura have been contracted by the Wind damiyo-or so according to Ajo." Mikito explained bluntly so as she scanned the battlefield. Death was all too common for her and the fallen bodies just made a small part of her grimace, she never enjoyed killing or resorted to it right away. The only exception would be Ajo, she would love to rip from apart limb by limb, but he managed to escape at the last second when they were both swarmed by Akimichi shinobi. She had been a hair close to ripping out his tongue.
"I don't know the reasons why the Akimichi are attacking..." She trailed off watching Souji literally drag a Sarutobi shinobi behind him and toss him to the ground before her.
"Caught this one trying to run." Souji said, eyes narrowed. "He put up a fight for a moment, but I cut the tendons in his knee." He turned his focus onto Mitsuki and Misaka who were close by piling up the bodies of the dead only for Hikaku and Aito to burn them. The two woman looked in his direction before hastily making their way over to him.
"Burn everything here. I want no signs of this camp here once we depart. Tell Hikaku and Aito this as well, have them assist you." He instructed, Misaka gave a quick nod while Mitsuki settled on a mock salute before they took off going about their tasks with the two Uchiha.
"I'll never talk!" The Sarutobi shinobi was defiant.
"Oh, is that right?" Madara's deep and cold voice caught everyone's attention. He strolled forward arms crossed over his armored chest with Izuna just a few inches in front of him.
"You kill Ajo?" Izuna looked at Mikito questioningly.
"Bastard got away, but I cut his eye." Mikito said her voice was oddly chipper given what she was talking about. She traded a look with Souji. Ajo's time was going to be coming very very soon. He had put the final nail in the coffin.
"Damn that tanuki." Izuna hissed in annoyance. He pushed the thought of that arrogant and stupid Shimura from his mind at the moment, putting all of his focus onto the Sarutobi shinobi sitting before them battle wounded and battered. "Listen, you can you save yourself a lot of trouble if you tell us what we want to know."
"You brat I'll never talk!" The shinobi spat. "Fucking Uchiha and Domou swine."
Madara punched the man, hard against the jaw. "Let's not start that. You might put me in a foul mood."
"You call him a brat, but he is a skilled brat." Souji said, crouching so he was eye level with their prisoner. "He is Uchiha Izuna, second in command of the Uchiha clan... If you know what's good for you, you will start talking."
"I'd rather die-" his retort was cut short as Mikito slammed her fist across his face, slamming the side of his head against the hot sand and forcing him to spit out handfuls of blood every few seconds before he finally lost consciousness.
"We'll take him back with us." Mikito said, getting a chorus of nods of confirmation. "Are there any others alive?"
"Nope. Just got rid of the last of them." Mitsuki said suddenly, striding towards Mikito with a passive expression on her face. "Believe it or not, anyone who had a chance of living killed themselves..." She paused.
"The piles were over there." Mitsuki jabbed a thumb where patches of black smoke and smoked flesh were making themselves known, it'd only take an hour at the most for them to be buried in the sand. "We didn't find anything important on their person, aside from soldier pills, swords, and kunai there wasn't anything worth noting.
"What are they hiding that's so important..." Izuna muttered to himself. A shinobi would die before handing over any secrets, but honestly what could they be doing in the middle of a desert that called for such acts? He couldn't begin to think of what it could be since a desert was one of the harshest landscapes on earth and quite simply didn't hold anything worth value other than sand and cactus's. The Sarutobi couldn't be after the cactus and any power play in this region would be cut short by one of the damiyo.
"We'll find out soon enough." Madara said ominously, hauling the man up by one arm and slinging him over his shoulder like a bag of rice. "If he is going to be stubborn I know methods..." He turned his gaze onto Mikito for a moment before turning away from them and heading back towards the castle that loomed in the far distance. The only sign that a battle took place was the receding clouds of smoke and piles of debris, there wasn't a single tent, person, or structure left standing. The sand would cover all of it up soon enough.
Tobirama clenched his teeth, eyes blurring, ear drums on the verge of popping as another explosion rocked him off of his feet forcing him to fall onto his arm. His ruby eyes swept the area, his brother's Mokuton was making its presence known as it slammed into and against the two tails forcing it back for a few steps before the beast heaved a roar and shattered it without any trouble, Syrus's Tochiton was making itself known as coils and columns of earth spiraled at the beast, but just like with Hashirama they were destroyed with no effort.
"Tobirama! Let me heal your arm!" Usagi exclaimed, sprinting towards him as fast as she could. She took a seat next to him, eyes narrowing as she started to focus.
"No, don't worry about me." Tobirama said stubbornly. The two tails went on the attack first, the cave quaked and crumbled under its hatred and power after he extinguished the tsunami of fire. He took a nasty fall, falling directly on his left arm almost breaking it. It wasn't broke since he could move it, barely, but it definitely hurt the worst it could be was a fracture.
There was no time to heal, it took too much effort and focus, and they couldn't spare that since they were going toe to toe with the two tails.
"Stop being stubborn!" Usagi snapped.
"We don't have time!" Tobirama snapped back with equal annoyance to match Usagi. He watched as Tsugi and Toka sent a barrage of fire jutsus towards the beast while Hesui, Osen, and Ryoku fired a barrage of wind jutsus towards it, Disuke and Haji provided cover for them all and the rest of their units interchanging from fire to earth to wind. Tobirama forced himself to stand up, glowering up at the two tails as it continued smashing everything in sight whether it was a jutsu or the cave walls.
Usagi bit her bottom lip to keep herself from smacking him upside the head. She didn't want to inflict any further harm, and judging from how Tobirama was holding his arm every few seconds, so it had to be sprained or fractured.
"Fine, what do you suggest we do?" Usagi grated out, quickly flashing through a series of hand seals and spewing fire up towards the two tails, fusing her jutsu with Tsugi's and Ryoku's to form flaming projectiles. The projectiles collided with the beast and the walls rattling the entire structure once again while drawing out an agitated roar of the two tails.
"We need to get out of here, first and foremost." Tobirama said. "That thing is going to cause this whole cave to topple down on top of us!" He didn't doubt Hashirama and Syrus could stem off that amount of debris, but it was better not to be in the situation period. Finally, Tobirama growled slamming his hands together and kneading his chakra. "I need you to back me up with a lightning jutsu!" He said, his voice strong and commanding.
"Suiton! Doragonmisairu!" Tobirama pushed his chakra out in waves, allowing it to flourish upward as it morphed into the shape of a raging tiger rapidly growing in size and speed.
"Raiton! Ikazuchiryū!" Usagi yelled forming the dog seal and flared her chakra outwards until it crackled and surged around her body like a raging storm, she clenched her teeth forcing the chakra outward and upwards chasing after Tobirama's water dragon. The surging lightning slowly took the shape of a dragon with glowing green eyes, it plunged straight into Tobirama's jutsu easily tripling its size and speed.
Their combined jutsus slammed straight into the two tails causing it to roar and shake its tails destroying more than half of the room they were currently in, Hashirama's branches and Syrus's solid spiraling columns collided a second later.
"Now! Up!" Usagi shouted, snapping her arm above her head. The two tails swiped at the massive water-lightning infused dragon severing its body in two buts its upper half smashed into the ceiling above them tearing it open with a massive explosion sending debris raining down.
"Everyone! Get on!" Hashirama shouted, his surging chakra sending cracks all around them as more branches and trees burst forth from his form snaking up towards the opening. Nobody questioned his order and ran hopping onto the massive and moving surge of trees. Shit! He cursed mentally as he spotted a mammoth blue paw shooting towards them.
"HAAAA!" He let out a scream, his chakra surging forward like a torrent, the paw crashed into and through the sudden growth of branches shredding and tearing them to pieces, but it was enough to give the shinobi time to get back up to the surface. Birds and animals scattered able to sense the negative energy that was clawing its way to the surface.
Hashirama landed on the ground first followed closely by Syrus.
"Nice save back there." Syrus said allowing a small smirk to cross his face. When half of that room came collapsing down he was more than concerned. If there was to be any celebration or peace it was cut short as two massive paws slammed into the earth gouging fissures into it and tearing down trees as they heaved the rest of the body out.
"Damn it." Tsugi grunted. "Maybe making that opening wasn't the smartest of choices."
"Syrus!" Hashirama said with alarm and slight fear. "Can you infuse your chakra with the ground?"
"I can..." Syrus narrowed his eyes looking at the younger man carefully. "I don't see how that's going to help anything though, it'd just cause more damage." If he infused his chakra and executed a high level jutsu the two tails would just obliterate it like it had a million times before, if by some change it did work there would be widespread destruction.
Unfortunately they didn't have anymore time to discuss for two mammoth tails and four paws ravaged the ground splintering entire trees and uprooting more than a hundred with one sweep tearing the ground asunder forcing them to hastily dodge unless they wanted to be crushed by it or one of the trees.
This happened for several long minutes the Senju and Subatsu hastily and quickly dodging any and everything from coming their way whether it was debris or a flaming paw. They hardly had any time to glance in the other's direction before something was flying at them. Disuke and Haji quickly flashed through a series of hand seals unleashing wind and lightning at the beast while Hashirama and Syrus struggled to push it back, it was short lived, their respective attacks were destroyed with a single swipe, the sudden impact and shock wave threw everyone out of their rhythm, leaving the two tails in the very centre of the destruction.
Hashirama slammed spine first into a tree, blood gushed freely from the sides of his mouth as the waves of pain and shock spread through his body like fire, part of his armor had been chipped and the breastplate had a long jagged gash running through it. His dark eyes turned up towards the beast which let out a blood chilling roar before rampaging again attacking anything and anyone in sight.
"This isn't good, at this rate it's going to makes its way to the estate..." Hashirama muttered, forcing himself to stand on his shaky legs. He was wounded, battered, one gash ran along the length of the left side of his face pulsing with fresh blood.
"What... Was your plan?" Syrus's voice tore him from his thoughts. Hashirama turned his attention onto the older man spotting blood stains, a cracked shoulder plate, gashes, and dirt staining him everywhere. A small streak of blood stained the right side of his chin and was already drying. "Hashirama!" Syrus snapped.
"Infuse your chakra into the ground... I think... It'll make my next jutsu much stronger than it usually is." Hashirama explained with a somber expression, he didn't know if this was going to work or not, but he and Syrus had similar jutsus and this was their only chance to at least give this beast a taste of its own medicine. "I don't know if this is going to work for sure, but it's out best shot at this point!"
The two tails swept its tails around again uprooting trees and sending them falling to the forest floor shaking the surrounding landscape over and over. The booms were deafening shaking everyone to their bones. The two tails slammed its four paws firmly into the ground, its contrasting eyes flicking onto Hashirama and Syrus for several long moments before it snarled viciously, opening its large maw, and began to gather a ridiculous amount of chakra colored by red and blue spheres morphing together form a huge dark purple sphere.
The sphere quickly began to grow in size starting from the size of a small rock easily growing over one hundred times that.
"Syrus!" Hashirama exclaimed, beads of sweat running down his forehead, his eyes widening almost like saucers. The density of that chakra... What is that thing intending to do!? He narrowed his eyes. That doesn't matter, I need to stop that in any case of events. He turned his dark eyes onto Syrus who was looking on with equal alarm, the air started to shift and grow 'denser' and 'colder' as the beast gathered more and more chakra. "I need your help! I can't do this without you!"
"How far do you want me to push my chakra!?"
"Just push it!"
"Fair enough!" Syrus yelled, focusing for a short moment before letting his chakra flourish and flare around him forcing the ground in at his feet and sending cracks in every direction. "You better hope this works, otherwise I'm going to kick your ass in the afterlife!" Syrus heaved a breath before slamming his hands onto the ground forcing his chakra into it and spreading it outwards as far as he could, the ground gave one heave as his chakra surged into and through it almost becoming a part of the ground itself.
He turned his dark eyes onto Hashirama who slammed his hands together in the snake seal, he snapped his focus onto the two tails, one giant purple sphere hovered just outside of its mouth. With one more snarl the beast unleashed the dense ball of supercharged chakra ripping through trees and gouging the ground from its potency.
"Mokuton! Ki no sekai!" Hashirama roared, exerting his chakra with tremendous force. The ground heaved once under the force of his chakra before it exploded in a series of trees and branches. Hundreds upon thousands coiled and spiraled up towards the sky and around him towering high above some of the trees in their area, he ground his teeth against each other, clenching his hands even tighter together.
"Hggghhh!" A loud grunt escaped as the huge ball of chakra smashed into a through his abundant world of trees, shredding and battering the mass to bits and pieces clearing its way through only to be met with even more coiling and spiraling branches.
"Nggghhhhhh!" His teeth were grinding so hard he was risking giving himself a severe headache. Blood poured out from both of his nostrils spotting his tan skin and running down his ravaged armor. One last push... He surged his chakra, Syrus quickly followed, his hands still clenched Hashirama heaved with all of his will and might.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
The explosion was earth shaking producing gale force wind that tore into the thick tree bark viciously shredding them in half sending them toppling over. Hashirama who was barely recovered was smacked head on by the shockwave that erupted high above throwing him for a good three hundred yards, his body smacking against the trunk of a tree sending him spinning into the ground with a hard thud.
Syrus, barely raised his arms up in time before he was flung away like a rag doll smashing through one half broken tree trunk, flying into another without losing any speed from his flight and slammed side first against it hissing in pain as he flew forward a bit more smacking face first into the ground.
The ground-no the earth shook and rumbled for several long minutes. And, slowly it settled down to a still.
Tobirama grimaced, clutching onto his now broken arm, he needed to wipe the blood that was running down the side of his head. He made his way over to Hashirama and Syrus, both of them were spaced several feet apart and barely moving.
"Brother." His baritone voice made Hashirama turn his head and let out a soft groan of pain. "How are you?"
"Never better!" Hashirama boomed with a laugh, crying in pain a short second later. "I think my head is broken."
"That would explain a lot." Usagi said, laughing at the tan skin Senju's statement.
She glanced at Tobirama who shook his head firmly-he still refused to be healed.
"It doesn't explain enough..." Tobirama quipped.
Usagi rushed towards Syrus on shaky legs. "Brother, are you okay?"
"I think I'll manage..." Syrus replied, slowly and painfully rolling over onto his back and heaving a long breath. His lungs burned, his bones ached, and his muscles screamed. He glanced over at Hashirama who was in the same position. "How is everyone else holding up?" Syrus ventured.
"Other then a few broken bones and bleeding I'd say we're fine." Haji replied. They all looked like they went through hell and back six times over, and clashing with the two tails didn't make that all too far fetched. Haji settled down next to Syrus as everyone else gathered around them holding and nursing their wounds, nobody was able to escape unscathed. "What do you say we get out of here?"
"Uhh, I'm going to take a small nap." Hashirama said, closing his eyes for a moment. "Just five minutes."
"Enough with your jokes." Tobirama hauled his brother up with one arm.
"OWWW!" Hashirama wailed. There was a nasty gash on his arm and Tobirama grabbed it too firmly.
"Stop whining." Tobirama said with a scowl, stepping away from him and letting him regain his balance.
"And, I've got you." Usagi told Syrus, bracing one arm against the back of her neck as she supported his weight helping him stand up partly. She stepped away when he stood to his full height, staggering back for just a second before he regained his balance. "I'm so tired and I've had enough of looking at trees... Let's go." Usagi wiped a patch of dirt off of her face that was mixed with sweat and blood.