With another inhuman scream, the Juubi strike at me, blindingly fast and impossible to fully block.
I didn't try.
I vanished, appearing above, far outside of the Juubi's reach, high in the sky.
Fire rained down upon it a moment later, a sweeping wave that was incredibly wide and equally hot.
Chakra swirled towards the Juubi, hidden underneath the blanket of fire.
It gathered and condensed, and I waited two seconds before swinging my Keyblade from top left to bottom right.
Mid-way through the swing, the condensed Chakra was fired at me, exactly as I had anticipated.
A bolt of light hit the shaft of my Keyblade, and was promptly deflected down to the right.
Straight into a mountain.
A blinding flash of light and a roar of thunder that had nothing to do with lightning heralded the simple destruction of that mountain; the sheer force causing the mountain to shatter into countless tiny shards of rock even as they were launched across the area. Dust, formed from the rock that didn't stay in one piece, scattered everywhere; a veritable storm of brown sediment rushing out.
The storm of fire I had launched twisted, swirling outwards as violent air currents pushed it away. I could see the shockwave as it travelled through the air, blowing away my purple fires.
"Stubborn, aren't you."
It was only getting stronger and faster as time went by.
I began pulling in Darkness.
There would be a limit to how far it could grow. It grew from absorbing Chakra from the land, and while there was a lot of it, it was still very much a finite resource.
And 'finite', in this case, meant less Chakra than Isobu possessed.
Unfortunately for it, no amount of raw strength would kill me.
Doubly unfortunate for it was the fact that I too could grow more powerful as time went by. Even worse was that my source of power was infinite.
I didn't need to be as strong or as fast as it. I just needed to be strong and fast enough to get a couple good hits. And I needed to make those hits count.
If I could hit the body, I could hit the Heart and Soul.
And if that doesn't kill it...
Well.
I'm not starved for options.
It was, despite the occupants, a rather sombre affair in the Hokage's office.
Naruto stood straight, a wide grin on his face. A red coat had joined his attire, one which had black flame designs at the end.
It reminded Hiruzen not too insignificantly of Minato's own coat.
To each side of the ever-exuberant Uzumaki stood Sasuke and Sakura, both of whom also had now additions to their wardrobe.
Sasuke now wore a black jacket over his grey shirt, while Sakura had a red sash wrapped around her waist.
No doubt, all three had enhanced them with Fuinjutsu.
"Welcome back you three." He smiled.
"Gramps." Naruto smiled wider.
Somehow.
"I see the Toads' training hasn't left you any less of a disrespectful brat." He returned.
"'Course not!" Naruto punched the air. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'll be disrespectful to whoever the hell I please. Like granny Tsu-"
Tsunade's vengeance was swift and merciless; and it came in the form of her fist promptly slamming down on his head and driving him head first into the floor.
"Good to be back, Hokage-sama." Sakura bowed slightly. If one looked closely, they might have noticed her glancing at Naruto and smirking viciously. "Good morning, Tsunade-sama."
"Sakura." Tsunade huffed in greeting.
Sasuke also bowed slightly, but he was looking over the room.
"Where's Drich?" He asked. "I expected a greeting..."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head as he stood up, frowning as he too noticed the absence.
"About that..." Hiruzen began.
"Who did what?" Naruto demanded.
"I've told you about Nagato-" Jiraiya began.
"I know." Naruto grit his teeth. "What kind of jackass thinks he can attack this village and get away with it?!"
"Nagato, evidently." Sasuke stated.
"Shaddup." Naruto looked back at Hiruzen. "There's no way you're letting that fly, Gramps. What're you planning?"
"As of yesterday," Hiruzen decided to ignore Naruto's insolence, knowing full well just how he felt. "We have been gathering information on the Akatsuki in preparation for hunting them down and removing the threat they pose to both Konohagakure and to our Jinchuuriki." He answered. "This means a few things for you three in particular."
He stood up, his Chakra briefly pulsing. "Follow me."
Shukaku was not having a good day.
Actually, that was an understatement. Things like Shukaku not having a good day deserved the appropriate kind of emphasis.
Shukaku was not having a good day.
"Where the fuck is it?!" He roared.
His hands dug into the sand before violently throwing it up into the air.
Around him, a sandstorm, for once not his own doing, raged onwards.
He dug further and further into the sand, displacing it at massive rate.
His lair was around somewhere, but...
Shit, how long had it been since the last time he'd been there?
He'd been sealed in Bunpuku for...
Since Bunpuku was born, till his death, which was... like, eighty, ninety years?
And then another fifteen inside Gaara...
Fuck, he hadn't been here in a while.
He growled.
And that certainly hadn't been his idea.
He slammed his hand into the sand, his Chakra racing out through it.
He'd find his lair one way or another.
Or he'd make a new one if it had collapsed.
He hoped not. He'd put a lot of work into that.
Ah, there.
He turned-
Just in time to get kicked in the face by THIS FUCKING ASSHOLE!
He roared again, fury kicking the storm around them into an even more wild state.
"I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!"
His head turned back, yellow, four-pointed star eyes glaring at a black cloaked, man wearing an orange mask
One eye was visible through a hole, and-
Red.
Black.
...
...
...
"It was annoying to find you, silly Ichibi."
...
...
...
"Come along now, pet."