Chapter 17
Naruto and Co. Somewhere in the Land of Rivers
'Alright, I knew that we would be under heavy fire. I get that. But what the hell is this? This can hardly be called a fortress, it's more like a village!' Naruto thought as he watched elemental fire from the earth, fire and even surprisingly wind natures fly overhead as well as kunai and shuriken by the thousands. They had made it to the fortress easy enough. While they'd fought on the border to River they easily took down the enemy and interrogated them for the whereabouts of the fortress. Something that for some reason his father seemed to have left out. They tried to resist but with the three Sharingan on the current squad as well as Ino's mind techniques it was very easy to get the information. They just hadn't gotten any information about the defenses.
As soon as they arrived and they did TRY to be stealthy, but as soon as they got within three hundred feet they were bombarded by jutsus and shuriken and kunai. Naruto, Sasuke, and surprisingly Sakura were all quick to erect mud walls. Naruto took the extra added measure of erecting many more on a path up to the fortress.
They'd gotten up a bit and realized they'd need mobile defense. "I guess I'll have to use the Susanoo," Naruto stated as his eye began to morph but Satsumei put a hand on his shoulder and he noticed her eyes had turned emerald green with slits, the Phoenix Sage Mode. Hers was different than Axel's though, it seemed more controlled. "I've got this sunshine, no need for you to go blind," she stated as a massive wall of chakra chains formed on her arm and she took point. "Alright, here's the new teams. I want Sasuke and Hinata with me. I want Satsumei, Choji, Kiba, and Temari on one. The last team shall consist of Shikamaru, Ino, Shino, and Sakura. My team will take the front line fighting and start the attack. Satsumei's team shall come in from the other side as a pincer attack and I want Shikamaru's team to either run interference or run assassinations and whittle their numbers away from the shadows," Naruto stated.
"That's great and all but you still haven't told us how we're getting in," Ino stated as she watched the chakra chain wall easily taking the brunt of the fire without wavering. Naruto and Satsumei grinned at each other and then looked back at her. "You just leave that to us," they stated simultaneously. "Shino's team will shadow Satsumei's."
With that in order they quickly went from mud wall to mud wall with Satsumei's shield making sure they didn't get hit in between. Naruto and Temari even decided to be spiteful and fling some shuriken and kunai back at them with high powered wind jutsus of their own. Before they could make it Naruto caught sight of a glob of lava and barely got a kunai out in time to teleport it away. "Move it people! Faster! It's harder for me to teleport jutsus than bodies!" he stayed in the back just to make sure no one got left behind.
It took them a few minutes and a bunch of chakra as they had to keep making mud walls for protection. They finally got to the fortress and noticed it's size, frankly it was massive. It was well over the size of a royal shinobi clan compound. They were supposed to take this whole thing!?
"Hinata, Byakugan. I need a general blueprint," Naruto commanded as he threw three kunai each with seals on them and then he used the tiger hand seal. Hinata used her Byakugan and began analyzing as Naruto pulled out a blank scroll and a pen. "Just a rough sketch. My seals have bought us about two minutes of quiet."
He watched as she gave him a VERY rough sketch of the general fortress. Barracks, warehouse, armory, headquarters, so on and so forth. Everything Naruto expected, even an underground dungeon. The fact that she managed to see that was incredible to him. "Alright then, here's what we're going to do. My team will attempt to draw as much of their attention away as possible. Give us ten minutes, then Satsumei's team will come in and take some of the pressure off us while Shikamaru's team shall then take down each of these key points along with any high priority targets they may find along the way. I'm primarily talking about jonin. Take out the chain of command and we'll see this place falling apart. Remember, chunin and genin don't normally have the authority to make decisions in war," he stated as he watched them nod and his seals' time ran out and flashed into his pouch. "Alright, split!" he yelled and they went their separate ways.
Naruto went to the middle of the wall and charged up as much of Kurama's chakra as he could into a Rasengan and slammed it into the wall. It took a moment but the attack drilled though and launched broken pieces forward, crushing a few enemies. "Sasuke! Summons!" he yelled as he charged through the hole he created and summoned his blades twirling around in a tornado of lightning and wind. It was the same attack he used against Roshi only this time it had more effect as he wasn't up against a Jinchuuriki. Blood, organs, bones, and muscle went flying as he tore into about twenty Iwa soldiers. Dead instantly and Naruto had to stop his attack and dodge to the left as a volley of fire balls came down at him. He was quick to send a giant discharge of lightning in the direction of the attack but didn't wait to see the results as he dashed to the next nearest enemy.
He didn't give them time to put up a guard, they were eviscerated instantly. He was about to be attacked by four more from all sides but that was halted as two lions came in and ripped two enemies apart. Sasuke and Hinata had taken care of the other two. Both boys were impressed with the ferociousness that was Hinata disabling her foe's arms and then his heart. It was also frightening to both of them. When the hell did she get so viscious?
They surveyed their immediate surroundings. "Bare minimum two hundred. How about I even up the odds?" Naruto grinned as he performed the cross hand seal and two hundred more of him poofed into existence and started causing mayhem to the enemy ranks. As he couldn't clone his odachis they were all running around throwing kunais and flashing around. Ironically this was not as effective as he would have liked as they kept flashing to each other's kunai and messing each other up. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle in an embarrassed manner. "Uh… Dobe?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are your clones morons?"
"I'm not one hundred percent sure how to answer that. I'm not even sure why the hell they are all using the Flying Raijin. I would think a bunch of giant combination jutsus would be more effective but apparently they didn't think about that."
"Tch, you're an idiot."
"Sasuke-kun you shouldn't say such things," Hinata stated raising an eyebrow from Sasuke at the suffix and Naruto seemed to feel hope that he had at least one person to defend him, it was then shattered in the next sentence. "After all, Naruto is our commander right now. Your comments should be saved until we get back to the village," she stated with a slight smirk eliciting a small cloud of depression from Naruto. "I've got no friends," Naruto commented as he turned and threw Ryujin at an enemy that was charging at him. It met no resistance as it had lightning engulfing it and he flashed straight to it slashing it out disemboweling them. "Nice try."
"Alright, enough fun and games dobe let's get to work," Sasuke stated as he charged at another one coming down from behind Naruto and blocked the man's kunai with his tanto. He kicked the man's legs out from under him and then kicked him into a group of his allies. He used that slight distraction to throw a cluster of shuriken that had a glint between all of them. They flew and wrapped the group of enemies in ninja wire and the two lion summons each discharged either a blast of wind or fire and ignited the enemies almost instantly. The screams of agony were almost enough to terrify the majority of the Iwa ninja in the vicinity. The fact that two young shinobi such as this could be so absolutely brutal was insane.
' So I have a giant makeshift ball of excessively hot fire in front of me. How can I use this to my advantage?' Naruto thought and then gave a grin. "Earth Style: Mud Wall jutsu!" He shouted and created a Mud Wall then with the full capacity of what he could pull from Kurama's strength, kicked the wall into the enemy and flung them away into another group setting them on fire as well. The unfortunate part was that the wall then collapsed on them pinning them down. He was surprised at how effective that was but also knew it would be difficult to replicate so he settled for something else. He blasted a vortex of wind from Fujin that caught fire as it passed over and then smashed into another group. He'd gotten the chance to get some tips on wind manipulation from Temari so he could much more easily shape his wind jutsus now.
'Hmmm… this seems too easy so far. Why haven't they sent more yet?' he asked himself as he tried to feel around. There indeed were small pockets of enemies coming but not even close to the enormous amount that were in the entire compound. There were thousands and they only had about three hundred in the vicinity now and coming at them. How long had it been? "Sasuke! Time!"
"Three minutes! We're not even close to reinforcements!" was the slightly worrying answer from Sasuke. Very well, it was time to kick this up a notch. With as much destruction as they caused already maybe, just maybe they could wipe out the rest of the fortress on their own. Pipedream maybe, but who really knew? May as well try. And so Naruto charged forward toward the battalion that had finally finished off his clones with his comrades following suit and they began tearing into the enemy.
Axel
He was sat meditating with his mother in the middle of the room. "Mom, I have to ask. Why am I here?"
"I already told you about the seal. Well, you are indeed going through what I went through. No human is meant to have THAT much chakra forced into them after they have already had their coils fully developed. What I'm doing is keeping you here long enough to heal, luckily your condition is reversible. I don't have a name for the particular jutsu I'm using however what it does is negate damage on the outside body except what happens here in your mindscape. Your body will no longer be damaged from your illness. Essentially I've put your body outside into a sort of stasis. However after this I caution you not to rely so much on Kurama's chakra. I can only do this once for you," she stated with all the seriousness in the world as she looked him dead in the eyes.
"I see. Then you've developed this seal in the chance that your children will face the same problem?"
"Indeed. I wanted to make sure you'd be safe. I wasn't with you long enough and while my life force was coming to an end my chakra was plenty so I could make this. Luckily my father's chakra was passed down to me."
"And who is your father?"
"A tale for another time. I promise you'll hear about it at some point. In the meantime, do you feel stronger now?" she reflected gaining a small pout from him. An unusual thing to see on his face but she was also the only one who could ever get that reaction from him.
"I feel much stronger. What has been happening to me in here?"
"I told you not to use Sage Mode, so you didn't. Did you notice that your putting out the same strength as it though? Roughly Sage Mode is a ten times boost to your strength and speed. We tested it during our spars. Now your fighting on par with your Sage Mode. So, I ask you, what do you think is happening?"
"I… is my body adapting to what it used to be?" He asked incredulously. This should be impossible for anyone. How was it possible? Being a Jinchuuriki gives an unfair power he understood. But then again if he looked at his apprentice she could use Sage Mode and chakra enhanced attacks, so was ultra super strength really that unbelievable? Even Hashirama was said to be stronger physically than everyone else of his time.
"I know, it's ludicrous and if not for the Namikaze blood running through you, impossible. No human body should even have that much raw strength. But to be fair I want you to be the protector that I haven't been able to be. I want you to protect the family, but I also want you to protect the future of humanity. I NEED you to Axel. It's my only wish from you. Will you take this strength and fulfill this simple request for me?" she asked as she placed a hand upon his shoulder. "I would have tried to whether you asked me or not. But I tell you now. If Onōki continues to poke and prod I WILL fight."
"I was meaning to talk to you about that. It's time you make an example of him. I'm not asking you to destroy Iwa. My guess is that by the time you recover it won't be needed. I just want you to give him an ultimatum. He either makes a peace treaty and alliance with you or he dies. Try to keep the peace between Konoha and Iwa but ultimately make sure another Tsuchikage is placed in power. If you want to protect your village this is clearly the only way. I remember the few things Madara told me about the old man and he's clearly always been a war monger."
"Your essentially telling me to assassinate an old man mom."
"I know. I also know how said old man is. He won't take no for an answer. You either show him your not to be trifled with or kill him." She stated with dead seriousness, her eyes like the frosty expanse of the Land of Snow, almost cold and uncaring. She one hundred percent was okay with him having to kill Onōki to get the point across to Iwa. 'So that's where Minato and Naruto get that frosty look.'
"But enough about that, let's get back to sparring!" she didn't need to tell him twice as they were already dancing around the room blades in their hands and grinning like maniacs.
Minato- village gates
He looked upon the first battalion that he'd sent to the border of Grass. They were beaten badly and Kakashi had sent them home the moment he arrived with his own battalion. Currently it was Kakashi and Guy commanding that battlefront.
He could tell they were demoralized, but it wasn't because of the war itself. No one was fighting at their best because of the problem resting in the Hokage ward currently. Minato could only keep their morale up so high as he wasn't around for thirteen years. It wasn't him that brought the crazy prosperity to Konoha, it was Axel. With that in mind though, Minato was a strategically sound genius and there was one thing he could do. That would be winning this war if he could come up with the right strategy. Imagine the look on Axel's face when he regained consciousness and the war was over.
"Warriors of the Leaf! You've done a fine job defending our borders and have earned yourself some rest. Make no mistake! Our battle isn't over and I will need you again in the coming week! Now, get yourselves to the hospital and get checked out!" he declared as he watched them all trudge through with grins on their faces. He couldn't blame them for it either. This battalion managed to completely survive the fight, not one soldier was lost, where as they were losing soldiers on every single other battlefront. He'd be grinning like a mad man too. Frankly, he couldn't help the small smile that was plastered on his face. But then the depressing thought of where he sent his son and his peers overtook him and he flashed away as soon as he was satisfied everyone was accounted for and in the village.
Naruto and Co.
Duck, dodge, swipe, sidestep, genjutsu, stab, throw, flash, decapitate. This was the rhythm that Naruto got into as the battle went on. It still hadn't been all that long though as he hadn't felt much chakra drain yet. The combination of him having his three tomoe active as well as all the times he's flashed should have him down a bit in chakra but it would seem he was mistaken. By now Satsumei's team had joined the battle and was wreaking havoc as the enemy wasn't expecting the sudden increase in numbers.
Satsumei and Temari worked extremely well together what with combining their respective elemental affinities for mass attacks. Satsumei's physical combat capabilities were more than enough to keep any enemies away from Temari as she fired off her wind attacks and Satsumei could very easily ignite them because her Sage Mode increased her fire affinity so high she needed only one hand seal for most of her jutsus anyway. It was incredible that while her Sage Mode clearly wasn't as powerful as his uncle's it seemed to be in a more controlled and focused state. Was she a perfect sage while he wasn't? Questions for another time he supposed.
He took notice of another group that was staying together. Hinata, Choji, and Kiba were all pocketed up and defending each other. Choji essentially acted like some kind of tank, drawing the enemies' attention while Hinata came in with debilitating strikes that left her enemies in no condition to fight and Kiba could easily enough finish them off while Akamaru ran interference on all ends. It was quite the efficient team and while it wasn't taking out mass groups at a time like Satsumei and Temari it was a lot more stamina and chakra efficient. They may make it the furthest in this battle without being as drained as the rest.
He couldn't help but wonder how Shikamaru's team was doing. They should be keeping to the shadows and assassinating as well as taking out the target areas. He just hoped they didn't run into any trouble.
Shikamaru
Shikamaru's team had been very careful not to get in Satsumei's way when she punched a hole in the fortress walls. They had seen her power back in the chunin exams and were sure she was way stronger now and didn't want to incur any damage from those limbs of hers. As soon as she jumped in her own team jumped in and started taking some of the pressure off of Naruto's team. Shikamaru made sure his team had taken a stealthy approach that allowed them to sneak past the fighting. Sakura surprisingly had an area wide genjutsu that acted as a camouflage of sorts. Essentially one wouldn't even know someone was there unless they were sensors or scanning for chakra fluctuations, it was quite impressive.
Shikamaru led them down one of the sides of the fortress and noticed that the walls were big enough to actually be tunnels. Not something that Hinata picked up while scanning or she deemed it unimportant, either way it might be an easier way to move unhindered. He led them into what looked to be an entrance into one of these tunnels carefully, methodically, and slowly. "Shino, I need your Kikaichu to go ahead and scout the area so we know what we're dealing with."
"But we're cloaked right now, aren't we Shikamaru? Why are you so nervous?" Ino asked in a frustrated manner. Frankly she just wanted a bit of action to be honest but her particular skill set wasn't necessarily great for full scale combat. She was a better stealth fighter. "A shinobi must be prepared for everything no matter how much of a drag it is. There could be sensors in here. The Kikaichu that Shino employs don't give off anywhere near enough chakra to be sensed. Most people if they even saw one of the insects would merely think it a normal beetle who wandered inside."
"A sound strategy. Why is that you ask? Because it gives us the best chance of success at the task assigned to us by our Jonin," Shino stated as he sent out a small swarm of his Kikaichu bugs that crawled through the halls and spread out as far away from each other as possible to avoid suspicion.
Shikamaru crouched down against a wall as he deliberated in his mind how best to go about taking down the targets. Naruto had handed him the scroll with the rough sketch of the map to make sure he knew where everything was. He'd pulled it out and noticed that the only thing that wasn't kept near everything else was the headquarters but frankly out of all his targets that area was the least of his concerns. All the other targets gave supplies or reinforcements for the war so in order to cripple Iwa at all it was those other points that needed to be eliminated. After all, what good was a headquarters with no one to run it or no supplies and weapons?
"So… what's the plan Lazy-bones?" Ino inquired as she stared at his face in mild interest knowing this was his thinking face. He hadn't done the hand thing yet so he wasn't DEEP in thought but he was close. "For now, while they're out there fighting I'd like us to get a general layout first. Then we can go about our task of assassinations and target elimination."
"You speak about assassinations so casually," Sakura stated in an almost sad tone. "I've had to do a few with my father and Lord Axel as part of my training. It doesn't bother me as much as it probably should to be honest but my no means am I proud of it. Or how much of a drag that training was."
He shivered suddenly and noticed everyone was glaring at him well, except Shino who had an eyebrow raised. "You were trained by the Hokage?" Ino asked jealously. "Uh yeah, he had some ideas for the Nara clan techniques and requested to be part of my training," he stated with a bored tone not realizing the possible danger he was in from the two kunoichi on his team. Did they not pay attention to the training briefing? When he noticed their faces he looked like a deer caught in headlights. "You should be more excited and actually sound grateful! He's the strongest in the village!" Ino hollered and he couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Can we focus on the mission?"
"Fine," Sakura stated and they went about their plan as the Kikaichu started returning.
Somewhere in the Land of Rain
A group of shinobi wreathed in black cloaks with red clouds had gathered. They weren't really gathered, merely holograms. The only three that were really there was the leader Pain, Obito who was currently masquerading as Tobi, and a purplish-blue haired woman with amber eyes by the name of Konan. Unbeknownst to them there was another presence that only 'Tobi' knew about. Even Pain was not aware of this additional entity.
"So, Itachi has turned traitor and gone back to the Leaf?" came the voice of Pain. Though he showed no emotion everyone could tell he was upset. A piece on the board as powerful as Itachi Uchiha returning to the Leaf could easily drive another wedge into their plans. After all, while they were careful not to let many details go about their plans , Itachi still had information on almost all of them. In battle as well as war having information on your enemies was just as important as knowing what they were planning.
"Yes, he was always acting like a suspicious little guppy. I couldn't be one hundred percent sure but I believe he was reporting back to Konoha the whole time. Shall I go and cut his limbs off for betraying us?" Kisame Hoshigaki offered with a shark's grin.
"No, that will not be necessary. We will have to push our plans forward a bit. But first, the Tsuchikage has requested to employ our services again," Pain answered as he looked to Kakuzu. He was a man with his head mostly covered but showing his beady green eyes.
"He is offering a handsome payment for this mission. It is to annihilate a small force that has attacked a fortress in the Land of Rivers. Apparently the Konoha Jinchuuriki Naruto Namikaze- Uchiha is confirmed. The request states that the main goal is to eliminate him by any means possible. According to the rest of the information we've been given the battle has been going on for two hours so the Jinchuuriki should be quite winded by now."
They could all hear the greed in his voice when he mentioned the large payment. "Very well, we shall accept this request and capture the Kyubi Jinchuuriki. I shall be sending Kakuzu and Hidan as well as Kisame since he no longer has a partner. As the best counter against a Jinchuuriki it is your job to make sure this mission is a success Kisame, do not fail," Pain finished and everyone's holograms began disappearing to go about their duties.
'Hmmm… so Pain plans on moving ahead with the plans, does he?' the hidden entity thought as he disappeared into the shadows.
Naruto and Co.
"Sasuke! How long have we been at this and please tell me I'm not wrong for thinking it's been days!" Naruto yelled as he sliced an Iwa soldier in half with Fujin as he stabbed another through the head with Ryujin and then jumped back to back with Sasuke. "Dobe, I hate to break it to you but we've only been here for about two and a half hours. I'm perfectly fine, your fine and Satsumei is fine but the rest of them look like they're starting to get worn out. This constant fighting isn't good for people who aren't used to training and sparring with stamina freaks. We need to come up with a better plan and fast."
Naruto looked at his comrades. Indeed Sasuke was right, the teams that were here hadn't made all that much progress in cutting the numbers down and Shikamaru's team was nowhere to be seen. He had to keep the stray thought that something could have happened to them away for the moment. He saw Hinata slip up but Choji was right there to support her and Kiba was also extra protective of her.
"Alright people! Regroup!" he commanded and they all formed a circle around him. Not quite what he was planning but it would work for now. He pushed his sensory abilities as far as possible. About two thousand more… easy… right? Well his father and uncle were both known for taking out a thousand on their own each in the same war. Maybe it was time to make his own legacy? He thought and thought and thought… until he heard Sasuke's voice. "Dobe! Plan! Now!"
"Satsumei, how far can you throw me with all that extra strength of yours? Can you reach the other end of the fortress or close?" Naruto asked as she took a moment to try and see that far. Luckily for her the eyes of a Phoenix were quite powerful. "Yeah, that should be manageable, what are you cooking up sunshine?" she was answered by a massive chakra burst from him. He was applying Kurama's chakra specifically to his odachis.
"I need you to throw me directly straight ahead as far and fast as you can. I'll take the rest from there," that was his famous saying that Team Seven knew too well. 'I'll take the rest from here', they hated hearing it because it meant he was taking more pressure on his shoulders but usually it worked out anyways so they couldn't argue with him. "By the feet too, if you would."
"You want me to ragdoll you?" she asked incredulously, this plan already sounded stupid. "Yup."
She grabbed one of his ankles and lifted him up. The rest of the group were trying not to laugh at the ridiculousness of this. She grabbed his other ankle and started spinning around like she was getting ready for a hammer throw and at peak speed let him go straight ahead towards the other side of the fortress. A giant blast of wind and lightning ejected from each of his blades and spun him like a propeller. With the power of Kurama's chakra, the absolute hurricane that was one Naruto Namikaze had a diameter of thirty feet and plowed through so many enemies that he would indeed go down as beating both his uncle and his father's records, possibly both at once. Body parts went flying but were shredded apart anyways so there wouldn't be much left when he was done. All this was happening while Kurama was grinning away like a serial killer psychopath experiencing his first killing spree.
Before he could hit the wall of the other side he stopped his attack and flashed back to Satsumei who instantly had to steady him. "Whoa there, a little bit dizzy after that?"
"Yeah, that was way beyond what I used on Orochimaru. Not only the speed, inertia, momentum, and force but also the chakra drain."
"I thought that looked familiar. You got a name for it?"
"I'm thinking of calling it the Namikaze Style: Shred Storm. It's a work in progress," Naruto stated as he looked upon the havoc he wreaked. It's was quite incredible because not only was the vast majority of their enemies dead but also the earth beneath them was gouged out to a degree that should have been impossible but also the mass scorch marks were quite impressive as well. How much lightning chakra was in that attack they had to wonder. But only him and Kurama would know the truth on that. The truth was that while he was concealed in the winds and lightning he had his full Seven Tails out and was fully charging the attack with as much of his as well as Kurama's chakra as he could without destabilizing it.
They all heard a whistle and then he sensed them. Apparently Hinata picked them up on her Byakugan as well as Kiba smelling them as they all tensed at once. On top of the fortress walls, three of them, all dressed in black cloaks with red clouds, and Naruto couldn't help but glare at the one on the end closest to him. "THAT was impressive. I have to hand it to you guppy, you've got some potential. I'm not even sure if I can put out that much chakra without being winded. Let me finish this up for you so we can get to the main event. Water Style: Water Shark Bomb jutsu!" before anyone could react he flew through hand seals and fired off an incredible amount of water that morphed into sharks and annihilated what was left of the Iwa shinobi, mercilessly. They were crushed by the force of the water, no chance to defend.
"Kisame Hoshigaki. Unfortunately, I had the displeasure of meeting you already, although I'm unsure of your compatriots there," Naruto stated as he took front of the group.
"My partners here are Hidan and Kakuzu also of the Akatsuki. Although you shouldn't have to worry too much about our names as you'll be dead soon," he said with a shark's grin and his hand reaching back for Samehada.
"We can't kill him Kisame, our goal here is to capture the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. The rest can die," Kakuzu corrected before jumping down from the fortress walls with Hidan next to him following suit. "Hahaha! More sacrifices for Lord Jashin! I'll enjoy killing you all!" he didn't give much chance to reply as he charged forward with his odd scythe primed and ready to go. Sasuke met his charge head on with his tanto. "Ooh, your surprisingly strong for such a little guy," Hidan taunted as Sasuke started pushing back. "And your pretty weak for someone who's supposed to be part of the Akatsuki," the boy answered without much pause. "Oh ho! You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?"
"Alright you guys! Sasuke is the only one cleared to fight any of these guys on his own so the rest of you take on Kakuzu. I'll handle cuddlefish over there. He's about to find out who the big fish in the pond is," Naruto commanded. 'Tch, I can't actually beat this guy on my own. If it wasn't for dad back then I would have been a goner. I'll have to wait for Shikamaru's team I suppose.'
'Remember, his sword absorbs chakra so using my chakra on your swords won't be as effective as normal. Stick to enhancing your limbs for now and try not to focus too much on projecting larger blades. For now defend until your other team get's here.'
'Easier said than done but let's take a shot at it anyways,' he didn't have anymore time to converse with the fox as he had to bring both blades up to defend against Kisame hammering at him with Samehada from above. The force of the blow was immense as Naruto struggled to push up and decided to screw it and put three tails into his limbs and flung Kisame back who merely skidded along the ground. "Good guppy. Show me more. I can already tell you're a great swordsman from our previous bout and you've got a hell of a lot of power behind you," he commented and dashed back at Naruto. The blond barely caught sight of Satsumei and Choji engaging in close range combat with Kakuzu. What the hell were those giant black monsters that were fighting the rest of them? Sasuke and his lions were fairly easily keeping Hidan at a range. Anytime he would nearly get a blow in on Sasuke one of his summons would blast him away or tackle him away.
He put his guard back up in time to intercept the massive blade and could hear something coming from it. It was writhing? It sounded hungry, he couldn't hide his shock. "So you noticed. Samehada also known as Shark Skin is a living breathing sword that eats chakra. It gets hungrier the greater the source of chakra… and I've never seen it hungrier than now. Samahada wants your chakra and I plan to give it to him now," Kisame stated as he put more force into the struggle but was surprised to see two clones pop up behind Naruto and each prep a jutsu. "Fire Style: Grand Fire Ball jutsu!/ Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" they yelled at the same time and launched their attacks. Naruto jumped back and Kisame had to shield himself with his blade. He'd quickly unwrapped it for full mass and began gouging on the chakra in the attack.
Naruto was shocked to see the shark-man emerge completely unscathed but was even further surprised to see the sword itself looked… uncomfortable. Yes, that was the word to use for sure. The mouth that was on the end of the sword seemed to be in pain as if it had indigestion or something of the like. It quickly enough mellowed out but Naruto realized this may be something to possibly use as a weakness. "Yes, that was quite the large meal according to Samehada. Keep giving us chakra like that and you'll be accomplishing our mission for us," the man taunted as he prepared himself for another round.
"Welp, that plan didn't work. Let's try this," Narutp stated as Kisame watched what looked to be a similar attack to the one used to pulverize the Iwa army but on a much smaller scale. It was as if the drill of wind and lightning lifted Naruto up and then propelled him at Kisame. "Namikaze Style: Hurricane Breaker!" he plowed straight into Kisame with as much force as he could but the man managed to get a block up in time. The effect was instant as all the winds died down but Samehada's absorption properties did nothing to reduce the force of the swords coming at him. Kisame was launched across the compound with Naruto pursuing.
'Are you sure you want to separate yourself from your allies?' came the fox's words of grim curiosity. He loved seeing how possibly bad decisions on Naruto's part would pan out. ' Not really but I'd also rather keep this guy away from them. I'm sure you've noticed how absurd this guy's chakra is. I want him nowhere near them. For now I'll have to trust Sasuke and Satsumei to lead the others to victory.'
'And you believe leaving the emo to battle that Hidan alone is a good idea?'
'No, of course not. I'm counting on his summons and his skills being enough to keep him alive until Shikamaru's team can join them.'
Satsumei and Co.
His taijutsu was surprisingly impressive considering Kakuzu seemed more like a ninjutsu specialist but that was to expected from the Akatsuki. 'There's just no way they have one trick ponies in the Akatsuki. The question is what else is he capable of?' Satsumei thought as she parried another fist and then had to back step a kick. He'd not only been fending her off but also using those black thread monsters of his to attack her teammates as well.
Having enough of this back and forth she blasted forward with as much chakra in her fist as she could muster and smashed straight into him. He tried to block but couldn't and was rewarded with a blow to the sternum. She watched him fly and then land in a heap. 'That didn't feel like I hit a human. With a direct hit like that, I should have felt bones crunching. What the hell is this guy made out of?'
"Hahaha! That was quite impressive girl. I have to say the only time I fought anyone who had Sage Mode was your First Hokage. This is a walk down memory lane. Though I have to ask, how much longer can your Sage Mode last before I tear you to bits and take your heart?" Kakuzu asked as he stood up, looking no worse for wear. She looked at the monstrosities fighting her teammates and then back to him. 'There's absolutely no way. I can't be actually considering that possibility, right? If it's true I just can't seem to come up with how it works.'
Her eyes narrowed and then she noticed it. The reddish mask on the thread construct that Kiba was fighting caved in on itself and the construct fell apart. 'Hmmm… I wonder…' she thought and then had a plan in mind. "Aim for the masks! I have an idea!"
'Has she figured out my immortality that fast!? We've only been fighting for ten minutes at most! She's only gotten that one blow in, how the hell did she figure it out?' Kakuzu inwardly congratulated as he readied himself for the next bout. By now his cloak had already been ripped to shreds exposing his upper body that had stitches all along. It was as if he were some sort of puppet kept together by stitching. It was slightly grotesque if she really thought about it. The kind of jutsu and medical procedures that had to happen to make a body as such were both incredible and disgusting to think about.
"Alright ugly. Let's get back to it!" she yelled as she dashed forward and when he thought she was going to try the same trick as before, he was instead surprised to be launched back by a n explosion of fire coming from her fist. It wasn't enough to be fatal so he got up without having to sacrifice a heart but he was damn surprised with how much force the attack packed. 'Hehehe, good ole Axel-sensei's Explosive Fist always gets em,' she didn't have much time to study the damage as he was upon her faster than previously and this time it was much more difficult to defend. He was right about one thing, she was indeed in Sage Mode, however what he was wrong about is that the Phoenix Sage Mode had a timer. Technically yes, but by it's very nature it could theoretically be kept up indefinitely as long as she wasn't pumping chakra out the way Naruto does into his jutsus. She would take advantage of her timeless Sage Mode as long as she didn't let the heat build up too much. 'On a side note? That boy needs to learn how to hold back sometimes.'
Sasuke
'This guy's a joke other than his immortality. That's literally the only thing special about him. I've stabbed him in the heart… thirty seven? Yeah, thirty seven times by now and he's still alive. That's impressive because I'm not even sure if Orochimaru is capable of that. So how do I kill him?' were the thoughts running through the Uchiha prodigy's head as he ducked under another swipe of the strangely three bladed scythe and then retaliated with a backhanded slash that gouged into the man's stomach.
Sasuke could only feel grateful to the Lion Clan for the training they put him through as without the much more agile fighting style he would have probably been mincemeat. He wasn't actually overpowering Hidan at all, he was positioning his blows and blocks in such a way as to use Hidan's own momentum and center of gravity against him. The lions coming at him really did help in getting more hits in and he had to thank the fact that they had reinforced fur. Rio especially was vicious, he'd already damn near torn multiple limbs off but the tricky Akatsuki bastard was so nimble that he managed to get away every time. His imortality clearly wasn't enough to instantly reattach limbs so he was avoiding such outcomes. No, nimble wasn't a strong enough word to describe this buffoon. More like annoyingly agile, he was like an acrobat, or a roach, or an acrobatic roach. 'I'm going completely insane. I've been hanging around Naruto for too long now. I need new friends. Maybe Kiba? We've hung out a few times. Other than the smell he's not so bad. Certainly less sporadic than the dobe.'
Shikamaru
They'd managed to get to the last target finally, when they heard much larger explosions start to rock the fortress. The worrying sound was the absolutely gigantic hurricane that seemed to have come and then gone almost as soon as it formed. They weren't sure what Naruto was doing but they were sure that was him. "Alright, we need to get a move on. If that troublesome blonde is bringing out the big guns, clearly something happened. Either they have reinforcements or there were entirely more enemies than expected," Shikamaru commanded as they took positions on either side of a doorway that led into the headquarters of the fortress.
'I'm betting on a combination of both though,' he left unsaid. Troublesome, but ultimately he couldn't focus on that now. He nodded at Sakura and then to the door. She did a few hand seals and then applied a genjutsu to the door. Then she reapplied her camouflage genjutsu to the group and they slowly cracked the door open as to not make any noise. There were nine Iwa shinobi and they all had much darker brown flak jackets than anyone they'd seen so far indicating to Shikamaru that they all had to be jonin.
Luckily for the Leaf shinobi and kunoichi the genjutsus worked so the enemy hadn't noticed the door open and they were quite enough that the enemy hadn't heard anything suspicious. Shikamaru used the hand seals for his clan's most famous technique and sent his shadow along the ground towards the enemy shinobi and connected. They were quite surprised to have all of a sudden gone stiff but there was nothing they could do. They couldn't move their heads so they had to settle for peripheral vision but they could see no one.
The nine Iwa soldiers all felt something grasp their throats and begin to crush them, all except one. It didn't take too long for them to run out of breath. "Alright Ino, I want you to get any information out of him that you can," Shikamaru stated as the genjutsu wore off revealing the Konoha shinobi. She nodded and applied her clan's jutsu, the Mind Body Switch technique to enter the enemy's mind. She took a few minutes to run through what he knew but when she returned to her body she seemed to be in a panic.
"What's wrong Ino?" Sakura asked worriedly and placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "This is a trap. This fortress was never meant to be used for the war itself. It was just a diversion to get at Naruto," Ino stated worriedly. "Then that confirms my suspicions. This whole thing seemed fishy. The fact that they had a random fortress that was enticing enough for Lord Fourth to send soldiers to take out already didn't make much sense. Also the low amount of security at each of our targets. The massive increase in explosions. Everything adds up," Shikamaru stated as he looked off in thought for a moment.
"We should get going and help our comrades. Why you ask? Because they are in great danger right now," was Shino's simple response. "What a drag this mission is turning out to be. Let's go," Shikamaru answered and then started running towards the raging battle.
Kakashi and Guy
They'd arrived to the battlefront not that long ago. The border between Grass and Fire had three stations along it spaced out so much that while there was room to get through it could still be fairly easily monitored by sensors. It was a role that was given to a combination of the Inuzukas, Aburames, and Hyuga. The Hyugas job was to detect any interlopers, and then the Aburame and Inuzuka would hunt them down and deal with them. In the case of Iwa shinobi they were terminated immediately. There were also ANBU stationed at these locations that would routinely cycle through each one as a sort of elite patrol. This was the security measure put in place by Axel for war times.
Normally this wouldn't be possible due to the number of shinobi the Leaf has as compared to other villages. However, the difference was the much harsher curriculum that Axel put in place years ago that made it nigh impossible for incompetent shinobi and kunoichi to make it into the ranks. On average a genin from the Leaf could even take on a low chunin from another village and pull a victory with a decent chance for success. This wad because the academy students were learning chunin levels skills and tactics.
Kakashi looked upon the battlefield, mostly hills beyond his station. There were plenty of bodies but none of them were Leaf shinobi. It would seem that only the best of the best were sent to this location as the previous battalion had even managed to fend off the largest battalion of Iwa of all the current battle fronts. He would have to recommend some commendations for those soldiers. He noticed there was also a lake not too far from the station, being as proficient with water nature chakra as he was, he'd be sure to put that to use when he was fighting.
So far they hadn't been attacked but Guy next to him seemed to be getting antsy for some action. Either that or he was anxious, half the time Kakashi couldn't tell with him. Best friends and eternal rivals they may be but it wasn't as if they could read each other like books even now. 'Frankly, I'm a bit anxious myself. The last big war was well over a decade ago. I've only recently been upping my training to get back into condition. The poor soldiers here are slightly winded from the travel distance. I'll have to be on guard,' he thought to himself as he continued to survey his surroundings.
Team seven's leader thought he saw a glint a bit away but when he focused in the direction he couldn't see anything unusual even with his Sharingan.
As commander of this division he wasn't taking chances so he flew through hand signs. "Water Style: Water Bullet Hail!"
A large cluster of water blasts arose from the lake which happened to be over sixty feet away and smashed into where he saw the glint. He was a bit surprised to see an influx of chakra and then a veil of steam. Something stopped the attack and he was sure they were about to be under attack. "Men! Look alive! We've got enemies straight ahead!"
All the soldiers of the Leaf straightened up and pulled out their kunai. "Well? Any idea what we're up against Kakashi?" Guy asked as he prepared himself for the fight. "Hmmm… not too sure. It's obviously Iwa but that was extremely fast reflexes so we're not dealing with the average shinobi anymore," Kakashi replied with narrowed eyes.
Satsumei
'Two down, two to go. Hinata and Choji are too injured to keep fighting and something tells me he gets much more adept at fighting when he's not controlling those monstrosities. This fight is probably going to get more difficult. Where the hell are they?' were the raging thoughts of Satsumei as she blocked a fist with her chakra chain shield and attempted a counter with a chakra scalpel. Kakuzu was quick to dodge. For Satsumei the easiest way to keep the Phoenix Sage Mode from overheating was to keep using continuously draining abilities such as keeping a shield up, using chakra scalpels, or keeping her Sharingan active to which now she was doing all three just to keep up. In this way while the Sage Mode would continuously pull in nature chakra she only had to keep focus on balancing it with her own and the fight at hand.
While the Sage Mode acted as the great equalizer for her battle against Kakuzu it wasn't what would decide a winner. No, she wouldn't be able to defeat him on her own. She just didn't have the experience he did and it was showing when he continuously got away from all of her killing blows.
Satsumei was about to charge in when a giant vortex of wind crashed into Kakuzu but he didn't budge. She noticed he had merely planted some of the black threads from his body into the ground and put his arms in front of his head to reduce any possibly fatal damage. "I finished mine as well. It's all up to Kiba now."
"You Leaf shinobi are all becoming real pests. But I must admit that I'm quite impressed. There aren't many who could figure out my immortality. How about we make a deal. I'm a business man at heart," Kakuzu offered gaining a raised eyebrow from Satsumei. "What kind of trade?" Satsumei asked, she had a feeling she knew the answer though. "Simple, you hand over the Jinchuuriki and we let you live. We'll take our leave. The longer you fight us the more chance there is of you all dying and the Kyuubi container being shaved to ribbons by Kisame."
He merely got a blank expression from her at first and then she grinned which turned into a chuckle and then a full blown magical cackling. He was so surprised that he couldn't bring himself to interrupt her, frankly he found it amusing that she could even act like a psycho. "Do you honestly think I'll just hand over my little ball of sunshine!? You Akatsuki amuse me so! I'll have fun taking you apart piece by pieceful piece," stated with a manic grin as she flew through hand seals. "Sage Art: Phoenix Style: Hyper Blaze!" she gathered senjutsu chakra in her lungs and then expelled it in a massive flamethrower similar to the Majestic Destroyer Flame, the move with which this technique was based off of. The first thing Kakuzu noticed was how fast the flames moved, it was probably the fastest sure jutsu he'd ever seen. The second thing was that they bright orange bordering on white in color, which meant they were excessively hot. He didn't have much time to act.
His last masked monster rushed to him and unleashed a Water Style: Water Wall Formation. He knew it wouldn't be enough so he flew through and seals and erected a Mud Wall and then taking advantage of a puddle that was formed by the water wall he used the Water Style: Hiding in Water technique to merge with the puddle.
Satsumei's attacked continued for a whole thirty seconds until she let off. She needed to conserve the little bit of senjutsu chakra currently keeping her in Sage Mode until it replenished up to an acceptable level. If nothing else she forced him to use three back to back jutsus thus draining him of a good amount of his chakra.
Kakuzu emerged from the puddle of water and was ready to go on the offensive when Kiba came in with Akamaru and they managed to finally get a blow in on the water mask thus destroying the last heart. Now it was only Kakuzu's heart in his chest that was keeping him alive.
The battle ensued again with Kakuzu trying to fight off all three of them.
Naruto
Kisame was about to shave his whole front torso away when his sword stopped right in front of Naruto. Both shinobi looked to their peripherals and saw a shadow connecting to Shikamaru. "Shadow Possession ccomplete. I figured you could probably use a hand so I sent the others to help Sasuke and Satsumei," Shikamaru said as he saw the eyebrow raise from Naruto. The blonde looked far past Shikamaru to see that indeed Sakura and Ino were aiding Sasuke and Shino was helping Satsumei, Temari and Kiba. He was surprised to see Sakura with a katana but said nothing. No doubt one of his uncle's whims regarding her training.
"Now, let's try out my new technique. It was a drag creating this with my dad and the Hokage so it would be troublesome if it wasn't effective. Shadowflame Execution." he stated as he applied the tiger seal and then flames spread across the shadow and engulfed Kisame. The Shark man barely had enough time to overpower the shadow's hold and substitute away using one of the dead bodies scattered around.
"Well that was close. Gotta admit. That's a hell of an assassination technique. If I had to guess, it's bare minimum a B-Rank. Impressive but not good enough. It's a real shame neither of you will make it past this battle. You would have both been fine shinobi one day," Kisame commented in an almost taunting way though they could tell he was actually sincere in his words.
They readied themselves for his charge and Naruto had to make another cross block for the umpteenth time this fight. Kisame now had to juggle himself between keeping Naruto on the defensive and keeping himself away from those shadows. He was unsure how many times he could actually break free from that hold. He of course knew that keeping such a hold would require chakra and the stronger the foe the more chakra but it didn't matter much. The shadows were perfect for getting Naruto the openings he needed.
When he was about to push through Naruto's guard, he had to jump back to avoid a shadow but was surprised to see it moved up and at him as if it were trying to pierce him. It actually made contact with Samehada as he blocked and the sword began eating the chakra it was made from. 'He can use his shadows as if their physical objects. Fascinating ' the shark man thought with mild interest. He swiped Samehada to deflect the next batch of shadows and spun around to deliver a kick to Naruto's gut as he came down with a cross slash, barely avoiding the attack by crouching down in the process. Naruto sailed fifteen feet away but righted himself in the air quick enough that he merely skidded across the ground when he landed.
He summoned three shadow clones which all flung tri-prong kunais at Kisame but he'd seen this trick so he deflected them all. 'Tch, I completely forgot we used the Flying Raijin against him in our first encounter. Guess that's out. New plan,' Naruto thought as he decided to test just how much chakra Samehada could actually eat. He blasted a giant vortex of wind and lightning at the shark man from his swords and all three clones blasted fire ball jutsus into it as well. Kisame swung his sword straight through and Samehada did indeed absor d all of the chakra. Again it seemed to be in pain from the fire chakra though.
"Well, I guess the whole how much chakra can Samehada absorb thing didn't work out for you did it?" he taunted and the battle ensued.
Sasuke
He just parried another swipe but had to block a kick straight to his sternum, he allowed the momentum to launch him back. By now Sasuke had to activate the first stage of the Curse Mark to keep up. He luckily had help from Sakura and Ino but that was more like running interference than anything else. He was extremely surprised to see Sakura running a katana as well as the skill with which Ino used her dual kunai which were ever so slightly longer than the normal length of a kunai. She must have taken inspiration from Naruto and Minato. Whatever Kakashi and Anko taught them was working as while they weren't pushing Hidan by any means they were fairly efficiently fending off his attacks.
All of a sudden Hidan started laughing like a maniac. "Yes! More blood for Lord Jashin! Come at me all of you! It makes no difference when I sacrifice you all! Ahahaha!" he yelled as he managed to kick Ino away and then he grabbed Sakura by the wrist as she tried to slash him. He was about to rip into her throat with his scythe when he stopped. "Hmmm… too easy. A genjutsu?" He surmised as he stabbed himself just deep enough in the leg to fall put of the illusion, just in time too. He had to quickly backflip away as all three had used his momentary distraction to launch jutsus at him. A Fireball jutsu from Ino and Earth Spike jutsu courtesy of Sakura crashed into the spot he was previously standing creating a small gouged spot as well as scorch marks. He wasn't prepared however for the three flaming lions that ran at him from all sides.
Remembering that the summons had gone back to their homeland by now, he realized these were merely jutsu but they seemed so lifelike. He dodged the first two by rolling forward and took out the third by slashing through it. Small mistake on his part as it exploded sending him flying back into one of the other two which exploded again. This process repeated one more time until he was suddenly wrapped up in ninja wire. The mistake here was that Sasuke missed the arm with the scythe. Though Hidan was then electrocuted from lightning that ran along the wire Sasuke was not able to dodge the scythe in time. He hadn't even noticed the metal cable on the scythe until now.
Everyone in the area including Hidan was surprised to see that the person who took the blow was not Sasuke but Kiba instead. Sasuke was so shocked that he lost concentration on what he was doing so Hidan easily enough got out of the ninja wire by cutting through it.
All three chunin rushed to their comrade. "Why Kiba? How'd you even get over here? I thought you were helping Satsumei?" Sasuke asked trying to keep a mask of calm. The wound itself was deep, if Satsumei didn't get to them quickly, Kiba would bleed out. "I was sent over here by Shino. They had it under control over there so I was sent as backup. I saw a comrade in need and my body moved on its own," the Inuzuka answered through extremely labored breathes as blood seeped out of not only his mouth but also out of the wound that lay across his ribcage.
"Ahahaha! Yes! More blood for Lord Jashin!" they heard Hidan yell as they looked up to see his pick his scythe, specifically where it still had Kiba's blood. His skin took on a black color with white markings that looked like some kind of witch doctor. He then drew a bloody circle with an upside down triangle underneath him. Hidan pulled out a gray cylindrical object that he swiped out. It seemed to extend into some sort of spear -like object. He stabbed it into his right leg with a manic laugh as Kiba then cried out in agony clutching his own right leg. When they looked at it they noticed he had the same wound as Hidan. 'What the hell kind of jutsu is that?' they all though horrified. They weren't prepared for something like this.
"How do you like it? My curse that is. I can wound and kill anyone who's blood I possess without ever actually touching them!" Hidan cried out in glee as he stabbed himself in two more non-lethal places gaining more shouts of pain from Kiba as he received the same wounds again. In the case of Kiba these wounds actually sealed his fate as he'd lost too much blood anyway by now to be saved.
The three chunin had no idea what they could have done to save Kiba at this point. If they did manage to lift the 'curse' as Hidan called it Kiba would bleed out anyway. The only person who could have saved him at this point would be Tsunade and it would be impossible to get him to her in time. To make matters worse now Hidan was holding the spear above his own heart. Their eyes widened in horror. Ino and Sakura tried to rush in but wouldn't make it in time. They could only shed tears as they heard the psychotic laughter of Hidan and heart shattering cry of Kiba as the spear was plunged into the Akatsuki member's heart.
The cry of pain lasted for a mere three seconds before he slumped lieflessly in Sasuke's arms. Sasuke cold only stare in emptiness as he lost his comrade, the shouts of his name from the two kunoichi and the laughter of the immortal bow lost on him. He couldn't help but think back to the massacre. His eyes morphed from his base Sharingan to a now awakened Mangekyou Sharingan. It took on the shape of a red six pointed star on black eyes. There was a smaller very thin lined six sided black star around his black pupil.
The worst part of the whole situation was ironically not that they had just lost a comrade. It was the foreboding aura that washed across the whole compound. Everyone except Sasuke had stiffened up as he was still lost in his agony. This was as if a cold icy veil of coming death as well as a raging hot inferno of wrath was enveloping everyone. And then it happened the mass explosion of Bijuu chakra stronger than anything any of the battle's participant's had ever felt before.