"The strongest?" Uchiha Toru repeated.
He then groaned, a hand massaging his temples as if trying to ward off an impending headache. "Oh, please — Not this shit again. Ask Mitsuki if you want to hear some real glazing."
Inwardly, Kaigo, one of the latest Path of Service recruits, cringed. He had heard plenty of things about the Path of the Warrior adepts. And he knew all too well who the man in front of him was. Uchiha Toru, after all, was one of the most distinguished men of the Rings, and for Kaigo, gathering the courage to come and ask him these questions, that he was now starting to feel very childish for even bothering such a busy man with, had taken him days.
He had come wearing his best dark blues, distinguished only from other adepts by the golden sigil upon his breast. Uchiha Toru, on the other hand, had been napping against a Jūbi panther, who radiated sheer doom, in a very casual attire.
And Uchiha Toru had mentioned something interesting.
"…Mitsuki?" The new recruit asked. "Skybreaker Mitsuki? The Mitsuki?"
"I don't know, man — I meant the one originally from world EN07."
"That's him."
"Skybreaker…? Oh, you mean that time he brought the clouds of planet Daikuuriku down?" Toru said, frowning. "Then you do mean our Mitsuki — The one who's currently ranked 108, right? Or 107, now?"
"That's him."
"Right — I knew it, actually." Toru then shook his head. "Good of you to bring him up — In fact, why don't we talk about the others?" He asked, and Kaigo knew he hadn't been the one to mention Mitsuki at all. "Or anyone else but the big man, actually. Yeah? Okay, so at the top, we have those who mastered the Path of the Warrior. As you know, we kept old classifications, mostly because I kinda love them."
Kaigo said nothing, recognizing this was the caliber of man only the elite among the elite could boast. To influence global policy, seemingly on a whim — although he knew better than to believe such a person would have done so for mere fancy. Uchiha Toru, after all, was a master of illusions and deception, it was known. His words seemed so honest, earnest, too, which made him all the more dangerous.
"I see you know them, too." Toru nodded to himself. "S-rank. That's what we call those who have mastered that path — the top hundred, at least."
Kaigo knew all too well that Uchiha Toru was one of them. Top ten, even.
Toru continued. "That means people like One-Man Army Kage, Jinsuke of the Dark Flame, Zephyr Blade Naoya, Icewrath Rei, Steelheart Fumiko… Silent Lotus Ling…"
Toru rattled off a few more names, and Kaigo knew nearly all of them. Then Toru veered into names that he couldn't recognize or even pronounce. What Toru hadn't mentioned, however, was how large the gap between some of them was. 'Merely' being among the strongest of the strongest didn't truly mean you could stand with the likes of—
"Then the A-ranks!" Toru continued, with equal enthusiasm. "There are thirty thousands of them — all of them incredibly strong! And not just because they bear the weaker sort of Jūbi, far from it. They had to train to even be able to hold them. It's a very hard level to reach, and while plenty of our members were already among the strongest of their homeworld, there are almost as many who are just picking things up real quick. Ninjutsu masters, Taijutsu experts, Genjutsu or Jikukan Ninjutsu… Some good friends of mine, or family, really, like Tenseigan Boruto, Uchiha Sarada of the Mistforge, Toadystyle Gama. Mitsuki, that you mentioned before — or was it me? Roku of the Five Rings, my brother Shisui, my cousin, Anko…"
More names.
"B-rank, right after." Toru continued. "That's a big one. A hundred thousand people, and they're all uniquely talented. Hikari of the Swift Shadows — she's a Nara, there were some in my homeworld, too —, Meiyo, who wields the Twin Moon Blades. And let's not forget about those with skills that might not always headline the epics that I'm sure you're hearing about. They are no less vital — perhaps the opposite. Like Yuna, the master healer whose knowledge of medical arts saved entire battalions, Beast Tamer Nari…"
More names.
"C-rank is where the journey is, for many — they are close to a million. They are some of the bravest, to reach so high, really — fresh recruits, eager learners, late bloomers who've found their calling." Toru smiled. "Eiji the Flame Wielder, Silent Step Takeshi, Hana of the Great Bloom…"
More names.
"Then, we have the D-ranks." Toru said, still as enthusiastically. "I am not entirely sure how many there are, especially this year, but likely a lot. Dreamers, and those taking their very first steps into a world slightly bigger than they imagined. Some elders call them seedlings in a vast garden, but I find it a bit too disparaging, frankly. They're as strong as any, although perhaps not in physical, chakric terms, for now. Hitei shows great promise at Taijutsu, for one." He nodded to himself. "Those include well-known people like Hundred Hands Chigusa — She's also a Path of Command adept, because she loves power that much, also she is from a place called Suna — it's in the Southern desert on Ring One, maybe you've heard of it…"
BLADES OF THE CELESTIAL
Far, far away, Toru danced through the storm, trading strikes with a nameless warrior.
She stood before him, rain streaming from her armor, standing over the sea with ease he didn't have. But that was why he had manifested part of his Susanoo's spear — to have something to stand on.
And his chakra, currently multiplying, but not fully compounding, deliberately paced at the slowest rate to preserve his combat effectiveness, thrummed through him. It was a painful burn, too, but nothing when compared to a full-on searing.
The nameless one was good, although the fact she was using stances he didn't recognize likely was helping her. She dodged back and forth, thrusting her sword of lightning like a crackling thunderbolt. Toru absentmindedly noted that what it cast could not be called light, as it created no shadows, even as he kept after her, leading with his fists, swapping to sword mid-swing occasionally, forcing her away.
A duel was easy. It also gave him something to focus on, aside from the feeling of being hopelessly lost, waiting for any sort of signal to finally do something, other than scanning the horizon and running endlessly. Hopefully, it would weaken the kami some.
Toru sensed the eagerness for blood in the warrior's moves. An eager wrath, that he surmised was Susanoo'-Arashi's. Around them, the remaining few Storm Warriors did not bother trying to fight him anymore. Not after he had run through the rest of them. They didn't flee, but they didn't attack either, and there was something slightly disturbing about that fact. It was as though they waited for the horned female one to conclude her duel with him. Deference..?
There was something in the distance, in the night sky, and his Rinne-Sharingan was slowly seeing the outline of it.
A comet…?
Oh, that was bad. For a second there, Toru nearly lost his focus. His Susanoo, which he had programmed for this sort of situation — something about being scatterbrained — didn't. The Spear became more corporeal, and pulled by the teal giant's hand, Toru was catapulted higher.
The nameless one followed in the sky, sweeping her sword in his direction, arcing with lightning. Toru summoned part of his Susanoo again, using it to change course in mid-air.
He let himself fall, and thought he could see what might have been surprise on the warrior's face. Her blade still nicked his armor, and the chest section exploded in a burst of light and liquid metal. Toru threw his high-frequency blade with perfect precision, and was rewarded by a grunt.
The nameless one still managed to dodge it, at the price of a deep cut through her helmet. Toru lifted two fingers toward the sword, which reversed course abruptly. She dodged it, too.
His Susanoo threw its spear, and this attack connected fully. The Storm Warrior was forced upward by the weapon lodged shallowly in her back, and it was all the opening Toru needed.
He lunged forward, hand extended, brimming with a dark orb.
Toru slammed the Deva Path's ability into her chest and pressed down at point-blank range. He felt a hint of panic in her, and blackness surrounded her.
Toru crushed her.
The moment he landed on the Susanoo spear, more soldiers materialized again. "Next one, then." They rushed him without any sort of ceremony, and Toru fell back into the fight.
And Toru thought he felt — or perhaps saw, as impossible as that was from here — a minuscule flash of something, far, far away. So tiny that he wasn't entirely sure whether he was being delusional. To him, at least, it could only mean one thing: the Eternal Mind had been used. Which meant that five of them, at least, had gathered.
All of them, perhaps? There was no way to know.
…Or less? What if the others had been isolated? If they had been forced to use it early?
Toru, even as he slipped under a sword narrowly, considered both options. Reaching them, without the portals, would take a while. Even with his Mangekyo's ability. And there was no doubt that Susanoo-Arashi would make his life more difficult than it needed to be the very moment he noticed Toru trying. One space-time technique. One. This much, Toru thought he would likely manage.
Still, it meant that if anyone was isolated, they would be in deep shit. What to do…?
At this moment, Toru made a decision. Besides, he was nearly compounding already, wasn't he…?
He let his chakra soar higher, now alight with the frenzied energy. It did burn.
A bit of a gamble, really, because if Susanoo-Arashi understood what he was doing, and just what his technique was, before the right time, they would be in no end of trouble. If his power truly was anything like Toru thought it was. Or if Toru just fried himself before doing anything, really.
It was all or nothing, then. And an instant was all he needed.
The sea exploded with light.
It felt as though the world itself were cracking, breaking apart, being consumed. The storm that fell on the gathered humans was not under control, never had been. It was a thing of pure power, raging destruction expressed in a single strike. There was no friend, no foe to the Heavenly Storm Blade. It simply surged, as unpredictable as the lightning it embodied.
Ten thousand men and women rose, with a thunderous roar, blaring out in the night their call to war, a tempest of heartbeats beating out a unified cadence. Fire and Wind darting across the seas, Water to keep the ocean at bay. Earth, shaping out a shelter from the heartless waves. Lightning, not to seek out a target, but to shield. Yin energy's ethereal glow, Yang to shape it. Barriers, a seemingly infinite number of them.
Ninjutsu! Fūinjutsu! Ninshū! Shinjutsu! They rose, shaped by the best humanity had to offer.
The sword descended upon the gathered humans like a tidal wave.
Light, darkness, and power; breaking from the clash, as though something precious but intangible had shattered. Arcs of lightning, reminiscent of those wielded by the Emperor, no, perhaps even stronger, carving devastating paths. They burned swaths of death through the humans, following the crest of the waves, the cracks in the earth, filling everything with divine power and destroying.
Above, the storm clouds parted, unveiling the abyssal depths of the night sky. Shards of Fire, Wind and Earth exploded from the hard-pressed human's barriers, spraying Susanoo-Arashi's sword like arrows. Not Water, and not Lightning — these two, once more, protected.
But protection was an impossible task: the humans shrieked in agony, and ever more of their numbers tumbled to the ground. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of them. In their midst, Uzumaki Hanabi and Ino seemed to be glowing, brighter than even the rest of them, aside from Karin, who held the Earth, hands raised against the divine. Their elite guard stood near them, and it was impossible not to notice that Uzumaki Boruto's eyes held a similar light as hers did. Uchiha Sarada's chakra wrapped around them, a spinning, sweeping Susanoo-like armor of Fire and Water that Mitsuki's Sage Lightning made near impenetrable.
It was a terrible, destructive show of power, coming from both sides, the crucible in words were forged or ruined. A tempest of destruction, a wave of indomitable, shared will, peaking into flashes of otherworldly light. The realm itself erupted in an incandescent fury, splintering under the strain, fracturing…
And then, abruptly, the onslaught ceased.
For the first time, Susanoo-Arashi's blade's path did not spell utter destruction.
Several things happened at once.
Hanabi staggered, a sheen of sweat on her face.
Her chakra cloak faded, a sign of her waning strength, and her balance finally failed her. Before she could fall, a strong arm caught her — Karin's. Hanabi could tell, even without her Byakugan, the same way she could tell Boruto had been ready to step in to catch her himself. But he couldn't, he had to hold the jutsu for her now. The same reason Ino couldn't.
"You good to go yet?" Hanabi asked Karin wearily.
Even as she asked, Hanabi knew that she herself wasn't. Not fully. But Karin only offered a grim smile. "I think I'll manage."
"Good." Hanabi muttered. "I think we could use your strength."
"To hold the jutsu?"
"No." Hanabi said.
"To confirm your hunch, then."
"Yes." Hanabi said. That they hadn't gotten destroyed could mean a few things. "Just once is not conclusive enough — I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry about?"
The world around them burned with energy, an eerie blend of chakra and shinsei. Twisting columns of smoke rose from the shattered earth, and Karin's power was flowing through the island with renewed strength. Her output had risen again, thanks to their allies' layers of the anti-domain technique, those who were capable of it, and was back to the oppressive force it usually was.
"Take a breath, will you?" Karin asked. "Ino and I will see what we can do."
Already, Susanoo-Arashi's warriors were rising anew.
If anything, the kami sounded amused.
Uchiha Itachi, for the first time since witnessing his brother and cousin face Nagato atop the ascended Uzushiogakure, felt fear.
It came to him as he witnessed the unfolding chaos around them. The raging sea of storms, the impossible power of that sword—
Fear was not something that could freeze Uchiha Itachi.
His resolve, his sense of duty hardened. It transcended the fleeting grip of fear. Shisui and he didn't need to share a glance, linked as they were or not. And Itachi didn't need the Mind to understand how tense Shisui was, when facing the Storm itself. It was no wonder, considering his history with it — if that was truly as similar to the one Uzumaki Naruto wielded, back then. It certainly seemed as though it could be.
In a singular, fluid motion, red and green wings combined, turning pale, and a mighty beat, enhanced by the ring of Wind users, propelled the two of them into the clouds.
Normal rules didn't apply here. Being so high above the battlefield usually meant a certain distance from the fight. Here, it felt like coming closer to the eye of the storm instead, and neither of their eyes managed to ensnare it.
"Shinjutsu!" With twin roars that echoed through the thunderous heavens and no time for extended chanting, their fused Susanoo drew back, and from the depths of their chakra, they summoned the essence of the Dragon Dive technique. Black fire. Green shards. Yasaka no Magatama, dark and destructive, merged with the ethereal grace of Tsukumo. Perfect synchronization, today as well.
The combined jutsu descended upon the half-formed giant of clouds, a maelstrom of fire and power that shaped itself into ethereal dragons of flame, spiraling down in a dance of destruction.
And following them, innumerable others, headed for the Storm Warriors down below.
The beasts of flame fell, incinerating everything in their path…
Except for the god they faced.
Mitarashi Anko dashed across the ocean floor.
Their Water users had made it walkable, but she didn't hold much hope that it would hold for long. A burst of purple light launched toward her, and Anko twisted out of the way, her body elongating in a way that only the Asura path (or in this case, Orochimaru's jutsu) allowed for. A serpent erupted from her sleeve, shaping itself into a high-frequency blade, and she went into the fight, low and quick, entirely out of cover.
Or rather, seemingly so. She must have seemed such an easy target.
Arcs of wind and blooms of fire rained down from a slightly different location, falling upon the enemy with a roar. Her sword cleaved through another one.
This time, the Storm Warriors showed some hint of a reaction. They turned about, screeching. They may well have been humans, once. Or perhaps it was simply the kami finding some sick amusement in all this.
It didn't matter, and there was no sympathy to be found in Anko during battle anyway.
The Asura Path manifested in the form of endless, gleaming biomechanical openings, each summoning an array of nanoblades, too small to be seen by the naked eye.
Anko opened unseen fire.
Uchiha Izuna dashed across the broken, rocky expanse, his eyes locked on Madara and Yugito as they navigated through the throng of warriors that almost choked the battlefield.
There was no room here for hesitation or the creeping dread that threatened to swallow him whole — still, this was sheer lunacy. To fight that… thing? He might as well have tried to fight the Emperor, back then — or now, too, admittedly.
As Madara and Yugito and ten more warriors vaulted into the sky, Izuna pushed through his fear, acutely aware of his own limitations, but determined not to be left behind. With a mighty effort, he unleashed a towering inferno towards Toka and Tobirama, aiding the assembly of Water-wielders below to try and wrestle control of the sea.
In spite of his fears, the fiery burst he conjured soared with a ferocity that rivaled that of his comrades.
Senju Tsunade, accompanied by some two dozen warriors and healers, including the people who might have become her grandparents in another life, charged through the sea.
They heard the shouting long before they jumped over the fallen.
Old instincts were hard to fight, even though she knew healing anyone, other than Karin, whom they needed to keep alive through the roaring onslaught, was not her priority. Lightning flashed across the sky, and pitch darkness followed.
The battlefield, indifferent to her priorities, was a picture of desperation and defiance alike when light returned. A wave of vertigo rippled through her, nausea threatening as she watched the power break another rank of men far more powerful than she herself was.
Mito, even through her worry, was staring ahead resolutely. After taking a deep breath, Tsunade did the same.
There was no time to be weaving back and forth just because of impossible odds.
Night wind whistled above them, Minato, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Gai.
None of them were from the same world, and only the latter's only home was truly within the Ring. For Gai alone, the Ring was his only home — one embraced only after a year of near solitude, followed by a heartfelt letter from the departed Kakashi, hand-delivered by the Emperor, accompanied by his profound apologies.
Gai was a shinobi, certainly, and he could more or less accept his best friend's fate. But he was human, too. It was this gesture that finally allowed him to accept this new world as his own.
Bound by a grim twist of fate and originating from worlds apart, the four warriors found themselves under a sky that seemed to mock their plight with its vast, unforgiving presence. Although he bore a Jūbi, one that was being very silent now, Gai felt vastly overwhelmed, to a degree that words could not do justice to. And in truth, he was mostly here today as thanks for his work in expanding upon the Path of the Warrior. As well as his request, of course.
This sea was a terrible thing, and it triggered what could only be called primal fear, in all of them.
But Gai, just like the three others, and any of them all, although the name had changed, was a shinobi.
Heaps of rubble, broken armor and lightning.
There wasn't a single stretch of even ground on the islands whose expansion they were fighting for. And fear was running through each mind, only kept in control through Uzumaki Ino's prodigious hive mind technique.
Roku would have known that much, even if he hadn't been part of it. Kurama's Negative Emotions Sensing was going haywire. The ruin of the battlefield was familiar, certainly, but there was something natural, he thought, about humans fearing the divine. No wonder.
With a growing little girl waiting for him at home and something treacherous that felt all too much like his heart had gotten too used to peace, Roku threw himself into the battle.
Sounds like a collapsing mountain, waves taller than any building he had ever seen, smoke, fire, and a rain filled with thunder—
At the far edge of the shattered and shattering island, Kuzunoha's left leg was trapped by a fallen stone, and her screams loud enough to challenge the stormy sea.
In any different context, she could have summoned the King of Hell to heal. Not here. Her battalion, once they got the opportunity to, pulled her free, but it was clear that her leg was ruined.
This meant certain death, in such a place. She could not heal fast enough. Why had she even thought she was cut out for this—
Thunder, soaring. Her blade cut through the air, summoning the Wind she had killed her homeworld's Uchiha Madara with, but just a touch too slow.
And then, golden chains, erupting from the earth without breaking it, wrapping around the Storm Warrior, squeezing it until it burst out in shards of light and something that felt all too much like blood. Covering Kuzunoha's face.
Remnants of gold lingered through the air, restoring some of Kuzunoha's life force, allowing her to use her leg again. Chains not truly meant for healing, but bursting with so much golden chakra that it still was a natural consequence.
That was Uzumaki Karin, undoubtedly. And she was moving ahead, fast, without glancing back.
If there was fear in her eyes, Kuzunoha couldn't see it.
Hebi was surrounded.
The sea of encroaching shadows closed in on her, and Susanoo-Arashi's power was terrifying, there was no other word for it.
Her chakra was suppressed to an unpleasant degree because of it, her moves sluggish in spite of the anti-domain layers, and without Ino's ever-present Soothing, she knew she would have collapsed and drowned already. She still wanted to do so, in fact.
How did the three of them even survive long enough to summon them here?
Her breaths were shallow, her eyes narrow. The battlefield stretched before her, an endless realm of chaotic seas only broken by human-summoned islands, echoing with the clash of high-frequency steel and the cries of the fallen.
Hebi would have liked to think of herself as one such island in the storm, but as the tide of the Storm Warriors surged against her with relentless fury, she knew she wasn't.
And she hadn't felt this vulnerable since fighting Obito, years and years ago. A battle in which she had gotten trapped into a nasty Genjutsu, and during which she and Kurama had agreed to a temporary truce.
Perhaps it was her mental state deteriorating — and perhaps Ino's words had been true, after all, and Hebi really needed to take a break. Some things ran deeper than just the physical, she had said. But she didn't force her to go, and it was something Hebi had appreciated. Perhaps she should have.
"Come on." She muttered under her breath, steeling herself against the onslaught. Her voice was equal parts defiance and desperation — a warrior's resolve facing the inexorable approach of death. "Fear is nothing but a chain that shackles the weak! Come on!"
The old mantra her father had taught her didn't help her any.
Still, Hebi fought.
With each movement, she embodied the essence of the Snake Style — fluid, lethal, and precise. Her chakra-infused water blades were extensions of her will, slicing through enemy throats and piercing skulls with the ease of a scythe through wheat. This dance of death was one she had mastered through countless battles. Why then, did it feel as though she was only delaying the inevitable?
The warriors of Susanoo-Arashi were unlike any other; each fell only to rise again, their numbers unending, their will unbreakable. If anything, they seemed to grow stronger. It was a nightmare made real.
Hebi turned around one fraction of a heartbeat too slowly.
A shadow suddenly loomed large over her, a blade descending in a silent promise. Time slowed—
Then, out of nowhere, a figure blurred into existence between her and the fatal strike.
An invisible Toad-style strike slammed into the Storm warrior, before the fist that followed drove a spiraling orb through its skull. Water, Wind.
With a flick of his wrist, Gama sent the Gale Rasengan into the distance, where it detonated in a burst of power, a pillar of pale light that seemingly rose to the heavens. Hebi might have considered such a thing impossible, years ago, but it was the sort of thing even Gama could do with ease, these days.
"What the hell are you doing?" He grunted, without turning to look at her. "Why did you ask no one to cover your back?
"I had someone." Hebi found herself answering anyway, unsure whether she was doing so through her voice or thoughts. They were all connected deeply. "Yamazaki is down."
"Is that why I couldn't hear her?" Gama began. "Yamazaki? She is as strong as—"
"I know. She is down anyway."
He shook his head. "I'll take over, then. Cover me, too!"
"Fine."
Gama seemed to hesitate slightly, but he spoke anyway. "You know, it's not the best time for it, but…"
"But what?"
He was looking at her waist, that fucking moron. Ah. No. He was looking at the jar at her waist.
"I never thought I'd see you actually using my gift." Gama said, scratching the back of his head, somewhat sheepishly. Something she had done herself, as a child, before Orochimaru trained it out of her. "...Makes me think you might actually like it."
"Tch! I'd use anything to help win this fight, even your trinkets." She retorted, though the edge in her voice was softened by the underlying fear that she couldn't fully hide. "Frog-bo—"
The nickname slipped past her lips unwillingly, for the first time in years.
Gama's smile widened slightly after a moment of silence. He stepped beside her, shoulder to shoulder, facing the endless horde.
And worse, Hebi found that she didn't even want to take the nickname back.
"Then let's do our best." He said, his tone light but his eyes serious. "Mitsuki."
Hebi's heart skipped a beat, not from the near-death experience, but from some strange emotion she could not even begin to describe.
"…Not that one." She finally said. "Not that name. Hebi. Hebi is better."
To Gama's credit, he only nodded. As though he understood the complicated feelings behind it all... and perhaps he truly did. "As you say, snake-girl."
His chakra felt warm, strong in the same way hers did: Wind, with a touch of weaker Water.
"Are you even any good at covering anyone's back?" Hebi asked, as though they hadn't gone on too many missions together to count. She didn't even know why.
Hebi only realized what she just said exactly when Gama made a choked sound, trying to suppress a laugh. "…I'd say I'm pretty good at that, yeah."
"Keep the stupid innuendo—"
"No. I meant it." Gama said, very seriously. And still, a small smile twitched on his lips.
"…Fine, then."
As they prepared to face the next wave together, Hebi felt the slightest flicker of hope.
And perhaps she felt a bit less alone against the terror of Susanoo-Arashi's power.
"Six and counting!" Uzumaki Nagato shouted through the shared mind, scrambling away.
Five… four… three…
"Five again! Back off them!" Uchiha Obito shouted. "Everyone — Everyone but Bakashi! Bakashi, you can do this, right?"
"I'll try." The Sixth Hokage said, nearly gingerly. "I'd say Lightning is my specialty, after all. I'll try and intercept these."
"How many hands do you think you have?!"
Uchiha Obito, one who hadn't turned mass-murderer, unless being a loyal Konoha ninja truly counted, soon obtained his answer:
With the Rinnegan's power, enough.
Wildfires were tearing through the seas, now.
'Fires at sea?' Karin wondered, even as her fist slammed through an enemy's face. 'Caused by thunder, too?'
Shouting, getting louder. Karin and her unit were drawing closer to the congregation of clouds in the sky. Surrounded by flames, they expended precious energy merely to navigate through the inferno.
Hopefully, they were not dancing to the kami's tune—
A sudden burst of red and green, exploding out of the flames. And just in time, Karin's chains lashed out, snaring Itachi and Shisui, preventing their descent into the ocean's depths. Both were grievously injured, yet they hadn't even made it anywhere near to Susanoo-Arashi.
Karin swept with her chains, cutting through a soaring wave. Once it split, two serpentine creatures rose from it. More screams rose from behind her, and she knew they were coming from Tanaka.
She couldn't afford to slow down.
And the fight was only beginning, it seemed. Karin gathered all of the chakra she thought she could afford to lose, nodded to a select few men and women, and with equally terse nods, all of them did the same.
They leaped into the fire, and less than half of their numbers made it through.
Ino held the power, felt it flooding her, lighting the world.
Gazing through Boruto's eyes, which offered a different, easier vision of the world than Hanabi's own, she beheld the vast expanse before her. With a deft touch, Ino continued to appease their numbers, and continued to enhance them.
"Wind-users, fall back!" Hanabi shouted through the hive mind. "Water-users, advance!" That her wife was recovering her strength, keeping even her Byakugan dormant, didn't mean she would do nothing, of course. Ino knew that Hanabi thought that she herself would have been a better choice for leading them, but Ino really had her hands full.
Not the same way Karin had her hands full with crushing the Storm Warriors and keeping all of the humans afloat, even from a distance, but something equally difficult.
Ino wove another wave of Soothing upon their allies, keeping their minds relatively sane.
Half of their forces were moving in into the Storm Warriors, keeping them away from the other half, the one standing on the island. Of these, half were shielding, as best as they could, the final group, who were gathering chakra in blinding swathes of light, output rising ever higher.
And still, the Storm Warriors were gaining territory. In fact…
"…Hanabi." Ino said. There was worry in her eyes. About what she had listened to through many's minds, and was now undeniable.
"…Yeah, I'm seeing it happen, too." Hanabi finally said. "They are getting faster."
Why were they getting faster?
And why was the aura they carried so damn familiar…?
Sakura floated in darkness.
She turned about, trying to remember how she had come to this place. What she was.
She couldn't save anyone, not the ones she loved, and herself least of all.
She was in a place between moments, and everything felt impossibly calm, impossibly quiet. And then, a voice.
"Is that it?"
…Could this get any worse?
The voice in question, Sakura had always attributed to her Inner self. And it was one she hadn't heard in years. Or perhaps it was the Jūbi itself now, she wasn't sure.
Sakura gave no answer.
"Is that it?" The voice asked, sharper this time, refusing to be ignored. "Of all places, this is where you choose to stop?"
"What does it matter?" Sakura muttered. "I've given all I could. It's never been enough."
"After all you've said?"
"I'm tired." Her admission hung heavily in the void. "And I think they might be better off without me."
"That's a lie."
Inner was right, and a tiny part of Sakura knew it. Even as she wondered what sort of place there was in the new world for her, she knew—
"You know that our fears have nothing to do with reality. Nothing."
"I don't want to go there again, then." Sakura whispered at last. "I can't do it."
"If you truly believed you didn't belong here, you wouldn't have convinced everyone to let you come." The voice said sharply. "If I had known you were this weak—"
The voice was a stark contrast to the serene darkness enveloping her. It sparked anger within her, too.
"You're right." Sakura admitted, and the voice quieted down. "I am weak. And I convinced them, and you, that I was someone I am not."
"…"
"And now, I suppose we are lost."
A reverberating crack resounded through the battlefield, and the skies darkened, once more.
One man saw it before anyone else did.
"The sword!" Boruto roared, trying to keep the Shinjutsu passed on to him together. The simple act of maintaining it felt nearly impossible, as though he were pulled in every direction. "It's shaping itself again!"
Mitsuki knew it was true — because Boruto had said it. And soon, he felt the powerful energy gathering. And the kami, Susanoo-Arashi, was laughing, too. Which Mitsuki knew tended to come with unpleasant consequences.
"I think I see it." Sarada finally said, her eyes brimming with barely restrained power — a Rinnegan bearing the power of her Mangekyō, but not fully evolved yet. "Well. Pray that it doesn't fall down on us, then."
"What else could it do?" Mitsuki asked evenly. "It's a sword."
Sarada chuckled, if nervously. Boruto snapped at them. "How can you be so—"
Laughter.
"Mitsuki is right, usually."
Boruto didn't have to turn his head to see Hanabi rise again. Her regeneration was a powerful thing, something that made his own, with or without Jūbi, seem dreadfully slow. But even she could not recover fully from the brutal effort of Jūbi chakra compounding.
"Think we can stop it again, Boruto?" Hanabi asked, nearly quietly. "Before it falls."
"If I think we can stop it?!" He retorted. "What?! We don't have a choice!"
Hanabi smiled. "Good answer."
Another shriek, and Kishibe Akari finally caught full sight of the creatures rising through the sea.
Faster — That thing was going faster!
Demonic, mouth opened wide, curved fangs trapped between scale-like flesh, each as long as Akari's head. Searing ruby eyes, the color of burning blood.
Akari saw its horror, its wrath. The fangs drew closer.
That can't be a god—
Coughing, staggering, wounded soldiers half-carried, half-dragged through the chaos.
Escape was impossible. There was only the fight.
Hiroki stared through the haze, his Rinnegan stinging from the smoke, at the remnants of his forces. Eighty-one remaining, and more than a few of his trusted S-ranked warriors were gone already. What had become of the rest?
He knew the grim answer. Gone. If it weren't for Uzumaki Hanabi's jutsu…
Beyond the immediate chaos, the sea was ablaze, thunder leaping from one wave to the next, filling the air with a demonic chorus of destruction, insatiable and gleeful.
He had to act.
In the heavens, the sword continued to build up a charge.
Think!
To think of a plan to do something at all, but the sudden, overwhelming heat smothered his thoughts, his lungs laboring in agony with each desperate breath.
The air offered no relief, drained of life, as if it too had perished in the conflagration. His armor felt like a furnace, sealing his fate. Stifling. It was supposed to be impossible — this was the Thunder Armor. He dropped to his knees, surrounded by his faltering comrades, then he tumbled into the sea.
"Grab him!" Someone gasped, and Hiroko barely heard his voice over the rush of water. "Someone! Naoki!"
The pain in his chest was unbearable—
Up close and feeling the Heavenly Storm Blade appearing, Karin understood.
She hadn't seen it from close enough the first time, and the second time alone hadn't been enough. But by the third, it was impossible not to notice it.
What Susanoo-Arashi was doing wasn't just building power up for a strike, no. The amount of shinsei gathered was nearly the same as it had been before, too. But something was happening within, around the blade — it was changing.
Karin was as familiar with shinsei as any mortal could be. The time they had spent immersing themselves into it through the Bath had made her so. It had taught her several things, too. And so, Karin thought she could understand the way the energy gathered within and around Susanoo-Arashi's weapon.
But this...
No conventional logic could account for this phenomenon.
The easiest way she could explain it was the following: the shinsei was building in patterns inverse to the techniques they had deployed. No, perhaps not truly inverse, but something that also felt like it.
Patterns that changed in response to all of the techniques they were deploying.
All of them.
No. All of them... that Susanoo-Arashi had witnessed.
Karin reached out through the Mind, her realization crystallizing into a single, inescapable conclusion.
'We won't be able to stop it!' She said through the Mind. 'You were right — It's the most likely explanation — his ability ... It's Adaptation!'
As though it heard the damning words, Susanoo-Arashi laughed. His sword rose, changing ever more.
'Its speed — It's because of Naruto, then.' Ino realized, with growing dread. 'Susanoo-Arashi, and his warriors — they're becoming faster because he is adapting. Changing to match Naruto's speed. His manifestations are all using a version of his Cloak!'
Hanabi said nothing at all, and for a moment, Ino thought she hadn't heard her.
'That, or… Never mind. I guess I was right, then.' Hanabi declared, her Chakra Mode reigniting with a surge of energy. 'Kami of change, indeed.'
'It has to be it.' Karin said, through a great distance, sounding as close as any of the other thousands of minds. They were thinking in unison, all of them, transmitting, receiving, and adapting to the new information as fast as could be.
That was bad. And—
'So what?' Hanabi finally asked. 'Our husband is not nearly this weak — This is nothing but a fraction of what he can do.'
'Hanabi...'
'This changes nothing.' Hanabi said, for all to hear. 'I don't give a fuck that he's the kami of change, even — he hurt Sakura.'
For a moment, Karin stayed silent, and aside from the usual chaos of deadly fighting, nothing came from her side. '…She's right.'
Ino sighed. 'You, too…? '
Twin nods answered her.
'Alright, then.' Ino then sent the following to everyone. 'Were you listening, all of you? That leaves one... mostly reliable way to get us out of here. Either it works or we're dead. Or worse.'
'That's right.' Hanabi said. 'We're going to have to blow this place up.'
'As she said.' Ino made herself think, with eerie calm. "Let's assume that he's accounting for more tricks — We can't risk a narrow escape again, this time. No holding back."
Directions were sent, and a charged silence fell over them, each warrior internalizing their part in the impending clash.
Boruto, however, next to Hanabi, found himself adrift in the sudden quiet. 'What about me?' He asked. 'You didn't give me any order. What's my role in this? Lightning? Wind…?'
Hanabi's smile was grim. 'Well, I'm going to need your help, Boruto.'
Sakura curled up in a ball, and tried to drown out the world.
Susanoo-Arashi wasn't done with her, it seemed. The visions came at her from everywhere, forcing her to live it, over and over again. Listening to their screams. A loop of it.
"Enough…" She pleaded to the void.
The Ring's destruction replayed before her eyes, a macabre show on a loop; she witnessed little Yūshirō's final breaths again; scenes more horrific still. Again. To hear, feel and see all of them fall, over and over again. To see them die in cruel, permanent ways, the same way she had killed so many.
Then Sakura was slaughtering them herself, and she felt the horrid thoughts that came to her as she did, with startling clarity that made every other thought she had thought before seem muddy.
Once she thought she was thoroughly broken, the visions simply left her alone with her mind, and perhaps it was worse, somehow.
It hurt. Everything hurt.
There was no bargaining with Susanoo-Arashi, no deals to be struck for mercy. No reasoning, no chance for clemency. His pleasure derived from her suffering, she was nearly sure of it.
Clutching her fist to her heart, Sakura felt overwhelmed by the effort to simply exist. Everything seemed so futile.
It was all so meaningless. Senseless.
"Why?" Sakura murmured. "Why do I have to go through this again?"
Silence was her only reply, as she had expected. The other was silent.
Try as she might, Sakura could not remember a single thing she hadn't fucked up in some way. She hadn't changed from that insecure girl in the Academy, after all. She had simply learned to mask it better, put up a big, tough front, and trick people into believing she was worthy of anything. Petty, cruel, weak. The most insignificant of burdens. Ino's thesis subject. A charity project.
If she hadn't been captured, none of them would have had to come here, stupid Naruto wouldn't have decided that she was worth wasting his life on, their wives would not have followed. What was the point of all that…? The Rings would have been better off without her, really. They would have been better off without her. And so would Sarada. Little Yushiro and Sasuke's sons. Yui.
She was a cancer, nothing more. A blight, staining everything she touched.
She was alone in this descent into madness, this spiral of self-loathing that consumed her from the inside out, wasn't she—
A voice broke the silence.
"Why are we here again?" It asked, and the voice was terribly lucid. There was no rage, no scorn, nothing of the Jūbi's fury in her. "I believe you know the answer."
It was Inner again. Or what was left of her, Sakura now realized, with some suspicion. Or perhaps it was a hint of clarity, like spring after the harshest of winters. In any case, she was able to think more clearly again — that was the use of paranoia, she knew. After their latest stint inside Susanoo-Arashi, Inner should have been gone entirely. Or perhaps Sakura had lost it entirely. And, speaking of loss, there wasn't much she could stand to lose, at this point.
"…Tell me, then." Sakura nearly implored, in spite of her concerns.
Inner only shrugged. "I won't tell you something you already know."
She looked into Sakura's eyes and smiled.
And then, the soothing; startling clarity; as though great clouds parting. Sakura's heart wrestled with denial and acceptance in equal measure. She thought she could remember why she had come, who she was, what she lived and fought for. But it was too late, wasn't it? She had fucked up, already, again. Were they dead—
She couldn't—
She could.
Sakura's fingers clutched around her earring, and something stirred in her.
For them… always for them.
That was the answer. Simple as that. Pure as that. She saw their faces, with more precision than she could ever recall.
The feeling swept over her.
"I have to admit…" Sakura's voice found a sliver of strength. She rose, and it was a struggle for air, a fight for clarity. "I am rather lost."
It wasn't a question, not truly. And still, the answer that came was her own, although it came from Inner's lips.
"Then find your way to them!"
Warmth poured into her, a warm, calming light. Inner, if that was who she was, receded, fading into mist.
Sakura had the strangest feeling it hadn't been her at all.
Instead, she thought it was something closer to a projection Ino had left in her sleeping mind as a backup, without warning her. Because she knew how Sakura would have taken the offer — with a fair amount of bitching. But mostly because it was the way she tended to deal with Sakura, who also kept some secret precautions to herself. That was how they had always done things. It had Ino's stink all over, really.
In spite of herself, Sakura laughed.
She then shook her head. It was not the best time to be laughing alone, and if anyone, aside from her lovers, realized she had just listened to a voice in her head to put herself back together, again…
Sakura inhaled deeply, steadying herself with a lengthy exhale.
"Back to reality, then."
With a determined whisper, her world exploded with light.
And then she was drowning, buried under so much pressure it was a wonder she hadn't burst out already.
And she felt cold, so damn cold.
In a frantic attempt to draw something breathable from the water, Sakura choked on it. And she found her efforts thwarted by the domain of Susanoo-Arashi. Her own powers, including Kamui, were out of reach. Her thoughts were so muddy, too. If she had managed to actually get brain damage—
Think, focus, remember!
What was this water made out of…? Water, Water, Yang… No.
Fuck.
Their training had prepared her for this, but she could hardly remember anything. Desperation took over as she reached deep within her soul.
Almost. Almost there.
That was the way! Sakura stretched out her hand, reaching deep within her soul—
Before she could do it, she saw a flash of gold, and something yanked on her arm, carefully enough not to pull it out of her shoulder, but sharply enough that it ached.
The suffocating pressure around her was suddenly replaced by an intense warmth.
Blinking her right eye open, she ceased her chakra manipulation, enveloped as she was in a protective sphere of white-hot fire. They were rising.
Then, she was pulled into a reassuring embrace.
"You are in luck." The other said with staggering calm, as though she wasn't searing her very soul with multiplied chakra. "I am rather good at deep sea retrieval."
"…"
"…Sakura? Are you alright?"
Only then did a sob escape Sakura. It was quickly followed by others, a rather ugly show, she thought.
"…I am sorry." Sakura said at last, holding onto her. "Yoisen. I'm so sorry."
The physical, burning light in Yoisen's eyes finally receded some as they continued to soar through the water, rising at an incredible pace. "Sorry? For… what for?"
Sakura's voice was a fragile murmur, barely louder than the crackle of flames. "You shouldn't have to see me like this." She caught sight of Yoisen's pallor, the way the firelight accentuated her injuries, likely acquired during her rescue. "And you shouldn't have had to come for me."
"There is nothing to apologize for." Yoisen's response was immediate, her voice carrying a blend of reassurance and fatigue.
"I screwed up—" Sakura began, her guilt surfacing.
"We were scattered, all of us. That was Susanoo's intention, and we were inadequately prepared to counter it, after all. In spite of everything." Yoisen interrupted gently, her gaze steady. "Toru found me before he located you. Only us three were entirely alone, he said, and you were sent to the depths. Without my barriers, I would likely have fared worse than you. And I am rather sure I would not have managed to raise them at all."
Sakura doubted it. She privately thought that it was her past experience with Susanoo-Arashi that had made her crumble. And that Yoisen had managed to deal with most of her own demons already. But…
"Toru…? Is he — So that bonded ability of his was good for something, after all?" Sakura rasped out, feeling both fondness and worry for him. "Where is he? — And the others?"
There was a pause in Yoisen's eyes before she answered. "Karin, Ino and Hanabi are on the surface, if that is what it is, with our army. Toru showed me where. As for Naruto, and Orochimaru…" She trailed off. "Toru went after them. Searching."
None of them knew where they were, then.
"The situation might be even worse, then. It means Toru might have exposed his ability already." …Or maybe not. She trailed off. "I nearly gave in — You shouldn't have to see me like that, either."
Yoisen's hold on Sakura tightened further, seemingly warmer than the inferno that raged around them. "There is no need for that." Yoisen replied, her voice steady but soft. "I… do not know what you went through. But your perspective is misplaced."
"What do you mean?"
"Seeing you like this... it only strengthens my resolve to stand by you, through anything." Yoisen said gently. "And… I am glad I could save you, this time."
Sakura said nothing for a moment. She closed her eyes briefly — she had done a few good things, too, hadn't she? Perhaps it was true — and they had a battle to fight, anyway. Therapy, or whatever bullshit Ino wanted to put her through, could wait until later.
"You do not have to bear the weight of everything on your shoulders, Sakura." Yoisen said, her lips slowly curling up in a knowing smile. "I am with you, as ever."
"…That goes for you, too." Sakura muttered. "Half of us have a savior complex." In spite of her words, there was something firm in her eyes, a spark of resolve.
"I think I can accept that." Yoisen agreed.
They ascended through the raging sea, ignoring or cutting through the monstrous creatures that tried to follow, with synchronized precision.
Power. Chakra, or shinsei?
Both their eyes turned in the same direction. Something was happening up there, enough power gathered in one place for it to be felt even though the distance.
"That light…"
Toru, who was streaking through the waves at a speed he had taken years to learn to manage, teal chakra shield extended in front of him, looked toward the South.
The Storm Warriors following him disappeared, as though Susanoo-Arashi did not need anymore. Or perhaps their power was needed elsewhere, who knew.
Toru looked past the distance, toward the light.
Then, he grinned.
Kage ran after Jinsuke through above the churning sea, past Karin and the rest of their unit, who crafted a ramp of earth for them to accelerate on.
His friend ran so fast that it looked like he was flying.
In spite of the entire situation, there was a half smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. It felt like childhood again, and Kage felt terrible for even thinking about it at such a moment.
"Don't drag your feet, dead last." Jinsuke said. "I'll be going first."
"After you, then." Kage shot back. "I always learn best from your mistakes anyway!"
"Tch." He smothered a laugh.
As if summoned by the sound, a colossal amount of energy surged around Jinsuke. Something that made it hard to joke about his tiny chakra reserves. The Perfect Susanoo materialized with a thunderous roar, its form blazing a brilliant white. It rose, towering over the seas, gleaming like the first light of dawn breaking through the blackest night. "Darkened storm cloud." Jinsuke intoned.
Not to be outdone, Kage felt a surge of his own power. With a deep, resonating growl, Kurama's chakra, as well as his own, enveloped him, the majestic Fox spirit materializing around his form. The fiery aura cast a pale golden light, and ten furry tails were whipping in the air, carrying beautiful beads. Kurama and Kage answered the call.
"Loose thy blade." Jinsuke raised his hands to the heavens, and both his swords disappeared.
"Shinjutsu: Thunderclap Blade."
With a deafening roar, a colossal bolt of lightning tore through the sky, parting the heavens; a divine spear hurled by the will of a true warrior.
It could not be described as an ordinary lightning strike; it was a cataclysmic force, capable of altering the very weather patterns of the globe.
As it struck Susanoo-Arashi's weapon, the rain stopped.
The air crackled with terrible sparks, and for a moment, it seemed as though it would prevent the Heavenly Storm Blade from falling. The battlefield was illuminated with an ethereal glow, banishing the darkness for a moment.
And supercharging the air with his chakra in between the humans and Susanoo-Arashi with chakra.
Strong, but lacking in creativity, Kage thought once more. Typical of Jinsuke, really. All Indra things and big thunder attacks — kinda like Indruto. Usually, Kage would waste more time debating it. However, there was no time to waste.
"Whiskers. Tails." Kage completed a chant at that time. "Nine, might divine."
His partner and second closest friend nodded in approval, a rumbling sound that could only come from a being that large.
"Shinjutsu: Kurama's Fox Glade!"
Around them, throughout the sea, the fabric of reality seemed to warp and twist, as if the world itself was bending to his will.
Then reality returned, but altered.
"Here's for a trick!" Kurama roared gleefully.
Dozens of clones sprang forth from their combined essence, each a perfect mirror.
Clones of every single member of the human forces, that was. Of the island most of them were standing on. All of the people were shuffled around, in entirely random patterns, at the moment the jutsu activated. A movement as fluid and unpredictable as Kage's own.
Something that made it impossible to know who the original ever had been.
It was complete chaos, and it seemed to trigger some primal, joyful fury in Kurama.
Dozens of clones sprang forth from him as well, each a perfect mirror, a reflection of his joyful fury.
All of them, clones, humans, and Bijū, turned toward the same direction. As though one man, watching a god.
And the god answered:
I AM AFRAID THAT THIS WILL NOT BE ENOUGH.
The ocean was bathed with purple light.
The Storm Warriors disappeared in a blink, as though Susanoo-Arashi simply had no more need for them. Or perhaps he dismissed them in order to gather more power. To smite all of them down.
The waves stretched toward the heavens, like pillars of water; dark glass, reflecting the Heavenly Storm Blade.
Boruto, his chakra flickering like a tempestuous flame, gathered his focus amidst the chaos.
Hanabi could do such a thing on her own… usually. In this sort of environment, there was no telling, and it wasn't a chance they could afford to take, either. So they helped, giving it all they had.
He was the eye of a storm wrought by his own power. Mitsuki and Sarada, his unwavering comrades, stood next to him, their eyes mirroring the resolve that he himself exuded. His hands formed seals with a precision born of countless hours of practice and battles fought side by side with legends. To him at least, the air crackled with anticipation he could almost see.
"…We've got this." Boruto said lowly.
Sarada made a slightly amused sound, in spite of her own fear. "Don't jinx it."
Mitsuki shook his head, even as he kept his eyes trained upon the sky. "Mere words cannot bring bad luck — not unless that is your clear intent as you cast the spell."
Boruto snorted.
The three of them channeled as one.
So did Yugito, Anko, Itachi, Shisui, as well as many of the nine's closest companions.
Their chakra rose, like a prayer.
In fact, of the ten thousand men and women that had come, all those who had survived the onslaught channeled together.
Their chakra rose, like a prayer.
To the humans, it was a beautiful, awe-inspiring spectacle.
To the kami who saw it happen, even from outside Susanoo-Arashi's Domain, it was awe-inspiring, as well.
But this awe was the sort of wary respect one reserved for a dangerous beast.
Gama, unsure why he was doing it at all, gripped Hebi's hand.
From the sharp turn she made, the glare she shot him, she didn't know either. Hebi's fingers were harsh, callused. Much like she was. "What's that frown for?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "You won't need your right hand for this, will you?"
She was left-handed, after all.
"…Focus!" Hebi said sharply. "You heard the order! They are going to need much more than the sort of measly amount you are channeling."
"Back at you."
Hebi turned away from him, without another word, but didn't let go of his hand.
Karin and her team, of which Kage and Jinsuke were a part of, leaped away from the storm of light.
Like their doubles, of course. Although a few of them had gone first, as a diversion, in case.
The searing marks on her hands seemed a fresh pain as she moved. Her chains had burned away when they had merely approached the kami.
Not enough, the kami had said. As Karin stared into the massive purple eyes, she could believe he truly thought so. Because so did she.
And yet, Susanoo-Arashi had been forced to wait an instant longer than he would have, otherwise. In order to adapt.
"Good." She said, or thought.
Jinsuke glanced at her in question. While he couldn't use his Shinjutsu again right now, there were plenty of other things he could do. "…Replacement?"
"No." Karin said. "You two did enough — forcing Susanoo to expand his target range." Forcing him to summon even more power. And according to the research teams…
Kage squinted. "Let's try and shoot him down, then?"
"No. Fall back for now." She said. "Attack as soon as Hanabi gives the call. Let's make good use of that moment, shall we?"
They didn't have to wait for long.
Neither Naruto nor Orochimaru had a chance to see the light.
Sasuke, outside Susanoo-Arashi's Domain, didn't have to see the light, or even to feel it.
Although it was true that the Sage's gift had refined his perception, his instinct even further, it wasn't why he acted.
He had been intending to pour all he had into attacking anyway.
"Shinjutsu." Sasuke called, holding his sword out. His first attempt hadn't been enough. How could it have been?
There was no time for doubt, however.
With a deep, grounding breath, he ignited the first spark of his ultimate technique. Fire burst forth, not as a mere flame, but as an all-consuming inferno, its intensity felt like it could have rivaled the sun itself.
As the inferno raged, Sasuke summoned the Wind, compressing and intensifying the flames into a hyper-condensed form that devoured everything within the War Domain. The air itself became part of the technique, magnifying the heat to unfathomable degrees. Then, with a flick of his wrist, Lightning crackled through the tempest.
Water, to weave around the flames, creating a veil of superheated steam. A deadly conduit for the electrified blaze. Then, with a stomp, he called forth the Earth, too, encasing the perimeter and trapping himself within a molten arena from which there was no escape.
And then, again. Seizing the Jūbi chakra and compounding it with his own. Keeping the first cycle firmly channeled even as he burned deeper than even his eyes could reach, Sasuke summoned the elements once more.
Water, Wind — Mokuton.
Trees sprang forth, not burning in the inferno, but thriving, absorbing the elemental fury and concentrating the energy.
Fire, Wind, Earth — Dust.
There was nothing around him, not even ash. Nothing but Susanoo-Arashi's Domain. And there would be nothing, once he was done.
Yin, to create the dream; Yang, to shape it.
His Sharingan strained; Kajin and Kojin were pushed to their limit.
And then, Fire again, closing the circle.
"Blazing Heavens."
Sasuke brought his sword down.
Susanoo-Arashi's sword would soon fall, too.
Uzumaki Hanabi sneered at the god.
With her wives and Sakura's unofficial students by her side, she slammed both hands together.
A burst of light, a tempest unleashed, signaled the beginning of the end.
In her hands, Wind always rose with an explosion.
Ino weaved Hanabi's link with everyone tighter, drawing them into a seamless web of unity. Karin pushed her chakra to its limits, her strong life spirit flowing into each of them, living or gone, a flow of strength that belied her own reserves. Boruto… Boruto did the same thing Hanabi was doing.
Time slowed down for her.
And her voltage ramped up, even as the sword continued to fall. No, perhaps it would be fair to say it ramped up because of it.
"This is no mere Mangekyō Byakugan!" Hanabi roared, and her voice cut through the cacophony of battle. "Look here, and look well, Susanoo!"
She shone with an otherworldly light.
"The Reincarnation Eye — the Tenseigan!"
Her decree echoed across the battlefield, a rallying cry in the heart of darkness. An invitation to rise beyond their limits, to transcend their fears and embrace their true strength.
And they responded. How they responded.
Each warrior and their weaker doubles, now touched by the power of the Tenseigan, felt a stirring within their souls. Their chakra pulsed to life. The fallen rose again, brought back to transcendent life.
The ocean was suddenly aglow with countless individual lights, each their own unique hue, embodying individual chakra natures. The battlefield became more than just terrifying ruin; a canvas of resplendent colors, each representing a warrior's brilliant rebirth in power.
Strangely enough, or perhaps ironically, the technique that was Hanabi's was the opposite of selfishness. It was the nature of her Art: one that allowed other warriors to fight with more than their full potential. Without risking any of their lives, aside from the original casters'.
Ino's. Hanabi's. Karin's. Of the ten thousand men and women currently fighting, only nine had truly left the Ring.
The tree of them completed a technique that should have required more of them to wield it. Idly, Hanabi wished that she could have had the chance to fight Susanoo-Arashi in close quarters. With this done, she wasn't entirely sure she'd be in fighting shape later on. Because they would break through.
"Shinjutsu: Radiant Moon."
True chakra incarnation.
Ten thousand chakra cloaks, each their own, courtesy of Hanabi's Art. And less tangible ones, to wrap around Kage's doubles. But they didn't need to buy time anymore. Her strength dimmed once more, her legs trembled under her, but she didn't let go.
And Ino drew closer to her, shining her brilliant, unique shade. Yin—Earth—Fire.
"Enough — Enough for now. Don't overexert yourself, Hanabi." Ino said softly, even as she did what she could to heal her. As though she wasn't just as exhausted herself.
Hanabi shook her head with quiet confidence. "This is nothing — I can take it."
Earth — Water. Karin. Her strength flooded through the Mind, doing what it could to repair her burned out pathways.
Ten thousand men and women brought out a hundred and fifty percent of their potential.
That was Hanabi's jutsu.
Then, more power, starting from this new base. This… this was theirs.
Ten thousand hands ascended, coming to rest near their hearts. With precise, needle-like pulses of chakra, they breached the boundaries of flesh, seeking strength beyond strength through the deadliest Gate.
And then, only then, a miraculous act of Compounding reverberated, a chorus of human will and power, amplifying into the realm of the impossible.
Susanoo-Arashi's blade fell.
Ninjutsu! Shinjutsu!
Ten thousand men and women released their most potent space-time warping Arts, guided through the Mind by Hanabi's sight, Karin's sensing, and Ino's ability. And countless others', too.
Chakra blended in with Susanoo-Arashi's immeasurable strike in a display of power that shattered the clouds and the sea.
The Heavenly Storm Blade's powerful release cleaved through nearly all of the humans, destroying their chakra incarnations…
The humans hadn't been aiming at Susanoo-Arashi himself, nor at his sword.
No, instead, they had channeled all of this excessive power into the haze of chakra left behind by Jinsuke's jutsu — all of it, toward a single point.
Enough power to shatter a realm, especially with Susanoo-Arashi's own rising — all of it, overloading reality so thoroughly it had never stood a chance.
The same way, outside of this realm, one lone man's flames were directed toward a single orb of darkness.
…But not their souls!
Perhaps neither of these reality-shattering assaults would have been enough on their own, although there was no true way to know.
Combined, however... Although Susanoo-Arashi's blade fell, it didn't manage to do what the god had intended to do: it didn't destroy them.
Their souls were safe. Safe within the Ring, and aside from the dangerous compounding that already, they knew would take them a while to recover from…
They were alive.
And then, light. Light that couldn't be the sun, shouldn't be the sun, peeking through what had been darkened clouds, growing fiercer in mere seconds, along with a heat that was undescribable. Light. Light that burned the eye, even the legendary Rinnegan. Something fundamentally beyond comprehension, for both the humans within the Domain or the kami without.
There was sweat, matting Hanabi's hair, making it stick to her forehead. It ran into her eyes, and was painfully salty.
It wasn't just from exhaustion: the scorching, deadly heat out there, even as the last of the black flames were forcefully smothered, had much to do with that.
Still, exhaustion gnawed at Hanabi's resolve as she relinquished her hold on the jutsu, allowing the shrouds of chakra to dissolve into the ether.
"Well." Hanabi panted, feeling as though even her eyes couldn't see through the haze of her fatigue. "That wasn't as easy as I thought it would be."
There weren't many people left. And Hanabi found some weary amusement in watching their eyes — Boruto's, for one. Ah. Less so, when looking into Yugito's. They themselves risked less, certainly, but…
'Worried for me, really?'
That felt… strangely warm.
They had managed. Ten thousand unique chakra, compounded, working as one. Another thing made possible only through their extended time in that damned Bath. But they had managed, thanks to all of them. Asking for even more felt like too much, already. She would have to do it anyway.
Blink.
Impossibly strong chakra presences, suddenly there.
Two more, around the heaving Karin, two next to Ino, who was nearly on her knees, by now — unfortunately, she couldn't afford to rest, even less than any of them. One more presence, suddenly appearing in front of them.
"You can say that again." Sasuke let out a breath that seemed like burning ash.
Outside of the domain, and stretching for kilometers despite Amaterasu-Yoake's barrier, the ground had turned to brittle ash, a stark transformation from its former state. The devastation was particularly severe around Sasuke: nothing was left there at all, a pure void.
Outside of the domain, their chakra was allowed to rise to full power again. Hanabi's own, or rather, what she hadn't fried using compounded Jūbi chakra, began regenerating. Still, she was so tired, already… So damn tired.
Hanabi only stumbled then.
And then, the last presence.
A strong arm, entirely unarmored, wrapping around her shoulders to hold her. When Hanabi glanced up at him, even with the terrible burns streaking across his right arm and cheek, the dried blood on his face, in spite of his impenetrable defense clearly having been breached, Naruto had never looked stronger.
"Now." He said, with steel in his eyes, staring the god in the eye. "What was that about drowning?"
Susanoo-Arashi, tempest incarnate, was unamused.
Like any other kami, it would take him some time to recover his ability to bring his domain about again. And that meant they had a window of opportunity.
FLEEING FROM MY DOMAIN, THEN? A WISE CHOICE. His answer was full of thunder. YOU EMBRACED THE BLEMISH, BUT BATTLE WILL NOT BE DENIED ITS DUE.
"We didn't flee — They simply tore your realm apart." Sakura interjected, her voice unwavering, stepping away from Sarada's group. "Besides, blemishes fade." Her eyes narrowed. "Just like you will."
"Do not worry, Susanoo." Naruto said to the god, as the last tendrils of darkness faded away, revealing the black sky of the damaged Takamagahara, as well as thousands and thousands of stunned divine eyes.
Naruto continued. "We might have chosen to fight on more even territory."
Thousands and thousands of terrified divine eyes.
"But you will have your battle."
Susanoo-Arashi's Domain shattered.
lensdump:
i/7OlX8T : Empress
Chakra Compounding — Ten Thousand Hands Merges and compounds ten thousand unique chakra into a superior form. Only possible after activation of Radiant Moon, and the release of the Eighth Gate. Strong enough to break through a divine realm.
Divine Territory: Susanoo-Arashi Creates a domain with a seemingly infinite horizon of a raging sea, invoking intense visions in those falling into the waters and reducing chakra output to near nothingness. Allows him to make full use of his power of Adaptation and to divide his focus across multiple fronts.
Shinjutsu: Blazing Heavens Sasuke's. Compounds the seven elements upon themselves, releasing it into a single, obliterating fire strike.
Shinjutsu: Dragon Dive Shisui and Itachi's. Conjures numerous dragons composed of dark flames, unleashing them in a catastrophic downpour from the skies.
Shinjutsu: Kurama's Fox Glade Kage's. Creates powerful doubles of anything in range that is chosen, and scatters them around. Considered a flashy distraction by Jinsuke.
Shinjutsu: Radiant Moon Hanabi's. Allows for the perpetual reincarnation of any linked warriors across any distance and allowing them to surpass their natural capabilities.
Shinjutsu: Thunderclap Blade Jinsuke's. Compounds the elements with themselves, releasing it into a single lightning strike. Considered rather boring by Kage.
Susanoo-Arashi: Adaptation Seemingly allows the kami to change himself to cut through any attack.
AN: If anything needs clarification, again, do tell!
Next chapter: That Which Shatters Waves