CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Our benefactors part-6
"AARRRGHHHH!"
Screams could be heard from none other than Naruto, who was restrained by branches from a massive tree in a strange dimension inhabited by Otsusuki Momoshiki. The jinchuriki cried in agony as Momoshiki carefully extracted the nine tails from him, a process that would take several days at the least. Growing impatient, Momoshiki paused the process to scowl at Naruto.
"How much longer is this going to take?" he directed his question at Kinshiki by his side.
"At best a few more hours, at worst up to a day more, Momoshiki-sama" the large man replied. Momoshiki frowned and turned back to Naruto. "You're a tough one aren't you?"
Naruto raised his head to face him with a smile. "That's a shinobi for you, egg-face. We don't quit so easily y'know"
His reply drew a laugh from his captor. "It doesn't matter, I'll take what's mine even if it takes me a hundred days"
From the corner of his eye, Naruto could sense movement. His heart rate accelerated as he recognized some of the new presences that manifested in the area. Facing Momoshiki with a smile, he spoke, "I think my friends might have something to say about it"
Suddenly, a shuriken pinned itself above Naruto's head, startling the two Otsusuki keeping watch on Naruto. The shuriken suddenly became Sasuke, who immediately slashed Naruto free from his restraints with his sword and swapped his position with another shuriken from Konohamaru that was making it's way towards them.
"What is this?" Momoshiki looked around in confusion, just in time to narrowly avoid a flying kick from Sakura who was crashing down from above. Kinshiki however, wasn't so lucky and he took the full force of the kick, sending him flying some distance away.
Safely on the ground, Naruto addressed Sasuke. "Took you long enough"
The Uchiha shrugged and gestured towards three people waiting a few metres away.
"Something came up"
Naruto watched with surprise as team 4 ran out of hiding and he was immediately tackled to the ground by Konohamaru's embrace.
"I missed you too Kono" he said in between laughs.
"Naruto-sensei!" Moegi ran up to him and immediately began to heal his wounds. "I'm so glad you're…." Her voice was choked with tears, and she went silent and continued her work with a smile on her face.
"I'm so happy to see you guys, thank you for everything" Naruto smiled at his friends and ex-students.
"No way I was letting you die before you watched me become Jonin" Hanabi returned his smile and shifted her gaze to Sakura who flickered to their position.
"Save the greeting Naruto, we've got work to do" she pointed at Momoshiki and Kinshiki floating high above them and turned to Moegi.
"Moegi, I'll take it from here. This is an emergency and I need you in the fight dealing with those two."
"Right!"
Sakura activated her forehead seal and began healing Naruto, dark blue lines forming over her skin. Naruto was finally back on his feet shortly to warn them. "The short one absorbs ninjutsu so be careful"
"Look out!"
The group dodged a large red axe hurtling towards them. Kinshiki created another axe in his hand and charged Naruto and Sasuke, who got out of the way and engaged him in combat.
Hanabi noticed Momoshiki was now isolated from his companion and called out her team to seize the chance to attack him.
"Remember, no ninjutsu!" she yelled, running up the massive tree to Momoshiki's location. With Konohamaru close by, she leapt from the tree and was in the air in a flash, trying to land a hit on the Otsusuki. Hanabi felt herself knocked back but she landed safely in the arms of Sakura.
"Don't be so reckless Hanabi" Sakura put her down safely. "Coordinate your movements with our own"
"Understood"
Sakura produced a weapon from her bag. A studded metal ball attached to a long chain and handle, she had only included it in her arsenal very recently. It's was time to put it to use. She grabbed the handle and began swinging the mace while giving orders to team 4.
"Konohamaru! Hanabi! Flank left and right and attack in sequence, Moegi you're on me!"
"Yes Ma'am!
"Roger!"
The group attacked immediately. Momoshiki evaded a barrage of kunai from Konohamaru and unleashed a fire ball at the chunin who managed to dodge it. Almost immediately after, Hanabi leapt behind him
[Eight trigrams: air palm]
A strong gust of wind sent Momoshiki flying into the tree. He crashed into a branch and steadied himself in the air.
"Why you…huh?"
Before he could finish his sentence, Sakura swung her weapon at him, wrapping it around him and slamming him into a nearby rock formation
"Shanaroo!"
She lifted him up in the air again and spun his body around before violently swinging him into the ground in a large crater. Sakura quickly turned to Moegi.
"Now!"
Moegi sprinted towards Momoshiki while performing a set of hand signs.
"Why you brat!" he flew up to her and grabbed her neck before she could evade, crushing it in his hand.
"One down" he said as he dropped her lifeless body and sought another target. Then he stopped, quickly spinning around. Something felt off.
"Wait a minu-" he was interrupted by a palm strike from Hanabi that immobilized his arm, sending him staggering backwards….. right into Konohamaru's trap of around a dozen explosive tags arranged in a kill box. The resulting explosion sent Momoshiki into the trunk of the massive tree in the middle of their battleground. As he got back up, he was met with the sight of Sakura practically soaring through the air to him
"We're not done yet!"
She struck him with a fierce punch that sent shockwaves throughout the area, causing Momoshiki to fly right through the tree and tumble off the ground for a good distance before crashing into a rock.
Sakura adjusted her glove and turned to Moegi who had flickered to her side. "Nice job Moegi"
Her protégé beamed with pride and placed her hands on her waist. "I knew all that genjutsu training was going to pay off someday"
While all this was happening, Kinshiki found himself struggling to overcome his two opponents. Naruto and Sasuke steadily applied pressure on the Otsusuki until he was eventually defeated. As Kinshiki picked himself up from rubble, he saw Momoshiki crash into a mountain from Sakura's punch.
"Momoshiki-sama…" Kinshiki felt a surge of energy flow through him as he leapt off the ground and thundered forward in the blink of an eye, body slamming Sasuke into the terrain and sending Naruto flying with the swing of a massive arm. Flying to Momoshiki's side, he created a battleaxe and swung it in a large arc, the shockwave splitting the giant tree clean through the middle and causing the Konoha shinobi to duck for cover.
"Master….it's time for you to consume me" Kinshiki said without looking at Momoshiki.
"Kinshiki…."
"There won't be another occasion for this if we don't end this battle right now, master"
Momoshiki swallowed and slowly stretched forth his hand, absorbing Kinshiki. Feeling his body begin to transform, Momoshiki levitated upwards as his hair grew longer and black markings adorned his skin. His physique was also noticeably different with him growing to nearly twice his original size and gaining noticeably more muscle mass.
"Your sacrifice shall never be forgotten Kinshiki"
Momoshiki let a powerful roar that shook the entire area and descended upon team 4 and Sakura in a flash.
"Look out!" Konohamaru screamed, holding up a kunai to block a swing from Momoshiki's clawed hand. He wasn't fast enough to react to the Otsusuki's next attack though, as Momoshiki knocked him out with a punch and grabbed his head in mid air to throw him towards a giant protruding tree root from the ground.
"Konohamaru!" Hanabi gritted her teeth and ran towards Momoshiki with her Byakugan activated, ignoring the screams from Moegi advising against it. Momoshiki faced her with a smile and in a flash was upon her, however Hanabi was up to it. She parried a strike from Momoshiki and swiftly dodged a kick from him, ducking into a side roll and appearing behind him ready to strike. However, Momoshiki was already anticipating her next move and struck her with his elbow, drawing blood from her nose. He sent her flying away with a backhanded slap into the terrain, knocking her out cold.
Momoshiki suddenly found himself under attack from Naruto and Sakura but even they were not enough to subdue him. He dodged several blows from Sakura and materialized a red battle hammer in his hand, slamming it into her torso and sending her crashing into a nearby rock.
"Sakura!" Naruto tried to take advantage of the distracted Momoshiki and attack from behind, but he found himself held in place by Momoshiki's hair which had suddenly grown long enough to wrap around him. Momoshiki pulled Naruto towards him with his hair and sent a powerful blow to his jaw, drawing blood and sending him a good distance away.
"Resistance is pointless, nine tails. You will fail no matter how hard you try to stop me" Momoshiki boasted as he levitated onto the severed trunk of the giant tree he had once held Naruto in. His booming laughter echoed through the air while he floated up, meanwhile down below Moegi ran up to Sakura's body lodged into a cracked boulder.
"Sakura-sama!" the girl screamed in panic as she ran towards her teacher. She felt immense relief as she discovered Sakura was still moving when she got closer to her.
"I'm fine Moegi" Sakura declared, wiping blood trickling down from a cut on her head. "Go and help Konohamaru and Hanabi, they need you"
"Y-yes ma'am!" Moegi scurried off to heal her teammates.
Finally back on his feet, Sasuke flickered over to Naruto to help him get back up.
"We need to work together if we're going to stop that man" he said to his friend as he took off his brown poncho.
"Right, Sasuke" Naruto said, transforming into his sage of six paths mode. "We can't let him win here or else the whole world will be in danger". To his side Sakura walked up to him with her 100 healings seal activated.
"We're going to give him everything we've got, and make him pay for what he's done. Dropping her backpack on the floor, she clenched her fist and slammed it into her open palm.
"Naruto, Sasuke. Let's teach him a lesson!"
"Right!"
"Hmm!"
In an instant, Naruto and Sasuke raced towards Momoshiki on the severed tree trunk in a flash of orange and electricity. The Otsusuki was quick to react and caught their punches in both of his hands. However this left him open to a flying kick from Sakura to the side of his head, sending him rolling to the ground.
Naruto and Sasuke were upon him again with the Uchiha clashing his sword with a red energy staff Momoshiki materialized to block his attacks. Spotting Naruto behind him, Momoshiki swung his staff at the jinchuriki and knocked him to the ground. He redirected his attention to Sasuke but instead found Sakura raising her fist in an uppercut.
"Nghh!"
The force of the blow sent Momoshiki upwards while down below Naruto and Sasuke took off after him. Naruto sent Momoshiki crashing into mountain with a kick where Sasuke was waiting for.
"Got you" Momoshiki smiled to himself as he manifested an energy chain that wrapped itself around Sasuke. Suddenly, he found himself in Sasuke's position bound by his own restraints. Sasuke was hard to predict with his Rinnegan ability, Amenotejikaara
"What is this?"
Looking up he saw Naruto bearing down on him, fist raised. The force of the resulting blow sent Momoshiki crashing down into the tree stump. Sasuke was quickly on him, sending him flying back to Naruto with a powerful kick. The jinchuriki slammed Momoshiki down to the ground with two massive hands made out of chakra and straight into a mass of black flames.
[Inferno style: Honoikazuchi]
The black flames of the Amaterasu took the form of a mass of several harp spikes and impaled Momoshiki through the belly as she slammed into them with the force of Naruto's punch.
"You bastards!"
Momoshiki opened his hand to successfully absorb the flames but found his hand sliced off by Sasuke in an instant, his sword crackling with electricity.
"That's enough from you, Otsusuki"
Seizing the chance, Naruto sped towards Momoshiki in a blur to deal a barrage of blows, some of which were successfully deflected by his opponent.
Down on the ground and away from the fighting , Moegi had successfully revived Hanabi but she was finding it harder to resuscitate Konohamaru who was more badly hurt than she originally anticipated.
"Come on Kono, move" she said through gritted teeth as she focused all her strength on her glowing palms over his chest. To her side, Hanabi had a nervous hand on her shoulder.
"Please, wake up Konohamaru…" her words came out worried as she took his hand in hers and looked at Moegi. "He has to make it, just keep at it"
"I'm not letting him die Hanabi" Moegi replied, putting all her effort into healing her childhood friend.
Just move you idiot….please
Finally, she could feel his body squirm under her touch and sighed in relief.
"Konohamaru!" Hanabi exclaimed and pulled him into a hug. With an exhausted smile, Moegi sat back on the ground. Konohamaru wearily focused on Hanabi once she finally released him from her embrace to look at him.
"Were you crying Princess?" He asked with a tired smirk.
Expecting a comeback from Hanabi, Moegi was surprised to see her usually short-tempered teammate….. meekly look to the ground with a small smile instead.
"Huh?"
"I was just worried" Hanabi replied Konohamaru, who was now sitting upright on his own. He looked at Moegi in appreciation. "Good thing we have Moegi on our team."
Hanabi directed her attention to the raging battle on the tree stump. "They're fighting Momoshiki." She activated her dojutsu to get a better look. "Or rather they're beating him up"
"They are?" Moegi peered into the distance in time to catch the sight of Momoshiki being tossed around by the old team 7. "Yes! They're totally winning!"
Konohamaru tried to spot a familiar face in the chaos of the fighting above and smiled, the feeling of hope revitalizing him.
Give him hell Naruto
Up above, Sakura slammed her fist into the tree stump sending chunks of splintered wood into the air. Momoshiki had evaded her punch but Naruto was quickly upon him. She called out to her partner.
"Sasuke!"
"I got it!"
Sakura rushed towards Momoshiki to engage him together with Naruto. Standing back some metres away, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and focused on the fighting.
Momoshiki swung at Naruto but only succeeded in hitting a piece of wood. Reacting to a jab to his ribs from Sakura, he replied with a kick….destroying another piece of wood. Naruto and Sakura continued to serve punishment to him, until he managed to grab Sakura by the arm and swing her a good distance away.
[Rasengan]
Naruto's jutsu slammed into his back and sent him to the ground. The Otsusuki coughed in pain and raised his head to focus on Naruto and Sakura regrouping in front of him, Sasuke still positioned behind them.
That damn Rinnegan is swapping them with debris
He decided taking out Sasuke was top priority and manifested several energy weapons to send flying towards the pair of Naruto and Sakura. At the same time, he flew straight to Sasuke in an instant
[Shinra Tensei]
Sasuke's almighty push repelled Momoshiki before he could grab him. Standing back on his feet, Momoshiki suddenly found himself being pulled by a Magnetic force upwards. He looked up in horror as he discovered the formation of a large rocky sphere above him.
[Chibaku tensei]
Momoshiki got sucked into the rocky formation, buried underneath the ever growing planetary devastation. Sasuke eventually swung his hand down, sending the planetary devastation crashing down to the ground, obliterating what was left of the tree stump in a large boom.
Damaged and battered, Momoshiki crawled out of the mess of stone and wood shortly after, cursing.
"You inferior beings! How dare you stand in the way of my mother's decree! You will pay for your insubordination today Jinchuriki!". Momoshiki dragged himself to his feet and pointed at Naruto with a smile on his face.
"Your world has already been marked for harvest jinchuriki, soon my people will arrive to finish the work I've started and you won't be able to stop them from fulfilling their purpose"
Naruto stepped forward. "I really don't care who your mother is and whatever her stupid decree might be. You came to this world and threatened my family, that's all that matters to me." The avatar of Kurama could be seen facing towards Momoshiki with his mouth open, gathering a dense ball of chakra. At the same time, Naruto formed several clones, each creating a Rasenshuriken fused with a different kekkei genkai of each tailed beast.
Momoshiki laughed at Naruto and raised his voice at him. "It's too late for you to change anything, jinchuriki. The one who bears the Tenseigan has been resurrected in your world and they will only fulfill their purpose, which is to serve my mother."
Naruto raised his hand to point at Momoshiki and spoke "If you expect us to roll over for you and your people to have their way with our world, you are wrong. Whatever this mother you speak of has planned for us, we will resist it until there's none of us left! Believe it!"
He continued with a frown. "As for you, your story ends here!" Naruto formed a Rasenshuriken in his hand and turned to his friends.
"Sync with me, Sasuke, Kurama!"
Kurama fired a tailed beast bomb infused with Sasuke's Amaterasu at Momoshiki, at the same time all the Naruto clones threw their jutsu at him.
[Tailed beast planetary Rasenshuriken]
Without the Rinnegan on his palm anymore, Momoshiki tried to nullify the combined jutsu with a massive rasengan, but it was in vain.
The two jutsus clashed for a moment before Momoshiki's Rasengan got overpowered by the tailed beast bomb which promptly slammed into Momoshiki, flying for several kilometers before exploding in a massive ball of energy and black flames.
The Otsusuki's life force faded from existence.
Satisfied with the battle's outcome, The old team 7 made their way to where team 4 was observing the fight.
"It's finally over" Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed to his knee in exhaustion. Sakura joined him on the ground with a smile.
"Just like old times huh?" she asked Naruto who replied with a grin.
"You both fought well" Sasuke sheathed his sword and placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
Sakura covered his hand with hers and directed her smile towards him. "Never been better actually."
At that moment Hanabi ran up to Naruto and his friends, followed by Moegi and Konohamaru.
"You did it!"
Naruto put out his hand in a fist and smiled at her. "No, we all played our parts. I can't thank you enough for coming here and saving my life"
"It was kinda my idea you see" Konohamaru bragged but the entire group was really too tired to take him up on his claim.
"Alright, let's go home" Naruto rose and snapped his fingers at Sasuke. "Do your thing"
"It won't kill you to be polite Naruto" Sasuke frowned as Sakura placed her hand on him to help him with enough chakra to use his time space ninjutsu.
Naruto smiled to himself. By working together they had averted a great danger that day. And now after so long, he was finally going back home.