Chapter 20 Calvary.
All shinobi in the local area stood before the now visible dome. It was the flash, a slight glimpse of it, that attracted them. But now, it was glowing in all its golden glory. Confusion as to why it was there was a given, but no one could mistake the chakra that threatened to break free.
The nine tails. A beast that devastated the village eight years ago and now took the form of a small boy. Those who lived through the disaster knew to fear the power the boy had, and that fear made them uneasy as they watched helplessly from beyond the barrier.
"What's the situation?"
They turned to see here Hokage, cloth in his combat gear, march towards them. His old wrinkled face was grim and fit the mood perfectly.
"Sir!" They addressed him. They reported what they knew, which admittedly wasn't much. Their lord nodded in understanding, turning to address the men behind him.
"Hiashi if you'd please." Lord third said to the Hyuga lord as he walked towards the barrier.
"Byakugan!" He activated his clan's Kekkei Genkai and focused the movement beyond the barrier.
A gasp escaped the normally stoic-man, the Hokage turned to him with dread. Hiashi closed his eyes and for a moment before opening them again. His eyes were hard as he addressed the Hokage, never revealing his real thoughts.
"The Uchihas are all died." He said matter-of-factly. "It seems there is a battle going on inside there."
The Hokage's eyes were wide with shock as he took a stumbling step back. "Impossible," he breathed. Those close enough to hear began to mutter among themselves.
"Dead? All of them?"
"That's not possible, right?"
"Aren't they supposed to be powerful? How can they all be dead?"
"Tell me what's happening inside!" The Hokage demanded.
The Uchiha were not all dead as it turned out. There were two survivors, Itachi and his younger brother Sasuke. Both were the sons of the clan leader Fugaku whom they conform was dead.
There were nine living souls within the barrier. Two Anbu and three civilians, the Harunos and Naruto, along with the Uchihas and two unidentified shinobis, one of which was responsible for the dome.
One Anbu was injured and restrained to the ground, Haruno-san was unconscious, the remaining Anbu was trying to calm Naruto, while Itachi held Sasuke.
The lack of Sakura mentioned made the Hokage uneasy, so he asked for her whereabouts. Hiashi hesitated for but a second before answered the question.
"Young Sakura is currently dying in a hole," it was said in a neutral tone as he could muster. He didn't feel as calm as he portrayed; how could he? Sakura was dying beyond a barrier with no way of getting to her. That's not even mentioning Naruto going berserk likely because of Sakura's condition. Itachi and Haruno-san were injured, leaving only Sasuke physically unharmed.
He was a clan leader and had to display professionalism. No matter his personal feelings, he couldn't let his anger cloud his judgment. So, he wore a mask of indifference while internal plotting the attackers' demise. If she died, he would take it very personally.
The nine tails' chakra suddenly disappeared in a flash of light that nearly blinded him. It was a burst of chakra; Sakura's chakra!
When sight returned, the shinobis were attacking the Uchihas. Sasuke and Itachi returned fire as the Anbu protected Naruto. As soon as it started, it came to an end. They were no match for the shinobis that threatened their life. They were going to get slaughtered. Conveying what he saw, Hiashi's anxiety grew.
Just then, a new chakra signal suddenly appeared; a summon. It was a large cat adorned with scars and possessed a fierce snarl. It grew in size and attacked the shinobis, careful not to hurt those from the village.
Who summoned it?
His eyes grow wide as he saw the half-dead girl bleeding out on the cats back.
"Sakura."
It was but a whisper, but the Hokage heard it loud and clear.
"What about her?" he asked, but before anyone could answer, she rocked from its back into the air. The light she emitted was visible without his input. The shinobis present watched in awe as she impacted the barrier, and it shattered like glass.
They moved.
Before the glass could touch the ground, they were sprinting to the central conflict.
In a blink, they had the unknown shinobis surrounded, kunai, and blades in hand.
The redhead froze, her hand reaching forward. The man in a cracked masked looked around unimpressed.
"Well, this was unexpected." The woman said, dropping her hand and frowning. "I'm almost disappointed I didn't see this coming." She smirked. "Almost"
Chains sprung from the ground and coiled around the shinobis, pinning them in place.
"How naïve," she chastised.
Lord third blocked the attacking chains with his summoned staff, managing to avoid capture. He glared at the Uzumaki in a rare show of anger. He hadn't missed the bodies of the Uchiha on his run here. To think such a great clan would fall in one night. He had to be cautious; they had to have something up there sleeves.
"Kit!" A cat summons cried, alerting them to the child's decent.
The moon was visible through the hole in her chest, making them gasp. Had she really broken the barrier with such a wound?
"Sakura!" Sasuke cried, terrified.
In a blur of green, she disappeared.
On a light pole, dressed in green spandex, a thick brow shinobi stood holding the pink-haired corpse. He smiled reassuringly at his comrades, his teeth shining even in the deem glow of the moon.
Kakashi had never been so happy to see his 'eternal rival' in all his years. He sagged in relief as his teammates rushed to him.
"Captain!"
It would be over soon, he believed in his Hokage and comrades. Fatigue gripped him and pulled him into the realm of the unconscious. As was the case for a while now, he found his teammates waiting for him.
"The third Hokage, I feel honored." The Uzumaki smiled wickedly. "Killing you is the greatest honor you could give me." Her chains attacked, shooting for the Hokage.
He flipped out for the way of her assault, swatting away the persistent chains with his staff. His eyes locked on her as he twirled his staff behind his back before pointing it towards her. It extended shooting for her at a frightening speed.
She pulled a limbo bending her knees, the back of her head touching the ground as the pole flew over her. Her eyes were wide as she glanced at the destruction of the impact cause.
"Is that even fair!" She muttered.
She back rolled out of the range of his drop-kick; that cracked the ground, making her whine.
"A man so old shouldn't be this strong." She told The Third, "what is in the water in this village?"
Not indulging in conversation, he charged her his staff at the ready. He wouldn't let her distract him. Once she was defeated and capture, he could "talk" all she wanted.
With a curse, she summoned her spear from her exposed arm. She twirled it in a graceful dance before it clashed with his staff. The force of their clash shook the ground, blowing away nearby shinobi.
The Third watched her arm with suspicion; one did not just summon a weapon from thin air. Her hand was pale and smooth; there wasn't a scroll insight.
If someone wanted to summon a weapon, they would need a seal that did so; his shinobis used scroll that had weapons sealed withing them. Even an Uzumaki would need a seal. She grinned at his confused face and pushed him back with great effort.
He threw a shuriken as a parting gift.
"Multi shadow shuriken jutsu." A barrage shuriken flew towards her. With another dance, the spear broke apart connected only by chains, which she used as a whip to knock the throwing stars out of the air.
She took a graceful stance and closed the distance between them. Their weapons clashed.
Sparks flew, the ground trembled and bulked, the force of their attack keeping others away. Is was not a fight between normal shinobis.
Obito knocked his attackers unconscious as he watched the battle of a century. He grew up on the tales of the might of the Third Hokage. The elders he encountered being retired shinobi that fought alongside him. There were only three words to describe him; God of shinobi.
The Uzumaki flew back from the force of his attack, landing in a skidded to a stop beside Obito.
"Fancy meeting you here," was the all she said grinning at him. She looked worse for wear, her bloodstain kimono, ripped, her hair a mess. To say you fought a Hokage and only had tattered clothes was an accomplishment on its own.
"Fire style, fire dragon flames missile." The Third took a deep breath and exhaled an inferno from his lips. The flames honed in on them, threatening to turn them to ash.
"Water style, Water wall." She waved through the seals, and a wall of water surrounded them.
"It's not as hot as it should be," Obito told her. That fire jutsu should have been like walking into a furnace. "He's gotten weaker." He purred.
"No," she sobered him, "he's holding back." She glanced behind her, reminding him of the survivors and random shinobis. "He's trying not to hurt his comrades. More fool him."
She raised her foot and stumbled on the ground.
"Water style, water spring."
Water erupted from the ground sending everyone it touched into the air. The Hokage, too, was sent flying. Maneuvering in mid-air, he kept his eyes on the enemy but failed to see the attack before it hit. The water spring suddenly coiled around him, trapping him.
"Water style, water prison." She smirked as she looked up at the old fool trapped in a water ball, chains coiling around the sphere to keep it active.
"Caught you~" she teased. Lord third glared down at her, his body frozen and unmoving. She was careful to capture the troublesome staff in there with him, less it comes alive and fights in his place.
"I'll show you what it's like to lose your home." Killing intent flowed the air showing them the demise she promised. Fear gripped them even as the chains tightened around them.
"Eight trigrams palm rotation." The words cut through the haze of death. A burst of chakra formed a dome around the Hyuga head, the chains forced away from him. His pale eyes blazed as they locked on to his foe. "You're within range."
He to a stance of grace, his eyes never leaving hers. Fear flashed across her face; she knew what was coming. She waved through the hand seals in a panic.
"Water style, Dragon Tsunami!" A dragon tsunami of angry waves rushed towards him, washing away everything and everyone in its path.
"Overkill," Obito muttered as the Uzumaki panted.
"Did I get him?" she asked, looking at the destruction she caused.
"Eight trigrams one hundred and twenty-eight palms." Came a voice from behind her. Obito made himself intangible as she looked back to see pale eyes of fiery.
She uttered the first things that came to her lips.
"Fuck my life."
Two palms!" He struck, drawing a gasp from her. Without a shred of mercy, he continued his assault.
"Four palms, eight palms, sixteen palms, thirty-two palms, sixty-four!"
Each hit carried enough force to shatter bone. She was strong enough to massacre the Uchiha and survive the Hokage. That was the only reason it seemed as though each strike would kill her. It had nothing to do with the girl that had a hole in her chest, the boy whose eyes were bleeding, or the blond who looked as though his whole world had shattered.
This was not personal.
"One hundred and twenty-eight palms!"
He was doing this for the good of the village, nothing more.
She flew back with a pained cry, that did not satisfy him in the lease, he wasn't smiling, it was a genjutsu. To his disappointment, she fell into the arms of the masked man. He held her trembling body close, ready to retreat as her jutsus came undone. The chains disappeared, freeing the surrounding shinobi. Lord Third fell from his water prison, pissed and ready for more.
They were outnumbered and outgunned; this was where he usually retreated. Obito looked down at the woman in his arms, should he bring her with him? As her chakra stopped flowing, so too did the genjutsu. His eyes widen upon seeing what hid behind the illusion.
Seals covered her pale flesh. Seals he had only seen on scrolls and some he didn't recognize. From the rips in her robes, it became clear it spread over her entire body. The seals marked even her face the kanji "inner" written on her forehead. Was this why she cast a passive genjutsu, to conceal it?
What reason one would have to cover themselves in seals was beyond him, but he was curious to find out.
He would take her with him, he decided. She was strong and had a hatred for the Leaf, which would be useful later. He looked on the surrounding shinobis who thought they had won, and smiled. They couldn't see it, of course, his mask was crack, but it still served to hide his identity.
He moved his hand under her knee and her back as he stood. Everyone took a battle-ready stance, though they didn't look nearly as worried as they should. With his hands occupied, he could only really fight with his feet. Having her in his arms would make that difficult. There was a rule about a shinobi always having his arms free at all times.
It was the reason they carried injured on their backs or over their shoulder. Even one hand free was crucial for a shinobi's survival.
But he wouldn't be fighting.
"One day, I will control this world," he said almost conversationally. "There are many ways to do so." His Mangekyou activated, and he began to teleport. "What you have given me will be very useful. I suppose you have my thank. Muahahaha."
The shinobi's present stared at the spot in which the man vanished. Some glance at the Hokage and Hyuga head as though they might explode. The staff the Third wield disappeared in a poof of smoke, marking the end of the battle.
"What's the status report?" he called out to the shinobi running around, tending to the injured.
The Uchiha district was a war zone. The buildings and streets suffered from the fight, lying in rumbles. Usually, causing such damage to a clan compound would result in a lot of money and paperwork. As he looked at the shinobi and civilians who didn't survive this night, he didn't feel any pleasure in the fact it may not be the case this time.
The Uchiha clan was down to two. Itachi held an unconscious Sasuke in his arms. He was fighting back tear Hiruzen could see clearly, but being the default Uchiha head, he couldn't afford the luxury. Already the Anbu were closing in on him, the young Naruto in their arms.
The other Anbus were recovering Haruno-san, his wife outside the Uchiha district, and away from this mess. That just left the young Sakura.
He cringed upon seeing the state she was in, the hole in her chest was as was no less imposing up close. Guy sat close as the medical ninja tried to save her. She would need surgery, he knew, he was impressed she was still alive at this stage.
"Lord Hokage!" The medics healing her addressed him. "We will need to move her to the hospital very soon if she is to survive." The reported. "Her wound was not a clean stab, and it looks as though her attacker ripped it out, which only served to make things worse." Their face fell with sadness.
"What are her chances?" he needlessly asked.
"It will take a miracle and a lot of chakra to save her," they confessed. Hiruzen sighed. This situation was a mess. The Uchiha was a massacred right under their noses, the nine tails damn near broke loose, and their traitor was dying at the hands of their doppelganger.
Maybe he was going to be buried in paperwork, after all. He would have to explain why the Haruno family was in this situation. He looked to the Hyuga head and felt a headache. There was bad blood there, Hiashi Hyuga will have his head if his reasoning wasn't adequate.
Had he condemned an innocent girl? There was the possibility one of them was a shadow clone, but after having their chakra cut off, one of them should have disappeared.
Could they have planned this? But the foresight needed for that was not something a genius could pull off. Nothing short of the ability to see the future could explain it. Not even the Sharingan can do that.
There was also the possibility the two were working together, but even that seemed more unlikely as he watched the child struggle to breathe. There was the chance she wouldn't make it, and the other was no longer in the village.
If the plan only to kill the Uchiha. They did the village a service, as killing them prevented a civil war.
Its times like this that reminded him just how old he was. Where was Jiraya when he needed him?
"Sakura!"
It hurts. I can't feel my legs and my right hand, but I can definitely feel the pain. My chest hurts. No, that's not enough to describe the pain. Feels like someone peeled my flesh and then grind sandpaper on the wound before throwing hot water on it, all while stabbing me with a wooden spike.
It didn't hurt this much when I died last time. Last time? Did I die before? Then what am I know?
"Sakura!"
Sakura? Isn't that a tree in Japan? I've never seen it; I hear it is beautiful. Maybe I can get Mother to take me there if I am really good. Papa will be too excited to ask.
…
That's odd. Father is always busy with work, I would be quite surprised, if he actually liked cherry blossoms.
"Sakura!"
What date is it? Is it spring? Does it matter? The Eternal Sakura tree will always blossom.
Eternal Sakura tree?
The air became scorching hot, in the distance, a forest burned. It hurts, more than the pain in my chest, how is that possible? It feels like the sun got hotter.
My little sunshine.
It sounded like a child, was there a child inside the burning forest!? Someone needed to do something. Looking around, I saw nothing but the void and the forest before me. No one was going to save them; only I was present.
"Ahhh!" the pained cry was all it took to get me moving. My legs carried me through the foliage as I searched for the child. I had to find them before it got out.
Before what got out?
Before I could think, I saw him. Blond hair just like mine and watery blue eyes, also like my own. He could pass for my brother.
That man is an embarrassment to the family; I don't care what Mother says.
Okay, not my brother then, but he was still adorable. Maybe he could be a cousin that had no claim to the family fortune. I've never met one, but I would like to believe they are all good people. All the members of our family can't be trash.
I reached for the sad boy and pulled him into a hug. A hug always made me feel better, but I never told Mama or Papa less, I seem immature. I never had hugs before, so I got addicted to the warmth.
…
Again, what was 'before'?
"It's okay." I stroked his hair and his tummy. The burning forest disappeared, and so did the boy. I blinked down at my empty hands, was I seeing things? I fell back onto the ground, and the pain from before returned tenfolds. I coughed blood to clear my lungs. It hurt to breathe, I could feel liquid flooding my lungs. My air supply was getting shorter and shorter.
Am I going to die like this?
I won't die life some background character.
Did I say that? Odd, wasn't how I died before?
"Amaterasu!"
Black flames sprung to life all around me, a boy with black hair and onyx eyes cried in the midst of it. He was sad, no, grieving. He had lost someone he cared about and was having a breakdown.
I have never been good at reading others its been said I was quite clueless. But I expected this reaction from this boy. I knew it would make him sad, and I did it anyway because the alternative was worst.
"I'm sorry," I told him. "This is for the best, you'll see. We'll look back on this and laugh about how stupid my plan was." I choked on her tears, why was I crying?
"So, please don't cry, I can't stand it," I gripped my chest, my hand getting coated in something red. "Please," I begged. "Please don't leave me!"
I woke to unbearable pain and a mission. I sensed them, shinobis beyond the barrier. I needed to break it so they could save them. If I fail, this whole thing would have been for nothing. My legs and right hand were useless, but I only need one hand. I slapped my functional hand in the pool of my blood I laid in. I only needed a drop to summon him, but it would be a waste not to use what was available.
"Summoning jutsu."
In an explosion of smoke, he appeared behind me, rising me in the air as he roared. I would never tell Nekomata, but I was a dog person. I always wanted one growing up, but the Uchiha didn't have any contract with them, so I was left with a bird and a cat.
I would leave the birds to Sasuke, the cat would have to do, and what a feline it was. Taming him was not easy; Itachi is a beast. Fighting the entire cat fortress, and dealing with the final boss. Not even human.
"Up," I choked out, my laughs failing me.
He understood, however, the battle harden cat asked no question pointing me in the right direction.
I only one shot at this, if I fail now, it will all be for nothing. Gathering all my chakra into my hand, I launched myself into the air. Nekomata crashed into the ground from the force, and I made a note to give him catnip once things calmed down.
I overloaded my left fist with chakra and punched the dome. The shook from the force of the impact, but it didn't break.
"Don't mess with me!" I screamed. Using the chakra I used to slow the bleeding, I broke through the barrier, shattering it like glass. It was beautiful. Even as I plummeted to my death, I couldn't help but think it really was a beautiful night.
"Marinette."
Blue eyes looked back from her moon gazing, to the elegant lady in the empty room. Dressed in a navy blue form-fitting dress that showed off her figure, the blond looked at her with disapproval. Her red-painted lips pulled down in a frown that looked more natural on her than any of her face smiles.
"Did you hear what I said, Mari?" Her Mother asked.
Mari was not a nickname, but rather a chastising name her mother used when displeased.
"Yes, of course," she answered honestly. No matter how hard she tried, she could never truly bloke anyone out. "We will be having an event tomorrow evening. I am to make an impression on our guest by playing the piano."
It wasn't what her mother said. She danced around the issue and made suggestions that would make you come to that conclusion. As she did not say it her self, one would think it was their own idea and not her manipulating them. Marinette spent years seeing through yet still falling for her manipulation. She couldn't bring shame to the family. She had to be the best, stand at the top, and let everyone know who is superior. Her name was Marinette of the Alaric family.
She was born a natural genius with great beauty. She overcame all obstacles with barely any effort. All she lost was her freedom, and any hope for Dopamine. Life was easy, and she had the envy of all she encountered. She was an Alaric.
"I wonder if the Satura trees are blooming tonight." She muttered, looking out the window at the pale moon.
Hello Nightwalkers, Luna here, and this was fun. I truly enjoyed writing this chapter. It took three tries, but I got it right in the end. I drop so many hints in this; it can't even be called subtle. By now, you all should understand what her plan was, and some of you already know what is really happening.
I hope you all enjoyed it. It was short, but I really liked writing the Hokage fight. Yes, I stole the weapon from Madoka.
When I started writing this, it was the idea of an epic fight scene in my head, so I'm hoping to maintain that.
Review is love!
See you next time.
Night song.
Madara was in hell. That was the only explanation for what he was seeing. You know god fucked up when you didn't even end up in your own hell, but have to share one with someone else.
Who the hell is the kid?