Daisugi: The Art of Growth

by LytnX5

New genin graduate as the hopes of the Land of Fire. Shinrai Uzumaki, adoptive brother of Naruto Uzumaki and the other wicked half of the Demon Twins. Kusari Hyuuga, sister of Neji Hyuuga, trapped by destiny. Gosei Senju, descendent of the Shodai and eldest heir to the Senju Clan. Their sensei, Ryujin Hiyenzo, Kyuubi Jinchuriki and former student of the Yondaime. FullSummaryInside

38. Chapter 32

?￢ﾜ ? ~ Chapter Thirty-two —Scarlet-Gold Helix ~ ?￢ﾜ ?

Ryujin stirred. Everything hurt… and yet soothing chakra tried its best to make him feel better. Kyuubi's chakra helped, stitching together his wounds. So did the soothing chakra. Everything felt like a dream… it was like he was floating; the space behind his eyelids seemed bright.

Of course, nothing like his demon to ground him back to reality.

That Uzumaki woman is trying to heal your body. Get her off of us!

Ryujin twitched. The soothing chakra—it was Miya's chakra. He barely had the strength to open his eyes. Everything was blurry, yet he saw a golden green glow below him, with Miya's visage red… as if she was covered in blood.

Was she? Didn't matter.

"Get… off of me…" Ryujin drawled, his words slurred.

"Don't waste your energy speaking," she ordered, trying to sound commanding, stern… it utterly fell apart. To him, he could pick apart the pathetic weakness in her tone.

It was because he knew her so well.

"Don't you…" he trailed off, losing the energy to speak. "Fucking—"

"Ryujin!" she tried to yell, but her voice cracked under her own weakness. A drop of wetness onto his arm. Was she crying? His vision focused on her visage of red. No… she was bleeding.

Miya was healing him while on the verge of bleeding out herself. "Why…?" he rasped, unable to convey any of the contempt he felt.

She didn't answer him, focusing her embers of chakra into him to make him feel better. To heal him when, just a month ago, she trapped him like a fucking dog—a rabid animal.

Ryujin forced himself to growl. "Answer me!"

"Ryujin, stop! You're making yourself worse—"

"Why do you fucking care?!" Finally, his vision focused. Her eyes didn't even have a speck of Adamantine, her face drenched in her own blood. That same blood stuck her hair to her face. She looked like a pathetic wet cat with the desperate, drained look in her eyes.

In response to his question, she just sighed. "None of that matters right now… you're a downed comrade. I can't let you stay here injured."

None of that matters… what gives her the fucking right—? Ryujin snarled at her. "Bullshit. If you were really thinking like a Shinobi, then you'd know that your own rest is more important right now! I can't use Kyuubi's Chakra! Look at me! I'm useless. By logical means, you should've hidden me and left.

"Now, let me ask again… why do you fucking care?"

Miya was too weak to look him in the eyes. "Because I love you, Ryu… I can't stand to see you hurt."

The same shit.

The same fucking bullshit she always said.

"You're an idiot—"

"I know, I know," confirmed Miya, not even bothering to hide her weakness with any sort of strength. The weight of Adamantine in his chakra got heavier. Kyuubi was trying to speak, but he didn't hear it.

"That's why we're like this. My Infinity's shattered. My body's broken. Yours is torn apart. And you trust Minato and Kushina's murderer more than me."

The more Ryujin listened, the more he realized how broken her voice sounded. Miya was as close to crying as she could be.

"You hate me… but I can't stop loving you. Maybe if we still had our bond, then we could've stopped Killer Bee.

"If I wasn't so fucking stupid, then maybe none of this would've ever happened. If I was strong enough to see a Bijuu and not be injected with a lifetime of fear, then everything would be okay.

"If I could've looked past the monster and still see you… like I did when you had the Fifth Tail… then everything would be okay."

The look Ryujin gave her was dead. "But you didn't. Look where we are now."

"I'm looking, I'm seeing it all. I hate it. It's all my fault… Everything is. I should've the Jinchuriki!" she nearly screamed. The jolt of Adamantine into his chakra hurt. He grunted.

Miya's golden eyes widened, and she gasped. "I'm sorry—" She took her hands off of them and his her bloody face. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" Miya wouldn't stop saying it.

Not until Ryujin made her. "Shut up…"

She did, taking a haggard sigh.

It was then that Ryujin heard footsteps. Miya stood. The voices were distant, many.

"Kyuubi Jinchuriki…"

"Lord Killer Bee…"

"Location…"

"Capture…"

Kumo… gathered Ryujin. Did Yosei lose? No… otherwise Killer Bee would be here himself.

He didn't have much time to think before a corpse dropped next to him. A face caved in by a fist. Miya's, undoubtedly. An Adamantine Chain grabbed the body and swung it into another two Shinobi.

Ryujin was snatched. He tried to move but couldn't—a flicker and he was in the sky. Screaming and the sound of a dagger cutting flesh. Air whipped his limp body before an Adamantine Chain wrapped around him. Before he knew it, he was hugged into Miya's arms. "Shh, I got you," she whispered, tired, dead, with all the love in the world.

It didn't infuriate Ryujin… but he just felt… nothing from it. Who was she protecting, really? Who he was for real, or who she wished he was?

Was she rescuing the same Ryujin that merged with his demon… or the Ryujin that she wished loved her again?

Ryujin paused. Did he love her?

He… didn't know.

If there was one thing his half conscious experience gave him… it was clarity. His emotions were hyper-charged by Kyuubi… They were still his, but his fury clouded everything. Now, he could think… sift through his emotions and what he felt, truly.

The problem was… he didn't know where to start.

He felt the grasp of unconsciousness grip him again. With his head limp on Miya's shoulder, he forced himself to say… "Naruto… Team 5… make sure they're okay."

"Of course I will," she responded without hesitation.

Finally, he allowed everything to go black once again.

—⊱✿⊰—

The moniker of Strongest Man Alive truly fits him… Minato was lucky to have fought him so many times. Killer Bee managed to drive Yosei into the village in order to force her to hold back. Unluckily for him, that wasn't as effective as he may have thought.

As long as there were no Konoha lives in danger, she had no reason to hold back.

The southern half of the village was utterly deserted, destroyed. A perfect battlefield for her to kill the Strongest Man Alive. All she had to do was use her Senjutsu to push any Konoha Shinobi away from the flattened southern half of the village.

Until it was clear, she had to stall Killer Bee, bide her time before she could go all out. The fact that he was missing an arm—and it seemed to be having trouble regenerating—helped with that greatly. She sensed Ryujin and the Kyuubi's chakra all over it…

Ryujin was… an interesting figure lately. Though she did have to give him the credit of creating the battlefield where she planned to end her battle with Killer Bee. It was at the cost of the lives of several Konoha Shinobi, which she didn't like… but it couldn't be helped. Roshi's Molten Mountain was going to destroy much more had it been allowed to exist any longer.

Ryujin didn't have the ability to draw away armies like she did. As great as he was, as great as anyone in Konoha may have been… they simply weren't her.

Aligning her back to the north, Senjutsu empowered the fist she slammed into Killer Bee. He flew through buildings. Yosei didn't relent. "Sage Art: Wind Release: Volcanic Gust." A blast of wind turned the ash into bullets that she intended to blow holes through the Jinchuriki.

It didn't quite work out.

She leapt up as Killer Bee's chakra erupted, destroying the commercial buildings that surrounded him. When gravity pulled her back down, she landed on an invisible platform of solid Senjutsu that kept her in the air. A split second of time to think.

Her Sage Mode senses picked up on everything, like a sonar that allowed her to pick apart every detail, even as miniscule as the village symbol carved into a Shinobi's headband. The south side of Konoha was becoming more deserted already.

Konoha Shinobi were directing the battles away, or even better, luring the invading Shinobi into traps so they'd get caught in the crossfire. Most of the Shinobi who were trapped in the barriers were already slaughtered like lambs, rightfully so.

Miya single-handedly cut the invading force in half. Yosei would have to give her personal thanks after she killed Killer Bee.

The Jinchuriki started to move—without even a hand seal. She commanded her Storm Release to strike down at him. The speed of lightning enhanced beyond measure while combined with the versatility of water. It was the combination of her Godai before she trained to unlock her Vine Release.

Another bolt and she hit him. His glowing purple cloak smoldered. "You must not give a shit about your village if you're destroying it this easily!"

"Infrastructure can be rebuilt. There are no Konoha citizens nearby. I have no reason to hold back." Another storm surged from her hands and pierced him. Confusion and contemplation radiated from his chakra before a click of realization.

Yosei laughed. "So, it seems that you've remembered my title before I was the Thorn Wraith. The Storm Queen." Yosei weaved a hand seal. He braced himself. "Sage Art: Storm Release: Light Fang."

From Yosei's mouth, a concentrated purple flash of storm blasted out. It was so fast that not even Yosei herself could track it—the speed of light itself. To Killer Bee, it looked like nothing but a purple flash. He was sliced clean, with blood spewing from the wound. Vines grew from the floor, constricting him with the thorns cutting right into him. His chakra churned as he futilely attempted to escape.

A shame that the poison is ineffective against him, damned Jinchuriki.

She transformed her Senjutsu platform into her Storm Release and flashed down to Killer Bee in a blink. In a whirl like a typhoon, she struck her fist into his chest as his chakra erupted. A thunderclap and Yosei punched a hole in Killer Bee's chest.

The vines constricting him threw him up and rocked him to the ground, and then back up into Yosei's foot that clobbered into his face—to crush his head. Another eruption and Killer Bee was finally free. He grew a tentacle in place of his missing arm, blocking an attack.

Yosei charged—he countered with a slash, severing her arm, but he only cut vines. In a heartbeat it regrew, and thorns on the knuckles of Yosei's fist dug through his hide. A grin crossed Bee's face—as if he was enjoying this… enjoying the challenge.

Without a doubt, she was as well.

He kicked but a shield of solid Senjutsu blocked it. Yosei kept moving and clobbering him. His arm was constrained by vines. So he gave himself more limbs. Eight tentacles—Eight tails—sprouted from behind him and whipped Yosei across the face, drawing blood. In seconds, the wound closed. The advantage of being a Perfect Sage was the ability to constantly draw in Senjutsu to restore her body from any damage. It was a feat a Complete Sage or definitely not an Incomplete Sage could not replicate.

Killer Bee huffed, and ink whirled around his head. He charged and his ox's head impaled Yosei—she leapt back. Ink spewed from Killer Bee. Yosei erected walls of earth to block him. All it took was a roar to turn the earth to sand, and he charged. A kick sent him back down to the earth.

Above, Yosei stood on her Senjutsu platform and weaved a hand seal. "Sage Art: Cleave."

The Senjutsu around her pulsed in an arc, creating an invisible blade that cut through everything in existence. Killer Bee barely had the durability to withstand it. The surrounding area… did not. A ravine over a dozen meters across was cut into the earth from the slash of Senjutsu.

His eight tentacles were cut halfway through, though his main body remained unharmed. That didn't stop Yosei from doing it again. "Sage Art: Cleave!"

Another one, stronger—it cut through the remainder of Killer Bee's tentacles and hit his main body. Blood erupted from the wounds on his shoulders and he snarled. He blasted out of the way, under the Senjutsu platform. With his remaining arm, he surrounded his fist with the Hachibi's and punched it.

The barrier shattered, and Yosei fell into his regenerated tentacle. He whipped her to the floor, drawing one of his seven swords and covering it with ink. He sliced at her, but she blocked with earth. Bee simply cut the earth in two and continued toward her.

Another Cleave, sealless, weaker, Killer Bee withstood it. He felt the beginnings of his arm start to regenerate in the tentacle that replaced it. A hand to hand exchange. It was as if he was getting more powerful with every hit—Yosei felt it. Both with the senses of her chakra and the impact of his fists.

He revved his chakra and ripped through Yosei. She donkey-kicked him headfirst into the rubble, but his tentacle whipped her. Another Light Fang sliced at him. Yosei took out his eyes.

Killer Bee snarled at the injury. He met her fist, then her leg. His tentacles slammed down on her, but she caught it. It seemed that whatever sensory that the Hachibi granted him made up for the lack of sight.

Yosei grew vines beneath Killer Bee and she constricted him with them. She weaved three hand seals. "Sage Art: Storm Release: Cleave!" Combining her Storm with her Cleave doubled the raw power of the attack… and tripled the cutting power.

Killer Bee roared to defend, erupting his chakra like it was a volcano. Ink spewed hot like lava. Like it was nothing, the Storm Cleave sliced right through the chakra and Killer Bee's torso. His intestines would've dropped to the floor had he not held them in place with his chakra.

Yosei twitched her eye disappointedly. So close to bisecting him. I guess I'll have to kick it up a notch.

A storm punch rocked his face and Yosei kicked him far—he landed in a building. It was three stories tall. Yosei weaved a hand seal, and the building collapsed onto him. Again, she checked the southern area she was slowly pushing Bee toward. There were only a couple Konoha Shinobi, working on barriers to keep the foreign Shinobi trapped. Overall, it was a dozen Konoha barrier experts with about three hundred foreign invaders.

They were getting close to the battleground, Yosei sighed. I suppose I'll have to stall for a bit longer. "Sage Art: Fire Release: Infernal Ignition." The broken building went up into flames as Yosei weaved a hand seal. "Sage Art: Earth Release: Sinkhole."

Killer Bee and the collapsed building fell into the sinkhole, over a hundred feet deep and around thirty in diameter. Yosei flashed above the flaming sinkhole, standing on a Senjutsu platform. "Sage Art: Wind Release: Zepheral Storm."

The Jutsu she taught to her eldest daughter maximized to the level of S-Rank from the sheer force of her chakra. The flaming hole in the ground scorched as Yosei awakened vines that filled the entirety of the sinkhole, burning with fire and constricting Killer Bee in his entirety.

With a hand seal, she commanded the flaming vines to rise into the sky. It hovered fifty feet over the ground, its center where Killer Bee was on her eyeline. A hand seal. "Sage Art: Cleave."

A gigantic cleave sliced the flaming vine pillar in two. The center being exactly where Killer Bee was. Yosei dismissed the fire on the vines as her opponent fell from the sky, bleeding out and damaged.

Yosei smirked. The moment he hit the floor, she already blasted him further south with a stormy fist. She grabbed him with vines and his neck snapped from the whiplash. Another storm fist to the face doubled his whiplash.

With Senjutsu and Storm Release, Yosei stomped Killer Bee to the ground and held him down. Tentacles and ink stitched his wounds together. He was quite literally held together by the thread.

"Have you had enough? Or are you a glutton for punishment?" asked Yosei, keeping him still under foot.

"Nah… I ain't done," He responded with a smirk before snapping her shin with a tentacle. She collapsed with her eyes wide and he headbutt her, breaking her nose before hurling the Hachibi's fist right into her chest, snapping a couple ribs.

The ribs snapped back together in an instant. Yosei wiped the blood from her face and smirked as she met the Hachibi's fist with a thorny storm of a hand. He broke her neck with a punch, but Yosei kicked a hole in his chest. She blasted back with a thunderclap, taking her haven in the air as she weaved three hand seals. "Sage Art… Dismantle."

This technique was the evolution of Cleave. Instead of simply sending out a Senjutsu Blade, she forcefully merged Natural Energy with the chakra in her target. It only worked on beings with chakra and took longer to activate.

But the effect was more than worth it.

Killer Bee's upper half simply collapsed to the floor. His lower half stubbornly remained upright. Yosei had successfully bisected him.

She walked over to him with a smirk, looking down on him with her golden sage's eyes glowing. "Now have you had enough?"

"You really gotta stop ending things prematurely! You gotta give things room to grow, y'know what I'm saying?"

"Uh huh…" Yosei nodded along slowly. "And why should I give that chance to an enemy Shinobi invading my village?"

"Because, just like me… you're dying for a challenge." He grinned at her.

Yosei rolled her eyes. "You're right, I am. You've given me that. But the interests of Konoha come before my own desires."

"Damn… that's real…" Bee looked at her with a brow raised. "Why ain't you Hokage?"

Because I've been raising children for the past thirteen years. "Enough stalling," she cut him off, weaving a hand seal. "Sage Ar—"

Bee spat a bullet of ink that shot her through the head. For a tenth of a second, she went unconscious. The moment she regained the control to heal the injury, it was too late.

Killer Bee roared. It wasn't his roar; it was the Hachibi's. Yosei leapt back to avoid being crushed by the forming Bijuu. Ink wouldn't stop spewing as Bee cocooned himself inside of the Hachibi's forming mass.

"Dammit…" Yosei cursed, laying her eyes on the forming Bijuu. I didn't act quick enough. As the Hachibi formed, she sent out vibrations in the air using Wind Release and Senjutsu. It mimicked her voice. She told all Konoha Shinobi in the south side of the village to, "Leave."

Without question, they obeyed.

By the time she was done, the Hachibi grew to its full size. A triumphant roar shook the earth below—it cracked as earthquakes shattered with the storm above bellowing alongside the Bijuu.

It didn't take long for Killer Bee to locate Yosei. He looked down on her with a huff that she had to form a barrier of Senjutsu around herself to not be blown away. "If you want a challenge, then you got one baby! WHEEEE!"

Yosei scoffed and weaved an actual series of hand seals. About a dozen. "Sage Art: Vine Release: Thorn Wraith." From the rubble, vines as thick as telephone poles broke the ground and rose. Each and every one was adorned with thorns like scales on a reptile.

They whirled together into a barely defined woman's form. Its face was made up of teeth in a mouth with giant thorns. Glowing purple eyes, the shape of a thorn and the size of houses. Two wings stretched out, matching the width of the Hachibi's tails.

Her vines didn't stop moving, churning, like the entire avatar was a hive of hornets, stingers and all. A true wraith, one made of thorns.

Killer Bee grinned. "Really livin' up to the name Thorn Wraith! Was your reputation named after this Jutsu or vice versa?!"

"The latter," Yosei responded with a haughty inflection to her tone. She stood atop her Thorn Wraith with a smirk. Was naming a Jutsu after your reputation quite arrogant…? Yes. But Yosei had more than earned the right to be a bit arrogant.

The Wraith's fist clenched and so did the Bijuu's. They clashed with momentous speed and force. The earth beneath them cracked. To gain favor, Storm arced from the wings of Yosei's Wraith. It flew.

Ink spewed in Creative Blades from Bee's massive tentacles. Stormy cutters managed to shield Yosei from the worst of it. Killer Bee roared, reaching up to grab the wraith's leg and slam it back to the ground. He charged and tore the viney leg off.

Storming beams of thorny blades slashed at the Hachibi's form. It cut, but it didn't cut deep. Yosei's assault did nothing to stop Killer Bee's charge. With his horns, he bulled a hole in the wraith. Four tentacles on each wing. He ripped them off.

Yosei whirled, and a cleave ripped a gash in the Hachibi's hide. An elbow sent the wraith tumbling to the ground. The battle wasn't quite moving. She wasn't pushing Killer Bee much farther south, it couldn't be helped. All Yosei could do was buy time for her Konoha Shinobi to escape.

Bee roared and commanded the lake of spilled ink below. It whirled into oily tendrils that seeped below the wraith. With its wings reformed, it flew back up into the air. Yosei sent Cleave after Cleave his way, but the Hachibi's hide tanked them all. From below Yosei, the ink formed a kanji. The Kanji for Erupt.

Just that it did.

The earth beneath Yosei melted, then erupted upward. Yosei's Thorn Wraith was covered in lava and ignited. A shockwave shook the earth. Bee took the time to open his mouth, the remainder of his ink swirling and glowing a searing yellow. "Ink Style: Hachibi Blast!"

Ink whirled yellow, black, and purple. It concentrated into a beam that ripped Yosei's Thorn Wraith to nothing. In flames and falling apart, it collapsed to the ground, and the impact sent a shockwave throughout all of Konoha.

"Urgh," Yosei groaned, charred from the attack but relatively fine. The south side of the village was evacuated, with nothing but the trapped invaders in the firing zone. Finally, she could use her most powerful attack.

Yosei crawled out of the burning remnants of her Thorn Wraith.

With the Hachibi's eyes wide, Killer Bee yelled, "You survived?!"

"You're going to have to try harder than that if you want to kill me. Much harder."

"Luckily, I got harder things to dish out!" He weaved a hand seal and opened his mouth—vines created from Senjutsu around him muzzled him and constricted his hands.

"I think that you'll find the Jutsu I have much harder than anything you have at your disposal." Yosei clapped her hands and leapt onto the growing avatar of vines beneath her. "Sage Art: Vine Release! Shinsuu Senju! Veritable One Hundred Handed Kan'on!"

The following creation of vines was bigger than the Hachibi. Not by too much, but undeniably larger. A hundred arms with balled thorny fists were spread behind the Buddha of vines. They were spread divine like a peacock's feathers, pointed upward toward Heaven, the enlightenment.

They came down with the wrath of a God.

The fists were so fast that they might as well have been flashed—yellow flashes. So fast that the fists ignited the surrounding air. Fire and fury and thorn and wrath. They ripped the Bijuu to shreds. Any of the trapped Shinobi didn't have the opportunity to retreat.

By the end the Hachibi's form was utterly in tatters, bleeding a Bijuu's blood. All eight tails were cut into over a dozen pieces each. Holes pierced him through and through. Both horns were sliced. His lower jaw was cut off, so he couldn't even speak. All she felt from their chakra was awe. Awe in the face of her power.

Her signature haughty pride made a smirk cross her face.

Finally, she was on the battlefield of Ryujin's making. An empty, flattened field of rubble, fire, and ash. The only Shinobi that remained were her and her opponent. There truly was nothing holding her back.

What she could do now… was well and truly limitless.

She dropped down from her deteriorating vine buddha, stepping to meet Killer Bee, who fell out of the Hachibi's melting corpse. Both arms were back, the traces of Ryujin's chakra were gone. Killer Bee was fully healed, as if he wasn't fighting before.

Yosei felt her chakra rise with excitement. The urge to battle at her fingertips.

From over a hundred feet apart, they made eye contact.

Killer Bee flashed a grin.

Yosei Senju smirked in kind.

The distance closed so fast that not even lightning would've been fast enough to catch them. He hit first, and Yosei stumbled back. Storm thundered and whirled in an arc, but Killer Bee tanked the hit. Ink spewed from his skin.

The ink gained the properties of wind and slashed at Yosei's storm, disabling it. He took the windy ink and slashed upward. Yosei's arm was held on by just the skin on her back. Senjutsu filled a kick that cracked his hip.

He throttled Yosei with a punch, then assaulted her with a kick. He took out all seven swords and whirled like an acrobat. Inky wind covering them and cutting through Yosei's storm like ribbons. Then, it cut through her body, but she made herself into vines to negate the damage.

Killer Bee flipped and dug her face into the dirt with a kick. A hand seal and a kanji. Erupt.

Lava spewed into Yosei's face and Bee flickered out of the way.

The lava dispersed with a force of chakra, and Yosei's head was only left charred by the attack. A hand seal with her repaired arm. "Cleave!"

He turned his hand into the Hachibi's fist and caught it. It did nothing. He blitzed forward and clobbered her. Yosei responded with a thorny fist, clawing at his chest and making him bleed. A flip and he was above—Yosei blasted wind to throw him off.

He landed on his hand. Yosei used two slabs of earth to break the arm. Killer Bee collapsed but managed to flip a kick into her side. A flash and he cut a gash deep into Yosei's chest. Another purple blur and he did the same up her back, staining her blonde hair red with blood. A kick to the face broke her skull and Yosei growled.

Killer Bee blasted forward and snapped her spine. Another hit popped her shoulder out of socket. A spewing of ink soaked her. A hand seal and a kanji. Constrict.

Another seal and he commanded the massive pool of ink to form into a Kanji. It covered every inch of Konoha, and Killer Bee's face split in a wild grin. Quake.

The earth shook and cracked and shattered and split. An earthquake off any scales in existence shook Konoha to its core. Even the stone faces of the Hokage rumbled with dust and rubble. Yosei was trapped in the epicenter, being buried by rocks while constricted by seals.

Senjutsu ripped into the seals—a weak Dismantle freed her. She felt the village-wide destruction; she felt Konoha Shinobi die—

—The sheer force of her chakra made a crater. She needed to stop this earthquake now. Firstly, she formed over a dozen Senjutsu barriers around her, blocking any possibility of Killer Bee interrupting her.

Next, she blasted through hand seals. "Sage Art: Earth Release: Calm." With all her strength, Yosei fought against the earthquake. With the full force of her chakra, she stopped it. Killer Bee didn't stand idly by, however. His next geyser of ink was directed upward. It mixed with the ash of the sky as it formed another kanji. Storm.

Lightning sparked, and the winds picked up—over a thousand miles per hour. They whirled through Konoha and flattened damn near every building still left standing. In the distance, the tower of the Hokage leaned, sinking into the shattered earth. Any battles going on were halted by the consecutive cataclysms.

Yosei glared—fury made her eyes glow as she took hold of the barriers and weaved a hand seal. "Cleave!"

A vertical slash bisected Killer Bee—again—this time from the groin to the side of the neck. With his ink, he put himself back together. Yosei was in the sky, standing on a Senjutsu platform. "It seems that you've already forgotten my title as the Storm Queen!"

She roared and then… the sky cleared. The blue sky above cleared, and the sun shone. The ashen sky dyed the red of fire was… gone. No hand seals were needed, just her pure elemental prowess stopped the natural disaster in its tracks.

Up above, the rays shone on her blonde hair. Heaven itself blessed the woman who freed Konoha from its darkest hour.

Killer Bee tried to leave, but Yosei whipped a vine around his neck.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Yosei asked him before thrusting a kick into his back. It did nothing. He whipped back and clobbered her to the shattered earth below. A dive kick and he put a hole in her torso.

The level of strength Killer Bee exuded was unmistakable. She'd only ever sensed that sheer presence once in her life before.

It was the night the Kyuubi attacked Konoha.

Dammit! I didn't take him out quick enough—he's reached Full Domain!

Vines constricted Killer Bee, but he simply flexed them off. He picked her up by the head and kicked her across the battlefield. Faster than even she could, punch after punch put hole after hole in her Sage Enhanced body. Purple constructs of chakra formed his seven swords.

An acrobat's dance cut Yosei to ribbons and he kicked her, blasting her through the walls of Konoha and into the outskirts of the village, where the fight began. Every time Yosei tried to defend, Killer Bee countered and countered hard.

Against the strength of a Bijuu's full domain, she couldn't stand a chance. Not the night the Kyuubi attacked, and not here.

Yosei Senju may have been strong… but she wasn't the strongest.

As much as she inherited Hashirama's bloodline… she simply was not him. She couldn't be the Goddess of Shinobi that she wished she was.

Killer Bee blitzed around and around and around and around her. Yosei couldn't keep up. He danced in front of her, striking a pose as he revved the chakra of the Hachibi's full domain. One arm straight below, and one arm flexed up with his fist beside his head. "What's wrong? You can't keep up with my speed?"

Yosei spat out a tooth, scoffing at his statement, no matter how true it was. "As if!"

Killer Bee threw his hand back, and Yosei did the same. They both punched and their fists clashed. A true contest of strength. One Yosei was doomed to lose. Yosei's arm shattered into a dozen pieces, held together by skin. She snarled, but he was already on her.

A purple construct of chakra formed around Killer Bee's fist. A cannon. It fired a chakra blast that burned Yosei's broken arm clean off. "You don't gotta deal with that anymore!"

He whipped and kicked her; the cannon turned into a gauntlet that supercharged his fist and blew another hole through the right side of her chest.

Most of Yosei's wounds were already being repaired by the ever present Senjutsu going into her. She took a fraction of a second to catch her breath—a whip and a kick and a slice.

Killer Bee spartan kicked her back and clapped his hands together. The purple chakra of his constructs formed a gigantic cannon, the barrel the thickness of a tree trunk. It needed two support beams, in addition to his legs to keep stability.

It coalesced chakra from both Killer Bee and anything in the area, including Yosei. It killed the grass and surrounding trees as much as it took in all the strength in the area.

"Asura Path: Omega Chakra Cannon!"

It blasted in a purple beam and it struck Yosei head on.

She was sent a dozen meters, searing and barely conscious. Everything truly burned. That didn't mean she would stop. Yosei was guaranteed to lose here. That didn't give her the excuse to lie down and accept it.

Killer Bee turned his back on Yosei, leaping up to the collapsing gate of Konoha.

Yosei whipped herself onto her feet and shot out a vine. It wrapped around his neck and cracked him back to the ground beneath her feet. Yosei, panting, broken, bleeding, stood above him. "I didn't say that I was done with you…"

Killer Bee simply blinked. "As… As a single man, this is hot as fuck."

"As a married woman, I accept the compliment but deny any further advances."

"Dammit!" He cursed. "I was hoping we could work out a political marriage of some sort."

Yosei snorted. "After what you did to my village?"

"Y'know what they say… make love, not war."

Yosei glared down at him. "And Kumo chose war."

She stomped down on him but only hit dirt. Her vine was broken—Killer Bee snapped both her neck and shattered her jaw with a punch. She stumbled, and he impaled her with the Hachibi's horns before blasting her back into a tree.

"You, Yosei Senju, have been the greatest fight I've had since… ever, really. If I wasn't here, you would be the Strongest Shinobi in the world." Ink whirled above his thumb and his index and middle fingers. "May we fight again."

She couldn't even muster the energy to look him in the eyes, let alone speak. All her focus needed to be directed to maintaining her body. She had yet to exit Sage Mode… it was damn near impossible for her to.

Imagination fueled the ink, and it whirled purple, every ounce of strength that Killer Bee could imagine was concentrated into the bright lavender ball of chakra on his fingertips. It grew to the size of a basketball and Bee pointed it at Yosei.

Dammit…

"Ink Style: Imaginary Technique: Murasaki."

A flash and it blasted.

There wasn't even a detonation. It simply just crushed everything. A crater was made… and Yosei sprawled, her entire torso flattened with barely a light in her eyes. This… is… painful… she mustered.

Her senses allowed her to notice that Killer Bee left not too long afterward.

Yosei couldn't even breathe, her heart was crushed. All that kept her alive was Senjutsu. The fight was done… she had lost. Unfortunate…

She commanded the Natural Energy to weave hand seals for her. Three seals, at the speed of three seconds. Pitifully slow.

From under her, vines wrapped around her in a cocoon. Water and air whirled around and the vines became one with Natural Energy itself, restoring her body when she couldn't herself. The cocoon was durable as well, nothing less than an attack from someone like Ryujin could break it.

With that, she allowed her Sage Mode to fade, followed by her consciousness.

—⊱✿⊰—

A ball of blue fire fell from the sky. When it struck the ground, it was the biggest flash he'd ever seen. It even put the Bakugami that he was hit with by Ka'rai to shame… though he wasn't quite conscious enough to remember it. The sheer magnitude of the explosion made the battle stand still.

"What is that…?" Natsuyo gaped with utter shock and terror.

Shinrai grabbed her wrist and blitzed out of the battlefield. "A distraction!"

"Hey—!" she sputtered, in the air from Shinrai's flicker. "Where are we going?!"

"To Naruto!"

"What about Gosei?!"

"I'll find him too! My brother first!"

"What makes you think you take priority—?"

"I'm stronger, so I get to drag you around!"

Another blur and they were atop a burning building. The moment they landed, the roof collapsed, and they tumbled in. It was then when Shinrai finally got a good look at Natsuyo. Her eyes were wide, and she was riddled with wounds. A gnarly gash on her side flowed freely with blood, and she was burned all over.

Shinrai was so much worse. Dozens of wounds spilled with blood. His nose was disfigured. Losing his mesh armor during his fight with Ka'rai turned out to be terrible. So many gaping wounds and cracked ribs left breathing the most painful thing ever.

Natsuyo was shaking from both the pain and the worry. "Look at yourself! Look at me! What if Gosei has it worse?! What if he's dead?! He's strong, yeah! But I'm stronger. It's supposed to be my responsibility to keep him safe, but I can't! So—"

She choked on her own breath. Smoke coughed out of her mouth. The fire of the burning building roared into Natsuyo's golden flame. Wind picked up and whirled. "So I need to find him! Gosei doesn't have a Kyuubi in his back pocket in case things go awry! You can sense Naruto! You know he's alive and fighting! I don't! I have no idea if Gosei's dead or dying or WHATEVER!"

With fire in her eyes—literally—she stood and her glare pushed Shinrai to the ground with a gust of wind. "I don't care how strong you are! You are not going to keep me from my brother! If you don't want to come with me, then you're a disgrace of a teammate for abandoning him!"

Slowly, Shinrai blinked, nodding, growling because the gust of wind fucking hurt. "Fair enough… but my counter to that is, I have no idea where Gosei is. I can't track him. Not like I can Naruto. Just searching aimlessly is going to get us killed.

"Plus, Gosei may not have a fucking Bijuu… but he has a Curse Mark. Whether he's smart enough to use it is a different question. Gosei is stubborn, too stubborn. He's not going to die before he tries to become Hokage but inevitably loses because Naruto is just better."

"This isn't the time for your backhanded—" Natsuyo growled, cutting herself off. The yellow fire screeched as if wind chakra enhanced it. A scorching sun turned the house to ash.

Shinrai sighed. "Okay, sorry. But that doesn't change what I said before! Just looking with no goal is pointless! Especially on ground level during a fucking war! What's the point of looking for him if you're just going to die trying?!"

"I don't care!" she screamed. "I just want to find my brother! If you couldn't just know Naruto was alright then wouldn't you be the same?! Would you still be so calm and cool?! Or are you as atrocious as a brother as you are a teammate?! Huh?!"

He flinched and averted his gaze. "We're wasting too much fucking time," Shinrai growled, standing back up. "Natsuyo. I really do get you, but would Gosei want you to just die because you were worried about him?!" Shinrai couldn't help but wince as he said that. It was like he was talking to himself… uncanny, almost. "I want to look for Gosei. I don't want him to die! But I also want to be smart.

"Idea. We wait for Naruto, and then us three as a group all look for Gosei together, alright?! After we find Gosei, then we look for Kusari! M'kay?!"

"Urgh! Fine!"

"I'm… right… here…"

Shinrai and Natsuyo looked to the side, Shinrai's left. It was Kusari. She was in tatters. Her baby blue jacket was gone and her mesh armor was ripped, looking almost like a crop top. Her similarly colored pants had half a leg missing and were stained with blood entirely. Only her bangs covered her Caged Bird Seal and the scar that was over it. Other than that, she looked entirely uninjured.

Shinrai had a tidal wave of relief wash over him. But his first response was to snort. "The fuck happened to your clothes?"

Kusari gave him a deadpanned look. "I should ask you the same thing."

Shinrai looked down at his ripped apart and bloodied bare torso. "Fair enough."

"Have you seen Gosei?!" asked Natsuyo immediately.

Kusari nodded. "I was with him at the start… We were running away from the stadium and then a giant jutsu fell from the sky. He knocked both me and himself away to spare us from the worst of the explosion.

"Afterward, I battled Fuu… I nearly won."

Shinrai blinked. "You what—?"

"What side of the stadium were you guys on?" Natsuyo asked.

"I separated from Gosei on the north side."

Shinrai bit his lip. "And we were on the south side…"

"Dammit!"

Kusari activated her Byakugan. She was squinting, as if seeing was hard. With the ash caking up the sky, he wasn't surprised. Afterward, she sucked her teeth. "Dammit—"

"What?! You can see him, right?!" interrogated Natsuyo, walking toward her.

"I can… he's using the Curse Mark. But so are his two opponents, their chakra is much more powerful. He isn't alone, he's with…" Kusari snarled. "Hinata Hyuuga. Her mark is active as well."

Horror crossed Natsuyo's face. "We need to go now."

Kusari shook her head. "You two can't possibly fight in the state that you're in. Heal first."

"What if that takes too long?!" Natsuyo questioned. "If he's outmatched then—"

A dozen clones of Shinrai popped into existence. Ten all went to heal Natsuyo, while two stayed with him. "I can heal fast…" He cleared his throat. "Speaking of which, Kusari, how the fuck did you live?"

"Ka'rai. Fuu was… going to kill me. He stopped her, used his fire to heal me and knock me away. I only woke up a few minutes ago, saw the house incinerate, and saw you two in here."

Shinrai went silent. It felt like a black hole whirled inside of him. "I almost… you almost…"

"But I didn't. That is what's important now."

Shinrai sighed, chuckling. "I love you, man."

"Oh." Kusari cleared her throat. "Thank you? I thought we were past all of the…"

"We are. You're just a great friend. So, I love you."

"Oh, that makes sense," she sat down, going quiet in contemplation. "I… suppose I feel the same."

Shinrai just grinned. "So you're not gonna say it back?"

Kusari turned a bit red. "You're making me not want to…"

"There's nothing wrong with expressing how you feel…" was all Shinrai said.

Kusari groaned. "I… love you as well, Shinrai—as a friend, of course." She let out a sigh. "Sometimes I genuinely wonder what I'd do without you."

"Cry or something, I dunno," said Shinrai with a shrug, not hiding the elation on his face at all.

She didn't respond to that, looking up as something caught her attention. "Team 7 is—" Kusari started before Naruto jumped down with a bombastic entrance.

"TEAM 7 IS HERE!" he announced, crimson Kyuubi chakra flaring off of him with his crimson-slitted eyes and fiery aura. Soon after, Sasuke dropped with his Sharingan active. Not too long after, Sakura came too.

"Naruto!" greeted Shinrai with a laugh. "About damned time!"

"Well, we were kinda caught up with a skirmish between us and Iwa," Sakura explained with a sigh.

"Yeah! We beat their asses! Each and every one of them!" Naruto boasted.

"What he means is that we escaped by using an Iwa Chunin as a meat shield," Sakura corrected.

"That's fucking hilarious," snorted Shinrai.

Natsuyo let out a breath, blowing Shinrai's clones off of her. "So, there's nothing stopping us from going to help Gosei, right?!"

"Woah, what's going on with Gosei?!" asked Naruto.

"He's being attacked by two Curse Mark users, with the aid of Hinata Hyuuga," Kusari informed.

Naruto's eyes widened. "Oh! We gotta help fast!"

"YES!" agreed Natsuyo as she stood. "Go! Now!"

Shinrai popped his clones, and his chakra returned to him. "We're going?!"

"We're going," answered Kusari, leading the group of Genin up north toward Gosei.

As they rushed out, Sasuke made it a point to speed next to Kusari, getting her attention. "Do you need something?"

"After this is all over…" he started, slowly, trailing off. "I need to talk with you."

Kusari hummed, bemused. "Alright."

Defuck does he want with her? muttered Shinrai, not giving it anymore thought as his Sharingan eyes drifted to the red sky.

A red sky of death…

A scarlet sky of death.

Dead scarlet eyes.

Yora's eyes.

A heavy sigh made him look down, clutching Yora's hilt. As he did… he saw a garden of roses, peeking from the ash, shrouded by it.

Hidden rose, fires burned like fireworks.

Floral firework eyes.

Karin's eyes.

Eyes he hadn't seen in a while.

All he could do was flare his chakra. He didn't say anything… would draw too much suspicion. It didn't matter, though. Not as he was entering what really might've been the fight of his life.

The Curse Mark Chakra from Gosei and his two opponents flared with a violent violet that sent a shiver down his spine. He didn't even need his Sharingan to see it either… at least he assumed; he hadn't turned it off since this entire battle started. Hinata's not-cursed Curse Mark Chakra also flared with that same white it did against Kusari.

According to Kusari, she called it a blessing instead of a curse.

Shinrai wasn't sure how he felt about a power of Orochimaru being called a blessing… but, if it was one thing he knew for sure, was that Hinata's Mark didn't feel like Orochimaru in the slightest.

He, of all people, knew that.

Right now, at least, it didn't matter.

"Naruto! Gimme some wind!" Shinrai shouted as he weaved hand seals.

He smirked with his own hand seals. "Gotcha! Sasuke! Boost with your fire too!"

"Tch," he muttered, weaving two hand seals before inhaling.

Natsuyo did nothing but clap her hands together as she waited for the jutsu to complete.

"Fire Style: Rage Against Everything!"

"Wind Style: Guttural Gust!"

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

Natsuyo outstretched both of her hands and yelled, "SCORCH!"

Her own wind and fire scorched the jutsu a shining golden light—a miniature sun that blasted down on the Cursed Opponents. Both Gosei and Hinata leapt back, anticipating the attack as they regrouped all together.

At the same time, twin screams bellowed out of the scorching flame. Shinrai couldn't help but smirk. Immediately, Hinata said. "We've hit them with more powerful attacks. That isn't enough."

"Well damn," Shinrai spattered. "That's four people's worth of Chakra in that jutsu."

"That doesn't matter!" roared Gosei, with the earth cracking beneath him. "Now that you all are finally here, we can win against these two!"

"Who are they anyway?!" Natsuyo yelled over the burning fire.

Calmly, Hinata answered. "Kuro and Kura Otoko. They have a grudge against Team 8 and Team 5 because our senseis killed their parents."

"The fuck that gotta do with us—?" questioned Shinrai as the flames dispersed, both Kuro and Kura walking toward them in their hulking, demonic forms.

"Hiyenzo and Uzumaki took what we love the most away from us! So we'll take what they love away from them!" yelled the demonic woman, Kura, Shinrai assumed.

That made Sasuke scoff. "Or are you two just weak cowards too afraid to go after somebody strong?!"

"What do you know?!" snarled the demonic man, Kuro.

Sasuke's blood red Sharingan whirled with fury. "Look at my eyes and ask me that question again."

"Sasuke Uchiha…" Kuro realized. He then looked toward Naruto, then Sakura, and lastly, Natsuyo. "You four have no place here! This isn't your battle to resolve! Leave and we won't have to kill you!"

"Fuck no!" Naruto roared, the Kyuubi's chakra erupting out of him like a volcano. "Any fight of Shinrai's is a fight of mine!"

"I'll be damned if I let a couple of cowards kill my comrades and invade my village," Sasuke stated, forcing his own Curse Mark into activation. "You two are going down."

Natsuyo glared with the fire of the sun in her eyes. "Try to kill my brother, and you'll have to deal with me just as much as him."

Sakura simply nodded, stepping back, preparing to unleash her Genjutsu. With his Sharingan, Shinrai saw the trembling of her frame… She was terrified. He couldn't exactly blame her, she was certainly out of her depth here.

Kuro and Kura snarled at Team 7. "Then you three will die as well!" Kura screamed. As if they were one with a single mind, Kuro and Kura used each other's hand to weave a single set of hand seals.

"Crystalline Rock Armor!" they shouted in tandem. Their chakra jolted at the exact same time, molded at the exact same time. Their chakra signatures didn't even have any difference… it was the exact same thing.

Rock levitated from the ground and fused with their bodies, creating armor. After the armor came to be, crystals and gems grew from the rock like geodes.

Kusari didn't waste a second before attacking. Her hair rose and she blitzed toward them. "Ingoken!" Her palm blasted into Kuro's torso. Rock blasted out in all directions but… he was fine. The armor withstood a fucking Ingoken—

A backhand slammed Kusari to the ground and the rest of them didn't waste anymore time… except for Shinrai. He grabbed Naruto's collar. His brother glared at him—"What the fuck are you doing?!"

"I have… an idea," Shinrai said with a smirk. "All I need is you, and a bit of time."

Hinata leapt back, eyeing them. "Will it work?"

"I'm going to be completely honest. It might not," admitted Shinrai. "But it shouldn't backfire. I just need you all to buy me some time. Gonna show the Otoko Twins what the Demon Twins can do."

A devilish smirk split Naruto's face. "You got it."

Hinata nodded, blitzing back into the battlefield to inform the rest of their allies. Sakura weaved two hand seals, and a Genjutsu masked her alongside Naruto and Shinrai. "Now they shouldn't see you until the time is right."

"You're the best, Sakura!" Naruto yelled, then Sakura bashed him on the head with her first.

"They can still hear you," she whispered aggressively. "Keep it down."

"Got it…" muttered Naruto.

Shinrai was too focused on his seal to notice the interaction. On his palm, he wrote down the Jutsu Formula, one half of the equation, himself.

Sakura analyzed Shinrai's palm then her eyes widened. "Combination Seals? You're not going to—"

"We are," confirmed Shinrai, nonchalantly as he focused.

Naruto blinked. "Wait—those are the seals you've been working on? Isn't that for the chakra in your blade? What do you need me for—?"

Shinrai finished the seal on his palm and then went to Naruto's. "Kuro and Kura have some sort of… joint chakra system with their Curse Mark. It effectively makes them one fighter in two bodies. I know that with this seal… I could do the same with another person.

"This is no regular Combination Seal. It's a true Fusion Seal. Originally…" Shinrai looked at Yora, still hanging at his waist. "I was going to try to fuse with the chakra in my black blade, but I didn't get the idea to do it with another person until I saw them."

With that, he finished the seal on Naruto's palm, an exact copy of the one on his own. "And who better to fuse with than my own other half, eh?"

Naruto grinned. "Alright!"

"Ram Seal," Shinrai said, making half a seal at the same time that Naruto did. Their hands joined in a complete Ram Seal. "Three… two… one… activate."

Naruto activated the seal on his palm at the same time Shinrai did his. White flared and chakra flowed. Naruto's chakra flooded into him at the same time his roared into Naruto's—

—Flashes… memories… Naruto's entire life flashed before Shinrai's eyes. Every feeling Naruto ever felt. Every moment Naruto remembered in his life. The crippling loneliness, isolation… for four years. Then he came. Then Shinrai came. After that… it was just him. Admiration, love, so much all for him. The Shinrai that Naruto saw… he was never sad. Never down. Always happy and available and happy to help. There wasn't an experience Shinrai didn't know of already… it was all Naruto. The Naruto he knew inside and out. Shinrai smiled—

—Shinrai blinked, stumbling a bit at the sudden surge of information into his brain. "Woah…" he muttered before looking at Naruto.

He hadn't seen his brother so hurt in years. The expression… it was utter pain… horror. Why? What happened—?

Shinrai's heart plummeted into a bucket of ice.

Their Chakras connected. Shinrai witnessed Naruto's entire life. That meant…

…Naruto saw Shinrai's entire life.

Everything Shinrai ever hid. Every terrible emotion he spared for Naruto's sake. Every time he pushed down tears to put on a smile for his brother. Every time he waited for Naruto to sleep just so he could cry too…

And then when he stopped crying all together because he feared that Naruto would wake up and see.

Naruto saw… Yora. A story he never told.

Danzo. A story he couldn't tell.

Baiko, his family—their murder.

The two years of torture under Orochimaru.

Karin… the secret he couldn't tell.

Every dark secret Shinrai ever kept was ripped to the light. When they were younger, Shinrai and Naruto bathed together all the time. And yet, Shinrai had never felt so naked and so exposed.

Time froze on the shock and horror on Naruto's face.

His Sharingan burned it into his memory.

Just like the shock, pain, and betrayal on Yora's corpse.

"L-later…" was all Shinrai could muster. "We'll talk about it later." He put on another smile. It was fake. Like most of his were. "We need to slaughter these fuckers right now."

Naruto saw right through his facade. Like he never did—never could before. "Right…"

Shinrai and Naruto's chakra roared in tandem. The orange of Naruto's empowered Chakra churned into Shinrai, he could feel it. Everything Naruto knew… Ninjutsu-wise, he knew it too. Wind Style… a new element at his disposal he didn't have before.

Then the red came. The Kyuubi. Whiskers burned itself onto Shinrai's face, just like his brother's. The pupil of his scarlet eyes burned into a slit, forcing the tomoe of his Sharingan out of place. The bit of the Kyuubi's Yin Chakra Shinrai had inside of him was invigorated. It spread itself thin between both Shinrai and Naruto.

The Kyuubi's Chakra didn't stop.

Naruto grew a tail… so did Shinrai. Boiling red chakra hurt—it burned. His special chakra roared from the damage, empowering both him and Naruto. They were both cloaked in the Kyuubi's Chakra cloak, a single tail. He felt more… he started to feel the Kyuubi more than he did Naruto.

Naruto's grip on himself was slipping away—he felt pain, regret… it all came from him. Regret churned in the orange of Naruto's chakra.

"Naruto!" Shinrai shouted. He didn't know what to say—what could he say?!

Nothing. He could say nothing.

So, he decided to feel instead.

All of the good times, the genuine joy that he—Shinrai—got from Naruto. All of it. How much Naruto helped. How Naruto took away the cold for so long—how much Shinrai truly loved him.

All the love.

All the good.

He felt his brother again. The Kyuubi was banished and Naruto roared. Both of them held a tail of boiling red crimson chakra. "You ready?!"

"No…" Naruto said, lowly, calmly. "There's… something else."

Now, even Shinrai had no idea what he was talking about. By the feel of his chakra, Naruto didn't either. All he had… was the insatiable desire to… understand. To connect.

It was then when Naruto's chakra glowed gold.

—⊱✿⊰—

Sasuke's chakra never reacted so viscerally to another's. It was angry, but not quite rage. It was excited, but not quite happy. It felt love… but not quite affection. Was the chakra even his? It was eerily similar… but… not quite his own.

He whipped his head back to the source. It was Naruto and Shinrai. No, not the both of them, Naruto. His Sharingan could barely distinguish between Naruto's chakra and Shinrai's—it was like they were fused—but something inside of him did.

At the same time, Hinata's Mark flared. That white chakra whirled like a maelstrom. It was undeniably glad, reacting to Naruto's chakra like it had been reunited with long-lost family.

Right after, Kusari's chakra roared. It was angry, furious, it made Sasuke freeze right then and there. The presence in her chakra was damning his, Hinata's, and Naruto's all at once.

Once again, Naruto's chakra roared. By proxy, so did Shinrai's. A scarlet-gold helix whipped around Naruto and Shinrai like a living whirlpool. The Scarlet came from Shinrai. The Gold came from Naruto.

Gold…

Sasuke's eyes widened. The tablet!

Crimson soul overtakes the golden body; fight for that which you love.

Naruto! Naruto is the golden body… but to fight for that which you love—?

The scarlet-gold helix whipped past Sasuke to show him how to fight for what you love.

—⊱✿⊰—

Even with the revelation that Naruto saw everything—Shinrai couldn't help but smile at the prospect of the battle ahead. The last time he and Naruto fought seriously together was against Gosei. That was forever ago.

They were so much stronger now. and they didn't fuse. They were exponentially more power than they've ever were before. On top of that, this Kyuubi Chakra was fucking awesome. His entire chakra system was on fire way more than it ever was before. Those slivers he had before weren't shit compared to the real thing.

An impulse whim made Shinrai toss his namesake blade to Naruto. He caught it without even looking. "Since you have my everything, you should know how to use this, eh?!"

"Hell yeah!" responded Naruto without missing a beat. A grin was on his face. It was genuine. Thankfully, Shinrai's battlelust was bleeding into Naruto's mind. He didn't have to deal with that depressed look anymore—

—Rock and crystal spewed upward. Both Naruto and Shinrai leapt to dodge while inhaling in tandem. Shinrai didn't need to use hand seals and Naruto didn't either.

"Fire Style: Rage Against EVERYTHING!" Naruto roared.

"Wind Style: Guttural Gust!" Shinrai yelled.

Fire spewed from Naruto's mouth and wind blasted out of Shinrai's. The earth below turned to lava. The brothers laughed at each other, screaming, "Hey! That's my jutsu!" at each other in tandem.

Before long they laughed it off, Naruto tanking a crystalline mace to the chest from Kura. "You think this is a joke?!" she screamed. Naruto's chakra flared from the damage and so did Shinrai's.

"Yeah! It's fucking hilarious!" Shinrai cackled before leaping and crushing the handle of Kura's mace with his hand. Naruto roared and blocked a diamond sword from Kuro with Shinrai's blade.

A dual roar of the Kyuubi's chakra blew back the Otokos. Naruto pounced on Kuro while Shinrai rounded on Kura. A single punch blasted a hole through her Crystalline Rock Armor like it was nothing, going into her chest, and Shinrai reveled in the warm heat of her blood.

Kura screamed out with pain and fury before stabbing Shinrai through the shoulder. All he did was cackle at the damage before unsheathing Yora and cutting upward. Kura's hand and other arm were cut through like butter. "Fuck dude! If I had this much power, then I would've kicked Ka'rai's ass!"

Another kick and Kura tumbled back. He sheathed Yora and leapt onto her head like a wild animal, kunai in hand. She couldn't claw at him to get off with no arms. Uncontested, Shinrai stabbed the kunai through the armor and into her skull. Gray matter and blood spewed like a geyser as he pulled the kunai out. Shinrai's Sharingan whirled as he took his hands and dug into into the wound the kunai made.

A roar and Shinrai ripped her skull in half with no effort at all. "Piece of shit," he huffed before grabbing her horn and slamming her corpse into the floor as he got off.

As Shinrai murdered Kura, Naruto was having a grand time cutting Kuro into mincemeat. A gash, a slash, a cut, a slice. With the power of the Kyuubi on his side, Curse Marks and Rock Armor and Crystal Armor were all meaningless.

Kuro cried out with pain and agony while Naruto reintroduced him to his fist. A blasting punch fueled by chakra blew a hole into the armor, leaving his chest exposed. Naruto grinned with Shinrai's sadism as a vermillion ball of chakra whirled in his hand. "Rasengan!" he roared like a demon fox. The ball of chakra blasted a gory churn of guts into his chest.

His heart, lungs, and spine were all blood and dust by the time Naruto deactivated his Rasengan.

Without life in his cursed eyes, he simply collapsed to the ground.

Shinrai walked toward Naruto with a smirk. Laughing, Naruto grinned back. "Dude! This blade is badass as fuck! Can I keep it?!"

"...No," Shinrai denied flatly.

Naruto blinked, recalling its origins. "Ah… right…" He sighed, handing it back to Shinrai, who took it without preamble. A heaviness exuded from Naruto's chakra into his. "We're going to talk about… everything later! You got me?!"

Shinrai's heart went a bit cold. All he could give was a stiff nod. He outstretched a closed fist and forced a smile. "I love you, Naruto."

"I love you too, Shinrai," he responded immediately, bumping Shinrai's fist. Naruto's tail and Shinrai's tail both curled like the smiles on their faces.

It was then when Shinrai felt the most horrifying presence overtake his chakra. Naruto screamed and their previously serene cloaks boiled over like foaming blood. Blue chakra in the shape of fire scorched Naruto's clothes.

Malevolence. Malice. Fury.

The Kyuubi's will erupted like water from a broken dam.

From his stomach, sunset orange chakra spewed like a maelstrom. More and more of the Kyuubi's chakra flooded the both of them. Naruto grew a second tail, and so did Shinrai.

"Naruto! What the fuck is going on?!"

Naruto shook his head, frantic—fighting, but it was all futile. His mesh armor and orange jacket was incinerated by the blue flames. They burned into his skin and he roared from the agony. "My seal! It's being destroyed!"

Shinrai rushed to fix it, but an eruption from Naruto blew him back. A third tail on Naruto, and then a third tail on Shinrai. Dammit, dammit—the Kyuubi's sadistic laughs roared in his head and Shinrai froze.

Gosei spewed water on the flames at the same time that Natsuyo tried to tame them. It did nothing.

Sasuke was the next to act, attempting to subdue Naruto with Genjutsu, but it was futile. Like a plague, the Kyuubi's malice whirled on Sasuke and he screamed, eyes wide as the pure force of revolting chakra made him stumble and fall.

A fourth tail grew from Naruto. His burning skin started to peel. A desperate look of fear in Naruto's crimson eyes. Naruto couldn't speak… but Shinrai got all he could from the feel in his chakra.

I can't let him take you, too.

Before the Kyuubi consumed Naruto, he severed the connection on his side, shutting off the Fusion Jutsu. All of Naruto's chakra drained from Shinrai, the orange, the gold—gone. All that was left was his Three Tailed Kyuubi cloak, and that was no doubt on a timer.

Naruto screamed as the smoke of his own charred skin suffocated him in the cloak.

"NARUTO!" Shinrai screamed.

His brother couldn't hear him.

The next sound to come from Naruto's body was the Kyuubi's roar. Shinrai was blasted back into the rubble. The smoke and ash from Naruto's cremated skin was allowed to release as the bubbling cloak evaporated into the sky.

Fleshy skin of chakra overtook Naruto, the color of crimson's blackest night. White, soulless eyes. A mouth of teeth, etched into a smile.

That wasn't Naruto—that wasn't his brother.

The first to try and attack was Gosei. He charged with his staff and—he screamed. Utter agony destroyed his throat. All it took was a single slash and half of Gosei's lower torso was gone. Natsuyo was the next to scream. Fury and fear was etched into her cries. Golden fire spewed onto the Kyuubi, but it did nothing.

The Kyuubi set its sights on her—Shinrai blitzed forward and held down the arm of chakra. "Naruto! Wake the fuck up!"

Those soulless white eyes looked up to meet him with a sadistic smirk on its demonic teeth. "Your brother isn't here right now."

Shinrai's heart skipped a beat—that was his voice.

"Shinra Tensei."

An ethereal blast of chaos knocked Shinrai off of the Kyuubi. He landed by Natsuyo. His Sharingan scanned the field. Kusari blitzed next to him on his right, Natsuyo was behind him, Hinata and Sasuke to his left.

Shinrai growled. "I'm the only one that can combat him head on. You guys need to get me an opening so I can access Naruto's seal. I can suppress the Kyuubi if I can get to it."

"On his stomach? When he's on all fours?" asked Hinata, eyes wide.

"Yes! Now hurry up—"

An arm of chakra for each of the Genin while the Kyuubi laughed using Naruto's voice. "I'll slaughter you all!"

Shinrai made his own arms of chakra, but in a contest of strength, they were nothing. They made enough of an opening for everyone else to get out of the way. A body flicker sent his namesake blade into Naruto's arm. He was barely able to pierce the skin.

Kusari came from the right. "INGOKEN!" she screamed. A blast of her chakra made a hole in the cloak, but nothing more. A tail swipe made ripped muscle and skin right off her—cracking the bone.

Hinata came in and out like a fly, targeting weak points when she could—a tail swipe took her out. One hit and her ribcage collapsed into her own lungs. Her breaths were accompanied by blood.

Natsuyo rained down fire and wind, each one more powerful than the last. Shinrai caught the golden flames with his blade when he could, slicing into Naruto's body and holding him down. All Shinrai could do was hold his attention, waiting for the fucking opening.

From behind, Sasuke came with a Chidori. He screamed out the attack's name and chakra claw struck him like an uppercut, leaving five gashes on him as he went limp on the floor, alive and growling from the agony.

All the pain, all of the damned suffering around him. Shinrai screamed and attacked harder, if that were even possible. He denied the need for hand seals when he ignited his Entrusted Flame on both Shinrai and Yora. Finally, he was able to confidently cut through the Kyuubi's hide.

"Shinra Tensei!" the Kyuubi screamed.

Kusari was flung back and Shinrai would've been the same had he not brought the Kyuubi with him. Chakra arms constricted it and he brought the Kyuubi with him. They collapsed to the floor and a beam of pure chakra blasted a hole inches away from Shinrai's heart—the Kyuubi's chakra filled the hole and Shinrai used the temporary boost to stab Naruto's chest.

Another Ingoken from Kusari took the Kyuubi's attention and Shinrai punched it as hard as he could to stagger it—even if it was just for a second.

Despite all the hits she took, despite all of the flesh sheered off of her, Kusari kept getting up, supplying Ingokens. Her power grew and grew the more her life was on the line. It even seemed like parts of her muscle and skin were regenerating. An Ingoken blew a hole into Naruto's flesh and the Kyuubi screamed.

It was being overwhelmed finally. Shinrai kept pushing and pushing and pushing. A roar—it was Natsuyo. Wind and fire whirled in a dome around them. It was like they were inside the sun. The dome's heat rose and rose—Kusari and Shinrai pummeled the Kyuubi to keep it busy.

Blasts of pure chakra roared from the Kyuubi's hide.

The Kyuubi's cloak restored any damage done to Shinrai, it negated the boost that he got from his special chakra but it was better than fucking dying. Kusari was just inhuman. With her rage came undying persistence and she simply wouldn't stop getting back up.

A harmonizing of elements around. Natsuyo weaved a hand seal, concentrating her chakra as her blonde hair rose. A harmonizing hum echoed from the wind and fire as they became one. The scream of a scorch was what followed.

Another fighter capable of holding Naruto back—she weaved two hand seals and her brown eyes glowed the golden of her fire. "Scorch Release: Solar Flare Nova!"

The sun around them all burned into a scorch, and it went upward. Shinrai and Kusari leapt back as the jutsu came down on Naruto. A ball of scorch, a center of blinding gold with a windy aura of shine. It detonated and Shinrai's lips cracked dry from the heat.

Another Shinra Tensei and the Kyuubi was barely phased. It glared at Natsuyo. "You don't seriously think that's an attack you pitiful girl."

She froze.

The Kyuubi opened its mouth.

A whirl of vermillion chakra whirled in Shinrai's hand.

Just as a ball of chakra—a Bijuu Bomb—formed in the Kyuubi's mouth, Shinrai matched it with his Rasengan. The attack was barely starting to form and yet it Shinrai could barely contest it—another blast and another detonation.

Shinrai screamed as his arm was blown to ash.

The Kyuubi screamed as Naruto's face was half scorch with the Kyuubi's hide ripped off half of its body. Kusari took advantage, blasting an Ingoken that successfully took an arm off the Kyuubi.

Crimson chakra churned over where Shinrai's arm once was, and it was reformed. His arm was back, but at the cost of what he had left of the Three Tails. He only had two tails left. Shinrai sucked his teeth, picking up his blade.

Shinrai blasted forward and Natsuyo's scorch fueled his Entrusted Flame to a new level. Scorching barrages from all directions bombarded the Kyuubi. Another Shinra Tensei and Shinrai couldn't stop from being blown back by holding on—he wasn't strong enough.

Kusari and he landed in a heap next to Sasuke, who barely moved after being struck by the Kyuubi the first time. A glare full of utter fury Kusari spat Sasuke's way. "Make yourself useful… Indra."

The way she said… Indra, whatever that was… it wasn't her. It wasn't Kusari's voice. He couldn't dwell on it as the Kyuubi screamed out with its next attack. Beams and bombs in all directions—trying to take out everything.

Shinrai could barely dodge. Everyone was hit. Sakura, Hinata, and Gosei were nowhere to be seen—were they dead?!

"NARUTO!" Shinrai screamed.

"HE'S NOT HERE!" screamed the Kyuubi in response, cackling as his detonations blasted everything in every direction. "HE'S AS GOOD AS DEAD YOU IDIOT UZUMAKI! THERE IS NO SAVING HIM!" Slowly… the Kyuubi chuckled as he reveled in the dead look Shinrai put his way. "Just accept your fate and die."

One second of cold. Everything he had was numb… Shinrai blinked and his chakra burned. "No…" He shook his head. "NOOO!" he screamed as his chakra burned. His Sharingan burned. Everything he felt was fire. He blitzed toward the Kyuubi but the beast clawed his chest open and slammed him down.

A sadistic grin. "Die… Shinrai Uzumaki." A promise made with his brother's voice—

Fire.

Fire stopped it all.

Not scorch, not Natsuyo.

Fire.

It was Sasuke.

His Curse Mark Chakra roared, but it didn't feel like Orochimaru. It felt like… something else. It was more similar to how Hinata's mark felt, or Kusari's chakra felt when she was pissed, or the Golden Chakra that Naruto had… yet entirely different at the same time.

Sasuke's two tomoe whirled as he played with fire in his hands. The fire was the purest orange, a nearly heavenly burn that Sasuke molded like it was clay. Two fingers, he struck them in and with another two fingers, he pulled. As if he drew a bow, he pulled an arrow of pure fire into existence.

"Homusubi Arrow," Sasuke uttered, calmly, like the battle was already won.

It shot and before Shinrai could even blink, it pierced Naruto's heart and pinned him to the ground. Afterward, Sasuke collapsed to the rubble, his Sharingan fading to black.

"SEAL HIM!" Natsuyo screamed, her body burning up like it was becoming scorch itself.

Immediately, Shinrai leapt up and placed his hand on the blue-burning seal. He roared and twisted right, using the Eight Trigrams that Miya taught him should the worst happen. The Kyuubi screamed but it wasn't Naruto's scream this time. It was his own.

He tried to claw at Shinrai but Naruto screamed, holding the chakra back, just barely as the chakra flesh faded into the boiling bubbles of the lesser Kyuubi cloaks. Finally, the Kyuubi's chakra faded from Naruto entirely. Burned out with his skin gone and his muscle exposed, Naruto collapsed onto Shinrai.

At the same time, the sky burst into blue. The sun shined down on them all and their injured state.

Shinrai used the Eight Trigrams Seal on himself, sealing the remainder of the Kyuubi chakra he had left into a seal on his stomach. With that, he made two dozen clones to heal. Six on Naruto, three on Kusari, three on Sasuke, three on Natsuyo, with the rest searching for Sakura, Hinata, and Gosei.

All he could do was look into the blue sky, the cleared blue sky. Not an ounce of red in sight. Not a cloud in the horizon.

He placed a hand on his brother's head, forcing a smile. "It's… over.

"It's over."

—⊱✿⊰—

The reaper grabbed his soul and Orochimaru saw it all flash before his eyes. It took all his strength and will to not succumb to death. To not fall to the same despicable fate he cursed upon so many others. No, he would not die.

Orochimaru screamed and pushed the reaper out of him.

Sarutobi groaned, gripping Orochimaru's shoulders so hard that he felt the bones break. The bastard old man sacrificed his own life like a fool. Ran away from his own strength like a coward.

He was stopping him from running, too.

Orochimaru needed to run. He couldn't stay here and die—he was immortal—! He was cut off by the cold numbing-ness in both of his arms. He couldn't feel them—he couldn't use them. The cold spread to his heart as ice poured through his veins.

Not even the Kyuubi eight years ago made him feel fear like this. He wasn't going to die there; he knew it from the start. No, it was the same fear when he saw the lifeless eyes of his parents' corpses. When he touched their hands, pale as his, and felt cold. When he checked for their pulses, and felt nothing but clammy, hard, cold skin.

Dead skin.

They were dead.

The same fear when he was but a child on the battlefield during the First Shinobi War. Saw so many deaths and wept with pitiful tears because he didn't want to be next. When he hid and cried because he was weak—because he was a coward. A stupid, weak, pitiful child.

The same fear that he lost during the Second Shinobi War, walking through Ame without a care in the world, stepping over corpses like stones in his path. That he lost fighting Hanzo the Salamander beside Jiraiya and Tsunade. When he mastered the corpse substitution that made any killing blow mean nothing.

The same fear he disregarded in the three orphans that Jiraiya chose to raise. The same fear he disregarded when he decided to take life and death in his own hands to conquer it. During the Third Shinobi War, when he began his experiments on others. The fear he saw so many times he became numb to it.

He became numb to it because he forgot how it felt to himself.

The numbness was replaced with everlasting agony.

Orochimaru looked into the soulless eyes of the Shinigami. Blade in its mouth, its ethereal form white and ghostly, just like the scales of his snakes. Skin purple like the markings on his face. Hair silky, black, and thin. Horns like a serpent's fangs protruding from the hair. In its grasp, it held Sarutobi's soul hostage.

The horror was frigid—it froze so much that it burned. In his fear, Orochimaru attempted to bluff. "You… you don't expect this to work you decrepit old fool?!"

"It… will…" Sarutobi promised between heavy breaths. He collected himself to speak clearly. "And you know that as well as I."

"And what will it mean?!" Orochimaru hissed. "What will it mean?! Konoha is already destroyed. Look around you! LOOK!"

Orochimaru didn't even notice that his beloved red sky of horror had dispersed. The shining sun made every ounce of death and destruction clear for all to see. Konoha was in a worse state than it was in after the Kyuubi's attack.

Half the village was utterly flattened. Smoldering rubble that was unrecognizable as once civilization. It looked like hell. The other half was riddled with dying Shinobi battles, a few stubborn souls fighting to their last breath. It may have not been razed but it was an equally horrendous sight.

Craters from explosive tags.

Fallen buildings from both the storm and the earthquake. The building they fought on was one of the few to remain standing.

Remnants of flooding from Water Style attackers.

Scorches of fire from Fire Style assaults.

It was still recognizable as Konoha, but utterly destroyed.

To anyone who cared, both were equally heartbreaking in entirely different ways. Orochimaru used it to mask his fear with his sadism, with his urge to see the sorrow on Sarutobi's face.

His former Sensei didn't give him the pleasure. Sarutobi's face remained stoic, looking Orochimaru in the eyes. "And what of it? Konoha still stands. Our Shinobi still fight. Our fallen comrades will live on in the Will of Fire.

"From the ashes of this village, a burning new inferno will rise. It will rise to defeat you."

Orochimaru reeled from the utter stupidity of the statement—

"What you said earlier, you were correct. In my current state, I can't take you with me into the belly of the reaper."

I'll live?! Orochimaru questioned, hope soaring in his soul to banish the cold.

"But I'll take your Jutsu with me instead of your life." Sarutobi cut the connection. The reaper took its blade and cut the soul of Orochimaru's arms off. It was the most agonizing experience he'd ever suffered through—his arms BURNED! It was as if they were skinned then dipped in acid.

Orochimaru's screams were guttural and he was finally free.

Sarutobi let go of him, the reaper claiming his soul. As he died, as he let his strength go to waste for this pathetic village… he smiled. Hiruzen Sarutobi's final look as he wasted away was a smile.

All the while torment contorted Orochimaru's face. "SOUND FOUR!" cried the snake. The barrier was taken down, his four loyal servants came to take him away—

—"Not so fast!" yelled a voice. The tone was undeniable. It was Might Gai.

Adamantine Chains wrapped around his neck. Miya?!

The flame of a whirl behind him. An otherworldly roar from a jutsu—"Bukimina…"

Orochimaru's horror returned as he stared Ryujin in the eyes. Sheer hatred poured from the Kyuubi-eyed glare. He didn't even have any tails; it was just him—and yet Adamantine poured out of him like a storm.

When Ryujin charged, it was more like a pathetic, limping jog. All the same, there was nothing he could do to stop it. The attack was small, barely the size of a baseball. Oily black flame collapsed like a black hole inches away from Orochimaru's chest.

"RASENOVA!"

Orochimaru wailed once again. The fire didn't just burn him—it ripped his very chakra to shreds. The flames summoned all of his worst fears. All he saw was death. The reaper's face overlapped with Ryujin's—NO I CAN'T DIE! I WON'T!

A high pitched cry of agony and desperation.

Four Curse Marks erupted around him—the Sound Four defended him. Good—it gave him an opening. He scanned his options—this body was falling apart. If he stayed, then he'd DIE!

Ryujin was out of the question despite being unconscious at his feet—A Jinchuriki would make for a horrid vessel—

Miya—she would've been perfect, but Orochimaru couldn't even see her—

—right beside him, right beside him was Might Gai—

—Orochimaru screamed, and white snakes erupted from his burning body. Might Gai made eye-contact with the horrid look of Orochimaru's true form. "TAYUYA!" screamed Orochimaru.

Without a second wasted, she blew her flute and Might Gai was stunned by the Genjutsu. The moment he was, the snake struck. Orochimaru constructed Might Gai then forced his mouth open. With that, he put his soul inside.

He heard Miya scream, but by then it was too late.

A black mindscape. Might Gai was still in a daze from the Genjutsu. His soul was ripe for the taking. Orochimaru blitzed forward and ate Might Gai's soul and took it into himself. The black flashed white and the white snake at Orochimaru's feet was dead. Above his feet was an outfit of green.

Orochimaru grinned with Might Gai's face. "IT WORKED!" The snake cackled, but the feeling was agonizing. Dammit! He must've been using his Eight Inner Gates before this—no matter!

A punch to the face dazed him—a furious Miya with gold coating her fist and blood covering her face was in front of him. Orochimaru snarled, summoning Kusanagi—it didn't work. Damned muscle memory—he decided to use the muscle memory of his current body.

A kick blasted Miya away. The weight of her own Adamantine made her durable but it made her slow. Orochimaru dodged her next hit then glared at the Sound Four. "WE NEED TO RETREAT NOW!"

"Yes sir!" responded Kidomaru.

Jirobo created a dust screen.

Sakkon grabbed Orochimaru as his body went limp.

And all of them blitzed right out of Konoha. Barely able to move, chakra and soul in tatters, Orochimaru looked back at the devastation. Not even that could bring him joy.

Not when he couldn't use his arms.

Not when he couldn't access his Jutsu.

Not when he was forced to take this bloodline-less, useless body without any notable techniques to speak of.

Not when he lost.

Orochimaru let out one final, guttural cry of agonizing defeat.

"DAMN YOU HIRUZEN SARUTOBI!"

?￢ﾜ ? ~ Chapter End ~ ?￢ﾜ ?

A/N: Hey! So, this is the final chapter for this batch. Sorry to leave on such a killer cliffhanger (no I'm not) especially because I am going to be taking a longer break this time around. Konoha Crush kicked my fucking ASS bro. But I'm far from dropping DaiSWaB, hell no. I should be back by the summer? Yeah, june/july. I also really plan to step up the quality of my writing for this next batch of chapters as well! So look forward to that.

But you guys should be getting a Databook of sorts, basically just me explaining lore and explaning things that might've been confusing in narrative. If you guys have anything that you really want clarification on, then I'll look and answer it in the Databook if it's not a spoiler that I plan to reveal in story later on. You should be getting that... sometime between now and the next batch of chapters, idk I haven't started it yet.

But... for all of you reading this, who've gotten this far, no matter if this is a year in the future and there is a next chapter already out, just thank you so much for reading. I'm so happy to have been able to share my love for the story of Naruto and my love for storytelling through this fic and knowing that at least some people are interested enough to get this far is honestly just the best feeling ever, whether you comment or stay silent, whether you follow or favorite or not, just thank you for giving my story a chance and reading. I appreciate that more than anything.

Lytn, out o7, see you guys soon.