Author's Note: Welcome back everyone! I meant to get this out on Saturday but it took a bit longer than I expected. This is the end of the Konoha Crush Arc, enjoy!
Disclaimer: Naruto and Inuyasha belong to their respective owners.
Dialogue Legend:
"Unforgivable" – Normal dialogue
'Unforgivable' – character's thoughts/speaking to Inner Demon/Inner Spirit
"Unforgivable" – Jutsu name; Inner Demon/Inner Spirit/Supernatural Being speaking to someone on the physical plane.
'Unforgivable' – Inner Demon/Inner Spirit/Supernatural Being speaking to someone on or from within the mental or spiritual plane.
Chapter 23 – The Fourth Hokage's Legacy
Streets of Konoha – 10 Minutes Before the Destruction of Experiment 9-X
Fuinjutsu: Kagebaku! (Sealing Technique: Shadow Binding) Kurenai's Jutsu launched forest green spheres of Chakra into the shadows of the twelve undead surrounding her, halting their movement. The reanimated corpse's movements were forced to mimic that of their bound shadows, freezing them in place. Unlike the Nara Clan's Kagemane no Jutsu, Kurenai's technique did not require constant Chakra input. As such, she was free to only put enough Chakra into her Jutsu to paralyze the horrors before her for just a moment. From the roofs above the bloodstained streets of Konoha, a set of five kunai attached to ninja wires streaked toward the undead like heat-seeking missiles. As each one impaled a horror, their owner utilized the seals etched into the weapons to transmit a huge amount of Chakra into the undead. The bodies exploded, and the emerald green energy animating them dissipated. A split second later, the set of kunai was launched at five of the remaining seven undead caught in Kurenai's Jutsu. In the same second, a volley of bomb kunai saw the final two corpses destroyed as well.
"Well done, Tenten-chan!" Kurenai shouted. The weapons specialist smiled in response while reeling back her kunai. These were the same kunai blessed by Hephaestus, and Tenten used their near-indestructibility to her full advantage; only a weapon or Jutsu crafted with "the Muse's Mark" could damage them, so Tenten could channel quantities of Chakra through them that would obliterate normal weapons. As a demigod, Tenten had far more Chakra than most would give her credit for. Her former fighting style of launching enormous barrages of weapons at her enemies was a testament to that. In the previous month, she had taken the knowledge gained from Naruto's clan manuals to heart and, under her progenitor's tutelage, started to cultivate a new fighting style that stressed quality over quantity.
Wielding her first true masterwork, named Kumanekosou (Panda Claws), was now as natural to her as walking. Over the next few minutes, Tenten and Kurenai repeated their deadly combo against several hordes of undead. Sometimes, they were joined by Suna or Oto Shinobi. The invasion and its reasons were abandoned in the face of this nightmare. In the distance, Tenten saw Choji and Kiba use their Jutsu to annihilate their own hordes of undead.
'Tenten-chan, Kurenai-san: there's no undead left in your immediate vicinity, but a joint squad of Konoha and Oto southwest of your position is about to be overwhelmed!' Ino had quickly learned that her clan's Jutsu were useless against the undead. The reanimated horrors were puppets on Experiment 9-X's strings; perhaps it was a mercy that their minds were left unviolated. She had her Douton Jutsu, but most of the techniques she had learned were defensive or supplementary in nature to better support Choji or Shikamaru.
Rather than try to apply those in combat, the Yamanaka heiress heeded the wisdom of countless ages: information is power. By broadcasting the locations of the undead, she was able to tremendously augment the survival chances of living. Naturally, Experiment 9-X sought to eliminate this advantage, but its puppets were thwarted by Asuma and Sakura. The Sarutobi heir and pinkette guarded Ino with a ferocity that rivaled a mama bear protecting her cubs. The horrors that weren't carved to mincemeat on Asuma's knives were flattened like pancakes by Sakura's water bullets.
"This-this can't go on! Ino said that Jiraiya-dono and Zabuza-san were going to take that monster down right?" Sakura panted, nearly out of Chakra. She dared not ask Ino directly about the Sannin and former Kiri Jonin's progress, lest she break her, now once more, best friend's concentration. As if in answer to her prayers, the massive serpent was destroyed in the next instant. A joint platoon of Oto and Suna had just regrouped on the roofs near the trio's position. With the undead nightmare ended, Asuma assumed a combat stance.
'Kami, please let them not be willing to fight after the Hell we all just suffered through!' Asuma prayed. His prayer was answered as well; the Oto in the platoon all had thousand-yard stares, while the Suna were openly weeping. Swords, kunai, and shuriken fell from the invaders' hands. Those who had the resolve to do so cheered in victory, but many others were too traumatized by the undead nightmare to do much more than gaze at the blood-soaked streets of Konoha in muted terror.
"This is new; usually, I have to spend at least an hour in a prison cell to see a look like that." Anko, her Youkai form in full display, leaped up to the trio's position. Her demonic venom had worked wonders in disrupting the wicked energy that animated the undead. Asuma and the other Jonin had been informed of Anko's new transformation and his lack of reaction to her new appearance calmed Sakura and Ino, preventing a freak-out from either of them.
"Not gonna lie, staying in this form is really fun, but I think our new 'friends' have had enough of snakes for the next decade, at least." Anko reverted into her human form. "Well, the invasion's a wash, but we can't exactly kill these guys after they helped us deal with those corpses and even I don't have the heart to imprison them right now." The Deputy-Commander of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force sighed. "Ino-chan, broadcast an order to all Konoha Shinobi: the invaders are to be gathered in the large plaza leading from the Merchant District to the Residential Districts. As soon as we can, the larger inns will be converted into holding areas for them until we decide what to do with them. No more killing unless we have to, and only those who resist confinement in the inns will be imprisoned."
Asuma knew better than to argue. He'd seen the look adorning the invaders' faces many times before, often while raiding bandit camps and freeing female captives. It was not a look that could be faked.
"Knowing my ex-Sensei, I wouldn't be surprised if the Kazekage is actually dead and Suna's alliance with Oto is based on nothing but smoke and mirrors." Anko spat. Her supposition had long since been confirmed by Jiraiya's spies, but that information had been shared on a need-to-know basis to ensure that Orochimaru didn't make any last-minute alterations to his plans. Anko turned her head toward the Chunnin Exam arena 'Hokage-sama, Naruto, please be safe!'
Forest Near Chuunin Exam Area
"Damn it all! They just keep coming out of the woodwork!" Naruto swore as a Suna Shinobi ambushed his impromptu team for the umpteenth time. Baki had anticipated the need for a tactical retreat and scattered dozens of his soldiers in the forest near the Chuunin Exam arena. During Naruto's deathmatch, he had discreetly used one of his Jutsu to carry his orders on the winds: if Naruto was spotted pursuing Gaara, all forces were to converge on his position. As Baki had remained in the village to direct Suna's forces, he no longer had the desire to fight. Unfortunately, he had used all his Chakra before Experiment 9-X was destroyed and now had no way to deliver new orders to the Suna forces engaging Naruto's team.
Hinata refused to leave her fiancé's side as he fended off wave after wave of Suna assassins. Consequently, Shino was left free to meet up with Sasuke, while Shikamaru broke off from the group after sensing the presence of an Oto squad. Naruto decapitated this latest arrival with Tokijin. A few feet to his left, Hinata was currently using her Juuken to kill two other Suna. Hearing another wave of assassins approaching, Naruto flashed through a series of hand seals.
"Enough of this! Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto summoned three toads that were each four times as large as a horse. The toads wore armor and wielded spears. "Gon-san, Yuun-san, Pan-san! Deal with these maggots and keep any others off our backs!"
"Ya got it, boss!" The three toads croaked in unison before leaping at the newest bunch of Suna to arrive. The toad warriors were young, but well trained by Gamabunta and had no trouble dispatching their targets.
'Not good, the poison's getting to me!' Shikamaru silently cursed as he fended off two Oto Shinobi. Earlier, he had sensed nine Oto pursuing them as discreetly as possible while Suna made more obvious ambushes. Intending to counter-ambush the Oto ninja, Shikamaru broke away from his temporary teammates and rushed toward the Oto's position. However, in his haste to protect his friends, the Nara heir neglected to consider the possibility that the Oto also had a sensor-type on their squad. Their counter-counter-ambush was almost successful, as Shikamaru barely dodged the poisoned kunai launched at him. One of them grazed his arm, and the toxin was absorbed through his skin.
The dosage was non-fatal, but the cellular damage it caused was more than enough to slow his movements. Worse, only eight of the nine Oto were arrayed before Shikamaru. So far, he had managed to kill three of them and severely injured two more with a combination of Genjutsu and bomb kunai, but he knew the ninth Oto soldier was waiting for the best moment to strike. There was nothing he could do about it; the three Oto still capable of fighting were wary of his tactics now, and it was taking all of Shikamaru's concentration to resist the effects of the poison coursing through him. As such, he lacked the capacity to use more powerful or complex Jutsu. The two uninjured Oto were joined by the third and rushed Shikamaru. He defended to the best of his ability, but still suffered several scratches on his arms and face. The kunai wielded by the Oto were also poisoned, and Shikamaru rapidly became too weak to move. Deciding to end this farce, the ninth Oto launched another poisoned kunai at the back of Shikamaru's neck!
"Thank you for betraying your position, Oto scum!" In the same instant that the final kunai was launched, Yama Shunshined behind Shikamaru and threw a giant shuriken at the ninth Oto, deflecting the nearly-fatal kunai. Yama was a giant among men and had as much strength as his immense size would suggest. His shuriken flew through the air at over three hundred miles per hour, far faster than the ninth Oto could react. In the next instant after throwing his shuriken, Yama lashed out at the other three Oto. With one punch each, the Umino Jonin caved their skulls in. For good measure, Yama threw two huge shuriken at the Oto Shinobi Shikamaru had previously injured, killing them instantly.
"Troublesome, why couldn't you get here earli – " Shikamaru's question died as his lips as the poison in his system started causing his vital organs to shut down.
"None of that! Suiton: Saikai!" (Water Release: Purification) Yama's hands glowed the same sky blue as his hair. The surge of Chakra caused the band holding his shoulder-length ponytail in place to snap. His straight hair cascaded down his back as he rushed toward Shikamaru and held his hands over the wounds through which the poison entered Shikamaru's body. For three minutes, he held his hands over the boy's arms, then he placed them over the cuts on the Shikamaru's face for five minutes. Yama then used Medical Ninjutsu to confirm that the poison had been completely purged. Once he was certain of that, he began healing the Genin's cellular damage.
"Easy does it, young man." Yama said softly as Shikamaru tried to stand up. "I'm no true Medical Ninja. I know enough to qualify as a field medic, but healing you enough to get you back in the fight today is beyond me."
"Thanks for the save, but shouldn't you be with Arashi-san?" Shikamaru asked.
"She's in good hands; Tetsuisshi's looking after her, and I figured your team could use some backup after I sensed just now many enemies were out here waiting for you." Yama pulled a spare hair band out of his ninja tool pouch and fixed his hair.
"What about your other daughter, Yuusen-san?" The Nara heir wondered.
Yama chuckled after hearing this latest question. "Funny you should mention her."
"Fuck! Sasuke's too fast, we can't shake him!" Kankuro swore. He was hoping to lay some traps to weaken Sasuke before fighting him directly, but the wolf Hanyou was right on their heels. "Temari, you go ahead! That thing hasn't woken Gaara back up yet, so I'm guessing it wants to be further out from Konoha before fighting Sasuke!" Kankuro lifted off his back. Temari wordlessly complied, as much as she hoped otherwise she knew the odds of Kankuro surviving against Sasuke were slim to none.
Two minutes later, Sasuke arrived but Shino appeared right afterward!
"Shino-kun, how'd you know where to find me?" The last Uchiha raised an eyebrow.
"This forest is Aburame Clan territory; hundreds of thousands of surveillance bugs inhabit it." Shino answered. "Sasuke-kun, continue your pursuit. I shall keep Kankuro-san occupied, and finish the fight he abandoned earlier today!"
"Sure you can handle him?" Sasuke smirked.
"At best, I'll need ten minutes. You're not the only one who improved astronomically in the past month." Shino countered.
"In ten minutes, I'll be done too." Sasuke replied before running after Temari.
"You're all fools!" Kankuro laughed. "You've no idea what true terror is!"
"And you plan to teach me?" Shino inquired.
"Nope! If you somehow manage to beat me and Karasu, Gaara will show you the meaning of fear!" Kankuro unraveled the bindings securing Karasu "Kugutsu no Jutsu!" (Puppet Technique) Chakra strings from his fingers attached to Karasu, bringing the puppet to life. The four-armed puppet hung from its master's right side; its left arms and both legs holding onto the Kankuro while its right arms hung down, nearly touching the tree branch Kankuro stood on.
'This is the perfect opportunity to test the new insects of my hive!' Shino summoned his insects. Before the conversation with his Queen-Sister a month ago, Shino's Kikaichu (Parasitic Destruction Insects) were identical to all others wielded by his clan. They had black exoskeletons with faded purple skin underneath it and teal eyes. Now that Shino had been imbued with the power of Khepri, his Kikaichu bore exoskeletons colored the fierce orange-red of the sky at daybreak. The skin beneath was now a dull white, and their eyes were the blue of a cloudless sky.
'The surveillance bugs are legion, but Clan tradition forbids their use in combat unless absolutely necessary. They are not parasitic insects, and their offensive capabilities are negligible, even in massive groups. Furthermore, my new Kikaichu are a prideful bunch; they want to win this alone. For now, I see no reason not to indulge them.' Shino's insects formed two large swarms concentrated around his arms.
'The Aburame Clan's bugs are infamous for eating Chakra.' Kankuro recalled the data grilled into him by Baki. 'The last thing I need is those damn things clogging Karasu's joints, and if they get on my Chakra strings, I'm in real trouble! Better keep this a long-range game!' Shino leaped at Kankuro and the young Puppet Master jumped back while commanding Karasu to fire a volley of poisoned kunai. The kunai impaled their target, but "Shino" disintegrated into a massive swarm of bugs.
'A Bug Clone? Shit!' Kankuro spun in place and Karasu mirrored his motion, intercepting the Aburame heir with the blades hidden in its torso just before his fist made contact with Kankuro's face. Unfortunately for Kankuro, this turned out to be another Bug Clone and the Suna Genin soon found himself surrounded by insects. "You think you have me beat, Bug Boy?! Let me show you what Karasu can really do! The forearm joint on one Karasu's left arms swung up, revealing a hole from which a bomb was quickly launched. The detonation was tremendous and the puppet launched several more bombs in quick succession. "HA-HA-HA! What now, Shino-kun? Your bugs have all been barbecued!" Kankuro had a shit-eating grin on his face.
"You have my thanks, Kankuro-kun, for giving me the chance to see how resistant to fire my new hive has become. The Kikaichu marched through the flames as if they didn't exist, and Kankuro barely managed to escape.
"Now, to deal with the forest fire you've created. Katon: Kahataori!" (Fire Release: Fire Weaving) Shino stretched his hands out toward the flames and they were drawn off the trees they were consuming. As they rushed into Shino's palms, they assumed the appearance of fiery threads. "Katon: Enami!" (Fire Release: Blazing Net) The fire threads condensed into a small fireball that Shino threw at Kankuro. Once airborne the fireball stretched and expanded into a net of flames and flew at Kankuro with immense speed. As the net soared toward its target, the shimmering air spoke volumes of the fire construct's temperature.
To his shame, the young Puppet Master had no choice but to use Karasu as a shield. The puppet was sturdy, but it was not designed to withstand extreme temperatures. Shino's Jutsu obliterated many of Karasu's weapons and joints. The force of the impact turned its head, causing it to face Kankuro. To the Suna Genin, the puppet seemed to be crying, wondering what it had done to deserve such a betrayal. The precious seconds Kankuro spent processing this "reaction" were not wasted by Shino. His Kikaichu swarmed over Kankuro and began devouring his Chakra.
"GREAT ONE, AID YOUR SERVANT!" Kankuro yelled just before the insects covered his face. Time slowed to a near-total stop; milliseconds stretched into hours, and a voice filled with rage exploded into Kankuro's mind.
'YOU DARE ASK FOR MY AID, AFTER WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!'
'I had no choice! I was commanded by –'
'NO CHOICE?! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF CHOICE!' The Voice roared. Its next words were softer, but drenched with sadistic glee. 'I shall enjoy watching your miserable end. Fatal Chakra depletion is like drowning; second by second your life slips away, and you're conscious for most of it.
'You can't just let me die! The Covenant –'
'Safeguards only the Clan Head and the faithful; you are neither.' The Voice reprimanded, once again cutting Kankuro off. The Suna Genin had no response as he realized that he was about to die.
'There it is!' The Voice howled in delight. 'How does it feel to look death in the eye, knowing you have no hope of evading its grasp?'
'P-Please! I'll do anything!' Kankuro begged.
'I've no need of a traitor's devotion.' The Voice replied with the coldness of a blizzard. Karasu's eyes glowed with a blood-red light as what was left of the puppet began dragging itself toward Kankuro. 'Be grateful, worm, that the threads of Fate weave a far more desirable tapestry should you survive this day. Death will not claim you, but – for the next year – I shall!' Karasu's remnants liquefied into a fluid bearing the color of blood and the viscosity of honey. The sanguine syrup enveloped Kankuro's entire body like a cocoon. The Kikaichu vanished and once the exterior of his body was submerged, the fluid poured into Kankuro's ears and mouth. In the next instant, the time freeze abated. Shino was shocked by the apparently instantaneous appearance of a blood-red cocoon, but he did not have to wait long before his adversary's metamorphosis was complete. The chrysalis faded out of existence, exposing the horror within.
Kankuro was gone; Karasu, now fully restored, stood in his place but its gray-blue eyes had darkened in color to Kankuro's black. "What have you done, WHAT HAVE YOU DOOONNNNEEEE!?" Karasu's mouth opened and closed, but Kankuro's voice screamed the words. Tears flowed from the puppet's eye sockets. "YOU CAUSED THIS!" Kankuro yelled as Karasu's eyes focused on Shino, and the puppet hurled itself at him. Poisoned blades jutted out from beneath all four of Karasu's hands. Shino barely managed to evade the soul-imbued puppet. As he leaped away, Kankuro opened his mouth and vomited a stream of fire at the Aburame heir.
"Bubblebeam!" Just before Shino was engulfed by the fire, Yuusen appeared behind him and intercepted the river of flames. "Great fight so far, Shino-kun! Love the new bugs; they had this wannebe Puppet Master dead to rights before Poseidon-knows-what intervened. Sad to say, your Bug Performance won't cut it anymore! Ya mind if I add my Bubble Show to the mix?"
"Not at all, the second Kankuro became merged with Karasu this became an encounter well beyond mortal comprehension. Divine assistance is most welcome at this time." Shino answered.
"Aw, you know I'm a demigod! Not that it was a big secret, but I'm curious – who spilled the beans?" Yuusen's eyes twinkled.
"You'll have your answer after we destroy this abomination." Shino gestured at the possessed puppet.
"Deal!" Yuusen acquiesced before firing another Bubblebeam at Kankuro. Kankuro leaped out of the way and fired a volley of smoke bombs at the pair. The smoke was composed of poisonous gas.
"Bubble Blast!" Yuusen exhaled a fusillade of bubbles nearly as large as her head. The first few exploded on impact with the toxic smoke, dispersing it completely. The remainder decimated the tree Kankuro had vacated seconds earlier, knocking off several of its branches and blowing holes all the way through its trunk. "Where'd he go?"
"BEHIND US!" Shino had established a mental link with the Aburame surveillance bugs as soon as Yuusen used her Bubble Blast, but Kankuro's speed was inhuman. The surveillance bugs could barely get their message through fast enough for the Aburame heir to act on it. He and Yuusen flew through the trees, with Kankuro in hot pursuit.
"Thanks for the sa- Shino-kun, your arm!" Yuusen blurted in terror as she noticed a deep gash in Shino's right arm. Purple liquid oozed out of the wound.
"Not a problem, for now at least." Shino's left hand blazed with Katon Chakra and he held it against the gash, brutally cauterizing it. While he did so, Kankuro leaped in, his wrist blades coated in poison.
"Bubble Shield!" Ten bubbles snapped into place around Yuusen and Shino. Kankuro used all the weapons concealed in his new body to break the barrier. His onslaught was effective, but his limbs were now trapped in the multilayered bubble as he tried to force his way through.
"Bubble Wall! Bubble Shockwave!" The Bubble Shield condensed, warping in shape from a sphere to a rectangle just tall and wide enough to cover Yuusen and Shino. The rectangle expanded slightly toward Kankuro before popping, but the rate of that expansion was fast enough to break the sound barrier. The force of the shockwave was directed entirely at Kankuro and hurled him through several trees before he crashed into the ground, leaving a crater almost ten feet deep.
"YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!" Kankuro roared in pain before leaping out of the pit and climbing the nearest tree. Once his foe started rushing toward them again, Shino noticed numerous tiny holes all over the puppet's body.
"Yuusen-san, what is your bubbles' maximum speed?" Shino asked while his Kikaichu swarmed around him. As the parasitic insects congregated, Shino converted nearly all of his remaining Chakra into Katon Chakra and fed it to them.
"Not sure, never bothered trying to record it, but you're a genius! Fast enough, I promise you!" Yuusen conjured a bubble-hurricane, centered not on herself, but on Shino.
"IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU'RE PLANNING, YOU'RE BOTH DEAD MEAT!" Kankuro howled.
"Snap, Crackle, POP!" Yuusen reached her hands toward Kankuro, and her bubble-hurricane launched itself at him. Hundreds of bubbles exploded on impact with Kankuro, and each one had a Kikaichu riding on it. Shino's upgraded Kikaichu were more than durable enough to withstand the explosions and now completely covered Kankuro's body. In a matter of seconds, the parasitic insects invaded the interior of the puppet through the holes all over it.
Shino smirked as he made a hand seal. "Bang!" The Kikaichu released the Katon Chakra they had devoured earlier. Even from over a hundred feet away, the heat of the explosion was tremendous. Shino covered his body in Kikaichu, trusting in their resistance to fire, while Yuusen conjured another Bubble Shield.
"That was awesome, Shino-kun!" Before Yuusen could say anything else, a coughing fit emanated from the epicenter of the blast.
"Damn you, damn you both! THIS ISN'T OVER!" All that was left of Karasu was its head. Kankuro opened his mouth and fired a kunai attached to a wire at the nearest tree branch. He then activated the reeling mechanism in Karasu's mouth, retracting the wire and reeling himself toward the tree branch. He repeated this process with the farthest tree branch within range, making his escape.
"You're not getting away!" Before Yuusen could launch another bubble attack Shino fell off the tree branch, finally succumbing to the poison in his system.
"Shino-kun, no! Stay with me!" Yuusen grabbed the Aburame heir and slowed his descent to the ground. The Aburame heir's sunglasses fell off his face as Shino's eyes began to close; he tried saying something to his comrade, but words wouldn't come.
"Poseidon-damn it, not on my watch! Purifying Bubbles!" Over a hundred white bubbles manifested within Yuusen's mouth. Just before Shino lost consciousness, Yuusen kissed him and exhaled, forcing the cleansing bubbles down his throat. Shino's consciousness faded, not into the near-comatose state indicative of imminent death, but to a peaceful sleep. Over half of the Kikaichu swarm had survived the explosion and now moved to form a ring around Yuusen and Shino, intent on protecting the pair from any lingering invaders.
"Temari, put me down and leave!" Gaara ordered shortly after waking up. The eldest of Rasa's children knew better than to argue. That thing had already awakened in the arena; it may not be possessing Gaara at the moment, but its will now fully dictated Gaara's actions. Temari set Gaara down and retreated to a tree branch nearly five hundred feet away. Close enough to observe the oncoming fight, but hopefully far enough away to not be caught in the crossfire. Soon after, Sasuke arrived.
"Sasuke Uchiha, welcome!" Gaara smiled like a five-year-old boy left all alone in a candy store. "You've proven your strength to me already; with your death, my existence shall be validated!"
"Where's your monster, Gaara?" Sasuke's Sharingan couldn't detect any trace of Shukaku's Chakra, but he knew that whatever he saw in the arena was still in control.
"Mother is no common dog to be commanded into battle! You must earn the right to face her full glory!" Gaara yelled. "I wonder, Sasuke Uchiha, how you will deal with this?" Gaara's right arm morphed into a massive sand claw that was nearly as long as the young man was tall. The sclera of his right eye was now black with a yellow iris with an inhuman pupil with a four-pointed star shape. Four smaller dot-shaped pupils surrounded the star pupil in a square formation.
'Well, Shino-kun, it seems I'll need your help after all.' Sasuke barely had time to come to grips with the monstrous Chakra surging through Gaara's body before the Suna Genin lunged at him! The last Uchiha leaped to a different tree several feet away, and not a moment too soon; Gaara's impact obliterated the tree Sasuke had occupied mere seconds ago. 'Fast and strong, but, at least for now, I can keep up!' The Wolf Hanyou counterattacked with his new hybrid style of Uchiha Taijutsu and Kouga's techniques. He hurled himself at Gaara, spinning like a top as he sailed through the air and landed a brutal roundhouse kick on Gaara's claw. The impact sent Gaara hurling back several feet, and the front half of his claw-arm was blown off his body.
"EXCELLENT, SASUKE UCHIHA, BUT THERE'S STILL MORE TO COME!" Gaara's claw-arm regenerated, but now he also grew a tail of sand and Sasuke was shocked to see the unknown Chakra nearly double in volume. The tail was even more massive than the claw-arm.
'Aside from what I need to form Chidori, I have enough Chakra-Youki for three Jutsu – at most. I need to end this now!' Sasuke flashed through a series of hand seals. "Katon: Gokyaku no Jutsu!" Sasuke shot an enormous fireball at Gaara. The Jinchuriki wrapped himself in his claw-arm and tail, fully protecting him from the blast. "Katon: Gokyaku no Jutsu!" Sasuke repeated his technique, but this time he formed a stream of fire so small it could be mistaken for a laser beam.
"USELESS!" Gaara's claw-arm swelled in size, forming a dome of hardened sand more than capable of withstanding the flame beam. Gaara's dome crashed into Sasuke and sent him flying, but his body almost immediately vanished in a puff of smoke!
'A Kage Bushin?!' Gaara barely had time to turn around before he heard the roaring sound of a thousand chirping birds!
"Chidori!" Sasuke smirked as he saw victory in his grasp, his Jutsu aimed straight at Gaara's heart. Half a second later, a shit-eating grin spread across Gaara's face, and Sasuke realized his doom.
"Fuuton: Mugen Sajin Daitoppa!" (Wind Release: Infinite Sandstorm Devastation) Gaara exhaled a hurricane-force blast of wind. Now that it was imbued with Youki, Nature Transformations produced by Sasuke's Chakra bore some resistance to their elemental weaknesses, but that protection meant little in the face of a Jutsu meant to slaughter large groups of enemies – especially when said Jutsu was powered by a Tailed Beast's Chakra. The Chidori was dispelled, and only its Youki-provided resistance to Fuuton Chakra prevented Sasuke's arm from being torn off. As it was, Sasuke's left arm suffered several deep lacerations that barely missed any major arteries or nerve clusters. The last Uchiha was hurled into the air and through two tree trunks before a third broke his fall. Several vertebrae were severely cracked but he managed to endure the onslaught without suffering any damage to his spinal cord. Though he was not truly paralyzed, Sasuke was now on the verge of Chakra exhaustion and in far too much pain to move.
"Not weak, no, not weak at all, but not nearly strong enough either!" Gaara grunted. "Sasuke Uchiha, be honored that your death justifies my existence!" Gaara launched fifty sand shuriken at Sasuke. The last Uchiha's Sharingan was flickering as he glared past the sand shuriken to look Gaara in the eye.
"Raiton: Denshuriken no Jutsu!" An equal amount of electrified shuriken emerged from the trees left of Sasuke's position. Like Sasuke's Chakra-Youki, Nature Transformations produced using a Tailed Beast's Chakra are resistant to their elemental weaknesses, but Gaara – believing he had already won – had put minimal Chakra into his sand shuriken. Hinata's Jutsu had no trouble cleaving through Gaara's.
"BOTH OF YOU GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" Temari screamed. She didn't care about the invasion anymore; all she wanted was to stop that thing from emerging at any cost.
"No can do, Temari-san." Naruto started assessing Sasuke's condition. He was no Medical Ninja, but between Ceto's library and his own Clan Vault he'd read over a hundred medical texts and was more than qualified to do a field assessment. After determining that Sasuke was in no immediate danger of death or paralysis, Naruto weaved a series of hand seals. "Suiton: Teppoudama!" Naruto vomited three balls of water that were four times as large as his head. After witnessing Naruto's "fight" with Neji, Gaara was wary of the power contained within the aquatic spheres and wrapped his tail and claw-arm around him in defense. The Douton-imbued sand withstood the assault, but now Gaara's tail and claw-arm were completely drenched.
"Raiton: Denshuriken no Jutsu!" Hinata poured most of her remaining Chakra into a hundred giant shuriken forged entirely of electricity. Gaara countered with double the amount of giant sand shuriken, this time putting much more of Shukaku's Chakra into each one than he did while fighting Sasuke. Contrary to Gaara's expectation, the elemental shuriken seemed evenly matched at first, then – with astonishing speed – the electric shuriken overwhelmed their opposition and rushed toward Gaara!
"AAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!" A last-second sand shield imbued with as much Tailed Beast Chakra as Gaara could manage in that instant saved his life, but his body was still ravaged by electricity.
"How could Hinata-san's Jutsu overwhelm that thing's resistance to Raiton Chakra so easily not once, but twice? Wait, the water!" Temari turned to Naruto for affirmation.
"Exactly," Naruto confirmed. "My Suiton training was overseen by Zabuza – the Devil of the Hidden Mist. When we first fought in the Land of Waves, he used Suiton to purify the water around him, making Hinata's Raiton Jutsu useless. However, if Suiton can be used to purge ionic and mineral impurities from water, it's reasonable to assume that the reverse is also possible. The water I just drenched Gaara-san in is oversaturated with impurities and is a perfect conductor. On top of that, the Hyuuga as a whole have fairly large Chakra reserves and Hinata is no exception."
"HA-HA-HA! SUCH POWER FROM THE GIRL WHO NEARLY DIED FIGHTING HER PATHETIC COUSIN! WHERE WAS THIS MIGHT DURING THE PRELIMINARIES, HINATA HYUUGA?!" Gaara's sand shield condensed and warped around him. Now, except for his legs below the knees, his entire body was covered in sand and a second sand claw grew from his left arm. Dark blue lines made patterns reminiscent of seals all over his body.
"Hyuuga tradition forbids the use of all offensive Ninjutsu not derived from the Juuken. Only my engagement to Naruto allows me to flout this rule with impunity." Hinata replied. "I wished to fight Neji as a Hyuuga, not as a future Namikaze."
"FOOLISHNESS!" Gaara roared. "MIGHT CONTROLS EVERYTHING, AND – WITHOUT POWER – YOU CANNOT ACHIEVE ANYTHING!"
Naruto stepped in front of his fiancé and called up an immense amount of Chakra. "Hinata, stand back and protect Sasuke. Temari-san, if you care at all about your brother, stay out of this!" Naruto's Chakra whirled around him before condensing into a Chakra aura similar to what he used against Kiba and Akamaru, but this one was far more intense than its predecessor. "All Tailed Beasts have a similar feel to their Chakra; as a Jinchuriki, I can recognize one of my own. More than that, his mannerisms tell me all I need to know about his history. He was abused, at least psychologically – and, likely – physically for his entire life, wasn't he?"
"Yes," Temari started crying. "I tried to protect him, nurture him when we were little, but –"
"You were ordered not to, under pain of severe torture and/or death?" Naruto guessed while starting to weave a series of hand seals.
Temari, now sobbing, could only nod in response.
"Then Gaara-san is my mirror image; a reflection of what I would have become if not for the lights in my darkness." Naruto glared at Gaara, his anger directed not at the young man – nor the Tailed Beast within him – but at the circumstances that birthed the psychopath Naruto now faced. "Gaara-san is trapped in a cage of darkness, so I'm going to smash the walls of his prison wide open and let the sun shine in! Fuuton: Tatsumakiyoroi!" (Wind Release: Tornadic Armor)
Naruto's Chakra aura exploded into a cyclone that was twice as tall as him and nearly five times as wide. The wind produced by the mini-tornado was tremendous and nearly blasted Hinata and Sasuke off their tree despite them being a few hundred feet away. Temari rushed to their position and countered the wind with one of her Jutsu, shielding the trio from the worst of the storm. Moments later, the tornado condensed into a cylinder just tall enough to fully cover Naruto. Countless branches from nearby trees were sucked in, and all of them were reduced to sawdust after impacting the tornado. The branch Naruto stood on was mostly unaffected, but Temari noticed that craters were forming beneath his feet.
"GAARA! SO FAR YOU'VE ONLY FOUGHT FOR YOURSELF! ONLY LOVED YOURSELF! I KNOW BECAUSE I NEARLY DID THE SAME THING!" Naruto roared. "BUT EVEN FOR PEOPLE LIKE US, THERE'S A LIMIT TO WHAT YOU CAN DO IF YOU ONLY FIGHT FOR YOURSELF! WITNESS MY POWER: THE POWER OF MY BONDS!" Naruto flew to Gaara on his Jutsu.
"Fuuton: Mugen Sajin Daitoppa!" Gaara's hurricane breath engulfed Naruto's twister but rather than be blown away, Naruto's armor fed off his opponent's Jutsu and tripled in strength.
"SHUKAKU! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! COME OUT AND FIGHT!" Naruto's near-constant trips to Ceto's library during his Academy days gave him ample opportunity to study the history of the Elemental Nations, including Hashirama's gift to Suna. His storm's full fury was unleashed on Gaara as he slammed into the Suna Genin with titanic force and hurled him thousands of feet into the air.
"You want me, Namikaze brat? YOU'VE GOT ME!" The sand covering Gaara's body expanded in volume and density as Shukaku fully manifested on the physical plane for the first time in a generation. When he fell back to the ground, the impact produced a localized earthquake.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto dispelled his tornadic armor and summoned Gamabunta.
"Hmm, Shukaku eh? And it looks like he's been in control of his host long enough that we won't be able to end this just by making the Jinchuriki appear and waking him up." The Toad Chieftain grimaced as he used Natural Energy to appraise Shukaku. "Knowing you, Naruto-kun, you probably want to save Shukaku's host, but with Shukaku in full control, the only way to do that is by killing him and I'm not strong enough to do that. Even if I were, the type of power we'd need would almost certainly kill the host along with Shukaku."
"I figured as much," Naruto replied from his position atop Gamabunta's head, "but Kurama taught me a certain technique for situations like this. The catch is I can only do it in wide, open areas with no allies or bystanders in the vicinity." Naruto's Youki began surging out of him, but he did not shift into his Daiyoukai form. "You're in for a treat, Gamabunta-dono! Based on his journals, my dad had almost zero affinity with the Namikaze legacy; his success as a Shinobi is due entirely to his natural-born talent with Chakra manipulation and sheer determination to be the best warrior he could be. Today, I'll show you what a true Namikaze can do!" With that declaration, Naruto leaped off Gamabunta's head and the maelstrom of Youki surrounding him exploded in a jade-green supernova. When the surge of verdant light subsided a gigantic, silver-furred dog stood where Naruto had fallen. The beast's size was halfway between Gamabunta and Shukaku.
"Heh-heh-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAAAAA! A Daiyoukai! I haven't killed one of your kind in AGES!" Shukaku cackled. The Tailed Beast opened his mouth and a purple-black sphere of Chakra began forming within it. Naruto galloped to Shukaku's position and headbutted him at full speed. The mighty blow sent Shukaku sailing through the air with his head pointed toward the sky; his Bijuudama detonated harmlessly in the upper stratosphere.
"OOOOWWWW! NOT DOING THAT AGAIN!" Naruto moved his head in a circular motion to soothe the pain in his neck muscles. His giant dog form boasted immense physical strength, but it lacked the dexterity of his humanoid body. Since this was his first time using the form in combat, Naruto wasn't sure if he could deliver enough force to send Shukaku flying with a running slash, so he went with the headbutt.
"Kid, what's the plan?" Gamabunta did his best to whisper as Shukaku struggled to rise.
"Do everything you can to immobilize him, I need twenty seconds!" Naruto answered and then closed his eyes in concentration.
"Bapou: Suitoukou!" (Toad Art: Water Blade Constriction) Gamabunta drew his tanto and channeled an immense amount of Natural Energy-enhanced Suiton Chakra into it. Water covered the blade like a second sheath and expanded outward, more than tripling the blade's length. Gamabunta leaped at Shukaku and impaled him in the stomach just as he managed to stand up. The aquatic portion of the blade exited Shukaku's body just above his tail and then elongated even further before repeatedly impaling the sand Tanuki several times in his arms and tail, forming a net of water blades keeping Shukaku in place. Once the net was complete, the blades moved as close to Shukaku's center of gravity as possible, restricting his movements even more.
"Neat trick, Froggy, but you forgot my mouth! Fuuton: Renkuudan!" (Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullets) Shukaku fired five massive air balls; at point-blank range, Gamabunta had no hope of dodging and was devastated by the onslaught. Now severely wounded, he teleported himself back to Mount Myouboku for treatment. The constricting net of water blades vanished with him.
"Pathetic! You're next bra – oh, SHIT!" Shukaku's yellow-black eyes stared into Naruto's now-giant golden orbs. The Daiyoukai's preparations were complete, and the normally blood-thirsty Shukaku was now wishing he was anywhere else.
"Youkaijumon: Narasekka!" (Demonic Spell: Hellfire Flash) A sphere of jade-green flames nearly half the size as Shukaku's Bijuudama soared from Naruto's mouth and impacted the Tailed Beast with the force of a nuclear warhead. The flames of Hell engulfed him and devoured his very being with the efficiency of a swarm of locusts at a farmer's market. Only seconds passed, but the damage was astronomical; Shukaku was alive – Kurama assured Naruto of that – but it would take at least two years before he recovered enough to influence Gaara again.
"Well-played, Daiyoukai!" Shukaku coughed before retreating into his host's body.
Drained of Youki, Naruto reverted to his human form as Gaara reappeared. "Come on, Gaara-san, let's get you back to your sister." The forest was devastated by the battle, but Naruto's headbutt had forced the epicenter of the conflict far away enough to spare Temari, Hinata, and Sasuke most of the collateral damage.
"Naruto-san," the honorific felt exotic coming from Gaara's mouth, "your power, is it truly derived from the bonds you have forged?"
"Yes;" Naruto looked at his fellow Jinchuriki "you can only achieve true strength when striving to protect someone else. It doesn't matter if that protection is derived from love, friendship, or compassion but it needs to come from something more than mere duty, and it can't have a selfish origin. You have, at the very least, a sister who loves you, and I'm guessing your older brother loves you too. Make amends with them, then see if you can't make peace with your village. It will be hard for them to accept you, and some never will, but if you let their fear and hatred consume you Shukaku will gain a foothold in your mind once more." As Naruto finished his speech, Temari – now carrying Karasu's head – came into view.
"Temari, Kankuro, I'm sorry, for everything." Gaara apologized with tears in his eyes before lapsing back into unconsciousness.
"Easy there, Shino-kun, don't try to move." Shino's eyes opened as Gaara's eyes closed. He obeyed Yuusen's command but was startled to find his head resting on her lap. The Kiri Genin's baby-blue eyes were shining with concern.
"The poison, you nullified it." A slow blush spread over Shino's face as he recalled exactly how that particular feat was accomplished. The Aburame Clan members were known for their calm, collected demeanors, but Shino was a twelve-year-old boy still undergoing puberty.
"Was that your first kiss?" Yuusen asked.
"It was." Shino would later look back on this moment and view the fact that his voice did not warble once during the entire conversation as one of his greatest feats of mental fortitude.
"Damn, sorry I had to take that from you. If it's any consolation, I'm not that far ahead of you; that was only my fourth kiss, and the other three were all done for the same reason." Yuusen smiled.
"So, 'don't think much of it'?" Shino inquired.
"Pretty much," Yuusen replied, "although, if you do want to make something more out of it, I'd be willing to see where it goes." The descendant of Poseidon smiled.
"Excuse me?" Shino's mind was racing down pathways he didn't even know existed.
"I like you, and you clearly have some feelings for me if that blush all over your face means anything." Yuusen began. "The Umino Clan tradition says that I can only marry someone outside the Clan if they either beat me in a fight or come really close. Me, my sisters, and my dad are the last members of our Clan, so dating someone within the Clan isn't an option and none of the boys my age at home are a match for me." As Yuusen continued, her tone grew more and more melancholy. "On top of that, Umino Clan women as a whole have a genetic predisposition to be very careful when picking a mate. I'm no exception to that rule, so I haven't fallen head over heels for you, but you're by far the best prospect I've ever met, so I want to see where this goes." As Yuusen concluded her argument, there was steel in her voice.
"A most intriguing and enticing proposal; I accept." Shino's eyes stared into Yuusen's and the young woman now couldn't keep a blush from spreading across her face. Shino's sunglasses had fallen to the left of where he currently lay, so Yuusen could see that the Aburame heir's augmentation had affected more than his Katon affinity and Kikaichu. Before receiving Khepri's blessing, Shino's eyes were the same brown-black color as all of his clansmen; now, they were the powerful orange-red of the sunrise. The two were still staring at each other, lost in their own little world, when Yama and Shikamaru found them.
Chuunin Exam Arena Roof
"Rasengan!" "Raiton: Rariatto!" (Lightning Release: Lariat) Minato and Ay's signature Jutsu clashed for the umpteenth time in the last ninety minutes, with the same result as most of its predecessors: Minato was blown back with over half his upper body blasted away. In life, Minato was feared for his speed, analytical prowess, and Fuinjutsu – and he owed his proficiency in the third category to Kushina's lessons. With both his maximum Chakra output and physical attributes restricted to only forty percent of their norms, he lacked the power necessary to overcome the Yondaime Raikage's lightning armor.
Even the instantaneous movement provided by his Hirashin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique) did little to offset this. The Yellow Flash of Konoha's legendary speed meant little if he could not damage his opponent. While Minato had several Fuinjutsu that could tilt the odds in his favor, Orochimaru had forbidden him from using them. The Snake Sannin knew his enhancements to Edo Tensei were not flawless and was taking no chances; none of the resurrected Kage would be permitted to use Fuinjutsu. The Hirashin no Jutsu's reliance on pre-placed seals technically made it a Fuinjutsu, and Orochimaru made an exception for it only due to the extreme advantage teleportation granted to Tobirama and Minato.
"That last lariat was slower the most of the ones that came before it. You're getting tired, Ay-san!" Minato gave a relaxed smile once his body had finished regenerating.
"If you have time to assess my condition, then you have time to eat another Lariat!" Ay lunged at his old rival once more.
"Hiraishingiri!" (Flying Thunder God Slash) "Futton: Jouhito!" (Boil Release: Sauna) Just before Tobirama vanished from sight, Mei reapplied the defense she'd been using for the past hour and a half to thwart her opponent's teleportation. The air surrounding Mei for ten feet in all directions simmered as if in a summer haze. When Tobirama materialized within the affected airspace to eviscerate the Godaime Mizukage, he was once again corroded by the invisible acidic vapor contained therein. Mei was seemingly immune to the effects of her own Jutsu, but this by itself wouldn't be a problem. At first, Tobirama thought he could outlast his opponent; even if she was not consumed by her Jutsu, Mei was still human and required oxygen to breathe. She would have to cancel her Jutsu eventually to stay alive. However, the twenty circular seals that had appeared on Mei's body shortly after she activated Jouhito seemed to eliminate that weakness, as she had no problem breathing despite being surrounded by acidic vapor. As Tobirama regenerated, the tenth of the twenty seals disappeared.
"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" After regenerating, Tobirama switched tactics; if infiltrating Mei's defense was impossible and outlasting it was impractical, then he would overwhelm it. As one of the most powerful Senju in the history of the clan, being restricted to just forty percent of his full might meant only that he would actually have to try against most enemies. Three massive water dragons streaked toward the leader of Kiri.
Mei was not 'most enemies'. "Youton: Nadare!" (Lava Release: Avalanche) A towering wall of lava manifested around Mei and Tobirama's attack was vaporized by it. In the next instant, the lava wall shifted into a river of lava that flooded the entire section of the roof Mei and Tobirama were fighting on. The Sound Four member maintaining the barrier in that quadrant had to use his Cursed Seal to access enough Chakra to maintain the inner barrier against the onslaught. As with her acidic vapor, Mei had a method of mitigating the risk of her lava Jutsu. Her sandals glowed a soft blue as she stepped onto the lava, treating the molten rock as if it were mere water.
"Kiri has grown very strong since my day." Tobirama bowed. "While I was alive, none in Kiri were capable of Fuinjutsu that enables breathing while surrounded by acidic vapor or crafting footwear that can resist the temperature of lava."
"From one of the founders of Konoha, that is very high praise." Mei returned the bow. "Above all else, the Terumi Clan is known for its alchemical achievements. We migrated to Kiri soon after its inception, but our existence was not publicized until after the end of the First Shinobi World War. Many of Kiri's Seven Swords were crafted using my clan's techniques."
"Ah, I always wondered how Kiri gained such a powerful set of weapons in what seemed a very short period of time. The first generation of the Seven Swordsmen were formidable opponents." Tobirama created five more water dragons. In response, Mei willed the lava she had already created to condense into a ring surrounding her before leaping at the Nidaime Hokage.
"That was close, Sarutobi-sensei, you should be more careful!" Orochimaru licked Hiruzen's blood off the Sword of Kusanagi. The ruler of Konoha was having a much harder time than either of his peers. Not only was he fighting two opponents but Hashirama and Orochimaru were Hiruzen's teacher and star student respectively. As such, they had ample knowledge of the Sandaime Hokage's skillset and tactics. Worse, Hashirama was the most powerful Senju to ever exist, so the forty-percent restriction was even more moot to him than to Tobirama. Even with Enma in his staff form, Hiruzen struggled with Hashirama's Wood Release and Orochimaru was more than happy to take advantage of every opening that presented itself. His latest attack almost earned him Hiruzen's head, and the Sandaime Hokage barely shifted his body in time to receive a slash to his left shoulder blade instead.
"Fighting both of you at once is quite a challenge!" Hiruzen panted. "It seems I can no longer be conservative with my methods. Douton: Kongou Joukaku!" (Earth Release: Adamantine Castle) The current God of Shinobi expended nearly all of his remaining Chakra into creating over thirty spherical walls around himself.
"Mokuton: Mokuryuu no Jutsu!" (Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique) In response, Hashirama conjured a gigantic wood dragon that encircled the outermost wall. To Hashirama's shock and joy, his construct was incapable of instantly crushing Hiruzen's defense and needed over two minutes to reduce just this first wall to rubble. "Ha! This is awesome, Hiruzen-kun must have come up with this on his own after Tobirama and I died!"
"Indeed," Orochimaru frowned, "it is with very good reason that my old teacher was once hailed as the Second God of Shinobi. However, his day is now over, and mine has just begun!" With a thought, Orochimaru commanded Tobirama and Minato to join Hashirama in breaching Hiruzen's barricade. Ay and Mei were tempted to intervene but knew that their colleague would not invest the Chakra needed to create such a formidable defense without a plan in mind. The two foreign Kage made their own preparations for the battle's next stage.
It took over twenty minutes for the combined efforts of Hashirama, Tobirama, and Minato to breach the last of Hiruzen's walls. This final, thickest defense produced an immense amount of dust upon its destruction. "Over the course of my life, I've gained many titles that have defined my Shinobi career." Hiruzen's words echoed across the rooftop. "The Professor, Sandaime Hokage, God of Shinobi; these names will never leave the hearts and minds I have known and touched throughout my years. However, before I gained any of those lofty accolades, I earned another title, one that has long since faded from the memories of all who knew me in those days."
"No! No, no, NO-NO-NO!" Orochimaru balked in horror as the dust began to settle. Hiruzen was right; his ex-student had forgotten about this particular aspect of Hiruzen's arsenal. If Orochimaru had remembered, then he would have done everything he could to ensure that Hiruzen perished before he had the opportunity to utilize it.
"Praise the Log! I knew Hiruzen-kun had what it takes to master this! Too bad I didn't live to see him complete the training." Hashirama's eyes beamed with delight and pride as his student became visible once more.
Hiruzen had nearly doubled in size and the upper portion of his black jumpsuit was destroyed by the sudden growth, revealing a physique muscular enough to nearly make Ay envious. His gray hair was now silver, and his eyes had yellow irises and white pupils like his clan's progenitor: Son Goku. His arms were covered in red monkey fur and two thin tails of the same color waved back and forth behind him. Large tufts of fur also covered portions of his torso. Emma remained with his master in his staff form, but the yellow ends of the adamantine weapon had shifted in color to match Hiruzen's fur. "My beloved teacher, my traitorous ex-student: you face the descendant of Son Goku; Hiruzen Sarutobi – The Monkey Sage!"
"Y-yes, well-done for a decrepit bag of bones!" Orochimaru steeled himself. "But, my dear teacher, have you forgotten that you are not the only Sage here?" The serpentine Shinobi mentally commanded all three resurrected Kage to enter their respective Sage Modes, but his order went unheeded for the first time since the battle began.
"Nope! Can't do it, Orochimaru-san!" Hashirama wore a shit-eating grin.
"Jiraiya-sensei used to tell me about you, that your ultimate goal was to master every Jutsu and unravel all the mysteries of nature at any cost." Minato's eyes narrowed in disgust. "But that's the thing, Orochimaru; gathering and channeling Sage Chakra requires you to be one with nature. How can we possibly accomplish that while undead?"
"Precisely;" Tobirama smirked, "those revived by Edo Tensei are anathema to nature, neither dead nor truly alive. Such a state is as unnatural as one can possibly get. To synchronize with the planet's energy as an Edo Tensei is as unachievable as holding the sun in the palm of your hand."
"As enlightening as this discussion has been, Sage Hiruzen-dono is far from your only concern." Mei produced a scroll covered in Latin writings and unfurled it, revealing a picture of a weapon that seemed to be a cross between a trident and a halberd. She bit her thumb hard enough to draw blood and smeared it on the scroll. Both the sanguine liquid and the drawing vanished from sight, and the weapon materialized from thin air into Mei's hands. While three golden blades adorned the head of the weapon, only the central blade was the straight, triangular shape of a true trident. The two side blades were each the shape of a crescent moon, designed more for slashing than piercing. The shaft of the weapon was made of bronze, but the spear ended in a silver stake crafted to resemble a corkscrew. Three tassels – colored brown, red, and blue – were tied to the weapon where the shaft met the head.
"To earn their rank, each Head of the Terumi Clan must create a marvel of alchemy. My Sanmeguyari (Thrice-Blessed Spear) has already spilled the blood of one Kage. Now, it shall lay three more to rest! By the grace of my ancestor Minerva, Roman Goddess of Wisdom, War, and Craftsmanship, this battle ends now!"
"Orochimaru, your foul Jutsu has dishonored the dead and manipulated time. Such forces are best left untouched by mortals such as us." Ay preached. "It is not lightly that I invoke the full power bestowed upon me by my progenitor, Thor-sama, but your actions this day beg divine punishment! Tenran!" (Divine Storm) Ay's lightning armor manifested once more, but it was now pure white instead of the conventional electric blue. "Tenranton: Sakujo!" (Divine Storm Release: Erasure) Ay held both his hands in a triangular gesture and fired a blast of lightning at Minato.
The Yellow Flash of Konoha tried to dodge, but the divine lightning bolt was among the fastest Jutsu he'd ever encountered. By the time he realized he would need to use Hiraishin to evade it was too late. Minato's left arm was blown off. As with every other injury he'd endured since this fight began, the limb regenerated. However, the rate of regeneration was now less than half as fast as before. "Well, that's new!" Minato teleported behind Ay and formed a Rasengan with his remaining arm.
"Hmph!" Knowing he didn't have the time to form a Lariat, Ay simply punched through Minato's Jutsu with a Tenranton-clad fist. The abused Hokage's right arm was now missing its entire lower half.
"You're amazing, Ay-san!" Minato cheered. "Where were these moves during the Third Shinobi World War?"
"Only the Raikage is permitted to learn them, and I was not Raikage then. Even if I had been, Thor-sama's teachings prohibit their use unless absolutely necessary." Ay responded.
"Fair enough, but it doesn't seem like your divine Jutsu can completely halt my regeneration." Minato's left arm had finished regenerating, so he now formed a Rasengan in it.
"We shall see!" Ay lunged at Minato once more.
"Amazing, simply amazing!" Tobirama resisted the urge to squeal like a schoolgirl as his latest batch of water dragons was absorbed into Sanmeguyari and shot back at him as rivers of lava. "Even for the most gifted manipulators of Chakra, absorbing one Nature Transformation and converting it to another is impossible! But your spear violates that principle; I thought myself a genius for all the Jutsu I invented, but this is beyond my wildest theories! Hiraishingiri!" The Senju's current strategy of overwhelming Mei with Ninjutsu was no longer possible given the properties of her spear, so Tobirama was forced to readopt his earlier tactic of teleporting into Mei's acidic air bubble for a direct assault.
As he expected, the airspace in Mei's immediate vicinity was far too corrosive for his attack to succeed. Once Tobirama's movements were halted by the acid, Mei slashed his body to pieces with Sanmeguyari. While her alchemical masterpiece was primarily designed to absorb and harness Katon, Suiton, and Douton Chakra, it could also drain other types of Chakra in small quantities. With each blow struck, Sanmeguyari drank a sliver of Tobirama's Chakra, and Mei was skilled enough with her spear to make dozens of thrusts per second. If The Nidaime Hokage was not careful, he would be so drained of Chakra that his corpse-body would be rendered unable to move.
"Damn it all!" Orochimaru cringed as Hashirama was sent sailing through the air. The physical amplifications provided by Hiruzen's primate manifestation of Sage Mode were similar to those bestowed upon students of Mount Myouboku. Both variations of Sage Chakra were capable of striking the user's enemies in imperceptible ways. The main difference was in how the invisible damage was dealt. Frog Kata weaponized the natural energy of the atmosphere surrounding the practitioner, allowing them to expand the range and potency of their physical strikes.
Hiruzen's Monkey Fist utilized the same principle but in reverse. Whenever a physical strike was landed on his opponent, natural energy surrounding them would flow onto the affected body part and be absorbed into it. Since absorbing even the smallest amount of natural energy is fatal to anyone not trained in harnessing it, the Monkey Fist is not a combat style, but an assassin's art. Only Hashirama's undead status kept him from becoming petrified after first being struck by Hiruzen. Still, the Shodai Hokage's movements were slowed by the Natural Energy coursing through him, leaving him wide open to several follow-up strikes.
"Now that my teacher is all but immobilized, you're next Orochimaru!" Hiruzen lunged at his former student and lashed out at him with Enma. Orochimaru tried to counter with the Sword of Kusanagi, but the already immense durability of Enma's staff form was substantially enhanced by Hiruzen's Sage Mode and the force behind the swing was incomparable to that of his earlier strikes. While the blade itself was unharmed by the clash, the impact tore the Sword of Kusanagi from Orochimaru's grasp, and the hand that held it was nearly dislocated at the wrist.
'I'm not sure about Mei-san's spear, but Ay-san and Sarutobi-sensei have a limit on how long they can sustain their empowered states.' Orochimaru gathered the three former Hokage to his side. 'This is now a war of attrition, and I will be the last one standing!' Before the Snake Sannin could strategize further, Hiruzen landed a brutal gut punch that nearly sent him flying into the flame barrier produced by his guards. Orochimaru stopped himself, then gathered Chakra into his finger and burned a crude Cursed Seal onto his stomach. The pseudo-Senjutsu seal drew out the Natural Energy injected by Hiruzen before dissipating.
'That was too close!' Orochimaru was panting heavily and would have been hit by Hiruzen again if Hashirama hadn't recovered enough to fire a wood dragon at him.
"Hiruzen, your time limit!" Enma warned.
"I know, but I seriously doubt our enemies will grant me the luxury of standing still!" The Monkey Sage retorted.
It took Naruto much longer than he would have liked to return to the Chuunin Exam arena, but he trusted in Hiruzen's ability to survive until he returned. Zabuza had told him of Mei's presence and he suspected that Ay would be there too after encountering the Kumo team in the Forest of Death. Upon his return, Naruto had to resist the impulse to retch. Blood, guts, and various fragments of organs littered the bleachers and arena proper. Naruto heard fighting on the roof, so he rushed to the source but halted upon seeing the flame barrier. Outside the barrier, he was alone on the roof. The Anbu and other Konoha Shinobi that once stood in the arena were either dead or had left the coliseum to deal with the invaders.
'Perfect! No one's around to witness what I'm about to do. Hinata's taking Sasuke to get medical treatment, while Temari-san and Gaara-san are meeting up with their Jonin Sensei.' Naruto took a couple seconds to steel himself, then drew Tokijin. 'I know you haven't acknowledged me as your master yet, but I've never tried what I'm about to do and I need your help!'
'I'll allow it this time since it's your adoptive grandfather in there, but not again until you've earned the right to be my master!' Tokijin decreed.
Naruto closed his eyes in concentration, forming the Jutsu Jiraiya and Kurama had drilled into his skull not in one of his hands, but upon the tip of Tokijin's blade. This would never have been possible with Tenseiga; even if she could kill by conventional means, Tenseiga was forged from the fang of a pure-blooded Daiyoukai. Tokijin, however, was crafted from the fangs of Goshinki – a fragment of Naraku – who, at the time of Goshinki's detachment, bore the heart of a human.
As the reverse-engineered mini-Bijuudama formed atop Tokijin, Naruto leaped at the flame barrier at full speed. "Rasengan!" The Jutsu crashed into the flame barrier and distorted it substantially, but the fiery barricade was not one of the Sound Four's greatest achievements for nothing. The barrier stopped distending and began to push against the Rasengan, forcing it out.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Naruto unleashed Tokijin's power. The surge of demonic lighting, guided by the blade's will, perfectly merged with Naruto's Rasengan. A huge segment of the flame barrier shattered like glass and Naruto tumbled through.
"Naruto!" Minato greeted his son while barely dodging Ay's latest attack.
"DAD? HOW?" Naruto gawked.
"A forbidden Jutsu, one that never should have been created." Minato took this opportunity to glare at Tobirama.
"I'm not apologizing;" Tobirama grunted, "it served Konoha well during the First Shinobi World War and I expressly stated in my Last Will and Testament that all records pertaining to its existence and use were to be destroyed upon my death. I must assume that my subordinate – Danzo – defied my wishes."
While Tobirama defended himself, Naruto surveyed the battlefield. Hiruzen and Ay looked like they'd been fighting a war for several days rather than three hours. Both were panting heavily and were suffering from muscle spasms all over their bodies; these are telltale signs of Chakra exhaustion. Mei looked like she still had some gas in the tank, but whatever she'd been through left her too tired to stand, let alone fight. The three zombified Hokage weren't missing any body parts but their movements were jerky, as if they were marionettes that didn't have enough strings to properly move all of their parts.
"You've come to your doom, Naruto-kun!" Orochimaru smirked. The Sannin was also panting heavily, but he was better off than any of the living Kage. "You may have survived your run-in with Gaara-kun, but you're not fit to be the opponent of anyone here!" Orochimaru readied the Sword of Kusanagi.
"That's true," Naruto agreed, "but I have a certain vulpine friend who can mop the floor with all of you!" Naruto sheathed Tokijin and sent of pulse of Chakra into Kurama's seal, a request for her to open the gate on her end and send her Chakra through.
'To even stand a chance, you'll need to use the cloak. Given your current level of resistance, you have two minutes and thirty seconds before my Chakra starts killing you.'
'That's not enough time, not with three Hokage and a Sannin as my opponents. I need you!' Naruto urged.
'Absolutely not!' Kurama roared in protest 'Partial control is one thing, but I have never fully possessed a host and I refuse to start now!'
'Then I'll die, and Konoha will fall! Kurama, please!' A pregnant pause followed Naruto's request.
'In the very near future, we shall train to the point that it never crosses your mind to even consider asking this of me again!' With that declaration, vermillion Chakra began surging around Naruto. First, it resembled a swirling aura but soon expanded into a dense shroud of Chakra that took the form of a one-tailed fox. The cloak was a translucent red with bubbles boiling through its entire surface.
"Minato-dono, prepare yourself!" Kurama drew Tenseiga – who had no issue being wielded by her; after all, Naruto desired that his Tailed Beast assume control in this fight – and flashed toward the Yondaime Hokage. The dozens of exposures to Ay's divine lightning had crippled the Yellow Flash's speed; the heavenly blade removed Minato's head from his neck.
"Kurama-sama, Naruto: thank you!" Minato's reanimated head spoke his last before Death reclaimed him. In the next instant, Kurama leaped into the air to avoid ten water dragons fired by Tobirama. Kurama exhaled a wind blast at the Nidaime Hokage.
"Hiraishingiri!" Tobirama teleported behind Kurama, only to find himself impaled on Tenseiga!
"Too predictable; I slayed several beings capable of teleportation during the False Ragnarok!" Kurama pulled Tenseiga out of Tobirama's body.
"Ah, dead forever this time." Tobirama sighed with relief as he felt Tenseiga's power destroy his soul. Never again would he be forced to battle his own student. Kurama jumped a hundred feet to the left to avoid Hashirama's wood dragon.
'Something's amiss; I wonder?' Kurama's instincts had never failed her before, so she trusted them now as she rammed a giant Rasengan into the wood dragon. The massive construct was destroyed, confirming Kurama's suspicion as she turned to face Hashirama. "When last we met, simply being in your presence forced me to resist the urge to sleep. For whatever reason, your Chakra is anathema to the Tailed Beasts. Now, however, that property of your power is gone. Alone, being revived at partial strength would not cause such a thing; the flow of Chakra within you is severely distorted, rendering you incapable of utilizing its most devastating aspects."
"You try having nearly every inch of your body ravaged by Natural Energy and being able to function normally!" Hashirama smiled, knowing his reviver's plans were foiled beyond recovery now.
"Yes, that would do it." Kurama agreed before launching a blistering series of strikes. Her true form's immense size was not always feasible for fighting human-sized opponents. Eons had passed since she last assumed a human form to defeat her enemies, but the knowledge of how to fight in such a body never left the mightiest Tailed Beast. Unlike Minato and Tobirama, it took several cuts from Tenseiga to lay Hashirama's soul to rest.
'This is no great mystery; Hashirama-dono is among the mightiest mortals to ever exist.' Tenseiga answered Kurama's unspoken question. 'His soul is too powerful to be vanquished by a single strike of mine, but multiple strikes? That is a different tale.'
As Kurama and Tenseiga conversed, Orochimaru impaled Naruto's heart on Kusanagi!
"Oh, dear, mustn't lower your guard!" The Snake Sannin cackled.
"Indeed." The Chakra cloak's arms latched around Orochimaru's, pining his arms to his sides; the cloak's tail also wrapped around his waist, locking him in place. Kurama then sheathed Tenseiga, pulled the Sword of Kusanagi out of Naruto's heart, and threw it toward the flame barrier. Unfortunately, the blade fell just short of impacting it. Kurama was much more worried about her host's heart than the fate of her enemy's sword.
"In life, Minato and Kushina discussed your ambitions at length." Kurama growled after fully healing Naruto's heart. Orochimaru struggled to escape the Tailed Beast's grip, to no avail. "You seek to master all Jutsu; a prospect that will be most difficult without the use of your upper limbs! Youkaijumon: Dokkasou!" (Demonic Spell: Poison Luster Claws) Naruto's fingernails became adorned with vermillion Youki claws, which Kurama used to deeply scratch Orochimaru's arms dozens of times over the next few seconds. The assault ended once the allotted time she could safely channel her Chakra into Naruto ended. Naruto fell to the ground, unconscious but unharmed. Orochimaru's arms grew blood red in color as he lost all ability to move them!
"MY ARMS!" Orochimaru shrieked as the crippled limbs started to feel as if they were on fire. "RETREAT!" The Sound Four dispelled the flame barrier. Sakon lingered just long enough to retrieve the Sword of Kusanagi before fleeing with his master and teammates.
Orochimaru channeled all of his remaining Chakra into his arms, enabling them to move just long enough for him to cast a Jutsu that triggered hidden seals on all of the Oto Ninja who had surrendered after the death of Experiment 9-X. Their memories were all completely erased, leaving them little more than infants trapped in adult bodies.
"Kage-sama, are any of you in need of medical attention?" Kakashi asked. The Copy Ninja, Asuma, Guy, Kurenai, and Anko had returned to the arena just after Orochimaru and his guards Shunshined away.
"Hiruzen-dono suffered the worst of it; Mei-dono and I can wait." Ay answered.
"Understood!" Asuma said as he, Kurenai, Guy, and Kakashi escorted their master to the nearest intact hospital.
"So, on a scale of one to ten, how much help did my best friend provide?" Anko looked dreamily at Naruto's sleeping form.
"Eleven," Mei smiled at her savior, "if Naruto-kun hadn't arrived when he did, Konoha would need to bury three Kage instead of healing one."
"Fucking called it! He's a chip off the old block!" Anko turned her gaze to the Hokage Monument. "Rest easy, Minato-sama; Konoha's future is as bright as a cloudless sky!
Chapter End
Well, that chapter was a thing! To address the biggest gripe a lot of you may have: YES, Canon-Minato used Sage Mode as an Edo Tensei, but for the reasons he and Tobirama gave in the chapter I don't think it's logical that a person stuck in between life and death should be able to absorb and use natural energy. Canon-Tobirama never used Sage Mode but IMO there's no reason why he couldn't have learned it given how much of a genius he was, so here he had it but couldn't use it as an Edo Tensei.
The Voice that condemned Kankuro to be trapped in Karasu's body for the next year will be revealed next chapter. I've never been a fan of Kankuro, don't have anything against him but he never clicked for me like some of the other characters did. It's implied in canon that earning his siblings' forgiveness is what kickstarted Gaara's redemption arc (if you can call it that since it occurred almost entirely off-screen), so killing Kankuro off here wasn't ideal. I haven't yet decided if he'll survive his encounter with Sasori, but his days are numbered for the same reason Lee's were: too many other characters that I want the spotlight on more than Kankuro.
Kurama in this fanfic is both a Kitsune Daiyoukai and a Chakra Entity, so she can manipulate Youki to cast Youkai spells just like Naruto has done with the Youkai and Hanyou conversion rituals. Fire manipulation is a quintessential Kitsune ability so Kurama being able to teach a spell that emulates it makes perfect sense. Since this story's version of Kurama has fought Sesshomaru before and has canon-Kurama's intelligence level being able to replicate Sesshomaru's poison with magic isn't out of the question, though the claws created by her spell are much less powerful than the original.
Now that we've reached the end of the Konoha Crush Arc, I have a promise to keep. I said in Chapter 1 that all six members of Naruto's harem would be revealed by the end of this arc. Some are obvious, and I'd like to think that I gave enough hints throughout the last 22 chapters for you all to guess the full roster, but for the sake of clarity here's the complete list:
Hinata
Haku
Anko
Kiba
Tenten
Kurama
As I've said before, this list is FINAL. No add-ons, no substitutions. Aside from Ino and Sakura, Sasuke will be getting one more wife. At the moment, I don't plan on any other characters having harems. Other pairings, yes, but no more harems since only Naruto and Sasuke have entire clans to revive.
The next chapter will be mostly dedicated to tying up loose ends related to the invasion. The Search for Tsunade arc is still happening, though the context behind the search will be different given that Hiruzen is still alive.
Thank you for reading!
Bapou: Suitoukou: Toad Art: Water Blade Constriction - A Kenjutsu/Senjitsu hybrid technique used by the swordsmen of Mount Myouboku. Water that is either created by or imbued with Natural Energy is channeled into the user's sword, producing a second water blade that covers the original blade to drastically enhance its length and cutting power. The user then impales their target and manipulates the water blade to repeatedly impale the target from as many additional places as possible. Once formed, the "net" of water blades moves as close as possible to the target's center of gravity, ideally slicing them into pieces.
Douton: Kongou Joukaku: Earth Release: Adamantine Castle (S-Rank) – a Jutsu Hiruzen invented to buy himself time to enter Sage Mode while fighting powerful opponents. At least thirty spherical walls are generated around him. The wall closest to him is the most durable and the subsequent walls gradually weaken in durability. Even the outermost wall can still be incredibly durable if enough Chakra is utilized.
Fuinjutsu: Kagebaku: Sealing Technique: Shadow Binding (C-Rank) – The user fires orbs of Chakra at the target's shadow, freezing them in place for a duration determined by the amount of Chakra used for the Jutsu.
Futton: Jouhito: Boil Release: Sauna (S-Rank) – A near-absolute defense created by Mei to counter Taijutsu masters and ambush specialists. The air surrounding her for at least 10 feet in all directions is converted to acidic vapor capable of dissolving a human in seconds. Jutsu can be dissolved as well, but doing so dilutes the vapor. Mei is immune to the corrosive effects of the vapor but cannot breathe while it is in effect as there is no oxygen within the affected space. To counter this, twenty seals on her body teleport oxygen from outside the affected space into her lungs. Each seal can only be active for a maximum of nine minutes and will remain inactive for twenty-four hours after their time limit has been reached.
Fuuton: Tatsumakiyoroi: Wind Release: Tornadic Armor (A-Rank) The user generates and sustains a miniature tornado just large enough to cover their entire body. The external side of the tornado is composed of hundreds of wind blades that severely damage anything sucked into it. These blades also cannibalize the Fuuton Chakra of other Jutsu to grow stronger. While the Jutsu is active, the user can achieve limited flight by willing the tornado into the desired airspace.
Katon: Enami: Fire Release: Blazing Net (B-Rank) A Jutsu meant to be used against fast and/or agile opponents. A fire net is shot at the target with incredible speed. The net's temperature is hot enough to quickly melt most metals and polymers, making it an ideal countermeasure for opponents who rely on specific weapons or tools.
Katon: Kahataori: Fire Release: Fire Weaving (C-Rank) – An environmental preservation Jutsu the Aburame developed to quickly deal with forest fires. Fire within the user's vicinity is drawn into the user's hands and condensed into thread-like constructs. The threads can be used to form other Katon Jutsu or be fed to the user's Kikaichu.
Suiton: Saikai: Water Release: Purification (B-Rank) – A Medical Ninjutsu that uses Suiton Chakra as a medium to purge poisons from the target's body.
Tenran: Divine Storm – a Conversion Jutsu taught only to each Raikage that grants their Raiton Chakra divine properties.
Tenranton: Sakujo: Divine Storm Release: Erasure (S-Rank) A Jutsu only usable by descendants of Thor and only taught to Raikage. The user fires a beam of divine lightning at their target. Most beings are destroyed on the physical and spiritual level; only entities trapped between life and death are capable of withstanding the Jutsu but the lightning will still weaken them.
Youkaijumon: Dokkasou: Demonic Spell: Poison Luster Claws – A Youkai spell that arms the user with magical equivalents to Sesshomaru's poisoned claws. The poison produced by the spell's claws is primarily paralytic and progresses slowly, but is ultimately fatal if not treated.
Youkaijumon: Narasekka (Demonic Spell: Hellfire Flash) – A Youkai spell that allows the user to conjure the flames of Hell and fire them as a projectile. The target is burned on both a physical and spiritual level, but beings capable of spiritual regeneration will be able to recover from the injuries inflicted.
Youton: Nadare: Lava Release: Avalanche (A-Rank) – A counterattack Jutsu that initially forms a massive wall of lava to block incoming attacks. Shortly after forming, the lava wall cascades into a lava river that surges toward the target and spreads over a large area.